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.