Zaffre's Strike
===

Your POV

Advancing on you, Nate draws out his sword, pointing it at your face, the action eliciting a meagre scoff from you. Your hand instinctively goes to the Blade's handle, drawing out the pitch-black sword. With a simple swing, you knock his sword away, a scowl quickly blossoming on his lips.

"Y/n, I'd advise against doing that, if I were you," he mutters dangerously, yet the tone of his voice did not affect you. You simply gave a light smile, stepping closer to him. Without warning, you launch yourself off the ground, thrusting your sword at him. Holding his blade up in front of him does minimal to help him as your sword pierces the skin just below his forearm. Wincing greatly, he retaliates by swinging his sword in a vicious butterfly arc, blocked smartly by the Vantablack Blade. He then aims a strong kick to your stomach, knocking you back a meter or so.

"Not so cocky now, are we?" He taunts, kicking you in the head, bringing you to the ground. You touch your face, your fingers greeted by a smooth trickle of blood. Rolling your eyes, you bring yourself to your feet, bringing your sword up just in time to intercept his again.

Pushing it back, you slice his cheek open, causing blood to bubble at the surface. Whilst he nursed his face in his palm, you used the opportunity to stab his stomach–yet you made sure not to impale him, as you wanted answers later.

Just when you thought he was going to surrender, he returns to full height, as if the pain meant nothing. He uses the fact you were slightly stunned to his advantage, as he reaches his sword up and across, cutting right where the purple mark slept. This causes you to howl in pain, dropping your weapon, causing it to clatter to the ground–after all, you were left-handed.

"Are you that weak? If a simple cut to your arm makes you act like that... I can only imagine what you'd do if I decided to gut your insides out," he says patronisingly, giving you a mocking smirk. Just before you can reach for your sword, he kicks it away, leaving you to clutch your bleeding arm. Swinging his sword at your heart, your face finally shows fear.

Although when his sword collides with an arrow, you let your eyes open once more. Looking to the right, you see Revali with his wings back, his bow still in his firm grip. He fires three more, each of them nestling deep into Nate's skin. The man in front of you drops to his knees when he took an arrow to the knee.

Revali then nods his head to the side, telling you silently to move back. Giving a brief nod, you scramble backwards, far enough away for the Rito to fire a few bomb arrows. They all hit Nate square in the chest, causing him to fall to the ground. A pained noise leaves his lips as Revali approaches you, his bow still in his wings in case Nate did something stupid.

"Y/n, are you alright?" Upon looking at your bloodied shoulder, he quick adds, "Mipha's on the way. She and Urbosa were slightly delayed. Daruk's out front." You were crouching down, giving him a weak look as he lifts you to your feet. Daruk enters the room with a worried expression, walking beside the Gerudo Chief and the Zora Princess.

Rushing to your side, Mipha holds her hand out, healing away any wounds that you had–yet the purple mark still remained.

"Looking up at the four, you say, "how'd you find me?" It had been quite a while since you'd last seen them. If anything, you thought they'd given up on you. Unless this might prove that they were genuinely worried about you–which sent your stomach to do backflips.

"Revali here got his feathers in a ruffle when we didn't hear from you in a while," Urbosa explains quickly, giving the Rito Champion a knowing look. A small smile graces your features as your gaze looks over at him.

"You were worried about me?" You hated the fact that your voice sounded so hopeful, yet you honestly felt happy when Revali scoffed and looked away from your gentle stare. You knew it was Revali speak for 'yes, I was indeed worried about you'. You decide not to press further as Mipha chuckles slightly. You'd ask him about it later, though.

"C'mon, we should head back to Hyrule Castle," Urbosa whispers, turning on her heel and walking out with Mipha and Daruk by her side. For a moment, you and Revali said nothing, standing in an awkward silence. Yet when he turned to look at you, your mouth was open, ready to speak.

"Thanks, for saving me, I mean," your voice was quiet, yet he heard it perfectly, as he gave a flicker of a genuine smile.

"You're welcome. Although, I must admit that I shouldn't be making 'saving your ass' a regular thing. You're becoming a pain to save all the time," he jokes, making you happy to see his usual grin. Giving a brief nod, you bend down and pick up the Vantablack Blade, sheathing it, "that blade doing you good?" He asks, and you finally look into his electric green eyes.

"It's doing me far better than it would shoved in the ground," you say, taking a step closer, causing his head to tilt down a little to look at you.

"That's good," he whispers, before getting flustered from the situation, "we should be going. They're probably waiting for us," he mumbles, his feathers ruffling ever-so-slightly. You give him a small smile, before wrapping your arms around his chest. Leaning against him, you close your eyes as you listen in to his rapidly beating heart. Running your fingers through his soft feathers, you immediately feel him shiver, eliciting a small chuckle from your behalf. He lets out a quiet gasp before slowly placing his wings on your hips, pulling you a little closer. Resting his chin on the top of your head, the two of you stay still, accepting each other's embrace comfortable.

After a few more seconds, he breaks the hug, stepping away, "yeah-yeah, gerroff me..." he grumbles, brushing his feathers down. You laugh merrily at his flustered state–it was rather cute.

"You're right, let's go," then you walk out of the cave, Revali following closely behind you.

~~🌹~~

Urbosa's POV

"Those two clearly have something going on," the Gerudo Chief says to Zelda as the ladies' look at Y/n and Revali chatting together, "I just wish the both of them would drop their attitudes for just a second, so they could really see each other."

"You're quite right, like always, Lady Urbosa. I think Y/n might be one of the few people that Revali genuinely cares about," Zelda responds, smiling gently at the two.

"I wonder if Y/n already knows about her feelings?" Urbosa asks, resting her chin in her hands. Zelda shrugs, walking over to the drink's table, picking up a small cup of juice. Zelda couldn't remember why the staff decided to throw the party, but she did know that everyone had been invited. The ladies continue to watch everyone until Link walks up to Zelda, silently greeting her. He then gives a small nod to the Gerudo Champion, before she walks off to find Mipha. Urbosa surmised that she'd find her in the dungeons, talking with the lady they'd still not cracked.

Stepping down the chipped, cement blocks they called stairs, Urbosa involuntarily shivered at the lack of warmth beneath the castle. She walks through the clearing, noticing Mipha talking to the lady who possibly murdered a Hylian citizen.

"Hello, Mipha. Gotten anywhere with her yet?" The Gerudo asks, seating herself on one of the vacant, wooden chairs.

"Only thing I've asked so far is her name, which she keeps saying to call her Sandy. I believe it is just a nickname, and that she's purposely keeping her real one away from us," the Zora Princess says, her voice showing signs of frustration, "how is Y/n doing?"

"She's doing better. Recovered from her injuries, I'd say. She's talking with Revali as we speak," Urbosa looks to Sandy, noticing her curious expression when Mipha mentioned Y/n. This got Urbosa curious. She turns back to Mipha, "would you like me to see what names can be made from the word 'Sandy'?" She asks, nodding to her friend.

"I have but one idea. Might we talk in private?" Mipha asks, briefly giving Sandy a look. Urbosa nods, and the two walk into a more isolated part of the dungeons, believing they were alone.

"I believe her name might be Sandra," the Zora speaks, her voice hushed, and her eyes sad.

"What would be so bad about that?" Mipha sighs, shuffling her feet on the rocky ground.

"We know a Sandra. Y/n's mother. Yet she's supposed to have passed away," she whispers, bringing a frown to Urbosa's face.

"It has to be a different Sandra, then," she says wistfully, marking it up to a misunderstanding between them and the lady.

"Then why does she carry Y/n's features? The two ladies' look like a mother and daughter, don't you think?" Mipha points out, wringing her hands nervously in front of her chest. Urbosa took note of this, wondering why on Hyrule she'd be nervous. Suddenly thinking of something else, Mipha says, "I wonder if she has the scroll that I'd asked her about." The sudden change of topic makes the Gerudo Chief even more confused.

"I'm not sure. If she did, wouldn't she have given it to you by now?" She asks, placing a hand on her hip, standing casually. Mipha shrugs, and the two of them look down the dungeon's tunnels, "we should head back upstairs. Everyone will be wondering where we are," Urbosa whispers, giving her friend a smile before they both walk back up, past Sandy's cell. They'd have to ask Y/n about it at some other point.

~~🌹~~

Your POV

"Aren't you even the slightest bit curious?" He asks you, forcing your gaze to your arm, the purple mark hidden by the cloth of your new tunic.

"A little, I guess. I know I'll have to do something about it soon," you whisper, the regular dull ache pulsing through your arm. Today was one of its worst days, as it had received a deep cut to it only hours ago. You were surprised that the Champions didn't have you glued to the bed, as last time you were terribly injured, you'd left a little while after. Although, that could be why Revali was sticking so close to you.

"Right, well, as long as the curse doesn't spread," he mutters, looking away from your gaze. His statement raises both curiosity and panic within you.

"A curse?" You ask with a tight voice, placing the glass of water on a nearby table.

"Yes. You didn't know?" He questions you with a funny look. From your serious expression, he mumbles, "oh, so you didn't. Well, it's a curse of some sort, I think. At least, that's what Urbosa, Mipha, and Zelda are saying. They were looking into cures for it at the library last month, before you left."

"Oh. Did they find anything?" You suddenly felt guilty for bolting away with Enzo, considering what had happened. You should've stayed here, in the safety of the Champions.

"No, not to my knowledge," with his uninterested tone, the conversation was quickly shut down, leaving you to wallow in your own thoughts. The same thoughts that caused you to be impulsive and stupid just before you'd left the Castle. A part of you wants to feel it again, a desire that can't be stopped.

You feel a shiver go down your spine at the thought of the cool metal across your skin, and the sting that follows it. Gulping slightly, you pay attention to everything around you, trying your best to rid your mind of those thoughts. Yet it proved useless as your mind went hazy. The sounds around you dulls out to a low hum in your ears, and you become harassed with the bad thoughts.

No one would ever help me. Everyone's just playing with me, using me.
Enzo turned against me, Nate has, and I know that the Champions will too.
I'm worthless. All I do is get in people's ways.

A lone tear rolls down your cheek as everything overwhelms you. Every feeling you kept bottled up inside you slowly breaks out, infecting your mind with negativity. You couldn't even hear the worried calls of the Rito in front of you as you stumbled away from the deafening crowd, limping up the stairwell, in what you thought was the direction of the Guest Quarters.

"Y/n!" Revali calls out behind you, yet your legs don't stop, even if your mind wanted to. Gripping the handle of your door, you push it open, stumbling inside the large room. Before you could close it, Revali held it open with his wing, not even asking for entry as he walked inside after you. Only when he was inside the room did he close the door gently.

You sit down on the bed, resting your head in your hands. Rarely ever did you have panic attacks like this. Or whatever you wanted to call it. It made you feel utterly pathetic to show this much emotion in front of others. Your breath quickens as the thoughts continue to repeat in your mind, dangerous echoes of reality.

"Y/n," Revali repeats, sitting down beside you and putting an awkward wing on your back. Patting the upper part of your back, he tries to calm you down as much as possible, "just breathe, alright? In through the nose and out through the mouth..." His soft voice only just reaches your ears, and the caring part of his tone made you listen to him.

Breathing shakily through your nose, you close your eyes. When you breathe out, you already felt a little calmer than before. Repeating the actions again, the noise returned to normal, and you were able to open your eyes. The first thing you see is Revali's worried expression–which was a rare expression for the Rito to carry.

"Revali?" You whisper, wiping the tears from your eyes. His beak curls up slightly in an empathetic smile, patting your back a final time before moving away to stop the situation from becoming awkward.

"Yeah?" He responds, keeping his voice relatively quiet.

"Thanks," you smile at him. He gives a small nod in return, before standing up, "where are you going?" You ask quickly, frowning upon him leaving.

"Well, I'd assume you're tired, and that you want to sleep," he then walks to the door, opening it again. Something in your chest tightened at the sight of him leaving, but if you'd told him to stay, it would only make the situation awkward. Giving you a weak smile, he then leaves, closing the door gently behind him, leaving you to your wonderful friend, Silence.

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2492 words.