↔↔↔ = Character Change

◐◑◐◑ = Time-Skip(with same character)

~~~

Link stood, his left arm coated in his own blood as it was still held over his stomach. He coughed, sending more red onto the ground.

"I guess this is it, then?" Link said, casting a glance first at Johd, then at the bow on the ground.

Johd said nothing, face falling.

"Go on, do it. I can't even hold my bow anymore. Kill me. You can win."

Johd still held his tongue, staring emptily at the single throwing knife in his hands.

"Johd, you won. All you have to do it end me. I'll die anyways. You can just make it faster, less painful. Easier. Better."

Johd's knuckles when white from his grip on the throwing knife.

Link coughed, harder this time, as he fell backwards into a tree. He kept his feet on the ground, but he could no longer stand without the support.

"You only have to do one thing. I've killed before, you've killed before. It won't be the first. It won't be the last. Come on."

"You know how I told you my parents died in a train accident?" Johd suddenly said, refusing to look directly at Link.

Link said nothing. But he remembered.

"Well. That wasn't the whole story..." 

Johd paused.

"We were all alone, in the middle of no where. Just me, and my parents. They were doing something--something with the trains. I, for the life of me, can't remember. All I can remember is that... o-one moment, they were fine. All was well. And the next? They were dying. They were so far gone--but they were still alive. There was no hope for them."

Link knew exactly what Johd was going to say next. And he didn't like it one bit.

"I killed them. I...had to! I had to put them.... out of their misery. They were suffering. There was nothing else I could do."

"Now, it's happening all over again. But I can't. I can't do this again. I just... can't, Link."

"Johd, no! You have to. It's for the best."

"You know what's funny?" Johd said with a very unstable sounding laugh, "They said the exact. Same. Thing."

"I've always tried to be brave. For them, you know. But now..."

"I have to be cowardly. I'm not brave enough-- I'm not brave enough to kill you, Link."

"You have to be," Link whispered, unable to manage any louder. He strained himself with the effort to keep on his feet. He wouldn't be around much longer.

"Your family, they need you, Link. Your brother? Your two sisters? Your parents?"

Link was slightly touched he remembered... But this wasn't what he wanted.

"Your... Your family needs you! Your aunt, and your cousins."

I need you.

"They were fine before I arrived. They'll be fine without me."

"But Johd--!"

"They'll be fine, I said."

"But I can't kill you!"

"That's okay. You don't have to."

It was one swift movement. Link knew exactly what Johd was going to do--the moment he said that. But there was nothing that Link could do to stop it. He cried out, begging for Johd not to do it--but it was too late. Far too late. Yet so close at the same time.

Johd plunged the throwing knife into his own throat--killing himself, almost instantly.

Link fell to the ground--unable to walk to Johd's now-corpse, and crawled, not even caring about the bloody he left behind him.

"Johd! Johd, please! Don't--"

Johd was already dead. There was no more words that the two would ever share. Never again would Link hear Johd's voice. Tears formed in Link's eyes, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop them from falling.

Link grabbed onto the throwing knife, forcing it free from Johd. His mind was numb, his hands were shaking. There was only one thing he wanted to do.

However, he did not get to do anything at all, as Link's vision suddenly faded to black.