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Four stepped through the portal, the soft sunshine and verdant spring scene blinking out to give way to vicious cold and a blinding white out landscape of whirling snow and barren rock. The Colors whirled and collided in his mind, the newest random assortment of symptoms hitting him at once in a singular, nigh-crippling blow to his senses, dark spots buzzing across his blurring vision as his body threatened to give up right there under the onslaught. The little hero was left dizzy and stumbling, collapsing as the vertigo cruelly wheeling everything about made it all but impossible to orient when paired with the heavy curtain of snowflakes tumbling through the air. He hit icy snow with a breathless grunt, bracing a hand and half-heartedly trying to push himself off his stomach as he heard a snow-muffled shout from far off, trying desperately not to faint.
He fell back down instead, a soft, confused sound escaping him as the world slid disconcertingly around him, arms wiped from beneath him. Four tumbled a ways, panting and laying there when he came to a tenuous stop, letting out a soft keen as he tried to move and realizing far, far too late that the sensation of moving wasn’t just the vertigo but the snow actually slipping under him, or the flat layers of slate beneath it, all of it and him sliding down the slope. Four’s brain sluggishly snapped into utter alarm and he jolted, scrabbling blindly to escape whatever was happening. But he couldn’t see anything but snow and the dark buzzing spots clouding his own vision, couldn’t tell which way was up or which way everything was spinning to compensate and-
Four reeled as the ground slid under him, fist sized rocks bouncing off of him as they tumbled past. He landed on his side, unable to rise as the snow carried him ever faster downwards and the landslide picked up speed, panic shooting through his scattered thoughts as he realized he was at the leading edge of the blossoming disaster.
“-omeone get to him!”
“-ur! Four you have to move -”
Wild’s voice pierced louder than all the rest, a scream shrill enough to slice through the snowstorm and jab the words like knives into Four’s throbbing skull. “SHIELD! GET ON A SHIELD!”
Four - GreenRedamuddyblurofthemall - gasped, tumbling helplessly, every weakening grab for the shield knocked askew as the ringing in his ears grew louder. Something struck his head, sending the world whiting out, and his body jolted, tugged about, a senseless cacophony of roaring snow and metallic buzzing and his own panting breaths, echoing oddly. His skin tingled in the freezing air, head lolling as the roar quietened and the ambient sounds became slowly clearer, a soft keen escaping his lips as everything tipped and the dizziness returned.
Then, through the loud, jumbled confusion of the Colors, a voice came into focus, speaking quickly and quietly. “-okay, I got you, Four. We’re going to be alright.” That was… Twilight, he slowly parsed, groaning as they lurched and his head lolled where it was drooped bonelessly over… an arm, the hands clutching him to Twi’s chest tightening.
“Don’t move, Four, I’m not- holy shit that was close - as ahaha -” and that sounded a little unhinged Blue-Vio- urk noted blearily “-good at this as Wild is,” Twilight rambled, something very nervous and very strained in his voice, the sound of grinding continuing. Four’s ear flicked at the annoying sound, the motion lost in the cold shuddering of his frame, wind nipping relentlessly through his thin clothes.
“Cn’t st-stop shivering,” Four managed quietly, all too happy not to move otherwise as everything spun and spun and spun -
‘-our? Four?” Twilight sounded distinctly panicked now, and the taller hero shook him slightly, drawing a weak moan as the jostling kept him from the quiet, dark stillness. “Sorry, sorry, but no, no Four open your eyes, tell me what you see,” Twilight coaxed, as if Four couldn’t, even in his current state, pick out the rampant worry in his voice.
‘S dark,” he murmured wearily, head lolling back and forth as they… swerved?. “Colors… bleeding ‘tghtr.”
“You’re bleeding?” Twi’s voice sharpened, commanding now. “Four, no, open your eyes !”
He- oh, yes, hm. Four slitted his eyes open, giving a soft hum at the just… whiteness there. A slow blink did nothing but add further pale shades. “S white,” he slurred, unimpressed. Twilight spoke again, too quickly this time for Four to understand the words as anything more than a lilting rise and fall of tonality, and he continued to stare as their surroundings became clearer, exposing a strange, alien landscape. Great icy pillars held aloft a sheet of frozen snow far above, the pale sky and growing blizzard visible through holes in the roof, openings marked by the thick fall of snowflakes whirling wildly beneath them. There was visibility down here, even if everything was white on pale on ice glazed stone.
They were moving fast, and Twi wasn’t running -
“What- wait, what ?” Four twitched, head twisting, only for Twilight to clutch him tighter as they both wobbled on the shield he was surfing down with Four in his arms holy shit -
He immediately grasped Twi’s shirt, curling in tighter, adrenaline spiking as pillars flashed past that would very much kill or maim them if they crashed, and then the word avalanche filtered through the panic and color-ridden whirl of his thoughts and that was even worse-
It had a very different feel to it then when Wild had first shown them down a gentle grassy slope, Four thought hysterically. Between the hiss of the shield on the ice and his own wavering hearing it was impossible to tell if the rumbling roar was only echoing off the snowy bilayer or if it was right behind them or if it was only his body trying to pass out once more. He was too afraid to crane around for fear he’d unbalance Twilight, who thankfully seemed to be better at out-shield surfing an avalanche down an icy obstacle ridden slope than Four certainly would have been.
He’s pretty sure he’d be hylian mush somewhere back under the avalanche, actually.
But Four was very used to ignoring reminders of his own mortality, and it was all too easy to let the fear slip away into the gentle fog permeating his mind, the Colors still a water-whorled blur within him even after a few faints, thoughts slippery and sluggish as molasses. “Okay,” he whispered shakily, clumsily lifting his head and tucking it into Twi’s chest, light-headed and sick. He could trust the Ranchhand to keep them both alive, no matter how it itched that he was so useless.
“I’ve got you, Smithy. I think we’re good, but I’m gonna keep going just to be safe-”
Four listened to Twi’s rambling assurances, shivering viciously with no way to get anything warmer on. Then all at once they passed under open sky once more, blinded again by the snowstorm as the icy cover was left behind, any trace of the avalanche’s thundering lost all at once to the screaming wind. Four couldn’t see anything but white before he shielded his face in Twi’s shirt but the shield was still zipping along, spinning them once more as the ground dipped, his head going light as the inertia sent his equilibrium wobbling.
The shield rocked violently beneath them, Twilight tensing up and leaning hard to stay atop it but next moment there was a slight jolt and a yelped curse.
A distinct sense of being airborne, Twi curling around him.
They hit rock hard ice and skidded along it, rolling and being ripped apart from one another, and then- free fall once more, Four’s lungs too frozen for a proper scream, and-
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It was cold. Four’s body was all but convulsing as shudders wracked its freezing form, pulling him back to consciousness. He let out a soft sound of pain, so cold it hurt , trying to draw up the memory of what had happened- a portal, then… a landslide? No , Vio pushed, Blue-muddled and blearily pissed, an avalanche , and Twi had managed to shield surf them down the mountain and then…
And then crashed? Gone over a ledge? Something sudden, Four knew that much, but the whole unbelievable scene was almost dreamlike, all a pale, confused blur.
There was a whirl of panic in his mind, a sluggish consensus that he should really, really change into something warmer now . He unfurled in the snow slowly, getting a general bruised feedback from his body but too bitterly cold for anything more specific. He dragged his bag open with his teeth, layering the winter clothes over his tunic and leggings, pulling on a hat and gritting his teeth as he tugged off the pegasus boots to replace them with another layer of woolen socks and proper winter boots- gloves topped off the whole set, precautionary gear they’d all taken to carrying considering how seasons swapped between worlds.
He couldn’t remember whose idea that had been, but he owed them a hug after all this was over with.
Feeling warmer already, Four huddled into his knees once more, still shivering and sick from the portal, head spinning and thoughts a mess as the Colors tried to settle back in from the blender that was cross-dimensional travel. Then all at once the background wrongness finally focused in on the reason his sluggish mind had been grasping after since he’d woken up still in his light clothes, alone.
Where was Twilight?
He dragged his head up to scope around, trying to force his fogged brain to work properly . All Four could currently make out was some rocks nearby and what looked to be a tundra, going by the plants poking through the snow and how flat it was past view. Still, he patted and kicked around him, just in case, heart sticking worriedly in his throat as no Twilight showed up in the heavy, wet snow nearby. Four squinted around, trying to gauge where he’d come from and where Twilight could have landed, getting up and wading determinedly through the deep snow at the foot of the cliff he’d fallen off towards what he thought to be farther uphill where they’d been separated while falling. He was a hair wobbly, the path behind him marked with multiplied body prints in the snow where he’d toppled end over end, and…
Oh, damn.
Four looked around, hugging himself for warmth, absolutely lost for where he was in relation to where he’d woken in the snow and with no idea when he’d managed to get onto the tundra. He thought, maybe, those were boulders through the pale wreath of whirling snow, and was staggering his way over in hopes of finding the foothills again when he heard it-a howl, barely discernible from the wind, lilting through the air. It must be close, with how clear it was despite the snowfall muffling things, and Four tried to call back, heart leaping at the thought of Twilight, of help when he so needed it, of Wolfie and any additional warmth. His voice broke in the cold, though, and he whistled instead, shrill and tremulous. There was another call, longer, and Four answered back, waiting. A few minutes passed before Twilight called out again for a pinpointing whistle, then-
Nothing. Four whistled again, gasping desperately as he stood uselessly watching the snow whirl around him, leaning on the rock to remain upright. His head was spinning again from overexerting himself while still suffering from the damned portal, balance completely shot, grappling for Red’s optimism instead of Vio’s knowledge of hypothermia and only running himself in whirling circles as he tried and failed to struggle through the baseless confusion miring his thoughts. A plan, he needed a plan , but trying to look at the facts was useless when they were meaningless to him right now, and Four was left standing helplessly, knowing he was rather screwed and utterly unable to wrangle himself together enough to figure out what to do about it but stand there, lost enough to feel tears burning behind his eyes.
He had to find Twilight, who must have been injured to not have come to him right away, who could be passed out right now by his silence. He had to… do something, anything but get more lost or just sit and wait when Twi could need help. There was nothing wrong with him but his own brain being stupid and slow and useless, and he couldn’t wait for it to clear on its own like he usually did after the accursed portals messed badly with him.
It… wasn’t the first time Four had been helplessly furious at his unlucky incompatibility with their only means of moving between worlds.
He hauled himself up, driving forwards and whistling again desperately, determined to push his body until it gave out rather than sit and wait . He could rest when he passed out.
But then, not too long before it would have come to that, a familiar silhouette blurred into view against all the white, head low and searching, trotting through the snow. Four shouted, waving his arms as he fell forward, scrambling for Wolfie. “Twilight! Over here!” Ears perked his way, the snow clumped figure running for him, a bark just legible through the storm. Four laughed, falling to his knees and then forward onto his hands, all but sobbing with relief, feeling about ready to faint now that the panic that had been all that was keeping his portal-wracked body up and moving was draining all at once for weak-limbed relief.
There was an unhappy growl, and Four tried and failed to drag his head up, just this close to collapsing. “I’ll be alright, I jusneedamomen’-”
A too tight grip on his shoulder, padded by his coat, hauling him forward and onto his knees in a harsh tug that snapped him back to dizzying awareness. “Hey,” he protested weakly, flailing his arms out to shove Twi away, vision refusing to focus past a blur. “‘M not doing so hot, gimme a min…”
He blinked heavily, not quite putting together why Wolfie’s eyes were gold or where the markings had gone on fur that was a washed out gray, not the mossy slate he’d expected-
The biting grip on his shoulder suddenly clamped down, teeth piercing skin and bones sending warning signs as the pressure grew to crushing levels, Four shrieking and flailing blindly in startled agony, still not understanding why Twi would-
Wolfie shook him viciously, and at some point between the first and third head rattling snap of his body Four lost his tenuous grip on consciousness, still grasping for an answer.
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He woke up again to his own shivering, and it was a long, long time before Four drew enough pieces together to realize how lucky he was to be doing so, no matter how sharp the pain in his neck and along his spine was, or the feverish hotcold pain in his shoulder.
Four cracked icy eyelashes open, meeting only white on white on white, still, lethargically noting the thin layer of snow covering him. He listened for a long moment, trying to tell if the wolf was still nearby, but there was no sound but the wind. He let out a shaky sigh, trying to rally the will to move, finding it more in Twilight’s continued absence than the hungry wolf that had for some reason abandoned an easy meal. Pain greeted every move, but he forced himself to sit up anyways, because no matter how awful walking sounded and how he doubted he’d even make it far, staying here would only make him a useless victim of the snow.
He was sitting slumped vaguely upright, chanting motivation to himself when a low sound rumbled behind him, and Four whirled, lashing out with his good arm at the holy hell hulking creature , black dots swarming his vision as pain stabbed down his neck and sparked within his shoulder, leaving him sprawled on the snow and panting as he fought to stay awake. It left plenty of time for whatever it was to attack him, and he tried to scramble backwards as he regained enough awareness to panic, but though the motion was too clumsy to do anything but scatter some snow and drain what little energy he had nothing capitalized on his vulnerability. Four’s vision cleared a little as he gasped in the snow, and he blinked blearily at the not-wolf towering over him, breath catching in pain as it nudged him in the chest, whickering again.
A horse.
His first thought was Epona, and it took far too long staring in stupor at her before dazedly realizing no, it… wasn’t. This one was goldish and had a black mane, where Epona was… orange with white.
“Are you going to bite me too?” Four wondered aloud, but the horse only shook itself like a dog shedding water, flinging frozen clumps of snow everywhere. It lifted a hoof and stamped it down, weight shifting, and Four glanced down to find pink blood splattered snow all around them.
He hoped not all of that was his , and judging by the lack of a wolf eating his body it probably wasn’t, but- well, at this point he was having a hard time parsing what of his limping thoughts was portal sickness, what was hypothermia, and what was leftover for possible blood loss. It was a miracle he was still awake at all, considering his track record with unconsciousness after coming through the dimensional doorways. He tried to gather the symptoms together but ended up doing little more than spinning his thoughts in useless loops.
Four hissed in frustration, eyes burning with tears he could not let fall in this cold, moving to drop his head in his hands and freezing with a sharp cry at the pain shooting down his neck, marking an injury there, from Wolfi- from the wolf. Nothing broken, but the tingling numbness of his extremities- was it the cold? Or from a more serious injury, when the wolf shook -
“Stop,” he bit out to himself, trying to gather his legs beneath him. “We gotta find Twilight,” He whispered to the horse. There was no wolf body around, and he was distinctly less confident that he could kill it if it came back then he was comfortable with, not in the sorry state he was in- most importantly, not when he wasn’t sure he’d be able to tell the difference between the wild one and Wolfie until it was too late. He wobbled to his feet, wavering and blindly grabbing a handful of the horse’s mane, freezing for a moment in fear of the wild creature, but it only stepped closer, seeming content to stay at his side. Four blinked back to himself, snapping out of the haze of petting the horse’s side as he soaked in its heat.
Right, he should get moving. He squinted around, seeing nothing but tundra as far as he could make out through the whirling snow fluff. Where-?
Anywhere but here. Any guess was as good as another with the whirling snow, but at least if he moved he’d have a chance of avoiding the wolf and finding Twilight. Maybe even both, if he was lucky for a change . Four waded forward, making it out of the deeper snow in the cover of the boulder, stumbling to the shallower, wind-swept stretch ahead. The horse followed along, almost more of a hazard than a help with its heavy feet so close to his wavering footsteps and the plow of snow as it paced beside his smaller, swaying frame. It was a minute before he realized he still had a grip on its mane, nearly wobbling over and only kept upright by its steadying presence.
It was strangely serene here, despite everything. Not quiet, not with the whistling wind, but the sound sank into the background after a while, leaving nothing but the same blankness all around. Four tripped, falling heavily to his knees and yelping as agony shot up his spine at the impact, panting as he looked around. It was all just snow laden emptiness, though, no markers at all but the occasional snow swept shrub and craggy rock. He wasn’t even altogether sure he was in the foothills yet, because it looked … distinctly tundra like… around him now. He turned, cringing in pain as he twisted, but there was nothing new anywhere, nothing at all behind or ahead.
“I… think I fucked up,” he realized aloud, staring wide eyed up at the horse. It flicked its ears, blinking snow-crusted lashes at him and offering no directions to the pitiable Hylian it was tagging along with.
No, all the horse did was chuff and begin nosing through the snow for a tuft of grass, dragging it up and out to chew on while it waited for him to do something. The cold had seeped further into Four’s body, never truly warmed up from his initial slide down the mountain and apparently unprepared for the temperatures around him. The wind was making it worse, freezing his cheeks and driving the temperatures farther down. Between the drifting snow and heavy, ice-laved winter clothes Four was already at a disadvantage, and the crippling weakness was only getting harder to push through.
He dragged himself upward and onward, though, because what else was there to do?
There was no telling time out here, but eventually -and not long on- Four staggered to a stop, light-headed and faint, leaning heavily against the horse’s shoulder. The dizziness got worse, and he sank to the ground, ears ringing. The feeling passed slowly, but when Four tried to stand his knees wobbled and crumpled beneath him, and a second attempt didn’t make it past a half-hearted lurch before his strength gave out completely. He let out a weak sob, leaning against the horse’s stocky leg as the only thing keeping him upright.
So.. that was it, then. He was going to be done in by a poorly-placed portal and his own scrambled up mind. Four shuddered, cold and crying, and the horse shifted but did not move to abandon the strange little creature pressing against its leg. He hoped Twi was alright, at least- he had the pelt, or Wolfie if need be, and the others would be looking too for them. It would have to be alright, because Four had nothing left, for himself or for Twilight’s sake.
He fell into a hazy dream-state, eyes half-lidded and hypnotized by the swirling snowflakes, wavering as dizziness rose and fell within him. The horse twitched, jerking away all at once, and Four fell bonelessly into the snow, barely even registering what was happening.
Icy hands plunged past his neckline, pressing at his throat. He gave a little grunt, twitching, as his body was moved, lifted, and he roused enough to finally see and hear Twilight.
“Four, come on, wake up.” Twilight’s face, cold-reddened and panicked, collapsed when he met Four’s murky, disoriented gaze. “Four?”
“Y’okay?” He tried to lift a hand to pat Twi down, but only managed to cling to his sleeve. The Rancher was shaking, or shivering, or maybe Four was, the larger hero letting out a cry and curling over him.
“Four, thank- I’m so sorry I let go. I woke up and you weren’t by me, and there was a trail and blood in the snow-”
“Wolf,” Four muttered into Twi’s neck, burrowing closer. “Thought it was you.”
“Oh,” came the soft, pained syllable. “How’d…”
Four sighed, shaking himself a little more awake. “The horse did something. I dunno- wolf grabbed me and knocked me out.”
“You’re hurt,” Twi noticed aloud, letting him go just enough to scan his ice-crusted frame over and snag on the icy crimson leading down his shoulder, bright against the snow. “I don’t suppose you have a potion you just neglected to take?” He asked weakly, and that he wasn’t moving for his own bag meant that Four wasn’t the only one out at the moment.
“‘S alright,” he waved off weakly. “It’s not even bleeding anymore, froze over.”
“I know , that’s why I’m worried. You’re too cold right now.” Twi bit his lip, then rocked a little, glancing at the horse who’d nudged him. “Okay, you know what? We can do this, Four, I’ll get us out of here.” And Twilight began taking off his coat, wrapping it around Four along with the pelt, leaving him absolutely unable to move with the additional weight before he was set back down, blinking sleepily up at Twilight, who was looking suspiciously underdressed.
“What about you?” He argued, but the Ranchhand was only smiling despite how his own shivering had picked up now that he’d reduced himself to thinner underlayers for Four’s sake.
“I’ve got Wolfie, I just need to get you settled first and then I’ll be fine!” Twi’s voice was chipper despite his chattering teeth, determinedly bundling Four in their combined clothes and securing them around him.
A hand patted his cheek and Four’s eyes blinked open indignantly, squinting unhappily at Twilight, who let his palm linger against his cheek. “Hey, eyes open! You’re going to have to stay awake, alright? I can’t keep switching back to wake you up.” The Rancher sounded worried, but the concern and fear that had kept Four going so far had been thoroughly tamped with the other’s arrival. He felt sick and tired, and now that Twi was here he could afford to just give in, except he was getting big sad eyes, and Twi looked really afraid.
Well- Four couldn’t do much, but if this was the only way he could help his brother…
“I’ll try,” he said thinly, knowing it was a weak assurance. Twi’s lips tightened, his eyes pained, but he only gave a small nod before slipping into Wolfie’s shape. The twili wolf looked at the horse, giving a small yip and tail wag, but drooped at the snorted reply. He turned and burrowed around Four, turning until he’d curled around the little hero, not big enough to wholly encapsulate him. Four cuddled closer, burying his face in Twi’s ruff and tucking the arm of his injured shoulder to his belly.
Wolfie whined and nudged him, and he belatedly remembered his promise. Unwilling to move, Four instead began to hum, moving sleepily through a familiar tune, looping when he reached the end. Everytime he began to drift off Twilight would jostle him until he took up the song again, ears perked and seeming alert everytime Four dragged his eyes open to look at his companion, ever looking in the distance for the rest of the Chain to appear.
Good. He doesn’t seem cold. Four’s not really either, anymore. The shivering has fallen away, and in its place is a dragging exhaustion. He’s all but boneless against Twilight, sliding down the wolf’s shoulder as the other jostles him, the sensation distant through the rising darkness around him. His head lolls, a wolf’s whine in his ear.
Then the warm press of fur is gone, and there are hands on him, pulling him upright and cradling his lolling head, drawing his chin up. “Four?” He watches Twi back through heavy-lidded eyes, lips curling in a faint smile. “Hey, stay with me okay?” The Rancher glances away sharply before turning back, looking painfully worried. He… keeps talking in those calm, lulling tones, Four blinking somnolently at him and not really absorbing any of it.
He’s allowed to ooze back onto the ground and Twilight lingers, one hand resting imperceptibly on Four’s hat for a moment before he stood and turned towards the horse hovering over them both, rope in hand that Four hadn’t even seen him retrieve. “You haven’t been acting properly wild, so don’t start now, okay?” Twi murmured, and then swung up onto her back, leaning forward and watching her shuffle before… getting off again? It was beyond Four to understand, not when the light-headed dizziness was pulling him away from the cold and the pain.
He gave a weak jerk, fluttering back into awareness with alarm, vaguely upright and flopping-? Ah! He was settled on the horse’s back, rope circled around his waist and secured to the length looped around the horse’s body, a girth without a saddle to go with it. His mittened hands were tucked in a makeshift handle-loop, and Twilight looked his work over, shivering horribly, before looking up at him, hand on his leg. “Alright, we’re going to head out, okay? Hold on to her as best you can.”
Four had ridden horses before, though not very often- his size usually made it more of a literal pain than it was worth, and though there was a pony at the castle for him his pride was pricked every time he had to ride it and see just how small it stood beside the other horses. Normally he’d be fine, and tied on the worst he could do was just… lay forward, but.
Why?
Before the question could make its way through the sludge of his thoughts to his lips Twilight was already folding down in a cascade of twili magic to Wolfie, circling the horse and peering into the thick snow around them. Below him the mare pranced, tossing her head and moving briskly forward. He swayed with her for a few seconds before slowly slumping forward to drape over her neck, breath hitching in pain as the quick pace exacerbated the injured muscles along his back.
Four closed his eyes, turning his face into the warm, damp neck, jaw tightened against the sharp pain every loping step shot down his back. The dizziness slowly built, a weak whine escaping him before he crossed some threshold, weakness flooding his body as the pain went at once muffled and snow softened. Four’s eyelashes fluttered, vaguely feeling Wolfie nudge at his knee, but he was dragged into gentle darkness in the next breath. Four phased restlessly in between waking and… not awake, the brain fog back worse than before. His shoulder was any icy mass of numbing pain, the blood frozen through his clothes where the jostling had reopened the bite punctures. He was too weak to move, pain hazed gray eyes half lidded and watching the snow loop dizzily around them. They rolled back and slipped close minutes later, position unchanged, head drooped limply where he was sprawled bonelessly over the mare’s neck, one arm swinging loosely.
The mare hurried along faithfully, the small, limp hero upon her back lost to the pale-wraithed world around them, the wolf wavering between fluttering over her worsening passenger and looping warily around them, watching. Suddenly, both animals spun to stare the same way, the mare jolting to a stop before and the wolf letting out a growl, hackles bristling. He let out a single snarling bark and as if on cue the mare plunged into a gallop, the wolf on her heels after a moment of glaring into the blizzard.
Four woke most distinctly to agony, his injured body screaming as it was jolted, a hitching cry dragged from him as his muscles seized up. The sensation didn’t stop, and Four flailed to steady himself, painfully slow to remember his situation. The mare was racing now, surging through the snow dunes in a panic, Twilight matching her pace and making no move to stop or slow her. Four was helpless upon her, left nothing to do but hold on for the ride, breathless with pain and frightened of whatever incomprehensible trigger of their flight lay in the snowy blanket.
A howl sang alongside the wind, fierce and haunting and somehow indeterminably different than the earlier wolf cry. The mare’s pace picked up even further, and Four tried and failed to peer into the driving snow to see the wolf calling so close to them, but there was nothing as they pounded blindly onwards.
Then suddenly her body twisted beneath him, a weight brushing past his leg, and they skidded to a halt, the air suddenly filled with equine screaming and a haunting duet of snarls. Four nearly slid sidelong off of her as she lurched, only saved from falling by the ropes looped around his waist and hands, eyes wide and horrified as he stared at the beast circling them.
It was no wolf. He’d mistaken the wild one earlier for Wolfie, gray toned and familiar featured, but this creature was nothing but a monster, no matter that it was clearly built along lupine lines as well. It was not much smaller than his mount, the same cold white as the snow whirling around. The creature slunk on all fours, but its shoulders shifted wrong as it stepped forward, the curl of its spine and set of its head screaming bipedalism. The eyes glowed in the pale whirl of the snowstorm, as malicious as the bloodthirsty twist of its mouth, parted to show the deadly bristle of fangs therein.
Four hadn’t been able to fend off a mere wolf -now, injured, a wolfos was laughably worse. Twilight was already redirecting the monster’s attention, but it was not a fight that favored the comparatively smaller wolf. What advantage he would have had in speed was lost in the miring snow, any maneuverability further hindered in his defense of Four and the mare. The wolfos seemed to be aware of its upper hand, letting out a coughing cackle as it feinted and lashed out at Wolfie.
Then Four had no more attention to spare for his brother, because the mare jittered beneath him and swiveled, spinning to face a second pale wolfos. It was at once horribly disjointed and predatorially graceful; it didn’t move like a wolf, its forelegs- arms, really- tipped in knife like claws, unnervingly human in composition.The wolfos wasted no time now that it had been spotted- it slunk forward a single sliding step, Four’s horse shrieking in fear as it lashed out with a hoof, body quaking in readiness beneath him.
Four shouted a warning to Twilight as he stuck an arm in his bag, searching, and missed the moment the wolfos moved in favor of trying to find and grab-
A pale form towered over him and the horse, snow whirling like ghosts around the frozen fur, its maw a visceral crimson void spewing vapor into the air as it let out an unholy, gleeful howl. His mount reared up to match its height, screaming in fierce defiance, and Four leveled his weapon at it- an ice rod borrowed from Wild and forgotten by them both. He artlessly pumped magic into it, watched the pale, streaking blast hit the monster sidelong, almost missing.
It was enough.
Ice exploded from the point of contact, pillars freezing in a starburst across the wolfos as its howling shifted into a haunting scream. The monster plunged to the ground, arm and ribs locked into a slashing motion by thick layers of glistening ice, luminous eyes maddened as it hobbled an unbalanced step, weighted down into an uncomfortable hunch. Four’s mount slammed down upon its exposed head, slipping down its writhing body. The pale, ice laden creature lashed about as horse and hylian alike struggled not to fall atop it, Four’s mount finally springing free and launching both hind legs at it in a final strike before blazing away.
“Wait, no!” Four cried, grabbing her mane and tugging in a vain attempt to stop her, but in a matter of moments Twilight’s barking snarls and shrieks of the wolfos faded into the wind, the mare intent on escape. He tried to undo the rope at his waist but it was no use even with the thinner enchanted gloves, and- his desperate scrabbling slowed, hands falling to grip the mare’s mane. Even if he did manage to get off of her, he… wasn’t sure he could walk back. He was panicked at leaving Twi with the wolfos, but- well, was it better? One was frozen, but it’s not like Four trusted his aim right now to use the same tactic on the other wolfos whilst locked in combat with Wolfie.
By the time he glanced back again there was nothing around them but snowy tundra once more. He still had no control over his mount, the mare only having slowed so far as to maintain a steady gallop instead of a dead sprint. Adrenaline coursed through his body, pain present but muted as Four looked behind at the faint sound of a gilded wolf howl, ice rod clutched tight in a trembling hand, shoulder bleeding anew. Another howl came from far closer, coarse and splitting, and a minute later it rose again with unnerving volume, a bloodthirsty warning that almost drowned out Wolfie’s familiar voice raising up against it, fainter but unfaltering. It was both a reassurance that Twilight had survived the attack without Four there and a beware that the wolfos still lived, hunting for them based on the vicinity of the last cry. A ghostly silhouette had him firing another frozen blast, but it hit only the earth in a shattering glass crackle- nothing but his hazy snow blinded vision making wraiths of snow swirls.
He was looking the wrong way, or maybe he’d never had a chance of seeing it coming no matter what.
A weight hit them sidelong, knocking the mare staggering beneath him with a ringing cry. It wasn’t until fire blazed down his side in the next moment that Four realized he’d been mauled , not struck, screaming in fury and fear and pain alike.Four whirled to see it but there was nothing but snow, windblown and kicked up in their furious scramble, the only detail to pick out through the snowy haze the mare’s dark mane. She skittered in a wary circle, seesawing between her forelegs and hindlegs in preparation for a bone-breaking kick, Four curled over and fighting desperately against mounting vertigo.
A flash of glowing eyes, and only from there could he trace the vague silhouette of the wolfos, pale, frosted fur blending with the blizzard bound tundra. It slunk closer, baring teeth as the mare squealed and spun, lashing out with her hind legs. The wolfos slipped to the side, coming up at Four’s back in one quick, disjointed movement, one instant an indistinct mass a few feet away and the next a looming, upright figure almost close enough to touch. Four pointed the ice rod across his body, looking the wolfos dead in the eye as it fell hungrily onto them, blood and gore staining its claw as it raced the hero’s reflexes. Magic dragged from his stuttering core, frost blooming brightly across the closing gap.
The wolfos was frozen solidly this time, its attack defused into falling deadweight, the icy bulk crashing heavily against them before Four’s mount limped out of the way with a wrenching whinny. He swayed with the unsteady motion, hunched over with an arm pressed against the sluggish, sleety flow of blood at his side, the pain throbbing but all too numb already to be good. The mare stumbled away and swiveled into an uneven lope, the hitching strides all he had left to cling to as reality began to slip around him.
The cold, the bloodloss, the portal.
The floating feeling, sight nothing more than a white blur, thoughts thick and unwieldy as Four swayed and slumped forward once more, hand sliding slowly from his side, blood-bright crystals already freezing to the clothes there. His body shivered convulsively, eyes fluttering, the motion of his faithful mount fading away. He laid helplessly there, stirring faintly as his body was jarred, then jarred again as the mare stumbled on, deaf to the wolf calling through the snowstorm for an answer.
The world slipped away long before she finally staggered to a stop.
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His skin boiled, a pain so searing it burned white hot across his body. Four jolted but his muscles didn’t respond, nothing more than a feeble twitch matching the screaming pain he tried to pull away from. He scraped open his eyes but it was too dark to see anything but indistinct smudges, and a weak cry pulled from ice burnt lips, wordless and desperately afraid, utterly helpless as pain stabbed through his body and side and shoulder, feet and hands emerging from numbness in a blaze of buzzing agony.
Four sobbed, writhing weakly against the hands holding him easily down, but they didn’t care, a roar rising in his ears as he let out a thin keen, hurting and lost and senseless. He went limp as he spent the last of his energy, crying in silent, hitching breaths as his aching body was moved, heat scorching his frozen form, threatening to shatter him like glass. “Please,” he tried to say, a cracked whisper of sound all that escaped. What comfort was given went unheard, the little hylian far past reaching.
He was shivering, weak little trembles, body too heavy to move. The world was somehow spinning sickly despite his closed eyes, whirling even as he laid there, shuddering, floating adrift. The pain was still there, looming over him and bearing down with every breath, bleeding strength with each passing moment. The barest trace of a whimper on a fragile exhale, the strain of everything a too-heavy weight dragging him down, down down-
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A shout drew him from the delirious haze he rested uneasily in, barely aware of anything past the dangerously dimming agony in his body, hands blazing warm as they rested over his skin, smoothing down his limbs as they shook in clutching, sporadic shivers, sapping him of any strength.
“Four, Four oh goddess - Time! Get over here!”
““He’s here? Is he okay- oh, shit- ”
“-got a fairy for his injuries, another warm elixir-”
The words were meaningless, eyes slitting open dazedly as a fever-hot hand cupped his cheek, roaming blindly through the dusky blur of shadows before slipping shut again with a barely there sigh. There was the slippery sense of familiarity, a tenuous comfort to the voices surrounding him, but he had so little left there was only the barest flicker of relief, a fast-guttering flame.
The world whited out as he was moved, pain a distant roar of buzzing sensation. The fevered throbbing faded away, a flush of blissful warmth taking its place, numb and safe. A warm fluid coaxed through his lips, voices soft and soothing as the arms hugging him close. The cold and pain haunting his body drifted farther, a dark, comfortable solace taking its place. Death at last, gentler than he’d always feared.
Four slipped away, content.
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It was warm. That was the first thing he realized as he rose out of the blankness of heavy, healing rest. A blur of time passed before he realized the gentle sway of the world was others breathing beside him, the steadying press of weight arms wrapped around him, bodies pressed close. His eyes slitted open, taking in the darkness for a second before he let them close again, relishing in the quiet, broken only by soft breathes and the subtle crackle of fire.
He could have drifted off again but for the soreness of his limbs begging to be stretched out, and as he unfurled his curled body his mind came slowly back online, curiosity sparking.
What-?
Oh .
His stretching prompted a sudden intake of breath from one of his companions, the arms around him tightening for a moment before loosening to let him wriggle to sit up a little on the pillow. The instant his shoulders escaped the blankets there was a multitude of hands helping to build a mountain for him to lean against, another blanket draped snugly over him and a blazing hot body at his side, which he slumped into more for the sake of being near than needing the support. He was tired and achy, but the crippling weakness from before had faded into something he could manage to power through, at least for a few minutes to soothe the others and catch up. Time and Sky were bracketing him, and he could see Legend sitting by the fire, with an approximately correct amount of blanketed lumps surrounding them to account for everyone.
Something told him the particularly large, two person sized bundle at their feet with Wild’s hair tangling from the top was probably Twilight. He stretched a leg out to give it a prod but fell short, face falling into a mild pout as he smushed his cheek into Sky’s shoulder, drowsy and more than happy to fall back asleep now that he knew everyone was safe and warm.
“Four?” A quiet voice prompted his drooping eyes to open again, a hand resting on his forehead. Time stared down at him, silently gauging his clarity before his face softened into a glad smile.
Four perked up, smiling back instinctively before it fell from his face, eyes narrowing and sharpening on the Old Man’s flushed cheeks and glassy eye, a familiar sight from his days sick before this.
And now, too, it seemed, after spending who knows how long in the snow probably looking for Four’s sad ass. Still, he wrangled a hand free of the blankets and slapped it down on Time’s cheek, both of them sitting there testing each other’s temps for opposite extremes. Four came out victorious, his acceptably warm brow furrowing unhappily as Time’s scorching face winced guiltily from his hand. “How long were you out there? Looking?”
Sky’s voice rumbled below his ear. “A few hours, is all. We were following with Fi but you and Twi were outpacing us. We came across him out on the tundra, but didn’t realize you were here until me and Time had to be dropped off so the others could keep looking without us slowing them down.”
Four twisted to frown up at him. “Your knee?”
Sky’s lips pouted a little, said injured leg bending a little under the blanket. “It didn’t take well to having to scramble clear of an avalanche,” he said apologetically. “And Time was getting feverish again-”
“It was gone, I didn’t lie-” came the plaintive protest, and Sky didn’t even pause, speaking louder over him.
“-so Wild brought us here to the stable, where it turned out you’d managed to escape to. It was… a little touch and go, there for a while, Four,” he said quietly, running a hand gently over the smaller hylian’s arm.
Four looked down at his lap, trying to recall everything through the haze of the portal and the bloodloss. “... yeah?”
Time took it for the quiet prompt it was. “One of the wolfos had managed to claw your side, and it was only the hypothermia that saved you from bleeding out. Might have something to do with using an ice rod in the middle of a blizzard- charmed clothes are good, but they have their limits.”
“The wolfos was right on top of me,” Four admitted. “Made it hard to miss, though.”
“I imagine that was a problem, considering you also had a concussion,” Time replied dryly, one hand coaxing through Four’s hair, tracing a sore patch that he’d never even sussed out at the time due to the aches everywhere else. “Something wrong with your spine and neck, too; the fairy spent the rest of her time there once she’d finished your side and head and shoulder,” Time listed pointedly, seeming increasingly upset at the extent of the injuries he’d managed to accrue.
Four blushed, giving a helpless shrug. “A… wolf shook me?”
Legend knelt beside Time, offering a cup of warm soup to Four, covering his hands until he was sure he had a solid, if slightly trembling, grip. “And here I thought the avalanche was bad.”
Four snorted, sipping serenely. “I barely even remember the avalanche.” He waved a hand vaguely around his head. “The portal,” he explained unnecessarily. The others grimaced.
“Yeah, we were afraid of that. You weren’t moving when you came out of it, and if Twi hadn’t gotten to you-”
“It would have been bad,” Legend finished for Sky. “He was pretty upset that he’d lost you twice over; you were pretty out of it to be left to fend for yourself in a wolfos-riddled snowstorm.”
Four could hardly argue that. “And yet.”
Legend gave a soft chuckle, taking the cup and drawing him into a quick, tight squeeze of a hug. “Yeah, and yet. Glad your luck turned around partway through, Smithy.”
Four beamed at him as he snuggled in to the rare show of affection, the undernote of sarcasm flying over his recently hypothermic and concussed head. Belly full and surrounded by cuddly, sleeping brothers was a nearly dreamlike contrast to the pain and fear of the tundra. He blinked. “How.. did I end up back here?”
Sky and Legend looked at Time, whose shoulders dropped. “The mare that found you was one of Wild’s released horses. As best we can guess she recognized the hero’s spirit, and despite the broken stable bond stayed around. She was headed back to the stable here, and after the wolfos separated you and Twilight she brought you the rest of the way.”
Four blinked, smiling softly. “Sounds like I owe her an apple or hundred,” he joked.
Legend shook his head. “She… didn’t make it, Four.”
Time’s lips twisted downwards, and if it weren’t him Four would consider the expression miserable . “The wolfos that nearly gutted you managed to injure her. You both made it to the stable, but… there was no saving her. The staff helped her go painlessly.”
“Oh.” Four swallowed, curling over as guilt welled up. If not for her, he’d have been dead at the hands of a wolf, and helpless against the wolfos. Twilight couldn’t have guarded him and fought two off, and he’d never have abandoned Four. She’d saved both their lives, faced down monsters for nothing but loyalty to a past bond with Wild.
That kind of courage didn’t deserve a bloody death.
Four’s eyes welled up as helpless remorse sank in all at once, letting Time draw him into a hug. “I know, I’m sorry,” he murmured, soothing a hand down the Smithy’s back. Tears ran silently down his cheeks, the grief a soft, regretful ache in his chest, warring with the relief of having survived himself at the cost of the mare’s life. Finally though, the tears ran dry, exhaustion winning over the twinging misery. Sky murmured something to Time, helping them both down to lay flat again, curling around his back and burrowing his face in Four’s hair.
“Everyone’s okay, though?” He checked quietly, needing to hear it.
“Everyone’s fine. Tired out from the snow and the worry, but healed and warmed up. They’ll be all the better in the morning when you’re up to greet them,” Sky soothed.
Four gave a tired sigh, the warring relief and grief quickly losing out to welling exhaustion. He let out a sleepy hum as he was shifted, the others getting comfortable and resettling the blankets, before drifting out once more.