Breathless | LoZ SS Ghiralink

Dilemma

A/n: This story is a lot darker than Too Far, if you were wondering. If it bothers you, I don't recommend reading it.

It had started simple coughing. At first, Link assumed it was a cold or a common sickness that everyone caught every so often.

Oh, how wrong he had been.

The moment he had felt something other than mucus in the back of his throat, he panicked. When he had removed it from his mouth, it was a light pink flower petal, like the dresses Zelda had sometimes worn.

"What the hell? . . ." He muttered, examining the slightly damp, velvety leaf in between his fingers. He had been on the suface when he coughed it up. Link had decided to wait and see what happened. After all, it really could've been nothing. But when he ended up coughing out more several days later, it was something to be worried about.

At first they had just been the light pink petals.

Then violet.

Magenta.

Peach.

It had quickly gone from one petal to around six or seven a day.

Not only were there petals coming out of him, it was getting harder to breath. Link's visits to the surface and fighting to keep himself alive were starting to become difficult as well.

One evening on skyloft, he picked up several books to research the topic.

A condition where the immune system reacts to a foreign substance is called an allergy. It is a relatively common when the body is hypersensitive.

Can include:

Difficulty breathing

Rashes on skin

. . .

The teen stopped reading, this was just a normal medical book everyone had studied at one point in the previous school year. He shut the book and made a pile for the useless books.

Instead of reading every single table to contents to find something, Link looked at the book titles to get an idea of what was in it. Soon he came across a book titled Rare and Mythical Ailments. It seemed more promising that things about asthma and allergies, especially with . . . whatever he had.

The blond flipped page, after page, after page until he reached the image of a bloody flower.

Hanahaki Disease

Caused by one-sided love.

The victim will cough up flowers until they either die, or the love is returned.
The illness begins with a simple cough, similar to one caused by a common cold. Once the feelings have already begun to grow, the flower will take root somewhere in on on the victims' body.

They can grow almost anywhere.
Usually, the flowers may only grow on the victims' skin. However the less fortunate will suffer as the plant slowly starts to grow, crush their organs, and suffocate them by blocking the airway.

Stage 1: Coughing

Stage 2: Coughing out flower petals

Stage 3: Vomiting out or choking on entire flowers

Stage 4: Bouquets start to kill the victim

Stage 5: The plant causes permanent damage

By stage five, the disease is almost entirely irreversible. Again, the only thing that prevents the plant from spreading is when the love is returned. However most victims kill themselves or die before it can be healed as the disease often progresses faster than anticipated.

How had he even fallen in love? He hasn't had contact with anyone recently. Link had been so focused on saving Zelda that he didn't spend time with others. The only person that he's had mixed feelings about was Ghirahim. . .

Link attempted to get out of his chair but fell to the ground in a coughing fit. He shuddered and held a hand to his mouth as flowers and more petals flew out. 

Someone knocked at the door. It was Pipit. "Link? Are you alright? I heard you coughing."

"Yes, I-I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I'm coming in." He said opening the door, seeing Link hunched over on the floor still coughing. He rushed to his side and gasped when he saw the flowers. "Did you eat a flower or something?"

Link pointed to the book, still sitting open on his desk. He didn't know of any other way he could explain the situation to him. Also, it didn't help that he was gagging on something organic that didn't have any other reason to grow inside of him expect for that 'he fell in love'. He coughed out the last flower with a 'hack' and stood up but not before picking up the slightly damp plants and throwing them in the trash. He sat down on his bed and waited for his friend to finish reading.

"Are you certain? This is what you have?" Pipit's voice had changed from friendly to tiny and uncertain as he turned to speak. He definitely didn't want his best friend to die and he wished there was some way he could help the blond. He never thought the boy would fall in love. Even if he did at some point, Pipit had always thought it to be Zelda, but something was telling him today that it was someone that he definitely did not want to fall in love with. Link was always so secluded as they were growing up, and he definitely wasn't as outgoing as the other kids such as Groose. "Link . . . I wish there was some way that I could help you."

"There isn't any other way to make the disease stop except for getting him to fall in love with me . . . I guess . . .  that might be my only option. If I want to do that, spending as much time as I can with him would help . . . I think." Link said, already getting up to start packing an extra bag. He packed extra clothes like his pants, undershirt, and underwear. Then he realized, there was a way for Pipit to help him. By gathering the items he would need on the surface for at least a week or more. "Actually Pip, you can help."

"Alrighty! Just tell me what you . . ." Pipit turned around and then saw what Link was doing and he was doing. The words the blond had spoken never really registered in his head. His spirit instantly fell. "Oh."

"I just need you to ask Gaebora for an extra uniform or two and run to the Bazaar and buy a several red potions. I think I have everything else I need though. I'll be leaving right after dawn tomorrow, so if you'd like to get those for me you can do it before then. You need to get back to your patrol, remember?"

"Of course, I'll see you in the morning. Have a good night, bud." Pipit said with a sad smile as he shut the door behind him. 

In the morning, Link had already been awake and ready to go by the time his friend knocked on the door. To be honest, he didn't sleep much that evening. His thoughts were keeping him up and they were still bothering him at the moment. He switched his attention to the brunette in the mustard colored uniform standing at the door with two green tunics and three bottles of potion laying on top of them laying in his arms. 

"Here you go, Link. Have . . . Have a good trip and come back soon. Promise me?"

"I promise, Pip."