One's Default
Link actually felt his brain rattle and his heart constrict when he spotted the tuft of blonde hair amidst the bloodbath.
"Aryll?! What the f-"
He scrubbed hard at his eyes, just to make sure, because it simply was not possible, ludicrous didn't begin to cover it-
But he screeched to a halt, his boots tearing gravel, and Midna glanced quizzically backwards.
"Link!" she gasped, clutching at her chest, her little blue dress somehow pristine of all things, something else clearly impossible in this battlefield. "I've…I've finally found you. I-"
"What are you doing here?" he seethed, a tick away from exploding, and Midna noticed it was the second time she had seen him angry.
Outrage was a better term for it, she mused.
"I can't," he shook his head, still incredulous. "I can't even believe – I don't know what to…"
Midna reached them, placing a hand on his trembling shoulder.
"How did you even get here?" he hissed.
"I…I ran after you when you left, and I met Miss Zelda just now. She wasn't very happy I was here either, but she cleared a path for me anyway and told me where you went."
"Oh, not very happy, yeah, that about covers it," Link breathed through his nose, teeth clenched against the fury lapping at his shores. "Aryll, have you any idea what coming after us would be like? The kind of danger you've put yourself in? This isn't a game!"
"Link," she bristled, fistfuls of blue wrinkling the hem of her dress, her nose upturned defiantly. "I know it's been a while for you, but I'm not a little girl anymore. It's hardly fair, since I've been taking care of myself for years after you were gone. I realized,"
She bit her lip and switched grips, nails now clutching green as she tugged herself closer.
"I realized, as I saw your back getting smaller in the distance, that I would be a fool to let you leave again without me. I've…I've lost you once, and it was horrible. You're all I have left. I'm coming with you, with or without your permission."
"Aryll, how can I protect you if you come waltzing into the most vicious hellhole the world over? I still can't believe you got here unscathed."
"Well, you're just going to have to. What better way than sticking with me?"
Link opened his mouth, clearly not ready to concede the point, but Midna interrupted.
"I'm as surprised as you are, Link, but I don't think we have a choice. We've come too far to go back now, so we're just going to have to bring her with us. It's not like we can leave her to fend for herself."
Aryll nearly recoiled under Link's towering, steel-strung glare. Nearly.
After a length, he spoke quietly. A simmering, ruthless sort of silence.
"You will not move two inches without either Midna or myself escorting you. You will do whatever it is we tell you to do. And so help me, if you try to help us fight, I am not above hauling you all the way back to Outset myself."
Aryll nodded quickly, not daring to say anything further.
"Then that settles it," Midna almost wanted to laugh.
It wasn't long ago that she happened upon a man deranged in his happiness, irreverent to the point of disbelief, so derailed from the beaten track she couldn't have begun to guess at the grief he had shoved far beneath his heart.
Now would have seemed so impossible. Grumbles frittering under his breath, that same man marched ahead of them, fingertips barbed for battle, head hung low in chagrin.
"C'mon," Midna slung an arm around the girl, amused. "Best keep your distance while he's brooding."
Aryll's eyes were wide.
"Is he always this moody?"
This time, Midna really did laugh.
Author's Note: Within the week?! I'm a god. (I'm actually sewage) Let's see how long I can keep it up..?..!