Chapter Text
It was hard to make Warriors feel physically ill anymore. He had just seen too much to have anything really phase him. Or so he thought.
As he came up to the last cell, his stomach dropped at the sight.
It was Sky, indefinitely so, even though his motionless body was as far from the cell door as he could've been with the reach of the chains wrapped around his scraped-raw wrists. However, the chains would be the least of their worries. From his point of view, he couldn’t make out Sky’s face or even tell if he was any conscious. But he could hear his ragged, gasping breaths as his lungs worked in overtime, still trying to keep him alive. Warriors nearly called out for the younger of them to stay back, but realized that it was too late as he heard several breathless gasps behind him. Sky’s body stiffened even further at the sound.
“Wars…?” Wind called weakly, staring at the sword that was currently plunged into Sky’s chest.
The sword itself was standing perfectly straight, its hilt only wavering as Sky tried to keep breathing. As far as he could tell, the blade’s tip must’ve been driven into the ground beneath for it to be standing the way it was. Strangely enough, there didn’t seem to be any fresh blood, meaning anything but good things, as he turned to the rest of his brothers.
“Vet, get us in there.”
In a flash, Legend had his fire rod in hand and stepped past him. His violet eyes narrowed as the end of the rod turned a bright glowing orange, but no flames shot out, only heat, making the metal of the bars start melting.
The moment that the bars had melted enough to leave a Hylian-sized hole, Warriors dashed in, quickly followed by Hyrule and Legend. Somehow, getting a closer look at their brother made everything worse.
The sword planted in his chest was already terrible, but now he could see that it was an older wound, as it was scabbed over, and the flesh had tried to repair itself; that's why there had been no fresh blood. Because it had already bled and had been left for so long.
His entire frame was mottled in bruises, but especially centered around his neck- It was a wonder that he was still able to draw breath, as raspy and harsh sounding as it was. A length of black cloth had been tied around Sky’s eyes, rendering him blind since who knows how long. His right arm was mottled by purple and black bruises, his forearm possibly broken by the looks of it.
“Sky, it’s us,” Warriors started quietly, speaking softer than he was used to. He fingered the edge of the blindfold, but quickly realized that it was sticking to the skin, flecks of dried blood on the edges of the cloth. What had his brother been through? Just that little movement seemed to startle the Skyloftian, and at the moment, Wars wanted nothing more than to comb his fingers through the other’s hair, but was unwilling to startle his currently blind brother. “Can you hear me?”
There was no answer.
Hyrule, kneeled beside him, frowned as he hovered his hands over Sky, hands glowing for only a moment before he dropped them into his lap. He sent a quick, helpless glance at the Captain before the brunet turned back to Sky, expression blank as he scanned him over again.
Warriors was about to ask what was wrong -It had to have something to do with magic, which he couldn’t really sense- but Legend elbowed him in the side.
“Later.” He grunted. “Sky, we’re gonna help you, but it’s not gonna be very fun for either of us. I’m going to touch it, okay?” Legend paused in expectation of an answer, but the boy only trembled. “‘Rule, on three?”
Hyrule nodded in response, lifting his hands up. Beneath them, Sky’s hand grasped helplessly at the ground, his breathing somehow quickening further as he already grimaced for the oncoming pain.
With a shaky breath himself, Legend slowly wrapped his hands around the hilt of the sword. “Alright…one…”
Warriors felt so helpless, simply watching. But he also couldn’t help feel relief that he wasn’t to be the one causing Sky more pain. He tried to be ready, waiting for a command to help his brother. Either one of them.
“Two…”
He glanced up at the remaining party through the bars, most of them watching with pained and worried expressions, the others with blank faces. Thankfully, Wind had buried his face in Four’s tunic, holding his hands up over his ears as the smith pulled him close.
Legend’s grip tightened on the sword even further, ringed fingers and knuckles turning white as the ocean blue magic shined, ready to be released.
“Three.”
“Wait-“
Sky’s broken plea changed into a blood-curdling scream, not dissimilar to the agony of the one they had heard outside the cave. It echoed off the walls as Sky tried in vain to push Legend away, who was already out of arm’s reach with that accursed sword. It only took another moment before the Vet let it fall to the ground. The screams became louder as the wound reopened, spilling the thick, dark red liquid. He started thrashing, and Wars and Legend had to hold him down, carefully, but also not wanting him to hurt Hyrule. The act itself wasn’t hard, in fact, it was way too easy, with Sky having virtually no strength left to break off their hold. He didn’t seem to register this, however, as he tried in vain to struggle against them, even at the sure pain of pulling at his broken arm. Legend tried to say something to calm him down, but the Skyloftian didn’t seem to hear the gentle words.
The dim light of the cell was filled with the soft blue from the Traveler’s hands, who was concentrating hard with furrowed brows. After a long moment that could only have been a few seconds, Sky’s midsection began to glow the same color, and Warriors watched as the wound started meticulously weaving itself back together.
It was only when the light flickered out from Hyrule’s hands that Sky’s screaming and thrashing calmed. He was gasping for breath, wheezing and whimpering, muttering words that neither of them could make out. The wound itself was still slick with blood, the worst of it mostly healed, but still in need of stitches even after the magic.
Trusting that Sky was now worn out enough to not be a hindrance in himself, and that Legend was checking on Hyrule, the Captain went to work.
Wars dropped his bag onto the ground beside him, riffling through it before it had a chance to settle. He pulled out his sewing kit along with a roll of bandages, and then a potion after, setting everything carefully on the ground. After all of that, Wars could only assume that Sky was still conscious, especially after all that fight he’d given. Hylia’s Chosen Hero didn’t give in so easily.
Stitches would be a last resort, he reasoned, as the potion should cover the rest of his worst wound. However, he might have to rebreak the other’s arm, if it had started to heal like the sword wound had. Once all the more life-threatening injuries were dealt with, they could try to get that blindfold off, break the chains that held him down, and then they could get him out of here.
While trying to assess the situation, Wars hardly noticed that Twilight had taken Hyrule from Legend and that Time had taken the healer’s place. The two settled around him, silent as they waited for a suggestion or an order.
He grabbed the part of the tunic that was already torn from the sword, then ripped it away from the wound, giving him more room to work with. It would only get in the way, irreparable for a multitude of reasons.
“We might have to hold him down again.” Warriors started, picking up the potion from the ground, pulling the stopper from the bottle. “Ready?”
The two nodded, Time laying a hand on Sky’s right shoulder, Legend doing the same on the other side.
Sky was hardly coherent enough to be able to swallow the potion, so Wars would have to do the next best thing, even if it was less effective. He held the bottle over the wound, then began to let it drop onto the wound. The boy immediately jerked in their grasp, doing nothing more than squirming and whining miserably. They continued to hold him down until most of the potion was gone, keeping their hands on him throughout. The wound would be alright without stitches now, which was a relief in and of itself. Time and Legend helped prop Sky’s nearly limp body into a sort of upright position, letting Warriors wrap bandages around his torso. The remainder of Sky’s tunic was a lost cause, leaving him bare-chested until they could get him out of here.
Warriors looked up at the other five Links through the bars. They had settled on the ground, all watching intently, even Hyrule, who looked ready to nod off. “Smithy, can you help get these chains off?”
Four nodded as Wind released his tunic, opting to help keep Hyrule upright instead. Wild was sitting next to Twilight, ridged as the smith made his way into the cell. The small area was almost too crowded, and Wars thanked whoever was listening that Four was small enough to squeeze past both him and Time to get on the right side of Sky.
With that covered, the Captain scanned Sky again, still seeing various injuries they had to tend to. He passed the rest of the potion along with a strip of cloth to Time, not needing to direct the eldest as he moved to action.
“Vet, can you check his arm? We might have to reset it.”
Legend gave in to a slight grimace, “Yeah.”
With that, Wars pulled his waterskin out of his pouch, settling next to Sky’s head. He sighed, hoping that this could be done with the least amount of pain to his brother.
Now, even with three people prodding at him and his wounds, Sky didn’t react, perhaps finally having passed out. He wasn’t sure if he should be worried or relieved.
Similar to the potion earlier, Wars let the water drop onto Sky, but onto the blindfold, in hopes that he would be able to loosen whatever it was that was holding it down. He started on one side, rubbing at skin and cloth before carefully peeling it off. Yes, it was blood on the blindfold, but thankfully, from a scabbed-over cut on his forehead and not from his eyes themselves. Once he finally got the blindfold all the way off, he double-checked Sky’s eyes, just to make sure. They were the same gentle blue they always had been.
“It had been broken, but it’s in place.” Legend started, grabbing Warriors’ attention. He saw that the bruised arm had been wrapped up and pinned to Sky’s chest. Four was packing his tools back into his pouch, having broken off the chains. On the other side, Time was still gently rubbing the few remaining wounds with dabs of the potion, being gentle more so than quick. “He must’ve set it himself.” The Vet finished.
Yes, of course he had. Warriors wouldn’t have expected otherwise.
Surveying both the scene and the others once again, the Captain got to his feet and tugged his bag back onto his shoulder. Four and Legend did the same, dusting themselves off. “All right, let’s get our brother out of here.”