Author's note: So you have to thank TheLoneWolfe90 for forcing me (ever so nicely) to post this chapter. And now, enjoy, while I go to bed.

Chapter Nine

Matt woke slowly, registering nothing but a dull yet painful throbbing in his shoulder. His mind was blurred from the sleep that longed to pull him back under. For a moment, he lay there, between sleeping and waking, trying to figure out why his shoulder ached. He didn't know what had happened to cause it. He only hoped it would not prevent him from spending time with Nellie.

At the thought of her name, Matt's tiredness cleared, though sleep was still nagging insistently and strongly at him. He opened his eyes to find that he was in his own tent. His mind replayed the horrid scene. He sighed, rubbing stray tears from his face before letting his hand rest on his throbbing shoulder, only to find it bandaged tightly. His confusion increased. Since when had he injured his shoulder?

It didn't matter. He needed to get up and find out how Nellie was. He slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position, swinging his legs over the edge of the cot, only to be hit by a wave of dizziness as sleep pulled on him even harder. He covered his face with his hands, waiting for his head to stop spinning.

"You should go back to sleep."

Matt looked up and saw his father entering the tent, his face looking grim, like he had aged during the hours Matt had been sleeping. "I have to see how Nellie is," Matt said, though he didn't try to stand.

"You cannot. Not at this moment."

"But-" Matt attempted to get to his feet, only to have his father stop him.

"You are in no condition to see her at the moment, and she is in no condition to see you."

"Is she alive?"

Matthew nodded. "Aye. But barely."

Matt sighed with relief. If Nellie was alive, then he could relax slightly. He looked up at his father. "How did she get injured?"

"You didn't see it happen?" Matt shook his head and Matthew sighed. "She was fighting off several soldiers who were attacking her all at once. She's a great fighter, but she was unprotected. Apparently she wasn't wearing her chain mail. That's what Midna told me. As Nellie turned to face more opponents, she was caught off guard by a Holodrum archer. Being so unprotected and surprised, she was an easy target." Matthew stopped, but it was obvious he wanted to say more.

"Then what?" Matt asked.

"That's it, basically." Matthew sighed once more. "The arrow was poisoned. It pierced one of her lungs. Your mother, being skilled in the healing arts and graced with her Triforce piece, was able to heal her enough to have her survive, as well as removed the majority of the poison that infected her."

"How is she now?"

"Still unconscious. She has yet to wake." Matthew studied his son. "Go back to sleep. You need to let the sleeping spell wear off."

"Sleeping spell?" Matt asked, surprised.

"Yes. Your mother placed it on you. You were so distressed over Nellie, you hadn't even noticed that you had been shot as well."

So that's how his shoulder was injured, Matt realized. As he thought this, sleep sent a wave of exhaustion over him, unrelenting in its mission to pull him under.

"Go to sleep, Matt," Matthew repeated. "Once the spell wears off, and if Midna and Link are agreeing, you may see Nellie. But not a minute sooner. Understood?"

Matt nodded weakly. Matthew left the tent, and the Crown Prince of Hyrule laid down on his cot, finally letting sleep claim him within moment of him closing his eyes.

While sleep captured one person, in another tent, it relinquished another.

The Twilight Princess slowly gained consciousness, struggling to stay awake. Every breath was extremely difficult to draw in, causing sharp pains to course through her chest with each intake of air. After a few minutes of fighting for breath and consciousness, she managed to open her eyes, registering the canvas of a tent above her. She blinked a few times to clear her vision before looking around. The tent flaps were slightly parted, letting in the colorful light of the setting sun. The strip of light illuminated two figures on the other side of the tent.

Nellie's parents were there, resting on the ground. Her father was in his wolf form, lying on his side and resting his large, furry head in Midna's lap. The Twilight Queen stroked his soft fur every now and again. Both her eyes and Link's were closed.

Suddenly, Nellie found that she couldn't breathe. Fighting for breath, she instinctively began to cough. But that only worsened the situation. Pain exploded though her chest with each cough, alerting her parents to her situation.

She was stuck now. She couldn't stop coughing, but she feared if she did she wouldn't breathe again. But each cough sent shock waves of pain through her. Before she could make her choice, the pain caused her to lose consciousness.

When she next woke, only her mother was by her side. It was nighttime, but the faint, orange light filtering into the tent told her the sun had only recently just set.

This time, her mother noticed she was awake. "Oh, thank the goddesses," she said. "I've been so worried."

"Where's Father?" Nellie managed to ask, despite the pain this caused.

Midna silenced her with a gesture. "Don't talk. You'll only make it worse." Nellie nodded and her mother continued. "You father is checking out some commotion by southern border of camp. I'm not sure what's going on, but it doesn't sound like another fight. He should be back soon. I got word that Andrew made it safely back to the Twilight Realm, though he was a bit shaken up from the battle. As for Matt, he was injured during the battle as well, but not as badly. Matthew stopped by just before you woke up to see if it would be alright if Matt could come and visit. So he should be coming by soon as well." She smiled. "Did I get all of your questions?"

Nellie nodded. At that moment, Link came into the tent. He grinned. "Glad to see you're awake, Nellie," he said. Then held up a bottle that was half-full of red potion.

"Where did you get that?" Midna asked with surprise, knowing red potion was scarce in the camp.

"That's what the commotion was about. Some mysterious person just came up to the guards and gave them this to give to Nellie. Didn't give his name, where he was from, or anything like that. By the time I got there, he had gone. But to think that he donated this."

"I don't trust it," Nellie muttered, then grimaced from the pain.

"You think it's poisoned?" Midna asked her daughter. Nellie nodded, wanting to explain why, but not daring to do so.

"You can check for it, can't you?" Link asked, holding out the bottle to Midna. The Twilight Queen nodded. She took the bottle and began muttering under her breath, her eyes closed in concentration. For a few moments, they watched her. Then Midna opened her eyes again. "It's not," Midna said, shaking her head. She lifted the bottle so she could look at the contents. "It's pure red potion." She looked at Nellie. "Will you take it, then?"

Nellie nodded slowly. Midna pulled the cork off and gently lifted Nellie's head, helping the injured Princess drink the potion.

Once the bottle was empty, Midna replaced the cork. "It's a pretty good bottle," she said. "Looks like it could survive quite a beating."

"All the more reason to figure out who it belongs to." Link gave a wolfish grin. "I know just how to."

Midna sighed. "Fine. But if you get killed and they hang your furry hide as decoration, don't blame me." She set the bottle on the ground as Link reached into one of his belt pouched, transforming into his wolf form. Midna and Nellie watched him sniff the bottle once, his blue eyes widening. "What is it?" Midna asked. Link didn't reply. Instead, he grabbed the bottled in his mouth and dashed out of the tent.

Keeping to the shadows, he navigated his way through the camp, until he reached the edge. He followed his nose and took off full tilt in the direction he knew the man had gone. After running for fifteen minutes, his ears picked up the sound of footsteps against the rocky ground. Coming up over a hill, Link saw the man. The wolfish Hero slowed his pace, stealthily moving around him and hiding behind a boulder. He transformed back to a Hylian and waited until the right moment. Then he came out from behind the boulder, just as the man was walking by it. "You know you aren't allowed in Hyrule, right, Malo?"

Malo jumped in surprise, looking wildly around until he saw Link, floundering for words. He looked almost scared. "H-how...?"

"How did I find you?" Link finished for him. "You recall I can turn into a wolf, correct? I just followed my nose." The Twilight King crossed his arms. "I still haven't gotten an answer to my question yet."

Malo hesitated. "I...it's hard to be from Hyrule and live in Holodrum these days." The former Ordonian sighed. "You don't need to worry. I'll leave right away."

"No need to just yet." Link walked closer to him. "I have more questions. And," he paused holding out the bottle that he had carried with him this whole way. The light of the full moon glinted off the smooth surface. "I have a word of thanks."

Malo relaxed a little and took back to bottle as Link continued. "It helped, if only a little."

"I hope she recovers," Malo said softly, "And that the last of my red potion helped more than just a little bit."

"Why, though?" Link asked, causing Malo to look at him with a slightly shocked expression. "Why do you care, when once you were part of the cause of her kidnapping?"

"I don't know. I just don't know!" Malo gave a frustrated sigh. "Not everyone can be happy with whoever rules them."

"That's no excuse. I believe that's true, but it's still can't be a valid excuse."

"Then call it whatever you want. I wasn't happy, but I hadn't been happy since I started caring more about politics. And that was long before Dredloc showed up. I never was going to do anything, so blame that Twili."

"Oh, I blame him alright." Link's tone filled with a controlled rage, and Malo thought for an instant that the Hero was mad at him. "I blame him for many things. He had been nothing but an unrepentant terror. It was because of him that my third child was born too early." Link sighed. "But it's in the past, and Nico's alive and well."

"So you didn't lose him?" Malo asked quietly.

Link shook his head. "We almost did." The Hero studied the man before him. "I don't understand you, Malo. You are a completely different person. Not once had you really cared about my family, especially seven years ago. And now you give red potion to my wounded daughter, and are concerned with my youngest son? What's changed you?"

Malo shrugged. "I learned humility, I guess you could say." He met Link's gaze. "Besides, you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

Link nodded, astounded at the wisdom Malo was speaking. "If...if you want it, Malo, I can speak with Matthew and Zelda. Perhaps, with consideration, and a sincere apology, they might let you back into Hyrule."

Malo shook his head. "I doubt they would forgive me. I...said some awful things. No. Perhaps I'll find a home in Labrynna. Thank you, though, for the consideration." After a moment of silence, Malo spoke up once more. "You should go back. Midna's probably wondering where you are."

Link could tell that Malo didn't want to talk anymore. So instead, he nodded. "Good luck, friend, and safe travels."

"And you as well."

Malo watched his friend move away, breaking into a run and transforming into a wolf mid-stride. He sighed, and began his journey south once more.

Midna felt herself falling asleep, her eyes slowly closing. As soon as she realized this, however, she shook her head, and tried to keep her eyes opened. She wanted to wait for Link to return before she fell asleep, but as the minutes wore on, it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

"You should rest, Midna."

The Twilight Queen looked up, slightly startled at the voice. Zelda stood in the entrance of the tent. She looked weary, like she had just run several miles nonstop. Zelda had literally saved Nellie's life, though at the cost of her own. The healing had taken most of the Hylian Queen's energy. "How are you?" Midna asked, concerned for her friend's health.

"Better." Zelda came over, sitting next to Midna on the ground. "But more, importantly, how is Nellie?" The two Queens looked at the sleeping Princess. Nellie's breathing was ragged, but her face had gained back a bit of color, and Midna thanked the red potion for that.

"Alive," Midna replied. "Thank the goddesses, she is alive." She smiled. "And thanks to you, too, Zelda."

"Of course. She means a lot to all of us, especially Matt."

Midna nodded silently, thinking on when Matt had visited earlier. Nellie had been between sleeping and waking, but had perked up when Matt had come. Love had shown in her weary eyes, and Midna truly was able to see for the first time just how her daughter felt for Matt.

But once the Twilight Princess had fallen asleep, Matt, still recovering from the powerful sleeping spell, had left, but not before fondly looking at Nellie.

"Midna?" Zelda's voice brought Midna out of her thoughts. "You really should sleep. It's past midnight."

"No. I'm fine. I'm waiting for Link."

"Where is he?"

Midna shrugged and relayed to Zelda what had happened with the mysterious red potion.

"Well, thank the goddesses for that person, then, whoever he was," Zelda said once Midna had finished the story

"Indeed. But she needs better care. We have to get her out of here."

"Could you warp her?"

Midna shook her head. "It's too dangerous. I don't want to cause her further injury. And she's too weak stand, let alone make the distance to the nearest Hylian town." Midna sighed, and Zelda observed her friend, noting the sad look in her crimson eyes. For a moment they were silent. Then the tent flaps parted, and a wolf slipped in.

"Oh, there you are," Midna said, a smile lighting up her face as the wolf moved over next to her. "Did you find out who it was?"

The wolf shook, his form changing, revealing the green-clad warrior both women in the tent knew.

"You'll never believe it," Link said.

"Who was it?" Zelda asked, also curious.

"Malo."

"But he's supposed to be banished," Zelda muttered.

"His excuse was that it's hard to live in Holodrum these days." He shrugged and studied Midna's sleepy face. He kissed her, saying, "Go to sleep, love. I'll watch Nellie."

Midna nodded. She kissed Link back and stood, leaving the tent. Link watched her go, then turned his gaze to Nellie.

"You should rest as well," Zelda said, obviously avoiding the topic of Malo. "I can watch her for now."

Link shook his head. "No. I'm fine. Though you are welcome to stay with me."

Zelda nodded. And so the two best friends kept their vigil over the Princess of the Twilight.