Forgive me | Legend of Zelda FF | ENG

2 ~ Injury

I stood there rooted to the spot; I couldn't move, let alone say anything. I was too shocked.

The Guardian had not been defeated, because he aimed at Link one last time. He was no longer heard, he made no sound, but his red visor shone in our direction; right onto Link's back.

"LINK GET OUT!", I shouted at him as I too made my way to safety inside the tree trunk.

But it was already too late; the Guardian's beam hit Link's back mid-run and hurled him right in my direction, causing him to land roughly at my feet.

Full of panic, I pulled him close to me into the tree trunk; to safety. His eyes were closed, his gaze filled with pain. I carefully put my hand to his cheek and gently stroked it with my thumb as I tried to get a better look at his wound.

I couldn't see anything though, right now he was still lying on his back, but I should change that as soon as possible; otherwise it would get infected and then it would be totally over; if it wasn't already.

Still shocked, I tried to turn him onto his stomach, but he was too heavy, or I was too weak, which is why I was dependent on his help.

"Link, do you hear me!", I yelled at him, while tears just ran down my cheeks as he carefully opened his eyes and I could see that they were also filled with tears, which he tried to hold back.
"Zelda..." he said weakly, groaning in pain as his hand sought mine.

I took his hand in mine and squeezed it once to show Link that I was there; was there for him. Then I instructed him to at least turn on his side so I could now look at the wound.

Now I could look carefully at his back when I saw that the entire armor had been burned and a huge round scorch wound adorned his back. Hectically, I pulled up his shirt so that I could see the full extent of the injury. Link groaned again in pain as the fabric of his clothing scraped along the wound.
"I'm so sorry," I said to him and without much thought gave him a quick kiss on the cheek as I was already turning my attention back to his spine.

I took a still relatively clean corner of my dress in my hand and carefully dipped it into a small puddle that had formed between a few rocks. Then I carefully dabbed along the edge of the wound, trying to clean it somehow.

I had to admit, I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew that wounds needed to be cleaned; whether a dirty clothing corner and some rainwater was the best remedy, I just left that open here.

As I carefully dabbed on the water, all I kept hearing was Link moaning in pain or breathing in air sharply.
"I'm so sorry," I repeated my words from earlier as Link just buried his face in the crook of his elbow and I heard a very soft whimper from him.

I felt so incredibly sorry for Link right now and would have done anything to spare him this, but he was lucky to be wearing his solid armor underneath the champions tunic, because it had absorbed much of the attack. His back was marked by a slightly deeper burn, but that would heal.

I finished cleaning up as I moved away from Link a bit. I could see him struggling with the pain; his entire body was shaking as he slowly sat up.

Immediately, I moved closer to him again when I saw that he was in danger of falling over. Carefully, without grabbing at the wound, I held him by the torso; one hand on his chest, the other on his shoulder blade.

Gratefully, he looked in my direction as he resolutely tried to stand up.
I immediately jumped up and held my hand out to him so that he could support himself while standing up.
Carefully, he put his hand in mine, whereupon I supported his shoulder with my other hand, helping him to his feet.

With an arm around Link's waist, I grabbed my Sheikah Slate from Link's belt and took a quick look to see where we were at the moment anyway.
"We're almost at the Dueling Peaks," Link brought out weakly, to which I nodded in confirmation with a glance at the map.
"You're right. But you'll never get to Fort Hateno in your condition," I stated, to which he just stared at me blankly.

"We can't go on like this," I clarified my point and looked around for a suitable place where no Guardian would find us.

"Zelda...", Link brought out through clenched teeth. "We have to keep moving."

Dumbfounded, I looked at him and just shook my head.
"No Link, you're not capable of fighting," I said sternly, looking him straight in the eye. "First you need to recover."

I could see Link rolling his eyes as he reached for his sword.

I couldn't believe how unreasonable he was being right now, but he was basically right; if we didn't try and get going now, we would be lost.

Defeated by his stubbornness, I was helping him properly equip his sword and shield when I remembered that we should cover his wound somehow.

"Link, hand over your sword, please," I instructed him, whereupon he held out the Master Sword to me, puzzled.
"Princess, what-"

I didn't let him finish, because faster than he could look, I had already shortened the underskirt of my dress by a good twenty centimeters.
"Zelda, what are you doing?" Link asked now even more confused as I pressed the sword back into his hand.

"I'll make you a bandage," I explained briefly as I also carefully pushed his shirt back up.
"I don't want the wound exposed and infected," I added as Link inhaled sharply.

"Link, are you okay?", I asked him carefully, to which he just shook his head.
"No, I'm not okay, but I have to be. We have to keep going for us to even have a chance," he brought out with his teeth clenched.

I tied a knot on the end of the bandage and together we continued on our way towards Fort Hateno.

Now it was me who had Link by the hand and made sure that he also stayed behind me and was doing reasonably well.

Thus we had finally arrived at the Blatchery Plain, when I saw how all the Guardians, which had accumulated at the Duelling Peaks, were now running towards the plain. A stream of Guardians filled the Blatchery Plain, whereupon Link just took my hand and ran away with me, despite his injury.