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skyward-floored · 1 year ago

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Whumptober Day 21: Restraints, “Don’t move”

Blah blah finished this yesterday didn’t have time to put it here you know the drill. Finally the continuation to day 8! Poor Warriors and Hyrule have been stuck for a long time lol

Also this is. So long. I think it’s the longest yet. 😭

Day 8

Read on ao3

Warnings: effects of drugging, mentions of slavery/human(fairy) trafficking, very minor nonconsensual touching, a little blood, and injury

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Warriors woke up to the floor rolling gently under his head.

He groaned, stomach rolling in time with the swaying underneath him, and cracked his eyes open, a pounding sensation taking up residence in his head. His vision took a moment to focus, but once it did, he didn’t like what he saw.

What looked like the belowdecks of a ship met him, bars blocking off any escape. Most of his view was cut off by a large stack of crates piled in front of the bars, making a temporary sort of wall, and when he moved to study it, he found he couldn’t go further then maybe a foot due to the chain fastened to his ankle.

Panic began to bite at him, and Warriors looked around more frantically, trying to remember where he was. A strange fog clouded his senses, and he winced as his head throbbed again. Had he been drugged? It felt like it.

Then his eyes landed on a figure collapsed next to him, and it all came rushing back.

“Traveler,” he gasped, and leaned over Hyrule, shaking his arm. “Traveler, hey wake up.”

It took a minute, but Hyrule eventually let out a low groan and opened his eyes, the greenish-brown color slightly milky-looking.

Hyrule blinked up at Warriors, his eyes squinted in pain as he continued to slowly wake. Then they widened in realization, and he abruptly sat up, face paling.

“Captain—!”

“Easy buddy,” Warriors said as Hyrule nearly fell over, putting a hand on his arm. “That drug was a lot, take it slow.”

Hyrule put a hand to his forehead, looking dizzy, and Warriors kept him up while he attempted to adjust. It had probably been a larger dose then was necessary for the skinny traveler, and along with the floor moving up and down below them, Hyrule wasn’t looking too great.

A voice called distantly overhead them, and Warriors glanced upward, dread pooling in his gut.

They were stuck on a ship heading who knows where, with men they didn’t know nearly enough about, and he had no clue how they were going to escape.

He’d been in some rough spots before, but this was shaping up to be one of the worst.

“Are we really on the river?” Hyrule asked, sounding a little nauseous. “They said something earlier about a river, but... the waves seem too big for that.”

“It gets wider downstream before it goes out to a bay,” Warriors explained, a small curl of dread running through him. The further downriver they got, the smaller their chance to escape.

“So... so where do you think they’re taking us?” Hyrule asked once he’d adjusted a little more, and Warriors breathed out.

“...my best guess is somewhere outside of Hyrule,” he said quietly. “Other countries are far less... strict, in regards to fairies and... slaves. In some places it’s entirely legal.”

Hyrule sank into himself a little further.

“So that’s it then. We’re going to be carted off and sold like cattle, along with a hundred or so fairies we couldn’t save,” Hyrule choked out.

His voice was thick and angry, and Warriors squeezed his shoulder. That was another problem. Neither of them was going to leave here without freeing the fairies that were also captured, but how were they supposed to do that if even they themselves couldn’t get free?

Hyrule swallowed, looking dizzy, and he closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall.

“Don’t suppose you have any ideas?” he asked in a tired voice, and Warriors made a negative noise.

“Not yet. We’ll... we’ll think of something, ‘rule. First off we should probably try and get out of these chains...”

Footsteps suddenly echoed nearby, and they both froze, glancing at each other as they approached. Warriors swallowed, and tried to look casual.

It was only a matter of time before they were visited, he supposed.

Three men walked into the cell where Warriors and Hyrule were sitting, and Warriors felt the unpleasant feeling in his chest tighten as he recognized them all as men from the tavern.

“Have a nice nap?” one smirked, and Warriors held himself back from rolling his eyes.

“What do you want with us?” he said coolly, and the one with the scarred arms stepped a bit closer.

“We’ll never pass up an opportunity to make a few extra rupees,” he replied, looking between him and Hyrule. “But we’ll be paid more depending on certain factors, and we’ve come to figure out what those factors are.”

“What, you get paid more for blonds?” Warriors snorted, and Hyrule almost smiled next to him.

The men ignored him.

“The both of you have a way with the fairies,” the man said, his heavily scarred arms crossed over his chest. Warriors felt a prick of fear for Hyrule. “Most normal folk can’t speak with them, no less have a coherent conversation.”

“If you’re talking about Proxi, anyone can understand her, she’s a navigation fairy,” Hyrule pointed out, and the man snorted.

“I know that, kid. I meant the fact that you were talking with healing fairies, and all the other ones we have. Normal Hylians can’t do that.”

“Call it a gift,” Warriors said with a casual shrug he didn’t quite feel.

The man’s eyes narrowed. “Makes me wonder if in fact there’s more to you both than meets the eye.”

The other two men moved forward and grabbed Hyrule, extending his arm out and gripping him so he couldn’t move. One of them drew a knife, and Hyrule was slashed on the arm, the traveler letting out a startled cry. The man collected some of his blood in a jar, then did the same to Warriors, slashing him in the same spot and putting his in a different jar.

“Blood can show a lot about a person it turns out,” the scarred man said easily, holding up both jars. “And lucky for you gentlemen, my crew has figured out a method for finding fairy kin by blood alone.”

Hyrule paled, clutching his wrist, and the scarred man chuckled.

“Now wrap yourselves up, I don’t want my merchandise bleeding out,” he said, tossing a roll of bandages over as he turned away.

Then the three of them left, leaving Warriors and Hyrule alone as their blood dripped onto the floor.

“Captain, my... my blood, I... if it’s in the wrong hands...” Hyrule began, but Warriors cut him off.

“They just want to see which of us is fairy related,” he reassured, wondering at the flicker of panic he could see in Hyrule’s eyes, but deciding not to push. Did magic blood have properties he didn’t know about? “I don’t think they’re going to do anything else with it.”

...I hope.

“Can they tell I’m fairy just from blood?” Hyrule asked nervously, and Warriors closed his eyes.

“I don’t know. But let’s hope they can’t.”

I might not be able to protect you if they decide I’m just a liability.

Warriors leaned over and picked up the roll of bandages, and took Hyrule’s arm in his, carefully wrapping it.

“I’m sorry they captured you too,” Hyrule said quietly as he finished, drawing his knees up to his chest. “They probably wouldn’t even have gotten you if I hadn’t been there.”

“Are you kidding Traveler? If you weren’t fairy kin, then they likely would have just killed us,” Warriors said with a sigh. He sent Hyrule a wry smile. “Besides. It’s a little nice knowing it isn’t personal for once. Usually when this sort of thing happens, it’s because they think I should have given myself up to Cia, or didn’t save enough lives in the war or something.”

Hyrule smiled just a little, and began to wrap Warriors’ arm.

“And Time is out there somewhere looking for us,” Warriors said as he leaned against the wall. “We’ll just have to do what we can with what we’ve got until he shows up.”

“Figuring out where the fairies are would be a start,” Hyrule said as he finished, setting the bandages aside. “You think they’re here with us somewhere?”

“It seems likely.”

They began to discuss possible escape ideas, waiting nervously for the men to come back. Warriors knew it was only a matter of time, but talking out a small semblance of a plan was helpful at least.

He wasn’t sure how long it was until footsteps rang out nearby, but he sighed, internally bracing himself. He’d do what he could to keep them away from Hyrule, but he wasn’t sure how much he could do.

If they separate us, escaping will be even harder.

The footsteps stopped, and the men came back into their cell, grinning widely.

Not a good sign.

“It’s our lucky day,” the scarred man said, strolling back in and grinning at the two. “The gods have given us good fortune! It seems we’ve had two fairy kin dropped into our possession.”

Warriors stared, and Hyrule’s eyes went huge, looking over at Warriors in disbelief.

What?

“...You’re mistaken,” he said a bit dumbly, and the men laughed at his disbelief.

“Oh even better, this one didn’t know!” the skinny one chortled, and stared at Warriors. “Our method doesn’t make mistakes, kid. You’re fairy kin, though not as pure blooded as the other one. No doubt about it.”

Another man chuckled. “Too bad you won’t get a chance to enjoy it.”

All of them laughed, but Warriors barely registered it, mind stalling on the information that had just been dumped on him.

Fairy kin? Him?

It wasn’t possible. Their method of figuring it out, whatever it was, had to be faulty, there was no way!

Sure he was a little more magically gifted than some Hylians, but not many. Time, for example, was way more magically gifted then himself, and so was Legend, and Wind was about equal to him. But none of them were fairy kin. He could also talk to fairies he supposed, and always could, but once again, so could Time.

If it were true, wouldn’t that Great Fairy have treated him differently? Or was that why she put him in a bottle?

...What about his mother? She hadn’t had a drop of magic ability in her, and surely she would have told him? He’d never known his father, true, but... wouldn’t his mother have known? Wouldn’t Proxi have known?

Why was he finding out like this?!

A hand grabbed his face and Warriors snapped out of his thoughts, the scarred man tilting his face around and studying it.

“Oh the buyer is going to love this,” he said as Warriors pulled away with a growl, grabbing Hyrule’s chin instead and eagerly studying his face. “You think we’ll get three times as much for them as for the blues?”

Hyrule yanked his chin out of the man’s grip, and the three just laughed, greed shining in their eyes.

“Who knows? But one thing’s for sure, we’ll definitely get our money’s worth.”

“Don’t you feel any remorse for what you’re doing here?” Hyrule snapped, but the men only laughed some more, and exited the cell.

Hyrule looked at Warriors the moment they were gone, but he didn’t look back, still running words and memories over in his mind and trying to figure out if what he’d just heard had any merit to it.

Was he really?

“Warriors, I...”

“Did you know?” he asked in a strangled voice, and Hyrule immediately shook his head.

“No, I didn’t, I... I’m sorry I didn’t,” he said quietly, meeting his eyes. “Then you wouldn’t’ve had to find out like this.”

Warriors swallowed, and Hyrule put a hand on his arm.

Then Warriors took a deep breath in through his nose, then let it out, putting his out of control thoughts into a neat little box in the back of his mind. He could think through all of it later, when they were in less extreme circumstances and had time to deal with... all of it.

...Or just leave it there.

“Wait,” Hyrule said suddenly, his head shooting up, “wait, fairy kin...”

“What about it?” Warriors said, voice slightly strained.

“No, listen Wars, if those men were right and you’re part fairy then I might be able to use my fairy spell on both of us,” Hyrule spoke quickly. “Then we could get out!”

“...You have a fairy spell?” Warriors said incredulously, and Hyrule waved him off.

“Yeah, I don’t use it much because it takes up a lot of magic, but I think I have enough to use it on both of us!”

“...But if it takes up a lot of magic, using it twice might use up everything you have,” he said worriedly, studying the still-shaky traveler.

Hyrule looked a little less ill then before, but his eyes were still a little off-color, and he wobbled when he moved too quickly. Adding the effects of magic deprivation on top of that...

Hyrule smiled. “It’ll be fine. We’ll be able to get out of these chains and slip through the bars, and then... we can find the rest of the fairies, and try to get them free.”

“What if it doesn’t work on me?” Warriors pointed out, setting a hand on Hyrule’s arm. “It’s still possible they were wrong about... all that.”

“Well then I’ll go out and find the key and get you out too,” Hyrule said as he stood up, wobbling a little. “Unless you can think of a better idea?”

Warriors sighed, and stood up as well, bracing Hyrule when he wavered. He couldn’t, really. It was a good plan, albeit a bit strange, but Warriors had found that sometimes the stranger the plan, the better.

Besides, he’d certainly done weirder.

He nodded, and Hyrule took his other hand, gripping them tightly as he closed his eyes.

Just as the traveler began to glow, the floor heaved underneath them, and Warriors clutched at Hyrule’s arm, stopping them both from falling over. It happened again, and Warriors heard shouting from above as they slightly shifted course.

A resounding thud came from under their feet, and Warriors looked at the floor, raising an eyebrow.

It felt like something was ramming the boat.

“...You think that might somehow be Time’s doing?” Hyrule said with a look around, and Warriors shrugged, nearly falling over as the floor shook again.

“I hope so, or we might be in even bigger trouble,” he muttered. “Better finish your spell.”

Hyrule quickly nodded and closed his eyes again, Warriors keeping him steady as the ship lurched beneath them. A soft glow spread across his skin as Warriors watched, a vibrant, healthy green. When it reached his hands, the glow paused, then slowly trickled over to Warriors’ hands as well, changing from green to a more blue color.

A fizzy, tingling sensation began to spread through Warriors’ limbs, starting in his hands, and he held on a little tighter to Hyrule. His stomach lurched as the world abruptly spun around him, and he slammed his eyes shut.

Blood roared in his ears, magic tingling all over him as he felt the weight of the chain at his ankle abruptly disappear, an uncomfortable tightness closing around him.

He felt suddenly like he was going to throw up, and his breath stuttered, pressure building in his ears and chest to an excruciating degree.

It’s not working, it must not have worked, Hyrule—!

But as suddenly as the feeling came over him, it faded away, and Warriors felt Hyrule’s hands in his give him a squeeze as he exhaled sharply.

Warriors blinked his eyes open, and saw Hyrule grinning at him, looking tired, but somehow more vibrant than he had previously.

Warriors blinked, suddenly realizing there were two wings protruding from Hyrule’s back. Small and delicate-looking, he was reminded of a dragonfly as he admired the green shine Hyrule had taken.

“Looks like their test was right,” Hyrule said with another squeeze, releasing his hands, and Warriors realized Hyrule wasn’t the only one glowing.

He whipped his head around, and stared.

Two wings, nearly identical to Hyrule’s, had appeared on his back, a deep blue glow surrounding his body.

“It... worked?” he said a bit incredulously, staring at the delicate wings that he now had. He tried moving them, and found it surprisingly easy, and gave them a flutter, unable to believe his eyes. It was also then that he realized he and Hyrule both had shrunk down to the size of fairies as well, and he looked rapidly between him and the wings that had sprouted from his back.

Hyrule laughed at his reaction, the sound bright and tinkling. “It sure did.”

The ground gave a huge lurch under their feet, and Warriors heard an angry shout, quickly followed by more. He and Hyrule looked at the ceiling as someone cried out, then exchanged looks.

“Time to go,” Hyrule said, and jumped up into the air, flittering over to the door.

Warriors watched him fly away, then swallowed, glancing at his wings again. You guys better work.

“Captain come on! It’s instinctive, trust me!”

Warriors shot him a look, then closed his eyes and jumped like Hyrule had, rapidly beating his wings. He didn’t open them until he was sure his feet were off the ground, and when he did he let out an alarmed chime at finding himself a good four feet off the ground.

“I told ya,” Hyrule smiled, and Warriors sighed, following him to the bars and squeezing himself through.

“Yeah yeah Mr. Expert, some of us have only had wings for a literal minute,” Warriors griped as Hyrule did a little loop. “Any sign of the fairies?”

Coming out of their cell had left them with a view of mostly crates and other supplies stacked around the hold, but no distinctive glow from any fairies.

“I can feel their magic, I think... this way,” Hyrule said, and fluttered quickly to a large stack of crates, disappearing behind them. Warriors sighed and followed, having trouble keeping up with Hyrule’s rapid flying. It was a bit of a good thing he wasn’t at full strength, or he surely would have lost him.

They swerved around several piles of crates, Warriors mostly following Hyrule’s wing tips. They’d nearly made it all the way to the other side of the boat when Hyrule suddenly froze, darting behind a corner as Warriors finally caught up to him.

“What’s up?”

“Someone’s there already,” Hyrule said, voice a low chime.

Warriors frowned and poked his head around the corner, blinking in surprise at the sight that met him.

A Zora was crouched in the cramped space, the jars of fairies they’d seen in the tavern secured to the walls with rope. Several were already free, and he seemed to be talking to them, popping open yet another bottle with ease.

Warriors squinted, sure that something about him seemed familiar. He’d never seen a Zora like that, and yet...

The Zora picked up another jar, then nodded, putting a hand to his face. Warriors couldn’t muffle an alarmed chime he let out when the Zora somehow pulled it off, but then he realized he’d seen that very act before. Just not with a Zora.

...who was no longer a Zora.

“Time!” he called, and the older hero turned, eyebrows raising as Warriors and Hyrule flew out from behind the corner.

“Captain?” he asked in surprise, and Warriors landed on the hand he offered, eager for a rest.

“In the flesh,” he chimed with a wry smile as Hyrule landed as well, and Time looked between them with a more surprised look on his face then he’d seen in a long time.

“Goodness. I leave you boys alone for half a day and look what happens,” he said in amusement, and relief. “Are you two okay?”

“Hyrule used up pretty much all his magic doing this to us,” Warriors reported, ignoring the dirty look Hyrule sent him. “He also got drugged pretty bad.”

“You did too,” Hyrule huffed.

“...but aside from that, we’re fine,” Warriors assured, and Time nodded.

“I’m sorry about the wait, I got a little held up myself,” Time said, and Warriors noticed a bandage that wrapped over his leg. “Took me a bit to find out where you went so I could follow. But we’re not going anywhere now. I ran the boat aground,” he grinned.

“Of course you did,” Warriors snorted. Typical Mask. “The crew?”

“Either unconscious or fled,” Time said as he picked up another bottle, popping the cork out.

“How are you doing that? We tried back at the tavern and couldn’t budge them,” Hyrule asked in surprise, and Time showed them a small, shiny stone he had in his hand.

He tapped it to another bottle, then popped the cork out with barely any effort, the fairies inside flying out with excited squeals.

“I found the key,” Time smiled.

He moved around the room tapping the rest of the corks, and the fairies pushed themselves out of the jars, chiming and squealing with happiness as they were free to fly around again.

At Time’s urging they didn’t linger, all of the fairies who were strong enough to fly quickly leaving the hold of the ship. Soon enough the only ones that remained were the several that were too injured to fly, and the ones that stayed behind to help them.

“Should we change back and help?” Warriors asked Hyrule from where they were perched on Time’s shoulder, and the traveler scratched the back of his neck, looking a little awkward.

“Normally I’d say yes, but... changing us both took a lot of energy,” he admitted a little awkwardly. “Changing us back will too, and I... won’t be much help once that happens.”

“You’ll pass out, basically,” Warriors said wryly, and Hyrule cleared his throat.

“...probably.”

Time began carefully setting the injuried fairies inside his bag, leaving most in jars so they wouldn’t be thrown around too much. He purposefully left the corks out though, and Warriors watched as he loaded up, a familiar blue catching his eye.

Time lifted up Proxi, and she saw Warriors, jingling in surprise at his appearance, then sending him a chime that made Warriors feel surprisingly warm and safe.

He smiled just a little, and returned it.

He had a lot of questions for Proxi, but they could wait until they had time to really talk.

“That’s the last one,” Time said, gently setting a fairy in an orange color into his bag, and shutting the flap. “Now let’s get out of here.”

“Do you have our things?” Hyrule asked as they made their way to the stairs, Warriors squinting at the bright late-morning sunshine.

“Picked them up on my way in, though I’m sorry to say your scarf has an unsightly tear in it.”

Warriors groaned. “Of course it does. Why does it always—”

Hyrule let out a sudden shriek, and Warriors whipped around, something colliding with him so suddenly that stars burst into his vision.

He couldn’t register anything for a moment, a ringing noise in his ears, but when he was finally able to focus again, he felt his heartbeat triple.

He was in a jar.

He felt his breath catch, but at the sight of Hyrule next to him, he shoved aside his panic and moved to the traveler’s side. One of his wings was bent, and there was blood on his leg, his face white as he clutched at it.

“I’m okay,” Hyrule said immediately, but his voice shook, and Warriors took his hand in his.

“Don’t move,” he said sternly, then startled as two large eyes he unfortunately recognized stared at him through the glass.

“You’re not getting away that easy,” the scarred man snarled, blood trickling down his forehead. “I’m not losing all of my profit just because of two fairy brats and a changing Zora man.”

Time took a step forward from nearby, and the man hissed in anger, holding the jar containing Hyrule and Warriors over the edge of the ship.

Right over some sharp rocks.

“Don’t move or I’ll drop them,” he spat, fury in his eyes.

“You won’t,” Time said in a careful voice, easing another step forward. “They’re all you have left, you won’t risk them.”

The man’s eyes blazed. “I will. If it means I get revenge on you for ruining all of my profits for the month then so be it.”

He shook the bottle slightly and Hyrule chimed shrilly in pain, Warriors holding him more tightly.

He looked around frantically for a way out, some way to break the glass, some way to help them both, and his eyes landed on the cork above their heads.

It didn’t look like the enchanted ones.

Time and the scarred man were exchanging words again, and Warriors looked between Hyrule and the cork, a plan forming in his head.

They’d have to be quick.

“I have an idea,” he said, and Hyrule breathed in a shaky breath.

“Do what you gotta,” he said unsteadily, and Warriors quickly pulled him up into his arms, glad that the traveler wasn’t one of the bigger Links in their group.

Hyrule’s breath hitched a little, and Warriors chimed an apology, making sure he was secure before he did anything. Come on Time, stall him a bit longer...

“Get back!” the scarred man suddenly shouted, and dropped the bottle.

Time shouted and Warriors rocketed up towards the cork, shoving it as hard as he could as the jar plummeted. He gave it one last frantic shove, and he and Hyrule both popped out, right before the jar shattered on the rocks below them.

Warriors didn’t even stop to catch his breath, pulling him and Hyrule back up onto the deck where they found Time running to the edge, the scarred man lying unconscious on the deck.

“Are you two okay?” he asked, sounding out of breath, and Warriors nodded, still catching his own breath.

There was always something, wasn’t there?

“We’re... we’re okay,” Warriors breathed, and Hyrule let out a sigh of relief in his arms. “We got knocked around, but we’re... okay.”

Hyrule let out a grunt, and Warriors looked down at him, realizing he was glowing.

“Hyrule don’t you dare—!”

The glow spread to Warriors again, and his world turned topsy-turvy, that same tight feeling squeezing him, a light pain at his back, spinning rolling stretching aching—

Strong arms caught him, and Warriors stumbled, Hyrule still clutched in his arms.

“Traveler why on earth—”

Hyrule gave him a dizzy look, his face paler than before. “Easier to... heal as a Hyli...”

His eyes rolled back in his head and he went limp in Warriors’ arms, the captain nearly dropping him. Time helped him lower him to the ground, and Warriors looked down at Hyrule with a sigh.

“He could have at least warned me,” he murmured.

Time put a hand on his shoulder, and Warriors looked at him, the older hero giving him a relieved look.

“That was much too close for my taste,” he said with a squeeze, and Warriors nodded in agreement. “You’ll have to tell me all of what happened once we get out of here. I’m curious as to how exactly Hyrule turned you into a fairy.”

Warriors sighed again, and looked down at Hyrule, an exasperated, but warm feeling settling in his chest as he squeezed his limp hand.

“Yeah. Later.”

#and now I’m off to church *zooms*#linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu Warriors #lu Hyrule #lu time #fairy Hyrule #linked universe fanfic #whumptober 2023 #day 21 #don’t move #tw injury #ask to tag #writing from the floor #nobody expects fairy!Warriors!!!!#a headcanon I’ve had for a while but haven’t had an excuse to use #if you’ve seen the fairy Hyrule discord art then wars looks like that only blue #but darker than Navi or Proxi #closer to scarf color

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