Archive of Our Own

Legend was exhausted. The Chain had been thrown through four different portals in the last two days, and always landed in the middle of a monster camp filled with black blooded monsters, ranging from the (relatively) easy bokoblins, moblins, and lizalfos, to the more tricky darknuts, hinoxes and even one of Wild's lynels. It was thankfully a red one. Legend didn’t think they would have been alive now if it was a silver lynel.

They had barely gotten time to rest and mend their wounds from the battle before the next portal opened, sending them into a new fight against the Blackbloods. They had fought for hours now, and Legend could feel the relief to his bones, when, finally, the last Blackblood was killed by Twilight. The Chain waited with bated breath, tensed muscles and senses going haywire, searching for the next portal that would drop them in the next monster camp.

Legend could see how the group strained themselves to stand and listen. He could see how Warriors clutched a wound in his shoulder, panting heavily. He could see how Hyrule struggled to stand, no doubt out of magic exhaustion, but still tried to heal the worst of their wounds. 

He could see how the adrenaline from the past few days began catching up with Wind and how he began struggling, but still fighting, to hold his eyes open. He could see how hard Sky was breathing, clutching the Master Sword as a lifeline while his eyes darted around the grounds for any surprise attacks.

Legend could see how Four winced every so often, his hand twitching upwards to hold his probably pounding head, and how his eyes flickered through the colours of his tunic. He saw how tense Wild was, holding an arrow nocked, as his eyes and ears swiveled around searching for monsters. 

He saw how Time stood ready for a new fight, the Biggoron sword in hand, and his only eye casting side glances at the Chain while searching for monsters. He could see how Twilight's sensitive nose twitched, likely trying to block out the scent from the dirt, grime, sweat, and blood that covered the heroes.

Legend was probably doing the worst health-wise. He was covered in big and small wounds, the worst being a long cut on his left underarm and a deep cut in his leg from which blood flowed sluggishly. He had used up almost all his magic and was running on reserves. His muscles screamed and his head pounded from when he'd been hit by a moblin's club, and he could feel the almost dried blood on his face cracking. His rabbit heart was beating loudly in his ears, and he struggled to hear anything other than his ragged breaths.

After around ten minutes of a tense silence, only being interrupted by their heavy breaths and the groans from their wounds, Time finally let his shoulders sink. Not relaxing, but not as tense. The others were quick to follow, Four, Hyrule, and Wind almost immediately dropped to the ground. Four leaned into a nearby bush, puking his guts out, finally giving into the portal induced nausea, with Hyrule holding his hair and comforting him by stroking his back.

Wind fell asleep the moment he fell back, and Warriors bent down next to him and began wiping what he could of blood off of the Sailor's face. 

Legend almost dropped down with them.

“Does anyone know where we are?” Time asked, a little after Four stopped puking and pulled himself together enough to listen.

Legend looked around. They were in a thick forest filled with life. The trees were giant and towered over them with many thousands of green leaves and long vines that hung down from the high branches. The birds were chirping and he could see the animals that were scared away by the fighting slowly begin showing themselves again. So not his or Hyrule's Era then.

Legend heard Twilight sigh and turned slightly to have him in his sight. 

“Looks like we're in an ‘in-between’. I recognise some of it, but it looks… different. Older.”

“So early Wild?” Warriors asked, looking at Wild, who shrugged.

‘Maybe,’ he signed. ‘I don’t recognise it either, but if we could get to a higher point I could probably see closer.’ Wild looked at the dishevelled group; tired, hurt, and full of wounds. Legend could see it in his eyes as he thought; the uncertainty, the worry, the hope for rest.

‘Though…’ his hands lingered on the word, dragging it out in consideration. 

“We should find a safe space to camp first,” Legend continued. He looked at Wild, who nodded.

“Good call,” Hyrule said from the ground next to Four, who had gotten some colour back in his face. “I don't think many of us can walk for long now, myself included. I've used a little too much magic.”

Legend sent Hyrule a look of worry that only his successor could see. Legend would rather die than show the Chain a sliver of his soft heart. Only ‘Rulie managed to wiggle himself into his closed heart, and that was due to him being Legend's direct reincarnation, and the fact that even what Legend did as the Hero of Legend, he still felt guilty that he couldn't stop what had happened to what would be Hyrule's present.

It was a sore spot for Legend, something that would drag him down into the darkest parts of his mind. Even though he was the Hero of Legend, the one with seven quests under his belt, and in the middle of his eighth; even the Veteran of the Chain, who has been travelling all around the world and fought against evil since the age of nine, and had done everything; even he wasn't immune to failure. 

The Traveler's era told him that even though he saved the world from destruction five times, he still couldn't give Hyrule a good present. He saved his uncle the first time, but couldn't be there for him - he wasn't even in the same country as him - when he died the second time. He had even failed an entire island! He'd practically killed them!

So Legend knew failure, and every time he looked at the Hyrule his successor called home, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret and that he could've done better.

“Legend?” Suddenly a voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Hyrule and Wild staring at him. ‘Rulie had an arm draped across Wild's shoulder to hold him up and his eyes drooped a bit, but he was awake. Behind them, he could see the rest of the group walking away from them. The Sailor, seemingly still asleep, was carried on Time's back, while the Smithy was carried by Warriors.

“What?” Legend bit out. It came out weaker than he wanted, but if they caught on, they didn't say.

“Are you okay?” Hyrule asked, and Legend could see he was worried. The Veteran knew he didn't look his best right now.

“Just fine,” he said. “Let's go.” He pushed himself away from them and began walking so he would catch up with the rest. They were walking slowly, so he caught up fast. Behind him, he could hear the Cook and the Traveler shuffle to catch up with him again.

^

Walking was hell. The adrenaline was leaving his body, leaving him tired and the smaller, more annoying wounds and bruises were beginning to show themselves. The only reason he wasn't being carried like Four and Wind was because Hyrule was a stubborn ass, and the Veteran had let himself get convinced (with the help of the Champion and the Rancher) to allow Hyrule to heal the gash on his leg.

It made it easier to walk, but Hyrule had used up the last dregs of his magic and almost passed out standing. Twilight scooped him up and after a bit of finagling, he was carrying the rapidly falling asleep healer on his back. Legend would've never let himself be convinced if the Rancher hadn't butted his head in and said he would carry Hyrule if he were to pass out.

They didn’t have any potions or faeries left, both having been used up in their previous fights, and they hadn’t been lucky enough to find a town to buy new ones, but if they found a place to camp, Wild could make some of his cursed potions. Legend absolutely hated what was in them, but they worked and Legend would rather deal with the terrible taste and knowledge of the death juices, than have anyone die from blood loss or infections.

The forest was quiet. Not in a bad or strange way, but in the way that there wasn't anyone there other than the Chain and the animals in it. It felt ancient and Legend had a feeling that no Hylian had ever been in this forest - at least not this deep in it - much less touched anything in it for many, many years. The animals seemed to reflect this. Rather than being the scared animals that fled at the sound of a branch cracking, the animals seemed more curious. They didn't know yet that the sight of Hylians could mean death, and the Veteran found that he quite liked it.

He’s always liked the forest; even before his first quest started. He used to sneak away from chores just to go to the nearby forest and play there instead, even if he got a scolding from his uncle later. The forest always helped calm him down if he had a bad day. He didn't even realise that animals usually are more careful with people in the forest until after he began travelling with more people. They always came to him, both predator and prey. Though, the prey was never chased for food when he was around. He didn’t know if that was the forest's way of protecting him, but because of it Legend didn’t fully realise what the rabbit instincts would be like when faced with a predator that wanted to eat you, and that just made the Dark World even scarier.

Legend was shaken out of his thoughts as he crashed into Wild’s back who suddenly stopped in front of him. He let out a curse and rubbed his nose.

“Wild?” Time asked who had turned at Legend’s curse. The Cook stood still for a moment, his ears swivelled around, and Legend began to tense up, expecting another monster attack. He looked at Wild waiting for an answer, before Wild’s face lit up.

‘I can hear water,’ he signed. Legend felt his shoulders un-tense, and could briefly see the ripple of relief on all the (conscious) heroes’ faces.

“Thank Hylia,” Twilight sighed. He shifted a bit on the Traveler on his back. “Is it far?”

‘Nope, just a few minutes this way.’ He turned left of the group and began walking, the rest of the Chain following close. And just as Wild said, they found a large river within just a few minutes of walking from the main fight. They looked around for a bit, looking for any monster that could have fled from the fight, and soon Time deemed it safe enough that they could camp there, much to the relief of everyone.

“Wild, Twilight, could you two start with the fire and potions? The rest of us can clean up in the water and set up the sleeping area,” Time said. He cast a glance towards the sleeping Sailor on his back, then to Hyrule who was passed out on Twilight’s back, and Four who was still holding his head in pain on Warriors’ back. He seemed to think for a minute. “We should set up the sleeping area first, then when they wake up, they can clean themselves more thoroughly.”

All nodded and they set out to do their job. Wild started a fire, and Twilight passed the sleeping Traveler over to Legend, before helping Wild set up his things to make more of the cursed potions. Time, Warriors, and Legend laid their passed-out brothers on their bedrolls, and Sky - who had already cleaned up what he could on himself - began to clean up what he could from their bodies and tunics. 

Time, Warriors, and Legend, the only ones who were not doing anything, went down to the river to clean themselves. The Old Man and the Captain began taking off all their layers of armor, while Legend took off his red tunic. While he stared at the water for a bit, Time and Warriors were cleaning themselves in the water up to their knees. He didn’t really want to go in the water, in fear of the curse activating.

The two others didn’t know about it yet, and he didn’t really care for a really painful transformation and the following tiring talk that was sure to happen after this shit-show of a day. Legend sighed and walked forward to the river. He found a small cloth and sat down on his knees to dip it in the cold water. He held it there for a second, to let it soak up as much water as it could, before he scrubbed his face, arms, and legs. He had to dip it in the water a few times, to clean it from the blood and dirt that had turned the originally light blue colored cloth dark red.

He felt the other's eyes on him, but he ignored them in favor of cleaning his wounds. He tried to hide each wince when he was a little too rough on a wound, but the staring was telling. He wasn't surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see that the hand belonged to Time.

“You’re taking a potion when we get back to the others,” Time said. Legend didn’t protest. He knew he would get shot down even if he tried. And it would be nice to walk without pain. He took one last look at himself. Some of the wounds were still bleeding - not much, but enough to be annoying - and would've needed stitches if Wild didn't make new potions.

Legend took Time's outstretched hand and stood up with a grunt. He wobbled a bit, trying to find his balance, and shot a glare at Warriors seeing his look of concern. He was fine, he only had a headache and stood up too fast. He told the Captain as much, which only deepened his look of concern.

“I’m going back to the others,” Legend said and began walking back to the camp. 

If they said something, he ignored it. He heard them follow him after a few seconds. They walked back to the others in silence.

^

As he came back he saw Wild next to the cookpot over the fire, no doubt cooking up the last of the potions or their dinner for today. Judging by the smell, it was the damned potions. He sighed mentally and sat down on his bedroll next to ‘Rulie. 

For a while he just sat there, observing everyone, while his hand carded through the sleeping Traveler’s hair. Soon enough, Wild called on Twilight to help with distributing the potions around the Chain. 

Legend shook Hyrule awake - or as awake as he could be - and helped him drink the potions; he got two. One red for health, and a green for his depleted magic. While he helped Hyrule he saw Warriors and Sky gently wake up Wind and Four (who had fallen asleep not too long after Legend walked to the river to clean up), so they too could drink a potion.

“You okay, ‘Rulie?” Legend asked.

“Ugh,” came the intelligent reply from his successor. “I have a headache,” he mumbled.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. You decided to be a stubborn fuck and heal me, even though I didn’t need it.” 

“You definitely needed it. You were going to pass out standing if I didn’t heal you.”

“I wasn’t going to pass out! I was fine.”

“You were not fine, Vet.” Twilight butted his head in the conversation again. “Traveler is right. If he hadn’t healed you, you were either going to pass out from the blood loss, or the adrenalin drop.” He shrugged, “Either way you see it you were going to pass out, and then it would’ve been you on my shoulder and not Hyrule.”

Legend hated that he couldn’t refute the (correct) assumption, and resorted to looking away grumbling. He didn’t notice the fond look the Traveler and Rancher shared. Twilight pushed a red potion in Legend’s hands.

“Drink,” he said, “Even if ‘Rule healed your leg, you still have that cut on your arm and I’m not taking the risk of you bleeding out.”

Legend took the potion with a grumble, hesitating a little bit at the smell, before he tipped it back and chugged it in seconds. He set it back down with a grimace. He again missed the look Hyrule and Twilight shared, this time a look of worry at the lack of arguing or telling them that ‘he’s fine’, but before they could say anything about it, Wild announced with a clap that food was ready, and the moment was lost.

Legend eagerly made his way to the Champion, and took a plate of food before settling down on a nearby rock, and took a bite of it, not wanting to have the bitter aftertaste of the red death juice in his mouth longer than necessary. Twilight helped Hyrule stand up on unsteady legs to get them a portion of the food themselves.

It was quiet while they ate. No one had much energy to talk as much as they usually did. Wind was so tired he almost fell asleep sitting upright multiple times. The only reason he didn’t drown in his food was thanks to Warriors, who was holding him upright while feeding the Sailor one bite at a time of his food.

Four seemed much better after his, not really intended, nap. He still looked fatigued, but that’s a given taken into consideration how low his tolerance of the portals were. Everyone else also looked exhausted - he had no doubt that he also did. Even Time and Warriors looked tired, and not in the usual ‘what the hell are you doing, and why am I in charge of you lunatics’ tired, but actually down to the bone tired.

Soon enough the topic of night watch came up. Wind, Hyrule, and Four were automatically exempt from taking a watch as Wind was practically asleep already, Hyrule had magic exhaustion, and Four had a killer headache.

“I can take the first watch,” said Sky, much to Legend’s surprise, but it made sense. The Skyloftian was one of the least hurt of the Chain, but since he slept so heavily, it was impossible to wake him for second watch. It was not as impossible to wake him for third watch, but it was still difficult. As he opened his mouth to claim the second watch, Twilight slapped a hand over his mouth and gave him a ‘Look’.

“You are not going to take second watch, Vet,” he said. Legend couldn’t think of a good retort off the top of his head, so he resorted to giving him a glare and pushed his hand away. ‘Rulie had already forced both a healing session and a potion on him, he was fine! “I can take second watch,” Twilight continued before Legend could voice his thoughts.

“I will take third watch then,” Warriors said. No one complained, though Time did give the Captain a side eye, but he ignored it.

Wild was left to clean up after dinner with the help of Time, while the rest began preparing for the night. Legend helped Hyrule to his bedroll, but the Traveler was sagging and practically asleep before he even laid down. He moved his own bedroll closer to ‘Rulie, sat down, and leaned back against the tree right by. He sat there for a while watching the rest of the Chain preparing for bed. Sky laid out his bedroll, but instead of laying down in it, he sat down on a tree stump next to the dwindling fire. Legend saw him throw a few logs in the firepit to keep the flames alive.

The Veteran didn’t know how long he stared at the flames; mesmerized by the heat of swirling colors of red, orange, and yellow over his skin, the many thousand sparks that flew up into the air, highlighting the dark smoke that moved in tandem with the wind; but it was long enough that when he came back to the present, the last rays of the sun was gone, leaving the only source of light the firepit that Sky still sat beside. He met Sky’s eyes, and he smiled.

“There you are,” he said, still smiling. “You zoned out pretty hard a while ago. Had me a little worried.”

Legend hummed. “How long is it left of your watch?” he asked instead of acknowledging Sky. The Skyloftian looked up at the night sky, and Legend’s gaze followed. The dark sky above was filled with stars scattered around the black canvas. There were multiple clusters of stars in the dark night, making the normally pale blue sky an explosion of red, blue, and purple dots. The moon was nowhere to be seen.

“About an hour left. Are you thinking of stealing the rest of my watch, Vet? I’m not going to let you do that, you know.”

Legend bristled at the accusation. He hadn’t actually had any plans of taking over his watch. He had full intent of actually laying down and sleeping this night, but apparently his body and mind said nope and decided to make him lose sleep by getting distracted by wandering thoughts.

“I was going to sleep. I just got distracted,” he defended. Sky didn’t look like he believed it. “I mean it!”

“You mean you are going to sleep, not was. Lay down.”

Legend grumbled, offended by the order, but did as told. He was tired after all. Legend took a side glance at Hyrule, who had wiggled himself over to laying half on Legend’s bedroll and half on his own, and allowed himself to show a fond little smile. He heard a sigh, and his eyes snapped up to look at Sky, who smiled at them in the light of the fire.

“Shut up.” 

Legend ducked out of sight by hiding under his blanket.

“I wasn’t saying anything,” Sky answered and Legend could hear the fond smile in his voice. Legend only grumbled and ignored him, and soon the quiet calm of sleep claimed him.

^

Something was wrong. (Nothing hurt) As Link stared out at the ocean and the waves, a warm breeze flew through the leaves of the high palm trees and the beachgrass scattered around the beach swaying in the wind. The sun shined at a perfect temperature as always, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. 

But something still felt wrong. (This isn’t real)

And he couldn’t figure out what, no matter how hard he tried to think about it. Time seemed to go into slow-mo as he looked at the seagulls flying across the sky. (If I were a seagull, I would fly as far as I could! I would fly to far away places and sing for many people!) Too many meaningless thoughts clouded his mind. Thoughts of an island he didn’t remember the name of with a giant white with purple dots on the top of a mountain. (Koholint) A giant flying pink whale that had to be awoken. (The Windfish) A faceless girl in a blue dress and red hair with a pink hibiscus flower in it. (Marin!)

That lone thought was enough to kick his mind into gear. He spun around and walked with a fast pace along the shore of Toronbo Beach, jumping across stone to stone, avoiding the Sea Urchins as best he could, until he reached his destination. And as always, perfectly red hair with a pink hibiscus flower blew beautifully in the wind, and Link felt his pulse rise.

It always did when he saw Marin.

Link wanted nothing more than to run into her arms and hug her with all his might, but when he was about to run to her, he felt that something was wrong again. He still couldn't figure out what, and it unnerved him. Marin turned around, her blue dress whipping around in the light breeze. She still had the dark beauty marks on her sun-kissed skin under her left and right eye and the two marks stacked on top of each other over the left side of her mouth. Her hazel brown eyes still crinkled the same way they did when she smiled that wonderful smile, with small dimples in each cheek.

Suddenly, her small, beautiful, kind smile turned into a vicious snarl, and her eyes, full of care and love, narrowed into disgust, anger, hate.

“What are you doing here?”

Link was taken aback by the anger and hate in her usually lovely, happy, kind voice.

“What are you doing here?” she repeated, more forcefully, when he didn’t answer. “You abandoned us, and you dare come back to me and act as if nothing ever happened?! You killed us! You knew what would happen if you woke the Windfish and you still did it! You killed us! You killed me! You abandoned and killed me!”

Link couldn’t stand it anymore. He couldn’t bear to hear the hatred and anger in her voice.

So he ran.

He turned his back to Marin and ran like the coward he was. The coward who couldn’t even look in the eyes of the girl of his dreams. 

He didn’t know where he ran; the scenery blending into a blur of green and blue, with the occasional speck of red or yellow. He knew distantly that he ran through Mabe Village, but didn’t give himself enough time to think about stopping, before he already passed by the village and into the prairie. Suddenly, the sky lit up, and almost immediately after, he heard the thunderous strike of lightning. (It never stormed on Koholint. It was always sunshine)

Link startled and his gaze snapped up, and as he squinted through the heavy rain he saw a castle. Hyrule Castle. He sped up, but instead of going through the main entrance, he ran to the side and into the hidden entrance that Zelda’s voice told him about. As Link walked the familiar hallways of Hyrule Castle, he was hit by the sudden sense of déjà vu. As he tried to give meaning to the sensation, he heard a cruel laugh from further inside the castle, giving him shivers down his spine.

He tensed up and turned the corner, and what he saw made him slap a hand to his mouth to muffle the choked out scream that bubbled its way up his throat. He felt his eyes water with unshed tears as he took in the scene in front of him. It was a scene that again and again took place in his nightmares. On the ground in front of him, leaning against the wall, covered in his own blood, was his uncle. And, standing over his uncle’s dying body was the damned mage Agahnim laughing. Link stood frozen, stuck in his memories. (Link, Zelda is your…)

“Hah, would you look at that! The little bunny has come back,” Agahnim threw his head back and laughed cruelly. The mage finally turned around to face Link, and even after all the time since his first quest, Link still froze. He felt his eyes widen, his body lock up and his breath quicken. All the bad memories from his first quest came crashing back. The knights, the Dark World, the dungeons, all the times he almost died, it all came back to him. Link couldn’t think. His eyes drifted to his uncle and they met eyes, and Link’s breath caught again. Instead of the loving or fond look he would normally see in his uncle’s eyes, he instead saw distaste.

“Uncle?” he asked hesitantly. His uncle sneered and Link could see the blood coating his teeth, running down his chin.

“Link,” his uncle said, and Link could hear the blood gurgling in the back of his throat. “Why did you leave me to die?”

“You-you said I needed to save the princess," he stammered out. “I-I tried to save you, I promise!”

“Then why did you leave? You left me alone to die.” His uncle's dead eyes bore into his own.

“I'm sorry!” Link felt the tears run down his face. “The Triforce teleported me away before I could warn you! I really didn't want to leave!”

“That sounds an awful lot like excuses, does it not?” Agahnim purred out behind him. “A little insolent excuse to hide your weaknesses. You're always too late, always too weak, always running away-!”

Link didn’t hear anymore, because he just proved Agahnim right.

He turned away and ran back out the castle, his heart pounding in time with his feet meeting the ground. Not even a hundred meters away from the hidden entrance, he heard the knights after him. The clanking of armor moving while running, swords being drawn and the shouting after him. Link risked a glance back, and his heart jumped up in his throat. The knights were gaining at him and Link could do nothing but speed up and try to lose them. He didn’t know how long he ran for; it could’ve been ten minutes, it could’ve been ten seconds, but before he got to the forest in the distance, where he could hide away in the trees, he felt a hand grab the neck of his tunic and he was dragged roughly back.

He was thrown down on his stomach and felt a knee press down against his back holding him in place. The knight holding him down took the wrists of his hands and held them tight down on his back, stealing his breath and his chances of escape. The laughing around him grated on his ears, and the pressure on his back made it hard to breathe. The terror passing through him, and all the possibilities of how this could go from really bad to catastrophic made it hard to think and almost distracted him enough to ignore the cruel remarks being thrown at him from above. But not enough.

“Look at that pathetic excuse of a Hero. You're just a weak little boy, who managed to convince the Princess of your innocence. If she really could see the truth, she would see the pathetic little weak boy you really are. You can't save anyone, you let everyone around you die because of your incompetence.”

Link could hear the venom in the surprisingly young and feminine voice. He felt a hand in his hair, but couldn't think much of it before it grabbed a handful of his hair and forced his head up to look in the eyes of the knight in front of him. He tried to put on a mask of indifference to hide his terror, but it didn't seem to do much.

“Oh, is the little Hero scared?”

“-ake up, Le-”

Link closed his eyes and tried to shut out all the comments of his weaknesses and failures. All the comments-

“-aving a nightm-”

-from his dead family blaming him for their deaths. All the comments from his-

“-ink! Wake u-”

-friends calling him weak. All the-

“Wake up!”

Link threw his eyes open in a panic. He felt hands on his arms, and he pushed himself on his legs to get away from them, almost tripping over his own feet in the process. His breath was irregular and came in and out in short bursts of air. He turned around to find the source of the hands and his eyes widened in fear at the sight of the knight in front of him.

Before he could even think about what he was doing, he pulled out a pocket knife from the hidden pocket in the sleeve of his under tunic, and held it against the skin of the knight's throat, right over the long blue scarf. Everything around him stilled, and Link couldn’t figure out why. Even the sounds from the forest were seemingly gone. His breath was still erratic and his rabbit heart pounded in his chest and ears.

Soon Link’s breathing and heart slowed down to a more normal tempo and with it came his senses and his rational thinking. Why was he laying down on the ground free, when he had just been held down against the grass and dirt and almost choked to death? Why did they stop and get off him, and how didn’t he notice? And why did he have to wake up? Link’s brain finally caught up to what his eyes were seeing, and he had to push down whatever sound he was about to make, when he realized who it was in front of him.

Legend was sure he was going to be yelled at (for what, he didn’t really want to think about), but instead of being angry, Warriors put his hands over Legend’s, carefully took the knife out of his grasp, and smiled at him. He looked in Warriors’ eyes and felt the pressure in his eyes build up to almost let out tears at the amount of love and care the Veteran saw in his gaze.

“Sorry,” Legend mumbled out, and the Captain answered by pulling him into a hug. Legend gladly accepted and rested his head on Wars’ shoulder.

“I don’t care,” the Captain finally said. “You were having a nightmare and you were still halfway stuck in it when you woke up. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Legend felt the pressure in his eyes become too much and soon the shoulder of Wars’ tunic became wet with tears. Warriors slowly lowered them down to sit on the ground, but the Veteran couldn’t care less. He knew Wars would protect him, and he could finally break down, because in the Captains arms, he finally felt safe.