Chapter Text
Legend had a very... strained relationship with just about any plane of existence that wasn't reality.
At some point though, he checked out of reality and into his own head.
Yeah, sure, he was distantly aware of the blinding pain and the burning and freezing and electrocution, and sure, he was aware he was still trying to scream--and failing, his voice still torn and gone--and escape the pain, but all of that was pure instinctual actions.
He was someplace white, someplace... floaty. Nothing to feel, nothing to run from, just... tranquility. Whenever the active infliction of pain subsided, the white would clear to a blissful forest that would soon disappear as the pain, distant though it was, picked up again.
It would stop sometimes, and he could explore the forest, but most times it just didn't.
They found him.
Warriors had gone on a warpath. He knew he freaked a couple of the other heroes out, particularly Wind, oddly enough, the rest of them seemed to understand his movements.
When they finally tracked them down and got him back... he was in bad condition. Wild had said in a low whisper that Legend might beat him out in scars now, and nobody was able to refute that.
Now Warriors sat in a chair beside the bed of a private hospital room, watching over their currently unresponsive teammate. Legend was asleep so it seemed, eyes shut, soft breaths slipping between barely parted lips. To be completely honest, Warriors hadn't ever seen him so... relaxed.
Even then, there was still a line drawn between his shoulders, an anticipation of something, as usual, but with none of the preparation to act. Somehow, Warriors hated that more than anything.
That was a lie, he hated himself more than anything. He hated that he didn't keep an eye on Legend like he promised he would, he hated that the scholar got taken under his watch, he hated that Legend had brand new, awful scars when not long ago he had mentioned idly to Warriors that after his first two adventures he had learned to be especially careful of getting injured and therefore was one of the heroes on the lesser end of the scar bearing spectrum.
He hated the meaningless brands that covered Legend's body, likely just caused by a hot rod or blade to cauterize the wound beneath. There was the exception of his face for the most part, but his cheek and just above his eyebrows had the same treatment. Hot burns and then freezer burns around the edges, electrical burns in his sides and to be honest, his heart was erratic at best.
The doctors had declared his case impossible, that anyone else would've died.
Yet Legend still breathed, his heart still beat and Warriors silenced himself just so he could listen to it every now and then... it was steadying out. According to the doctors, it shouldn't steady out like that, it should stop. Warriors knew that too.
Nobody knew why, but somehow, against all odds their veteran was alive.
Just... not all there yet.
Every time Warriors closed his eyes, he remembered that first room. How many tables there were, what items were on them, the walls and how they were covered in burns and blood. The main table, and the conglomeration of blood, sweat, and tears that soaked it. The nail scratches in the table, the flesh on the floor...
Warriors had an image in his mind and his memory did not allow him to forget the gruesome scene.
So, with that in mind, Warriors had no problem with Legend not being back up yet. He was surviving what should not be survivable. He deserved some rest... and for the burns to finish healing, and the rest of his injuries to heal, so he wouldn't be in pain when he woke up.
Warriors just wanted the teenager to relax, he'd just wanted him to act his age for once and this? This is what happened?
He couldn't say he knew what Legend's life had been like up to this point, but never in a million years could he imagine the kid had gone through something worse... And this was his fault. He let his guard down. He promised to take care of things and Legend got kidnapped and tortured.
It was his fault.
He refused to leave the teenaged Veteran's side. The doctors eventually would kick him out, which would lead to Time really reverting to Mask and forcing Warriors to shower, clean, eat, and rest until he was allowed back in Legend's room.
It took a whole week before Warriors, in the dead silence of the room, feeling the almost steady heartbeat from the wrist in his hand, felt the heartbeat rapidly pick up and heard a sharp inhale.
For the first time in a whole week of unresponsiveness, Legend moved. He twisted slightly, face scrunching up, a whine escaping pursed lips.
"Hey, hey--" Warriors quickly moved up, brushing Legend's dislodged hair from his face. "Vet, it's okay. You’re safe, it's alright."
"C-Cap'n?" Legend whimpered. His eyes were still squeezed shut. Warriors wanted to beg him to open his eyes, to show that there was someone alive behind them.
"I'm right here. I'm right here. I got you. It's going to be alright," he promised.
The rabbit-fast heartbeat beneath his fingers and the quick breaths soon softened out, slowing to something calm and quiet. Just as quick and suddenly as he had woken up, he was back asleep.
But he had woken up, and Warriors let the suffocating feeling of pure grief leave him. Legend was here, he was alive, and even if it should've been impossible, he'd woken up. However briefly, he had woken up.
It was only a day or so later when Legend came to a while longer.
Warriors still, out of fear, held his wrist just to feel his pulse, to track the heartbeat that had only just basically steadied out.
"Nnnn..." Legend twisted slightly, tugging his wrist and Warriors was quick to let go as he stood fast.
"Hey, hey Link, are you with me?" Warriors called softly.
Legend blinked, his eyes honest to the golden three opened. He looked dazed, definitely not present, but he was aware and that was plenty good enough for Warriors.
"Lin'... Cap'n?" He murmured frowning at him with a confused expression. "Huh... t-that's a new one."
A new one--
"No, no, no," Warriors was quick to grab his hand, "not a new one. It's me, I'm here, I'm real, Scholar, I promise. I'm right here and you’re okay now. You’re safe."
Legend sort of stared at him, then his eyes slid down and his head tilted for him to look at the hand Warriors had grabbed. He frowned.
Warriors loosened his grip but froze as Legend's hand twitched... then slowly tried to hold his hand in return.
"Don... don' go," Legend begged. "P-Please, I can't--I can't keep--Please don’t go."
"No, hey, shhh, it's okay," Warriors promised, taking his hand in both hands and squeezing ever so gently. He moved closer, just to let go and brush away the tears that had fallen. "It's okay. Hey, it's alright, you’re alright, I swear. I'm right here, I won't leave, I won't. I got you, it's okay now. You're safe."
As he kept speaking useless, random platitudes and reassurances falling from his lips, Legend stopped crying. He tilted his head into Warriors' hand and tried, Warriors hated how he could barely feel his hand twitch and try to clench, to squeeze his hand in return.
It was a while until some clarity and genuine awareness formed behind sleep dazed eyes.
"Y... You’re... You’re here?" He mumbled, brows knitting. His eyes widened suddenly.
"I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere," Warriors promised. "You’re safe. It's safe."
"M'voice," he seemed to say to himself. Warriors felt that pit in his stomach sink as he noticed the awe and relief in the young hero's face at the fact he could hear his own voice.
Distance tried to form between them, Warriors could see him space out and drift off.
Warriors had seen people dissociate before, soldiers who survived the war, men who made it pass the horrors that battle brought.
He had never, even for all the things he knew the heroes had seen, expected one of the heroes to fall into that pit. Yet in the aftermath, Legend had and he'd fallen bad.
Warriors watched him move and he seemed fine, he seemed normal, he seemed like he'd bounced back perfectly fine, but at the same time both he and the other heroes could tell Legend wasn't quite there. He spaced out a lot, hardly responded to any of them, he clearly wasn't mentally sound or stable.
They couldn't exactly leave him behind, so Warriors asked Hyrule to stay close to their Scholar, then they moved onto the next era.
They made it through several eras, they tried to get Legend back into battle at least to defend himself but Warriors felt ill when he realized Legend couldn't even close his hand around the handle of his blade, and lifting it was a whole other story. He carried it fine, resting at his back perfectly fine, but he couldn't wield it and Warriors wasn't sure how to help that. Wild said he had the same problem when he first woke up, his muscles were nonexistent after the hundred year nap, and so he was trying to work Legend gradually into gripping and lifting.
Warriors watched from a distance. How was he supposed to help this? Because even if Legend was getting better, even if on the best of days he would be present, most he was spacey, blanked out, and just... wasn't all there. When it got bad, he wouldn't even respond to the slightest bit of stimuli.
It was worrying, and Warriors didn't know what to do about it.
The next portal took them to an unknown era, or Warriors assumed as much because none of the other heroes were there to tell him and it wasn't his own.
A separation shift, one of those portals that were unstable and dropped them at random places in space at the same point in time.
Oh this was not good.
Legend didn't know exactly when the pain had stopped. He'd stopped feeling it a while ago, but he knew, distantly, that it was still being inflicted. There was a point when things were soft and fluffy, his mind filled with cotton, and fear had worked its way in, but when he was able to move and think it had faded.
He felt numb and his mind wouldn't focus. He heard words but beyond registering them as the voice of someone he trusted and recognizing them as orders, he didn't listen. They slipped from his fingers and he was left just watching.
On one hand, maybe he should've been worried about that. Maybe he shouldn't have been so... calm, maybe he shouldn't have been so distant. On the other hand, he didn't need to think, he didn't know what was needed but some part of him whispered that it wasn't safe, that he could just go away and hide.
And well, he was a bunny at his core. Running and hiding was first nature, so when his body and mind gave him a nice hollow to retreat to and stay away from the fear, from the panic and pain, from the darkness of reality, he was more than willing to disconnect.
It was safer.
Well, until the danger came to him and nothing stopped it. Then instinct kicked in and he wasn't just running in his mind.
Legend was dragged from his safe space as claws sunk into his shoulder and he was tackled from behind.
Newer, trained, forced instincts kicked in. His skin tugged at his muscles and bones in a way that was just wrong, but he'd fought past that wrong before. He rolled forward and managed to kick the lizalfos away.
He gasped, standing quickly and taking a stand. He had to get away from here, from the monsters and to someplace safe, he had to go before the burning--
There were two lizalfos, one that he'd kicked and one that was prowling him. On top of that was the dark nut to his left and a deku baba behind him.
Runrun--RUN! The voice in his head screamed, it begged for him to escape, to find safety away from the danger, away from the pain.
How could he run? He was surrounded. He needed to fight--
Fight? The voice whispered and it sounded like Their Voice. It reminded him he was tied down, that ropes and chains kept him from getting away from the pain.
He shook his head, darkness trying to hide everything from him, a blindfold trying to block everything out so he'd feel the pain that much more.
He was in pain, his back throbbed in pain, but there were four monsters around him and nothing on his wrists or in his blood to stop him from moving.
Link, a soft voice sang behind him. You must fight. I know it is scary, but take up your weapon.
The dark nut lumbered toward him, a lizalfos darted forward, he jerked backward and the deku baba lunged to bite him.
Draw your blade! The safe voice cried out and he responded.
Metal sang as he slashed frantically at the sentient plant. He dodged to the side, muscles pulled too far, skin tugging painfully in ways it shouldn't for the movements he made.
He rolled beneath the second lizalfos and ducked under the dark nut's swinging blade right after. He spun around to its back and slashed at the hole in its armor, causing the thing to collapse easily.
He tried to turn but his body just wouldn't move like he needed it to.
He stole the lizalfos curved blade as it threw it at him and he caught it with his own. He managed to dodge around the second one, hissing at the uncomfortable tug of his skin.
He cut it. He sliced through the skin that wouldn't move the way he needed it to, breaking open wounds that tried to bring memories to his eyes.
Link, keep moving.
Her voice drove the memories back, though they still played behind his eyes, they didn't overtake his thoughts and vision.
Seven more self inflicted cuts later, Legend could move with his original freedom, exhaustion and lack of strength be damned, his adrenaline made up for what his body lacked now that his mobility and dexterity was regained.
He danced out of the reach of the lizalfos who had begun to coordinate and match.
He cut through both at the throat with a spin attack.
The monsters fell and Legend staggered a bit. He panted heavily, shaking his head to try and clear away the voices, the begging to just step back, to hide and be safe from the pain that stung every part of his body.
"No. No--Shut up!" He pressed a hand to his head. Voices were the wrong word, urges was better and they were stronger than just a voice. It was exhausting, the space in his mind, just watching things was safer--until a battle came. The others could walk and follow and talk, but he held the blade, he stood and fought. They could run and hide but he had to fight. He had worked to make himself forge battle instincts that suppressed the prey instincts.
Well done, Fi said softly, and welcome back, Link. It is a pleasure to hear you again.
He laughed bitterly. "Thanks, Fi. You too," he croaked. Goddesses he was tired, his whole body hurt--that was expected though. He did just cut himself up.
He didn't have any healing supplies, he tried to shuffle through the blurry, dreamy memories of the past few weeks but he had a feeling they didn't plan on him being alone.
It was probably better to heal slowly, and he did have bandages. He moved over to a rock, sitting back on it and slowly working bandages over the new cuts along his body, tugging his tunic and jerkin off to finish up. He made a note to mend his clothes later.
He got back up and immediately was hit by vertigo and fell back, breathing heavily as exhaustion tried to set in.
"No," he muttered, as if exhaustion was something he could talk to and tell off. "I'm getting up and moving, and you can't stop me."
Fi hummed her amusement. He appreciated her breaking the silence with that, it kept him here.
He had to find at the very least a place that was safe to take shelter in until he regained energy, or he could climb a tree, that would test his mobility for sure.
He looked up. Yeah no, he's not climbing those trees.
He just had to hold onto reality long enough to find the others, then he could take a break.
Warriors found Sky, the two of them fought off a whole camp of monsters before moving on.
"I'm trying to dowse for the Vet," Sky told him. "We can't leave him alone with how he's been."
"I know," Warriors sighed. "It's not--He's not stable yet. We've been here a whole day and I'm just hoping someone's found him."
"Me too. This way." Sky led the way through the forest.
In no time, Warriors heard metal clanging and the familiar noises of battle.
He glanced at Sky and they ran.
They broke into a clearing just in time to see Legend, covered in well-wrapped bandages, twisting in air and slipping between two blades that swung from opposite directions at him, completely parallel to the ground.
A moment later, Legend landed and an explosion tore the two crocodilian, axe-wielding apart.
The Veteran staggered as he stood again.
"Vet!" Warriors ran over, Legend startled as he approached but let Warriors grab his shoulders and check him over. "Are you alright? What happened? What's with the bandages? Where--Are you okay?"
Legend stared at him, clearly disoriented but Warriors was relieved to see him there, present and listening.
"I'm fine. Just needed to reopen some scars for mobility reasons. Nothing else's touched me--'cept a lizalfos but I don't count that."
"Reopen--Are you insane?"
"No. Fi says I'm actually more mentally sound than I have been in about two months, and that's saying something considering my head is currently trying to split in half between fighting and running." He gave a lopsided grin. "So actually, I'll amend that answer to a maybe."
He honestly couldn't care about the debatable mental stability of the Scholar, because he was back, he was here and he was present and he wasn't blanking out or spacing out.
He pulled him into a hug, Legend made a squawking noise but let it happen.
He pulled away fairly quickly, not wanting to make him feel trapped. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, not for the first time.
Legend stared at him, eyes wide and startled. Then mirth filled them.
He shoved Warriors away by the forehead. "Ain't nothing to apologize for, Captain."
Somehow, that was the best response he could've gotten.