"Typical."

To be honest, that wasn't the first thing Link had wanted to hear when he woke up. Despite his fuzzy, muffled brain and the constant buzzing sound irritating his left ear, he could tell who had spoken in that sarcastic, smug tone immediately.
He let his head tilt toward the voice and attempted a quick glance through his shuddering eyelids. It seemed his vision was just as damaged as his brain, but he could still just make out the thin, long figure that was Vio laid out on a separate bed a few feet away.

Link relaxed into his aching muscles before groaning quietly. "Don't you ever shut up?" He heard himself rumble in bitter amusement. He couldn't quite gather why he was back in the hospital, or what had happened beforehand at all, but he was glad that he had some company, however sickly superior his friend may be for the next two years.

"Finally awake?"
A hiss whistled past Link's dry lips, "Just about." He shuffled in his pristine white covers and eventually propped himself up against the headrest. "Why am I back here?" He whined and sighed, letting his head fall back on his neck so he could stare at the ceiling.
"You tell me."
Another hiss. Link didn't like Vio's tone, as if he was being quietly scolded by a teacher. After a few more indignant moments of him trying to ignore his friend, he finally tried to focus his mind on remembering what the hell had happened to get him back here again. "I don't – I can't remember –" But as he spoke that, oh did he remember. In fact, he remembered so well that he sprung from his position on the bed and rolled to the hard flooring.

"Jeez, you OK?!" Link saw Vio's red eyes peek over the side of his own bed, the pout completely lost to concern.
"Ow…" Was his reply as he struggled back up to a sitting position and let his shoulders hang limp, rubbing the elbow he had fallen on, "No, no I'm not!" He moaned into his lap before throwing Vio a panicked look, "Where's Zelda?!"

His purple friend, much to his displeasure, remained silent as he slid to sit on the side of his hospital bed and offered Link a hand. It was begrudgingly taken. Finally, as he was being pulled to his feet, Vio spoke to him,
"No one knows. The last anyone saw of her was being thrown into the trunk of a black four-wheel-drive."
"Seriously?" Link gasped as he fell to sit beside him, "Are the police-"
"-They're looking for her, yes."
"But…" The boy's fierce gaze was dropped. He stared at his knees with soft, almost fearful eyes, "They won't do anything, will they? Just like with mum."

He could feel Vio beside him, shifting about on the mattress and fidgeting with his thumbs, seeming to want to say something but not finding the strength to do it.
It took him some time, but at last, he settled a hand over Link's shaking ones and said in a low voice, "I don't think they will."

That sentence made Link's stomach contract. If Vio had finally lost hope in them then… What hope did they have?
"I can't let her-" He began before Vio interrupted with his confirmation of,
"I know."
"If she's with him for too long-"
"Something's gonna happen."
Link shuddered at the thought. His brain still ached and scratches still itched, but none of this physical pain was anything compared to what the mere idea of what Ganondorf might do did to him. If that… that monster had had no remorse in cutting up an innocent woman in her own home, then what was he going to do to Zelda?

"Do something."
Link visibly jolted. Slowly, he looked back up at his friend, who returned his confused frown with a determined stare. "What?"
"I-I'm sorry." Vio snatched his eyes away quickly and watched his own hands fall about each other, "Asking such a thing of you is selfish, especially when I have no idea how you could possibly do it, but-"
"-I'm the only one who can… right?"
Vio sighed heavily and closed his scarlet eyes. He replaced his hand on Link's before nodding, "Yeah, you are."
Link held a breath as the hand around his tightened so hard it could have crushed his fingers. He wanted to confirm, wanted to say that he'd do it, but something, something attached deep in his throat stopped the words from forming.
"I know it's scary." Vio saved him from the pressure, "This will probably be… impossible to do, but… We've got to try. Ganondorf's just going to keep terrorising the city."
"And more people are gonna die." Link finished with a squeak, "Then more people won't have families. Then they'll all…" He bit his lip and gripped Vio's hand back. "I'm going to do something. Now."

But as he went to get up, Vio pulled him back, giving him a stern glare, "Not just you. I'm with you 'til the end."