Navigating Stormy Seas

by FantomoDrako

Summary:

The group is separated. Wind and Legend wake up in a strange place that's part cave, part building, and all dungeon.

Frustrated, lost, and wanting to get out and find the others, the unlikely duo must not only navigate the dungeon, but themselves as well.

Dungeons are nothing new to the Heroes of Courage though, this will be easy!

Notes:

Because the LU Discord wanted more Legend and Wind. And I was all, "Oh, yes, that sounds really fun!" despite the multiple other fics I already have going. Because apparently I can't help myself.

So, this is for all of the LU Discord peeps that wanted Legend and Wind bonding~! Enjoy this multi-chapter fic that will end up who knows how big!

Please note: I am Australian and so spell things differently to American spelling. I assure you, there are no typos.

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman - forever making sure I look less like an idiot than I am.

WARNING: Mentions of blood/injuries

Chapter 1: No Rest for Heroes

Amazing cover art by Clori Eden!

Sleep was the strangest thing. It was affected by just about everything, from the tiniest thing to something far too big to ignore. A tiny rock digging into him after getting comfy, the sounds of things moving around, a sudden downpour. Some things snapped him awake in a flash. Sometimes he would wake up slowly and spend a few groggy minutes trying to kick his brain into gear.

That was not even mentioning dreams and nightmares.

Unconsciousness was not like sleep, despite what many people might believe. It was not restful and did not leave one feeling less tired and more brimming with energy upon awakening. Nor did one ever snap out of unconsciousness quickly without strong smelling salts. No, coming around from being knocked out was always something of a gradual process. Touch started to register. Sounds began to filter through and then clear up into recognisable noises. Then everything else came down like hail - aches and pains, memories, the environment, others nearby. The order was never consistent.

It was like waking up slowly and peacefully, but without the peace and including a lot more unpleasantness.

Legend knew the differences intimately. He groaned minutely as his mind was roused from its unconscious state and he fervently wished he’d been asleep instead as his body began to complain.

There was a soft, insistent tapping against his left cheek. It brought a blazing headache to his attention, and he groaned again, turning his head away. The tapping followed, a little harder now, and Legend cracked his eyelids open a bit, not willing to open them fully and risk blinding himself temporarily.

His ears, which had felt like they’d been stuffed full of cotton wool to block and muffle all sound, started to clear. There was a voice nearby and it was talking to him. His squinted sight picked up yellow and blue, his hazy mind tugging at the familiarity but unable to place it.

“Come on, come on, wake up! Please, Legend! Speak to me!”

That voice was familiar too.

“Come on, Legend! Don’t leave me alone…”

His eyes thankfully followed the example of his ears and became more focused, letting him discern more than vague colours. The colours sharpened into the youngest of the Links, Wind. The sailor was bent over him, one hand still tapping his cheek, with wide eyes and a clearly anxious look on his expressive face.

“Hey, you awake? Say something!” Wind said almost pleadingly.

Legend’s head pounded with pain in time with his heartbeat and he took a couple of seconds to focus beyond it. “I hate,” he began, halting as his dry throat made him cough. “I hate asking ‘what happened’, but…”

Wind let out a sigh of relief and finally left his cheek alone. He slowly sat back, so he wasn’t looming over the vet anymore, and bit his lip as his brow furrowed. “I’m not really sure,” he replied. “Everything was dark, then there was some light between rocks that were falling everywhere, like a landslide, then I smacked into the ground and blacked out. I woke up a while ago and found you, and I’ve been trying to wake you up ever since.”

There was a note of fear buried in Wind’s voice and Legend wondered how long Wind had been at it for him to be this shaken. Goddesses knew the kid was no pushover and had more courage in one finger than most grown men had in their entire bodies.

At the end of the day, the sailor was still only thirteen. Almost fourteen in his words. An adventurer and hero to be sure, but still just a child.

Wind still possessed that sunny cheer and optimism that only children seemed to generate. Life hadn’t managed to squash it out of him, despite all that he’d already been through, and Legend wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

“I don’t remember any rocks,” he eventually said. Legend carefully sat up, wincing at the spikes of pain that punished him for every movement. His skull seemed to be their favourite target and he brought his left hand up to subtly cradle his head. His fingers got caught in his hair as it was badly matted.

“No, no, don’t touch that,” Wind said, pulling his arm away by the wrist.

“What, my hair? Why not?”

Wind blinked. “Are you saying you didn’t feel all the dried blood that clotted in your hair?”

“Is that what that was?” Legend asked absently. His left hand twitched, his fingers wanting to confirm the sailor’s words, but it was not released.

The younger teen frowned at that, ears raising in agitation. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, mostly just a headache. Where are we?” Legend asked quickly, not wanting to dwell on, or discuss, his current physical state with the kid.

“I wish I knew,” grumbled Wind. He finally let go of Legend’s wrist, only to immediately cross his arms in a move that was part upset, part self-hug.

The veteran took this opportunity to finally pay attention to his surroundings beyond his companion. It was definitely somewhere indoors or underground judging by the stony walls and ceiling. Everything was lit up; he could clearly see Wind and every inch of the immediate space, but he had no idea where the light was coming from. He couldn’t smell oil or smoke, nor did the light flicker in any way, so it wasn’t torches or braziers. Legend turned his head as far as he could, hissing and bringing his left hand up to his head again.

There, the light was coming from some sort of glowing rock on the wall. Scattered rocks and smaller debris littered the floor, surrounding the two heroes. There didn’t appear to be anything else of note in the room. No clues to where they were, how they got here, where they were meant to go, and what they were supposed to do.

“Did you look around?” Legend inquired as he concentrated on getting to his feet. It was far harder than it should be, and it took a lot of work to prevent Wind from seeing him wobble like a newborn fawn.

“Only until I saw you,” Wind said as casually as he could manage. He took the hint, and the opportunity, to duck away and busy himself by examining the walls and floor for anything interesting.

The older hero clucked his tongue quietly but decided it wasn’t worth the effort to pursue. He shuffled off on unsteady legs in the opposite direction, narrowing his eyes as the pounding in his head reached a new height. His skull reacted as though his brain was determined to break through it, like a baby bird cracking open its egg from the inside to hatch. He resisted the urge to put his hands on his head to hold his brain within.

The walls were quite smooth, and there were signs here and there of carvings etched into the stone. They were quite faint, likely from erosion, and offered no clues about their location, destination, or even anything he could make sense of, like a representation of the race that built this place or possible beasts that may dwell here. He huffed and turned his attention to the light source.

He hissed, muttering dire things under his breath as the light pierced right through his eyes to lance his poor brain. His headache ratcheted up another notch. Legend honestly thought his head couldn’t ache any more than it already did, but no.

There go the goddesses, proving him wrong at his own expense yet again. Oh, how he hated them at that moment.

He did his best to peer through his lashes at the light source. Fingers ran over it in a slow caress, his head tilting slightly as he did. He pulled his fingers up to his face and stared at them as if the light had rubbed off on his skin.

“Sailor, I think this light is made of coral,” Legend said, raising his voice just enough to be heard across the room. The acoustics helped somewhat, making it echo and reverberate around, carrying and bouncing the sound further.

Wind’s ears perked up and he sped over like he’d been pulled by a hookshot, bouncing up and down in front of the light and poking at it eagerly. “Yeah, it is! Does that mean we’re near the sea?”

Legend shrugged, subtly falling onto the wall so he could lean on it. “I was kind of hoping you’d recognise it, but I guess not, huh?”

Wind’s face fell. “No. Sorry,” he said a bit sadly.

The veteran clapped a hand on Wind’s shoulder. “Never mind. We’ll keep looking, all right?”

The younger of the two rolled his eyes, clearly catching on to the vet’s attempt to cheer him up but nodded all the same. He scampered back over to where he’d been before, evidently picking up where he’d left off.

Legend smirked at the kid’s back and followed his example, returning to his own musings and examinations. He reluctantly pushed off the wall and let his own feet once more take all of his weight. He sidled along, mostly looking for a crack or switch that might indicate a door. There had to be a way out of this room, they simply had to find it.

With all of the dungeon experience between them, they wouldn’t be stuck here for long.

A sudden cry rang out, triumphant in nature, and Legend turned in time to see Wind with his hand splayed against the wall. There was a tiny shifting noise as Wind pushed, the stone sinking into the wall up to Wind’s wrist.

Click.

Wind removed his hand and spun around, giving Legend an almost manic grin.

The veteran gave him a grin in return and glanced about, wondering what had been triggered. Part of the wall, not near either of them, suddenly seemed to split apart as the room began to rumble with the sounds and vibrations of rock grinding against rock. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have guessed there was any sort of door there.

It was a far cry better than the last resort of trying to bomb their way free. While sometimes it worked in his favour, there were other times he would much rather forget about that involved rebounds, bad timing, shrapnel, and even cave-ins.

Legend walked over at a brisk pace and snagged Wind’s light blue tunic as the boy tried to dash past. “Whoa there, laddie,” he said, stumbling a step forward from the sheer momentum.

“Hurk!” One of Wind’s feet almost slid out from under him as he was brought to an unanticipated stop.

“Don’t dash about like your tunic’s on fire,” Legend chastised. “Next thing you know you’ll run right into lava. Or a Fire Keese. Then your tunic really will be on fire.”

The sailor rolled his eyes again but fought down a chuckle through a toothy smile. He gently smacked Legend’s hand away from his neckline and made a show of standing straight and putting his tunic back to rights, rolling his shoulders.

Now it was Legend’s turn to roll his eyes. He regretted it though, wincing the moment Wind walked forward. His head did not appreciate his eyes moving in any sort of extra capacity. He tailed the boy, emerging into a room that felt much more like your typical dungeon architecture than the last.

It had the same coral lights, though there were more of them, spaced around a couple of doorways in a symmetrical, aesthetically pleasing manner. Apart from the doorway they just came through, there was one door opposite and one off to the left. The wall on the right was little more than smooth stone with some basic carving.

Wind was standing in the middle of the room, one arm crossed while the other was perched on it, chin in hand. He was frowning, glancing from one door to the other door in thought. When Legend came to stand next to him, he only made a thoughtful noise and continued his game of visual ping-pong.

“Picked a favourite?” Legend asked lightly.

“Noooo,” he half-stated, half-whined.

“Did you check to see if they were locked?”

The question was asked casually, but Wind bristled slightly and drew himself up. “I was getting to it! Just wanted to wait for you,” he said blithely.

By the holy power of the Triforce, this kid needed to learn how to do a poker face.

“Mhmm,” the collector hummed agreeably.

Wind picked the door on the left to try first, by virtue of it being closer. It had no handle but that was fine. It did not automatically open when he stood before it, so he rubbed his hands together briefly and pushed.

Nothing happened. The door did not shift even the slightest amount. Undeterred, Wind jogged over to the far door. It, too, stayed shut at his approach. The shoving method was employed on this door as well, to much better results. It grinded, rumbled, and shifted, opening decently smoothly.

“I like this door,” Wind announced. “Let's go through this one.”

Legend sighed, sternly telling himself that smacking his palm to his face would only make his headache worse.

He was too slow to stop Wind from racing ahead, but the little sailor slowed down as he reached the door and entered cautiously, making Legend grin proudly. He shuffled along behind, nearly running smack into Wind just beyond the doorway. He opened his mouth to berate the boy, but he clicked his jaw shut as he took in the room that they were now standing in.

“Saggy Moblin balls!” Legend spat acidly.

Wind jumped and turned to his companion in shock. A large, wicked grin stole over his face, and he nodded, pleased to have something else to add to his ever-growing collection of vulgar phrases and epithets.

Where they were standing was only a relatively narrow shelf of floor. Most of the room was flooded, with only a corner in the far left having a square of flooring to stand on. There was a door over there while the rest of the room was completely sparse.

Legend took a few careful steps forward, leaning over the water just enough to try and see the bottom. Visibility wasn’t the best, although he could just make out the floor and some darker objects down there. He guessed the water was about a score of feet deep and internally cursed. He really didn’t feel up to swimming around, let alone diving that far and possibly wrestling with treasure chests or tangling with some water-dwelling fiend.

He was reluctant to send Wind down there, but the kid was a hero too and he did come from an island.

“How good of a swimmer are you?”

“Decent. I can get where I need to go,” the sailor answered, taking a peek into the depths.

Legend quirked a brow. “I thought you’d be better than just decent, living surrounded by the water and all.”

A red flush suffused Wind’s cheeks and the tips of his ears. “W-well, the water isn’t exactly the safest. My Zora got out of the water and evolved feathers and wings for a reason, y’know. I can swim really well! Just not for long,” he admitted.

“Fair enough,” Legend said after a long moment. “So, I guess water combat is not in your repertoire?”

Wind shook his head, scuffing the toe of one boot on the floor.

The older teen dug through his bag. After nearly a minute he placed one of his hookshots on the ground by his feet. A moment more of rummaging and he pulled out a quiver full of arrows, which he slung over his shoulder after removing his shield. A bow followed, and Legend gave the string an experimental pull.

“I’ll do my best to cover you from here if there’s anything nasty down there. If there’s a key down there, we probably need it,” Legend said matter-of-factly. “You up for it?”

Wind made a fist and banged lightly on his own chest. “If there’s treasure, I’ll find it!”

“Just what I like to hear. If there’s any problem, get back up here, got it?” the veteran said in a serious tone.

“Got it,” Wind agreed. He unhooked his shield and set it beside Legend’s. It would just be unnecessary weight at this point.

Legend watched as Wind stepped up to the edge and dove in, making only a little splash. He stepped up to the edge as well, nocking an arrow and holding his bow ready, waiting to draw the string taut at the first sign of trouble.

The kid would be very hard to see if it weren’t for his bright blond hair and orange pants. His tunic blended in a little too well. Legend watched his progress, his anxiety rising as fast as Wind dove down. Wind swam over to one of the dark lumps, which Legend sincerely hoped was a chest, and spent a few moments hovering right in front of it.

A movement in his peripheral vision made his head snap to the side. One of the other dark lumps was on the move, heading unerringly for the submerged sailor.

“Oh no you don’t,” he muttered, drawing the string back and aiming for a spot just in front of the moving lump. He fired, the arrow streaking into the water and slowing down only minimally. It struck the lump, which moved into its trajectory, bringing it to a halt.

A self-satisfied smile crossed his face.

He may have the most abominable headache, and his vision would go a tiny bit wonky now and then since he woke up, but it was not enough to tarnish his hard-earned skills.

The lump started moving again and Legend hissed unpleasant things about its parentage. He nocked, drew, and fired in seconds. He struck true again and the lump fell still once more. A splash and a gasp for air caught his attention. He took his eyes off the lump to look over and kneel down with one arm outstretched.

Wind grasped it with one hand and grabbed the edge of the ledge with the other. He was half hauled out, while he half heaved. He rolled onto the ledge once most of him was clear of the water, taking a moment to just breathe, lying spread-eagled as a puddle formed around him.

“Doing all right there?” Legend asked, switching his attention between keeping an eye on the dark lump, just in case it tried surfacing, and checking over the sailor.

“Yeah… Yeah… I’m good. I didn’t get a real good look at that thing, thanks to you keeping it off my back, but what bits I did see were damn ugly,” Wind said, wrinkling his nose and looking like he’d bitten directly into a lemon.

Legend snorted at that proclamation. “So, what were you doing down there?” he prompted.

“Oh, right!” Wind put a hand down the front of his tunic and fished out a shiny red rupee. “I feel richer in rupees, but poorer in keys.”

“Argh, I hate when that happens,” the veteran groused as Wind shoved the rupee in his pouch. “Did you see another chest down there?”

The younger teen shook his head, sending water droplets flying from his sopping hair. “Not from where I was. Why, you want me to go back down?”

Legend sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with a finger and thumb. “It’s best to make sure we check everything. Just in case. You know how these things go.”

“I hate backtracking,” Wind muttered. He sat up with a groan and rose to his feet with minimal splashing. “All right, what’s my heading?”

The veteran pointed at the lump he’d shot. “That one’s your enemy. I don’t know what that one is,” he said, swinging his finger around to point at the last dark spot. “But that’s your best bet if there’s anything else down there. Otherwise, we’ll have to try the door over there and I don’t fancy swimming across this room more than once.”

“But it’s totally fine if I do it, right?” Wind said with a scoff.

“Exactly!”

“I’m already wet, so may as well save your old bones,” the sailor said with a grin.

Legend sputtered at that. “Old bones? Who are you calling old? I’m not Time!”

“Then quit your bellyaching and keep that ugly thing away from me,” Wind ordered, laughing as he stepped to the edge.

The older teen grabbed his hookshot this time, setting his bow down by his feet as he came up beside Wind. “Brat.”

“The best brat!” Wind exclaimed. He took a deep breath and dived at the spot Legend had pointed out.

Legend smiled and softly chuckled. The light-hearted moment didn’t last as the dark lump he’d stunned went on the prowl again, heading unerringly for his companion just as before. He grit his teeth and aimed the hookshot. It shot forward with a small, muffled boom, barely making a splash as the spearhead of the chain entered the water.

It hit the lump and stunned it. Much better than using up arrows. He pressed a button that made the mechanism reel the chain back and aimed again, squinting as his head gave a particularly nasty throb and sent his vision blurring.

“No, no, not now,” he whispered frantically. He blinked several times in quick succession to try and clear the blurriness, with only limited success.

The veteran concentrated as best he could and shot the moment he thought he saw movement. It just missed and he swore in frustration, swiftly reeling the chain back for another go. He fired again, this time striking true, and he let go of a shaky breath, giving his eyes a fast rub with the fingers of his empty hand.

Wind grabbed the ledge and hauled himself up without any help.

“Tell me you got a key,” Legend said almost pleadingly.

The sailor held up a yellow rupee with the most unimpressed expression. Legend wanted nothing more than to murder something then and there. He forced himself to take a nice, deep breath, hold it for a count of four, and very slowly release it.

“Don’t spend it all in one place,” he said, deadpan.

Wind snorted, then broke out into loud laughter, clutching his middle and bending over as he wheezed for air through the giggles, prompting Legend to smile at the sight for a moment. The smile slipped off as he glanced at the water with vision that flickered and blurred, only partly in time with the throbbing pain in his head.

“Guess we’re going for that stupid door then,” he said unhappily, trying to focus on it.

The younger boy hummed an agreement as he wiped strands of wet hair out of his eyes.

Chapter 2: The Ocean Hugs the Shore

Notes:

Here we go, chapter two! I am enjoying writing this fic immensely as these two are two of my top three! If you're reading this, please consider leaving me a comment to let me know how my writing is! I love feedback and looking for ways to improve, so don't be shy~

Legend had the POV last chapter. Now it's Wind's turn. I'm thinking of alternating every chapter at this point.

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman. I will never be able to thank you enough for all of your help!

WARNING: Blood, injuries, anxiety, mentions of drowning

Being thoroughly soaked was nothing new when one lived on an island. Especially when one had a little sister, chased animals, was in turn chased by animals, and went off with pirates, then alone in a much smaller boat. Getting wet was just par for the course for anyone in his era after the great flooding happened. Even the airborne Rito got caught in storms, doused by lashings of rain.

Wind didn’t mind the whole being wet part so much. It was the ugly thing that had come after him in the water that made him a little reluctant to jump back in. For the third time. He’d gotten a much better look at it the second time and it was not something he wanted even remotely near his person. He was infinitely glad that Legend had kept it at bay.

Speaking of Legend…

He’d taken a while to wake up. Even though he was walking and talking, and had been for a while now, Wind still felt a thread of concern wrapped tightly around him that he couldn’t shake free of. There was just something off about the veteran.

Wind resolved to keep a close eye on the older teen. Well, Wind thought Legend was a teen. Maybe. It was hard to tell, especially as Legend had never revealed his age, and sometimes he just acted so old when he thought no one was paying attention, even worse than Time. If there was something wrong with Legend, then it was up to him to get them both safely through whatever this place was!

Why was he so reluctant to go swimming though? Did he dislike being wet, like a cat? Did he not know how to swim? Was he just bad at it?

“The sooner we move, the sooner we get out of here, right?” he asked, trying to sound cheerful.

Legend only groaned after giving him a flat stare. He nonetheless followed as Wind grabbed his shield and slung it on his back, then slid into the water and pushed off from the ledge, propelling himself across the room with only soft splashes and ripples to mark his passage. The extra weight hardly slowed him down.

The sailor could see the ugly creature ambling along beneath them, though it showed no signs of rising off the floor. Small mercies if it physically couldn’t - Wind was more than happy for it to stay down there. He reached the other side and scrambled out of the water, dripping all over the small ledge.

When he turned around, he could easily see Veteran doing a slow crawl through the water. His movements were stiff and jerky at times, speaking of pain or injury, but Wind had only been able to find one major injury - the wound on his head. Not counting little scrapes and bruises that could easily be ignored and would have no impact on mobility. He had no potions or fairies, though Legend hadn’t asked for any.

Wind narrowed his eyes as he watched Legend closely.

He held out his hand once the older hero was in reach and was shocked, and further concerned, when Legend took it after a moment. He pulled Legend up as best he could, mentally cursing his short stature the entire time.

It took the collector a while to stand up, the whole process was slow and carefully controlled. Wind spied a few times where he wobbled, like a person trying to adjust to the rocking of a boat for the first time. Each instance lasted less than a second, as the vet fought to hide them, but now Wind was paying attention. 

Had Legend been having trouble the whole time and he just hadn’t noticed? Now he felt like a terrible companion.

He spun around and shoved the door. He let out the breath he’d unconsciously held as it opened, and he slunk through the doorway. Wind hastily backpedalled, nearly colliding with Legend, as he regained the safety of the doorway.

“What is it?” Legend asked with a heavy frown, fingers inching towards the hilt of his sword.

Wind slid his shield onto his right arm. “Looks like one of my Octoroks but…not?”

“Can’t be that bad, Octoroks are easy enough,” the veteran said as he equipped his own shield and leaned out so he could get a look at the thing. His eyes went wide, and he leaned back. “That is the ugliest Octorok I’ve ever seen and looks nothing like mine!” he said, appalled by the sight.

“What do yours look like?” Wind asked, intrigued.

“Nothing like the unholy spawn of my Octoroks and a deformed hermit crab that you have there,” he replied with a low chuckle.

Wind only shrugged and jumped out into the room with a grin on his face and shield up. The Octorok made an unpleasant little noise and fired a rock from its protruding mouth. The rock hit Wind’s shield and he bounced it back. It smacked the Octorok right in the face and it gave a thin, reedy wail, its tentacles flailing around as it sank down into the partly flooded room. The sailor gave a cheer and waved Legend into the room.

“I thought they were annoying enough on land,” the veteran remarked, eyeing the spot it had been in distaste.

The younger Hylian blinked at that. “Yours are on land?” he asked, tone bordering on horror.

Legend merely smirked and gazed around the room.

Stop getting distracted! Wind told himself firmly. Legend was in worse condition than the sailor thought, and he knew the older boy would never admit it. Getting out of here and protecting Legend were his top priorities, especially before something bad happened that Wind would be out of his depth with.

“Got any potions or fairies? I’m out,” he said suddenly.

Legend narrowed his eyes, looking Wind up and down. “Why? You hurt?”

Wind shook his head. “No, but there’s always some big monster in places like this and I like taking stock before I run into them,” he said easily.

While it was technically true, the young teen honestly wanted to know if Legend had anything he could try and convince him to take. Or just to use on him if things went further south.

Legend shook his head then very quietly hissed, subtly biting his lower lip. “Nope, afraid I’m out too. My last potion went to Sky.”

Wind tsked and frowned. “Wait, was that when he-?”

“Yep. Who would’ve guessed, huh?” Legend said in amusement.

The sailor whistled, impressed. “That was beyond awesome! It’d be great if we could find some down here though.”

The veteran snorted. “At the rate we’re going, at least we’ll be able to afford some the next time we hit a town.”

“Your optimism moves me,” Wind said dramatically, throwing one arm up to his forehead and pretending to swoon.

Legend’s fingers were suddenly in his hair, ruffling the wet locks in a move he expected from Twilight or Time, not the collector. He moved his own hands in a shooing motion, as though warding away a fly, but couldn’t keep a smile off his face. Legend surreptitiously gave his hair one last ruffle before pulling his hand back and focusing on the new room now that the immediate threat was gone.

The room, like the one before, was flooded, although there was much more floor to take advantage of in this room. There were blocks of floor spaced like steppingstones, large enough to stand on, that went from their side of the room and spread out in a cross shape, leading to small platforms with a door on each of the other three walls.

“We should split up,” Legend said after several long moments of silence.

He both sounded and looked reluctant, and Wind could fully understand why. The urge to get through this place and leave warred with the urge to stick together and watch each other’s backs. Wind suspected Legend wanted to keep an eye on ‘the kid’, while Wind fully intended to keep his own eye on his injured comrade.

“We should…” he replied slowly, “but I’d rather not. Just in case there’s something really nasty behind one. Maybe even something infected with black blood? I mean…we’ve both seen how tough they can make a Bokoblin, so imagine trying to fight a big, infected dungeon monster all alone!”

Legend’s expression cycled through annoyance, thoughtfulness, relief, and determination. Wind couldn’t help but feel a bit indignant at that moment for all the fun the others poked at his own expressiveness. They were just as bad in their own ways!

“Fair point,” the veteran conceded. “Which way first? Or should we just work our way around clockwise?”

“Clockwise sounds as good as any other method,” Wind said with a shrug. He dashed off, leaping onto the first steppingstone, and landing without any problems. He kept going, not wanting to lose momentum, and jumped all the way across to the door set into the left wall.

The sailor spun around to watch Legend, ready to jump to his aid the instant he looked to be in trouble. Wind tried to wrestle his protective Big Brother instincts back, especially as Legend was older and taller than he was, but they would not be reasoned with, and he clenched his teeth as the veteran made the first jump and teetered for a moment.

Legend quickly regained his balance and jumped across the rest until there was only one left between him and the ledge Wind stood upon. He leapt and teetered again. His eyes slid shut and Wind heard a cut-off hissed word before the veteran’s balance failed completely and he toppled forward into the water.

Wind let out a wordless cry, instinctively reaching out as he lurched forth. Legend was flailing about in the water, weakly and ineffectively, face down. He was just in reach, though sinking, so Wind hastily grabbed the closest hand and pulled backward with all of his might. Wind hauled the arm clear and swiftly readjusted his grip closer to Legend’s shoulder, getting his hands under the vet’s armpits the moment he could.

The older boy was heavy! Weighed down by being mostly limp and quite waterlogged, Wind grunted and swore as he managed to get Legend slowly onto his section of floor, inch by inch. The moment his shins were clear, Wind’s back hit the wall and he slid down it, taking Legend with him.

Wind sat there, panting, with Legend’s upper torso sprawled face down in his lap. He could hear and feel the veteran cough, ridding himself of whatever water had found its way down his throat. Wind moved his arms, rubbing both hands up and down Legend’s back and letting them both take some time to recoup.

He knew little of the ways of healing. He knew how to tell if someone was alive or dead and, being a sailor and growing up on an island, he knew some things to help someone that had been in the water too long and even those that were no longer breathing but not quite gone. Everything else beyond meagre cuts and scrapes had always been fixed by his grandma’s soup, a potion, or a fairy.

Without all three of those things, Wind felt like a boat with no anchor or mooring line as a storm descended, creating churning waves. The anxiety encased his chest, like ghostly fingers working their way between his ribs, chilling everything as they went. He swallowed a sob and focused on the body partly draped over his own.

He leaned right down and put his ear against Legend’s back. He felt fingers clutching his tunic and ignored them. There were no wheezing or gurgling noises that he could hear, making him sigh in relief. He straightened up and patted Legend’s back, very pleased that he wouldn’t need to watch out for land drowning.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured.

“‘M fine,” Legend mumbled, easing his grip on Wind’s tunic.

“Liar,” Wind said without heat. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” the veteran insisted. “I just landed funny and lost my balance, that’s all.”

Wind sighed heavily and gently tugged the tip of Legend’s left ear. He easily avoided the half-hearted swat. “I may be the youngest, but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid, Veteran. I don’t think you’ve been fine since you woke up, no matter how hard you’ve been trying to hide it from me. Now spill,” he said, trying to infuse his voice with as much authority as he could.

“I told you I had a headache,” Legend groused from his still prone position.

“Just a headache?” the sailor said, disbelief dripping from every syllable.

“...it is now a really bad headache.”

Wind was torn between wanting to strangle Legend or tear his own hair out. Stupid, stubborn, something else beginning with ‘S’, son of a ReDead and a Poe! he mentally swore. He settled for swiping Legend’s blue hat and gingerly running his fingers through the pink and blond hair until he found the wound that had left clotted blood in the locks.

It was a nasty looking gash about three inches across, starting above Legend’s left eye in his hairline and wrapping around his skull to just above his ear. It appeared to be quite deep, too, and the surrounding skin was a canvas of deep red, purple, and blue. Legend’s breath hitched as Wind’s fingers ghosted over the bruised area.

The young teen whispered an apology and carefully moved as much hair out of the way as he could for the best visibility. If Legend only had a headache from a wound like this, no matter how bad the headache may be, Wind would eat the mainsail of Tetra’s ship.

Wind gently grabbed his companion’s face and angled it up just far enough that he could look at Legend’s eyes. All of them, every Link, had blue eyes. Legend’s were the palest, like the blue of the sky nearest to the horizon in the middle of a sunny day. Wind frowned as he saw that one pupil was bigger than the other.

He was no healer, but he did know what that meant.

“A concussion is not ‘just a headache’!” he said sternly.

Legend bristled, like a wild animal preparing to attack, before he let out a deep breath and deflated. “It only got worse in the last room,” he grudgingly admitted.

“And of course you didn’t say anything,” Wind said with a tiny twisted smile.

The veteran huffed out a breathy little laugh.

Yeah, that was just how each of them were. None of them were sure if they were all just like that independently or if it was a trait passed on through the Hero’s Spirit. It was very frustrating to deal with and he now had an inkling of how their loved ones must feel more often than not.

“We can rest here for a while,” Wind offered.

“We really can’t,” Legend rebutted.

The younger boy knew the older one was right, but he didn’t think an hour or two would make much difference. “Just an hour?” he cajoled.

“If I don’t move now, I won’t be moving for the next day at least, and we can't wait around that long. Help me up.”

Legend waved a hand aimlessly through the air and Wind caught it with a put-upon sigh. “I’m doing this under protest.”

“Noted,” the vet said tiredly.

Wind scrambled up the wall to his feet, awkwardly pulling his taller, heavy comrade with him. He didn’t pull him very far. Legend couldn’t seem to get his feet to cooperate and only got as far as kneeling, Wind supporting him under his armpits. They stopped for a moment.

“I hate dungeons with water,” Legend announced, “frozen or otherwise.”

The sailor looked at the ceiling, as if praying for patience. “Why’s that?”

Legend shifted his left leg enough to get his foot flat on the floor beneath him. He stood, assisted by Wind’s steadying hold, and stumbled as he got his right foot into position. He was standing on bent knees, staying upright mostly by virtue of the shorter boy, who was looking none too pleased.

“They always seem to end up more annoying than any other dungeon,” the vet answered, sounding a bit out of breath.

“Better than being in the dark, surrounded by ghosts,” Wind countered as Legend carefully straightened up.

The taller boy, towering over Wind by half a head, put his hands on Wind’s shoulders. The sailor noted how much weight Legend was actually leaning on him and how much he was trying not to. Legend was quite pale, still incredibly concussed, and subtly trembling.

“Good point,” Legend said after a pause.

Wind made sure he could stand on his own after removing his hands and slid his shield onto his right arm. “I’m going first,” he stated firmly.

Legend sighed. “Guess I can’t stop you. Just one thing first.”

“What?” Wind asked, raising a brow.

The veteran held out a hand. “Can I have my hat back?”

Wind blinked. Then smacked his palm to his forehead. “Oh, yeah, right! Uh…here,” he said, holding out the blue fabric and placing it in the vet’s waiting hand.

“Thanks,” the veteran said somewhat sarcastically. He put it on gently, doing his best to avoid the gash and bruising.

Once Legend seemed satisfied, Wind turned to the door and gave it a hefty shove. It rumbled open and he took the lead, holding his shield up to protect them both. A rock came flying at high speed and Wind bounced it back, the culprit shrieking and sinking in its death throes. He slunk further in, but no more rocks appeared. There were strange things skating about on top of the water though, and he eyed them warily, left hand reaching for his sword hilt.

“Water Tektites,” Legend said softly, right next to his ear.

“Yours?” he whispered.

“Looks like it. They’re more annoying than dangerous,” came the low reply. “They can only be taken down by a blade though. Nothing else works, and I’ve tried it all.” He pulled a strange face at this proclamation, his eyes clouding over for several seconds before he shook himself out of it.

Of that, Wind had no doubt. And the collector certainly had a vast array of things to try. The Water Tektites, of which there were two, were a green colour, tinted blue, with four spindly creamy yellow legs. Their bodies were rather low slung and looked like a tough carapace with only one large yellow eye showing at the front. There were small claws at the end of each leg, creating little slipstreams as they skated to and fro.

They were the ugliest mix of crab and spider Wind hoped he would ever see. He hated to think there were other kinds of Tektites out there, bigger and meaner. He unsheathed the Phantom Sword, glad that any sort of Tektite did not exist on the Great Sea and waited for either one to come within range.

His ears caught the distinctive sound of a blade leaving its sheath. “Don’t you dare!” he hissed out, sparing a second to toss Legend a withering glare.

Legend, only a foot of his sword visible over his shoulder, froze at the tone and action. He let the sword slide back into its sheath after trying to set Wind on fire with the heat of his gaze. “I’m not an invalid!” he hissed back, crossing his arms angrily.

“Kind of are,” Wind muttered, too softly for Legend to hear.

Something whistled past, making Wind flinch, though he merely gripped his sword’s hilt tighter when he identified it as Legend’s hookshot. The spearhead smacked into a carapace and got tangled around a leg, letting Legend reel it in across the water. Wind internally sighed but dutifully slashed the monster the instant it was in range.

The commotion drew the attention of the other Water Tektite, and it skated towards them in a zig-zagging path. It stopped halfway across the room, still bouncing around, staring at them both with its one big eye.

Legend scoffed and fired his hookshot at it. When the chain wrapped around a leg the Water Tektite took off towards the back of the room. The veteran was pulled forward on stumbling feet until Wind intervened, hugging him tightly around the middle and pushing against the pull with his whole weight. His sword was now held behind his comrade’s back.

The Pegasus Boots were planted flat, Wind giving Legend the chance he needed to brace himself. The sailor could feel Legend’s quick breaths turn to groaning as he drew the chain back in slowly. The veteran’s arm shook with resistance and Wind adjusted his hold higher, now hugging Legend’s ribs instead of his waist. He awkwardly turned his head, pressed against Legend’s chest, to watch their foe.

The Water Tektite moved in a flash, skating towards them at full speed. The sudden slack on the chain made Legend trip backwards. Wind instantly let go, not wanting to be dragged down too and be responsible for accidentally skewering their most seasoned adventurer. He winced as Legend tumbled to the ground with a yelp but spun around and leapt, sword held high.

It tried to dodge, but Wind came down on the edge of the platform with his sword slicing the air in his wake. The blade carved down in a wicked arc, shearing through both of its legs on one side with no effort. It hit the water, causing a large spray, and Wind jumped back.

The monster’s eye rolled about crazily in its socket for several seconds before the entire body splashed into the water, slowly dissolving as it sank.

A wooden chest appeared at the back of the room on a small ledge lit by two coral lights.

Wind spared it a glance before he turned around, putting his sword and shield away, and knelt next to Legend, who was still lying flat on his back from the recoil. “Are you okay?” he asked. His hands were hovering hesitantly, unsure what to do.

“Right as rain,” Legend said, his R’s sounding heavy and slurred. His eyes were half open and staring at one point on the ceiling, not even flicking to the side to acknowledge the younger boy.

“Yep. Very believable, Legend,” said Wind, mostly deadpan.

Legend gave a languid blink, his eyes finally shifting to rest on Wind. He squinted, apparently having problems focusing on him despite his close proximity. “Whozzat?” he asked blearily.

That brought the sailor up short. Legend could be rather dramatic at times, which he often found amusing for one reason or another, but he never fooled around like this. Which meant things had gone from bad to worse very quickly. Those icy fingers started to dig in once more, making him anxious and jittery. He tried to keep the fear and hopelessness from showing on his face as he leaned over.

“Do you know who I am?”

The veteran frowned ever so slightly at the question, his eyes dropping to the white stylised lobster on the front of his light blue tunic. “You…from the island?” he said slowly.

It wasn’t the best answer, but it also wasn’t the worst. “That’s me, the sailor,” he replied as cheerfully as he could. He was not prepared for Legend to scoff.

“Y’can’t sail to or from Koholint,” Legend said as though talking to a five-year-old, even as his voice cracked on the last word.

Koholint? What was that? Wind had never heard of it before, from Legend or anywhere else. It sounded like a place, but what sort of island was it that you couldn’t go there or leave by sailing? Wind waved a hand slowly in front of Legend’s face, his frown deepening as the veteran tried and failed to follow it.

“I’m not sailing anywhere now,” he said semi-patiently. “I’m going to swim across this room to get whatever’s in that chest over there,” he added, pointing. “You stay here and don’t move.”

He only received a blink in response, so Wind put down his shield and sword, gave Legend a look, and jumped in, swimming easily across. He barely resisted the urge to kick the chest open and settled for forcefully throwing the lid up. The sight of a glinting silver key mollified him somewhat and he carefully stuffed it into his bag before swimming back.

Legend was sitting up, listing to one side, and squinting almost constantly, his gaze never stopping on anything for longer than a second or two.

There were still two doors to try in the previous room, to say nothing of backtracking nearly to where they woke up to try the key on the door he couldn’t open. Legend would have to jump and swim, and Wind didn’t think he was in any condition to be doing either. Wind didn’t want him to be attempting either activity. They couldn’t quite continue on, but they couldn’t rest for long, as Legend had said earlier.

Notes:

What did Sky do? Well, it involved Wild, a paraglider, his sailcloth, and strong winds + hard surfaces.

Land drowning, or secondary drowning, can occur a while after someone is pulled from the water and has fluid in their lungs. They can very easily drown on land, hence the name.

The only enemies called Water Tektites belong to Legend in LA and the Oracle games. However, Tektites skating across the surface of water belong to Time as well, though they're simply called Blue Tektites or just Tektites. In LA you can hit them with multiple weapons, but only the sword works in the Oracle games. Considering Koholint was a dream, I went with the Oracle version. That, and it made it more dramatic. We all know Legend loves theatrics XD

Yes, that tumble led to Legend smacking his head on the floor. Which is bad. Both of these boys need a hug. Although Wind hugged Veteran twice in this chapter alone lol

I have a mental map of the dungeon, so far, in my head. I may need to draw it in case I forget.

And oh! Will Legend's dark secret end up being spilled?!

Chapter 3: The Nature of Dreams

Notes:

I finished this only a few hours after Murky Waters Ch.14. I also drew out all the rooms on paper so I could keep track of rooms, treasure, keys, enemies, doors etc. The whole shebang lol

Thanks to my beta, RenegadeBladesman, who fixes things while still keeping my stylistic choices intact~ AO3 complains about my spelling because I am Australian and the site uses American English, not UK English which Australia uses. I assure you there are no typos.

Everyone in the comments yelling at Legend for doing a dumb about the head hurty. XD Made me grin, no lie! I love you guys, you keep me posting my work to share with you all~! <3

WARNING: Head injuries, concussion symptoms, vomiting

The kid from the island was just sitting there. Right in front of him. Kind of staring. Was staring still counted as rude if the one staring was only imaginary? A dream? Not real? He didn’t remember seeing this kid anywhere on Koholint. Certainly not in Mabe Village, and he’d spent a fair amount of time there.

His vision was being very uncooperative, hazy and blurry as it was. Neither did it seem inclined to clear up. Despite this, his eyes caught a very important detail that his mind struggled to piece together.

The kid had pointy ears sticking out from his wet blond hair. The only one on Koholint with pointy ears had been Link himself. The people of Koholint had curiously round ears, so where did this kid come from? Was he Hylian? How did he know about the island?

Ugh, his head hurt so much.

This place seemed the vaguest bit familiar, though he had no memory of entering such a place. Was the kid responsible somehow?

Thinking hurt. Looking hurt. Sitting there hurt. What had happened?

“What’s the last thing you remember?” the sailor asked gingerly.

Link frowned at the silly question. The longer he pondered on it, the more he realised how serious the question was. He honestly wasn’t sure. His memories seemed jumbled. Getting a bracelet that smelled like wet dog felt like it happened only a day or two apart from being turned into a rabbit for the first time, or being tossed aside as an Oracle was kidnapped, or leaving his house in the middle of a storm armed only with a lantern.

Tears welled up, unbidden, and he gasped softly, scrubbing them away with both hands. What a fool of a cry-baby he must look to this kid!

He never saw the horrified expression on the sailor’s face, nor that he lunged forward, but he felt the small arms wrap around him, softly rubbing circles into his back.

“I’m sorry! It’s okay! There’s no need to cry, it’s fine, it’s gonna be fine. It’s okay, sshh, I’m sorry…”

The voice was young, shaky, and tinged with uncertainty. By the Goddesses, this really was just a kid. Real or not, Link wasn’t going to leave him flailing in the role of comforter when it should be the other way around. His own arms found their way around the kid’s torso, and he squeezed the very real feeling body lightly.

Marin had felt this real too.

“Not your fault,” he said quietly while the kid stopped to draw breath.

The sailor sniffled, fingers fisting the back of his red mail.

Link sighed. “Everything’s…jumbled,” he admitted. “It’s there, just mashed together? Hard to tell what came before and what came after.”

“But everything’s not there!” the kid insisted, pulling out of the hug. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”

Link bit his lip, loathe to acknowledge the truth of those words. He didn’t want to see the pain shining from those big, expressive eyes, so he hung his head and shook it, hands flying to his hair at the spike of pain.

His hands were caught, stopped, and gently but firmly pulled away. The sailor stood and walked behind him, making him tense at the potential threat out of his sight. Before he could voice a complaint or protest his hat was taken, and little fingers were tilting his head forward and teasing through his hair.

“Ow!”

The kid sighed; fingers carefully splayed around one spot on the back of his skull. “Like you needed another head injury,” he huffed in a melancholy tone. “At least this one isn’t bleeding, that I can see.”

The hat was softly replaced.

“So,” Link awkwardly started, “I guess you know who I am.”

The kid nodded. “There’s nine of us in total, each of us called Link -” that made the veteran raise an eyebrow, “and we are all heroes from different eras, brought together by these crazy portals. You’re the Hero of Legend, so we call you Legend. Or Veteran. I’m the Hero of Wind, so everyone calls me Wind, or Sailor. The two of us got separated from the others and ended up in this place and you’ve got a concussion,” he explained in a semi-fast way, obviously trying to hold himself back.

A concussion, huh? It would account for the problems he was having. But the whole thing reminded him far too much of a little boat out at sea, in the midst of a storm, with a lightning strike being the last thing he knew before waking up in an unknown house. He wanted to believe the kid, Wind, but some tiny flicker of doubt and paranoia held him back.

He couldn’t do it again. Not again.

He looked around instead, his blurry vision catching sight of the open wooden treasure chest across the room. “Dungeon?” he asked.

“Half-flooded dungeon,” Wind replied.

“I hate water themed dungeons,” he groaned.

Wind merely patted him on the knee in commiseration. “I know. You told me that not even half an hour ago.”

Link, or Legend now he supposed, blinked. “I did?”

The sailor was looking upset again. Oops. To think he was actually quite good with kids! Time to change the topic to something productive. He’d feel better if he was doing something other than resting on his laurels. His hookshot was lying right next to him so he packed it away.

“Got a map or do you know where we’re going?”

“No map,” Wind said with a frown. “But I do know where we’ve been. We…uh…haven’t gotten that far, really.”

Legend clambered ungracefully to his feet, feeling hands steady him as the world lurched and tilted below his feet. “Better get to it then,” he said, partly joking, partly resigned.

The pair made their way out of the room and Wind stopped; indecision clear on his face. “I could go ahead if you want to rest here? I’ve already saved you from drowning in here once, I’d rather not have a repeat,” he said, eyes going back and forth between Legend, the steppingstones, and the next door.

The pink-tinged blond gave his clothes a quick once-over, confirming that they were, indeed, wet. His throat did feel slightly scraped… He gauged the distance between each block of raised floor and measured it against his body’s current capabilities. He would make two or three easily enough, but after that it started looking dicey.

“What if you get into trouble?” he asked instead of what he really wanted to say.

Wind shrugged. “I’ll yell really loudly and stab whatever it is in the head,” he said readily enough.

That startled a choked laugh out of him. He liked this kid. He reminded Legend of a younger version of himself; brighter, cockier, ready to take on the world with all the energy and enthusiasm of the young. He would only hold the kid back as he was, so he leaned against the wall and slid down slowly, waving the sailor on.

“You’re actually going to rest?” Wind asked incredulously.

Wow, it sounded like this kid really did know him. That was awkward, embarrassing, and strangely…nice? “If I hear you screaming, I’m coming over,” he said firmly.

Wind flashed him the peace sign and bounded away, leaping across the room like a frog across lily pads. He was at the door in no time and shoved it open, giving a quick wave before he stepped through and out of sight.

Damn, he was gonna get attached to that kid really quick. He sincerely hoped this was real and he hadn’t been trapped by another crazy deity, asleep or not. He reached up and plucked off his blue hat, sitting it in his lap. He brushed his fingers through his hair at the back, quickly finding a bump that matched the spot Wind had poked at earlier and wincing. He brought his hands to the front for a moment, relieved to find no blood, dried or otherwise. His fingers went back into his hair to search for this other head injury the sailor had mentioned. He found it almost instantly, hissing and spitting curses at the pain the moment his fingers made contact.

The kid’s story was gaining more and more credit.

His ears were trained on the door the boy had gone through, but his mind was busy mulling over the information he’d been given. Nine heroes named Link, himself included, from different points in time, brought together by portals. It didn’t sound all that far-fetched to be honest. Not when he compared it to things he’d already been through.

He had been called the Hero of Legend before. No one on Koholint had known of his status or adventures, he’d just been some stranger who washed up on the beach that was good with a sword and other various weapons. Another point in the kid’s favour.

Legend told himself to remember to ask what island he came from, whenever he got back.

If there was anything interesting going on behind the door then he couldn’t hear any of it. The stone door apparently blocked all noise, despite the echo-filled nature of a place like this. That was disconcerting. What if Wind needed his help and he couldn’t even tell?

The uncertainty ate at him, like tiny insects skittering up and down on his skin with their multiple legs. It made him want to get up, to move, to pace like a trapped animal. He rubbed his bare knees, trying to soothe the feeling, though it only switched it to tingling in those spots. It was, arguably, no real improvement.

He would have to follow Wind at some point. That point would be quite soon, even though he knew he needed far longer to rest and recuperate. Legend internally growled at his body, particularly his pounding head, and began rubbing small circles around his temples in an effort to alleviate any degree of the pain that throbbed behind his eyes.

His eyes were only half shut; he didn’t want to miss seeing Wind even if he couldn’t hear him. He focused on breathing. Slow, deep breaths that he counted out for, forcing him to fully expand and deflate his lungs. He tried to get his hazy mind to ignore everything else besides the gentle rush of air. Block out the pain. Block out the noisy thoughts. Block out the doubt. Block out whatever was not immediately real.

Time slipped by on the edge of his awareness. An unaccounted-for amount later the door opened, and Wind walked through, wiping something off his sleeve with his nose scrunched up and the corners of his lips turned down. He spotted Legend and perked up, waving happily, making the veteran break his vaguely trance-like state to wave back.

A few leaps later and Wind was standing right in front of him. He held out a compass triumphantly, waiting until Legend gave a pleased nod before tucking it away. It was useless without the corresponding map, but it was a good find, nonetheless.

No one on Koholint had acquired an item that he could use without him having to pay obscene amounts of money for or that he needed to trade or work for first somehow. Not counting his shield and sword. Another point in the kid’s favour if Legend got to use it without strings attached.

Maybe this wasn’t a dream?

No, it was too early to tell. Hope was too painful for him to bear right now.

“Just that door left to check out,” Wind said with a flick of his head. “How are you feeling?”

Legend barely held back a snort or a snarky remark. What a loaded question! Anything other than a perfectly honest ‘I feel great’ never seemed to be a satisfactory answer, no matter whose lips the question fell from. He was no quitter though, and never shied away from a challenge.

“Still not great but a bit better,” he said casually.

Wind frowned and pursed his lips, eyes narrowing slightly as they roved over the veteran. He slumped ever so slightly, accepting the answer. “Okay, are you gonna stay here and get some more rest while I go and have a look?”

The older teen couldn’t help making a face at that, his distaste evident.

“Do you honestly think you’re up for jumping across?” the sailor asked, tone completely serious.

“No,” Legend said with a sigh, “but I don’t need to jump anywhere,” he added before Wind could voice any opinions.

“...what?”

The veteran shooed him away. “You jump over there, and I’ll catch up.”

Wind looked very confused and reluctant, yet the curiosity was visible in his eyes. He let himself be shooed off the ledge and easily leapt across the steppingstones to the other side of the room. He swiftly turned around, eager to see whatever it was Legend planned on doing.

By the reaction, it was clear he’d never used this ability around the kid before. Oh well, no time like the present, if that’s where he was. He stood up, assisted by the wall, walked over to the end of the ledge, and backed up against the wall. He took a deep breath and channelled his innate magic into the thick golden bracelet adorned with a large purple gem that was snugly around his left wrist.

The purple gem glowed the faintest amount and Legend stepped into the wall. There was a brief flash and his form flattened, simultaneously flush against the wall and part of it. His vision, still blurry from the concussion, became further distorted as only one eye became usable the moment he turned.

Wind watched, mouth agape, as Legend fused with the wall and became a stylised painting of himself. The painting began moving along the wall in a weird looking shuffle-like march. There was no sound accompanying the footfalls, which made it seem as though the figure was sliding almost effortlessly across the wall’s surface.

Painting Legend reached the ledge Wind was standing on and another quick flash of light appeared before Legend’s left hand, no longer flat and stylised, emerged from the wall. The rest of him quickly followed and the painting completely vanished.

“Holy shit! That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen! I didn’t know you could do that!” Wind was positively giddy, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, and staring at Legend as though he’d never seen him before.

The veteran had no time to enjoy the praise as he doubled over, falling harshly to his knees. He heaved and retched, the contents of his stomach decorating the ground in front of him. Even when his stomach was empty his body continued, adding nothing but saliva and bile to the mess.

The sailor had jumped back immediately, worry and disgust warring for supremacy of his facial muscles. He edged around the splash zone, crouching partly behind the veteran and rubbing his back for lack of anything better to do.

“Does doing that always make you sick?” he asked.

Legend shook his head slowly and raised his right hand to tap a finger against his skull.

“Of course, the concussion… Well, maybe don’t use it again?” Wind said, tone unsure.

If Legend had the energy, and his midsection didn’t hurt like strained muscles, he would laugh at that. He’d used the bracelet while injured many times before, but never with a concussion. He thoroughly regretted it, even if he did accomplish what he set out to do. His magic was fizzing beneath his skin, drained a fair amount from the manoeuvre, and fighting to replenish itself even incrementally with his system already under duress.

He waved the kid away and jerked a thumb at the door directly next to them. Words were just out of his reach, so it was the best he could do.

“I don’t wanna leave you here alone like this,” came Wind’s voice from behind him.

Sweet but unproductive. Experience taught him that if he wanted answers, he had to power ahead and get things done. The sooner they got out of this dungeon the quicker he would find those answers. He pointed, quite emphatically, at the door.

Wind grumbled and muttered a few things under his breath, which Legend was sure were both unflattering and aimed at him, but he left the veteran on the ground and pushed the door open. He sent Legend a worried glance before he visibly steeled himself and went in, the door automatically grinding shut behind him.

Legend wrinkled his nose and started breathing through his mouth as the smell threatened an encore performance. This was not going to be pleasant. He grit his teeth and started scraping the mess off into the water, thoroughly scrubbing his hands when he was done. He sat back against the wall, stomach rolling, and went back to his breathing exercises while he waited.

There was still no sound from behind the door, not even from this close. He’d never noticed if any dungeon had ever done that before as he’d never gone through one with a companion. It was always him in the rooms with the noise, so why would he know?

Curious. He would have to test it if he ever did another dungeon with someone like this again.

Legend wondered about the other seven heroes. If they did exist, were they anything like him? A flash of blue eyes, gleaming metal armour, a blue scarf, green tunic, a wolf. He frowned. The blue eyes and green tunic were all too familiar. The scarf was only a little odd. But where did the armour and the wolf fit in?

He groaned, wishing his head would just quit hurting so his mind could sort itself out. He was not fond of shiny armour. The memories, so many memories, of light glinting off such armour being his only warning before an arrow, crossbow bolt, spear, or sword came at him. The Hyrulean knights, responsible for the safety of the royal family and Hyrule’s citizens, doggedly hunting him down as a criminal.

Those same knights, many of whom had trained with, or been trained by, his uncle. A touch of magical brainwashing had washed all of that away, leaving the knights as nothing more than a force for the villains to take advantage of and use.

He’d interacted with any knight, after both Agahnim and Yuga, only in an official capacity and when absolutely necessary. Seeing such armour gave him shivers and made him paranoid about sudden attacks. He could scarcely imagine travelling with such a person.

Wind ran through the door before it even finished opening, wisps of smoke trailing from his hair and clothes.

“What happened to you?” Legend asked.

Wind patted his hair, trying to stop whatever parts of it were smoking. “I don’t even know what those were! Just…explosions, all over the place!” he complained. “I got a little key though, which is good because I found out I used up our only one on that middle door. But it does mean we have to go back to that other door, so we’ll need to swim across a room and are you up for that? I don’t want you painting your way across the wall again if you’re gonna end up puking your guts up.”

The sailor seemed to realise he was rambling and clamped his mouth shut tighter than an oyster shell. An embarrassed flush crept across his cheeks and decorated the tips of his ears.

“Blunt,” Legend commented wryly, making the boy pout. “But fair. Does this swimming involve diving under?”

The sailor shook his head and moved a hand along an imaginary horizontal plane.

“Good. I’ll swim then,” said Legend.

Wind looked apprehensive and then resigned. He hopped across back to the original door they’d first entered this room from, then began to watch Legend like a hawk.

The veteran eyed the steppingstones and shrugged, lowering himself into the water instead. He pushed off the ledge and swam slowly over to Wind, accepting the helping hand to get back out. He ached all over, and the swim hadn’t helped, but it was far better than jumping about and jarring bones and muscles with every landing, along with rattling his already rattled brain.

They went through the door and back to the room where the ugly lump was still waiting on the floor below, submerged over a dozen feet down. Wind didn’t even hesitate as he went in and swum across, the lump faithfully following beneath him like the weirdest pet.

Seeing the lump stay on the floor spurred the concussed hero on and he followed in Wind’s wake, again accepting a hand out of the water. This felt the tiniest bit familiar. Like a hint of déjà vu, almost ethereal in its execution. It made him pause for a moment, his gaze focused somewhere far away, until a tug on his sleeve brought him back to the here and now.

Wind’s eyes, the blue of the sea with a hint of seafoam green, were boring into him like an awl seeking his very soul. Legend could only nod and chivvy him along, his words caught somewhere between his heart and his larynx.

The next room was extremely boring in comparison to the others. Nothing but stone floor, walls, and two doors. The veteran was more than happy with the setup as he needed to expend no extra effort to get from point A to point B. He closely trailed Wind as he went over to the door set in the wall to the right. A faint metal clink was heard, some mechanism being unlocked, and the door rumbled open.

A ledge, extending perhaps half a dozen feet into the room, ran from wall to wall. In the middle were two posts holding up one end of a wooden rope bridge that led to a raised circular island and was, as far as Legend could see, utterly empty. A few steps into the room confirmed the reason for the bridge. There was water in here too, but it rested about thirty feet down and didn’t look like a soft landing if one was to fall.

Softer than the stone floor, sure, but not by much. Plus, the added risk of drowning.

Like he had almost done last week. Had it been last week? Churning waves, his boots slipping on the wet deck, barely able to brace himself. The rain lashing down, stinging any bit of exposed skin it hit, while the thunder could barely be heard above the roar of the waves and rain. A flash of lightning, white hot fire suddenly racing through his veins. He was soaked to the bone but burning from the inside out and it hurthurthurt - then everything went dark and quiet. There was no air, just a few bubbles escaping him.

Warmth on his cheeks and a muffled noise that rose in pitch and intensity drew him out of the haunting memory.

Wind was right there, holding his face and saying an endless stream of words he couldn’t hear for some reason. Did he have water in his ears? His eyes flicked down to meet Wind’s and the relief was clear in the kid’s face, even as the worry never left it. He went to say sorry for scaring the sailor, but his words were gone again. A quiet whimper escaped instead and that made him feel worse.

It evidently made Wind feel worse too. He was softly manoeuvred until his back was against the wall, then small hands were pushing down on his shoulders, encouraging him to sit down. He clumsily complied, some distant part of his mind railing against the manhandling. The rest of him couldn’t muster up the energy to care as his eyelids felt like they weighed a ton.

Legend sat there as Wind fussed about for a few seconds. Then the kid was gone, a colourful streak in his vision that was moving away, over the bridge that might have rotted and could give way at any moment. He wanted to raise an arm, reach out and pull the kid back, but his body betrayed him, and his eyes closed, the weight finally winning the battle.

BOOM.

Notes:

Yes, I ended on a cliffhanger. Yes, I am evil.

Legend is my fav, so he gets the most ouchies, physical, mental, and emotional. This is writer's law, I don't make the rules. I adore Wind, so he gets many of the ouchies too. I might spread them around a bit more if the others were here, but they're not so...

Veteran hasn't spilled about Koholint yet. But Wind is a curious lad, as all Links are lol

Progress for the next chapter is posted on my profile and updated when I write more, so check there if you're interested!

Jojo updated as I was writing the chapter notes, argh! Will have to wait until I get to the part where Hyrule learns the Life spell in Murky Waters before I can play with it... Was not expecting it to be blue. Will make a note of it though.

Chapter 4: Going With the Flow

Notes:

Welcome to all of my wonderful readers, new and not-so-new alike! I love the kudos and comments, they really make my day! <3

This chapter was finished while enduring a week of toothache bad enough to prevent sleep without strong painkillers that make me utterly useless after an hour. So, hopefully it isn't too terrible in regards to flow and general readability. (I still hurt!)

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman, who fixed the more painkiller-induced mistakes I missed lol

No warnings. If you think it needs any, please let me know~!

BOOM.

The sound, echoed and magnified, reverberated around the stone chamber. He clapped his hands over his ears and glanced apologetically at the huddled form of Legend. The older hero also had his hands over his ears, face scrunched up in pain, as his body tried to curl in on itself. It was painfully loud to Wind, but it must have been agonising to Legend with his concussion.

The poor guy probably had no clue what was going on, he thought guiltily. The island on the other side of the bridge had a large crack in the centre. A very large, very obvious crack that screamed, bomb me!

So, he did.

Legend didn’t seem to be uncurling anytime soon so Wind crept to the edge of the island’s brand-new hole and peered in. It was deep, going all the way to the bottom, and had nothing but bubbling water to show for his efforts. Perhaps there was something down there just out of sight?

Part of Wind wanted to jump right in, and normally he wouldn’t hesitate. But he didn’t want to leave Legend alone if something happened. And if he got stuck, the veteran would have to traverse the bridge and rescue him. That would be supremely embarrassing on his part, and very dangerous on Legend’s.

Wind hated this; in a way he’d never hated anything before. It was nothing like the hatred he held for Ganondorf, or whatever dark lizard-like shadow thing was behind their current era-spanning quest. No, this was a vulnerable hate, where he held something in his grasp that he never wanted to hold, to be responsible for.

It had been hard enough entering the other rooms without the veteran by his side. Wind wasn’t sure he could do it again, even if he left Legend somewhere safe like before. They had to progress though, and he could always get back to this room, and Legend. Without giving himself a chance to back out, Wind leapt into the hole.

He had a moment to think, this landing is going to hurt, before his feet hit the bubbling water. It didn’t hurt at all, and he only sank halfway up his shins. Wind could not feel the bottom beneath his feet though and he furrowed his brow. The bubbling grew intense, and a great force pushed upward, propelling him with it.

Wind gave a startled shout as a geyser carried him up, up, and out of Legend’s sight. He tumbled off onto a stone ledge and rested there, catching his breath. He glanced around, noting that this was likely an entirely different floor they would have to explore.

He was not looking forward to getting the veteran over the bridge, down the hole, and up the geyser. If the guy was no longer curled up in pain, he’d probably noticed Wind was missing and might be panicking.

The sailor drew his Deku Leaf out of his bag and held it like a paraglider. He leapt, letting the leaf catch the air to slow his fall. It took a bit of magic, but it was far better than going splat. Descending slowly, he could just make out a patch of colour against the dull stone and angled towards it. Wind landed with a soft thump and hastily stuffed his Deku Leaf away as he ran towards Legend.

Still damp, if not wet, from the geyser, Wind pulled his off-white sleeves over his hands and gently pressed them against whatever parts of Legend’s face he could reach. The veteran flinched then relaxed minutely as the cool sensation registered.

Legend’s eyes fluttered open. The pale blue hue was dull and glassy, the pupils still two different sizes. His hands were hesitantly removed from his ears, and he stared up at Wind looking beyond lost.

To Wind, the older boy looked like a beloved pet that someone had tossed out into the wilderness one day to fend for itself, hungry, hunted, and injured. That pet had found someone else to care for it, but it didn’t know how to let itself accept the help anymore, having spent far too long without it.

“Sorry,” Wind whispered, “I had to set off a bomb. You with me?”

“You’re… still here,” he said with a confused blink.

Oh. Did Legend notice he was gone after all? “Yeah, of course! I found a way up to a new floor, kind of by accident, but I came straight back. I’m not going to leave you behind, Vet,” he said clearly and sincerely.

Legend looked even more confused by that, tiny droplets of moisture gathering at the corners of his eyes. Wind internally flailed, feeling bad for making his comrade cry again. Okay, so it was likely all the fault of the concussion making Legend act so out of whack, but he was still the main thing that triggered the emotions.

Wind wanted nothing more than to find a fairy so he could give it to Legend. He hadn’t even seen one single pot in this goddess forsaken place, and it gave him the chills. Maybe Legend had been on to something when he said water-themed dungeons were the worst. Every room had been so…empty. There were enemies, and a few treasure chests, but nothing else so far.

It felt so wrong. He hadn’t really noticed until a minute ago, but now he couldn’t shake off the weird feeling, couldn’t un-notice. The sailor shivered and made a snap decision.

He sat down on Legend’s left side, pressed right up against him, and drew his knees up, resting his arms on them in a straight line so Legend could see. He kept his right hand, the one closest to Legend, turned palm up on the miniscule chance that the veteran would seek comfort.

The older boy didn’t move at the intrusion of his personal space. After a moment Wind felt him leaning a little into the warmth he provided, a comforting weight at his side.

They couldn’t afford to stop for long, it was true, but Legend couldn’t go further as he was, and Wind refused to go on ahead alone. He tilted his head, resting it on Legend’s shoulder, and sighed. He could feel Legend breathing, very deeply and kind of slow, in a regulated pattern. Did Legend meditate? He really didn’t seem like the type. Or maybe it was simply the kind of calm down, you’re fine, everything is going to be okay breathing that Wind himself used now and then.

Wind idly kept track of the sound and accompanying movements. They smoothened out after a while and Wind glanced over. Legend’s eyes were shut, and his face was kind of slack, far more at peace than he’d seen the older boy be during their entire time in this place. He was clearly asleep, and Wind wondered if he should let him. Was it okay to let someone with a concussion sleep?

He vaguely remembered hearing somewhere that you should keep a concussed person awake, because if they fell asleep, they may not wake up again. Wind didn’t know if that was true or not, but one time a crewmember of Tetra’s had an accident and got smacked across the head by a swinging pulley. Tetra had let him rest but sent someone to check on him every hour at most for at least half a day.

So, maybe it was okay for Legend to sleep. Wind would be sure to check on him frequently. Not a hard task, especially with how close they were at the moment, which the sailor found oddly reassuring.

It reminded him of times spent watching over his little sister while his grandma was busy. Or looking after Grandma and helping her out when she was feeling under the weather, no matter how many times she insisted he go out and play instead of hovering around an old lady.

The veteran was nothing like either of his relatives, but Wind still felt that urge to care for him, to protect, to help. Legend was like a prickly creature that wouldn’t let you close, always warding you off with claws, fangs, horns, or spikes. Getting past those defences was rare, despite how open he often appeared, and Wind was sometimes left feeling that he’d needed the finesse and stealth of catching a pig on Outset, combined with the strength and determination it took to sail through the rough waves of stormy weather, just to get halfway.

Wind was good at sticking with something and forging ahead, no thoughts of quitting. Getting through Legend’s fortified walls was just another challenge that the sailor was determined to overcome. Perhaps being stuck together, just the two of them, was exactly the opportunity Wind needed to break those walls, and for Legend to let someone in.

Although Wind would not say no to getting out of here, joining back up with the others, and shoving a potion down the veteran’s throat.

The room was so silent, it was unnerving. There were no noises at all besides their own breathing and rustling clothes. Not even the water down below was making any sound of gentle lapping and it hammered home the weird atmosphere this place cultivated.

The young teen turned his head and studied his sleeping companion. He moved his right hand and tapped Legend’s cheek, uncomfortably reminded of when he first woke up in this place. He felt bad for disturbing Legend’s much needed rest, but there was something squirming in his chest that he knew would only settle down once the other was awake and talking to him.

The vet’s left hand rose to passively swat Wind’s hand away. It was an encouraging sight.

“Legend, can you hear me? I’m really starting to hate that question…”

“Nngh.”

“Is that a yes or a no?” Wind asked.

The veteran cracked his eyes open and squinted down at Wind. “Wha… Wha’ i’lan’… are you fr’m?”

It took the sailor a moment to parse out the words between the missed letters and the slurring. He worked hard to keep a frown off his face. “I’m from Outset Island,” he said.

Legend tipped his head. “Not… Koholint?”

There was that name again. He really needed to ask Legend about it when the other was back in his right mind. Or maybe he had to ask while Legend was out of it, because this would likely be the only time he would willingly answer.

“No, not Koholint. I’ve never heard of it before, not until you mentioned it earlier. What is Koholint? Where is it?” he answered, peppering in his questions at the end.

The older boy looked conflicted, his eyes searching Wind’s for something he couldn’t even begin to guess at. “Nothing and nowhere,” he said eventually. “Where’s… Outset?”

Legend was a tough nut to crack even when loopy from a concussion. Damn.

“Okay, so, my Hyrule isn’t really Hyrule anymore. The gods flooded it ages ago and now it’s called the Great Sea. The islands we have scattered around the Great Sea are mostly the mountaintops from Hyrule that were tall enough to stick out of the water after the Great Flood. I don’t know where Outset Island is compared to any landmark in Hyrule that you might know, but it’s a fair distance away from where I found Hyrule Castle in a magical barrier below the waves,” Wind said. He had to remind himself to slow down.

The veteran was quiet as he processed things, and Wind had the thought that he should stop thinking before he completely broke his brain. Squishy brain goo, leaking out of Legend’s ears. Gross!

So, maybe Wind was more tired and stressed than he thought. Maybe. Who was going to get on his case about it? Legend? Ha, Wind would not accept any sort of reprimand from the veteran until he could coherently string several sentences together and look him square in the eye while doing it.

“Okay,” Legend said slowly, drawing the word out a bit.

The sailor waited for more, but that seemed to be all the acknowledgement and affirmation Legend was going to give. He wondered if the concussed hero was actually retaining any of this.

“Is… Is there a wolf involved?” the vet asked.

Wind blinked in surprise. He remembered Wolfie? That was a good sign, right? “You mean Wolfie? Yeah, he comes and goes. Wolfie must be travelling with us too, because he shows up at any time no matter where or when we are. It’s weird, but Wolfie is amazing, so I’m not gonna complain. He’s super helpful, you know?”

Legend looked quite relieved by this information and was subtly nodding to himself. He was likely trying to slot a few things back into place, so Wind kept quiet and let him work through it.

“What about a… scarf? It’s blue,” Legend said.

The younger teen brightened at that. Definitely a good sign! “Oh, yeah, one of us has this fancy blue scarf with gold patterns on the end. It’s kind of long and really comfy,” said Wind, fondly remembering having it draped over his own shoulders by the captain.

Legend nodded again, pleased, but his expression quickly downturned. He opened his mouth but said nothing, closing it again after a second or two. He looked to be having some sort of internal debate, and Wind did his best to remain patient and not fidget. Legend tried again with the same results, his brow furrowing in annoyance or frustration.

“Something wrong?” Wind finally asked.

The older boy pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He dropped his hand then shook his head and hissed, stopping straight after he started.

Wind regarded him for a long moment. “Do you want me to tell you about the others?” Talking about them might jog his memories and unscramble his brain faster, and the young teen was all for that.

Legend made a hastily aborted move to shake his head again. “No, no,” he said firmly.

“Why not?” asked Wind, genuinely confused. If he were in Legend shoes, he was sure that he’d want to know.

“Reasons,” the vet replied.

The sailor almost growled. Damn, this guy sure was frustrating! Then he internally smirked. “If you don’t want me to talk, then how about you talk? Tell me about Koholint! It’s an island, right?”

“No,” Legend said with a slight frown.

“No as in ‘no, I don’t want to talk’ or ‘no, it’s not an island’ then?” Wind persisted.

“Both,” the veteran all but snarled.

Wind flinched back, not expecting such a venomous tone. Time to give him more slack before trying to reel him in again. He raised his hands in surrender and leaned back a little, watching as Legend’s hackles visibly lowered. It made the vet look very tired, which he already was, and far older than even Wind would feel comfortable guessing at.

“Sorry,” Legend said quietly with a sigh. He rubbed his forehead as if trying to smooth away wrinkles that weren’t there.

Wind shrugged, happy to get an honest apology. He’d never expected the veteran to actually do so as he didn’t seem the type. Guess you really did learn something new every day.

“How’s your head?” he asked.

Legend seemed relieved at the change of topic, then annoyed as he realised what the topic was changed to. “Still attached to my neck,” he snarked.

Wind raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I think there might be a screw loose,” he said cheekily.

Legend matched his raised eyebrow. “A right, proper toe-rag you are,” he said in a snooty tone, adopting the posh, lilting accent the nobles and other fancy folk liked to use.

The sailor chuckled, giving the veteran a salute and making sure to extend his pinkie and wiggle it as though sipping a cup of tea at a lord’s table. His efforts drew an amused snort from Legend, and he smiled.

“We should try and find a fairy in this place,” Legend said tiredly.

Wind scrunched his face up. “Yeah, we might have a problem with that,” he said unhappily.

Legend quirked a brow and tilted his head slightly. “Explain,” he said flatly.

Wind huffed out a breath and threw an arm out to gesture in several different directions. “I haven’t seen a single pot in this weird place. Not in any of the rooms so far. So, that might be a problem on the fairy-hunting front, you see?”

“None?” the veteran asked faintly.

“Not a single one,” replied Wind glumly.

“What sort of demon crack dungeon has no pots?!” Legend burst out. He glared, hard, at nothing in particular, looking completely done with the world and everything in it.

Wind stared up at what he now knew to be another floor. “Maybe there’s some on the floor above us?” he suggested, sounding very uncertain.

Legend squinted at the lack of visible ceiling bemusedly. “How do we get up there?”

“A geyser,” came Wind’s short reply.

The pink-tinged blond levelled a flat look his way and waited with an air of expectation.

“Right, so, that boom you heard? That was me, I had to bomb the island out there. Then I jumped down the hole because that’s just what you do, you know? Next thing I know, whoosh, I’m on top of a geyser, then a ledge, then I realise I’m on a whole other floor of this place. I felt bad for leaving you down below, so I hopped straight off and floated down, and here we are,” he said in a bit of a rush.

“You… floated?”

Wind cocked his head to one side. “Yep, I floated. What, you think I would jump off if I had no way not to break my legs when I landed?”

“Am I dreaming?” Legend suddenly asked in a detached voice.

“No? Concussed, definitely, but you’re awake,” Wind said firmly.

The veteran merely hummed and said nothing further. It made Wind antsy, and he wanted to reach out. But Legend was not Aryll, and a big old hug would not work here. He patted Legend’s bare knee, his insides squirming at how slowly Legend’s eyes moved to acknowledge the touch.

“We should get going. We won’t know if there’s any fairies or pots up there if we don’t go and look,” said the veteran.

Wind’s first instinct was to argue. Vet wasn’t ready, he was still very out of it, and getting up to the next floor would make things worse, like being a painting did. But he knew Vet was stubborn and trying to get him to rest some more would only end in miserable failure. Better to save both of their energy.

“We’ll go together,” the sailor said firmly. He stood up, giving Legend some help to find his feet, and took the lead to the bridge.

He kept one hand wrapped securely around Legend’s upper arm as they crossed the rickety wooden construct. The ropes creaked slightly as the bridged swayed to and fro at their movements, making Wind tighten his grip a fraction, determined to help the older boy across no matter how many grumbles or glares were cast his way. The bridge held out, but Wind was glad to have firm ground underneath their feet.

Legend walked over to the bomb-created hole and peeked in, appearing baffled by the small amount of water at the bottom.

“It turned into a geyser when I jumped down there,” Wind said with a shrug.

The older boy gave a weary sigh and stepped off the edge instead of jumping. Wind gave a squawk of surprise and leapt after him, making sure to latch on tight to the veteran’s nearest arm. Just in time, too, as the water bubbled at their feet and sent them skyward in a burst of spray.

They both stumbled off the jet of water onto a ledge and one of Wind’s shoulders tugged him down as Legend fell to his knees, eyes shut tight against the pain and dizziness. The sailor moved his grip from Legend’s arm to his shoulder, patting it consolingly as he took the chance to get a proper look at the room.

It, too, was bare of pots. Just the ledge they were on, another rickety looking wooden rope bridge, and a ledge on the other end with a doorway. There were some strange decorations along the walls though, partly carved from the rock, while some of it consisted of the weird glowing coral that illuminated this place.

Whatever the carvings were, Wind didn’t recognise any of them. He wasn’t even sure if they were pictures or some strange language’s lettering. Though, to be fair, some of the others had written Hylian script that looked as foreign to him as though from another race of beings from hundreds of years ago. Like the Ancient Hylian that Jabun and Valoo spoke in.

The decorations gave him some hope that this floor might have more to offer. He really, really wanted to find a fairy.

Legend regained his feet and did the same assessment of his surroundings that Wind had just finished. He stared intensely at the carvings and glowing coral, as though he could divine their meaning through sheer will alone. After nearly a minute of silent staring he gave a quiet sigh and headed for the bridge.

Wind hurried after him, once again doing a great impression of a barnacle and attaching himself to Legend’s side, arm firmly in his grasp. The bridge had no rope along the sides to use as handholds and the sailor refused to let his companion fall on his watch. The bridge dipped and swayed with every movement, exactly like the last one, but they made it across with only a few stumbles.

The door would not open. Wind had only found two keys and had used both of them. Either there was a key he missed when alone in those two rooms or this door was like the very first one in this place and needed to be unlocked a different way.

Ugh, puzzle doors…

The sailor huffed and started running his hands over the wall, hoping to find a switch like before. He was so engrossed in his search that he all but ignored Legend, who ambled away back to the edge of the bridge. Calloused fingers brushed across stone, feeling for any abnormalities, ridges, or sunken edges not visible to the naked eye.

Legend staggered onto the bridge and cautiously made his way to the middle, where he sat down cross-legged. He stared at the wall decorations again, squinting and tilting his head this way and that. When he worked from one end of the line to the other, he carefully spun around and stared at the decorations on that wall too.

Wind heaved an aggrieved sigh and his shoulders slumped. He hadn’t found a thing on any square inch of wall he could reach. Maybe it was on the other side, back across the bridge? He turned around and stopped, finally noticing Legend’s current position, and his mind screeched in panic. Get him off the bridge! It’s dangerous!

He fiercely suppressed the urge to call out, not wanting to startle the veteran and cause him to fall. Instead, he slunk over to the vet’s side, as slowly and carefully as he could to avoid disturbing the bridge too much. He crouched down and gently put a hand on Legend’s shoulder.

“Hey, what are you doing on the bridge?” Wind asked as though addressing his younger sister.

“Reading,” Legend said casually.

“Reading what?”

Legend lifted his left hand and pointed at the carvings and coral that made patterns on the wall, then jerked a thumb backwards at the ones he’d already looked at. Wind blinked at them, but they didn’t seem like any writing he knew of. Maybe it was something from closer to Legend’s era?

“What does it say?” he asked in pure curiosity. Was this the clue to open the door? Wow, Wind was really glad Legend could apparently make sense of it. If he’d been on his own, he’d be stuck here for who knows how long.

“O Ye of the Divine’s Rays, play the song that echoed across shores, once upon a dream,” the veteran said, voice curiously flat yet tremulous.

Notes:

I try to limit my use of typical swears, curses and 'bad' words and replace them with more Hyrule-focused versions.

"demon crack dungeon" is a callback to Demise and the demons pouring forth from a huge crack in the ground in Skyward Sword's prologue (referred to in BotW and HW: AoC as Breach of Demise) and is basically my Hyrule-based version of arsehole/asshole, more used towards places instead of people. But, you know, you do you. If you wanna call someone a demon crack, I'm not going to stop you lol Can also be used in place of hell/hellish.

I post my progress of the next chapter of my stories on my profile, so head there if you want to see how far along the next chapter is!

What could the writing possibly mean? Dun dun duuuun. Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts! Feedback is amazingly helpful to a writer~

Chapter 5: Bubble, Bubble, Teeth and Trouble

Notes:

I had so much fun with this chapter. SO MUCH! I even got a chapter title for it almost right away instead of 2-3 days later! Enjoy!

Many thanks to my beta, RenegadeBladesman, who worked on this while in the middle of actual work XD Multitasking master!

WARNINGS: Blood, injury, bit of drowning, follow the tags for this one

His mind was churning like the waves of the storm that turned him into the Messenger of Awakening. He was cold - a strange chill that started from somewhere deep inside and went outward instead of first chilling his skin and then burrowing inward. The cold nestled deep inside his heart, sending tiny shards of ice instead of blood through his body with each wretched beat.

He wasn’t shivering. Why wasn’t he shivering? Was he beyond that? He knew that was a bad sign but couldn’t bring himself to care. Caring was a task he had no energy and no motivation for; a thick wall he did not even want to try scaling, going around, or breaking through.

He mentally cursed the aptitude for languages he had, boosted by the Book of Mudora he’d found as a child during his first quest. How awful the words on the walls were. What he wouldn’t give to rewind time and go on with life, never seeing them, never reading their damning message.

The veteran had known not to hope. He’d known, and still…

“What does that even mean?” came Wind’s voice. It was close, right next to him in fact, yet it sounded distant, as though he was dozens of feet away.

“You don’t know?” he idly asked.

How strange, for a dream construct not to be able to read a dream language or understand the dream message about the dream song. Did the deity mess something up? Did it learn from the last time and hope that he would go through it all again if the dream people said nothing about it being a dream at all?

“I wouldn’t ask if I knew,” Wind said somewhat irritably.

Legend, if that truly was a name he’d actually adopted, snorted. “In basic Hylian it means: Oh, You of the Goddesses’s Light, her chosen one in other words, play the Ballad of the Wind Fish. You can stop pretending, you know.”

Wind looked at him, eyes swimming with concern and confusion. “What’s the Ballad of the Wind Fish? I’ve never heard of it, and I know quite a few songs! Also, stop pretending what? Veteran, I’m not pretending anything. I haven’t been the whole time. Please, please tell me what’s wrong, you’re starting to really scare me!”

Either the kid was a really good actor, the deity in charge of this dream had decided that such awareness was a mercy and removed it, or the kid was, somehow, real and possibly trapped with him.

The only way to know would be to forge ahead and reach the end. To do what needed to be done and finish the damn task he’d been set.

“Never mind,” he said, avoiding the questioning outright as he dug around in his bag for one of his most treasured possessions.

His fingers closed around the beautiful smooth finish of his ocarina, and he pulled it out, taking a moment to carefully look it over with eyes and fingertips. He ignored the sailor and brought the ocarina to his lips. He blew a note or two, only a little shaky, to reacquaint himself with the instrument. Legend took a deep breath.

He played the ballad, his fingers dancing over the holes partly on muscle memory alone as his mind shied away from the tune. Three notes ascending, repeat those three notes, then five notes for the first part. He played on, the melody ringing softly around the chamber and sounding hauntingly beautiful, though nowhere near as beautiful as the pure voice he could hear in his mind, singing the notes and switching to words at random.

She was so clear in his mind’s eye. Long red hair flashing in the sunlight as her blue dress billowed out to each twirl she performed, her hands clasped before her chest every time they were not reaching for him to come and dance with her. The sounds of the ocean and the cries of seagulls blending seamlessly with her laughter. The pink hibiscus flower tucked behind one ear that didn’t do a very good job of drawing his attention away from her eyes.

No, the only thing that could manage that was when he turned away of his own volition, in an effort to hide the blush he could feel staining his face a shade that could compete with the hibiscus.

The final note graced the air and Legend pulled the ocarina away from his lips and closer to his chest. Drops of water hit his hands and he blinked in surprise, his fingers wiping across his cheek and coming away wet.

Crying… Of course he was. In front of the kid too, no matter if he was just a dream construct or not.

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and knew the kid had already seen, but he fervently scrubbed his eyes and face with his sleeve anyway.

Click.

The door opened with the softest rumble, drawing both of their attention. Legend grudgingly accepted Wind’s help to get back to his feet and off the bridge, but then shook the kid’s hands off once they were on the ledge again. He studiously ignored the kid’s exasperated pout and went through the door, stopping before he cleared the doorway so that Wind could catch up.

The moment they were both through, the door slammed shut with a loud, grinding bang.

Legend groaned while Wind swore. “I hate when they do that! Something must be in here. Stupid, puffed-up dungeon monsters! I bet they’re so aggressive because no one takes them for walks,” the sailor said.

Legend had an image of a fierce monster trying to wrangle a collar and leash onto its slightly less fierce dungeon buddy. He wrinkled his nose for a moment and tried to think of absolutely anything else instead. Like the room. The very large, very flooded room. It was not, in his opinion, a good topic switch.

“Maybe it’ll be like a Big Octo and stick out of the water for us to aim at, so we don’t have to go in,” Wind mused, glaring at the non-existent foot space beside the small ledge they were on, and one across the room where another door was, presumably locked tight.

“Never that lucky,” he grumbled in reply.

They went to the water’s edge and looked in, both of them able to easily spot a large shadowy form moving about near the bottom. The water was about thirty feet deep at least, while the room itself he’d guess to be one hundred feet across in a square shape. He was really starting to doubt that they would remain dry during this battle. His mind busily ran through his inventory as his hands rummaged through his bag.

The veteran briefly contemplated his Ether Medallion. His magic wasn’t recovered enough from the trip across the wall to make any medallion a viable option. His Ice Rod might help, for as long as his remaining magic held out. He pulled it out and tucked it into his belt. Hookshots were often useful against water foes he couldn’t reach with a sword, so he pulled that out too. Arrows were a toss-up.

Wind cleared his throat. He’d evidently followed the older boy’s lead as he had a grappling hook with a decent length of rope over one shoulder and was going through his newly strapped on quiver with one hand, bow in the other.

“You might not remember me telling you this earlier, but I’ve never fought under the water. On top of it, yeah, but not below. I don’t really have any items that might help either, not unless it sticks something out that I can hit,” the sailor said.

Something in the back of his mind resonated with the confession and he entertained the thought that the sailor really hadn’t been pretending anything. He shook it away and focused on the more immediate problem. “What sort of arrows have you got?”

“Normal, ice, fire, and light.”

“Keep the ice on standby,” Legend said, absently patting his Ice Rod. “How many ice arrows do you have?”

Wind shrugged. “They’re normal arrows I charge with magic, so I have as many as my magic lasts. I’m good for about a dozen at least. Why?”

Legend eyed the sailor shrewdly. “Just taking stock of our resources. Without potions or fairies, we need to be extra careful and take every opportunity to bring that thing down as quickly as we can. Especially if our combat options are limited,” he said.

The kid honestly didn’t look like he had any magic. He supposed it was really only witches, sages or old men that liked visually clueing people into their magical abilities by dressing the part. Many people probably didn’t think he had magic at his disposal either, so it wasn’t fair to judge that on looks alone. The kid’s magic was likely the kind you couldn’t sense unless it was active.

“Don’t you worry,” Wind said with a smirk, “if I see an opening, I’m going for it!”

Churning water and a rapidly approaching dark shape stopped him from replying and he grabbed Wind’s sleeve by instinct as a wave threatened to wash them both off the ledge. A finned tail whipped at them, and they both ducked, feeling the slipstream of air as it went overhead.

The water was just settling when another surge came straight at them. Legend activated his Power Bracelets, grabbed Wind, and bodily heaved him out of the attack’s range. He twisted around and a loud SNAP came from inches to his side, making him gawk. The thing, whatever it was, had a long maw full of large, sharp teeth, each about half a foot long or so. With its jaws empty of prey, it slid its head back into the water. Legend took aim with the hookshot and fired. It struck but had no visible effect aside from making it lash around to bite the water in the direction he’d struck it.

This was going to be a tough one.

He packed his hookshot away, not willing to hang on to a useless tool. Wind had surfaced and was staying as still as he could without sinking, edging ever closer to the ledge as he went. Legend hid a wince for tossing the kid like a sack of potatoes and hoped the monster left him alone while he made his way back to solid ground.

The veteran would have to occupy its attention. He pulled his Ice Rod from his belt and kept the blue crystal trained on the monster. It hadn’t retreated very far and was now circling around. It froze for a split second before putting on a burst of speed, darting towards Wind. Legend aimed slightly ahead of it and fired.

Glowing blue magic, trailing sparkles and tiny snowflakes, hit the water with a crackle. Ice bloomed into existence, covering a patch about three or four feet wide and shooting outwards in sharp points like a strange explosion.

The monster flailed as ice coated its head and jaws, freezing them together, and veered away blindly like a horse trying to buck off a rider.

Wind swam for it and Legend lent a hand once he got close, an apologetic expression earning him a raised eyebrow and a sigh that actually sounded fondly exasperated instead of just exasperated.

“Good to know it doesn’t like ice,” was all the sailor said.

“Arrows at the ready. I’m going to play decoy.”

With that small announcement, Legend fished out his hookshot again and shot at the water. The monster, having smashed the ice off underwater, raced to the site with jaws open. A bright blue light lit up the room and the veteran spared a second to look. Wind was standing there, in an archer’s ready stance, with an arrow nocked and pulled back. The tip was encased in a blue and white light that flowed out and over the arrowhead like a fountain unaffected by gravity.

He glanced away just in time to see the fang-filled maw break the surface. Wind fired, and Legend quickly shot off a blast from his Ice Rod. The two chilly magics combined as they hit and the beast actually sank from the weight of the large iceberg now encasing its skull and neck.

Wind nocked another arrow and Legend readied his hookshot. The monster realised it was sinking and roared with rage, flurries of frothy bubbles being created as it thrashed about. Legend narrowed his eyes and cursed his blurry vision and awful headache for the umpteenth time as the creature was lost to his sight behind the bubbles.

“Here it comes!” yelled Wind.

Legend had barely processed the words when it was upon them. It jerked sideways at the last second, large spikes of ice slamming into his torso and sending him flying. His breath whooshed out and he’d hardly wheezed in a tiny inhale when he hit the water, whatever feeble amount of air he’d taken in being forced right back out. He thought he heard the kid cry out but then he went under, his ears muted and eyes stinging briefly.

His torso was aching, muscles protesting too much to really respond. His ribs were screeching at him, and his lungs weren’t far behind. Legend kicked, aiming for the surface, but his legs didn’t propel him very far before several muscles in his abdomen and near his ribs spasmed, halting all progress.

Ow, shit, ow! This is bad, gonna drown, need to get out, gotta help the kid!

The water around him changed pressure slightly and Legend blinked. The monster was coming straight for him, a horrifying mix of fish and lizard, with hard scales covering all but its underbelly. He still had his hookshot in one hand and Ice Rod in the other, so he fired the rod.

The bright blue blast made it roar again and roll to the side. The magic hit one of its back legs, freezing it solid. The fishy-lizard thing was not happy, but it was not going to be deterred this time. It angled back around almost instantly and, were Legend not underwater, he would’ve gulped. He frantically flailed his limbs, managing to miss those fearsome jaws by an inch or two.

He was not so lucky with the tail.

It slammed into him with the force of several of Ravio’s hammers, his already abused torso crying out. Then the pain hit him. It was immense; a patch of agony that engulfed nearly half of his body and all of his mind. His lungs screamed for air, blaring alarms in his head, but he couldn’t move. He inhaled instinctively, unable to stop himself. His lungs were not pleased with his offering, twitching in response. His vision was full of black spots, the dark edges creeping in even as the spots multiplied and expanded.

Legend refused to die here. He called to his magic. It responded in a surge of warm energy, ready to help him survive. He ordered it to activate a bit of old magic he’d finally managed to wrangle into submission just before the mess with Yuga. His magic, eager to please, followed the instruction without delay.

He couldn’t see anything anymore, apart from an odd flash of blue-white light that seeped through the black in his vision, but he could feel the magic sparking to life, could feel the way his legs snapped together and melted into each other. He could definitely feel when the magic kicked in enough to prod his lungs into accepting water as their sustenance.

Legend gasped and hacked, coughing as his lungs shuddered their way into a normal pattern again. When his coughing fit subsided, he blinked, the black in his vision now gone. What bits lingered were fading away with each breath and blink. He didn’t need to look to know his legs were now a long, scaly tail adorned with fins, exactly like a mermaid.

The pressure changed again. Legend saw the monster, back leg now ice-free, swing around to take another pass at him. The veteran was ready this time. One powerful flick of his tail moved him out of range of its frenzied charge. He fired his hookshot, inordinately pleased when the chain wound around those jaws, binding them shut. He tucked his Ice Rod back in his belt and unsheathed his sword, swimming quickly over to it and slicing at its less protected underside.

Trails of dark red streamed out as his sword cut into it, becoming wispy and diluted the further they went. Legend felt that this fight was finally getting somewhere and continued his assault. Claws from a stubby front leg raked down the arm holding the hookshot and he flinched, his grip loosening a bit.

It was loose enough for the monster, who snarled and surged at him. He hastily dodged. A couple of moments later his arm jerked, nearly being torn from the socket, and Legend found himself dragged along for the ride as it swam about, trying to lose him.

He could do nothing against the powerful slipstream it generated. He grit his teeth and clicked a trigger on the hookshot’s handle. It slowly began to wind the chain back in, bringing him closer to the beast’s head. The veteran held back a hiss as his arm trembled from the strain and the claw marks. The pain wasn’t as bad as he knew it should be and he was grateful for the pain-masking properties adrenaline gave. It wouldn’t last long, so he had to end this quickly.

The creature turned sharply and jerked its head, making Legend swing out of the water in a plume of spray. His back hit a wall and his injured arm released the hookshot as he yelped. He slid down the wall and groaned, his entire body just a mass of aches. There was a bright light, a soft twang, then a warm hand on his face.

“I thought you’d drowned down there, you were under for so long, and then I find you with a fish tail? Blimey, Veteran! Way to give me grey hairs. Speak to me, Vet, come on. Do I need to throw you back in the water? Yes, or no?”

Yes, he really did like this kid. Perhaps he could try and enjoy their time together while it lasted. “No, it’s fine,” he wheezed out. “Aim for the underside if you can, I managed to wound it there.”

Wind gave him a searching look but nodded. He didn’t quite step away, but was obviously covering him while he got back to his…fins? Yeah, sure, whatever worked. He had a better chance under the water than trying to take potshots from above.

Legend didn’t want to move, but nothing got done by doing nothing, so he forced himself to roll off the ledge and back into the water with a small splash. He wanted out of this place, and he had to go through this monstrosity to do that, so go through it he would. Thankfully he hadn’t dropped his sword and he tightened his grip on it even as he mourned his hookshot.

Without anyone holding on, the hookshot’s chain had become loose and the beast was slowly working on expanding the loops around its jaws to get free. Legend swore, a powerful swipe of his tail sending him rocketing forward, sword held slightly before him like a living spear.

He got a good slice under its tail, leaving a long, deep gash that bled freely. It stopped paying all of its attention to its jaws and thrashed again, the tip of its tail hitting Legend’s own and leaving a bloody streak as hard scales met soft ones. He swore under his watery breath and swam away, aiming to circle around and make another pass between flailing limbs.

The beast, having used that strategy itself, was not game to let him pull it off. It followed immediately, jaws snapping open and shut behind his tailfin as far as the chain would allow, working it looser all the time. If it wanted to follow, then Legend would lead it. He sped up, aiming for a point not too far away from the ledge. He poured a massive amount of energy into his tail and leapt clear out of the water.

The beast leapt to catch him, and Legend heard Wind shout. A flash of light and the beast below was knocked far enough off course that Legend did not have to worry about being chomped in half. He twisted around in mid-air to see an arrow sticking out from the monster’s chest, a large patch of ice surrounding its ribs and forelegs, restricting its movements greatly.

Perfect! he thought, hitting the water. Without wasting a second, he swam forward and began slicing and hacking for all he was worth. He finally backed off as the blood in the water made him cough and splutter, and he retreated away from the red cloud.

The monster moaned, still thrashing around feebly, but its struggles grew weaker and weaker as he watched. Then it stopped moving altogether, slowly sinking down until it rested on the bottom of the pool. It laid there for several long moments until it finally began to dissolve into a dark mist.

Legend blanched, swiftly retrieved and packed away his hookshot, and headed for Wind, hauling himself out of the water and flopping onto his back, breathing heavily through abused lungs and ribs. He gave Wind a tired thumb’s up as the kid hovered over him.

“I have so many questions,” the sailor said.

Yeah, fair, he would too if the roles were reversed. Speaking of reversing, it was time to lose the tail. He gestured for Wind to wait as his magic surrounded that of the Mermaid Suit and compressed it, tucking it back away in the little nook he’d made for it, wincing as the tail turned back into legs. The slice along his tail transferred over, leaving him with a cut on both shins a little below his knees.

“Ow,” he huffed out. The adrenaline was fading and the pain-masking properties with it. All of the injuries were making themselves known, very loudly, which only made his still-pounding head hurt more.

“I feel like asking if you’re okay is kind of pointless,” Wind said flatly.

Legend gave him a half-hearted glare from where he was laying. “If I can walk and talk, I’m fine.”

Wind raised an eyebrow and pointed at his legs. “You’re not walking though.”

Cheeky little brat! Legend thought, turning the intensity of his glare right up in response. “You know exactly what I meant,” he ground out.

Wind merely shrugged, giving him a grin that screamed ‘I’m a troublemaker’ and made him want to sigh. He argued with his muscles until they listened, and he managed to sit up, leaning on his hands. Legend stared across the flooded room at the door right across from them. He regretted not keeping the tail, it would be so much easier to swim across the room with it. The hero was not going to activate it again though, no sir, not unless there were fairies and red potions involved.

His shins were really stinging. The placement of the lashing hurt so much less with the tail as no bones were as close to the surface like they were as shins.

“We know this room is safe now. Should we rest a while?” Wind asked, looking everywhere but at the older boy.

“In wet clothes? Nope. There’s bound to be, ow, something good in the next room after this,” Legend said, trying to breathe a little shallower.

He saw Wind frown at the little exclamation of pain but both of them knew there was nothing to be done about it. A conversation took place, in total silence, that ended with a sigh for Wind and a wry smirk for him. He eased back into the water and began a slow, easy paddle across the room, careful not to stretch his arms too far in front of himself. Wind followed, having a much easier time. The sailor could have outstripped him, but he drew level and stayed there, a dependable presence.

A miniature eternity later, in which Legend was vehemently not thinking about the skewed logistics of such a thought, they reached the other ledge. Wind swiftly climbed out and raced over to help. Legend was touched by the thoughtfulness but also very annoyed. How pitiful must he appear for the kid to baby him like this?

The veteran would give every last rupee he had if a deity made a fairy appear right in front of him.

No such thing happened, naturally, so he simply watched as Wind opened the door, looking tired but very satisfied. Wind stopped as the room was revealed, standing there with a slack jaw and disbelief written all over his face. It quickly morphed to joy and the sailor threw his arms up with a celebratory shout.

“POTS!”

Notes:

Pots. The greatest enemy and love of many a Link. Every time I see one in ANY LoZ game, I must smash/throw it. People sometimes laugh at Legend for needing a Power Bracelet to do so. Have you seen the size of the pots in his games? They are HUGE. They're as big as he is!

I love me some Mermaid Suit Legend, yes I do! <3 And now Wind knows~ Not the secret he was after, mind you, but eh.

You can check the progress for my WIP fics on my profile page, which I always keep up to date! Then you can get an idea of how far away the next chapter might be lol

So, what did you think of this chapter? Good, bad? Was the fight scene okay? Feedback is precious, so please consider leaving your thoughts in a comment~! <3

Chapter 6: Puzzling Décor

Notes:

This update was a little slow, I know. I blame too many WIP fics and general burnout. Not on the story! Just in general. Some weekly prompts and a writing contest on the LU Discord slowed me down lol

Wonderful to be back posting this though~ Dear readers, I shall always post offerings for you. If I can interest someone enough to read my work then I'm happy, but I do always look forward to hearing from those lovely souls that leave me a comment! <3 <3 <3

No warnings for this one. (Bit of blood? Does it count if it's an enemy?)

The pirate in Wind was leaping up and down, shouting incoherently at the room full of potential loot. There were at least half a dozen decently sized pots lining the walls of the rather small room. They sat there, wonderfully glazed, and begging for some brave adventurer to embrace them and pillage their insides, to take their lovingly guarded treasures out into the big, wide world.

Wind raced inside and pounced at the nearest pot, leaning over it and all but sticking his head in it. He leaned back, pouting magnificently, and moved on to the next. This process was repeated until the fourth pot, where he gave a cry of triumph. He waved Legend over and stepped back.

The veteran eyed him oddly but shrugged and took a peek inside.

“Oh!” he said softly, carefully reaching inside with his left hand.

A glow spiralled up his arm. See-through wings were just visible as the little ball of light bobbed and weaved around Legend’s form, leaving a trail of sparkles behind as it moved. With tiny tinkling noises, it hovered for a moment before taking off who knows where.

Legend rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath. A wince flashed into existence for a second until he smoothed it out. Wind’s heart sank a little, wondering how hurt the other had truly been from that fight. Did the fairy heal the concussion? How much did it fix and how much was the vet still dealing with?

“How do you feel now?” he asked. He scrutinised Legend carefully, paying close attention as he waited for an answer.

“Bruised, but okay,” Legend answered.

“And the concussion?” Wind prompted.

“Still have a headache,” he said, making Wind’s heart sink into his stomach like a stone. “But it’s tolerable now, which is way better than before.”

His heart crawled back to its usual spot in his chest, but the weight in his stomach didn’t entirely disappear. He could hear Legend muttering something about deities and rupees with a smug little smirk on his face. The sailor started praying that there was another fairy hiding away in one of the unchecked pots. He wanted to be extra sure that concussion wasn’t going to cause any more problems.

It was only then that Wind realised his grappling hook was still wound around his shoulder. He shrugged it off and packed it away, glad that he hadn’t needed it. Trying to wrangle an underwater monster with it would have been a nightmare. The way he’d seen Legend holding onto a hookshot and the monster flinging him into a wall with it only confirmed things.

Legend had been under for so long. Wind had been a second away from diving in after him until he’d seen the veteran swimming about. He’d been in trouble with that monster down there, but not in distress from drowning. People instinctively reverted to several signature behaviours in their quest for oxygen, and Wind hadn’t seen Legend display a single sign of any of them while fighting that overgrown water lizard.

The last thing Wind had expected was for Legend to be flung out of the water looking like he was halfway through transforming into a fish!

Wind checked the other pots for another glow but was disappointed. Something glinted at the bottom of the last one and Wind grinned. He got a good grip on the pot and heaved, holding it above his head with only the smallest amount of effort. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Legend smirk but ignored the veteran in favour of throwing the pot at a wall.

It shattered, loudly, and left shards of pottery scattered about. In the middle of the clay carnage glittered a purple rupee, making Wind’s eyes light up. He bounded forward and snatched it with a pleased cry. He was even happier to see Legend smiling.

“Rest?” he half asked, half prompted.

“A snack break,” the vet said after a moment.

Not quite what Wind was going for, but he’d take it. Besides, a snack sounded really good. His stomach was gurgling and growling now that food had been mentioned and without the excitement of battle or the worry for Legend taking all of his attention, his stomach was telling him it hadn’t eaten in days and was running on empty.

Wind didn’t know how long they’d been unconscious for before waking up in this place, but breakfast had not been long before that and he doubted they’d been here for a full day yet.

“I’m not sure if either of us has much food. Wild usually carries most of it because he does the cooking,” the sailor stated, sitting on the floor a good distance from the pot shards and rummaging through his bag.

Legend joined him with a contemplative hum, opening his own bag and digging around inside it in determination.

The room soon filled with the sounds of rustling fabric, the clinking of various glass bottles and metallic tools, and the general sound of things being moved, displaced and shuffled.

Wind huffed in disappointment as his search proved fruitless. Legend, almost shoulder deep in his bag, emerged with two apples and wordlessly handed one over without missing a beat. Wind gave him a grateful grin and bit into it happily. One apple would not be enough to satisfy his hunger, and he could only imagine that Legend was in the same boat, but it was leaps and bounds better than nothing.

He was very tempted to ask if the veteran had any more, but it was always better to ration things when in a dungeon or temple or other such place. He’d learned that the hard way, very early into his first adventure. Wind licked the apple juice off his fingers with sad satisfaction and flung the core into one of the pots.

“Ready to go?”

The young teen looked up and found Legend watching him expectantly. “Yeah,” he said, resigned. “Hey, have any memories come back?”

Legend faltered minutely as he stood up and Wind had to wonder if it was caused by whatever was left of the concussion, or his question. The older boy’s brow furrowed but he kept quiet and didn’t answer the question. Wind wanted to shake him and shout in his face just as much as he wanted to hug him again. He could only interpret the silence as an answer of, “no and I didn’t want to tell you” or “none of your business” with both being just as likely.

“Nothing solid yet, just flashes of things,” Legend said when they stood before the door.

Wind settled for patting the closest arm near the elbow. “If you have any questions, just ask.” He shoved the door open and went through, eyes darting about to take everything in and identify possible threats before they became a problem. Nothing jumped out at him, so he went in further with Legend right behind.

The room was circular. The was an island in the middle with some sort of small tower-like structure in the centre. There were doors to the left and right, everywhere separated from the island by a steppingstone. If there was a door behind the structure then Wind couldn’t see it.

“Clockwise?” he asked.

“I’m coming with you, this time,” Legend said firmly.

Wind nodded easily and hopped across to the left-hand door. He spun around and grinned as Legend swiftly followed without a problem. Much better! The veteran was back in business, and it lifted his spirits immensely. He pushed at the door the moment Legend’s feet landed on the same ledge, almost bouncing on the balls of his feet with newfound enthusiasm.

A long room was revealed, cut across from wall to wall by a gate of steel bars that were decorated by a large stone archway, the midpoint of which brushed the ceiling. Just in front of the gate, on either side, were two pillars with some sort of crystal atop them. The archway sported a glaring eye design that was nicely embossed, and Legend gave a rueful chuckle as he pulled out a bow and a quiver of arrows.

Wind was busy staring at the pillars. There was something familiar about them, tugging at his mind like his little sister used to tug on his hair when she was a baby. He was very appreciative when she moved from hair to tugging on his clothes instead whenever she wanted attention. Thoughts of his sister were nice but not helpful in this situation, and he cursed his brain for distracting itself.

The sailor was still thinking even as he watched Legend fire an arrow, hitting the eye right in the middle. The eye made a soft chime and the crystals on the pillars lit up, casting a light blue, virtually cyan, light around the area. The gate did not budge even the tiniest amount and the crystal lights dimmed after a few seconds.

He could have smacked himself in the face. One search of his bag later and Wind proudly held up his trusty boomerang. He looked at Legend and the two shared a mischievous grin. The older boy nocked another arrow and Wind aimed his boomerang. The arrow flew into the eye and the younger boy threw his curved weapon the moment the crystals lit up. It hit one and angled off, smacking right into the other one. Both crystal lights changed to yellow at the impacts and a secondary chime rang out, echoing down the lengthy room, and the gate shifted, a metallic grinding that rumbled through the walls and floor as the gate descended into a slot in the floor.

Wind impulsively raised his hand for a high-five. Legend eyed him and Wind cursed internally, forgetting exactly who he was with at that moment. A soft smack of palm meeting palm knocked the sailor from his thoughts, and he beamed at the veteran, surprised and thrilled at the action.

He would be so happy if he could get Legend to loosen up more and act his age, whatever that was, so he would be happier. He seemed okay but sometimes merely okay wasn’t enough.

Their weapons were packed away, and the two heroes strode forth under the archway. The room curved to the left, the entire space empty.

“Rooms without water in this place are as rare as Warriors meeting up with a girl he’s not trying to hide from,” Legend remarked, his gaze on the floor ahead.

“You remember that?” Wind asked, his voice dripping with hope.

The veteran came to a halt, blinking as he tilted his head and his gaze turned inward. “Huh,” he said. His eyes glazed over, and he stood there, so still that Wind wondered if he was even breathing.

It starkly reminded him of when the champion zoned out at the river and Twilight stayed behind with him. Wind hadn’t known what to do then and he still didn’t know now. He stepped closer and waved a hand in front of the vet’s face, frowning when he got no reaction. He stepped even closer, their chests only an inch apart, and stood on tiptoe, staring right into the blank blue eyes as he waved again, slowly.

Some sort of light flickered on in them and the pupils began to absently follow his fingers. The glazed look fully vanished as Legend’s hand came up and caught his own, stopping it from moving.

“He’s the one with the blue scarf,” the veteran said decisively, nodding to himself and letting his captive go.

“Yes, that’s him!” Wind exclaimed happily, almost vibrating in place from trying not to bounce around.

Legend only hummed softly and continued on.

To Wind, he looked like he was moments away from getting lost in thought, staring off as though daydreaming, while simultaneously jolting himself back to reality before he got lost in his head again. A dungeon was no place to space out and he knew the older hero knew that. The fairy had helped though, that much was now obvious to him. He just wished it would work faster or, better yet, put all of Legend’s memories back and slotted them in order.

Ha, he’d probably need to wish on the Triforce for that to happen. He just needed to be patient and things would fix themselves, as they had been. Slowly. Oh, so slowly.

He shook his head, his half-dried hair swinging along, and caught up to Legend. They turned the corner to see more empty space and one lone door at the end. A squelchy noise made him wrinkle his nose slightly, eyes sweeping across the floor from wall to wall. Another squelch made his ears twitch and he glanced up.

A brightly coloured blob was headed straight for his face and Wind jumped backwards, watching it splat on the floor with yet another squelching sound. It rose from the floor with an awkward, high-pitched sort of chirring mutter, and gazed at him with large, round eyes.

Several more squelches splattered onto the floor, almost a dozen, and sprang up into various kinds of ChuChu that looked incredibly familiar to the small sailor.

“They look like Buzz Blobs,” said Legend, hand twitching toward his bag instead of his sword. “Do any of them zap?”

Wind didn’t know what a Buzz Blob was, but he could answer the question. “Yeah, any that are blue and yellow are zappers, so watch out.”

He didn’t feel the need to explain how to take them out, not after Legend’s specific question. He grabbed his boomerang in his right hand and unsheathed his sword with his left, ready for any colour among the group. The older boy had done the exact same thing and the pair waded into battle, careful to check the vivid colour of their next target before they swung a weapon.

Odd chattering noises filled the air between goopy sounds, sword swings, and the whirling swishing of a boomerang. Chu jelly stained the floor in rainbow puddles as the colours tried to mix and couldn’t quite manage except for small amounts. Wind heard his companion swear as a foot slid a bit too far on the jelly and he huffed out a quick and quiet laugh, even as he glanced over to make sure Legend wasn’t in any trouble.

With the spot now empty of enemies, minus the multiple puddles of Chu jelly left on the floor, Wind took the time to give the area a more thorough examination. A section of wall off to the left had a few thin cracks running up it from the floor. The sailor grinned and pulled out a bomb, leaving it unlit for the moment.

The explosive device immediately caught Legend’s eye and he followed the smaller boy’s gaze to the wall. A hand fell on Wind’s shoulder and Legend strode past, gesturing for him to wait.

“Aww, but why?” the younger one whined. “Come on, there’s totally something behind that wall! Just let me blow it up!”

“Hold your island equivalent of horses for a moment,” said the veteran. He put away the boomerang and moved to an uncracked part of the wall, tapping it with his sword and listening to the sound it made. He moved to the part Wind was eyeing hungrily and tapped again, the metallic sounds holding a distinctly deeper, hollow tone with the tiniest added echo.

Wind’s mouth formed an ‘o’ and his mind busily filed such a useful technique and information away. How come no one had taught him that?

With his test now complete, Legend backed away a safe distance from the cracked section of wall, and gave a fancy bow, arms pointing to the wall, smirking the entire time.

The fuse was lit with a scoff and Wind eagerly lobbed it. The bomb exploded on contact with the wall, sending smoke and some shards flying every which way. His ears were ringing a little, but he was focused on waiting for the smoke and dust to clear, revealing whatever the wall had tried to hide.

It was a small room with a wooden treasure chest in the middle. Nothing spectacular, but the part of Wind that had spent far too long hanging around pirates, and looting dungeons and temples, couldn’t help but be excited at what the chest might contain. He raced into the room and skidded to a stop before his boots hit the wood. He jammed his fingers into the crack beneath the lid and lifted it, eyes wide, completely ignoring Legend unintentionally.

Wind had to lean over far enough that his feet left the ground for a few seconds, making Legend snicker, but he pulled back with a triumphant cry, showing off a very shiny silver rupee. The veteran gave an impressed whistle and Wind gleefully tucked his treasure away. A silver rupee was way better than the red or yellow ones he’d found earlier!

A quick sweep revealed nothing else inside the chest or the small room, so the two of them left. This time it was Legend that opened the door and Wind was pleased that he felt good enough to take the lead, yet faintly annoyed that the task was no longer his alone to enjoy.

A silly thing but opening the doors had made him feel a little bit important.

The next room was large and empty except for a big statue in the middle. It appeared mostly featureless, a large, vaguely humanoid shape with curved horns on the…head? Helmet? The statue seemed painted, though the colours were faded as if it had been sitting out under the sun for many years.

Wind looked up at the very sun-blocking stone ceiling and frowned.

Legend walked around the statue, sticking close to the wall, and stopped when he got a good look at the other side of the stone figure. He raised an eyebrow and walked backwards toward the door across from where Wind was still standing near the entrance. The veteran reached out for the door and two lots of grinding, locking noises echoed through the room.

Both heroes just knew they were now locked in, from both sides.

The colours on the statue faded in reverse, bleeding into bright, vivid tones until it looked brand new. The statue groaned and shuddered. Wind saw the shoulders lower, the knees bent slightly, and the helmet turned to face Legend.

From the back, the sailor could easily tell the statue was a Darknut, looking almost exactly as he remembered from the sunken castle of his Hyrule, frozen in time until he drew the Master Sword. He readied his blade and made sure to stay behind it, bracing himself to slice at a weak point in the armour.

The Darknut raised its own sword, easily as long as Wind, or even Legend, was tall, and took a rattling step in the veteran’s direction. While the statue had been coming back to life, Legend had slipped his shield over his right arm and his left held his tempered blade at the ready. He easily dodged the massive sword as it swung at him, pale blue eyes flashing in challenge.

Wind darted in, quick as lightning, and got right behind their armoured foe. He leapt up with a twirl, his sword flashing as it followed his arc, slicing into a number of cords across the back that held the armour together.

The armour shook and rattled for a few seconds before the entire torso section, along with the shoulders, simply fell off the Darknut and clattered loudly on the floor. The Darknut took a moment to process what had happened, but it was a moment too long.

Legend dashed forward and unleashed a barrage of strikes on the Darknut’s now vulnerable chest and stomach, leaving long, deep gashes behind, and sending drops of blood splattering here and there. The Darknut’s brain caught up and it swept its sword in a huge horizontal arc, forcing Legend to duck behind his shield. The blow hit and sent him skidding several feet, thankfully now out of its range.

The sailor copied Legend’s tactics, hacking away at its back indiscriminately, adding to the bloody mess. The Darknut roared in pain and anger, whirling around and letting the air sing with the force of its attack from the momentum. Wind hastily jumped back, shield already up, and fought not to stagger in the giant sword’s slipstream.

Vet sprung forward, aiming for the spots already damaged by Wind, smirking as it elicited another pained roar. The Darknut stood straight, its shoulders arching back and flinching at the assault. Legend jumped back out of range in anticipation of a counterattack and had a great view of the small sailor flying through the air, coming down hard with an impressive slice that started just to one side of the neck and went all the way down to where the armour covered the hips.

The Darknut tottered, blood flowing down its front. Its remaining armour creaked as it fell, the helmet making an awful noise as it impacted against the floor, a nasty crunch signifying something behind it breaking.

The two heroes locked eyes over the prone form and shared a triumphant grin, both of them happy to have weathered the battle with no injuries. The Darknut dissipated into dark smoke and both doors unlocked. Legend, being closer to the door they wanted, opened it and waited for Wind, pointing at something beyond.

The younger boy spied some pots, innocently lined up against the right-hand wall of a fairly narrow and somewhat short hallway. Jackpot! he mentally yelled. Hopefully one of us has an empty bottle if there’s another fairy.

In the middle of the wall, with pots either side of it like decorations, was a picture. It looked right at home and yet incredibly out of place, inviting both boys to stand in front of it and stare.

The picture was a work of art. Bits of seashell, different types and different colours, were meticulously crafted together to create a shiny and stylised scene of an island. The sandy beaches were mother of pearl, the waves were of dark abalone. Green mollusc shell tips made up the tree foliage and various shades of brown made up the mountainous parts. Crushed mother of pearl made up softer looking clouds, while crushed abalone made up the blue sky. There was no sun.

It would be a nice piece on any island in the Great Sea, but it would probably be worth more in places inland, far away from any sources of salt water and the shelled creatures that inhabit it.

Legend’s eyes were focused on one part of the picture, and he seemed to sag after a moment. Wind wasn’t sure if he’d found what he was looking for or if it was good that he did or didn’t. Part of him wanted to plunder the picture - his little sister would love it, and his fingers twitched. He balled both of his hands into fists to resist the urge when Legend gave the picture one last mistrustful look and turned around to face a door that stood opposite.

Wind pounced, reaching the door first and letting satisfaction flood him as it opened. Petty move, sure, but it wouldn’t stop him from doing it again. He never saw the veteran roll his eyes at the childish display.

The room beyond was almost exactly like the one that held the Water Tektites, except there were two unlit torches instead of enemies, each of them perched on the tiniest bit of flooring and pushed right up against the left and right walls. A small, empty bit of floor against the back wall made both of them sigh. He reminded himself to check the pots near the picture after they finished up here.

Wind grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow, channelling some warm magic into the tip. He drew the string back and the arrowhead lit up with a horizontal cascade of yellows, oranges, and reds, the fiery hues casting a warm light across his face and body. He watched as Legend pulled a white rod with a round, red jewelled top from his bag, some embers seemingly swirling inside the red orb.

Legend took aim at the one on the right and Wind adjusted to aim at the left. There was no signal, spoken or visible, the heroes just acted as one; Wind’s fire arrow flew, hitting its mark, while Legend shot his Fire Rod, the fireball striking the other torch in the same instant. Both erupted into flames, instantly brightening the room and setting reflections dancing off the water that made up the majority of the floor.

A sighing chime of bright magic lit up the back wall and a wooden chest appeared, taunting them across the room.

The sailor huffed and shucked off his sword and shield without a word. Diving in, Wind wondered when he’d get the opportunity to be completely dry, and stay that way for a whole day, no, a week!

Notes:

Dear readers, the map I have drawn for this is getting extensive. I had to stop writing for 5 days because I lost the map. Yes, it's that bad lol

Pots, glorious pots! And some smashing too! And some explosive action!

It's not a proper Legend of Zelda dungeon vibe without a smashed pot and/or bombed wall. Just... so integral.

Legend was, of course, looking for an egg on top of the mountain in the picture. I've seen pictures made out of black wood, mother of pearl, other shells like abalone, gemstones of various types and colours... they are stunning. I wish I owned one. Wind, steal it for me lol

As always, updates and next chapter progress are posted on my profile, so check there regularly if you're curious. Or impatient lol

I hope you liked this one, despite the wait! I love feedback, so please consider leaving your thoughts in a comment~

Chapter 7: A Light in the Dark

Notes:

I miss my weekly updates too. But I poured all I had into focusing on just this fic for the past few days so I could get it done for my patient readers. Enjoy and please consider leaving feedback at the end~! It's always useful to a writer. :D

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman. Thanks, as always, for putting up with my writing rants and for throwing documents at you lol

WARNING: Tag stuff (blood and injury), monster dismemberment

The chest’s treasure was a shiny silver key. The younger boy flashed it at him before pocketing it and swimming back, a displeased frown proclaiming his mood to all and sundry. He shook his hair out like a feral child that roamed the streets, the frown only deepening as the action didn’t produce the desired results. The kid still looked like a waterlogged and half-drowned kitten, with the mood to match.

He’d ask if the kid had spare clothes to change into, but they would only end up wet again in a few minutes if his luck stayed true to form. They left the room, coming face to face with that weird mosaic picture again. It gave Legend all sorts of feelings he really, really didn’t want to even try and deal with.

Wind went straight for one of the pots, leaning over and all but shoving his face inside it. He pulled back and checked the next one as Legend’s eyes drifted back to the picture, drawn to it like a moth to a flame. The only good thing he could see about it was the distinct lack of a large white egg with fuchsia spots sitting atop the mountain.

He still wasn’t convinced that this wasn’t all another elaborately crafted dream, though the lack of the Wind Fish’s egg in the picture gave him a further glimmer of hope that it wasn’t. A happy exclamation jarred him out of his thoughts, and he wrenched his eyes away from the picture. The young teen was quickly digging through his bag, concentrating on his search until he pulled out an empty glass bottle.

Ah, must be a fairy, he thought.

Wind dipped the bottle and brought it back up, shoving the stopper in. He paused for several seconds then whirled around, holding out his prize. “I think you should have a second fairy. I know that the first one didn’t do enough,” he said firmly. His eyes, full of stubborn determination, dared him to disagree.

“And waste a perfectly good fairy on trivial little scrapes and bruises?” Legend scoffed. “Not a chance. Keep it for the next nasty thing we meet in this stupid place.”

Now the kid looked conflicted, his concern warring with Legend’s logic. The squirt didn’t need to worry. He may not be at a hundred percent, but he was definitely able to move and fight without a problem thanks to that fairy from before. He nodded as the younger boy packed the bottled fairy away.

“That picture isn’t of any island I know,” Wind said suddenly. “Is it Koholint?”

Legend’s eyes flashed back to the picture, resting on the top of the mountain which was still blissfully egg free. “No, it isn’t.” He tried for a casual tone, but his voice came out a bit too tight.

Wind thankfully said nothing else about it. His fingers flexed, an aborted movement aimed at the artwork on the wall, but he turned away, checking the last two pots. He stepped back, disappointed, and faced the door they had yet to go through. He shoved it open roughly, took a quick peek, and stepped inside.

The veteran was right on his heels, emerging into a room much like the last, more resembling a hallway than an actual room. His eyes scanned the walls, his body and mind relaxing minutely at the lack of pictures. There were carvings, worn and eroded by time and damp conditions. They were in good enough shape to make out, but nothing like the vivid detail of the seashell island, nor the damnable writing he’d read from the bridge.

At least these carvings were more like pictographs than any writing he could attempt to read. He did a double-take at one that looked like a mermaid, the features blurred but the Hylian upper half, long ears included, and the fish tail were clear enough. He saw a palm tree, a crab, several depictions of various seashells, a fairy, a pot, a sword, a Tektite, and even one that resembled the ferocious water beast they’d fought in that massive room.

There was a very narrow passageway branching off to the right, located in the middle of the hallway. On either side of it were more pictographs. Only one of several seemed to follow the theme of this place. The others looked very out of place and made both boys stare at each other in confusion.

The one that fit was a crustacean. The only problem with it is that it looked exactly like the white lobster design on Wind’s light blue tunic, causing Wind to eye it oddly. Next to it was a thin relief that looked like a carved stick. It meant little to Legend beyond a niggle of, I feel like I’ve seen that before, although the sailor was treating it the same as the lobster.

Carved there on the wall, and bothering Legend far more, was a depiction of a rabbit, worn down enough to make it look fuzzy and soft. Wind only shrugged at that one, so Legend found solace in the fact that his fluffy little secret was unknown. Next to it was a carving of a flower.

A hibiscus, if he wasn’t mistaken.

He very much wanted to be mistaken.

“This place creeps me out,” said Wind, running his fingers along the edges of the stick carving.

“Let’s just get through it and leave,” the vet said, striding into the narrow passage.

Wind made a noise of assent and followed, holding the posture of one feeling watched and hunted. Legend stopped just long enough to put his hand on Wind’s head and ruffle his still wet hair. He pulled his hand back quickly and whipped around so he was no longer facing the kid, missing the happy gleam that lit up his face.

The passage led to a curved room, these walls thankfully bare of carvings and unadorned by anything but some coral lights. Legend was grateful for what lights there were as the room was very dark. The stone appeared as dark grey, tinged with blue from the light, instead of the lighter, almost sandy tones they had seen thus far.

The sound of running water made Legend look to the left. There was a small hole cut in the top of the wall with water pouring from it, creating an artificial waterfall about three feet wide. The water flowed into a channel that bisected the room, the sound of running water and the small roar of the little waterfall was amplified by the curved stone walls, making it seem far louder than it actually was.

He still had a headache, and the noise was doing him no favours. The urge to rub his temples was rising with every second he stood in that room. A fairly flatheaded, ugly Octorok met his gaze, eerie yellow eyes peering through the dimness. It pulled back then spat a rock in the same second it took Legend to get his Mirror Shield on his arm.

The rock hit with a bang and ricocheted back, but the Octorok ducked under the water. The rock smashed to pieces against the wall, making a second loud bang, and Legend winced as his headache spiked, threatening to ratchet up again.

Wind went closer to the spot, his own shield held ready, sword gleaming blue in the low light. It resurfaced near the waterfall, on the other side of Wind, and aimed for the sailor. The young teen turned and caught the projectile with his shield, racing after the ricochet and plunging his blade right between the Octorok’s wide, startled eyes as it ducked the rock.

“Ha! Not so smart now, are you?” Wind crowed as the Octorok dissipated, the dark smoke dissolving very quickly in the water.

A small splash, drowned out by the waterfall, was the only warning of the emergence of another Octorok. The warning went unheard, and a rock whistled through the air, hitting Legend in the right hip. He yelped, stumbled, and his hand automatically covered the spot, gingerly assessing the damage through his clothes, even as his left hand grabbed his sword to retaliate.

The Octorok vanished before Legend got his feet steady under him. “Overgrown flotsam,” he growled.

“You all right?” Wind asked. His eyes scanned up and down the length of the channel, alert for any more attacks.

“Just a bruise,” the veteran stated.

A ripple appeared between them, and two swords stabbed deeply the moment the eyes cleared the waterline.

Legend snorted a vindictive chuckle. “That was literally the stupidest place for it to pop up. Do these flat heads even have brains?”

“In their butts, maybe?” the sailor said.

Further conversation was cut off by another Octorok on Wind’s far side. The ricocheted rock smacked this one right in its face, and it took itself out. They both waited on tenterhooks for another one to rear its ugly head, eyes darting about.

A deep rumble started somewhere, sounding like it was surrounding them, and the room started to shake. Tremors in the floor ran up their legs, threatening their balance and sending limbs flailing in an effort to stay upright. The ceiling split apart, a crack appearing in line with the water channel below. The two sides moved apart, pulling backwards with a grating of stone on stone, to reveal a darkness that the lights couldn’t seem to penetrate.

Some part of the darkness above moved differently and the two heroes scrambled backwards just in time to avoid being skewered by large, segmented, spiky crustacean legs. A big form, solid and sturdy, landed on the floor with a crash and a miniature earthquake. It stood, registered their presence, and snapped a pair of pincers, as long as Wind was tall, menacingly at them.

“Oh, come on!” Wind said, exasperated. “We haven’t even found the big key yet! How many giant monsters are in this place?!”

“Too many,” he said. He started stepping to one side, trying to get around it in the now limited space available.

The thing looked like a hermit crab from the deepest oceans of long, long ago. It had six visible legs, three on each side, and two eyes on stalks that it was trying to swivel around without much luck. The shell had the look of a cerith but with the long, sharp spikes of a murex. Marin had been so happy to teach him about the different seashells the two would find along the beach. Legend had no use for such knowledge, but it was nice to know he hadn’t forgotten her teachings all the same.

That shell is going to be tough to get close to, let alone try and damage.

The crab that called the shell home had glowing patterns along its legs and pincers, a vivid, poisonous looking yellow that stood out against the dark red of its carapace. Its shell was a striated mix of dark blue and purple, the spikes tapering off to white at the tips. The clack of snapping pincers echoed loudly, hard and dangerous.

Being caught in one of those would easily crunch bone and tear through flesh and organs alike. Legend set his sights on one of the legs and hoped he could disable it somehow. Once he was out of the thing’s view he surged forward with a spinning strike for extra power. The blade sliced into a leg joint, biting a few inches deep and getting stuck.

The veteran swore and yanked his sword free just before a pincer swung at him, backed up by an angry bubbling and frothing noise between disconcerting clicks and clacks. He could only raise his shield and was sent flying, his back hitting the wall with enough force to empty all of the air out of his lungs.

“Legend!” cried Wind.

The sailor leapt high, bringing his blade down near a pincer to sever it. The crab moved just enough to catch the sword in its vice-like grip, leaving Wind to dangle from his grip on the hilt with a flummoxed expression.

“You’re not supposed to do that,” he told it flatly.

The other pincer came up, aimed at the teen’s torso, and Legend viciously swung again at the same joint to stop it. The joint gave an awful POP and broke, the last segment of leg falling to the floor, now utterly useless. The crab buckled ever so slightly, its huge weight shifting to one side for a moment before it compensated. The pincer aimed at Wind was ruthlessly whipped around.

Legend was ready for it this time and rolled under it. He felt the slipstream from it and gave an internally impressed whistle as he was still trying to catch his breath that the wall stole. “You good?” he asked somewhat breathlessly.

“It’s got my sword,” grunted Wind, futilely trying to tug it free with no leverage.

“Let it go and use something else until it releases its grip!” he yelled back.

The sailor scowled fiercely at that, giving the shelled monster the stink-eye before letting go and jumping back, hastily searching through his bag for a suitable substitute weapon. The crab absently waved around its shiny new prize as it turned, trying to spot the annoying insect that bit off part of one of its legs and thoroughly dismissing Wind from its mind.

The boy looked incredibly offended when he looked back up, boomerang in hand. “Ignore me, will you?” he said acidly, throwing the weapon.

It curved around, heading for the fragile eyes on top of thin stalks, a perfect target, but a spike on the shell was tilted up as the crab shuffled a step and the boomerang pinged harmlessly off it. The crab didn’t react at all. It hadn’t even noticed the attack.

Legend kept dodging, waiting for a chance to strike at another leg or, if he was fast and lucky, an eye. He couldn’t see Wind anymore, but he definitely heard the tell-tale sizzling hiss as a bomb fuse was lit. Time would be so disappointed if the kid got hurt badly, so Legend hoped he knew what he was doing back there.

Wait… Who was Time? Why did Legend care what Time thought? He tried very hard not to show he cared, for various reasons, after all.

He came back to his senses as a pincer clipped his shield, the Hylian behind being just out of range. Legend staggered under the blow, awkwardly knocked sideways and off-kilter. He gasped as the other pincer, which he was now closer to, took its turn at trying to grab him.

BOOM!

The crab stopped and stared stupidly around for quite a few of Legend’s rapid pace heartbeats. It shook itself, like the strangest ever crab version of a shimmy, and a few wisps of smoke became visible on the back of its shell. It clacked its pincers and moved its remaining five legs to turn around on the spot.

The veteran could see a small black mark marring a spot on the shell where the bomb had exploded. It had gotten the thing’s attention but done absolutely zero damage. What was that shell made of?

“All of my not-sword weapons don’t seem to be working!” yelled Wind. He threw his boomerang again, now that the eyes were right in front of him and hit one hard.

The crab gave a gurgling screech and retracted the injured eyestalk. Its pincers flailed around, and Wind’s sword slid free, clattering noisily against a wall and the floor, making the boy wince at the rough treatment. After a couple more wild swings, and agitated shuffling of feet, the giant hermit crab fell to the floor and retreated into its shell, leaving a frothy wall of bubbles at the edges of the shell.

Wind stuffed his boomerang into his belt, ran for his blade and checked it over carefully, giving a small nod as Legend joined him. “Go for the eyes,” he said sagely.

Vet snorted. “Naturally. There’s no way either of us is getting through that shell. I’ll keep at the legs when it’s not facing me, and I’ll switch to my boomerang when it is. Same goes for you, got it?”

The sailor nodded, giving an affirmative answer as Legend dug out his boomerang and copied the younger boy by sticking it in his belt. They both moved and stopped when they stood facing each other at opposite sides of the room, across the water channel that the crab was miraculously not blocking off.

Plan in place, the pair waited for the crab to emerge. They needed something to aim at besides the shell, which seemed to be impervious to any attacks if even a bomb didn’t leave a dent. A pincer came out first, snapping and clacking as it tested for anything breaching its personal space. When it met no opposition, the rest of the crab poked back out of the shell.

Wind waited for it to fully commit before he threw his boomerang. One eyestalk had only risen halfway, and the boomerang smacked straight into the other, even as Legend attacked another leg.

The crab shrieked, the sound resembling the unholy wails of a thousand souls lost in the void. The glowing parts flashed once, then the glow grew brighter. In the next second it turned blinding, the dim room turning yellow-white like a flash of lightning struck. The two Hylians shielded their eyes with hands and sleeves, both of them crying out in shock.

Legend blinked several times, lowering his arm, but everything was a hazy cloud of black, white, and various shades of grey in between. Shit! Hopefully it was temporary. “Wind!” he called out.

“I can’t see!” came the reply, confirming Legend’s fears.

“Hug the wall and keep your ears sharp,” he advised. It had kept him alive more than once, as a Hylian and a bunny. His hearing was better as a rabbit, but it was still above average for a Hylian ever since that first transformation, and he would use it to keep himself safe. And the kid too, real or not.

With the odd flashes of memories he’d been getting, he was starting to think the kid was real after all. The Wind Fish had never messed with his memories.

The whistling of displaced air and clacking of a carapace told him the crab was moving, trying to land a blow or grab one of them to rip apart and eat. Crabs ate meat, right? Wind and himself probably seemed like nice morsels, if a bit bitey, fighting back like cornered prey often did.

Whistle, clack, thud.

“Ack!”

“Wind?!”

“I’m okay, it missed me!”

His heart was already pounding, racing along with the help of fear and adrenaline. The kid was going to give him a heart attack at this rate! Some colour had started bleeding through the monochrome tones, and he could make out a vague blur of purple-blue and another of red and yellow. It looked like the fuzziest fire he’d ever seen. At least he could see it, which meant it was, indeed, temporary.

Legend hefted his sword and swung at the nearest patch of red. His sword struck something, though he didn’t have a clue what it was. The crab gurgle-foamed in pain and that was good enough for him. It flailed about again and Legend hastily backed up.

“Argh!”

“Wind?!” he shouted again.

“It’s got -” a sucked in breath, followed by a gasp, “- my leg!”

Definitely going to give him a heart attack. He wasn’t even twenty yet! The blasted pump somehow managed to speed up even more and his breathing sped up to match, quick, ragged pants that made him sound like a very worn-out Wolfie.

Wolfie? Was that the wolf from his flash of memory? Yes, yes, Wind had told him that was Wolfie. Right. Yes. Good.

Oh shit, Wind!

His vision was still a blurry mess, though a few more colours had filtered in, and the blobs were slightly more defined. He could only just make out a patch of light blue and orange dangling from a patch of red and glowing yellow. The blob of sailor was waving around a flash of silver, aiming to slice the pincer off most likely, though he couldn’t seem to twist far enough to reach his target.

Legend ran in, aiming at a thinner blob of red attached to a larger blob, which he hoped was the pincer holding his companion. He activated his Pegasus Boots and rocketed forward for extra power and momentum, swinging upwards when he reached the desired blob. The blade bit deeply, but not all the way through. It was enough for the crab to reflexively open and shut the pincer with a loud SNAP, dropping Wind in the process.

The boy groaned, prone on the floor, and began to crawl away with one leg trailing uselessly behind. With vision no better than Legend’s, he could only make out dark grey and light blue and guessed he was heading for a wall.

The veteran was trying to free his sword from the crab’s arm and got blindsided by the other pincer. It swooped across and caught him right across the back, propelling him into a wall face first this time. On the upside, he hadn’t let go of his sword and the hit had been enough to pry it free for him. His nose and forehead stung, and he spat as a warm liquid trailed down his face and lips.

“Legend?!”

“Just a nosebleed!” he replied. A lie, but his back was only bruised, and nothing was broken, not even his nose. He’d be moving slowly and stiffly after this fight, like some infirm elder you were trying to lead to a chair so they could sit down because watching them move made you feel sore too. “You okay?”

“Yeah!”

Also a lie. Wind was just as bad as he was. Maybe it was a hero thing? The vet turned around and spat again, wishing he had the time to deal with the bleeding. It would have to wait; the crab had stepped forward and was reaching out with its uninjured pincer. Its goal was Wind, still lying on the ground and looking more like a Hylian seen through a slightly dirty, warped bit of glass than some blobs of colour.

The only good thing about the whole situation.

“Oh no you don’t, you overgrown bit of seafood!” Now able to see a leg to aim at, Legend put his whole body into a whirl, striking the nearest leg joint with all of the strength he could muster without his Power Bracelets or Titan’s Mitt.

It was almost a clean cut, only an inch or so of leg left. The crab’s hefty weight made the leg buckle and the last fraction snapped, making it fall towards him. Legend did not want to go out crushed by a crab of all things, no matter how big it was! He darted sideways because going backwards would not get him out of the danger zone.

The crab’s remaining four legs, one of which was half cut through, scrabbled quickly on the floor. One went into the water channel and three feet of it disappeared beneath the water, sending the crab toppling over, thankfully away from Wind.

Legend dashed towards it and jumped, climbing up and over the enormous pointy shell as fast as he could, sword in hand. He swung, with much prejudice, at the nearest eyestalk, cutting it in half with no effort. He went for the other eye, but the crab swiftly retracted it, frothing at the mouth and waving its uninjured pincer around wildly, snapping it open and shut every second. The vet ducked, the miss near enough to ruffle his hair, and pounced, blade first, severing the wounded arm completely.

The hermit crab was Not Happy about that.

Legend couldn’t blame the crustacean, but he took too much vindictive pleasure in its pained shrieks to let any concern linger. Not after it had hurt the kid. He ducked another wild flail and tripped over the stump of its missing pincer, stumbling his way over to the sailor who was attempting to stand with the wall’s help.

The wall was not doing a very good job, though it was trying its best. Wind was standing, sort of, bent almost in half as his right leg refused to hold his weight beyond the lightest of touches against the floor. He was panting and Legend’s vision had cleared enough to let him see the sheen of sweat the sailor sported on his brow.

So much weight was hard to lift, especially when one was missing half of two legs and an arm, and the crab was having no luck trying to haul itself upright. It got partway, its legs slid out from under it, and it crashed straight back down, foaming and gurgling and weakly moving whatever body parts would still move. The movements became more erratic, gradually turning into spasms and twitches.

Then it stopped moving entirely.

It lay eerily still but for the frothing bubbles still leaking from its mouth. Little wisps of smoke started trailing from it, growing in size and speed until the whole corpse was consumed, leaving no trace behind.

“The ocean can have that one back,” said Wind, deadpan.

Notes:

Not exactly a traditional dungeon, huh? I thought about following ye age olde dungeon layout - with one mini-boss then a final boss, from even the days of LoZ 1 - but as much as I love following tradition and canon, I wanted to be a little less predictable. Now the boys have dealt with 2 mini-bosses so far!

The song sung by that crab in Moana, Shiny, kept popping into my head when I was writing the hermit crab XD

I already have a good handful of notes for chapter eight which I can easily start on, so hopefully it won't take me another month to update this fic again, even with the other stories I'm working on.

As always, chapter progress is posted on my profile page and updated whenever I write! Check there if you're eager or curious to know.

A massive thank you to all of my truly awesome readers! All the kudos, subs, bookmarks, and especially the comments, keep me going. I love writing, but it's the support from you that helps me share it online. <3

Chapter 8: Sailing in Somewhat Charted Seas

Notes:

This chapter is being updated much later than usual, I know. I got... stuck, and it was much easier to work on other things for a while. But I was patient, I stuck with it, poking it now and then, and finally it's done! I am also newly employed, which cuts deeply into my writing time.

So, I am pleased to at last present you with chapter eight!

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman, who always gives everything a helpful go over for me!

WARNING: Blood, injuries, self-deprecating thoughts

With no time to properly process the battle and its aftermath, a light caught their attention as a chest materialised across from the one visible door they’d entered through. Legend, being closer, went to it and opened the lid. He made a pleased noise and fished out a map from the chest’s depths.

He’d already found the compass a while ago, now they finally had the map!

The idea of walking anywhere was currently not appealing in the slightest. Wind looked down at his right leg and sucked in a quiet breath. It wasn’t the prettiest sight. The orange cloth was grazed and torn, stained with blood that had dripped on the floor and down his leg into his boot. The skin around it was already mottling with red and purple tones, promising to bloom into vivid bruises later.

That crab’s grip had been tight, but his leg didn’t feel broken. It hurt a lot, and it refused to bear his weight, but nothing inside slid around or grinded together. He wouldn’t be surprised if the very bone was bruised too.

Some of the blood had gone up his leg from when he was being held upside down, and the stains and trails of red liquid were uncomfortable. Maybe he could dunk his leg in the channel and wash off what he could? He’d have to let go of the wall and walk over there first. Wind eyed the relatively short distance and leaned harder against the wall.

How am I going to help Legend now?

Despair crept in like a storm on the horizon, blotting out the sun bit by bit until the shadows took over completely, subtly and stealthily. Wind had come to enjoy opening the doors in the place. Partly because it was fun, but also because it saved Legend from moving more and making his own injuries worse. When the vet started opening doors by himself after being healed the sailor knew it was a good sign, but he’d felt a bit useless for a while.

If Legend was feeling better, what help could Wind possibly offer? But now he couldn’t even manage that much. He’d been on two adventures, sure, but the veteran of the group deserved a dungeon partner that came closer to his own level of experience, and Wind wasn’t that person.

Still, he was all Legend had, and he would do his best. Even if his best at the moment was simply standing upright.

He watched the older boy carefully tuck the map into his black and yellow striped belt before heading his way. Wind’s eyes widened as he saw the utter mess of Legend’s face. There was a red mark on his forehead, like a graze, mostly hidden by his fringe, but there was no way to hide the cascade of blood from his nose. Some of the crimson liquid had dried, but trickles of fresh blood were still flowing, further painting his lips, chin, neck, and tunics. It was almost impossible to see any blood on his red layer, but it turned his thicker undertunic from a dark green to a murky mix of swampy brown and black.

“Hey, you need to stop that nosebleed!” he ordered, taking one hand off the wall to point with.

The taller boy stopped, several steps away, startled at the tone. “And what about your leg?” he argued.

“I’m not bleeding near as much as you are. Come on, pinch your nose, tilt your head back!”

Legend sighed but did exactly that after spitting out a glob of blood and wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. He unsuccessfully muffled a groan and winced at the pressure his fingers were exerting.

With the vet occupied for the moment, Wind straightened up as best he could and took a hesitant test step with his right. His entire leg from the knee down flared with pain and he shoved a finger in his mouth, biting down on it, to keep from making a noise and alerting his companion. He instantly lifted the weight, leaving his booted toes and the ball of his foot barely touching the stone floor.

Oh, yeah, I’m gonna get really far like this… It was fine, he’d just try again in a few minutes when the pain had more of a chance to ebb. Legend was still pinching his nose, he could wait.

On the upside, he was now standing upright and not hunched over like an old, stooped person. Wind considered that as progress, a definite improvement. Legend cautiously brought his head forward, checking for new blood, and the sailor was pleased when Legend gave a ginger nod.

“So, how big is this weird place?” Wind casually asked.

“I only skimmed it, but there’s at least one more floor I caught a glimpse of. You should use that fairy you bottled,” the vet replied, indicating the injured leg.

Wind wrinkled his nose slightly and waved away the veteran’s words. “I’m fine, just give me a minute to wash the blood off. It itches. You should wash your face too, that can’t be comfy,” he stated.

The older boy blinked then frowned. “Can you even walk that far?” he asked, jabbing a thumb at the water channel in the centre of the room.

“You doubt me?” The sailor injected every bit of faux hurt he could into his voice, putting a hand to his chest.

Legend snorted. “I don’t doubt you; I doubt your leg’s ability.”

Wind had to frown at that, not quite sure if he’d been insulted in some way or not. “But my leg is part of me…?”

“Don’t strain your brain.”

Now that one was definitely an insult. “Hey!”

“Is for horses. Go on then, walk.”

The sailor grumbled under his breath about bossy so-and-so’s but pushed off from the wall. He put the least amount of weight on his right as he could get away with, quickly executing a hopping sort of limp to get back to his left. Emboldened, he kept going, making it two more steps before the pain proved too much and he went toppling over with a cry.

Arms wrapped around him, halting his fall, and Wind gave a heavy sigh, letting his right leg hang uselessly.

“That’s what I thought,” said Legend.

The words were nowhere near as scolding as Wind had feared and he dared a peek at Legend’s still bloody face. He didn’t look angry, just resigned. And even a bit sad. Legend swept him up, making him yelp, and carried him, bridal style, to the channel. Wind was gently set down along the edge, feeling like a helpless maiden with a face pink from embarrassment.

“There. Wash off the blood and use the fairy.”

“Only if you wash off too,” he muttered, not entirely joking.

“Done,” Legend easily agreed, kneeling down and scrubbing his hands in the flowing water. He cupped a handful and splashed his face, wiping wherever he felt the blood trail and dry flakes on his skin.

Wind sighed and swung his right leg around, dunking the whole leg, boot and all, into the water. He let the current do much of the washing work, the cool sensation feeling wonderful against his aggravated skin. It soothed much of the hot, angry stinging and Wind let some of the tension he'd been holding in his jaw slide away with a breath of relief.

He let himself enjoy it for as long as it took Legend to stop scrubbing at his own bloodstains, then he moved it back out of the water with a wince. A flat stare from the vet made him dig out the bottled fairy. He unstoppered the cork and the little being escaped, flitting free with a shower of bright, glittering sparkles.

She saw his leg and gave a distressed chime, immediately buzzing over and casting her healing magic as she flew to and fro over his lower leg. The developing bruises lightened and vanished, the torn skin mending itself flawlessly. She nodded, pleased at a job well done, and flew away into the slot in the wall above the waterfall.

A hand appeared in Wind’s view. Still young, but worn and calloused, with rings adorning more than one digit. He looked up to find Legend staring at him, something flickering, soft and small, in his pale eyes. Wind reached out, clasping the hand, and let the veteran pull him to his feet with a grin.

“About that map…”

Legend grabbed the map from his belt and flicked it open, standing beside him so they could look at it together. “Here’s the room we woke up in,” he said, pointing to one spot.

Wind’s eyes traced over the outlines of the rooms marked, mentally comparing them to his memories and found that Legend was correct.

Wait, memories!

“You remember that?” he blurted out, hopeful.

“Sort of?” Vet replied, eyes gaining that distant quality again.

That wouldn’t do at all. Wind snapped his fingers right in front of Legend’s nose, a little guilty but relieved when the older boy twitched his ears and his eyes focused once more. “Don’t space out on me, Vet,” he said, voice smaller than he wanted it to be.

“Right.” A little head shake and Legend turned back to the map, tapping a finger on a different point. “This is the floor, and the room, where we are right now.”

Wind’s own finger traced a pathway across the section labelled Floor 2 (F2). “So, we need to go back to… here,” he said, poking at a room.

“Seems like it. Are you good to go?”

A reprimand was sitting on Wind’s tongue, waiting to be unleashed. He’s not worried because I’m the youngest, he’s just worried. Exactly like I’ve been worried about him. Minor epiphany achieved Wind simply tested his weight on his newly healed leg. There was a lingering ache, deep within his leg, but it was perfectly functional.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he said with a smile, making sure Legend could see him testing his leg.

The veteran nodded, packing away the map in his bag instead of his belt, and fixing his equipment back into place. “I’m looking forward to getting out of here.”

“I wonder if the others got dropped in a dungeon or if they got to wait outside,” Wind mused as he gathered his things and went back out of the room’s only door, also putting his things back where they belonged.

Legend was half a step behind. “If something like this ever happens again, you and I are going to find a nice spot and have a picnic lunch or something while everyone else scrambles around, solving puzzles, collecting keys, and fighting monsters,” he firmly stated.

Wind burst into laughter and slapped a hand on Legend’s upper arm, beaming brightly. “Yeah, we deserve a break! And a good meal!”

Back through the narrow passage, past the rather unnerving carvings on the wall, walking by that weird picture still hanging on the wall. Through the room where the Darknut was defeated, stepping around the mess of brightly coloured Chu jelly still lying on the floor, back under the arch. Then they were back in the round room with the tower on the island in the middle.

There were still two doors they hadn’t even gone near, let alone tried. According to the map, there was at least one other floor that Legend had glimpsed, so one of those two doors must lead to it.

Wind bounded across the steppingstone to the island tower, aiming for the next steppingstone off to the left. Something snagged one of the fluttering tail tips of his light blue tunic and he was jerked to a halt, his right lower leg giving a faint protest. “What the-”

He whipped around to see Legend with a small bit of Wind’s tunic clamped tightly between his fingers.

“Before you go barrelling off, don’t you think we should investigate the rest of this room first?” the vet asked pointedly, tilting his head at the tower they were standing next to.

Annoying, but true. He often rushed ahead, so focused on his goal, and ended up backtracking through places like this quite a bit. How many dungeons and temples did it take for Legend to stop rushing ahead? He only nodded, abashed.

They made a note of which door they were aiming for and split up, circling around the tower on either side. They met up on the other side of the island, armed with frowns. Wind had seen nothing but good masonry work regarding the tower - no doors, no cracks, no ladder. Nothing to indicate that the tower was useful in any way. From the way Legend was frowning in disappointment, his luck hadn’t been any better.

“That was a bust,” he said with a sigh.

“Hmm,” the vet hummed in reply. He tipped his head back and narrowed his eyes at the ceiling. He made a gesture for Wind to stay and hopped onto one of the steppingstones around the island, then tilted his head back again, staring at the spot above the tower. He looked back at Wind and grinned, one hand rummaging around his bag.

Wind watched, resisting the urge to slap his hand over his face, as Legend pulled out a hookshot. He spun around and jumped onto the next nearest steppingstone, whirling back to watch.

The spear-like tip was launched, digging easily into the target in plain view on the ceiling, and Legend went flying through the air as the chain drew him to it. He dangled there until he stopped swaying and looked down. “I see a chest!” he called out.

With no other warning, the veteran yanked the hookshot out of the target and fell. Wind couldn’t help but smirk as the vet’s undertunic acted just like a skirt and billowed upward, exposing parts of his thighs and a pair of black shorts before he fell out of sight. There was a faint thud from inside the tower followed by a stifled exclamation of pain.

“You okay?” he yelled.

“Yeah!” was the shouted reply.

Wind brought both hands up and hit his cheeks lightly, feeling like an idiot. As if Legend would answer any other way! There was no happy yell, no triumphant cry. Only barely discernible sounds of a chest being opened. Then the distinctive noise of a hookshot being fired before Legend flew up into view again, hanging from the ceiling once more.

The older boy swung himself back and forth, pulling the hookshot free on his outward swing and soaring like a bird, arcing out quite a way beyond the tower walls. Wind saw his face scrunch up a little before he hit the water and held out a hand when he surfaced. Despite being healed… mostly… Legend accepted his hand and Wind pulled him up onto the steppingstone.

It made him feel warm inside. That the vet would still reach out, even when he could do it himself, made the sailor feel wanted. Not needed, just wanted. There was a world of difference between the two.

Perhaps opening the doors wasn’t important after all.

Legend may not need such help, but it was nice that he wanted it, even with his brain scrambled.

“Don’t keep me in suspense!” he whined the moment they reached the island again.

He got an eye roll in return and the vet fished out a purple rupee, holding it up with a mix of amusement and resignation. “We are slowly amassing a fortune,” he said flatly.

Wind sniggered but pointed a finger at Legend’s face. “We are going to buy all the potions we can get our hands on. No arguments!”

“How old are you again?” Legend snarkily asked.

“Almost fourteen,” he said proudly, “and clearly more mature than you.”

The sailor thoroughly enjoyed the shocked and offended expression Legend now wore. He gave the older boy a bright grin and bounced away to the door they had originally been aiming for. He spun and watched the veteran, more out of ingrained brotherly concern while they were still in this weird place, and it was this close scrutiny that let him see Legend wince, shifting some of his weight off his right leg the moment he could.

Either the Octoroks or the crab from the darkest depths of an evil ocean had hit that side or his leg. Legend and his injuries was going to be the death of him, not anything this stupid, watery dungeon could throw at them. He vented his frustration into the door, shoving it open with more aggression than the move warranted.

The room was pitch dark. Even the light from the doorway only reached a handspan into the darkness. Where was a Moblin on patrol with a nice, helpful lantern when he needed one?

A spark, then a light flared to life and Wind’s eyes slid across to see a lantern. His fingers twitched, about to reach for his sword, when he noticed the very un-Moblin-like hand that held the lantern. The peach-toned skin with glittering rings made his instincts ease back and he gave Legend a grateful nod.

The veteran gazed about in the six-foot radius of light the lantern gave. To his left was an unlit floor brazier and he swiped his lantern across it, a tiny bit of magic propelling a small flame from the lantern. The brazier lit up with a whoosh, the entire room now visible in the low level of light. It wasn’t as small as Wind thought, but it was awfully empty for the larger space.

The only other thing visible in the room was another brazier across the room in the opposite corner. Wind followed Legend as he strode across and lit that one too, with an equally impressive whoosh. Extra light helped their strained eyesight, but it did nothing to help the room itself. Bare walls, no cracks or decorations of any kind, and only a door directly across from the newly lit brazier.

The veteran put his lantern out and then away, going over to the door and giving it a push. Nothing happened and he frowned at it, turning to Wind with a quizzical glance. The sailor gave the door a push himself, a small metallic click signalling the problem before the door rumbled open.

“You know, every other locked door in a place like this has had a nice, easy indication of being locked. These doors? Nothing!” he exclaimed, waving one hand almost angrily at the now open door, the other curled into a fist and planted on his hip.

“Just one more thing that makes this place weirder than usual,” said Legend.

Both of them entered a rather large room. This one was thankfully lit up very well, a mix of cool blue and warm yellow luminescent coral giving everything a slight green tint. It felt as if there were ferns and other green, leafy plants growing all over, but the walls were nothing but stone and coral.

Some worn carvings decorated the walls of this room. Mindless patterns that swooped and curved like the wind, gracefully leading to numerous coral lights and incorporating them seamlessly into the dance. They converged on the far wall, where a small waterfall flowed from a hole in the top of the wall into a large pool at its base.

“Looks like a Fairy Fountain,” Legend said as he absorbed the sight.

Despite his words, Wind was acutely aware that his friend had not relaxed. No smaller fairies fluttered about. The room was rather nice, but Wind found that he couldn’t quite convince his own muscles to lose some of their tension. This whole crazy place was just too odd to take a safe looking place like this at face value.

Wind slowly walked towards the pool, eyes darting from the softly rippling water, the base of the waterfall, the spot the waterfall started high up near the ceiling, from wall to wall, over to Legend, then back to the pool. The vet quickly caught up, walking beside him.

The waterfall was not as loud as the last one had been, for some unfathomable reason. Nothing jumped out of them, nothing started glowing, no new noises filled the room. They reached the edge of the pool and peered in. The water was crystal clear, tinted green like everything else, and only showed some bubbles and the stone floor beneath.

If it was a Fairy Fountain, then the Great Fairy was long gone.

Or asleep. Yeah, totally viable option.

Wind stuck a finger into the water, ignoring Legend’s warning hiss. The water was pleasantly cool, and he plunged his whole right hand in to swish it about. Some bits of coral, disturbed by the agitated water, dimly lit up under the water, but nothing else happened. After a few seconds Wind took his hand out and absently stuck several of his fingers in his mouth to suck the moisture off.

“What the - Kid! Don’t just - what if it’s - you can’t just!” Legend sputtered, stopping and starting and not managing to finish a single sentence. He stared at the younger boy incredulously, pale eyes flitting from Wind’s eyes, cheeks, hands, stomach and back again, searching for any sign that the water was harmful.

Wind blinked. “Uh… it’s probably fine? Tasted really nice actually.”

The veteran’s expression turned stormy and Wind internally winced. Oops, wrong thing to say!

“Sit your impulsive butt down, right now,” Legend all but growled, pointing emphatically at the floor.

Slightly intimidated, the sailor complied and sat cross-legged, trying not to look the older boy in the eyes while he appeared angry. This task was made harder as Legend sat directly in front of him, their knees almost touching. Silence filled the cavernous room, broken only by the unusually soft gurgling of the waterfall.

The minutes ticked by, and Wind felt fine apart from some embarrassment. And the fidgeting. Wind was only truly still when he was asleep. Sometimes. He hated being still, he had so much energy that built up inside him and he had to let it out or he’d explode. All the travelling he did, walking, running, keeping a boat under control, all the fighting, it burnt off so much of it, so his fidgeting was never really a problem.

Legend took his fidgeting in stride and Wind was honestly impressed. He figured the vet would be the type to look down upon such fractious movement, but he wasn’t even batting an eyelid.

“I feel perfectly fine,” he said.

The older boy snagged his left wrist and let his fingers rest over the pulse point. Wind could almost hear him counting seconds and beats in his head. He blew out a breath and stood up, using their still linked limbs to pull Wind to his feet. The younger staggered under the force and Legend let go of his wrist, grabbing his face instead and lifting up an eyelid with his fingers. Whatever he saw must have satisfied him and he gently let his hands fall to his sides with a sigh.

“You’re fine,” he muttered.

A flash of anger seared Wind’s veins, spreading through his whole body in a split second. Of course he was fine! He’d just said that!

An image of him standing in Legend’s place, while Aryll stood in his, popped into his head. It spread ice through his veins instead, instantly snuffing out the fire of anger and leaving a chilling realisation in its wake. If it had been him and his little sister instead, Wind would have done the exact same thing.

He swallowed heavily and patted Legend’s arm. “Thanks for looking out for me,” he said sincerely.

A lovely blush spread across the veteran’s nose and cheeks, painting his ears and neck too. Aww! he mentally cooed. Legend really was a soft, gooey centre behind the hard, spiky surface.

“Yeah, yeah, let’s just fill up our canteens and get out of here,” the vet said brusquely, spinning away with slightly hunched shoulders.

The young teen watched him, easily picking up the embarrassed aura he was exuding. They both took a good drink and filled their canteens up to the brim with the clear, sweet water of the pool. Legend brushed past him, studiously avoiding eye contact, and walked somewhat stiffly out of the room, still sporting a limp on his right. Wind ran to catch up and followed right on his heels, thoroughly enjoying the blush that still stained the elder’s skin. His hair and hat covered much of it from behind, but his ears were a dead giveaway.

Oh, yeah, I can work with this!

Notes:

Added a map (currently incomplete) to help out those that may be lost! I absolutely needed one to keep track of where they'd been and where they were going, but my hand drawn map includes a lot of extras and spoilers, so I redid the basic outlines digitally. No, you can't see any treasure chests on there because Wind has the compass but isn't using it. I do have them added in a file for later lol (Any rooms they haven't been to are shown either, sshh)

Aren't they cute sometimes? I swear the whole group can generate amazing sibling vibes, but it's nice to really focus in on a couple of them at a time for maximum growth and impact. Poor Wind is not a fan favourite in the LU Discord -huggles him- but he's in my top 3. And, considering he is an actual big brother, he often gives off the best sibling vibes!

Panty shot! Original artwork for A Link to the Past showed him in the air, jumping down, no pants, and an awful lot of thigh and some butt cheek showing lol (It's okay, he has shorts now!)

Legend canonically blushes in his games. He's adorable and much easier to fluster than people think~

I hope my readers forgive the lateness and enjoy the new chapter~! Please give feedback as I was very unsure of this chapter due to the stop and start nature of writing it <3

As always, progress of the next chapter is posted on my profile and updated as needed!

Chapter 9: A Slippery Slope

Notes:

Posting this in a thunderstorm! XD

Phew, this one took a bit. I can only apologise and hope you enjoy it enough to forgive me. My new job sets my shifts in the afternoons, evenings, and nights. Which is prime writing time for me, so you can imagine how much that time has been cut down.

I'm still writing whenever I can! Don't worry, I won't let this - or my other fics - fall to the wayside.

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman, who did a marvellous job at picking up everything I missed~!

WARNING: Injury, electrocution, bad health/self-care decisions

Back in the room with the tower, there was one door that had yet to be opened. The heroic pair, tired, hungry, and varying levels of waterlogged, stood in front of it. It was no different to any other door in the place. Smooth rock that made it seem like an indented part of the wall instead of anything else, with no handle, no visible lock, and no decorations or indications of what might be on the other side.

Legend wished he had a bucket of paint just so he could leave a few messages and pictures behind for whoever built this stupid place.

Sadly, despite his enormous collection of weapons, items, and tools, he possessed no paint.

Note to self, acquire a bucket of obnoxiously bright paint at the first opportunity and pack it away in a little corner.

He’d been through so many temples and dungeons and whatnot, so surely he was allowed a little bit of payback?

The door was obviously not going to do anything on its own. Wind shrugged and stepped forward, pushing against the stone. Like the others, some hidden mechanism whirred to life and the door slid open with a rumble. The room it led to was just as large as the one they were leaving. Slightly bigger, perhaps, since this room had extra space in the form of corners.

A third of it was a sturdy ledge spanning wall to wall before it fell away into a chasm from what he could see from the doorway. The sound of rushing water filled the space and the pair walked forward, curious to see what was causing it. Wind gave a short whoop while he sighed.

It was a slide. A long, spiralling waterslide, that went down who knew how far. To floor B-1, his brain helpfully reminded him, recalling the map.

Legend really, really hoped it was the last floor and then they could be free of this wretched place. Whether it was real or not, or the kid was real or not, he wanted out.

He’d deal with any fallout after. He always did.

They walked closer and the veteran could see a slot cut into the ledge where the slide started. Water poured from it and he raised an eyebrow at the water that was probably rushing through the space beneath his feet, making the ledge suddenly seem far less sturdy. The slide went on and on, curling around beneath itself until it was lost to the foggy darkness of the void.

“This has to be one of the best ways to switch floors ever!” Wind said. He was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, a wide grin plastered across his face as he leaned over to view what he could of the slide.

Legend surreptitiously stepped closer, ready to flash out a hand and catch the kid if he started to fall. “Why a slide? Why not a warp point or a ladder or something?”

Wind looked at him askance. “Because slides are amazing, that’s why.”

“I’m not saying they aren’t,” he said with a snort, “but how are we meant to get back up if we need to?”

The sailor blinked, frowned, lightly scratched his head, then shrugged. “Didn’t think of that,” he admitted.

Legend groaned.

“Come on, there’s always a way! Plus, we’ve been everywhere we can up here. Let’s go!”

There really was no arguing with that. Legend waved a hand as a go ahead and Wind lit up, instantly going up to the start of the slide. He crouched down then sat, feet first, and pushed himself forward. He swiftly disappeared down the length of the slide, happy cries and exuberant noises marking his passage.

With a world-weary sigh, Legend followed. The stone was worn silky smooth from the constant river running down it and the ride was actually quite enjoyable. He suppressed the urge to grin and throw his hands in the air at one point, not wanting the kid to spot him, but he couldn’t completely erase the smile that lingered when he finally reached the bottom. Any bit of hair that wasn’t tucked under his cap was now drier and very windswept.

Wind’s own hair looked like someone had tried to wet it, then dry it, but had given up halfway through and left the mess as it was. Some of it was stuck to his skull, but most of it was in various stages of fluffing up, poofing out, and tufts of it jutted every which way, like a blond, soft and fluffy Spiked Beetle.

Legend reached out and began to pat it down, frowning when it slowly sprung back up over and over. He gave up with a huff, ignoring the amused grin Wind was sporting.

“Don’t even bother,” the sailor chuckled. “Let us go and explore a whole new floor!”

“I don’t remember you being this excited to explore a new floor before.”

Wind’s eyes met his and the kid looked sad though he tried to hide it. “You were hurt. Having fun while exploring could wait until you were up for joining in.” He gave a careless shrug, but his eyes darkened, and his expression tightened just before he managed to turn away.

For a brief moment it was as if a ghostly hand had sunk into his chest to wrap its icy fingers around his heart, giving it a harsh, if quick, squeeze. The stutter to his body’s natural rhythms stole his breath for a couple of seconds. He was immensely glad that Wind had turned away, so he had time to pull himself together.

He slid one foot to the side slightly to help ground himself and looked down at the swish of water he heard. Only now did he notice that the slide had emptied them out into a shallow rectangular pool about five or six inches deep. Around the pool was a higher level of floor with a door tucked away in the corner.

There was nothing else in the room, so Legend sloshed his way towards the door. “Let’s go exploring then,” he said. He tried to keep his voice light and was happy when it didn’t waver.

“I want at least one hundred more rupees from this floor,” Wind said decisively from behind him.

Legend stepped out of the pool and walked backwards, raising an eyebrow at the younger Hylian. “Oh? Got a goal in mind?”

Wind nodded, stopping briefly to empty the water from his boots after leaving the pool. “Yeah. We found thirty on the first floor, then two hundred on the second. With an increase like that, there better be one hundred, minimum, on this floor or I’ll riot. I need ‘em for my Hero Potion Fund.”

“Hero Potion Fund?”

Wind looked at him like he was an idiot and Legend bristled. Then it clicked. Hadn’t Wind said something earlier about buying all the potions he could with the treasure they’d found so far? His back bumped into the wall, and he spun around, going to the door and giving it a hefty shove.

They were met with a hallway wide enough for them to stand side by side, arms fully outstretched, and only just brush the walls with their fingertips. There was one door to the right on the opposite wall, while another was at the very end of the hall to the left, located on the short end wall.

“Left, or right?” he asked.

“End of the hallway doors are usually more fun,” Wind said with a mischievous grin.

Legend had no argument as he didn’t care either way. “Left it is,” he said with a nod, striding down the hallway. He was unsure whether to laugh at the terrible squeaky, squishy sounds their feet and boots were making or to be disgusted by the sensations of wet feet in wet boots, a squelching feeling zinging along his feet with every step. Wind raced ahead, giving him a wink, and opened the door.

It slammed shut and locked the moment they were through, and Legend scowled. It was a large room, on par with the one they’d fought the Darknut in, if not a little bigger. They were standing on a small ledge, three others in the room with one for each wall. In the middle was a square of raised floor. The rest of the room had a dozen feet of water. It looked empty, but a jarring noise and a small flash from somewhere beneath the water told them they weren’t alone.

Into the air rose four large forms with dome-like heads and wavering tentacles that hung below. Two of them were a red-orange colour while the other two were green. Legend blinked at the green ones, wondering how they were here.

He’d only seen them in one place - a palace with four Dark Links at the end, each wearing a different coloured tunic and hat. Only when Ganon had been defeated at the end of his very first adventure had he been able to venture inside the strange hole in the side of the Pyramid of Power in the Dark World.

Then again, I shouldn’t be too surprised. This whole place is weird, even by my standards.

“What are those?”

Wind’s voice jarred him from his thoughts. “They’re called Bari and they’ll shock you. Be careful to swing at them only when they’re not lit up or stick to long range weapons. If you do damage them, they’ll split into two Biri - smaller but just as powerful with the same abilities,” he lectured quickly.

“They’re kinda like if a zapping Chu and one of my Octoroks had a baby,” said Wind. He was staring at them in faint disgust, one hand already pulling out his boomerang.

“Thanks for that totally unwanted mental image,” he said flatly, pulling out his own boomerang.

“You’re welcome,” Wind said sweetly.

Brat.

Legend did not want to be reminded of the Palace of the Four Sword. An image formed in his mind of a Hylian, young and short with a tunic patched together with four panels of different colours, each one with a corner showing off fine gold embroidery. The number four was called out by various voices, including his own, with that odd echoing quality of a memory that was not quite solid, not completely there. The image faded as the Hylian turned and waved in acknowledgement.

One of those other heroes? He wanted to ask Wind but now was not the time. The two closest Bari had noticed them and were half swimming, half floating towards them. The one nearest to him was green and Legend glared at it, even though it probably couldn’t see him in the traditional sense. He threw his boomerang with as much force as he could muster, smirking in satisfaction as it struck the Bari and sent it back a few feet.

The Bari bounced back and came for him again, its body lighting up with sparks that became arcs of lightning that surrounded its form. Its tentacles, sunk a few inches into the water, channelled some of it and sent it zipping throughout the room, making the other three Bari light up in response. In only a few seconds the place was full of a zapping hum that set his teeth on edge and made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Wind threw his boomerang at one and it was bounced back with a flash of light and an angry buzz. He glanced at Legend, who gestured for him to wait.

It took less than half a minute for the Bari’s power to fade, but it was as if every second was stretched out, pulled as far as it could go without breaking, like the oddly stretchy sweets he’d encountered here and there.

The pair wasted no time and went on the offensive immediately. The green Bari was getting too close for comfort but a second hit from the boomerang made it stop and give a full body shudder, its tentacles jittering about. It split down the middle and two Biri gave a little shake before they both focused on Legend.

His orange blade swung at one coming up on his right and it lit up at the last possible moment. “Shi-” His curse was cut off as he cried out, lightning racing up and down his form from the sword’s contact. It left searing trails behind it and his lungs seized. The moment it stopped, he gulped in a great big breath of air, lungs now functioning again, and stumbled backwards, one foot slipping off the platform. He flailed but gravity won, dragging his body into the water.

Legend surfaced quickly and scowled as the Biri blocked him from getting back up. He kicked, swimming towards the ledge along the left wall.

“Vet, get outta the water!” came a desperate yell.

Legend hauled himself up as fast as he could. A jolt in his ankle, boot still half submerged, informed him that he’d been too slow. A second set of lava-like trails scorched through his body, frying him from the inside out, seizing his lungs in a chokehold again and sending his heart and mind jittering and trembling.

When the assault ended and his body could move, he simply fell forwards, dragging his foot away from the edge and wincing as at least half the nerve endings in his body screeched in protest at the movements and the flash-fry they’d been subjected to twice.

“Legend!”

He wanted to raise an arm, wave to the kid, let him know he wasn’t dead. But the energy just wasn’t there, and he couldn’t seem to gather any from anywhere. He laid there, the odd shiver and spasm wracking his body as he frantically willed himself to move. To get up, to fight, to help, to protect, to survive.

“No, you stay the goddess-damned fuck away from him!” Wind shouted.

Kid sure swears like a sailor, he thought in bemusement. Ears twitched as the sound of a boomerang came closer, hitting something with a vaguely squelchy bounce. The distinct noise of a Biri dying came from almost directly behind him and he shuddered at how close it had been. The second Biri did not outlive its sibling for long, Wind taking it out mere seconds later.

That still left three Bari, and therefore six Biri, to contend with. He wasn’t going to leave the kid to fight them all by himself if he could help it.

Which he couldn’t.

He internally screamed and wrestled, fighting every muscle and nerve he had, but it only resulted in a few fingers twitching, along with the foot that didn’t get hit. His body would not listen! Legend was little more than a decoration in this room and a liability to his young companion, forcing the sailor to protect him as well as himself.

Legend really hated feeling useless. It was made even worse due to the fact that he currently was useless, lying here unable to move.

The sounds of battle were clear to him, and he tried to picture what was going on while his head still refused to turn. Another electric hum and Wind screamed in agony. Legend jolted, trying once again to move. He got to his elbows with an act of tremendous will and turned his head, finally able to see Wind.

The kid was paralysed, sword in contact with one lone Biri. Sparks crackled up and down his form and he stood rooted to the spot, hands stuck on the hilt of his sword and face screwed up in pain. It was over quickly, and Wind recovered fast. His sword tip fell, and he used the momentum to turn it into a sloppy spin attack. The Biri was cut in half and vanished with a puff before its two halves could hit the water.

Wind slumped, panting, but quickly turned. The relief was clear on his face as he saw Legend gaze back.

The two remaining Bari were agitated, clearly unhappy with all the commotion. They were buzzing and sparking frequently, like giant, ugly lanterns. Landing a hit and not getting shocked was going to be a tall order unless they calmed down soon. Legend knew his luck was never that good and poured all of his effort into getting to his feet.

Misfiring nerves caused spasms, cramps, and uncontrollable twitches across his entire body, though his limbs seemed to suffer the worst of it. The act of moving, already incredibly difficult, was made all the harder for it and Legend mentally spat every foul epithet that came to mind with all the venom he could generate. Another smack from a boomerang and he gave an internal cheer.

After a slow, painful minute the veteran was back on his feet, still trembling as his body rode out the aftershocks. He was hunched over, hands hovering over his knees just in case as he straightened up inch by inch. Shaky fingers tightened around his boomerang in one hand, his sword hilt in the other, the tip resting on the ground, but his arms refused to go any higher.

Wind’s boomerang flew through the air but was bounced back with a jolt and the sailor couldn’t seem to find an opening to try again. Another failed shot and a near miss with a tentacle that got too close made Wind hiss something that he was too far away to hear. The kid hastily dug out his bow and quiver of arrows and shoved his boomerang in his belt. He nocked, drew, and took a deep breath.

Legend saw the tip of the arrow start to glow. A bright golden light, interspersed with bits of pure white, gathered at the tip and flowed backwards sharply in a widening cone, covering the arrow, string and Wind’s hand. It was like seeing the golden power of the Triforce at work and he stared, almost mesmerised, by the light. Wind fired and Legend had to squint as the light increased, causing a near-blinding flash as the arrow struck the Bari.

The monster froze, caught in an explosion of light. Numerous thin rays surged from its body like the world’s most focused tiny sun. The Bari exploded with a high-pitched cry leaving little fragments of dark smoke that were wiped away an instant later.

Wind was panting, shoulders rising and falling with every heavy breath, but he rallied a few seconds later and nocked another arrow, aiming at the last enemy in the room.

Light arrows! I remember him mentioning them before we fought that crazy mutant alligator. Wow, they sure pack a punch! I wonder how much magic they take? Legend had used an item called the Bow of Light once, only available to him while in painting form, but it didn’t pack the general explosive power Wind’s arrows held. He gave up trying to raise his arm to throw his weapon and simply stood there, watching with keen eyes as the second arrow lit up.

The sailor let it fly and the last Bari, the second green one, exploded in a burst of brilliant rays, forcing the boys to shield their eyes. Legend’s arms still refused to raise so he simply turned his face away. He looked back to see Wind slouched in place, arms hanging limply though he still clutched his bow. The door unlocked loudly.

"You okay?" he asked. His throat hurt, scraped raw by the heat of the lightning, and it made his voice a scratchy, croaky mess.

"That’s… my line…" the kid panted in reply. He shuffled over to the edge of the platform and stared at the veteran in a distinctly assessing manner.

Legend frowned lightly. He knew he probably looked awful, but the kid’s own pallor was a bit too pale for his liking. This wasn’t even a mini boss room! He didn’t like their chances against another boss, big or little. His dark musings were cut off by a chest appearing on the ledge in the middle of the room.

Both heroes stared at it dumbly, neither overly inclined to move and go check it. Wind groaned after a long moment and set down his bow, sword, boomerang and shield. He partly edged down into the water and partly jumped. Or slipped, Legend couldn’t tell. The sailor swam to it, climbed out with a grunt of effort and took whatever the chest held. Legend saw a flash of silver and guessed it was a key.

Not the Boss Key though. Too small, and they were usually gold instead of silver. Although why he kept trying to apply normal logic to this bizarre place was a mystery. The only logic in this place was a warped and twisted reflection of normality - close enough to be familiar and different enough to be unsettling.

Wind stuffed the key away and headed straight for him. Legend tried to straighten up but was only partly successful. Oh well, at least he could look the kid over at the same time. The sailor stood before him, drenched yet again, giving him a very unhappy frown. One hand was halfway extended towards him.

“I’m fine, just the aftereffects,” he said. He tried to make his voice as firm as he could manage, but the scratchiness ruined it.

The shorter Hylian raised an eyebrow, his disbelief loud and clear. Yeah, I wouldn’t believe me either. He kept quiet, matching the eyebrow move and giving Wind a jerky nod.

The kid rolled his eyes. “Those light arrows used up the last of my magic. Unlike you, I actually will be fine enough in a few minutes.”

“Uh huh. You got struck too.”

“Only once! And I wasn’t dripping wet all over when it happened!”

Legend truly despised how good Wind was at arguing. He was right. One hundred percent correct. And it rubbed him the wrong way. He had no counterargument, nothing to dispute the younger’s words. He sighed, the fingers gripping his boomerang twitching. A sudden spasm hit his right ribs and his hand opened, the boomerang clattering to the ground as he bent over, breath hitching, one eye shut in a wince.

“Legend!”

It was over in less than five seconds, but it only took two for Wind to place his hands on Legend’s arms asking what was wrong. “Just aftereffects, like I told you.”

The hands moved, sliding up his arms, across his shoulders, and settling directly above the collar of his dark green tunic. His pulse beat against smaller fingers, a little too fast but not enough to be concerned about. Legend watched Wind sag, his hands moving away as their owner nodded.

There were no words exchanged as they left the room, Legend forcing uncooperative muscles into moving how and where he wanted them to. Wind tugged him forcefully across the water once as his injured foot cramped and he started sinking. Once through the door the aftershocks started dying down, the intensity and frequency becoming smaller and further apart. 

“I know we have no red potions,” he said, “but what about any for restoring magic? I think we’re both going to need everything at our disposal for whatever’s at the end of this place.”

Wind hummed and crouched down in the empty hallway, rummaging through his bag. “I think I gave my last one to Traveller… Yeah, I did,” he said, frowning in resignation as his search proved fruitless.

Legend decided not to tempt whatever higher power was watching and stayed standing, looking only somewhat mollified when he pulled out a bottle of green liquid. “Here, this should help. How good is your magic’s regenerative rate?” He held out the bottle, keeping a firm grip on it just in case.

The sailor blinked at him. “Magic regenerative rate? I can only replenish my magic through a potion or something similar. Well, I don’t have to, but otherwise it takes days to even get a quarter of it back.”

That was worse than he’d been expecting, though about the same as the first year or so as when he’d started using his own magic. He, too, had to rely on potions and such to restore whatever he used up. His adventures in Holodrum and Labrynna hadn’t really required any of his own magic beyond the barest fractions, and Koholint…

Well, it was a make-believe island full of talking animals, fairy tale creatures, and the oddest pets he’d ever seen. All of it brought to life, sort of, by a sleeping deity in the shape of a whale with wings of all things.

Yeah, even if he had used more than a tiny portion of his magic while there, the normal rules likely wouldn’t have applied anyway.

By the time Ravio had appeared, Legend’s own magic regenerative rate was quite impressive. With nothing impeding him, it could replenish fully inside of an hour. If he was injured or ill it would take longer, but never more than a day or two if he was really bad off. He’d used up quite a bit with the bracelet and Ice Rod, and he knew his condition had made his magic struggle to restore itself, but it had managed to get his levels about halfway and would only continue.

“Mine’s quite good, so I want you to drink all of that,” he said firmly, giving the bottle a tiny shake.

Wind pouted mutinously but Legend only held the bottle out a touch further and the sailor took it with a sigh, downing it in a few gulps and pulling a disgusted face when he was done. He handed back the now empty bottle and stopped in front of the other door they had yet to try in the hallway.

“Should we rest for a while?”

The veteran wanted to say yes more than anything. He really, truly did. But if he stopped now then all of his muscles would stiffen up and he would be at a major disadvantage just moving around let alone fighting.

“No, we need to keep going,” he said. The words were almost physically painful to say, and he could see Wind gearing up to protest. Legend held up a hand. “Don’t. Just… don’t. Trust me on this.”

Wind’s emotions flickered freely across his face for Legend to read and he could pinpoint the instant the kid had decided to agree with him. That level of trust was humbling, and he was reminded of Marin all over again. If Wind was real, then he was determined not to let him down.

“Fine…” said Wind.

Legend opened the door.

Notes:

Ah, slides. It's been years, and I do mean like... over ten years, since I last went on a slide.

At one point I was chatting to my beta and said, "I'm up to 2 and a half pages of suffering for these boys" and I thought that was bad enough. I think the actual page count for that is higher, though I don't wanna look...

I asked my beta if I was a sadist. He said yes lol I'm so mean to these two. I love them so much. It may be hard to tell.

Stand up, stretch, have a drink, grab some food, take a break from the screen! I'm glad you read to this point but be sure to look after yourself! (Unlike Legend and Wind!)

Progress for the next chapter for all of my multi-chapter fics, including this one, is posted on my profile. Check back for updates!

I hope you enjoyed it! Please consider leaving some feedback, it really helps me with my writing~! <3

Chapter 10: Hands to Hold

Notes:

A slow update again, I know. Once I started digging into this though, I got it done fairly quickly. Just a matter of focus, which comes and goes for me.

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman, who knew I pulled from my past to muster emotions in this. Ouch.

Strap in, readers! Grab a blankie, a drink, a snack, a cherished plush toy, and let's go!

WARNING: Blood, injury, some existential crisis, dark and deep moments - all the whump

Wind wanted nothing more than to wash out the taste of the green potion, but water was a currently limited resource that shouldn't be wasted if one was not actually thirsty. He brushed his tongue over his teeth and held back a shiver at the bitter taste and fuzzy feeling that lingered.

When the door opened the pair were met with another hallway. This one was half again as wide as the one they were standing in and he couldn’t see the end of it. The walls curved, blocking most of his view, and he wondered if it really was an innocent hallway or if those curving walls hid something.

Odd carvings, writing I can’t read, more enemies neither of us need to try and deal with right now. And a companion that’s injured AGAIN. Show me what you got, Curves!

When his palms started stinging, Wind loosened his hands that had balled into fists. His fingernails had left marks but not broken the skin thankfully. The last thing he wanted was another injury, no matter how tiny or insignificant. He scanned the hallway again as he drew in a slow, deep breath, drawing on that well of courage that had sent him off after his sister, further honed by his first journey, strengthened and solidified in the eyes of higher powers when he rang the bell atop the Tower of the Gods.

Legend stepped past him, scowling lightly at the walls. The sailor watched Legend’s back - his blue hat, his shoulders, all the way down to his Pegasus Boots and the limp he was still trying to hide. A rush of dark feelings swept through him. He hated seeing Legend walk in front of him, prepared to step in and protect him at the risk of his own life. Hated how useless and guilty it made him feel that he couldn’t help more. He wanted Legend to stay behind him for once, let Wind be his shield and sword.

He could do it. He had the experience and skills. But Legend would never accept it. The veteran was taller, older, and to his mind it was his job to watch out for the young. Wind was almost fourteen, but he was still the youngest in the group.

The boy from Outset Island lurched forward, quickly catching up to walk beside his companion.

Legend would never let Wind go ahead now that the concussion had taken a back seat. And Wind couldn’t stand to see his injured friend go first. So, he decided to settle for a compromise. The two of them would go together, side by side, as proper equals. Legend’s closest ear flicked minutely, but it was the only acknowledgement he gave.

Wind was content that the older boy was letting him stay where he was. It was a sign of trust that he hadn’t received from any of the others yet. Time had praised him, and Wild would happily indulge in some of their more childish antics, but he was never an equal hero until now.

The hallway was wide, despite the odd snake-like feel of it, and the two walked on with no trouble.

It was calm, quiet, and safe. The little hairs on the back of Wind’s neck rose and his shoulders prickled as though there were unfriendly eyes boring into his back. The air got a little heavier and he could almost smell the wet, electrified air before a big storm. He knew it was all in his head, but it honestly felt far too much like the calm before a major storm. There was probably something terrible just ahead and there they were, him and Legend, bobbing about in the middle of the ocean with no paddles or sail, barely clinging on to a boat that seemed more like a bunch of driftwood than a sturdy vessel.

Stupid imagination, can you shut up? They weren’t on the ocean, but apparently his brain saw fit to use a boat analogy anyway.

The hallway ended with a door. It was just like every other door in the weird dungeon and Wind was both relieved and yet felt cheated at the same time. It opened easily into a rectangular room. The long walls were covered floor to ceiling in carvings. Some of it was that strange language the vet was able to read, some were merely patterns, and the rest were pictures.

He scanned them with a mix of curiosity and trepidation, but he couldn’t see any sign of crustaceans or his Wind Waker anywhere, unlike that other spot. Although, now that he was looking, he could see some things he recognised. A Korok, a bow and arrow, something that was unmistakably a hookshot, one that looked an awful lot like Vet’s Fire Rod, a cane with a curved hook on one end.

There was also some type of rabbit creature with feathery, moth-like antennae for ears. A fairy, an ocarina, a strange kind of broken medallion, a bird, a bell, a clock, the sun and moon, four panels that seemed to represent the four seasons, an island, a crystal ball, a fancy gateway, a harp, a lantern, the Goron symbol, the symbols for Din, Nayru and Farore, and a minecart. Several others were scattered about but he couldn’t identify them.

“What does the writing say?” he asked. His tone was slightly cautious, fearful of the words setting off another episode for Legend. The sailor really didn’t want Legend to start crying again. It scared him - the tears were not an enemy he could fight off with a sword.

The older teen peered at the walls, scanning the odd writing. His head tilted ever so slightly as he read, and one ear flicked minutely. “Through the ages there has always been light and dark, good and evil. When darkness covers the land, a hero will light the way. From the skies to the mountains, the seas, the plains, worlds of darkness, and countries beyond, someone will arise to right the wrongs. The hero is the tool for divine intervention, rebuilt, reforged, and honed again by the Goddesses time after time. Sword and shield, O hero. Attack the darkness and protect the innocent.

“Prove your worth, for a broken tool cannot perform its task.”

Legend was frowning deeply, looking very unhappy, and Wind couldn’t blame him. The words were disturbing on several levels. It reduced his adventures, trials, suffering, and triumphs, to something virtually worthless. A tool did not feel after all. A hammer had no feelings. A shovel could not cry. A piece of cutlery could not feel joy.

A hero’s only worth lay in what he could do for others. Defeat the bad guys, help the good guys. It didn’t matter what the personal cost may have been, it only mattered that the hero did his job.

It was a punch to the gut and Wind sucked in a shaky breath, curling his trembling hands into fists. It did not stop the shaking. He expected Legend to be faring about the same, but a glance proved him wrong.

The veteran was not shaking. He was not moving at all, save for the soft rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, too fast and too shallow to be healthy. His eyes were dark, stormy, yet blank, as though the storm in his mind had dragged his consciousness deep under the churning water.

Wind regretted asking about the writing. What a cruel room.

He walked over and gave a hesitant tug on the vet’s dark green sleeve. There was no response and Wind tried a few more times with the same result. Moisture gathered at the corners of his eyes, and he sniffled in an attempt to hold it back. He stepped in close and wrapped Legend in a tight hug, seeking and offering comfort in equal measure. His ear was right over Legend’s heart and the steady thumping he expected was instead a quick pitter-patter, trying to keep up with the body’s insufficient supply of oxygen.

Wind squeezed harder and released slowly in intervals, trying to force his companion to take deeper breaths. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know how to fix this.

“Come on, Legend, don’t let those words get to you! We’re not tools to be aimed at problems by a higher power. We chose to do what we did. We could’ve stopped at any time. We could’ve walked away, left things for someone else to deal with. None of us did, but it was our choice. There was no divine being whispering in our ears or handing us a shiny letter stating that we had to do it!”

The sailor’s tears fell, one side soaked up by the vet’s still wet tunic. “If Ganondorf hadn’t kidnapped my sister then I wouldn’t have even left Outset Island. He would’ve gone ahead with his plan, and I would not have done a single thing about it. Yeah, sometimes it feels like we’re just pieces on the playing board of someone else, but we can always step off the board if we want to. Being a hero doesn’t make us a tool, it just means we’re good people willing to do the right thing. Even if that thing is finding some little trinket half the ocean away for one person.”

“I did have a deity telling me to do it before. It flat out told me that if I wanted to leave that place and get back to Hyrule then I had to do what it told me. You’re right, I could’ve ignored it… could’ve walked away,” Legend said while panting. “I tried, for a while. I… stopped. Right in the middle of my adventure.”

Wind’s hug tightened slightly, no longer squeezing. “What happened?”

Legend’s frame shook with laughter, dark and despairing. “Things got worse and worse. You can try and step off the board, but it will never work. You’ll get to the edge, and something will always pull you right back, dragging you until you’re smack in the middle of it again. Why must we prove ourselves? Have we not done enough? What is this place?”

“I wish I knew,” Wind said morosely.

“We can only go forward.”

While the sailor knew Legend was right, he didn’t want to let go yet. They both needed this hug and the fact that the other wasn’t even trying to pull away was proof.

“I bet these walls are bomb-proof,” the vet said bitterly.

“Want to test that?”

Legend sighed and shook his head. “Best not tempt fate. Let’s just get out of this accursed dungeon.”

Wind wanted to try so badly. But destroying the carvings wouldn’t erase the memory of them, so he nodded and slowly stepped away, breaking the hug with supreme reluctance. He made sure to stick close to Legend’s side as they finally crossed the long rectangular room and went through the only door at the end.

It opened to another hallway, this one without curved walls, and with no decorations in sight beyond some coral lights. There was a door set into the left-hand wall a short distance down and the pair automatically went towards it. The door refused to move for Legend, so Wind gave it a shove, nodding at the metallic click. There went the key those Bari things had been guarding.

Whatever’s in here better be worth it!

A small square room was revealed, empty except for a lonely looking wooden chest sitting in the middle of the space. Wind watched as Legend marched over and gave the chest a good hard kick, smirking as it popped open with a loud protest of wood and abused hinges.

The sailor scurried over in time to see Legend grab a large golden key from the chest’s depths. It had a rounded head with two curved spikes that looked like horns. That part was certainly familiar, but the middle of the round part looked like an angry monster’s face instead of a jewel or one big eye motif.

Legend seemed unphased so maybe it was typical of his era?

Still, the Boss Key was a great sign. If it was here, then they must be really close to the final room. Once they got there and beat whatever boss monster was the last hurdle, then they could escape this wretched place.

After a quick check to make sure the rest of the small room was truly empty, the two explorers went back to the hallway, which took a sharp ninety degree turn left and kept going for as far as they both could see.

A long, long corridor that was seemingly empty? It was somehow worse than the curvy hallway, despite having no places for anything to hide behind.

Unless there were Wallmasters or Floormasters.

In which case that straight stretch of hallway, a little too narrow to fight comfortably side by side, became a gauntlet. Most would call it a death trap. If those monsters indeed lurked around this area. There was no way to tell without pressing on.

“I hope nothing gets grabby with us,” he joked.

Legend scrunched his nose, looking vaguely disgusted, and got his sword ready. A shield would do nothing against such handsy opponents. Wind drew his own blade and they ventured on without another word.

Wind was jittery, eyes darting back and forth in the hopes that he wouldn’t be caught unawares by anything. He was inordinately glad that the coral lights were a soft, steady light, nothing like the eerie flickering of a torch of fire. Such creepy dancing lights and shadows would wear on his nerves until they were frayed to shreds.

Nearly halfway down the hallway, Wind started to wonder if he was being paranoid. A hand shot up from the floor, the arm very thin and long, and latched onto Wind’s head. It was cold and pale, like a dead thing, the fingernails cracked and broken. The digits easily encompassed his whole head, all the way down to his neck, and he cried out.

Legend whirled around, sword already swinging for the fragile looking forearm. It hit with a snap and the hand released its captive so the arm could retreat.

Three more emerged from the floor, the limbs stretched out and seeking. Wind hopped back out of range and Legend followed, stepping slower. A hole around five feet wide appeared beyond the grasping hands and a head emerged with a gaping, open mouth full of large, blunt teeth. A hunched neck preceded a flabby, shapeless body of the same pale flesh. Parts of its skin were stained with dark red and brown - old blood splatters - that did little to cover up the veins that became more visible here and there as it slowly oozed its way forward. Two arms ended in spiky, bloody stumps.

“What in the Great Sea is that?!” Wind asked, horrified by the ghoulish being.

“Ugly,” Legend snorted.

“I know that! I wanted a name!”

The veteran shrugged, eyeing the creature carefully. Its body wasn’t moving much although the multiple arms with hands were busy searching. “I’d give you one if I had one, but I have no idea what this is. I feel sorry for whoever does.”

The injured arm reappeared, fingers curled into claws. It shifted about, eagerly trying to find the victim it had before, or whatever had hurt it.

“Stupid quick recovery time,” Wind growled. He saw a large, dark, splotchy bruise on that forearm and wondered if another hit would break it entirely.

“Suffice to say, I think injuring the arms will be a useless venture. Best we aim for the source,” the vet said, glaring at the malformed being.

Wind’s grip on the hilt tightened. “Let’s rush it. The arms are fast, but that thing’s body definitely isn’t. Those teeth remind me of a ReDead though… Hopefully it doesn’t scream.”

Legend looked askance at him at the mention of screaming but gave his head a tiny shake, apparently deciding not to bother. “I’ll go first,” he said sternly. “If an arm gets me, I’ll need you to come in and deal with it. If we both go, those arms will easily snag us and then we’ll be truly stuck. Got it?”

Yes, Wind did get it. This was not about being braver or trying to protect the younger by going first, it was simply being practical. Sure, he could be the one to go ahead and have Legend back him up, but that would just waste time and it honestly didn’t matter. As long as the apparition was taken down.

He frowned; mouth set in a firm little line. “I’ve got your back.”

That got a genuine smile out of the veteran. He rolled his shoulders and dashed forward. He dodged one, then was brought to a brutal halt as the second grabbed him from behind just as he went by. His head and neck were snapped backwards, making Wind wince in phantom pain, the pale hand snugly embracing the vet’s hat, hair, ears, cheeks, and two digits encircled his neck.

It made Legend look fragile and it made Wind burn in resentment. He darted in, slashing at the first hand and making it retreat, then lunging for the second. He slid forward and swung his arm in a great upward slice, his blade hitting the forearm with impressive force. The hand reflexively opened as the arm jerked in pain and Legend stumbled for a moment, but then he kept going as if he’d never been stopped in the first place.

Wind scurried along behind, his eyes going back and forth for the threats that would recover, and for those still ahead. The next hand that tried to grab Legend was blocked by the Phantom Sword, the broad of the blade catching the palm of the hand. The sailor gave a shout and heaved, throwing the hand back, then swiftly brought the blade down in a diagonal slice.

Three down, some unknown number to go. Oh, and the body. He’d stop and count the limbs, but it wasn’t the time or place, no matter how much the lack of knowledge was suddenly irritating him.

Legend scooted past one more hand, which Wind made quick work of, then he was hacking away at the ghastly mass of flesh. His orange blade dug deep but it didn’t seem to do much more than pester the beast, making it groan and growl and moan hideously. Its head shot forward, large teeth fully on display as its mouth stretched horrendously.

The body was slow, but the bite was fast, exactly like a ReDead. Legend tried to duck away. He screamed, the large teeth now firmly clamped around his left upper arm and part of his elbow. His left hand shook, the sword threatening to slide from his pained grip, but he held on with a grunt, glaring furiously at the thing’s void-like eyes and trying to wriggle free.

"HYAAAH!"

Wind came rocketing in with a loud war cry, stabbing into an eye socket with all of the considerable force his little body could muster.

The monster screeched in agony and let go of Legend, throwing its head back to try and dislodge whatever was jabbed into it. Wind hung on and went with the movement, using the new position to force more weight onto the blade, sliding it in further.

Legend stumbled back, switching the sword to his right hand and watching in a mix of horror and awe as Wind clung on. It was a very gruesome, macabre rodeo. The sailor’s body was flung to and fro as the head was whipped about. Slowly the struggles died down until it released one, long, breathy moan, sinking to the floor and dissipating.

Wind lurched to his feet, his entire body feeling wobbly and slightly disconnected from his brain. He felt a hand on his back and twitched, but it was warm and started rubbing circles. Only Legend, his brain helpfully supplied. At least it was doing something useful, because the connection to his limbs was still off-kilter and he didn’t want to imagine how much worse things would be if anything else wasn’t functioning properly.

All of the long limbs had vanished, and the hallway was clear. It didn’t feel clear though, so Wind staggered away from where it had been, well out of the range its limbs would’ve had. Once he felt marginally safer, he whirled around to address the owner of the hand that was still in contact with him.

“How bad is the bite?” he asked in a no-nonsense way.

Legend, sword back in its place across his spine, pulled back his right arm and let it hang at his side as he blinked down at his left. “A couple of spots of blood. Literally. It’ll probably bruise really impressively though. Those teeth were blunt, but those jaws had some serious force,” he said in assessment, twisting his arm around lightly.

The vet seemed to be telling the truth, although one thing niggled at him. “But can you use your sword like that?”

“Yeah? Might need to switch hands for a prolonged fight though,” the collector said.

“Can you use a sword with your right?” Wind asked, suddenly intrigued.

Legend snorted. “Anyone can! To actually answer you though, yes. I’m not as good with my non-dominant hand - who would be? - but I can manage. There were a few times in Holodrum and Labrynna where I had to switch hands for my sword. I can still pull my weight, Sailor, don’t you worry about that.”

Wind pulled a face. I wasn’t worried about that, but sure. At least he can still defend himself, I guess.

The rest of the hallway took a while to traverse and the end of it was a corner that turned left, looking almost exactly like the very start of it albeit with only one door at the end. The door opened to a room much like the hallway, long and narrow, not quite the length of the room with those carvings.

Three pots lined the wall directly to the left, from the corner, and another three were on the opposite corner against the right wall. Wind launched at the closest ones with single-minded determination, inwardly cheering that his limbs and brain had made up sometime during the hallway hike.

The first pot yielded nothing but pottery shards. The second contained a blue rupee - the first rupee he’d found on this entire floor. The third was empty, as was the fourth and fifth when he ran over to them. The last, number six, gifted the young hero with a green rupee.

“Six. Six rupees on this floor,” he stated flatly.

“Didn’t you want at least a hundred?”

“Yes, yes, I did. Time to riot. Where’s the boss monster, I need to unleash violence upon something.”

Legend took a dramatic step away from him but chuckled. “Don’t worry, O Wrathful One, you’ll get your chance very soon.”

Wind rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I know we’re close.”

“Sweet secrets of Farore!” Legend burst out. “Turn around, numbskull!”

Okay, the name calling was a bit rude, but Wind did as bid.

Oh. OH.

“The boss room!” he shouted, throwing his hands in the air triumphantly.

There, tucked away in the corner directly opposite to the pots he’d just demolished, was an ornate door. It was stone, like all of the others, but carved like some of the walls. There was glowing coral on it too, strategically placed to make the patterns come alive.

Legend fished the large golden key out of his bag and shoved the door. The key faded away, like a ghost, and a loud unlocking noise echoed through the room. The ornate door slowly, oh so slowly, rumbled open, like it was enjoying the suspense its theatrics were creating.

Wind couldn’t get a sense of what the room beyond was like. It was pitch black with not a single speck of light to be seen. And he’d thought the darkness and temporary blindness in that circular room fighting that hermit crab had been bad. At least there had been some light!

There was no way to know how big or small the room was. No way to tell what may be lurking inside. No proper way to prepare, to plan, to fight.

Legend took a deep breath, locked eyes with Wind, and tipped his head towards the inky darkness.

Legend was still injured. Wind himself was a bit worse for wear, though in far better condition than the veteran. He had most of his magic back, missing only a small amount thanks to the green potion. Legend probably had half of his magic reserves back if Wind had his calculations correct. Both of them had their entire inventories at least. Not the best of circumstances, but not the worst he’d ever faced.

“Let’s do this,” he declared.

The two heroes stepped forward, the darkness swallowing them instantly. The door rumbled shut and locked behind them.

Notes:

That carving room was hard to write. It might've been hard to read, I don't know. It's as angsty as I'm going to get for a while because I don't like it.

Le Gasp! A monster Wind and Legend don't know? Yes! The Dead Hand is only in Ocarina of Time. Legend needs to feel sorry for Time now lol They are creepy, creepy things. I didn't say so in the chapter, but they move with this wiggly shuffle while staring straight up at the ceiling, neck extended, until they're close enough to attack you. Then they look down and do the nomnom, just like a ReDead in Wind Waker minus the paralysing screaming.

Wind stated in chapter 9 that he'd better find at least 100 rupees on Floor B-1 or he'd riot. Six rupees later, he's gonna go ham on the boss monster. Go, Wind, go! Riot like a pirate!

"Sweet secrets of Farore" is a nod to the planned-but-never-made third part of the Oracle games for Legend. The third would've featured Farore, as Seasons had Din and Ages had Nayru, but it was scrapped due to difficulties. Farore was shunted into the other two games as a partially hidden character that lives inside the Maku Tree in a place called the Hall of Secrets. She keeps a journal of all the secrets Link learns across both games. Yes, I very much enjoy references, can you tell?

So close to the end. So, so close. Dungeon crawls are hard, no lie, and I don't think I ever want to write one again, so enjoy this one for all it's worth! XD

I hope you liked it! Please leave this poor author some feedback to help get through the last part of this wretched dungeon. I am gasping and flailing for the finish line lol Seriously though, I love hearing what you readers think of each chapter. It really makes my day~! <3

As always, progress for my multi-chapter fics is kept up-to-date and posted on my profile page! Check back to see how far a chapter is.

Chapter 11: The End of the Dream

Notes:

So sorry for the long wait! Got caught up with real life and other fics that were easier to write at the time. But here we are, at the END! It's been a trip, for sure.

I hope you lovely readers enjoy the final chapter of NSS! Please consider leaving a comment to tell me your thoughts about the chapter, the whole ride, etc. Feedback is so amazingly helpful to a writer~!

An enormous thank you to every reader! To everyone that gave a kudos, a sub, bookmarked this, and especially those that left a comment. I appreciate every gesture so, so much~! <3

Beta'd by RenegadeBladesman, as usual. So many thanks for always being willing to look over my stuff for me! <3

WARNING: Blood, injury, violence, anxiety, paranoia and feels

The veteran was worried about another fight taking place in the darkness. Unlike with the mutant hermit crab, this room didn’t even have a low level of light, nor did he see anything glowing to indicate structures or enemies. It was nothing but inky blackness for who knew how far the room extended.

Unless the kid had amazing night vision then they were screwed.

The universe enjoyed being contrary. Sometimes it seemed as though the universe indulged purely for his sake. A bright blue glow appeared. It suddenly switched to red, then faded into white. Two large, round eyes, and some frond-like frills, lighting up stark white in the inky darkness was an eerie sight.

Aside from that, the rest of the room remained completely dark, and Legend was not thrilled with the idea of facing this…whatever it was without even dim lighting. No matter how good the kid and himself may be at this sort of thing, they were bound to get in each other’s way, misjudge attacks, and end up doing a poor job of dodging and defending.

“Is that a dragon?” whispered Wind.

“I really hope not,” he whispered back.

Both heroes drew their swords as quietly as they could, trying to keep track of each other. They stepped forward lightly, creeping closer to the glowing creature, breathing barely audible. A dozen steps in a roar rent the air and the white glow turned red. A second later a wave of fire swept towards them, lighting up the room a little as it went.

Legend activated his Power Bracelets and grabbed Wind, tossing him as high as he could manage. “Float, Sailor!” he ordered. He hastily rummaged in his bag and pulled out some fabric, swinging it around his shoulders and clasping it near his neck. Just before the wall of fire reached him, as tall as he was, the hero jumped, his Roc’s Cape giving him enough of a boost to clear the flames and glide down safely.

He was joined by Wind a moment later, both looking a bit harried and unhappy before the flames hit the wall and dissipated, plunging the room back into darkness. A few seconds later a number of crystals in the room that had been in the fire’s path lit up red, providing dim and eerie lighting.

The creature looked like a pinkish red salamander with a set of frills, three on each side of its head. The frills were feathery fronds, luminescent and soft, tempting one to run their fingers through them to test the texture. The fronds continued down its back like a mane, ending before the whip-like end of its tail.

“That’s the softest looking dragon I’ve ever seen,” said Wind.

Legend had to agree. If it was a dragon, and the evidence was certainly leaning that way, then it was the plushest one he’d ever encountered.

“Do you have a way to jump over the fire?” he asked.

Wind shook his Deku Leaf, still clutched in his right hand. “I’m all over it,” he said.

Ugh, that was a terrible pun. The overgrown lizard drew in a breath and both fighters tensed. The glow switched abruptly to blue, and an icy chill blew. It breathed out and crystals of spiky ice were blasted in multiple directions. “Shit!” Legend equipped his shield, watching Wind switch leaf for shield and get ready.

The Mirror Shield reflected the ice after the force of it pushed the Hylian back a step, the spiky blast headed right back toward the frilled salamander. Wind was not as lucky, the ice encasing his shield and half of his arm. He gave an odd little squeak in alarm at the bone-chilling cold and tried to shake it off.

The reflected attack struck the beast right in the face and it gave a displeased shriek. Legend activated his Pegasus Boots and shot forward; sword held out like a jousting lance. It tilted its head and Legend’s blade left a long cut from its chin, across its skull and neck, all the way to the shoulder joint of its left foreleg, brushing through some of the frills on the way.

They were indeed soft, but it was barely noticeable beneath the all-pervading chill the blue glow was giving off. Legend shivered, his top half so cold as though someone had tipped a bucket of freezing cold river water right over his head and shoulders.

The leg swiped at him clumsily, large claws betraying the true threat, and Legend rolled under the swipe. He was now beside the thing’s chest, and he smirked. With a yell, he plunged his sword between two ribs.

A roar was the result and the body jerked away from the little thing that had stung it so harshly. The glow turned red again and Legend yelped, letting his sword go as it burned his hands. A wave of hot air, almost a tangible wall, surged from its body in a circle and knocked Legend a dozen feet away to land flat on his back.

His face and hands tingled painfully as chilled skin was suddenly heated, making it feel tight and immovable. He scrambled upright, eyeing his weapon that was still stuck in the monster’s side, tapping the toe of a boot in preparation to dash and grab it. His hands flexed in subconscious warning. The sword may be too hot to safely take hold of.

“Vet, move!” shouted Wind.

Legend scrambled backwards as the giant head turned, just missing him with scorching hot frills, and felt the snap of fangs barely a foot away from his torso. Another roar accompanied another wall of flame. He leapt up, the fire missing his boots by inches. A harsh crack sounded, and he was suddenly flying at high speed instead of gently gliding, his right side aching fiercely.

His head and shoulder hit the ground and he skidded and tumbled a fair distance until finally coming to a painful stop. His body screamed at him. The Mirror Shield had protected a good portion of his ribs from some of the impact, but breathing was a chore done in fitful gasps and wheezes as the world spun, colours bleeding through with black and blurring around together.

Ears ringing, body one giant, throbbing bruise, all he could do was lay there, trying to get his limbs to respond. The world was an uncoordinated mess of colours, sounds, and touch. His own body was a vague physical mass he had the barest of connections with.

After a small eternity, Legend got his feet under himself and took a couple of wobbly steps towards the brightly glowing eyes. Something barrelled into him from his left side, latching on to his arm and dragging him away on unsteady feet, stumbling and staggering like a half-asleep drunkard.

There was a noise right next to his ear, loud and insistent, and it was hurting his head. He tried to tell it to shut up, but his tongue tangled the words and all that escaped was a groan.

“Hey, hey, Legend! Come on, I need you to snap out of it! Veteran!”

Oh, now the sounds were making sense. “Wha-?”

“Vet, you gotta pull yourself together! There is a giant boss monster we need to defeat, and we have no potions or fairies! Are you with me?”

Legend took several deep breaths to help clear his head, wincing as his ribs spiked with pain. “Yeah, yeah, I’m here,” he said somewhat breathlessly.

“Your sword isn’t!”

A glance at his empty left hand confirmed this. Right, right, it was stuck in the monster. “Stupid sword stealing salamander,” he grumbled, trying to find another suitable weapon in his bag.

A magic weapon should be a last resort so as not to run his remaining reserves dry too soon. He grabbed his bow and quiver, frowning heavily, and tried to give his head a subtle shake. It didn’t help.

The light was blue again and Legend hefted his Mirror Shield, looking over to see Wind also with one. “Where’d you get that?” he asked.

“Earth Temple,” the sailor said.

Which answered absolutely nothing. Still, if it worked like his then the kid would be a lot better off. His arm had evidently unfrozen, probably helped by the hot blast the creature had let loose to try and fry Legend. More large chunks of icy death came hurtling through the air, changing some of the room’s embedded crystals blue, but doing no harm to the shielded heroes.

Wind ran for the monster, but the glow turned red, and a blast of fire derailed his charge as he was forced to jump with the Deku Leaf. He pushed on the moment his feet hit the floor, the salamander snarling and snapping its jaws, swiping with clawed forefeet. His sword left a bloody streak between digits and across the pad, the silver whirling up and around, leaving a small cut near its nose as it pulled back.

The head lunged forward, and jaws snapped shut around his arm and shield. Wind gave a cry of pain that became a startled shout as it threw him across the room.

Legend kicked his boots into gear and stopped where he thought Wind might land, but the younger teen had wrangled his leaf free and managed to glide down the last few feet for a much softer landing. Blood was quickly staining the off-white sleeve covering Wind’s forearm and Legend grimaced at the sight, furious that nothing could be done but to wrap the battle up fast and get out, hopefully finding some form of help once free of this accursed place.

The glow turned blue, and the plush dragon opened its mouth to suck in another breath. Legend nocked an arrow and fired; the metal tipped shaft disappearing down its gullet. It gave a tiny squirm and coughed before roaring and lashing its tail. The wall became its victim, being hit multiple times, and the room shook, dirt raining down from the ceiling in worrying streams with each concussive blow.

“Maybe feed it something bigger than an arrow?”

“I’m gonna Dodongo this stupid thing. If we can’t do much to its outsides, then let’s make a mess of its insides,” said Legend. His words were underlaid by a growl, his pale eyes narrowed.

The kid looked completely confused at the mention of a Dodongo but nodded along gamely to the rest. Using an old trick he’d learned during his very first adventure, he combined his bombs with his arrows. It was safer than trying to get up close and simply tossing a bomb inside its gaping maw. For now.

“The champion and ranch hand aren’t the only ones with explosive arrows,” he said. He nocked the arrow, keeping a smug smirk on his face even as he eyed the monster for an opening.

“You have bomb arrows?” Wind said incredulously. “Of course you do! What don’t you have?”

A snort. “My sword.”

The sailor’s mouth opened, but his jaw closed with an audible click of teeth. “Y’know, that’s fair. I’ll give you that one. And you remembered something else!” The happy tone was unmistakable.

Huh. “As much as I want everything in my head back where it belongs, I’d rather not have that thing try to shake them loose again. If you get a chance to feed it a bomb, do it!”

Wind gave a salute and a cheery, “Aye, aye!”

The glow was still blue when the giant monster sneezed, a wave of frosty air billowing across the room. The shields would not cover enough to protect them, even if they crouched, so they leapt. Wind stumbled when he landed, and Legend bit his lip. The kid was probably getting low on magic again. They needed to end this, fast, before Wind could no longer get out of the way.

Red light. Legend clenched his teeth and nocked the arrow again. He fired the moment the dragon started to breathe in for another wall of flames. It disappeared down its throat and a partly muffled BANG echoed back to them. The monster roared, the noise mixed with wet gurgles, and wavered, crashing down on its stomach. Wind sprinted forward, sword flashing, while Legend activated his Pegasus Boots and made a beeline for his buried blade.

He had to brace one boot on its side and pull with both hands, but the sword slid free, and Legend wasted no time hacking and slashing at any flesh within reach, slicing across ribs and catching part of a foreleg as the beast tried to swat him away. It went for him again then jerked away with a deep hiss, turning to strike at Wind instead. 

Oh, no, that won’t do. Legend unleashed another flurry of slashes on the beast’s ribs, making it turn to him with a very unhappy roar. Then Wind attacked again.

The frilled salamander was twisting its entire torso to and fro between the two little pests that were harrying it, stomping and shrieking, tail lashing and fangs flashing. Everything turned red and the monster spit out a continuous stream of fire, whipping its head back and forth to spread the flames.

Legend only needed to hop back a bit further - and avoid the lashing tail - but Wind had to use his Deku Leaf. He glided down on top of its broad, rather flat skull. The leaf was hastily stowed away, and Wind clamped both hands around the hilt of his sword, thrusting it straight down with a fierce, “Hyaaah!”

The blade sunk in over halfway before stopping with the awful yet familiar grind of steel on bone.

The frilled salamander made a sound that was half roar, half shriek, anger and agony rolled into one. It flung its head madly from side to side, its more injured front foot coming up to scratch at the large splinter it had and knock away the thing crawling on it. Wind hung on gamely, body flung through the air with the beast’s momentum, the grip on his sword’s hilt the only thing keeping him from flying off.

It did cause the sword to slide around somewhat, opening the wound further. The kid’s jaw and arms looked so tense that he could almost feel phantom pains in empathy. Legend fished out a bomb and deftly lit the fuse, dashing around to the thing’s head and hurling the bomb inside its open, screeching mouth.

It swallowed reflexively and Legend gave it a smug grin. Dodongo’d!

A muffled boom preceded a cough of smoke. The frilled dragon swayed as if it was about to fall asleep, but it fell with a crash that shook the room and finally dislodged the sword in its skull along with the Hylian still clinging to it. Wind hit the floor with a yelp and spent several seconds scrambling back to his feet, sword still clutched in one hand, aiming the blade back at the monster with a determined scowl etched on his face.

The plush dragon’s eyes narrowed at the pair, and it hissed, clawed forefeet reaching out and blindly swiping for them, blood from the open wounds on both splattering around with every movement. The glow switched to blue and both heroes hunkered down behind their shields, the sound of shattering ice sounding impossibly loud in the chamber. The glow became red, and Legend fished out another bomb, lit the fuse, and threw it when the monster sucked in its next breath, followed a split second later by one thrown by the sailor.

They both exploded, jolting the giant body painfully. It roared - a wet, gurgling sound as blood ran down the corners of its partly open jaws, puddling under its chin and neck. The glow flickered from red to blue, back to red, blue again, almost too fast to keep track of. It whined pitifully and the glow faded entirely, its body sagging bonelessly, completely limp.

Both Hylians ducked behind their shields again as the creature exploded in a shower of ice crystals, burning embers, and black and purple smoke, shaking the room one last time.

Wind peeked over the top edge of his shield and blinked in bemusement. “Holy shit!”

It was an impressive send off, even for a dungeon boss monster, and Legend snorted in amusement before casting his gaze about for a door or a tell-tale glow that indicated a warp pad or teleportation spot.

The entire room went from almost pitch dark, only the crystals lining the place lighting it up, to being blindingly bright, forcing the two boys to throw a hand or arm across sensitive and heavily dilated eyes. Legend swore, hearing the kid also let loose, and slowly blinked his eyes back open after jamming them shut.

Moisture gathered at the corners of his eyes from the abrupt switch and the blinking didn’t clear it away, so he quickly swiped his sleeve over his face, erasing the evidence while the sailor wasn’t looking.

Now revealed, the room showed nothing but empty space with crystals dotting the place at random intervals, some swirly and wavy patterns carved along the length of each of the four walls. On the wall behind the monster were two large carvings, bevelled with more clarity than any other in this crazy place, reaching only a few feet shy of floor and ceiling.

As Legend watched a golden glow began to flow into the bevelled sections, filling them like water. A sword and shield were lit up, the Triforce carved above both, and the golden glow pulsed slightly. Some of the glow at the bottom dripped down, curling around curiously until it began to form words in the same script the rest of this place used.

“Do I wanna know what that says?” asked Wind, hesitance clear in every syllable.

Valid question. I’m not sure I want to know either, the older teen thought. His eyes strayed to the words automatically and he found himself reading them whether he wanted to or not.

“Go forth and be the sword and shield. May your strength never falter.”

“Oh… That’s not so bad?”

“Hmm. I guess us two little tools proved ourselves worthy or whatever. Just give us a warp pad already!” Legend said. He stared accusingly at the glowing carvings for several seconds before turning around, resuming his vigil for a way out.

Wind snorted a quick laugh. “Yeah, I’d like to get back to everyone else and get some potions and fairies.”

The kid was staring meaningfully at him, but he merely stared back at Wind’s arm that was still bleeding and raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, yeah, for both of us,” the sailor said while rolling his eyes. Swords were quickly cleaned, and everything returned to its usual place, though Wind winced while moving his right arm, trying to hide it as best he could.

A light rose from the floor a few feet away. It rotated gently, fading out to nothing about waist height, an alluring circle that beckoned enticingly. Legend gave a cheer and walked over to it before pausing a good foot away from the light. Would this really take him out of this creepy place? Would the kid disappear now that he was no longer needed as a companion? Would he wake up somewhere, finally allowed to rouse from his dream?

The decision was taken from his hands; smaller hands, just as callused as his own, grabbed his and tugged him forward. He stumbled, following the younger boy into the circle, eyes wide while he was given nothing but a comforting smile in return. The light grew brighter and brighter, a tingling feeling starting in the soles of his feet and shooting up his body.

Then the magic took over, latching onto every inch inside its circumference and squeezing, moving him from one place to another in mere seconds. He fought to keep his eyes open. If he closed them, then how would he know if he simply blinked or was asleep?

A combination of the magic and light forced him to squint, then he blinked. When the blink ended, the blackness was lifted to reveal a whole new landscape.

Damnit! By the fires of Din, I WILL burn things down, dream or not!

There was a crumbling ruin of a building on one side and a clearing that led to open desert on the other. There were a handful of structures around the clearing, some intact, some broken, and a number that existed somewhere in between. Pillars, statues, and parts of smaller buildings littered the space, providing small amounts of shade from the oppressive glare of the mid-afternoon sun.

Something squeezed his hand and Legend glanced across. Wind was right beside him, still holding onto one hand, and beaming brightly, bright blond hair, blue tunic, and bleeding arm exactly as he remembered. He sucked in a breath, his mind flailing for anything solid to hold onto as it floundered in a sea of memories and emotions.

He squeezed back automatically. Am I still dreaming? Am I awake? Are you real? How can I tell?

“Vet? You okay?”

Legend gave a noncommittal hum. He raised an arm to cover his eyes from the sun, shading them gratefully with a hand, the light doing nothing to help his headache that had been ever present during the whole dungeon misadventure.

“There they are!”

The sudden voice startled the veteran and he let go of Wind to whirl around to face the direction it had come from. The sailor spun as well, both of them spotting the cause of the voice at the same time. Blond hair, green tunic, blue scarf.

Oh Farore!

His dreams were haunting him. Or were his memories becoming real? This was Warriors, standing a short distance away and rapidly coming closer, a figure from a flashback he’d had while ill and off-kilter. It did not, in any way, shape or form, help him distinguish dream from reality, and he stood there, immobilised by indecision.

“Captain!” cried Wind. The kid thrust both arms in the air, heedless of injuries, and jumped up and down while waving in excitement.

“Where in the name of the goddesses have you two been?” the knight demanded, jogging over and frowning at their appearances.

“Dungeon,” Legend answered mechanically.

Warriors looked across at the large ruins they were in front of and whistled. “We couldn’t get further in than the first room. The second had no floor and there was no way around to anywhere else. How did you get past the second room?”

Wind tapped his chin and frowned. “Y’know, I don’t think we did…”

Veteran remained silent, a spectator to everything going on.

“What do you mean?” Warriors asked.

“I’m pretty sure the floor caved in with us on it. I remember falling and what I thought was a bunch of rocks, but might’ve been chunks of stone floor… That’s what must’ve struck you on the head!” said Wind, pointing dramatically at Legend’s fringe.

Fingers were in his hair before his mind registered the scarfed man moving, pushing hair aside and gently probing. Questions such as ‘where?’ and ‘does it hurt?’ and ‘are you dizzy?’ pouring from the stranger that may or may not be real. Or a stranger at all. The fingers hurt, gentle or not, and he winced, pushing the hands away and ducking back out of immediate reach.

“He had a fairy heal him, but it didn’t fix everything. Plus, all the injuries that came after. And his memory has been scrambled!”

Kid was a damn blabbermouth. He did not appreciate that, dream constructs or not.

“What do you mean by ‘scrambled’?” asked a different voice.

Another blond guy, a head shorter than himself, dressed in a very colourful tunic, had come up behind the knight, hidden from his sight.

Wind sighed. “I mean total memory loss about all of us and our quest with these portals and the shadow, plus a general mix-up of other memories from before.”

“That’s a problem,” said yet another voice.

Suddenly there were five more people joining the two new ones, and the sailor looked pleased as pie with every single one of them. The urge to step back poked at him but Legend stood firm, still keeping quiet and wanting to see how this played out. He observed them all, his mind niggling at this detail or that, little things that flashed through his mind, here and then gone in an instant.

The latest speaker was dressed in a two-toned blue shirt with white patterning. It was similar to Wind’s outfit yet completely different. He continued talking, tapping a little device held in his hands meaningfully. “We can probably jog a few memories with some pictures or anything else familiar.”

“Yeah!” Wind agreed, all sunny enthusiasm. “He’s already remembered a few small things while we were in the dungeon. Show him some pictures!”

Legend absently rubbed his aching brow and shuffled sideways, edging away from the group, only to bump into someone. This one had hair that slanted towards a light brown, and a large white cape slung around his shoulders. On his back was the Master Sword!

How could that be? The Master Sword was slung across his own back. It was quite changed from the sad, neglected blade he’d pulled from the pedestal in the Lost Woods, now with a fluidly curved cross guard and orange steel, but it was, undoubtedly, still the Master Sword. Yet there it was. Clean, shiny, virtually pristine with nary a mark of age or wear on her.

Sky could call forth large swathes of energy to shoot forth from the sword, strong enough to immediately decimate any monster caught in its path. He was also very protective, giving Wild a thorough scolding for breaking it and having the sword vanish into small wisps of light. It had returned some minutes later, but the chewing out Sky gave had been impressive and not something the veteran had thought him capable of -

Hands gently clamped onto his shoulders and Legend looked up into concerned, storm-blue eyes. Eyes that were often shut in slumber, even as his own hands delicately piled more and more little sticks and twigs on top of the snoozing hero’s head, trying to see how many he could stack before Sky finally woke up -

“Sky?” he whispered.

The smile he got in return was blinding, even if a touch wobbly, yet sincere all the same. “You remember me?” he asked, voice full of hope.

“Sort of?” was his honest, if disappointing, answer.

“I’ve got a fairy. Come here, Vet,” said the oldest and tallest of the group.

Legend didn’t move. “Save something for him and his arm,” he said, waving at the sailor.

A brunet stepped up, holding out a bottle of red liquid. “I’ve got that covered, don’t worry,” he said.

Wind took it with a small grumble and downed it in a few swallows, grimacing a bit while the magic gave its initial kick to start working. “Now take the fairy,” he ordered, crossing his arms, uncaring of the injuries that were still in the process of being healed by the potion.

Legend still didn’t move. His whole body felt like a plethora of bruises, some parts hurting more than others, such as his head, ribs, back, and a good portion of his right side. A fairy would help, no argument there, and he wanted the pain to go away. But he was tired more than anything. Just tired. The only thing he truly wanted was to find a comfy spot, curl up, and go to sleep.

But what would he find when he awoke?

“Legend… This isn’t Koholint,” said Wind.

What?

“This isn’t a dream!”

What?!

“You’re awake and this is real!” the sailor said loudly and sternly.

…what…?

Legend hadn’t noticed, but Wind paid attention to everything he said. Every comment that was spoken normally, mumbled quietly, whispered in confusion, muttered in sleepy delirium. Each little clue given, each insight to the mysterious veteran, was soaked up and saved.

The veteran clutched the fabric over his heart as if he’d been stabbed and had to soak up the blood that should be gushing forth. Shiny silver armour stood before his lowered gaze, replacing Sky. A knight? Oh, he should leave just in case - knights didn’t tend to have the best relationship with him - but gloved hands held a bottled fairy. The cork was pulled and the magical little being fluttered free, chiming brightly before swooping at him, circling his entire body from booted feet to pounding head, sparkles following the curved path.

“Part of me really wants to know what happened in that dungeon, while another part of me is quite sure I don’t want to know the answer.”

“...stuff happened, Smithy,” said Wind almost tonelessly.

Who was Smithy? Four colours, sharp eyes, a hastily constructed forge-like setup, an Ice and Fire Rod taking turns to bathe steel, a thick, heavy glove pointing at him just before a reprimand flew through the air -

The pain was receding, washing away like the tide on the beach, leaving a slightly cool and refreshing feeling that lingered for a few heartbeats. His hip no longer felt bruised from that rock, his right side no longer felt as though the skin was scraped raw, breathing was not a chore of any type anymore. There was still an ache that clung to his skull and the squishy organ it protected, but the intensity had been dialled down to background noise at worst, and he watched absently as the fairy flew to the man that released it, chimed, and took off.

The two-toned blue shirt entered his vision next, offering up a small, rectangular device. Why was it not food he was holding out?

“Want to see some pictures? They might help.”

Legend tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Food?” he half asked, half muttered.

Wind was suddenly latched onto his arm, like a limpet or barnacle, bouncing up and down on his toes. “Yes please! Both of us are starving! You have food, right, Champion?”

A seemingly endless stream of apples pouring from Wild’s bag after an innocent request for food. A cooking pot merrily bubbling away, the champion adding this and that, stirring now and then, creating dish after dish that smelled divine, tickling his nose and tantalising his taste buds. Watching the cook do his domestic thing was an art unto itself. And he knew that when the guy went off exploring, he was also foraging, so he didn’t concern himself with any reprimands about wandering off -

An arrow aimed at a seagull, his own arrow flawlessly intercepting it, snapping it in half in mid-air. A warning to Wild not to hurt any seagulls. Another seagull, happily perched on Wind’s head, the sailor pleased at the development while he watched on, a soft smile on his face -

“Of course I do, what sort of question even is that?” the cook huffed.

“Cooking and eating a hot meal in this heat?” someone muttered.

Legend held out a hand, his mind a jumbled whirl telling him to trust these people, but no, how could he when he couldn’t trust reality itself? “I know you have apples,” he heard himself saying. He even wiggled his fingers.

“Ha! I knew another fairy would help,” Wind said smugly.

Champion looked positively delighted, easily bringing forth four apples, giving the vet and sailor two each. He waved the device again. “Did you want to see any pictures? You never answered me.”

And he still didn’t answer, too busy biting into one of the apples he’d been given, relishing the taste and the juice that was released. It reminded him of long ago, when things were so much simpler, back when his uncle was alive and the biggest worry they both had was tending to the orchard. The apple was gone in moments, though no one could judge him for it as the kid was only a mouthful or two behind, their bodies urging them to replace all the energy they’d used. The second one swiftly followed the same fate and Legend didn’t hesitate to take a third one that Wild offered.

“...yeah, I’m gonna cook a good, hearty meal before we turn in for the night,” said Wild.

“Are we camping here?”

Oh, that one had a wolf pelt. Grey-green fur, bright blue eyes, a peculiar marking etched out in creamy-grey fur on its forehead. A mirror, the wolf coming into frame behind him, the mirror reflecting a Hylian, not a wolf. The Ordonian that used a cursed trinket on a necklace to transform into a beast. The same trinket he’d picked up once, revealing his Dark World form of a pink rabbit. The ranch hand helping return him to normal with the help of Sky and the Master Sword, laughing at his hair as it turned as pink as his fur had been -

Oh, yes, of course. This was Twilight and Wolfie, the latter of which Wind had spoken of.

More flashes came, one after another, an endless river consisting of nothing but rapids. Legend groaned and doubled over while clutching his head, his eyes tightly shut, and his teeth clenched against the unavoidable onslaught. The apple fell to the ground and rolled away a short distance. Someone was right next to him, holding him up by hugging him tightly, a solid, secure presence, a rock amongst storm-tossed waves.

“I’ve got you, Vet. You’re safe. We’re both safe. I’m here.”

A voice directly in his ear, soft and steady, determined and sincere. Wind. He was still there, still by his side, still helping. Legend curled into the smaller body and took his hands away from his head, latching onto the sailor. “Not a dream?” he whispered.

“Not a dream,” Wind whispered back.

And he knew. They were nine heroes, each named Link, brought together by strange, dark portals that spanned and connected different eras of time. Just as Wind had said down in the dungeon. He remembered them all. He remembered the places they’ve been, the stories shared, the skills and items shown, and the battles fought together.

“Oh good,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear, “because I just remembered everything, and the captain owes me fifty rupees.”

“I do not!” Warriors spluttered.

“So good to have you back!” Wind cheered, hugging him harder.

“How would you manage without me?” he said with a chuckle.

Legend was awake. Things were real. And his little brother would always be there for him when he needed it. That was all he could ever ask for.

Notes:

Legend has bomb arrows? Yes, he does! In ALttP if you equip the bow in one slot and bombs in the other, you can shoot bomb arrows! What a resourceful lad.

Also, dragons? Yeah, Legend has a few spread across different games. Wind obviously has Valoo, but he also gets to fight one with two heads. That use fire and ice. Mmmyep. Not sure an axolotl counts as a dragon, but can you imagine any of the Links reaching the end of a dungeon/temple and seeing this squishy-looking derp-faced critter? XD

That little side comic of all the slate's pictures? One of them is of Sky, snoozing while sitting slumped against a tree with a pile of sticks on his head and a hand holding another about to add it to the pile. That hand has rings on a couple of fingers and obviously belongs to Legend. He's just as light-hearted gremlin as the others, even if the fandom sometimes forgets that fact.

These two are just so good for brotherly bonding and feels. I'm extra happy to add to the Legend and Wind tags!

This fic has been great! Thank you to everyone that joined the journey - my first (and possibly only) dungeon crawl. <3 Want more Legend content? I have two fairly recent one-shots that are Legend-centric:
One Step Forward, Two Steps Sideways - A Legend meets the Chain fic from October
Under the Armour - Where Legend must interact with the knights he's feared, hated, run from, and fought while they were brainwashed, from a month ago

Want more Wind? I'm working on a collab fic with Aviatorsys that's Wind-centric.
Secrets of the Wind - It's still a WIP. There are currently 2 chapters, the 3rd is in the editing stage, the 4th is being worked on, and both of us are thoroughly enjoying it. You can check the progress for this fic on my profile page!

I can now remove NSS from there... -sniffle-

Notes:

I posted a few snippets of this in the LU Discord server. People seemed to like them there, so I hope you enjoyed the whole chapter! <3

I have no update schedule. If you want to see how much progress has been made on the next chapter, you can click on my profile and see! I update it whenever I write enough to make a change.

If you liked this, please consider leaving a comment. I love hearing from readers and I'm open to constructive criticism! There's always something to improve upon. <3