Chapter Text
“L…Legend?”
Legend jerked to attention. It was two days since Wild had brought him back, and Hyrule had barely stirred the entire time. Now, suddenly, his eyes were half-open and fixed on Legend’s face. Legend leaned forwards and gripped his friend’s hand.
“Rule! Thank Hylia, you’re awake, how are you feeling?”
“W… where’s… Wild?” Hyrule rasped. “’S he… okay?”
“Wild’s fine. How are you?”
“He… pushed me out of the way, Legend,” Hyrule whispered, blinking hard, clearly struggling to keep his eyes open. “Rock… fell, he pushed me out of the way, he saved my life… he nearly… died, Legend. Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” Legend repeated. “He carried you back.”
Hyrule breathed out and a faint smile crossed his white face. “Thought… I wasn’t strong enough,” he said hoarsely. “He was hurt so bad, Legend, I thought I… wasn’t strong enough.”
Legend was barely listening. “Here,” he said. “You should drink some water.” He reached for his bottle and shifted forwards to lift Hyrule’s head onto his lap, helping him drink. Hyrule closed his eyes again, shivering.
“Thought I wasn’t… strong enough,” he whispered again.
“Don’t do that to me, okay?” Legend said, as firmly as he could manage when everything inside him was melting with sheer relief. He stroked a lock of his friend’s untidy hair out of his face. “You’ve been unconscious for two days. I was so worried about you!”
Hyrule’s eyes cracked open again and now Legend could see a mischievous glint burning in their weary brown depths. “Knew… you were a nice guy, underneath,” he quipped weakly. Legend was saved from having to be indignant by Wild suddenly crashing to his knees beside them.
“Hyrule!” Wild reached out with his unsplinted arm, then yanked his hand hurriedly back as if afraid his touch would be unwelcome. “Hyrule, oh goddess, are you okay?”
Hyrule struggled to sit up straighter and Legend, alarmed, grabbed him under the arms and let him prop himself against his chest. “Hey,” he said nervously. “You should probably lie still. Take it easy, Roolie, okay?” To his amazement, Hyrule’s expression suddenly was suddenly blazing with fury as his hand shot out, grabbing Wild by the front of his shirt and pulling him towards him with a startling energy.
“Don’t you ever do that again,” Hyrule snarled, in a thread of a voice that nonetheless managed to sound absolutely terrifying. Wild’s eyes widened and he glanced around in a kind of panic.
“Um…”
“You got between me and a collapsing mountain! If you ever risk your life for me again Wild so help me goddess I am going to murder you myself,” Hyrule hissed. Wild blinked, then narrowed his eyes.
“I would potentially listen to this, if it was coming from anyone except you,” he returned. “You could’ve killed yourself healing me!”
“What choice did I have?” Hyrule snapped, but his voice was getting weaker and his grip on Wild’s shirt slackening. Wild grabbed his hand before it could drop. “You would have died,” Hyrule whispered, his eyes slipping closed again. “You would have died, Wild, you were hurt so bad, it was so, so bad… what… what choice did I…” His voice trailed off and his body relaxed in Legend’s arms, his head falling forwards as he faded out into sleep once more. Wild met Legend’s eyes over his head.
“Don’t look at me,” Legend said in disgust. “You’re both as bad as each other.”
Twilight returned from what Legend thought was a mysteriously long-distance patrol the following afternoon reporting bokoblins, far out but moving in their direction. “We’ve got about a day but if they’re headed for the spring they’ll find us first,” he said. Time and Warriors both thought it was time to move on anyway: they had been in one place for too long, now.
“We’ll keep the pace slow,” Time said. “But I don’t want to fight anything black-blooded with two of us out of commission.”
“I am not out of commission!” Wild protested.
“You have one functional arm, cub,” Twilight pointed out.
“It’s not even injured anymore, I’m only not taking the splint off because…”
“Because I said so, and because the bones are still healing, and like it or not you won’t be able to hold your bow straight,” Time said, in a tone which brooked no disagreement. “We leave tomorrow morning.”
“We can’t,” Legend said flatly. “Hyrule isn’t strong enough.”
“Yes, I am,” Hyrule objected.
“You…”
“Wild gave me one of his energizing elixirs. I’m fine.”
“Time,” Legend protested, aware that he sounded and felt slightly hysterical. “He can barely walk.”
“That’s completely untrue,” Hyrule snapped, narrowing his eyes.
“We can delay one more day,” Wild pleaded. Legend glanced at him in surprise. Usually Wild was the one most desperate to keep moving. “Just to give Hyrule enough time to fully recover. If the bokos show up we can handle them.”
“I am fine,” Hyrule said again, fiercely. Time stared at the three of them, clearly thinking.
“We’ve been here too long already,” he said at last. “We’ll set off tomorrow morning. Hyrule, Wild, make sure you both get a good night’s rest tonight, okay?”
Wild spluttered in indignation and Legend rolled his eyes, but Time wasn’t budging. When it became evident that his arguments were going to be ignored, Wild stomped off to the cooking pot, where he immediately set to work mixing more elixirs and chopping vegetables to prepare a hearty stew Legend knew Hyrule loved. Wind was delegated to help him, as Wild was still doing everything one-handed. Legend couldn’t watch. Wind with a massive knife and a pile of carrots nearly as long as his arms, beside a bloodstained and lopsided Wild in frenzied full-speed-ahead mode, made for an unbearably stressful scene.
Hyrule was quiet, which Legend assumed was because he was still feeling drained. He was still covered in blood, most of which was Wild’s. “Hey,” Legend asked him quietly. “Do you want me to come with you to the stream so you can clean up?”
Hyrule gave him a smile that was incredibly, excessively grateful. “Thanks, Legend.”
Legend found a spare shirt and a few washcloths and helped Hyrule get to his feet. He was a little unsteady and tired easily, his energy levels still radically low, but with Legend hovering close he was able to walk the short distance to the stream, where he knelt down at the edge and pulled off his shirt. Then he cupped his hands and splashed his face and hair with water.
“Do you need a hand?” Legend asked him. Hyrule shook his head, but Legend picked up his discarded shirt anyway and started scrubbing at it, trying to at least dull the vivid stains. Hyrule was now carefully washing Wild’s blood off his chest and shoulders and the red swirled briefly in the rippling water before melting away.
“If you need to stop and rest at any point tomorrow you’ve got to say so,” Legend said. “I still don’t think…”
“Don’t worry, Legend, I’ll be okay.” Hyrule turned with a faint smile, shaking the water out of his hair.
“Rule,” Legend said, then hesitated. “I know you feel responsible, when one of us gets hurt. But you can’t keep putting our lives above your own. You can’t. I know-” Hyrule opened his mouth to reply but Legend pressed on. “I know Wild saved your life. But it is possible to kill yourself by using too much magic and you came pretty close this time. Please, can you just try to be more careful?” He dug his fingers into the moist soil at the edge of the riverbank, scooping out a clump and squashing it between his fingers, feeling both awkward and angry at the same time.
“I’m not very good at this, am I,” Hyrule said quietly.
“What do you…”
“Being part of a group. I mean…” He shrugged. “Do you ever think about what’ll happen when all of this is over?”
Legend frowned, confused. Hyrule pressed on: “I guess we’ll all go back to our separate times. Not that we’ll have any say in it. And that’s how it should be. All of us miss our own Hyrules, all of us are at home there.”
“Roolie…” Legend began.
“What I’m trying to say is, I know that if it wasn’t for our mission none of you would even look twice at someone like me. If you had a choice. But, um… while it lasts, it means the world to me, Legend. I know I’m not very good at being around people. I know sometimes I need time out. But the fact that you’re here and you… you all made a space for me, you…” He looked down, biting his lip. “I won’t lose that, not if there’s any chance I…”
Legend couldn’t just listen to this. “Hyrule.”
Hyrule looked up at him. “What?”
“Do you really believe that? That the mission is all this is?”
Hyrule shrugged, flushing red. “I just mean, I don’t know why me. I’m not like the rest of you. I’m not really a… a warrior, or a hero, or anything. I just… keep travelling, and trying to help where I can, and I do my best, but everything I learned I just kinda randomly picked up or taught myself and…”
“Which is why it’s even more amazing that you do it all so well,” Legend pointed out. “You’re important, Rule. You’re important to the gods, and to all of us, and… and to me. Hylia only knows how this will end, but you’re my friend, okay? And that’s why I need you to take better care of yourself.” He tossed his clump of soil into the river, aware that his face was burning, and then heard a quiet sniffle from beside him. “Oh, no, come on, please don’t cry…”
“I’m not,” Hyrule muttered, sniffing again. Legend put his arm around Hyrule’s wet, cool shoulders, aware that this was the second hug he’d given in as many days and that he was going to have to take care this didn’t become a habit. Between Hyrule and Wild and the sheer amount of trouble they seemed to be able to generate, Legend was way out of his depth, emotionally speaking.
While it lasts, it means the world to me, Legend.
Legend tightened his hold and felt Hyrule’s curly head lean gently against his own.
They sat there together, staring into the stream, in a comforting silence, for some time, until Legend realised Hyrule’s damp skin was getting cold, and that his head kept nodding forwards. He nudged his friend to rouse him, then handed him the spare shirt. Hyrule pulled it on by himself but his eyelids looked heavy and he staggered a little as Legend helped him stand up. Legend steadied him and Hyrule shot him a grateful smile as they made their way back towards camp together, guided by the scent of woodsmoke and vegetables cooking.
“Wild?” Legend called into the darkening trees. “Wild?” It was just over a week since they had left their original camp, and Legend was starting to feel like he was going to end up spending his whole life wandering around dark forests, searching for a reckless wild child who had once again managed to disappear.
“I’m here,” a weak voice finally filtered back to him. Legend quickened his pace and then his gaze fell upon Wild, huddled into himself at the base of a wide tree. Shock pulsed through him and he rushed forwards, reaching out to grip his friend’s shoulder. Wild’s eyes, hazy and pained, met his.
“Wild, what happened?”
“N… nothing,” Wild said jerkily. “I, uh, I…”
“What happened?” Legend’s eyes fell on the bulbous, bristly yellowish fungus growing out of the base of the tree. There was a bite-sized chunk torn out of it.
“Oh, no,” Legend whispered. “Oh, you didn’t…”
“It’s fine,” Wild croaked. “I’m fine.” His whole body suddenly convulsed and he flung himself onto his hands and knees away from Legend, who barely had time to grab his long hair and hold it back out of his face before Wild violently threw up on the other side of the tree. Then he sank back, shivering, leaning against the tree trunk and closing his eyes. His face was streaked with sweat.
“Why the fuck would you eat that, Wild? Why? That one even looks poisonous!”
“Just… just wanted to see if it… didn’t think it would...” Wild’s voice gave out and a small spasm of pain went through him. He wrapped his arms around his middle, taking slow, hitching breaths. “I think… it’s gonna be okay… think I threw everything up by now…I’ll be fine…” He looked incredibly fragile and incredibly not fine in that moment, crumpled up pale and sweating and small against the tree.
“I don’t want to say I told you so when you look as pathetic as you do right now, Champion,” Legend began. “But…”
“You can say it.” Wild muttered without opening his eyes. “I have a sense of justice.”
“Well, I did tell you.”
“I know.” Wild sighed, forcing his eyes open and rubbing his hands across his clammy face. He looked drawn and exhausted. “I’m fine,” he repeated, unconvincingly.
“Sure you are,” Legend replied sarcastically. “Come on. Let’s get you back to the others, okay?”
“I think I’ll just wait it out here,” Wild murmured. “No need for everyone to see…”
“Nope,” Legend said firmly. “No way. I’m taking you back. We’re gonna have to keep an eye on you, on the off-chance you still need a potion or an antidote or something.” He hesitated, suddenly struck. “Um. Do you think you can stand up?”
“Yeah,” Wild mumbled, but when Legend reached out a hand to help Wild accepted it and levered himself to his feet. He immediately staggered and grabbed at Legend for support. “You crazy gremlin, Wild,” Legend said in exasperation, keeping a hand on Wild’s arm, just in case, as they set off back through the trees. “You and your fucking mushrooms.”
“Was just one bad one,” Wild whispered, shivering. He stumbled over a tree root and nearly went down. Legend caught him under his right shoulder and dragged him back upright. “Still have a ninety percent success rate for this Hyrule.”
“Ninety… Oh sweet Hylia, Wild. You’re gonna be the death of me, you know that?”
“No,” Wild said, shooting him a glance that was suddenly, incongruously, fierce. “I’d never let that happen.”