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alicewritingstories · 6 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:

Alt 8: Broken bone

12: Trapped under rubble / "I can't move my legs"

13: Avalanche (if a rockslide counts) / Stuck in the mountains

20: "Get me out"

27: Concussion

Central characters: Hyrule and Time

***

When Time emerged from the portal, he was alone; even Hyrule, who had been right beside him as he entered, was gone. He looked round to see the portal just closing behind him with still no sign of any of his boys.

He took a deep breath and let it out again to quiet the thread of anxiety that was starting to twist in his heart. It wasn't the first time they'd been separated as they came through a portal and the others probably weren't too far away. Despite that, he always hated it. Alone, each of them was more vulnerable. While they had all gone through their adventures alone - with the exception of Warriors - they didn't know anything about their current enemy's motivations or capabilities that might help them outwit or fight it.

What was more, as he carefully looked around the rock-strewn, pathless pine forest in which he stood and smelled the air, he started to suspect that they were in a new era. That was dangerous; it meant that they had no idea what was in store for them and it would be even harder to prepare.

But standing around wasn't going to solve any of those problems and he set out between the thick trees, following the slight upward slope of the ground. If he could get onto higher ground, he would be able to get a better idea of his surroundings and hopefully some idea of where the others had gotten to.

Decided on a plan, he immediately hastened his steps, ears pricked for any sound from nearby.

All was quiet.

All afternoon, he walked, slowly climbing the hillside. Still, there was no sign of life except for birds and a couple of squirrels. The silence weighed on his heart but he kept trying to brush it aside. Worrying wouldn't solve anything.

In this sort of terrain, he could be a hundred yards from them and he might not know it.

At last, as the sun was beginning to set, he broke out of the trees onto a bare, rocky slope that led up to a mountain peak in the distance, and he sat down on a nearby rock to take a quick drink of water and a much-needed mouthful of trail rations.

The mountain didn't look like it would be possible to climb; it was all sheer cliffs and the scree slopes left behind by rockslides. His gaze instead went to the valleys that carved up its sides. The ones he could see all led down to a single larger valley between the nearest mountain and another. Some were steep-sided rocky gorges, especially higher up, but most were shallower, filled with grass and thick forests like the one he'd emerged in. When he looked back with that view in mind he could see that he had indeed walked up just such a valley.

The whole horizon was dominated by mountains, though this was the largest. He was evidently in the middle of a substantial range.

That would make it all the harder to find the others.

He sighed. Unfortunately, that was probably going to have to wait for morning; evening was beginning to draw in and he knew better than to stumble around an unfamiliar mountainside in the dark. He would be no use to any of them lying at the bottom of one of those unforgiving slopes.

He took another sip of water and another careful bite of his rations and set out again, edging into the next valley over to look for somewhere to shelter.

Just as it was starting to get dark enough that he was getting worried he found a thick stand of gorse bushes. It wasn't ideal, but he'd slept in worse places and he crawled under the spiny branches into the dry hollow underneath. Here, there was a little bit more space, carpeted with a thick bed of fallen needles that not only cushioned the ground but showed that water didn't run through here. He couldn't sit up in the confined space and felt claustrophobic and very aware of how impossible it would be to fight here if he had to, but it would have to do. He pulled out a dagger and laid it by his head, then closed his eye and did his best to rest, even if he couldn't sleep in an unfamiliar place with nobody to keep watch.

Goddesses, he hoped he found the others soon.

***

By morning he was cold and felt even more tired than when he'd laid down, but he dragged himself back out from under the bushes and looked around, blinking in the growing light. It was cloudy and there was a rain cloud hovering over a nearby slope. He watched it for a moment, wrinkling his nose and trying to work out whether it was moving in his direction. It seemed to be easing away, but as he watched, something on the mountainside shifted.

His eyes widened as the shift turned into a slide. It felt like he'd barely had a chance to draw breath before half of the mountainside was tumbling into the valley below in an ugly cascade of rocks and mud.

He was running before it had even settled, scrambling across the rough, rocky ground, navigating by dead reckoning and the rising cloud of dust that was rapidly beaten back down by the last of the rain. He didn't know if any of his boys might have been caught in that and that uncertainty alone meant he had to go and check.

Even though there would almost certainly be nothing he could do.

His own feet slid on wet ground as he ran and he caught himself on a rock, his heart leaping into his mouth. Once again, he reminded himself that he would be no use to anyone at the bottom of a cliff.

Still, it was almost impossible to force himself to go slowly and carefully, zig-zagging across the slope. He could feel the seconds ticking away. It wouldn't take long to die under a rockslide like that.

The rain was completely gone by the time he got there, running up the valley to the foot of the landslide, his eye flicking over the still-settling rocks and dirt. If someone was completely buried, he wouldn't be able to -

His gaze snagged on a gleam of metal.

He bit back a cry of horror as he made out the shape, the rubies set in the hilt of a sword poking out from an ominously-still heap of soil…

"Hyrule!" he gasped out and started running again.

He crashed to his knees beside the slide, only grateful for the fact that if Hyrule was still with his sword he was near the edge. Swallowing his panic as best he could, he started pulling rocks aside, forcing himself to be careful.

The second rock he moved revealed a shock of brown curls, matted with dirt and blood.

Golden Goddesses, may he still be alive…

One more rock had been mercifully keeping a pocket of air open around Hyrule's face. As he moved another, it caused a slide of soil into the space, but Time cleared that with a couple of quick swipes and held a hand in front of the traveler's nose and mouth.

Once again, he felt seconds tick by.

But just as fear and horror were closing a hand around his own chest, he felt the tickle of moving air. A breath. Hyrule was alive.

Time let out a relieved breath of his own and once again started carefully shifting rocks and clearing away dirt, revealing Hyrule's shoulders and one arm. The sword came free - the straps holding it to Hyrule's back had snapped - and Time laid it to one side, his eyes on one especially large rock that was resting against Hyrule's back at his waist.

Just then, Hyrule took a slightly deeper breath and moaned, the sound turning into a high-pitched, agonized whimper.

"Hyrule?" Time gently took the hand that he'd managed to dig out. "Link? Can you hear me?"

Hyrule twitched, pulling at the hand Time was holding. "Leggome…" he mumbled. "Won' le' y'..."

"It's OK, Hyrule. It's me, Time. I've got you. You're going to be OK."

Hyrule's bruise-ringed eyes drifted open, vague and distrustful, and he pulled at his hand again, then fell still with another whimper, his eyes screwing closed.

"Link, do you know who I am?"

Hyrule mumbled something incoherent, then his expression twitched and he made a soft choking noise. Time just shifted out of the way before he threw up.

Nausea, confusion, blood in his hair… Time cursed under his breath as he scuffed dirt over the vomit. He had no potions left and couldn't leave Hyrule alone in this state to go and search for a fairy. With a grimace, he wiped Hyrule's face as best he could and offered him a sip of water so he could rinse out his mouth. The fact that he was being cared for seemed to pierce the fog in Hyrule's mind and he looked up again, blinking slowly.

"Do you know who I am, Link?" Time asked again. At least he could see that Hyrule's pupils were the same size. The injury to his brain wasn't as serious as it could have been, at least not yet.

Hyrule's mouth opened and closed for a moment as he struggled to make sense of what was happening, then he murmured, "Time?"

Time grinned, a weight lifting off his shoulders. "Yes, well done. Do you remember anything about what happened?"

"We… w're 'bout… p'rt'l?" Hyrule looked around. "But… m'ntain?"

"Yes, we went through a portal. Do you remember anything after that?"

Hyrule started to shake his head, then moaned and his eyes screwed shut as sweat broke out across his forehead. For a few seconds he breathed shallowly through his mouth, swallowing hard once or twice, then he slowly looked up again. Time once again gently took his hand.

"Don' 'member…" He coughed and whimpered. Time gave him another sip of water and watched with relief as his gaze cleared a little more as he gradually crawled back to at least an approximation of full consciousness. "How'd I get… Time.. how'd… where's others?" he asked pitifully.

"I don't know where the others are," said Time, speaking slowly and clearly so the addled young hylian could follow his words. "The portal separated us. You're the first I've found. And I don't recognise these mountains."

Hyrule sighed. "'K," he murmured, unconcerned as ever about the prospect of being lost in the wilderness. Time couldn't help a small smile, but it faded again as he looked at the piles of rock still burying the lower half of Hyrule's body.

"Hyrule -"

"Th' others…"

"I'm sure the others are doing just fine," lied Time, keeping his voice calm. "You just worry about yourself for now. Can you tell me how you're injured?"

Hyrule stared at him.

"Where does it hurt?"

Hryule closed his eyes and Time was just trying to think of a way to rouse him that wouldn't worsen his concussion when he murmured, "Head… Ribs, left side… Ack…" He winced. "B-back… And… and…" His eyes flew open, blank with terror. "I can't feel my legs… Time, I can't feel my legs!"

Time swallowed down his own shock and fear almost as soon as he became aware of it and slipped a hand gently under Hyrule's cheek, taking his free hand again.

"OK, Hyrule. It's going to be OK. Just breathe. Tell me exactly what you feel."

"I…" Hyrule took a small, shivering breath and closed his eyes again. "Pain… pain in my back… something… twisty? Ngh…" He twitched and his hand tightened on Time's. "It… d'ffrnt…" Another shivering breath. "Bit… cutty-crackly…"

Time nodded. He knew that when Hyrule healed he felt the shape of what he was doing in his mind and had seen him struggling to put the feeling of different injuries into words before. "Cutty-crackly", concerningly, was new.

"Legs… oh… ugh…" Another twitch. "There, but… tingling? Half numb? Like… fallen 'sleep. There's blood… but…"

"You're bleeding?"

"I… don't… think so?" He relaxed his head against Time's supporting hand with a faint sigh and Time let him rest for a moment, wondering anxiously how much of the numbness and vagueness came from his head injury.

But his eyes drifted back to that huge rock resting against Hyrule's unarmoured spine.

An injury Hyrule struggled to describe. Numbness and tingling in his legs.

A broken back.

That was healable, but first they needed to get Hyrule free of the rockslide. Time couldn't do that alone, not without someone to shore up rocks and make sure nothing else fell on Hyrule, especially since with a serious concussion and a broken back Hyrule wouldn't be able to pull himself clear and would have to be very carefully handled.

He looked around with a frown, hoping for some sign of the others also coming to check this landslide, for some indication that there was someone nearby he could call on for help. But there was nothing. They were alone.

Well, this wasn't the first time he'd faced long odds alone.

Time took a deep breath and let it out again, then turned back to the injured boy whose head rested limply in his hand. "Hyrule, don't fall asleep, OK? I know you want to, but we need to work out how to get you out of there."

Hyrule's eyelids fluttered. "Wha…?"

Something about the vague tone sent a thrill of anxiety through Time's heart. "Hyrule?" He tilted his head to look more squarely at Hyrule's face. "Hyrule, can you tell me what we just talked about?"

Hyrule's eyes opened, vague and unfocussed once more. Time's heart skipped a beat as he saw that one of the pupils had shrunk to a pinprick. "Time…? Wha… where'm I?"

Normally, it was best to avoid healing when a broken bone was still being twisted out of place, though it could be done. Healing magic could do a lot to realign damage and Hyrule's magic in particular could do things that even fairies couldn't, but that was because of his excellent control and ability to sense what he was doing even if he didn't fully understand the underlying anatomy.

Seriously concussed, he wouldn't have that control. If he healed himself, the wash of unfocussed magic might heal his back out of place and permanently replace whatever had been cut to destroy the sensation in his legs with scarring that couldn't be healed away.

But the head injury was worsening, blood presumably pooling in his skull and pressing on his brain. That would kill him if left to itself.

"Hyrule," said Time, very gently cupping Hyrule's face in his hands. "I need you to listen to me very carefully."

Hyrule blinked, but murmured, "'K."

"You have a serious head injury. You need to heal the head injury. Only the head injury."

"But…" Awareness was seeping back, even if his previous lucidity wasn't. "Ev'rything hurts…"

"I know. I know. But only heal the head injury."

Hyrule stared at him for a moment, but then murmured, "OK," and closed his eyes. Gradually, a soft turquoise glow appeared under his skin. His breathing hitched and beads of sweat appeared on his brow and upper lip as he struggled against his scattered, tangled mind to control and limit the magic that he presumably so wanted to direct towards his other injuries. Time bit his lip, touched at the trust Hyrule was placing in him to follow what must have seemed like a nonsensical order.

The bruising around Hyrule's eyes faded, an odd rattle in his breathing Time hadn't even fully noticed vanished, and suddenly the traveler gasped and whimpered, his free arm coming up in a weak flail.

"Easy, Hyrule," said Time quickly, catching his hand while keeping his head supported. "It's OK. It's me, Time. I'm here."

Hyrule's eyes flew open, clear and present at last. He saw Time and relaxed, gasping for breath.

"Time…" he panted. "My back… I can't… I can't move my legs…"

Time nodded, rubbing a thumb comfortingly across the back of his hand. "Do you remember anything since I arrived?"

Hyrule blinked. "Bits… you told me just to heal my head injury. Is…" He started trying to sit up before Time even realized what he was doing, but fell still with a heart-rending shriek.

"Lie still," Time told him firmly, holding his head and hand as he shivered on the ground. "You're still half buried under a landslide and I think your back may be broken. You must stay still. Do you understand?"

Hyrule nodded with a whimper, his breathing speeding up as panic set in now that his awareness of the situation was no longer smothered under the concussion. "I… Time, please get me out…" he whispered. "Please…"

"I will. But you need to calm down and stay still." Time gently ran a hand over Hyrule's dirty, blood-caked hair. "It's going to take some time."

Hyrule gulped, another shudder going through him. "It hurts…"

Time sighed. "I know," he said as gently as he could. "Breathe, Link. Just hold on. I'm going to get you out of there. It's going to be OK."

He would find a way to make it true.

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