Hello.

This is day seventeen: Injured.

TW: descriptions and mentions of injuries.

I don't own Legend of Zelda or Linked Universe.

Enjoy!

The thing with rain was that it made everything slippery. It was nice to sit under something dry and listen to the rain fall, but it wasn't nice to get lost in the rain. Nor was it nice to get your clothing soaked coldly, or slip upon the muddy, wet ground.

Unluckily for Hyrule, all of those things happened.

He hadn't even gone off from the group, he had merely wandered near where their camp was in one of Wind's forest islands. But then it started to rain and he realised that he had left the group for sometime. Of course, when he tried to turn and find his way back, he wasn't able to tell which direction he came in. Everything looked the same!

As he tried to comb his way through the dark, rain begun to clog up his vision as the water fell into his eyes. Hyrule stopped and wiped at his eyes, ignoring the slight discomfort from the feeling of the new eye water. As he finally opened his eyes, he moved to take a step forward but his foot slipped on a rock and he tumbled backwards with a yelp.

His head hit the ground hard, and for a second all he could see was stars. Then, the pain faded to a dull pounding and Hyrule moved to sit up. Slowly moving and groaning with every movement that caused the pain to pulse stronger, Hyrule got to his feet once more. Putting a hand to his thumping skull, he tried to move once more but slipped on the mud he had been lying in seconds before.

He fell against the edge of a muddy hill and preceded to slide down said hill, over rocks and sharp sticks, until he finally came to a stop by a large tree. Luckily for him, he didn't slam right into the tree, but for a second his heart leapt out of his chest at the thought.

Even though the rain stilled pounded down on him, Hyrule laid there for a moment. Every breath brought a sharp hiss from his chest and he was pretty sure something got bruised on his tumble down the hill.

"Ow."

Quickly checking to see if he had all of his extremities, Hyrule slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. The movement caused his head to pound some more and he groaned as he clutched at it. Reaching one hand out lazily he felt the tree and used it to help stabilise himself as he stood. He removed his hand from his head and looked around, there had to be somewhere for him to wait out this storm.

Nothing. He would need to continue moving if he wanted to find somewhere dry to wait. Carefully, Hyrule left the tree and wandered around the soaking wet forest. There was one good thing to happen to Hyrule, he had left his sword at the camp since Wind said this island was practically empty of monsters—it wouldn't be getting rusted from the rain.

Although, if Hyrule did run into a monster then he would only have his magic to defend himself with.

As he searched through the woods, he came upon a small clearing. At the other end of the clearing was a cave, which was large enough for him to sit in. Of course, he wouldn't have any wood to make a fire since it was soaked through—and he couldn't use Fire since he didn't have his sword. Hopefully the storm would let up soon or else he was going to be cold and wet for a long time.

Hyrule didn't like being cold and wet.

Sighing in relief at the sight of the cave, Hyrule stumbled from the woods. His foot got caught on one of the upturned roots and suddenly his ankle was on fire. He barely had time to catch himself for his forehead nearly smashed against the rocks that littered the forest's floor. Tears stung his eyes and he carefully tried to move. Every movement he made caused more fire to shoot from his ankle and he sucked in a sharp breath as he slowly worked to twist himself around and glance at his ankle.

His ankle wasn't broken, thank Hylia, but it also didn't look normal. He didn't think they were supposed to bend like that. For a second as he glanced at his ankle, his gag reflex nearly threatened to cause him to vomit.

Closing his eyes, he swallowed. Well, he didn't want to wait around with a bum ankle, so it would be best if he healed it. "Li—

A low growl behind him reminded Hyrule why he carried around a sword. Opening his eyes, Hyrule could see a small pack of four Wolfos emerging from the forest. Each snarled at him, bearing their fangs and growling. Hyrule, still lying on the ground, would be easy prey for them.

He had no sword, they had claws and teeth, and they were ready to pounce on him. There was nothing else for him to do. Hyrule threw out his arm and quickly yelled, "Thunder!"

Bolts of lightning sparked from his fingers and the sky, targeting each of the Wolfos as they pounced at him. The lightning struck them dead on, lighting up their nervous system with too much electricity for a single body to handle. As the Wolfos were flung out of the air, their charred bodies hit the trees that outlined the clearing before slowly darkening.

Hyrule laid there for a moment, static still thick in the air as the lightning faded. He could feel his magic being drained until there was only a drop left. There was no way he would be able to use Life, he just didn't have the magic left for it. Groaning, Hyrule sat up, only to remember his ankle; he hissed in pain.

He needed to get up and get to the cave, but he really didn't want to move his ankle. Hyrule muttered curses under his breath when he looked around for anything to be a sprint. Of course, the forest floor was littered with sticks and grass, but they were soaking wet and wouldn't be very good sprints.

Survival was something he was good at, and survival could sometimes get very painful.

Taking off his right leather gauntlet, he placed it between his teeth and clenched down on it hard. Then, in one fluid motion, he placed his weight on his good ankle and hoisted himself to his feet—well, foot since he wasn't going to use his injured ankle at all. A scream tore through his throat, and the only reason he didn't bite his tongue was because of his leather gauntlet,

Well, he was on his feet and that was what was important.

Hyrule used one of the close trees as support. He scanned the ground for anything he could use as a walking stick. Nope, nothing laid around him except rocks and upturned roots. Cracking his fingers in thought, he tried to jump forward. The motion shot fire up his leg and Hyrule tumbled onto the ground. As his ankle slammed against the rocks, he was barely able to think.

When he awoke, it was still raining. In fact, it seemed like barely any time passed. Hyrule groaned before picking up his fallen gauntlet and trying to pull himself towards the cave. The pain in his ankle continued to throb as he slowly moved one centimetre.

It was closer than before so that was all that mattered.

Hyrule started just focusing on his breathing instead of worrying about distance. He would arrive at the cave when he arrived, thinking about how long it was taking wouldn't do him any good. If he had just a little more magic left then he could cast Life, but he was nearly empty. Thunder was very powerful for a reason, it used up almost all of his magic.

It really was a go big or go home spell. Hyrule wished he was with the others at the camp, then his ankle wouldn't be hurt—or it would be taken care of—he wouldn't be in pain, and he would be dry. Goddesses, he wished to be dry and not in pain.

Ah, the good o' days of dryness and no pain, how he wished to revisit them.

Luckily for him, the clearing wasn't very big. It wouldn't take him hours to reach the cave, but it also wouldn't take as quickly as it would if he was walking. He could see the cave coming closer and closer as he tried to not disrupt his ankle. So far, it was working.

All he needed to do was take it slow.

The throbbing from his ankle and the dull pounding from his head was in an unsynchronised beat. It almost annoyed him, but he could just count them as beats. Ankle… head… ankle… head… ankle… head… ankle… ankle once more… head…. He didn't count how many pain beats it took him to reach the cave before his hand touch dry rock, but it couldn't have come any sooner.

Hyrule crawled over to the wall and slowly rose up his upper body. Then, without moving his ankle, he twisted around so that he was sitting against the wall. He dropped his gauntlet beside him as he grabbed his bum ankle's knee. For a second, he prepared himself for the pain that would come before he lifted his leg and pulled his good ankle out from under the bum.

"Alright," he said, wiping away the stray tears and catching his breath, "all I need is for my magic to either refill or for someone to find me."

He grabbed his gauntlet and looked at the tooth marks that marked it. Sighing, he put his gauntlet back on, the tooth marks made it look like someone tried to take a bite out of his arm. As he fixed the final tie, he looked at his belt to see if he had any potions he could use. None. They had planned on finding a town quickly in order to refill their supplies, which had gone dangerously low.

The rain still prattled against the rocks and ground outside and he turned to look at it. He couldn't fall asleep because he didn't have his sword nor did he have enough magic for any offensive spells. In the distance, the sun nearly begun to set. Soon it would be dark, and more monsters could come crawling out of the ground.

He hoped someone found him before then. If not, then it would only be by luck, and maybe the grace of Hylia, that he wouldn't get attacked. Heh, but knowing his luck, probably not. There's probably a map in the monster world with a dot for his location and his name written over it like, 'Link's right here! Come and get him!'.

Sighing, he rested his head against the wall for a second before a thought occurred to him. Hyrule moved to check everywhere that stung from pain. At least he wasn't bleeding.

Hope you enjoyed!

Yes, they do find him.

Compared to last years, this is a pretty chill 'injured'.

I don't have anything to say…

Fiddlerinthewoods OUT!