Chief, Wind, and Sky are out gathering firewood when they get a surprise encounter with Demon.
CW: Recalled Spoilers, Temporary Character Death, blood, swearing
Link trotted his way through the thin trees, his arms full of small sticks and branches. Wind and Sky were close, also collecting firewood. Several battered ruins poked up from the ground alongside the road they were searching by, the late evening light coating everything in a red-orange glow.
“Chiiieeeef? How much firewood do you have?” Wind’s voice drifted over to him, and he glanced over, holding up his armload.
“This much. Why?” he replied.
“Just trying to see if we can go back to camp yet, I’m hungry,” Wind called back, shrugging.
“Try and find at least ten more sticks each, then we can head back,” Sky said, his voice tired. Link couldn’t blame him. None of them had gotten much sleep the last few days.
They continued on, ignoring Wind’s continued grumbling. Link started meandering closer to the road, passing a shrine and picking up sticks as he went.
There was a chasm across the road, and Link paused, looking at the massive, dark hole. It had been a while since he’d gone to the depths… he hadn’t been down there in weeks. He supposed it made sense, what with the danger and all, but…
He missed just being able to hang out with the spirits down there. Hopefully, they were doing alright.
“Chief, I think we’re good to head back now,” Sky called, startling Link from his thoughts, “Let’s hurry, I want to get back before dark,”
Link sighed, glancing back at the chasm one more time before turning to start following the others back the way they’d come. Then he paused.
His brow furrowed, and he flicked his ears slightly. Had… had the ground just… trembled slightly? Or was it just his imagination? He did get dizzy spells… no, there it was again, a faint vibration coming up through the ground. He glanced around, confusion and anxiety beginning to worm through him.
“Wind? Sky? Hang on a second,” he called, and the other two paused, glancing back at him.
“What’s wrong?” Wind asked, his brow furrowing in the way it did when he was about to make a quip of some kind.
“The ground is shaking,” Link replied, turning slightly so he could glance at the chasm again.
It was possible it was a chasm skulltula moving in, which wasn’t great. Those monstrosities were hard to get rid of, and it would mean that they’d have to move their camp farther away. Otherwise, Link couldn’t think of what might be causing the faint tremors, other than perhaps an earthquake.
He glanced at the others again, both of which had confused expressions. Sky’s eyes narrowed slightly, then his confusion was replaced with alarm.
“Wind, Chief, we need to go, now-” he was interrupted as the ground suddenly heaved. Link was thrown to the ground, his armload of firewood scattering across the dirt road. The others cried out as thick, dark red roots exploded up out of the ground, snatching them and holding them aloft.
More of the Blood Roots burst up from underneath Link, coiling around him and lifting him up. The dark roots bristled with thick splinters, pulsing slightly as red gloom flowed through them. Link whimpered slightly as it began to slowly burn him through his thick tunic, the razor splinters stabbing into his arms and sides.
“Well, well, well… look at what we have here… I didn’t think I’d be so lucky,” that silky voice echoed through Link’s head, and he froze, his heart skipping a beat. He knew that voice- he knew it all too well- after having it pierce his every thought for a month, there was no forgetting that voice.
Demon was on the surface.
The dark beast stepped up out of the chasm, its form coalescing into something more hylian shaped, but so so wrong on so many levels.
Its arms were too long, with dark red crystals jutting out of them from odd angles. Its torso was too thin, and its skin a silvery, metallic color. Four narrow, gold rimmed eyes stared at them from a cruel, angular face. Thick, black horns framed that face, with long strands of shimmery white hair tangling in the spines. A cloak of velvety, black wings fluttered from its shoulders, rustling as it walked closer, its long, scaly tail flicking casually behind it.
“Three heroes at once, and on the first night that I venture up here? The Goddesses favor me indeed,” it laughed, a sharp, metallic sound that reverberated painfully against Link’s ears. He shrunk back, squeezing his eyes shut and praying that the others would find them before anything bad happened.
“Demon- what are you doing up here? You can’t come up to the surface-” Sky’s voice was cut off as a thin bloodroot scraped across his mouth, gagging him.
“Yes, that is true, most nights. The cursed sun does burn. But you see, little sky child, my powers wax and wane like the moon, and on nights when the sky is red and the moon turns to blood… that is when I come up to hunt meddling heroes.” Demon laughed again, then stepped into the center of the circle of bloodroots it had made.
“Now… what to do with all of you…” it hummed, eyes narrowing as it stroked spidery fingers along its jaw. Its form flickered, dark violet scales rippling across its skin, and its hair taking on a more lilac sheen. Several of the bat-like wings on its back rustled and fluttered, and Demon’s expression morphed into a sinister grin.
“Oh… that is a nasty idea…” it laughed again, turning to fully face the three.
“Well, it seems that I am short on time this evening, so I’ve decided to only kill one of you. The catch-” Demon flicked its wrist, and the bloodroots clamped around Link melted away. He hit the ground hard, stumbling and almost losing his balance before Demon grabbed him.
“The little Prince here gets to choose who dies.” Link’s eyes widened. Pick who died? No! No- no one should die-
“So, who will it be? Option one,” Demon slunk over to Wind, who was flailing against his bindings, his teeth clamped around his gag, strings of muffled curses escaping past the root, “the Sailor, your close friend. Also, your Grandfather- family bonds always do make things interesting. Or,” Demon spun Link to face Sky, who was trembling, his eyes glowing a fierce white in the darkening twilight, “Option two, the Sky Child. Hylia’s favorite, the reincarnation of that spirit friend of yours, Hero, first ancestor to all heroes, and, if I’m not mistaken, soon to be a new father himself! How exciting,” there was added venom in Demon’s voice as it hissed out that last sentence.
“I’ll give you… one minute to choose. If you don’t choose, then I’ll just kill both, and take you as my little puppet again, so pick wisely,” Demon dropped Link and slunk back a step, settling in to wait.
Link was shaking, looking up at the other two. He needed to think- Choose- he couldn’t choose- but he had too, otherwise they’d all get ruined-
Wind and Sky didn’t have dolls- they’d lost theirs a while ago and hadn’t gotten new ones yet- once if they died, it would be permanent-
…
He had a doll.
He could…
He took a deep breath, looking up at Sky and Wind again. They both looked panicked though the darkening light made it hard to tell much else of their expressions. He hoped they could see the apology in his eyes. They were going to hate him for this.
He took another deep breath, trying to force resolve to take the place of anxiety. Zelda always said that courage wasn’t the absence of fear, but the action taken in spite of it. He turned to face Demon holding himself with as much dignity as he could muster.
“I’ve made my choice.” he said loudly, ignoring the faint trembling in his voice. Demon raised an eyebrow, grinning eagerly.
“Oh? Do tell,”
“I choose myself.”
Immediately behind him, he could hear both Sky and Wind’s muffled protests, but he refused to turn around, instead looking Demon straight in its many eyes. It started laughing.
“I see, I see, so you do know how to play this game, very good!” it chortled, “your reward, both your friends go free, and you, my dear prince, you die.”
Bright golden light exploded around them, and rushing filled Link’s ears. He started, whipping around then-
CRACK
Link blinked his eyes open, his vision blurred slightly. There was a sticky texture across his face and in his hair- he really didn’t want to think about what it might be. Then the sound hit his ears, many voices calling to each other. His vision cleared more and he saw the silhouettes of people against the night sky, each one with a small glowing light next to them.
Wind was leaning over him, his eyes wide and filled with frantic tears. Sky and Sun were right next to him, their faces identical masks of panic. He could hear others nearby- it sounded like everyone was here.
“Chief- Chief- I swear on all the old Gods of the Sea- can you hear me? Are you awake?” Wind said, shaking Link’s shoulder. Link blinked a few times, trying to get his bearings.
“When… did the others show up?” he asked faintly. Sighs of relief echoed through the others, and Wind let out a sob, pulling Link upright and gripping him in a tight hug. Link gingerly hugged him back, still feeling disoriented. After a long moment, Wind pulled back, glaring fiercely.
“Chief you- you fucking- land loving- gear headed son of a FISHMAN- WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? WE DIDN’T KNOW YOU HAD A DOLL- I THOUGHT YOU WERE FUCKING DEAD FOREVER- CHIEF-” his voice cracked and tears started streaming down his cheeks. Link blinked slightly, trying to process what Wind was saying.
“I… I’m sorry…” he managed. That… sticky dry feeling on his face was really getting irritating, and he really wanted to clean up.
“Chief, are you feeling ok?” Sky asked, his voice shaking slightly.
“Yeah. yeah I’m feeling alright. Just… disoriented… I guess. What happened?” he replied, unconsciously picking at some of the drying blood on his cheek.
“Well… the others arrived right after Demon finished talking… that’s when the others showed up. Demon managed to… land a hit on you. It was driven back to the depths by Sun, and the bloodroots faded. The others spread out, making sure there wasn’t anything else. Then… you woke back up.” Sky explained. Link winced.
“I see… sorry,” he apologized again. Wind let out another sob, gripping him in another tight hug.
“Don’t do that again. Please don’t do that again” Wind muttered, and Link carefully hugged him back.
“Alright… I won’t do it again,” he promised quietly, “at least… I won’t do that one specific thing again.”
Wind leaned back, attempting to mask a weak grin with a glare. He lightly rapped the side of Link’s head, and Link huffed slightly. They’d be alright. They were all safe now.
