Hey guys, sorry it took so long to upload this one, I hope you enjoy it.
Link groaned, his eyes slowly opening up, as he tried to gather his bearing and remember just what happened before he passed out. He winced a bit, feeling someone dabbing at some wounds on his face. He at first thought it was Uli, but when his vision focused more, he saw who it actually was.
"I-Ilia…?" Link muttered, trying to get up.
"Shhh, save your strength Link." Ilia said, "You're still pretty beat up."
Link looked down at his body and saw he had bandages and bruises all over his body. Much to his embarrassment, he realized he was clad in his pants. Ilia seemed to be equally embarrassed, as she was trying her hardest to treat him without looking directly at him now that he was awake.
"So… what happened… with the Black Jac- the Grimda- the Blo-, that Bulbin gang?" he asked.
"They took off almost right after you were knocked out." Ilia said, She just sat by his bed for a few seconds, then said "The villagers are currently fixing the damages."
"Maybe I should go try and hel- YEOW!" Links aid as he tried to get up, only to fall back down when a sharp pain shot up his body.
"I just told you not to get up!" Ilia said annoyed, she slowly rocked her body a bit before getting slowly up. "Anyway, I took care of your bandages, now that you're awake I'll get you something to eat, you must be starving."
"Yeah, been a while since I've had some of your cooking." Link said with a grin. Ilia soon returned with a bowl of cucco soup in one hand while carrying a large plate of roast cucco in the other.
"Wow, that smells good." Link said, "Have you been improving on your recipes lately?"
"A bit." Ilia admitted, "Though the meat isn't for you. You shouldn't be eating something like this in your condition." She took a spoonful of soup, blew on it to cool it down, before offering it to Link.
"Awww.." Link said with a pout before sipping the soup on the spoon. After a few spoonfuls, he smiled lightly and said "Soup tastes great anyway. You've become a great chef."
Ilia's face flushed a little, and then she turned to the roast cucco plate and ate one of the many pieces on it. This routine kept up until both Link's soup and Ilia's plate were both empty.
"Well thanks Ilia, that was good soup." Link said, "I almost wish I had gotten myself hurt like this a long time ago if I had known you'd be doing this for me." He joked.
"Heh… I-I better get going." Ilia said, patting her own stomach contently "I um, need to do some shopping before the caravans leave. You should try and get more rest." She rocked back and forth before hoisting herself up again, and then waddled out of the house in a hurry.
Link just sighed as he lay back in bed, thinking deeply to himself before nodding off.
The days past and Link's body was quickly recovering. Ilia continued to treat his wounds, which much to her relief were healing fast thanks to the red potion treatment. Link made every effort possible to get in conversations with Ilia in an effort to lighten her mood. It was kind of a hit and miss effort, and she still seemed to be trying to distance herself from him.
One day, as Ilia was preparing dinner, Link asked "Hey Ilia, I can sit up now without being in pain, how about I upgrade to some solid food yet? I haven't eaten anything like that in a long time."
"… I suppose…" Ilia said a little annoyed, "Though I wish you'd slow down a bit. I don't want you going anywhere when you're like this."
"Ah, I'll be fine, I just need to-" Link's words were immediately cut off.
"I said I don't want you going anywhere!" she shouted in a sudden outburst.
It was an awkward silence as her words seemed to linger in the room for a while. She served Link a small plate of orange-marinated cucco she had prepared while she had made herself a much larger bowl of it with rice.
"This is really good stuff," Link said, "I really missed your cooking."
"Well maybe if you didn't leave all that time ago that might not had happened." she said.
The silence returned again as they continued eating.
"Ilia…" Link said, finally breaking the silence, "I take it you're still angry about what I did, huh?"
"You think so?" she answered in annoyance, "We were all worried about you. I thought you and Epona might have been dead, Colin was always asking about you… Why did you go and leave Link?" she asked him "Where could you have gone that was so important?"
"It's… kind of hard to talk about." Link said, "It's a bit of a long story."
"Well," Ilia said before placing her empty bowl beside her and wiping her mouth clean, "I'm here right now, you can't leave right now, you may as well start."
"Good point." Link said. "If something was important to you, would you do anything to get it back?"
"Y-Yes I would…" Ilia said.
"Well, back when you and the kids were abducted, and I was trying to find you guys, I met… well… a comrade who helped me." A slight pause. "Okay, well I was mostly being led around by her, but we ended up working together because our goals crossed paths."
"Her?!" Ilia exclaimed, then calmed down a bit. "…w-who was this person?"
"She was someone from a far away land, almost impossible to go to for a normal person." Link said, trying his best to remain as vague as possible. "After everything was said and done, she left back to her land, and made it completely impossible for the path there to ever be crossed."
"I see…" Ilia said, "So she… was the reason you left."
Link nodded.
"Did…" Ilia looked strained, like she was forcing herself to say each word, "Did… you… love her?"
"Well… to be honest, I don't know." Link said in deep thought. "I don't know if she was just a friend, a companion, a soul mate, or a possible lover… I think maybe that was part of the reason I left, to find a way to meet her again and answer that question, then whatever may come would happen…"
"But it didn't work out?" Ilia asked.
"No, I failed trying to find any way to restore the pathway, and I could never find another like it. When I realized that, I returned home. "
"…so you were just cast aside, abandoned, and… left behind..." Ilia said.
"Yeah, kind of ironic, huh? I guess that ended up being what I deserved." he said.
"No…" Ilia said, "You did what you thought was best. I can't… I can't fault you for following you heart like that."
"Well, I was still wrong for leaving you guys like I did." Link said, he then took her hands, causing her to jump a bit, "But I promise if you'll have me back, I still want to make up for leaving, including helping you all stop those bandits. I'm going to remain a part of this village's life again, Rusl, Uli, Colin, the kids, the animals, your dad… and you too. I promise I'll never hurt you like that again."
"You sure you promise….?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah."
"…double pinky promise?"
"Double pinky promise." Link answered while grinning, holding up his hand's pinkies.
Ilia paused for a minute, and then she smiled beautifully before putting her plump pinkies over his.
"Welcome home Link."
Link hugged her best as he could, and she returned it with a small squeeze.
"OW! OW! OW! Bruises!" Link exclaimed before falling backwards onto the bed, twitching in pain.
"Whoops, sorry Link…" Ilia said embarrassed.
So now our two main characters are friend again, but there's a lot more on the way. Please leave a comment if you enjoyed it or needs an improvement. I'll be bringing out the next one soon.
