This chapter and the next 2 chapters will be the "romance" bit. It needs to develop somehow, right? Well... These 3 chapters will focus on their romance. Just so you guys have a heads up when you read this.
The sun was high on it's horse, setting it's light upon the land of Hyrule. The greenery shined brightly and gleamed with the morning dew. The Temple of Time wasn't far from Kakariko; only a day away. They would have made it within the day if they sprinted with the horse, but Dark took it easy for Adina's sake. Although she had told him she was alright, he disregarded her.
Adina pouted and a thought came to her mind. She didn't want to hurry up to the temple right away, so she asked Dark to take her to visit the Zora tribe. Dark obviously didn't want to, but he thought back to what grandpa Schimdt had said. There was a chance Adina could die. Dark obviously cared about her, but because of his stubborness, he didn't want to think or admit it.
He didn't want to rush to the temple on the chance that she could die, so Dark agreed to take her to Zora's Domain Located to the north. He turned his horse to his left and began down another trail that would lead them to Zora's River. Dark remained silent for the ride. Adina wanted to talk to him, but she didn't know what to say to him. Her eyes trailed up to the blue sky. The white puffs moved slowly. Adina smiled upon noticing a shape in the clouds.
"Dark! Look!" she pointed to the sky. "That cloud is shaped like a horse."
Dark slightly looked back to her and then looked up to the sky. It really did look like a horse; a horse that stood on it's two hind legs. He looked back to the trail again. He was in a deep thought. Adina looked to him and frowned. She often wondered if she was a nuisance to him. She smiled sadly. Of course she was. The only reason they were together was because he needed her, not wanted her. Adina didn't understand why she was feeling that way, but she didn't like it. Her arms that were around Dark's waist, tightened.
He turned to her. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"I feel weird..." Adina spoke softly and a bit muffled.
Dark stopped the horse. "What is it?"
"It's hard to explain. My chest is hurting... I don't know what it is..."
Dark jumped off of the horse and grabbed Adina, lifting her off of the horse and placing her in front of him. Her eyes looked to the ground. She found herself unable to look at him. His red eyes continued to stare at her for awhile. He couldn't understand her himself.
"You don't know what it is? Are you ill?" he asked her.
"What is... ill?"
Adina didn't know what it ment to feel sick. As far as anything goes, she had never been sick. Dark sighed to himself.
"It's like an upset feeling in your body and it makes you feel weak and vunerable."
Dark had never been sick either, but he had seen many sick folk. Adina did feel uspset, but she didn't feel bodily weak or vunerable.
She shook her head. "Ah... N-No. Then it's not that. I do feel um... upset. That is..." she looked down, trying to find the words to say. "Do you... find me a bother?"
Dark still couldn't understand exactly how she was feeling, but her question definately had an answer. "Of course I do. You don't know how to fight, you talk too much, you don't know anything, and you're clingy."
Upon seeing the pained look on her face, Dark came to regret saying those words. He is a being, so it was natural for him to say and do cruel things. She looked away and placed his hand on his head.
The road was a quiet and slow one. Not once did Dark look back to check on her. Seeing the expression on her face would make Dark feel even more guilty. He had so much pride that it caused him to not even apologize to her. Of course, he blamed her instead of himself. Telling himself that it was her fault for even asking. Of course he;d give her a mean and blunt answer. It was how he was.
"Dark..." Adina spoke softly.
He was caught by surpise. He didn't think she'd talk to him any more, with him being as cold of a person he is. He didn't answer her, instead he just looked forward, listening.
"I'm sorry..." she simply told him and nothing else.
"Forget it." he said, growling to himself. "I should be teh one to apologize. I didn't mean the things I said."
Adina looked up to him and slightly smiled, hugging on him again. Dark's cheeks turned red. It was a good that he wasn't facing her; if he had, he wouldn't have been able to hide his face.
A couple of days passed and they had finally made it to Zora's River. It was sunset, so they had decided to set up camp near the river. Adina took the horse to the edge of the water to drink while Dark went out to catch fish.
Soon, the fire lit up the black sky. There was no moon shown, so it would have been dark if the fire wasn't going.
"Why did you want to come here for?" Dark asked her, throwing some wood into the flames.
"When I was in Brogan, recovering... Link once told me about the differant races in Hyrule and Zoras seemed interesting. I always wanted to see how it was like."
Dark listened to her explain. He looked at her the entire time, his eyes not once averting. Once she finished, her turned back to the fire.
"I see..." was all he had said.
"Dark..." Adina crawled over to him and slid under his arm.
He turned quickly to her in shock. His cheeks burned.
"W-What are you doing?!" he yelled out to her.
"I'm cold..."
Adina smiled, mostly to herself. Her cheeks also flushed. Dark mumbled before letting himself hold her.
"This... This feels weird... Why don't you sit in front of me?" Dark told her.
Adina looked up at him. It was a good idea since her back was currently exposed to cold, having her back against Dark would keep her completely warm. Adina moved and slipped in front of him. She sat on his legs, which were crossed. He placed his arms around her. Dark didn't know what he was doing. He had mixed emotions about what he was doing, but he didn't dislike it at all. Adina leaned against him, feeling warm on all sides now. She didn't understand the feeling she was having either, but she liked it. she had a wide smile on her face while snuggling against Dark's chest. He stared at the back of her head and then closed his eyes.
it was completely quiet and the only sound there was was the sound of nature itself. The running river, the humming crickets, the song of owls, and the crackling wood in the fire.
"Dark." Adina looked up at him. "I-" she blinked.
Dark had fallen asleep, his head hanging. His face was close to hers and it caused her to blush. She stared at him for awhile.
"He looks peaceful when he sleeps..." she smiled softly and turned around, gently taking hold of his head. "Dark... Let's lay you down..."
Dark's eyes opened slightly. He was half asleep still; and while Adina was helping him to lie down, he also helped himself. Dark brought her down with him. Adina's heart pounded when she found herself laying on him.
"Dark..." Adina layed her head on his chest and closed her eyes.
Dark was already fast asleep and, evetually, she was too.
The sound of a rooster echoed through the sky. Fortunately, Adina woke up first. She was relieved because she had a feeling that Dark would have been mad if he woke up to her lying on him.
She readied the horse and waited for Dark to wake up. It took abit before he shifted and opened his eyes.
"Good morning, Dark." Adina smiled to him.
Dark sat up and stared at her. "Mm..."
He walked over to the river and washed his face and fixed his hair.
"Oh... The horse will be staying here..." Dark said, walking to Adina.
"Really? How come?" she asked, tilting her head.
Dark pointed to the river and trailed his finger up. "See? The river goes up, horses can't fly, you know. We'll have to walk and climb to get up there."
Adina nodded and looked to the horse, petting it softly. "Wait here for us, okay?"
She walked to Dark and they began to make their way up the river. Sooner or later, they'd have to be in the water. Dark didn't care, but he did worry for Adina. The river is cold and there was a slight breeze coming from the southwest. He didn't know weather or not she could get sick, so he stood on the safe side.
"How do you feel about going into the water... At some point, we'll have to. It's a bit chilly out here too." Dark looked back to Adina, who was close behind him.
"Water...?" she smiled to him. "Don't you know? I can't swim."
"What? You can't..." Dark had to calm himself down in order to not hit her across the head. "Looks like I'll have to swim you across water myself..." he placed a hand on the side of his head.
"Dark! There is a waterfall at the end of the river. Do we climb up?" she asked him.
He looked up and stood silent for awhile before turning back to Adina.
"No... The first entrance in behind the waterfall..." he explained to her. "We have to go through a cavem which is completely dark... Then we have to go through a water tunnel. That means we have to swim to get to the other side. I also have to carry you through it too..."
"Really? It's a long way to Zora's Domain..." she sighed.
"I've been alive for centuries... Everything changes... Zora's Domain didn't used to be hidden like it was. But something happened and they had to find a new home. Hylians drove them to be this way. It's sad really..." Dark explained to her continuing to walk on the side of the river.
Adina was curious as to what exactly happened, but she pressed it no further.
Dark and Adina slid behind the waterfall and into the dim entrance. Dark was able to see in the dark, but Adina could not. He advised her to keep close and hold onto him; and so she did. The sound that was heard were the taps of their feet on the ground and screeching sound of bats that laid further into the cave. Adina held onto Dark's hand tightly. She wanted to talk to him, but he had also advised her not to. The creatures who lurk in the dark had relied on sound to find their prey. For now, the taps of their feet didn't bother the bats, but if they were to talk out loud, they'd be irritated. Dark hated being surrounded by Keese. He didn't fear bats; they were part of the darkness like himself; he was just annoyed easily when he was surrounded by people or monsters.
Dark stopped and looked down to Adina. He gripped her hand tightly.
"Wait right here... Don't move an inch..." he whispered.
"Dark... I'm scared..." she held his hand even tighter, not wanting to let go.
"We're in enemy territory now... I need to fight them... But you can't see, so it's not safe. Just stay back here where it's safe, alright?"
She nodded, bring his hand up to her mouth and pressing her lips on the back of his hand. Dark watched her, his face burning up. Adina had ment it as 'be safe', but Dark felt differantly about it and removed his hand from her own.
"I'll be back..." stepped back, keeping an eye on her before running off further into the tunnel.
Adina kept her hands against her chest, her eyes looking down into the darkness. She felt useless. She wasn't couldn't see and she couldn't help fight beside Dark. She closed her eyes and slowly sat down on the cold ground. It felt like hours had past, but in reality, only fifteen minutes had gone by. She felt that that was too long and stood up. She slowly moved to the side until she hit the cavern wall and followed it. She couldn't wait any longer. She was scared for Dark's well-being. Was he hurt? She knew that he had told her to stay behind, but she couldn't any longer. Using the wall as a guide, she slowly walked the path. Ahead and unknown to her, there were two paths to get further into the cave. Since she was unaware, Adina took the left path since she was using the wall on her left. She couldn't hear or see a thing and she grew scared. Maybe she should have stayed where she was before. It was too late now for she was too deep into the dark cave.
Dark panted heavily, defeating all of the Keese. Further in, he even discovered Deku Baba, ChuChu, and even a couple of LikeLikes. Of course, he defeated every single one of them so that he and Adina could move forward. Dark made his way back to Adina. He came out of the right pathway. He stopped at the location where he had left Adina. His eyes widened upon noticing that she had gone missing. For a second, his heart stopped. He wondered if someone had taken her. He shook his head and cleared his mind. He could still sence her energy further inside the cave.
"Adina... I told you to stay put!" he spoke to himself and ran foward.
Since he came from the right pathway and didn't see her, he knew that she took the left path. He had to quickly make it to her. There were also monsters down that path.
Adina turned her head slightly. She could hear the taps of running feet. She stopped walking. She knew it was Dark. He was closing in her location. She leaned against the wall and smiled. From afar, she could hear her name being called by him and it drew closer and closer each time. She finally called out to him in return. Dark stopped running once he reached her. He panted heavily. He was directly in front of her. Adina smiled.
"Dark-"
Her sentence was cut off by a deep pain in her cheek. Dark had slapped her. She placed her hand over her cheek and teared up, but Dark right away embraced her.
"I told you to stay still... Why didn't you listen? I was worried..." he admitted.
Adina was in shock for awhile and her eyes softened. She placed her arms around him and closed her eyes.
"Dark... I'm sorry..." she told him.
He pulled her back and looked at her. "Adina... I..."
His eyes widened and he pushed her to the side. Right then, an arrow peirced the top of his right chest. He grunted.
"Darkm what's wrong?" she asked.
"M-Monsters..." he removed the arrow from his shoulder and took her hand, beginning to run out of the left tunnel and toward the right.
He didn't stop once until they reached a bit of light. The path that led to the to the underwater tunnel had a glow within it, so they were able to see around them as long as they stayed near the water. Dark leaned against the wall, holding his shoulder, starting to sweat.
"Damn... A... A poisoned arrow..."
"Dark!" Adina covered her mouth.
She blamed herself. If she wouldn't have left, he wouldn't have gotten hurt. Her feelings began to overflow and she cried. What could she do to help him? She wanted to help Dark, but she also felt that she would just make it worse for him. He looked like he was in pain. She had to do something. Anything. He had saved her plenty of times, and now she wanted to save him.
