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skyward-floored · 11 days ago

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Whumptober Day 26 - Nightmare, regret

Continuation to days 10 and 18, the culmination of the blood curse fics.

I’ve had parts of this written since September I’ve been so excited for it :) please enjoy.

Warnings: all of the same for the previous days, (a lot of) blood, aftermath of torture, severe injuries, violence... I think that’s all.

Ao3 link

Day 10

Day 18

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Getting to the dungeons is no easy task.

Legend had been hoping Ganon would leave Hyrule unguarded, but he’d known immediately it was a fruitless sort of hope. He’s proven right as he, Warriors, and Wild all tear through the monsters flooding the hallways, armored knights, hulking moblins, dozens more creatures Legend doesn’t even recognize.

He’s beyond grateful the captain came along with them— Warriors’ crowd control is a truly beautiful thing.

Between the three of them they manage to work their way downwards, the halls growing darker, the stonework older. Legend’s palms sweat the further they go, heart thudding in his throat. The princesses said Hyrule was alive, and he believes them, but...

Is it possible they’re wrong?

Their voices are silent when he whispers a question, and Legend no longer feels the warmth of their connection. Ganon must have blocked them off again.

The Links fight past a group of moblins, and make their way down yet another flight of stairs, this one even darker than the others. A single lit torch meets them at the bottom, catching on shiny armor and glowing eyes, a hoard of darknuts standing before them. They’re all gathered tightly in front of a solid door, and Legend knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that that’s where Hyrule is.

If nothing else, the bright smear of blood on the door would be proof enough.

Nobody hesitates despite being grossly outnumbered, and they leap into battle yet again, the squad of dark knights meeting their swords with their own. Legend is focused solely on getting towards the door, but no matter how hard he tries he can’t get through.

The darknuts may be slow, but their numbers are vast, and their swings are wide. Whenever Legend tries to duck past, another sword swings for his head, another hulking body covered in armor blocks his path.

He lets out a snarl as he’s pushed away yet again. We don’t have time for this!

Warriors leaps in front then, separating a head from a darknut’s shoulders, and gives Legend a tense nod.

“I’ll clear a path. Get him out,” Warriors says with gritted teeth, forcing back a wave of enemies with a spin attack. Legend nods in return, and they plow their way towards the door together, Wild snapping off another hail of arrows before jumping into the fight with a claymore.

Legend spots something glittering on the belt of one of the knights, and he lunges forward, sliding under a blow and snatching the key at the same time. Warriors managed to create a small pocket of space by the door in the meantime, and Legend bolts for it, jamming the key in the lock and turning it with fumbling fingers.

The door creaks open, and Legend scrambles inside, Wild following close behind. Warriors slams the door shut behind them, staying outside, but Legend barely notices, staring at the center of the room with relief and horror crashing together in his chest.

They found Hyrule.

Wild makes a soft noise of distress, a hand covering his mouth as they both stare at their friend. Legend feels like he can’t move, his feet frozen to the floor as he stares at the nightmarish sight, bile rising in his throat.

Hyrule is silent and unmoving where he hangs off the floor, strung up like a rack of meat. Chains are clasped around his bony wrists that have him dangling a bit above the ground, and at least one shoulder looks dislocated from the stress.

He’s soaked in blood— Legend doesn’t even know how it’s possible for there to be so much blood on him, it’s like he took a bath in the stuff. Most of his skin is red, or brown with dried blood, and somehow despite the vast amount of blood he’s coated in, there’s still more steadily dripping from his wounds, and falling to land in a basin below. Legend almost vomits at the sight, and he hears Wild swallow thickly.

The longer Legend looks at Hyrule the worse it gets, his eyes catching on countless cuts and lashes, gouges and stabs. There’s fang marks on Hyrule’s neck, and his shoulder looks like something bit into it and pulled, the flesh torn nearly to the bone.

The realization that Ganon must have been drinking Hyrule’s blood straight from the source makes Legend’s vision go red with fury, but anger won’t serve him here, not now.

They need to get Hyrule out and safe, and then he can rip Ganon to pieces.

“Watch the door,” Legend finally manages to say, and Wild moves to stand by it, knuckles white where they grip his weapon. Legend hurries over to Hyrule, viciously kicking aside the basin that’s catching the blood dripping off his unmoving form, and it shatters, spilling red across the floor. He reaches a hand towards Hyrule, then hesitates, unsure of where even to begin.

He breathes out and lightly touches Hyrule on a part of his leg that seems mostly unscathed. The traveler twitches, a weak attempt at flinching away from him, and despite how small the movement is, it gives Legend a bit of hope.

“Hey ‘rule,” Legend whispers, keeping his hand on Hyrule’s freezing skin. “We’re here.”

I’m so sorry we weren’t sooner.

Hyrule doesn’t reply, doesn’t act like he even heard Legend’s voice. He doesn’t do anything except let out a broken whine as Legend stretches up to reach the chains and free him, and accidentally brushes an injury on his chest.

“Hey, just hold still,” Legend soothes in a voice he hopes doesn’t shake. He unlocks the chains as fast as possible, and then carefully catches Hyrule, the traveler letting out a weak moan as Legend lowers him to the ground.

Hyrule’s head lolls against Legend’s arm, blood trailing from his nose, his lips. If he hadn’t heard him make a noise mere moments ago, Legend doesn’t know what he’d think.

“Link?” he asks quietly, patting Hyrule’s cheek as he holds him in his arms. Hyrule doesn’t react, and Legend swallows back the terror beating wildly in his chest.

He’s alive. He’s alive.

You just need to keep him that way.

Legend breaths out, then pulls a fairy from his bag, hoping she’ll do some good. The moment the cork is out she rushes over to Hyrule with a jingly shriek, and sparkles fall onto his bloodstained chest, making blood shine in the light. The fairy spins in tight circles over him, a sweeping dance of healing, but... nothing seems to change.

The fairy chimes worriedly and tries again, but still nothing happens. No color returns to Hyrule’s cheeks, no wounds are sealed closed. His breath remains just as thin and rattling as before, and the fairy chimes a sad apology at her failure.

Legend looks at Hyrule, pale as death and stained red everywhere else, and breathes in sharply. The curse Zelda spoke of, the one where Ganon is drawing his power from Hyrule’s lifeblood.

It must be making healing magic ineffective.

“We’ll try again later,” he whispers to the fairy, and she actually zips back into the bottle, like she knows she’ll be needed.

Legend swallows, and looks down at Hyrule again, his friend looking like more of a corpse than anything.

“Link,” Legend whispers, thumbing away a dark glob of blood from his chin. “Come on Rulie, wake up.”

Hyrule shifts minutely at the gentle touch, his face twitching. A single green-brown eye that’s bloodshot and haunted drags open, the other too encrusted with blood, and takes a long moment to focus, staring blankly at Legend’s face. Something flickers in it, just barely, and Hyrule squints, his gaze trailing dully across Legend.

Then his eye widens.

He mouths Legend’s name, either too exhausted or too shocked to actually speak, but Legend nods, and briefly presses their foreheads together.

“It’s me. We’re here,” he whispers, holding Hyrule’s head with a shaking hand. His hair is greasy and almost entirely matted with blood, and Legend runs a careful hand through it. “It’s okay.”

Hyrule nearly collapses into the touch, shaking with a silent sob, and Legend doesn’t waste any time in lifting him up, uncaring of any stains he’ll receive from doing so. Hands fumble weakly as they attempt to hold on, and Legend simply adjusts his hold, running his hand through Hyrule’s hair again.

Hyrule tries to say something, but all that comes out is a rattling sound, choked and distraught.

“I know, it’s okay,” Legend murmurs, standing up with the utmost care. “Save your strength. We’re taking care of things.”

Hyrule looks at him with tears in his eyes, and then his breath shudders as he goes limp, energy spent. Legend quickly checks that he’s still breathing, then looks towards the door.

“Wild,” Legend calls, and the champion is at his side in an instant, face pale. “I can’t heal him, I think it’s the curse. How are things out there?”

“Not great, but I think we can get him out if we have to,” Wild stammers, still staring at Hyrule. “The captain cleared the worst of things, there’s only a few higher-level enemies now...”

He trails off, setting a hand on Hyrule’s head, and too many emotions to identify flicker in his gaze.

“All this in a week?” he whispers finally, and Legend swallows.

“I think it’s been longer for him.”

The cell is quiet for a moment as they digest that, the sounds of battle outside muffled by the thick door. Legend shakily breathes out, then straightens his shoulders, shifting his hold on Hyrule.

“Okay. We need to break whatever’s tying him to Ganon,” he says, shoving away the distress at seeing Hyrule so broken. Legend kneels back down, and grabs a cloth from his pouch, dumping some water on it. “Look for a mark, a weird injury, anything out of the ordinary. I’ll see if I can find it magically.”

Wild nods, and Legend hands him the cloth so he can clean Hyrule up enough to actually see his skin. Then he gently places a hand on Hyrule’s forehead, sending out a little flicker of magic.

As expected, instead of Hyrule’s magic meeting his flicker with its own, Legend’s is lost in an abyss, deep and black and red. Legend hisses at the feel of it, dark and ugly, and he gets a small but intense flash of the sheer pain Hyrule is in, injuries that won’t close, blood eternally dripping from them, a curse constricting his spirit and sapping him dry.

Keeping him alive for the sole purpose of enhancing Ganon’s power.

Legend harshly breathes out, and carefully reaches around it, prodding lightly at the perimeter, trying to locate the source. It takes him a long time, and he and Wild speak at the same time.

“There.”

Legend opens his eyes, and sees that Wild is pointing to the same spot he is, right over Hyrule’s heart. Wild wiped away enough blood that they can both see the mark on his skin, something shaped vaguely like a handprint. It’s like a warped version of the one over Ganon’s heart, angry and red, and glowing just a bit, and Legend swallows.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he breathes, setting a careful hand over the mark. Hyrule twitches, face screwing up, and Legend quickly draws back again. “Now we just need to figure out how to break it.”

A loud clang comes from outside the cell, and Legend and Wild both jump.

“...I think that’ll have to wait,” Wild says with a frown, and Legend nods, pulling Hyrule more into his arms again and carefully standing. “...You have him?”

“Yeah,” Legend replies, adjusting Hyrule as gently as possible. Hyrule’s head lolls. “He’s... not that heavy.”

Oh Hyrule, I’m so sorry.

Legend barely finishes the thought when the door explodes open, and Warriors goes flying across the floor, nearly hitting Wild. Wild grabs his shoulder in alarm, and a darknut appears in the doorway, a black one.

“You okay?” Legend asks quickly, and Warriors spits blood out of his mouth as he stands. He’s got a few more injuries than before, but nothing that looks too major.

“I’ll live. Hyrule?” Warriors asks in return, eyes going wide as he quickly scans the limp figure in Legend’s arms.

“Alive,” Legend reports grimly. “He won’t stop bleeding, and a fairy didn’t work. Ganon’s doing. From what I could tell, their connection is keeping him alive but stopping any healing.”

Warriors’ face twists briefly with emotion, and he sets a few quick fingers under Hyrule’s chin, obviously feeling his pulse. Legend sees the captain’s shoulders droop just a little in relief after a second, and he runs a hand over Hyrule’s head before drawing back. Warriors retrieves his sword, turning back towards the enemy, and rushes forward to meet the darknut’s weapon with his own.

Wild grabs his bow again as another appears behind the first, and Legend clutches Hyrule to his chest, mentally apologizing as Hyrule’s breath hitches. They need to wrap his wounds, figure out if they can heal him at all, break whatever curse Ganon has tied them together with, but it’s not safe here.

It’s not safe anywhere.

“What if we get him away from the castle?” Legend thinks out loud, staying close to Wild. “Maybe distance will weaken Ganon enough for the others to stop him.”

“You want us to just leave them here?” Wild asks in dismay, and Legend swallows.

“You have any better ideas?”

“I don’t like it,” Warriors grits out as he blocks a wide swing. “But you may be right. Leaving might be our only option.”

“No.”

The voice that speaks is barely there, and Legend and Wild both startle, looking at Hyrule. Somehow he looks even paler than before, but there’s a desperate gleam in his eye, cracked open again.

“No?” Legend repeats as Warriors finally kills the first darknut and falls back to their small formation.

“No. Get... me, to him,” Hyrule rattles, breathing labored. “Ga...non...”

“Are you insane? Absolutely not,” Warriors replies, wiping some blood off his brow with a fierce look. “Hyrule you can’t walk, you’d be a sitting duck in there. And no offense, but you’re essentially a living Ganon battery at the moment. The last place you should be is anywhere near him.”

“Need... get,” Hyrule insists, voice breaking with exhaustion. “Break the, c’nne...ction...”

Legend pauses, and looks straight at Hyrule. “You know how to break it?”

Hyrule weakly nods.

“A... guess,” he rattles, his eye closing again. “P...lease. Need to... fi...”

He doesn’t manage to finish, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth, but Legend can guess what he was going to say.

Fix my mistake.

For a moment, the only noise in the cell is that of Warriors and Wild keeping the darknuts back, Legend rifling in his pouch for a weapon he can use while holding Hyrule.

“I think we should take him.”

Wild is the one who speaks up, and Legend looks over at him as he fights. His face is twisted with an emotion Legend doesn’t entirely recognize, but there’s understanding in it. Of the need to stop something you were unable to defeat before, to fix what was broken because of you. Make up for a failure.

Wild knows what that’s like.

“If anyone can break it, it’s Hyrule,” Wild continues, eyes steely. “We should give him that chance. And the others will need us, we can’t leave them to fight alone.”

Legend catches Warriors’ eye, and the captain looks torn as he dodges an attack, looking at Hyrule, unconscious again.

“I think we have to,” Legend finally admits, hating the idea of bringing Hyrule anywhere near the monster painted in his blood, and yet... knowing it needs to happen.

“I think you’re right,” Warriors agrees quietly.

His faces gets even more fiercely determined, and Warriors turns to face the darknuts at the door, scarf rippling out behind him. He stays beside Legend, Wild on his other side, and Legend pulls out an ice rod, even knowing he might not be able to use it while carrying Hyrule, but feeling better with a weapon in his grip.

“Okay. We’ll get you there,” Legend says as he stands, even though Hyrule is unconscious and doesn’t hear him.

And without another word, they rush at the monsters.

(...)

Fighting their way back to the throne room is easier than leaving it was, but still isn’t easy. They killed most of the beasts on the way down, but more come to take their place, and they’re down a fighter now.

And also trying to protect Hyrule, who is an instant target.

Legend occasionally manages a blast from his ice rod despite the weight in his arms, freezing a monster’s footsteps, actually destroying a few fire-based enemies. But mostly he stays close to Warriors and Wild, keeps Hyrule out of the line of fire, and tries not to think about how sticky and damp his tunic is starting to feel.

It’s a good thing it’s already red.

Hyrule must be stuck somewhere between unconsciousness and clarity, for his eye flickers now and then, and Legend sometimes feels his hands try to weakly hold on to him. At one point he looks down and sees a tear making its way through the dirt and blood, and Legend swallows thickly before wiping it away.

He wants nothing more than to take Hyrule far away from all of this, but they can’t. Legend knows better than most about attempts to escape destiny, and he has a funny feeling this is one of those times.

Whether he likes it or not, Hyrule has to face Ganon.

Red light spills across their faces as they come up from the dungeons, crimson rays falling through the window. Hyrule twitches when it falls on him, and lets out a soft moan, face screwing up in pain. Legend turns his back to the light, and the three of them hurry back towards the throne room, Hyrule’s breath rasping more the closer they get.

The door is still open from earlier, and they charge in, Warriors and Wild standing in front of Legend like bodyguards. Legend quickly surveys the battle they’re now in the middle of, and winces.

The room is in much worse of a state than before, windows shattered, cracks in the floor, a small hole blasted into the wall. Four is lying unmoving at the base of a pillar, blood on his back, and Twilight is defending him against any stray magic or blows. Wind and Sky are working in tandem trying to keep Ganon distracted, Time on their heels, and it looks like they’ve had some small luck in actually hitting him.

They’re all bloodied though, and obviously drained, and Legend knows they wouldn’t have lasted much longer.

Ganon swings his trident in a huge thrust, forcing the heroes attacking him to retreat, and turns on the returned group, his face furious. But the moment his eyes land on Hyrule, the fury is replaced by surprise.

And then pure glee.

“You brought him right to me?” Ganon howls with laughter, a malicious grin stretching his mouth wide. Hunger glints in his gaze. “I should be thanking you, I’m in need of refreshment.”

“You’ll have to go through all of us first,” Legend spits, grip tightening on Hyrule.

Ganon’s laughter booms, and Hyrule jerks in Legend’s arms, eye shooting open at the sound. Sky takes advantage of the distraction, leaping forward and managing to slice the master sword right across Ganon’s shoulders. The blade shines and Ganon howls, whirling around inhumanly fast and hitting the side of Sky’s head with his trident.

A deafening crack rings through the room and Sky goes sprawling, landing in a motionless, bloodied heap on the ground. The master sword clatters against the stone, Sky and Ganon’s blood staining it, and the battle immediately kicks back into high gear.

Someone runs for Sky, Legend doesn’t notice who. Four starts to get back to his feet, shaking, but awake.

And Ganon turns towards Legend, yellow eyes fixed on Hyrule.

The other heroes immediately jump to his defense as Legend scrambles backwards, and Hyrule makes that horrible wet rattling sound again, like his lungs are rotting inside of him. Legend looks down and Hyrule looks up, expression frantic through the pain.

“Sword...” he says with a wet cough, spattering more blood on his chin. “Sky’s... the...”

“Got it,” Legend says firmly, and before he can overthink his newly-made plan, thrusts Hyrule into Warriors’ arms, his own hands sticky with blood. “I’ll get the sword, you play keep away.”

Warriors nods, then holds Hyrule tight to his chest, staying behind the others and running whenever Ganon gets anywhere close. Legend sprints for all he’s worth to the other side of the room, never more grateful for his pegasus boots as they glide across the stone. He skids to a stop beside Wind, the sailor’s eyes damp as a fairy finishes up on Sky, his eyes already fluttering open.

“You okay?” Legend asks in alarm, and Sky slurs an affirmative, dizzily raising himself to a sitting position.

Wind looks extremely relieved, and Legend grabs the master sword, her steel cool and warm all at the same time. “Is Hyrule..?” Wind asked nervously, and Legend stands back up.

“He’s alive. We’re working on the rest, he needs the Master Sword,” he replies quickly, before sprinting back to where Ganon is trying to plow through the heroes. He dodges a blast of magic and a wide trident swing, and pulls up short beside Warriors, Hyrule’s breath coming in short, quick gasps.

“Here,” he offers, and presses the hilt into Hyrule’s hand. Hyrule’s working eye goes wide, and he grasps weakly at it, the master sword lighting up.

Ganon stumbles, then roars, more deafeningly than ever before. Legend sees the mark on Hyrule’s chest glow, the traveler’s face screwing up in pain, and Ganon storms towards them, eyes blazing.

“She’s working on breaking it, keep him busy!” Legend yells, then runs for Ganon, ducking under an attack and trying to hit his face. The others get the hint, and they rush Ganon, trying to overwhelm him through sheer numbers.

All they need is to keep him busy until the master sword is done breaking the curse.

Warriors stays back, always moving, always staying as far away from Ganon as possible, occasionally handing Hyrule over to someone else. The master sword grows steadily brighter, and Legend can hear Hyrule’s struggling breaths from across the room.

Ganon’s face only grows more enraged, and his attacks get faster, harder, more desperate. Hope flickers in Legend’s chest, and he even manages to score a hit on Ganon’s arm, the beast reeling back with a snarl. By the three, this might actually work.

He never should have had the thought.

Ganon’s eyes glint maliciously, and he goes invisible, blood and all. Legend freezes, as do most of the others, their shields up and ready. But none of them anticipate the burst of magic that spreads out like an explosion, launching them all backwards with a concussive force.

Legend is thrown to the ground, ears ringing, but he still hears a cry that makes his blood run cold.

He struggles to sit up, and sees a crystalline barrier blocking off part of the room, Ganon sneering inside of it.

And Hyrule on the ground a few paces away, unmoving.

“No!” Legend yells, lurching to his feet and slamming his sword against the barrier. It knocks him backwards, and Time catches him, both of them almost falling over.

Vaguely Legend registers Warriors also on the ground, Four helping him up, the others struggling to their feet and gasping in alarm, but he’s too busy running wildly through plans in his head, options and items and desperate, stupid things coming to mind.

“You must have known it would end this way,” Ganon grins, stalking closer to Hyrule. His voice seems slightly strained. “Your friends dying around you, you at my mercy yet again. Your shadow has proved more useful than I thought.”

Of course this is all his fault, Legend thinks furiously, slamming his sword against the barrier and getting launched back again.

Hyrule tries to scrabble backwards, but he can’t move fast enough, and Ganon stops him by putting a hoof on his chest.

“Shall I show your friends what I showed your princesses?” Ganon leers, his hoof pressing down. Legend swears he hears something crack, and more blood bubbles at Hyrule’s mouth, the traveler letting out a choked shriek. “That you’re nothing more than a slave, a failure.”

“Don’t listen to him!” Legend yells with the others, blindly grabbing weapons from his pack and slamming them at the barrier. Nothing makes so much as a dent.

Hyrule’s shaking all over as Ganon speaks, but his grip is still firm on the master sword, open eye blazing. He drags it closer to him, and Ganon makes no move to stop him, amusement on his face.

“What are you going to do with that, little hero?” he sneers, licking his tongue along his fangs. “Going to kill me? You can try all you want, but I’ll always return. I have an endless supply of blood, and it will bring me back no matter what you do, or how hard you try to stop it—”

Legend almost misses it it’s so fast.

One moment Ganon is leaning towards Hyrule, his fangs bared wide, and the next, the master sword is buried in his throat, almost up to the hilt.

Blood drips from between his teeth, and Ganon looks down at Hyrule in shock, the traveler gripping the hilt with all he’s worth.

“And I,” Hyrule gasps, obviously using every ounce of strength he possesses to hold onto the sword, “will kill you, every... single... time.”

Ganon howls, lurching backwards, Hyrule’s grip lost. A spurt of blood comes from his mouth in a hacking cough, eyes wild and enraged, and a deafening roar shakes the room, shattering any windows that aren’t already broken.

There’s a blinding flash, a shockwave rippling across the room. The barrier breaks as Ganon collapses, and Legend bolts, scraping his knees as he falls beside Hyrule’s limp form.

“Link,” he says frantically, Hyrule pale and limp as Legend tries to find his raspy breathing. The mark on Hyrule’s chest is just a pale scar now, but Legend doesn’t care. “Link don’t you dare, you’re not allowed to put us through this again!”

Legend feels for a pulse with shaking hands, checking his wrist, his chin, anything. Hyrule’s chest is still, eyes closed, expression slack. Legend lifts his upper half onto his lap, checking for any signs of life, but the horrible rasping has stopped, heartbeat stilled.

Blood still drips from his wounds, but it feels more final, more like his life is what’s trickling out. The curse isn’t unnaturally keeping him alive anymore.

Hyrule’s gone.

Legend can’t stop the sob that bursts from his throat, the emotion of everything suddenly hitting full-force.

“No, no no— no,” Legend chokes out, clutching Hyrule to his chest, pressing his face against his shoulder. Blood smears on his face, and Legend sobs again, unable to hold it back. “No— I’m sorry Rulie, I’m—” I’m sorry I left you this mess, I’m sorry we weren’t faster, I’m sorry we couldn’t get to you I’m sorry I’m sorry—

Legend doesn’t know how much of anything he’s said out loud, but he doesn’t care, tears mixing with blood. Ganon lets out another dying howl, and someone’s hand sets on Legend’s shoulder, heavy with grief.

Something shifts at his side, and Legend doesn’t even notice, he’s so lost in the nightmare. It’s not until pink drifts into his vision that he realizes what’s happening.

Legend startles, raising his head, and sees the fairy from earlier hovering in front of his face.

“Can...” Legend rasps, barely daring to hope.

It didn’t work before, but now..?

The fairy chimes, and her glow brightens, lighting up tearstained faces. The others are all gathered around Hyrule, some keeping an eye on Ganon as he dies, but otherwise focused on the fairy, and their missing member.

She dances over him again, sparkles drifting from her like pink flurries of snow. They shine on tears and blood, disappearing as they touch Hyrule’s skin, and Legend watches through damp eyes, barely daring to breathe.

The fairy finishes, letting out a bright chime, her wings fluttering. She wobbles over to Warriors’ shoulder and sits, and then... Hyrule moves.

Legend jumps, realizing now that some of Hyrule’s wounds have been closed. He’s still a disaster, and the fairy could only fix a few of the very worst injuries, and not fully, but it worked. Legend holds a shaking hand on Hyrule’s cheek, and then the traveler’s eye slowly blinks open again.

Legend lets out the breath he’s been holding in one huge exhausted exhale, the end hitching in a relieved sob. He clutches Hyrule tight, and the others press in around them, warm hands and relieved sighs, exhausted sniffles and hiccups. There’s relieved crying in the back of Legend’s mind too, and he knows the princesses are safe.

“He’s gone..?” Hyrule rattles after a minute, and Legend nods, sniffing horribly as he wipes his nose on his sleeve. He smears blood and tears and all sorts of gross things around, but he’s already covered in blood and dirt anyway.

“He’s gone,” he confirms in a thick voice, still holding Hyrule tight. “He’s gone. You did it, Link.”

A trembling laugh comes from his arms, thick and sniffly and weak. It fades into a hysterical sob, and they don’t say anything more, Hyrule clutching weakly at Legend, Legend running a few shaking fingers through his hair. The others press in again, holding them tight, and Hyrule only looks up once at where their enemy used to stand.

Ganon is nothing but a pile of ashes, the Master Sword glowing softly atop the pile.

#(there may be a short part 4 but I’m unsure as of now)#linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu legend #lu hyrule #tw blood #tw violence #tw temporary character death #oop #whumptober #whumptober 2024 #fic #no.26 #regret #nightmare #writing from the floor #please enjoy I’ve been working on this for forever

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