A/N: Real quick, this is the first chapter of a side-story for OWaP. Because of some of the content in later chapters will have adult content, it's only going to be completed on Ao3. But, what doesn't break the ToS will be posted here.
I hope you enjoy?
Panting and shivering, Link stumbled forward through the snow and violent winds. Even his heavy cloak and thick tunic were no longer enough to protect him from the elements. His only hope at this point was the silhouette of a cabin he had spotted a little earlier. However, with each step growing more and more unsteady, he was unsure if even his willpower would be enough to get them there.
And if it was, would he even be able to maintain consciousness long enough to tend to the Rito's wounds.
At the thought of his companion, he looked down to check on her once again.
By the time he had found Revili, her battered and burned form had been laying in a mercifully large snowdrift. Whatever had happened with Medoh, it had not gone in her favor. He could only be grateful that she'd had something to break her fall.
Knowing that a storm had been on the way, he had opted to bring her to shelter before tending her wounds. Unfortunately, he hadn't been able to find anything suitable before the unforgiving wall of wind and ice had slammed into him and his fallen friend. Every moment, every step, sapped his strength more and more; however, the sight of his companion bolstered his resolve.
Gritting his teeth, he trudged on.
Finally, after a frigid eternity, he reached the cabin. Trying to maintain a steady grip on Revili, Link fumbled around with his numb fingers, almost growing desperate when his near-frozen digits didn't cooperate. Thankfully, he finally managed to force the door open and stumbled into the small, gloomy cabin.
Link leaned back against the door, forcing it closed with his weight. Resting against it, he panted, trying and failing to catch his breath for a few seconds before forcing himself back up. He could tell he didn't have much time before he lost consciousness. He'd have to do everything he could before the cold and his exhaustion caught up to him.
Spotting a bed in the corner, he hauled Revili over to it and nearly collapsed as he laid her down on it.
Goddess, he just wanted to lay down.
But he knew it would be a mistake that could cost them both dearly.
So instead, he reached down to his pouch, again fumbling around as he struggled to work his ice-cold fingers. Finally getting frustrated, he ripped the pouch off entirely and emptied its contents onto the floor. Scores and scores of bottles, ingredients, and other oddities and assortments scattered across the floor. Searching as quickly and thoroughly as his fading consciousness would allow, he finally spotted the two potions he needed.
At least he hoped they were the potions he needed.
Downing both as effectively as he could (trying to ignore how much was wasted trying to get the bottles to his lips), he began coughing as a burning filled his mouth, throat, and stomach, slowly spreading through him. He could only hope the spicy elixir and stamina potion would help him survive long enough to get a fire started and tend her wounds.
Judging by the burning and tingling he felt in his fingers, they would at least get the job done.
Ignoring the pain in his hands and feet, Link looked around, finding a rolled-up mat leaning against the wall not far from the fireplace, as well as a pile of logs and some kindling. He smiled ruefully as he realized what it was for. Rolling it out in front of the fireplace, he retrieved Revili and set her on the mat carefully. Then, he once again found himself digging through the contents of his pack, eyes struggling to make out the items in the darkness.
Despite how sluggish his mind was and how dark it was, he managed to find his flint and steel quickly enough. Then he set to work starting a fire.
He frowned, shaking his head in confusion and frustration as he noticed his fingers once again started to fail to cooperate with him. He persevered, eventually striking the instruments together in just the right manner to create the needed spark.
Nursing the flames as best he could, Link kept a watchful eye on his friend, trying to decide how best to ensure her well-being.
He wasn't an expert when it came to first-aid, but his work was serviceable… When he had full use of his hands. Handicapped by the cold as he was, he'd have to use what was left of his physical and mental faculties to address her more serious injuries.
Then, he'd likely succumb to exhaustion and the cold. Whether or not he'd survive was another matter entirely. One he chose not to focus on.
Once the fire was big enough to survive on its own, he took a few seconds to work some feeling back into his hands. Once he was certain they would hold up, he quickly moved to Revili's side and undressed her so that he could finally tend to her wounds.
To his dismay, he had trouble determining the true extent of her injuries, and he knew he didn't have the time or mental acuity to figure it out. So, working with what he could determine, he reset a few broken bones, splinted them, cleaned a few burns, and wrapped them before moving her closer to the fire and recovered her with the thick quilt from the bed.
Finally, he scrounged around, finding one of his healing potions, as well as a special one that Mipha had taught him to make so long ago. The Zora Princess, fully accepting her role as a healer, had developed a number of potions to help make up for the lack in her powers. One of those potions was meant to help restore lost blood.
Granted, with no real way to see if she was bleeding internally, Link could only hope that the mix of healing and blood restoration would take care of any internal injuries he couldn't see.
Unfortunately, he couldn't see any change in her condition, so all he could do was hope. As he retreated toward the nearby wall, collapsing against it as the physical stress of the last few hours finally caught up to him and dragged him into the darkness.
Revili groaned as her eyes fluttered open. Everything hurt, she couldn't make sense of anything around her, one of her wings was stiff and refused to work, and her thoughts were far too muddled. There was something she needed to take care of urgently, something about what she was seeing was wrong, something or someone was missing, there were a few noises that shouldn't be, and through it all there was a burning frustration she couldn't name.
She clacked her beak in frustration as she tried and failed to move into a more comfortable position as she tried to make sense of it all.
And then she remembered Vah Medoh.
With a jolt, she tried to sit up, only to fall back with a small cry of pain.
Looking down, she noticed the bandages covering her body, as well as a few splints. Letting her head fall back, Revili tried to figure out what had happened after…
She closed her eyes, clamping them shut as tears threatened to fall. Medoh was her Divine Beast. If anyone understood the ancient machine's weapons and defenses, it was her. So why had she failed? Why wasn't she enough to handle the corrupted Divine Beast on her own?
Why wasn't she ever enough for anything? Why was it, that in the end, she was always alone and forgotten?
Of course, there was still an overriding question. How had she managed to survive?
Knowing there was only one answer that made sense, she raised her head again to find the Hylian Champion huddled against a nearby wall.
Allowing her head to fall back again, she tried to work out her complicated feelings toward him. She really wanted to hate him. Wanted to hate how he was the "chosen one." How he had become so important for no other reason than existing. Everyone had remembered him, had loved him, had offered him a place to call home.
And what did she have? Nothing more than a small collection of fragmented memories that only led to pain.
And yet, she couldn't bring herself to hate him. He had been the one at her side throughout the journey. He had been the one supporting her as she grieved her only friend. He had been the one to chase after her when she went to confront the Divine Beast on her own.
And he had been the one that carried her to shelter and tended her wounds.
She couldn't even really find it in herself to be upset that he had clearly undressed her to do so.
Her mind beginning to clear more and more, she looked at the Hylian Champion once again to try and sort out her thoughts; however, she quickly realized that something was wrong.
Link was clutching his cloak around himself tightly as tiny convulsions wracked his body. As she continued staring at him in confusion, she noticed that his skin had an unusual pallor, and his breath was accompanied by short bursts of mist.
And then it all snapped into place.
"Wake up!"
She eyed the fire a few feet away and noticed it was far too low to produce enough heat. Forcing herself despite her battered body's protests, she quickly searched the cabin, finding a large pile of firewood ready and waiting.
"Get up!" She shouted, hauling one log at a time toward the fire as quickly as she could with her one good wing and battered legs. "Wake up, you absolute idiot!"
To her short-lived relief, the Hylian stirred.
"Up!" she snapped again.
Her feathers protected her from the cold as she left the fire's side and limped over to her companion.
"I cannot believe you could be this-" she grunted, using the pain in her body to fuel her anger to keep her moving as she began hauling the semi-conscious warrior to his feet. "Who taught you how to survive out here?!"
He tilted his head blearily toward her as she continued her tirade. "We're supposed to be conserving body heat, not waste it on a wall you -" The Rito hauled him closer to the fire, barely managing to catch herself before a few nasty falls.
Settling him close to the fire, she jutted her face into his own. "Do not fall asleep!"
His head started falling to the side as his eyes began to close.
"Look at me!" she shouted, shaking him. "Do not go to sleep!"
He still said nothing, but his eyes cleared and his posture straightened.
Still not trusting him, the Rito kept a close eye as she began searching for every spare piece of fabric she could find. The process was too slow for her liking, and she had to continue shouting at Link to simply keep him conscious. Once she had gathered every scrap of cloth, including her discarded outfits and their extra clothes, she got to work constructing a nest.
It was a terrible experience, with only one wing and a beak to work with. If that wasn't enough, the pain was becoming more unbearable and Link couldn't stay awake on his own. Stopping midway through, she hobbled over to his supplies and dug through his potions and downed a healing potion before forcing a stamina potion to his lips. Her pain at a more manageable level, she finished the saddest looking nest she had built.
She didn't have the luxury of caring.
"Come here," she ordered as she forced him back to his feet. Without wasting a moment, she began undressing him. To her relief (and mild irritation) the Hylian was present enough to help, albeit incredibly unsteadily. How they both didn't wind up a broken heap on the floor was beyond her.
With more luck than she had ever thought possible, she got him undressed and fortified the nest with his discarded clothing.
"In." Revili, having no faith he could comply, guided him into the nest with no small amount of pained chirps and curses.
Once he was settled, she climbed in after him and nestled against him before drawing the quilt over them both. Adjusting herself into an uncomfortable position she draped herself across him as best she could.
Allowing herself to rest, she tried to keep from contemplating her current situation. It wasn't the physical discomfort, as she had been able to find a comfortable enough position.
No, it was more the emotional discomfort that bothered her. Here she was, laying near-naked with someone she had an often tempestuous relationship with. They had made headway in setting their differences aside, but…
But, that didn't change how hard it had been to look at him after he drew the Master Sword. Even now, when they were relatively safe, it was a struggle to not put as much distance between them as she could in the small nest she had constructed. In the moment, she had been certain that she was angry with him. That he had once again received a reward simply for being born while she had tried for years, only to go unseen, unrecognized, and unappreciated.
Now, though, when there was no anger to protect her heart or mask the ice in her veins, she reached a different conclusion. She understood that she was afraid of rejection. She was terrified that the last person in the world who knew anything about her would hate her for the way she had treated him, had run away during one of his most vulnerable moments, and was the reason that they were in such dire straits.
But, as scared as she was, the Rito wouldn't allow herself to run away. He had followed after her, carried her to relative safety, and had done his best to make sure she would survive.
She at least owed it to him to try everything to make sure he survived as well.
So, she stayed where she was, trying and failing to assuage her fears and trepidations about what would happen once the storm was over as she drifted into an uneasy sleep.
