Chapter Text
The roar of thunder overhead sent only a momentary flinch through the battlefield. Before the last of the rumbles had faded the battle was joined once more. Fire tore through one corner of the battlefield as Legend and Four, standing back to back, unleashed a firestorm from their fire rods. The fast leaping tektites swarming the battlefield let out awful screeches as the rolling waves of fire lashed at them. In moments, the red and blue monsters were crumbling into black ash.
"Keep focused on the bokos!" Warriors roared from nearby. He was riding herd on Wind and Wild, who'd abandoned his tree-top perch after downing the last of the keese swarm. "The hinox is last!"
"Workin' on it," snapped Twilight. Hyrule called out a warning and the rancher ducked out of the way of a spear stabbing at him from the side. The smaller hero swooped into the gap, his silver and red sword glowing with fearsome light as he smoothly slashed through the attacking bokoblin's back.
Rain began to spit at them, slowly at first but soon began gaining speed.
"There's lightning in this storm," Sky called out. The Skyloftian knight glanced worriedly overhead. "We can't stay out here for too long!"
The hinox lumbering at the back of the attacking horde let out a dull sounding roar as its arm jerked forward. The Biggoron sword flashed as Time battered away the bomb the monster had thrown; the fire flickered at the end of the fuse continued its hurried race towards the round explosive
"Get away from the hinox!" Time called out. He angled the Biggorron sword in front of himself, knowing he didn't have time to yank his shield in front of himself.
There was a smattering of acknowledgements, but before Time could look to see who hadn't replied, the fuse was running out and Sky was shouting as he sprinted up to Time's side. The purple-toned Goddess shield was dragged in front of both of them as the rain-soaked clearing shuddered at the fury of the explosion that tore through the far end of the battlefield.
Wild was the first to recover (unsurprising given his deep and abiding love of all things fire and explosives) and launched a flurry of attacks on the surviving bokoblins, stabbing out at them with a long, stolen spear. The others fell in alongside him moments later, and soon, the last of their enemies were falling to the ground. Black blood oozed only briefly before the monster bodies began to dissolve.
After taking a few breaths to steady himself, Time began looking around. "Injuries, call 'em out," he ordered.
"Singed like fuck," came Legend's complaint. He and Four were leaning on each other, with Smithy looking deciding crispier than the veteran. They were both walking, though, even if they needed support.
"Legend put himself between me and the bomb," Four added. He gave Wild a grimacing look. "I might need to beg some amber off you. That defensive magic seemed to really help."
"I'll see what I've got," Wild promised him. "Just scratches and bruises for me."
"Same!" Wind added. His chest puffed up as he readied a brag about his prowess in battle.
"I'm good," Warriors said, resting a hand on Wind's shoulder as he took a few steadying breaths. "We need to withdraw, the storm's getting worse."
"Lightning's building up," Sky added, shooting another worried look above them. Light was beginning to flash in the dark clouds overhead.
"We're fine," Hyrule added as he and Twilight hurried over.
"As am I. We need cover. Anyone see anything?" Time asked.
Warriors hurriedly straightened up and sheathed his sword. "I think I know where we are," he declared. "If I'm right, there's a cave nearby. This way!" After a quick glance to confirm everyone had someone to hold onto, Warriors set off for the nearby cliff face. He dragged his blue scarf close to try and keep it from dragging any further through the mud. The shining golden threads echoed the growing lightning storm brewing overhead.
The others sprinted after him and could just make out his muttered comments.
"Not here… There's an odd cluster of trees… Bit of exposed rock out front… There!"
Drawing his sword, Warriors adjusted the angle of his run and aimed for a shadow along the cliffside. A cluster of trees stood nearby, several trunks having grown together as their branches reached up to the heavens. His feet slipped a bit on a stretch of bare stone before the opening of a large cave. He caught himself on the mouth of the cave and glanced back.
"It was clear last time I was here. Someone get a lantern out and help me confirm. Everyone else, get inside before you get fried."
Without hesitation, Warriors then plunged inside, quickly followed by Four as the smith dragged his magic lantern out of his bag.
"In wit' ye!" Wind insisted, shoving at his taller packmates. "All ye draped in metal first, me an' Wild last."
The others let themselves be pushed, a flicker of bemusement running through them at the determined guidance of their youngest.
"That's nine!" Wild said in a cheerful voice as the rain began falling faster and harder. "Come on!" Gripping Wind's shoulder, he pulled the youth in with him.
The cave was relatively room, as far as caves went. There were scattered piles of rock around the edges of the open space and a set arranged in a vaguely circular pattern near the cave entrance. Old remnants of ash were piled in the center of the circle, showing that this cave had provided refuge for past groups of travelers. Wild was quick to pull some firewood out of his slate and get a fire going for them to share.
Light flickered near the back of the cave as Warriors and Four continued checking the back areas. They returned while the others were in the process of stripping off wet clothes and wiping down bits of metal.
"Nothing's moved in, thankfully," Warriors reported.
"There's some smaller passages that go deeper into the mountains we'll want to keep an eye on," added Four. "But the ground didn't look like it had been disturbed for a while."
"This is a convenient location," Time said as he continued cleaning off his armor. He grimaced at the soaked leather straps; he was going to need to leave the armor out overnight and hope it was dried enough to either wear or put away come morning.
"It's a handy stop-over during expeditions out this direction," Warriors explained. Like the others, he began stripping off his soaked armor and garb, beginning with his precious blue scarf. "And used by patrols we send out ahead of those expeditionary forces. The traffic helps discourage animals from moving in when we're not present."
"So, this is your Hyrule?" Sky asked with a small grin.
"That it is," Warriors said with a pleased smile. "We're a few days march out from Castle Town."
"We had a fight on us right after arrivin'," Twilight noted. "We sure we ain't gonna just be sent out again right quick?"
"There's no way to be certain," Time said with quiet reluctance, "though other times we've landed in battle shortly after our arrival were immediately followed by yet another portal. The fact that we have not yet encountered one suggests there is more to do here."
"Well, in the meantime, we need to finish getting dry," Sky said. He looked around the cave with interest, then drew his whip out of his bag. "Wind, can you help me tie this onto some of the rocks?"
"We'll be needin' more than just one line," Wind said. Digging into his own bag, he drew out his grappling hook and rose to help Sky assemble some makeshift clothes lines.
"How are you two?" Hyrule asked as he made his way over to Four and Legend.
Four grimaced and held up burned hands. "My clothes took the worst of it, thankfully," he said in a rueful voice. "The force of the blast was almost worse. I would have been blown straight into a tree if Legend hadn't grabbed me."
Hyrule winced in sympathy as he carefully looked at Four's hands. The burns weren't the worst he'd ever seen but they were probably pretty painful. Letting go, he then leaned in to do a top-down check on the small hero. Four sat patiently as he probed his head and checked his eyes. There was a brittleness accompanying the smell of singed hair that further demonstrated just how close Four had been to the blast.
"We have a few potions left," Hyrule said as he leaned back. "Just given the state of your hands, you should probably go ahead and take one. How's your hearing?"
Four winced again. "There's some ringing," he admitted.
"Definitely down a potion, then," Hyrule said. "There's no reason for you to be in pain when we can prevent it and we all know what the ringing probably means."
"I know, I know," grumbled Four. "It's a mild concussion at best." Despite his reluctance to show any potential weakness, he didn't hesitate the down the potion Wind helpfully ferried over from Warriors' bag.
Hyrule turned then to Legend who just sighed and shifted around so Hyrule could see the dark bruising forming on the side of one leg. "One of the bokos got a lucky hit in," he muttered.
"The amber didn't protect you?" Hyrule asked.
"The amber's why my leg isn't broken."
"That's impressive. What else got you?" Hyrule asked.
"Just some nicks and scrapes, I swear," Legend said. He showed Hyrule his hands, turning them over so he could see all over.
"Any issues from the bomb blast?" Hyrule asked.
Legend shook his head, shifting impatiently for his successor to finish fussing over him. His movements only ceased when Hyrule gave one ear a sharp flick.
"You should probably down a potion," Hyrule told him, "but I won't make you. It's on your head if you can't walk in the morning."
"I'll be fi-"
Lightning flashed outside and Legend's eyes went wide. His breath caught in his throat and he couldn't bring himself to speak until thunder rumbled a few second later.
"… I'm fine," he insisted but the distress was already starting to filter through his normal scent.
That wasn't a huge surprise, honestly. Legend had grudgingly admitted a few months ago to having had some past encounters with lightning and they'd all noticed how disturbed he was by storms.
Hyrule didn't release the comforting purrs he that were trying to build up in his throat. Legend's back was stiff as he desperately tried to cling to some semblance of pride; he was utterly convinced, despite all evidence to the contrary, that it was of dire importance for him to conceal his distress.
Some wounds never truly healed.
"You should go sit by the fire," Hyrule said, rising to his feet. "The heat will keep your blood circulating better." And then, he turned away and left Legend to sit in quiet misery and fear, hating each step he took.
Wild had gotten his cooking pot set up and had a simple soup already simmering away over the fire. "There's passageways," he whispered to Hyrule, grinning in quiet delight. His eyebrows waggled slightly, trying to entice Hyrule into disappearing with him for a while. It had been ages since they'd been able to do some proper exploring.
Hyrule's eyebrow twitched in response. That did sound fun…
A quite shuffle nearby heralded Legend moving closer to the fire and Hyrule felt his spirits pick up some. Maybe they could take an hour or two to see just how deep the passages went.
Bowls were soon being passed around and sighs of contentment filled the somewhat dank feeling cave as heat began radiating through them. There was a hint of magic to the warmth as it lingered in their bones, suggesting Wild had added a few of his era's special ingredients. He was usually a bit stingy with those, as none of the other eras they'd visited had crops or foragables that carried such potent magic. But right now, this was precisely what they needed.
Sky was moving slowly and carefully with Legend. As much as he wanted to just draw the other hero into his arms and give him a proper cuddle, he knew their veteran would be feeling especially prickly right now. He always got that way during storms.
Instead of gathering him close, Sky was slowly closing the distance between them and making a point to deliberately not show signs of noticing the moments when Legend was the one shifting closer. He continued waiting, shifting closer anytime his listening and watching and occasional comments to the others as conversation flowed freely around them gave him a natural opportunity to move from reclining back against the rock he'd shoved his somewhat damp bedroll up against.
It was after Sky had passed his bowl over to Wind for washing that he leaned back and found Legend sitting close by. Sky's arm's automatically shifted to hang over Legend's shoulders and he made a point to keep his attention focused on the minor scuffle unfolding near the back of the cave. The veteran let out an almost completely inaudible sigh and pressed close, making the long effort more than worth it.
While Sky's fingers began to run through Legend's hair, Warriors came marching back up to the campfire, hauling Wild and Hyrule along with him by their arms. Wild had donned some of the alternative gear he had stored in his slate and Hyrule wore an older, even more threadbare looking tunic over a pair of short trousers that were entirely unsuitable for cave diving.
"I said no exploring," Warriors scolded as he delivered the two omegas back to the pack. Time wordlessly made room for Hyrule as Warriors shoved him at him and Twilight was barely ready to catch Wild when Warriors tossed him down.
"We weren't going far," Wild protested.
Hyrule nodded vigorously. "I grew up in a cave, I know what's safe and what isn't!"
Warriors just groaned and let his head fall back to stare at the ceiling of the cave. "Blessed Din, Nayru, and Farore, grant us the patience needed to deal with this nonsense," he muttered. Looking back down, he scowled again. "No exploring. For the love of the Three, please reman where you can at least smell fresh air."
That earned Warriors a small huff and sniff from Hyrule. "Just for that, I'm going to bet that our quest here will involve some underground lair with no windows."
"As long as it's not this cave when the heavens are trying to drown us, I don't care," groaned Warriors.
Legend let out a soft laugh and let his head roll towards Sky's ear some. "He's going to be eating those words," he murmured. "Our luck guarantees it at this point."
"Maybe it will be a fun underground layer?" Sky whispered back, prompting the beta to let out a startled snort of laughter.
"Tell us about Castle Town, Captain," Four suggested then, overriding the continued stream of muttered verbal sniping coming from the two omegas.
"Gladly," Warriors said in a pointed voice. "My era's Castle Town is a quite sophisticated urban locale, far more so than anything else we've visited so far."
"I think we're fundamentally incompatible with sophisticated urban environments," Sky whispered as Warriors began extoling the virtues of his home city. Bless him for being passionate. It wasn't as though the rest of them couldn't wax poetic about their homes, more that Warriors managed to talk about it all with a degree of polish and cultured words that most of them lacked.
"Fucking terrifying number of opportunities for arson to go wrong," Legend muttered back. "Bet you ten rupees Wild gets shot at for climbing defensive walls within the first hour we're there."
"No bet. That's all but guaranteed."
Warriors glared at them when the giggling started to grow loud but Sky really didn't care. Instead, he pulled Legend a bit closer and let his eyes drift closed as Warriors' voice washed over him. For all they were all mostly stripped to their smallclothes in a damp smelling cave, it was actually quite cozy.
Naturally, at some point into Sky's dozing, it all went to hell when Hyrule suddenly let out a startled shriek.
"Wild, what the actual hell?!"
"'m bored," came the somewhat muffled reply.
Second after that, Twilight let out his own startled squawk and Sky sighed, knowing he should probably look up.
Four was laughing and Wind squealing by the time Sky got his eyes to focus properly and-
… What?
"Why the actual fuck is there a needle in your ear?" Legend demanded in a voice laced with oh-so many layers of shock and incredulity.
Wild gave them a somewhat confused look and withdrew the long piercing needle from where he'd slid it along the tip of one ear. "I'm bored. Warriors is being boring," he said, speaking clearly now that he wasn't holding something in his mouth. He wiped whatever he'd just spat out with a cloth, the sharp tang of antiseptic alcohol wafting briefly through the air, then moved his hands up to his ear. When they came down, a short metal rod with two rounded ends was cutting through the tip of his ear.
There was a long pause as everyone drank in the new addition.
Hyrule buried his face in his hands while Twilight just shook his head.
"You're runnin' outta room, cub."
There was a noticeable hesitation before Wild picked up his piercing needle, eyes passing consideringly over the pack assembled around them.
"No more piercing random body parts," Time ordered him in a sharp voice. Then, as Wild nodded with far too much readiness, he hastily added, "No more piercing. At all. Unless we're in a proper shelter with beds and things. Not… a random cave."
"Aww. I don't get to have any fun."
"You're just going to have to cope," Warriors said in a clipped voice.
Sky felt his lips twitching. Now he'd done it.
Warriors pressed on, grinding forward with the unrelenting confidence of someone who'd been trained to make small talk since he was in the creche. "In fact, why don't we have a long and detailed talk about protocol in the city so we can be absolutely certain you didn't miss anything?"
Wild's subsequent groan was properly theatrically pained and the glumness in his face showed he knew full well that Warriors wasn't dragging him off to play. No, it was lecture time for the slender omega and Wild had no way of getting out of it this time.
"That's a fuck up for sure," Legend said with a soft snicker.
"We learn through our mistakes," Sky said, settling back against his bedroll. He tugged Legend closer, making certain he was properly tucked up against his side.
"There's a lot of those going around tonight," Legend agreed.
"This isn't a bad place to make them, though." A thoughtful hum answered Sky's words before Legend tugged lightly at Sky's arm, pulling him to properly lie down. It was nice being able to just pull the veteran close and hold him for a while.
Sky would make certain Legend felt safe, no matter how long the storm raged outside.