The six Heroes that were were stationed at Lookout Landing (minus Hyrule) waited until they were given their rations of soup and found a place to sit down before talking about what they had accomplished that day. It had been filled with less information than the day prior, but it was still important for them to share all that they could.

"I'll start." Time offered as he set his bowl in his lap. He could let it cool down a bit as he shared his part of the story. "So after I was cleared after the blood transfer, me and Twilight went and found Wolfie. Thankfully, he wasn't too far away." He winked at his pup, and he almost chuckled at the way he flustered as a result. "We tried to track Wild and Sky, but we couldn't pick up any trails."

"Maybe if you had given Wolfie more time," Twilight drawled rather mildly with a shrug. He took the first spoonful of soup and grinned at the taste of the meaty broth. It may have been the same as yesterday, but a good tasting meal was hard to come by in this group.

"He kept going in circles." Time reminded. "But anyway, we spent the rest of the day gathering supplies and helping build the lookout. Nothing really noteworthy there." He picked up his bowl, adjusting it in his grip so that he could hold it in one hand and handle the spoon in the other. Doing that, along with taking his first bite signalled that he was done talking.

The person beside him, Four, carefully set his own bowl down next. He took the time to wipe his mouth before he spoke. "Well, I was incompatible with Hyrule, so I went back to smithing. I let the weapons they gave me soak in vinegar overnight, and I spent all day scrubbing them free from rust." He explained.

"And how did that go?" Wars asked in turn from across the circle that they had formed.

Four's eyes narrowed so that the light reflected in his eyes like a sea of blue as he slouched. "Oh, terrible. Total waste of time." He spat. He paused, regaining his composure both physically and mentally. "By the time I cleaned them, there was hardly anything left. I mean, maybe if I were to add more metal in, but then that brings risk of it breaking at the seams if I don't fuse it just right. Not to mention, I really don't think that they have scrap metal the quality I would need to make the repairs. If they did, I think it would just be easier to make all new weapons, personally."

As Four went to pick his bowl back up, Twilight asked him, "So they aren't any stronger than they were before?"

"Well," Four paused with a hum as his eyes shifted to a more violet hue. "Maybe a bit stronger than before. But considering how much time I put in, not enough to justify continuing to do it. We're talking about it being able to withstand a few extra hits than before. Even if someone here was willing to do that full time, the cost of vinegar and steel wool would be quite high at the frequency they would be used."

"Well, that sucks." Legend grumbled. He adjusted his position so that he was sitting with one knee up, the other leg folded under it. He set his bowl aside, deciding it was his turn to gripe about his own day. With his hands free, he propped his elbow on his knee and used his fist to rest his cheek on. An odd posture sure, but it was comfortable to him.

"Where should I start..." he hummed. "Well, Purah was really interested in my blood, took a lot out of me. It certainly felt like a lot more than she did Time and Wars, but she denied it." He debated whether or not to mention how she kept staring at him with the same crazed eyes she had stared at Sky with before blasting him off into the stratosphere. She had even been doing that while denying she took significantly more blood out of him in particular. Something about that rang as suspicious to him. "Anyway, I got sicker than those two. She said that might mean that there might not be enough iron or gold or... something metal, in my blood. Didn't quite make sense to me, but anyway, I spent the day trapped with Hyrule." 

Wars let out a sound that sounded annoyingly close to a scoff at that last sentence. "Trapped? More like begged to stay." he jabbed.

Legend felt himself flush at being called out like that. He pushed down the uncomfortable feelings of embarrassment aside and instead used the nervous energy to shove Wars instead. "Shut up." He growled.

Wars only laughed, even when some of the soup spilled onto the ground. "Sorry, didn't realize you were so sensitive." he challenged, raising an eyebrow.

"Why I oughta--"

Time cut them both off, clearing his throat before glaring at both of them. They had all joked about him being Father Time every now and then, but it was in these moments that he indisputably had parental authority no one could go against. Not even Wars and Legend. They both straightened up as they shuffled away from one another.  "How is Hyrule?" Time asked, rerouting the conversation to what it was before.

"He woke up." Legend informed them. Wind nearly threw his bowl so he could get mere centimeters to his face.

"He woke up?! Does that mean he's feeling better?!" Wind nearly shouted. Legend huffed as he covered his mouth and pushed him back. But before he could move his hand away, something licked his fingers.

"Ew!" He exclaimed, shaking his hand as he winced. "Wind!"

"What? You were asking for it." The preteen smirked, causing the others to chuckle in turn.

Legend rolled his eyes, muttering about how disgusting that had been as he wiped his hand off on the ground below. But he decided to be the mature one and move past Wind's antics. "Weren't you just with him?" He asked.

Wind blinked as he crawled back to his spot. "Oh... yeah, I guess I was."

Legend could only sigh. "Well anyway, he woke up this afternoon. He was... very out of it. He kept muttering to himself, but he also kept zoning out. We tried to ask him questions, but he didn't reply to most of them. The ones he did he answered to... rather poorly. He remembered his name at least, mostly. Wars gave him a health potion and it helped this time. Just a little, though."

It felt surreal giving an update like that. He averted his gaze from Wind's, not wanting to watch how the sparkling faded. Talking about it felt surprisingly cold and numbing. It didn't feel like he was describing someone he knew, someone he admittedly cared for. It felt like he was a telling a story he had heard somewhere, one he'd whisper to a purple-hooded squatter late at night. One that the squatter would tell him rather, and Legend would roll his eyes and call out his bluff. And he'd chuckle like he always did, the long ears on his hood bouncing in sync of the melodic sound. And then Legend would—

Legend shook his head to get out of the memory. This wasn't a story. This was real.

"— I think that I can keep him stable, but his injuries just aren't healing. It's like there's some magic, an invisible wall that won't let him get any better. He's not bleeding like he was before, but I suspect there is internal damage that's not responding to treatments." Wars was explaining, glaring down at the floor. Most of them were looking down at the floor, at their food or otherwise avoiding eye contact, in fact.

Part of him wanted to scream again, even after hours of taking his anger out fighting Wars. He wanted to ask if there seriously was nothing that could be done that hadn't been done because really, this never happened before. Maybe Wars was just overlooking something and--

And he knew that was just wishful thinking. The malice had done something to Hyrule that hurt him in a way unlike any of the injuries any of them had in the past. The uncomfortable silence that hung in the air was so thick, he worried that it might just suffocate him. He stole glances at all of them, finding long faces on each one.

He found his shoulders relaxing when, at last, Time cut the silence by clearing his throat. The Old Man looked up slowly, directing his gaze over to Wind. "What did you do today?" He asked in a quiet voice.

"Well, I..." Wind glanced around at everyone before his shoulders eased. "Purah said I was too young to help -- which of course is a total lie. You remember the time I almost lost my arm! I lost way more blood then than what she would have taken! But anyway, I went out with one of the Monster Control Crews instead. We fought a camp of moblins and a few things along the way. There really does seem to be a lot of monsters around in this era. From what the Crew tells me, there's always more to cut down... and when I came back, I whipped those recruits into shape. You should have seen them -- I really put them in their place!" His laughter was enough for everyone else to relax. He pointedly decided to not say that he had sat with Hyrule the last few hours of the day.

Wind's easy-going manner then shifted back into a serious one instead. "But guys, I've been wondering... We really haven't done much since we got here, have we?" His two hands clutched his bowl tighter. "Link... Wild, I mean, and the princess are missing. We haven't even really done much to look for them. And--"

"We've looked for them." Legend countered. He looked at Wind, glaring dangerously. "That's why Hyrule is hurt -- we were looking for them, and we stumbled across trouble."

"Legend." Time warned with a glare of his own. The Veteran paused before letting out a huff, crossing his arms and slouching back. He muttered an expletive or two, but he complied. Time eased before encouraging Wind to go on.

"It's just that... look, it's not just them anymore, either. We haven't seen Sky in a whole day either! What if he's in trouble, too?" Wind asked. "Shouldn't we go after him? We never leave one of our own behind. That's rule one."

"And we'd leave Hyrule alone if we did that." Wars countered. It wasn't so much in a way that he was completely opposed to the idea, but rather showing the flaw in that reasoning. "I was the last one to see him, and that's not enough to know where he may have landed -- if he got away from that dragon at all. We just had Wolfie check for his scent today too, remember. It is true that we could leave and go search for him even without any leads. But then, what if he returns and we aren't here? And unless we stumble on him on our own, or someone that has, it likely won't result in anything."

Wind's gaze lowered to his meal once more. When it did, Warriors slid closer to him before patting him on the back.

Four hesitated before he said, "I get what you're saying Wars, but Wind does have a point. Wandering aimlessly likely won't do much good, but how much longer do we wait for Sky to come back on his own? What if he got hurt and can't move? What if he's lying on the ground right now, praying to Hylia that we find him before he dies of starvation, or a monster comes across him or--" He forcefully bit his lip, using so much force that he nearly drew blood. He blinked rapidly, his red eyes looking as though they might shed some tears if he kept talking.

"Sky is strong." Time echoed the words that he had said to Twilight. "But it is rather worrying that he hasn't found his way back yet."

Four took a deep breath, and the worried expression that he wore a moment ago was gone. "What do you suppose we do then?" He asked.

Legend took a moment to set his heart aside, the part of him that wanted to stay beside Hyrule until he was better than ever. That part of him that had nearly grown soft at even the thought of this company. What he felt didn't matter, not when there were jobs that needed doing. When there were people that needed saving. "Split up." He replied. He felt as those around him spooked slightly. "It's the only real option here. We've pretty much been lingering around here. I mean -- Time, Twilight, how far did you go? Not very, if you could leave at noon and come back in time for supper.

"I propose that we split into three groups of two. Wars stays here, and Twi goes out with Wolfie. The dragon was spotted North heading South, so we have one group search East and one West. If possible, get horses so you can search further, and ask around to see if there's any settlements where you can ask questions. That's what I would do, at least." Legend shrugged. He may have what it takes to be a leader, but he didn't want to be one regardless.

"That's a good idea." Wars agreed with a bit of reluctance. "Time and Four can search the East. Legend and Twi can search the West. And Wind stays here."

"What? Why do I have to stay?" Wind pouted.

"Someone has to keep the troops in line if I'm needed elsewhere." Wars smirked, leaning to nudge his little brother who giggled in response.

"And we need someone with Hyrule too. He'll want a familiar face to wake up to." Legend added, folding his arms to add to his edgy composure.

"Alright, alright, I'll do it." Wind agreed.

「∆」

「∆」「▲」

Sky had let Link be for awhile, although he watched with intrigue as all sorts of different ingredients appeared in his arms out of thin air. He added them one by one, humming quietly to himself. Then he would pause, place a hand on his chin in thought and then add something else before going back to humming. The ingredients seemed random to Sky, as though Link didn't know what he was quite making himself.

Just before it was done, he added one last thing — one of the golden flowers that speckled the ground all around them. Sky wondered briefly if flowers were actually edible at all, but he ate the dish anyway. And he found that it had tasted even better than what he had for breakfast earlier. Link had let him take the first bite, his eyes wide and his face coming rather uncomfortably close as though trying to gauge Sky's full reaction.

"It's wonderful!" Sky told him, but Link didn't smile back. Instead, he placed a hand on his chin in thought again, nodded and then went to grab his own portion. 

After they had finished their meal, Link used his magic box to pack everything up. It didn't take long, and then they set out once more, but this time side by side. Link took the lead, pointing up at the giant temple that loomed in the distance. He began walking, not waiting for Sky's input.

"Shouldn't we go to the surface as fast as we can?" Sky asked him as he hurried to catch up. Thankfully, it was much easier this time around.

Link shook his head.

"How come?"

Link shrugged. Did he not know himself? But then he lifted three fingers. One by one, he closed them. Then he pointed back at the floating temple.

"You were... gathering something? To bring there?" Sky asked, receiving a nod in response. "What is it?"

Linked rubbed the back of his neck, letting out an awkward laugh. His free hand lingered over his magic box, but he didn't take it out.

Sky almost wanted to suggest again that whatever it was could wait. That they shouldn't make the others wait. But then again, this was Link's era. Whatever happened would have ramifications that his homeland would be forced to face. Surely, he knew that as well. If this one detour, or whatever it was, was important to Link, then Sky would have to trust his judgment. It was what he would do with the others after all. "I see... well, we should try to hurry then." He supposed, picking up the pace a bit. It was already sunset, and while that usually meant they should look for a place to stay the night, they had just spent the last hour resting. They could walk for another half hour or so.

「∆」

「∆」「▲」

After the group had set up their bedrolls, a few members even climbing in for the night, Time once again excused himself as he had the night prior. Since it was earlier in the night, most people were either just settling down or still up and about, finishing up a few final things. As such, he gave a silent nod to tell everyone he was leaving before he headed over to the ladder leading to the surface. 

As he took the first step, Wars walked up behind him. "It's about time for the full moon, isn't it?" He asked mildly. But, of course, Time had picked up on the true meaning of his words. He wasn't just exchanging pleasant conversation.

And, knowing that, Time let out a heavy sigh as he moved his foot back to the safety of the ground and letting go of the ladder. He turned to face his younger older brother as his shoulders slumped. "You know me too well, Wars." He replied. "I know it's a bit silly, but..."

Wars only tisked, shaking his head as he moved to place a hand on Time's shoulder. "When you were a kid, you'd wake up to check on the moon every single night. No-- you wouldn't rest until you did. Your sleep schedule was horrendous, Mask. Whatever happened between you and the moon scarred you. And I don't care if you're an Old Man now; if something gave you that big of a scare to warrant that kind of reaction as a kid, that doesn't go away because you have wrinkles." He argued, to which Time rolled his eyes.

"I'm not that old and you know that." He sighed. 

"Point still stands." Wars hummed. "You may have grown, but I still know you. Now come on, let's go check on the moon together. See that there's nothing to be afraid of." He gestured to the ladder once more, inviting Time to go first.

"Thank you." He replied, grinning at last. With that extra boost of confidence from his brother, Time climbed up the rungs with new vigor. It felt not unlike all those nights he spent as a kid, where Wars would accompany him for hours outside. And, on the worst of those nights, Wars would even offer his body as a pillow, tricking his tired body in slumber. Just the simple knowledge that Warriors was with him was enough to put him at ease... almost. He still needed to check to be fully sure. 

When he emerged to the surface, he stepped out of the way as he searched for what haunted him in the sky. It was just the moon, just as normal and mundane as the stars and the sun. That was what he kept telling himself as he looked around. He found himself hugging his middle and rubbing at his arms as he felt a chill run down his spine. Was it the cool air, or was it the anxiety seeping deep into his bones?

Something didn't feel right. But then again, when did it ever when his worries were bad enough that he had to check if the moon of all things had a face? 

"See?" Wars was saying as he pulled himself up. "Everything is fine."

But that's when Time caught sight of it. The moon, or rather, what was supposed to be the moon, was the color blood itself. It was so vibrant with the cursed color that the sky surrounding it was becoming dyed with it as well. "Uh... I'm-- not so sure about that." Time swallowed. "What was Purah saying about what happens during a Blood Moon...?"

「∆」

「∆」「▲」

Link stoked the fire, his eyes flickering from the flames to the figure laying beyond it. The person -- Sky was it? Seemed to sleep a lot. He, on the other hand, slept very little. That was how he always was, as far as he could remember at least. And nights like these, where the entire world and all the islands above were basked in an eerie red glow, were when he always slept the least. He turned his head skyward, staring at the moon as it neared its zenith. He shuddered once more at the thought. 

No, he did not think he would sleep tonight, not at all. Not that Sky needed to know that.