Link was true to his word. Though he was still light-headed when the windows glowed with the morning sun, he was desperate to check out of the hospital and get moving.
Luckily, he was let out after the doctor checked he could walk straight, talk and didn't have a headache anymore and Vio was given the all-clear as long as he'd report anything strange immediately.
So now they were stood in the carpark, school bags at their sides and no idea what to do. It was the weekend. Vio had pointed out they had homework. But… do they just… go to Kokiri? How? Link had his bike but Vio didn't.
"So…" Link cleared his throat as they watched a premature car pull into a space a few feet away. "What now?"
"We walk?"
"I-" Link couldn't think of anything better to do. "I guess so."
"I need to tell my parents I'm okay though."
"Didn't they visit you?"
"What if they do again and they don't know I was discharged?"
"Oh yeah."
The walk to Vio's house was quiet. For some reason neither boy could find much to say. Strange, seeing as so much had happened in the last few days.
Link was both grateful and upset that Vio didn't talk – he'd thought he'd wanted some time to himself to catch up with everything in his head but that was just it – yesterday he'd thought Vio wouldn't be talking at all anymore. What if that happened again?
"Nice-nice day." Link vomited out. They'd known one another for as long as either could remember and that was the sentence starter, as if they were just pleasant acquaintances.
"It is." Came the curt reply.
"Um-" Fiddling with the buckle on his shoulder strap, Link bit his lip. "Um…"
"It's okay Link, just drop it."
Surprised by the quickness of his sentence, Link watched Vio as he pulled ahead.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
'Yeah'? That wasn't normal for Vio. It was usually the well-formed word of 'yes'. But Link supposed he should drop it like he said. Pushing this any further could result in an argument and that wasn't what they needed right now. It could just be down to Vio being nervous about his family, wanting to see if they were okay. Yeah, that made sense.
By the time they arrived at the front door of Vio's house, a modest, square building you might draw if you were told to depict a house, Link definitely had Vio's nervousness pinned to family issues. Whether it was the shaking finger that missed the doorbell several times or how he shifted from foot to foot on the porch, it was obvious that Vio wasn't exactly comfortable.
Until the door opened at least.
"VI!" With a scream, his twin threw himself over the threshold and onto his shoulders, a high, breathless giggle vibrating the shoulder of his bag.
"Red!" Vio gasped and closed the hug. Link couldn't help but smile.
"Link, you're okay!" Green was rushing down the stairs in the hall, a grin plastered to his face as he met the floor with bare feet, "I thought the worst when I heard you'd gone to face Ganondorf!" He stopped in the porch, toes tapping speedy rhythms into the cold stone.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Won't be doing that again." Link laughed. It was great to see them again. "Where's Blue?"
"I'M COMIN' A'IGHT?!"
"He's… he's coming." Green snickered.
"Link!" Red peeled himself off of Vio and landed with full-force on his friend's shoulders. "I missed you so much!"
"It's been a day!"
"Stiiiiill!"
"We're going to Kokiri."
The group fell silent, all looking at Vio who now stood with square shoulders. He continued, "If any of you want to come, you can but it'll probably be dangerous. We know how to defeat Ganondorf. If you stay here, tell mum and dad where we are but… don't let them follow us, okay?"
"Why?" Green said sternly.
"Because I don't want anyone else to die."
"And somehow going off on a little adventure is going to keep everyone safe?!"
Well this had escalated quickly.
"If we stop Ganondorf, he stops killing. It's simple, Green."
"No, it's not! What if you die?!"
"You're blowing this all out of proportion! The plan is down, all we have to do is-"
"I thought you were the intelligent one! Let the police get more information before you charge head-first into anything!"
"And I thought you were the daring one-"
"If you go now, we could lose you!"
"If we wait, we could lose someone else."
"Guys-" Link tried to break it up, painfully aware of how crestfallen Red was already looking.
"Getting involved will endanger all of us, Vio!"
"'Getting involved'?! If you haven't noticed, I'm already knee-deep! I'm following this through no matter what. If you don't want to do anything, fine. But don't get in my way." Vio was angry. Link hadn't seen him like this in ages. Why?
There was a pause, a sigh.
"Sure." Green bit his lip. "Go on. Have your little adventure and see where it gets you." Hand on the door, he turned to his brother, "Red?"
"I-I don't know, Green."
"Oh, come on! You can't be serious!"
Red seemed to retract, to become small and fragile. He muttered, "But Link-Link's mum."
Link flinched. Why would he bring that up?
"What if that was our mum?"
Another damn pause.
"Yeah… I'm coming with you, Link. I want to help!" Red turned to beam at him and he had to swallow a laugh. He hasn't expected that from him.
And now Green deflated, as if he'd already lost him. And he grabbed the handle. And he closed the door.
"I guess he won't be coming." Link grumbled. What a strange reaction. He would have thought Green would be all up for this. Then again, he would have thought Vio wouldn't have been at all. Surprise after surprise.
"What about Blue?" Red squeaked.
"He'll catch us up if he really wants to come." Vio sighed. "Come on."