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Of all the ways that he could have broken a bone, this had to be the dumbest.
He had managed the steep slope of the mountain without an issue. He had crossed the perilous tightrope across a bottomless chasm no problem. He hadn’t even faltered when they had to scramble across the uneven rock field.
No, instead Wild had slipped on a lone leaf when walking across a perfectly flat surface. He fell with a yelp, sprawling across the ground and throwing out his right arm to try and catch himself.
Something cracked and the arm buckled beneath him. Wild had no feeling in his prosthetic arm, he never had, but he knew immediately that something was wrong. When he sat up, his forearm was sitting at an odd angle and try as he might, he couldn’t will the arm to move. It just hung limply at his side, useless.
Wild whined in alarm. Most of his brothers were a little on up the path but Wind and Spirit, who had at first had stopped to laugh at his tumble, now raced to his side.
“Wild!” Wind shouted, crouching beside him. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“Hyrule!” Spirit called, turning around. “Hyrule, Wild’s hurt!”
Was he hurt? He supposed that he was, even though he couldn’t feel anything. He tried again to move his arm, but it remained as limp and lifeless as it felt.
Wild felt panic rose in his throat. It had never occurred to him that Rauru’s arm could break. It was too powerful, too mystical. How could it possibly be broken? Could it even be fixed?
He shook his head. No, he couldn’t think like that. Hyrule was an incredible healer, a little broken bone wouldn’t be a problem for him. Wild had seen him heal all sorts of injuries, broken bones were small fry.
The traveller was sprinting towards him now, the rest of the Chain turning in alarm hurrying behind him. Wild felt a little silly, sitting here under all this attention when he wasn’t in any pain. But his arm still wasn’t responding, so when Hyrule knelt beside him he used his left hand to pick up his wrist and offer it to the healer, whining softly.
Hyrule frowned as he took Wild’s arm in his hands, running his fingers over the fur and ornamentation, probing it gently. He pressed in, a light glow starting up between his fingers. Okay. This was it. Another few seconds and it would all be fixed.
The arm stayed resolutely crooked. No matter how hard he tried, Wild still couldn’t make it move.
Hyrule’s frown deepened and the glow brightened.
Nothing happened.
Shit.
Hyrule withdrew, his eyes wide as he shook his head.
“I can feel the break but I cannot touch it.” He paused, and when he next signed, Wild already knew what he was going to say. “Your arm… it is not alive. Not part of you. I cannot heal it, I’m not strong enough. I’m so sorry.”
Wild swallowed and nodded, feeling more than a little sick. He knew intellectually that his arm wasn’t alive. Rauru had been dead for millennia before giving it to Wild, and while he could move and use it like a regular arm, it didn’t actually knit into his own flesh. His blood did not flow through its veins, no nerves connected the limb to his body.
It was as dead as the man it first belonged to, only still lingering on due to the magic imbued in it.
If Hyrule couldn’t fix it… what were they going to do?
“Hyrule.” Came Warriors’ voice from a few feet away. As always the Captain was calm and unflinching, and Wild was glad of it now. Wars was always thinking several steps ahead and Wild hoped beyond hope that he had a strategy now. “You said you couldn’t fix it, you aren’t strong enough. If we took Wild to a Great Fairy or a strong spirit, do you think they could help?”
Hyrule paused and then nodded as Twilight whistled for attention. “A light spirit jammed my arm back on when I got it cut off.” He reminded them. “They should be able to help”
“Okay then.” Time said. “We have a plan. Four, I know that you wanted to visit your grandfather, but-“
“No worries.” Four waved him off. “This is more important. We need to start heading east, there’s a fairy fountain a few days’ walk from here.” He gave Wild a soft smile. “We’ll get it fixed.”
Wild nodded uneasily, lifting his arm back from Hyrule and clutching it to his chest. It was a dead weight like this, awkward and unwieldy.
Hyrule pulled a face. “You should take it off until we get there.” He said, apology in his face. “In case it gets hurt more. Also I want to see your stump, it might be sore given it caught your weight.”
Wild sighed and nodded. It made sense, but it still somehow felt like defeat to pull his arm off and store it in his slate. Sure, he took it off to sleep, but he never went more than a few hours without it. Several days was a step into unknown territory.
As predicted his stump was red and raw after having borne the weight of his fall. Hyrule was able to bring down the worst of the swelling, but it still ached.
And then, even when Hyrule declared him fit to travel and they set off again, his arm now stowed in his slate, there were also more sartorial worries. It was still cold enough that he was wearing one of the Ordon tunics that Uli had given him, but now one sleeve hung empty and limp at his side, swinging uselessly as he walked. Wild could feel his cheeks burning under his fur, hating it. Could this not have at least happened somewhere warm where he wouldn’t have to worry about this?
Of all people, it was Legend who came to his aid, quietly taking him to one side and neatly folding his sleeve up, pinning it discreetly into place. Wild rumbled in gratitude and signed a quick thank you, but realised with a sinking feeling that his communication was going to be severely limited until he got his arm working again. Most signs required both hands, and even with the one-handed alphabet of Twi’s sign, all of their written hylian worked so differently that spelling things out was out of the question.
He sighed. He’d finally gotten a handle on communication with the Chain and now he broke his arm. This was going to be a rough few days.
Still, he managed the rest of the day well enough as they hiked over the rolling hills of Four’s era. Wild felt a little lopsided, not used to carrying his gear with only one arm. He kept catching himself walking with his body tilted to his left, the lack of weight from his right arm messing around with his centre of balance.
Then came time to set up camp.
It was fine. It was fine. Wild had set up his bedroll and the cookpot without his arm before. But somehow knowing that it was because he couldn’t use it rather than having deliberately chosen not to made it almost unbearable. There were big rocks scattered around camp that he could have moved easily with the magic in his arm, but as it was he wasn’t experienced enough in moving things with only one arm to help with any of the heavy lifting.
Wild huffed irritably and flopped down by the cookpot. At least he knew that he could still cook one-handed. There had been plenty of evenings where he had deliberately taken his arm off before cooking, so he knew that he could do almost everything independently. After the day he’d had, it was a solace to be able to sit down and do something so familiar. He felt a little silly - it wasn’t that anything particularly awful had happened, but with his arm out of commission everything just felt a little… to the left.
But cooking he could do, arm or no arm.
Wild hummed to himself as he listened to the bustle of his brothers around him as he stirred his warming risotto. One thing he had to admit: his brothers had been great about this. Four had been eagerly looking forward to visiting his grandfather but hadn’t complained once about changing their plans. No one had commented to Wild’s constant posture corrections and when he had dropped his slate because he forgot he only had one arm and went to pass it from one hand to another, they had just laughed easily with him as if this was an everyday occurrence.
He supposed, really, it was just like any other injury. Like any of the times Wild had taken his arm off in the past, like Sky’s blindness, Legend’s pains, Twi and Hyrule’s muteness or any of the other physical difficulties the Chain sometimes came up against. They all knew how to handle it, and they treated it normally because that’s what it was. As a rule, no one would ever get involved unless actively asked for help.
Well. Or unless someone was doing that classic Link thing of trying to push through a difficulty and making life unnecessarily difficult and painful for themselves. They’d all had dumb days like that.
Wild looked up as he heard someone sit down beside him and rumbled in greeting to Sky, folding his long legs into a sitting position on the ground.
“Risotto?” he asked and Wild nodded, humming.
It was going to be a few days of foods that could be easily eaten without too much cutting. Wild could cut food with only one arm, but it was enough to do the chopping for the actual cooking of the meals. He didn’t want to have to struggle with a knife while he was eating too.
“Nice. Been a while.” Sky sniffed appreciatively. “How are you doing?”
Wild paused for a moment, ladle hovering over his cooking. Slowly, he stirred once more and shrugged, not meeting Sky’s eyes. He was fine. He took his arm off all the time, there was no reason that this was any different.
“Good.” He signed. It would have to do.
Sky hummed, leaning back. He’d shed his outer layers and was lounging in his shirt and trousers, looking casual and comfortable. Wild felt a small twinge of jealousy. He hadn’t yet tried removing the different buckles and clasps of his belts. He at least was pretty confident he could manage one handed, but he really wasn’t looking forward to getting dressed the next morning.
He sighed. Flora had been bugging him for a while before this journey to practise more with his one-handed dexterity, specifically in case something like this happened. Had he done it? Nope. ‘Course not. ‘Cause he’s an idiot.
Sky was looking at him with his eyes narrowed and Wild returned his focus to dinner, face burning.
“Remember last month when I got hit by that wizzrobe’s spell and couldn’t use the Master Sword for a week?” he laughed softly.
Wild hummed and nodded, wondering where this was going.
“I - I don’t think I ever thanked you properly. For you know. Guiding me so much then.” Sky flushed pink, picking at the dirt on the ground absently. “I couldn’t even understand what you were saying but you still helped me. Made sure I didn’t run into trees. Helped me find my things when we made camp. I really appreciated it.”
Wild looked up at him. Yeah, he remembered that week. The blast had left Sky with a magical headache that made interaction with any sort of magical object too painful to do. He hadn’t been able to use Fi to navigate until it wore off and had had to make do with his cane. It had been a little awkward, sometimes, with there having to always be someone to translate for Wild, Twi, and Hyrule, but otherwise they had managed fine. The Chosen Hero rarely used the sword in his own world, after all, even when exploring the wilds of the surface.
Sky flushed bright pink as he made to speak again.
“I- it felt bad. Not being able to use the sword. Which is dumb, because I wasn’t any less blind than before, I just didn’t have one of my normal tools to help with it. You all help me so much normally, but for some reason it felt different. Like. I don’t know. Like I couldn’t help as much. Like I wasn’t useful.”
Wild felt his cheeks burn. He knew why Sky was telling him this now, and he felt guilt curdle in his gut. He shifted uncomfortably.
“I was… I got kind of mopey about it. Figured if I hadn’t been careless in the fight, if I had have just pushed through the pain and used the sword anyway, maybe I'd be less of a burden.”
Oh, yeah, that felt familiar. Wild cringed, knowing that he had been thinking the same thing. If he had have paid more attention to where he was walking, if he had have tried to catch himself with his other hand, if he’d never lost the damn arm in the first place-
Unexpectedly, Sky burst out laughing. “I made the mistake of telling Legend that. He saw I was down and - yeah, as you can imagine I got… a bit of a talking to. Which is a nice way of saying he bit my head off. Shouted at me. Told me that saying I’m useless for being a bit more blind than usual was the same as saying he was useless on days where he had bad pain. Or that Hyrule or Twi are useless when we’re in an era where they don’t know the sign so well. Which we’d never say.”
Wild whined and shook his head. Saying that would be unthinkable. It wasn’t Legend’s fault that his joints rebelled against him or Twi or Hyrule’s for not being able to speak, no more than it was Warriors’ fault for having to use the different tools his therapist had given him or it was Four’s fault for being as short as he was.
Sky smiled softly. “Wild - you’re not a burden now that you only have one arm. You always only have one arm. Sure, a lot of the time you have a good tool as a replacement and it’s super useful, but it’s not the same as your original arm. You can’t feel anything there, if something grabs you. It hurts the stump if you wear it too long. And.” He paused, expression softening. “If we got in a fight tomorrow and Time lost an arm, would you say he was useless?”
No! Of course not! Never! Wild cleared his throat and pushed his voice forwards to try and make the closest sound he could to speech.
“Nuh-uh.” he protested.
Sky brightened and reached out to pat his remaining arm. “Well, that’s that, then! I thought I’d pass on the message before Legend started shouting at you too. Save you the stress. Now, next time you start trying to push on and not ask for help, just remember: Legend will have something to say about it. And he won’t be as nice as me.”
Wild snorted and laughed, and was surprised to find that his eyes were damp. Sniffling, he set the ladle down and knuckled his tears away.
“Uh-huh.” he managed hoarsely, coughing a little.
Sky sniffed the air. “Smells good, is it ready? You want a hand serving u- oh, shit sorry Wild! That one wasn’t on pur-”
Wild burst out laughing.
-
Two days later they were setting up camp for the night when Hyrule interrupted them to say he could feel that a portal would be coming at dawn.
Wild could have screamed. He definitely groaned and looked around to Four to see if the Smith thought they could possibly get to the fountain in time. He had said they should get to it at some point the next day, and while it wouldn’t have been usual for them to hike through the night, Wild would happily have gone alone if it meant getting his arm back.
Four looked crestfallen as he shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Wild. Even if we set off now it’d take till mid-morning to get there. I’m so sorry.”
Wild sighed and did his best to sign that it was okay. It wasn’t Four’s fault after all, and hopefully they’d end up somewhere close to another fountain, wherever they landed.
Wild ducked his head and busied himself with the dinner. Much as he wanted to keep his spirits up, he didn’t have the energy for much tonight. He had been planning to make a hearty chowder and bread in celebration of nearly being at the fountain, but now…
He grumbled and rummaged around the slate and pulled out a bowl of soup. It would have to do. Wild himself only took a small portion, not particularly hungry. He saw some of his brothers shooting him concerned glances, but no one said anything.
Good. He wasn’t in the mood for conversation right now.
As dinner wrapped up, Wild stowed what was left of his soup back in his slate. He couldn’t bring himself to eat it and just wanted to crawl into his bedroll. Rumbling softly, he stood and made to go and lie down when a small hand caught his wrist.
Wild turned around and - huh. Spirit. He tilted his head in question, hoping that this wouldn’t take too long, whatever it was. Much as he loved the kid, he just wanted to go to bed and forget this damn day.
“Hey Wild.” he said, shifting from one foot to another. “I know you probably want to crawl under the covers but - I- I want to show you something.”
Huh. Damn perceptive kid. He had flushed bright red and Wild frowned despite himself. It was true, he hadn’t seen much of the engineer over the past few days, he had been hanging around with Four and tinkering with his little bag of gizmos and doodads. Honestly, Wild hadn’t been paying too much attention, being far too busy with his own issues.
Wild hummed and nodded as Wind jumped up from his seat by the fire, running forwards and grabbing Spirit by the shoulders.
“Tell him the truth!” he said, shaking his brother. “Wild, he’s made you something! It’s a present. Four helped too, and so did I!”
Wild blinked. Spirit had… made him something? With Four and Wind? Obediently, he followed the twins back towards the fire and sat down again as Spirit pulled out a large parcel wrapped in Sky’s sailcloth.
“It- it’s not perfect.” he stammered. “Wind got the measurements when he was snuggling up to you and Four helped with some of the building. We can make you a better one when we get to a proper workshop or-”
Four stood and clipped him lightly around the ear. “Stop apologising and give it to him already!” he said.
“Oh! Yes.” Spirit stepped forwards and offered over the bundle.
Wild rested it carefully on his knee and awkwardly pulled at the sailcloth to try and unwind it. Wordlessly, Four crouched at his side and loosened the cloth so that he could more easily get it open.
His heart caught in his mouth.
It was an arm. Made of gleaming gears and pistons similar to the ones in Spirit’s foot and what looked like spare parts from the engineer and Four’s tool bags, it wasn’t exactly a polished, perfect work of construction. But it was unmistakably an arm. Wild even thought he recognised some of the parts - the long metal rod where his humerus should have been was unmistakably the base of a spear Wild had broken a few months ago and Four had claimed for scrap.
Wild blinked in amazement, running his good hand over it and then looking up at Spirit, who was watching him nervously.
“It- It may not work perfectly at first, and I know it isn’t magic like your regular arm, but-”
But nothing. Wild set the arm aside and pulled Spirit into the biggest hug he could manage, purring in gratitude. After a moment he looked up and gestured to Wind and Four to come in too.
Finally, Spirit pulled away, giggling.
“Wanna try it on?” he asked and Wild beamed.
It was definitely different to his other arm. Without the protective magic of Rauru’s arm, Spirit talked him through the cushioning effects he had built into it and how he could avoid straining himself. Hyrule chimed in a few times throughout, and Wild wondered if more of his brothers had had a hand in this than were letting on.
It fit over his stump like before and latched onto the same bangle that Rauru’s arm did, but unlike the Zonai one, it did not immediately spring to life at this point. Instead it hung, a dead weight at his side.
“Okay.” Spirit said. “This is where things get cool. There’s an intention spell in the metal, we use things like it when we need to use bigger hands to build trains. This one’s going to be personalised to you, so I just need to press the final spell into it while you’re wearing it.”
He rested a small stamp on the metal of the clamp connecting the arm to his stump and paused for permission. Wild nodded, a little nervous, and very gently Spirit lifted a hammer and with one strike tapped the spell into the arm.
“Done!” he said. “Okay, give it a go!”
Wild looked down at the contraption at his side and cautiously tried to lift his arm. He wasn’t sure how - after all, he had no muscles in this prosthetic - but slowly, a little unsteadily, the limb obeyed him.
The Chain whooped and cheered and Wild couldn’t hold in his yip of delight. He kept moving the arm, experimentally wiggling his fingers and stretching it out. It was still a little unsteady, but he could already feel the motion getting smoother as he practised.
“So you’ll need to do some exercises to get used to it.” Spirit explained. “I can help with some, but like, I'm used to a foot, not an arm, so I’ve asked Hyrule and he says he’ll help with them too.”
Wild nodded and then, experimentally, signed “Thank you!” with his new arm. It was a little unsteady and uncoordinated, but it was unmistakably sign.
He had an arm back. Sure, it wasn’t as mystical or powerful as Rauru’s and it would take a bit to get his co-ordination sorted, but it was an arm. For the first time in days he could actually sign to his brothers. He could already feel his spirits lifting as he went through the exercises that Hyrule and Spirit advised.
Needless to say, Wild did not end up going to bed early that night. Instead he stayed up and chatted and laughed with his brothers until one by one, they all began to drift off to sleep.
-
As promised, the portal appeared the next morning as the sun began to rise. Hyrule, on watch, sighed and whistled to wake everyone up. It didn’t take much - none of them ever slept well when they knew that a portal was coming the next morning and even Sky didn’t need much encouragement to crawl out of his bedroll.
Wild rumbled as he latched his new prosthetic back on, wriggling his fingers again. They moved obediently, already smoother than they had the previous night.
This was amazing. Even if he was able to fix Rauru’s arm, he was absolutely keeping this one.
Feeling more positive than he had in days, he followed his brothers through the portal… and into a very familiar sight.
They were on the steep grassy slope of a mountain’s foothill, a few scattered overgrown ruins nearby. At the base of the slope was a deep, glassy moat, and beyond it, the hulking, risen shape of Wild’s Hyrule Castle.
He was home. More than that, he was on the Rauru Hillside, only half a day’s walk from the ruins of the Military Training Camp and Tera’s fairy fountain.
Wild churred happily, turning to give his brothers the good news and remembering with a jolt that there was a reason they didn’t usually set off immediately after using portals.
Four was lying face down on the grass, groaning. Hyrule was leaning against a tree and throwing up as Legend rubbed his back, wincing. Time was pulling a face and rubbing at his closed eye.
Okay. So they would need to wait a while. That was okay. Wild found a vaguely flat part of the ground and set up his cookpot. They would be here for a bit, he was sure, so he might as well make everyone a good breakfast.
Aah, it was good to be cooking with two arms again. Happily, Wild began to pull out the ingredients for crepes. By the time all of his brothers had made it over to him he had more pancakes than they could ever hope to eat and every topping imaginable - bacon, eggs, berries, honey, cream, everything.
It was a really good breakfast. There was no other way of putting it; even with the lingering portal sickness, everyone ate heartily. Despite the coldness of the morning, the sun was shining down on them and the sky was clear. As he munched on his food, Wild happily signed to his brothers that there was a fairy fountain nearby.
“I still want to keep this one too.” He assured Four and Spirit. “It’s so cool! And you made it!”
The Smith and the Engineer both preened in pride.
“Next time we get somewhere with a workshop,” Four said. “We’re stealing it back and making it less… you know. Scrungly.”
“Four said he’d make proper rods for the main arm so we don’t have to use broken spear parts, and we might try to cover some of the moving parts so it looks kinda like armour!” Spirit crowed, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He paused, blushing. “If. You know. If you want us to.”
Wild purred and ruffled his hair. “Gonna be my fancy arm for special occasions. Then we can match!”
Spirit grinned and began to help clear up, and ten minutes later they had set off. It was an easy walk, mostly downhill, although that didn’t stop the Chain from teasing Wild and pretending to steady him lest he break another arm. He chuffed at them, amused but pretending to be insulted.
It wasn’t yet noon by the time they reached the woodland stable, and it took only twenty more minutes for them to trek up to the fountain. The Chain made various noises of surprise and awe as they arrived and Wild remembered with a jolt that he hadn’t actually yet taken them to one of his fairy fountains. As far as he knew, most of theirs were inside caves or temples, not growing out of the ground in vast, neon coloured flowers.
Eh, whatever.
If they had been impressed by the flower, the Chain were downright alarmed by Tera’s enthusiastic appearance, bursting from the water and splashing them all with glittering droplets. Fairies never seemed to be affected by whatever the weather was doing, so even on a cold day like this she was still in her sparkly bikini and jewellery combo and… very little else.
Just another day, to be honest.
“LINK!” She bellowed in delight, reaching down a hand. At least she didn’t scoop him up, instead making a little platform for him to sit on as she raised him up to her face. “How wonderful to see you! OH AND YOU’VE BROUGHT FRIENDS!”
She turned her attention to the Chain, some looking more enthusiastic than others. “All heroes, too! How wonderful, and- Little Brother!” her eyes landed on Hyrule, who was peering at her sheepishly from behind Legend. “Oh my sweet Little Brother! It’s been so long!” she held out her other hand and Hyrule obediently climbed up onto it, flushing scarlet.
“Hi Tera.” he signed. “You’ve grown.”
That seemed like it was bordering on an insult to Wild, but the Great Fairy preened in pride. “I’ve become a Great Mother now, Brother, and Cotera too! We told you we’d make it!” she beamed at him and shifted to set him on her shoulder. Hyrule teetered a little before he found his footing and then happily perched there, holding onto her hair for support.
“So!” she said, turning back to the Chain. “What happy accident brings my wonderful Little Brother and nine of his heroic brothers to my little spring?”
Oh. Yeah. That.
Wild pulled Rauru’s arm from the slate and explained what had happened, and Tera plucked it from his hand to examine, turning it this way and that. She brightened.
“Yep, I can fix it!” she said. “Want me to do your other one too?”
“The- other one?” Wild asked.
“The arm you’re wearing now, honey.”
Oh. Wild glanced over at Spirit and Four. The engineer looked far too bewildered by the fairy to speak, but Four grinned and stepped forwards.
“We still have some work to do on it, Ma’am, will that be an issue?”
Tera waved him off. “No problem, hon, the blessing will just shift with whatever you do. C’mon now, Link, honey, pass it over and I'll work my magic.” With both prosthetics now in her grasp she set Wild back onto solid ground and then turned to Hyrule. “Wanna help me?” she offered and the traveller nodded in excitement.
Then they were gone, plunging down into the glittering pool of the fountain.
Wild rolled his eyes. Now she was just showing off.
They resurfaced a few minutes later, Hyrule now cupped in Tera’s hands and somehow bone dry, holding both of the arms with a wide grin on his face. He hurried forwards and offered Rauru’s arm to Wild.
“That should be it fixed now, hon.” Tera crooned. “And I've made it a bit more durable. I know what you’re like, after all.” the teased.
Wild rumbled happily and fixed it onto his stump. Immediately it came to life and he stretched it out, experimentally extending it and latching onto a rock a few feet away, making it hover into the air.
Everything working and in order! He set the rock down and purred in delight.
Everything was back as it ought to be. He carefully stowed the spare arm in his slate and hopped down to join his brothers, waving to Tera as he went and- oop!
He slipped on the petal and came crashing down, stopped only by Hyrule grabbing his arm and yanking him upright. Wild laughed weakly, flushing.
“Wild.” Hyrule sighed, shaking his head. “Let’s try not to fall over for a bit, yeah?”
Yeah. Wild nodded. That would probably be for the best.