Post T.A.A.H

Siegfried had never seen Link so frantic before in his life. Then again, Siegfried had not seen much of anything for the past few days. He had been drifting in and out of consciousness, hardly aware of the happenings around him. An army of enemy soldiers could have burst into his room, and he would have been none the wiser.

Though, throughout his daze he had had been able to feel a very fierce sting stemming from his left shoulder and traveling down to the right side of his abdomen. It always hurt in intervals. Three minutes of constant pain, two minutes of rest, then repeat. Siegfried had never known a poison to do so much damage in such an organized fashion. Usually it was random, abrupt, and deathly swift with its vicious intent. This one had been different, and had not been made with an antidote on hand. Those bandits who had attacked them had obviously not seen fit to create one.

All things considered, he was glad he had taken that hit instead of Link. Who knew what kind of torment the elf would have been put through with this particular brand of poison floating around in his veins? His body was not used to the toxins of this world. It could not take the slow agonizing death and it could not take measures to prevent itself from shutting down completely. In short, Link's body was not prepared for such an attack. Siegfried's was. He had been hit with enough small doses of enough manmade monstrosities to withstand just about anything.

However, it just so happened that right in the middle of diluting the poison in his blood, he had also come down with a small cold. One was not normally enough to put him in his current state, but together they could do some decent damage. As a result, he had contracted a fever that was keeping him in bed and completely unable to use his body as anything more than a large paperweight.

Unfortunately, that left it to Link to fend for the both of them. The two were alone. No companions were around to help the elf take care of the sick knight, or to help Link should he need assistance if something went wrong. He was on his own. He had to carry the man to a nearby village, track down a suitable inn that the two of them could afford to stay in, find a healer who had some kind of idea about what they were doing, and follow the very strict directions when tending to the bedridden soldier by himself. It could not have been easy.

Siegfried knew it had been anything but. He could feel the wet spots on his face, some dried some fresh, could hear the sobs and desperate pleas, and he could feel the squeezing of his hand when it was thought he was beginning to slip away. The knight would have loved to reassure the boy he was alright, had his body allowed him to actually speak or return small doses of affection. As it was he had to wait until he was actually able to sit up on his own before he even attempted to talk at lengths with his caretaker.

He finally succeeded one night, after fighting with his own body for control. The sun had long since set, and Link was fast asleep at his bedside. Or at least, he thought the boy was fast asleep. When he tried to get out of bed he was promptly shoved back down by a surprisingly firm hand. He was met with demanding, though tired, blue eyes.

"Stay in bed."

"Yes sir, sorry sir."

Link rolled his eyes. "How can you joke at a time like this? You nearly died."

Siegfried attempted to sit up again. Link still looked less than thrilled with the idea, but allowed the older blonde his small amount of movement. Siegfried took the opportunity to ruffle the elf's hair. He was quite surprised that he was able to get away with such an action, since Link normally thought it to be demeaning if it was done at the wrong time. He was more likely to hit than smile at the mere thought of the act. He was either humoring Siegfried, or truly thought this was an appropriate time for the knight to be treating him like a child that needed to be comforted. Siegfried was willing to bet it was the former.

"I wasn't ever in danger of dying."

Link looked skeptical.

"I promise you. I normally would have been fine in a day or two if I hadn't caught that cold."

"But you did catch a cold and you did manage to get poisoned right before you carelessly caught it. Those weren't normal circumstances, Siegfried, and there was a chance that you wouldn't wake up." The poor boy sounded heartbroken. He clenched his fists and struggled not to shake. It was also taking a good amount of his self control not to yell. "Just what did you think you were doing anyway?"

"Saving you."

Link scoffed. "A lot of good that did us."

Siegfried frowned. "You could have gotten sick and then you'd be the one on his death bed." At the cringe, Siegfried made a mental note not to mention the word death around Link again. Or any other incarnation of the word. Not for a long while at least.

"I would have been fine. Don't underestimate me." Link told him seriously. "I can hold my own against just about anything. A little poison isn't going to take me down."

"What if this had been something serious, something you couldn't handle on your own?" Siegfried argued. "What if you had died?"

"What if you had? Huh?" Link slapped the man's hand away from him, ignoring the other's slightly hurt expression. "I would have been left here alone, in a world I don't know, with no one to stand beside me!"

Siegfried found himself unconsciously backing up against the headboard. Link had never yelled at him before, and he actually found it frightening. "You could have gone to one of the others you've met in this world and been just fine." He had no idea how he thought that comment was supposed to do to ease the situation. Whatever its purpose originally was, it certainly was not the shock and pure agony Link was now exhibiting.

"One of the others? One of the others?" Link slammed his hands down onto the bed. "The others aren't you Siegfried!" Angry tears, hot and burning, began running down the elf's face. "There's no one here that knows me as well as you do. No one who I've put my trust in as much as you. I would die for you if you asked me too, and the only thing I want from you in return is that smile you have just for me." Link looked up to him, a hand now tightly gripping his hair, eyes red and pained beyond words. "How am I supposed to move on if you die, if that smile is just suddenly gone?"

Siegfried almost felt like crying himself. "I'm sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Then don't do stupid things like that!"

Siegfried wasn't quite sure what happened next. Link had either jumped onto the bed and latched onto his neck, or the knight had grabbed hold of the elf himself. He had a sneaking suspicion it was a mixture of the two. Whatever the reason, whatever the circumstances, Link was in his grip, giving him a desperate embrace, and Siegfried had no intention of letting him go.

"I know it may seem childish," Link whispered. "But you scare me when you do something risky like that. You're too willing to throw your life away."

Siegfried ran a hand down Link's back, trying his best to soothe the younger. "It's hard not to when your trouble. Your life means the world to me. Mine doesn't really matter half the time."

"It matters to me." Link angrily informed him. "And I don't appreciate you tossing it aside like it's nothing."

Siegfried chuckled. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Link shook his head, laughter filtering out despite his desire to keep it hidden. "No you're not." He laid his head on the knight's shoulder. "If you try something stupid like this again, I'll jump off a cliff in retaliation."

Siegfried laughed outright. "Fair enough. I don't want to see you cry again."

The Hylian pulled back. He smiled. It was a smile reserved solely for Siegfried, and it was the brightest and most sincere in the elf's arsenal. "Then stay alive."

Siegfried met the boy's grin with one of his own. "Then I hereby do swear that we will either live together, or die together. Never one or the other."

Link looked relieved. "You better keep that promise."

MistressOfTime: I'm not even going to rant about the unfairness of this site. If I do, I'm going to explode.

Fang: So I shouldn't ask?

MistressOfTime: No you shouldn't.

Fang: Then I'll just ask why you've only written one of these the last couple of chapters.

MistressOfTime: Well, I happen to think that if they reach six pages on their own, I really have no room for a second one.

Fang: Fair enough. R&R