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skyloftian-nutcase · 13 hours

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Provider Discretion (LU in Healthcare)

(Lots of technical jargon in this one, lovelies, hope you don’t mind)

Something wasn’t right.

The patient herself was… okay. Mostly. She had called 911 because she’d had back pain that had just been getting worse, and she’d said she couldn’t even get around anymore.

Mo and Hyrule often exchanged a somewhat exasperated look when someone called an emergency line for something that had been an ongoing problem, but today this… was different. She just didn’t look well.

“I’m really sorry,” the patient apologized for the fourth time as Hyrule and Mo loaded the stretcher into the ambulance.

“It’s okay,” Hyrule quickly reassured her. His heart ached a little at how much this woman wanted to seem to shrink into oblivion. Even Mo, who, despite his big heart, often came across a little standoffish, had tried to make her smile multiple times. “This is what we’re here for.”

With a chief complaint of back pain, there wasn’t much to do outside of check vital signs. Mo could easily take this call. But Hyrule just… this felt wrong.

“Let’s get a 12-lead,” he said, already grabbing the cables for it while Mo got vitals. His partner didn’t argue, helping him place the leads in the right positions.

Vitals looked mostly fine. The patient’s blood pressure was high. She said she had a history of hypertension, so perhaps between that and her pain that would explain it. Though 180/98 did not make Hyrule particularly happy. But he couldn’t treat that.

The 12-lead showed normal sinus rhythm. Nothing wrong there. But something just didn’t feel right.

Grabbing the blood pressure cuff, Hyrule checked it again, but on the opposite side.

There was a discrepancy.

Hyrule and Mo looked at each other, eyebrows pinching. Mo took a manual on the left. Hyrule took a manual on the right.

They still didn’t match.

Feeling dread fill him, Hyrule told Mo, “I’m taking this call. Let’s get going. We don’t need lights but… just drive expediently, ok?”

The transport was blessedly uneventful. But the discrepancy remained. Her blood pressure was high, but higher on one side than the other. Coupling that with back pain…

Her aorta. Hyrule was worried about her aorta. The biggest artery in this woman’s entire body could getting ready to tear apart.

When Hyrule texted Warriors later, he got his answer.

Dissection. They rushed her to the OR. You pointing out the BP difference really tipped off the doc. Good catch.

Mo whistled. “Good thing she didn’t rupture in our truck.”

Hyrule blew out a breath. He was just thankful he trusted his gut.

XXX

The dispatch information had been for diabetic emergency. Fire had gotten there first, which Aurora was thankful for since she and Dawn were coming from the hospital and therefore farther away than if they’d responded from the station.

When they arrived, the house was a nightmare. The street was so narrow that the ambulance and fire truck blocked the road entirely, the stairs were so narrow Aurora felt like she had to squeeze her arms in just to climb up them, and the turns were so sharp she wasn’t sure how any kind of equipment could get up there. The patient was lying on his bed, altered, and unable to move.

According to the patient’s friend, he’d heard him fall and came up to check on him. He knew he was a diabetic and figured his blood glucose had to be low. Fire had already checked it, saying it was over two hundred. As the firefighter paramedic gave information to Aurora, he said, “He could be acting like this because of his sugar. Could be a stroke. We’re not sure.”

Honestly, Aurora couldn’t see the patient all that well from her vantage point. Dawn had already walked in and started assessing, they’d handed a reeves stretcher to the firemen, and they were working on loading him on to it. The girl went downstairs to prep the stretcher for their arrival. Once they managed to get the patient into the ambulance, Aurora stared.

This man’s entire right side of his face was noticeably drooping. He was moving his head a little to the left, eyes somewhat moving, pupils equal. Aurora quickly asked him to look at her, to follow her finger. While he could stare at her, he couldn’t track at all, and his eyes wouldn’t move to the right. He blinked once while attempting, and was only able to blink his left eye.

Who the hell thought this could be his sugar??

Once Dawn got in the truck, they were quick to get vitals and a 12-lead. He was hypertensive, all other vitals fine.

“We need to stroke alert this,” Aurora immediately said.

“But he was last seen normal three hours ago,” Dawn said uncertainly. “Isn’t that outside the window? Or is the window four hours now?”

“I think it’s four,” Aurora answered. “And it doesn’t matter either way. This is absolutely a neuro issue. Drive us hot, okay?”

Dawn nodded, heading to the front. She drove to the hospital with the lights and sirens on, allowing them a faster transport time, while Aurora called it in to the hospital. As they progressed, she tried to get the patient to follow commands, but he couldn’t. He held up his right arm but couldn’t hold his left up at all, and he still didn’t really track any movement.

When they arrived at the hospital, they were placed in a major room, transferring him quickly to the hospital bed. Warriors was charge that night, working on coordinating all the help they’d need for this patient. The ED physician entered, looking the patient over, and then turned to Aurora, asking, “So what makes you think he’s having a stroke?”

Aurora stopped in mid motion, looking at him with the most enraged and bewildered expression. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Why do you think he’s having a stroke?” The doctor repeated.

“What makes you think he isn’t?!” Aurora snapped, completely mind blown that this was even a debate. “His face is drooping so low it’s hitting the earth’s fucking crust, he’s altered, not tracking movement, blinking with one eye, down on one side, is hypertensive, and you’re asking why I—do you even know what a stroke is??”

“Let’s just alert it,” Warriors said calmly as he walked into the room, clearly sensing that the paramedic was about to explode. “It’ll get us a CT to rule it out.”

Aurora was fuming, and she stormed out before she could hear a response. Dawn tried to gently check on her, only to be subjected to her ranting for the next hour.

Later, Warriors texted Hyrule, who relayed the message. “You were right.”

“OF FUCKING COURSE I WAS!”

XXX

Legend wasn’t particularly a fan of working triage.

There were aspects of it that were exciting - he was the one to make first contact with patients who didn’t come in via ambulance, and he determined their acuity. But there was also a public relations aspect to it, a patience dealing with impatient people, a kindness and sympathy for those who were genuinely hurting or needing help but had to wait anyway. It was understandable, but public relations… was not Legend’s forte.

There was a reason he was put in triage, though.

It wasn’t always obvious, what was wrong with someone. But there were times when a patient just didn’t look right. Legend saw the man limp over, listened to him as he explained that he had some leg pain that had been going on for the last few days, how he thought maybe he’d strained a muscle but the pain hadn’t improved.

There were always signs to look out for. Little things, cues that something was off. The man looked resigned, reluctant; he clearly had been talked in to coming to the hospital, and he commented that his wife insisted on it. Legend saw the clothes he wore, heard the accent he spoke with, saw his muscles, and pieced together that he was probably a farmer.

Farmers never came to the hospital.

“We’ll get you back as soon as we can,” he finally said after completing his assessment. Usually, this patient would be low on the acuity scale—a muscle spasm or strain was not nearly as important as a heart attack, pneumonia, sepsis, strokes, traumas—but Legend made him a yellow rather than a green. Just to be sure.

That higher acuity score got him a room far faster. That faster room made a doctor assess him and notice that his left leg was bigger than his right. That doctor made sure he got an ultrasound of his leg, found clots in his leg. She also learned the man was short of breath sometimes, which his wife insisted was new, and got a CT scan.

Legend glanced at his chart later to see him being admitted. Confused and curious, he did some digging.

The man had a pulmonary embolism.

Huffing with a small smile of satisfaction, Legend closed out of the chart as another patient approached.

XXX

Time had to admit, he did not spend as much time assessing his patients as he should. His hours were stolen away in the OR, unpredictable and chaotic as his line of work was. So sometimes he didn’t get to round, sometimes he didn’t have a chance to walk in and chat with the patients and the nurses and the licensed independent providers who took charge of their care.

Today he was glad he did.

The patient was actually calm and pleasant, had little complaint of anything except for some lower back pain. In the world of uncomfortable hospital beds, it wasn’t a huge surprise.

But Time saw something. Some staining, bruising, around the patient’s groin. He peeked around their gown, turned them a little, and saw it.

Their groin was purple. He asked the nurse, who said they were told this had been baseline for a day or two, and that the independent providers over them had acknowledged the finding and moved on.

Time walked into the doc box where the providers were. “I want a CT abdomen for room 3. She’s got some bruising that’s concerning. Her H&H has been down trending steadily.”

“Her JP drains haven’t put out much,” the physician assistant noted, looking over the patient’s chart.

“She might have a retroperitoneal bleed,” Time pointed out. “Let’s just be sure.”

Years of education and even more years of experience had taught the trauma surgeon well. The war was especially humbling and educational. So when he got a text from the PA that the patient did indeed have a retroperitoneal, he wasn’t surprised. But he was disappointed that he had to be the one to notice it.

Sometimes, he supposed, it took the leader to point out the problem.

XXX

Four… didn’t like this.

Report had been bad enough. The day shift nurse spoke of how the patient had been previously septic and was recuperating well before her pressor demand had gone up during the day. She looked… not great. She was so edematous they were constantly changing the sheets underneath her arms because her body was leaking fluid from every inch of itself - they had dumped fluids into her over the last few days just to maintain her blood pressure. She was on a lasix drip to get her lot o pee off the fluid as best as possible, and her kidney function was… decent, but not great.

As Four assessed her, the clenching his chest only worsened. She was alert, oriented, a little miserable but trying to be in good spirits, bless her. She was peeing a decent amount, her pulses were present despite the swelling, her lung sounds were a little coarse but overall mostly clear. Her abdomen was soft and non-tender, her pupils were equal and reactive, and she didn’t have much complaint of pain aside from being sick of laying in bed, which Four could understand.

But still. This just… didn’t look great.

As the night progressed, the woman’s pressor need climbed. Four continued to increase epinephrine, increase norepinephrine. He tried not to increase the vasopressin too much as it had such a profound effect on vasoconstriction that it could cause necrosis. Also, the woman had a history of heart failure and had a pretty weak heart.

Four eventually went to the resident in charge of the patient for the night. “Hey. Can we maybe give 11 some albumin? She has plenty of fluid to give, but clearly it isn’t in her vasculature - she’s peeing ok but her pressure isn’t tolerating it. I feel like it could help.”

The resident shuffled on his feet uncertainly. “The surgeon really wants to make sure we can get this fluid off. I’d rather keep her negative and not give her more fluid, you know?”

“Yeah, I get that,” Four greed before continuing, “But albumin is only 250mL, and if it helps suck in the fluid that’s third spacing, it’ll still help. We’re dumping fluid in her through the pressors anyway.”

The resident continued to waffle, before the night attending asked, “She’s on vaso, right?”

“Yes.”

“Just go up on that.”

Four stared a moment longer, starting to doubt himself. He hadn’t been a nurse for long, and if an attending physician was saying this, then… it had to be true, right?

Sighing, he went back to the room and did as he was told. The patient’s blood pressure improved well enough, and the night progressed fine.

The next night was not as fine. At rounds, Four suggested that perhaps she should be lined for CRRT, a continuous dialysis that would allow for Four to control how much fluid they were pulling and would likely be better for the patient to tolerate. The night doctors shrugged, saying they’d mention it to the day team.

Again, the woman’s blood pressure was tanking. Again, Four had to increase pressors. Vaso had been turned down and was told to be left alone because the woman’s systemic vascular resistance was so high the attending was worried about her heart. (Four couldn’t help but feel a little bitter about it, because he knew that was going to happen)

This time, though, she went into atrial fibrillation as well. As Four called the resident and attending into the room, they deliberated the matter, muttering, “Maybe we should line her for CRRT.”

Four blinked. Stared. Was he… losing his mind?? Was he invisible? He’d suggested this earlier!

Ultimately, Four had managed to keep the patient stable enough so that it wasn’t needed. Ultimately, the shift ended uneventfully.

But when Four came back for his third night, he could hear the woman’s breathing from the door, he could hear how she was drowning in fluid because she couldn’t tolerate losing fluid but had too much for her lungs and heart to handle. The day team had lined her for CRRT, but her pressors were almost maxed out at their dosage, and she was so hypotensive that the renal nurse who had set up the machine was hesitant to start it up, saying it would further bottom out her pressure.

Tonight was different, though. Tonight, the provider in charge of making decisions and orders was a nurse practitioner, someone who was used to this unit. She walked in, saw the issues Four had seen, and she walked right back out, making a call.

Four struggled to keep the patient alive long enough for the ECMO team to arrive as the patient fell apart. He felt frustration boil his blood as he had to hand off her care after fighting for her, had to watch as the CV ICU nurse came in to take over while surgeons put large cannulas into the patient’s body to redirect blood flow around her heart so she could still perfuse her organs. He watched as they wheeled her out of the trauma ICU to go to the cardiac ICU where she would remain while on such extreme support, and he threw his pen on the desk, burying his face in his hands, fuming.

They should have listened to him.

#writing #lu in healthcare #lu legend #lu hyrule #lu aurora #lu warriors #lu four #lu time #lu dawn #Every provider sees things in different perspectives and it’s important for all of them to LISTEN TO EACH OTHER #Nurses are at the bedside and see the most and can figure out when there’s an acute change and can see what a patient needs #Doctors often can catch something that’s been unnoticed for a while because they’re coming in with fresh eyes and an overhead view #First responders get a big picture and take in a lot of info at once to make in the moment decisions #Everyone plays a part #But sometimes providers are freaking stupid #And sometimes I wanna strangle them #Here’s to hoping my phone and iPad didn’t edit medical terms into other words #Guess I’ll find out when I reread it in a bit LOL

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deadlygronkle · 3 days

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Ancestors Legacy Chapter 17

The Desert Chapter 7

Word Count: 5444

Ao3 Prev

Warriors awoke to the sound of paws padding against the cool stone floor. The noise should have been quiet and yet like most things now it rang loudly as if it was right next to his head. How anyone was still asleep was beyond him.

He lifted his head up, careful not to dislodge Wind who was curled up by his side. Looking around, Warriors spotted a familiar golden wolf carefully making his way over to the small spring.

“Time?” Warriors watched as Time flinched, ears pinned back, “What are you doing?”

Time turned towards the Captain, looking mildly embarrassed, “Ah did I wake you up? I was just getting a drink of water, or trying to at least,”

Warriors let out an amused huff, “Everything wakes me up with these ears. The world is like 20 times louder than it was before,”

“That I can agree on,” Time’s tail wagged slightly as he nodded in Wolfie’s direction, “How he has dealt with this sensitive hearing for so long I’ll never know,”

“You make it sound like he wasn’t always a wolf,” Warriors joked slightly, trying to ignore how Time’s eye widened, as he continued at a whisper, “How are you so sure he is the ‘Wolfie’ that we know?”

Time didn’t answer right away, his head tilted slightly as he thought of a response. Warriors had a far easier time reading Time as a wolf than he did when Time was a Hylian. Perhaps it was because Time wasn’t used to this form and what it entails. Though before that happens Warriors plan to take advantage of being able to read the old man for as long as possible.

“He is….” Time sighed, shaking his head, “Just trust me on this okay? He’s our Wolfie and is here to help us as much as he can,”

Warriors gave Time a long, hard look. The older Link knew more than he was letting on, just like how he never talked about where Twilight disappears for hours on end. Time wasn’t going to tell Warriors anything no matter how hard he was pressed.

So he will concede on this, for now at least.

“Alright,” Warriors’ tail smacked the stone floor as he shifted in place, “But if I find out he’s holding onto information…..”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” Time turned back around to get the drink of water he was talking about.

Warriors turned his attention to looking over the sleeping bodies of the others. Everyone still seemed to be fast asleep, or at least pretending to be. All except the writhing gray mass trying to squirm his way from under Wild. Grumbles and grunts could be heard from the large wolf, not that Warriors could understand any of it.

Warriors couldn’t help but not trust Wolfie. Just how he was acting made Warriors suspicious, especially with the whole ‘glowing eyes and trying to kill him’ deal. There was no ounce of recognition when Wolfie was glowing. Hell, Warriors had never seen such a crazed expression on Wolfie, especially pointed towards him. Annoyance sure, but never pure, blinding rage.

It just didn’t feel like the same wolf who curled around the campfire, always mysteriously vanishing when they woke up. Not to mention the issue with how Wolfie got up here in the first place, wolves aren’t exactly made for cannon travel after all. There must be some other way up here that Twilight doesn’t know about or he was lying that the cannon was the only way up.

As Warriors ruminated, Wolfie had successfully gotten himself out from under Wild all without waking the scarred Hylian up. The large wolf quickly took to looking over everyone from where he stood, head tilting slightly as he made eye contact with Warriors.

Wolfie was still coated in blood, whether it be human’s or monster’s Warriors rather not find out. Even the chain had specks of blood on it that would have to be dealt with soon so it doesn’t rust. The white parts of his fur were no longer glowing nor were his blue eyes.

Wolfie broke the staring contest by shaking his head and snorting irritably. He then proceeded to make his way over to the water, and, without much bravado, jumped in it. Wolfie, being the size that he is now, easily stood in the water and had to lay down to be fully submerged.

“Who-” The Great Fairy suddenly appeared at the sudden disturbance of her waters, “Ah, it's just you Divine Beast, washing off all the grime from your outing I take it?”

Wolfie raised his head from under the water, “Yes, Sorry about disturbing you. This is the only water source that I know of in these parts, and I rather not smell like rotting meat while I search,”

Warriors was surprised by Wolfie’s voice. Sure it still had the echo but it no longer sounded like the wolf ate sandpaper moments prior. Despite how quiet Wolfie was, Warriors could have sworn he heard that voice before.

The Great Fairy simply waved him off, “You do as you must, now what are your plans for today?”

Wolfie grunted as he shook off a paw before putting it back into the water, “Look around the local area while I hunt for food for these guys. Light Spirits know how much energy it takes to shift forms, they’re probably starving,”

Warriors turned his head slightly to look over to see Time’s reaction. Time had stopped drinking water and was listening to the conversation with surprising intensity. His ears were completely forward, directed at the two, and his entire body was frozen.

Warriors himself was still processing the information he just heard. Wolfie spoke as if he had some personal experience with transforming. Did Twilight tell him, or does Wolfie actually have a human form?

“A wise decision but,” The Great Fairy moved some of her green hair out of her face, “You have a few herbivores in your midst,”

“THAT is the hardest part of the hunting trip, I hope I can find some plant among the wildlife they can eat,” Wolfie responded, looking out to them as well.

“Might I suggest looking out for some grass and shrubbery, bark as well though I don’t suppose they’ll be too happy about that,” The Great Fairy finished with a smile.

“I don’t suppose they’ll be happy about raw meat-,” Wolfie’s ears flicked over in Warriors and Time’s direction as Time shifted from foot to foot.

Wolfie turned his head slowly towards the two, eyes widened slightly. Wolfie’s ears went flat against his head as he stared at the two. Warriors can’t even fathom how sensitive Wolfie’s ears were if he could hear Time shifting slightly from across the cavern.

The Great Fairy followed Wolfie’s gaze, and a look of understanding briefly past her face. She raised a singular eyebrow at Time and Warriors before her attention returned to Wolfie.

With a brief touch to the top of Wolfie’s head, she got his attention again, “Perhaps you should take one of them with you to learn?”

Wolfie shook his head, his voice now sounding like it did the previous day, “No. They aren’t ready,”

Warriors couldn’t even think about responding before the Great Fairy replied sternly, “You do not know that Hero. It is better for them to learn under you than try to figure it out like you once did,”

Wolfie let out a small growl, and moved to get out of the pool, “I won’t let THAT happen to them,”

The Great Fairy frowned, “You have no way of telling the future, help them now so they can help you in return,”

Time decided to shake out of his stupor and responded “Just give us a chance. Adapting to new challenges is what we do best,”

Warriors didn’t verbally respond, but he did nod along as he watched Wolfie’s reactions. Wolfie was staring down at the stone floor, his ears still flat against his head. Finally Warriors could hear a sigh from the Wolf, as he got out of the water and shook himself free of the water, it somehow not even flattening down his fur fully.

“Fine.” Wolfie looked more towards Warriors than Time, “Which one of you two are coming?”

“I am,” Warriors responded before Time could, “Sorry old man, but the others listen to you better than they do me. It’s smarter for you to stay here,”

Time did a motion akin to raising an eyebrow, “Then what are you going to do about the little otter at your side?”

Warriors bobbed his head up and down in lew of a shrug, “Sailor sleeps like a rock, I can just put him on you easily,”

“Oh really now?” Time’s tail wagged slightly, “When did I agree to this?”

“What else would you be doing? Talking to the Great Fairy? Having a staring contest with your reflection in the water?” When no answer came Warriors chuffed, “Exactly,”

“Do you even know how to pick Wind up without hurting him?” Wolfie’s voice croaked as he shook himself one last time for good measure and made his way over to the two.

“I- shit,” Warriors looked down at Wind who was still sleeping peacefully at his side.

If he wasn’t careful then he could do some serious damage. Time was even looking a bit frazzled by the implications. Both of them weren’t used to these forms enough to do that without harming the otter.

Wolfie silently moved over to standing directly next to Warriors and stared down at Wind like he was sizing him up. Then with surprising grace and gentleness, Wolfie bent down and picked up Wind from around the middle. The otter looked so small in Wolfie’s maw, like he could be swallowed in two bites.

Wolfie tilted his head wordless at Time, encouraging the other to lay down. When Time walked over and got settled Wolfie placed the otter gently on his side. Surprisingly Wind didn’t even stir and only moved to bury himself in Time’s fur.

“How did you do that so effortlessly?” Time asked, sniffing at the small otter on his side.

“First lesson is on controlling your strength,” was all Wolfie answered with, his chain clinking against the floor as he moved to the stairway, “are you coming or not?”

Warriors quickly got up and took off after the large wolf. Saying a quick goodbye to Time as he went.

“Stay safe,” Was all Warriors could hear from Time as he went to the next level of the dungeon

—--------------------------------

“Sooooo…. what are we going to be hunting?” Warriors asked once they were outside of the cave.

“Anything,” Wolfie turned to tilt his head at Warriors, “Try and find a trail,”

“A trail?” Warriors asked as his ears went to the side slightly.

“The scent trail monsters, people, and animals have that they leave while walking,” Wolfie explained, “Lions’ sense of smell isn’t as good as wolves, but you shouldn’t have an issue with it,”

Warriors bent down, giving the sand a test sniff, “So how does this work exactly?”

“It works differently for different people. All I have to do is sniff around to find the trails,” Wolfie unhelpfully explained, “Just don’t start following trails that smell… dark,”

Warriors looked up, “Dark?”

“Corrupting, evil, whatever you want to call it. Smells different for everyone, for me it smells like rotting meat,” Wolfie had a distant look in his eyes as he turned away.

“Alright then….” Warriors turned back to the ground as Wolfie went silent.

Wolfie had a hardened look in his eyes. Warriors definitely knew something was up, maybe an unfortunate experience during the quest here. Twilight got the same way when they were questioning him on his relationship with the Queen.

Sniffing the ground, Warriors tried to make sense of what he was smelling. There seemed to be thousands of smells intertwined just in this one area. A sour smell was most prominent coming from either Wolfie or older ‘trails.’ Unluckily enough Warriors couldn’t differentiate any of the smells.

“Did you find anything?” Wolfie asked upon hearing Warriors sigh.

“Nope, the main thing I smelled is something sour coming from you and the area around us. What’s up with that?” Warriors stood up fully, watching as Wolfie bent down to sniff the sand.

“Must be remnants of those three,” Wolfie’s nose was wrinkled, showing faint signs of sharp teeth.

“So there are three ‘interlopers’ as the Great Fairy put it? What’s their deal anyway?” Warriors asked.

“All you need to know is that they are the ones who stole the Great Fairy’s power, and they are the reasons the Zone is here,” Wolfie said, once again looking away from Warriors.

“But you know more,” Warriors supplied, “Why not just say it now rather than just keeping it to yourself? We are a team after all,”

Wolfie snarled, “Nothing I have learnt will help as at the moment. If it was relevant I would say something,”

There it was again. That damn look like Wolfie knew better than Warriors. Which may be true in this whole ‘animal’ thing, but knowing the details of a mission is critical. This isn’t something a team member should keep to themselves just because they can.

Warriors growled, “Listen here Fido- I am tired of you hiding information from us. So actually answer my questions, like where Twilight is or even the information you are clearly hiding,”

Wolfie just looked down at him cooly, “I don’t know where Twilight is, we went our separate ways at the Cave of Orde-”

“BULLSHIT!” Warriors got up directly in Wolfie’s face, “if he was around then he would have already found us! So tell me what happened to him before things get serious,”

He was done with Wolfie’s games. Twilight could be hurt or worse and he wasn’t going to risk it because this wolf wanted to be secretive. Just talking to this beast angered Warriors for some unknown reason.

Wolfie’s eyes widened, “Nothing’s happened to him! I- he-.... Just trust me on this alright? He isn’t hurt, and he is safe,”

That slip up did not go unnoticed by Warriors as he briefly wondered why both Wolfie and Time were so obviously keeping something from him. It bothered him to no end, teammates are supposed to share things. Especially if it was related to the job they were doing.

“Give me a reason to trust you and I’ll let this drop because this entire thing is suspicious as hell,” Warriors felt his tail flick wildly side to side.

Wolfie’s ears twitched, “What kind of reason do you want? Do you need me to prove that I am the ‘Wolfie’ you know or what?”

“That would be a good start,” Warriors was keenly aware of every movement the large wolf made.

“Fine,” Wolfie sighed, “When you were looking around the castle and encountered that poe. I saved the entire group, even getting a bit of my fur cut off in the process. Or I could talk about the time I woke you up from a nightmare roughly 2 weeks into m-.... Twilight joining you,”

Warriors was too surprised to process the slip up as he stared at the Wolf. It was for sure the wolf from the castle, although something wasn’t adding up. He didn’t remember Wolfie being there when he woke up. In fact it was Twilight who was on watch and woke him up.

Wolfie at that point was basically an enigma, barely being seen at the edges of battles, taking out any monsters that came too close. Wolfie didn’t even get into the light of the fire until a good month into their travels. So how exactly was this wolf the one to wake him up?

“So, do you believe me now? Or are we just going to keep going in circles like this?” Wolfie interrupted his thoughts, tilting his head.

Warriors nodded, “It’ll do right now. Only when we find Twi will I actually believe you,”

Wolfie huffed, “So we can go now, or am I going to be interrogated more?”

Wolfie’s forced gravelly voice dropped just for a second. The echo was still there, but it sounded eerily close to Twilight’s. In fact, Twilight said something similar back in the castle. Just what was the connection between the two?

The winds shifted slightly and Wolfie perked up, “Let’s go,”

‘Wait what?” The lion asked, having to bound after Wolfie just to keep up, “Where are we going?”

“I smell a Bullbo, we can use that to feed everyone easily,” Wolfie looked around, ears swiveling in every direction, “Just have to make sure we don’t encounter the rider,”

“It has a rider? Just what are we hunting?” Warriors asked, sniffing the air to try and find anything.

“A giant boar basically. The Bulbins use them to travel and for meat,” Wolfie’s head turned to their left for a moment, as he led them to the right.

“Will we encounter any Bulbins there?” Warriors asked, trying to keep up as Wolfie increased in speed.

Wolfie froze, head turning to the left again, “Look,”

Coming across a nearby dune was a warped creature. It was roughly the shape of a Bulbin but pitch black, a mask of white on its face. Glowing red lines were so bright that Warriors could see it from their position.

“What in Din’s balls is THAT?!” Warriors asked, watching the best shamble as if something was weighing it down

“Shadow cursed Bulbin, a fate that awaits for any monster that are trapped here,” Wolfie answered solemnly, “It shouldn’t bother us for now,”

“Will that happen to us?” Warriors took one last look at the pitiful creature before bounding after the wolf.

“Luckily no, your triforce protects you,” Wolfie started to drag one of his paws through the sand for some reason.

“Then what of you?” Warriors asked, watching as Wolfie’s fur rose for a moment.

“....You don’t need to worry about me. The Zones barely have an effect on me, even after all this time,” Wolfie finally said after a long moment.

Wolfie refused to talk anymore than saying a yes or a no to any other questions Warriors asked him. Due to that, the two settled into a slightly uncomfortable silence. The only noise being from Wolfie’s chain grinding in the sand and their sound of their feet hitting the sand.

Eventually Wolfie stopped, crouching into the sand as he looked onward. Warriors did pretty much the same, trying to figure out what the wolf was looking at.

It became abundantly clear what Wolfie was looking at. There was a small oasis at the bottom of the dune where a giant boar was eating. The boar has a saddle and didn’t even appear worried about any potential hunters. It looked like a perfect area for everything they needed.

“Is that the Bullbo?” Warriors asked, watching Wolfie sniff the air.

“Correct,” Wolfie spoke in a hushed whisper.

“So what’s the plan?”

Wolfie thought for a moment, “You flank it- attack either its legs or underbelly- I attack head on,”

“Is there a risk it will try and kick me?” Warriors asked, analyzing the beast.

Its hide was thick and coarse. Just from the look of it it was made for endurance more than intelligence. The more stupid the beast or person the more dangerous it is.

“Are there any doubts?” was all he got in response.

Warriors bit back a snarky response, “Any tips?”

This actually made Wolfie pause for a moment, “.....Trust your instincts, and back out if it gets too dicey,”

Warriors’ ears went back, tail smacking the sand with irritation, “Same stuff as usual then, what if you get injured? What then?”

Wolfie looked over, blue eyes filled with earnesty, “You don’t have to worry about that,”

Warriors huffed in annoyance as he went to his position. He was getting tired of people telling him not to worry. It must be a usual thing in this world as now both Twilight and Wolfie have essentially told him not to worry.

Once he was on the dune behind the Bullbo he saw that Wolfie started to approach it. Wolfie was crouched into the sand, keeping low to the ground as he approached the boar. It was a smart plan as Wolfie approached from downwind, freezing and crouching low whenever the Bulbin turned it head slightly.

Wolfie strategically moved to the side, eyes never leaving the Bullbo’s neck. Then with speed Warriors had rarely seen from the wolf, he struck. Teeth digging into the top of the neck of the beast, forcing it to kneel.

The Bullbo let out a pained squeal as red blood dripped into the sand. It shook, and stomped trying to get Wolfie to let go. He held on though, somehow keeping the large beast bent down as it squealed in pain.

Warriors took this as his time to come in and help. Racing in, he carefully avoided the flailing legs and jumped. He landed smack dab on the saddle of the beast, nearly slipping off immediately. This earned him a glance from Wolfie as he continued to bite down.

Warriors shook away any discomfort from his messy landing and looked at the beast. He could now tell that Wolfie was aiming for the spine of this beast to kill it. From how deep Wolfie’s teeth were in the beast’s neck it was only a matter of time.

After another moment of hesitation warriors decided to turn around and go for a back leg. His claws made it a relatively simple task to turn around, his tail going back and forth quickly as he tried to maintain balance.

Digging his claws into the Bullbo’s rough hide felt weird. It was somehow easy, but ripping at the muscles was a whole different task. Eventually he got to make an inch cut in the skin, the bullbo now screaming in pain so loud that Warriors winced.

Then, almost in slow motion, he felt the bullbo break free of Wolfie’s iron tight jaws rearing up on its hind legs. Warriors, almost like it was second nature, leaped, avoiding the boar trying to flip and gore him with its tusks.

Blood was pouring from the wound on its neck, as Wolfie moved to block the Bullbo from the Captain. Wolfie barked and snarled, jumping away from the beast almost in a taunting manner. The Bullbo took the bait and sluggishly charged at Wolfie.

Then, at the last possible moment, Wolfie dodged out of the way and immediately changed his direction to attach himself back onto the neck. The Bullbo let out one last scream, before crumbling to the ground lifelessly.

Wolfie let go, blood still dripping from his maw as he moved towards Warriors, “Are you alright?”

“Are you?” Warriors asked, seeing how tired Wolfie looked.

“I’m fine, it’s just been a while since I had to do something like that,“ Wolfie glanced back at the corpse before managing a smirk, “I wasn’t expecting you to jump on top of it though,”

“It seemed like the right thing to do,” Warriors bobbed his head towards the small plants in the oasis, “Shall we?”

The wolf’s ears flattened, “Let’s just hope we can secure the plants so they don’t fly away,”

The lion snorted, making his way towards the grass. Somehow they would figure this out even if it took all day.

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

It was eventually decided that Wolfie would take the Bullbo as Warriors took the plants and fruit. This was mainly because of Wolfie’s larger size and the fact he was actually able to move the beast.

So, Warriors took to securing the plants and fruit they managed to gather to the Bullbo’s saddle. Wolfie had torn the straps apart to get it free. It was a difficult task for Warriors to make a knot, especially with no opposable thumbs. Eventually though he managed to secure it with a sloppy knot.

“Alright! That should do it,” Warriors stood up fully to admire his work.

“Finally,” Wolfie grumbled as he stood up, “Now come on, the others are waiting for us,”

“Right,”

It was slow going as pulling the Bullbo up sand dunes was visibly starting to wear on Wolfie. There were still no complaints from Wolfie however as he obediently pulled it, getting slower and slower as time went on.

Warriors sighed, annoyed. It was clear to him that Wolfie wasn’t going to ask for a break anytime soon. Twilight did the same thing occasionally, especially when he was caught in the rain one night and was running a fever. Though this particular instance seemed a bit more dangerous than just being a little sick.

“Can we take a break? I need to readjust the knot,” Warriors lied easily watching the Bullbo corpse stop moving.

“Alright, we’re nearly back anyway,” Wolfie answered quickly, flopping into the sand with a huff.

Warriors spent as long as possibly pretending to fix the knot. He couldn’t drag it out for too long though as then Wolfie would come to see what the holdup was. When enough time passed Warriors turned around to tell Wolfie he was ready to go, only to see a familiar golden glowing poe.

“You.” Warriors snarled at the poe, who looked just how he did last he saw him.

Wolfie could immediately be seen on alert ears swiveling until he noticed the poe, “Shade?”

“You know this freak?” Warriors asked, looking at Shade unamused, “When did that happen?”

Wolfie thought for a second, “He helped to train both me and.. Twilight during his adventure,”

Shade shook his head and looked at Wolfie, his red eye showing just a faint bit of amusement in them.

“Your sense of humor is still skewed. I don’t see what’s funny about this,” Wolfie seemed to retort, though the shade just tilted its head.

“What? What did he say?” Warriors asked, but were ignored.

Shade tilted his head as a bandaged arm raised up and gestured to the area around them. Wolfie’s ear flattened and looked embarrassed.

“What the fuck is going on?” Warriors asked, looking in between the two.

“You can’t hear him?” Wolfie asked, as Shade shook his head.

“No! It’s just you replying to this silent prick!” Warriors replied, sending a glare over to the shade.

He hadn't forgotten his first encounter with the poe. How Time looked utterly terrified when making eye contact with it. Nor how the Shade seemed to be indifferent until they mentioned Twilight. Even now this ‘Shade’ seemed far more expressive than their previous encounter.

“You’ve actually met him before?” Wolfie asked, shooting a look at Shade.

“Yeah, he’s the one who pointed us to you,” Warriors said, pausing to look over at Wolfie, “So what was it saying?”

“Well-” Wolfie stopped and looked over at Shade, a small whine of confusion able to be heard.

Warriors look over at the Shade, seeing it raise its hand and signing out:

(I was telling him to take better care of himself)

Wolfie’s ears perked with interest as Warriors responded, “Wait you can sign? Then what was all of that cryptic pointing and glaring at Time shit?”

At the mention of Time, Shade’s hands clenched tightly mid-sign before relaxing and continuing, “(I… have my reasons for doing what I do)”

“You sure about that?” Wolfie innocently asked, which would've worked if not for the hard stare he was giving the poe.

If looks could kill, Shade would be 6 feet in the ground. Warriors was wondering what Shade was saying that was earning him that look.

“Another thing!” Warriors once again drew the twos attention from the staring contest, “Why is it you have Old Man’s helmet? Are you the original owner of it or something?”

The lion could actually see amusement in the red eye, “(Why do YOU think I have it…. Captain?)

Warriors’ blue eyes were blown wide open as Wolfie looked between the two confused. Shade had just used his ‘sign name’, something that very few people knew and even fewer used it.

He thought back to those in his world and who helped him in the war. This poe was recognized by Wolfie so he must be attached to this world somehow. That ruled out a good chunk of his allies, leaving only two people- well Links- that it could be that used his sign name.

“No way…” Warriors found himself sitting down, “Time?!”

“(It has been some time since I was referred to as such)”

“Wait what?” Wolfie looked between the two, his voice no longer having the distorted effect, “What’s going on? How do you know who he is?”

“He used my sign name, not many people use it even today,” Warriors looked at the poe, “I’m surprised he remembers it with how…. Old he looks,”

“(You are not surprised by this.)” Shade noted.

“Well… yeah,” Warriors sighed, wishing he could scratch the back of his head, “Twilight kinda told me that he met Time- well- YOU during his adventure. That idea expanded when Twilight freaked out towards your Stalfos form. I wasn't expecting to see you so…”

“(Dead?)”

“Yeah.. that,” Warriors said noting how Wolfie flinched, “You signing would have been useful for leading us Twilight rather than this prick,”

Warriors looked at Wolfie who was avoiding looking at Shade with all his might. His ears were completely flat as he took to using his other paw to fiddle with the manacle around his leg.

“(I showed you the way to Twilight)” Shade casually looked at Wolfie, who now looked panicked.

Warriors frowned, right about to say something as the pieces fell into place. The matching scars on the left arm, the matching tattoos, even the ear piercings. The refusal to answer his questions all made sense. How did he not notice that Wolfie and Twilight sounded and acted so similar to each other?

“Holy fuck. You’re Twilight,” Warriors said it like it was a statement, as Wolfie’s head snapped towards him.

“What? No-” Wolfie looked to Shade, “Back me up here!”

Shade lifted both of his hands up, apparently saying something that Wolfie did not like as he growled.

Warrior grinned, “You're totally him!”

“No-” Wolfie tried to refuse, as he was interrupted.

“All that bravado and aloofness-” Warriors fully laughed now, “You were just trying to keep your identity a secret!”

“I just told you-” Wolfie paused, seeing Shade shake his head.

He continued, now looking defeated, “This is your fault Shade. Fine, I’m Twilight, happy now?”

“I can’t wait to tell the others,” Warriors replied smugly.

Twilight’s eyes widened with panic again as he quickly walked over, “You can’t!”

“Why can’t I?” Warriors met the panic with calmness.

“I…” Wolfie paused, “This form of mine, isn’t from the usual magic everyone uses. I was cursed- you know that necklace I wear?”

“The one you freak out about if anyone so much as looks at it?” Warriors specified, “What about it?”

“Zant cursed me to this form, shoving that crystal into my skull,” Twilight looked down with disgust, “It’s dark magic, not very befitting of a hero,”

“So you're worried about their reaction to you using some unconventional magic?” Warriors waited until Twilight nodded, “...Your a fucking idiot,”

“What?” Twilight tilted his head, his ears bending with gravity.

“You’re family, why would we care about the specific magic you are using? You’ve already proven you can be trusted 20 times over,” Warriors sighed, “But fine I’ll keep it a secret for now. Who all knows about this?”

“....Wild, Four, and Time,” Twilight responded with a sigh, “Now can we go? The others have to be wondering where we are,”

Of course those three knew, they were constantly hiding things and making excuses as to why he was gone in the first place. Warriors internally grumbled at all the blatantly obvious hints to Wolfie’s identities. Even Time’s slip up made sense now.

“Sure…. Mr. Floof Flooferton,” Warriors grinned as Twilight snarled.

“I can and will bite you,”

“But you won’t,” Warrior looked to where Shade was only to find he had disappeared, “Where did he go?”

“Who knows?” Twilight grumbled, “He does this everytime, gives some cryptic advice before vanishing into mid air,”

Warriors went over to the saddle, ready to pick it up again, “Well let’s just get to the others, I can’t imagine how hangry they are,”

“We will find out soon enough,” Twilight grabbed the reins of the Bullbo, once again continuing to lead them back to the Cave of Ordeals.

#ancestor's legacy #linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu hyrule #lu legend #lu time #lu twilight #lu warriors #lu wild #lu wind #lu sky #lu four #linked universe fanfic

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