When the Lake Runs Red (Zelink- BotW) (Discontinued*)

My Fault

Zelda

Zelda woke up feeling terrible. Not sick, just groggy, grumpy, and upset. What was she upset about again?

After a minute or so, she remembered what happened and sat up quickly. She had to see if Link was okay.

Actually, I better not get too close to him right now. I don't want to... do the thing again.

She nodded, deciding that that was a good idea. She wanted to keep him safe. Instead, she would just ask someone about him.

Zelda set off to find Sidon or a doctor. It wasn't long before she found the prince standing near a railing, looking at the water below, with his hands behind his back. When she approached him, it took a moment for him to realize that she was there.
"Sidon?"
Sidon looked down at Zelda, a bit suprised at her sudden appearance beside him.
"Yes?"
"Do you know how Link is doing?"
Sidon thought for a moment.
"He's doing relatively well. Both of his legs are injured, however, and he hasn't woken yet. Why don't you visit him?"
Zelda wanted to see Link, but she figured it was for the best that she wasn't around him. Although, if she stood at a distance, that could work. She nodded, and replied, "Yes, I should. I'll go do that."

She headed back towards the hospital. Hopefully nothing bad would happen while she was there. When she got there, she asked a nurse if they knew where Link was, and luckily, they knew. The nurse led Zelda to the room and let her in.
When she walked in, she saw that Link had bandages on both legs. He also had a pained expression on his face.

As Zelda looked at Link, she felt that odd feeling again. The hot, angry one, not the warm, comforting one. The one that hated every bone of Link's body. The feeling was so intense that Zelda had to ball up her fists and clench her teeth. Why did she hate him so much? It didn't make sense. In fact, a lot of the time, she felt the exact opposite.

She had to leave before she did anything to him. She pushed past the doctor and hurried out of the room, almost running. Sidon wasn't standing by the railing anymore. Zelda didn't see him. She didn't really want to talk to him anyway. How would she explain this to him? She wanted to tell someone. She couldn't tell Sidon. She barely knew him. Who could she confide in? She thought a moment, then came to what was honestly quite a hypocritical conclusion. Link. She could talk to Link. She'd have to wait, though. He was too vulnerable right then. She could hurt him badly.

《~》

A nurse came to tell Zelda that Link was coming around, and that he had been given a fairy. It had been a few hours. She had spent most of that time sitting on a railing, facing away, looking at the mountains. They were pretty, but after a while, the blue became boring. Everything here was blue. The water, the mountains, the buildings. It would probably be pretty depressing on a cloudy day.

Zelda swung her legs over the rail so she could get off. She stood up and walked to the hospital. When she entered Link's room, she saw that he hadn't quite woken up yet, but he was stirring. She cautiously walked over, just in case she felt that strange angry hatred again.

Once Link opened his eyes, though, all- no, most, of Zelda's anxiety went away. He was fine. Maybe. Hopefully. After a moment, Link said, "Hey, Zelda."
She smiled in relief. "Hey, Link." She paused a moment before continuing, "So, how do you feel?"
He thought for a moment.
"Okay, I guess."
They were silent for a minute or two. The doctor and nurse left the room to give them some privacy, and Zelda was grateful for that.

A few more moments of silence passed. Link sat up, scrunching his face up, obviously in pain. He spoke again, slowly. "How do you feel?"
Zelda was a bit suprised. "Me?"
Link nodded, smiling faintly. "Yes, you're the only other person in the room."
She smiled. "I'm... kind of confused." Link tilted his head.
She continued, "I feel like I did it. Like I pushed you off. I remember wanting to hurt you. I don't know why. I would never want that, much less act upon it!"
Zelda took a deep breath before carrying on.
"And every time I look at you, I feel a strong hatred in the back of my mind. I know it's not like what I felt like before, because I never hated you that much."
Her eyes were getting wet. Link noticed before she did.
"I know you must hate me for what I did. Even worse, I feel like this has happened before. But you would hide that from me, would you?"
Link looked down.
"It has happened before. Twice, actually. Once at that stable and once in Kakariko."
"What did I do?" Zelda asked, eyes wide.
"The first time, you just tried to make my injury hurt more by holding it tight. The second time... that time you tried to strangle me."
"I did?! Oh no... I'm so sorry! I wouldn't do that. Why did I do that? Oh no....." At this point, Zelda was pretty much sobbing. She felt terrible. She almost wasn't able to pull up a chair before collapsing into it, her head in her hands.

Link was surprised, to say the least. He had expected Zelda to be upset, but not this much. He hadn't expected her to break down. He wasn't really sure what to do, so he just leaned over and rubbed her shoulder.

"I'm fine now," he assured her. "It's alright."

Zelda was really upset. All Link could do, though, was try to comfort her, which he wasn't great at doing. They sat there for a bit, only breaking apart when there was a knock on the door. It was a nurse, asking if they were hungry, since it was getting a bit late. Link nodded, and Zelda got up and got him some food. She came back, and the two of them ate in silence.

《~》

1041 words.
A bit short, but I want to get on with the next part. Sometime I'm going to go through this story and add details and dialogue and generally make it longer and better.