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

Sorry

Zelda

How long would it be until she could see Link? He didn't seem that hurt. It was all that she could think of, and she felt incredibly guilty. All she wanted was to see him. At the same time, she didn't want to see him, for fear that she would hurt hin even more. She was torn between seeing him and not seeing him.

However, when a Zora came to her room to tell her that she could come visit Link, her anxiety for him outweighed her apprehension about what she might do. She hurried to the hospital, fearing the worst the entire time. What if he was really hurt? She had no idea what had happened, which only fueled her worry. When she got there, it seemed as if some of her fears had been confirmed. Link had a bandage on his head, but luckily, there were no other visible bandages. He was awake and sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Link! You're okay!"
Zelda ran over and hesitated before hugging him gently.
"What happened?"
"I went out and a bokoblin chased me. I couldn't fight it because I didn't bring a weapon, and the stick I used broke."

She didn't ask why he had left, but she suspected that he wanted to get away from her. She stepped away from him awkwardly, thinking- no, knowing- that he didn't want to be too close to her. He probably hated her. She was the reason this happened. Again.

He must have known what she was thinking. He beckoned her over, saying, "No, Zelda, it's okay. You can stay over here."
She walked back over to him, looking down slightly.

"I'm sorry..."
"Sorry about what?"
"This." Zelda motioned at Link. "I made this happen. You wanted to get away from me."
"What? No, I didn't. I just wanted some time alone."
Her shoulders slouched a little.
"So you did want to get away from me. I knew it." She turned away. "I should leave."
Link grabbed onto her arm to stop her, but she just shook his hand off and walked out of the room, leaving him by himself.

《~》
Link

Link felt terrible, both physically and mentally. Zelda thought all of this was her fault.
It was his fault. He should have brought a sword with him. He didn't think.

It was true that he wanted to get away, but not from Zelda specifically. He had just wanted to get away from... stuff. Himself. He had wanted to be alone. Being alone calmed him.

He really didn't want to upset Zelda. He wanted to make her happy. That was hard when she was determined to put the blame on herself.

After thinking for a bit, Link remembered something that could cheer Zelda up. Fireflies liked to gather around the edges of Zora's Domain. It was a pretty sight, something he hoped she would enjoy. It was never crowded- in fact, there was usually nobody there. It was too far out for most people to want see them, but it was worth it. Actually, Link didn't even know if many people knew about it. He had come across the fireflies while exploring.

Before they went to see the fireflies, though, he needed to heal. If he got hurt again, Zelda would blame herself even more, saying that it was because of her that they were out there. Another problem was that she didn't seem to want to do anything. She had been so down since the incident, and he didn't know what to do about it- until now, of course.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Probably not a good idea right after getting a serious head injury. His head hurt like someone was hammering it, and he sat right back down again. He'd have to wait for Zelda to come back. That might be a while.

~~~

It felt like forever before someone finally came in. Link hoped that it was Zelda, but it was just a nurse, coming to check on him.
"How are you feeling?"
He didn't answer.
"You seem upset."
He still didn't answer.
"What's wrong? You can tell me. I'm here to help."
He begrudgingly replied with, "I want to tell my friend about something, but I think she's avoiding me."
After a moment, the nurse gently responded, "Maybe she doesn't want to see you hurt. Maybe it hurts her to see you like this."

Link thought over the nurse's statement for a while after she left. He knew that Zelda didn't want to hurt him, but he hadn't really thought of what it was like from her point of view. Feeling like she could hurt him just by being near him must be hard. She probably wanted to be with him, but she felt like she couldn't. He wouldn't be able to bear that.
It probably wouldn't hit him as hard, being a less social person, but still.

《~》
Zelda

She didn't like it. She felt torn between checking on Link and leaving him alone. On one side, she was worried. Again. On the other, she still didn't want to hurt him. It seemed like that was all she thought about. She didn't want to think about it, it just kept popping into her head. It was starting to get annoying. Really annoying. It was stressing her out, making her tense.

She sighed, rolling over in the bed and staring at the wall.

《~》

Sorry about the super long wait and the short chapter! I've been more focused on different stories than this one, and I've been having trouble with figuring out what to do next with this story. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter done sooner. No promises, though!