Yeah... I've just decided to roll with the names in the titles. For now, at least. I may not do it for every chapter; I have no idea how long this fic will be after all. Or if it'd just fit really awkwardly. 

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"Let's try this again." Sky hummed as he got back to his feet. This time, only a dull ache radiated through his lower extremities. That was never pleasant, but for someone who had always had to keep their stamina in check, it was much more welcome than what he had before. He at least would not be tripping over himself every few minutes, or actively fighting his legs to cooperate with him; only passively. When he thought about it that way, it made sense why he grew tired significantly faster than the others.

That aside though, he drew his sword and pointed it out in front of him. "Please, Fi... Lead me to what you want to show me." He asked, sucking in a breath as he waited anxiously to see if Fi understood. If she was listening. If she was there. A moment passed. Two moments. Three. Sky's shoulders began to slump in defeat when, at last his sword lit up with a familiar ding.

"Fi!" he exclaimed, lighting up even more than the Master Sword was currently. "So you are listening after all!" Or had this been simply another understanding of his motions? No, for the moment he let himself fully believe she was right there with him like she always had been.

Another chime. Right, he should probably put the dowsing to good use. He slowly moved around in a circle, listening to the way she chimed at various paces based on where he pointed. Where she had chimed the most was more southward. Once he was sure that he knew what direction to take, he gave her a quick thanks before storing her away.

He wouldn't have much more time to travel before he grew tired again and it got dark, but he could hopefully retrieve whatever object or find what Fi saw before then. Without knowing he was close to it or far, he began walking.

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"Well what the fuck!" Legend exclaimed again, having taken up a defensive stance. Hyrule was right beside him with his own sword and shield, though his frame trembled as he tried to fight off yet another coughing fit. "We just stumble across Ganon? Are you actually kidding me, Hylia?!"

"L-Ledge..." Hyrule coughed against his will. "Look at him... he's-- he doesn't look like he's there..." The figure before them almost looked semi-transparent, or that it was built out of smoke and gloom. Just as Hyrule had observed, this 'Ganondorf' didn't seem to be there in the flesh, as if this was some kind of copy, or something akin to a ghost, or even a shadow.

"You're right." Legend agreed as he leapt to the left just in time to dodge a swing from the phantom Ganon.

His steps were fluid, transforming his dodge into an attack. After slicing the phantom, it recoiled and that's when both him and Hyrule charged together, attacking from opposite sides. Their attacks only lasted for a few moments, for as long as they could keep themselves in the air for. Legend didn't back away fast enough, his right boot sinking into the malice. He felt it melt a bit more as he quick jumped back. He could feel the ground more, as though the sole of his shoe was worn down.

He had to jump another moment later, when the phantom Ganon screamed and charged him. Holding out his shield in front of him, he felt how the blade dripping in malice clanged and bounced off. The strain pushed him further back, and he had to quickly recorrect his stance to avoid falling over. The phantom also fell back, and Hyrule was right there, taking advantage of the opening.

As Legend watched, he couldn't help but notice how his companion's movements were noticeably slower than before. He gulped. He shouldn't be fighting. He could be hurt even more. But at the same time, he knew that Hyrule would not back down if he asked.

He needed to finish this fast... and without injuring himself, if he could help it. For Hyrule's sake. Speaking of the boy, he backed off now that the phantom had recovered. Said phantom began to follow him. No, Legend couldn't allow that. In the very least, he had to keep its eyes on him. With its back to him, he raced towards it before plunging his sword in between one of its ribs and all of the way through. It froze immediately, in a way that made Legend hope for a moment that had been enough. 

It had not. 

The phantom looked down at the sword in its belly, turning its head almost curiously towards the hylian that had placed it there. With a shiver, Legend pulled it out. The thick, blood-like glowing liquid stained the entire blade and dripped off of it onto the ground below. Visible specks of malice even floated off of it. To see a bloodied sight was an everyday occurance in a Hero's line of work, but something about this seemed a little more than unnerving. 

Legend shook off the ick, returning to a defensive state. As long as the malice didn't touch him or his clothes, he should be good. Just as expected, the phantom began charging at him. He clutched his shield tighter, preparing himself to dodge at the last possible second. But before it could reach him, something exploded and it went flying several feet away before crashing to the ground. As the dust cleared, Legend could see Hyrule standing there. His form quivered before he began coughing all over again, doubling over as he did so. 

Not good. Not good at all. 

Instead of going to the Traveller, Legend rushed over to their enemy as fast as he could. Not wasting even a single moment, he threw his magic cape over his shoulders and switched his shield for his fire rod. in the few spare moments he had before he reached his opponent, his blasted as many fire balls as he possibly could. Activating his cape, he immediately felt the magic within him quickly begin to deplete. He switched back to his sword that sat ready in his left hand, swinging as many blows as he possibly could, forcing the phantom to remain on the ground. 

His legs were growing weak under him. His head began to feel fuzzy, and his body light under the strain he was forcing upon himself. Still, he continued on. The enemy tried to force him off a few times, but with the cape he did not even feel its attacks. He slashed and slashed it, over and over. One more hit, then one after that, and then -- He had lost count of how many he had gotten in. He didn't care if it was reckless. He didn't care about the risk of him losing his focus, or passing out with no more defenses to keep himself safe. He could not, would not, let that thing have any chance of going after Hyrule again. 

The world was fading and out in cadance to his breathing. He held on by sheer willpower. His thoughts were emptying but he kept repeating one thing to himself: keep swinging. Keep swinging, keep fighting that red blob he could hardly identify. No breaks. His breathing staggered, and he stumbled from where he stood. 

When he hesitated, his sword growing heavier by each second that passed, that's when the blob began moving again. He tried to move back as he felt the cape deactivate against his will, watching as the blob drew closer. He wasn't fast enough, watching as his own blood splashed across his vision. 

In the distance, he heard a yell. He hardly registered it as he fell to the ground, gripping his cheek. 

What he could not see was how Hyrule had gone to stand in front of him. He too was breathing heavily, and despite how hard he tried, he couldn't quite stop coughing. He couldn't open one of his eyes anymore, wincing in pain from his free flowing wound that had stained what was left of the right side of his green tunic red. It hurt. It was painful, but he could not give up now of all times. 

The phantom turned its gaze on him, rather than the lump directly behind him. He tried his best to stand tall, successfully doing so when the raging fire that felt as though it was trying to spew out of him subsided into a more comfortable burning. With his newfound stance, it was a bit easier to hold his shield at the ready. The phantom charged at him, and while his first instinct was to try and dodge, he stood firm in his footing instead, protecting Legend. At the last second, he pushed his shield forwards, sending the enemy back. He took the opportunity to charge, getting a good slice in. But before he could retreat and cover himself, his movements slowed by pain, the phantom was already thrusting his sword towards Hyrule.

He didn't get out of the way in time, but he managed to at least lessen the blow. He screamed as he felt his left shoulder be slit open like butter instead of his throat, which had been the initial target. His clothes and chain mail was no match for the gloom, which made them waste away as though they had never been there to begin with. When he instinctively looked at the wound, he couldn't help but notice that aside from the bleeding, it was unusually a black color. What almost looked like ash fluttered in the wind, and he forced himself not to think about how it sure looked like it was originating from his wound.

His legs nearly worked for him, jumping out of the way of a second attack. Then, a moment later, a flash of red jumped up and ran through the phantom one last time. Legend was huffing, sweating profusely as he pressed his sword in even further in the enemy. And at last, with one last cry, the creature hung limply. A black shadow covered its entire form before the specks of darkness fluttered freely in the air. The only thing to remain of it was its weapon and a few oddly shaped clumps of something. 

Both Hyrule and Legend all but fell to the ground, their swords slipping out of their hands. 

"We need to get the hell out of here." Legend whispered, feeling how his chest inflated and deflated rapidly. He watched as Hyrule nodded wordlessly before beginning to cough yet again. He slowly crawled his way over to sit beside his companion. Legend began to fiddle with his bag before he finally found the healing potion he had been looking for. He tried to offer it to the other, but he shook his head. "What do you mean no? Hyrule, you're bleeding out!" He argued. 

"It..." Hyrule had to wait until the coughing subsided. He glanced at his hand. Had that blood been from the battle? He couldn't focus on that now he knew, looking into Legend's eyes. The Veteran had got a nasty cut on his cheek, but he was otherwise unharmed, it would seem. It appeared to be a wound like any other, which gave him at least a little relief. "It won't work." He explained. 

"What?" Legend asked, raising an eyebrow. "Of course it will. Now stop being ridiculous and take the potion. you need it a lot more than me." He tried to force the bottle into Hyrule's hands, but he pushed it right back. 

"Legend. Do you remember what I told you?" Hyrule asked with a frown, watching as the Veteran's face twist in confusion. "Look-- I, don't tell the others now, but... I'm kind of half fairy." He swallowed. "I should be able to heal myself but..." he shook his head. "So I don't think that'll work, either."

Legend frowned as he considered the bottle again. "Maybe it's just resistant to your magic? Come on, if there is the slightest chance of getting healed, we need to try it." He insisted, and this time, when he forced the bottle into Hyrule's hands, he didn't try to resist. 

"Okay, but you're taking the stamina potion." Hyrule ordered. 

"Deal."

He lifted the bottle to his lips and took a swallow before he began coughing again and had to stop. His entire body shook with each cough, being so violent that the bottle in his hand nearly spilled it's contents. Legend had to grab his hand to ensure that didn't happen; they needed every last drop of it. The only thing they could do was wait it out.

 It took about a minute before Hyrule could continue, drinking all but one sip of the potion. So far, there seemed to be no change. Legend furled his brow at the result. It should have had at least a little effect by now. Had that meant that Hyrule had been right all along? "Keep going." He ordered, wishing desperately that just a little more would do something. 

Hyrule shook his head. "Ledge... it isn't working." He stated as he pressed his free hand against his side. "You need some too. Take it. And that stamina potion. Half of it, anyway. I've got-" He doubled over again as he began coughing all over again. Legend was quick to take the potion from his hand so he could cough into that hand. Once he could recover, he made a face when he looked at his palm though he didn't say why. "I think I can get us up to the surface in about ten minutes."

The Veteran lifted a suspicious eyebrow. "You're injured."

"And we'll both be dead if we run into whatever the heck that was again. It'll take us ages to get back up any other way, and regardless it won't be fun for me. We might as well make it quick if it's going to be uncomfortable." Hyrule countered, narrowing his eyes. 

As much as Legend hated it, he knew that the kid was right. Downing the rest of the potion, he sighed, hoping he wouldn't regret this. "How?" he asked. Even with the small dose he had taken, he could tell that his wounds were healing, albeit a much slower than a full dose would have. He placed the bottle back in his bag before taking out the stamina potion.

"Simple," Hyrule replied. A light behind him shimmered, and when it disappeared, two semi-transparent wings unfurled themselves on his back. "We'll fly."

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About another half hour of walking in a straight line later, Sky had found nothing new to note. Well, aside from the two monsters plated in metal that wielded sticks. One hit of his sword had caused them to break and fall apart. Even the remlits back in Skyloft were stronger than that. Perhaps it would have surprised him more if robots hadn't been a species in his era. But in any case, he hadn't run into anything other than an occasional bird. 

Finding a nice rock in a somewhat wooded area, he grabbed some sticks lying around before sitting down. He took the time to cultivate a fire from scratch. Even though he hadn't practiced in a few months due to new access to magic fire-related items, his hands hadn't forgotten how to manage the flint and nurture the flame to a real fire. 

Once that was done, his stomach groaned. He looked down at it and placed a hand over it. "Right... I guess I missed dinner, huh." He frowned. Usually after they had set up camp for the night, it meant a meal and then off to the land of dreams. "Do I even have food?" He reached in his bag (which he thankfully had been wearing at takeoff, a good habit to do when a portal could open at a moments notice) and began to shuffle through all the items he had. He managed to pull out a piece of bread. He frowned at that, but since had nothing else, he ate it plain without complaint. It didn't really fill him up much, but at least it took the edge off his hunger. 

"Fi," He said into the night air, staring up at the stars as he laid down on his bedroll. He glanced beside him, where he had laid her. "I still don't know where you're leading me. It's so strange being alone again after all this time. You know, when I put you to rest, I had thought that maybe I'd never be alone anymore, not even for a moment." He chuckled as he studied the stars above. "I know, that's pretty silly, and statistically less than 10% likely to happen or whatever, but..." he sighed as he let his eyes close. "I miss them already. It feels strange now that we've been together for so long..." And with that, he fell into slumber. Unbeknownst to him, his sword began to chime once more, a soothing tone in the otherwise quiet scene. 

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It was around midnight when Time found himself too restless to continue lying down. All around the bunker, bedrolls had been laid. There was enough space that each group could have a bit of space from others, but overall with everyone lying down, space was still limited. Wind was to his left, with Wars beside him. To his right was Twilight and then Four. If any of them were awake, he couldn't tell it. 

He quietly slipped out of his roll, stood up and made his way out of the bunker. He knew that they had people to patrol at night, but maybe a walk around the perimeter would do him some good anyway. He stuck to the inside wall, never actually leaving the Landing. 

He couldn't help but wonder what the others were doing currently. After all this time, it seemed rather odd that they didn't spend the night together. They seldom broke up for missions, and up until now, never at night unless the portals split them up. He stared up at the crescent moon as he recalled for the forty-fifth time that evening how dangerous night could be. He knew that they were all Heroes, they all had undergone Journeys by themselves and survived all kinds of things, but he found himself unable to be at ease anyway. 

"It's late." A voice said behind him. He turned to Twilight to acknowledge him. "You should be in bed."

"As should you, pup." He hummed back.

"Something told me you'd worry, Dad." Twilight smirked, and Time didn't protest it. "They'll be fine. They know how to handle themselves." The younger of the two placed his hand on the other's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

"I know." Time assured, lifting his own hand and laying it over top Twilight's. He closed his eye. "But still..."

Just then, someone began shouting. Both of them turned, hands on the hilt of their sheathed swords. On the other side of the Lookout, a hylian with a horse and trailer had just entered. The horse galloped inside and raced to Purah's settlement. Time and Twilight both let go of their swords as they ran to meet them. 

"What is it?!" Twilight asked in alarm as the hylian --  a soldier by the looks of it -- pulled on the reins, forcing the horse to come to a sudden halt. To their surprise, a familiar figure in the wagon met their gaze. 

"Get Wars!" Legend shouted as he clutched the limp hylian in his arms even tighter. Although he seemed uninjured, even in the darkness his bare chest clearly was covered in blood. "Or a doctor, or someone! Anyone! Right now!"

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Me, while writing: I feel like Legend would rip up his tunic to act as emergency bandages.

Me, while editing: wait he doesn't wear pants--