So sorry for the long wait, my lovelies! I have had much much going on, including the death of my beloved parakeet, El. It really took a toll on me, so I stopped doing basically everything for a while...

Anyway, this chapter is up and running. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows!

-WingedIceWolf

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE LEGEND OF ZELDA OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.

I held up my phone and took a picture of the Hylian upon my couch, forgetting the flash was on. The bright light flashed, Darkile shut his eyes tightly as white beamed against his face, groaning.

When the image formed, I could see Darkile with his eyes shut, face nearly in a grimace, Marley shielding her eyes with her hands as well. It wasn't the best picture, considering the expressions I got from the two, but I clicked the "Share" button upon my phone, clicking "Messages" and sent the picture to Milo anyway. I then put my phone inside my pocket, looking over at Darkile.

"Sorry about that," I apologized, walking to the kitchen to search for more medical supplies. "I had to take a picture for Milo." My phone vibrated a couple minutes later as I rummaged through drawers, my ringtone being Navi saying, "Hey, listen!" I pulled my phone out of my pocket, seeing a notification from Milo.

You really weren't kidding. The notification said.

I sighed, unlocked the screen and replied. Of course, I wasn't kidding. When will you be here?

My break will be in another hour, so you'll have to wait until then. I'm sorry.

I growled in annoyance, set my phone upon the marble counter and sighed with my hands in my hair, my chocolate brown locks falling over my shoulders. Marley must have seen my agitation, she got up and neared me, asking, "Is something wrong?" I could hear the concern in her voice, despite the fact she tried to keep it low.

"Milo isn't going to be here until at least another hour," I replied with a heavy sigh.

"At least he's still coming," Marley replied, trying to brighten the mood. "Would you like to put on a movie?"

I paused for a long while, then answered glumly, "Sure. Though a walk would suit me better."

"We can't go for a walk, we have to supervise 'Ile," Marley began, voice hushed. "He's starting to drift off to sleep again, I don't want to scare him into thinking we're hostile or Milo's hostile, or whatever you want to believe, because he may try to take off again. He's too weak and hurt to be going anywhere. So, please, we have to be beside him in case something happens."

I got up, closed the drawer I was rummaging through and went into the front room, opening a dresser-like stand that held discs and gaming supplies, such as my Xbox, my Wii U, my 3DS, and my Nintendo consoles, my Wii remotes and my Xbox controllers. I pulled out a CD rack and allowed Marley to go through it.

Meanwhile, I scooted closer over to Darkile, his eyes flicking under his eyelids. The shadow's face was still rather pale, but at least he was breathing now. I checked his pulse carefully, not wanting to wake him, carefully placing two fingers to his cold neck. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a change in his pulse, which made me turn very concerned.

Marley picked out a disc, stepped up on the little ledge that surrounded the fireplace and popped the disc into the CD player upon the mantle. She then turned on the TV and took the remote, sitting down upon the couch.

"What did you put in?" I asked as I came to sit beside her, continuously glancing over at Darkile upon the couch.

"A movie," Marley said with a smirk.

"Great. This game," I muttered. "What kind of movie?"

"A good movie."

"I'm serious, is it something that is loud and is going to wake him up?" I jerked my thumb toward the Hylian. Marley's face went a bit more serious and she shook her head.

"It's just Lord of The Rings," Marley said. "I can turn it down, but I don't think it will wake him. Would you like me to choose another?"

I paused, shrugged and replied "I'll watch him and see how he does. If he gets restless, we'll have to change it."

The two of us began to watch The Fellowship of The Ring, enjoying the nostalgic music and scenes we had watched countless time over as children. We both could quote the entire movie from start to finish, know every scene and every little detail. We were just into the part where the Fellowship were forced to struggle through The Pass of Caradhras, when a knock sounded at the door.

"It's about dang time," I muttered under my breath, getting up and answering the door.

At the door stood a young man, in his early twenties, messy orange-blond colored hair, a young face with greenish-blue eyes, wearing a navy-blue shirt with blue jeans. He was holding a box in his hands, struggling a bit with it. I stepped aside and let Milo in.

"Sorry, I came as fast as I could," Milo apologized, setting the heavy box down upon the counter, stretching his arms with a slight wince. "The hospital is pretty busy. You should consider yourself lucky that I was able to sneak this supplies from the Surgical room."

"Many thanks, Mimi," I said with a slight smile.

"Where's this not-so-human man you were telling me about?" Milo asked, brushing back his messy hair from his eyes. Milo always reminded me of a puppy, with his playful, loving behavior and messy hair, but he was also incredibly loyal and serious when it came down to it. "And are you watching the Fellowship of The Ring? Without me? Gee, you're so cruel…"

I laughed slightly. "Same old, same new, Milo. The Hylian-"

"Wait wait, hold up. You mean 'Hylian' as in like Zelda?" Milo said, confused but also skeptical. "This better not be some sort of prank."

I flicked Milo in the head harshly. "Would I drag you all this way if it was a prank, Milo? I am in legitimate need of your help! And yes, he is a Hylian. More of a doppelganger, I would say." I led Milo into the front room, to the couch beside Darkile. Milo stood in shock for a good couple of seconds, then shook his head after I tugged on his ear.

"Hi Mimi!" Marley chimed, turning off the TV with the remote. Milo waved back, then turned to Darkile, kneeling beside him.

"Pull the blanket away, I have to see the injury," Milo said quietly. I nodded, carefully pulled the blanket from the shadow's body. Of course, Darkile was bandaged, causing Milo to frown slightly. "There go my chances of waking him." He started undoing the bandaging.

In an instant, Darkile's crimson eyes snapped open, he grabbed Milo's wrists tightly, eyes narrowed and glaring, lips nearly pulled back in a snarl. The action caused him to stifle a cry of pain, but he kept his iron grip around Milo's wrists.

"Darkile, easy," Marley said quickly, rushing over. "Trust me, he's a friend, he's just here to help!"

Milo seemed unphased by the matter, probably having similar occurrences in the hospital, but he was wincing, his hands turning white. Darkile hesitantly released but said nothing, bruises already forming at Milo's wrists.

"You're incredibly strong," Milo breathed, rubbing his wrists, looking Darkile over. "It's amazing, especially considering your current state." Milo's gaze fell upon Darkile's pointed ears, his red loop earrings, his crimson eyes, and then his jaw line. From there, he studied the less-severe wounds upon Darkile's body, despite his want to feel Darkile's ears to assure himself that this wasn't some sort of prank.

"Darkile," I began, coming beside him. "Relax, alright? If you don't trust Milo to undo the bandaging, may I?"

The shadow's crimson eyes met mine, hesitantly nodding slightly. I sat behind him, carefully undoing the bandaging, fingers weaving between the many strips upon his body. The entire time, Darkile's chin rested in his hand, but his eyes never left Milo, almost as if he expected Milo to lash out and attack. I could feel the tenseness of his body as I undid the bandaging.

"Why do you need him?" Darkile asked, tone quiet, yet cold, glaring at Milo. I could nearly sense Darkile was struggling to maintain his consciousness.

"He works at the hospital, a place where injured are taken in to be hospitalized, despite how bad their wounds or how bad the situation. The doctors and nurses do everything in their power to heal their patients, whether that be by surgery, involving stitching, suturing, whatever you wish to call it, or by medicines," I explained. "Milo has more medical experience than I, that's why I need him here."

Milo began to explain as well, seeing the confusion upon the Hylian's face. "Hospitalization means to be taken in and treated under the care of someone. A hospital is a building where, as Aoi explained, doctors and nurses, the nurses being female, doctors varying between male and female, tend to their patients. The patients are the people they tend to. I'm guessing you know what suturing and stitching is, but in case you don't, it's using medical suturing string to sew two edges of a wound together so that it will heal. The medical stitches we use when operating inside someone are biodegradable, meaning the body decomposes them and breaks it down until the suturing is gone and the wound can heal without the higher risk of reopening. Medicine is-"

"I know what medicine is," Darkile interrupted bitterly, though his words seemed kind of sluggish, weary even. I don't know if he realized, but he was leaning back, as if trying to prevent himself from falling off the couch.

"Well, it seems we're all set then," Milo said, standing. He disappeared into the kitchen.

"Are you doing alright, 'Ile?" I asked, a little concerned. He didn't reply, simply shrugging my hand off his shoulder and replying with a, "M fine." But even that did not convince me. His eyes would close from time to time, the sunlight casting a warm glow upon his still pale face, shivering. I covered him with the blanket, waiting patiently for Milo.

Milo returned with a syringe, a bottle of lidocaine, a medical sewing needle, suturing string, gloves, a clean rag, an IV, anesthetic, an IV bag, a medical covering for surgery, a cauterization kit, and an IV stand that was separated into a few parts.

Darkile growled loudly at Milo, but Milo didn't flinch. "What I'm going to have to do is put you under anesthesia through an IV in your arm." He held up the IV. "This IV goes into your vein, getting the medicine into your body quicker. You will be rendered unconscious and unresponsive, but this will allow me to tend to the wound better. During the surgery, I may or may not need to cauterize the wound with this kit here," he motioned to the cauterization kit. "You will awake from the anesthesia in a few hours. I brought some pain medicine to help with the pain after you awake."

Milo carefully examined the wound upon Darkile's chest, biting his lower lip, pressing against it and feeling it, tapping against it. Darkile looked about ready to pounce Milo, rip his throat out, even though he was struggling to stay awake. Milo sighed and stood. "What I am going to do is undo the stitching that Aoi has done and redo the stitching myself, clear any scarred skin and sew it together beneath the dermis, perhaps even the hypodermis. Seems the wound is deep."

Marley and I both looked at each other with concern. Before, the wound wasn't deep, if at all. Only an inch. Now, it was deeper.

"I also have materials with me that will regulate your heartbeat and your breathing. I will also put a breathing mask on you that will also be connected to a machine that will pump oxygen so that you do not suffocate during the procedure. Is all this clear?"

Darkile hesitated for a long while, nodding slightly. "Fine…"

Milo nodded, left the house and went to his back trunk where he had stored the oxygen machine and the heartbeat and oxygen regulators. I couldn't believe he had managed to sneak all that out of the hospital. But then again, Milo is also like a fox…

"What if none of this works and it's all for nothing…?" Marley asked quietly. "What if the suturing is done, but the wound only reopens?"

"We can only hope for the best," I replied. "Milo's done this kind of thing before, I wouldn't be concerned."

Milo returned, began to set everything up, including a table carrying medical tools. He had Darkile move so that he could cover the couch and the ground with a special covering to catch any blood. He then had the shadow lie upon the couch after a failed attempt to convince him to change into different clothing. Milo disappeared and returned in surgical clothing.

I helped hold Darkile down as Milo prepared the IV, hooking it up to the bag upon the stand and inserting it into his skin. The Hylian growled, thrashing, eyes wild and full of fire, but after a while, he quickly succumbed to the medicine. I released him as Milo put surgical tape upon the IV to keep it in place.

"Certainly is feisty…You two go upstairs, alright? I'll call you down when he wakes. And don't worry about my boss calling, I called in sick. And you could have saved me the time and effort by bringing him to the hospital."

"Thanks, Milo," I thanked him, smiling a little. "I understand this will take you a while, but please, please be careful. I hope all goes well."

Marley and I disappeared upstairs, both anxiously waiting for the signal.

And there is this chapter! Not so much of a cliffie, right? I hope you enjoyed!

-WingedIceWolf