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Warriors watched as Legend batted another branch away from his face with an irritable grunt. The forest was denser than it had looked to be in the distance, and they only made slow progress. A fact which was starting to annoy the vet, if one were to judge by the way he cursed under his breath.
But then again, it had been an awful day already, and it was still early in the afternoon, so there was time for lots of things to go wrong yet. Maybe Legend deserved some slack after having been tossed overboard and washed ashore on an unknown beach, all their equipment left behind with the others on the boat.
Warriors himself was feeling … oddly calm despite their current predicament. He had seen Legend topple over the railing and into the angry ocean, he’d caught a glimpse of Legend’s terrified expression just before he disappeared into the roaring water.
Warriors’ own face had surely been a mirror of the veteran’s, fear for his brother’s life driving the captain to jump in after him. The waves of panic in Warriors’ mind had been just as gruesome as the literal ones which threatened to pull him and Legend apart and drag them to an early grave.
But they had survived. Somehow, they’d gotten incredibly lucky and washed ashore before they drowned. Warriors wondered if Hylia had intervened on their behalf to make sure they survived. Maybe she was out there somewhere, keeping watch to make sure they didn’t die before completing their adventure.
Oddly enough, that idea was equally comforting and terrifying to Warriors.
But whatever the reason, they had survived. Legend and Warriors were alive and as well as could reasonably be expected given the circumstances. It felt like Warriors’ mind had decided that since they were alive, there was nothing more to worry about. Like it had already used its quota of anxiety for today. The forest felt almost safe despite their current lack of both weapons, healing supplies, and travel companions.
Warriors wondered if that was a trauma response he wasn’t yet familiar with. Maybe his mind was just gearing up to royally fuck him over later.
Legend grumbled as a vine swung back into his face from where he’d pushed it away. Clearly, he wasn’t sharing the captain’s calm state of mind.
“You okay, Vet?” he tried carefully.
“Just peachy,” Legend snapped. “I love almost drowning and getting lost on a stupid, tropical island in an era I don’t know.”
Warriors didn’t really have anything to say to that.
“…Sorry,” came Legend’s voice a few minutes later.
“Apology accepted,” the captain replied. He didn’t say anything more than that. He’d learnt long ago that there was a fine line to how far one could go when asking Legend personal questions. If his brother wanted to talk about what was bothering him, he’d follow up on it himself now that Warriors had initiated the conversation. If Legend wasn’t interested in talking, it would only serve to aggravate him further if anyone started pestering him.
“Look,” Legend said, and pointed to something. His annoyed expression had been replaced with the more business-like one which occasionally appeared on his face when things got bad. It was his “hero-face”, Warriors supposed, the one the vet wore when he was completely serious. It was an expression the captain had learnt to respect. If the vet thought a situation warranted absolute seriousness, he was usually right.
Legend was pointing to a building. Giant columns of marble rose to both sides of an opening in the wall. The roof was sparklingly white in the afternoon sun. A dirt-trodden path led into the darkness between the columns. It looked as though the rooms inside the building might stretch into the cliff behind it.
“Is that…?”
“A dungeon,” Legend confirmed. “Possibly even the one we were looking for when we ran into the storm.”
Warriors frowned. “I don’t like this. We have no supplies. Our priority should be to find the others.”
“I agree,” Legend said. “It would be suicide to go in there without weapons. We should change course. Maybe follow the shore and hope we can find a village that way.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
They turned to leave, but froze as a roar rose from somewhere near the dungeon. They looked at each other.
“Oh, that’s not good.”
“Moblins?”
“Moblins,” Legend confirmed.
“Well, shit.”
“Quick and to the point as always, Cap.”
“Shut up.”
Another roar sounded, this one closer by.
“We should get out of here,” Warriors said.
“Agreed.”
They bolted through the forest, vines and thorns snagging at their clothes. Warriors’ mind decided it had some fear to spare despite his earlier calm, and the boost of adrenaline sent him flying through the undergrowth.
He sprang through another bush and screeched to a halt. Legend, still going full speed behind him, smacked directly into him. Luckily, the vet was even smaller than he was, and he managed to keep on his feet.
“What’s going – oh.”
Legend cut himself off as he peered around Warriors.
“This day officially sucks.”
The captain couldn’t agree more.
In front of them sat three very startled bokoblins, apparently in the middle of an early dinner. A small fire flickered between them, the remains of an animal still attached to a stick which hung over the flames.
The bokoblins scrambled to pick up their weapons.
Warriors lunged, hoping he could get his hands on a weapon if only he was quick enough. Between the moblins on their heels and the three bokoblins, they were already outnumbered. Their chances of making it out alive would go from slim to none if they’d also have to fight unarmed.
When he was a meter away from the pile of weapons, Warriors realized he wouldn’t be fast enough. Changing tactics at the very last second, he caught one of the bokoblins around the middle and effectively knocked them both away from the pile. Warriors registered out of the corner of his eye that Legend used the opening to pick up a club, which he didn’t hesitate to ram into another bokoblin’s face. Warriors didn’t have time to see anything more than that, because his own bokoblin snarled beneath him and tried to rip out his throat with its fangs. He managed to avoid the sharp teeth but had to roll away in the process. He got to his feet a few meters away from the monster, eyeing it warily.
Warriors spared Legend another glance. The vet was expertly weaving around the two other bokoblins. He moved like a swordsman despite the club in his hands, relying more on precise jabs and slashes than brute force. Still, it was obvious he was generally skilled in combat, and the bokoblins had yet to land a single hit on him while the monsters themselves were already covered in bruises.
Both of the other bokoblins carried clubs, too. If Warriors could get his hands on one of those clubs ... well, it wasn’t a sword, but it would be better than fighting emptyhanded.
When the unarmed bokoblin charged toward him again, Warriors dodged to the side. It stumbled forward, letting out a startled shriek when it almost lost balance. The captain swung his leg around in a circle, the top of his foot connecting with the back of the monster’s head. It fell over and stayed down. Warriors wasn’t counting on it remaining like that for long, but he didn’t stay to deal with it. Instead, he turned his attention back to the three other fighters.
Legend’s eyes caught his momentarily, and something passed between them. The next moment, the veteran pressed his attack so that the bokoblins were forced back. Warriors swiped the feet from under the closest of them, and it fell with a surprised grunt. He was over it before it had a chance to get up, and he managed to wrangle the club out of its hands. He struck forcefully down with the club on the bokoblin’s skull, and a sickening crunch told him he wouldn’t need to worry about this opponent anymore.
Meanwhile, Legend had clobbered his own foe to death, able to move more freely now that Warriors was dealing with the other monster. The third bokoblin finally got to its feet again, rubbing the back of its head. Legend struck it down before it had the chance to realize the tide of the battle had turned against it.
Warriors weighed the unusual weapon in his hand.
“Not my first choice of weapon,” he said. “But it did the job. Let’s get out of here before those moblins show up.”
As if on cue, the bush rattled and two moblins jumped out of it.
“Of course,” Warriors mumbled.
“I’ll take the right one,” said Legend. The captain nodded. And with that little detail clarified, they sprang into battle.
Warriors’ moblin carried a club – a club almost as big as the captain himself – while Legend’s opponent carried an actual sword. Warriors dodged when his foe attacked, a little unsure of how to handle the situation. He was lacking both his usual sword and shield, and thus really had no way of parrying; he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to deflect the moblin’s club with his own. Both because of how unwieldy his weapon was, but also because of the moblin’s greater strength.
Well, the moblin had a longer range than he did, so there was no point in trying to move away from it. He would have to get closer if he wanted to land a hit.
When the moblin attacked again, Warriors darted under its arm. He twisted himself mid-air and rammed the club into the moblin’s side with all the strength he could muster. The beast staggered to the side, but soon regained its footing.
Cursing under his breath, Warriors threw himself down to avoid the monster’s next hit. Luckily, it was still slightly off-balance, and it didn’t come anywhere near striking true.
The captain rolled away from its feet before he was crushed. He jumped up and charged towards the monster. It struck out, but he feinted left at the very last second. Mirroring a spin attack he’d once seen Time perform, he bashed the club into the monster. This time, it roared in pain and fell, something beneath its skin audibly cracking. Warriors spared no time in bringing his weapon down on its head and ending the monster’s life.
He turned to help his brother just in time to see him go down.
Legend had been holding his own against the much larger opponent fairly well, especially considering that the moblin had a clear advantage with the sword. Unfortunately, the thud from the other moblin’s body had forced him to take his eyes off the blade and look behind him. He dodged the moblin’s next attack a moment too late and took a hit to the arm.
Warriors didn’t have time to look at Legend’s wound. He could only hope it wasn’t too serious as he stepped between his brother and the enemy, weapon raised. Cold fear mixed with hot anger in Warriors’ veins and turned him reckless. With one hand, he grabbed the moblin’s arm when it jabbed, and with the other he swung his club. The bones in the moblin’s arm snapped, and the monster howled in pain. Instead of letting go of the broken arm, Warriors yanked it toward himself, drawing another scream from the moblin’s throat. He bashed its head in with the club and put it out of its misery.
He quickly scanned the area, and when he didn’t see any other enemies, he hurried to Legend’s side. The veteran had clamped his hand over the wound in an attempt to hinder the bleeding, but the red liquid flowed steadily from between his fingers, nonetheless.
Warriors gripped the edge of his already ruined tunic and ripped it into something which could be considered bandages if you squinted.
“You need a tourniquet,” he decided. He picked a branch from the ground, then wrapped one of the strips around Legend’s upper arm. He tied the knot around both branch and arm, using the branch to tighten the tourniquet. The blood flow from Legend’s arm slowed significantly.
“Let me see it,” Warriors requested and gestured to the wound. Legend nodded once, teeth gritted together in pain, and removed his hand.
The cut was deep, and it was no surprise it had been bleeding as much as it did. Actually, Warriors thought to himself, though he opted not to share the thought with Legend, it was extremely lucky the moblin hadn’t cut the arm clean off. He cleaned Legend’s wound and wrapped it tightly with the rest of the “bandages”. He couldn’t do much more without a potion or Hyrule’s healing magic.
“How’re you feeling, Vet?”
“Like I’ve been half-drowned and stabbed.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Warriors flopped down to lie on his back with a weary sigh.
“We should probably keep looking for the others, but I’m really tired,” he said. “Today sucked. I know our lives are fucked up, but surely this day makes it into the top three worst days of our lives.”
Legend laughed, pressing his uninjured arm to his stomach in an attempt to control himself. The captain smiled a little. Getting the veteran to truly laugh always felt like a win.
“Not even close,” the vet wheezed between laughs, “you?”
“Me too,” Warriors admitted. “Oh goddesses, we almost died so many times and it’s not even close.”
A slightly maniacal giggle forced its way out of his throat, and the two spent several minutes laughing hysterically. A small corner of Warriors’ mind recognized the absurdity of the situation and was just slightly worried about both his and Legend’s mental condition, but he couldn’t stop. It felt like all the stress and fear he’d been feeling today was finally leaving his body completely, and something about this whole mess was funny in a very fucked up way.
“I can’t believe we survived that,” Warriors finally said when they were both done laughing.
“Me neither, honestly,” Legend said. “It’s been a while since I had to fight without my equipment. I hadn't realized I’d grown so dependent on it.”
The veteran turned quiet, and Warriors raised himself onto an elbow to look at him.
“You ready to talk about what’s been bothering you all day?”
“You mean aside from the obvious?”
“Something was bothering you even before the storm,” Warriors said.
Legend sighed.
“Yeah, you’re right.” He sat up and hugged his knees. The captain followed suit and sat at his side.
“The truth is, I hate boats,” the vet admitted, pointedly looking away from his brother’s face. “One of my adventures started with a storm and a shipwreck. So, it’s not exactly been a fun day.”
Warriors made a little sound of understanding. There were so many things he still didn’t know about Legend’s adventures. The vet only spoke of his trauma rarely – with Warriors, at least – but they’d been growing closer during the last few months and were also getting to know each other better. The captain’s adventure had been very different from what he knew of Legend’s, but as two of Hylia’s chosen heroes, there could only be so many differences. They had both faced impossible odds to save a kingdom they loved. Warriors had discovered during his adventure with the Chain that that kind of shared experience inevitably resulted in a friendship.
“I washed ashore on a beach, just like we did today,” Legend continued. “In the beginning, it wasn’t so bad. The people on the island were nice.”
“But something went wrong,” Warriors said gently.
“But something went wrong,” Legend agreed. “Monsters started showing up everywhere.”
Legend’s face was covered by an emotion Warriors couldn’t quite interpret. Grief? Guilt? It was rare that the veteran dropped his façade completely and let others know how he felt. The captain felt … honored that his brother was choosing to share this with him. The story carried with it both something private and vulnerable. And Legend had decided he could trust Warriors with it.
“I defeated the monsters,” Legend said, cutting right to the heart of the matter, “but the island disappeared. Along with all the people on it.”
Legend looked at him for the first time since he’d begun his tale. His violet eyes were filled with an intense sadness.
“It wasn’t a real island, you see. When I shipwrecked, I was trapped in the dream of a deity called the Windfish. The island and everything on it was part of its dream. And when I defeated the monsters, I woke the Windfish, and the dream faded away.”
“I … I don’t know what to say.”
“Yeah, well, there isn’t much to say,” Legend said. “It sucked back then, and it still sucks now.”
“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Warriors said.
Legend laughed bitterly, a sharp contrast to his earlier glee. “Wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m still sorry it happened.”
Legend curled tighter around his knees and hissed in pain when he accidentally jostled the wound.
“The worst part was that it felt real. It’s been difficult for me to … trust my senses ever since.”
Warriors frowned, feeling more than a little alarmed at the sound of that.
“How so?”
“It isn’t as bad as it used to be anymore,” Legend said, “but sometimes I doubt if what I’m seeing is real. It’s been bad today, since the whole shipwreck-thing was exactly how it started last time.”
“Has it happened while we’ve been travelling together?” Warriors asked. “And how do you deal with it?”
Legend shrugged. “Happens every once in a while. Usually, I just find my ocarina and play The Ballad of The Windfish. And if nothing happens, then I know I’m not dreaming.”
“You know you can always come get me if you need company when it happens, right?”
Legend gave a small smile. “Yeah, I know, Cap. Thanks.”
Legend leaned back against his uninjured arm and looked at the sky. It was growing darker, the awful day finally over. High above them, a few stars were coming into view.
“‘And verily, it be the nature of dreams to end.’ That’s what the fucker told me right after the island disappeared,” he said. “The Windfish, I mean. And after everything I’ve seen on my adventures, I’m inclined to agree with it.”
Warriors put a careful hand on Legend’s shoulder. When the vet didn’t draw away, he put his arm around him. After a moment’s hesitation, Legend let his head rest on his brother’s shoulder. The physical contact was slightly awkward, since neither of them were that comfortable with touch, but Warriors found it was nice to sit like this. He should cherish all the moments he had with his brothers. Who knew how long they had left together, how long before the dream faded away?
So, Legend and Warriors stayed by the small campfire for the rest of the night. He removed Legend’s tourniquet and tended to the wound as best as he could without more supplies. The blood flow had mostly stopped, and it looked like the only permanent mark from the injury would be a wicked scar. After a day of disasters, it felt like a miracle to Warriors that at least one thing was going well. They spent the evening quietly trading stories from their adventures, both good and bad.
After Legend had fallen asleep, Warriors sat by the fire, watching the night around him. He had gotten first watch, and with only two people, it would be many hours before he needed to wake Legend for second. It was while he sat, watching his brother sleep peacefully, that he realized how close he’d truly grown to the other man. There were very few people in his life he felt comfortable sharing his trauma with, but somehow Legend had become one of them. It felt good to tell the vet about the war.
Warriors smiled. It was impossible to know what the new day would bring; they had almost no supplies and weapons, and they were still trapped on an unknown island. They would have to search for the Chain again tomorrow. But right now, they were okay. They had gotten through it. And if Warriors trusted anyone to have his back through all of this, it was his brother.