Chapter 3

Ember woke from a horrible dream yelling her head off. Somewhere ouside her comfort bubble, a door opened and slammed against the wall.. Hands grabbed her arms and she tried to get away from them.

"Ember, EMBER! Calm down." Ember stopped screaming and sat up in a cold sweat. "Calm down, it's me, Link." Ember looked at him for a second then continued to yell. Link put his hand over her mouth cutting off her noise. "oh ha ha, very funny." Ember grabbed his hand and pulled it forcefully off her mouth.

"Where am I? Why are you here? And . . . "Her voice calmed to confusion. "Why are you shirtless?" She could see Link's face redden.

"Do you like what you see?" Ember kicked him on the thigh and he winched. "Right, shutting up . . . anyway, while walking back, you seemed to be asleep while walking. In truth I kind of . . . walked in front of you and left you fall unto my back. You seemed to fall asleep right then and there. So I took you to the inn I was staying at." Ember waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

"Okaayyy. Ssooooo. Curiosity, why are you shirtless?"

"I was about to take a shower . . . what were you dreaming about?" he asked her, taking a seat on the bed. Ember drew her legs into a cross and held her ankles. I demonic face flashed into her mind. It was vague but she knew it well.

"I-it's nothing. Just, a bad dream." She laid on her side facing away from him. "Sorry to alarm you." Link sighed.

"You are stubborn."

"Go take your shower." He sighed and left the room, closing the door as he did.

As Link ran his fingers through his hair, his mind wandered again and again back to Ember. He could feel his face grow red as he thought of her sleeping just in the other room. He furiously scrubbed at his scalp as though to wash out her image from his mind.

He thought of earlier when she had him pinned down and a tingle went through his body.

"Why can't I get you out of my head?" He quietly asked himself. He picked up a bucket of water that sat next to him and poured it over his head to rinse out his hair. He grabbed a towel, dried himself off then wrapped it around his lower half. He went over to his clothes and put on his boxers and pants, not bothering with anything else.

He walked down the hall to the door where Ember was sleeping. He reached for the handle and opened the door quietly. He walked over to the bed to see Ember curled up in a tense ball, trying to keep warm. He took the blanket from below her and brought it up to her chin.

"Damnit Link." He froze, thinking she was awake. She didn't stir, but just grabbed the blanket around her and brought it closer to her. He realized she was talking in her sleep and decided to go. His body wouldn't let him. "Stupid jerk." Link chuckled to himself.

He felt his eyes getting heavy and decided to go to sleep himself. Unfortunately, the room he had only had one bed and Ember was sleeping in it. After a minute of contemplating, he decided he would take the punishment of sleeping in the same bed in the morning.

Ember snuggled her face closer to the source of heat that had kept her warm throughout the night. Her arms wrapped around it and drew tight against it. She didn't know what it was but it smelled clean and she liked it. It made her sigh in happiness.

The tops of her toes were cold so she put them up to the heat source which in turn made it jolt away and pull her closer to it from behind.

"What the hell?" Ember thought to herself. She opened her eyes to see her heat source lying shirtless next to her with his arm wrapped around her back. "GAH! LINK WHAT THE HELL!"

"Huh?" Link only got his eyes open halfway before he was shoved off the bed.

"Seriously. What the hell?" Link propped himself up on his elbows, his leg still halfway on the bed. Ember was already out of the bed, gathering her stuff.

"There was only one bed."

"Oh well in that case-" She said in a nicer tone before just completely leaving the room. Shutting the door behind her. Link laid back on the floor and breathed outwards.

"Idiot. What made you think she'd be okay with this?" Link thought to himself. He didn't get up for a few minutes until it was apparent Ember wasn't coming back. He got up with a grunt and decided to get dressed.