I went looking for art of them, realized I didn't have art of all of them, had to add in a few, realized they don't really show their clothes off that well... ehhh. Hopefully this is good enough hehe. Here they are!
8. Are there any specific lines or events in canon that influence your characterization?
Well at the end of spirit tracks, Spirit went with the engineer route. He keeps up his sword skills, and if Zelda ever needs his help he’ll be there, but he could never give up being an engineer.
I can’t think of any specific lines about this, but he also cares very much for the bunnies in the kingdom. And generally loves little critters.
13. Does (character) have Scar Stories?
Windy has several, and he will gladly tell them with great gusto and theatrics. His favorite to tell about are the claw marks on his chest, he got them the first time he snuck into the forsaken fortress and the Helmarock King grabbed and threw him.
THIS IS REALLY DUMB I don’t think it even counts as whump it’s just silly but my brain is just fried so anjfdfhddghjk
Spirit is spirit tracks Link, Windy is wind waker/phantom hourglass, and Hue is a link between worlds/Tri force heroes
Minor blood warning, but it’s really not much :)
Courage of ages explanation
————————————————————
“Sir?”
“Spirit for the love of Jabun quit calling me that.”
Spirit let out a nervous laugh. “Sorry si— um, Windy. Do you... know what they’re going to do to us?”
Windy sighed, and rested his head against the cold stone behind him, chain rattling where it was hooked around his wrist.
“No, I don’t know. Nothing good though I’m betting.”
Spirit frowned, and looked down at his own wrist, an identical chain locked around it. He tugged it a little, a thoughtful look on his face, and Windy looked down at his own, wishing he’d managed to hold onto the lock pick he kept in his sleeve.
The Yiga had been thorough though, stripping him and Spirit of all of their possessions before throwing them in the cold stone cell. Windy had heard them muttering something about “moving them to base”, but he hadn’t caught any more before they’d left, and he knew he and Spirit needed to get out before they were moved.
Or they likely wouldn’t be able to get out.
“Got any ideas?” he asked the younger boy next to him, and Spirit shrugged, shivering a little. The Yiga had taken his bandana, and he looked somewhat cold without it.
“Well... we need to get these off obviously,” Spirit said, jingling his manacle. “They don’t look too well made, but I don’t if we can break them without any tools. And there’s nothing here to pick the locks either,” he sighed, and Windy groaned.
“Tell me about it. They took my good lock pick too, that thing was hard to get my hands on,” he huffed. “And going to be a pain in the butt to replace.”
“Well then... how are we gonna get out, sir?” Spirit asked, and Windy gave him a flat look.
“What did I say about the sirs?”
“Sorry.”
“Anyway, I don’t know how we’re gonna get out, but we’ll think of something,” Windy reassured, fiddling with his chain again. “Maybe some of the links are weaker than the others, and we can just break them?”
Spirit shrugged and began to mess with his chain, thumbing along the metal links before letting out a small snicker.
Windy raised an eyebrow, and Spirit cleared his throat.
“Uh, just um... Links.”
He snickered again, and Windy laughed along with him as they continued to fiddle with the chains, a somewhat comfortable silence falling between them.
Time crawled by, neither of them sure of how long it had been since they’d landed in here. Windy couldn’t help wishing Sprite was here; he didn’t want him captured obviously, but he’d at least be able to tell them how long it had been. The cell was windowless, and no natural light shone down the hall either, so they had no way of knowing.
The uncertainty of their situation was setting in again the longer they sat there, and Windy fidgeted endlessly with the manacle clamped around his wrist, worry gnawing at his stomach. He didn’t know what would happen to them, and though he was well aware Spirit could handle himself, he couldn’t help but worry how he was going to keep him safe.
He was mulling all of this over for the third time when Spirit’s voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked up at the younger boy.
“Sorry, what did you say?”
“Oh, I was wondering if... do you think the others’ll find us?” Spirit asked, his voice quiet.
Windy immediately nodded, nudging his side and giving him a reassuring grin.
“For sure. We’ve got like, three trackers in our group, they’ll find us. I mean, if we don’t get out of here first anyway,” he said with a wink. “I bet Gloam is already on our trail.”
“And worried out of his mind,” Spirit added with a little smile, looking better as he leaned against the wall.
Windy grinned back and was about to reply, but the door suddenly rattled, and they both froze and looked over at it.
The door rattled again, and opened to reveal two Yiga standing in the doorway, which Windy promptly glared at. They completely ignored him though, and instead threw something inside the cell without further ado.
Except it wasn’t a thing at all, it was Hue, and Windy lurched forward as his fellow hero hit the ground with a small grunt.
“Hue!” Spirit said in shock, but he didn’t seem to hear him, barely moving even when the yiga that had thrown him in laughed and slammed the door behind them.
Windy pulled himself as far forwards as he could to where Hue had landed, giving him a nudge with his toe. The green-haired hero groaned, then raised his head after a few more pokes from Windy, looking around in confusion for a couple moments.
“Hue are you okay?!” Spirit frantically asked, and Hue merely blinked at him.
“Hue, hey Link, are you okay?” Windy asked as well, worry tightening around his throat. Hue stared at him for a few seconds, blood trickling down his temple and confusion in his eyes.
Then he startled and sat up, wincing a bit at the abrupt movement.
“Windy! Spirit! I found you!” he exclaimed, and Spirit frowned.
“Well yeah, but now you’re stuck in here,” he pointed out, and Hue drooped a little.
“Oh. Yeah. Well, the others were close by, they’ll notice I’m gone soon I bet,” he said brightly, then winced and put a hand to his forehead. “Ow.”
“What did they do to you?” Windy asked, and Hue slid next to him when he motioned him over.
“Ah... they kinda snuck up on me while I was looking for you guys. Think they tried to knock me unconscious, but they sort of missed and just nicked me a little, enough that they were able to grab me,” he mumbled, sounding a little embarrassed. “It’s not that ba— ow!”
Windy had prodded the side of his head where the blood was thickest, and Hue lurched backwards, giving him an annoyed look.
“What was that for? I said it wasn’t that bad!”
“The blood all over the side of your head kinda makes me want to disagree with you on that,” Windy drawled, giving him a poke. “Plus the fact that you got thrown in here and didn’t move or recognize us for a solid thirty seconds.”
“Does he have a concussion?” Spirit said worriedly, and Hue let out a huff.
“Peu importe I’m fine,” he grumbled, and Windy ignored him, pulling his head down so it was resting on his lap.
“Well whether you’re fine or not, I think you should take it easy just in case,” he said amicably. “Even if it’s not a concussion, you were obviously bleeding a fair amount.”
Hue let out a long sigh. “Fiiiiine.”
Hue was obviously annoyed he’d been caught, so Windy simply began to braid a bit of his hair, the other boy slowly relaxing but as he worked. Spirit slid closer to the two of them, and they sat together in silence again for a bit, Windy worrying at the blood caked in Hue’s hair.
“How’s everyone else?” Spirit piped up eventually. “Are they coming?”
Hue waved his hand in a so-so manner. “I mean... yes? We’ve been looking for you guys all day, but I guess I’m the only one who went in the right direction since I’m the only one the Yiga grabbed. Unless... they’re about to toss someone else in here!”
They all turned to look at the door, and several moments of silence went by.
“...okay never mind.”
“All right, so we can’t necessarily count on the others,” Windy said thoughtfully, rubbing a hand on his chin. “They’re close though at least. We’ll just have to get out ourselves.”
“But we’ve tried everything, there’s no way out of here except the door,” Spirit frowned, then jingled the chain around his wrist. “And these aren’t coming loose so we can’t even get there to try and get it open.”
Windy sighed, resigning himself to another several uncertain hours stuck in here, but Hue abruptly sat up, startling him as he excitedly held out his wrists.
That didn’t have any chains clamped around them.
Windy stared, hope returning in his chest as a grin stretched across his face. If Hue wasn’t chained up, he might be able to get them out of their chains, and the next time the Yiga came in the cell...
“They forget to chain me up,” Hue said with no small amount of glee, and Spirit’s face lit up. Hue flashed the both of them a bright smile, and Windy returned it.
Not much to say about this one, except there’s a description of an arrow wound and taking said arrow out of said wound so if that bothers you consider this your warning 👍
Windy is wind waker/phantom hourglass Link, and Light is four sword adventures Link.
Courage of ages explanation
————————————————————
Whatever this thing was, it was Windy’s new least-favorite monster.
A growling snort came from the other side of the rock where he was hiding with Light, and he smacked a hand over the other hero’s mouth as hoofsteps crunched towards them. The sailor held his breath as he heard another snort, heavy pacing in the grass beside their cover. But then the footsteps receded, and he let out the air with a shaky sigh, temporary relief weakening his knees.
Light twitched slightly in his hold, and he looked over at his best friend, pale and shivering.
They’d been dropped alone into a small meadow, hemmed in by cliffs on all sides that Windy could see. It had seemed innocent enough, and Windy had been admiring the flowers in the grass as Light wandered a little ways away. But then his fellow hero had let out a startled cry, and before Windy could do anything, Light had gone flying backwards with an arrow embedded deep in his shoulder.
Ice sprayed outwards as Light fell to the ground, and as Windy ran to his side, he’d realized three things in rapid succession. One, a huge maned horse-lion-monster-thing had been the one to shoot Light, two, it was charging straight towards him, and three, Light had been hit with an ice arrow.
Which then reminded him that Light kind of had a thing about ice.
So in one swift move he’d grabbed Light and threw them both out of the way of the monster charging at them, and ducked behind the rock where it hopefully wouldn’t realize they’d hidden. It had snuffled around, but they appeared to have eluded it for now anyways.
Light hadn’t gone into much detail when he’d explained, but apparently on his quest he’d been completely frozen at one point, unable to move an inch. He’d been freed after a length of time Windy was pretty sure he was lying about in order to not make them all worry so much, but ice still bothered him, and ice magic especially was a big no.
And he’d just been shot by an ice arrow.
“Light, are you okay?” Windy breathed next to him, trying to stay as silent as possible.
Light let out a whimper, and Windy tried to get a better look at the arrow in his shoulder, carefully brushing ice off of his chest.
“Windy, i-it’s cold—“
“I know, it’s an ice arrow,” Windy whispered, and Light’s breath hitched. “It’s okay, it’s not too bad. I think it went most of the way through, it won’t be too bad to take out. You’ll be okay once we get out of here.”
“Take it out,” Light said in a strained whisper.
Windy frowned. “Light I can’t, there’s no way you could stay quiet enough, the monster’ll hear us,” he whispered, sparing a peek over the top of the rock. The monster was on the other side of the meadow, but it’s bow was still in its huge paws. “You’ll have to wait until we can get away or I can kill it—”
“It’s freezing me,” Light said in a shaking voice, clutching at Windy’s arm. “I can feel it, it’s freezing me Windy I need to get it out please—!“
“Shh!”
Windy slapped his hand back over Light’s mouth, and the two of them didn’t speak as hoofsteps drew near their position again. Windy didn’t release Light until he was sure the monster had trotted away again, and he gave him an apologetic look.
“Sorry,” he apologized softly, watching Light continue to shiver. “Is it really freezing you more?”
“Yes,” Light whispered, and Windy heard a sharp thread of terror in his voice. “I can feel it, the i-ice keeps spreading. It’s going to k-keep going, get it out.”
Windy slowly exhaled, and pulled Light’s tunic away from where the arrow had hit his shoulder. He only had to tear it a little, and he felt his stomach sink as he got a good look at the arrow wound.
Light was right. The skin where the arrow had gone in was blue and oddly icy-looking, speckled with red where his blood had dripped. And as Windy watched, thin feathery lines of frost slowly spread outward from the impact point.
“Oh that’s bad,” he breathed, and Light swallowed.
“Please take it out,” he whimpered, and Windy exhaled, tugging his bandana off from around his neck and handing it to Light.
“Okay. Bite on this. I’m going to push it through,” he whispered. “You’re right, I don’t think that arrow should be in you any longer than necessary. Try to stay as quiet as you can okay?”
Light nodded, and Windy grabbed the arrow, wincing at the cold of the wood. He tilted Light onto his side so he could see where the tip would protrude, and before he could think about it too hard, pushed the arrow even deeper through Light’s shoulder.
Light managed to bite back his scream, but he clenched Windy’s arm so tightly the other boy nearly cried out himself.
“I know I know I’m sorry,” Windy whispered as he kept pushing. The arrow was almost through, he could see the tip under Light’s skin, along with an accompanying icy sheen. Light desperately muffled a sob in his sleeve and he felt his heart clench. “I’m sorry Light, shh, we can’t let it hear us.”
The bright blue tip of the arrow finally broke through Light’s back, and Windy felt relief hit him, even as tendrils of frost began to curl over Light’s skin on this side.
“Okay, almost done, just need to get the rest out,” he whispered, and Light only gripped his arm again. Windy then snapped as much of the arrow as he could off the back of it. Now it was just the tip and a short length of wood left, and he grabbed the bright blue arrowhead, hissing through his teeth at the burning cold that hit his fingers.
He quickly got to pulling it through, tugging it smoothly as he could despite how horribly cold it was. The tip was slippery, temperature nearly unbearable, but he persisted, and finally the arrow was out.
And the second it was, Windy tossed the horrible thing aside and blew on his fingers, the tips reddened and tingling. He couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like being in Light’s shoulder, and Windy looked down at where he lay, still shivering.
He tugged him up a little, and Light buried his face in Windy’s shoulder, breath hitching in an unusual display of vulnerability. Windy gave his arm a bracing squeeze, and poked his head around their cover, hoping that the monster would be gone. But it was still doing its rounds around the meadow, bow held menacingly in its grip.
Windy frowned as he then worked on bandaging Light’s arrow wound. It looked better now that the arrow was gone, but the skin still didn’t look too good, and felt extremely cold to the touch.
“I think you could use a fairy,” Windy said softly, and Light nodded, tension in every line on his face.
“That would be nice, yeah,” he whispered, voice still trembling.
Windy sighed, and finished wrapping him up, not happy with the sloppy job he’d had to do with what supplies they’d had. But it would hold until they could get somewhere safe, and that was all they really needed at the moment.
“Light, will you be okay here for a couple of minutes?” Windy whispered, and Light swallowed, then nodded.
“Yeah. I’m... I’ll be okay,” Light whispered back, voice still much smaller than usual. “Where are you going to go?”
Windy pulled his shield off his back and sword out of its sheath. He gripped them tightly, and looked out over the rock at where the monster still patrolled, righteous anger burning in his chest.
So the words “you’re safe now” aren’t exactly said but the vibes are there okay
Anyways LAST DAY (...a day late shh) for a decision on a whim, the second half of this month has been pretty fun! Thanks to everyone who’s come along for the (short) ride, it means a lot to me that anyone has liked these fics for my little au at all 😊
This is a part two to day 18! I highly suggest reading that one first.
Day 18
Courage of ages explanation
————————————————————
When Gloam came sprinting back into the cave where they’d all sheltered from the blizzard only fifteen minutes after he’d left, Windy had been surprised, and relieved he must have found Spirit so fast.
But the moment was short-lived, and gone the moment he caught sight of the engineer lying frozen in his arms.
The (truly too small for thirteen people) cave burst into movement once they all realized what was going on, Gloam kneeling down and shouting for assistance. Windy rushed forward as the others began gathering supplies, Slate saying something about an elixir that could help, Hue offering his fire gloves and Light was muttering something about a fire rod as he rummaged quickly through his pouch.
Hibiscus was already kneeling next to Spirit as Windy reached his side, peeling off his gloves and wincing at the waxy-colored fingers underneath.
“His clothes are wet and only making him colder, we need to get them off,” he quickly instructed, and Windy began helping Gloam peel off the equally freezing clothes. Once they’d finished, Windy grabbed a spare tunic he owned and they pulled him into that, then wrapped Spirit tight in a blanket, the boy still unmoving.
“It’s a good thing he was wearing gloves, his frostbite would be much worse otherwise,” Hibiscus murmured as he gently held his hands, checking his toes as well. “Our biggest concern is warming him up overall though, he’s freezing...”
Windy didn’t wait for another word, plopping himself down next to Spirit and leaning against him, wincing a little at the temperature of his skin.
He didn’t have all that much experience with the cold, only ever visiting an island or two where the temperature was uncomfortably chilly. He hadn’t even known what snow was for a long time, and while he could see its potential, wasn’t particularly fond of it.
Especially now that it had frozen his successor nearly solid.
“Windy, hug him more, you’ll give him more heat,” Hue said, coming up and pressing himself onto Spirit’s other side. “He’ll warm up faster.”
“How do you know that?” Hibiscus said interestedly as Windy did what he said. Hue smiled grimly.
”Hypothermia is an old friend.”
Windy pulled the blanket he was in around Spirit, tucking him closer against his side. Little trembles began to shake through the engineer as Light and Kaleidoscope settled themselves up to him as well, and soon full-on shivers were wracking through him, making Windy’s worry only grow.
“That’s good, believe it or not,” Hibiscus said, wrapping an offered fire rod in a blanket before tucking it into their midst. “Means he’s warmed up enough to shiver.”
“Can’t we just set him right next to the fire and get him warm?” Windy asked, brushing a hand across the engineer’s brow. His hair had ice crystals frozen in it. “Or hand him a fire rod, that would be faster right?”
“Yeah, but we can’t warm him up that fast,” Hue said with a shake of his head. “We have to do it slowly, it’s bad if you don’t.”
“He’s right, unfortunately that’s how it goes,” Hibiscus sighed. He leaned back after several minutes of tending to Spirit’s frostbite, looking annoyed at himself. “I’ve done all I can. We have to keep him warm, and we’ll wait until he wakes up to figure out what to do next.”
If he wakes up, Windy couldn’t help but worry, looking down at Spirit.
His lips still looked blue, ice melting in his hair and sending small trickles of water down his face. He was shivering almost uncontrollably, and Windy pulled him closer, wiping the water off his head. He was rather cold himself; the cave’s entrance may have been out of the wind, but an occasional gust blew in, and Slate’s well, slate, had registered the temperature as well below zero, but Spirit was much worse. He wasn’t sure how the younger boy was even alive.
He’d been all alone out there, how had he made it?
Windy sighed and shook off his thoughts, running a hand through Spirit’s hair.
More heroes joined their huddle as time went on, almost everyone settled around Spirit in some way. Windy was closest obviously, but Hue and Light were right next to him, Kaleidoscope not far off. Mini and Sprite were settled close by as well, adding to the warmth, and Cloud was slowly coaxing Brownie into sitting with the rest of them.
A few of them weren’t in the pile; Slate was cooking and tending the fire still, Hibiscus talking quietly to him, and Gloam was keeping watch in his wolf form by the entrance. But everyone else was piled around Spirit, even Era was near the edge with a blanket.
Despite the crummy circumstances, Windy couldn’t help but smile a bit, tucking Spirit up close and letting the both of them be warmed by the heat.
(...)
Windy woke up some time later to a quiet murmuring next to him.
He immediately looked over, feeling a wave of relief at the sight of Spirit’s eyes open. The engineer was still shivering a little, but the violent shaking had slowed a considerable amount, and his lips didn’t look nearly as blue.
He was currently staring at what seemed to just be an empty part of the wall, and whispering something that Windy could barely make out. The sailor leaned closer, but he still couldn’t make out what exactly he was saying, catching only a few words.
Then the engineer stopped, and smiled just a little.
“N-not your f-fault...” Spirit whispered, and a small breeze ruffled the engineer’s hair. Windy almost thought he saw him lean into an invisible touch, and started to wonder if he was delirious. Did hypothermia make people delirious?
“Spirit?” he ventured quietly, and the smaller boy startled and looked over at him.
Windy smiled, and Spirit returned it, though it wasn’t very big.
“Glad to see you awake,” Windy said happily, ignoring the bit of worry that remained. “How‘re you feeling mate? You’ve had a rough time the past couple hours.”
Spirit closed his eyes at the question, looking very small in his pile of blankets.
“Kinda l-like I got punched by a s-sir frosty,” he mumbled, and Windy couldn’t help his bark of laughter.
“I don’t have those, are they really so bad?” he teased, and Spirit weakly rolled his eyes.
“They’re t-terrible. They th-throw their heads at my train,” he grumbled quietly. “At l-least I don’t u-usually see them when I’m j-just walking around. It’s m-mostly wolfos...”
He trailed off, then shivered a little more violently.
“I s-saw some out there at one p-point,” he whispered. “They w-were different than m-mine, all wispy and creepy, and g-glowing eyes... Fir... um, they got scared off, but th-they could follow my scent...”
He looked suddenly dismayed, and tried to sit up.
“I might have led them r-right here! I—”
“Whoa, calm down there Dove, that’s the last thing you should be worrying about right now,” Windy stopped him, giving him a gentle flick on the nose. “You were nearly frozen solid, you wouldn’t be fighting even if any did follow you. take it easy.”
“But sir—“
“Look, even if they do, we’ve got nothing to worry about,” Windy said confidently. “We’ve got a pretty good defensive situation here. And thirteen heroes. A couple of dumb wolves are nothing against all of us!”
Gloam shot him a look from the cave entrance, and Windy coughed into his arm.
“...dumb wolfos that is. Not regular wolves. They’re not dumb.”
Spirit smiled a little at the exchange, and shivered again.
Windy pulled him up next to him, fixing the blankets that had been knocked askew at some point. Spirit sighed and relaxed against him, still shivering on and off, but looking much better.
“You don’t need to worry about it Dove. All you need to be focusing on is getting warmed up, alright? We’ll take care of any problems for now. You’re safe.”
“Alright,” Spirit mumbled, looking a little embarrassed.
Windy smiled at him, giving his hair a fond ruffle, then settled back down into the warm pile of heroes, not even caring that Light’s knee was poking him in the back or that Hue’s head was where he wanted his to be. Spirit nestled up to him, and he sighed contentedly.
I forgot I hadn’t finished putting these oneshots up yet XD Wind Waker’s turn! With a healthy focus on Tetra/Link :)
———————————————————
Tetra ducked under a cutlass that swung at her, the blade so close to her head she felt the swish as it went past.
“Why are there still pirates out here other than you?” Link grunted from behind her, parrying a sword that tried to lop his arm off. “Don’t they know better?”
Tetra huffed, kicking a different pirate that had gotten too close for comfort.
“Evidently these morons didn’t get the memo. Plus we’re a ways outside my usual sailing grounds, these idiots probably didn’t even know we existed until now. Thought we’d be easy pickings.”
She grumbled, ducking under the same sword again. So much for a quiet afternoon.
Their course had been set for Outset to restock their supplies and for Link to visit his family, the sea was calm, the sun was bright, and Link had been trying to teach himself a new knot one of the sailors on Windfall had shown him. Tetra had been going between keeping an eye on their course to teasingly critiquing his work, pointing out whenever he’d looped a strand the wrong way or pulled a knot too tight.
Link had been taking it with the occasional insult flipped back at her, and she’d gotten so distracted by their back-and-forth that was maybe flirting that when Gonzo spotted the ship off in the distance, she barely had time to react before they’d been overtaken and boarded.
Stupid mostly uncharted waters.
She finally disarmed the pirate that’d been trying to lop her head off, and she roughly kicked him backwards, allowing him to scramble back to his own ship.
Coward, Tetra thought with a snort, leaping forward to stop another pirate from slicing at Senzo while his back was turned.
She chased that one off her ship after mere seconds as well, then went after a couple more, each one fleeing after only a few moments of fighting her. Tetra panted as she took only a second to catch her breath, and looked around for a new target.
She’d gotten a bit aways from Link in the last few minutes, and as she caught sight of his distinctive blue shirt, she narrowed her eyes, seeing him face who couldn’t have been anyone but the opposing ship’s captain.
He was a tall, lanky man, with pale eyes and a dark beard that did little to hide his missing teeth, and an ugly leering smile that reminded her a bit too much of Ganondorf’s. He and Link were exchanging blows with their swords, but Tetra could see the opposing captain was remarkably quick, and somehow holding his own against her boyfriend.
Tetra wrinkled her nose in distaste at the slimy pirate, and she started to make her way towards the two in case Link needed backup.
She had to fight back several more pirates on the way, hadn’t she already chased off that guy, while also keeping a close eye on the sword fight Link was currently engaged in.
She was nearly there when something in the opposing captain’s face changed, an ugly sort of realization as Link easily parried yet another blow. Tetra sped her steps up as she watched the captain grab something from inside his coat, something small and bright that he thrust forward—
Shink
Tetra didn’t think she’d ever heard a more terrifying noise in her life.
Link made a small noise of confusion, then dropped to his knees, staring at the dagger embedded in his side with a puzzled expression on his face.
The captain grinned and Tetra screamed, a wordless mix of rage and fear for her best friend. She charged at the man who’d stabbed Link, sword flashing as she sliced at him and he easily parried it away.
He’d stabbed her best friend he’d stabbed her boyfriend and HE WAS GOING TO PAY.
Tetra knew her rage was making her sloppy, and a voice that sounded suspiciously like her mother’s chided her for letting it fuel her, but she didn’t care, Link had been stabbed.
The opposing captain was somehow managing to hold his own despite her rapid hits, and when Tetra accidentally overextended herself he struck, slicing quickly and knocking her blade right out of her hands. He kicked her to the ground before she could react and planted a boot on her back, pressing down so tightly she could barely breathe no less get out from under it.
His mouth hitched up into a smirk behind his beard as he raised his cutlass, and Tetra thrashed under his foot, mind racing as she looked for a way out of this. Her sword was too far away, she couldn’t reach her pistol, Link was hurt and all she could do was yell in frustration and anger as the sword swung downwards toward her back.
Then the blade was parried with a firm clash.
Tetra stared in astonishment as suddenly Link was by her side, parrying the blade and shoving the opposing pirate captain in the chest with a furious look. The kick along with the reappearance of the teenager he thought he’d stabbed surprised the man so much that he was knocked completely off-balance, and went flying straight over the edge of the boat with a distant splash.
“Link?!”
Tetra gaped at him as she rolled over and got her breath back, and he turned to her, holding a hand out as he studied her intently.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a worried voice, and she gawked at him as she pointedly sat up without his help and ignored her now-sore middle.
“Am I okay?! Link you were just stabbed how are you standing?” she spluttered, and Link’s worried face turned to a smug one. He grinned at her, then held up the thick rope he’d been knotting before the attack.
A knife was embedded deep in the knots, the same one Tetra thought had been buried in his ribs.
“Turns out it’s hard to get stabbed through knots this thick,” he grinned, giving it a swing. “Remind me to thank that guy on Windfall.”
Tetra felt a wave of relief soak through her as she stared at Link, barely paying attention to her crew driving off the rest of the pirates behind them. She leaned forward until her face was a few inches from the freckles that faintly dotted his nose, really looking at him and reassuring herself he was okay.
And then, having reassured herself, she socked Link in the stomach.
He grinned, but stumbled more then he usually would have at her punch, wincing slightly through his smile. Tetra had to grab his arm to stop him from tripping and she felt her worry flare up again as he blinked at her.
“Of course... it might have nicked me a little,” he mumbled sheepishly, and Tetra glared at him, helping him sit down onto the deck and lifting up his shirt.
A smallish smear of blood coated his side, a moderately deep cut bleeding sluggishly. It wasn’t a life-threatening stab wound like it would have been but for his knots, but she could tell it wasn’t pretty.
“You are such an idiot,” Tetra snapped at him, then yelled for Niko to bring the bandages over. “How in the great sea did he manage to stab you anyways? You’re the hero of Winds for Din’s sake!”
“Was faster then he looked,” Link winced as she pressed some rags to his side. “Surprisingly well trained for a pirate too— ow!”
Niko finally arrived with the bandages and Tetra snatched them from him before shooing him away. She quickly began patching up Link, wiping the blood off and wrapping the cloth snuggly around his side and making sure it would stay secure while she muttered angrily to herself.
She leaned back to check her handiwork after a minute, and nodded to herself. It looked nice and tight to her. She was about pull Link’s shirt back down when it abruptly dawned on her that she’d just been putting her hands all over his chest.
His bare chest.
She felt an unusual warmth start to sneak onto her face, and she cleared her throat, quickly yanking her hands back. Link gave her a slightly concerned look, but she staunchly refused to look straight at him and his largely uncovered chest, wiping off the small amount of blood she’d gotten on her hands.
This was absolutely ridiculous. There was no reason for the flush in her cheeks she knew was there, she was around shirtless guys all the time! She was beyond used to it, half the time her own crew didn’t bother with the garments!
But... Link never really took his off. Which meant she really hadn’t seen him shirtless before now...
For Nayru’s sake.
“Tetra?”
She finally looked over at him again, those stupid blue-green eyes of his sparkling at her in the sunshine.
“Sorry for scaring you,” he said quietly, only half-guessing the reason for her agitation. “I really wasn’t trying to get stabbed.”
She huffed, trying to calm down from all the... everything that had happened in the past ten minutes. Goddesses was she a mess. This sort of thing never used to rattle her.
“Nobody is ever trying to get stabbed,” she grumbled, straightening her bandana, “and pirate captains don’t get scared. They merely extend concern for their crew. It’s much different.”
Link’s mouth quirked up into a grin. “Oh yeah?”
She crossed her arms. “Yeah.”
He tilted his head at her, and blinked innocently.
“But I’m not technically one of your crew,” he said, and Tetra huffed. “Which means you can be worried for me all you like.”
He sat up then, wincing only a bit as he straightened and tugged his shirt down. Leaning over closer to her, he gave her a reassuring smile to show he was perfectly fine, and something about the expression broke her resolve, making her throat feel thick.
She leaned forward and pulled him into a quick hug, breathing in the slight crisp, windy smell he always had about him. Tucking her chin onto his shoulder, she swallowed, reassuring herself he really wasn’t bleeding out on her deck like her mother all those years ago.
“Don’t do that again,” she muttered into his shoulder, and he nodded as he held her back, gently squeezing her.
“I won’t.”
They held each for a few more seconds, then Tetra pulled back and socked him squarely on the arm, making him startle.
