Chapter 11
Turn around? Stop? Go back? There's no such thing in life.
Dark couldn't take the feeling that was in his chest, the constricting feeling, the choking feeling. Splashes of feeling kept appearing in Dark's mind, the stress chaining his mind far away from sleep. Lazily, he rolled over to look at the clock glowing beside his bed. 1:00 AM.
Something was closing in on him, something that was bigger than he could ever be, something that was too strong to control. Anxiety.
Suddenly, startling him out of his swirling pit of fear, his new cell phone rang. He looked over at the dimly lit screen that read, "New Text: Sheik". He ignored it, frowning. Suddenly, before he could roll back over, his phone exploded in a chorus of, "Do you live, do you die, do you bleed, for the fantasy~?" before Dark groaned and answered the phone, struggling to get used to using the new device. "What?" He grumbled.
"Dark," Sheik said through the phone, sounding somber. "So, I called Link to tell him about this jacked up dream I had, and Rusl answered, and I guess he wasn't paying attention to caller ID—"
Dark sighed. "Sheik, what does this have to do with anything?"
"Wait – let me finish! So, he didn't know it was me, and when he answered, he said, 'Dark, I swear to god, if you show up here again I'll-' and I didn't let him finish, 'cause he had some murderous rage in his voice… So… what'd you do?"
Dark was silent for a minute, thinking. "Ah… he caught us in the basement…"
"Ooh, juicy information~"
"It's nothing serious… he kicked me out, though…"
"He kicked you out?!" Sheik gasped over the phone. "Wait… so, where's Link?"
"He stayed at home… I think…" Dark sighed again, closing his eyes. "I don't know… it's just… I know it's my fault." He took another deep breath, leaning his head against the headboard. Sheik began to carry on about a plan and the dream he had, but Dark wasn't listening. Instead, he was trapped in his own thoughts, drifting back to Link's house. He was remembering the look of hatred and denial in Rusl's eyes as they glared at him, the cold look in them a mockery of Link's light and caring blue eyes.
"Dark? You still there?" Sheik asked, looking at his phone. It was still connected. Across the line came Dark's quiet voice.
"Y-Yeah…" He sounded choked, like he was straining to speak.
"Dark… are you crying?"
"No!" Dark yelled suddenly. "I mean – no, I'm not crying!" Sheik wasn't convinced and his eyes narrowed as he stared at a picture frame across the room.
"What did he say to you, Dark?" Sheik asked quietly, suddenly sober. When there was no answer, Sheik could only assume that it had been hurtful.
"Dark," Sheik sighed, "Link is as close to me as a brother. I've known him for longer than I can remember – it's pretty scary, if you ask me. Seeing how you two move around each other, seeing how you act – Dark, Link's pretty much attached to you. I can't say the same about you, Dark, I barely even know you, but when you hurt, Link hurts, and when Link hurts, I do. I don't want to see you or Link hurt, Dark, and I don't want to see both of you in this situation. Now, what I'm about to do is go beat the living crap out of Rusl."
Sheik paused to let Dark process this. After a moment of silence, Dark answered quietly. "… I'm here, Sheik…"
Sheik took a deep breath. "You have every right in the world to try and stop me. If I go put that man in the hospital, who am I going to satisfy? You're mad right now – you want to tell me, 'Go ahead, Sheik, kill him if you have to! He hurt Link!' But if I do that, which'll hurt Link more?"
Dark gave no answer and Sheik laughed. "I thought so. So I guess I'll see you later, then."
"Wait," Dark said quietly, trying to keep his hoarse voice from cracking. But as soon as the word left his lips, he instantly regretted it. He knew that the next time his lips parted, his mind would spill out for Sheik to hear… and his depressed thoughts were something he wished to keep to himself. "N-Nothing. See ya…" Before Sheik could respond, he gently tapped the "end" block on his screen and leaned back, sighing.
After Dark finished talking to Sheik, after the blonde boy's words stopped bouncing around in his shocked mind, he heard a faint knock on his door. The only rational thought that had made it through his sleep-muddled mind was, "Crap! Murderer!" But the knock came again, sounding so pitiful… "Who is it?" He called dryly, coughing to clear his throat.
Tiredly, he reached over and clicked on a lamp before trudging down the stairs and stopping at the door. He mentally cursed himself for not getting the serviceman to install a peephole in his door… and a chain lock…
Grabbing the small lamp beside the door, he grabbed the handle and wrenched the door open to reveal…
Link.
Standing in his doorway, soaked and defeated, was Link, looking up at him with grief-stricken blue eyes. Across his cheek was a bruise that crept its way towards his eye and lip was split and bleeding profusely. Link didn't seem to care, however, as he walked into Dark and leaned his head against the dark haired teen's chest.
"Link?!" Link, as Dark expected, didn't reply. Dark wrapped one arm around the blonde while using the other to close the door and lock it. He led Link to the bed, sat him down, and immediately began looking for towels to dry him off.
After handing an unresponsive Link the towels, Dark made his way to the bathroom to get some antibacterial to put on the cut that was showing itself beneath Link's bruise. As Link slowly picked up the towel to dry his hair, Dark noticed that Link's knuckles were also red and swollen. He'd fought Rusl, Dark concluded.
Dark watched helplessly as Link's hands began to tremble and rushed over to help the blonde when he dropped the towel to the plush carpet.
How did this happen?! Dark wanted to know, but now was not the time to ask questions. Help now, ask later, he'd decided.
He grabbed a cotton ball wet with rubbing alcohol kneeled down in front of the blonde, tilting his face up slightly. He dabbed gently and was glad to see that Link flinched slightly when it burned – Link wasn't too far gone.
When he finished cleaning the wound on Link's face, he carefully wrapped Link's hands and removed his shoes and jacket, leaning the blonde back on a pillow.
"D-Dark…?" Link asked finally, his voice timid, while Dark was cleaning up the mess he had made in his haste.
"Link!" Dark kneeled down once again next to the bed, where Link was, and looked the blonde in the eye. "You're alright, right? Just tell me that…"
"I… I-I'll be fine, Dark… just…" Link took a deep breath to calm himself. Another followed, and soon, he was on the verge of hyperventilating. His shoulders shook violently and he sobbed quietly until Dark climbed up next to him and wrapped his arms around the depressed teen. "It hurts…" Link whispered hoarsely, shuddering.
Dark hugged Link tighter when the blonde curled up sorrowfully, still trembling and trying to hold back his sobs. The two lay there, curled around each other, until Link's breathing finally evened out. Dark sighed heavily and reached for the covers, when he heard Link mutter quietly, "I can't go back."
The sun wasn't even up when Dark blinked his eyes and found that he was awake. Next to him, Link was still curled up, clutching Dark's shirt with white knuckles and shaking gently.
"Link?" Dark asked quietly, rolling over so that he better faced the blonde. He listened closely in the silence as Link's even breathing hitched. Link gulped quietly and moved closer to Dark, leaning his head on the older teen's chest.
"I'm fine, Dark," Link said, his voice quiet but clear. "I just… what time is it?" He yawned, slowly releasing his death grip on Dark's shirt.
"It's six," Dark answered after glancing at the clock that glowed faintly at his bedside. "You'd have to get ready in thirty minutes if you wanted to go to school…"
"Good thing I don't want to go to school then… what about you?"
"Like I could leave you here, wandering alone. I mean, come on, with what happened last night… I just don't want you to feel lonely."
"That's nice and all, Dark, but I'm not going to get lonely. You shouldn't miss school because of me. We're just starting the second semester." Link frowned when Dark pulled him closer, but couldn't help leaning back.
Dark sighed, frowning. "Link…" He said quietly, his voice nearing a whisper.
"Yeah?"
"What did Rusl do…? What did he say to you?" As soon as the words left Dark's lips, he could feel Link stiffen. "Why did he hurt you?" Dark asked anyway, despite Link's growing discomfort.
"We just fought, Dark. He doesn't approve of this," Link waved his arm lightly in the air to gesture to both of them, "and we started to fight. That's it."
"That doesn't explain why you came here – no, walked here – in the freezing cold rain. Link, do you know how you looked earlier? You looked dead, Link." Dark turned to look Link in they eye. "That doesn't explain why you couldn't just drive, and that doesn't explain why you don't have your cell phone. If you and Rusl just 'fought'—"
"Shut up!" Link shouted, his voice quivering.
"L-Link, I'm s-"
Link interrupted Dark with his hand and took a deep breath. "Look, Dark… I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to tell you what he said, I don't even want you back at that house… it's a wreck, trust me." He laughed humorlessly and hung his head. "Just… I just want to think about it."
Dark reached out and wrapped his arms around the blonde once again. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to pry." Link gladly accepted the hug, sighing. "So, what are we going to do, now?" Dark asked into Link's hair, and Link let his lips curl up into a small smile.
"I don't know… I'll ask Sheik to go to the house and get Epona and my phone… maybe some clothes for me while Rusl's at work." Link reached for the covers and pulled them up over his jean clad legs. Pulling gently free from Dark, he rolled over and curled up, ready to fall asleep again.
Dark followed his example, this time refraining from wrapping his arms around Link. "Link…?" Dark asked as an afterthought.
"Yeah?"
"I realized… you said 'Rusl' and not Dad…"
"That's because," Link yawned quietly, "I'm not sure I want to call him my father anymore."
Link couldn't tell where he was, but his shadow was rippling beneath his feet and the wind was threatening to carry him away. The darkness of the forest scared him, but he continued on, chasing the elusive figure ahead of him, stumbling over his own feet in his haste.
Something shifted to his left, and he tripped in his panic to turn and investigate. A shiver went down his spine – the darkness had eyes… ruby eyes that watched him ruthlessly. He shouted as the eyes got closer, but the wind carried the eyes off with the memory of horror.
But when he caught the glimpse of blue eyes peering at him through the darkness, his heart faltered and his mind reeled. The long blonde hair framing face so familiar to him tangling in the delicate branches that snaked out from the dark lines that separated blue from black… it had to be his mother.
"Mother…!"
Suddenly, the scenery changed. He was alone in the darkness, no sign of his mother, no sign of anyone. There was a laugh that echoed quickly, and he spun. A goofily sung note followed. "Dark?" Link called to no one. "Sheik?"
Footsteps echoed now, coming closer. As soon as they sounded, closer and closer, they disappeared in the other direction.
Link had never felt so alone.
In this darkness, he yearned for something intangible. As he screamed for someone, Dark, Sheik, even… Rusl… he realized that there was no way out of this endless cave.
Oh, how he wished to see his mother again, even if for a moment. But he knew it was impossible to feel the warmth of cold hands, hands that have left the human world behind… the cold, gone hands of the dead.
God, I did it. I got this chapter out... god, it's such a short chapter, but so much has been going on... Hooray for lazily, poorly written chapters! No, not really. I know y'all hate me.
Normally, I'd reply to reviews, but I'm so tired - and it's only ten... but, please be prepared for some serious angst in the next chapter. You'll all hate me.
And, for a regular, almost daily update on how my stories are going, check my profile page - I'll let you know what's going on from there, if any of you want to check.
Oh, also sorry if the last chapter was a little on the confusing side… If you wanted to review, and got slapped with the whole "You've already reviewed for this chapter~" crap, that's my fault, too, 'cause of that AN I had for chapter 10… gomen.