Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 12- injured

When they got back to the camp, not everyone else had returned. The ones who were there looked at the two when the walked over. Scarf was one of the few that hadn't gone exploring in the first place. He had said that exploring was "not something a knight would normally do," which made Wild feel a little self conscious, but Wind told him that Scarf just didn't like bugs.

"Hey, Blue, what happened?"
Wind answered for him, saying, "He fought a bokoblin, and he won, but while he was fighting, it hit his arm, but he didn't even pause! It was really cool!"
He was making it seem much less embarrassing and stupid than it really was, and he was grateful for that.

Scarf was about to say something, but Wind interrupted him when Twilight walked over.
"Hey, Twi. Wild got hurt when he was fighting a bokoblin. I think I might have distracted him or something, cuz he was fighting really well."
"It wasn't your fault. I was just too slow. That's all."
"Oh, okay."
Twilight examined the bandage, which was pretty much soaked in blood at this point.
"Jeez, how bad did it hurt you? Wait- don't move your arm. Wind, you tell me."
"It looked deep. I didn't get a good look at it, though."
Twilight looked back at Wild.
"Can I take the bandage off?"
He nodded hesitantly, and Twilight began unwrapping it.

Wild winced as he did so, and nearly shouted when he pulled up his sleeve.
"Good goddesses, that couldn't have been from just being too slow."

Wild didn't react to that statement, instead just gritting his teeth. He was staring to feel a bit dizzy, but he said nothing. It was just because he was looking right at the wound, he told himself. But he had looked at injuries worse than this before without feeling like this. He brushed it off and looked at Twilight, who was trying to stop the blood.

He looked away. It was starting to freak him out. The amount of blood that had lost, all from this stupid freaking cut. It must have hit a big vein or something. He didn't know what it was called. If he used to know, then it must have been one of the things he forgot.

Speaking of before... He didn't want to think about that right then.

He wasn't just scared. He was terrified. He didn't want to die, not yet. Not because of something he couldn't control. Why was death so welcome, yet so frightening? It was a bit of a paradox. He wanted death to come, but the prospect of dying was daunting, to say the least.

"There. All done. How does it feel?"
Wild looked at the bandage. He didn't want to sign for fear of undoing everything Twilight had just done, so he spoke. He was a bit out of breath. "It's... good... feels... better."
He touched it, and immediately flinched.
"Yeah, maybe don't touch it. That'd be a bad idea."
He nodded and put his arm down.

"I just realized, are you right handed?"
Wild nodded, confused by the question.
"That's unusual. Sky is the only other one of us who's right-handed."
Wind cut in, saying, "And Twi here is... uh... amba... ambadetrus?"
"Ambidextrous. Anyway, that means you won't be able to use a sword, since this is on your right arm."
"Yeah. That."
Wild smiled. Wind's attitude was contagious. It made him happy, even if he was disappointed.

●●●

"Hey guys- what happened here? Whose bandage is this?"
Legend picked up the bandage, which was covered in dried blood. He looked at the small group that already at the camp. His eyes found Wild, who had a bandage on.
"Is this yours?"
Wild nodded a little embarrassed to be called out like that.
"What happened?"
Wind answered for him, as usual. He jumped up and started acting it out.
"He was saving me from a bokoblin, and while he was fighting, he checked to see if I was okay, and it hit him in the arm!"
"Wow, really?"
Wild didn't reply. It wasn't completely true, but he didn't want to disappoint Wind. He knew that Wind looked up to him. Instead, Wind corrected himself.
"Well, not exactly, but that's close enough."

Wild smiled again. Wind always seemed to make him smile, even when nothing else did.

●●●

Later, when everyone had gotten back, someone new came.

"Hello everyone!"
Wind ran over and hugged him.
"Sky!"
"I'm happy to see you, too, Wind."
Time walked over and said,
"Hey. How are you doing? It's been a while."
"I know, sorry. Zelda and I have just been really busy. It's hard work, building a kingdom."
Wild signed, not expecting anyone to notice,
"I know how you feel."
At that moment, Sky noticed Wild, who was sitting on a rock that was out of the way.

"Oh! Who's this?"
Twilight, who was sitting next to him, introduced Wild.
"This is Wild. Wild, this is Sky."
Wild waved with his left hand, not wanting to move his injured right arm.
"Hello. What happened to you?"
Wind ran over, excited to tell the story again.
"So we all went exploring, right? And I was with Wild, cuz he's cool and he's good at exploring and stuff, and a bokoblin attacked us, and he fought it, but at one point, he looked at me to make sure I was okay, and the bokoblin hit him in the arm, hard, and even though his sword arm was hurt, he kept fighting, and it was really cool. Then, he put a bandage on his arm and we came back here. Then, when we got back, Twilight put a new bandage on his arm."

Behind him, Wild was looking at his bandage, barely paying attention to the story. He had heard it several times, once for every person that got back after he and Wind had. He looked up when he heard a voice right in front of him.
"So, what was your quest like?"
Wild looked back down, making the sign equivalent of an "eh" or a grunt. Twilight then explained,
"He doesn't like talking about it. I don't think he wants to sign anything right now anyways, to keep the bandage from coming off."
"Ah. So you don't talk?"
The question was directed at Wild, but meant for Twilight to answer. Sky seemed to be trying to not make it seem like they were talking about him like he wasn't there, and he was grateful. Not many people bothered to do that. They thought that because he used sign language, he might as well not be there. Especially when he didn't want to talk.

After a while, Wild decided that Sky was nice and could be trusted. Maybe he'd be one of the first people that he'd tell his story to, after Twilight. Maybe.