Twelve – I think I've Broken Something

Timeline – Set Mid Majora Mask

I Think I've Broken Something

Link felt his heart give a great leap into his throat as he felt his feet slip on the tree branch he was standing on. Luckily his reflexes kicked in, and he managed to grab the branch right above his head before he plummeted towards the swamp water below him. The child couldn't stop himself from staring down at the pinkish poison water right below where he hung, and tried not to think about what would happen if he had fallen into the swamp. "Close call," Tatl commented without any concern in her voice.

Trying to ignoring the fairy, Link gritted his teeth while swinging his legs around in order to get back on the branch he had just slipped off. Though he had to admit, it was difficult blocking out her impatient tisks and sighs. He was finally able to graze the tip of his boot on the branch and slowly got back to standing in the tree rather than hanging. "I still don't understand why you don't just put the Deku Mask on. It would make passing through the swamp way quicker." There was a nasty edge in the fairy's voice that made it clear how much she really despised the boy, and resented having to travel with him. It didn't really seem fair in Link's opinion, because at least at the moment no one was forcing her to stay with him. She could leave whenever she wanted, and had so far chosen not to. So what gave her the right to gripe at every annoying thing he did.

Unfortunately, Tatl's current complaint wasn't completely without reason. They had spent this entire cycle trying to figure out the source of the swamps poison water, and had taken to hopping from tree to tree in order to get around. She also had a fair point that being in his Deku Scrub form would make maneuvering through the poisoned water much easier. Scrubs in general can't swim so they simple hop their way over water; and given a Deku Scrubs weight and the amount of Lilly pads scattered in the swamps water, he could easily hop from Lilly Pad to Lilly Pad without issue.

So why was he so reluctant to take this rout. It had absolutely everything to do with the Deku Mask. The mask itself gave him an eerie feeling, and going back into the scrub form only reminds him of how helpless he is while in that from. So it made perfect sense in Link's mind to avoid placing that mask on his face more often than necessary. Not really seeing the point in trying to explain this to someone who was actively trying to find reasons to hate you, Link continued to ignore her comments. Choosing to focus his mind on jumping to the next tree. Not really knowing what they were looking for didn't make things any easier. The man who ran the Swamp Photo Contest mentioned a Deku Scrub Palace somewhere in the swamp, so there's a possibility of getting information from them.

A soft gasp escaped the child's lips when he almost slipped again. "If you fall and crack your head open, I'm going to laugh so hard," Tatl callously commented.

Honestly Link was more worried about falling into the poison water rather than hitting his head. The patches of earth below were getting few and farther between. This made the likeliness of falling on the ground very low, and falling into the swamp water very high. He could only assume that the poisonous water would burn and sear his skin and death would come in moments. Nothing was alive surrounding the poison water, even the floating Lilly pads had turned a sickly yellow color.

Still refusing to respond to the fairy's rants, Link took a moment to stop and analyze the area. The swamp was so much bigger then he originally thought. Before him was nothing but trees, with no sight of a Deku Scrub Palace or even the swamp witches that supposedly lived in the swamp area. With quick glance down at his feet, Link continued taking a step onto a nearby branch he thought would hold his weight. Unfortunately, the branch was weaker than it appeared, and it snapped under his weight so quickly that even the child's reflexes couldn't catch him. It was only by sheer luck that he fell over a patch of earth to land on, but Link had still been a good fifteen feet in the air. So when he landed on the ground below, there was an ominous CRACK! Pain exploded in the kid's ankle, and shot up through his leg. The first initial onsite of pain caused an uncontrolled scream to escape from the young hero's lips. But not wanted to appear weak in front of his newest companion, Link bit down very hard on his lip to stop himself from crying out again.

From somewhere above him came a jingle and this was followed by a soft chuckle that could only come from Tatl. Well at least she was enjoying herself, even if it was at his own expense. The young hero tried to glare up at her, but he didn't know how intimidating he came across as he was trying very hard not to burst into tears at that moment. "Oh don't give me that look," Tatl said in an almost business like tone. "I warned you, that I would have no sympathy if you fell. You should have just listened to me."

Link wanted to respond with something snarky, but feared he would start sobbing if he opened his mouth. So instead he clenched his jaw tightly and struggled his feet. He used the tree trunk as leverage and managed to stand up again, but the moment he put weight on his injured foot; the pain rekindled in his ankle causing him to once again fall back to the ground.

To say that Tatl was unhappy to see this happen would be an understatement. She let out a very colorful string of curse words Link had never heard before; ending with, "Are you really freaking serious right now?"

The child made one more attempted to stand up, and it ended with the same results. He settled himself with his back against the tree trunk and gently prodded his injured ankle. "I think it's broken."

"Well that's just perfect!" Tatl snapped sarcastically, and started flying away.

Link almost couldn't believe his eyes. Sure he knew that Tatl wasn't fond of him, but would she really just up and leave him. "W-Wait! Where are you going?" the boy cringed at how helpless he sounded. Yes, at the current moment he was pretty helpless but he could at least stop himself from sounding like a baby.

"Where do you think idiot? I'm going to find some help."

Tatl didn't offer any other explanation and continued to fly away until she was no longer in sight. Even though she just said that she going to get help, and really had no reason to lie to him. Link couldn't help but have a foreboding feeling that she was never going to come back. Honestly she didn't actually tell him that she was going to come back; just that she was getting help. Maybe she was going to tell someone that a helpless injured boy was sitting the swamp, and just leave after that. Go back and join her brother and the Skull Kid afterwards. Link would not be surprised at all if that's exactly what happened, it seemed to be his lot in life to have everyone abandon him. Not saying that he would miss the fairy all that much, she was kind of a jerk. But he didn't like the idea of being left for dead when he was so vulnerable.

The swirl of emotions, along with the searing pain coming from his ankle finally brought the tears he'd be so desperately trying to hold back, flowing down his cheeks. Not long after that, the child was sobbing harshly into his open hands. It was times like this, when he wondered how much of a hero he really was? Seriously what kind of hero cried over something as silly as an injured ankle. Even trying to blame it on his personal abandonment issues felt childish.

Link was so consumed in his own self-pity that he didn't even try to register how long he sat there crying like the helpless child he was. But he was still sobbing when a voice called out, "Hoy Laddie, don't be worry'n. We're coming now!"

With a hitch of his breath, Link glanced up from his cupped hands; glistening from all his tears, and blinked through the blur of tears that still filled his eyes. He was very surprised to see Tatl's glowing orb flying back to him. Following closely behind her was a bearded man in a canoe boat. Apparently Tatl hadn't abandoned him, the little fact brought a some warmth to his chest. It was quickly extinguished with the fairy's next words. "Aren't you supposed to be a hero? Why are you crying like a baby?" The child wanted to toss a glare at her and make some sort of defense, but he didn't seem to have the energy. So instead he ended up just crying all the more hard. He heard Tatl give a frustrated tisk, muttering something under her breath, but didn't actually say anything else to him.

After a few minutes the man riding in the canoe finally approached the patch of land Link was sitting on. "All righty, where ya injured?" the man asked as he approached the sobbing boy and knelt down in front of him.

Link swiped his arm underneath his running noise with a loud sniffle before pointing at the injured ankle. He had expected the man to ask him what had happened, but he did not. Instead, the man remained silent while he examined his ankle closely, gently probing with his fingers. Even though his touches were gentle, Link could still feel pain searing through the limb at each prod. He managed to stay silently until the man started pulling his Kokiri boot off, then he couldn't hold back the pained whimpers. Tatl wasn't in his line of sight right now, but the young hero could only assume that she was rolling her eyes at how whiny he was being. Even Link was somewhat embarrassed by his pitiful sounds.

It took some time, but Link was finally able to slide his foot out of the boot. It revealed a very swollen and purple bruised foot. "Unfortunately Lad, it looks broken."

That information wasn't all that surprising to Link, but it still didn't soften the blow in the least. Broken bones took a lot longer to heal than other types of wounds. Luckily they had a time reset option; but thinking about all the cycles they'd have to waste while he healed didn't sound very fun.

"Great…" Tatl didn't seem very happy about the news either. "How long will it take to heal?"

"Well that depends," the man responded looking away from Link's swollen ankle to look up at the fairy. "If you use the aid of potions then it will take around three weeks."

"What!" Tatl shouted and Link understood her outrage. Three weeks? That was a full seven cycles. How would he ever sit around to allow the moon to fall for all that time.

"If you don't use the aid of potions it will take three to six months," the man continued.

That sounded even worse. "Why would you even consider letting it heal without potions?" for once Tatl and Link seemed to be on the same wave length because he was just thinking the same thing when Tatl asked.

"Well it can be risky, healing bones with potions. Since they speed up the process so much, there's more of a chance of the bone not healing correctly. That type of complication requires surgery to fix. Many folks think it better not to chance it."

Tatl and Link looked at each other for the first time since Tatl had left to fetch help, and came to the same agreement. Three weeks was bad enough, but there was no wait they'd be able to wait three to six months. Link didn't even want to calculate how many cycles that would take. It was better to take the chance. "I go with taking potions," Link finally spoke.

"All right, if yer really sure," the man responded and gently lifted Link into his arms. "I'll need to take ya back to my hut, so we can set the bone and wrap it up good and tight before you begin taking potions."

Link just sighed in response. It was going to be a very long three weeks, and he wouldn't be surprised at all if Tatl decides to leave him before it's up.