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Hyrule peeked around the boulder they were positioned behind and promptly drew his head back, an arrow whizzing past him.
“Are you trying to get hit?” Legend hissed from his side, but his words carried no real heat – the vet himself was also attempting to get a look at their foe from the other side of the boulder. Another arrow forced him to give up on the ordeal, and he cursed.
“How many do you think we’re dealing with?” Hyrule asked.
“Hard to say,” Legend grumbled. “At least two since they’ve been able to pin us down like this. But hopefully not much more than that.”
A horn sounded not long from their current position. Legend sighed.
“And, of course, things are about to get a lot more complicated. Typical.”
“What do you think the chances are that the others heard that?”
“With our luck? Close to zero.”
They had been on patrol when the monsters came out of nowhere. The others were in the middle of setting up camp not far from here, blissfully unaware of the two heroes’ less-than-ideal predicament.
“We gotta get out of here before those monsters arrive.”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Legend replied.
“Any long-range weapons?”
His brother winced. “A bow, a boomerang. My hookshot’s back at camp. But as long as we’re perched behind this rock, I can’t hit anything. You?”
“Same,” he said. “My weapons aren’t ideal for this either.”
Hyrule desperately missed Warriors who always had a plan. But the captain was back at camp, so he’d have to come up with something himself.
Fact 1: They were pinned down behind a boulder, and there was no reason to think any of their brothers were on their way to help them.
Fact 2: There was reason to think even more monsters were on their way, so Hyrule would really prefer to deal with these archers as soon as possible.
Fact 3: Their weapons were no good for this situation.
What would Warriors gather from that, if he were with them?
That we’re fucked, was Hyrule’s first thought, but he quickly shook it away. That wasn’t very helpful.
Perhaps Warriors would move away from thinking of weapons altogether and try for another approach. Did Hyrule or Legend have any other skills or items which could be useful?
The thought struck Hyrule like lightning strikes a tree. He had magic.
“I have a plan,” he said. “Get down.”
Legend pressed himself close to the boulder, and Hyrule concentrated on the small bubble of magic in his chest. It swelled with power, expanding gleefully, but he kept it in check, unwilling to release its full potential.
The air crackled with electricity. Above them, the sky was rapidly darkening, black and purple clouds drawing together in front of the sun. They rumbled with thunder, and lightning bolts jumped between the clouds, though Hyrule didn’t let the storm loose.
The sound of the monsters came closer. He strained himself to keep the spell contained. Just a few seconds more…
The monsters gave a chorus of excited grunts as they stepped into range, and Hyrule let go of his control.
With an ear-shattering boom, the first bolt of lightning struck the ground. More followed it, and Hyrule pressed himself close to Legend, the two brothers clinging to each other. The veteran’s hand gripped his so tightly it almost hurt, and Hyrule closed his eyes. Flashes of white danced behind his closed eyelids, and the screams of the monsters mixed horrifically with the rumbling thunder.
Slowly, the pauses between the bolts of lightning became longer, and Hyrule finally dared to open his eyes. The ground in front of them was singed, and the trees were destroyed, several of them having fallen when the lightning struck their trunks. The world looked vastly different from how it had been before he cast the spell. The smell of something burnt filled his nose.
“I think it’s over,” he said.
Legend cautiously opened his own eyes. They widened at the sight of the destruction before him.
“Holy shit, Rulie. You could do that the entire time?!”
Hyrule shrugged, a little embarrassed by the awestruck note in his brother’s voice. He could feel his cheeks darkening.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said and rose to his feet.
“Yeah, sure,” Legend said, still looking at him like he was seeing him for the first time. The traveler extended a hand to his predecessor.
An arrow embedded itself in his arm.
For a moment, all Hyrule could do was stare at the projectile, dumbfounded. Then he raised his eyes to the bokoblin with the bow. The poor thing looked almost traumatized, he thought absentmindedly. The bow shook in its hands.
Quicker than anyone could comprehend, Legend stood and threw his boomerang. It hit its target right in the head, and the monster sank to the ground, dissolving a moment later.
Legend rummaged through his pouch, muttering something about how often they were missing potions when they needed them, but Hyrule could hardly hear him over the thunder in his ears. He was bleeding.
Hyrule was bleeding.
He grabbed the arrow around the shaft. Legend frowned.
“You should let the arrow stay until-”
Hyrule yanked it out with steady hands, and Legend’s words cut off with a horrified sound when he clasped his hand over the wound and burnt it.
“Hyrule!”
For the first time since Hyrule had met him, Legend seemed at a complete loss for words. He just stared at him, eyes wide and mouth open.
“What? We didn’t have a potion, and my magic was too depleted to heal it.”
“That’s not – why – camp isn’t far, you could have gotten a potion there!”
“But I was bleeding?”
“Well, yeah, but – hang on, do you do this every time you bleed?!”
Hyrule curled a little in on himself, certain he had done something wrong, but not sure what.
“I didn’t want to leave a blood trail,” he defended himself. “Monsters like my blood.”
Legend put a warm hand on his shoulder and made a visible effort to calm down.
“Rulie, do you have any idea how alarming that statement is? How alarming this whole conversation is?”
Hyrule looked away, and Legend’s voice turned softer.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be that blunt. But … what did you mean by ‘monsters like my blood’?”
“It’s – well, it has magical properties,” Hyrule admitted. “There’s a reason I have so much magic. I’m part fairy.”
He took a deep breath. No sense in beating around the bush.
“In my own era, I’m constantly hunted because of it. The monsters believe my blood can be used to bring back Ganon.”
Hyrule sneaked a glance at his brother. Legend’s face had turned a very funny color, and his facial muscles seemed to be frozen in a look of bafflement.
“They believe … it can be used … to bring back Ganon?” Legend asked, very slowly.
“Mhm.”
“And can it?”
Hyrule shrugged. “Well, I can’t say I’ve tried. But … yes, I think so.”
“Your blood,” Legend said, and leaned back against the boulder like his legs couldn’t properly support his weight, “can bring back Ganon.”
“Yeah.”
“From the dead.”
“Yup.”
“As in, we’d have to defeat him again if that happened.”
“Uh-huh.”
Legend covered his face with his hand.
“I need a minute,” he mumbled.
Hyrule watched nervously while his brother stood there, still as a statue. He didn’t fully understand what the big deal was. Obviously, Ganon’s return would be a huge deal. But Ganon hadn’t returned, and Hyrule was determined to keep it that way. He had cauterized the wound because he was aware of the curse on his blood. He was dealing with it. Hylia, they had all dealt with monsters and curses and weird magic in one way or another during their adventures. There was nothing inherently special about Hyrule’s problems.
“Does any of the others know about this?” Legend asked. His voice was slightly muffled by his hand.
“No…”
The veteran straightened up and looked properly at the other hero. He had regained most of his composure, but Hyrule still thought he looked a little pale.
“You’ll have to tell them at some point,” Legend said gently. “I understand what it’s like to have stuff you’d rather keep to yourself, and normally I’d say ‘go ahead. You don’t have to share anything you don’t want to.’ But this is a dangerous secret. And the others need to know so that they can accommodate it, even if you’re unconscious or something.”
“I know,” Hyrule said miserably. “I just don’t know how. It’s not exactly something you share over dinner.”
Especially not since most of the Chain had spent years making sure Ganon couldn’t terrorize the people of Hyrule. Telling them that they were one unlucky battle away from their efforts having been in vain? Not exactly a fun conversation.
“I’ll help you figure it out,” Legend promised. “It’s not your fault your blood can resurrect the king of evil. Besides, that fairy blood can’t be all bad. I can’t count all the times your healing has saved our asses.”
Hyrule smiled a little, and Legend slung an arm across his shoulders. The vet smiled back at him, then turned solemn.
“But seriously. No more burning yourself to cauterize wounds.”
“But-”
“No,” Legend interjected. “We’ll find another way. Maybe we can make sure you always have a potion on you or something like that. I don’t know, we can brainstorm later. But no more burning yourself. Got it?”
Legend’s clever, violet eyes stared him down with a startling intensity. They were filled with worry and fondness. Legend was worried about him. Something warm settled in Hyrule’s chest.
“Got it,” he said.
“Good. Now, let’s get back to camp so you can get a potion for that arm,” Legend said. They started walking, the vet’s arm still slung over Hyrule’s shoulders.
“So, part fairy, huh? Healing and thunder magic. Anything else you forgot to mention?”
Hyrule’s grin grew. “There might be a few things…”