Chapter Text
In the lit chamber of a dark throne room decorated in gold and black with accents of rubies, garnets and various other red gemstones, all of a darker hue. A young girl panted in the center, bruised, battered and bloody but otherwise victorious. Still, she waited a little longer, sword at the ready, watching as holy flames ate away at dark feathers, burning away the gold and leaving only black behind. Even then, the flames ate away at everything on the large, feathered body burning away his once shiny black feathers. Ganon no longer roared like an angry, pained beast. No longer screeched like a dying bird. He no longer twitched. The flames never burned her, they knew the difference between their mistress and their enemy. They were created by this very sword after all. She’d even gone up and stabbed him between the eyes just to make sure he was well and truly dead, just as Sheik had drilled into her head during their sparring sessions. ”Enemies know how to play dead. Enemies have no morals, no honor and will stab you in the back once your back is turned to them.”
She hopped back a little, just in case this really was a trick. Ganon’s illusion magic was no joke, as she’d learned firsthand during their duel.
This man didn’t deserve the title of King.
He didn’t deserve a proper burial.
Not after what he’s done to Link.
She’d been on the receiving end of those ‘gifts’ Ganon had sent. The bloodied feathers that could only belong to their missing Hero. It made her sick just thinking about it but had also hardened her resolve. She’d find him. She would! No matter what.
When the dark doorway swung open to reveal darkness within, she instinctively leaped back away from the burning remains, remains that would be ash by daybreak. A shiver went down her spine, making the sword held in her hands tremble. Had the Ganon she fought been nothing more than a trick? Was the real Monster King going to walk out the shadows, clapping and saying with a heavy sarcasm that she’d done such a great job taking his puppet down but now it was time for the real fight?
Shadows shifted within and she swung her sword in an arc, sending holy flames shooting directly for the entrance, however they hit nothing and instead clung to the floor, walls and ceiling, not burning, not destroying but merely lighting up the path. Showing her that nothing evil was there in the first place. No threat that needed to be burned to ash.
The girl groaned softly at her own jumpiness. Real smart, Zelda. Let every monster within this lair know you’re coming. She hated how her rational thought sounded so much like Sheik. She ran a hand down her face, only to hiss as she jerked her hand away as her thumb hit the nasty bruise on her jaw from where Ganon had struck her. The light from the throne room allowed her to see that her hand had come away red, but she paid it no mind and wiped her hand on her clothes.
Her eyes darted back to Ganon's body, still engulfed in white flames, the feathers were nearly burned away now, the flames were now starting on the flesh underneath. She jerked her head away, taking the steps she needed as the smell of burning feathers and flesh became stronger. She barely held back a gag at the smell, her free hand not holding the sword flew up to cover her mouth and nose. Oh she hadn’t thought that through when she’d set the bastard alight. The stench followed her, as she hurried through the doorway, now lit by white clinging flames that had no one to burn but were stubbornly clinging to life, not ready to die out just yet.
”It’s a pity he no longer screams when I make him shift.”
”Did you enjoy my gifts to you, Princess?”
”You better hurry, Princess. Your beloved Hero hangs by a thread.”
His last words reared their ugly heads, she grits her teeth, tears welling up in her eyes unbidden, and she blinked rapidly, trying to fight off the urge to cry at the helplessness of the situation, a lump forming in her throat, as her mind tried to latch onto that depressing train of thought. She almost sank to her knees from the weakness she felt. ”Enemies lie. They will say anything to rattle you. Anything they need that will allow them a chance to win. Don’t believe anything they say until you see the proof for yourself with your own eyes!” She shook her head roughly, “No! Sheik’s right!” She barely managed to keep her voice low, to avoid being overheard by enemies. “He is NOT dead. That flaming ball of feathers is lying! He was just trying to anger me into making a mistake.” she whispered. “And I need to find him!” The sword was warm in her hand, hot but not burning. It agreed with her statement. Link was still alive. The fact that the sword still glowed was testament to that. Link was tied to the sword. If it still glowed, then Link was still alive and that was all that mattered.
Resolutely hardened, she rushed through the hallway that swiftly became engulfed in darkness, nearly tripping as her feet hit a set of stairs she wasn’t prepared for. Her form instinctively shifted, to catch herself from falling as she caught the sword with her talons hooking into the thin pommels located at the side of the hilt, flapped her wings to keep herself airborne and raise herself high enough that the sword wouldn’t drag on the stairs. She sighed, carefully setting herself down on the stairs and putting the sword two stairs above her chosen landing spot. Her talons curled around the edge of the stairs, as she shifted back to human form. She reached down to grab the sword again. This time deciding to take it slower on the stairs. The sword held in her hand started to glow again, this time with a more condensed white light, allowing Zelda to see what was in front of her. The girl blinked at the blade. “And you decided to not do this sooner because?”
She didn’t get an answer, not unless the flickering warmth in the handle was anything to go by. The sword was laughing at her question.
A portal of swirling energy opened. It was an interesting mix of purple and black. Light and darkness fighting for control. It barely lit up the oppressive darkness that threatened to swallow one whole. Out of the portal tumbled one figure, followed swiftly by eight others. Blind and weightless all they could do was brace themselves for the pain that they were going to feel. Some were unable to stop themselves from yelling as they fell through the air only to hit the floor as gravity yanked them back down.
It took a long moment before anyone dared to even try and scramble to their feet, eyes straining to try and see in the dark, ready for enemies to pounce the second they were vulnerable. Weapons and shields were drawn and held at the ready, as those that had managed to regain their bearings the fastest weren’t gifted with swords that could be used as light sources.
“Who’s dead!?” Wind called out, having been one of the first to find his feet after the fall, sword and shield at the ready, green eyes darting around as he searched for a threat, struggling to see, to tell friend from foe. If there even was a threat at all. His foot slid back, searching for a hand, boot, arm, body of any kind behind him. His eyes widened when he felt nothing behind him, when he swept his foot back, feeling in vain for anything near him without stepping back in case he ended stepping on someone or worse tripping over them. “Who’s awake!?” He demanded, louder this time when all he could hear was the roaring of blood in his ears and the sound of his own rapidly beating heart.
The sailor fought off a fresh wave of panic that crept up his throat when his words were met with silence. “Guys?” he tried again, voice wavering as he lowered it as his mind realized that it wouldn’t do well to give away his location to the enemy if he didn’t have to.
“BEHIND YOU SAILOR!” Came the shout from somewhere on his left. He didn’t hesitate to follow the order, spinning around on his heel and blocking the attack with his own blade.
He expected a monster to lunge at him from the shadows, not a girl who couldn’t be any older than Aryll wielding a glowing sword that illuminated the area around them.
At the increase of light and visibility the rest of the Chain, those who were awake, scrambled to their feet, a few were already on their feet but had been just as blind as Wind, just as hesitant to move, because they had no idea where the rest of them were and if any of them were hurt.
Those awake turned towards the sound of clashing blades. A disoriented Sky moved to intercept, raising Fi in warning as he held her aloft at the girl’s neck, only to jerk his hand back with a pained hiss as Fi burned him. This resulted in the Chosen Hero dropping the Master Sword and Fi landed at the girl’s feet.
Realization dawned in the stranger’s midnight blue eyes, and she allowed him to push her back, using his momentum to kick herself backwards out of his sword's reach. The sword in her hands glowed brighter before it erupted into white flames that chased away the shadows that surrounded them.
Allowing them all to see that some others were closer than they thought. Not everyone was awake, half of their group was still down.
To see the girl with the holy sword.
And for the girl to see that she was sorely outnumbered.
Her boot slid back, as her eyes darted to each of the Heroes who were awake, to the ones that were still out, she was counting them, Wind realized, as those midnight blues became less sure, more fearful.
It was at that moment, he took a good look at her, her clothes were torn and bloody, the sword in her hands was bloody, her hands too were bloodstained, although Wind couldn’t tell if they were from injuries or just stained red in blood that wasn’t hers. Finally, his gaze landed on her face, blood trickled down from small cuts and she had a bad bruise on her jaw and another on her temple.
Her eyes landed back on him, the fear in her eyes was heart wrenching but he blinked once, and she broke eye contact and bolted for the entrance that he hadn’t seen. “Wait!” He begged, darting after her without thinking, probably because she looked so young, and she reminded him of his little sister, even if her hair wasn’t the same sun-bleached blonde as Aryll’s and her eyes weren’t mirrors of his own but instead a dark blue like Legend’s. “We won’t hurt you!” He called again, even though it sounded so much like a lie given what Sky had just done. He knew they must have looked scary at that moment. The only ones awake had been Time, Twilight, Wild, Sky and himself. Time, Twilight, and Wild didn’t exactly give off friendly vibes and Sky had literally threatened her with a sword at her throat. He’d run too, if he’d been in her boots.
She hadn’t gotten far though as Wild blew past him, catching the girl’s sword arm before she even reached the bend to dart through the exit. Mostly to keep her from swinging her still ignited blade at them but it was also done to force her to stop in her tracks, no matter how much she struggled, the Champion didn’t let go of her arm. Giving Wind plenty of time to dart in front of her to cut off her escape route.
The thinly veiled threats and curses that tumbled out of her mouth as she struggled to get the long-haired Champion to let her go weren’t in Hylian Common.
They were in Rito.
Zelda didn’t regret her choice but upon reaching the first room of this dark labyrinth, she was starting to wonder if she’d bit off more than she could chew. What would she do when she found her best friend? How would she get him out of this hellhole? She slowed down, steps instinctively silencing when sounds reached her ears. Listening harder, she learned that whoever that was, was speaking but it was impossible to make out whatever the one was saying. The only thing she could discern was only one voice, not multiple. She peeked around the corner, she couldn’t see anything, but someone was definitely there. They were still talking, still yelling. There were no other sounds. Which meant the thing inside was alone. Zelda adjusted her grip on her sword, holding it like Sheik had taught her. She had no idea if the thing inside was an illusion or a monster. It could be one or the other or it could even be both. Who knows what sort of traps laid hidden in the dark?
”Do not hesitate once you decide to do something.” Sheik urged. “Be patient but not rash. Wait until you are certain your course of action is a good one.” He continued; Zelda could practically feel his hand on her shoulder. ”One wrong move will give away the element of surprise. Remember the shadows are your ally, use them to your advantage.” She could hear him coaching her as he was right there, standing behind her as she got ready to do yet another stupidly reckless thing. It seemed like doing reckless things is all she could do since she learned the location of Ganon’s lair. Since she learned where Link was being held. All rational thought mostly went out the window and had only returned to her once she found herself face to face with the monster, no, that was an insult to monsters because even monsters had morals. Ganon was not a man, nor a rito, nor a gerudo, no, he was an abomination, the demon who held Link against his will. The demon who had taken Link from them in the first place.
The voice yelled even louder than before but she couldn’t tell what it was saying. It was speaking in a language she had no knowledge of and hadn’t sounded like anything she’d never heard before. It didn’t sound like a monster either… not that she knew what a lot of different monsters sounded like. But what else could it be? Maybe it was an illusion that Ganon had put on the room to scare her? Whatever it was, she needed to make a decision and hurry up! It must be one of the illusions that Ganon put around Link to stall for time in case of intruders. I have to be getting close to wherever Ganon has Link! She slipped through the entrance, keeping to the left wall, straining her ears to listen for what she couldn’t see. A scuffle of a boot on the floor that wasn’t hers. It dragged along the ground, but it had been enough for her to pinpoint its location. The sword would help her find it in the dark. I can’t waste any more time! Link needs me! I need to find him! I need to hurry! She urged herself. Steeling herself before she willed her blade to glow, casting away the shadows in front of her. She slashed at the figure in front of her as soon as she saw them. Her brain was not catching up to what her eyes were seeing as she lashed out on instinct.
Another unfamiliar voice yelled out a warning in the same language this one was using. Zelda’s sword didn’t cut through flesh and bone but instead was caught by another blade and she couldn’t have been more relieved in that moment because she didn’t want to kill someone who didn’t deserve to die. Yes, she killed Ganon, but he deserved it, because he was worse than the monsters he ruled over. With her intentions to fight dulling, the sword in her hands acted on its own, intending to find its true master and to protect its temporary one from Ganon’s darkness infested labyrinth. The person she locked blades with was older than she was but not old enough to be Sheik’s age. White flames burst from the sword’s blade, not with the intent to burn but to cast away the darkness that surrounded them, to cast light.
As the light cast away the darkness, it would have blinded her as it did to the strangers around her, but it did not, for it would never blind the one it was bound to, temporary their partnership may be. Zelda froze when she felt a cold steel bite at her neck, a warning to not move. Her eyes flickered from the older teen she had locked blades with, to the man who held the blade at her throat. She could do nothing except tilt her head back just so that she wasn’t in danger of losing her life. The sword wielder’s blue eyes widened in pain? The sword was jerked away from her throat, a pained cry leaving the teen’s lips, as he took several steps backwards and the sword clattered to the floor at her feet. Her eyes jerked back to boy’s but not before she managed to see several people behind and around them, mostly on his side of the room. She was unable to help herself as her eyes left her opponent’s and landed on his companions, even those unconscious before they landed back on the boy. Eight… counting him… Nine… Hylia am I ever outnumbered! She remembered Sheik’s warning. "Running is not cowardice. Retreat if you find yourself outnumbered or in over your head. Never let your pride be the reason you throw your life away when you can live to fight another day.”
Such sound advice.
That she was so listening to.
Her foot slid back, a tell that she really needed to stop advising and she used the other’s momentum to kick herself backwards, putting distance between herself and them. She knew she must have looked scared but how could she not be. She was scared. Scared for herself, but most importantly she was scared for Link! She didn’t sheath her sword and instead bolted for the exit, even as that young voice called to her in a language she couldn’t hope to understand. He yelled louder this time, and if she dared to believe her ears, it sounded like a plea. She heard footsteps behind her and forced herself to speed up. They're chasing me!? She realized, icy panic running down her veins. Panic that only increased tenfold when a hand closed around her wrist and jerked her to a stop with an ease that made her feel so weak.
Worst yet, the hand had closed around the wrist that held the White Sword and she could do nothing but struggle against the stranger’s hold. Her eyes locked with crystal blue and then ocean blue as the boy from earlier darted in front of her and her capture. Vile words that her mother would never want her so much as uttering spilled from her lips. Curses and threats that Sheik constantly said, and those had increased in color and frequency when Ganon started taunting them with their missing Hero’s bloody feathers. Taunting not just her mother, not just the Hylians and the Sheikah he shared blood and family but every race, everyone that Link had touched with his kindness, friendliness and charm. Threats and curses that Sheik didn’t give a damn if she repeated when she was training with him, they were especially used when she failed one too many times for her own liking.
“Let me go, you bastard! You’ll regret this! I swear you will! I don’t have time for this bullshit! Let. Me. Fucking. Go!”
In other situations, their stunned expressions would have been hilarious, but right now. Zelda really couldn’t care less. She had important things to do, and these people were holding her up!
What happened next though, stunned her into silence.
A single coo had left the scarred one’s lips.
What are the chances that these strangers actually spoke Rito?!
Her eyes narrowed when she heard it, that one syllable held so much more than what one assumed it did. It held multiple questions and assurances in just one little sound.
"Please stop struggling. We mean you no harm. We only wish to help you. You're hurt! I'll let you go when you aren't going to run! Why are you in a hurry? Why are you pressed for time? What are you doing here, Fledgling?"
Zelda did not cease her struggling and she didn’t give him any answers and instead snapped back with questions of her own. “What’s it to you! Who are you!? How do I know you aren’t lying!? That you aren’t working for Ganon?! How can I trust you?! How do I know you aren’t just trying to stall me from finding Link!?”
Link is the one who knew everyone whether that meant he was actual friends with them or knew them as acquaintances. It was still amazing to her how he knew everyone and could remember everyone’s names without any trouble. Zelda herself didn’t even know half the people he did, she didn’t get as much free time as he did, she had duties she had to fulfill as the crown princess. She did know that Link would have told her all about these strangers if he had met them before, Link was always telling her (and Sheik) all about the people he met. It’s how she knew so many people even if she didn’t remember everyone Link told her about, she wasn’t terrible with names, but she was horrible about putting names to faces of people she never met before, even if Link could give her the most detailed description ever. It just didn’t register until she actually met the people Link was telling her about.
It was the boy who was speaking now. His chirping was less harsh than the scarred one's. "We really don't want to fight with you. We want to help you and Link!"
"And we certainly don't work for Ganon." Came the other's call and boy did he ever sound offended by the accusations thrown at them.
Zelda didn't want to trust them, and in fact she honestly didn't. Mainly because she still had no clue who they were and what they were doing here. No one should have been able to get in here without using the front door! So how in Hylia's name did they get in front of her?! And this could all still be a means of stalling for time, by making her chat with these people while Link was somewhere in this maze, possibly dying.
“I’m Wind.” the boy said, pointing to himself before gesturing towards the scarred teen that still wouldn’t let her go. “He’s Wild.”
Zelda grits her teeth, wondering what her older brother would do in this situation. He’d probably give no answers… but she remembered what he’d whispered into her ear when she’d refused to accept his help when she found herself in a peculiar situation that involved a broken wing. “Everyone needs help sometimes, Zelda. We aren’t invincible. No one is, even if the Gorons, Sheikah and Gerudo seem like it. We Rito are extremely prideful. We don’t know where we got it from or why we feel the way we do at times, but we need to live with our pridefulness and figure out when to set it aside and ask for help when we need it, when we are in over our heads. And you, Fledgling are in over your head. Yes, that Sword picked you, but you don’t need to do everything alone. You’re making a mistake. Now, let me help you.”
She took a breath, forcing her pride aside, adrenaline draining away, leaving her without a leg to stand on. She realized she had made a grave mistake coming here alone. Yes, she had been trained in sword fighting, unarmed combat and magic. Yes, she had won, but she knew how to win and how to use the sword’s abilities. Link hadn’t been trained, hadn’t known how to use the White Sword’s abilities and that was why he had been captured without being able to put up a fight when Ganon had sent his monsters after him and his father. Stop being stupid, Zelda! You are the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom… She scolded herself, slowly realizing just how much her body ached, really ached, she looked down at the sword’s reflection of her face, seeing just what she looked like. She could see (and feel) the injuries that she’d been ignoring since her fight with Ganon. Since his words had lit a fire under her, making her rash and stupid, panicked and paranoid, angry and worried beyond belief. Running into these strangers had just been the tipping point of it all.
Slowly, she uncurled her fingers from the White Sword and let it clatter to the ground, the sound echoing around them. The light from the sword, however, didn't dim even without her holding it.
She went limp in Wild’s grasp and the older teen lowered her to the floor. She whispered the truth she’d been denying for the last few hours. “I am Zelda… and I am in desperate need of help.” unaware of the tears that had gathered at her eyes and spilled down her cheeks at the admission.
Wind kneeled down in front of her, biting his lip to keep from crying with her. Her desperate plea resonated not just with him but with Wild as well, who was kneeling down behind her, letting go of her wrist so that he could twist to the right and started digging through his bag for something. Probably a potion or something sweeter like a fairy tonic, kids liked sweet things.
“Zelda. What do you need help with?” the Sailor asked careful to keep his voice soft, like he did with Aryll when she was upset and crying.
“I-I-I…” she bit her lip to silence her stuttering.
Without anything to go on yet, Wind started picking apart what she’d told them, what she’d practically yelled at them. “You said you were in a hurry. Why is that?”
“N-need t-to f-f-find…” Wind immediately regretted asking because it just turned up the waterworks. Her hand pressed against her mouth to muffle the sobs that left her lips, as a lump formed in her throat. Making her incapable of answering any more questions.
Wind could have smacked himself as he remembered what she’d said just moments ago. “You need to find Link?” The gears in his head were turning at her shaky nod. His attention shifted to Wild who was spending more time than necessary digging through his bag, as their eyes met, Wind knew exactly why Wild was taking so long. He was trying to give Zelda some semblance of privacy to compose herself.
Wind decides to give her that privacy despite how much he’d rather try and comfort her. This Zelda wasn’t his little sister, and he wasn’t sure how comfortable she’d be from getting comfort from a stranger. He instead slowly and carefully got to his feet, walking around the two back to where the others were gathered around Legend and Four who were just finishing up potions to heal a nasty gash on the veteran’s temple and the smith’s broken wrist. Sky was already putting an empty bottle away, the burn from the Master Sword fading as the potion took effect. The Master Sword was sheathed at his back.
“So that girl,” he started waiting to have most of the group’s undivided attention before he continued. “She’s Zelda and Link’s somewhere in here.”
“You got all that from those bird sounds?”
“Yes.” Wind huffed, rolling his eyes, “she’s speaking Rito.”
“Whatever happened to Hylian Common?”
“Maybe it died out?”
“That’s weird. How would an entire language just die out?”
“We all kept our Hylian Common even though it’s changed depending on the era we are in.”
“Or maybe we can just ask her later? You know when she’s not crying her eyes out?!”
“What did you do to make her cry?”
“Nothing!” He snapped, throwing his arms up at the accusation. He lowered his voice a second later when he took a breath to calm himself. “She’s just overwhelmed with everything.” Hell, he was overwhelmed, and he was only some stranger to her.
“Chill Sailor, I was just joking.“
“Was it a wise idea to leave Wild with her?”
“He’s good with kids.”
“The rancher’s better with kids than anyone here but he can’t do much if he can’t understand her!”
“Wind.” Time cut in, silencing the banter before it could continue. “What did the Princess say specifically about Link?”
“She said-“ Wind started only to be cut off by a snarky comment.
“More like screeched.”
“Legend.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up.”
“She said!” Wind stressed the words, raising his voice to be heard over the din. “That Link is here somewhere, and she has to find him. Quickly.”
Wind didn’t miss the looks exchanged by Warriors, Time, Twilight and Sky before their attention focused back on him.
“Wind, try and get more information out of her...”
“But do it gently, I know.”
“And once she’s calmed down enough, bring her to us. Then we can all be on the same page, so that she knows we are all in agreement with wanting to help her.”
“Aye aye, Captain.” Wind crowed with a mocking salute, before he walked away returning to where he’d left Wild and Zelda.
Once Wind left, Warriors turned to their leader, his expression grave as he took in the area, they were in. Stone walls, ceiling and floor, two ways of exit, one of which led to a flight of stairs leading down, the other to the hallway Zelda had tried to bolt through, one that must have led to the only exit in this place. The constant oppressive darkness wasn’t lost on him either. This was no dungeon. “Time.”
“Yes?” Came the reply, as the oldest Hero turned to the captain.
“Something tells me this isn’t going to be as simple as it has been in the past.”
“I have the same feeling.”
“This area is the upper floor of a prison.”
“How do you know that?”
“…I’ve had to rescue men who have been captured by the enemy before. Strongholds that have holding cells for prisoners sometimes look like this.”
“Have you been captured before?”
“No.” Warriors lied, already turning away from the group, his scarf flapping with the swift motion as his attention was drawn to the exit that led down to the lower levels. How many floors were below them? How far down did they have to go before they found Link? “Prisoners are usually kept at the lowest levels, but that isn’t always the case, so we’ll need to search each floor.”
“That’s going to take forever…”
“Then it’ll take ‘forever’!” came the growler from the captain, turning to glare at the Vet who had issued the complaint. “But we aren’t leaving here without Link, even if it means we can only bring back his body.”
At that sobering, depressing declaration, one that was only met with hardened stares and rigid nods of agreement. Everyone here had fought Ganon or someone similar in Four’s case with the Wind Mage Vaati and Sky had fought a literal demon known as Demise. They all knew how vicious Ganon could be when he wanted something.
By the time Wind returned to Zelda and Wild, Zelda was no longer crying, her mask back in place despite the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. In her hand was an uncorked Fairy Tonic, one that Wild was trying to coax her to drink, by telling her exactly what it was, what it would do, what was in it and how fairies helped him make it.
Apparently, she still was still rightfully wary of them. Even when she dared to ask for their help and had trusted them with bits of information for them to puzzle out for themselves. Her scared mind wasn’t ready to be settled just yet and it might never be, not until they found her Link.
“Wild!” came the call from the mouth of the entryway, that had Wind whipping his head around so fast he was worried he might have broken his own neck. When had he been followed!?
“Time needs to speak to you.” came the rest of the sentence, which only had Wild’s ear twitching in response before the scarred hero replied back in Hylian Common. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
When Wind turned his head from Legend to Wild and Zelda, he saw that Wild’s hand was the only reason the fairy tonic hadn’t been spilled or dropped, because Zelda had startled just as badly as he had.
Wild slowly got up to his feet, setting the tonic on the ground in front of Zelda. “I expect that to be gone by the time I get back.” he gave the soft order, trying to mimic Hyrule’s bedside manner.
The dead stare the Princess gave him sent Wind sniggering as he tried to smother it with his hand. As the two passed each other, Wild signed to him now that he wasn't in danger of being seen by Zelda and possibly causing her to get the wrong idea. ‘Make sure she drinks it.’ Wind nodded seriously, only to break his serious character for a more lighthearted one once Zelda’s eyes landed on him.
Wind settled down a respectable distance away. “Sorry Legend startled you.” Wind started easily sliding into Rito, hoping to distract her enough that she’d decide to drink the tonic on her own without his prompting.
Zelda’s gaze hadn’t left Legend’s retreating form now that his job of snagging Wild was done. “It’s fine. I’m just jumpy.” and she wasn’t exactly lying either, even Wind could tell that. “What did he want?”
“He just wanted Wild for a second. Time wanted to speak to him.”
“I see.” Wind tried not to let his grin show as Zelda’s hand wrapped around the lip of the bottle. “Is he in trouble?” she frowned in confusion, trying to puzzle out which one was Time. “Which one is that?”
“No, he shouldn’t be.” Wind shook his head and he meant that, Wild really shouldn’t be in trouble. Time probably just wanted to talk to him about Zelda like he had with him. “Time is the one in full armor. He’s the scary one, he’s got a scar over his left eye and blue and red markings on his face?”
Zelda visibly shivered as she recalled the man’s expressionless face and terrifying glare when her eyes had landed on his own from over Wind’s blade and shoulder. “Oh.”
“But” Wind burst out suddenly, trying to get her mind off of how scary their leader was and how scary he must have looked in that moment that they had locked eyes. "He's a big softie as you'll see once you've spent some time with him." Wind hurried to reassure her. "We’ve agreed to help you find Link, but we need to know more about him.”
“… He's one month younger than me.”
“And how old are you?”
“Nine.”
“So that makes Link eight?”
“No, he’s nine too. He’s been held here for six months.”
“I see.” Wind barely kept his own mask up, as horror slowly dawned on him at the admission of just how young they were hit him. “What does he look like?” Wind asking, trying to keep his brain from going into a downward spiral of just how young they were! Trying to stop himself from thinking of the worst-case scenarios when he learned just how long Link had been here. Here in this darkness, always at Ganon’s mercy.
Zelda absently lifted the bottle to her nose, sniffing at the contents within. Wind gave himself a pat on the back as she continued to speak, “He’s got lavender purple hair and eyes and pale skin? He’s also pretty short? I’m taller than him.” she grinned a bit at that, tipping the bottle gently back, so that only a small portion of the potion spilled into her mouth. Her eyes lit up, surprised at the taste. Within seconds she had downed the rest of the tonic. Her injuries are healing but she hardly paid that any mind. In fact, she was already getting to her feet and picking up the sword she had dropped earlier.
Wind scrambled to his own, in part because he wasn’t expecting her to stand so quickly but mainly because his mind was still spinning with what he’d learned. How limited that information was. He wasn’t even sure if he got anything useful out of her, but he’d tell Wars, Time and Twilight anyway.
Zelda was looking back at him with a smirk before she walked ahead of him, leaving Wind staring after her because in that moment he didn’t see Zelda, he saw Tetra. “Warrior Princess indeed.” he muttered to himself, making a mental note to tell Tetra about this Zelda and that she was the one to kill Ganon, not the Hero. She’d get a kick out of it, of that, he was sure.
By the time he got over to where she was standing, she had already stopped in front of Time, Warriors, Twilight and Wild, handing the scarred hero his bottle back. “Wind said you’re all in agreement to help me find Link?” and Wild was the one who translated for her, rather than him.
Warriors caught his eye and quietly left the group to go snag Wind’s arm before he could join the group. “What did you learn?” he asked, lowering his voice.
“She’s fucking nine!” Wind burst out, letting himself get dragged along, not bothering to watch his mouth and Wars didn’t even scold him for swearing in front of the young princess. From the gasps somewhere off to the side, a few others were listening in on this, but Wind didn’t care, this wasn’t exactly a secret nor was it a private conversation.
If Wind would have looked up from his glaring contest with the floor, he would have seen the man’s face twisting into anger, brows furrowed down as he asked, tone clipped. “And Link?”
“They’re the same age!” came the angry hiss from the young pirate. “He’s exactly one month younger than her and he’s been here for six months already.”
Warriors let go of Wind’s arm as if his limb had suddenly burst into flames. “Six months?” he asked for clarification, even though he knew he had heard Wind correctly.
“Yes. Link’s been here for six months.”
“We need to find him.” Came the whisper and the only reason Wind heard it at all was because he was standing next to the captain. “We’re wasting too much time as it is.”
“Obvi-” the sailor started only to cut himself off when he looked up just in time to see the frantic look in the war veteran’s cerulean eyes (the very same look that had been in Zelda’s when they’d clashed blades) and the look of horror on the man’s face that was swiftly replaced by a stoic mask, raising his voice to be heard by everyone.
“Time, we need to get moving.” It wasn’t Wind who issued the order, it was the captain himself.
And just like that, they were all ready to descend into the pitch black of the lower levels of the prison with Warriors, Wild and Sky in the front, followed by Legend and Hyrule, then Wind, Zelda and Four, while Time and Twilight brought up the rear. This was done, mainly so that Zelda’s sword could be used as a light source, and partly to keep her in the middle to protect her. Not that she needed it. It was just that she was the youngest one in their midst.
They’d descended down three flights of stairs and searched all three floors before they realized that the sword Zelda was holding kept getting brighter the further, they went down.
It was finally Four who commented on it. “Why is your sword getting brighter?”
Wind was content with his role as translator, becoming a buffer between the two.
Zelda saw no reason to hide the truth from them. They had weapons of their own. Why would they try and take hers? “It’s called the Sacred White Sword.” she started. “It was created by the White Goddess, or at least that’s what the Sheikah Stories say.” she held the sword up, careful not to point it at anyone as they descended down the fourth set of stairs. The sword acts as a torch so that one wouldn’t miss a stair and send not only themselves but possibly the rest of those behind them tumbling down the stairs.
“I see.” The smithy paused. “Did it choose you like the Master Sword chooses its wielder?”
“What’s the Master Sword?”
“The Master Sword. It's the sword Sky pointed at you earlier. It burned him when he turned it on you, that’s why he dropped it before.”
“Hmm.” she pressed her lips in thought, not able to see the man or sword in question with three other bodies in the way that were walking single file. “Yes, it does, it burns those it touches when one isn’t worthy of the sword. It didn’t choose me first. I am merely its temporary master. It's true master is Link.”
“I see.” Zelda was mildly annoyed that she couldn’t see the shorter teen’s expression, but they were all heading down stairs so she just had to deal with it. “Do you think it’s responding to Link?”
His response had her freezing in place as her mind whirled, eyes flickering to the sword in her hand and the smithy who kept walking not realizing the bomb he’d just stepped on. She hadn’t even realized she’d made the men behind her stop until a hand was placed on her shoulder. It felt too large to be Wind’s, so it must have been Twilight or Time, as they were the only one’s behind them. The gentle prompting came in a tongue of familiar Sheikah and she found herself following the words without realizing that she actually understood them. “Maybe? It’s lit up like it’s doing now and can create holy fire, but it’s never acted like a beacon before.”
The short teen who was taller than she was stopped when the light didn’t reach a certain stair, only continuing when light spilled down again. “Want to test that theory?”
It was too dangerous to turn around and look at the men behind her, so instead she continued her descent after Four, even though her mind whirled with the two shocking revelations, her response to the smithy was slow, more uncertain than she wanted it to be. “Sure, but how?”
“Maybe just try going back to the stairs once we get to the fourth level? We can see if the glow changes.”
She’d only managed to shake off the fact that Time knew Sheikah and give a better response to the one she was conversing with. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll try it when we get there. Thanks… um.” she paused, realizing belatedly that she didn’t know his name.
“Four.” Wind supplied from her left, holding a finger to stop Four from commenting just yet.
Embarrassment crept along her cheeks and ear tips as she continued what she had paused in saying. “Thank you, Four.”
“You’re welcome, Zelda.”
As soon as they reached the end of the stairs Zelda whirled on Time, accidentally causing him to box in Twilight on the stairs who was just behind him. “You speak Sheikah?”
“Yes.” amusement shone in his eye when he felt more than saw Twilight struggle to look over his shoulder at what or who had caused him to stop so abruptly.
“...Does anyone else know it?” she hesitated to ask the question.
“Excluding me, three of the others do know Sheikah.”
“I see. Thanks.” With her question answered she went back to where Four and Wind were waiting. It wasn’t until she got to them that she realized something important. It took every ounce of poise to not slap her hand to her face. Ugh… I never asked him which ones knew it! Something must have given her away though because Wind had abandoned his quiet discussion with Four to come over to her.
“Is something wrong?”
“No. I just didn’t ask something I should have.”
“Do you-” Wind started only to cease when she held up a hand to stop him, a method she’s seen her mother use time and again when she was done with the conversation.
“No. It’s not important right now. Let's test Four’s theory.” Her grip on the White Sword tightened, turning her head just so she could peek over her shoulder and saw that no one was around the stairs. They were all busy searching the maze of passageways that had opened up upon reaching the fourth floor, each one leading to a different room. They couldn’t leave without checking them all, even if the entryway to the stairs leading down was sitting in plain sight at the other end of the room, parallel with the flight of stairs that went up. So, it was just Four, Wind and her in the central area.
The sword kept glowing even as she turned around, the glowing didn’t dim in the slightest. At least not until she took a step back toward the stairs leading up. That’s when it dimmed.
“Take a few more steps to the stairs.” Four said, as Wind translated.
Zelda did as she was told without any prompting.
After a few more times of turning around and walking back and forth toward one set of stairs to the other. It became very apparent that the sword was indeed a beacon.
“Amazing!” The awe from Four’s voice wasn’t lost on the princess, as Four kept speaking, a hand going to chin as he thought out loud. “We need to tell the others, this could cut down the time it takes to search every room, especially if the remaining floors are like these labyrinths.”
She was not expecting Wind to suddenly raise his voice to shout something in Hylian Common after he’d relayed what Four had said to her.
“What is it, Sailor?” came the question from Warriors, who was returning with Wild right behind him. The others showed up not too long after.
“Zelda’s sword acts like a beacon! It got dimmer when she went to the stairs leading up but brighter when she went to stairs leading deeper into this labyrinth.” Wind answered in Hylian Common.
And she only knew that because of Wild, who had seen the confusion in her eyes and had translated for her, so that she wasn't left out of the loop.
Zelda felt a bit flustered and silly at having so many eyes without warning, and only demonstrated this when Four prompted her to do so with a go-ahead gesture.
“So, the sword is reacting to Link?”
Four nodded, “It looks that way.”
“That’s great and all but why haven’t we run into any guards?”
Zelda stared blankly at Legend until Wild translated his question, when Wind had stopped translating to tell Four something. “Oh, That’s easy.” She waved off the question. “It’s because this is Ganon’s Labyrinth and he sent them out when I entered the throne room, something about them getting in the way?”
Wind’s gasp of “what?!” Answered for all of them.
Zelda tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. “Did you not know this?” She frowned in confusion before asking the question that’s been nagging at her since she ran into them. “How did you get in here anyway? There’s only one entrance and exit to this place and there’s no way you could have gotten here from the throne room. It only opened after Ganon was dead.”
“Bwa…” Came Wind’s intelligent answer, as his brain struggled to figure out what to say to that.
Time was quick to cut in to get the group back on track, but his words weren’t in Hylian Common but Sheikah. “Questions for another time, Princess.”
The sword’s hilt in her hand had turned from warm to hot, -but not hot enough to burn- as if it agreed with Time. “Right… we can discuss this later.” She muttered back in Sheikah, running a nervous hand through her blood-streaked locks.
That little quip had sent the heroes into a tangent.
“She speaks Sheikah?!”
“You didn’t realize that from her attire?”
“I thought she was just trained by the Sheikah.”
“Clearly not.” came the scoff.
“At least that will make communicating with her easier.”
“Better than bird speech.”
Zelda tried not to pay attention to the hopefully playful argument going on in front of her. She was curious to see this type of banter happen before her. And the only reason she understood any of it was because Wind was chirping in her ear. Her ears kept flicking back even as Time pressed a hand on the small of her back to go on ahead, ushering Wind and Four down the stairs with her. Warriors had already vanished down the stairs as Time fell into step just behind them.
“How are they going to see without the White Sword?” she asked, as the light from the White Sword vanished from the room and instead lit up the winding staircase.
The laughter from both Wind and Four surprised her. “They won’t.”
Time wasn’t too concerned about leaving them to bumble around in the dark either. They had their own light sources they could use and there weren’t any monsters or guards, so Time had no reason to be wary of leaving anyone behind.
She frowned in concern before shrugging. If Time nor the one, they call Warriors wasn’t worried then she shouldn’t be either. For now, her priority was to find Link and Warriors was already ahead of them.
Kill me and find out the fate of your precious Hero, Princess. came the whisper directly into her ear and a shiver ran violently down her spine as she picked up her pace to slip past Four and Wind to try and match the pace set by Warriors. If there really were no monsters here, which was strange in and of itself, even though she'd seen them leave with her own eyes, then there was no danger. They didn’t have to be so cautious. The dark was an obstacle, but it was nothing to a Sheikah, the darkness was an ally for any Sheikah, even those that weren’t Shadow Guards and she had been trained by the best of the best in how to navigate the dark with and without a light source.
Which meant, she could be as reckless as she wanted to be.
The rest of the floors were a breeze because with the sword literally lighting the way, they could bypass the sprawling mazes, including the ones that formed from the ceiling of all places. They had been able to pass all ten floors and had just reached the eleventh. The spiraling staircase not leading them to an open room but instead a single hallway that was just as dark as the rest of this infernal place. The Sacred White Sword however was glowing at its brightest, casting away the darkness by lighting up the entire area, casting harsh shadows on the walls from the stairs and from their own.
They treated the hallway with as much caution as Princess Zelda dared to show… which was absolute zilch.
Zelda rushed ahead with Wars hot in her heels, yelling at her to wait.
Warriors manages to grab her wrist, and pivots on his heel so that his back is against the exit of the small hallway that would lead them to Link. His hold on her wrist tightens when she jerks back in an attempt to get him to release her. He’s not looking at her though, his eyes are focused past her head at the others who have all stopped. Once he was certain no one was going to try and get past him and even still he held up the ‘wait’ sign. Only once they all nodded or affirmed in some sort of agreement to his order, his attention went back to Zelda.
“Do you really want to see him in this state?”
“Yes.”
“No, you don’t.” The Hero of Warriors was quick to shut her down. “If you see him now, the image of whatever has happened to him will scar you for the rest of your life. It’s better for the both of you if you don’t see him like that.”
Warriors narrowed his eyes when midnight blue glared into his own. “I don’t believe you.” her resolve wasn’t crumbling but instead hardening. “I need to see him for myself.”
He realized he’d have to level with her if he was going to get anywhere. He raised a hand and rested it firmly on her shoulder, kneeling down to keep her eyes on him. “I have been in your position before, and I wish I hadn’t seen what I did. So please, let me spare you that experience.” as he gave her time to process what he’d just said and waited for the fight to leave her eyes before he continued speaking. “We will take care of Link.” Warriors let go of her wrist, removing his hand on her shoulder to remove his scarf. He wound it around her neck several times so that it fit her height and wouldn’t drag on the ground. “That scarf is very important to me. I’m letting you keep it until we bring Link back to you.”
Zelda slowly nodded her head in reluctant agreement. “Then what should I do?” as she whispered her question.
“Wait here.” He told her gently, before turning his attention to the rest of the Chain. “You will all wait here.” That command gave the older ones pause, because they'd only seen Warriors this serious once before when Twilight had been fighting for his life two months ago. Warriors held up a hand to silence the protests before they could even start. He leveled them all with a look that rivaled the old man’s. It was then the younger heroes realized that they weren't dealing with Wars but instead Captain Link, the war veteran. “I want to spare as many of you as possible this experience. I know that you’re all heroes, but not all of you are soldiers. I’m going to get an idea of what we’re looking at. Then I can decide who’s doing what from there on.”
No one could refute him, not even Time, instead their leader nodded. “Very well. We will remain here.”
Warriors nodded before turning and waking into the room, the light from the sacred sword that had imbedded itself into the ground spilling into the room and giving him more than enough light to see with.
With Warriors gone it was Time who took his place to keep the others from following. Not that he thought they would disobey the order, but all Heroes were too curious for their own good.
Nothing could have prepared him for this.
He’d seen cells before. He’d seen torture chambers before. He’d saved more men than he can count from situations just like this.
But he had never seen a child go through something like this before.
Who needed bars and cages when you could just nail your enemy to the wall? Warriors watched as Link’s bare chest rose and fell, confirming that the kid was indeed alive.
He sprinted back to the others, even though they were only a few steps away, around the corner.
His hand landed on Time's shoulder with a little more force than necessary as he barked out names.
“Time, Legend, Twilight, Hyrule, Wild. You're with me.“
'What about the rest of us?"
"The rest of you search your bags and ours for any fairies we might have on hand, as well as blood, healing and magic potions." Warriors was already pulling out his power bracelet and first aid kit as he spoke. Setting his bag down in front of Zelda, mentioning for the others to do the same.
Twilight removed his pelt along with his bag, and Wild had put his bag down by Zelda, having only needed his slate. Legend took a little longer, but he was quick, hastily grabbing what he needed and kicked his bag over to the wall and out of the way. His fingers and wrists were bare of his numerous rings and bangles.
Warriors didn't wait for them to finish and turned his attention back to the cell. He began to walk, throwing some advice over his shoulder; "Breathe through your mouth, not your nose."
"Why is that?"
"The smell alone will make you vomit."
"Thanks for the warning."
"And try not to look too long. It won't help any of us."
"...Right."
"And for what it's worth..." The war veteran's stoic face softened, "I'm sorry you all have to see this."
Just how bad was it, that their veteran soldier was acting so unlike himself? That he had to return to that captain's facade, slipping back into a military mindset, that they knew he'd rather have left behind him?
Time's hand landed on his shoulder, "It's alright Captain. Lead the way."
"Right. Prepare yourselves. We'll need to act quickly."
So, they entered the cell, which wasn't even a cell, it was the final room on this floor. Warriors was right, the smell was rancid but the sight before them was much worse. There was a large puddle underneath Link and spread out more than it should have been able to. The wall behind the kid was worse than the floor, smeared with blood. Suspended seven feet from the ground was Link, nailed to the wall with thick, large nails in his shoulders down the length of his arms and ended with a nail in the center of both his hands. His legs and feet had suffered the same fate. It was impossible to tell where new wounds met old ones. His hair wasn't faring any better, not with large chunks of it missing leaving bleeding bald spots no child should have. The only redeeming thing was that he was still wearing pants but those were ruined to the point where they were unsalvageable and likely would need to be burned.
"I said we need to act quickly!" Warriors barked out. "Hyrule, Legend, prepare the potions and fairies. Wild, you'll have to use your slate to get those nails out. Be careful! We don't want him bleeding out. Time, I need you to spot him, tell him when to cut it off. Twilight and I will need to catch him."
That jerked the rest of them out of their morbid musings and they hurried to do as they were ordered. Twilight hurried over to the captain who had passed Time his first aid kid and gestured to it being set over where Hyrule and Legend were. It was the captain who stepped into the blood pool first, power bracelet on his bicep and only after a whispered prayer did Twilight join him, wading through the slick, dirty liquid that was definitely not all blood.
"Whatever you do, rancher. Do NOT drop him." came the warning, as the war veteran looked up and then moved further to the wall, mentioning Twilight to the same and to stand closer. "We're ready over here. What about the rest of you?"
Hyrule and Legend carefully juggled their respective loads that they'd gotten from their own bags and were setting them down away from the blood pool but also out of sight of the hallway. Their chosen space on the floor was covered by a towel, which was as sanitary as they were going to get. Hopefully it'd be enough to make a difference. Time had come over and set down the captain's first aid kit before returning to his post by the wall where Link hung but out of range of getting his boots dirty from the foul liquid.
"We're ready over here, Wars!" Hyrule called.
Wild's ear twitched as his fingers tapped on his Sheikah slate. A yellow light shot out of the device, and he carefully pointed the slate up, until the light was hovering fully over Link. Wild swallowed, forcing his voice to remain steady as he gave the verbal signal that he too was ready.
Wild met the war veteran's eyes and as soon as the elder nodded to him, Wild braced himself and pulled the slate slowly back to him. There was more resistance than he was prepared to deal with. He had to give the slate a little jerk to dislodge the resistance but the pained cry that followed made him freeze. Eyes widening in shock and horror as he realized that the sound was coming from Link himself.
Link was awake.
And in pain!
Wild froze when he heard those pained screeches. It was filled with pleas and begging “for the pain to stop”, “that he’d be good.”, “he’d never bite him again!”, “I’m sorry!” “Please STOP!”, “IT HURTS!” and so much more.
While the others were unnerved by it, they easily ignored it because they didn’t know what the message contained, they didn’t know Rito. They couldn’t understand it like Wild could. Like Wind could, like Zelda could. I’m sorry you two have to hear this… was the only agonized thought he could spare before he sent a panicked look to Warriors. What do I do!? His eyes begged for guidance because he had no idea what to do now. Should he stop? Should he continue? What was he supposed to do now!?
As cerulean met cornflower, Warriors realized that those tortured eyes were begging him for answers. Warriors used his hands to sign in time with his words just in case they got lost in the din, “He’ll pass out from the pain soon enough! You just have to bear with it. We need to get him down, Wild!”
A determined glint set in those cornflower blue eyes, and Wild sank his teeth into his lower lip, the pain wasn’t anything compared to what Link was going through, but it had given Wild the focus he needed to finish the job he started. His hands trembled as he pulled the slate back toward his chest, pulling the nails out inch by inch, his ears ringing with the screams that were ripped from the boy’s throat. At the halfway point, Link’s voice cracked, reaching even higher in pitch before it had abruptly cut off. Link screams himself hoarse, not that it had been hard to do when he was getting nails painfully ripped out of his body.
Wild didn’t know what was worse, hearing him scream or seeing him scream without making any sound. All he knew was that it was taking far too long. He hadn’t realized that he’d entered his hyperfocused state, where time slowed down to a crawl. Finally, after what felt like hours, Link fainted, and Wild’s ears no longer felt like they were burning.
Wild’s eyes landed on Time who was in charge of telling him when he could stop. “He’s free.” Time made sure to sign it just in case it didn’t carry across the gap between them.
The champion powered down the magnet and clipped the slate back onto his hip on muscle memory as his eyes went back to see Link fall forward in a freefall that lasted far too long only to be caught by Twilight and Warriors moments later.
Wild shook his head, blinking rapidly to clear his blurry vision and to fully cancel the hyperfocus vision he hadn’t meant to activate. His hands disappeared into his hair as he dragged his fingernails through it, trying to cope without it seeming like he wouldn’t be able to do what was going to be asked of him again. His slate was the quickest way of getting those nails out, but it wasn’t the only way. He didn't realize that he was making such a tortured expression until the old man came over to him and put a firm, grounding hand on his shoulder.
“Are you alright, Cub?”
He ignored the question, they weren’t even finished yet, getting him down from the wall was just step one, getting the nails fully out was step two, which meant he couldn’t run and hide from it. Instead, he asked one of his own. “What did you hear when he was screaming?” he hated how shaky and thick his voice sounded.
“He sounded like any other bird that's feeling pain and fear.” Time’s eye narrowed and his frown deepened even more in concern. “I couldn’t understand him, but you could."
“...Yes.” he shuddered just thinking about the pleas the young hero had begged of him. “But I’m more worried about Wind and Zelda and how they’re handling it.”
"I'm sure Sky has it handled."
"He doesn't speak Rito though."
"No, but he did grow up with Loftwings, so he knows what a bird's pained cry sounds like. I'm sure he has things under control."
The tension was thick when the captain had left. No one tried to get past Time, no matter how morbidly curious they all were. Not even the princess made any move to the door that Time now guarded. Instead, she anxiously waited for the war veteran’s return. Like they all were.
They didn’t have to wait long. Thundering footsteps from the captain were heard before the twenty-seven-year-old burst from around the corner barking out names. Time’s. Twilight’s. Legend’s. Hyrule's. Wild’s. Not his. Sky hated how relieved he felt about not being picked. He could guess why the younger ones weren’t picked. They were too young to see this, and Warriors wanted to spare them the gruesome sight that lay beyond this hallway. Sky realized that he was being left on babysitting duty, which was preferable to the alternative.
Still, he couldn’t help asking “What are the rest of us supposed to do?” because please give him a task, he doesn’t want to sit here twiddling his thumbs and he knows Wind, Four and especially Zelda won’t like that either.
Warriors gaze doesn’t soften even the slightest fraction at his question, but he does give them a task, a very important task. “I need the rest of you to search your bags and ours for any fairies we might have on hand, as well as any blood, healing or magic potions.” As he translated this in Sheikah for Zelda’s benefit, he proved that this task was as vital as he was making it sound, the war vet pulled off his bag, setting it down in front of Zelda but only after he’d taken his power bracelet and first aid kit out of it.
When Warriors mentioned that the others gathered to do the same, everyone jumped to comply, including the ones not called. Time had dropped his bag near Wind who was already rummaging through his bag, and Wild had handed his to Zelda. Sky was a little surprised when the rancher had set his bag down next to him along with his wolf pelt.
Legend was the only one who hadn’t given his bag to anyone, instead grabbing the necessary bottles himself and then kicking his bag over to the wall so that it was out of the way.
Hyrule had done the same as his predecessor, pulling out two blood potions, three healing potions and one magic potion, as well as a bottled fairy. He nudged the bag over to Four. “Can you look and see if I missed any?”
“Sure.” Came the distracted reply from the smithy who was looking through his own bag.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Before Legend and Hyrule could leave to follow the others, who were a few steps ahead of them, Sky halted them from taking a step forward. “Wait!” His quiet cry had caused the pair to halt and give him their attention. The Chosen Hero quickly pulled out a clean towel from his own bag and held it out. “Use this to cover the ground, it’s more sanitary.”
It was Legend who had stepped up to take the towel from him despite his loaded arms. “Good thinking.”
When the group left, Sky glanced around at the others, curious if they were doing as they were told. He wasn’t surprised when he found that they were all hard at work doing as Warriors told them to do. Blood potions were in one pile, healing in another and magic in the last.
Satisfied that they were doing what they were tasked with, Sky did the same and put his blood potions and fairies in the piles. Counting them as he added his to their respective piles. They had eight blood potions, six healing potions and three fairies. None of them had any magic potions.
“What should I do with these?”
Sky’s mind blanked at the question that was asked not in Common but in literal bird song. He didn’t know how to answer it but because he had no idea what Sun’s descendent had just asked.
He looked over at her, trying to ignore how young she was. Ignoring her age was much harder than ignoring the tears on her clothes and the blood staining them, those were only half the reminders that this girl had fought in a battle against a demon of a man and won. He tried not to let his eyes linger too long on the blood staining her skin or the streaks in her hair or the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. In her hands were some of Wild’s fairy tonics. It wasn’t hard to see what she was asking.
He stood up, stretching his legs before he walked over to squat next to her, tapping her lightly on the shoulder because Wind wasn’t paying attention, he was focused on his own task by digging through Time’s bag. Once he had her attention, he pointed over to the pile of healing potions.
Her mouth formed an ‘o’ before she stared at him before suddenly chirping at him.
He didn’t need a translation to know that she was thanking him. He stood up and moved to his own bag, picking it up and attaching it back onto his person; he'd seen Four and Wind do the same with their own bags.
Most of the bags now lined the wall where Legend had kicked his, the only one that wasn’t was Wild’s and that was only because Zelda had been confused on what to do with Wild’s numerous tonics, as she’d only seen the fairy tonic before and had likely resorted to grabbing the one, she was familiar with.
She’d pulled out four fairy tonics from Wild’s bag and with those four they were up to ten healing potions, not counting the potions and fairies Legend and Hyrule had brought in with them.
As Wind put Time’s bag next to the others, he set a bottled fairy down next to the others, putting them at four.
None of them had really tried to strike up a conversation. One, because Zelda couldn’t understand anything except Rito (and Sheikah) which only one of them knew and second, it didn’t seem like a good idea to have one. Tensions were too high and the only thing keeping the peace were their collective tasks.
It was shattered the moment Zelda put Wild’s bag with the others.
Sky knew what a bird’s pained screech sounded like and it caused him to freeze, but the second screech was filled with worry and concern, and it was that cry that got him moving as Zelda rushed past him. He was too slow to grab her, and his fingers closed around air.
He throws an order over his shoulder at the other two as he darts after her. “STAY!”
Zelda almost makes it to the cell and is close enough to smell how horrible it is, the smell alone sends her reeling, makes her falter but that allows Sky to grab her by the shoulders and turn her around, pulling her into his chest for a tight hug. The screechings are louder here than they were and even his ears are burning. He can’t understand anything that’s being said but he does know that he’s in unimaginable pain.
Zelda cries into his chest, her hands fisting his tunic. Her body was shaking with the force of her sobs. Her cries get louder as the bird’s screeching rises until it cracks and falls silent.
Sky can only rub soothing circles into her back, but he can’t offer her any words of comfort, they’d fall on deaf ears, and she can’t understand him anyway and he doesn’t want to make Wind translate for him. His smile is tight, he’s happy that he can provide comfort to the young princess but is saddened that she has to experience this.
It’s several minutes before he can walk them back to where Four and Wind are waiting, he’s pulled at one of the sides of his sailcloth and used that to cover her, to give her some semblance of privacy as he moves the both of them to sit down along the wall opposite to the bags.
Sky isn’t surprised to find Wind who is trembling, his hands clamped tightly over his ears at his side the moment he’s sure he can open his left arm in a silent invitation to join the cuddle. As his gaze goes to Four, the teen’s serious look on his face belies the teary red of his eyes.
“He can hear everything. He told me a little about what he’s hearing.” comes to answer a moment later as Four moves over to place a comforting hand on Wind’s shoulder, only to find himself squished against Wind’s side as Sky pulls him into the cuddle pile.
“What is he hearing?” Sky can’t help but ask, because he needs to know what was going on if he wanted to help offer any comfort he could.
Four takes a stuttering breath, as a shiver runs down his spine. “Pleas, begging… Link wants the pain to stop.”
Sky doesn’t have a verbal response for that, no instead he just pulls the three closer, trying to offer as much comfort as he could without saying anything.
Twilight was unable to follow the advice of breathing through his mouth and instantly regretted it. He couldn't keep his nose from scrunching up at the stench that waffled from the boy half in his arms, half in Warriors. “He reeks!” The overwhelming stench of blood, pus, urine, feces, vomit and other nasty things was not making it any easier to ignore.
“Breathe through your mouth!” comes to command again, before the war veteran even comments on the smell. “Of course, he does.” Warriors eyes lock onto cobalt blue. Wondering if Twilight can even handle this much.
“I know!” came the agitated snap.
Warriors doesn’t react, he’s dealt with angry soldiers before who are just pissed at the situation and are lashing out at anyone or anything they can. His tone is calm when he says, “We need to move him over to where Legend and Hyrule are waiting.”
Twilight doesn’t respond this time, just giving a firm nod, readjusts his hold on Link’s upper torso, avoiding the protruding nails from the front and sticking his fingers into the literal holes in his skin as much as he can, and goddesses does it make him feel sick when his miscalculates and fingers poke into his wounds rather than skin. Together they leave the pool. Their boots leave prints behind as they walk over to Legend and Hyrule.
As gently as they can, they flip Link over with Hyrule and Legend’s help so he’s on his back and lay him down on the towel provided.
Warriors barely gives him a glance as he’s already kneeling by Link’s head, two fingers going to find his pulse point with practiced precision. “Go ask Four if he has any spare undergarments and clothes. And grab a few towels, a washcloth, one of Four’s extra headbands and our canteens. We'll try and clean him up after we get the nails out.”
Twilight doesn’t need to be told twice and takes the out he’s given. He isn’t ashamed to admit that he bolts from the room as fast as his legs can take him. He only stops his sprint when he trips over Sky’s outstretched legs and makes no move to rise to his feet, even though he’d caught himself with his hands to minimize the damage of the fall.
“Twilight…” Sky paused to stop himself from asking if he’s alright, because he isn’t alright. Instead, he tries something else. “Is there something you need?”
“Towels, a washcloth and our canteens, ones that still have water in them.” It’s only after Sky’s question that Twilight forces himself to untangle his legs from the Chosen Hero and finds his feet again. The smell isn’t nearly as bad here as it was inside the room. Inside it is absolutely horrible and his overly sensitive nose doesn’t help.
It’s Four who squirms out of Sky’s hold first so that Wind doesn’t have to. As soon as he’s free, Sky’s hand settles on Wind’s back. Four starts digging through his bag for his canteen, pleased to see that it is still full from this morning.
Twilight goes over to the bags to grab his own canteen and then a towel and washcloth from his bag which he sets over his arm, before starting to search the other bags for canteens and another towel or two.
Before Four can get up and walk over to Twilight to give him his canteen, the rancher asks, “Do you have any spare clothes and undergarments, and a spare headband?”
“Yeah, I do.” The smith trails off, wondering where the rancher is going with this.
“It’s for Link.” Twilight explains, as he fishes out another towel from Time’s bag along with the old man’s canteen. “He’s smaller than you but we don’t have anything else that could even remotely fit him.”
“Oh.” Is all Four manages. “I’ll find something for him.” as curious as that makes him, he stifles his curiosity because he’d heard what Wind had told Warriors. If Zelda and Link are only nine and he really doesn’t want to know more than that. It’s better if he doesn’t.
“Thanks.” Comes the mutter, as Twilight takes Hyrule’s canteen from his bag. He’s not sure how much water they will need but he’s just going to grab everyone’s save Sky and Wind’s.
As Four’s focus shifts to finding a pair of clothes and undergarments that he doesn’t care to part with. He chooses a plain white tunic and brown trousers along with a pair of undergarments and one of his extra headbands. After a moment of debate, he pulls out a towel because he’d seen Twilight do it and he figures an extra might be useful. He closes his bag and walks over to Twilight to hand him the clothes and canteen. “I hope these will fit him at least somewhat. You said he's smaller than me.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” the rancher says, taking the offered outfit and draping it over his arm with the extra towel that Four had handed over. Twilight gathers up the seven canteens in his arms, gives Sky and Wind a nod and tries to offer what he hopes is a reassuring smile to the young princess who gazes at him with scared eyes swimming in worry, leaving only when the smithy wanders back over to the cuddle pile and rejoins it.
He sped up his steps when he heard a commotion, voices were rising, and his ears were already picking up the words.
“It’s the fastest way!”
“But it’s not the only way.”
“You’ve done enough, Cub. Let someone else take over from here.”
“But!”
“Stop being stubborn, Champion.”
“I can handle it!”
“No, you can’t!”
“You’re sitting this one out. That’s an order.”
Cub? Wars? Time? Legend? What the heck did I miss?!
Twilight remembers to breathe through his mouth this time, and his concern for Wild makes him squash all other feelings of disgust and unease because the younger hero needs someone in his corner but that doesn’t mean the rancher doesn’t agree with what the others are saying, especially once he sees Wild for himself.
Wild can’t handle it, his hands are still trembling even though they are clenched into fists. The guilt and remorse are still swimming in his eyes. The haunted expression lingers on his face despite how much he tries to hide it. Twilight makes his steps louder before he nudges Hyrule with his shoulder and offers him the canteens, clothes, washcloth and towels, which the Traveler takes without any other prompting and a grateful smile. The argument is clearly making the brown-haired and brown-eyed mage uncomfortable. With his arms free Twilight reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, shifting his feet just so that their wildcard knows he’s there. “Cub, I know you can handle it, but we should listen to the captain, he’s been through this type of situation before.”
“But Twilight!”
“No buts. I’ll walk you back to the others.”
“You don’t have to-” comes the protest but he is silenced by Warrior’s withering glare that settles on him briefly before shifting to Twilight.
“Good, because you’re sitting this one out too.”
“What?”
“We do not have time to argue, and I’ve wasted enough of it arguing with you.“ He doesn’t even try to disguise the jab he’s hurled at Wild, before his attention cuts to Twilight. “Don’t test me. Get him out of here.” With that said, Warriors turns his back on them, his attention back on Link.
Twilight shoots a look at Time, but the man’s face is just as stern with a hint of disappointment. The ranch hand’s gaze shifts to Link and he winches. His hand settles more firmly on the Champion's shoulder before he yanks the other into his side when his expression twists as his eyes land on Link.
Wild lets himself be led back to where Sky and the others are. He doesn't have an ounce of fight in him as Twilight slides them both to the floor as they settle on the wall a few feet from the cuddle pile. Wild yanks his hood up, knees pulled up to his chest and leans further into the Rancher’s side. If the Rancher pulls him closer when he feels his shoulder start to dampen, he says nothing about it. Twilight doesn’t know what to say, he can’t, not without Wild telling him what he’s heard, what's really bothering him besides the captain’s words, but he knows that the Cub won’t want to talk about it with so many prying ears around.
Warriors looks over to where Hyrule has set up the potions and fairies which are far enough away that they don’t have to worry about them being accidentally broken by Link’s thrashing or any of their attempts to restrain him from moving, because they are going to have to restrain him.
The canteens, clothes, towels and washcloth are carefully folded and laid beside the bottles, and Warriors is already grabbing the washcloth to wad it into a gag. He kneels beside Link again, already not liking the flush of color on his cheeks and the heat he feels radiating from his skin. He can’t do anything about the fever yet, not until his more serious injuries are taken care of. The war veteran gently works his mouth open, taking note of how Link unconsciously tries to bite his fingers, holding his mouth open just long enough to slip the gag into place with the tail end sticking out between his teeth so that he doesn’t have to worry about the kid accidentally choking on it. He can feel four and half pairs of eyes on him and elaborates even though he knows he doesn’t have to explain, they all know what he’s doing. “I’m gagging him so that he doesn’t bite his tongue off when I start pulling these out.” he gestures to the raised nails.
The others can only find themselves watching as the captain steps up to do things they’d never think of doing, but they all watch attentively, because the knowledge could prove useful to them at some point in their lives.
Next the captain opens his first aid kit which is beside the towel, takes out two square packets of gauze and rips them open with his teeth. He places the square pieces over Link’s eyes before using a long strip of medical tape to keep both in place. Finally, he takes Four’s headband and slips it on over Link’s head, resting the fabric against the gauze to make sure it remains in place and to further ensure that Link won’t see any of them.
Legend can’t help but ask, “What’s the blindfold for?”
“To make sure that he doesn’t associate this trauma with any of us.” the captain paused, ears twitching in consideration. He levels them all with the same look he’d used on Wild and Twilight. “No more talking. We can’t risk rousing him and associating our voices with this either. I mean it. Do not try to reassure him, no matter what he does, no matter how much he screams or how much pain he’s in.” Once he’s got their nods of agreement, he continues on to issue this order, “Sign language only.”
‘We’ll follow your lead.’
‘Got it.’
‘Understood.’ Hyrule’s hands twitched before he signed out. ‘What’s next?’
’Next, we get ready to pull the nails out. Hyrule go get the fairies from the others and one of Wild’s fairy tonics. If we can make him drink that it’ll be better for him in the long run but I’m not counting on it.’
Warriors turned his gaze to the veteran and signed, ’Legend I need two washcloths, as well as your ice and fire rods and my fire rod as well. This is going to be used as a last resort but if for whatever reason the fairies and potions don’t work, we will need to cauterize his wounds.’
Legend takes his words seriously, flashing an OK sign before he and Hyrule rush off to do as they were instructed.
As Warriors meets Time’s gaze, the man has his hands raised and is already signing at him. ’Since when do you know how to do that?’
’Since the war. Cauterization is used in field medicine usually with impalement and serious injuries like these and only as a last resort if we don’t have a fairy or there isn’t one nearby. If the fairies don’t work and he won’t swallow the potions we may need to resort to it. I won’t do it unless we have exhausted all of our other options first. If we do need to go this route, we will need Hyrule’s life spell to keep him alive.’
’I’ll support your decision and I’ll use the fire rod if it comes to that.’
’Good. I wasn’t going to let Legend do it.’
’What if he wakes up during the nail pulling?’
’Then I’ll have to be quick and if the worst comes to pass, we will have to cauterize his wounds and let the fairies heal the burns to the best of their abilities.’
’Understood, Captain. I’ll inform the girls of our plans and what we will do if things go sideways.’
’Thanks.’
’You’re welcome.’
As Time walked over and unbottled their meager two fairies, holding up a hand for them to perch on, he started speaking in fey tones.
Warriors didn’t have the time to listen in to what Time was telling the sisters because at that moment, Hyrule and Legend rushed back in with their respective hauls and stop in front of him.
’Hyrule go over to Time and release the fairies and he’ll inform them of the plan and any changes that might occur.’
Hyrule didn’t need to any more prompting and walked over to time, releasing the four bottled fairies the others had stashed away, and the fairy sisters were eager to follow Hyrule’s soft feyspeech.
Warriors ear twitches as the soft chimes reach his ears but he’s too far away to make out what they are saying. He gives up as his attention lands on a tense Legend and holds out a hand expectedly. As his fire rod is set into his palm and then held under his arm to free his occupied hand, Warriors signs, ’You can put your two over with the potions.’
’Sure.’
‘As soon as the old man tells the fairies what the plan is, we’ll get started pulling those nails out. We’re going to need your help to hold him down.’
’Whatever you need, I’ll do it.’ Legend nodded, indigo eyes serious, his lips set in a determined grimace. The Veteran wasn’t going to back down now that Warriors had said he’d need his help.
Not that the captain expected him to, but he couldn’t help offering him the choice to back out if he didn’t feel comfortable doing it. He and Time would find a way to manage without the younger’s help. They’d get Twilight back in here to help them hold Link down. ’If, you’re sure?’
’I’m sure.’ Legend signed again, this time with sharper signs to get his point across that he wasn’t going to change his mind.
’Just making sure.’ Warriors signed back before he turned to look at Time and Hyrule who were heading back to them with the six fairies hovering around them nervously. He speaks for the first time since telling them all to only use sign language. Feyspeech is safe, Link won’t be able to tell the difference in his tone or a fairy’s. He speaks to the fairies. “I want only one of you to come over here and heal him when I pull one of these nails out. I want to see if your magic can heal both sides of the wound and the internal damage. If you can't, that's fine, I’ll just have to cauterize it first and then the rest of you can deal with the burns. It’ll take longer and it won’t be pleasant but this way we can make sure his wounds heal completely and you’re not exerting all your energy to heal him. We’re also going to try and get him to take a healing potion once he’s conscious enough for coherent thought, so that’ll help the healing process.”
Soft chimes are answer enough and Warriors gives them a tiny smile, relieved that they agree with what he’d proposed. After a moment of debate between the fairies, one flies over to him, offering her healing magic to test his theory.
Warriors can feel Time’s aegean blue gaze burning a hole through his head. The man heard what he’d said in feyspeech and responded to him in the tongue he’d just used. “I don’t like it anymore than you do. I’m trying to go the route with the best outcome and the least amount of pain but in order to do that I need to see what I’m dealing with.”
“I trust your judgment, Captain.”
The Captain raises his hands to address everyone after he’s set his fire rod down on the ground beside the towel. ’Let's get started. Time pin his legs. Legend pin his other arm. Hyrule, I need you to use your life spell on him, I can’t have him dying from the infection, especially with one that’s been left to fester this long.’
With serious nods, the others move to do as they’re instructed. Warriors sits on his knees by Link’s left side, pressing one hand over his fingers and widening his fingers so that he doesn’t brush the wound. He can feel the heat radiating from his skin. The skin around the nails is a shiny red, hard and inflamed. He can feel it pulse as his fingers rest on the inflamed skin. He takes a breath to steel himself, as he pressed down on Link’s hand to keep it still. Using his free hand to grasp the nail’s head, he does it quickly, pulls it straight out and tosses it over his shoulder.
The fairy who had volunteered flew past him, hovering over the wound and flying around it with featherlight touches infused with healing magic as Warriors carefully lifted Link’s hand up off the towel, even as blood and pus flows from it staining both Warriors’ hand and the towel beneath him, so that the fairy can heal both sides of the puncture wound. He watches the healing process with a critical eye, releasing the breath he had been holding. Gently setting Link's hand back down, he can't help thinking, Thank Hylia that worked. I did not want to go with the other option. He was even more thankful that Link didn't awaken like he had before. The question now was how many could he get out before Link wakes up?
Hyrule can’t help but feel sick at the sight before him. How can he not? Link, their successor, someone’s successor has twenty-eight nails in him. He counted them. Eight in each arm going from wrist to shoulder, one in each hand, four in each leg below the knee and one in each foot.
He doesn’t realize that he’s staring again until someone places a grounding hand on his shoulder and shakes him. “... Le… Ule… Rulie!”
Hyrule jerks back to the present. “Vet?”
“Wars said not to look too much at him.”
“I know… but it's hard not to." He swallows as he forces his voice to work, "It's horrifying.”
“It is.”
They had just gotten him down and Wild was looking horrible.
The sound was awful, and he hated how grateful he felt when it finally ended, when Link finally screamed himself hoarse and passed out before he fell from the wall into Warriors and Twilight’s waiting arms.
Even with Link on the towel in front of him, that he himself had helped do, little sisters swarming his arm, tinting the entire appendage pink with healing magic. Hyrule can’t stop his eyes from going up to where the holes in the walls were to show that Link had been hung up like a dead butterfly on display.
It makes his stomach churn and his fingers curl into fists, cutting off the turquoise and white glow in his hands. He has to take a breath and force himself to calm down. Getting angry won’t help Link. It’ll get him put on the sidelines. And he can’t let Wars send him out like he did with Wild and Twilight.
His life spell is too vital.
Legend’s trembling hand that squeezes too tight, where the other’s nails dig into his shoulder makes him realize that he’s not the only one battling with their anger right now.
“Legend! Hyrule! Focus! We need to staunch the bleeding! The fairies can’t keep up!” Warriors snapped, his hands a bloody mess as he pressed one of his hands to the topmost puncture wound on Link’s bicep, while his other hand held Link's arm up so the fairies could get to both sides of the punctures.
Legend drew his hand away from Hyrule’s shoulder and moved from Hyrule’s right to his left. Putting pressure on the kid’s shoulder with both hands.
Hyrule scrambled to comply with the command. His eyes tracking the nails on the ground by the war veteran (including the one the captain had thrown over his shoulder). Nine… and he didn’t wake up once. He thought with a shiver. He hovered his hands over Link’s left arm, avoiding the hands and fairies that were hard at work to stop the bleeding and to heal, directing his magic to his left arm, into the wounds that Warriors and Legend were putting pressure on, remembering to focus his magic to the other side of his bicep and shoulder so that he could slow the bleeding from that side too.
It was only after those wounds closed, giving the fairies a much-needed break and Warriors had pressed his hand on the boy’s right shoulder that a muffled pained scream sounded below him, Link was awake again. His head jerking from side to side, twisting and turning, muted screeches tumbling from his gagged mouth once more, his left-hand flexing and spasming as if Link thought he was still pinned to the wall. Maybe he does think that. Hyrule couldn’t help thinking, worrying his teeth into his lower lip. Don’t say anything. Remain silent like Wars said. Hyrule thought with a shake of his head.
His eyes caught the frantic look in Legend’s eyes as he shot a look at Time as the man kept the kid’s legs pinned. ‘Switch?’ the older hero offered with a quick sign. What surprised him was Legend’s refusal. Grim determination settled in his indigo eyes again, his hands working their way between the nails, to hold Link’s arm still.
The next several minutes were agonizing. Especially with Link awake through the entire thing of ripping out the nail in his right shoulder. His muffled screaming hadn’t ceased although his voice was getting weaker as time dragged on, but it was bad when he realized he could move his left arm, unclipped nails scratching, hitting and grabbing anything he could get his hand on. After that realization it got worse, as his fevered mind crawled into coherent thought as his fight or flight instincts kicked in and he chose to fight whatever was restraining him.
Warriors couldn’t do anything then; he couldn’t risk Link hurting themselves or himself and the kid still had eighteen nails in him still. Warriors had to risk it. The fairies and Hyrule couldn’t heal or help Link when he was flailing around like he was and they couldn’t get the rest of the nails out, not with Time pinning his legs and Legend helping him hold down his nailed arm so that he could rip the nails out and avoid Link making things worse. Warriors had to take the risk, he yelled in Hylian Common. “TWILIGHT GET IN HERE!”
Within seconds the rancher was back in the room, dropping to the floor beside them but before he could ask, an order was issued. “Keep his arm still. I don’t care how you do it. Just do it.”
Without needing to be told twice, the rancher just gave Link his hand, keeping his grip firm so that Link couldn’t pull out of it. If anything, Link’s struggling started to cease, his unclipped nails still scratched, clawed and dug into Twilight’s hand when the pain became too much for him, but he was no longer fighting them as he was before. Perhaps he realized they were there to help. Or at least Twilight was there to help, giving him the comfort, their successor so desperately needed.
The process of pulling out the remaining nails on his remaining arm was easier, and the fairies were healing the injuries while Legend kept pressure on one long enough for Hyrule to down a magic potion and bring over the remaining two as he knew he’d need them soon enough. Link’s feet were where the problem arose. His feet were very sensitive, and it was only when he started whimpering and pulling his feet away that they changed tactics, they’d save his feet for last and settled on getting the nails out of his legs first.
Legend had to help Time hold his legs because they didn't want to risk hurting him further with just one person pinning his legs. Twilight had to reach over to grab hold of Link’s other hand, letting the fairies and Hyrule continue the healing process as Warriors carefully ripped the holes in Link’s pants to be wider so that he could better see the injuries and have a firmer grasp on the nails. Warriors couldn’t help sighing in relief when he saw that the nails hadn’t been nailed through the kid’s pants.
The captain placed his hand carefully against Link’s leg, hissing at the frantic throbbing he felt beneath his hand. He grasped the head of the nail and pulled it out, hating how much resistance it had given him, forcing him to rip the nail out with more damage than he wanted to cause.
Link’s screech is so agonizing that Hyrule can’t help ceasing his life spell for a second time as he covered his own ears at the ear splitting sound watching as Link suddenly slumped against Twilight’s arm, panting as much as the gag would allow as Warriors made quick work ripping out the remaining nails on his right leg, dropping them with the others of their kind and started on his left leg the one furthest from him but Link was small so reaching over him was easy and the fairies weaved around the captain to get to the bleeding wounds on his leg. The rancher said nothing as blood dripped from the deep crescent wounds in his hands as Link’s unclipped nails continued to dig into the older hero’s flesh.
“Twi-” Hyrule whispers, removing his hands from his ears, to resume what he’d been doing, only to be cut off by Twilight’s quiet growl of “Shhh!”
Neither of them gets any farther in their hushed conversation as a commotion from the hallway stills everyone’s actions, even Link’s.
The little sisters continue healing Link, even as the Hylians are still in surprise.
Warriors forced his attention back onto the task at hand, and couldn’t waste such an opportunity, quietly issuing an order to Time and Legend, the only two who had snapped back into focus without him needing to grab their attention. “I need you two to hold his feet still. Quickly! While he’s distracted, we need to get the nails out.”
Time and Legend nodded and moved to do as he asked.
The war veteran was almost surprised to see a boot enter his field of vision but relaxed quickly upon seeing that it was Twilight’s leg that was now slung over both of Link’s knees. Yep. He’s not moving with Twilight’s leg draped over him like that.
Without waiting any longer, Warriors grasped the nail in the foot furthest from him as Legend moved to Twilight’s other side, grasping his foot to hold it still as the captain ripped it out, dropping it with the others before he quickly tackled the second one and ripped that out before Link could figure out what was happening, before he could register where the pain was coming from.
Link’s body instinctively thrashed as the pain became too much, but it clashed with the kid’s instinctive urge to pull his wounded limbs away in an attempt to protect them from the pain they were in. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t know what instinct to follow and honestly couldn’t listen to either too well, not with Twilight’s leg laying firmly over his knees.
One of the hard parts of this battle was finally over but the battle was far from finished.
Warriors couldn’t sit down and breathe easy just yet. There was still so much to do. He had to get Link’s pants off so that the fairies could heal the wounds on his legs without the soiled fabric in the way. Until he'd done that, they’d pretty much given up on healing the leg wounds; Hyrule had shooed them away and sat down by Link in the spot that Warriors had vacated purposely for the traveler's use. The fairies were crowded around the kid’s feet, their soft pink light was stark across pale skin as they dusted the wounds with healing magic. The wounds were slow to close- the most their magic did was slow the bleeding. Link’s legs, from his knees down to his ankles, were bathed in the wispy turquoise of Hyrule’s Life Spell. A white glow spilling out from the holes in the kid's pants as the life magic was concentrated there. Warriors' ears twitched at the quiet tones of conversation. The hushed words passing between the veteran and the traveler were worrying. They were running low on healing magic and supplies. They were being pushed to their limits- and very soon they would not be able to attend to Link's grievous wounds at all.
Time had tapped his fingers firmly on Twilight’s boot, getting the younger hero to move his leg as Time stood up and came over to Wars' side as he watched the fairies. His ears had picked up on the soft concerning chimes as well if the look on his face was anything to go by.
“Why don’t you girls get some rest? We’ll make him drink a potion or two to heal the remaining injuries.”
The fairies hesitated but exhaustion soon won them over and they all drifted back to their bottles to get the rest they sorely needed.
“Give him a fairy tonic, Zelda drank that without too much fuss.” Came a voice that made Warriors frown, because he remembered ordering Wild out of the room.
The war veteran stood up and turned around, opening his mouth to reprimand Wild but the words that left his lips were far from the ones he had planned to say when he found himself staring at a very familiar set of Sheikah armor, worn by a male Sheikah that couldn’t be Zelda, least of all this world’s Zelda. “Sheik?"
If this Sheik was shocked by the fact that the other knew him, he didn’t give anything away. His attention directly on Wild, as he shook his head. “I brought fairies with me; they can handle the rest of Link’s injuries.” Without waiting for a response, the Sheikah warrior dug into his pouch and pulled out the three fairy bottles and did just that, uncorking the bottle, while the now free fairy uncapped the second bottle to let the other sister out while Sheik uncorked the last to free the dark purple male fairy.
Together the three raced past the Heroes, the dark fairy battering away Hyrule’s hands with shrill angry chimes, causing his life spell to fade away. Warriors didn’t fully understand why the fairy was suddenly jumping down Hyrule’s throat like he was, not until the traveler swayed violently when he’d attempted to get to his feet and it was only Time’s ears perking straight up -and his own once his ears processed what those angry chimes had meant-, the flash of concern in his eye and the swift in posture to turn and catch the smaller hero before his body could hit the ground that he understood.
Magic exhaustion was no joke.
With Legend’s help Time gathered the exhausted Hyrule into his arms and together they stood up to leave, to head back to the hallway.
Legend started dogging Time’s steps once their leader started moving and Warriors wasn’t going to stop Legend from leaving but he caught his attention anyway with one last order, to both the old man and the vet. “I’m sure I don’t have to say this but don’t tell the others what you saw here today.”
“Got it.” came the gruff response that promised he’d be asking questions about why later.
Warriors’ attention shifted back to Link as he watched the fairies work in tandem together, pink and purple fairy dust was coating the injuries, purple was more prominent than the pink interestingly enough.
“Dark fairy, usually male, their healing is used more for serious injuries, like these.” Sheik rattled off when he felt three pairs of eyes on him, practically begging for answers on the lone dark fairy.
Wild translated for Twilight when the rancher flashed his protege a pleading look to not be left out of the loop.
“Your fairies must be different from ours.”
Sheik nodded once in confirmation, leaning down to pick up the nail Warriors had thrown behind him in that first removal before thinking better of it and setting them beside himself instead upon removing the other nails. He examined the nail, face carefully neutral giving nothing away of what he was thinking before putting it into his pouch. “I need to show this to Impa.” he offered upon seeing the war hero's confused gaze.
Warriors met Sheik’s fierce glare with one of his own when those red eyes landed on him, singling him out as the leader in all of this as soon as those eyes landed on Link’s face taking note of the makeshift blindfold and gag. Not moving or even flinching when the Sheikah warrior stomped up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, yanking him down so that they were eye level.
He wasn’t going to apologize for what he had done, at least not to Sheik, no, he’d jump to apologize to Link if the nine-year-old ever learned of this incident. He had good intentions; his options were limited, and he had to go with the option of least resistance and if that meant Link not associating them with this trauma that was all the better. “I did what I had to.” Came the growl from the captain.
“You bastard! How-” Sheik started but he cut himself when Link let out a frightened whimper that was muffled by the gag at his change in tone and volume.
“I didn’t want him biting his tongue off.” Warriors snarled back, keeping his voice low for Link’s sake. “I didn’t want him associating any of the trauma with us.”
“You!” Sheik started, taking a breath to calm himself. “You know what?! Fine, I'll accept that.” Sheik hissed, releasing Warriors with a shove.
Wild and Twilight were quietly conversing in hushed tones as this was going on, before Wild was suddenly half standing half crouched by Twilight and Link, putting himself between them and the arguing duo. It was only when the two separated that his cornflower blues zeroed in on Sheik as something of a sheepish look crossed both his face and the rancher’s.
“Can you make Link remove his claws?”
“Hmm?” came the hum before the Sheikah Warrior looked down at Twilight’s hands and winched in sympathy at the state of the older man’s hands. “I’ll try.” His tone was far too amused for one who had just finished a heated argument. Sheik gently put his hand on one of Link’s. He gently rubbed circles on the back of Link’s hand, and slowly the unclipped nails of one hand pulled free of Twilight’s flesh and Sheik worked on the other hand.
Wild stood by Twilight’s side with an uncorked healing potion in hand.
Once Link’s nails were removed, Sheik pried his fingers off from the older hero’s grasp.
Twilight let go of Link’s hands to take the potion that Wild held out to him and downed it in three gulps, mouth twisting in disgust at the overly sweet flavor, it was like drinking liquid sugar. As his wounds started healing, the rancher glanced down at Link.
The purple and pink healing dust had already vanished leaving healed skin in its wake and three tired fairies who were now resting on the captain’s shoulders and head, the sisters chiming softly into his ears in feyspeech, while their brother slumbered in his hair. The war veteran’s shoulders relaxed a fraction although he was still tense.
Sheik could feel the captain’s gaze on him, as he carefully removed the gag from Link’s mouth. “There we go.” Came the quiet whisper, as Sheik hands the gag over to Twilight who takes it without complaint.
Warriors couldn’t even remind them to use sign language because he himself had forgotten to use it and with Sheik here maybe it wouldn’t matter if he heard them or not? Not that he got any time to reflect on his choice of action before Link stirred then.
“Sh…e…ik?” came the slurred and broken whisper that stole their attention back to him, as Link once again managed to claw his way to the barest of consciousness.
Sheik placed a gentle hand on Link’s cheek, “Yes, I’m right here, Little Brother.” he muttered softly, unable to hide his strained smile when Link nuzzled into his hand. A frown tugged at his lips, as he felt the heat radiating from his cheek.
“I-I-I c-c-ca-an’t…” Link muttered, falling into the beginnings of a panicked daze before becoming more conscious once Sheik touched his cheek. “I-I c-can’t s-s-see!” Came the scared whimper.
“Shhh.” the sheikah warrior shushed the child gently. “I know. I’ll fix it.” He promised.
Sheik glanced at the war veteran, just to check on the fairies he’d brought before returning his attention to Link, lifting his head gently he removed the makeshift blindfold, removed the medical tape and took off the squares of gauze.
The lavender eyes that met his own were feverish and bright, glazed and unfocused. “She…ik?” Came the exhausted mumble, as the kid said his name again. His eyes lazily looked around before they landed on Twilight’s face. His confusion tripled, “Who's … he…?”
“He’s someone who came from another kingdom of Hyrule to help us find you.”
Link’s eyes blanked out. The information being too complicated for his tired, feverish brain to process.
Perhaps that was too much information… try something simpler. “He’s a friend.” Sheik tried again.
“Oh.” The confusion cleared.
Speaking of… just who are these notoriously kind strangers? Sheik couldn’t help wondering as his little brother’s eyes slipped closed once again as exhaustion dragged him under. “Just how long has this fever been raging?” He asked more to himself than the strangers as he smoothed Link’s messy, sweaty, grimy, bloody, utterly disgusting bangs back to feel his forehead. He pulled his hand back a few seconds later, a displeased coo leaving his lips as for a second, he slipped into rito.
“How high is his fever?”
“…Too high.” the sheikah warrior replied, shifting his language back into Sheikah, when he heard the one covered head to toe in metal armor come back to stand behind him.
“I’d like to give him a fairy tonic just to be sure that all his injuries are taken care of. It’s sweet but not overpowered like the healing potions are. Giving him a healing potion will overwhelm his tastebuds and make him vomit.” It wasn’t Time who said this, but Wild.
“Yeah…” came the sigh and Sheik held out a hand expectedly. “There could be something internal or something that healed wrong? We have no idea what Ganon did to him down here. There aren’t any bruises or new breaks but there could have been at one time.”
Wild placed the fairy tonic in Sheik’s awaiting hand, only letting go once Sheik’s hand closed around the bottle and tugged it from his lax grasp.
Getting Link to drink it was harder than he had anticipated. The second the glass came in contact with his lips he pressed them shut, and clenched his teeth together to avoid it, or at least put up one hell of a fight. Sheik clicked his tongue in annoyance and moved the bottle away, corking it. “Just what the fuck did Ganon and his monsters do to you?!” He asked knowing he wouldn’t be getting a response.
“They likely force fed him and forced him to drink.'' The response came from Warriors who came over to Link’s other side, a frown marring his features. “Which explains why he felt much heavier when we were carrying him, not to mention he doesn’t look too malnourished.” came the mutter, as the war veteran held out a hand to carefully ghost over the child’s rib cage. His rib bones didn’t protrude nor were they too noticeable which was good. The fairies on his shoulders had fallen silent at that, the two on his shoulders chiming worriedly. He gently shook his head careful of his fragile cargo, gaze snapping to the sheikah. “There isn’t much we can do unless we want to make things worse by forcing him to drink that. He will fight us every step of the way. It would be better to wait until he’s conscious again and then get him to drink it on his own with his consent.”
Sheik’s hand curled into a fist. Trembling from head to toe in barely contained rage. “Alright.” came the reluctant agreement.
Before anyone could say anything more. Time cuts into the conversation. “We should get him cleaned up as much as we can with what we have. it’ll be less awkward for him, if we do this while he’s unconscious.”
Getting Link clean was by far the easiest and stressless task they’d done since arriving in this Hyrule.
He was as clean as he was going to get with mere washcloths, towels, no soap and limited access to water. They’d give him a proper cleaning once they were able to do it.
A cool wet washcloth was placed on his head, which was only possible thanks to Legend’s ice rod.
Twilight wasn’t to put out by being used as a makeshift cot for the mostly clean (and even then, he was still utterly disgusting) and now fully dressed in clothes that were still too big for him despite them being given to him by their smallest. Link was currently snuggled fully into Twilight’s lap, head buried in his chest, the cloth was leaving a cold wet stain on the Hero of Twilight’s shirt, one of his hands had even reached out to grip the older man’s tunic in a weak grip.
Wild was left running interference with the group that lingered outside when Legend and Time’s bloody hands, clothes and armor, carrying an unconscious Hyrule had sent Sky, Wind and Four into a panic, until the three were quickly informed of whose blood it was, Link’s and that he was fine, he was healed and that there was no need to panic or worry.
The cuddle pile around Sky had been switched up a bit with Hyrule taking Wind’s place at Sky’s side so the traveler could use Sky’s shoulder as a pillow. Zelda had fallen asleep at some point, still burrowed into Sky’s right side. She was clearly exhausted from everything and was running on pure adrenalin and desperation when she’d run into them in that room.
Wind and Four were the only ones awake -besides Sky, who couldn’t do anything other than be used as a pillow and a source of comfort- and were tasked with putting away all the unused potions in the bags they’d been pulled from that were delivered by Legend and Wild, who also told them which era the fairies were from and which bags the fairies needed to be returned to so that they could be returned to their home eras.
This way, they were all packed up and ready to leave the moment they could but the second the bags were all fully packed, Legend and Wild took Twilight’s, Time’s, and Warriors’ bags along with reattaching their own with Legend attaching Hyrule's next to his own bag. Wild had even given Four back to his headband, saying they hadn’t needed it anymore.
Time’s and Twilight’s bags were the ones they used to store the bloody towels and washcloths to be cleaned. Legend had gleefully torched Link’s unsalvageable pants and underwear with his fire rod and Sheik had taken the nails with him for reasons he hadn’t disclosed to them. Warriors was mildly frustrated by that secrecy and one glance at Time showed that he was in agreement with him.
They’d learned a few things about the mysterious sheikah warrior that proved that he wasn’t at all like the Sheik who was Warriors and Time’s Zeldas’ sheikah persona. He was vastly different from them. Sheik had bottled the fairies he had brought with him, the sisters helping their still slumbering brother into his own bottle before going back to their respective bottles.
Link hadn’t regained consciousness since and had refused to drink the cooling potion, which was meant to reduce a fever. It was a pale blue, brewed with ice chuchu jelly and fever reducing herbs. Sheik was noticeably frustrated by this when he’d practically shoved the cooling potion back into his bag, his frown hidden by his scarf that he had pulled up to cover his mouth and nose. The only give away was the obvious frustration in his downturned eyebrows and the irritation burning in his eyes.
“Do we have everything?”
At Time’s question, five heads nodded their affirmation. “I’ll go make sure the others are ready to leave.” It was Legend who had volunteered to go check on the others.
“What do we do about the White Sword?”
“We will grab it on our way out.” that came from Sheik, just seconds before something seemed to dawn on the sheikah warrior as he looked at them, with sudden distressed eyes. “Leaving is going to be a problem.” he said, putting a firm hand on Twilight’s shoulders to stop him from rising to his feet with Link now adjusted in his arms rather than sitting in his lap.
That causes everyone to still and four and half pairs of eyes are looking at their sixth member, with Twilight craning his neck up to meet those ruby red eyes. “How so?” It’s Warrior’s demand that rings out in the silence.
Sheik is still mildly distressed at the fact that they can’t leave but he answers the question anyway, “Getting out of Ganon’s Labyrinth isn’t the issue, in fact it’s one of the easiest things we’re going to be doing.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“None of you can fly. And even if you could, there is no way we’d make it to another island while carrying three people.”
“Fly?!”
“Islands?”
Sheik waited for the bombardment to end before he even began answering their questions. “Yes, islands.” He started answering Wild’s question first as that was the easiest and less complicated one out of the two. “This lair we are in now is on an island that is floating in the sky.”
“You have floating islands too?”
“Yes, you’ll see what I mean for yourself once we get out of here.” Sheik waved off Wild’s pout when he didn’t elaborate. “Yes, fly.” He replied slowly as if talking to an inept child, stalling to try and find a way to tell them what he meant without having to show them. They’d find out what that entailed soon enough. He also didn’t want to get too wrapped up in a complicated explanation either, not with Link in the condition he was. “The short version is, it’s something we are born with. It’s one of the ways we get around Hyrule.”
“What’s the complex answer?”
“Showing you would be much easier, but I don’t want to fry your brains any more than I have to.” Sheik waved them off. “Besides, I need to ensure our ride is enroute to our location.”
“How do you plan to do that?”
“With this.” Sheik reached into his pouch and pulled out a pearl the size of his palm, a glimmering, shiny one, that pulsed magic.
“What is that?”
“A communication pearl.” Sheik curled his fingers up and channeled a bit of his own shadow magic into the pearl. The black energy curled around his fingers before encircling the shimmering pearl and being absorbed, Sheik had briefly closed his eyes, focusing before a name left his lips. “Impa.”
As soon as he’d done that the pearl actually started to glow a soft black, with flecks of holy light mixed in and a voice spoke through the pearl. “Sheik, did you catch up to Zelda? Did you find Link?” as Impa’s voice came through the pearl the glow around the edges increased and fluctuated with each word she said.
“I didn’t catch up to Zelda in time, but the important thing is we found Link. Both of them are as well as can be expected.” Sheik explained, knowing Impa would ask him later for specifics, once he could spare the time to tell her everything he knew. “How far are you from my location?” Sheik asked, redirecting the conversation as time was of the essence.
“We should be there in five minutes.”
“Good.” He paused, his eyes sweeping to the others in his midst. “Don’t be alarmed when you see that we aren’t alone.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Zelda picked up some... strays.” Sheik actually walks away when Legend and Wild squawk in protest at being referred to as mere animals.
“Strays?” There is amusement dancing in Impa’s tone as she likely heard the heroes’ protests.
“Yes strays, because it makes no sense in how they got here before Zelda did.” He continued jamming a finger into one ear to block out at least some of the protests being hurled at him.
“Hmm… how many are there?”
“Nine.”
The other end is silent for several beats.
“Mom?” Sheik presses as the silence continues to linger, heedless of the bomb he’d just dropped on them.
“The stories were true then.” Impa’s voice responds halting any and all from commenting on the information Sheik had just dropped at their feet.
“You mean the stories of the nine heroes who were whisked from their own Hyrules to band together to combat some darkness?”
“The one and the same. What do they look like?”
“Most have blonde hair, some have brown, all but one have various shades of blue eyes, he has brown eyes and freckles, and they each carry a sword and shield.”
“Then they must be the Heroes of Old.”
“It’s them you can thank for Link even being alive right now. They were treating him before I got here. I only arrived at the end.”
“Without your fairies, we wouldn’t have been able to finish healing Link.” Warriors cut in, reminding Sheik that he’d done more than what he thought.
“I assume that was one of the Heroes?" she asks, waiting for a confirmation before she continues, "I’ve told you to stop being so modest, my son. Now, for the one who speaks such praise, which one are you?”
“Yes mother…”
“I am the Hero of Warriors, Ma’am.”
“I look forward to meeting you and your fellow Heroes in person, Hero of Warriors." She pauses letting her words sink in before she starts again. "Sheik, Heroes, we have much to discuss but for now, get out of that labyrinth and we will pick you up.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The talk ended on Impa’s side and Sheik pulled the shadow magic from the pearl making it a pure white again. He closed his fist that was encased in shadow magic and the shadows dissipated. He eyed the pearl before sticking it back into his pouch. “You heard her, we need to get out of here before she gets here.”
“You said we were on islands? How will we all get off here?” Time asked, helping Twilight to his feet to keep the younger hero from jostling Link.
“A skyboat.”
“A what?”
“A boat that flies in the sky.”
“...You’re not going to answer that are you?”
“I literally just told you what it was.” Sheik snips back with a roll of his eyes. “You’ll see it soon enough.” with that Sheik stalked through the archway and into the hallway, only glancing back once to make sure they were following.
Wind and Four leaped to their feet the second the sheikah warrior stepped from around the corner, the others not far behind.
Sheik nods respectfully to them, as he steps forward to where his sister is. Leveling a look at Sky as he did so. Waiting for the nod of approval and the hand to slip from her back, the careful removing of his sailcloth from her small form before he bends down to take the sleeping Zelda from the hero’s side, carefully prying her fingers from their lax grip on the other male’s hand and adjusting the scarf around her neck so that the tail of it is resting across the front of her body rather than behind her so that it doesn’t mess up his grip. He isn’t surprised when her hands find purchase in his own scarf with the other curling loosely around the blue and gold trim of the other.
As he steps back, Warriors steps forward to pick up the slumbering Hyrule.
He stops at the White Sword as he suddenly finds himself in a dilemma, a few of the Heroes walk past him toward the stairs. How is he going to pick it up when he’s juggling Zelda? He hadn’t done much, but he’d never flown so fast in his life, he’d never pushed his magic to the very limits before, not like he had done tonight.
Sheik doesn’t have to stew on this for too long because it’s Sky who steps forward, a thick cloth in hand and grabs the handle of the sword that is practically made to be wielded by a child’s hands. The sword isn’t happy with this, the cloth has literally burst into holy flames, incinerating the cloth instantly but the intense flames don’t burn Sky’s hand, it is meant to scare not harm. Once the internal shock wore off and he realized the flames didn’t hurt, his grip tightened, and he didn’t drop the sword.
“The sword can’t burn you; it only burns what is truly evil or what Link or Zelda deem evil, and you are the furthest from evil. Zelda doesn’t want you to be burned by the sword, so it can’t burn you even if you are unworthy of holding it.”
Sky’s look of confusion had Sheik halting his explanation, until Time stepped in to save the two from awkwardness of them both forgetting the shared language barrier. “I’ll translate, just continue.” He offered and was met with relief from both parties.
Once what Sheik had said had been translated, Sky’s eyes were wide, his sky-blue eyes staring at the blade with a newfound wonder but they dark back to meet the sheikah's vibrant red. “How is that possible? The Master Sword burns any who are unworthy of holding her, anyone without the Hero’s Spirit. Anyone who isn’t Zelda.”
“The White Sword isn’t the Master Sword. Zelda doesn’t know every little thing about it. She knows almost everything but not everything.”
“I see.”
Sheik’s Hylian was more advanced than Zelda’s and Link’s, so he could understand the language and speak it a bit better, but it was still rusty. However, this knowledge allowed him to understand the simple phrase and hear the judgment in the other’s tone. Something the others echoed, he saw it in their eyes when they passed him, Sky and Time at the rear, as the blade was no longer spitting flames.
“Why wasn’t Link informed when the sword chose him?”
Sheik rocking back on his heels as if Sky had punched him, his eyes darted to the floor for a moment before his gaze lifted back up to meet Sky’s intense gaze. “He didn’t need to know. He’d pulled the sword when he was seven but had no interest in learning how to use it and we weren’t going to push it on him. So, in the end, we decided to not tell him, to let him choose when he wanted to learn how to wield the sword that chose him. He kept the sword in his room, rarely ever taking it with him unless he was going on a trip to visit the other inhabited islands with his father and if he didn’t take it then the sword was under the Shadow Guards watch until Link returned from his trips to visit the other races.”
The older teen’s blue eyes were softer now, as understanding dawned on him. “You chose to let him have his childhood.”
“Yes…” he closed his eyes, his grip on Zelda tightening. He sighed heavily upon opening his eyes, “But at what cost?”
Time put a hand on his shoulder. “We can’t change the mistakes we made in the past, but we try to atone for them. To make sure they don’t happen again in the future.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Are you guys coming!?” Came the call from Wind in both Hylian and Rito.
One glance up, showed that Wind and the others had already reached the upper floor and Wind and Four were the only ones waiting on them, the others had gone on ahead with the help of Twilight’s lantern to navigate the dark.
“We’ll be right up!” It was Sky who had called this out as the two shifted to let Sheik pass to the stairs first with Zelda who hadn’t stirred once since being picked up, showing just how exhausted the girl was. Sheik’s steps were careful and precise, despite how much he clearly wanted to speed up, he kept his pace light to avoid jostling his sleeping cargo.
Time nodded once and Sky took the stairs next, followed by Time.
Legend kept looking back with each floor they passed, with each staircase they climbed. Ice rod in hand. The good thing was they’d only had to stop briefly to change out Link’s wet cloth for a new one when Twilight had mentioned that the kid’s forehead was burning a hole through his tunic.
He hadn’t liked the idea of leaving Wind and Four alone in the dark, but they’d insisted. Warriors had insisted. They couldn’t wait on them, they needed to get moving and so they had. Wild in the lead with Twilight’s lantern, Twilight and Warriors in the middle as they were the only two carrying people with Legend picking up the rear.
He was not expecting to meet glazed eyes as he switched one cloth for another. “Link.” he said carefully, his Hylian shifting smoothly into Sheikah, making Wild and Warriors whip their heads around at the gentleness that had crept into the veteran’s voice. “Do you think you can drink something?” he asked, waiting for Link to respond as Wild took the hint and produced the fairy tonic in question, uncorked. At Link’s eager nod, Legend took the bottle and tilted it back so that some of the liquid spilled into Link’s mouth. Legend handed the bottle back to Wild when he saw Link’s eyes flutter shut.
“How many sips did he take?”
“Five or six?” Legend guessed. “I wasn’t counting.”
Warriors nodded, adjusting his hold on Hyrule, so that the younger hero could rest his head more securely at the crook of his neck. “At least he drank something.”
“Yeah.”
“At least we’ll have some good news to tell Sheik when the others finally catch up.”
“Good thinking Vet.”
“Thanks.”
“How many floors have passed since the lowest level?”
“Seven?” came the guess from Twilight. “Link was on the eleventh floor.”
“So, we have three more floors to go up before we’re out.”
“Look that way.”
“Let's keep moving then, the others will catch up.”
Getting through the other floors was easy, the lair was still deserted and since they didn’t need to be cautious or wary of an attack, they got through the next three floors easily, it certainly helped that the entire labyrinth had been a straight shot from one set of stairs to the others.
“Actually, there are twelve floors.” Wild replied, as he started up the final staircase that would lead them up to a floor above the one that Zelda had met them on.
“At least we’re almost at the exit.”
As Wild reached the double doors first, he shoved them open to allow the others to exit first.
“What the hell is this!?”
“It looks like a throne room?”
White flames still burned, lighting up the throne room.
“Ugh.” Twilight groaned, scrunching up his nose as the pungent scent of burning flesh hit him full force. He took a step back, eyes watering at the stench of the room. Bile rising from the back of his throat. It was a different kind of bad. “Wild, Ledge, one of you take him!”
Wild was the one who stepped up to take Link from Twilight as soon as he saw his mentor struggling. Visibly doing a full body shiver when the cold cloth on Link’s forehead made contact with his bare neck.
“Drop him and Sheik will kill you.”
“Did you have to make the cloth that cold?” came the complaint.
“Yes." Legend fixed Wild with his disbelieving stare, "His fever is still rising, and we need to lower it.”
As soon as he did, Twilight stepped further back away from the room, a hand flying to grasp the shadow crystal hanging around his neck and in a shift of inky shadows, Wolfie stood in his place. The smell wasn’t awful to the wolf’s nose, but all the disgusting scents were wreaking havoc on his hylian one.
“Better?”
Wolfie shook out his pelt and nodded. He looked up, leveling cobalt blue at concerned cerulean.
“Good.” Came the nod from the war veteran, who was slowly letting go of that persona. At least enough to offer the wolf a wane smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Legend actually laughed at the sight of Ganon’s burning body before him, “I’m not surprised that his Zelda set Ganon on fire.”
“Me either.” Came the simultaneous responses from Warriors and Wild and surprisingly Wind as he and Four finally caught up only to hear the tail end of the conversation. The 14-year-old was quick to tack on, “Tetra is a badass pirate captain, she helped me out a lot and helped me in my fight against Ganon.” Wind knew exactly what he was starting, and it didn’t take long for the others to take the bait.
“Athena actually fought in a war on the frontlines with me and her own men as Sheik and she helped me fight Ganon.”
“Flora went on to fight Ganon alone and fought to keep him sealed for a hundred years and we both helped in defeating Calamity Ganon.”
“Sun’s the mortal reincarnation of Hylia.”
“This isn’t a competition-” came the rumble from Time.
“Thank the Goddesses. A voice of reason-”
“-My Zelda was the first Sheik.”
“...I’ve lost all respect for you.”
“I can’t decide whether to commend you all for your desire to rank your Zeldas based on their level of badassery or call you all idiots?” Sheik shook his head in amazement as he stepped into the room and heard seven other boots hit the floor and the clink of claws from the wolf that was clearly the Hero of Twilight, he knew of the stories of him, of all of them, they were the first tales of many that a sheikah child learned. He waited until he was right at the exit before saying anything to end the competition directly in his little sister’s favor. “But fine… I’ll vouch for mine since Link can’t do it himself. Zelda actually killed Ganon at nine without Link’s help.”
The stunned silence he had left in his wake as he stepped outside was broken by laughter as seven heroes and one wolf followed him out of Ganon’s Labyrinth.
“Looks like we have a winner.”