A/N: Hello and welcome back! It's been a hot minute since the last update, and I'm very pleased to bring this new chapter to you. Sorry that it's short (only about 4.5k words) and that there isn't much that happens, but I hope you enjoy it regardless. We'll have another chapter of Wind and Arcadius bonding, so no worries there!

IMPORTANT: I've seen a few things online where people are using AI to finish unfinished stories. They'll plug in a fic and the AI will make up an ending for it. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!! DO NOT SUPPORT THIS ACTION! It is both highly offensive as a creator and morally horrendous. If you have any inclination to do so, then please, for the love of Hylia or Din or Nayru or whatever deity you follow—ASK THE AUTHOR'S PERMISSION. We pour our hearts and souls into these works. We bleed on these keys to bring you content that you can read FOR FREE. And to do something like that... It's beyond insulting. I am not one to anger, but the idea that someone could do that to my stories enrages me.

Because I know people enjoy my stories, I have vowed to never take them down. But if I were to ever find someone 'finishing' one of my stories with AI of all things.... Well, let's just not do that, shall we? :)

Now that that's out of the way, I'll kindly ask you all to keep an eye on both your own works and those of your friends and favorite authors.

Oh! I'm also working on an original novel now! I hope that when it's finished, you'll check it out! (There's actually two, and one was initially a Zelda fanfic that I've decided to modify into it's own original story, since it was a First story).

The moment the world stopped spinning, Link forced himself to his feet. The familiar forest was nowhere to be found, instead he found himself in the wide open plains of an unfamiliar kingdom. His gaze caught sight of the portal closing. An unfamiliar time.

"Fuck." He muttered a few more choice words in the direction of the divine before turning his attention towards Wind—who'd been knocked unconscious during the collision. The kid seemed thankfully unharmed, sans a rather nasty lump on his head where he'd collided with Daruk's Protection.

Link sighed, pushing his anger towards Hylia back. "Where do you guys think..." His eyes widened when he realized something important.

He was alone.

A sharp panic coursed through his veins with an ugly zing as his eyes flitted about. Urbosa, Revali, Daruk, Yatir, Mipha, Zelda— Nobody was here. And for the first time in three years, Link felt truly and utterly alone. His legs went numb as they crumpled beneath him, sending him to the grassy plains with a quiet thump. He hadn't been alone since the day he died.

He forced himself to take a deep breath. He had to calm down. He was going to get nowhere by working himself up into a frenzy. Link wrenched his eyes closed and made himself tune out his emotions and focus on the world around him. He concentrated on what he could hear. There were birds singing in the trees. Rabbits and other small animals scurrying in the grass. The wind brushed the fields with gentle invisible fingers as strange sounds—civilization, his mind offered distantly—echoed from the far north. He could hear a creek bubbling from the woods behind him.

He knew these sounds. Nature. The Wilderness. They were his home before anything else. Before the ghosts and kingdoms and politics and people. Something within him finally settled, though he felt terribly exposed and uneasy without his ghostly companions. He hadn't realized how comfortable he'd gotten with the concept of someone watching his back.

Finally, he opened his eyes. The panic was manageable—chased away by the sounds that comforted him. The world's song of life was the same no matter when he was, it seemed. He could do this. He would make it home. He had to.

As if answering his thoughts, five familiar flashes of green Spirit Flames lit up the field around him, fading away to reveal his missing companions. The relief that hit him was so strong that he would've fallen had he not already been kneeling on the ground.

"Link!" Zelda was the first to reach him, Revali hot on her heels. "Are you hurt?!"

He shook his head, words caught in his throat as he choked back a sob. The five of them flinched back in surprise for a moment before Urbosa's eyes flashed in understanding.

"It's okay to be scared." The Gerudo soothed, gently rubbing circles into his back.

"Scared?" Zelda tilted her head. "Why would he...?"

"Think about it." Mipha's voice was soft. "Has he ever been without one of us even once since the day you two died?" The hylian princess' expression fell into one of complete understanding.

"From what I know, it's normal." Urbosa informed them. "I've spoken to a few of the older ghosts when we visit the Zora or the soldiers, and it seems that there's a few... added inconveniences to being dead. Forming strong attachments is normal. And experiencing unusually strong emotions when something hits a little close to home is also natural."

Well, it made Link feel a little better about his freak-out. He took another moment to just let their presence wash over him. "Sorry."

"No, don't apologize." Mipha quickly helped him up. "We should apologize too—it took us a little longer to react than normal."

"Not exactly normal to have someone get shoved into a magic time portal." Revali noted sourly.

"The other heroes disappeared the moment the portal closed." Daruk explained. "They must be somewhere 'round here."

"How's Wind?" Zelda asked, and Link very much appreciated the change in topics. He was finally starting to feel a little more like usual—if a tad... displaced. The Champion dusted himself off and made his way back over to the child.

"Unconscious with a nasty bump on his head, but I don't see any major wounds. Mipha?" Link turned to see if his assessment was acceptable.

"He looks fine to me, but head injuries can be troublesome. You should probably find a quiet and warm place for him to rest until he awakens." She hummed, hands hovering lightly over the child's arm like she wanted to check him over. But as a ghost, she was incorporeal. Even on the nights of the Blood Moon, she and the others could not touch the living—though they were strangely almost solid for a handful of seconds, and Purah was still looking into the hows and whys. They could, however, physically interact with Fallen Ones. Link, Zelda and Purah theorized that it had something to do with the Malice in the monsters' blood, but it didn't explain the almost-corporeal state they sometimes had towards the living on those nights.

"Great." Revali huffed. "What a grand mess this is. We're stranded with an unconscious hero in another time."

"Look on the bright side!" Daruk grinned. "Yatir saw everything, so he can keep the place runnin' while we're gone!"

"The Hero's Festival." Link groaned. "It's in less than three weeks. I can't miss it."

Urbosa nodded seriously. "It would be like announcing to the other kingdoms that our Champion is missing. Thybrig in particular would be delighted, I'm sure. Unfortunately, there's not much we can do. This is out of our hands."

Link took a moment to send a petulant glare at the sky. "Are you happy now?"

A small swirl of wind whipped past him, and he got the distinct impression of regret, apology, this is how it must be. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not, but he swore he felt something like smug satisfaction there too. His scowl deepened. He didn't hate Hylia, but he certainly didn't like her much at the moment. "Your yearly offering is getting smaller, I'll have you know." He huffed.

"I'd admonish you for taunting a deity, but considering the circumstances..." Zelda shook her head. "Come on. We need to find the others and regroup. If we're going to join them on this Journey, we'll need to be a team."

"Dunno if you missed the memo, but 'Link' and 'team' don't really work well together." Revali gave her a look.

"Hey! I work plenty well with you guys and Yatir." Link pouted.

"Rephrase—you don't work well with strangers." The Rito straightened a few feathers as Link hoisted Wind onto his back. For such a tiny kid, he sure weighed a lot. He wondered if it was muscle or supplies. He frowned for a moment when he realized that it was taking more concentration than usual for him to keep his corporeal form. Not by much, thankfully, but the thought crossed his mind that perhaps being so far removed from his own time might have some inconvenient consequences.

"Revali," Link turned his attention towards his feathered brother, "can you take a look around and see if you can find anyone? Otherwise a town will do."

"Yeah, yeah." The Rito summoned his Gale and shot off into the skies. "As if you'd last a day without us!"

A small chuckle passed through Link's lips as he glanced around. He'd noticed it whenever he visited the other kingdoms, but his homeland seemed to have a very high ghost population when compared to everywhere else. In fact, he had yet to see a single one in this new time thus far. Mind, he hadn't been there long, but his Hyrule had them everywhere. He paused in his thoughts when he saw a man in red and white with a tall flag secured to his back running along the road.

"Oh! He looks like a mail carrier! He'll know where the closest town is, you can ask him." Zelda explained hurriedly.

"Excuse me!" Link called out, and the man jogged right over to him. He fought down the initial spike of suspicion that came from one too many Yiga attacks. "I'm afraid I'm a little lost and my friend here got hurt. Is there a town nearby?"

"Oh yeah!" The man pointed down the road. "If you follow this path, you'll find yourself at Castletown! And if you go that way you'll find yourself at Ordon Village! They're known for their milk and goats." He tipped his hat. "Well! I've gotta go! The postman never stops!" With a final grin he was off once more, leaving Link staring after him.

"I think it's a genetic trait of all hylians to be nothing short of odd." He decided as Revali landed beside him.

"Well, I didn't see the heroes, but there's a rather large town just down the road." He nodded in one of the directions the postman had indicated.

"Castletown. We just asked the postman." Zelda nodded.

Revali made a squawk of frustration. "If you're just going to ask, then why send me out to scout?"

"I do hope the heroes can find us." Mipha rubbed the webbing between her fingers lightly—a nervous habit, Link had learned. "Being lost in an unknown time is... unnerving."

"You can say that again." Zelda shook her head.

"Well, Castletown looked a lot closer to our location than... whatever other place your postman spoke of." Revali clicked his beak at the term. Link swore he heard the rito mutter something about Pages.

"Then I suppose we're headed to the capital." Link nodded as they set out.

The rolling hills around them were dotted by areas of water, likely from a recent storm. He spotted a few odd creatures running about—little orbs of fur that stood on extremely long spindly legs—but decided to keep his distance. Not only was he unfamiliar with the creatures and dangers of this era, but he had an injured person on his back. Link was in no position to fight at this time.

"It's strange." Zelda hummed as they walked. "The air feels different here."

"Yeah." Link nodded with a light frown. Now that he was paying attention to it, it did feel different. Not like when he left Hyrule to go to a neighboring kingdom—he could still sense the goddess' protection in this place—but it did lack the familiar taint of Malice. "There's something tainting this place. It isn't Malice."

"If this era is home to one of the Heroes of Old, then it's likely the residual energy from whatever ailed this land." Zelda sent him a small smile. "Nothing we need to worry about, I'm just trying to place when we are."

"It could be an era that we're unaware of." Urbosa interjected. "If the last known hero was ten thousand years ago, then who knows how much time stands between each era? It's entirely possible that the group of heroes cover many thousands of years' worth of time. There are likely many we've never heard of."

"As much as we all need to get home, it looks as if we are to be stuck here for the time being." Mipha sighed softly. "We may as well learn what we can about the history of our land."

"And studying the political situations of these prospering eras will only bring more power to our own." Urbosa's grin became something that sent a small shiver down Link's spine.

"Please don't make me study. It was bad enough to do it after my Journey, don't make me do it on one." The Champion pleaded.

"Beak up! Looks like we're almost there." Revali pointed towards the walls of the city. Link eyed the place, studying the layout and build of the architecture. He'd have to take some pictures with his Slate so the architects back home could replicate it.

The knights at the gate of Castletown gave him an odd look—likely due to the child on his back—but didn't say anything. He was grateful they didn't stop him, because the fact that Wind was still unconscious bothered him. Weren't people who were knocked out supposed to wake up relatively quickly afterwards? Plus Mipha kept eyeing the boy with more frequency—a sign that something really wasn't right.

Link was actually mildly impressed by the capital of this Hyrule—it was colorful and lively and held a brightness that seemed to remind him of Idlefyre, the capital of Caravanth. Though it was decidedly less fortress-y and more how Link would've imagined the capital of Hyrule to have looked a century ago. There was a rather busy marketplace that was bustling with movement and activity, but Link was busy looking for something that resembled an Inn.

"I can't make out this Hylian." He scowled lightly. It was far too different from his written Hylian back home. Thankfully the spoken language seemed to be the same. One blessing, at least.

"It would be stranger if the written language wasn't this different." Urbosa nodded. "Even the Sheikah's written language evolved over the course of ten thousand years, and theirs is said to be the most consistent across all the races—except, perhaps, for the Zora."

"Well, since you know Old Sheikah that should help a bit." Mipha looked around.

"Regardless of written languages, it seems the spoken Common of this era is understandable. Though it's different from ours, we're all able to comprehend it." Revali's voice made Link blink.

"You're right. I... never realized, but this isn't the Common of our era. Do you think that portal did this?" Zelda tilted her head in thought.

"We can debate that later." Link uttered softly, mindful of the ears around him. "Let's get Wind taken care of first. It bothers me that he hasn't woken up yet."

"You're right." Mipha nodded. "If there's a healer around here, you should take him there."

"Let's ask around a bit." Daruk decided. "Since we can't read anything, that'd be best."

A flash of green caught Link's eye, and he turned to stare at a passing ghost—a soldier. In fact, there were several ghostly soldiers wandering the streets of this capital city. He felt an odd sort of relief at that—not seeing spirits had him feeling oddly deafened, for lack of a better term. He debated for a moment on if he should reach out to one of them, but shook his head. There was no need to draw unnecessary attention to himself just yet.

"Pardon me," Link turned to one of the stall runners with a pleasant smile that often left the foreigners he met with dusted cheeks. "Do you happen to know of a healer around here? I'm afraid I'm new to town, and my friend here had a run-in with some trouble."

The girl blinked up at him with owlish eyes "Oh, y-yes." She shook herself as a bit of red spread across her cheekbones. "There's a doctor down the road to the west, but he's away at the moment. If he's hurt badly, you can go by Telma's Bar! She'll fix him right up."

"Telma's Bar... Thank you, miss." He sent her one last smile before heading in the direction the girl had indicated. It didn't take long for them to get lost. This era's Castletown was like a maze. Link couldn't help but wonder why they needed to make it so confusing.

There were several stray cats wandering the area, he noted. Cats were uncommon in his Hyrule, but they were apparently sacred to the goddess Din, according to the Gerudo beliefs. Sheikah honored dogs in the same way. Something Link had learned a few years ago was that cats were particularly sensitive to spirits. And they were usually very smart.

"Hello." He looked at the small group of cats that were following him. "Do you think you can lead me to Telma's Bar? My friend is hurt."

"Link, what are you...?" Zelda trailed off when one of the cats meowed in what could only be described as affirmative and dashed off down the road, stopping at the end to look over its shoulder to ensure he was following.

"Cats are the messengers of Din." Urbosa grinned. "It is said that they guide lost spirits."

"Well, we certainly fit that bill right now." Link snickered quietly, ignoring the confused gaze of a nearby drunk in an alley. "C'mon." He readjusted his hold on Wind and followed the feline down a few twisting alleyways and down a flight of stone stairs. At the end was a cracked door with the strange lettering of this era. It looked somewhat shady, but Link had a feeling that this was the bar he was looking for.

Link felt a small smile tug at his lips. "Thank you." He nodded towards the tabby that'd led them. The cat sat on the ledge of the alley with a smug expression. After a moment, it hopped down and left.

"Well... I'm surprised that actually worked." Revali shook his head. "But you should head in. That boy hasn't moved once since you two landed and it's worrying me."

Link nodded as he nudged the door open wider with his foot and stepped inside. For a bar, it was pretty empty. A man with glasses sat at a table in the back, nursing a glass of something while pouring over a book. To his left stood a woman, polishing some glasses behind the counter as a fluffy white cat lounged on the table beside her. The woman looked up when she heard the door creak, green eyes flitting from Link to the boy on his back.

"Are you Telma?"

The woman set the glass down and made her way around the bar. "And if I am?" She tilted her head and raised a brow.

"I was told you might be able to help." Link gave her a small smile as she grabbed something from a shelf. "He's been out for over an hour. Ah, forgive me. My name is Arcadius." If this was the era of another Link, it was probably best if he avoided using his given name. After all, Link wasn't a common name in his era; if it was uncommon in the other eras, it may cause issues.

"That's quite the name." Telma mused as she guided Link towards a couch that he could set Wind down upon. Link eased the boy off his back, sighing in some light relief as he stepped away and let his form go incorporeal. Keeping his tangibility up was far more taxing in this era, and that thought had him fighting off a frown. He ignored the way the white cat's eyes fixated on him the moment he let his tangibility drop.

Telma gently brushed Wind's hair away to get a better look at the injury.

"He's just a boy." The man who'd been at the table earlier was now standing near the couch. "How did this happen?"

"We got into a bit of trouble and were separated from our group." Link sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm not from here and have no idea where they might've gone."

"Hyrule's a big place." Telma agreed as she smeared some kind of cream across the lump. "But I know a lot of people. What're the names of your friends?"

"Well... There's Link?" It felt odd to say his own name in reference to another person, but going off the way both occupants of the room jolted, he assumed he'd made the right call.

"You're a friend of Link?" The man questioned, relaxing significantly when he nodded.

"Well, any friend of Link's is a friend of ours." Telma grinned broadly as she twisted off the lid of another—much smaller—jar. Link wrinkled his nose as a sharp unidentifiable scent accosted his nostrils. "Smelling salts." She explained, chuckling lightly at his expression. "Should wake him right up."

The moment the 'smelling salts' were held under Wind's nose, the boy's eyes fluttered open with a light groan. Link relaxed substantially when the unfocused blue eyes landed on him. "...wha?"

The Champion quietly summoned an Elixir from his Slate and held it out to the young hero. "Drink this. It'll help." The boy must've recognized him to some extent, because he downed the red substance with no hesitation. Almost instantly, clarity returned to his eyes.

"Where... am I?" Wind blinked, gently bringing a hand to his injured head.

"Well, that's some potion you've got, stranger." Telma shot Link an impressed look.

"Elixirs are more powerful than traditional potions." Zelda mused. "Perhaps it holds true even in the old days."

"Like I said, I'm not from here. We got separated from our group." Link sighed, eyes flitting to Wind as the child carefully sat up. He seemed much better, and the bump on his head was already visibly receding. He turned to address the boy. "We're in Castletown. This is a place called Telma's Bar."

"Telma?" Wind perked up. "Oh, I know you! Twi's talked about you!"

"Twi?" The woman raised an eyebrow.

"Link's nickname." He answered easily. "If this is his place, then we should meet up with everyone in Ordon! That's where we promised to meet up if we were ever separated."

Link felt something in his shoulders relax at that. If the group had a designated meetup spot, then that made everything a million times easier. "Right. We should rest here until your injury heals up a bit more, though."

Wind frowned at that. "I'm fine." He insisted. "That potion you gave me healed me right up!"

"Even so, head injuries aren't things to shrug off." Telma spoke up. "Besides, it's going to get dark soon. Hyrule may be safer than it used to be, but there's still bulblins and bokoblins roaming about. There's an inn down the road that'll let you stay for the night. If you need the rupees, I'll help you out."

"Thanks, but I've got the money." Link smiled. "We'll spend the night at the inn and head out in the morning. I'm sure the others are worried about us."

Wind pouted but nodded his head. "Fine."

"Shad, can you make sure these two reach the inn alright?" Telma looked towards the bespeckled hylian.

"Sure thing." He sent her a smile. "Sorry I forgot to introduce myself earlier. I'm Shad."

"Arcadius." Link ignored the curious glance from Wind. "And this is Wind. Don't let his age fool you, he's quite a fighter."

The boy perked up significantly at his words. Link idly wondered if he was used to people treating him with kid gloves.

"Good to meet you. When you see Link, tell him to stop by sometime. It's been too long." Shad smiled.

Link followed Shad and Wind, but stopped at the door. "Telma. Thank you. I really appreciate what you did for us, despite not knowing us at all." He had the feeling that the woman wouldn't accept any cash from him, so instead he pulled something else from his Slate. "Think of this as a gift."

She took the shimmering scale with a confused tilt of her head. "What...?"

"It's a scale from a sacred creature in my homeland—a dragon said to serve a goddess of the wind. Keeping it with you will bring you protection and good fortune." He smiled. "I get the feeling that anything else would be shoved back in my arms." He chuckled.

"Damn straight." She smirked. "I'll hold onto this, then. Do come around if you're in the area again."

"Will do." He nodded before heading out into the alley. Twilight was quickly descending upon the kingdom, and Link tilted his head as a strange foreign power swirled through the winds. An ethereal light—almost a glow—surrounded everything, giving the world an otherworldly aura. Magic that felt almost dark in nature thickened in a way reminiscent of the Blood Moons of his homeland. Though this power didn't seem to choke the land like Malice did, and his scars didn't so much as twinge.

"Strange..." Zelda held her hand up as she eyed the light. The skyline was almost gold in color. "I feel like... Well this is Twilight's era, isn't it? The Hero of Twilight was said to have saved the land from an eternal twilight. Though many scholars theorized that this was some kind of metaphor, perhaps it was far more literal than we realized..."

"Having seen the power of one hero's journey, I've little doubt that something of that nature would've been possible." Urbosa nodded before looking down. "We seem to be popular today."

"Ah, the cats are back." Revali clicked his beak in distaste as his feathers fluffed lightly.

"Not a fan?" Zelda shot him a smirk.

"Rito and cats... don't really get along." He quickly sidestepped one ambitious orange tabby that tried to rub up against his leg. "Shoo! Shoo!"

"So there is something you're afraid of." Mipha giggled.

"It's an instinctive thing!" He insisted as he hovered out of the felines' reach. "Daruk I swear if you laugh, I'll bring back the puppy."

"I'm not sayin' anything!" The Goron held up his hands in surrender, but he had a rather large grin on his face.

"And here's the inn!" Shad's voice cut through the ghosts' argument smoothly, and Link's attention snapped back towards the living just in time.

"Thank you." Link solidified and held out a hand towards the hylian. "We appreciate all your help."

"No problem at all." Shad gave a firm shake. "Any friend of Link's is a friend of ours. Stop by the bar if you ever need anything."

"I will." He nodded before leading Wind inside. Link ideally would've purchased two rooms—one for himself and one for Wind, so he could speak with his spirits in peace—but the boy was far too eager to book the room himself.

Once the two were squirreled away in the rented room, Wind turned towards him. "Thank you. You... I don't know what you did, but you saved me. And you got dragged along because of it."

Link took one look at the boy's rather guilty posture and sighed, resting a hand on his head. "It's done. My decision was my own, so don't feel guilty about this situation. You're safe, and that's all that matters."

"So... Arcadius?" He tilted his head.

"It's my middle name." Link smiled. "I needed to make one for myself due to... some extenuating circumstances. I figured this was someone's era, and going by the name 'Link' would only make things more complicated."

"Huh. I mean, my Zelda had a different name when I met her, so I guess it's something like that." He nodded to himself. He went to say something else but it was cut off by a rather large yawn.

"You should get some rest." Link—he supposed he should get used to Arcadius at this rate—smiled slightly. "You were unconscious, but that doesn't mean you've gotten any rest. My elixir helped, but you're still hurt."

"I suppose you're right." Wind rubbed at his eye. "We'll set off for Ordon tomorrow, right?"

"First thing in the morning." Arcadius smiled. "I'll wake you up."

"G'night, Arc."

"Good night, Wind."