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It had been hours and although Warriors’ knuckles no longer hurt thanks to Hyrule’s gentle hands, that would change if he saw Wild anytime soon. While he wasn’t as close to Wild as some of the others, Warriors’ sense of duty and orderlinesses in direct opposition to Wild’s rejection of every possible convention, he thought that they had at the very least shared mutual respect. To say something like that was crass, but to say it about Artemis?
Unforgivable.
The rest of the Chain understood. Warriors liked to think they would have done no less in his position.
Well, Twilight would have growled and held back because Wild was his mentee, and Time likely would have just given a disappointed stare. Hyrule would have made big doe eyes and asked Wild why he would say something like that. Four probably would have destroyed Wild’s favorite sword. Wind would have dared Wild to say that to Tetra’s face, if he knew what it meant at all. Legend wouldn’t have thrown a punch but he would have broken out his fire rod and deprived Wild of his eyebrows.
Sky probably would have run him through.
So they might not react the same way Warriors did but emotion behind the reaction would have been the same. Artemis was the queen of the kingdom. One did not talk about the Queen that way.
“Are you calm yet?” Time asked, arms loose at his side. He looked naked dressed in clothes and Warriors found himself distracted for a moment by the sense of wrong. All of this was wrong. At least the question was judgement free, merely an inquiry for information so the team leader could decide what to do next.
Warriors shook his head. “No.” He was not, nor was he going to be calm in the near future. Wild had asked for permission to touch the Queen intimately. It was taking all Warriors had not to hunt him down and punch him again.
Time nodded. “I’m sending Twilight after Wild to tell him to find somewhere else to spend the night.”
“Thank you.” Warriors meant it. The urge to drive his fist into Wild’s face thrummed deep in his veins. He didn’t want that boy under his roof. Hylia, he didn’t want him in his Hyrule.
Time left the room but Warriors wasn’t alone for very long before Legend entered to lean against the wall. The normally snarky teen stood in an awkward silence. “Do you want to vent about it?” he asked, instead of tossing out one of his usual barbs.
“No.”
Legend nodded. “Good talk.” He fiddled with his sleeve for a second.
Warriors exploded for the second time that day. “I just can’t fucking believe the nerve of him!” He stood, knocking his hair over as he began to pace. “I welcome him into my home, give him my wine, and he goes and says that about my Zelda, my Queen! If I had said anything like that about Flora, Wild would have kicked me off of a cliff! Who the fuck does he think he is?!” He snatched one of the cups from the table, throwing it hard enough for the wood to splinter as it hit the stone wall. “I fucking trusted him to, at the very least, not be a fucking asshole! Apparently that’s too much!” Warriors snarled in a way more befitting of Twilight. “What’s next? Is he going to steal my wallet? Put a sword through my back?”
His hand flew forward, hitting the stone with the same force as the cup, knuckles splitting once again. His head was tilted forward, a curtain of gold hiding his face. “I trusted him.”
Legend hummed in response and Warriors wished he had something biting to say, a usual barb to take his mind off of Wild. He just couldn’t understand.
A heavy knock at the door had Legend straightening, pushing off from the wall while Warriors tucked his grief and confusion behind his most charming smile. Captain Huika stood at his door, his face cold and professional instead of wearing his customary smirk. His eyes flicked down to Warriors’ bleeding knuckles before fixing his stare on his face.
“Captain,” he greeted cooly.
“Captain,” Warriors echoed, his voice warmer in an attempt to offset the rigid professionalism at his door.
“The Queen wishes to see you.”
Warriors didn’t sigh. Of course she did. Of course she’d summon him when he couldn’t even look her straight in the face without the word pussy echoing in his mind. “Can it wait?” He didn’t want to carry that with him into the room with Artemis.
Captain Huika’s face grew three degrees colder. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Sir.”
What the fuck? “I’ll come,” he said quickly. “Let me grab my sword.” He trusted Captain Huika, he did, but he’d trusted people before. Hylia’s tits, he’d trusted Wild.
Captain Huika didn’t look happy about it but he’d agreed, taking guard just inside the doorway while Warriors went deeper into the house, his sword on his bed. He passed Hyrule, who tutted and reached for his hand yet again, but Warriors’ shook him off. “I don’t have time. I’ve been summoned by Artemis.”
Time, having heard his name, emerged from the room where Sky had been hiding. “What’s going on?”
Warriors continued to walk, Time falling into step. “I’ve been summoned. I don’t know why.” He exhaled loudly. “One Captain. He’s colder than usual.”
“I’m coming with you.” Warriors felt a knot in his stomach untangle, one he hadn’t even known he’d been carrying. Mask had been there, he’d seen the treachery. He’d had Warriors’ back then.
Of course he had it now.
Armed and with back up, Warriors gave Captain Huika another charming smile as Time left instructions to not blow up the house. Warriors wasn’t particularly worried about that. Wild and Wind were the most likely to engage in property damage and Wind had been sent with that fucking asshole to Hylia knows where, and Sky was there. Sky was decent at tempering down the Chain’s more…destructive habits.
The walk to the castle was as cold as Wild’s mountains. “Captain Huika,” Warriors pried, “do you know what this is about?”
The man’s back was stiff, his hand on his sword while the other constantly flexed into a fist before relaxing.
Flex.
Relax.
Flex.
Relax.
“I really couldn’t say, Sir.”
Relax.
Flex.
Relax.
Flex.
Warriors nodded, pretending to be satisfied with the answer when all he really wanted to do was grab Huika and shake him until the truth fell out from behind his ears. The reason he didn’t was because they truly did seem to be heading towards the castle and Time was behind his shoulder, guarding his back yet again.
Time would never stab him there.
Warriors expected Huika to depart once they’d reached the grounds with a quick comment on where the Queen might be, leaving Warriors to his own business, but instead he escorted Warriors. Instead of going to Artemis’s study or a sitting room, Warriors was escorted to the throne room.
Artemis sat proudly, her face as cold as Huika’s. She was beautiful, as always, bedecked in gold and jewels that echoed the light coming in from the windows. Her crown sat proudly on her head and her dress was pale, stitched with the lightest of pink threads into a complicated pattern. She wore no smile though and there was no warmth in her eyes as she stared down at Warriors. She was Queen Zelda in all her glory and authority, wearing a visage so austere it made Warriors’ guts clench.
She had never looked at him like that before.
Warriors dropped down to one knee, head bowed, and he heard the ruffle of cloth indicating that Time had done the same. The man hadn’t been in his armour when they left and why would he be? Warriors’ house was supposed to be safe, a haven where they could catch a breath and just be.
He clenched his hands.
“Leave us,” Queen Zelda’s voice echoed in the room. Huika clinked as he bowed but there was no movement to indicate that Time intended to obey the order unless forced.
“Mask,” she said, her tone and temper whetted by whatever had brought Warriors before her. “You may stay if you so choose but you will be silent if you do so, or I will throw you in the dungeon as well.”
Warriors could feel his mouth dry but he said nothing as Queen Zelda stood and approached, her skirt whispering like a bird’s wings. She circled around him, once, twice, before she stood before him. Warriors kept his eyes on her shoes. They were white to match her clothes but they were without heels, and the smallest bit of stitch work disguised the fact that these boots were for practicalities sake, like walking.
Or fighting.
“Link,” she finally said sharply, “I don’t know what to do with you.”
He lowered his head, watching her boots. “My will is your will,” he murmured.
“My will,” she stressed, “is that you didn’t commit murder in the walls of Castletown.”
Link’s head snapped up, decorum forgotten at the accusation. “I have killed no one.” It was her station that prevented him from snapping at her for laying such an accusation at his feet. “I have been home. Mask can confirm. Whatever charges have been brought to bear against me are lies.”
“Tune tells another story.” Link flinched back as though he had been slapped. Wind had told her he’d murdered someone.
“I haven’t-”
“Wild died.” Link stood, stumbling back as though she had stabbed him in the gut.
“No,” he whispered. Had they been attacked? Muggers? Traitors? Wild may have still been dazed and that would lay at Warriors’ feet but no. It didn’t make sense. Wild couldn’t be dead. And what of Four?
An anchoring hand grabbed his shoulder. “Through no fault of Warriors,” he argued against Zelda, his shoulders back as he put himself between Link and his queen, ever loyal. He had likely run through the same scenarios as Link had, the same horrors, and he had found no need to forgive Link.
That meant everything.
The severity that was Queen Zelda melted off with a sigh, leaving a tired woman where she had previously stood. Her eyes were softer but the pity was no easier to swallow than the icy judgement. “Link,” she said, her voice radiating exhaustion, “you hit him.”
“Just once,” Time defended.
“Sometimes once is all it takes.” She tilted her head, looking away. Link could see that her mind was on their bloodied past. “You’ve seen it yourself.”
He had, but the hits had left cracked skulls. “He’d merely been bruised. He’s fine,” Link insisted. The silence was heavy. “Zelda, tell me he’s fine.” He took a step forward, Time’s hand moving so it was between his shoulder blades. Heat trickled down his face as his eyes burned. He could remember the feeling of his knuckles against Wild’s cheek, his wide eyes as he’d looked up at Warriors from the floor. He’d been fine when they left. Stunned but not even bleeding. “He’s alive. I wouldn’t kill him. He’s my brother.” Hysteria was bubbling up, starting at his heart and making its way to his throat.
“Link…”
“I didn’t hit him that hard!” He hadn’t! Wild was fine!
“Enough.” Time’s voice filled the space, strong and confident in only the way that the Hero of Time could be. “You were never one for mind games, Princess, and I don’t know why you have resorted to playing them now.” The fingers dug into Warriors’ back, present and painful. Grounding. “You have reprimanded Warriors for a heated action and have not asked for his account of events. You are being cruel.”
Zelda stared at him hard. “A man and in some ways still a child.” She lifted her chin. “Wild died on the floor of Kano’s inn from the blow. A slow brain bleed.”
Warriors choked on his own breath as his mind tried to wrap around the image. Tried to accept her words. She would never lie to him, never seek to do harm to him out of anger or malice, yet he couldn’t take her words as true. Wild could not be dead. He was not dead. The boy who rode down mountains on his shield and threw himself off of cliffs wouldn’t be done in by a single knock to the face.
“He lives by the grace of a fairy.” Time’s hand fell away, the loss of it biting like ice. “Edine carries one as she is determined to make it to her granddaughter's birth and refuses to let even death stop her. She gave it to Tune when she heard of his friend’s need, so you owe her a new one.” He shut his eyes, picturing Wind taking a fairy off an old women, of him tearing down the cobblestone, his usual mirth forgotten. “It is only because of her that I the crown only need level charges of assault, not murder, at your feet.”
“I didn’t kill him,” Link whispered in denial, hands held up as though he could push the words away. It sounded so far-fetched, like a story told around a campfire at night that was meant to scare.
Zelda gave him nowhere to hide. “You did.”
“I only hit him once,” he argued though he didn’t know if it was against Zelda or the Goddesses. “And he deserved it!” he gestured wildly with one hand. “You don’t know what he said!”
“Do not,” Zelda snapped, “claim to have done this in my name.” She took two steps forward and poked Link in the chest. Hard. “If anyone did not know what he said it was him. Filn set him up to ask you and you, instead of thinking, struck him. You, instead of asking a boy who barely has a year’s worth of memories, struck him.” She clicked her tongue in disgust. “He thought I had a cat, Link.”
“But he said…” He had asked with wide eyes and no smirk. He had looked shocked at the blow. “He…”
“Others have said worse about me,” Zelda said harshly, the contrast of light and shadow sharpening her features. “I can handle that. What I cannot handle is the Hero of Hyrule committing assault for every slight against my person!” She spun, stomping to her throne and throwing herself into the chair. “Dammit, Link! Do you understand the position you have put me in?” She looked like she did while on the battlefield: Too enraged to take the time she needed to fall apart. “If he had stayed dead, I would have had to imprison you. Enough would have bayed for your blood that I don’t know if I could have saved your neck.” She grabbed the edges of the chair. “The pretense of the war was not to give you to Cia. If I had been forced to punish you for murder, all those lives, all those sacrifices, would be meaningless. Do you know how Hyrule would react? The kingdom would burn!” She took a slow, measured breath and folded her hands into her lap.
“Zelda,” he whispered, asking for something without knowing what it was.
“Instead,” she said, her emotions cooled and buried behind her title, “I am forced to punish you for assault.”
He bowed his head, wishing again for Time’s hand. To help, to hurt. Just for the touch so he would know he wasn’t alone.
“And how does one punish a Hero?” she asked rhetorically. “A fine? A slap on the wrist for a boy who nearly breathed his last?” Link flinched. “Or do I make an example and flay you before the people so the damage done is returned a thousand fold.” He shuddered both at the horror of such a thing happening and the growing knowledge that he would deserve it. “What would you have me do, Link? How would you have me fix this?”
He swallowed dryly. His mind was too full to have solutions. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to do. “You will is my will.”
She scoffed. “I need solutions, not pretty words.”
“Flog him.” Time spoke up, always the leader, always the eldest, “and then fine him.” Zelda leaned forward. “It will not leave him incapacitated in case the Goddesses call upon us before he has healed and it will satisfy those who called for his blood. You can claim he is paying his due in two ways.”
“And who would you trust to flog him?” Zelda asked archly. “I will be accused of going too lightly if it is done by my hand. He is loved by most of his men and if any one of them punishes him they will be ostracised and I will be down an officer. If it is someone whose duty I do not care for I will not trust him to do his best not to maim Link. This is no solution.”
“I’ll do it.” His voice was hard. “In my Hyrule it would be my right, as Wild has been claimed as my apprentice’s apprentice. It will read like the justice people expect.”
Zelda sat and Link could see her mulling the words over, taking them apart like a puzzle to see how they would shape reality. “The other Heroes?” she asked.
“They are my concern, not yours.” Link wanted to scoff. He killed Wild. Any one of them would gladly take Time’s place.
Zelda pursed her lips and nodded. “Then this is the way we shall do it. Fifteen strikes,” she said, queen once again, “and a fine of ten thousand rupees.” Warriors nodded dully. He would have to sell his house for that. “The sentence will be carried out tomorrow at noon.”
Warriors bowed deeply. He straightened and squared his shoulders. “May I see him?” He needed to confirm that Wild was alright, that his bright blue eyes weren’t glazed with death the way they would be in his dreams tonight.
“No,” Queen Zelda said. “Mask may see Tune and Four, but Wild will be left to rest.”
“Warriors should be allowed to see them with me,” Time argued and Queen Zelda stared coldly.
“Link will be spending the night in the dungeons, the same as any criminal does.”
Link bowed again, the knowledge that by this time tomorrow he would be unable to do so tugging at his mind. “As my Queen wishes.”
“I wish for none of this,” Queen Zelda said sharply. “Captain Huika will escort you.” They both bowed and Queen Zelda frowned. “Go!” she ordered, clearly done with the stress Link was putting her through.
He didn’t blame her.
As promised, Huika was waiting just outside the door, sony faced. Warriors didn’t have it in him to fake a smile. “The queen asks that you escort me to the dungeons. Time needs to be sent to the boys.”
“Yes, Sir,” Huika said coldly and Warriors knew that there was no respect remaining between them. He shied away from thinking exactly how many relationships that punch had cost him.
At least Wild wasn’t dead.
At least he hadn’t stayed dead.
“I’ll follow you to the dungeons,” Time said as though his word carried weight here. “You can then take me to Wild.”
Huika nodded and spun, his armor clinking as he led them deeper into the castle. Warriors had been to the dungeon before but never as the captured party and every step was though he was walking through mud. It wasn’t as though he was afraid. It was one night in a room that was stone, dark and cold. He’d handled worse. No, what weighed him down was the knowledge that he deserved it. That he was a murderer and it was only chance that he would not be hung. It was the knowledge that Wild had died, that Four and Wind had likely witnessed it, and that it was by his hand. That he had killed his brother in a fit of rage.
And Wild hadn’t known what he’d been saying. Wild had been innocent of the accusations behind Warriors’ blow. He was just a boy, a boy who still knew little of the world in many ways, and Warriors had treated him like an enemy.
He had nearly lost Wild. He may still have. After all, how do you forgive your own murderer?
In his musings it did not take long to reach their destination. Huika opened the final door and Warriors followed him down the stairs, the stench of sweat and piss like a blow. He stood passively as the door of an empty cell was unlocked, and went to step inside.
Time grabbed him with enough force to spin him before tugging him into a hug. It was warm and tight. “It was an accident,” he whispered into Warriors’ ear as though that was some kind of absolution. “It was an accident and he is alive.”
“I killed him,” Warriors said and he could once again feel burning building in his eyes. They could not fall. He could cry in front of Zelda; they were familiar with each other’s tears. No one else could see them.
“It was an accident,” Time stressed. “An unfortunate event, not a malicious one. Hold onto that. The rest can keep.”
Warriors hugged back. Wild was alive. It was an accident.
He held that thought as the door was locked behind him .
Wild was alive. It was an accident.
It was a litany as Time’s footsteps faded.
Wild was alive.
It was an accident.
-
It wasn’t enough.