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Today was going to be a bad day. Wild tried to ignore the pain swallowing the left side of his body. It happened from time to time. Sometimes the scars just pulled and ached and burned. He tried not to limp as each step with his left foot felt like walking on glass. He tried not to wince whenever he moved his left arm. He tried not to let the others know he was in pain, it couldn’t be fixed anyways.
Apparently he’d been doing a bad job of hiding it because Warriors walked up to him with a concerned expression etched on his face
“Wild, You’re acting strange. Are you alright?” The captain and one of their two medics asked. Warriors observed every move Wild made, noticing every attempt at hiding signs of pain.
Wild sighed. Warriors would probably call his bluff is he said he’s alright, and Twilight, Who was looking at the two curiously, would probably scold him for hiding his pain.
“I’m fine. Scars are just acting up. It hurts a bit.” Wild replied. He hoped downplaying the pain instead of full on lying would get them off his back and allow them to continue traveling, but that was apparently too much to wish for as Warriors called for the group to stop and rest.
Wild didn’t like standing still when he was in pain. It only gave him more time to focus on it. But he doubted he’d be able to convince the mother hens of the group that he was good to travel. Especially since trying to apply chuchu jelly to the scars made him look so pathetic that Sky offered to help.
It didn’t help much. Though soothing at first it wasn’t long before the pain overpowered the cooling effect of the chuchu jelly and soon Wild had stopped pretending to be ok as he just focused on breathing.
What was intended to only be an hour of rest turned into setting up camp for the night. Wild was banned from cooking, Twilight taking over and making soup for the group. The rancher had thrown his wolf pelt over Wild to keep him warm. Wild sat tiredly against a tree with his face buried in the pelt. He hadn’t even noticed when he was offered a bowl of soup. Too focused on surviving the pain.
Twilight watched concerned as Wild barely ate. Only three bites in the champion set his bowl aside.
“Cub, You need to eat.” Twilight said. Wild looked away as he muttered a soft ‘I’m full’
Twilight sighed but decided not to push it. One day with a bit less food won’t kill him. He won’t clean up the bowl yet in case Wild gets hungry again but he doubted that would happen.
When the night took over the sky it was time to sleep. Four held first watch. He wished everyone goodnight and sat near the fire. Wild lay in his bedroll, staring at the silhouette of the smithy as he sat in front of the flames. ‘Focus on him, not on the pain.’ He thought. His body made that nearly impossible.
He barely slept that night.
- - - - - - - - - -
The next morning Wild’s pain was joined by a headache. He felt worse but he said he felt better. He didn’t want to slow the group down. It’s not like waiting around was going to help anyways. So after a bit of convincing the group cleaned up camp and they were on the move again.
He forced a smile and bit back the agonized groans. He was going to be fine. It happens from time to time and thus far it had always been temporary.
They had just emerged from the forest and onto a hilly plains when the roars of monsters could be heard. Before they could even voice some kind of complaint the first arrows had to be dodged.
Wild grabbed a shield. Though he chose one of his lighter shields it still hurt to hold, his left arm screaming in pain. But he couldn’t focus on it. There were monsters charging at them.
Most of the monsters were bokoblins and bulblins so Wild wasn’t too worried. Warriors and Time were already getting rid of the majority of them with wide sweeping attacks. The rest just had to deal with the monsters that got by them.
Wild helped Four get rid of a dinalfos. Every move he made was agonizing. An aeralfos tried to attack Twilight. Wild shot it down before Twilight even noticed the foe.
One by one monsters were dealt with. They were almost done when Wild heard Wind shout.
“Watch out, Champion!” Wild turned around to see a massive moblin raise its club above him. No chance to dodge, Wild raised his shield. The club collided with it. It was a hit that usually wouldn’t take Wild to the ground. He had blocked more dangerous things with a potlid. But when the force of the blow rang through his scarred arm and down to his leg he screamed in pain. His knees buckled, the moblin raised its club again but was tackled by Twilight’s wolf form. The poor monster was mauled to death.
Hyrule rushed to Wild’s side, healing hands ready.
“Are you ok?!”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Probably just blocked incorrectly.” Wild said, getting a skeptical look from Hyrule. The traveler immediately went to check for wounds. Wild kept quiet despite the immense pain having his arm checked caused. It was just the scars, that was clear. No need to have them worry about it.
Warriors had been checking on some of the others. Four had a nasty cut.
“Anyone have a potion?” Warriors asked.
“Just a small one will be enough.”
Wild pushed Hyrule away from himself and grabbed his slate.
“I got one.” He pressed on the icon, causing the drink to appear, and handed it to the smithy. Four thanked him, drinking the potion and healing the cut.
Wild decided to quickly check his stock. There weren’t a lot of potions left. Then he noticed a new icon on the slate. It was an exclamation mark. And it was flashing. Wild pressed on it and when he read the text his eyes went wide.
‘Body repair scheduled. Return to shrine of resurrection.’
__________
Link was in pain. It felt as if the scars were about to reopen. Thankfully he was near the Hateno ancient tech lab. Despite the pain he managed to make his way up the hill and to the lab. He didn’t dare teleport as the pain started when he teleported to the Hateno village shrine.
He didn’t even knock on the lab’s door. He just pushed himself inside, collapsing immediately.
“Linky!” Purah shouted. She hopped down the chair she stood on and rushed to Link’s side.
“Linky! What’s wrong?!”
Link took in a shuddering breath, the slightest movement hurt.
“Teleported… Everything hurts…” He murmured. Purah and Symin looked at each other for a moment.
“Check his vitals.” Purah ordered. Symin nodded and Helped Link lay on his back.
Link didn’t know how long it took for them to check everything. But eventually Symin let out a relieved sigh.
“Link, I think It’s just your scars acting up. They won’t reopen, don’t worry. It’ll just hurt for a bit.” Symin explained.
Link sighed and nodded. He really thought he was done for.
“Will this happen again?” He asked. Symin nodded sympathetically
“Yeah, sorry.”
“Be careful though.” Purah added. She was unusually quiet.
“Linky… There is something we haven’t told you yet. The shrine of resurrection… Didn’t truly safe you. It has given you more time, Yes. But you’ll still die young unless you go back to the shrine. The symptoms start out similarly to this. So please, make sure you are aware of that.”
“…Ok.” It was all Link could say.
But he knew he’d never go back to the shrine even if it will kill him.
__________
“Something wrong?” Twilight asked. Wild shook his head.
“Just… Running low on potions. We’ll need to resupply soon. I don’t have enough ingredients to make more.”
Twilight observed him for a moment. Wild smiled and Twilight sighed and nodded.
“Ok. But we haven’t seen a town or traces of civilization in a while now. We might have to forage for ingredients.”
“That’s fine.” Wild said. He wasn’t going to tell them about the notification or the ticking clock that hung over his head. Surely this notification came way in advance. He’ll be able to finish this adventure first and his brothers would never have to know.
Time called for the group to get ready to move again. They couldn’t stay surrounded by monster corpses. So they continued.
- - - - - - - - - -
When Wild woke up this morning the pain was worse. But he ignored it. It’ll fade. It’s just the scars. The notification is a coincidence. Sure, he had no idea how long it had been there, but it’s fine.
He just focused on going forwards. He felt dizzy and his chest hurt. He didn’t want to look suspicious so he smiled and talked like he usually would even though it hurt.
The sun shone in his eyes. He blinked, at least, he thought he blinked. But one moment he was walking and the next he was laying on the ground, the telltale feeling of broken ribs in his chest.
The others were crying. They looked frightened and incredibly relieved when they saw Wild’s eyes open.
“Cub!” Twilight shouted. Tear streaks ran down his face.
“Cub! Are you alright? Fuck, you scared me!”
Wild looked around confused.
“…What happened?” He asked. Twilight seemed too upset to explain so Warriors took over.
“You collapsed suddenly. Your heart wasn’t beating. If it feels like your ribs are broken it’s because they are, I had to perform CPR on you. Any idea what could have caused this?” He asked. Wild was quiet for a moment.
He had always known he didn’t have long. But he’d hoped he’d have longer. How was he going to explain this to his brothers? Will he have long enough to see his Zelda and say goodbye? To see his friends for one last time?
“I… I…” Wild stammered. Warriors placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“How about we set up camp first? You lay here and take it slow, ok?” He suggested. Wild nodded. The group started to get their supplies and bedrolls. Twilight didn’t move away from Wild’s side. The rancher was shaken to the bone. Wild felt guilty. Twilight was going to be broken when he tells them.
Wild’s bedroll was set up first and Wild moved to it. His scars still ached, his head still had a pounding pain, and now his chest hurt a lot too. But all too soon camp was ready. Warriors returned to his side with the same question.
Wild took a shaky breath. How was he going to tell this? He thought he had more time.
“I… I don’t know how to explain…” He sighed. Warriors raised a brow.
“But you knew this could happen? Have you had history with heart problems?” He asked.
Wild shook his head.
“No. It’s… I knew I wasn’t doing well but I didn’t know this would happen.”
This time Hyrule, remembering the incident with the moblin and the break they took for Wild two days earlier, spoke up.
“Do your scars still hurt that much?” Wild nodded.
“And you didn’t tell us? Wild! There could be underlying issues and-”
“I’m dying.” Wild spat out, not daring to look anyone in the eye as everyone became quiet.
Twilight was the first to speak up with trembling voice.
“Wild… What do you mean ‘I’m dying’?”
Wild sighed. He felt his hands shake.
“Well… The shrine of resurrection didn’t truly safe me. It just gave me more time. And… well… that time is apparently running out.” Tears started to flow from his eyes. He didn’t want to die. Not yet.
Twilight enveloped Wild in a hug, careful not to jostle him too much.
“Please tell me you’re lying.” He said. His voice heavy with tears.
“…I’m sorry.” Wild said.
“I’m so sorry.”
Four’s eyes flashed a lot of colors as he thought.
“There is nothing we can do?” He asked. Wild sighed.
“The shrine of resurrection can give me more time but even if it is in this time it’ll likely remove my memories again. I don’t want to go through that again.” He said. Four nodded.
Time swallowed thickly as he tried to be the stoic support pillar of the group.
“How long do you have? Do you think you’ll last until we find a portal that might take you home?”
Wild shrugged.
“I could have died just now. I have no idea how long I have.”
“…Alright. We’ll figure something out.” Time sighed.
“We’ll figure something out.”
- - - - - - - - - -
No one, especially Twilight, Left Wild’s side after that. They had tried to travel a bit in the hopes of finding a town or portal to Wild’s time but Wild collapsed from the pain in his legs. Twilight tried carrying him but that too caused pain. So they found a safe location for a new camp and stayed there.
Wild was exhausted. To ignore the pain he focused on the spots that had since become part of his vision. He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Twilight with a sad smile.
“Time made stew. Try to eat a bit.” He said. Wild nodded and accepted the bowl that was handed to him. He wasn’t able to cook anymore. He could barely focus. But thankfully Time was slowly improving. What he made was actually edible.
After dinner it was a series of checkups again. Warriors and Hyrule insisted on keeping an eye on his vitals. Not that it was going to help. But Wild knew this was a sort of distraction for the two so he allowed it.
The days were a blur. Wake up, eat, sleep, wake up, eat, checkups, sleep. Despite the amount of sleep he never seemed to get more energy.
At one point he managed to have a short conversation with Twilight. The rancher gave a soft smile and Wild was unaware that it’d be the last time he’d see it. He woke up later finding he couldn’t open his eyes.
“…S it night?”
“No, Wild.” Twilight said. His voice laced with worry.
“It’s the middle of the day.”
“Then why is it dark?” Wild asked. There was a moment of silence before twilight called for Warriors.
The captain checked Wild’s eyes. It didn’t take him long to come to a conclusion.
“You’re blind. Sorry, Wild.” The captain said somberly. Wild didn’t reply. It was bad enough that he was in pain but now he wouldn’t be able to see his brothers either. He felt Twilight Squeeze his hand reassuringly. Wild felt too broken to squeeze back.
- - - - - - - - - -
Wild was listening to Wind tell one of his stories. He was leaned up against Twilight and with what he was sure was Sky’s sailcloth draped over his legs.
Then a sudden spike of pain made him gasp. But the pain didn’t go down anymore. Wild felt his heart thump in his chest and he panicked. Twilight tried to calm him down. They tried to lay him flat on his back but Wild refused to let go of Twilight’s tunic.
“Ok, ok. You can lean against me.” Twilight said calmly as he repositioned Wild to lean fully against him.
Wild gasped and shook. He found that breathing was becoming hard and it only made him more scared. He opened his eyes desperate to see someone but he was blind. Twilight wrapped an arm around him and gently shushed him, reassuring him that he’d be alright.
But Wild felt his heart beat irregularly in his chest. He felt the energy being sapped from him. The one thing he found he felt less was the pain as it started to fade. He gasped for air.
“G…guys?” He asked, reaching out with his hand for the others. Almost immediately he felt himself being surrounded by them, Arms wrapped themselves around him in a comforting group hug.
“You’ll be ok.” Twilight said again. There was so much pain in his voice.
“I’m… Sorry…” Wild murmured, letting his eyes droop closed. He felt his heart stutter. The pain faded away and so did the voices of his brothers.
He felt scared. He didn’t want to die. But at the same time it felt familiar. It was as if he was coming home. The warmth of his brother’s hugs kept him company.
He sighed.
And he was at peace.