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“Shit,” Legend cursed, ripping his bag a mnd belt off, throwing them at Hyrule’s feet. He’d worry about those later. His hat joined them, clip attached. “‘Rulie, watch those.”
“Wait, Leg, you can’t-” Hyrule started, swinging at a bokoblin.
“We’ll be fine.” Legend shucked his boots - he did not want to deal with that later. “Find a way to meet us at shore.”
With that, the veteran leapt off the edge of the cliff in an almost perfect dive.
The water was cold and hard as he dove in, but the magic of the mersuit, even passively, meant that he avoided a lot of the damage. That was the one good thing about the suit, in his opinion. That, and the clarity it gave him looking underwater. The feeling of the magic as it flooded his body was welcome for a change, even though it hurt, the feeling of his legs breaking and skin splitting so it could meld together. It was quick, at least, and although the salt water burned as it entered the gills the mermaid tail had given him, he could breath for now.
That clarity made it very easy to pick out the champion as he sank, blond hair fading as the darkness of the sea swallowed him up. Not on his watch. The trail of bubbled from the cook’s lips had already faded, which was a bad sign, but the lack of movement… The shock of hitting the water might have knocked him unconscious. Another bad sign. Still nothing they couldn’t work with, though.
A strong flick of his tail sent Legend further down, faster than he’d been sinking. He could catch up to Wild pretty quickly and get them back up to the surface. From there, they’d have to find some sort of shore, or at least somewhere Legend could get the water out of Wild’s lungs. The cook swallowing some was inevitable, after how long he’d been down.
As Legend approached he could see the cook’s face, his eyes closed, face lax, and he steeled himself, reaching forward. Wild looked so peaceful it broke Legend’s heart as he gathered his brother close, flicking his tail again to bring him toward the surface. He couldn’t delay, not when Wild’s life was at stake. Luckily he didn’t need his hands to swim, keeping Wild close, head against his chest. They had only been moving for a few seconds before something started glow. Something close.
It took Legend a second to realize it was Wild.
Despite himself, he didn’t let go, even as the light faded and the man started thrashing.
No.
Legend could question that later.
He knew what it was like to drown, how it burned your nose and throat, how you wanted to cough but you just choked instead.
However it happened, Wild was drowning again.
Legend tried not to think about how the salt in the water burned his own lungs and his gills. He wasn’t actively drowning and this wasn’t the first time he’d had to swim in uncomfortable water. He’d live.
And he’d make sure Wild did too.
So he did his best to ignore his brother’s thrashing, even when it threatened to rip him out of Legend’s arms, and he ignored the way his heart sank as he started faltering again, falling limp as he completely ran out of oxygen.
Finally, they broke the surface. Legend didn’t waste any time, spinning this way and that until he saw a strip of shore they could get to. It was harder to lug Wild along like this, but Legend wasn’t complaining, nor was he stopping.
He was not about to lose someone else he cared about.
The veteran’s muscles burned like his throat and lips by the time they made it back to shore, but he threw Wild up as best he could, at least mostly out of the ocean.
Huh. Four was there, panting, but dragging Wild back from the ocean. Legend stayed back, preparing himself for the transformation now that somebody else competent was here.
“Okay, Vio, compressions. It’s okay if you break a rib,” The smallest member of the Chain murmured to themself, starting them with a detached expression the smithy rarely wore.
Right. Breathing hurt and Wild was taken care of. Time to get out of the water.
Uncaring at the moment that Four was right there (he’d care later, when they had a nice warm fire and he didn’t hurt) Legend pulled himself out of the water with an ease born of practice, although his arms trembled a bit. Distantly, he could hear the smithy counting under their breath, stopping with a relieved expression when Wild started coughing up water, groaning.
Legend joined him in groaning, muffling it with one arm as his tail split again, giving him back two legs. He hated that transformation. The lull of sleep pulled against him, borne of exhaustion and pain, but Legend didn’t quite give in yet.
“He’s okay, Ledge. He still has a way to go, but he’ll be okay. We’ll make sure of it,” As if Four knew what he needed to hear, the smithy spoke up, his voice tight with worry but also, somehow, hopeful.
Okay, nevermind staying up. Wild was handled, and by the distant sound of shouting, they would be okay.