Chapter Text
With a groan and a stretch, Warriors can’t help but think this might be his least favorite place in Wild’s Hyrule. Not that there’s anything wrong with Kara Kara Bazaar. It’s just so hot out here in the Gerudo Desert, and sweat and sand have been sticking to and itching his skin for the better part of the morning. He hates sweating. Which seems silly, considering he’s a Hero and a captain in the royal army, but he does. He hates feeling it drip down his face, or puddle at the back of his knees. Mostly he hates running his fingers through his hair and catching them on sweat-dampened tangles that he knows won’t come out until he’s taken a nice hot bath. And when you’re traveling with a group of eight other heroes across not only countless Hyrules but time itself, a bath is a luxury they don’t often come by.
He and the others had arrived at the bazaar a little after five in the morning, according to Wild’s Sheikah slate. At first, Warriors is charmed by little place. The morning sun shimmers across the oblong pool of clear blue water stretched across the center of the area. Around it, several large tents are pitched, the fabrics they are made of a sun-bleached purple color. But underneath the outer layers hang a mishmash of colors: blues, reds, greens, and browns. Looking like the pieces of a patchwork quilt, these blankets are used as makeshift walls and doors for the tents, the ends held down by crates wrapped in the same vibrant materials, most likely to stop the sand from sneaking through the cracks in the boards and damaging the wares within. At least, that’s what Warriors assumes. Sun-worn rugs and frayed cushions lay on the hard packed sand in front of the tents, some held down by misshapen gray rocks so the ends won’t flip up in the wind. Some Gerudo women are busying themselves with setting up the items they have to sell, calling out greetings of “sav’otta!” to each other and the heroes as the tired group of men dump their things next to the only cookpot in the bazaar. Wild greets them as well, and even takes a second to translate the women’s message once he sees the confused faces of most of their group.
“It means ‘good morning,’” he says with a smile.
Wind and Four shout their own hellos to the women after that, while the rest of the heroes settle onto the ground. Wild gets a fire started at the cook pot and then walks over to the stall right beside them, since it's selling fruit. Warriors watches him pick out a huge hydromelon, bigger than his head. He can’t help but chuckle as he watches Wild fumble one-handed with the oversized melon, his other hand trying to dig into his wallet for rupees.
“What’s he making for breakfast?” Legend asks. The young lad is sitting in between Warriors and Twilight, his knees pulled up to his chest and his hands busy trying to yank his blue cap down over his bright pink hair. Warriors had seen a group of Hylian men across from them staring at the lad when they arrived. Legend may have a rough side, but he still didn’t like being gawked at because of the strange color of his hair. Warriors did notice the color was starting to fade, more of his natural strawberry blond peeking through, but there is one stubborn chunk of pink that still clings all the way up to his roots. The Captain figures that is the streak of pink that had always been in the lad’s hair though. He wishes he knew what exactly had happened to cause the boy’s hair to turn such a bright color, but Legend was still stubbornly refusing to speak a word about what happened. Oh well, he supposes. It was the boy’s business, not his.
“Some kind of fruit pie, I think,” Twilight answers. Warriors watches the ranch hand scowl at the Hylian men still staring at their friend. They flinch at his icy glare and turn back to their own campfire.
“A fruit pie for breakfast? That’s sort of strange, isn’t it?” the Captain says.
“No, apparently it’s supposed to help us keep cool in the desert heat. Don’t ask me how though. Wild’s the chef, not me.”
“Also, don’t you mean dinner, not breakfast? We have been walking all night,” Hyrule says from behind. Warriors turns to give the boy a friendly wave. He and Time had been checking out the odd stone building situated a couple yards behind them. Wild had said it was a mix between a shop and an inn, but it only sold a handful of arrows and there were only two beds so no one ever really stayed there. Unless they were traveling alone and had the rupees to spare, which in his time didn’t happen often for most people.
“Well whatever you want to call it, pie is still strange if it’s not being served as a dessert.”
“I ate just pie all the time during my journey. Since when are you a food snob?” Wild says as he carries the melon back over to them. He flops onto the ground beside Four and Wind, who were already stripping down to just trousers so they could go wade into the cool water of the pool. Warriors watches him reach over to his magic bag, which was set near an already dozing Sky, and pull out the knife he preferred to use when cooking.
“I’m not being a food snob. I just don’t think sweets for breakfast is a good idea. Especially for you younger ones. You need to be eating healthy stuff, like fruits and vegetables.”
“It’s got fruit in it,” Wild says innocently.
“Har har, you know that doesn’t count.”
“Oh, let it go, Warriors. Pie for breakfast one day isn’t going to do any harm.” Twilight laughs, settling back against a crate wrapped in a vibrant blue fabric.
The Captain rolls his eyes, but keeps any further complaints to himself. The ranch hand was right, and besides, how often were they actually going to be eating dessert on this adventure? He figures he might as well enjoy it while he has the chance.
“You were right, Wild,” Time calls as he makes his way over to them too. The older man immediately starts shrugging out of his heavy armor when he reaches them. Warriors is sure Time is feeling stuffy underneath all that metal. The temperature outside was starting to rise as the sun climbed higher into the sky. He already feels beads of sweat gathering at his hairline. Gross.
“What do you mean?” Wild asks, tapping at his slate. He pulls a few more ingredients out for their meal before finally looking up at their leader.
“The shop. It barely has a dozen arrows for sale inside it and that’s it. We’ll need to go somewhere else to replenish our supplies. Do you think any of these stalls will have what we need?”
Wild’s eyes flicker over to the other tents, but he doesn’t spare them more than that passing glance. “No. The women here mostly sell food or monster parts, stuff that can be found in the desert. The stuff we need will be in Gerudo Town.”
“How are we supposed to get it then?” Hyrule asks. “Didn’t you and Time say only women are allowed inside the town?”
Warriors is pretty sure he sees a faint pinkish color rise on the Champion’s cheeks, but he isn’t sure if it’s from some unknown embarrassment or the sun that is already beating down on them. Wild clears his throat, but doesn’t meet the Traveler’s gaze. “I can go by myself to grab it. I have... special permission from the chief to be inside the town.”
“Oh, that’s right. You said you were also granted access into your Hyrule’s Gerudo Town.” Time recalls as he takes a seat next to Warriors. Wild hums his agreement, but doesn’t say more on the matter. The others watch in content silence as the Champion finishes breakfast and then all nine of them dig into slices of sweet, crusty fruit pie that oddly enough leave them feeling just a little bit chilly.
That was hours ago. Now it is past noon and the sun is directly above them. The Captain feels his cheeks burning from its heat. Time had insisted Four and Wind put their shirts back on when he saw the younger boys’ backs start to redden, but he lets them continue splashing around in the water. A dog with shaggy tan fur had meandered out of the shop to join them not too long after they finished eating. Which means Twilight’s full attention is now on giving scratches to the friendly pup’s ears and belly. Sky had woken up for breakfast and has actually managed not to doze off again. Instead, he’s taken out his wood carving tools and is whittling away at a long piece of dark wood. Warriors thinks it looks like his friend is carving a flute.
Hyrule is sitting near the water’s edge with Time, watching their friends and dipping his feet into the water and occasionally casting glances at the path leading out of the bazaar and towards Gerudo Town. No one had really liked the idea of Wild traveling alone through the desert to reach the town, but the Champion had insisted. He’d told them he would just use his slate to teleport outside of the town and then use the path to walk back after he’d gotten their supplies. It did make sense for him to go alone. He was the only one of them allowed to go inside, the rest of them didn’t have the chief’s permission to enter. They still didn’t like it though. Warriors didn’t blame the Traveler for all his anxious glances at the road.
An exhausted irritated huff beside him grabs his attention. The Captain glances over at Legend, who has shrugged off his red tunic and now sits in just his olive green wool tunic and boots. He’s even pulled off his cap, no longer caring about the stares from the other Hylians at the bazaar. It’s just too hot. Warriors has also shed most of his outer layers. He’s stuffed his scarf and tunic into his magic bag and set his armor, gloves, and chainmail over by Time’s things. He’s left in nothing but his white shirt, trousers, and boots and he has the sleeves of his shirt shoved as far up onto his arms as they’ll go. The angry pink scar left by Volga on his left hand seems even more noticeable in the bright midday light and he vaguely wonders in he should have left his gloves on to protect the old injury from the sun’s rays. Legend huffs again and grumbles something unintelligible under his breath.
“If you’re that hot, why don’t you go join Four and Wind in the water?” the Captain suggests.
“It’s not just that I’m hot. I’m bored out of my mind. We’ve been sitting here for hours.” Legend complains. He swipes his right arm across his forehead, most likely wiping away sweat that was dripping from his hairline. Warriors catches a glimpse of the long thin scar the boy usually keeps covered by his sleeves.
“Again, why don’t you join them? It’ll give you something to do.”
“I don’t really like swimming. I’ll stand in the waves at a beach sometimes, but I don’t really like being out in the water.”
“Why, bad at swimming?”
“I can swim just fine. I just don’t like it.”
“How come? It's not because of that time you fell in the frozen lake in Twi's Hyrule, is it?”
“No.” Legend gives Warriors a look that clearly means drop it, so the Captain casts his gaze around for something else his friend can do. There isn’t much here to entertain them. He briefly considers asking if Legend wants to climb the odd rock watchtower above the shop with him, but then decides it’s too hot to try and haul himself up those rickety ladders. He looks at the path behind the nearest tent, the one Wild is supposed to take back from Gerudo Town. He knows he can’t go into the town, but he would still like to get a look at it, even from a distance.
“Want to take a walk out into the desert with me?” he asks his friend. Legend stares at him like he’s grown a second head.
“Why do you want to walk around in the desert? It’s hotter than hell out there.”
Warriors shrugs. “I’m bored too, and I want to see if we can get a good look at Gerudo Town before Wild gets back. We’re heading back the way we came when he does so this might be our only chance.”
Legend considers his words and then nods his head. Both boys push themselves to their feet and with a passing thought, Warriors reaches over to grab his sword and strap it onto his back. He motions for Legend to do the same. It’s not that he thinks they’ll really need them, they aren’t going far at all, but better safe than sorry. He doesn’t bother with his shield or magic bag though. It’s so hot and he really doesn’t want to be carrying all that weight around with him just for a ten minute walk.
Time must have heard them moving around because he’s facing them now and is halfway through the process of getting up. Warriors waves him off. “We’re just going for a walk to stretch our legs. We’ll be back in a little while.”
Time pauses, and then sits back down. “Don’t go far. Wild should be back soon and I’d like to leave as soon as he does. And watch out for each other.”
“You got it, old man!” Legend calls to his leader as the twosome head towards the path that will lead them out of the bazaar.
They’ve barely walked for a minute or two before the hard-packed ground turns back into the ever shifting sand of the desert. Warriors feels some of it slip through a hole in his boot he wasn’t aware of and stick to his sweaty foot. He grimaces at the grainy feeling and considers taking off his boot to shake it out when his friend grabs his attention.
“Look at this cactus!”
The Captain turns his head to see the teen standing beside the bright green plant. It’s really big, probably a foot or two taller than Time even. It’s got two arms branching off at its sides, which makes Warriors imagine it as a man waving with both his hands. Or the “stick ‘em up!” game he used to play as a child where one person would pretend to be a knight and the others pretended to be thieves. The knight would chase the thieves around and when he caught one he’d yell “stick ‘em up!” and you were frozen just like the cactus unless another thief came back and tagged you in.
Legend is standing on his tip toes trying to grab at a big spiky red fruit at the top of one of the arms. Warriors walks over to him.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Wild cook with these before and I really liked how they tasted. I was going to grab some and give it to him when he got back.”
Warriors hums his understanding. “Well, short stuff, I don’t think you’re going to reach it on your own. Besides, we didn’t bring our bags with us. Do you really want to carry the fruit around the entire time we’re walking?”
Legend glares at him, but mercifully lets the teasing about his height go. “I guess you’re right.”
“If you remember we can grab it on our way back. I’ll even get it down for you. Or would you rather stand on my shoulders? You should be tall enough to reach the fruit then.”
“Oh, shut it, you're not even that much taller than me. It's not like I'm Four.” Legend scoffs, shoving passed him. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to let the Captain know he's walking on thin ice. Warriors laughs and then follows the boy back onto the sandy path. They’ve only walked a few more feet before something else has grabbed the teen’s attention.
“What’s that?”
He’s pointing at an animal not too far from them. It’s tannish yellow in color and there is a huge furry brown mane around its face and halfway down its back. It’s slapping its large flippers against the ground, causing little clouds of dust to float up into the air. Its big round belly is coated in the grainy sand, like it’s been sliding around the desert. A bird somewhere above them screeches and the animal turns its head towards the sound. Warriors blinks at the creature’s tusks. They’re easily the size of his forearm. He grabs Legend by the shoulder and steers the younger boy away from the animal and back towards the path to Gerudo Town.
“I don’t know what that thing is, but don’t go near it. It might bite.”
“It kind of looks like a walrus,” Legend mumbles, glancing back at it. Warriors is a little surprised the lad is letting himself be pushed in another direction, but he figures Legend is just distracted by the weird animal.
“What’s a walrus?” he asks when he finally registers what his friend had said.
“You’ve never seen... anyway, it looks a lot like that. Just... without the fur and it lives by the ocean instead of the middle of the desert.”
Warriors tries to picture a hairless version of the animal they just saw, but the only thing he can think of is how much it would hurt to get bit by one of those enormous tusks. “Weird. I still don’t want to go near it.”
Legend finally shrugs out of his grasp. “Eh, the walrus I’ve seen was just kind of lazy. I’d imagine Wild’s desert ones are probably the same.”
“Well I don’t want to find out if you’re right or not.”
Legend snorts and rolls his eyes at the Captain, but he lets the subject drop. They start climbing the first hill along the path. Warriors’s feet slip and slide in the sand and at one point he nearly trips. Beads of sweat are dripping down his back, causing his shirt to stick uncomfortably against his skin. Legend is huffing and puffing right beside him, the noise from it distractingly loud as they scurry up to the crest of the hill. The Captain normally doesn’t get worn out so fast, but the heat of the sun is draining all his energy, leaving him feeling like he’s spent the last several hours preforming back-breaking drills. Legend lets out an annoyed groan when they reach the top and Warriors is about to say screw it, let’s just go back when he looks out into the distance.
He can’t exactly make out the town from so far away, but the three hourglass-shaped stone towers are impossible to miss. They’re built side-by-side in a triangle formation with water pouring down the top of the left and rightmost towers in two graceful waterfalls. He can see the intimidating stone wall that protects the Gerudo's home from outsiders. There’s a strange blue-lit formation just outside the wall and at first Warriors can’t fathom what that light could be, but then the memory of Wild disappearing in a haze of bright blue Sheikah magic flickers across his mind. That must be the warp point his friend had used to reach the town this morning. He sees a few spiky-leaved trees scattered around the front of the town, but that’s the last thing he can make out.
“I’m kind of jealous we can’t see inside the walls too.” Legend admits.
Warriors hums in agreement. “Yeah, but Wild’s their hero, not us. Makes sense he’d be the only man allowed in their town.”
Legend nods and then looks back and forth from the towers in the distance to the path leading back to the bazaar. “So do you want to get any closer? Or should we head back?”
“Um...” Warriors thinks. They’ve only been out here about ten or so minutes, but they did promise Time they wouldn’t wander too far. The Captain turns to tell Legend that they should just go back to the others when something catches his attention.
It’s the sand. It’s moving like something is swimming underneath it. And it’s headed straight towards them.
Warriors opens his mouth to say something to his friend, but before he can there’s a loud raspy screech and then something bursts from the ground. Sand flies up around them, stinging their eyes and sticking to their sweat-slicked skin. Warriors stumbles back, cursing as he wipes his shirt sleeve across his eyes and face. There’s another angry squawk from whatever has jumped at them and the slap slap slap of quick footsteps at his side.
“Move!” Legend shouts and then he’s tackling Warriors to the ground just moments before a burst of heat goes flying over their heads, the roaring of flames ringing painfully in his pointed ears. He and Legend roll down the hill, swords slipping from their sheaths, sand flying up around them and snaking its way into their clothes and boots and mouths. They reach the bottom of the hill in seconds and Warriors lets out a pained grunt, spitting out the grains of sand coating his tongue. The slapping noise is back and he looks up in time to see a fiery red lizalfos charging at them. It leaps into the air with a screech and Warriors can see exactly where the beast plans on landing.
Right beside him, where Legend is lying.
The Captain has only seconds to act, so he does the first thing he can think of. He uses both hands to grab at the younger boy’s tunic and with a heave he flips him over to the Captain’s other side. Legend lets out a squeak as he’s tossed carelessly over Warriors, his elbow accidentally smacking the Captain in the face. Warriors tries to roll with his friend's momentum but he doesn’t quite make it. The lizalfos lands exactly where he thought it would, the talons on its feet scraping painfully against his side and back.
The Captain chokes out a yelp. The beast is screeching in frustration. Warriors sees it pull a large forked spear from its back. He freezes as it points it at his head.
Before the lizalfos can thrust the spear down at the Captain, an orange-tinted blade slices through the beast’s ankles. It roars in pain and crumples to the ground. Legend is half on top of the Captain, panting and shaking from adrenaline and staring wide-eyed at the wailing monster that was just moments from killing Warriors. The Captain sits up and grabs his own sword, which had landed near his head. He stumbles to his feet and then as quickly as possible, shoves his blade into the beast’s heart and then into its head. When he’s sure it isn’t moving anymore, he walks over to pull Legend to his feet.
“Thanks,” he says shakily, hissing through a wave of pain.
Legend nods and then leans over to get a glimpse of the Captain’s side. “How bad is it?”
“I’ve definitely had worse, but it still hurts. Time’s going to give me an earful about it when we get back though.”
“I guarantee he will.” Legend agrees with a halfhearted laugh.
Warriors motions towards the path to the bazaar. Legend understands that to mean let’s go back now so he sheaths his sword and starts in that direction. Warriors puts his own weapon away and then follows after his friend. He’s only taken a few steps when he hears it.
A whoosh and pop of magic and a high pitched laugh.
Both he and Legend stop. Warriors instincts are screaming at him to turn around. He reaches up to grab his blade just as an arrow whizzes past him.
Legend yelps as the projectile pierces his calf. He tumbles to the ground. Warriors whips around, sword ready to strike at whoever is attacking them.
He pauses at the white mask his enemy wears. There's an upside down crimson eye painted on it. He’s distracted by how eerily similar it is to the Sheikah symbol, and yet there is something not quite right about it. He hears Legend call for him to “look out!” and thank goodness he does, because a deadly looking sickle is swung down at him. Warriors backflips out of the way, but he slips and stumbles when he lands, his feet nearly sliding out from underneath him in the sand. His side is burning something fierce and he subconsciously wraps his right arm around his middle so he can press lightly at the wound. The masked enemy, a thin man wearing tight clothes of crimson and black, twirls the sickle in his hand. The Captain eyes the blade wearily. He can imagine how much it will hurt to be struck by that weapon.
The man leaps at him, swinging his blade down in a wide arc. The Captain easily parries the move, using his enemy's momentum to shove him to the side. The masked man rolls away to avoid Warriors’s own blade and then once he's back on his feet he twists around, slashing the sickle at the Captain's face. Warriors’s blocks again, the sound of metal clanging against metal ringing painfully in his pointed ears. The man swipes furiously at his weapon several more times, growling a curse as the Captain continues evading him.
Warriors takes a moment to berate himself over leaving his shield and armor behind. He knows better than to be so risky. He'll be lucky if he doesn't end up with another injury before this fight is over. He parries another blow, but before he can push away from his enemy, a shout reaches his ear.
“Get off me you son of a bitch!”
Warriors has enough sense to shove as hard as he can to get the masked man away from him. Then, he turns around, heart skipping when he sees Legend, arms twisted around his back by another mask-clad man, a sack shoved over his head to blindfold him. The Captain takes a step, ready to charge at this new enemy and free his friend, when he feels something rough pulled down over his own head and yanked tight.
He gasps as his vision is cut off. He can feel the man he was fighting before trying to pry his sword out of his hand, so he blindly rams his shoulder into his enemy. He hears a pained curse right before something hard and heavy is smacked against his temple. Warriors groans as pain bursts along his head. He stumbles, easily losing his footing in the slippery sand of the desert. The man is still trying to force his weapon away, so Warriors uses his free hand to pull at the bottom of the sack that is blindfolding him.
“I don't think so!” someone growls.
There's another hard smack to his temple, this new wave of pain making Warriors's knees buckle. His sword is forced away and his other hand is grabbed and yanked behind him. He can feel something rough and scratchy, rope most likely, securing his wrists together. He tries to pull away from whomever is holding him when something sharp is pressed to the back of his neck.
“Stop struggling!” the voice snarls at him. Warriors makes himself freeze, even though his instincts are telling him to fight. Legend is somewhere near him, tied up and blindfolded just like him, and if he's too reckless he could end up getting them both hurt.
He hears something being dragged across the sand towards him and the very distinct sound of several colorful curses being hurled at their captors, one about where Legend is going to shove his sword when he's free apparently earning the teen a blow to the head as well. If the thump and groan of pain the Captain hears right beside him are anything to go by. Warriors would be laughing at his friend's knack for creative insults if the situation wasn't so dire.
“I'm not dealing with this nonsense the whole way back,” a voice complains.
“What should we do about it?” says the one right behind Warriors. The Captain's heart is pounding in his chest. His instincts are still screaming at him but now they say run; free yourself, grab Legend, and get out of there.
He doesn't get the chance to though.
This time the blow to his head is hard enough to send his mind whirling. He crumples to the ground. He can feel the cold hands of unconsciousness grasping at him, pulling him into sweet black nothingness. He tries to hold off, tries to stay awake and think of a way out of this mess, but when he hears the thump of Legend falling into the sand beside him, he loses his grip. He slides away into the dark, the worry for his friend, and for himself, and for what's going to happen next sapping the last of his strength.
The last thing he notices before he slips under is that same whoosh and pop of magic, and the ground disappearing from underneath him.