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skyloftian-nutcase · 2 years

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Minor Adjustments (LU fanfic)

@wildsdomain This one’s for you since you enjoyed my Skyloft headcanons so much. :)

Summary: When the Chain steps through a portal and ends up on a seemingly floating piece of rock, they suddenly realize that there was far more to the Hero of the Sky’s title than they previously thought.

When Wild walked through the dark portal, he tensed his body in apprehension. It was an odd sensation, passing through the dark cold, but the worst part was never knowing what would be on the other side. It was almost like entering the ancient shrines that were designed to help him train, except there was no announcement on what to expect or how to handle the new environment. They just had to adapt quickly and put the pieces together, and if they were lucky, they’d be in one realm long enough to complete their deductions before they ran into another portal.

The group had seemingly decent luck when it came to these portals. Nearly every time they’d passed through one, it had been a fairly safe environment on the other end, at least initially (except for when Time nearly got skewered in his own forest).

This time, however, was different.

When Wild finished passing through the portal, the chill of dark magic seemed to cling to him. Instead of making his hair stand up, however, he just felt a strong gust of wind tear through him, and he shivered and stumbled back, almost knocked over. He was suddenly reminded of the flight range close to Rito Village back in his own land.

Leaning into the wind, Wild glanced around to see how the others were doing and where they were. Although the immediate sensations reminded him of home, he quickly deduced that he was not anywhere familiar. All around them was blue sky with the occasional wisps of clouds lazily hanging overhead. The sun felt unusually bright, and the wind would not stop. Wild looked for settlements, for trees, for some type of cover, but he saw none.

This is a strange plateau, he thought, but even that didn’t seem right - a plateau would still grant him a view of what was below, and he could see no other features aside from sky, sky, and more sky.

Speaking of which, the hero bearing that nickname gasped in delight. His lips moved as he muttered something to himself, the words lost in the wind, and he ran to the edge of the plateau. Twilight and Warriors immediately reached out before stopping short, warnings of caution held captive on their lips. Wild smirked at it, recognizing Twilight’s protective instinct immediately kicking in. He was surprised they hadn’t actually pulled Sky away, he was right on the edge, but it was clear the elder heroes trusted that Sky was not as reckless as some others... like Wild himself.

Taking his own chances, Wild strolled to the edge of the rock island they were on and glanced down to see where he could climb to get below, or if he needed to paraglide.

And promptly felt the bottom drop out of his stomach.

There was no land. Anywhere.

“Well, this is... different,” Legend said beside him, crossing his arms and looking mildly annoyed as if this were just an inconvenience.

“Whoa! Where’s the ground?!” Wind exclaimed before being yanked away from the edge by Warriors.

“Everyone stay in the middle,” Time advised just as Twilight also reigned Wild in, much to the champion’s exasperation. “We need to figure out what’s going on.”

Wild tucked himself against Twilight’s side seeing as there wasn’t much space to work with, and he looked at the others. Time was his usual collected self, though the way his posture stiffened implied he was not happy to be suspended however many thousands of feet in the air. Warriors was definitely out of his element, glancing around wildly, but he was already trying to come up with ideas out loud as he and Time brain stormed the situation. Wind held Warriors’ hand, a wide eyed curiosity blossoming on his face, but he looked far too nervous to explore. Hyrule, on the other hand, was on his hands and knees trying to peer over the edge from a relatively safe distance. Legend joined the conversation with Time and Warriors, looking inconvenienced at best. Four and Twilight were strangely quiet, taking the situation in as if being plopped in the middle of the sky wasn’t a huge deal. Wild began to wonder if it was age or experience that led them to take this in stride, because as the technical oldest he certainly did not feel comfortable with the situation.

But wait... where was Sky?

“Sky, the old man said stay away from the edge,” Twilight advised, his voice a little more commanding than necessary since he had to shout over the wind.

Sky still stood at the edge, his cloak billowing behind him. He seemed ecstatic, his face glowing almost as brightly as the sun. Wild supposed there was a reason he called himself the Hero of the Sky. He must really love being this high up.

Maybe he had a paraglider too? Maybe he had a magical item that could allow him to see through the clouds below? Maybe the ground wasn’t actually that far away?

Sky glanced back at Twilight, smiling like a lunatic, and said, “I just need to check something, hang on.”

Twilight bit his lip, stiffening, still not liking the idea of Sky standing so close to the perimeter. Hyrule scooted a little closer to the edge as well, and that drove Twilight’s attention away from the other hero. Wild, however, didn’t stop watching Sky, and he observed with curiosity as Sky unpinned his white cloak and folded it neatly and tightly enough to slip it into an adventure pouch, the ends tied together in large knots.

And then he jumped over the side.

Wild yelled out, alarmed, and immediately the rest of the group noticed what had happened. Everyone ran towards where Sky had just been standing, shouting in horror and terror.

“Holy shit--holy shit what did--why did he--” Legend stammered, his eyes wide and frantic.

“What do we do?!” Wind yelled.

“Wasn’t anyone watching him?!” Legend continued, running his hands through his hair and pulling, his hat already lost to the wind as he had forgotten to hold it after Sky had jumped. He was gasping for air at this point, but Wild was in no condition to calm him down. Sky had--

The world was spinning, and Wild suddenly felt sick. Wind nearly collapsed beside him.

Time, who had been staring with horror, his face two shades paler, took a steadying breath, shaking his head. “This... Sky is a smart boy, he--”

A shriek pierced the air, making the group jump.

“What was--” Warriors started to say before a giant red blur blazed a trail vertically in front of them. The sudden movement blew them all onto their backs and bottoms, sliding partly across the small island. Wild tumbled entirely, his face flat in the grass as he flipped over.

Groaning, he pushed himself up into a seated position and heard a rhythmic, loud noise that sounded suspiciously like...

Flapping wings?

Looking up, he saw an enormous red bird with a beak the size and length of his torso hovering just above the island. On its back was--

“Sky!” Four shouted.

The hero in question smiled excitedly. “I was right! We’re in my world!”

Wild gaped, relief slamming into him as his mind whirled. Okay, Sky’s title definitely made sense now. But he’d never suspected... Sky had mentioned loftwings in passing, but everyone had thought they were just pet birds, not monolith flying mounts!

Oh, he wanted to ride one. He was definitely going to ride one.

Except... he still felt... faint? He still felt like he was running, like Sky had just jumped off the side; his body wouldn’t calm down.

Judging by the others, they seemed to be enduring something similar. They were all on the ground, panting for air, turning varying shades of white or green.

“I’m going to get some knights to help you guys!” Sky said, seemingly unaware of how physically ill the group had become at the sight of him falling (because that’s what was causing this, right?). “Our loftwings can carry you with their feet, we’ll get you safely to Skyloft.”

Hyrule, running his hand over his face, looked up at Sky determinedly, a sudden crazed half smile on his face. “Well you’re carrying me first!”

And then Hyrule ran to the edge and--

“For the love of Hylia!” Warriors exclaimed as Hyrule launched off the island just for Sky’s loftwing to catch him cleanly in its talons. Wild felt his heart skip a beat - honestly, even he wasn’t that crazy.

Well, not yet, at least. He just needed to catch his breath first. Which was, for some reason, ridiculously hard to do at the moment.

Sure, Wild had just witnessed not one, but two of his brothers-in-arms fling themselves into a bright abyss with careless abandon, but he should be getting a hold of himself by now. What was wrong?

“I... hate... altitude sickness...” Four grumbled beside him, having nearly been blown entirely off the island by the enormous bird’s wings.

Wild finally tore his gaze away from the red bird as Sky and Hyrule laughed and spoke with each other. “Altitude sickness?”

Twilight, flat on his back, groaned. “Yeah. Altitude sickness.”

Before Wild could ask further, however, Twilight leapt to his feet to yell at Sky. “You scared us half to--to...”

Wild watched Twilight start to wobble in the wind, and he reached out to catch him when Time snaked an arm around the rancher and guided him back to the ground.

“Why is... breathing so... hard...?” Wind gasped.

“We’re too high up,” Four explained. “It’s... we’re not used... to it.”

“I’ll be back!” Sky assured them, and his bird took off in some direction with Hyrule squealing in delight as he gave the group a thumbs up of approval.

Wild was suddenly jealous that he hadn’t thought to jump first. But still. He wanted to be able to breathe. He still felt his heart racing and he just couldn’t get in enough air.

His body trembled and his stomach churned. Wild crawled over to Twilight to check on him, and found him curled in on Time’s side with his head in his hands. Just to their leader’s right was Legend, hunched in on himself and desperately trying to regulate his breathing, while Warriors knelt by Wind and had a hand on his shoulder, both looking almost as white as the clouds.

Wild looked back at Four, who was glaring at the ground as if the island was at fault. “So... how do we... fix this?”

Four said something, but it was lost on Wild, who was blinking desperately to get the spots out of his vision. He heard someone yell in the background as if something had happened, but he couldn’t register anything anymore.

Wild blacked out.

XXX

“Well if you hadn’t jumped off the damn island, we wouldn’t have been panicking!”

“I’m sorry... I didn’t realize it would make you guys so upset.”

“Sky... how could we not be upset, we thought you had just fallen to your death.”

Silence.

Wild moaned, feeling queasy and confused. He heard fabric shift and footsteps approach, and he opened his eyes to see Twilight standing over him with a few other blurs hovering behind him. Sky appeared on his other side.

“Hey,” Twilight said softly with a gentle smile.

Wild smiled back despite his churning stomach. “Hey.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Sick,” Wild answered plainly with a dull, irritated tone.

“I’m sorry,” Sky suddenly intoned. “I didn’t realize you guys would get so sick from being up here.”

“It’s not your fault the portal placed us on that island,” Time said from somewhere behind Twilight. “And you shouldn’t have to feel bad about enjoying being home. Just... warn us next time.”

Sky ducked his eyes down, a sheepish smile playing on his lips as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Where ‘m I?” Wild asked, suddenly aware that he was lying in a bed. The room they were in was homely but small, and he suddenly realized he was sharing the mattress with someone else as he felt a warm back slowly rise and fall against his right shoulder.

“When some of you started getting sick, I took you to Budgick’s island. Skyloft is a few flaps to the south from here.” Sky explained, even though his words made little to no sense.

Wild squinted at the ceiling, trying to process it, but he was left with nothing. He was on some sort of island, great. But Skyloft? Flaps to the south?

Wild hissed as he shifted, his face stinging. Sky cringed. “You got a little sun burnt. It happens more easily up here. Your scars didn’t like it too much. I’ve got some paste I can put on it in an hour or so, the last of the previous bit is just absorbing.”

Wild was going to reply when he felt the other person’s back gently nudge him with another breath. Glancing over, he saw Legend’s hair, the distinct pink highlight immediately recognizable.

“Is he okay?” he asked hoarsely.

“The veteran’s fine,” Warriors piped in, and Wild traced the voice to find the captain sitting up in a bed beside theirs. Wind’s messy hair was visible on the pillow beside him. He gave the champion a reassuring smile. “Our smithy said this is a normal reaction to being this high up.”

“B-but everyone’s okay?”

“Everyone’s okay,” Twilight assured him. “We’ve just been resting here. The traveler made it to Skyloft and stayed put, but Sky’s been going back and forth. Our smith finally felt good enough to head over there too. It shouldn’t be long for the rest of us - if I remember correctly it only takes a day or so to acclimate.”

If he remembers correctly? Has he been here before?

Wild simply nodded, relaxing in the comfortable warmth of the bed. The guilty look on Sky’s face caught his attention again, and he reached his hand out to the knight, who quickly grasped it.

“Welcome home,” Wild said, smiling.

Sky let out a small laugh. “Thanks.”

“I’m telling you, you’re built different,” Warriors remarked, seeming to pick up the conversation from where Wild had interrupted it. “I don’t know how you can be okay with being this high up.”

Sky giggled. “This is normal for me. You guys will get used to it! It’s just a few minor adjustments.”

“Minor?” Warriors repeated as Time chuckled.

Wild closed his eyes as Sky gently laid his hand back on the bed and tucked the blanket in a little better around him. He heard the voices begin to grow distant as the group shuffled over to Warriors’ bed.

Okay. A day. He could rest for a day.

And then he was absolutely going to ride one of those loftwings.

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