And now, it's time for "excuses why this chapter took so long" starring your favorite guilty author, yours truly. I can't even begin to explain to you how crazy this last month was for me. But you deserve explainations, so I will try. If you don't care and just want to read the chapter, go ahead. I'll be prattling for a while anyway.
Most importantly, I was involved in my school's spring musical. This year, we did Oliver!, a play version of the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. That effectively took up 95% of my month of February. In addition to that, we have the fact that during rehearsal I fell and broke my foot, and got bronchitis, and that didn't exactly help my mood to write. Not even going to mention the fact that this chapter was just one of those ones that just didn't work, no matter how many times I rewrote it, which is why it's not only short but ridiculously pointless. Many, many apologies. We SHOULD be returning to normal schedule after this.
And oh my goodness, we hit 100 favorites! You guys are the best!
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
~Alyssa
Note: Third person perspective might not make sense if you haven't read the TPP in Chapter 5 (or number 7 on the list) and 7 (or number 10 on the list).
Monstra potius insanire quam scimus vera mundi.
…
Tempt no man at the brink of madness.
ox(O)xo
I drifted.
In and out of unconsciousness I went, the blackness numbing my aching heart. It was if a score of thick, heavy blankets had been laid over me; I could not move, I could not feel, I could not think…it was a blissful existence, a simple one, free of the terrors that my mind had abruptly rescued me from.
Somewhere far away, the faint noise of a sharp voice burned in my ears. "Nox!" it demanded of me, over and over, like it was expecting a response. "Nox!"
My name, I realized after a moment, confounding myself with the realization. I should answer.
But the blackness would not permit this. The blankets were suddenly lead, pushing me down, holding my body firmly taut.
"He's passed out." another voice said, presumably to the first voice, this one deeper but none the less panicked. "Nox, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"
No, I wanted to tell them. I couldn't. Just leave me alone.
"Take him to the infirmary." said the first voice,sounding incredibly exasperated. "I have the rest of you to attend to. Alert me at once if there is any change, do you understand? I would like to speak with him in private."
A short pause, and then, "Yes, ma'am."
And I was left alone with the blackness again.
Minutes.
Hours.
Days.
Time had completely lost its meaning in the sea of the dark; an endless expanse of numb and nothing that had captured my essence. Never had I felt so isolated, so alone.
Every so often I would catch bits of phrases, different voices in different tones, arguing with each other, their diagnoses ranging from exhaustion to anxiety to malaria. The general consensus was clear, however; something was very wrong. "Coma" seemed to be the only thing the voices seemed to agree on.
Though it was an unpleasant word, to say the least, at least there was finally some understanding as to what was wrong with me, even though it gave no details as to why something was wrong.
That was another thing I was waiting for. For someone to explain why I had fallen into a coma in the first place.
The answer was in my memory, of course, it was what had happened just before I'd passed out. But I could not recall anything past leaving the castle with Wolfe; every time I tried to delve deeper, the blackness would take me again, disabling my ability to think.
What was so catastrophic that my own mind was desperate to rescue me from?
It was a question I could not even begin to answer.
ox(O)xo
He was still.
Too still.
Painfully, impossibly still.
Wolfe had only seen two corpses in his life, both of which were 'fresh', for lack of a better word, but he could imagine how much his friend resembled one.
Wasn't it unnatural for skin to be this pale, for breathing to be this shallow, to be this still?
The doctors were baffled. Technically, there was nothing wrong with him. There was no blood, no sign of either internal or external trauma. He hadn't been magicked. In fact, besides the blatantly fading pallor of his skin and the lack of the writhing and yelling that came along with his nightmares, he could have easily been sleeping.
Just like he had thought Hadlea was sleeping.
He could remember that day like it was yesterday; waking up to the guilty faces of the Glaive, demanding answers but receiving none. Looking over and seeing his sister, pale and still on a pile of blankets. Stumbling over, doubt nagging in his head, and pressing a hand on her chest, just over her heart, where there had always been a stubborn and persistent pounding.
But there had been none.
It was terrifying, Wolfe decided as he sat at Nox's bedside, resisting the urge to reach his hand under his nose to make sure he was still breathing. It made no sense. And it had been eleven days without so much as a twitch of a finger, a feverish mutter.
The doctor's assistant, a pretty girl perhaps two years his senior with fair brown hair, had assured him that he was stable. She came every morning to feed Nox his daily bottle of red potion and to monitor his progress. Or, should he say, lack of.
"There's nothing the matter." She had said to Wolfe as he watched her move through the ropes of her daily check up.
"Then why isn't he waking up?"
"Well," she lowered her voice and looked over her shoulder, making sure they were the only two in the room. "If you ask me, my master is going about this the wrong way. Hearing everything you told me, it seems simple enough to deduce what's going on in here." She tapped twice on Nox's forehead, her voice sympathetic.
"Enlighten me." Wolfe muttered.
She flushed at his sarcastic tone, but did as she was told. "Don't you think it seems odd that this negative reaction occurred just a minute after he heard the news about Her Majesty?"
And he had nodded, curious as to where she was going.
"Do you think…possibly, there was a possibility that they were somehow involved?"
Wolfe had scoffed at this, at first, dismissed her flimsy theory. Let her know right away it was probably only the second or third time in his life that Nox had seen the Queen Zelda. Why would her being with child foster such a reaction?
But now, sitting in front of his friend, his brother, he began to think again.
Almost a year ago, as they entered Casperlight for the first time, hadn't he fallen into that sinking depression for days?
…just after they had heard the news that the Princess was engaged?
And now, this all happened, just after he had heard of her pregnancy?
He could hear the pieces of the puzzle clicking into place in his mind as he thought it through.
Just then, the Doctor's Assistant appeared in the doorway, giving him a shy smile. "Good morning," she greeted him, before turning to Nox, straightening his already perfect bedsheets, feeling his forehead with the back of her hand. "How are you today?" she asked him sweetly, as if he could hear. As if he could answer.
Wolfe cleared his throat once, and she immediately turned to him, an expectant look on her face. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, ears burning. "What was your name, again?"
She smiled again, white-blue eyes sparkling at his interest in her. "Evelyne Clearvine." She said primly. "I'm glad you finally figured out that I was right."
She laughed at his dumbfounded expression, answering the question on the tip of his tongue.
"I could just tell. That you came to my conclusion, I mean. It makes sense, when you think about it. That they have a history. When he wakes up, you'll have to ask him."
Wolfe's gaze went downcast. "If he wakes up."
Evelyne's eyes were sympathetic as she spoke again. "It takes long enough for a wound to mend." She sighed as she turned to Nox, stroking his hair back gently. "Who knows how long it could take for a heart?"
ox(O)xo
After what seemed like an age, the blackness began to recede.
Slowly, painfully slowly, I could feel my senses return to me.
It was a beautiful thing, to hear the birds chirping, the rustling of sheets, the muttering of several different voices, a few of which terribly familiar. Marvelous, to feel the warmth of sunlight against my cheek. Amazing, to taste the parchedness of my tongue.
A rush of thrill swept through me as I realized I could move my fingers. Granted, they were stiff, rusty from Goddess knows how much time of misuse, but I could move them. I had control.
There was just one thing to try.
Hesitantly, as not to harm myself in the process, I willed my eyelids to open, as I had a thousand times before, with no result to speak of.
But this time, miraculously, they did.
A barrage of light attacked my retinas, the beautiful white rescuing me from the darkness.
I groaned in relief, lifting a shaky hand to cover my eyes, trying to rid them of the sudden blindness.
"Nox!"
Shifting uncomfortably in the constricting sheets that surrounded me, I squeezed my eyes shut again, forcing them to adjust to the beautiful light. Arms were suddenly around me, and I welcomed them, reveling in the feeling of flesh on flesh. For the first time in a long time, I was not alone again.
My eyes opened, but my vision was obstructed by a head full of glorious red curls that could only belong to one person.
"Kassia." I sighed, burying my face deeper into her hair, breathing in the scent of her. My arms snaked their way around her waist, pulling her to my chest.
"I was so worried," she sobbed into my neck, tears falling down my bare torso. "We—I thought—I thought that—"
I shushed her gently, rubbing the small of her back soothingly, looking over her shoulder as she continued to cry.
I was in some sort of hospital in the castle, by the look of it. It was a long, narrow room, with several identical beds with tight white sheets lined up against the walls, none of which that were occupied. Light was coming in from the window above my bed, upon which was a vase of wilting wildflowers. And at the foot of my bed, a conflicted expression on his face, was Wolfe.
"Hey." He mouthed, flashing me a quick thumbs up and a brief grin before turning away.
Abruptly, Kassia stopped her crying, untangling herself from me and looking up, an excited glint in her puffy eyes. "We've got to go tell everyone!" she gasped, standing up and quickly straightening her skirts. "Oh, Nox, they've all been so worried, you have no idea!"
Go ahead." I smiled, gesturing down to the covers, under which my legs were still tangled. "I'll still be here when you get back."
She leaned down once to bestow a kiss to my nose, then with a murmured "Be good." she was gone, leaving Wolfe and I alone.
As soon as she closed the door behind her, I threw the blankets off, stretching my stiff limbs as far as they could go.
"How long was I out?" I asked, swinging my legs over the bed and standing up, ignoring the way the world spun as they rejected my weight, buckling at the knees. I stumbled backwards, clutching the bedframe for support, chagrin burning in my cheeks.
"Not long." He said quickly, evasively, avoiding my gaze. But I would not have that. It was the simplest question I had, for Din's sake! He would not deny me that, of all things.
"Wolfe." I demanded, trying very hard to hide the pleading in my voice. "How long?"
Suddenly becoming very preoccupied with a hangnail on his thumb, he still refused to look me in the eye. "Three weeks." He relented, his breath leaving him in a huff. "There—there was a while when we thought you were going to die. No one could figure out what was wrong with you, or what had triggered it, anything at all. Farore, if the Queen hadn't insisted they keep you in the infirmary with her personal physician, you would've been tossed out on the street and left to the—"
"Hold on," I interrupted him, a sudden pain in the back of my head nearly taking my breath away. I quickly dismissed it, however; there were more pressing issues at hand. "Ze—The Queen knows I'm here?"
If Wolfe found this question odd, he didn't show it, quickly nodding his assent. "Made quite a fuss, too, if what Impa told me was true. With the Summer Solstice coming, she was worried that you wouldn't be fit to compete and—"
Seeing the look on my face, he abruptly stopped himself, falling quickly into silence.
The Summer Solstice.
I had completely forgotten.
It was the entire reason why the Sheikah had been dragged here in the first place: they needed exceptional warriors to protect the monarchy.
Except all the exceptional warriors had been killed protecting the monarchy.
The Solstice was Impa's plan to weed out the best of us; she trained us for months, stripped us to our core, shown us our true, full potential…and then planned to throw us into an arena to fight each other.
And when I had first heard it, I had to admit it was a smart idea, killing two birds with one stone: a tournament to entertain the people on Din's Day, the Solstice, as well as being able to hand pick the best of us to be the personal guardians of the King and Queen. Not to mention the fact that it would be motivation enough for every single one of us besides me to work their absolute hardest. Who wouldn't want to have the honor to be the guardian of the monarchs of the most powerful kingdom in the world? And all you would have to do is win a tournament, besides.
A tournament Zelda seemed to be hell bent on me competing in.
There it was again, an uncomfortable twinge in the back of my mind, the throb of a headache sure to come. And a sinking feeling in my chest, like there was something I was missing.
Had I seen her before I'd passed out? Was it seeing her in person again that triggered such a negative reaction?
Or had she been harmed?
As I thought out the possible scenarios, the throb in my head grew stronger and stronger, a blazing beneath my temples that forced me to lose my train of thought.
Fine, then.
If the answer wasn't in my memory, I'd just have to see her for myself.
Hoisting myself up by the frame of the bed, I let my legs adjust to my weight before I spoke. "How long is it until the tournament?"
Wolfe's brow furrowed at my sudden question. "It's tomorrow. But that doesn't matter—Nox, there's no way in Hell you're competing!"
"Didn't Impa say the first day that this wasn't optional?" I threw back, hurriedly pulling on the boots that were resting against the foot of the bed that could or could not have been mine, nearly losing my balance in the process.
"You've been in a coma for the last three weeks!" he retorted, his voice slowly rising, face growing pink with vexation. "You can barely stand up on your own! There's no way you'll stand a chance in an arena with another person with a sword who is trying to maim, disarm, and possibly kill you! This is an anything-goes tournament, Nox, and there's not just the Sheikah competing! If your opponent felt like it, they could just finish the job!"
He stood up and grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to look him in the eye. "Think about what you're doing! You'll get yourself killed!"
"I'll be fine." I snarled, surprising myself at the fury in my voice as I shook him off.
"Nox! Listen to yourself!"
"No," I said forcefully, making my way to the door on shaky legs but trying very hard to hide it. "I'm going."
"Are you insane?!"
And though I turned around first, slamming the infirmary door behind me and making sure he was out of earshot, I couldn't help the retort that slipped through my lips.
"Maybe."
So, the next interlude is already written, and I would like to try something.
If we get to 400 reviews in the next 24 hours, I'll post the next interlude early. This will push the next actual chapter forward about a week, since that's halfway written, too. I'm trying to make this long wait up to you! I know you guys are out there, let me hear your voices!
See you next update!
~Alyssa