Chapter Text
His grip on her wrist was iron tight, as if the next time she slipped from his grasp, she’d never return. Zelda tried to keep up with his pace against the slosh of mud, against the hard rain pattering heavily down on them, just trying. Trying to get away, to go somewhere.
She did not let herself cry for long when his fingers first slipped from her wrist—time didn’t permit her to grieve over her fallen friends, not when the Guardians were hot on their heels.
“Link, I don’t think it’s wise to head to Akkala Citadel,” Zelda insisted, tugging her arm back to get his attention. He slowed down a little, pulling her close as they took refuge behind a large rock.
“What do you mean?” he asked, breathless. “It has one of the best defenses.”
“That’s exactly why we shouldn’t go there. That’s going to be the place where they’ll probably head to after.” Zelda wiped the blood off his chin with her palm, frowning. “Additionally, the path there would be too dangerous for the both of us to traverse.” Her eyes searched for signs of fatigue on him—he was good at masking his pain, but there was always a limit. Hero or not, there was always one.
He looked distraught at her words. His lips moved in a silent whisper to himself, probably trying to string his thoughts together before he spoke them to her.
“Hateno—“ they both said together.
“We can also get your family to safety,” Zelda said quickly. “I know you must be concerned to death about them.”
“…I trust my dad enough to take care of Aryll. She’ll keep him in check too,” Link said, but it was evident that he was trying to ease his own worry for them.
“Regardless,” Zelda insisted, “I want to… to at least protect them. I’d feel better if we could also take them to a safer location.”
Link mustered up a half smile.
They both flinched as the sound of the Guardian’s appeared once more, echoing incessantly throughout the storm around them, forcing them out of their breath of rest. Without a moments notice, they were up and running again, as Zelda strained to see what was ahead of them—the mist from the endless rain had obscured much of what she could see.
As they continued to run, Link snatched up a battered shield off of a fallen Hylian soldier and quickly latched it around his other arm. Her gaze lingered on the body as she passed by him—the soldier was laying face down in the mud, limp and gray. She wondered who he was, if he had a family. If he… if he—
She rammed into Link’s shoulder as he suddenly halted to a stop, his grip on her wrist loosening.
“What—“
Suddenly he dropped forward to one knee, bending over, clawing at his left shoulder as a hiss escaped his lips.
“Link!” Zelda gasped, running around to bend down in front of him. The first thing she noticed was pain and… and fear swimming in his eyes. Her gaze shifted from his eyes to his shoulder; an arrow—
Her heart leapt to her throat as he grabbed her and shoved her down under him, shielding her body. Arrows whizzed above them as Link held the crumbling shield over them before twisting to the side, forcing them to roll down the muddy hill as they avoided another volley of arrows.
They tumbled down blindly, and the only thing she could hear was the sound of snapping branches and ear piercing cackles of laughter mixing in with the pounding of the pouring rain. They tumbled into the darkness of the shrubbery at the bottom of the hill, her eyes searching wildly for some semblance of familiarity in their surroundings. They broke through some bushes, and it slowed their rolling to a stop into a small clearing.
“Are you okay?” he whispered against her ear.
Upon hearing his voice, Zelda sucked in a sharp breath of air, reminding herself to breath. She let out a strangled sound of affirmation, finding herself unable to speak. As she wiped the rain from her eyes, he lifted himself up from her on his elbows, flinching. The shaft of the arrow had broken off during their tumble, and as he flipped over onto his back he tore the rest of it out.
“Why would you—Link you know you’re not supposed to do that!” Zelda sputtered, hastily scrambling up and pressing her hands against his wound instinctively. “What if you tore something!” She glanced at the arrow that he had tossed aside—
Her heart dropped.
She looked back again, staring at it a bit longer, at the tip of the arrow. There were hints of green mixed in with the blood that coated it, as if… as if…
She pulled down the collar of his shirt, ignoring his weak hands trying to stop her. A sickly green pulsated from the wound, and it continued to spread with marks like violent veins. Her lips quivered as she continued to stare at it.
What could she do? What was it? What kind of poison? From an animal? Insect? Monster parts? A mix? She needed to test it, but… but where could she even go to make an antidote?
More time.
She needed more—
Link forced her head down against his chest with one hand as he hastily brought the Master Sword up above them with the other—Zelda violently flinched as the sound of metal on metal clashed above her, the blades grazing the top of her head. He grunted as he parried the blade away from them, quickly standing as he dragged her up with him, pulling her behind him.
Her eyes darted back and forth around the dark denseness of the forest that was beginning to swallow them up—her ears heard one thing in the corner, but her eyes saw another in the opposite direction, and it seemed as if no matter where she was looking the Yiga Footsoldiers were everywhere, surrounding them.
“There’s only three,” Link whispered to her, breaking her out of her thoughts. “We can get out of this.”
“How do you know?” she whispered back, her voice trembling with each word. “I—they’re everywhere, I can’t—“ She couldn’t focus; not with the pounding rain and the sounds of their laughter reverberating around the both of them, invading her thoughts.
“Last combat training lesson for the day,” he said, trying to make his voice light as they continued to take slow steps back. “Try to only focus on the sounds around you. Let each sound filter through first.”
Zelda would’ve laughed if she wasn’t terrified half to death. She let out a strained exhale, focusing on his back as she willed herself to calm her racing heart. She pulled up her dress, searching for the harness that was strapped around her thigh. Once her fingers found the handle to the dagger, she unsheathed it, holding it firmly in her grip, just like he taught her.
Separate the rain, the sound of their breathing, the rustle of the leaves on the trees and brush shifting around them.
Separate them, and…
They both stiffened as they glanced ahead. Link drew up his shield, blocking a strike from one of the Yiga Footsoldiers. But then another came rushing to his side, and his grip on the shield was flimsy due to his seeping strength from the poison running through his veins—he struggled against the onslaught of the two Yiga Footsoldiers, their movements fast and sharp—quicker than Link could follow. The shield was beginning to crack and break, and Link’s movements had become noticeably sluggish as he struggled to keep the both of them shielded from getting sliced up.
Her ear twitched as a sound came from her left—the third Yiga Footsoldier dashed toward her, his blade held up high as it began closing in on her neck. She stood there stiff and wide-eyed, frozen in place.
Move.
She grit her teeth, raising her wrist up at the incoming swing as she bared for impact. The blade of the Yiga Footsoldier slammed against her metal wristlet, scraping as they both struggled against each other’s weight—he paused, his mask shifting from her raised arm to her face, as if he was surprised by the block. A snarl ripped out of her as she swung her dagger at his waist, tearing through cloth and flesh with a sickening squelch. His blood splattered over her hand. He stepped back, but she advanced forward, forcing the dagger in deeper, further, until she could feel her bare hand press against his open wound.
He tore away from her, and as he did so, the handle of the dagger slipped from her grasp. The other two Yiga Footsoldiers appeared next to him, just as bloodied and beaten up from slash marks that Link must’ve inflicted upon them. They gripped the arms of their wounded ally, holding him up as they took slow steps back.
Zelda stared at them as her bloodied hand trembled. The red dripped onto the damp grass beneath her, mixing in with the dirt. She didn’t look away until the three of them disappeared into the air without a trace.
“Zelda,” Link said softly. Her breathing stilled as he grasped her bloody hand, and her once narrowed vision widened as she shifted her gaze to his face.
She stared at him, her hand tightening around his as she simply gazed at the blood dripping from his cuts and wounds, at the bruises blooming over his ashen skin. “We gotta move.”
“But your wound,” Zelda said, her voice trembling. Her other hand hovered over his shoulder, unsure of what to do.
“Later. We need to keep going,” Link said quietly, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. “Did you get hit?” he asked, smoothing her tangled hair away from her face with his free hand. Before she even answered, he was already checking her body for any wounds.
She shook her head curtly, glancing back down at the hand he was still holding. The rain had washed away most of the blood, but she swore she could still see red staining her fingers. The rain couldn’t wash away everything, and his hands couldn’t either.
The rain pattered on endlessly, and the further they advanced, the heavier his breathing got.
“Link, if the poison doesn’t kill you the blood loss will. Let me at least cover the wound,” Zelda insisted, tugging his hand back to stop him from pressing forward. Reluctantly he obliged, and they sat down behind a broken down house.
She gathered the skirt of her dress, roving through it to find the cleanest part that wasn’t drenched with dirt, and ripped.
“What are you—“
“I don’t know,” she responded, her voice thick with hopelessness. She needed to do something, and this was all she could do. She turned toward him, fumbling with the ripped cloth. Her eyes widened as she noticed that the green veins had begun crawling over his shoulder down to his back, as if it was wrapping itself around his skin. At the rate it was spreading…
She searched his face desperately, but he wasn’t looking at her, he was looking somewhere past her, as if he was daydreaming. His eyes fluttered sleepily. It worried her.
“You said my name,” she whispered, hoping that conversation would keep him awake.
“You wouldn’t look at me otherwise,” he said, laughing weakly. “I should’ve done it earlier, I like saying your name.” He winced as she began wrapping the cloth around his injury. An apology was at the tip of her tongue, until he spoke again. “Zelda, Zelda, Zelda…” he muttered, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, she saw only herself reflected in the vast blueness of them.
“You’re an absolute mess, did you know that?”
“Your mess,” he said, his words slurring together a little. She couldn’t help but crack a smile at him, soft and sad, before she returned her attention to his shoulder. She was fixated on tending to it, fixated on finding a way to get rid of the poison—and then out of the corner of her eyes she noticed his head loll to the side. She paused, whipping her head from his shoulder to his face with growing panic.
The darkness in his eyes painted dread within her.
Zelda placed frantic hands on his cheeks, shaking him a little. He was fading, right in front of her.
“Link, stay with me, please,” Zelda begged, lightly patting the sides of his face in an attempt to wake him. His breathing became raspier by the second, as his eyes shut.
“No, no, no,” she pleaded, her voice crumbling. “Open your eyes, Link!”
He was still, the rise and fall of his chest quick and shaky.
“Link, wake up…” she whispered thickly, simply waiting. All she could do was wait.
He shifted—painstakingly slow, but he opened his eyes again, with effort. He pat her hand weakly, reassuring her that he was okay.
“We should split off—that way you’ll be less of a target,” she said quickly, not letting a moment go to waste. “You can go to Kakariko to meet with Impa and she can… I’m sure she can get rid of the poison. And I’ll make sure your family is safe.” She paused, hoping that he would agree. When he didn’t say anything, she egged him on a little more. “How does that sound? And… and then we can meet up again?”
He blinked the rain out of his eyes as he shook his head, refusing. “After I get the three of you to safety—“
“There isn’t enough time!” she choked out as a strangled, dry sob erupted out of her. She covered her face with trembling hands in frustration. “Don’t you understand? I can’t lose you,” she whispered brokenly. She didn’t know how to make it more clear to him, for him to understand the gravity of what she was feeling, and it left her feeling more alone than ever before. “Not you too.”
Several heartbeats passed between them, as the world she once knew chipped away from her bit by bit.
He carefully moved her hand away, and when she saw his beaten and battered face, a pang of pain stabbed her chest. “Okay, I’ll go there. But let me take you to the entrance to Fort Hateno at least.”
“Really?” she asked, sniffing. “Do you swear it?”
“I promise,” he said, brushing a stray tear from her cheek. He slid up against the broken wall, using the wreckage to pull himself up. He took a moment to regain his bearings and his strength, before unsheathing the Master Sword once more. He held out his other hand to her, making the effort to smile as he waited for her. She carefully took his hand, intertwining their fingers together.
Her heart sank at how weak his grip was; flimsy, fragile.
And with each step they took, the warmth of his skin only grew fainter.