A/N: Hello! Lookie another update!! I'm on a roll with this story. Shoutout to my peeps on the LU Discord Server!! You are all awesome!

I wanted to give a GIGANTIC thank you to Spliinkles for my first piece of LU fanart!! :D You're amazing and I couldn't stop spazzing out over this piece! Thank you!!

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Warriors really liked Wild. He was energetic, always ready for a fight, unpredictable, and a damn good cook. Plus, even though he didn't really remember it, he was once a knight, too. Warriors felt a sort of camaraderie with him because of that.

"It's starting to get late." Twilight noted. It'd only been a few days since Wild had told them of his amnesia, and they were still in Twilight's Hyrule. It'd been about a month, now (and about half that since meeting Wild). They were all on edge. They could Switch at any time.

"I'll set up camp." Sky offered.

"We'll help." Hyrule chimed in, looping an arm around Legend, who scowled.

"I'll patrol." Wild grinned brightly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. The kid loved to find trouble, and patrols were the fastest way to find it.

That aside, in the short time they'd known Wild, they'd quickly realized he had an unreal propensity for wandering off. It happened at least once every two days if not more often. The question of 'where's Wild?' was getting to be frighteningly common.

"I'll come with you." Warriors walked over. It was expected that they all patrol in pairs whenever possible—especially when they were expecting a Switch. Wild nodded and the two set off.

"Hey, Warriors?" Wild hooked a thumb on his belt as he glanced at the sky as they walked. Though he wasn't looking at the forest path before them, the guy still walked with more elegance and grace than should be legal while Warriors was stuck stumbling over stray pinecones and loudly snapping twigs. Sometimes, he wondered if the kid was like Time, and grew up in a forest (which was about as much as they knew about Time's childhood).

"Hm?"

"Why's everyone so on-edge?"

Warriors blinked for a moment. "Oh, that's right. You've never experienced a Switch, have you?"

"A... a what?"

"That's what we call it when we're dragged to another Hyrule. We're usually scuttled off to the next one after defeating the black-blooded monsters, so we're expecting it any day, now."

"What's it like?"

"Well, it's a toss-up. Sometimes it's just a portal that opens up nearby, and the longer we wait to enter, the stronger the pull will become. Hylia usually gives us a few minutes to prepare before forcing us through. The other kind, however..." Warriors grimaced. "It's completely random and really disorientating. One minute we'll be doing whatever, and the next we're in a totally different place. No warning, just bam! And there's no guarantee that we'll be dropped into friendly territory, either."

"So that's why everyone's sticking together!" Wild realized. "So nobody's separated if the Switch is sudden."

"Exactly."

"Mmm..." Wild was silent for a long moment as he thought. His eyes strayed towards a tree from which brightly colored birds watched them. "What should I cook for dinner?" Wild wondered aloud. Now that he'd started speaking, they quickly realized that he was quite talkative. Wild muttered often and was always up for a conversation. He was incredibly intuitive and seemed to be sharply aware of others' moods.

Just yesterday, he'd managed to diffuse one of Warriors and Legend's arguments before things got too heated. Warriors, himself, was pretty crap at reading casual body language. He was good at reading the morale of his men, but when it came to people like Legend, he might as well have been trying to read a brick wall.

So Wild had noticed that Warriors must've ticked Legend off a bit much, because the other Hero was starting to tip over the friendly bantering that the two typically indulged in. Wild noticed before Warriors had.

"You're a knight, right?" Wild asked suddenly, snapping Warriors out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm a captain." He grinned proudly. "Do you remember your rank?"

"I'm pretty sure I was the Princess Zelda's personal guard. No idea what rank that would give me, though."

"You were a Royal Knight?!" Warriors groaned playfully, though he was very impressed. Not just anyone could become a Royal Knight. Hero of Courage or not, he must've been mighty talented with a blade. "You outrank me! No fair!" He cracked a grin as Wild laughed. "So I wanted to ask—"

Wild abruptly hushed him, ears twitching as they caught something Warriors couldn't hear. Was Wild's hearing really that much stronger than the rest of theirs?

The cook quickly scaled a nearby tree with such speed and stealth that Warriors almost didn't believe his eyes. After a moment, he jumped down nearly silently. "Bokoblin camp up ahead. Looks like a Moblin decided to join them, too."

Warriors nodded in understanding as Wild started making his way towards the monster camp.

"Wait, shouldn't we go get the others?" Warriors placed a hand on Wild's shoulder to stop him, mentally apologizing as the other hero flinched at the unexpected contact.

"It's just a bokoblin camp." Wild frowned. "I can handle that by myself."

Warrior's eyebrows shot up. "You've taken out camps like that alone? Even without the Master Sword?"

"I didn't get the Master Sword back until the last leg of my journey." Wild shrugged.

Get it back? He shook his head, that wasn't important right now. "Look, we should still grab the others. Better safe than sorry." Warriors was about to lead Wild back to camp, when the little gremlin shot him a mischievous grin. Before he could so much as speak up, Wild was gone, heading towards the monster camp alone.

Warriors debated for a moment before heaving a massive sigh and taking off after Wild. This kid was going to get himself killed! There's no way he could fight off an entire Bokoblin camp and a Moblin by himself. Especially if these guys were infected.

His mind briefly flashed to when he fought off that camp of black-blooded Lizalfos singlehandedly when they met, but the kid had still broken his shield.

Wild hushed him the moment they reached the edge of the monster camp. The monsters were milling around a camp, relaxed and unaware that they'd been discovered by two heroes. The Moblin was snoozing against a tree trunk. Warriors frowned. Did Twilight even have Moblins? He knew Time did, but he couldn't recall ever seeing one in Twilight's Hyrule.

Did that mean monsters could travel between their Hyrules like they could?

"Let me handle this." Wild said, giving Warriors a look. He shook the thoughts from his mind as he focused on what his fellow hero was saying. "If things start getting out of hand, then you can jump in." Wild promised.

They held a staring contest for a long moment. Did Wild understand what he was asking of him? If something happened to kid, not only would Warriors be crushed with guilt, but the others would also never forgive him. But there was a pleading look in Wild's eye, like this was about more than just the camp.

He realized it abruptly. Wild was asking him to trust him. This was a small olive branch of trust that Wild was holding out to him. They all knew that Wild was secretive. Speaking hadn't changed that much. He held a sort of wariness around them and was always somewhat tense. The only person he seemed to trust so far was Legend (which, in and of itself was a bit odd). This was Warriors' chance to earn the newest Link's trust.

And he'd be damned if he wasted it. "All right." He finally relented. "But be careful, please?"

Wild beamed and nodded. "Thank you." He then tipped back a purple potion Warriors didn't recognize. He belatedly realized it must've been some kind of stealth potion because whatever minute sound Wild had been making beforehand stopped completely. He silently snuck down into the camp, hiding in the bushes as he sniped the lookouts, killing them in one shot each. Warriors held his breath. He knew the kid was a good shot, but damn. That was a good thirty feet at least! And the angle he used didn't even knock the scouts from their towers, so the monsters at ground level remained completely unaware of the impending doom that was Wild.

As if that wasn't enough, the kid then went over to where the monsters kept their weapons, and stole them.

Wild gave Warriors a grin as he stashed the weapons in a nearby bush, where the monsters wouldn't find them. He then snuck up on the Moblin and buried his sword in its throat, hitting the artery and severing the vocal cords at the same time. It couldn't even scream as it died, vanishing in a puff of black smoke as Wild hid himself again. The Bokoblins looked around, confused, but they didn't spot the hiding hero.

He then repeated the process with any Bokoblins that were close enough to the bushes to take out. By the time the Hero stepped out into the open, only three Bokoblins were left, and without weapons of any kind, they were far too easy for the young warrior to take out.

Five minutes. Wild killed all the Bokoblins and the Moblin in under five minutes without raising the alarm. Warriors stared at him, dumbfounded as he rejoined him at the top of the hill, slate now filled with fresh monster loot.

"I've never seen anything like that before." He eyed the black blood that Wild was wiping off his blade.

"Not all enemies can be taken out in a head-on fight. Most of my fights are ones that I've done long-range or stealthily. I'm not the strongest in a close up fight, like you guys."

"I dunno, kiddo." Warriors grinned, ruffling Wild's hair, earning himself a shout of protest. "You're pretty damn ferocious on a battlefield."

They made it back to camp without incident to an impatient Time. "You were gone for a while. The sun's already down."

"What, did you get lost?" Legend smirked at Warriors, a challenging gleam in his eye.

"That's actually a funny story, see..."

Warriors eyed Wild as he started dinner. "We found a Bokoblin camp and took care of it." The cook stated casually as he set the cuts of meat in the pot to cook. There was a beat as everyone processed his words.

"Wait, you took on a Bokoblin camp alone?!" Twilight gawked. Time's eyes narrowed and Warriors could feel a lecture coming on.

"W-wait! It's not like you think! Wild didn't even get hurt!" He realized his mistake the moment he saw Twilight and Legend's eyes flash.

"You mean you let Wild take on a whole monster camp by himself?" Twilight glared.

"I asked him to let me." Wild came to his rescue, and Warriors sank down onto the nearby tree stump in relief as Time, Legend and Twilight's sharp gazes landed on the cook. "You see, I'm not the strongest in a straight fight. Sure, when it's just one opponent it's fine, but a whole camp? I've made that mistake before. I mean, I could win, but..." He shook his head. "So I take out the lookouts and then steal their weapons. Bokoblins are pretty harmless when they've got nothing to fight with." He flipped the meat over to help it cook evenly, and Warriors wondered if he realized just how unusual his tactics were.

"Wait, you stole their weapons?" Four asked incredulously.

"He did!" Warriors jumped in exuberantly, feeling safe enough in their incredulity to finally tell the tale. "He swallowed some kind of stealth potion and took out the lookouts like they were nothing! They never even hit the ground! Then he takes out the Moblin without so much as a twig cracking, and none of the monsters are even aware of anything amiss! By the time he comes out to face them all, there's only three Bokoblins left! And it only took him five minutes!"

Even Time looked more than a little shocked at the story. "What? I use the technique all the time in my Hyrule. Take out the lookouts, and steal their weapons, and you're pretty much good. Though sometimes I'll steal their arrows."

Hyrule looked impressed. "Maybe I should try that sometime."

"Even still, please be careful." Time finally said. "What works in your Hyrule may not work in someone else's. Everyone's monsters work differently."

"I'll keep that in mind." Wild nodded before he grinned. "And by the way, dinner's ready." He passed out the steak to everyone. The conversation died in the face of good food as everyone dug in ravenously.

They'd only just finished their food when Wild's head whipped up. His eyes flashed in something Warriors couldn't name, and for a moment, he feared that there were some monsters they'd missed. Instead, a portal opened up right where Wild had been looking.

Groans and complaints filled the air, but it came with a sense of relief. They'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop for weeks, now, and while a portal was hardly a pleasant sight, it was a weight off to finally see it swirl into existence.

Everyone was quick to pack up, a few grumbling about how tired they were. Warriors, for one, hoped it was still night when they landed so they could just make another camp. This time, someone else could go patrol. He was not doing a second one.

Wild still stared at the portal with a perplexed look. "What's up?" Warriors asked, coming to stand next to him.

"I just... didn't expect to feel her so abruptly."

"Feel... who?" Warriors' brows furrowed. Was someone else there?

"You mean you can't feel it?" Wild looked up at him in surprise.

"Feel what?" Legend asked, hoisting his pack over his shoulder. "You mean the tug?"

"No, Hylia. Can't you sense her?"

Warriors and Legend blinked at the unexpected answer. "You mean you can sense the Goddess?"

"Yeah. Can't you?" Wild asked, perplexed. "Her presence is so strong... I thought..."

"I've never felt it." Warriors shook his head.

Wild was about to say something else when Time spoke up, having heard none of their conversation. "Come on, now. Everyone in your pair... right." He looked at Wild and sighed for a moment. "Since it's your first time, Wild, I'll have you go in the middle. Go in after Warriors and Sky, okay?"

"All right." Wild nodded.

Warriors shot him a grin. "No worries. The portals suck but they aren't painful. Just be prepared for nausea."

"Wars. It's our turn." Sky bumped his arm and shot Wild a smile. "See you on the other side." And with that, they stepped into the swirling vortex.