Well. I know you were probably expecting something on The End of the Tunnel but I guarantee you that I am working on it. This is a little sneak peek at the next story that will probably be coming after I finish that though. I've been tossing around this idea for a long time and the thought of an insane!Link is fanfic heaven for me. Warning: Mentions of self harm and mental illness. This is just a pilot and may not make it into the final product I just wanted this little idea to get it's feet wet. As usual: I don't own Zelda.
I hope you all enjoy!
Zelda
There's an old wives tale that a thunderstorm is the Goddesses cleansing Hyrule of her pain with their own sorrow. The thunder is Farore's sobs, the rain is Nayru's tears and the lightning is Din. Being the Goddess of Power she is only able to react in anger. Her potentially dangerous fury sometimes even touches the ground. The loud crack thunder that follows is Farore attempting to restrain her. Of course, this is a feeble old story older than any elderly potion lady you may come across.
Still...
I couldn't help but feel that Hyrule was mourning. She was weeping, just like I was, for her Third though illegitimate Prince. Link may have only been my half brother but he was the only remnant of my father that I had left and I loved him, he was the youngest of us by four years. He was only sixteen.
A sixteen year old should be worrying about learning how to dance, trying to avoid his sister's obsessive need for a living model, or being a constant target for his brother's projectile weapons (thrown entirely out of love of course). Not suffering from violent hallucinations and separation from reality.
I remember the day my mother went to search for him. It was a week after my father had passed on. He and my mother, though close as friends, had only stayed together for appearances even to me, a twelve year old at the time, could see that my parents had no longer loved each other. Their relationship was unique. They'd come to peace with their differences before my father died of his illness. So much so that my mother had sought out his favored lover, Coral, to bring her to to the castle as an effort to make peace. Only they found large empty house made from an old, hollow tree.
A forest child named Saria led them there. The woman, Coral, had been killed. Judging by the utter lack of furniture and trinkets that were obviously there before the search party got there, she'd been robbed by bandits while Link was playing with the forest children. When the search party arrived, Link was curled up next to his mother's body with her dead arm draped over him like she was comforting him after he'd had a nightmare. I don't know all of the details, but they say she had already begun to stink, possibly even decompose. He had to be pulled from her kicking and screaming. Fortunately, my mother was there to comfort him.
At the time I thought he was...strange. And he was.
He is.
Still, Sheik and I love him.
So much.
He's our light.
Sheik
I'm not blessed with Zelda's gift for social graces nor do I have her uncanny ability to block out everything around me. Impa taught me stealth and awareness above all. Every sound is important, every facial tick...every word, movement or sigh. I can't just turn it off. So During that fateful storm, I remained in Link's room whereas my older sister Zelda had run out crying. The restraints seemed a bit much to me. He was already sedated wasn't that enough? The sight of him was like needles to my brain. Which is more than I could say for my baby brother.
I didn't care for him at first. But he'd won me over in a matter of weeks. I knew that my Father's philandering ways are what led my mother to the arms of someone else. I realize their situation was unique but I believed, and I still do, that going from woman to woman is just...heartless. Especially if you're married. However, through Link, I'd learned to love him again. I saw my father's best qualities in him. The benevolence, trusting nature and loud laughter. My father's illness is what killed poor Coral. Once the guards no longer had any orders to watch the former prostitute and her son from my father, they just left. They wouldn't stay. She was a fucking human being and they treated her like she was a burden. She had a child and they just left. Link bore no resentment towards them. My father was always quick to forgive in spite of his temper.
The world sucks sometimes.
But this...
He'd gotten so thin without us knowing.
How much weight had he lost? At least thirty five pounds. His collar bones stuck out with nauseating clarity. He was nothing but bones. It was a wonder he could even move and function normally with the way his body had begun to buckle itself. I kept berating myself. How could I not have noticed? They had to gone to such lengths to restrain him too. I watched The Doctor fasten the shackles around his bone thin wrists. They were leather straps connected to chains.
Chains...on a sixteen year old boy.
His eyes were covered with gauze and a single black piece of fabric. He'd tried to claw out his eyes. He was desperate, constantly trying to get the images out of his head and the voices out of his ears. He just wanted the voices to stop. He couldn't stop seeing all the blood. I could only watch and try to convince myself that those weren't tears in my eyes.
Who's blood, Link?
Most of all, who do you see bathed in it?
Is it...is it you?
Theadora
Yes, it's true my late husband and I had a very strange relationship. Strange enough to be completely fine with a relationship that didn't really require...commitment. My children, especially Sheik, don't really understand, perhaps they never will. Yet, my husband's ways annoyed me, he couldn't decide on a single female. It was rather embarrassing. I didn't have to go far for company. I found comfort in the arms of my own bodyguard.
I knew my husband favored Coral, not for her love, (though from what I heard it was spectacular) but for the child she'd borne. Daph may have been a philandro but he doted often on all the women he was with but Coral was certainly his favorite. The furniture and knickknacks he'd given her to furnish her tree-like home were top notch, she and Link lived rather comfortably. Daph even had guards to "come by" every so often and check on them. Then poor Daph fell ill and the guards, who took my husband's lack of commands as a way to keep from lumbering into the forest, simply just stopped going. That's why I sent sent out that search party.
The Royal Court may think it's odd, but I consider Link to be my child. My youngest. Much like Zelda, seeing Link damn near torture himself provoked me to tears I thought had been stored away and locked in a cabinet never to be seen again.
Sheik thought the restraints were too much. I would've agreed with him if I couldn't see the vast amount of self harm he'd done with various objects. Most of his injuries were done with a large piece of broken glass. I could see the tears in Sheik's eyes but Goddess knows that a 20 year old man will never admit that he's crying. Especially to his mother.
It was so strange to see Link without wearing green. The white smock-like shirt and the loose pants did nothing but make him look paler. Without the hat, I could see his hair was thinning, mostly because of the malnutrition he'd suffered from trying to...starve...himself...
Where had I failed? A mother shouldn't let this happen to her children. Especially not one so strange and vulnerable as Link. He never got along with others outside of Zelda and Sheik. He had Saria, but the other forest children didn't seen to like him. His hardly ever speaking didn't really help his case. The Royal Court insisted there was something wrong with him, that he was whore's son, with whore scabs and whore diseases. Those close minded fools couldn't pull their heads from their asses even if they wanted to.
Under sedation, Link didn't look peaceful at all. His eyebrows were knitted in his teeth were clenched. Though asleep, he was fighting. Fighting what? The demon plaguing his waking dreams that he fell victim to almost every hour by now? Or was it The Doctors hands inspecting his pulse and breathing with movements that I'd never seen a doctor use much before. His satisfied smile at the handy work at restraining my suffering baby boy, was entirely out of place. I rationalized that he was satisfied in the work he was doing, helping a mentally ill teenager. I run a country. You think I would be a better judge of character.
"Your Majesty." The Doctor said calmly. "Now that he's subdued, may I speak to you outside? Privately?" With a sigh, I stood. There was no possible way this could be good news I could only hope he would say "the worst is over". Sheik rose to go with me and I stopped him.
"Stay here unless he wakes up." I offered in a way that implied "do as I say". Sheik didn't quite listen at first and I gave him the motherly "are you deaf" stare. "Sheik, if he wakes up, he'll be scared. He won't be able to move, or see. I need you to be here." If there was ever a time to actually listen to me, it would be now. Sheik didn't respond verbally, but he quietly sat back down directing his attention to Link who, once again even while sleeping, flinched at a simple touch and by his older brother, no less.
I followed the doctor into the suite that the family usually shares. I nearly offered The Good Doctor some tea but my hand jerked away from the pot when I remembered why we were here. The warmth of fond memories and the chill of seeing the dried blood on the tea set silverware, made my skin tighten around my bones. I suddenly felt much older than my fifty years.
"It seems the boy has suffered from what we like to call..." I interrupted him with a bitter laugh as I was unable to react in any other way besides bursting into tears.
"I'm sorry "like to call", Doctor? Are you saying that you somehow enjoy this?" I was in no mood for petty pleasantries or anything for that matter. The Doctor straightened up.
"No, Your majesty, of course not." He paused to choose his words carefully. "He's suffered from a traumatic break." He didn't hesitate to explain. "It's the pinnacle of suffering from a traumatic experience and mental illness." There was an uncomfortable jab to my stomach I knew exactly what trauma he spoke of and it wasn't about Link's mother. "I know the boy always has nightmares and his inability to communicate..."
"He communicates just fine." I reply stiffly though a part of me knew he was right. He looked instantly contrite.
"I don't think you will like anything I'm about to say." The Doctor said with a sigh and rubbing his brow. He took a deep breath and I prepared myself gripping my skirts in my fists. "We may know what has happened to the boy...and the condition he's in but we are unable to diagnose him."
"You just told me..."
"I know but a Break is caused by mental illness not the other way around." My head was spinning I was getting confused. The Doctor tried to explain. "We need to conduct extensive and private interviews with him."
"He won't speak with you shouldn't I or at least his brother and sister be there?" I asked. The Doctor shook his head.
"It's a very delicate process. Hypnotism may even be necessary. An added presence, even a comforting one, could add unnecessary pressure to the situation. Hypnotism is an extremely vulnerable art, should anyone's consciousness combine with the boy's, you could lose him and the person with him forever." That gave a whole new level of foreboding to the situation as if I didn't feel horrible enough. In a stunning show of compassion, The Doctor laid a hand on mine. When it came to Link people were always quick to tell me to simply get rid of him but the Doctor smiled gently. Even though he never referred to Link by name, he still cared in his own way.
"We'll take good care of him, Your majesty." He said kindly. His smile spawned a confidence that I didn't feel when I spoke to him at first. I found it in myself to smile back, if only slightly. I stood and so did I. He bowed and went to leave the room.
"Thank you Doctor Dragmire." I said looking back at him.
"I've known you and your family long enough, Your majesty. Please don't be afraid to call me Ganondorf." I nodded in response.
"Then thank you Ganondorf."
So there it is, the small cliffhanger is totally intentionally and I will not apologize for it even thought it's a tad selfish. It's a way to keep myself (and you admittedly) wanting more. And yes I am keeping my vignette style. Please, please tell me what you think. I love you all. You know I do.
-East