Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 55- hot

"Princess! Princess Zelda!"
Zelda turned around and saw somebody running towards her.
"Yes?"
"Your knight. He just... collapsed."
"What? Where is he?"
"Over here."

The person led her to Link, who was lying on the ground with a box nearby. She ran to his side and brushed his hair out of his face. He was hot. Burning up.

This was her fault. She did this to him. She hit him again. Why did she keep doing this? He was supposed to be protecting her. How could he do that if he kept getting injured because of her?

Overexertion. She should have had better judgment. Of course this would happen. He had been through so much in the last few days. Of course he'd be tired. Why did she have to give him a job like this? She should have let him help her or something.

At least he wasn't like he was before.

Now she was lying to herself. He wasn't fine. Quite the opposite, in fact. He might even be doing worse than before. What he did made him feel worse. Of course it did.

Dying wouldn't magically make you different.
It wasn't the same as the Shrine of Resurrection. That was a one-time thing.

Hopefully.

She lifted him up and carried him to the medic tent. Several people offered to help, but she refused. This was her fault, so she'd work for it.

She set him on the bed and had the other person, who had followed her here, tell the medic what happened. Meanwhile, she sat on the bed, looking at him.

Poor Link. He was going through so much. And he acted like he was fine. He was tough. Tougher than she could ever be.

She rested her chin on her hands.
Maybe he seemed fine because he always had an excuse to be upset. And because he was gone so often. That was why she hadn't noticed before. Maybe she should keep him here. No, she didn't want to deny him freedom. She had done that enough already.

Maybe she should just let him be. Then she wouldn't injure him. Or she could observe him more. No, that would just be the same as what she was doing before, where wouldn't let him leave. She'd let him do his own thing. Not bother him. Yes, that was a good idea.

She stood up.
"I'll let you take care of him. I don't want to get in the way."
And she left.

●●●

He opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that he felt sick.
"Good, you're awake. Here, drink some water."
That wasn't Zelda. He was used to hearing her voice first.

That wasn't good. He passed out so often that there was something he expected. Oh well.

He sat up, but he was immediately pushed down.
"Don't sit up that fast. Drink the water, please."
He didn't ask how. He just took the water bottle and tilted his head so that he wouldn't spill any. He wasn't successful. He did spill some. How embarrassing.

Oh well.

He lied there for a while while the medic did some stuff, then they said that he could go. They weren't being very helpful. He didn't even know what happened.

He looked around for a bit before he found Zelda. When he did, he walked up to her a waved.
"Hey, Zelda."
She looked at him and said,
"Oh. Hello. How are you feeling?"
"Like shit. What happened to me this time?"
"The medic just let you go?"
"Yeah. What happened?"
"And they didn't even tell you what happened?"
"No. Can you tell me?"
"What did they even do?"
"They gave me some water. Can you please tell me what happened?"
"Oh. Yes. I should do that. Overexertion, probably. The medic didn't really say much about it."
"Oh. They aren't very helpful, are they?"
"No."

They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before he made a vague motion with his hand and said,
"Well then, I'll be going."
"You really shouldn- actually, you go do that."

He walked off, a little confused by the conversation. It didn't really go anywhere, considering how long it was.

Once he was a ways away, he pulled out his sword and pushed it into the ground.

●●●

"Hello."
"Looks like you've been out in the sun."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah. Your face is all red."
"Oh. Yeah. I, uh, kinda overworked myself and passed out. That's fun, isn't it?"
"Wait, what? You overworked yourself to point of passing out?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I said. Well, Zelda said it was overexertion. I was only moving boxes. And it wasn't even for that long, either. Just, like, three boxes."

Wild walked past Legend, who was asking the questions. He put his stuff on the table.
"How heavy were they?"
"They were relatively light, which makes it even stupider. And I wasn't moving them that far. It was really stupid and useless of me. Zelda even asked me to do it. And I couldn't do that. She is my freaking job. Well, protecting her is my job. And I can't even do that right. But should least be able to carry some boxes around without passing out!"
"Are you okay?"

He spun around and glared at Legend.
"Yes!"
Legend put his hands up and said,
"Jeez. Sorry."
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be getting so worked up over something like that."

"Well, are you okay now?"
"I honestly don't know. I don't feel that great."

He sat down at the table and put his head in his arms on the table.
"I'd just rather be here. Less stuff to worry about, y'know? And I'm not constantly getting in the way."

Wind, who was sitting next to Wild, leaned over and asked,
"Can you tell us your story sometime?"
He raised his head and looked at Wind.
"I don't feel like it right now. Maybe tomorrow."
"Aaaw."

"You aren't looking too good."
He turned his head toward Twilight, who had spoken and was sitting opposite to him.
"Really? I guess I am kind of tired..."
He trailed off, his head slowly falling back onto the table.