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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.

Chapter Text

Time is startled when Sky suddenly falls forward, he catches him and lies him down on the road "Sky? Sky can you hear me?" He asks concerned and waving his hand in front of Sky's face "What?" Warriors asks confused and looking backwards to where Time and Sky are "Sky!" he shouts startled and runs over to help

Shortly the entire chain is crowded around Sky "Is he okay?" "Why did he pass out?" "Holy shit, is he dead?" are some of the many questions asked as Sky lies unconscious on the ground "Skyyyyy" Wind says shaking Sky's shoulders "Stop, that won't wake him up" Legend says telling Wind off but not doing anything to stop him. Time reaches a hand out to touch Sky's forehead "He's burning up" he states "Let me feel" Hyrule says putting a hand on Sky's forehead "Oh, he really is" Hyrule agrees "He can't be that hot" Wind says and touches his forehead before reeling it back "Okay, that kinda burned" Wind agrees. Warriors puts a hand on his Forehead "Yeah, that's not good. Does he have any injuries? It could be an infection induced fever" Warriors asks, a chorus's of no's and I don't know's answer his question.

Warriors quickly checks over Sky's body "He's got no injuries but for a fever to develop to be this intense means he'd have to have been sick for days, we would have picked up on it" Warriors says "Um, he was looking a little pale before but he said he was fine so I dropped it" Twilight says "Of course he did" Warriors mutters "We can't do anything about it here, unless any of you have fever medicine he's not going to get worse but he won't get better quickly" Warriors adds on "We could carry 'im to Lon Lon ranch" Twilight says "You want to carry him all the way to Lon Lon ranch?" Warriors asks a little dumb founded "Yeah, I'll do it" Twilight agrees "Okay then, we should probably set off then" Warriors says and moves back so Twilight can reach down and put Sky on his back so he can carry him. Twilight notes that Sky is a bit lighter then he should be but he remembers Sky mentioning that Skyloftians have lights bones so their lockwings? Loftwings? Something like that, can carry them.

Fifteen minutes into the walk and Sky wakes up, Warriors bombards him with questions and Sky looks incredible out of it, Sky then vomits twice on the road and passes out again. About an hour later Time makes Twilight let him carry Sky because it's clearly taking a toll on him and forty-five minutes later they arrive at Lon Lon ranch. Time notes that Malon isn't there and assumed she must be at castle town and let's everyone in. Time walks up the stairs and sets Sky, who went from heavy breathing to being flushed, sweating and panting. Time takes off Sky's chainmail and extra clothing then puts him to bed. After everyone sets there things down they take turns watching over Sky and doing chores on the ranch. Sky wakes up a few times in a feverish haze and they give him medicine and make him lie down, after which he quickly falls asleep.

When Sky wakes up he notices that his chest feels much lighter and that he is no longer is in as much pain as he was before 'That's something' he thinks to himself. The second thing he notices is that he's not lying in his bedroll or on the ground, no, this is a bed. 'Am I in an inn?' he thinks himself trying to remember what happened before he passed out... oh right, he passed out. Sky knows he is going to get at least four scolding's for not looking after his health.

Looking to his left Sky flinches slightly at the slight of Time, he sits on a stool with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, calming himself down Sky looks out the window to see that it's dark outside. Sky blinks and it finally clicks 'I'm at Lon Lon Ranch' he realises and feels a wave of guilt engulf him, he made everyone worry, he made Time worry so much that instead of sleeping next to his wife for the first time in months Time decided to sleep in a uncomfortable position on a wooden chair just to make sure he was alright.

'How long was I out?' He thinks to himself but didn't really remember what the time was when he passed out or what happened in general but oh well. Looking across the room Sky sees a double bed with three people in it, usually they have two in each bed but they probably let Sky sleep in a bed by himself because he passed out, Sky feels, yet again, feels bad for passing out. He curses his body for being so sickly and frail, he curses at the fact we couldn't even walk for more then two days without passing out, Hylia he feels pathetic, Sky wants to cry, to scream, to rip his hair out and to be normal. As quickly as his bout of self-hatred appears it disappears and Sky feels a wash of drowsiness wash over him and he falls back asleep.

When Sky wakes up for the second time he notices that no one is next to him this time, he is alone in this big room. The stool is empty and the double bed which once held three people is empty and has been made. Groggily Sky gets up and after sitting up realises he did that way to quickly and sits there for a second with his hands in his head as waits for the sharp pain to subside and for his vision to return to normal. After a minute it does and he gets up to look out the window. The room he is in is at the back of the house, he can see the cucco pen and pig pen as well as stacks of hay.

Sky can see Wind practically dragging a hay bale, trying to catch up to Twilight, who is carrying two hay bales, and Malon, who is carrying two hay bales under her arms. 'Wind probably wanted to prove he's not weak... or not a child, either or' Sky thinks to himself and chuckles slightly then it descends into a bout of coughing and he puts one hand on a drawer to steady himself as he coughs into his other hand. After he finishes coughing Sky realises that his headache as come back with a vengeance. He swallows and continues to look out the window, hoping the headache will go away on it's own. Wind turns his head up to look at the window Sky is in and spots him. Wind practically jumps and let's go of the hay bale he is dragging to bolt full speed into the house. Sky, having not realised Wind saw him, looks confused wondering where Wind ran off to in such a hurry even the rancher looks confused as he sees Wind run off but shrugs it off and keeps walking to move the hay bales. Sky pays no attention to it and goes to sit down on the bed.

"Wind, I wouldn't go in there" Sky can hear a deep voice say before the door is slammed open. Sky jumps at the noise and whips around to look at who's in the doorway, ignoring how dizzy the sudden movement makes him. "Wind?" Sky rasps "Sky!" Wind shouts and out slam-tackles Sky into a hug, sending them both falling backwards onto the bed "You're okay!" Wind shouts but it is kind of muffled due to the fact he's shoved his face into Sky's shirt. "We were so worried, you jus passed out and Time was like 'What the fuck?' and I was like "Holy shit, he's dead' and we shook you and you wouldn't wake up and them I put my hand on your forehead and you were, like, super hot and it kinda burned to be honest and so Time and Twilight took turns carrying you to Lon Lon Ranch and, oh I forgot to mention but backtrack a bit, Time said you probably had a fever and that he had medicine for fever's at the ranch and anyways we got you here and you sorta woke up once and mumble something and then vomited on the path which was a bit gross to be honest and we put you in this bed which meant me, Hyrule and Wild had to share which sucked, Wild kicks and Hyrule snores *and* talks" Wind rapidly says moving to let Sky sit up and lying his legs on Sky's lap "Give him some time to breathe Sailor" Time says walking into the room and sitting down on the stool next to Sky's bed.

"Are you alright Sky?" Time asks as Sky looks a little sad and shocked "Y-You... You guys were worried?" Sky asks quietly "Of course we were worried, you're our friend and you suddenly passed out" Wind says, and he says it likes it's nothing, like it's normal and Sky feels his eyes water a bit "Sky? Are you alright?" Time asks a little more worried and putting his hand on Sky's lower arm, Sky looks like he's about to cry, no, he 𝘪𝘴 about to cry. 𝘏𝘪𝘤, 𝘏𝘪𝘤 Sky sniffles and tries to hastily wipe his eyes. Wind jumps off him at the sound of him starting cry "Did I say something wrong? I didn't mean it, I'm sorry Sky" He says, his face ridden with guilt "N-No, I'm sorry. I-I really shouldn't be crying it's just... y-you guys were worried?" Sky says through forming tears "Of course Sky, you're our brother and we care" Time assures him "I-I don't want t-to be a burden" Sky says, sniffling and looking down.

"Wind, do you want to go help Malon with lunch?" Time asks Wind "W-Whuh?" Wind splutters, want to stay with Sky but Time cuts of any form of protest with a look that reads 'This is a private conversation, that I don't want you to hear incase there's something you shouldn't hear'. Wind sighs "Fine, but I'm coming back the moment you're done" Wind grumbles and leaves, closing the door behind him. Sky looks confused as to why Time made Wind leave.

"Sky" Time starts "Why do you think you're a burden?" he asks, 'oh, we're having one of those conversations' Sky thinks. "I-I... I don't know, I-I should've told you earlier, I'm sorry" Sky rushes out, wanting to get this conversation over with. "... Sky, did you know you were sick and didn't tell anyone?" Time asks and Sky realises he has given himself away "Y-Yeah" he mumbles "Why? You know we would have set up camp early if you were feeling sick" Time says in a comforting but stern tone, one that reminds Sky of when he would practice when sick and commander Eagus would scold him for it. "I-I didn't want to be a burden" Sky says "How would that have made you a burden?" Time asks confused "It would slow us down a-and I know you would want to get to Lon L-Lon ranch faster" Sky says and sniffles, Holy Hylia he needs to blow his nose, "Sky I don't care about that, what I do care about is your health and safety. I care for all of your health and safety." Time says, very concerned about how Sky's self worth "R-Really?" Sky mutters, and it sounds less of a question and more of a desperate plea "Of course, you're not a burden Sky, you're human" Time reassures and when Time says that it's like a damn of tears break and Sky shoves his face into his hands and let's out this pathetic sobs.

Time is slightly shocked at the sight, all he had said was that Sky wasn't a burden and hear Sky is letting out gut-wrenching sobs. Time gets up and for a spilt second Sky thinks he's going to leave him and he shames himself at the pitiful though, instead Time sits down next to Sky and slowly wraps his arms around Sky in a hug. Any form of holding back is lost as Sky absolutely starts to cry harder in the hug. He cries for thinking he's a burden, he cries because of how sick he is, cries about how he though Time hated him, how he though none of the chain cared. In this moment he carries on expectations on his shoulder's, he is no longer the G-ddess's chosen hero, he is no longer the Hero of the skies, the founder of Hyrule, he's just Link, he's allowed to be a regular 17 year old Skyloftian, he's allowed to cry about how he had lost any chance of a normal teenage life, how he thought he'd lost Zelda, how he'd barely recovered from his last journey before being chucked onto another one, how Ghirahim had slithered his tongue and touched him places he never wanted to be touched in again. He cries and cries and cries about everything he has bottled up and Time just holds him and rubs his head, gently playing with his hair and the last time he felt comfort like this was when his mum was still alive and he had just had a nightmare and thinking of his mother makes Sky cry more.

Eventually Sky cries until there are no more tears left and he's left clinging against Time's shirt, now ruined with tears and snot, and letting out pathetic whimpers of sadness and hurt. Sky's sure that someone else must have heard them but he ignores it and hopes no one else will bring it up. For now he is just Sky, he is just a teenage boy who has endured months of pain and sadness and has never had a chance to express them. The crying wears Sky out and he falls asleep against Time's shirt. Time thinks about moving and lying Sky down on the bed but thinks that just for a moment, he'll stay where he is with Sky.