As You Sleep
PrologueA Prisoner's Lament
She remembered. His weird clothes, that suited him perfectly. His golden hair that was always drenched with seawater. His sword… That sword was the only reason she was here to begin with. She also remembered his smile. His just-quirky-enough attitude. The way he slashed through foe after foe without missing a beat. He was fearless, and she was just an un-noticeable girl. A sage, but weak nonetheless. Her only 'power' was making his sword stronger.
Ah, she remembered many things…
She remembered the first time she had seen him. He had looked so incredibly hilarious that she couldn't help laughing. He glanced up at her and started smiling, as if he was put under a trance. He realized that the girl was still looking at him, and his face swelled a bright red, his blush looking extremely awkward against the green clothes that he was wrapped in.
She also remembered leading him out to Dragon Roost Cavern, and telling him of the Great Valoo. He had immediately taken interest in her problem, although he seemed to concentrate more on her eyes than her words.
She remembered when Moblins had imprisoned her. How foolish of her, letting herself be discovered like that. It was obvious that these creatures were doing the harm to Lord Valoo. She pounded and tugged on the wooden bars of her cell, but to no avail; they were nearly unbreakable, and very heavy. That's when she spotted him for the third time, walking around the corner, right into the Moblin stronghold. His jaw dropped as he saw her, in the cell. He seemed to pay no attention to the enemies that were now surrounding him, and was more focused on her, and his face told her that everything would be all right.
He drew the sword and shield from his back, and faced the three Moblins that surrounded him, cleaver-swords in hand. He didn't show a drop of fear. One charged for him, and he rolled out of its way effortlessly, coming back up behind it and slashing it across the back of the neck, sending blood spurting into the air, killing it instantly. Another charged from behind. He parried the blow with his sword and stabbed through the side of its chest. It fell over, gasping for air, and bleeding horribly onto the already blood stained Moblin that had fallen first.
The last one drew a small horn from its pocket and blew into it as hard as it could. A high-pitched squeal filled the air, and hung over their heads, painful and sharp. it promptly ran off after this, past Medli's cell and down the mountainside. Link turned away for a moment, and in that instant, a gigantic bird carrying a massive Moblin dropped it onto the summit, the creature drawing a huge, terrifying pike from its back. Link gaped at what stood before him. However, not a second later, he was ready for combat. She couldn't bear to look, and turned away, her face tightening in a grimace. She glanced up a second later, when she heard a sort of 'hacking' sound, followed by an incredibly brief scream. The huge creature, or its body, lay spouting blood onto the rock. Its head lay some twenty feet away, where Link's sword had knocked it. She was somewhat disgusted, and regretted looking, but was
instantaneously swept with relief to see that he wasn't hurt or dead. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about him, something strangely… Comfortable…
He dashed over, and looked at the bars in a judgmental way, faltering.
"Medli, stand back…" He said, raising his sword and slicing all of the bars horizontally. The ones on top dropped down, knocking the ones below them to the ground as well.
"Wow, eh… Thanks!" She said, not exactly sure what to say to him, considering he had just risked his own life for her, taken down four Moblins and freed her from a seemingly impervious cell all in the course of five minutes.
She gave him the grappling hook and told him how to use it. He thanked her, and ran off down the path, confidence radiating from him in every step.
She waited for him all day, and finally decided to go back. That's when she saw him, his clothes and skin blackened with soot and ash, his hair partially charred, and looking as if he would pass out then and there, emerging from Dragon Roost Cavern. She knew what had happened, and the urge to laugh subsided quickly. She glided over to him (with some trouble, she had only recently acquired wings) with a concerned look on her face. He collapsed into her arms, and she just barely caught him. She blushed a bright red, even though she knew he wasn't awake.
But now, now she wanted nothing more than to see his face, to be held in his arms the way a mother would hold a child. She needed him, like air, but… Did he need her? That was the question that clawed at the back of her mind. She refused to think about it consciously, or dare let it slip from her lips, but it was always there, and she wondered…
How long had she been here? Two days? A week? A year? Time was skewed here, she couldn't tell how long it'd been, though she thought it had been somewhere between two weeks and a month. With only the temple spirits to bring her stale bread and musty water, and the small, possessed statues that were only mildly amusing when they fell over, she was on the brink of insanity.
Suddenly, a sharp 'click' came from the huge boss door at the back of the room. "It's not time for my meal yet..." Medli said softly, although her words echoed throughout the chamber.
"So, what's your point?" Came a very familiar, and sarcastic, voice. Him.
"L-… Link!" She shouted; springing up and twirling around in place, her red eyes meeting his nearly luminescent blue ones.
"Lucky guess!" He shouted back, a broad smile covering his face. He dashed forward, and she did the same, meeting him in a warm embrace. His face brushed against hers, and she felt an abnormality on his smooth skin, a ridge. She pulled back and saw a perforated scar running from below his eye to his chin.
"Link! You're hurt!" She said, genuinely concerned.
"Yeah, Ganon hit me there… By Din it hurt!"
"I'm so sorry, Link…" She said, gazing deep into his eyes, reading his soul as he would a map.
"For what? If memory serves, I don't think it was you that slashed a sword across my face." He said, stepping back and examining her features. She seemed to have grown in the month that he had been away, and she probably had. A tune broke his lips in the silence, nearly instinctive. The Earth God's Lyric.
"Link, that's…!" She said, surprised that he had memorized the entire tune. That, and he was whistling. Which he never did.
"Oh, that. Yeah. It's, uh… It's nothing, just habit…"
"Huh…" Medli said, confused by the blush that swam across Link's face.
"I'm so glad you're back, it's so dank and boring down here…" She said, shifting her gaze to the floor, which had suddenly become quite interesting.
"I know, and apparently, your powers didn't stop more Re-deads from appearing in this place. I had to fight them again… By Farore, they're scary! "
Medli shuddered at the thought of one of the shrieking zombies and turned back to Link. She needed to tell him. But she couldn't. No sound would escape her lips.
"So, uh, anyway…" He said, stepping forward to hug her once more. She accepted, and all feelings of doubt rushed from her in a giddy whirl of something like passion. She drew back from his hug with every intention of speaking, which she didn't follow through on very well. But speaking wasn't necessarily required…
"Come here." She drew her face close to his and his eyes widened in surprise, but quickly closed again in a rush of passion. Her beak suddenly caressed his jawbone..
He drew away, the taste of her brief kiss lingering on his lips. "Uh, anyway, we should go…"
"Sure, yeah…" She replied, blushing, possibly redder than he was. He took her hand slowly, and they stepped into the light at the center of the room, floating up gradually, and disappearing in a flash of electric-blue light. She was a prisoner no more.