For the next few days Link tried to understand his shadow, or Knil, as he now called him, better, but it didn't seem to be working. Knil refused to talk to anyone. Even his faerie. He just lay on the dirt floor, facing the wall.
Link entered the room, with his cell, carrying a plate of fruit. Another thing he didn't seem to be doing was eating, and Link was beginning to worry, though no one else seemed to be. What was the point of saving him, if he was just going to let him die?
"Knil?" Link glanced in the cage and saw his shadow wasn't moving. Maybe he'd fallen asleep… maybe not. A bad knot tightened in Link's stomach. Cautiously, he unlocked the door to the cell, and crept in. He slowly laid down the plate, and placed a hand on the dark-haired man's shoulder. "Knil? You alright?"
From outside the cage, a small blue light flew in, and hit him in the side of the head. "What do you think you're doing? He could kill you, are you crazy?"
Link swatted her away. "Don't be silly, he's not armed."
Navi folded her arms and grumbled. "Hmph, still doesn't mean anything."
"I think something's wrong."
"What?" Now the little faerie was interested. "What do you mean?"
From the upper corner of the cell, a small reddish light fluttered down. Ivan landed in front of Knil, hugging her arms around herself. She'd become kind of introverted since her master stopped talking. She glanced up at Link. "What's wrong with him?"
"Not sure." Small motions of Knil's body seemed to signify a sense of consciousness, but something was off… "He's not breathing!" Link cried. Both faeries jumped, as Link rolled Knil over onto his back. "Knil!" He tried to shake him awake. There was a small notion of reaction, but nothing more. Link called louder, feeling a panic set in. Yea, the guy's tried to kill him every chance he's gotten, but once you got past that… and his Sinicism… and just the mere fact that he was screwed up, and blamed everything on his lighter self, he was really a nice guy. "Knil, can you hear me? Come on, wake up! PLEASE, KNIL, WAKE UP!"
When Link shook harder, Knil's eyes sprang open. He rolled over, coughing and sputtering, like he had been choking on something, and was trying to cough it up.
Link backed up a bit, panting. When Knil leaned his head down closer to the floor, Link reached a hand towards him. "You alright? What happened?" The second his hand made contact, a pair of panicked red eyes snapped up to him. Wide, and tinted with malice. "You." He finally wheezed.
Link scooted back a few feet. He gulped, and prepared to bolt. That look was just un-nerving.
Before he could make a move, Knil had sprung forward. With him being inside the cell, the chains didn't restrict his reach. He had Link pinned to the ground, his hands around his throat. "If you would just die, it would all stop."
Navi panicked, trying to pull at Knil's arms, as Ivan stood back, a little afraid of her master's behavior. He seemed to be changing so much, right before her eyes, and she didn't understand it.
Link's heart raced… that is until he noticed something odd. There was definite force behind his grip, but not enough to cut off his air supply. It was more like he just wanted to hold him down, than actually cause damage. Just to prove that he was strong enough to.
The little faerie still continued to pull. "Leggo leggo leggo leggo leggo." She cried.
"Navi, stop." Link croaked. He could still breathe, but it was difficult to talk. "I'm alright."
Knil's harsh breathing drew his attention to those wild red eyes. They seemed to glow a bit more than they usually do, and just the sight of them made Link want to cry. "Knil." He spoke softly, his hands coming to rest on his shadow's arms. "What's going on? What wi-" He was cut short by the hands pushing sharply on his throat. Link's head went fuzzy for a brief second, but the grip seemed to loosen just as sharply as it'd come. Link took a few seconds to clear his head and continued. "What will end when I'm dead?"
Knil positioned his hands higher up on Link's throat, speaking in a low growl. "You know damn well what."
"I- I thought I did… but now I'm not so sure." He gasped.
Knil stared down at that docile face, closing his eyes against it. He still felt strange. Tired. And a bit weak, when there was no real reason for him to be. Before he knew what had happened, his hand had released Link, allowing him to collapse on top of him.
xXx
When Knil next came around, he could feel his head laying on something. I was kinda hard, but not uncomfortable. His eyes snapped open, and he looked around, breath harshened. It seemed like every time he'd fallen asleep something bad happened, so he'd grown a bit paranoid about it.
"You really should eat something."
Knil turned his head up to see Link. It was then that he realized the thing he was laying on was the young Hylian's leg. Wow, this boy was odd.
Knil pushed himself up, turning around to face him.
Link just smiled and pushed the plate towards him.
Knil glanced down at the food, then back up to his light counter-part suspiciously. "Why are you doing all this?"
"Doing what?"
"This." He motioned to the plate. "Why the hell are you being so nice to me? I want to kill you."
"Do you now?" Link plucked an orange from the plate and started peeling it. "Well, you'd better try to get your strength up then."
The strong citrus smell enveloped the room. Knil eyed the orange. He'd never smelled anything like that before. Eating seems to lose it's appeal when all you get are random fish that you somehow manage to catch. Plus, he didn't really trust those Gerudo not to poison him. But he had a feeling Link wouldn't pull something like that. Strange when the only person you can trust is your enemy. Even stranger was that he was sitting within arms reach, without a care in the world.
Link laid the peel on the plate and held the orange out to Knil. "If the force you tried to strangle me with was all you had left, I'd say you don't stand a chance."
Knil's tongue gently flicked out over his lips. He'd reached out a hand to take the fruit before even realizing he had. Only the clanging from the chains brought his attention back. Knil stared down at the foreign food in his hand. He pulled the orange to his nose, breathing in deep. His eyes closed gently against the sweet scent. It was so bizarre. The orange was soft, and cold, but it smelled so good. He licked the surface, and jerked back. This thing sure as hell didn't taste as good as it smelled. Knil's eyes narrowed on Link, with hearing him laugh. "What's so funny?"
"You act like you've never eaten one of these before."
The red eyes diverted, trying to hide the flush that'd started to form. "I don't get out much." He snapped.
Link stopped laughing, and felt a twinge of guilt. "Oh… well, here." He reached out and took the fruit from his shadow's hand. They were both most surprised that he didn't protest the offer.
Knil just watched as Link peeled the pieces apart. The smell grew stronger as he did. Link slipped one in his mouth, holding another one out in front of him. Knil eyed the offering, starting to feel annoyed that it was so simple, but took it anyway.
Link pretended not to watch, acting as if he was more concerned with the skeptical faerie resting on his shoulder.
However, Ivan watched hopefully from her master's knee, as he plopped the piece of fruit into his mouth. Knil's eyes widened a bit. The juice from the orange flowed down his throat when he bit into the piece of fruit. Holy crap, this thing was good. He picked up the next piece, from the pile Link had layed on the plate, and kept eating.
Link smiled a bit at him winking at Navi, and turned back. "Good, isn't it?"
Knil glanced up at him. He'd almost forgotten he was there. "I suppose. Better than fish, anyway."
Link's smile broadened. "Think ya need help with the rest?"
Knil's eyes narrowed. "I think I got it." He snapped, trying to run him off.
It almost worked. Link merely continued to harbor that sly smile, but he stood and left the cell. He closed the door behind him and locked it, leaning against the bars. "Just let me know if you need any help."
Knil's face reddened slightly from anger. "I said, I got it!"
Link's smile turned into a small laugh. "Alright." He turned and left.
Knil watched the door for a bit. A strange ping hit his stomach, that wasn't related to hunger.
Navi flitted up around his head. She wagged a finger at him. "Link's doing everything he can to make friends and all you ever do is snap at him." She folded her arms in a huff, head turned to the ceiling. "If it were me, I'd've just let the Gerudo execute you when they offered it."
"Would you now?" Knil just cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Yes I would." The little faerie stuck her tongue out.
"Heh." Knil smiled mischievously. He raised a hand and swatted the little nuisance into the bars of his cage.
She oofed and slumped to the ground, rubbing her head.
Knil glanced down at his own faerie who was standing in the plate, pointing and laughing at Navi. Clutching her ribs in an overly emphasized manner.
Navi turned a bit redder as she rose into the air. She huffed and flew out after Link.
Knil continued to eat the pieces of the orange, as his faerie's laughter died down. Once it did, she proceeded further onto the plate, and grasped one of the grapes. Ivan pulled with all her might, fluttering into the air. You could hear her straining a bit, until finally the grape came loose, and she toppled over the side of the plate. Quickly composing herself, she floated back on, and sat with he legs folded in on the plate, and started to eat the grape. She started, hearing an unfamiliar sound. Her master had laughed at her. Not just that wicked sounding cry he typically lets out, but a more gentle sound, deep in his throat. It made her face flush a bit, but she was glad to hear it. Maybe this odd change in him wasn't such a bad thing.
Knil plucked the rest of the grapes off of the stem and laid them on the plate, eating one. He grinned. "See. Told him I could figure this out." His fingers closed around a banana, and he looked at it awkwardly.
"…erm?... I can get this."
