Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 9- nightmare

There were people running around, yelling and shouting. He couldn't tell what it was that they were yelling about, but couldn't have been good. Why else would they be running around like that? They weren't holding anything, either. Running around frantically, empty-handed.

He jogged up to one of the people to ask what was wrong, but they ignored him. In fact, it seemed as if they didn't even realize he was there. He reached out to touch them, but they  only pushed his hand away.

They were like phantoms, not really there.

One of them stopped in front of him. He looked at the expectantly, and he heard a voice, though their lips were not moving.

"What you think about yourself is true, all of it. All of it. Nobody likes you. You ruin everything for them."

It was a voice he only partly recognized, but he knew it was his own.
The person's mouth opened, wider and wider, and it practically swallowed him up.

He couldn't see anything but darkness.
He heard a muffled sound, laughter. Then a scream, then more laughter, which gradually became more clear and less muffled.

●●●

"Hahaha, haha!"
"Aaaaah! Hey!"
"Hahahahhahah, aahahaha!"
"AAAH!"
Wild looked around frantically after sitting up straight in his sleeping bag.
"Shit, not again," he muttered.
Wind looked over at him and exclaimed,
"He's awake!"
The boy ran over, smiling.
"Are you okay? Why did you scream?"
"I don't freaking know. What the hell happened? Why am I here?"
"I asked you a bunch of questions and you freaked out."
"Oh. That. Who the hell was laughing so much? Who screamed?"
"Oh, I was laughing cuz I put a slug on Warrior and he screamed like a little kid. It was hilarious."
"Oh. I bet."

Wind skipped away happily, back to Warrior, who was trying to rub something off of his scarf. When Wind reached him, he started sternly talking, shaking his finger and his scarf in Wind's face. Wind only laughed and pushed it away.

While he was watching this, he didn't realize that somebody had walked behind him.
"Hey."
He whipped his head around to look at the speaker, and he saw Twilight. He waved, not bothering to sign anything.
"How are you feeling?"
He gave a thumbs up.
"Really?"
"What happened? Wind told me that he asked a bunch of questions and that I freaked out."
"That's true. You did freak out. It was quite the mental breakdown. You also passed out. We brought you here, and you've been asleep for quite a while."
"How long?"
"About a day."
"What?"
"That's only an hour in your world."
"I know, but... what? Why?"
"I don't know. I wish I did. I don't know what happened when you freaked out, either."
Twilight stood there for a moment before walking away, leaving Wild alone.

Wild stood up and looked over at Wind and Scarf Guy. He knew he was called Warrior, but he liked Scarf Guy better. He was kind of surprised that Wind didn't call him something similar.

He walked over to the two. Scarf Guy was lecturing Wind about something, presumably putting slugs on people. He waved to them as he walked up to them, and they greeted him in return.
"Hey, Wild."
"Hi, Blue."
"Hello, Scarf. Hey Wind."
Warrior looked him over. He hadn't gotten a good look at Wild yet, so he decided that now would be a good time.

"So, what do you do in your Hyrule? Where do you live?"
Wild hesitated before answering, "I... explore Hyrule with Zelda. I don't really live in any particular place, but I do have a house in Hateno Village."
"Cool. What's your job?"
Wind interrupted him, saying, "Wait, stop, don't ask so many questions."
"No, no, it's fine. That question is fine. I'm a royal knight. Zelda's personal knight."
Scarf Guy gaped at him for a moment before quickly closing his mouth.

"Wow. Congratulations. You must be very good at your job."
"I'm not that good."
"Stop lying, silly!"
"No, I'm being serious. I can't even sur-" He stopped himself before he finished signing the word. He didn't want to tell then what a failure he was.
"I can barely survive a bokoblin." That was a bit of an exaggeration. He could survive a normal bokoblin attack, no problem, but a camp of blue and striped ones? No way.
"Oh c'mon, quit lying to yourself. You're amazing! You can fight way better than I can! And you can do that fluffy rush thing, or whatever its called."
"Flurry rush. And you're just a kid from an island. I'm a fully trained knight who can't kill a goddess-damned bokoblin."
"Yeah, but... shit, I can't come up with anything good."
Scarf looked at Wind when he cursed, but he didn't say anything.

"If you're the princess's personal guard, then you must be good."
"I don't know know why I'm in that position, okay? I'm not as good as you think."
Wild walked away, his hands in tight fists.

He sat down on a log, contemplating the conversation, overanalyzing every word spoken. The way they kept saying that he was a good knight only strengthened his doubts.

It was true, he had been a good knight at one point, but forgetting everything made him, well, forget how to be a knight. He wasn't good anymore. He could never be anywhere as good as he once was. Never.