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Time snapped out of his nightmare without a sound, both eyes flying wide open as his breath caught in his throat and his entire body tensed up in fear. The image of the captain’s dead body laying on the ground in a pool of his own blood beneath the moon’s sickening grin was burnt into his vision. He didn’t even know what it was that had killed his brother, there had been no one but the two of them on a large empty plain as the moon sped towards them and the ground trembled beneath his feet.
He’d felt so small, so wrong, and his hands had looked so tiny as he’d tried to roll over his brother and wake him up, just to be met with cloudy, empty eyes. The captain’s face had looked thin and pale, and the worst part of it all was that he’d hardly looked different from how he had that last year of the war, the only real difference was that his hazel eyes were glazed over.
Time couldn’t see, for some reason. He was awake but all he could see was the captain dead in the grass and he could still feel the warmth of the man’s kid’s. Gods, the captain was so young, he was just a child… blood all over the front of him. Tears welled up in his eyes and he blinked furiously, not allowing himself to draw in a breath lest he let out a sob with the exhale.
Something moving his head startled him fully back to reality, and his heart skipped a beat before he realized his face was resting on someone’s chest and the warmth he felt pressed up against him was another person.
Right. He’d fallen asleep curled up against Warriors last night. Time wasn’t covered in the captain’s blood, that feeling was coming from his brother’s warm, living body. He was alive, because Time’s head rose and fell with every steady, deep breath that Warriors took. His brother was fine, the captain was safe, it had only been a nightmare.
Nightmares of Termina had plagued him, frequently, and while the dreams still terrified him, they’d slowed as he’d grown older. But that damned face in the moon still scared him to death when it tormented his unconscious mind, and he found himself having to look up to the sky for assurance. It was a quiet, cloudless night, and even with the trees and their leaves overhead, Time didn’t find it too difficult to spot what he was looking for amongst the twinkling stars. Seeing the crescent was usually enough these days to calm him, but tonight it soothed only half of his fears. He hadn’t seen Warriors like that since the war, that sickly looking and thin. It’d rattled him more than he ever thought it would.
Time slowly allowed himself to start breathing again out of fear that if he didn’t he’d pass out, ignoring the way he could hear his blood rushing in his ears. He felt so incredibly dizzy from lack of air, but he didn’t let the fact that his lungs were burning allow him to take large gasping breaths, instead forcing himself to breathe as close to normal as he could manage. He didn’t want to wake the captain, he didn’t want to move a single muscle because he knew his brother would fuss and worry over him if he were awake. It was rare that Warriors got deep, uninterrupted sleep, Time couldn’t take this from him. He couldn’t let his problems trouble the captain anymore, he was an adult now.
Warriors had given up so much for him, taking care of Time when he was no more than a child soldier himself. He’d been the closest thing Time had to a father since the Great Deku Tree, he’d been there for him every time he needed him during the damned war. Every scraped knee, every nightmare, every breakdown, every laugh, every cry, every moment of joy. The captain had been at his side through everything, selfless and strong, and Time had been too young to realize the full extent of everything his dear brother was suffering through. He’d been too young to realize Warriors was just a kid too.
Though he hadn’t been completely blind to the way the captain had deteriorated throughout the course of the war. He hadn’t been oblivious to how his cheekbones became more and more prominent, and how he could feel his brother’s ribs and spine too easily every time he’d been able to hug him, but part of him had needed so desperately to believe the captain every time he lied and said he was okay. Part of Time needed the stability of a false promise, because he’d needed to believe he was safe in a way he hadn’t felt in years.
But he hadn’t been stupid, he knew his brother was unwell, although seeing him every single day, Time hadn’t realized exactly just how bad the captain had gotten. He’d only been able to recognize whether or not his brother looked worse or better than he had the prior week. He’d been so close to him and spent so much time with him he hadn’t been able to realize that the boy he’d met at the start of the war had faded into someone completely unrecognizable, and he hadn’t fully realized how terrifying of a rock bottom the captain had hit. Not until tonight. Not until his more recent memories of his brother were fresh in his mind and he’d been confronted with just how much Warriors had actually healed in the years it’d been since the war.
His captain, the brother he’d looked up to, the person he’d told Malon all about for the past twenty years, the young man he’d adored…
Time wasn’t even aware of how his fingers gripped the fabric of Warrior’s tunic a little tighter.
His brother had been his hero then, he’d been his whole world. Not in the same way the soldiers looked to the captain and saw a hero, not in the same way the people of Hyrule were able to call him ‘Hero’ as a means to dehumanize him enough so it would be easier to separate themselves from the reality that all the pressure they were putting on the captain had been dropped onto the shoulders of a child. No, Time had looked at him and seen nothing but safety, love, and assurance. Stability amidst the chaos and violence of war. The captain had been everything to him then.
Warriors still was. He was everything. He was Time’s unofficial second in command, steady and reliable as always whenever Time needed him. He wasn’t the whole world, he was the sun, providing warmth and comfort, shining on the others and highlighting their strengths, laughing loud and bright with the most obnoxious jokes.
But he was also just a man. And before that, just a child. During the war he’d been hurting and suffering and pushing it all down, trying to stay positive and upbeat, and Time hadn’t even been able to realize how deep his brother’s pain went. He hadn’t realized how sick and how frail the captain had grown… He hadn’t been able to see how bad it had gotten, how close to death his brother had been worked, how physically affected by his mental health Warriors had been…
That corpse he’d rolled over in the grass in his nightmare... It had been so easy for his mind to conjure his brother dead because he’d seen him with practically one foot in the grave for months, and yet he hadn’t been able to see that. He hadn’t been able to help. He’d just been useless…
One day, perhaps soon, they’d have to part again. He’d have to leave him again…
The image of his brother’s dead body filled his mind again and the need to really check on Warriors, to see him okay with his own eye became too overwhelming. This time, Time couldn’t stop himself from sitting bolt upright. If Wild up on watch had any reaction to the speed at which he rose, not a word was said.
With his head now tilted down, Time was painfully aware of how his tears were blurring his vision. Beneath him, Warriors made a soft sound of confusion as he stirred, and Time cursed at himself. He was being selfish again, he’d woken up his brother.
By the time he’d successfully blinked away his tears so he could see again, the captain had woken a little more, and when Time looked back down he found sleepy hazel eyes staring up at him.
The immediate relief that flooded into him when he saw his brother’s face made him feel a bit pathetic. He wasn’t staring at sunken eyes or deathly pale skin, Warriors’s sharp cheekbones had healthy padding over them now that Time knew his brother had worked hard to get back. There was color back in his face, weight back on his frame, and he was breathing. He wasn’t dead, he was breathing. It was a nightmare, Warriors was alive and he was recovering from his trauma. He was getting healthier. He’d made so much progress.
“Sprite?”
He felt so incredibly awful for waking the captain up. He was being so stupid. He wasn’t a child anymore, he was acting ridiculous.
“Hey, you’re crying.”
Warriors’s gentle voice pulled him out of his thoughts just before his brother’s hand reached up and brushed a tear off his cheek with a careful thumb. The captain’s eyebrows were furrowed in concern as he searched his face, looking for any signs of Time’s discomfort or pain.
He hadn’t realized how fast his heart had still been pounding against his chest until he felt it start to slow down. The warmth of his brother’s hand against his face spread through him and he let out a shaky exhale. Twenty years later, those soft hazel eyes still promised stability and love. Twenty years later, the captain still made him feel safe.
“Nightmare?” Warriors asked softly, letting his hand drop from Time’s face so he could prop himself up on an elbow. He was blinking rather slowly and his breathing was deep and calm. If Time tried, he could probably successfully get his brother back to sleep.
He hummed in acknowledgment as he nodded his answer.
“Wanna talk about it?” The captain fought hard to get through his sentence before yawning.
“Just the same old stuff, I’ll be alright,” Time told him, letting out a breath in relief when his sleepy brother accepted that as enough of an answer. Warriors didn’t need to know how much he worried about him. He didn’t need to know how clearly Time now saw just how far he’d come.
He did deserve to be told how proud of him Time was, and how much he loved him. And that he did tell the captain.
“Mmm, I love you, too,” Warriors mumbled as his arm slid out from underneath him and he flopped back against his bedroll with another yawn, letting his eyes drift halfway shut. “An’ I’m proud of ya. Very proud.”
He couldn’t help but smile, and then laugh quietly when his reaction earned him a crooked smile from the captain as his eyes drifted all the way closed.
Warriors was just awake enough to make an annoyed little sound as he opened his arms to the sides in a gesture Time could only guess was a demand for him to lay back down, so he did, resting his head where it had been earlier and throwing an arm around the captain’s middle. His brother wiggled around a bit underneath him, shimmying downwards until he was able to rest his cheek on the top of Time’s head.
“You could’ve just asked me to move if that’s what you wanted,” Time whispered, rolling his eye.
“Mmm, yes, but… that’s words, an’ that’s… work,” Warriors grumbled, and Time didn’t have to see his brother’s face to know he was probably pouting.
“Go back to sleep, Captain,” he said softly, shifting so he was more comfortably pressed against his big brother. This close to him, he could smell the faint scent of oranges coming from Warriors and breathed in the comfort it brought him. The sweet smell of the fruit seemed to almost always cling to the captain. Time had a theory it was because he always brushed his hands off on his tunics after peeling them.
His brother mumbled something against the top of his head that Time couldn’t even hear and he wrapped his arms around him, burying one hand in his hair as the captain held him close. Almost exactly the same way he had when Time had gone and woken him up with his nightmares all those years ago.
It didn’t take much longer after that for Warriors to fall back to sleep.
Time himself was not so lucky. He lay awake for the rest of the night, holding on tightly to his dear captain who slept on, oblivious of his worries.