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skyward-floored · 6 months

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Whumptober Day 23: Shadows, “it’s gonna get me by the end of the night”

This one is kinda creepy again but. Well. That comes with the territory of dead hands...

Read on ao3

Warnings: blood, injury, uhhh lots of creepiness, being attacked by a monster in a kind of disturbing way

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There was something in here with them.

Wild swallowed, looking around. He couldn’t say how he knew they weren’t alone, but the prickling on the back of his neck seemed to indicate a presence, one that wasn’t him or Wind. The problem was, the area itself was full of long shadows with barely a torch to fend them off with, and Wild looked nervously back at the stairs they’d recently descended.

He already wasn’t exactly the most fond of being underground, and he had a bad feeling.

“Aw man, a creepy basement,” Wind said with a groan. “Why do these places always have creepy basements?!”

“Beats me,” Wild said with an amused smile. It seemed like the complaint was mostly to hide what seemed to be Wind’s nervousness, as he was standing rather close to Wild’s side, and giving the darkness an anxious look.

“Maybe it’s a style thing,” Wild said thoughtfully. “Like, they build these or whatever, and one guy goes ‘hey you know what would be great right here? A creepy basement. Would really tie the whole dungeon together.’”

Wind laughed, and looked much less nervous as he looked out at the shadows again. Wild glanced at them as well, and squinted as his eye caught on something. Had something moved over there?

He really hoped not.

“Well, there are such things as non-creepy basements. I mean, Twilight’s basement isn’t creepy,” Wind said with a little grin, and Wild checked back into what he was saying. “Though it is full of junk. My grandma would say that’s scarier.”

Wild snorted as he and Wind began to walk into the room, feeling their way around walls, pausing to look around when they reached a torch. Wild pulled out an old branch he had and lit it, and after that, finding their way around the room was much easier.

It turned out to be what Wind said was a puzzle room, the two finding a suspicious platform, and a switch tucked in a dark corner. Pushing a block over to push it down didn’t make anything happen, but as they glanced around the area, Wild noticed some etching on the wall.

“There must be more switches we have to push,” Wind said thoughtfully. “Or else something would’ve happened.”

“There’s marks along the edge here,” Wild pointed out, pointing to four squares etched on the wall. One was filled in, and he and Wind both sighed as they realized there were three more switches to find.

“Guess we better get going.”

They continued through the shadowy maze, though as time went on and nothing jumped out at them, Wild’s uneasy feeling began to lighten. It seemed like the only thing to impede their progress was the confusing room and lack of light, and Wild was used to that. He’d done three labyrinths, after all.

No monsters appeared from the shadows to bother them as he and Wind located and pressed down two more switches, though Wild’s makeshift torch was nearly all the way burnt up by the time they found them both.

“Only one more!” Wind said cheerfully, and Wild smiled as they reached another hallway. “And that’s the only direction we haven’t gone yet, so it’s gotta be this way!”

“Good, then we can get out of here,” Wild said with another glance at the ceiling. He still didn’t like being underneath so many levels of dungeon and earth. It made him nervous.

Wind nodded, then his face took on a mischievous look.

“Race you there Wild!” he said with a grin, then before Wild could say a thing, he bolted off down the hallway and into the darkness.

“Hey— Sailor! Wait up!” Wild shouted, but Wind had already disappeared into the shadows.

Wild huffed, and bolted after him, though he did slow and peer nervously around walls and pillars. The air seemed colder this direction, a chill tricking down his spine, and Wild swallowed. The sense that they weren’t alone had gotten more intense again, and he suddenly had a very bad feeling about all of this.

“Wind? Sailor, I think we should stick together!” he called, but received no reply except for his own echo.

...Had Wind really gotten out of earshot already?

Wild sped up a little, trying to watch his steps, but also catch up to Wind. He had to be around here somewhere, this area wasn’t that big.

Or at least, not the parts they’d been to already.

Wild turned a corner and found what seemed like a wide-open space, lit by nothing but a single torch next to where he stood. Right as he took a step forward, his stick finally burnt up, and Wild gulped.

He braced himself, and moved forward into the darkness, trying to calm his thudding heart.

There hasn’t been anything in here yet. There’s probably nothing here, and it’s only my imagination because being underground sucks—

Something let out a muffled shriek.

Wild jumped and whirled towards the noise, near instantly drawing a guardian sword he had in his inventory. The sword let out just enough of a glow for him to see a little ahead, and Wild cautiously moved forward, sword held high.

The floor had turned from stone to dirt at some point, and Wild’s footsteps were near soundless as he padded across it. Something crunched under his foot, and Wild looked down, an even bigger sense of foreboding rising in his throat as he stared at the bones he’d stepped on.

“Wind?” he called softly, afraid to speak too loud.

Something grabbed his ankle.

Wild shouted in surprise as whatever it was dug in, and before he could slash at it, another grabbed his other leg and knocked him to the ground.

He got an arm up and slashed at what he could see were pale hands on horribly long arms, bloodstained nails scrabbling at his boots. Wild managed to cut away the hands, but right as he scrambled to his feet, he heard something moving, right next to him.

He turned around, and almost dropped his sword.

A pale, bulbous creature stared at him, eyes dark holes, mouth opened impossibly wide as it grinned at him with bloodstained teeth. Wild couldn’t help but let out a horrified cry as it began to slither forward, and he felt a sudden urge to be sick.

What god decided such a horrible creature should even exist?

Wild backtracked so quickly he nearly tripped over his cape, but strangely enough the creature didn’t turn to him. It veered to the side, and as Wild regained his senses enough to go after it, he saw two eyes catch the light from his sword.

He turned, and met Wind’s frantic gaze.

The sailor was being held up by multiple of the same arms that had grabbed him, a hand covering his mouth. His eyes were wide with horror, and he was scrabbling frantically at the hand over his mouth, but more arms were holding him tightly in place, and all he could do was let out a muffled cry as he saw Wild.

Wild felt a burst of anger and jumped forward, slicing at the hands, but as soon as he chopped one, another two took their place. He’d lost sight of the main body in the shadows somewhere, but he was focused solely on Wind, slicing even more frantically when he saw the blood on his shoulder.

Had that thing bitten him?

He managed to slice away most of the hands holding Wind’s body in place, and the sailor fell to the ground with a cry. But before Wild could go to him, a hand tangled itself in his cape, and Wild cried out as he fell to the dirt as well, more hands near instantly grabbing him.

They pinned him down, grasping at his face and clothes, and Wild clung desperately to his weapon. He knew if he dropped it he’d have almost no chance of getting it back.

But the hands had figured him out, and they squeezed his wrist, clawing at his hand, and Wild physically couldn’t hold onto the blade any longer. The guardian sword fell to the dirt, and Wild felt more hands come up and grab him, no matter how he struggled.

A burrowing noise sounded out, and Wild looked over in terror as the fleshy body crawled out of the dirt, that horrifyingly long neck turning in his direction.

He was it’s target now.

“Wi—!” he screamed, but then a hand covered his mouth, and all he could do was thrash in silence as the monster slithered nearer and nearer.

A hand turned his face towards it, and Wild breathed quickly through his nose, nearly gagging at the smell of decay and blood that came from the hands on his face. They tilted him up as the head of the main body drew near, lit an eerie blue by his dropped sword. Wild couldn’t help his whimper as the face leaned down, its jaws opening impossibly wide.

And then it bit down on the side of his face.

Wild screamed, the sound muffled by the hands still covering his mouth as fiery pain made his vision spotty, the feel of the monster biting down on him nothing short of horrific. The seconds seemed to stretch on endlessly as it continued to gnaw, sucking up his blood, and Wild was nearly sick as it made a particularly satisfied noise.

Somehow the fact that the monster was actively feeding on him, biting him, attacking him only to satiate some kind of awful hunger, made it twice as worse.

All he was was prey to it.

Wild let out a muffled sob as he thrashed again, but the hands only held him more firmly, a hand holding his cheek in a way that would almost have been loving from anything else. Pain and revulsion were making his head spin, and Wild squeezed his eyes shut, tears gathering in the corners.

And then he heard an angry yell.

Suddenly the pressure on his face was gone, and Wild heard another shout, catching sight of Wind throwing himself forward, his face pale but expression furious.

“Stop chewing on my brother!” The sailor screamed, then twisted himself around into a huge spin attack that Wild could barely watch. The wind it kicked up buffeted Wild’s face like a hurricane, and the hands still grasping him let go, dropping Wild to the ground with a groan.

An awful moaning sound rent the air, and Wild watched through the blood dripping down his face as Wind hit the main body of the monster once, twice, three— so many times he couldn’t keep track of the number.

But Wind finally stopped, holding a hand to his head as he stumbled, and the body of the monster fell to the ground.

Wind was suddenly at his side, grabbing his shoulder, and they watched in silence as the monster twitched slightly, then disappeared into dark smoke along with all of the arms.

For a moment, the only sound in the room was of Wind and Wild’s heavy breathing.

“I-I think... I think it’s gone,” Wind said finally, his voice shaking, and Wild gripped his arm, unsure if he or Wind was the one trembling.

“Yeah,” Wild choked out, and Wind turned to him, immediately leaning in to look at his face.

“Oh no, ohh— Wild I’m so sorry I couldn’t get to you faster,” Wind gasped, and Wild shook his head, closing his one eye as blood threatened to drip into it.

“Y-you couldn’t have...” Wild got out, and Wind turned to rifle through his bag, his movements frantic. “...Sailor?”

Wind had made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle, and Wild reached over to squeeze his hand, Wind shakily gripping it back.

Neither of them said anything for a moment, and Wind leaned up against Wild’s shoulder, Wind leaning back as they finished catching their breath.

“...That was worse then redeads,” Wind said finally, looking away, and Wild felt his eyes sting a little at the memory of the monster’s endless hands, it’s horrible main body and how it bitten down on them both...

It truly had been awful.

“I’ve never seen a redead, but based on th-the name... I don’t ever w-want to. Are they l-like... dead twice over..?” Wild asked, and Wind looked at him, eyes shiny in the light of Wild’s sword, blood still trickling down his shoulder.

Then he let out a wet laugh, and pulled out a bottle with some kind of potion in it, swiping a hand over his eyes.

“Something like that,” Wind said thickly, and Wild pressed the side of his head that wasn’t a mess against Wind’s. He breathed out, and focused on Wind’s warm skin against his, not cold, not undead, not trying to devour him.

“Thanks sailor,” he said in a wavering voice, and Wind made another noise that Wild pointedly ignored, squeezing Wind’s hand.

“Thank you too,” Wind whispered back.

#linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu Wind #lu wild #linked universe fanfic #dead hand #whumptober 2023 #day 23 #shadows #it’s gonna get me by the end of the night #tw injur #tw blood #writing from the floor #this was originally Sky and Wind and then I remembered Trin literally wrote one like this with Sky XD #so I changed it #but I do like wind and Wild a fair amount #even if they don’t like each other much in canon lol

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smilesrobotlover · 1 year

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Febuwhump day 28: “you’re safe now”

This is two days late I friggin hate myself man. Anyways I ended up rewriting the entire thing cuz the first draft was kinda friggin awful. I like this version soooo much better so yaaay. It’s not super good but whatever. Sorry to make y’all wait.

Also, WARNING: there’s a dead hand. I know that’s triggering for some people so beware.

The Creature at the Bottom of the Cave

The island that all the Links were sent to was an interesting place to say the least. It looked like any other island, with normal forests, lakes, and a nice beach, but there was something uncanny about the place that made everything feel wrong. Time noticed it as soon as he was pulled into the portal, thrusted into the world that, on the surface, looked perfectly normal. But when he noticed the lack of animals, that’s when he realized that the island was a twisted reality created by the one who brought them all here. It was not a world that they could live and survive in. The others had noticed the strange emptiness as well, and Time would find one of them looking in strange places, areas that weren’t yet “complete” or were unnatural. It gave him the creeps of course, and some of the weird things he himself would find would cause him to dissociate. He hated this place and just wanted to return to Lon Lon Ranch with his wife where it felt real. But he would always wake up every morning to find that he was still in this strange world with the others.

One of these strange occurrences happened in a cave. Time noticed his brother, Warriors, staring at the cave near where they set up camp. Time walked up to him and glanced at it, but it just looked like a normal cave to him.

“What is it?” Time asked Warriors, who was glaring ahead.

“I’m not sure. There’s something weird about that cave over there,” he mumbled, Time having to lean in to hear him.

Time frowned and looked at the cave again, Warrior’s ominous attitude starting to make him uncomfortable. There wouldn’t be any bears or animals in there, so it wasn’t a threat in that sense, but a monster could be camping out in there. Time walked over to the mouth of the cave and turned on his lantern, feeling Warriors close behind him. As soon as Time entered it, he noticed a hole right in the center. It was perfectly circular, big enough for Time to crawl through.

“Now what could’ve made this?” Time muttered to himself, and Warriors dropped to his knees, looking into the dark hole.

“You think it homes a monster?” Warriors asked him, but Time shrugged. It could just be a weird glitch in this world, a hole with no reason. But if it was a monster…

“We should check it out,” Time offered, “If it is a monster, then we can’t let it stay here. I don’t think the boys have the strength to keep traveling where it is safe.”

Warriors nodded and grabbed a small rock, dropping it into the hole. They both listened and after 30 seconds, they heard it land. Warriors pursed his lips and looked up at Time nervously.

“So, I suppose we should head down there?”

Time gave him a sympathetic look. “You don’t have to come Warriors, I know how much you hate tight spaces.”

“No. I’m not letting you go alone, little leaf.”

“You can get someone else to come with me, like Twi.”

“As if Twi could fit in there. Just go, I’ll be right behind you.”

Time smiled slightly and began to crawl into the mysterious hole in the ground. The climb down wasn’t too terrible, it was just a tight fit, but the more he climbed down, the more nervous he got. This whole thing was reminding him too much of the well in Kakariko village. He never knew what to expect in places tucked away like this. When his feet finally touched the ground, he brought up his lantern again and noticed that they were in a small, but big enough space. Warriors let out a sigh of relief when he reached the bottom, stretching out his arms.

“Hm, well there’s nothing here,” he noted, observing the walls around him.

“Darn, I was hoping we’d find some treasure,” Time said to lighten the mood, and Warriors shot him a smirk.

“I don’t think this world is kind enough to give us treasure.”

“You never know.”

Time watched Warriors look around and he sighed, relieved. This hole was probably just a random mistake in the island, perhaps incomplete or unknown by the creator. So they were safe to camp here without the fear of being ambushed by a moblin or something.

“Hey, Time, look at this.”

Time squinted at where Warriors was kneeling. He couldn’t see anything from where he was standing so he walked over and saw that there was a crawlspace in the wall. It was large, large enough for a bokoblin to squeeze through. He sighed, this time annoyed. Guess they weren’t safe just yet.

“I’ll crawl through and tell you what I find,” Time said, getting on his knees and beginning to move through the hole.

“Hey, wait–” Warriors stopped him, “I’m not letting you crawl in there by yourself.”

“If there’s treasure in there, I wanna keep it for myself,” Time teased, smiling at him, but Warriors didn’t smile back. “Ok fine, I’ll share some of it with you, now will you let me go?”

Warriors rolled his eyes. “You know, you’re older than me now, but it feels like you haven’t grown up at all.”

Time grinned and began to crawl through the hole, the only guide being his lantern. It didn’t take long for him to reach the end, and he found himself in another room. It was pitch black, not even his lantern showed much of what the cave had to offer. He felt his heart beating harshly against his chest, and the only sound he heard was his own breathing. He didn’t move, afraid that if he did, something would pop out and attack him. He tied his lantern to his belt and brought out his ocarina. He didn’t know if there were redeads in here, but he wasn’t gonna explore this place with his dim light. He brought the ocarina to his lips and softly played the sun song, staring out into the darkness. When the cave brightened, Time felt his heart drop when he saw a thin, bony hand sitting still above the ground.

“Time?”

He barely heard Warriors call after him over the sound of the blood rushing through his ears. Fear had such a strong grip on him that he couldn’t find himself to move, afraid that if he did, something would grab him.

“Time, what's over there?”

Time swallowed hard and shifted closer to the wall.

“D-dea–dead han–,” was all he could muster out before he heard the ground rip from beneath him, and a hand reached for his throat. Time let out a strangled cry as he was held in place, the sickening sound of bones popping as the dead hand crawled above the ground being the only thing he could hear. From the corner of his eye, he saw the thing that has plagued his nightmares ever since he was a kid. The dead hand, its long neck stretched towards the ceiling as it squirmed through the ground, moving closer and closer to him. Time tried to throw himself out of the monster’s grip, but he couldn’t escape from it. The panic overwhelmed him as it got close enough for it to take a fatal bite out of him. He felt his knees weaken as he came face to face with it. Its sunken eyes, its long face, its human teeth was all that Time could see as it unhinged its jaw open, but before it could close down on him, something hit it harshly, causing it to retreat into the ground, letting go of Time.

He fell to the ground, gasping for breath as he felt Warriors grab onto him.

“Time! Come on get up!”

Time rubbed his bruised neck and watched as the dead hand buried itself into the ground while several hands started to claw their way out of it. He glared ahead and buried his fear within him. He’s fought this thing twice, he wasn’t going to let it get the best of him now. He stood up and grabbed Warrior’s shoulder.

“Don’t let the hands grab you, and aim for its head,” was all he said before running to the center of the room. He dodged a hand that swiped at him and he cut it down, aiming for the other. He was almost done cutting down all the hands in the room, until he heard one shoot out of the ground. He yelped as it grabbed onto his ankle, and with him held in one place, several more of the hands popped out of the ground, pinning him against the wall. They grabbed his legs, his arms, his torso, his neck, his hair, his face. He gritted his teeth as he heard the dead hand emerge from the ground again, and he squeezed his eye shut, trying to break free from the hands, but to no avail. He heard Warriors give a shout and he opened his eye to see Warriors in the same predicament. Hands were all over him, pinning his arms to his sides, wrapped around his neck, and pulling his hair so he was facing the ceiling. He was trying to break free as the dead hand moved its way over to him, and Time’s heart sank when he saw the raw fear in his brother’s eyes.

He couldn’t watch his brother die, not like this. Not when he couldn’t do anything to save him. Time gritted his teeth, and the desire to protect Warriors overwhelmed him. Though Warriors was younger than him now, he was still his big brother. He always was.

Time screamed as he pushed himself against the wall, doing a spin attack to slice the hands on him. He landed on the ground and sprinted towards the dead hand and Warriors, ripping some hands out of the ground as he ran. Just before the dead hand could take a bite out of Warriors, Time jumped in front and sliced its jaw. It let out a cry and went to retreat into the ground but Time wouldn’t let it run away again. He lunged towards the monster and stabbed it straight through its skull. The dead hand sputtered out blood and dropped to the ground, and Time stabbed it again, just to make sure it was dead. He pulled his sword out of it and stabbed it again, and again, and again. He was on his knees, stabbing the thing over and over again until its face no longer looked like a face. He didn’t stop until he felt something touch his shoulder, causing him to flinch and swinging his sword behind him. He assumed it was the hands grabbing at him, but he heard the sound of metal colliding with itself. He came back to reality when he saw Warriors holding up his sword against his own. Warriors had a horrified expression on his face, his hair was a mess, and some of his clothes looked to be ripped up. Time pulled back and stared up at Warriors, wanting to immediately apologize, wanting to ask if he was ok, but no sound came out of his mouth. Warriors gently kneeled at his side and reached for his shoulder again.

“Time… it’s ok… we’re safe now,” he whispered. Time blinked his eye hard and felt some tears spill out. Has he been crying this whole time?

Warriors rubbed his back gently and Time let out a shaky sigh.

“We’re safe now,” Warriors repeated, his voice quivering, “we should head back. Don’t want to worry the others, yeah?”

Time nodded and Warriors stood up, offering him his hand. He stared at Warrior’s outstretched hand for a long moment, not comprehending that he should grab it. Warriors reached down and grabbed his arm instead, tugging him slightly, which caused Time to finally stand up. He gave one last look at the barely recognizable dead hand, before letting Warriors nudge him back to the crawlspace.

#link between links #lbl time #lbl warriors #smiles writes #i know it’s ‘you’re safe now’ but I had to change it to ‘we’#also I think I’m just gonna post the rest of them randomly #not gonna stress myself out over these #I’m just glad to be done #dead hand #febuwhump 2023 #febuwhump #day 28 you’re safe now

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