Febuwhump day 26 - forced to choose
I fell asleep while writing this BUT I FINISHED IT THIS MORNING so here it is a day late 😓 and Cloud once again suffers agbdfhkkddhv
This is ambiguously canon since Cloud doesn’t reunite with his Zelda quite like this, but these are all sort of hypothetical anyway so whatevs. This one is also a teeny bitsy bit heavier than some of them have been so warning for blood and injury and stuff.
Cloud is skyward sword Link, and Sprite is ocarina of time/Majora’s mask.
Courage of ages explanation
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Cloud tore through Faron woods with the others running alongside him, blood roaring in his ears as he ignored how tired he was getting.
Please let us get there in time please let her be okay please—
They’d stumbled across a plan by the Yiga on accident, a loose-lipped footsoldier spilling a scheme to kidnap Cloud’s Zelda and hold her captive. They hadn’t gotten the reasoning out of the soldier, but Cloud didn’t even bother waiting around to try and figure it out. That was his wife they were going to kidnap, and he’d sworn to himself he would never let that happen again.
And he knew Zelda could handle herself, he truly did, but she couldn’t have expected the Yiga, there was no way she could know they were coming and they’d catch her completely unawares.
Please let her be okay—
They finally burst into the sealed temple, and Cloud looked around the room, his breath leaving him as he met the startled eyes of his wife.
Who was tied up and had a blade held to her neck.
“Link!” Zelda gasped as he looked at her, shock and relief in her voice. “Link you’re okay, I—”
“Silence,” the yiga holding his weapon to her neck growled. He turned to the other soldiers next to him, and began whispering, but still loud enough that the heroes could hear him. “We have what we came for. Get her out of here before the heroes interfe—“
Slate shot an arrow directly through the man’s wrist before he even finished speaking.
The soldier yelled and the heroes surged forward, a wave of yiga meeting them. The entire room broke into a fight, the whistle of arrows a background to the sharp clashing of swords as Cloud leapt into the fray. He tried to see where Zelda was, but there were too many people in his way, too many enemies blocking him. So Cloud continued to slowly work his way over to where he’d last seen her, trying to steady the fear in his chest.
He tried to help any of the other Links he passed in the fights they were engaged in, but every single one of them waved him forward, yelling that he needed to get to Zelda. Even the ones that were obviously struggling.
And then a cry suddenly cut through all the other noises echoing in the temple, the sound thick with pain.
Cloud felt his heart stop.
He’d recognize that voice anywhere.
He burst into entirely reckless moves, shoving his way past anyone who tried to stop him. He refused to let himself be deterred, steps speeding even faster towards where he’d last seen his wife. Another cry rang out, but it was a child’s voice this time, and Cloud saw Era snap his head up in a panicked way from across the room.
A blademaster jumped into front of him, but Cloud only took a few seconds to take him down, hacking at the cultist with little remorse. The man disappeared in a flurry of paper, and Cloud finally came into view of Zelda.
Who was lying prone on the ground, Sprite fallen beside her.
Cloud felt his stomach drop out, and he bolted to their sides, falling to his knees and pulling Zelda up into his arms. The clothes she’d been wearing had an ugly red stain beginning to spread across them, and Cloud felt ice clench around his heart.
“Zelda,” he said frantically, cupping her cheek as she breathed in a pained breath. “Zelda how bad is it?”
“I-It’s okay,” she breathed, clutching his hand when it slipped into hers. “It’s okay, it’s not too...”
She trailed off and looked over at Sprite, watching as Era ran to his side and began frantically digging in his pack.
“He saved me,” Zelda said softly, looking back at Cloud. “He jumped... in front of me after I was hit, I would... would have been hit again if he h-hadn’t...”
“Zelda, easy, just breathe, please,” Cloud murmured, trying to keep his panic down. “We need a fairy over here!” he cried as loudly as he could.
“Make that two,” Era said from nearby, voice tense as he ran a soothing hand through Sprite’s hair. The smaller hero flinched, and Era’s face went even darker. “Hibiscus! Get over here, we need you!”
The Hero of Legend joined them a few moments later, looking harried as he dodged an arrow.
“Sorry, Brownie’s unconscious and Windy got nicked with an arrow, and I was trying to fight— sweet Nayru,” he gasped, looking between Cloud and Era. He dropped down between them, doing a quick look over Zelda before doing the same to Sprite.
“What happened?” he asked in dismay, and Zelda shifted a little where Cloud was holding her.
“Those men decided if they... couldn’t have me, then nobody could...” she said in a slightly strained voice, and Cloud held her more tightly. “Took me by surprise... and after I was... hit, they were g-going to finish me, but your friend tried to fight them off... and took a h-hit meant for me...”
Hibiscus dug through his pack as Zelda explained, but his face grew dark as his search for supplies came up empty. He yelled behind him if anyone had a fairy, and Cloud dragged his gaze away from Zelda for just a second.
The fight around them was winding down, most of the yiga fleeing the scene once they realized their plan had been foiled. A few stubborn ones were still fighting, but Slate’s arrows were doing a good job of picking them off, and any hero that wasn’t dealing with an injury or a fight was digging through their bags.
The last soldier disappeared a few moments later, and the heroes clustered around Zelda and Sprite, faces horrified as they realized what had happened.
Hibiscus went around to check for healing supplies, seeing what everyone had left, but it didn’t take him long. When he returned, all he had cupped in his hand was a single bottled fairy. Cloud and Era stared, and Hibiscus shook his head.
“This is all we have,” he said quietly.
The room was silent for a few long moments, and then Cloud snapped his head back at where the Links were watching the scene unfold in horror.
“Sometimes there’s fairies in the woods in the back, you might be able to find one, go,” he snapped.
Almost everyone bolted out the back of the temple, and Cloud was left to look between Zelda and Sprite, both rasping weakly for breath.
“You’ll be fine Zelda,” Cloud murmured, pressing a kiss to her hand, ignoring the bit of blood on her fingers. “You’ll be okay. They’ll find another fairy and you’ll both be fine.”
“Link...” Zelda said quietly, and he met her eyes. “Give... give the fairy to hi...”
Zelda breathed in a gasp and stiffened, screwing her eyes shut before dragging them back open.
“Give... give it to him,” she bit out.
“No.”
Cloud and Zelda both looked at Sprite, curled in on himself in Era’s arms as a steadily growing stain of red spread out across his tunic.
“Don’t...” Sprite whispered, then shuddered a bit. “Let Ze... have her...”
His eyes flickered, but he forced them open, sucking in a shaking breath.
“Give her the fairy,” he whispered.
Cloud stared at him in dismay. “Sprite we can’t just...”
“You know one fairy won’t b-be... enough for us both...” Sprite murmured, his voice still tight with pain. “Let Z-Zelda... have her.”
“We can’t just let you die,” Cloud whispered, and Sprite smirked, then coughed.
“‘M not gonna die,” he whispered, blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. “Give it ‘t her.”
“No, we can wait a few more minutes, okay?” Era said sharply, still putting pressure on the wound. “Give the others some time to find another fairy, you’ll both be fine. We don’t need to choose.”
“Don’t have time...” Sprite whispered, closing his eyes. “She needs it more.”
“He does,” Zelda stressed, meeting Cloud’s eyes again. “Link he’s...”
“You both need it!” Cloud shouted, and knew his hands were shaking as he squeezed Zelda’s. “And the fairy won’t be enough for both of you, we can’t...”
Zelda smiled at him just a little, and Cloud looked at her through the tears that were starting to gather in the corner of his eyes.
“Please Zelda, hold on,” he whispered. “Hold on for me, please, I can’t lose you again.”
She didn’t respond other than squeezing his hand, and the room went quiet.
Cloud looked over at Era, equally frantic but hiding it better as he cradled Sprite tightly in his arms. He was holding a cloth to the injury Sprite had sustained, and Cloud looked down at the younger hero, looking unusually small in Era’s hold.
Sprite looked back at him, meeting his eyes as blood trickled down his face, and the younger boy gave him a rare smile.
“You won’t,” he whispered.
Then Sprite snatched the bottled fairy off of the ground, popping the cork and throwing the bottle to land right next to Zelda.
“Sprite!” Era cried out, the fairy flitting from the bottle and immediately spinning around her.
Pink sparkles drifted across Zelda’s middle, the little fairy spinning in rather tight circles as she healed the injury below. Zelda let out a small sigh of relief as she finished, and the fairy jingled weakly, obviously exhausted as she fluttered away. Zelda then sat up a little in Cloud’s arms, and he felt relief hit him at the sight of her bright blue eyes, looking tired, but no longer in any sort of pain.
But his relief was short-lived as he looked over at Era and Sprite.
Throwing the bottle had obviously used the last of the younger’s strength, and he’d fallen limp in Era’s arms, eyes closed.
“Sprite,” Era said in a frantic voice, any steel he’d conjured up rapidly disappearing. “Sprite, don’t do this to me, stay awake.”
Cloud felt a sharp wave of grief hit him as Era clutched at Sprite, the normally vibrant boy in his arms lying eerily still. A small breath wheezed through his lips, but that was the only sign he was still alive at all, blood still leaking from his side.
“Wait,” Zelda said softly, and Cloud looked back at her, a light shining in her eyes.
Zelda reached out towards Sprite, faint light flickering around her fingertips and a glow in her eyes, and Cloud was suddenly reminded that his wife wasn’t exactly mortal.
He quickly helped her move closer to Sprite, and she took his small hand in her own, Era watching with tired acceptance already in his eyes. The light grew just a little as Zelda’s brow creased, and Cloud and Era stayed silent, not wanting to break her concentration.
After several agonizingly long moments, she finally drew back, a smile on her lips.
“I bought him some time,” Zelda said softly, her eyelids drooping. “Not much, but enough... for the others to find another fairy. He’ll be okay until then.”
She let out an exhausted sigh, and Cloud drew her into an embrace, leftover terror at what they’d almost lost making him feel dizzy.
“Thank you,” Era said, voice filled with utter relief. Sprite twitched just a little in his arms, and Era closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. “Thank you so much.”
Zelda nodded at him, then looked back over at Cloud, relief in her gaze.
“You had me worried sick sleepyhead,” she said with a smile, and Cloud finally kissed her, entirely uncaring of who was watching.
They drew back after what didn’t feel nearly long enough, and Cloud gently pressed his forehead against hers, their hands clasped.
“I’m so sorry,“ he whispered. “If it had been up to me I never would have left.”
“I know it wasn’t your fault, I could sense dark magic around the day you disappeared,” she replied softly, squeezing his hands. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I missed you, Link.”
Cloud held her close, breathing in her perfume and ignoring the smell of blood that still tinged the air, ignoring how close she and Sprite had been to dying, and ignoring the terror that still lingered in his heart that he’d been too late.
“I missed you too,” he whispered, and pressed a kiss to her hair, overwhelmed with relief.
