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either way, we’re not alone (i’ll find a new place to be from)

Summary:

In the mess of clashing metal and screams coming from the Lizalfos, it was difficult to hear much else. Wild was lucky he was off to the side, mid-arrow notch when he heard the cry.

“Wild! Help!”

Before he could so much as turn his head to see who was calling for him, what had happened, Wild was suddenly thrown headfirst into a memory - his first in what felt like years.
-
Wild didn’t remember much, or anything, about his family. An ill-timed memory changes that.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

The funny thing about amnesia is that it was quite easy to forget that you even have it. Wild would be spending time with the rest of the chain, having a totally normal conversation, when someone would ask something simple, something innocuous, something like “what were your folks like, cub?” and it became way too apparent that Wild did not, in fact, remember his family at all. 

 

He’s sure he had one, he was pretty confident technology hadn’t progressed enough by his time to make a hero from no one (though Wild wouldn’t have put it past Purah to try), but when he tried to remember anything about them, there was nothing. No memories, no emotions, just a blank space where a family should be. 

 

Wild lifted his hands up to respond, but hesitated, suddenly aware that he had paused just long enough for everyone to take note, and quiet down any additional chatter. He mentally prepared himself for the pitying looks he knew he’d get if he told the truth, and for a brief moment considered lying. He could make up a family, of course - loving mother, caring father, the full nine yards. But no, they would want details, and Wild was not prepared to create a whole fake family just for the sake of avoiding a bit of vulnerability in this one moment.

 

‘Don’t remember.’ He kept it short and sweet, adding in a lighthearted shrug and smile to try and signal to the others that this was no big deal. Of course, none of them really put much stock into that given Wild’s worrying trend of downplaying his emotions, so naturally the camp went dead silent in response.

 

“Oh- I’m so sorry cub, I shouldn’t have asked,” Twilight spoke first, clearly regretful of bringing the topic up in the first place. His eyes seemed to stare into Wild’s soul, eyebrows raised in concern. 

 

Time next to him looked even more mournful, and opened up his mouth to speak only to be interrupted before he could get any sound out.

 

“Do you just not remember specific details, like what your parents looked like and acted, or is your entire home life gone?” Four suddenly piped up, much to the clear dismay of nearly the entire group.

 

“Four! You cannot simply ask something like that, it’s improper!” Warriors exclaimed, raising a scandalized hand to his chest as though to clutch his scarf. A few of the others nodded in agreement, though none seemed quite as upset as he clearly was. The dramatics of it all, though, got Legend to start laughing.

 

“Yeah, Four. How fuckin’ dare you ask such a horribly invasive question? For shame!” Legend’s crude mimicry of Warriors was completed with a barely recognizable imitation of his posh accent, along with him miming fainting onto Hyrule’s shoulder, which got a small laugh from the younger man. 

 

In response to that, Warriors tried to reach across the camp to pull Legend in a headlock, and all hell broke loose. The rest of the group reacted in one of two ways, some trying to break the two up (Time and Hyrule, mostly), with others trying to join in on the fun (Wind immediately jumped on Warriors back, and Sky looked like he was greatly considering it). 

 

Wild breathed a small sigh of relief, grateful that the group had seemingly forgotten what they had been talking about in the first place. He used the distraction to try and sneak away to get a bit of quiet time before he would need to make dinner for the night.

 

Before he got too far, though, he heard the small crack of a twig from behind him and knew he had not been as stealthy in his escape as he’d hoped. Without even turning around, he reached his hands over his shoulder to sign a brief ‘Hi Twilight,’ before turning to actually look at the man. 

 

Twilight’s shoulders were a bit hunched, and if he’d been in wolf form, Wild was sure his tail would be between his legs. 

 

Before Twilight could say anything, though, Wild lifted his hands to speak first. ‘Please, don’t apologize again. You did nothing wrong. It’s not your fault I can’t remember anything.’ He maintained eye contact with Twilight the whole time, wanting to make sure the message got through to his mentor. 

 

For as emotionally intelligent as Twilight was, Wild knew he was equally as prone to finding fault in his actions despite how harmless they were. Not that Wild himself really had any room to speak on that topic, but he never claimed not to be a hypocrite. 

 

“Oh cub…” Twilight walked closer to him, placing a steady hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay to be upset about this. I certainly know I would be if I had forgotten my family back in Ordon.” 

 

That struck Wild as being somehow wrong for him, though he didn’t know why. By all means, he should be upset for not remembering his family, but really, he was more upset by the implication that he was missing out on so much. After all, while he may not have remembered his own family, he certainly remembered Flora’s father, and he was a perfect example of how family could hurt you more than anyone else in the world, sometimes.

 

‘I don’t care, truly ,’ Wild emphasized for Twilight, ‘I don’t feel I’m missing out on much, anyway.’

 

Twilight opened his mouth again, seeming as though he wanted to disagree, before he stopped himself and instead pulled Wild in for a quick hug, one that Wild eagerly accepted. “I’m glad I didn’t hurt you, then. Plus,” Twilight pulled back and smiled at him, something soft and warm in his eyes, “you have us now. We may not be the most functional family all the time, but I know everyone in this group sees you as one of their brothers. I know I do.”

 

- - - - - - - - - 

 

Wild didn’t know who his family was before he died. From the few snippets of memories he had regained since his rebirth, none of them involved so much as a mention of them.

 

So, of course, the one time he does recover a memory of his old home life, it’s in the middle of battle.

 

The fight wasn’t too difficult, given that they were only fighting a few Lizalfos, and most of them weren’t even black blooded. It was nearing the end of the fight, as the monster's numbers were dwindling, when Wild heard it. Twilight had been by his side for most of the battle, but had stepped away now that it was calming down to help Sky with something.

 

In the mess of clashing metal and screams coming from the Lizalfos, it was difficult to hear much else. Wild was lucky he was off to the side, mid-arrow notch when he heard the cry.

 

“Wild! Help!” 

 

Before he could so much as turn his head to see who was calling for him, what had happened, Wild was suddenly thrown headfirst into a memory - his first in what felt like years. 

 

“Link! Help!” The shrill screams of a young girl pierced through the cold, and Link’s head snapped over to her, his legs running before he even knew what had happened. It didn’t take long for him to figure it out, though. 

 

Long cracks on the surface of the lake had begun to form, slowly creeping out in the direction of the girl. In a rush to reach her as fast as possible, Link ran directly parallel to the cracks, in the hopes that he could reach her faster than they would. 

 

While he made it in time to pull her out from the epicenter, throwing her as far as he could from the center of the lake, Link himself was not so lucky. The ice shattered beneath his feet, plunging him into an icy darkness unlike anything he had ever experienced. The frozen water sucked him in and dragged him further under, despite his desperate attempts to resurface. He kicked his legs harder than he ever had before, hands clawing at the ice around him in a bid for anything he could grab on to.

 

Eventually, Link managed to breach the water again, coughing and spluttering, crying out wordlessly. He thought he could hear someone else screaming in the distance, but before he could get a grasp of his surroundings, he was pulled under again.

 

This cycle continued for what felt like a lifetime to Link, and he could feel himself tiring. It was getting harder and harder to find the surface again, and something in the back of his mind whispered at him to let go, to rest. 

 

Just as he was about to listen to that sweet voice, to close his eyes and stop fighting for once in his life, Link felt a sturdy hand grab him by the back of his shirt and haul him out of the water.

 

What felt like only seconds later, Link was tossed back on solid ground. He managed to get on his hands and knees in time to cough up enough water to refill the lake and then some. While his palms stung against the ground where he dug them into the dirt and snow and gravel, his fingers were oddly numb. 

 

After a few minutes, he managed to lift his head to find himself staring up at a stern-looking man. He was tall, taller than Link by far, and his hard eyes were set deep in his face, highlighted by thick, furrowed eyebrows. His hair was a silvery blond, pulled back into a low ponytail, and he had a perfectly trimmed beard of the same color. The man wiped a single wet hand on his royal blue tunic, taking care to avoid the emblem of the royal family in the center. 

 

Link hasn’t quite finished coughing, but he must have calmed down enough for the man to realize he wasn’t going to die, because he turned on his heel and stomped away back to a house that was both all too familiar and unrecognizable at the same time.

 

Link dropped his head once again, coughing harder than before despite the fact that no more water was coming out. He couldn’t have told anyone how long he sat there before he felt a gentle hand on his back, followed by one on his shoulder, prompting him to stand up.

 

“Oh Link, you’re okay,” a warm voice said, something soft and gentle and unequivocally comforting, “come on, up we go. Let’s get you inside.”

 

Link managed to stumble to his feet, but his legs shook so hard he could barely take half a step forward before nearly falling down again. He looked over at the other person with him from time to time, enough to get a full view of her.

 

She was taller than Link, but not by much, and her hair was pulled into two braids that sat lightly on her shoulders. She was bundled up for the cold, clearly having anticipated the weather, and had smile lines crinkling beside her blue eyes. 

 

After another stumble, she clicked her tongue once, expression turning a bit colder than before. 

 

“No need to be so dramatic, Link. It’s your own fault you’re in this mess. You know your father told you to keep an eye on your sister if you wanted to laze around outside. You’re just lucky you’re the one who fell through that ice,” her hand on his shoulder tightened to the point of being almost painful for a moment, “if it was Aryll, you’d be in a lot more trouble right now.”

 

“Sorry, m-mama,” Link stuttered out through chattering teeth, tears welling up beneath his eyes. He got no response other than a small hum.

 

As soon as they got inside, the woman, his mother, let go of him and walked away, leaving Link to stumble his way up to his room alone.

 

He somehow managed to change out of his soaking clothes and into dry pajamas, and then immediately curled up in his bed, shaking and shivering the whole way through. 

 

He laid there for what could have been hours or days, somehow both freezing and burning up at the same time, tightly wrapping his single blanket around his shoulders as best he could. Eventually, he dared to leave the bed, feet still numb, hands still frozen. Link wasn’t any better, perhaps the opposite, but seemed to be looking for something as he slowly made his way down the stairs. 

 

He stopped abruptly at the bottom of the stairs, seeing the man from before, his father, sharpening a broadsword at the table.

 

Link coughed for a moment before speaking up, hesitance clear in his every movement. 

 

“C-Captain, could I have an extra blanket for the night?” His voice was shaky, eyes staring directly at the feet of his father, and he moved to stand at position as best as possible. “Please, sir.”

 

His father slowed his movements for a moment, but didn’t bother looking up before he shook his head. “Training at the usual time tomorrow.” His voice was gruff, and somehow it struck Link as being colder than the water he was submerged in earlier that day. 

 

And with that, Link trudged back up to his room and collapsed on his bed, wrapping his threadbare blanket back around his shoulders as tears burned rivulets down his cheeks.

 

And just as suddenly as the memory came upon him, Wild was back in his own body. He had no time to process what he had just seen, as he suddenly remembered what had triggered the memory, and he ran in the direction of the cry for help, switching from his bow to a sword in the process.

 

It didn’t take long for him to see who had yelled. Wind was pushed up against the edge of a cliff, desperately trying to push back one of the few remaining Lizalfos, and was dangerously close to falling off. 

 

As Wild drew near, Wind’s eyes darted straight to him and they were filled with relief. Wild didn’t bother signing anything, not wanting to take his hands off his weapon, but nodded firmly at the sailor so he knew he was coming for him. 

 

As soon as he was close enough, Wild darted between Wind and the Lizalfos, blocking its incoming attack and, with his off hand, firmly grabbing onto Wind’s tunic to make sure he didn’t fall. He pushed the monster back for just long enough to shove Wind to the side, getting him more firmly away from the cliff, and gave a small sigh of relief when he saw Sky help get Wind further away.

 

Unfortunately, in the brief moment Wild took to make sure Wind was okay, he had taken his eyes off the Lizalfos, and it took that moment to make a wide slash at him with its claws. Wild took a big step back to evade, but in doing so, stepped straight off the edge of the cliff.

 

He frantically tried to regain his footing, or grab onto the edge of the cliff, anything, but his actions were futile. As he fell back, he saw Sky running towards him, reaching out, so close but too far to do anything. He heard someone yell out his name, maybe more than one person, maybe everyone. 

 

And then he was falling. 

 

The fall down should have felt long. That’s what Wild had always heard, that falling down feels longer than it is. But for him, the cliffside sped past him faster than he could even think, and he barely had enough time to brace for impact.

 

He only hoped his brothers looked away when he landed.

 

But when he reached the ground, instead of the bone crush he had expected, Wild was plunged yet again into water, sinking like a stone into the murky depths.

 

As he sank, the seconds stretched out into millennia, and Wild was reminded of his fall into the ice from his most recent memory. He couldn’t help but think that maybe he was always destined to drown, to finally give in to the sweet embrace of peace that the depths promised him. 

 

He nearly closed his eyes yet again and let go, but something stopped him, his mind bringing back memories of his most recent adventure with the chain. 

 

Snapshots of memories flooded his head, each one lingering longer than the last.

 

Warriors sitting next to him teaching him how to mend his tunic, Four debating with him on proper weapon maintenance, Sky and him enjoying two mugs of warm milk together after a late night of travelling, Legend scolding him for being reckless while picking sticks out of his hair, Wind stealing his Sheikah Slate to take dozens of silly photos of himself, Hyrule and him trading small trinkets they had found while forging together. 

 

Time sitting down next to him, dressing his wounds after a long, hard fight, telling him he was proud of him. 

 

Twilight pulling him in for a hug, time and time again, every time he needed one, somehow knowing without Wild ever asking.

 

Wild’s eyes snapped open, and he started moving again, fighting to the surface as much as he could. But no matter how hard he kicked his legs, how hard he tried desperately to reach the surface, he could see clearly that he wouldn’t make it in time. He was going to die here, and there was nothing he could do about it.

 

Just as he was about to lose hope, and sink down again, he spotted movement at the furthest reaches of his vision, something in the water, swimming towards him. 

 

No, not some thing , some one . Someone swimming frantically towards him, faster than Wild had thought possible. And then he got close enough, and he saw that it was Twilight. Twilight, Wild’s closest companion, the wolf who prowled at night and kept them safe from harm. Twilight, the man who was now reaching out towards Wild like he was the only thing that mattered in the world. And Wild reached back.

 

As soon as their hands touched, Wild was pulled close to the older man, and they made a beeline to the surface. Had Wild not been half-dead and actively drowning, he might have thought to ask Twilight if he was part Zora somehow. 

 

When they finally breached the surface, Wild immediately began coughing up half a lung. Twilight held onto him steadily, and somehow managed to get them both to dry land without faltering for a single moment.

 

“It’s okay, cub, you’re gonna be okay,” Hearing Twilight’s voice somehow settled something in Wild’s bones, something he hadn’t realized was off in the first place. He didn’t have much time to dwell on this, though, as he continued coughing up water. The rancher’s hand landed on Wild’s back, rubbing gentle circles as his other hand held his long hair out of the way. “I’ve got you, you’re safe now.”

 

After a few minutes, Wild seemed to be done coughing, and he slowly lifted himself up to be sitting more properly on the ground, rather than hunched over. Now that he could properly breathe and think, all that filled his mind were ways he could have handled the situation better. He shouldn’t have thrown Wind as hard, he might have gotten hurt. He should have moved faster, shouldn’t have gotten distracted, should have known the Lizalfos was aiming for him. Wind never should have been in that danger in the first place, Wild should have been keeping an eye on him the whole battle. They told him to keep her safe.

 

He raised his hands to sign a shaky ‘sorry’ at Twilight, refusing to lift his head and see what he was sure would be a disappointed expression. Twilight’s hand on his back froze for a moment, and Wild was sure he was about to pull back, to remember how much of a screwup he was, before the hand continued its soothing ministrations as though he had never stopped. He brought his other hand to Wild’s cheek and gently lifted his head so they were looking eye to eye, something intense burning on the surface of Twilight’s eyes.

 

“You’ve got nothing to apologize for, cub. You got Wind out of there when he needed help. If anything, I should be apologizing to you,” 

 

At this, Wild immediately lifted his head to look at Twilight, a protest on the tips of his fingers. The other man had a weary look on his face, looking somehow both far older and much younger than his true age as he raised a hand, stopping Wild from responding yet. 

 

“No, no, I should. We were supposed to stick together, but I left you alone to help Sky. If I’d been by your side, you wouldn’t have fallen at all. So, I’m sorry.” While he spoke, he took his fur from around his shoulders, which was somehow miraculously barely wet, and wrapped it around Wild’s shoulders in an attempt to ease his shaking.

 

The moment he lowered his hand, Wild’s flew to respond. ‘You have nothing to apologize for. You know as well as I do that I would always have run off to help Wind when he needed it. If anything, you being there could have gotten you hurt too. At least in this case, only I fell.’

 

Wild had thought his response would ease Twilight’s concerns, but if anything his eyebrows were even more furrowed now than before. He opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a distant yell.

 

“Twilight! Wild! Are you there?” Someone called out from the distance. Hyrule, Wild thought, though he couldn’t be entirely sure given how far off he sounded.

 

Twilight gave Wild a look, clearly planning on finishing this conversation later, before he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out, “Over here!”, which prompted a cheer from his distant friend.

 

For as far away as he had sounded, Hyrule arrived much faster than expected, and he had Legend in tow with him. Once they were in his sight, though, he ran to meet them, throwing his arms around the two soaked men where they sat in the dirt.

 

“Oh thank Hylia the two of you are okay,” he breathed out, before pulling back for a moment to look the both of them over. “You are both okay, right? No injuries or anything?”

 

“I’m all good here,” Twilight smiled at Hyrule as he replied, before looking over at Wild in the same way as Hyrule was, clearly checking to make sure he was uninjured as well.

 

‘I’m fine, guys. Don’t worry about me,’ Wild signed, and to prove it, he started standing up. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t actually taken the time to see if he had any injuries, and as he put weight on his right leg, a sharp pain shot up from his ankle, causing his leg to buckle. Had Twilight not also stood up with him, his hands a steadying presence on his shoulders, Wild would have toppled back to the ground. 

 

“Okay, so that was definitely a lie,” Legend said as he finally made his way over to where the rest of them were. He had a smirk on his lips, but his eyes underlaid his true concern for the wild child of the chain. “There’s no way you’re making it back to camp like this.”

 

Wild let out a frustrated sigh and tried to brush off Twilight's arms, but the other man refused to let go. ‘Come on, really, I’m fine. I can make it back to camp on my own.’

 

“Absolutely not.” Hyrule and Twilight said in sync, and the wolf shifter took that moment to lift Wild up in his arms, much to the chagrin of said injured individual.

‘Put me down!’ Wild huffed, smacking one arm against Twilight’s chest, but he didn’t budge.

 

“I’ll put you down if you agree to let Hyrule heal you right now,” Twilight said, quirking an eyebrow at Wild. Hyrule giggled in the background, and Legend snorted from somewhere behind Twilight that Wild couldn’t see anymore. While they were talking, Twilight started walking in the direction Hyrule and Legend had come from, figuring they had come from somewhere near camp.

 

‘But he always puts me to sleep when he heals me! Then you’ll just carry me back to camp for a different reason!’ Wild was already growing tired enough now that his adrenaline had worn off, and he was safe in Twilight’s arms. He knew if his fairy friend got anywhere near him with his magic, he would pass out immediately.

 

“But then at least you wouldn’t remember being carried?” Twilight was smiling fully now, something fond and soft and too much for Wild to comprehend in his eyes, so much that he had to look away and simply crossed his arms and resigned himself to a long trip back to camp, grumbling internally the whole walk back. 

 

“Come on, Wild, this isn’t that bad, is it? Twi’s fur is soft, it can’t be that uncomfortable.” Hyrule tried to bargain with Wild, popping up from behind Twilight to lead the way. 

 

“Maybe that’s the problem. He’s too comfortable, he’ll never want to leave now,” Legend piped up from the back of the group. Wild still couldn’t see him, but he could hear a smirk in his voice, which only made him pout more. He didn’t protest the notion, though, which the other members of the group definitely took note of.

 

As they walked, Wild felt his eyelids growing heavier with each step, and though he fought against it, he couldn’t help it when his eyes finally slipped closed and his head rested on Twilight’s chest.

 

As he drifted off to sleep, he thought he felt something brush against his forehead, but the sensation was lost in his haze of sleep, and then he was gone.

 

- - - - - - - - - 

 

Wild’s dreams were hazy and cold, with every turn he took being blocked by faces he didn’t recognize, voices he’d never heard before whispering from too far away for him to hear them. He didn’t know what they were saying, but the words still left him feeling small and insignificant. 

 

Slowly, though, the dream shifted. The faces of strangers turned into the faces of his brothers, and where each step brought the crack of ice before, the snow was now thawing, leaving behind the comforting crunch of leaves instead. He still couldn’t hear what they were saying, but the distant words now left him feeling warm and safe, comforted in a way that was unfamiliar to him.

 

All good things must end, though, and eventually he woke up. As he blearily blinked his eyes open, he registered that it was dark, and he had been asleep longer than anticipated. He tentatively rolled his ankle to test it out and felt only the lightest twinge of pain left, as well as the sensation of bandages wrapped around the injured area. 

 

Before he could really get full stock of where he was, other than somewhere warm and safe and good , he froze at the sound of a sniffle from nearby. Slowly, so as not to attract any attention to himself, he turned his head towards the noise. 

 

Wind sat kneeling next to him, muffled cries coming from behind his hands. There was a hazy look in his eyes as he seemed to be watching Wild from a million miles away, and hadn’t yet realized that he was awake.

 

Wild lifted his hands, quickly signing, ‘What’s wrong? Are you okay?’, and moved to sit up. As he moved, he realized exactly where he was: laid in the middle of a pile of other members of the chain. The only person who seemed to be missing from the group was Wind, who startled when he realized Wild was awake, before sniffling harder and slowly lowering his hands.

 

“This is all my fault!” he wailed, trying to keep his voice to a whisper but failing as a result of his frayed emotions.

 

Before Wild could register anything else that was said, he felt the all-too-familiar sensation of another memory taking him over, and then he was gone.

 

“This is all my fault!” A young voice cried from nearby, but this time Link recognized her. Aryll. His sister.

 

She was standing next to his bed where he lay shivering, curled up with his blanket wrapped tightly against his shoulders.

 

“You told me not to go on the lake, and I promised you I wouldn’t, but then-” a sob cut her off, and Link immediately sat up, perched on the edge of his bed, and reached his arms out to pull her into a hug. 

 

She burrowed into his chest as she continued stammering out, “-then I saw something in the water, a fish, and I just wanted to look closer, a-and now you’re cold and hurt and momma is mad at you again and it’s all my fault!” She wailed again, and Link gently shushed her, pulling back slightly so he could look her in the eyes.

 

“It’s not your fault,” he rasped out, voice worn and rough from all the coughing he had done. “You were just having fun. You’re okay, I’m okay,” and he pulled her close again, pressing her against his chest as though he could hold tight enough that she would never let go.

 

Several minutes passed with the two of them pressed against each other, both seeming to find comfort from the other's presence, before another shiver wracked through Link’s body. Aryll blinked up at him, eyes bright with love and fear and everything in between, before she grabbed onto the edge of his blanket.

 

“...Could I stay here tonight?” She asked in a quiet voice, hesitant and shaking, as though afraid of a rejection that would never come.

 

“Of course,” Link immediately replied, pulling her more firmly onto the bed as he lay back down. Aryll snuggled up against him, and even though he pulled his blanket off his shoulders to wrap around her, he was somehow warmer in this moment than he could ever remember.

 

It wasn’t long before Aryll was taking long, slow blinks, and as she did, Link brushed a kiss against her forehead and whispered his love into her hair, praying to Hylia that she would have sweet dreams before he drifted off as well.

 

With a blink, Wild found himself back in the present with yet again no time to process what he had just seen, a distraught teen still crying before him and confessing his perceived personal failures.

 

“-and now you’re hurt and almost drowned and you could have died and it’s all my fault!” Wind seemed to be winding down, and Wild decided now was the time to finally step in and calm his youngest brother down. He waved his hands gently in front of where Wind was now staring at the ground, wiggling the fingers lightly in an attempt to amuse the sailor, before raising them up to speak. 

 

‘It is not your fault,’ he emphasized his words with a serious expression, in the hope that the other boy would really listen to his words and realize them to be true. ‘You did nothing wrong. I’m glad you asked for help, I would much prefer that to you being overwhelmed alone.’

 

Wind opened his mouth to protest, but Wild cut him off with a gentle hand rested on his cheek, the other remaining free to sign ‘I’m okay. We’re okay.’ before taking after his past self and pulling his sibling in for a hug.

 

Wind froze for a moment, seeming to be unsure what to do next, before his shoulders slumped and he wrapped his arms tight against Wild’s back, gripping his shirt like he would never let go. 

 

Wild slowly laid them both down in the embrace, hoping the contact would also help lull his brother to sleep for the night. He was sure this conversation would come up again someday, maybe even the next morning. But for now, it was late, and the stars were distant in the sky, and their brothers were surrounding them, and it was time to rest.

 

Wind sniffled one last time, and whispered “I love you” into Wild’s neck before his grip slackened, and he lost the war with consciousness. 

 

Wild smiled, soft and gentle and worn from the day, before he pressed a kiss to Wind’s forehead. ‘I love you’, he signed into Wind’s back, closing his eyes to the darkness of the night. He didn’t pray to Hylia this time for kind dreams, though. He knew she was listening, felt her divine presence keeping her beloved warriors safe from harm for the night. 

 

With Twilight curled up behind him, Time’s arm wrapped around the Rancher’s side, Sky laid right by Wild’s injured leg, Legend and Warriors so close together they were nearly on top of one another, Hyrule asleep near the outskirts of the group, Four somewhere beneath Wild’s feet where he could no longer see, and of course Wind snuggled up in his arms, Wild finally felt himself relax fully for the first time that day.


As he slowly drifted off, he instead heard Hylia promise to him , in the whisper of the wind, that they would have sweet dreams so long as the moon shone silver above their heads.

Notes:

Hello!!!! This is my first real foray into writing LU fic so I hope y'all enjoy!

I especially hope that Caitie, my giftee for this exchange, likes it!!! I tried to incorporate a few different of your prompts (flashbacks, must protect, fight scene), plus of course I was very heavy on the found family vibes, as I personally adore that as well! I really hope you love this!!

I know I wrote some things in a very specific way that may not make complete sense, but I didn't really explain them in the fic, so here are a few explanations:

Wild's voice - So, for this world, I imagine Wild as having a combination of selective mutism, especially pre-calamity, and Broca's Aphasia caused by his death via guardian blast. Broca's Aphasia is a form of brain injury caused to the frontal lobe, and specifically Broca's Area, which is near the left temple, which happens to be right by where Wild has his scars in LU. It's characterized by a partial loss of the ability to use language. Basically, in layman's terms, it's really difficult to properly communicate verbally, as a lot of words are lost or forgotten, especially propositions and conjunctions. So, his reasoning for not speaking is twofold. He already had selective mutism before the Shrine of Resurrection, and the aphasia caused him to keep it up post-resurrection. Unless it is a life-or-death situation, he exclusively signs, and even in a life-or-death situation, he will sign if he can, for fear of not being able to communicate what he needs to properly. None of the aphasia is relevant in this fic, but I just really love this personal HC of mine and had to add it in here.

Wild's memories - How I have always imagined the memories working is that Wild gets all of the external input, but none of his past internal input. So he can see everything, hear everything, feel everything, etc etc, but he doesn't know what his past self was feeling or thinking. So, I tried to avoid describing any thoughts or emotions during the flashbacks! I always thought this would be a fun concept to play with, if Wild experienced the memories in the same way as we as the players do when playing BOTW/TOTK.

If y'all have any more questions about anything, just lmk! I would love to explain my thought process!