Chapter 14 (Age 17)
Link and Zelda were both in their usual spot off near the bridge by the waterfall and the pumpkin patch, albeit not together. Zelda was dutifully reading the next chapter of their textbook, studying for the exam next week. It would be based on calculation of wingspan during an altitude drop. She rested her hand against her cheek.
While Zelda didn't hate arithmetic, she certainly wouldn't call it her favorite or best subject. It's why she was studying a week in advance. Now history or literature, on the other hand… those were her subjects.
She was frantically scribbling notes in the margins and getting frustrated. She looked up, needing to take her mind off of the problem. Luckily, she had a distraction.
Link was off in the distance doing pushups. His arms were wobbling as he held himself up, but she wasn't surprised. He had to be in the two or three hundreds by now. He'd been at it for such a long time. And she was sure Master Kos or Eagus hadn't asked him to do this much outside of class.
She'd noticed that Link had become increasingly more determined to train outside of class. She knew he was trying to avoid getting a Loftwing, but at this point, he barely slept, and he was hardly around. She didn't know exactly who he was doing this for: himself, his mother's memory, or maybe just to prove something to Groose. But they both knew the truth of it: no matter how hard he trained, if he wanted to be a proper Knight, he'd have to fly.
She wondered if there was anything else she could do to encourage him to fly. She'd been out, though she still wasn't allowed to fly solo. Of course, several of her recent flights hadn't exactly been above board.
Speaking of birds, she reminded herself as she glanced down at the numbers on the page. Wingspan… wingspan…
Glancing up once more, she couldn't help but stare at Link. She could remember when he was just a scrawny boy, but certainly not now. And, though she'd only admit it to herself, she'd already been attracted to him before, no matter if he'd been a quiet fourteen year old, or or a soon-to-be Knight.
But she had to look away. She needed to calculate wing speed. No...wingspan. Goddess was she going to fail if she kept this up. There was no reason to keep looking up and find more reasons to be attracted to him.
Finally, after much effort, she felt herself get lost in the numbers, and her brain was on fire, turning quicker than she thought it could. The words were finally making sense as she turned them to numbers, and she was beginning to get the hang of the math.
"Zelda?" she heard, breaking her from her trance.
She looked up, and Link was jogging towards her. He was out of breath, like he'd been mid exercise when he'd stopped.
"Hang on, Link. Let me finish this—"
"Zelda!" Link snapped, more urgently.
This time, she quickly put the book down. She rarely heard him take this tone. "Yes?"
Link took her hand and helped her up, dragging her to where he'd been standing. Zelda squinted at a black mass that was quickly growing. It was indistinguishable as any one specific thing.
He pointed out into the sky, as if she couldn't see. "What in the name of the Goddess is that?"
"I have no idea, but it's getting bigger. A rain cloud, maybe?"
Together, they watched it grow in size, breaking apart from one great mass, into three large ones.
"Oh, Goddess," Link muttered, grabbing Zelda's arm. "We have to go. Whatever it is, it's coming right for Skyloft."
Suddenly, there was a shrill ring of a bell, and several of the villagers began to scream, a panic. They turned and watched many jump off Skyloft and onto their Loftwings, but no villagers were near them.
"Link, we don't have Loftwings," Zelda said, hitting his arm rapidly and in a panic, "We need to move!"
Link looked around, realizing that there was nothing near them. "And we won't make it to a building before that gets to us. It's going to hit the island."
Zelda squinted before gasping and returning to her frantic assault on Link's arm. "It's Leviathans, Link! Move!"
She pushed him, spurring him away from the edge of Skyloft. He grabbed her hand and pulled her alongside him as they quickly made their way up the hill to the forbidden cave. It was restricted for Knights only, but there was no other option. The Leviathans were about to knock straight into Skyloft.
Link pulled the tree blockade as hard as he could to allow Zelda to step through before he weaseled himself through as well. Almost immediately, they felt Skyloft tip onto its side.
Zelda let out a squeak as she tripped onto the ground, but found herself lying on the wall thanks to Skyloft's tilt. Link landed beside her. Both grabbed at their heads to block their ears from the roaring boom that the Leviathan's collision made.
"Go deeper! We're too close to the entrance."
Zelda pushed herself off the wall and immediately fell back down as Skyloft shook, trying to naturally right itself.
Link pulled her up, moving deeper into the cave. Soon, there was another loud bang, like an explosion, and Skyloft rocked again, only this time, it was the other way. Zelda grabbed ahold of Link's arm as she felt herself slip. She accidently brought Link down with her, and she hit the ground hard, feeling her forehead sting. Link hovered over her, catching himself before he could land on her. He stayed there as she cradled her head. Several small pebbles dislodged themselves from the cracks of the cave's ceilings, pelting Link's back without abandon. It felt like the whole thing would collapse if there were too many impacts.
When it finally stopped, he let out the breath he'd been holding and helped Zelda to her feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked, brushing off his back.
He looked her over, blinking a few times before reaching up to wipe a drop of blood off Zelda's forehead. "It looks like it stopped bleeding."
Her hand went up and came back with some blood on her fingertips. "Is that sound just me?"
"What?" he asked, looking around quickly, hearing the flutter of what sounded like a thousand wings. "Oh."
"Great, I hate Keese," Zelda muttered, pulling her hand away from her head.
Link stepped in front of her and groaned. "I wish I had a sword."
"I wish you did, too," Zelda whispered. "This isn't going to be fun."
Link pushed Zelda back against the wall of the cave as they waited for the Keese to reach them, knowing that without leaving, there would be no way to outrun them. And if they tried to run deeper into the cave, they'd only be met by more Keese and ChuChus. "What do you think we should do? Take our chances outside, or in here?"
Zelda felt the cool rock against her back, sending a chill up her spine. "The Leviathan migrations on record last longer than this. I don't think it's safe to leave yet, but it's not safe in here."
"Do you think we could make it to a building if we went now?"
Zelda shook her head. "Not based on what I've read. Our timing would be off and we'd risk getting knocked off Skyloft."
"Great," he said, as the wings grew deafening. "Ever been clawed by one of these?"
"No."
"What about a Remlit?"
"Yes."
Link chuckled humorlessly. "This will be worse."
The squeals of the Keese were reverberating off the cave walls, and Link finally felt three distinct claws dig into the skin just above his chest. He hissed and stumbled backwards into Zelda. Turning to wrap his arms around her waist, he pulled Zelda close to him, keeping her pinned between him and the wall. He felt more claws scrape down his back, though it was the claws that dug into the exposed skin on his neck and arms that hurt the worst. The claws were deep and sharp. He tried to stay quiet, being so close to Zelda's ear, but he couldn't help the pained grunts he was making as the Keese relentlessly assaulted his back, neck, and arms despite his attempts to elbow them off of him.
Zelda began to scream, more in surprise than anything, before she too was hissing in pain. Link tried to move her so her arms were covered, but there was nothing more that he could really do.
Whether one would consider it good luck, or more bad, Skyloft shook again, sending a violent shockwave through the cavern. The Keese let out panicked screeches and headed deeper into the cave. The impact sent Link and Zelda flying across the length of the cavern. Link landed hard on his spine against a sharp rock and started to cough. His muscles were clenched and he worked hard to loosen them since he was still holding Zelda and knew he had to be hurting her.
"Sorry," he groaned.
She didn't move. "It's okay. Are you hurt?"
"Yeah," he admitted, groaning with effort as he tried to sit back up.
Thankfully, the next Leviathan hit didn't move them quite so much from their position already on the floor, but the both ducked as more debris fell from the cave's ceiling.
Zelda crawled closer to Link and finally managed to push her wild hair from her eyes, tying it out of her face with a small band around her wrist. When she pushed some hair from her face, her hand came back bloody again.
"Great. Maybe we should have taken our chances outside," she muttered.
Link chuckled and looked around in the dim light. "Maybe."
They were holding still in the momentary calm, no noise except the ragged sounds of their breathing and the distant echo of beating wings.
"I know why no one is allowed in here without a Knight."
Link finally managed to sit up beside her. "I don't count?"
Zelda turned to him with a grin, despite their situation. "Do you have a sword?"
He made a knowing noise and didn't push it. Instead, he stood up and offered Zelda his hand. She went to take it but immediately pulled away. "I have blood on my hand from my head. Sorry." Link pulled her up by her arm instead.
The calm had been deceptive and they felt another hard rock of the island, sending them off their feet.
"Goddess!" Link yelled in anger, his frustration echoing off the cave walls. "Is this done yet?"
"Don't bring the Keese back!" Zelda scolded, covering his mouth with her good hand before pulling back. Again, she saw blood, but this wasn't hers.
"You're bleeding too, Link."
"I'll bet. We've hit the ground enough times," he said, noticing the number the Keese did on her arms. He could only imagine what he looked like. He grabbed Zelda's scratched-up arm; there were thin lines, some with blood seeping out. His own arms were burning, and he knew they'd both need a pretty decent potion when this was over. "Why did no one warn us about the migration?"
"That's a great question," Zelda said, looking back towards the light just around the corner. The ground rumbled again, and Zelda couldn't help but roll her eyes as she braced herself. "Not again."
"Wait, that's not a Leviathan," Link muttered. The ground felt different, and it was the cavern shaking, not an entire collision.
"Link!" Zelda yelled, crashing into him as hard as she could. He turned at her voice and caught her in his arms as they both tumbled over. Link looked over Zelda's shoulder and saw a piece of the ceiling cave had collapsed right where he'd been standing. And under it was at least one Keese wing. Link rested his head back onto the ground for a moment, taking a deep breath. The impact on the ground had his already bruised back throbbing. "Thanks," he said, tightening his grip on Zelda. She could feel him shaking, and knew he couldn't let go of her if he wanted right now.
She rested her head down against him, feeling pain and exhaustion. She knew he could feel her shaking as well. Sitting up slightly, she found her hand moving without her permission, brushing against Link's cheek, just to the side of his cut and bruised mouth. "Not too bad when it could have been a squashed head."
Link chuckled and hand ran through her hair for a moment, brushing the loose strands out of the way as he looked at her cut forehead. "Are you dizzy?"
"I don't know. I'm a little too stressed out to tell what's from what. I just want to get out of here. It might be over."
"Come on, let's get to Owlan," he breathed out, feeling her own breath mingling with his.
But there was another crack, smaller debris and pebbles pelting down on them as a warning.
Everything moved so quickly. Link and Zelda tried to stand, but both faltered from their injuries and couldn't make it to their feet quickly enough. But Link felt something push hard against his side that knocked him off to the side.
"Zelda!" Link called, absolute panic cracking his voice as he crawled back over to her. A decent sized piece of the ceiling was beside her, and it was tinged red with blood. When he reached her, he could see the entire side of her face was dripping with fresh, new blood.
"Zelda?"
Her only response was a soft whimper, but it was something, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Link angled himself above her head, shielding her in case it happened again, and grabbed her hand in his. "Hey, hey, don't close your eyes."
"That's rich…" she gasped out almost inaudibly, "Coming from you."
Link chuckled, more relieved than anything to hear her talk after that hit. "If I'm saying it, you know it's true."
Blood was pooling around her and he could hear her breathing pick up. He brought his other hand up to her hair, trying to feel for the wound. When she hissed and twitched, he knew he'd found it.
Letting go of her, Link looked around for anything to stop the bleeding. There was nothing but rock, and the blood was seeping out quickly. He pulled off his shirt and bunched it up, pressing it against her head. Grabbing her hand, he had her help hold it in place, giving her something to focus on.
"You owe me a new shirt, Zel."
"And I can't even see you to enjoy this," Zelda choked out through the pain.
Link let out a strangled laugh. "What?"
Ignoring him, she reached for his free hand, already feeling the entire world spinning faster and faster. She needed something to steady her. He took her hand in his again and kept their other holding pressure against her head.
Zelda squeezed his hand. "This was our dumbest plan yet."
Link squeezed back. "We should have taken our chances being thrown off Skyloft and impaled by a Leviathan."
"Absolutely. Let's get out of here. It should be over."
With a crack and a rumble of the cavern floor, the harsh sound brought the foreboding of another piece of rock falling. Zelda waited to hear it hit the ground, but it never did. Instead, she felt Link's body press down hard against her, casting all of the air in her own lungs out, and his hands loosened completely from hers.
"Link?"
Nothing.
"Link!"
With a final swallow of her nervously thick spit, she felt her head spin once again before everything went dark.
"They're in here!" Link remembered hearing the voices. "Oh Goddess!" the voice cried. "I think they're dead! Zelda's dead! Goddess, no!"
"Shut up, Groose! Zelda!" came a lighter voice. A girl's voice. Karane " Someone get the Headmaster!"
"Link, Zelda!" a new voice had joined.
Karane's light footsteps were followed by two sets of heavier ones. "Help me move this!"
There were grunts of effort before Link felt a thousand times lighter, and breathing came much easier, though he still couldn't move.
Arms went under his and dragged him off to the side. "I've got you, bud," said Pipit's voice. "Groose, don't touch her until Horwell or Owlan come in."
"She's bleeding! I'm not going to let her bleed!"
Karane's voice was lower to the ground than Groose. "Looks like Link stopped it. It's dry now."
But Groose remained panicked. "Why isn't she up then? Wake her up!"
"Shut up, Groose!" Karane said again, exasperated. "You're not the only one who's concerned!"
"I got them," came the quiet, out of breath voice of Fledge. His footsteps neared Link, and he could hear a flurry of more.
"Oh Goddess! Zelda, my darling girl, are you alright? Please, say something. Horwell, get over here!"
Link couldn't remember how long it had been since, but light shone through his eyelids. He'd been moved, because there was no way the cave had that much light before.
"Zelda?" he asked.
Everything hurt, but he managed to get his eyes open, seeing the familiar ceiling of his own room.
Link sat up, crying out in pain as he did.
The door whipped open moments later. Instructor Horwell rushed inside and bent beside Link's bed, holding him down. "Calm yourself, Link. Be calm."
"Zelda?" Link gasped, looking around.
Horwell kept Link down, but his hands were gentle, as was his voice. "Zelda is fine. She woke some time ago."
"She's okay?"
"Yes, Link. We had to give you a concoction of Tulac for your pain when you got back or you'd have woken around the same time. It put you to sleep. She told us what happened. It looked as if you saved her. "
"She saved me. Don't let her lie to you."
Horwell smiled kindly. "She sustained mild head trauma and was ill. She is in bed, but she will be perfectly fine barring a few headaches."
Link gritted his teeth and swung his legs out of bed, groaning as pain radiated throughout his spine.
"No, no, no! You must rest while your body heals. Your back! You were crushed, Link."
Link looked at him. While he intended for some sort of look that one might even consider threatening, he imagined it must have actually looked sad and pathetic.
"I know you want to see her, but you need to rest. You can see her soon."
Though he was weak, Link pushed his body past Horwell's feeble attempts to stop him. Horwell sighed, not fighting him as Link staggered toward the door.
"Please, come back. You'll be in greater pain by the time you reach the stairway and I promise you can see her after you rest some."
Unfazed, Link bit back the pain. The Tulac concoction had worn off, and he could feel where the cave had hit him. Unfortunately, it was in a spot that seemed to be connected to every muscle he needed to exist, from his lungs, to his legs.
When he reached the first step, he was already out of breath, his head spinning, his feet weak, ready to scream as everything radiated out in pain. But steeling himself, he took another step. He needed to see that Zelda was okay. The last thing he'd seen was her bleeding out under him, and the last he'd heard was her father crying out in horror and anguish.
Horwell appeared beside him, offering his arm as a support. "You'll regret this after, Link. Your body isn't ready for stairs."
Link took yet another step.
It wasn't as if he didn't believe Horwell about Zelda. But seeing her wasn't a desire. He didn't want to climb these stairs. He had to.
When he and Horwell reached the top, Link was sure that he would vomit. His body was shaking beyond his control, and Horwell was quick to help him to the ground to let him rest.
"I can ask her to come out here."
Link grabbed Horwell's sleeve as he went to move and he shook his head, too winded for words.
"Link, please. Now you're being beyond stubborn."
Uncaring, Link pushed himself uneasily off the ground and leaned against the wall for a moment and blinked away the darkness that crept along the edge of his vision.
Okay, maybe there was still some Tulac in him after all.
With just a few more steps, he all but threw himself against Zelda's doorframe. His hand lightly tapped the door.
Vaguely, Link could hear that Horwell had left him for another room, presumably to get help.
Zelda's voice called out from the other side of the door. "Please, Father, you just looked in on me."
Link knocked again, and this time, he heard footsteps.
"Father, I—" Zelda stopped just in front of the door and her eyes widened at Link's wobbly frame. "Link!"
After blinking away the darkness several times, he took in her bandaged wrists, her wet hair, the small line of thread that went from her fine skin and disappeared into her hairline.
Zelda let out a gasp and threw her arms around Link's shoulders, holding him tight. "You're alright! They wouldn't let me leave my room. I wanted to see you."
Link tightened his grip on her waist, despite the massive amounts of pain that it caused. His other hand held the door frame, keeping himself steady. His mouth rested on her neck and he felt her shudder as his breath tickled her skin. But he couldn't move if he wanted to.
"Link…" Instructor Owlan said, moving up behind him with Horwell in tow.
"You're okay," Link breathed against her.
He felt three sets of hands on him, keeping him from going down too hard as Link's legs buckled. He let go of Zelda just before falling to his knees before being lowered onto his side.
"Don't move," a voice said.
Link blinked his eyes open and groaned, looking around.
"I said not to move."
This time, the voice rang clear. There was only one person who sounded like that.
Link rolled over, despite a grunt of annoyance from the girl in the chair beside him.
"You're alright?" he muttered.
Zelda grabbed his hand and squeezed. "I might throw up on you, but I'm fine otherwise."
"Great," he mumbled with a smile. "What happened?"
Zelda shrugged. "Well, if you mean to you, you collapsed in my room. Luv and Bertie mixed up a potion that'll make us sick, but we'll heal faster. Hence, me potentially throwing up on you. But if you mean to Skyloft, the Knights are out there now trying to figure out what happened to Jardon. He was supposed to be on watch for them, but he never reported in."
Link grinned. "You're better."
"Because I'm rambling? Thanks."
"Why are you here?" he asked, looking around. He was definitely in his room.
Zelda looked toward the door before looking back at Link. "Well, they figured it was safer for you if I just came here so you wouldn't disrespect Horwell again and take the stairs."
"I had to know."
"Hey," Zelda said, lightly pushing him. "Scoot over."
Link grunted as he pushed himself up against the wall to make room. Zelda gingerly moved beside him, still in pain herself. She turned to face him. His eyes were slits as they tried to stay awake. She could feel how heavy hers were, too.
"Wait," she said, moving slowly to press her lips against Link's cheek, though she rested dangerously close to his lips. "Thank you."
Link breathed out a tired laugh, too slow and tired to turn his head to catch her lips before she moved back, so he reached up with great effort to run his thumb beside the stitch on her head. "Thank you."
She turned and settled against him, making herself comfortable. "Is this okay?"
"Mmm," he hummed, draping his arm over her. "Like old times."
She couldn't think of exactly what 'old times' he meant, unless he meant the times they'd slept outside, huddled close together and waking up with their arms clinging to the other. But as he began to rub mindless circles over the exposed, unbandaged skin of her arm, she realized that there was something familiar about this, like they'd stayed together a thousand times.
"What if someone comes in?" Link whispered into her ear, already half asleep. "Your father?"
Zelda felt her heavy eyes drooping. "I don't think I can even care tonight."
But Link didn't hear her. His quiet, even breathing tickled Zelda's ear before she, too, drifted off.
A/N: Fun fact! This scene had to be rewritten twice because it was one of the first scenes I wrote! Which, honestly, is probably why I'm biased and it's one of my favorite chapters. We'll consider all these rocks prep for the horror story that is Eldin. Or is it only me who gets brutally assaulted by rocks every time I try to run up those slopes?
Reviews: PennyForYourThoughts024: I don't mean to kill you, but I'm 100% posting two more chapters this week because they're already sitting in my doc manager mostly ready to go! Green Swordsman: Thank you! I'd love to say that he's being hit in the head with signs (too soon?)! ThrowerofBooks: I think your name is absolutely perfect and I'm so here for it! I love balancing on a tightrope of fluff-overload and just enough fluff. I'll usually tone it down, but sometimes I'll fall off in the wrong direction haha! Cosmo14: I'll just combine my response to you here! Link and Pipit are sadly clueless! But what makes them worse is that they bounce off each other. They're both on the same page, so neither has that little doubt eating at them because of something the other said since they're both being stupid haha. Also, be prepared for some fast chapters! I liked that Robyn was just a bit of a "wrong time" kind of character who wasn't mean or anything, she just wanted a decent relationship. I felt for her. Him twirling his sword in most of the games is one of my actual favorite little mannerisms for his character! I don't see *cough* any *cough* foreshadowing here. I feel so bad for Gaepora! He's just surrounded by hormonal teens and can't escape them! I originally wanted this to be a trilogy with the first being Hylia and that Link, then this, then a post game, but right now, I can't figure out a solid plot. But if I can, a sequel will absolutely happen because I've wanted that since the start. And then for your other review, I did miss that opportunity in this chapter! I love their in-game playfulness like when she tosses him off a cliff... twice. He's definitely wising up, but he's still got that teen angst holding him back! And right now, the Skyloft version of pain meds hahaha.