Forgive me | Legend of Zelda FF | ENG

3 ~ No time left

Link clasped my hand even tighter and together we ran for our lives. The rain was just pouring down and I had to be careful that I didn't fall to the ground again.

Link, however, ran as if he had never been injured. Only the torn armor and the bandage, which was already soaked in blood, were evidence of his injury.
I just ran after him, trying to keep his pace somehow. I already didn't feel my legs, they were like automated; just running and hoping that we wouldn't die here and that night.

Suddenly Link just stopped, while I looked back to watch the Guardians breaking through the Dueling Peaks. I didn't see that he had stopped and crashed into him.

It knocked him off his feet and together we landed on the muddy meadow. Link groaned in pain, whereupon I immediately jumped up. Had I landed on his wound? Had he landed on his wound? What-?

"I'm terribly sorry," I apologized immediately, whereupon Link's eyes only widened in shock and he jerkily pulled me back to the ground towards him.
"Hey!", I yelled at him, whereupon a Guardian's beam thundered over our heads.

"What in the name of Goddess Hylia...", I snapped, as Link pulled me even closer to him.
"We need to be much more careful," he hissed at me as he suddenly froze.
Hectically, I looked around when I noticed a Guardian standing just above us.

Link pulled me a little closer to him, although I thought that there was actually no more space between us. Then he rolled me under his body, so that he now laid protectively over me. My breath was taken away; we had never been this close before.
Now Link pressed himself even tighter against me, his hands protectively above my head.
" Do not move a muscle," he whispered softly and barely audibly; even though we were so close, I had to make an effort to understand him at all.

We stayed there like that for a few very long minutes, when we heard an explosion and the Guardian moved on above us.

I breathed a sigh of relief, whereupon Link immediately stood up and yanked me up.
"We need to move on immediately," he instructed me, pointing towards Fort Hateno.
"It's not that far and it seems to still be standing," he added, pointing his finger at some soldiers who were still fighting against the masses of Guardians.

I nodded to him and together we walked across the plain, hoping that no Guardian would attack us.
But the hope shattered pretty soon, when I saw a red beam once again on Link.

Immediately Link pushed me behind him and held the shield protectively in front of us with one hand, holding my hand with the other. I squeezed Link's hand tightly once as the Guardian's beam hit his shield and he reflected it skyward.

The Guardian was now running towards us and Link roughly pushed me behind him and grabbed his sword.
"Zelda, get to safety!" he yelled at me as he faced the Guardian.

I did as he said and took cover behind a larger rock. From here I could get a good view of the battlefield and, most importantly, I could see Link confronting the Guardian.

I watched the battle breathlessly; Link was in such bad shape, how was he going to stand up to the Guardian?

At that moment, he threw himself to the side just as the Guardian fired his life-threatening beam at him; missed. Luckily.
The Guardian now struck with one of his arms, whereupon Link skillfully dodged, but then went down in pain.

Panic rose in me. Had the Guardian caught him after all? But I didn't see anything, it couldn't be.
I looked a little closer as I saw the Guardian lunge again while Link tried to get up.

"LINK LOOK OUT!", I yelled and felt tears running down my cheeks; he hadn't heard me.
The Guardian caught Link in the side and flung him far away in front of him in the tall grass.

I couldn't see Link anymore, but I was almost sure that he must have done some harm to himself during this attack.
Without thinking much, I ran off in the direction in which Link had flown.

My thoughts were completely with him and I began to slowly fade out the outside world. I only had Link on my mind; he couldn't just be gone now, could he? He had to be found here, maybe back there....

I ran behind one of the larger hills on the plain, and then I saw him. He was lying there in the grass, motionless.
"No!", I shouted and hurried over to him, praying that he hadn't died.

When I got to him, I knelt right down to him and pulled his upper body onto my lap.
"Link, please don't," I brought out, crying hard, as I heard him let out a rasping breath.
I immediately took his bloody face in my hands and gently stroked one hand through his hair; careful not to touch any of his wounds.
"Everything will be okay," I whispered to him in a shaky voice, then swallowed briefly. "I promise."

Link carefully turned around to face me and opened his eyes. I could see the pain in his eyes as he lifted his hand and placed it against my cheek.
"I'm so sorry," he brought out in a trembling voice as he slowly sat up and tried to stand.

"Oh no Link, you're going to sit here," I said overwroughtly, just falling into his arms.
"You can't go on...", I stated, noticing him slowly pushing me away from him.
"Zelda, I need to get you to safety," he said weakly, supporting himself on the Master Sword to stand up. "Come with me, please."

This man was crazy, he was more dead than alive and he wanted to keep fighting now. He would never make it, I was already pretty sure of that. There must have been some way that he could recover....

I thought hard, but any plan to get him to safety led me to Fort Hateno.

I clenched my hands into fists and dug my fingernails into the heels of my hands as I took Link by the hand.
"You're right," I admitted, looking at his face in anguish. "We have no choice."
"Then let us go," he said still, gripping my hand even tighter. "We don't have any more time to lose."