Who We Are; Zelink, Modern (The Legend Of Zelda)

Beginning of a New Journey (20)

Link was kind enough not to make her finish. "Go ahead, just be careful it's..." He stopped and shook his head with a frown. "I wish you didn't have to see it."

Zelda bit her lip. "Don't have a choice. Those wounds can't get infected to the point where you need better medical care than we can get out here," she said as she reached out and carefully lifted the bottom of his shirt up towards his head. Almost immediately a fierce anger started to ebb through her as she saw just how badly bruised her hero was.

She hesitated for a second, but then lifted it the rest of the way; carefully getting it over his head. As she focused her gaze back on his chest she noticed that he was not only bruised but cut, raked with what looked like claws, and burned. Her fingers tightened around the shirt and her hands began to tremble.

Link looked over at her, and his eyebrows pulled together in concern. "I could do it, you don't have t-"

"No. I'll do it," she insisted, trying to keep her voice calm, but the ice storm still raged inside her.

"... Alright," he said and then he relaxed back against the grass instead of the rough barked tree.

Zelda took a clean rag and dipped it in the hot water. She bent over Link and then hesitated once more; her hand hovered over one of the cuts.

Link hissed in pain as the pressure finally came; though she could tell he was still trying to hide just how bad it really was.

"I'm sorry..." she said softly as she pressed as gently as she could but still get the job done.

It was a horrible time cleaning his wounds; she had never seen such damage done to a person. Let alone that it was done to Link. She sprayed the antibiotic on the wounds, at which point Link grunted; holding back a yell. She felt bad but knew that it would help him even though it hurt. She wrapped the bad places in bandages, and the smaller wounds she just put bandages on.

She sat back, thoroughly exhausted, mentally and physically, when she had finished tending to his legs as well.

"I told you I could have done my own legs..."

"And bend over and hurt yourself?" She shook her head. "No." She set a bottle of water beside him and said. "Drink." Then she dug into her backpack and pulled out some crackers, a can of soup, and a mildly bruised apple. "This enough for a meal?"

"It's enough for now," Link said as he looked up at his cleaned shirt that was hanging from the tree to dry. The grime was mostly gone, but the blood stains were too hard to remove. He was wearing his new shirt which was also green. He hadn't requested it, but it would be weird to see him in any other color.

Once the soup was hot she divided it two ways and she gave Link more, despite how hungry she was, and then gave him some crackers to eat it with. She sat cross legged across from him as she ate.

"Thanks," he said. They had eaten fresh food from the market, but that had been awhile ago.

It was four in the afternoon when they finished eating, and not only were Zelda's eyelids beginning to droop, but her head was bobbing as she tried not to fall asleep.

"They won't be able to catch up with us so soon, so you can sleep," Link said with a concerned smile. "You look really tired."

Zelda shrugged. "Well that's what happens when you wake up at four in the morning and drive since," she said as she yawned widely.

-_-_-

When Zelda woke up it was dark, but she was still tired. She checked her watch; it was midnight. She looked over at Link, hoping he had gotten some sleep as well... He had, and he was still asleep. That was good. It had gotten rather cold, but she found that the blanket that was supposed to be rolled up on her backpack was actually spread out over her. She looked over at Link, who had a similar blanket. She sat up and then crawled over to him and didn't even hesitate as she squirmed under his blanket. She closed her eyes sleepily and felt her head drift to the side. Before she slipped into her dreams again she felt a gentle hand guide her cheek to rest on his shoulder.