Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Trust was important to Warriors. That much was clear. 

Although Warriors liked to believe that he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve as much as some of the others in the group, anyone who looked closely enough could see it. It was present in the way that he talked to the others, in the way he rested one hand on their shoulder when he was offering comfort and in the way that he smiled while he was teaching them something new. 

Well, he thought it was obvious. Unfortunately, Links just so happened to be the most unobservant type of Hylian out there. 

It was hard not to be bitter about it. He felt like every day there was some new revelation, some secret that he wasn’t privy to, and while he knew no one was entitled to anyone’s secrets, he couldn’t help but feel agitated. Farore knows he’s done things he’s not proud of, but in this group of nine heroes? Only Hylia knows what abilities, magic or items were being kept within bags or within slates.

Warriors blinked, finally focusing on the forest in front of him. That wasn’t good, he thought to himself, gripping the hilt of his sword a little tighter. He couldn’t afford to be distracted. Not after recent attacks gave him reason to believe that these forests were likely crawling with monsters.

A shuffle beside him made him look down, and he felt his gaze soften as Wind murmured something in his sleep, curled up in his bedroll at his side. His bedroll was pulled up higher around his small body than it usually was, and Warriors frowned, looking back at the fire behind them.

He didn’t remember when he had started sleeping so far away from it, and he didn’t know why Wind had followed him - especially considering how vocal Wind was about hating the cold. 

Warriors exhaled, looking between Wind and the warm glow of the fire, where the other heroes had congregated. He thought about carrying Wind over to be closer to it. After all, if Wind got sick, that wouldn’t do anyone any good. He made no move to do so, regardless. Maybe he didn’t want to wake Wind. Their sailor could be a downright fury if he didn’t get enough sleep, and Warriors didn’t think Wind would appreciate being carried around like a child. 

With a quiet grunt, he stretched out his legs, ignoring the burning ache from sitting cross legged for so long. Luckily, Wind didn’t wake, only making another little noise before curling up impossibly tighter. With a gentle smile, Warriors reached out a hand, carding it through his youngest brother’s hair. 

He had forgotten how much he had missed this. He felt like he hadn’t been present for a while - not physically, of course, but it was as though his mind had been elsewhere. It was like he was a million miles away from the rest of them, and he felt terrible for it.

His mouth went dry as he tried to ignore the fact that maybe, just maybe, the sailor had missed this too.

His hand stilled in the tangle of blonde hair, and then he pulled it away. 

When the group was in Wild’s era, they had been separated by the Yiga, a clan which Wild still refused to tell anyone about - at least, nothing that had mattered. When that happened, Wind hadn’t been in the cave with him and Wild as they sought refuge, the champion’s slate having fallen into the hands of their enemies. Wind hadn’t been there to understand why everything between the champion and the captain had been so insufferably tense ever since.

“If it was something you needed to know, maybe I would tell you.”

“Champion. Can you live with them dying and it being your fault?”

“…What?”

Wild had sounded so vulnerable. His voice had broken on that last word, and his eyes had slowly glazed over, dropping him into a memory he had not welcomed. 

Warriors had apologised, of course he had, once he realised what had happened. Still, he was unsure if Wild had even heard him when he tried. Whatever sliver of trust that existed between them felt like a distant memory, the tension between them suffocating and obvious. He hadn’t missed the looks from the others - sad, confused eyes that wondered what had changed between their champion and their captain in the short time they had been separated. 

Warriors knew it was stupid. A stupid thing to say to something like not being told what the slate’s capabilities were. Regardless, his actions could not be changed, and if something like that were to happen again, if Wild’s slate was to fall into the wrong hands once again - hell, if anyone’s items were to fall into the wrong hands, none of them would know what to expect.

With a sigh, Warriors scanned the trees again. Nothing. Good.

Warriors looked down at Wind’s sleeping figure. He should have been near the others by the fire, warm and embraced. He shouldn’t have been out here at the outskirts of their campsite in the cold, and yet Warriors still could not find it in him to move the sailor.

“Alright, pretty boy, you’ve had your time to mope. What’s going on?”

Warriors suddenly felt his shoulders tense as Legend slowed down, falling back to end up at his side. Their veteran tilted his head, eyes burning a hole into the side of Warriors’ head as he pointedly kept looking forwards.

“Veteran,” He greeted as casually as he could manage.

“Captain,” Legend replied in an almost-mocking tone. He wondered if Legend had been talking to Wind more often than he had seen as he ignored the mild frustration brewing inside him at that. “What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Is this an actual nothing or a Link nothing?” 

“Vet.”

“I’m not going away until you tell me what’s wrong.”

Warriors flexed his hands, but didn’t reply. Legend continued to just look at him, his eyes narrowed. He was hoping that the pink-haired hero would just drop it and walk away, but - well, as Legend himself would put it; Links were simply stubborn mother fuckers. 

“You’re self isolating again,” Legend said simply. “What the fuck happened?”

“Nothing happened, vet.”

“Last time you said this, shit did indeed happen. Fucking stop it.”

Warriors smiled, turning to Legend. “What are you trying to accomplish here?”

“Well, gee, captain,” Legend said dryly, rolling his eyes. “It’s almost like we notice when you start avoiding us. Imagine that.”

“I’m not avoiding anyone,” Warriors replied, ignoring how tense he felt. Legend tilted his head, looking at Warriors like he was insulted.

“You must think I’m fucking stupid if you’re gonna try that on me and think that’s gonna work.”

“What are you two talking about?” Hyrule fell back as well, successfully sandwiching Warriors between the two of them. Warriors tried to ignore the urge to swear at both of them.

“Pretty boy over here is self isolating again and insisting he’s fine as if it isn’t the single most obvious lie I’ve ever seen in my life,” Legend explained, making a vague gesture towards Warriors. 

Hyrule hummed, thinking for a moment. “Well, if this is… Is this, like, a ‘not feeling like a hero’ type of thing? Because I don’t think that’s true, if- If that’s what you’re worried about, anyway.”

“It’s nothing that you need to be concerned about.”

“We’ve had this conversation so many times,” Legend snapped from his side. “Why doesn’t it ever seem to get through to you?”

Warriors exhaled. “I admit, I have been fairly distant lately. Regardless, I assure you that I can handle my own emotions.”

With a scowl, Legend crossed his arms. “So when any of us are feeling shit, we have to talk about it? But when you’re having issues, suddenly that doesn’t apply to you?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Maybe not, but it sure fucking seems like that’s what you mean!” Legend stopped suddenly. “Whenever any of us feel like shit, you get to insist on us talking about our issues or whatever, but you get a free fucking pass? Do you see how hypocritical you seem?”

“Vet, let it go.”

“What’s going on?” A smaller voice called from the front, and Warriors took a breath as he realised the rest of the group had stopped. Apparently, their disagreement had become too loud, and now Wind was looking at him with his head tilted. In fact, all of them were watching with eyes full of confusion and concern, staring like they were ready to jump in at the sign of a brawl. Warriors didn’t appreciate that.

“Nothing that you need to worry about, sailor.”

“Captain’s being a control freak, again.”

“Vet!” Hyrule shushed from his side, but Warriors turned his head.

“I am not exercising control over you, veteran.”

Legend huffed, a bitter snarl on his face. “Yes, the fuck you are. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Well, news flash, captain, but we’re not your fucking subordinates.”

Warriors smiled tightly. “This isn’t about needing control. This is about being aware of the group’s resources.”

“Oh, is it? Is that why you’re so insistent on knowing every fucking thing about the champion’s slate, regardless of how well it serves us?”

“Hey, now,” Twilight spoke up, placing himself between Warriors and Legend as though he expected this to escalate further. “I think both of you need to take a breath.”

“Need I remind you that we’re in an unfamiliar era?” Warriors tilted his head. “The reason I am so insistent, as you put it, about knowing these things is so that we are aware of our capabilities in any situation.”

”Oh, yeah?” Legend scoffed. “Bullshit.”

“The only bullshit I see is that facade you like to wear.”

“What facade?”

“The one where you pretend that you don’t care. Does it hurt to belong to a group that much?”

“Okay, this- This conversation isn’t going anywhere productive,” Wild cut in. “How about we shelve this for now, and go back to this at a later time? Preferably when we’re, like, at camp?”

“Tell me; how is using anger as a coping mechanism working out for you, vet?”

“That’s enough,” Time cut in just as Legend opened his mouth to retort. “Both of you need to take a breath.”

“It’s not my fault he decided to turn this into an argument!”

“You’re acting like a child.”

“Oh, a child? I’m trying to fucking help you, captain, what the fuck!”

“As I’ve previously said, I do not require your assistance.”

“You’re doing that thing. Y’know, the one where you go all formal,” Hyrule stated, his expression laced with concern. “Captain, we know you.”

Warriors narrowed his eyes at Hyrule. “We’re losing daylight standing here and arguing. The Shadow is out there still and I’d very much prefer to get to a town sooner rather than later so we can restock our supplies for the journey ahead, so if you want my opinion on the matter, we should continue.”

“Is the adventure the only thing you give a shit about?” Legend snapped, crossing his arms.

“We were brought together for a reason-”

“So, what, just fuck everything else? Fuck your own emotions? Fuck the relationships we’ve built with each other so far?”  

“I’m trying to focus on what’s important.”

“Oh, so now we’re not important to you, captain?”

Yes, Warriors wanted to say. Indescribably so.

“That isn’t what I said,” is what came out instead. “That’s the assumption you’ve made for yourself. Now, are we finished with this? Or are you going to stand around trying to start an argument for the rest of the day?”

“Son of a bi-!”

Suddenly, the air around them crackled with an eerily familiar energy, and in the blink of an eye, Warriors turned around and was face to face with yet another portal. In an instant, everyone was on guard, hands on swords, shields and magic items alike as they scanned their surroundings, yet there was no sign of any enemy at all, let alone the only creature that they knew of that could create these gates. It took a few more minutes for the rising paranoia to subside.

“They’ve never just appeared like that before, right?” Four asked after he sheathed his sword, tilting his head up to Time as the group stared.

“No,” Time answered quietly. “No, they have not.”

Warriors hummed, feeling that all-too familiar tug at his spirit. He remembered being alarmed the first time he had felt this - like someone was reaching into his chest, grasping at his soul and trying to pull him through the dark gate. Now, after so many jumps through different timelines and eras and dimensions, it felt almost natural.

“We are not going through that,” Legend deadpanned.

“Why not?” Wind asked as Hyrule stopped him from walking right through the portal with a hand on his shoulder.

“That magic energy is all over the place. Besides, it feels… different.”

“Different how?” Warriors asked.

“Different,” Legend cut in, “as in it doesn’t want us going through it.”

Warriors narrowed his eyes in response. “How so?”

“Yeah, it… It feels like it wants to push me away,” Wild squinted at the portal. “The others all had that weird pull, right? So why does this one feel like it’s gonna push me away? Like a magnet when it touches the wrong side of another magnet, you know?”

“I mean, we can’t just… not go through, right?” 

“We could always try that,” Legend replied, not even looking at Sky as he did so. 

“If it’s where our next objective is,” Warriors said, “then we should go through it.”

“Hey, how about you listen to the ones with actual magic experience here?” Legend snapped, and Warriors tensed.

“It feels fine to me.”

“Then that’s even more reason to not go through it!” Legend sounded exasperated. “If it feels weird to all of us except one, then why would we go through it?”

Warriors bit his tongue before he said something he knew he would regret, and turned back to the gateway. It swirled ominously with a gentle ringing in his ears acting almost like a call. If the others truly couldn’t feel this pull, then there had to be a reason for it, and he could only think of one.

“What if this portal is only for me?”

The group went silent for a moment.

“Why would we all be brought together just to get ripped away again? Why would this just start to happen now?” Wind asked, looking at Warriors with an expression the captain could read all too well.

What if you don’t come back?

With a smile, Warriors turned to the others.

“Anything is possible at this point in our journey. Regardless of if my assessment is correct or not, there must be a reason that I am the only one feeling this strange pull at my spirit. Whether you choose to follow me or not is a decision that I will leave up to you, but I’ve made my choice.”

Time made a noise. “Let's not be so hasty.”

“Have a bit of faith in me, old man. Regardless of what you decide to do, I know my next step. I hope to see you on the other side.”

With that, the captain turned around, stepping through the portal and leaving the others to watch the blue and orange of his scarf dissolve into the inky nothingness of the vortex. For a moment, no one said anything. Legend was the first to break the silence.

“Fucking dumbass,” he hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Just had to go and do that, huh? He gets on the champion’s ass about not listening, like he’s any fucking better! Farore’s balls!”

“So, we’re going through as well, right?” Hyrule asked, putting a gentle hand on Legend’s shoulder. “We’re not just letting him-”

Within an instant, the edges of the portal wobbled dangerously, and the more magically attuned of the group could feel it in their being as whatever magic holding it together seemed to dissipate.

“Shit- Sailor!” Twilight called, reaching out for the back of Wind’s tunic as the youngest darted out from his side, his fingertips just brushing against the blue fabric, and the rancher went to take another step forwards just as a wave of wrong, wrong, bad, get away pierced his soul and cut through him like a knife. His body froze in response and he stumbled to his knees, only able to look up just in time to see Wind disappear into the portal without a second look back and the vortex to stitch itself back together and disappear like nothing had happened.

“Goddess- damn it!” Twilight spat, slamming his fist into the ground with a frustrated growl. “Both of ‘em?!”

Time furrowed his brow. “That’s… not good.”

“Yeah, no fucking shit!” Legend snapped as Wild went to help Twilight up again. “Now what are we meant to do?”

No sooner had Legend said the words, there was another tug at all of their magic, and there behind Time was another portal - insultingly identical, but clearly different.

“This changes things,” Time muttered to himself more than anyone else. 

Sky nodded. “If this is our only chance of finding them…”

“Maybe it will bring us to the same place it brought the sailor and the captain!” Hyrule cut in optimistically. 

Legend scoffed. “We all know that would make things too easy for us. No way that’d happen.”

Sky turned to fix Legend with a look. “Well, it seems like this is our only option. Unless you have a better idea?”

Legend said nothing. 

“Remember, we stick together. No one goes off alone,” Time reminded them all. With little more to be said between the group, they paired up and filed through the portal into an unfamiliar era, with only the hope of finding their lost brothers to guide them.

(Somewhere, from deep within the treeline, a dark figure watched in glee.)

Chapter Text

In the blink of an eye, he was in a forest. It was peaceful. Almost too peaceful. The leaves rustled in the gentle morning breeze and the chattering of birds filtered through the trees as Sky looked around. There was no sign of his brothers, and he couldn’t help the sick feeling that dawned on him at the realisation.

“Old man? Rancher?” He called, turning in a circle as he tried to see deeper into the trees. “Smithy? Veteran? Traveller? …Anyone?”

Only then did he realise that he was standing on a path, the dirt packed down and worn with what must have been many centuries of travellers treading upon its surface. Naturally, he followed it, and while he passed many plants, flowers and forestry that he didn’t know the names of, there was nothing particularly exciting along this road.

“Champion? Is anyone there?” Sky tried calling again, and just when he thought he was alone, he saw two figures ahead. They were speaking, though he couldn’t quite make out what the words are, but they were unmistakably Wind and Warriors.

“Sailor! Captain!” Sky shouted, and he tried to run over to them, but his legs felt heavy - almost like he was wading through slime. “You’re okay!”

Warriors said something else to Wind, but Sky never got to hear it as the ground opened up below him, and he was falling when-

Sky opened his eyes with a groan.

“Knight! Hey, are you finally with us?”

He squinted, raising one hand to block out the blinding sun. “Wha…?” He muttered, turning his head to his left to see Wild laying on his back to his left, his arms crossed behind his head.

“You’re finally awake, huh?”

“...Why am I on the floor?”

Wild shrugged as best as he could in his current pose. “You passed out when we stepped through the portal.”

Sky narrowed his eyes. “Sure. Here’s a better question; Why are you on the floor?”

“He wanted to make it look natural,” Hyrule’s voice startled Sky, and he turned to his right to see Hyrule sitting next to him. “We were starting to worry. You’ve never passed out like that before, and- well, we don’t exactly have many supplies if it was worse than it actually was.”

Sky leaned his head back against the ground, staring at the blinding blue sky through his fingers. “Who’s era are we in?”

Wild snorted. “Look around. You get three guesses and the first two don’t count.”

Sky obliged, finally pushing himself up and looking around.

Ocean. A lot of ocean, and when he looked closer, he could see little specks of islands on the horizon.

“Ah.”

“Yep,” Wild sat up next to him, stretching his arms above his head before standing up and reaching a hand down to Sky. Sky took it gratefully. “Figures we’d end up in the era of one of the two people who aren’t here to guide us through it, huh?”

With a bitter hum, Sky looked over. He could see Time, Twilight, Legend and Four talking at the water’s edge, although the veteran looked a little shaky in comparison. “What are they doing?”

“I have no idea,” Hyrule said. “Probably trying to figure out what we do from here. Are you sure you feel okay?”

“I’m fine,” Sky answered honestly, even if he did feel a little warm in his sailcloth. Regardless of that fact, he felt normal, so his fainting episode was very unusual. It wasn’t caused by sickness, and he didn’t get migraines or headaches from passing through the portals like their smithy sometimes did. 

Furthermore, Warriors and Wind were nowhere to be seen. 

Before Sky could think about that anymore, Four was looking in his direction. “Hey, are you okay? I’ve never seen you pass out like that before.”

“I’m fine,” Sky answered again, moving towards the edge of the island - it was relatively small, and from what Sky could see, it was shaped like a very misshapen star. “Do we have a plan?”

“No idea,” Legend crossed his arms. His ears twitched at every crash of the waves lapping against the shore of the island. “None of my items can help us here - at least, they won’t help all of us get out of here.” 

Twilight hummed and turned to the champion, sending a look down at his slate. “Don’t suppose you got a boat in there?” he asked with an air of lightheartedness.

Wild had to think for an alarming amount of time before shaking his head. “Not that I know of. I have cryonis, but there’s seven of us and I don’t think hopping across an entire ocean would be a good idea. Anyone else?”

“Oh, I have a raft!” Hyrule exclaimed, raising his hand.

“Can it carry seven of us?” Time asked. 

Hyrule lowered his hand.

“Any other bright ideas?” Legend turned to the others. No one said anything, and he laughed bitterly. “Great. So, we’re just stuck here, then.”

“If what the sailor said about this place is true, then ships should pass through frequently,” Sky mused. “We could always wait until one comes past?”

“And just wait for total strangers to help us?” 

“Would you rather try and swim to the nearest island?” Four gestured in a direction, and Legend looked over. Sky narrowed his eyes as he also assessed how far away the nearest island was - while most of them had items that could definitely help with swimming, the distance was far too big, and Sky remembered Wind talking about the many enemies that littered the waters, ready to grab unsuspecting divers and drag them into the deep ocean below. 

Safe to say, Sky did not want to take that risk, and he doubted that Legend did either.

With a grumble, Legend turned away from the shore and skulked over to the centre of the island where Hyrule and Wild still sat. Sky turned his gaze to the infinite blue, stretching out for miles in front of him.

“D’you think the sailor and the captain are out there somewhere?” Twilight asked as he shed his pelt, the heat of the sun battering down on them seemingly too much for him. Sky shared the sentiment - he was getting a little too hot under his sailcloth to be comfortable as well.

“It wouldn’t make sense for the portal to randomly separate us through different eras after so long of not doing so,” Four supplied with a shrug. “Maybe they’re just on a different island.”

“There’s never been two portals at once before, either,” Sky reminded Four. The smithy made a noise of consideration, his eyes lavender in the sunlight.

“I hope they’re okay,” Four mused to himself more than anything, and Sky nodded.

“I trust the captain’s judgement well enough,” Time spoke from the front of the group, turning to face them. “I’m certain they’ll be able to survive whatever situation they find themselves in.”

It was then that the group settled into an uncomfortable silence, and Sky looked out over the seemingly endless ocean once again. He remembered a few instances where he had asked Wind about his era - his home, his family and the people he’d met along the way - and every time, Wind’s eyes would light up as he retold whatever tale was relevant enough at the time. Sometimes it was about a daring escapade from a sea monster, and others it was a more sweet story regarding his grandma or his sister.

Now, as the group waited in near-silence with only the sound of Wild scrolling through his slate to fill the air, Sky couldn’t help but feel as though there was a void of sorts. An empty space that was usually filled with the youngest hero rambling about whatever subject was on his mind. Sometimes Warriors would join in on the bit, but more often than not he would merely place a hand on Wind’s head. This would then result in the sailor getting even louder, and-

Well. All of this to say, it felt a little too quiet without their captain and sailor.

A gong cut through the silence, and his head snapped to the source. It took Sky a moment to scan the horizon, but then he saw it. A boat - certainly not the largest he’d ever seen, but by no means small - with a figurehead reminiscent of a dragon and engraved with gold and green markings. Its sails showed two blades crossed in the centre, and more importantly, it was heading directly towards the island they were marooned on at an alarming rate.

Just before Sky could say anything more on the matter, Time cleared his throat. 

“On your feet, boys,” he called over the crashing waves as the others caught sight of the approaching vessel, his face eerily calm. “I believe that we have company.”

Chapter Text

For a moment, Warriors was almost convinced he hadn’t stepped through the portal. The trees and forestry looked nearly identical to the one they were in previously, the canopy above them stretching so high it nearly blocked out the sky and sun.

The only real difference Warriors could see was that the trees were different. He didn’t quite know what kind of tree they were, but they certainly weren’t like the ones they had seen previously.

He turned around to face the portal, but it wavered uncertainly. Just when he thought none of his brothers were going to come with him, there was a blur of blue and out tumbled Wind, tripping almost immediately and falling flat on his face with a pained little noise. 

“I’m good, I’m okay,” Wind grumbled, pushing himself to his feet and wiping down the dirt from his tunic.

“Where are the others?” Warriors asked immediately. “Are they coming through?”

His question was answered when the portal wavered, and then closed with a sharp snap of magic ringing through the air. Then, nothing.

Shit.

“Well, that’s not good,” Wind put his hands on his hips, looking up at Warriors. “It doesn’t just… do that, does it? Like, disappearing?”

“No,” Warriors replied, trying to slow his racing brain. “No, it usually does not.” One hand went to his bag, pulling it off his shoulder as he lowered himself onto the packed dirt of the ground beneath him. “Pass me your bag,” Warriors said, reaching a hand out to Wind.

“What? Why?” Wind asked, hand going to his own pack almost protectively.

Warriors barely repressed a sigh. “I’m going to take inventory of everything that we have currently.” 

Wind blinked at him in response for a moment, but then he relented, shrugging off his pack and handing it over to Warriors. Warriors nodded, the familiar pattern of counting rations and mentally noting down weapons almost enough to calm his nerves.

Almost. Wind was standing right next to him, and was breathing directly into his ear.

“...How long is this going to take?” Wind asked, toeing at the ground with his boot. 

Warriors grit his teeth, choosing his next words very carefully. “Not much longer,” he said after a moment of silence. “Here’s an idea; How about you climb a tree and scout out the area? We’ll need a good lay of the land.”

With a quick hum of confirmation, Warriors could hear Wind’s scampering footsteps receding, and then a few quiet grunts of effort. With a quiet exhale, Warriors let himself return to his count.

A little less than a full red potion - that wouldn’t be enough to cover them for long, so they’d have to use them sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. Even better if they could avoid being injured at all, but, well, he and Wind were both Links. Sometimes it felt like it was in their nature.

A few weeks worth of rations, too. Not as many as Warriors would have liked to have on him at any given time, but all of the perishable food was kept safely in Wild’s slate while whatever food they found in towns or camps that could last longer without its strange stasis-like effect was split among the group, and they hadn’t been able to restock in a while. What Warriors was much more concerned about was water - they didn’t have much between them, so that was priority number one. Other medical supplies were in a similar state - enough, hypothetically, but with all of the unknown factors, not as many as Warriors would have liked there to be. 

Weapons were simple - swords, bows, boomerangs, and a few daggers between them. Weapon upkeep wouldn’t be too big of a problem considering Four was always on top of them, but depending on how many monsters they ran into and how long they were out here… Regardless, it likely wouldn’t have been a huge issue, but it was something Warriors would keep an eye on.

“There are a shit ton of trees!” Wind exclaimed, thudding onto the ground again and walking back over to Warriors. “Like, a metric fuck ton! Is that what metric means? Did I use that right?”

Warriors continued packing away his rations. “Care to be a little more specific, sailor?”

“Oh, right. Uhm, it’s a lot of trees, as far as I could tell. Like, it was just forest as far as I could see.” Wind made a vague gesture in a direction. “I mean, not all of it was trees, but the rest was, like… mountains and stuff. Which we probably shouldn’t go on if we can help it.”

“Did you see any towns or rivers?” Warriors said as he put the last of their supplies back in their respective bags. “Any other landmarks?”

“Uhm…” Wind looked up at the thick canopy overhead. “No? I couldn’t really see past all the leaves, so… no landmarks.”

Warriors stood, handing Wind his bag back and putting his own back over his shoulder. “Right. Seems as though we’re going to be hiking for a while.” He tilted his head, trying to hear anything - people, running water or something else.

Nothing.

“Aw, man, you put all my shit back in here wrong,” Wind grumbled as he dug one hand around his bag. Warriors pushed down the pang of minor annoyance. Surely it was just the previous argument’s lingering feelings that was making him feel so frustrated at the current time. Surely he could push past that.

“I’d rather not just choose a random direction, but it seems like we don’t have much choice,” Warriors mused - not to himself, per say, but with how absent-minded Wind had been behaving recently, he was certain he may as well have been speaking to thin air. “We have two main priorities - finding a town and finding drinking water. If we find a river, we can follow it from there. Sailor,” he pointedly looked at Wind, who startled just a little bit.

“Yeah?”

 “I’m going to need your help. You’re more adept at climbing trees than I am, so I’m going to need you to help me scout, as well as your help keeping an ear out for running water. Can you do that?”

“Yes, sir!” Wind called playfully, raising a hand in a cheeky salute. Warriors shook his head, but said nothing as they began their, no doubt, long walk in silence.

Well. Silence was always… relative when Wind was around.

“So, why do you think the portals are being weird?” Wind asked brightly from Warriors’ side. “They don’t just close on us like that, right? I mean, they haven’t for me, I don’t think… And they definitely don’t feel like that for you either, right? Well, you already said this portal felt different, but I mean any other time? Did any of the other portals feel different too?”

“They didn’t,” Warriors replied, only half listening to Wind’s continued ramblings as he scoured the surroundings. All of it really was just forestry, and he didn’t recognise any of the plants. He’d been trying to pick up ways to identify all of the different plants across eras from others such as Hyrule and Wild, but he hadn’t been very accurate so far. Maybe if he’d have listened a little bit more, he would have even a clue what era they were in.

Better yet, if the others were here, one of them would almost certainly be able to at least give him an estimate of when. 

But naturally, there was no Hyrule or Wild, or anyone else, because they hadn’t followed him. Instead, it was just him and Wind, both of which one could argue were the weakest when it came to naturally surviving in the forest. There were other factors to consider too, such as fighting style - both he and Wind were much more open with their swings, combat in the midst of all these trees was bound to cause some problems - and general agility - he and Wind were fast, but if it came down to a chase, Warriors didn’t like their chances of being able to avoid all of the shrubbery and low hanging branches while keeping a steady pace.

The more he thought about it, the more Warriors realised just how alone and out of their depths he and Wind were.

“And you,” Wind’s voice cut into his thoughts as he gently poked Warriors’ side, “are being weirdly quiet, what’s up with that?” Wind’s brown eyes looked so sincere as he looked up at the captain, and Warriors steeled himself.

Wind needed his strength right now. He couldn’t afford to show instability, because he knew if he faltered, Wind would too. That was something Warriors knew would cost them in the long run.

“I’m trying to keep an ear out for anything,” Warriors responded evenly. “It might do us good to be a bit… quieter, lest anything unwanted hear us.”

Wind made a complicated expression before turning his gaze to the woods. “We’re going to be walking for a while,” he said. “Do we have to walk in silence? That’s going to be so boring.”

Warriors held in another sigh. “That’s not what I said. Besides, if our two options are boring and a monster horde attacking us, I personally think I’d much prefer the boring option.”

There was a groan from his side that he didn’t bother to look down at, continuing forward knowing that Wind would no doubt follow him. “Man, you’re so boring. I wish the traveller or champion were here, they’re so much better at conversation…”

Then why in Hylia’s green earth did you decide to come with me, Warriors’ mind screamed, when you so clearly don’t want to be here? He truly didn’t understand. None of the others had chosen to come through with him, and he still couldn’t fathom why Wind had chosen to since he so clearly would rather have been with the others instead.

“Okay, Wind,” he said instead, keeping his gaze forwards. He thought he had managed to sound impartial, but it became obvious that he had let something slip through the mask when Wind made a little noise next to him and fell quiet. A small part of him found that he missed the sailor’s rambles, but the logical part of him was grateful for the silence. This way, it was easier to identify potential threats.

He wasn’t quite sure how long they had been walking when they stopped for a break. “Save some water,” Warriors reminded Wind when he pulled out his waterskin, “we don’t know when we’ll get the chance to restock.”

Wind sent Warriors a thumbs up as he took a quick sip, tucking it back into his bag once he was done. “Want me to climb up again?”

“That would be a great help, yes.”

With another quick salute, Wind dashed over to the trunk of the nearest tree, scrambling up once again. Warriors watched as he disappeared into the higher branches and sighed. This would certainly be a lot less stressful if the others were here. Wild with his seemingly endless items, Hyrule with his survival knowledge, Twilight with that wolf that seemed to follow him wherever he went. If anyone else was here, they’d be able to do something, he was certain. How unfortunate that it was just him and Wind.

He remembered how confident he had been prior about his decisions - no, how arrogant he had been about being able to do this by himself. Foolish pride had always been among his worst qualities, and here he was facing the consequences, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he was bringing Wind down with him. Now they were alone with very few supplies and no idea where to go.

A heavy pang of missing rose in his chest, and he quickly stomped it out. There was no time to be sentimental. They had an objective to achieve, and he refused to be blinded to it anymore than he already had been.

He was about to call up to ask if there had been any sighting of any landmarks, but then he heard the loud snap of a branch and a startled yelp, and Wind hit the ground right in front of him with a strangled, cut off cry. 

Instantly, Warriors was at Wind’s side as the sailor whimpered - conscious, good, and he was already pushing himself into a sitting position, which was also a good sign as it meant he still had mobility-

“‘M alright,” Wind said quietly, his voice wavering just a bit as he winced. “Wasn’t that high, I’m okay.”

“Did you hit your head on anything? On any branches, or the ground?”

“No, it was… it was a clean fall, I landed on my leg though…”

One look at Wind’s eyes made Warriors believe him - no abnormality in the pupils, and while Wind was shaking, Warriors had reason to believe that was from the shock of the fall itself and not from any sort of head injury. He turned his attention to Wind’s leg, and winced.

“Looks like a clean break, but it definitely needs to be set before we do anything else about it,” he stated, and Wind made a face. 

“Yeah, I fuckin’ figured,” Wind hissed when Warriors felt along his leg, checking for other breaks and fractures, “Shit…”

“Seems like just the one, at least.”

“Fuckin great,” Wind said through his clenched jaw, and Warriors could see the tears welling up in his eyes from the pain. Warriors could splint it easily - there were bound to be a good amount of sticks that were sturdy enough to support that, and while their bandages were limited, this felt like a necessary expense.

But even if he did, Wind wouldn’t be able to walk on it, and considering the fact that they were undoubtedly going to be walking through the forest for a while, this was even more inconvenient than it would be in any other setting. Sure, Warriors could carry Wind, but it would slow them down a good amount, and Warriors didn’t think he liked the idea of being down half a potion or so for something like this when they might need it in the instance of a monster attack.

…But if they were attacked by monsters, he was very certain he would not be able to outrun them, especially not in the current setting. Having Wind able to walk by himself would be much more ideal - both in terms of being able to make it to a town faster, and in the case where they have to choose between running or fighting. At least that way, they can evade situations where using the rest of the potion would become necessary.

Warriors took a breath. “I’m going to realign the bone first, and then you’re going to drink some of the potion.”

“Okay,” Wind spoke quietly, nodding to himself, and when had Wind’s hands become so entwined with his scarf? 

“Three, two…”

Wind’s strangled cry of pain almost made Warriors flinch as he set the bone, but it was over quickly and Wind wasted no time taking the potion in one hand and taking a few sips. Warriors didn’t miss how Wind’s shaking hand didn’t let go of the blue fabric of his scarf. Warriors took the potion back from Wind as the younger hero dried his eyes and tested moving his leg, holding the bottle to eye level. There was just under half remaining, and Warriors could only hope they wouldn’t have to use it.

“How does it feel?” Warriors asked, standing up and helping the sailor do the same.

“Better…” Wind tested his weight on it, pain crossing his face as he did. “It aches, but… it’s okay.”

Warriors breathed out. “Good.”

After a moment of looking down at his feet and shifting his weight, Wind looked up at him. “I didn’t… mean to fall. The branch I stepped on was too thin, I think.”

He took one long, deep breath. “Let's try to be more careful in future, regardless. We don’t have many supplies, and we can’t afford more slip-ups like this. We need to be on guard, and we need to be aware of our surroundings.”

“But I was aware!” Wind made a gesture with his hands, almost pouting. “There was a branch, and I stepped on it. I was aware the branch was there!”

“Sailor.” Warriors almost surprised himself with the severity lacing his voice, and it was clear from Wind’s shift in expression that he hadn’t been expecting such a tone either. “If you are committed to standing by my side, then I need you to take this as seriously as I do. We’ll likely be doing a lot more training than you’re used to, and you’ll have more on your shoulders than before. I’ll have your back, but I can’t protect you in every instance. Can you do this, sailor?”

For a moment, Wind was silent. Then he crossed his arms, frowning and muttering something under his breath. Warriors could feel his ears flick downwards in irritation, pushing down another burst of anger.

“Can I trust you, sailor?”

Wind looked up at him again, brown eyes wide with confusion and frustration. Then he let his arms drop to his sides, letting out a little puff of air, and nodding.

“You can trust me.”

Warriors tried to let his shoulders relax, but found he couldn’t. Either way, he forced a more relaxed expression onto his face and ruffled Wind’s hair. “Thank you.”

Wind made a playfully irritated noise, batting at Warriors’ hands gently, and for just a moment, things felt normal. And then Warriors blinked, remembering they were in the woods by themselves, with no supplies and no brothers to help them.

“I assume you couldn’t see anything again?”

Wind shook his head. “Nope. Still just trees.”

“Excellent.” Warriors put his hands on his hips, looking into the canopy where he could see the beginning of golden light seeping through the trees. “It’s going to get dark. Our next objective should be to find a suitable place to set up camp.”

Warriors slowed his pace for a few minutes as they started walking, only speeding up when he was absolutely certain Wind would keep up. Luckily enough, Wind seemed mostly fine due to the potion. 

He didn’t miss how much quieter Wind was this time.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t long before the ship had stopped almost directly in front of them, another loud gong cutting through the air (and Sky watched as Twilight winced at the noise). There were voices on deck, and no one could make out what they were saying before a large plank landed in front of them. Hyrule and Wild held back giggles as Legend spat out a mouthful of sand, having been unlucky enough to be standing closest to where the end of the plank had landed.

Time didn’t look away from the deck of the ship, and at the railings, a young girl who couldn’t have been older than fifteen looked down on them, hands on her hips and head tilted to the side with the glimmer of something that Sky couldn’t quite recognise in her eye.

“So,” she asked, a smirk crossing her face as she crossed her arms, “what are so many wayward travellers doing so far out?”

“Uhm, we’re-”

“Friends of Link,” Time cut Sky off, ignoring the look of sheer confusion. “We were previously travelling with him, but have since been separated from him, as well as another of ours. We were wondering if you had seen him.”

For a moment, Sky wanted to shake the eldest. Typically when asked, they didn’t exactly jump to immediately tell whoever they’re talking to what’s going on, considering how hard time travel was to explain to anyone who wasn’t a Link. 

The girl looked over them for a few more seconds before something like recognition flashed in her eyes. “Friends of Link, hm?”

“Yeah,” Hyrule laughed awkwardly. “Y’know, blonde? Wears a blue shirt with a little lobster on it?”

“Little bit taller than this guy, just not by much?” Wild joined in with a grin, making a vague gesture above Four’s head. Four chose not to justify that with a response, not even looking back at their cook.

As the girl scanned over them one more time, she smirked, and Sky paused. “Yeah, I might know him. Thought he was with you. C’mon up, then! Haven’t got all day!”

He ignored the temptation to facepalm. Of course this was Tetra - how had it taken him this long to realise? With how vividly Wind described her, he should have recognised that spark of sass anywhere.

Sky didn’t fail to notice how Legend paled at that just a little. As the others trailed up onto the deck, Sky gently nudged the veteran with his shoulder, a soft smile on his face. Legend tried to hide it, Sky knew he must have tried, but he could see past the facade.

“We’ll be okay,” Sky said with all of the certainty he could muster - he wasn’t privy to the knowledge of what shook Legend so much about Wind’s era, but he was certain he could make a guess. “Remember what our sailor has told us. She’s capable.”

Legend didn’t seem convinced, but Sky’s words must have been enough to spur him forwards, at least for the time being. Sky followed Legend up to the deck and tried not to hover too close to him once they were officially on the wooden boards, despite how much he was itching to wrap his sailcloth around the red-adorned hero similar to how his loftwing would wrap his wings around Sky himself. 

“So, I assume Link’s told you about me?” Tetra turned around after shouting a command to some young men on deck - none of her crew could have been older than seventeen, if Sky had to harbour a guess. Quickly, they all threw their own salutes to her, scrambling to tie ropes and lift the anchor and whatnot.

“All good things, I assure you,” Time responded with a smile.

Tetra scoffed, shaking her head. “‘Course he has.” She turned back to Time, looking him up and down. “So, you got dumped out here this time. You’re lucky we were just passing through - not many sailors come this close to the Forsaken Fortress, even after Link cleared it out.”

“If I may ask, Tetra,” Sky stepped forwards, her attention turning to him. “Exactly how much have you been told of this adventure?”

“You think Link could ever keep his mouth shut about meeting heroes of old?” Tetra laughed, though not unkindly. “He’s written letters. I know about the portals and the monster you’ve been chasing, if that’s helpful.”

“Well, at least that means we don’t have to explain again,” Wild chuckled. “That’s always awkward.”

“I can imagine,” she said with a grin. 

“You wouldn’t happen to have heard from him, right?” Twilight asked from Time’s side, to which Tetra shook her head.

“Negative. Like I said, I thought he’d have been with you lot. Haven’t heard a word from him…” Tetra paused, like she had just considered something. “How come you got separated?” She turned her gaze onto Time again, raising her brow in a manner that dared him to lie to her. “From what he said, you all seemed very keen on sticking as a crew, right?”

Sky saw the way Time steeled himself - the way he tried not to look like he was as concerned about the situation as everyone else was.

“Well,” he said, taking over for their eldest where he knew their captain would have on any other occasion, “a strange version of the portals we usually go through opened, and one of our own decided to go through.”

Legend muttered what was most definitely a swear or seven from behind Sky, and the Skyloftian coughed to try and cover it up.

“Regardless of the reasons for his leaving, the sailo- uhm, Link, decided to follow him. The portal closed before we could enter. Then a second one opened, and that’s the one that led us to this era.”

“Well! Wasn’t that nice of it.” Then, Tetra blinked, looking at the group before grimacing. “Let me guess - your soldier?”

Sky tilted his head as everyone else made various noises of hesitant agreement. “How did you know?”

“Link isn’t stupid, but from the letters he’s sent, if he’s gonna follow any of you into whatever unknown dangers you run into, it’d be him.” Tetra scoffed. “Always talks so highly of that one. Figures something like this’d happen.”

Time nods. “It’s unfortunate.”

An uncomfortable silence ran through the group, and Sky didn’t like how Time’s gaze tapered into something more concerned. Twilight saw it too, if the squinting of the eyes and the tilting of his head was anything to go by, but the rancher said nothing.

“Considering this is your era and you know these waters the best,” Sky tried, not looking at Time’s expression as he addressed Tetra, “it only seems fitting to ask you what the next step should be.”

“If I know Link even a fraction as well as I think I do, there’s no doubt his first instinct would be to go to his home island. It’s a little far, but we should be able to get there without too much issue. Should be just under a day’s trip.”

“That sounds perfect,” Sky answered gratefully. Wind talked about the island he was born on with such reverence - of course it made sense that if he was so clearly put in his home era, he would go to the most familiar place. Besides, a selfish part of him was very curious to see if Wind’s claims that the soup his grandma made was actually better than the pumpkin soup that Wild made. With any luck, they’d get to their destination, and Wind and Warriors would already be there. 

Whatever the case, he couldn’t think about the possibility that Wind and Warriors weren’t even in this era. He couldn’t. 

Tetra smirked, before turning around and shouting in a tone that could almost put Warriors to shame; “Gonzo! Set course for Outset!”

The broad man at the wheel of the ship threw up a salute, shouting in return, “Aye-aye, Miss Tetra!”. It was a few moments before the ship lurched into motion, and Sky could see the way Legend blanched out of the corner of his eye. 

“We appreciate your help, Tetra,” Twilight said easily, and Tetra waved a hand.

“If it helps me find Link, I’m game. Now, don’t think you’re gonna be able to sit back and relax. Link may not be here, but that just means you gotta fill his shoes. I’m sure Niko has some odd jobs the rest of you can do.”

“We’d be happy to help,” Hyrule smiled, at which Tetra rolled her eyes with a fond smile.

“You hero types are all the same.”

The rest of the group were quickly set to work, but Sky took an extra moment to talk to Tetra.

“I’m worried about our veteran,” he said to the girl, gesturing as subtly as he could to where Legend was looking very, very seasick. “He looks like he’s about to pass out at any minute. I really hate to ask this, but…”

Tetra made a noise - something that felt close enough to understanding. “You’re right - it’ll do no-one any good if he collapses on deck.” Then her expression melted into something more sympathetic. “You can take him below deck, see if that does him any better. I’ll explain it all to Niko - just don’t break shit, got it?”

Sky blinked. “Yes, ma’am,” and then he turned on his heel, crossing the deck and slowly putting a hand on Legend’s shoulder.

“Hey,” he spoke softly, because even though the others were having their own conversations and the rolling of the waves filled the air around them, he didn’t want the others to overhear, “you should come below deck with me.”

Legend turned his head, and pale as he was, still managed a glare. “Why? You too scared to go by yourself or something?”

“I’m, uh- I’m feeling a little seasick.”

The red hero looked Sky up and down very carefully. “You’re damn awful at lying.”

“Vet,” Sky said gently. “You look like you’re about to pass out. We got the all-clear to go, if you want to. You don’t have to, but you’ll probably have to answer less questions than if you just collapsed.”

Legend looked at the horizon where the sun was beginning to set, and for a second, Sky swore he looked so much younger, and Sky wondered what Legend might have been if not for the curse. His curse.

“Fine.”

Sky quickly shook his head, Legend’s words bringing him back. Then Legend moved past him, already moving to go below deck and leaving Sky to scramble after him.

It was a bit more cramped in the underbelly of the ship than Sky would have imagined, but he supposed that was probably normal for this era. It wasn’t like he had a Wind he could consult. He also didn’t exactly know how a normal layout of a boat was supposed to look, so he mostly followed Legend - he wasn’t exactly sure if their veteran knew either, but he walked through the narrow hall and into a storage area with such conviction that Sky didn’t really feel like questioning it.

With a small noise, Legend plonked himself down next to a barrel of stored rations and crossed his arms, looking for the world like a child who had been sent to his room. Sky huffed a laugh, hitching himself up onto a fair sized crate and letting his legs swing.

“Do you feel any better down here?”

Legend made a non-commital noise. Sky decided to take that as a yes, but he acknowledged that it could’ve been anything from a no to a fuck you. Despite that, the veteran hero still looked a little too pale for Sky’s liking, and he didn’t miss how his leg jigged as though trying to expel nervous energy.

“Do you… want to talk about it?”

Legend laughed. “No.”

“Okay,” Sky said quietly. “That’s okay. We don’t have to. Is there anything I can do?”

Legend didn’t say anything, and Sky was quiet for a few moments to let him think. When Legend still didn’t speak and instead shifted to bury his face into his knees, he couldn’t help but ramble.

“I could, uh- I could go ask the champion to get you a snack from that slate of his? Maybe a hydromelon? Or a carrot?” Sky tried not to snicker at that, but he failed and inhaled quickly. “Sorry, not the time for that, bit on the nose. Uhm,” he tried, “maybe some sweetberries? Is food helping? Am I helping? Please tell me to shut up if I’m not.”

Legend mumbled something.

“Hm?”

“Stay,” Legend said, and Sky felt his heart melt just a bit. The veteran always sounded so jaded and sharp, and in that one word, he just sounded so young, and Sky almost wanted to scoop him up and hold him like a baby loftwing.

But, well. He couldn’t do that. He had no doubt Legend would bite him, so he settled for slipping off the crate and sliding down the wall next to Legend. He pulled his sailcloth out from under him, gesturing with it over Legend’s shoulders. When the pink-haired hero nodded, the first put part of it around the younger, and Sky couldn’t help but smile when Legend reached up to pull it tighter around himself. Was this how Twilight felt when Wild sat under his pelt, or Warriors when Time or Wind insisted on curling his scarf around themselves?

Neither of them said anything more on the matter, but Sky did feel Legend curl a little bit closer to his side.

When Sky woke up, it wasn’t to the gentle rocking of a ship below his feet or the warmth of a brother snuggled into his side. Instead, he was standing, his feet on firm, packed dirt in a forest similar to the one he had previously stood in. For just a moment, he swore he was alone again, and then he heard a laugh, so light and airy and so unmistakably Wind.

He turned, and he could feel his shoulders relax at the sight. Warriors and Wind were together, still - the younger cackled as the older ruffled his hair, and Sky almost swore that things were normal.

Then he caught a look at Warriors’ face, and he paused.

The captain already looked so, so tired, and it hadn’t even been that long. What could have happened to make the captain seem so exhausted? In a way, Sky thought the look was wrong on his face. Warriors was always so well put together, and even before this, Sky didn’t think he had ever seen this sort of exhaustion laid so deep within those eyes. 

Sky would’ve given anything in that moment to be able to reach out and cup his face, to tell him he would be okay and that he would be able to take whatever was weighing on Warriors off his shoulders, but he knew it wouldn’t do anything in this situation. 

A snarl caught his attention - and Wind and Warriors’, too. Sky squinted, and if he looked closely, he could see the eyes of a bokoblin - one of Wild’s, if he had to guess. He couldn’t open his mouth to warn them, but he saw it.

Then he blinked, and the bokoblin had turned into a horde. Warriors grabbed Wind’s wrist and tugged - there was so many, too many, and Sky couldn’t move in a way that mattered as his brothers thundered through the undergrowth of the forest, and when the chosen hero turned back to look at the horde approaching, it was just in time for an arrow to pierce him in the shoulder and for the world to go black with a shout of his name.

Chapter Text

The next few days were very boring, and painfully similar.

Wake up. Split up rations. Pack up camp. Walk for a while, searching for signs of water or towns. If they were lucky, they’d find some berries that Warriors could identify as non-toxic, but more often than not, they would find nothing until nightfall, where they’d set up camp once again. Then they would train for a few hours, and go to sleep after eating whatever they could spare. It was boring, and Wind was making that very clear. Warriors had tried to keep distracting him, but he was running out of options. Searching for berries only placated him for so long and Warriors didn’t exactly want Wind going too far away. It was a similar story with climbing trees. Trying to find landmarks clearly wasn’t working, either. 

“Why are you doing that?” 

“Doing what?” Warriors turned to look at Wind, who was tilting his head like a curious puppy.

“Walking around all the bushes and stuff.” He made a gesture to the wide berth Warriors was giving a little patch of grass and plant-life. “Like, you can just go through that. I’d get it if it was tall plants, but. Like. Small.”

Warriors hummed. “Well, if I were to do that, there would be noticeable evidence. I could break some of the branches or damage the leaves or leave footprints in the grass. Even if I’m careful, there’s going to be something.”

Wind blinked. “...And that’s important because?”

“If there’s noticeable tracks, it’s easier to follow our trail.”

“...Do you think we’re being followed?”

“You can never be too sure. Come on, let’s keep moving.”

Wind looked into the woods with uncertainty, but followed Warriors anyway.

It was monotonous and the scenery felt the same every time. Warriors sometimes wondered if they were going in circles, even more so when Wind climbed a tree and said the mountains didn’t seem to be growing any closer. Warriors was certainly sure about one thing - training had grown much more common and had become even more of a necessity than he thought it was.

Wind groaned from where he was on the ground as Warriors picked up the sword he had knocked from his hands. “Are we done?”

“You focus too much on evading attacks, meaning your stance shifts and you become easily knocked off-balance. You need to keep your attention evenly spread, and then you’ll have less weaknesses for the enemy to .”

“That’s not what I asked,” Wind whined, and Warriors sent him a stern look.

“No. We aren’t done. Come on, let’s try that again.”

Wind grumbled another complaint under his breath, but complied, taking the sword from Warriors’ grasp and taking a few paces back before falling into the same beginning stance. Their swords clashed again, each trading blows until Wind was on the ground again. With a sigh, Warriors put one hand on his hip and sent Wind another look as the sailor picked himself up again.

“You’re not focusing. Your mind is elsewhere, you need to be present.”

“That’s because I’m tired,” Wind whined again, dusting down his tunic. “We’ve been doing this for hours and my legs hurt!”

“Do you think an enemy will care that you’re tired?” Warriors asked, perhaps more harshly than he meant. “There’s no stopping in a battle until it’s over. If you grow tired too quickly, you’re more likely to make mistakes. Even the smallest slip-up can lead to catastrophic results.” He spun his sword in his hand absently. “Furthermore, if an enemy picks up on it, they have the advantage. You need to project strength, even if you don’t feel it.”

For a moment, Wind just looked at him. Then the sailor rolled his eyes, muttering something under his breath.

Warriors gripped the sword hilt tighter. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Wind said too quickly. Warriors wasn’t exactly sure what Wind had said, but the blatant disrespect left a sour taste in his mouth. Clenching his jaw and choosing to let it go just once, he gestured to the sword laying at Wind’s feet.

“Again.”

“Come on, captain, it’s gonna be getting dark soon…”

“And we still have time.” Warriors said with indifference. He gestured to the sword again.

For a moment, Wind looked like he wasn’t going to move. Then he caved, reaching down to pick up the sword and returning to the same stance.

The Phantom Sword hit the ground many more times before Warriors was satisfied.

The same routine repeated. Set up camp, train, sleep, pack up, cover their tracks and walk. Wind would say he was tired, but Warriors knew that if he couldn’t even keep a firm grasp on his sword during sparring matches, he was certain to drop his weapon when it mattered most. As the days went on, Wind complained less and less, though Warriors could tell from his expression it wasn’t because he agreed with the reasoning. 

That was fine, Warriors would think to himself; Wind didn’t need to understand, as much as Warriors would like it if he did. 

Taking inventory also became routine after the first few days. With the amount that remained unknown of their current venture, it was a constant that Warriors could rely on. The repetitive movement of sorting items on the ground in front of him so he could visualise it all soothed him. Scribbling down numbers on a spare piece of parchment was a way to keep his mind tethered that he was grateful for, running numbers as he compared the numbers from previous days to the next. 

It was never going to be certain as there were too many factors left uncounted for in his equations, but Warriors found that having a vague estimate for how many supplies they were haemorrhaging per day brought a sense of ease. Perhaps it was similar to all of the reports he had made in his previous years on the front-lines. Maybe it was the fact that it gave him something to focus on - a tangible goal amidst the quest that neither knew the solution to.

“Why are you counting again?” Warriors turned to see Wind peering over his shoulder, hands behind his back. Warriors raised an eyebrow.

“Why are you breathing so loudly?”

Wind made a face. “That’s just how I breathe!” He stood up straight again, crossing his arms over his chest in a way that might have looked intimidating if Wind did not still have a good amount of baby fat on his cheeks. “And that’s not even an answer! Why are you counting?”

Warriors turned back to his notes. “It’s important to ensure we know what we have, sailor.”

“Okay, but you just checked earlier today.” Wind toed at some dead leaves on the ground with his boot, boredom once again evident in his voice. “They’re not gonna change that much in, like, four hours. At least not drastically.”

Had he already taken inventory today? Warriors fought back what felt like the fifth sigh that day. “It benefits us to know what supplies we can afford to expend.”

“I don’t even know what that means, but I think I disagree.”

“Sailor, do you know what would actually help us right now?” Warriors slammed his pencil down in frustration, looking at Wind out of his peripheral. “Firewood. Which, if I am not mistaken, I told you to begin collecting about ten minutes ago. Nightfall will be soon, so I recommend that you start searching.”

Wind may not have had the most formal etiquette, but the sailor knew a dismissal when he heard it. He made a noise between a whine and a groan, but slunk off towards the outskirts of their camp.

“Don’t go too far,” Warriors called. Wind made a confirmative sound, and Warriors knew that was the most he was going to get from his brother. Despite the way Wind tended to bounce off the walls, so to say, Wind still failed to be very communicative when it came to being told to do things he didn’t want to do. Warriors had found this mostly came from being dismissed, and as much as it grated Warriors’ nerves, he found himself having no energy to say anything more about it.

Quite frankly, Warriors didn’t know how Wind could have so much energy.

Every day felt like one more battle of trying to stop Wind from running off into the forest. In any other circumstance, Warriors may have been more lenient about this sort of thing - not happy, but at least they’d have the liberty of being able to send Wind out with someone else like Wolfie or Legend or Sky so he could burn off energy and not be alone. In any other case, he would have options, but unfortunately it was just the two of them, and Wind was either glued to his side or very close to running into the treeline where Warriors couldn’t see him with very little in between.

Listen, it wasn’t that Warriors didn’t trust Wind. Warriors didn’t trust what was out there, and he didn’t trust what external factors may result in his brother being injured. As capable as Wind was in a battle, he still couldn’t predict the nature of the wilderness. Neither could Warriors.

Warriors couldn’t tell if it was a blessing or a curse that Wind was in one of his more attached moods today. On one hand, he hadn’t had to scold Wind for walking too far away and almost going out of eyeline, which meant Wind hadn’t tried to argue about it, resulting in one less headache for both of them.

On the other hand, Wind was becoming increasingly harder to distract with smaller tasks. This meant Warriors had to hear every single complaint.

“Sailor,” Warriors said after Wind complained about being bored one too many times, “do we remember what I said about staying quiet?”

“I am being quiet!”

“No, you aren’t, and unless you want to lead monsters straight to us, I’d suggest you lower your volume.”

Wind blinked up at Warriors before crossing his arms. “Why are you so stressed? We’ve done stuff like this before and we’ve been just fine.”

“This is different, sailor.” 

“How?”

“We’ve been completely separated from the rest of our party in an environment neither of us fully understand.”

“...So?”

Warriors bit back a remark. “We can have this conversation once we set up camp.” His tone left no room for argument, and it was like Wind felt the tension in the air if the way his posture dropped was anything to go by.

Truth be told, Warriors didn’t understand how Wind could take any of this so lightly. Maybe that was why he had been on such a short fuse recently. Any other time, he would have apologised, but to do would imply weakness. To do so right now would imply that he wasn’t strong enough to carry them through this, and that was not something Wind needed to hear right now. He would have to rectify things with Wind once they found a town, but who knows how long that could take?

In retrospect, maybe the lack of sleep wasn’t helping either. Watches had become less tolerable as they were down to two. Whereas they previously had the luxury of swapping out three people per night for a schedule of about three hours of watch per hero, they no longer had that. Furthermore, their previous schedule would allow for every hero to get a full night of sleep at least every few days to hopefully make up for the previous nights’ interruptions. Here? Well. Warriors didn’t like being in one place for too long, so he had cut down total watch time to about six hours - three hours for each of them. It wasn’t ideal, but he wanted to cover as much ground as possible in the daylight, and the rest was used for training Wind.

He wasn’t sure if Wind had caught on to the fact that Warriors hadn’t been sleeping properly. Warriors’ watch turns felt normal - if the crushing feeling of missing their brothers was considered normal, anyway. It gave him an excuse to pace around their small camp and keep an eye on Wind, it let him take inventory with much less interruptions than there would be if Wind was awake, and it let him be certain there was nothing surrounding them.

When he closed his eyes, he couldn’t have that certainty. If he lay prone for too long, every time he could feel himself drifting off to sleep, his brain filled itself with worst case scenarios and plagued him with thoughts until he cracked open his eyes, just enough to be aware if anything were to sneak past Wind. 

In the end, he guessed he was only getting about an hour's worth of sleep at any time. Again, not ideal, but he had run on less for longer amounts of time.

It also wasn’t ideal that Wind questioned every god damn thing that he did.

“Why do you do that?” Wind asked the same question again, and Warriors replied with the same question again.

“Doing what?” he asked, because he didn’t know what Wind could be talking about this time.

“Well, I guess two things. One, why do you put the fire in a little hole in the ground? Two,” Wind pointed to where Warriors was patting down some dirt. “Why do you bury it afterwards?”

“It hides our tracks more and makes monsters less likely to assume we were camping. The trees are thick, but they won’t hide the smoke.”

“...Are they going to follow us because of the smoke?”

“We don’t know.”

“Then why do we do it?” Wind frowned, leaning forwards so his elbows lay on his crossed legs. “It feels like a waste of time.”

“Is it a waste of time to ensure our survival?”

“No,” Wind shrugged, “but it feels unnecessary. Right?”

“Not unnecessary.”

“We haven’t seen any signs of monsters at all! You make sure we wake up so early so we can do all of this extra stuff, but it’s not doing anything except taking extra time and energy!”

“Just because we don’t see anything, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening, sailor.”

“But you don't have any evidence that it is, captain.” Wind made a complicated expression. “We’ve just been walking. I think we’re fine to take a bit more time in the morning.”

Warriors repressed the urge to roll his eyes, instead focusing on making the ground in front of him look as natural as possible. At least, until two boots stood in front of him, and he looked up to face Wind’s worried expression.

“You’re tired, captain. You’re trying to hide it, and it’s not working. I think… maybe we should slow down.”

“We can’t,” Warriors sighed, content with his work covering the fire and dusting off his hands before reaching for his bag to take inventory. “We need to reach a town or some sort of water source, sailor. That’s our goal, and we need to focus on it, and there is still no way of knowing what is out there. What I am doing is going to become necessary to our survival.”

Wind was silent as Warriors rooted through his bag.

“You… you sound so paranoid right now…”

Warriors’ hand stilled in his bag as his mind flashed back to all of the times he had heard that before. Too many times. Soldiers under his command that he next saw with a knife in their hands, Legend, and now Wind. 

“I’m keeping us alive,” Warriors growled out under his breath, forcing his hands to stop shaking as he pulled out medical supplies and spread them out over the ground in front of him. 

“That’s- No, that’s not what I meant, I know you are, but- I’m just-”

“Sailor.” Warriors’ voice came out low and even, and he saw how Wind froze at the tone. “Climb up a tree and see if you can find any landmarks.” This wasn’t just a dismissal; it was a command, and it was clear that Wind knew that.

“Okay,” Wind’s voice came out quiet and wet with unshed tears. A small sorry came out afterwards, quieter as Wind slipped away.

Warriors took a breath. He hadn’t intended to make Wind cry, and that was something he knew he had to apologise for sooner rather than later. He didn’t say anything when Wind spent longer in the tree than he usually did whilst scouting and instead packed up the rest of camp himself. When Wind descended not long later, he did not comment on Wind’s reddened eyes.

“The mountains are getting a lot closer that way,” Wind pointed out a direction. “I think there’s some sort of gap between them? I couldn’t really see it all, but it might be enough for us to travel past them.”

Warriors hummed. “That is good news.” He turned to the younger hero and nodded with a soft smile. “Thank you.”

Wind didn’t quite meet his eyes, and Warriors sighed for what felt like the hundredth time.

It took Warriors a day to figure out what exactly he had wanted to say to Wind, and the routine repeated. Set up camp, train, sleep, pack up and walk. 

“Sailor,” he started, and cringed when Wind flinched at his title. “I want to apologise for my behaviour previously. I did not intend to be so harsh on you when you were just worried about me, and it wasn’t fair.”

Wind was quiet for a moment. “I mean, I get it. I haven’t really been listening to you, or making it easier for you. There’s a lot going on here, and I’m definitely not helping.”

“You’ve helped me more than you could imagine. I could never have climbed that tree yesterday,” Warriors pointed out. “If it wasn’t for you, I’m certain I would have quite literally been walking in the same circle for the past week or so.”

“I guess so,” Wind said without much conviction. “Still, I… I didn’t mean what I said like that. I’m just… worried."

“That’s a battle I have to fight for myself,” Warriors half-admitted. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“Yeah, I know… It still sucks.”

Warriors couldn’t help but huff out a little half laugh, but even he could tell his smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I can swear that I will do my best not to let my emotions get the better of me again. What I’m going to need from you is to trust me on this one. I need you to trust that when I do these things, I am doing them for a reason.”

“...I trust you on a lot of ones.”

“Can you trust me on this one?”

Wind made another complicated face. Then he nodded, and even though Warriors could see a glimmer of something in those brown eyes, Warriors knew it was the best he was going to get.

“Thank you,” he said, reaching up and patting Wind’s head with a soft smile. Wind reached up after him, placing a hand on top of Warriors’ gloved one with a laugh.

Warriors would have said something else, but a familiar snarl cut through the silence and shattered the moment like a glass bottle against stone. 

Their attention snapped to the side, and there was a bokoblin, similar enough to one of Wild’s, and yet different in a way that Warriors couldn’t quite place. It pulled out a horn and blew, and the blaring sound was responded to with even more snarling and growling, and before Warriors knew it, there was a horde.

Without even thinking, Warriors grabbed Wind’s wrist and ran. Bokoblins were never fast, and they weren’t necessarily strong, but they were outnumbered and Warriors refused to have this fight in this forest. He tugged Wind along, thundering through the forestry and barely stepping over exposed bushes and roots.

Warriors knew they were bright blue targets amidst the browns and greens of their surroundings with his own scarf and Wind’s offensively blue tunic. Trying to climb a tree wouldn’t do any good, Wind might be able to get up but he certainly wouldn’t be able to in time, and fighting wasn’t an option yet.

There was the familiar sound of an arrow being loosed, and Warriors instinctively ducked his head as the sound was followed by more because of course they had archers. Wind made a strangled noise. He could hear many of the arrows getting stuck in the trunks of nearby trees with a thunk and kept going, eyes forward and Wind in tow.

His lungs ached and his heartbeat thundered in his ears, but even so he swore he could still hear the snarls and growls growing ever closer. 

“Down!” Warriors called to Wind as he let his brother go, ducking into a roll and sliding under a near-fallen tree, narrowly avoiding hitting his head as he transitioned back into a run. He could hear a little high pitched grunt behind him, but Wind’s lighter footsteps followed. Unfortunately, so did the growls.

Then the sound of more arrows being loosed rang through the trees, and Warriors grabbed Wind again, pulling them both behind the thick trunk of a tree with the sounds of arrows landing in the wood reverberating through his brain. There was no time for anything else - Warriors grabbed Wind again and ran.

They couldn’t run forever. The forest seemed to stretch endlessly as they dodged trees and rocks and roots, and Warriors could feel Wind’s grip growing weaker and weaker, and just as Warriors was debating their chances of winning this fight, he saw it. The forest came to a sudden end, instead met with a towering face of stone - the beginning of the mountain range. More specifically, a rectangular opening that seemed too man-made to be natural.

It wasn’t ideal, but Warriors would take anything.

“There!” He shouted over his own thundering heart. He pulled Wind along faster, ignoring the little yelp of surprise from behind him when the ground below them changed from dirt to rock. Something clicked under his feet as he passed the threshold, and he turned around just in time to see dozens of nasty glowing yellow eyes peering out at them from the treeline, accompanied by visceral snarls and snapping teeth.

Then a giant slab of stone slammed down, sending a barrage of dust into the chamber and blocking out the sunlight. Wind coughed at his side, and Warriors raised his forearm to cover his mouth and nose as he tried to gain his breath.

The chamber was dimly lit, with only a beacon of sunlight beaming from the ceiling onto the stone floor. The bricks were cracked with age, plant-life growing out of crevices and a fine layer of dust coating the ground beneath them. There was an inscription on a raised little platform that Warriors couldn’t read, it was nothing like his Hylian and he hadn’t had much of a chance to learn anyone else’s just yet. The thing that made Warriors most uncertain was the strange face that sat on the wall, sitting just above a large hallway that was barred, much like a prison cell. It was a crude impression of a sun with a large smiling face, and Warriors grimaced.

“So,” Wind choked out as he recovered from from his coughing fit, “Now what do we do?”

“I… I’m not sure.” He turned to Wind, pausing. “You’re bleeding.”

Wind flicked his ear, a little splatter of blood landing on his shoulder and staining the blue fabric of his tunic. “It’s just a nick, I’ll be fine.”

Warriors took a breath, flexing his right arm. “I don’t understand.” 

“Wait, I think I know what this is…”

The captain didn’t know what had gone wrong. He had been doing everything right, hadn’t he? He’d been careful, conserving resources and keeping Wind on track. He’d been focused on the mission, he hadn’t strayed from their goal once, had he? Okay. Rewind. What happened today?

Woke Wind up after Warriors’ watch. Shared out rations. Then there was a small amount of training. Afterwards, they packed up. While he had wrapped up bedrolls and taken inventory, Warriors had told Wind to scout out the terrain to see if they were getting closer to the mountain range. Warriors had also told Wind to…

The fire. Warriors never saw Wind put out the fire, and Warriors never thought to check.

“You didn’t cover up the fire.”

“What?” Wind asked, mirror shield halfway out of his bag.

“I told you to cover up the fire and you didn’t.”

“Wait, you did?” Wind frowned, thumbing over the edge of his shield. “...I don’t remember you telling me that.”

“Sailor.”

“I don’t! Why would I lie about that?!”

“We just had a whole conversation about trusting me on this sort of thing!”

“Wh- Yes, we did, but when I say I forgot, I mean that I forgot!”

“I’m not looking for your excuses, sailor!” Wind scowled, but Warriors couldn’t find it in him to care. “You’ve been fighting me this entire time, and I’ve had enough of it. I understand you’re not happy with this situation, I’m not either, but this is where we’re at!”

“Why are you yelling at me right now?! Look, can we have this argument after I’m-”

“I don’t think you quite understand; You are going to get us killed if you don’t listen to me and heed my advice. You are lucky this is the only injury you’ve received!”

“Your advice isn’t gonna help us! Don’t you realise where we are? We’re in a dungeon, which you’ve never done before, so I think you should be listening to me right now!”

Warriors clenched his jaw in aggravation as Wind shifted forwards, lifting his shield towards the beam of light. The light caught, reflecting onto the wall, and with a little more angling, Wind directed it onto the carved sun above the door. He held it there for three, four, five seconds, and then it lit up like a lantern. There was a rumble through the floor, and then the bars slid upwards, granting them entry.

Wind turned to look at Warriors with a glare. “See? I know what I’m doing here.”

“You directly lead monsters to us because you didn’t care enough to follow my instructions. How can you expect me to trust you when you can’t do the same for me?”

“I already told you, I didn’t do it on purpose!”

With an exhale that was a little too close to a frustrated scream, Warriors put his hands on his hips and looked up at the stone ceiling, calming the anger racing through his veins and resigning himself to making sure he was the one in charge of any future survival protocol.

“Okay,” he said to himself more than anything. “Okay. We’re in here now. There’s nothing we can do about what’s happened, so we have to move forwards.” He took one more deep breath, finally looking back towards Wind-

Who was already heading through the newly opened gate, completely leaving Warriors behind. Whatever rage he had managed to stamp out flared back to life as he rolled his eyes, shaking himself from his daze and following Wind deeper into the unknown, trying to catch up before Wind went out of view once again.

Chapter Text

“Sky!”

Sky jolted when he felt someone shaking him by the shoulder, only just managing to suppress the instinct to reach for the Master Sword. He took a breath instead, feeling the wood beneath his fingertips and listening to the soft noises of the ocean hitting against the boat. Okay, he thought, we’re on Tetra’s ship. We’re in the sailor’s era. We’re okay.

“You alright?” Sky tilted his head to the side, and there was Legend, crouching next to him with eyes full of concern and a grimace on his face. “You got all weird on me - started muttering about a bokoblin, then you wouldn’t wake up. Everything okay?”

Sky looked away from Legend and took another breath, ignoring how his heart rattled in his ribcage and his mind raced with anxieties about their missing brothers. “Yes,” he said as steadily as he could manage. “Yes, I’m fine. Just a nightmare, and nothing more.”

It couldn’t have been anything more. It couldn’t. Because if was, that meant Wind and Warriors were in danger, and even worse, not in this era. Unreachable. Sky couldn’t think like that, and he wouldn’t.

“You sure?” Legend asked, and Sky couldn’t help the warmth that bloomed when he realised that Legend was still holding the corner of his sailcloth in his hand as he raised a brow.

Sky nodded, more certain this time. “Nothing more than a dream.”

Legend made a face at that, but it was gone in a second. “If you say so,” Legend hummed, finally dropping the corner of the sailcloth from his grip and standing up with a stretch, grimacing as his bones popped into place. Sky heard it too and grimaced in sympathy, the sound making him cringe. 

“Anyway, we need to get back above deck,” Legend continued easily, “Tetra said we’re gonna be at Outset soon. Trust me; the kid has a pair of lungs on her.” 

Sky took the hand that was offered out to him and pulled himself to his feet with a quick smile, the two of them quickly moving through the underbelly of the ship.

“I don’t think she’ll like that you’ve taken to calling her the kid,” Sky warned lightly. “Remember how much our sailor insisted he didn’t need that nickname?”

Legend barely turned his head back as he walked, but from what little Sky could see, Legend did not seem impressed. “She’ll get over it, just like the sailor did.” he shrugged noncommittally. “What, you think I’m scared of her?”

Sky laughed. “No, I’m not saying that. What I am saying is that I don’t doubt that she’d toss you across the deck if given a chance and a good enough reason.”

“I would love to see her try that, actually.”

With a quiet laugh, Sky let himself gently brush his shoulder against Legend’s. “Just try not to get thrown overboard.”

Legend made a face, and Sky paused. “Wrong type of joke right now? Sorry.”

They walked in a mildly awkward silence until they reached the stairs to the deck, and Sky turned to Legend again. “Hey, are you… sure you’re okay?”

For a moment, Legend didn’t speak. Then he sighed, turning to Sky and fixing him with a look - not an unkind one, not at all. Just a look. 

“It’s not gonna do the captain and sailor much good to just sit under deck and let the others do all the work, is it?”

Sky blinked. “Well. No, I suppose not. But- Vet, if you’re not feeling right, you know that’s okay, don’t you? We can take things a little slower if you need to. Or just-” He breathed out, feeling the soft fabric of his sailcloth in one hand, running his finger over stitches that came from Zelda’s repairs over the years he’s had it, whether that be from his adventure or his own negligence. 

“Just… promise me that you’ll let me know if you need anything? I want to help you as much as I can, and even if that’s just letting me know you need some time, I’m always going to be here to help you.”

Legend’s expression softened. “Sure,” he said quietly, his eyes shining with something that might have been gratitude. “I’ll let you know.”

Sky wasn’t exactly sure if the veteran was lying to him or not, but he didn’t feel like arguing at that exact minute. Instead, he simply nodded, and the pair ascended back up onto the deck.

Sky heard Legend hiss from the sudden shift to dim lighting to the pure sunlight, and he laughed only to make a very similar pained noise as the sun assaulted his eyes. Legend made a sound between a scoff and a laugh, and as their vision recovered from the sudden light change, they could see Outset.

It was certainly small, but that didn’t mean Sky thought it any less beautiful. It was almost exactly as Wind had described - almost white beaches and violently green grass and trees. As they drew closer, Sky could see that a few people had paused what they were doing to look upon the approaching ship - two very small children, and a lady carrying a pot over her head. The lady simply watched, but Sky could see the way the two children grew excited.

A vague shout caught Sky’s attention, and he turned his attention upwards, where a little girl in a pink dress was watching from a tall, wooden tower. He watched as she hurried down the ladder, running to the house on the far right in a movement that was much quicker than he would have thought. 

“Alright,” Time’s voice called out over the chatter of the others. “Remember, this is the sailor’s era, and his home. I don’t think I have to harp on for too long, but remember to be polite, behave and stay out of trouble.”

Time definitely looked at a few members of their group more than others, but Wild pointedly looked away and whistled a little tune while Hyrule smiled as innocently as he could. 

Twilight, who was sandwiched between them, looked so tired.

They disembarked the ship, with Tetra shouting orders at the crew to keep watch. Almost immediately, the two boys ran up to Tetra, happily chattering to her about whatever going-ons had happened in her absence. She amused them, promising that she would tell them all her stories once they had finished with their mission. When the boys asked what the mission was exactly, Tetra simply winked and told them it was a secret mission. 

The two boys seemed to accept this answer, finally leaving the heroes and the pirate alone, but Sky did see Tetra wave to the lady he had spotted earlier, who was still carrying a pot above her head. Sky got the urge to pull out his slingshot, but he figured giving Twilight an aneurysm by shattering this random lady’s pottery like it was the pumpkin game back on Skyloft wasn’t exactly a very good idea at the current moment.

It wasn’t very long until they had reached the house on the far right of the island, and Tetra didn’t even need to knock before the door swung open and the same girl came barrelling out and knocking into Tetra, wrapping her in a hug.

“Woah! Hey, kid!” The pirate grinned, patting a hand on her head as the child looked up with such an elated smile.

“Tetra! You’re back! Is Link with you? Did you bring any cool stuff? Can I go with you next time?” Then, the girl paused her little ramblings, turning her gaze to the rest of the heroes and tilting her head. “Who are they?”

Her face was so painfully Wind, with the same brown eyes, the same rounded cheeks… Sky blinked. She couldn’t have been any older than ten.

“Aryll, give them some room to breathe,” an older voice called from behind her, and Sky looked up to see an older woman. If he had to guess, she was probably shorter than Wind was, and if he looked, he could see that she had a pegleg. “I know you’re excited, but they just got here!”

Aryll - Wind’s little sister, of course - stepped back with a sheepish grin, hands behind her back. “Sorry!”

The older lady - Wind’s grandmother, if Sky had to harbour a guess - placed a hand on her head, looking at the heroes with an expression he couldn’t quite place. 

“You must be Link’s grandmother,” Sky spoke when it became clear no one else was going to. “We’ve heard a lot about you from him.”

“Both of you,” Twilight said, sending Aryll a little smile. The girl’s eyes lit up at that, and Sky smiled in fond amusement. 

“And you must be the other heroes he was so excited to travel with,” Wind’s grandma smiled, and whatever she was about to say was cut off as Aryll gasped.

“Really? Are you all heroes?” she asked, looking at all of them with wide eyes.

“That we are,” Four nodded, and she muttered something that sounded like Wow… under her breath.

“What’s the biggest thing you’ve fought? Wait, no- what’s the smallest thing you’ve all fought?! Wait-” she paused, looking over them all carefully before whispering, almost conspiratorially; “Which one of you is the captain?”

“Now, Aryll, let them get settled down before you ask them so many questions!” Wind’s grandmother shook her head fondly, before gesturing to the heroes and Tetra. “I’m afraid it might be a tight squeeze, but I’m sure we can fit all of you inside. It won’t do to have you all standing around out there - come on, come in!”

It was, in fact, a bit of a tight squeeze inside the small house, but Sky didn’t mind. There was enough room for all twelve of them to comfortably sit, and Wind’s grandma fussed around a pot, muttering about hoping she had enough, and wasn’t expecting guests.

“We appreciate your hospitality, ma’am,” Twilight said, the epitome of politeness. Wind’s grandma waved a hand.

“Nonsense, dear, you’re our guests. Besides, call me Lue.”

Before Twilight could say anything more, Aryll stopped in front of Tetra again, looking up at her with those big eyes. Tetra blinked.

“So?” Aryll looked up at her, unrelenting. “Are you gonna tell me where Link is?”

Lue stilled at that, and Sky looked at the group. None of them said anything, all looking in various different directions, and Sky sighed internally - he was beginning to get really sick and tired of being the only one to explain stuff.

“I’m afraid that Link and the captain were separated from our group just before our arrival in this era,” Sky said slowly, trying to ignore the way Lue’s expression faltered at his words. “They went through a separate gateway ahead of the group, and were not transported alongside us. We were wondering if you had seen them.”

Lue shook her head, and Aryll crossed her arms. “I haven’t heard a thing since his last letter,” Lue sighed, concern evident on her face. “That boy… always running off and getting himself in danger. I only hope he’s taking care of himself.”

“He isn’t alone, at the very least,” Twilight said, a sad smile on his face. “I assure you that our captain will keep him safe, no matter what.”

Sky tried not to think about his dream. It didn’t work.

“Of course he will,” Lue agreed quietly. “If what Link has told me is even half true, that captain of yours has a heart of gold. I have to admit, hearing that does make me feel better.”

“Besides,” Aryll cut in, putting her hands on her hips indignantly in a way that reminded Sky so much of Wind, “Link’s brave! He’ll be just fine!” 

“He is brave,” Time added, “and he’s strong, too. I don’t doubt they’ll be just fine.”

“Oh, he will be!” Aryll grinned, looking up at Time - who Sky realised, startlingly, was almost twice her height, the girl must have been very fearless to be looking at such an armoured man who towered over her with such a shit-eating grin. “He’s a badass!”

“Aryll Outset,” Lue reprimanded - not unkindly, but there was a sternness to her tone that made even Sky pause as though he was the one being scolded. Aryll, seemingly unbothered, groaned.

“It’s not fair!” She grumbled. “Link and Tetra say that stuff all the time!”

Lue levelled her stern gaze on Tetra, who did in fact shrink under it, looking vaguely regretful. The look almost felt out of place on the girl in comparison to everything else he had seen so far - Sky got the feeling that Lue wasn’t aware of some of the things her grandson and his friend got up to. Under other circumstances, he’d probably be excited that he’d found new blackmail material, but that could wait until Wind was actually here to be blackmailed.

Suddenly, a little creature wormed its way out from under the bed nearby, trotting forwards on four legs and standing in front of Legend. It made weird little snuffling noises, and Sky looked at the others for help. Only a few of them seemed as concerned as he was - Time and Twilight seemed absolutely delighted at the small red, black and pink creature snorting and walking circles around the veteran’s legs.

“Oh, that’s where Orville was hiding!” Aryll grinned, and Sky saw Legend’s expression soften as the tiny creature who was apparently named Orville paused and sniffed at his boot. Legend looked up at Lue with a certain expression, asking a silent question.

“Go ahead, dear, she loves a good fuss.”

Legend didn’t need any further permission; he crouched down, immediately scratching the little creature behind the ears. The tiny creature made even more snuffling noises, seeming to preen in the attention Legend gave it.

Twilight must have taken pity on the knight, as he leaned over and whispered, “That’s a baby pig, don’t you worry. Completely harmless.”

Sky looked at the tiny pig, and he figured he could understand why the rancher was so soft for some of these land creatures as Legend happily fussed over it. It was then that Lue announced the soup as finished, with Aryll doing a cheer. Sky didn’t doubt that if he were here, Wind would have done the same.

Dinner was a subdued affair - they had to spread out a fair amount, but it was still very cosy. Sky took a sip of the bowl of soup he was given and smiled, now knowing that Wind wasn’t exactly exaggerating whenever he proclaimed how good his grandmother’s soup was. It didn’t beat pumpkin soup, in Sky’s opinion, but maybe he was biased. 

Regardless, he watched his brothers. Four and Wild were sitting near Aryll, and if Wild’s hand gestures were anything to assume by, he was telling some tale of one of his adventures that the young girl seemed to be enjoying thoroughly. Hyrule sat next to Legend, watching as the veteran sipped his soup with much less focus than he kept on the piglet on his lap. Orville wiggled happily as Hyrule reached forward to scratch her head softly, and Sky grinned as the traveller’s eyes widened in surprise.

Time, Tetra and Twilight seemed to be conversing with Lue, though Sky could see how distracted Time was - he may have tried to hide it, but Sky saw how his gaze kept slipping over to Tetra, who seemed to be pointedly ignoring him and focusing only on her hero’s relative. Sky raised a brow, but said nothing on the matter as he finished the rest of his soup.

It wasn’t much later when it was just Sky, Lue, Tetra and Time left in the house. Legend, Four and Aryll had decided to go on a short walk with Orville while Wild and Hyrule had immediately taken to the forest that lay on the raised land that Sky had seen when they first arrived. Shortly after they had left, Twilight had come back in from where he was seeing the others off, heard that Hyrule and Wild had wandered off unattended, blanched, politely excused himself, and then all but darted out of the room.

As Sky helped clean up bowls, he decided he did not envy Twilight at that moment.

“I assume they’re the trouble makers of the group, then?” Lue asked, a look of knowing on her face.

“They’re good at heart,” Time said, still looking at the door Twilight had let slam a bit too loudly on his way out, “but they have the hero’s spirit. They are incredible at getting themselves into trouble.”

“It’s not all bad,” Sky said as he passed Time, patting the old man on the shoulder. “They’re very good at getting themselves out of trouble, too.”

Wind’s grandmother sent a knowing look at Tetra. “Oh, believe me; I know the type.”

Tetra glanced away for just a second.

“Tell me, heroes,” Lue said, soft but with an undertone of something else. “How has my boy been?”

Sky swallowed. “He’s as okay as he can be. I assure you, we are doing what we can to take care of him and make sure he’s okay.”

“He hasn’t gotten into too many fights, has he?”

“None where we haven’t all been there for backup.”

Lue seemed to take a moment to comprehend that answer. Tetra shook her head gently. 

“We have reason to believe that Link and our captain are somewhere in this era,” Time said softly, changing the subject easily. “It doesn’t make sense for the portals to suddenly separate us now. If we can look around the islands a bit more, we would know for certain, at least. However, we would need a vessel for that. Miss Tetra, we understand that you have already done us a favour by bringing us to Outset, but…”

“Yeah, yeah, you want me and my crew to ferry you around while we find Link. I hear you loud and clear.” She leaned against the wall, crossing her arms and tilting her head. “Well, can’t say I’m thrilled at the idea, but if it helps us get closer to Link, I can try not to mind.”

“We would be very grateful for your help,” Time nodded sincerely. “I’m sure that we can find some way to repay you, correct?”

Tetra blinked, and then she waved a hand. “We can worry about that in the future.” She paused then, frowning. “So, what’s the plan? Just sail around and pray we find him?”

“Windfall is awfully busy this time of year more than anything,” Lue hummed. “All sorts of travellers there - fishermen and the likes. If you want information, that’s where you may want to go.”

Tetra snapped her fingers. “Nice. So, me and my crew will drop your lot at Windfall Island, setting off early in the morning. While you gather information and supplies from the folks there, we’ll scout around the surrounding area. We’ll probably come to collect you before the sun sets, so you’ll be there less than a day. We can plan our route from there. Seems good?”

Time nodded. “That sounds excellent. Perhaps we can ask some questions about the black-blooded monsters while we’re there - no doubt there has to be some in this era if we’ve been sent here.”

Tetra grimaced. “Eugh. Forgot about those nasty pieces of-” She paused, sparing a sideways glance at Lue who was looking at her very pointedly, and despite the very soft smile on her face, even Sky rethought his recent word choices.

“Algae,” she finished lamely, “Those nasty pieces of algae.”

Lue nodded, clearly satisfied as Sky suppressed a chuckle. 

“Knight, would you go and find our companions?” Time paused after he said this, shaking his head. “At least, the ones that are not actively in the woods. I’m sure they’ll return by sundown, but it’s not worth having you trek all that way for this.”

Sky laughed. “I don’t think they’ll get too lost in there. There didn’t seem to be much forest.”

Time sent him a look. Sky blinked, remembering very vividly that it was their traveller and their cook in those woods.

“I’m sure the rancher can herd them up just fine,” Sky chuckled awkwardly. He stepped backwards. “Regardless, I’ll go and tell our smithy and veteran. Understood.” With that, he bowed his head in gratitude to Lue before turning on his heel, leaving the small house and closing the door behind him.

Four was easy enough to find. The smithy had completely enthralled the two little boys that Sky had seen earlier, and he found them crouching in the grass together, looking at… something. When Sky told Four the plan they had made, the smithy had just smiled and given him a thumbs up, his eyes burning red in the hot sun. One of the boys said something about Sky not being able to see them, and Four giggled and put a finger to his lips.

Sky shrugged and waved with a smile, trying not to cringe at the snot dripping down one of the kid’s faces. Someone really needed to give that boy a tissue.

The veteran, on the other hand, was not as easy to find. Sky felt like he had scoured most of the small island, and yet he had found no sign of Legend. He sighed, looking at the path up to the higher section of the island. Maybe Legend had followed the others into the forest. Sky hoped not. That hill looked really steep.

Luckily, he didn’t have to look for very long, as a call from above made him nearly jump out of his skin.

“HOY!”

Startled, he looked up, only to see Aryll waving down from- oh, yes, the watchtower. How had Sky forgotten that was there?

“We’re up here!” The girl called, gesturing for Sky to come up too. Sky followed the instructions begrudgingly, mostly due to the ladder he had to climb. By the time he got to the top, he was panting, only slightly exaggerating as he rolled onto the wooden boards. 

He looked up, seeing Aryll giggling, and Legend - surprisingly enough, with two seagulls. One sat on his head, happily ruffling its feathers. The other pecked at his hand, and Sky could see now that he was holding a handful of what looked like bird seed.

“They really like him!” Aryll said joyfully, pulling Sky to his feet. “Welcome to Aryll’s Lookout!”

Sky opened his mouth to speak, but as he looked over the ocean…

Sky felt breathless.

It wasn’t like a loftwing, of course it wasn’t, but it was similar. They were high enough that the air felt almost as light as it was on Skyloft, and the breeze flowed through his hair. He couldn’t help but smile.

The seagull on Legend’s head rustled its feathers, and Sky blinked.

“What happened to Orville?”

Aryll shrugged. “She got bored and likes to walk around. Don’t worry, everyone else knows who she is, she’ll be just fine by herself - she knows this island!”

Sky hummed, nodding his head as he stared out onto the horizon. He wasn’t exactly sure how independent pigs usually were, but Sky didn’t doubt that the rest of the island cared as deeply for this little creature as Wind’s family did.

With a start, Sky finally remembered why he was here. He turned to Legend, explaining the decided plan. Legend didn’t even look up, but he hummed noncommittally when Sky was finished, so Sky just had to assume he had heard him. With his allocated job done ( no , he didn’t feel like chasing Twilight, Wild and Hyrule through that wooded area, thank you for asking. If they wanted the information, then they shouldn’t have run off like that) he sat down, leaning against the wooden post in the centre which held up the thatch cover above them. 

The sun was at such an angle where despite the roof above them, the light still managed to slip onto the lookout. The air wasn’t humid, though, so in Sky’s opinion, it felt much more like a gentle layer of warmth over his skin than a battering of fire. The gentle breeze that came through worked in tandem with this, creating some sort of in between condition that seemed to turn Sky’s brain into goop. He could hear the rustling of wings nearby, and the giggle of a high-pitched voice, and somewhere in his brain, for just a moment, he was back on Skyloft.

In fact, Sky’s brain felt like it had been melted so much that he didn’t even realise he had fallen asleep-

-until he was standing in a corridor, the bricks cracked with age with plants and vines crawling out of crevices. It was almost sudden, the shift between warm sunlight and cold tile, but he did the one thing he could think of; move forwards.

The closer he drew to the end of the tunnel, he could hear something. Something like voices, but it was muffled - like he was underwater. The corridor opened up, and just like all of the other times, there was Warriors and Wind, safe and mostly unscathed. Sky barely had a chance to breathe a sigh of relief, though, as it was clear something was wrong.

Warriors and Wind were together, but they stood apart, facing each other. Warriors’ shoulders were tensed, his face blank in an eerie contrast to Wind. It wasn’t as if seeing Warriors this stoic was a rare occurrence (as much as Sky wished it could have been), but something about seeing it in this situation rang in his head as wrong, wrong, wrong-

The sailor’s face was in a snarl, and Sky watched as he spat something at Warriors that he couldn’t hear, stomping his foot for emphasis. Then, Sky watched as Warriors said something back, his expression refusing to change from that strange stoicness that remained present. 

Wind flinched, and shouted something that Sky could lipread very clearly as “fuck you,” or something similar, at the very least. With that, the youngest whipped around, walking through the strangely open room and-

And pausing as his foot stepped on what must have been a hidden pressure plate, sinking down an inch or two into the stone below him.

In what felt like a second, the walls on either side of Wind opened, revealing dozens upon dozens of little holes, and Sky tried to run, tried to get closer to Wind before the inevitable happened, but he couldn’t, he was stuck, and Wind was frozen and in danger, right there-

A flash of blue, and suddenly Warriors was wrapping himself around Wind like a human shield as a muffled click pierced his ears, and suddenly, Sky could hear very clearly as a scream cut above the silence, and he only realised that it was his when arrows pierced either side of him.

Sky gasped as a hand shook him awake, and grasped at his sailcloth on instinct.

“You’re almost as bad as my big brother,” Aryll giggled from beside him, standing up and brushing off her dress. “Come on! We need to go back, it’s getting dark!”

Sky blinked, looking up and- oh, would you look at that, the sun was setting below the horizon. He tried to ignore how Legend sent him a look, and he tried even harder not to shake as he stood up. He could see Hyrule and Wild waving up at him from the ground, Twilight trailing them - and clearly unimpressed with having to play chaperone as he herded them towards the small house once again.

Getting down the ladder again was a lot harder than Sky could have envisioned, but he supposed that made sense when his heart was still beating against his ribs with such vigour. Aryll lead them across the island, and Sky tried to look as reassuring as he could when Legend brushed against his side and raised his eyebrows in concern.

They didn’t do much else that night - Time and Tetra told Hyrule, Wild and Twilight of their plan, and that was that. They settled down for the night, spreading bed rolls across the floor of the house. Sky looked at the ceiling, surrounded by his snoring brothers, and he prayed that he would get some actual sleep.

If they get worse, Sky decided in his head as he felt himself slip back into sleep. I’ll tell the others if the dreams get worse.

Chapter Text

The stone tunnel was dark and narrow, but Warriors was able to grab Wind’s shoulder, pulling him backwards. Wind yanked himself out of Warriors’ grip, stone screeching beneath his boots as he turned.

“Don’t fucking grab me!”

“Do not walk away from me.”

“You were just standing there being a dick, like hell I’m just going to stand there!”

“We need to stick together, or did you forget that too? Do I seriously need to stand here and remind you of every minor protocol in this situation despite the fact that we’ve been living it for months?”

“What the hell’s going on with you?!”

“What’s going on is that you’re out of control.” Wind stepped out of the dark passageway and into a room with more light, though not by much, and Warriors followed. “If you act like a child, I’m going to treat you like one.”

Wind snapped around. “Bitch?” It came out more like a question than anything else, as though Wind couldn’t quite believe what he had heard. “What the fuck are you saying to me right now?”

“You heard me perfectly well.”

“Yeah, I fucking thought so, but what the hell?! I’m not a fucking child, and I’m not out of control, who the fuck do you think you are?!” Wind spat with vitriol.

Warriors merely crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “You claim that, and yet you stand here cursing and shouting at me, letting your temper cloud your judgement and acting irrationally.”

“Acting irrationally?!” Wind barked out in a laugh that echoed against the stone bricks in the chamber around them. “Listen here, you pretentious asshole, I’ve had two adventures, both of which had more dungeons than you’ve ever done in your fucking life, so I’d recommend you shut the fuck up and let me deal with this. I know what I’m fucking doing.”

For a moment, Wind reminded him so much of himself years ago, back in the war - arrogant and reckless and full of so much pride, a newly appointed captain armed with a belief that he was infallible. The spots of light that shone down from the ceiling behind Wind framed him in such a way that he certainly looked infallible, at least in that second.

“Even so, do you still not know how to exercise basic caution? It’s a miracle you’re still alive.”

“You wouldn’t have even made it through the first room without me!”

“Your overconfidence is not going to carry us through this dungeon, sailor!”

“Fuck you!” Wind shouted, his voice cracking as Warriors saw frustrated tears well up in his eyes. “Why are you being like this? Just fucking trust me on this, for once!”

“I can’t trust you when you act like this.”

“Like what? Against what you want? What the fuck do you mean?!”

“Sailor.”

“No, fuck you! Y’know what? I don’t even fucking need your help!”

“This is exactly what I’m talking about.” Warriors gestured to Wind, expression blank as the boy scowled. “You’re proving my point with this tantrum.”

“Well, maybe I’ll just do the entire dungeon myself and leave you here!”

Warriors narrowed his eyes. “You won’t.”

“Fucking watch me.”

With that, Wind turned around, briskly walking through the long chamber in front of them-

A tile beneath his foot clicked when he stepped on one underneath the beam of light.

The sound of stone grinding against stone cut through the air, and long slabs of the chamber walls dropped downwards revealing dozens of little gaps and openings. There was another click, and Warriors wasn’t quite sure when he had wrapped himself around Wind, or when both of them had ended up on the stone ground with arrows whirring over their heads and piercing pains in his sides and shoulder, but they weren’t like that for long. 

When the room fell silent once more and Warriors released Wind, he realised with a pained grimace that there were a couple dozen arrows pinned into the walls on either side of them. He moved, trying to get onto his feet, but halted at the all-too-familiar feeling of arrows lodged in his body - two in his right side and one in his left shoulder, more than he’d have liked there to be, but when he compared it again to the arrows lining the walls, Warriors realised he had been very lucky none of them had hit him anywhere else.

At least it hadn’t been Wind, who was already on his knees in front of him, saying every swear under the sun. He’d told Wind so many times that he needed more chainmail, but he had never listened to him. Warriors didn’t want to think about what would have happened if Wind had been in the midst of all of those arrows with all of his exposed flesh and lack of protection.

“Hey, asshat! Do you hear me? Where’s the fucking potion?!”

Warriors’ hand shot out, grabbing Wind’s wrist and stopping him from grabbing for the bag that still sat slung around Warriors’ neck. 

“No potion,” Warriors said simply. “This isn’t an emergency.”

“Uhm, excuse me? You have three fucking arrows sticking out of you! And we’re in a dungeon! This is kind of an issue!”

“We might need it later on. We do what we can without it and save the potion for major injuries.”

“Oh my fucking god, you’re stupid!”

“I’m not the one who ran into an active trap!” Warriors bit out between pained breaths. He wasn’t lying, he could handle this - but that didn’t mean it was going to be pleasant. He took a sharp inhale, ignoring how the metal of the arrow bit into his flesh as he did.

“You have three arrows sticking out of you!” Wind snapped, making a gesture to the arrow shafts. “This is kind of major!”

“No,” Warriors said as evenly as he could manage. “We leave them in. They’re stopping bleeding, even if they didn’t hit anything vital. We’re going to cut off the shafts and leave the arrowheads for now.”

“That sounds like a horrible idea!”

“We don’t have the resources to stop the bleeding, and if we pull them out fully, we risk infection.”

“But-!”

“Stop arguing with me and do it!”

Wind went quiet, but he relented, following Warriors’ directions. The arrowheads were barbed, just as Warriors had expected. Pulling them out would only cause further damage. Warriors directed Wind on where to cut through the wooden arrow shafts. They bandaged the wounds easily enough, but Warriors didn’t like how low they were running afterwards.

Warriors grimaced as he could still feel the teeth of the arrowhead inside of his arms and side, every flex of muscle sending a twinge of agony through his nerves, but he still couldn’t afford to take a potion right now. He stood up shakily, trying to ignore how his muscles cried out in pain. One hand went to his shoulder, ghosting over the bandages there. It was a little bulkier than normal due to the arrow, but the alternative was bleeding out. 

“Where the light is coming in from the ceiling must show the triggers for the trap,” Wind said quietly from his side. “I don’t think it will trigger again, but we should… we should avoid those.”

Warriors looked down at Wind, unable to hide the exhaustion in his eyes. “Have you learnt your lesson yet, sailor?”

Wind blinked up at him. “...What?”

“I almost died,” Warriors said simply. “We were lucky these arrows didn’t hit anything major. Because of your carelessness, you were almost alone out here.”

Wind’s face twisted into one of anger. “I didn’t fucking ask you to save me! I could have gotten on the ground before you did, I would have been fine! You don’t get to fucking pin this on me, you fucking dick!”

Warriors fought desperately against the rage inside his chest, ignoring how badly it was consuming him and his thoughts. His body hurt, his chest ached and he was so angry, and Wind wasn’t fucking helping.

“Maybe I’ll just let you die next time.”

He saw the moment Wind’s expression fell.

“Wh… What?”

“You heard me.” Warriors turned, ignoring the hollow ache in his chest.

“Wait… wait, what? You…” Wind’s voice was quiet and shaking, but Warriors kept moving forwards, the arrows sending sparks of pain through his nerves. “Okay, I didn’t- I’m- Okay, I’m sorry, alright? I didn’t mean it, not like that, I just-”

“Keep up.”

“Wait, wait-! I’m- I’m sorry, okay? Captain, I- You can’t- I’m sorry, is that what you want?” Wind rushed to Warriors’ side, but Warriors wouldn’t look down at him. “You were right, okay? I was- I was stupid I’m so sorry, please-!”

“Sailor.” Warriors stopped, turning to Wind. He was shaking, his eyes wide and tears beginning to stream down his face. Warriors put his hands on Wind’s shoulders, gripping as firmly as he could despite the way his muscles were screaming in protest. “You need to be strong. You made a mistake, and it won’t happen again. Correct?”

Wind took a shaky little breath, shaking his head. “N-no.”

“Good. Let’s keep moving.”

“...Okay.” 

Warriors let go of Wind’s shoulders, but he reached upwards, pressing one hand onto Wind’s head and ruffling his hair softly. Wind made a little noise, leaning into the touch. As they kept moving through the hallway, making sure to avoid any more of the spotlights coming from above, Warriors didn’t miss the little sniffles coming from Wind’s direction.

With tempers much quieter now, the rest of the room was easy to traverse. It should have been easy in the first place if not for Wind’s little tantrum, but Warriors would digress - for now. The pains that spread through his body were a bitter reminder of what letting tensions rise too high could result in.

They passed into the next room, and Warriors squinted. All of the walls were paved with mirrors, making the room feel as though it stretched on for an eternity when it was only a dozen or so feet wide, and strewn throughout the chamber were crudely carved stone statues - some were more recognisable as bokoblins or keese, but other enemies were unknown to him. They varied in height, too - some were taller than him, while others were barely up to Wind’s knee.

“Hey,” Wind said, pointing to a little pedestal in the center of the room, not unsimilar to the bases of the other statues around them, but noticeably empty. When Warriors looked closer, he could see the top was indented in a strange way, almost like a puzzle piece.

“Do we have to put something in there?”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Wind shrugged. “It’s probably in one of the other rooms in this dungeon… We need a key for that one,” Wind pointed to the wall on their left, where the mirror gave way to a large metal door with a large lock.

“Right,” Warriors sighed. “So we go through the one on the right.”

They did so, and were greeted with a drop. Water sloshed in the pit below them, and across the way, Warriors could see a metal chest on a platform on the other side of the room. 

Warriors grabbed Wind’s wrist as the boy reached into his bag for his hookshot, trying to ignore how Wind flinched. “Not enough wood. It won’t work.”

Wind, almost hesitantly, pulled his arm out of Warriors’ grasp. “Okay… So how do we get over there? It looks too far for my Deku Leaf to carry me…”

Warriors stared into the crashing water beneath them - it didn’t seem too violent, but he couldn’t see an easy way out if one were to fall in. Wind followed his gaze, glaring at the water beneath them like he could freeze it over with his gaze.

For a moment, Warriors thought he was hallucinating. Then, he saw it - on the surface of the rippling water, there was an outline. It wasn’t a material Warriors recognised, shimmering almost iridescently, but it seemed almost glass-like. When he looked up, a few feet above the water’s surface, there was nothing, but it was unmistakable that something was there.

“The reflections,” Warriors nudged Wind, “in the water. Do you see them?”

“What?” Wind squinted harder before his eyes widened. “Oh, shit, yeah! I do!”

Warriors hummed, crouching down to pick up a pebble that was near his feet. The arrowheads jolted inside his body at the movement, but he bared his teeth and ignored the pain as he lightly threw the stone onto the reflection. It landed with a quiet clatter, seemingly floating.

“Well, shit,” Wind said. “Invisible platforms! Okay, you wait here and I’ll jump over and get the chest!”

“Absolutely not.”

“What?” Wind looked up at him with a frown. “Respectfully, you still have three fucking arrows inside of you.”

Warriors narrowed his eyes. And who’s fault is that?

Wind seemed to get the message. He almost shrank in on himself a little. With a sigh, Warriors continued. “Regardless, we shouldn’t separate. What if you get over there and the floor opens up under you? We don’t know what we’re dealing with. No, I’ll come over with you.”

“...Are you sure you won’t fall in?”

“You’re not going over alone.”

“That’s not an answer!”

“I’m coming with you, and that’s final.” Without so much as a second glance at Wind, Warriors made a leap for the pebble, landing a little sooner than he’d have expected to and wobbling, but managing to stay steady despite the pain in his side. Wind followed not long after, and they managed to make their way across without falling into the sloshing water below them.

Wind got to the chest first, as Warriors tried not to grimace. The arrows jolted within his flesh with every move he made, biting that much deeper into his flesh, and making him begin to wonder if he had made the right decision in leaving them in. Then again, what were his options?

It took Wind a moment to work out the latch on the front of the metal chest, but he lifted the lid of the chest and a huge hulking shadow crawled out, looming over Wind as an unsettling black liquid slopped out of a gaping maw that opened on its shapeless face, a guttural growl sounding through the room as it slammed a long, winding arm into Wind’s side, sending Wind sprawling across the floor. Warriors drew his sword, the sting in his shoulder distant as he swung. His sword cut through the beast like it was nothing but air, but this didn’t stop it from towering over Warriors. 

He was vaguely aware of Wind’s cry from behind him-

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Wind pushed himself to his knees, ignoring the gentle ache blooming in his body from how he had slammed into the stone floor.

“Stay back, sailor!”

“Captain, what the hell are you on about?!” Wind watched as Warriors’ blade swung through the empty air with a high woosh, the movement causing Warriors to stumble backwards. “What’s going on?!”

“I’m telling you to back up, sailor!”

“What- What are you seeing right now?” Wind asked, trying to keep as calm as possible despite the look on Warriors’ face. “What’s in front of you?”

“This is not the time-!”

“Captain, just answer me!”

Warriors looked down at Wind with an expression that Wind couldn’t quite name for just a second, but it was long enough that when Wind looked into his eyes, he saw no clarity in there. He looked… dazed. Confused. When Warriors turned back, Wind saw the moment his posture changed, his sword lowered as he looked around.

“But there was… I just saw-”

“It wasn’t… real,” Wind said slowly, pulling himself to his feet and ignoring how he trembled. “Whatever you saw, it’s… it wasn’t there.”

Warriors frowned as he looked at the sword and shield in his hand - when had he drawn them? “But you… It pushed you, I saw it.”

Wind took a breath, rubbing his aching arm. “That was you. When I opened the chest, you just… freaked out.”

Wind could see the confusion lacing Warriors’ expression, and he could tell none of this was sinking in. “It- it doesn’t matter,” Wind tried, not failing to notice how Warriors seemed to sway on his feet. “I think… I think we should just get through the rest of this dungeon. Maybe it was just a magic hallucination. We can just- keep an eye out.”

The younger hero snatched up the contents from the still-open chest, a small key, before they turned back to the sloshing pit of water. Wind led them both over again, much slower this time as he tried not to look too concerned. Warriors followed, trying to ignore the way his vision swam and the way his limbs felt numb. Maybe it was blood loss. It had to be blood loss.

Still, Warriors thought to himself as they made their way over the invisible platforms with no major issues and back through the room that was full of statues, the feeling was familiar. He wasn’t sure if it was just his nerves or something else, but something was wrong. It was in the way his legs felt heavy and tired, in the way the shadows seemed to warp and twist his peripheral, in the way his head felt like it had been stuffed with wool. 

The smiles that surrounded him suddenly seemed so sharp and vicious when just a moment ago they had all been laughing together. His eyelids felt heavy, the bowl he had been holding dropping from his hands onto the floor with a loud clatter, something cold running through his bones as he heard their voices grow sinister, murmurs and whispers barely registering in his brain as one word stood out to him most of all-

Poison.

Wind turned around at the sound of a crash as Warriors stumbled, knocking one of the statues onto the stone floor, the figure’s stone head cracking at the neck and breaking clean off. Warriors gasped like he was choking as he struggled to stay upright, and Wind was by his side in an instant to try and steady him. “Shit- Okay, uhm…” The sailor slowly lowered Warriors down until they were sitting, leaning against the base of one of the bigger statues in the room.

“Captain, what’s going on?” Wind asked, trying to act calmer than he felt as Warriors looked up at him with barely-concealed panic.

“Some- some sort of poison,” Warriors’ mind raced through the past day or so, trying to remember- any moment something could have gotten into his system. They’d been eating rations for the most part, and Wind had been eating the same foraged berries as him, and Wind was much smaller so if whatever was in his system and affecting him this badly was from those, then Wind likely would have shown symptoms much sooner. Maybe Wind had slipped something into his water? Wind was near his bag earlier-

No, Wind wouldn’t, so when else? The only thing Warriors could think of was-

“The arrows,” Warriors said, looking at Wind as he did. “They must have been- been laced with something.” And they were still inside his body. He could almost feel whatever was in his bloodstream coursing through his body. Wind’s eyes widened.

“Shit, do we- do we take them out?”

“No. Our situation hasn’t changed, we get through this first.” 

Wind looked at him. “Are you… are you sure you should come with me?”

Despite the pain in his body and the nausea prodding at his mind, Warriors sent Wind a look - apparently one that was much harsher than he meant for it to be, as Wind shrunk back. “I can handle myself just fine.”

“I don’t- I know that, but you’re not okay, you- you need to rest.”

“We need to stick together,” Warriors said with resolve. “We do not separate in this sort of scenario.”

Something flashed in Wind’s eyes. “I… Just while I check the door? I know dungeons, captain, I can do this.”

“Need I remind you of what happened last time you said that?” Warriors moved a hand to his right side not-so-subtly.

He saw the way Wind faltered at that, guilt running across his face. Before he could feel bad about it, Warriors pushed himself upwards, forcing his legs not to give under his weight. Wordlessly, he made his way to the locked door on the chamber wall before looking at Wind expectantly.

Wind looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t. Wind pushed the key into the lock, and it clattered to the ground. 

Inside the room there were more mirrors, coating every wall and again making the space feel like it stretched on for miles. Wind guessed that would be the theme. That, or whoever or whatever had previously inhabited the space had a serious ego problem. 

He didn’t even get a chance to talk to Warriors when a giggle cut through the air, high pitched and unhinged. Swords were out in an instant as the mirror in front of them began to warp and distort, and then one cloaked hand reached out and gripped the edge as if to pull the rest of itself out. The creature hovered a foot or so off the ground, its body so cloaked in a white fabric that it appeared nothing more than just a void. It looked at them, its glowing white eyes narrowing into slits until it cackled again, casting a silver bolt of magic in the heroes’ direction.

Wind stumbled as he tried to avoid it, and it grazed his shoulder, sending a white-hot burning through it as he held back a noise. Warriors was already in a stance, shoulders squared with his shield out. Wind could see how his body slanted, how it was harder for him to hold the shield up properly, but Wind couldn’t focus on that. The wizzrobe had already vanished, and with a cackle resonating from behind him, he couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the next bolt.

It hit him squarely in the back, and the next thing Wind knew, he was on the stone ground. He groaned, feeling the sharp, spiky pinpricks down his spine as he forced himself back up. There was the scuffle of boots against stone, and he turned to see Warriors swing at the wizzrobe in two tight slices. The wizzrobe smoothly scooted out of the way with yet another ear-grating giggle before disappearing.

Wind could tell this was going to be an annoying pattern. 

He pulled out his bow, already nocking an arrow as he heard that laugh again. He spun around, aiming at the wizzrobe as it fazed into existence and letting loose. The arrow speared into the wizzrobe’s cloak, and it let out a banshee screech, flailing for a moment before vanishing again.

Wind turned around again to face Warriors, but then the wizzrobe was behind him with a sparking, clawed hand. It swung down across Warriors’ back, and the captain was on the floor. Wind winced as his brother tried to push himself upright, but then the wizzrobe was in front of him, and he swung forwards with an arrow, the tip slicing through the thin, white fabric of its cloak. It shrieked again, vanishing. It was getting faster.

Warriors pushed himself up, body trembling, and Wind winced again as he realised Warriors had probably landed on the arrows already pressing inside of his body. The wizzrobe appeared, but it took Wind a moment too long to discern between the two versions he could see on the infinite-seeming mirrors, and Warriors was on the ground again, sword clattering to the floor next to him.

The wizzrobe cackled horribly, but it didn’t see when Wind swung at it again, slashing it diagonally. It vanished again, but when Wind turned to find it, he saw it sink through one of the mirrors like it was nothing more than a liquid.

Phase two, then.

Yet another maniacal cackle resounded through the chamber, the image of the wizzrobe flashing over the many mirrors that made up the surfaces of the chamber. Wind tried to keep up, but it proved to be hard when every apparition could have been real or just another reflection. The sailor reached into his bag and pulled out his boomerang with the practiced ease of someone who had done it a million times over, and hurled it with all of his might at one of the mirrors.

It landed against it with a crack, but the wizzrobe’s image within the mirror didn’t move, not even when the mirror splintered and shattered. Wind could barely make out the silver orb in the mess, and he turned around to see that silver bolt fly through the air, brush past him so closely that Wind could feel the stray sparks of magic against his skin. Then it slammed into Warriors, who had barely gotten his footing again.

There was a loud shattering noise as his brother hit the other end of the chamber, the broken pieces of the mirror he had hit falling around him as Warriors slumped over. Wind saw blood leaking down his brother’s neck, catching his boomerang as it finally came back. He steeled himself then, locking onto his targets and with a grunt, he threw it again.

It ricocheted off the mirrors in the room, leaving each shiny surface shattered and distorting the illusion of the infinite chamber. The wizzrobe screeched, its reflection jumping from surface to surface, but the boomerang was never far behind, and when it ran out of clear mirrors to cower in, it phased out just as the boomerang crashed into the once pristine mirror behind it, revealing the cold stone bricks behind it. 

Wind was waiting for it as his boomerang returned to his hand, smacking the side of the wizzrobe’s cloaked head as he caught it and making it falter in mid-air, and by the time it had recovered enough to consider its next move, it was too late. Wind thrust his blade through the center of its body, and for a moment it was silent. Then, with a final screech, the shadowy figure almost seemed to melt, its silver cloak turning grey and old before dissipating into dust, leaving only black residue on the floor - and a small, stone statue in the shape of a horse’s head around the size of Wind’s fist, clattering to the floor as the oozing goop slipped off its round curves.

Wind ignored it, flicking the black goo off his sword before rushing over to Warriors’ side, falling to his knees and ignoring the shattered glass and fragments cutting into his knees. “Shit- Captain! Captain, are you with me?!”

Warriors’ eyes slid open, unfocused, but they looked at Wind, not through him. That had to be a good sign. 

“Shit, okay- Just- Let me-” Wind reached out, slowly moving Warriors to lean forwards. Through the specks of blood on Warriors’ blonde hair, he could see the cuts on the back of his head. They didn’t seem to be deep at all, though they bled more than they had any right to. Head wounds were like that; Wind thought he remembered Warriors telling him once. They always bleed more than other wounds. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Warriors looked between the two fingers Wind held up in front of his face and then back at Wind. “Four.”

“...No. No, that’s- Okay, just… Fuck, why am I the one doing this…” Wind turned Warriors head towards him, ignoring the way Warriors tried to pull away from him. His brother looked dazed, but his pupils seemed normal. Wind genuinely couldn’t tell if this was whatever Warriors was talking about earlier - some sort of poison? - or a concussion. He’d seen his brother get a concussion more than enough times, and he’d almost certainly been briefed about concussion protocol, but he couldn’t remember.

Warriors groaned, pushing Wind’s hands away from his face. “Sailor, leave it. We have- We have a job to do, here.”

“I don’t… I really don’t think we should do anything for a while.”

“And stay in this dungeon for however long?” Warriors was pushing himself up, bracing himself on the stone wall behind him with his sword hilt gripped in his shaking hand. “Our only way out is through, and we have our key.” He could see Warriors list to the side slightly, his steps uneven as he reached the little stone statue a few metres away.

“Captain, I… I don’t think that’s a good idea, you’re not- You’re not okay!”

Warriors made a noise between a scoff and a sigh, but he didn’t turn to face Wind. He merely picked up the little statue before going to leave the chamber. Wind scrambled to follow, scrambled to hold up his brother when his legs froze up under him. Warriors grunted, wordlessly pushing himself off from Wind and leaning too heavily on the pedestal when they reached the central chamber once more.

Wind watched as Warriors placed the stone statue into the hollowed out top of the pedestal with shaking hands that took more than one attempt, the square base of the sculpture fitting. A panel of the mirrored wall began to tremble before sliding down, revealing an entrance. Without sparing Wind as much as a second glance, Warriors continued forwards with clumsy movements. Wind followed, because really, what were his other options? 

The chamber they walked into seemed similar to the previous one, though Wind could see the room seemed more like an octagon instead of a simple rectangle. Again, the room’s walls were coated in mirrors, and Wind was starting to get very sick of these fucking mirrors. I mean, really, who made this temple, and why did they fill it with mirrors?

Wind started at the sound of stone sliding, and he turned to see that the entrance had disappeared, the seams blending with the rest of the mirrors. He groaned, turning to face Warriors-

As he was turning, he saw his reflection take a step when he had not taken one. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Warriors’ lift his sword when Warriors had not done the same. His heart shot into his throat as he slammed into Warriors’ side, just in time to get them both out of the way as his own reflection came through the mirror swinging, Warriors’ not far behind.

Warriors wasn’t able to keep his footing, stumbling and falling into one of the mirrored walls as Wind spun around, facing himself. It was weird, he decided. 

The copy of him was exactly that - a copy, but its eyes were blank and grey and its body shimmered in an iridescent manner, the colours shifting with every step in a way that would have been hypnotic if Wind wasn’t so weirded out by staring at his own face. Wind wasn’t sure if this was just from the fact that he was staring at himself, but the longer he stared, the more the facial features seemed to warp, and then he would blink and it would be normal.

Wind shook himself, slashing sideways. His sword connected, barely, but the tip of the blade cut an arc through his copy’s arm as it tried to move, fractals of silver falling to the ground. His copy responded in kind, swinging and locking them together by their blades. Wind could see his own face in the reflection of their swords, but he could also see Warriors barely dodging out of the incoming arc of his own copy’s sword.

He shoved his mirror self away, rolling to avoid how it suddenly changed its arc and rushing to try and get to Warriors’ side. Mirror-Warriors didn’t turn its head at all, it just raised its sword and slammed the hilt into Wind’s chest as he tried to pass. Wind choked as all the air was forced out of his lungs, the footsteps of his mirror image getting louder behind him. Mirror-Warriors didn’t pay Wind much more attention than that, turning to face the actual Warriors who had one hand gripped at his side, the other holding his sword in a white-knuckled grip.

Unfortunately for Mirror-Warriors, that was exactly the opening Wind needed. He ignored the aching in his chest as he dropped into a crouch, and just as Mirror-Wind swung, the arc of the blade sending a quiet wave of air above him, Wind slashed at the back of his heels. His sword ran through it with a loud smash and the copy wordlessly stumbled as the back of its legs were turned into a shattered mess.

Even with its broken legs, Mirror-Warriors stayed upright, turning and swinging down on Wind. Again, Wind rolled out of the way, pushing himself upright. With Mirror-Warriors’ movements slowed, he figured it would be safer to engage with Mirror-Wind - Warriors had slipped a safe distance away from his own copy, pulling out his bow and nocking an arrow, aiming at the clone.

Wind realised quickly that they were very evenly matched - he supposed that came with the whole clone thing. They met each other's movements near perfectly. Only a few times would the other slip up, and it was fast to duck or weave its way out of whatever attack Wind tried to do in that time. He didn’t know how long it had been, but Wind was getting sick of it.

The clone slashed downwards in another arc, clipping Wind’s shoulder and sending a little spray of blood, slicing through the fabric as Wind grit his teeth. He moved to the side just slightly and swung his sword upwards before the mirror image could react, cutting through its arm with a sound reminiscent of broken glass. The arm landed on the ground, the sword and appendage shattering against the ground into reflective fragments. Then, in one quick motion, Wind swung his sword down, the force shattering his reflection as it clattered to the ground in pieces.

He stepped over the shattered pieces on the ground. His own battle had shifted him behind Warriors, and as he grew closer he could see Warriors was fighting a losing battle - every arrow he set loose was sloppy, the wounds in his side leaving him unable to fire at full power, and those that didn’t fall short were easily deflected by Warriors’ mirror image who grew closer with each lumbering step.

Wind saw the moment Warriors heard his footsteps, but before he could shout out, Warriors swung his arm backwards, barely looking. Wind ducked out of the way at the last moment, the metal tip of the arrow Warriors brandished like a dagger coming too close to his eye.

Warriors faltered for just a moment. “Sailor-?”

The metal glint of Mirror-Warriors’ blade caught in Wind’s peripheral as Warriors turned back just a moment too late, the metal slicing across Warriors’ chest. Wind could see the blood starting to leak as he stepped forward, spearing his own sword directly through the centre of the reflection’s chest, where its heart would be if it had one. Then, he ripped sideways, the metallic body cracking and then shattering, falling to the ground in pieces much like the other.

Wind didn’t see what happened to the pieces after that, or where the grinding of stone came from. He didn’t care about that - all he cared about was his older brother, who was breathing heavily and trying to stay upright, one hand gripping at his chest, blood seeping between his fingers.

“You’re taking the potion,” Wind said with no room for argument, reaching for Warriors’ bag that was still around his body. Warriors pushed his hands away weakly, bloodstained fingers trembling.

“It- It isn’t deep enough for a-”

“Then take a few sips, at least!” Wind tried to ignore the frustrated tears in his eyes. He knew Warriors wasn’t fully coherent, he knew he was under the influence of something, but his brother was being stupid, even before that. He found the bottle and uncorked it, leaning against Warriors’ side to act as a support as he shoved the glass into Warriors’ trembling hands, still holding onto it as he pushed it up to Warriors’ lips. “I don’t care how deep it is, just- Fucking drink some, you don’t have to drink it all!”

For a moment, Wind swore Warriors was going to push him away and claim he was fine. Then he just closed his eyes, almost resigned, as he took exactly two sips. Nowhere near as much as Wind would have liked, but honestly, Wind could have cried of relief in that moment.

With a shaking breath, Wind took the potion back, slipping it into his own bag. “Thank you. Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Chapter Text

They set course for Windfall as the sun rose on the next morning and had arrived after a half-day of travel. Sky watched the pirate crew’s ship lumber off into the horizon, already feeling the sun beating down on him. 

“Ooh, that must be a potion shop!” Wild was already heading towards a building, and Sky had to assume it was a potion shop, considering the sign showing various bottles, and Twilight sighed. 

“Go with him, pup,” Time smiled tiredly. “I think we should split up, regardless. Me and the smithy will go and gather information. Vet, you and the traveller go and see what other shops are on this island. Knight?”

“I’ll go with the champion and the rancher, don’t worry,” Sky tore his gaze away from the seemingly endless ocean. “I won’t let them get into too much trouble.”

“Aw, what?” Wild said, turning around on his heel. “I don’t get into that much trouble!”

“They should literally have a picture of you in every dictionary under the definition of trouble,” Legend deadpanned, and Hyrule stifled a laugh. Wild, in a perfect display of maturity, stuck his tongue out.

“Regardless of dictionary definitions or not, all of us should do our best to avoid trouble.” Time said, successfully bringing the conversation full circle. “Remember our goals; Find information on our missing brothers and find supplies for our search.”

With little more said between them, the heroes separated, and Sky found himself following Twilight and Wild into the potion shop. The moment Sky entered, he could smell… something. He couldn’t describe it, but maybe the thick, purple smog at the roof of the small building was a negative sign. He squinted at it, but didn’t say anything. From the look on Twilight’s face, Sky didn’t think he had to.

Disregarding the strange purple smog overhead, the champion looked like he was very close to vibrating out of his skin as he approached the man behind the counter.

“Hi!” Wild said, leaning against the wooden surface. “What sort of potions do you have?”

The man seemed to blink, and Twilight made an expression at how straightforward Wild was. 

“Well, we sell blue, green and red here.”

Wild blinked, and turned back to look at Twilight with a confused face.

“Green for magic, red for healing and blue for both,” Twilight said quietly from Wild’s side, and the champion’s eyes lit up. 

“Ooh! Yeah, I remember now!” He turned back to face the man behind the counter, practically grinning from ear to ear. “Well, we’re travelling as a group of seven currently, though there’s two of us technically not here right now, so… nine reds, nine green and a couple of blue. You can do that, right?”

The man paused for a second. “Well, sure, kid, but do you have enough materials for all those?”

“Oh! Do you need materials?” Wild seemed to perk up, opening his slate and started swiping through many, many screens with little icons Sky couldn’t even see from where he was. “I can provide! What do you need? Bugs? Monster parts? I have some hearty lizards in here, too!”

“Cub, I don’t really think he needs your lizards…” Twilight said gently.

“Lizards?” The man behind the counter squinted at the trio again, and Sky blinked. “Haven’t any of you lads ever heard of chu jelly?”

“Oh!” Wild said, clicking his fingers at the realisation. “I have so many of those! Sorry, yeah! Hold on, let me just…” 

The Champion pressed a few buttons, and then, in what felt like a heartbeat, there was a sizable pile of red, pulsing slime in Wild’s free hand. Sky watched as it convulsed and twitched in the Champion’s palm, glowing ever brighter at the centre. If he squinted, Sky could see the air sort of wiggle around the blob. 

“Will this work?” Wild said with a grin, plopping the oozing blob onto the table in front of him-

In almost a moment, a burst of heat exploded from them, and Sky threw up one hand, using his bracer to catch most of the heat. It wasn’t for very long, but when he lowered his arm again, he couldn’t help but snicker.

Wild and the store owner looked frazzled, and it felt like something out of one of the picture books they had at the academy for younger students as the man wiped at his face, smearing away ash from only his eyes in a way that felt almost comedic. Twilight, standing a pace or two behind Wild, laughed nervously. He licked his thumb and forefinger, reached forwards and extinguished a tiny flame that clung to a stray bit of Wild’s hair.

Wild blinked. “Well, can’t say I expected that. Uhm… I do have more, if that’s an issue?”

The man’s eye twitched.

Less than five minutes, several hundred rupees and a few red and green potions later, Sky found himself watching as Wild aggressively washed his face in the sea, Twilight standing near him with his arms crossed.

“This is so salty, even compared to just regular sea water,” Wild grimaced as he spat out seawater, and Twilight raised a brow.

“Y’aint supposed to drink it, champ.”

Wild turned his gaze upwards, giving Twilight a look. “I know.”

“Then why are you?”

“It’s not on purpose! I just had my mouth open!”

“Then may I recommend closing it?”

“Gee, thanks, rancher, for this fantastic advice. I will be sure to keep this in mind.”

Twilight responded to this by shoving his hand into Wild’s hair and ruffling it, ignoring Wild’s noise of playful disagreement. “C’mon, finish washing up, champ.”

Sky didn’t hear the rest of their conversation. He was too busy staring into the deep waters. They were blue, bluer than any water he had ever found on the surface. It was kind of unsettling how vibrant the waters were in comparison to the lakes, rivers and oceans he had seen through all of his travels with the chain so far. It was almost as blue as-

Wind’s tunic looked almost orange against the light of the fire. Through the embers of the fire, Sky watched as Wind curled up closer against Warriors, shivering in spite of the fact that Sky could see the air around the fire start to wiggle from the heat. The sky was dark and the stars peeked out of the black, and Sky watched as Warriors stared blankly into the flames.

The captain reached a hand up to his shoulder to start picking at a ripped piece of blue and orange fabric that was wrapped around it, and Wind, quietly and gently, reached up to pull his hand away, mouthing something that Sky couldn’t quite hear over the crackling of burning wood. 

Warriors said something in return, and Wind flinched backwards as those cold blue eyes slid over in his direction, expression blank and unyielding in a way that Sky didn’t think he’d ever seen directed at their sailor. Wind paused and lowered his hand, an expression somewhere between hurt and confused on his face as he moved ever closer to Warriors, pulling the tattered scarf that Sky had failed to notice draped across their laps a little closer to him-

“Hey, uh, knight? Y’alright?” Twilight asked, moving closer to him.

“Hm?” Sky looked up from the endless abyss below him and to their rancher. “Oh, I’m fine. Sorry, it’s been… hard to get much sleep recently.”

Twilight hummed in what Sky might have seen as acceptance - at least, if Sky didn’t know him better. He saw how Twilight tilted his head and narrowed his eyes and tried his absolute hardest not to make any strange facial expressions in response. After a pause that definitely felt much longer than it actually was, Twilight sighed, turning his gaze onto the horizon.

“It’s a big era,” he said quietly. “They could be anywhere. It’s two of ‘em, and there’s a lot of islands. It’s fair that you’d be worried.”

Sky thought back to the endless forests and pathways that he had seen in his dreams. From what little he had seen of this world, there didn’t seem to be many forested areas with such greenery and plant-life - aside from the higher part of the island back on Outset, but that wasn’t nearly big enough in comparison to all of the environments he had seen.

“Besides, you ain’t the only one,” Twilight continued. “Old man’s been goin’ stir crazy since captain ‘n sailor disappeared. I’d bet he thinks he’s doing a real good job of hiding it.”

Sky nodded. While Sky would consider all of the chain close to each other, Time and Warriors were close in a different way. He couldn’t quite name how, and he certainly wasn’t privy to the reasoning, but what he did know is it was very clear to everyone else as well. 

“Look, I’ve said it to him, and I’m gonna say it to you as well; Captain ain’t gonna let anything bad happen to the kid while they’re gone. I’d say they’re probably one of the best pairs to get separated; Can you imagine it was veteran ‘nd captain?”

Sky couldn’t help but laugh. “Only one of them would’ve come back.”

Twilight grinned, nudging Sky with his shoulder. “Oh, come on, you gotta have some faith in our captain, right?”

“You said it, not me. I didn’t imply anything!”

The rancher didn’t say anything in response, but he did make a vague hum. “I’m just saying: You’re allowed to be worried. They could be anywhere in this era.”

“Who’s to say they are in this era?”

Twilight looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “Now, where’d you get an idea like that from?”

Sky paused for what might have been a moment too long. “It’s not an impossible assumption. Sometimes the portals just… separate us. Is it so unreasonable to believe we may have been separated across eras?”

Twilight tilted his head, and Sky was worried he was going to start asking more questions. Then Wild mentioned how he hadn’t seen a single fish in the sea this entire time, which was weird because the oceans of Wild’s era were full of different types of fish. Twilight nodded and responded with something about fishing in his own era, and Sky shrugged. He couldn’t say much about the oceans of the surface - after all, the only part of the surface that was even remotely and ocean was instead lengths of sand as far as the eye could see - but even the lakes he had seen in Faron had tiny fish swimming in the depths.

“I think I’m going to go and find out what the others are getting up to,” Sky said, hoping that this would be a suitable distraction for Twilight. “Maybe I can find the old man and the smithy.” 

The rancher nodded.

“Sounds good. It’s probably best we stay out of any shops for now, so we’ll probably ask some of the townsfolk what they know.”

“Aw, what?” Wild looked up, and Twilight raised a brow.

“I’d rather not have to come back and wash up again.”

“At least it wasn’t the white chu jellies…” Wild muttered, and Twilight made a strained smile.

“Be careful, alright?” 

“Will do,” Sky waved. “See you guys later on.”

Windfall was much smaller than Sky had first thought - which was fairly impressive, all things considered. In fact, Sky thought he himself could probably do two laps in a minute, maybe Wild or Wind could do four - so it didn’t take him very long to find Four, crouching under a little wooden sign. Four and Sky simply stared at each other.

“So… what are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Getting information.”

“...It really isn’t.”

Four rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes went wide and he made a quick shush! noise before ducking a little further behind the sign. Sky paused, following his gaze, and locking eyes with a child.

The child stared at him. Sky stared back.

After what felt like an uncomfortable amount of time, the child stuck his tongue out at Sky and raced off.

“...Huh.”

Four poked his head out from his hiding spot, narrowing his eyes at Sky. “I think I need a new place.”

“What?”

“There’s this group of four kids who call themselves the ‘Killer Bees’ or something. I got promised that if I beat them in hide and seek, they’d tell me whatever I wanted to know.”

“Oh!” Sky nodded. “That makes a lot more sense! Where’s the old man, then?”

“Said he was gonna head to the bar or something. Had to distract the kids from following him around - they were really invested in his armour.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Sky laughed, remembering how Wind would follow around Time and Warriors, the two who would wear the most armour, and claim that he wanted armour too and that he would look badass and so cool.

He also remembered that when Wind had tried on a spare set of armour Wild had in his slate, he had nearly fallen over from the weight of it and Wild had barely been able to keep him upright in the breastplate that was too big for his body, but that was only slightly unrelated. 

After making sure none of the Killer Bees were nearby, Four came out of his hiding spot and stretched. “Alright, you have fun with the old man. I have a game of hide and seek to win.”

“I wish you much luck. If anyone asks, I didn’t see anything.”

“Good. See you around!” With that, Four skittered off in a random direction in his green tunic, and Sky turned- 

Green tunic?

“Hey, wait-” Sky turned back, but Four was already nowhere to be found. With a sigh, Sky resigned himself to finding the bar.

It didn’t take too long, even if Sky did end up getting briefly distracted by the nice flower decorations on the island and did have to physically restrain himself from buying a weird carved statue that looked just a bit too much like Professor Gaepora to be a coincidence because he thought that Zelda would find it amusing.

No, Sky managed to ignore these distractions and - after nearly missing the sign a few times because who puts a sign for their bar hidden in a weird crevice up some stairs - found his location. It was a strange little bar, nothing like the Lumpy Pumpkin on Skyloft with only a few small tables and some stools set up by the bar. 

Time was seemingly the only patron aside from a man sitting further back by some barrels, hunched over a drink and engaged in conversation with the woman at the bar. They both looked up as he sat next to his companion, and Time smiled.

“Hey,” Sky said awkwardly, nodding politely to the blonde lady. 

“I’m guessing this is one of your companions?” She asked, giving Sky a welcoming look. “Can I get something started for you?”

“Uhm,” Sky looked at whatever Time was drinking. “The same as him?”

She nodded. “Dark or light?”

He blinked. “Dark?”

“Coming right up,” she smiled and turned around, starting to work on something. 

“You came at a good time,” Time said. “Gillian here was about to tell us better places to gather information.”

“Oh, of course!” The woman seemed to remember, but she didn’t stop her work on Sky’s beverage. “See, Windfall does get some traffic from outer islands, but if you really want news and gossip, Dragon Roost Island is where you’d want to go.”

“Dragon Roost?” Sky tilted his head.

“Yes, it’s just a short trip east of here; you can see it from the docks. The Rito there are in charge of the postal service. If anything looks off, they’ll certainly be the ones who know where to go.”

“Rito…” Sky muttered under his breath. He had seen a few in Wild’s era - birds adapted into a more Hylian form. He was fascinated, but it did make him wonder. Only Wild and Wind had the Rito. Perhaps they were more connected in the timeline than any of them had imagined? But even so, how did such a vast ocean become Wild’s era? 

Even outside of the constraints of Hyrule, there were plateaus and mountains that seemed to stretch onwards for miles, and this sea seemed endless. But, well. There were centuries between them, and maybe even more. Maybe it wasn’t as implausible as they thought.

“Ah, here we go! Watch yourself, love, it’s hot.” Gillian placed a teacup of a steaming, black drink in front of him, and Sky squinted at the board, trying to identify what he had been given as he dug in his pocket for the suitable amount of rupees.

“Oh- Don’t worry about payment. You’re friends of Link, it’s on the house. Finding the boy would be enough.”

“Oh!” Sky paused, slowly pulling the drink closer to himself and gingerly picking it up. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.”

“Of course,” she smiled. “He’s a good boy, always willing to lend a hand. Why, I once watched him offer to take a letter from a Rito to a young woman because her father wouldn’t stand to let the postman see her!”

“How frequently is he here?” Time asked, suddenly looking mildly concerned. Sky didn’t understand until he saw the barrels and stocks of alcohol at the very bottom of the shelf behind Gillian, and then his expression probably matched Time’s.

She followed their gaze. “Oh, that’s for my late night customers. Don’t worry, I always make sure he’s out of here by then.”

“I can’t imagine he takes too kindly to that,” Time said, his expression looking more amused.

“Oh, he didn’t at first! Used to come in here all the time, wanting the grown up drinks,” Gillian shook her head fondly. “He soon realised that using those big eyes won’t work on me. No, he comes in during the day, and I do not serve him alcohol.”

“Ah, so the remlit eyes are not exclusive to us,” Sky laughed. “Good to know.”

“What’s a remlit?”

“Uhm,” Sky waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, taking a sip of his drink to hide his awkwardness-

It was still hot, he discovered, and bitter too, and he desperately tried not to show it but his face felt very red and his tongue hurt.

Obviously, his suffering was clear as Gillian slid over a glass of water that was, blessedly, cold with an amused smile. He chugged it down, looking at her awkwardly. “Apologies.”

“No, don’t worry, dear, it happens to the best of us.”

“I admit, I’m not the most familiar with… this drink.”

“Oh! It’s coffee, love.”

Huh. Sky remembered Legend drinking a lot of this stuff in the mornings. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think Legend ever put anything else in his coffee. Then he took a quick look at Time’s drink and realised it was probably more milk than coffee.

Somehow, that seemed about right.

“So, tell us more about Dragon Roost Island...” Time asked, taking another sip of his drink.

“Alright, round up. What did we learn?”

“The games on this island are made for nothing more than to exploit poor souls for the rich’s capitalistic desires,” Legend deadpanned. Hyrule put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“We ended up getting distracted by Sploosh Kaboom.”

“It’s rigged!”

“It was, in fact, rigged.”

“...Alright,” Time said, turning to Twilight and Wild. “What about you two?”

“I am not to be trusted in stores,” Wild said, inconspicuously holding one of those weird statues Sky had seen earlier. “Oh, and also the jail is incredibly easy to break out of.”

“Wh- We were separated for less than half a day!” Legend squawked. “Rancher, you were with him!”

Twilight shrunk a little. “There was a cat.”

“So you lost the Champion and he got arrested?!”

“Listen, he can make his own decisions,” Twilight raised his hands. “I’m just glad it ain’t the public indecency this time.”

Wild hissed something and kicked Twilight in the leg. Sky looked at Time, seeing how he suddenly looked very tired.

“Excellent. Smithy, what about you?”

Four shook his head. “Nothing useful, unfortunately. Ended up talking to a school teacher - apparently the sailor never attended, but she still knew him pretty well.”

“Hey, when did you get changed?” Wild asked. “Last I saw, you were wearing blue…”

“What?” Legend cut in. “No, he was wearing purple. Are you colourblind?”

“No! It was blue, I know it!”

Sky blinked. Four was, in fact, in his normal patchwork tunic.

“I could have sworn you were wearing green…”

Four tilted his head, his eyes glinting in the sunlight. “You guys are so weird. Besides, I was wearing red.”

Sky narrowed his eyes.

“Anyhow,” Time said, successfully stepping in front of Legend who looked about ready to throttle Four where they stood. “Me and our knight found a potential next step for us. Dragon Roost Island would be our best chance at finding more information.”

Sky nodded. “It’s the central post office for the Great Sea, so there’s a much better chance at getting more widespread information.”

“Oh, so that’s what those red posters with letters were probably talking about…” Hyrule hummed.

“...So, where is this island?” Twilight asked, and Time made a noise.

“Turn around.”

The chain turned around, and as the sound of a gong rang through the air, they looked upon the volcano which seemed to house a large shifting shape on top of it.

“Of course,” Wild said.

“Of course, what?” asked Legend, crossing his arms.

“Of course it would be the giant volcano.”

“Ah! Yeah, it would be, wouldn’t it?”

“Luckily, it won’t be a long trip,” Sky said, trying hard not to look at Legend as he spoke and instead turning to look at the approaching ship. “We’ll be there by the end of the day.”

Chapter Text

Getting up the stairs took longer than Wind anticipated, but when the first draft of a breeze hit his face, he let out a relieved breath. He sat Warriors down against where the stairway ended. Warriors looked pale, maybe the fresh air would help. He tried to look certain, but he could see how his hands shook as he reached for Warriors’ bag so he could pull it off.

“Okay, uhm- Fuck… I’m gonna take off your shit, okay?” He took off Warriors’ scarf and pauldron, setting them to the side, and then struggled for a moment with the outer layers of Warriors’ tunic. He winced at the slice across Warriors’ chest - it was still bleeding lazily, but he could see where it had begun to scab over due to the potion. That wasn’t what worried him the most about this, though. No, Wind was much more concerned about the arrowheads still lodged in Warriors’ body.

He unwrapped the bandages, looking at the wounds, and then froze. The severed arrowheads were still in there, but Wind could see from here where the metal tips bit into Warriors’ body, a layer of new skin formed over the barbed edges of the arrow. Wind remembered Warriors talking about this before - not the exact words, but making sure all of the projectiles were out of the body before taking a healing potion. Wind wanted to scream, because Warriors was the one who was so insistent on leaving it.

Still. Saying this wouldn’t do either of them any good, and he didn’t want to upset Warriors even more than he already had - their previous argument still hung heavy over his shoulders as he rifled through the bags. He pulled out a roll of bandages and after dumping some sort of disinfectant onto them, he started wrapping them around Warriors’ torso. His brother barely responded as he did so, his eyes looking somewhere past Wind as his chest trembled with every breath.

In the end, there was barely enough to wrap the wound on Warriors’ chest. Wind swore under his breath, and Warriors’ eyes slid over to him, his head tilting just a bit.

“We don’t- What the fuck do I do?” Wind asked, feeling how his voice shook. He knew it was a long shot, but maybe Warriors would respond - maybe Warriors would know what to do, Warriors always knew what to do when he didn’t. He didn’t know what miracle he was hoping for, but he was desperate for Warriors to just tell him what to do. 

His brother didn’t speak. He stared at Wind like he was a stranger, his eyes unfocused and laced with exhaustion before he turned away with a quiet sigh.

Wind was out of his fucking depth, he realised. He racked his mind for any memory of what he was supposed to do, but he came up empty. Still, he couldn’t just sit there, could he? Warriors was in pain, and those arrows needed to come out, sooner rather than later. He knew how bad infection could be, and with their limited supplies, infection more than likely meant death. 

He dug through Warriors’ medical kit some more, finding nothing - no bandages, no tools, nothing. Wind blinked back panicked tears- there wasn’t time for that. He knew basic medical shit, he knew he did, Warriors had taught him this stuff before, so why was he forgetting now, when it actually mattered? If Warriors died out here, it would be his fault, and then the rest of his brothers would know he wasn’t really a hero, that he was exactly what they all thought he was - a child, just a kid with a sword who managed to get here, a mistake in the timeline-

“Breathe,” Warriors’ gentle voice cut through his racing thoughts, and Wind was suddenly aware of the pain in his chest that felt like he was being strangled, his lungs hyperventilating like they couldn’t get enough air despite that. Through bleary vision, he saw Warriors reach out with one hand, taking his own and squeezing it. “Just focus on my voice, okay?” 

His brother’s voice was weak, barely more than a mumble, but Wind latched onto it. He watched Warriors closely, staring at his chest as it rose and fell gently. It was a reassurance as he copied it, trying to time his own breathing as the pulsing in his heart and mind slowed down, as his stomach stopped feeling like it was being squeezed. He heard Warriors say something that might have been a praise, but he didn’t fully comprehend it, just using the noise to ground himself. 

“Good,” Warriors said, his voice softer than Wind had heard in a long, long time, and there was something in Warriors’ eyes that was close to pride. “You’re okay, sailor.” The sound was almost enough to make him cry, his heart bursting as he realised just how much he had missed Warriors talking to him like this - with such fondness, like Wind was the most important thing in the world to him. For so long, it had been that stupid front that he always kept up around him and the others, that stupid captain persona, but just for a second, Wind could see Warriors, and not just The Captain.  

Wind took another breath as Warriors squeezed his hand again, his mind still feeling so far away from the situation but at least he could breathe without feeling like he was about to die. After a moment, Warriors winced, seeming to remember the situation. 

“Sailor, listen to me,” Warriors said quietly, pulling his hand back. Wind resisted the urge to grab at it again, instead focusing on Warriors’ slurred words. “I know you’re scared, but you need to listen to me here. Can you do that?” 

Wind swallowed, nodding his head. Warriors made a noise as he shifted. “Alright. Do we have-” He grunted as he moved, one arm flinching up towards his injured shoulder before he stopped himself with a hiss. “Do we have more bandages?”

Warriors’ jaw clenched when Wind shook his head. Warriors looked like he was about to say something for a moment, and then he paused. Wind watched as Warriors gritted his teeth, reaching down to his scarf that lay at his side despite the obvious pain. He gripped the fabric, finding a snag in the very edge of it - Wind remembered that he was the reason it was snagged there. He had been wearing the scarf, parading around camp a few months ago.

He remembered Warriors had to wrap it around his neck a few more times than he did for himself. Personally, Wind didn’t think he was that much shorter than Warriors. There was only a head between them, he came up to Warriors’ shoulders, yet his brother loved to remind him of that fact. Anyway, Wind remembered that despite this, the scarf still tailed behind him. In fact, he caught the very end of it on one of the branches of a bush. He ended up being pulled over and falling onto his ass.

Warriors had rolled his eyes fondly as he looked at the snag, saying something about repairing it. He never had. Was Warriors reminiscing on that time, like he was right now? Why? Did Warriors think he was going to die-

RIIIIP!

Wind flinched at the sharp sound of fabric tearing, watching as Warriors let out a pained little groan as the movement jolted the arrows embedded in his side and shoulder. Wind didn’t have words as Warriors ripped up his scarf twice more and then pressed the strips of fabric into his hand, the intentions clear. Wind could feel the embroidered orange thread on the thinly woven blue, and when he ran his thumb over the royal blue, he could feel the indents of embroidery - runes from Warriors’ era woven into his scarf in blue thread. He could feel where the threads had come undone, where the runes had been ripped apart, and while he didn’t fully understand Warriors’ runes, he couldn’t help but feel like something had gone wrong.

Despite this, he wasn’t going to argue about this. “The… The wounds healed over the arrows. If I pull them out, it’s gonna rip more.”

He saw Warriors take a breath and froze, an instinct inside of him saying that Warriors was going to be angry at him, again. Instead, Warriors exhaled, blinking slowly. 

“Okay. Then we’ll need to remove them surgically.”

Wind’s eyes widened. “What?!”

“I need you to- to cut the arrows out,” Warriors said, almost infuriatingly casual. “Use the disinfectant on my dagger, it’s- the blade is smaller than yours is, sharper too. Cut until the… the barbs can be removed. Do you understand?”

“Wait, I don’t- I don’t want to do that! Why would I hurt you more?!”

“Tune, please.” Warriors’ voice sounded strained with emotion, and Wind froze. Warriors’ eyes were dazed again, and Wind knew he wasn’t seeing Wind anymore. “Just- I know you don’t want to hurt me, but I- Fuck, I need you to listen to me here. Okay?”

The desperation in Warriors’ eyes felt unnatural. His brother was always put together. He always knew. 

Wind decided he didn’t like seeing Warriors so scared.

Taking a breath to try and steel his nerves, Wind nodded. “Okay…”

Warriors seemed to relax at that. “I trust you, sailor,” he admitted quietly, and Wind reached for Warriors’ dagger. He did as Warriors had instructed, using a small section of the meagre amount of remaining bandages to apply the disinfectant over the thin blade. Then he moved to Warriors’ side, ignoring how his heart beat in his throat as he raised it against Warriors’ skin.

The arrows were deeper than he thought they were. He cut two slits into Warriors’ skin, using every ounce of his focus to try and keep the blade steady and trying not to let Warriors’ pained breaths distract him. He stopped when he felt the blade hit against the metal arrow tips inside Warriors’ flesh, moving the blade away. Then, still holding the blade in one hand, he reached for the severed wooden shaft of the arrow, trying his best to stay away from the wound itself. It took a few attempts, but the arrow dislodged itself. Then he would throw the blood-stained arrowhead a few feet away, letting it clatter against the stone. Then, he’d grab one of the strips of Warriors’ scarf and pour disinfectant and as little potion as he could spare over it because he knew Warriors would be on his ass about resources when he was lucid before pressing it into the wound, letting it heal a little before finally wrapping it.

He tried his best to ignore the thick scent of iron in the air as he repeated his movements twice more, tried to ignore the feeling of his brother’s warm blood coating his hands and the way Warriors’ body twitched when he dug the knife in. He pretended he didn’t see Warriors’ other hand reach up when he pressed his blade against the skin of the last arrow, pretended to ignore how Warriors’ eyes were wide and frenzied with panic that melted away when he saw Wind.

When he was done, he dropped Warriors’ dagger immediately and reached for his waterskin, dumping a good amount of the water inside it over his hands and ignoring how his stomach rolled at the bloody smear that was left on the container. He let the water slosh onto the stone below them, trying not to look at how the blood-stained water stained the light grey rock a light-ish pink. Try as he might, Wind couldn’t ignore that his brother’s blood was still on him.

Out of his periphery, Wind watched as Warriors reached up, wincing as he felt along the makeshift bandages. After a moment, he nodded. “Good,” the captain confirmed. Then, he watched as his brother tried to stand, leaning heavily against the wall.

Wind was at his side in a moment, putting a hand on his back. “Oh- Okay, wait, let me- let me pack up first, just wait, alright?” 

When Warriors nodded, Wind left his side, crouching down again to put the wayward medical items and waterskins back into Warriors’ bag. He hesitated before picking up his brother’s dagger, noticing how the blood that was already beginning to dry and turn a darker red against the brilliant silver of the blade before he haphazardly tossed it in with the rest of the supplies, not wanting to look at it for too long. Then he slung Warriors’ bag over his own shoulders along with his own before turning back to Warriors.

“Are you… Are you sure we should be moving?” Wind asked, yet he still walked up to Warriors’ side as his brother finally moved away from the stone archway that made the exit to the dungeon. He didn’t think Warriors would be able to make it very far, at least not comfortably if the way he had one hand wrapped around his midsection and clutching at his side was any indication.

“We need to find a town,” Warriors said simply and with all of the confidence of a man who wasn’t actively swaying on his feet. “We need supplies.”

Wind wanted to argue, but he knew that Warriors was right. They were running low on rations, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to change Warriors’ bandages as much as he thinks he should. Their only other option would be camping out in the stairway to the dungeon, and Wind didn’t want to be anywhere near it. No, Warriors was right, as he so often was. They needed to find some sort of civilisation, or they would just end up starving in the middle of the woods.

“Okay… But we’ll take it slow, okay? We’ll take breaks. Just… let me lead. Alright?”

Warriors looked like he wanted to argue, now, but Wind stared up at him, hoping his expression showed his determination. Legend had once told him he was too easy to read, like a child’s story book. This was one of the few times he hoped that was true.

Evidently, it worked. Warriors relented, his expression going from firm to resigned. It was alarming, really, watching how fast the exhaustion clouded his eyes, but Wind shook himself. 

They walked. Wind stayed in front, though he never strayed too far from Warriors. He could hear his brother’s shaky breathing behind him, could hear how his footsteps lagged and how his boots scuffed sometimes against the hard earth beneath them. Wind tried not to make it obvious that he was worried, he really did, but he fell further and further back until he was at Warriors’ side, just in case his brother collapsed again. 

“Are you sure you don’t need a break?” Wind asked quietly after however long. He still couldn’t see the sun through the thick canopy above them, his only indication of the time being the soft spots of blue and white he could see barely peeking through the leaves, almost taunting him. He wished Time was here. Time would know when the sun would set. Wild, too, with that weird slate that could keep track of so many things. Wind had never fully realised how useful it really was until they didn’t have access to it anymore

“No,” Warriors responded firmly after a silence too long. “We keep moving.”

Wind knew he probably shouldn’t be trusting Warriors’ word right now - any other time, yes, but not when his brother looked mere moments from passing out right in front of him and actively had some sort of drug in his system. Still, he saw the almost dangerous look in Warriors’ eye when he opened his mouth to object - one that was a warning. So, Wind swallowed his words against his better judgement, instead keeping his eyes forwards.

They walked for… a while. Wind was never good at keeping track of the time - sometimes five minutes felt like an hour, and others an hour felt like five minutes. Warriors had always helped him keep track of that, often giving him reminders. It annoyed him sometimes, but despite this, Wind knew he needed it. He especially would have liked that, now. Warriors had always given a better estimate than he would.

Wind tried his best to stay alert, having to wrench himself out of his own thoughts when he noticed himself becoming too distracted. He frowned, trying to keep himself tuned to his surroundings. He focused on every noise - every rustle as the winds blew through the leaves, every laboured breath Warriors took, every flap of wings from above where birds flew unseen through the canopy. 

More than once, he heard something too different - a snap from within the woods, a noise that sounded too Hylian for his liking from behind, a noise that sounded too monster-like from above. He forced himself to stay calm, not wanting to make Warriors panic. His brother already had enough going on in his head, even if it seemed like he was handling it well on the outside. He liked to think he knew Warriors, so he was almost certain that the empty expression on Warriors’ face was just yet another front.

No, Warriors didn’t need to worry about him right now. Wind would be the one keeping an eye out while they walked, cataloguing every sound in the back of his head and keeping one hand ready to unsheathe his sword at a moment’s notice.

…Was this what Warriors felt like? Was this why he always positioned himself either at the head of the party or at the very tail? Was this why he always kept the others either behind or in front of him, never putting himself in the middle? Wind suddenly felt like he was starting to understand Warriors. Not just know, but understand. 

Wind wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about that.

He didn’t know exactly how long it had been, but Wind had just started seeing the small spots of sky that he could see above him begin to turn golden when Warriors’ steps stumbled. The captain groaned, putting one hand against his injured side as his body lurched one way, leaning into a tree for support. Wind was at his side in an instant, concern pooling in his gut as his brother squeezed his eyes shut.

“Nope. Okay, we’re done for the day. Come on, sit down.” Wind let Warriors lean on him, only struggling a little bit as he led his brother to a flat section of the thick forest. He helped Warriors sit down in a singular patch where the grass grew taller and was a more lush green, hoping it would be softer than the rest of the ground surrounding it. He watched Warriors look at him with something between confusion and exhaustion. 

“You stay- stay there,” Wind said a little more frantically than he intended, already moving backwards. “I’ll- I’ll get things set up. You just stay sitting.” With that, Wind got to work setting up a fire. He had seen Warriors do it enough times by now, and he had also seen the rest of the heroes build up a fire on their adventure together more than enough. 

The main struggle was finding dry firewood. For some reason, most of the sticks he would pick up were damp - he didn’t remember it raining while they were walking. Could it have rained while they were in the dungeon? How long had they been in there? It can’t have been long, but then again, everything that had happened in the past few weeks - or months? - felt both like a blur and an eternity in his head. Finding anything that could work as kindling was just as hard. The leaves felt slippery under his boots.

It took him longer than he would have liked, but he eventually came back with an armful of dry grass and sticks. It wouldn’t be a large fire, but it was better than nothing - enough to keep Warriors warm. He tried to remember what Warriors did, even if it took him a little longer than it usually did Warriors - dig a small hole, put the kindling in, set that alight (Wind cheated and used a fire arrow - he wasn’t confident that Warriors wouldn’t just come over and do it himself despite his injuries if he saw Wind struggling for too long), and slowly feed in more of the bigger fuel.

Eventually, the fire was sizable, leaving Wind with a decent amount of fuel leftover. Satisfied that it wouldn’t burn out for a little while more, Wind got to setting out the bedrolls, trying his best to remove any rocks that would poke at them from underneath. He set the two bedrolls close together, only struggling a little to undo the ties. 

He kneeled next to Warriors afterwards, carefully removing Warriors’ outer layers again and unwrapping the torn strips of scarf from the wounds on Warriors’ side and arm. He couldn’t see anything visibly wrong with them, but he washed them out with water and the disinfectant anyway, trying to be as conservative as Warriors stiffened and hissed, pulling away. 

With a wince, he settled for leaving the slash on Warriors’ chest be. He was never very good at estimations, but Wind was certain that their quickly diminishing resources would not be enough to deal with all four of Warriors’ injuries. He rewrapped Warriors’ wounds, tearing up more of the scarf to do so - Warriors barely even reacted when he did so, and Wind after he had re-wrapped the wounds, he placed the bloodied strips of fabric into his own bag. He didn’t know much about sewing, but maybe he could ask Legend to help him repair it later on. He thought that Warriors would like that.

He watched as Warriors stared into the fire, his eyes barely leaving the flames as they danced in front of him. Wind could barely see anything behind them - like his brother wasn’t really present. It was scarier than Wind would like to admit, seeing Warriors look so… empty. 

Wind shook his head, digging through Warriors’ bag and pulling out some dried rations. “Captain?” He tried to get Warriors’ attention gently. His brother didn’t respond.

He frowned. “Captain, you need to eat something…” 

No reaction.

Wind looked down at the dried meat in his hand and then back up at Warriors. “Captain? You in there?” He asked awkwardly, reaching out his empty hand and putting it on Warriors’ shoulder, shaking him softly-

Warriors reacted in an instant, his hand shooting up and gripping Wind’s wrist, pulling his hand away. His expression was cold, laced with danger, and Wind froze, a pained little squeak passing his lips.

For a long moment, neither of them said anything. Then, Warriors’ expression softened, like he had just come back to himself. He slowly released Wind’s wrist. The younger hero pulled it towards his chest, ignoring the ache. Warriors instead moved his hand to run through his hair, a grimace crossing his face as he went back to staring into the fire.

“You, uh… You should eat something,” Wind spoke much quieter this time, holding out the rations again. After a short moment, Warriors took it. Wind tried not to move away too quickly when Warriors’ fingertips brushed against the skin of his own, but he was pretty sure that he had failed since Warriors looked at him with knowing eyes before he began to eat.

Wind wasn’t very hungry anymore, and he was sure Warriors wasn’t either if the way he took small bites was anything to go by, though they probably had very different reasons. Wind forced himself to chew his own rations, ignoring how each mouthful tasted like mud in his mouth and felt like lead in his stomach when he swallowed.

There were no words spoken between them. The only noise was the crackling of the fire and the gentle rustling of the forestry around them. In any other situation, Wind would launch into some sort of story - something from his adventure, maybe. A situation that had happened to him that would distract Warriors from the pain he was no doubt feeling. Maybe he would say something absolutely unhinged for the express purpose of making Warriors laugh.

Here? Well. The tension was thick. Wind didn’t know what he could say, and he wasn’t even sure that Warriors would respond if he tried, much less how he would respond. So, he settled for the safest choice; silence.

Naturally, with the silence came the thoughts. With nothing else to distract himself, he could feel the guilt and other emotions he had so carefully tried to push down rising in his chest, barraging his mind with the same cycle of this being his fault, and he knew it was right, that his arrogance was the reason Warriors was so injured, but that didn’t make it feel any better. 

He was trying to stop the tears he could feel prickling at his eyes from falling when he heard Warriors sigh. He turned a little, watching as Warriors lifted his arm, clearly an invitation. 

“Come here,” Warriors said quietly, turning his head so his blue eyes met Wind’s. Wind hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling the ache that still burned on his wrist so much more strongly than he had before - he absently wondered if it would bruise - before he shook himself. He shuffled to Warriors’ side, tucking himself under Warriors’ arm and feeling as Warriors pulled him closer. 

Wind buried his head against Warriors’ side, less gentle than he would have been if he were on Warriors’ injured side as his brother rubbed his hand up and down his arm in a soothing motion. He felt fabric being pulled over his legs - Warriors’ scarf, tattered as it was, still long enough to cover both his own legs and his older brother’s. 

“It’s okay,” Warriors whispered, his voice barely carrying over the crackling of the fire. Wind curled up a little smaller against Warriors’ side, not liking how uncertain Warriors sounded but choosing to believe in him, because if he didn’t, then that meant things weren’t okay. 

Things would be okay. It was okay right now, wasn’t it? It was almost like it used to be. Him and Warriors curled up against the fire. The only thing that was missing was the sound of their brothers. He tried to imagine what it would usually be like; Sky carving something out of a block of wood, maybe Time would be playing his ocarina. The sound of Wild cooking something in a pot while Hyrule peeked over his shoulder. The quiet rustle of Four turning the page in whatever book he was reading and a quiet conversation between Twilight and Legend. 

Instead, all he could hear was Warriors’ breathing, and though he tried to imagine it, all the vision did was fill him with a sense of missing them. He didn’t even know how long it had been since he had last seen the others - since him, Hyrule and Wild had wrestled, since Time had told him a story that may or may not have been true, since Sky held him, since Twilight had scruffed him to stop him running off on wash days, since Four had scolded him on his weapon maintenance (or lack thereof). 

He curled in on himself a little more, pressing himself further into Warriors’ warmth. He made a little squeak when Warriors shifted, pulling back slightly to see Warriors reaching towards his shoulder, picking at the blue fabric acting as a scarf. Slowly, making sure Warriors would see it, he reached a hand up, pulling Warriors’ away.

“Don’t touch it,” he said quietly. “You don’t want to open it up any more.”

“Don’t lecture me, it isn’t my fault that I’m injured,” Warriors snapped without even looking at Wind, his voice suddenly much more harsh than Wind could have ever anticipated as he pulled his hand out of Wind’s grasp. Wind couldn’t help but flinch backwards a little at the quick movement, one hand subconsciously going to the wrist Warriors had grabbed earlier. 

As quickly as it had happened, the anger was gone from Warriors’ expression as he looked at Wind with an almost sorrowful expression. 

“No, I didn’t mean that,” Warriors sighed, slumping forwards a little. “It’s not your fault, of course it isn’t, you’re just a kid…”

Wind bit his tongue at that, moving closer to Warriors’ side and pulling the scarf a little tighter over their laps like a safety blanket. 

“None of this is your fault,” Warriors continued as Wind leaned against his side. “Fuck, you should be with the others right now, not dragged along, dealing with my bullshit… They’d actually know how to take care of you, they’d be able to- to keep you safe…” His words were slurred, dripping with guilt that Wind shook his head at.

“You are keeping me safe,” he said, believing it. “You’re my big brother, and I chose to come with you. I don’t regret it.”

For a second, Warriors didn't react. Then Wind felt a hand on his back, warm and heavy as Warriors leaned even further onto Wind, laughing bitterly. “Goddesses, you don’t change one bit…”

Wind didn’t know how to feel about that comment, but he didn’t comment on it, instead choosing to lean even further into Warriors’ side, pulling the scarf up a little tighter. He knew Warriors was still feeling his own emotions - or at the very least, trying not to, but he thought he was helping. Warriors slowly stopped shaking, his hand on Wind’s back growing more and more steady. Wind blinked his eyes closed, the warmth of the fire mixed with the slow rise and fall of Warriors’ chest soothing him. 

Now it did feel a lot more like it used to, so close to falling asleep as they leaned against each other. He felt a hand reach up, slow and careful as fingers ran through his hair. Wind hummed happily, leaning into the touch-

Then he heard Warriors’ breath hitch. He barely had enough time to open his eyes before he felt Warriors shove him away. Wind only just caught himself with his arms, feeling to grass and packed dirt against his bare hands as he saw Warriors staring at him, his eyes cold again, his body stiff. 

“What the hell are you doing?”

“You were- You were leaning on me-?” Wind choked out, but Warriors pushed himself up without letting him finish, and from here Wind could see how his legs shook beneath him, how his face was flushed and how his face glistened with sweat.

“It won’t happen again.”

Wind couldn’t help the shaky laughter that rose out of him, his nerves in overdrive. “H-Hah… Ha- What?”

Wordlessly, Warriors turned away from him, moving towards the forest.

“O-Okay, okay- Wait, hold on-” Wind pushed himself onto his feet, and he could already see that Warriors was starting to veer so he put himself at his side, doing his best to hold Warriors up. Warriors tensed, and Wind felt him grab at his shoulder and try to push him off.

“Get off, sailor, this is pathetic-!”

“I’m trying to stop you from- from falling!” Wind argued back, pushing at Warriors’ hands despite the voice in his head that screamed danger, danger! “You- You need to sit down!”

“I don’t need your help,” Warriors hissed. “I’m- I am perfectly capable- of walking, I don’t need you clinging to me like a toddler!”

“Captain, please just sit down,” Wind realised how young he sounded as he begged, but he didn’t care when Warriors was still trying to pry him away. He knew his brother wasn’t fully present, of course he did, but that didn’t mean he was going to let him walk off by himself. No, Wind needed him to sit down.

Warriors said something else that was far too slurred for Wind to understand, and Wind could feel Warriors’ muscles jolt as his brother’s weight fell onto him again. The sailor was barely able to maneuver Warriors into a sitting position, his muscles aching at the strain. Warriors pushed at him weakly again, and then his eyes slipped closed. Wind let out a panicked little noise as Warriors slumped against him, quickly moving him to lay down on the bedrolls. Wind first put a hand on Warriors’ neck, trying to find the pulse - it was a little weaker than it should have been, but still steady. At least, he hoped. Warriors was still breathing, too. Wind winced when he brushed Warriors’ hair out of his face, putting his hand over his forehead and feeling the temperature was a little too high. Whatever had been happening, Warriors was now obviously sick on top of it.

Fuck. Fuck. Wind could feel his hands starting to shake as the adrenaline from earlier wore off - Why did he need adrenaline? He wasn’t in danger. Warriors didn’t mean danger. Right? Warriors was just sick and in pain and dosed up with some sort of hallucinogenic poison. That was it. He didn’t need to be scared, he was safe.

Even so, Wind could feel his lungs trembling and his heart beating against his ribcage at a thousand miles an hour. His throat felt tight in that way he was so used to when he needed to cry, and he hated it. He pressed one hand over his mouth tightly, the other still resting atop Warriors’ head as he tried to stifle the sobs that ripped out of him without him wanting them to. 

This sucked. This whole thing was awful and he didn’t know why. He had been trying to help Warriors, but it felt like everything he did only made his brother more angry at him, and he didn’t know what he could do anymore. He just never listened. He’d start listening, now, he decided. Whatever it was. Warriors was going through enough, so he would listen. That’s why Warriors was hurt, why Warriors was sick, why Warriors pushed him. He just had to be a better brother.

It made sense, Wind supposed as the flames danced in his vision, that he was fucking up this badly. He had never been a little brother before. But that was okay. He was going to be better, like Warriors needed him to be.

Even so, he could feel the tears run down his face. He certainly didn’t feel better.

Wind spent the whole night staring into the fire, listening out for anything in the woods. Usually, Wind would have gotten bored within the first hour, but it felt like he had blinked and the sun was peeking through the canopy above them, their fire finally starting to burn out. His eyes felt heavy and his heart ached, but none of that mattered when Warriors began to stir next to him.

He watched as Warriors pushed himself up with a groan. Wind winced. He didn’t need to be in Warriors’ shoes to know the sort of pain he was feeling. Warriors fully dressed himself, wrapping the tattered scarf around his neck again and fixing his pauldron in place once more.

Truthfully, Wind wasn’t sure what he had expected when Warriors woke up, but it certainly wasn’t for his brother to stand up, albeit on shaky legs, and start cleaning up camp like nothing had happened at all. He watched with wide eyes as Warriors kicked dirt into the small pit that housed the ashes of their small fire, patting it down with his foot so that it looked almost natural. Then, Warriors sat down next to him again (but not without wincing), digging through his bag and handing him a small amount of rations.

“Morning, sailor,” he said quietly, with that smile that Wind knew Warriors used when he wasn’t feeling right. Wind nodded wordlessly.

“Good morning,” he responded after a moment, finally remembering to actually take the food he was being handed before eating them. 

Wind lasted longer than he would like to admit. He made it through their awkward, subdued breakfast, he made it through Warriors standing up with a grunt and reaching a hand down that Wind didn’t take to help him up, he made it through Warriors taking his bag from him as well.

When he handed Warriors his bag, he watched his brother sling it over his shoulder. But when his brother reached a hand out to ruffle his hair, he couldn’t help but flinch backwards despite himself, the memory of ending up in the dirt the previous night replaying in his head. He found he was unable to stop thinking about it, no matter how much he desperately wanted to lean into Warriors’ touch right now.

Warriors looked at him strangely, but he didn’t speak on the matter. In fact, Warriors didn’t mention anything that happened in the last day or so as they walked. Wind stayed close to Warriors’ side, watching for any signs of his brother starting to fall back or slow down but found none. 

The silence stretched on for a bit longer - a few minutes? An hour? Wind wasn’t sure - before he spoke up.

“You pushed me yesterday.”

Warriors paused, turning around to look at Wind. 

“I… What?”

Wind winced, realising far too belatedly this was not the best way to approach the subject, but it was too late now. He took a breath, wrapping his arms around himself almost like a hug. 

“You, uh… We were cuddling and you pushed me. Onto the ground. And then you tried to- tried to get up and walk away and passed out.”

It was silent for one long, tense, uncomfortable moment. He couldn’t read Warriors’ expression - it was the same. Cold. Distant, almost, like Warriors was viewing this as another case that might have heard about doing his duties as a captain.

Like Warriors didn’t care.

Wind couldn’t help feeling shame as the thought came and went. No, Warriors did care about him. That wasn’t in question, here. 

…Was it?

Wind suddenly found that looking Warriors in the eye became much harder after that - both because of the guilt that had settled in his chest, and because of the cold blue that he was met with.

When Warriors finally spoke, his voice wasn’t at all what Wind expected. He wasn’t angry, shouting at Wind and calling him childish for accusing him of such a thing, but he wasn’t remorseful, either, with his voice quiet as he spoke his regrets. 

Wind wasn’t sure which one he would have preferred more, but he thinks he would have preferred anything to the almost apathetic stare he got. Warriors’ eyes were sharp, like they were judging his every move.

“What are you talking about?”

“You, uh… You pushed me. Hard.” Wind couldn’t help but laugh quietly, the sound awkward and trembling. This was obviously the wrong choice. Warriors’ expression ran through what felt like a hundred different emotions, and Wind found he couldn’t look at him, instead casting his gaze onto the dirt beneath his feet, feeling for the world like a disgraced child.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Warriors responded, firm and certain. Then his voice dipped quieter. “I wouldn’t do that. Why would I do that?” Wind could hear the uncertainty, could hear the quiet calculations hidden within Warriors’ tone. 

Wind laughed again, gripping the fabric of his tunic in his hands, but he didn’t say anything. He looked up again, watching Warriors’ expression very carefully and seeing how it slipped into something more cold. He watched Warriors take a breath, closing his eyes as though he was restraining himself.

“Sailor, what the fuck are you on about?”

The question was simply that - a question, but Wind still felt his heart jolt at it. Warriors’ head was tilted, and Wind felt like an unsuspecting animal, like that time he had found Wolfie hunting a deer to bring back to Wild for dinner. There was another silence between them as Warriors waited for a response. Like a predator waiting for his prey, his mind supplied unhelpfully. 

Wind’s mouth wouldn’t move, his brain wouldn’t work. He didn’t know what to say that would make the situation better, and he didn’t know what would make the situation worse, so he settled for an uncomfortable silence. That was the easier choice than fighting through his closed up throat and the panic settling in the forefront of his mind as he just stared at Warriors with wide eyes.

Warriors watched him carefully for a few more long moments before he finally broke eye contact, reaching one hand up to rub at the bridge of his nose.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Warriors spoke firmly, looking up at Wind with a fierce expression that made him shrink into himself. Wind looked into Warriors’ eyes, trying to find something - recognition. Remorse. Any indication that Warriors was listening to him.

Instead, he found nothing. Not a shred of recollection. Did Warriors really not remember? Did Warriors even know? Or did he just not care? Wind opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He closed it, clenching his jaw and looking at the ground again, trying not to cry.

Warriors was still for a moment, and then he sighed, turning around. “Let’s keep moving.”

And that was that. Wind trailed behind Warriors, watching his footsteps as they trudged through the forestry together. Part of him wanted to push it more - insist that it had happened, that it was real and Warriors couldn’t deny him forever.

But… Wind was tired. His heart felt like a lump of stone in his chest, his eyes felt heavy with exhaustion and he was so, so tired. He missed his brothers, because at least one of them would be able to get through to Warriors. Right? Legend, Time or Hyrule especially. They all just seemed to be able to see Warriors, unlike him. They were the ones that Warriors could trust with his secrets. Not like him. 

Usually, this would upset him less, but when Wind was the only one with Warriors, unable to get his brother to open up fully and with no idea of how to get him to rest… He wanted to be angry, really, he did, but he just couldn’t bring himself to be angry at his brother.

Besides, how much of this could he actually attribute to Warriors himself? Wind wasn’t the only one struggling out of the two of them, that much was obvious. Warriors was tired, too. Wind had been seeing it for months, but he never had the words to say anything before this, much less now. As if that wasn’t enough, Warriors was actively sick, even if he was pretending he wasn’t, or at least more affected by whatever that poison was than he let on.

Wind hated this sense of guilt curling in his stomach. He hated being tired, he hated being in the woods, he hated being alone without the others, he hated that stupid lizard which brought them on this quest in the first place. He hated having to see his brother like this, he hated that stupid dungeon, but more than anything else, he hated himself for being the fucking reason Warriors was hurt. For not being strong enough, for not being fast enough, for not being good enough-

He took a sharp breath as he wrenched himself out of the pits of his mind, trying his hardest not to be too loud as he choked back even more tears. He couldn’t think like that. Being all self deprecating wasn’t going to help him or Warriors. They needed to be aware, and Warriors was already struggling. Wind needed to be at his full capabilities, not lost somewhere in his mind thinking about how he should be better.

Wind looked down at his wrist, the one that Warriors might have grabbed earlier. There was no bruising, even if he remembered Warriors’ grip. 

…Did he remember Warriors’ grip? What did he remember from earlier? He remembered staring into the fire, but what else? Past that, it all felt like a blur - emotions and movements and words that he couldn’t quite remember. Had it actually happened? Had he dreamed it so vividly that he thought it was real?

He looked up at Warriors, who kept his head forward. Wind picked up his pace, his left hand gripping at his right sleeve as he sidled up to Warriors’ side. Warriors’ ear twitched, but he didn’t turn to face Wind.

“I’m sorry,” Wind spoke quietly into the cool morning air, hearing his own voice cracking on the last syllable. 

Warriors didn’t acknowledge him. Wind didn’t dare to repeat himself lest he break down trying.

It wasn’t much longer after that when Wind noticed the dirt beneath them becoming more worn, a clear path coming into view. Wind could see indents in certain spots where people had obviously stepped more often than the other, resulting in a bumpy trail. They followed the path in silence, and with each minute it became more and more well-traversed.

Wind felt relief fill his body when the unmistakable walls of a town came into view, a gate carved into it with two decently armoured guards stationed at each side. They paused as they saw Warriors and Wind draw near, taking one look at them with wide eyes before one of them spoke.

“By the gods, what happened to you, travellers?”

Warriors was the one who spoke, which Wind was grateful for - if he tried, he was sure he would have started crying. “We had an unfortunate run-in with some monsters in the forest. We tried to evade them, but ended up getting cornered in a dungeon not far from here. As you can see,” Warriors made a vague gesture to the wrappings around his side and shoulder, grimacing. “It didn’t end too well.”

Wind looked at the ground, trying not to look too guilty.

The second, smaller guard winced at Warriors’ response. “Oh, that one? I swore we cleared that out recently…”

The guard who originally spoke first - a taller man with a thick beard - responded, “We did. The problem is, those monsters just keep coming back.” He turned to Warriors, glancing at Wind. Wind could see the way his brow creased as he looked between them both, fixing Warriors with a look. “And how come you’re travelling together?”

“He’s my younger brother,” Warriors said quietly, confidently. “We’re monster hunters who were separated from the rest of our family. We’ve been in the woods for quite some time now.”

“These woods stretch on for miles,” The older guard spoke. “We’re the only settlement around here for a good few months.”

The smaller guard looked at Wind with pity. Gods, Wind hated that expression. “How old is he? Can’t be more than nine…”

Wind scrunched up his face, and Warriors fixed him with a tired look. “He’s thirteen,” he said, and Wind could read the exact tone Warriors was doing. It was the one Warriors did when he was fucking sick of a conversation, but didn’t want to be rude. Despite the circumstances, Wind couldn’t help but feel amused. 

The larger guard glared at the cadet, who looked away awkwardly. With a sigh, he pulled a notepad and a thin piece of charcoal off his belt, starting to scratch something into it. “Here, take this to the inn - you can’t miss it, it’s a clean left when you enter. Give this to Ethel and tell her Dotan sent you. This’ll get you and the kid a room to stay for a few days while you get yourself back on your feet. Got it?”

Dotan ripped the paper out of the notebook, handing it to Warriors. In the split second that Wind could see the script used, he squinted - it looked nothing like either his own blocky Hylian, or Warriors’ more circular one. Warriors nodded, looking over the paper. Wind was impressed - if he didn’t already know Warriors wasn’t from this era, he might have actually believed that Warriors could read this Hylian.

“Your kindness is very appreciated,” Warriors said with grace, and Wind couldn’t decide whether he wanted to flinch away or lean into the touch when Warriors put a hand against his back, guiding him past the guards and into the safety of the town walls.