Safe

Safe

HI THIS IS ENTIRELY KEE'S FAULT BLAME HER BUT AHKFEJFKJHFKAJFH-

YES I WILL BE CONTINUING THIS YES THIS IS THE AU I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT ALL DAY

@goosekee @pokegeek151 @here4dragons @catreginae

He could hear the crowd’s roaring swell as he stepped out of the shadows and next to the guard. He shoved down the emotion as he saw the kid in custody. A literal kid. He couldn’t have been any older than fifteen. 

Artemis began some sort of speech. He couldn’t hear it. Not over the pounding in his ears as he looked at the kid.

“Begin,” Artemis ordered lazily. His heart stopped. 

No.

“NO!” He shouted, and surged forward, catching the whip. It stung his hand, wrapping around and around his gauntlets.

But it didn’t hit the kid. 

The crowd went deathly still. He could hear his own breathing against every other little sound. The rustle of clothes in the wind. Wood creaking. Artemis standing.

Oh.

She was furious. Her face was nearly wine red with fury.

“You dare betray your Queen?” She shouted.

“This is wrong and you know it, Zelda!” He shouted back, unsure where this new courage came from. The kid trembled behind him.

Artemis’s face went such a deep shade of red that Warriors hadn’t even known it was humanly possible. 

“Fine then,” She forced out, trembling with rage, “If you want to act the traitor’s part, you can take the Traitor’s punishment. Guards! Strip him!”

“ Get back to your family, kid,” he whispered, knowing what was coming. The kid scrambled up and off into the crowd as the guards descended on him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyrule slammed into Time’s arms, trembling.

“It’s alright, son, I’ve got you,” Time said, feelings of relief and foreboding filling him. 

“T-Time. They-They were going to-”

“I know. I know.”

“A-and he- and now-”

“I know, son, I know.” Time forced out. He’d saved… the stranger had saved his son. 

The crowd went quiet as the Queen stepped forward.

“Today you stand here to witness the punishment of this man for acts of treason against Hyrule!”

Hyrule began to sob, and buried himself further in Time’s chest. 

“For the worst act of all!”

Sky held Wind close and put a hand over his eyes. 

“Don’t look,” he whispered. 

“Today, Captain Link has been caught in the aiding and abetting of a traitor to the throne!”

Time gasped as the Queen brought done the first lash herself. He wasn’t…

The boy was one of them.

He cried out at the severity of it, hunched over the whipping post. The crowd ignited, but not in protest. The guard took over, hitting hard and fast. Link’s cries could barely be heard over the roaring crowd.

The crowd grew louder as blood began to flow, the boy’s cries drowned out. Four hid his face in Twilight’s pelt. But Time’s focus was on the Queen.

The Queen who looked extremely, cruelly happy. 

Time promised himself then and there that he would take her off of her throne himself.

“Time,” Twilight whispered shakily, “They’re long past twenty five.”

“What?” Time whispered back.

“Rule was supposed to get twenty-five lashes,” Twi flinched as the whip hit again, “That last one made forty-five.”

Time snapped his gaze to the boy in the square’s center. 

“He’s not going to be able to take much more,” he said under his breath. He didn’t mean for Hyrule to hear him, but he did, and his sobbing began again. 

Around the fifty-second lash, the crowd began to quiet with anticipation.

At fifty-three, Link’s cries became shrill and weak.

At fifty-four, they stopped.

At fifty-eight, he sagged, unconscious.

“Take him to the dungeons!” Artemis ordered.

Time looked at his boys.

“Get to the inn. We need to make a plan.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So Wind and Four will be outside with medical supplies and the horses. Sky will be with them. Legend, you’re job-” “Is to figure out where he is. We’ve been over the plan three times, Old Man,” Legend said, but his voice held no hint of malice. 

“We know, Time. We’re worried too,” Sky said, rubbing Wind’s arms. He hadn’t said much since the whipping.

“I don’t know that any of us will make it to nightfall,” Twilight whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had one cell left to check. Time was getting very, very worried. There wasn’t any guards, other than the ones at the front gate. And no captain.

“It’s empty!” Legend hissed. 

“Where is he?” Wind asked, eyes widening.

“I don’t, I don’t-” Legend popped back into the wall, slipping into the cell. Time began to run through backup plans in his head. Had he been taken out of town? Had he bee-

“I found him!” Legend whisper-shouted suddenly, the cell door flying open.

“There’s a secret cell, I just found it, Time it’s bad-”

Time was already pushing past. Legend hit the catch, and the hidden door opened with the sound of grinding stone.

They were immediately faced with a troop of Sheikah.

“And here I thought no one would be coming,” Impa sneered, almost bored.

“It doesn’t have to be like this,” Time said evenly.

“And disappoint my Queen?” Impa asked, and stuck forward. 

Minutes, maybe hours, were lost in the fight. Time was strange, measured in opponents rather than any standard measurement. After who knows how long, Sky suddenly shouted,

“Down!”

Time hit the deck, feeling a wave of blue energy wash over him. The remaining Sheikah were knocked to the edges of the room, unconscious.

Time finally got a chance to look over at their newest member. It… wasn’t good. Blood covered nearly all of his skin. Smoot locks that had been blonde that morning were now choppy and nearly pink with blood. A wound on his chest oozed some sort of green liquid.

“Rancher, help me get him down,” He ordered. Twilight nodded, looking worried.

“Is he alright?” Hyrule asked, voice shaking.

“He will be,” Time answered.