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Legend dodged the strike from one of Wild’s stupid Yiga.
A whole squad had been sent out, maybe two, based on the number of Yiga present. They seemed to be doing their best to separate the heroes from each other. Legend was trying to counteract their efforts, but it was hard when he was fighting three guys at once and no one was working their way back towards him. Warriors was closest, and Legend frequently lost sight of him with the sheer number of Yiga.
Legend raised his sword to block another strike from the footsoldier in front of him. Something whistled past his head. Agony exploded in his hand and he nearly dropped his sword. An arrow had hit him. He hissed in pain. Where was Wild? He was supposed to be taking out the archers! The footsoldier’s sickle hit his sword only seconds later, wrenching his sword the rest of the way out of his hand.
If Legend hadn’t shifted back at the first burst of pain, he’d have been cut.
He jumped back more, trying to put further distance between him and the three footsoldiers he’d been fighting. He had no sword, his main hand didn’t work (the giant arrow sticking out of it made it difficult to do more than clutch it to his chest), and he likely had at least one archer aiming at him from behind.
Fortunately, his right hand was holding a fire rod.
A large burst of flame spewed out, torching the Yiga in front of him. He spun around to aim at the archer and was instead run into and knocked to the ground by a Yiga. They grabbed his injured hand, moving it out of the way so they could slap something to his chest, and Legend couldn’t help his screech of pain. He looked down at what had been placed on him and recognised the paper slips the Yiga used to teleport.
Shit shit shit!!
The Yiga was a lot bigger than Legend, and, with them still holding his injured hand, he couldn’t throw them off. A quick glance around showed only Warriors, who was too far away to help. Legend called out anyway.
The last thing he saw was Warriors’ eyes glancing his way and filling with fear.
---
A deep, aching pounding in his head roused Legend slowly. He gradually became aware that he was laying on cool stone, though the air was warmer than he was used to. Manacles encircled his wrists.
His eyes flew open.
The floor and walls were all carved out of the same dusty red stone. The wall in front of him, however, was metal bars. There was a chain from his manacles that connected to the wall opposite the bars.
Legend’s mind helpfully pulled up the memories of the last time he’d been put in a cell. It wasn’t the only time he’d been captured by the brainwashed knights in his own time period, but it was the first since he’d saved Lorule. The expression on Ravio’s face when he’d stumbled in, bruised and bloody, having finally been left alone long enough to grab one of his hair pins and pick the lock, was nearly worse than what he’d gone through in the cell.
The image of the captain of the guards raising his knife against him flashed through Legend’s mind. No, no, please! Not again! Legend tried to wriggle away, but it was fruitless. The knife dug into his forearm. Hot blood ran in rivulets down past his elbow. It nearly burned against the cold air of the dungeon. The knife dragged down, following the path the blood had laid out. A whine of pain started in his throat as his skin was split apart.
The knife drew away, glistening red. He couldn’t help his instinctual flinch away from it-
Legend gasped for breath as he remembered that he’d been captured by the Yiga, not the castle guards in his own time. The air around him was dry and hot, not cold and damp. Importantly, he was on the floor, not chained to the wall.
He pushed himself to his feet and tried to slow down his racing heart. Wild had told them about the Yiga — they wanted to kill the hero and princess, but they were rather incompetent. He wasn’t sure why he was being held rather than being killed outright, but there was a good chance he’d survive this if he wasn’t stupid.
Scuffed footsteps started towards him, and Legend prepared himself to see whoever they sent. Would it be one of the blademasters, to intimidate him, or would it be one of the footsoldiers, who seemed more inclined to talk and might try to get information out of him? Why else was he being kept if not for information.
The person came into sight, and Legend felt his heart stop. The blood drained from his face so fast the world spun slightly.
“Hello again, Link. It’s so nice to see you.” Agahnim said.
“You’re dead,” Legend said, eloquence missing in the face of one of his nightmares. He couldn’t hide the shake in his voice. “I killed you. I know I did.”
“Oh, you did kill me. I just made a deal to come back. I serve a new overlord now, Link, and, soon, so will you.”
“I would never-” Legend spit, suddenly angry — suddenly furious — that one of his fears had dared come back to haunt him.
“Are you sure about that?” Agahnim interrupted calmly. “I wonder, Link, how long can you withstand torture?”
Legend stumbled back slightly. The warm room became instantly freezing cold. “Th-the others. They’ll-”
“Oh, your little friends? No, they won’t be coming.”
What? Had Legend getting captured led to the rest losing the fight? Surely not… right?
“Don’t look so surprised, Link. They were a group of knights. It was easy to make them forget about you. Honestly, I’m surprised you could stand to travel with them.”
“No, Rulie wouldn’t-”
“You do remember that knights are my specialty, right?”
Legend wanted, so desperately, to believe that Hyrule, at least, would insist on coming. However, Warriors was the only one who’d seen him taken. Wild was the one who knew the most about the Yiga. Time was the leader. Sky held the master sword. All were solidly knights. If all four — half, with Legend gone — agreed that Legend had died and wasn’t worth going after, Hyrule would follow.
“I can see from your expression that you do remember. Anyways, as I was saying, you will soon worship the new master. Then, we’ll work on bringing your friends along, too. I’m thinking maybe that short, brown-haired one next. He looks agreeable. Or maybe that small child in blue?”
“You keep your filthy hands off of them!” Legend shouted. Bright anger and bitter fear swirled inside him.
Fury flashed across Agahnim’s face. He raised his hand and snapped. Something made Legend look up, just to get a faceful of water pouring down on top of him.
It was too much water. His bones snapped and contorted. His legs fused together. Legend crumpled to the floor, bright pink scales covering his lower half and decorating the rest of him. The water trickled to a stop, task done.
Agahnim chuckled darkly at him. “We’ll have to do something about that mouth of yours, and I think this might be the perfect place to start.”
He twisted his hand, and the chain connected to the manacles became taut. Legend thrashed as he was dragged across the floor, the stone scraping roughly against his skin and scales. The pull of the chain was too strong for him to resist. His transformation prevented him from speaking, but he hissed and spit at Agahnim all the way across the cell.
As his hands bumped the back wall and started dragging him up it, Agahnim stepped inside and walked over to him. Legend growled at him. The magician pulled something out from beneath his cloak and fastened it about Legend’s neck, pulling away before he could do anything. A strange magic settled over him, though he couldn’t identify it.
“That lovely collar is anti-magic. It will prevent you from changing back,” Agahnim informed him.
Legend snarled at him. Following the instincts that came with his transformation, Legend pushed himself up slightly against the wall with his tail. He could only balance for a second, but it left enough slack in his chains that he could swipe at Agahnim with his claws.
Agahnim jerked backwards, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid being cut entirely. Black blood oozed from the deep cuts carved into his cheek. He sneered at Legend, outrage darkening his face.
“I see these are going to get you into trouble,” he said, grabbing Legend’s wrists.
Blinding pain started in his fingers. It burned down his arms. No amount of thrashing could dislodge Agahnim. Something dropped down to the floor, and Legend realised it was one of his claws. Then the pain got worse.
When Agahnim left twenty minutes later, Legend was left hanging from his chains. He was shaking from the pain, rattling them softly. The blood that had pooled over his hands and trickled down his arms was quickly drying into an itchy mess. The itch was almost worse than the pain. He wanted desperately to scratch at his arms, but he couldn’t.
Legend stared down at his claws, all ten of them, left discarded on the floor at his metaphorical feet. He wished his mer form allowed him to cry.
---
“Rise and shine, pet!” Agahnim said cheerfully. Legend hissed at him.
He’d barely been able to sleep, between his pain, worry for the others, and worry for himself. Most of his fear had transformed into anger by morning.
“Today, we’re starting your training,” Agahnim said, walking into his cell. Legend noted that it hadn't been locked. He didn’t know when that knowledge would be useful, but it likely would at some point. “Step one-”
Agahnim reached out to Legend. Legend wasn’t sure what his intentions were, but he knew he didn’t want to find out. Again following the instincts that came with his tail, he lashed out.
Agahnim screamed as Legend bit into his hand. Hot blood filled his mouth, but it didn’t taste or smell right. The normal overwhelming metallic bite of it was cut through by the sour-sweet of rot. He’d meant to clamp his teeth as tight as they would go, but he’d already been following his instincts, and his instincts said to get as far away from the infected blood as possible.
The second Legend let go, Agahnim grabbed onto his face with his good hand. “It looks like something will have to be done about that,” he spat. He slammed Legend’s head into the wall behind him as he let go, then stalked angrily out of the room.
Legend wanted to be proud, but he was more scared than anything. His heart beat rabbit-fast in his chest, an echoing throb in his head matching it.
---
The longer it took for Agahnim to come back, the more worried Legend was about it. The small amount of pride he had felt had curdled in his gut a while ago.
When he finally did appear, that small spark of pride kindled itself once more as Legend noticed that his hand was bandaged with thick white bandages. It didn’t last for long, though, as Legend noticed that he was also carrying a metal file.
Agahnim strode confidently up to Legend and grabbed his face. Legend struggled, snarling and snapping, but he couldn’t get the right angle to bite anything. Fingers pressed on the side of his jaw and forced it open.
“Now, Link,” Agahnim said. “You control how painful this will be. If you squirm, this will hurt more.”
Legend couldn't have stopped his writhing even if he wanted to. The metal file was cold against the inside of his cheek. Every time it caught his tongue, it burned. The lack of nerves in his teeth meant he couldn’t feel them being filed down, apart from the tugging back and forth and the dust filling his mouth, until suddenly he could. It wasn’t sharp like being cut by a knife, nor did it burn like the many bleeding friction injuries on his tongue. It just hurt, the pain growing stronger and stronger, until he was crying out from it.
Blood welled up, making the file slip more and more often. Legend’s mind shivered and started to white out. Time started to skip.
The world around him narrowed to just the pain…
…started to fade away entirely…
The darkness, peaceful and pain-free, took him over.
---
Legend was roughly shaken awake. Far too much of him hurt.
His fingertips still throbbed. His wrists ached from holding him. His whole mouth hurt — the idea of trying to bite anything made him shudder. Sticky blood coated everything in his mouth, adding a sharp metallic tinge to the world. The dry air made his scales feel itchy and like they might start to peel off.
He peeled his eyes open, sending a spike of pain into his head. Agahnim smiled cruelly at him.
“Hello again, pet. Are you ready to behave now?”
The lack of saliva made his answering snarl come out a lot more hissy than he’d meant it to. Agahnim angrily grabbed his jaw and-
Legend’s moaned in pain. His head swam with it, the world taking on a hazy, dreamy quality.
“Do I need to teach you another lesson?”
No, no, please. Not again. No more.
Legend shook his head frantically, and then had to stop when it made the pain worse.
“No? Are you going to behave then?” Agahnim’s voice became suddenly saccharine. “Pets who behave get food and water.”
Legend was so thirsty. He was pretty sure he was hungry, too, under the painful dryness. He was tired of being in pain. No rescue was coming, and he didn’t think he’d ever be able to escape on his own.
Legend gave in and nodded.