A Second Awakening (Linked Universe AU)

Link's Awakening...redux

"He's gone.."

Those were the first words that the hero of legend heard as he ran breathlessly up to the front door of the in. He sagged against a rough beam supporting the porch. He didn't even register who had said them. He was exhausted.

"What do you mean.." He said shakily, wheezing. His head spun and he felt like his legs were going to give out. He'd run for miles without stopping and now felt sick.

Wars looked at him with misty faraway eyes. He simply shook his head, not able to form words. The Sailor had his face buried against the man's chest and seemed to be clinging to him for dear life. He wept, hard but silent. Wracking sobs shook his shoulders but no sound issued from the boy. He looked so very small in that moment and Legend's heart ached for him.

Another one.... He had lost another one.

"Oh.. oh no." Legend felt his knees finally give.

He wanted to scream. To cry like the boy, to do Anything at all to relieve this feeling but all he could do was sit there, staring at nothing. He felt his consciousness slipping as he retreated inward. He sat like that for what felt like days, not noting the old man quietly talking to the innkeep near the front door and paying for rooms for them all, he didn't notice Wild's absence or Four's. He barely registered Sky lifting him to his feet, and gently guiding him inside. He didn't notice the Traveler sitting vigil, weeping over a sheet-covered form in a room they passed as he was guided to his own. He sat on the edge of the bed, cold, unfeeling....hollow. Brittle. He sat like that for a long time. His candle burned low and eventually snuffed out, he could hear soft crying and hushed murmurs from the adjacent rooms, and eventually....silence as sleep claimed the world around him.

Finally, the tears came. Hot, angry... he balled his fists, his nails digging into the meat of his palms. The Hero wept.

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Legend awoke to the sound of a shrill ringing. It was a sound both alien and familiar... Something he hadn't heard for an age. Old man Ulrira from Koholint came to mind with that sound.

Koholint...

He instinctively swiped around in the dark for the source of the sound to silence it and felt his hand strike something hard and rectangular. Still operating on instinct, he swiped his thumb over the object and pulled it to his ear.

"MMm-yeah?" he grumbled into it.

Ravio's voice, high and excited came through loud enough to make the man wince and pull the device from his face.

"Heya Buuuuuuuddy! You up yet? I just wanted to be the First to congratulate you on the new showing tonight! Din gave me a eensy-weensy sneak peek at some of the new paintings at the gallery and I. Am. Blown. Away. I will NEVER understand where you get your inspiration I mean like wow I-"

I..what? S-slow down.. a gallery? You're not making any sen-"....the hero froze.

Ravio had kept talking but Legend wasn't listening. Slightly more fully awake, he was suddenly flooded with memories of the night before. The Rancher...his friend; Twilight. Link. He was gone. He suddenly felt numb all over, he felt the object from which Ravio's voice still issued slip from his fingers as he curled in on himself. A thin moan slipped from his lips as his heart caved in. He hugged his knees to his chest. Again.. He'd lost someone he loved again. A brother this time. The pain was sharp and twisting. He couldn't breathe. He let the sorrow overtake him and he wept.

A hand gently touched his back and he flinched but didn't uncoil. Presumably, it belonged to whomever he was rooming with tonight, he couldn't remember. He wasn't in the mood to be comforted anyway, especially by someone who was hurting as deeply as he and just putting up a brave front. Another hurting brother.. Another broken Link. He didn't have it in him to comfort back. He needed to grieve, and he needed to do it alone. He tucked deeper into himself, letting the hot stinging, silent tears stream down the side of his face and into the pillow beneath him.