Chapter 8: Track Check

"Link, they're behind us!" Zelda shouted, pulling her head back into the cabin.

"Right, ok. It's fine, we just need t-" Bang. The train shook, knocking the boy into the cabin wall. "Ok we're not fine."

Link propped himself up as the train leaned around a corner. A shuddering horn sounded around them, its screeching piercing their minds. Zelda's hands flew to her ears, trying to block out the noise. Her mind raced with ideas. They needed to get rid of them, just scaring them off would be enough. "We need to shake them off," she yelled, willing her voice to be heard over the chaos following them, "can't you use the cannon?"

A look of thought crossed his face, but was dismissed as quickly as it appeared. "No chance, if they're right behind us we'll just shoot through the carriage, but maybe-" Bang. The train groaned from the force. She stuck her head back out. The Moblin's had gotten braver, their boar now running aside the carriage. The Moblin's tugged on the reins and the boar pulled away, building up for another charge. Zelda ducked back in. They were going to be rammed off the tracks.

Pushing himself off the cabin, Link staggered past her to the window, "I'm going to do something stupid," he said, with a speed used specifically to avoid her objections. Then again, it's not like she could.

"Just don't get us killed," she said as he pulled a bomb out of his bag. He might actually do that. She resigned herself, at this point she was sure this adventure had made them both a little crazier, but they'd somehow made it work so far, she had to trust they'd manage again.

Link lit the bomb, leaning as far out the window as he could manage without falling, and tossed it with all his might. It landed with a thud, but hopped along the train, flinging itself towards the Moblins chasing them. The Moblins - panic in their eyes – turned, yanking their reins again, decidedly saner than the two of them.

Boom!

The blast rocked the train twice as much as the Moblins had. Later, Zelda would swear half the wheels left the track. The boar shot off, legs flailing with panic. Flames licked at the fleeing demons, chasing them over the nearest hill, soon not even their silhouettes were visible on the horizon.

She allowed herself a breath, its soothing coolness relaxing muscles she hadn't even realised were tense.

Link joined her, wind whipping his hair around as he mopped his brow. "Honestly, that went better than expected."

She scoffed, "You can't complement yourself for that, I'm pretty sure you couldn't have found a lower bar to pass."

He let out a hearty laugh, moving back to the controls, "Well you have to take the victories you can get. Besides it would have been worse if they kept going, this is our victory."

She rolled her eyes, though it barely managed to cover her happiness. He was right, technically, as much as she knew she couldn't admit it. He still reminded her of the scrapes 'she' put on the train, so letting him lord this over her as well certainly wasn't an option.

A crashing bang came from the engine, and the train slowed to a halt. The two paused, glancing to the other as if either could explain. Link vanished from the cabin, scanning up and down the engine before she heard him touch the ground. Seemingly failing to find anything wrong he doubled back, now working his way around the cannon.

"What did you do?" she said, gliding onto the cannon to follow him round.

"I don't know what you're talking about, this was the Moblin's fault." He said, but his voice deflated as the two rounded the edge of the cannon. Roughly smashed in and barely hanging on was the coupler. A deep indentation was curved into it, steam hissing out from the crack. It was clear damage that bad was not caused by the boars ramming.

"Ok maybe I'm partly to blame for that."

"Only partially?"

"...I'll give you 60%."

A pause hung between them.

"…Can you fix it?"

He sighed, "…We're about to find out."

Link clanged away at the coupler, carefully smacking it with a hammer. It was entrancing, in her opinion, to watch him work. It was an odd combination of roughness and delicacy that resulted in something mesmerising. It was like music, a calming song filling the atmosphere. Zelda could feel herself drifting into a daze, her mind lost in her gaze. And so she watched on. Link paused, adjusting his aim to some unseen mechanism under the carriage. Winding his arm back, he swung, the hammer singing though the air.

Her mind burst awake as the clatter of metal cut off. Everything was gone. She spun, searching for anything, but all she could find was white. What happened? Are the Moblins back? Where's Link? Her thoughts cut off, the faint hiss of steam being overpowered by a rough coughing sound.

"Link?" she shouted, jumping up, eyes trying to get a glimpse of the boy. But nothing came of it, he remained hidden in the cloud. Slowly, movement caught her eyes. The smoke, it was billowing, gradually moving behind her. The soft breeze turned into a sharp gale, the wind whipping around her.

Within seconds, the smoke had cleared. As her eyes adjusted to the returning light, Link's silhouette developed. The red and blue of his uniform seeped in, but his face was covered in green. As the world came into focus, she made out the shape, a small pinwheel with leafy blades. With the last of the steam dissipating, Link placed the Gale Propeller back into his pouch.

"What was that?" she asked sinking back to the ground as Link made his way over to her. Glancing behind him, she noticed a sliver of steam seeping out from where he'd been working.

"I think," he dropped down to the grass beside her, "I think one of the shock absorbers was cracked, buffering out the coupler probably caused air to get in." He dropped his cap to the side, mopping his brow, "We'll have to give it a few minutes to clear out."

"Urgh, this is so stupid." She muttered. Clenching her jaw, the unmistakable feeling of flushing ran to her face. She scanned the landscape. One! She counted one single stupid hill around them. Otherwise everywhere was flat and empty. Even the forest was just a spec on the horizon. She had no excuse, she should have noticed the Moblins sooner.

She spun back to face the train to find Link had fallen to his back, eyes resting as he basked in the afternoon sunlight. He looked…calm? Relaxed? It was difficult to put into words.

"Doesn't it bother you?" Her words were almost hushed under her breath, but managed to be louder than expected. She glanced down to Link, willing him to not react.

Link's eyes fluttered open as he propped himself up, attention fully on her. "Why would it?"

She flushed a different shade. He'd actually heard that? She mentally slapped herself. That was stupid, what would he think?

But Link's calm smile stayed rooted to his face. Nodding to the train, he continued, "I mean it's going to be a challenge to buffer that out, but that's part of the fun." He turned to her, crossing his legs as he sat up, his smile holding a hint of concern. "Why? Are you worried about something?

She slowly shook her head. "It's just…" Her shoulders slumped as she drew her legs up to her chest. How to say it? Was she even sure what she was going to say? A twinge fluttered through her chest. Was this something she really wanted to go into?

"Please don't take this the wrong way but…I mean you've messed up, quite badly. And in front of me too. Why…why don't you care?"

Silence hung between them. Link scrunched his face, his brow furrowed, head cocked to the side. His lack of reaction shook her a bit. She'd expected…well something. Anger at being accused? Hurt full tears? She wasn't really sure. But the only sound he made was his soft, deep breathing. And so, she found herself focusing on that. A couple of seconds in, slightly shorter out. It was rhythmic, in a way. Something consistent, something predictable. And so she found herself slowing, falling into his pace. Finally, his face unscrunched.

"I dunno." He shrugged, relaxing back, using his arms to prop himself up.

…Was that it? All that thinking and he didn't know?

"I don't understand." She caught herself a second too late, the words out before she thought of them.

He looked up at her, studying her face for a moment, as if trying to piece together her thoughts.

"I mean I'm not thrilled about it but I just…" he twirled his hand, as if trying to stir the words from his mind "…messed up, you know? It happens," he chuckled, leaning in to her, "I mean back in the workshop we'd consider something successful if it only blew up in our faces twice."

She studied his face for a moment. Searching for a sign, the nervous ticks she'd made a point of learning. But there was no trace of deceit, no trickery or false sense of security. He was just…telling her? Did that mean he really wasn't bothered?

"Does it bother you?" His voice cut through her thoughts.

She'd be lying to say she hadn't seen the question coming. That didn't mean she was ready to answer though. She tried to pull her legs in even closer, her head now practically buried in her knees.

"A little," she squeaked out. It was completely unconvincing, but Link either didn't notice or didn't care. Not that she could see his reaction.

"But why? It was my mistake."

Her eyes bobbed out from her knees, turning enough to look at him, but little enough so she didn't have to look into his eyes. She knew this would happen. This is why she shouldn't have brought it up. However, that wasn't quite true. This wasn't exactly what she'd thought. His tone wasn't demanding, and the pressure she'd anticipated was just a shade heavier.

"It just bothers me." Her grip started digging into her knees. Her mind was bouncing, unsure where to start, unable to organise her thoughts. This clearly wasn't working. She released a held breath and let her voice run free. "I…I feel like we shouldn't be in this mess. There's no reason things should have escalated so much. I should've seen those Moblins earlier. I…I just feel stupid."

She bit her lip. Was it a distraction? Maybe. Some way of forcing herself to stop? She didn't really know. So she just waited for him.

"Yeah I can get that." He cocked his head again. "I guess we should have seen them coming." He pulled a face, a mix of thoughtfulness with an oddly placed smile. "But it happened, we'll just have to crack on and make sure it doesn't again."

That was…straightforward. Really, she should have predicted that by now. But the idea brought her some comfort. Basically, he just literally didn't care. He didn't care if he messed up and didn't care if she had either. It wasn't apathetic though, the effort he put in more than spoke for that. It was more just…not something to consider? Knowing that things would work out? Maybe…maybe it was something she could try for a bit.

"Oh the steam's cleared." Link piped up, enthusiasm coating his voice. He glanced up to the sun, letting out an annoyed groan, "this'll be fun, let's see if I can finish before the sun sets." He hopped up, shaking some grass off of his hat. He started to step off but stopped, turning back to her, "Unless you want to talk some more?"

She shook her head. While she was pretty sure he hadn't realised, what else was there to say? At this point, all she could do was put things into practice. She bobbed up from her seat, moving to follow him.

"Can I help?"

Hey all!

So first off apologise for the last couple of chapters being off from the usual schedule. Thing is, I had a chapter that would have moved into postgame stuff 80% done, then my brain goes and thinks up ideas for this, the last chapter and a couple more (which of course had to come during the game timeline). Aren't brains just great sometimes.

Anyway, I wanted to thank people for the reads and reviews, always feels good to see the numbers going up!