The nurse picked her head up at the soft sound of the opening door. She had been sitting with the patient since he left the surgery room. This was Nairi’s third year as a nurse and her first year as the skilled surgeon’s apprentice. She had always admired the Gerudo and the way that she took every obstacle in stride. However…
The Links crept into the room silently, it felt like an invasion of privacy to have someone here, but they were glad for the gesture. There was a minute or two of silence.
“So?...” Blue asked hopefully, “How is he?” Vio stared at the bed, an apathetic, glazed-over look in his eyes. He knew what she would say, he could see for himself what had happened. The nurse looked down.
“I’m sorry.”
Blue’s head sprang to the bed. The unbroken curve of the top sheet caught his attention like it had before the procedure. He held down the urge to gag.
“But...we were there, we saved… I mean, we helped…” he sputtered, unbelieving. After a moment, he slowly turned his head to the nurse with a tense fierceness. “This… this is some sick joke you’re playing.” He growled, his fists clenched as tight as his denial. “All right, you’ve had your freaking laugh. Now lift the Din damned spell or whatever you did and get out of my sight.” Her expression didn’t change.
“I realize this is probably difficult for-”
“Difficult? Lady, defeating Ganondorf is difficult. Getting used to the fact that you’re a fraction of a real person is difficult. This? This is a fucking nightmare. I swear, if you’re playing some sick, fucking joke on me, you’d better tell me right now before I go ballistic.” Vio stepped forward and put his hand on Blue’s shoulder. The azure hero was shaking.
“Blue…” he warned.
“NO! FUCK YOU!” He shouted, backing away from his purple “teammate”. Who had the right to tell him not to be upset? Who had the right to warn him that he was goingtoo far? As much as he was concerned, he could be going a lot further. He turned sharply to the nurse, who had stood and was now backing towards the far wall with fear in her eyes. She had seen negative reactions in situations like this, but this… this kid was crazy.
“What. Happened.” Blue growled, a low, throaty sound, at the nurse. It wasn’t a question.
“We-we did all we could.” She stuttered, trying to get as much distance between them as possible. Shadow crept up behind Blue, nodding at the nurse to show her that the others wouldn’t let the child in sky-colored clothing hurt her. “But, Dr. Idun… her spell didn’t work… on the child’s arm. He must’ve had some-some other worry that we weren’t told of. I-I-I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry, but… we weren’t able to save his arm… but we did patch up the wound well enough that he should be able to get some sort of…” she hesitated. Blue was visibly seething. He breathed gasping breaths through clenched teeth and his eyes shown with hatred and betrayal. He had trusted them, he had helped them, and they had let him down. She cautiously continued, “A… prosthetic?”
Shadow wrapped his arms around Blue’s chest in the same moment that the passionate Link lunged forward. The dark hero began dragging an enraged Blue back towards the door. Green ran around the two and stood, arms outstretched, between Blue and the nurse. The temperamental Link fought against Shadow’s grip, the pent-up anger, frustration, fear, and the weak feeling of not being able to help bursting from him. Vio recognized the look in Blue’s eyes.
It was like a painting in a museum. He mused. Where have I thought that before?
“Blue! Calm down!” Vio shouted at the violent version of himself. Trying desperately to calm Blue while Shadow restrained him with his own back to the closed door. “Please! Blue!” His cries seemed to fall on deaf ears. Love is blind, and anger is deaf, especially to reason. The nurse screeched and climbed on the counter, as though she had seen a venomous snake on the floor sliding straight towards her, fangs bared.
“Keep him away from me! He’s crazy!” She screamed.
“No, he’s not. He and Red were really close, please you have to understand.” Green tried to reason with her, but it didn’t help that Vio was shouting at Blue now.
“Shut up and think for a second! You’re gonna get us kicked out of the hospital!”
“The hospital?! Try Castle Town you bunch of freaks!”
“Hey! It’s not our fault you set him off!”
“Set him off?! That kid needs therapy! He’s a freaking time bomb!”
“Shut up! I’m trying to take care of it!”
“Damn it all! Would one of you open the Din damned door so I can get him in the fucking hallway?!”
The yawn was almost imperceptible. A soft, tinkling sound like two glasses clinking together. But Blue heard it, and it was enough for him to stop. He froze. He’d heard that yawn every morning since that night two weeks after they’d saved Princess Zelda. His head sprung towards the bed as his eyes went wide.
Blue’s sudden silence prompted the others to look towards the source of Blue’s extreme change in behavior.
Red sat up, rubbing his left eye with the palm of his hand, as he yawned again. His hair was playfully messed up. He took one look around the room and laughed at the still frame of chaos around him.
“Awww, Bluuuuuue!” He jokingly sighed, “Are you causing a fuss again, you jerk? I fell asleep for five minutes and you’re already trying to kill a nice nurse-lady.” He turned to said nurse, who still crouched on the counter, holding the cabinet for support. “I’m sorry for the trouble Nairi, I know he can be scary, but I promise he means well.” Nairi blinked a few times before clearing her throat and descending from the counter.
“Well,” She began as she straightened out her uniform, “I have other duties to attend to. No harm was done in the end. I’ll leave the rest of you to handle him.” She glared at Blue as she moved to leave the room. As she passed the blue and black-robed boys, she hissed back, “and I still think you need therapy.”
The door closed with a slam. Red sighed.
“And she was such a nice lady, too.”
Shadow relaxed his grip on Blue, who shot aforementioned boy a dirty look before moving to Red’s right side.
“I-I-I,” he tried to begin, but that bandage-covered space where Red’s arm should have been was too much. Red smiled sympathetically up to his friend.
“I know. I forgive you. It was never your fault in the first place.” Blue looked down at the floor, using his bangs to shield his eyes. He collapsed onto his knees, crossed his arms on the bed, and buried his face in his arms.
“No, I’m so, so sorry. It-it was all my fault. If I wasn’t always such a jerk to you, if I wasn’t so mean, if I didn’t always push you away, you might’ve called for my help. I could’ve helped you. I’m so sorry.” Red smiled and rolled his eyes as he ruffled the boy in blue’s hair. Blue looked up at Red, tears streaked two definite lines across his face. Red sympathetically tilted his head as he pet Blue’s hair.
“Bullshit.”
It took Blue a second to register what Red had said.
“W… what?”
“I said, ‘bullshit’. Blue, I know you don’t try to be mean. I’ve known it for a while. That’s just your way. You don’t need to change. I like it when you’re a jerk. It lets me know that everything’s all right. You NOT being a jerk is what made me think you hated me in the first place. So, ‘bullshit’.”
Another second passed as Blue merely blinked at Red.
The second after that, however, Blue laughed, of relief, surprise, and pure happiness, louder than he had in his entire life.
