BLOOD AND TRUST

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Disclaimer: Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo

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Genre(s): Hurt/Comfort

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Warning(s): Typo is my most loyal fan, spelling mistakes because English is not my mother language, Possibly OOC. NO BETA, so beware of grammar mistakes

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Summary: Are the same in Hyrule's book

(Or, any item that produced fire is now banned)

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Wild was ready to suggest to detonate a bomb onto this weak-ass walls instead of searching for, say, a safer route to escape from this cave, before the sound of splashing water cut his thought short. He snapped his attention to the left, gawking when a raft appeared out of nowhere. Along with a boy with messy, brown hair in a green tunic, who was grabbing onto the wood with dear life, bobbing up and down, following the move of the wave.

Everything happened a bit too abruptly. And the situation was very confusing if it occurred to any other people besides the Chosen Heroes.

But they are the Chosen Heroes.

At such, when they were transported to another world without their consent—again—their only reaction to that phenomenon was a slight grumble; although Twilight got a killer headache and Four feinted almost immediately, still not used to the magic aspect of their impromptu journey. This time, they were smacked dab in the middle of a slightly narrow hallway. Bleak and dark. Wild could smell the moss hanging from the ceiling. There was a lake on the right and a pathway on the left. And it seems, that way was full of enemies too, if the roar reverberating from that way was to be believed. Legend, swearing up a storm, told them he recognized that sound. A Lynel. Not from Wild's timeline, though. From his ("However, this is not my world. Believed me when I said I scoured every inch of my place and I never see this cave"). It wasn't as ferocious as Wild's, but two of them at once? Lynels are notorious to be the most dangerous 'normal' monster out there because they were too smart for their own good. Fighting them in this enclosed space is a completed suicide. You're just asking for them to stab you on the head.

So, the order of this confusing event was like this. When they were busy with their discussion, furiously whispering back and forth regarding of what they should do—should they just fight them head-on, sword and shield only? Should they use Wind's tornado or their respective bombs? Wait. There's a chance of the cave caving if we do that. Okay, that's a bust. Don't look so disappointed, Wild—a rumbling echoed from above. There were fissures and cracks. Before the rocks fell and out was the kid. Looking disoriented yet ready to throw a punch at the surrounding Links if they turned out to be hostile, weapon be damn.

Wild wanted to ask why did he scale the cave? Where did he get that raft? Did he just summon that big thing out of nowhere? Like what he did with the armors in his Skeikah slate? Both of his palms were already raised. To showed the kid that he meant no harm, he just wanted to ask him a question instead. Nevertheless, the screech of the monsters jolted him back to reality and he had to leave his curiosity alone for now. He saw a couple of lizards and crocodile thingy (Geru and Daira, Legend later said) jumped into the cave from the hole the new member just made, blades glinted under the sunlight. Their voices were deafening. And it definitely called the Lynels, who was prowling near the—supposedly? Maybe?—entrance of this place, over. Judging from the stomping and growling.

Welp. No other choice then.

The previously silent cave was now filled with clanging sound. Swords met shield, spiked club met the ground, axe met the wall. The brown-haired kid sprouted a controlled thunder or fire from the tip of his finger (how?!). Sometimes, he purposely aimed the spells to the shield on some Chosen Heroes so it'll reflect right back at the opponent they were facing of (that kind of strategy garnered a disappointed look—Sky, Time, Twilight, and Warriors (Four will be in this category too if he wasn't too busy being unconscious)—and gleeful acceptance—Legend, Wind, and of course, Wild). He didn't question the appearance of the other eight people too much. Sure, the mistrust flashed in those blue, narrowed orbs. But he took one look at them. Saw how they pointed their weapon to the beasts instead of him. And he decided to accept the silent help wordlessly. Although he kept himself to the wall, never straying his gaze even a single second from the living being around; be it Hylians or Monsters.

(So mistrustful. Tense and on full guard)

(Did he think we will turn on him, the moment he showed his back to us?)

After a good hour or so, the fight seems to come to a close. Fortunately, no monsters were infected. And the kid's magic (?) was very effective against the Lynels; he created a barrier spell around the two monstrous horse-lion and summoned a fire inside it, completely roasting them to ashes. The Links were ready to call it a day. Everyone was tired, fighting with no room to really stretch their body. Their new addition was on his last legs too. That spells must've drained a lot of energy from him. Yet they were forced to throw that notion away when a Wizzrobe appeared out of nowhere. Right in front of the magical teen with staff raised high. He yelped, tried to jump back, failed because the wall was too close than his estimation, and the Wizzrobe swung the wood, nicking him on the outstretched hand. The enemy's staff brushed against the red ring he wore, forcefully pulled it apart then crushed it to pieces.

Brunette's scream was terrifying.

Wild shuddered when the kid stumbled, the Wizzrobe who caused all that eerily chuckled as it disappeared. He stared at his fingers like the world was ending—blood. Did that jerk of a ghost injured him?—the structure of the cave caused that wail to reverberated. Another batch of new beasts—Daira and Geru—came flocking to their place once again. Peeking over the hole on the ceiling and grinning evilly.

"The blood…" what? These monsters can speak? "it's here…the Hero is here…"

"Catch him…" they jumped to the swaying raft, weapon brandished, "catch him. Sacrificed him…"

"Everything is for our Lord."

(…what?)

Time immediately jumped to the rescue, followed by Warriors and Twilight. They hacked and thrust and sliced. Except, no matter what they do, the beasts. Won't. Stop. Coming. From the hole, from the pathway. Stalfos decided to rise up from the dead as well and the swarm of monsters in this narrow cave was nothing but trouble. One Geru shot three arrows at once and it ricocheted. Somehow, right into the Brunette, who was still too busy crying, and didn't realize his cheek, thigh, and arm got wounded by the tip of the arrow. What he did realize, however, was his blood dripping onto the ground. Causing his scream to get even higher, he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Fire and lightning pitifully sputtered from his palm; whether he was too tired or the panicking muddled his mind, maybe a bit of both. The thing was, he couldn't use his spell any longer.

When Wild was contemplating on using the bomb anyway, he saw Brunette lurched. Legend was startled when that manic face came close to him, hand reaching forward. They thought the kid finally snap and some of them were ready to strike him down. But it turned out they didn't need to do either of that. The mage never intended to hurt Legend. He just went for the fire rod strapped on his back. A backup weapon, ready to be used if the opponents managed to steal the tempered sword away. Now, with the help of an item in his grasp, even with his low energy, he could summon a flame.

So, he proceeded to burn his fingers off instead.

Wild heard Sky gasped.

Brunette didn't stop there. He burned the skin of his cheek. The skin of his thigh. The skin of his arm. He even burned the bruises on his forehead for no reason, lighting a tuft of his brown locks on fire and Wild was choking on his own saliva—

"Stop him!" Warriors roared and Legend immediately followed through.

"Kid!" Legend tried to yank the item out of his palm but failed. He was clutching onto it like it was his last lifeline. The pink-haired hero decided to snatch his arm, forcing it to stretch to the air so the spell will shoot upward instead of anyone's body, "kid, stop it!"

"No!" he exclaimed. Pupils contracted and red veins crept from the corner of the sclera, "you don't understand! I have to close them up! I cannot bleed! I can't—"

"I can't let them resurrected Ganon!"

Wind whipped his white baton, swinging the thing elegantly, urgently—

The air sang—

And a cyclone grew, bringing water from the lake up to the sky. He aimed it at the startled monsters, collecting every single one of them like a vacuum. With a mighty yell, he reoriented the 'natural disaster' to the hole on the ceiling. The beasts—those who weren't torn up by the force of the whirlwind already—were thrown haphazardly. Out of the cave, out of their sight. Leaving the tail wisp of the cyclone near the opening of the second entrance and Wind shouted, "Wild!"

You didn't need to tell me twice. Using the slate, his finger swiped and the beeping rang. The last bits of water cyclone froze almost instantly. Clogging the hole with a block of ice so no enemies could use that place as their point of entry any longer.

Everything stopped. The battle, the movement, the screaming.

Not the smell of the burning flesh, however. Wild felt bile clogged at the back of his throat, nausea started to kick in.

(It was terrible. It reminded him of his own burned skin)

Brunette crumpled to the ground, fire rod toppled uselessly, "I can't…" his voice cracked, tears sprung up from beneath the eyelids. He covered his pale face with the wounded palm, ignoring the stings and the hurt. The kid just kept on crying, sobbing, and hiccupping, and it was so painful to look at—, "I can't do this. I can't do this. Not anymore…"

The wispy cry echoed. Despair palpable. The sense of helplessness hang around the air and the Heroes of Courage could only watch as those shoulders shook in resigned exasperation.

(A/N): Seriously. The game treated the raft like it was some kind of item instead of, well, a vehicle. Maybe they should've created a mission, where after Link finished it, they'll open the harbor and he can cross the river with a boat or something. But nope. Here's a raft you can shove into your tiny, tiny inventory instead :'D

In this story, Red Ring gave Link a buff in protection. Like a thin layer of an invisible shield, surrounding his entire body. Enemy needed to strike him four times consecutively before they could draw any blood. Hyrule wasn't completely unbeatable, of course. The attack will bruise him. But at least, it'll protect him from bleeding unnecessarily.

Legend gave him his red ring after he knew the reason why Hyrule won't stop screaming.

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BONUS:

Wild: *walking into the main garden* "You cannot sleep, Princess?"

Zelda: "Oh, hello. Wild, was it? Yes. Just…thinking about something. How's Link?"

Wild: "He's fine. It was just first-degree burns, so we just need one bottle of fairy. There's no permanent mark. He's still handsome, don't worry about it"

Zelda: *giggled* "Of course. Thank you"

Wild: "…hey, Princess."

Zelda: "Hm?"

Wild: "How many times? Link…how many times did he try to kill himself?"

Zelda: *a brief silence* "…so you noticed. Was your injury…"

Wild: "No. But at that time, I also thought 'as long as the world is saved, I don't mind if I have to sacrifice myself'" *rubbing his left cheek* "by burning himself, his corpse will dry up. There will be no blood to spill. Ganon cannot be resurrected."

Zelda: "…it was my fault"

Wild: "?"

Zelda: "His paranoia, his night terror. The trust issue and the sleepless night. All of it…was my fault. If only I was stronger. If only I stopped my brother from associating with that—that wizard!" *took a deep breath, lips trembling* "Your journey. If you managed to find a way to keep Link out of this world, please, do use it on him. He can hate me. He can think I'm banishing him from his hometown, now that Ganon is sealed and 'I don't need him anymore'. But as long as he's happy. As long as he can sleep easy, I beg of you."

Zelda: "Please, save him from his cruel, cruel fate"