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The warpath to battle Shy Scales was brief, even including their weapons and charms detour. The monster muted the patter of their run with taunts placed directly into Link’s mind, and maybe Sidon’s too.
L̷ i n̡ k͠?͏ S̕ t o͠ p k e e҉ p i҉ n g m͢ e w͡ a i t͡ i̛ n g͝.̴.͝..͠
The sultry voice it used this time belonged to a cocktail of a bit too many people for Link’s comfort. Zelda was in there somewhere, even though he was sure his feelings for her had been a very dear but platonic friendship. And...Beedle for some reason? Aaaand most awkwardly of all, he identified both Sidon’s and his sister Mipha’s voices, which was wrong to combine in a sultry manner for too long a list of reasons. Oh, and he had heard Muzu’s too but Link found that comical.
He wasn’t really sure how the telepathy worked. There had to be some mindreading or it wouldn’t know all of these people. Would it know how he and Sidon planned to attack it before they even moved to do so?
It decided to use only Sidon’s voice this time. And even for a phrase the prince had said just minutes before they left the party: Shy Scales whispered, I t̨ i͢ s̵ s o̸ ͜g o o͟ d ͠t o ҉h a̢ v̸ e y o̸ u ͞b̨ a̵ c k̢ ̷L͠ i n͟ k͜. T̷ h a̡ t ̶w͠ e͘ e̴ k ̶w i͘ t̴ h҉ o͢ u t̕ ̧y҉ o u ̕r͠ e̴ a l l͠ y͢ o̢ p e n e d͜ m y ȩ y͝ e͠ s, into Link’s head. It felt like he was deep underwater and the pressure was beginning to hurt.
Sidon’s shout of, “Mipha’s voice is not for you! Let her rest!” confirmed that he too was hearing things. Link was a little relieved that they were apparently hearing different things though.
They skidded to a stop at the entry room, finally seeing their foe. The place had a strange atmosphere and when they stepped into it Link felt static in his bones.
Everything beyond a certain point was covered in a strange orange glow that still somehow looked cold despite the warm color. It acted like a thin mist that made the rails a bit blurry and gathering thickly wherever there was a corner. Squarish black flecks leaked up out of the floor like rainwater from a worn roof. While the visible aura was perplexing, the broken—or rather breaking — state of Mipha’s statue was the worst part.
Curling above the ruined statue was the monster. Maybe not all of it, considering how large Link had heard that Shy Scales must have been to leave bodies crushed the way it did, but part of it. What they could see of it was a tendril of human-shaped arms coiling around each other, gripping each others’ wrists. Every arm was dual-colored black and white with angular teal swirls and patterns dotted about. The arms at the end were breaking off pieces of Mipha’s statue and pulling the stone into itself. The arm-tendril was rising out the clover-shaped ankle-deep pool around her statue. However right now the pool was not ankle-deep. It looked bottomless.
So whether or not Shy Scales actually has scales is still anyone’s guess.
“That,” Sidon started pensively, pausing when a black fleck sunk up in front of his face, “must be a creature from the Twilight Realm.”
Link drew his sword and shield. The twilight realm huh? It run a bell but not quite clear enough to stir any memories inside him. If we can kill it , I guess it doesn’t really matter where it came from, right?
I͡ f ̧w e ͞c a̵ n ͡k i̧ l l i͟ t̡ , the monster’s Sidon voice echoed him.
Perhaps on queue, more forms were lifted to life like the black upward drifting squares. They were vaguely person-shaped and made of the same ethereal black stuff.
Sidon dashed forward without Link. The large Zora drew two icy swords as he ran, leaping elegantly over the small group of shadows to make the first blow on the arm tendril. Seeing Sidon’s ridiculously fun-to-watch style of attack filled Link with pride about him. He was such a dashing fighter. It also made Link determined to make Sidon proud of him too.
He also ran at the foe. His journey was nearly thwarted immediately by the first shadow he passed. Its arm shot out and grabbed Link firmly by the neck.
His return slash was quick: a diagonal slash downwards that sent shadowy boxes flying towards the water. He heard an oooing moan similar to the noise of a poe. The shadow didn’t fall, but it did release him. Odd.
Last time I saw Shy Scales it used an illusion to make me think I wasn’t wading through water, Link remembered with a gasp right when he made it to Mipha’s statue. So what is it tricking us into thinking right now? He scanned the room, trusting nothing.
Meanwhile Scy Scales’s arm tendril had completely enveloped Mipha’s statue which was causing Sidon some distress. The Zora prince kept swinging his swords at the writhing arms, but whenever either blade came close, the arms would suddenly part and he would strike his sister’s memorial.
Link took a swing at it. His blade met the stone too.
A rush of water swirled around their legs.
Link barely saw red-pupiled eyes moving upwards towards their feet in time to cry, “Move!”
Sidon heard and backflipped dramatically out of the way, while Link hopped in a different direction.
Shy Scales’s lipless mouth erupted from the pool, showering water dramatically. It swallowed Mipha's statue whole. Being so much larger than the pool, the ground resisted and Shy Scales was forced to a halt. The mouth had still made it much higher out of the water than Link or Sidon stood. Its teeth were as thick around as Link’s torso. Its grey and black gums had blinking orange eyes imbedded in them, fickley shifting individually between Link and Sidon. The hungry stares and clacking teeth made him wonder if it wanted to eat them. Probably.
Sidon's arrows rained on some of those eyes, so Shy Scales began to descend.
Link also moved to attack, driving his sword into the quickly retreating skun of Shy Scale's under-jaw. The rest of Shy Scales’s descent likely left a long deep cut.
A reassuring cheer from Sidon brought Link’s attention to the way his heart was beating. Fast, but in a different way than usual around Sidon. It was a very even pace, the heartbeat of battle. But he was still feeling a bit giddy now. Here we has! Here both of them were, doing as they had meant to for months. Doing exactly what Link had been motivated to do by Sidon’s very first praises.
He turned and tried to cast that motivating sharkman a smile, but before he even saw the red Zora something heavy threw Link to the ground.
Link received Shy Scales's first attack and it was rage-inducing to Sidon. The Zora Prince was a merciful person but anything that touched Link would have none . Shy Scales had already doomed itself by taking so many of his people, but to touch Link? That made him want to maim it before Link’s finishing blow.
As soon as the very last tooth had descended into the pool, Link had turned to cast Sidon a dazzling smile. That smile had almost been enough to change Sidon’s mood from being hateful of Shy Scales to smitten with Link. Of course he was both all the time, but deep down he was always eager to treat battles with Link like dates.
The wormlike arm-creature had ruined that. It shot from the water and slammed itself horizontally down on the little Hylian like a felled tree.
Sidon raced up and was relieved to see Link's legs kicking under it. The Zora raked his blades along one of the Twili arms, drawing no blood but still prompting a jerky retreat from the beast.
Link coughed and scrambled backwards for a moment under the arms’ shadow. When he saw Sidon towering over him, slashing up at the tendril as it retreated, his face became more calm. Possibly pleased. Sidon was pleased too; pleased Link appeared to be unharmed. What a sturdy and magnificent little creature he is.
A̡ - a r e̢ ̶ w e j u̡ s͠ t͟ ̷f͝ r i҉ e̢ ņ d s ? Shy Scales whispered in Link’s voice while the real Link said something Sidon couldn’t hear. At least he could kind of read his lips and registered a “thank you”.
“Stop using Link’s voice!” Sidon yelled at the tendril that swung about the room, drawing his bow and arrows again. “Link’s and Mipha’s voices are not yours.” The sentence in Link’s voice did seem familiar though, somehow. He gave Link a quick look to check if he was still alright.
Link was climbing to his feet, saying something else. Shy Scales had spoken right over him again: ̨ O͟ r . . . ͟ O̷ r a̶ r e̕ ͠ w̨ e̸ m o r e ̕t͞ h͟ a͟ n ̨f͠ r͠ i̷ e n̢ d s ?
Oh. Sidon remembered this conversation. Link had said that on the day he’d run away from the Zora armor meeting. Luckily the armor didn’t seem to be necessary after all. But that sentence, Sidon realized with widening eyes, it hadn’t been about Mipha had it?
He turned and gave Link a shocked, apologetic look.
“LOOK OUT!”
The arms had returned. Sidon had glanced over just in time to see them sail up to him.
First the tendril scooped Sidon, then Link up. The two were pinned together by the force of its swing and the air rushing into them. It spun them all the way around the room and over the “heads” of the shadowy beings twice then hurled them both into a pillar. Link got pancaked between it and the large, heavy Zora.
Sidon had never heard a noise as awful as the cracking of Link's ribs. Something dark inside him swore the cracking of the monster’s neck would be a hundred times louder.
They fell backwards from the pillar. Sidon fell onto his butt and then Link fell-face first into Sidon’s chest, crumpled and small. The Hylian's shaky hands assessed the damage done to one side of his ribcage. He didn’t make any noises as he did so.
Sidon’s panicked touching of Link’s back and shoulders only garnered twitches from Link, so the prince stopped and whispered urgently, “Can you hear me, Link? Are you alright?” He glanced back and saw Shy Scales flailing about directionlessly.
Link coughed once, sat up, and looked Sidon in the eyes. His blue eyes were fierce. “I’m okay,” he said steadily. “This is nothing.”
Sidon eyed him for a moment but stood anyways. He wanted nothing more than to take Link directly to receive the Zora Domain’s best treatment. But this villain’s defeat was pertinent and he believed in Link. He always believed in Link. When Link stood, Sidon even voiced that last part. It seemed to motivate the blonde even more.
The two of them raced back into battle, shooting arrows and dodging the weak swipes of the shadow people. The arms didn't seem to be able to dodge arrows at least.
S͡ o m e̸ k͞ i̴ n͜ d͟ o f p u l v̴ e r i҉ z i n g ͝m̴ a c h i n e , he heard Shy Scales say in Link’s voice. It flailed about the room, throwing bits of Mipha’s statue about. They had gotten a few damaging blows and lands in, but none of the rocks had hit them. Occassionally they had to defend from the shadows, some of which even had weapons to slash at them with. Link dodged every one and Sidon's skin was thick so the one that landed was barely a graze. The water was rumbling again though.
“It's coming back,” Sidon warned. He and Link both retreated quickly.
As he’d predicted, Shy Scales’s mouth burst from the water for the second time. He nocked a few arrows and let them fly into some of the confusing eyes scattered around in the monster's gums. That arm-tendril was still flailing around. It seemed to be rooted in the back of the monster’s bottom jaw…
Sidon was surprised; that tendril made of a countless of Twili arms was Shy Scales’s tongue!
S i d͜ o n̛ , Shy Scales mumbled in Link’s voice as its monstrous teeth clacked, I l͞ e̢ t a n͟ ̢ o l d w o m̨ a n l o s̕ e ̸h͘ e r̨ e n̡ t i̧ r͏ e ̷ f a m i͞ l̴ y b y ̢ n o͢ t b̷ e i n̴ g҉ t h e r e t o ̶ s a v̕ e ̧t h e̡ m . A confession Link had made to him a long time ago. It was obviously painful for Link to talk about and the prince had understood why he felt guilty even though it was senseless at the same time. Sidon himself felt responsible for every life in the Zora Domain in a similar way. Whether or not he was truly to blame, he accepted it unto himself. ̛I t̡ '̶ s ͝ b̷ e e n͜ ̢e ą t i n g m͏ e̡ ̸ u͘ p͘ ̢e̴ v e̴ ŗ ͞s̶ i n͝ c e , the monster finished quoting his dear Hylian hero.
Link’s scream drew Sidon from his reflection—one he’d not even noticed he’d suddenly been caught up in, and he found that he and Link were both caught in the grip of the monster’s tongue. He was elbow-deep in the Twili arms and they were still dragging him deeper and deeper. Way over on the other side of the pool, he saw Link in the same situation, but they were also grabbing at his hair and his shirt while he struggled and kicked and tried to buck away.
“Unhand him!” Sidon roared, as if it would obey him.
Shy Scales’s response was the first physically breathed sound the monster had made yet: a long and warbling moan like whale's song. Sidon immediately knew that it was the monster's laugh.
The yank was violent. It dragged them along with it, right off their feet, into the pool and into the Twilight Realm.
The temporary charms under Link’s tunic activated immediately. They spared him from the death that he knew would have come had the activation not been immediate. Foul-tasting water filled his mouth and lungs when he inhaled deeply. It made his ribs ache to breathe something thicker than air.
The moment he had been pulled through that portal and into these dark waters, the weight of an entire bottomless ocean had threatened him. Had his charms taken any amount of time at all, and that weight would have crushed him more thoroughly than Sidon and that pillar ever could have.
Sidon’s rumbling laugh washed around inside his head just like the murky and black-square-dotted Twilight ocean did. B e ̡p a͜ t i̕ e n͟ t ,̡ L i n͝ k͠ .
The dual-colored arms released him. He drifted backwards and watched as the tendril passed him by, descending deeper and deeper.
I ' l l p l a̵ y w̨ į t͝ h ͞y o u i n͜ j u s͘ t a ͘ m i n u t̶ e.
I don’t want to play, he thought dazedly. You’re not very nice.
H͏ m҉ m҉…... M a y b͏ e ͟ S i d҉ o n҉ ̡t͠ h i n͜ k͜ s I '͡ m͢ n i c͢ e .̴
Of course, as Shy Scales said that Sidon was dragged swiftly past Link. He seemed to have freed one of his arms and was carving his other free using his sword.
H e ' s̕ a͘ ̕p r̢ i͘ n c̛ e. ͜ P̕ r i̛ n c͘ e̕ s ̷m u s̛ t t̕ ŗ e a̴ t͏ e͟ v͘ e͞ r y o҉ n̕ e l i̸ k e ͏t͏ h̕ e y ͡a r e̵ n i c e̷ .̵
That alarmed Link. Corpses of every race but Zoras have been found on any shores where Shy Scales had been spotted. Zoras stay missing, he remembered and it broke him from his confused state. I’m not letting whatever happened to the others happen to you, he thought determinedly, but Sidon had already sunk out of his vision.
Link kicked and kicked. His finless feet carried him far too slowly for his liking. He needed to grab that tongue-arm thing! As it nearly passed him, he managed to snatch a hold of the very last wrist. It jerked him downwards and caused Link to gasp in pain from his broken ribs.
The monster he saw below him, getting closer and closer as the tongue slid back into its mouth, was some kind of an… eel.
Link frowned. Something was happening. He could feel some kind of a memory surfacing as he looked at it.
Fanning the eel’s head were long and clear tendrils with small electric jolts riding them out towards their tips. Beyond its mouth, the creature had a dark grey shell similar to a lobsters. There was one large orange eye on the back of its head.
A memory from his life one hundred years ago flashed into Link’s head. He was reading a book of old extinct monsters and had been given nightmares by one in particular. The Morpheel.
This Twili Morpheel dwarfed the ones he’d read about all those years ago. Because of the eccentricities he’d never heard of Hyrule’s Morpheels having, this one was even more frightening. On top of that, Morpheels were already goliaths of monsters, but the lengths recorded in that book had nothing on this one. At least it still had the one solitary eye: its weakness.
He pulled his way down towards it, grabbing wrist after wrist, but stopped when he spotted what he was looking for. He wasn’t incredibly surprised to see Sidon swimming up towards him like a canon cutting through the water. His swords were slipped neatly back into their sheathes but did have some Twili arm flesh hanging from them. Of course he’d cut his way free all on his own.
Sidon’s reflective eyes landed on Link and he changed his course a tiny bit, aiming directly at him. The great wake behind him looked almost like steam.
A hiss. H͜ ę d o e s̡ n o̕ t̨ ţ h̛ i n k̢ I͠ ' m n i̧ c e̵ ͘e̶ i t h e͏ r .
Link reached out for him, feeling the charms cracking and losing their effect. The water was becoming slightly harder to breathe.
Sidon’s arms slid around Link’s waist and the Hylian closed his eyes very tight, anticipating the pain in his ribs from the impending jolt of changing directions so fast.
Twilight’s resisted their ascent, as if trying to keep them with Shy Scales. Link felt like it should have thrown him right into Sidon, but the Zora held him just firmly enough away from him to spare him that pain. It was certainly still close enough for Link to feel a fit of happiness.
Normally Link would have been thanking whatever pushed them together, but so far everything that put him in close proximity to Sidon had made it hurt really bad. It was a weird as heck change of pace for Link, and one he hoped was super temporary because Goddess damn he’d have loved to enjoy this more.
They broke the surface of the would-be ankle-deep pool unlike anyone ever had before, and Link scrambled shakily onto the cracked stone floor of the Domain. He heard the charms King Dorephan had prepared for him break and disintegrate. Not a moment too soon.
He was alive. Sidon was alive. But how were they supposed to kill Shy Scales if the monster’s eye always remained underwater?
He and Sidon rose, and Link realized the shadowy people were moving towards them. Fast. And they seemed to have weapons now. Link was still on his knees when he blocked the first stab from a shadow, crying out a little as he strained his broken ribs.
Behind him he saw Sidon slap away another two attacker’s weapons with his own swords.
Despite Link’s injury, the shadows weren’t difficult at all to fight. They were only a little unnerving to actually defeat . He slashed one clean through the knee. It did not fall. He stabbed one through the chest, where a heart would be if the shadow were a Hylian. It did not fall. He beheaded another. Nothing fell, not even the head. At least they all became still once “defeated”.
That’s when he saw the largest shadow, one that hadn’t been there earlier. Its back was to him for a moment, having just risen up from the floor when Link spotted it. When it turned, it drew a long shadowy weapon of its own from over its shoulder.
Link rushed it right away. No more time could be wasted on these things. Shy Scales could be resurfacing any moment.
The large shadow hopped gracefully to the side and out of the way of Link’s sword. It spun its own weapon around its arm and it knocked harshly against Link’s. For once their weapons made a sound upon impacting with each others. His foe’s weapon nearly sending Link’s sword flying. He barely maintained his grip, cursing silently.
He ducked to try and make a jab at its knees but it blocked that too.
The repeated stabbing at Link’s throat that followed was relentless and quick, but avoided. Mostly. Besides the very last jab which the Hylian intercepted with his shield. Again, it was a “barely” thing. The weapon managed to pierce that shield in three different spots but none had gone through quite enough to hit their target. However the attack did help Link realize that his enemy wielded a trident.
Shy Scales you have a shitty sense of humor!
Thankfully, this time it didn’t answer.
“Sidon?” Link called for assistance when his ribs ached, but when he looked over he saw Sidon was busy handling all the other shadows so none of them could jump Link. Or keep doing that, that’s useful too.
He jerked his shield free from where the trident had destroyed it and leapt quickly to the side, aiming to get around his enemy and strike from the back.
The shadow had other plans. It spun the complete opposite direction that Link had leapt, swinging its trident powerfully. The move left a very thin cut on Link’s belly, but a big gash in his tunic.
Angered, Link hacked at the trident, cutting the pronged part off. Interestingly, the shadow caught that pronged end and tossed away the spear.
Having had enough, Link charged at it! He swung his sword with all his might towards the large Shadow’s side and—
SLICE.
Link had made some kind of a mistake. He and the shadow fell together.
A moment after Link’s shoulder blades and skull collided painfully with the stone, the shadowy foe’s knees did too, landing on either side of the hero’s torso. Its impact sounded heavier than his.
They had both landed their blows.
When Link’s eyes traveled down to his chest, he saw only the broken end of the trident and choked out a quiet sob. The three prongs were imbedded in Link’s chest. He could barely breathe around it, feeling the cold metal against every stretch and squeeze of his lungs. The other side scraped noisily against the coarse stone under his back. Every breath he took, the trident would scrape, which sent painful vibrations through his chest.
I’ve…I’ve been impaled.. The realization dawned along with the panic. I’m hurt. I might be dying! And I'm under an enemy! He searched the barren stone around him for his sword, desperate for some means to defend himself. He’d lose his head any moment. Or his throat would be ripped out or—
Oh. My strike hit .
He finally managed to raise his eyes to the foe who had dealt him this certainly life-taking blow. As his eyes drifted up, he saw that he had at least taken its life too: his sword was buried so deep into the enemy’s side that it had surely ruined a few organs. This enemy was as doomed as he was.
The problem was, Link realized when he looked up a little higher, this “enemy” was the one he loved more than anyone, Prince Sidon of the Zoras. A person he never wanted to die.
“Link?” Sidon breathed way too quietly, his eyes as wide as Link’s own. Yes, Sidon had a lot of red on him naturally. But his mouth had never been quite that red; Link knew, he’d spent a lot of time studying it. This was the red of blood seeping up from the inside. Sidon was bleeding internally.
The water collecting in Link’s eyes made the face of his admired a tad blurry, so he blinked it away. A tear slid from the corner of his eye down towards his peirced ear. “S-Sidon I’m so sorry…”
Link’s eyes fell back to the sword buried in the large shadow that had been Sidon. The blood pouring from the wound didn’t have many gaps, forming red sheets that tumbled onto Link.
“Sidon we’re… we’ve…” Even that was hard to utter. Link could feel blood filling his throat. It was getting sucked into his lungs when he inhaled and his breathing was quickly becoming raspy. He even began to taste it on his tongue. Soon their mouths would both bear the frightful indication of bleeding to death from the inside.
“I hurt you?” Sidon grieved. He slowly lifted one hand on Link’s cheek. His was the face of a man who had shattered his own world in moments. It was like he was looking at last good thing flickering away and Link felt exactly the same about him. “I… hurt you? And this blood is…?”
Link wasted a moment by taking his eyes off Sidon. Their puddle of blood had spread across the stone was close to encircling Link’s entire form, from above the top of his head and nearly down to his feet.
“We’ve killed each other,” Link finished his earlier thought. He’d come to the Zora Domain to kill their monster but instead he killed their prince. Did they even have a future here? How could they fight this creature... Link wasn't mad at Sidon for the trident through the chest, and didn't blame him if he was mad at Link for dooming his people. He fully expected it. Hyrule itself might be damned if the Goddess didn't find someone to replace him... But that didn't matter.
Link recoiled from those thoughts when he realized he didn't care. He didn't want to die on the thought Hyrule being doomed, he wanted to die on a positive one. And the most positive person he'd met was just inches away, stroking his face. Link wanted to convey the feelings Sidon gave him, but his throat was sealing the words inside him. He was scared, as usual. Come on, Link. Say something.
Sidon beat him to it. “Link, I am in love with you.”
Link tensed for a moment, forgetting the foreign object inside him and nearly screamed when he felt and remembered it. But he resisted the urge and blinked the water from his eyes again so he could see Sidon. So he could see the earnest look in his eyes. So he could see the way he lowered himself with pained grunts onto his elbows so their faces were close. That was a confession. I thought he didn't even...
“I am in love with you,” Sidon repeated and stroked Link’s face again. "You're a charming, altruistic person who is too good to be real. Too good to have, apparently. There's no way I wouldn't have fallen in love with you." He even offered the saddest smile Link had ever seen, but a smile that still held so much affection and made Link want to cry happy tears. Too bad he was already crying pained ones.
Link opened his mouth. No words came out. Just rattling bloody breaths. He was losing strength. Losing consciousness. But he still managed to croak, “Sidon, I am in love with you ”.
The smile got even bigger and Link finally saw that Sidon's eyes were starting to get watery too. He exhaled for a long time and closed those eyes although the smile stayed. “We dealt each other killing blows before confessing our love for each other. It was that destined not to be. But I’m glad to know before death, at least. I was beginning to think I had misinterpreted you again.”
“We are both good at that apparently.”
The watery slosh of the terrible Shy Scales emerging from the depths caused Link to realize just how cold his body was now. His mind was hazy and all he could really see clearly now was Sidon. He hoped they both died of bloodloss before the creature took them.
Sidon must have heard it because a troubled look flashed across his face for a moment. A happy thought seemed to flit into head and he smiled again. “...Link?”
“Y..eah?” It sounded so much more feeble than Link had anticipated.
The prince lowered his face a little more, eyes sparkling though they looked a bit hazy. A drop of the blood from Sidon’s mouth landed right on the corner of Link’s. “Link, can I kiss you?”
“Hell. Yes,” the Hylian exhaled with as bright as smile as he could manage.
Sidon closed his eyes and Link sort of did too, though he was having a hard time keeping them open anyways. The numbness was affecting his mouth, which disappointed him, and all he could taste was blood. They were even too weak to play around in there so it was very tame. But at least Sidon’s tongue had a nice texture. At least maybe they could try again in the afterlife, if there was one. At least Link now had a point in his life when he could say "I did it. I kissed the guy I loved and he loved me back."
Sidon slipped backwards, wobbling a little on his elbow and struggling to keep his head upright. His eyelids were as droopy as Link’s and and there was a steady red stream oozing from his mouth. “Thank you Link… you’ve done so much for me…”
“And you for me. I would do anything for you, Sidon,” Link swore, pouring the last of his strength into steadying his voice. He knew the monster's hand-tongue was grabbing his nearly numbed legs but he didn't care. It didn't distract him from Sidon's fainter and fainter face.
“Like live?”
Link's frail laugh hurt, but was worth it because Sidon’s smile brightened a bit more in response.
That was the last happy thing they had.
They both cried out and the Hylian's vision became a black and white flashing blur when Shy Scales began to drag them away. Link could hear the sword clatter from Sidon’s side and the way the broken trident clawed at the stone under him, tearing him even more. It hurt so bad. It hurt too much . Even the feel of his beloved prince’s hands on his cheek faded into pain, pain, pain.
The worst insult of it all was hearing Shy Scales use his own voice to mock: I d͘ i͟ d ͘i̴ t . I ͡s a v e d ̧t h ȩ ̡ d̛ a y̨ .̡ ̶ Y o̶ u̴ ' r e͝ s a f̸ e.͞