#implied lu warrior
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Aren’t you married? (1200 Follower Raffle)
This time first place winner was @my-insanity-is-an-artform
They asked for Warrior in the sense that he didn’t fall into love, more so stumbled into it and didn’t realize it until much later.
Masterlist
Content under the cut!
Link had always considered himself a romantic but after the war he wasn’t sure if romance was in his future any time soon. It was disheartening to say the least but he was willing to let it go if it meant the safety of others (and his own, but he didn’t want to think about it).
When you had first met, it was… a convenience.
You stopped by to check on the soldier during and after the war. You never would have considered yourself a healer or a medic, but you certainly came to heal those wounded from battle. You brought supplies and food and sweets. Sugar was scarce during the war. The boys appreciated your efforts.
You would stop by the medical bay to check in, listen to them, let them talk and vent and rage and you listened. Link watched you flutter around him bed to bed, letting each man take a moment of your time to get something off of his chest no matter what it could have been.
When his turn came, he was speechless.
Literally. Proxi wouldn’t let him get a single word in as she talked to you. He learned much about you then. You talked to the fairy for a long time. You talked about your life and your hobbies, your motivations and dreams. You seem relieved that you could have a more uplifting conversation after all the anger from the soldiers found in the med bay. Link thought it was endearing and listened to you but before he could so much as introduce his own name, it was time for you to go.
Unwilling to let that slip past you, you were determined to get Link to open his mouth and have an actual conversation with you while he was there. You came every week after that.
Sometimes Link would be getting treated like everyone else, other times he was there to support the wounded, not too dissimilar to what you were doing from the start. Just with less sweets.
Whenever he was fine, you stopped to chat with him, Proxi letting him get a word in at last. When he was injured it was another thing. You’d visit him with a disappointed look on your face that Link couldn’t help but shy away from. Proxi would talk over him here too.
Slowly, a good friend and comfortable friendship was born. After the war, he kept in contact with you through letters and the occasional house visit. He’d have to go to your house more often than not because it was hard for you to get into the castle but he didn’t mind. It was an excuse to get out more often than not as well.
You both grew comfortable with each other.
He felt safe with you. He felt as if he could tell you about everything. He saw your humble means of living. Your big heart and your care. You were inherently affectionate. Always hugging him and hanging off of his arms. Patting his head and throwing yourself on top of him. At first he was a little put off by it- but then he saw you do the same to literally anyone you felt remotely comfortable around.
He took it like a badge of honor.
You confided in him. You let him in. You called him out on his bullheaded stubbornness time and time again. You didn’t care about his title or his status. You just cared if he came back. He got bonus points if he came back uninjured.
But then portals started opening up again and the monsters were acting suspicious. He was called to investigate. Effective immediately.
He had to tell you. But he was pressured to leave at once. Link wrote it in a letter and hoped it wouldn’t be too disappointing that he couldn’t tell you in person. He explained everything he could in the letter with the short window he had to gather his things and head out.
He left.
The things he came in contact with were astonishing. The people he met. The things he saw.
He wrote to you as much as he could, not missing a single detail if he could help it.
The others in the group would tease him occasionally. “Who’re you writing to, Captain?” They’d say with wide smiles. “Who’s got you all soft eyed and smiley?”
“Someone special.” He’d say and leave it at that.
Link spent some time thinking about if he should be trying to find you something from this journey. Something special. Or maybe something simple enough that he could send it with his letters. He collected a few things that he thought you would like but there was always something off about them. They just didn’t seem to click in the ways he wanted them too.
Link was further teased over his picky nature in trying to find you a gift but it’s not his fault! He really wanted you to like it. And at the same time he hoped it would soften the blow of not being able to say goodbye to your face. The thought haunts him. Worse yet, he knows that it would haunt you. That’s why he’s so persistent in writing his letters.
You need to know that he’s ok.
There was a moment of peace where the group had found themselves in Link’s hometown. After the obligatory greetings to all of his old neighbors and friends, they make their way to the castle. Link is beside himself with anxiety. He knows that he should report to Zelda first after so much time spent away. It’s not as if he was writing to her after all. She knows next to nothing and would most likely like to meet the others as well.
They make it to the castle and this is where the boys in the group expect Link to break down and meet the person he’s kept secret for all this time. But Link knows better. You wouldn’t be here. You have no reason to be. The castle never gave you an easy time entering despite his assurances to the guards.
Zelda comes in and he salutes her as he should. They speak. He introduces the others and can see some of them with “knowing” smirks and smiles. He’s not entirely sure why they’re so sure it’s Zelda that he’s been worried about meeting.
“Link?”
Everyone turns their head to the sound of the voice.
Warrior perks up in an instant and runs to you. You don’t question it and run to him as well.
The sound of your collision is a solid thunk, nearly knocking the both of you off of your feet. Neither of you care.
Link holds you tightly and cards his fingers through your hair. He’s missed this. He’s missed you something awful. He chuckles a little to himself, ignoring the way his eyes get a little wet. “Hey.”
You’re not so subtle with your tears. You pull back and smack his shoulder. “Jerk! You didn’t even say goodbye!”
He winces. “I know. I’m sorry.”
“You just left me a letter!”
“I know. I didn’t have time-”
“Shut up!” You start crying. “I don’t want to hear it! Why didn’t you send Proxi to yell at me? I understand if you couldn’t come… but… but… You scared me…”
Link reaches out to you again and pulls you close. “I know. I’m sorry. Have you been getting my letters in the meantime?”
You nod and wipe your eyes, dropping your head defeatedly on his chest. “Idiot. I woke up one day and read that you could have been leaving forever. I was three seconds from following you. I stormed into the castle and Queen Zelda herself had to talk me down.”
Link kisses the top of your head, trying to ignore his desire to snort at your poor expense. “I’m sure she finally learned what I have to deal with on a daily basis.”
“Idiot.” You say lovingly.
“I got you something.” He says in a low voice, reaching into his pockets. “A few things actually. I wasn’t sure what you would like the most.”
A soft blush dusts itself across your cheek and you reach into the satchel around your hip. “I.. actually had something for you too. That’s why I came to the castle.” You wipe your tears away with an obnoxious sniffle. “I was going to ask Queen Zelda if I could talk to Lana about sending this to you.”
It’s some baked sweets, another letter and more supplies for his journey. Healing potions. Magic potions. Bandages. It’s what you always gave to the soldier when you visited the medical bay and then some. Familiarity tugs at his heart strings and he holds it close to his chest.
“...Thank you…”
“Are we ever going to be introduced?” Wild calls from the distance, one of the boys of the group. Link can feel himself pale slightly. In his ecstasy of seeing you again, he had completely forgotten they were there.
Link takes your hand protectively, stepping in a way that would hide you behind him somewhat. “No. As you were.”
Some of them laugh and Time, the oldest, steps forward. “Would it be so wrong to want to meet your beloved?”
Something in Link’s mind clicks. He’s tempted to let go of your hand but you’re still holding onto him. “....No?... They’re not… we’re not…”
You look up at him. “Are we? I thought so…”
Link pales further. “Wait. Hold on. What? Did you?”
The youngest of the group tilts his head in confusion. “I thought you were married?”
Link shakes his head. “No. I’m not married. What gave you that idea? I’ve been single this entire time…” He looks back at you and then back to the group to amend his statement. “I thought I was single this entire time.”
“Oh by Hylia, the Captain is an idiot!” Legend, his typical ranger, starts laughing so hard he nearly doubles over onto the floor. “I mean this isn’t exactly new information.”
“Shut up.” Link growls, holding your hand a little tighter. He turns around, putting his hands on your shoulders. “Did you seriously think we were together this entire time? I don’t recall that conversation whatsoever.”
You nod, growing sheepish. “Yes. I told you I liked you. You said you like me too. I thought that was that.”
Link stares at you for a moment longer, ignoring the way the group taunt him for his lack of perception. “Seriously?”
“Yup…” You bite your lip, blushing brightly. “Um… I’m sorry. I guess it’s my fault. I assumed and well-”
“Works for me.” Link kisses you, cutting you off before the words could even process in his mind. He cups your jaw and tilts your head to give him the perfect angle. The group behind him seem to only shout louder as they witness this glorious train wreck in front of them. Link doesn’t care in the slightest that he’s caused this kind of commotion.
You’re taken by surprise and are left wide eyed and struck dumb when he pulls away. Link swallows harshly, running his thumbs over your cheeks. “I’ll do better by you… I promise.”
You nod, robotically.
Link… realizes that was incredibly impulsive and slowly feels a wave of shame build up within him. He pulls you in close again to kiss your forehead before he can second guess it.
He had no idea where that came from or where he gathered the drive to do so. However, he knows that it felt right and perfect and that it was long overdue.
Link smiles at you, feeling the need to kiss you again. He drops his hand to your shoulders again and holds you gently. “I don’t know how long I’ll be here, since we’re not done, but we’ll be able to talk in the meantime, ok?”
You gulp and nod again. You bite your lip again as your blush darkens. “Perfect.”
#legend of zelda#link x reader#implied lu warrior#Hyrule Warriors#implied linked universe#linked universe#linkeduniverse#linked universe x reader#lu x reader#lu warrior#it's *barely* mentioned
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So i was rereading some of the older LU stuff, as one does, and i am OBSESSED with these panels, which happen back to back
THE IMPLICATION THAT SHE JUST??? THREW WARS OUT OF THE WAY??? IT KILLED ME, I BURST OUT LAUGHING.
LIKE WHERE DID HE GO, HE WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE IN THE FIRST PIC, AND HES JUST GONE IN THE SECOND. BRO DISAPPEARED.
SHE REALLY SAID “GET OUTTA HERE”
(my headcanon is he’s just laying in a heap on the floor because she knocked him down)
art credit to @linkeduniverse !!
#malon i love you#the way it implies she like shoved him down or something made me CACKLE#linked universe#linkeduniverse#lu warriors#lu wars#lu twilight#lu malon#jes talks
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@skyward-floored remember that anon asking about a birthday fic yesterday? That was me :D
I wrote you a little something to celebrate your special day! I hope you like it!
Happy Birthday!! 🎈🎉
Ao3 link
———————————
Normally, Warriors would leave a guy to think. After all, he knows better than anyone the way working in a group can become a bit…suffocating. Being constantly surrounded by people will grow inevitably exhausting. It’s only right for one to go off on their own, seeking out some blessed solitude.
So, normally, if he had come across a certain hero sitting beside a quaint little stream, he would leave him to his duck watching and his thoughts and collapse onto his bedroll. But he has just come upon a certain hero sitting by a quaint little stream and he looks so absolutely pitiful that Warriors swears that he’s impersonating a kicked puppy.
And he can’t just leave him there, all sad and hunched over and shivery.
(Time and Arty are right, he guesses, he’s a hopeless softy.)
So, he sets aside his dreams of turning in early and starts toward him.
“Rupee for your thoughts, rancher?” He calls once he is within hearing distance.
Twilight startles and turns, blinking rapidly as though that will free him from his daze. Warriors keeps an easy grin on his face as his eyes roam the hero, cataloging what he sees.
Flushed cheeks, a light sheen of sweat on the brow, tremors running through the body, a glazed look in the eyes…and now a painfully hoarse voice as the rancher croaks his name in greeting. The captain suppresses a sigh. There can’t be any doubt about it, the rancher is sick.
He should’ve seen that coming — honestly, he had, though he’d shoved the suspicion back behind countless other strategies and worries and tasks. But he knows he isn’t the only one who picked up on Twilight’s less than perky attitude these past days. He had lagged behind the rest of the group, opting to plod along beside Sky instead of his usual place by Wild’s side. And that alone had arisen Warriors’ suspicions.
But he doesn’t comment about all that just yet. Even when Twilight turns away from him to cough harshly into his elbow. Wordlessly, he settles down beside him.
“You alright, Twi?”
He sets a steadying hand on his back as the coughs subside. Twilight takes a minute to catch his breath, his shudders growing more violent. But the glare he dredges up is no less severe than his usual.
“I’m not sick if-if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Warriors chuckles. “Well, now I’m thinking maybe you are. Because I alluded to no such thing.”
Twilight hums, looking completely unconvinced. Warriors doesn’t miss the way he leans into his touch, however, or the way his next exhale trembles. And he certainly can’t ignore it when, surreptitiously, he moves closer.
“I should’ve brought a blanket,” Warriors comments, mildly, when a few quiet moments have slid by. “You seem a bit cold. Too bad I left my scarf back at the camp.”
Twilight huffs a sigh. It quickly turns into another explosion of coughs.
“You should be back at the camp,” he grumbles, when he can once again drag in air, “not hanging around me. You’re gonna catch somethin’.”
A smirk lifts Warriors’ lips. “Ah, but I could’ve sworn that I just heard you claim that you weren’t sick.”
He senses more than sees Twilight’s eyes go wide. Then, the rancher lets out an annoyed groan.
“I swear y-you’re as bad as the old man.”
“Oh no, I can be worse.”
Another series of shiver races through him and Twilight ends up slumped against Warriors’ left side, teeth chattering audibly.
“S-somehow…I can believe that.”
Warriors chuckles. Carefully, he slides an arm around Twilight, holding him close. The hero practically melts into him.
“It’s a beautiful night at least,” the captain murmurs, gazing up above them.
The sky glows with the beginnings of twilight. Orange and purple and pink travel in streaks of dazzling fire across a canvas of deep blue. Upon the water, the display wavers, like paints just barely mixed upon a palette.
The air is temperate too, a warm breeze blowing through like a caress. He can’t help but be thankful for it. He’s almost certain that they all have had to endure sickness in a less than forgiving climate. In such circumstances, things seldom go well.
(He can’t help but think of Mask’s tale, told haltingly late at night after a dreadful nightmare. A tale of climbing a mountain with frostbitten feet and fingers and collapsing shivering and feverish at the door of a blacksmith’s hut.)
“Captain,” Twilight pipes up beside him, the word sounding positively painful, “do…do you ever feel a certain sadness at this time of day?”
Warriors hums, dragging himself from his thoughts. Something about that sentence sparks a memory within him, of a princess of twilight with the body of an imp and a heart of gold kept carefully concealed.
“I suppose so. Why?”
Twilight is smiling slightly when he looks at him, and there is sorrow in the expression.
“There’s another realm out there…”
“The Twilight realm.”
Twilight starts up, feverish gaze landing on Warriors. The captain laughs.
“Yes, I know of it. I knew it’s princess, as a matter of fact. We fought together during the war.”
Suddenly, Twilight looks more alert than he has all night. But then he shudders again and nearly loses his balance. Warriors pulls him close again, wrapping him in a half-hug.
“Midna? Y-you knew Midna?”
“I did.” The captain smiles, fondly. “She was a ferocious fighter…and a good friend. Though” — A teasing grin lifts his lips as he looks down at his brother “ — I always wondered why she chose to ride a wolf of all things into battle.
“But it makes a little more sense now.”
Even through his pallor, he can see Twilight’s cheeks flush. His face is a hurricane of emotion that Warriors feels he has little right to see. So, he turns back to the pond and watches as twilight overtakes the light of day.
“Did-did she mention me at all?” Twilight murmurs, finally.
Warriors cocks his head, weighing which words are best.
“No — not to me at least. But I think Midna was one who liked to keep things close to the vest. I think the wolf she rode was her way of…saying that she missed you.”
Twilight is silent for a few moments. Quiet reigns over the small clearing, save for the sounds of the rancher’s slightly congested breathing.
He should get him back to camp, Warriors thinks, get him some warm blankets and a potion and maybe some of Wild’s soup. But Twilight speaks up before he can voice any of those thoughts.
“I’m glad you got to meet her.” There is a tremulous smile in those words, a strength that the rancher always possesses, even when his energy is drained. “She…she was really somethin’ else.”
“Indeed she was.”
Twilight moves closer, resting his head on Warriors’ shoulder, and Warriors can’t help but feel that some unseen boundary has been broken from between them. Perhaps, this secret had weighed more heavily on the rancher than he had thought.
Well, that and the uncertainty of the princess’ feelings for him. That shattered mirror Twilight had spoken of hadn’t been the only thing broken.
“You know,” he says, as Twilight’s eyelids begin to droop, “next time you’re sick and missing your girlfriend, maybe just talk to someone instead of sitting out here all miserable and alone. I know a certain someone would call you an idiot for doing so.”
Twilight chuckles.
“She would, wouldn’t she?” He chokes out between hacking coughs. “She never held back.”
“No, she really didn’t.”
Warriors holds his trembling shoulders until the coughs are gone again. Then, he pats his shoulder.
“Alright, rancher, let’s get you back. You need your rest.”
Reluctantly, Twilight allows the captain to help him to his feet. He leans heavily against him, exhaustion dragging at his feet. And as the first star blinks itself awake, Warriors turns them toward the warmth of the campfire and their brothers’ company.
The shadows themselves seem to gather in their wake, a protection and an embrace.
#idk when your actual birthday is#but I know it must be close since December’s nearly over#so I thought I’d just publish this now#trin writes#ficlet#linked universe#linked universe fic#lu twilight#lu warriors#sick fic#hurt/comfort#light angst#fluff#midlink#mostly just implied but still
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Hey Stars! I adore your writing❤️
For a prompt how about Time and Warriors, reunion/trust? I can’t stop thinking about Wars realizing that the Little Link he fought the war with grew up to be Time,,, I feel like it’s bittersweet for both of them 🥲❤️
Aww, thank you! I'm so glad that you've been enjoying my little fics!
I'm going to apologize right away that this got real angsty/whumpy in the first part. (It made me sad enough that it took me two days to write XD ). I promise it gets better though! There's implied major injuries that aren't described in detail, and some descriptions of blood. But he gets better!
When thinking about Time being a part of the WoE, I've had this idea of Warriors wanting to make Sprite (the name I use for Time in the WoE in this) proud, and Sprite wanting to grow up to be like Warriors. But neither of them realize this at the time.
(If you read this and would like to request a short snippet, see this post!)
Time patted Warriors’ cheek, trying to get his attention and keep him awake. His breathing was all too shallow and broken up by the occasional cough, which left blood dribbling from the corner of his lips. Warriors’ head lolled to the side, but Time put his other hand on Warriors’ cheek to hold him steady.
“Captain, you need to stay awake. Just a little longer, okay? The others are on their way.”
Warriors mumbled something, but Time couldn’t make out what he was trying to say. Time swallowed, tamping down the urge to look behind him. Instead, he kept his focus on Warriors, who now had tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.
“Do.. do you…”
“Hush, save your strength.”
Warriors head tipped back, and he looked up to the sky. Time wasn’t sure what exactly he was seeing. The tears dripping down his face mixed with the blood coming from the corner of his lips. Time wished he could wipe it away, make the pain go away.
“...think… I… made him proud?”
“Captain.” Time brushed the hair away from Warriors’ forehead. His eyes fluttered. “You’ve done amazing things, you’ve done so much good. Anyone would be proud.”
Warriors lips tipped up in a crooked smile, but he coughed on his next breath.
“That’s all I… wanted. He left before… I could never…” Warriors struggled to get the words out between wheezing breaths.
Time glanced over his shoulder. He could no longer hear the sounds of the battle. The others should come looking any moment now.
“Who?”
But Warriors eyes had fallen shut. Time tapped on his cheek, and Warriors eyelids fluttered again.
“Link, come on. Stay awake. Help is coming.” The promise felt hollow, even if he knew the others would be looking for them.
“S…s…prite.”
Time froze. He hadn’t heard that name in years. Decades, even. Warriors went limp, and Time barely managed to stop him from falling over. He cursed, and wrapped his arms around Warriors shoulders and underneath his knees. It was dangerous to move him, but at this point, he couldn’t wait for the others to find them.
Time hurried in the direction he’d last heard the others in. It was only a minute or so later when he heard a shout and then the sound of the others coming towards them. Sky was already opening a bottle with a fairy by the time Time kneeled and set Warriors back on the ground.
The fairy circled around Warriors, and immediately color returned to his face and his breathing evened out. He remained unconscious, but that was to be expected. Even magical healing took a lot of energy, so he would likely sleep for a while.
___
They decided to camp out for a few days. Everyone could use the rest, especially Warriors, after the last battle. Time waited a while before catching Warriors alone.
“Captain?”
Warriors looked up from where he was fixing a tear in one of his tunics. He gestured to the space beside him, and Time sat down.
Time had debated on how to start this conversation, but in the end, he decided to just go for it. “Do you remember what happened after you were injured?”
Warriors paused his work, and then set it aside with a sigh. “Not much.”
“You mentioned a… Sprite?”
Warriors’ face fell, and he tapped on his thigh. Time thought he recognized the pattern as one of the few songs the captain knew on the ocarina back in the war.
He finally glanced over at Time, barely meeting his eyes. “He was another hero I fought alongside in the war. He was my little brother, and way too young to be there. I… He was sent home before I could say goodbye.”
Time’s heart clenched. It had been so long since he’d stepped back through the portal after the War of Eras. When Lana had told him there was no time to say goodbye. Warriors — Link, at that time — had been recovering in the medic’s tent, slipping in and out of consciousness after suffering injuries in his final battle with Ganon.
Time had never gotten to say goodbye either.
He blinked slowly, then reached for his bag. He wasn’t sure if Warriors would believe him if he just told him the truth. But he had enough proof in his bag.
“Link, I’m sorry I never told you this before.” He grabbed the first mask from his bag. “I thought… well, I don’t really know what I was thinking.” He passed the keaton mask over to Warriors.
Warriors held it gingerly. Time couldn’t read the expression on his face.
“When I was sent home, only minutes had passed in my original time. For the longest time, I told myself it was a dream. I didn’t believe it, not really. But it was easier that way.”
Next, he pulled out the Ocarina of Time. The actual relic, though it no longer held the blessing of the Goddess of Time.
“I… I know I was a brat. I know I caused trouble. But I need you to know that you are a huge part of who I am today. I was too old for the body I was in, but even still, I knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be just like you. You were my hero, Link. You still are.”
When Warriors looked up, there were tears streaming down his face. For a moment, Time thought he’d done something wrong, but then Warriors set the mask and ocarina down as carefully as he’d held them and leaned over to wrap his arms around Time. Time pulled him closer until Warriors nearly fell over, and they both laughed, but neither moved to pull away.
“You grew up to be a far better man than I’ve ever been, Sprite.”
“Don’t talk like that, Link. I’m so, so proud of you.”
#worm writes#linked universe#lu fanfic#lu warriors#lu time#time did the war of eras#hyrule warriors#bit of#blood#implied#major injuries#no mcd!
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Febuwhump Day 19 - "Please Don't"
@1caru @sweetlemonad I believe you asked me to make Four suffer?
Rating: Teen(?)
Wordcount: 4,600
Summary: Four has been acting strange as of late, and it's making Warriors worry. Worry becomes anxiety as he watches the smithy, and it's quickly apparent that while the others don't see it, something is Wrong with Four, something very, very bad. Maybe too terrible to be fixed.
(WARNING!!!!!!! This fic does not have a happy ending! There's room for interpretation, but it does technically qualify as lead character death and a bad ending, so read with caution!
-
Four is weird about magic.
They all have some hang ups of course, Twilight especially, which is odd considering the recent reveal of his own magic usage, but everyone has something they’re wary of. Legend doesn’t like the unknown as a rule, but if he’s allowed to learn about it, he’s less likely to avoid and more likely to just be cautious. Time grew up with magic, but he’s wary about anything that exudes large amounts of power, as the side effects are often weighty for the price of using it. Sky is still becoming accustomed to everyday magic use, whereas it’s part of Hyrule’s life, while still being something that’s a threat for the traveler. Wild thinks it’s cool, but mostly since it’s almost gone entirely by his time without great amounts of effort. Wind, like Legend, is wary of the unknown, but in the end, he’s just as curious as Wild is.
As for himself, Warriors grew up without much more than old stories to tell him about magic, stories he’d pass to his little sisters later in life, still not aware of how prevalent the forces that he spoke of truly were in his world. The war had plunged him headfirst into a world of magic usage and its users, and like with swimming, he’d been forced to acclimate quickly lest he be pulled under and die. Now, he’d dare to say he’s the person least likely to react to sudden magic usage, provided it wasn’t too very bizarre. Shapeshifting is an outlier, since there’s no way to get accustomed to suddenly different forms, or any way to expect it, but still, blasts of magic or power from weapons? They’d gone off all the time from the fighters gathered across time, during the war. He’s used to strange new magics appearing out of nowhere.
Four is odd about them though. Four is wary of anything he doesn’t understand, but unlike Legend who will poke at it, shields raised, Four will keep away at all costs. As far as the smithy seems concerned, magic and he can keep their distance, and while, unlike Twilight, he doesn’t object to others using it, he firmly rejects offers extended to him to let him try things as well. The Master Sword is their key example of such behavior, but there are others too; Legend’s items, Twilight’s crystal, and generally most magical weapons that are not their shortest’s own.
So, seeing Four watching, listening so intently as they sit down and demand answers from their rancher, it’s strange.
They’d all been a bit affronted at the secret of their wolf companion and the rancher being the same, but now that they have the opportunity to learn what, precisely, was the reason for it, how it happened at all, they’re all eager to have answers. By nature, it seems the hero’s spirit carries with it a sense of curiosity that can’t be dimmed no matter how many generations it has passed through. It’s less proficient at teaching, but that’s become a null point as Legend carefully handles the thing, asking questions rather than letting them all rely on Twilight’s abysmal attempts at explaining how the thing works or how he’d come to have it.
He’s not sure how Legend hasn’t transformed, since, according to Twilight, it should change whomever handles it. Still, the vet seems to be taking advantage of his apparent invulnerability to examine the magical item and do whatever a magical collector and scholar like himself does with such sorts of new things.
Four paying rapt attention though, eyes following the vet’s hands as Twilight explains that it is, essentially, shadow magic condensed, formed from a curse placed on him that a powerful magic user had lifted for him.
“How does shadow magic not screw you over?” The vet is dangling the necklace before his eyes, making them cross as his ears pin back, a harsh scowl fixed on the crystal.
Twilight shrugs, also watching the vet, but relaxed, mostly, as though he doesn’t fear what happens if the magic activates, but still would rather it not. Warriors wonders what would happen if it did. “It’s pure magic. Dark only in nature, but all ill intent was- wiped away I guess? She didn’t explain fully, what with us still dealin’ with the world nearly endin’ an’ all.”
The vet flicks at the crystal with one finger, making it spin slowly, glinting oddly in the fading light of the sun, contrasted by the low burning flames of their campfire. “Pure dark magic...” he muses. “Not evil...just...hnnn....”
“Ever seen something similar?” Wind asks, slumped across the rock the vet and rancher sit on, arms cushioning his head as he looks up at the two, blinking slowly like he’s maybe beginning to tire out after their long day.
“Nope.” Twilight sighs.
The vet tips his head on one side, nose shivering in a thought that’s not shared. “Maybe?”
Four hasn’t blinked since the idea of pure shadow magic was presented, and there’s a glitter in his violet eyes that makes the captain uncomfortable. He’s not sure what it is, Four’s a good kid and rarely is any trouble, but something about that look in his eyes.... it’s worrisome.
“Have you interacted with dark magic outside of Ganon‘s before?” Hyrule asks, staring at the vet as the other stops the crystal’s spin with one gloved hand. “I mean, at all?”
“Some,” the vet says, and then hands Twilight his necklace back, although his eyes linger even as the rancher holds it carefully by its chord. A twitch of the ears and then the younger adds, “a lot actually. There are so many dark mages and whatnot that I’ve met personally, and that's just in my world.”
“Your world?”
“I’ve been to others, and yeah, one of them actually had dark magic as the norm. Light magic was...” his ears swivel back, “people weren’t keen on meeting light magic users. Still, they weren’t awful, just different.” Violet eyes a shade softer than Four’s lift to catch the rancher’s midnight blue. “Your magic user friend, was she from a place where that was the norm?”
Twilight nods, tucking his charm back where he apparently keeps it, between his layers and around his neck. “Yeah. Not sure if hers was a ‘nother world or just...dimension?”
The vet nods.
“Whatever it was, her magic was what everyone had there, and folks good or bad could use it.”
“So,” Four finally speaks, and there’s something, Warrior can’t name what, but maybe it’s the intensity of those dark eyes on the magic master and the rancher, “dark magic isn’t inherently evil, just... different? Is that what you’re saying?”
The two exchange a glance, and by the prick back of the rancher’s ears, head lower but gaze staying locked with softer violet, he supposes the rancher cedes the right to answer to the scholar rather than speak himself. Legend accepts it easily though, titling his head on one side and fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist, not meeting Four’s eyes, perhaps because he’s thinking too hard, or maybe some other reason. “Here in Hyrule, as a rule, dark magic is just power clouded with impure intent and harmful nature. Anyone can wield it, anyone magically skilled that is, but it’s purity is determined by the purity of your actions.”
“And you know this because...?”
A flinch. “If one of us- those who wield magic- used our abilities with impure intent, it would take on a darker quality. If your goals start becoming selfish, or your wishes more violent, or even if vengeance or pride colors your actions instead of something else, your magic can alter to become more shadow like.”
His focus on Four drops at those words, mind flicking back. Pride, Legend said, could color your magic to darkness. “Is that why our shadows end up as they are? They’re a manifestation of impure intentions coloring our magic?”
A nod. “I think. Granted, they can also be fueled by other magic, if they gain enough sentience to be their own self. Then they can just draw on whatever magic is around them for strength, but they usually form as a result of selfishness and the like,” the vet’s shoulders hunch slightly, stiff with a thought that’s likely guilt if his experiences are at all like the captain’s. “That’s why they say the Master Sword might sometimes reject her masters. If your magic becomes corrupted enough by your thoughts and feelings, there’s no light magic to mark you as her intended wielder, and she’ll register you as a threat instead, making it impossible to wield or so much as lift her.”
Twilight shifts uncomfortably, eyes darting to the blade. Has he experienced that too? Should- is that something warriors can ask him? Maybe such a shared experience could be something they could talk about, use to connect with each other in the wake of the shit show that their relationship has been of late. Later though, right now, in front of the others, such a thing wouldn’t be best.
“But shadow magic is just magic with different intent?” Four pushes, “not it’s own type?”
A nod from the vet, ears still pinned back. “As far as I know. As a rule though, I don’t tend to linger and study dark magic, so I only know a very little bit through observation.”
“How then,” Time speaks up for the first time in a while, one good eye fixed on where his pup’s necklace lays, although it’s now covered with cloth and armor, “can it be pure?”
A snort. “That’s what I want to know! So far though, my best guess is that other dimensions and worlds sometimes have the reverse; darkness being the safe and good things, and light being a piercing and dangerous thing to them. So ill intent would be light, and purity would be....” a frown and the screwing up of doll-like features, “like the moon in contrast to the sun? People say the moon represents purity in some cultures, so for those worlds where darkness is good, like night, the dark nature of magic might be seen like we see the moon, but light magic is cruel and harsh like a desert sun.”
There’s nods all around, some with understanding clear on their faces, others with confusion, and some, like Wild, with cluelessness. Even for his frustrations with the kid, it makes him smile a bit to see Wild trying, but so clearly left out of the loop that anyone would know he’s just following their example and pretending to have a clue of what’s happening. It's a sure reminder that, for all the stress the boy causes, he’s still a kid under all those scars and wildly wielded weapons.
“When we get to my era, I want a chance to look at that thing again,” the vet turns on their rancher, curiosity still glittering under furrowed brows. “There’s someone we might be able to ask for answers there.”
He doesn’t say who, and Twilight doesn’t ask, but the rancher agrees easily enough.
The conversation slips away after that, Wind pestering Legend about his experiences with magic, the vet pushing the kid out of his space with a smirk and refusals, and Time asking his pup a few questions while the rest of them drift into something more understandable for their group as a whole. Through it all though, Four’s gaze remains fixed on where the crystal lies, eyes unchanging even in the flicking light of the fire and the dying glow of the sun.
Warriors has no clue why he’s watching the smithy, but the hair on the back of his neck standing on end and the shiver that creeps down his spine as he does so keeps him watching.
Four is weird about magic, discussing it or using it. Unlike the others whose intentions are somewhat clear, he doesn’t let on at all why he’s the way he is, or how he feels, just that he won’t touch it.
That night, as they settle to bed, Sky and Wind on first watch together and already chatting easily beside the fire, the captain’s mind won’t let the thought go. Resting his head on his arms, his mind flickers back to the thousand fairy stories he used to hear told by the village elders to smaller children when he was young, to the ones he’d picked up in bits and pieces when he was older, in Castletown, and even the few he’d learned during the war. There’s an irrational part of him that wonders if the reasons figures from the fairytales had treated magic as they did would match the smithy’s own, but there’s really no way of knowing. Even if the tales are based, in part, on the ventures of ancient heroes, there’s no way to know for certain what’s founded in fact or not.
Still, it’s been a long while since he’s drifted off with a fairytale rolling about in his head, and he’d dare say he sleeps better for it.
-
After that night, Four continues acting weird. There’s something wrong behind his eyes, something almost familiar, in ways that set off alarm bells in the captain’s head. Something about Four has changed, and while he can’t name what, the dark glint of eyes; eyes that, before, he could have sworn were changing color from time to time, but which are now always just a shade darker than the vet’s, now are glassy in their shine, absent, clouded. It’s not like a fever, he checks for that, and It's not anything that effects the smithy’s fighting, but there is a change. There's something Wrong, and Warriors doesn’t know what it is.
The others don’t see it though; not most of them. Sky stares at him, worry creasing lovely features as he asks if the captain is feeling okay. Time nods it off but doesn’t seem worried. Twilight- he doesn’t go to Twilight, or Wild. He’s...he’s not sure how well talking over his own concerns with those two will go considering their aptitude for not sharing with the rest of the group about things. He’s convinced it won’t help him at all. Wind listens, but dismisses it after a time, after talking with the smith and apparently assuring himself all is well. When he brings it to Legend, the younger man looks grim, and he sees the vet watching Four with wariness, but that’s not entirely unusual to begin with; Legend’s always been more wary of Four than the rest of them, although he’s never said why.
It’s nice to have someone take his concerns to heart, but considering Legend is a bit paranoid, that’s not saying much really. He’s sure if he’d said anyone was behaving oddly, in a way that the vet doesn’t have answers for, he’d still see walls rising against that person.
Four is different though. He was quiet before, but now he’s very quiet. He was reticent before, but now he’s almost avoidant. Where advice came easily, now it’s slow if it comes at all, and where battle strategies could be formed with the thought that their small smithy could and would slip between them to watch their backs, now injuries fall for the absence of the youngster, who’s often fighting alone rather than with the rest of them.
He gets that the others don’t notice, he does. Twilight and Time and Wild have each other, Sky is so often caught in his head or chatting with the vet, Hyrule isn’t close to most of them, but least of all with the smithy he shares little in common with. With Wind, the smithy seems himself again, in most ways, but the moment their youngest’s back is turned, it’s like a shadow falls over the smith’s face.
It’s making him feel wary. He can’t name why, and he hates himself a bit for it, but he finds he’s checking randomly for the knife he carries, hand slipping to his sword without him even thinking of it, and there’s a hissing at the back of his mind when they make camp. On one hand, he’ll be wanting to settle far away from those dark eyes, but on the other, there’s part of him that can’t stand the idea of not putting himself between the smith and the kids in their group, between Four and even Time. He doesn’t even know why! He knows Four is a hero, and that the smithy has never done anything to harm anyone in this group, but he’ll find himself debating being close to or far away from the other more than he’d like, and it’s only when he wonders why that he even registers that somehow, he’s started seeing Four as a threat.
Nothing’s been done, but a voice in his head whispers that something will be, and he needs to be ready. The feeling that wells in his chest is familiar, but he can’t identify it, just knows he’s felt it before, although when is unclear. It makes sleeping even harder than it was before, and he finds himself nervous as a result; lack of sleep mixing with the need to always be on guard to send him into a state of almost constant anxiety.
The others start asking after his health. Time and Wind are demanding to know if he’s neglected his own injuries while treating theirs. Even Wild, who he’s never been close with, starts giving him slightly bigger portions. The champion never says anything to him directly, but when the kid thinks he’s not looking, heavy cerulean eyes will settle on him, worry pinching brows together and pulling at scarred features. The cook watches, making sure he’s eating, and then looks actually distressed when even food doesn’t seem to have any effect on the captain’s condition.
How does he explain to them though that the reason for his state is a screaming anxiety that eats away at his mind and heart, it’s source unknown?
He can’t even be mad at Twilight when the rancher approaches him as the wolf, settling at his side with all the ease he used to before they’d known. He knows now, they all do, but Twilight acts the same as usual and he can’t- he can’t deny that being allowed to stroke through rough fur does help, at least a little. The laughter when Wind pouts at being denied the same also helps, but it doesn’t stop the incessant fear building up within him. No, because the moment his eyes fall on Four, whose own gaze is fixed over small shoulders, the shiver rises again up his spine.
Something is wrong, and he’s seen something- done something to know that he recognizes this feeling, recognizes something off about Four, but he can’t name it. He wracks his mind for the memory of what this is, but thinking of the war, thinking of everything that happened, the betrayals and Cia and- he can’t do it. He tries, he does, but it quickly becomes apparent that thinking about that, out here, while already running thin with anxiety, will probably send him into an episode.
Zelda calls it PTSD. He doesn’t care what it is though- he’s not putting the kids through talking him out of it or seeing him like that.
He gives up searching his memory for answers, but he keeps his eyes open.
Maybe that’s why, when darkness has fallen over camp one night, and most of the boys are sleeping, Wind curled up against his side and the rest settled around the capfire, he’s seems to be the only one who sees Four slip from under his blanket, nearly silent, and creep towards where the rancher slumbers, back to back with his cub.
Time is on watch with Sky, the two talking in low voices as they walk around the perimeter of camp, senses turned without, to where threats should come from, but not within, where the smithy’s hand slips between Twilight’s layers, emerging again with the crystal in hand. A small knife slips forwards, cutting the chord neatly and tugging it free, although for half a moment he almost expects it to drag across sun-kissed skin and paint the rancher’s throat scarlet with the man’s own blood.
Somethings wrong. Something is very wrong.
Alerting Four that he’s awake though, when the other is so close to the rest, armed and clearly guarded against being noticed, isn’t optimal. As long as no harm is being done to his brothers, he’ll bide his time, wait until Four is in such a place that whatever has gotten into him won’t be able to cause the smith to harm the rest without Warriors stopping him.
Luckily, for them anyway, the purple-eyed smith doesn’t linger any longer than he needs to tuck his knife away. He’s creeping out of camp without a sound even as Time and Sky patrol on the other side, voices low and straining in what’s probably a very stilted debate that Warriors can’t bother to think of a subject for. His own eyes follow Four though, hands already rising to uncurl Wind’s fingers from his shirt. It's a process, because the kid is usually a light sleeper, but tucking his scarf around the younger seems to assure the unconcious teen that all is still well, and that the absence of the captain’s warmth is not cause for worry. He used to have to do this during the war too, on early mornings or when he needed to slip out for a leak or a drink or just to breath the night air for a moment.
He escapes without any of his brothers waking. Sky and Time see him, it’s hard to not with his size, but he just tells them he thinks he saw something. He can’t name what, doesn’t want to worry them before he knows why his own heart is pounding uncontrollably, but he tells them to keep their eyes and ears open and stay with the rest as he slips into the trees, sword in hand, shield grapsed tightly in his other hand.
If Four was going to do something to the others, he would have done it when he was still in camp. Time and Sky likely won’t need to tend to anything. He, on the other hand, is prepared for the worst.
Even so, he’s not expecting what he sees. He can feel his very heart shatter, something like a sob buiding up as an all too familiar sightreaches his eyes when he finds the smith again. A shadow warrior standing beside someone he’d seen as a brother, embracing each other as those dark purple eyes lock with crimson. Four’s smile is’t quite right, and the crystal- the shadow-
Dark magic, Legend said, comes from magic users whose intent becomes impure. A pure source of shadow magic though, condensed and palpable, easy to slip off with, to steal, would offer a far greater source of such power. Enough power to give form, as the scholar had stated, to a shadow. A threat. An enemy.
An enemy Four greets with a sharp smile and a warm embrace, one that’s welcomed with the same as the thing rises from whatever spell or magic had been cast, the remains of Twilight’s crystal now broken on the ground.
Now he understands. Betrayal is a familiar feeling, one he knows intimately, but of course he’d never wanted to think that- believe that he’d feel it because of the actions of a brother. He knows what it is to watch those he trusts slip off into becoming mere puppets for the enemy, a threat to those he loves.
He also knows that letting puppets roam free, while waiting for a chance to fix them, leads to precious lives lost, to the death of innocent people, and more pain than just slitting a few throats would give him. He learned that the hard way, he knows it well. By the end of the war, corruption was a disease that’s presence was a death sentence for the victim. Better to kill them quickly, better to end the infection, better to stop the spread and the continued loss, the pain of watching so many innocent lies be claimed by a force that would take their agency.
Yes, they were innocent. No, it was never their faults. Still, for the sake of all, their deaths had been required, a sacrifice to preserve everyone else. A neccessity to ensure the army of the enemy, the tools available to them, the pawns and skills thereof, would not increase.
He’s killed a brother before, but it doesn’t make it less painful anytime he has to do it again.
Hiding isn’t worth it anymore. He’s many things, but a coward that strikes without warning he will never be. Purple and crimson lift to stare at him, and fear flashes in one while aggression paints in teh unfamiliar ones.
“Captain-”
He doesn’t answer. Talking back to puppets, treating them like people, it makes it hurt more. Better to not see them as people anymore once they’re nothing more than pawns. Assigning names, memories, loe to the ones he’s had to slaughter for the safety of his people- all it does it kill what’s left of his heart.
“Wars, what are you-” a swing of his blade has words cut off, the smithy ducking back, fear rising.
The shadow lunges, and that, he knows, is the greater threat to him.
“Wars, stop! What are you doing?” The smithy shrieks. It sounds like him, the flicker of red, of warm red like fire, not like blood, sends a foolish hope through him that maybe, beneath whatever magic has taken hold here, there’s a glimmer of his brother. Memories of another he’d had similar thoughts of, only to have a knife lodged in his guts seconds later, have him shaking the thought off. Dark magic is too strong to show any weakness too. The only hope in anything where it’s involved is if the source lies before him and easily destroyable, and the sharp clawed shade of the smith might not even be the cause of the strange nature he’s witnessed as of late.
When the shadow lunges at him, he strikes back, unleashing every bit of power he’s got into the blow and sending the monster flying back, cracking against a tree trunk as the smith’s voice rises In anguish. “Captian, don’t! Please, don’t! He’s my friend!”
Befriending evil? How- how long? Does he know Four at all?
The shade bleeds red, somehow. Maybe it’s magic, meant to twist his mind, manipulate him, make him feel pity. He’s seen that before though. It won’t work, not on him, not on the hero who’s felled similar such monsters for hours on end at times. The color of the enemies’ blood makes no difference; it all spills the same regardless.
“Warriors, please!” The shriek rises, and the smith flies at him, hand raised.
His focus is on the shadow, rising again with crimson spilling from between grey lips. He can’t see what’s in the smith’s hand; if there’s a weapon, if there isn’t. He can’t spare a glance to see what color flickers in eyes that used to change with a blink. There’s no time.
Instinct, born of years of fights, of endless battles and betrayals, has his hand moving without a thought.
Four’s cry of pain as he crumples to the earth crushes anything that’s left of the captain’s heart.
#linked universe#linkeduniverse#febuwhump#febuwhump 2024#lu warriors#lu four#ketto writes#tw implied character death#tw violence#tw ptsd
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A Thousand Ways
Chapter 11: "Frost Over Charcoal"
Legend learns that he's really bad at saying no when someone is being sincere and genuine, especially when he trusts that someone.
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Febuwhump 2024 | Prompt 8: "Why won't it stop?"
Read On AO3
Warnings: Implied Character Death
----
"What happened in there?" Warriors asked, his voice so uncharacteristically soft that Legend just--He didn't know how to respond.
They had found the black blooded monsters on the road from that town to a larger, merchant village (Mabe Village, Hyrule said that it would survive to his era remarkably. Legend did wonder why that village had been the one to appear on Koholint) that would've had the information they'd need.
From there, a portal took them to the usual places of eras between their times.
They got to a local inn, but it only had two rooms with two beds each. As a result, they split into two groups with Time going with the four youngest heroes if Legend was excluded from the list, though none of them actually knew how old he was except for Wind. Either way, that left--and Legend was certain it was on purpose--Sky, Twilight, Warriors, and Legend in the other room.
Legend inhaled slowly, trying not to break down again. "I cannot emphasize how much I really do not want to talk about it."
He knew it was obvious, especially since he felt their eyes on him when he changed not five minutes ago. It didn't help that his current outfit was short sleeved either, and didn't have the really high collar he used to wear.
He knew his new scars were obvious, but he also knew that they weren't too familiar with his old ones that they shouldn't be able to tell just how many of the new scars were actually new. All they knew was that not a single stretch of skin on his arms and torso was scarless anymore.
"I know," Warriors promised, and Legend wondered why he was the one taking point in this conversation when both Twilight and Sky were harder to look in the eye and deny anything. Warriors, Legend just had the instinct to deny him everything out of pure spite.
Legend realized how wrong he was when Warriors approached, careful and slow, and guided him to sit. Legend just sort of stared, he didn't want to snap at anyone. He really didn't want to be sharp, driving them off was dangerous now. If he drove them off, who could he look to, who could he hope for see, if he ever got captured again? Besides, those almost three months of being separated put into perspective that yeah, he actually cared about them.
So he couldn't snap, he couldn't drive them away during what little time they'd have together. How could he taint such memories when soon enough those memories would he all he had of them?
Warriors had him sit on the bed beside Twilight. Sky was sitting just opposite them.
"I'll make a deal with you," Warriors said gently, "if you just answer three questions for us, a simple yes or no will suffice, we won't bring it up again unless absolutely necessary."
You see, Legend had teased all three of these heroes for being mother hens, for being fussy and worrywart's, he teased them and called them the group's "big brothers" to Time's group "dad" thing, the others even agreed!
This was just unfair. All three of them ganging up on him and even though he thought Warriors would've been the easiest to shut down, the earnestness and sincerity was almost overwhelming, combined with Twilight leaning into his side, warm and grounding, and Sky just being there and offering an encouraging smile.
He didn't break, but he huffed and had to look away and curl in on himself as some kind of measure of defense.
"Fine," he bit out. "Three questions."
"Are you--Is it okay?" Sky spoke up immediately.
He didn't respond for a long moment, debating lying. Finally he just quietly shook his head and muttered, "No."
Warriors squeezed his hands gently and Twilight's arm wrapped around his shoulder. It made the pressure behind his eyes worse but he really tried to ignore it.
"Those tools on the table--"
"Yes."
Warriors' mouth clicked shut and the soft look was briefly replaced by something blazing and violent. Legend flinched into Twilight just as quickly as that look was snuffed out and replaced by something sad.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Twilight asked.
Legend shook his head, not pulling away from how he had curled into him as a result of Warriors' anger. "No. Just--stay."
"Of course," Sky promised. "You’re stuck with us, vet. I don’t think the Rancher's going to let you go anytime soon anyways."
He snorted, forcing the amusement out more than anything to just please, get rid of this heavy atmosphere. Stop all this worry and claustrophobic caring.
Warriors cracked a small smile. "I guess we know how the bedding situation's going to be."
"Shut up, you’re just jealous I get the kid," Twilight retorted playfully. Legend startled a bit as the second arm wound around him and pulled him into the warm chest behind him, but he knew who it was so he didn't jump too bad.
Warriors huffed. "As if I'd want to share a bed with him, he kicks."
"Like a bunny," Sky commented, a grin on his face that had Legend immediately squawking.
"Not if you cuddle him enough," Twilight chimed in and hugged him closer.
Legend felt his face heat up as he tried to escape. "I will kick you right now--let me go."
"Aww, don't be like that, bunny," Sky teased.
"Don’t call me that!"
Sky cackled and Twilight and Warriors both laughed too. Legend squirmed but couldn't escape Twilight's grip without actually trying.
Eventually he just gave up, and about that time conversation shifted to something far more calm and casual.
The older heroes mostly talked between themselves over Legend's head. And older they were, none of them were secretive about their ages. Sky was the youngest of the three at 23 and was six years post his adventure, Twilight came next at 26 and eight years since his last adventure, then Warriors was 28 and ten years in the aftermath of the war. Legend just relaxed into Twilight and let their voices become a white noise as he played with his magic in his hands until he ended up falling asleep first.
The three older heroes knew what had happened in that cell. Twilight had told them that Legend confirmed it was his torture cell, and they had an idea of what tools had been used, and they knew that he wasn't okay in its aftermath.
Thankfully, as promised, none of them said a thing to the others. As far as the younger heroes and Time knew, Legend just lost his cool and ran off into the woods before he exploded the rest of the building like he did the front door.
After a few more unnamed eras, Legend stepped through the portal and was immediately greeted by the familiar magic of his era.
But when he opened his eyes, his blood went cold.
They were on a path just outside Kakariko, but the late afternoon sky was darkened by smoke rather than the setting of the sun. A huge plume of black and darkness filling the air, he turned too slowly, despite getting whiplash from the action.
The billow came from the wrong direction.
Fire should not be burning that high that way. Ever. That kind of fire was a forest fire, a house fire, it was something damaging and dangerous. That was no campfire.
"No," he breathed.
"Vet? Whe--COLLECTOR WAIT!"
He did not, in fact, wait.
Instead he ran headfirst toward the forest. He ran right where that fire was burning.
Showing up far too late, Legend came up to a large crowd that had already formed. He shoved through, people yelping and beginning to scold him before going silent as they realized who he was.
He reached the front of the crowd and the edge of the property and he stopped.
Oh goddesses, no.
A farmhouse too familiar for his rabbit-fast heart to handle was burning sky high. Deep red and orange marring the oaken walls, staining it black and eating holes through the wood, windows either blocked by flames or burned beyond transparency.
"Link?" Someone called. "Is that--Link, I'm so sorry--"
"Where are they?" He demanded, searching the faces of Kakariko's villagers. "Where--My grandparents, they're not--"
"We hadn't seen them leave, but they may not have been home," one of the ladies--Elizabeth, the wife of the mason-- said.
Legend inhaled sharply. He couldn't lose them--Not them too. Not like this. He couldn't--
He ran toward the burning farmhouse ignoring all the cries for him to wait and stop as if this wasn't his home, as if this wasn't where he grew up and it wasn't where his grandparents may be dying or already be dead at.
He never wanted to return home to this.
The fire had started in the house, it was spreading but the plants were well trimmed and the ground well worn from walking. It did not spread easily to the pasture, but the barn was caught in it. He threw a blast of pure magic at the cucoo coop as he passed it. He saw the pasture empty and hoped to the goddesses that Epona and the cows had ran by now. The fowl were escaping quickly and Legend was about to slam his whole body weight into the burning front door.
Someone grabbed him from behind.
"Vet no! You can't--"
"Let me go!" He fought against their hold.
"It's about to collapse! You'll die!"
He didn't care. He had to find them. He needed to find them. They were all he had left! They weren't supposed to die like this! They were supposed to grow older, maybe even be there when he finally settled, they were supposed to live to their natural ends! He had to--
The farmhouse that Legend spent half his formative years in collapsed. The burned walls giving in to the weight of the upper floors. It crashed to the ground and whoever grabbed him pulled him close and curled their body around his protectively.
A rush of ash and soot surrounded them, turning the world dark.
The dust settled and the fire still burned, though it was more of a huge bonfire that tried to spread.
Legend shoved Twilight away and grabbed the Ether Medallion.
Winter came early in that moment, an explosion of frost and ice exploding off him and leaving every person untouched but the flames were subdued.
He wanted to collapse, magical precision like that was exhausting, but the muddled voices stopped him. He couldn't break, he couldn't fall and scream and beg the goddesses to just please, let him have someone.
Why did they need to take everyone from him? Why was he doomed to lose them all?
He couldn't. He couldn't break. There were people here and he was still the hero. He had to stay strong, be that damned pillar of strength and courage for the world that was out to break him.
Link?
He turned, looked down, and a little ash covered cucoo was approaching him.
You came back, Piyoko clucked, nudging his leg. I'm glad to see you... I don't know what happened, one moment things were fine then the next the house was burning. Your grandparents had just gone inside for dinner too.
Legend sighed softly. "Gather the others. I'll get you guys to safe farmers."
Piyoko clearly had her own opinion about his response but thankfully didn't push it. She chirped and went toward wherever the other animals had run to. Legend turned to head back to the crowd, his throat trying to close up and his eyes stinging.
It's just the smoke, he told himself.
"Link? Are you..."
"I'll see what animals survived and check on the crops," he told them as calmly as he could, and a few--people who knew him--looked even sadder. "I'd--I would like to see it cleaned, but I don’t have the time do so, though I'd be willing to pay for it to be done. If you’re willing to help out, or willing to take what surviving animals there are, then I'll be here tomorrow morning by dawn."
The heroes looked confused and a bit against that decision, but Legend could care less. Most of the villagers gave him looks of pity, some mixed with concern, others with contempt.
"Everyone should get back home before it gets dark, monsters still roam these parts even if it's rarer than before."
Murmurs seemed to agree with his statements and the townsfolk left, some muttering about how sorry they were for the fates of his grandparents, others promising to be back in the morning. None of them actually referred to them as his grandparents, only calling them by name and telling Legend they were sorry.
Then they were all gone and left the nine heroes in the melting aftermath of the fire.
"Why'd you promise that?" Wild asked with a frown on his face. "We have a job to do, can't the family's next of kin handle this, or maybe the nearest town's mayor--"
"I'm the next of kin."
The following silence was horrible and it further ripped at his chest as he directed his carefully crafted blank look at the champion.
"This was my grandparents farm. Go hunt monsters if you want, I have things to handle right here and that starts with finding the animals that survived while the rubble finishes cooling, that ice is still steaming after all."
This time, nobody stopped him when he turned his back. Twilight and Hyrule both followed him.
Piyoko was on the edge of the survived forest, the fact that none of the surrounding trees were caught in the fire... There were four cucoos, Epona, and a cow. More than Legend expected frankly.
They saw him approach and he knelt down in front of them. Piyoko was quick to press against him and Epona nuzzled his face. Ali, the cow he had won in Labrynna and sent to the farm, drew closer too.
What now, Link?
He let out a steady breath. "Hopefully some of the other farmers around will take you guys in. You guys know as well as I do that I won't be... Rebuilding to stay here."
Epona nudged his head. We know. We'll stay with you, I can keep up.
We'll go, don't worry. It isn't a surprise, Autumn, a russet hen, cooed.
He got a headcount. All the hens intended to go, Piyoko stubbornly insisted on staying with him, and Epona promised she'd follow him too. Ali assured she'd be fine on a new farm.
After that he went and got them all under shelter, he didn't care what the other heroes were doing, he just made sure the shade out by the pasture wasn't about to collapse and then collapsed there with the remaining farm animals.
Twilight and Hyrule had been nearby, but they didn't come too close. Twilight did, eventually, but he just sat beside Legend while Hyrule headed toward the small orange glow over by the nonexistent front gate.
"I'm sorry," Twilight said quietly.
Legend tried desperately to keep himself in check. "It's fine," he managed. "I don't--They're... They were inside when the fire broke out, I-I can't--Why didn't you let me go in?"
There was a chance they were still alive before the building collapsed.
"If you went in, you would've died. It was about to collapse and it did seconds later. If you'd gone inside... I'm sorry about your grandparents."
If he'd gone inside maybe he'd have stopped killing all the people he's cared about.
"Go join the others," he grumbled, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.
"I'm not leaving you alone right now."
"I'm not alone. I have Piyoko, and Epona, Ali, Autumn, Britt, Nettle, and Thorn."
"I'm still staying. I promised to help you and that's what I'll do."
Oh he was unsteady. He had to keep strong, don’t break... He's broken too much this adventure, too many times.
Twilight wound an arm around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug slowly, giving him plenty of time to escape but he went rigid and didn't quite process what was happening until the rancher was holding him to his chest, a hand in his hair and carding through it gently.
Oh.
He buried his face into his chest and sobbed. The dam broke and so did he.
"It's okay, it's going to be okay. We're all here and we'll help you get through this."
"I-I can't--I--" Legend gasped, choking. "I can't keep doing this," he forced out.
"I know--"
"Why doesn't it stop? Why won't it stop?" He begged, he needed to know.
Why did he still hurt? Why did every single person he cared about get hurt? How could he protect them if he's the reason they're hurt?
"Why won't it stop?"
Next>>
#linked universe#febuwhump 2024#lu legend#linkeduniverse#legend lu#fanfic#lu warriors#lu wild#lu sky#lu twilight#linked universe fanfiction#whump fic#whump#epona#implied character death#house fire#prosie writes#a thousand ways au#fluff to angst
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heres what there was of the other prompts done
#linked universe#ok to reblog#lu legend#lu wild#lu wars#linkeduniverse#lu fanart#wild linked universe#warriors linked universe#legend linked universe#injury tw#violence tw#(not rly seen more implied but just in case)#confinement tw#restraint tw
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Febuwhump Day 13: Forced to Harm a Loved One
Read the full collection of my febuwhump ficlets on AO3
~~~
“N-no, no!”
Warriors cringed internally as he heard Wild’s cries. It was terrible having to listen to the sound of his pleading and know that it was he who was causing Wild so much pain. He was the one responsible for this, he was the one choosing to do this to Wild. He was-
Warriors did his best to shake off those thoughts. It wouldn’t help anyone if he fell into a downward spiral of horrible thoughts. Wild needed him to be present and aware. And really, Warriors wasn’t the one who was hurting him. Not that he would ever say it- and certainly not now- but it was Four who was the one causing Wild’s pain.
Warriors was just the one holding him down, not letting him get away or buck Four off of him where the smithy was straddling Wild’s weakly kicking legs.
Warriors was just the one holding him down, and that was almost worse.
Wild was a free spirit. Warriors had known from the day he’d met the champion that he was a hard one to pin down, figuratively and literally. He was always moving and didn’t like being told to stay still. (One time Legend had snapped irritably at Wild about his habit of rocking back and forth on his feet, and the look WIld had shot the veteran had been absolutely scathing. No one ever mentioned that particular habit of his again.)
Being told not to wander off was also irritating to the champion, but at least he’d finally gotten in the habit of letting them know when he was planning on disappearing. Warriors thanked the stars for that, as it had saved them more than one headache in the past few months.
All of this put together signaled a very free-spirited hero.
Warriors had always suspected that Wild had some sort of issue with being restrained or confined. For a split second of selfishness, Warriors wishes he was not having that suspicion confirmed.
But the life of a hero wasn’t easy. The battlefield was a dangerous place, and even if a delirious hero pleaded and begged, his blood-soaked bandages needed to be changed. Warriors wished that they hadn’t let Wild put his tunics back on after dressing his wound in the first place. But they couldn’t’ve known that the wound would end up becoming infected.
Warriors looked up to check the process, trying to gauge how much longer this was going to go on and how much longer he would need to listen to his brother cry. The smithy’s eyes were frantically cycling through nearly all the colors of the rainbow, but he kept as steady a hand as possible in this scenario.
It took a great deal of careful maneuvering to get Wild out of his Champions’ tunic. They persisted though, even as Wild cried out in pain and panic.
If it had been anyone else, they would have simply cut the tunic off and spared themself the trouble. But they both knew that Wild would kill them later if they destroyed the tunic his Zelda had made for him. They didn’t bother to be so careful with his undertunic, simply using Warriors knife to cut it off of Wild. He would be able to borrow one of the others' spare tunics until the group reached the next town.
The entire process of removing his clothes so they could get at his bandages seemed to be agony for Wild. Warriors knew from experience that lifting your arms when you had an injury on your side hurt. But it wasn’t only that.
“No, stop, I don’ wan- I don’ wanna take m’ clothes off. Sto’ it- Four, stop.”
Wild’s words were slurred but still understandable. Warriors risked a glance up at Four, and found that the smithy looked like he wanted to cry to. He visibly steeled himself, took a deep breath, and continued. His eyes had settled on purple and green, the blue and red retreating from his gaze.
Warriors tried to follow his example, taking a steadying breath and trying to ignore Wild’s wails.
Wild may be confused and combative- as evidenced by the bruise forming on Four’s cheek- and more than a little out of touch with the situation, but he was obviously still present enough to recognize the two of them. It only made the situation worse, that Wild was able to call out their names when he begged for them to stop.
Wild had taken his shirt off in front of the rest of the group plenty of times, not to mention the time he had shown them all his cars. But there was a difference between removing clothing consensually when you were lucid enough to understand what was happening, and having your clothing removed and cut off when you were only partially present in your own mind.
Warriors felt sick.
Maybe Wild had no reason to be this defensive. Maybe he was just delirious and confused. That still wouldn’t make it okay, but it would make the whole situation easier to smooth over when Wild comes back to himself. But Warriors had a sinking suspicion that the issue ran deeper than that.
Maybe, Warriors hoped, Wild simply didn’t want to show off his scars. The champion acted rather nonchalant about them, but that didn’t mean he was obligated to show them off.
But maybe, Warriors shuddered, maybe Wild was afraid of something, something that Warriors himself had been through and would never wish on anyone. There were very few reasons someone would try to forcibly remove someone else’s clothes, and none of them were good.
To Wild’s hazy mind, which obviously didn‘t recognize that he needed to change his bandages, there would be only one option left. Being held down and stipped out of his tunic…
Warriors’ next breath came out as a shuddering gust of air, and he had to resist the urge to gag.
The cries of their names made it obvious that Wild knew who was trying to get his clothes off. Warriors and Four were only trying to help, but from Wild’s point of view?
Warriors wished the other heroes were here. Twilight, at least, would be able to help soothe the panicked champion. The ranch hand had a way with the wild hero, and always managed to calm him. Maybe restraining Wild wouldn’t’ve even been necessary in the first place.
Anyone else would have been a help too. Just having someone there to reassure Wild who was actively trying to disrobe him or holding him down would have made their task easier.
But there was no one else here. It was only Four, Warriors, and Wild, alone in a strange era. The other heroes were Hylia-knows-where, separated from the three of them by the very fight that had injured the champion.
Leadership now fell to Warriors. He was the oldest, and the highest up in the pecking order the heroes had seemed to naturally fall into, back when they had first met. He was the one in charge.
Normally, Warriors would not flinch at this. He was one of the finest captains in the Hyrulean military. He was more than used to leading, even if he had to make a hard decision that might hurt some of the people under his commands.
But selfishly, Warriors wished that just this once, the burden of making hard decisions did not rest on his shoulders.
#TW mentions of rape#vaguely implied past non-con#Whether Wild is afriad because of past non-con like Warriors thinks or if Warriors is just projecting is up to the reader#mint's fanfiction#linked universe#lu warriors#lu wild#lu four#lu warriors angst#lu wild angst#febuwhump#whump
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New HC dropped:
During the War, food shortages were really really common, for a lot of different reasons. Wars got very good at sneaking food onto Mask and Tune’s plates, to the point where even Tune couldn’t tell when he did it.
Except now, especially during the time of LU, it’s a habit. It doesn’t matter how much food there is, he sneaks his portion onto one of the younger boy’s plates. Time is very, very angry when he finds out, though less at Wars and more at the fact that the War left him with that response and that no one helped him break out of it.
#silver’s thoughts#tw food#tw implied eating disorders#tw unspecified eating disorders#linked universe#lu warriors#lu mask#lu time#lu wind
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Rain's LU Febuwhump: Day 22
"You weren't meant to be there": Warriors
Warnings: Blood, injury, gore, violence, implied child character death (Not actually, its okay), PTSD
Warriors yelled as he swung his sword again and again, hands trembling with exhaustion and body threatening to collapse. He couldn’t stop fighting though. Not now. Not when Sky already had to run from the battlefield to protect an injured Legend. Not when the colours had unexpectedly merged back into one after a lucky shot from an infected wizzrobe. Not when the rest of them were so spread out, so worn down after relentless attacks from monsters that couldn’t seem to stay dead.
The captain choked out a gasp as a sharp pain shot down his sword arm, the point of an arrow buried deep in his shoulder. He gritted his teeth. He had to keep fighting.
He stumbled over the body of some unidentifiable monster, mangled corpse so clearly the work of an angry wolf, protecting its young. Warriors hoped they were okay.
There was an explosion off to his left, so close it left his ears ringing. Black blood stained his clothing, seeped into his mouth, hair and eyes. He spat it out and kept moving.
By now he was only running on pure adrenaline, every other part of him ready to kneel over. He felt detached from the fight, every movement muscle memory. Then he heard the scream. The person was young, and in pain. They had stopped moving, and gotten caught. A battle field was no place for a child.
Horrible thoughts flashed through the captain’s mind. Sword in the stomach. Spear in the back. Arrow in the throat. Knife from a friend.
No. No one was going to die today.
He ran towards the sound, hoping he was going in the correct direction. Where were they? Where was the person who had screamed?
There. There, lying on the ground. It was a child, scarcely old enough to start training. Their blue clothing was dyed red. What a child was doing in a war, the captain didn’t know. But he had to help.
It was like he had been given a whole new energy, like he had eaten and rested in the span of seconds, ready to fight again and again and again. No one was dying on his watch.
Link yelled as he swung his sword again and again, hands steady despite previous exhaustion his body grimy with drying blood and muck. He couldn’t stop fighting though. Not now. Not when there was someone injured, unable to defend themselves from the enemies. Not when the rest of the soldiers seemed to be so spread out that he couldn’t even see them.
Was it just him, or was the constant onslaught begging to slow? Were the enemies weakening, finally dying off?
There was a sound from behind him, and he spun in place, bedraggled scarf twisting with the motion. A sword came up to meet his. The person in amour was saying something, but he didn’t hear it. He didn’t recognise the armour, so they must be trying to get to the fallen child. To take them away. Never.
“Warriors, it’s just me!”
Link swung his sword again, and they parried the blow.
“Warriors, you need to calm down!” A new voice. Another foe? They were ganging up on him now, trying to surround him.
“Captain Link, stand down! We aren’t your enemies!”
His vision cleared, and Link (Warriors?) breathed out shakily as he recognised the person infant of him. “Time?” He asked, voice croaky. The man was covered in blood the same as him, but he grimaced as he held his arm, a recent injury. From him?
“I’m sorry- I didn’t-“
“It’s alright Wars. I know.”
“You weren’t meant to be there.” He offered as a joke, weary smile upon his lips. His eyes betrayed his worry.
Time sighed, but he returned the smile.
Suddenly, Warriors eyes widened, and he spun, searching for the person he now recognised as Wind.
“Where-“
“He’s safe,” Time said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “But let’s get you cleaned up.”
Warriors nodded, eyes still searching the carnage around them. “Yeah. Yeah okay.” He replied. “I’m okay.” He said, feeling as if he had to reassure Time. The older man nodded, guiding him away.
He was okay, right? If only he could stop looking for ghosts.
#fan fiction#linked universe#lu#twilight#wild#legend#hyrule#time#wind#four#warriors#lu warriors#febuwhump#febuwhump2024#febuwhumpday22#blood#injury#violence#gore#implied child character death#PTSD
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Bro Mask really woke up and suddenly his brothers were fighting
Anyway I am once again asking for the commentary on this update because you got me in SHAMBLES Frankie. SHAMBLES. HOW CAN I reCOVER-?!
I love this story to bits <33
You guys were very prompt with the commentary requests, which just amazes me. Like, you all actually like to hear what I have to say?? Wild.
Like always, this contains spoilers so proceed at your own risk.
This is probably one of my favorite past sections I have written in a while, mostly due to how it has that duel scene that I have been wanting to write since the start of this story
However, if this section had one major flaw, it's the pacing; there's three major arguments between the engineer and Link that could have been condensed down to two.
Low key, one of the saddest moments this chapter is when the child asks Link to promise to make sure he comes back, and Link does not. If there was ever any evidence needed to show that he's an asshole, it's that
The Fierce Deity mask attaching itself to the child's hands was not in my original plan, but I realized that there was no one the engineer wouldn't attempt to destroy the mask once he took it off of the child
Here's what happened off screen: the engineer pulled the mask off while thinking about tossing it away, which made the Fierce Deity say "fuck you I'm gonna body horror this child now"
The engineer asking what finger Link would want him to cut off is a reference to chapter 14 where Link tell the engineer that he would have to cut off his own finger if Link ordered him to-- Link forgot he said that because he didn't mean it exactly, but unfortunately, the engineer took him to his word
Originally, the engineer was going to have a monologue in the medical tent where he talks about how he's feeling and how little he trusts Link; I cut this since the engineer is more enthralling when the reader doesn't know exactly what he's thinking
There are some parts of that monologue I really like that I wish I could have kept; hopefully, what he has to say will appear elsewhere in the story
So that duel... that was so satisfying to write, and it's a bit of a relief to have it out of my system and into the world
Chapters 4 and 5 established the fact that Link and the engineer were technically Knights of Hyrule, which I don't think I reiterated elsewhere; so hopefully you guys remember plot details from over a year ago
Also, remember when Meemaw said that Link and the engineer had a very public argument in chapter 5? This is that argument.
If there is one thing I don't like about the duel, it's the implications that the civilians of Hyrule have a homogeneous opinion about the use of child heroes; I've been avoiding making groups have unanimous perspectives like that, but it felt a little unavoidable here. I still tried to say that not everyone agreed, but I don't know if I was successful or not
There is no more perfect demonstration of the engineer and Link's characters than how that duel ended: the engineer happy to stop when he did the minimum amount of damage needed to win, and Link responding with overblown violence
As far as I am aware, how Link and the engineer got their scars was the plot point that readers speculated on the most; I think a lot of people connected the two together, which I am very happy about
Okay, onto the present
Some of you may have guessed it, but the hand funeral was not in the original plan, but there were so many jokes about What Hyrule Did To Warriors's Arm that I ended up thinking about it too hard and fell in love with the idea of the boys having a small funeral for it
That being said, because it was not part of the original plan, I really screwed myself over and ended up having to restructure a lot of the scenes to make it work; I don't know yet if it was worth it, but I do like how the funeral signals an end to the Warriors's torture misery plotline
This part also suffered under my space restraints as I did not expect the duel to be as long as it was, so a lot of things got trimmed or cut
Here is a short list of things that were removed or changed: more importance on Lincoln and Four leaving for a few days, Lincoln gifting Warriors soap (and Warriors being mad that it was actually a good gift), Linkle arriving separate from Sky and Lana, Cia talking about Age of Calamity as one of the many paths Wild's life could have taken, the boys meeting some Skullkids in the Lost Woods, Hyrule joking about finding Lincoln hot, Four talking about the Four Sword with Warriors, Sky talking to Warriors about their shared trauma, Lincoln saying his goodbyes and leaving, more Lana and Link content, Linkle solving an important plotline, and more!
Writing Proxi this chapter has been interesting as I felt like I was speed-running trying to convey what her relationship with Warriors is like as it had never occurred to me that the reader wouldn't see how their relationship started in the past before we met up with her in the present
There was a point of time I considered having Proxi be a mirror to Warriors's emotions instead of an interpreter to them; so Warriors would be shouting in what appeared to be anger while Proxi would be sobbing in fright
I scraped this as it only worked if Proxi didn't have her own emotions, which while a fun idea, meant she had less agency
The way the fandom treats Cia is very interesting to me, as she is one of the only villains who is redeemed at the end of the story. Yet, because of her attraction to Warriors, she's often still treated as a villain. In fact, her villainy is always reduced down to her sexually assaulting Warriors. The fact that she is un-corrupted at the end of story is more fascinating to me, which meant that I had to decide what a not-evil version of Cia would be like
The answer I landed on was "Weird New York Art Girl"
Cia's main hobby is refurbishing the temple and abbey; there was originally going to be more gags of her doing a variety of projects to fix it up, including gardening, woodworking, and masonry
Hyrule's disdain for Cia is actually one of my favorite parts of the chapter; having arrived at the temple first, he had a lot of alone time with her where he got increasingly upset that she wouldn't give him a straight answer about who was okay or not
Cia's prophecy/warning to Time might seem on the nose, but this is actually vague version; my original idea gave away way too much of where the story is going
Wild's speech about remembering/knowing could have been cut for space, but I kept it exclusively so that I can finally give Wild a moment; I just do... so little with him....
So... let's talk Sky
In chapter 4, there is a moment when Warriors is giving everyone the contingency plan where Warriors asks Sky if he ever killed someone, to which made Sky uncomfortable; I wouldn't call that foreshadowing, but that moment happened exclusively because I knew he was going to kill one of the knights
Originally, I was going to have Sky kill Faiza; I changed that last minute because I was uncomfortable killing off the one not-white human in the Knights of Hyrule off screen and it seemed too cruel to kill off someone who is pregnant
So, yeah. Killing off Faiza was not a good idea
I killed off Clementine instead as I felt like I could make her death impactful while keeping it off screen
So, Sky lost his finger; any information about what exactly happened to him is going to stay vague and unmentioned on purpose
Why? Sky's pain is competing with Warriors's, who we spent many chapters deep in the thick of. Nothing I could say can compete. But whatever you guys come up with in your head is going to be whatever is necessary to feel like their pain is equal; it's like when horror directors don't show the monster since the viewer's imagination will always be scarier
I feel like I should have more to say about Time and Warriors's conversation, but it really speaks for itself
I will reassure you all that the reveal is near and I won't taunt you all with it for much longer
The chapter was originally going to end with Legend explaining his story and what is going on with Midna, Twilight, and Wind, but we ran out of space
So you will have to wait until next chapter to learn what happens next
#another thing i cut from the chapter was Wild implying that he slept with Cia in part because he was peeved that Warriors had once#slept with Sidon (who Wild has been trying to bed for so long)#lol that's your bonus fact#it's not canon but knowing you all it's about to become canon the way Hyrule's joke crush on Lincoln is#linked universe#lu call them brothers#ctb lore#ctb commentary#me rambling#lu ctb#ask#anonymous#savimatteo2810
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Oh yeah, I also wanted to know how/if Shadow has a place in the disability au. I think you mentioned him once and my brain has latched onto that fact
I did mention him, a couple times now, I think! (I'm Four Swords and Vidow trash, what can I say.)
Short answer: I haven't decided if or how he's around, though when he was back in manga-land, he did inherit some of Four's paraparesis, but Shadow literally levitates, so like... it didn't matter so much, to him.
Long answer: 617 words, gen, AO3 link here, less fluffy than usual (light angst), sign language indicated with single quotes and italics 'like this,' you know the drill
In Shadows
It isn't Warriors's turn for watch tonight, but Four notices him stay awake, even once Hyrule gets to sleep—the worst at bedtimes of them all. Once the fire burns down to embers, and everyone but Four is dreaming, Warriors stands up and picks his way over to where Four sits on the edge of camp. He takes a spot on the log next to Four, and the disparate heights of their seats mean that their heads are level with each other.
Four waits a moment for Warriors to collect his thoughts. He obviously wants to say something private, but he doesn't seem to know how to start. One benefit of most everyone knowing sign language is the ability to have near-silent conversations. Four is the worst at signing, out of all of them except Hyrule, but he's an excellent speller, so they get by.
"Is everything all right?" Four prompts.
Warriors nods and raises his hands. 'I hope so.' He pauses, and Four waits. 'Earlier this week, you mentioned tragedy.' He fingerspells that word out. 'I know you're fine, I just want to make sure.'
Ah, so that's what this is about. Four had wondered if anyone would bring this up again, he'd been holding bets inside his head about who'd be the first to do it and how. Currently, one red train of thought was very smug.
All of Four knew what he wanted his reaction to this to be.
"You sure you want to know? I'll be fine telling you, just you, but there's a lot of things I don't want everyone to know yet."
'I'm fine keeping secrets if you're fine telling them, it can help to have someone else who knows.' Warriors has nothing but sympathy on his face, and Four nods at him. He glances backwards, but doesn't notice anyone awake. The nighttime breeze carries along the sounds of leaves and insects. Stars burn brightly through the frame around the clearing.
"Then listen closely, because this is only for you." Four leans in a little and does his best to use signs instead of spoken words where he can.
He tells Warriors the whole story… almost. He doesn't go into detail about everything about the Four Sword, or say everything that Shadow did, good or bad. He does mention that the Four Sword divided him, and that one part loved Shadow, but didn't know it until the end. He tells the story factually and simply, not trying for sympathy or pity. Everyone has tragedies in their stories, and Four is no different.
When Four deems the story finished for now, he and Warriors sit in silence for a few minutes, working through the feelings that the retelling brought up in them.
Eventually, Warriors does raise his hands again. 'That is sad. I'm sorry.'
"Don't be. I've… okay, not all of me has gotten over it, but that doesn't mean it haunts my every waking moment. We all struggle with adventure things. I'm okay."
'I hope telling me helped a little, at least.'
Four considers, looking out at the dark forest around them. "Yeah, I think it did. Thanks for listening. And thanks in advance for keeping it quiet."
Warriors lets out a quiet snort at that. 'I'm here if you ever need to talk about it. With someone other than yourself.'
"I'll keep that in mind," Four laughs. "And same to you, you know."
'I know.'
After another calm minute, in which Warriors does not volunteer any tragic backstories of his own, Four reaches over to poke Warriors. "Now go to bed, Captain, before you get cranky."
'I'm never cranky,' Warriors protests, but stands up as ordered.
"Sleep well."
'You, too, Four.'
#linked universe#my writing#lu fic#disability au#lu four#lu warriors#lu shadow#is that a tag#oh well#implied vidow
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Whumptober Day 20: “You will regret touching them”
Aaaaand now for today’s fic
Read on Ao3
- Warriors & Time
- Summary: Time finds a wounded Warriors
CW for implied/referenced torture, captivity, nonconsensual body modification, blood and injury, and brief mention of vomit
———————————————-
If he clenches his teeth any harder, Time is certain they will break.
He stands in the middle of a cell – small, cramped, and smelling of sweat and vomit and blood – hands in fists, heart thumping an erratic beat in his ears. A blue eye stares up at him from the corner, bright in a too-pale face. The other is sealed shut with swelling and blood. The proud green tunic is sullied as well, the scarf long gone. Blonde hair so meticulously cared for lies limp and filthy. Strong hands tremble, bound together behind a hunched back.
“Captain.” It is half a whisper, half a low growl.
Warriors makes a small, muffled noise as though trying to respond through the dirty cloth tied tight between his lips. Time’s fingernails dig into his palm.
Here before him sits the hero he and his brothers have spent the last week searching for. He should feel relief. All he can feel is red-hot anger.
But there isn’t time for that. Warriors needs him. His big brother needs him.
Sheathing his sword, Time drops to his knees. Puddles of blood dot the floor, some mere splatterings, others worryingly large. He pays them no heed, reaching forward instead to tug away the gag. Warriors breathes a raspy sigh of relief as it falls.
“...bout-bout time you showed up, S-Sprite,” he teases in a voice so hoarse it’s nearly unrecognizable. His breath catches in his throat and he coughs up a mouthful of blood.
Time does his best to ignore it.
“I’m sorry that we kept you waiting,” he murmurs as he sets about undoing the ropes that bind the captain’s hands and feet. The apology tastes bitter. What good does it do now? The heroes had gone as fast as they could. And still, they had been too late.
Warriors shivers, suddenly, and Time is struck by how very small he looks.
“But don’t worry,” he says, gently, trying not to dwell on the fact that his big brother should never look that way, “I’m here now. You’re safe.”
Warriors gives him a weak smile.
A few more short moments slide by, in which Time works to untie the ropes. They are thickly knotted, but he has slipped from far tighter bonds. And soon they fall away to join the filth on the floor. Warriors lets out a sharp hiss of pain.
“S-shoulder,” he explains at Time’s concerned look. “Dislocated.”
That can’t be the only thing out of place, Time thinks, bitterly. The way he is struggling to breathe speaks to a few broken ribs at least. And as for the rest of him…well, he can only guess at the extent of the damage.
Anger flares up in him once more. He shoves it down.
“I don’t have Hyrule’s healing powers,” he says, reaching into his pouch. “But I have a fairy. Her magic should be enough to tide you over until I can get you back to camp.”
Warriors blinks dazedly. “You…you’re the only one h-here?”
A grim smile pulls at Time’s lips. “Yes. I came across this place entirely by chance. The others were taking a short rest and I saw no reason to drag them along on a search that would likely lead to another deadend. It’s alright, though. No one is here anymore…except for you.”
If they had been they would have regretted it, he thinks, bitterly.
Pushing the dark thoughts away, he lifts the bottle out of his pouch and unscrews it.
“Here, this should…”
He stops short as the fairy darts forward. The lighting in the room is decidedly dim, which he supposes is why he hadn’t seen it before. But now in the pinkish glow of the fairy’s magic it’s painfully obvious.
The word “murderer” is carved in jagged, blood-red lines into Warriors’ left arm.
Time’s vision goes crimson.
“Captain…” It’s everything he can do to keep his voice level. Suddenly, he’s a child once more, kneeling on the battlefield, begging his brother to stay alive, to stay with him. He’s a child being hurtled back through time without truly understanding what that even means. He’s a child being laughed at and thrown aside by the man he has been tasked with defeating.
He’s a child helpless and weak.
Late. Much too late.
“...did they do this to you?”
For a long moment, Warriors doesn’t reply. He merely watches the fairy do her work, gaze dull and almost detached. There are tear-streaks on his cheeks, Time realizes now, curving through the patches of blood and dirt.
“Their fa-families died in…in the war,” he murmurs at last, voice hollow and defeated. “They…they blame me.”
Time forces himself to take a breath.
Of course, they do. That is always the reason the traitors give, as though placing the blame on the hero can assuage them of their own guilt, justify their horrific deeds.
“Well, they’re wrong,” he says, firmly. “And believe me, anyone who does a thing like this was never in their right mind in the first place. You do not carry the blame of a war you didn’t even begin, but fought bravely to end. You are a hero, captain, not a murderer.”
Warriors drags his gaze up to him, something terribly vulnerable within it.
“Y-you’re really somethin else, Sprite,” he whispers, breath hitching. A small smile tugs at his lips and somehow it makes him look even more young and broken than before. “How c-come you say everything like…like you mean it?”
Time places a gentle hand on his good shoulder and he seems to melt beneath his touch.
“Because I do. I meant every word. Why hide from someone who can always tell when I’m lying?”
Warriors chuckles, slightly. It almost sounds like a sob.
The fairy finishes her dance and zips back to Time.
“I’ve done all that I can,” she whispers. “The word that they hurt him with…I lightened it as much as I could.”
“Thank you,” he murmurs, inclining his head. And with a soft jingle, she disappears. He turns his attention back to Warriors. “We’ll see if there are any spells or potions capable of stopping that from scarring. There is no reason for you to carry the false burden they have placed on you.”
The captain merely gives a small nod, eye downcast once more. His shoulders are uncharacteristically slumped and he hugs his arm to his body, as though eager to hide it. At the sight, the anger abates somewhat, replaced by the ache of his heart.
How dare they do this.
Time reaches out and draws him into his arms. Warriors slumps, bonelessly into his embrace, trembling slightly with pain and exhaustion and emotion.
“It’s alright. It’s over,” he says, softly, echoing the words Warriors had soothed him with so many times during the war. “I’ve got you.”
Carefully he rises, lifting the captain up as gently as he can. He wants nothing more than to tear this place apart, to find those who did this terrible deed and make them wish they had never been born. But his priority right now is Warriors. He needs rest and healing and for that cursed word to be wiped off of his skin. He needs safety and reassurance.
Vengeance will have to wait.
Though if he has his way it will not wait very long. The perpetrators were gone when he got here, likely cowering from the punishment even they knew they deserve. But once he finds them – and he will – he won’t hesitate to do what must be done.
No one touches his big brother without coming to regret it.
#whumptober 2023#no.20#‘you will regret touching them’#implied/referenced torture tw#blood tw#injury tw#captivity tw#nonconsensual body modification tw#mention of vomit#trin writes#lu warriors#lu time#angst#hurt/comfort#whump
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Whumptober Day 16: "No one's coming"
This one made me very sad, though this is a bit less than 1/4th of what I wrote for day 16. It's also something I might expand on later, since I already have a lot of ideas for the aftermath of what happens in this fic!
This is pre-LU Warriors, so I used 'Link' in this one!
CWs: blood and injuries, implied/referenced torture, off-screen death of minor OCs
Link was in too much pain to walk back to the cell on his own. The captors dragged him instead, uncaring at how their treatment left dirt in the cuts on his legs and scratched the barely scabbed-over wounds back open. He was sure there was a trail of blood left on the ground behind him, tracing their path through the underground structure to the cell.
He had no energy, or will, to resist. He didn't know how long he'd been here, he and the few survivors that had been taken with him. Their captors hadn't even bothered torturing the other men they'd brought with Link. Just killed them one by one. He knew they were trying to break him though he wasn't sure why. They'd stopped asking him questions after the first few times they'd tried to beat information out of him. Now it seemed like they were only doing it for their own sick enjoyment.
No, they were just trying to break him. And they were succeeding. Link didn't see a way out of this. Didn't see a way to escape or save the last of his soldiers. He'd watched as the first three were dragged away. He’d screamed through the bars of his cell, called out threats and pleaded for mercy, and fought with the guards. But everything fell on deaf ears. He'd cried for them when they didn't return. When enough time had passed that he could no longer hold onto hope for their survival.
#whumptober2022#no.16#no one's coming#linked universe#fanfic#blood#injuries#implied torture#lu warriors#worm writes
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Frayed Edges
AO3 Link
The battle’s over. The Shadow is defeated and the Triforce of Power retrieved… so why is the chain still here? Why haven’t they gone home?
It’s not like the Shadow has been the one that’s been making the portals the whole time… it’s not like they’re in an unknown Hyrule with no way home.
Aka, Legend fights depression/anger issues except it’s not his own depression and anger issues it’s literally everyone else’s until he’s pushed to doing the nuclear option. Sky (kinda) hugs him tho :)
TW: implied suicidal ideation
——————————————
It was over.
Sighs of relief echoed around the room as the Shadow was finally defeated, as the source of the portals and the monsters it displaced and empowered was finally defeated.
Legend picked up the little triangle off the ground. He sighed softly, clasping his hand around the Triforce of Power and feeling its energy course through him.
"We should put that where it belongs," Sky said.
"Where?" Wild asked, the question clearly made out of curiosity than anything as he sipped a potion. A cut on his cheek healed over. "That thing feels powerful."
"It's a piece of the Triforce," Hyrule said. "I think Legend can hold onto it until we find out where it's held in this era."
"Then we go home!" Wind cheered.
Twilight laughed. "Yeah, then we go home, sailor. So let's make the best of this one last quest."
Legend let the Triforce of Power fade into his skin, the mark on the back of his left hand emblazoned, the top triangle filling in just like the bottom right one.
"Let's find out which era the Shadow was from," Time ordered and they made to exit the dungeon.
Upon investigation, they learned there was no way to access the sacred realm from this time, none of the methods they knew would work nor did the locations where they usually traveled over existed. The Triforce of Courage turned out to be wielded by a little boy no older than three, the mark on his hand having no more meaning than any other birthmark. The Triforce of Wisdom was the same. There was no kingdom, no Hyrule, nothing.
"It's like they're only wielded," Sky said when they went back to the fairly large, abandoned cabin they'd been making good use of. "Which means there's no place to put it back."
"We can't take it back to any of our eras, that's just an awful idea," Warriors agreed. Wind and Twilight both grimaced while Hyrule looked horrified.
"Like that hairstyle you decided on this morning," Legend muttered and Four snorted, Wind giggled softly too. Twilight even rolled his eyes and the tension was successfully cut as Warriors squawked and argued that Legend knew full well that he hadn't had time to fix his hair that morning.
He realized they didn't know.
Legend watched them all slowly come to the realization even as he and Four and Hyrule forged and enchanted a box to hide the Triforce away.
Even once they put it deep in a cave and used a lot of their assorted items and magic to bury it far out of reach, to place traps to keep it impossible to take, and buried it. That way, whenever the next Champion of Din was born, it would go to them and there would be an empty, magically defended, unbreakable box, but until then, the Triforce of Power would be safe and inaccessible.
Once that was done, he saw the expectation, then they all slowly came to the realization.
They had no way back. None of them did. The shadow had brought them here and the Golden Goddesses had left centuries ago while Hylia died, for the second time, whenever Sun died or will die.
Legend sat on the beam in the ceiling of their new abode, the cabin managing to house them well enough especially after Twilight and Time took Wild to repair most of it.
He watched the realization hit Hyrule and in the near same moment it was hitting Twilight.
Twilight was the one to voice it.
"Oh Ordona," he whispered. "We cain't go back, can we?"
"What?" Wild looked up from the cooking pot he'd set up inside the cabin. "What do you mean?"
"The Shadow made the portals," Hyrule breathed, he looked up at Legend. "We don't have a way back."
Legend met his eyes before he looked away and nodded silently.
"You've known," Hyrule realized too.
"Not the only one,” he said, and glanced at Time.
Time had been silent for a while now, but he nodded when the attention was on him, fidgeting with a blue ocarina.
Finally, the realization settled in on all of them. The understanding that they were stuck visibly hit them.
Sky was in denial, Legend noted. The knight insisted they try and find a way to put the Triforce of Power into the sacred realm. Wild was mostly with him, but both did a lot of prayer to the goddesses to give them a portal.
Warriors and Twilight, however, were in anger. Both snapped at everyone, got mad at Sky and Wild for (being in denial) praying and at Time and Four for trying to find a way to fix things. Twilight usually got his anger out through Time making him help with building up the cabin, where Warriors would end up sparring with someone, usually Legend.
Four and Time were in bargaining, searching everywhere for other options, Time even going as far as enlisting Four with his Ocarina of Time to see if they could use the divine, temporal magic in it to create something that got them back home.
Hyrule and Wind were at depression, when Wind realized there was no way back he left the cabin and Legend followed him to find their youngest in tears, sobbing for his grandmother, his sister, and his best friend whom he'd never see again. Hyrule was much of the same, he'd been the only one though who'd gone through the other stages, he'd insisted otherwise at first, begged the goddesses to give them a way home, snapped angrily at everyone for every little thing, then he was just breaking down and stayed in this depressive state as he mourned his home.
Legend noticed he was the only one at acceptance. He was the only one who seemed to realize that bad things happened and there was nothing they could do to stop that, only improve the end result or aftermath.
He started to help around the cabin even as his wanderlust—and everyone else's—began to grow. He started with the cabin itself, he kept Warriors and Twilight busy with chopping wood and helping him put things up, walls and roofing. He pulled Hyrule and Wind into helping with as much as he could, giving them things to do to keep them from sitting in their grief all day. The other four were stubborn that they wouldn't need the cabin much longer and they'd be home sometime soon, but Legend managed to convince them that having a base that allowed them safety and a bit of comfort while they were in an unknown land was the best option.
He held onto the strings of the fraying group and pulled them back together. Dynamics shifted rapidly, Wild and Twilight constantly at ends as Wild shifted from denial to bargaining, still constantly praying but now helping Four and Time. Time and Warriors got into fights as Time grew closer and closer to depression as he seemed to slowly approach the understanding he wasn't getting back to his wife. Hyrule and Wind both becoming recluses and avoiding everyone else. Four shifting from bargaining to anger and depression at the same time, snapping at everyone and crying himself to sleep.
Legend got Four to help him plan a forge and Twilight and Warriors—who both accepted their roles as the heavy lifters—helped them build it. Four agreed to make hinges and nails which Wild supplied the metal for.
He showed Wild how to cut and sand wooden boards and they worked on a kitchen. Twilight was leaving anger as he got the two to work together on that.
He took Hyrule and Wind to help find animals and coax bees into beginning a new hive in an apiary that Legend had spent a while making out of thatch and wood. They made pens for the wild hogs they'd tracked down and caught, Wind somehow being a naturally with them and Hyrule able to keep them somewhat calm with his fairy magic as they worked to domesticate them.
"You're turning this into a permanent residence, vet," Sky said once while Legend enlisted him to come with him to a somewhat distant but nearby village for more supplies.
"So?" Legend didn't deny that.
"We'll go home," Sky said, "those animals will be left alone soon enough."
"I'll make sure they're free to roam again before we leave," Legend promised. "But until then... Rulie and the Sailor need something to focus on, they both love animals and those are a lot of work. Smithy needs a forge to stay present so we got him a forge. Rancher and Wars both have a lot of things to work out so we're working on it."
"I guess," Sky sighed. "I don't see the point. We'll leave soon."
Legend decided not to mention that they'd been here for a year now and Sky had been saying that the whole time.
"Well, we'll want some sheep or maybe goats, Twi would like goats and they have wool... and milk, goats will do well in the area too. We've knocked down a bunch of trees so there is room," Legend mused. "I wonder if I could grow some apple trees while we're here. I know wild animals adore those so it may help with balancing out all the lumber we've cut down."
"I guess that wouldn't be a bad idea," Sky sighed. "We have cut down a lot of trees, so I suppose giving the native animals something to eat wouldn't be a bad idea. Are you aiming for self sufficiency?"
Legend just hummed and shrugged. He was aiming for his brothers not falling apart, but self sufficiency worked.
He noted to get cuccos too sometime soon, Sky would enjoy those. He'd have to figure out how to handle Time...
Two years into their 'brief stay' in the between era, Legend watched them continue to fall apart despite his best efforts.
They had things to do, things to bond over, he'd send Wars, Wind, and Hyrule to help Four in the forge most days as Four refused mostly to leave. The former three were still in anger and depression respectively. Four was more in depression than bargaining now.
Yet they were fraying. Time snapped at everyone, especially Legend, Wind, and Twilight, then Twilight and Warriors were at each other's backs but were constantly at odds with one another, Wild avoided everyone as did Four, and both were beginning to snap at them all. Sky too, he lost the soft, dreamy-eyed look, and was constantly angry at everyone.
Legend tried giving them days to themselves, days with the few they didn't snap at, but nothing worked. He sent Wild and Hyrule, the only pairing that held true even after everything went bad, on excursions to the woods, asking them to be back within the week, to be careful, and 'get a lay of the land'. He had Wind and Time paired off, the former usually able to coax the latter out of any funk, but Wind only seemed to get more depressive and Time more angry that Legend quickly ended that attempt.
He got bounties from the town and would send Sky or Warriors out on them, often Four as well. They seemed a bit better afterwards, between themselves at least, then whatever camaraderie formed during their time out quickly dissolved.
Wind was doing better, when Legend kept him and Time separated. He enjoyed the hogs that were becoming far more domesticated each day, he taught himself how to handle the goats when Twilight began to avoid them and Legend blamed himself for not realizing that the reminder of home could've been a bad idea for some. Sky enjoyed the cuccos but Twilight hated the goats. Wind was good with the goats, he cared for the two they had, came with Legend to the town and asked another farmer how to shear goat wool and purchased shears to do so. That winter, he did exactly that and Legend took the time to sit him down and show him how to turn that fur into fabric.
Time was doing the worst, constantly snapping at people, tearing them down. He knew the truth, Legend was fairly sure, and that just made it worse. It was the worst whenever he was near Twilight, or Wind or Legend, and Legend was certain it was because he had noticed the similarities between the three of them and someone he knew of his own time, they were his successors after all. Twilight to Malon, Legend would guess his was Zelda, Lullaby, though he wasn't sure at all. He had no idea for Wind. Either way, Time got worse when around them and likewise Twilight and Wind began to get worse when around Time.
Legend didn't know how to fix this. Their team had frayed and he didn't know how to keep them together.
No matter how many blankets he wrapped around crying teens, no matter how many soft or even harsh words he offered, no matter how many blades he sharpened, spars he fought, advice he gave, jobs he assigned, nothing worked.
It was when he sent Sky on a bounty with Warriors and Hyrule that he figured it out.
They came back, and as usual with the few who went on the bounties —Twilight refused to go on any, Time was the same, and Legend wasn't risking sending Wind or Wild to go kill a person— they were closer.
Legend hid in the trees, purple eyes glinting red in the darkness of the shadows, and he heard them tease and laugh as they came up the now well-worn path.
Within three days that dissolved, back at each other's throats and not in a familial way.
Legend finishing weaving a new blanket and embroidering a border on it, a pastime he'd picked up last winter when Wind sheared the goats and had kept since, making sure their fairly large cabin was stocked with warm blankets as winters here got as cold as the champion's Hebra blizzards.
"They need something to stand against," he murmured to the Golden Sword on the hook by the door. She was long gone, but he still talked to her. A habit born from anxiety.
He was bordering the blanket with white waves and seashells, putting secret little telescopes with not-so-secret seagulls. It was for Wind, who'd helped him dye the fabric his apparent favorite shade of blue.
"Zelda mentioned it once," he muttered. "When people don't have something to rally against, they turn on each other, for some of the stupidest reasons too."
He glanced up as he heard Four yelling at Wild over goddesses knew what. He should go break that up.
He put the thread and blanket down and went over to break up another fight.
Goddesses, he was tired of his brothers fighting.
Sky shared a room with Time and Four. Legend had initially intended to put Wind and Warriors with Time but that wasn't an option after Time became volatile toward all three of his successors and Warriors became volatile in general.
Twilight and Wild weren't able to be paired either anymore, so Wild was with Hyrule and Warriors and Legend put himself with Twilight and Wind.
He'd tried an intervention. A meeting with everyone and he laid out what he was seeing—only to be immediately talked over and for yelling and arguing to break out. He had to physically separate Warriors and Sky, again, and force Time to leave Wind alone, as the kid had dared to be optimistic around the others and Time hadn't let that fly for a moment.
It wasn't working.
Legend sat in the window, Wind and Twilight dead asleep inside and the world awake outside. Stars gleaming and the moon shining.
He had a chance here. Something that could work.
Wind felt confused.
He started to understand and accept that, yeah, they weren't going back home, that he'd never see Aryll or Grandma again. He could accept that.
He had to. It's not like they could go back. Time and Four had tried to find a way back home, Sky and Wild had spent weeks praying for the goddesses to give them a way home, they'd tried.
And failed. Nine heroes and they'd failed.
Wind knew Legend was what they had left keeping them together. He knew the others had grown distant, dangerous even as time went on. He knew, when Legend had asked him to be in charge of handling the hogs and later telling him he did a great job of stepping up and taking care of the goats when Twilight didn't, that Legend was trying to keep everyone together. He had, albeit with Twilight's and Warriors's help, turned the run down, abandoned, wooden shack they'd taken to using as shelter into an actual home! When he'd always told them that it was a life on the road for him at that.
So yeah, Wind was confused when the status quo suddenly shifted.
When nobody stopped the fighting that broke out, when nobody left to take care of some bounty for a week or two, when he realized how badly their relationships had gotten in the past two and a half years. The Captain was a face he hardly could find safety in anymore, Time was harmful to be near and he had to purposely avoid the older hero 'less he finds himself in a one sided insult battle that matched the sincerity of the Veteran's and the Captain's earliest matches. Sky used to be a safe space but now he was distant at best, volatile at worst, and occasionally—only when he'd come back from those bounty hunts—his old self.
Wind missed his brothers, but when Legend outright disappeared he freaked out just a bit. That was his last lifeline to safety, to stability.
"Hey Smithy?" Wind poked into the forge.
"Wgat?!" Four snapped, turning those vibrantly ever-changing eyes on him. They used to be a constant storm gray, occasionally flicking through another color or two when tensions or emotions were high, but not always shifting through rainbow like they did these days.
"Have you seen the Vet?" Wind asked, careful not to wince. He wasn't a kid anymore, he couldn't show that kind of weakness, especially not in front of the other heroes.
"Tch, no."
Four glared at the metal in front of him, another expertly crafted sword that would be taken to the town next excursion and sold just like the rest of the extra things they had.
His eyes briefly settled red. "He hasn't bothered me in a few days, finally." In a lowered mutter, a strained one too, he added, "Maybe he finally got the hint that we want to be alone."
Wind grimaced as he looked away. "Thanks anyway."
Four made some comment that Wind decidedly ignored as he left.
Hyrule was by the apiary, fairies had taken to being there too and Wind still remembered the day that they'd set up a little fountain of sugar water—which Hyrule replaced daily. The apiary area was filled with bees and fairies.
"Hey, Traveler? You seen the vet recently?"
Hyrule glanced up. He'd been so silent lately, basically ever since they'd been stuck here, he'd been quiet basically the whole time they'd been stuck here. Wind hated it.
"No," Hyrule admitted.
Wind hummed. He wasn't sure who to turn to when he was worried about someone... not when that someone was Legend. Warriors would snap, Hyrule was distant, Sky could be either, Time hated him for some reason, Twilight...
"You know where Twi is?"
"Not really... I think I saw him with the goats."
Wind raised an eyebrow at that. "What's he doing with my goats?" He muttered to himself as he left Hyrule alone to go to the goat pen.
Twilight was indeed in the goat pen, sitting there and trying to coax the goats to him as they eyed him oddly.
Wind sat on the fence and waited. It was almost sweet. Twilight had been quieter lately, the past couple months or two, he'd been quieter, less likely to snap.
The goats noticed Wind first and abandoned Twilight to run over to him. He laughed softly as he jumped down and pet the animals. Twilight watched and Wind made his way over to his roommate.
"Hey," he greeted.
"Hey, sailor," Twilight replied, eyes flicking up and down at Wind.
Wind crossed his arms, leaning over on one leg. "Whatcha doin' out here?"
Twilight shrugged. "Just... thinking, I guess."
"Smithy thinking or Traveler thinking?" Wind asked.
"Probably, the Traveler's," Twilight sighed heavily. "You remember the other day, when the vet snapped?"
Wind nodded. It was rather rememberable.
Legend had asked everyone to be inside for dinner that day, saying he wanted to talk to them. Then at dinner, he'd cut off every single argument before they started, prompted Hyrule to talk about the apiary, Wild about the surrounding area and his new hobby of cartography, he tried to get them to talk about nice things, things that made them happy. Then Warriors had snapped first.
"Why do you even bother?!" Time had demanded. "How can you act like this is nice? This is good? That it's all okay?!"
Legend had stared, his hands on the table and visibly still as he looked Time dead in the eyes. "Because someone has to."
And thus began a cut-off lecture from their veteran about how they were acting, how they were treating each other, how awful they'd become. That lecture was interrupted quickly by Time, with Warriors beginning some arguments, then Sky joined in, and soon Four as well. Everyone yelling over each other, Wind trying to intervene with some desperate optimism only to be verbally torn apart by his own childhood hero.
"Yeah," Wind said, back in the present. Twilight hummed. "Why?"
"Just thinkin'... when was the last time we actually just sat down and talked? We did it all the time before," before the end, before they were trapped, "at camp, in inns, on the road. We'd just talk, chat, we... we were close. Now... Now I can't remember the last time I was nice to the champion, to you, to anyone."
Wind thought about it.
Twilight kept going. "You're older too! I don't know—somehow I just—I was thinkin' back and then I saw ya an'... you're sixteen now, right?"
"Almost," Wind shrugged, not admitting he'd been counting to basically adulthood. Sixteen wasn't adult, but it was close enough he'd be taken as one. Especially with his height, scars, and how he was slowly losing the baby fat. "Fifteen, almost sixteen."
"Did we even celebrate?" Twilight sounded almost hysterical. "Yours? Or Cub's? Or even the Traveler's or Smithy's?!"
Wind shook his head. "No..." he admitted quietly. "No, we haven't celebrated anything since we got here. Not summer solstice—not winter solstice, birthdays, nothing."
"How..."
"Rancher," Twilight looked up when Wind prompted him, "I came here 'cause I was wonderin' if you'd seen the Vet lately. I 'aven't seen him in a day or two and neither's Rulie or the Smithy."
Twilight blinked, then concern —concern! Wind hadn't seen any of the other heroes look worried in years— flickered across his face.
"Really?" He asked. "He’s normally somewhere nearby, and's definitely always somewhere inside 'round dinner. Wa'n't he in the room last night?"
Wind shook his head. "No. He wasn't."
Then they heard someone running.
Hyrule all but slammed into the fence of the goat pen. "The Triforce!" He cried. "I-I can sense—It's been taken!"
Wind felt his blood go cold as a sense of dread slammed into him.
The table was chaos as the eight of them gathered inside. Hyrule was the most vocal he had been in months and Warriors arguing with him.
"We buried that thing miles underground! We left traps and—nobody could've gotten to it and the other wielders are still alive!"
"I'm telling you, I sensed it be taken! I am—I was the protector of the Triforce back in my era, I can sense it whenever it's not in someone and—That one's gone!"
"It's impossible! Nobody who didn't know exactly where it was could've found it—"
"What about someone who did?" Four spoke up, eyes distinctly darker, shimmering between midnight violet and deep-ocean blue. "I don't see the Vet here."
"As if!" Wind exclaimed. "He's the only sane person here!"
"Weren't you looking for him earlier?" Four retorted. "Isn't it weird that the moment the Triforce goes missing the guy's nowhere to be seen?"
"He's a hero!"
"Of what?! Nobody's hero's here! We're nobodies from nowhere doing nothing!"
They were interrupted by someone banging on the door. They all looked up but nobody moved.
Sky sighed and went to get the door.
"Oh thank the goddesses!" Wind recognized one of the villagers. It was the one who helped him learn how to shear goats. "There's some kind of mage attacking the town!"
The heroes shared a look.
"Show us," Time ordered.
There were a series of attacks, spanning across the whole of this Hyrule. People were able to escape for the most part, but there were burns and injuries everywhere.
Wind didn’t get it. It was like another adventure had begun, but neither the current hero of courage or wielder of wisdom were even called to fight. Wild and Hyrule had gone to check on them, both were happily living in the capital of this not-quite-a-kingdom, which hadn't even been attacked.
It seemed to be going for them.
Legend was still missing, and it freaked Wind out. Legend had been the main one to set the traps for the Triforce. He wondered if Legend had set some kind of spell that would alert him if someone came too close and had gone to handle it alone, and failed.
Twilight had stepped up. They were back in adventure gear and it surprised Wind how quickly things began to set back into... well, harmony. Twilight had asked Wind to give him and Wild a bit and so Wind spent half the night on the sofa, reading some book about... apples? He wasn't sure. It was one he'd seen Legend read a lot. Then Twilight and Wild were better. They found themselves fighting lots of armos and other magical golems, and battle had its way of working out problems within a team.
Warriors and Time made up, Time stopped snapping at Wind and Twilight, Four's eyes slowly stopped constantly changing color and settled back into that slate gray.
Wind figured out why.
"I think this is why we're still here," Sky whispered to him one night.
"The goddesses needed us to fix this new problem too, so they didn't send us home yet?" Wind guessed, looking up at the stars. He'd be rather close to Outset Island if he were in his Hyrule, based off the constellations above them.
"Yeah," Sky murmured softly. "I think so."
Hyrule had came back out of his shell as he began to worry and chastise everyone for their wounds again, him and Warriors falling back into their old place as medics.
Even Wind was feeling more like himself. He hadn't kept his skills sharpened and he'd grown considerably since he last fought, but Warriors had been more than happy to help and Wind found himself falling asleep with a blue scarf over his shoulders just like old times.
The only thing that was missing was their veteran, flames and ice accompanying a singing golden blade, rhythmic steps and quiet humming during and outside of battle. Sharp quips and retorts that lessened the tension.
They found a trail. It hadn't taken long, a couple months at most, before they discovered the golems and armos were coming from some ancient tower.
They made their way there, stopping forest fires, holding off hordes of magically-created monsters, and just getting closer again.
"You know," Wild said one night as they could see that temple in the distance, gleaming with powerful magic. "I... Don't make me be the one to say it."
"Say what?" Hyrule looked confused.
"The Veteran."
Hyrule suddenly looked away, not responding.
Wild sighed, his head dropped down as he settled his distant eyes on the fire in front of him. "Exactly."
"What do you mean?" Warriors asked, clearly a bit more calm than the months, years, before these outbreaks.
"The vet set half the traps that protected the Triforce," Four said, almost deadpan but the red that overtook his eyes briefly over the steel gray betrayed him. "I know I suggested he betrayed us before but— I think... he was always paranoid, so I wouldn't put it past him to set some kind of alarm. And for how we were all acting..."
Wind startled a bit. He hadn't expected anyone to acknowledge their change in mannerisms, yet here Four was…
"He may have gone to check it out alone, and..." Four trailed off weakly.
A haunting tune fell over the air, Wind went rigid while Hyrule shot up.
Everyone was dead silent. Not a sound passed as they listened to the haunting tune, their hands settled on blades.
"Oh, I went there alone," a completely unfamiliarly cold tone in an extremely familiar voice cut through the air.
The tune stopped. Everyone turned and stared at their missing hero.
"Vet!" Wind gaped. "Where—"
Hyrule stopped him. "Why do you have the Triforce of Power, Veteran?" He demanded.
Legend hummed, plucking the strings of some golden lute. The notes rang through the air, but no clear tune was being made anymore. "Because, Traveler. I wanted it."
"What." Time pulled Twilight back a bit as he stepped toward the front. "Why?"
Legend shot him a cold look. Wind hated that look in his eyes. "I was tired. I am tired. I thought I could handle it, I thought I could deal with my whole life being ended and uprooted again, but no. If the goddesses want to play like this, then let's play."
Wind hated how Legend's left hand glowed, only missing a single triangle before it was complete. He hated how his eyes seemed more golden than usual. He hated how the last person he thought he could find safety in suddenly radiated danger in a way even Time hadn’t the past two and a half years.
"You're behind all this?!" Sky tightened his grip on the Master Sword as he spoke. "You—You've been attacking all these people?!"
Legend shrugged. "They're just pawns in the goddess's game. Pawns can get upgraded, I'm eliminating future threats."
Wind wanted to throw up. Warriors was the first one to lunge, but Legend slipped away, a song fell over the air and Legend disappeared.
"What?!"
"He... He betrayed us."
"How could he?"
The final battle was horrible.
They had to stop him, Wind reminded himself. They marched their way up the temple and fought off the dozens of golems and armos that attacked them. They found Legend at the very top, playing that haunting tune again on a pink ocarina.
"Stop," Time ordered. "That's enough, Veteran. It's over."
The crystal-clear notes came to an end but Legend kept his back to them. "You know what I was told once, by the goddess's Oracle herself? I was told I'd be the greatest of all heroes, known for centuries to come, longer than any other. You know what lasts longer than gratitude? Than love?"
He turned and a dose of terror shot down Wind's spine as he saw the cold smirk playing on an emotionless face.
"Fear. Fear lasts generations beyond gratitude,” Legend hummed. A golden power curled around him visibly.
"How could you?!" Hyrule cried, stepping forward. "You're—You're a hero! The Legendary Hero! How can you—Just turn on everything you've done? How can you turn on us?!"
Legend scoffed. "Turn on you guys? It was easier than you'd think." He looked back at the sky. "I doubt you'd get it. Do you realize how hard it is to watch all of the few people you have left deteriorate? Watch them become shells of their former selves, angry at everything? At the world and its inhabitants? Watch them become horrible to interact with? Watch the ones who chose to become filled with anger completely destroy what the ones who became sad, depressive shells had left? DO YOU REALIZE HOW AWFUL YOU WERE TO EACH OTHER?!"
Wind flinched and he felt them all step back.
That cold front that Legend had completely melted and was replaced by a roaring, blazing heated anger. Near immediately as it came, it was cooling back by an avalanche of that cold front yet again.
"I'm doing this because I can, Traveler," Legend spat, blazing heat falling to a simmer and then a frigid chill. "I'm doing this because I want to."
"I don't understand," Wind whispered weakly, his voice strained and his voice choked.
"You wouldn't," Legend responded and Wind flinched at the underhanded jab. "None of you would. It doesn't matter though."
He put the ocarina away and drew a familiar golden sword, that golden magic coalesced to that sword and it gleamed.
"You won't be here long enough for it to matter."
Legend was the one who attacked first.
Warriors stepped forward to meet him.
Wind found himself having to fight his brother to restore peace to Hyrule.
Wind realized how powerful the older… former hero was as they fought. How he fought as if he were dancing to some tune none of them could hear, each movement to a beat but still unpredictable despite that consistency. Blades slammed and magic was everywhere, Wind helped where he could but only so many of them could engage at once and he ended up falling back and taking out his bow like Wild had.
Legend was winning. Somehow, he was winning against them all, Time was hanging from the edge of the tower and Twilight was the one keeping him from falling, audibly begging the older hero to hold on and not let go. Wind ran over to help just as Warriors was thrown into a broken pillar, and Wild had quickly moved to fill in the place that had fallen empty while Hyrule darted to Warriors's side.
Four was driven back and Sky staggered. Wild was thrown into Four and it was just Sky and Legend fighting.
Wind and Twilight got Time back onto the top of the tower as Sky and Legend dueled at a speed and with skill that none of them could intervene. Even arrows shot could hit Sky rather than Legend.
Golden light exploded off them and Wind covered his eyes.
He heard Sky cry out, a scream, and as soon as he could he looked.
Sky was hugging Legend, who had the Master Sword embedded in his chest. Blood trickled from the edge of his mouth.
“Why?!” Sky begged, cradling Legend against him. “You didn’t have to do this! You didn’t—Why did you do this? It never had to come to this, Vet.” Sky sobbed, hugging Legend even as the fallen hero slowly lost the color in his skin.
He laughed, Legend laughed softly and he smiled. He glanced at Wind and Twilight and Time, his eyes flicked over to Wild and Four helping each other up, to Warriors leaning on Hyrule.
"Don't... do it again," he slurred. "You... You're brothers... re... remember to act li'e it."
"What?" Sky questioned softly. They all gathered closer.
"It worked," Legend laughed again, a soft and relieved thing. "You... You worked together... you were nice... happy even... I knew... I knew it... it would work."
"What would work?" Sky asked frantically, he laid Legend down and their fallen brother's face contorted in pain at the movement at the sword being pulled from his chest.
Legend let out a shaky breath. Wind felt a few tears fall down his cheeks and then felt a pair eyes on him.
"Knew... that if... if you had something to... fight against... you wouldn't... fight each other. Peace... peace only... brings infighting." Legend smiled. He smiled softly at the sky above, dazed, slowly dulling eyes shifting from them to the sky. "Don't do it again."
Wind sobbed, his legs buckling. Hyrule dove forward, trying to heal Legend. He felt arms wrap around his shoulders, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to see whose they were.
"No! No, Vet— Don't—"
"You did all that to make us stop fighting?" Warriors breathed, sounding horrified. His voice came from right behind Wind’s head.
"No..." Twilight took a step back.
Legend grinned at them, blood in his teeth and a clear happiness in dimming eyes. "It worked... no more hidin' in the forge... or the apiary... n'more tearin' the rancher or sailor down... n'more fightin'... s'all I wan'ed. All I... wanted. Rule, it won' work. Fi don' heal easy."
"No!" Hyrule cried. "A potion! Please— Vet you can't just... You can't!"
"Mmm... tol' me that... 'hen I fough' Ganon... an' won. I'll do i' if I wan'."
Wind watched Legend fade, eyes settling distantly on the stars above, had it not been for seeing the light leave his eyes, Wind could’ve believed that Legend had just been stargazing.
Legend knew what he was doing when he sat by the window, when he realized what had to be done in order for them to... to come back to themselves.
In order for him to not have to keep an alert and a watch spell on the kitchen at all times, to have one on the forge itself. He knew what had to be done to stop his brothers from pushing each other to their limits.
He had to get them to rally against something. But nothing powerful enough would come anytime soon for them to face...
He glanced back at Wind and Twilight and their sleeping forms. He glanced back outside before he moved inside, grabbed his pouches and hat and sword from his bedside and then dropped out the window.
He didn't regret his decision even as he set a mostly evacuated town ablaze, curbing the flames from truly destroying everything or killing anyone, but doing plenty harm and damage.
He didn't regret his decision when he saw them fight his ever-growing army of golems and armos, watching each other's backs and protecting each other.
He didn't regret his decision when they sat around a campfire while trying to track down the cause of the situation (him), yet had laughed and teased. Though they grew somber at his absence, they were themselves.
Hyrule wasn't eyeing the rooftop.
Four wasn't giving a longing gaze at the forge fires.
Wild wasn't staring at the knife he used to prepare dinner before continuing cooking.
Warriors wasn't twitching his hand toward his sword whenever Sky spoke to him.
Time wasn't constantly degrading Twilight and Wind.
Sky wasn't always ready to fight one of them to the death.
Wind wasn't asking why they even bothered to live anymore.
They were themselves, a bit older, a bit more hurt and strained, but they were themselves for the first time in almost three years.
Legend didn't regret his decision even as he faced them at the top of some ancient tower, temple, that he'd taken over.
He didn't regret his decision as he fought them all off.
He especially didn't regret it as Sky buried Fi's blade through his chest.
He looked over them, how Sky’s eyes filled with tears, how Twilight pulled Wild to his chest and the slightly younger hero broke into sobs in his mentor’s hold, how Warriors pulled Wind slightly back from where he’d crumbled to the ground and buried his own face in his hair.
He regretted the pain he put them in, he knew that.
He did not regret the wake-up call this would hopefully be. He would sacrifice his life a thousand times over, his integrity, his reputation, everything.
He would give it all just to help them, for the chance, that they would at least try to be themselves.
#linked universe#linkeduniverse#lu legend#legend lu#fanfic#lu hyrule#lu wild#lu warriors#lu four#lu sky#lu time#lu wind#lu twilight#implied suicide ideation#major character death
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'anla - part eight (finale)
Series Masterlist
Summary: Y/n and Ao'nung's future is revealed as Pandora is thrown into war.
Pairing: Ao'nung/Fem!Na'vi!Sully Reader
Warnings: Fluff, romance, mentions of mating, implied sexual content, injury, mentions of birth, mentions of death, etc. (I'd considered NSFW but for only, like, three or four paragraphs)
posted on ao3
Word Count: 6k+
Tag: #'anla ao'nung fic
Na'vi Words: Iknimaya - Rite of Passage, tsurak - skimwing, Sänrr Rong - Glow Tunnel, marui - house/pod, nga yawne lu oer - I love you, kuru/tswin - queue braid, tsaheylu - the bond, ilu - plesiosaur like animal, ma muntxate - my mate/spouse/wife, olo'eyktan - clan leader, tsahik - spiritual leader, sa'sem - parents, ikran - mountain banshee, pa'li - horse like animal, olo'eykte - female clan leader, ma'txe'lan - my heart, tulkun - whale like animal
Taglist (bold indicates "could not tag"): @bangtanxberm @aonungmyaddiction @lv9su @aisselasstuff @yourusername1 @amortencjja @king-julian6201 @gg-trini @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @mikeyswifie @heart-an0n @iloveavatar @urdads-gf @kentfisherswifee6 @sakurayuki8655-blog @ken-zah @nilrilie @g-l-1-t-c-h-3-r @iovemoonyy @sopluto @frvv
A/N: As my first attempt at writing for Avatar comes to a close, I want to thank everyone on ao3 and tumblr for the breathtaking support for this series! I could not have continued without your love for this fic and it only makes me want to write more for this fandom and for you!
THREE YEARS LATER...
The war against the Sky People ended up spreading across all of Pandora. More clans got involved and the Na'vi grew in numbers, rallying to the call of Toruk Makto. Jake was a soldier by heart, and he knew, deep in his gut, that this war would be his last, win or lose, and hopefully, it would be the last defense against the Sky People once and for all. He was determined to make this world clean, free of war, and with a future far brighter for his remaining children. Although, they weren't considered children anymore.
Jake Sully, as a soldier, knew that wars could drag on for years, and his own war was no exception. In order to secure a future for his children, he had to sacrifice watching said children grow up right out from under his nose.
Y/n and Lo'ak were quick to grow up. Blink and you would have missed it. After Neteyam was killed, they assumed the role of older siblings and didn't hesitate to take charge and take responsibility in the upcoming battles. Jake found it difficult to accept them as warriors and send them off to fight so soon after Neteyam, but he didn't have much of a choice. He needed every able-body out there, and by Na'vi law, his oldest daughter and son were fully grown and of the People.
It didn't help that Ao'nung and Tsireya were now in the picture and the Sully family now extended to them. Jake nearly felt blindsided that the very children he had known since birth fell in love with the son and daughter of the Metkayina clan leaders. After discovering Ao'nung and Y/n's courtship, Jake helplessly watched as Lo'ak quickly completed his Iknimaya and began to court Tsireya as well. Jake was relieved to see that both Ao'nung and Y/n waited on becoming mates, but they had waited for a different reason entirely. If it weren't for the war, they would have done so much sooner.
The Sky People didn't wait as long to retaliate against the Na'vi like they did last time. The humans fought back without giving the Metkayina much room to breathe, so in favor of fighting back, everything was put on hold, including Y/n's courtship with Ao'nung. Toruk Makto had hoped that they would wait until the end of the war, but as he said before, wars sometimes last years, and even Jake knew that war sometimes brought people closer together just as often as it drove them apart. The clans scattered around Pandora were no exception.
Other Na'vi clans, even the more violent ones, were starting to answer Jake's call to war, agreeing to many peace treaties in exchange for eradicating the Sky People once and for all. While Jake was elsewhere, rallying other clans at his disposal, the Metkayina had a brief window of peace while waiting for reinforcements, and many took advantage of this time to be with their loved ones before war forced them apart once more.
Ao'nung and Y/n were among those who took advantage of this. Slipping away and into the night, they grab their tsurak and take off. Ao'nung brings her to Sänrr Rong with the promise of surprising his love. The Glow Tunnel greets her favorite guests with the same beautiful, bioluminescent archway... but there was a new sight that Y/n had never seen before. Her mouth opened in a silent gasp at the sight of a small raft with a marui built on top, floating beneath the arch, rocking steadily along the small waves caused by their approach. It was simple but elegant, the mouth of the pod leading out to a small, wooden lookout. To avoid floating away, the top of the marui was tied up against the wall of the tunnel.
Ao'nung watched Y/n's reaction with a proud grin, "I made it myself."
"It is beautiful," she whispered breathlessly, "Thoughtful."
The tsurak swam up to the marui and waited until their riders had pushed themselves up onto the platform before swimming away. Ao'nung and Y/n both stood on the floating platform, craning their necks to look up at the very top of the archway, marveling at the ceiling of glowing algae all around them. They could have stayed that way for hours, Ao'nung standing behind Y/n, arms wrapped steadily around her as they continued to enjoy their small little haven, no war at the moment to speak of, just them and their Sänrr Rong.
"Ao'nung."
"Hm?"
"I am done waiting."
He tilted his head back down to the young woman in his arms, her siren eyes already waiting for him there. She didn't miss the small glimmer of hope in his eyes that he forced himself to stomp down as he gently moved her until she fully faced him, his hands now resting on either side of her head. He made her look directly at him, but she wouldn't have fought it. She would gladly look at him forever if she had a choice. His eyes flicked over her gaze, trying to spot any sign of doubt or hesitancy,
"Are you sure?"
"Yes," she answered without wasting a moment between breaths, leaning into his hands, "I want you to be mine and I want to be yours. For life."
His smile is unlike any other, so bright and joyful as if she had just given him the world. He leaned down to kiss her cheek, whispering into her skin, "I have always been yours... even when I didn't know it."
"I know," a faint smile etched into her lips, leaning into his kiss, "But I'm done holding back for the sake of war and our families. We've been courting for years now. Please don't make me wait any longer."
"I wouldn't dream of it," he chuckles under his breath, guiding the both of them to kneel across from each other on the wooden platform. Keeping his hands on her face, he quickly lands a soft kiss on her lips, "Nga yawne lu oer."
"I love you, too," she whispered, heart hammering in her chest like it never had before.
"Say the word, Forest Girl, and I'm yours."
"Please."
She whimpered quietly when he leaned away but the excitement took over when he had reached back to pull his kuru braid from over his shoulder. Y/n did so as well, reaching out for him with her free hand. She let out a breathy laugh when Ao'nung took it a step further and used his free arm to lift her up into his lap, pulling her flush against him as if they were already one soul. But it wasn't enough. Y/n squirmed at the thought of being even closer, more than they'd ever been before. With their queues in hand, they both held their breath as the tswin slowly began to entangle with each other, and the reactions they made when the tendrils completely tied together were instantaneous.
Y/n tilted her head up as the air left her lungs, overcome by this new feeling, able to sense Ao'nung everywhere in her mind and body. His torso, pressed tightly against hers, expanded harshly when he breathed out, and through their bond, Y/n was able to feel his arousal when his nose detected her scent. She instinctively clung to him at the thought, her excitement spreading out through their new bond as she wrapped both of her arms around his neck. Ao'nung's hands slide up her whole spine, driving her to arch her back, goosebumps prickling her skin under his touch like electricity. When she finally leaned down to kiss him, the electricity came together in sparks.
Before she knew it, Y/n was on her back, Ao'nung's weight pressed comfortably between her legs. Comforting and enticing. That is what she felt with his weight on hers, pressing her down against the wooden platform of the floating raft, all her senses filled with Ao'nung and nothing but him. It made her feel complete, whole again for the first time in her entire life. It was both overwhelming and not enough, and Ao'nung could feel that through their shared bond. He fitted himself over her, letting her wrap both of her arms and legs around him until there wasn't even room for air between their bodies. Pleasure began to spike through her when Ao'nung began to touch her, her womb warm with love and anticipation, tightening like a spring as their conjoined bodies began to rock in motion with the waves beneath their raft.
She wasn't sure when she had closed her eyes, but upon opening them again, she could see why Ao'nung hadn't brought her inside the marui for this. On her back, as they made love, she was able to watch the glowing algae twinkle down at her from the ceiling of the archway with awe. That, along with the pleasure Ao'nung brought her, his head buried in her neck, muffling his moans, Y/n felt as though she was floating over clouds, ascending into the equivalent of heaven. Wave after wave of pleasure, coming and receding, edging her to several gently, toe-curling climaxes.
It may not have been before Eywa or any Spirit Tree most couples would become one under, but here-- in the place they truly fell in love and spent a great deal of time together, it just made sense. This was their place after all. When Ao'nung finally met her in ecstasy, finishing inside her, it was both dizzying and perfect all at once. Hearing her name fall from his lips as they both peaked, Y/n was nearly brought to tears with the amount of love she had for this man. She was excited to spend the rest of her life with him.
They continued to lay there in the afterglow, still connected through the bond, too exhausted to move or have Ao'nung pull out. Y/n knew she wouldn't be able to take his weight forever, but as of right now, she was comfy, and the pleasant sounds he made in her neck when her fingers combed through his hair were just as enticing as tsaheylu.
"I wish we had done this sooner." She sighed, mourning all the time they could have been truly together without a care in the world.
"I'm not," Ao'nung plants a kiss on a sensitive part in the juncture of her neck, forming goosebumps wherever he touched her, "It may not have been as perfect as it is now if we had mated sooner."
"That is true," her arms tighten around his back, "It was worth the wait."
He brings his head up to hover over hers, her heart stuttering in her chest when her eyes meet his. Ao'nung smiled similarly to when they were younger and just starting to become friends. He smiled like when he first approached her on ilu, inviting her to see Sänrr Rong for the first time. He looked so young again. It wasn't as though a lot of time had passed and they were old, no, but war ages people far more than time could. As children of war, Ao'nung and Y/n were no exception. They had a few scars here and there, and as time and war dragged on, they were given more warrior tattoos to signify their valiant deeds, both along their faces and bodies. They were all grown up, old enough to notice the difference between now and when they first met on that beach several years ago.
Ao'nung leaned down again, placing several kisses all along her face, "Ma muntxate. Ma Y/n."
He whispered those words like confessions-- like he was testing them out on his tongue for the first time and he liked how they sounded. Her eyelashes fluttered while she basked in his attention, equally delighted by her new name as he continued to bathe her in kisses and confessions, "I cannot wait to spend our futures together."
She hums thoughtfully, her mind reverting to realistic goals and expectations, "I suppose we should discuss plans for our future. In case we survive the war."
"When we survive, Forest Girl. When."
"Alright. When we survive," her fingers trace one of his face tattoos, staring down at his lips, "Tell me what you want."
"I think I would like to build a different marui for us, and I want to stay there even when I am olo'eyktan."
"Hm." This request surprised her, "Your father's home is not to your liking?"
"It's in the center of the village. I never liked it there," he hid his face back in her neck, grumbling to himself, "I like it a lot less now at the idea of having to share you with the whole clan."
She snorts quietly, "No need for that. The clan would be better off having your sister as their tsahik than me."
"If that is what you want."
"It is."
"Alright, but I still want a separate marui. My sister can have our sa'sem's when she is tsahik. I know she wants a large family, so it's perfect for her future."
"And what about us? What kind of family do we want?"
Ao'nung hums in thought, "I chose what we should do for our home. You can choose what kind of family shall live in it."
Y/n taps her chin while staring up at the ceiling of the glowing archway, "I don't want a big family. Just one or two babies."
"Could I convince you for three?" He playfully nipped her neck, grinning to himself when a laugh was forced out of her lungs.
Her laugh reverted to soft hums while her hands resumed running through his hair, "Three. And no more than that."
~~~~~~~~~
Once they returned to the village the following afternoon, they were shocked to learn that Lo'ak and Tsireya had wasted no time in mating as well. The entire clan was overjoyed to learn that Tonowari and Ronal's two oldest children had found happiness during this small window of calm before the storm. Neytiri cried out of joy for her children while Kiri and Spider gave their siblings shit-eating grins when they noticed a few teeth marks on the two new couples. Tuk and Kailani just gagged at how sappy their older siblings looked.
When Jake returned to the Metkayina with an army, he found out his eldest daughter and son had found mates. It was like someone had completely tilted Pandora's axis right underneath his feet. Before Toruk Makto could even get used to the idea, he now had a son and a daughter-in-law. The Sullys' bond with the Metkayina had never been stronger.
While Y/n and Lo'ak had found partners, Kiri was focused on becoming the best healer, and Spider was more determined to make himself an active member of the family every day, never again accepting himself as just a stray cat. As for Tuk, the baby of the family, Jake and Neytiri's youngest... well, she had only just begun to start hunting both on land and at sea. And before Jake could manage to wrap his head around that, the Sky People quickly returned, so he didn't have time to think. Instead, he acted, refusing to run again in the hopes of saving his family. This time, his family stood its ground and fought right alongside him.
Like before, the Na'vi still managed to draw the Sky People back to Bridgehead by just the skin of their teeth, and there was a brief window for the respective clans to grieve for their loss and take their small window of peace before the next war made itself known. Everyone knew that the biggest threat was yet to come, and they would need to recruit more Na'vi. Jake wasn't going to take any chances this time, not when he had more to lose.
Not only were his children growing up and marrying off, but they had begun to start families of their own. After the most recent battle, Y/n had found out she was expecting. The Metkayina took this small moment of peace to celebrate the tsahik's and olo'eyktan's first grandchild, overjoyed by Eywa's gift for their recent victory against the Sky People. Neytiri laughed even as she was holding Jake back from trying to kill Ao'nung, joyful tears in her eyes at the realization that her first baby girl was going to have a baby of her own soon. While Jake entrusted both Spider and Lo'ak to give Ao'nung a stern talking to, he took a moment to let the news sink in, still surprised that he was going to be a grandfather.
Even with a baby on the way, Y/n wasn't deterred from fighting. There was still a fire in her eyes that would only grow larger as time went on. Y/n had a reason to fight the Sky People. At first, it was to avenge her twin brother, knowing that Quaritch and Wainfleet were still out there after Spider confessed to saving his biological father. The monsters responsible for Neteyam's death were still alive, and Y/n wanted to fix that. And now, the idea of a child on the way only drove her further to fight, wanting to win this war quickly so that her baby had a future. While Jake wanted to order his daughter to stand down, now more than ever, Neytiri convinced him not to. Both she and Ronal are living proof that it is not hard for pregnant Na'vi to fight and Jake had to remember that Y/n wasn't human and it wouldn't be much of a struggle. Jake only gave in when he saw that same fire in his daughter ignite in his wife's matching eyes. Neytiri was just as determined to fight, if not more. Her husband could see, even with Neteyam gone, that she now had more things worth fighting for.
Even while pregnant, Y/n was still one of the best warriors Jake had on his side. She was still one of the best flyers and best archers, just like her mother. While she wasn't stupid enough to do up close combat in her condition, Y/n still fought her battles from afar, astride her faithful ikran, Evi, and a bow in hand. She flew over every battlefield, whether on land or by sea, her watchful eyes always pinpointing her loved ones out among all the fighting. Y/n tended to fly close to wherever Payakan might be, knowing that Lo'ak would never leave his Spirit Brother vulnerable during the fight. Y/n made sure to always have her little brother's back so that he may protect Payakan, shooting down any sky demon who dared to try killing Lo'ak whenever his back was turned.
Sometimes, depending on where they were on the battlefield, Spider would fly with his sister over the years as the war dragged on. He was a skilled archer as well, and so he often flew with Y/n to scope out dangers from above, since he wasn't entirely capable of fighting for the Na'vi without his own pa'li or tsurak. And if Spider wasn't flying with Y/n, he was flying with Kiri, keeping his best friend safe when she wasn't much of a fighter. Jake was always at peace knowing Kiri would be safe as long as Spider was with her.
Wars came and went, and victories and losses on both sides happened, but Jake believed he got the best victory of all when he got to hold his granddaughter for the first time. Y/n and Ao'nung named her Sìla immediately after she was born instead of waiting to announce it to the rest of the village. They didn't have much of a choice, as the village had been compromised after the latest battle, and unfortunately, everyone needed to evacuate. But after they had all made it to safety, Jake had the honor of being the first to hold Sìla in his arms with the exception of her parents. She was Metkayina, through and through, but even newly born, Jake could see hints of eyebrow hair and an extra finger on each hand, hidden by the infant's clenched fists, physical traits that she no doubt inherited from her mother and her grandfather. Despite forgoing tradition, the clans rejoiced at the first signs of new life in the midst of war.
But Sìla would be the only one born into war. Not long after her birth, her parents and all the other Na'vi managed to eradicate the rest of the Sky People before they could fly back to Earth or call for reinforcements. Again, Jake wasn't taking any chances. With his granddaughter now born, he was just as determined to ensure that the Sky People never returned... for good this time.
With peace finally reaching all corners of Pandora, the Sully family continued to grow. Lo'ak and Tsireya were now expecting a child, and Tuk was now old enough to choose a mate if she so wished. Neither Kiri nor Spider appeared interested in growing families of their own, but Jake was fine with that if that meant he could still have some of his own children to himself. Sìla had only just started to swim and walk on her own when Ao'nung and Y/n announced they were expecting again, and the celebration outweighed the upcoming sadness. Tonowari was heavily wounded in the final battle against the Sky People and was slowly succumbing to his injuries. He had let go and joined Eywa in his sleep after he was told more grandchildren were on the way. Knowing he was at peace, the Metkayina celebrated his life instead of grieving over him, thankful for the legacy he left behind.
Ao'nung was olo'eyktan now, but Y/n had agreed with Ronal that even as his mate, she wouldn't become tsahik. Y/n never wanted that role, even when it was hers for the taking as a child of the Omatikaya. She was not a healer. She was a fighter, so Tsireya would assume that role once Ronal was ready to step down or if she passed away, and Y/n would be known as the clan's olo'eykte. No one questioned the decision, but they were happy for the family's strength in position and legacy, nevertheless.
Speaking of the Omatikaya, Kiri returned to her family's clan after the war and took the role of tsahik at the behest of her dying grandmother. Mo'at was a force to be reckoned with, even in death, so no one questioned her succession, not even Tarsem. Neytiri, Tuk, and Spider also flew back to the Forest with Kiri and stayed until Mo'at had passed. They told her all of their stories as she closed her eyes, smiling as if she were sleeping. She had outlived so many loved ones. She outlived a daughter, a mate, a grandson, and many other friends and family. She had lived long enough to become a great-grandmother, and so when she passed away in her daughter's arms, Neytiri did not cry. Instead, she was incredibly grateful that someone in her life finally managed to live until old age.
When Kiri assumed the role of tsahik, Neytiri decided to stay. She had been separated from her clan for far too long, and she belonged in the forest. She was finally ready to come home. Spider also stayed with the Omatikaya and actually became a teacher for the children of the Na'vi. Grace Augustine's legacy lived on not only through her daughter but through Norm, Max, and all remaining humans who lived on Pandora. Above all, her legacy lived on through a boy who didn't even know her but grew up wanting to teach the Na'vi all that he learned living in two different worlds, worlds that Grace had wanted to share with the children when she was alive.
Tuk decided not to stay with the Omatikaya but didn't travel back to Awa'atlu alone. With the war now over, plenty of clans wished to mix and mingle with one another. So when Tuk returned to the Metkayina, she brought back not only her childhood friend Popiti but at least a dozen Omatikaya warriors who wished to learn the ways of their reef brothers and sisters.
Ao'nung and Tsireya -Ronal had stepped down from tsahik while Tuk was away- gladly welcomed the Omatikaya and Jake watched as Lo'ak and Y/n reunited with old friends and new faces from their mother's village. Even though he wanted to catch up with the warriors from his clan, he didn't want to wait any longer himself. Toruk Makto was anxious to join his wife, daughter, and son back in the Forest, but he wanted to stay long enough to ensure the children who would remain with the Metkayina would be in good hands. Even if they were no longer children, he couldn't help it. He was still their father and even though not all children stay close to their parents, he still wanted to be sure they were loved and cared for before he had to leave them.
Jake found it difficult to regret missing out on so much of his children's lives because of the war, knowing that he would do it all over again if it meant they would get the chance to have a future. He was content knowing that he fought a war so his children would never have to in the future. Instead, they'll get to live their lives and raise their children without the fear of leaving them behind to fight, or worse, lose a child to war as Jake and Neytiri did.
Neteyam was on his father's mind now more than ever, especially as Jake held his first grandson in his arms. He had waited to leave Awa'atlu until after Y/n had given birth again, now honored to meet the first boy in the family's next generation. So far, Lo'ak and Y/n's respective families have only had two girls between them, so the village rejoiced at the birth of the olo'eyktan's first son. Y/n named the baby boy Nokteyam and the meaning behind that name wasn't lost on anyone, especially not on Jake. Tears welled up in his eyes while staring down at Nokteyam, sleeping peacefully in his grandfather's arms. He didn't have a single physical human trait and strangely, he didn't inherit any Metkayina features either. Nokteyam looked exactly like a forest child with all the correct Na'vi fingers, toes, and tail. It only made Jake's heart clench even tighter when he realized Nokteyam looked like his own firstborn son.
When Jake had asked, Y/n firmly stated that she would not be calling her son 'Teyam as a nickname. She claimed she wanted to honor her dead brother's name, not haunt her son by it. No, Y/n named her son Nokteyam but called him Nok for short, so that he'd grow up with his own identity and not the ghost of his uncle's, a young man whom he never had the pleasure of meeting.
Sìla wasn't happy at the idea of being a big sister, mainly because she was barely old enough to grasp the idea of it. But throughout the first week of Nok being in this world, she grew to love her little brother and positively beamed whenever someone told her she was the best big sister. Once Y/n and Ao'nung had settled into the life of parenting a toddler and a newborn, Jake flew back to the Forest, his heart heavy to leave three of his children behind, but was also excited to reunite with his wife and his two adoptive children, along with the Omatikaya.
The Sullys have been divided, but that didn't mean they weren't sticking together. Lo'ak, Y/n, and Tuk were closer than ever, living among the Metkayina, while Jake, Neytiri, Kiri, and Spider worked together to oversee the future of the Omatikaya. Not one Sully was left alone, and that gave Jake some comfort. They all kept in touch and often flew to each other's villages when given the chance. During one of these visits, Y/n told her parents that she was pregnant again, but when she eventually gave birth, neither Jake nor Neytiri was with her this time, oceans away and unaware that they were grandparents again.
Instead of having the three children they agreed upon, Y/n and Ao'nung end up having four, because the third child turned out to be twins. Having twins was inevitable as it had never skipped a generation. First, it was Jake and Tommy, then Neteyam and Y/n... now it was Tawnu and Nangi, both boys and both sporting a healthy mixture of human, forest, and reef features.
Despite having more children than she initially wanted, Y/n could not be happier. However, she was slightly terrified of the idea of having the same amount of children her parents did before losing Neteyam and adopting Spider. What if she made the same mistakes her sa'sem did? This is what she was trying to avoid when she first told Ao'nung she only wanted two babies, worried that she might accidentally favor one child over another, or worse put too much burden and responsibility on one of their shoulders. Ao'nung wasn't worried, however, vocally adamant that his wife was strong and she always learned from her mother and father's mistakes. She was already the best mother in the world just by worrying she'd mess up. The Na'vi only ever want what's best for their children, and Y/n and Ao'nung were no exceptions.
From the beginning, they had both agreed to expose the children to forest and reef life, both mother and father teaching the next generation what they had been taught in their separate, respective clans. While Ao'nung worried about teaching the children to swim from infancy, Y/n made sure her children knew what it felt like to fly.
It was one of her favorite activities to spend time with her children. Only risking to take them one at a time, Y/n would strap one baby to her chest and take her ikran out for a long flight around the island. She did this with all of her children, but never all at once.
Ao'nung also loved when Y/n took one of their children to the skies, but not for the same reason. He enjoyed spending quality time with the remaining three children while his wife was away with the fourth. Like his father before him, Ao'nung was a great and mighty leader, often intimidating by size alone. But to his children, he spoke soft and gently, never raising his voice unless it was to be heard.
The olo'eyktan found himself sitting on the beach, his legs stretched out in the sand with Nangi sitting between them. The baby, only old enough to sit up and nothing else, was playing, in awe of the sand and shells his father provided for him to inspect. Meanwhile, Ao'nung was keeping a watchful eye on Sìla and Nok as they chased one another into the water, never going any deeper than above their waists. Their laughs and squeals of joy can be heard echoing in the winds as they travel through Awa'atlu. Despite the high pitch, it was a peaceful sound and one of Ao'nung's favorites that he liked to replay in his head. He tried to retain as many good memories as possible, still occasionally caught up in the bad ones. While he loved his children always asking him questions, it was always hard to answer why he had a large, wide scar on his right leg.
It was hard enough that Ao'nung barely remembered what happened himself. It happened early on in the war against the Sky People. Lo'ak, younger at the time, told Ao'nung when he woke up from the battle that a sky demon had emptied an assault rifle into his leg. Ao'nung had lost a lot of blood, and at the time, there were Ronal, Kiri, and Mo'at all hard at work, trying to keep him alive and save his leg. Ao'nung couldn't remember the pain or the event leading up to getting injured, but he remembered being in and out of consciousness throughout the whole ordeal, and the faint memory of Y/n screaming and crying his name still haunts him to this day. Y/n, who was heavily pregnant with Sìla at the time, was bargaining with Eywa, pleading for the Great Mother to spare the father of her unborn child and how she didn't deserve to lose anyone else she loved. Whether it was the tag team of tsahiks or Y/n's prayers, Ao'nung had miraculously survived, and he had fully healed just in time to be there for his mate when she went into labor.
Ao'nung tries to remember the birth of his first and only daughter over the memory of his injury, and sometimes he prefers telling Sìla the story of her birth over the time he nearly died. He doesn't mind the scars, but the memories behind them are terrifying. His children make them better -they make everything better- by admiring the scars and talking about how brave their father is. They like the scars. Like the songcord, scars tell the children of Na'vi a story, and it makes Ao'nung filled with pride.
His thoughts are interrupted by the familiar screech of an ikran. Looking up with a smile, he sees Evi, the light blue banshee with gold lightning running up her figure, flying up ahead. Life is a little funny and ironic as Ao'nung fondly thinks. 'Funny that the first time he ever met Evi, she was nearly ready to eat him, and ironic how her rider would someday become his mate. Whenever he told that story to his children, they had yet to believe him.
The chief of the Metkayina doesn't get up from the sand and watches the ikran circle him before promptly landing on the sand a couple of yards away. Only then when the banshee landed did Sìla and Nok notice the beast as well and squealed with excitement, running over to Evi like she was a long-lost family pet. Ao'nung fondly smiled as he watched the ikran rider dismount and cling tightly to the bundle strapped against her chest. Y/n now stood as tall as her mother used to be, still sporting the braided hair and beads, but now wore clothing more appropriate for a leading member of the Metkayina. Like Ao'nung, she was nearly covered in tattoos, other than her chin where the tsahik symbol would've been if she hadn't let Tsireya take on the role. Otherwise, most of Y/n's tattoos symbolized a warrior and a high-standing figure among the villagers; as their olo'eykte. Ao'nung still felt pride whenever he saw the akula tooth carved to look like an arrowhead, resting just above his mate's heart and now woven into her chest piece.
Y/n had bent down to gather Sìla and Nok in her arms when they ran up to greet her but was careful not to squish the baby still sleeping at her breast. Standing up, Y/n carefully adjusted Tawnu to rest comfortably against her collar before she grabbed Sìla and Nok's hands, walking with them along the beach, heading in the direction of the olo'eyktan and Little Nangi.
When they were close enough, Ao'nung called out, "Did Evi get to stretch her wings?"
Y/n smiles with a shrug, "Enough to last the old girl another week before she insists I take her again."
The Na'vi woman sits down beside Ao'nung in the sand, leaning heavily against his side, knowing that he'd gladly take her weight, his arm sliding around her waist to hold her close. Ao'nung paid no attention to Y/n's tail loosely wrapping around his own waist and instead busied himself with trading twins, setting Nangi down on Y/n's lap before helping Y/n with taking Tawnu out of his sling. Ao'nung lets Tawnu continue sleeping in the crook of his other arm while Y/n gathers Nangi in hers, cooing to the baby boy and making him laugh when she riddled his little chubby face with kisses.
Once the parents were settled, Sìla took this opportunity of happiness to plead with big, blue eyes and a pouty lip, wrapping her little arms around Y/n's, "Can I go again, Mama?"
Evi squawks in the background, likely offended that she's now the family's show pony in her old age, while Y/n smiles sweetly and leans her forehead into her daughter's, "You have to wait your turn, ma'txe'lan. It will be Nangi's turn next time, then I promise I will take you."
Sìla whined but otherwise didn't complain, distracted by Nok when he pinched her and ran off. The chief's daughter runs after him, vowing for revenge in their own twisted game of tag while their parents watch on in adoration.
Ao'nung briefly looks up to the sky, "The winds are getting warmer. The tulkun should be returning soon."
"Hm," Y/n replies while looking down at Nangi. Apparently, he had followed in his twin's footsteps and fell asleep, "I'm sure they will be very happy to meet the twins for the first time."
"I will be very happy to introduce them to my Spirit Brother," Ao'nung turns his head to his wife, "When do you think Sìla can meet your brother?"
Y/n's resulting smile was soft and kind, but Ao'nung knew better than anyone the level of sadness behind it. Even as she had aged and small wrinkles had started to form around her lips, she still looked like the young girl who had lost her other half as if it was only yesterday. She looks off over the waves and out into the vast ocean, thinking back to all the times she had visited the Spirit Tree over the years. As promised, she only visited Neteyam on special occasions. She visited when each of their siblings finished their Iknimaya or when Lo'ak and Tsireya were officially betrothed, when the Na'vi had won the war, and when Y/n found out each time she was pregnant. She had started to visit less and less, far too busy as a wife and a mother, just as Neteyam had hoped for, but she'll still go to see him when her children go through big and meaningful milestones, always excited to share them with her twin brother.
The children have yet to learn about Neteyam, their parents believing they are still far too young. Nok knows his name stems from someone important to his mama, but that is the extent of his knowledge. Soon, however, Sìla will be old enough to knowingly connect to the Spirit Tree all by herself, unlike her first communion with Eywa. When that time comes, Ao'nung and Y/n will sit her down and tell her the story of her Uncle Neteyam.
It will break Y/n's heart when Sìla asks if they meant Uncle Lo'ak or Spider, but Y/n will correct her daughter and tell her that she actually has a third uncle. Both her mother and father will tell Sìla stories of a young boy she had never met, a boy who never got to grow up alongside his friends and siblings... A boy who loved his family deeply and would have loved Sìla and her brothers even more, he would've hung the world for them if he were still alive.
Y/n's heart will always ache to know that Neteyam was robbed of being someone's husband and father, whoever those poor souls might have been. Her heart ached to know he would never get to be olo'eyktan of the Omatikaya or meet each and every one of his nieces and nephews until they were all old enough to go to him themselves. However, her heart has been healing for some time instead of breaking, and like Neteyam said she would, Y/n has managed to balance her sadness with her happiness, missing her brother just as much as she loved her mate and her kids.
She leans further into Ao'nung's shoulder, watching two of her children play in the water while the remaining two slept safely in their parents' arms, "Soon."
Her husband hums quietly, turning his head until it's half buried in her hair, whispering his response in a kiss he placed on the top of her head, "Nga yawne lu oer, Forest Girl."
"Nga yawne lu oer, Seaweed Brain."
Sìla: derived from "hope"
Nokteyam: Nok (a man's name in Na'vi) and Neteyam "not the end"
Tawnu: derived from "sky"
Nangi: derived from "surprise"
Even though I'm finishing up this series, I think I still want to write about it. I plan on writing about missing scenes that weren't initially written in the series, like Ao'nung's injury and in-depth reactions to Y/n's pregnancies. So stay tuned for that! If you have a request for me to write about a certain topic for this series, please don't be afraid to ask! (I'm also not opposed to writing 'what-if' scenarios like "what if Neteyam survived and watched his twin sister's family grow?")
Thanks again everyone!
#'anla ao'nung fic#aonung imagine#aonung x you#aonung x reader#aonung#aonung fluff#aonung fanfiction#aonung fic#atwow ao'nung#ao'nung imagine#ao'nung x you#ao'nung#ao'nung x reader#ao'nung fluff#ao'nung smut#ao'nung fic#ao'nung fanfiction#avatar 2#avatar the way of water#atwow#avatar 2009#avatar#avatar imagine#atwow fic#atwow imagine
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