The curves and ridges on the roof of the academy were illuminated by the last light of the sun as it slowly sank down below the cloud barrier.
Pipit sighed and rubbed his eyes.
Every afternoon to evening, he'd been sitting on top of the roof looking out over the sea of clouds for any sign that his friend was coming back.

"It's almost time to go on patrol.." He reminded himself.
The young knight stood and brushed off the back of his Mustard-coloured uniform before moving to descend. One final glance over his shoulder had him realize it would be yet another day that Link wouldn't return.
He straightened his hat then skillfully climbed, hung and jumped off from the top of the building to the lower levels of the roof, eventually landing precisely at the ground floor doors of the school.

A faint and high-pitched whistle cut through the evening air.

Pipit turned and steadfast walked over to the front gates, looking out towards the barrier. He waited for the moments to pass.
The massive crimson loftwing then shot up from below skyloft and flew up above the academy.
Pipit released a breath he didn't realize he was holding and ran over to where the Green-clad teen was descending. A huge goofy-looking grin of relief plastered across his face.
Link landed on the ground with a thud and seemed to stumble a bit before he regained his footing. He was hunched over, and his breathing seemed strained.

"Link!" Pipit called as he jogged towards him.
Link turned his head towards Pipit and smiled a weak grin. "Hey, Pip.."
"wh.. you look like shit" Pipit stated bluntly, the words slipping out of his mouth before he could stop them. Link chuckled pathetically. "makes sense. I kinda feel like it too." Link took a few steps towards Pipit and held out an empty glass bottle. "do'us a favour? can you fill this back up with red potion? I'm gonna go have a bath"

Pipit took the bottle from Link and studied him. He was clutching his side slightly, his shoulder was hanging almost limp and he was covered almost head to toe in a fine coating of.. soot? 'where in the world has he been?'

"Link, let me see." Pipit placed the bottle on the ground and moved towards him.
"No, I'm fine. I just need to get clean." Link raised his hand in an effort to stop Pipit's attempts at looking him over. "Don't be stupid. You're hurt, let me see."
"No, I said don't. Just.. leave me be, okay?" Link hobbled over to the doors of the academy and slipped inside before Pipit could say anything.
The young knight paused and looked at the door for a few moments before he bent down, picked up the bottle, and walked off towards the bazaar. Hopefully Luv would still be there to give him some potion.

-.-._ _.-

Ghirahim scratched at the pale porcelean skin that was peeling away. The dark perfection of his true form showing more and more of itself as time passed.
Twirling a dagger around in his other hand, he growled.

"How am I to eliminate him? how am I to find out where the second gate of time is? The spirit maiden's presence is all but vanished from everywhere. I have no way of finding her. He is the only lead I have and he is so unwilling to cooperate."

Ghirahim stood and started pacing back and forth over the grass. The moonlight illuminated the grass and the trees. Each individual blade of grass, each leaf on the trees and each branch reaching out, was painted in the ghostly paleness. Ghirahim had come here to relax his mind.
It didn't do much.

"Why does he not comply with what I want? I am intimidating enough! he should be bowing at my feet! almost begging for me to merely LOOK at him." Ghirahim brought his hand up to his face and traced his fingers over his lips.

"he is softer than I. weaker. He relies on me letting my guard down in order for any of his petty attacks to make contact with my outstandingly beautiful face."

Ghirahim, continuing to pace back and forth, recalled Link's wanting to take hold of him. He had to hero wanting him. reaching out for more of him. This of course was to be expected. "who wouldn't want to touch me. I mean, look at me" Ghirahim paused his pacing, smiled and flicked his hair out of his face. "I had thought the great hero of the goddess to be more.. purehearted. This human's mind is clearly.. corrupted" Ghirahim chuckled. Was it he who corrupted the hero? His mere perfect form alone was enough to entice and sully the reputation of this 'oh so pure of heart' hero? How marvellous.

Then again.
"He's invaded my thoughts as well.. An invasion that is showing no sign of stopping." Ghirahim resumed his pacing and bit down on his finger. 'the only thing left is to render him utterly defenseless. And the only way to do that is to strip him of his equipment and.. perhaps..'
Ghirahim stopped mid-step and pounded his fist into his other hand.
"I must get the information I want out of him through means of torture! then kill him immediately after, so as to not let his form invade my mind!" Ghirahim let a sinister grin tug at his lips and chuckled. "It wont be long now."

-..-_-

Pipit climbed up the stairwell of the academy, full bottle of potion tucked into his belt.
'If it weren't for Luv's baby crying I would have had to explain why I couldn't wait 'till tomorrow for this.' He thought to himself as he walked up to the door of the bathroom. The familiar smell of steam from the bath filled the air. Link obviously wasn't going to wait for anything. Pipit didn't really blame him. He was filthy. "Link, I got your potion" He called through the door.

no answer.

"Link?" Pipit called again. After a few moments of silence he decided to see if anyone was actually in there or if the bath had just been left running.
"uh.. I'm coming in." Pipit opened the door slowly and crept into the room. To the side were a pair of boots accompanied by multiple adventure packs. He glanced further around the room to find items of armour and clothing strewn about. "Link?"

"Oh, there you are Pip.."
In the corner, leant up against the wall, Link sat almost naked clutching his side. "you... got the potion.. good" He panted.
"What the-! Link, you- you're-!" Pipit practically leaped over to Link when he saw the burns and cuts that decorated Link's poor, defeated form. He yanked the red potion out of his belt and tugged the cork out with his teeth. "Drink it quick, Link!"

Link took the bottle and chugged the potion down. "Thank you.." he hung his head and placed the bottle beside him.

Pipit just sat there and watched Link's breaths go from shallow huffs to deeper more steady ones. He reached out and hovered his hand over a large and nasty burn on his leg. "You're going to need cream for all of this.. and more potion.." Link looked up at him through the golden tresses that dangled in front of his eyes. "Don't worry. I'll go get everything for you. I'll help you get clean and mended" Pipit stood and sped out of the bathroom aiming for the infirmary.

-_..- -._

A short time passed and Link could hear the familiar footsteps returning. 'Somehow I knew he'd know exactly where to go'. The door opened again and Pipit walked quickly over to Link. "okay, I'm going to disinfect the cuts on you, then I'll apply the cream to the burns and bandage them up" He looked into Link's eyes, obviously waiting for him to give the knight permission to touch him.

Link nodded, "shouldn't we move to somewhere.. else?" He asked.
"Ideally yeah, but I don't want to risk anything. You only walked up here before you collapsed so I'll assume walking isn't going to help much. I'll patch you up then we'll work on getting you to your room" Pipit stated as he ripped open packets of this, that and the other.

Link nodded and tried to move his body around as much as he could so Pipit could get at his wounds. He watched as Pipit took complete controll of the situation, even down to telling Link when and where to move his body. It was nice having someone else take control of the problem for once.

"How many times have you had to treat burns, Pipit?" Link asked. "A few.. Fledge used to help out the cook in the kitchen more. But after he got too many burns, she made him stick with simply moving things around."
"ah, I see." Link smiled at the image.
"It's good to see you smiling.. after such a long time" Pipit said as he motioned for Link to turn himself around. "I wasn't gone for that long, was I?" Link leant forward and turned around so Pipit to treat his back. "it felt like a long time.." The brunette almost whispered.
"That's because you wait for me every day. Stop waiting and it wont feel like it's been so long" Link laughed and could almost hear the blush creeping onto Pipit's face. "I just.. I just like it better when I know where you are. You didn't tell me where you were going last time. You just left" Pipit's touch seemed to slow as he gently applied the cream to Link's skin. "I'm sorry. I wanted to leave before anything could distract me. I needed to get going and I knew that if I stayed to talk with anyone, I'd never leave" he chuckled.
"just tell me next time.."
"I will."

After a while, Pipit had managed to do a fairly standard patch-job. Enough to last until the morning when they could see the doctor.
Link looked around his body at the patches and bandages that covered up quite a bit of his body. "there were more than I thought there were" he stated.
"yeah, well next time I tell you to show me your wounds, just do it. Don't get all huffy with me. This all could have been resolved sooner had you just done as I asked." Pipit folded his arms and raised an eyebrow at Link.

"Yes, Oh great and all-knowing Pipit! I shall never again question your wisdom!" Link waved his uninjured arm around theatrically.
"yeah, yeah shut up. Is there anything else, you need?"
"You can walk me to my room?"
"okay."
The two then stood and made their way down the Link's bedroom, Pippit holding his hands out ready the entire time, making sure he was ready to catch the other, should he fall. Link smiled and shook his head every time Pippit reached out his hands a little when he wobbled a tad more than usual. Link was already feeling much better thanks to the red potion and Pippit's patch job. He felt fine enough to walk on his own, but he knew the older knight would never let it go without the doctor's sign of approval.

-..-_-

Pipit watched as Link hobbled over to his bed and sat down slowly. "Oh man, this is better than anything I've slept on so far." he sighed before slowly lowering himself back onto the bed.
"Where have you been sleeping?" Pipit asked as he strolled over to Link.
"The ground. The cold, hard ground." Link chuckled and pet the bed beside him.

The young knight sat down on the bed and slowly layed himself down next to Link.
"you didn't even take anything with you to sleep on?"
"Have you seen all the crap I take with me? I don't have room for anything else."
"oh.."

Link sighed and silence filled the room.
Pipit fidgeted and played with his hand braces. The sound of buckles clinking almost echoed around the room.
"what's wrong?" Link finally broke through the silence.
"Nothing's wrong. Why would you think something was wrong?"

The smaller male raised himself onto his elbows with a groan and raised an eyebrow at his friend. "We've been laying here for a while and you haven't tried to give me a lecture, something must be terribly wrong" A sly smile crept along his lips.

"I just don't know what to say."
"who are you and what have you done with my Pipit?"
Pipit heart skipped and he let out a short chuckle, "your Pipit, huh?".
"yeah, my Pipit. Who else are you supposed to belong to? Fledge?"
"Can't I just own myself?"
"no, not allowed. I own you now. There's nothing you can do about it. You cost about.. 20 rupees? maybe 30 if I don't like the person I'm selling you to."
The two of them looked at each other skeptically before laughing. Pipit reached out and placed his hand on Link's chest, forcing the blonde to lay himself back down.
"Lay down and rest, Link."

"You're the one who should be resting. How much sleep do you even get? You work all night right? Then you go to school all day."
Pipit turned his face away and mumbled.

Pipit had infact been getting next to no sleep at all over the past few months. Between working, studying and scowering the clouds for a mop of golden hair, he hadn't seen the need for it. That or the insomnea was getting worse.
Link wasn't the first person to notice Pipit's lack of sleep, though. Mallara and Gaepora often warned him that he needed more rest. How could he sleep though? Every moment of the day his head was filled with thoughts of Link. Worrying about that Blonde twit was the only thing he seemed capable of.

Pipit sighed and brought his arm up and over his eyes.

-.-._

Link looked over at his friend. A look of consern adorning his brow. 'He looks so tired and warn out. He needs to take a break'
"Have tonight off." Link almost decided for him that he'd have a rest. Whether he wanted it or not.

Pipit lifted his arm off his eyes and looked over to Link. Immediately meeting the brilliant blue in the other's eyes he knew he couldn't escape from. "What?"
"Don't go to work. Get Fledge or Cawlin to cover your shift."
"I can't do that I'm already supposed to be out there." Pipit moved to sit up but Link whipped his hand out and held him gently to the bed.
"Fledge needs the money. Trust me. He's got a new.. 'work-out regime' and he needs some extra cash to keep it going" Link flicked his thoughts back to when the awkward teen came to him for help and Link had given the strength potion to him. It wasn't cheap.

Pipit chuckled and shook his head "he's not getting strength potion involved is he?"
"He may be" Link laughed, "and if he doesn't want to then I'm sure Cawlin would be up for some extra cash. Maybe he can get some chocolate for Karane or something."
"Him and Karane would be a weird pair"
"Considering she's just about ready to force you to the ground and have her way with you, that's not a bad statement"

The yellow-clad teen chocked and covered his mouth at Link's blunt words. "Link!"
"what?" he chuckled, "everyone knows she's been pining for you almost forever"
Pipit pinched the bridge of his nose, "that's.."
"You're not interested in her though. I know, I know."
Pipit glanced over to Link, his cheeks growing pinker with every second.

"Of course.. now I know why you never were.."
"mm.."
"You wouldn't prefer a cute girl like Karane over me?"
"wha- I.." Pipit looked away and fidgeted with his hands again, "no.."
"didn't think so". Link hadn't meant to make him feel awkward. It was pretty funny though.

"So are you going to go on your patroll?"
"yes." Pipit sat up, ready to get off the bed, before Link took hold of his shoulder and dragged him back down.
"Link.. Let me leave. If I don't-"
"Stay, Pip. If not for yourself, then for me."
Link could see he had him cornered. His eyes widened slightly and he froze in place. The inner battle with himself had begun.
The Blonde smiled and sat up.

"I'll go ask Fledge to do your rounds. I'm sure he'd be up to a little work-out" Link stood up slowly and wandered over to the door, "Stay put. You leave and you'll be in trouble." he continued before walking out the door, headed for Fledge's room.