Nightmares - Skyward Sword {ZeLink}

Chapter 13 - Sleepless Nights

Link’s POV

I pulled myself together, and turned the door knob…

There she was. Lying on her bed, her face showed an expression of serenity, but had a tinge of troublesome within her manifestation.

I took a step, and Professor Owlan turned around whilst still dabbing a wet cloth on Zelda’s brow. He didn’t say anything at first, he just kind of gave me a look of sympathy. I guess he didn’t have anything to say to me, which is understandable, since I ran out on him the last time he tried to speak to me.

I continued to walk in and pulled a nearby chair towards me, whilst trying to keep myself together. I started the conversation.

“…How is she?”

“Well she hasn’t gotten any better, but not any worse either, Link. So I would say she’s doing a good job fighting.”

He gave me a smile that was just noticeable, but warm at the same time. There was a slight awkward silence between us. They really did make me feel uncomfortable.

Owlan probably looked around the corner of his eye and saw that I was staring straight at Zelda’s eyes, quite possibly looking like my eyes were piercing her soul. Searching for a cure that could wake her up again, like I promised what felt like so many years ago. The professor stood up, and proceeded to exiting the room.

“I’ll give you some time alone.” That was the last thing he spoke, before another silence overcame the room.

I dared not to take my eyes off her for a second. It almost seemed like her expression had changed ever so slightly, I couldn’t even really put into words what her face read.

My gaze moved toward the empty hand that hung on the side of the bed. Her fingers looked pale and wrinkly, and they looked lonely…

I moved my own hand towards hers, and intertwined our fingers together. They were so cold it travelled through my insides, making the rest of the room along with myself quite icy. They felt so fragile I was afraid that if I held them any tighter, they would simply snap into pieces.

I brought my other hand up and encased hers to try and put some warmth into them. I rubbed them together very softly, just in case it hurt her in any way I wouldn’t know of.

“Well she hasn’t gotten any better, but not any worse either, Link. So I would say she’s doing a good job fighting.”

Not any better, but not any worse?

I moved my fingers to the palm to feel her pulse. A barely recognisable smile formed across my face, when I felt that even though her beat was slow, it felt strong. And it felt powerful.

Yeah. That’s the way, Zelda. Keep on fighting. The Zelda I know would never give in.

I held onto her hand again with both of mine and brought them up towards my face where I gave her a small kiss. I could’ve sworn I felt my lips turn blue after that. But nonetheless, it felt nice.

The cloth that lay on her forehead was dripping water everywhere. So I took it off and felt that it had already lost it’s cool-temperature. I placed it into the bowl of water that sat beside the bed, and put it back onto her temple.

Although her fingers were icy, I could feel that there was a fever beginning to cast over Zelda. But I knew, deep down, she is strong enough to fight this.

As if it came out of nowhere, my mind replayed that horrible moment that took place in the Sealed Temple. I hadn’t noticed that my grip had suddenly gotten tighter around Zelda’s hand. I felt myself begin to quiver a little like the room was freezing, and it felt like I cried tears of icicles.

Such remorse and guilt that gushed upon me, I held Zelda’s hand to my lips once more, and silently sobbed into her hand. Slowly they became louder, but not by much. I soon found myself crawling onto her bed beside her, and hugging her around her waist and resting my head on her shoulder, whilst I had my moment of grief.

Who knows how long that went on for, but it felt like a pretty long time. Once I felt like an empty corpse, I hoped to drift off into a peaceful sleep.

Unfortunately, it was but another sleepless night…