Chapter Text
Wind decided to follow along the river again, letting the sound of running water keep him from thinking too much about the birds circling above. He felt much calmer now, anyway – the anxiety reduced to just a background hum after watching his brothers fool around.
All he had to do was not look up, and he could almost forget they were there.
He came across a proper, man-made bridge stretching over the river after a bit that he considered, but ultimately decided against; he wanted to check out the plaza, and having to double back would just make him confused on what he had and hadn’t already explored.
So he followed the river for a little further, watching how it lapped at the sandy shore of the riverbank.
Wind slowed, still gazing at the water as a swell of homesickness rose in his chest. There were just slightly too many similarities to back home – it was making him long for a touch of salt on the breeze, for tall palms and vibrantly coloured crabs.
But home didn’t even exist yet, here.
He stared for a few seconds longer, then huffed and forcibly shook himself out of it.
They were in the sky. There was no point in longing for a different island when this one was so cool.
The plaza was just ahead, so Wind left the river behind to go see what it had to offer. They’d already seen it in passing yesterday, but he wanted to properly snoop now that he had the chance, rather than getting distracted by being forcibly made aware of his lungs.
It was a well-loved place, pale flagstones worn down by years of footsteps and the steady creep of encroaching moss. It was nice, though. Very breezy.
The most interesting thing in the area was the tower – tiered and very eye-catching thanks to the, y’know, solid beam of light shooting off into the distance – but Legend seemed to have thoroughly beaten him to it. The veteran was examining something on the topmost tier, just visible every now and again as he circled around.
Knowing him, he’d probably spotted the beam with the rest of them yesterday, not accepted Sky’s explanation of ‘oh, yeah it just does that now,’ and had been stewing about it ever since. There was no way he’d be coming down until he had unearthed every secret the tower held, and figured out how to replicate and harness them to boot.
Wind was also curious, but not enough to interrupt a Legend who’d been staring at one thing for well over an hour.
(Last time he’d been dumb enough to do that, he’d promptly gotten subjected to a very lengthy and frustrated rant about the irregular grammatical conventions of a dead language. Never again.)
He’d just check it out once Legend was done. Or at least had had enough time to put his thoughts into an order that would make sense to anyone who wasn’t him.
…But that beam of light was really cool.
Maybe just a little interrupting. Wind took a deep breath in.
“’Hoy! Legend!” He called, hands cupped around his mouth. He waited for the veteran to look at him, head poking out over the edge, before continuing with a cheery, “What’cha looking at?”
The older boy made a vaguely irate gesture that told him he was right to not climb up there.
“The beam’s made by this big magnifying glass thing,” he called back, “I just can’t work out how. It’s using regular sunlight, so it must be converting it somehow, but it just feels like normal glass – and the light makes it too hard to get a proper look.”
Oh, fun.
“Maybe it’s magic?” Wind suggested, putting on his most innocent look, and Legend threw his hands up irritably.
“Obviously it’s magic!” he snapped, “I just need to work out what kind!”
The sailor tried very hard to keep a straight face, blinking up at him before very sweetly saying, “Have you considered light magic?”
That earned him a dirty look, the veteran’s face scrunching in way that told him exactly what he thought of his contributions. “I didn’t ask for your sass, Sailor.”
Wind grinned, opening his mouth to reply, only to be cut off by another call.
“Oh! Hey, Wind, over here!”
The two of them looked over to find Sky and his Zelda watching them from the wooden dock-looking thing jutting off over the side of the island – the pair waving once they had his attention.
The sailor waved back, deciding to take pity on Legend and stop heckling him.
“’Hoy!” he called, before looking back up at the veteran. “See ya, Legend! Have fun with your thing!”
“Oh, I intend to,” the other replied lowly, tone far more threatening than such an innocuous statement really needed. It seemed to be more directed at whatever was up there giving him grief, though, so Wind left him to it.
He trotted around the tower over to Sky and Zelda, giving them a bright smile once he joined them on the wooden planks.
“Hi,” he said curiously, “Did you guys need something?”
Sky shrugged, wiggling a hand noncommittedly. “A little bit. We just wanted to check in with everyone, see how they’re holding up with the air thing.”
“I’ve been fine,” Wind lied, deciding that the persistent tightness in his chest was no one’s problem but his own. He both knew and was pointedly ignoring its real cause, anyway, which was basically the same thing as handling it. “Nothing a sip of your potion can’t fix. How long has Legend been up there?”
Zelda giggled. “Longer than we’ve been here,” she said, giving an amused look up to where the veteran had once more disappeared to poke at things until something gave. “We offered to help, but he wants to work it out by himself.”
“He’s gonna be pissed once he caves and finds out about the windmill thing, though,” Sky added, the two sharing a conspiring snicker.
The sailor tucked that little tidbit away for later. Hunt down some windmills and see just how much he can ruin Legend’s day, got it.
“So, how are you finding Skyloft, so far?” Sky asked, “Having fun?”
Wind lit up, giving an excited half-bounce.
“It’s great! I was hanging out in the Bazaar for a bit, but I’m exploring now. I might quickly go see if Warriors has figured out his little… situation yet, though, maybe he’s managed to wriggle his way out of actually dealing with it by now.”
Sky furrowed his brow in confusion. “Wait, what is Wars doing?”
“Getting flirted with. He’s refusing to back down, though, but I think he was trying to freeze her out with sheer politeness. Or by just acting oblivious and hoping she’ll get the hint.” He scoffed. “Which, good luck to him on that, she was practically climbing over the counter last I checked.”
“Flirted with…?” The sky knight said slowly, before realisation dawned on his face. “Wait, in the Bazaar? Was it the girl at the item check, with the pigtails?”
Ooh, mild horror. His favourite.
“Yep!” Wind chirped, and Sky and Zelda let out a groan and a delighted cackle respectively.
“Peatrice,” Sky sighed, “Yeah, no, good luck to him, she’s never taken a hint in her life.”
“Do you reckon she has a thing for people named Link?” Zelda asked, clearly revelling in the way her boyfriend’s face screwed up slightly at the concept.
“We haven’t even been here for a full day,” Sky lamented, not gracing that with an acknowledgement. “How has she already warmed up to him by that much?”
Wind gave a shrug, quietly pleased about this new unexpected development. It was like one of Niko’s puppet shows – or, more accurately, like Niko’s puppet shows when they’d had smooth sailing for so long that he had nothing else to work on but increasingly elaborate papercraft.
This was great. His grandma was going to be getting every sordid detail.
“Warriors Effect,” he said by way of explanation.
Sky groaned again, but Zelda’s face took on a mischievous glint.
“Hm,” she said slowly, putting on a show of pondering something. “Do you reckon that if I walked up and pretended to be all over the Captain, she’d call me a floozy again?”
The sky knight’s head whipped up from where it’d been buried in his hands. “She did what?!”
Zelda raised her hands with a laugh. “It wasn’t to my face-”
“That’s worse!”
“-And I just found it funny more than anything! It’s fine, I really don’t care!”
“I will pay you,” Wind said reverently, knowing deep in his heart that he needed to see this. “Name your price. I’ll throw in an extra purple if you can make Warriors blush.”
Her face split into a scheming grin. “I just wanna see if I can get her to call me something worse. Do you reckon I should aim for a ‘harlot’?”
“Absolutely,” Wind said, ignoring the affronted swat he got from Sky.
“Stop enabling each other, you absolute menaces,” he protested, “I don’t wanna hear anyone calling anybody a harlot, Twi will literally hunt me down himself if he catches wind. Not to mention Time, do you even know what that word means?”
“Does it matter?” the sailor asked angelically – which was just a fancy way of saying ‘sort of, he got the general gist enough to know that he was talking to a comedic genius’.
“Zelda. Time will kill me. I’ll have to look him in the eye and tell him that Wind picked up a new word again.”
Zelda hummed. “Maybe just ‘hussy’, then,” she said consideringly, earning herself a matching swat.
“I hate this,” Sky declared, though his tone spoke to the contrary, “You’re both the worst. Letting you meet was a mistake I’ll never recover from.”
The girl laughed again, the sound bright and sunny. “Love you too, sleepyhead,” she teased, giving him a peck on the cheek.
Wind did not gag, in an uncharacteristically generous show of goodwill.
Even though they were making it really hard, especially when Sky returned the kiss with an affectionate eye roll. He occupied himself with watching the clouds pass below them, because ew.
Damn, they were high up. Good thing he wasn’t afraid of heights.
“So, Wind, done anything else?” Sky asked, once they were done being gross at each other, “You mentioned exploring, find anything interesting?”
Ooh, perfect. The sailor pretended to think, like he didn’t want to immediately jump at the opportunity to get some insider information.
“We-ell,” he said, drawing out the word slowly, “I did find this weird bird statue. You guys know anything about it?”
“…Like one of the ones dotted around everywhere?” Zelda asked, “Those are just for leaving a quick prayer as you go about your day.”
He didn’t think so? He’d only seen one of them so far, they might be thinking of different things.
“Nah, it was on the other side of the island, and had gemstones for eyes,” Wind elaborated, before adding a hopeful, “It looked really cool.”
“Oh, that one,” Sky said, eyes lighting up in recognition. “I’ll tell you about it later, it’s a bit of a long story. It is pretty cool, you’re right about that.”
Well, that wasn’t super helpful for his plundering. Some of Wind’s disappointment must’ve shown in his face, because Sky gave him a knowing smile.
“The gems probably aren’t gonna come off, though.”
Killjoy.
“Dunno what you’re talking about,” Wind replied, prim and with only a smidge of mulishness. Honestly, these people never let him do anything fun.
He was absolutely still gonna try, though. Just out of sheer principle.
“But yeah, apart from that, just wandering around, mostly,” he continued, wanting to change the subject before anyone thought to snitch on him later. “Saw Wild and Hyrule, found a cave, the usual. What about you guys?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Zelda answered blithely, “We’re just trying to track Azure down, right now. He’s decided that he’s doing his own thing today.”
Wind blinked, running through the (admittedly small) list of Skyloftians he’d met over the past day and coming up dry.
“Who’s Azure?” he asked.
Zelda gave a vaguely sheepish chuckle, hands coming up to play with the ribbons laced through her hair. “I forgot you guys wouldn’t know,” she said.
“Azure’s my loftwing.”
Oh.
“Oh,” Wind said faintly.
“We were gonna go flying together,” Sky explained, entirely oblivious to the pit of dread that had opened itself in the sailor’s stomach, “But somebody’s being lazy.”
That part was directed at the sky in general, Wind vaguely noted.
“He’ll show up eventually,” Zelda said, flapping a hand reassuringly, “I think he just saw that we’re still on Skyloft, and so is dragging his feet a lil’.”
“That sucks,” Wind said, privately and sincerely hoping that the thing would drag its taloned feet for a little longer. At least until he had cleared out.
“It’s fine, he can just be a bit cheeky sometimes,” she smiled, tone fond.
Sky snorted. “Just a bit?”
“Azure is a delight and an angel, thank you very much,” Zelda said with an exaggerated haughtiness, “And I won’t have you besmirching his good name with these baseless accusations. He’s an upstanding bird.”
“You taught him to break into my room, Zel.”
“Not my fault you never lock your window.”
Wind was trying to reconcile their fond tone with something like the massive bird Sky had already shown them yesterday, but his brain refused to make the connection. It just kept getting stuck on big, with eyes that were far too intelligent for his comfort.
It was just another stupid loftwing. It wasn’t even here. So why was his chest getting all fluttery?
Calm. He was calm.
“Do you- do you reckon he’s nearby?” Wind asked, as forcibly casual as he could manage.
“He should be,” Zelda hummed, “I can sense him hanging around, so he’s not stuck somewhere. We’ve been waiting for a while, though.”
“Maybe he got distracted,” Sky suggested.
“Maybe…” She looked at the sky for a little longer, lips pursed. “Gimme a second, I’ll try calling him again.”
The girl raised a hand to her lips, thumb and forefinger poised, before she paused.
“You might wanna cover your ears,” she told Wind kindly.
He hastily obliged.
Zelda’s subsequent whistle was still piercing enough to make it past his hands, echoing around the plaza in a way that told Wind that apparently being able to make sounds loud enough to kill a god was just a Skyloftian thing. He couldn’t help but flinch, even despite it being somewhat muffled.
Sky didn’t even so much as cringe, the bastard.
They all watched the sky for any sign of the creature – some with far more trepidation than others – but nothing appeared to be flying in their direction.
Wind tried not to look too visibly relieved.
Zelda huffed, placing a frustrated hand on her hip. “I know you can hear me!” She called, “Get over here and let me check those pinfeathers, mister!”
“Maybe you should try a different call,” Sky said mildly.
“I don’t need to use the flight call, I’m not gonna lie to my bird,” Zelda retorted.
“But that’s probably why he’s being so slow. He knows its not urgent, so he’s decided to take his sweet time and do a few laps of Skyloft.”
“And you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”
“Hey!” Sky laughed, flicking her hair gently, “Crimson always comes when I call!”
“Because you always jump off the island to do it, you’re gonna give him a heart attack one day with the way you insist on waiting ‘til the last second.”
“It’s fun!”
“Sure, until your bird gets shoved in a hole and I have to haul you back up.”
“That was one time, and not even my fault. And you’re the one who pushed me off in the first place!”
Zelda grinned. “Details.”
Wind lowered his hands cautiously, exhaling slowly – he couldn’t shake this feeling of being hunted, nerves getting strung higher by the second despite knowing he was being illogical.
“You guys have different calls?” he asked weakly, in an attempt to distract himself.
“Yeah, of course,” Sky answered, “Did you not notice?”
Notice what?
“…I know that you and Zelda whistle differently?”
Zelda let out a huff of amusement. “Well, yeah, but we also have variations so our loftwings know what’s up. Like, this is a flight whistle-”
She brought her fingers to her mouth again, and Wind barely had enough time to brace before his ears were ringing.
“-So that’s for when you need to be caught – and this is a ‘come over here’ whistle.”
A second whistle rang out through the plaza, bouncing off the flagstones.
Wind… couldn’t even slightly hear a difference between the two.
Sky definitely could, though, if the way he sighed was any indication. “Why’d you use that one last, now Azure knows he doesn’t have to hurry up.”
“I already told you I’m not lying to my bird, Link.”
“Well, maybe he should’ve thought of that before deciding to be a pain in the ass today.”
Zelda pointed a jokingly warning finger at him. “Watch it, buddy; the only person allowed to shit-talk my darling loftwing – who has never done anything wrong in his life, might I mention – is me.”
“I thought I earned the right the first time he spit a half-eaten ringer in my face?”
Wind only half heard the couple’s bantering, gaze stuck scanning the skies above for a response to Zelda’s calls. Still, the horizon remained clear.
He breathlessly waited a bit longer.
…Nothing.
Maybe… it really wasn’t coming?
A shaky exhale slipped past his lips, the sailor cautiously letting himself relax by an increment.
…No bird.
It was fine. He was fine.
The rest of his breath rushed out of him as Wind nearly slumped under the weight of a heady swell of relief.
See, he was freaking out about nothing. It wasn’t even here, probably off terrorising a bug or whatever it was those things ate.
His brain was just being dumb today. It was fine.
Sky and Zelda thankfully didn’t seem to have noticed his subdued moment of weakness, too preoccupied with their light-hearted bickering to pay his quiet sigh any mind.
Oh, gross, they were definitely flirting, weren’t they.
Ew. They could have their fun, but he was out.
Wind turned – intending to get back to exploring the island – only to nearly barrel straight into something big and blue and feathery-
It was one of those massive birds and it was right there next to him.
“Azure, there you are!”
The pleased exclamation sounded like it came through a thick layer of water as the sailor froze, heart rate spiking in the face of the huge creature.
The thing was easily twice his size.
Wind suddenly felt very, very small.
It tilted its head down at him, piercing yellow gaze keeping him pinned, before it made what could only be described as a click-churr; craning its neck down yet still managing to tower over him as it took a step closer.
Wind let out a sort of hiccuping gasp, pedalling hastily backwards to put more space between him and the loftwing before it-
His foot met nothing but air.
Time seemed to slow for an eternity, leaving him hanging in the balance between safety and oblivion – gaze still locked on the bird’s steady golden stare. It tilted its giant head minutely, almost like it was curious at his plight.
Then the world started working again, and he barely had the chance for his eyes to widen before he toppled over the edge of the island.
“No-”
“Wind!”
There was no time for him to try to control his fall, the wind whipping past his ears as he tumbled down through the endless sky, away from the desperate shouts of his companions.
Shit, shit shit shit-
He had to do something- Deku leaf, maybe he could catch himself-
Come on, Wind, think-
There was a screeching cry, impossibly loud, and Wind’s already short breath hitched, train of thought stuttering.
No.
Adrenaline was useless if he was falling through the sky, where was-
He-
“Hgk-!”
His fall came to an abrupt halt, his very bones jarred as he was effortlessly plucked out of the air like he was nothing.
For a second he could only wheeze, the breath punched out of him – then his dazed brain caught up with a sickening rush of pure, unadulterated, fear.
No.
Wind let out a strangled shriek at the sensation of talons digging into the back of his tunic, the sound of massive wingbeats swiftly drowned out by the roaring that erupted in his ears.
Another one of those screeches sounded, as if in reply. He couldn’t help his violent flinch, another panicked cry escaping him at the glimpse of a feathered wingtip.
No, no no no-
He frantically writhed in the thing’s grip to reach his pouch for his hammer, sword, anything-
His hands met empty space – just in time for Wind to remember that he had left his things with the rest of their packs. Because it was meant to be safe.
He was defenceless.
It was at that horrified realisation that Wind’s brain decided it was done, actually, and took a hearty step back from the situation – leaving his struggling body to fall abruptly limp, hanging in the air at the mercy of a monster.
(No no please-)
His limbs jostled bonelessly with every flap of the beast’s wings. He could distantly feel his fingertips start to tingle, but couldn’t seem to remember how to make them so much as twitch.
‘Maybe it won’t throw me too far,’ his mind supplied, vague past the haze of terror as he stared unblinking at the sea of white below him.
‘It’s not as big. Maybe I can swim to an island.’
The wind tugged at his hair, caressing his cheeks as a single tear fell, unbidden, down, down, down.
‘Maybe I’ll be okay.’
A choked sob wrested itself free of his frozen chest. A tiny, pathetic thing.
He couldn’t seem to take a proper breath; there was something in his throat that caused the air to hitch and stutter on the way in, caught somewhere between his throat and his lungs. His ineffectual gasps were useless, but Link couldn’t do anything to fix it while he was trapped, paralysed with fear.
The bird was carrying him upwards. Maybe it instead planned to drop him, rather than expend the energy to toss him away.
(Please-)
The waves below were calm and white.
(Why so pale? There were clear skies, why weren’t they blue?)
Calm enough that a fall from this height would kill him just as surely as if he’d been dropped on a slab of stone.
Link’s already hysterical mind must’ve blanked at that, because the next thing he knew he was being gently deposited on solid ground, the giant talons finally releasing their grip as the wingbeats halted.
Why…?
Oh.
There was a reason the Helmaroc King had been sent out to hunt, after all.
(“…tch your step th…! Y… …alright?”)
Some part of his brain dimly screamed at him to move, to run before the cage door locked, but his limbs wouldn’t listen. All he could do was lie there, shuddering gasps quietly escaping his mouth.
(“…so sor… …didn’t expect… …get… …face like that!”)
(“…ind?”)
All Link could do was lie there and wait for his Triforce to be ripped out of him by an uncaring hand – too weak to put up any resistance.
(“…okay?”)
(“…not responding… …ind?”)
(“…happened?! Why is… …moving?”)
(“…don’t know… …Wi…? …hear me?”)
Something lightly touched his shoulder, and the vice grip terror had on his body eased just enough for him to start trembling like a leaf in the breeze. The touch just as quickly recoiled; Link took the opportunity to curl in on himself, left hand clutched protectively to his aching chest like that would help anything.
(“…do?!”)
(“…n’t shout… needs… …calm down… …ind?”)
Why hadn’t massive fingers encircled his wrist yet, lifted him like a broken doll? Why was he allowed to lie here and helplessly drift?
(“…Link?”)
Oh. That was him, wasn’t it.
An ear weakly twitched in recognition. The hazy words were quick to continue, taking on a distinctly soothing tone.
(“…okay, Link, it’s… …alright… …can… …hear me? Need you… … breathe, it’s… …kay.”)
The adrenaline slowly began to leech out of him, tremors worsening despite how his panic started to wind down to more manageable levels the longer nothing happened.
The distant voice spoke again, and he automatically clung to the words like a lifeline.
(“…safe… …ust breathe in… …out.”)
Breathe.
It took a few tries, but eventually Link managed to get a shaky breath in, copying the muffled instructions. More sound filtered in as he continued, still in his defensive curl.
“In… and out… You’re doing great, just keep going, Link.”
He continued to just breathe, spiralling thoughts steadily coming to a halt as his vision finally cleared.
No bars, no water spilling down. Just a flagstone plaza, worn wooden boards beneath him.
“In… and out,” Sky said again, tone calm despite the undercurrent of worry running through it. “Can you hear me?”
Link’s pose relaxed minutely, tremors softening, and he gave a mute nod before dragging his gaze across to look at the other. Sky’s face practically crumpled in relief as their eyes met, and he gave a gentle smile.
“Do you know where we are?”
They were… on Skyloft. He’d been with Sky and his Zelda.
Oh. Clouds, not waves. He didn’t know if that was better.
Wind silently mouthed ‘Skyloft’, and Sky nodded.
“That’s right. You fell off, and Hauk caught you.”
Wind had no idea who Hauk was.
He dully registered that there were more people gathered, and shifted his exhausted gaze to give them a quick once-over.
Sky’s Zelda, looking very apologetic.
Legend, for some reason. Oh right, he’d been poking around the tower. The veteran had probably seen everything and come running, and was now bouncing lightly on his toes like he always did when he was anxious.
And a man wearing a deep blue embroidered tunic and goggles, giving him a concerned frown.
Wind decided to take a stab in the dark and say that was Hauk, and extracted a hand to raise to his chin and drop down in a likely barely legible ‘thank you’.
The man’s face softened, and he folded his arms across his chest with a small smile. “It was no problem, just doing my job. Just try not to fall off again, yeah? You gave us quite a scare there.”
Wind couldn’t say he was planning on it.
“Thank you again, Hauk,” Sky said (oh good, he got it right), “I appreciate you sticking around – we should be good here now if you wanna get back to your patrol.”
“If you’re sure,” the man said, catching Sky’s shoulder in a hearty pat, “Good seeing you again, Link; hopefully next time the circumstances will be a bit better.” Then, directed at Wind, “Stay safe, kid.”
With that, he gave a quick salute and hefted himself onto a similarly be-goggled loftwing that Wind had somehow not noticed was there, the two soaring off the edge and out of sight before he could do more than stiffen back up briefly.
Legend still noticed his flinch, because of course he did.
“…Are you okay?” the veteran tried tentatively, fingers fiddling with the edge of his red overtunic.
“That was quite a fall, especially if you’re not used to it,” Sky added.
Right. The fall.
Wind gave a non-committal shrug, too wrung out for anything else.
Legend chewed on his cheek, clearly not satisfied with his lacklustre answer. “What happened?” he asked the others, “I turned around in time to see him fall, but not how.”
Zelda winced. “My loftwing got all the way in his personal space with no warning, and he ended up tripping over the edge,” she explained, and Legend hissed through his teeth in sympathy.
“Oh.”
“I am so sorry, by the way,” she continued, kneeling down to be more on Wind’s level on the ground, “Usually he only tries that with me and Link, I wasn’t expecting- Azure, no!”
The only warning Wind got was a flash of blue feathers and the realisation that it had been behind him this whole time, before there was a huge beak in his hair.
(Grabbing him, pinning him, dragging him away from-)
That was all his brain needed to once again decide that nope, it was out, and Wind jolted away, scrambling to his feet in a flurry of movement. This time he kept the edge firmly on the other side of the bird, chest heaving as he tripped over his feet to get away.
Those yellow eyes were back, stripping his soul bare. Like he was nothing more than prey.
(Gold medallions strung across a chest, a porcelain mask perched on a sharp beak, pet-king-hunter-monster-)
The loftwing shook itself, blue feathers ruffling up for a second, then made another warbling churr – this time staying where it was.
Wind felt sick.
A glance to the side showed Sky and Zelda staring at him in worried confusion. And Legend – always infuriatingly quick on the uptake – instead looking between him and the loftwing, realisation slowly dawning on his face.
Somewhere beneath the freshly resurfaced panic, Wind felt the beginnings of a sheer, bone-deep mortification, cheeks burning furiously.
Fuck no.
He frantically made an attempt at an excuse, trying to see if he could salvage the barest shreds of his dignity – but it got tangled up on the way out, tripping over itself until it was nothing more than a weak, garbled noise.
The second attempt didn’t fare much better, throat closing and forcibly cutting him off halfway through.
No, not now-
Sky took a cautious step closer; Wind couldn’t help how he instinctively cringed back at the movement, breath hitching. The other stopped in his tracks, something devastated in his face, but Wind only had eyes for the giant bird incessantly watching him.
Did it ever blink? Could it blink? Did birds have eyelids? Why was it still puffed up, was that a threat?
Oh, drowning gods, was it going to eat him?
He didn’t want to be eaten, then Aryll would never be able to come home-
“Wind? Link, it’s okay, I need you to tell me what’s wrong. Are you hurt?”
Someone was talking to him. Sky. Sky was talking to him, low and calm, couldn’t he see that there was a monster on the hunt? He liked birds, he wouldn’t know to run-
Skyloft. He was on Skyloft, and that was a loftwing, and he needed to calm down- Why did it keep staring-
“Should I go get the healer?” Zelda asked worriedly, carefully getting back to her feet as she glanced between him and Sky.
And next to her, to his horror, Legend was reaching for Sky’s arm, mouth opening – which could only mean that he knew and was going to tell-
Wind made a last ditch attempt at defusing the situation, shaking hands stuttering through a stilted ‘sorry, I’m okay, don’t worry, sorry’ as he took a few unsteady steps back.
“Wait, Wind-”
Then, with that, he bolted, deaf to the concerned protests behind him.
He nearly bowled over someone at the edge of the plaza in his haste to get away, barely stumbling out of the way with another half-formed ‘sorry’ in his hands-
“Woah, you okay, kid?”
“Sailor!”
-Before he was off again, desperately begging his feet to carry him literally anywhere but here.