Chapter Text
It was not supposed to be a bad day.
To be fair, it was not supposed to be a particularly good day, either. It was simply supposed to be a Day, with no adjectives attached to it. A day of walking and exploring until they met some serious lead, or until they found a town.
Or, if Legend could be more honest, a day of fucking around until they found out.
It wouldn't be the first one, either ; they had been walking for three days aimlessly, not finding a single black-blooded monster nor a single clue. It seemed that the goddess, or that black lizard, whoever was responsible, was giving them a break.
The landscape was pretty, even. Right now, they walked alongside a lake, surrounded by a shingle beach. It was calming, at least when Legend was careful to be the farthest one from the water.
When Wild pointed excitedly at the cave, he rolled his eyes and sighed. They weren't going to find anything there ; or not anything worthy of attention. He knew the cook would love to forage for a new variety of mushroom, but he, for his part, liked to stay away from caves.
They were always filled with stupid keeses and rarely worth the detour.
However, Wild, Hyrule and Wind managed to be excited (unsurprising, these were the kids who got excited about dungeon crawling), Time and Twilight decreeted it was always worth checking (they were definitely being soft for the younger ones) and Four and Warriors made the most of it by betting on whether they'd find a chest or not, and its eventual content.
No, Legend's only ally was Sky, and it wasn't even by common sense. The poor man simply didn’t do well with enclosed spaces.
“ - I mean, I'm not going to faint, ” he reassured them, rubbing his neck, “ and it's not that bad if we don't have to crouch to get somewhere. But I'd really rather stay outside…
- Pleeeaaase, Sky ? ” Wild begged with puppy dog eyes (someone had been doing some coaching). “ We've been walking in open fields for days ! I just want to see something new ! ”
Alright, that, Legend could get behind. The era they had landed in was unclear, no one really recognized something for sure, but it seemed to be close to Hyrule's, with how desolate the land was. It was blessed with clean, unpoisoned water, though. That had been a relief.
It still meant there wasn't much to see.
From the look on Sky's face, Legend knew their only solid argument against the cave was about to crumble. His own defense was solely built on “I don't want to”, and he had hoped one of them being claustrophobic would have carried more weight in favor of staying above ground.
The chosen hero hesitated. Hyrule and Wind peered behind Wild, making equally pleading faces. And, alright, he'd never let them know they had such a power, but not even the veteran would be able to say no to that. Sky was their strongest soldier, but even he wasn't immune to three adorable pouts.
“ - …If this ends up in a tight tunnel, you're on your own, alright ? I'll be right out, ” He warned, sighing.
Cheers exploded from the trio. Hyrule and Wild grabbed each other's arms excitedly, jumping in place, before they got interrupted by Wind jumping on the traveler's back. After he let go a surprised “oof”, Hyrule giggled and carried him inside the cave. Wild high-fived Wind when they passed, then Four simply because he was nearby, before he followed them running.
Four tried really hard to look exasperated, shaking his head, but he was smiling wide.
They all entered the cave, Sky taking a moment at the entrance to breathe in. Twilight checked on him with a hand on his shoulder and a worried expression ; he got dismissed with a kind smile.
Behind them, Legend was grumbling as he followed. No one had asked his opinion, and, yes, it's not like he gave it to them, but still. He would have liked the occasion to point out how pointless the excursion was going to be. How ancient the cave was, and how those threatening cracks in the stone were just a tad worrying.
Oh well. It's not like they'd have listened, and he wasn't the cave expert here. If Wild and Hyrule thought that it was fine, then it was fine, right ?
He turned around to mentally say goodbye to the sun, and followed his friends.
The cave went from unpleasant to irredeemable in Legend's eyes when they discovered it was waterlogged. The perpetual sound of a stream followed them regardless of the vein they chose to walk through, and pointed watering holes kept appearing, more frequent the deeper they went into the cave. It wasn't surprising, considering the lake's proximity, but it did a great job of feeding his uneasy feeling.
Okay, hearing Warriors' squawk when he distractedly walked foot first into a sink hole had been a highlight — one of his pant's legs was still drenched to his knee. Legend was chuckling again thinking about it, and from the captain's murderous stare, he wasn't being quiet.
But if these kinds of harmless accidents were funny to watch, the veteran could only thank the goddesses that he wasn't the one who made the mistake. The humid air already made his legs itch uncomfortably. Seeing Warriors fall only reminded him to be twice as more cautious than everyone else.
He got dragged out of his thoughts by awed cooing in Wild and Hyrule's voices. They were exploring a tighter tunnel, which appeared to be a dead end. When Legend leaned over the rock to peek, it didn't seem like there was much to see.
Hyrule turned to him as if he had made any sound to indicate his presence. He often did that, feeling people were there before they announced themselves. It would be uncanny if he wasn't always smiling so wide, as if simply pleased to see his friends.
“ - Lege ! ” he called, waving. “ We found something cool ! ”
Beside him, Wild made aggressive “come along” gestures
The veteran walked to them, squinting in suspicion. Last time Wild had wanted to show him “something cool”, a frog had jumped right into his face. The screech he had let out had been a source of many, many teases. He still denied having been scared.
Thankfully, what the champion had in his hands didn't hop. In fact, it wasn't alive ; it was a large chunk of rock, with a skeleton trapped in the stone.
A fossil of some kind of fish.
He smiled.
“ - Cool rock, huh ? ” Wild proudly commented.
Legend scoffed in indignation. “Cool rock”, he said ! Only he would describe a literal memento of the past like that. If Four heard him, Legend was sure he’d be indignant, with how much he loved history and old myths. Speaking of which...
“ - You should show it to Four, ” he advised. “ I have a feeling he would love that. ”
Wild nodded happily, and ran to the smith. Legend followed him from the eyes, suppressing a smile.
“ - You're getting soft, ” the traveler commented.
He turned toward the boy as if he had thrown a rock at him. This one simply giggled, getting up.
“ - Don’t you start, I'm still mad about having to crawl in a dusty cave just so you can play around, ” he retorted, crossing his arms.
“ - But you came along, didn't you ? ” Hyrule flicked his shoulder as he passed by him. “ Legend from five months ago would have told us to get lost.
- That's precisely why I'm here, you know. So you don't get lost.
- Keep telling yourself that, ” Hyrule commented with a shit-eating grin.
Legend barely restrained himself from sticking his tongue out at him. He had some pride to save, thank you.
(He made a face behind Hyrule's back.)
A loud crack made them both turn around like startled cats. On the dead end's wall, there was now a deep crack in the stone, from where an innocent stream cascaded out.
The two heroes exchanged a wide-eyed look.
“ - Let's... Not draw our little trip out, ” Legend suggested.
Hyrule let out a scared chuckle.
“ - Hah ! ”
The triumphant shout echoed in the whole cave. Legend followed the voice to find a small room, where half of the space was filled up with water, leveled with the ground. In the middle of the small solid ground patch, he found Wind, sitting theatrically on a treasure chest.
“ - Well well well, ” he said, grinning devilishly. “ Looks like I'm not losing the touch of piracy. ”
Legend arched a brow at the comment. The sailor stared flatly, disappointed.
“ - I found the treasure, ” he clarified, pointing with his thumb at the chest below him.
During their little exchange, the whole chain had gathered at the entrance of the room, a welcomed audience to Wind's theatrics.
“ - Good job, sailor ! ” Four enthusiastically congratulated.
Wind grinned, and jumped down from the chest. When his feet hit the ground, the noise that echoed around was odd.
The smith hurried to open the chest with Wind, and they both cheered as they got a silver rupee out.
“ - Told you it would be worth it, ” Wild told Twilight, playfully hitting his arm. The latter rolled his eyes with a smile.
“ - Alright, can we head out now ? ” Sky prompted. “ We're really deep underground, aren't we ?
- Don't think about it, ” Time advised.
“ - I agree with Sky, ” Legend felt the need to second. “ It was fun and all, but the place feels unsafe.
- ‘Unsafe’, ” Wild repeated in mocking disbelief. “ You're just scared !
- What— I'm not ! ” He assured. “ The walls are falling apart ! I don't want the ceiling to collapse on us ! ”
The champion puffed, as Sky audibly gulped.
“ - Whatever, ” Legend grumbled. He walked to Wind and Four to push them towards the entrance. “ Let's at least head towards the exit. ”
Wind stumbled from where he was pushed, and a succession of unforeseen events unraveled in front of the veteran’s eyes.
Protective as ever, Warriors stepped towards the veteran, ready to scold. He stepped on a round, smooth stone.
The stone clicked.
Warriors and Legend exchanged an alarmed look.
Behind them, the chest exploded. A vicious trap, really, made to ensure someone unaware of the mine would never get its content.
The blow sent Warriors backward, directly onto Time. Legend wasn't as lucky : he got sent straight onto the water. A deafening splash reminded him to hold his breath, before his ears got filled with liquid.
The whole cave rumbled around him. Too confused to tell the top from the bottom, ceiling from ground, he tried to relax, hoping he'd float back to the surface.
A harsh hit on his shoulder informed him he wouldn't be that lucky. Multiple rocks plummeted on him from above. His heart dropped when he understood.
It hadn't been supposed to be a bad day. However, it was starting to look like one.
Because the whole ceiling was collapsing on him.