Hi, so feel free to ignore or delete this if it's entirely out of line but I have been stuck on some things hinted at in Brother's Blood for several days now, plus having a tendency towards angst in my own brain anyway...
But the thread of Sky checking his pulse, of the exertion seeming to cause problems with his heart and knowing the effects of lighting can have on humans made this plot bunny turn killer rabbit on me, especially when you described Sky’s collapse after his journey. Plus a lynel fight...
Playing fast and loose with medical stuff (apologies to Lofty) but here it is:
They found a place to settle. After the Lynel fight, they were all exhausted and no one was fit to ride. Wild was asleep once more, he'd been safe, no further injury was causing him pain, and though they would be delayed once more in moving... Time had to take his small victories where he could get them.
It was then that Time realized there was one of the boys missing.
Twilight was hovering over the sleeping Wild. Four was sharpening his own blade after the battle, Warriors’s sword was laying beside him to do and Warriors was examining his spaulder and chainmail for dangerous breaks. Sky… where was Sky? He wasn’t in the camp. He’d been with them at the end of the battle… hadn’t he? A flash of him trudging beside Twilight as they left the Lynel’s clearing came to his memory but after that? A quick lap of the surrounding area yielded no sign of the young knight. Now with worry rising, Time hurried back towards their last fight, scanning darkening hills for the flash of white sailcloth or the blue glow of the Chosen’s weapon.
There! A rustling in the bushes drew his attention to a Hylian figure lying there. Something was wrong. He got close enough to find it was Sky, weakly trying to move. He’d ended up on his back, one arm clutched to his chest, the other trying to find purchase to pull himself forward. Sky wasn’t breathing. His mouth gaped like a fish as he tried, fear and panic rising in the boy’s eyes when it wasnt working.
“Sky!” He knelt and started to try to find the cause of the boy’s trouble. The Skyloftian grasped his arm and dragged himself upright with a panic-fueled strength and clutched onto Time as the change in position allowed him to draw in a gasp and begin coughing violently.
“What happened? Where are you hurt?” He tried to shift so he could check for injuries as Sky continued to gasp and cough. He couldn’t see anything on the boy’s back, no crimson staining white that would indicate a wound. Sky shook his head feebly, scrabbling to hold his position and Time’s arm even tighter.
One minute, two, two and a half minutes passed with agonizing slowness as if he was under the Inverted Song of Time. Sky wasn’t catching his breath, he continued to cough and choke and gasp.
“Sky, do you know what is wrong?” Something was wrong and the fact he couldn’t place it was growing more dire. Sky nodded. Was it Time’s own panicked perception or was Sky’s grip starting to slacken? Five minutes, forty-one seconds.
“I’m…sorry.” Sky uttered between gasps. “Bad one…” a bout of coughing overtook him and Time found that he was having to hold the boy’s weight, no longer was Sky supporting himself. Six minutes, eleven seconds.
“Sky, do you have something to help?” The strangled words seemed to hint that the Chosen Hero had experience with this strange malady. Sky shook his head. His gasps for air were shallower than before.
“No…nothing…to…do…I-I… I’m sorry.” They were out of sight and hearing of the others. And even farther from the other half of their band and they were already trying to move the desperately injured Wild, and now this. Seven minutes now. He needed to get Sky back to the others, hoping aginst hope one of them would have something to aid the ailing Chosen. But with even the slight shift to reposition himself to carry Sky, Sky scrabbled as if to hold on.
“Please. Don’t leave.” He cried desperately. “Don’t leave me.” There was mortal terror in the Chosen’s plea. Fear Sky would not show willingly. Sky’s gasps had started to rattle in his chest as shudders of pain wracked the Chosen’s body. It hit Time all at once, memories of doomed souls in Termina, pleading for someone to stay with them in their final moments, of dying soldiers during the War of Eras, of falling comrades while on errand for the Queen. Eight minutes, seventeen seconds.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Time…” And the breath left him in an awful sigh, and the Chosen Hero went limp in his arms.
“Sky? Sky!” There was not another breath. Sky was dying, had died? No, that couldn’t be what had happened. They’d come too far, they’d been through too much, Wild’s suffering, the battles and the wounds and the choice not to play the song of time and try to undo it all… Hands yanked Sky away from him, quickly laying Sky flat on his back. Warriors, the Captain had come to help.
Four’s lantern was extremely helpful finding their two straying heroes now that night had truly fallen. The sight when they finally did locate them...
Time was frantically calling to Sky, who was slumped in Time’s arms. The Chosen’s lips were blue, he wasn't breathing. Warriors pulled him out of Time’s grip, and laid the unresponsive Chosen flat.
“Not breathing!” He called out as Four was somewhere behind him. His backup, the one who could move to get the others in case of ambush. He searched for a pulse on one side of the neck, faint flutters met his touch.
“Flutter, no beat!” He moved Sky’s head situated him to breathe into him. Two breaths to start and then Wars positioned himself with his hands laced and locked just above the Chosen’s chest when he froze.
If he did this, it would break ribs. It would save Sky from certain death, encourage his heart to beat again, but could he cause pain in yet another brother? Even to save his life? They had no healing supplies left except for the single potion dedicated to if Wild couldn't bear his pain and bindings anymore.
He was shoved away from his spot by a surprisingly forceful Four who took the same position and began counting under his breath as he drove his weight onto a point in Sky’s sternum, and heard bone snap under the initial blow. “Wars, can you do the breaths?” Four questioned between thrusts. Wordlessly, he scrambled to Sky’s head to breathe for him again.
“Time! Time!” Four’s attempt to call out to Time brought him back to stark reality again. He'd just given Sky a fourth set of breaths, Sky was making no motion as if to breathe on his own. “Old Man, do you know how to do these?” Time was still stunned, counting along with Four by reflex. “Link, I need your help!” Time met Four’s gaze but still bore a dazed look in his eye. “Can you take over here? I need to try something...”
The deed was done, taking over the physically difficult part of trying to revive Sky would not damage him any more than he already was, and inaction would mean they'd resign all hope of saving the Chosen.
“Here, let me.” Warriors moved to take a spot mirror to Four on Sky’s other side and after taking a few precious seconds to sync himself with Four’s count, took over.
They needed something else. They needed to do something to restart the fluttering-ineffective beat that Sky’s heart was doing on its own. The revival techniques would only function for so long before Sky was likely beyond saving, and it would exhaust them all in the process.
He remembered in a flash something that he'd read about, that he'd heard off-hand discussions. Lightning could stop a heart, especially if the bolt went through the torso, across the heart. But, it might also be able to start it back up again. He thought for a split second about the yellow, barbed arrowheads charged with a power not unlike the most miniature of Lightning bolts and began digging in his bag for them as soon as Warriors took his spot over Sky's heart. These were likely the reason he was in this state. The monster had gotten all of them at least once but if it didn't work... Sky was already dead.
Give the lightning an incentive to jolt through him and across the heart, Vio explained as he contemplated the two arrowheads that had been dug out of chainmail less than a half hour ago. They glinted and a jolt jumped from one to the other with a flash. He gave Warriors a warning of only a second before touching the arrowhead flat to Sky’s shoulder and the other against his side just under the ribs. Sky twitched and his torso moved just a little as if to roll in the direction the current took through his torso. Four allowed three valuable seconds to allow the charge to dissipate before placing fingers on the pulse point in Sky’s neck. He couldn't even feel the flutter that Wars had reported. Warriors resumed the attempt at reviving the Skyloftian knight.
Try again Vio prompted as the doubt flashed through him. At least give it three times before you give this up.
But we need something stronger Blue mused. He barely moved.
Three to the shoulder, two to the side, try again.
Oh please let this work...
The shock spasmed Sky’s entire body this time, arching his back, forcing arms to flail and legs to kick. And Sky gasped, moving as if to sit up with the electricity coursing through him. It was dispersed almost instantly as evidenced by the fact that Warriors wasn’t thrown back as he moved to keep the Chosen flat. Sky drew a labored, painful-sounding breath, then another. A quick check of his pulse found a beat under Four’s fingers. It was weak, but not fluttery or irregular. It had worked.
First Time had left, bringing to their attention that Sky hadn't been with them since... how long ago? He’d been so focused on his Cub, the growing heat on Wild’s brow, the fact that his ancestor had left Wild stashed away and had come to help...
We needed the help, that monster gave us far too much trouble and Wild asked him to. He was safe in the end after the fight... So why was he still so tense?
Then, when Time hadn't come back very shortly with the missing knight, Warriors and Four had stepped out into the lengthening night with a lantern.
He tried to not show these growing concerns outwardly. They were all worn thin with the stress that hadn't gone away, on the contrary it kept ratcheting higher. Wild’s fever, his injuries both physical and spiritual that were growing in their perceived depth and scope, they were still under threat from the Yiga--he was still expecting the flutter of paper, the sulphuric stench of their smoke and the cruel laugh that said they'd come back for his Cub-- and now the lame horse and a fight with a monstrosity.
Light Spirits, goddesses, Hylia, someone please no more...
The prayer seemed futile though as his missing companions finally returned, Time carried a deathly pale Sky in his arms. Four and Warriors both looked so much more worn...
“What happened?” He asked, daring to be three more steps away from Wild to hope his hiss wouldn't wake the sleeping Champion.
“Sky collapsed. Time found him.” Four was contemplating a few of the shock arrows that he'd collected from their chainmail. “He... he wasn't breathing when we got there. I think the arrows were enough to give his heart trouble... and then the exertion...”
Sky's habit of trying to subtly take his own pulse, the ragged and harsh gasping as he'd pushed himself to get both of them out of the Yiga base... these flashed through Twilight’s mind as he watched Time carefully lay the Chosen on a bedroll that Warriors set out. The way that Time handled the knight as if he was more fragile than glass confirmed Twilight’s suspicion right as Four explained.
“We revived him. He's breathing, we got his heart to beat again. We're just going to have to find a way to stabilize his ribs in the morning so we can travel.” They were all words meant to provide reassurance but it was one more obstacle to add to the heaping pile. They had no more healing supplies, and they were still so far from the other three of their missing band...
“Twi” Wild’s moan caught his attention as his Cub squirmed to try to prod Twilight.
“what's wrong?” He moved to soothe the Champion, making an effort to stuff the new worries and stress away so his cub wouldn't pick up on it. It was too late for that though.
“Give ‘im m'pot'ion...” Wild began.
“ ‘lease, Twi... we can' get to Rule..if he can't ‘ravel tha’ far...”
“The potion is for you.” The failsafe if their situation got to be too much, if Wild couldn't stand the pain or if the growing fever would be more dangerous than their chances of fixing Wild’s missing fingers.
“please Twi, give ‘im the potion... I've las'd this long. If we can' make it t’ ‘Rule... please.”
The weight of Wild’s words hit him like a darknut's blow.
“Cub, are you sure?” Wild's gaze met his with a fire and lucidity he hadnt seen in days.
Oh, the feelings! I have so many of them! This was so tense to read and I loved the use of electric arrows as a defibrillator and then Wild at the end 🥰🥰😱😭🥰
Thank you so much for sending me this. I'm glad I already have a full outline of the next chapter (I'm just stuck on the fight scene) so I won't be too tempted to steal anything from it 😅😅
