Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hyrule’s feet were on either side of the cross guard as he plummeted towards the lynel’s spine. Sky was doing an amazing job keeping it distracted, the beast had not hope of surviving this one. Its final cry echoed on the battle field as the poor thing crumbled, disintegrated and leaving Hyrule to tuck into a roll for a safe landing.

Breathing heavy, Hyrule lifted his blade ready to take the next monster down. A cry of pain cut the air behind him. He spun on his heal to see a stalfo’s blade twisting out of Sky’s gut. It’s jaw chattering in victory. Hyrule doesn’t hesitate to swing this blade through the skeleton, releasing the bones to clatter then vaporize on the ground.

Sheathing his weapon, Hyrule is over by Sky’s side as the Skylotian crumples to the ground. The blood pooling out of the wound tells Hyrule that he needs to act quickly or they are going to lose him. Knowing that there were no fairies left and there wasn’t a potion between Sky or Hyrule, Hyrule reached for his magic. He was running on low, so he couldn’t heal it all the way, but he could get Sky out of the danger zone.

Once Hyrule was satisfied with the pool of magic, he let it trickle down into his hands. Through his contact, he can feel Sky’s organs close and a scab forming. With regret, Hyrule pulled away. He had to briefly close his eyes against the dizziness that overwhelmed him. When he opened them, Sky gave him a small tight smile as thanks. Twilight’s hands help hold the bandage as it’s wrapped around, Hyrule wasn’t sure when he got there, but his help was amazing. As the bandage is tied off, another cry of pain cut through the last of the enemies falling.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got Sky.” Twilight reassures.

Hyrule nods and sprints off through the last of the enemies and his brothers. Only practice on staying on his feet through the dizziness allows him to reach his brother in need. He spots Warriors on the ground with Time applying pressure to his thigh. Wind has their brother’s hand in his encourage the Captain to stay awake.

Sliding in next to Time, Hyrule latches on to the last of his magic scraping anything he can. There is barely anything left, but hopefully it’ll be enough. As soon as he has it gathered, he lets it settle into the bones that would have left Warriors with a permanent limp without immediate attention. A burst of healing leaves him. It starts to fuse the bones back together but, his magic sputters. Hyrule pulls back feeling almost defeated. He was so close.

Blinking hard, to settle everything Hyrule looks out over the rest of his brothers. Even though they are hurt, it seems like the rest could hold off for Wild to make some elixirs. Sighing in exhaustion and relief, Hyrule breaths.

“Thanks Traveler.” Warriors locks eyes with Hyrule.

Hyrule nods to answer. He blinks and then there is Legend by his side. Tapping his face until he is looking at him. Hyrule startles slightly and hisses at the sting on his side. He pushes the pain down to look at Legend. Trying to get his eyes to focus past the spinning world.

“We want to get moving,” Legend sates. “Time asked if anyone else was injured.”

Knowing that nodding is going to make the dizziness worse, Hyrule hums an affirmative. “I’m not sure how bad. I’m exhausted and adrenaline is still high. But I took a club to my side, towards my back. I can’t see it.”

“Let’s take a look.”

With sure hands, Legend helps inspect Hyrule’s side. Hyrule tries not to flinch at Legend’s prodding, the overall exhaustion does have some small advantages. Legend sucks air between his teeth, reaching for his bag and bringing some items out. Hyrule does flinch when something wet and cold presses his side, burning slightly. A murmured sorry from behind and then Legend is packing his things back into his bag.

“That club got you good.” Legend admonished. “You’re going to have a nasty bruise. I’ve cleaned it some, but I think anything else can wait until we make camp.”

Hyrule blinked, startled that the sun was starting to set. The fighting must have taken longer than Hyrule had realized. This put the chain up for almost 24 hours straight. Legend picks himself up and offers a hand to Hyrule. With a small smile, Hyrule accepts the help and is pulled to his feet. With the fires of adrenaline leaving the hero, he is starting feel the damage in his side as dull throb. But he is a hero. So, he pushes the pain down once more and follows after everyone else. With an unconscious Sky draped over Twilight’s back and Warriors helping with lookout on Epona, the chain leaves the battleground in search of a place to sleep.

It took a bit of time, but they were able to find a defendable clearing. Hyrule was dead on his feet, trying to walk in a straight line. He only realized they had stopped when he bumped into Legend. Everything was achy and he was feeling the drain of his magical reserves.

Hyrule stood at the edge of the clearing watching everyone move about it, claiming this patch of the woods as their sleeping ground. Wild immediately started the process of getting a fire going. Four and Wind got Sky’s bedroll out and ready for Twilight to lay their sleeping brother. Time helped guide Warrior’s down form Epona so he didn’t jar his leg. Hyrule watch Warriors make his way to Sky to check their brother over.

A weight started to release Hyrule from its grip. Hyrule knew he wasn’t a medic trained like Warriors. Thanks to his fairy blood, he had the magic to heal. But he was more of a conduit for the natural healing magic to do its thing and less of the master mind behind the healing. It had taken a lot of trial and error for Hyrule to heal anything. He had to learn to shape his magic to the type of spell, allowing his fae side to take over, and then he had to direct it to whatever needed to be healed. That doesn’t mean he knows anything outside of that. Without his magic, Hyrule knows very little and isn’t very helpful.

On the other side, Warriors was trained as a field medic. He wasn’t a healer or a doctor, but he knew how to bandage and set wounds. He was able to help with surface stuff and some minor surgery if push comes to shove, but not the deep healing that Hyrule’s magic could. Between the two of them, alongside potions and fairies, the chain did just fine with injuries. It took a bit of trial and error to figure out a system, but it kept everyone alive.

“Come on,” Legend drew Hyrule away from Sky and towards the fire with a gentle hand on his elbow.

Hyrule must have zoned out for a bit because suddenly he is sitting down with a warm cup in his hands. Blinking, he peers into the cup. Smiling softly at what looks to be tea and smells of spices, sugar and a touch of honey. Heart warm by the gesture of comfort, he sips at his drink, coming to realize that Four and Wind were also seated with a cup in hand. Wind’s head jerking awake before he finishes his cup and heads to his bed with Four following suit.

“Hey Rulie,” Warriors settles next to the sleepy fae.

“Hey,” Hyrule returns rubbing his eyes. “How’s the leg?”

“Sore, but not too bad. I’ve got one of Wild’s elixirs finishing the job. We were also able to give one to Sky,” Warriors exhausted smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Legend said you got your side pretty banged up.”

Humming, Hyrule nods, only remembering too late that it was a bad idea. He brings a hand to his head to wait out the world’s involuntary movement. “Yeah, he said he cleaned it up and was going to bruise.”

“Okay, anywhere else hurting?” Warriors’ hand gently squeezes Hyrule’s knee.

Hyrule looks down at the hand on his knee. On instinct he gathers his magic to check for injuries. His visions tunnels down and swims. Right, low magic.

“Whao,” Warrior’s voice floats above him. “I think you’re done. Let’s get you to bed.”

Hyrule thinks he might have mumbled something but was too distracted keeping one foot from tripping the other up. He loses the battle to stay awake as soon as his head is on the pillow. Glad finally rest. The world should be standing still when he wakes.

Chapter Text

Legend’s back ached with a dull throb. His muscles weighed him down a little more between exhales and blinks. The fire was warm against his side, teasing him further into the lull of sleep, a balm to overtaxed muscles. Without his permission, Legend’s eyes slipped shut.

A pop in the firewood jerked Legend awake to the otherwise silent night air.

Clothing shifted at the edge of camp, momentarily pulling Legend’s eyes to Twilight who was on watch. He raised an eyebrow at him, silently asking if his help was needed.

With a scowl, Legend shook his head dismissing the silent, and quite frankly, annoying question. He didn’t need the rancher’s help nor his penchant to mother-cuckooing. He had the situation under control, and he needed Twilight to back off and not interfere.

Twilight must have understood Vet’s look. For he sent Legend a tight, small smile and turned back to watch, posture ridged and ready to pounce.

Huffing, Legend turned around. He was just fine, thank you very much. He wasn’t the one who was sick. All concern needed to be directed towards Hyrule, not Legend. A very sick Hyrule. And Legend was to blame.

With an exhale and a shift, Legend ran his hands down his face. He forced his mind away from blaming himself. That was not productive as it wasn’t going to change the situation. The self-blame was going to come after Hyrule was better anyways, why relive it twice?

Legend sat up straight again and forced himself to wake up a little more. He reached down beside him to change the cloth on ‘Rulie’s forehead. His fingers lingering, checking the brunette’s temperature. No change.

Hyrule looked so terribly small and vulnerable. He had layers of fabric on top of him, to help fight the fever. The cooling wet cloth was a stark contrast to the flushed cheeks. His brows slightly pinched from the pain his side must be causing him. Breath heavy and body still, Hyrule looked miserable.

Legend clenches his fist, the blanket under him stopping his nails from drawing blood. What hurts the must is that they had done everything right. The infection shouldn’t have set in the way it did. Hyrule hadn’t even hidden the injury like everyone else has been known to do.

This was not to say that Hyrule was innocent of “proper injury care” as Warriors often labeled it. No, Hyrule does tend to his injuries. Even if by “tending to them,” he cauterized them or just outright heals them with his own magic. Watching Hyrule’s hand wrapped in flames landing on open wounds stopped everyone in their tracks when they had caught him doing so. Needless to say, the chain much prefers it if Hyrule uses his magic to heal the wounds completely over just stopping the bleeding. Whichever is the case, one or the other is typically done. His wounds are never left bandaged to heal on their own.

But not this time.

This time, Hyrule was out of magic. The chain has had a series of rough weeks. They had just survived their second time in Hyrule’s era, their resources were low when they entered his era. In the end, it was a miracle there was anything left when they were whisked away to a nameless time. Then to pour salt into the wound, the chain had been ambushed after ambush; relentless attacks. Legend was thankful that even though they were out of potions, their forgeable items have been restocked. It allowed Wild to craft some elixirs and that was the only reason they were alive.

Begrudgingly, Hyrule prioritized major injuries over his simple one. Unfortunately, it had drained him of the rest of his magic reserves leaving him none to automatically heal his side. Legend inspected the wound on the battlefield and deemed it nothing. It was a very shallow cut; the bruising was more significant. Warriors had cleaned and warp it when they made camp. Hyrule was too exhausted to help and was asleep before Warriors had finished. That was all that was needed for it.

That was two days ago.

The was no reason for an infection to have set in and not for it to get this bad either. Four had a theory, he suspected it had said something about Hyrule not having an immune system built to fight infection from a combination of fast healing his wounds and malnutrition. Warriors agreed with that possibility.

Legend didn’t really care right now.

What Legend cared about was that Hyrule was laying still and on his back instead of curled on his side. His face flushed and pinched tight with pain. His breath hitching every now and then.

And, there was nothing Legend could do to help.

This knowledge had settled heavy in the bottom of Legend’s stomach. His muscles tensed stiff ready to take any action that would not be coming. It twisted his tolerance to nothing and chased away sleep. It swallowed him in this guilt every time he caught a glimpse of Hyrule’s flushed cheeks.

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Pain. Pain and heat. That is what Hyrule was aware of. Pain, heat, oh, and discomfort. Something was very wrong. But his thoughts slipped through his fingers as he tried to grasp it. It was almost hopeless. A struggle when he was so exhausted that he was dragged and weighed down, pressed in an endless pressure. No matter how much he fought, nothing changed. He was hot and in pain.

But Hyrule was a Link, and he was nothing if not stubborn. Somewhere in the thoughts he could grip, ones that were untouched by the fire that raged through him, he was sure he has had worse. He was sure that this was to a point, normal If he could survive worse, then he can survive this…whatever this was. It had to be temporary. He just had to hold on, even if there was no one there to hang onto. He can outlast this.

Gentle fingers drew across his forehead, drawing a shallow track of cool beneath their tips. It was both an immense relief and overwhelming presences. The fingers lingered there for an eternity and slowly drew away. A cool weight settled in their place. Hyrule’s heart tightened at the unfair exchange. Out of the two, he’d take the fingers.

Link felt his chest tighten, his inner turmoil escaping with a drop down his face. He should have realized he was alone. Always alone. He could count the number of times he was in the presences of others. Really it was only his two Zelda’s, and that wasn’t very many before he found out about his curse. He hadn’t been back since. Oh, they wanted him to stay, to spend time curled up before the fire in that room with blankets wrapped tight around them. A room so saturated with protection magic that the very air smelled of apples, smelled of safety.

The wind whispered in Link’s ears as if it mourned with him. It dragged him back to his lonely present situation. Link wasn’t in the room of old magic, wrapped in safety. He had only the wind to keep him company, but Link knew the wind didn’t want to be with him either, for no matter how much noise it made, it never caressed him. It never brought coolness to his burning body. It was just Link, the heat and the pain.

Link was startled with a gentle hand that cupped his cheek bringing with it the scent of apples. It’s presence settling his inner turmoil and chasing away some of the pressure dragging him down. It curled around him protectively.

“Safe…” he mumbled through the haze. “Apples...”

Word’s danced over Link, extending a hand to the waking world. He almost broke to the surface of the waking world, his curiosity wanted answers. Then the scent of apples lulled him down, leading him to a peaceful slumber. A deep rest, despite the discomfort. Maybe just maybe, somehow, Link wasn’t alone. After all, it was very kind of The Hero of Legend’s ghost to visit a sick and lonely kid. Maybe now he can truly rest.

Chapter Text

Songs and calls from birds in their routine drew Hyrule to the surface. The wind teased the leaves into a song, it tempted him to stir. But the sounds of his brother quietly moving around the camp allowed Hyrule to drift in peaceful manner.

Yellowed, rough pages of drawn familiar faces evaded Hyrule’s mind. Often times they were drawings of depictions of what camp was like on a lazy day. The Captain’s teasing fingers ruffling Wind’s hair after the teen had made a comment. Four with a forgotten book in his lap as he lay curled into Sky’s sleeping side, the sailcloth draped over them. Wild with a ladle in his hand making a gesture with his arms while he told Twilight and Time something he’d done or seen. A picture of Hyrule grown and staring out at the world around him.

Each image brought wonder and awe to Hyrule’s harsh life. Each image showed Legend’s love with each beautiful image captured. Hyrule imagined Legend humming a song with a cup of warm cider and a bottle of ink sitting on the beautiful wooden desk opposite of the fire. In a room deep within the inner castle.

A chuckle and quite protest dragged Hyrule out of the dusty room and into the present. Curiosity of which scene lay before him beat the safety of sleep that the others created. Hyrule fought against sleep’s persuasion to relax and rest. With effort, he blinked heavy eyes open, wincing as light pierced his eyes.

“Rulie?” Legend’s worried voice drew Hyrule’s eyes.

“Lege,” Hyrule swallowed thickly. He stared into Legends eyes and saw huge bruises underneath. “Are you okay? Wait, who’s hurt?”

Adrenaline shot through Hyrule as he tried to pinpoint who needs his help. Here he was sleeping when they needed him! He reaches for his pool of magic, it’s not where Legend likes it to be, but Hyrule has seen it miracles with less. It would be a trivial thing to heal his hurt brothers. Hyrule sat up to inspect them, to find out who needs him.

The world spun. Black creeping in one the edges of the kaleidoscope of color and sensations. He probably would have fallen over if he hadn’t landed against Legend’s chest. It took a few heartbeats for the ringing to recede.

“Whoa, easy Rulie.” Legend’s hands held him firmly yet gentle, his thumbs rubbing gentle circles on his arms, and his voice low.

The scent of apples invaded Hyrule’s nose as Legend’s comforting and heavy magic draped over him, wrapping him up in a blanket. Peace once again settling into his core. The adrenaline drained from his body leaving him to sag into the magic’s new and familiar embrace. He turned into the safety, breathing in peace and breathing out fear while he listened to his brother’s heartbeat.

“Apples,” Hyrule murmured, his muscles releasing the last of their tension.

Hyrule could have been wrong about someone being hurt, Legend would be a lot more tense if someone was. Maybe Legend just hadn’t slept well. That could account for his rough look, it’s an unfortunate reoccurrence. If his brother was just sleep deprived. Maybe he could convince Legend to lay back down with him and then they could both nap. Hyrule was not against using some charm to make Legend realize it was a good idea if his hero decided to be stubborn about it. Truly it would probably benefit them both.

“Apples?” Legend’s voice vibrated through Hyrule’s ear as Legend dragged his fingers through Hyrule’s curls. His hand oddly lingering on Hyrule’s forehead.

Hyrule hummed in appreciation for the comfort and relaxed even further into the embrace. He was sure at this point that Legend was holding all of his weight. He was so tired. He wrapped Legend’s magic more securely around him, surrounding himself in its’ familiar scent. He was practically asleep again.

“Apples,” Hyrule confirmed, drifting. “Safety…”

“The scent of apples means safety?” The tone of Legend’s voice all but screamed curiosity.

“There are tales about how the hero before me was an apple farmer. And that he grew the best apples in all the lands. It became a symbol of Ganon’s failure time and time again, a symbol of hope. Or so the Legend’s say. I think that’s why your magic is saturated with the scent of apples; from the orchard you keep next to your house. It’s seeped into the walls of your room in the castle where all your travel journals and some of your old weapons are kept.” Hyrule mumbled out past a yawn and blinking his eyes open to look up at Legend. “It became a sort of hide-away for my Zelda’s and myself, hidden and tucked away from everyone and everything…”

Their eyes locked. Legend’s stary night gaze helplessly insnared Hyrule. As though it’s depths could ask the questions the soul underneath yearns answers for. The longer Hyrule is under their gaze of majesty and magic, the more he gets lost in their depths. The feeling like he was getting swallowed, crawled over him.

“Hey!” Wind’s voice startles Hyrule to look towards their youngest. “Look who’s awake!”

“I donno,” Twilight drawled with a touch of mischief dancing in his eyes. “He still looks a little dazed, maybe he’s still sleepin’.”

Hyrule blinked as he crashed back to reality. When he remembered his earlier panic over the possibility of someone being hurt. He sat up and took a moment to look at Twilight and Wind to make sure they aren’t the ones in need of his help. When he was satisfied, he looked over the rest of his brothers.

Hyrule’s gaze was drawn to the Captain’s chuckling. Hyrule blinked as Warriors stood up from where he was sitting next to Wind. His eyes tracked the Captain’s movement across camp, trying to access his health. With no limp or winces, Hyrule thinks the injury Warriors took in the last battle must have healed nicely.

“Hey Rule,” Warriors’ settled next to the pair, placing a hand on Hyrule’s forehead. Hyrule hummed in delight at the Captain’s warm magic but gentle touch. “How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy,” Hyrule answered, leaning into Warrior’s hand.

“I can imagine so. Mind if I take a look at your side?”

“My side?” Hyrule can feel his eyebrows draw together in thought. “I guess so.”

“Thank you,” Warriors responds with a smile.

Gently, Warrior’s lifted the edge of Hyrule’s apparently borrowed top, maybe one of Wilds. Slowly Warriors gently poked around at the bandages that lay underneath. Being curious as to what the field medic was looking for, Hyrule sent a small tendril of magic to the area, examining it in a way that Warriors’ eyes can’t see. He felt the way his face warmed slightly at the realization of who was hurt.

“Hyrule,” Legend pulled Hyrule’s attention towards him. “Does it hurt still?”

“Oh, um no—well kind of, but nothing that I can’t handle,” Hyrule mumbled and looked away.

Legend didn’t say anything, but he squeezed Hyrule’s arms in a gentle question. He gave Hyrule the chance to not answer, if he didn’t want to. Hyrule sighed.

“I’m…well, I’ll live. I’ve had much worse and I was on my own when I had make it work. And yeah, I do hurt a little and feel like I can sleep for a few more hours. But it’s not truly terrible. It’s just…well…it may have come to my attention that maybe I’m the one who’s still injured.” Hyrule mumbled to the ground while Warriors pulled away. “And well, if I feel like this, I probably got sick from it. Which as explains where the bags under your eyes came from…”

It was the silence that drew Hyrule’s attention to the camp. All activity around the camp had stopped at his statement. His traitor ears warmed alongside his face as he felt his brother’s eyes shift to him.

“Heh heh…” Hyrule awkwardly laughed. “I know how much of an inconvenience this is. I can heal this now that I’ve rested and then we could start moving again. I won’t have to slow us down anymore.”

Without waiting, Hyrule released the magic from his core. He drew the power to his hand as he brought it up to place on the wound. The scent of warm crisp apple was Hyrule’s only warning as Legend grabbed his hand quickly and gently before it could make contact. Slowly, Legend slid his hand into Hyrule’s.

“That,” Legend paused to take a deep breath. “That is a lot to unpack. First off. If anyone is slowing us down, it’s Four with his short legs—” Wind cackled at the look on Four’s face— “Second: everyone was hurt in some way from that last battle. Sky was the worst. Followed by Warriors. Both are indebted to you because of your aid.”

Hyrule looked to both Sky and Warriors for confirmation to Legend’s statement. Both nodded.

“Third: your wound wasn’t that bad,” Legend looked to Warriors with a brow raised and once again Warriors nodded his head at the silent question. “Your wound is almost healed. Don’t waste your magic to rush to break camp when we are going to be here until the day after tomorrow at minimum. You weren’t just injured and a little sick Hyrule. You were really sick.”

Legend’s grip on Hyrule’s hand tightened. Lines formed on Legend’s face as his eyebrows drew closer together. His magic took on static edge of fear and his muscle tensed slightly.

“Your wound got infected, and you’ve had a high fever for three days. You will be taking it slow. Rebuild your strength and your reserves. Then and only then, will we continue on. You are not an inconvenience.” Legend stated with such confidence.

Hyrule couldn’t find an argument against it. Even if he could think straight, he wasn’t sure that he would have wanted to. Hot tears came to his eyes as Legends magic wrapped around him once more, whispering ‘safe’. The scent of apples encircled him an his Found Family around him. He was safe. He was loved. And he was exhausted.

Emotions swirled inside of Hyrule, trapped and unidentifiable. He crumbled, folding in on himself, unnamed feelings tumbled down his face. Warm, callused hands wrapped around him slowly, they gave him a chance and ability to pull away if he wanted to. When Hyrule did neither, he was drawn back against Legend. A hand worked tangles out of his curls.

Hyrule wasn’t sure how long he had cried for or what happened in between. What he did was that he was leaning against Legend, swaddled in the sailcloth, the fur lay on his lap, an almost empty warm cup in his hands and eyes that were very heavy and swollen from emotion.

The afternoon sun peeked through the leaves and warmed the clearing. A breeze trailed through camp, it teased hair and rustled leaves. Hyrule was content. The chatter of his family in the background with the familiar scent of apples and comfortable weight of Legend’s magic surrounded him as he drifted off in a comfortable and healing sleep.