Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series or the Characters.
Chapter 10: The Road to Recovery
Midna and I watched Rose teach her class until noon. Marie, of course, was being taught. Rose dismissed class, and the four of us were then going to head back to the castle…
"Why don't we stop somewhere, first?" Rose suggested. "Marie will like this! Let's go get ice cream!"
"Yay!" Marie yelled with excitement. Midna and I smiled.
"That sounds good!" I said cheerfully. We began to head over to the ice cream shop. My arms were getting a little tired with moving my whole body and the chair with just my hands, but I was alright, I just wasn't used to it.
"Link." Rose said.
"Yeah?" I said.
"Would you like someone to push you?" She queried.
"I'm alright…thank you, though." I said, trying to make her think I wasn't exhausted.
She grabbed the handles and started to push me. "I figured you were tired…so I thought I'd help a little." She said kindly.
I rested my hands in my lap. "Thank you! I was getting tired, but I didn't really want to impose."
"Don't worry about it. It's not imposing if you're asking for help." She grinned.
I nodded. We finally arrived to the ice cream shop and got ice cream. I decided to go with chocolate-flavored, and it was great! When we were finished, we went back to the Nikitrian Royal Residence. Rose, Marie, and Midna all made lunch. It was garlic-flavored pasta with pork. I went to rest in bed while everyone else stayed downstairs. One of the guards helped me out of my chair and into bed. If I have to live the rest of my life like this, I'll be miserable! While I was in bed Rose, Annie, and Midna were talking about the very same thing; will I be able to walk again?
"Would there be any way that Link would be able to walk again?" Midna questioned. "His whole livelihood depends on being able to walk and run."
"Well…he'd probably have to go through physical therapy." Annie said.
"Rose was saying that she worked with physical therapists…" Midna said. She looked at Rose. "Do you know any physical therapy?"
"Yeah…I do."
"Would you be willing to try and get Link to walk again?" Midna inquired. "That is, in hopes that he'll defy the odds?"
"Sure…I'm not kidding you, though…it's going to be hard for him. He's going to have to slowly get used to using his legs again, which will be painful. "
"Yeah." Midna said with a sigh.
"We'll have to start as soon as possible." Rose said, looking at Midna and looking slightly more hopeful.
"Heck, we have nothing else to do. Can you start tomorrow?" Midna asked.
"You bet I can!" Rose replied pleasantly.
Nothing else really happened that day. I had no idea at the time of what was to happen next! The next morning, a Saturday, Tyler woke me up and told me that there was something important to do today, so I got ready, and then I was prepared to have him place me in my wheelchair. He came in and placed me in my wheelchair. He pushed me into the kitchen and I ate breakfast. When I was finished, he wheeled me into the throne room. There was a couch in there. He picked me up and sat me on the couch.
"Listen, up. In order for you to be able to walk or run again, you're going to need physical therapy." Tyler instructed.
"Alright." I said with determination. "I'm prepared for anything."
He smirked at my remark. "I think he's ready." Tyler said; looking towards the doorway we entered. Rose walked in with a first aid kit. I was utterly bewildered.
"Why is she here?" I asked Tyler.
"She's going to be your physical therapist." I stared at him, stunned.
"What?" I said, still stunned.
"It's convenient to have her be your physical therapist because she lives here; rather than having someone from town or someplace else be your physical therapist." Tyler said.
I looked at Rose. "Do you know any physical therapy?" She nodded. "Oh." She moved my wheelchair out of the way.
"Good luck." Tyler winked; heading out of the room.
"Okay." Rose said. "I'm going to start by asking you to wiggle your toes." I wiggled my toes. "Does it hurt?" She asked.
"No." I said.
"Okay. Try moving your ankles side to side." She instructed.
I tried to move my ankles side to side, but I felt instant pain. "Oh, sh—" I stopped myself from finishing the word, gritting my teeth.
"I'm guessing that hurt." Rose said.
"Yeah."
"Try moving your ankles really slowly, now. You're going to feel pain, but do your best, because you'll feel pain no matter what you do."
"Ok." I responded. I moved them really slowly. I still felt pain, but doing it slowly helped.
"Now move your ankles so that your toes point to the ceiling, and then to the wall in front of you." I did that, still feeling pain. After two minutes of that came the hardest part. "Try to lift one leg up just a tiny bit, keeping you leg straight." She told me. I looked at my legs in fear. "Don't rush yourself; it'll only hurt more if you do."
I lifted one up a little bit, instantaneously wincing in pain. "Oh, crap! Ow!" I yelled. She grabbed a large ice pack and placed it on my leg.
"Try it again when you feel ready." She said with a smile. "You're doing well." Midna was behind one of the columns watching.
"Look, Link…" Midna said, coming out from behind. "I know it hurts, but you've got to do it! If you don't, you'll be unable to walk!"
I nodded. "I'm ready to try again." I said to Rose. She took off the ice pack and I lifted my leg a little bit, but kept it up for a whole minute. Then I forced it down and yelled in unbearable pain.
Rose took out some pain medicine and poured it onto a spoon. "Open your mouth, please." I opened my mouth. She placed the spoon in. I closed my mouth and she pulled the spoon out. I then swallowed, still hating the bitterness of the medicine. She then took out a tube. This should help you, too." I hesitated as she unscrewed the cap.
"It's medicine, Link. You'll be okay, it won't hurt." Midna said. "She's going to put medicine on the leg you tried lifting earlier." I stopped hesitating and looked at her with befuddlement as she squeezed some of the contents of the tube onto my leg and started to rub it in. I went red in the face…I didn't know why, I just did.
"This should ease some of the pain." She said to me.
"Thank you." I said to her. "That's really nice of you."
She smiled at me. "You did a good job! That had to have caused you a great deal of agony."
"Yeah, it did." I said. I smiled back at her with relief.
"Well, you're done for the day…now you know; that's what physical therapy is going to be like…" She said.
"I understand." I said.
"It'll be worth it, though." She said, smiling a half smile.
"Yeah." I said with content.
The rest of the day was alright. I rested until lunch. One of the guards put me in my chair and I went down to eat lunch with everyone. One problem, there were chairs at every spot. I needed to have a spot that I could get to that didn't have a chair in the way.
Rose moved one of the chairs that were next to her. "Here you go."
"Thanks." I rolled up to the spot next to her and we all ate.