Thanks so much to Luine Mercury LWG (You'll see ;), MexicAmerichick6 (Yeah, being sick like that sucks :(, and Sw-0608 (I'm excited for the BOTW sequel too! And you'll see ;) for reviewing! I hope you all continue to enjoy!

That said, on with the chapter!

~ Chapter 8 ~

Link was well aware that his current circumstances were extremely strange. To his onlookers, he appeared asleep, his chest rising and falling steadily as the rest of his body remained still. However, internally, his suddenly clear mind was racing, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened.

He had often been accused in the past (mainly by Revali) of being slow-witted, empty-minded, or simply thoughtless and spacey. Link had never exactly fought those accusations - he had even found underestimations of his intelligence to be useful, especially in combat situations - and it was true that he was not nearly as sharp as Zelda or the Sheikah scientists, but he was far from a complete fool. It was just that, unlike Zelda, all of his thinking tended to be silent.

Carefully, he began going over what he knew for a fact. Obviously, mere minutes ago, he had been extremely sick, to the point where he had been sure that he was going to die. But then suddenly, as though a switch had been flipped, he found himself feeling almost completely fine.

So how had that happened?

Mipha's Grace hadn't activated, that much was certain. He would have heard her voice in his mind, and that would have cut through even the most intense pain or illness - he knew that from experience.

No, Mipha hadn't saved him this time. In fact, he distinctly remembered hearing a different voice altogether - Zelda's.

"Link...can...can you hear me…?"

There was no questioning it. Zelda had approached him, had touched his hand, and suddenly, whatever sickness had been afflicting him had left as suddenly as it had come about. True, it seemed bizarre and, by all rights, impossible, but it had happened. He was sure of it.

Then that meant that the next question was why?

He was no doctor, but he knew that whatever just happened wasn't normal, by any stretch. Which logically meant that his mysterious malady wasn't normal either. But then, what was it? What sickness could be seemingly chased away by nothing more than the princess' mere presence?

His head pounded just thinking about it. Perhaps it would be better to listen in on the experts in the room instead.

Link's pointed ears twitched very slightly as he redirected his attention to his caretakers' voices. He wasn't quite ready to join in on the conversation himself yet, but he was eager to hear what they had to say.

"So to recap…" Purah drawled, her voice accompanied by the sound of fingers drumming on the railing. "We've had two incidents involving Link ever since we brought him back. First, when he freaked out and punched me - "

Link winced almost imperceptibly. So Purah had been the victim of his frenzied escape attempt. He would have to apologize for that later.

" - and second, just now, when he suddenly started getting extremely sick. Both times, there was one glaring common variable: Zelda wasn't with him. Now, normally, only two occurrences wouldn't necessarily suggest a pattern, but considering the fact that he suddenly got better only when she touched him, I think we can skip right ahead in our reasoning to a conclusion. For whatever reason, Linky here gets sicker when Zelda's away, then healthier again once she's back by his side. Scientifically speaking...there is currently nothing about this that makes sense."

So much for listening to the experts.

"Perhaps it could be something psychological…?" he heard Zelda ask half-heartedly. "Some sort of panic attack…? He was alone in that cell for a long time, maybe lack of company would set off a trauma-related physical response, and close contact would reverse the effects…"

"That could be a possibility, if not for the fact that he wasn't actually alone during either incident," Purah pointed out. "The first time, Impa, Symin, and myself were here, and you and Paya had left to get more water. Link calmed down the moment you came back inside and grabbed him. The second time, Impa and Paya were with him, and everyone else - you included, Zee - was up at my lab. Once again, as soon as you got here and touched his hand, he recovered just about instantly. Now...I'm a woman of science. As much as this all sounds like some 'true love saves the day' story, that's not how the real world works. Like I said, currently, nothing makes sense, but there has to be some sort of logical explanation, and I intend to find it."

"And how are you going to do that?" That was Teba, Link realized. So he hadn't merely imagined the Rito warrior's presence earlier.

"Well, first things first." Link heard footsteps approaching him. "I'm almost positive that the key to this is that weird substance we found in his blood."

"And you're certain it wasn't just clotted blood?" came Impa's careful voice.

Link envisioned Purah dramatically rolling her eyes.

"Little sis, which one of us is the scientist here?" she scoffed. Link wasn't quite sure what being a scientist of ancient technology had to do with recognizing blood, but he wasn't about to open his eyes and ask.

"Trust me - I may not know exactly what it was, but it wasn't just a bunch of blood clots. And if we're going with Teba's poison theory, then we could have a real problem on our hands. Whatever the case, though, I'm going to need to test more of the substance if my tests are going to have any chance of being conclusive. So, naturally, I need to take some blood right from the source, and check it out!"

The young knight stiffened slightly. There was a substance in his blood? Something that was potentially poison? He wracked his brain, struggling to remember if, at any point, the Yiga members had brought him into contact with anything poisonous, but his memories of his time in the cell were far too muddled to properly sort through. Realistically, with how blurred his mind had been lately, just about anything could have happened to him down there and he would never be able to recall. He felt a lump forming in his throat at the thought.

Thankfully, Zelda's soft voice saved him from his silent agonizing. "Link…" she murmured, lightly nudging at his arm. "Link, are you awake…?"

He slowly opened his aching eyes, though he still had to squint in the mid-morning light. If he kept his gaze focused on her, though, it was easier to ignore the pain.

"Did you...happen to hear what we were talking about?" his princess questioned carefully. "Purah needs to draw a bit of blood from you in order to study it...are you alright with that? It's all to help you, of course - we just need to figure out what's wrong first."

There was quite a bit that Link wanted say, to ask, maybe even to scream, but as always, he held his tongue and swallowed his words. Zelda's expression was already so sad. If he quietly complied, perhaps they could get to the root of the problem faster, and remove it just as swiftly so that he could return to health. For her sake, of course.

He slowly nodded.

"Great!" Purah cut in, pulling out a needle and a vial. "Now, Linky, you just sit tight and we'll have that blood out of you in just a minute!"

That wasn't the most comforting sentence Link had ever heard, but he decided it wasn't worth a comment.

Over the next minute or so, Purah cleaned the needle, wiped off a certain spot on his arm, and carefully punctured his skin to the point of drawing blood. Once she had collected enough blood for her tiny vial, she stepped away, allowing Paya to move in and wrap a short length of bandage around the small wound. Compared to the rest of the soreness that still plagued his tired body, Link had barely felt the prick.

"Alright, let's see…" the Sheikah scientist mumbled as she donned a strange pair of goggles. She held the vial up to the goggles' lenses and studied it for several long moments, her mouth twisting into a grim frown. "...huh. Snap. Okay. So...this is just blood. No sign of that substance we found earlier, and I'm kind of thinking I might know why."

And judging by her heavy sigh, Zelda appeared to have the same idea. "Don't tell me…you think it's because I'm here."

Purah shrugged. "That's the best theory I've got right now. Somehow, you seem to be holding back whatever's up with him just by being in his general vicinity - even to the point where his blood looks normal. So...do me a favor and go stand outside for a few minutes, okay?"

Link's heart rate picked up slightly. He didn't want her to leave, even if he knew she would technically still be nearby. He just knew that something bad would happen if she wasn't right there next to him.

As Zelda reluctantly stood to leave, Link found himself rising a few inches off the bed, clinging to her hand. He lacked the words to properly express what he was feeling, so he simply stared at her, wide-eyed and praying that she would understand.

The princess' expression softened. "It'll just be for a minute or two, Link…" she whispered, clasping his bandaged hand in both of her own. "Just a minute or two, and then I'll come right back. You can handle that, right…?" There was pain in her eyes.

I can't, he didn't say.

Instead, he swallowed and nodded.

Though it took all of the willpower he had left, Link released Zelda's hand and slowly lowered himself back down as he watched her walk down the stairs. His pillow was far too soft, he decided, as his head sank into it. It was trying to suffocate him.

"Don't you worry about a thing, Linky," Purah attempted to reassure him with a bright smile. "We'll just give it a bit of time, take some blood from you, and then we'll bring Zellie right back in here for you! It'll be done before you know it - click and snap!"

Link didn't quite share her confidence, but still, he said nothing.

Logically, he knew that something was wrong with him, and if they didn't figure out exactly what it was, then he likely wouldn't ever get better. He understood Purah's reasoning - agreed with it, even.

But with Zelda absent, he felt like there was a cage closed around his chest. He could feel a lump in his throat that wouldn't go away no matter how many times he swallowed it. Without her, he wasn't safe from whatever was inside him.

The minutes ticked by - or maybe they were hours? As time plodded forward, Link could feel a dense fog creeping into his mind. His thoughts became jumbled and darkened. How long had it been since Zelda had been by his side? Ten minutes? Twenty? Several hours? Several days?

His skin itched incessantly. His eyes flicked down to his arms, where splotches of angry red were slowly appearing on his flesh. He happened to catch a glimpse of his chest and torso, finally no longer covered by blankets.

His eyes widened. How long had that Yiga eye been there?

Link felt his breath quicken as his heart pounded beneath his scarred chest. His body felt too heavy, too hot. He couldn't move, he could barely even breathe.

Something was wrong.

His vision warped, elongating his body before him and twisting it sharply to the right. He was gasping for breath now as the room spun around him. Gradually, the colors of the room changed for him too. It was as though someone had placed a dark, bloodred film over his eyes. Everything looked like it was bleeding.

Then suddenly, he was bleeding. Something cold dug into his arm, allowing blood to ooze out of the new wound. He tried to thrash, but his body may as well have been made of steel. He couldn't move. He couldn't escape.

"There, that should be enough…now quick, get her back in here!"

The voice was too high, too loud, too warped. He winced, and the tips of his ears dropped so far that they almost faced the complete wrong direction. He flinched with each footstep that followed the voice - they practically sounded like explosions.

A foul, burning substance began building in his throat, choking him. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, but the red was still there. His ears rang. His skin was on fire.

He knew that he was about to die.