#sorry about all the italics but I had to differentiate animals who can't talk versus ones who can somehow

[skyward-floored]

Whumptober Day 13 - Multiple whumpees, (familial curse)

This was originally going to be one part but I just had to split it because it didn’t work out 😔 but my original plan was to whump all nine Links, and all nine links WILL be gotten. Eventually.

Warnings: aftereffects of drugging, body horror, brief injury and violence.

Ao3 link

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“Twilight? Hey, Twilight wake up.”

Twilight groaned, and felt a hand shaking his shoulder, not too frantically, but forcefully enough that he quickly cracked his eyes open. Time looked down at him, concerned, but overall his expression was that of mild annoyance. Twilight was pretty sure it wasn’t directed at him, but he carefully sat up anyway, rubbing his pounding head.

“Oh good, Rancher’s up,” Sky’s voice said, and Twilight looked around to see all nine of them groggily waking up, rubbing heads and looking confused.

“Uh... what happened?” Wind slurred, trying to sit up and immediately falling back over. Warriors caught him, looking much more aware than the sailor, and frowned.

“That’s what I’m trying to remember. Last I recall, we were... eating dinner?”

“And now we’re in a tiny room with no way out and possibly limited air,” Hyrule said cheerily, then winced as he rubbed his head. “Were we... drugged?”

“It feels like it,” Twilight finally spoke, slowly stretching his limbs. He felt a little floaty, his head pounding, and the singular torch giving them light only made it worse. A quick glance around revealed that Four was the only one of them who hadn’t woken up yet, but he was twitching a little like he was about to.

Twilight hummed in mild confusion, trying to get his brain to sort out events from earlier. He did remember eating dinner, but had it been at an inn? It hadn’t been Wild’s cooking, he remembered that, but who’s had it been? Where were they?

Ugh. He hated waking up imprisoned and confused.

“Hey, wait I remember!” Wind said suddenly, eyes going wide. “We were at that festival in town!”

“Oh yeah...” Wild said like he was remembering it. “Oh yeah! Right! That was good food... though that lady serving it was weird.”

“Yeah, she came up to me and was talking to me later,” Sky spoke up as he scratched his head. “It seemed like she recognized that we were heroes. She seemed a little strange too, but... I thought maybe she’d just had too much wine,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I feel like I did,” Warriors muttered, and Twilight snorted. Honestly he agreed.

Twilight felt for his pouch, wanting to pull out his lantern and look around their prison a bit more, then froze, patting his sides and looking down at himself.

“Ah... Did anyone else have all of their gear stolen?” he asked.

A quick check revealed that yes, everyone’s items had been taken, both weapons and bags. Even Legend’s rings had been stripped, and the only thing any of them had were the clothes on their backs.

“Well, I’ve dealt with worse, but this sucks,” Legend said flatly, and everyone agreed.

Four groaned then, and everyone’s attention was pulled to making sure he was okay (which he was, just extra woozy like Wind) and helping him sit up. Four blinked at them all, taking in the tiny stone room, single torch, and the fact that all of them were crammed around him, and sighed.

“So going to that festival in town was a bad idea I see.”

“Indeed,” Time agreed.

Something rumbled in the wall then, shaking stone and making them all jump. They turned towards it, shifting into defensive positions, but then the wall... squealed.

“The chosen of Farore awaken!” a voice said excitedly, coming from no discernible direction. It echoing around the room like it was speaking to them from the opposite end of a long hallway. “At last!”

“Oh boy,” Legend muttered under his breath as the voice squealed again. “This isn’t going to end well.”

“I don’t recognize that voice,” Warriors murmured in reply. “Anyone?”

They all shook their heads.

“Let us out, jerk!” Wind hollered, and the voice giggled.

“Not yet!” she singsonged, and someone else cleared their throat.

“We must verify your identity before we partake of your courage,” a different voice spoke up, harsh and croaking. “You all bear the honorable likeness, but we must be sure.”

“Oh I really don’t like the sound of that,” Legend hissed, and Twilight agreed, subtly shifting his position to be further in front. Several of them did the same, faces hard as stone.

“What do you want with us?” Time demanded, and a few beats of silence passed.

“A test is in order,” the harsher voice spoke again, seeming to ignore Time’s words. “To prove you are indeed Farore’s providence. Our venerated goddess would not send us such scrawny men with the Signs without reason.”

“Scrawny?” Warriors muttered. Twilight wasn’t the only one who snickered at the offended look on his face.

“Prove to us you can survive our glorious goddess’s trial grounds,” the harsh voice continued. “If you die, it is of no consequence to us. But if you survive...”

“You get to live with us in the temple as Farore’s consorts forever!” the cheerful voice finished.

Silence fell over the Links, and Twilight felt suddenly nauseous.

“Oh great. A cult,” Wild said flatly. “I love those.”

Then the floor dropped out.

All of them screamed, and Twilight grabbed at the person closest to him, who happened to be Four. The smithy clutched back at him as they fell through the darkness, and Twilight heard several oofs as their backs hit something.

Suddenly they were shooting down some kind of slide, twisting and turning sharply, and Twilight knocked into several of the others as they fell. Four’s hand slipped out of his, but Twilight didn’t have a chance to grab it again before the chute abruptly opened up.

Twilight yelled again as he fell through the air, nothing but darkness surrounding him. He heard other shouts of alarm, but they sounded strangely far away as he flailed his arms, trying to turn around and slow his descent.

Before he could form any sort of plan though, he slammed into something solid and cold, bitingly cold.

It sank into his skin and leeched around his heart, and Twilight gasped without thinking, inhaling some of the intense cold. It felt like it went straight from his mouth to his lungs, freezing the entire way. A familiar sensation wracked through him along with it, twisting through his skin and bones, and Twilight braced himself as his body began to morph into a wolf without his permission.

How are they doing this? How is this possible?! he wanted to yell, but the unusually sharp pain from transforming stole his breath away.

It swept into his veins like ice, every breath turning his insides into a cold so deep and painful he thought he might pass out from it. He clung to consciousness though, a scream from his lips morphing to a howl halfway, the transformation ripping through him like a bolt made of icy lightning.

Then it was over.

Twilight went limp, panting as he caught his breath from the shockingly cold transformation.

He’d never been pushed into his wolf form like that before, and it took him several minutes to carefully sit up for the second time today. Paws, legs, tail, snout... aside from the especially painful transformation itself, he felt mostly fine. Nothing seemed wrong, at least.

He looked around where he’d ended up, and his ears went back at the darkness around him. The only color in his vision was a faint sheen of green in places on the ground, like the folds on a piece of deep mossy velvet. A couple small, glowing pebbles were the only other thing he could see. The air was still bitingly cold, even despite his thick fur, and Twilight shivered.

He needed to find the others, now.

Standing up and giving himself a cautious shake, Twilight began to walk carefully through through what smelled like a cave, his stomach tight with worry.

Why had they been dropped here? What was the goal? Everything that those women had said was unpleasant, but something about the words they’d used made Twilight’s stomach churn.

What did “partake of their courage” mean, exactly?

A scream suddenly rang through the cave, sharp with pain, and Twilight’s ears shot up. He bolted the moment he pinpointed it, feet pounding on the stones under his paws. He nearly tripped on a large rock, but kept running, following the sounds with his ears.

Until he finally saw Time, lying beside a faintly glowing rock, writhing in place with an expression of pure agony.

“Time!” Twilight barked in a panic, and bolted to his side, sniffing at him and trying to figure out what was wrong.

Time let out another cry of agony, and curled in on himself, body shaking as he tried to hold himself together. Twilight leaned closer to study him, then froze as golden hair— fur began to spread across his skin, his body parts shifting.

Oh no.

Time reached out blindly, and Twilight sat beside him, letting him clutch at his fur. He couldn’t do anything but watch as Time’s body gradually shifted into the same form as his own, a snout and tail, powerful legs and upward pointing ears. It was horrifying to watch, and the sounds were even worse, cracking and splitting and shifting.

It went on for a good minute or two, and Twilight whined anxiously as Time cried out and moaned, body shuddering and trying to organize itself. Time finally let out one last whining cry of pain, then stilled, tongue lolling as he panted for breath.

And Twilight shook as he stared at him, bright gold and white fur shining a little in the crystal light.

Time had become a golden wolf.

The same that Twilight had sought out on his journey in order to learn hidden sword techniques.

“Old man,” Twilight woofed softly, trying not to shake as he lowered himself to his belly beside Time. “Are you okay?”

Time’s good eye fluttered, then slowly opened, looking up at Twilight.

“I’ve been... through many magical transformations, but that... was one of the worst,” Time weakly huffed. He attempted to get to his feet, and growled in frustration as his paws went the wrong ways. “Right. New body. New proportions.”

“Just take it slow,” Twilight urged, trying not to think about what Time now looked like, the future once more looming over his head. Nope. He had bigger problems right now. “Let your instincts carry you for a bit. It’s better if you don’t think too hard about how it works.”

It only took one more try for Time to sit up, and his legs didn’t tremble too much as he raised himself to a standing position. He tripped once or twice, but managed a careful walk around the cave, and shortly after that he was standing naturally, just like a wolf.

“Are you okay, pup?” Time asked, posture suggesting worry. He sniffed at Twilight a bit, and his ears shifted backwards. He could probably smell Twilight’s fear.

“I’m alright,” Twilight reassured with a swallow. “Just worried for the others. How did those people do this to us? It hardly felt like the magic I use to transform.”

“Probably a spell of some ilk,” Time rumbled. “One I do not like. But we should find the others before we—”

A shrill scream rang through the caves, and both Twilight and Time snapped their heads up, exchanging alarmed looks. They hurried towards it without another word, the pebbles on the ground just barely lighting their path, and Twilight frantically sniffed for any sign of the others.

None of their voices were that high pitched, but if the same thing Twilight and Time had been afflicted with was what had happened to everyone...

A bit more light came into view, and Twilight froze at the sight in front of him.

A moblin, one that looked something like Wild’s, was snarling angrily as it tried to reach a clawed hand into a crevasse in the rock. It scrabbled at the stone and howled when its hand wouldn’t fit. An angry squeaking sound came from the hole, and the moblin roared loudly, yanking its hand away as blood ran from its claws.

Someone was cornered in there.

Time snarled, leaping at the moblin with his teeth bared, and Twilight did the same, his fangs connecting with flesh.

It was incredibly fortunate it was only a red moblin, and against two wolves, even one inexperienced, it was no match. It soon fell to Twilight and Time’s teeth, and disappeared into smoke, a roar ringing out as it died.

Twilight whirled on the crack in the stone then, whining anxiously as he sniffed at it. He could smell blood.

“Hello?” he woofed, and the angry noises stopped.

“...Twilight?”

The voice was familiar, and when Twilight sniffed again, he caught a mix of familiar scents through the blood, ones that sent relief through him.

“Legend?” Time asked in confusion, and a familiar pink rabbit face appeared in the crack, long ears swiveling.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Legend sighed, and moved out of the hole a bit further. Twilight could see the fear in his body language. “...Is that Time back there? Wait, did he seriously get to be a wolf too?!”

“Yes,” Twilight said, then gave Legend a worried sniff. “Where are you hurt? I smell blood.”

Legend’s ears went back. “It’s not bad, just a scratch. That moblin got a swing at me while I was shifting. I was trying to help Sky.”

“He got transformed too? Is he okay?” Twilight asked frantically, and Legend made a movement Twilight assumed was a helpless shrug.

“He hasn’t woken up yet. He got a little banged up too, it didn’t look like he was bleeding too much, but... I don’t know. I think the shift was pretty hard on him.”

“It was plenty hard on me, and I’m used to it,” Twilight winced. “Can you pull him out of there?”

“I got him in there in the first place, I hope so,” Legend said, and turned back around and reentered the crevasse. Twilight sat down beside it, and Time padded over, giving the hole a curious look.

“You don’t seem so surprised at the fact that our veteran is a pink rabbit,” he noted, and Twilight chuffed out a laugh.

“Yeah, there’s a story behind that. Maybe Legend will explain it.”

The rabbit in question reappeared shortly, tugging something else by the scruff. He grunted as he pulled it up, and Twilight stuck his snout in to try and help, eyes widening at the creature Sky had become.

He looked something like a cat, but not exactly, soft and fuzzy, tan and light brown fur in an unusual pattern. Large ears poked up as Legend pulled him further out of the hole, and Twilight saw a faint mark on his back that looked like a bird.

He also had claw marks scored into his side, dripping blood through his fur.

“Oh Sky...” Twilight whined, giving him an anxious sniff. “Do you know what he is?”

“I assumed he was a cat of some sort, but beats me,” Legend shrugged. “Wait, if you guys are animals, does that mean—”

“Yeah we’re pretty sure everyone else is too,” Twilight sighed, and Legend put a paw on his chin, rapidly tapping his foot in thought.

“Hm. That could be problematic, to say the least.”

“Indeed,” Time added grimly. “We need to find the others and figure out how to get out of here.”

“I can probably scent them out, but how are we getting out of here?” Twilight asked. “I don’t see us getting out the way we came in.”

“We’ll find a way,” Legend said as he rubbed his ear. “After all, we’ve just got to beat this ‘trial’, right? I bet once we do that we can bust outta here.”

“Assuming we aren’t all still incapacitated,” Time murmured with a glance at Sky. “We should get moving.”

“I got him,” Twilight volunteered, and gently lifted Sky by the scruff. He barely weighed anything.

“Wait, I’ll carry him,” Time interrupted. “You’re our best fighter at the moment, it makes more sense for you to have the freedom to move about. Especially if you’re going to sniff out the others.”

Twilight nodded reluctantly, and set Sky on Time’s back, getting him settled. He licked away the worst of the blood, and was relieved to see the scratches weren’t actually too deep. Legend seemed to be correct with his assumption that the shift had just been hard on him.

“So is this a dark world of some kind?” Twilight wondered as he pulled back. “We were wondering if it was a spell of some sort, but is it possible that we fell into a different world?”

“I don’t know, but it certainly feels like one,” Legend said with a shiver. “That or some kind of dark magic that’s concentrated down here. Based on what those crazy people said I’d guess just dark magic, but either way, it’s bad.”

Twilight raised his head and sniffed, that eerie cold feeling still penetrating him straight to his spirit. He caught a whiff of something else in the air though, a familiar scent, and pricked his ears.

“I smell someone, they’re close,” he reported, and Legend twitched an ear.

“Well, lead the way, wolf boy.”

They set off, Twilight in the front, Time behind him with Sky, Legend hopping along between them. Twilight stayed tense, keeping both ears out for sign of any monsters or Links, but the cavern was eerily quiet.

Had the others already been transformed? If they were unconscious from the shift it would explain why it was so quiet, but... there were a lot of other reasons why that could be the case.

Bad ones.

Twilight looked up at where the ceiling should be, nothing but pitch-black darkness meeting him, and swallowed.

Were they okay?

He regretted thinking it when a cry rang through the cavern yet again, one thick with pain, and all three of them immediately stiffened.

“I think that’s the captain,” Legend said in a thin voice.

Time didn’t even speak, bolting off deeper into the cave.

Twilight’s heart pounded as Legend scrambled over to him, leaping onto his back, and they tore off behind Time into the darkness ahead. He could barely see where he was going, but he kept running, following Time’s scent.

They rounded a corner, and Twilight stopped dead, Time’s tail between his legs at the sight before them.

Warriors lay on the ground, still completely Hylian, and writhing around with pain constricting his face. Twilight hurried over, and Warriors’ back arched, sweat beading on his face as he let out another cry.

Twilight couldn’t hold back a whine, and Legend slid off his back, scampering over to the captain without hesitation. Warriors’ eyes were wide and glassy, and Legend put a small paw on his arm with a worried look.

“Captain, hey, I know your instinct is to fight it, but let it happen,” Legend said, voice steady. “It’ll be easier if you just let it do what it’s going to do.”

Warriors let out another short cry of pain, and Twilight sat beside him as he twitched on the ground. Time seemed frozen a few feet away, and Twilight put the soft from his mind, focusing on Warriors.

His face began to elongate, and Warriors thrashed, his eyes so wide that Twilight could see mostly white. His legs and arms grew longer, back straightening as his neck stretched out, and all any of them could do was watch it happen, and try and soothe Warriors while his body slowly twisted itself into a different form.

Warriors let out a guttural scream, but the transformation just kept plodding along, going so slowly Twilight was sure it was pure torture.

“Warriors, please, you’ve got to let it finish,” Legend said in a voice Twilight could tell he fought to keep steady. “Just let go. I promise it’ll be okay.”

Warriors breathed out sharply through his nose, eyes darting around without seeing anything. Time finally snapped out of his daze then, sitting down by his head, and Warriors blindly leaned against him, breath coming out in short gasps.

“It’s okay, Link,” Time reassured, even though Warriors wouldn’t be able to understand him. “Let it finish. You can do it.”

Warriors shuddered, and the transformation spread a little faster, his hair turning paler and spreading across his body, limbs stretching out more. Twilight watched, morbidly fascinated as his fingers fused and arms stretched, body growing, hair spreading downwards.

It went on longer than Time’s, much longer, but Warriors’ limbs eventually finished growing out, hoofs in place of hands, a horn twisting up, a silky tail and mane falling along the ground.

Finally it finished, and Twilight stared, fascinated.

Warriors lay unconscious on the ground, a unicorn of the palest yellow.

“...I gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting that,” Legend commented with an exhale, though his voice was a bit unsteady. He patted Warriors’ shoulder, and hunched down a little, face twisted with worry.

“What were you expecting?” Twilight asked curiously, and Legend shrugged.

“I don’t know. Probably another wolf. Not... a unicorn.”

“I think it makes sense,” Time said quietly, but didn’t elaborate.

Twilight sighed, feeling exhausted, and absently twitched an ear. “Well since none of us can carry him, I guess we’re stuck here until he wakes up.”

Time nodded, and Legend swiped a paw across his face. “Hopefully that won’t take too long,” Legend muttered worriedly, his nose twitching.

Twilight silently agreed, and sat down beside Time and Legend, keeping his ears pricked for any signs of the other Links while they waited for Warriors to wake back up.

Oh spirits, what a disaster.