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oneweirdbookaddict · 18 days

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“Better terrible truths than kind lies.”

-Six if Crows, Leigh Bardugo,

Promises are made and broken. How could Time watch his friend die when it’s possible the other is safe? Which choice is the right one?

4456 words.

Warnings for torture, kidnapping, vomiting. Let me know if there should be anything else!

~~~~

He thought things couldn’t get much worse when he was kidnapped with Sky and Four.

After days of starvation, he was losing hope of being able to break out of here. And they had, if his internal clock is correct (and it always is), one more day until their captors started torturing them.

His eyes find the smith, who’s shackled to the wall of his cell, bars separating them.

Sky lays unconscious on the floor of Four’s cell, the smith finally tearing his gaze from the skyloftian as the teenager clears his throat.

Storm cloud grey eyes find his, expression deadly serious. “Time. If it comes down to it, save Sky. Not me.”

He pauses, unsure of what to say to that.

“Four, don’t-”

“Time, promise me.”

“Four-”

“No, Time, I don’t want to hear the ‘it won’t come to that,’ or ‘we’re all gonna get out of here,’ you don’t know that. Promise me- that if it comes down to it, if you have to choose, you will save Sky and let me die if you have to.”

“Four I can’t-”

“Do it!” Four snaps, eyes flashing blue. “Sky has people at home who need him- friends who need him, family, his Zelda! I’ve got no one, ok?! It doesn’t matter to anyone but you guys if I make it! Sky has people who need him! He has a future! Promise me, Time!”

The desperation and raw fear in the kid’s voice makes him pause. Slowly nod, more out of surprise than actual agreement.

“Say it.” Four demands.

“I promise.” He says weakly.

“Promise what?” Four insists, arms crossed.

“If- if it comes down to… a choice… I’ll save Sky.”

Four relaxes, slowly releasing a breath and relaxing as much as he’s able with the chains around his wrists and ankles. “Thank you.”

He feels sick. How could he do that? Promise that?

But… it won’t come to it, he reminds himself.

All of them are getting out of here. Alive.

~~~~

He’s jolted out of the restless doze he’d managed to fall into by the sound of his cell opening.

Blearily, he raises his head to the bars. One of the weird soldiers in red is staring at him, laughing cruelly when he startles and yelps in shock.

“Wakey, wakey, little one! I had the honor of picking the first victim of our torture. Unless… you want to save us the trouble and tell us where the hero is?”

He slowly licks his dry, cracked lip, spitting in the face of his captor.

Instead of being angry, the man seems excited. “That’s what I thought. Come on, little boy.”

His chains are replaced with heavy shackles that make it very hard to move- especially with the lack of food and water.

He casts a cautious glance into Time’s cell- the leader is watching wearily, making the briefest of eye contact with him.

“Save. Sky.” He mouths, and Time looks away.

Then he raises his chin and allows the soldier to lead him out of the cell, down a hall, up a staircase that nearly makes him pass out, down another long hallway, and back down some steps and through a large room and into a little hidden door and through- he loses track, which he’s sure is the point of the ridiculous route.

But eventually the soldier stops him, and he’s forced to lay on a table as he’s chained up again.

“It has been five days, boy.” Another soldier says. This one is bigger, taller, holding a much larger sword. “Your friends are not coming for you. You will save yourself much pain if you simply tell us where the hero Link is.”

He stays silent, looking into the eyes of the mask.

“We can be merciful. We can release you, feed you, tend to your friend’s wounds. Where did your friend, the hero, run to?”

“I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew.” He snaps, cursing himself for replying. But hunger and dehydration make him woozy, and he can’t trust himself.

He’s glad he’s not sure where the others went.

A soft sigh comes from the leader-seeming one.

The smaller one pulls out a wicked looking knife, long and jagged and clearly having one intended purpose.

“We’ll do this the hard way, then.”

He raises his chin as much as he can. “Bring it. Come on.”

The first slice is to his leg. Another quickly joins it.

And another.

On his calf, one above another. Four long cuts, for the four colors on his tunic, the leader says.

A break, another question, another chance for him to talk.

They move up to his arm.

Four long, thin slices that bleed heavily and quickly are dripping all over the floor.

Then the other arm. Then the other leg.

He takes it without noise, keeping his eyes locked firmly on the leader.

I’ve had worse, he hopes it comes through. There is no part of me that isn’t broken and healed, and I am stronger because of it.

“Break bones.” The leader says in a bored tone of voice.

He grits his teeth as the soldier nears him, bearing his teeth. “Let’s go, then. Break ‘em. Which one you gonna start with? I recommend the ribs. Painful and damaging.”

Sure enough, the first blow is to his side. Knocks the breath right out of him, the fight in him faltering.

Then his wrist.

He has to bite back a yell, tears streaming down his cheeks now. But he forces himself to talk- he will not break. Never.

“That all you’ve got? Clean breaks. Those will heal up fine in a month or so.”

Mistake. The leader pauses, then hands something to the soldier.

A mallet.

“Smash his hand. Shatter the bones beyond repair. Maybe he’ll be willing to talk then.”

All the fight in him evaporates.

They can take a lot from him.

His sword, his armor, his tunic, hell, his dignity. But his thing, the thing he defines himself with is his craft.

Shattering his hand will destroy that.

The leader enjoys the fear he can’t hide in his eyes.

His breaths quicken, tears pricking in his eyes again, entire body trembling against the chains.

“Last chance, little boy. You’re a craftsman, I can tell. Surely the hero isn’t losing your work over?”

He swallows defiantly, making himself look at the leader once more.

Another sigh.

A wave of the hand.

The hammer swings down, down-

“I DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY WENT!” He screams, squeezing his eyes shut.

A loud slam, the air of the hammer blowing an ironically gentle breeze on his hand.

His teeth are chattering.

The corner of the table collapses, leaving a jagged edge on the solid wood.

“I don’t know where they went. We- we were planning to get to the stable nearby. That’s all I know.” He whispers, closing his eyes again.

He’s shuddering violently, uncontrollably, even more when a gentle hand brushes his hair out of his face.

“What’s your name, little boy?”

“Four.” He whispers shakily, forcing himself to swallow.

“Well, Four. I think you’re lying to me.”

His eyes fly open.

“You kidnapped me! I’ve been here for days! How am I supposed to know where they went?! I-”

“He annoys me. Find an interesting organ and remove it.”

A knife plunges into his side, and all the air in his body is sucked right out.

In. Out. In. Out.

Slowly, the knife cuts his flesh open. Open. Doing goddess knows what to his body.

It hurts.

He’s been stabbed before, by weapons much worse than knives, but he’s never had surgery while wide awake.

He tenses as much as his body allows him to, sweat mixing with the tears running down his face, teeth biting his lip bloody.

He knows they just want to hurt him to get Time to talk. They know he doesn’t know where Wild and the others went. They know that Time does.

And one look at Time tells them the old man isn’t going to break through good old fashioned torture. But… maybe they can negotiate his torture’s end through Time’s information…

All they need him to do is scream.

Sound pained.

Act the part.

I will not, he tells himself, blood dripping down his chin from how hard he’s biting his lip to keep himself from screaming.

I won’t, he reminds himself as he sobs, thrashing as much as he’s able to- which isn’t much.

But in the end, he’s not Twi, with his strength, or Wars with his unshakable confidence, or Wind with his courage.

He’s a teenager who grew up privileged in a comfortable house where he knew little pain, went on a relatively easy adventure compared to the heros around him.

He never died or faced a god.

He thought he knew pain. How wrong he was.

The knife brushes his rib cage, and he screams.

~~~~

A scream cuts through the silence of his cell, echoing down the long, empty halls.

He runs for the cell bars, looking down the hall, calling Four’s name, but sees nothing and gets no reply.

Just another agonized scream.

Then- “Time!”

He falters. “Wars?!”

“Time! I’m here, where’s Four, where’d they take him? Where’s Sky? We’re gonna get you out.”

“Go get Four, go get Four, I don’t know where he’s at-”

Wars nods quickly, already moving down the hall. “I’ll be back! I’ll be right back!” The captain shouts, and then he’s gone.

He waits one long minute. Two. Three. Fifteen.

Wars comes rushing back, Legend and Twi behind him, a multicolored bundle in the rancher’s arms.

Blood on both Legend and Wars, whether it’s Four’s, their own, or… someone else’s, he doesn’t know.

“Bleeding out as we speak, we have to go!” Legend snaps before he can even ask, slipping a hand through the bars into his cell.

“Take this bracelet, touch the wall, activate it, inactivate it. I’ll explain later.”

He’s seen quite a few things, during his adventures. Been transformed and transformed again, into thing after thing after thing. A deku scrub, a zora, so on and so on. But he’s never been a painting until now.

He shudders once he’s back to normal, shakily handing the vet his bracelet back.

“You get used to it. Where’s Sky?” The vet say, sliding it back over his hand.

He shakes his head weakly. “They took him. He was hurt. Badly. Haven’t seen him since.”

The three share a long look.

“We have to go.” Twi says quietly, looking down at a beat up and very bloody Four. “He’s not gonna last much longer.”

Wars peers at the smith, checking his breathing and his pulse. “Five minutes to look. Split up, meet back here or get left behind. That’s all we’ve got. Twi, keep that wound covered.”

A tense nod, and they all split.

He searches room after room after room, hollering Sky’s name, looking, looking, well past five minutes.

But he finds nothing, hits a dead end, and has to go back.

And they leave.

Four’s barely breathing, deathly pale, and his pulse is so, so weak. They don’t have a choice.

They leave Sky somewhere in the building, getting Four back to the inn others had found in their absence.

Wars and Twi talk to him, pressing him for answers, but all he can hear is the promise he’d made to the smith ringing in his ears over and over again.

~~~~

Their arrival at the inn is a chaotic mess.

Everyone scrambles to find potions, medical supplies, anything that might help Four.

Time sits on a seat at the table and stares out the window, refusing to allow anyone to look over him.

Wars and Hyrule get Four to a bed, working over him for hours and hours.

Four stops breathing once.

They get him going again, but the poor kid is still fighting for his life well into the night, well into the morning, all the next day, until Wars emerges from the room with Hyrule at his side.

“He’s stable.” The captain says quietly, then promptly falls into a chair and passes out.

Rulie follows suit mere minutes later.

Both men had been up all night. They let them rest, moving them carefully to their own room, and he takes to watching the smith.

“Let me watch him for a bit, Vet. Get some sleep.” Twi offers once, but he waves the rancher away.

Nothing happens for days. Four refuses to wake up. Sometimes they can get him to take some broth, coax a bit of water into him, but the teen remains unmoving on the bed.

The morning starts as usual- he wakes up, checks on Four. Wind reports that he’d been awake for a couple seconds, weak and confused, then fell back asleep.

That’s new. Over the past couple days, Four’s gained his color back, gotten skeletally thin, and the jagged cuts all over his body had slowly started healing up.

His heart rate picked up, breathing became less labored, even moving every so often. Rulie and Wars were optimistic he’d wake up soon.

And later that day he does, managing to scare the absolute crap out of all of them when he does.

Wild makes dinner, gathers them into a larger meeting room, wakes the two snoring heroes, and serves them all dinner.

It takes five minutes for them to start discussing plans to go back, find Sky, who should go, who needs to stay, when they're going-

Four stumbles into the room, pale and shaking. Barefoot, stripped to his underclothes, panicked and on the verge of hyperventilation.

“Where’s Sky?” The kid demands, swaying dangerously. Eyes scanning over the silent room, face paling when he realizes a face is missing.

Wars leaps up to grab the teenager, steadying him quickly. “Smithy, hey, kiddo, let’s take a seat? Just breathe, Buddy, just breathe…”

“Sky.” Four pleads weakly, struggling with all the minimal strength Four’s tiny body possesses.

“Want to try something to eat? You’ve been out a few days, let’s try-”

“Where’s Sky?!” Four demands, dragging his heels on the floor. Wars falters, giving him a slow look.

“Four, buddy… take a seat, kiddo, we’ll explain everything.”

“Tell me.” Four begs, eyes welling up.

“He’s still there.” Twi says softly, gently, eyes full of apology. “We had a plan… it went wrong. Almost immediately. We went to go find him, but we didn’t… we had to go, you were bleeding out- Four- Four, no!” Twi shouts as Four lunges over the table at Time.

“You lied to me!” Four screams, slapping the man across the face. “You promised me! You promised me! You’re a liar!” Four howls as he and Twi wrestle the kid off of the old man as gently as possible.

“You son of a bitch!” Four screams from the ground, tears running down his face and into his hair. “I hate you! I hate you!”

Time’s expression shatters, all the emotions he’d been hiding since their return on full display as the old man breaks down into tears.

“I’m sorry, Four, I-”

Four goes ballistic, breaking out of Twi’s grasp and raking his fingernails over Time’s face hard enough to draw blood the second he’s close enough.

“Sorry isn’t going to help you when I kick the shit out of you!” Four screeches, eyes flashing.

Twi leaps to try to intercept the teen, and chaos erupts. Four’s screaming, Twi’s yelling, Wild’s just staring in shock, Hyrule’s frantically rummaging through his bag and calling to someone, he’s running to try to help Twi, shouting over his shoulder, and Wind’s just burst into the room with a yelp of surprise, likely trying to find out what’s going on.

“Suck my ass you motherfu-”

Hyrule sticks a needle into Four’s arm when Twi wrestles the kid back to the ground, the smithy cutting off his cursing to howl in pain.

“You… you’re a liar…” Four pants, chest heaving, eyes fluttering as the kid clings to consciousness. “You ruined… everything…”

“Four-” Time pleads, but Four’s eyes flutter closed.

“Hate you.” The kid breathes out, hand tightly grasping Twi. “You… lied.”

And the kid’s out.

~~~~

They all stare in shock, Twi openly gaping at the smith underneath him.

Slowly moves his arms, sitting back so he’s not holding Four down anymore.

There’s blood on his hands. Despite his efforts, he’d ripped Four’s wounds right open again.

Wars slowly moves to tend to the scratches down Time’s face as Hyrule slowly starts on Four.

“Look up, did he get your eye?” Wars says quietly, and they all watch.

Time lifts his gaze to the ceiling, revealing the damage done.

Hyrule offers a towel, and the old man presses it to his bloody face. The scrapes aren’t bad, shallow and barely spotting blood, but long lines go down his cheek, to his jaw.

Very narrowly missing his eye.

The rancher carefully gets Four off the ground, the kid still out cold in the rancher’s arms.

“What’d he mean you lied to him?”

“Twi.” Wars says softly, disapprovingly.

Time’s eyes hold a deep sadness, a hint of guilt as he looks at Four. “He made me promise to save Sky instead of him if I needed to choose.”

Silence.

“Time…” Twi says softly, hand raking through his hair.

“How could you break such a promise?” Wild says in horror, staring at their leader.

“What, is he supposed to just let Four die?” Legend says incredulously.

“He promised he would.”

“If it came down to it, would you have the guts to watch your friend die?!” Wind asks, gesturing wildly with his arms.

“If I’d made a promise! I don’t break my promises!”

Time flinches.

“Wild, so much was going on, we didn’t know where Sky was, our best assumption was that he wasn’t being tortured like Four was and we’re hoping he’s in better condition than Four, the smith was bleeding out in my arms, we did what was best-”

“You promised him! Hylia above- if I’d begged someone to make me a promise like that to find out they didn’t keep it-”

Wild’s eyes find Twi’s, words faltering. Swallows thickly, turning away. “I’d rather be dead. Then… that.”

Twi gently shifts the teenager in his arms.

There’s a long moment of silence.

“I’m going to… get a bed for him.” The rancher finally says awkwardly, moving to leave. Hyrule stops him quickly.

“Wait! He’s uh… going to be nauseous when he wakes up. Should only be a few hours. But he’s… yeah.”

Twi nods, taking a deep breath and leaving the room.

They all silently watch him go.

~~~~

Hyrule said it’d be a few hours.

He’s not sure if he forgot to take Four’s size into account, or if Four’s just… sleeping, but the kid doesn’t as much as move for five hours.

The only sign he’s alive is the very slow rise and fall of his chest.

After those long hours, though, he slowly starts shifting, turning, hums groggily when he gently shakes the kid, and he lets him be for a little longer.

Not long after that, the teenager slowly opens his eyes and gives a groggy mumble.

Tries to sit up, flopping right back onto the bed.

“Easy.” He says softly, putting a hand on Four’s shoulder. “We… really knocked you out. You must still be groggy and…”

Four’s expression turns… weird, lips pressing together and swallowing thickly.

“Want some water? It’s been nothing but rain for days-”

He leaps back as Four shoves his hand away, rolls over just enough to get his head over the side of the bed, and vomits all over the floor.

“Eauughaahhehh! Wars! Wars!” He shouts down the hall, taking a cloth from the little table next to the bed and dunking it in the water meant for the poor kid, wringing it out and wiping the smith’s face down.

The teenager is still totally out of it, mumbling disorientedly and weakly trying to shove him away.

Wars bursts into the room just as Four manages to weakly grab his hand, mumbling forcefully and weakly shoving it away.

“Sorry, kiddo, I know, I gotta get you cleaned up, though.” He says softly, soothingly, Four’s gray eyes heartbreakingly confused.

“What is it?” Wars says, helping him calm the poor kid.

“He freaking- threw up everywhere, I’ve got him, any chance you could…”

“Yeah, I got it, he alright?” Wars asks, watching him gently try to get his hand back.

“I don’t know, man, I think he’s just scared.”

Wars leaves, likely to go get something to clean the room up, and he carefully gets his hand back from Four’s ironclad grasp.

“Hyrule said you might be a little nauseous… you feeling any better after that?” He asks gently, getting a dazed blink in response.

He gently moves to the side of the bed, fingers brushing through Four’s soft hair.

The kid seems to be calmer now, no longer struggling.

Just dazed and weak and confused.

“Hey there.” He says gently, and Four’s eyes find him again. “You want anything? Food, water… bathroom?”

Four slowly shakes his head, eyes closing as he slowly relaxes.

“Still tired?” He asks softly as Wars returns, starts mopping up the floor.

A small shrug.

A tear slips down the kid’s face.

His heart sinks.

“Four, buddy…” he says softly, hand finding the smith’s shoulder. “He’s gonna be fine. We’re gonna find him.”

Another slow tear, then another.

“He’s gonna be fine.” He repeats as gently as he can, trying to get Four to look at him and failing.

“They’ll kill him.” Four whispers, voice breaking.

And the smith dissolves into sobs, not listening to a word he says.

“They’re gonna kill him they’ll kill him they have no reason to keep him alive now he’s gonna be dead-”

“Shh… no no, buddy, he’s gonna be just fine-”

Four tucks his knees to his chest, forehead touching his knees, and just sobs.

Flinches away from his touch, curling into a ball and flopping down on the bed.

Wars looks sadly at the kid, at a loss for words like him.

And all they can get out of the kid is sharp, broken sniffles as the kid hides himself away from the world with the blankets on the bed.

The captain sits on the edge of the bed, hand slowly finding the lump of blankets that’s currently their smithy.

Four slowly allows him to lay next to him, leaning his protective barrier to curl carefully into Wars’ side.

They they start coaxing answers out of their friend.

“Are you in a lot of pain, kiddo?” Wars asks softly, and Four shrugs awkwardly.

“Chest.” Four manages, blinking at the ceiling.

“Yeah… you busted your ribs, probably reaggravated them hurdling a table to kick the shit out of Time.” Wars smiles, which gets a sheepish twitch of the lips out of the smithy.

“Let’s see… your wrist was broken, though Hyrule’s sure he got that fixed up ok. The cuts all over… we weren’t able to magically heal those, we just tried to heal the worst of it. So the stab on your side was a priority, then your wrist, then your ribs…”

“Did you crack his sternum giving him CPR?” He asks without thinking, then both of their gazes snap to Four.

Four blinks. Eyes flicking from Wars to him then back to Wars.

“Bruised it, most likely.” Wars offers quietly.

Four doesn’t react.

“Think you could get your shirt off, bud?”

Four shakes his head. They leave it be.

Silence falls over them, lingering for a long couple of minutes.

“Do you know…” Wars starts finally, trailing off when he glances down to the smithy. He’s dozed off again, silently, eyes closed and breathing even.

Hand holding his, calloused skin pressing into his.

Wars sighs slowly, gently tucking a blanket over the kid and carefully sitting up.

“Sleep well, kiddo,” The captain whispers as he carefully leaves the bed.

~~~~

He wakes up slowly, groggily, stomach churning.

Slowly turns to lay on his back, and has to take a long moment to fight the urge to throw up anything in his stomach.

Once he’s sure he’s not going to vomit, he swallows carefully and grimaces at the taste in his mouth.

Maybe he had thrown up.

Upon opening his eyes, he can see Wars next to him, passed out in a chair, snoring softly, and- Time.

Sitting next to the captain, watching him intently.

He pulls his face into a scowl.

Time looks away, guilt flitting over his face.

“Four-”

He ignores the old man, slowly pushing himself to sit up. Has to pause and take a few deep breaths in order to not vomit, sitting back once he’s all the way up.

“You alright?” Time asks softly when he slowly relaxes.

“Don’t talk to me.” He mutters, the words not nearly as strong as he’d like.

Time has the audacity to flinch.

Look away for a minute, saying his name softly-

He snaps, sitting rigid again and shooting a harsh glare at the old man. “Don’t even,” he growls. “You lied to me. You promised me- you promised. And you still left him behind. He’s dead because of you.”

Time looks like he’d been slapped, but he stands and storms out of the room.

Staggers down the hall, hands clutching the wall, vision swaying and blurring and the floor sways under his feet…

Stupid blood loss. He’s dizzy and woozy and it won’t go away until he rests… but how can he when Sky…

Over the buzzing in his ears, he can hear familiar voices, soft conversation.

He staggers to follow them, down the hall, pausing at a door, listening intently, turning the handle and stumbling inside.

“Four!” Someone says, soft hands steadying him immediately.

“Hey, bud, how you feeling?” Another voice asks, and another asks if he wants anything to eat, water, a blanket, is he cold? He’s shivering, people are touching his back and his shoulders and someone’s hand touches the back of his head.

His arms reach out, finding as many of his friends as he’s able to, sinking into warm, soft arms.

“Sky.” He mumbles, eyes growing heavier and heavier.

“Shh… we’re gonna get him back, kiddo, you just rest. You’ve been brave enough already, we’ve got this one.” Someone whispers, and he thinks he manages a groggy nod.

Hands brush through his hair. His headband had been removed, leaving his hair free and in his face.

“We’re gonna get him back, bud. You just rest.” The voice says again, and he nods again. Gives a slow breath out, letting his eyes fall shut. That, he can do.

~~~~

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oneweirdbookaddict · 7 months

Text

Whumptober day eleven!

I finally torture Twi. He gets bear-trapped (but not really). Wars and Four help him out.

923 words

General warnings for (ungraphic) descriptions of broken bones, being in captivity. Let me know if there should be any more!

~~~~

It’s just a patrol, a simple patrol, there’s supposed to be nothing out here, there’s been no hint of any monsters all day so of course something has to come ruin his day.

He’s walking through the woods, stepping right into a pile of leaves, and his foot nudges something. He freezes, glancing down-

“Wars?”

The captain glances back at him, eyebrow raised. He slowly looks back down at his foot, careful not to shift his weight at all.

He’d stepped… goddess, he’d really stepped in the exact wrong spot. Right on the pressure plate, literally the center of his foot.

“What is it?” Wars asks, moving back towards him.

“A trap. A bear trap.” He breathes, chest uncomfortably tight.

“I’m not seeing-”

“If I move my foot those things around this plate are going to snap up with enough force to break my tibia into two!” He yells, panic washing over him.

Wars kneels carefully, inspecting the trap. “Oh… How do I make it so it doesn’t do that?”

“I don’t know.” He breathes. It’s like he’s right back in that cage, chained to the wall… Midna’s voice laughing at him…

“Twi. Twilight. Hey, I’m gonna need you to stay with me, now. You can’t panic.”

He nods, taking a shuddering breath.

Wars studies the trap, eyeing it closely, muttering to himself, slowly touching the chain…

He works on taking slow, even breaths. He’s seen men lose legs from these things, men with horrific injuries from these things, bone cut clean through skin with the way the bone had snapped, trapped in the woods screaming for help-

“Twilight!”

He jumps. Freezes, eyes snapping wide open. The trap remains still.

He and the captain both breath a slow sigh.

“I can’t figure this out. I bet… I bet Four will know how to dismantle it. I’ll have to go get him.”

His chest tightens. “Wars.”

The captain gives him a look. Almost apologetic. “I’ll be quick.”

“Don’t- Wars.” He says quickly, and his friend puts a slow hand on his shoulder.

“Twi. Breathe. You’re not trapped here. We’ll get you out. You’re not trapped.”

“Yet.” He grumbles, shuddering despite himself.

“Yet.” Wars says quietly. “Will you be ok for five minutes while I run and get Four?”

He takes another breath. “Yes.”

“I’ll be quick. Don’t move.”

“Hardy har.” He mutters, and Wars gives a smile before turning and running back in the direction they’d come from.

It’s the longest five minutes of his life. It feels like eternity.

Any noise from the woods makes his heart rate pick up, his breath catch, wondering what’s going to come at him, make him move, make him lose his leg.

Become trapped.

Then- “Twi?” “Wars!” He yells, heart pounding again. “Wars!”

“Rancher! There- here, Four! You know how to undo this?” Wars comes into view, Four next to him.

They both kneel, inspecting the trap.

“Fascinating.” Four breathes, fingers lightly brushing over the metal.

He winces. Wars nudges the smith.

“Oh- I, uh, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, I can undo it. Wars… you see these pins here?”

“Yep. Want me-” “DO NOT TOUCH THEM.” Four says quickly. Wars freezes.

He jolts, making them all freeze. The trap stays. He takes a slow breath, looking up at the sky.

Four takes a slow breath. “Wait. For me. To tell you. What to do. Or Twi loses his leg.”

“Right. Sorry.” Wars breathes.

“Ok. Put one finger on it, lightly. Just like that, perfect. Now when I tell you, you’re going to put all the force you can possibly put on that pin, understand?”

Wars nods. Four takes a deep breath, shifting up to the chain, eyes searching for something-

The smith’s hand reaches out, moving some leaves carefully, uncovering a small wheel attached to the trap.

“Wars. Now.” The smith spins the wheel as Wars presses on the pin.

“Twi. Move. Now.” Four grunts, face flushing with strain.

He slowly moves his leg up, closing his eyes, trembling-

No pain. He moves. Steps back. “Wars move.” Four says, and the captain moves back. Four springs away, they all flinch as the trap snaps shut with a loud clang.

He slowly sinks to the ground.

Four sits on the ground, eyes lingering on the metal monstrosity that almost took his leg.

Wars puts a gentle hand on his shoulder as he fights to keep his breathing even.

“Easy, Rancher… it’s ok. Slow breaths.” The captain mutters to him.

Four’s eyes find him. They’re all too knowing as he meets his gaze.

“Twi,” The smith says softly. “This trap wasn’t made for you. You’re not… this isn’t for you. It’s not… karma, it’s not ironic, it isn’t fitting. Repeat it back to me.”

He takes a slow breath. “It’s not for me.”

“Say it again like it’s not a question.”

“It- it’s not for me.” He repeats. Four nods.

He takes a shuddering breath. Slowly stands, accepting Wars’ hand.

“Twilight.” Four says softly. He glances at the smith.

Four puts a hand on his arm briefly, looking up at him.

“You’re not a monster.” His friend says quietly. Softly enough that Wars likely can’t hear.

He nods, taking another slow breath. Pulls Four into a hug, the smith stiffening awkwardly before slowly wrapping his arms around him.

“You’re good. You use your abilities for good. You’re a good person, Twi.” Four says softly. He nods again.

Takes another shaking breath, letting Four go and stepping back.

Forces a shaky smile. “Well. That was eventful. Let’s head back, shall we?”

~~~~