Chapter Text
Their camp was filled with idle chatter, a fire crackling away as the sun dipped completely under the horizon. Wild hummed lightly as he cooked. Carrot stew is what he was making, along with some apple pie for dessert, as they had been traveling on foot for a week now— between Hyrules, too— only stopping to make camp.
They had ended up in one of their forests, days after a portal shift. They speculated pretty quickly just hours before that this was Twilight's Faron woods, and hopefully, they would reach Ordon by tomorrow night.
The champion could feel that the entire group was exhausted, even if Wind and Sky were the only ones visibly exhausted by the constant traveling; he could tell that everyone, including himself, needed a bit of uplifting. Dessert sounded like the best way to do just that.
As the sound of numerous conversations washed over Wild, he sighed happily. It's now such a familiar sound to him that he couldn't fathom how he had acted when he first joined, that uncomfortable feeling of being overwhelmed by the large group now a sense of ease settling in his heart.
The stew simmered as he heard the beginnings of a new argument between Warriors and Legend. Sky was attempting the role of mediator to settle the bickering duo.
After only a few minutes, one of them approaches him. “How's supper turnin’ out, Champ?” Twilight asks, “It's smellin’ good over here.” The older man observes, which makes Wild grin.
“It's almost done, just a little longer.” The champion then turns to the other, “Could you pass out the bowls?” He could only ask politely. To which the rancher agreed.
Dinner was served soon after, and it was just like every other one. At first, it was quiet after the ‘thanks for the meals’ were uttered and a chaotic unison, but chatter formed once more. Small stories from their own individual adventures, quite dramatized as Wind gestured with the wooden spoon on how he challenged a large bird with a hammer thrice his size.
Wind nearly made a mess of his food while scarfing it down, nearly lectured for it. Compliments were passed to the cook just like every other meal. However, what was not said were the highest of compliments; Wind's excitement, the conversations, and sometimes arguments were his favorite parts of cooking for these heroes.
The bowls were nearly licked clean as he gathered up the now-emptied bowls.
The chain cheered as the cook brought out the apple pie. Even if they seemed full after eating, their stomachs— especially Wind’s— seemed to empty at the dessert. It couldn't have made Wild happier.
They had all gathered around the fire, with different conversations happening as the group split into smaller groups to have a more focused conversation with others.
Four, Warriors, and Time were having some sort of conversation that Wild couldn’t specifically make out, but he could assume they were talking about weapons in some manner. Wind was pelting questions about Legend’s and Twilight’s adventures, Twilight laughing along, answering some of the kid’s questions while the veteran remained as closed-off and sassy as ever.
Wild stared at the burning fire, eating his share of the apple pie with a smile. Hyrule had come over to him and started up a conversation as well.
“Your cooking is as good as ever!” Hyrule enthusiastically praised, stuffing his face with the pie, “Do you think you could teach me someday? I… Know my cooking isn’t that great.” The traveler’s face flushed with embarrassment, to which Wild laughed.
“That’s an understatement!” He gestured with his spoon, teasing, “I’m still surprised you all weren’t sick when we met, that pot of inedible goo still haunts me!” The champion gasps in dramatics.
Another person hummed, having walked over after Hyrule, “Just the pure luck of us heroes,” Sky sighed. Hyrule chuckled sheepishly, sitting down beside Wild. The cook bumped the other with his elbow.
“I could still try to teach you, maybe for breakfast tomorrow. But, ” He emphasized, “You have to listen to me; I fear that one wrong thing, and we won’t have a good day!”
The conversation continued, and Sky came to sit on the other side of Wild. As their talk became less about cooking and more settled, he smiled while watching the two enjoy their pies. He looked down at his half-finished dessert and continued to eat.
However, as he went for another bite, he heard something whizzing through the air. Wild looked up at the sound, confused. That sounded like…
Thunk!
His grip tightened on the plate as he felt a sharp impact on it, causing his eyes to fly right toward it. An arrow had landed on his plate.
One moment, he’s disappointed about the ruined dessert. The next, he’s dropping his plate and leaping to his feet.
“We’re under attack!” Wild shouts to the others, grabbing his bow from his side. The others also armed themselves just as quickly, assuming defensive positions.
It’s a tense silence, only the sound of the crackling flame and the rustling leaves from the chilly evening wind.
Before anyone could think to say anything, the ground beneath them tremored. Two tall moblins burst through the trees on opposite sides, armed with large clubs, their skin silver and black individually.
These are his Hyrule’s monsters, adrenaline pulsed through him as he notched an arrow and pulled into a safer backline to aim. In quick succession, Warriors rushed to attack the silver moblin, shortly joined by Wind. On the other end, the dark-skinned moblin rushed with its club, countered by Four’s swiftness.
A loud horn pierced the air, and a crowd of various colored bokoblins stumbled from the dark forest, followed by a menacing, larger , bokoblin.
“What is THAT!?” Legend yelled as he cut down a bokoblin. Wild pulled his bow back and fired at the bokoblins that outnumbered even their group.
Chaos quickly descended upon the camp. Their members were spread out. His eyes darted around, aiming his bow towards the larger bokoblin, shooting arrows at it as it settled into an offensive position.
Twilight and Hyrule were focused on the bigger bokoblin. Time had started to assist Four with his brute force. Sky, along with Legend, were rushing to slay the horde. Yet, they were all still overwhelmed…
Time alerted the rest as his sword was stained with the black moblin's blood, “There's black blood!”
Arrows flew into the camp, narrowly missing most of them. One of them wasn't so lucky as a pained shout rang out.
“Captain!” He heard Wind’s frantic screech. Time and Warriors both began yelling out coordination plans, the captain and Hyrule pulling back.
Wild pulled his gaze from the injured captain, this time towards the source of the arrows. The forest was dark, and he couldn't tell from a distance where exactly the archers were.
“I'm taking care of those guys!” He didn't wait for a response before running off. They all knew and trusted him, he was certain as he pushed himself through the chaos.
Whoosh! An arrow zipped past him as he ran deeper into the foliage, striking the grass below. the heartbeat in his ears was nearly deafening as he climbed one of the trees.
Taking a brief pause, he finally saw the monsters with bows. More bokoblins from his Hyrule, two of them. He jumped off the tree, pulling back three arrows on his bow, and released. He landed on his feet as he watched one of the archers fall to the ground.
He shot at the second one. This arrow hit the monster’s side. Wild fumbled to put another arrow in the bow, hands sweating, and the bokoblin shot back just as quickly as he aimed. The arrow pierced his shoulder.
He hissed from the striking pain, shooting his arrow at the bokoblin, bringing it down at last.
Wild wasted no time to linger. Staring one moment at the dead monsters to make certain they were dead before rushing back in the direction of the invaded camp.
CLANG! A sword went. Wild could hear the screams of effort pooling into the noise.
“You cursed ‘blins!” Shouted Twilight, a shing , then a clank from the man's claw shot aimed for the unusual bokoblin's legs.
Another yell rang out, Four was pushed away from the black moblin, losing his balance. Some bokoblins were rushing to pile the small man.
Wild whistled and shot a few arrows at the monsters, rushing to pull the smith up. “Thanks!” Four called before joining the fray once more. The champion climbed another tree for the vantage point, shooting carefully into the crowd.
Eventually, they were able to dwindle the enemy numbers. Wild could hear his body screaming for a break, the painful arrow wound digging into his shoulder. Still, he couldn't stop just yet, ripping the arrow out with gritted teeth.
Time was able to deliver the ending blow to the darker moblin with a huff. That old man never seemed to get exhausted from a battle, no matter how long it went on. The sigh of relief, however, could wait, as their attentions were redirected to the remaining two oversized monsters.
Three arrows were released from Wild's bow, only two striking the silver moblin's abdomen. Even so, it was enough for Wind to jump around in acrobatics and pierce the second moblin's head.
They all could see how injured each of them were, Hyrule now focused on pulling the more injured ones back from the fight to tend to their wounds.
Finally, after who knows how long, the big bokoblin was toppled by Twilight and Legend's combined efforts with the claw shot. Sky rushed forward and plunged the sacred sword into this monster's chest.
The ambush was unexpected, but they made it out alive. The tension of battle seemed to rush away just as they confirmed individually they were safe.
The chain was exhausted as they accepted their healer's pestering over their wounds, whether it be severe or ‘just a scratch.’
They never would have expected it. Wild wouldn't have.
The sailor groaned, “Where did those guys even come from?” Hyrule hummed thoughtfully as he cleaned one of the kid's cuts.
It was Legend who spoke up next, kicking at one of the corpses littered around their ruined camp, “They came outta nowhere, that's for sure.” The veteran grimaced at the black blood.
“They were monsters from… My Hyrule,” Wild pointed out, pressing a cloth to his arrow wound that Hyrule would get to after tending to the worst of their group. He continued, “Did any of you recognize that… Bigger one? It looked like some kind of bokoblin but…”
The group shook their heads. This was a new monster none of them had encountered, especially not of that look. Even if their monsters were larger, that one looked pretty different in comparison.
Time stood up, his arms crossed, “It seemed to be leading the rest of the horde,” The older man observed, “There was that loud horn before they came running in.” Twilight crouched down near the said monster's corpse.
“D'ya think it could be something with the black blood?” He wondered aloud, “If this… Infection. Whatever it is, could strengthen these ‘blins, does it change its appearance?”
The group went silent at that. They were all thinking of it.
“But we haven't encountered anything like that so far! So why now?” Sky argued, “Those other monsters still looked the same, right, Champ?”
The champion nodded, “The moblins were the same ones I encountered later in my adventure. They follow this color system, it seems, silver being the strongest and blue or red being the weakest.” He put his free hand to his forehead.
The air around them changed. Wild felt goosebumps rise all along his arms and his hair raising. This was a sign, he snapped his head up to the night sky.
Blood red.
But… They weren't even in his Hyrule. How could a blood moon be happening!? Wild got to his feet before he could even think about it.
He could feel the presence of evil that he came to know every full moon. The clouds rushing above.
Four screamed, “What's going on now!?” The group had tensed, standing up once more. Wild could barely hear their panicked and confused conversation as his hearing became muddled.
No, nononono… No. Not here . With all of these dead monsters, they'll resurrect, and they have to fight again .
Why is there a blood moon? It wasn't a full moon.
It wasn't a full moon tonight.
Right?
“Cub?” The rancher's concerned voice broke through his haze.
Wild was frantic, eyes scanning the area, “Time. Is tonight a full moon?”
The question seemed to bewilder the man, but he answered anyway, “No… What's going on, Wild? Do you know what this is?” Yet the champion opened his mouth, unsure of how to explain it.
He looked down at the corpses. They have to run. They have to get away .
They were in Twilight's Hyrule, though. Why is there something like this happening?
Everything in him wanted to run. Run run run run.
“I—” He choked, fumbled with his speech, “Blood moon, we have to go ,” Wild pulled his gaze up to the rest. Yet, he was met with widened, fearful eyes.
“WATCH OUT!” He couldn't hear who said it. Was it Warriors? Time? Hyrule? Wild watched as Twilight reached towards him.
But the warning was too late.
Something grabbed him. Something big . It constricted his torso and he felt that he no longer had anything underneath him. The wind violently slapped his face and the world spun around him. He heard a scream, his own scream.
Wild couldn't see any light of their dying campfire. He couldn't hear anyone. It was dark, and all he could hear was something . Blood red was all he could see from the sky above.
It sounded like something was rushing through the grass. He struggled against its grasp. It only screeched in anger and gripped tighter.
He felt his strength draining from him. The blood from his wound dripping down his tunic, he followed the trail with his eyes to see what was holding him.
Red . A deep red he was very familiar with. Malice.
Ganon.
Ganon .
The champion's struggle continued anew, his anger made his vision go blurry. He pushed against this… Monstrous, malice-infested hand. He noticed quickly that it wasn't just one hand, it was a group.
Was he going to die here?
Black dots filled his sight, the monster holding him constricting his torso further, like a snake strangling its prey.
Then all is dark.
— - —
No blood skies. No sound.
“..-ild!”
“Li-...!”
“.....-amp!”
Nothing.
…
Nothing…?
Splash! Rushing water filled his ears. He's awake. Where…?
The water threatens that he will sink, and he flails. It's too dark. Where is up? Where is down? He pushes forward. There's a blinding light, only drowned by the water's deepness. He swims towards it, towards the light.
It's not dissimilar to when he first awoke. The light draws closer and closer.
Wild gasped for air as the wind assaulted his soaked face and hair. Coughing up whatever water he swallowed. How did he end up in the water?
Where was he? As far as he knew, there was no body of water near their camp.
He's opening his eyes to…
Bright, yellow sunlight.
Sunlight?
There were the sound of birds and wildlife all around. Then, the sound of a horse's snort and whinny. A cart, or a wagon being pushed. Wild looked around and pushed himself to the closest shore. He was in a lake. A pretty deep one.
“Link!” He hears. A voice he hasn't heard in a long time.
“Zelda?” Wild turns, and he's greeted by his Zelda. His princess. She's in her expedition outfit, most likely doing more research with Purah, her long hair flowing behind her.
His princess runs up to him, taking him by his hand, pure worry but relief filling her eyes. “Do you know how much you have worried me? You've sent letters explaining such things but it's still unacceptable to… Wait—!” She interrupts herself.
“Zelda, I can—”
“You're bleeding! What have you been doing?! What happened? I'll be patching you right up before you even think of running off again!” She scolds. Of course she would, Wild sighs fondly, she was worried.
But… He looks around. There's no sign of any portal. He was alone coming back.
Time, Wind, Four, Sky, Hyrule, Legend, Warriors, Twilight…
He worries about them as Zelda pulls him back onto the path and sits him down to bandage him. He somehow ended up back here, with no sight of the monster that had grabbed him.
He could only hope they were okay.
Explaining the situation to Zelda was… A little difficult. She asked questions every sentence about the heroes of old, wondering what they were like. The history of Hyrule had long been lost with the Calamity, her enthusiasm was not at all unfounded.
Wild was Link once more.
Months passed. A year flew by, maybe two, he's lost track as he busies himself with Zelda and the Hyrule that they were rebuilding. So much time had passed and Zelda eventually decided to cut her hair short. Then, the reason he was truly sent back finally made itself known.
A soldier had rushed into Lookout Landing, reporting strange illnesses. The next day, a dark mist poured from beneath the ground near the castle.
Gloom, they called it. A substance similar to malice, but even more devastating as it rusted weapons and made people sick with seemingly untreatable symptoms.
The princess and her knight investigate after retrieving the Master Sword from its pedestal.
The knight would return without the princess days after a region-wide devastation. Thus, another adventure had begun.
The knight must find his princess. Find Zelda.