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Twilight’s heart dropped as Legend was kicked over the cliff edge, the Great Sea bokoblin cackling and pointing. He didn’t think twice—he abandoned his own skirmish, raced toward the spot, clawshot ready, and threw himself after his little brother. He barely caught his arm, twisting under his body to face upward. The clawshot clanked! as it crashed into the bare, white stone, and his shoulder popped with the sudden halt in their descent. They both smacked into the cliffside and groaned.
“You okay?!” Twilight barked above the rush of gray waves beneath them.
Legend looked pale as he clung to his pelt and tunic, looking down despite better judgement.
“Fine!” he squeaked. “I’m fine! What now?!”
The bokoblin that had kicked him squealed as it tumbled past them and went silent in the instant it hit the bone-white rocks peeking from the water. They could feel the sea spray even from up here. Above them, Wind’s tufted head poked over the edge. He yelled something, but it was lost to the gales and waves.
Twilight’s shoulder complained, and he tried to rally his now-torn muscles into holding it in place—Legend might not weigh much to him, but the clawshot wouldn’t be able to pull them both up, nevermind that it had lodged a good ten feet below the top.
“Think your hookshot might stick?” he asked through his teeth.
Legend frantically surveyed the chalky wall: “I’d have to let go.”
“Then let go! I’ve got you!”
Twilight planted his feet against the cliff, and Legend dug in his bag with one hand. The hookshot shook in his grip, his breath as fast as his heart. The sea spray put salt in their eyes, but he blinked it away and fired. The hookshot’s head lodged itself in the rock just above the clawshot. A crack formed between them. Twilight gasped, and the chalk crumbled.
There was nothing else in the world but the cold air hissing past their ears, the weightlessness of their stomachs within them, and the dark water rushing up toward them. Twilight held Legend tight and curled around him just as his back hit the frigid surface. The sea broke around his shield, the shock burning through the exposed skin of his neck first, then through his tunic and chainmail and shirt. All the breath was knocked out of him, and his lungs reflexively sucked in the salty water. Immediately, they began to boil and sting. He coughed and kicked and was tossed around by the waves, the warm body in his arms pulled from him by the movement. He clawed at the heavy darkness—Legend! Legend!—and the dim, threatening sky seemed to be sinking away. His nose and throat burned with salt, his chest heaving helplessly, the weight of everything he carried dragging him further and further down. He barely even registered the sharp fins sweeping past his field of vision, nor the arms sweeping up underneath his and pulling him up and up and up until—
The air broke across his face, and Twilight coughed hideously. Water shot out of his mouth and nose, the waves tossing and slapping him. Every breath brought tears to his eyes, every tug under the arms sloshing the sea he’d swallowed.
“Legend!” he screamed hoarsely.
“I’ve got you!” a voice yelled close to his ear. “Kick your feet! I’ve got you!”
He did as he was told, though he wasn’t sure how much it helped. His head swam more than he did, water and sky taking turns beating at his skull, but Legend’s sure pace dragged him further and further from the tumult.
As soon as the pebbly ground met his boots, Twilight turned to see the shore, and Legend heaved him forward. Twilight crawled on to the cobbled beach and vomited seawater. He could hear Legend pull himself out of the waves behind him and collapse down to breathe. They were alive. They had made it alive.
Twilight laid down, too, the white pebbles and stones curkling beneath him. The air was cold in his lungs, the salt still stinging his nose. His clothes were heavy against him, keeping his soul from leaving his body.
“Vet?” he asked and coughed. “You alive?”
Legend let out something between a groan and a whimper, but ultimately an affirmative.
Twilight turned his head and could see him lying there near his legs, on his back, mouth open wide at the sky. His chest heaved, his hands clutching his soaked tunic. Something was off, though—something blue and pink was stuck to the skin of his hands and cheeks.
Twilight tried to sit up but couldn’t. He unbuckled his swordbelt and shield and threw off his sopping pelt. He rolled on to his side and hissed—right, his shoulder. Fine. He scooted carefully down on his other arm, his entire body aching, over the pebbles until he lay beside Legend. The boy’s eyes were shut tight, his brow furrowed, and the blue and pink scaling across his face shimmered in the gray light. Where his legs should be was a long, limp, blue and pink tail with the spines and fins of a tropical fish. Twilight wondered for a moment how hard he had hit the water—was he seeing things?—before shaking his head and giving in to the reality that he simply didn’t know all his little brother’s tricks. More pressing was the speed at which he was sucking down air.
He put a hand to Legend’s forehead: “Hey. Hey, slow down. You’ll pass out.”
Legend’s fingers curled further into his tunic, and he paused a moment to swallow.
“Are you okay?” Twilight asked worriedly. “Are you hurt?”
Legend’s mouth opened and closed, but no words would come out. He shook his head very slightly, and his eyelids tightened, pressing out tears that rolled over his temples.
Oh.
That’s right. He’d forgotten.
The waves crashed like thunder at the foot of the cliff they’d fallen over.
Twilight shifted himself and slid his good arm under Legend’s head, lying down and holding him close.
“We’re safe,” he assured him. “We’re on solid ground, okay? We didn’t drown, we’re still alive.”
He’d come close to it though. The salt in his lungs had not disappeared, and he could taste the blood it leeched with every breath. He couldn’t imagine doing this alone, lying here and realizing how close to death he’d come.
“This is real life, I promise. It’s not a dream.”
At this, Legend sobbed, and his hands flew to cover his face. Twilight instinctively went to put his arm over him and flinched—shoulder, collarbone, ribs. Ugh. He settled his palm on Legend’s chest instead.
“Breathe. It’s okay. Just breathe.”
The others would probably come down to help them, rather than wait to see if they could take care of themselves, and he knew Legend by now—maintaining that rough, snarky exterior was sometimes all he had to keep himself from falling apart. It would do damage to that protective shell if everyone saw him sobbing like a child.
Twilight tried to think past the slowly-emerging pain in his body and the sloshing of water in his skull.
“C’mon,” he said. “Let’s try to get warm. How do you take off the fish tail?”
Legend took one deep breath after another and hesitantly opened his eyes. He didn’t speak, blinking hard, but reached down and slid the tail off like a pair of pants, and the scales on the rest of him vanished. His knobby knees prickled at the frigid air as he rolled-up the shimmering fabric of the tail around his arm and shoved it into his bag on his hip. His hands trembled.
“Okay,” said Twilight. “Step one done. Easy. Can you sit up?”
Legend swallowed and turned on to his side, slowly pushing himself up on to his knees, then falling back on to his seat. Twilight grinned up at him when he finally met his eyes.
“Why don’t you take that heat elixir Wild gave us earlier, hm?”
Legend stared at him.
“You get up, too,” he said flatly.
Twilight shivered but maintained his grin: “Can’t. It’s okay. I can wait. I’m tough.”
His eyes were beginning to cross, his brain beating with his heart. Legend’s face stiffened, and it was as if the boy’s mind cleared in an instant.
“Are you hurt?” he asked, leaning forward, grasping Twilight’s arm.
Twilight hissed at the touch and let his head fall to the stones: “Yep. Bones. Gotta wait for the Captain, prob’ly. Set ‘em before I have any potions.”
Legend cursed and glanced around, but Twilight knew there was nothing on the little beach that could help. No driftwood for a fire. No obvious paths leading up to the cliffs. Nothing but stones and water and the smell of mussels. That was okay though. He coughed and tasted blood, but it was fine.
“Don’t worry about it,” he slurred as Legend stood and yelled. “We’ve had worse. It’s just a little setback…”
He didn’t hear Wild come fluttering down on his paraglider, nor Wind on his deku leaf. He didn’t hear when the rest of the chain came clattering around the cape, having found a way down. He didn’t have to feel them putting him back together to know everything was alright. He just hoped Legend would know it, too.
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