Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 29- "sensible"

He heard footsteps coming towards him, but he didn't act on it. In fact, he barely processed it. He was too upset.

"Wild? Are you over here?"
He heard leaves rustling, then a sigh of relief.
"Oh, good. Finally."
The person got closer.
"Wild, what's wrong? Legend told me what happened, and when you didn't come back, we started looking for you. It's been hours since Legend told us about it."

They put a hand on his shoulder, and he pushed it away. He didn't want anyone trying to help. What could they do?
"Wild, please. I need to know what's wrong. I can help you. You just need to tell me what it is that's bothering you."

Wild reached back and hit the person before moving away from them. Instead of speaking, the person simply sat down. Again, they put a hand on his shoulder, and this time, he didn't protest. There wasn't much reason in pushing them away if they were just going to be stubborn.

The person started humming something, and it seemed to calm him down. He looked at the person and saw that it was Time, and he was looking straight ahead, staring off into space. Wild sighed and turned towards him. Time looked down at him, a little surprised.

"Hello. Nice to see your face." Time smiled. "So, how are you?"
"I'm fine."
"No, you aren't."
"Why are you asking me if you know the answer?"
"I wanted to see how you'd answer. Anyway, do you think you're ready to go back?"
Wild nodded, not really wanting to be left by himself. He'd just end up thiking about stupid things.

They stood up and started walking to camp, which was further away than Wild thought it would be. He hadn't realized that he had gone so far.

When they reached the camp, several of the others ran over.
"Oh, good! You found him! I was starting to get worried."
Legend, who was the one who had spoken, turned to Wild.
"Sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't realize that asking about what happened would upset you so much."
"It's fine. I overreacted. I'm just in a weird mood today, that's all. Sorry."
Legend smiled a little.
"You don't need to apologize. I didn't realize-"
"Okay, this is just going to go back and forth forever."

Wild looked over to see who had said that, and he saw it was Scarf.
"I'd rather not listen to 'I'm sorry' over and over again."
Wild nodded and walked over to the fire. He sat down, and upon seeing that the cooking stuff had been set up, he took some ingredients out of his bag. Maybe cooking would help him feel better.

He tossed some things in and hummed as he waited. They finished cooking, and he took the contents of the pot out and put them on a dish. He noticed that for some reason, he wasn't enjoying this as much as usual. In fact, he wasn't enjoying it at all.

He only had the drive to make that one dish, which he gave to Scarf, who was complaining about being hungry. Usually, he'd be annoyed by that, but now, he just didn't care. Instead, even though the sun had only just begun to set, he got into his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

○○○

He was on his horse, riding through Hyrule Field. Everything seemed peaceful until he heard that dreadful beeping noise. He looked around frantically and spotted the large eight-legged machinery. A guardian. He sped the horse up, making it go as fast as it could. A tree was coming up ahead of him, almost taunting him. His horse stopped and he struggled to make it cooperate, already stressed by being chased by a guardian. He looked back it and saw that it was getting closer. He finally got his horse to move, but he realized that he was heading straight for a second guardian. He turned the horse away, but it was too late. Now there were two guardians chasing him. He heard the beeping get faster and faster, then a blue laser came rushing at him.

○○○

"Aah! The guardians, no, no... Not again, they're back, they're back! Get it away, help!"
He scrambled back, getting all twisted up on his sleeping back. His shouting caused Time to wake up.
"Wild? Is everything alright?"
"No, the guardians... it's going to kill me... too many..."

He was breathing heavily, yet it was hard to breathe. It was like something was pressing on his chest. And his head, his head hurt like he had fallen off a horse and right on his head.

The guardians, were they back? They couldn't be, he wasn't in his Hyrule. Could they get here? If he could, then it was entirely possible. What if they were? But his horse wasn't here. Anyway, that horse was dead. He remembered now. That was how the horse died. He must have been dreaming, remembering when he was nearly killed by guardians a second time. They killed his horse, his favorite horse. And all because he decided to would be faster to got through Hyrule Field than around it. How stupid of him.

"Wild."
The sound of Time's voice brought him back to reality. Out of the torturous confines of his mind.
"Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?"
All he could do was nod. It wasn't really a nightmare. It was a memory of sorts. A flashback. Not fun.

Time beckoned him over, so Wind pushed his sleeping bag away and crawled over. He leaned onto Time, who put his arms around him. He was still shaken by the nightmare, and he was thankful for Time's comfort. The embrace was calming, and eventually, Wild fell asleep again.