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alicewritingstories · 4 months ago

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Whumperless Whump Event: Scattered in the Mountains

@whumperless-whump-event

Fandom: Linked Universe

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Prompts for this chapter:

5: Wheezing / Light-headed / "I'll count, you just breathe"

9: Coughing up blood

15: Passing out / Exhaustion / "I've got you, let's sit down, I've got you."

16: Half-conscious / Delirious / "You would never say that in your right mind..."

17: Dangerously high fever / "We have to get that number down somehow."

Central characters: Legend and Sky

***

By the time Legend spotted a promising-looking dark crack in a cliff, the shadows of evening were lengthening and he was supporting most of Sky's weight. The other hero was audibly wheezing for breath, his eyes closed. From time to time a shudder ran through him.

"Hey, Sky, if I go and check if that's a cave, will you be OK on your own?"

Sky nodded, huffing out another difficult, noisy breath. Legend reached up and laid a hand on his forehead.

"Goddesses, Sky, you're burning up." The fever had gotten even worse than before.

Shy shivered again.

"OK, lean on the tree here." Legend helped him the couple of steps over to a nearby tree. "Are you going to be OK?"

Sky nodded, his eyes fluttering open.

"I… 'm OK," he whispered, having to gasp between words.

Legend let out an irritated sigh, but arguing about it was just wasting time and he hurried over to the cliff, balancing urgency with caution; he might not be the first to see that cave and think it was a promising place to shelter.

But this time, for once, they were lucky. Or at least all their bad luck had been used up by the malfunctioning portal and Sky's illness. The cave was empty, went back just far enough to shelter the two of them - a little more snugly than he'd have liked, but he could accept that tradeoff - and it looked safe enough.

From behind him, he heard another coughing fit. When he looked round, he saw that Sky was leaning heavily on the tree, coughing into his hand so hard he looked about to break apart. Even as Legend took a step towards him, Sky's knees buckled and Legend sprinted back to his side to support him.

"Sky?"

Sky wheezed in a breath, then forced it out again. He was pale, his eyes distant and unfocussed as he hovered on the edge of fainting, and he was still half-covering his mouth with his hand.

"Sky, don't pass out. Don't you dare." Legend swallowed hard, looking at the cave, suddenly very aware that his friend was taller and heavier than him. He could drag him if he had to. He'd rather not, but he could.

Then Sky finally pulled his hand away from his mouth and Legend's heart skipped a beat as he saw blood splattered on his palm and smeared on his chin and pale lips.

Legend swore. Sky coughed once more and wiped the blood off his face, then scrubbed his hand clean on the tree.

"Well… I found a cave," said Legend, swallowing the anxious lump in his throat. "Not that big, but it's dry."

Sky nodded again, stumbling as he tried to take his own weight again.

"Can you make it?" asked Legend, ducking under his arm.

"Yeah…" panted Sky. "Just… spinning a… bit."

"OK, well, it's not far."

They stumbled over to the cave, Legend taking way too much of Sky's weight. A couple of times Sky coughed quietly, clearing his throat, but as far as Legend could see there was no more blood.

As they crossed the threshold and Sky had to duck slightly, the light-headedness apparently got the best of him and his knees gave way.

"Hey!" cried Legend, his own knees buckling. "Sky!"

Sky moaned. Legend saw his eyes slide open, once again rolling and unfocussed.

"OK, I've got you. Let's sit down; I've got you." He eased them both slowly down, laying Sky on the ground, on his side to ease his breathing. "OK, Sky. Can you hear me?"

"Ledge… Help…" That was all he could manage, his breath coming fast and desperate.

"OK, I'll count, you just breathe." Legend grabbed his hand and held it to his own chest. "With me. In… two… three… out… two… three…" As he counted, he exaggerated the movement of his own breathing and gradually Sky's own breathing calmed, easier now that he was lying down and no longer having to walk. He was still wheezing, but it was at least better.

"OK," said Legend softly. Sky's hand felt clammy in his, but when he laid a hand on his friend's head it was still so hot, his hair damp with sweat.

"It… I'm sorry…"

"Hey, all you need to be sorry for is letting yourself get this bad without saying anything," said Legend. "But we can talk about that later, OK?"

"I'm sorry, I… I tried…" Sky's voice broke on a sob. "I tried…" Then he started coughing again, blood spraying on the ground by his face. Legend watched helplessly, his heart in his throat, until at last the fit was over and Sky went limp, panting, blood still dripping sluggishly from his lips. Legend wiped it away, trying not to let his hand shake.

"OK," he said firmly. "So what we're going to do now is you're going to get into your bedroll and sleep this off like you should have done days ago."

Sky coughed and shivered.

Getting him into the bedroll was difficult, but the really concerning thing was the way he put up no resistance at all to having his sash, boots, and sailcloth taken off. Even when Legend unbuckled the master sword from his back, he could only murmur a protest and flail a hand, his breathing once more turning harsh. Luckily, he quieted again when he found that the sword was laid next to him.

Legend wanted to get rid of the layers of outer tunics and chain mail as well, but with no help from Sky that wasn't going to be feasible. And he was going to get no help from Sky; the older hero's eyes barely fluttered open when Legend called his name and there was no light of awareness in them.

Legend gritted his teeth and pulled Sky's blanket aside, folding it next to his bag. He was already too hot. It was best to leave that for now.

"Sky?" He hesitated for a moment, then combed his fingers through Sky's hair, pushing his bangs back from his sweat-beaded brow.

Sky thrashed his head from one side to the other and coughed up more blood. Legend gritted his teeth. It was going to be a long night.

***

Slowly, the light faded outside their cave and Sky's fever burned hotter and hotter while his breathing just got noisier and more labored.

Legend hissed through his teeth, cramming fear down under frustration as he tipped a little more water onto a rag laid on Sky's forehead. They were starting to run short and he didn't want to risk leaving Sky alone to search for more, but if he didn't think of something he was going to have to.

Sky whimpered, his eyes flickering open, but when Legend called his name he didn't react, his gaze hazy and unfocussed.

"Zel…" he murmured.

"Zelda's not here, Sky," said Legend.

"I… I tried… I…" Tears spilled from Sky's eyes as he flailed a hand vaguely. "I… no… Zelda, no…"

"We have got to get your temperature down somehow," muttered Legend. He hadn't wanted to do this - it seemed like it might be too much - but he grabbed his ice rod and touched it to the wet rag on Sky's forehead, activating it at the lowest power he could manage. Where the rod was touching the rag it froze solid and he snatched it away, but not before Sky let out a wail that broke down into coughing that didn't stop and left yet more blood starring on his lips.

With a curse, Legend grabbed his shoulder to pull him onto his side, but Sky squirmed free, lashing out at nothing with an elbow and grabbing for a sword over his shoulder that wasn't there.

"Sky! It's OK, it's me! It's Legend!"

Sky kept coughing even as he started struggling to get up.

"Oh, no you don't." Legend grabbed Sky's shoulders to try to make him lie down, but Sky snarled and headbutted him in the forehead so hard he saw stars.

"Get… away from me," he rasped, groping for the sword again, but then the arm he was using to prop himself up gave way and Legend just managed to throw an arm under his head before it hit the ground. Sky flailed helplessly for a moment longer, but then went limp, his breath quick with a faint gurgle in his throat. Legend thought he was unconscious and started to settle him on his side, but then he whispered, "You're a monster."

Legend startled.

"Zelda… you… she… let her go…"

He kidnapped the princess!

Legend flinched as the remembered words rang in his ears, as clear as life.

"You're… a monster…" whispered the knight in his arms.

Legend shook his head hard to push the memory away and gripped Sky's shoulder. "You would never say that in your right mind," he said, more to himself than Sky. "You don't mean it. It's fine. Zelda's fine. Just… Just get some sleep and let me take care of you."

One more time, Sky's hand twitched back up towards where his sword hilt would normally be, but he didn't fight when Legend guided it under his blood-smeared cheek to support his head. His breathing was still too fast and harsh and Legend didn't even need to touch him to feel the heat radiating off him.

Legend let out a huff of breath, then he draped the wet - now melting - cloth back on Sky's brow and froze it again. Finally, he blew out his lantern to save the oil and hugged his knees to his chest, leaning on the wall of the cave and listening to the labored sound of Sky's breath.

Once again, he shoved away the fear as best he could. There were more useful things to think about.

They were going to need more water. He had a few drops left in his bottle and whatever was in Sky's and Sky needed to drink way more than Legend had managed to get into him so far.

As if to emphasize the problem, Sky stirred and let out a soft whine as if in pain.

"Sky?" Legend pulled himself away from the wall again, his heart sinking.

"Zelda…" rasped Sky. "Rescue Zelda… she's…"

A shudder went down Legend's spine as his uncle's last words echoed in the dark.

"It's fine," he said again quickly. "You're fine. You're going to be fine." He wasn't going to have someone else die in front of him. Not again. He couldn't face this again.

"Legend?"

Legend let out a quick, relieved huff of breath. If Sky recognised him, that could only be a good sign. "Yeah, it's me. Here, have a drink." He fumbled an arm under Sky's shoulder and tried to put the water bottle to his lips.

Sky yelped and jerked away, more shivers running through him.

"Legend… 'm so cold… Why… how'd you…" He broke down coughing and Legend kept supporting him, patting him helplessly on the back as he continued to try to speak around the coughs and spat out more phlegm.

"You just rest," said Legend helplessly. "Just rest. It's OK."

"But… no… too late…" More coughing. "Zelda… too late.."

"Zelda's fine, don't worry."

"Too slow… I have to…" Sky struggled feebly, yet again trying to get up.

"No, you need to rest. You'll be quicker if you rest, we talked about this."

"But…" Sky's voice broke in a sob.

"Tell you what," said Legend desperately. "You rest, I'll go, uh… I'll go sort out Zelda. I'll make sure she's OK."

Again, he could almost hear his uncle's dying breaths. He shuddered, dragging himself back to the present. Sky would be fine. Sky wasn't going to die.

"R-really…?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll take care of her."

Sky went boneless, sobbing and coughing into Legend's chest, his fever burning through the layers of sweat-soaked tunics. Legend held him, gnawing his lip helplessly, until at last he seemed to have cried himself to sleep.

Legend laid him down, froze the cloth on his brow one more time, and settled down again to try to make a plan.

They needed more water.

He couldn't leave Sky alone.

Judging by the damp chill in the air, dawn wasn't far off. He found himself glancing over and over again towards the mouth of the cave, filled with the strange foreboding that at dawn something would change for better or worse.

Beside him, Sky's breathing was harsh and shallow. From time to time, as the sluggish minutes ticked by he mumbled nonsense or suddenly moved, trying to escape some invisible attacker, but he was weak and exhausted and it didn't take much effort for Legend to restrain him until he dropped back into his delirious almost-sleep. A few times he did manage to swallow a little water and soon Legend's bottle was empty. He rummaged through Sky's bag until he found his water bottle - half-empty, to his disgust - and went back to trying to bring Sky's fever down.

As Sky once again tried to get up, hands flailing at something only he could see, Legend couldn't help thinking that letting him hold his beloved sword might help, but even though the skyloftian wouldn't be able to use the master sword on him he still wasn't willing to give a weapon to someone who had no idea where he was or what was happening.

In any case, before long Sky had collapsed again, muscles twitching, tears mingled with the sweat on his cheeks.

***

The sky outside was turning gray. Sky was ominously still. Legend rested a hand on his chest, his teeth gritted. At dawn, something would change.

He'd once heard that dying men would often breathe their last at the turn of the tide or the breaking of dawn.

Then Sky coughed, jerking weakly. Legend jolted back with shock, but then dived forward to roll him onto his side. This time he didn't struggle, just coughed and spat and finally mumbled, "Where…?"

"Sky?"

"Legend? Where… What happened? 'M so… cold…"

Legend laid a hand on Sky's brow. It was still slick with sweat, his hair soaked and clinging to his scalp, but the drop in temperature was noticeable. Legend felt like the ground had just dropped out under him.

"Sky, you… your fever's broken!" he exclaimed, barely even caring as his voice cracked.

Sky shivered.

"Here…" There was a little water left in Sky's bottle and Legend helped him to drink it all. "Then let's… Let's see if we can get your clothes off. You're soaked."

Sky mumbled, but his head drooped against Legend's shoulder. He was already asleep.

Legend sighed, but laid Sky down, draped the blankets from both their bedrolls over him, and leaned against the wall again, shooting one last look at the dawn.

It's OK.

He's going to be OK.

He shuddered and couldn't help a few silent, exhausted tears.

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