Chapter Text
As soon as Warriors saw the army-sized horde of monsters he knew it was going to be a long day. The Links had been travelling together for months and the packs of monsters they had encountered during that time were less than half the mob they currently faced. They had covered the forest in this Hyrule fairly easily, only a few stray bokoblins bothering them. Yet the minute they stepped out into the vast openness of the prairie they were spotted and surrounded by swarms of monsters that had been a trademark feature in his Hyrule ever since the war.
“What even are these numbers?" Wild gawked. "I’ve never seen monster camps this big, even in my Hyrule.”
“It’s just our luck,” Legend grunted as he clashed swords with a moblin that towered over the grumbling hero. “As soon as we finally make it out of those goddess-damned woods we get attacked. I’m willing to bet someone’s getting nicked today. We've been far too safe for far too long.”
“Ah, always the optimist,” Warriors retorted after he impaled a chuchu, a wave of gelatinous blue gunk spreading over the grass at his feet. “Can you at least try to be positive for once?”
“Easy for you to say, Captain,” the veteran shot back. “You’re used to mobs like this.”
Legend wasn’t necessarily wrong, but even Warriors hadn’t expected to be ambushed like this in a foreign land.
The battle raged from noon to dusk but, unbelievably, contrary to Legend’s pessimistic prediction nobody was seriously hurt. But even with everyone righteously exhausted, Twilight, their current Hyrule’s patron, noted that there was a village nearby where the Links could spend the night instead of camping out and restock on supplies in the morning.
Without further delay, the group made their way to the village.
So with the day’s events behind him and the safety of an inn to revel in, the captain dragged his feet through the hall and stumbled into the small room he would share with Legend and Sky. After doing the bare minimum of taking off his armour and kicking off his boots he flopped onto the bed, thoroughly worn-out.
“I know you’re tired, but don’t you want to get more comfortable?” Sky asked, noticing Warriors’ less-than-cosy position. The hero simply grumbled in reply as he sat up and took off his tunic, launching it to the far side of the room before he fell back onto his pillow and closed his eyes. Sky sighed. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”
Warrior slept like a rock the minute his head hit the pillow. The bed was comfortable and warm, and the room was dark; the perfect atmosphere for a peaceful sleep. However, no matter how many people Warriors knew were with him, his rest was not without dreams.
He was seated in the palace dining room for some reason, an elaborate feast spread out on the grand wooden table before him. He wouldn’t have thought it that strange if he wasn’t the only person in the room, however. Well, he and a figure he could feel staring at him from behind his back. The captain turned around to see who was standing there and found the figure to be shrouded in heavy shadows.
They stalked closer, the darkness following them as they walked. The faceless shadow silently set a large platter of food from the feast in front of the knight. He was about to refuse the meal when his hand unconsciously picked an apple off the plate and he greedily devoured it, seemingly much to the satisfaction of the figure, who was eager to pile more food onto the plate.
Again Warriors began eating against his will.
The food seemed endless, an abundant cornucopia of fresh fruit, stews, meat and vegetables.
After consuming many helpings of food Warriors was deterred by his full stomach and stopped his ravenous feasting. The figure, now next to him, lifted a spoon full of stew to his lips but the captain refused it. “I don’t want to eat anymore.” The shadow simply urged the utensil closer until Warriors had no choice but to open his mouth to protest. “I don’t-”
He almost choked as the spoon was shoved forcefully into his mouth, the offender leaving no room for protests. He wasn't sure how he could tell that the figure was growing impatient by his squirming, but he was no longer a willing participant in this feast. He reached his hand out to try and stop another onslaught of food when he found that his hands were firmly bonded to the armrests of his chair. His legs as well were bound to the floor.
“What is this? What did you do to me?” the captain said, glancing up from his bonds to look the figure in the eyes, except he was no longer there. Replacing the shadow was a man he hadn’t seen in nearly six years. “Thomas? I don’t understand. You’re supposed to be-”
“Dead? Gone? Forgotten in the middle of a nowhere region?” Thomas laughed. “Glad to disappoint you.”
“They sent you to Faron.”
“And yet here I am, willing and eager to give you the best treatment a hero could receive. Now, you must be hungry after saving the world and all. Come on, open up!”
Another spoonful of food was messily shoved into Warriors’ gawking mouth. When he recovered after nearly choking on whatever nasty concoction was shoved into his mouth- at this point he wasn’t even sure it was food- he struggled vainly against the chains securing him. He was too afraid to argue, too afraid that he would get another mouthful of whatever Thomas was feeding him. He felt sick, his stomach too full and the meal too vile to keep down.
“Aw, are you feeling unwell, Captain? That’s too bad, I almost feel sorry for what I’m about to do.”
Without warning, Thomas pried open the captain’s mouth. Warriors jaw was clamped like a vice but somehow Thomas had the otherworldly strength of Ganondorf himself and was able to separate his lips without effort. The captain saw him reach for a chalice on the table behind him. The cup was filled with a sour-smelling liquid that’s colour and fragrance reminded him too much of wine to be something else.
“Sto-” Warriors started to cry but a mouthful of alcohol followed his plea. He hastily gulped the liquid and tried to beg again, trying and failing to stop Thomas from continuing this torture. When the chalice was empty and he got a chance to breathe, the effort making his stomach hurt, he asked, “why are you doing this?”
Thomas laughed lowly, his deep voice echoing on the cavernous walls. “Why do you think I should?”
As Warriors was about to reply a feeling of weightlessness overtook him and before he was able to process his surroundings he was in a new setting entirely.
The training grounds of the castle were not an odd sight for a soldier of Hyrule, but the sheer number of training dummies left without partners to train was startling. There were over one hundred wooden dummies and nobody besides him in the courtyard.
He heard a voice on the balcony, a feminine voice like water trickling in a cavern, a quiet echo carrying her soft words. “You know what to do, Link.” It was Zelda.
The master sword was in his hand. He felt his grip on the blade tighten. He was afraid, but of what he was uncertain. He held up his sword, his grip loosening as he made a practised jab at the wooden dummy that suddenly emerged before him. The blade slid straight through the chest of a soldier that hadn’t been standing there before. Warriors jumped back, shocked and horrified by what he had just done. He recognised the face, he knew the person he had just killed!
“Don’t stop,” he heard and turned sharply to the sound of general Impa’s voice. She was calm as she took in the scene before her, and Warriors wasn’t sure if she’d witnessed the same thing he had. He reluctantly shook off his anxiety and brought his sword down on another inanimate dummy. But he was convinced this must have been a strange hallucination or test as the once-wooden figure once again turned to the flesh of a soldier he recognised. He gasped and nearly dropped his weapon when the soldier fell dead to the ground.
“Don’t just stand there! Attack them!” That was Cia! Why was she there?
He didn’t have time to think about that though as he cut and sliced dummy after dummy- soldier after soldier- killing them almost instantly, blood and gore carpeting the once clean courtyard floor.
“Do it!”
“Cut it down!”
“Fight for your kingdom!”
“Do the right thing!” They cheered as he single-handedly reduced the numbers to a mere handful.
He was shaking as he made the final attack on the last still soldier. The captain sank to the ground with a strangled cry along with the body of the man he had just slaughtered, unwilling to look the three spectators in the eyes. He was crying, feeling unbearably guilty for what he had just done. Why did he not stop? He knew every single one of the people he just killed, but he hadn’t stopped. He couldn’t hold back his sob as he looked at the dead eyes of the man before him. He shared a room with this soldier. His name was Neil. He ate with him, fought with him, and finally killed him. He wanted to scream, he wanted to attack whoever was responsible for this rampage, but he only had himself to blame.
He felt the familiar taste of bile before he was startled by the feeling of hands wrapping around his throat.
What was happening?!
Warrior woke with a start, the leftover emotions from his dream prominent on his face. He was shaking. He felt sick to his stomach. He gagged and jumped to his feet, looking for the bucket of drinking water Legend had collected for the room. He threw the water out, not caring about the soaked wood under his feet and knelt in front of the bucket. He heaved and retched until he felt his abs ache. He couldn't even remember half of his dream yet he was still terrified of whatever had caused this reaction. He couldn't make himself go back to sleep. Through the adrenalin, he still felt so tired but he would rather keel over than reimagine whatever nightmares his mind had conjured up.
Warrior took several deep breaths, but he couldn’t control the flow of tears streaming down his cheeks. He choked on a sob, trying to stay quiet for his companions’ sakes. But it seemed Legend had already woken up to the sound of his retching.
"What's wrong?" Legend asked groggily, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he shifted in his bed. "I heard someone being sick." He looked around the dark room and spotted Warriors on the floor. "Pretty boy? Are you okay?"
Warriors bristled at the nickname but let it roll off his back. After debating on how to answer the question he decided that lying to Legend wouldn’t get him anywhere since the vet would simply just pry an answer out of him anyway. He couldn’t give Legend the whole truth though, even if he wanted to. “I’m fine,” he said shakily, exhaustion still thick in his voice. “Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep.”
“That must have been some dream if you’re losing your lunch over it.” Warriors didn't have the will to comment on Legend's statement. Instead, he kept silent, his mind already swimming with vague images of his dream. Legend rolled his eyes so far back he looked possessed. “Well, I don’t know about you but I can’t sleep in the same room with a bucket of puke. I’ll come with you to throw it out but I’m not touching that,” he said and Warriors almost heard the genuine concern in his voice.
“How generous,” he huffed but accepted the company nonetheless. “Just don’t make a big deal out of this,” he said. As he stood he felt his pants cling to his legs and noticed with annoyance that the water he threw out of the bucket was all over the floor and his trousers. “Great,” he muttered.
“Better change those pants. There’s a chill in the air and we don’t need you getting more sick than you just were.”
“I wasn’t-”
“Yeah, yeah, just cool it. Now come on, you look like you need some air.”
After a quick change of clothes, Warriors followed Legend outside. Sky- by some divine miracle- was still fast asleep so they quietly shut the door behind them.
They were silent as they walked through the corridor and down the stairs, nobody willing to make small talk or ask questions. But Warriors could feel Legend’s eyes on him, looking for any reason or excuse to bring up what had happened in the room. Finally when they reached the outside Legend spoke.
“I’ll take care of this,” he said, scrunching his face and gesturing to the gross bucket the knight was carrying. “Just go back to bed.”
“But you said-” the captain started to argue, but he was promptly cut off by Legend’s exasperated response.
“I know what I said, just go before I make a scene.”
“It’s the middle of the night.”
“Did you not hear me?” the veteran screeched and Warriors couldn’t hold back a snort. He held up his hands placatingly and went back inside to the room. He eyed his bed for a long moment before deciding that pretending to sleep was probably the only way to get Legend off his back for now. He got under the blankets and closed his eyes, trying his hardest to look convincingly at peace while his mind was still racing with fear and guilt.
About half an hour later he heard the door creak open. He could hear Legend speaking muffled nonsense as he got into the bed next to him. Warriors did his best to even out his breathing to fool the veteran. There was a brief pause. He could feel Legend’s eyes burning a hole in his skull before he heard an audible huff and the sound of a body hitting a soft mattress.
He was about to celebrate his successful hoodwink when he heard the vet mutter, “go to sleep.”
He wished it was that easy.