Work Text:
Anxiety gnawed at Hyrule's stomach and he attempted to quiet it with another bite of food, but that only made him feel guilty, because he didn't deserve that food when Legend needed it more.
Legend, who hadn't eaten all day and had told him not to worry about the way that his scales looked dull and the way that he floated listlessly whenever Hyrule tried to pester him into doing something together.
A few scales floated away from the dead fish he held in his hands, sparkling in the ocean sunlight.
He swallowed the remaining parts of it whole, and darted back to his hunting spot with the firm resolve to catch something twice as big for Legend.
Eventually, his patience was rewarded when a particularly fat fish drifted in his direction. With a quick snap of his jaws it was killed. Blood floated slowly through the water, leaving pink and red ribbons behind.
Hyrule didn't bother to take the fish out of his mouth before beelining towards the little alcove where he'd left Legend to rest.
A large rock poked out of the water, concealing a divet in the sand where Legend lay half asleep.
Hyrule dropped the fish at the base of the rock and took a good, long look at his companion.
Legend's eyes were half closed, as if he was too tired to stay awake, but not so tired that he could actually fall asleep. His tail drifted limply in the faint current. It looked dull and matte and washed out, unlike the usual bright and vibrant shade of pink that it normally was. Even his fins seemed weak, with the edges obviously beginning to rot as the illness progressed.
Things weren't looking good.
He gently nudged Legend with his tail.
The other mer wearily looked up at him.
"Legend, you need to eat." Hyrule coaxed.
Legend just stared listlessly at the fish in front of him. "I'm not hungry."
"Please, Legend, you'll starve to death if you don't eat something." He begged. "We've been here for days and you haven't eaten anything since yesterday." He bit his lip. "I don't—this has to stop. Now."
Legend didn't bother responding verbally, merely looking away with an ashamed noise.
The look on Legend's face scared him. That was the sort of expression that he'd only seen on people who were too tired to fight anymore.
They didn't last long after that.
But even if Legend had given up, Hyrule couldn't. There had to be something he could do to help.
So far, none of the times that he'd casted his life spell had worked, but maybe this time if he just tried a little harder…
Hyrule let himself drift down to the same level as Legend and gently rested his hands on the other mer's back. Soft light shone from his palms as he cast the spell.
When the light faded, he leaned over to peer at Legend's face.
No change.
He clicked to himself nervously and looked around. They hadn't completely explored the kelp forest that they had taken shelter in. Maybe if they were lucky, they could find a local pod and Hyrule could trade labor in exchange for help.
"Legend, I'll be right back, I promise. I'm just going to look around a little." He moved a hand to squeeze Legend's shoulder, then flicked his tail and rose from his spot by his companion's side.
Legend looked up at him, with nothing but weary concern in his eyes. "Be safe."
Hyrule mustered up a reassuring smile. "I'm always safe."
It was easy to loose track of where you were in the kelp forest. He couldn't be sure, but he suspected that it was caused by some sort of magic. That in and of itself was more or less harmless, but the longer that they spent in the forest, the more Hyrule knew that they needed to leave.
Whatever this place was, it was making Legend's illness exponentially worse than it had been previously. Before he'd been a little tired and achey, but that was it. Now it was if the forest was draining his life force out of him.
Hyrule could feel it, too. A lingering fatigue that settled into his bones and weighed down his scales, only chased off by the life spell.
Lost in his thoughts about the situation, Hyrule didn't even notice the other mer until he bumped right into them.
Hyrule squeaked instinctually, then immediately blushed. The sound he'd made was more fitting for a juvenile than an adolescent.
The other mer stared down at him, unimpressed.
He was enormous. While Hyrule knew that mer didn't really stop growing after reaching adulthood, he'd never seen a mer this huge before.
Thin strands of blonde hair framed his face, which were marked by the tell-tale signs of magic with blue and red stripes. One eye was heavily scarred and the other was a deep blue. His tail was long and strong, the same shade of green as sea lettuce, unlike the brownish-green of Hyrule's.
"Can I help you?"
Hyrule squeaked again. "No. Yes. Maybe."
The larger mer raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Do you need help leaving? Most mer who wander in here can't find their way out again."
That sounded like a threat…
His expression softened, becoming less standoffish. "Come along. I'll lead you out."
"Wait!" Hyrule darted forward and grabbed the larger mer's arm. "My—my friend needs help. He's really sick."
"I see." Concerned filled his face. "Where is he? If we can get him out of the forest and back to my pod, we should be able to help."
"Not far from here." He let go of his arm and led the way back to where he had left Legend. It was difficult to find his way back amid all the kelp, but they made it back in a timely fashion, Hyrule explaining the situation as they swam.
Legend appeared to be sleeping, so Hyrule darted forward and gently shook him by the shoulder.
Sleepy blue eyes blinked up at him, but as soon as he noticed the huge mer looming behind Hyrule he hissed quietly, fins flaring as much as they could in his weakened state.
"He's here to help, idiot!" Hyrule said, firmly smoothing Legend's dorsal fin down.
Legend reluctantly let his threat display fall.
"I'm Time. My pod lives nearby and has more than enough supplies to share." He explained.
"Why should we trust you?" Legend challenged him.
Time pursed his lips. "If you stay here, you'll die. The Lost Waters will claim your life and you'll become just another one of the stalmer."
It was a compelling argument, and one that Hyrule had a hunch was true. If the forest ate people's life force or whatever, then it made sense that it turned them into stalmer.
Legend looked conflicted, unsure if he could trust the older mer. But eventually, he relented, too exhausted to fight Hyrule and Time over it any longer.
"Alright. But if we find out that you're lying about helping us, there will be hell to pay." He said.
Legend lifted his tail weakly and tried to swim up towards the others, but he only made it a hand's width above the ground before sinking back down with a pained expression on his face.
Hyrule swam closer with a flick of his fins and pulled one of Legend's arms over his shoulder. There wasn't really anything that Legend could do to stop him, too sickly and exhausted to insist on taking care of himself like he usually did.
Their time in the Lost Waters was really taking a toll on him, and that made a pit grow in Hyrule's stomach.
Time wordlessly came close and pulled Legend's other arm over his own shoulder so that he was suspended between the two of them. Despite his glare, Legend seemed to know that this was necessary. Even though Hyrule was currently stronger than him, he was still weak enough that he couldn't support an adolescent mer all on his own.
Time guided them through the kelp forest.
Hyrule swam with determination, set on not letting Time know how much he was beginning to tire. He needed to be strong for Legend's sake.
It took longer than he would have liked for them to escape the confines of the kelp. The open waters before them were a relief. Hyrule took a deep breath and just let the clean, cool water filter through his gills. This area of the ocean was remarkably devoid of foreign magic.
Clear blue water swirled around his fins and pulled him towards the open waters. He let it because he was beginning to feel tired after helping support Legend's weight for so long.
Towards his left, the sand sloped gently upwards, and towards his right it sloped down. Directly ahead he could faintly make out the colors of what looked like a coral reef in the distance, with what looked like some kind of shipwreck sitting in the middle of the reef.
As they got closer, Hyrule could see that it was one of those strange metal ships that humans used to travel above the water. The body of the ship was long, and had several holes peppered throughout the hull. A central mast rose up from the middle of the deck, and some sort of cabin was settled at the rear.
The entire thing was rusted, only a few small sections of white paint remaining. Black letters still stood out near the bow, but Hyrule couldn't read what they said. Human language was weird, made up of unfamiliar characters.
Once they reached the reef, Hyrule was unsurprised to see other mer lazily swimming around each other. A smaller one with a bright orange tail darted between a couple of larger mer.
At the sight of the juvenile, he felt himself and Legend relax a little. Pods with juvenile mer were more likely to be friendly and unwilling to engage in the more unethical practices that some pods did.
A mer with a spectacular blue tail playfully chased the juvenile around another mer with long, thin fins that had a touch of red on the tips. The juvenile darted away, successfully avoiding his playmate, and swam straight into Time with a giggle.
"Time! You're back!" He exclaimed, then stared at Hyrule and Legend. "…who are these guys?"
The older mer (who must have been his caretakers for the moment) followed him over, curiously looking at the newcomers.
"Found some more strays?" The mer with the blue tail asked.
Legend glared at him.
Hyrule cleared his throat and tried to be diplomatic. "I'm Hyrule and this is Legend. Time found us and lead us out of the Lost Waters."
"Sky, could you help bring Legend over to the sick room?" Time asked.
The mer with those long fins gently took Legend from Hyrule's grasp and helped Time swim him towards the shipwreck.
The juvenile squeaked and followed, swimming around the adults in excited circles.
Time playfully batted at him. "Swim along, Wind. We don't need to crowd anyone."
Wind pouted, but backed off reluctantly, staying outside of the shipwreck but close enough that he could hear whatever was happening.
The inside of the shipwreck was illuminated with sunlight that stretched through rusted holes. All the debris that had been left behind by humans had been cleared out and likely had been for a while now.
They passed through a couple of rooms before they reached one that was emptier than the others, with only a variety of bottles and rolls of cloth decorating some shelves.
Sky and Time settled Legend in the corner on a small nest made out of seaweed. It was too small to properly fit someone like Time, but it was more than big enough for a scrappy adolescent.
Hyrule let himself sink to the ground. The sand covering the area in here was soft and he honestly thought that it would be comfortable enough to sleep on without a nest.
"I trust that you two can take it from here?" Time asked, his deep voice rumbling in the echo-y chamber.
"Of course," Sky said with a smile.
"Alright." Time turned to Hyrule and Legend. "Warriors and Sky will be in charge of your care while you're here. If you need anything, just ask them. And if, for some reason, they cause you trouble, just let me know and I'll take care of it."
Hyrule nodded. "Thank you."
Time offered a hint of a smile. "You're welcome."
As the large mer swam out of the shipwreck Hyrule watched Sky and Warriors sort through their supplies. He didn't know what half of those things even were because he'd never had the opportunity to grow up with that kind of knowledge. He'd been a solo traveler since he was old enough to swim until he'd met Legend and the two had bonded over their love of adventuring.
Sky approached Legend only to be met with a hiss and flared fins.
"Watch it!" He snapped. "At least ask before touching."
Well, if he was acting all grumpy and confrontational, then he was probably feeling at least a little better.
"Sorry," Sky apologized. "Can I look at your fins? They seem really ragged."
"…fine." He grumbled.
Sky examined his fins carefully, fingers gently running over the edges where they were beginning to fray and fall apart. "Hm… definitely looks like a case of fin rot."
He must've touched a particularly sensitive spot, because Legend suddenly flinched away and tucked his tail underneath himself.
"Sorry." Sky seemed genuinely apologetic. "Wars, do we still have any of that salve?"
"Here." Warriors handed Sky a container of something.
The other mer turned back to Legend and Hyrule startled when he realized that Warriors was looking at him.
"What? I'm fine, Legend's the one who's sick."
"You look like you haven't slept for a week," he said bluntly. "If you were in the Lost Waters, then you should get some rest."
Hyrule glanced over at Legend, who was still being fussed over by Sky. Even though they had finally found safety, he still felt a sense of responsibility while Legend was ill.
Warriors seemed to sense this and floated a bit closer. "It's alright," he said softly. "You're safe here."
"Okay." Hyrule whispered. "Thank you."
He seemed satisfied by that answer. "Good. Sky and I are the ones with experience with medicine, so Time's more or less put us in charge of the sick room and supplies."
"Legend hasn't eaten anything since yesterday," Hyrule said. "He's been so tired and his fins are rotting and I don't know what to do—" He cut himself off before he could give away the fact that he could use magic.
While it wasn't unheard of for mer to be able to use magic, it was still uncommon enough to be in demand, and Hyrule didn't want to go from being a helpless adolescent to a fresh commodity in the eyes of the strangers that had saved them.
Warriors gently settled his hands on Hyrule's shoulders in a reassuring manner. "He'll be fine. Don't worry about him. For now just worry about yourself. If you've been exposed to him, there's a chance that you could become sick with the same illness."
"But I feel fine." He protested.
"Are you sure, or are you still just in survival mode because you've been anxious for so long?" Warriors looked at him skeptically. "Like I said, you look exhausted."
Hyrule brushed his tail fin against the sand rhythmically, not wanting to admit it, but now that he was just sitting here and Legend was going to be okay… he did feel kind of tired.
He slumped a little, tail curling more tightly around himself. "I guess I could use a nap."
"Do you mind if I look you over a bit?" Warriors asked. "Just to make sure you're not getting fin rot or anything."
He shrugged. Might as well. "Go ahead."
Warriors examined his tail and fins, carefully going over each scale section by section. He took his job quite seriously, even taking the time to peer carefully into Hyrule's eyes as if looking for some sign of… sickness.
Hyrule shuddered and looked away. Every time people looked him in the eyes he couldn't help but feel as if they were staring into his soul.
"You seem fine for now, but I'd like to keep you two in here together for a while until we know that you're both fully recovered from your time in the Lost Waters."
By now Sky had finished spreading the salve across Legend's damaged fins and had gotten him settled in the seaweed nest.
Hyrule looked at Warriors, then at the nest.
Warriors gestured for him to go ahead. "Why don't you two get some rest. We'll bring you some food in a little bit."
Sky put the salve container away and then gracefully floated out of the sick room, calling for Wind. Likely to make sure that the juvenile would stay out of trouble and wouldn't bother Legend and Hyrule while they rested.
Hyrule flicked his tail tiredly and drifted over to the little nest. It was just the right size for the two of them if they squished a bit, and by now they were very good at squishing.
Warriors smiled at them and Legend rolled his eyes half-heartedly, grumbling something about how they weren't juveniles to be fawned over.
But the older mer ignored them in favor of swimming out of the room and pulling a piece of cloth over the entrance to give them a little bit of privacy.
Hyrule sighed and curled up around Legend protectively. He could feel the strange texture of the salve against his scales as he brushed up against his companion, but it didn't bother him. Not as long as they were safe.
He rested his chin on top of Legend's head and closed his eyes, listening to the faint whispers of conversation floating in from outside of the shipwreck. Maybe things would be okay.