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The Hero of Legend had survived a lot.
Stab wounds, manhunts, attack dogs, famine, evil wizards and powerful sorceresses, head trauma, broken bones, shipwrecks, lightning, water filling his lungs, being set on fire and frozen to ice, blood loss, time travel, painful transformations, grief, and the reincarnation of hatred himself (three times no less).
It wasn't any surprise that something had finally gotten him down for good, he was just a bit surprised that it had happened so late into the game. He was nearly eighteen, and his predecessor had only gotten half that long.
Lucky number seven would be his last hurrah, and even it was being cut short.
By a common children's illness no less.
Well, it didn't help that he'd had an infected leg wound they were dealing with when they showed up in this town, his body had tried to fight two battles at once, and lost.
He had to laugh that of all things to kill him, it would be his own pitiful health.
Four stared at him with horror from his bedside, his balled hands shaking as Legend hacked up his lungs until he couldn't breathe, only collapsing back onto his mountain of pillows once he'd run out of the energy to even put up a fight to the all consuming sickness.
The wolf laying his fuzzy chin over his ankles whined softly, hazel eyes looking at him imploringly, begging him to recover.
Legend knew he wouldn't.
He'd been sick for much of his life, his uncle's brow always creased with worry as he caught colds and fevers like honey caught flies. He supposed even mythical Heroes had to have weaknesses, and his was his own ailing body. The doctors said it was a result of growing up during the famine, that many of the people of his area suffered from weakened immune systems and had trouble fighting illness, Legend believed him, he'd helped enough neighbors and villagers with their chores and duties while they were unable to preform them to know that.
His only wish now, as his life fell through his shaking fingers like sand on a long gone beach, was that he could die in the world he'd fought so hard to protect. But he wouldn't, and Ravio would never hear his boots on the well worn path to the door again. And he would never bother Irene for a ride while she complained about whatever errand her grandmother was making her run that day while he inevitably got roped into helping.
And Zelda would hear the news secondhand from people she did not know, and would likely be left without a body to bury. She would be alone again, only her nursemaid to keep her company as she ruled a kingdom of people who only ever needed things from her.
It was like Time would probably say if he hadn't gone mute from the stress, a cruel fate indeed.
The Smithy changed the wet cloth on his forehead for a fresh one, a pointless bit of busywork at this point it time, and sat back heavily in his chair.
"The others should be back soon, Twilight said the great fairy wasn't far."
Legend didn't bother arguing with him, and what a sign of his swiftly approaching end that was. Four was optimistic and oftentimes a bit naive even if he tried to hide behind logic and reason. He would probably take the death badly, if only because it had been on his watch.
"Would you write something down for me?"
"We don't have the same alphabet." Four reminded him with a frown, still reaching for his bag.
Legend didn't have the energy to roll his eyes, just as he didn't have any strength left to reach out to his sister himself. "You're not that dumb, you'll find a way to translate it."
Four nodded sadly, the understanding of this final act showing in the tight grip he had around his pen.
"Dear Zelda and Ravio," he started and was abruptly cut off by a pained wheeze, his lungs stuttering. He would have to make this quick, he didn't have much time left.
"I didn't mean for this to be my last adventure, I meant to come back home. I'm not going to." Tears welled in his eyes as he admitted it, to the room that was both freezing and boiling all at once. He would never taste Ravio's attempts at apple pie or try to explain soil health to Zelda ever again. Gulley would never bang on his door at truly ridiculous times in the morning to tell of monster sightings or say his mom cooked a really good breakfast and he should come over and eat with them. He'd never banter with the seamstress in charge of his formal attire about hem lengths again or play the old piano at the milk bar ever again.
He was going to die in this Podunk inn in the middle of nowhere in a time somewhere after Twilight's.
He took a rasping, hitching breath, and forged on. He would say goodbye before he left, he so rarely got that chance.
"The others can explain what happened, but for now I want to let you both know that I…" And he rarely said it out loud, but there were no more opportunities to sew up his roommate's robe or sneak Zelda out into town left. So he'd kill his pride now and let them know. "I love you."
Twilight whined again, shuffling up further on the bed so he could burrow his snout under Legend's limp hand. His nose was cold against his clammy skin, and he twitched a finger in an attempt to fix the ruffled fur in between his eyes.
"Ravi, you can sell my things if you want, I won't be using them." He'd make enough money to do whatever he wanted if he did so.
"Zelda, I'm sorry you aren't hearing this in my own voice, I don't have the energy left for telepathy." Four's eyes went wide as the word telepathy registered in his mind, Legend choked back a laugh, knowing he didn't have the life left in him to do that and finish his farewells. It did tickle him though that he got to accomplish one last thing in his life of nonstop achievement: a dramatic deathbed confession like the ones in the books Ravio and Warriors loved so much.
"And thank you, both of you, for keeping me alive this long." It had been in vein, sure, but he'd gotten to meet new friends and live some actual life outside of the world's needs since he'd let them into his life.
He let out a sigh of relief that it was done and watched the light of the hearth flicker on the ceiling.
"How should I sign it?" Four asked with a tentative voice, his hands shaking.
"just, '-Link'." He'd never bothered with anything else, why waste the ink.
Four sniffed back his emotion and did as he was asked, folding the letter when it was done and putting it back in his bag with his other writing supplies.
"We won't need to send it." He lied through his teeth, blue eyes swirling into red as his shoulders shook.
"Of course not," Legend tried for a smile and probably failed. "Come 'ere, I'm cold and you still need to tell me about that mirror you mentioned earlier."
Four's face was wet as he stood up and gingerly took a place next to Legend on the bed. He wasn't worried about him getting sick because he'd had this illness before as a child, so had Twilight, so he let them stay with him while the others left on a wild goose chase to see if they could get a great fairy's tears. Legend had seen the map, they simply wouldn't make it back in time.
"I told you it's a complicated one," Four mumbled as he took his free hand and held it tight, as if trying to squeeze the illness out of his body.
"I've got nothing better to do," Legend huffed out. He hoped Four would get so caught up in his story that he wouldn't witness the moment the life left his eyes, the kid didn't need that image to follow him, not like his uncle's glassy look did.
Four swallowed and began to quietly tell the tale of his last adventure, one that started with him ignoring his dad's wishes and trying to get everything done on his own.
Legend's lips tipped upwards as he let his head fall onto his brother's shoulder. It wasn't so bad, dying. At least he wasn't alone.
><><><><
Legend's breathing was even, the horrible rasp gone only minutes after they'd returned with the fairy's tears. And now, two days later as he made his nightly rounds to double check that, that was still the case, Time was able to breathe a sigh of relief.
They'd almost lost him.
A poorly timed infected wound and common illness had nearly taken the life of the sleeping teenager buried under a mountain of blankets. His sharp nose twitching as he snuggled closer to the curly haired merchant holding him in sleep like he would disappear.
Time throat felt clogged as he turned away and left to go sit on the stoop at the front of the small cottage. The moon was a bright unblinking eye that seemed to focus on him. The man felt much the same, refusing to leave the thing out of his own sight for more than a minute lest if take the chance and fall once more.
He didn't know how long he sat there, eye dry as he kept up the staring match, refusing to be the one to bow out first, when the door creaked slightly on it's old hinges behind him.
"Should've figured you'd be out here." Legend said as he clicked the door back into it's frame, boots shuffling on the small wooden platform that served as a halfhearted porch.
"You should be sleeping," Time reminded him, finally turning to see the boy's tired eyes and mussed hair. "It's late."
Legend wrung out a stiff hand and shook his head.
"My sister is waiting for me, I told her I'd visit as soon as I could."
"I didn't see you send a letter."
Legend rubbed the back of his neck, "Perks of being a twin in this bloodline, me and Zel have some kind of magical mind connection or something. It's how we first met, she showed up in my dreams asking me to bust her out of jail."
Time put his head in his hands and let that sink into his brain, he'd known that Legend was Zelda's brother, but he'd always thought the whole 'twins reading each other's minds' thing was a bit ridiculous.
"So that's why you never get any letters from her," he eventually said. "I just thought you weren't that close."
Legend laughed, and by thunder, was it nice to hear him happy after the last few days of preemptive grief, guilt, and hoarse coughing.
"Kinda hard to not be close when your sister can tell you what she's up to at any given moment." He wiped a mirthful tear from his eye and sobered a bit, staring out at the swaying grasses in his yard. "I told her I'd be by soon, I'll have better luck sneaking in before daybreak."
Ah yes, the knights of this world were especially hostile to their local hero. They had all learned that when he and Wind had been kidnapped and imprisoned during their last visit to this era.
"The sun isn't too far off," Time pointed to the moon inching towards the horizon. "Are you sure you can get there fast enough?"
"I overslept a bit, but if I leave now I'll make it in time." He nudged Time's knee with his boot, the wings at his calves fluttering. "Ravio can lead you to the castle in the morning, I'll make sure the kitchens know we'll be having a big lunch."
Time smiled, nodding his approval as Legend started off into the moonlight, feet sure and head high.
"Be safe." He reminded him as the headstrong teenager left to break into a castle. A kid after his own heart.
Legend didn't turn to face him, but he could hear the smile in his voice as he lied with a dismissive wave of his hand and flick of his ears.
"I always am."
><><><><
Legend woke up to a familiar lullaby and the sound of tired shuffling.
Zelda's blanket was soft against his cheek as he rolled onto his side to see what his sister was doing, he brought the blanket he didn't remember having when he collapsed a few hours ago with him. It smelled of amber and bergamot, like the lotion she was always putting on her cracking hands, the scent that he sometimes caught a whiff of when she wanted to talk but didn't want to startle him if he was in a fight or something of the sort.
He blinked his bleary eyes, rubbing at the sand in his tear ducts, and found her sitting at her vanity, fighting with a comb. She was already wearing a shift, but he could guess he'd be enlisted to help her with her gown later.
"You up, sleepyhead?"
Legend twisted to look out the window he'd climbed through earlier to find the sun still painfully low in the sky.
"It's not even noon."
Zelda doubled over laughing at his expense, as if he hadn't earned the right to sleep in with all of the world saving he was doing on a regular basis.
When she finally stopped wheezing with delight she shook her head with a gap-toothed smile and gave him a look that made him turn his gaze to the floor. He still didn't know what to do when people looked at him like that, endearment obvious in the curves of their eyes and lips, it made his heart warm in a way he didn't know what to do with. It was the same look his uncle used to give him when he baked a good pie or climbed a tree for the first time, it felt like a haunting.
"Be glad you aren't working in politics, the meeting times are truly atrocious."
Legend, now actively trying to escape the blanket he was cocooned in, quirked a brow. "Don't you make the meeting times?"
"I need to know my officials are up to snuff, don't I?"
"I don't think making them wake up at ass o'clock is the only test of character you have at your disposal."
Zelda shrugged nonchalantly, "It's worked so far."
Legend groaned and tumbled off the mattress with a thump as the blanket snagged his foot and complicated his landing. His sister didn't spare him a glance, and he thought she would be worried about him after his whole 'calling her and being emotionally vulnerable and saying he was coming to visit her' thing last night.
"Go get dressed, I expect you to fill me in on whatever happened when you get back."
Ah, there it was.
Legend stood up and brushed off his tunic.
"Can't I just wear this?"
"Absolutely not, you smell like blood."
"There's only like, two keese worth of blood on this." He hadn't gotten a chance to clean it in a while sure, but it wasn't like he'd been rolling in mud recreationally.
Zelda made a shooing motion towards the secret passage behind her bookshelf. Legend kicked at the carpet morosely and resigned himself to stuffy clothes for the rest of the day. It was a shame, he'd look more stuck up than Warriors now. He'd managed to escape such a fate during their last visit, the excuse of actively bleeding out meaning he got to wear something more comfortable.
With a glare sent over his shoulder at his sister, he pulled out the book on castle architecture and stepped back while the old gears in the wall whirred so the shelf would swing out of the way. He stepped in and the bookshelf closed him into the wall.
The narrow passageway was dark and full of cobwebs, but he knew the short path by heart and was able to find his way to the exit without needing a light. Once his fingers caught on the odd hole in the wall he was able to push out the matching book in his bedroom and step through the gap it made.
His room smelled different than Zelda's but her familiar scent was her to, he knew she would come in her sometimes when she was feeling sentimental or whatever, he didn't really get it, but he didn't have anything in here that she would mess with so it didn't bother him.
The circlet in it's glass case taunted him as he walked over and twisted the latch open. He hated the thing, Zelda had to get it made specially because any symbol of a prince had been melted down or otherwise destroyed in the previous reigns. Zelda had only changed the law rather recently, so now he was not only burdened with the name of hero, but also prince. It made his title way too long to bother with in his humble opinion.
At least the knights in the castle left him be if he was dressed to the nines and on the palace grounds, the whole royalty thing seemed to confuse the spell muddling their minds so he could get away unscathed if he was a prince here. He just hated it.
He tossed the golden circlet on his neatly made bed and turned to the large wardrobe with a groan. Ravio loved digging through this stuff, he didn't get it, sure the fabrics were nice but they were finicky and he had to worry about things like wrinkles and snags. At least the seamstress didn't make him wear trousers or hose, but they did drop the hem of his skirts lower than he liked.
He riffled through his various options of dress and went with the least annoying option: a red velvet houppelande overtop a black high-necked doublet. The golden embroidery on the sleeves was a mix of twisting vines and four-sided stars. The hem fell to his mid calves, the wings on his shoes (that no, he would not be taking off for different ones) fluttered sadly as they lost the ability to move freely. He stared into the tall mirror and sighed, wishing that his sleeves were easier to do stuff in, he would have to make sure to not knock anything over with the heavy, flowing fabric.
On his way back to Zelda's room he grabbed his circlet and shoved it in the bag he'd looped onto his new belt, he wouldn't put the damn thing on until he absolutely had to.
He stepped back into the light and took a seat on the chest at the foot of Zelda's bed, looking for his comb at the bottom of his bag. He usually just finger combed when it was wet and didn't bother otherwise, but he had to clean up properly when he was here. It was a shame, next time they ended up in Wars' era he would be expected to put actual effort into his appearance now that the Captain knew he was capable of it.
"When was the last time you took a bath?"
Legend looked up to find Zelda standing across from him with a comb and velvet hair tie.
"Uh…" He'd had one after the others decided he wasn't actively dying anymore, that had been a few days ago though, his hair was starting to shine with grease as he ran a hand through it. "A bit."
"Here, move." She pointed at a footstool next to the side of her bed and Legend acquiesced, it would probably be better to tell her what happened if his back was turned anyway. "I'll help you braid it back."
He picked at his rings as she started to brush through the tangles in his shoulder length hair, not quite sure how to start.
"So what was with last night?" His sister thankfully began for him. "It's not like you to be so forthcoming."
"I almost died." He said evenly, neither of them really bothered to sugarcoat things.
Zelda didn't gasp at the news, she knew his line of work, had seen him bleeding out and on the brink more than was fair to her, her hands only stilled for a moment as she started to section off hair to braid.
"Obviously I'm fine now, but I thought that was it for me." He stared into the deep ruby set in the center of the ring Zelda gave him from the treasury when she discovered they were siblings. "I guess I realized that I wanted to spend more time with you."
There was silence for a while, Zelda continuing to braid his hair back neatly and tie it off with a thin bow. Only when she hummed in approval that his hair was acceptable, did she wrap her arms around his chest and pull him back into a hug, burrowing her nose in his neck.
"Why didn't you tell me that then?" Her words were watery, Legend couldn't say he was feeling much better.
"Didn't have any magic left, one of the others helped me write down a short letter though, just in case." He didn't need to tell her just how close to death he had been, probably seconds away from the other side when the others barged into the room frantically.
Zelda only held him tighter, the birds chirping outside quieting as if in reverence for the moment. He let himself slump into her arms and closed his eyes, he would have missed this. He'd only had a sister for a few years now, but she had become such a central figure in his life, he still couldn't quite reckon with the fact that he'd almost lost her.
He cleared his throat, not wanting to think about his mortality anymore.
"So, breakfast?"
Zelda sniffled and pulled away, but only after pressing a kiss to his temple.
"You'll have to put on your crown."
"Do I really have to?"
"Unless you want to end up in the dungeons again, yes, you do."
Legend stood with a groan, his heart a bit lighter as he pulled out his circlet and positioned it so his bangs were free.
"Wanna hit the archery range before the others show up for lunch?" He figured she could probably clear an hour from her schedule for some practice. She'd become a better archer than him in recent years, though he would never say that out loud.
Zelda slipped her gown over her head and replied as he helped her lace up the sections she had trouble reaching.
"Yes please, I swear no one in this castle is a decent shot, and I could use the break after having to review the new bridge design."
"How does designing a bridge take four months?" She'd been lamenting about this issue for a while now.
"You don't want to know."
Legend smiled and let the sunlight streaming through the window warm his skin as he turned to grab her crown for her, he really hoped it wouldn't be the last time.