A/N (12/26/18): So, I scrapped the original version of this chapter and rewrote it entirely because (let's be honest) it sucked. At this point, I have not gotten to the other chapters I plan to rewrite, so I apologize for the lesser quality of the following chapters. If this is your first time reading this, I promise it gets better.

The young man was afloat, facedown in the ebony waters that surrounded him on all sides. No matter where he looked, all he could see was an inky blackness. It frustrated him to no end that he could only see darkness. A feeling within told him that the darkness should have been full of something, yet there was nothing but silence.

Sometimes, images would appear just below him. Blue feathers, deep brown skin, silky blond hair, and a rocky figure that was larger than life. Images of running through a battlefield, broken and burning, or sitting on a grassy hill as a young woman tried to shove a small, green frog down his throat. He watched them passively whenever they appeared, wondering who the people he saw were and why the things he saw nearly crushed him with feelings of culpability. All he could do was watch helplessly as the scenes played out before him and, slowly dissipating as they took their memory with them. All he was left with was a bleak emptiness and a ravenous guilt that tried to swallow him whole.

He watched passively as the images came and went, feeling a peculiar sense of loss as each one dissipated. It was as though something was being peeled away each time, but he was unable to identify exactly what it was that he was losing. When he saw the girl with red and white scales he began actively reaching for her, but no matter how hard he strained she drifted away. He could only watch helplessly as her amber eyes gazed back at him as she began to disappear.

And then, there was nothing.

And so, he remained motionless, drifting in the endless silence that had become his reality. All he could do was consider questions that he had no way to answer.

Where was he?

Why was he there?

What was there to feel guilty for?

Why did he feel as though everything was missing?

And most importantly: who was he?

It didn't matter how hard he searched the recesses of his mind, there were no answers to be found. So, he drifted, and drifted, and drifted until he decided to stop thinking altogether. Thinking brought loneliness. Thinking brought emptiness. Thinking brought a nameless guilt.

"…"

He roused himself, listening for the sound again. He wasn't sure how long he had been left in silence, but he was beginning to think that there was nothing but the silence.

"… Open your eyes…" a young woman called quietly.

What did that mean?

"… Open your eyes…"

Hearing it a second time made it no clearer.

"Wake up, Link."

Link. As soon as he heard it, something inside registered it as a name, which he recognized as his own as a bright, golden light appeared before him. He reached for the light, feeling it draw closer to him until it overwhelmed him entirely.

A soft blue glow blinded him as his eyelids peeled back. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed that the glow emanated from etchings on a black ceiling. While there were a variety of shapes to study, they were of no interest to him. He sat up, looking down at the remains of a viscous liquid that had surrounded him. He watched the rest of it drain away from the depression he was sitting in, wondering for a brief moment if it had covered him entirely. He discarded the thought, deciding that it didn't matter.

What mattered was finding the source of the voice.

That was his primary thought as he climbed out of the pool and looked around, rolling his shoulders in an attempt to remind himself how his body worked. The blue glow on the black background made it nearly impossible for him to see what lay in his surroundings. Despite the limited visibility, Link could make out several other pools, much like the one he had been laying in. As he narrowed his eyes, further focusing his vision, he could just make out a silhouette climbing out of another pool.

Link walked towards the figure, hoping that he or she would know something. Whereas he had pale skin, blond bangs that hung low to frame a round face, and lean muscles, the stranger had navy blue feathers, an angular face with a sharp beak, large wings, and sharp talons instead of toes.

A single emerald eye focused on him, giving him a once over.

"And who are you?" he asked as he turned towards Link.

"Link."

"Right," he snorted before turning away to survey their surroundings.

Link frowned. While he didn't consider himself to be in a place to judge, he wasn't fond of the way that he had just been dismissed. Still, though, he wasn't about to walk away when whomever he was talking to may know something.

"Is there a reason you're still here?" he asked as he turned back to Link.

"You haven't told me your name."

Link tensed up slightly as his 'companion' bent down, jutting his face into Link's. "I don't like your tone." They glared at each other for a long moment before the other leaned back and folded his wings. "The name is Revali. I suggest you remember it."

Link nodded curtly. He wasn't sure how he could forget a name that was attached to such a large personality.

"Listen here," Revali growled as he drew uncomfortably close to Link, "if I catch even a modicum of disrespect –" the two were so absorbed in their spat that neither one noticed as the ground started shaking slightly "- so help me –"

"Hey, hey, can't we just get along," a deep voice rumbled.

Before Link could find the source, he felt a massive force on his back, sending his head flying into Revali's.

"Uh…" Daruk muttered as he watched the two crumple to the ground. "You guys okay?" he asked. When neither responded, he lifted a rocky hand, scratching at his gray beard. He hadn't exactly meant to knock them unconscious, but he supposed that it accomplished the result he had been working towards.

"Well, I suppose that's one way to resolve an argument," a feminine voice said silkily. He looked over to find a tall woman with dark brown skin and fiery red hair sauntering up to him. "Urbosa," she said.

"What now?"

"That's my name, Big Guy."

"Oh, uh… Daruk," he replied.

"Daruk? You sure about that?" she asked coyly.

"What do ya mean?" He wasn't sure what to make of Urbosa. She didn't appear threatening but something about her made him a little uncomfortable.

"You seem a little unsure."

"My name is Daruk," he repeated, making sure that his voice didn't waver.

"Daruk it is." Urbosa set a hand on her hip as she looked down at the two heaps on the ground. "So, Daruk, who are these two?"

"Don't know," he replied as he scratched the side of his head. As far as he could tell, he hadn't really had a stake in the argument as far as he knew, and so he had no real reason to get involved. He just didn't like the idea of them fighting, especially when they were all trapped in the same room. He had spent his first waking moments looking around blearily for an exit. It was during his search that he noticed the two starting their squabble.

"Tender soul?" she asked, that same playful smile creeping back on her face.

"Huh?"

"You tried to settle an argument between two other people," she explained.

"I –"

"Then again, you did crack their skulls together," Urbosa mused as she placed a thumb under her chin while hooking her finger around it. "Hmm… I wonder what that makes you."

"How about just Daruk," he responded. He had come to the conclusion that whatever she was talking about was not all that important. He was Daruk, and that was all that really counted. With that out of the way, he looked back down towards the two on the floor. "So, what do we do with them?"

"E-excuse me," a small voice called quietly.

"I was wondering when you were going to join us," Urbosa replied as she and Daruk looked towards the young girl that stood across from them. The first thing he noticed was that her arms, lower legs, and upper head were covered in bright red scales. Her torso, thighs, and lower face were covered in pure white scales. From her arms, legs, and head hung fins that ranged from blue to yellow. She clutched her clawed hands together nervously as her amber eyes flicked between Daruk and Urbosa.

"What happened?" she asked as she gestured towards them.

"Daruk here was overly excited about a team building exercise," Urbosa chuckled.

"It was an accident," Daruk sighed.

"May I take a look?"

"Please do." Daruk watched as she knelt and poked and prodded at the blue-feathered one. "So, what's your name?"

"Mipha." Her answer was given absently, as though she had all but forgotten they were there in the first place. He didn't really mind, especially if there was something she could do to help the two.

"Daruk," he replied.

"So, you can introduce yourself now?"

"And that's Urbosa."

"I am perfectly capable of telling her my own name."

"Don't mind her."

"She's not even listening."

"I don't mean to be rude, but do you take anything seriously?" he asked as he turned back to her. He wasn't annoyed, not yet anyway, he just wanted to know exactly who he was dealing with. He figured it was better to figure these things out now rather than waiting until later.

"No, that's your job."

He sighed, shaking his head at her antics. How she managed to find something to amuse herself with under the circumstances was a mystery to him. With his question answered, his attention shifted back to Mipha where he found a reason to be concerned. While he and Urbosa had been talking, Mipha had moved on to the other heap. The problem was, she was frozen in place above the young man. "Mipha?"

She remained unresponsive.

"Mipha?" he asked again.

Again,silence was her only response.

Mipha stared down at the face below her, convinced that she knew that face from somewhere. When she had looked down at the bird-like one, she hadn't been overly moved. Staring down at the blond framed face was a different story. She felt a small mental tug, but no matter how hard she tried to follow it, it continued to elude her. Not only that, but the harder she tried to latch onto the thought, the more her head began to ache; however, she continued her efforts. It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder that she finally looked away.

"Are you all right?" Mipha's first impression of Urbosa was that she was someone who couldn't be bothered by anything, yet now, she knelt next to Mipha with an almost concerned look.

"I am well, thank you."

Urbosa's eyes continued searching her. Clearly, she was dissatisfied by the answer she had received.

"I think I may know him is all."

"So, you don't have any memories either?"

"No…" she replied sadly. A part of her found it strange that she could miss something that she couldn't even be sure existed, but she did it all the same.

Her eyes drifted back down to the young man.

"He is rather nice to look at, isn't he?"

Mipha felt her face heating up. "That wasn't wha- I was just worried about Link." She froze as the words left her mouth. Somehow, she had inadvertently remembered his name.

"Link?"

"That is his name," she murmured thoughtfully. Though the name had clicked into place, as though it was something she had always known, she knew nothing else about him. She did feel some hope, though. If she could recall his name, then maybe other things would follow.

"That's one mystery solved," Urbosa muttered quietly. "How are they?"

Mipha pursed her lips as she considered how best to answer. "He should be fine," she replied quietly as she gestured to their still nameless companion. "He may have a concussion, but I will not know until he wakes up."

"And Link?"

Mipha didn't respond as she looked back down at him. As she had poked at his mottled back, she had felt numerous fractures, along both his spine and his shoulders. What really concerned her though, was what felt like small shards of bone that had splintered off from their larger counterparts. It would take months for it to heal on its own, and that was if she was wrong about the shards. More likely, he would never heal entirely and would have to live out the rest of his days with limited movement at best.

Thankfully, his head was in much better shape. All she could feel was the bruise that was forming where their heads had collided.

"Is everything all right?" Daruk asked.

"You know, Big Guy, there's something I've been wondering." Urbosa stood back up as she addressed Daruk.

"Yeah?"

"Should Mipha and I be worried?"

"About what?"

"Well, you seem to have a lot of pent up aggression. Should we be worried that you'll take some of it out on us?"

"You're not gonna let that go, are you?"

"Never," Urbosa replied.

Mipha let out a relieved sigh as she turned back to Link. It seemed that Urbosa had somehow sensed her reluctance and taken it upon herself to distract Daruk for the time being. She knew she would have to explain the situation to them at some point, but she didn't mind putting it off in lieu of determining a way to move them safely.

She listened absently as Daruk and Urbosa continued their banter, frowning as she reached towards the bruising on Link's face again. Rather than prodding his injury, she simply set her palm on it. She wished there was something more she could do, but the small gesture was the only form of comfort she knew how to provide. As she stared at him, she felt a warmth course through her as her hand began to glimmer. She froze, watching her hand glow before quickly retracting it. She leaned forward, checking on Link's injury again. She was worried that she had hurt him more, but, much to her surprise, the bruising appeared to have gone down. She carefully replaced her hand on his head and watched as the blue glow returned.

"What are you doing?" Daruk asked.

"I… don't know." She pulled her hand away, seeing that the bruise was gone entirely. She felt the spot again, finding no trace of any damage. It was as though nothing had ever happened.

"Do you suppose you can do it again?" Urbosa asked.

"I think so," Mipha replied uncertainly. She had no idea how she had done it, or what her limits were, but she would try again if it meant that the two on the floor would be okay.

"Huh." Daruk stroked his beard as Mipha turned Link over and began tending to his back.

"Is that all you have to say about that?"

"I get the feeling there is a lot of things going on that I don't understand," Daruk replied.

Mipha giggled lightly as she moved her palm over the broken bones beneath Link's skin. Though she didn't take part, she enjoyed Daruk and Urbosa's conversation. Their bickering was absolutely pointless and consisted more of Urbosa making subtle jabs at Daruk. She was certain that there were several that she missed, but it was humorous all the same.

When Mipha had finished tending to Link's injuries, she rolled him back over so that he was lying face up. Then she moved on to the heap of blue feathers. Her eyes kept flicking back to Link as she set to work. For some reason, she felt the need to keep an eye on the young man. It turned out to be the right decision, as, within a couple of minutes of leaving his side, Link began moving. Mipha rushed back to his side and set a hand on his chest. Link's bright blue eyes opened slowly, his eyes traveling down to the red clawed hand on his chest. He studied it for a moment before traveling up her arm and finally meeting her gaze.

His head tilted as he stared at her for a long moment. "Mipha?" he asked just as she opened her mouth.

She felt a surge of adrenaline spike through her as her name left his lips. She had hoped that they did somehow know each other. Maybe he really could fill in the blanks. "You know me?" She couldn't quite keep the hope out of her voice.

His gaze shifted to the ceiling above them both for a few seconds. "I don't remember."

"I see. I am sorry to hear that." She kept the disappointment out of her voice. While she had indeed hoped that Link would be able to fill in some of the blanks, she was relieved that he was all right.

"How are you, Little Guy?" Daruk asked, mildly abashed.

"All right," Link replied.

"I'm really sorry about that."

Link shrugged, not appearing the least bit bothered by what Daruk had done. "How's Revali?" he asked.

"Revali?"

Link turned his head, nodding towards the blue-feathered mound as best he could.

"Oh. Your friend should be all right."

An odd expression crossed his face, but he said nothing else.

"I need to finish tending to him," Mipha said as she heard Revali groan.

Link nodded.

Mipha left him there, forgetting her concerns about him getting up. She was quickly reminded though as Link immediately tried to get to his feet. "Please stay down."

"I'm fine," Link muttered as he stood up straight.

Mipha sighed disapprovingly as she knelt back down next to Revali. She had a feeling that wouldn't be the last time that he refused to properly take care of himself. All she could do was turn her attention back to Revali.

Revali looked around, noticing the small groups that were beginning to form around him.

He had awoken to a fish-looking girl hovering over him and, from what he could tell, she had absolutely no respect for personal space. To make matters worse, she wouldn't back off until she was absolutely certain that he wasn't going to keel over. To only compound his irritation further, she had patronized him by standing close by, ready to rush to his side at the slightest sign of unsteadiness.

After that, they had all taken part in a rather pointless conversation in which absolutely nothing was accomplished. The only thing he learned was that everyone else was pathetically sensitive. He had the good sense to point out the flaws in their plans when it came to escaping wherever they were; however, Urbosa hadn't taken kindly to that. She had taken her oh-so-valuable time to lecture him about how his input was not welcome. It was especially irritating because he had plenty of ideas. Admittedly, most of those ideas revolved around pointing out the flaws he hadn't had the chance to.

After that little waste of time, they had opted to split up. Mipha followed Link as he took one side of the room while Daruk and Urbosa walked in the opposite direction, leaving Revali by himself. He eyed the two groups, trying to decide if he should join one. He didn't care for Urbosa's lecturing, didn't care for Daruk seeing as he had knocked him into Link, was annoyed by Mipha's hovering, and generally abhorred Link's contemptuous attitude. It didn't take him long to decide he was better off exploring by himself.

Aside from the pools they had been asleep in, there wasn't much else to explore in the round room. The only other thing of note to be found were the strange, glowing symbols on the wall. Not entirely sure what he should be doing, he eyed Daruk and Urbosa, finding that they had chosen a spot along the wall and were tracing the symbols while murmuring to each other. He assumed they were looking for some pattern to help them translate whatever was written there. Figuring there were no better options, he decided to do the same.

He analyzed the writing in front of him from every possible angle, but no matter what position his head took, there was nothing he could pull from them. Eventually, he stepped back with a frustrated growl. It was utterly pointless for him to continue, but the idea of giving up didn't sit well with him either.

"Find something little guy?"

Revali whirled around and narrowed his eyes as he saw Link holding something up. He stomped over, feeling like an idiot for having spent so long staring at a wall. When he finally arrived, he saw what the big deal was. It appeared to be a back slab with an eye, a single teardrop, and three triangles forming eyebrows on one side, and on the other was a simple black surface.

"That is a Sheikah Slate. It will help you on your journey."

Revali looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. It was the same one that had awakened him. Not finding anyone else, he turned back, just as a mechanism sounded. A section of the wall slid aside, revealing a path forward.

"You are our light… the light that must shine on Hyrule once more."

She smiled as she watched her friends clothe themselves and leave the Shrine of Resurrection. It didn't matter that she was surrounded by Malice, or that the being she held back was the incarnation of hatred itself. No, the only thing that mattered was that her friends had finally arisen from their long slumber.

It had been one hundred years. One hundred long years, but they had finally awakened. It was only the first step in their long journey for they had to regain their strength and their memories, but they were awake. It wouldn't be long before they remembered their duty and came to defeat the Calamity.

All she had to was hold out a little longer.

A/N: Unfortunately, for me, I don't own any of this. That's probably a good thing seeing as I would likely ruin the series. Reviews are appreciated, but please, make them constructive, rather than "I don't like this idea," or "I want this ship." That really doesn't help me improve.