[center][h1][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/h1][/center]

[center]Word Count: 1226 [/center]

[center][color=00aeef][b] Level 7[/b] [/color] - (50/70) + 3[/center]

[center]Location: Carcass Island[/center]
[hr][hr]

Link marched into the room at the rear of his group. Blazermate's healing beam, which had gotten him moving after he had taken one of their rogue Princesses torpedoes directly to the thigh, had done nothing to quell the churning worry in his gut. What did help with that was seeing that they weren't the first group to finish. He hadn't had time to count who had been running where when the Seekers had scattered to take on the bosses, but he did a quick count now and not counting multiple Kamek there were eleven of them here. If they had split up fairly evenly that...meant...

His eyes slid back to two new faces. One was, with a little examination, Rika. The other lounged on the back of a giant horrible crab cannon abomination some distance from the gathering group, her eyes displaying her freedom for all to see. A short ways in front of her the Stalfoes stood as impervious as ever, the cracked across his bones telling a tale of brutal battle. They all looked like they had gotten in rough. Not rough enough though, he thought with a smile, that Sakura hadn't found the time to make a new friend. Now they just had to trust the others to make sure they had enough time to get to know one another.

He did trust them, of course. They had Geralt with them. He had seen what that cannon platform of his could do to even giant monsters. If Geralt had been with them in their battle against the Siren it would have been a complete massacre. 

One way or the other. 

It was thoughts like that the crept in as he leaned against the wall, checking his hand periodically to watch the numbers tic down. 55 seconds. They were cutting it a little close for comfort. 48 seconds. Everyone else had finished around a minute ago, they were probably coming right now. 41 seconds. They didn't have a healer. The other two groups both had a healer, the last team didn't have as much margin for error. 37 seconds. They also had that new guy with them. What if he had thrown of their synergy? 35 seconds. How long was that tunnel? Wait, which tunnel even lead to where the last team was fighting? He didn't know, he hadn't seen which tunnel Sakura's team had come from! 30 seconds! Would it be better to start running now, or attack The Hand while he had the chance? It didn't look like the shield was up now, but how could he know. What was the best way for everyone to live? What if everyone wasn't alive, what if the last team was already dead?

Link struggled with indecision for he could only guess how long. He had stopped checking his hand at this point. Finally he reached a decision, pushed himself off the wall, and started for the last tunnel. As he did so he thought he heard an echo, before realizing it was the sound of small boots going at a full sprint. As the Hat Kid came around the bend Link jumped out of her way as a full hand was hurled past him and into the room.

There was a long, pregnant pause after the Hand called time. Link didn't breath at all. If they had failed they had failed at the very last moment. In that stillness he could only imagine everything, anything, he could have done differently. Could have done [i]better[/i]. Could have done to get them just one more second of time. 

Then their fates were sealed. They had established a new record, as as the creature announced that Link felt all the strength leave his body. He slumped down in relief onto a squishy maggot bed and tried to let them absorb some of his built of stress.

[hr]

It was to his infinite shame that, such was the relief that all of his new comrades hadn't crumbled into dust before his eyes, that he hadn't notice they were a man short until Ace brought it up. They had the correct number of people, but only because of Team Sakura's plus one. He felt his mind start trembling again, but only until the Cadet clarified that Mirage was no doubt already on his way back to Limsa courtesy of those remarkable cats. He had forgotten those as well, the lifeline that seemed to follow the Ace Cadet wherever he went except the Maw. With that cleared up he was able to look over the spirits in a relatively sound mind.

Ms. Fortune picked out one that was a startling blue for herself as Bowser explained the situation with the Hand to anyone who cared to listen. The confrontation at the cliffside hadn't been his first encounter with the creature and its ilk. In fact Bowser had collaborate with it in the past, alongside [i]The Calamity[/i]. Or, at the very least, the man who would become The Calamity the burned his homeland and wiped out everyone he loved. "I didn't know you were partners." He muttered as the Koop King continued his story. He didn't know how to feel about that. It was as emotionally confusing as having to stand side by side with the man himself to face something far worse. He buried whatever he felt for later, though. 

He was grateful that Kamek diverted him off that train of thought, though onto a track that was no less disturbing. They had battled with the leader of the Abyssal Fleet, and when they had slain her she had left behind three spirits. He supposed that answered the question of what happened when something that had fused was slain, but the fact that she was fused at all was unsettling. He agreed with Blazermate, this wasn't good at all. "It's not that surprising. How long has it been since we were all flung here? Someone was going to figure it out eventually." He said grimly, picking out the Siren from the small but potent collection they had. "And with us out in the wild, using these, the information will only spread faster." It sounded like, if the wrong person got it in their heads that spirits were a shortcut to power, they would be needing the resurrection ability more than ever. 

He stepped away, giving the fish woman inside the spirit as toothy a grin as he could muster. "You're a woman who enjoys being protected. You felt how strong I am. Let me protect you from now on." He said, trying his to look both trustworthy and fishy enough that it would entice the Siren to act as his Striker. 

As he walked to the entrance to this small cavern he passed the Stalfoes as it kept its distance and waited for its turn from the healing beam. He produced one of the [url=https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1c2cb6_4c3ae008ebc64fa19c86dd2771b23b63~mv2.png]crystals[/url] he had pried off the thermal vent where they had first met Mirage and offered it to him. A promise was a promise, after all. "For your help. Thank you." Then he continued on, after his real target. 

"Wait. There's something I want to ask you." He called out to the Abyssal's retreating back. Whether she stopped or continued, he kept going. "The last time the Hand played a game like this I was one of his pieces, like you were. But when they woke me up I didn't remember anything about where I had been before I opened my eyes. What about you? Do you remember? Do you know what happened?"