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It's been three days since Warriors said a word to anyone, and Hyrule is getting worried.
Unfortunately he thinks he’s the only one who noticed. Four might have, because Four notices everything, but he is also getting over the last bit of a cold, so it’s quite honestly a toss up at this point. And Time or Twilight would’ve noticed any other time, but they’ve been focused on him. Everyone has, because he’s the one that went missing for three days.
He hasn’t been able to bring himself to tell them just where he was, hiding his magic second nature at this point. He thinks he’s going to have to tell them soon, but right now no one is pushing to find out, and he’s glad for the respite.
But he can’t help but notice Warriors’ withdrawn state, his red-rimmed eyes, and remember his comment, “He was trapped by a monster.” Was that how Warriors saw himself? Sure, Hyrule had plans to burn his bug net, and he had been scared in that bottle, but he didn’t hold it against Warriors.
Now, if he could just get a moment alone with him so he could tell him as much…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Two days after they started traveling again, Hyrule realized that Warriors was avoiding him.
He had thought before then that it was a coincidence. Legend had barely let Hyrule out of his sight since he’d been freed, and for once he didn’t even try to pretend that he wasn’t. Warriors, for his part, had been withdrawn and dead set on taking all of the chores around camp, it seemed. So Hyrule believed him when he asked Warriors if they could talk and Warriors gave an excuse of some chore.
But when he'd asked Warriors that day, he had said, "Sorry, 'Rule. Fire needs more wood," before practically running off.
"He does realize that we have a pile of wood that's at least as long as Four and half his size thanks to Wild, right?" Legend commented, rolling his eyes. That was what made Hyrule suspicious, and when he thought about it, it wasn't the first time that Warriors had claimed a chore needlessly. He said as much to Legend.
"Look, he's the one that found you, right? He probably just feels guilty that we didn't find you before the portal switch," Legend had said, something painfully true hidden in his voice. Hyrule was then distracted by convincing Legend that it wasn't his fault that he hadn't been found, and the incident was forgotten about.
At least, until Four came up to him a few days later.
"You've noticed it too, right?" He asked, cleaner, cloth, and whetstone in hand.
"Noticed what?" Rule asked, sliding out his sword for Four to take. (It wasn't an uncommon occurrence. While they all knew how to take care of their swords, Four --more than any of them -- enjoyed taking the time to check the weapons. As the resident blacksmith -- Legend refused to be counted because he had never finished his apprenticeship -- he was the best person to check for anything that needed fixed. The only exception was with Wild's swords. Those just broke no matter what.)
"Warriors has been acting weird all week. He barely talks, picks at his food, takes a watch every night and then doesn't wake up whoever's after him..." Four trailed off, examining a nick in the blade.
"Oh, that. I noticed. I'm not sure if anyone else has. He... he's blaming himself. For me going missing," Hyrule finished, nervousness clenching his stomach. Four knew about his transformation ability, but it wasn't something that they brought up often, and he still hadn't told anyone why he'd gone missing.
"Why?" Four asked, looking up from the sword in his lap.
"You know how you went fairy hunting?"
Four let in a sharp breath of air.
"I forget about your spell," He said quietly, almost horrified.
"It's okay, Four. I'm okay. It could have been a lot worse. But he figured it out when... when Time got hurt, and then I didn't fly off. Don't!" He interrupted when Four moved to get up," Please don't blame him, he didn't know, none of you would have."
"I wasn't," Four said, starting to pace, "I wasn't. Is this why he's been avoiding everyone, then? Especially you?"
Another time, Hyrule probably would've marveled that Four noticed all of that while getting over a cold, but worry for his brother eclipsed that at the moment. Also, it wasn't all that out of character for Four.
"Probably."
Four stopped for a moment, ran a hand through his hair, and then started pacing again.
"This is a lot worse than I thought. And I wouldn't put money on anyone else noticing, because they've all been worried over Time and Rule, and he can usually take care of himself but now..." Four muttered to himself, trailing off into a string of words that was spoken faster than Hyrule could follow.
"Four. Four. Four!" he finally shouted. Four stopped pacing and looked at Hyrule, eyes flashing between red and blue and his usual grey.
"I know. But now we gotta figure out how to stop Wars from doing this and figure out how to make it right."
"We should tell Time," Four immediately supplied, "He'll know what to do better than either of us; he knows the Captain better."
It was true, Time knew the Captain better than anyone. (Except for maybe Legend, because those two tended to talk late at night, but Hyrule wasn't supposed to know about those, so he didn't say anything.) More than anyone else, they were the leaders of this band, the ones everyone else looked up to, the ones who carried the most responsibility. Twilight was the one you went to if you needed a hug, big brothering, or a shoulder to cry on (sometimes all three), but Time and Warriors were the ones you went to if you needed solid advice, or if you needed a fatherly influence from Time. They came up with the battle plans, kept a bigger eye out on everyone else.
But now, Warriors needed that eye out, needed that influence from Time. And Time had no idea.
Unfortunately, the two didn't get the chance yet.
"Ambush!" Wind yelled. Four and Hyrule turned wide eyes to each other before snatching their things and running towards the sound of his voice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is everyone alright?" Time called, pulling his sword out of the last bokogoblin. Various cries of "Yes!" "Yep!" "Thankfully." were heard.
"Nothing a fairy or a potion can't fix," Sky said, looking down wryly at his leg, where a bite mark was oozing blood.
"Alright. Anyone else? Warriors, are you alright?" Time asked, noting the slightly green pallor of the other. Warriors waved him off, and then proceeded to throw up behind the nearest bush.
"Woah! Did you hit your head?" Wild asked, immediately moving towards him.
"No," Warriors rasped, "I'm alright. Just a little nauseous from getting Chu Jelly in my mouth."
"Seriously? Chu Jelly is great!" Wild and Wind said at the same time.
"Granted, it doesn't always taste the best, but it's not the worst thing in the world," Twi added.
"Guess I just have a weak stomach," Warriors grinned weakly, and then washed his mouth out with his waterskin.
"Of course you do! You can't even handle Wild's curry!" Legend scoffed, but even he looked a little concerned.
"Neither can you, Vet."
"I can better than him!"
"Barely."
"What's wrong with my curry?" Wild demanded, the attention now officially taken off of Warriors.
Hyrule couldn’t help but notice that Wars avoided looking at any of them for the rest of the day, however.
The next morning, before anyone really had a chance to really wake up, a portal appeared a few feet from camp. The moment it popped up, there was a litany of groans and grumblings, but everyone began packing quickly.
They came out in a place that Twilight recognized almost immediately.
"Come on!" He said, waving for them to follow him, "I have a friend that lives near here, we can stop by her place! And it's close to the Castle, too!"
It took them nearly an hour to reach the gates of Castle Town. The guards, though skeptical at Twilight's claims that the rest of the Chain was all family (just like they had been every time before), let them through without a fuss.
"Should we split up?" Warriors asked when they got inside, the first conversation he'd started of his own accord in days.
"It's not a bad idea," Time said, "Pup, you could take a group to see your friend, and the rest of us could go to the Castle."
Twilight nodded, "Y'all have been to the Castle before. Dusk'll recognize ya, even if the guards don't."
Time nodded, and they split up easily: Time, Warriors, Wild, Sky, and Wind headed to the Castle, while Twilight, Four, Legend, and Hyrule headed off in the direction that Twilight pointed them in.
It wasn’t long before Twilight was knocking on a door.
"Coming!" A young voice shouted, and in the next moment, a girl with a pink bow opened the door.
"Link! You're back! Did you bring me any bugs?" She asked.
"Hi, Agitha! Of course I brought you some! I'm assuming you're still after the golden ones?" Twi asked, stepping in.
"You bet! Who are your friends?"
"Oh, sorry! This is Four, Legend, and Hyrule."
"Like the kingdom?"
"Like the kingdom," Hyrule confirmed.
"Cool! Come on in!" She said, and opened the door wider.
Twi rummaged around in his bag.
"Here! Golden butterfly!" He said, pulling out a bottle, "What's wrong?"
Agitha looked horrified.
"I forgot I hadn't seen you in a while. I... I stopped using bottles to catch bugs."
"Oh, really?" Twi asked, handing over the bottle. Agitha tipped the bottle into her basket, and the butterfly disappeared into it.
"Yeah. I ended up helping another person named Link in a war."
"Wait, what? What did he look like?" Four asked, while Legend groaned and muttered under his breath, "How in Hyrule does the Captain know everyone?!"
"Blond hair, long blue scarf. Why?"
"We know him," Twi answered, looking amused at the strange expressions crossing Legend's face.
"Really? Neat! Well, anyways, there was this Great Fairy that helped during the war, and she... she trapped him in a bottle. It wasn't pretty. I can't stand to trap bugs or fairies in a bottle anymore."
Hyrule's mouth fell open, remembering the Captain's words.
“I know how bottles suck, if I’d’ve known it was you I would have never-”
The Captain had been in a bottle. He had... oh gosh. That explained a whole lot about his current state.
"Four! We have to find Time and Warriors." Hyrule stepped back outside.
"What's wrong?" Twi asked.
"Can we explain on the way?" Four asked, following Hyrule.
"If there's something you need to do, go. Just visit before you leave again, alright? We need to catch up," Agitha said. Twi nodded, still looking confused.
"Someone mind explaining what's going on?" Legend said, twisting to avoid running into someone as they ran through the streets of Castle Town.
"You know how Hyrule went missing a few days ago?" Four said.
"Not that easy to forget," Twilight said wryly.
"Well, this is definitely not how I was planning to tell you, but I have this spell. And it lets me turn into a fairy. And I got put in a bottle. By Warriors. Who also was the one who figured out that it was me when Time got hurt."
"HE DID WHAT?!?!" Legend shouted, stopping in his tracks, face redder than it had been a few moments before.
"If he hadn't have, it might've been me, Legend. We didn't know, and more importantly, it wasn't anywhere near on purpose," Four placated.
"But he's been blaming himself since then. And avoiding me, and everyone else," Hyrule added.
"So?" Twi asked, prompting them on.
"Put it together, Rancher!" Four shouted, blue sparking in his eyes.
"He was trapped in a bottle before," Legend said slowly, "And then trapped Rule. On accident," he added after Hyrule and Four both glared at him.
"Oh," Twilight said, stopping as the full force of the realization hit him.
"Yeah, oh. We need to find him," Four said, grabbing Twilight's hand.
"Hey! Over here!" a voice called.
"Cub?" Twi asked, veering over to where Wild was.
"Did you guys run into Warriors?" Wild asked.
"No. Why?" Hyrule asked, dread pooling in his gut.
"He's missing. We met with the Queen, and then he said he wasn't feeling good, and we haven't seen him since."
"Please tell me you're kidding," Legend said, staring right at him. Wild shook his head.
"Come on, Pretty Boy! Why do you have to make everything so difficult!?!" Legend shouted to the sky.
"Time sent everyone else out in teams of two, he had me stay here in case he came back,"
"Legend, Four, check the area to the west. Rule and I will head back to Agitha's and check in that area," Twilight decided, quickly splitting them up. It was a testament to their worry that Legend and Four didn't say anything, just headed off.
"Twi? What's wrong?" Wild asked.
"He's been reminded of some pretty bad memories. More likely than not, he's stuck in his head and vulnerable."
"Like when I get a memory," Wild said slowly.
"Close enough, yeah." Twi said. It wasn't entirely the same, but he didn't have time to explain it in detail.
"We'll let you know if we find him," Hyrule promised, and then they were headed off.
"He could be literally anywhere," Twi worried after thirty minutes of searching hadn't revealed their friend.
"We could split up and check both ends of the street?" Hyrule suggested.
"Good idea. I'll meet you right back here, okay? Don't get lost."
"I won't," Hyrule promised.
He looked through every window, and every place that could hold someone, no matter how small. He had nearly reached the end of the street when he thought that he heard something. He peeked down an alley and sagged in relief.
Warriors.
Granted, he wasn't looking great, curled into a ball, one hand digging into his scalp while the other had the opposite wrist in a death grip, shoulders shaking and his whole body trembling, but he was there.
"Warriors!" Hyrule called, coming forward slowly.
"Warriors?" He asked after no response.
He gently touched Warriors’ hand, trying to loosen his grip, but Warriors flung himself away, scrambling backwards.
"N-no! Don't! Don't come close, you can't she'll-" His words dissolved into mumbles as he practically threw his head back into his knees.
"Wars-"
"Don't Rule! I don't want you to get trapped again, you can't get trapped again!"
This... was not working. Twilight. Where was Twilight? Surely he could help, right?
"Twi! TWI!" Hyrule said, running out of the alley. A few minutes later, he quite literally ran into Twilight.
"What's wrong?" Twi asked, looking him over.
"I'm okay. I found Warriors, but he's really scared and I'm not sure he quite knows where he is-" Hyrule ran out of breath.
"Okay. Show me where," Twilight said.
They were back to Warriors within the span of a few minutes.
"Keep an eye out for anyone, we don't want him to get even more spooked," Twi said, approaching Warriors with loud footsteps and large movements. Hyrule could hear the two behind him.
"Hey, Cap? It's me, it's Twi."
"T-Twi? Don't-"
"Hey, it's okay. It's okay. Is it okay if I touch you? I don't want you to hurt yourself."
"No! You- you'll get trapped too! She'll trap you too!"
"It's okay, Wars, I won't get trapped. She's not here right now, okay? It's just me and Hyrule."
"Not- No, Rule, he can't-"
"He won't. He's not. He's out, okay? You got him out."
"I'm not mad, Warriors," Hyrule added.
"You should be! You should hate me!" Warriors cried out, his hands tightening. Twilight gently wormed his own hands in and untangled Warriors' hands from his hair.
"I don't hate you, Warriors. Link. I couldn't ever hate you. Especially for a mistake. You hear me? It was a mistake, and I know it's one you won't make again. We all make mistakes, how could I hate you for that?" Hyrule said, coming closer and once again wiping tears from Warriors' face.
"See, he's not mad, okay? Hey, you need to take a breath, okay? Do you think you can do that for me?" Twi prompted.
It took a while to calm Warriors down from the panic attack, and then from another emotional outburst, but it did happen. It was late by the time they made it back to the castle, the stars having begun their dance a while ago.
Everyone cried out in surprise and relief when the three showed up. Twilight handed Warriors off to Sky, confident that he could get him settled in bed.
"What happened?" Time asked.
"More importantly, is he okay?" Wind interrupted.
Twilight sighed.
"I'm not sure."
"But we can work towards it," Rule said gently.
Time nodded, "Please. Explain what happened."
Outside, the stars continued their watch over them all, keeping away any harm that wished to come for the rest of the night.