The day had begun with a sense of normalcy—or rather, what the heroes were coming to see as normal. Wild had made them breakfast, as per usual, and even Legend seemed to be in a good mood for a change. 

Time didn’t understand where it all went wrong. 

No, he knew. It had started going south the moment the portal had suddenly dumped the disoriented heroes into the middle of a monster camp. The towering and crowded trees and thickening mist made it difficult to fight the lithe Lizalfos that had surrounded them. Even still, he had faith. 

They were all experienced adventurers who could handle their own in a fight. Though everyone still made sure to stick closer together, especially since Twilight’s wrist had been mildly sprained in an earlier fight the other day. 

“Everyone doing okay?” He called out, listening intently to the replies as he kept a firm eye on his foe. 

“Sky’s tiring out fast.” Twilight informed him from somewhere nearby. His pup liked to stick by his side to help him keep an eye out on his blind side. He honestly thought it was cute. 

“Go help him.” Time smirked. “I’ll be fine.” He shifted his stance a bit, using the reflection of his blade to keep an eye out on his right side for movement. “I’ve got a few tricks up my own sleeve. Don’t give me that look.” 

“I’ll never understand how you know I’m giving you that look when you can’t even see me.” Twilight chuckled, blocking an angry swipe from one of the monsters. “Fine. But you’d better be okay, Old Man.” 

“I’ll see you when this fight is done.” He smiled as he heard Twilight dash off to help Sky. His pup was such a worrier. Not to say Time wasn’t, but there were just some things not worth worrying over. Time could handle himself, of that he was sure. 

He brought up his Biggoron Sword to block an incoming attack and instinctively dodged to the left, redirecting the momentum from his enemy’s strike towards the ground. A sword swished through the air where he’d just been—on his blind side—and he wasted no time in dealing a heavy blow to his foe. 

He jumped back, nearly colliding with a tree as four Lizalfos zeroed in on him. He scowled. These numbers were not in his favor. Even so, he refused to fall to such enemies. He had a promise to his pup to keep, after all.

Besides, he’d recently learned that he was soon to become a father, and he had every intention of being there to watch that kid grow up. He refused to be an absent father. 

“Time, look out!” Legend’s voice called out to him from behind him and he hit the ground in a roll, dodging just barely in time. Something flew right over his head, colliding with the Lizalfos that’d been readying an attack. 

He whirled around for a brief moment to ascertain this new threat, only to catch sight of an eerily familiar something on the horizon. He saw no enemies and quickly turned his attention back towards the fight. He couldn’t allow himself to get distracted—that was a foolish mistake he’d made one too many times during his first journey. 

He feinted towards one Lizalfos, catching another by surprise and quickly ending its life with a gruesome slash. Time’s heart leapt into his throat when he heard Twilight cry out in pain, and he spared a momentary glance to ascertain the damage. He didn’t get the chance to look, however, when one of the three remaining enemies decided to use his concern to its advantage. 

He wasn’t able to fully dodge the swipe, but his armor took most of the damage. He grit his teeth as he glared. “You good, Pup?” 

“Y-yeah. Just a scratch.” 

Bullshit. His pup was hurt, he could hear that in his voice. “I’ve got him!” Legend called out, easing his immediate concern. If Legend was with Twilight, then at least he wasn’t alone. 

“Thanks!” Time called out, parrying a slash and narrowly missing one of his foes. He blinked. Where did the third one go? He was quite certain he’d never taken his eye off of it. 

He moved just a moment later than he should have. From behind, a piercing agony tore through his side, splattering the forest floor with red. He hissed through clenched teeth as he swirled around with speed he could rarely muster up these days. His Spin Attack separated the monster’s head from its body with ease and heavily damaged one of the two remaining ones. 

The Biggoron sword was stained with black grainy blood, and he was trying his best to keep weight off his injured side. The wound was deep—having been thrust through a gap in his armor. He’d need a potion at the very least if not stitches. 

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath. He’d been feeling off since they landed wherever they were, and now he was facing the consequences of wandering attention. 

The second Lizalfos fell to its knees, unable to remain standing with the amount of blood it was losing. The last monster he faced sent him a glare, snarling angrily as it advanced with a sharp boost of speed. Time almost didn’t block it in time, but he’d be damned if he got another injury like that. His Pup was going to worry too much as it was. 

Time twisted the blade, disengaging the Lizalfos’ weapon before quickly rolling around his foe to perform the Backslash. It fell to join its brethren. His area went quiet as the sound of battle echoed from the others’ fights.

Time took a moment to try to understand why he was feeling so distracted. It wasn’t until he looked up that he realized why. There, where the pristine white moon should have been, was the gruesome grinning face of one of his worst nightmares. His eyes trailed back to the town on the horizon. The Clocktower stood tall and proud. 

This wasn’t possible. Termina… shouldn’t be here. He nearly dropped his sword in shock. Perhaps some part of him had hoped… prayed that what he’d experienced was some horrific nightmare. That Termina wasn’t real, and he hadn’t had to repeat those agonizing three days again and again at the price of his sanity. 

He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream and curse the goddess for sending him back here. Was Hylia mocking him? Did she like watching him break all those times he had to play that goddessdamned song? 

A faraway cry reached his ears, and he shook his head. His boys needed him. He couldn’t just stand there and get lost within the swells of his inner demons. Not until they were safe, at least. 

Time forcefully turned away from Termina and that accursed moon, running off towards his boys. His head was spinning and his heart was pounding. He was in no shape to fight. Between his mental state and his injury, he was a liability and he knew that. But he couldn’t just stand there and watch them fight. 

He caught Twilight’s gaze first. His pup was sat at the base of a tree, Legend and Wind standing protectively before him. Hyrule was doing his best to heal him up, but he kept having to pull up his magical shield to deflect arrows. 

Wild was trying his best to provide some long-range support, but the mist made it difficult for him to do so effectively. Instead, he resorted to picking off any Lizalfos that strayed too far from the Heroes.

Warriors and Sky were holding off most of them, and Time was quick to jump in to help. There were still around ten monsters left, and while this normally wouldn’t be such a big problem, with Twilight down and Hyrule otherwise indisposed healing him, it became a much harder fight than it should’ve been. 

It was just Time’s luck that his injury prevented him from fully blocking a blow. He felt the sting of the blade as it caught him in the shoulder, and Warriors was quick to end the life of the enemy that had hurt him. 

“You okay?!” He asked, eyes assessing the severity of Time’s injuries. “Shit, you’re in bad shape, how many did you fight?” 

“Five.” Time replied through bloodied teeth. “Though only four came at me at once.” 

“Hang in there, yeah?” Sky shot him a shaky grin. It looked like he was starting to fall from his second wind. The lines of exhaustion pulled at his face and Time was once again reminded just how young these boys were. 

“Don’t you worry about me.” He panted. “I’ve been through worse.” 

The moon was rising higher, and Time couldn’t block it from his vision anymore. The monsters were starting to grow wary of them, now. Once their numbers hit four, they fled—vanishing in the thinning mists. 

“How’s Twilight?” Wild asked, leaping down from his tree. There was a long moment of silence. 

Time’s stomach fell and his blood froze in his veins. “Hyrule?” 

“I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “I… There’s nothing I can…” 

That was when Time noticed how still Twilight was. Too still. His eye widened in horror. This… this was wrong. This wasn’t supposed to happen. “Pup?” His voice echoed around the group as they processed what they were seeing. 

“Twi?” Wild’s voice cracked as he sank to his knees beside the fallen hero. He shook Twilight’s shoulder, causing his head to lull to the side to reveal vacant blue eyes. They stared at Time accusingly. 

“No… No!” Wild shook him harder. “Twi! Twilight! Don’t do this to me! You can’t leave me, too!” Wild’s screams were becoming hysterical, and Legend was doing his best to try to control the Champion. “Please! Please, Twi! Y-You promised! You swore you wouldn’t leave me!” He stared at Twilight for a long moment, as if waiting for an answer. The broken sob that came out when he realized he’d never get one broke Time’s heart even more. 

“But…” Wind had tears pouring down his face, but he was handling it better than Wild was. Four clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood, and Sky looked crushed. The only person who seemed unaffected was Legend, but Time could easily see the mask he’d slipped on. He was just used to people that he cared about dying. 

Time watched, breathless, as the group started to crumble. The moon laughed. 

“Use it…” The whisper he’d learned long ago to ignore felt stronger, somehow. “You can make it right.” 

“I can’t.” He argued. “It’ll make everything worse. What if I leave them, too?” 

“With my power, I can ensure it’s done right.” He could feel the voice grinning. The honeyed promises were like water in the Gerudo Desert—too tempting to resist. He felt the markings on his face pulsate with the promise of power.

He stepped away from the group—just a few paces. He took a deep breath and let the power wash over him. He felt his markings glow as he reached into his bag. His hand passed over something cool and smooth and achingly familiar. 

“Time?” Hyrule’s quiet voice had everyone’s attention turning towards him. 

“I’ll make this right.” He promised. “This time... I won’t fail you again.” He smiled as he brought the Ocarina to his lips. 

Legend’s eyes widened as he realized what he was about to do. “You idiot! No!” But it was already too late. His fingers flitted across the holes of the Ocarina, following the old familiar pattern.

A fierce wind kicked up around them all as the Song of Time flowed through the air for the first time in decades. He felt a familiar darkness overtake him as space and time overlapped. 

All the while, the moon smiled down upon him. And when he came to, body noticeably younger, it continued to laugh. 

He set his gaze on Termina, squaring his ten-year-old shoulders as he prepared to face the next few decades alone. He would have to court Malon all over again, struggle through losses and pretend he didn’t know people he held dear. But it would all be worth it. To make sure his pup and the others were safe, it would always be worth it.