===== November 7, 2022 - Floor 1: Burning Blade Inn =====

Link lay in bed, alone, cursing himself and the lapse in sanity - it couldn't possibly have been anything else - that made him think it was a good idea leaving Zelda alone, for any reason. Even as good an idea as gathering information was on its face, alone? On their second night in this world? There was no mistake about it. Sleeping alone had been her way of punishing him, and he deserved it.

Seriously, dude... what the fuck?

Try as he might, he couldn't sleep, so he decided to do the only thing worth doing in this particular universe: fight. He equipped his armor and weapons, and left the village by the road they had entered earlier in the day.

One thing became painfully apparent early on in Link's hunt: fighting solo was extremely different than fighting as part of a team. The monsters weren't overwhelming by any means, but he couldn't handle them as easily as he could with Zelda by his side. Plus he took more damage in each fight, which meant waiting longer for his regen skill to heal him. As a result, after a couple hours he became frustrated with his lack of progress and turned to head back towards town. However, a commotion from behind caught his attention, so he turned to check it out. Eventually he came upon a player with her sword drawn, confronting a group humanoid characters. How many there were he couldn't immediately see, so he kept his distance while he analyzed the scene. Eventually it became clear that the other humans were players as well, and their intentions were less than friendly. Link sheathed his sword and cautiously approached, wanting to get a better measure of the situation before possibly making it worse by adding more weapons. He got just close enough to hear one of them speak:

"C'mon baby girl, if we hadn't come along just now, who knows what might have happened to you? We just saved your life, so as far as we're concerned, you owe us."

The girl said nothing, just keeping her sword pointed to the man who was speaking while trying to keep the others from surrounding her.

"Then again..." Another player drew his own sword. "It's not like monsters are the only dangers on the roads at night."

That was Link's entrance cue. He drew his sword and shield and rushed in, putting his back against hers. "That's enough. Put your weapons away and go."

The first speaker laughed as he drew his blade. "I don't think you understand the situation here."

The problem was, Link understood the situation exactly; three versus two spelled trouble. But he couldn't let himself appear afraid, so he settled in and started drawing up a plan.

Miraculously, such a plan became unnecessary, as the group caught sight of something in the direction of the village and chose to flee in the opposite direction. Link kept a wary eye on the trio until they were at a safe distance away, then let out a huge sigh of relief as he stashed his weapons. He turned to the young lady he had just rescued, who now had her sword trained on him. "I didn't need your help," she spat angrily.

"Maybe, maybe not," Link said indifferently. "I guess we'll never know, and you're better off for it. What are you doing out here at night anyway?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm staying in the next town up. I couldn't sleep, so I came out to do some hunting."

"Couldn't sleep? Right..."

"It's true. I had a fight with my partner."

"A fight, huh? What about?"

"Ask her yourself. Why do you think those thugs took off so quickly?"

The girl looked over Link's shoulder, and she saw a heavily-armored figure walking down the road towards them. She couldn't distinguish much about the figure in the dark... except for the massive two-handed sword it was now drawing from its back. She stepped back tentatively because... well, this person wasn't very big (maybe as tall as she was), but that sword was just huge! Meanwhile, Link just stood there with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. "What took you so long?"

The figure got within sword range, put away her sword and removed her helmet. "Wouldn't have been any fun to run in right away," Zelda said with a frown. "I was waiting to see what you could do without my help. Since you like leaving me on my own and all, I thought 'why not treat you to a dose of your own medicine?'"

"All right, I get it, I'm sorry!" Link groaned. "But I dare say we have a bigger problem on our hands at this very moment."

"Oh really? And what's that?"

Link glanced at the girl he had just rescued. "Getting her to town safely."

Zelda narrowed her eyes at the girl. "Oh, so you're worried about her safety, but not mine?"

"How long are you determined to be a total bitch about this?"

The girl backed away nervously. "Umm... should I just leave you two alone?"

Zelda drew her sword and pointed into the girl's face, causing her to fall to the ground out of sheer fright. "You there! What's your name?"

"A-a-asuna!" she stammered.

"Asuna, huh..." Zelda lowered her sword, but didn't sheathe it. "Well, Asuna, it's not safe to be traveling the roads at night, especially alone. We have an extra room in town; you're welcome to it."

Link was taken aback. "What do you mean, 'we have an extra room?'"

"You're coming to spend the night with me, and I'm not taking no for an answer," Zelda glared with her hands on her hips.

"I really couldn't..." Asuna said, trying her best not to agitate Zelda. "I'd have no way to pay you back, plus I've put your boyfriend out enough already-"

"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Zelda again pointed her sword directly in Asuna's face, this time with fire in her eyes (and a blush in her cheeks).

"Aaaah! Okay! I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"

Realizing this girl legitimately thought she might actually kill her in a fit of rage, Zelda finally unequipped her sword, causing a sigh of relief from both Link and Asuna. "I'm sorry, Asuna… we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Zelda, and this insensitive lunkhead I call my partner is Link." Link gave a nonplussed wave, before suggesting they continue their little tiff within the safety of the town's walls. "Preferably before the monsters start to respawn."

"Fine, but this is not over!"

"Whatever." Link started up the road back to town, with Asuna trailing slightly behind and Zelda suddenly clinging fiercely to his arm.

Eventually the trio made it back to the Burning Blade Inn, where Link transferred his room to Asuna and left - practically being dragged - to the Tower Shield Inn where Zelda was rooming. As soon as the room door closed behind the two of them, Link could practically feel the rage radiating off of Zelda. Sure enough, he looked over his shoulder and Zelda was seething and shivering with rage.

And... here... we... go...

"Do you... have... any... idea..." Chris knew that tone all too well; it only came out on the rare occasion when Lanay was too angry for words, so finding and choking on each one was a chore, but a chore he dare not interrupt lest she try ripping his throat out. "How... worried... I've been... for the... last... two... hours?"

Link's ears perked up at the word 'worried;' he certainly hadn't expected to hear that. "Worried? What do you mean, worried?"

"I... sent you a message... but you... never... opened it. After a... while... I checked your... location and... you weren't... in your room."

Link looked to his upper right and saw the blinking message icon he had somehow missed all night. Oh shit...

"So I checked again, and I found you in a field surrounded by four other players. I feared the worst, so I got dressed and ran as fast as I could. But when I got there, I saw you getting up close and personal with another girl."

"Okay, that was purely by accident. She was surrounded by those three thugs, the ones that ran away when you came walking down."

"Why?"

"'Why?' Why what?"

"Why did you leave the safe zone so late at night all by yourself?"

Oh, that 'why.' "I couldn't sleep, so I went out to do some hunting."

"Why not just come to me?"

"Because as far as I knew, you were still mad at me!"

"Which, if your stupid ass had checked your messages...!"

At last, Zelda did something neither Chris nor Link had ever seen her do before: under the weight of all the sadness, all the fear, all the rage, and all of her armor, she collapsed to the floor and started wailing - not crying, wailing - so loudly that if rooms weren't soundproof in this game, the entire inn would have heard her. Link went to sit next to her, but no sooner than he was on the ground than Zelda punched him square in the face.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled. "The only reason I'm crying is because I want to kill you right now, but I can't because we're in a safe zone!"

"Geez," Link said through hands clutching his nose. "Not because it's illegal-slash-unethical, not because then you'd really be alone here, but because the world won't let you."

"Yes, because the world won't let me!" Perhaps at realizing the absurdity of that sentiment, or she had reached a new level of anger, she had stopped crying and was laughing a little.

"Right, because we both know how you get when you can't get your way." Lanay was something of a spoiled brat in real life, but only in small matters; the worst she ever got was pouting over not being able to order take-out or something like that.

"Shut up... this is entirely your fault."

"I know, and I admitted that earlier."

"Still, though..." She turned her back to him and crossed her arms. "I couldn't let you think you were getting away that easy," she pouted.

"Oh... then in that case, tonight is your fault."

An armored hand swung haphazardly through the air. Link dodged it easily, causing Zelda to completely unequip her armor so she could move around better. "Stupid asshole!" she yelled/laughed as she chased him around the room. Finally Link grabbed her by the waist and, with much squealing, flailing and protesting, picked her up and tossed her onto the bed. He sat next to her and took her hand as she sat up. "Can you please forgive me for today?"

Zelda smiled. "That's all I've been waiting to hear." She leaned over and gave Link a peck on the cheek before stripping down to her underclothes. Link did the same and the two lay down in bed, with Zelda wrapping Link's arms around her until they both fell asleep.

The next morning, Link and Zelda woke up late after lying in bed for several hours after the sun came up. Remembering the intel they had gotten from Klein, they set off toward the next village, hoping to find the giant eyeballs he and his guild had described. After a twelve-hour trek (there were still monsters to slay and loot to earn), they came across the quagmire the Fuurinkazan guild had scouted out before. The muck shone a dark purple in the moonlight, and had a sickening, sinister aura about it. "Well, this looks like the place," Zelda noted grimly as she took in their surroundings. Klein and his band had been exaggerating of course, as is human nature, but not by much. To go around would take them through territory crawling with monsters several levels higher than they currently were capable of contending with, so that wasn't a reasonable option. But the more she scanned the terrain, the more it looked like there was... something in the middle of all the sludge... or was that the dim light playing tricks on her eyes? One thing she definitely didn't see were any eyeballs, although she did remember they supposedly didn't open until someone got close enough... "Link?"

"Hmm? You see something?"

"I'm gonna need you to take one for the team here."

"Ummm... what?"

Zelda equipped her Bow of Light. "I want you to take a few steps into the poison."

"O...k... and what exactly will you be doing while my HP is slowly being sapped to zero?"

"Waiting for an eyeball to open so I can shoot it. If it takes you below 75 percent, back out and we'll come up with another plan."

Link arched an eyebrow. "I feel like it's crazy trusting you on this, but you seem to know what you're talking about. All right, I'll go in as far as I can, but I'd feel a lot better if you at least had an idea of where to look."

Zelda scanned the landscape, and spotted a spherical protrusion to their left maybe 50 meters from the edge of the muck. "That's gotta be one of them. I want you to walk right to it. I'll be waiting with my bow to shoot it if it opens up."

"What if my health drops too low?"

"It's within healing crystal range, so you should be fine."

"All right... here we go." Link stepped into the poison and immediately felt it begin to affect his stamina and HP. He still pushed through, keeping an eye on his HP gauge.

Forty meters to go...

"How you doin'?" Zelda called out.

"Holding up," Link grimaced. Truth be told, every step was more painful than the last, but he had to keep going. His partner was trusting him, and he had to trust her in return.

Thirty meters...

Link's vision was starting to blur in and out. His HP was down to 60 percent, and he was struggling to walk.

Halfway there...

Suddenly, a giant yellow eye opened and stared at Link. That was precisely what Zelda had been waiting for. She drew her bowstring back, and a magical arrow of light began to form. She took aim, and as soon as the arrow was fully formed she let it fly. It flew true and pierced the eyeball through, causing it to wither and explode. When it did, the poison receded away from them, leaving Link on safe and solid ground. She ran up to him and popped both a healing and antidote crystal, restoring him to full health and stamina. "Wow, it actually worked," Link marveled as he got his feet back under him.

"Yeah, it did..." She looked around and saw another six eyes within 25 meters the road itself. They had enough crystals to clear those, and agreed that would be a safe threshold considering where Link started having difficulty moving the first time. Within minutes, the road itself was clear enough for travelers to make it through to the next village, which was another half hour walk down the road. They got to the gate, and a young girl ran up to them. "You're the first visitors to our village in quite some time! Does this mean the road is clear?"

Before either Link or Zelda could answer, a quest dialog popped up. "Ohhh, she's an NPC," Link noted. "So she'll be here when we wake up in the morning." He dismissed the dialog and found an in for himself and Zelda to spend the night at. After spending the night and resupplying in the morning, they sent word to Klein and his guild that the road was now safe for travel, although any travelers should stick to the road itself. "Oh, hold up," Link said. "I never did open your message from the other day."

Message? Zelda said to herself. What message-

She then saw Link's eyes nearly bulge out of his head, glancing between her and his message window.

Oh... that message. She blushed a little as she walked away, trying her best to hide a grin that got wider with every step.