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It wasn’t enough.
It was never enough.
No matter how hard he tried.
He knew the moment Headmaster Geapora called him in to the office that there wasn’t enough for him to go next year. His last year of knight school, and here he was, unable to finish.
Because there wasn’t enough money.
He’d done everything he could. He’d patrolled the school at night to try and make money, he’d helped Pumm whenever he could, he’d gone without food more nights than he could count at this point in hope of making it spread for just that much longer, not having to spend quite as much…
It still wasn’t enough.
He didn’t want to blame his mother. She didn’t understand how important this was to him. But at the same time, he knew that she was part of the reason there wasn’t enough.
But still. She was his mom. Part of his job was to take care of her.
It still stung.
But then Link and Zelda and Groose came back, full of stories of the Surface and wounds both seen and unseen. They had changed, so much.
In the rush of change that followed, people preparing to move to the Surface, hearing stories, fixing up Skyloft, prepping the Freshman class to join the Academy, helping Pumm and the others…
Pipit forgot about the Academy. He forgot about anything, really, other than the list of things he threw himself into. He still took the night patrols, he threw himself into whatever work was needed, he kept himself running. He didn’t have to think, that way.
He made friends with Groose, while they worked. Turned out the kid really had changed. Good for him. It was good to catch up with Link, too, even if it was hard to see the ways he’d changed. He had a hard time with people coming up quietly from behind. Pipit didn’t ask.
Link tried to get him to slow down, once. To take a break. But he couldn’t. Didn’t Link see that? There was so much to do, too much to do, he had to do it-
And it was fine. He was fine. So he skipped a meal or ten. He collapsed into bed every night, too tired to speak to his mom. That was fine.
And it was fine.
Right up until the Festival of Lights.
He’d been chatting with Link and Groose when Headmaster Gaepora came up and clapped them on the shoulders, making sure to make enough noise as he came by so that Link wouldn’t be startled.
“I’ll enjoy seeing you two boys in class next week,” he said cheerily.
“You mean us three?” Groose asked, eyebrow raised, “Pip’s here too.”
Pipit’s throat went dry.
“I… I’m not going to school next year,” He said quietly.
“It’s your last year?” Link said, voice airy, but above a near whisper. He’d been working on getting it louder.
“Y-yeah. It is. Excuse me,” Pipit said, pushing past them to the stairwell leading away from the Goddess Statue. He couldn’t take standing there anymore. Couldn’t take the look on Link and Groose’s faces. The pity that always came from everyone.
He couldn’t take the pity anymore.
It didn’t take long to run through the cave tunnel near the waterfall. It wasn’t hard to whistle for his Loftwing. Sure, you weren’t supposed to fly at night, but he needed to get away . Everyone would be occupied with the festival, anyways.
He circled high above Skyloft, twice, three times. Then he set his Loftwing on the path to his getaway spot.
It took seconds to get there. It took millenia. All he knew was that he was giving his Loftwing the dive signal and then he was jumping off.
He mistimed it, landing in the little pool and getting soaked in the process. He resurfaced with a splutter, finding the edge in moments.
It wasn’t until he was sitting on the grass, back flush with the stone, that he finally felt the cracks. He let himself scream, out where no one would hear him, tears streaming down his cheeks until his voice was hoarse and gone. He didn’t realize how much time had passed until the sun began to rise over the cloud barrier.
… He should probably be getting back. He’d stolen enough time from his work.
He let out a whistle before he jumped, letting his Loftwing know that he was ready.
But he couldn’t see it circling.
He whistled again, as loud as he could with his non-existent voice.
Still, nothing.
He reached inside himself, for the bond that he had with his Loftwing.
All he felt was a snapping, aching emptiness.
No.
No! Nonononono, it couldn’t be, no, he had to be fine he had to be, he’d never not been able to feel his other half before this wasn’t good this wasn’t-
He didn’t realize he was backpedaling until he hit the water and went under again. At least it snapped him out of his panic.
By the time he was sitting against the stone once again, all he felt was numb.
Hours passed, or maybe it was days. All he knew was that time was a blur.
And then there was Link in front of him.
He startled badly, smacking his head on the rock behind him.
“Easy, easy,” Link soothed, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. You’re alright. We were worried when your Loftwing showed up without you.
“He’s okay-” Pipit gasped out, the words more air than sound.
“Badly hurt, but Owlen says he’ll be fine after some spores and rest. Looks like he got hit by one of those rock spitters.” Groose said, coming closer.
“It’s an octorock,” Link said, rolling his eyes, but it was fond.
He leaned Pip forward, gently pulling something around his shoulders.
“You’re burning up,” He said worriedly, putting a wrist to Pipit’s forehead.
“It’s cold,” Pipit shook his head, but neither of them answered. Instead, Groose slipped a hand under his knees and behind his back.
“Mmm… you’re warm…” Pipit muttered sleepily. He was so tired, all of the sudden.
“Hey, you gotta stay awake, alright? You wouldn’t fall asleep on patrol, would you?” Groose said, jostling him a bit.
Pipit groaned and glared, but ultimately, Groose was right. Plus…
Hadn’t there been something that he was supposed to do? Something with…
“Hey, no, Pipit. Stay awake,” Groose ordered, and since when was he so good at that?
He could feel wind rushing past them, a whistle sounded in his ear – had Groose jumped?
He didn’t know. And for once, he couldn't bring himself to care.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Do we take him back to his house?” Groose asked, flying next to Link. Link hesitated, then shook his head.
“It’s not very clean. Mallara…” he broke off, and began signing, “ No, let’s take him to the academy. He can stay in my room .”
Groose nodded.
“There should be an extra mattress we can drag into my room.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Don’t let Mallara in here. She’ll just stress him out more,” Link quickly signed to Gaepora. He nodded with an understanding look.
“She’s a sweet wo man , but…” He cut himself off, shaking his head.
“I’ll keep her away. You focus on Pipit, alright?”
Groose was already stripping Pipit of his clothes and armor, in an attempt to cool him off just a little bit. He grumbled as soon as Link came back in.
“I know we’ve been busy and all, but I shoulda noticed this sooner…”
He poked gently at Pipit’s side. The older boy was clearly underweight, though not quite at the point of starvation.
“ What where you going to do? Until you came to the Surface, we weren’t exactly friends, anyways.” Link pointed out.
“Still feel like a shoulda noticed something. Now here, Link, pass me that bowl. We gotta get his fever down.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Neither Groose nor Link were surprised when Pipit started whimpering in his sleep. They both knew how fever dreams were, and just kept trying to get his temperature down. But that in itself was a challenge. Pipit was weakened, and dreaming. They could barely get him to be coherent for a few minutes to try and get him to eat and drink a cup of medicine.
“I doubt any of…” Groose waved his hands around, “... this is helping either.”
Thankfully, they didn’t have to deal with Mallara. True to his word, Gaepora kept her away. But they could definitely hear her across the hall.
Zelda stopped by a couple times with supplies, as did Karane. The two were the only ones Groose and Link would let in.
It took 32 hours before they could get Pipit’s temperature to go back down to normal levels. In the end, Link had put his fireshield earrings on Pipit to help- surprisingly, it helped a fair amount.
When Pipit woke up, it was night. And cold. He shivered quietly, sitting up.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
Pipit turned, seeing Groose.
“Nowhere…?”
Groose crossed his arms-
“Exactly.”
-and proceeded to lecture Pipit on taking care of himself.
Link came up about halfway through, smiling sympathetically and handing him a cup of tea, signing quietly.
“We were worried.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
Pipit shot back, smiling a little.
Groose finally ran out of steam and plopped down next to Pipit.
“Don’t scare us like that again, you hear?”
“Understood. Though it’s not exactly like I was trying to run myself into the ground on purpose.”
“Why were you working so hard, anyways?” Link asked.
Pipit sighed.
“I…I thought I could get enough to pay for school next year, but… it wasn’t enough.”
Link and Groose both looked outraged.
“How?!”
Pipit looked at him.
“Because I didn’t earn enough? Groose, this is basic math and economy class type-”
“No, I…” Groose shook his head.
“ Why didn’t anyone else help? Or Mallara? ” Link said, looking upset.
Pipit shrugged.
“I love my Mom, but… she’s always been a bit up in the clouds, you know? She doesn’t get it.”
“Get what, exactly?” Groose was slowly getting angrier.
“How having a budget works. And how much I want this. Not that it matters, I’m the one who has to work for it if I want it.”
Groose stood up and paced.
“
I know that’s… not a bad way of thinking… but your mom should know better.
You deserve better than that, Pipit.”
The corner of Pipit’s mouth quirked up in a bittersweet smile.
“It’s alright, Link. I’m used to it.”
“You shouldn’t be,” Groose said. His voice was barely a growl.
“Stay here,” He added, stalking out of the room.
Pipit looked at where he had just been.
“What’s with him?”
Link shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He should’ve followed Groose.
He should’ve stopped Groose.
But no. Now, here he was, standing in front of Gaepora, finding out that apparently the rest of the money needed to pay for his last year of school was “Paid by the Island of Skyloft”.
Link and Groose were standing outside Gaepora’s office, smiling as he came out.
Pipit quickly pulled them both into a hug.
“I don’t know whether I should strangle you or thank you.”
Groose laughed.
“Do both, Farore knows I’ve wanted to enough times,” Link grinned.
Groose just laughed.