Saving Link

Chapter Nine

Link closed his eyes in pain. His started to feel weaker and weaker, the lack of food was almost killing him. James gave his brother just enough food and water to survive, but only enough to live. Link coughed against the tape, his eyelids heavy. Rhett's button up shirt he had given Link hung so loosely over Link's stick-like figure. It made him look unbelievably tiny and sickly. Link's eyes slowly looked up from the ground, his body wracked with such agony. His eyes, now filled with tears, looked up and met Rhett's emerald green eyes. That was the last thing Link saw before his body gave out and he passed out. 

Rhett closed his eyes, his heart flooding with worry, fear coursed through his veins. Rhett then squeezed his eyes eyes closed tighter and concentrated on using as much of his strength to break free from the tape. He grit his teeth together and pulled away from the wall. The tape started to tear away, he pulled himself with all his strength. Then, finally, the tape ripped away. Rhett's muscles ached and he peeled the rest of the tape off himself. He crawled over to Link and gently lifted his brother's head. He held Link's bearded jaw and first carefully peeled away the tape from his mouth. Link's jaw was still crooked and Rhett held it firmly. He put his other hand on top of Link's head. "I'm sorry. This is gonna hurt." 

Rhett held Link's head steady and popped Link's jaw back into place. Then, he removed the rest of the tape on Link. The younger man fell forward into Rhett's arms, still unconscious. Rhett gently smoothed down Link's hair and whispered softly. "We're gonna get out of here. We're going to be alright. I'm gonna take care of you. You'll be alright. I promise, we're getting out of here. I don't know how, I don't know when, but we are. We're gonna get home again. Everything will have been sorted out with our families. Life will go back to being amazing. We'll make it through this. Just hold onto me and never let go, metaphorically. I will get you through this, because I am never going to let anything  get in the way of me being there for you when you need me.

"Just like you've always been there for me. Link, I know you can hear me, and I want you to listen carefully to each word I say. James, he is not your brother. We are brothers. Brothers are there for each other, they care for each other, they love each other, nothing stops a brother from being there. Nothing stops us either. We are brothers, Link. You're my slightly younger brother. My little brother. No one could ever convince me that we are not brothers. We may not be related by blood, but we are brothers by choice and that is so much stronger than just blood. We are blood brothers, we made that blood oath. We are brothers, best friends. We've gone through a lot before, we always got through it. We're getting through this too."

Rhett took a deep breath and held his unconscious best friend closer to himself. He wanted this all to go away now, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. He had no idea how he was going to get them out of here, but he was going to. He'd have to carry Link, Link couldn't stand with the horrible condition his feet were in. Rhett was able to carry Link before he was practically starved to death. Link had clearly lost a lot of weight and Rhett knew he'd have no trouble carrying him out. 

Rhett was afraid that Link might have some sort of permanent damage. He would kill James if that were the case. He was already feeling like he wanted to do that because of everything he had already done to Link. He didn't even know the extent. He barely knew anything James had inflicted upon Link except for the obvious things. He was just wanted to take away this whole thing. To take away Link's pain, the damage done to him, the suffering, everything. Link didn't deserve any of this at all. He had done nothing wrong. Link was an amazing person, he barely did anything that could offend someone. 

Rhett rubbed up and down Link's back. He could feel each of the smaller man's ribs and each vertebrae of his spine. Link was almost literally skin and bones. Rhett's eyes flooded with tears. He gently laid Link across his lap and unbuttoned the shirt he wore. Rhett gasped as he got the first good look at how bad Link's body had been hurt and how thin he really was. Link's whole rib cage jutter our sharply, bruises and cuts covered his torso. He had absolutely no fat on his body. He had lost most of his muscle as well. The before prominent muscles in Link's arms had been eaten away. He was just a stick now. His skin was pale, almost white. Rhett closed his eyes and buttoned the shirt up once more. He brought Link back into his arms, resting his best friend's head on his shoulder as he hugged him so close.

"Link, you poor thing.. I-I'm so sorry. James will pay for this.. I promise. You're gonna get better. We're getting you out of here, he won't do anything else to you. I'm not going to let him. I am so incredibly sorry.  Just hang on. Don't slip away.. Pl-please. Don't leave. I'm gonna save you. I won't let you go. Never."