Blue ran down the hallways with surprising accuracy of direction. Vio and Shadow followed at his heels, and Green, who sometimes misread what direction Blue would turn, took to following the darker-clothed boys. Sometimes, Vio would try to ask Blue what was wrong, or Green would shout at Blue to slow down.
Their shouts were met with a determined, focused silence. Eventually, fatigue and repetitive failure for answers led the others to silence. Before too long, Blue burst through the doors of the operating room and into a panic.
A tall doctor, Gerudo, stood barking orders at the two nurses. Mint-blue tinged gloves and a similarly colored surgical mask were the only things separating her as the nurses’ superior. She worked in a white room with a chrome table and, as a temporary feature, Red in the middle of it.
One nurse ran back and forth from Red’s side to a faucet attached to the wall of the room, constantly replacing the cloths on the table with clean cloths and refreshing the cold, wet towel on Red’s forehead. A second nurse held Red’s good hand and pet his hair as he lie on the table.
Red lie back on the table, biting his lower lip in an effort to keep himself from screaming at the pain shooting from his shoulder. He kept his eyes squinted closed in pain and determination, even after hearing the door burst open.
“Why is he waking up?!” The main doctor growled at the nurse holding Red’s hand. The doctor frantically cleaned his arm with a wash cloth dampened with alcohol. Every swab caused Red to groan or scream a little. It didn’t help that she was trying to find a certain tool on the table at the same time as cleaning his arm.
“I-I don’t-” the nurse was cut off by Green.
“Vio! Go assist the doctor with medical tools.” Green began, “Blue! Keep Red calm no matter what.” He turned to Shadow, “Has Vio told you about his possible side-effects?” Shadow nodded swiftly. “Good, then make sure to tell me if anything changes.” He nodded and ran to Vio’s side.
“Din dammit! You kids get out of here right now!” The doctor barked as her head sprung towards the door. Her hand slipped and the needle (which Vio had, along with thread, been so kind as to give to her) stabbed Red’s shoulder bone. He screamed. “Dammit all,” she whispered under her breath as she refocused.
“Red?” Blue asked as he kneeled the Red’s left side, “Red, don’t worry. Despite what just happened, this lady is a professional.” The doctor glared at him from across the table before continuing to repair the tissue in Red’s shoulder.
“You kids are distracting me, and if I don’t get this kid’s arm reattached in the next,” she whispered numbers under her breath, “5 minutes it’ll be ruined.”
“Well, what’s the problem? I thought you said you had plenty of time?” Zelda said, entering the room with a rushed expression. She glared at Blue, “I can’t run in a dress.”
“Well, I would have except he woke up. If he’s awake, that means his arm’s also been released from the Sleeping Suture spell. It’s out of suspension and is probably decaying rapidly.” The nurse holding Red’s good hand looked at the doctor; an idea forming in her mind and filling the nurse with excitement.
“Maybe it’s some fear keeping him awake. I know there was a case where one woman woke up in the middle of her skin graft because she was worried about her cat being too skinny.” The Blue’s, Green’s, and Zelda’s heads snapped towards the nurse with concern and a tinge of horror marking their face. Vio and Shadow were too focused to hear the nurse. The Princess said that the purple one has been taking care of a recovering comatose patient for quite some time. She thought to herself, even going so far as to assist in a surgery to remove shards of reflective glass that was lodged in the patient’s internal organs. Maybe… She looked up at Green.
“If your purple brother here can work on this for a minute, I can calibrate the magic to be more effective for whatever fear the red one’s feeling. What’s been worrying him?”
Green looked at Blue expectantly. Blue looked to the ground.
“Vio’s pills.” Vio, snapped out of his concentration by his name, tensed after what Blue said registered.
“Pills for what? You have to be specific.”
“Major Depressive Disorder.” Vio filled in tensely before Blue could respond as he crouched next to the doctor, ready to take over when she left. The doctor raised an eyebrow.
“Are you sure you should be-”
“We just said I was taking pills for it. I’m fine.”
The doctor opened her mouth to argue, but, after a moment of thought, instead gave Vio the needle. Vio looked at the needle questioningly for a second before raising his eyes skeptically to the doctor.
“Are you sure the nurse shouldn’t be doing this?” Vio asked but his question was met with silence as the doctor moved away and began making hand symbols in the corner. Shadow looked at the nurse.
“I can’t stand the sight of blood.” She replied, looking towards the ceiling of the surgery room. Shadow’s face twisted into pure confusion.
“Th-Then... w… why are you a… a nurse?”
“Shadow! Focus! I need some sterilizer.” Vio literally snapped him out of his well-deserved confusion. Shadow set to work supplying Vio with tools on command. A soft pink light began to glow from between the doctor’s hands.
Red’s eyelids began to flutter, and his muscles slowly relaxed. After about a minute, the doctor returned to the surgery table.
“Now, thank you boys for your help, but with all due respect, get the Ganon out of here.” The nurse previously holding Red’s hand began to shoo the boys from the room. Most of the Links and Zelda left the room grudgingly. However, Blue didn’t move from his spot next to Red. When the nurse began to approach Blue, he slowly stood and squarely looked at her with the stance of a statue.
“Me being away from him is how all of this started. I’m not making that mistake again. If you want to remove me from this room, you’re going to need one heck of a guard.”
There was quite a commotion in the waiting room a few minutes after the other Links had rejoined the awaiting family members when Blue was dragged, practically kicking and screaming, into the waiting room by two hospital guards.
After a countless amount of minutes, a nurse walked into the waiting room.
“Would the relatives of,” the nurse checked her clipboard, “Red please come with me.”
