The battlefield was alight with chaos. The Guardians loomed in the darkness, their mechanical bodies shifting as their deadly red beams locked onto the group.
"Guardians," Twilight murmured, eyes narrowing as he unsheathed his sword.
Time took a step forward, already preparing for battle. "We can handle them."
But Wild wasn't listening. His hands trembled at his sides. His breath hitched. The low, mechanical hum of the Guardians sent a spike of ice through his chest.
He had been here before.
100 Years Ago...
The air was thick with smoke, the scent of burning grass and blood choking the battlefield. Hyrule Castle loomed in the distance, half-consumed by Calamity Ganon's malice, the sky above it painted in an eerie, swirling red.
Seventeen-year-old Link stood amidst the carnage, his body covered in burns, cuts, and bruises. His breath was ragged, his hands slick with blood—his own and that of the fallen knights around him. He could hear their screams still echoing in his mind, the cries of those who had once fought beside him.
The Guardians surrounded him, their deadly blue lights flashing as they took aim. The beeping sound of their targeting lasers filled his ears, growing faster—louder.
Then—
BOOM.
The world exploded in white-hot agony.
A Guardian's laser struck him dead center in the chest. His body convulsed as the impact sent him flying, slamming into the ground like a ragdoll. His ribs shattered upon impact, and pain exploded through every nerve in his body.
He gasped. His lungs refused to work. Blood pooled beneath him, warm and sticky, seeping into the cracked earth. His limbs twitched, struggling to move, but the strength was already fading from his body.
"Link!"
A pair of trembling hands grasped his shoulders. His fading vision caught green eyes—wide, horrified, tear-filled. Zelda.
"No, no, no," she choked, pulling him onto her lap, holding him as if she could keep him together with sheer will alone. "You're going to be okay. Just hold on. Please."
His mouth opened, but only blood came out, dripping down his chin. He could barely feel his body anymore, the warmth seeping away.
"Link, stay with me! You have to stay with me!"
Her green eyes, now filled with desperation, locked onto his as she shook him, her voice trembling with every word. But his fingers twitched weakly, grasping at her dress as he gasped for breath.
"I'm... sorry."
His final words came out in a whisper, barely heard over the crackling fires around them.
Zelda let out a strangled sob, shaking him harder, as if she could will the life back into him. "No, don't say that! You don't get to apologize! You promised me!"
Her grip on him trembled as the light in his eyes faded, his body going limp in her arms.
And then, everything went black.
Reality.
Wild gasped, his body snapping forward as if he had been hit again.
Pain.
The pain was still there.
He clutched his chest, fingers digging into the fabric of his tunic as phantom agony rippled through his ribs, burning as if the Guardian's laser had just hit him. He barely heard the voices around him.
"Wild?!" Sky's panicked voice cut through the haze.
The others stood frozen, their faces pale—shocked. Because they had seen it.
They had seen everything.
They had witnessed the violence. The brutality. Wild had been struck down—his body torn apart by the blast, his final moments spent in Zelda's arms as she tried desperately to keep him alive.
Wind's face was ghostly pale, his hands trembling. Four's breath came in uneven gasps, his expression unreadable but stricken. Warriors looked shaken, their usual stoic demeanor cracked under the weight of what they had just seen.
Twilight's fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. Time's eyes were dark, his face unreadable, but the tension in his posture spoke volumes.
It had been violent.
It had been brutal.
And none of them had ever seen anything like it.
Wild still couldn't breathe. The pain in his chest hadn't faded, lingering like a ghost of his past. His vision swam as his knees buckled.
"Wild—!"
His body collapsed before he could register what was happening.
He barely felt the hands catching him, steadying him.
Someone was talking to him, but it was muffled, distant.
He wasn't in the present anymore. He was there, lying in Zelda's arms, choking on his own blood, feeling her warmth as the world faded away.
"Breathe, Link."
A firm voice broke through the haze.
Wild gasped sharply, his lungs finally obeying, the phantom pain in his chest easing. He blinked rapidly, his blurred vision clearing just enough to see Time kneeling in front of him, one gloved hand on his shoulder.
"Breathe," Time repeated, slower. Steady.
Wild's breaths slowed, though his body still trembled. Sky was beside him, looking rattled but worried. Wind and Four stood frozen, staring at him as if he might collapse again at any moment. Warriors had a hand on his sword, as if gripping something solid would ground him.
Twilight's voice was low but rough with emotion. "You died like that?"
Wild swallowed hard. He wasn't sure if he could speak.
They had seen it. They had felt it.
He had thought the others knowing about his past would be fine. He had thought they could just accept it and move on.
But now they understood.
Now they had witnessed it.
Wild let out a shuddering breath, forcing his body to stop shaking.
"I'm fine," he muttered, his voice hoarse.
A heavy silence followed.
No one believed him.
And for once...
He didn't believe himself either.
