Chapter Text
The sun already stood high in the sky as the Links finally decided to part ways. Wild had made sure that Twilight and the others knew exactly where they would meet after their scouting mission because he didn’t want to risk losing anyone else after they already had lost Hyrule.
Legend’s jaw ached from grinding his teeth the whole time out of stress and worry about his friend. When Wild finally came over to him, he let out an audible sigh as his shoulders dropped a little. Wild pointed to a small building, illuminated in a strange electric blue light. “ We need to get to that shrine over there and then we can teleport right to the Gerudo desert and spy out the Yiga hideout.“ Legend didn’t trust his voice enough to speak so he just nodded as he followed Wild. The champion looked through his slate while he was walking, swiping through his inventory with practiced motions. “ You might need some warmer clothing, it gets pretty cold in the Gerudo Highlands“
Legend shook his head vigorously. “I‘ll be okay. Hyrule might not be okay. Let’s just hurry, Wild.“ The Veteran broke into a light jog to reach the shrine platform faster, his hands slightly shaking with anxiety. Wild followed him, standing closely next to him on the platform as he held out his hand. “Take my hand, Legend. It might work better if we‘re in permanent contact.“ The veteran huffed in frustration, but he took the champion‘s hand.
Wild murmured something under his breath, looking on his map in concentration, finally choosing one of the blue symbols and touching it. Legend was about to ask the champion how much longer this would take, when he felt a sudden pull in his chest. It was a strange feeling as if he was about to use one of his powerful magic items as he felt the force build up.
But instead of being channeled outwards into a magic item, he felt it curl up into himself and spread into thousands of threads, coiling around his body. Legend looked down and was immediately hit with an adrenaline rush as he saw his legs dissolve into glowing electric blue filaments.
He didn’t get time to panic while he felt his whole body disintegrating into the nothingness of teleportation.
The first thing he noticed when his body rebuilt itself on a different transport platform was the tang of ozone in his mouth. The second thing was the icy gust hitting his pantsless knees and making him shiver slightly. He should have listened to Wild and put on something warm, but he wouldn’t tell him that,of course. And they didn’t have the time for that now, anyway. Legend hopped off the edge of the platform, taking in his surroundings. Hulking red sandstone cliffs, streaked with white, surrounded a narrow canyon. In the distance he could see the sun gleaming over the ochre sands of a desert.
The sun was still high in the sky, but offered no hint of warmth in the chilly breeze.
He turned towards Wild, who was scrolling through his slate with a slight smirk on his face, handing him a coat not even ten seconds later. Legend huffed and put it on. It was soft and warm and because Wild was slightly taller than him, the coat reached his knees and kept the chilly wind outside.
Legend grumbled a thanks and threw a questioning look at the champion. Wild pointed in the direction opposite of where the canyon opened towards the desert . “If we stay up here we can maybe get to the hideout unseen. And I think I remember a ventilation opening somewhere down the way. Legend nodded wordlessly and started to walk in the indicated direction, but Wild let his hand fall heavily on the Veteran’s shoulder. “ Legend… I know you feel guilty and want Hyrule back as soon as possible. I want that too. But we can’t fight the Yiga as long as it‘s only the two of us. They might kill Hyrule when they notice they are under attack. Do you agree?“ Legend made eye contact with the champion and saw the same worry in his eyes he himself felt. He averted his eyes and gave a short nod as confirmation, shaking Wild‘s hand from his shoulder. “Are you done? The traveler needs us.“
Legend turned around and started walking in the direction the Champion had indicated earlier.
He heard the other hero sigh behind him, but the shuffling sound of feet on sand told him that he followed.
The anxiety in Legend‘s stomach had slowly simmered to anger, and he tapped his foot impatiently on the sandy ground. He and the champion were hiding behind a boulder, spying on the two Yiga guarding the ventilation opening.
They didn’t seem to take their duty very seriously, talking, laughing and not paying much attention to their surroundings.
“Did the hero boy talk yet?“ one of them asked the other. Legend straightened, ears pinning back to his head. Wild put a hand on his shoulder,giving him a warning glare. “ You mean the one who broke Shodra‘s nose? He deserved that, if you’re asking me. Blademaster Imo was not very happy about that. I heard him say the boy had earned his special treatment.“ Both Yiga shook their heads, but Legend didn’t hear what they were saying after that. He had confirmation that they had Hyrule in their hideout. He had broken a Yiga‘s nose and it seemed like his friend was about to be severely punished for that. If something happened to Hyrule it was because Legend had not been there with him. It was his fault if Hyrule was somewhere in there, imprisoned and alone, probably injured and now facing some dubious punishment for trying to fight back.
White spots started dancing in his vision as he began to sway on his feet. He stumbled on the uneven ground as the sand slid away from under his boots and fell against the boulder with an audible thump.
The sound shocked him back into awareness, he held his breath in a desperate attempt to be quiet.
The Yiga were startled out of their casual conversation by the sudden sound and threw suspicious looks at each other. “Did you hear that , too? It came from that boulder over there.”
The red clad assassin shrugged.” It was probably just a wolf or another wild animal.”
Legend sucked in the breath he had been holding, the movement jostling his sword just enough that it clattered against the rock.
The Yiga startled and drew their blades. Wolves didn’t have swords, after all. Legend cursed under his breath as he drew his own sword, and Wild scrolled through his slate until his bow appeared in a flash of blue fibers. The champion drew a sparkling yellow green arrow out of his quiver and gently set it on his bowstring.
One could say many bad things about the Yiga’s abilities, but they knew how to be quiet.
Legend didn’t expect it when one of them suddenly teleported behind him, putting his arm around the veteran’s neck and choking him.
Wild shot the masked man with an electric arrow and he went down, his muscles contracting in involuntary spasms and cutting Legends air flow off completely. When the Yiga finally passed out, Legend took a gasping, shaking breath, frantically pointing his fingers to a point over the champion’s right shoulder to alert him of the assassin that had taken his distraction as an opportunity to sneak up on him.
Wild spun around unbelievably fast, colliding his fist to the man’s temple and sending him to the floor in seconds, out cold.
Legend coughed while he sat up, rubbing his sore neck. “ Sorry, Champion… I don’t know what happened to me there.” He rasped.
The Champion shrugged and held his hand out to pull the veteran to his feet. “ It’s okay, vet, they are just two Yiga. That’s no challenge for the two of us.”
A mischievous smile appeared on the champion’s face. “Actually… I’ve got an idea now.”
Legend frowned . Something in the champion’s face told him that he was not going to like that idea.
Legend wiggled his arms to test the bonds Wild had bound around his arms. He found that they were tight enough to convince others for a passing look, but loose enough that he could get out of them without too much hassle. He nodded at the red clad figure standing next to him, pulling his blonde hair up in a ponytail. “Do you really think that this will work? This is the oldest trick ever. And your hair doesn’t look convincing at all.“
Wild winked at him before he put on his mask. “Believe me, it will work. I have pulled this off more than once. They never suspect anything. And I don’t plan on being seen at all.”
The champion grabbed Legend by the scruff of his tunic to help the bound veteran keep himself steady, guiding him to the opening of the ventilation system. Legend glanced down into the dark depths of the cave below them. Narrow stone steps wound downwards into the darkness, clinging to the ochre sandstone walls. Legend swallowed hard. If he slipped, nothing would stop him from falling down into the dark depths of the cave. He had no clue how deep the shaft was, but he doubted that the fall would be pleasant. Wild seemed to have reached the same conclusion.
“Sorry Legend.” He muttered, bowing down and grabbing him around the middle. He picked the startled veteran up and threw him over his shoulder. “Wild, I swear, if you don’t put me down immediately…!” The champion patted his legs that he held onto with both hands.
“I can do that, if you’d rather walk a dark, narrow staircase on your own with bound hands and tumble to your death.” Legend grumbled on Wild's shoulder but he didn’t complain anymore. The Champion started walking slowly and carefully down the winding staircase, every step removing them further from the light of the sun.
The sound of Wild‘s boots on the stone echoed through the cavern at the bottom of the stairs as he hopped down the last step and put Legend back on his feet.“Good thing you are tiny, Vet!“ He exclaimed with a cheery tone that only served to further sour the veteran's mood. He didn’t like being carried and he liked comments about his height even less.
But he had to admire that the champion was still so full of energy after walking down that many stairs while carrying his weight additionally to his own.
„How are we going to do this, Wild?“
The champion pushed him forward with a hand between his shoulder blades. “Move, prisoner! And don’t worry, I have a plan!“
Legend rolled his eyes.”That is exactly why I’m worried, Wild…“
Wild snorted and pushed him towards a wooden door in the cave wall. It looked weathered and didn’t even have a lock. Legend rolled his eyes again. No wonder Wild had been able to sneak in and out of this hiding place, these assassins seemed to be a special kind of incompetent.
Wild pushed him through the door into an empty hallway. Then he stopped, looking up and down the corridor. Legend couldn’t see his face behind the mask, but he clearly felt his confusion. “Please tell me that you know where we are…“
The answer was a confused:“Uuuh….“ and Legend would have put his face in his hands if he wasn’t bound.
Wild huffed, sounding slightly offended. “Hey, it’s not my fault I never crawled through the ventilation system!“ Legend glared at him, ears pinned against his head and foot tapping on the ground impatiently. “Okay, maybe it is my fault. But this one seems to be new anyways. We’ll just go ahead this way and look where we end up.“
Legend sighed tiredly, there went whatever plan Wild had had to begin with. The champion put his hand back between Legends shoulders and guided him along the corridor. They hadn’t gone far before they reached the end of the corridor, where it merged into a bigger one. After a few steps into the bigger corridor, the heroes heard a sharp whistle behind them. Wild gripped Legends shoulders and turned him around alongside himself. They found themselves face to face with a large, broad shouldered Yiga blademaster, and Legend swallowed hard.
That guy had to be taller than even Time and easily twice as massive. Wild’s hands on his shoulders tightened as he seemed to think the same.
“Where do you think you are going with this prisoner?“ the blademaster‘s deep voice rumbled from behind the mask.
“Uuuh…dungeon?“ Wild stuttered sheepishly. For a long moment no one spoke. Legend already thought their plan had blown up and they were done for. At least they would maybe find Hyrule faster if they were thrown in the dungeon alongside him.
Suddenly the blademaster started to roar with laughter. “It would have been amazing to see the look on your dumb face right now. You are one of the new recruits and they sent you to bring that scrawny prisoner to the dungeon? You took a wrong turn, boy. Walk down to the first crossroad, turn left, walk down the stairs and you can deliver that rat to his rightful place.“ Legend had to grind his teeth very hard to keep his gaze on the floor and his mouth closed. Wild nodded his thanks to the blademaster and proceeded to push Legend forward in the opposite direction of where they had been walking just a minute before.
They reached the crossroad, turning left, as Legend suddenly froze, his ears turning to locate a sound. He thought he had just heard a muffled cry of pain that sounded like Hyrule’s voice coming from downstairs. After a few seconds, he shrugged and they started moving again. A heartrending cry echoed from the rough stone walls, and this time Legend was absolutely sure that it was Hyrule. It sounded like he was in pain, and it took all of Legends self control not to run to where the sound was coming from. He continued to walk slowly down the stairs until the next cry threatened to tear his heart apart.
He cursed under his breath, wriggling out of the ropes. “Legend…“ Wild muttered warningly, but he could hear Hyrule’s screams hadn’t left the champion unaffected. “The Captain and you can yell at me as much as you want, but I am not going to leave Hyrule here, suffering and alone.“ The veteran slipped a hand into his tunic collar, closing it around one of his most powerful magic items. “I am going to rescue Rulie and nothing you say can stop me from that. You can either help me and stay close or run now, very fast, because I’m going to level down this place if I need to.“ He felt a manic grin spread on his face as the champion just nodded silently and pulled a glowing blue bomb from his slate.
As he heard Hyrule’s agonized scream of pain, he closed his hand around the quake medallion while he started running towards the sound. He paid no mind to the destruction he caused as he channeled his magic through the medallion, only distantly registering collapsing corridors and falling rocks. The heroes rushed to the cell door, and the champion blew it out of the frame with a single, well placed bomb. Legend saw a Yiga blademaster being thrown against the opposing wall, but his eyes fixed immediately on the traveler's little form, bound to the chair in the middle of the room.
His eyes were scrunched up in pain, tears streaming over his face, leaving tracks in the blood and dirt that covered it. His lip was split and bleeding, his brown curls matted with blood at the forehead. But the thing that made Legends breath hitch in his chest were his arms. His right arm seemed to be broken in two places, hanging limp and twisted in the ropes binding him. His left arm looked even worse, the elbow bent unnaturally.
Legend dashed to the chair, pulling his dagger from his belt while running. He fell down on his knees in front of the sobbing, trembling hero in the chair. Hyrule didn’t even seem to recognize him when he called his name. “Hey Rulie, it’s going to be okay now, we’re here. They won’t harm you anymore. You are safe now.“ He repeated his words with the most soothing voice he had while cutting the ropes. He wanted to cry inwardly because his friend had been hurt so badly.
Once all the ropes were cut, Legend pulled Hyrule into his lap. The traveler was semiconscious, still trembling and sobbing. Legend carded a gentle hand through his hair while muttering soothing words to him.
He had no plans for how they would get out of here, but at least Hyrule wasn’t alone in this any longer.