Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

'I hate this' Sky thinks to himself as he and the chain continue to walk to nowhere in particular. So far they had been walking for around six hours, this was just Sky's guess and while, yes, he could ask Time because he knew that Time always knew the exact time (Ironic isn't it?) but he tried not to talk to Time that much, Sky personally doesn't have anything against Time and thinks he is nice but he doesn't think Time likes him that much and he doesn't want to confirm or deny his theory so he stays quiet. It had rained an hour ago and had ,thankfully, stopped but this meant A. the ground is wet and B. the air is humid.

'Ah humid air, how I love you' Sky thinks to himself ('Take that Legend, I can use sarcasm' he also thinks to himself but wouldn't admit it), as he trudges along the slightly wet road he registers just how much his lungs hurt, how each breath rattles in his lungs. He stops for a second and takes a deep breath, okay he can still breath.

"Everything alright back there Sky?" Twilight asks, a hint of concern etched into his eyebrows "Yup, just thought there was a rock in my shoe" Sky replies and gives a small smile, sure it's fake but Twilight, hopefully, won't notice. "Just checkin'" Twilight says and returns to his conversation with Wild. 'This is fine, you've dealt with worse, this is just a walk' he thinks to himself and tries to brush off the feeling.

On days like these Sky wonders if everyone forgets that he and Wind aren't accustomed to walk for long periods of time. You could easily just assume Wind not being able to walk as far as the rest of them is due to how old he is, and yes that is probably part of the reason but that's not the point Sky's trying to make.

"Ughh, how much longer?" Wind whines "My feet hurt" he complains, 'Yes, now could be a good time to remind them that he and Wind weren't used to walking so long' Sky thinks to himself and goes to speak only to be cut of be Twilight "Want a piggyback?" Twilight asks "Yes, Yes please, pretty please. My legs hurt" Wind rushes out and Twilight give his gear to Wild to put in his slate and let's Wind get on his back 'Yeah, the moments gone' Sky thinks and has to suppress a sigh. At not sighing Sky realises that the ache in his lungs has spread to most his torso. He takes a deep breath, a bit harder now but he can still breath and so he will ignore it, he will ignore the ache in his chest and he will ignore the slight jealously at Wind being carried, he doesn't want to be a burden.

"Okay, we're stopping here for the night" Time says as they reach a clearing, his loud voice jolting Sky out of his thoughts. "Finally, took you forever" Legend groans and ungracefully dumps some of his stuff on the ground, Hyrule doing the same but much neater. Wind practically falls of Twilight's back to set all of his things down.

At this point Sky is just standing there thinking everything and nothing at the time, a nudge on the shoulder brings him back to reality "Hm?" He asks turning to the person who nudge him "You okay Sky?" Warriors asks "I'm fine, just a few things on my mind" Sky says with a small laugh "... okay, just know you can talk to any of us if somethings wrong" Warriors says "I know, I would come talk to one of you if something was wrong" Sky says, he feels bad lying but at this point it's become natural "good, good, now go set your stuff down" Warriors says and claps him on the back to go bother Legend probably. Sky ignores how he stiffens as Warriors does that, not just the usually 'It's not him, don't get so worked up' thoughts but also a new 'It was harder to breathe when he did that', Sky decides to ignore it, he'll have dinner, help clean up and go to bed early and when he wakes up it should be better, it will be better

Sky slowly wakes up, keeping his eyes closed and in the state of waking up where you're awake but can't open your eyes and move. "I don't wanna do it, he'll use me as a cuddly toy" a young voice complains "He screamed last time I did, so dibs not" another voice says, a course of 'dibs not' can be heard and then a deeper voice "What were you saying?" he asks, there is silence which is probably someone, most likely Wild, using sigh language "Oh, it can't be that hard" The deep voice says and he then hears someone walking towards him "Sky, Sky it's time to wake up" the voice says, now a bit softer, and a hand lands on his arm and gives him a gentle shake "Sky you need to wake up" he says again and Sky let's out an involuntary groan and manages to crack an eye open. Looking up he sees Time kneeled at his side with a hand on his arm "Oh, sorry. I'll get up now" Sky says and sits up rubbing his eyes "Take your time" Time says and stands up, his knees cracking as he does, and walks off to were everyone else is.

Sky briefly wonders if had he been someone else would Time have rubbed his shoulder as he said that? Sky has seen him do it with Wild and Twilight but the thought is quickly brushed aside by the fact of 'Oh dear G-ddess, the feeling hasn't gone away, it's gotten worse' and Sky realises that the ache in now all over his body but he ignores it. Sky gets up, eats a small plate of breakfast served by their amazing champion. Sky offhandedly hears Wind talk about how it was unfair how easily Time woke him up but tunes it out as he focuses on eating but not to much so he can breath. Everyone finishes their meals, gives their praises to the chef and Legend and Four walk down to the river because it's their week on dishes and everyone else packs up their stuff.

"Almost finished Sky?" Four asks and Sky gives a small nod. Sky has learnt to only take out what he needs and then immediately put it back after he's done otherwise he will slow everyone else down due to how slow he is packing up after everyone packs up they set out on the road. Within the first hour a portal opens he can hear a sigh from beside him "I hate portals" Four mutters before walking forward into it "Hey! I wanna be first!" Wind loudly complains and runs through. One by one they all make their way through the portal. The first fifteen minutes of getting out of a portal is resting time for people who have bad side effects to walking through the portal (it's mainly Four but sometimes others get things too). Sky slumps down, leaning heavily on a tree, every breath he takes is harder then the last, his lips and throat are dry and it is easy to hear him breathing but is thankfully drowned out by the usual buzz of chatter "This is my Hyrule" Time announces "We're about two hours away from the ranch" he says and Sky is thankful as to how little time that is compared to their usual walking time. Wind lights up at this announcement "Yes" he mutters, clearly excited to be at the ranch, most of them are

How Sky wishes the walk was uneventful, there are no monsters but his throat seems to be closing in and his eyes are harder to keep up. Due to the path being safe the chain has spread out a little so that means that the two closest people to him are at least three meters away from him. He lazily looks to the side and sees a blur of armour, 'Oh G-ddess his eyes are going' he panics to himself,

"Sky? Are you alright?" Time asks him and stops walking, Sky goes to nod, to say something but finds he can't. His eyes are blurring, his throat is closing up and he needs to vomit, he can't breathe and he needs to tell someone but his mouth won't work. "Sky? Can you hear me?" Time asks, clearly more worried and suddenly there is darkness and Sky falls forward unconscious.