Link x Reader ~ Find You

Chapter 5

~ Reader~

"Hey... Hey! Wake up." A gruff voice commanded. You groaned as something prodded you in the ribs. "Nooo... lemme 'lone.." you mumbled drowsily. Wait! Who on Earth is in my house?! You thought in alarm as your eyes shot wide open. You gasped when you saw startling red eyes staring apathetically down at you from an eerily familiar face. "Get away from me!" you screeched at the Link-look-alike as you leaped from the cot you'd been laying on. "Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you!" Not-Link said, holding his hands up in a gesture of passiveness.
"Why should I believe you?" you coughed forcefully, bringing your fists up in front of your chest defensively. "If I was trying to hurt you, don't you think I would've done it while you were knocked out or tied you up or something, moron?" he reasoned impatiently.
"Well.. I guess..." you replied slowly, bringing your fists down apprehensively. "Who are you, anyway?" you asked, bringing a hand to your pulsing skull and running your eyes over your surroundings. You appeared to be in a musty, one room cottage, furnished with only bare necessities. "I'm..," he started hesitantly, "well, you can call me Dark."
You scoffed at the odd, shadowy man before breaking into a raucous coughing fit.

"Dark? What kind of a name is that?" you finally wheezed out after recovering from your little episode. Dark's ruby eyes flared dangerously brighter, and for a second you could have sworn you saw flames in them. However, he quickly calmed himself; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "That's just my name; but that's not important right now. What is important is that you stay hidden from Zant." You shivered at the mention of that wretched name, or maybe it was from the cold sweat that was beginning to spread across your back. You turned your eyes back to Dark when another question crossed your mind, working to ignore the growing pain in your head.
"Why did you... take me from the castle?" You were highly hesitant to use the word 'rescue' as you had no idea what this shady man's intentions were. His eyes slipped from yours as he turned his back to you. "That's a confusing and involved story for another time, __f/n__." A faint flush dusted Dark's defined cheeks and pointed Hylian ears as he said your name, but you didn't notice; your head began to spin wildly and black spots dominated your blurring vision. "Ahhh.." you moaned weakly before collapsing onto the creaky, maple wood floor.

"__f/n__?" Dark gasped with an odd amount of emotion. He rushed over to your crumpled body and lifted you gingerly from the floor, placing a pale hand on your forehead. "You're burning up," he murmured. You faintly felt him setting you down on the cot and heard him bustle away. You protested weakly when something chilly and damp fell across your temples a few minutes later. You squirmed uncomfortably as your stomach started to churn. You flopped as best you could to the side of the bed before your stomach heaved whatever few contents were left from your extravagant feast the night before. "I'm so sorry.." You mumbled vaguely before passing out cold.

~*~*~

Time seemed to be jumping around sporadically. You opened your eyes briefly at one moment and saw Dark cleaning the floor beside you. You blinked and suddenly the room was completely dark, save for a splash of timid moonlight splayed across the cottage floor. Another flutter of your eyelids and a horrifying specter appeared before your fevered eyes: you watched as a maniacal Zant plunged a massive sword deep into Link's chest. A blood curdling scream was just escaping your throat when you faded back into darkness, feeling a cool pressure on your hand. There was a lot of nothingness after that. After what felt like months, years, lifetimes, you finally opened your eyes and found yourself laying safely tucked into the cot. Your belly growled ferociously as a delectable aroma wafted into your senses.

"Mmmm," you hummed softly as you slowly sat up and stretched your sleep-worn muscles, the reality of the potentially precarious predicament you were in momentarily slipping from your drowsy, clouded mind.

"__f/n__!" You jumped as Dark's voice punctuated the static silence. You turned your heavy (__e/c__) eyes to Dark as he approached the bedside.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, trying to mask his burning anxiety; his ruby eyes swept softly across your body as if expecting to find some horrific wound.

"Fine, I think.." you answered carefully, scooting yourself away as the antithesized clone of Link drew uncomfortably close to you. "What's been going on? What happened to me?" You questioned carefully, perched on the edge of the bed in such a way that you could defend yourself if the shifty fiend decided to attack.

"You've been really sick. You've been out of it for about a week now. I've been stuck here taking care of your weak ass." he complained with a roll of his rubies.

"A week?!" You gasped. Dark simply nodded in return. "You were running an astronomical fever and spewing like a geyser. You also had some nasty hallucinations a few nights ago, scared the living hell out of me when you started shrieking.." He let his voice trail off as that night replayed in his mind's theater. You gave him a funny look before shaking your head.

"I can't remember the last time I've been that sick." you drawled, relaxing from your defensive position ever so slightly.

"I'd hope not. That wasn't any typical, run-of-the-mill flu; you were suffering from acute thaumaturgy* poisoning." Dark informed, sounding rather scholarly (he kind of reminded you of Shad in a weird way..)

"Am I supposed to know what that means?"

"Basically, whenever a sorcerer casts a spell incompletely or improperly upon somebody or an object that somebody comes into contact with, it can cause a severely adverse reaction. The onset of symptoms begins rather slowly, but its progression rate increases rapidly as time passes, especially if the afflicted person is under stress. The manipulation spell that dumbass Zant put on your crown must have been cast haphazardly; that's when you were first poisoned." Your eyebrows furrowed at this news.

"That freaking idiot has no idea what he's doing. Luckily, I figured out what you had early on. I managed to scavenge some ingredients from the forest and make an antidote just in time." You had no clue how to react. Before you could think of a comment, your stomach gave another spectacular roar.

"Why don't we get you some grub?" Dark suggested as he walked over to a simmering pot hanging over a blistering fireplace.

"So that's what smells so good..." You mumbled more to yourself than to Dark, eager to quell your boisterous hunger pains. Even with his back to you, you could see his long ears turn a rosy peach color (you figured it was from the heat of the fire.)

"Yeah, yeah whatever. Just eat it." He mumbled as he turned around and thrust a steaming bowl of stew into your hands. "And don't even think about chucking this up, Pukey. You get to clean it up next time."

"Oh, bite me, you creep." You growled as you eyed the delicious smelling bowl in your hands with suspicion. "But, um... thank you for taking care of me and, you know... cleaning up my... mess." You half-chuckled nervously. "Maybe I was wrong about you, lug. Just maybe."

Dark turned abruptly and rushed over to the door. "Yeah, well whatever. I've got crap to do so I'll be back later, Barfsy. Don't leave unless you want to get ripped apart by a pack of stalhounds." Dark called over his shoulder before exiting sharply from the cottage, a calloused hand over his cheeks. He prayed to Din that you didn't notice how badly he was blushing.

*thaumaturgy - magic