Chapter Text
In the boiling heat of Hyrule’s afternoon, Wild parried the devastating claws of the shadow beasts alone, pushed back into the corner of their invisible-walled arena that burned like an electric fence. Voices shouted at him from outside, hollering a million different commands that only did well to overwhelm his mind.
“Go left!”
“Go right!”
“He’s gonna go for your legs!”
He’d scouted ahead, stopped to pick some herbs, and the beasts had rushed him, trapping him alone in the arena’s barriers before any of his brothers could help.
The first three had fallen easily enough, but when six more appeared from the sky, landing in perfect unison, Wild’s heart had dropped. He’d struggled with the next three, barely able to down them before the remaining ones had rushed him.
Now, left without a shield, he could only block their blows, their claws inches from his face, his back burning up against the arena’s invisible fence.
“Dive!”
“Hit them!”
“Just hold on!”
Wild gripped the tip of the master sword, pressing the flat end against the beasts’ chests, their claws scraping at his arms, tearing into flesh and cloth. His blood gushed, but he didn’t have time to care. All he could do was push.
“Come on, come on!” His brothers shouted at him. “Push, Wild! You’ve got it! Push! Plant your feet! Push!”
Wild’s arms trembled, pain shooting through each nerve, the gushing blood slackening his grip. The master sword hummed in his hands, pulsing a steady, familiar beat that thrummed in Wild’s chest. At the very last chance, Wild slammed his foot into one of their knees, sending him sprawling, and he dove, stabbing the sword through his chest. He slashed at the second one, arching into the air, his sword coming down to end that one.
“NO, NO, NO—!” Twilight’s voice cut prominently through the air, but it was too late. Wild speared the damn thing, and at the loss of it’s brothers, the third released an earth-shattering, guttural screech.
Wild stumbled back, arms gushing blood, knees trembling as the two shadow beasts he’d just downed rose again, their mask-like faces twitching at him. Dammit! These things weren’t even supposed to be here anymore!! Where in the goddesses had they come from?
“Get close!”
“Come here!”
Hyrule and Legend huddled close together, beckoning Wild with wide eyes. “GET CLOSE TO THE FENCE, WILD! NOW! DRAW THEM HERE!”
Wild scurryed over, desperate for any sort of plan that would get him out of this. He braced himself against the barrier separating him from the frantic group banging on it. Discarded arrows and bombs laid at its edge, but as it stood, it was impenetrable.
Hyrule’s hands were glowing a familiar pink, resting on Legend’s arm, giving him strength that ebbed directly into his own weapon. He lifted a lightning rod, the very end glowing a brilliant white.
A crack of lightning shot through the air, and Wild covered his face with his arm brace, curling protectively against the wall as the shadow beasts exploded in heaps of square boxes.
The invisible barrier faded, and Wild tumbled as his brace vanished, hands rushing to catch him and lower him the rest of the way to the ground.
“You got ‘em, you got ‘em! Good job, Cub!” Twilight held his head steady as Time went to quick work in pouring a bitter, red potion down his throat. “Nine of them, I think that’s a record!”
Wild fought to catch his breath on the ground, his chest heaving for breath as the adrenaline forced him into straight panic mode. The glowing sensation burned his massacred arms, his fingers still gripping his sword for dear life, even if he wasn’t sure how.
“Just relax, you’re gonna be fine,” Hyrule blabbered, forcing Magic into Wild’s left arm first—his dominant one— sweat already beading at his brow.
Warriors wrapped his own cloak around the massively-bleeding right arm, ignoring Wild’s soft cries of pain. His lip ached with how tightly he forced his teeth between the skin.
“Twi,” Wild panted, desperate to focus on something else. “Twi!”
“I’m here—!”
“Why were they here?” Wild panted, searching frantically for his mentor. “What were they doing here? You said you sealed the realm!”
Twilight chewed his lip, looking just as sweaty and pale as Hyrule, Warriors, and Wild. “I-I…” his eyes flashed when everyone turned to him, as if to realize this increasingly problematic situation. “I don’t know. I don’t know! Midna sealed it! We watched her do it!”
Wild cried out weakly when Warriors pressed tighter, the world swaying dangerously as his stomach rolled, sweat beading on his skin.
For the first time since Wild had met him, Time’s expression revealed true terror when he fully took in the state of Wild’s arms. “Hyrule! What’d taking so long?!”
“There’s… it’s blocking me!” Hyrule relayed in a shaking voice.
“What is?!”
“I don’t know! Something’s blocking me— something dark! It feels like Demise, just the barest hints of it!”
Wild’s head snapped up, panic growing, but the dizziness slammed it back into the dusty dirt. He coughed weakly, his very life force ebbing, the sword’s pulsing slowing.
“Okay, okay— shit! Push it!” Time scrambled for another potion, bracing Wild’s head. Fruitlessly, Wild searched for his expression, able to feel his panic, but unable to actually see it. “Drink, Wild. Drink!”
The second potion forced its way down Wild’s throat, and he choked on it, his coughs bursting from his aching chest. He shivered, fingers growing cold, a tingling sensation creeping up his arms to replace the pain. “M…my wrists…” the realization hit him all at once, his panic dragging him further down into a vertigo’s world of dizziness. “Wrists… my-!”
“We know, we know, shh,” Twilight hushed him softly, leaning over him now. “Save your breath. It’s okay. Just hang in there.”
Hyrule groaned in frustration, a flurry of movement passed over Wild as he and Warrior’s switched places. The right wrist gushed blood still, the cloth doing little to stop it. The left one, while not as bad, still dribbled threateningly.
“You’re doing great,” Twilight beamed down at him, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. He gently brushed aside Wild’s bangs. “You’re doing great, okay, just focus on me. You’re doing great.”
A familiar static flooded into the air, the winds themselves ceasing in their gusts. A shiver shot down Wild’s spine, birds erupting from trees, animals diving away from the approaching event. He held his breath as a flash of light sparked in the air like steel striking flint. A familiar hum swirled overhead, closely drowned out by the sounds of his brothers cursing.
“Now?!” Time shouted bitterly up towards the building portal. “When he’s bleeding out on the ground?!”
The winds gathered in place, swirling in the familiar circle, hats and hair whipping around heads.
“Pull back, Roolie!” Legend shouted. “Secure his wrists as fast as you can! We’ll have to wait until after we land to continue!”
“I can’t! He may not survive the jump if we don’t push everything into him we can!”
“You damn, stupid thing, are you trying to kill him?!” Time shouted at the three triangles hovering over him, the center opening wide to swallow them up. “Where’s your patience? Where’s that wisdom you parade? You damn fucking thing! You damn fucking curse!”
The portal sucked him in first, lifting him briefly off his feet, before tossing him through to the next Hyrule. Another task to complete on the goddesses’ whim. Wild wasn’t even sure what they were doing in this Hyrule. He hadn’t done anything but get ambushed.
Sky, Four, Twilight and Wind stood, ready to enter before the remaining healers and sorcerers to buy precious time.
Wild cried out as they securely bound his wrists, the tight ache yanking him back into his already-failing body, a cold chill sweeping through him. Legend and Hyrule poured the last of their magic into him before they, too, vanished.
Warriors threw himself over Wild, shielding him with his body. Then, with a familiar hum, the world vanished in a flash of light, leaving nothing but a massive, dusty pool of blood in its wake.