Febuwhump day 12 - “can you hear me?”
Kaleidoscope is Link from four swords, and Light is the Link from four swords adventures (with manga influence). They both used the four sword, but the aftereffects were (and are) a bit different for the both of them, and sometimes act up a little.
Courage of ages explanation
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“Kal?”
Kaleidoscope didn’t reply, merely continuing to hold his head between his knees. Or watched himself hold his head between his knees? Was he— who was having trouble...? was he even the one having a meltdown? Which color was it?
He groaned and squeezed his eyes shut. It didn’t help.
He’d felt fine only a bit ago, traveling with the others through woods in someone’s time. He wasn’t even sure what had set it off; one minute he’d been fine and then the next his eyes were trying to focus through four pairs instead of one, sending his head spinning.
He’d managed to shake it off enough to get to where they had planned to take a lunch break, but the walk there was awful, feet tripping as they tried to account for six more, almost crashing into trees when his brain thought he was walking next to himself.
Kaleidoscope had slipped away the moment they stopped to try and pull himself together, but the effects had only gotten worse.
And were continuing to do so.
Someone’s footsteps sounded next to him (his own? Was it Green, or maybe Blue’s? Violet’s?) and someone sat next to him on the log, presumably whoever it was who’d spoken a minute ago.
“Kal? Link, hey can you hear me?”
That wasn’t his voice, it must be someone else. It was... Light. That was Light. It wasn’t Link— Kal, no, Green, he was—
What color was he again?
He let out a little whimper, and he heard Light lean closer.
“Kal, are you okay? Should I get Hibiscus?”
He wasn’t sure. He couldn’t tell where all the parts of him were, he swore Green had been right next to him because he was Violet but— no, he wasn’t Violet, Red had tripped earlier, but— Blue, he was Blue and he thought he should— or was— where—
He breathed in a short breath.
“...T-touch?” he whispered.
He heard Light shift from next to him.
“Touch? What do you...” Light shuffled around a bit, then cautiously put his hand on Kaleidoscope’s shoulder. “...Like this? Is this what you need?“
He hated asking, but he knew he needed it to slot back together and his head was spinning it was already helping he didn’t want it at all—
He made a small affirmative noise, and after a moment or two, felt arms carefully wrap around him. Light’s grip felt a little awkward, but Red—Kaleidoscope leaned into it, his shoulders slowly lowering as the tension leaked out of them. Something about the weight of someone else’s touch helped ground him, and his mind and body began to unscramble themselves.
That’s right, he— he wasn’t one color, he was all his colors. He wasn’t split, he was one person, shattered then glued back together. One body. One Link.
Right?
His shoulders lowered a bit more, and Light’s grip shifted.
“Are you... um, okay?” he asked. Kaleidoscope gave a small nod. “What was wrong anyways?”
Kaleidoscope took a deep breath and opened his eyes, pleased when he looked out of only one set. He didn’t feel like he was viewing himself from a different angle or anything either. Seemed the effects had mostly passed.
He cleared his throat. He’d only explained this to one other person before, hopefully he could get it to make sense. Not that he really wanted to, but he owed an explanation to Light for helping him at least.
“Sometimes it... isn’t right,” he said haltingly. “Things don’t— it’s like I’m still... in four bodies. Things get... mixed.”
Light’s own colorful eyes glinted with sudden understanding.
“I know the feeling,” he said quietly, and Kaleidoscope started a bit.
“I forgot...” he murmured, looking up and meeting Light’s gaze from under the cover of his hood. “You went through this too.”
Light let out a little self-depreciating laugh. “Not as bad as you. Sure my emotions get a little scrambled sometimes, but I don’t usually get all...” He waved a hand. “...You know. It’s not the same.”
“Don’t underestimate yourself,” Kaleidoscope said softly. “I’m sure you’ve had it rough.”
Light looked at him a moment in surprised silence, then nodded, going quiet. At some point he shifted, so instead of a hug his arm was more over Kaleidoscope’s shoulder instead. But he didn’t let go of him, which Kaleidoscope hated to admit was rather nice. He was feeling less messed up by the minute.
“So why does touch help?” Light asked after a little while, startling him a bit. “I mean it feels nice, but doesn’t really do much for me.”
Kaleidoscope was silent for a minute, thinking through his answer.
“It helps ground me,” he eventually replied. He ran a hand along the edge of his cape, and sighed, feeling suddenly weary. “Reminds me I’m only in one body. Zelda figured it out shortly after I returned the Four Sword, it’s the only thing that reliably works.”
He swallowed.
“I’m... sorry for bothering you.”
“What?” Light huffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, you didn’t bother me. I saw you were acting weird and followed you cause I thought something might’ve been wrong, and I was right. I chose to come here myself, stop being stupid.”
Kaleidoscope quirked a little smile, and Light grinned in return.
“Anyway... if you feel up to going back, Slate said he was gonna actually make something for lunch, not just leftovers,” Light prompted, and Kaleidoscope hesitated. “Are you ready?”
Kaleidoscope carefully stood up, Light’s arm still around him, and focused on himself for a minute.
His eyesight was fine, and he didn’t feel like he was out of his skin or next to himself anymore. A slight headache rested behind his eyes, but that was pretty normal after his vision was off, and when he took a slow step forwards, his foot went where he wanted it to, no hesitance.
“Yes. I’m fine now,” he said in a relieved voice, and pulled his hood off so he could feel the sun on his face. He breathed deeply, and smiled a bit. “Thank you, Light.”
“No problem. You’d do the same,” the other boy assured with a grin, and began to tug him back towards where they’d left the others. “Now c’mon, I think I smell pie and I want some before Windy the bottomless pit eats it all.”
“Speak for yourself,” Kaleidoscope teased. Light’s appetite was at least as bad as Windy’s, if not worse.
Light gasped in fake offense, and the argument and defense of who ate more between him and Windy lasted all the way back to camp.
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