...
...

Ooohhh boy... what happened?
The castle... attacked by undead... The Royal Family!

Oh Gods, the pain... Wait... Where was here? Definitely not the castle grounds...

???: About time you woke up. We wouldn't want Hyrule's hero meeting such a terrible fate, now would we?

The knight looked up toward the voice. His vision was still blurry, but eventually it went away and he could see clearly.
The voice belonged to a small male individual. He wore mostly green, as if he was the supposed "Hero of Courage" himself, but he had some kind of brown shoulder cloth on him. Plus his face just seemed way too... depressed. His deep ocean blue eyes... should the word for them be "complimenting" or "worsening" this miget's already depressing face. His face almost seemed... Call it a stretch but it seemed "dead" somehow.

???: No seriously, I'm asking. Do we want a hero around here or should I have just left you there for dead? Hm?

This wasn't getting anywhere fast. The knight tried standing up but immediately his leg stinged in pure pain and sent the knight falling back to the ground.

???: Oh yeah, you nearly bled to death by the way. Might want to stay off the leg there Link. Not like it's any skin off my back either way.😒
Link: *groan* How did you know my name?
???: Pretty much everyone names their baby boys "Link" nowadays. Besides, saw the triangle on your hand. Doesn't take a Sheikah to figure it out you know.
Link: What? What triangle?

The stranger rolled his eyes, stood up, walked over to Link, grabbed Link's left wrist, and practically threw it at Link's face. Link flinched from instinct considering his wrist was close to hitting his face. But then he saw something... glowing. He only had a quick glimpse before he instinctively freaked out, but he knew what glowed. On the back of his left hand was the whole Triforce glowing on his hand, with the bottom triangle to the left glowing especially bright.

???: And now it begins. Normally I'd ask myself if any of the other "Heroes" ever freak out like you did when they found out, but the mental block in my brain is keeping me from saying it. Heck, it makes me not say anything right without sounding depressed. Which, ironically, I am.
Link: WHAT IS THIS!?
???: ...Looks like the Triforce of Courage to me. Congrats on winning the million dollar lottery boy, I guess.
Link: Oh no! No no no no no nonononono! No. No... (chuckles nervously) No, I'm no hero. Alright? Do I look like some hero to you?!
???: Wasn't my choice who you are or whom anyone is or was buddy. After all I don't give a d**n about any of it. And by the way, personality wise you are nothing like a hero but physically you look EXACTLY like what the legends say the Hero of Courage looks. Just saying.
Link: Look, I have no idea who you are but I'm no hero! I'm just a knight for the Royal Guard and- Oh dear Gods, the castle! The undead armies- Where are we I got to- *groan*

???: Remember? Your leg? Yeesh, you're all kinds of stubborn. You're across the field from Hyrule Castle Town and Hyrule Castle. I.e. you're close to the entrance to the Zora's Domain. And I might as well have pushed you back into the river because the Zoras are much more caring and more social then I'll ever be.
Link: Don't you care about Hyrule at all!?
???: Personally? Not really. Emotionally? Meh. Mentally? Well, on that note it's kinda like having a heart or a brain. It's just there, you know?
Link: Hyrule's in the dark and I'm stuck with some hopeless miget. Who are you and why are you here talking to me?
???: ...(scoff) You're joking right? You actually want to know who I am?
Link: 😡
???: *sigh* Well, let me warn you. Most people don't want to have anything to do with me- or are total perverts and write about themselves sleeping with me as if I give a d**n- but for those who actually seem to like me, my name is Ben. Just Ben. Benjamin if you want to formal.
Link: Well "Ben," if you're not going to do anything about Hyrule, at least take me to someone who can.
Ben: I'm sorry, but what happened to the whole "not a hero" act from 2 minutes ago?
Link: And I'm still no great Hero of Courage, alright? But I still have to do whatever I can to fight off whoever is the supposed reincarnation of evil. I'm a knight, so I have to do what I can and have to for Hyrule.
Ben: Wow. Such motivation and devotion. Kinda makes me wish I had something to live for.
Link: Cut the whole hopeless act already and help me!
Ben: You can go save Hyrule. I'm going to go figure out a way to kill myself.
Link: Um, hello!? My leg is still "busted up" you know! I can't walk for... for anything! You're the only individual around here that can help me and I need it more then ever! Please!

Ben stopped and thought about it. Somebody was ACTUALLY asking him for help. Him, a clearly worthless elf miget in a place currently experiencing its first plague of evil in a couple of centuries. Him. He didn't belong in Hyrule at all. Yet the oh great and powerful "not" Hero of Courage was asking him for help?

Well, the idiot's leg was pretty bad. Well, compared to the rest of his injuries anyway. The undead army was probably gonna try and spread throughout the whole of the Hylian Kingdom so they could put a lock-down on everything. If some amateur rebels or whoever didn't find Link first, the undead would. And the Zoras, though capable of taking care of Link, were probably too busy preparing for war right about now. Same for the Gorons. Same for the actually goodhearted Gerudos too, assuming they all haven't been captured for tension against whatever dark force was in charge of them. In short, Link was pretty much screwed if Ben didn't "help".

Sigh.... Suddenly, living with a bunch of sociopaths and psychopaths in a rather sophisticated mansion was sounding like a perfect vacation.

Ben: Okay, tell you what "not a hero". There's a group of people I know about that would just LOVE to help you with all this, but we'll never get there before the dark forces find us with that leg of yours. Fortunately there's a farming community within walking distance of here if we start walking right about now. Then we get a horse for ya to ride and I'll take ya to those people. After that, I'm done and gone. Okay?
Link: ...Thank you. Come on. We better get going like you said yeah?

Ben helped Link up and helped him walked toward where the next town was. Though it wasn't really in Ben's character to care about anyone- including himself- he did have enough care in him somewhere to help Link out.

Not like he had any other plans for the weekend anyway.

Meanwhile

Where in Hyrule was that freak of a Skull Kid!? Shadow Link was supposed to be taking the Triforce of Wisdom right about now. It doesn't take a whole night, day, and another night to capture a princess for crying out loud!

Finally the doors to the throne room flew open, and sure enough the Twilight Skull Kid came in at last. However, he stumbled as he tried to run to Shadow Link. As if he had wrestled with someone and the fight turned against him.

Shadow Link: About time you- Good Goddess of Power, what happened to you?
Twilight Skull Kid: Okay, um, don't get mad with me plz. Um... We couldn't catch Zelda.😅
Shadow Link: What do you mean by "couldn't catch her"?
Twilight Skull Kid: W-well, see, not only were there knights with her, but so was her bodyguard.
Shadow Link: ...And?
Twilight Skull Kid: ...Who happened to be a Sheikah. 😓
Shadow Link: No s**t. So wait, a Sheikah beat the H*ll out of you and a group of Stalmates? I mean, the Sheikah are no joke, don't get me wrong. But how-
Twilight Skull Kid: Okay look, turns out them knights got enough fight in them to keep all of us busy so that the Sheikah bodyguard could tell Zelda to not only gallop to the hills but also mention some things about "Four Sword" and "Oracles" and some junk like that before Zelda rode off into the forest. Hehehe😅...
Shadow Link: 😑... Skull... It's just a few dozen knights with swords and shields, maybe some bows and arrows, maybe a couple of bombs... HOW HARD COULD THEY BE!?😡
Twilight Skull Kid: Wait wait! It's not all bad I swear!
Shadow Link: Really? Oh what brilliant news do you bring me mysterious forest creature?
Twilight Skull Kid: Okay, so we captured the knights AND the Sheikah. You know, the I'll-sacrifice-myself-so-none-of-my-comrades-get-killed-type you know? Anyway, you'll never guess who this Sheikah is!
Shadow Link: 😡...*sigh* I can't begin to imagine who it is. Please, enlighten me.
Twilight Skull Kid: Well, turns out she's not just any Sheikah. She's THE Sheikah! You know, Impa the leader of the Sheikahs!😀
Shadow Link: 😕....(chuckles darkly) You don't say! Impa herself!? (Cackles) Oh wow! Impa! Ooooo, that's almost as good as Zelda herself! Hahahaha😂! Now even those blasted Sheikah have to bow down to us if they want their precious leader back!😈 HAHAHAHA! Good work there Skull! Zelda may just decide to come for Impa herself, and the information we could get out of Impa should be priceless!
Twilight Skull Kid: Assuming we could get her to talk that is.
Shadow Link: Oh, we'll get her talking alright. (Cackles maniacally)