Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 49- out

"Princess? Princess, are you okay? Oh, Hylia..."

"No! Stop! Get away from him! Please, stop."
"Only if you come back."
"Come back? No. Never."
"I know you want to, Morgan."
"Get the f**k away from me. Leave me alone. I'm not coming back. I left for a reason."
"Stupid girl. You don't know what you've gotten yourself into."

●●●

"Link. Link, wake up."
"Princess, I don't think he's getting up any time soon."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, he's already got a head injury. It'll probably be a while before he wakes up."
"Oh. That's what you meant. Haha."

●●●

"So, I noticed that they took his sword-"
"They what?"
"They took his sword."
"That's not good."
"Doesn't he have other swords?"
"Yes, but... that one's important. The Yiga can't have it. Who knows what they'd do with it?"
"What's so special about it?"
"It's the Master Sword."
"Oh. You're right, that isn't good. They'd probably try to take it's power or something, then. Or they just don't want him to have it. Or both."
"Yes, that would make sense."
"I should have recognized it..."
"What? Why?"
"...
Nevermind. Doesn't matter."

●●●

"Do you think he'll wake up soon?"
"Hopefully."
"I wish I could get a clearer answer than that."
"Well, you won't be getting one from me. Ask the medic. He might know."
"Right. I should stop bothering you about it."

●●●

"Hey, Princess!"
"Yes?"
"He's waking up!"
"Oh, good."

The first thing he heard was loud voices. Annoyingly loud voices. They made his head hurt. He opened his eyes, but he immediately shut them again. It was too bright. He slowly opened them again, and this time it wasn't as bright. There was a figure blocking the light. It spoke.

"Link, you're awake. How are you feeling?"
"Quiet down. My head hurts."
"Oh, sorry."

He felt a cool object on his forehead. He reached up and felt it. An ice pack.
"I don't need this. I'm fine."
He took it off and sat up. He regretted it and laid back down.
"So, what happened?"
"A group of Yiga attacked."
"Oh. Those f**kers."
"Link!"
"What?"
"You- oh, whatever. It doesn't matter."

He sighed.
"I feel like shit."
"I'm not surprised."

He sat up again. This time it worked. He tried to stand up, but he felt lightheaded. He pushed the feeling away and stood up. He stumbled a little, but he turned to Zelda.
"Link, be careful."
"I'm fine. Where's my sword?"
"Um, about that..."

Then, Morgan spoke up.
"They took it."
"The Yiga?"
She nodded, looking down.
"I'll go get it from them, then. There's something I want to do."
As he turned away, Zelda reached out and grabbed his wrist.
"You can't go out right now. I'll send out someone else."
He turned back to her, frowning.
"Who would you send out? I'm the only knight left."
"I've gotten some more."
"Already?"
She nodded, and he looked down.
"Oh. Well, I guess I'll stay here, then."

~

He felt as if Zelda was replacing him. He knew that wasn't the case, but he couldn't help but think it. It was like his mind was trying to convince him that she didn't want him anymore, and it was working.

She just wanted to keep him safe, he told himself. Or she just thought that he was useless at his job. And she'd be right.

~

"Link?"
He looked up at Zelda from where he was sitting.
"Yes?"
"You always look tired. Are you getting enough sleep?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
He stood up, fists clenched.
"I'm fine."

He walked away, frowning. Of course she'd ask him about that. And he knew that he wasn't getting enough sleep. And that he wasn't eating enough. But Zelda didn't need to worry about him.

Why should she worry about him? She had much better things to worry about, like rebuilding Castle Town or the castle itself. Or the kingdom. He wasn't that important, so why was she so concerned about him?

Sometimes he thought that she didn't care about him at all, and sometimes he thought that she cared about him too much. So which one was true? Honestly, he didn't know. He didn't even know why he thought both of them were true. It was probably what she did that made him think one or the other.

Maybe she only cared about him because he was a good knight. But if that were true, then she'd be pretty stupid. He wasn't even that good. Not to say that she was stupid, just that that would be a stupid thing to think.
It really sounded like he was calling her stupid. Ugh.

"Hopefully the knights will be back soon."
He looked behind him and saw that Zelda had walked over to him. He nodded and crossed his arms. He didn't want to tell her to go away, but he wanted her to leave him alone.

He'd just have to let her talk to him. He couldn't do much else.

"You do know why I didn't send you out, right?"
"Yeah, because I'm a shit knight."
"No. It's because you're hurt and I don't want you to hurt yourself more."
"And the reason I got hurt in the first place is because I'm a shit knight."
"Link," Zelda began patiently, "You need to stop blaming yourself for everything that happens and saying that you aren't good at anything. The reason you're my personal knight-"
"Is that I was good before. But I'm not anymore."

Zelda sighed. "To tell the truth... I mostly want to keep an eye on you. I couldn't bare for... it to happen again, just because I let you wander off by yourself. And... and the Yiga... sending you there would basically just be having someone else do it for you. I know that you'd just let them... you'd..."
She buried her face in her hands. She sobbed, her voice reduced to a whisper.
"You'd let them kill you, wouldn't you? You'd ask them to. You'd tell them to."

All he could do was stare at her. He was causing her pain. This was his fault. She was upset because of him. Because of what he did. Because of his stupid decision. Because he failed at dying. How could you mess that up?

He turned away. He couldn't watch her cry over him like that. All because he was constantly f**king everything up. He couldn't do anything right. He couldn't even bring himself to comfort her. Or to speak.

It's hard to hide your feelings. Especially when someone else is pouring their heart out to you. Especially when so many people care.