Link woke up early in the morning and desperately tried to expel the memories of the last night's dreams. He'd had normal dreams before- they were rare, but Link had had them. The night before was his first time experiencing nightmares. Link wrapped himself in the surrounding blankets, slowing his breathing as he lay in the room the Yiga had provided to him.

Link went to find Ghirahim's room. He had a feeling that the demon would be the first to reconcile with him.

Link knocked on the door and waited. His nightmares had left him cold, and, for some reason, his body was being rather slow in warming him back up. He flinched when anyone walked by. Ghirahim opened the door and peered down at him. "How can you function without a hand?"

Link pressed the button on the voice box. "I can slightly move my right fingers; I just can't move the arm. I knocked with my stump."

"You're weird," Ghirahim growled. "What do you want? It's early."

"...I had a nightmare."

"What are you, five years old?"

"I just need to talk with you about it. I need you to confirm some stuff for me."

Ghirahim narrowed his eyes at him but let Link in anyways. "Fine, talk to me. I'm not going to be nice, so don't expect it."

"I won't," Link promised. He sat down in a desk chair and stretched. He tapped the voice box button a few times, listening to it's quiet clicking noise, and then asked, "Linebeck's alive, right?"

Ghirahim balked. "Of course he's alive. If you'd have killed him, you'd be dealing with a lot more than some nasty glares. They're working on healing him, remember?"

Link let out a relived sigh. That was good. It had only been a nightmare. "Okay. That's all I needed to know. Thanks." He reclined in the chair, the cold feeling seeping out of his body. "I was worried that I might've killed him after having some nightmares."

"You can have normal dreams?"

"Yeah. I did have a memory dream yesterday, though, but I'll hold off on explaining it for a few days." Link set the box down on the desk and shuddered. Ghirahim gave him an odd look before turning away, picking up a book from the bookshelf. Link's own room had books, but he'd been too exhausted to bother checking any of them out.

Flipping through a few pages, Ghirahim muttered, "Midna and I... we're a bit overprotective of Linebeck at times, if you couldn't tell already. He can take care of himself just fine, but he's much more vulnerable than us." Link nodded, despite Ghirahim facing away from him. "He doesn't have a problem with being protected, at least, but he does try to help out no matter what." Ghirahim set the book down. "He feels useless, even if he acts otherwise."

"You're just going to give me an overview of how he is, then?" Link asked, meaning to be joking, but Ghirahim shrugged.

"...Probably," Ghirahim muttered. "You're the outsider. Midna and I have been living around Linebeck for the past year, and you've only gotten fragmented encounters with him this past month or two. We're in the middle of a stressful situation, so you only know Linebeck when's he's under pressure: high-strung, blunt, tired, and generally bad-tempered. Then again, you really only know the rest of us when under pressure, too."

"I thought Linebeck was always rude," Link grumbled.

"Oh, he is, it's just that he's usually not this blunt or harsh. There's usually more humor to his words, and he's a bit... flashier, I guess is a good word, when he's not very stressed. He gets arrogant, despite his own self-loathing. In short, he's insufferable either way, but we prefer to see him in high spirits."

"...Haven't you two been talking about how he's doing better, though?" Link asked, recalling the short conversations between Ghirahim and Midna. "I... sometimes just overhear you."

"He is doing better, but only in a few areas," Ghirahim responded. "It's all because finding and repairing you and discovering your importance has given him a bit of a different perspective on the world and himself. He's keener to keep going and see what else will happen. Being around Damien for an extended period of time has helped, too." Ghirahim sighed, then swiftly picked up the book and chucked it at Link. "Until you had to go and screw it up," he snarled.

Link ducked and let the book sail over his head. It slammed into the wall and fell into the desk, knocking over a lamp. Link set the lamp upright as he muttered, "Well, I didn't know that this is abnormal for him."

He let out a short squawk as Ghirahim grabbed him by the shirt collar and lifted him a few inches into the air. "It doesn't matter if this is abnormal or not," he growled, his breath hot against Link's skin. "Hell, it doesn't even matter that it's Linebeck that you attacked. The problem is that you snapped and almost killed someone. The fact that it was Linebeck just makes the base problem worse. It's like Damien said- his aphenphosmphobia has worsened. I went to visit him a few hours ago, and he refused to even let me come too close at first. Damien's the only one he trusts at the moment."

Link weakly kicked at Ghirahim until the demon let him go. "Midna wants nothing to do with you until Linebeck is better. I'm only tolerating you because someone has to. You need to work on your own problems. Bearer of the Triforce of courage or not, you're not fit to be a hero if you're prone to losing control and attacking your own friends." Ghirahim whipped around and snatched up his sword, clipping the scabbard to his belt. "Linebeck wants nothing to do with you, but I managed to convince him to repair you. The conditions are that you're not allowed to do anything while he's working on you."

"I need to tell him about my dream," Link protested. "The memory one."

"Then tell Damien. Linebeck doesn't want to see you for a while. He's only decided to let you stay awake so he can talk to you."

Link frowned. "When does he want to repair me, then?"

"Sometime today. He'll probably send Damien to find you when he's ready. Midna and I will be in the Yiga's training room to practice magic, if you must talk to us. All of your stuff was left in Midna's room, if you want to go and collect it."

Midna wasn't in her room when Link checked. He silently collected his bag and equipment and returned to his room to sulk until Damien found him. He left everything in the bag, since the limited usage of his arms made it difficult to try and put anything away.

An hour passed. No one showed up. Link decided that his time was better spent exploring the Yiga hideout.

The facility was enormous, and Link was grateful for the maps plastered on the walls of most halls. It spanned over a mile, with living areas, kitchens, laundry rooms, training and storage rooms, bathrooms- everything a large group of people would need. Link stopped in the indoor farming room and picked a few blueberries for himself, finding it difficult with limited finger movement in his right hand. The people working there allowed him to pick any ripe fruit that still remained on the plants. Link thought of the group's home, the shanty 'Rain Keep', as they called it. He wondered how Linebeck's lizard was doing, or how Ghirahim's blueberry plants were doing without upkeep. He doubted they were still alive.

Link left the farm rooms and quietly began to wonder where in Hyrule they were located. He made his way to the training rooms and found Midna and Ghirahim sparring with a whole room to themselves, not counting the Zora off to the side. They were locked in a fast-paced battle, Ghirahim summoning knives while Midna teleported and shadow-walked out of the way. At one point, she managed to freeze Ghirahim's knives in midair and send them flying back at him.

Link huddled in the doorway until one of Ghirahim's knives sank into Midna's shoulder. He stumbled to his feet and started over to them but stopped when the Zora reached them first and quickly healed Midna's wound. Ghirahim noticed him at once. "What do you want?"

Link fumbled with the voice box. "I just accidentally came across you. I'll leave."

"No, stick around," Midna decided. "Ganondorf told us to meet him in here in a few minutes, and that he was planning on sending someone to collect you."

"Oh."

"He apparently also invited Linebeck, so he'll probably show up with Damien."

"...Oh."

The Zora straightened his back. "Your wound is healed, Midna. Try to be more careful."

Midna rolled her shoulder. "Oh. Thanks. Do you know more about this meeting?"

The Zora shrugged. "No. I think he might have you meet the rest of his generals. You already know Damien, I assume. Well, of course you do... he's been walking around in uniform all day."

"What's he like?" Ghirahim asked.

"Oh, he's nice, if a bit aggressive at times. We've really only heard of Linebeck, so it's interesting to finally meet the man that Damien's been going on and on about for the past few months, even if the circumstances at the moment aren't great."

"I didn't think Linebeck wanted visitors," Midna muttered.

"Yes, well, a few hours ago, his leg was healed enough by... oh, you'll meet her later. But, right now, his leg is healed enough to allow him to walk around with crutches. So, I've gotten the chance to greet him. Actually, a lot of us are more or less excited to meet all of you."

A door across the room swung open, and the Zora flinched. "I should go. I'm not supposed to be here for the meeting, and I'm sure Damien will want me gone, anyways." He bid them farewell and ran out the room, shutting the door.

Ghirahim waved at Damien and Linebeck. "Hey. I've heard that you two have been up and around the facility today."

"As much as we can," Damien responded with a shrug. Linebeck followed a few paces behind Damien, leaning against his crutches. "Things are looking better, though, and I've gotten all fixed up, things removed and all."

"Good for you," Midna said, straightening up. "Did either of you get any sleep last night?"

"A bit," Linebeck answered. "Enough for the healers to start on my leg. My collarbone's fine, and I was able to straighten out my wrist." He held up his gloved hand, wiggling his fingers. "They'll get more work done tonight-" he cut himself off upon seeing Link, and staggered closer to Damien, and whispered something to him. Damien responded with a few short words, getting a heated response from Linebeck. Their gazes didn't leave Link, who squirmed in discomfort. Not that he had any right to discomfort in that moment.

Ghirahim shoved Link to the side. "I hope things turn out well for you," he loudly said. "If you need anything, I'll gladly help. To an extent, of course. I'm a fantastically skill person, but there's no need for me to waste my energy."

"We don't need anything. Thanks for the offer. Ganondorf should be gathering the other generals," Damien murmured. "Until then... Ghirahim, aren't you trying to learn how to teleport?"

"He's making progress, but we're a bit worried about what happens if he teleports incorrectly." With a shudder, Midna continued with, "I've heard nothing about screwed-up teleportation, but I'd rather not learn through being a firsthand witness. I think he's making progress, though. He's got a lot more control over his daggers."

"I've working on my barriers, too," Ghirahim added, holding up a hand wreathed in shimmering red, black, and white diamonds. It folded outward and held in front of his hand, about the size of a buckler. "I'd almost forgotten about these."

"Oh, yeah, didn't you use those when we sparred at one point?" Link quietly asked.

"Shut it until Ganondorf gets here," Linebeck snapped.

Fury flashed through Link. "Why should I? I can talk, too!" He was careful not to drop the voice box from his loose right hand.

"You're in a lot of hot water," Midna retorted. "Your damn outburst almost led to two of us getting killed."

"Why are you still blaming me for this?! The Yiga attacked me, and Linebeck was the first one to hurt me!"

"I interjected because you were about to kill Damien," Linebeck shouted. "I wasn't going to do any more than get my knife back, but you decided it was enough to justify pulverizing my knee!"

"I didn't pulverize it-"

"You almost ripped my damn leg in half! I have a right to be pissed off and scared! And don't think I wasn't there the whole time- It's your own fault that the Yiga jumped you."

"How is it my fault! Ganondorf set them on me without any kind of warning or reason!"

"Oh, please. You've been nothing but hostile to them so far- He knew damn well that the moment you drew your sword, the only way you were letting them leave was bloodied and limping. Your own damn narrow-mindedness and short fuse has done nothing but muddy things up and make it so much harder to see what's right in front of your nose."

Link opened his mouth to retaliate, but Midna slapped the voice box from his hand. He stumbled and bent to pick it back up. Ghirahim snatched it up off the ground before Link could take it. "Stop and think for one damn second," Ghirahim snarled, slowly handing the voice box back to Link.

"It seems you've all gotten started without us," a deep voice sighed from across the room. Everyone whipped around; Ganondorf and the other three black scarfed Yiga strode into the room. "At least you're all here on time."

Link rubbed his jaw as best as he could. Ganondorf wasn't wearing his mask- not that his wearing it did much to hide his identity, since his mane of red hair was always visible- so Link finally got a look at his face. He looked a lot... friendlier than Link expected. His skin was dark, like the rest of the Gerudo, and his orange eyes, while stern, also had a warmth to them. He had the start of a beard at his chin, and Link noted that he looked rather young- mid-twenties at the most. The Yiga following him were still in their full uniforms, but without weapons.

Ganondorf halted a few paces from Midna and Ghirahim. "I'm pleased to meet you two for the first time; I've heard quite a lot about you. All of you." He peered at Linebeck with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "Especially you." Linebeck took on a confused expression while Damien sheepishly smiled. "I have a lot to tell you, but, for today, I will settle with the basics."

He stepped back and allowed the Yiga to line up beside him. "You already know about Damien, of course. You've already met my other generals before."

Midna frowned. "We... have?"

"Of course. They were not assigned to watch you the way Damien was, but they ran into you all while living their lives. It was accidental, each time, but I'm a bit glad that you're already familiar with who they are."

The swordfighter stepped forward. "Out of the three of us, I've had the least interaction with you all," the Yiga said, speaking in a quietly intense voice. Link faintly recalled hearing that voice, and desperately tried to remember as the Yiga removed their mask. Still, Link couldn't recall the pale, raven-haired woman's name.

"Ashei!" Midna exclaimed. "You're the sword fighting Yiga? But I saw you at that archery range..."

Ashei shrugged. "I travel a lot with Revali, so I try to stick by him. I do a bit of archery in my spare time, but I'm the best at sword fighting." She glanced at Linebeck. "You nearly killed me back in Hyrule City. When we jumped you guys after the tournament."

"You can't blame me," Linebeck dryly retorted.

"I don't. Your aim is impressive."

"Is Revali the archer, then?" Ghirahim asked, peering inquisitively at the next Yiga.

Ashei shook her head. "No, but he is among the Yiga, albeit in loose terms. He would indeed like to be a general, but Ganondorf trusts the current general much more than he trusts Revali." She stepped back, glancing over at Link. "I apologize for any damage I caused prior to our most recent encounter. That time, you deserved it more than ever."

Link scowled, but quickly returned to a neutral expression as the archer stepped forward, removing their mask without any kind of ceremony. "Oh, it's good to get that off," he sighed, running a hand through his black hair. "Well, it's good to see you again, Midna!"

"...Ravio? You're- no, I guess that makes sense."

Ghirahim frowned at MIdna. "How have you managed to run into both Ashei and Ravio?"

"We all know Ashei," Midna grumbled, "And we all ran into Ravio in Rito Village. Besides, Linebeck's been dating Damien for the past few months." They both paused at the sound of muffled chirping, and a little bird emerged from Ravio's hood. "You bring Sheerow with you?" Midna asked, dumbfounded.

Ravio laughed, holding out a hand for Sheerow to rest on. "He gets grumpy if I leave him behind, so it's best if I let him hide away in my hood." The little blue-winged bird twittered happily, shaking his feathers out. "Well, I'll admit that it was dumb luck that I ran into you on the way to the Rito's archery range, but Sheerow wouldn't get out of my hair about going to practice. I guess he somehow knew that I ran into you, but who knows?"

"That bird has to be magic, I swear," Damien muttered.

"He may be," the spear fighter murmured. Link immediately recognized her voice. "I've always felt as though Sheerow was a bit odd..." she stopped and gave a short laugh. "I should probably remove my mask." She reached up and took the mask off. Link had always assumed that the spear fighter had long hair- It turned out that she was simply just a Zora. "It's been interesting, keeping tabs on your progress," Mipha murmured. "Of course, things have taken a turn that I'm not very fond of." She gave Link a stern look.

Ghirahim crossed his arms with a faint smile. "No surprise here- You're the most skilled spear fighter I've seen, not to mention you seemed sympathetic towards the Yiga while we were in Zora's Domain."

"Do your father and brother know that you're among the Yiga?"

Mipha winced at Midna's question. "...No. I'm worried about how father may react, and Sidon is too young to properly understand- but I will tell them when the time comes. It's a bit difficult to sneak away to attend to my Yiga duties, but I can manage while other Zora members cover for me." She sighed, shifting. "I'm glad that you all now know- It should make things a bit easier for us."

Now, with the Yiga's identities revealed, everyone looked relived. Any prior tension seemed to have been lifted. "...It's a bit odd to know that we all ran into you at some point," Link awkwardly said. "It explains a bit about all of you. I'm... sorry that I was so aggressive." He glanced over at Linebeck, who either ignored him or didn't notice. Damien had to gesture towards Link to get him to look. "When can you repair me?"

Linebeck examined him for a moment. Bellum showed up and hovered near Link's face, then circled him a few times. "Give me a few hours to get my tools ready."

"A few hours?"

"You're always out cold when I prepare to fix you," Linebeck snapped. "You've got no idea how long it can take with something as complicated as you." He and Link glared at each other for a moment, and Damien awkwardly cleared his throat. Linebeck turned away and started to leave the room. "Be there in three hours, on the dot."

"I don't know where you're staying," Link muttered under his breath, not bothering to ask as Linebeck exited the room with Damien. Still, he didn't bother asking anyone else, either. It wouldn't be hard to find the medical wing and ask where Linebeck was staying.

Ganondorf sighed. "I suppose Damien can fill Linebeck in on what he'll miss. He knows what else I'm going to talk about." The other three Yiga smiled faintly, giving each other quick looks. "Well. You three know that our main goal is to kill Zelda and destroy her section of the Sheikah." The response he got was three nods. "Of course. Let's begin with her faction of the Sheikah- put simply, they're corrupt."

Link frowned, and Midna was the one who spoke. "It doesn't seem that way... They've protected people and created technology to help Hyrule itself. Koko, the Sheikah who was with us for the first half of this journey, seemed to believe that she was doing good."

"That's how most of the Sheikah feel," Ganondorf explained. "Zelda doesn't give them the truth of the matter until she knows that they'll follow her no matter what. Most of her soldiers will follow her, but probably believe that us Yiga are the bad ones, and that we're the ones trying to summon a fell beast."

Before Ganondorf could continue, Ghirahim stepped forward, waving his hands. "Hang on. You said that Zelda's convincing the Sheikah that you Yiga are trying to summon some monster as if they're really the ones trying to do that."

"I said it like that because that's what they're planning." Ganondorf paused to allow everyone to take in his words. His generals looked uneasy, but not surprised- he'd probably talked to them about it before. "It took us some time to figure it out, but since that disaster 200 years ago, that's what the Sheikah's goal has been. We only figured it out a few years back, when I first joined the Yiga, but it makes perfect sense."

"How did you learn this?" asked Midna, looking shaken. Link didn't blame her. Asides from himself, Midna had the most faith in Zelda. "A-are you sure?"

"We have two direct contacts in the heart of the Sheikah. They used to be loyal to Zelda, but after learning the truth of the matter, they've been secretly relaying information to us and feeding Zelda false information. I believe you've met them- those two Sheikah inventors, Purah and Robbie."

"Purah is Impa's sister- Does Impa know of Zelda's intentions?" asked Link, tilting his head to the side. He recalled meeting the Sheikah woman while they were at the castle.

"Impa is loyal to a fault- she knows, but she'll follow Zelda anyways. We're not sure when Zelda plans to summon this beast, but we do know one thing- she needs the full Triforce and the Master Sword to do so. That leads us back to Link- the only person that we know who has a piece of the Triforce and may be able to claim the Master Sword. Zelda cannot forcefully take it from Link without a fight, but I believe that she plans to win his support and trick him into helping her summon the monster. We've foiled that part of the plan now that you all know what's going on."

"That makes sense, but that would imply that she set up that tournament with the intention of meeting me specifically," Link mumbled.

"She didn't know about you until meeting you," Ganondorf softly explained. "It was a stroke of luck on her part. I have reason to believe that she's been keeping an eye on you all after meeting you, though."

"Linebeck said that he was attacked by the Sheikah at Lurelin," Ghirahim interjected. "Why would Zelda send soldiers to attack him if she wanted us to trust her?"

"They were sent to test Damien," Mipha said. "They suspected that he was a Yiga general and attacked him and Linebeck once they were alone. Zelda knew that if Damien were on his own, then he'd have the opportunity to act scared and confused, and the Sheikah would learn nothing. Threatening Linebeck was the only way for them to corner Damien and force him to reveal himself. Of course, that backfired. We captured the Sheikah attackers and managed to send an imposter to give Zelda more false information; Purah and Robbie made sure that our imposter was successful."

The Zora princess gave Ganondorf a small smile. "I personally interrogated the Sheikah that Damien had cornered. She explained Zelda's intentions."

"...What do we do now?" Link quietly asked. "Despite everything, I'm willing to follow you guys for the time being. But we need to find the Master Sword now."

"Our deadline was your collection of that sword," Ashei said. "We've been trying to reach you ever since Zelda got to you first. We knew that if you got the sword before we were able to contact you, then it was all over. Zelda would've collected all of you and would've most certainly secured your loyalty at that point. In all honesty, we're very lucky that Linebeck and Damien met. It would've been much harder to contact you without their relationship being in place. Damien's supervision helped us figure out ways to keep the Sheikah from getting too close to you."

Midna laughed. "That's funny to think about- a chance meeting leading to us being able to properly save the world. But seriously. We need the Master Sword."

"You do," Ganondorf confirmed. "Zelda somehow has been able to summon monsters around Hyrule, so that sword will make dealing with them much easier- and if Zelda does manage to summon that beast, then it gives us a chance to fight back. She also employs certain people who don't appear to be human- Purah and Robbie tells me that they are pure evil- perhaps those creatures you fought with the red gems in their bodies."

"Is Zelda human?" Ghirahim scoffed, initially sounding joking, but his relaxed smile melted away as the four Yiga gave him uncomfortable looks. "...What?"

Ganondorf let out a short, harsh laugh, and Ravio spoke. "...That's a question we have no answer for. For the last 200 years, all documents concerning the royal family have shown us that every queen since then has been named Zelda- that's nothing out of the ordinary, and neither is the fact that they've all looked very similar. The problem lies in the fact that there has been no known king, and that whenever a queen had a daughter, neither were seen for up to two decades, but still operated from within the castle. People have not brought much attention to this, simple because the royal family has always been rather mysterious to the common citizen, but this is just unnerving."

Ghirahim frowned. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that Zelda may not be human but may be some kind of immortal... thing. We have reason to believe that every Queen Zelda in the past 200 years has been the same person under the guise of privacy and faking new generations of royalty." Ravio smiled uncomfortably. "We don't know for sure, but we're figuring it out as we go. The current siege on the city has been very informative as well as being a good way to free people who'd been kidnapped by the Sheikah. It's also keeping Zelda from easily finding time to contact you four."

"We need to get the Master Sword soon," Link declared. "If you can help us, that'd be great, but we need to be searching the desert for where it might be."

Ganondorf chuckled. "You're so dead-set on that. Don't worry, we know where it's resting, and we'll lead you there once you've all recovered."

"You know where it is?"

"Of course- why else would Damien make sure that you came to the desert?"

Link frowned. "Well, where are we right now?"

"Underneath the wasteland," Ganondorf answered. "In fact, the entrance to this facility is the same place that Ghirahim, Midna, and Linebeck woke up almost a year ago. Your guys' home is barely a mile away."

Astonishment froze Link and his friends. They could only stare numbly at Ganondorf. The Yiga hideout had, quite literally, been right under their noses the whole time. A faint feeling of excitement made Link twitch as he realized that he would now most likely get a look at where the others had first woken up.

Mipha shifted, then quietly murmured something to Ganondorf. He nodded, and the Zora princess briskly left the room without a word. Ravio and Ashei followed. Ganondorf finally rubbed his hands together. "Well, then, that's all we needed to tell you today. If you must talk to me again, don't come directly to me- I'm usually very busy. Ask a Yiga soldier, and they'll tell one of my generals to send the message along to me."

"Can I ask you something now?" Midna quickly asked.

Ganondorf hesitated. "Please make it quick. If the others have nothing else to say, they may as well leave." Link and Ghirahim shared a look, then left the room.

Midna waited until the door was shut. "You're a magician, correct? You can use magic?"

Ganondorf nodded. "Yep. I can also tell that you have the ability to use magic as well."

"Good. I need you to check something for me," Midna said, shrugging her cloak off. "I'm a Twili, which means that I shouldn't be able to go out in sunlight- yet I've been able to go out during the sunniest of days and suffer nothing but the discomfort of heat. Zelda told me that there's some kind of magic protecting me. Can you analyze it or something?"

"Hm. Give me a moment..." Ganondorf shut his eyes, brow furrowed. For a moment, Midna was worried that nothing was happening, then she noticed a gleam around the both of them. After a few awkward minutes, Ganondorf opened his eyes. "That's quite the powerful enchantment about you."

Midna tugged her cloak back on. "What is it?"

"A simple spell to protect you from the rays of the sun. The interesting part is just how powerful it is. It's a permanent spell, sustained by your own life energy. It's not detrimental, since it only requires a small amount of your energy. However, its sheer effectiveness was unusual until I checked more into its origins. It's a spell that was weaved with the spellcaster's love for you imbued within it, and then enhanced by your own love for the spellcaster."

Midna felt her face flush. "...Someone I loved? Who loved me back?"

Ganondorf nodded slowly. "Yes. But... don't get too excited. Based off what information I could discern from the spell, there is no external life force connected to the spell. Most lingering spells have the creator's life force connected. Whoever created that spell for you is dead. I'm sorry."

"Oh." Still, there remained a warm feeling in Midna's chest- sometime in her murky past, she'd loved and been loved. Was it the woman she had been dancing with in that fragment of memory? Midna thought back to it again, recalling how it'd been stirred by seeing Linebeck and Damien clumsily dancing in the middle of the night. "Thank you," Midna whispered. "I'll be going, now."

"Actually," Ganondorf started, faintly smiling. "Mipha wanted to see you in one of the other training rooms. She wanted to spar with you and see how you've improved."

"O-oh. Of course. I'll be sure to meet with her. Thanks."

Link waited for two hours and fifty minutes and decided that it was time for him to find where Linebeck was staying. It didn't take too long, as almost everyone was friendly, and he made it to the right room of the medical wing just a few minutes before the three-hour deadline. He lingered outside the door for a moment, then decided that it wouldn't hurt to go in a bit early.

He quietly opened the door and stepped in and realized it probably would've been better if he'd been patient. Still, he stood still, waiting for Damien or Linebeck to notice him, but they were too focused on each other. Link winced, noting that Linebeck had his shirt open, and Damien was running a hand down his bare chest. Link kept his stump wrist on the doorknob. He still had roughly two minutes. They still hadn't noticed.

Damien was quietly talking, and Linebeck occasionally nodded in response. Once Damien withdrew his hand, Linebeck tentatively took it in his own, carefully intertwining their fingers. Damien's other hand went up to Linebeck's face, brushing some stray hair behind his ear, and then placed his palm on Linebeck's shoulder. Damien said something, a question, and Linebeck nodded. Damien ran his other hand down Linebeck's chest.

Link was rooted to the spot, more out of obligation than any emotion. He just coldly watched, not embarrassed or interested. Just... impatient. The embarrassment crept in when Linebeck and Damien kissed for a few seconds. Link was there at the right time, right? The tools were set out on the bedside table. Time ticked by in the back of Link's mind. No, it was the right time. He watched Damien wrap his arms around Linebeck's waist. They were probably the ones who lost track of time.

Half a minute left. Link scowled to himself. Screw it. He forcefully shoved the door handle down, making sure that it was loud as it snapped back up. "Am I interrupting something?" he loudly said, getting both of their attention based off how they jumped at the sound.

Linebeck's face went as red as his scarf, while Damien gave Link an innocent smile. "Oh, good, you're here in time."

"What were you two doing?" Link asked, fighting to keep from smiling.

"Nothing," Linebeck snapped, hastily buttoning his shirt back up.

"Exposure therapy," Damien chirped, "since that worked really well before you screwed everything up." The venom in his voice was jarring, not at all aligning with his friendly smile. "It looks weird, but it's easy to work on early exposure therapy since we're dating and all that. Working on you should help."

Linebeck fumbled with the last button on his shirt. "J-just hurry up and get your ass over here so I can fix you up."

Link raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, I just need to recover from walking in on the two of you feeling each other up-"

"Take any longer and I'll rip that damned jaw of yours apart for scrap."

Link gave up and joined the two of them at the bed. Linebeck had his leg held straight out in front of him, the leg of his pants rolled up past his knee, which was covered in bandages. Shoving his chair back, Damien walked around the bed and collected the tools, setting them on the bed. Link found himself a bit over-conscious of his mechanical jaw while Linebeck sorted the tools.

Link's temporary voice box was immediately disassembled for spare parts. Regret wormed into Link's mind as he realized that he should've mentioned his dream, but it could wait. It seemed like Linebeck was going to start with his original voice box, anyways. Damien stayed out of the way while Linebeck roughly ripped the hole in Link's throat further open to get a better look at the mangled metal within. It wasn't painful, but uncomfortable pressure was placed on that area of Link's throat as Linebeck poked around. Something was removed, and Link saw his ruined voice box as Linebeck started separately fixing it.

Link felt at the tear in his neck. The knife had almost cut through to the other side, severing wires and bending metal, but he doubted that it would take very long to repair. His hand would be a bigger issue. Or so he assumed. Linebeck had already fixed his voice box. "...Just a few dents, and it was knocked out of place," the engineer gruffly explained as he prodded it back into place. Link kept still while Linebeck reconnected some wires with a pair of tweezers. "There."

"Thanks," Link rasped, rubbing at his throat. His voice was a bit scratchy, but a few grunts smoothed it out. "Sorry for attacking you like I did. I... lost control there, and thought you were going to attack me along with the others." Link twitched when Linebeck snapped a beam back into place in his throat. Linebeck didn't say anything in response; he continued to silently repair Link's throat.

After a few minutes and repaired wires, Link glanced over at Damien while Linebeck switched tools. "Hey." Damien barely looked at him. "Your injury got healed, right? You got the surgery you said would be needed for it to heal?"

Damien shrugged. "Yeah. I'm a bit sore down there, but it was removed while they were healing me. It barely even scarred, but that's just because magic is so efficient." He sorted something in the bedside table drawer and shut it. "It didn't take long to heal. The reason it's taking longer for Linebeck is because of something about how magic healing draws on your own body's capabilities. My immune system is much better than Linebeck's. It's also easier to heal a wound through direct contact rather than hovering over it."

"I've been out cold every time they've healed me so far," Linebeck mumbled, sewing new skin onto a tear in Link's neck.

"Your immune system sucks, dude."

Linebeck scoffed but didn't respond. He jabbed the needle into Link's neck. The robot winced, doing his best not to move as Linebeck more aggressively started to sew up the other hole. "...I had another dream," Link rasped when he knew it was safe to talk. "I had it right after being knocked out after hurting you."

Linebeck flicked his eyes up to Link, then focused back on the damage.

"...It was with the woman, but it was just her this time. She had cornered me because I had apparently yelled at them after losing my temper. Probably the only information I can glean is that I've always had a bad temper and that one of the other men has had panic attacks before. Probably. I'd assume that it's the youngest guy, the one who said he was 17 in one of the past dreams."

"We're not getting a lot of information from these dreams," Bellum whispered, catching Link off-guard. "What's the point of them?"

"They at least provide hints," Link mumbled in response. "For one, we at least know that I was the hero back then, too. We can add what the Yiga told us to what we already know to try and piece things together."

Bellum made a noise that sounded like a haughty sniff. "Sure. Whatever."

"...The fact that you're made with so many different materials is interesting," Linebeck mused. "There's that unbreakable material that encases your real organs and makes up your core beams, while the smaller beams are just metal. You have wires of all kinds, connecting to olfactory sensors in your face, tactile senses all over your body... The synthetic material that your skin is made of is so out of place with how easy it is to obtain. Your hair is an odd material, as well, fluid like real hair but made of a metal I've never seen before." Linebeck said, switching his tools out now that he was done with Link's neck. "The metal beams are rather sturdy. Damien must've hit you hard to break your nose."

"He slammed my face into a metal table," Link muttered. "You can break anyone's nose by doing that."

"Yeah, well, your nose is made up of metal, not cartilage. I'm going to shut you off for the rest of their, for both of our sakes."

"If that's what you need."

"It is."

Link felt himself relax a bit. There hadn't been as much tension between the two of them as he'd expected. Linebeck moved to shut Link off, but flinched away as the door was slammed open. A Yiga soldier stood in the doorway, panting. "Damien! Ganondorf needs you and the generals to prepare for battle! In a few hours, we'll be defending Gerudo Town from the Sheikah!"

Damien shoved himself to his feet. Link twisted around to properly watch the scene. "Do the Sheikah have the town surrounded?"

The Yiga nodded. "Yes, but they're just waiting. Urbosa went out to try and parley with them, but they actually fired a volley of arrows at her as a warning."

"What do they want?" Link wondered aloud.

"We don't know," panted the Yiga soldier, "but we need to prepare for battle."

Link turned back to Linebeck, who looked disinterested. "Can you fix me up quick enough for me to join the battle?"

Linebeck regarded him for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, give me an hour and I'll have you ready."

The Yiga appeared relieved. "Oh, good, you'll be helping us, too. I've heard that you're a skilled swordsman."

The soldier disappeared in usual Yiga fashion, and Damien rushed over to Linebeck. "I'll be back once everything's over," he promised. "I'm sure that this'll provide us with some answers. Once you've got Link perfectly running, you four can head to the Master Sword."

"Don't let him get too ripped apart this time. I'm tired of piecing him together after every major event."

"We keep having to piece you back together, too," Link grumbled, and got shut off as a response. He was dimly aware of the rest of the repairs as he drifted in the darkness but allowed himself to properly rest. His dreams were nonsensical and otherwise normal.

He was awoken by someone prodding him in the side and found himself to be in the main room of the facility. Damien sat next to him and gave Link a strained smile. "Hey. We're going to go in a few minutes."

"...I'm repaired?" Link rolled his shoulders and inspected his hands. Relief flooded his body. "I'm repaired. Is my stuff here?"

"Ghirahim and Midna brought it over for you," Damein explained, gesturing to a small pile behind Link. The robot quietly nodded and got to readying himself. "Mipha is staying behind to finish up Linebeck's healing, so Ghirahim and Midna are taking her place."

"You're all going to teleport to Gerudo Town?" Link assumed. "What about us?"

"We can take others with us," Damien said. "It's not difficult. The core of the Yiga magic is summoning things. Transporting people is easy, though it gets harder over long distances. Obviously. Midna can't teleport herself because she's still learning her magic, and because Twili magic simply doesn't have the range that Yiga teleportation does."

Link nodded slowly, peering out and watching the Yiga soldiers wander around. Not even half of them were Hylian- Link easily recognized Gerudo, Goron, Zora, and Rito people wearing Yiga garb. "...How did the Yiga become what it is today? Going from a cult-like group that supported the destruction of Hyrule to a rogue rebellion fighting for its survival?"

"The Yiga never wanted Hyrule to be destroyed, they only wanted a certain beast to be revived. Sometime in the past, when Hyrule was threatened, the Yiga teamed up with the Hyrulian Army to fight it off and were given time to prove that they would be willing to be peaceful. It took the other races a long time to accept the Yiga, but here we are now. Back at square one."

Across the room, Ashei hoisted herself up onto a risen platform, looking down on the crowd of people. She didn't need to say much for people to quickly notice that one of their generals clearly wanted to address them. She didn't have her mask on but wore all of her other equipment. "Mipha will not be joining us during this battle," Ashei began, her voice echoing through the room. "But I know that we can do well enough without her. This is our opportunity to prove that the Gerudo can trust us."

The Yiga in the room cheered.

"Right now, a large group of Sheikah have the town surrounded- and the Gerudo will surely lose without our assistance. They're severely outnumbered. Why the Gerudo are being attacked is unknown to- but we must help them."

Ashei stepped aside as Ganondorf appeared next to her, surveying the crowd. "We have many people missing due to being busy in the city, but we do not need too many soldiers to aid the Gerudo. Have confidence. We know how the Sheikah fight, and how to counter any of their attacks or tactics. We will also have the Gerudo's superior strength and defensive capabilities- there is no reason we shouldn't win!"

The crowd of Yiga cheered. Damien remained silent as he placed his mask on. He didn't appear reluctant- just tired. Ganondorf and Ashei disappeared in clouds of paper amulets, and the first rows of the crowd did the same. Link double-checked that he had everything he needed, and Damien placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're ready, right?"

"I've got everything I need." Link shifted closer to Damien. He silently thought back to what he'd seen of Gerudo Town in order to prepare himself. "Are you ready?"

"More than you, evidently."

Link didn't have time to retort, his words lost in his throat as Damien transported them out of the facility. The sudden transition between the cool air in the facility to the hot wind of the Gerudo Desert disoriented Link, and he brought up his hands to shield his eyes. They were now standing a decent distance from Gerudo Town, near what seemed to be a small outpost. Link stretched, watching more Yiga soldiers appear, and spotted Midna and Ghirahim among the crowd.

Gerudo soldiers were lined up outside their town, and Link was able to find the Sheikah soldiers among the dunes, lying in wait. He took a few steps to get used to the odd footing that the sand provided. "I'm ready to fight," he said aloud, walking near Damien.

"I hope you're ready to kill," Damien gravely responded, "because the way to stop a Sheikah who fights for Zelda is by killing them."