Febuwhump Day Twenty-Two: "You weren't meant to be there"
Featuring Legend and Sky. Back to push my "Legend and Sky are buddies" agenda.
Heads up for major injury in this chapter.
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A heavy blow to his shield sent Legend stumbling back, splinters of pain lodging in his bone. He thrust his sword forward, only for the moblin to deflect it. The tip sank into the dirt before Legend could recover. He tried to yank it out but the moblin attacked again, swinging its club toward his side. He released his sword, twisting to block the blow. The club clipped the edge of his shield and cracked against his ribs, sending him flying. He hit the ground hard, pain bursting in his chest as he rolled. He gasped, the action only making the pain worse, trying to force himself to his feet. Stars danced in his vision and he only made it halfway, collapsing back to his hands and knees.
A shadow fell over him and he rolled, narrowly dodging a lizalfos’s blade. It screeched, lunging after him and striking again while he lay on his back. He blocked the blow with his shield, the impact jarring his already abused arm. The moblin appeared in his peripheral. With a grunt and creaking pain from his fractured ribs, he kicked the lizalfos sharply in its middle. It flinched back, giving him a brief moment to flip onto his stomach and scramble on hands and knees away from the moblin as it bore down on him. The club slammed into the ground just beside him, kicking up dirt. He struggled back to his feet as he moved and nearly ran headlong into a second moblin, one of the massive ones from Sky’s era. It roared and fell forward. He dove out of the way, the monster crashing onto its belly where he’d been moments before. He tried to regain his footing, breath hitching as it felt like his ribs ground against one another. He fell to one knee, staggered back to his feet, head spinning. Bracing his shield, he turned to face the monsters, backpedaling. He turned at the just the right angle for the first moblin’s club to nail him in the stomach.
The moblin threw him backwards, knocking the air from his lungs. His back slammed against the ground. Black spots crashed into his vision as his ribs groaned, sawdust taking up residence between bone and flesh. He gasped like a dying fish, staring up at the sky. Every breath brought more burning dust into his ribs but he had to breathe. He propped himself up on his elbows, tried to, at least. He barely got his shoulders off the ground before pain ripped through his abdomen, sending him back to the ground. Beasts moved in the edges of his vision and he weakly raised his shield. He dug through his pouch with his other hand. His fingers closed around a flat and round metal object. He threw a glance about. He could only see the monsters closing in. Last he saw before being separated, the other heroes were all at the bottom of the hill. Just as the first moblin reached him, looming over him with its club raised, he yanked out the Bombos medallion and fed his magic into it.
Explosions cracked around him, tearing up dirt and grass. The moblin roared as a blast launched it somewhere to his right. Several more monster screeches joined it, before the increasing explosions drowned them out. A lizalfos’s finger streaked overhead, smoke trailing behind it.
Then a human screamed and Legend’s blood went cold.
He struggled to sit up as the spell died out, gritting his teeth against the pain and forcing himself up. He glanced around, heart thudding painfully against his chest. Monster remains lay scattered around him, the smoke that curled upwards from them carrying the scent of burnt flesh. With as deep of a breath as he could manage, he pushed himself up to his knees, rising above the carnage just enough to see over it all. He scanned his surroundings, eyes darting from the bits of pink flesh to the detached limbs and digits. The grass sat blackened in a rough circle around him, flames still clinging to some of the blades. His eyes stretched wide at the mound of white and light green crumpled at the edge of the circle.
He staggered to his feet with a breathless curse that turned into a hiss, arm wrapped around his ribs. He stumbled through the monster remains, barely managing to keep from falling to the ground again as he tripped over the moblin’s club. His heart throbbed in his throat as he drew closer to the white lump, head spinning harder as he made out the blue design on the cloth.
“Shit,” he whispered. He repeated it, quickening his steps. He half-ran, half-tripped over to the body, repeating the curse like a mantra.
“Sky!” he cried in a rough voice. Less of a cry, more of a harsh whisper, ribs protesting the whole way. He circled around in front of the hero, lightheadedness clutching at him and threatening to bring him to the ground. The hero lay curled on his side, face slack. His cape twisted around his torso, speckled with red. Legend crouched beside him with a wince, grabbing the sailcloth with trembling fingers and disentangling it from around Sky. Blood soaked through Sky’s tunic, wreathing his middle and left side. Legend let out a sharp curse, gripping his hair as he took in what he’d done. He didn’t- he didn’t know, he never would’ve-
He forcibly shook off the mounting horror, reaching into his pouch with one hand while grabbing an apparently uninjured portion of Sky’s arm with the other. Sky twitched at the touch, face scrunching up in pain. He let out a soft hiss, eyelids fluttering open. His gaze landed somewhere near Legend’s chest, brow furrowing.
“V…Vet…?” he croaked then winced. He moved to press an arm to his middle but flinched away the moment it made contact, making a sound that was probably supposed to be a yelp.
“D-don’t touch it,” Legend hissed through his teeth, doing his best to ignore the pain lancing through his ribs as he dug through his pouch. “Din’s sake, Sky, what were- what were you doing there?”
“Y-you were… ‘n trouble,” Sky managed, wincing weakly. The blood crawled farther up his tunic.
Legend’s hands froze, eyes widening. Sky was coming to help him. Of course he was, and then Legend- Legend- He clenched his jaw, choking back the horror once more as he resumed his search for a potion. Dammit, why didn’t he have any kind of organization, Warriors was right, he had way too much shit-
Sky let out a quiet sigh and went still. Legend’s head jerked up to stare at him.
“Hey,” he croaked, reaching out and grabbing Sky’s arm again. Droplets of Sky’s blood sank into the grass beneath him. Legend squeezed his arm harder, afraid to shake him and jostle the wounds. “Hey, no, you can’t- y-you can’t do this. Sky. Sky.” The chosen hero didn’t move. The horror roared up Legend’s throat before he could stop it, crashing into him and knocking all the air from his lungs. Sky was coming to help and Legend blew him up, he blew him up. He squeezed Sky’s arm so hard his knuckles went white, frantically searching through his bag with his other hand. No, find something to heal him, worry about waking him up later. If he’s even still- No, no, he was breathing. He had to be. Legend dug both hands into his pouch and began pulling out his items, tossing them haphazardly onto the grass. He had to have something. He had to, he was the collector, he had everything, he had to, it was in there somewhere, he just had to fucking find it-
His hand closed around a bottle and he yanked it out only to chuck it to the ground when only a green liquid sloshed around inside. Useless. Power bracelets. Useless. Boomerang. Useless. Old dungeon map. Why is that even in here, useless. He glanced back at Sky. His breath caught in his throat as he saw just how much of Sky’s tunic had been stained a dark reddish-brown by his blood, the chosen hero’s face white as a sheet. What was the point of having all these items, all this experience when he couldn’t even find one potion to heal his friend, what was the point?
The next bottle he pulled out contained red liquid. He lurched forward, the dust between his ribs and flesh igniting at the movement. A whine built in his throat and he bit his lip, reaching for Sky with one hand, clutching the red potion in the other. Sky didn’t respond to the touch on his arm, horribly still under Legend’s hand. Legend shook him before he could change his mind. Sky’s expression twisted and he groaned, hand moving sluggishly to the injuries hidden under his tunic.
“Sky,” Legend said through the pain, voice tight. “Sky, I’ve got a potion.”
Sky’s eyes opened just a crack, gaze drifting about aimlessly. Legend held the bottle in front of his eyes. Sky’s eyes began to drift closed again and Legend swore. He gently pushed Sky onto his back, gut twisting as the chosen hero whimpered. He shifted closer to Sky and carefully threaded an arm under Sky’s shoulders, lifting him so his head propped up against Legend’s shoulder. He ripped the cork out of the bottle with his teeth and held the glass rim to Sky’s lips. Sky weakly turned his head away from it, eyes still closed.
“Gonna… throw up,” he managed, arms pressed over his stomach.
“Sky, drink the fucking potion!” Legend yelled, despite how it made his ribs burn.
Sky’s eyelids fluttered again, gaze clearing just slightly. His eyes traveled to Legend, noticed the potion that Legend practically shoved against his mouth. He pushed his lips against the rim just slightly and Legend tipped the bottle toward him. Sky screwed his eyes shut as the potion poured into his mouth, throat moving as he swallowed it down. He had to stop once or twice, breathing shallowly through his mouth, face pale. Eventually, he drained the last drop and slumped back against Legend’s arm with a sigh. Legend pitched forward against the sudden weight, throwing out a leg to catch himself. He yelped through his teeth, screwing his eyes shut as sparks of pain shot through his chest.
“Y’re hurt,” Sky slurred, shifting in Legend’s arms.
“Did it work?” Legend gritted out instead of shut up and worry about yourself for once. Sky gingerly prodded at his middle and side, sighing and not flinching from the touch.
“Yeah,” he breathed. He braced his hands on the ground behind him and tried to push himself up but failed, arms trembling violently. When he fell back against Legend’s arm that time, the veteran was ready. “Tired.”
“Yeah, that’s what happens when-“ Legend’s words stuttered to a stop. He meant to say ‘that’s what happens when you lose that much blood’ but the horror clawed its way up his throat once again. “S-Sky, I-“ He choked when Sky looked up at him, blinking slowly. “I didn’t- I didn’t know you- you were there, I…”
Sky watched him for a moment, eyelids drooping. He reached up and patted Legend’s hand where it clutched his shoulder. “S’okay.” Then his eyes fell shut and he went limp.
Legend swore, shifting as Sky’s full weight sagged against him. With a pained hiss, he stretched his leg out in front of him to rest his arm on. Every breath felt like tiny knives scraping against the inside of his ribs. He glanced around them, partially to see if any of the others were nearby, partially to make sure no other monsters were coming. He relaxed slightly when he saw no monsters, turning to look back down at Sky’s sleeping face. The slightest hint of pink grew in his cheeks and lips, just enough to tell Legend that he had only passed out and his wounds weren’t bleeding anymore. Legend half-heartedly attempted to stand, only shifting slightly before immediately giving up, pain rocketing inside his chest. He pursed his lips, holding Sky a little tighter. They certainly weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. He could only hope that the others found them before more monsters did.
