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The portal spat Legend out into a field of dead grass.
He recognised where he was, sort of. The sepia-toned landscape of Hyrule’s era was easily identifiable.
Legend realised that, despite being in the middle of the group when passing through the portal, no one stood in front of him. He spun around, praying he hadn’t been dumped alone in the most hostile time period, to see that he hadn’t been; Hyrule himself stumbled out of the portal, already very obviously dizzy from the swirling sensation the portals left them with. The portal closed up behind him.
It was just the two of them.
Well, of everyone it could be, Hyrule was definitely one of the ones he’d prefer being stuck with until they could find the others.
Hyrule thankfully recovered quickly from the portal sickness and looked around. He grimaced when he recognised where he was. Legend once again wondered if there was a way to bring Hyrule back to his own time period when all this was over - and then immediately threw the idea out of his mind, like he did every other time, because it hurt thinking that, one day, all of this would end.
“Just us?”
“Yep.”
Hyrule sighed. “We were going to restock, too. I guess that plan's been put on hold until we’re sent to the next time period. How many potions and fairies do you have?”
“Not enough. Come on. The sooner we find the others, the sooner we can pool resources with them.”
Legend chose not to mention that he was completely out of either. He and Hyrule were known for their paranoia about having enough healing supplies. However, Hyrule had enough to worry about right now, with guiding Legend through his time period and finding the others. Legend would worry for the both of them for now.
---
Hyrule and Legend travelled for hours. The grasslands had transitioned into a forest - for as much as the collection of dead and dying trees could be called that. The creaking of branches and rustling of grey-brown leaves was the only sound apart from them.
They stopped to eat once, but food was on ration until they either found Wild or left for another time period - it was just too hard to reliably forage here. Hyrule was systematically checking all the places he thought the others might have ended up or wandered to.
They’d been as quiet as possible, trying to avoid attracting unwanted attention. Unfortunately, their best wasn’t good enough. As they stepped into a large, dusty clearing, an arrow barely missed skewering Legend’s arm.
He turned toward where the arrow had come from, sword ready, to find a whole hoard of monsters - dairas, darknuts, like likes, and a handful of Wild’s bokoblins - emerging from behind the slumped trees.
Despite the number of enemies, and there only being two of them, Legend and Hyrule managed to take down the forces (though it did require ample use of Legend’s fire rod, one of Hyrule’s lightning spells, and a Bombos medallion use). Finally, all of the monsters were gone, and Legend relaxed. He stored his fire rod back into its spot in his bag. Before he could turn to Hyrule, congratulate him on a fight well-fought, a whistle of an arrow sounded behind him.
Legend ducked and spun to where the sound had originated. There - a bokoblin had hidden in some bushes. An activation of his pegasus boots had Legend’s sword through the bokoblin’s neck in a blink, killing it instantly. He spun towards Hyrule, to make sure he was okay and hadn’t been hit, and his stomach dropped.
Hyrule was bent over, hands up near his neck, crimson pooling around them and dripping steadily to the ground.
Legend raced over as fast as he could. He reached into his bag to pull out a potion or a fairy - anything that would help, would save his brother’s life - and froze. He didn’t have any. Fuck!
Hyrule looked up at him, pained, and Legend realised his neck had been missed. Instead, the arrow was sticking through his shoulder. It was very obvious a major artery had been hit - blood painted down the front of his tunic. Hyrule wouldn’t survive without magical help of some kind, which Legend couldn’t offer to him because he didn’t have any!
“Legend?” Hyrule asked, voice strained in agony. “Potion?”
“I don’t- Fuck, Rulie. I’m out.”
Hyrule’s face crumpled in despair. Legend felt his heart shatter. He couldn’t keep himself from hugging Hyrule, carefully bringing them to sit on the ground as his legs gave out.
He’d expected to lose his brothers all at once, had been preparing himself for it - that was a lie; he’d never be prepared for it, not in a million years; he’d been ignoring the issue more than anything - but he hadn’t considered the possibility that one would go sooner. This was so much worse than Legend had imagined.
At least when he was losing them to time, they’d all still be alive and safe when he last saw them.
“I’m sorry, Hyrule. I’m so sorry.”
“Not your fault.” Hyrule weakly patted his arm.
Legend choked on a sob. “Is there anything I can-”
Hyrule’s voice was barely more than a whisper. “Burn me? My blood- I can’t let it be used.”
“Rulie, what are you-”
“It can be used to bring back Ganon, and I can’t- please,” he did his best to look Legend in the eyes; Legend shifted so he actually was,” you’ve got to make sure it all burns.”
Legend was horrified. There had been hints of Hyrule having issues in his time - he’d seemed surprisingly familiar with the concept of cults that went after the hero when Wild had mentioned his Yiga - but Legend hadn’t expected this to be why.
“Please, you have to promise me.”
“I promise,” Legend choked out.
Hyrule relaxed, losing tension Legend didn’t even know he’d had. Legend struggled not to drop his suddenly-limp form. Hyrule smiled vaguely upwards, eyes hazy. “Thank you,” he mouthed.
Legend let out a sob. He ignored the sharp, invasive scent of blood as he clutched his brother’s body like a lifeline. He ran trembling hands through Hyrule’s hair as his breaths slowed, and his eyes fluttered closed.
Hyrule’s breaths stopped, and the sudden silence of the world rang like a deathknell in Legend’s ears.
He gently laid his brother down. He wanted desperately to take something, some small momento, to remember him by. Hyrule had been such a bright spark in the world, it felt wrong to not keep something.
But no. Hyrule had asked that everything be burned, and Legend was determined to honor that wish.
He backed up a bit, kicked away the scattering of plants nearby so that the whole forest wouldn’t catch on fire, and pulled out his fire rod. He pointed it at Hyrule’s body and… he couldn’t. What was he doing?
His arms wrapped around himself, fire rod still in hand, in a mockery of the hug he’d given his brother earlier. He curled over, a pained keening noise escaping his throat. He let it go on for five seconds; ten seconds; he forcefully wrangled himself back into focus.
He aimed the fire rod and shut his eyes; he couldn't watch. Legend forced his magic into the fire rod.
Heat burst forth. The fire would have to be hot, hotter than any he’d ever made before, if he wanted this to work. The fire light glowed red through his eyelids, and the heat made his skin prickle, but he didn’t dare back up; his aim might be thrown off if he did, and he couldn’t bear to have his eyes open for even a second during this.
The smell of burning meat invaded his nose, tempered by the metallic bite of blood, and an underlying sweetness that made Legend glad he hadn’t eaten much when they’d stopped for lunch earlier.
Finally, magic nearly fully drained, Legend shut off the fire rod. The heat died, though he could already feel the itchy tightness of his skin, like a sunburn, that told him he’d been too close for too long. The smell had mostly dissipated, replaced with the usual smoky odor the fire rod gave off, though the metallic sweetness still lingered. It clung to the back of his throat.
Legend opened his eyes. In front of him, the ground was blackened. The greyish dirt that had originally been there was covered in a layer of dark ash.
He stared at the spot where his best friend- where his brother- where he’d-
He crumpled as a scream tore its way out of his throat. Sobs wracked his body. The fire had surely been a beacon, calling up hundreds of monsters. His pained cries would only draw them closer. Legend couldn’t find it in himself to care.
Hyrule was gone.