"THERE WILL COME A SOLDIER"

Warriors scraped one steel gauntlet along the edge of his shield, testing it. He didn't want to be on the losing side of any fight, even with his brothers by his side. He was a Captain, and he knew the importance of keeping your gear in good condition, especially after seeing Wild's attempt at weapon maintenance. Pathetic. 

"WHO CARRIES A MIGHTY SWORD"

He stood, metal grating against metal as he moved to join Time and Twilight by the fire, watching Wild prepare their hard-earned food. Whatever it was, it smelt divine. Small things like food always made Wars happy for reasons he couldn't explain, made him feel like he was floating, but in a good way.

"HE WILL TEAR YOUR CITY DOWN"

Looking back on the day, he probably shouldn't have prodded Legend as much about his adventures while they were walking. It was an old habit of his, an unfortunate one, but a habit still. It made the Veteran prickly and unpleasant, souring his mood past any ordinary level. And when he was feeling prickly, Legend definitely let everyone know about it.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LORD"

Warriors sighed unhappily as he watched him stalk up to Sky, hissing some well-picked words of hatred in the Chosen Hero's ear. Sky turned to Legend, a shocked expression lacing his rounded, innocent face as the offended teen span on the worn-out heel of his Pegasus Boots and skulk off to ruin another hero's day.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LEI OH LORD"

Wind came running over, with Four and Hyrule close on his heels. The fire was a safe place for them all, away from Legend's terrifyingly bad mood. The Sailor threw himself at Warriors and curled up in the older hero's pretty blue scarf, enjoying the cosiness of the soft fabric on his chilled skin. Warriors laid an arm on Wind's shoulders, smiling to himself softly as he did so, and as Hyrule curled against his side, he put his other hand on 'Rule's back.

"HE WILL TEAR YOUR CITY DOWN"

Looking left and right, seeing all the younger heroes come to find him, Warriors decided now was probably not the time to go and apologise to Legend. It wasn't that he didn't like the Veteran, no, not at all. It was just... He really couldn't move with Wind and Hyrule tangled in his scarf and Four on his lap.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LORD"

Sky had fallen into a deep sleep, troubles shining to the surface like star beams as the Chosen Hero slept. Whatever Legend had said to him clearly had a harsh effect on him. Warriors felt terrible for sticking his perfect nose where it obviously wasn't wanted and almost severing the thin balance of his and the Veteran's usual friendly bantering.

~~•perspective change•~~

"THERE WILL COME A POET"

Sky loved travelling with the Chain, Four's random remarks, Hyrule's oblivious innocence, Wild's obsession with carnage, Time's inner gremlin, Twilight's furry problem, Wars' slight girl issues, Wind's addiction to strong alcohol, Legend's ability to out-curse a drunk Mogma, but there were some things his fellows did that made him feel numb inside, like he was hollow with wood for a heart.

"WHOSE WEAPON IS HIS WORDS"

He prided himself on his ability to solve any argument between his crazed brothers just with a few gentle, well-chosen words. He was generally calm all the time, keeping his cool in awkward situations or even plain dangerous places. 

"HE WILL SLAY YOU WITH HIS TONGUE"

But the ongoing fight between Legend and Warriors was too much for even him to handle. Warriors needed to stop prodding Legend; Legend needed to stop taking his anger out on Hyrule. A few seconds in the Veteran's presence now made even Time feel a little bit like a tiny, vulnerable prey animal being sized up by a huge, pink predator with serious anger issues.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LORD"

He glanced over to Wars, seeing him with the younger ones, telling them a story which had them giggling, even while Legend was silently fuming somewhere in the forest. Sky smiled softly at this sight, while Twi just rolled his eyes playfully and Time's steely gaze slipped, just for a moment.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LEI OH LORD"

Sky took one last glance around camp, checking everyone was present and safe. He yawned, scratching the back of his neck cutely before flopping down on the ground and closing his sapphire eyes. Mediating unsolvable arguments was mentally draining, especially if the fighters refused to let you help them.

"HE WILL SLAY YOU WITH HIS TONGUE"

In his dreams, he got no respite from Legend's cold words earlier. They bounced around his mind, filling his head with 'what if....' scenarios which all involved Legend getting sick or hurt or even stolen. He tried to block the bad thoughts, keep them away, but to no avail.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LORD"

He jolted awake, after being grabbed roughly by the shoulders and shaken. The first thing he saw with blear eyes was Time's worried face, perfectly echoing that of Gaepora's all those years ago. Sky groaned inwardly, dread seizing him in a tight chokehold and refusing to let go. Legend was gone.

~~•perspective change•~~

"THERE WILL COME A RULER"

Legend screamed into his fist, muffling the sound of his internal pain at the price of blood. He didn't want Time knowing that Warriors had pushed him a little over the edge today, pestering him about his family and his impromptu marriage to Ravio.

"WHOSE BROW IS LAID IN THORN"

All his life he had been shunned, sent away. Ignored, ghosted, robbed of his rights. A Royal Prince who wasn't supposed to exist. The result of the old Queen's decisively sudden liking of rugged adventurers. A mistake. A failure. Fable had been really good about it, making sure nobody was too rude to him, but he still felt abused.

"SMEARED IN OIL LIKE DAVID'S BOY"

He should have been Hyrule's King, a loved and respected noble. Instead, he was a beaten-down adventurer with far too much trauma to even begin to sort out. Legend had family issues of the worst kind. Father, dead. Mother, dead. Sister, Miss-High-And-Mighty. Nobody was left for him to turn to. When Warriors started asking questions, he tried to turn away from the subject, get away, but that Goddess damned Captain wouldn't let him wriggle back to their joking. He wanted answers.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LORD"

He tried, he really tried to answer Wars honestly, but he wasn't ready. Nobody was. Legend was the Royal Family's humiliation. He didn't want anyone finding out about that. Meeting Ravio was the only good thing that ever happened to Lege. He just knew they would be... more than friends.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LEI OH LORD"

Legend howled bitterly at the cold moon, letting all his bottled up feelings out, a spiralling course of sorrow, rejection, anger and hate. Tears did not come yet, leaving his chest feeling heavy with the impending sobs and his heart in his throat. Nobody knew.

"SMEARED IN OIL LIKE DAVID'S BOY"

He curled in on himself, imagining Ravio was holding him like he always did on those bad days. He thought of what his Bunny would say, always positive, always upbeat even when it got tough. The thoughts calmed him down and his broken screaming ceased, letting him breathe properly for the first time in 10 minutes.

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LORD"

Legend sat on the edge of the cliff, looking at the stars and seeing which constellations he could spot. Ravio was hopeless at stargazing, always looking at the sky and telling him he couldn't see any stars, just little lights. And the Legend would laugh freely, telling him that the little lights were the stars, and that he was being silly.

~~•perspective change•~~

"OH LEI OH LAE OH LEI OH LORD"

Wars crept up on him, armour squeaking slightly, and scooped up the sleeping Veteran into his arms, watching with a warm feeling in his heart as his brother nuzzled into him.

"HE WILL TEAR YOUR CITY DOWN"

Sky found the two of them that morning, curled together on the soft grass, and breathed a small sigh of relief. They had stopped fighting. Finally.

"OH LEI OH LAE...."

Some peace and quiet...

"OH...."

First written on the 28th of February at 00:12

Published on the 5th of March at 09:02