It had happened like a movie. Rusl had been observing the young boy from a distance and he should have seen this coming. Link looked nostalgic, sad almost, but his face gave no indication of his coming actions. Once the boy lifted his sword, Rusl should have known the worst was to come.

The seconds in which it took Link to extend the sword and plunge it into his chest felt like hours to Rusl. He knew he could not get there fast enough, so the only sensible thing to do in his mind at the moment was scream. Scream as loud as he could. Link had not flinched, but followed through with his suicidal actions.

Uli had managed to witness the whole scene as well, despite her husbands kind efforts to cover her eyes. She saw, who was her little boy for all intents and purposes, throw the sword into his own body as if he were one of those terrible creatures that had threatened their village. She screamed as well, but was quickly ushered into the house with her baby daughter as Rusl took off near the water where Link's body had fallen.

When Rusl reached the river's edge, dread filled his body. The water was already a deep crimson around the teenager's body, but he needed to work quickly and ignore the fear in the back of his mind. He jumped into the water and retrieved the boy's body, bringing him to land.

By now, Fado had run over to the scene as well, having seen Link's suicide attempt from the stables. He kneeled down next to the boy and brushed his wet bangs out of his eyes. His body was cold.

"Hold on Fado," Rusl began, noticing the look of complete heart-break on the other's face. He carefully removed the sword and pressed his ear against the hero's chest, listening hopefully for a heartbeat. The young man was not breathing, but his heart beat on steadily and with intense strength. "I need you to get me some rags to stop the bleeding. Grab as many as you can find, and fetch some water from the springs."

Fado, though shaken, nodded steadily and called for Epona. The beautiful horse came trotting over, stopping nearly dead in her tracks when she noticed her master lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Its alright, girl. We need to get some things to help your buddy, okay? I need you to work with me." Fado explained, petting Epona's mane gently. The mare whined sadly, but allowed him to climb onto her saddle and Rusl watched as they took off in the direction of the springs.

"Oh Link," the older man whispered, finally letting his emotions overtake his body. "Link, my boy…why would you do this?" Rusl felt the tears running down his cheeks and ignored them. He needed to try to save the boy, no matter what.

Carefully, Rusl held Link's nose shut as he breathed air into the younger man's lungs. Once he had seen the boy's chest rise a significant amount, he found a spot on his chest far enough away from the stab wound and began compressing his chest. It only took a matter of seconds before Link began to cough violently, spitting some blood all over the older man, and begin breathing again.

"Link!" Rusl exclaimed, cradling the boy's head to his chest. "Link, can you hear me?" Slowly, the blonde boy nodded, hissing in pain and squeezing his eyes shut. His breathing was rough and labored, but he was managing to keep himself alive on his own.

"My son," Rusl cried, swiping dark blonde bangs away from Link's pained crystal blue eyes. "Why? Why would you do this?" Link looked up at Rusl abruptly with a sad smile, before his eyes fell shut and he slipped again into unconsciousness.


"How is he?" Uli asked nervously, coming to her husband's side and clinging to his shoulder. Rusl grunted in recognition, holding the petite blonde woman closer to him.

"He's alive, babe. I wish there were better things I could say…but he's alive."

Uli sighed sadly, looking down at the young man resting on her spare bed. The bed was Link's when he was a child, and it brought tears to her eyes to see her little boy lay in it yet again, despite the circumstance.

"Will…will he remain alive?" she further inquired, searching Rusl's face for any sign of change in emotion. The older man looked down, frowning.

"I can't say, baby. He's breathing, but its labored…and he's still bleeding. Its up to him now, and the goddesses."

Uli nodded sadly, kneeling down at Link's bedside and stroking his cheek softly. She felt tears welling behind her eyes and blinked them away.

"Baby, please wake up," she pleaded, running her hand down from Link's cheek to his chest, where she could feel his heart beating softly. "We all need you here."

Rusl's frown deepened as he watched Uli plead at Link's bedside. They stood there for a few minutes, before Link's eyes abruptly opened.

"Link!"

The blonde boy groaned lightly, his eyes squinting to endure the bright light. He could faintly make out the faces of Rusl and Uli, and he offered a small smile.

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Rusl asked, incredulous. The young hero furrowed his eyebrows in thought, before realization of his actions set in and he sighed guiltily.

"I'm…sorry."

Uli choked back a sob as she grabbed Link's hand, unable to look the boy in the eye. Rusl patted her on the shoulder lightly and kneeled down to whisper something Link could not hear into her ear. With a frown, Uli nodded and retracted her hand, leaving the room sadly.

"Link, this is a very serious matter. What in the world would possess you to do something so foolish?" Rusl began, a slight edge of anger was audible in his voice. Link looked up at him sadly, trying to think of something rational to say.

"Rusl, It was stupid, okay? Just…thoughts. I've seen and done some of the world's darkest things and it's just eating at me."

Rusl's expression softened at the young hero's words, now slightly understanding what could have caused the whole situation. "You think you're a monster," Rusl stated, dull emotion in his voice. "When in reality you're far from it. You do realize you've saved the royal kingdom and this town, as well as many others out there, don't you? You only killed things that tried to harm anyone, that does not constitute as being a monster."

"It's…not only that. This town…you've adapted so well in the few months I've been gone. Its almost as if I never existed here in the first place. I haven't been called to do my normal chores since I've been home, the children haven't asked me to play…I just don't get it."

Rusl frowned, placing a sturdy hand on Link's shoulder. He looked intently at the boy who seemed to be shying away from his gaze and sighed sadly.

"You know that's not the case, Link. You've been out there fighting for us all, putting your life on the line at any given moment and never even gave it a second thought. You could have gotten yourself slaughtered, but that's not what you thought about, was it? It was the people you knew you had to save. After all that time, do you honestly believe we'd try and work you?"

Link was silent for a few moments as he processed this information in a new light. Had he honestly thought about things this way before? No. He had jumped to conclusions rather quickly, and suddenly a wave of tears came over him.

"Rusl…thank you. Thank you for saving me, and thank you for talking to me. I see things a little differently now. I'm sorry."

Rusl smiled lightly, ruffling the boy's wild blonde hair before standing to his feet. "I'm always here, my boy. Talk to me next time, before you decide that your life is worth ending, because its not. We all love you here, now get some rest, okay? I'll wake you for dinner."

Link could not help the few tears that slipped out of his eyes and rolled quickly down his cheeks. He smiled, a true genuine smile, and nodded. This was home. Everything was alright. He was a hero, the monsters were gone, the children were saved and…

He was home.

Yikes! I hope my ending didn't disappoint! Oh, and by the way, you have KyuubiKitsune111 To thank for motivating me to finish this! =]