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Wild wasn’t having a good day.
Objectively any day on a goddess mission was not typically a good one per say, besides moments of calm in the camp when they were able to get sleep, or times in a inn (which still somehow ended up bad) every day seemed to not be that good. But today in particular was very bad. Wilds scars itched, they burned. Which was a weird sensation for him seeing as most days he was numb all through his scarring.
The group had been traveling all day, legend hadn’t stopped complaining about how his legs hurt, which wild sympathized with, chronic pain was no joke for the group, most of the group at some point had gone through a period of pain to bad to handle, but for legend, that was a constant. He was forced to walk on burning pain, and due to a severe lack of water, it was worse then normal. Therefore, legend had gotten to sit on Epona. Usually multiple could ride on her, but with the amount of supplies that was on her back at the moment, twilight has advised only one of them ride her that day.
So wild was stuck walking, similar pain shooting through this body as he limped along, tail dragging behind him as he followed in the back of the group, barely managing to keep up as it was. Hyrule had flitted between him and legend multiple times at this point, concern heavy in his expression, a sad look covering his face as he saw wilds pained look.
“ You ok?” He whispered to wild, sitting on his shoulder carefully. Wild winced at the sudden weight, even if it was near no more then a feather.
‘ Hurts’ wild signed back, pain shooting through his arms as he signed the word weakly. Hyrules face contorted into one of pity before he flew up higher into the air, looking about the forest, small chimes of bells following his disappearance. Wild sighed in relief at the lack of weight pressuring against his shoulder, they were in an unknown Hyrule, most likely one around wilds time, but much before the actual year he was from.
Hyrule flew around in the air, as if searching for something the group couldn’t see, sky was flying in their air close to him, eyes closed as he remained half awake as they walked. Warriors own wings hung limply outside of his shirt, the holes they had cut for them only days before weren’t the most pretty, but they worked for the time being. The two fiery wings limply hung from their spot on his back, lighting up the air around him lightly. The wings where his ears would be flicked lightly in annoyance at whatever wind had been cackling about, throwing a glare at the younger.
Time and twilight trailed along together, the two chatting about Hylia knows what. Their conversation, like the others, was lost to the wind, nothing heard from the group despite they all chatting away noisily.
Hyrule soon returned, speaking to time quickly, who held up his hand in a sign to halt.
“Alright everyone, Hyrule informed me there’s a town around an hour north, we can rest here or go there. Raise your hand if your willing to go another hour for the town?” Everyone raised their hands at that, givin wild and legend half heartedly. “Alright, how’s everyone doing? Everyone feeling ok?” His eyes looked directly at wild, that little snitch. He thought ruefully, nodding in mock agreement. Time narrowed his eyes at him.
“Wild would you like to use the crystal and sit on one of our shoulders? Or on Epona?” Twilight asked curiously, wild considered it momentarily before nodding silently, the pain overcoming his other senses. Twilight gently held out the crystal, allowing wild to grab hold of it. A tearing pain ripped through his body as it slowly shrunk, new bones forming into a skeleton befitting one of a dragon, scales sprouting from his entire body, the light glow from under his scales lit up the ground around him. Twilight scooped him up, allowing wild to sit around his shoulders, the fur pelt a comfortable pillow for his aching body.
Time smoothed the short mane of hair that wild sprouted in the form, thankfully it wasn’t unruly unlike his human form. The comfort of now resting along twilights shoulders near distracted him from the burning pain along his body, sighing contently. Hyrule tittered about, jumping from shoulder to shoulder, before landing on times next to wild. He snorted out a cold puff of air, the feeling of the draconian magic surging through him was more powerful in this form, each ability he held more powerful then his human form.
Hyrule crouched on times shoulder, looking over his form carefully. Time moved slightly closer to twilight to aid the smallest of the group, Hyrule gave a small pat to times shoulder in thanks, ignoring the tierd laugh from the elder. Four still slept on warriors scarf, the minish had transformed hours before when they first landed, tired and sick from the portal. He had been sleeping through all of the walking, thankfully sparing them from having to carry him in his last ditch effort to transform before he passed out.
The people in the group who generally didn’t have smaller transformations or didn’t get smaller in general, had gotten used to the smallers testing on their shoulders, it wasn’t much of a burden for them thankfully, wild usually could make it without needing rest, infact with his stamina, he usually walked twice the amount that everyone else did. But today was different, today wild was in burning pain from his scars that painted his body.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed shadow idly messing with fours hair, sitting on warriors scarf along side his friends, (and boyfriend.) wind complained alongside him, he had never used twilights crystal apparently but had claimed he was such a scary sea monster that there was no point for him to try, seeing that he required water to not drown.
Twilight had tried to counter that Legend had became a rabbit when he had touched Twilight's crystal, and not a fish but wind's indignant argument back was not worth the energy.
Seeing as wild most likely didn’t have to cook that night, due to going to a town. Inns typically had some sort of restaurant next door or connected to it, so with wilds incredible amount of funds, they could get a very fancy and nice meal that night. He had been dedicated as the group's wallet months before, once legend had seen his rupee balance on accident. Thankfully they didn’t abuse it too much, only taking when needed. Wild mostly used it for food anyways so it didn’t matter much to him what they used it for, it was just sitting there anyways.
The town soon came into view, only nearly half an hour later thankfully. Aparently hyrules perception on how long things took was just as messed up as many of the other chain members. The large bustling town still was full of people late at night, nearly nine according to times internal clock. The people at the entrance of the town gracefully let them in, ignoring the inhuman look to all of the chain and rather letting them know they had to board Epona in the stable at the inn if they wanted her in town. According to the man on the left of the gate, it was a travelers town, they didn’t particularly judge people based on appearance or what they brought with them, their eyes focused on wild as they spoke.
“Even the dragon is fine, he’s a young’in right?” z the group nodded at them. “You’ve seen the dragons no? Most have at this point. They used to hide in their mountains but in the past week, they became more active. Actually showin themselves.” There man gave a wistful gaze out at the sky. “What’s he? we have our fire, ice an’ lightnin one. Didn’t think there was a fourth.”
“Ah we’re not particularly sure, he doesn’t even know for sure.” Twilight said carefully, shifting his shoulders nervously. Wild startled at the motion, head peeking up at the two men.
“Hey little ‘un.” One of them cooed at him, wild winced at the demeanor of the two men, huffing out a cold breath of air. Unfortunately, with his magical senses heightened, his ability to sense spirits also was heightened. Behind the man stood a zora from his era, kindly looking down at the man, a sad expression in her eyes. Great. A ghost town. He thought idly, looking around to see the pale blue ish color of the ghosts roaming the city alongside the other living inhabitants.
The two men let them in quickly after, the zora waving to him cheerfully as he flicked a one claw wave back to her. Only to put it down moments later as shooting pain stopped further movements. Time gave an amused look towards him.
“So this is an early version of your era you think?” Wild nodded. “Interesting. I recall you did mention having three dragons right? They did bring up a good point though, the dragons in your era are… very different then ours, yours all have a control over some area of expertise correct?” Another nod.
“Maybe we could ask the dragons if we get a chance. You said their wise right?” wild shrugged as good as he could in the form he was currently in. One of them is at least. He laughed to himself, remembering the words of the other dragons.
“I’ll take it as a yes.” Time smiled brightly at him, continuing to go through the croud, quickly reaching the inner area with ease. Wild gazed upon one of the signs, reading The inn, as expected, had a small tavern connected to it, wild idly translated the words into his own language, jumping off of twilights shoulder and tapping the gem embedded in his forehead. The pain filling him once more as he grabbed onto twilight to steady himself, the elder gave a shocked look before taking the crystal back and steadying him.
“What? See something? do you know where the inn is?” Wild blinked the dizziness out of his eyes, the pain overtaking him once more as he leaned heavily on twilight.
“Red building. Tavern and inn. Old shieken.” He mumbled out, pointing to the building he had been watching.
“Thank you wild. Alright food or room first?” A chorus of ‘ room’ filled the air, time blinked at the group before continuing on to grab them some rooms. Twilight have wild off to a now human form of Hyrule, helping legend off Epona so he could board her for the night. Warriors helped grab all their items off her, handing a not so sleepy four and shadow over to Hyrule, who put the duo (or would it be five of them?) on his own shoulders.
Time soon after emerged with keys and a piece of wood engraved with the words “boarding pass” hooking it onto Epona’s reigns and handing out the keys, keeping one for himself and his two roommates of Sky and Twilight. He handed one off to warriors for himself four and wind. The last going to Hyrule for wild, Hyrule himself and legend. Four grumpily jumped off of hyrules shoulders, transforming halfway down and landing on his feet, shadow doing similar but stumbling over his own feet. The group stifled laughs as they made their way to their rooms.
Legend limped alongside them, both relying on hyrules support to make it along the hallways, thankfully the fae was used to their pain, and was all too willing to help in anyways he could. The three slumped onto their beds, exhausted. Legend gave out a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair.
“That hurt so bad.” Legend groaned out, kicking off his shoes. “Think there’s a hot spring nearby? Or some sort of, I don’t know, lake?” Wild didn’t move from his spot on the bed, highly aware of the feeling of the gritting feeling of the fabric against his scars.
“You guys want some healing potions? Could help with pain.” Hyrule offered. Legends ears flicked in annoyance.
“Doesn’t work remember? How you holding up wild?” wild made a grunt of displeasure, shifting in discomfort. “That answers that. What hurts?” wild blinked at him, trying to decide whether it was worth trying to move or using his voice.
‘ S c a r s.’ He finger spelled, letting his hand fall back to his side limply afterword. ‘ H u r t s. A l o t.’ He winced at the pain in his side, sitting up slowly. ‘ F o o d?’ Hyrule nodded, helping legend to his feet, taking his cane out of wilds slate and giving it to the merman. Legend heaved himself to his feet, leaning on the cane heavily. Wild used Hyrule as a support as he searched through his slate for another form of support he could use, settling on legends secondary cane. Legend gave a quick thumbs up before the group made their way out of the room, locking it behind them.
Twilight sat in the hallway, leaning up against the wall, using his knife to pick at some dirt under his nails. He glanced over at them with a tierd gaze, offering his arm out for wild, who greatfully took his help.
“Bad scar day?” he offered, helping wild down the hall, wild nodded jerkily, relaxing in his mentors hold. “Well, we have dinner, then you guys can rest for the night alright?” Legend grumbled behind them, agreeing weakly.
The four of them stumbled into the dinning room, the tavern full of drunk patrons alike. The chain sat at a large table in the back, the group waved at the four motioning for them to join the table with them. They made their way between drunk passed out men and tipsy men alike, all yelling about whatever they felt like. He sat on the edge of the table, legend across from him with Hyrule at his side. Twilight sat next to time and across from warriors, resuming his conversation with the other group elders. Took longer then we thought we would . Wild grimaced, leaning the cane against the table.
A waiter came over, dressed in casual clothes and a tired expression. She looked at the table with narrowed eyes, pulling out a small sheet of paper.
“What would you boys all like today? Your dad brought you all out after some sparring?” She gave a wink to Time, who blinked (or winked, wild couldn’t tell) in return. Time ordered a beer for himself and Twilight, whilst Warriors ordered himself a glass of wine. Sky got some sort of cocktail for himself, usually wild would have huffed at him, claiming he could make a better. But today was an exception, too tired to banter with the avian.
Wind tried to get a beer as well, but was denied outright by the waiter and by time. He ended up with some grape juice, close enough to wine as they could get. Legend got himself a glass wine as well, he was nearly denied by the waiter before he sent a glare her way. Hyrule ordered milk for himself, eyes pleading wild as he handed over some honey for the fairies honey milk. Four fought with himself for a while before deciding on getting tea, (meaning vio won that argument) wild turned down a drink, in turn pulling out his own tea.
“Ever the money saver.” Legend deadpanned, eyeing wilds tea with a cautious eye. “Aren’t you rich?”
‘It wasn’t the tea I like. This one helps with pain. You can have some if you would like.’ He gingerly lifted the piping hot tea to his mouth, sipping it despite its boiling form.
“Might take you up on that.”
‘ Let me know then.’ Wild signed back, lifting the tea cup to his lips again, nearly spilling it as his hands shook. Legend tossed a concerned look before sipping his own wine.
“Hate bars.” Hyrule muttered to wild, “so gross.” Wild nodded in a shared sentiment, the only bar he had ever enjoyed was the one he worked at in gerudo town one time, they were at least respectful.
‘ Me and Hyrule will be back.’ He stood up unsteadily, legend nodded to them, raising his glass in acknowledgement. The two hobbled out of the bar, Hyrule supporting him slightly as they made their way to the door and eventually outside, not minding the cackling of one or two of the men who were drunk in the bar, taunting the two as they left. Hyrule heaved in a sigh as they left, closing his eyes as he regained his bearings.
“Sorry wild, you didn't have to leave with me if you didn't want to.” wild shrugged as well as he could with the pain raking through his shoulder.
‘ Don't mind. I don't like bars much anyways.’ wild signed back to him.
“Didnt you work in one?”
‘ A Gerudo bar, their not as… handsy. Or rude. Their actually very respectful.’ Wild signed, ‘ men suck when drunk.’ Hyrule raised an eyebrow at the word men.
“You act like your not one?” Hyrule asked cautiously, wild blinked at him in confusion.
‘ I am?’ he signed, ‘ im aware i am one. Im saying… ah never mind.’
“Whatever it is, seems like you have a bad experience with them too?” Hyrule quickly changed the topic, idly braiding wilds hair.
‘ Yes.’ Wild refused to elaborate, the mention of it alone sent shivers down his spine, he scratched at the scars that ran along his chest, the itchiness returning to his chest.
“Don't scratch it will only make it worse.” Hyrule swatted his hands away from his chest, wild whined at the loss of ability to itch the scars, the tightness on his arm struggling against his movements of signing.
‘ It itches.’ He argued lightly, hyrule shook his head, continuing to braid his hair.
“We can put something on them in a little while. Ok?” hyrule gently assured him.
‘ I just–’
A loud whistle of pleasure rung out, two stumbling men walked towards them, smiling with a goofy expression coating their drunken features. One of them stumbled into wild, shoving him into the wall carelessly, the other laughed at the firsts drunken movements.
“Excuse me can you get off my friend?” hyrule squeaked, obviously uncomfortable with the situation. The two men laughed at hyrules question, as if it was the most incredibly funny thing they had ever heard.
“Pretty little ‘ne isnt she?” The man that towered over wild giggled, wilds eyes widened in panic, memories of the man near gerudo town slowly flashed before him as he shrunk down from the mans gaze.
“ He.” Hyrule corrected, pulling the man off of wild. “Leave us alone alright? Were just trying to take a break.” Hyrule put a gentle protective hand over wilds chest, the two men threw glares at hyrule, the guy who was laughing at his friend threw his drink at the two, wild grabbed hyrules collar and dragged him to the ground, narrowly avoiding the beer that exploded against the wall. Wild pulled at Hyrules hand again, dragging him away from the two men.
“Ugly bitch! Didn't even think you were cute anyways!” the man who shoved wild previously yelled after him, Wild froze momentarily, eyes wide as he fought a memory from surfacing.
“Hey, lets just let them know were gonna be in the room ok? You just wait here and ill be right back ok?” Hyrule winced while he looked back at the beer staining the walls. No doubt feeling guilty for the interaction that had just happened. “Just dont talk to them if they get closer ok?”
Wild jerkily nodded, grasping his shirt tightly for anyn sense of familiarity that wasnt the men who were harassing them. Hyrule left the area, pushing his way back into the tavern as wild sunk down to the floor once more, Slowly trying to control his quickening breaths that had escaped him.
“Look its the bitch again!” the man yelled, laughing with his drinking buddy. Wild felt his body shake as the two men continued to berate him, Yelling curses and words that could only be described as derogatory, most likely slurs from the era they were in.
“ Stop. ” his voice trembled at its use, scars usually preventing him from speaking at times like these, but this time it allowed just the smallest use of his words.
“She speaks!” one man cackled. Wild flushed at the mans misgendering of him, on some days he wouldn't mind, but at the current moment, it felt horrible.
“Ugly little thing, cant help but wonder how she would do in be—“
“ Babe! Hey! What are you doing with these guys?” A familiar voice asked out, wild turned his head to see Legend, hand on his hip as he swirled his wine in his other hand. “I said for you to get some fresh air? Not ‘flirt with some random guys?’ really Wild?” He looked impatiently at the moon. “Were going back to our room and talking about this. I cant believe you would do that.” Wild froze in his panic, What?
“ Your, With this ugly thing? How do you stand it? Is the sex that good?” the guy who had grabbed him joked, “Do the horns add to it?”
Legend gaped at them, marching over and grabbing Wilds wrist, tugging him up and forcing him to lean against legends side, consequentially helping legend himself stand. Legend glared at the men, one of them approaching quickly as he reached out to grab Wild once more. Legend slapped the man across his face, knocking him to the floor roughly.
“Don't you ever talk about him again, and don't you ever touch him again. Do you hear me?” Legend glared at the man harshly, Hyrule stood behind legend, hand crackling with the threat of him using his lightning spell. The two men quickly scampered, bumping into one another multiple times as they struggled against their drunken state.
Once out of ear shot, Legend sighed, hugging wild tightly. “You ok? They didn't hurt you right? Ah shit i knew it would be bad coming here.” Legend rambled on, checking wild over for injuries. “What did they say to you? I heard some of it but–”
“We can talk later, lets go to the room. I don't want to be out here with them anymore then we have to be.” Hyrule interrupted, going to Wilds other side and helping support him as he struggled to stop the memory that kept trying to surface in the front of his mind. Legend held his arm tighter, for both of their sakes it was keeping them from collapsing on the spot.
They quickly got to the room, only having a scare of wild falling into a memory three times during the trip. His eyes apparently had glossed over, body falling slack and his breath quickening, flashes of his past going forward before he was forcefully dragged back into reality by Legend and Hyrule. Both of them begging him to stay with them just a little longer. By the time he was at the room, his vision was darkening, nearly fully gone.
“Were here, put him on the bed, hopefully it wont be a long one?” Hyrule said hopefully, Legend responded dully, words sounding like a dull buzz in the back of his head. He felt the light fabric underneath him as he was set down, but not much more felt as his vision blacked out, sucking him into an unwanted memory.
-
“How much longer do you think its going to last?” hyrule whispered, curling up next to Legend tiredly, Legend looked down at Hyrule with a sadness in his eyes.
“Not much longer hopefully!” false happiness forced its way into his voice as he kept himself strong for Hyrules sake. Hyrule hadn't seen Wilds worst memories thankfully, That had been only been seen by Twilight and Legend himself, the two barely managing to calm him down after the memory had forced itself into his mind. Legend still remembered the way wild had cried, unrelenting for hours as he tried to explain what had happened to him in the memory. Legend still remembered holding his trembling body, despite the small shocks that occasionally forced its way out of him, the shocks that he lost control of as he struggled to not loose total control of his magic.
“They usually aren't that bad right? But then again their triggered by familiarity…” Hyrule mumbled into Legends side, “it started when the guy grabbed him first… i dont…” Hyrule choked on a sob, “i should have gotten him out sooner. Its my fault he got in the situation in the first place i–”
“Shh. Its alright Hyrule. Im sure wild didn’t blame you. None of us do. These happen al the time remember?” Legend soothed, He felt safe enough around the duo to let down the barriers he had built up down. Wild had confided in him secrets that he hadnt told anyone else, legend had done the same on a multitude of occasions, both sharing many cries together, but no one needed to know about that did they?
It was nearly a hour before wild woke up, when he did, he was heaving for breaths, shaking worse then before, eyes wide in panic as he covered his mouth, his other hand gripping his shirt tightly around his midsection. Legend shot up, Hyrule close behind him.
“ Hey, hey. Your ok, alright? Wild are you with us? Here, follow my breaths ok? In… ” Hyrule inhaled in a very exaggerated manor, before exhaling just as exaggeratedly. “Out. Now repeat with me ok?” He repeated the action a couple more times before wilds breathing was as regular as it could be whilst he was still in the middle of a panic attack.
“Name five things you see.” Legend interrupted, Wilds eyes shot up to meet his, the missing pupiled one quickly spiraled around the room, scanning for threats of any kind, the other stationary and watching legend.
“ Yo–you. Ruli–rulie. My… my sword? ” his voice turned questioning at the end, “is that… mine?”
“Wild. focus.”
“Walls.. the – the walls.” he repeated, “the bed, i see the bed? Where am i? When–”
“Wild. Give me four things you feel.” Legend said sternly, Hyrule gave a panicked look at him as he raised his voice, Wild seemed to calm slightly at the voice, seeming as if he was more in his element, which knowing him, it was his element. More strict talking worked better, the calmness in hyrules voice must have put him on high alert, the sudden kindness after a particularly bad memory was possibly the worst thing to do to him.
“The… the bed.” wild gasped out, hand clutching the blanket tightly. “My.. my shirt. My pants? The… the bandages… on my wrist.” His eyes rolled back slightly as his body attempted to shut down from the overload of senses.
“ Eyes on me.” Legend frowned, “now, three things you can hear.”
“Legend your being to harsh.” hyrule hissed to him, Legend waved him off, looking at Wild with intensity.
“Wild.” the dragon snapped back to attention, focusing on Legend with panic seeping from his body, the magical output he was giving off was nearly impossible to be around without Legend himself becoming overwhelmed.
“You. Hyrule… the sheets moving.” Wild closed his eyes tightly, trying to regain control of himself.
“Two things you can smell.” Legend prodded him, wild scrunched his nose up, taking in another sharp inhale.
“Chicken… from the… the…” Wild gave a frustrated groan as he struggled to recall where he was.
“The tavern.” Hyrule offered, Legend sent a glare his way, Hyrule shrunk back from his gaze.
“The tavern?” wild questioned, the word sounded weird on his tongue, as if it was an alien phrase to him. “wine. Cheep crappy wine.” Wild decided finally.
“Now, one thing you taste.” Legend sighed, applying pressure on his arm, acting as a very crappy heavy blanket.
“Te…tea.” wild managed.
“Good job.” Legend sighed, putting more pressure along his side, wild winced slightly, but seemed to be more focused on his memory then his pain. Legend specifically remembered how wild had found it comforting when he tried this once after a memory, thereafter leading him to do this whenever possible for the younger dragon.
“How are you feeling? Seemed like it was a really bad memory huh?” Hyrule said gently, running his hand over wilds hair. Wild made a noise of pure pain, curling in on himself as much as he could with the pain in his body.
“Wild, what was the memory about, can you talk about it?” Legend said a little more firmly, Wild nodded jerkily, attempting to gain control over his body once more.
“Two.”
“Two?” Legend asked, wild nodded. “You remembered two memories?” Another nod. Well shit, thats not good. Generally wild only has one memory at a time, anymore then one was unheard of as far as legend was concerned.
“Was it because you kept putting it off? Or was it because of another thing you think?” Hyrule asked, running a lightly glowing hand over his side, despite his inability to heal them or stop the pain, the warmth from his ability usually was a nice comfort to the duo. Thank hylia for Hyrule dealing with all our shit. Legend pushed wilds hair out of his face, helping his friend see more of the area around them.
“I… they…” wild choked on his words,his voice fading into nothingness as the pain became more of a focus for him once more. “My… theres these scars…” Ah, a scar memory, never good. Especially seeing what triggered it, it had to have been terrible.
“Yeah? Which ones?” Hyrule prodded gently, Wild took his hand and put it on one side of the scarring, ah the ones on his upper chest. The ones similar if not the same as Vios. Legends mind supplied what they were for, scars for removing breast tissue right? Hyrule ran a kind hand along the two scars from over wilds shirt.
“Mind if i take a look?” Hyrule asked, wilds eyes widened slighly, before nodding. Hyrule gently helped him sit up, slowly unlacing his shirt and letting him out of the fabric prison he had been trapped in. Hyrule looked at the red angry scars littering his body, the scratches from where wild had been scratching them earlier. He winced as Hyrule ran a practiced hand over the scratches he had made along them.
‘ Their… i.. i hate them..’ He finger signed, an embarrassed look crossing his face. ‘ T h e I r…’ he paused momentarily. ‘ U g l y.’ He decided upon, Hyrule frowned at him.
“They really aren’t.” Hyrule said in confusion. “They’re a reminder of what you went through, right? i mean it took all of that to take you down it’s impressive—“
“But their terrible.” Wild muttered to no one but himself, Hyrule sighed at wilds words. “They burn, itch, and are gross looking.” Wild felt weird finally admitting his feelings about his scars that ran across his body. He didn’t talk about his thoughts on them often, usually ignoring them unless it was impossible to ignore the horrible lacing scars over his form.
‘ The story… behind these…’ wild covered his mouth as he suppressed a sob. ‘ I was… i… they…’ legend gently took his hands, looking him in the eyes.
“I think their pretty.” Legend said kindly “They’re interesting to look at. At Least In my opinion. Besides, whatever the story is, their still incredible.” Hyrule nodded enthusiastically.
“Why though?” He questioned, in every era, every town, every person he met, would aparently look at him in horror, think of him as a wretched monster scared from his sins against the world. The draconic features did little to help with that mindset.
“Here,” legend stood wobbly, reaching around his bag before finding something wild couldn’t make out. “Mind if I—“ wild nodded carefully, sitting up with hyrules help, leaning against the wall with difficulty. Legend saw as wilds arm seemed to tense up, The arm itself was misshapen, smaller then the other in mass, weaker by a long shot. Thankfully he was right handed so the scarring didn’t do to much to his fighting.
Legend opened the small wooden pot, taking a small paintbrush and dabbing it in the pot. Wild gave him a curious look but let him continue on his idea. Legend let the brush gently touch the edge of one of his scars on his arm, lightly brushing on small strokes until it formed a complete shape of a star. Wild tilted his head to the side, watching the small paintbrush move across his skin.
“What are you—“ legend shushed him, continuing to draw another star next to it.
“Ravio, my… husband… he would do this for me when I got self conscious about my scars. So just— shut it Hyrule! as I was saying, just sit still ok?” he pushed hyrules face away as Hyrule stifled a laugh, looking down at the little stars that legend had drawn on his arm.
“Can I help?” hyrule smiled brightly, legend grabbed another brush, handing it to the fairy, who excitedly dipped it in the paint, making a slightly more sloppy star then legend had. Wild giggled at the feeling of the brush trailing over his skin, distracting him from the burning pain and panic that radiated through him moments before.
“Hold on, I have more colors.” Legend grimaced as he leaned over, taking out four more containers from his bag of seemingly never ending things. The jars were opened to reveal a white, blue, red and yellow. Hyrule excitedly dipped his brush into the blue, ignoring legends indignant squawk of annoyance as the colors mixed.
“Don’t mix them!” he cried, smacking away hyrules outstretched hand as he went in for some yellow. Hyrule lowers his brush, whipping it onto some extra cloth he had in his bag.
“Better?”
“Much.” Legend sighed contently, continuing to draw little doodles of stars along the edges of his scars. Hyrule cast a smile towards wild before continuing on his rapidly improving stars that he drew.
It wasn’t long before wild was covered in a myriad of colorful stars, coating his face and chest, his arm muddled in the mixing colors. He blushed as the two ran a short line of stars along the two short scars running on each side of his chest, before the memory, wild had aparently not known what they were, despite him begging Zelda a multitude of times as to what the scars were. Hyrule tilted his head to the side at the sight of them, curiously tracing the unusual scars before adding his colorful touches to them.
The scar just above his hip also was adorned in stars, legend had given up in keeping it neat and made a rainbow of stars along the long scar. They didn’t go to his legs, dispite the heavy scarring along them. Legend did however run a very small one along one of the missing scales along his tail, arrow puncture. Wild explained, legend shrugged and continued to make stats on the scarring around his spikes, coming from the multiple times his spikes had been ripped out or broken off.
Hyrule drew a star along the edges of the scales that lined his spine, scarred skin marking around the scales that had replaced skin that was burnt beyond repair even by the shrines standards.
“Did you want to talk about the memories? It’s fine if you dont.” Legend hummed, painting another green star on his arm.
‘ The scars are from what Vio had talked about a while back.’ Wild slowly signed, ‘ i aparently… didn’t want the procedure. I was forced into it.’ Legend froze momentarily, eyes widening before he dulled his face, going to a neutral expression. ‘ They said no hero’s in the past were girls. So I couldn’t be.’
“Im sorry.” Legend whispered, Hyrule nodded sympathetically.
‘ Not your fault. They… they kept stabbing with these needles… I had to once a week each week. I still don't know why though.’ Legend winced at his words, Legend knew exactly what that was. ‘They didn’t put me to sleep or give me any numbing in the procedure.’ Great, wonderful, another reason to hate Wilds royals.
‘ So i had to… remember… it all. It hurt so bad. It… still hurts.’ Wild admitted, tracing the scars carefully. ‘ They didn’t bother trying to reform my chest properly, so they didn’t bother with the…’ wild froze, obviously forgetting the word, or not knowing the word in general in sign.
“Nipples.” Legend supplied for him. “Thats what you mean?” Wild nodded.
“ They just cared that i was in a guy body, not a girl body.” Wild said quietly, “i was supposed to not be allowed to work for at least a month… but…”
“They made you work anyways. How soon…” hyrule finished, ending with his own question.
“Not even an hour later. Flora i needed to get back to work.” Wild said hoarsely, tears running from his eyes. “I collapsed because of the pain, and they told me to get over it. They didn’t even properly bandage it, i started bleeding because i tore the stitches, and they told me to work it ou myself.” Wild looked down at his hands as if he saw blood coating them. “Thats why their so… jagged and gross.” He winced, “i had to fix it myself, from the limited time i saw it was countless times of me fixing it. They took triple the time to heal because of it.”
“Did you ever… want to go back to being a girl?”
‘ Urbosa always saw how i hated the change, she always would give me girly dresses and clothes to wear after a terrible day. When she first found out she had called me a Voe, thinking i wanted it. I… told her and she refused to call me a voe unless i told her otherwise. I was her little Vai.’ Wild pushed a tear away from his cheek. ‘ She gave me oranges and stuff to put in the clothes so i would feel… whole again.’
“Are… do you feel like a girl?”
‘ Not today no.’ Wild signed shakily. ‘ Some days… some days i think… oh nothing.’ He closed his eyes contently. ‘ The second memory… wasn’t… i…’ wild shook violently, “a man.”
“A…man?” Legend questioned.
“A man.” Wild confirmed before switching to sign. ‘ Someone similar attempted to similar on my journey, but… this guy he… he… he…’ wilds eyes tightened with pain. ‘ He went to far, he did what that guy did, he… nearly did weird things, i dont know what was going on.’
Oh.
He… meant that. Legends mind spun, that man touched wild?
“How old were you? What did he do?” Wild shook, before leaning into legends side, his trembling form clinging onto him as if he was his lifeline.
‘ He took off a lot of my clothes. Not all of them. He kissed me a lot, and was grabbing at me. I didn’t want i swear—‘
“How old—“
‘ Twelve.’ Wild signed, his signs nearly unable too be read at that point. ‘ I swear I didn’t—‘
“Stop.”
‘ What?!’ Wild signed frantically, panicked eyes meeting legends. ‘I swear—‘
“Stop apologizing wild. It’s not your fault. That man was a terrible man, and whatever he did, you didn’t deserve. You didn’t deserve any of this. ” Legend rubbed circles into wilds hand, the other occupied with stars he slowly drew, they were slowly devolving into blobs as his anger grew.
“Wild you’ve shown us a lot, we have seen these scars and i can tell you, you didn’t deserve this. You were a kid, and you were tortured. You can’t apologize for something that was forced on you. It’s not your fault.” Legend forced wild to look him in the eyes, the dragon looked terrified next to him.
‘ But the king said that it was my—‘
“It’s not your fault. Wild… its… its not your fault.”