Gazing Skyward

Part 4

"Link, you gotta at least defend yourself..."

"I guess... ow." Sky hissed as Zelda cleaned the scrape on his elbow. "I don't understand why he hates me so much. I mean we were never friends in the first place, but now... Like what did I do?"

"He's just a jerk, sleepyhead. There's nothing else to it."

Hyrule blinked his chocolate brown eyes at his surroundings the scene had changed again. The walls were painted green and blue. There was a plain closet by the door and a desk with books piled upon it next to a small window. To his right nestled three empty shelves. Finally, there was a bed on the left of the window where the two friends sat.

"This is Sky's room. It looks a bit different, but that's not a surprise." He thought to himself.

"These memories are changing faster now," Time muttered aloud.

"I noticed. Why is that?" Wild peeped out behind Warriors to glance at the display.

"Likely they're showing us only what is important, Champion," Warriors replied to the curious teen. He crossed his arms.

"But who is they?" Four asked to no-one in particular. "That's what I want to know."

Legend sighed, "That's what we all want to know. I also want to know what they want. Once they get that, I believe we're home free."

"How can you be so sure?" Wind questioned doubtfully.

"I've gotten out of a similar situation, let's just say."

"Sure! Yet so far, I haven't found anything we can do. Everything is untouchable!"

Hyrule shook his head and walked away from the bickering group and crouched by the bed. He studied the two children with a careful curiosity as they chatted with each other. He watched as Zelda gently wrapped a bandage around Sky's arm all the while keeping him distracted with discussion.

"Aaand done!" the blonde cheered when she finished her care.

Sky stared at it wide eyed. "Whoa... This looks great! Where'd you learn to do this? You're definitely going to ace the med course!"

"Thanks! I hope so." Her grin dropped to a small smile. "My mom taught me."

"O-oh," Sky stammered. "Sorry... I mean she was great. I miss her too."

Zelda giggled softly. "You're so silly sometimes."

She pulled him into a side hug.

"We'll always have each other though, won't we, sleepyhead?"

"I promise."

Hyrule smiled at them as a warm feeling settled in his heart. The warm feeling was familiar, but different.

"They are really close. It's kind of like what I have with the others, but somehow different."

***

Wind glared up at the bright blue sky. They had shifted to a new memory already! It's going too fast!

He shifted his gaze to what was before him. The statue of the goddess Hylia loomed over his head. A crowd of children gathered there with the adults waiting to the side.

"What are they waiting for?" He thought as he moved toward the children.

"This must be some kind of ceremonial thing," Hyrule hypothesized following the youngest.

Wind glanced back at him. "A ceremony?" He frowned unimpressed at the others who were still bickering. "Oi! If you're all so concerned about what the entity wants, you should look at what it's showing you!"

At the sailor's voice and the fluttering of feathers, the other Links sprinted over. A flock of brightly colored young birds settled down before the children. Slowly, each child approached a bird with a hand outstretched.

Wind blinked. It was quite strange to watch. As each child found their bird, it seemed like they were being pulled towards each other like magnets. When they finally reached each other, the spell seemed to break and they began to interact with their own various personalities.

He observed a blonde girl uniting with her periwinkle blue bird. She giggled with joy and threw her arms around its neck. The bird chirped excitedly in response and nuzzled her head. "That's Sun alright."

Finally, the only one left standing alone was a boy. Sky.

"Shouldn't there be enough?" Wind heard Legend mutter beneath his breath. He agreed with him.

"What's going on?" Hyrule voiced everyone's thoughts. "Where's his bird?"

Sky raised his face to the sky eyes closed. With a sharp caw a bright crimson blur soared into view. It circled above the boy before flapping to rest before him.

Sky stared into the loftwing's eyes for a long moment. He nodded as if they had agreed upon something and climbed up onto the bird's back.

"Link! You're not ready to-"

The Loftwing unfurled its wings and launched into the air.

Wind's jaw dropped.

"I mean I shouldn't have been surprised..."Warriors chuckled as he ran a hand through his hair.

Legend grinned watching his brother fly his bird with a natural ease. "You little show off."

Sky finally brought his loftwing down to rest. The instructor rushed to him frantically and began berating him for his recklessness.

The crimson loftwing covered the boy with his wing and lent down to hide him from view. Much to the instructor's surprise. The bird glared at him with a noise that sounded like a hiss.

The headmaster addressed the young hylian from a friendly distance. "That's quite the bird you got there, Link! Crimson loftwings are incredibly rare you know? And that was quite a show you put on too! I'm sure the other kids are jealous. Hoo hoo."

"That is true." The instructor shook his head with a sigh. "Please wait until you've actually gone through the training process before riding your loftwing again. Alright?"

The child nodded sheepishly before burying his slightly flushed face into the red feathers.

Wind grinned proudly, " Our brother is so cool. Even before he was a hero! Hehe."

"I see..." Time chuckled to himself. "We had a reckless nature from the very beginning."

"This is kinda obvious... I mean, it's been obvious since we've known him, but Sky is really giving all the telltale signs of a prophecy fulfillment. It's almost like someone wrote 'the chosen one' in bold letters on his forehead." Legend points out as he leans on Wind. Wind bats him away in annoyance.

"He's called the Chosen Hero for a reason," Four stated glancing up at the veteran.

"Exactly my point," Legend continued. "And he said Hylia doesn't have favorites. Ha."

Wind smiled softly at the boy and his loftwing snuggling together. Sky had to be about Aryl's age in this memory. It was hard to see his brother so blissfully unaware of what dangers lurked in his future. It hurt to think of his baby sister experiencing anything like his own adventures again. His sister, so young and innocent... He frowned.

"At least, Sky was older than I was when I started out..."