Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 124- days

It seemed like forever before Legend finally got to Castle Town. Hylia, was this Hyrule big.

At the gate, he hopped off the horse and headed straight for the castle. He ran up to the guards and said,
"I need the princess. Quick."
They looked at each other and one said, "Again?"

Legend rolled his eyes and snapped,
"Tell her Time and Wind and Wi- Link are covered in that Mlice stuff. Unless you want them to be stuck like that forever."
"Uh- yes. Okay."

One of the guards left, and Legend impatiently tapped his foot, arms crossed.

The guard came back and said,
"She's in the library. I'll take you there."
Legend nodded and followed the guard.

They got to the library. It was huge. Zelda was on the other side, looking through some books. She appeared to be sorting through them. He walked up and said,
"Good afternoon."
She looked back at him, surprised. The book she was holding slipped put of her hand, and Legend quickly caught it.

She smiled and said,
"Thank you. Who might you be?"
"I'm Legend. Time has spoken to you, correct?"
She nodded.
"Yes. He has."
"About Twilight being covered in Malice."
She nodded again.
"Well. The same thing happened to Time. And Wind."

She looked down and turned back to the book case.
"Oh. Well, I can't help you."
"Link, too."

She looked at him, clearly worried.
"Where is he?"

●●●

They reached the house, and Zelda went right inside. When she saw Wind and Time, she gasped.
She looked the other way and hurried up the stairs.

She walked up to the bed and held her hand out. A good minute passed.
Then, a yellow-white light filled the room.

And the blanket of Malice over Wild was gone. The Malice on Time and Wind was partially gone.

Legend heard Zelda say something quietly. He walked up the stairs and saw that he was waking up. Finally.

Zelda smiled and sat in the nearby chair. Legend crossed his arms and asked,
"What about Time and Wind?"
She looked at him, frowning. Then, she looked down, her hands clasped in her lap.
"I can't do that. It won't work."
"Why not?"
"I don't... I just... I don't know, okay?"
"Can't you at least try?"

She nodded and stood up. She went down the stairs and started examining Time. The Malice grabbed out at her hand, but she yanked it away, muttering,
"I hate this stuff."

Finally, after what seemed like hours, she held her hand out and shit her eyes tight. Her brow furrowed in concentration.

The smallest yellow-white light came from her hand. It slowly filled the room, or at least the immediate area.
It faded away, and Time stumbled a little, free of the Malice.

Wind now had a little less of the stuff on him. Zelda turned to him and did the same. When she finished, Wind slowly raised his head and looked around.

Time smiled.
"Now for Twilight."
Zelda nodded and let Time lead her to him. When they got there, she repeated the steps. Held her hand out, closed her eyes, scrunched up her face. The light shone from her hand, and when it faded, away, the Malice was gone. Twilight fell to the ground, unconscious.

She gasped and ran up to him. She attempted to lift him up. She was unsuccessful the first try, but then, she managed, with great difficulty, to pick him up. Time helped her get him back to the house.

On the way there, Time decided to ask her a question.
"Why do you think it didn't work the first time?"
She stopped, looking down. He stopped as well, not wanted to drop Twilight.
"I... I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting better at this. Maybe I just needed a reason that benefitted me, as selfish as that sounds. And Link's happiness and well-being benefit me. I'd hate to see him upset over something I refused to do. Or couldn't do."

She began walking again, noticeably faster than before. Time followed, matching her speed.

When they got back, Wild was sitting up in his bed. Time walked up and gently set Twilight down in his sleeping bag. Zelda followed and ran up to Wild.
"Link! How are you feeling?"
"Got a massive headache."
She looked at Time, who said,
"Makes sense. That mask is..."
He trailed off, never finishing the sentence.

He sighed and walked back down the stairs and to the door. He opened it and stepped outside, gently shutting it behind him. He stepped to the side and leaned on the wall, humming softly.

Why did the Malice do that? And why to him, Twilight, Wind, and Wild specifically? Was it something about them?
It definitely wasn't the Triforce. If that was the case, it wouldn't have just been them. And Wild said that he didn't even have it.
It wasn't because if their magic. That would also mean that more people than just them would have affected. And as far as he knew, Wild didn't use magic.

He remembered that nightmare Twilight had told him about. That was quite a while ago. There seemed to be some similarities between them.
The eyes. Blank eyes. Except, they were different. In the dream, the eyes were grayish-white. With the Malice, they were jet black. And they had some sort of goo coming from them, almost like tears.

This was weird. Really weird.

Time went back inside and immediately felt that something was off. He looked around, but saw nothing unusual. Then, he looked up where Zelda and Wild were.

Now Zelda had Malice on her.
But there was something different about it. She was moving. It wasn't restricting her. And she was fighting against it, struggling to use her power.

He ran up the stairs and saw that her eyes were wide and her breaths were short and shallow. She was talking, but it wasn't really talking. It was more of a panicked jumble of words.
But he could hear one thing clearly.

"Please... not again..."