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Four couldn’t help but curse himself and the situation he had somehow found himself in.
The last portal that the chain walked through had left him split away from the rest, not even knowing if the others were in the same era as him. He hoped they were close though, as the biting cold of the mountain was starting to get to him. He had been stuck in a blizzard for what he guessed was the past hour, the snow quickly rising to just below his waist. His legs had gone numb from the cold by now, his fingers not far behind. A lack of gloves had left them bare to the freezing temperature. Although he had been able to wrap his nondominant hand in the loose fabric of his tunic, its left counterpart was at the mercy of the elements.
Teeth chattering and body shivering, his mind was a mess. A headache had quickly appeared the moment Blue started yelling, an argument promptly following about what the best course of action was. It was all pointless however, because the only option that wouldn’t end up with him becoming a hylian popsicle was to try and find a cave to shield himself from the wind. And so far, he had the opposite of luck finding one.
As time went on, and as he got progressively more lost, a tingling sensation began in his fingertips, slowly spreading up his hand. It felt like thousands of tiny needles pricking the skin over and over again. He looked down, his hand had become blotchy and felt hard when he tried to flex it. Well that’s not a good sign. He forced himself to look back up. No caves were anywhere to be found on the mountain, so he had tried to venture out into the plains to find a town. If anybody would even be crazy enough to live in these conditions, anyway.
The sky had long since faded to black, but Four couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to it, and he made even less of an effort to care. All he could think about was the pain in his left hand. He hadn’t bothered to look at it since the first time, but he knew that if he looked now, he wouldn’t like what he saw.
The snow had begun to let up a while ago, but its height still stayed the same, and his legs had become beyond sluggish by now. A result of both his energy being completely used up and the striking numbness in them. The steady voices of the colors were the only thing keeping his mind off of his less than ideal conditions, but even they weren’t enough to completely distract him. He thinks that that’s the only reason he was conscious enough to see the portal open in front of him. A flash of hands and panicked shouting was all he registered before he collapsed, world going dark.
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A dim light hanging above him was the first thing that came into focus when Four woke up. He groaned, blinking a couple times before tilting his head to the side to try and take in his surroundings. He didn’t get far though, as the headache he had earlier seemed to come back with full force.
Now that he paid attention to it, his whole body was aching and numb. He tried to wiggle his fingers to at least try to get their feeling back, only to stop dead in his tracks. His eyes went wide, panic grabbing hold of him at the lack of feeling in his left hand. It seeped into his chest and took a hold of his lungs, breathing becoming erratic before he even had a chance to confirm his suspicions. He ignored the painful protesting of his muscles and lifted up his left arm. He dully noted that someone had thrown a blanket on him, but it was a fleeting thought compared to what he was focusing on at the moment.
Shock jolted up his spine as he took in the sight before him. His arm looked relatively fine, save for the mass amount of bloody rags where his hand should be. He didn’t say anything for a moment, too stunned to even try. He was so caught up in trying to make sense of what happened he barely heard the throat being cleared behind him. “I see you’ve woken up.”
The rancher's words were quiet as he approached the bed that Four was laying on. He turned his head over to where Twilight now stood beside him, a somber expression on his face as his gaze fixed on Four’s hand, or lack thereof.
Before he could even ask what happened, Twilight began speaking in that same quiet tone. “You had some pretty bad frostbite there,” He sighed and finally looked Four in the eyes. “We tried to save it, but…” The end of his sentence trailed off, the unspoken words clear as day to the smallest hero. Four’s eyes drifted back to his arm, still raised in the air, and cried.
It started off with a few silent tears gliding down his cheeks, but soon he was borderline hyperventilating with how hard he was sobbing. Twilight looked at him frantically, hands hovering above him, a surprised noise leaving him as Four brought his right hand up to bring him closer. He was tense for a second, not knowing what to do, but eventually drew his arms around Four’s violently shaking form.
If Twilight could do nothing else, at least he could comfort his brother.