Chapter Text
There was something wrong with Twilight.
Like, seriously wrong.
Wild has always prided themself on their keen eye.
Nothing so much as breathed around him without Wild noticing.
It started off small.
Twilight wanted to rest more often.
Wild wasn't too surprised about that.
Twilight had appeared in their Hyrule not three weeks ago and was clearly not used to the constant movement that was required to get anything done in Wild's homeland.
Sure Twilight had his wolf form, but a wolf moved a lot differently than a Hylian, so much so that Wild couldn't claim Twilight should be used to it.
Twilight probably wasn't used to moving all day, only stopping for short eating breaks, before nonstop movement again.
Then Twilight slowly started complaining about how cold it was, or how hot he was more and more and-
"Twi!" Wild said hot on Twilight's heels. "Don't walk away from me! What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing!" Twilight refused to turn around, still marching in the direction of their next destination. "I'm fine. Drop it."
Wild twisted up their face.
Why was Twilight always so difficult about his injuries?
"If you're really so 'fine' how about we go to-" Wild quickly flicked through their head to figure out where the closest village was. "Rito Village and have the local healer confirm it?"
"That's unnecessary." Twilight said, and oh no.
There was just the subtlest creaking of ice under Twilight's foot.
"Twi," Wild said calmly, stomach dropped to their feet. "Come back over here. Slowly."
"Why?!" Twilight said, whirling around. "So you can teleport me without my permission?!"
Wild cringed. "Twi I said sorry, and you were bleeding out. You-"
"No Wild!" Twilight said glaring daggers. "I'm fine!"
Twilight stomped his foot.
The ice broke.
Twilight screamed as he fell into the icy depths.
Wild flicked their slate, put their Zora tunic on, and dived in after Twilight without a second thought.
The water hit Wild's skin and Wild fought the urge to gasp and let the air in their lungs escape.
Wild's blood rushed and their heart rate increased.
Only their experience of being in cold water kept them from being completely incapacitated.
Wild almost wanted to thank that asshole monk that forced them to swim through ice water under a cave to get to that stupid fucking shrine.
It was dark under the ice, with the single hole in the ice allowing a small sliver of light in the icy depths.
Twilight thankfully hadn't sunk too low and Wild was able to grab his arm and began swimming upwards.
Their grip felt weak and they couldn’t feel any part of their body, but none of that mattered as long as they could save Twilight.
Wild took a deep coughing breath and dragged Twilight's head out of the water.
Getting Twilight out of the water, where he would be much heavier, would be a struggle, but Wild refused to think of any other options.
Twilight coughed up some water, and let out a small whimper.
Good, he was still alive.
Wild grabbed Twilight's legs and shoved him out of the water, Twilight's body rolling onto the ice before Wild pulled themself out.
Wild ungracefully fell on the ice and dry heaved for a few seconds, the stress leaving their body wracked with shivers.
Which was a good thing, not shivering in a situation like this was very bad.
The cold was the fucking worst.
They'd take walking through the Gerudo desert with no gear over this any day.
Wild flicked their slate till he was back in his snowquill gear.
Standing up on shaky legs, Wild grabbed Twilight's legs and began dragging him off the ice.
Wild really needed to do CPR, but if either of them fell back in they wouldn't be making it out.
Twilight's face was deathly pale, his lip a bluish color, the water in his hair was starting to condense into ice.
It was terrifying.
Wild dropped Twilight on the solid ground and collapsed.
Their head was fucking spinning, their legs were wobbling, and they could barely move their hands. Which didn't surprise them seeing how they dived into ice water.
Wild was dry heaving again, body forced low with the sheer force of the shakes that wracked their body, and Wild hated the cold. They hated it so much.
Pulling out their slate, Wild grabbed and quickly downed a spicy elixir.
Going from freezing to warm so quickly burned, but Wild needed to get upright, and quickly.
Twilight being so cold was bad enough, but he got that way from being dropped in an icy lake.
Hypothermia was something Wild could deal with. Coldwater shock? That was a whole other beast.
Wild pulled out their Flame Spear—what he would give for a Great Flame Blade—and stabbed it into the ground next to Twilight.
The plan was simple: do CPR, get Twilight out of the wet clothes, and pray that he doesn't go into cardiac arrest.
Wild wanted to sob.
They hated the cold, they hated it so much.
Twilight wasn't shivering, which was horrifying and Wild needed to work fast.
Wild started chest compressions.
Twilight was breathing, and thank Hylia for that. He took the occasional gasping breaths, but that wasn't breathing normally.
It was a good sign that he was breathing at all, Wild thought shaking their head, ignoring the anxiety creeping up their spine.
Hopefully Wild could get him breathing normally soon.
Twilight coughed up more water, and Wild kept up the compressions until Twilight seemingly could breathe on his own.
Wild cringed at the sheer amount of water that had come out of Twilight's lungs.
He probably ended up hyperventilating under the water before he passed out.
Thank Hylia Wild had moved so fast.
Coldwater shock was not something to be taken lightly.
Twilight had nearly drowned, Wild though with mild hysteria, Twilight nearly died.
Twilight's breaths were still shaky, shallow, and were punctuated with violent coughing fits but at least it was breathing.
Hopefully, he was out of the danger zone of coldwater shock.
Now all Wild had to do is keep him from dying of plain old hyperthermia.
Wild hated the cold.
They hated it so much.
Wild grabbed Twilight's magic pouch and pulled his bedroll out of it, quickly flattening the fabric over the snow so they’d have somewhere dry to put Twilight.
Twilight needed out of those wet clothes, and now.
The snowquill outfit that Wild had gotten Twilight was doing less than nothing while it was completely soaked through.
Wild dug through Twilight's pouch for his clothes. Wild was a lot smaller than Twilight, both in height and in frame. So as much as Wild would love to give Twilight their snowquill set, they simply couldn't.
Twilight's regular green Hero clothes would have to do.
Wild pulled their Ruby circuit out of their slate and carefully placed it around Twilight's head.
That should speed up the process of warming him up.
Wild set about the process of changing Twilight into dry clothes.
Which was hard because the clothes were already starting to freeze to Twilight's body. Any clothing that was touching Twilight's skin needed to be peeled off.
Wild cringed at the small blood spots the process left where Twilight's skin tore.
Though, surprisingly, Twilight has no real injuries or scars. Not even any bruising.
Which makes no sense, seeing as how this whole situation happened because they and Twilight were arguing over the fact that Twilight was clearly hiding an injury.
If Twilight wasn't visibly injured, then what…?
Oh, Wild realized as their chest went cold, Twilight was sick .
That was horrible news.
Wild doubled down on their efforts to dress Twilight in warm clothes, cursing the fact that spicy elixirs couldn't be applied to skin like fireproof elixirs.
Wild had tried once, it made their skin burn and not much else.
Wild collapsed in the snow heaving as soon as Twilight was redressed and put on his bedroll, with Wild's puny little blanket thrown on top of him to keep the snow off.
Wild was really starting to regret refusing to buy any sort of proper bedroll.
Then they could keep Twilight warm easier.
Wild laid in the snow, listening to their labored breaths.
They were really really tired.
Wild frantically sat up, pulling out a stamina potion and drinking it.
They couldn't get tired, and sleeping was off the table completely.
In the cold that was a fucking death sentence.
Wild stood back up on shaky legs and turned to face Twilight.
Twilight still looked like shit, but he looked better.
He had started shivering a little bit and had stopped coughing.
Twilight had unconsciously curled up next to the flame spear.
Wild still needed to get him somewhere warm and dry.
Hypothermia had already set in, coldwater shock had kicked-started the process, and keeping Twilight in the snow right now was a horrible idea.
…Wolves were warm right?
Wild shook their head.
Even if they figured out how to turn Twilight into Wolfie, he wouldn't know how to undo the process which would be worse for Twilight in the long run.
Wild stretched their limbs and pulled out their slate.
Teleporting Twilight was out of the question. Despite what Twilight seemingly believed, Wild’s slate couldn’t teleport more than one person at a time unless they were near a Sheikah tower. Those gave their slate the power it needed to teleport two people.
They couldn't even see Herba Tower from here, so that was out of the question.
Wild let out a deep sigh.
Twilight needed warmth and shelter.
Lighting a fire in a cave was something Wild usually tried to avoid. They had nearly gotten crushed to death one time, due to a thermal crack causing the cave to collapse before he knew any better. That wasn’t even mentioning the asphyxiation risk.
But… There were silver bokoblins on horseback in Herba, and Twilight needed out of the elements, so shelter was mandatory.
Wild wrapped the blankets tightly around Twilight and pulled out as many belts as they owned.
Strapping Twilight to their back was a difficult process, but it eventually worked.
Wild checked their slate for any shelter that was nearby.
Coldsnap Hollow was a twenty-minute walk away.
It provided shelter, and the ceilings were high enough that a fire wouldn't cause rocks to fall on them or their brother.
Wild began trekking through the knee-deep snow. They moved slowly and carefully.
A fight was not something that Wild could allow, so they stayed quiet and kept an ear out for monsters.
It was going to be a long walk.
--
Wild could barely keep track of how long they'd been moving.
They were exhausted, hands raw and bloody as they climbed a cliff.
They were going to have blisters. They probably already had blisters.
Wild foot slipped and they desperately clawed at the wall to keep both them and Twilight from falling.
Gritting their teeth, Wild jumped up to the ledge and dug their raw fingers into the snow. They dragged their exhausted body onto the cliff, using up all their strength to keep their brother's weight from dragging them both down.
This was good, Wild reminded themself, trying to sneak past a camp of monsters was stupid and Twilight was safer like this.
Wild checked their slate, needing to get their bearings.
They were just above and a little off of Coldsnap, and if their guess was right…
Wild walked over to the end of the ledge and just as expected.
There was the updraft.
Wild tilted their head, before slowly sliding down to the bottom of the overhang.
Taking a step back, Wild considered Twilight's weight.
If they jumped, normally the updraft would pull them high up into the sky but with Twilight's extra weight…
Wild took a deep breath and jumped.
As expected, the updraft slowed their descent instead of pulling them upwards.
Wild landed, feet planted firmly on the top of the hollow.
Ok.
Great.
Now how to get inside.
According to their slate, the Ice Talus was on the north side so Wild went south.
Wild lazily pulled out a fairly weak healing potion that they had been planning on selling and downed it.
They sighed in relief when their body finally stopped aching.
And, oh thank Hylia, a wall.
There was a craggy stone wall straight down from above the hollow to below it.
Wild pulled out an anchor from their climbing set, something they seldom bothered to use, and beat it into the wall.
Despite how much they hated disturbing nature with man-made objects, but getting themself, and more importantly, Twilight, down easily was their main priority.
Wild fed a rope through the anchor, knotted it, and rappelled down the wall.
The korok that had made its’ home on the wall Wild had come down stared at Wild. A soft curious tilt to its head as Wild brushed past it.
Even though they loved koroks with all their heart, they were busy right now.
Finding a flat patch of stone, Wild gently laid Twilight on the ground.
Twilight was shivering violently, which was much better than no shivering, but still bad.
Wild took the time to scrutinize Twilight now that they finally got a moment to rest.
Wild's heart dropped like a stone.
Twilight was flush red and sweating .
Of course he was! The moron was traveling in the snow when he was sick!
Wild quickly set about making a campfire. A frankly excessively big one, but Wild had enough wood to last them half a year, and the ceiling was too high to be affected by it, so it didn't matter. What mattered was warming Twilight up.
Twilight made a soft noise and curled up closer to the fire.
"Mm- Cold." He slurred, and Wild nearly cried in relief.
Twi was conscious!
Sorta…
"No shit, dummy." Wild responded in a soft voice, like Twilight could understand them. They gently placed a hand on their best friend's head, trying to gauge a temperature. "That's what falling into a lake on a snowy mountain while you're sick does."
Twilight had a fever.
Wild sighed and resigned themself to watching their pseudo older brother like a hawk, slumping back onto the ground.
They couldn't remember a time where they hadn't had Twilight by their side. Well yes, they could, but those memories were short and patchy, and Wild didn't really think of that knight as themself. Twilight as Wolfie was the first person they ever had contact with, and seeing their Wolf friend in Hylian form—finally being able to meet the attentive, kind, and patient person that had followed them throughout their journey—was a blessing.
Wild could spare a couple days of sleep to take care of their dumbass older brother.
Pulling out a cooking pot, Wild began working on their dinner.
Twilight would wake up soon.
No other option was even worth considering.