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The last bokoblin fell with a shriek. The heroes began to relax, but-
Clang!
“What the fuck, Wars?”
Legend had his shield raised, pointed at Warriors, who-
Pale skin, breathing heavily, the whites of his eyes were bright as they darted around, tracking threats. He hesitated only briefly before launching another decisive attack to be caught on Legend’s shield.
“Stop wearing his face!”
“What’s gotten into you?”
They shouted at the same time. Wars swung again, this time interrupted by Wild’s shield and thrown back with a mighty shove as the Champion danced between the two combatants.
“I’m sorry!” Wild whimpered, “I’m sorry! It’ll wear off soon! Just hold on!”
Time’s bellow, “Wild! What’s happening?” snapped the Champion back to attention.
“Stay back!” he ordered, “He can’t recognize us right now! It’ll wear off soon, we just have to wait it out!”
“Wait what out?” Legend yelled in frustration while Warriors’s sword continued to bounce ineffectively off Wild’s shield.
“The muddlebud!”
“What the fuck is a muddlebud?”
Breath was held as Time approached slowly. His right hand kept his polished mirror shield at the ready, but his Biggoron Sword lay discarded against a tree. Instead, his left hand clung tight to a distinctive yellow mask. He held it up alongside his face as he spoke softly.
“Captain, it’s me. It’s Mask, Link. It’s okay, you’re safe now. The battle’s over, Link.”
Wars laid off his attacks and backed away from them both. His eyes darted between them, occasionally jumping over to where the rest of the Chain was huddled even farther away.
“Stay back. Stay back! Who- What are you? Stop copying him! Stop-“
His back hit a tree and he immediately spun around to slash at it, only to stare in confusion a moment later. Time took another step forward and Wars jumped to attention, eyes fixed and shield raised defensively, despite the slight tremor running through him.
“It’s me, Captain,” Time continued, “You’re hallucinating. It’ll be okay. Wild says it will wear off soon. We’ve cleared out all the monsters. I’ll stand guard for you while we wait this out.”
“Sprite? Fuck, it’s… I can’t… Prove it. Please. I can’t…”
“How about when I fell in the mud by the stables? You tried to dunk me in the fountain in town to get me clean, but I guess I was feeling like a brat back then, so I drug you in with me and we both ended up soaked. Then Linkle said it was your birthday. I felt guilty and tried to help Tune bake a cake… which we burned and filled your apartment with smoke…”
Warriors’s sword clattered to the ground. He backed up further, keeping his shield, but now his free hand lifted up to tug on his hair.
“Mask… Time… don’t… I can’t… Stay back, please. Everything looks wrong, I can’t tell…”
“It’s okay,” Time lowered his shield and hooked the mask on his belt, but he didn’t fully relax. “Take your time, Captain. We’re safe here. The enemies are gone, we can wait this out. How much longer, Wild?”
Wild startled from his spot several paces back. He stumbled over his words as he came up with the answer, “Oh! I don’t know- Uh, about ten minutes? The whole thing, I don’t know when he got affected. Um, Purah made me test it, after I- Uh, the worst I ever had was seventeen minutes before things started looking real again-”
“Good,” Time cut him off, turning his attention back to Wars, “Not much longer, Captain. Give it five more minutes. Take some deep breaths, do your grounding techniques. You’ll start feeling better very soon.”
And so, they waited, just like that. The Chain stood on one side of the bloodied clearing, cleaning gear and trying to pretend they weren’t watching. Warriors stood across from them, alone, visibly tracking every slight movement and sound while trying to keep count of his breaths. Between them stood Time in his gleaming armor and shield, not obviously focused on either side but acutely aware of them all.
Warriors’s tremors grew worse with every minute that passed, but finally he was able to meet Time’s eye with more recognition than fear, and he shakily walked forward. Just a step away from his older-little brother he stared, double- and triple-checking every subtle feature on his face. Satisfied, he went limp with a heavy sigh. His head made an audible thunk as it collided with the taller man’s breastplate.
“Feeling better, Captain?” Time lifted his hand to settle gently on his brother’s back.
Wars flinched at the contact, but quickly forced himself to relax again. “I think so,” he said, “Goddesses, that was awful. What even was that? Let’s never do that again.”
“I’m sorry, Wars!” Wild shouted as he materialized from behind Time, causing Wars to flinch again, this time jumping back a foot. His hand shot to his back but he grabbed thin air, his sword still lying on the ground a few steps away.
Wild flinched back too, continuing on in a whisper, “Sorry! I’m sorry, Wars! I’m sorry-“
“It was those flowers you used, right?” Time cut off the spiral.
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I tried to be so careful. I never use them around hylians, I was sure there was no one around when I threw them. I double-checked, I promise, I have no idea how I hit you-“
“I don’t think it was your fault, Cub,” Speaking softly, Twilight was the one to interrupt this time. He walked over with extra heavy footsteps so he wouldn’t surprise anyone, and held out the purple flower in his hand. “Here, I think some of ‘em didn’t pop when you threw ‘em. A monster must’ve grabbed one off the ground and hit Wars.”
“I think I stepped on the damn thing,” Wars mumbled. When he realized they were all looking at him, he shook himself out and elaborated, “I didn’t feel anything hit me. I don’t think I got hit at all in the battle, but I stepped on something and felt it break… and then the monsters started melting… while still attacking me,” He shuddered, then thunked his head back down against Time’s breastplate, not yet ready to leave the safety of his brother, despite how uncomfortable the hard metal armor was.
Legend grabbed the flower from Twilight, curiosity getting the better of him now that the danger had passed, “What the hell are these and what are they supposed to do?”
Wild frowned, “Muddlebuds. They confuse monsters, make them fight each other. I tried to hit a few moblins when the hinox appeared, I was hoping they would soften him up for us.”
“Or the hinox would kill them and thin the crowd,” Time mused, “Good plan, but I guess they work on hylians too?”
“Yeah. I had a- a mishap with the monster control crew. It was really terrifying when Sanov turned on us. Luckily we only had to wait a couple minutes for it to wear off. Then I told Purah and she made me test them for nearly a whole day. She just locked me in a cell and kept hitting me in the face with them until she figured out exactly how long they last. I’m glad I lied to her and said I only had twenty...”
Legend huffed, “I get more scared of that woman every day. What do they actually do?”
Warriors groaned, “I thought you were all Dark Links, or something like it. I could tell who you were supposed to be, but it looked fake, like a monster pretending to be you, very badly.”
Wild explained further, “You’re basically scared of everything. Nothing looks quite real and anything that moves seems like a threat. Some people run from everything, but when you’re used to fighting, you fight the danger. I think it works the same for monsters. If there’s only one left they’ll still go after me, and if they’re all alone, sometimes they’ll attack falling leaves-”
“Shit! Legend!” The Captain suddenly sprung up from his resting spot, “I hit you! I think. Shit, I’m sorry-”
“It’s fine,” the Veteran waved him off, “It was just a graze. Your aim is still shit, even when you’re hallucinating. Hyrule already took care of it. Here, see?” He held out his arm and tugged on a cut in his sleeve. The skin underneath was smooth and unblemished, despite the small red stain surrounding it. “We should be worrying about you instead. Did you know your leg is still covered in pink dust? You should probably find a bath before you get a second dose.”
Warriors looked down. Sure enough, his right boot all the way up to his hip was dusted in a vivid pink powder. Before he could consider brushing it off, the ever helpful Twilight slid into view, holding out his sword, now cleaned of blood and debris from where he had dropped it.
“Thanks, Rancher,” Wars slid his blade away, then turned a cautious, crooked grin toward Legend and said, “We’d better find a river. You know Vet hates anyone looking better in pink than him.”
Legend scoffed while Wild suppressed a giggle. Warriors may have been a bit slow to snipe back, but he was recovering quickly. They would be okay.