Link gave the dying embers of his fire one last poke, before sighing and kicking dirt over it, extinguishing its final dim glow and leaving the small cave lit only by the pale, rainbow-ripple of light coming off of the tele-pad and shimmering atop the little pools of water scattered around.

The silence settled around him like a cloak, broken only by the faint rustle of sleeping deku babas and Navi’s soft, indistinct murmurs as she shifted around in her sleep. It was… welcome, after all the chaos of the past few days—

(After walking through Kokiri Forest, after seeing the unchanged visages of those he grew up with, after being unrecognized and feared and treated as a stranger, even by Mido, Mido who taunted him, Mido who scoffed at him, Mido who hated him at the end, after the Great Deku Tree—)

—well.

The silence was a welcome thing. No one asking-demanding-pleading for his help. No one assuming. No one chattering his ear off. No one shoving him towards yet another temple to clear.

Link grimaced and rubbed at his eyes, before stretching and pulling the Master Sword and his shield from his back, setting them beside his bedroll and promptly flopping down on his stomach. He tucked his face into his elbow and breathed out, forcing his body to relax even as he allowed his mind to roam.

(Three temples down — Forest, Fire, Water — and… where to go next?)

(Saria, Darunia, Ruto… who else was he going to lose to duty, to necessity?)

(Who was next, where were the last two temples?)

(He… didn’t know.)

He heaved a sigh and carefully shifted his thoughts away from those lines, before anything worse could creep in and weigh him down like the iron boots; he had things to do and no time to waste on feeling sorry for himself. Not if he wanted to save Hyrule from Ganondorf. Not if he wanted people to survive.

(Like the Kokiri.)

(All the bright, cheerful, innocent Kokiri he’d grow up with, made mischief with, learned with—)

(He might not be Kokiri in body, but they were still his people, even if they never acknowledged it — or him — again.)

Link twitched. Pressed his face further into the crook of his elbow. Wrenched his thoughts back to the present and just… focused on the world around him. On Navi’s soft noises. On the rustle of the deku bakas. On the lapping of water against sand. On the murmur of a distant voice—

(Wait.)

(A distant voice?)

He carefully lifted his head a few inches and squinted at the cave around him even as he strained his ears, trying to make out what the voice was saying. It was… strange, the words odd and distorted, almost like how the Zora sounded underwater except… different. Stranger. Less musical and more… more… he wasn’t really sure.

More importantly, though, he had no idea where the voice was coming from.

He strained his ears. Cocked his head this way and that. Scanned the little cave and came up with nothing.

He could hear the voice but it didn’t sound like it was coming from anywhere. Or… it was coming from everywhere? Directionless but there, and… he might not know the words, but something about them felt familiar, in a horrible way.

(Felt like an echo of King Zora’s request, like Link the Goron’s tears, like Saria’s quiet goodbye…)

Link frowned and tucked his face back into his elbow, trying to block out everything but the unknown voice. His focus narrowed, narrowed, until even the sound of his breathing faded from his awareness, until the sharp, desperate voice came closer, closer still—

“——————, —— back!”

Link twitched at the shout, so loud it was as if the person was yelling directly in his ear, and swallowed the urge to jerk away; whoever it was, they weren’t talking to him, he didn’t think, but they were in trouble. Trouble that he had no idea how to alleviate—

(He didn’t even know who this was, or how he could hear them.)

(He could barely understand them even now!)

“— —— never —— — – monster like ——, —— — won’t let you —— —— any longer.”

The confrontation wasn’t getting any better. He felt… he felt like he was about to step into a trapped room, like he was about to confront another of Ganondorf’s minions— fight or die, win or remain forever trapped—

“I won’t— I won’t…! Hrrk—”

With a scowl, he reached. Reached towards the voice, reached towards the pain—

Something snapped into place.

Fear-shock-terror!

Link opened his eyes. Blinked down at the pale, pale hands that flexed at his command, fingers slender and uncalloused and smudged with blood. Looked up at the tall man looming over him. Took in the sneering smile, the arrogance and pride gleaming in dark eyes, the bloodied blade held confidently in the man’s right hand. Knew without question that this man was the monster the voice was decrying.

“Oh?” the man murmured, gaze sharpening and one corner of his mouth curling up. “And what do we have here? Another mongrel—”

Link drove himself to his feet. Ignored the sharp-hot pull of pain radiating through his right shoulder. Reached back with his left, closed slender fingers around the Master Sword’s hilt and drew—

Surprise echoed at him from inside (::Who are you?::) and shone bright in the man-monster’s eyes as Link struck. Their blades collided and Link turned, twisting to let the man-monster’s (::Yhwach, his name’s Yhwach…::) blade slide away before the other could try to press the advantage.

(This wasn’t his body, but it was still slender, still wiry instead of built.)

(He wasn’t going to get into a blade lock if he could help it.)

Yhwach caught himself before he unbalanced and turned to keep Link in sight. “A clever little mongrel, I see,” he mused as he struck again, frown growing as Link deflected the blow. “Where did you come from, I wonder…”

Link huffed and shook his head at Yhwach, wondering why the man was talking mid-combat; it was such a waste of breath and focus, after all. Why did it matter how he’d gotten here, or who he was? He was here now, and he was going to end this battle since the one he’d heard couldn’t.

::He has the ability to undo any damage you deal to him,:: the voice told him as he began to circle Yhwach. ::And he can force anyone who shares his blood to act according to his will, so watch out for Kurosaki and Ishida.::

Link hummed in acknowledgment, though he didn’t take his gaze off Yhwach, familiarizing himself with the way Yhwach moved and shifted in response to being circled, while also familiarizing himself with the way this body moved. It was different from being frozen in time and waking up in his grown up body (::You were… what?::) but not a terrible change.

(At least this body had nearly the same height and reach.)

“Playing coy?” Yhwach taunted, a wicked smirk curling the corners of his mouth up. “Or are you only capable of striking when cornered?”

::Don’t let him bait you,:: the voice urged, almost like Navi would.

Not that Link was interested in being reckless—

(No potions, no bottled fairy, no supplies…)

(No, he wasn’t interested in taking risks.)

—but it was a good reminder. Especially since he didn’t have Navi with him to guide his strikes either.

He adjusted his grip on the Master Sword. Continued to slowly circle. Lifted his right hand and beckoned—

Yhwach growled and lunged, blade swinging for Link’s neck, something starting to glow in the man’s off hand—

(::Avoid that!::)

(He was working on that, thank you!)

—and Link threw himself backwards then immediately forward again, straight into a roll that brought him in under Yhwach’s guard. He drove himself up, ignoring the pain jangling through his right shoulder, and thrust—

Yhwach spat a curse and flickered away in a rush of power, his off hand pressed to his side and expression twisting as something wavered about the world and—

“What the hell did you do?!” Yhwach roared, blood still trickling over his fingers and staining his white coat red. “You— you—”

(::How in the world…? He… can’t heal that?::)

Link hummed as he hopped backwards, giving the Master Sword a quick spin to resettle it in his grasp; he could see a faint glow emanating from the blade already, could feel the way it was growing stronger as his intent hardened, and he knew, he knew, that Yhwach was falling prey to the Blade of Evil’s Bane.

(Now he just needed to finish it.)

(But how best to do so…)

(Hmm…)

Yhwach scowled and forced his hand away from his side. “You think this—”

Link scoffed. Began circling the man again.

“—will be enough—”

Yhwach was moving slower. Was favoring the side Link had wounded.

“—to let you—”

He wasn’t keeping up with Link’s movements.

“—win—”

Link bared his teeth. Hurled himself into a side-roll. Let his mind blank as pain seared across his nerves. Let instincts honed through life-or-death guide his body through the roll. Through finding his feet. Through leaping—

“—hrk!”

Through slicing his blade up Yhwach’s back!

The man gasped. Stumbled forward. Fell to his knees with a jagged cry, blood streaming down his back and pooling across the floor. Stabbed his blade into the floor and leaned onto it, head tipped down and breath coming in short, sharp pants.

Link stepped forward. Adjusted his grip on the Master Sword. Took a steadying breath and—

Struck.

(::Oh…::)

Yhwach’s head thunked to the floor. Rolled. Came to a stop not far away.

Yhwach’s body slumped forward. Collapsed. Began to fade, wisps of dark smoke rising into the air, cloying-powerful-vicious—

Link scowled. Swept the Master Sword through the gathering smoke. Let the glowing blade disperse the rising miasma before it could do something disastrous.

(::He’s actually gone…,::) the voice in his head murmured as Link stepped closer and nudged the fading body with one booted foot, contemplating how swiftly the man had fallen. (::You really… thank you. I don’t know who you are, or how you came to be here, but… thank you.::)

Link hummed in acknowledgment and gave the Master Sword a quick twirl to displace the final, fading droplets of blood, before reaching up to sheathe the blade upon his back. He took a half step to the side and slowly turned, taking in the strange area he found himself in; it seemed… almost like a throne room of some sort? Except there was no throne in sight, just a raised central area surrounded with purple drapes. So perhaps a boss room of some sort, though he had no idea how such a barren arena might benefit Yhwach.

(::This was the Soul King’s throne room,::) the voice told him wearily. (::We… were not quick enough,::) it continued sadly. (::I did what I could, followed Kurosaki and Ishida as quickly as I was able, but… it wasn’t enough. I was not enough. I am… unsure what will happen now.::)

Movement to one side caught his eye and Link turned. Blinked. Stared at the two men who warily approached him, one dressed similarly to Yhwach but seemingly carrying no weapon and the other wearing a strange, flowing outfit and carrying the largest blade Link had ever seen—

(Seriously, how was a blade like that even functional?)

(::Kurosaki Ichigo makes it work. Somehow,::) the voice offered with amusement.

“Rerugen-san…?” the man dressed similarly to Yhwach (::Ishida Uryuu::) asked.

Link tilted his head in question, then looked down at his-not-his body again and made a thoughtful noise; clearly, the voice he was hearing in his head was this Rerugen-san, which meant… the voice he’d followed into this situation was Rerugen-san’s. He reached up with his left hand to run a finger over the (oddly short, oddly curved) edge of one ear, considering the implications.

This… wasn’t his body. He knew that from the beginning, from the moment he opened his eyes and stared down at soft, slender hands, but to know and to know felt… different.

He frowned. Spread his-not-his fingers wide. Considered the shape Rerugen-san’s hands made and the feel of the curved (human!) ears upon Rerugen-san’s head and gently nudged the feel-shape-knowledge of Hyrule — of Kokiri and Hylians and Humans, of the vast mist-shrouded forest and the great castle and the deep lake and the rolling plain tying them all together — towards Rerugen-san. Felt the way the other gasped and swayed and cringed back, overwhelmed by it all but struggling to take it all in. Felt the way their shared pain swelled as their shared mind scrambled to keep up. Felt the way darkness began to crawl closer, even as Rerugen-san turned worried-fearful-lost—

Felt his-their knees give way. Felt themself hit the ground, felt hands grasping their arms, jarring sharp-painful-vibrant against their senses—

Felt themself fade.

(Well… at least they could finally get some rest.)

(Everything would be better when they woke.)

(They knew it.)