Chapter 16
Link scarcely moved for the remainder of the day, seemingly content to simply stare at nothing. He refused any food or drink Zelda offered, citing a lack of appetite. She tried to busy herself with little things around the house, ready to jump to help the moment he asked anything of her. That moment never came, the hours passing with an agonizing slowness as he just stared blankly at the wall. Eventually night fell and she ushered him to bed, internally fretting over his apathetic attitude as he followed her directions without question.
He was still in the same position when she came to check on him the following morning, eyes fixed on the underside of the stairs above his cot.
"Good morning, Link," she greeted, hoping he would be more himself today.
Link's eyes slowly moved over to rest on her. "Morning?"
Zelda's heart fell at slow movements and drawn-out response. It seemed they were both in for another long day. "Did you sleep at all?"
He gave her a long blink. "I don't know."
That didn't sound promising. Zelda gave herself a mental shake, pasting a smile on her face. "Would you like something to eat? I may not be the best chef, but I can promise it will be edible."
Link shook his head, letting his eyes slide back to the stairs. "Not hungry."
Zelda bit her lip, trying to remember if he had any favorite foods that were within her limited culinary skills to prepare. Her eyes roved across the house, looking for inspiration, when she noticed the three colored potions sitting on the counter. "Oh, you said you needed to take one elixir each day, correct? Is there a certain order in which you need to drink them?"
Link didn't reply for a long moment, thinking about her questions. He slowly sat up, leaning forward too far as if he'd had difficultly catching himself before righting his position. "Yes. I need... I need the..." His words trailed off, brow furrowing as he searched for the right word.
Zelda quickly caught on, rattling off his choices. "The elixirs are yellow, red and blue."
"Red." Link nodded to himself, sure of the order even if he couldn't translate his own thoughts at the moment. "Red today. Yellow tomorrow."
"And the blue one after that?" Zelda guessed, retrieving the red elixir and pressing it into his hand.
"No. No blue." Link stared at the bottle in his hand, surprised to feel something other than ice. If he didn't know any better, he'd almost say it felt...warm.
Zelda was confused. There were three bottles sitting on the shelf and she certainly hadn't put the last one there. "No? Then why did you make it? What does it do?"
Eager to feel something other than the cold, Link put the bottle to his lips and swallowed its contents. He closed his eyes as he felt it burn all the way down, like a hot beverage after being out in the snow. Zelda's questions pulled his attention from the liquid warming his insides and he struggled to put the answer into words. "The blue one ca... Co... Con..." He shook his head, simply unable to remember the word. "It stops the other ones."
"Stops? As in offers a temporary reprieve and lets you pick where you left off later?" That certainly sounded helpful if the process proved to be too much for Link to bear.
"No. It...undoes the others."
"It reverses the process? Completely? But why would..." Zelda let the sentence die, able to guess why he might have made something like that. She eyed the shimmering liquid, wondering how bad the next two days were going to get if Link had prepared that beforehand.
Link nodded, feeling some clarity of thought starting to return as the heat seemed to spread out through his body. "It was part of the Goddess' instructions. If it gets too much for me to handle, everything can be...countered, that's word I was looking for... Everything can be countered with that."
Zelda dipped her head in acknowledgement, still not liking the implications but glad he had a back-up plan just in case. "If you decide to stop, are subsequent attempts easier? You know, purify a little of the Malice at a time?" Use of the words "counter" and "undoes" didn't leave much hope, but she still felt she had to clarify all the same.
Link shifted uncomfortably as the cold plaguing his skin and extremities seemed to solidify against the still-increasing heat. The warring extremes were far worse than cold by itself and he suddenly felt like a cube of ice that had been dropped on a hot griddle. "No, it's basically starting all over again from the beginning."
The strain was audible in his voice, drawing Zelda's focus from the bottles. Link was almost squirming on the bed, his face drawn in clear discomfort as he pulled his outer tunic over his head. "What's wrong? Are you all right?" Zelda's hand was half-way stretched out to him before she realized it, though she had no idea how to help.
"I- I think the elixir's working," Link bit out. He was panting now, flopping back onto the bed and curling on his side. "Fire and ice- They don't mix well." He flinched, burying his face in his pillow as his entire body tensed. It was several long seconds before he relaxed marginally, gasping as he started breathing again.
Zelda just stood there, wringing her hands helplessly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Link gave a quick shake of his head, eyes still clenched shut.
"If you need the blue elixir-"
"No!" Link lurched up on one elbow, eyes snapping open as if he thought she might try forcing it down his throat.
"All right, it was just a suggestion." Zelda held up her hands placatingly before coaxing him to lie back down. "Your skin is still freezing."
He let out a groan as he curled in a ball. "I'm pretty sure it's the only think keeping my melting organs from spilling out."
Zelda winced in sympathy, rubbing a soothing hand across his back. "I'm sorry Link. I wish there was something I could do for you."
He rolled over onto his back, still trying to find the least uncomfortable position. "The Goddess warned me it would be bad. I just have to endure."
Zelda bit her lip. "If you change your mind..."
Another head shake, firmer than before. "I won't. I'd just have to go through all of this again." He met her gaze, offering her a shaky smile. "Just two more day to go, right?"
Zelda returned a wan smile of her own. "Just two more days."
Link stayed in bed the rest of the day, tossing and turning miserably as the two extreme temperatures seemed to chase each other throughout his entire body. At his request, Zelda had pulled a chair over to his bedside and was keeping up a near constant stream of chatter. Amusing stories, interesting topics, incidents from the past and any other distractions she could come up with flowed over her tongue.
Occasionally Link would interrupt with a breathless question, his skin an ever-changing mixture of bright red and so white it was almost translucent. His level of lucidity seemed to be in a constant state of flux, his eyes sometimes losing focus before the princess could answer his question only for him to ask it again a few minutes later. Zelda tried to hide the worry gnawing at her with a forced smile, dutifully repeating everything he had apparently missed the first time. Her throat was beyond parched and her voice was starting to crack by the time he finally fell into an exhausted sleep sometime during the mid-afternoon.
He didn't look well at all, the large patches of discolored skin having shrunken in size but multiplied exponentially throughout the day. The starkly contrasting red and white almost looked like an elaborate design one might find on a piece of fabric rather than skin. His panting breaths continued even in sleep, chest visibly rising with each inhale. Though strained, his breathing had remained more or less consistent throughout the day, so Zelda tried not to worry about it too much.
She hesitantly lifted her hand, very carefully brushing some of the hair out of his face. It was odd to feel both the oppressive heat and bitter cold emanating from his skin and she could only imagine how awful it must feel to be stuck between the two extremes. She continued watching him for several more minutes before her dry throat drove her to quietly get some water, moving with extra caution so as to not disturb his much-needed slumber.
Link did not wake for the rest of the day and was still asleep when Zelda rose the following morning. He was still panting heavily but skin his tone had evened out during the night, finally settling on a uniform and healthy looking shade. She brushed his hair back and laid her hand across his forehead, her lips pulling down into a frown. The extreme temperature was barely tolerable against her skin, though whether it was so hot it was freezing or so cold it burned, she couldn't say.
The swordsman had always been an early riser, both in the past and during the last few weeks, so the fact that she had woken first was telling of the toll the elixirs were taking on his body. Zelda waited a couple hours before deciding he probably wouldn't be waking on his own. He obviously needed the rest, but he had said he had to drink one elixir each day and she didn't know if there would be any side effects of not taking them on time.
Deciding to err on the side of caution, Zelda laid a hand on his shoulder. "Link," she called, shaking him gently and then more firmly when he didn't stir. "Link, you need to wake up now."
It took a surprising amount of coaxing to get the swordsman to open his eyes, his dazed gaze staring at her from beneath half closed lids.
"It's time for the last elixir. Do you want the yellow or the blue one?" she asked, fairly certain she already knew his answer.
Link slowly closed his eyes, prompting Zelda to shake him after a moment to wake him up again. "I'm sorry Link, I know you're tired, but you have to make a decision before you can go back to sleep. Do you want to continue the cleansing process with the yellow elixir or do you want to stop it with the blue one?" she repeated, grabbing the bottles and holding them up.
Although she didn't think he'd pick the blue, it didn't feel right to just pour the yellow one down his throat when he was in such a state. Forcing him to choose when he didn't seem to understand what was going on didn't feel much better, but she didn't want to make his situation worse by not sticking to the schedule he'd laid out.
It seemed he had zoned out after another minute or two and Zelda moved to closer to get his attention again, only for his eyes to jerkily track the motion of the yellow bottle in her hand. "Is this the one you want?" she asked, holding the yellow bottle up.
Link gave her a slow blink.
Zelda bit her lip as, weighing her options. As far as she could tell, Link wasn't lucid at the moment. How could she expect him to make such a decision when he clearly had no idea what was going on? "I know you didn't want to use the blue potion, but I think it would be for the best right now."
Link's eyebrows twitched slightly, a soft noise coming from deep within his throat.
Zelda was taken aback by the response, even as subtle as it was. It seemed she'd mistaken extensive fatigue for incoherency. Still, she had a feeling this elixir would be even worse than the last and at present Link couldn't even muster up the energy to speak. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?"
Another blink, just as slow but no less deliberate than the last.
Zelda sighed, setting both bottles on a box next to his bed. "Very well, if that is your wish." She leaned down and slid her arm beneath his shoulders with some difficulty, trying to lever him up enough to drink. His head lolled back as she lifted him, eyes closing though the slight crease between his brows indicated it was due to discomfort rather than sleep. "I'm sorry," she apologized, trying to lift her elbow to support his head while not losing her grip on his shoulders.
It took a minute or two to for Zelda to find an optimal position to fully support Link with one arm, allowing her to grab the elixir with her free hand. She raised the bottle to Link's lips, frowning slightly when he kept them shut. "I need you to open your mouth Link."
Link's eyes opened to slits, blue irises barely visible through the lashes as he seemed to study the liquid being offered for several long seconds before his lips parted. Zelda slowly poured the yellow elixir into his mouth, pausing for him to swallow. It didn't take long for him to drink it all, though a bit had spilled out of the corner of his mouth and ran down his chin.
Zelda set the bottle back on the crate and wiped the liquid from his chin. It tingled slightly on her fingers, making her frown. The awe-inspiring presence of Farosh crossing Lake Floria came to mind, the very air itself charged with electricity just by being in his presence. She shook herself slightly, carefully lying Link back down. "Go to back to sleep," she told him, despite the fact that his eyes were again closed and he seemed to have already done just that. If her guess was right, Link wouldn't want to be awake for this.
Like the last, it wasn't long before the elixir started to take effect. Muscles began to twitch and spasm as the electricity course throughout his body, making him seem almost fidgety beneath the light blanket. His breaths became more labored and pained, soft whimpers escaping his throat with each exhale though he didn't seem to be conscious at the moment.
Zelda had resumed her vigil at his side, the chair still pulled over from the day before. She held his twitching hand between hers, trying to offer what small comfort she could. The electricity ebbed and flowed beneath his skin, sometimes sending a light tingle across her fingers and others shocking her enough to almost make her drop his hand. She resolutely refused to let go, unable to do anything more than share a small portion of his pain.
"Just hold on, Link. You can get through this, I know you can," she whispered, her words almost drowned out by his pained moans. "Just one more day."
The hours dragged by at an agonizing pace, Link's distressed breathing sounding overly loud in the otherwise silent house. Zelda held his hand throughout the majority of the day, only leaving his side for brief intervals to tend to her own needs. Her hands were plagued by a constant tingle that bordered on painful and made her fingers cramp and spasm, though she could not say if it was from the near continuous shocks or an increase in electricity flowing through her knight. Either way, Link remaining unconscious throughout it all was nothing short of a miracle...or perhaps a blessing from the Goddess. At least, Zelda hoped he was unconscious rather than simply lacking the energy to open his eyes.
The blue elixir sitting innocuously on the crate seemed to taunt her with every painful jolt, offering a release for her and her knight. The anguish audible in every breath he took weakened her resolve and she was sorely tempted to put a stop to this terrible ordeal. However, not even the most silver-tongued of her father's council could argue against the clarity of Link's wishes in this matter. Bedridden and robbed of even the most basic speech, his actions had reflected the unwavering steadfastness that was practically his trademark. While her own heart was weak, she would not be able to face him if she ended his suffering now.
A powerful shock took her breath away, electricity making the muscles cramp in her fingers as she struggled not to release Link's similarly spasming hand. The blue elixir seemed to shimmer enticingly and in a fit of anger she swept it off the crate with her free hand. The glass shattered against the wall, the blue liquid sliding down and pooling on the floor. Zelda stared at it once she could breathe again, a little ashamed of her loss of control and just the tiniest bit relieved that the temptation was gone.
The house grew darker as evening came and Zelda felt it was time to light a few of the lanterns. Her hands were mostly numb by this point, the electrical charges now traveling up her arm before dissipating. The sensations remained even after she released Link's hand, phantom shocks sparking across her skin as she tried to shake some feeling back into her hands.
Her fingers were twitchy and stiff after hours of exposure to the varying degrees of electrical shocks, making the flint and steel difficult to use. It took her several minutes to light the first lantern and she quickly decided it would be much easier to transfer the flame to the rest of the wicks using a rolled-up paper or twig. She was looking for a small scrap of something that Link wouldn't mind losing when a louder and more drawn-out groan pulled her attention back to the alcove.
Link's face was twisted in pain as he rolled onto his side, curling into a loose ball as his arms tightly clasped over his stomach. His rapid and shallow breaths were stilted, almost as if he held each breath for a second or two before exhaling. Without warning, his torso convulsed as he vomited on the bed.
Zelda rushed outside, barely able to make her hands work enough to open the door before she was on her knees, retching on the grass. It didn't take long to empty her stomach of all its contents, running a shaky hand across her mouth as she sat back. The thought that she would have to clean up the mess inside almost made her start dry-heaving, clenching her eyes shut as she took several slow and deep breaths. After another minute or two, she unsteadily pushed herself back to her feet and headed back into the house.
Link was still on his side, black viscous liquid dribbling down his cheek and splayed across part of his pillow and sheet. A faint pink sheen seemed to undulate across the dark substance in the dim light of the alcove, leaving no doubt about what it was. It seemed the malice had finally been expelled from Link's body.
Nausea took hold of her again and Zelda had to turn away to collect herself for several long seconds, holding her breath. Once she had regained control of herself, she carefully lifted Link's head and used a clean corner of the sheet to wipe the black liquid from his skin. Still holding his head with one hand, she called on her powers to purify the tainted substance staining the bedding.
The bright yellow shine of the sacred energy enveloped her vision as it cleansed the malice, leaving holes in the sheets and pillow. Link's labored breaths sent some of the now-exposed feathers fluttering to the floor, so Zelda flipped his pillow over before laying his head back on it. She sank down onto her chair again as she watched him continue struggling to breathe.
The malice was gone but he wasn't getting any better. A cold ball formed in the pit of her stomach as she glanced toward the dark stain on the wall where she'd broken the blue potion earlier. He had said he didn't need it, but what if he was supposed to take it after the malice had been purged? Surely he would have mentioned that...right?
Zelda worried at her lip as she watched him for another minute or two before remembering the lanterns. She quickly finished lighting them and replaced them on the hooks. Anxiety ate away at her as she played through possible repercussions of her action, each worse than the last. The downward spiral of her thoughts was interrupted by another pained groan and she turned in time to see Link throw up more malice. Zelda's stomach churned and she rushed back outside, an odd feeling of relief shooting through her. Perhaps he truly didn't need to blue elixir after all.
He retched three more times over the next hour, expelling a small amount of tainted liquid each time. An unmarred section of the blanket had been placed underneath his head and chest, covering the mess of feathers with the tattered framework of material that used to be his pillow. The thin mattress underneath was also sporting several large holes, the straw filling slowly being pulled out as the blankets and sheets were dragged over them again and again.
Zelda herself had resumed her place at his bedside, her face pale but resolved. A small bucket was on the floor next to her, unable to stop her body's automatic reaction when Link vomited but not wanting to keep running outside. This day had been more tiring than the previous two combined and Zelda was exhausted. The sun had long set and her body wanted nothing more than to crawl into her own bed and go to sleep. Instead she stubbornly remained in her chair, determined to sit up with Link until his symptoms finally subsided.
It looked like it was going to be a very long night indeed.
Something was wrong. Link was lying on his bed, eyes staring up at the underside of the stairs. The house was well-lit, the ambient light indicating daylight rather than lanterns and the lack of noise meant Zelda was out. His arms and legs were in a somewhat awkward position and were starting to ache from lying in said position for too long. The only problem was, Link couldn't move.
From the crown of his head to the tips of his toes, he was effectively paralyzed. No finger twitched, no eye moved despite his best efforts. He couldn't even focus on the wooden planks above him, the outline slightly blurry with two images overlaid on top of each other instead of lined up into one as his eyes focused at some point beyond what he could see. He was trapped in his own body, completely helpless to interact with the world around him. And he had no idea why.
A figure appeared from nowhere, leaning over into Link's line of sight. The swordsman had never before felt fear at the sight of the white mask with the inverted eye. He fought hard for control of his body, fear for Zelda as well as himself feeding his desperation. Not even his heart rate sped up in response, leaving him completely at the Yiga's mercy.
"Infected by Malice?" the voice behind the mask asked gleefully. "Now that's something I can work with."
Link internally froze at the words. Was he having another episode right now? Was that why he couldn't control his body? But he had never been aware of himself during those periods before. Did something go wrong with the elixirs?
"You've caused us no end of headaches, you know," the Yiga continued almost casually, bringing up a gloved hand as if to inspect his nails. "Invading our hideout and stealing the Thunder Helm that we'd rightfully stolen..." The hand clenched into a fist, anger bleeding into his voice. "To say nothing of what you did to Master Kouga!"
The Yiga took a moment to regain his composure, clearing his throat while Link could do nothing but wait to hear whatever torturous fate they had in store for him.
"Master Kouga will be back, of that there's no doubt. But we've let you run around, doing as you pleased, for far too long. What would a fitting punishment be?" The Yiga put a finger to the bottom of his mask, as if deep in thought. "We'll have to serve your head to Master Kouga on a platter, there's no question about that. But how can we make you suffer like you've done to us, hm?" He titled his head slightly, the painted eye almost seeming to smile down at the prone swordsman.
The masked man suddenly clapped his hand together, as if he'd just had an epiphany. "Oh, I know! Why don't you take care of that troublesome princess outside? Not that we couldn't do it ourselves now that you're out of the way, but it just seems like such poetic justice to have you do it, don't you agree?" The Yiga was practically dancing around in joy, elated at having come up with the perfect punishment. "Kill her."
Link could only watch in horror as he fluidly rolled off his cot and headed for the door. He flailed against whatever force held him captive, soundlessly screaming as he tried to break free. Phantom aches and pains flooded through him in response, though his body did not falter.
Rain was pouring down as he stepped outside, lightning crashing close enough that the hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he could smell a faint whiff of sulfur in the air. His legs disobediently carried him around the side of the house, the hilt of the master sword cold in his hand.
Zelda was kneeling at the side of the pond, her back to him as she fiddled with something in water. The downpour drowned out his footsteps as he approached from behind, he mentally screaming at her to get away. The sword seemed to be drawing electricity from the storm, sending shocks cascading throughout his body but that wasn't enough to stop him. The blade rose high in the air as Zelda finally turned around, emerald eyes widening in disbelief and fear.
Lightning struck the upraised metal as it cut through the air downward, severing the link between Link's body and mind.
To Be Continued
