Chapter Text
Lost as a concept had never made much sense to Hyrule. He didn't always know where he was going, but it was always somewhere. He usually knew where he was with a glance at the stars or the volcanoes in the distance. He was never truly lost in his world. Even in others' worlds, there was so much left to explore and discover. Plus, they had towns that were built pretty tightly together, so smoke always rose somewhere on the horizon.
The others had a very different idea about what lost meant. If they didn't have a map, they were lost. If they didn't know where to go next, they were lost. If Hyrule forgot where they made camp, he was lost. Lost, lost, lost. All the time. How could they stand the uncertainty?
Even now, drenched in warm rain and mud and balancing on the branch of a tree, Hyrule didn't consider himself lost. He could see for miles and miles up here out of the canyon. Wild's world was truly gorgeous, even when it stormed.
The situation was sort of nostalgic, honestly. Hyrule had his back against the trunk, water running into his collar, and a sputtering Life spell at his fingertips.
…it wasn't supposed to sputter.
Hyrule frowned and looked at his hands as if he could fix the problem. He knew he didn't have a lot of magic left, that's why he was hiding in a tree while monsters looked for him down below. That's why his sword was stuck point-down in the mud a little distance away. He couldn't redirect lightning as easily without any stores of magic, so he'd taken preventative steps.
Trying to get the magic glowing again, Hyrule tapped his fingers together. He got one more second of Life, and then the world spun around him. He gripped the tree branch beneath him until it stopped. Hoooo .
All right, magic was definitely out.
So, what were his options? He didn't know where the others had gone, he promised he was paying attention, but he got distracted by one bug and suddenly they had disappeared. Twilight once told him that if he got lost and needed someone to come find him, he should stay in one place.
Hyrule looked down at his ankle, sadly unhealed due to his lack of magic. He was pretty sure at least one bone in there had broken into pieces. Well, he wasn't going anywhere.
Option one: stay here.
That wasn't very exciting. Hyrule acknowledged both the wisdom and dullness of that option, and came up with a new one.
Option two: jump onto that bokoblin's back, grab his sword from the dirt, and swing it around in a blaze of glory until a lightning bolt caught his sword and he killed all the monsters in one go. Now that was a fun option. Unfortunately, Hyrule could already picture Time's severe look of disapproval if he found out Hyrule got struck with lightning on purpose. So maybe that option would be a Plan C, at best.
Other options Hyrule had included singing very loudly (likely to draw too much attention, and he didn't know any good songs for the situation), trying to sneak away (unlikely to go very well with the way the world spun and his ankle as hurt as it was), straight-up running away (still probably a bad idea, it would make his ankle worse and draw attention), or waiting until he built up his magic again (highest chance of success, still boring).
Waiting was boring, but Hyrule could wait for two things at once—the others to find him, and his magic to return—and cut down on waiting time. It was like multitasking, but… much less exciting. Plus, if he waited too long, the blood loss would get worse.
Stab wounds tended to bleed. This one was no exception.
Hyrule gripped the branch harder and squinted down through the rain. Several bokoblins and moblins from various areas sniffed around the base of the tree, knowing he was there but not looking up to find him. There were too many for him to take care of in his state, unfortunately.
…Yeah, no. He didn't want to wait. And he didn't know if he had the time to wait, anyway. He'd better try sneaking.
His ankle was the biggest obstacle to getting away. Hyrule ran his hands over himself to try and figure out what he had available. The thin bandages he used for soaking up blood wouldn't do much to support his ankle, even if he wasn't already sopping wet. He'd tightened his belt over the stab wound in his side to put pressure on it, and he didn't really want to mess with that right now. It wasn't too bad, but painful and bloody under the mud he was coated in.
Oh! Right, he had that. Hyrule used his teeth and his fingers to loosen the leather bracer on his right arm. He pulled it off, carefully, so he wouldn't drop it, then took his boot off, too. That one hurt. His ankle had really been crushed by that fall, and was swelling up pretty badly. Hyrule managed one more spark of Life, but had to lean back until things stopped spinning again.
When the world settled, Hyrule leaned forward to wrap his bracer around his ankle. Ha—bracer, using it to brace. It was stiff in most spots, but it bent enough to provide adequate pressure. It hurt like nothing else, and was the jankiest bandage he'd ever used, but Hyrule managed to finish that and shove his foot back inside his boot. Somehow.
There were a few other problems, but Hyrule was mobile again. The monsters had moved on while he wrapped his ankle, which was quite lucky. Hyrule wasn't often lucky, the others must be rubbing off on him. He swung down off of the tree slowly. Nothing jumped out at him. Good.
Hyrule limped over to grab his sword, still wary of the lightning flashing in the sky but unwilling to leave without a weapon. He kept it loose in his hand, ready to throw should things begin to spark.
Okay, now for the hard part—which way? There would be monsters no matter what, but one way had the fewest monsters and one way had the others at the end.
Well, it wasn't as if Hyrule knew which was which. He still wasn't lost. He'd end up somewhere, eventually. The trees just a little bit south looked interesting, and like nice resting spots if his ankle or side got worse, so he started that direction.
He had to take frequent breaks, but despite the pain, it was a lovely storm, and Hyrule enjoyed every second of it. Okay, maybe not the seconds he had to step on his bad ankle, or the ones where he had to throw his sword to the side or be struck by unfriendly lightning. But it wasn't cold, the flora and fauna in this region were nothing short of fascinating, and the sky turned such pretty colors.
It seemed like an eternity before the rain let up. Hyrule heard snatches of conversation in the quiet of the retreating rain. He smiled and picked up the pace, just a little. Step, ow, step, ow, step, ow.
In a matter of minutes, Hyrule broke back into camp, where the others were gathered under canvas to keep off the drizzling rain. A sad campfire burned in the wet, doing its best to be warm.
Legend noticed him first. "Hey, Hyrule, you're back. Did you get run over by a stampeding herd of elephants?"
"I fell into some mud," Hyrule answered. The mud concealed the blood, didn't it? It probably helped the wound, too.
Wind laughed. "How lost did you get? We were about to send someone to look for you."
"I'm never lost," Hyrule said, to incredulous laughter and snorts all around. "It's true! I'm always going somewhere. By the way, um…" He meant to ask if anybody had a potion, but the words died when he stumbled closer to the weak fire, nearly falling.
Twilight, thankfully, caught his arms before he could face-plant into the embers. "Woah there, Hyrule, what's wrong?"
"Mm… all my magic is gone. I'm kind of tired."
"And…" Warriors narrowed his eyes at him. "What did you use your magic for?"
Hyrule made a face, remembering. "Summoned some lightning. Killed some things. Then I fell into the mud. Got chased up a tree. Couldn't heal my ankle."
Twilight startled and pulled Hyrule down to sitting. "What's wrong with your ankle?"
"Got crushed in the fall." Hyrule felt lightheaded again. He yawned.
Somehow, Twilight managed to get Hyrule's boot off, and unwrapped the bracer. Hyrule whined in the back of his throat at the sharp, hot pain that danced up his leg. Twilight glanced up at him. "You know, your belt might have worked better than your bracer for this."
"Maybe," Hyrule agreed, "but that's holding in blood. From the stab wound."
The camp went quiet, then Legend—
"You couldn't lead with that?"