Chapter Text
Zia was distraught.
Her brother left. In the middle of the night. WITHOUT HER! They’d always been thick as thieves, saving Hyrule together. The sudden absence left the whole chain unsettled; they’d been reckless and foolish, leaving without warning. Now everyone was chasing after them. Twilight was so afraid and guilty and angry and-
"Midnight?"
She startled and looked up sharply. Star was blinking at her, concern shining in her blue eyes. Midnight stared at her for a moment then tried for a shaky smile.
"Yep. Although, I'll better once we find Time, Twilight, and Wild."
"Won't we all." she heard Legend mutter and found she couldn't agree more. Her heart was still thumping wildly in her chest, and she still felt the emotions feverishly racing through her mind and boiling her blood and the urgency to go go go go made itself ever present but she forced herself to pause and take a deep breath and try to send comforting feelings and thoughts to Twilight, all of them almost immediately getting swept away by the torrent of terrible very scary emotions and what in Nayru's great grace was going on over there-
She felt a smaller hand clasp around hers, soft and gentle, and heard cooing sounds. She looked down and smiled at the sight of a small face full of soft baby fat and eyes as big as the moon with a whisp of blonde hair crowning her head. Mini, her official nickname, reached her hands up and made little grabby hands, the universal sign of 'pick me up'. She complied, scooping the baby up and holding her up on her hip, pressing up against Star, who was still next to her, in thanks. Said girl grinned at her, pressing back playfully.
She turned to the Captain, trying to pay close attention to whatever he was saying. One thing was for sure; she was absolutely gonna kick someone's ass by the end of this.
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Zia sat in the calm of the day, letting the shade of the tree she and the young girls were resting in.
Nicknamed Gloom for her stoic and slightly hostile demeanor, she’s not the first person you would pick to babysit your kids, right?
So, you would think.
But since she was the youngest one who was more mature than the others, she was put in charge of the smaller ones whenever the boys either need a break or had something important to talk about; Waves, Spark, Kakariko, Myth, Mini... Pretty much everyone. The only girls that weren't here right now were Mini, who was napping with Time (Although, she should go retrieve her when it was time to eat), Midnight (Who was keeping Twilight company as he spiraled into... whatever mental problems the bitch has), and Spark (Who was recovering from wounds, similar to Wild).
Although the girls she was with have little knowledge of what happened to the three boys and Spark, but they wasted no time in telling her about it. She just has one thing to say.
To many people's surprise, torture was not something she approved of. At all.
She sighed, looking up at the clear blue sky. All this shit was so fucking complicated, feelings and such. As much as she hated the vulnerability they brought (She loathed the vulnerability, the way just looking at the chain filled her with something disgustingly warm and seeing them smile brought a kind of pleasure she only found in her own brother's smile. She hated it all) it also felt... kind of good, to be honest. She'd rather kill herself than admit that to anyone.
She didn't move even as Waves waddled up and nestled into her side, blinked up Gloom with big blue eyes.
"I like days like today. The wind is blowin' real nicely and you can smell the saltwater from the sea."
Myth settled next to the lookout and grinned at the smaller Light. "Can't argue with that! With all the adventures I've been on, the sea is one of my favorite places..."
Gloom let the conversation fade from her mind as she looked out over the hill they were situated on. The grass was alive with flowers; pink and white and blue popping out of the green stalks beautifully and creating a picture-worthy scene. She suddenly wished she had Wild's Slate.
As the rest of the girls started to cuddle around her, talking and laughing and being loud and precocious as normal, Waves spoke quietly, "What happened to them?"
Gloom glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, her expression impassive. "Not something for you to worry about. You'll be safe."
"Are they safe, Gloom? Will they be okay?" Waves shot back, concern shining brightly in her eyes. Gloom stared back at her. She sighed.
"Maybe. It's hard to say for sure. But they can get there." That seemed to placate the little star. She looked down for a moment before snuggling back up to her and closing her eyes. That seemed to make everyone want to press up against her. Yeah, sure. You do that. She could feel her hostility start to rise, bubbling beneath her skin and making the hair on her arms and even the long hair sprouting from her head started to bristle before it calmly went back down. No need for anger today, no need to push people away.
Maybe this was okay.
She leaned her head back and looked out at the sky.
Maybe having feelings wasn't so bad
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Loss was new to Spark.
She had felt it second hand though, sometimes through Feral; the look she used to give Wild held so much pain and bittersweet love that it used to make her chest hurt. She had a cousin who died to a bokoblin years before she was born, and her aunt still felt that pain to this day. She remembered when her mother used to cry at night, when she thought her kid was asleep, always mourning the loss of her mother.
The loss of a loved one was always second hand.
Only an imprint, like the hand of a ghost brushing against skin
It hurt, obviously, but she didn't imagine it would hurt this much.
Seeing Time's body, still and silent, hurt so much she began to wonder how the world was even still moving around them. How time was still ticking away, why the hell was life still moving? Time was dead and there was nothing she could do about it. Her lungs seemed to constrict, and she couldn't inhale anymore. Time's hand was sticky with blood and as cold as the snow on Snowpeak Mountain. She wasn't used to that.
Silent tears streamed down her face. It felt like something was taken from her, something precious. Like someone ripped a vital organ out of her and left her cold and empty. She brought his hand up to her heart and curled in on herself. The imminent danger could wait a couple of lifetimes.
She promised she would never dismiss anyone else's grief again