I was going to wait to hit you with more quotes until the next time you ask for quotes but this one's a bit too funny to resist sending it any link Wait. Don't leave me alone with these two! Just keep an eye on them for now. I'll be back
Warnings: Panic attacks, claustrophobia,
Note: long one, I'll add a "keep reading" later. Enjoy!
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"Yup, we're separated," Twilight sighs and Sky can feel his stomach drop. Oh dear, he really doesn't like caves. He much prefers the sky, the openness and endlessness is so comforting and relaxing, in most times of trial all he must do is look up and instantly his brain will calm.
But he can't do that right now. If he looks up he will be met with the sight of rock, rock and more rock that goes for who knows how long onward, creating an impenatrable barrier between him and the outside world. Between him and the sky.
He can feel his chest ache with worry. He isn't afraid, far from it exactly, just a tad bit... uncomfortable. He's almost tempted to turn towards Wild, the third member of their cave trapped group, the fourth being Hyrule, and ask for his Sheikah Slate so he can look through those strange magic paintings he has and search for one that shows the endless expanse of blue that wraps around the ground like a warm, inviting embrace.
But he won't do that either. Twilight doesn't look worried, more annoyed than anything, and Wild and Hyrule actually look horribly excited to he trapped on the wrong side of a cave in. Excited to go deeper for it is the only way they can go, excited to see if they can find something hidden or undiscovered. Sky would much rather stay by the cave in and wait for the others to dig them out, but that idea seams to not be on even Twilight's mind, for he is already pulling out a lantern and lifting it with a this-may-as-well-happen expression on his face.
Sky knows each of these men have been through this before. Doors slamming behind their back, barriers appearing and trapping them so the only direction to go would be deeper into the unknown. Sky himself has had these thing happen, and he knows it's normally a sign that something must be done. But for now, he can't help but fear that this isn't a trap, it isn't a locked door, it isn't a blockade that will disappear after they fight some kind of giant chu chu or something of the sort. He can't help but fear it's just a normal cave in, and he's in a group of people who have no problems with going deeper into unimaginable danger.
Oh Hylia, why were they even going into the cave in the first place? His mind is so muddled and worried that Twilight is beginning to lead the way down further that he can't seem to remember. Some sort of monster terrorizing someone who lived in the cave? A chest that holds some sort of key that they need? Perhaps some sacred puddle of water Four needs to water a plant with?
Oh dear. This isn't good.
Not good at all.
"Let's go further, see if there's a way out on the other side of the cave," Twilight says; which happen to he the worst possible words Sky had wanted to hear. Still, he finds himself reluctantly following, his heart pounding in his throat, almost stumbling desperately to stay near the light Twilight holds.
He's not afraid. He's truly not afraid. Just fearful. There's a difference.
He looks up at the cave ceiling and quickly snaps his neck down, cursing his habit. There's no sky. No point in trying. There's no reason to look up if he knows what he's searching for isn't there.
"I wonder what's down here," Hyrule says, walking a little ahead of Twilight with an impossible spring to his step, as if he'd much rather explore the cave with no light like the crazy person he is.
"A way out, hopefully," Sky says, and it's nothing close to a squeak but he's sure if he gives it time it will eventually turn into one.
"Nah, I bet it's some sort of evil cave dwelling Moblin," Wild says, a grin in his voice.
"No way, a Moblin?" Hyrule scoffs.
"Yes, a golden one. Big, mean, and strong."
"Moblin's aren't that bad," Hyrule replies, "I bet it's actually a Lynel."
"Lynels' don't live in caves," Wild argues back.
"They totally do. And I bet it's a whole herd of them."
"Lynels' don't live in herds!"
"Have you met a Lynel?!"
Sky hasn't met a Lynel. And quite honestly he'd like not to. He's heard Legend talk about them before, giant beasts that are a mix of a great cat and a strong horse. Creatures with fangs and swords and power, unimaginably tough skin, making it almost impossible for a normal sword to do a single lick of damage.
His hand trails over his shoulder where the Master Sword lay, finding comfort in her presence. Unfortunately, Twilight notices the movement and lifts an eyebrow. Sky gives a nervous smile and drops his hands to his side.
Don't think about it.
"What if it's a dragon?" Hyrule continues. "A three headed one. I've had to fight one of those before."
"Dragon's aren't evil," Wild says back with an almost offended tone.
"Mine were. Nasty things that spewed fire everywhere."
Just ignore them Sky. Ignore them.
"What about you, ranch hand? Have you ever fought a dragon?" Hyrule asks, turning his head towards the lantern holder of the group.
Twilight shook his head. "Once. He wasn't that bad though. More bark than bite."
"Chosen?"
Sky swallows. "Ah, no. They were... friendly."
"We're tied," Wild says, smirking.
"No we just have to ask the others later. I'm sure they've all fought horrible monsters and you and the chosen hero are the only ones who have weird ones."
Oh Sky truly hopes the get to ask the others soon.
They continue down more into the cave and Wild and Hyrule continue to talk about what they could be heading towards and Sky loathes Twilight for having such a relaxed, uninterested expression on his face. He's somehow worked himself to a point where he can completely tune out their antics but Sky is left to hang on every word, his chest growing tighter and tighter.
Eventually, and Sky doesn't know if he should be thankful or not, they end up in a dead end. Or what's close to it. Twilight stops with a hum and Hyrule bends down to inspect the bottom of the wall they've found themselves facing. The cave just... Ends. There's no other ways to turn, nothing to do but go back and forth between one end and another. Or so he thinks so until Wild calls out.
"There's a hole at the bottom!"
Panic clutches Sky's heart as Twilight bends down to inspect the hole Wild has found. There is, indeed, a hole—hardly big enough for a dog to fit through—located at the bottom of the dead end. He will not try and squeeze himself through there. He's aware he's not the skinniest in the group, and he certainly isn't the most agile or flexible, and if he crawls into that hole he knows he'll get stuck. He'll get stuck and he'll never see the sky again and that- he takes a deep breath and looks up for just a moment.
At this rate, he's not going to see sky ever again whether he crawls into tiny holes or not.
"I wonder where it goes," Hyrule says, excitement making his voice go a half octave higher. Hyrule is normally one of the reserved members of the group, but when stuffed into an unknown cave without a map or plan, his true colors truly shine.
He kneels down and Sky almost goes light headed with relief when Twilight stops Hyrule from shooting into the hole with a hand on his shoulder.
"Let me," he says, making Sky insanely more worried and confused because Twilight is bigger than Sky. Well, broader. If Sky is certain he will get stuck, Twilight getting stuck is like, written in some holy book somewhere. Foreseen by the goddessess.
"Twi..." Wild suddenly says, his voice oddly... reserved.
Twilight shakes his head. "It's about time more people found out. I'm pretty sure vet knows. You know, the old man knows, smithy knows. What's two more?"
"What are you talking about?" Hyrule asks.
Twilight shakes his head, worrying Sky just a little, and then he takes a deep breath like what he's about to say is going to be the last thing he ever says. "Listen, and don't freak out. I'm only going to say this once. I can turn into... Into a wolf. I'm Wolfie. I can crawl into the hole and find out where it goes safer than any of you. I can also... see if I can dig and make it wider for you all if there is something more on the other side."
Sky is... oddly not shocked. Just infinitely more worried that Twilight is still dead set on going into some small hole with a half formed plan.
"Woah!" Hyrule says, "I never guessed!"
Wild is just smiling, and Sky isn't for this at all.
"Or," he says, clearing his throat and feeling heat rush to his cheeks and ears when the others all turn to look at him, "or... We can just turn around and wait for the others to dig us out?"
Wild actually has the audacity to look visibly bored with the idea.
"Nah, I wanna see our rancher turn into a wolf," Hyrule says.
Twilight at least gives Sky a small, sorry smile and a shrug.
Oh dear. Oh dear.
"We're going to try this, Sky. Here-" Twilight hand's Sky his lantern, "I won't need it. You can hold the light."
"I don't like this," Sky tries to say, but Hyrule is practically shaking with excitement.
"I'm so excited," he says and Wild nudges his side with his elbow.
"Hush! He'll get embarrassed and he won't do it!"
Twilight glares at the two of them but still backs a step away from them all. Sky's stomach jumps to his throat when Twilight takes a deep breath.
"Wait!"
Twilight stops, and then gives an... almost annoyed look at Sky.
"Don't leave me alone with these two," Sky whispers.
Wild makes a squawk and Hyrule grins like he's ready to torment Sky. Twilight, thankfully, has the decency to look at the other two and study them. For a small, hopeful second, Sky almost thinks Twilight is going to stay with them, but then he shakes his head and Sky can feel his soul sink to his toes.
"Just keep an eye on them," he says, "I'll be back."
"No, no Tw-"
But it's too late. Sky is rendered speechless as Twilight's humanoid form suddenly... shifts. Morphs. It's a blink of an eye. There's no flash, no sound, nothing. Just one second Sky is about to plead his sanity with Twilight and the next he's looking down at a familiar wolf.
Huh. It all seems more real, shocking even, to actually see that happen.
Wolfie... Twilight gives Wild and Hyrule stern looks before he gives an almost apologetic look at Sky. He nods his muzzle, and then turns and crouches down and starts to wiggle in the hole. He's gone in just a few minutes, nothing but the sound of scratching claws and small dog-like pants to let then know Twilight still exists, but even those start to fade.
"Wow!" Hyrule suddenly yells and Sky nearly jumps a mile.
"I know right!" Wild yells back. Wild suddenly launches into a rant about hard it was to keep Twilight's secret and how glad he is that more people know, and Sky tries to listen. He tries to watch. He tries to... exist... but he truly can't feel a thing. His ears are ringing.
The darkness closing in. He can't hear Twilight anymore. His chest feels heavy.
He blinks and clutches the lantern closer towards his chest. The only evidence now of Twilight's company. Is he alright? He can't hear him anymore. He really, really can't. What if there was a ledge? And he fell? And he's stuck, trapped, forever, waiting for a rescue that won't come.
What if the others don't come, and the oil in the lantern runs dry, and the blackness, the shadows crawling around the cave walls close in, and the air becomes stale and they slowly freeze to their bones.
What if they're trapped. Trapped here, in darkness, never to see the sky again.
This shouldn't bother him. It truly shouldn't, but he's never liked tight, closed off spaces. Oh how much he'd rather be on the surface. Oh how much he'd rather be on Skyloft. Oh how much he'd rather be on the back of his dear friend—his other half—the red Loftwing.
He can feel his back hit something hard and his knees decide to feel very wobbly. He forces himself to take in a deep breath but a fog is washing over his mind and he's truly not sure if he actually breathed in or not.
He's not afraid. He's not. He's not he's not he's not. Worried. Fearful. Cautious. But not afraid. He's not.
He looks up, wanting to see the sky, and he finds no comfort in the rocks that gaze back at him.
His legs give out and the lantern falls.
What is wrong with him. What is wrong with him.
This has never happened before. No, never before.
He can't help but feel that this has never happened before because he used to be younger, used to always be sure that there was always a way out and always a sky waiting for him.
Right now, it feels like the whole world is the wet, cold, stone pressing into his back.
He's not afraid, he just can't tell if he's breathing. He's not afraid, his ears are just ringing. He's not afraid, his mind is just not working with him. He's not afraid, his chest just feels broken.
Then, suddenly, something grabs onto his hand and he gasps, blinking towards the face of none other than Wild, the lantern in his hands now instead of wherever it went when Sky lost grasp of it. Sky searches Wild's face, searching for anything to... ground him? Ground isn't the right word. He'd much rather be in the clouds, but then his eyes land on the deepest blue he's ever seen, or maybe he's so much black shadows recently that he forgot what blue looked like.
He stares at Wild's eyes, and he can see so much blue, and it's not the same as the sky but he knows Wild has seen the sky before, seen it many times before, and Wild hasn't worried once about never seeing it again.
"You okay?" A voice asks, and Sky recognizes it as Hyrule voice, but right now looking away from Wild's eyes is the last thing he wants to do.
He wants to say that yeah, he's fine, but the words don't reach his throat. The most he can do is croak out a pathetic no and immediately Wild is setting the lantern down onto the cave floor, bending down so he's sitting across from Sky. Warmth spreads on Sky's side and he instantly recognizes the warmth belonging to Hyrule who has just sat down next to him. Sky closes his eyes, facing the dark in his mind and forcing it away, replacing it with Wild's deep blue.
Blue. Sky. Air. Freedom.
He sucks in a breath, feeling his chest shutter once, twice, then still with his calming breathing. Once he can no longer feel his heart jumping, he opens his eyes and meets Wild's gaze.
"Better?"
Sky nods and Wild smiles.
"Here," Wild suddenly says, handing Sky his precious magic slate like he knew exactly what Sky needed. He helps Sky get to the magic paintings ("They're pictures, Sky") and then he settles himself on the other side of Sky.
Sky looks at the first "picture", one of the entire landscape of Wild's Hyrule from the top of what seems to be a very big mountain. You can see the castle, but it's very small in comparison to the horizon. Sky can feel Hyrule rest his head on Sky's shoulder as he flicks to the next picture, and he chuckles when it's a "picture" of Sky himself, resting against a tree and a steadily growing pile of sticks being made atop his head by the recognizable hand of Legend.
Wild and Hyrule chuckle too, and all of a sudden Sky is so grateful that he's been left with the two of them.
Time passes, and he almost forgets what they're doing, when all of a sudden there's scratching of claws and panting dog breaths and a snout appears through a small hole at the bottom of a dead ended wall.
Sky breathes the largest sigh of relief, or what he thinks is the largest. Wild is a worthy competitor, and Sky realizes that Wild and Hyrule were just as worried about their fourth member. The thought is comforting. He wonders how they both dealt with it so much better than himself.
Wolfie quickly merges into Twilight and instantly Twilight is ranting about giant caverns and crystals and underground rivers and he's starting to suggest making the hole wider when Hyrule all of a sudden cuts him off.
"Actually, I think we should go to the entrance and wait for the others," he says, shocking Sky. What's even more shocking is when Wild nods along.
"Yeah, we shouldn't risk it," he says.
Twilight frowns, as if the mere thought of Hyrule and Wild turning down potential adventure is truly the most puzzling of things, but then he turns and his face softens when he looks at Sky.
"What do you think, Chosen?" He asks, though he says it like he already knows the answer.
"Can... can we go back?"
Twilight smiles, and gives a half-hearted shrug. "Three against four, then, I suppose."
He doesn't sound all that disappointed about it. Caverns and crystals and underground rivers for some reason must not sound as exciting to him any longer. He wonders what took priority, because Twilight is all about priority, but he doesn't wonder too much into it because they all stand up and make their way towards the entrance of the cave. Or, the caved in entrance.
Whatever way, Sky feels like it's easier and easier to breath the closer they get to it. They settle their things down by the cave in and sit and talk and look at more of Wild's magic paintings, and eventually there's movement and the wall comes crumbling down. They're met with sunlight, the smiling, grimy face of Four whose holding an unlit bomb in their arms, but more importantly, they're met with endless blue, and Sky feels like he can truly breathe again.