#diggerlink

Thyme pressed his back to the trunk of the tree as his legs betrayed him and he slid to sit on the floor, breathing hard. He could feel the blood slipping through his fingers and when he coughed, he too tasted the blood. Shit.

He looked up at the sky, it was a lovely, sunny day. Perfect to cause a reset, he guessed.

His view was interrupted by a shadow that wasn’t the tree. It moved fast for his tired eye to follow, the creature knelt beside him- to check on his wound.

He tried to focus his blurry vision into trying to recognize whoever sat with him.

Thyme recognized the voice first.

“Oh this doesn’t look good.” said the newcomer.

Ah, Thyme thought, Digger’s “little brother”. The obnoxious kid with no sense of personal space.

“Is Digger with you?” he asked, hopeful that at least someone he knew and trusted was near.

The kid shook his head and his eyes were fixed on the wound, hands on his own knees, closed into fist. He seemed to be concentrating in something.

Thyme swallowed his own, thick spit, trying to keep his patience in check. “Do you have any hearty potions?”

The kid shook his head again, and let out a sigh. Thyme couldn’t help but groan as pain and the sense of impending death became a little too stressing.

“Thank you” he said with only bite in his voice.

But then he saw the boy’s lips glow a tender blue, and then his hands. Thyme caught his breath. A special ability? The glow reminded him of-

The kid pushed Thyme’s hand away from the wound and the sole touch gave Thyme goosebumps all over. He felt anxious suddenly, a little fearful even. Then the kid pressed one hand on the wound and suddenly Thyme felt a small jab of pain from the sting to its quick fading as a wave of freshness spread over his entire body from where the boy touched, and then it turned warm.

Thyme groaned at the sudden sense of pleasure and looked through his bangs to see the boy, as he leaned closer.

“Kid-” he said.

“I’m not a kid” said the younger hero, as his other hand went to Thyme’s chin. “Forgive me.”

And then he pressed his lips to Thyme’s, and everything went dark.

*

When Thyme woke up the sun was high enough to let him know it was past lunchtime. He should get up but he still felt too weak and the grass under him felt too comfortable. The kid-not-really-a-kid was sitting beside him.

“You should eat,” he said. “If you sit up, I’ll feed you.”

Thyme grunted, as nice as it felt to lie down like the dead, the promise of food was enough motivation as he sat up and greeted the other chosen one.

“I’m Momo, maybe you remember me?” said the younger hero, offering him a rice ball. “Digger’s brother? We met before-- you uh, pinched my nose and told me ‘got your nose’”

He laughed softly, a little nervous, but Thyme didn’t. He picked the food from Momo’s hand with a weak “thank you” and began to eat it slowly and watch the place around them. It wasn’t the forest where he got hurt. They now sat near a very small pond.  

Momo cleared his throat.

“I brought you here” he answered Thyme’s silent question. “Thought you might want to wash off all the blood eventually.”

Thyme turned to him, and then realized: he felt no pain. He quickly looked down to palm his sides and only found a hole on his clothes, with dried blood around it.

He looked back at Momo.

“You can heal” he said.

Momo shrugged. “Some sort of enhanced healing ability. I can’t revive the dead like Mipha’s Grace does, but I can heal just fine any other kind of wound or illness, no matter the severity” he smiled. “You’re okay now.”

Thyme nodded, grunted. He noticed the basket of rice balls on the ground between them and took another one.

“Why did you kiss me?”

Momo coughed.

“I didn’t--- kiss you” he said, laughing nervously. His face was red. “You were stressed and in pain, so I sent some healing energy to your brain to stimulate it into numbing the pain and relaxing you um- it’s just easier to reach the brain from mouth to mouth contact.”

“Mouth to mouth contact” Thyme repeated, incredulous, as he pushed the new ball of rice whole into his mouth.

“Uh-- um, I have to leave” Momo got up suddenly, dusting his lobster shirt and his ... underpants? Does this kid really walk around in underwear? “See you around, yes?”

Thyme swallowed and stood up as well, picking up the basket of food to hand it to him. Momo shook his head and started walking backwards, away from him.

“You can keep the basket, it’s okay” he said.

Thyme didn’t go after him, but felt strong enough to call for him. “Kid--”

“Not a kid” Momo laughed nervously again, getting further and further away from Thyme. “I’m actually twenty four years old, just don’t look like it? I uh, a disadvantage of this power is that it takes me longer to age I guess-- and I guess Digger baby talking to me in public doesn’t help either haha” he looked as red as a tomato now. “Boy I talk a lot- I have to go now.”

Momo turned and began to rush away now.

Thyme called him again.

“Momo.”  

That stopped him. Shrinking his shoulders, Momo turned around slowly, to meet him.

Thyme took a deep breath.

“I remember you, Momo” he said. “Thank you for today.”

Momo was far enough for Thyme to barely pick on his features except for his really, really red face and his open mouth.

“That’s okay” he said, and then turned to run away.

Thyme sighed, shook his head. For someone so loud and obnoxious, that kid could get as shy as a fairy sometimes.

He sniffled, and caught the stank of death from his clothes. Ah, right.

Slowly, Thyme started to unbuckle his belts and pull off his tunic, walking towards the pond. Well Momo was right about it being convenient, although he wondered how someone so small managed to drag him all the way here.

When he finally reached the pond, he decided to examine the new scar on his side.