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skyward-floored · 2 years ago

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Whumptober Day 28: Sacrifice

Yeah I’m basically just going to do the rest of these a day behind I think... If a miracle occurs and I can get some of these out on their proper days then yay! But uh... probably won’t happen. Yeah.

It probably doesn’t help that this one is stupid long 🙄

Read on ao3

Warnings: well. Um. Discussion of death. Thinking about death. And... temporary character death.

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The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many.

A chill went down Sky’s spine as he read the inscription, and he stepped back to let the others read the words on the stone as well.

“Well, that’s not creepy,” Legend muttered, and Sky couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment. The fact that the words were written on a pitch black stone in red letters didn’t help either, and Sky glanced around the room in unease.

The dungeon so far had been somewhat creepy, but not to this level. The room they were in now was large and dark, lit only by oddly purple torches along the walls that made the rock with the inscription shine strangely. Another similar dark stone stood on the other side of the room, but it was blocked off by bars, and there appeared to be no way through.

“What do you think it means?” Wind asked, standing on his toes to better read the inscription.

“Obviously a sacrifice of some kind is needed for us to continue,” Warriors said, and Time nodded slowly, rubbing his chin as he studied the stone.

“But what kind? I mean... my favorite spoon would kind of be a sacrifice, right?” Wild asked a little hesitantly, and Time shook his head.

“...I don’t think so,” he murmured.

The room went quiet as they all looked at the stone again, and Sky glanced across the room to the other identical one, squinting a little as he noticed something. He stepped over to the bars, and felt something cold land in his gut as he saw a faint outline of a handprint on the opposite stone.

“I think... the sacrifice has to be one of us,” he said in a quiet voice.

“No, no way,” Four said with a rapid shake of his head, stepping away from the inscription. “We’re not doing that.”

“I agree, that’s not an option,” Time said firmly.

“It must mean something else,” Twilight said, glancing around. “Look around for any switches or something, there’s got to be another way out of here.”

The other Links spread through the room, mostly around the perimeter, but Sky stayed by the bars, an odd feeling keeping him there. He studied the metal, then the ground, and saw a slightly darker ring of stone on the floor. It was faintly outlined in red, but nothing happened when Legend and Hyrule walked over it on their way across the room.

That must be where the sacrifice goes...

The heroes searched the room for a long time, checking every nook and cranny, trying various items to get past the bars blocking off the other part of the room. But nothing was found, and nobody’s items were able to get through. They even started trying combinations of things, but Time finally put a stop to it, saying it was getting late.

None of them spoke of the inscription as they made camp for the night, and nobody mentioned how the door they’d come in through was barred off as well.

Nobody talked about how they were trapped.

Sky couldn’t help thinking of it though, and the thought he’d had in the back of his head the entire time they’d been combing the room was slinking to the forefront of his mind again.

And as he got into his bedroll along with the others, he found sleep hard to come by.

They’d been in this dungeon for a few days now, and hadn’t been the best stocked when they’d gone inside. Nobody wanted to admit it, but they were low on water, starting to get low on food, and it would only get worse since they were trapped in this room.

They were running out of time, and there was only one way out.

Sky felt the cold feeling in his chest come back, and he rolled over, staring over at the bars that blocked off the other part of the room.

It must have been extremely late now, and the others were all asleep, worn out from the various trials of the dungeon. Nobody else was awake— they hadn’t set a watch since there was no way for anything to get in here— and Sky slowly sat up, still staring at the bars as the words on the stone ran through his head yet again.

The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many.

It was the only way through.

Sky breathed out, and looked back at the others, listening to their soft breathing. Wind was spread out like a starfish, half on top of both Warriors and Twilight somehow. Wild was curled up by the rancher, and his feet were dangerously close to hitting Hyrule in the face, the traveler back-to-back with Legend. Four was near his head, and Time was a little further away from him, more by himself then the others, but still plenty close.

All of them here, with homes and loved ones to go back to. They had so much to lose, but Sky... he had so much to make up for. So much to repay.

And between watching one of them sacrifice themselves, or being forced to endure a slow death of starvation and dehydration, trapped in this room with freedom so close...

Neither of those were options.

Sky swallowed, then slipped out of his blankets, quietly putting on his boots. He stood, then after a moment’s hesitation, fastened his sailcloth around his neck, comforted by the weight of it.

The familiar smell wafted around him as he walked across the room, and he held tightly to the pendant as he stepped into the darker circle on the floor, his hands surprisingly still.

He’d faced death countless times before, and found himself oddly calm as he stared it in the face yet again.

“I am the one,” he whispered.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then a quiet rumble came from the floor, the bars in front of Sky slipping away before his eyes.

He breathed out, and stepped past them, the bars immediately sliding back into place behind him. Sky slowly stepped towards the stone on the other side of the room, the handprint more obvious now that he was on the other side of the bars.

He wondered if it would be painful.

“Sky?”

He startled and looked behind him, seeing Twilight sit up and rub his eyes. The rancher looked around in confusion at the sight of Sky’s empty bedroll, but then their eyes met, and Twilight’s went wide with horror as he realized all of a sudden what he was doing.

“Sky!”

His shout woke the others, and before Sky could blink, all of them were by the bars, staring or shouting at him.

“Sky, what are you doing?!” Wind cried, his eyes wide. “How did you...”

“Sky, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but come back,” Time said in a voice that was much less steady then usual. “This is not the way.”

“You don’t need to do this,” Warriors said carefully, hand outstretched towards him. “We’ll figure something else out, just... Sky, don’t.”

Sky couldn’t stand the heartbreak on their faces as they talked to him, and he turned back around, facing the stone again. The handprint had disappeared, but he knew it was waiting for him.

He stepped towards it, and the others’ voices grew more frantic.

“Sky don’t you dare!” Four shouted, banging his hands on the bars separating them. But Sky ignored him and the shouts of the others, and continued to walk alone across the room.

“No, Sky!”

“Sky! Stop please!”

“The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many,” Sky recited quietly, and their desperate shouts finally quieted at his voice. He turned back and gave them all a sad smile, and looked over all of them again, his companions, his friends.

His brothers.

“That’s what the inscription said. This... this is the only way through.”

“It can’t be, we’ll find another way Sky, please,” Twilight begged, but Sky didn’t move.

“We’re almost out of water, and there isn’t any other way out,” he said softly. “One of us has to do this.”

“Sky,” Legend choked out, but Sky took the last few steps towards the stone without looking back.

He inhaled, taking in one last breath of the sweet smell of his sailcloth, then squared his shoulders and pressed a hand to the pitch black stone.

“SKY!”

(...)

Sky crumpled the moment his hand touched the pedestal.

He didn’t cry out, didn’t let out so much as a gasp, and Twilight could only watch in horror as he dropped to the floor with a quiet thump.

The bars lifted mere moments later, all entrances and exits opened, and Twilight bolted forward, rushing with the other Links to Sky’s side.

“No no no Sky, come on,” Four choked out as they all dropped to his side, and Warriors shoved past them all, turning Sky onto his back and pressing a hand first to his wrist, then his throat.

Twilight’s heart was in his throat, and he could only stare at Sky’s blank eyes, open, but lacking any of their usual warmth. He was reminded horribly of that nightmare Lanayru had given him all that time ago, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away, just like then, no matter how much he wanted to.

Warriors might’ve done or said more, but Twilight could only stare, and he didn’t check back in until the captain finally pulled away from Sky.

Twilight looked at him with a desperate feeling in his chest, but Warriors only shook his head. The captain’s eyes had a dull look to them as he looked at them all, and he reached forward with a shaking hand to carefully brush Sky’s eyes closed.

“There’s nothing we can do,” Warriors whispered, closing his eyes. “He’s gone.”

Twilight felt like he’d been dropped into the frozen lake at Snowpeak.

“He... he can’t be,” Wind said, voice trembling. “He can’t, that’s not...”

Hyrule moved forward then as well, hands already lit, but the moment he touched Sky, the desperately hopeful look on his face slipped away.

“There’s nothing to heal,” he said in a small voice. “I can’t do anything.”

“But there has to be something!” Wind gasped, his eyes already watering. “Don’t... don’t we have any fairies? They’ve brought us back so many times, there must— there has to be—”

“Get up Sky,” Legend demanded, hand trembling as he gave Sky’s shoulder a hard shake. “You can’t do this to us, get up.”

Sky didn’t move.

Twilight stared as Legend shook Sky harder, his face desperate, and Warriors finally tugged the veteran away, placing his hands on his shoulders.

“He’s gone, Legend,” Warriors said in a voice so full of grief that Twilight almost didn’t recognize it. “There’s nothing we can do.”

Wind let out a sudden sob, and Twilight quickly pulled him into his arms, the sailor crumpling in his hold. Warriors looked away as Time placed a shaking hand on Sky’s cheek, and the others all looked down at him, shock and grief and too many emotions to name on their faces.

“He’s not dead, he’s not,” Legend choked out, looking wildly around at the others, as if hoping someone would agree with him. But nobody spoke, Four silently crying, Wild looking like his world was crashing around him, Hyrule merely staring much like Twilight was, like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“Why would he— why?” Wild choked out, and Hyrule leaned against him, looking equally overwhelmed. “How could he—”

“He did as the stone said,” Time finally whispered, his voice somehow equally heavy and weak. “He did it for us.”

Wind let out a muffled wail in Twilight’s arms, and Twilight closed his eyes, unable to take in the scene any more.

Sky was gone.

(...)

Somehow they made it to the boss room.

They couldn’t stay in the dungeon forever (Sky had been right, they were running so low on supplies but why like this, why—), and through the haze of grief that had fallen over Twilight, he was glad that Warriors had taken charge.

Time seemed like he was floundering, barely replying to anything anyone said to him, his face eerily blank, and Twilight himself couldn’t summon up the energy to try and figure out what to do next. Nobody else was in any state to do anything, and as soon as Warriors realized, he took over.

He quickly settled into captain-mode, all emotion rapidly shoved to the side in favor of getting them moving again. Twilight could see it on his face, the blank look in his eyes as he gently prodded them all to their feet.

He’d slipped behind a mask, and Twilight was too lost in his head to even be too worried about it.

Twilight carried Sky’s body as they continued through the dungeon, barely a word passing between anyone as they trooped onward. He tried not to think about exactly what it was he was holding, and when he glanced down, he could almost tell himself that Sky was merely sleeping, eyes closed, his bangs falling over his face.

They hadn’t even discussed leaving him in the room where he’d fallen. None of them were going to leave Sky alone down here, in an eerie dungeon thousands of years from his own time.

Twilight felt another wave of grief hit him, and he looked down at the skycloth they’d wrapped around him.

Oh Goddesses, what are we going to tell Sun?

A thick sniffle came from where Wind was walking, and Twilight looked over at him, the sailor stubbornly walking onward despite the tears pouring down his face. Four was next to him, clasping his hand, and Twilight was sure Wind wasn’t the only one crying.

But they kept walking. They needed to get out of here, and then...

Wild pulled his hood over his face nearby, and Legend continued on at the front, his shoulders faintly shaking.

...Then we can grieve.

After several rooms that Twilight barely even took in, they finally went through what had to be the boss door, large and ornate. Twilight was the last through, and he gently set Sky’s body by the wall out of the way.

Something clattered, and they all drew their swords.

A dragon made entirely out of bones stomped out from behind a pillar moments later, a screeching roar coming from its throat. It glared down at them all, purple eyes glowing, and the sight of it set something burning in Twilight’s gut.

He wasn’t the only one, the sight of an enemy seeming to light something up in all of them, and they all ran forward with enraged shouts.

The fight wasn’t long, all of them fighting with an intensity that didn’t surprise Twilight in the least. Legend was the fiercest of them all, attacking like a madman, and as the others knocked off the bones on the dragon’s feet, the veteran lunged forward with an enraged cry.

His sword slipped into the ribcage of the dragon, cutting into the purplish core that laid inside. It let out a roar louder then any it had before, and the others took from Legend’s cue, jabbing their swords at the ribcage and dodging the spiked tail and teeth.

Time finally smashed straight through the ribcage itself with an especially fierce jumping slash, and Legend darted in, the dragon screaming as its core burst from the countless attacks. It writhed around the room, letting out increasingly louder screams before collapsing suddenly into faintly purple dust.

Legend fell to a knee once it was gone, and Twilight saw his shoulders shaking as he wiped his face with his sleeve. Time put a hand on his shoulder, and said something that Twilight didn’t catch, but Legend leaned into the hold, his head bowed.

Nobody was injured enough to dip into their meager supplies, and so they didn’t linger, heading for the stairs that had appeared at the dragon’s death.

The boss was defeated and the dungeon clear, but the victory felt hollow as Twilight gently lifted Sky’s body again, and headed for the exit. None of them spoke as they climbed up the stairs that had appeared in the room, and the only sound was an occasional muffled sniffle.

Twilight felt even more hollow as they finally emerged from the stifling dungeon, blinking in the early-morning sunshine that met them. They’d been spilled out into a forest clearing, more of a garden almost, birds chirping happily as the sun filtered through the leaves.

Twilight wanted to scream at the beauty of it.

Wind abruptly sat down on the grass, his eyes red, but finally dry, and the rest of them either sat beside him, or spread out, poking around the clearing, still nobody speaking.

Twilight walked around as well, Sky still cold in his arms. He wasn’t sure why he felt like he couldn’t set him down, but he didn’t want to think about it too hard. He was afraid if he did, the grief would sink it’s jaws so tightly into his heart he wouldn’t be able to do anything.

He’d let that happen once. He wasn’t keen on doing it again.

Twilight stepped idly toward a small paved area, moss growing between the bricks and up a small pedestal. A bird chirped happily from a branch above his head as he leaned down to look at the stone, and Twilight realized suddenly there were words on it, half covered by moss. He shifted Sky around, and scrubbed the plants away, squinting at the inscription.

The sacrifice of one leads the way for the many.

But if made from pure love, then death will not tarry.

Twilight stared, the weight of Sky’s body in his arms heavier then ever as he felt his heart suddenly speed up. Death will not...

Sky opened his eyes.

Twilight cried out and nearly dropped him, saved only by Wild bolting over and grabbing his arm.

“Sky?!” he gasped, and the others immediately ran over at his shout, Twilight sinking to his knees as he stared at his brother.

Sky stared up at the leaves overhead as the others leaned over him, and Twilight felt himself begin to shake as he didn’t move.

Sky, please, please tell me I didn’t imagine that, please—

“Rancher...” Four began in a small voice when several minutes had gone by. “I don’t...”

Sky suddenly jerked, letting out a series of thick coughs that made no less then half of them shriek in surprise.

He blinked several times, looking like he was trying to get his bearings, but then nearly everyone crashed into him, hugging and crying and yelling at him for being the “worst idiot self-sacrificing Hero they’d ever met.”

“Don’t do that ever again!” Wind sobbed, hiccuping with relieved laughs as he hugged Sky.

“How are you alive?!” Wild gasped, his cheeks wet as he clutched Sky’s hand.

”Gods Sky, we thought—” Warriors began, but his voice broke and he clenched tighter at Sky’s shoulder, shaking his head as he turned away.

“Never do that again,” Time said in a heavy voice, his own eye shining, and Sky could only look around at them all as they stared at him and clutched at him.

“It... did it work?” Sky said finally, voice raspy, and Twilight nodded, feeling like his heart would give out from the events of the past several hours.

“It worked,” he replied in thick voice, and smiled shakily at Sky. “We all hate you for it, but it worked.”

Sky opened his mouth again, but was cut off by Legend giving him a punch to the shoulder, his hand shaking as he stared at him.

“You— you’re horrible Sky,” he choked out, then joined the others in hugging him, his face buried in Sky’s chest. Sky hugged them back, and Twilight clutched his hand in his, skin cool but no longer icy, a healthy beat pulsing through his wrist.

He heard someone sob, and Twilight clutched tighter at Sky’s hand as everyone hugged him, clutching his hands and shoulders and holding him close as they reassured themselves that he was alive alive alive.