A/N: 

HELLO! :D

Today is a special day. it's...

My BIRTHDAY! (Sept 6th) And an old tradition of mine that's fallen out of practice in the face of a busy life is to update a story on my birthday so we all have something to smile about! So, here's my Birthday Update gift to you! A new chapter of Until We Meet Again! And even better is that it has the thing everyone's been asking about—the rest of the Chain realizing just how long Wild's been gone for. >:D

I hope I've done it justice. Please enjoy this 3.6k word chapter.

~~~

Four wasn't sure what to think. Wild had returned to them, but... he was different. They were small differences, mostly. The way he'd pause in the middle of making dinner, as if trying to remember what everyone liked and disliked—which, as Vio pointed out, was perfectly reasonable considering he'd been gone for two years. But he also moved differently.

Green was pretty adept at sword forms and movements, so he was among the first to realize that Wild's movements had changed, and it wasn't just a year or two's worth of practice—not unless the guy had pushed himself to sickness in that time. His sword forms were much smoother than before, but they weren't a completely different style either, which meant his improvement hadn't come from an instructor.

In a brief spar between Wild and Warriors the other day, the Champion had ruthlessly disarmed the Captain after only a few minutes. Before his second Journey, Wild had only barely been able to hold his own in a straight sword fight against him. The Champion had always been more reliant on his bow and Slate's runes. To see him moving with such unerring grace with a blade, even if it was still his unpredictable mishmash style learned from monsters and muscle memory, was almost chilling.

"Hey, look," Red drew their attention to their left, "Sky's back."

Sky rejoined the group, a grinning Wild and teasing Legend in tow. There was an air of ease among the three of them now—an understanding that hadn't been there when they'd left to explore.

"Looks like you had a good time, kid." Warriors beamed, aiming to ruffle Wild's hair only for the scarred hero to swiftly dodge with a light scowl.

Legend snorted, obscenely amused by the interaction. "Oh, that makes much more sense now." Sky shot the veteran a confused look.

"I'm not a kid." Wild protested, and Sky's eyes widened before he joined Legend in cackling.

"Uh... do you know what that's about?" Blue's confusion was shared by them all.

"Does it feel like I know what that's about?" Vio huffed.

"He hurt his hand." Legend stated after the two had calmed down, and Hyrule gave them all a flat look as he came over. Wild held out his mis-matched hand, and it took Four a moment to see the blood on the dark fur.

"What'd you do, punch a tree?" Hyrule's hand glowed as it passed over the wound, and Wild grinned sheepishly.

"We, uh... hit a bit of a heated topic."

"A... heated topic?" Twilight's eyebrows shot up as Hyrule finished healing his hand. "That made you punch a tree?"

"I can understand his confusion," Vio hummed, "Wild's not usually one to lash out in anger so physically."

"Yeah. Remember that fight with Wind over kings?" Green recalled. "He's more likely to just say his piece and walk away, or stonewall whoever pissed him off."

"Oh, Sky!" Wild's voice jolted them out of their inner musings. "I wanted to ask you about skydiving posture."

"Skydiving posture?" The sky knight gave him a strange look.

"Yeah, I've tried mimicking yours, but it doesn't quite... feel right? Without the gliding armor I sometimes go off-course, and sometimes I'm really sore afterwards. I was hoping you could give me some tips."

Legend's brows pulled together. "I don't remember any of your mountains being tall enough... Are you jumping off one of those Divine Beasts or something?"

"No, I skydive from the Skyview Towers or the Sky Islands." Wild's words had several of the heroes missing a step.

"Sky islands? I thought only Sky had those." Vio voiced their question.

"Oh, um, they were hidden behind a cloud barrier. They're not Skyloft, but they're very old. I've got them all over Hyrule now." Wild explained with a smile that was a little too chipper.

"Sky Islands." Sky hummed. "I'd love to see them."

"Knowing our luck, that ungrateful goddess will drop us right on top of one with no way down." Legend huffed.

Sky opened his mouth, undoubtedly to defend Hylia, and several of the Colors readied themselves to break up another Sky-Legend argument regarding the deity. "All things considered, if it's Wild's Hylia, we'll be lucky if she doesn't drop us into a monster camp and miss the islands entirely."

Every hero froze and stared at Sky in shock. Never had anyone heard Sky even come close to badmouthing Hylia. Considering that was his Zelda, and someone he was deeply in love with, it made sense. Which was why hearing such a statement from Sky was... shocking, to say the least.

"Did... Did you just...?" Twilight spluttered.

"Holy shit, Wild it happened twice!" Legend cackled, leaning on Wild's shoulder. Wild himself had an almost proud grin on his face.

"Wow, Sky. I didn't think you had it in you!" Wild snickered.

"Twice?!" Wind whipped about. "You mean Sky made a dig at Hylia and we missed it?!"

"He cursed too." Legend grinned, ducking under an irritated swat from the sky knight.

"I'll curse again if you two don't knock it off." He warned them with a slightly narrowed gaze. "I'm running very low on patience today."

"Hold on, what happened?" Warriors looked utterly mystified. Four could understand the feeling, because none of them could think of a single thing that would warrant Sky of all people suddenly siding with Legend on his opinions regarding Hylia.

"Wait." Vio spoke up in their mind. "Wild looks like he's been crying again. Do you think Sky's disposition regarding Wild's Hylia might have something to do with Wild's Journey?"

"Probably. That's... not a good thing." Red winced.

"If it's enough for Sky of all people to change his opinion on the goddess, even just Wild's Hylia, then yeah. That's pretty bad." Green agreed.

"Uh... that conversation might be better for after we've made camp." Sky avoided meeting anyone's gaze.

"One of those conversations." Time sighed softly. "All right. Everyone start looking for a good place to make camp."

"Guys? Wasn't Wild right there a second ago?" Red's innocent question had their head whipping about. "Hey, where's Wild?"

There was a beat of silence as everyone registered the question.

"Wild?!" Twilight's voice sounded just three steps shy of panic. Perhaps everyone was a bit edgy about their resident archer vanishing. Even Sky looked ready to start tearing the forest down to find him. Red and Green were slowly beginning to panic as well. The last time their archer vanished, he'd returned to them as an emotional wreck. Nobody wanted a repeat of that.

"I see a spot!" Wild's voice had the group's tension bleeding away at once, but to everyone's surprise, the archer was atop a nearby cliff.

"How did he climb that so fast?!" Vio startled.

The Champion leapt from the cliff without an ounce of hesitation, spreading his arms and legs out in the same way they'd seen Sky do on Skyloft. After a moment, he deployed his paraglider and swooped to an almost soundless elegant landing. "Over there's a good clearing we can use." He grinned.

Twilight took a deep breath and carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wild. Firstly, please do not run off like that without telling someone."

Wild blinked at him for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding. "Oh... I'm sorry, I really should've..."

"It's fine. Just... from now on, please warn us." Twilight shot him a somewhat shaky smile as he released his grasp on the Champion's shoulder. "Secondly, how did you climb that so quickly?"

"Climb?" Wild blinked. "Why would I climb it? There's a perfectly good overhang right there." He gestured towards a small crevice in the cliff's face, as if that would explain how he'd reached the top so quickly.

"That... really doesn't explain anything." Vio deadpanned.

"Did you get a hookshot or something on your latest Journey?" Legend gave him a raised eyebrow as they walked, the Champion leading the way towards whatever clearing he'd spotted.

"I have no idea what that is." He chuckled. "I just used Ascend." He flexed his right hand.

"Wild. Whatever abilities you've gained on this latest Journey of yours is new to us." Time reminded him, and the archer blinked.

"Right. Zonai abilities are new." He paused in his walking, looking at the tree branches for a long moment. "Okay, so Ascend works something like this." He positioned himself beneath a branch that was definitely out of his jumping range and held his right arm up. "It works with mountains, stone, roofs, you name it." He grinned as his arm began to glow. Magic swirled around him for a moment before he jumped.

Against all logic, he made it to the branch—almost like he was pulled towards it—and then he went through it. There was a brief moment of panic when they saw him appear on both the bottom and top of the branch, but he pulled himself up until he was standing atop it like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Wild then sat himself on the branch with a pleased grin, kicking his feet back and forth childishly. "So yeah! I can just sorta... go straight up as long as my entrance is relatively flat. It's really hand-y." He snickered at his own very crappy joke as he swung himself off the branch and glided down towards them.

"Wild." Warriors was the one speaking this time. "You are enjoying this, aren't you?"

The archer's grin grew. "Of course I am." He snickered. "There're three more abilities! I'll explain them when it comes time to use them." He paused, expression flickering to a mixture of apprehension and mild fear. "Oh... wait." His gaze drifted to Four, and they felt themselves stiffen. "You, uh... might not like Fusion."

Something about the wording had them internally panicking. "Why?" It was Blue who'd found the nerve to ask.

"Well... As a blacksmith, you might find it..." He seemed to search for the right word. "Offensive?"

Well, it didn't seem to be related to the Foursword, so it wasn't as panic-worthy as they'd initially feared. With a name like fusion, it would make sense that their first thought would jump to their less than singular self. "Okay." Vio clapped their hands, holding it against their lips for a long moment. "If you show me now, I'll do my best not to get mad."

"Speak for yourself!" Blue scowled. "If he's doing something he knows will piss off the blacksmith of the group, then I'm not going easy on him!"

"Blue, calm down." Red tried to soothe him a little. "I'm sure Wild's only telling us because he doesn't want us to have a nasty surprise later. Can't we go easy on him in good faith?"

"Good faith?" Blue raised a mental eyebrow. "For the guy who breaks literally every weapon he touches? He BROKE the MASTER SWORD! How the hell he could manage THAT is anyone's guess!"

"I'm with Vio on this one." Green spoke up. "Whatever's done is done. He's showing us now, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt."

Wild didn't look entirely convinced, but he did tap his Slate. He produced a weapon Four had never seen before. It looked like someone had taken a Royal Broadsword and somehow infused it with some kind of frost power. The blade seemed thin and flexible, almost like a feather, but it held a power that glowed. Their focus snapped to it at once, mouth almost salivating at the sight of something so spectacular. How had it been created? What materials was this made with, and which techniques were used to forge something so thin yet so sharp?

"Wait." Vio pulled the three of them to a halt. "He said we'd be mad." The reminder had a sense of dread pulling at all four of them. Slowly, their multicolored eyes rose from the sword, to Wild.

"It's called Fusion." He pulled out another sword, just a normal Soldier's Broadsword, except it looked horrifically damaged, and some kind of yellow scale. He dropped the scale on the ground and pointed the sword at it. Just as before, his arm began to glow. Magic swirled around the appendage before whipping out around the sword and towards the scale and... sticking them together.

Their mind screeched to an abrupt halt. They did not just see that. That did not just happen. "You don't mean to say..." Green slowly turned their gaze from the now sparking sword—which bore a very similar appearance to the ice one—towards the archer. "That this beautiful weapon was made like that. Do you?"

Their anger swelled within them, and no amount of logic or empathy could hold back the combined indignant rage at the sacrilege they had just witnessed. Blacksmithing was sacred. To see such an ancient sacred art defiled like this had ignited a fury within them more intense than the furnace of a forge. As one, Four took a menacing step forward.

"Uh..." Wild took a hasty step away, eyes bright with growing panic. "It's really the only way I could fight!" He defended himself.

"Six seconds." Blue warned him, and Wild quickly swiped across the screen of his Slate for something. "Five."

"Come on, give him a break." Warriors tried to reason, but a quick glare from Vio shut him up quickly.

"Four."

Wild was backpedaling so quickly he nearly broke his ankle stumbling over a rock. "Here!" The archer all but threw a sword to Four's feet. "Take a good look at that sword and tell me I can use it without dying."

The words gave them pause, and they shifted their gaze downwards to see something straight out of a nightmare. The sword was beyond damaged. It was...

"What the hell happened?" Blue breathed.

"It looks... corroded?" Vio's frown was reflected on their body.

"No corrosion I've ever seen looks like this." Blue huffed.

"What is this?" Red finally asked, looking back up at Wild. The Champion wouldn't meet their gaze. Instead, he stared at the sword that lay between them.

"At the start of my Journey, a great evil was unleashed. That power also targeted all the weapons in the land. Everything it touched was reduced to this. So we had to find alternatives." He gestured towards the fused weapon. "It was the only thing I could think of to keep them from breaking so quickly."

Green made them take a very deep breath, trying to calm everyone down. After a long minute of just staring at the damaged sword, everyone came to an agreement. It was Blue who ended up speaking. "Given the circumstances, I'll spare your kneecaps."

Wild let out a breath of relief before storing the weapons in his Slate. Legend patted his shoulder as Warriors inched slowly away from Four.

"Remind me never to piss you off." Wind gave them a considering look. "You're actually terrifying."

Blue gave the sailor a sharp grin. "I know."

The rest of the walk was spent in speculative silence. Wild had shown them two out of supposedly four abilities his new hand had granted him. Ascend did seem fairly useful, though Fuse—while begrudgingly necessary for the Champion's Journey—was an insult to everything a blacksmith stood for.

Four was so wrapped up in trying to understand everything that they didn't even realize they'd made it to the campsite until Wild lit the fire with a stab of a spear... that had something fire-related fused to it.

"I'm going to have to get used to that monstrosity, aren't I?" Blue bemoaned.

"I think we all are." Vio groaned.

Wild started some kind of stew. It was both comforting and mesmerizing to watch him cook. They'd all sorely missed his meals, but the chaotic Champion himself had added a certain light to the group's dynamic. Everything had felt strangely cold and heavy in his absence.

"I think you might've improved." Legend's eyebrows shot up. "This looks more complex than what you used to make."

Wild shot him a smile. "I've had a lot of time to practice." He stirred the pot, absently adding in Goron Spices. Before, he would've carefully measured the spice before adding it. "For the first few years after my return, I thought 'I'll learn a bunch of new recipes for everyone'." For a moment, his expression became downcast. "I'm excited to share them with you." He held up a worn leather notebook filled with loose pages and colorful torn pieces of paper acting as bookmarks.

"Hold on." Red spoke up, the only one among them to have heard something off with what Wild had said. "What do you mean 'first few years'? You said your Journey was a year and a half."

"He did say that, but it might've been a slip of the tongue." Vio frowned, but before he could jump in to run some kind of damage control—because Wild was not one of the heroes that was open to Journey-related questions—the archer's gaze darted to Sky and Legend, both of whom gave him an encouraging nod.

"It was only a year and a half." Wild raised his gaze towards the group for a moment before he busied himself with the pot. Green swore he saw Wild's hands shaking a little. "But it took seven years for my Journey to start."

Silence encompassed the camp as everyone processed what he'd just said.

"I heard that wrong, didn't I?" Green echoed.

"He said seven years... for it to start." Red replied numbly.

"That's... That's more than eight years, though!" Vio felt something cold spread throughout their body.

"I-I'm sorry." Hyrule was the first to break the silence that had befallen them. "Did you just say..." He cut himself off, as if he wasn't sure how to phrase his question.

"Wild," ultimately, it was Time who asked the question, "how long were you gone for?"

The Champion's smile turned bitter as he stirred the pot, dropping some carrots in and adding a little salt. "Nine years."

It was like a blow to the gut. What had been two months for them, had been nearly a decade to Wild.

"What?" Twilight sat heavily on the log behind him.

"The White Goddess never told me anything, either." Wild blinked a little too rapidly, but his hand clenched around the spoon in anger. "I... I didn't know what to think, honestly."

That... made a lot more sense. It was no wonder Sky was furious enough to move to the 'we dislike Hylia' side of the group when it came to Wild's goddess. If she'd really just taken Wild from them and dropped him in his home Hyrule for nine years without a single explanation...

Vio's mind wasn't the only one among the four of them that was reeling. Nine years of... of waiting? Wondering if he was ever going to rejoin them? Something clicked into place and he felt something like dread curl within him.

"Vio?" Green tentatively spoke up mentally.

"Guys... Wild said it took seven years for his Journey to begin." Vio waited for them to come to the same conclusion as him.

"And? Nine years is a long time, but he's back now." Red mentally frowned.

Vio mentally sighed. "Seven years is a long time for someone to wait, especially when they didn't even realize they had another Journey coming." He could feel when it clicked for the others.

"Oh." Blue's horror swirled around their mind.

"He... Do you think he thought that he'd been... kicked out or something?" Red worried.

"Almost certainly, unless someone explained something to him." Green grimaced. "But going off Sky's reaction earlier, and Wild's words, it doesn't seem like Hylia explained anything. I'm willing to bet Wild was just... left alone."

"It does explain... a lot." Vio sighed.

"We'll let him tell us whatever on his own time." Green finally stated as they all turned their attention outwards again.

"Wait! How old are you then?!" Wind looked at him with wide eyes, and while a few of the older members of the group went to reprimand him, a subtle look from Wild stopped them. "Does that make you the oldest?!"

Wild chuckled, lips stretching into a grin that reminded them strangely of Time. "Let's see... By date of birth, I'm about a hundred and thirty. Physically, I'm still stuck at seventeen—don't ask me, that's a Purah question, I don't understand it either. And mentally, I'm about twelve going on thirteen."

"Thirty." Twilight's eyes were wide. "You're older than me."

"Still not as old as the Old Man." Legend shrugged.

"Getting there though." Time shot Wild a smirk. "Welcome to the aching joints club."

Wild cackled. "Physically I'm still seventeen, so I can't say I'm part of that club just yet."

"No." Green was the one who spoke up. "No, this is just... weird." He shook his head as Red took over. "Wild as old as Time? Not allowed!"

Several people laughed at that. "Be nice to your elders." Wild stuck out his tongue.

"You're not allowed to be older than me, cub." Twilight ruffled Wild's hair, earning a shout of protest. "You're thirteen you little brat."

"A hundred and thirty!" Wild protested. "I've got the back pain to prove it!"

"Nah, that's just from your bad skydiving posture." Sky threw out mercilessly.

"HEY! Sky, you're supposed to be on my side!" Wild protested.

"Now, now." Legend nodded sagely. "You should be nice to the old man." He quickly dodged a swipe of the cooking spoon.

"Don't forget who's in charge of your meals." Wild warned with a vicious grin. "I might just be too old to read my labels properly and mistake Goron Spice for something else."

Though what they'd learned weighed heavily on many people in the group—they could see it—Wild had seamlessly shifted the topic to something else. Though it seemed like it wasn't uncomfortable territory for him like the rest of his Journey appeared to be, Four felt like they'd had enough emotions for one day.

For now, they'd sit back and enjoy a hot delicious meal surrounded by the laughter of their family.