A/N: So looking back, the last two sections of the previous chapter should've fed into the beginning of this one (starting with the nightmare). I may move things around at a later date, but in the meantime, I do apologize for this short 2k chapter. I'll try to get the next one out later this week as an apology for the brevity of this one.

Alone in the Darkness, We Find a Light

Strings of Fate Unwind

New Faces Emerge, Unveiling the Questions

That Once We Left Behind

Secrets Kept Close, Guarded by Grief

Hyrule opened his eyes the next morning to a mild headache. Well, he supposed that much was to be expected what with the blood loss from his injuries the other day. Not to mention the fact that he was a dumbass and stayed up half the night with Legend.

His mentor. What an odd thought that was. Suddenly, Hyrule really hoped they didn't hit his lands for a long while—he really didn't want the others to see what had become of the kingdom they loved and cherished.

The more of their worlds he saw, the more he realized how bad off his was. He felt ashamed. They called him a hero, but he certainly didn't feel like one. He didn't act like one, either.

"Morning." He greeted Time.

"Morning, Hyrule. How're you feeling?"

"Bit of a headache, but that seems to be it." He shrugged, rolling his shoulder a bit to test the new scar tissue.

"Careful. You don't want that reopening." Time chastised. "Since we don't want to risk anything, we'll have you ride Epona while we travel."

Hyrule blinked. He grew up on a farm, so he was no stranger to horses. But he hadn't expected Time to baby or worry over him like this. Was it because he'd been accepted by Fi? No, it was just him being nice. Hyrule was their healer, after all. Healers were arguably the most important person in the party because so long as the healer was okay, the survival rate of everyone else typically stayed in a favorable range. If the healer was taken out, everything went to hell.

"If that's what you think is best." Hyrule nodded.

He sat down beside the Hero of Time with a small sigh. Hyrule idly fiddled with the small braid that'd come undone in the battle. For the last few weeks, Navi's braid had held, and seeing it come undone in the aftermath of that fight was chipping away at his heart. He was trying to get it back into shape, but despite Navi's best efforts, he just couldn't get braiding hair down.

Time laughed quietly. "Here, let me." He reached over and started braiding with deft fingers. "An old friend taught me how to do this, and I do it for my wife often."

"You're married ?" Hyrule blinked.

"Oh, yes. Happily so." Time smirked. "But don't tell the others just yet. I'm waiting to see how long it takes them to notice the ring."

Hyrule snickered and nodded as Time tied off the braid. It was just how Navi would do it, and he felt himself sigh in relief. It was a silly thing to panic over, but that braid was special to him. It was all he had left of Navi. "My missing friend would braid my hair like this all the time. She often took to hitching a ride in my hair." He chuckled quietly. "She'd cook and practically mother me. I'm sure she and mom would get along well."

He could hear the telltale sounds of the rest of the camp waking up. A few of them tried to scrounge some sort of edible breakfast together while Hyrule and Time continued to talk. He spared a smile and wave to a grumpy sleep deprived Legend.

"You know your parents?" Time blinked, and a few others looked over in interest. Hyrule bit back a laugh when he recalled Legend asking him the same thing in nearly the same tone last night.

"Yeah. My parents and siblings are all alive, but I haven't seen them in years. I've still got Ganon's monsters after me, and the last thing I want is to drag them home. We send letters, but that's all I'll ever get." He sighed.

"Wow, you've got siblings, too?! How many?" Wind asked, a bright eager smile on his face.

"Three older brothers, a baby sister, and a baby brother who I've never met." Hyrule answered. He couldn't say no to such an excited boy.

Warriors whistled. "That's quite the family."

"My parents died in a storm at sea when Aryll was a baby." Wind kicked his feet from his perch on a log. "I don't remember them much, but grandma misses them a lot."

"Never knew mine." Twilight shrugged. "I was raised by the village."

"Hey, how long on breakfast?" Legend huffed, crossing his arms.

"Just a bit more." Four flailed a bit. "I don't wanna undercook these eggs—that's really dangerous!"

"Don't burn them either!"

The eggs were saved—barely—by an overeager Wind. They weren't the best, but they weren't terrible. To Hyrule, who'd often contented himself with strange plants and insects, it was a feast fit for a king. He finished off three whole eggs, this time.

"You look satisfied." Sky smirked.

"Well, yeah! Eggs are packed with protein and nutrients, and I don't get them often. Birds are really protective of them, and you can forget trying to get a hold of Lizalfos eggs on an empty stomach." He laughed a bit, but the others shot him concerned looks.

"You've eaten Lizalfos eggs?" Legend's reddish brown eyes glinted in concern.

"I mean, when you're hungry enough..." He shrugged.

"Did you have a famine or something?" Warriors tilted his head. "One hit my Hyrule towards the start of the war. It was pretty bad, but because I was actively serving at the time, I was fed." He got up and helped the others start packing up. They'd wash the dishes when they reached a river.

"Er... something like that." Hyrule scratched the back of his head as Legend helped him up on Epona's back. "At any rate, where are we headed?"

"I was going to go ask the Zora what's up."

Hyrule turned in the saddle to stare incredulously at Twilight as they started to walk. "You're going to ask ."

"Yeah?" Twilight gave him a raised eyebrow, like he found the question strange.

"The Zora. " He affirmed, wondering why this seemed normal to everyone else.

"Yes?" Twilight frowned. "The Zora and I have been on good terms since I helped save their last remaining prince."

"So they aren't going to bite our faces off?" Hyrule stared for a moment, half-convinced this was a joke.

"No. The Zora are a peaceful people." Time stated with a frown.

"They're anything but where I come from." Hyrule sighed. Just another difference, he supposed.

"I've got some violent Zora in my Hyrule, too." Legend spoke up. "The freshwater Zora are bound to attack you on sight—especially the ones in the rivers. But the Zora in the ocean are friendly and typically accepting of strangers."

"Well, I've never really been to the sea." Hyrule admitted. "If there're friendly Zora there, I certainly wouldn't know."

"You've never been to the sea?!" Wind looked personally offended.

"I mean, I've been to the coasts, but I've never explored beneath the surface." Hyrule smiled as they traveled. "I prefer to keep my feet on dry land."

"The fastest route is up here through this cavern." Twilight interrupted them as they came to Lake Hylia. "It's been under construction for the last few years, but the Zora have managed to keep the monsters from nesting here." He led them inside a massive cavern. Hyrule stared around in awe. It was enormous and spacious. He idly wondered how many centuries it took for the water to carve out a path like this.

"It's so biiiig !" Wind gaped, voice echoing in the cavern. "Haha! ECHOOO!"

"That's enough." Time shot Wind a look, which had the boy ducking his head immediately. "We don't know how unstable the cavern is—I don't feel like a cave-in today."

"Er... that's probably for the best." Twilight winced as a few rocks fell to the swiftly moving river below. "I certainly had to avoid my fair share of falling debris when I traveled through here on my journey."

"How did you get through here?" Warriors asked, eyeing the path they were following. "This construction looks fairly new."

"I rode a flying monster I'd managed to tame upriver."

Hyrule wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, and from the looks of it, neither did any of the others. Twilight had spoken with an entirely straight face.

"Right." Legend finally stated. "Moving on."

"Ah, here we are!" Twilight grinned as the light ahead had the group blinking fiercely. Hyrule was mostly unaffected, having gotten used to sudden drastic changes in light over the years. His eyes tended to adjust quickly.

He marveled at the Zora guards who stood on either side of the fast moving river. They were nothing like the Zora he knew. They stood tall on two legs and had hylian-like faces. If anything, they looked more like people than monsters.

"Link!" One of them waved with a smile. "Welcome back. Come for a visit?" It startled Hyrule a bit to hear them speak .

"I was wondering if you'd heard of anything unusual going on, lately?" Twilight asked, tilting his head.

"Mmm... Can't say I have, but we don't get much news down here. Though a couple of the Zora upriver have been to Telma's lately... maybe they've heard of something?"

"Thanks, I'll go ask." Twilight nodded as he led the group up a rather narrow passageway. Hyrule stuck as close to the wall as he could, eyeing the water with distrust. Legend seemed to be in a similar boat, but that was likely due to his mermaid curse.

The Domain was beautiful. Hyrule never knew that the Zora were capable of such feats of architecture. "Wow." He breathed out.

"Pretty cool, huh? Should've seen it when it was covered in ice." Twilight grinned, patting Hyrule on the back. He stumbled forward and backpedaled several steps when it nearly had him face planting into the water.

Hyrule stared around for a moment before realizing there was no stairway up. "There's a path behind the waterfall." Twilight explained. "But you've gotta swim to get there. If anyone wants to stay dry, you can wait here."

"I'd rather we not split up after defeating those black-blooded enemies." Time spoke up. He looked at Hyrule and Wind for a moment. "We've had sudden Switches before—that is, travel without a full portal. There's no warning, and if we're separated at the time, then we're separated wherever we land."

Hyrule winced. "There's just... one little problem." He spoke up, face red. "I... erm... I can't swim."

Wind gaped at him. "What do you mean you can't swim?! I thought everyone could swim!?"

"Not everyone grew up on a Hyrule surrounded by water." Legend frowned. "I'd rather not get wet, so I'll stay with Hyrule. We'll be fine—if a Switch happens, we'll just meet up at the nearest town or build a fire."

"Wait." Hyrule reached into his bag. "I've got some communication crystals I picked up in a neighboring kingdom on my travels." He handed one to Time, who looked at it with intense interest. Hyrule held up his own and pushed a bit of magic into it. "We can speak through these over a fair amount of distance." His voice echoed from the one in Time's hand, causing the older hero to startle a bit. "You've just gotta push a bit of magic into it."

"I can do that." Four announced, taking the crystal from Time. "Not many of us can use active magic like that, so I'll keep a hold of it from our end."

"Right, Sky, Warriors, why don't you two stay behind with Legend and Hyrule. If anything happens, I'd feel better knowing our strength was spread evenly."

"Right." Warriors grinned. "That also means I don't need to worry about messy hair."

"I can still shove you in this water." Legend threatened.

"Only if you want me to drag you in, too."

Hyrule watched them swim off, mildly jealous at their ability to stay afloat.

"So you really can't swim?" Legend frowned.

"Nope. I sink like a rock. I can't tell you how many times I've almost drowned." He laughed a bit.

"That's not funny." Legend scowled. "I'd like Wind to teach you some stuff. Just basic treading and whatnot."

"Why can't you do it?" Warriors challenged. "Or can't you swim?"

"I can swim just fine." Legend huffed. "But my techniques aren't something that Hyrule can use."

"Oh? And why's that?"

"None of your business."

"Guys, can we not—"

Whatever Sky was about to say was abruptly cut off when the ground vanished beneath them.