Never Without You │ BOTW modern AU fanfic

One More Day

Zelda's POV

I sit by the window, my head resting on my hand. Link and Riju have been playing Mario Kart on his Nintendo Switch for almost an hour now. He seems much happier ever since I gave him the tool to play video games in his hospital bed all day, yet the slight hint at apathy still haunts his features.

"Argh I lost again!" Riju sighs. "Double or nothing," she says, placing another candy bar on the sheets between them.

"You already lost all your gummies, you sure you want to lose your chocolate bars too?" Link laughs and starts another race.

"I like you way more like this," Riju suddenly says, pulling my eyes away from the window. Link gives her a flustered look.

"Like what?" He asks.

"Loud, I guess. You're more fun this way."

My heart aches at the thought of Link staying this extroverted. I wonder how he will react when fans or reporters approach him. Will he be the same as before or will he agree to talk and even enjoy the attention for once?

"Link?" I mutter. When he looks up at me, I shyly continue. "I have another video I'd like to show you."

"Right now?" He asks, focusing on the game.

It's been a while since we've looked at photos but his memory still hasn't fully returned so I want to try one last time. Although he has recovered nearly all of his memories, major events are still missing and nobody knows why. He still can't remember most of his career in America and everything that happened two weeks before the baseball game.

I walk over to the bed and bring up my phone with a short video of Link's last soccer game ready to play. I wanted to spare him the sight of Zant injuring him but if there's a chance of Link getting his memories back, I shouldn't withhold it.

"Anything?" I ask after the video ends.

Link's brows furrow and I already know what his answer is before he even shakes his head. There goes that...

"Let's go there," he says. "To the stadium."

"What? No! It's on Lorule's campus."

"Okay then let's go to Hyrule's stadium. Looking at stuff in person will probably work better than looking at pics and videos."

"Must I remind you that you are in the hospital for a reason?"

"I'm getting discharged tomorrow."

"Let's go tonight," Riju quickly joins the conversation but keeps her eyes on the screen.

"Yeah, why not?" Link says, giving me a hopeful look.

"No, I have to take Riju home. It's already dark out. But we can go tomorrow if you really want."

"Deal. I've survived three weeks of boredom in this place, what's one more day."

"Yes!" Riju lets out an interruptive cheer. "First Place! Finally! And you, good sir, just lost all your candy!"

I look at the little screen. Apparently I distracted Link enough for him to land last place. Oops.

"Grab your things, Riju, it's time to go," I tell her but she shakes her head, shoving candy into her pockets.

"Not yet!" she protests.

"We can't stay any longer. The track meet ended an hour ago and Urbosa is probably already on her way. We don't want her to get home before us and find out that we aren't there."

"You really have to go already?" Link asks me saddened.

"If Urbosa finds out that I let Riju stay up this late she'll never ask me to babysit again."