Chapter 3

Zelda

Link and Zelda played in his front yard. His grandmother was supervising, as they were each only 10 years old. "Would you two like some iced lemonade? It's a bit warm today."

"Yeah, that'd be great gramma! Thanks!" Zelda voiced her gratitude as well before the older woman went inside.

Not too long after, a white van sporting a mighty bananas company on the side pulled up a couple houses down. Zelda heard the doors slam, then footsteps drew near. Link tensed and shifted in front of her, blocking her from the view of the two men walking their way. She looked at him quizzically. They were just some workers, after all. The small, lithe one moved toward the two, while the larger one hung back a bit.

The man started talking. "Would you kids like some mighty bananas? A sweet snack for a nice day." Link shook his head, but Zelda peeked around Link and nodded, as she liked the fruit, and thought some food might be nice.

The man started, then looked at her more closely. An odd expression crossed his face. Then he grinned. "Of course, Miss Hyrule."

He started to move to them, but Link stood and stepped in front of her. The man snarled, "Think you can protect her, boy?" He grabbed Link by the front of his t-shirt. The boy lunged and bit his hand.

"AAHG! You'll pay for that, twerp!"

The man had released Link upon the bite, and Link had grabbed Zelda's hand and started running. The man nearer to them growled and pulled a mask with an inverted Sheikah eye over his face, the burly man following suit.

They began chasing after the two children, who were getting far away, twisting through alleys and streets, thanks to Link's penchant for exploring any area he found himself in. He turned into an alleyway and wriggled through a gap in a brick wall, Zelda still being pulled behind him. He stopped at a house and jumped into its window well. He then opened the window and forced Zelda through. "Be super quiet," he whispered.

"Link, what's going on? Those guys..."

"Don't worry, Missus Impa and Purah, along with Mister Symin and Robbie will help you. I gotta lead them away though, so they can't find you. Just tap three times on the door up those stairs, and they'll take care of you."

"Link, wait! I have no idea what's going on! Please don't leave, I can't-"

"You can. I believe in you. They'll know what to do, trust me."

She searched his face for a second. "Okay, fine. Be safe Link." She held him tightly for a moment before nodding and letting him go.

As soon as he raced out of the basement window, she cautiously went up the stairs before tapping three times on the door like Link had said. Hurried footsteps sounded, before the door opened, revealing a young Sheikah woman with glasses. "Click, snap! Who are you?! And where's Linky," the woman asked.

"I-I don't-" Zelda stuttered.

"C'mon, kiddo, spill it!"

"Oh, calm down Purah." A new voice.

Purah huffed. "Well Link's signal was tapped on the door, but he's not here! What am I supposed to do, not ask questions?!"

The new woman shook her head. She had tanner skin than the other woman's and long white hair in a braid. "Hello, young one, can you tell us what's going on?"

Zelda began to stutter out every detail, from Link's grandmother going inside to the mighty bananas on the side of the truck, and Link leaving her here to run off to mislead the men. After she finished, Impa exploded.

"Well, that's just perfect. How are we supposed to find him?! And the Yiga may have him by now, and who knows what they'll do, they don't care that he's a kid!"

"Calm down, sis. I gave him a tracking device in case we needed him to scout stuff out for us, he's just so curious that he's bound to get in trouble. All we need is Robbie's stupid machine to show us where he is," said Purah.

The two women walked up some stairs, Zelda following. Once they reached the room, Purah started yelling at a man with a shock of white hair and odd goggles to input some codes and find where Link was. The man, who introduced himself as Robbie to Zelda, typed something, and a map appeared on the screen. A specific dot near them was racing quickly, when all of a sudden, it stopped completely and disappeared. Robbie muttered something under his breath before typing another code into the machine. The map moved to show a point in Karusa Valley, where the point stayed.

The three Sheikah were silent, and Zelda hesitated to ask what was going on. She managed to squeak out a few words: "Wh-what happened to Link?"

The people exchanged some glances before Impa knelt on one knee and offered a comforting hand on her shoulder. "There is no gentle way to speak of the Yiga, so I shall give you the truth. Your friend, Link has been taken by traitors and will likely torture him for information on your whereabouts, disregarding his age."

"What? I don't know who the Yiga are, but whatever. How are we going to get Link back? And will he be okay?"

Impa sighed. "I don't know who would be willing but we will start calls to see who may be willing to free him. When we save him, we will contact you immediately."

Zelda frowned. "I want to stay here, so that the instant you find him, I can see him again. He's my best friend, and I'm gonna stick with him." She took a deep breath. "Please call your people now."

"Check it! Right away, milady," Purah said, grinning.

_/|||\_

It took them a couple of days to gather people, and luckily they were able to travel fast. The team consisted of Impa, two other Sheikah warriors named Dorian and Cado, a Hylian from Hebra named Ashei, an Ordonian named Rusl, and Zelda's beloved godmother, Urbosa the Gerudo.

The young girl's father had been contacted, and he knew of the situation. Miraculously, he allowed her to stay with the Sheikah to make sure Link was alright. His only conditions were that she was guarded at all times, and he would be informed if (when, Zelda reminded herself) when they found Link.

Zelda wasn't allowed to accompany them, but she stayed with Purah, Symin, and Robbie in order to see what was going on; A few of the team members had video cameras that showed visuals to their base base, where she currently was.

The young girl sat on the ground, deciding that she didn't want to wait for them to find Link while standing for ages. Before she knew it, she was nodding off into sleep.

All of a sudden, a scream broke through the darkness of her rest. She shot up and raced to the monitor. Her mouth dropped and she shrieked. "What... what is that?!"

Purah swallowed. "I- ah... that would happen to be... Link."

Zelda stared at the screen while tears unconsciously flowed out of her eyes. His body was nearly beyond recognition. Instead of the average scrapes and bruises of a 10-year-old, he was covered in swollen red lines. Luckily his face had avoided the worst, but a sharp red line ran from his jaw to his forehead on the right side of his face. Much of her friend's body was cut, thin lines running in every direction. His fingers and legs were bent at an odd angle. He barely seemed to be breathing.

Zelda shook. He's hurt so terribly, dying even... and I'm stuck in Central Hyrule, ages away from him! "Purah! I demand to be taken to him immediately. Which hospital are they going to? Tell me!"

Purah turned to look at her. "I assume they'll go to the Gerudo Canyon hospital, even this injured, Link is male and is forbidden from entering Gerudo Town. The doctors there will likely send him to the Central Hospital, not too far from here. After all, they don't have as many resources, as there are few who live in Gerudo Canyon."

"Okay then! We're heading there now! I must be there for him."

Purah looked helplessly at Robbie, who sighed. "Zelda, we can't leave, we're at the base of operations for the team. But Link will need a parent or guardian at the hospital. Purah will go with you to protect you, she has more experience in this sort of thing than me."

Zelda grabbed Purah's wrist and the two raced to Link's home.

_/|||\_

Link's father, grandmother, and sister waited with Zelda; his uncle was at work. Purah had said that the helicopter wouldn't be long, and that Link was almost there. Regardless, she was very stressed and worried. The call soon came in; Link was in the building. An attendant led them to the room where he would be treated. The woman seemed hesitant to let Aryll and Zelda see, but Zelda convinced her, especially mentioning that she already had seen what had happened to him.

For what seemed like ages, there were doctors surrounding his unconscious form, sticking things into him, sanitizing the wounds, placing casts on too many parts, and stitching him up. Eventually, they left Link on a bed, with tubes sticking into him, chest barely moving, and more wounds than what she could count.

She nearly rushed to him before remembering his family. She decided to stay back so they could gather around him. They whispered words she couldn't hear. Some time later, they pulled her to the bed and backed off. Zelda pulled up a chair and sat next to his prone form. He had never seemed so weak or small. She gently placed her hand over his, let her head down on the bed and let the tears fall. She quickly began to fade into the realm of sleep, where she saw Link be hurt, nearly dying over and over.

Sometime the next day she awoke to a listless gaze on her, coming from a pair of blue eyes clouded with pain. She quietly stood up and held his face in her palms. "You're safe now." Tears trickled down Link's face. He didn't speak. She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.

"You're safe."