Chapter Text
They’d been so careful.
Warriors was always, always mindful to set the pace to their most exhausted member. It was, admittedly, usually Sky at the back, but injuries and too much eagerness to shoulder all the night shifts - cough Time cough - sent someone to keep their sky-born friend company in the back all too often. Wind had a tendency to lag behind after long days as well, too young to have the same endurance as the rest of them.
Stubborn to the core, most of the heroes had at one point tried to hide their weariness, even if there was room and time to make camp instead, even if it was a case of their body telling them it needed a break or else .
Warriors understood and was guilty of the same, and that’s precisely why he took his responsibility all the more seriously; over the course of a long adventure such as this, it was worse to push themselves too hard.
(One of the refreshing changes from the army, when as a thousand-strong mass there was no room for such accommodations, and those who were forced to burn themselves out to keep pace suffered the consequences of their exhaustion in battle.
War was terribly self-culling, sometimes.)
There had been far too many collapses along perfectly safe stretches for Wars’ peace of mind, and he’d learned to keep a keen eye on the group as a result. Not just the back, either, because in all their accursed dogged-determination, the rest of the Chain knew better than to be obvious if they wanted to get away with their ill-advised ruse.
It seemed the harder he tried to keep an eye out to intercede before they over-extended themselves, the more shifty and determined the others got to slip under the radar, an odd kind of self-care arms race between him and whichever hero was currently trying to run themselves into the ground.
Gods, you’d think he was going to kick them out to wander on their own, rather than force them to sit down and rest .
The Captain understood pushing aside a body’s needs, focusing on the task at hand and ignoring the sweet call of rest, or sleep, of doing more for an injury than just enough to keep us moving . He also knew that it wasn’t sustainable, that too long pushing past limits only made this worse in the long run. It was a mindset for critical missions, for time-sensitive objectives. It was a sign of desperation, and while they had those moments, certainly, for the most part this adventure had proven to be long-term tactical in nature.
There was no need to run themselves into the ground, and yet -
Hyrule was, at the moment, walking beside Wind in the rear portion of the middle of the Chain. Usually he preferred Time or Legend, but Wars wouldn’t have taken note of it if not for the distinctly pale pallor to the Traveler’s face and the glaring lack of his characteristic perk of interest at the woods around them, through which they were taking a well-worn footpath and very much in the middle of and abundance of wonders Wild was continually prancing over to and declaring ‘ sweet! ’.
It was weird, and worrying . Their Traveler had been sleeping more heavily too- Wars had brushed it off at first since Hyrule had insistently used - overused , Legend had hissed as he bristled over the near-swooning form of their healer- his magic to heal a few nasty injuries accrued after Twi and Four had been caught off guard while out foraging and hunting.
The venom infecting their wounds had lingered too long in the time it took them to get back to the rest of the group, and that combined with a serious gash along Twi’s leg that reopened in a pour of blood as he finally collapsed and Four’s concussion -bad, really bad, pupils of different size and utterly unresponsive- had been enough to spur Hyrule into action, his own magic far more effective against blood loss and poison than potions ever were, and no fairies on hand at the moment to take his place.
Their Vet had hovered and swaddled Hyrule devotedly for the entirety of the time it took him to get back on his feet, the exhausted, dark-bagged eyes and unsteady trembling only reminding them why the Traveler’s healing magic was a last resort, and to be used sparingly.
A precious ability, and one ‘Rule was only too happy to use and near-offended over when disallowed, but not worth risking the marked toll it took on him every time it was overused, not if it only swapped out one injured teammate for an equally infirmed sick one.
Emergencies only, they’d agreed, despite Hyrule’s blazing green eyes and furious pouting that didn’t feel near as harmless as it seemed when followed by a scheming, vengeful look after he and Time held firm on the matter. The rash of minor pranks and uncharacteristic attitude from Hyrule that followed for the next week had been in turn mildly irritating and genuinely hilarious as a show of harmless rebellion, but an easy price to pay to avoid seeing him nearly too worn out to rouse enough to eat some soup before passing out once more.
That, however, had been a few days ago, and while he wasn’t so bad anymore, he’d not yet truly bounced back- more’s the damned shame, because yesterday they’d finally gotten a solid lead on the monster pack they may be here for, the one that was likely the source of Twi’s and Four’s attack earlier in the week. It was enough that he wasn’t willing to force them into an early camp, even despite Hyrule’s increasingly obvious misery.
Warriors worried that he’d gotten sick while already weakened, his immune system compromised by the magic he’d used without abandon. Hyrule looked ill as he trudged on with dragging feet, but his appetite had been fine at breakfast and lunch, and there was no feverish flush to his cheeks. He was steady on his feet, if slower than usual, and though clearly distracted and quieter even than his usual Hyrule remained perfectly responsive.
Not good, but not severe, either. They weren’t going to close in on the suspected monster camp today, but they did need to continue going if they wanted to avoid the pack slipping from their grasp. Hopefully, with another good night’s rest the Traveler would improve, or Wars may have to force him to sit out when they did inevitably have to fight the monster pack.
He doesn’t know what he dreads more, Hyrule’s inevitable arguing or the alternative; acceptance that would only prove how bad off he really was.
The group came to a stop and milled about as the path led up a steep, rock laden slope -if boulders the size of Wild’s hinoxes could still be called ‘rocks’- patiently waiting as they decided who would be the pathfinder up the unstable smattering of boulders and stones. Wild led the way as the most experienced rock climber there, and with a fair warning from Sky to keep everyone else’s capabilities in mind he was off, scrambling over boulders like a little squirrel as he tested which stones were stable, which had the best footholds, and which led only to impassably steep dead ends.
As they made their slow way up the Captain shared a glance with Time, one which Legend immediately intercepted, bracing a hand on the Old Man’s shoulder and stepping onto a chunk of stone that boosted him right in the way of Wars’ view of Time’s face, giving him a deadly glare that did nothing to hide the clear concern as his gaze darted pointedly to Hyrule, now at the back with Sky nearby.
Wars paused, noting with relief that Hyrule was well enough to be arguing with Sky as the other hoisted him up by the waist onto a higher tier of flattened rock. It seemed more a case of the Skyloftian being overprotective than that of ‘Rule doing worse, but the Captain decided he would wait here for them anyways and gauge for himself how well the Traveler was faring. These rocks were weathered and old, dangerously smooth in places from centuries of rain; a fall down the slope would surely break bones, and between the tenuous balance of some of the horse-sized rocks and the deep, hazardous gaps between the towering boulders the steep mountainside wasn’t a path he’d have chosen, but a hazard that circled the mountain they had to climb like a necklace for miles around yet.
Not much choice but to go up, and better to do it on a clear day then put it off and risk having to force a night hike or poor weather farther down the line.
Warriors was standing atop a smaller flattened rock, offering a hand for a particularly steep-sided high step when Four’s foot slipped off the edge as he was pulling himself up. Their fingers just barely brushed each other as the Smithy started falling back, face blossoming with alarm, and in that split second Wars saw all too clearly the risk of him cracking his skull upon the rock as Four fell with no way to catch himself.
He lunged forward with wide eyes, heedless of the fact that he was in entirely the wrong position to help, only barely registering Time similarly twitching forward from behind Four to catch him before realizing that he had fucked up badly .
Time caught Four easily, and Warriors, already leaning too far, was helpless to stop the course of events he’d put in place with one instinctive move to help.
The rock he’d jumped to the very edge of abruptly unbalanced and tilted , sending him and all his too-quick momentum falling forward with a yelp as the previously stable stone underfoot suddenly careened to the side and dumped him down the rocks. Warriors was slammed against stone in the next second, knocking the breath from his lungs as the force of his fall kept him rolling, flinging an arm out for a grip and feeling it crack under his weight as he careened on and back into open space, turning in mid-air, weightless, head and shoulder down and lined up for the first point of contact when he inevitably hit stone once more-
There was no time for anything but a panicked blur, and yet every second of the fall seemed to drag on forever as adrenaline slowed the world around him.
An impact against his side snapped everything back to normal speed, softer than unforgiving rock as it sent him slamming against well, unforgiving rock hip first, the collision redirecting his headlong fall into a sideways sprawl across a blessedly flat boulder-top. He rolled, nearly falling off the other side before he managed to brace a foot against a rock and stop his momentum, dizzy and battered and much farther down the slope than a second before.
He stared for a moment at the jagged stones beneath him, like teeth still patiently waiting to break his body yet. Then his diaphragm decided it was going to allow air back into his lungs after all and he gave a great gasp, feeling the bruised ribs and flaring pain at each shuddering breath.
He rolled onto his back with a wheezing groan and only then realized that he wasn’t alone, someone splayed beside him on the stone, partially budged up against him. That was Hyrule’s hair and unmoving slender build and Warrior’s racing heart suddenly skipped gears from fear of death to fear for Hyrule as the other remained still.
“No,” he whispered, twisting to look more closely at the unconscious hero, back braced against Wars’ legs. “Rule?” He asked fearfully, resting a hand on the Traveler’s shoulder and only barely stopping himself from shaking it.
“Ledge!” He screamed, having no idea where the Vet or the others were but needing them to hurry as he carefully shifted to hold Hyrule in place where he was half curled on his side, ever so cautious not to shift the legs Hyrule was leant against, fear of broken necks and spines flitting through his mind as he ran his eyes over the other’s form.
He wasn’t-
He wasn’t breathing .
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Legend POV
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‘Rule hadn’t been walking beside him.
That wasn’t unheard of, nor even a point of concern normally, except for the fact that he was acting off, still, and this seemed more than anything an attempt to hide that from Legend’s keen eyes and highly attuned Hyrule Wellness Meter.
It had been going off in his head for a while, now, ever since ‘Rule practically knocked himself out healing Twi and Four. It hadn’t stopped since, even when Roolie was well enough to walk the next day; how could it, when his friend had been too quiet, too self-contained, too pale and only getting worse as the day wore on, despite the breaks they took?
The Traveler’s magic was fine, low but not low enough to account for the starkness of ‘Rule’s freckles atop ashen skin, nor the over-tired drag of his feet across the ground. He could tell the others were keeping a close eye on their flagging friend as well, each of them internally debating at what point Hyrule’s apparent illness outweighed the lead on the monster pack they were currently hunting. For now, he was keeping pace, and though he hated it Legend agreed that whatever was wrong didn’t seem severe enough to stop for, not when innocent lives depended on them stopping the monsters before they crossed the mountains to the village on the other side.
Then the Chain came to the rock-laden mountainside, and Legend unfairly expressed his displeasure with the situation as a whole with a deathly glare to Warriors, though the Captain had no more control over it than any of the others. But if anyone was going to put a stop to it, Wars would be the one to step in, so it was him who was given a none-too-subtle visual shove in the back to take a closer look at the situation. Legend saw Warriors give ‘Rule an assessing once-over before sending the seething Vet a helpless shake of his head and continuing up the path. He began to storm his way back down to the Traveler’s side, only to see the flighty side-glances heading his way and the increased agitation in his ailing friend and draw unhappily to a stop.
Hyrule, it seemed, was still steering clear of him. Legend reluctantly obliged the other’s unspoken preference for space - never again , he swore to himself later; respecting boundaries is for those who know their limits - and stayed where he was in the line of heroes, placing him right at the middle of the group when it happened.
When Wars slipped and fell, bouncing with terrifying force over rocks, trying desperately to slow his descent as he tumbled over stone. But there was nothing to stop the deadly pull of gravity, nothing to hold onto as his body crashed brutally against the massive boulders along the steep slope below, practically cliff-like in places
.
The Captain went terrifyingly limp after the second impact, hurtling right into a deadly freefall lined up to send him careening down a dangerous obstacle course littered with jagged stone and bone-breaking gaps and surfaces, if he even survived landing at all with his head facing down as he fell.
Legend’s heart froze in his chest at the thought, at the sight at the sound it would make-
The Chain’s cries and screams of fear and shock rang in the air as they all simultaneously twitched forward, but there was nothing any of them could do without falling themselves. Legend’s hand shot into his bag for a hookshot even though he knew he couldn't possibly be fast enough, already turning to run down the rocky path because when Wars finally landed he would need help -
A pulse of magic from below, and Hyrule cast Jump, launching upwards to tackle Wars with dazzling precision. They landed along a sloped stone that ‘Rule half stepped- half hopped against to roll them onto a flatter boulder as their legs went out from under them, both coming to rest, terrifyingly still for the seconds that the Chain watched, frozen with shock and relief and unabated fear. Legend was already picking his way down as quickly as he could while being careful not to fall as well, but when Wars’ screamed his name he gave up even that level of caution, skidding and jumping down until he was at a level and then using the Roc’s cape to zip horizontally over to them, hovering over Hyrule’s form as the Captain breathed for him, the Traveler deathly still.
“Wars, what happened?” he barked as he dug for potions, then berated himself, because Legend had seen what had happened. He was debating between red or green before pulling out one of Wild’s fairy elixirs as Wars pulled away from Hyrule for a moment to gasp “I think it’s his spine.”
Fuck, he hoped this worked then, even with Rulie unconscious. He gently pushed Wars away and poured the elixir in, breath catching as it did nothing more than pool in the unresponsive hero’s mouth, glittering fairy magic dispersing gradually as a trickle escaped his lax lips.
“No!” Warriors gasped, burying a hand in his hair before he leaned forward again, hesitant, unsure what to do to help. His other arm hung limply at his side, clearly broken. Legend tickled a finger softly across Roolie’s throat before massaging the esophagus firmly.
Hyrule swallowed.
Legend immediately poured more elixir in with a shaking hand, and this too, was drunk down. By the time the bottle was gone, Hyrule was breathing on his own, but only barely, seeming little improved aside from no longer being all but dead.
It was terrifying, that he was still this bad off after a fairy elixir.
It was the most pure rush of relief Legend had ever felt, and it rode hard and fast atop the adrenaline that continued to pump through him at the realization that Hyrule was far from saved.
The Traveler seemed still on the very brink of dying, if his stuttering pulse was any indication, and Legend had no clue what was wrong, or what to do about it. He pulled out a green potion, because if there was any chance of it helping he was going to use it, he’d pour every potion they had down his brother’s throat if that’s what it took , before Roolie’s magic suddenly flexed and bent under their fluttering hands. .
He moaned softly, the sound heart-wrenching in its agonized musicality, eyes barely open as he murmured an indistinct apology and was suddenly gone .
Legend cried out in alarm and shock, and Warriors gasped and lunged forward, catching something in his cupped hand as he choked back a cry at the instinctual jerk jarring his broken arm. He brought the hand to his chest, unfurling his curled fingers to reveal a weak, throbbing pink light shining faintly from within their hold.
A fairy was curled there, unconscious and barely lit, shedding dust that held not an ounce of sparkle as it lay utterly still and silent. Its curly brown hair was familiar, as was the soft curve of his cheeks, and the diminutive tunic matched that of Legend’s dear, dear friend.
A dear friend who could apparently turn into a fairy . As they both stared down at Hyrule- sleeping, but breathing steadier already, though Legend had never seen a fairy so ill before- he couldn’t even muster any upset over the secret.
He could, however, manage perfectly well to be upset when it seemed Hyrule should have done this much, much sooner. Roolie would have questions waiting for him when he woke up, and a scolding as well, from more than just Legend if the way Wars’ shoulders were shaking and the fear in the Chain’s distant-but-coming-closer shouts were any indication of just how much he’d scared them all.
Maybe, possibly , there would be a few hugs as well, if he was lucky and Legend was feeling nice and even half as glad as he was now.
(Oh, who was he kidding? Roolie was getting smothered the instant he was full-sized again, and nothing would stop Legend from doing his best while his brother was a fairy, either.)