(a/n)- There are actually three different Links that appear in this story: The Hero's Shade/Link from Ocarina of Time, Link from Twilight Princess, and Link from Breath of the Wild.

This was basically me coming up with a reason why Wolf Link can be your companion in BotW, and the ensuing story.

I consider this a sort of companion piece to my other BotW fic "a place to rest my head" but they're both standalone.

I do not own the Legend of Zelda or any of these characters.

It's not until he dies that Link realizes who the Hero's Shade really was.

He passes away quietly, slumbering and unaware until his spirit leaves his body. He finds himself in front of the golden wolf again, who he hasn't seen since all those many years ago. The both of them seem to be in the same otherworldly realm they trained in before. The wolf lifts its muzzle and howls, another familiar sight, yet he doesn't turn into the skeletal warrior. Instead, in front of Link now stands a boy who looks remarkably like he himself used to when he was young.

The boy is leaner, his hair lighter, his nose and ears longer, sharper, but the resemblance is undeniable. He wears a green tunic, like Link used to wear, just a shade or two brighter.

The boy, or rather the Hero's Shade, gives a small smile. "I thought that appearing in this form would help."

Link stays silent, warily watching his doppelganger.

"As I'm sure you remember, I am the one who taught you those skills when you were just a beginning swordsman." His smile broadens into almost a grin. "You learned very well. I am proud to have been your mentor."

"Who are you?" Link's voice is quiet. He never talked much in his life. He found actions typically helped him communicate better. "I mean, who are you really?"

The Hero's Shade studies him. "At one point, I was known as the Hero of Time. You wouldn't have heard of me, however. My legacy was lost not long after it started." A shade of regret colors his words, though it seems lighter than it once had. "You are my direct descendant, which is why we look so much alike. We are different people, but we were both born with the spirit of the hero, and both chosen by the Master Sword." He sighs. "Now, both of our times have passed, and Hyrule will live on. Not without trouble, however, and this is why I am meeting you now."

He paused before continuing again. "When I died, I had many regrets. This caused my spirit to linger, unable to move on. What helped me ease those regrets was helping you on your mission to save the land by passing on my knowledge, and after that my spirit was finally put to rest. Though you've encountered many hardships and you bear the burden all the heroes of Hyrule have, and will, you do not harbor the same difficulties I did, and you died relatively at peace with your place in the world. I'm here to offer you a choice; you can move on from the earthly realm forever, or you can stay behind and help the next hero that is called upon."

Link doesn't know what to say, and the Hero's Shade seems to be able to tell. He smiles again, kindly. Link thinks that it's strange to see his old mentor, melancholy and tough in his memories, smile so much.

"I will leave you here to think over your decision. Take as long as you need."

Link considers the choice. He had lived a very long life, and by the end of it he was tired. However, he thinks back to his mission, decades ago. He has spent much time over the years wondering if he would have even lived through the ordeal if it weren't for the Hero's Shade teaching him. Without those skills, he would have just been a farm boy with very little combat experience, thrust into a deadly quest. The Hero's Shade had taken him on and trained him into something more, someone worthy of being a hero. If he had failed, been killed by the more difficult foes because he only knew the very basics that he'd picked up from Rusl, what would have become of Zelda, of Midna, of Hyrule?

What ends up making the choice for him, however, is the thought of another child, ripped from their former life. What if they were alone, if they didn't have a companion like Midna to guide them? Link remembers days when the task ahead seemed much too monumental, that all he wanted to do was collapse, but Midna had urged him on, and even through all of the scars and bruises and hopeless feelings he had fulfilled his mission and saved Hyrule. Maybe he could be to this new hero what Midna and the Hero's Shade had been to him.

Once Link makes his decision, the Hero's Shade appears again and Link tells him. His smile is small, and it looks a little bittersweet. "Once the Goddesses feel a hero is in need, you will be sent." He puts a hand on Link's shoulder. "We will meet again."

The Hero's Shade fades away.

Link waits. Hundreds and hundreds of years go by, but being in this in-between place makes time flow differently, and before he knows it he feels himself being pulled back into the world.

The boy he is sent to watch over appears about as old as he had been when he was sent on his own mission, and as old as the Hero's Shade had looked the last he saw of him. Link wonders why such young men are chosen, and silently laments at the lost years of youth. He hadn't thought of himself as young, back then, but it had only been the beginning of his life and that time had marked him for the remainder of it unlike any other experience. Now this boy, with his naïve curiosity and youthful face appears hardly more than a child.

Link comes to him in his wolf form while he's on the Great Plateau, only just awakened. Muscle memory of how to move as a wolf still kicks in automatically even after so long, and he feels much younger than he had in years. It's almost strange, though, without Midna's weight on his back, her small hands fisted into his fur.

The boy looks at him curiously as he approaches. He doesn't appear afraid like most others had, but his hand was resting on the hilt of his weapon cautiously nonetheless.

Link walks up and sits down near where the boy is standing . He yawns, feigning disinterest.

The boy crouches down and sets a hesitant hand on the top of his head. It was an odd sensation, being touched like a pet by another human, but it wasn't exactly something he was unused to. Midna loved to pet him, especially in the beginning when she would try to irritate him by treating him like a common animal. After a certain point, though, her touches had become more affectionate than a way to antagonize him.

Getting no negative reaction from Link, the boy resumes his petting, scratching Link behind his ears. It is a bit embarrassing, but the sensation was pleasant, so Link leans into his hand.

The boy then digs out an apple and offers it to Link. Link devours it from his hand, finding that although he isn't technically alive anymore, he has an appetite. The boy laughs, and gives him another.

Afterward, the boy stands up and walks off, waving goodbye. Link huffs, amused that the boy would treat animals as if they were friends. It was the type of thing Link himself would do. Link stands up and stretches, before following the boy.

The boy looks down at him as he continues on, headed tilted quizzically, but makes no move to shoo him away.

They come across a small group of red Bokoblins gathered around a fire. Judging by the crude shield on the boy's back, he's fought some before. The boy slows down and crouches behind a rock and Link follows suit. The boy looks at him, then makes a motion for him to leave, or retreat to a safer distance. Oh, sweet boy, he was trying to protect Link. Link quietly snorts. He'd been in far worse battles, as a wolf and as a human. A few of the weakest breed of Bokoblins weren't going to kill him.

Link holds the boy's gaze as he continues gesturing, become more insistent until he shrugs and gives up.

The boy turns back to the Bokoblins. He takes out his bow, another tool that looked rather rudimentary compared to what Link has used, and aims towards a tree nearby. Link is confused for a moment, until the arrow flies and pierces a bee's nest hanging from one of the branches. The nest falls and breaks, and the bees inside swarm angrily, before collectively picking the nearest Bokoblin as a target for their fury. The Bokoblin yells and runs around quite comically, and the two others merely watch the assault. That's when the boy uses the distraction and sneaks behind one of the Bokoblins, hitting it with his rusty sword and killing it in a single blow. Link runs at the other one, using his teeth and claws to attack, while the boy sprints to take care of the one still being attacked by bees. Once they were all taken care of, the boy takes everything from the quasi-camp the Bokoblins had made, including some honey from the bee's nest. Link gnaws on a piece of raw meat he finds.

After they're finished, the boy grins at Link and pats him on the head.

Link follows the boy around the Great Plateau. The boy may have an important mission to deal with, but he sure doesn't rush to finish it. Instead, he explores around the Plateau, fights every enemy he comes by, collects a frankly unnecessary amount of food and other materials for just one kid and a wolf, and falls. The boy falls a lot. It's distressing, really. Link can help him fight enemies but if this boy dies from overexerting himself and collapsing off the side of a mountain, there's not much Link can do for him.

At one point, the boy travels around the edge of the Plateau, making Link cringe at how far he leans over, looking down with curiosity and longing in his eyes.

Eventually, though, after going through all of the shrines and exploring every crevice on the Plateau, the boy runs out of things to do, and finally goes to meet the mysterious old man on top of the temple. Link stays behind. The boy doesn't seem to mind since he knows by now that if he goes on a path Link can't follow, Link will transport to where he is at some point. It had actually been pretty funny the first time he did it, materializing in front of the boy and watching him jump back in surprise before his face split into a grin.

Link settles down and waits, letting the boy meet the man by himself. Awhile later, the boy glides down on a paraglider, looking ecstatic.

Link doesn't always stay with the boy. He keeps his distance sometimes. Occasionally, when an enemy hits him one too many times, he unwillingly gets pulled away, before being transported back to the boy in what seems to be at least a few hours later. The boy usually fares fine in the times he's on his own, but he seems grateful for the help and the company when Link does come back.

Hyrule both is and isn't the land he had left behind long ago. On the Great Plateau he sees the ruins of the Temple of Time, where he'd once traveled back in time to enter, and in the distance there's the silhouette of what could only be Death Mountain, still as large and imposing as it was once before. On the Great Plateau, however, the only other person besides Link and the boy is another spirit. There are only remains of civilization, hints that others besides the animals and overgrown plants and insects and monsters once inhabited it. Beyond the Great Plateau, the Castle is visible, but surrounded by swirling clouds of malice. The land seen from above on the Great Plateau is green, sprawling forests and tall mountains. Link wonders if there are many towns left, if the Calamity had destroyed most of them or if they're still holding on. Hyrule and its citizens had always been, if anything, stubborn in the face of adversity.

When the boy finally leaves the Plateau, they come across mostly ruins. The bones of houses and crumbled stone pillars, becoming overtaken by plants and probably long forgotten. They see others traveling around, a few scattered adventurers by the looks of them, but they don't see too many until they come across a stable. The stable is like a very small village in itself, with travelers gathering together, cooking food or talking or just resting. Link lays down next to another dog that's lazing in the sun and watches the boy attempt to mount and train nearby wild horses until he finally returns with one a few hours later, a triumphant grin on his face and visible bruising.

The boy spends time with some of the people at the stable, listening to whatever they have to say and occasionally recording tidbits, ranging from information pertinent to his mission to new recipes, on his strange, supposedly Sheikah-made device. Either the device was incredibly ancient, or the Sheikah hadn't died out like Link thought they would.

Once the boy seems satisfied, he takes his new horse and continues on his path, Link following after. They gain more time this way than on foot, the horse keeping a steady pace and Link running besides them, but as the hours go by, the sun now long gone, Link starts to feel tired. On top of the horse, who had slowed down to a slight trot, the boy is slumped over a little, his eyes half-lidded and starting to slip closed. Link gives a loud bark, which makes the boy jump up, then groan and rub his eyes. Instead of stopping, though, the boy urges his horse faster again, and Link rolls his eyes before running to keep up. He barks again, which causes the boy to shoot him a confused look. Link keeps making noise until the boy slows the horse to a stop, looking annoyed.

Link walks over to a spot safely off the path and lays down, looking expectantly at the boy. He seems to get the point Link is trying to make because he brings the horse over and makes a campfire.

After they eat, the boy experimenting with ingredients for himself and giving Link some seared meat and the horse a few apples, the boy gets up again, moving to mount his horse once more. However, Link growls to stop him, and pointedly lays his head on top of his front paws. The boy looks like he's considering leaving Link behind, but after some more incessant growling, he gives up and lays down facing the fire, then promptly falls asleep. Link gets up and curls next to his back. Link himself is tired, but he stays awake for awhile longer, ears perked and eyes sharp. Eventually, though, he drifts off too.

When he wakes up the boy is snacking on a roasted bird thigh, looking restless. Once the boy notices Link stretching, he packs the rest of their supplies and sets off again, leaving Link to roll his eyes and follow.

He can't be too irritated, though. For all of the side tracking the boy does, he makes surprisingly good time, and a kid pushing himself to his limits to fulfill a destiny he didn't ask for is way too familiar for comfort to be annoyed.

Its when they're out in Hyrule, encountering people that Link notices that the boy doesn't really talk. He gestures and makes noises; grunting, gasping, even shouting. When he's around other people he'll listen to them, nod or shake his head. He won't say anything, though. It doesn't seem necessary for him.

Link had never talked much himself, usually only when he really needed to. Plenty of words and ideas would come into his mind but getting them out, communicating them to others, was something else entirely. Maybe that was part of why he liked animals so much. It wasn't so complicated, they didn't have secrets and biases, there weren't a lot of rules. Animals mainly relied on instinct, and their needs were basic. They were easy to read just from body language. He learned as a child that animals never expected anything from him except food and shelter. All it took to herd goats was some shouting and patience. As a human, he communicated with them through touch, soothing sounds, gentle smiles. In his wolf form, he had to ability to talk to other animals, but it was still a different format of communication than with people, and the interactions didn't have the same complexities.

It wasn't that Link disliked people, far from it. When he was alive he would lay down his life without hesitation for Zelda or Midna, Telma or Ilia, for Colin, for many others he had met, for the citizens of Hyrule. That didn't make talking any less complicated for him. The people closest to him usually understood, and didn't push him past what he was comfortable with.

Link wonders what the case was for the boy, if he had similar struggles or if it was something else entirely.

If he needed to, he communicated with Link through gestures and wordless sounds and facial expressions, which usually suited the both of them just fine. The boy could communicate battle strategies to Link without uttering a single syllable with relative ease. When it was well into the night and Link could see the fatigue in the boy's slumped shoulders, all Link needed to do was growl at him to urge him to set up a camp for the night. They didn't need much more than that, the two of them, and with this boy Link again felt the kind of close and easy companionship he'd once had from Midna and Zelda.

They don't come across a village until they arrive at Kakiriko. Though it shares the same name as the village the kids had stayed in with Renado, it's much different. Just like the rest of Hyrule, remnants of the past remain, but with time comes new ways of life. The town is busy and entirely populated by Sheikah, which comes as a surprise to Link given that he'd only ever met Impaz. Just as Hyrule itself, it seems the Sheikah were resilient, however, and once again thriving.

The boy comes back from seeing Impa with a haunted look on his face. It's similar to how he had looked after talking to the spirit on the Great Plateau, far away and troubled. It reminds Link achingly of Zelda, after everything that had happened.

They go on to a village called Hateno. The more they travel and fight and explore, the more life seems to returns to the boy's face. There's something in his eyes that doesn't fade, however, and the boy looks almost like he'd aged since Link first met him, though it had only been a few weeks ago.

There's a house in Hateno, modestly sized and a bit removed from the town. A construction company appeared like they were in the process of cleaning it out so they can demolish it. The boy looks wistfully at it, before going up to the workers and inquiring with merely a tilt of his head.

Bolson, the one in charge, offers to sell the house to the boy for 10,000 rupees. The boy indicates for them to wait for him as he goes into town and then he sells anything he can. Valuable stones like opal and sapphire, even a diamond, some amber, and then eventually hundreds of monster parts he'd been hoarding when he had nothing else. Somehow, the boy is able to scrap together enough, and it's with his pockets full of rupees that the boy buys the house.

It's with his pockets empty that he sees the unfurnished interior, and Bolson informs him that he can help him out with that, for more rupees of course.

Link thinks that perhaps the boy was a bit too impulsive when he purchased the house, but he finds that he likes it. It's cozy, and reminds him of his own home back in Ordon, placed sort of inbetween the heart of the village and the rest of the world. The boy seems to like it too, displaying a few weapons on the wall on mounts he'd purchased after working to get some more rupees and looking at the displays with a satisfied gaze. The boy goes to sleep on his new bed, while Link goes outside, preferring the breeze on his fur and the sounds of crickets than the stillness of the house.

A few hours later, Link is awoken by the sound of the boy going outside. He huffs in irritation, thinking that the boy is already ready to leave even though the sun hasn't even begun rising, but the boy merely sits down against the apple tree. There are shadows under his eyes, and it makes Link think of nights spent sleeping on the cold, hard ground. He wonders if the boy had trouble falling asleep on his new bed, if his body had become unaccustomed to resting on something so soft.

Link gets up and stretches, before padding over and laying down next to the boy, resting his head on the boy's lap. The boy smiles a little, before leisurely running his fingers through Link's fur, looking out at the world beyond. Not much later, the boy's eyes slip closed.

After the battle against Ganon and the shattering of the mirror, after the chaos of a Hyrule that needed to be rebuilt had somewhat settled, Link had spent some time with Zelda. She'd also felt the sting of Midna's departure, if not more so, and she was one of the only people in Hyrule that could truly understand what he went through.

Though she was kind and compassionate, Zelda had always been guarded. She had opened up to Link only a few times, but he knew that was more than most ever got.

"She was the only person who ever really knew me," Zelda had admitted one day, when she had a few precious moments of free time. She had spent most of her days then in diplomatic meetings or still attempting to get her citizens back on their feet. At that moment, she and Link were sitting in Hyrule Field, a ways from the castle. "She saw me, saw my soul. No one has ever known me that intimately. It was… nice."

Zelda didn't need to say who she was talking about.

"Sometimes," Zelda had continued, haltingly. She was staring off in the distance, almost like she was talking to herself. "Sometimes I wonder. If she had stayed, or if the connection between our worlds remained intact. Would we have-" and then Zelda had stopped, looked down and swallowed, and neither she nor Link talked for the remainder of her free time.

After she gave Link a rare embrace before going back to the castle, Zelda had smiled sadly, and murmured, "It's a selfish thought anyways. She made her choice. Take care of yourself, Link," and never said a word about it again.

Link remembers Zelda's wistful far-off stare, remembers Midna's almost uncharacteristic tenderness with the princess (though it wasn't uncharacteristic at all, was it, it was just strange to see her display her affection with someone besides Link so openly) and Link finds he can almost fill in the blanks of what Zelda had been confiding.

He had remained friends with Zelda, though their lives took different paths as time went on, and he saw less and less of her. By the time his life had reached its end, he hadn't spoken to her in years.

He wonders what happened to Zelda when she died, if she had moved beyond the earthly realm or if her regrets had left her spirit bound to it, like the Hero's Shade. He wonders if maybe she reunited with Midna when they both passed away, if that was even possible with the divide between their worlds. He hopes that they were able to see each other again. He hopes he can see them again, once this task was complete.

The boy starts seeking out the locations in the images on his Sheikah device. Link finds himself curious about the object, but the one time he tried to examine and prod at it, the boy had shooed him away.

The boy is walking around, looking down at the device and then looking around, as if searching for something specifically. There's a crease in between his eyebrows and his mouth is set in a frown. He walks around in almost circles for awhile before he suddenly sits down in a huff, putting his device back on his hip and looking out again. The longer he stays there the less upset he looks, and something slowly dawns in his eyes. They become glassy, faraway, and Link can't begin to imagine what's going on inside his head, can only guess that he's remembering something. They stay there for awhile, and Link leaves the boy alone as more and more comprehension filters onto his face. The boy begins to look sad.

They go to other places captured on the boy's device, sometimes intentionally and sometimes the boy stops in surprise as he recognizes something about the landscape around them. Every time, the boy seems to gain more and more understanding, and Link can see it weighing on him.

The boy cries, sometimes. Most days he usually appears fairly cheerful, adventuring with vigor and seeming to relish finding new secrets or locations to explore, but some nights he spends curled next to a fire or back at his new house, silent tears sliding down his cheeks or sobs wracking his body.

It starts after leaving the Great Plateau, and only happens more often when he goes to more places, supposedly remembers more. Every time he remembers more, he looks like he had after talking to the spirit and visiting Impa, and that troubled look takes longer and longer to fade.

Link tries to imagine if he had forgotten someone close to him, like Midna or Zelda, Ilia or Colin, only to remember them after they'd been long gone. The thought aches.

The boy doesn't always cry, though. Sometimes when they rest the boy will sit and gaze into the distance, his expression unreachable, miles away. He stares and stares, and Link remembers Zelda looking out at his land, thinking of Midna and what could have been, of all the perceived mistakes she had made, of all the work she still had ahead of her. Link sits next to the boy, younger than Zelda had been (though he had been in the world for over a hundred years, he had not actually lived that long) yet in those moments he seemed older and more weary than he should. Than any child his age should.

Link cannot follow when the boy enters the Divine Beasts. There must be some sort of magic preventing it, because he cannot enter in by foot nor by transporting. Link isn't sure whether whatever malevolent entities that have control over the Divine Beasts were keeping him out, or if the Goddesses feel like these were trials only for the hero himself, but no matter the reason there is no way for Link to help the boy beyond the enterence. So, when the boy goes in, Link will watch him, and try not to feel guilty as he travels beyond where Link can see him, and tries even harder not to feel guilty when the boy comes out again, looking drained in more ways than one.

He wonders if this was how the Hero's Shade had felt watching Link.

They encounter many ruins throughout the land, crumbling remnants of times long past. Link wonders if any of them are places he'd once been to, like the temple that somehow still remained, almost frozen in time from a period before Link was born, on the Great Plateau. Most are too decrepit to recognize, only hints of what may have been a house or even entire villages. Link wonders if anything still remained from his time, or if the land had mostly moved on in the centuries that had passed.

Then, they come across the ruins of what could only have been Castle Town.

Link doesn't completely recognize it at first. It's demolished, with rubble covering the ground and rusted Guardians looking almost like statues that had been built there, instead of once alive and semi-autonomous pieces of tech fallen into ruin. He sees the fountain, however, and Link knows it couldn't have been any other place.

What could have done this? Link wonders, grief overwhelming him. Perhaps it had been the Calamity 100 years ago, destroying everything it could in its crusade. The Guardians, most long dead, seemed to suggest so. The corpses of them seemed to come in large concentrations in the places they destroyed themselves. Link remembers how bustling Castle Town had been in his day, hundreds and hundreds of people eating and talking and selling and singing. It had been the most people Link had seen in his entire life. He wonders, horrifyingly, how many people died when the Guardians came.

Will this ever end? Link thinks as he follows the boy, who was now continuing on, oblivious to Link's turmoil. Link thinks of the Hero's Shade and the mission he alluded to long ago, of his own, of the boy's now, and who knows how many other heroes lost in the history of Hyrule. No matter how much time passes, over and over again like clockwork, Hyrule is rebuilt, and thrives, then is threatened once again. Lives are lost, history is lost. It starts again and again. Can it ever end?

Once all the Divine Beasts were freed, Link is able to go into and around Hyrule Castle with the boy to help in whatever way he can, but the moment Calamity Ganon emerges, he is yanked away. Distantly, he hopes that he didn't lead the boy into a battle he cannot win. He hopes he will be able to see the boy again, after this.

Once the Hyrule Link knew was no longer in peril, he had been free to do whatever he pleased. Link had no other duties to the kingdom unlike Zelda, or Midna to her own kingdom. At first, he revisited places he'd traveled to on his mission. He saw Prince Ralis in Zora's Domain, so young to be saddled with so much responsibility. Link swore he could see just the slightest glimmer of Rutela, watching over her son and her kingdom still. Link visited the Gorons and Kakiriko. He spent quite awhile in Castle Town, wasting many nights in Telma's bar and caught Princess Zelda whenever she had a spare moment. He even went all the way to Snow Peak to check in on Yeta and Yeto. Yeto had made a rather delicious soup that warmed Link's entire body.

Eventually, though, Link had gone back to Ordon. His house was still there, though dust had accumulated, with no one having lived there in quite some time. He went into town and was greeted warmly, like the hero they all seemed to think of him as. The children had returned to their home village, and had grown a surprising amount since Link had last seen them. Colin in particular looked stronger, more confident, and gave Link perhaps the most enthusiastic getting he'd experienced in his entire life.

Link went back to work on the farm. Adjusting to living in a house again, to staying in the same place for an extended period of time was strange, but taking care of the animals felt like coming home. Link no longer felt untethered or lost, and he knew that this was what he was meant to do.

In his free time, Link started training Colin how to fight. He utilized everything he'd been taught by Rusl and the Hero's Shade, even the mayor, as well as tricks he'd picked up on his own. Colin went from a scrawny, timid boy to a young man able to hold his own and protect others, though he never lost his kindness.

Link visited Zelda occasionally, until they both simply no longer had the time.

Link married Ilia. It had been what he'd wanted since he was a boy, though he never would have guessed all that had transpired from then until the wedding day. He wouldn't give up any of it. All of Ordon attended the ceremony, with some of Link's friends from all over Hyrule travelling for it as well. Telma cried into Renado shoulder. Link had tried very hard not to think of the empty seats where Zelda and Midna could have sat.

Ilia moved into Link's house, and it felt more like home than it had since he had returned to Ordon. They started a family, raising a girl with hair so fiery that she reminded him of Midna. Link often wondered where in his or Ilia's family the color had come from.

As time went on, Link found that while he still mourned the lost tie between himself and Midna, as well as the distance between him and Zelda, it was more of a quiet, bittersweet sadness. He thought of them often, but the hurt eased. By the end of his life, Link had loved and been loved and he was content.

After the Calamity is defeated, Link goes to see the boy one more time.

He hadn't been sure that he would be afforded the opportunity, now that his duty has been fulfilled. Still, nothing stops him, though he somehow knows he cannot stay. He doesn't even particularly want to, even if traveling with the boy had been fun, in the end. Like with Midna, like with Zelda, like with the Hero's Shade, Link's life (or rather, afterlife) is heading off in another direction from the boy, and they likely will not meet again for a very long time.

Link is glad that at least he doesn't have to think of what to say.

As the boy runs his fingers through Link's fur, there's something in his expression. Sadness, perhaps? Link studies the boy and wonders if maybe he can sense that this would be the last time they'll see each other, at least for this lifetime.

Zelda is there, too. A different Zelda, the Zelda of this new Hyrule. She appears much different than his own Zelda had; younger and smaller, with blonde hair and green eyes. Still, he thinks he can see his Zelda in the way she holds herself, in the kindness in her eyes. That's when Link realizes that this Zelda must be a descendant of his Zelda if she still carries the Royal Bloodline. He hadn't even known that she'd had children. He thinks of Midna, of Zelda's sad eyes, and wonders if the Zelda of his time had children out of duty, or if she'd finally found happiness with another.

Zelda, the one in front of him, smiles and kneels next to the boy. She holds a hand out and let's Link sniff it, before petting him as well. Up close, he can see behind the youth that there's a weariness in her eyes. He remembers that while the boy had slept, she spent the hundred years containing the Calamity. Link hopes she can find peace now that she's free.

Once the two of them are done saying their goodbyes, Link pads away.

As he stops for a moment to watch them from a distance, Link wonders what will happen to the boy once it's his time. Will he be able to move on or will something chain him to Hyrule?

Link watches, sees the princess talking about something and the boy listening with rapt attention, both of them smiling. He sees some of the weight seems to be lifted off the boy now that he is with Zelda. He thinks about even the Hero's Shade finally finding his peace, and he figures that maybe they will be okay.

With his mission done, Hyrule starts to fade away, and Link welcomes his fate with his own smile.