When the Lake Runs Red (Zelink- BotW) (Discontinued*)

Sleep

It had been several days.
Three, to be exact.
He still hadn't woken up.
She was getting anxious.

What if he never woke up? What then? Would she just stay here forever?
She'd have to finish talking to everyone. They hadn't gone to Goron City yet. How would she even survive there?

She hadn't realized how much she depended on him. Hylia, this was stressful. Even just thinking about it made her anxious.

She watched his chest rise and fall, trying to match her breathing with his. She had found that it was a good way to calm down.

She noticed something.
His eyes were fluttering.
She gasped and looked at his face.

He opened his eyes and groaned.
She leaned forward in her seat and exclaimed,
"How do you feel?"
"Terrible."
"Oh. Listen, I'm really, really sor-"
"Shut up."
"I- what?"
"Quit that. Quit saying you're sorry for everything. It wasn't your fault."
"It was, though."
"No. It was the Malice."
"Oh. I... guess you're right."

He sighed.
"Also, I have a headache, and you really aren't helping."
"Sorry."

《~》

Link had gone back to sleep. Actually, he was drifting in and out of sleep. He had been doing that for a good 4 hours.

Zelda had been sitting by his bed the entire time, fidgeting with the blanket.
She was starting to get tired, but she just ignored it. After all, she didn't want him to wake up while she was asleep.

She could read, but she afraid that if she did that, she'd get sleepier. So she didn't do that. Maybe she could look at the Sheikah slate? See what Link had on it?
No. She had already done enough. The last thing she wanted to do was look through his stuff.

So she just sat there and waited. It was incredibly boring.
And she hadn't slept at all in the last three days.
So that wasn't a good combination.

Eventually, though she tried her hardest to keep herself awake, she fell asleep.

《~》

Link blinked his eyes open and blearily sat up. He looked around the bird-house-like structure and saw Zelda asleep in front of him. She must have fallen asleep while sitting in the chair.

She looked peaceful, yet... troubled. And exhausted. How does one even look that tired while they're sleeping?

He went to tap her shoulder, but he hesitated. He should probably just leave her be. It looked like she needed some rest.

So instead, he got out of the bed and searched for Saki. He recognized this as her house, so she had to be around somewhere.

Soon, he found her down at the shop. When she noticed him, she exclaimed, "Link! What are you doing down here? Zelda's been worried sick!"
"She was asleep and I didn't want to wake her up."
"Still, you should have stayed in your bed until I got back!"
He smiled. "I'm fine."
"No, you aren't. Get back up there. I can't have you getting hurt again."

Saki pushed him out of the store and back up to her house.
He sat down on the bed, making sure he didn't wake Zelda up.

"She hasn't really slept since she... since you got hurt. So it's good that she's sleeping."
He nodded. "Why hasn't she been sleeping?"
"I think she's been too worried about you. She'd rather stay here than go down to the inn."

"She worries about me too much."
"Really?"
"Yeah. So much so that sometimes, she doesn't take care of herself. She'd rather I be comfortable than herself."

Link sighed and brushed Zelda's hair out of her face.
"I'm starting to think she doesn't want to take care of herself," he murmured, mostly to himself.

《~》

Soon, Link recovered enough to leave.
The next place they were going was Goron City. Link wasn't looking forward to it, even though he knew it wouldn't be as hot as it was when he went. Still, it wouldn't be hot. Hopefully not as uncomfortable.

They avoided the castle on the way there. Neither of them wanted to deal with that yet. They did, however, go through Central Hyrule. Link was on edge the entire time. Though he knew the guardians were no longer corrupted, there was still an intense fear in the back of his mind.

When night fell, they found a stable and got themselves a room. Zelda was acting a bit odd, but Link just brushed it off. He was probably just still nervous.

《~》

~this chapter is cut a little short at just 748 words, but you'll see why.
Also, you'll find that I've been doing a certain thing long before Hanging by a Thread(I wrote the next bit back when I was originally writing this story lol- I'm gonna edit it tho)~