A Sudden Sense of Overwhelm

Disclaimer: This au belongs to LinkedUniverse_Au on instagram and tumblr.

Sky happily whittled on a piece of wood.

It had been a long day of walking and occasional "mini battles", Sky really didn't know what to call them as they were contrived of only a handful of monsters at a time. They seemed to be more of an annoyance than anything.

Sky hummed to himself he didn't quite know why he was so tired. The rest of the gang were doing a whole bunch of stuff.

Wild was cooking dinner with Hyrule hovering over his shoulder and asking questions. As they sharpened their swords, Four and Legend were discussing blacksmithing. Time and Twilight were sparring. Warriors was juggling shooting pointers at the training duo and listening to Wind's expressive and elaborate stories.

Sky smiled and carefully sculpted the wood into a heart shape. Shavings fell onto his lap as he engraved elegant patterns into it.

A strange feeling settled in his stomach. It felt almost sickening.

All the sounds of the scraping of blades, clanging steel, sizzling food and even the exited chatter of his brothers became too much.

He frowned, "What's the matter with me? I was happy a second ago. I'm enjoying the company of my family."

Sky could nevertheless hear his heart pounding in his ears.

"I'll just ignore it." He thought as he continued detailing his craft.

Even as he focused all his attention on it, the feeling only grew.

Sky placed a hand on his chest and sure enough his heart was beating a mile a minute. He also noticed his breaths were at a higher speed than normal.

"Why is this happening?" He mulled over as he covered his deep breaths with a sigh as to avoid attention.

The feeling intensified and he felt an anxiousness within. He picked up his tool again and tried to carve, but his hands refused to stop shaking.

The sounds suddenly increased tenfold and he could barely hear himself think. He needed to leave. He needed to escape...

"Sky?" Twilight asked from behind him. "Are you alright?"

Sky held his breath as he shook his head.

"Do you need to be alone for a bit? You can take a walk if you want as long as you stay close so we can find you just in case."

A feeble wave of relief washed over him at the permission to leave.

He nodded and quickly put his tools away and exited camp.

Sky charged through the trees until his legs' strength failed. He sat down on a patch of moss on the forest floor and caught his breath.

He had gotten away, yet the feeling refused to leave. Thankfully the noise considerably reduced.

Sky tried to school his breaths.

"Calm down! Come on, Link! Keep it together!" He muttered to himself in frustration.

He tried thinking of things that calm him down. Carving didn't work back at camp. He also left his harp back there.

He tried humming, but no sound came out. He was too... overwhelmed.

He admitted it. He was overwhelmed. Tears flooded his eyes.

"What? Why in the name of... Why am I crying? Stop."

Sky reminded himself to breathe. The tears slowed.

Although, his breaths weren't exactly as deep and slow as he would have liked.

His body didn't cease its shivering either.

A rustling of leaves caused him to glance up.

"Sorry, did I startle you?" Time asked calmly. "I just came to check on you."

Sky felt his cheeks flush in embarrassment. He struggled to keep what little composure he had gained since he had left camp.

The older Hylian sighed. "I have had stuff like this happen to me too. You know that?"

Sky could only shake his head.

Time continued, "I learned a breathing technique a while ago. Want to try it?"

Sky hesitantly decided to humor him while the sick feeling pressed on him again.

After they finished, Time asked, "Did it help?"

Sky thought for a bit before signing, "It helped me a little. Thank you."

Time smiled over his shoulder before heading back to the group.

Sky still grappled with his emotions long after Time left. He hadn't known how long he'd been sitting there on that patch of moss for. He only just noticed how late it was when he couldn't see his hands as well as he could earlier.

"Sky?"

The Skyloftian jumped at the sudden voice.

"Dang it, Link." Twilight muttered to himself. "So sorry, Sky. I didn't mean to scare you."

Sky stayed silent.

"I was looking for you because it's getting a bit late..." he sat next to his brother.

The barrier Sky had put up to hold his emotions cracked a bit.

"How are you feeling?" The rancher asked sincerely.

Sky bit his lip and glanced down at his trembling fingers. His wall was only holding by mere threads and he knew if he spoke it would fall apart.

"I guess I'm feeling overwhelmed." Sky forced out, hating how shaken and watery his voice sounded. A silent tear slipped past his guard and down his cheek followed by many more.

Twilight patted the ground next to him in invitation.

Sky hesitated, but his brother waited patiently. He glanced at the fellow hero's face which only held compassion before he moved closer. Stiffly, he leaned on the other until he relaxed into the touch.

Twilight gently wrapped his arm around his brother and entangled his free hand in the dark blond hair.

Sky's dam finally collapsed as he returned the hug. The feeling escaped into his still quiet, but more intense tears.

After a while, Sky felt a whole lot better, drained, but better. He let out a yawn not noticing that he had caused Twilight to do the same.

The rancher sighed and ruffled Sky's hair. "Come on. It's late. We can sleep back at camp. Unless you want to eat first?"

Sky smiled.