Chapter Text
He didn't know where he was. Or even who he was with. He could feel the scratchy texture of a burlap sack on his head and rope around his wrists. He felt his throat tightening and his eyes narrow. He needed to take an assessment of the situation. Hyrule focused his hearing to the outside world; he could hear the pull of a wooden cart hitting a pothole on the (probably) dirt road. He could hear a horse's hooves stamping the ground in a familiar pattern. He could hear two men quietly whispering to each other.
He could recognize from a mile away that he was being kidnapped. He could also recognize the shabby job they had done. The wrist restraints were too loose, like they were scared to hurt him. They were probably new to kidnapping with how bad a job they had done. If they weren't, Hyrule had to wonder if they ever got away with it.
Hyrule was not new to kidnapping, unlike the two men who already made it very prominent that they are. Maybe Legend was rubbing off on him, he was at least that self aware to say that. Hyrule had been kidnapped so much that he got too bored and stopped keeping track. Though, he doesn't know the reason he was kidnapped now, but it's usually because they want his blood to revive Gannon or something stupid like that. He always thought that if they just talked to him then maybeeee he would have been more compliant. But no! They just had to kidnap him instead!
While Hyrule was rambling on about how terrible of a job the kidnappers had done, like seriously who would even try to kidnap someone when their knots look like that?, the wagon had come to a stop with the men huddling around Hyrule. He pretended to be asleep, he didn’t know how strong they were and he couldn’t risk it. They had gotten to their destination but where was that? That was the question in his mind as he heard the faint voices of his kidnappers.
“Is he still asleep?” He said, poking Hyrule’s cheek. He had to resist the urge to bite the finger through the mesh sack.
“I think so.” A deep gruff voice answered the high one. “Didn’t think we knocked him out that hard. Maybe he’s that weak.” Hey!
“Or maybe I’m stronger than I think!” Hyrule could practically hear the smile in his voice.
“Sure, Briar.” The man said with no hint of emotion in his deep voice. “Just help me with this dude, we gotta get him inside.”
“Ugh, as serious as ever I see,” Hyrule felt himself being dragged across the wagon bed. A hand planted firm on his arm.
“Seeing as we are dealing with one of the hero’s friends and kidnapping in general, I feel like it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m a tad serious.” So they do know that I’m Warriors friends, Hyrule thought, memories of right before the attack flooded back to him.
They were in an inn in Warriors era. The chain had just gotten there after a long battle that they had fought in, leaving Wild and Twilight incapacitated. Warriors got a nasty cut on his arm, (That he apparently couldn’t feel) and his leg got stuck under a corpse of a Moblin, making it hard to move and walk. Hyrule had spared no expense when he was trying to heal them, he would always rather drain all of his energy than have someone else hurt in his presence. Maybe that’s how he had gotten assaulted and kidnapped so easily, he was already drained.
After healing all of the injuries he had decided to go outside for some fresh air before going to bed. That’s when he had been taken, he realized. He was walking on a dirt path not too far away from the town walls. It had some trees that were hard to see in the night with a new moon ahead. He heard rustling in the shrubbery, he stopped to bring his head up and listened. The rustling had stopped. He turned around, sword out and gleaming.
“Who’s there,” He shouted, “Show yourself!” There was barely a spark in his eyes, exhaustion was running rapidly throughout his whole body. It was a miracle that he could even hold his sword up without shaking. His eyes widened as someone walked out of the bush with their hands in their pockets.
“Put your hands up!” Hyrule tried the best he could to sound threatening or at least strong, he knew he failed at both of those. “Why are you here?” Maybe he was being paranoid but he couldn’t not be careful.
“Just taking a stroll,” He said smiling to himself, “Didn’t realize I would come face to face with the hero’s friend though, what a perfect coincidence.”
“What?”
“Briar, now!” He yelled and Briar lunged straight for Hyrule. He spun, slashing him on the arm with his sword. Panic set in and Hyrule realized that he won’t be able to do this. His eyes sagged already and his limbs felt like lead. He won’t be able to fight them off, not in the state he was in.
He took too long, he recognized as the man’s arm went around his throat and tried to cut off his air supply. He fought as hard as he could, thrusting his body away and causing commotion. Eventually the man’s hold loosened and he slipped out with one final tug. He fell to the ground exhausted.
Get up. He told himself. You have to get up! But he couldn’t. Tears started pouring down his face, he was useless right then.
His eyes shot up forward, a crunch of a leaf signally him. He looked up right in time to see a fist coming straight for his head and everything going black.
“What do we do now?” Briar said as he stood up straight. “We got the hero’s friend unconscious.”
“Now we take him back to the warehouse.” Caleb turned and started walking away. “Come on. Pick him up and let's go.”
He winced, knowing how much it would hurt the boy when he picked him up. He already looked exhausted and Briar wouldn’t be surprised if he was injured before their fight. He grimaced as he felt a trickle of blood drip down his arm. He was glad it was only a shallow cut.
He bent down and gently picked up the sleeping boy. He groaned and his head fell back. Briar shifted his grip so he could better support his neck which is red and irritated from earlier. He felt bad but he couldn’t do anything anymore. They needed to do this too. He needed to do this. He had no way out and he needed the money that Caleb was to give him. Sure, it wasn’t the most ethical job he’d done and sure Caleb was a terrible boss, but it still put money in his pockets and that’s all that mattered. At least that’s what he told himself to stay sane at night.
“Hurry up!” He rolled his eyes, Caleb was always impatient. One of the traits that made him insufferable. He gently put the boy, he couldn’t be older than fifteen years old, on the back of the wagon and grabbed a burlap sack and some spare rope they had. Out of the side of his eye he saw a red liquid splash around in a curved bottle. He stuck out his hand and reached for it.
“Healing Potion” It read on the label. Caleb sure wouldn’t notice if one of these mysteriously went missing, right? Briar thought as he uncorked it and wafted it to his nose. It smelled like flowers and peace. His face wrinkled in disgust. And he sneezed, moving the bottle out of the range. He brought it to his lips and took a small swig, just enough for the slash to stop bleeding. There was still the whole bottle left.
He could at least do one nice thing for the kid, Briar rationalized. He looked back at him and saw the dark eyebags, the way his mouth drooped open in his dreamless sleep. The kid had surely had a rough day already and this just made it worse. He shook his head, he had a job to do and he was gonna do it.
And, A dark voice whispered in his head. He’s friends with that captain. The voice spit out the last word like it was acid, burning him. You know what type of person the “Hero” is. You shouldn’t be kind to the kid. He deserves this. Briar bit his lip. His morals and the whispers that he heard about the Captain, were fighting a war in his head. This time, his morals won.
He opened the kids mouth and poured a splash of the potion in. Tilting his head back and helping him swallow it. He repeated this process till there was no liquid left in the glass except some pesky drops. He grabbed the sack and gently put it over the kids head, making sure he can breathe.
He grabbed the rope and took the kids' wrists. The feeling of leather spreads across his fingertips. He stared it down and saw that the kid was wearing leather gloves that covered his palms and the back of his hands, though not his fingers. He took the leather into his hands and pulled off the gloves. He gasped and slapped his hand over his mouth.
“Something going on back there?” Cable asked, clearly annoyed with how long this was taking.
“Nope!” he answered too fast, “Nothings going on!”
“Then hurry up.” Briar let out the breath he didn’t know that he was keeping inside. He looked down again, making sure he wasn’t imaging the clear triforce mark that was on the back of the hand of the young boy. It looked a tad faded but it was clear that it was the real deal. No fake tattoos that some people tried to get, no. This had perfectly straight lines despite not being on skin that is even. It glowed slightly in the dark night. It was the mark of the hero.
Briar learned about it when he was still in school. He learned about all the heroes of old and he got to experience one for himself. That experience changed his perspective of them. But this kid couldn’t have been that old. He shouldn’t have had to do anything that involved danger. He was prepared with a sword through, maybe he’s a soldier instead? No that can’t be. The soldiers don’t go outside the castle without at least a shield and a sword. He had to be one of the hero’s of old.
But wait- His mind supplied. There should only be one hero per one time. How could this have happened?
“HURRY UP OR I’M CUTTING YOUR PAY, BRIAR! SOMEONE’S GONNA SEE YOU.” Caleb's booming voice snapped him out of the spiral that he had dug himself into. It didn’t matter if this kid was a hero or not, he was just another person he had to rob in order to do his job. He knew one of the kid’s friends would be coming soon, especially if he was the hero’s friend.
He ripped off the other leather glove and threw them into the wagon. He grabbed the rope and tied it. He froze when he tightened it. He couldn’t bring himself to pull it tighter. HE still had some morals despite being a paid thief, he couldn’t just leave the kid without a way to escape if it got too bad. He pushed him down into the bed and closed the back.
He ran up to the horse. “Did you securely tie him up?” Caleb’s cold voice questioned from on top of the horse's back, holding the reins.
“Yes, I did.” He showed no emotion on his face, his employer never cared for emotions. If anything he hated them.
“Good.” Briar took that as an end to the conversation and climbed onto the horse's back. They rode in silence, there was no point to meaningless conversations. After this payment, he shouldn’t need to ever see Caleb again, unless of course, he offered more money to him. As much as he hated him, he couldn’t say no to a job proposal. He needed the money.
As they arrived at the warehouse in the dead of night, Briar couldn’t help but wonder what the kid’s friends were thinking right now. Realizing that he has gone.
“Does anyone know where Hyrule is? I want to ask him how long this will take to heal.” Warriors explained calmly. He was still stuck sitting on the couch with his arm wrapped in bandages and his leg hurting like it just got cut. Even though it hurt, he still wanted to be able to get up and go around. He couldn’t be bedridden, even for a day, in his own era. That’s a sign of weakness and he knew it. He had already been gone for so long, he knew that his reputation had been getting worse the longer that he was gone. The people were getting upset that he hadn’t been helping out with the population of monsters and leaving the soldiers to do it or worse, the townspeople.
“Nah, I don’t.” Legend helpfully responded with, not even looking up.
“Last I knew he went out to get some fresh air after healing you three.” Time said also without looking up, from his bag.
“Thank you, old man.” The nickname got him a friendly glare. He laughed it off and asked, “Do you think you would be able to get him for me?”
“Mmmh, I don’t think I can….” Time smirked mischievously.
“Why not?” He asked, raising one eyebrow.
“I’m just sooo busy with, ummm… Looking at my bag.” He enunciated the words, Warriors chucked.
“You could have at least come up with a good excuse, man!”
“You know, I could have, but that would have been too much work. To be honest.” Time came back with. “Just ask Wind, he probably has energy he needs to get out either way.”
“True,” Warriors smiled, Wind could be a handful with all his energy but he was an amazing brother. “Wind!” He yelled across the room, making Legend snap his head up from the loud noise.
“What?” He yelled back, rolling his eyes.
“Can you get Hyrule for me?”
“Fineeee,” He got up and dusted off his pants from the dirt on the floor. Warriors wished they had enough time to go to the castle and he could be in the room again but with two of his brothers unconscious he knew that that was not an option. “You owe me a cookie now.” Wind said as he walked out the door waving goodbye.
Warriors chuckled after he left. “I’ll never know where he got that personality. His grandma seems so nice,” He joked.
“Guess the sassiness just comes with the hero spirit,” Time said, shrugging. “You know he kinda acts like Legend but with less teasing and more energy.” Legend looked up unamused.
“True, he’s like the better, younger version.” Warriors teased, still looking at Time.
“HEY!” Legend called out, dropping his crochet needles and the yarn and raising his arms up, “What did I do! This is bullying!” He announced loudly.
Laughter ran out from the room, even sky and four who were on the other side were laughing when they overheard the conversation. Legend put on his signature pouty face and crossed his arms.
“Oh look, the bunny is pouting,” His tone was light and teasing. He made eye contact with Legend and smirked.
“You suck…” Legend said, rolling his eyes and picking his crochet needles back up.
“Ha! I made him give up the fight!” He pounded his arms into the air. “OW!” He clutched his injured arm that he forgot was there. Legends snickers rang out throughout the room, Warriors glared at him.
“I think I might have won that to be honest.”
“That's not fair, it was my injury that won. Not you…”
Legend was about to come back with a defense when he was interrupted, “Hey, Warriors?” Time started off with.
“Yes?”
“Do you know of any spots where monsters are most frequent?” He asked.
“Why? It’s not like we are going to be able to go to them for at least a little while, we still have two unconscious.”
“Just want to make a mental map of here marking the points where the towns are, monsters are frequent and stuff like that. It’s just a useful thing to have.” Time shrugged.
“Well….” Warriors explained all the points over the last few years that have had monsters the most and how many is the usual amount that live there. He explained that most of the places had soldiers guarding them and killing the monsters as they reappear but there are always a few new places popping up around there. He went into detail about where the towns were too and the guards stationed there, also how frequently monsters decide to try and attack them.
When he was finished Time said this, “Thank you, Warriors. Just making sure I know the area just in case.” It sounded like Time knew that something would happen. Maybe warriors were being insane but he could see the look in Time’s eyes and said that he knew. Him and his stupid old man instinct. Warriors rolled his eyes right when the door burst open.
Wind stood there breathless, the door creaking on its hinges from being flown wide open. “Sailor what hap-”
“Hyrule, Hyrule! He’s gone!”