Volink Week 2018
Disclaimer: I don't own Hyrule Warriors.
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Day 4: Battle Wounds
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Link couldn't believe that Volga had actually gone out to fight without his armor to win a bet—well, actually he could but he had hoped that Volga would have drawn the line at compromising his defense. The dragon knight wasn't stupid but he was extremely arrogant. Pretty much all it took was a slight insinuation that Volga was not strong enough to do "fill-in-the-blank" and he would do it, for spite or profit and sometimes both. Fight a battle underwater? Volga did it. Shift to his dragon form and eat five bombs? He ate ten. Tick off Linkle's cuccos in a locked coop? Turns out that he liked his eggs fried sunny-side up but scrambled would do. This new challenge wasn't shocking but Link did worry for his safety.
As soon as the battle was over and the troops were allowed to rest, Link searched for Volga. He started at the medical tent but, of course, Volga had refused to let the healers look at his wounds. He went around asking his fellow soldiers where Volga was, catching bits of information about the dragon's condition here and there. He had suffered some wounds, and that was to be expected, but most of the soldiers were just amazed that he had actually gone through with the bet and had survived.
After a whole hour of running around camp and searching the surrounding hills and growing more panicked each minute when he didn't find Volga, Link finally found Volga in what wasn't naturally the first place he would have thought to check for an injured dragon—Link's own private tent. Volga sat on a stool and casually leaned back against the small, round table behind him. He was eating a green apple.
"Why do you look so concerned, boy?" Volga asked with an all too smug look on his face, especially for having that much blood staining large splotches of his dark blue shirt and pants set black and four arrows too many sticking in his flesh.
Link asked him why he hadn't gotten his wounds looked at. His hands were shaking terribly as he signed. He wasn't sure at first if his tremble was from worry or anger, but as Volga offered him a shrug of his shoulders as part of his reply, anger certainly took control.
"It's only a flesh wound. Or two," Volga said.
You have an arrow. In your neck, Link emphatically pointed at a spot on his own arrow-free neck. Near your jugular!
"There's a gap in between." The dragon knight's tone was almost flippant.
There really wasn't much of a gap. If you puncture that, you bleed out and die, you do know that, right?
Volga wrinkled his nose and snorted derisively. "That may be the case for a human—"
Oh Goddesses, why did he have to fall in love with such a stubborn cock? I'm pretty sure that's lethal for a dragon too!
"If it concerns you that much, I'll pull it out." Volga grabbed the bottom of the arrowhead, ignoring Link's fervent protests and insistence that Volga wait until they had professional medics and healers handling the matter, and pulled out the arrow with little visible discomfort. Link's momentary awe quickly turned back to panicked worry as he saw dark red blood welling up from the puncture wound.
Link ordered Proxi to use her fairy magic to try to heal Volga's wound—or at least slow the bleeding—while he flagged someone down to send for medics. Remembering the rest of his fairy companions, Link played a tune on his ocarina to call them to his side from wherever they had fluttered off to. Proxi usually stayed beside him or inside his chest. The others, not so much.
"I am fine," Volga insisted. "Leave me alone." He snapped at Proxi, who thankfully fluttered out of the way before his fangs could crunch down on her.
Link smacked the back of Volga's head, earning a snarl from the dragon knight. Luckily, Link hadn't used any of his yellow potions out on the battlefield. He offered one to Volga. The dragon turned his nose up at it and turned his head away.
"I do not require coddling," Volga said, and Link smacked him upside the head again.
"I warn you, boy, next time you—" Link was in no mood to tolerate Volga's bravado at the moment. Once Volga looked back and saw Link's face, the dragon knight immediately closed his mouth and accepted the potion.
First time was for Proxi. Second was for me, Link told Volga. Do you not see that I'm worried? Do you not care?
"Of course, I—" Volga drank the rest of the potion at Link's hastening gesture. "I do. That's why I told you not to worry. I'll be fine. I've suffered worse."
Saying that doesn't actually help me stop worrying, Link replied. You know what would? Not giving yourself a disadvantage in a battle because you wanna show off.
Link saw Volga slide his jaw to the right as he contemplated his words. Opening up his very basic first-aid kit, the young Hero picked out some bandages and cotton balls. He knew he had some healing ointments stashed away somewhere close by. Those could wait a little longer, if need be—first he had to get his bleeding stopped.
In the wrong moment, in the right spot, even a bulblin can kill you. Isn't that what you're always telling our troops? A small smile managed to make its way onto Link's face. Think about it. How weak and dumb would you look if a bulblin took you out?
From his huff and the way he shook his head and shoulders, Volga understood what Link was saying but he didn't want to admit that he agreed.
Punkin and Foam arrived, fluttering past the gap in Link's tent curtain. Someone had changed their outfits, and Punkin was still chewing on something hidden inside her ballooned cheek.
Promise me that you'll stop betting your life just to assert your dominance, Link requested and Volga gave a single, stiff nod in return. Thank you. Now let the fairies heal you.
