Alright, let's do this. Chapter 11.
Chapter 11
The Way Home
Erza woke to see a fire burning right in front of her. It seemed that Link had decided to set up camp for the two of them while she slept. How thoughtful.
"Morning."
She looked over to the Dragon Slayer in question. She looked around, and to her surprise, the sun was making it's way over the horizon.
"Did you even sleep?"
He shook is head, but he gestured over to a pile of stones. She nodded and sat up. He even went through the trouble to set up a bed for her. She turned to look at him. When she did, she also noticed the bones of several stalchildren. He protected her during the night, too?
He held a fish out to her, freshly smoked. She mouthed a 'thank you' and took it. She took a quick bite and stood up. She stretched and yawned, then walked over to Epona, and pet her. "Morning, girl."
Epona whinnied to her and bumped her. She smiled and grabbed a carrot out of the pack on her saddle and gave it to her. She took it gladly and nuzzled her.
Link put out the fire and was chewing on a fish when he heard galloping in the distance. He turned to see what appeared to be... a royal caravan?
While most of the soldiers stopped, a woman atop a white horse pulled away and made her way towards their camp. When she got close enough, Link could tell it was...
"Zelda?"
Erza Requipped her typical armor before Zelda arrived.
She pulled over and got off, then walked to Link. "Link, it has been too long! And what are you doing out here? Come back with me to the castle!"
Link shook his head. "Actually, I was just leaving. Erza, get your things together."
Zelda just then noticed the red-haired woman that Link was with. "Oh. Hello."
She clearly had a tone of distaste in her voice. She grabbed Link by the wrist and tried to pull him away, but he didn't move.
"Link, what are you... Come with me!"
He jerked his hand away. "Zelda, no."
Erza stepped inbetween the two. "He doesn't want to stay."
Link nodded and walked towards Epona, but he was stopped by several guards. "We are sorry, sir, but the princess gave us direct orders to bring you back to the castle. And, if need be, by force."
One of them reached out to grab his arm, but he simply slapped it aside. Another guard tried to restrain him, but he sidestepped right when he was about to.
"I said, NO."
He punched one of them in the gut and hopped on Epona. As he rode by, he grabbed Erza and hoisted her up and onto the saddle. With that, he forced her into a full gallop in an attempt to get away from them. But, Zelda got on her horse and begen chasing them.
"Link, you're making a huge mistake!"
He just scoffed and urged Epona to move a bit faster. Slowly, they began to pull away from her.
"What's her deal?"
Link just shrugged and checked behind them to see if they were still being chased, and sure enough, there was a whole convoy of Hylian knights behind them, along with the princess.
"GET BACK HERE!"
He turned ahead to see a canyon in the distance, and got idea.
"Erza, hold on."
She did as he said, right before Epona lept over the canyon, terrifying Erza by doing so. Once they landed on the other side, he allowed Epona to slow down to a trot. The princess began throwing curses at them as they rode off towards the port to Fiore.
"What was that all about?"
Link slowed Epona to a stop. "She's been... infatuated with me for years."
Erza looked at him, annoyed. "So you leave her?"
Link just sighed. "There wasn't anything else Hyrule had for me. It's certainly more boring than Fiore. Out there, I can safely say I don't know what will happen next. Besides, I have more friends out there than I would ever have out here."
"Wait, you really consider us your friends?"
He was hurt. "Of course! What possibly made you think otherwise?"
"Oh, uh, you're really quiet, and you don't really hang around the guild very much."
"Well, I'm typically silent, and I'm gone so much because I'm trying to work off the debt that all of those damage reports are costing us so that they don't take the guild away from you guys."
She was stunned. He cared about them all that much?
"You... really do that for us?"
"Yeah. That's why I don't have my own house, all of my money goes to the guild."
Erza couldn't believe it. And for a while, she viewed him as nothing more than an ally. She was ashamed of herself.
"You could stay with me."
He looked behind him to see Erza, with a completely serious look on her face. The wind picked up a little, blowing the hair out of his eyes, revealing a huge scar over his right eye, which was red with several hook-shaped markings.
"What the?!"
He quickly tried to hide it, but she had already seen.
"What happened to your eye?"
He saw no point in hiding it now. "On one of my quests, one of the poeple had a tool of Zeref. He used it to rip out my right eye, but the power of it consumed him, leaving only his eye. And, well, you can guess what I did then."
"You took his eye? Did it work?"
It wasn't the response he was expecting, but it was better than the possiblity of her being mad for not telling anyone.
"Surprisingly, yes. It makes combat a bit easier, but I don't like people seeing it. It makes them uneasy. Don't tell anyone about it, alright?"
She nodded. "Your secret's safe with me. Besides, my right eye isn't even real."
He smiled and patted her on the head. "We have more in common than we know. We should talk sometime to see what else we have in common."
She smiled. "I'd like that."
"And for now, we need to find a way to get away from the princess. She can be cold when she doesn't get something she wants."
Erza chuckled and wrapped her arms around his torso as he urged Epona to a gallop. To Fiore!
And, the relation ship begins! And does anyone know what I based Link's right eye on? I will list everyone who got it right next chapter! (If anyone even bothers) Until then, OniHelix out!
