Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 31- "brave"

The castle looked so different with no malice. It was almost serene. He felt the opposite of calm, though. He was stressed. There was so much do to, so much to rebuild. It felt to him like disaster could strike at any time. Maybe a piece of stone would fall on top of someone and kill them. If it was him, then fine. If it was someone else, though, he'd feel guilty for not getting them out of the way quickly enough.

All of this stress made him wonder where the wolf was. The wolf could help him calm down.

He needed a break from all of this, but he couldn't leave. He was busy helping move things. He was also going to scout around the castle with Zelda to see what needed to be cleared out. He'd rather not go in, but he didn't have much choice.

Zelda was giving Bolson and his crew instructions, since they had just arrived. Once she finished, she walked over to him.
"Okay. Are you ready to go in?"
He nodded and put down the box he was carrying.

He followed Zelda inside, and as soon as they entered, he felt as if there wasn't enough space for him. He felt squashed, even though there was plenty of space around him. He tried to shake the feeling off, but it didn't work. So he just tried to ignore it. Like that would work.

They walked around until they reached the library. Zelda immediately hurried to a table with a book lying open on it. She flipped through it before going to the bookshelves and looking at the books.
"There's so much stuff here. I didn't think that this much would survive. I assumed that the entire library would be destroyed, but it looks like there's plenty of things we can salvage."

He smiled and took out the Sheikah slate. Zelda watched him curiously as he opened the Magnesis rune and started pulling a part of the shelve away. She gasped when she saw that he had opened up a hidden room, and she ran inside.

There was a book sitting on a desk, and Zelda promptly began reading the page it was open to.
"This must have been my father's study. I never knew it was here."

After they explored the rest of the library, they left that room. He felt claustrophobic again once they entered the hallways. Soon, they reached the dining hall, which they had passed on the way to the library. When they entered the room, Zelda smiled again.
"Another room in good condition!"

While she examined everything, frowning at the rubbish left by the monsters that had inhabited the room, he watched her warily. He kept looking around nervously, afraid that a monster might jump out and start attacking either him or Zelda. Luckily for hin, that didn't happen. He didn't have to wait long before Zelda finished.

They continued down the hall, towards Zelda's room. When they reached her room, she slowly walked around, taking in everything. After a few minutes, they went to her study. When she spotted the Silent Princess blooming in the rubble, she gasped. She ran over to it and laughed a little.
"It survived! How? It's been so long, I had no idea they could live this long!" She turned to him. "Did you?" Without waiting for an answer, turned back to the flower and gently touched a petal.
"It's so beautiful..."

She stood up and looked around. She walked over to her desk and looked at the diary. To her surprise, there was very little dust on it, as if it had been disturbed recently. She looked back at him and smiled.
"Did you read this?"
She saw his face go a little red as he slowly nodded, rubbing the back of his head. Upon seeing this, she smiled some more and looked back at the book, her ears growing warm.

She skimmed over the entries, smiling sadly. She sighed, then she shut the notebook and gently put it in her bag. She turned to him and swallowed nervously.
"Next, the Champion's Hall."
His eyes widened as he realized where that was.
"Wait, isn't that where Ganon was?"
Zelda nodded.

He back up, shaking his head. He could feel the panic growing inside him. He really didn't want to go back there. He really, really, really didn't want to go back. He bumped into something, but instead of stopping, he turned and ran.

Zelda reached out to him, attempting to stop him, knowing it wouldn't work. He was already gone, out of sight.

She ran after him, trying to catch up. She didn't know where he was, though, or where he was going. Luckily, she found him. Unluckily, he was on the ground on all fours. He was breathing heavily, and upon closer inspection, she saw that he was crying.
"I don wanna go back... I can't go back... no... I'm scared..."

Zelda kneeled down next to him and put a hand on his back. He shook her hand off and stood up, struggling to do so. He stumbled to the wall, leaning on it for support. She noticed that he was shaking.
"I can't- no- no way- please- help-"

He fell to his knees, still shaking. Still crying.
"I'm dying! Please!"
He started flailing his arms as if he was swatting bugs away.
"Stop, stop it, no... stop... please, make it stop..."

She tried her best to help, but he kept pushing her away. What was there to do? How could she help him if he was doing this? Would he even let her help?