Harsh Reality

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By Zel the Stampede

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Chapter five everybody!

Disclaimer: Default

R&R!

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Chapter 5: Garden

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Mirrors hundreds upon hundreds of mirrors. Row after row of shining sliver surfaces reflecting hundreds of Links. Each wandering the mysterious room, peering into the speculums, searching for a deeper meaning, a truth that escaped the untrained eye. Finding only walls of polished metal and glass.

Link stirred, still adrift in the rosy haze of sleep, his face hurt, a pain concentrated just below his eye bit with a dull ache, along with everything else. His memory of the night before was vague, reduced to scattered, broken images that flew from his mind's fingertips as he reached for them.

"Mr. Riles," Dragmire materialized, casting an invisible shadow over the room. Which vanished abruptly as he spoke, "How are you feeling?" Link mustered a half-hearted grimace, "Perfectly awful."

"That so, Mr. Riles?" Dragmire said, glancing down into the misty garden, soaked in dew and fog, below the window. Link swallowed hard, summoning up what little courage he had to dare to trust that man's word.

"Is Navi all right?" Link asked quietly. Dragmire rested icy golden eyes on his patient; "She's fine," he said casually, "Why?" Link paused, "Nothing." Dragmire's frown hardened to a stern scowl.

"Mr. Riles, you have feelings for Ms. Wicket, do you not?" Dragmire said, "If I'm correct, you two are friends?" Link nodded stiffly.

"I see," his tone was low, "Something-something happened to Ms. Wicket last night..." Link's eyes widened, "What happened! Is she hurt?"

"Ms. Wicket is well," Dragmire assured, "but it isn't her I am entirely concerned about. You see Mr. Riles-" Link gaped at the broad-shouldered man in disbelief

"You-you can't possibly think that I-"

"What I think is my own business, Mr. Riles," Dragmire said sharply. Link was horrified, wasn't this man supposed to be his doctor?

"I would never hurt her!" Link asserted bitterly, "not ever!"

"Perhaps you would not," Dragmire said gravely, "but what if there was a side of you that would?" Link sunk down on the pillows, thoroughly perplexed. Dragmire sighed heavily and placed a bottle of the oval caplets on the table.

"According to recent tests your blood contained a high level of this substance," Dragmire went on flatly, "apparently some empty-headed medic must have left it behind! And an over-dose could have easily led you to-" Link froze, clutching at sheets till his knuckles were white.

"Are you-are you saying," his voice was trembling, "that I-but I-"

"It's merely a hypothesis, Mr. Riles," Dragmire responded, "think nothing of it." The doctor straightened and left, breezing out of the room, leaving a shaken Link to himself. A solitary tear glided over the pale slope of his face; "It's not true! I wouldn't! I know I wouldn't! Gannondorf! He's playing with my head!"

Nurses appeared, shackling him down as something sharp punctured the soft flesh of his lower arm, spreading a cooling balm through his veins as the world went gray again.

* * *

"The witches?" Sheik arched a fine eyebrow. Navi nodded and gazed down hopefully at the Sheikiah man, "Please, Mr. Sheik, will you help me save him?"

She felt him smile again, "Of course, fairy girl."

* * *

Navi was unusually silent, outlining a rainbow maze of entwining lines over a sheet of notebook paper. The radio humming over her scrawling.

"Navi?" Malon gently sat down on the bed beside the pale girl, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Navi replied, smiling weakly, "Is Link okay?" Her brow furrowed in concern. Malon sighed softly, "He's all right."

"Why-why did Dr. Dragmire hit him?" Navi asked, "It wasn't nice, he was only protecting me-"

"What? Protecting you? From what?" Malon said suddenly.

"The monster," Navi whispered.

* * *

Link was very quiet and very still for very long.

"Mr. Riles?" a new voice sang, a nurse sauntered into the room with the ivory walls. A tall woman with a shock of silver hair wrapped in a tight braid.

"It's finally clearing up outside," she said brightly, noontime sunshine spilling in through the open windows, "Why don't we go out in the garden for a bit?"

Link gave a nonchalant sigh, turning away from the benign attendant.

"My name's Impa," she said politely, "I'm a substitute nurse, Alice isn't in today. Now, come on, Mr. Riles." Impa propped an unyielding Link into sitting position, shouldering his weight as she lifted him from the bed. Link, who really didn't feel like moving, leaned heavily on the poor nurse, who stumbled as they shuffled nearer to the waiting wheelchair.

"There we go!" Impa said brightly when all was said and done and Link was secured in the wheelchair. Impa smiled again and clasped the handles bound in worn leather. Link sighed deeply, outside seemed suddenly miles away as the chair rolled down the hall. He could hardly remember it and only three or four days had passed.

The garden was lush and green, with a patio paved with heavy squares of sandy-colored rock in a half circle. Clay jars brimming over with colorful buds sat in the corners and clusters of bonsai trees were strew about the emerald lawn. A marble nymph rested on her pedestal, a silvery waterfall cascading from the urn balanced on her shoulder. Her lips were worked into a funny, knowing little smile while gold fish swam about her ankles among the lily pads and reeds.

Impa grinned, giving Link a gentle pat on the shoulder, "I'll be right back, Mr. Riles, don't go anywhere." Link frowned, hearing an unknown brake on the wheelchair shift into place, 'Cruel joke.' Impa turned quickly and sped off, leaving Link alone.

* * *

"What monster?" Malon pried gingerly.

"A terrible monster," Navi said, never looking up from her drawing, "it crept into my room last night. I cried and cried but nobody came. And when Link finally came, he scared it away." Malon tucked a stray wisp of auburn back among its fellows, "Navi…did-did he hurt you?"

The pencil skidded across the floor, "No! No! He would never!" Navi said strongly. Malon grimaced, "Navi…tell me, are his stories real?" Navi cocked her head slightly; gawking baffled at her doctor.

"I like to think they're real," Navi said gently, "it's be nice if a hero could drive all your problems away…and they make me feel better. Ms. Malon, Link will come to see me today? Won't he?" Malon stiffened, "No, Navi, no, he won't."

Navi gasped, "Why? Why not?"

"Because," Malon said, feeling a weight settle on her heart.

"Does-does he not like me anymore?" Navi asked, somber. Malon shuddered that weight threatened to crush her heart in two.

"I don't know." Navi looked absolutely heart-broken, "But he's my friend! Why wouldn't he want to see me? Why? He said he was my-" Navi was quivering, heavy teardrops blurring her green eyes.

"It's not fair," she said at last, rubbing her eyes viciously to stop the flow of tears. Malon drew the tiny girl into her arms, tenderly stroking the slim shoulders. It had been Dragmire's orders, Dragmire's orders to isolate Link from other patients. 'Oh Gannondorf, they're only stories,' Malon thought sadly, 'Stories to make a lonely girl feel loved.'

* * *

Wheels creaked as Link dozed, the flowers rustling in their corners. A breeze ruffled his bangs as Link forced his eyes half-open. The sun piercing his wearied eyesight. He groaned; the wheels creaked again and someone was humming. Link creased his burrow; that song, he knew it. Why was it so familiar?

'This melody is the song of the Royal Family. It proves your connection with Princess Zelda.'

For a moment, his blood was chunks of ice moving sluggishly through Link's veins as he gazed at the stranger beside him. A young man, barely older than himself, jagged golden curls and garnet eyes, Zelda's lullaby playing from behind the firm lips.

"H-how do you know that song?" Link stammered, breathlessly. The young man smiled, "The princess sings it all the time. When she's sad." Link's eyes were wide, taking in the mysterious boy. Link swallowed, trying to force life into his rigid limbs, this man. He looked…like the Sheikiah. Just like Sheik.

"You know Princess Zelda?" Link asked shakily.

"Yes, very well," said the man who looked like Sheik, "My name is Jean*. What's yours?"

"Link."

"How do you know Zelda, Link?"

"From a long time ago," Link began awkwardly; "her guardian taught me that song." Ruby eyes met Link's; "She says so."

"What?" Link was puzzled.

"The princess," Sheik's doppelganger said slowly, "she talks to me." Link's daze deepened, "You…know where she is?" Sorrow leaked into his voice, somewhere Zelda knew he was here, knew that he had failed to protect Hyrule.

Sheik's mirror grinned slyly, pressing a hand over the pale-blue front of his shirt, he whispered, "She's right here. Inside me."

Link jolted as tawny-skinned nurse appeared, caught in a complicated dance as she fought to balance a stack of cream-colored folders and wheel 'Jean' back inside. She cursed beneath her breath and stuffed the bothersome files in the crook of her arm and pushed Sheik back inside the sanctuary. Unbeknownst to the hurried nurse, a single folder floated to the floor, scattering papers to the winds. Link squinted at a particular article, snagged beneath the gray wheel of his chair.

Name: Shosha, Jean

Room: 324, Schizophrenia Unite

End of Chapter 5

Jean's name isn't pronounced like 'Jean' as in 'jeans' but JE-ANN

O.O Schizophrenic Sheik, Link really doesn't know what's real and what's not now, does he?

Anyway, if you like this story and want more, please review.

Zel the Stampede

Coming Soon:

Chapter 6: Revelation