Chapter 1: Loops
Chapter Text
Link opens his eyes, he appears to be in a dim lighted room, the origin for the source of light is unclear, but at least it allows him to see in front of him, the floor seems to be flooded, making it seem like he is standing on water.
I cannot believe this, everything I have done up to this point was for nothing? I mean come on, I killed a giant spider, I roosted an angry lizard on steroids, and was eaten by a whale that had an intestinal parasite, ALL THAT FOR THIS? So that red head motherfucker could follow me inside the sacred realm and put me out of the game indefinitely… fuck, now what?
[flash of a very angry Saria crossing her arms]
“Seriously? I was NOT speaking, I was thinking, am I not allowed to think cuss words either? You know… I never told you, but that shit you used to tell me: ¨if you have nothing good to say don’t say anything at all¨ IS BULLSHIT. Now all the Kokiri think I am mute, because I never found anything nice to say to them or about them, and how could there be? they treated me like a slaughter animal just because I had no fairy”
Breathes deeply and continues to rant, “yes, I am angry, I was put in a hard situation and I have no say about any of this… I can’t just back out of it either because that would mean the death of thousands, and you know what? YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER, I am not obligated to follow your teachings… SO I CAN SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANNA SAY, besides it is not like anybody is going to hear me here…”
“I would not be so sure about that” says a shadow that starts taking human form in front of him.
All right… now I am going looney, because fuck me, right? am I scared? YES, I ALWAYS AM, but I push through it.
“What the…?” Link asks to himself
“Listen, I need to discuss something important with you and we don’t have much time”
“WHO THE FRICKING FUCK ARE YOU? WHY ARE YOU HERE? W-” Link asks irate
The figure took a deep breath massaging his temples, anything to keep himself from beating the boy for wasting their limited time.
“LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT, we barely have enough time to waste it like this, so pay attention, I am… no, WE all here are you”
Suddenly more figures start materializing on the background, 10? No, there were many more approaching him, they all looked strong and capable, a few of them had a dangerous vibe around them. Every single one of the figures were different, but oddly similar at the same time, all except one.
Is… all this happening in my head? It must be, there is NO WAY people who resemble me are spawning into existence out of the shadows.
“Wow…” Link starts clapping “nice job casting people for the joke, except for that one over there” points at a heavily armored Stalfos, “what happened? Ran out of budget?”
Everyone turns to stare at Link, they were very angry, but they don’t resort to act on it by yelling or some more extreme measures, and for some reason that fact unnerved Link, watching all eyes on him he notices differences between them, in age, size, even eye and hair color, yet all of them looked tired and sad… suddenly all eyes shift to the same color, a grey tone with a splash of azure blue mixed in it. Intimidated, Link gives a step back.
“I… must be delirious, or Ganondorf actually killed me.”
“No, of course not, it may have been better though…” answers one of the figures while receiving a punch in the gut from another one, Link just stares at them in shock at what he just heard.
Me, better off DEAD? Why? I have done EVERYTHING that was asked of me, the civilians needed extra hands, I was there; the Princess needed a crazy kid to play hero, I WAS THERE. I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING…
“I thought you were on my side, why do you wish for my demise?” Link asks genuinely
“We DON’T” another figure says, and glares at the figure that spoke before, “he meant it would have been better because it would save us all a lot of suffering, but dying is not an option.” breathes deeply “Look… all of us here are what happens after your adventure, multiple versions of you, different time lines but the same soul.”
“Time… lines?”
“Its… hard to explain, but don’t focus on that now, the knowledge you need about it will come to you in due time” an adult version of himself says, he looked feral, reminded Link of a caged wolf
“Ok, but how can all of you be me?” he asks glaring at the Stalfos
“Hehe, you are curious about him… why don’t you talk to him?” The wolf Link says grinning knowingly.
Link just starts to open his mouth looking at the Stalfos, but nothing comes out, the Stalfos approaches Link, “I am you,” it says
Link exhales frustrated “I KNOW, I got that part, you all are me”
“No you don’t…THIS,” signaling his decadent body, “is going to be you in a few years… you turn into me if you follow Zelda´s lead blindly.”
The fuck, no… if there is someone I can trust completely and blindly, its her.
“That CAN NOT be true”
The Stalfos proceeds to prove he IS who he says, he removes his right shoulder armor, and with a light pull he dislocates the shoulder showing a worn out and partly fractured humerus, that is and old lesion caused by Mido.
Damn it, he IS me. I feel like shit now, I just trashed Saria and her teachings, all she ever did was try to keep me safe, she used every resource she had to fix what that bastard had done to me and stop my shoulder pain. Truth is, Mido is an animal who abused every Kokiri, I was not a Kokiri according to him so my punishments were on a whole other level. He did it again of course, hoping to cause permanent damage by hurting the already damaged shoulder, sadly for him that 2nd time didn’t hurt me, I was able to place it back myself, that angered him so he grabbed me trying to throw me off the bridge… I bit his finger off, because why not? it was in self-defense besides… We all are animals anyway, and I refuse to be the sheep.
“Ok, you have my attention now, how did… Zelda caused this?” Link asks the Stalfos “I am sure she had no idea this was going to happen” Link says confidently
“She did not know? JAJAJAJAJAJA… don’t lie to yourself, she is the carrier of Nayru’s triforce fragment, the withholder of wisdom and knowledge, of course she knew”
“She carries WHAT?” Link asks perplexed
“The Triforce split, she now carries a fragment, Ganondorf another, and you carry one too” says another figure.
Damn, I am deserving of one? Zelda is an obvious choice for Nayru’s since she is an educated royal, I guess Ganondorf has Din’s since he is power hungry, but what do I have to make me deserving of Farore’s fragment? Courage? I would call it an unhealthy knack for vengeance and recklessness but ok, I have courage.
“Sadly, you… US being the holder of a piece means our soul is not allowed rest, it will keep coming back time after time to fight… to watch people suffer or die, to force us to make choices thinking of a future that DOES NOT include us in it. The trauma of the fight makes us a danger to the people and ourselves, forcing us to ALLWAYS leave everything and everyone behind, in a way we are forced to live in solitude” says the Stalfos with a sadness that infects everyone, even Link.
The figures shift unsettled, “time is running out, what we came here to ask of you is to obtain what Ganondorf wants, get all the pieces of the triforce and use your wish to change our… YOUR destiny, end this suffering for all of us”
The Stalfos opens his skeletal arms insinuating that he is speaking the desire of EVERYONE there. He then takes a deep breath “make it so that all our stories cease to exist, we are really tired…”
They’d rather die? Disappear? If they are me, does it mean I’d rather die? this is a BIG statement, one I can’t ignore, but…
“But how? I can obtain Ganondorf’s piece if I defeat him, but I can’t murder Zelda, I don’t have it in me”
“You don’t have to, just hold her hand where her shard is, the piece will migrate to you, Nayru values knowledge and wisdom, Zelda has a lot of that because of books… but you” The Stalfos looks him up and down with a grin “you will know more about the Hylians and their history not by reading a book, but by field experience, and not just Hylians, you will know about the other races that inhabit this land, you will have the blessing and wisdom of 6 sages and… you will also know pain and struggle… she can’t compete with that”
Well, if you put it like that, I guess it sounds like it could happen, like choosing between a kitty and a tiger, but something still does not feel right, or maybe I am too stupid to think clearly.
“It does sound possible, but I am no thief, besides I am sure she has seen something we are not capable of grasping, that is why she chooses this course of action” Link says, but his confidence was wavering.
“She chooses the best option FOR HER, not for Hyrule and definitely not for you, she does not really care about throwing you in the gutter, if it means she remains sheltered from harm and maintains the privileges of her title” says another of the doppelgangers.
“But…” Link says in doubt.
“STOP JUSTIFYING HER!!! what did you expect? For a girl that has never needed to brush her own hair to choose what’s best for all of us? She is only thinking of the easiest course of action that can benefit HER” says the Stalfos.
“We cannot be talking about the same person; she cares about me”
The Stalfos sighs “you still… fair, put her to the test. I won’t tell you what to say or what to ask when you meet her, I… WE won’t influence you anymore, but do please ask her anything you still have doubts about, she will fail your test… everyone here knows it but you, when she does… honor your piece of the triforce and have the courage to end all of this”
“AHHGHH!!! AHHHHHH!!!” Link screams.
The figures transform into rays of light and start entering Link’s body one by one. One of them, an older version of himself clad in knight armor, approaches him smiling “I know, not a pleasant feeling, it hurts us too, but we want to honor our name you know, LINK… that is like the loop of a chain, let all the loops come together to form a strong, unbreakable chain to stand against this torture cycle… DO NOT FAIL” the doppelganger says before entering Links body, the pain is so much that Link faints.
Chapter 2: Mission
Chapter Text
“Link… Wake up… Link, the chosen one…”
He opens his eyes, looking around he notices the floor is the same, but this time the origin of the light source is clear, it pours down on the room like rays of light from the ceiling, and in front of him is a fat old man.
“I am Rauru, one of the ancient Sages…The Master Sword is a sacred blade of evil’s bane, only the worthy of the title Hero of Time can pull it from the pedestal, however you were too young to be The Hero of Time… therefore, your spirit was sealed here for 7 years. Link, don’t be alarmed… Look at yourself”
He looks at himself and finds he has a man’s body, he draws the sword to stare at his image in the reflection of the blade, his eyes are no longer sapphire blue, they are grey now. Mido was right, I am no Kokiri…I guess I look like ¨them¨ now, not that I am complaining, now that I look the part, I just have to play the part… easier said than done though… I kind of feel like I should be paying attention to Rauru.
“Do you understand your destiny?” Link nods even though he has absolutely no idea.
fuck, hope he did not say anything important
“When the powers of all six Sages is awakened, the Sages’ Seal will contain all the evil power in the void of the Realm… I, Rauru am one of the Sages… Keep my spirit and wisdom with you” hands over the light medallion
“Find the other sages… Save Hyrule!”
TEMPLE OF TIME 7 YEARS LATER
“But have 7 years really passed?” asks Navi.
Raising his shoulders, “mhhm, apparently” His pitch rumbled with the sound of multiple voices speaking, causing him to raise both of his eyebrows in shock, Navi stares at Link in fear.
Crap, why? Modulate it and play it off
He laughs in a low pitch “I… was expecting my voice to sound different but not like this, what do you think Navi? do I sound masculine enough?” He says, modulating his pitch and kind of managing to sound normal, Navi still looks scared.
Damn, why was I expecting her to cooperate here? When has she? She has been a nuisance more than a helper, I have a very good memory, making her constant reminders… unnecessary. And she is hard headed, she won’t shut up about ¨what I need be doing¨ failing to notice that life does not work that way, to make a meal you need to buy and prepare the ingredients, there were steps that needed to be done before we could progress, and she failed to grasp that and be onboard… Do I really need her? Maybe I could…
Link starts to walk slowly towards Navi, sporting a cynical smile as he unsheathes the sword, Navi froze in sock and fear, she seemed about to cry, but then he suddenly turns and there’s is somebody there with them.
“I ‘ve been waiting for you Hero of Time… When evil rules it all, an awakening voice from the Sacred Realm will call those destined to be Sages”
Did he noticed what I was about to do? No… of course not, he would not be talking to me if he had… is it a he? Sounds female to me, low in pitch volume but still female, and that body shape, he is a she I believe. Wont judge, if she does not like dick she does not like dick, I don’t like dick either… I am rambling again, but who would not? the way they all speak is so fucking slow and boring, still I SOULD PAY ATTENTION
“One in a deep forest, one on a high mountain, one under a vast lake, one within the house of the dead, one inside a goddess of the sand”
Ok, that sounds like a list of places I need to go to
“I am Sheik. Survivor of the Sheikahs…”
Survivor? What happened to Impa? I guess a lot of bad things happened in Hyrule during my nap time.
“One Sage is waiting for the time of awakening in the Forest Temple. The Sage is a girl I am sure you know…”
[Saria´s smiling face] FUCK… her? of course it had to be her, she is the only worthy person in that damned forest.
“Unfortunately, equipped as you currently are, you cannot even enter the temple… But if you believe what I’m saying. You should head to Kakariko Village, do you understand Link?” Link nods, turns and walks away, Navi trembles and follows him out of the Temple of Time, then she gains enough courage to ask him.
“It was because of Sheik, right? That you drew the sword… it was not at me, right?”
Sight “Navi… I must speak my mind; you don’t have to follow me anymore” Link says to her
“But why? We still ha-”
“I STILL HAVE THINGS TO DO, but not you… Sheik was able to come dangerously close without me noticing, he was not an enemy but had he been an enemy… right now I can’t assure your safety if you stay with me… The Great Deku Tree only asked of you to help me meet the Princess and deliver the Kokiri Emerald, you have done that and more, go back to the forest and rest assured that I am going to end this” Link says confidently
BITE IT!!! This is the best I can offer as bait, bite it and be off, I don’t want to resort to more extreme measures to be rid of you
Navi ponders about everything Link just said, it is true, but it does not feel right… [Link smirking and drawing the blade] she shakes at the memory. “You… are right, I was really scared back there… I froze. As the partner of Farore’s chosen one, I cannot be afraid… it could jeopardize the mission and I AM NOT GOING TO DO THAT, I am sorry… good bye Link” She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and flies off.
Chapter 3: The End
Chapter Text
The cloud of dust raised by the fall of the castle was settling, allowing to properly see the level of destruction. Zelda turned to Link smiling, Link was returning the smile when the sound of heavy rocks shifting was heard, this alarmed the Princess and puts Link on defense mode. He signaled for the princess to stay behind as he approached the rubble searching for the origin of the sound.
Suddenly a wall of fire raised around the area, separating Link and the princess, and from under the rubble emerged Ganondorf, he proceeded to show the hand where his triforce piece lay and began to transform into a huge boar-like monster, he roared and aggressively begun to swing his twin blades, almost decapitating Link in the process had he not blocked the blow with the Master Sword, sadly the strength of the blow knocked the blade out of Link’s hand and it landed next to Zelda.
Damn, I am sore, a little scorched, and weapon less inside a ring of fire with a monster… Not the best of circumstances but if I avoid his blows long enough for Zelda to grab the sword and throw it back, I could have a fighting chance… she IS going to throw it back to me, right?
Link rolled out of another swing of the beast and ran trying to circle Ganon, searching desperately for an opening in the beast’s attack stance, a weak point in the armor, ANYTHING he could use
Fucking useless piece of royal ass, she is just staring at me and screaming, what is so fucking hard about picking up the Master Sword and throwing it inside the fire ring? [she does not really care about throwing you in the gutter, if it means she remains sheltered from harm and maintains the privileges of her title] she is not going to even try to help me, is she?
Ganon made a downward slash that injured Links right leg, forcing him to roll between Ganon’s legs to avoid the next attack, Ganon roared and immediately turned and took a step back
There it is, what is it? A tail? Its small and unprotected by the armor… besides I made him take a step back for the first time in this fight, so it HAS to be a weak point, what can I use to damage it? I don’t have any more arrows, the hammer is a slow weapon for this fight, the hookshot’s chain makes it slow too for this
CRACK!!!
He notices he just stepped on a piece of glass… he smiled and picked it up, the rest of the fight was Link seeking pieces of debris from the castle, glass, broken sticks, even cutlery and immediately using them to damage the tail. Then after many tries the monster succumbed. As Ganon fell, the wall of fire subsided. Link immediately ran towards Zelda, the fire and anger in his eyes forced her to look away as he approached, he retrieved the Master Sword then ran towards Ganon to continue the battle.
The battle was much easier now that he could use a sword instead of trying to find debris, and the harm done with the Master Sword was more significant, given that Ganon was now really bleeding, after several more attempts the monster fell again, only this time Zelda interfered using her magic to hold him in place and allow Link to finish him off.
Now you decide its ok to help me, what for? I am more than capable of ending him alone, will take longer but… I SHOULD NOT COMPLAIN, I am tired, any type of help from anyone is welcomed
He approaches Ganon and with a sadistic smirk begins slashing at his face, then he proceeds to end it with a thrust attack directed at the monster’s mouth, effectively piercing through the skull. Ganon started swinging his twin blades around, as if throwing a tantrum, but slowly losing strength… fainting… he had lost. Immediately you hear the princess using her magic to call forth the Sages to seal Ganon.
SHIT!!!
Link rushes to touch Ganon’s hand to obtain his triforce piece before he is sealed away, then himself and the Princess were engulfed by light. Once Link regained his vision, he found himself floating in the sky, Zelda in front of him smiling.
“Thank you Link, thanks to you Ganondorf has been sealed… peace will once again reign… for a time.”
“For a time? Why?” Link asks
“Ganondorf still has his triforce piece, with time he could gain strength and escape the void”
I already took care of that, you are welcome
“If retrieving that piece from him was needed you should have told me” Link tells her
“How could I? I was already asking too much of you, back then I was young and could not comprehend the consequences of trying to control the Sacred Realm, I ended up dragging you into this mess, now is time for me to make up for my mistakes”
“What happens now?” Link asks defiant
“What do you mean?”
“How do we start fixing this? Mending alliances with the other races of Hyrule will prove to be a hardship, they distrust the royal family now, they were expecting help and protection from their ally in dire times, yet the castle was the first to fall when Ganondorf attacked… but we still have a shot, they all know me now, and respect me if not more, I could help… so what should I do now?” Link asks
Please prove them all wrong, give me a GOOD reason not to do this
“Nothing… you have already done enough, they will listen to me once they know you are on my side, to really atone for my mistakes I need to fix what I did to you, you did not deserve this… Link, give the Ocarina to me, as a Sage I can return you to your original time with it.”
“And why would I want to do that?” Link says lifting an eye brow
“Who would not want to recover the lost time and start anew? I would send you back to a time before you started this adventure, that way you can pick up your life right where you left it off” she says with a wide grin.
There was a time, not so long ago, where I felt for you, right this moment all I feel is anger rooted in betrayal, all I hear is that you need to get rid of me for your plan of regaining Hyrule to work, I am a liability now, as long as I am here people would prefer me over a royal that was in hiding all this time. You need to lie, brag about all my deeds and claim you ordered me to do them for you. You need me to not be there, hence I wouldn’t be able to contradict you. All this time you have used me, well… now I know exactly what I have to do… but I must be mindful of how to phrase the wish I have to make.
“Ganondorf will be there since I have not killed him yet in that time” Link said
“No, he won’t be, we Sages sealed his whole essence, he is captive in the void, absent on all realities”
Realities, that is a term I could use, thanks sweetheart
“Wow… now it does sound wonderful, you need the Ocarina, right?”
Link draws the Ocarina and holds it in front of her with his right hand, Zelda immediately reaches out to hold it fearing that Link may accidentally open his hand and drop it, as she does, he rapidly raises his left hand to hold Zelda’s hand and the ocarina between his own hands, his left hand remaining hidden from view the whole time.
“I wish this could have played out differently, I am sorry” Link says
“Different how? This is the best outcome, we did it”
Link just gave a half smile and let go of her hand, Zelda takes the Ocarina to her mouth and starts playing it. A circle of light forms around Link
“I am ready to make my wish now” Link says as he raises his left hand in front of his face, showing the whole triforce glowing, Zelda stops playing and stares in sock.
“I wish for all realities to be destroyed except the one I am heading to” Link states
He feels the triforce leaving his hand, then a vision. He sees all of the loops, all his different versions smiling and vanishing forever… he feels happy for them, but lonely at the same time. Then the Princess approaches him and starts beating on his chest, hollering and cursing him… she soon starts sliding down his legs to lay at his feet sobbing. Link notices that she is trembling in fear.
There was a time where I would have done anything, given everything… just so you would not be afraid, to put a smile back on your beautiful face. There was a time I loved you.
Link starts shedding tears, once he notices his own tears falling on the Princess, he starts laughing ironically, a laughter meant to mock the Princess and himself. Then Zelda starts shrieking in pain, Link notices burn marks start appearing on her face as a bright light expands behind her. Then all he sees is darkness as he floats away, leaving that reality forever.
Chapter 4: New Beginning
Chapter Text
2 YEARS LATER
I really don’t want to do this, it demands too much of me, for me to forget everything, to continue like nothing ever happened, it’s been 2 years… I should be over it by now, but I am not going to lie, I am NOT SURE I can accomplish this one, yet I am in no position to deny direct orders, and since Michelle died… I am the only agent they have with access to Hyrule, it’s my turn now.
I don’t dislike my job, it’s great, it helps keep all the hate and regret from rooting in me, it’s a good distraction that has managed to keep me away from becoming a delinquent, since the Gerudo where right, I have abilities for mugging. I am sure I would be doing just that had Michelle not found me when she did. She never told me what she caught me doing, she just followed me and kidnaped me with food, then she recommended me for this job… they did not have the balls to plainly refuse Michelle, so they tested me, turns out I could already do what most of their trainees where still learning, so they dismissed my age, filled the gaps I still had with training and here I am. Turns out SWORD (Sentient World Observation and Response Department) values field experience a lot.
Oh well, I just have to deliver this envelope to the king without losing my shit and I can get the hell out of h-(TUCK) someone falls on top of him
“OUCH, that hurt” the Princess exclaims, then notices she feel on top of someone “gosh I am sorry, I did not see you there” she pales as she hear the guards rushing to them.
ZELDA POV
Damn it!!!, and it was going so well, I almost made it this time had it not been for this freak, what was he doing here? He is not a worker here, or a knight in training.
Link just stares at her threateningly, he immediately shakes his head and begins to stand slowly without breaking eye contact with the Princess.
WHO IS HE? He is handsome I must say… but why is he looking at me like that? Do I know him? I would never forget eyes like that so I don’t think I know him… is it hate? He hates me? Why? Well not like I really care.
The guards approach pointing at them with their spears, Link raises his hands showing the envelope, the guards began to question him and suddenly they all lower their spears.
“If its information from SWORD give the envelope to me, I will make sure the King receives it” a guard says, probably their captain.
“Hehe NO, lets save time and energy here, I am not stupid, and I believe that medal there means you are not stupid either, just do your job of escorting me to the King and let ME do my job” The guard growls in anger, but proceeds to take them both inside the castle.
Wow, he is not joking around, what is this thing about a so-called SWORD? And where did he learned to walk like that? He makes NO FUCKING SOUND; I would have been able to escape long ago if I could do that.
“Stop looking at me”
Zelda opens her eyes in shock “excuse me?”
“its two eyes, two hands and two feet, a normal human like any out there, I would appreciate it if you stop studying me” he takes a hand to his chin “or maybe you are just bored, I know someone in Lon Lon Ranch who could recommend a horse for the princess, horses LOVE to be brushed and looked at all day long, unlike me” Link says sporting a half smile
THIS MOTHER FUCKER IS MOCKING ME!!! Wait… did he said princess? he knows who I am? My fucking guards have not recognized me yet, WHO THE FUCK IS HE?
The butler of the castle approaches “welcome mist-boy, the King will receive you in the office so please follow me.”
Link squints his eyes at that “An office? Not in the…”
Sigh “due to reasons beyond our control the throne room is currently unavailable, follow me please, let’s not make the King wait any longer”
The guards start retreating taking Zelda with them, they begin to talk about throwing her to a dungeon when Link makes full stop, sights and turns to them.
Link POV
“Guys, I am sure she deserves everything you are planning, but you DO know she is the princess, right?” the guards widen their eyes and refuse to look at her, Link turns and hurries behind the butler.
Now I understand how easy it was for Ganondorf to take the castle
The butler starts knocking on the door of the study, but it was poorly closed so it opened a little, allowing Link to peek and listen to the conversation they were having inside.
“She is here my King, are you sure this is a good idea?” ask an elegant man who was revising and adjusting a contract, a badge on his arm stated he was a lawyer
“No, but I rather try to convince Michelle to do this than continue to stand idle… COME IN” said the King
“GOOD EVENING YOUR HIGHNESS, I leave you with SWORD’s emissary, I will be outside if you need anything” the butler leaves the room
The King stares at Link surprised to see a young boy standing in the place of the woman he was expecting
“YOU are not Michelle”
Link smiles So agent Snail had even given them her real name
“Michelle is permanently out of service; I have come in her place” Link answers with grieve
The King lowers his gaze in sorrow and empathy “How did you enter the realm of Hyrule? Outside people need my authorization to enter and I don’t remember signing anything of the sort recently”
“I don’t need authorization, this is my homeland, I am Hylian” Link states confidently
The king raises his eyebrows and stares at Link up and down
“Really?” says the King barely hiding the huge grin that was forming
Link places the envelope and his license on the desk in front of him
“Yes my lord, I will leave the envelope with information that only concerns you and my license, in case you need to call SWORD to corroborate my claims”
The King reaches for the license grinning and throws it at the lawyer, and without taking his eyes from Link he orders.
“Verify the veracity of this and bring me the purple folder”
“Seriously?” asks the lawyer with wide eyes.
The legal practitioner is meet with the stern glance of the King of Hyrule, choosing to avoid the King’s wrath he rushes to pick up his paperwork and the license, then heads out of the room to fulfill the King’s order. Link just stares at the whole scene.
THAT man was terrified of my King. And I am left alone in here with this unknown beast… cool.
“In fear of sounding disrespectful, could my lord explain to me what just happened?” Link asks politely
Chapter 5: The King
Chapter Text
LINK POV
The King smiles “I was just going explain to you in detail, let’s sit so we can dis-”
“I am fine standing up, thank you” Link answers bluntly
“Pff! but of course, you are an agent from SWORD, you will never put yourself in a vulnerable position voluntarily” the King says as he finally grabs the envelope and quickly scans
“It’s actually intact, not forced in anyway” the King then glances at Link
“Do you know who I am?” the King asks letting the question linger a few seconds before continuing
“Of course you know, such a dumb question, I am Daphnes D. Nohansen, current King of Hyrule, which means that the content of this envelope is very important, I am impressed you did not try to read it, I think I like you kid.”
Damn it, now I kind of feel bad, I lost count of how many times I tried to open it, but they know me in SWORD, they used a new seal that makes it impossible for me to open it and reseal it without causing damage to the envelope.
If they can’t trust me, why do they keep me? Because they love my almost pathological need to KNOW things, that is my best weapon, knowledge is power. The king praising me for being ¨honorable and trustworthy¨ feels like a kick in the balls
The king continues “I consider myself to be… I am going to be honest here, I have succeeded managing the kingdom economy so far, but I am the type of man that believes ¨Peace times create weak men, and weak men can bring about the fall of a kingdom. ¨ The current state of my soldiers is… rather pitiful”
Link struggles to hide his laughter. Hehe you think?
The king squints his eyes “Given your reaction I suppose you have already meet with them. And those are the best Hyrule can currently offer… if we were to experience an attack, Hyrule will fall” the King makes a pause and continues “we need to become stronger. I am not going to expose my kingdom to armed conflict to build muscle… but I can expose the future Queen to somebody that knows and has experience on the topic… the soldiers may suck, but I want to ensure the future Queen knows what to do and what to expect during hardships, I must make sure she is strong, intelligent and capable for when mayhem comes… am I making sense?”
A fucking lot of sense, I like my king, he thinks like a war veteran, and he plans ahead for his people… how could someone like him spawn a brat like Zelda? Or better yet, fall victim of Ganadorf
“You make perfect sense mi lord” Link praises the lord.
“EXCELLENT, it would be good if you put together a topic plan, I'll review it before you start, and please check the closet in your room, anything there that you like and fits is yours, I will arrange for getting clothes your size later so you don't need to bring anything from home, but if you want to bring something the carriage will be free this weekend”
“Wait, what do you think I just agreed to?” Link asks exalted
“To living here of course, that would make exposing and educating Zelda much more efficient”
Link just closes his eyes and rubs them with his left index and thumb.
I can’t help with this; I may kill her.
Toc-toc!!! Enters the lawyer with the license and the purple folder, he raises a thumb at the King as he offers Link his SWORD license back.
“My lord, I may look stupid but I assure you I am not, even I know I am not allowed to live in the castle since I am not part of the royal family, to spend a night here will cost me my head if word gets out” Link clarifies
“I know that… I may look brainless but I am a responsible leader, I promise no one will even dare touch a single hair of yours, all you need to do is sign this” the king hands him he purple folder open pointing at where Link needs to sign.
Link reaches for the folder and reading the content a little and throws it back at the desk in anger
“YOU WANT TO ADOPT ME?” Link raises his voice, not quite yelling, but high enough to scare the lawyer
“Mi lord, right now may not be the best of times for something like this, maybe if you give the boy a few days to think about all this” the attorney advises the King
“He does not need time to think about anything, he is going to sign” the King stares at Link daring him while grinning.
“What makes you believe I will sing this?” Link states irate, but refusing to yell at his King.
“And he lost his temper, he is hot-blooded all right… not a bad quality to possess for a man, as long as you don’t let it cloud your judgment. I will tell you why you are going to sign, because you are not stupid”
“Mi lord, I really think insulting him is NOT the strategy you want to use” says the lawyer
“I am not insulting him, I am stating what he IS NOT… he won’t turn down a good home, the economic benefits that come with being a royal, and access to all the information Hyrule can offer, information about public funds, treaties, laws, the reasons for remaining hidden from the rest of the world, medicine, astrology, magic, maybe even archaic but effective methods to open a sealed envelope without leaving a trace” The King smiles giving Link an evil side glance “because… as we all know, knowledge is power”
DAMN IT!!! He knows I tried to open it? How? He couldn’t know, I left it perfect… didn’t I? wait… he is getting into my head and making me anxious, I can’t let him know he is cornering me.
Link breaths in deeply and exhales
Can you admire a man and HATE him at the same time? Because that is what I am feeling and it’s not fun. I will sign… the benefits are too good to pass on, we are talking about information here, knowledge about political realignment inside and outside of Hyrule… I have people here that I need to protect, the best way of doing that is being informed and involved. But the down side is Zelda, interacting with the Princess is going to be a whole new level of hardship for me, but if the King wants me to help turn her into the best Queen, I am going to do just that, and I am going to enjoy it. She is going to be magnificent but it’s going to cost her tears and blood, I will make sure of that.
“Where do I sign?” Link says in a neutral tone. The King smiles once more and points where Link has to sign, just as he was about to, he remembers something and stops himself.
“Wait, the royal family is allowed to have only 2 children, if you adopt me… it means you won’t be able to have another offspring in the future, is this fine by you, my King?” Link asks with concern.
“More than fine, I have been desiring to adopt for a while. But I found all the kids at the adoption center to be rather disappointing… but YOU ARE PERFECT” he sighs “YOU are going to be my son now, and I want our relation to be built in trust and respect, so let me start clearing the path… I am sterile”
“I am… sorry?” Link says doubtful
The King laughs a little “No you are not, you are benefiting from it, we both are… truth be told, I always wanted to adopt even before I was aware of my condition… name and age?”
“Link, 12 years old”
I am not lying, I hate lies, I do turn 13 today… in a few hours according to my birth certificate. Technically… I am still 12
The King raises an eyebrow in doubt, but soon decides to play along and starts clapping in joy “12 GLORIOUS SPRINGS, DID YOU HEARD THAT SEBAS?”
“Yes, I heard my lord, this is going to speed things fortunately” says the lawyer smiling
“Sebastian is my lawyer, he was willing to lie and forge documents in case you were 13 or older, but that won’t be necessary anymore. By Hylian law you are still a child, I can adopt you without much trouble”
Link quietly signs the adoption papers, a feeling of dread slowly creeping in, but he shakes it off.
“Done, I WILL continue my work in SWORD”
“Of course you will, I won’t interfere on your life, but I do request you to be back in the castle immediately once you are done with your errands, so you can give haste to the task of forging our future Queen, let’s put that on paper to be safe” the King signals for Sebas to start the paper work, but Link speaks
“I don’t need to sign anything, I have nowhere else to go my lord, I will be here” Link informs them
“PERFECT, I get to save paper” the King extends his hand for a shake
“Mi lord, I think it would be better if-”
“No needed, I believe him, he will be back with haste every time” states the King
And just like that… the King is trying to tell me he trusts me, and that I should do the same… [I want our relation to be built in trust and respect] I am kind of an anxious wreck, it’s going to take time, but I feel I could eventually trust this man.
Link shakes the King’s hand closing the deal
“Should I start calling you daddy?” Link says mocking
“NO, only my wife calls me that in the bedroom” he winks at Link
“HAHAHAHAHAHA” Link laughs as he closes the door behind him
Chapter 6: Chacha
Chapter Text
“HAHAHAHAHAHA” Link laughs as he closes the door behind him
He breaths in slowly, places his head between his gloved hands and screams… but without sound. His neck veins where showing, air was coming out of his mouth, but soundless. After a few more seconds he stops.
THAT meeting was dangerous, I almost lost my cool in there, at least they completely dismissed me suddenly leaving, I still have questions but for safety reasons I had to extract myself immediately, I was feeling cornered. Michelle used to compare me with a wild animal… and she was right. The worst thing you can do to an animal is corner it… any animal turns extremely aggressive if it feels trapped… so I had to flee, I just hope I get answers to my questions in time. Now that I think about it, I need to treat myself for what I accomplished... I was miraculously keeping my cool and pretending that everything was under control. But he had me in his palm, and he knew it.
“Excuse me young man, I believe you are done with the meeting, I will escort you out.” Says the butler coming out of nowhere.
Oh, I had forgotten about this guy, he said he would stay close by in case we needed anything
“Actually, it would be better if you guide me to a room I can use during my stay” Link politely mentions
The butler looks at Link with disgust “What are you talking about? A disgusting peasant like yourself does not need a room to stay in this mighty castle”
Link closes his eyes and breaths deeply
“I can explain but you would not believe me, it will be better if you just ask the King”
“And why would I do anything a lying commoner says?” states the butler mockingly
Link just stares at him with anger in his eyes, without breaking eye contact he reaches behind his back for the study’s door knob and opens it
“Doble D, your employee needs to ask you a question” Link says as he reached for the butler and pushed him inside closing the door behind him.
All right, take this moment to relax, this is going to happen a lot, nobody knows me here, I should not be angry at this kind of reactions
Then Links starts to hear yelling, so he places his ear by the door “I PAY YOU TO DO YOUR FUCKING JOB, IF MY SON ASKS YOU TO TAKE HIM TO HIS ROOM, YOU FUCKING TAKE HIM YOU LITTLE SHIT HEAD!!!”
BOOM!... SHUNK! Suddenly the tip of a knife could be seen traversing the door, Link just widens his eyes.
The butler comes out in a rush heading somewhere else, after a few steps he stops, turns around, grabs Link’s hand and reassumes running in fear.
Mental note to self: Your King is very smart and a keen observer. He is also very chill and easy to get along with, BUT DON’T MAKE HIM ANGRY.
“My King referred to you as his son, right?” Link just nods in approval
“Then the place for you is in the east tower where the Princess is”
They walked in the direction to the tower, Link could not help himself from staring at all the paintings scattered around on their way there, some very beautiful but some were rather… unsettling, depicting old battle sceneries. They soon reached the east tower’s stairs and climbed them. once they were up, Link tried opening the first door he saw but was abruptly stopped.
“NOT THAT ONE, that is the door to the Princess room, your room is behind the door down the hall”
“Down the hall, perfect, by the way… I am sorry about what happened with the king”
“Don’t worry about it my Prince, I am sorry I was disrespectful; I will leave now”
Prince?
The butler turns and leaves almost running, Link walks the small corridor and sure enough, there was a door at the end of it, it was impossible to see it from afar due to the poor illumination. He opened it revealing a big enough room with a big bed, a desk, a sofa, and a small table with its chair as center piece; at the right corner of the chamber was BIG door. Upon opening it, he discovers it’s a closet, and its full of chests with clothes for males and females… though he doubted any of the male outfits will fit him, since they were obviously meant for plus sized males.
KNOCK-KNOCK! What? Who could, I just got here.
“Come in”
A pretty girl that appeared to be around 13 years old sporting a maid dress opens the door “good evening” she makes a reverence “and welcome to hell” her eyes widen and she tries to cover her mouth.
“HEY! it’s not that bad, seems well constructed, has a good bed and it doesn’t smell bad… the only bad thing so far it’s that the closet does not have clothes my size, but I would not call it hell.”
“Nonono, I am sorry my Prince, it’s just a name we maids use to refer to this room because its dark and kind of secluded… also rarely used for anything, but IT IS the best room currently available, it was a great choice”
I did not choose it but she does not need to know that
“Hell… sounds appropriate for me” Link smiles
“NO, of course not, please forget I even mentioned it Prince” she says and lowers her head in shame
“How did you know I was here?” Link asks
“The Royal Butler told me and send me to make sure the room’s conditions were optimal for the Prince, and… some other diligences” she said searching for something in one of her many hidden pockets
“What is your name?”
“They call me Chacha” she throws him a Colgate smile
Link squints his eyes “They named you after the dance or… no, nobody would name a baby MAID… I asked you for your name not your jobs description” he says starting to glare at her
“As I already answered, everyone here calls me Chacha”
“Name” Link states starting to lose his patience
Shit... my containment slipped, good thing is that i think i scared her, she won’t notice.
The girl looks at the floor clearly intimidated by the sound of Link’s voice
“I don’t like my name your highness”
Sighs “Look sweetheart, open your ears and pay attention, it’s not a complicated question, what is your name?”
“PLATONIA!!!” she yells, tears forming in her eyes, face completely red in shame and anger at Link.
DAMN, what the fuck even is that? Was she not loved? Almost seems like whomever named her was purposely trying to screw her, talk about adding insult to injury.
Showing half a smile “you know… Chacha does not sound bad at all” Link sheepishly says
She looks at him annoyed and snorts "You think?"
And now she is addressing me informally, that is good. Maybe she is only doing it because she is really angry… I need to let her know DOES NOT need to address me formally EVER; I hate it.
“You have to tell me how you got your name”
“Later, I need to take your measures so we can search for clothes your size” Chacha says drawing a measuring tape and whips it on the floor looking at Link straight in the eyes.
“Should I be scared or exited?” Link says half smiling
OMG, what the fuck is wrong with me? I need to learn to shut the fuck up.
“Quiet and obedient will do just fine” she says rolling her eyes
She is pissed at me, hehehe
Chacha approaches him and starts to take his measurements; Link manages to stay quiet and raises is arms when needed. Once done she enters his new closet, after digging a little Chacha comes out with jacket and trousers.
“This one is not your size, but it will fit nicely, wear this latter today for dinner, that way you won’t be seen in your poor man’s clothes”
“You have to up your game if want to actually insult me one day” Link says raising an eyebrow
Rolls her eyes “I am not insulting you; I am doing you a favor, you are no longer in… wherever the hell you came out from, this is the big leagues. You are expected to interact with renown nobility, and that means you CAN NOT TRUST ANYBODY, they will feed you to the crows if you give them a chance. Not wearing nice clothes is giving them a chance, and they will be there for dinner tonight I am sure… don’t do anything that could bring shame to my King. Dress nicely.”
Wow, she is young, but she KNOWS her shit around the nobles, that means she is an asset. WE ARE FRIENDS NOW
“I understand” Link says
Chacha turns and starts taking the rest of the clothes out of the closet, once she takes everything, she starts to exit the room but Link stops her grabbing her elbow
“Appearance is important, I get it, what else could I do to improve mine?” Link asks
Chacha looks at him up and down slowly
“Not much, you have good teeth and are kind of handsome in a wild way… your hair needs a trim, you will need shoes… I will bring you some, oh and lose those gloves”
“I can do the shoes and clothing, but I don’t know how to cut my hair, and I WON’T get rid of the gloves”
“Arggg, all right, I will search for shoes that match the color of those gloves then, and maybe a belt to make it more fitting” she says looking at the celling trying to picture the image in her mind, Link uses the distraction to retrieve the pile of clothes from her hands.
“Where to?” Link asks
“I can take them myself, you should-”
“Get to know every location in my new home, that is my intention, so where do I take this?” Link says glaring at her, almost daring her to refuse his demand with his eyes.
She sights “follow me”
Chapter 7: Nana
Chapter Text
Looking around nervously Chacha steps forward and stands in front of Link “would you hand over the pile of clothes? Staff people are looking at me like I am forcing the prince to do MY job” Chacha whispered.
Link winks “YOU!!!, forcing me to do anything? HAHAHAHA, don’t kid yourself servant, I am the Prince now, I do whatever the fuck I want in this castle, and right now I feel like letting the King catch us, just to see what he does to you, STUPID GIRL” Link states loudly, but still avoiding to fully scream.
Chacha is just staring at him right in the eyes, pressing her lips hard to prevent an explosion of laughter. Everyone who happened to be around them cowered away.
“Tha… that was too much don’t you think?” she tells him
“But it was believable, wasn’t it? They won’t be talking about you now” he reassumes his walk
“But they will be talking about YOU, and very poorly” she tells him sadly, shame in her eyes.
“For all I care, it’s YOU are the one that has to work with them, I just have to mind my manners and public image around the nobles, right?” Link asks… but not really asking, it was more of a statement that sounded like a question… to be polite.
Chacha sights and giggles a little… then a lady comes running right at them.
“NAUGHTY GIRL!!! Why are you making the prince hold that? Excuse her your highness, she is new here” the lady inches closer to Links ear and whispers “she is kind of dump if I am being honest, totally my fault, I dropped her when she was a baby, she doesn’t coordinate properly and makes poor decisions ever since”
“IVANNA!!! STOP!” Chacha yells, then she hits her own head with her palm in distress. Ivanna stares at her in confusion, then at Link who is staring right back at her smiling
Faking a Spanish accent “do not worry mi señorita, the little wild flower here was just following my orders, somewhat deviant orders I must admit, but what can you expect if I am not right in the head myself? my mother tried to drown me when I was a child. You know how much that affects you at a young age… jetzt höre Ich Stimmen” (now I hear voices)
“Both of you, STOP” Chacha yells at both of them, then turns to Link “and what was that you where sa…” she stops her question to Link and shakes her head “you have made it clear that you know Ivanna was lying, so stop mocking her, she just did it because she thought I was going to get in trouble… explain to her what happened.”
“You are ordering me now?” Link says raising an eyebrow
Chacha crosses her arms and glares at him, Link takes a deep breath.
“We meet long ago in hell, I was there because that is the right place for me, she got there because she has been bad obviously, I got exasperated at her because of her inability to follow simple orders, and she got angry at me for making her say something she did not wanted to say. After exploring my body with a metric tape, she found that her hatred towards me no longer existed. Me, being the lord of hell, could not allow the lack of hatred, so I kidnapped the pile of clothes, she has been trying to rescue it unsuccessfully and here we are” Link puts an arm over Chacha’s shoulders and smiles at Ivanna, Chacha glares at Link frustrated and then flashes her Colgate smile at Ivanna too.
“You know… you should really stop doing that” Link tells Chacha
“Doing what?”
“Using that fake smile, looks pretty but doesn’t feel right”
“Don’t scold me, you just lied to her about me exploring your body” Chacha says pointing at him accusingly
“Did I? you were measuring me, that is an exploration in itself, by the way… you DO remember the measurements right? I never saw you taking notes” Link says
“I remember, we could bet about them if you want” Chacha says rolling her eyes
“I… choose to believe you”
Ivanna was staring at them during the word exchange, scared at first about Chacha’s lack of etiquette towards the new royal, but she slowly relaxed and became entertained by the quarrel they were engaged on, she could not help displaying a wide smile.
“All right, let me get this straight, you met, went at each other like cats and dogs and now you are friends?” Ivanna asks with a glint of hope in her eyes, Chacha just nods in approval.
“Over simplified but it is a correct assumption, a pleasure Ivanna” Link extends his hand for a shake
Ivanna shakes Links hand smiling “Nana, everyone calls me that since it’s sweet and sounds harmless, not as aggressive as Ivanna”
Chacha snorts at that “But be careful because she is NOT HARMLESS AT ALL” the maid adds laughing, Link just chuckles as he kneels to pick up the pile of clothes he had dropped at some point.
“WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU MEAN? I am a sweet heart” Ivanna states firmly, then turns to speak directly at Link “you can ask any employee”
“And ALL OF THEM are going to take a few seconds deciding what to answer” Chacha adds earning a glare from Nana
“LADIES PLEASE, we are moving away from what it’s really important… where do I put this?” Link says making reference to the pile of clothes in his hands.
Nana smiles, and starts to point to a place behind him when ¡CRASH!
“SON OF A FUCKING HORE!!! That was my casserole was it not? WHO the fuck dropped it?” Nana yells irate
Chacha just looks at Link half smiling as if saying: ¨ see what I mean? She is NOT HARMLESS¨ Nana begins heading in the direction they heard the sound from, Link drops the clothes and runs to stand in front of Nana
“EASY THERE…, it’s just food, I am sure the culprit is already cleaning it”
Well... I hope he or she has enough common sense to clean their mess.
“The problem is not the cleaning, or the wasted food… we have plenty. The problem is the casserole, it’s a good cooking utensil, but its rather old, it can’t stand mistreatment and I don’t want to change it, they don’t make them like that anymore” Nana says with tears forming in her eyes
“Utensil are meant to break eventually; it was going to happen sooner or later… I will find you a good one next time I head out ok?” Link promises and Nana hugs him, he slowly hugs her back
“I assume you are the castle’s cook” Link says still hugging Nana, Chacha giggles
“Yes and no, she cooks all right but only for the soldiers and the employees, the royal cook is… somebody else… she could be the royal cook but she INSIST on cooking organ meat” Chacha makes a disgusted face
“THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE REALLY GOOD FOR YOU, they are cheap and they fill you a lot… that is what my dad used to feed us, especially in winter so we would not get sick, I am doing you all a favor” Nana declares triumphant.
Link starts raising an index finger “excuse me Nana, but at what time of the day do you feed the guards?”
Chacha stares in sock “you want to eat THAT?”
“You know what is the first thing a wolf eats from its hunt? Organs, the liver in particular, and not just the wolves, any predator goes for organ meat first because IT IS very nutritious… I am still under development so I need to eat that” Link says playfully.
Nana smiles happily “it’s nice to feel appreciated and valued, the guards have breakfast between 4 and 6 am, they eat lunch and dinner whenever they get the chance, they are busy with chores most of the day, so I just leave the food prepared for them to grab anytime. I could save you some if you want” she gives it some thought and adds “but if you get here by 7 am you can have breakfast with me” Nana offers expecting nothing.
“it’s a date” Link winks at Nana
Rolling her eyes “you know… it’s really unfair, you know our names but we don’t know yours” Chacha tells Link
Nana opens her eyes “I think… it’s too soon, they must pick a name for him, he has been smart not to present himself so far, as of now, he does not have a name”
Thank you Nana, for answering one questions.
Remembering something Link hits his forehead with his palm releasing Nana from the embrace “by the way Nana, is there a royal stylist here? Or someone who cuts hair… apparently” he glances at Chacha “I need a haircut”
“We don’t have one here, the royal family calls for a stylist when they need one, but I think you just need a hair clipping, Chacha can help you with that perfectly” Nana says cheerfully.
“REALLY?” Link looks at Chacha accusatorily, she just smiles and says “I never said anything because nobody asked me… I can do it if you want me to”
Link breaths deeply, kneels to pick up the pile of clothes once more and states “NOBODY ever told me WHERE to put this damn pile of clothes, and YES Chacha, please cut my hair.”
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
¡TOCK-TOCK!
And now what do they want? Can’t they see I am in my room doing absolutely NOTHING, is that not punishment enough?
I suppose not, HE still needs to submit me to a reprimand for trying to run away AGAIN… why did HE married my mom? I will never understand that move, what is there to gain for him? Sure, she is beautiful but WE HAVE NOTHING that could interest a noble, we were left almost bankrupt after my dad left.
The Princess abruptly opens her door “WHAT”
“Princess, it is demanded of you to show up well dressed at the dining room for dinner” answers her regular maid.
“Well dressed? What is the occasion?” Zelda asks a little curious.
“For you to meet and mingle with the new royal family member”
“WHAT? A NEW FAMILY MEMBER? WHY?” Zelda yells exasperated
“I have been notified that my king decided to adopt a boy”
THIS CAN NOT BE!!! How stupid and inconsiderate is this fucking King? Does mother know about this? she is not healthy enough to take raise an infant… I believed he doesn’t really care about us, that our job is just to be a screen, his perfect picture family, since he DOES need a wife and kid to be respected, but I never thought he would put my mother’s health at risk to satisfy his ego.
“I am not going to show up for this” she begins to close the door, but the maid stops her and looks at Zelda desperately
“PLEASE reconsider princess, I have orders to drag you down to the dining room if you refuse, I really don’t want to do that to you, PLEASE” the maid begs
Zelda sights “Give me a few minutes” the maid looks at her with gratitude.
He wants me to be well dressed… meaning nobles are expected to arrive… who is leaking information? I fucking hate this lack of private life, I regret ever telling my mom I could be a princess, she did ask me if I was ok with it before getting married, I was 4, I had no idea of the shit hole I was diving in, I thought I was going to be happy… the castle IS a beautiful cage, good food and the only place in Hyrule with electricity, but still a cage.
Zelda fixed her hair and changed her dress before being escorted to the dining room by her maid, once they arrived, the maid excused herself and left. Zelda proceeds to take her seat glaring at the queen and the king with anger. Both adults choose to ignore this since they are used to her antics.
“Are you SURE he knows he is supposed to show up for dinner? And here I thought my daughter was going to be the one showing up late” the Queen says rolling her eyes
“Relax darling, it’s not dinner time yet, he will show up on time” the King glares at the door with determination
He is going to come? Meaning… he can walk himself here? He is not a baby then, well that a LITTLE better, BUT we still don’t know of his past, if he has modals, his hygiene habits, damn… he could be a disease carrier, I still find the kings decision really stupid.
TAP, TAP, TAP!!! The king smiles hearing those steps “He is getting here; you both are going to treat him with respect”
I am not making any promise
Link enters the dining room, his hair a little shorter, wearing a nice jacket with trousers and a belt with shoes that combine with his umber-colored gloves. He makes a small incline.
“Good evening my Lord and beautiful ladies present” Link greets them.
The Queen rolls her eyes “do yourself a favor and refer to me and my daughter with respect… by that I mean using our honorific titles, ladies is such a vulgar term, but what was I expecting from someone of your status”
DAMN RIGHT MOM, you show him, I should also take a hit but… the king looks murderous right now… still, I am rooting for you mom.
Link raises his head, looks straight at the Queen and smiles “Lady IS an honorific title, it refers to an elegant and educated woman, and those are the only two assumptions I am allowing myself to make about the present female population, since we have not been formally introduced… I happen to know it’s wrong to be guessing noble titles around, if ever incorrect, I may insult. A safer course of action is to wait for an introduction before addressing using titles, or do I have my intel incorrect?”
The Queen opened her mouth but shut it instantly and squints her eyes at Link.
WTF JUST HAPPENED? Did he just reply to the queen’s assault and left her speech less? WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINKS HE IS… wait… I know him… he is the boy I fell on top of earlier today
“JAJAJAJAJAJAJA” the King laughs mockingly, lifting the tension in the room immediately “and I thought I was going to spend the whole dinner defending you from these piranhas”
“Lionfish… would be a more accurate comparison if I may suggest mi lord, beautiful but venomous” Link states staring at the Queen and the Princess.
The King turns to also look at both of them for a few seconds “you are absolutely right my boy, do take a seat” the King claps and immediately servants enter with the dinner trays and place them at the table
Which is the lionfish? Why does he know about sea life? Why does the king? Is it common knowledge or something? I should do some research… NO, of course not, I won’t let a commoner make me do something, even if out of curiosity.
Ding! The sound of a bell was heard, the king raises his eyes to the door as a servant enters, he whispers something to the King’s ear, then leaves as quickly as he came.
“We have company, the Duke of Akkla accompanied by a Conde of the same territory” the King says massaging his temples
“What should I do my King? I could leave if you need me to, I don’t want to interfere” says Link
“What are you talking about? It’s you they came to see… I am sure… they want to meet you and probably talk about you all week… would you do me a favor? Let’s give them something to talk about” the King says winking his left eye “OH, I had forgotten… let’s do this quickly, the ladies present are Queen Claire Harkinian and Princess Zelda Harkinian, and me… Doble D Nohansen, King of Hyrule” the King smirks mischievously at Link.
What? Why does he present himself like that? What is wrong with Daphnes?
Zelda turns to look at the Queen searching for an explanation, but the Queen stares back at her dumbfounded, Link lowers his head in shame.
“I… am sorry my King, I was not thinking straight when I called you that, I was angry at your employee, but that is no excuse, I should not have referred to you so disrespectfully” Link apologizes.
“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I LOVE IT!!!, sounds like the name I want to use if I ever pursue my dream of becoming a sumo wrestler” the King suddenly stands and starts making sumo stomping poses, Link laughs and imitates the King’s poses, the Queen stares at them in shock but then begins to giggle at the scene.
Is this real? They are making a fool of themselves and the Queen… my mom is laughing WITH THEM. I never felt at home in this castle, but still I could say I belong to this family… why is HE allowed to just waltz in here and have what is supposed to be MINE?
Knock-Knock-Knock! Two men, surely the nobles they were expecting, where standing by the open door of the dining room… knocking to draw attention to themselves.
“GOOD NIGHT to all royals present”
“Good night… to what do I owe the honor of your visit gentleman?” says the King as he readjusts his tunic after the family episode.
“News travel fast as you surely know my King, we just had to meet the young man that joins the elite circle” the Conde says staring at Link up and down.
So even they had knowledge that the new member was not a baby, I REALLY need to start paying attention around here.
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter Text
LINK POV
“We brought the boy a gift, but…” the Count stares at Link “I don’t think he is old enough to use it, he can keep it still, he could use it once he is older, or maybe the King himself could give it proper use” the Count of Akkla says with a malicious glint in his eyes.
The Duke places the gift on the table in front of Link, not minding that this could be regarded as bad manners since the royal family was dinning… The present was a shaving knife, the King stands up looking at them like he wanted to kill them.
[Want to know why there is no stylist in the castle? The King fears treason, he won’t allow anything sharp near the face or neck of his family and himself. When they need a trim or a shave, they call for a person of trust that does it for them, this always happens late at night to avoid curious eyes. Yet people have noticed the castle has never hired a stylist or barber, nobles criticize this and regard my King as weak and fearful, but I think he is smart and cautious, as he should be… I mean he is the KING; treason is something he should be wary of. PLEASE DON’T TELL ANYONE I CUT YOUR HAIR; I could get in trouble]
“Well, look at that, a shaving knife” Link picks it up and stares at the blade and its details “and it’s not of bad quality, you have to teach me how to use it my King” Link tells the King who is shooting daggers with his eyes at Link, the Queen begins to say something trying to deflect the hit, but stops when she stares at Link’s eyes… eyes that seem to be pleading for her to stand back.
“Hehe, I don’t think he can teach you boy” the Duke says giggling.
“And why is that your grace?”
“He does not know how to use it, we nobility don’t bother with trivial things, we ALWAYS visit the barbers in town and pay for them to take care of it” says the Duke smiling, thinking he managed to belittle the boy, and to corroborate that the King was a fearful leader… given his reaction to the shaving knife.
Got you son of a bitch Link smiles evilly
“HAHAHAHAHAHA, I had no idea nobles had such a good sense of humor… I mean, come on, EVERYBODY knows a noble would not allow a third party to come close to his neck with a sharp blade, that would be very stupid…” Link says in low volume completely losing the smile, his eyes reflecting malice.
The Akkla Count and Duke look at each other unsure if they were being threatened or something.
“Let’s paint a picture, shall we?” Link says as he slowly mimics a man receiving a shave, and then slowly draws the blade across his neck, representing how easily someone could slit your throat. Half way through his neck he stares up at them without lifting his head, he grins and blood starts sprouting through his teeth and rolling down his lips and chin, he had bitten the inside of his cheek. The Duke and Count stare in panic, their faces reflecting terror at the image implanted on their brains.
Suddenly somebody taps on Link’s right shoulder, he widens his eyes and quickly cleans his mouth with his glove before turning, the King was standing there, glancing at him with curiosity, then he slowly takes the shaving knife from Link’s hand.
“You are correct on that my boy; I will buy you a better one when you start to grow a beard” the King opens the shaving knife slowly and makes eye contact with the Duke and Count of Akkla “In the meant time I would be the one giving this one a proper use” he says stroking the razor’s edge with a finger without losing the guests eye contact.
DAMN!!! I was aiming at showing my King was cautious and cunning, and also make them feel stupid and scared by showing a graphic image of what could easily happen. But he took it to another level, he just managed to be perceived as dangerous, he has officially earned my loyalty and respect.
“You… were about to eat your dinner, right? we won’t disturb you any longer, enjoy this pleasant night” said the Count, the Duke nodded at that, and both of them left the dining room in a hurry. Silence reigned for a few seconds.
“I hope we managed to give them something to talk about” Link says to the King
The dining room erupted in laughter from the King and the Queen.
“They left pissing their pants, they are not talking about this visit with ANYONE” says the Queen.
FUCK, I wanted them to spread the news that the King of Hyrule was to be feared, oh well…
“Daphness, you have homework now, you need to learn how to use that shaving knife, we don’t want them saying that you lied…” says the Queen, she then looks directly at Link “teach him son”
Son? Just flow with it Link, she of course didn’t throw you off guard.
He glances at Zelda from the corner of his eye, she looks like she is about to rip him apart
She is pissed, GOOD, she deserves it… this will complicate the relation I need to forge with her to accomplish the king’s goal though… why do I love to make things harder for myself?
“I am truly sorry mother; I would love to comply to your demand but… I myself don’t know how to use one, give me a few days to learn, then I can teach my King” Link reassures her.
“Argh, well, better than nothing… eat your dinner before it gets even colder and go to sleep, BOTH OF YOU” she stares directly at Zelda
Link finishes his plate in a few mouthfuls and stands, Zelda just pushed her plate not having even touched her food and also stands. They both stare at each other furious.
“Can I take the Princess’s food to my room?” asks Link still glancing at Zelda
“No… you may drop it, I will send it to your room later, are you still hungry?” asks the King as the princess starts leaving the dining room.
“No, I just hate the idea of wasting food because of a tantrum” Link says with vile
Zelda stops at the door hearing that, was about to turn and answer but choose to continue walking to her room. If she spoke, she was surely going to break in tears, and she was NOT going to let any of them see that.
Zelda leaves the dining room almost running away, Link rolls his eyes.
The King sighs “She is not going to make it easy, and it may get worse once she realizes you are here to educate and prepare her… but please do not despair, she will have to understand and accept this” he states with hope.
“I know that my lord… changing the subject, I would like to make a request your Highnesses, could you put Platonia as my personal maid?” Link asks humbly
“Chacha? She is just a messenger, we have much more competent women, Lili is excellent washing clothes and ironing them” says the Queen with suspicion in her eyes.
“Excuse me, but I'm not interested in a maid who is good at her job, what I need is for the people around me to be multi-faceted” Link answered
“HAHA, and you decided she is that after knowing her for an hour or so?” the Queen taunts “her being a beautiful girl has NOTHING to do with this right?” she rolls her eyes at Link
“Anyone who spends an hour with her would notice, but you be the judge of that mother” he stands, opens his arms and turns around showing his attire.
“She is the one who made me look presentable today… even when I refused to lose the gloves, she managed to make it work, she also gave me advise on what to expect from the guest we just had”
“SHE KNEW THEY WERE COMING? She is the one filtering information to Akkla then” says the Queen angrily.
“No, my Queen, she just suspected this was going to happen because it always happens, or so the butler tells them, so she prepared me for it.”
“Where did you get the hair cut?” asks the King suddenly.
And there it is, the question [PLEASE DON’T TELL ANYONE I CUT YOUR HAIR; I could get in trouble] sorry Chacha, but I am not stupid enough to lie to my King.
“She cut it for me” Link says bravely knowing he just tapped the lion in the balls.
The lion was about to roar but the Queen stood immediately, and grabbing the Kings hand she spoke “and you trusted her to do that?” the Queen kept tabs on Link and the King, trying to avoid a fight between them.
“Yes… I did, how could I not? She practically told me she was going to castrate me if I made her King look bad, so she took care of that not happening because of my looks… she does not only have my trust, she has my gratitude… I believe a girl that know how to play this game, cuts hair, loves her King and has the memory of an elephant, is a valuable asset.”
“She is going to castrate you?” says the King half smiling
Well, she did not say THAT, but I am sure she will do it if offered the chance.
“Elephant memory?” asks the Queen
“She took my measures but did not wrote them down, since she had no paper and pen available at the moment, I am sure she has them written down by now, but any of you can check them, I bet they are correct” Links says with certainty.
The Queen grins at that “all right, she IS a valuable asset, we will consider your petition and we may inform of our decision in…”
“I will notify the head of the staff of Platonia’s change of obligations and salary” interrupts the King
“A few seconds apparently” finishes the Queen glaring at the King
The King sighs “She is your personal maid starting tomorrow, UNDER ONE CONDITION, I get to cut one of your toes if you ever do that again” the King says
Link stares at the King puzzled “Do wha-”
“Don’t fuck with me boy, you wiped the blood away but I can still smell it, under no circumstance are you allowed to damage something of mine, do I make myself clear?”
I am his? Oh… I suppose I am HIS son now, wait… he can smell blood? I… need to keep that in mind for the future
“Crystal-clear my lord, it won’t happen again” Link breaths in and out slowly “I will be forever grateful that my Highnesses listened to the demands of this poor and uneducated young man” Link says doing a curtsy to add a dramatic touch… hoping to earn a giggle or smile, just to clear the air of tension.
“STOP WITH THE DRAMAS AND JUST GO TO SLEEP!!!” screams the Queen smiling
GENERAL POV
Link gives one final bow at them and walks to his room, the servants enter the dining room and start to pick up the used plates, the Queen asks one of them to take Zelda’s food to Link’s room, the King is staring at her smiling.
“You liked the boy, didn’t you?”
“He is not perfect, but he is all right… more than all right, he managed to make you look GOOD, scary even… kind of sexy if you ask me.” Claire says as she gives her King a side glance meant to incite him. “I don’t know why I doubted your choice… oh yeah, because you don’t always make good choices. You chose ME knowing I was not good enough for you”
“You keep telling yourself that, maybe one day you will believe it… because I surely won’t” the King says holding one of her hands and kissing it.
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 10: Agent Wolf
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
Zelda enters her room, the minute she closes the door, she leans her back on it and slides down sobbing.
They love him, they don’t even know him but they look at him with fascination… they can’t even look at me without rolling their eyes. Mom must be tired of me… I guess that is my fault, she is sick and I make it hard for her with my rebellious stand. But she IS MY MOTHER, she is supposed to love me no matter what right? And Daphnes… he never tried to have a relation with me, I am just an accessory that came with the package.
It hurts a lot to see how they were staring at this filthy beggar boy… their eyes full of wonder and smiling with pride. He then said I was making a tantrum… that offended me, it implies that I behave like a spoiled brat. And what hurts the most is that not even the Queen defended me. Both of them stayed silent and allowed the offense, I guess they also think I am a brat… If they despise me so much, why won’t they let me scape… all I want is to live my own life in peace, and let them live theirs too. Is that so wrong? what am I supposed to do then? What do they expect of me?
She continued sobbing hugging her knees.
LINK POV
He enters his room, draws his cell phone and dials, no verbal response, just a tapping sound.
“Agent Kid here… I need to stablish communication with Wolf” Link says and hears the connection being stablished
“FUCKING DAMN KID, I ALWAYS KNEW YOUR HEAD WAS FULL OF SHIT BUT-”
“Whoa, hold your horses, I have important news Claudio, if you would just list-”
“WOLF! agent Wolf to you, stupid zygote” the agent snarls back
“Wolf I… have a situation here in Hyrule, I find myself unable of heading back to the headquarters, if SWORD needs me, they must send a notification to Hyrule’s castle from now on” Link informs him
“WHAT!!! Since when do you think you can avoid your obligations here?”
Link laughs a little “since today… I am sending you some pictures to exp-”
“I DON’T WANT YOUR BULLSHIT LINK, I just made up with my wife, no more filthy pictures”
Link opens his eyes wide “No! it’s not porn, I am over that” he says with a sheepish grin “its documents I need you to see”
Link sends the pictures. Once Wolf receives them, he quickly scans the document with his eyes and stars laughing hard. “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA this is FAKE” said Wolf when he saw pictures of the adoption papers.
Link requests a video call, to show the documents to Wolf… he needed him to believe what happened, so he could be on his side if shit hits the fan. Wolf begins to read the adoption papers and starts berating.
“YOU GOT TO BE FUCKING WITH ME, so those papers REALLY exist? how? why you? I don’t find you special at all” says Wolf faking anger, but in reality… he was amazed.
“You are right, I am not special. They were expecting Michelle to show up, but you know she… I just happened to be there at the right time” Link answers lifting his shoulders
“Damn… aren't you ashamed that you benefited so much from Michelle's death?” asks Wolf trying to make Link feel bad about the situation.
“Not at all, I grieve her death like everyone else, but this muzzle… I deserved it” Link answers rather sadly, Wolf notices the pain in Link’s voice and changes his demeanor.
“Muzzle? Why? What were you asked to do Kid?” Claudio asks genuinely worried.
Link breathes “To correct the course of a stubborn egocentric Princess, and for that I have to be here always, unless SWORD demands my services”
Lifting his eyebrows “Oh… that does sound like a nuisance, but If it were me, I would be celebrating, you now have access to commodities, and the only thing they ask of you is to give the princess a few slaps now and then, doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all” Wolf adds trying to uplift the spirit
Because only Wolf can manage making me feel good about a dire situation.
“Hehehe, you are right oh wise one”
“When am I not right? DON’T ANSWER THAT… I KILL YOU; I will give notice of your situation here… you know, preheating the oven.”
“Damn, Will is going to kill me” Link says looking at his cell battery
“Yes… for referring to him by name, General Zalatoris is going to kill you” Wolf ends the call.
That went well… I mean, I was expecting an implosion or something, he was in a good mood I guess… of course he was, he just made up with his wife.
Link begins to undress to sleep, then he hears the sound of steps outside his door, chooses to ignore it since he feels drained, if it’s important he will know tomorrow surely. He goes to sleep but sleep avoids him, he kept about how to do what was asked of him, without hurting Zelda... since a big part of him still wanted to kill her. But his logical part refused to do it, this Zelda is innocent, but… memories of the loops kept purring in his mind, memories of betrayal, memories that never happened to him, but were forcefully implanted on his mind, hurtful memories and a lot of hate.
He got a glimpse of the first rays of sun, signaling that the night was over, he was soon going to have to leave the bed and dress up.
THUD!!!! Awwww!
Link stood up immediately and opened the door to see Chacha on the floor raising her palm to stop him from approaching
“Don’t my prince, there is soap on the floor, you could fall” the maid tells him.
“Are you ok? How did this happen?” Link asks
“I don’t know, I was heading here to start my first day as a maid, I thought maybe it was TOO EARLY to bother you, so I quickly turned to head back and well… it’s still slippery, but I will take care of it, don’t worry.”
It was Zelda, the, steps I heard must have been her doing this. The prank was not dangerous so she does not want to kill me, she just wants to let me know I am not welcome, to bother me enough that I end up leaving the palace. Hehehe… my sweet Princess, let the games begin.
“You know what? I hate wasting things, use the soap to also mop my room, would you?” Link suggests
“Of course, but put a shirt on, would you?” Chacha counters
“Hey! You came early to my room, don’t blame me for not being decent yet” Link playfully retorts.
“True, won’t happen again” Chacha assures him.
“And… why where you coming to hell so early?”
Chacha starts stumbling on her words, but manages to answer “I just… I just wanted to make sure you would not leave Nana waiting”
An alarm starts sounding on the desk, Chacha’s eyes open wide in fear, but she does not scream, Link walks towards his cellphone and stops the alarm, then plugs it and leaves it charging.
“That sound was an alarm, it was meant to wake me on time for Nana’s food, I was not going to allow myself to forget it” he winks at Chacha and enters his closet room to dress up.
Since he did not really had clothes, he chooses yesterday’s trousers and the loose undertunic he wore under the jacket, after considering he wears the belt because it combines with the shoes and gloves. Link then walks out of the closet to enter the bathroom, washes his teeth and tries to brush his hair for a few minutes, but ends up ruffling it. He comes out and clicks his tongue to draw the maid’s attention from the soapy floor, she looks at him and nods in approval of his looks, he walks toward the door ready to leave but notices Chacha looking at him in an awkward manner.
“Do you need anything?” Link asks
“I should be the one asking those questions you know” Chacha says staring at the floor
Link crosses his arms frowning at her “do you want me to force it out of you?”
She opens her eyes wide and was about to yell at him, but calmly answers “you know, I… never asked you to do anything for me, I was fine with my job, I never complained, it was an honor and a privilege to have it in the first place… but thank you for the upgrade. I will not fail you; I said what I needed to say” Chacha says pouting
“You are welcome” Link answers bluntly
Chacha looks at him and smiles, then reassumes mopping the entrance, suddenly Link rushes to grab her by the shoulders.
“Do you need anything my Prince?” the maid asks surprised by Link’s actions.
“Don’t call me that, I… will let you know my name once I get it, my name is what I want you to use when you speak to me, no titles.” Link raises her head up with his index finger and frowns “damn, I just wanted to memorize it”
“Memorize what?” she questions the Prince.
“A genuine smile from you, it’s pretty, I really thought you were uncapable of that. Do it more often, that is an order” Link says stridently as he starts to run, Chacha rolls her eyes grinning.
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 11: Raziel
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
I am sure this is where Nana said she would be, but I don’t see her or anybody for that matter, why is she not here? Am I the one who just got stood-up?
“OH! there you are my Prince, I thought you were bluffing about coming for breakfast” Nana said as she approached Link wiping her hands on her apron “but my instinct told me I should definitely expect your arrival. There are tacos for us, follow me.” She said entering her kitchen.
No food was visibly served, but still the kitchen smelled A LOT. Resting on the table was yesterday’s newspaper, in the front page it read with big black letters CANON LAW: ANGEL PERIOD. Link quickly glanced at it and dismissed it.
I wonder if there are people who still follow that law, naming babies/pets/business after the canonic period sounds… I mean, if its flower period naming a boy after a flower may even be considered cruelty if you ask me.
“I usually keep my word Nana, and I said I was coming… Tacos sounds way too safe, what am I really eating?” he asks a little suspicious
“It’s brain tacos and a few tongue ones, all beef innards” she says as she passes him a plate and grabs one for herself, then positions a basket between them on the gable, the idea was for them to grab the tacos out of the basket and place them on their plate to eat.
Link raises his eyebrows and produces a half smile; he then reaches inside the basket for a few tacos
This might as well be the end of me… reason of demise: indigestion
“How do I know which one is which?” Link asks
“You don’t, isn’t that fun?” Nana answers with an evil grin
Nana reaches behind her for a bucket and places it next to Link
Link notices “You are expecting me to throw up I guess” he states
“I hope you don’t, but I am no newbie, people have emptied their intestines in this kitchen before… so I learned to better be prepared” she says as she sits and bites on one of her tacos.
He squints his eyes at her taking the comment as a dare, he bites into one of his tacos maintaining eye contact with Nana.
Just so you know, I am NOT scared, I have eaten liver, kidney and intestines, brain and tongue just happen to be new to me and I don’t know if it was properly cooked or… WTF, this is amazing, I need water though.
He lifted his eyebrows in amazement, stood to reach for the water jug, filled his cup and also reached for Nana’s cup, he looked at her raising an eyebrow, she smiled at him trying to suppress the pride she felt.
“Yes, do fill my cup please and thank you… I assume you are pleased with my food” Nana states
“I am satisfied with the brain tacos; I still need to try the tongue ones… what else can I expect to eat in your kitchen?” Link asks suddenly very interested and kind of excited at the prospect.
“Liver obviously, eyes, kidney, gizzard, heart, I want to try intestine and testicles… I have to ask you something” Link raises his head to look at her and signals with his hand for her proceed with her question
“Why did you asked for Chacha to be your maid?” asks Nana, Link stops chewing and clears his throat
“Because she is an asset, she has a set of skills that I value, and knows how to swim in the pool I blindly jumped in. I trust her judgement” Link looks at Nana who is nervously wringing a napkin “My intent is not sexual if that is what worries you, if I force her to something it would be to answer my questions and to be brutally honest, your daughter is safe with me. Can’t say the same about myself though” he says with a half-smile and reaches for more tacos from the basket.
“She is not my daughter” she says with tears forming in her eyes.
“I… I am sorry, I just thought-” Links starts to say but is stopped by Nana when she suddenly stood, went around the table and hugged his head crying. Link was fighting to repress his instinct to subdue her, he chooses to just focus on breathing. She finally stopped crying after a few minutes and retreated cleaning her tears with a napkin.
I should warn her about… NO. I am part of a family now; I must learn when to react and when not to… whom to defend from and whom do I allow in my inner space… My coworkers were so damn right about the difficulties of managing family life and our work. The fight instincts implanted on us are not an on/off switch.
“I am sorry my Prince, I was just so happy, Chacha has never had a friend before, do you have any idea how many nights I prayed for this to happen? She is just so young to be so lonely”
“I don’t know if she considers me THAT, but yeah I can see her as a friend” Link says still trying to recover from the sudden hug “I thought I made you cry by making you remember she is not your daughter” Link says reaching for more tacos.
“Oh, she is not mine, but I love her as if she were, the poor girl was abandoned by her mother when she was 6… I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, it was obvious her mother did not love her at all, since she would not even feed her. When that awful woman ran away, I asked the king if I could keep the child and he agreed… ¨I have visited the orphanages in Hyrule, the upbringing of those kids is disgusting… if you say you can take care of her, I will allow it¨ he said to me”
“My king sounds like a good and reasonable man, I kind of understand why it was extremely important for Chacha to turn me into the son he deserves” Link says finally finding a tongue taco
“He is the best!!! it saddens me to think the princess still refuses to give him a chance…” adds Nana sadly
Give him a chance? He is her father, he does not need to be begging for any- [Queen Claire Harkinian, Princess Zelda Harkinian, and me Doble D Nohansen] SHE IS NOT HIS DAUGHTER, they don’t even share last name, I thought he had at least procreated her before he became the ruler of this land.
The root of the problem is that she has no authority figure, my King wants to be her parent but she wants none of it, this has to be the reason why she ends up turning into the bitch I know… she has daddy issues. And the King expects me to reverse this mess… FUCK. Well, I think I can fix this, but I am not Freud, it won’t be by talking it out.
Chacha enters the kitchen in a rush, does a curtsy for Link and speaks “you have been summoned to the office? The butler said you know where that is, its urgent so you should go as soon as possible… can I help Nana or someone else around with their chores? I am done with your room and bored”
Link covers his mouth and starts coughing out of laughter, then nods at her. Chacha turns and starts to leave but stops at the door and yells at Link “BE A MAN AND START GETTING THAT ROOM FILFTHY, I DON’T WANT TO GET BORED”
Chacha leaves, both Nana and Link keep staring at the now empty space, Nana smiled happily, Link was suppressing a fit of laughter
“I think she considers you a friend too” says Nana grinning, Link gives one final bite to his taco and stands
“I have to leave now, my presence is requested apparently, thanks for the breakfast” Link nods at Nana with a smile.
“Thanks to YOU my Prince. This basket still had 20 tacos the guards were too grossed out to continue eating, you just helped me finish them. did you at least find a tongue one?”
“Yes, but just one, it tasted good too. I have to hurry now, my King may be a great man, but he does have a temper, I don’t want to make him angry at me AGAIN” Link says as he hurries and leaves, Nana’s laughter at that last comment can be heard even outside of the kitchen.
My maid is bored, she wants me to give her things to do, I am NOT filthy, but I can try. That one is the door… was it not?
KNOCK-KNOCK!
“ABOUT DAMN TIME, come in” answers the Queen
Link pursed his lips and opened the door, revealing Queen Claire sitting and hustling through paper and the King standing at the edge of the desk, he was trying to grab on one, but as soon as his hand approached the desk, the Queen growled at him. Link stands still, not knowing what he should do, all he knew was that he did not want to interrupt the lioness.
“You start by closing the door behind you and greeting us” says the Queen aggressively and without raising her eyes from the papers.
“GOOD MORNING your majesties” Link says as he closes the office’s door, while the king starts calling him to come with his hand.
What was I expecting? for a strong man to be paired with a meek woman? Of course not, that shit only happens in chick flicks. If my King is an animal, my queen has to be the handler.
“Don’t mind her aggressive tone son, she is just a little stressed with your name choosing” Daphnes says.
“Just a little? There are MANY things to take in consideration, I want a special name that has not been used by the Royal family in the last 200 years, so all these names are useless” the Queen drops a pile of papers to the floor.
“I don’t want any noble saying ¨the royal family does not follow the old canon laws¨ NOBODY DOES, but they are going to say that about us because they can… this year is the turn of the angels, so we have to give you an angel name, making all these names trash too” the Queen pushes an even bigger pile of papers off the desk.
“Crossing out the names that have already been used, you only have a list of 5 names… choose one” the Queen orders Link, the King walks right behind her and starts massaging her shoulders.
Link grabs the list before saying “Thank you mother, for all the trouble you went through for me, but I must ask, would it be possible for me to keep my actual name?” Link asks hopping it does not offend the Queen and demerits all the struggle she put herself through.
“Yes and no, what is your name?” asks the Queen
“His name is LINK” answers the King and continues “Boy… you are a Nohansen now, our family has always carried two names, chose a name that pairs well with your current one and you can keep it”
From a list of only 5 names, damn… but the Queen actually put a lot of thought and work on this list… like she actually cares, even though we just meet. I AM going to choose one from the list no matter what.
Link lifts the list and reads the suggested names
Jophiel… that sounds gay. Metatron… NO, I don’t like it and it sounds like a robot, Selaphiel… better. Raziel… ok, actually it has a nice ring to it. And angel Moroni… that sounds like a moron, definitely NO.
“RAZIEL LINK NOHANSEN, that is the name I choose my King” Link says, the King smiles broadly at that.
“Sounds good, I was thinking on Jophiel you know, but it’s YOUR pick” says the Queen producing half a smile.
The King opens his eyes wide at that statement “NO WOMAN, THAT SOUND GAY! I am not allowing it” declares the King in anger, the Queen erupts in a fit of laughter, Link sighs.
She was joking… DAMN IT, I was considering changing my choice to Jophiel just to please her. This woman is a coercer, I think I like her.
The Queen kept laughing and the King suddenly kisses her, just to shut her up, Link takes this as his cue to leave them alone, as he turns to the door the Queen yells.
“Raziel, go to your room and STAY there, Martin is coming to see you in an hour or so, I will send him to your room so you better be there” says the Queen
Link questions her before leaving “Who is Martin?”
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 12: Martin
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
A tailor… they called a tailor… both my majesties said it was important for me to be presentable, to be perceived as rough, yet classy and educated. I won the favor of the King and Queen easily, but the Duke and Conde of Akkla made something clear yesterday, the real struggle is being accepted in the noble circle, my majesties are doing their best to up my chances… and I am doing my best not to implode here.
CREAK!!!
Link raises his head to stare at the door. Another gust of wind blows and opens it a little more. He sights and slowly stands from his bed to close his door. As he approaches it, he realizes somebody is standing out there, he decides to suddenly open the door revealing it was the Princess, she looks at him and freezes.
“Came to check on your stunt?” Link asks bluntly
“What are you talking about? I just completely forgot you existed. THAT room you are using was my comfort space before you came, thanks for taking that away from me too” Zelda rebukes
Link rolls his eyes “You are welcomed highness; would you mind telling me what else did I took from you?”
“EVERYTHING, STUPID COMMONER” the Princess yells
“Everything… if I was able to take it all away easily, seems like you had nothing to begin with… poor rich girl” Link says rubbing his eyes mockingly
“HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? With that limited pea brain of yours you wouldn’t unders-”
BOOMM!!! Link slams his door loudly, trapping the princess inside with him. she just looks at him wide eyed, she had not noticed when she started walking inside his quarters, she was too distracted by the argument. Links stares at her and begins to approach her.
“How would I know? Doesn’t take a wizard to figure out you are spoiled and desperate, and you know what the saddest thing is? You calling out for help, yet refusing it when given to you” Link says almost threatening.
BAMM!!! Link slams his palm in the wall right next Zelda’s head
“So far I have gathered that you are a bitch, but tell me Princess, is there more that my pea brain needs to know about you?”
Zelda looks at him squinting, Link chuckles at that.
“If you want to get rid of me, you need to up your game, the soapy floor thing was childish” Link says when in a fluid movement Zelda draws a dagger from under her dress and stabs him in the gut. She starts chuckling and asks in a mock tone.
“So… do I still need to up my game or is this enough?” she smirks, then slowly widens her eyes once she notices there is no blood pouring out. Link draws closer to her ear and whispers.
“Much better… do pose a challenge for me please, I am bored” he slowly reaches down for the dagger, he then takes it without struggle from her hand and examines it.
I was wrong, she does not want to get her hands dirty, but SHE IS COMPETLY ABLE TO KILL ME, this just got interesting…
TOCK TOCK TOCK!!! Link walks to his door and opens it, a very elegant man with glasses and a curled-up mustache stands there.
“OH, hi my Prince, I am Martin” he bowed smiling “I am here to corroborate your body measurements and get to know your suit preferences… things may get a little personal, I advise for the lady to leave your premises”
“I AM NO LADY; I AM THE FUCKING PRINCESS… DAMN IT” she yells as she starts tearing up as she leaves.
“Well… I was not told you would have company, so not my fault if I did not address her properly, was she crying? Not my doing I hope, but let’s forget about her, my charge is YOU. Martin says wiggling his eyebrows and grinning.
Should I be scared?
“My measurements were already taken, I don-”
“I will take them again; this is how I work. I only trust my eyes. Other tailors can work with just numbers but not me, I need measurements a good glance at my costumer, to assure that whatever I produce, will look good on him. And since the other tailors are busy with clients for the ball, it means you are STUCK WITH ME HOHOHO” Martin says as he starts asking Link to undress to measure him.
This man is crazy… and probably gay. Martin is not using my title or being respectful at all, I appreciate that, kind of makes me feel normal… Is he feeling me?
“It looks like you have a well-defined body for your age, good proportions and symmetry… you could have a little more calf muscle but that is just my personal preference. So far, any type of cut for your suits would look good on you, what is your preference?”
Should I? if there is one reason for me to use the advantages of my title is THIS ONE, here goes nothing
“Martin, I don’t really care about the cut or color of the suit, but I do have one request. I want my suits to be resistant to this” Link says showing Zelda’s dagger, Martin widens his eyes.
“NO-NO-NO. I am a tailor, if you want an armor, I am not the one to call” Martin says crossing his arms pissed.
“I don’t want an armor, I just want to feel safe in this sea of back stabbing rich people” Link proceeds to show how the dagger fails to tear the tick undershirt he was wearing “if I push hard enough it will tear, but it is a very thick fabric that grants protection, could you make something like this?” Link says taking off his undershirt and offering it to Martin.
Martin grabs the dagger and tries it on the undershirt, he finds the fabric thick and hard to tear.
“You want me to make your suits like this?”
“Can you?” Link asks raising an eyebrow… hoping Martin takes it as a challenge
“It’s Martin the tailor you are talking to boy, of course I can, but it will be heavy and not very fresh”
“I don’t mind the heat, and how am I supposed to grow my calf muscle without weight” Link wiggles his eyebrows at Martin who turns every shade of red possible.
“It should be a crime for you to be doing that to people… ALL RIGHT, I will do them, how many and…”
“Your choice, I don’t know about this, do as many as you think I need to have, just don’t make them flashy, you choose the colors too.”
“6 sets, simple design, masculine colors, got it” says Martin smiling as he bowed and prepares to leave the room.
Yeah, I want all that of course… damn, I don’t know what I agreed to… but fuck it, let it be a surprise.
“Your clothes will arrive in a week or so, once you get them try them on, if there are adjustments that need to be made you have 3 days to notify me to fix them free of charge… it was a pleasure meeting you my Prince” Martin says as he leaves, Link stands to check a bag that the tailor obviously forgot.
Such a forgetful man… wait, this is for me? It does have a note with my name on it. COOL, now I have 3 tunics I can wear as everyday clothes, they seem to fit a bit loose, but that is ok, better than being naked, and look at that… 3 pairs of stockings and 6 braies. Hahahaha, if only I used them.
Wolf tried to socialize me and gave me boxers once, but I avoid using them, I don’t like feeling trapped. I am trying to educate myself to using them again, since I can’t let them catch me naked in the castle, but I am currently using them to sleep only.
The cellphone’s ringing tune begins playing, Link walks to the desk to pick it up
“Dude, I was just thinking about you”
“About my awesomeness I hope, because you thinking about my sexy lips kind of scares me” Wolf jokes, Link rolls his eyes.
"Seriously now, let me tell you, General Zalatoris didn’t believe me… he fired you but today the adoption papers arrived, and he laughed like a maniac, then he locked himself in his office with a folder…”
“So… am I fired or not?” Link asks
“DUDE! have you not being paying attention? Of course not, an inside man in Hyrule is a wild card we can’t pass up, but I bet the General is trying to find some job to get you out of Hyrule ASAP, he needs to have a long chat with you.”
“Now? but… somethings just happened here that filled me with determination” Link says cheerful
“WOW, what happened? You sound hopeful? Not like yesterday”
“I just realized THIS is not going to be as hard as I was thinking, you see… today the Princess stabbed me” Link says with a smile
“WTF!!!, and this is good because you didn’t die? Or is there an ulterior motive?”
“It means she can be dangerous; she is not a defenseless rabbit that I have to convert into a wolf, I just have to tame her” Link assures the agent.
“Well… when you put it like that… yeah, it is good news, royalty here are just figures to distract the people. But in Hyrule they actually do their fucking job, she is going to need those fangs” Wolf said
“YES, and that is why I am hopeful, it’s still going to be hard, but” he breaths in slowly and smiles
“I think it’s doable now”
Notes:
thanks for sticking with me
Chapter 13: Poison
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
Zelda reaches her room’s door running and enters, once inside she throws herself on her bed, buries herself on her multiple pillows and screams.
I JUST STABED HIM, DAMN IT, I AM A KILLER. Well… technically I am not, since he is not dead, why is he not dead? I should have been able to at least hurt him a little, he did not appear to be wearing anything that could pr- NONONONO, I should be happy. If he is not hurt, I am not in trouble. If I am not in trouble, I don’t need to run away. And that is GOOD, since me running away is IMPOSIBLE.
She raises her head from under the sea of pillows on her bed, then takes a deep breath
He mocked me… he said he was bored… he was provoking me, what happened was NOT my fault at all… HE WANTED IT TO HAPPEN. Yes of course he did, that is why he did not bleed, he was expecting it, or at least ready for something like that to happen. The question is why? What does he win with my violent outburst? Well, I am not entertaining him like that anymore, he better watch what enters his mouth from now on.
Zelda raises herself from the bed, looks at her stand of books, then shakes her head.
I don’t have anything here that could help me, give me ideas on how to poison him? I mean… I do have a good shot at it, since he eats a lot apparently, I need to check if we have anything I could use to kill him, and I also need to inform myself about this SWORD agency thing, because if he works there, he has to be hard to kill… HAHAHAHA, that would make his sudden death even more hilarious.
And she stands from her bed laughing, tries to brush her short hair with her fingers and exits the room.
I must be smart about this; I need to head to the storage and check what we have there that I could work with… I guess I need to ask around too, I need to know what he usually eats if I want to poison him.
Zelda enters the storage room, once inside she begins looking around, lifting lots of small boxes, she found bear traps and smiled, then shock her head and hid a mouse trap under her dress.
“Good evening my princess, do you need anything?” asked a service boy with glasses that suddenly appeared by the door.
Zelda hides her surprise and recovers “Yeah… I was looking for rat poison, there is a rat that refuses to fall in the trap” she lies, hopping the employee does not notice.
“I see…” the boy says taping his index finger on his chin “a sprinkle of this over some food should do” he says raising a box that read: ARSENIC
“Just tell me where the rodent is and I will place the bait, it will be gone in no time” Zelda widens her eyes
“Actually, just give the box to me, I have seen the rodent in many places, I want to put baits in all of them” she says avoiding eye contact by faking interest in another box nearby.
Act natural, and avoid his eyes, the last thing I need is someone noticing I am lying. A sprinkle he said… a handful I will use then, since he deserves it.
The employee opens his eyes “I… can’t do that my Princess, this is a strong poison, it’s dangerous to even touch it, I would not forgive myself if something happened to you because of my poor judgement”
“I see… thanks for telling me, I will take note of all the places I catch a glimpse of the rat, and then I will let you know”
Damn it, well… I can later come and steal it, the good news is that now I KNOW I should protect my hands, and be extremely careful when using it, since entering in contact with it is not an option. Now where or who should I ask about his eating habits…
Zelda was leaving the storage thinking about visiting the main cook of the castle, once there she could ask him what has he served the peasant lately, as she started walking there, she heard laughter that made her stop and pay attention.
“Yeah… he seems a little eccentric, but everything played out fine, and stop stealing the guard’s food” Chacha says
“HEY, I am not stealing, that is beneath me, I am just giving it a little taste, making sure it has enough salt you know” Link rolls his eyes laughing.
“Peasant boy stealing trash food, why am I not surprised, I thought your date with the fagot was going to take a little longer… Oh well, I am not petty enough to comment on your lack of sexual performance” Zelda declares trying to drill him mentally.
Chacha lowers her head and looks at the floor biting her lower lip out of anger, Link just turns to look at the Princess and smiles.
“Hello there, want some?” he asks raising the ladle
“EWWW, why would I want THAT?” Zelda asks in disgust
Link raises his shoulders “I don’t know, why would you care about what happened between me and Martin? You jealous sweetie? You should not be… I am not interested in men. Bratty girls don’t stand a chance either but who am I to crush your hopes” says Link leaving the ladle in the sink, Chacha is trying hard to suppress a fit of laughter, Zelda turns red in fury.
“I… can only wonder how you came to this rambunctious idea that I want ANYTHING from you?”
“Why indeed…” says Link tilting his head and slowly smiling at Zelda
“If there is anything I thought I made perfectly clear is how much I hate you, or do you need a reminder?” Zelda says furious.
“I am right here” Link says gesturing her to approach him with his hands.
LINK POV
Zelda snorts and leaves, Chacha bolts to the door just to make sure the princess is out of ear shot and then laughs LOUD.
“AND YOU!!!, I should seriously berate you” Link yells at Chacha
“What about?”
“Do you trust me?” Link asks her in a serious tone.
“Hahaha, trust is a big word you know… I did something for you risking my job, I only asked of you to keep it a secret and you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did not even try to keep it a secret, I soon realized it would benefit you and me in the long run if I told the King about your capabilities, was it wrong of me to think so?”
Chacha looks to the floor with a mix of frustration and shame “Not at all my Prince, thank you”
“What did I say about calling me that? I ask again, do you trust me?”
Chacha takes a long breath and sighs “I trust you Link”
“That means you think I can make good decisions, and that I am physically capable, is that correct?”
“That is what I think Link, where are you going with this?”
“Then why did you allowed Zelda to get under your skin? I don’t need a big sis to defend me, I am not weak, I need my trusty maid to model me how to behave with this people, I am sure biting my lips in anger and lowering my head IS NOT WHAT I SHOULD DO”
Ups, kind of failed modulating my voice there at the end, she won’t notice right?
“ALL RIGHT, I get it, but what was I supposed to do then? Grab an apple and enjoy the shit show?”
“Yes!!!, because you trust I will deal with it and we will be laughing about this later” Link says raising his eyebrows at her expectant.
Chacha opens her mouth, closes it not saying anything, then laughs a little “I understand, I won’t make that mistake again” she says smiling
Link smiles back and winks at her “If you would excuse me, I need inspect something important” he says as he turns and leaves Nana’s kitchen.
I have a BAD feeling, I am sorry Princess but if there is something I have learned, AGAIN AND AGAIN is that I should not trust you, there is no way you just happened to be passing by Nana’s kitchen, why were you around the area? What else is here?
Looking around he finds 2 doors that he does not know what or where they lead to, he was about to try one when the door handle turned and opened, a young man lifting some boxes exits the room and after staring at Link, the boy drops everything.
“G… Good. Good evening, Prince?” the service boy says, eyes wide in amazement.
“Good evening” Link says in approval of his assumption, looks down at the dropped boxes and starts to pick them up
“NO, no, no my Prince, I will do it, I am sorry, I was startled, nobody comes to the storage and today I received 2 visits from the royal family, I am not used to being so popular”
“2 visits? Who else was here” I don’t think I need an answer
“Princes Zelda, she wanted poison to kill a rat that she has seen somewhere on her premises”
Of course she does, wait Link don’t make assumptions, maybe she does have a rat problem… but I should still be careful with food from now on.
“And did she found what she needed?”
“I showed her something very effective we use here, but I did not give it to her, its arsenic, she could damage herself with it if she is not careful, she said she will come later and tell me exactly where to put the baits”
This boy… he just told me EVERYTHING, he is like an open book, that makes him useful and dangerous, I will take note of this.
“I see, well, I guess she was able to find it herself, my help is not needed anymore, do me a favor and don’t ever tell her I was here, I don’t want her to think I doubted her capabilities, have a nice day”
“Of course, my Prince” Link begins to walk back to his room, but stops, turns to asks the boy.
“Name?”
The service boy widens his eyes, scratches his head and adjusts his glasses “Raj… Ram… Raz”
“HAHAHAHAHAHA, not my name, how would you know that, I have not presented myself to you. What is YOUR name?”
“Oh, that is not important your majesty” FUCK, really? A male Chacha?
Link looks at the young boy frowning,
“So, you think you know better than me what is and what is not important? HA, the next thing that comes out of your mouth better be your name” Link says threateningly.
“Maco” answers the service boy trembling.
“And how old are you Maco?”
“10 years old my Prince”
10… that is REALLY young, still a kid, why is he working at such age?
“That is too young to be working…”
“I am not working my Prince, I am in training, I just come for a few hours so that I know the job, making it easier for me when Séneca retires and I take over”
That’s… wow. Maco could be out there playing or doing mischief, as other kids do. But he is here learning a trade… I like this kid.
“This level of caution and responsibility I respect, a pleasure to meet you Maco” Links says holding his hand out for a shake.
Maco raises his head and grins shaking Link’s hand “the pleasure is mine Prince, my mom says that I speak too much, but I got to say this… you are scary, but now that I meet you, I am actually excited to start working here, mmm…” he says looking at Link but not daring to ask what he wants to know.
“Raziel Link Nohansen, but just call me Link”
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 14: Dad
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
Link walks around his room in circles, obviously restless and frustrated, he contemplated the idea of breaking his desk or even burning it, but he chooses to be civilized and now finds himself behaving like a lion in a zoo cage.
I used to be a hero, Farore’s chosen puppet, I fought impossible monsters under dire circumstances… but right now I am afraid… of MYSELF of all things. I may kill someone, or destroy something if my situation doesn’t change.
It’s been a week of sedentary hell now, I have explored the whole castle, I even meet Seneca, he showed me how the storage connects with the garden through a trap door. It makes sense, the loaded carriages enter the garden, then the service men quickly move the load inside through the storage. It’s been interesting but right now, I have NOTHING to do. Young adults and teenagers always do bad things and make poor choices out of boredom. I am no normal teenager… me bored is a VERY dangerous scenario.
RING!!! RING!!! RING!!!
He picks up his cell phone from the bed and looks at the screen, once he identifies the caller, he presses the screen icon to answer and waits.
“I can’t get you out of there” said the General
“Good day to you too, don’t worry chief, I have been holding just fine” of course not, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“You… are fine? Not anxious? It must be that you don’t know. Hehehe, you weren’t able to open the King’s envelope I presume… I would love to celebrate this with the secretaries, but” the General sighs “You certainly choose the wrong time to fail at something.”
“What do you mean General, what do I need to know?” Link asks
“The Gerudos pose a threat, not all of the Gerudo race, but there is a group of them who idolize Ganondorf, and he is been absent for 2 years, all they know is that he was heading to Hyrule, and he never came back, they assume he is being held captive in Hyrule, so they have to retrieve him.” he sighs
Shit, that HAS to be my fault… He was sealed by the sages, and without the triforce piece of power, he is not scaping that prison ever.
“I don’t know when this is going to happen but the castle is not the safest place to be in. We are not sure how, but they obtained fire weapons, rudimentary weapons but I assure you… the castle is going to fall” the General states.
William is playing me, he must be… the King looks so at peace, he wouldn’t be if he was aware of this. My King would do something to protect the castle and his people wouldn’t he?
“Did SWORD inform my King about this?” Link asks the General.
“Yes, well… we gave the notification about the upcoming Gerudo attack on the envelope you delivered, but we did not inform about the guns, since we can’t prove the Gerudo have them, and it would be hard to explain firearms in a letter.”
“Why would you want to pull me out of here then? Seems like I am where I am needed” Link says.
The General sighs “Because that is NOT how we do things, you know this already, we are not SHIELD. I wanted you to walk out of this conflict, gain more perspective on the matter, make a defense strategy with escape routes, and THEN we get you back in the fry. But that is impossible now…”
Link whistles “I know, SWORD is unable to extract me from Hyrule, Daphnes requested help clearing an issue and SWORD agreed to investigate. I personally delivered the result of that investigation, but since the issue is not resolved yet, it can be considered treason from our end if I leave. That means they can and will kill me… well, maybe just imprison me since I am a royal now. I understand William, and I am not scared, I will make this work.”
“You CAN’T, you are alone in there, people are going to die… Your job now it to MAINTAIN THE KING ALIVE, if he stays safe Hyrule can rise again, forget about the Queen and the Princess. Daphnes is the important chip here” General Zalatoris states.
If only… Daphnes is a family man, if you want to destroy him all you need to do is hurt a member of his family. DAMN! I am his son now, that means I will have to make sure the King, Queen, Princess and myself remain alive and safe through this. Shit just got a little more complicated.
“That won’t work, if it the Queen or the Princess die or are left behind, it’s the same as killing the King, believe me… it’s all of them or none” Link says but immediately regrets it, since he knows what the answer will be.
“If Nohansen still has a pulse, we DON’T CARE if he is dead inside, the agreement we have with the Kingdom holds as long as Hyrule’s King lives” the General makes a pause closing his eyes “I know you Kid, that horrendous thing you just said about saving all of them means… you care for them, don’t you?” he sighs trying to mask his deception and fear for Kid, “Listen very clearly, I FORBID YOU TO SAVE THEM, Daphnes being the only exception. But if you still find yourself at risk, leave him behind and RUN. I am not losing another agent; IS THAT CLEAR?”
Link closes his eyes and forces himself to answer “crystal clear” then he quickly hangs up and gives a punch to the wall, then closes his eyes and raises his head.
I may consider obeying the General but first… I need to talk to the King. I need to know if he is being passive about this or if he is taking preventive measures. The level of my involvement is going to be conditioned by my King’s response to the menace.
I should search for the trapdoor that connects the garden with the storage... Just in case.
He thinks as he leaves his room heading down to the garden, as he walks, he notices changes in the castle walls, new wall tapestries decorating, more candle illumination, and even a portrait of the royal family. Once he reaches the garden, he notices that a few bushes have been trimmed into animal figures.
Ok, definitely we are preparing for something, but what?
Link then glances at the trap door that leads to the storage, and once he reaches it, he draws the dagger that Zelda used on him to pick at the lock, after a few tries the lock opens, he then removes the lock and hides the trap door with a few overgrown bushes and dirt.
There, that is an exit route through the storage
Link stands leaving the now hidden trapdoor behind, he then notices the King at the entrance of the garden, leaning against a tree trying to light a cigar. Link closes his fist, squints and approaches the King irradiating anger and frustration. The King raises his eyes and smiles when he notices Link approaching.
“Good morning son” Link stops dead on his tracks.
DON’T FUCKING DO THAT!!!, how dare you call me that, right when I feel like I want to punch that fucking smirk out of your face.
“Good morning… smoking is a nasty habit” Link says angry.
“Yeah…yeah, I know that, Claire doesn’t like me doing it either, but there is nothing else I can do to lower my stress” the King admits in defeat.
Link looks at the King in the eyes and says “Why would YOU be str… please, tell me the reason is the Gerudo attack”
“So, you DID open the envelope” the King says not even raising his gaze to look at Link.
“No, I couldn’t… I was just recently informed. If you don’t mind me asking, what measures are you taking about this my Lord?” Link asks, really hoping the King is doing something… he came to really admire this man; he does not want to be let down so soon.
“What CAN I do?” he takes a puff on his cigar “I can’t cancel the royal ball, since that would strip me of my title and destabilize Hyrule’s economy, I won’t do that to my people. I can’t use my soldiers either, the nobles coming would take their presence as a war threat, and this could cause a revolt. Neither can I inform the Queen and Princess… they can’t do anything about this so why put them in distress?”
So that is what we are preparing for, the annual ball, I never understood why we celebrate them, not that I care to know.
Daphnes points at the top of a tower
“They are trying their best but if you look closely, you can see the lookouts I placed on the towers and the roof of the castle, they are also armed with bows and arrows, they are instructed to give a warning if they see the Gerudo, and also try to stop them as much as possible but… ” the King gives another long puff “but if I can’t trust them to recognize their Princess when she disguises, can I trust them with this?” he says rubbing his temples.
“I have also ordered to strap the horses to the royal carriage, in case we need to flee the castle fast, but it still feels like I am not doing enough, what else CAN I do please tell me” The King says with desperation.
My King is breaking right in front of me, what do I tell him? he is right, he has done everything he can, he could do more if his hands were not tied by his title… SWORD!!!
Link reaches for the King’s shoulder with his hand and shakes him a little.
“Notify SWORD my King, allow them entrance on the territory”
“Can’t do that son, the agreement with them is written in stone… can’t be changed, and it reads that only one agent is allowed in”
“Unless there is an ongoing event that menaces the current King’s life, I think THIS is an event that puts you in danger” Link says suddenly hopeful.
“Yes, but the treat has to be ongoing, I can’t call them in advance” The King says dismissing the suggestion.
“But you can request a distress call, you will have to call them every 30 minutes to notify you are ok, if you miss a call, it means you are in need of help, the agents enter the territory immediately, it’s not them being here from the start, but better late than never. They will help regain control here” Link states confidently
The King ponders about it a little, then smiles “All right, that IS one thing I have not done yet, I will do that immediately” the King starts walking towards the castle and turns to Link once more “I am sorry you had to see me like this” says the King lowering his head with regret.
That sets it. I will try to save your family my King.
“I am not, if anything it reinforces my original idea about you my Lord” Link states bluntly
The King smirks “that I am a manipulative fucker that can’t take no for an answer?” he says
Link smiles at that “YES, but also a responsible and strong leader whose only fault is that he thinks of others before himself, a leader worthy of my loyalty and trust” Link glances to the side breaking eye contact, suddenly very interested on a leaf falling “you should hurry and make that call dad.”
The King widens his eyes but quickly recovers, turns and starts jogging to reach the castle, a wide grin plastered on his face.
Notes:
thank you for being here
Chapter 15: The Suits
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
Link enters his room carrying a box over his shoulder, Chacha is right behind him yelling.
“LEAVE THAT WHERE YOU FOUND IT, it’s my job to carry that to your room Link” Chacha pleads him.
Link swiftly turns, box and all, and smiles at her “You were struggling with it, and the box is directed to me, I CARRY IT”
Chacha rolls her eyes in exasperation, and gives up by turning and leaving. Link enters hell, puts down the box and opens it, inside he finds clothes and a note from Martin, the note reads:
Good day, I have managed to successfully concoct the clothes as you requested them, the colors were chosen thinking on your skin color, hair color and your particular eye color. You have a week to notify me of any change or fix you wish on the clothes free of charge. ENJOY!
He disposes of the note and pulls a maroon jacket, he then picks up Zelda’s dagger from under his pillow and tries to pierce the jacket, he smiles as he finds himself uncapable of doing so, digging deeper in the box he extracts the other jackets and their matching breeches, he also finds 3 white under tunics, a belt and 2 pairs of shoes
What the… well he did measure my feet, the image of noble me is complete with this, I won’t bring shame and disgrace to the family, HAHAHA, that is from a kid’s movie is in it? why am I so hilarious? I… DAMN Martin… I owe you big time.
Tock tock tock
“YES?” Link yells to the person knocking, feeling too lazy to stand up and open the door
“Are you decent? Asks his maid yelling from outside his room.
“YES CHACHA, JUST GET IN HERE”
“Your presence is requested at the dinner” says Chacha happily, noticing he opened his delivery she asks “do you… need help?” eager to know what he just received
“No… actually yes, could you help me store these clothes in my closet?” Link says pointing at the pile of jackets laying on his bed “There is a bunch of chests in there and I don’t know what goes where”
“Oh, it’s simple, there is a chest for shoes, that one tends to be the bigger one, one for breeches, one for…” she stops when she realizes Link raised his head to the celling and put his face between his hands
“I… need small wood pieces, I can use them to tag the chests and that way you will know where everything goes” Chacha says restraining from laughing
Link recovers his soul and looks at her with gratitude “THANK YOU, go to the storage and ask for them, I am sure they have some there”
Chacha pics up some of the clothes and starts storing them “maybe you should pick what you are going to wear tonight before I store it”
“I have the Jacket here already” he tells her raising the maroon jacket” just give me the combining breaches and an undertunic”
Chacha pops her head out of the closet room and rolls her eyes “Maroon, the color is Maroon, why do men suck at naming colors” she says mocking him.
Link suddenly feels the urge to defend himself and the whole male genre “That IS NOT our fault, why should we keep track of all the made-up colors? All men need is the rainbow colors”
Chacha opens her mouth wide in sock "Such a primitive way of thinking, of course we need to name colors, how would you call it of you want a color like blue but not on THAT tone?"
“By description. Its lighter blue, darker blue, or whatever color mix you are thinking of, simple.” Link states proudly.
Chacha just looks at him in disbelief, but uncapable of contradicting his logic, she sighs “you are stubborn… there is no point in arguing, Nana says that arguing with a suborn man is a waste of time, if you are right you can’t lose, but you can’t win either”
Chacha pushes the box to store it inside the closet, she then pops her head out through the door to ask “You KIND of make a point I will give you that, how would you call these?” she says throwing the maroon breeches at him, which he catches quickly with one hand and stares at them.
“Red-brown, or dark red” he answers and raises his left hand to catch the inner tunic that was also thrown at him slowly glancing back at Chacha “l am stubborn but not irrational, if you come up with a logical argument do tell me, I may change my antics and learn new colors” he states honestly.
“All right, I will keep that in mind, I am going to finish storing your clothes tomorrow, once I have done the wood tags to signal every chest, you should get changed and go to the dinner ASAP” Chacha says leaving the room.
ZELDA POV
FINALLY, another family dinner, time to use this… but how or when do I put this in his food? It was hard enough to store it in my tiny leather pouch, since I can’t touch it. It crossed my mind just throwing it in the pot before dinner got served, but… I don’t want my mom to die, I would not mind Daphnes’s death but if he does, my mother will suffer… he can’t die either, just Link. I must find a way.
She was thinking as she reached her seat in the dining table
TUMP TUMP TUMP TUMP SCREECH!!!
Link is standing in the door of the dining room, trying to regain balance after his run and sudden stop, he clears his throat, adjusts his jacket and bows respectfully at the Royals before entering the dining room.
“HOLY MOTHER OF… WHO DID THIS? WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SON?” yells the Queen and starts to make her way to Link kind of running.
Well FUCK, he DOES looks very nice, it almost makes me regret wanting to kill him… almost.
“That bad my Queen?” ask Link puzzled, the King is hiding his smile behind his hands.
The Queen grabs Link by his shoulders and turns him several times, a smile slowly reaching her face.
“You look handsome, very manly for your age, NOT bad at all, the outfit looks heavy but hugs your body nicely, who did this?” asks Queen Claire.
The King answers proudly “Martin is the name of the tailor sweetheart, I am relieved the outfit looks this good, because it was expensive”
Link widens his eyes “Really? It must be my fault; I went a little crazy with the specifications… I am sorry, how much did each cost?” Link demands to know; he is thinking on repaying that expense.
“Each? There is more than this one?” asks the King surprised.
Link smiles in relief “5 more, different colors each, 2 pairs of shoes, 3 undertunics and a belt my lord”
“I see… hehehe it was a good expense then” answers the King glad the expense was worth it “you claim to have gone crazy with the specifications, but I don’t see anything special about your jacket, the silver embroidery is a good touch but…”
“I wanted the suit to protect me from attacks” Link turns to the Queen “that is why it looks heavy; I challenge you to try to stab me mom” Link says with seriousness
Eyes going wide “Wha… no, NO” the Queen answers in shock and anger.
“I THOUGHT I HAD MADE MYSELF VERY CLEAR LAST DINNER” the King yells, scaring the service who had just arrived with the food.
“You did my lord, don’t worry, she is not going to even damage the jacket” Link says half smiling at the King, who just stares back with a mix of doubt and worry.
The Queen frowns at Link’s challenge, and grab a knife from a plate the staff just delivered “it better work because I am not holding back” she menaces.
KILL HIM mom, Daphnes won’t blame you and we would rid of a nuisance.
“I would be offended if you did” Link says smirking
The Queen walks up to Link and grabs his shoulder with her left hand, breaths in deeply and uses her right hand to trust the knife at Link’s belly with force, Link bends a little massaging his belly, but quickly recovers and stands tall grinning.
The Queen approaches to inspect him, she opens his jacket and even lifts his undertunic a little, no blood and no cut, he is probably going to get a bruise though, she then strips him of the jacket and walks towards the King to show it to him. It does have a small sinking mark, but overall, the jacket seems intact.
“Why did you ask for this?” ask the King lifting an eyebrow
“Actually… the Princess inspired me” answers Link, giving a side glance to Zelda, she widens her eyes in panic.
DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE TO TELL THEM, this will destroy me, mother will lose the little faith she still has in me… if any. And it gives Daphnes ammunition to send me away because… why wouldn’t he? I have made it very clear that I am never giving him a chance. Being fair I honestly can’t, how could I? I have a father that loves me, which means I can’t accept Daphnes… him being the King doesn’t change anything.
“She made me realize there are VERY bad people in the elite circle, I shouldn’t trust anybody and I should be guarded, especially now that I am part of the royal family” Link says, the Queen direct her glance at Zelda and grins at her daughter.
What was that? Pride… she is proud of me? For supposedly helping HIM, the goddesses must be mocking me. I hope he does not even entertain the idea that I now owe him… it doesn’t matter though, he is not going to see the light of a new day if everything goes according to plan.
Claire states “She did? Good to know you are in good terms already, I have been very absent due to the ball preparations and other circumstances” the King gives Link a quick glance “I assume we can start reviewing Zelda’s new courses right after the ball”
My new what? And how is the peasant involved? Zelda thinks as she focuses her stare at the King
“What do you mean by new courses? She lives in the library already” ask the Queen with concern
“She knows about laws and Hyrule’s history, but she is going to be Queen one day, she needs to know about pain, hunger, people’s needs, war and its effects… that is where my son is going to help us”
OH, COME ON, DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!!! now you want me to believe he is here for me? Admit it, you sought him up to be the perfect son you always wanted, and then you brought him here to boast about him with the nobles.
Zelda kept staring at Link squinting her eyes, Link only smirked back at her.
Suddenly the Queen states "AND I have to leave you now, I still have to try my dress on, and check the maid's attire for tomorrow" the Queen stands up and looks at Zelda "I already send your dress to your room, you should try it on and notify me if it needs fixing"
PUM!!! The King slaps his hand on the table “If… I also have things I need to tend to, I will send your food up to your respective rooms”
The Queen stares at Daphnes with worry due to his sudden action. Zelda uses the distraction and slips the arsenic on her food.
“In that case there is no point on staying any longer. DON’T send me my food, I lost my appetite with the news about my new courses” Zelda says bitterly glaring at the King, she then gives a quick side glance full of hatred to Link and she leaves the dining room.
LINK POV
Link decides to remain in his seat, as he watches the Princess and the Queen standing and leaving the dining room, he pushes his plate forward and directs his attention to the King.
“So, what is the real problem my King” Link asks bluntly, knowing the King just avoided speaking. The King answers massaging his temples
“I just wanted to enjoy this dinner but… I had to avoid breaking in front of my girls. I am sure the attack is happening tomorrow, with the nobles coming for the ball and my soldiers out of here… the Gerudo are not stupid, they won’t pass this chance up. “
The King looks up at Link, closes his eyes, and breaths in before speaking loud and clear.
“PROTECT MY FAMILY, THAT IS AN ORDER” Daphnes states with authority, looking at Link.
I don’t really have to follow your orders Daphnes, and you know it. Buy I respect you… I will do what I can.
“Of course, my lord”
“YOU are also my family now, don’t forget that…” the King exclaims angrily, and then sighs.
You can’t have it all my lord, it would be good for all of us to come out of this safe, but let’s be real here, that possibility may be out of reach. I can’t promise to keep ALL of us safe, but I can put my life on the line to protect your family, since I have chosen to ignore Zalatoris’s order.
“I will send your dinner up; do you want Zelda’s too? The Queen and I could share it if it’s too much”
Don’t you dare touch that food, it could kill you.
“NO” Link doubts for a second, then smirks “don’t bother yourselves with that, I will eat the Princess’s food too my King, I am ravenous.”
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 16: Fall out
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!!!
I guess that means I have to get up and go eat breakfast… or try at least, I am still not completely recovered from the Princess’s personal brand of nourishment. I don’t know what I was thinking, it was a small bite but it did a lot of damage, my stupid ass JUST HAD to make sure if she was really going to kill me.
Link gets out of bed, gets himself dressed in a simple tunic and some breeches, grabs his cellphone and stores it, then washes his mouth and heads to Nana’s kitchen for some breakfast. He stops in front of Zelda’s door; he grins and was about to knock on her door but stops himself.
What the fuck am I doing? This is NOT the way… I want her to suddenly realize her plan failed, and have to fake a smile to keep appearances, THAT IS THE WAY. I should hurry downstairs; I need to make sure my girls will stay away from the castle… I need them to be safe.
Link turns and continues down the stars towards Nana’s kitchen. Once he reaches the kitchen, he looks around hoping that she is not there… but finds her serving what appears to be soup.
“HELLO THERE” he yells waving his hand at Nana, she smiles back at him.
“I thought you were going to skip the guard’s breakfast today, with the ball preparations and all, I was sure you were gonna be too tired to wake up early and come” Nana tells him.
“Why would I miss it? I need your cuisine if I want to survive the ball” he tells her very seriously but avoiding eye contact
“HAHAHAHA, stop being so dramatic, you are going to do just fine”
Link sighs if only…
“You are not the main cook Ivanna, and the guards are gone because of the ball, why are you still here?” Please just go, you don’t have to be here, it’s not safe, JUST GO.
“I was thinking about taking the day as suggested by the butler, but I can’t leave my 4 big boys without food, I stayed to cook breakfast and prepare a small treat for later”
“4 boys?” Link asks her a little jealous
“3 guards that stay today to protect the King, but they will be disguised, and YOU of course”
She stayed because the idea of leaving us hungry bothered her? She needs to set her priorities straight, she wakes up early EVERY DAY for them, she is allowed to be selfish today, isn’t she?... NO, that would not be her, she is a mother in soul and in practice, if we let her, she will baby ALL of us, and smack us if she feels like we need it.
Nana continues “And now I was thinking that maybe I should stay, it’s the ball… somebody may need help, I will gladly help even the Cook if he asks me, unlikely because he hates me, but one can only dream”
Link looks at her directly in the eyes “Ivanna… leave, take this as a day off, go visit somebody or do whatever, but don’t stay, you already work hard and long hours, let the rest of the workers earn their salary, LEAVE.”
“OH, WOW… sounds like YOU don’t want me here, and I thought you and I were” Link interrupts her rant by hugging her, this makes Nana stop talking immediately.
Link sighs “You are right, I don’t want you to be here today, enjoy your free day, and sleep well because I want to try some beef liver or heart tomorrow” he releases her from his hug, and smiles.
Nana looks at Link with curiosity and suspicion, then releases a sigh “all right, I will leave if that makes you happy, right after breakfast of course, its beef gut in green salsa, how much do I serve you?” she says happily grabbing the ladle.
“As much as can be spared, I really need it” Link answers her
Specially since I emptied my stomach several times yesterday.
Nana gives him a BIG serving, and Link repeats that 3 more times praising Nana on the flavor, she just stares at him trying to decipher something, he kept avoiding her gaze.
“You are clearly not angry with me, why do you want me out of the castle? Was it something I did? or are you trying to DO something?” Nana asks with an inquisitive gaze.
Link struggles finding something to say when she just burst out laughing LOUDLY.
“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TRYING TO SURPRISE ME? Hahahaha, I love surprises hun, a promotion will be nice, but to what? I don’t want to take Rolo’s spot as the main cook, he has a family to support. I am fine where I am, so DON’T do that. What else could you possibly… OMG!!! It’s my casserole is it not? You DID get me a new one? How big is it? no don’t answer, I will come tomorrow and act all surprised”
Link just half smiles and places his index finger across his mouth winking at her. Nana finishes her breakfast exited, and prepares to leave after hugging Link good bye.
I hate lying, if there is one deed I take pride on, is my word. I don’t lie, I mean what I say, and I keep my promises… but I am not feeling bad about letting Nana believe a lie right now, as long as she stays away from the castle and safe. I have to think of something witty to tell Chacha, she has to leave too. The last thing I need is a distraction… worrying for their safety IS A DISTRACTION, I need them both safe and away from here ASAP.
He starts going up the stars to his room when he hears a low scream, looking up he finds Zelda at the top of the stairs staring at him in shock, he just smiles at her and continues to climb the stairs, once he reaches the top, he stops right next to the princes and leans close to her hear to whisper.
“A little too high on the arsenic, I noticed on the first bite and threw it all away, good job on sprinkling it on the food without anyone noticing” he says and continues heading to his room.
I WISH I could have noticed on the first bite; I am lacking on that part of my training, all I did was eat a small piece and wait half an hour to see if it was safe, but she does not need to know that.
“Why… why can’t you just fucking die?” Zelda mumbles after Link’s retreating figure, not expecting him to hear of course, but he does… surprising her when he suddenly stops and turns to glare at her.
“Why indeed” Link answers, sadness pouring out of him, puzzling Zelda. Then the door to his room opens shocking both of them, and out came his young maid.
“OH, you are here already, come and see what I did to your closet”
Chacha tells Link with a prideful grin as she pulls him inside his room closing the door. Once inside hell, Link rubs his temples.
“Chacha, today is going to be a LONG day, whatever you did… I forgive you” Link says as he pats on the head holding his mocking grin.
Chacha squints at him and slowly mouths: ¨FUCK YOU¨, then grabs him by the edge of his tunic and pulls him in front of the closet to show him her work.
“TA-DA!!!” Chacha exclaims as she opens the closet door, everything seemed neatly arranged, all the chest were no longer on the floor, but accommodated on shelves and with tags attached to them.
Link whistles as he enters to inspect.
“I had not noticed the shelves, or did you bring them here?” Link asks her.
“NO, I am strong but not THAT strong, they were here already, you just missed them because you are obviously blind, or got overwhelmed seeing everything misplaced and on the floor… cuz you know, men are weak that way” she tells him mocking back.
Link chuckles at the comment “Maybe that is why… the writing on the tags looks odd, like done by a toddler, when where they done and by whom?” Link says looking at the tags an laughing a little
Chacha frowns irate “yesterday, by ME with a hammer and a pointy rock” she says folding her arms and shifting her gaze to a side.
HOLLY MOTHER OF… she did them cave man stile? Damn... my comment may have hurt her ego.
“I didn’t mean… the tags are beautiful” Link tells her apologetic.
“Pff, like I am going to believe that, DONE by a TODDLER you said, be grateful you CAN read the doodles of an illiterate maid who was trying her best to…” she immediately shut up when she sees Link bending on a knee in front of her.
I SWEAR I did not plan ANY of this… maybe the goddesses ARE on my side this time. This is just too perfect, I accidentally insulted her, now I just need to sweeten her ears, and maybe bribe her with an off day. She is a proud girl; she will take the bait and leave. DID SHE SAID SHE IS ILITERATE?
“I am terribly sorry if my comment insulted your hard work, you were not obligated to do it, it’s not part of your job description, I just asked for it and you took care of it like the incredible and amazing friend you are, I just hope you find it in your heart to forgive me” Link tells her still on a knee, Chacha’s face is red with embarrassment.
“By Din’s flame please just stand up, this brings me shame, why do you keep punishing me” Chacha whines.
Link stands up chuckling.
“Fair, I don’t want to punish you further… I must ask though; how did you do the tags If you can’t read or write?”
Chacha exhales loudly at the memory “I… asked Maco for the wood pieces, he is a nosy little bugger, so I ended up telling him what I was going to use them for, he wrote the names of each tag I was going to use in a piece of paper, I just did my best to copy it.”
Maco? Who the fu… [young boy with glasses smiling and shaking his hand] MACO!!!, I forgot about him damn it.
“Looks like he did us a solid, I should thank him before the ball”
I need to get him out of here too
“Maybe tomorrow or next week, he is just here for a couple of hours since he is not an official worker, so he is not coming today to avoid judgment from nobles”
OH YEAH, he had informed me of his particular training schedule. Link don’t let anxiety cloud your head, FOCUS.
“All right, I will thank him later… this must have taken a lot from you” Link gives her a side glance with a half-smile “I am actually very proud”
“You better be, you have NO IDEA how hard it was to try to hammer letters I had never written; I deserve a reward” Chacha says raising her chin with pride
“You are absolutely right” Link reaches to open his desk’s drawer and grabs a purple rupee “you have the day off… also take this and buy something nice for yourself, or use it as you please” he says throwing the rupee at Chacha, who grabs it midair and open her eyes wide once she looks at it.
“Ar… are you serious?” Chacha asks incredulous
“Not good enough?” Link grabs another purple rupee and throws it at Chacha who quickly grabs it
“DON’T DO THAT! My salary is good enough already, you insult me by offering money” she says stressed
Link takes a deep breath and stares at her with anger “YOU DESERVE A REWARD, this is the only reward I can currently offer, you don’t deny it, you shut up and accept it with gratitude, unless you want to offend ME” Link says faking being insulted
Chacha looks down at her hands currently holding 100 rupees, then back at Link and mouths ´I HATE YOU´ but she still walks up to Link and hugs him “Good Luck today, just don’t bite any heads off and everything should be fine” she then turns leaving the room.
Link breaths in deeply once he is alone in hell, relief evident in his facial expression, then walks towards his closet, reads the tags searching for the chest that holds the Jackets.
Found them, THANK YOU SO MUCH CHACHA, the fact that she was able to pull this off, despite being illiterate juts adds value to the feat. Now I should choose what I am going to wear, there is brown-red, dark-grey, dark-blue, black, brown and a yellowish green. Dead leaf green… it’s fitting, if I die today, I will be wearing my patron goddess’s color.
Link starts to dress up, puts on a white inner tunic, then the breeches and jacket. Lastly, he puts on a belt and shoes that combine with the umber gloves he refuses to take off. He then looks at his image in the mirror behind the closet’s door. The attire reassembles a high rank military uniform, Martin must have been inspired by the specifications he requested, or maybe it was just easier to pull off with this cut in mind. The silver embroidery made Link’s grey eyes stand out even more, giving him a dangerous vibe.
I am ready for the fall out.
Notes:
still reading? wow... thank you.
Chapter 17: Gerudo attack
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
I am bored, seriously this IS a gathering of pompous nobles who just come to brag and check if they still have it better than others. I really have not been paying attention to names and faces, I just smile and shake hands… well, I did scare the Akkala people by almost revealing how they ran away in fear of my King. Let’s be perfectly clear here, it was not a petty move on my part, they DESERVED IT after the stunt they tried to pull… BUT I had to abstain because my Queen looked at me with disapproval.
“I just find boring all this talk about politics, honestly I would rather dance right now, what about you?” a noble random girl asks Link, kind of hopping he gets the hint and asks her to the dance floor.
Link turns to her sporting a dashing smile “Honestly I just want to fill your mouth with grapes” he answers placing a grape on her mouth as he eats one himself. The noble girl was in shock at his antics and started coughing. Link chuckled darkly at this.
Hopefully that will choke… shut her up.
“If you would excuse me” Link says leaving her side and heading towards the Queen, who seemed to be in distress.
A challenge in itself, since he had to cross A SEA of people to get to Queen Claire, and he SHOULD AVOID doing anything that could be considered rude. Meaning he could not bump into them for it could be perceived as an aggression, and he was obligated to stop and talk if they wanted a word with him.
“Is everything all right my Queen?” Link asks when he finally reaches her.
“Yes… actually no. My husband seems stressed and anxious, seeing him like this has me on edge, like something is going to happen, and that odd flash I saw is not helping with my concerns”
A veil of angst falls on Link “WHAT ODD FLASH? WHEN DID YOU”
BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! That is the warning bell, SHIT.
Link grabs the Queen’s hand and runs with her to the entrance. A few arrows fly across the ballroom shattering the windows they broke through. People started screaming, a few tried to run but kept stumbling and falling catastrophically, obstructing everyone’s attempt at scaping. The previous noble girl tried to exit the ballroom by jumping through a window, but as she reached it so did a Gerudo from the other side, the bandit quickly drew her scimitars and slashed the girl’s throat, this happened right next to the Queen.
Despite seeing this, the Queen’s expression remained stoic, she did not scream, she kept running. Link ran behind, he had positioned her to run in front so he could watch over her. He couldn’t suppress the grin that was forming on his face looking at her. Most of the people present stayed frozen in place out of fear, but not the Queen. Claire kept running fearlessly, jumping over chairs and a few bodies, the screams and blood shedding around her didn’t matter… Link could not hide the pride and admiration he felt for his Queen at that moment.
Seconds, the supposed advantage we gained by placing the lookouts was only of a few seconds… DAMN IT, I have to close the ballroom’s main gate, that will trap people in here with the Gerudo. Am I sorry for them? not at all. I am a SWORD agent, I don’t save people, that is SHIELD’S route of action, WE are the executioner, and SWORD does not believe in putting yourself in danger for others, if I have to let them die to save myself and keep my promise to the King, THAT IS WHAT I WILL DO.
Once out of the ball room area Link started to close the gate, cutting the connection between the ball room to the rest of the castle
“HOLD IT!!!” Claire yells, but Link continues to lower the gate.
“YOUR FATHER AND SISTER ARE STILL IN THERE” The Queen is screaming and punching Link on his back, he just continues closing the gate, ignoring the screams and the hands trying to reach him through the gate holes, and he also shuts the door behind the gates loudly, not wanting to see what was going to happen to the ones on the other side, then he turns grabbing the Queens wrist aggressively.
“If you think this is the only way to exit the ballroom, you don’t know your own fucking castle, mother.” Link states strongly but without yelling at her, anger pouring out of his eyes. Screams can now be heard… He is not pleased with what he just did, but it had to be done. Link closes his eyes and walks away releasing his hold on the Queen.
“I am sorry my Queen… the King was not alone in there, I am sure he will be escorted in here soon, Zelda was not in the ballroom either, but I know not where she is”
Then they both turn their heads when they hear the creak of a door opening, Zelda stumbles in.
“MOM what is going on? I heard screams and glass breaking” Zelda asks scared.
TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP the King and his disguised soldiers join them, once Daphnes notices his whole family in there, he sobs a little and immediately hugs the Queen.
THUMP!!! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! They are taking the gate down, we need to leave ASAP
“You need to leave my Lord; the attackers are getting in here any second” says one of the undercover soldiers
“ATTACKERS? WE ARE UNDER ATTACK?” Zelda yells and then runs heading to the east tower
Because she just HAD to make it harder for me, didn’t she?
“ZELDA!!! GET HERE RIGHT THI-” the Queen starts to chase after her daughter, but starts to collapse, Link immediately stops his chase on Zelda and rushes to aid his Queen’s.
It’s her fucking heart, damn it. She does have a diagnose of heart palpitations. According to what I read on everyone’s health records; the medics missed it for years since she rarely has episodes. Of course, this situation is stressful enough to trigger them.
“She is having trouble breathing due to her heart, grab her and the King and get them out of here” Link tells the 3 guards present.
“NO!!! I WON’T LEAVE THIS CASTLE WITHOUT MY FAMILY YOU NEED TO GET ZELDA FIRST” yells the King.
The guards just stare at the King, begging him with their eyes, Link approaches the King with a reassuring smile, then quickly hits Daphnes carotid artery with the edge of his hand, fainting the King instantly, but he was able to catch him as he fell, preventing his unconscious body from hitting the floor.
Guard drawing a dagger “did you just attacked our King?”
“The King is fine, he just went to sleep early, AND he seems more willing to cooperate now, if you know what I mean” Link says still holding the King.
The guard smiles and puts away the knife “it certainly seems that way” the guard takes the robe from the King and puts it on, one guard hug him, the other takes the King’s crown and places it on the one using the robe, tears falling from his face.
Oh… he is going to… but that is a DEATH sentence, how can he willingly… FUCK. Daphnes, you are a loved King, a VERY LOVED KING, I still need to ask you how the heck did you pulled this off, so I will make sure you do not die today.
BANG!!! The gun shot snaps Link out of his inner monologue.
“I see…” Link bites down what he wanted to say to the disguised soldier, they didn’t have the time for that at the moment… he just hoped the brave man knew he will be forever remembered for his sacrifice. “Where are you heading to?” Link asks to the guards solemnly.
“I am taking the royal carriage to Lake Hylia; the King and Queen are leaving in the cargo carriage to Kakariko village” answers the brave guard.
“Don’t, too predictable, and Impa is no longer there… take them to death mountain, Darunia is the King’s sworn brother, he will protect them” BANG!!!
All the guards nod in agreement, the guard in disguise heads to the royal carriage to fulfill his role as bait, the other two start taking the majesties to the cargo carriage, before leaving the Queen looks at Link and tries to say something but no sound comes out, she starts to cry. Link looks at her reassuringly.
“5 minutes, if I don’t get the princess in the cargo carriage in 5 you leave, no matter what the Queen says, understood?” the guards nod at Link orders, so he starts running towards the east tower.
As soon as he starts climbing the stairs, the metallic sound of the gate falling is heard.
Shit, no time, Zelda please be in your room
ZELDA POV
The door suddenly opens startling the Princess; she hugs her bunny plushie tighter and stares angrily at the culprit.
“We need to go now” Link says heading to her window and opening it.
“YOU DON FUCKING TELL ME WHAT T-” Link slaps the Princess cheek hard, he then pushes her against the wall covering her mouth with is gloved hand. BANG!!! Zelda flinches startled by the sound of the gun shot, Link just stares at her and taps on his own ear with an index finger.
WHAT? I am THE PRINCESS, not a filthy bat, what am I supposed to be hearing… Dear Goddesses, they are climbing the stairs, THEY ARE HEADING HERE!
She pushes him away to quickly grab her desk, she pushes it to obstruct the entrance of her room. Meanwhile Link grabs the bed sheets and ties them together making a rope, he grabs one end and throws the rest out the window. BANG!!!
“Climb down Princess, I won’t let go, but do it fast” Link tells her
BANG!!! a Female is heard crying and begging the gerudo, BANG!!! … Silence reigns after that.
WHAT IS THAT SOUND? WHAT ARE THEY USING TO KILL MY PEOPLE? I don’t trust this boy, but I am not stupid, I will climb down, and of course I will do it fast, this is not my first time.
Zelda stares at Link with determination, nods and grabs the rope of sheets. BANG!!! The door’s handle gets blown off; they start pushing the door open but can’t because the desk is blocking it.
They just BLEW part of the door, whatever they are using is like a focalized mini explosion, I AM OUT OF HERE
Zelda looks at her plushie, she had come to retrieve it, but in this situation, it will be troublesome to be carrying it, she throws it under her bed, and grabbing on to the improvised rope she jumps out of the window, she hangs for a second to stabilize from the fall, and starts climbing down.
Well, he did keep his promise… he didn’t let go even though I jumped out like that. THAT WAS A BAD AND RISKY MOVE ZELDA, he could have lost his grip due to the force of my jump and let me fall to a certain death.
BANG!!! Zelda starts falling down, luckily, she was not far from ground level anymore. The rest of the improvised rope fell down with her, the end that Link should have been holding was stained with blood.
FUCK, HE IS DOWN, I MUST RUN AWAY, BUT WHERE TO?
Zelda hears horses pulling a carriage, and decides to run on that direction, as she starts running, she slips on a rock and falls hitting her head on a rock. The carriage leaves without noticing the Princess had been approaching them.
LINK POV
The wind blows hard, signaling the beginning of winter. The screams have stopped, but sobs and cries can still be heard. Link is limping slowly through the garden with only one objective in mind, to make sure the cargo carriage left the castle safely. He stands where the royal carriage should have been, and looking at the ground, he sees horse tracks followed by foot prints.
Well, they took the bait, hopefully that means they did not bother with the cargo carriage.
He slowly walks to the storage secret entrance, the majesties were supposed to have used it to board the cargo carriage, judging by the prints on the floor it seems they managed to board it and are not being followed, then he notices HER laying in the ground. He slowly approaches and is able to see that his Princess is still breathing.
She slipped, or at least that is what her foot prints indicate…PATHETIC.
Link stands looking down at her fallen figure, a sinister smile appears on his face as he draws a Colt Revolver, the weapon that was used on him previously, points it at Zelda and shoots.
Notes:
Hope you are liking the story
Chapter 18: Leaving the castle
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
[“Don’t fuck with me boy, you wiped it away but I can still smell it, under no circumstance are you allowed to damage something of mine, do I make myself clear?”]
Wow… that was kind of scary at the moment, but right now the memory brings a smile to my face, as I said before, I am a man of my word and I respect Daphnes, I will never damage something of his… not even Zelda.
Link was thinking as he enters the storage room through the garden’s trap door, he then slowly lowers Zelda from his back and places her on a makeshift hay bed.
I was planning on using that makeshift bed to rest and recover from the shot, it is not a deep wound, thanks to Martin’s coat, but I still have a bullet somewhere in my right lumbar area, I can’t take it out by myself or properly care for the wound, but I have done what I can...
He stands back looking at the princess and frowns at her, he then starts checking the storage boxes.
SHE is going to need dry clothes she can run with. Come on Maco, you must have left something…
He found shoes, but nothing else. He then slowly looks to a corner squinting his eyes, after a deep breath, Link heads to said corner. There lay Séneca’s body. The poor man was shot on the head right outside the storage, Link had pulled the body inside the storage, and used the keys he had on him to close the door that connected the storage to the castle. Link starts striping the corpse of his clothes, once done, he positions the body lying on its back with the arms crossed over the chest, and lastly uses the palm of his hand to close Séneca’s eyes out of respect.
This is definitely NOT her size, but I think she can still use it. I can fold… or better yet, cut off the parts that fit too long, and make an extra hole on the belt to adjust the breeches… she stayed too long laying on the snow, she is cold and wet, I need to change her clothes to help her recover body temperature.
He looks at her laying on the hay bed, barely breathing.
*You can rape her you know… sex increases body temp*
WHAT THE… WHY NOW OF ALL… How the fuck…
*HOW THE FUCK? You stopped taking the pills 2 weeks ago, what were you expecting genius? For me to magically disappear? The psychiatrist told you; I am not going anywhere. Best you can do is keep me quiet… SO how do we do this? I think we need to put a gag on her first*
I AM NOT RAPING HER
Link says as he walks towards the fire he had going, and places the last pieces of wood on it.
*Why? How is it different from trying to killing her? *
I did not try to kill her; I made a promise to my King and I WILL KEEP IT. Yes, I shoot at her out of frustration, but only because I knew the gun was no longer loaded. I was hoping that doing so would soothe the hate in me, and keep make YOU disappear forever. Guess I was wrong.
*All right, don’t rape her, but you can still punish her… I mean SLAPING HER FELT SO GOOD, and it won’t leave marks because of your gloves, lets AT LEAST do that*
I… give you that one, it felt good indeed, if I do that will you shut up?
*I… will behave*
Link starts walking towards the Princess, and tears her dress open quite aggressively throwing it to the fire, then wonders if he should strip her of the slip, but chooses not to, that piece of garment does not appear to be wet. He then slaps her face.
*YES, do her legs, nobody is going to notice if you leave a mark there*
Told you to SHUT UP
Link begins smacking her in the legs, hopping she would regain consciousness, he NEEDED her to realize what was happening, to see the terror in her eyes, hear her helpless cries, the King will of course hang him, but that was a small price to pay. Zelda will live the rest of her life with emotional scars from this. The peace and hope he felt just thinking about that made him bold, he started scratching her arms with his nails, latter pinching her abdomen and legs, not minding the bruise marks, then he hears a moan.
*Did she just…*
She may be waking up, GOOD… I have just started.
*NO DUDE, you need to stop, she is enjoying this*
Of course not, that can’t be true, you are just being paranoid, she can’t be… enjoying this.
Link slaps her on the face again just to cheek, the blow was hard enough to turn her head, but it will not leave a bruise on her face, then he sees her open her mouth a little and produce a moan. Link steps back and stumbles falling down on his butt, then puts his head between knees.
This can’t be real… how many layers of fucked up am I dealing with here?
*I don’t know, but YOU have many of those yourself…. this has turned into a shit show, I AM OUT*
NO, you can’t just leave me here with this dread, she HAS TAKEN EVERYTHING from me, even my only chance at vengeance… my only shot at peace from this burning hate... And now you choose to remain quiet? Shit, I can’t with this.
Link breaths in deeply and exhales, his breath forming a cloud due to the cold, when he notices this his gears start turning, he grabs Séneca’s clothes and starts dressing the Princess with them. He thought it was going to be a difficult endeavor, but Zelda wasn’t heavy at all, and she was completely out of it. Link shifted and moved her around to dress her, she never even opened her eyes.
RING!!! Link answers the call noticing he is almost out of battery
“Finally, I send a message like an hour ago” Link says faking exasperation.
“AND KID IS ALIVE, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, and I thought I was finally rid of you” Wolf says happily.
“Are you in Hyrule? You can’t be, or how are we using the cell?” Link asks intrigued.
“I am here, and I am not alone. We brought an antenna strong enough to intercepts the castle’s signal.… DUDE, you have to let us know beforehand next time you offer a fake SWORD service” Wolf smiles at the memory “Poor Carla had no idea what the King was talking about, but she managed to make Daphnes describe what he was requesting of us, without giving out the fact that YOU MADE IT ALL UP”
Link laughs at that “You have to admit it was a GREAT move on my part, it helps Hyrule and grants SWORD access for a brief period of time. Present ourselves as an asset and not as a menace” Link answers smiling.
“Well yeah, but Carla did not sleep that day, she had to spend the whole night typing this made-up law of yours, and chasing enough influential people to approve it before the attack today, you need to buy her something” Wolf orders.
“Consider it done, whatever she wants; if it exists, I will buy it. If it doesn’t, I will make it” Link says with certainty.
“WOW, hehe… strong declarations, I will let her know” Wolf says chuckling “why did you texted me and not the General?”
“I acted against his orders, I am just avoiding repercussions for the moment, but DO let him know of my current status… have you meet with the majesties?” Link asks.
“Yes, they seem drained and sad, I am sure they will get a little better once they know you are ok, and on your way here” Wolf says trying to cheer Kid and himself.
Link winces at the idea “I would prefer to stay here actually, I got shot, the bullet is still inside, tried my best to dress the wound, but still, I would rather not move around, and also…” Link looks to the hay bed, Zelda is laying there, eyes open, just staring at him “if I were to move, I would have to travel with the Princess, complicating the task even more for me”
Wolf almost chokes “HOLD ON A SEC, you have the Princess there?”
“She is staring right at me this precise moment, want me to send you a pic?” Link asks Wolf, but looks at Zelda as if asking for her consent to this, she blinks once remaining mute.
“WHY THE FUCK DID YOU NOT TOLD ME THIS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CALL? The Queen thinks both of you are dead, and has been weeping nonstop, I am worried she will dehydrate, the King is a zombie and refuses to eat… this is a game changer… this is HUGE”
“How much longer will it take for SWORD to finish this?” Link sardonically asks
“Doesn’t matter Kid, you can’t stay in the castle, the Gerudo are living there now, it’s like their new base, they will kill you and the princess if they find you, you have to get out of there. Just DON’T GO THROUGH HYRULE FIELD, the fight it’s still on going there, head to the moat behind the castle, cross it and walk to Eldin, go as slow as you need to, that path should be safe, I will make sure a carriage is patrolling the frontier so once they spot you, then they can bring you to Goron City.”
“Good, but won't be able to travel as slow as I need to. In my current state, I can’t guarantee enough food for me and the Princess. Give me no more than…” Link looks up at the celling and closes his eyes frowning.
I think if I take it slow, I could carry on for 3 days, enough time to get to Eldin
*that is with you not eating anything to help the healing process… do you plan to starve? *
No, but whatever I manage to hunt is for her… I have to keep my promise to the King.
“3 days, if by then we have not arrived, consider me dead. Start searching for the Princess by noon of the 3rd day, I may be death but that doesn’t mean she is. The call is going to end soon because I have no battery”
“I will inform the General of this, and also the majesties… you should still take the cellphone with you, even if out of battery, we can use it to locate your body worst case scenario, but that won’t be necessary right?... good luck Kid” Wolf says in sorrow and hangs the call.
Now that the call has ended Link turns to the Princess, she is avoiding his gaze and hugging herself.
Don’t over think it, she appears to be ashamed, but it surely isn’t because she knows or suspects of what I was doing.
“Princess I”
“I forgive you, I do not approve of it, but I know it was necessary, I would like to know what you did with my dress though, I don’t see it.” Zelda says
She is talking about the obvious change of clothes, GOSH… this is good I guess; she remains oblivious.
Link point towards the small bonfire, Zelda widens her eyes.
“It was an expensive dress and you just…” she begins scolding him
“It was the only material around that could be used as fuel for the fire…” Link sighs “we should leave now, try on those shoes”
ZELDA POV
Was that an order? He is ordering me around? He may have saved me but I can’t allow this type of disrespect.
“I don’t take orders; I just give them. YOU leave if you want, this is my castle and I…” she shuts up when Link suddenly grabs her by the neck with one hand and pushes her against the wall, he leans and speaks to her ear.
“The Gerudo have taken over the castle, meaning this is no longer your castle, it’s a Gerudo base, and we are intruders, since you are no longer Hyrule’s Princess, you can’t give orders anymore, but you know what? I CAN, simply because I know what and how to do it. You would not last a day without me, it’s on your best interest to OBEY, and I say WE ARE LEAVING, is that clear enough?”
He is right, and you know it… FUCK, I hate feeling like a dead weight, and now I depend ON HIM, of all people, Nayru must be laughing at me right now.
Link releases his hold on her and begins picking a few things up and putting them on a pouch,
“Catch” he says throwing her the pouch “you will carry that” Link informs her as he straps on himself a waist bag.
“Why?” Zelda asks as she jumps a little when Link suddenly pulls her sleeves and starts ripping the edges off, he also rips the excess of cloth on the breeches, but ends up leaving a leg a little shorter than the other, both of them raise their shoulders and choose to ignore this.
Well… that is a very unconventional way to fit big clothes on a smaller frame, but effective.
“Because it carries a small pot I found in the garden, you will need it to cook”
“WAIT, WHAT? I AM NOT GOING TO DO THAT…” Zelda replies, fear and uncertainty pouring out of her.
“You are a girl and girls cook, so you take care of that, and I take care of finding something to eat every day, fair?” Raziel asks raising an eyebrow.
“I am a princess, I don’t…” Zelda does not dare finish that sentence, in fear of being mocked for being incompetent
“You are no longer a princess, get with the program” Link states bluntly.
“I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT!” she screams and turns her head, hiding her eyes from him “I have never done anything like that before and I…”
“Don’t worry, that is what I am here for, I will tell you how, I just won’t do it, YOU need to do it yourself, consider it the beginning of my lectures” he winks at her and slightly opens the trap door that leads to the garden, he looks around making sure it’s safe to head outside.
He will teach me, or so he says… he knows how to cook right? NO ZELDA, you are in no position to doubt him now, he is here for a reason, and he is an agent of some sort, he MUST know…
I think he winked at me, gosh why did that made me feel uneasy? Is that how I felt? I am so confused now; can I trust him or not? does he hate me or not? he treats me with ruthless aggression, and he know I tried to kill him, so there is no doubt that he hates me… but still he is trying to keep me alive and deliver me safely. I really don’t get it, what is moving him forward?
Link turns to look at her and makes her a signal to follow him, she hurriedly puts Maco’s shoes on and follow him out of the storage room.
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 19: The bullet is out
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The sun was setting, the castle’s garden looked pristine white due to the snow that had fallen the night before. There seemed to be no Gerudos patrolling the area, but they were there… you could hear their laughter coming from inside the castle. The bitches could be seen through the broken windows, they were toying with the noble's bodies and mocking them.
Link and Zelda walked slowly along the edges of the garden to avoid being spotted. As soon as they crossed the garden, they followed an arrow sign that pointed the way to the moat. As they approached the shore, Link notices something and stops death on his tracks, causing Zelda to collide with his back. He raises his hand to signal the Princess to stay and be quiet.
ZELDA POV
Ok I will stay but why? is somebody by the shore? Is that why he is walking crouched? I don’t see anyone. Damn these breeches keep falling, this belt is not helping at all.
Link was approaching the moat’s shore crouching, then he suddenly drops on a knee. He quickly recovers and continues to move forward slowly.
What the… he fell? Isn’t he supposed to be trained for this or something?
Link notices a scimitar laying on the snow, he deviates to grab it, then continues moving towards a lone oak tree near the shore. There is a Gerudo expertly camouflaged sitting by the tree. She was either a new recruit or very fucking stupid. She had made the mistake of falling asleep… and that will be her doom. Link continues to approach her silently, once he is close enough, he quickly yanks the Gerudo’s pointy tail, effectively exposing her neck. She begins to scream but Link quickly slashes her neck, silencing her forever.
Zelda covers her mouth as she stares at the blood pouring out of the redhead, she watches as the Gerudo's arms go limb and her eyes roll back. Link just let the Gerudo bleed out a few seconds, he then kicked her letting go of the pointy tail, the girl fell forward on a small pool of her own blood.
How did I not notice she was there? How did he notice? I always thought that only really stupid people got mugged by a Gerudo. Since their hair and skin color is an obvious give away… I underestimated their ability to blend with the surroundings.
Now seeing her dead body… I can’t help but wonder if he did the right thing by killing her. I mean, she didn’t attack us… did HE really needed to kill her?
The Princess thought as she saw how Link was cleaning the scimitar on the dead Gerudo’s clothes, and proceeds to search her body for ANYTHING that could be of use to them. He found nothing but rings and expensive collars on her… jewelry she had obviously had taken from the bodies of the nobles.
[The bitches could be seen through the broken windows, they were toying with the noble's bodies and mocking them] The memory of what she saw the Gerudo doing with the bodies morphed Zelda’s face from sorrow to pure hatred.
OF COURSE HE HAD TO KILL HER, she would have surely come after us if given the chance, that BITCH is better of dead anyway. I hope she was the only one in the area, we are kind of exposed.
Link signals for Zelda to approach him, she runs to him hoping to get there quickly, or at least before another Gerudo decides to come out of hiding.
“Are you ok?” Zelda asks him with concern
Link just gives her a questioning side glance.
“You fell, I would like to think you are just clumsy… but I know you are not” she immediately explains, more to herself than to him.
“I took gun shoot…” Link squints his eyes thinking on how to explain “I received damage from that loud weapon that made a whole in your door. It left a bullet inside… that is a small metal piece that currently hinders my gait” Link finally says.
[the rest of the improvised rope fell down next to her; the end Link should be holding was stained with blood]
“Yeah, I had forgotten about that, seeing you alive and walking I thought they hadn’t... can I see it? the wound I mean” Zelda asks
Link looks at her with half a smile “does morbidity brings you pleasure?”
“NO, well… I am curious, not going to lie; but if you let me check it, I could help you clean it, maybe even see if something can be done for the pain” she says looking up at him with pleading eyes.
You can call it morbidity, there is a little of that, but what I REALLY want to do is check on it, maybe help clean it...
Rolling his eyes “Why the fuck not” Link exclaims, drooping the scimitar and taking off his Jacket “dressing wounds is a skill that wouldn’t hurt you to have” he now takes off the bandages exposing the wound
HOLY FUCK, I thought the tailor did a good job with his jacket, but it was not the jacket, he HAS a nice build that makes the jacket look good, how old is he? He must be close to 13… I hope. The suit in general is just a pretty wrapper for the candy… WHAT THE FUCK ZELDA, he may still be a boy, lusting over him is a NO GO. And you hated him, didn’t you? just focus. I think I see the metal piece he was talking about; it is not incrusted that deep.
“The wound looks very inflamed, and it’s very close to the spinal cord, maybe that is why it messes your gait, but is not actively bleeding and it doesn’t smell putrid, that is good right? I can see the metal piece by the way”
“Think you can reach it?” Link asks with hope
“Maybe… WHY?” Zelda asks with wide fearful eyes
“Take it out…” Link orders “please” he adds.
WOW!!! NO! I CAN’T DO THAT!
“It is close enough for me to look at it, but I am no nurse or medic, and ANY health professional would still need equipment to extract it without damaging the skin around, if I do it with just my fingers I will rip the skin around it. It will HURT A LOT” Zelda warns
Link looks around and grabs a coarse fallen branch and bites on it
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GUY? it’s like he really does not care about the pain this will cause. Oh well… if he doesn’t care why should I? let’s do this.
Zelda grabs some snow and rubs her hands a little on it, tying to clean them before touching Link’s wound. Then she puts her left hand on his upper back for support, inserting her right-hand index on his wound. She fears to end up pushing the object even more, so she attempts to hook the bullet with her nails and draw it out. But doing so meant widening the wound.
CRACK!!!
Did he just bite through the branch? And I thought I was doing it so well, painless even since he never complained or scream, I kind of feel bad now, but I finally got it, this will be over soon.
Zelda pulls the bullet out, and starts inspecting it with curiosity, Link sighs and starts placing the bandages back, Zelda notices and stops him grabbing his arm, she rips a small portion of the bandage and uses it to clean the wound.
“Sorry but you are bleeding again, not much but I should clean it or it will attract wild animals, or so I have read… Apparently, blood smells, does it?” she genuinely asks.
“It does, thanks for getting the bullet out, and for cleaning the wound” Link tells her sincerely.
Zelda looks down at her hands, and then at the blood stains on the snow “don’t thank me for that, I increased the size of the wound and it caused pain” Zelda says, not understanding why she felt bad about causing him pain. She was exhilarated about it a few moments ago.
Link closes his eyes and breaths in deeply. Turns to stare directly at Zelda, he then lifts her head with his index finger “I will only say this once. You need to start looking at the WHOLE PICTURE, not just the negative part of it. Yes, I am going to be VERY SORE, but there is nothing impeding my movement now. That alone increases our chances of survival, and all it took was a few painful minutes” He grabs for the jacket and puts it on, then picks up the scimitar and starts walking.
Wow… he actually made me feel better.
“I… guess I am a pessimist, but I am glad I could be of help… I have been meaning to ask, why are you not wearing an undertunic?” Zelda asks suddenly puzzled by Link not wearing more protection against the cold
“Your dress was not the only thing that burned… it was bloodied and you said it yourself, it attracts wild life, so I got rid of it… can you row?” Link asks lifting an eyebrow and pointing at the small boat by the moat’s shore.
We are using THAT to cross the moat? SWEET, I have never rowed a boat, but it can’t be THAT hard, I want to do it, this is so exiting.
Zelda just smiles and dashes to inspect the boat.
LINK POV
She seems… happy? Maybe even excited about the idea. Wow, seeing her running to the boat like that ripped a genuine smile out of me. I have to admit, she has surprised me… she just witnessed me slicing a throat and did not scream, has not even talked about it.
[The Gerudo quickly drew her scimitars and slashed the girl’s throat, the Queen’s expression remained stoic, she did not scream, she kept running]
She is Claire’s daughter all right. When I requested her help extracting the bullet, she just did it, without gagging or complaining about my request, that shocked me… I think she wants to prove that she can be reliable… I CAN DEFENETLY WORK WITH THAT.
Link walks to the boat looking around, then he finds what he was looking for, a long and sturdy branch, he picks it up and quickly sharpens the tip with the scimitar, he throws the stick inside the boat and boards it, he extends his hand towards Zelda to help her board. Then suddenly her breaches drop.
HAHAHAHAHA, I did say I needed to fix her belt, didn’t I?
“I SWEAR this was not intentional or an innuendo in any way?” Zelda exclaims picking up the breeches, her face red in anger and shame.
“I know Zelda, hand over that belt so I can fix it”
She removes the belt and throws it at Link, he catches it and draws his Swiss knife from a pocket on his Jacket, an old present from General Zalatoris, he effectively punctures a new hole on the belt and gives it back to Zelda. She immediately uses it to finally hold the breeches in place, then looks at Link who once again outstretches his hand to help her board the boat.
“Can I row the boat?” Zelda asks hopeful.
“You can, but it will tire you. When it does, you tell me and I take over, fair?”
Zelda just nods at Link grinning and takes his hand to board, Link then properly sets the oars and rows a little to instruct her on how to do it, he then stands leaving Zelda to it while he is looking at the water.
“GOSH, I need to lose weight, YOU need to lose weight too” Zelda says frustrated.
“Tired already?”
“No, I can keep this up a little longer, I am just stressed because I am obviously not doing it right, I am barely making the boat move forward”
Link raises his hand to signal her to stop, she stops rowing with a quizzical look on her face, Link suddenly stabs at the water with the branch he sharpened and raises it smiling, there is an eel wriggling at the end of the makeshift lance.
“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” Zelda yells, eyes wide open.
“Dinner”
Notes:
thank you
Chapter 20: SHIELD and SWORD
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
They arrived to the shore at the other side of the moat. Once they were as close to dry land as the boat allowed, Link stopped rowing and climbed out of the boat, he then extended both arms towards Zelda. Her eyes widened as she realizes what he was asking of her, she denies his request shaking her head. They exchange a few words and in defeat, Zelda allows Link to carry her bridal style out of the boat. He walks to a dry part of the shore and lowers the Princess.
LINK POV
“Not all that hard, was it? This way, your shoes don’t get wet and I don’t have to worry about you getting sick” Link says to nobody in particular.
Zelda walks around him, grabs the lower edge of his jacket and lifts it. Once she takes a look at his bandaged lower back, she sighs in relief. The Princess lowers the jacket back in place, and walks around Link irate.
“YOU ARE JUST TOO DIFICULT TO HANDLE, YOU HARD HEADED BEAST” she breaths in deeply “You have an open wound. Logic states that you shouldn’t lift anything, let alone ME…” she yells frustrated, but after a deep breath manages to calm down.
“You don’t want me getting sick, I appreciate that, but I can’t let you die on me for crap like this.” she states.
He breaths out in exasperation “I know my body, I know what it can and can’t do, and I CAN lift you as long as you are not struggling, proof of it is that it the wound isn’t bleeding, or is it sweetheart?” Link challenges her.
Zelda sighs in defeat “No, it is not… can you promise me one thing? That you are not going to bleed out and die on me, that you are going to be extremely careful from now on” Zelda tells him looking at him right in the eyes.
*Damn, you can almost say she cares, but you know better, don’t you?
I can’t really promise her anything regarding me, and YES, I know better, thanks for the reminder.
“I promise that as long as I still breathe, I will take any and every precaution necessary to ensure your survival” Link answers.
Zelda just stares at him and closes her eyes accepting his answer.
“Now what do we do? It’s will get dark soon” she asks Link.
“Follow me, let’s see if I can find a place to set camp before it gets too dark” Link tells her and starts walking east, heading for Death Mountain.
They walked in silence for half an hour, until Link saw a rock formation that stood 7 feet high and stretched for like 20 feet.
That could work, it’s a natural wall that can protect us from the wind current on one side.
“This is a good place to camp; I need you to wait for me here Zelda. Take note on the winds direction and tell me when I get back”
“Ok I guess, what are you going to do?” asks the Princess.
“Search for logs, though maybe I will have to cut them from the tree, I want to use the logs as boundaries for a leaf mattress”
She rolls her eyes “I am not a delicate girl”
[Zelda’s moan after the slap] THAT I know girl, you have made that very clear.
“I can sleep on the floor just fine; we should better use them for the fire” Zelda says
Link shakes his head and rubs his temples “PRINCESS… we need to avoid losing body heat at all cost, the floor is going to suck it out of us if we just lay on it, the leaves will help separate our body from the floor… we are going to need a lot of leaves”
“All right, I could help with that, NO don’t look at me like that… I won’t go far; I will see what I can find within this area. By the way, you said I was not a Princess anymore, so don’t call me by that title, it feels like an insult” she says squinting her eyes at him.
Oh, so she picked up on that one
“Fine, be careful, I won’t take long”
ZELDA POV
Gathering dry leaves, I can do that for sure right? I need to ask him the logic behind choosing this spot… I feel like is something I need to know…
In fact, being with him feels like I should know many of these things already, like I should prove myself to him. I wonder why I feel that way… I think it’s his eyes, he has an intense stare, when he looks at me it’s like he is daring me… and I feel compelled to show him that I AM capable.
And because of that I am dry leaf hunting now, in the past I would have just sat around and let him do everything. But actually, doing this right now, makes me feel… GOOD, like I am not defenseless.
Zelda quickly finds some dry leaves, and chooses to start piling them next to a few bushes that happened to naturally exist there. She was hoping the shrubs would prevent the leaves from flying off with the wind.
I still hate him though… I always wanted to row a boat; I DREAMED about escaping the castle by crossing the moat… I am SO GLAD I never got around to try it. Apparently, I can’t row. It took me like 30 minutes to get half way across the moat, how long did it take Link to get us to shore? 5 minutes.
So yeah, I despise him… and I KNOW it’s not his fault at all, I am just jealous. Why does he have everything? A strong and capable body and my mother’s love and respect, even the King praises him… oh and let’s add insult to injury, he is also very good looking with a strange eye color that looks amazing and intimidating. It’s not fair.
Zelda was deep in thought when she heard Link dropping a few logs
“Wind direction?” Link asks
“It blows primarily from east to west” Zelda answers pointing with her fingers.
He nods and starts positioning the logs accordingly, aiming to use the rocks to block most of the wind current.
“I will need more, I will be back, how did the gathering go?”
“You tell me… it’s the pile by the bushes over there” Zelda point at where she left them.
“Bushes protecting them from being flown away… good thinking” Link says smiling at her.
“Is that ok or do I need to search for more?” Zelda asks him, cheeks a little red from what she assumes was a compliment.
“I would appreciate it if you can find more, just to help light the fire easier. But if you can’t that’s is ok, the amount right now seems adequate for the mattress” Link answers taking the pouch from her without asking, he draws the small pot out and hands the pouch back before leaving again.
Link manages to get back with a pot filled with water and few more logs before sunset, the short ones he separates for the fire, the long ones he uses to finish the boundaries for the leaf mattress, then walks to the bushes to grab the leaves, Zelda notices and immediately stands up to help with that.
“I think we need to start the fire; but I don’t know how to do that” Zelda says with a little of shame.
“You are right, will you finish this? I will get the fire started” Link tells her.
Zelda nods and looks at him “I noticed you are not carrying the scimitar anymore” she points out.
“Yeah… really bad iron tempering, it broke” Link tell her, not bothered about it.
If he doesn’t mind it, I shouldn’t either right? but I have a bad feeling about him not having a weapon.
Zelda does a few more trips to grab the leaves an put them inside the wood boundaries.
I must admit, the log boundaries do keep the leaves in place, no matter if the wind is blowing… but I think that has more to do with the rocks shielding us from the wind. OH, THAT is why he choose this spot… good, I don’t have to ask him about it now. I really hate asking to know about things, makes me feel stupid.
She turns and there is a lot of smoke, Link blows on it and then there is a fire.
I… should have seen how he managed to do that
“Your turn girl” Link says as he walks away.
“WHAT? You can’t leave me like that, what should I do now?” Zelda asks with desperation.
Link grabs his Swiss knife and hands it to her
“I filled the pot with water, boil it and adding the eel”
“But the eel doesn’t fit the small pot” Zelda complains.
“That is why I handed you my knife, cut the eel into pieces”
“Don’t you need to clean it first?” she asks, hoping to see him manipulating the eel, she had NEVER even touched one. Hence… she was afraid of fucking up. If she could see how he does it, maybe she could imitate him.
“Well… I already pulled back the scaly skin while you were rowing, just cut the head off. If what troubles you is the guts… I guess I could take them out”
“ACHOO!!!” the Princess sneezes.
“You are kidding… right?” Link asks feeling defeated.
Zelda goes read for a second but answers “I am not sick, I just sneezed. How could I be… you took precautions didn’t you? you changed my wet clothes, and you didn’t allow me to get my feet wet…it wouldn’t make s- ACHOO!!!”
All right… I may be getting sick, but EVERYONE gets sick once in while right? no big deal.
Link facepalms sighing “Forget what I said about cleaning the eel, you are eating it whole”
Zelda stares at him with disdain “I really don’t think it was my fault getting sick, why are you punishing me? only commoners eats the innards, that is low quality meat” Zelda states defiant.
Link turns to face the Princess directly, his once stoic semblance morphing into a dangerous smirk as he starts chuckling.
Fuck, am I in danger? He seemed really angry at me but then his demeanor shifted completely, that IS a mayor red flag, right? he could be a psychopath for all I know.
Link walks up to her threateningly “It’s not a punishment, it’s primary medical care, not that you deserve it” He breaths in heavily “I am a man of my word, I promised I would do anything and everything… animal guts offer all the nutrition you need to delay or even avoid this sickness. If you don’t get sick, we can move faster to safety”
Zelda lowers her head, breaths in deeply and nods in acceptance. She drops to a sitting position, grabs the pot and brings it to the fire, then starts cutting the eel into pieces.
He is just looking at me… damn it, I am scared of him, but what should I do now? I can’t continue to be quiet, maybe I should start a conversation to ease the atmosphere, because I am NOT allowing him to see me in fear, but what do I say?
“May I ask you something?” Zelda says in a very low volume.
Upon hearing her, Link slowly nods.
“What are you? I mean I know you are an agent of SWORD, but what even is that? I have read in our files about SHIELD, and that they should be avoided. Yet we have an arrangement with SWORD… how is SWORD different from SHIELD?”
“SHIELD… everyone everywhere knows about SHIELD, their work is to defend and protect humanity, be the world’s shield I suppose, SWORD is… let me use an analogy”
Link clears his throat “A farmer plants the crops, but a storm is approaching, it menaces the field where the crops are growing, SHIELD’s work is to protect the field from the storm, sadly not everything growing in the field is the farmer’s crops, but it doesn’t matter, to properly protect the crops you need to secure ALL the field from the storm, that is SHIELD’s mission. Separating the healthy crops from weeds, ferns and other plagues, that is SWORD’s mission, my job”
“So… you are humanity’s executioner…” she says in a low voice looking up at him, Link produces a half smile and winks at her.
He IS dangerous… but he is protecting me, isn’t he? How does that work?
“Yet you are defending me right now… how? I am sure this was not in the job description”
Link deviates his line of sight and tightens his lips
“If a warrior loses his shield during a fight, he can still try to protect himself with his sword… not very efficient though”
“DEFINETLY NOT, a sword is not a shield, he could break it in the process…” She widens her eyes in realization.
NO! he can’t… if he dies, I won’t last a day, I am uncapable and unexperienced, he IS my sword now dam it, and I refuse to break him.
“You will keep your promise, right?” Zelda asks him in a serious tone dramatically shifting the air.
Zelda’s sudden resolve catches Link off guard, he nods in agreement.
“Good… the pot is bubbling” she states.
Link removes the pot from the fire “You eat, choose the guts primarily, I will eat whatever is left on the pot, if you need to drink take a sip from the broth”
Zelda starts to refuse, but upon seeing his eyes looking at her chooses to obey.
He can’t be real, it goes against instinct, who chooses to abstain from food on a dire situation? For the health of a person who dislikes you? And sustaining an injury? He… I don’t like him, I am afraid of him to an extent, but it would be stupid of me to say that I don’t trust him.
This… could taste better, it just needs condiments, but it’s not as bad as I thought, it just looks disgusting.
Zelda hands him the pot once she is finished. Link looks at the pot puzzled.
“You really are done? The pot looks half full; I don’t need you to leave me an-”
“I am full, I ate all the guts and a few of the normal slices, you can finish what is left… drink as much broth as you can too, it warms you up” she says as she starts walking to the leaf mattress with exhaustion.
I am not breaking you. I am not full, but I am not hungry either. DON’T YOU DARE LEAVE ANYTHING.
After laying down, she finds the leaf bed oddly comfortable, though that may be the exhaustion talking. The rocks are doing a great job at keeping the icy wind at bay, but she still feels cold. Even though, she starts to fall asleep. The Princess doesn’t notice Link getting in and hugging her from behind, Zelda just knows that she is at peace and warm, and soon starts to dream.
Notes:
I am grateful you are still here
Chapter 21: Jealousy
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
Gosh, I hate the sun rays on my face, I thought I had my curtains closed for THAT reason, who the fuck opened them?
Zelda slowly opens her eyes, and finds herself out in the field, on top of dry leaves, snow falling scarcely, and an arm around her abdomen. She widens her eyes as yesterday’s events start to set in her memory.
Mother of… all right girl, get yourself together, you are all right, and feeling all right actually, damn… I should eat guts more often. Snow appears to be falling, if it’s cold enough to be snowing why am I not cold? Oh… right, he is hugging me. Well at least it’s just his arm around my waist, his body feels close too but not inappropriately close, I guess he must have felt I was trembling and decided to share his warmth… WAIT, does he have a fever or something? He feels too hot for it to be normal.
Zelda turns her body to face Link, and finds him staring right back at her. But Zelda doesn’t flinch, she just stares at him for a few seconds and decides to raise her hand and touch his forehead, she also touches her own with her other hand.
“What are you doing?” Link asks Zelda with curiosity and a little of concern.
“Checking if you have not broken into a fever, what are YOU doing?” Zelda asks looking down at his arm on her.
“Trying to keep us warm respectfully, does this offend you?” he asks raising an eyebrow.
“It… makes me uncomfortable if I think too much about it, but no, it does not offend me” Zelda answers.
Zelda frowns and raises herself to a sitting position, then crouches on him reaching for his neck. Links reacts immediately, and grabs her wrist twisting it
“AAWWW, let go” Zelda exclaims twisting the rest of her arm trying to avoid the pain.
Link immediately releases her wrist, and also assumes a sitting position.
“I am sorry, that was an automatic response… let’s call it an instinct, did I hurt you?”
“I JUST WANTED TO CHECK YOUR TEMPERATURE” She says rubbing her wrist “I think my wrist is not hurt, and I also think you may have a fever”
Link touches his forehead and then hers.
“I am all right”
Zelda stares at him frowning, Link realizes she is willing to fight him on this and sighs.
“This is my normal body temperature Zelda, I am not making it up, doctors have checked on it and they have not figured out why, all I know is you want me close in winter and far away in summer” Link tells her.
“Isn’t that a convenient trait… ANOTHER convenient trait” she says bitterly and looks away.
UPS… the bitterness just flowed out of me, and now he must be angry and confused, damn I should have kept quiet, the last thing I want is to start a fight with him now.
Link exhales and stretches his arms “I answered your questions yesterday, today is my turn. Why do you hate me?” Link ask her with a blank face.
Zelda widens her eyes with a gasp; she then turns to him frowning.
Oh, he wants to know, like he DOESN’T ALLREADY, well maybe he genuinely doesn’t. Well now he will know.
“BECAUSE YOU HAVE IT ALL” takes a deep breath “you are strong, intelligent, you have the King and Queen’s trust and respect, maybe even their love. The Queen is MY mother… why can’t I have her love? You just came and took everything… in a day”
Zelda stops her rant to search for something she can use to clean her nose from the mucus, and the tears from her face. Link reaches for a cloth napkin he carries in his jacket, Martin’s idea of passing the savage boy for a gentleman. He hands it to Zelda, never taking his eyes from her.
“It going to get dirty and sticky with my mucus”
“My jacket has a hole, I don’t care… I am compelled to right some of the thing you said, would you listen?” Link tells her.
Zelda takes the cloth napkin and nods at him.
He needs to right this… what is he going to do to make this right? ask for forgiveness? That solves nothing but I will forgive him if he asks. He DID save my life.
“To sum it up: I am strong, intelligent, trust worthy, respected and loved, you CAN’T hate me for ANY of that, I was not born with those privileges, nor did I take any of it from you, I earned them.”
Because of course, what he meant was to CORRECT ME, not to ask for forgiveness
“NO WAIT, you did not earn an-”
“My strength is not an inheritance, I had to work my body day and night to obtain it. I read and inform myself about every and any topic, knowledge is a powerful weapon. Strength and knowledge make me dangerous, someone you have to keep an eye on. Daphnes took a leap of faith with me, but don’t think poorly of him, he has a keen head on his shoulders, he made me trust him first, that compelled me to show him I could be trusted, that was no easy path for any of us”
Link laughs at the memory and continues “I gained your mother faster but harder if you consider what it involved… she had to see me defend her King against the Akkla people… she had to consider me a valuable asset. I don’t think they love me; they LOVE YOU, but they at least respect me”
I… have never bothered to give it so much thought to emotions, but I guess I get it, it’s absurd to hate someone for something they worked hard for… does this makes me stupid? Childish even?
“I am not going to pretend you don’t have a negative emotion towards me, but it can’t be hatred, it would make you simple minded and stupid, I know you are none of that… what you feel is jealousy”
ME JELOUS OF HIM?... maybe a little, kind of like a LOT, all right, now that I have properly identified what I feel, I still feel disgusting, what do I do about it?
“The good thing about jealousy is that it can be overcome, I could help if you allow me”
LINK POV
AND THIS IS IT!!! This is how I get to do what the King asked of me
*What I don’t get is WHY tell her she is not stupid, you know she is, this was fucking childish of her*
Because you never get what you want from a woman by attacking her directly, you deviate the attack. You let her feel bad about it but do not obliterate her, she could clamp on herself. THEN you present her your solution, that way she thinks she ¨choose¨ to do what you want her to do. Come on you know this too.
“Help me with what and how?” Zelda asks not really wanting to hear his suggestion
“To gain strength, intelligence, and respect for yourself. If you are not against it, we could start with gaining strength by doing physical exercise, but not any exercise… I would love to instruct into using a short blade, I want my future Queen to be able of defending herself”
Zelda covers her mouth, her eyes start to water but you could see she was smiling “OH, FOR NAYRU’S LOVE… YES!!!, I WOULD LOVE THAT” she says as she stands and jumps out of the leaf mattress exited at the prospect. She suddenly stops dead on her tracks.
“Wait, can you do that? I don’t think the King would allow it” she tells him begging with her eyes for a solution to that.
*Well, that was easy, I am kind of excited about it myself*
Yeah, too easy… I am kind of sorry for her, she really needs… wants recognition. To bee seen as more than a pretty face.
“Don’t worry about that, the King wanted me to be your instructor remember? I will include sword wielding in your lessons, he may be a little apprehensive but if YOU ask him, he will fold, I assure you. Now let’s start the day” Link says as he slowly stands, but he grunts in pain.
“Are you ok? Does it hurt much? Let me see”
Zelda reaches for his jacket but Link stops her.
“It hurts, but that is to be expected from an open wound, it does not feel like its actively bleeding, I would prefer if you did not tamper it”
The Princess rolls her eyes “I will not touch it, but let me smell it at least, to check it’s not infected”
She can sme-… is she really NOT Daphnes’s daughter? Or is this like a royalty trait? I don’t have a bad sense of smell but these royals are putting me to shame.
“Take a sniff then”
Zelda circles him and raises the backside of Link’s jacket a little.
“No pungent smell so you are good, what cologne do you use by the way? It’s incredible it still smells a little”
Link turns to look at her squinting.
“I… don’t use, should I start using?” Link asks her with sincerity.
“YOU DON’T? wow… That IS how you smell? Before you ask, you smell like pine trees with a little of spice, maybe your own sweat? It kind of reminds me of pepper since it’s a woody smell” The princess notices Link staring at her a little troubled “don’t worry about it, one would need to get really close to notice if that is what bothers you”
I get it, I need to improve my sense of smell… and maybe think of a cologne.
*Why though? I think she likes your smell*
And why would you think that?
*She thought you were already using a cologne*
Fair point.
They finally start heading east, Link tried to use his cellphone to verify if there is still a military training camp on the way, but the battery is dead. They continue walking for a few hours when Zelda suddenly runs off and drops on her knees, Link slowly gives chase.
“What is going on?” Link asks her.
“LOOK, its chantirel? chant… I don’t remember the name, it’s a mushroom, Rolo cooks them for us from time to time, they will be a perfect addition to the soup don’t you think?” she asks as she continues to pick them and store them on her pouch.
“Chantrelles if I remember correctly, I am surprised you saw them and remember they are edible”
“How could I forget them, I was forced to eat them when I was 6, since I was refusing to, mom grind them and used a funnel to force feed me… that traumatized me.” She says with a blank expression on her face, then reassumes happily picking the mushrooms “But they don’t taste bad, I kind of like them now”
WOW, HAHAHA, I would have paid to SEE that, damn… I knew Claire was a force to reckon but this was plain brutality, she is a monster… I love my Queen.
“THERE, I think that is all of them, the ball is in your court now” she says standing up with the smuggest grin on her face.
Link looks at her lifting an eyebrow, Zelda rolls her eyes.
“You said that I cook and you hunt, SO HUNT, bring me something that I can pair with the chantrelles” Zelda says in a demanding tone, but the corners of her mouth betray her by showing the shadow of a smile.
She is having fun; despite the situation she is enjoying herself. And I thought I was doing a poor job here.
“YES, my lady” Link answers.
Notes:
thank you
Chapter 22: Military training camp
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The pair reassumed their walk, Zelda was glowing with pride at herself and happiness, Link was behaving like a caged animal. He walked from side to side, eyes fixed on the ground searching for animal trails. He had even found a study branch and peeled it into a lance to hunt… but to hunt what? There were no trails of anything.
LINK POV
This is a rabbit zone, I should have spotted rabbit footprint or feces by now, but it appears they died off or something hunted them down… if the last one is the case, my Princess could be in danger.
Link stops and takes off his jacket, he then hands it to Zelda.
“Use my Jacket” Raziel orders.
Zelda looks at him in shock. The wind was blowing and the only thing semicovering his torso was the bandages.
“Why would you?... its COLD out here Link” Zelda starts stripping off her sweater “I will use your jacket if you put this sweater on, fair?”
Link tilts his head in confusion, he was not used to the Princess caring for him, but he takes the purple sweater and puts it on.
The princess huffs “This thing is HEAVY, how have you been walking around with this on?” Zelda asks now sporting a jacket that is clearly too big for her.
“You get used to it”
He continues walking and searching, Zelda follows in silence, no longer glowing, she is scared now.
ZELDA POV
This… is not good, not good at all. Why is he making me wear his jacket?
[The Queen walks up to Link and grabs his shoulder with her left hand, breaths in deeply and uses her right hand to trust the knife at Link’s belly with force]
This jacket is made to act like a vest… are we in danger? If so, of what? We have not seen anybody, I have not seen foot prints, what is he trying to protect me from?
Link sighs with relief and turns to the Princess smiling.
“Welcome to the Military Training Camp”
Looking ahead, Zelda sees a sinkhole with several destroyed wooden towers at the bottom of it. The structural integrity of it all was doubtful.
This is today’s goal? It looks really bad... abandoned at best. The structures appear to be sinking. But he seemed to be looking for this place in particular, is there something I am not seeing here? I am going to have faith.
“This looks depressing, you think there is a structure here we can still use?” Zelda asks silently praying to Farore for this to be a joke.
“Not in the camp per se, but there is bound to be a cabin or cottage around the camp, for the military forces to use when they come to here to train”
Zelda sighs in relief, silently thanking the goddesses “OH, THAT SOUND A LOT BETTER, let’s hope it’s in better condition that THIS… what do I do now? how do I help?” Zelda asks recovering her previous excitement.
“Get down there and fill the pot with water” Link says pointing at a zone where the ground was not depressed into a pit. It was still a steep incline, but she could use it “walk down there slowly and carefully, I don’t want you to slip. I will search around the area to find the cabin, SCREAM if anything happens”
He doesn’t wait for and answer, he just turns and rushes off.
All right, he is fast, let go fill the pot with water and be useful, I hope Link finds a place we can use to sleep, I mean it wasn’t that bad yesterday, but still… I will feel safer under a roof, and if there is a bed it would be AMAZING.
Zelda starts going down almost slipping several times, but she manages to reach the bottom safely. Filling the pot Zelda notices a bird landed near her, she slowly reaches for a rock and throws it at the bird, but misses the shoot completely and the bird flies off.
“I would love to say that you almost got it, but that would be a lie and I don’t lie” Link says leaning against a tree.
How long has he been there? And yeah, I may have completely missed the shot but come on, I am a newbie at this, he is the one who should bring me meat to cook, HIS WORDS, NOT MINE.
“WELL, I HAD TO TRY, since you have not been able to hunt anything” Zelda reproaches him.
“I have not hunted anything, YET” Link answers in a defensive tone, brushing off a leaf that fell on him, he smiles remembering what he came to say “On better news… I think you are going to love the cottage”
“OH DIN, YOU FOUND IT, that was fast, it’s not far I presume” Zelda says as she stretches tall to hand him the water filled pot over the pit she was in.
“Incredibly close, and in good condition, get up here so I can show you” Ziel says maliciously as he reaches down to take the pot form her.
“It would be faster if you just help me up” Zelda stretches her arms up for Link to grab and pull her up.
Link stares down at her with a smirk “it definitely would be…” he says as he turns and begins to walk away.
THIS MOTHERFUCKER CAN’T LEAVE ME!!! Not again…
[5-year-old Zelda, standing by the door, crying… pleading her daddy to stay. Inside the house, Claire is sitting by the table, her eyes red, her cheeks stained with makeup, she had clearly cried… but was no longer doing so. Now Claire was irate.
Zelda continued to sob as her father climbed on a carriage without looking back]
She gets on four and begins to crawl her way up, dirt makes its way to her face, her clothes and her hair, but she does not care. She was trying her darn best to catch up to him, she desperately needed to prove to herself that she was an asset, that Link would be making a mistake by leaving her.
Once Zelda finishes climbing her way out, she runs in the direction Link was heading.
“Hold it lady” Link calls out to her from behind.
She abruptly stops and turns around looking at him furiously.
“WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU? You just left and…”
“I can’t leave my charge out there unsupervised, what type of nanny would that make me? Your crawling was messy, but your climb was fast… and you are not afraid of getting dirty, I respect that” Link says smiling at her.
Wait… he never really left… I AM STILL ANGRY AT HIM, he made me believe he was getting rid of me, I was afraid, I would not last without him. Besides, the experience brought this back that I didn’t want to remember. Was this level of cruelty necessary? [you are not afraid of getting dirty, I respect that] It pulled out my survival instincts, made me realize I am more capable than I thought… I guess it was necessary.
“Does this mean I earned your respect?” Zelda asks him with a cheeky grin.
Link looks at her squinting, then slowly raises his left hand and uses his thumb and index fingers to represent that he now does… but just a little. He commands her to follow him with a wave of his hand.
This whole experience was scary as fuck, and stressing. I am covered with dirt from head to toe, BUT I EARNED RESPECT FROM A SWORD AGENT, even if just a little... I feel so happy about it, so accomplished. Is this how he teaches?
I want this, I love feeling like this… And I know this is only the beginning. I don’t mind it at all that he is not explaining, he is making me experience things first hand... Up until now my teachers just make me memorize stuff, his method truly reaches me, and I think I love it.
Zelda was so focused on her thoughts she did not notice when and how they got to the cottage, she just felt Link gently pushing her inside with his hand on her lower back. It was small, but it had a table, chairs, a fireplace and 4 beds with sheets.
“it’s perfect” Zelda says with a wide smile on her face.
“I must go out to find a hunt” Link says as he places the pot on the table “I am going to lock you up in here for safety”
“Lock me up?” Zelda asks with a quizzical expression on her face.
“The latch is on the outside… convenient, isn’t it? I am being sarcastic of course” Links says rolling his eyes at the stupid design of the cabin.
“But… you will come back for me, right?” Zelda asks suddenly fearing to stay trapped there forever.
“Why wouldn’t I? dust the furniture and choose a bed in the meantime” he quickly taps the tip of her nose and leaves.
The nerve of this guy, I am not a child for him to be taping on my nose. But all right, let’s start dusting, I need to pick a bed and start dusting everything. Should I choose the bed closer to the entrance, or the one closer to the table? NEITHER, this one appears to be closer to the fire place, HERE WE SLEEP.
Zelda dusts the bed, the table, 2 chairs and a few of the sheets from the other beds and places them on the chosen one. She stumbles upon a mirror, her reflection looks disgraceful, she begins to clean her face and hair from the dirt, she smiles at the end result, for the first time glad her hair is cut short, making it easier to clean and to finger brush. She then looks out the window and sees a fallen tree.
Creak! The door opens, Link comes in holding an already skinned rabbit, and closes the door behind him.
“COOL” the Princess yells pointing at the skinned rabbit “Link I need to ask you to do something, out there is a fallen tree, we could maybe us-”
“No, its heavy and I don’t have the tools to chop it” Link states
Zelda blows out air in exasperation “What are we going to use for the fire then?”
“The extra chairs, and some of the sheets if needed” Link answers
“NO, please, I already placed those sheets on the bed and made it extra warm and comfortable, TRY IT” she exclaims proud of her work and sit on the bed tapping it for him to join her.
“No need, I believe you… did you left some for me to use on my bed?” Link asks her doubting she did.
Zelda looks at him like he just grew a second head, then widens her eyes in realization and explains.
“This is it. This one is OUR bed…
you are really going to make me say it, aren’t you?
“It’s FREEZING COLD out there, and you are like a living heater, YOU ARE SLEEPING WITH ME”
LINK POV
*Damn, I don’t even know what to say about that… she is right*
That statement was bold of her, I don’t know how to answer to that, and it would be weird if I just keep staring at her
*Don’t answer, just please her and sit in the fucking bed, act normal like she didn’t catch you off guard*
Link sighs, and walks towards the bed and sits right next to her, he rubs it with his hands a little and pushes down on it.
“It DOES feel comfortable and warm” Link says
Zelda beams at his comment, and stands walking to the table where Raziel left the rabbit.
“You should start the fire; I will start cutting this in pieces to boil it”
Link grabs on her left arm “Are you feeling better? If you are… I could clean the guts out if they bother you” he offers.
“Why though? They don’t taste that bad, its more food if we just leave them, AND the shrooms will improve the taste”
Link chuckles at her statement.
I have created an innards eating monster… sweet.
Link stands and proceeds to destroy the extra chairs to use them as fuel for the fire, he stacks the pieces and searches around the fire place
Come on, it must me around here.
*Maybe there isn’t any, you read about this but it was an old military book*
THERE IT IS, great… saves time and effort.
Link stores the fire starter on his waist bag, he then leaves the cabin without closing the door behind him, Zelda just stares puzzled, but she does not dare close the door behind him, a few seconds later he returns holding a bunch of dry leaves to help start the fire.
“I…have been meaning to ask you, the wound you have, it’s not deep but it still puzzles me that it’s not actively bleeding, why is that? Did you do something to it?” Zelda asks with genuine curiosity.
“I cauterized it”
“Excuse me, I don’t know what that is, could you explain it to me?” the Princess politely asks.
Link covers his mouth with a fist thinking on how to describe it “Remember the chess game you had on your desk? I grabbed one of the tower pieces, put it to the fire to heat it up, once the metal piece turned red, I stuck it on my wound, didn’t do a great job since it still bleeds a little, but it dissolved enough tissue to seal off important blood vessels”
Link glances at Zelda and widens his eyes at what he sees. The color drained from her face, her lower lip trembles and her eyes start to moisten.
FUCK, she is going to cry, why? Did she cut herself? I don’t see any blood… she doesn’t really care if the cauterization hurt me… right?
“It did not hurt me, I had too much adrenaline and anger to feel anything Zelda” Link reassures her.
Zelda looks up at the celling blinking a lot, avoiding the fall of her tears, breaths in deeply and resumes cutting the rabbit and putting the pieces on the pot.
“I… don’t believe you” Zelda says as she starts throwing shrooms in the pot “can I use the fire now? I am hungry and I think you are too” she points at his growling stomach.
The howling of wolfs can be heard in the distance.
Notes:
thanks for reading
Chapter 23: Wolfos
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
Damn, its morning already, last night was NOT a good night. Yes… I got to eat more, and yes it tasted good with the chanterelles, and of course the bed made a HUGE difference, but the wolves never shut up, my concern is that I am sure those were not maraudo wolves, this beast’s howls sounded very different. Wolfos are supposed to be extinct already, but it sure sounded like that particular monster. Being fair, it may also be my mind playing tricks. But what if I am not wrong?
Zelda did fall asleep rather quickly. We should start moving now that the sun is out.
He sits up groaning, Zelda immediately sits up as well and looks at him smiling.
“You are awake” Link tells her
“Have been for a while, I was waiting for you and being lazy… are we still very far from the road?” she asks suspecting they should not be that far now.
Link gives her a side smile “No, we get there today in an hour or two of walk”
“REALLY! we could have arrived yesterday then… why didn’t we?” Zelda asks questioning his decision to camp in the cottage instead of pushing forward.
“You told me to take care of myself, I don’t want to exhaust my body walking, I need my energy reserves to hunt and to respond if the situation demands it”
Zelda sheepishly smiles.
“I did ask that of you, and it still holds. Thanks for fulfilling my request… Let’s start walking, the sooner we are rescued the better.”
Link grabs the purple sweater and puts it on giving his jacket to Zelda, she sighs and puts it on.
“I will ask you one more question missy, when the castle was attacked you went back to retrieve a plushie, why?” Link asks her with genuine interest.
“it’s an important memento… my dad gave it to me before he left, I am not going to explain any further… I am sure you already KNOW Daphnes is not my father, and that is all you need to know”
That much I had gathered already. I still don’t understand why she continues to be loyal to her progenitor. A man that basically ABANDONED her and her mother… yet she still holds a place in her heart for him, she even refuses to accept Daphnes because she holds dear to the memory of her absent procreator.
“I understand… we are leaving now, are you ready sweetheart?” Link says wiggling his eyebrows.
Link bows at the Princess jokingly and offers his hand to help her out of the bed, he was trying to restore the happy mood she had in before he upset her with his question.
“Yes darling” Zelda answers, following him on the joke and taking his hand, her eyes showing she was having fun.
Link half smiles and pulls her out of the bed, turns to open the door, he takes one step out and his demeanor shifts to survival mode, he does a quick turn and pushes Zelda inside closing the cottage door.
ZELDA POV
Zelda falls back on her butt, her eyes go wide in fear and confusion, she stands up and tries to open the door, but Link had already placed the latch. The Princess was locked inside.
WHY? I thought we were friendly now, I thought I earned a little of respect, now he decides to cage me here and abandon me? why is he betraying me? [“But… you will come back for me, right?” “Why wouldn’t I?”]
NO!!! I don’t believe it, he would not leave me here, he must have seen something outside.
Zelda hears howling and claws scratching furiously at the door, then something big crashing against the wall, followed by Link´s yell.
They are attacking him; he is got no weapon… AND I HAVE HIS FUCKING JACKET.
Zelda drops to the floor and hugs her knees closing her eyes. She hears more desperate yells from Link and growls from the monster. She then notices the sound of claws clicking on the floor around the cottage, meaning there were two wolfos. One was entertained with Link, the other was circling the structure searching for an entrance.
She raises her head and looks around making sure the windows were properly closed. Her gaze lands on a wolfos glancing right back at her through a window. She trembled in fear as she stared at monster’s yellow orbs. The wolfos snarled and started to ram on the window.
WHAT DO I DO? Gosh, am I really this helpless? I CAN’T open the door for Link to enter, the fucker caged me in. And the worst thing is that I CAN’T be angry at him, he did it to protect me… But currently one of them is trying to enter, and the other is playing piñata with Link. Is there really nothing that I can do?
The wolfos ramming the window manage to cracking it, then a loud yelp is heard from the entrance, the yellow eyed beast leaves the window and heads to the font of the cottage, once it sees the corpse of the other wolfos it charges Link, who was waiting with a purple rag on hand.
Did he managed to kill one? How? He is weaponless out there, I have his multipurpose knife on my pouch, since that is what he gave me to cut the meat. I should have given it back to him, he could be at least using it to defend himself. I hope he is ok… I pray his wound didn’t open again.
She can hear barking and panting then CRACK!!!
Everything went quiet. Zelda quickly stands up and heads to the door, tears forming on her eyes, she wanted to call out to Link through the door, but was afraid he would not answer, meaning he fell on battle. Her world turns grey and starts to spiral around her as despair sets in.
KNOCK! KNOCK! “Are you ok in there?” Link asks from outside.
Zelda starts wailing loudly, relief bringing her to her knees once more, her world recovering its color.
“I am going to unlock you, but do not come out here until I tell you, ok?”
She sniffs “why?”
Link chuckles “I made a mess out here, believe me… you don’t want to see this, let me clean this up a little so it does not insult your presence my lady” Link tells her almost whispering through the door.
She stands up and grabs the corner of a sheet to clean her nose and tears from her face.
Zelda you must get a hold of yourself. YOU are ok, HE is ok… I mean, he must be. He is kind of joking, isn’t he? BREATHE, and stop trembling, there is nothing to fear right now.
Once she has cleaned her face, she jumps back on the bed to wait, her mind starts traveling to scary and gory scenarios. She immediately shakes her head, a weak attempt at getting rid of the disturbing images that came to her mind. After what felt like FOREVER, but must have been like 10-15 minutes, Link opens the door and calls her. Zelda looks at him puzzled, he covered himself on a wolfo's pelt, he gives her a small grin.
“I know… they ripped the sweater, so I took it back in a way, don’t get too close, it reeks… I am not taking it off”
“I am not going to ask you to, I know its cold out there. Are you… did the wound opened?”
“No, surprisingly it didn’t, let’s get out of here” Link says.
They exit the cottage walking slowly, Zelda does not comment about it since she suspects he may have strained a muscle or something, but she looks around searching for traces of what happened there, there is blood on the door and on the floor, and the wolfos were thrown to the side of the cottage, one was skinned obviously, and the skull had a HUGE dent, the other had his head twisted 90 degrees, Zelda widens her eyes, scoffs a little and walks away following Link.
After walking a few minutes, she finally starts talking.
“I saw the wolfos you know” Zelda points to him.
“It’s not like I tried to hide them, I just removed them from the entrance” Link states.
“I know, I wanted to say it was impressive how you managed to kill them weapon less” she says genuinely amazed.
Link stops and looks at her “Anything is a weapon…” he slowly stands in front of her “I need you to MARRY that belief, because it’s an absolute truth. ANYTHING CAN BE USED AS A WEAPON” Link states looking at her right in the eyes.
“Anything… what did you used?” the Princess asks.
“After being thrown around a little, I saw a rock the size of a fist with an edge. I took off the sheared sweater and wrapped the rock in it, then swung it at the wolfo´s head killing it. The rock flew off with the impact ripping the sweater even more, so I used what was left of the rag as a rope to choke the other wolfo, I ended up cracking its neck in the struggle”
I would have paid to see that, damn… he is a bad ass. I would have been screaming and covering my eyes for most of it… but I would have paid still. That was like… the stories my mother read to me when I was little. An unlikely hero overcoming impossible situations with limited resources. I want to be like that.
“WOW, that´s… I would never be able to do anything remotely similar”
“That is why I am here, to temper your metal and sharpen it, if you know what I mean” he says and quickly turns.
FUCK, and I thought the King and my mother had unrealistic expectations of me… but is it really all that unrealistic? Could it be possible to turn this failed attempt of a Princess into a speck of what Link is? I really, REALLY hope this is achievable for me.
LINK POV
I don’t feel my legs… but I don’t really mind that, my sight though… Its closing in, like looking through a narrow tube that keeps shrinking, THIS is not good. I should not be moving at all. Even slow walking is painful. I am risking spilling my guts out at any moment, the vendange I crafted out of my shocks are holding everything in place so far, but I won’t be able to protect her any more. Our best shot for survival is arriving at the rescue spot ASAP, she will be reunited with her family, and maybe I could get medical attention.
They continue walking slowly, Zelda catches a glimpse of a rabbit running to its hole. The snow in that area seemed to be a little blood stained, some trees where slashed, and the ground had HUGE wolf prints.
“IT WAS THE WOLFOS!, they were the reason you could not find a hunt, I am glad they are dealt with. Home species are now safe and will be able to repopulate, thus making them easier to hunt if needed” Zelda shares happily.
“I don’t think we need to hunt anymore” Link answers gasping for air as he points ahead
Zelda looks at where Link is pointing and sees a road between the trees, she dashes off towards the road yelling and waving when she hears a carriage close by. Link smiles and tries to follow but after a few more steps his legs give in and he falls on his knees spewing blood out of his mouth. Then he sees a small pool of blood forming under him.
[Daphanes staring back at him furious] Hahaha… blood DOES have a strong distinctive smell; how come I had never noticed it before? I must have been too focused on my goal and the anger I exuded to notice.
Well… this is it for me, at least I got her to the rescue spot, don’t hate me for this my King. Claudio and William will take care of everything, I am sure.
Link falls face down on the snow, his sight finished closing in. Submerging him into a much-desired peace and darkness.
Notes:
glad you still reading
Chapter 24: Alive
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
Zelda saw the carriage stopping, and people starting to descend from it, people with odd clothes, surely SWORD agents, she turned to ask Link if he knew them, but she found herself standing alone. A sense of dread mixed with panic drains the color from her face, after waiting for a few seconds she starts running back to look for Link. A man starts calling her by her name and title, telling her to stop running, assuring her there is nothing to be afraid of, that she is safe now.
NO, I AM NOT SAFE! Not without him, besides I don't even know any of you. How STUPID of me to just run off for the carriage like that, I hope he just fell down trying to catch up to me... yes, surely that is why he is delayed.
She finds Link's body lying face down on the snow, in a pool of his own blood. She drops on her knees and starts wailing pulling at her hair, then she crawls to reach him.
HE IS OK, he must be, I mean he was just fine a while ago, walking with me and joking at times, he said his wound had not opened, why did he lie to me? He SUPPOSEDLY hates lies.
She pulls up the pelt to check how bad the wound was bleeding, only to find it was NOT. Then the man that was previously calling out to her reaches them, his eyes open wide at the sight, he starts shouting loudly to somebody behind him and rushes to Link's body. He touches Link’s neck and turns the body face up, then starts to uncover it from the pelt, revealing deep claw slices across his chest and abdomen.
What? When? He never told me or complained.
"WHAT HAPPENED?" The man asks her, then he yells loudly at somebody claiming CPR needs to be started ASAP.
"We were… HE was attacked by wolfos in the morning, I asked him if he was ok and he told me he was" Zelda says trying to justify her lack of knowledge of Link's state.
"DID HE NOW?" the man practically barked at her.
I did ask, and he didn't tell me he was injured … WAIT.
"You are right, he didn't, I asked for his bullet wound, and he answered only for that wound, he said it was fine, it had not reopened, I thought it meant HE was all right, but he was only informing me of THAT wound." Zelda answers angry at Link, but deep down, she hated herself.
"Yeah… that is more like the KID I know; he is got a way with words" answers the man as he continues tightening the blood-stained bandages Link was using, as if preparing him for something.
"BUT HOW COUD THIS HAPPEN? He told me he ordered clothes that acted as simple vest" the man says and then looks at Zelda and closes his eyes sighting.
He fucking gave ME his jacket, he would not be like this if he had had it on, he promised he would take care of himself, how does he want me to trust him when he can't even keep a simple promise. [I promise that as long as I still breathe, I will take any and every precaution necessary to ensure your survival]
MY survival… [he is got a way with words]. He didn't promise me ANYTHING, he basically told me he was willing to carry out my demand as long as it didn't interfere with his task, all of this is my fault, I should have paid attention… WAIT NO, it can't be my fault, he was actively trying to deceive me so he could do things his way, he CHOOSE this, he choose ME for some fucked up reason, like I am worth anything to anyone.
A female arrives and quickly starts inserting needles on Link's forearms, one connecting to a clear liquid bag and the other connecting to a red one.
"Is that blood?" I hope it is… he needs it, he lost a lot of it.
She gives a nod to the man and he starts chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth. That continues for a while, they both kept checking his pulse but eventually both of them decide is time to let him go. Zelda's eyes open wide when she realizes what this meant for Link and for her. She then starts to grimace in anger, an anger capable of melting the sow around them.
"How dare you? HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?" she yells as she crawls her way to Link’s body and starts bringing down her fist on his chest, the force of the beating scaring the agents.
"You came" BAM! "Just to mock me" BAM! "To annoy me" BAM!
The woman tries to stop her not tolerating the abuse inflicted on her fallen comrade, Zelda reacts by drawing Links Swiss knife and slashing at her face. The woman draws back but not fast enough, the Princess had managed to scratch the female's cheek. The man pulls back his female comrade, forcing her to remain seated on with him by Link’s body.
"Just let her Carla, she can't kill him more than he already is" the man says, anger burning in his eyes, but pity for the Princess present in his voice.
"Rub in my face how uncapable" BAM!
"And pitiful I am" BAM!
"You brought me down" BAM!
"Then gave me hope" BAM!
"You told me I could be capable" BAM!
"That I could be trusted" BAM!
"You were going to teach me sword fighting, DAMN IT" Zelda falls on Link’s chest sobbing.
Carla decides to crawl her way to the Princess, and comfort her somehow, when she notices a puff of breath on top of Link’s face. She opens her eyes wide and immediately checks on his pulse.
"WOLF!" Carla yells smiling and adjusting Link's serum bag.
"HOLY FUCK, what do I do?" Wolf says a little scared but happy none the less
What the… what is going on?
"Bring the stretcher and the first aid kit, I need to stich him ASAP"
Zelda widens her eyes
LINK IS ALIVE!
Zelda starts to stand up to see if there is anything she could help with, but she faints.
LINK POV
Link opens his eyes, he blinks a few times trying regain focus and looks at his surroundings, he appears to be inside a camping tent, that makes him puzzled but not surprised, until his eyes land on Zelda hugging his arm in her sleep.
ALRIGHT, my body hurts and my feet are freezing, but I am alive… inside a tent. I assume SWORD got to me in time and saved me, but why am I in a tent? And why is Zelda sleeping next to me?
Wolf enters the tent and smiles when he sees Link is finally awake.
"Don't move. DAMN KID, it took you long enough… You were in a coma 4 days. I obviously don't care about you, so I left you alone for the most of it. How are you feeling?"
Link smiled knowing what Claudio said about no caring was a blatant lie, knowing him, Wolf was giving him routine check every 10-15 minutes.
"Like I almost died, why are we on a tent?" Link asks.
"Puff, you can blame the sleeping beauty there" Wolf points at Zelda "We wanted to take you back, but she would not allow it" Wolf says chuckling pitifully, he adjusts the collar of his shirt. "Buckle up Kid, I'm goanna tell you a story"
"She is awake now, no need of alcohol, and that is good cuz I never found it" Wolf informs Carla laughing.
"WHAT? I told you exactly where… gosh, men are helpless… I am GLAD she is ok, I am almost done stitching the important arteries, we should be able to move him now without risking him that much, then I can finish him up, but first I want to get him out the cold" Carla says
"WAIT” Zelda suddenly yells “if moving him is risky, I FORBID YOU TO MOVE HIM"
"You can't give us orders involving the wellbeing of our agent missy" Wolf barks angrily at her.
The Princess stares up at him challenging him "And you can't tell me how to care for my people on MY LAND, I am the princess and HE is the King's son, I won't allow you to gamble with his life" Zelda states not backing off.
"Then how exactly are we supposed to give him proper medical care?" Wolf asks exasperated.
"Hyrule medics are trained and equipped to tend patients on the spot, no matter the location… are you telling me SWORD can't pull that off?" She asks with a smug grin on her face.
OMG! I wish I could have seen her stand proud against this brute of a man, a man that got his code name from his brutally dismembering a wolf during training, a man that has earned my respect and trust... What is this that I am feeling? Is it pride? Am I PROUD of Zelda? hahaha, damn.
"HAHAHAHA, that must have really hurt your ego" Link teases.
Wolf growls, Link laughs and starts to mock him, but stops noticing Zelda hasn't even bothered to open her eyes, she just tightens her hold on his arm every time he moves too much.
"Is she drugged?" Link asks Wolf with a menacing look.
"There was no other way to put up with her, she was refusing food and water from us… she suspected we would try to take her out somehow. Hate to admit it but she was right. Once she got hungry enough, she accepted food, but right after eating she slipped into the tent and laid by your side, to prevent us from moving you out of here, she has repeated this pattern for the last 2 days, this is the first time I drug her. We wanted to move you to a warmer place, but you woke up before we even tried… I hate her."
Link chuckles darkly "It appears that Zelda does not trust you AT ALL, why?" Link asks still trying to connect the pieces and make sense of everything.
"I understand her" Carla chimes in as she enters the tent "we declared you dead… we had tried CPR on you for 15 min with no response, in a fit of anger she started to beat the crap out of you and that somehow brought you back, you are here now because of her, not because of us… I would not trust us either if I were on her shoes"
I died, and came back from the underworld thanks to HER. DAMN, I don't want to owe her ANYTHING, does me having fought wolfos bare handed for her makes us even?
*Nope, you want even? She needs to die and you need to bring her back*
COME ON, you know what I mean
*All I know is that YOU got a way with words, and you used the word EVEN. Killing her hoping to successfully bring her back is the only way*
I CAN'T DO THAT.
*I know… go the hard way, give her something EXTRAORDINARY*
Explain that to me please
*Give her something she yearns for BUT also desperately needs. Something so remarkable that no matter what she does, she won't be able to repay it. Something that will put her in debt with you forever, as you currently are of her. That would make it even*
Oh wow, that sounds good on paper, but come on what could I… possibly… she WANTS to run away right?
*Now the wheels are turning*
And she NEEDS exposure, to see and experience hardship first hand, not to read or hear about it… So far, I have seen that she is resilient and adaptable. Firsthand experience with hardship appears to draw the best of her…
SHE NEEDS TO COME WITH ME WHEN I LEAVE ON A MISSION FOR SWORD.
*AND that is all the help I am willing to give regarding this. I am out, good luck convincing Daphnes*
Link looks at Carla who was examining his serum bag. She then decides he doesn’t need it anymore and unplugs him from it.
"I will bring food for you, broth and eggs, you DON'T gag on it, you EAT IT" Carla menaces him.
"YES MAM" Link answers, he then looks at Wolf intensely and whispers "I forgive you" with half a smile.
"You forgive me? for wh-" Wolf squints his eyes’ realizing Link refers to being declared dead. Wolf yells and reproaching Link for his ungratefulness. Then he exits the tent furious. Carla stayed behind picking up her medical wares, she was trying her best not to burst out laughing at Wolf. Link just chuckles, looks at Zelda sleeping next to him and sighs.
Notes:
yeah, he lives... of course he does. Thanks for being here.
Chapter 25: Return to the Castle
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The Market in Hyrule Castle Town is in silence, the usual business that you could always find open where closed, but a few town’s people were walking around, evaluating the damage done on the establishments, and supervising the repairs done by the carpenters. The people on the streets moved away when they heard the carriage passing through, a few of them cheered celebrating the return of the Queen. The carriage crosses the field situated in front of Hyrule´s Castle. It stops once it reaches the main entrance. Link opens the carriage door from the inside and exits it, he stretches his arms a little and extends a hand to help Queen Claire out of the carriage.
LINK POV
I am glad we are back; a week was a LONG time to be staying in Goron City, I felt like we were starting to inconvenience the Gorons, Darunia did his best to accommodate us though. Am I scared to be back? No… but I am not sure how Daphnes is going to react once he sees me.
He left Goron City a few hours before Zelda and I arrived there, he KNEW we were alive and heading back, so why did he leave in a hurry? To schedule repairs and tidy the place before we came back to the castle. At least, that is what we were told, and it sure sounds like he is being a responsible husband and father.
But I KNOW his animal by now… he is avoiding me. He knows I am hurt so he is taking care of me by removing himself, to avoid beating the crap out of me. That decision was very thoughtful of him, but now that I am here… I don’t know what to expect.
“We are FINALLY back home” the Queen exclaims as she steps out of the carriage.
“Castle, we are finally back at the castle” Link corrects her with half a smile.
“HOME, I said” the Queen pouts at him.
Link smiling turns and extends his hand at the carriage to help Zelda out, she takes his hand and looks at him straight in the eyes, he sighs.
“I am ok, I still need rest but it’s healing nicely, and no, it doesn’t hurt me.” He tells the princess as he pulls her out of the carriage. He then adds.
“I am going to be left with scars though, not that I mind; they will make me popular” Link says with a grin.
Zelda turns to look at him skeptically.
“Girls LOVE scars” Link says wiggling his eyebrows at Zelda.
Zelda widens her eyes at him, then closes them shaking her head. Link erupts in laughter at her reaction.
The butler hurries to greet them, followed by a few soldiers.
“GREETINGS my beautiful Queen and lovely Princess…” he states happily to the female population present, then looks at Link and slowly approaches him.
I am aware that we didn’t start on the right foot, but please don’t make this difficult for me.
The butler gets close enough and bows at Link, who just stares in shock and looks around for support, but the princess is giggling and the Queen scoffs half smiling.
“THANK YOU, I know the King, the Queen and the Princess are safe because you were involved… you brought them back to me, for that you have my gratitude Prince” he straightens his stance with teary eyes, yet displaying a big smile.
FUCK! I was not expecting this… the man is crying; how should I comfort him? I am not going to emasculate this good man by treating him like a woman.
*you mean soothing him with a hug and claim that everything will be right? yeah… don’t do that. But still, you should say something*
“It was my duty… and my pleasure, I am glad you are alive too, that way you can help me take care of all of them, they DESPERATELY NEED IT.” Link overly exaggerates that last sentence.
The butler laughs loudly, the Princess starts yelling blasphemies, the Queen just raises an eyebrow and stares at ALL of them.
“Yes, my Prince, I will see to all of you with diligence. The King is waiting for you all in the throne room, I will escort you there” he leans close to Link and says “I also know you are BADLY hurt, if you need ANYTHING for the pain, even booze, I will bring it.” Cormac states.
DAMN, what is wrong with these people? They keep multiplying and there is just one me, how am I to care for all of them? It is what it is I guess…
On a sad note, my pills can’t mix with alcohol, but I appreciate the offer… WAIT, how does he know how old I am?
“He doesn’t need alcohol Cormac, he has pills for that, just escort us already” says the Queen.
“Suddenly the fact that he is 12 doesn’t matter? he is still a child by Hylian law, he shouldn’t drink” Zelda states a little exasperated by the negligent proposal.
A low chuckle is heard, Zelda slowly turns her head to her left where Link stood.
“I turned 13 two weeks ago Princess; I just requested not to celebrate it or even speak about it” Link says.
Zelda looks at him surprised and kind of puzzled.
Should I?
*HAHA WHY THE FUCK NOT*
“You were laying with a MAN on those cold winter nights my Princess” Link tells her winking at her.
Zelda huffs and walks away; Link laughs and turns his attention back to Cormac.
“Cormac, right? I was not aware you knew my age, but it was obvious if I think about it, the King had to communicate my request to someone to enforce it, I am glad it was you, I will keep in mind your offer for when I am done with the pills.” Links says gratefully.
They follow the butler inside and walk through the hall. The place no longer looked like it had been trashed, but it looked empty. The decorative bases and statues were no longer there. Neither where the royal family paintings, they must have been obviously slashed or blood stained. But the windows and their curtains had been replaced, and there was no blood smell anymore.
They reach the throne room, Cormac opens the double doors and steps away, they enter the Throne room and when the King notices their presence, he stands and rushes down the steps of his elevated throne.
Daphnes rams the Queen into a weeping hug, he holds her for a while then extends a hand reaching for Zelda’s hand. She takes it and Daphnes releases the Queen and pulls the princess in a hug, Zelda starts to fight it but soon soothes herself and gets teary eyed. The King gives her a kiss on the forehead and looks directly at Link, who freezes under the intense glare, Daphness extends a hand to him without breaking eye contact.
*Take his hand, you deserve it if he breaks you*
Link takes the hand; the King slowly releases Zelda and gently pulls Link into a hug. Link stays frozen in place, but then decides to voice his thoughts.
“I… I was sure you hated me”
“WHY? Are you stupid or what?” ask the King a little angry.
“You left Goron city; you were clearly avoiding me.” Link states.
The King slowly pushes Link away from the hug and grabs him by the shoulders.
“I was ANGRY, but it didn’t take me long to realize you did what you did for me… for US. it was selfish of me to ask you to protect my family. A sword is not meant for that kind of job. Yet you did, and came back to me with only a few dents to your edge, THAT IS A MIRACLE.” The King says wiping a treacherous tear from his eye.
I believe my King is making a reference to the farmer’s analogy. The same one I used to explain the difference between SWORD and SHIELD to Zelda. The one that Michelle used with me. She must have used it to explain to my King too. After all, IT IS an easy way to explain briefly how we work… gosh, I miss her.
“And you wanted me to stay at Goron City to wait for you? I couldn’t even look at you without feeling ashamed, and deep down, an odd impulse to break your teeth.” Daphnes claims in a somber tone.
“So, I had to get back here, repair as much as I could, and clear my head to properly analyze my feelings… Didn’t took long for me to realize the anger I still felt was not at you, but at myself. So, after a good beating at myself and some repairs, here I am.” The King stares at Link with menacing glare “Are you going to continue punishing me or are you going to be a man and hug me back?” he adds with a playful grin.
I... never saw myself having a family, I bowed to remain isolated, with my line of work I considered the idea of family a weakness, but seeing Daphnes’s eyes, and hearing his plea… I WANT to be part of THIS particular family. It’s far from perfect but so am I, and I guess I was wrong when I told Wolf marring and having a family was a weakness, it’s NOT a weakness… it’s a double edge sword. They make me stronger but I must be careful at all times if I don’t want to cut myself. Hehe… this is going to be an attention and perception exercise on a whole new level.
Link opens his arms and hugs the King, who embraces Link’s frame strongly, but not aggressively. After a few seconds they give each other a few pats on the back, upon separating they start throwing playful punches at each other. The Queen huffs at them smiling, Zelda rolls her eye.
ZELDA POV
Because of course, they just have to recover their manliness somehow. Sometimes I don’t know if men are too simple or just fucking retarded.
The Queen proceeds to get in between the King and Prince’s spar.
“Sorry to interrupt your bonding moment, I am going to order a few things from the market, to replace items that we lost in the midst of all this, do any of you need ANYTHING?”
“CALL MARTIN, please my queen, I would like to replace the suit that got destroyed”
Oh my gosh, MARTIN, I would also like to order something from him, something I could use that could act like a vest too. I don’t think I could use a jacket since I am a female, but he is the expert, he will figure something out, I hope.
“Yes mom, do call him, I would like to speak to him myself” Zelda asks.
To this, both Link and the Queen raised their eyebrows in surprise, the Queen recovers quickly and starts to leave the throne room.
“And where exactly are you going?” the King protests.
“To check the furniture that we need to replace, so I can make the calls, where you not paying attention darling?” the Queen answers as Daphnes goes back to his throne and sits on it.
“Can it wait just a few minutes at least? I want my Queen to sit on her place for a little while, I missed you” The King pleas.
Claire rolls her eyes “I don’t really see the point to this, but if you say so” the Queen starts walking towards her throne located next to Daphnes’s one.
The King deeply frowns at her actions “WOMAN, I said I want you to sit in your place. Who are you?” the King says as he taps on his lap with a grin
The Queen turns all shades of red and tries to hide her face in embarrassment “Your wife” she answers walking towards her King.
Zelda opens her eyes wide and Link turns tapping on Zelda’s shoulder
“Let’s give them space” he tells the princess in a low volume.
The Princess starts speaking loudly without turning her gaze from Link “I am going to my room. Mom, if you end up going to the market let me know, I want to go too.” Zelda starts to follow Link out of the throne room. She wanted to avoid looking at something embarrassing.
Both of them walk out of the throne room and close the doors behind them, as they are closing you can see Claire smiling as she sits on the King’s lap.
“Do you think they are going to…” Zelda starts to ask Link
“I don’t know, and I don’t care, why do you?” Link ask as they start walking towards the east tower
“it’s the throne room, its unethical, and they are not young enough to be doing something so reckless”
“HOLD IT A SEC, they are NOT old either, they love each other and they are in good shape, they can do whatever they want wherever they please” Link defends the royals.
Zelda shakes her head “But they receive people in THAT room, it’s not hygienic” Zelda still fights him, but mostly testing him, to see what he would answer to her.
“It’s sex we are talking about, if done properly it’s going to be dirty, sometimes even nasty and disrespectful bordering on sadomasochism, but that last bit depends on the people doing it” he says truthfully
OMG!!! REALLY? HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT? Not going to be my case, I hate the idea of filthy, and no man is going to disrespect me in any way and keep his dick on.
They both continue walking when a loud whimper is heard, a lady with an apron approach running extending her hands towards Link, and right when she is about to touch him, she stops drops on her knees and hugs his legs screaming “YOU KNEW!!!”
Link looks at Nana in a mix of happiness, sadness, pity and fear. He tries to drop to her level on a knee to comfort her, but his bandages won’t allow it.
“You… seem to be popular with the staff, I will leave you to handle this, I need to change clothes” Zelda says reassuming her walk to her room.
Another loud cry is heard followed by a punch on the floor, then a short but assertive yell from Link, more whimpering, Zelda turns out of curiosity and sees the lady standing up and hugging Link, he whispers something to her and they both walk toward the kitchen.
It appears he was able to handle the situation, it kind of amazes me though, how did he do it? he is loved by my parents and by the staff of the castle… yeah, I am definitely jealous of him, but in a good way.
Zelda thinks smiling to herself as she goes up the stairs.
Notes:
thanks for reading my story, there where a lot of chapter that were not showing right? i fixed that... i hope.
Chapter 26: Family is a heavy concept
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
“That was all” Link says exhausted by Nana’s interrogation.
And I thought I had her under control, I did yell at her, just to stop her from punishing herself against the floor. Who bangs the head against the floor seeking redemption? I yelled at her and I don’t regret it, she can’t be doing that, besides NONE OF WHAT HAPPENED was her fault. Luckily, she did manage to grasp and accept the notion that she was guilt free. But now rises back with renewed strength like a phoenix seeking vengeance, and I am the target.
“I… don’t believe you, I know you are leaving big chunks out” Nana states as she finishes preparing a red sauce.
Of course I am leaving details out of my narrative, there are some rather gory things you should not know about, it does not benefit you or me… besides it’s not only my story. I don’t want to betray the Princess’s trust by revealing something about her.
“But I will leave this matter to rest, I want to eat at pea-FUCK!!!” Nana yells
She rushes to turn off the stove before the contents boil out of the casserole. Once everything is back under control, she pours the contents in the sauce and mixes everything.
Nana sighs. “You know what the sad thing is? I REALLY wanted my surprise to be a casserole, a BIG clay casserole. Don’t get me wrong, keeping my life IS a very good present, I am not complaining”
Link lifts one eyebrow and smirks “But what good does it do to keep on living if my job drains it out of me?” Link finishes the statement for her.
“I DID NOT SAID THAT!!!... gosh, I must have sounded like such an ungrateful bitch” Nana says mumbling the last part.
“Yes, you did. But I forgive you… I get it actually, you need proper cooking utensils, your current ones are too small, and your job demands LARGE quantities. That keeps you tied to the stove all day, having to cook the same dish again and again, just to meet the daily food demands of your boys.”
“YES, wow, you understand” Nana says as she serves Link a dish.
“I am still giving you a new casserole, just clarifying” Link reminds Nana.
Zelda enters the kitchen in kind of a rush, she looks around and when her gaze falls on Link she slowly approaches.
“The Queen and I are going to the market, is there anything from there that you need? Vendanges, soap, anything? And WHAT IS THAT?” She asks pointing at Link’s food.
“Beef entrails in red sauce” Link says smiling and spinning a fork in his hand.
Nana lowers her head trying to hide herself in shame, she knows the food she cooks is not good enough for a royal, it does not smell that good, or look appetizing, her eyes start to tear up a little.
“That sounds ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING” Zelda says looking around the table.
Link half smiles and hands her his fork, she takes it and digs in his plate for a bite. Link turns to Nana and notices she is staring in disbelief; her mouth is wide open. He signals for Ivanna to close it. She immediately shuts her mouth and turns to wash something, her cheeks turning red.
“Damn, this is A LOT BETTER than what I did… she is cheating though” Link looks at her with a questioning glance “seasoning everything to perfection IS cheating” the Princess tells Link who is laughing at this point, he stretches his hand to reclaim the fork.
“Ivanna, right? would you save a small portion for me? I will eat it once I get back from the market” Zelda says as she hands Link the fork and exits the kitchen.
As the princes leaves Link starts eating like nothing happened, the room is in complete silence, if a needle was accidentally dropped, it would be heard.
I wonder how much longer will it take for Nana to start yelling at me for no fucking reason, because it’s going to be my fault obviously. Nothing bad happened with Zelda’s appearance, but I am to blame of course.
“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?” Nana yells at him.
*Right on point there*
“I showed her the way” Link answers winking.
“WHY? we are not close in anyway but I CARE for her, I don’t want her eating what the nobles consider ¨poor people’s food¨ I don’t want her circle to be mocking her in anyway”
“And of course, you don’t care if they mock me, right?” Link retorts.
“What? NO!!! I care, but you are a man, and completely capable of defending yourself.” Nana answers
“And so is she… still needs to practice a little, but she is more than capable of standing up for herself and what she believes in, I have seen it. She just needs support; you want to help her? Start by trusting her and saving her a portion of your food, she liked it and THAT should be enough”
Nana just glares at Link uncapable of giving a comeback, she serves Zelda a small portion and stores it in a bag that she decorates with a pretty bow. Ivanna does all this while maintaining eye contact with Link, he is eating slowly and REALLY trying to not bust out laughing while he holds her gaze.
Eventually Nana sighs and approaches him to hug him while he is seated, his face is kind of buried in her big chest, surely making it hard to breathe, but she doesn’t seem to care ¨he will find a way to breathe if he really needs oxygen¨ she thought to herself.
“You know” Nana starts saying “We don’t know each other for that long, and we kind of fight all the time, but I really care about you, I feel that getting to know you was a blessing, I would probably have died like many others if you had not fooled me out of here… JUST DON’T DO THAT AGAIN, if there is something going on TELL ME, DON’T DECIEVE ME, I don’t deserve that kind of treatment”
I can try, not making any formal promise here though. Not that I don’t care, fuck I care a LOT about you Ivanna. And it was not planned, it just happened you lovable bear woman. You are going to suffocate me by the way…
“I need to breathe” Link says
Nana pulls away from the hug and draws a chocolate from her apron, she wiggles it in front of Link; he reaches for it but she pulls it back looking at him.
“This is not for you” Nana says pointing in the direction of the east tower “it’s dangerous to go alone, so take this” she hands him the chocolate bar “give it to Chacha once you go to your room, SHE IS THERE WAITING… I am sure, this will stop her from pulling your head out”
This feels familiar somehow…
Link takes the chocolate and sighs.
“Wish me luck then, I am heading there right now… she has been waiting for too long, and I don’t want to face her wrath on top of her ill feelings towards me”
Link stands from the table and heads for his room, as he is walking, he notices the decorative jars that used to be there are now missing, probably got broken. But were replaced by paintings of Hyrule field during winter, and so where the windows. The paintings were beautiful, but Link took his time to inspect the new glassware and smiled.
Wow, the King did fix as much as he could, the glass used to replace the windows IS of very good quality, he may not have replaced everything, but he made sure the castle was structurally secure before we got here. I hope tonight he can give us good news, because we WILL be summoned for dinner today… Or that is what I believe, but I could be wrong.
The reality is that I don't trust my ability to read my King anymore… I thought there was hatred behind his actions, but apparently it was shame.
*Just don't tell anyone from SWORD we misjudged Daphnes… unless you want them forcing us through character judgment training, AGAIN*
Link slowly walks pass Zelda’s door and heads to his dorm, he was about to walk loudly, that way Chacha will be able to hear him approaching and not be caught off guard, but then decides otherwise, if he catches her off guard, he can use that distraction to draw the chocolate and bribe her with it. He reaches the door to hell and slowly opens it, the room is in darkness as expected, nothing seems out of the ordinaire, he then hears a gasp coming from his bed.
Link calmly walks to open his curtains to let the light in. Once he does, he breaths in deeply and turns to look at his bed. He finds Chacha there crying, she slowly lifts her face to look directly at him.
Is this my life now? having to walk on a thread, minding everything I do and say because it could potentially hurt someone I care about? Family may be TOO HEAVY OF A CONCEPT for me, too exhausting… and why do I even care about these people? Just because they talked nicely to me? Because they did something for me once? or maybe because they treated me like a human being?
*NO, because you matter to them too… stop your fuckery and DO SOMETHING*
“Are you ok? I thought I told you to smile more often, do I need to make that an order?” Link asks lifting an eyebrow.
Chacha glares at him “Shut up and hug me you piece of sh-”
Link shushes her “A pretty lady, like yourself, should NEVER use foul language, too bulgar, if you are going to insult me do it with class. How about manure? FECAL MATTER, yes that suits me better”
Chacha looks at Link with a frown, but a smile slowly sets on her face, and suddenly she starts laughing, Link sighs and pull out the chocolate bar, she shuts up and follows the treat with her eyes making Link laugh, he hands it to her.
Cute, just like a puppy. I wonder if this is her only weakness.
“This was Nana’s idea, was it not?” Chacha asks in a demanding tone.
“She told me it could save me from you ripping my head off, but I thought she was exaggerating… or was she not?” Link asks with genuine curiosity.
Chacha bluntly answers “Not at all, you just took too fucking long to heal. I had time to think things through… so I repented from the idea of dismembering you”
She is joking right?... No, I think she is not. WOW, she is brutally honest. She just admitted planning on committing a felony against me. It not like I am going to tell on her or anything, and SHE KNOWS IT… she must really trusts me.
“Yes, I hated you for not being upfront with me about what was going on… but then again, I am just a maid, what could I do about any of it? I should just be grateful you got me out.”
Link half smiles and sits on his bed next to her “You are welcome, you don’t hate me anymore, do you?”
Chacha frowns at him “no, I can’t hate you” she answers pouting.
Link smiles and gives her a side hug; she smiles and after a few seconds starts pushing him away.
“You should choose a suit for dinner tonight, or do I choose it?” Chacha asks him rising from the bed.
“Where you informed or how do you know about that?” Link asks with curiosity.
“Not officially informed, but yesterday my King was pacing around talking to himself, he said he wanted to celebrate your arrival with a GOOD dinner, if I am not mistaken you will dine lasagna”
AND this just shows the importance of befriending the staff, it’s like having eyes and ears EVERYWHERE.
“Hahaha, was that the only time you overheard my King? Or are there more funny anecdotes you can share?” Link asks preparing himself to build ammunition against the King, he may need it.
“OH, THERE IS MORE. Funny to tell now, but scary to witness at the moment. When he first got here, he threw bottles of wine around clamming he was going to make you wish you had died. The next day he was cleaning the walls he stained, but still angry at you for disrespecting him. The next day he was pacing around ashamed of himself for what he had unjustly thought of you, he started pleading to the goddesses for forgiveness and for your recovery. Then he went back to angry because you were taking your sweet time healing.”
MOTHER OF… I was not wrong at all about him, I didn’t misjudge him; he DID put distance between us to restrain from hurting me. That was thoughtful and responsible, but he is still a dangerous animal, a caged lion. In the throne room earlier, he presented himself as a penitent ruler and loving father… but now I know my King is a cunning man. He only allowed me to see and know the end product, but went through his self-imposed purgatory to get there. I respect this man a lot.
And I thought I may be able to convince him to take Zelda out of Hyrule with me... doesn't change what I have to do, but. At least, now I know he is going to bite HARD.
“You pick a suit and leave it on my bed, I am going to take a bath”
“All right, do you need help undressing or bathing?” Chacha asks him with genuine disposition to help. Yet she deviates her eyes, her cheeks tinting a little red thinking about what she just offered.
“I am a big boy, I can handle, thank you” he winks at her.
Notes:
thank you
Chapter 27: Shift on the menu
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
The Queen’s goal was to visit the WHOLE Market, she wanted to verify the level of damage done to the establishments, and how much of it extended to the civilian’s household. Gladly most of the business were intact, and only few civilian houses were damaged. The Queen was buying random things out of every damaged business she found. When Zelda realized what her mother was doing, she could not help but be amazed by Queen Claire.
We don’t need ANY of the shit she has been buying, but this IS a way to support the Hylians affected, and she is been using this as an opportunity to interact with the people. I was not sure about this, but people have behaved very grateful and respectful to us.
What I love about this, is the underlying message we are giving. We are NOT just handing them money as if they are weak. We are forcing them to stand on their own feet by supporting them, because they are NOT weak. THIS was a smart move, we are empowering the people and regaining their trust, is a double win.
“Mom, have you seen the shooting gallery? Maybe I can try it, you know… waste some rupee there”
“You play the game twice, and then walk right back here got it?” the Queen says raising an eyebrow.
Zelda smiles as she receives 100 rupees, then happily jogs towards the shooting gallery. After a while she came out ANGRY.
I need to practice… I was able to shoot only 2 of the targets, to me that is shameful. But the owner wanted to write my name on the list of top players that he hangs on the wall, I am FAR from being a top player. But I am the Princess, I think he was aiming at gaining more costumes by showing off I had played in his establishment. I didn’t allow him to do it though; I would have done so if I carried my royal seal, then I could officially stamp my name on that list. If it’s not done in that matter, I fear people will call it a scam, that could play against the business. He sadly agreed it was a bad idea, but perked up when I told him I would be back to stamp my name on that list.
Zelda runs to the carriage; the driver helps her in and they start to head back to the castle. Then a shouting match starts inside the carriage between the Queen and the Princess, the driver almost falls from his seat the moment a high pitch scream was heard.
LINK POV
BEEP! … BEEP!.... BEEP!,,,, BE. Link rolls on his bed to reach for his cellphone on the bedside bureau and turns off the alarm, he lazily stretches on his bed before sitting on the edge of it. After contemplating his surroundings a few seconds, he gets out of bed and enters his closet. Once inside, he stands in front of the whole-body mirror and slowly removes the bandages to examine his wounds.
Well, it does look better, I still feel them if I stretch, but it’s almost completely healed. I never meet my bio parents, but if I have to thank them for something, it would be for giving me this body. Its strong, and VERY darn resilient. My guts threatened to spill out of me and I have almost healed from that in less than a month, that HAS to be the definition of resilience.
Link heads to his desk and grabs the charcoal suit Chacha picked for him. He dresses himself and does not bother brushing his hair, he then exits his room and heads to the dining room. As he walks by Zelda’s door he hears a few yells, and things being thrown around.
Being a female doesn’t sound fun… or safe.
Once he arrives at the dinner, the King smiles brightly, but his eyes are pleading at him, the Queen slowly turns to look at Link and nods, her face portraying a blank expression that was almost scary.
What happened? What do you expect me to do my King? Maybe I should speak, hopefully that will distract my Queen from whatever she finds offensive at the moment.
“Good evening my beloved monarchs” Link states.
“Good evening, you look good… and I am not talking about your attire, do you feel better?” the Queen asks Link with a smile that does not reach her eyes.
“Far better, I just needed a little of sleep” Link answers, but suddenly Claires scowls.
“And WHY is my daughter not here yet? We came back together; she should be here already” states the Queen in anger.
“You told me the both of you argued, maybe she is-” the King attempts to calm her using reason.
“IS WHAT DAPHNES? I SUMMONED HER, SHE SHOULD BE HERE. I will send for her to be dragged by the hair if necessary” The Queen says fuming, her right-hand travels to lightly press on her chest.
HER HEART!!! FUCK, What the fuck happened? We were happy a while ago. Don’t look at me like that my King, my hands are tied here. Whom you want is Zelda… or maybe you don’t, Claire is angry with the Princess right now, putting them together on the same space may not be the brightest idea.
The sound of rushed steps approaching is heard, they all stare at the door expecting the Princess. The sound of steps stops in front of the door, but it remains closed. A few seconds go by, seconds that felt like hours under the increasing anger of the Queen. The dinner’s doors are finally opened revealing the Princess. She enters smiling but soon notices everyone’s stare on her.
“Did something happen?”
*SPEAK MOTHER FUCKER!!!*
“Nothing, we were waiting for you… is everything all right on your end? You took longer to arrive” Link asks Zelda, hoping he did not complicate things even more.
*The King just nodded at you…GOOD, keep talking, don’t let the Queen talk until she calms down, we want to avoid a family discussion on the first day back.*
Zelda didn’t get the memo.
*Doesn’t matter, she fucks things up and you always fix them… nothing new there*
“Oh, I am terribly sorry for that, I was talking with Ivanna about food and spices, time flew, when I noticed I hurried to change and get here. By the way… I think WE should eat her food at least twice a week, its healthy and she make it taste good”
SHE DID WHAT! and now she wants to change the menu… that is great, I am on board with this. I will eat it more than just twice a week of course, but I will support my princess if the monarchs fight her on this.
“You want us to EAT animal innards? WHY? That is the waste part of the animal” The Queen says with disgust.
Zelda rolls her eyes “I will let you know that when Link and I scaped the castle, I got sick. But was able to avoid the flu by eating innards, they are healthy and filling.”
Claire turns to look at Link nauseated by what the Princess said “YOU FEED MY DAUTHER WASTE PRODUCT?” the Queen yells.
Zelda looks at Link, her eyes telling him she was sorry for getting him in the path of her mother’s wrath, but also hopping he will sand with her on this. And he was more than willing to die on that hill.
“OF COURSE I DID, I was not going to let her starve. May I remind you we were on the run, we ate what I could hunt, and we could not waste ANYTHING” Link says with authority.
Link closed his eyes and raised a hand to signal them to hold up. He needed a few seconds to build a concise argument to support his Princess. He inhaled deeply and opened his eyes to find that everyone was looking at him expectantly. Link runs a hand through his hair and continues.
“Innards are the best food you can eat when you are sick, if you don’t believe me just look at the medical paperwork of your guards my King” Link smiles before continuing “I am sure that the money you waste on them is for equipment and to heal physical wounds, not to treat common sickness… I am willing to bet on that.” Link says
The Queen was about to fight him on this, but the King stopped her raising a hand.
“I don’t need to check anything my boy, I am aware of that, I thought the physical training was responsible for their good health” Daphnes states.
“It does help, but you are what you eat my King, besides… somebody I know with a weak heart could benefit from this shift on the menu” Link said raising his eyebrows at Claire.
The King smiles and looks directly at his Queen also lifting an eyebrow, then back at Zelda and gives a nod of approval, she squealed in excitement and smiling turns to Link and mouths a THANK YOU, then proceeds to dig into her dress for something.
Claire sighs in defeat “OH DIN… well I will talk to Ivanna about this tomorrow, to know exactly what she cooks and choose dishes from her… unusual menu, let’s start with that.”
Zelda beams and pulls out a sheet of paper “AND that is why I took so long to arrive today; I already did that mom” the Princess extends the menu she worked on with Nana. “Ivanna believes she is only cooking this menu for me tough; we need to let her know that she should also include the both of you… and maybe increase her salary a little” Zelda says with a shy smile.
I FUCKING HATE HER, who does she thing she is to be making me feel anything other than hate? Not going to lie though, I must admit that I AM proud of her.
Daphnes nods at Zelda’s proposal “Well, with this out of the way, can we proceed with the dinner” the King claps.
Maids enter with served dishes, and glasses for the royals, they excuse themselves and exit the room. Link looks down and smiles realizing it was lasagna, just like Chacha told him.
“My King, please tell me you have good news you want to share” Link asks.
“Of course I do, SWORD agents are safely out of the territory, they have my eternal gratitude for helping in this situation. Naboru was another ace in the game, she gathered all the gerudos that respected the treaty with Hyrule, and help hunt down the rebels.”
“That is VERY GOOD, we just have to focus on rebuilding then?” Link says with a sigh.
“Not exactly, not yet at least, we have to send letters with our deepest condolences to the families of the diseased. And next week I have a meeting with the nobles, we will discuss what happened and next year’s ball location, I am sure. Hyrule’s castle is centric, that makes it the best location, but I won’t allow the ball to be held here if they deny the presence of my guards, I will stand firm on that”
The Queen and the Princess gasped in surprise; Link slowly smirks at the King. Daphnes notices and smirks back.
“I will back you up if you need me to, my King. Though I really hope it won’t be necessary, if I open my mouth, I will obliterate them, and whomever survives my attack will be left mentally lacerated”
Zelda panics a little at the hostility the Prince displayed “No, but why attack them? They are victims are they not?”
“Victims? Hehe, I will explain because I think you don’t know” the King rubs his eyes with the index and thumb of his right hand “The annual ball is a government audit in disguise. We check on how they spend their rupee and the constructions they held during the year. My lawyers analyze it and pair it with the objective we had set for them. Its mandatory to put away our military forces because the nobles fear public humiliation.”
Zelda starts frowning and asks “why? I don’t get it”
“I couldn’t conceive why either. If they are doing everything under Hylian law as they claim, they won’t be publicly arrested… But as years passed, I realized they like to sweep things under the rug whenever they can. Their hands are not as clean as they claim, that is why they refuse the guards presence. Because if something odd is found about them, they won’t stand the humiliation of the guards arresting them in front of everyone”
“REALLY? The guards are put away because the nobles feel anxious? FUCK THEM, they almost cost us EVRYTHING. All this happened because we pamper those shit heads too much, that stops NOW” Zelda yells
“HAHAHA, I will let them know that sweetheart, and I don’t care if you insult them son, they deserve it” the King says grimly.
The Queen clears her throat “The annual ball is held to inspect the govern of the nobles on their land, The ball is a relaxed way to do this, allows them to brag to others nobles about what they have done for their people. I support you honey, but if they STILL refuse the presence of the guards how do we proceed?” The Queen asks Daphness in a serious tone.
“We go back to the dark ages, we schedule the inspections, and they will be held in THEIR land under the eyes of their people, I will be escorted by my guards of course. Will it look like an invasion? Yes, it will. Will that petrify the people? I am sure it will. If there is an arrest it will happen publicly increasing the people’s terror” the Daphnes chuckles “I am SURE they want to avoid that, so there is only one option for them isn’t there?” the King states with a huge smirk.
Link starts laughing loudly. The Queen smiles proudly at the King. Zelda stares at Daphnes in awe.
He is a fucking beast, he behaves good and compassionate but you mess with something of his, he will destroy you… scary isn’t he?
“I don’t think you will need me on the meeting at all, I will still show up though, I don’t want to miss on the massacre” the Prince says smirking, but ten sighs “I… have a request dad, could you stay with me after dinner? There is something I need to talk about with you.” Link asks respectfully.
The King nods at Link with a solemn air.
This is it, Zelda actually helped this time, what she did about changing the menu will support my argument. She is smart, caring and responsible, all she needs is space to fully extend her wings, space her current situation can’t provide for her, but I can.
The girls immediately caught on, they finished their dinner as quickly as possible and left to grant them privacy. Daphnes inhaled deeply and started the conversation.
“Before you tell me anything I need to tell you something. I am not a fool, I am now aware you have lied to me, I choose to ignore it because it benefited Hyrule at the moment, and SWORD appeared to be on board with your made-up law. I have made peace with how you handled everything, but let me be clear on this: you are not allowed to lie to me again EVER”
Link stares at the King not really surprised that he figured it all out, but confused about what was requesting of him now.
He has no idea what he is asking for
*WRONG, he has no idea WHO he is asking things from*
I will explain what he just said to me, hopefully this won’t change our relation and he gets to understand how I think more.
Link looks at Daphness and grins at him, a grin that does not reach his eyes
“I consider that EVERYONE has at least one possession of real value, and that is their word, reason why I hate lies and liars. I have NEVER lied to you my King, I may have omitted information and I am sorry for resorting to that. But I need you to understand one very important aspect of all this... I would do it again" Link hears the King grunting "It would make me a liar if I didn't, since it overrides my previous promise to you”
The King’s temper rises, silence sets as they both engage in a threatening stare, yet the King manages to control his temper and be civil, he chooses to continue the discussion with a simple question.
“How does it override your original promise?” the King asks somberly
“You asked me to protect your family. To properly do it, I must be willing to do ANYTHING to ensure their safety, that includes lying… even to you, my Lord”
You might not like it, but that’s how the deal works. You either want it perfectly executed, or not at all… there is no gray area here.
“If what you want now is for me to never lie or hide anything from you, I will tell you exactly what to say to me. And yes, YOU have to say it to my face. I ask again… do you really want me to shift from my previous focus?”
The King’s eyes widen when he realizes what it will mean, and he could not afford for that to happen. Daphnes yells and bangs his fist on the table, he then runs both his hands through his hair and adjust his robe.
“Ignore my last request, you must continue to protect my family. What did you wanted to talk about?” the King says defeated.
“It’s about your daughter. I am sure you have noticed… she shines brighter in adversity. Reading about conflict with her teachers or hearing about it from me will not satisfy her or help her in anyway. She needs to experience it, from a safe distance of course... I want Zelda to come with me when my job demands that I leave Hyrule”
Notes:
glad you are still reading my shit
Chapter 28: She is coming with me
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It was early hours in the morning, the sun had just begun to rise over the horizon. The carpenters from Kakariko village were arriving to finish their repair jobs on the Castle, but they all stopped to wave at Link’s running figure, one of them actually yelled out the number 5 smiling, he was calling on the number of laps the Prince had run around the castle. Once Link completed his 10th lap, he stopped to drink some water and cool off a little.
LINK POV
I am glad the carpenters find this entertaining; I wish I could too, but my mind keeps traveling back to the discussion I had with Daphnes yesterday. I must admit that I was the one surprised, he did not even flinch at what I asked, he just produced a sad smile and said NEVER. I still started telling him that I WOULD NOT be taking her with me always, just when the mission is low risk and I can assure she will stay safe and away from harm, he still didn’t budge. But he was not screaming either, that only means there is hope.
I am sure he noticed how recent events affected Zelda, but not negatively. She matured so much and is glowing because of it, but his fatherly side can’t wrap around the idea of putting her in danger’s path on purpose.
A carpenter approaches Link running.
“HEYOOO, we finished the doorframe? Or whatever it is… either way, you asked for it and we delivered”
“Already? that was fast, thanks” Link says surprised.
Rolling his eyes “We work fast, that is why Mutho doesn’t fire us, we just lack motivation for most jobs” the carpenter says with pride.
“And what was your motivation this time?” Link asks curious and entertained.
“You running. You asked four our services and left saying you had to finish your 10 laps before noon. We thought you were joking but soon enough you were running your 2nd and 3rd. We took it as a challenge, we just had to finish before you ran your 10th lap, or we would die…” after a few seconds the carpenters cracks in laughter, Link smiles recognizing he liked to play games like that too “We were not actually going to die, it’s just a game we like to play” said the carpenter grinning “What we really meant is that we would lose, we hate losing”
Link looks at the legs of the structure, he notices them deeply buried to bring more stability, he smiles since it looks sturdy enough, so he decides to test it. Link jumps to grab the top part of the ¨door frame¨ and starts doing pull ups, the carpenter just stares wide-eyed.
“No complains, it is a fine job” Link says gasping.
The Carpenter nods and was about to say something but Zelda approaches them, so he leaves. Zelda watches Link do pull ups a few seconds and clears her throat to speak.
“Good morning, I… wanted to ask you, how did yesterday’s chat with the King go?” the Princess asks with curiosity.
Link stops his exercise and drops to answers her.
“Can’t say it went bad, we didn’t kill each other”
“So… when are we starting the sword fight training?” she asks hopeful.
Gosh, I had forgotten about this ace, I still have it and I am going to play it HAHAHA. If she goes to Daphnes directly and asks him for this, it will further prove what I told him about her.
Link grins before answering “Wait, what? We did not agree to me doing anything. If you want this, YOU have to be the one to convince him” Link tells her.
“WHAT? YOU WERE SERIOUS ABOUT THAT? He will kill me”
“HE WILL NOT, don’t be melodramatic. If I bring up the topic, he will suspect I am influencing you, it has to come out of you. You are the princess, and later on you will be the Queen, LEARN TO DEMAND THINGS. Actually… you already know how to do that don’t you?” Link quickly lifts his eyebrows and smiles at Zelda “Be that Princess again, the one who saved me.” Link gives her a half smile and jumps up to do more pull ups.
Zelda stays frozen in place; she was stunned by what Link just told her “But I… oh damn” Zelda turns to walk back to the castle; she suddenly stops and does a 180-turn stomping on the floor.
“AND YOU SHOULDN’T OVER DO THAT; what if you reopen something?” Zelda says in anger and kind of worried.
Link drops again, and stares at her furious, lifts his shirt showing his practically healed torso.
“SWORD wants to reinstate me in a week, I need to restart my routine exercises” Link states.
The Princess sighs in defeat “I leave you to it then, just make sure you are not overstepping healing boundaries… I will need to start exercising too, right? WAITH don’t answer, let me talk to the King first, wish me luck with that” Zelda jogs back.
Good luck, but you don’t need it, I am sure you will do just fine, hopefully more than just fine. It’s sad that she does not realize how much power she has over the King. Makes me feel pity for Daphnes.
The Carpenter approaches Link, he was waiting for the princess to leave before mustering the courage to ask what type of exercise he was doing, and if he could teach him to do it too.
ZELDA POV
Zelda runs back to the castle, as much as her shoes allowed her of course.
I FUCKING HATE THESE SHOES, yeah… I picked them, they look beautiful, but the boy shoes I wore during the attack were SO MUCH BETTER. They were a little big for me, but so comfortable, I could run with those no problem. Maybe I should change my footwear.
She stops in front of the library to ponder about her next move.
What time is it? It should be early in the morning still, I need talk with the King before he starts his day, I don’t want to interrupt him for this, he still has important matters to attend to…
Zelda starts heading to the north tower, the one used by the King and her mother, but midway stops herself.
I should NOT seek for him in the royal chamber, I think I should wait for him in the throne room, I don’t want to interrupt him, but I need him to take me seriously, so I want to make it feel like I am requesting an audition. YES, I should do that.
Zelda heads to the throne room, once there she enters without hesitation, closes the door behind her and hears a man clearing his throat, she turns and finds Daphnes. He was already seated in his throne, resting his elbows on his legs looking down at her due to his elevated position. Zelda looks up at him and smiles sheepishly.
“To what to I owe the pleasure of you visit Princess?” the King asks with curiosity.
Wow. Straight to the point, not even a hello, how are you. Well… he is the King, of course he has no time for amicable chit chat.
“Good morning for starters” Zelda states “I wanted to make a request”
Daphnes lowers his gaze in shame “GOOD MORNING of course, don’t mind my lack of manners, I was shocked, you have never... What do you need?”
Zelda breaths in very deeply and starts “We experienced an attack a few days ago, I am sure our guards would have been able to handle it if they had been here, but they were not… the experience made me realize that as the Princess I should not be defenseless. My request is to start sword fighting classes, I need to at least know the basics, I don’t want to be a burden if something happens again”
The King stares at her wide eyed, he stands and walks down the steps that elevated his throne from ground level. Then he slowly approaches the Princess.
“Who told you that you needed this?” The King asks narrowing his eyes suspiciously.
“Wha- nobody, I am doing this out of guilt. Link was almost killed trying to defend me, and I was so damn useless. I don’t want to feel like that again… in fact, I am sure he can teach me, just order him to and he will” Zelda asks adding a cute smile at the end.
Shaking his head “I am not sure you want LINK to teach you, he is… unstable. He disguises it very good but it’s clear he is not right in the head; I am not sure I can trust you with him” the King admits.
[If what you want now is for me to never lie or hide anything from you, I will tell you exactly what to say to me. And yes, YOU have to say it to my face]. The King shakes his head at the memory of Link’s eyes somehow glowing as he said that, and his voice… it briefly sounded unnatural.
Zelda stares at the King and soon breaks in a fit of laughter catching Daphnes of guard. She soon composes herself and continues with the discussion.
“I know he is crazy, almost psychotic, but you kind of have to be in order to perform in his line or work, right?” the Princess asks not really expecting an answer so she continues.
“Besides it’s not like you DIDN’T KNEW before making him a Nohansen, what changed?”
Sighs “One thing is adding that beast to the family, and another is allowing my daughter to wrestle it… but I guess you are right, crazy is a must if you work for SWORD” The King admits, but he still feels uneasy about this.
“He is dangerous, but crazy enough to follow a code, and the code is his word, if he says he will do something consider it DONE, so far he has not failed to fulfill his word, so I trust him.” Zelda admits.
The King closes his eyes and covers his face between his hands “You… raise a very good point, I was failing to see the whole picture and only focusing in not damaging my family any further. The training will be harsh… bruises and cuts, is that really what you want?” Daphnes insist hoping his daughter will reconsider. They may not be blood related, but she is still his girl, he really does not want to even imagine her bruised, but if she really wants this, he will agree.
“YES. I don’t mind the bruises and cuts, what bothers me is being defenseless… Does this mean-” Zelda find herself unable to finish the question, her eyes already glistening with tears of happiness and hope.
The King returns to his throne and draws a sheet of paper from under it with a pen, gets back to Zelda and signals for her to turn around. She happily does and the King uses her back to write on the sheet of paper. When he is done, he folds the paper and gives it to Zelda.
“Give this to Link, it states how and when your sword training begins… You will NOT learn to attack, it will be defense and maybe how to disarm an opponent, I stand firm on that.”
Zelda produces a high pitch scream and jumps on Daphnes wrapping her arms around his neck. The King stumbles back a little but recovers and hugs her back lifting her a little to spinning her. As he lowers Zelda to the floor, she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and rushes out of the throne room.
LINK POV
“Yes, I am strictly following the exercise plan Carla send to me”
“GOOD, as I am sure she told you, we want to reinstate you in a week approximately” the General says.
“That much I gathered, who am I murdering?” Link nonchalantly asks.
“NOBODY… I am sure you know about the potential donor project we started for you 2 years ago”
Oh yeah, the project that is doomed to failure. A 90% match is demanded by SWORD to guarantee reception of whatever is being donated, that percentage is derived by 4 tests: blood typing, tissue typing, serum crossmatch and PRA. That percentage is most likely meet by direct family members, which I don’t have. Still, they are trying to find me possible donors and I did not stop them. I would love the idea of there being somebody that can donate me blood or an organ if ever necessary, but let’s be real here, THEY WON’T FIND ANYONE.
“It took us long but we have revised all existing medical records around the globe, and we found 2. We think it would be GOOD for you to reach out to them. That is your mission” the Generals says this giggling at the idea of Kid trying to be friendly with strangers.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!! HOW? [I wish for all realities to be destroyed except the one I am heading to]
My wish… it only included the loops that came after me, and guarantied eternal rest for the loops before me… but I forgot about the other timeline, a future where I died but my spirit respawned spontaneously, generating guys that are NOT even related to me but still ARE ME. If I remember correctly there were 2, the pirate boy and the engineer… FUCK.
The triforce didn’t destroy them because they are technically me, but since their original reality disappeared due to my wish, they were placed in this world with me, just not in Hyrule. How could I have made such a terrible mistake.
*Dude calm down and breathe, SWORD only suspect they may be a match because of a medical record, you have to verify if they are still around, and if they really are a match, it can still NOT be them.
“I… will hang now, have a nice evening General Zalatoris”
Link ends the call with the General in mental distress, he sits on his bed and breathes trying to compose himself, then the sound of Zelda’s shoes approaching is heard. He suddenly realizes she is coming to hell so he begins to open the door, but Zelda opened it first and hugs him doing small jumps. Then hands him the sheet of paper, Link reads it quickly and gives Zelda a half smile while ruffling her hair with his left hand.
“The King insist on me just learning defense and how to disarm, but that is better than nothing right?”
“It’s perfect” Link says and leans close to Zelda “defense is a psychological attack. Its demoralizing, it kills them here first” he taps on his temple and winks at Zelda “then you can attempt to kill them once they give you an opening… but that will be solely on you. Since I am forbidden to teach you how.”
Zelda beams and can’t contain her excitement, Link reaches behind Zelda to reopen the door.
“Are you throwing me out” Zelda asks daring him to answer.
“Of course not my Princess, you can stay if you want but I need to meet with the King” Link says wiggling the letter and rushing out of his room.
Link pulls out the sheet of paper and reads it again, to make sure he understood before making a fool of himself. He quickly arrives at the throne room; he stood there staring at the double doors that seemed to radiate an ominous vibe. Link breaths in and opens them. Inside, Daphnes is speaking with Sebastian, they both stare at Link upon his arrival. Link glances at Sebastian who seems to be engrossed writing something, and holding his adoption papers for some reason.
He is the lawyer, isn’t he? Why would he be… DAMN!!! How did she do it?
*She must have made a big impression… she did the job for you, I am not used to her being reliable*
“She is coming with me, isn’t she?” Link asks sardonically.
Daphnes stares at Link squinting his eyes, then raises his index finger and brings it to his lips demanding silence.
Notes:
thank you
Chapter 29: Raider Prince and Thief Princess
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It was noon already, the throne room had been in use for 2 hours now, Sebastian opens the double doors laughing, and exits with a smile plastered on his face. Link also walks out slowly and closes the doors behind himself. He runs a hand through his hair closing his eyes.
LINK POV
GUARDIAN, the plan Daphnes is setting in motion is to make me Zelda’s legal guardian, this is a risky move for him. On one side it means that I WONT EVER do anything against the Princess, since I will be legally obligated to her now. But on the other side I will be granted a higher status… meaning that I will be allowed to drag the princess out of Hyrule whenever I see fit, no questions asked.
The look on the King’s eyes tells me HE KNOWS he is basically relinquishing her off to me. He is just too proud to admit he is complying to my request of letting her out of Hyrule. His lawyer made me swear to keep this a secret. Daphnes made sure to stress on the fact that if Claire found out, she will not be happy, and could easily put a stop on the legal process. And if Zelda found out, she will feel like a new shackle was put around her neck and fight it. My King made sure to double checked if he could expect secrecy from me on this matter, he even asked the same thing but with different wording. Hehehe… he is starting to get the hang with me, not sure if that is a good thing or not.
Sebas found the King’s request odd, but was utterly happy that this time it’s going to be an easy job, the only authority he needs to consult is the King of Hyrule himself, meaning his job is done, all he has to do is to put it on paper with fancy words.
Link was heading to his room, but changed his mind and decided he needed fresh air to clear his head, TOO MUCH had happened in a matter of hours… SWORD found 2 impossible guys that appear to match his DNA, and he just got told he was to become Zelda’s guardian.
As he was heading out, he passed by Nana’s kitchen noticing a tall man hugging her. Link immediately stopped and entered the kitchen. The man lifted his amber eyes that hid behind a black mane to stare back at Link, it was clear they were sizing each other up. Nana noticed someone had entered and turned to look at the newcomer, once she realized it was Link the color drained from her face, after a few seconds she approached Link covering her distress with a smile.
“Good morning, it’s good that you are here now, that way I can introduce you two, this is José…my son. Pepe this is”
“I know who he is… the guy that fights with you constantly and has even lied to you, but I am supposed to be worshiping the ground he stands on because he saved you and Chacha. That guy, right?” Pepe asks cynically.
Nana opens her eyes wide in fear, and stares angry at her son. Link was partially smiling, amused with the guy. Pepe was rude, but not afraid to be upfront, and Link appreciated that character in a man, specially coming from the man who is supposed to take care of his favorite lady in the castle.
“Precisely that guy, nice to meet you” Link extends his hand for a shake, his grey eyes never breaking contact with Pepe’s own angry stare.
Pepe strongly grabs Link’s hand for a shake, but he is meet with Link’s own strong hold.
Note to self: I must be in my right mind at all times. Unexpected things can and will happen as long as I reside in the castle.
Pepe slowly shows a smile and uses his grip on Link’s hand to pulls him into a hug, he uses his other hand to taps on Link’s back a few times then releasees him. Link then turns to Nana.
“YOU DIDN’T TELL ME YOU HAD A SON” Link yells at Nana smiling.
“It never came out, and honestly, I don’t like talking about him” Nana answers ashamed.
What the fu-?
José laughs “Yeah… when your mom loves you but is ashamed of you” Pepe said with a cynical grin.
Rolling her eyes “That is because you only know how to do mischief, do you know how long it took to rid of the smell of your stunt on the throne room? Everyone was talking about you and judging me, you just bring me shame with all your crazy shit. I believe Daphnes should not have forgiven you this time, with all you have done by now, you deserved jail time.”
Well fuck, that was harsh, she was not speaking to me but I felt it. And Pepe didn’t even flinch, he either has developed immunity to his mom, or doesn’t even care anymore… I really hope it’s the first one.
“Hahaha maybe that is what I need, I would like to promise you that I will be a good boy, but come on… you and I both know I will do it again in a heartbeat, and just for fun” José smirks.
This dude, I am no psychologist but I believe Pepe is a case of ODD (Oppositional defiant disorder) that assuming this is all there is to him, he could still be something more dangerous… either way he is defiant, putting him to deal with people might not be the best idea. I should pay more attention when Dr. Stephan visits and talks to us about mental profiles. Either way, there must be SOMETHING he can do here at the castle, something that will help give him structure while keeping him away from people.
Rolling her eyes “Oh, by the love of Nayru, I can’t deal with you right now, I need to head to the garden and discuss something with the Queen, you both will behave and not kill each other, right?” Nana demands of them.
Pepe laughs, but does not answer. Link smiles and nods at Nana, she uses her index and middle finger to point at her eyes and right back at them, implying that she is watching them. Ivanna turns and leaves.
Link clears his throat to draw attention to himself “If you don’t mind me asking José, how old are you?”
“It’s not correct to judge people by their age… I am 16”
They both hear rushed steps approaching them, Link positions himself in front of the table and facing directly at the entrance, he then notices Pepe standing up at a corner positioning himself to also face the entrance. They both look at each other taking note of their actions and bust out laughing. Zelda enters the kitchen and stares at both of them puzzled.
ZELDA POV
Because of course, those two just HAD to meet and become friends, Link is not friendly AT ALL… so, how does he befriend everyone?
“What do you find so funny guys?” Zelda asks curiously.
“We just shared an alfa male moment” Links says grinning, causing Pepe to start choking a little at that comment.
“Wow breathe” she giggles waiting for Pepe to stabilize before continuing “I am glad you are back José, you know the guard’s night itinerary, right?” Zelda asks him not beating around the bush.
Both Link and José look at the Princess with suspicion, Pepe clears his throat.
“Depends, what do you want it for?” José says squinting his eyes, Link stares stoically at her too.
“Do you need me to leave?” Link offers the Princess.
Zelda stares at Link and widens her eyes.
“NO!!! you… I can trust you right?” Zelda asked not really expecting an answer.
“Look I need the guard’s night itinerary because I need to find a breach in their formation, and use it to steal something from the Queen’s personal office”
THERE, I said it, this will make me a thief but I don’t care, I need my royal seal. My mother refuses to give it to me and I NEED IT, I want to keep my promise and stamp my name at the shooting gallery.
Link stretches his arms up "I don't see that happening" he lowers his arms and continues "To access the Queen's office you need to go through the royal chamber first. How do you plan to enter their chambers without waking them up?" Link's face suddenly brightens "Or do you intend to use the office window?"
“Well… yes, that is the plan, but not me… I can’t do something like that, I don’t know how to climb” she slowly turns to look at Pepe.
“No, don’t look at me, you need strength on the hands and fingers that I don’t have, but if you are willing to pay, I can get you somebody” José offers.
Sighing the Princess says “But it can’t be ANYONE, it has to be a man who is very capable physically speaking, he needs to be able to easily lift his own weight” Zelda gives Link a quick glance. “He needs to have a strong and resilient core for the task… he also needs to lack moral ground to be able do this without feeling guilty about it, don’t you think?” Zelda ends up asking Link directly.
Come on, BITE IT. It obviously has to be you Link.
Link grabs his own chin between his thumb and index’s middle knuckle “Secrecy, you also need someone who can keep this a secret, you don’t want your people gossiping about this” Link wiggles his eyebrows at the Princess.
He is going to make me ask directly, isn’t he? Of course he is… FUCKER. But I am not backing down; I will beg him if I must, but first I will try appealing to his courteous side.
Zelda approaches Link slowly. Once she gets close to him, she starts fidgeting her fingers anxiously, then looks up at Link with puppy eyes.
“Help me regain my independence PLEASE” Zelda asks wiggling from side to side.
“Your independence?” Link asks her seriously.
“Yes… you will be stealing my royal seal; I need to use it for an establishment back in the market. Mother refuses to give it to me, you could steal yours too for that matter” Zelda says curling a strand of hair on her finger.
“Hehe, no need. I have mine already” Link answers bragging.
“Son of a…” Zelda says angry, but quickly recovers and goes back to her sweet girl act.
“Well, I don’t have mine, will you help me steal it please?” Zelda asks as sweet as possible.
“No... your whole act right now” Link says drawing a circle in the air between them “I am not buying it”
“MY ACT? WHAT ACT? It’s been more than a week now that I have been good and accepting of you. Why are you turning your back on me?” Zelda reproaches him.
“Does treating me with respect translates into becoming meek? I swore to help and protect the Princess, and let me tell you… my Princess is anything but meek, this person standing in front of me is NOT my Princess” Link replies.
I… why? No matter what I do, he finds a way to spit it back at me demanding something BETTER. Is it always going to be like this with him? I mean what if this is it? What if this is all I have?
“You may be describing someone else, someone I impersonate at times but ultimately, someone I don’t know” Zelda admits with disappointment at herself.
“Because FUCK ME, right?” Link answers challenging her
Well yeah, FUCK YOU!!! Slowly and with a pinch of…
I THINK I GOT IT.
He wants me to fight for this [let me tell you… my Princess is anything but meek] He is demanding strength from me, he is a monster himself, if he is subduing to a person, it better be to someone strong… all right then, let’s see if he likes how I flex.
“YES, FUCK YOU. It’s not fair that you have the royal seal and I don’t. All I want is to use it to stimulate the economy of my people, not for selfish purposes at all. Mark my words, I will steal it with or without your help” Zelda states catching her breath.
Link stares at Zelda annoyed, but slowly produces a smirk; Pepe keeps switching his gaze between the two and starts raising his index finger.
“Excuse me, now that you have resolved your marital problems, I need to tell you that I WANT TO HELP. But if I do, I am risking being thrown away from the castle for good this time”
--talking at the same time--
"HAHAHA marital problems, if it where that simple" Link says while he leans back on the table crossing his arms.
"WHAT!!! Take that back José, how can you even joke about this" Zelda says embarrassed and trying to hide her flushing face.
--
“Right” answers Pepe rolling his eyes.
Link turns to speak to José “Who else knows of your current presence in the castle?”
“Nobody… maybe just the guard at the entrance, you, my mom and the Princess.”
“That means nobody… PERFECT” Link smirks.
Pepe looks at Zelda for a hint on what is going on, but she is also clueless.
“José, we are stealing the seal TONIGHT, I need you to tell me the guards night route, and then I need you to HIDE. This conversation did not happen, if we get caught, you will not be involved because YOU WERE NOT HERE. The moment you finish telling me what I need, you stand up, grab your clothes and disappear. I will take care of Ivanna. THAT should be enough to completely get you out of the radar. Get back here tomorrow as if nothing ever happened” Link states.
“No, wait. What about that one guard?” Zelda asks.
José grins at her and chuckles, Link rolls his eyes before answering “They don’t really pay attention at who enters, they just check that you have a permit”
They do? Gosh, my guards suck.
Jose takes a seat smiling. He and starts telling Link how many guards patrol the castle at night and how often they do their rounds. Zelda just stares at them unsure of what to do now.
LINK WILL HELP ME!!! O my goddesses, this is happening. He could have told me, he demands straightforwardness from me, well I demand the same. He should ADMIT to my face that he changed his mind… NO ZELDA, SHUT UP. You have him now, don't push him away.
“How can I help? What should I do?” Zelda asks.
“You should gather these in your room: vendanges, alcohol, soap, cotton, razor, thread and needle”
“Wait a second, that is…” Zelda states with concern and worry displaying on her face.
“A precaution” Link answers “I may scrape or hurt myself in other ways during the climb”
That… actually is a possibility, and we can’t afford Link going to the clinic, they will ask too many questions, I will have to tend his injuries myself, hopefully he won’t have any.
José stands up, grabs his hand bag and waves them goodbye as he walks out. Link smiles and starts speaking to the Princess.
“I will climb down my window and use Pepe’s intel on the guard’s patrol to avoid them, then I will climb the north tower. It would be great if the window is already open, do you think you could make sure it is?”
“It is already open, mom hates silverfish, she ventilates everything. Rooms that are not frequently used are left with the windows slightly open to avoid that plague. If you find it closed just push on it, I assure you that IS OPEN”
Link raises an eyebrow “How convenient… LETS START THE SHIT SHOW”
LINK POV
Zelda laughs and nods, then walks out of the kitchen heading to the infirmary. Link is heading to the garden in search of Nana but stops when he sees her entering the castle. When she sees Link, she smiles and runs to him.
She is going to tackle me, isn’t she?
The force of the impact forces Link to stumble back a few steps, but he does not fall. Nana starts playfully beating on his chest.
“YOU FUCKING KNEW DIDN’T YOU? Is it always going to be like this? and where is my beautiful Princess? I need to thank her” Ivanna says sobbing.
Link chuckles “I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, and last I checked that royal pain in the ass was heading to the infirmary… Ivanna have you told ANYONE about Pepe’s arrival today?”
“NO! WHAT DID HE DO?” Nana yells, anguish all over her face.
“Nothing, but me on the other hand…” he smirks “to avoid you and him any trouble, HE WAS NEVER HERE, got it?”
Notes:
thanks for reading me, i am kind of loving Zelda.
Chapter 30: The mountain goes to Muhammad
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
TUDD! A pellet was heard as it completely missed the target hitting on the wall. Zelda stares exasperated at Link, whom is chuckling a little at her.
ZELDA POV
"I can't believe it; I SWEAR last time I was able to hit at least 2 targets" she says pleading Link to believe her.
"Maybe if you tried AIMING'" Link suggest sincerely.
Well now that is just disrespectful, what does he think I have been doing all this time? All right let's breathe and think, what is different? His presence, he could be making me nervous and that is why I am failing all my shots. Why is he here to begin with?
-------------------------REMEMBRANCE---------------------------------------------------
Zelda hurries to open the door of her room, all the first aid items Link requested could be seen behind her on top of the desk. But she found that the corridor was empty. She closed the door suppressing a scream of frustration, she had no idea if Link was ok, or why he was taking so long… She promised herself to wait for a second tap before opening the door next time. But she completely forgot about that when she heard something on the terrace.
That HAS to be Link, right? why did I though he will enter my room through the door to begin with? He is climbing the castle walls; it would be easier for him to enter through my terrace.
She opened her curtains and finally saw Link standing there, he looked unkempt and with a few scrapes on his arms, but other than that he was perfectly fine. She smiled and hurriedly open the sliding glass door of her terrace. She then drew out her hand to grab on his tunic and pulled him inside.
Link stumbled a little as he regained his balance from the tug, he then turns to Zelda with an angry stare. The Princess approaches staring at his frame up and down.
"Well, no obvious gash and you still have all your fingers… such a disappointment" the Princess says sarcastically as he regained his balance from having being pulled inside.
"I was being extra careful, I thought you would not appreciate me staining your floor with blood" Link says as he pulls out the royal seal and tosses it at her.
Zelda catches it and squeals in happiness, meanwhile Link grabs some cotton and alcohol to rub it on his scraped arms.
"THANK YOU VERY MUCH, you have no idea how much I appreciate this… you should come with me tomorrow you know"
--------------------------END OF REMEMBRANCE-------------------------------
Oh yeah… I asked him to come.
"Show me, because obviously I am not doing it right" Zelda says obviously bothered by her admission.
Link approaches her and grabs her shoulders to shift her stance from an isosceles stance which faced directly at the targets. To a weaver stance, blading her body by positioning her dominant foot back. Once he is done relocating her shooting posture, Link circles her and ends up right behind her placing his hands on top of hers, almost like hugging her from behind. The Prince uses his foot to push her legs a little wider.
"You do not want to stumble since that could deviate your shot, so you widen your stance to root yourself firm to the ground. Then you take your aim, the perfect shot is NOT aiming through the forks, you rotate the slingshot, and you should see the target right on top the fork, like this" Link carefully explains.
He rotates the slingshot and takes aim not letting go of the Princess's hands, to introduce her to the pull pressure she should exert on the slingshot.
FOR FARORE'S SHAKE, this is too much. He is too fucking close, talking directly to my ear, and smelling so damn good. WAY TOO DISTRACTING, I am not sure I paid attention to everything he just said… but most importantly, why am I feeling uncomfortable? I hate him, don't I?
No… I don't really hate him, not anymore. But that does not mean he is on the market girl. Wait…HE IS, he just turned 13, didn't he? But YOU are not on the market, get a grip Zelda, breathe… NO DON'T BREATHE, IT'S A TRAP.
"I think the target is in place taking your angle in consideration, but you need to confirm it, is it in place" Link ask her almost whispering on her ear.
Zelda just nods, fearing to speak since she would lose the little air she had left.
"The pellet should travel in perfect horizontal line. When you pull the sling avoid lifting your elbow, you should draw your arm and elbow back as horizontal as possible, then you release the pellet" Link says and backs away to let her have her first shot.
Zelda breaths in hungrily, and releases her shot… the pellet struck the target right in the center, shattering it to pieces.
Zelda opens he eyes wide, not sure she just did that, so she readies another shot, adjusts her stance, bents the slingshot to aim just like Link told her, and hits another target. She grins widely, rushes to Link and hugs him jumping, then gets back to shooting the rest of the targets.
LINK POV
Well, she seems happy. I wonder how long is this going to last. My Queen is not stupid… she will find out about what I did, if not today, tomorrow.
DAMN! She missed that shot, and that one… being fair those last 2 where moving targets, she still did good though, hit 8 from 10.
"Well, that is a better score than just 2, right?" Zelda asks the shop owner smiling.
"Of course it is my Princess, I will write it immediately… would you like to try the game too my Prince"
Link widens his eyes and starts shaking his head, but notices Zelda nodding her head at him mouthing ¨play¨.
Sighs "If I play, I am going to set the bar high, to make it difficult for your usual customers to reach me, set the shooting range on your expert level please" Link orders.
The shop owner smiles evilly and rubs his hands in anticipation and excitement. All targets are now moving and he has a time limit, the owner draws a new score chart.
"Excuse me but what is all this?" Zelda asks puzzled.
"The expert level, I only use it on Saturdays at 12pm, it was made for older customers… by that I mean the castle guards, they always come to drink and spend time competing here"
Then they both turn their heads when they start hearing the shattering of the targets one after another, the owner slowly begins to beam, his eyes glistening with hope and greed, a GOOD score by the Prince means the guards are going to spend a lot of coin trying to surpass it, or to reach it at least. Zelda was left with her mouth wide open seeing Link hit EVERY TARGET with ease.
I was NOT expecting to feel this level of pain on my arms and hands, I thought climbing would be easy, I have plenty of memories from my past and future self climbing walls and mountains. I mean I CAN climb too, but I need to build more stamina and arm strength. I need to train; I hate the idea of being the weakest link.
Though it may not have been the climb what is causing the soreness now that I think about it.
---------------------------------------REMEMBRANCE-----------------------------------------------
The moon is full and at its highest point in the sky, the King and the Queen lay on their bed asleep, Link slowly pushes the window from outside to open it wider. He enters slowly trying to avoid making any type of noise, but smiles once he realizes he may not need to be so careful, Daphnes was snoring loudly.
Just in case he reaches the door that connects the office with the bedroom and closes it, that on itself kind of muffled the snores, and should help hide any sound he makes. Link moves more freely around the office opening drawers, then he finds a very decorated small box… but it was closed. He draws his Swiss Army knife and manages to open it without damaging the box, and there it was, the Princess seal along with the King and Queen's. Link takes Zelda's and puts the box back when he hears the door handle turn.
The Queen enters her office yawning, Claire walks around moving stuff and looking everywhere… everywhere but the ceiling, where Link was struggling to maintain his position in a sunken panel of the coffered ceiling. Pressing on the beams with his limbs to remain flat on the celling was arduous, it demanded to much from his already tiered arms and still healing core.
“I was sure I heard something” Then the Queen notices the open window and rolls her eyes. “Stupid wind" the Queen closes the window assuming that must have been what she heard. As she was about to leave, she comes back to slightly open the window, but jams it this time to prevent it from disturbing her sleep again. She finally returns to the bedroom.
--------------------------------------END OF REMEMBRANCE-----------------------------------------------
I am sure the scare Claire gave me it's what fucked me, but at least now I know my Queen is a selective listener, she wakes up when she hears a sound out of the ordinary… that is a hardcore survival mechanism, I wonder what where the circumstances that forced her to develop that skill.
ANYWAY… Saria raised no quitter; I am finishing this game with perfect score even if it hurts. I have heard the guards boasting about their performance in this game, this is the perfect opportunity to show them how pathetic they truly are, and hopefully motivate them to get better.
They both exit the shooting gallery, Zelda is feeling good about everything so far, she was able to see her name stamped with her royal seal on the chart score. That filled her with pride even though it was not the best score. Link was quiet the whole travel back, dreading their arrival.
Once they arrived Cormac came rushing at them, he began asking what took them so long, and without waiting for an answer he tells them they were summoned to the throne room.
Wow. I was expecting my Queen to find out about the missing seal today, but not THIS early in the day.
Zelda's smile fades, she turns to Link and nods at him with conviction.
"We are in this together, right?” she asks him
Link nods at her with a smile "Like conjoined twins" he assures her.
The carriage leaves and the pair decide to just enter already and be done with all this. As they entered Link notices new decorations were placed on the walls, mostly flower paintings.
Zelda starts to giggle, Link looks at her believing she lost her mind when he hears it, Ivanna is yelling at Pepe and demanding answers. He begins to laugh too; glad they are not dealing with Nana right now. Cormac opens the double doors for them and steps away.
Inside you can see the King and Queen in their respective thrones, but there are also 3 well-dressed men.
"Good evening majesties, may I inquire as to the reason we were summoned today?" Link asks.
"Good evening, I wanted you to meet these renown tailors, since you wanted to replace the clothes that got destroyed due to… circumstances" answers the Queen.
Link frowns, he starts negating with his head and opens his arms a fraction showing his palms.
"But we specifically asked for Martin mom" Zelda reminds the Queen.
"He will not come" Claire bluntly answers.
"Why is that my queen?" asks Link a little angry.
"I don't know… he gave lots of excuses, but I assume he is ashamed to show his face here, and afraid of personally seeing YOU" the Queen points at Link.
What the… why?... he is blaming himself; he thinks I got hurt because his suits were not good enough. THIS SON OF A
Zelda was about to reprimand the Queen on her lack of insistence when she heard a suppressed laughter, she slowly turns to witness Link chuckling with an evil grin on his face.
"So… the fag was too much of a pansy to show face here" Link says cynically.
"Language…" said the Queen without conviction. She was more scared of what he was going to do than of his poor choice of words. She turns to Daphnes but he is just staring intrigued.
"Whatever… you all are dismissed" Link says directly at the tailors and walks out of the throne room.
"If Muhammad does not go to the mountain" Link says as he is leaving.
Everyone stares in complete silence; Zelda recovers fast and asks the King through yells as she runs to catch up with Link.
"WHO THE FUCK IS MUHAMMAD?" the King looks at her shaking his head and raising his shoulders.
Zelda exits the throne room without closing the door, enabling the Queen and King to perfectly hear the discussion that followed.
"DON'T GO KILLING MARTIN, I STILL NEED HIM TO SOMETHING FOR ME"
"I AM NOT GOING TO KILL HIM, BUT I AM GONNA MAKE HIM WISH I HAD"
"LINK!!!"
The King laughs a little at that.
The tailors started to leave the premises too, one of them was giggling and the other two whispering in discontent. The Queen was fiddling her hands, once they left the throne room, she exhales and asks her King.
"Darling, have you ever lied to me? I understand that getting used to me was a chore at first, and Zelda's attitude was not making it easier… if you have, I won't hold it against you"
The King stares at his Queen with a stoic expression, then he suddenly understands what she really means to ask and chuckles.
"He is not mine, only the goddesses know how much I wished he was… I adopted him so he is mine now, but there is not a drop of me in his blood, any resemblance to me, including THAT short fuse of his, is just a happy coincidence" Daphnes clarifies with a small grin.
"Thought so… I just needed your reassurance, it's just that it could be possible, you could have met a woman before me, have sex with her and later married me. We know you are sterile now, but maybe you where fertile before me" Claire tries to explain her reasoning to justify her insecurities… she then giggles a little. "Too bad things didn’t go according to plan today"
"You had a plan?"
"YES, I was going to expose them as thieves for stealing Zelda's royal seal. Don't look at me weird honey, that seal is missing and I am sure IT WAS THEM. Don’t know how but I don't care. I was going to tell you about it in front of the tailors, to shame them further because they deserve it" the Queen says with malice.
The King slowly raises both his eyebrows "That was a cruel plan, why so much hate? No, it's not hated, its distrust" Daphnes runs a hand through his hair "Could you please put a hold on your revenge? Zelda has changed… I believe she maturing. I want to support her self-growth, so let's have faith in her, maybe that is all she needs from us right now."
The Queen looks at him with curiosity "did something happened between you two that I should know?"
Notes:
thank you
Chapter 31: He just became popular
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The carriage was taking Zelda and Link to the drawbridge at the entrance of the market, but before arriving it made a turn to enter a middle-class residential area. Link appeared to be calm and collected, Zelda was proud of that, she helped A LOT to get him to that state, right now she was only supervising him. The last thing she wanted was for Link to revert to anger. That would be like throwing out all her work.
LINK POV
And we are here, now which one is his house? I requested Cormac to inform me of Martin’s location, but I cannot recall any information from that conversation. Once we got on the carriage, Zelda gave herself the task of helping me regain a calm state, I have to admit she did a decent job, she has been reminding me who I am and what I stand for, she also painted me a picture of reality according to Martin, how he surely feels ashamed and just needs reassurance, not scolding from me… and she is right.
BUT since I am not the perfect example of civility, I figured that if I am not going to hit him, then I am going to embarrass him.
My plan is to start yelling for him to come out. Do I care if other civilians listen in on everything? No, I am counting on that. Have I informed the princess about this plan of mine? OF COURSE NOT. She will try to dissuade me… and I really want to force him to come to me, I am doing 90% of the approach, so he can do the final 10% to reach me. Besides, I think he need this more than I do.
The carriage comes to a halt, once it does Link does not wait for the driver to open the carriage’s door, he opens it himself and climbs down, helping the princes to climb out too. Then walk a few steps away from the carriage and starts screaming.
“MARTIN!!! THIS IS YOUR FUKING PRINCE, COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!!!” Link yells loudly.
Zelda opens her eyes in fear, then punches him in his arms and chest with anger. All the houses in the vicinity turn their lights out but left their windows half closed. The residents were afraid but also loved gossip, they still wanted to hear what was about to happen.
“What are you doing? You will scare him away” Zelda says fuming.
“HEAR THAT MARTIN? I AM NOT SCARING YOU, AM I? GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE AND TELL HER”
Zelda was pulling on Link trying to make him retreat to the carriage, when they suddenly hear a door slam open, Martin comes out of it and slowly approaches Link, he then grants the Prince a reverence.
“You called me my Prince, so here I am” says Martin unable to hold Link’s gaze
Lifting an eyebrow “There you are, so you are able to come to me… so why am I here then? Why do I have to come fetch you?” Link asks a little angry at the audacity of the man in front of him.
“I… can’t. I am unworthy of your presence, unworthy of the castle” answers Martin pitifully.
“ACCORDING TO WHO? All I know is that I requested your presence and you did not show” Link states, not angry yet but he made sure to be loud and assertive… he wanted the people to hear.
Martin opens his eyes wide in surprise at what he was told “But my Prince, all I can provide to you is my work, which is obviously faulty, I was to make your jackets resistant to piercing and-”
“AND YOU DID” damn it Martin, don’t make me lose my calm when there are civilians listening.
“NO, I DID NOT… you still got wounded” Martin yells back hugging himself.
Link breaths deeply to regain his calm “It was not a piercing wound, the weapon used on me applies a force equivalent to 10 spears, and it still didn’t kill me” Link says wiggling his eyebrows at Martin.
“But… I heard you were on your death bed” Martin insists.
Zelda immediately comes forward “That was my fault Martin, Link put his jacket on me before getting mauled by wolfos, your jacket protected me” Zelda says with shame but manages a comforting smile.
Martin stares at both of them in shock, not sure if he believed them, he stares at Link again and notices how he raises an eyebrow daring him to contradict them.
At that moment, Martin realizes that it doesn’t matter if he is good at his job, if the suits managed to protect the Prince from harm’s way or not. All that matters is that the Prince wants his suits, so he will make them for him. He begins laughing out loud once the realization sets in.
“What do you want me to make for you? my Prince” Martin finally asks.
Link releases a breath he did not know he was holding “My green-brown suit is the one that got damaged, can you do another one? it was my favorite”
Rolling her eyes “He means the OLIVE one” Zelda clarifies.
“Bloody hell, you too? Why the obsession with the made-up colors? It should just be the rainbow colors and shades of them” Link claims exasperated.
Zelda stares at him in awe, she starts shaking her head and was about to speak but shouts her mouth the moment Link looks at her, she opts to turn to the tailor for help, Martin laughs.
“You my Prince need to be educated, and I will do it if you don’t mind” he proceeds to start walking around them while he talks.
“Did you know we tailors work by written request? We don’t visit people, we only visit the royals and for a price. People contact us via letter, and that way they let us know what they want and their measurements. Reason why I am unpopular, I demand they let me measure them myself, I like having a visual of the body to ensure I am dressing it appropriately. Anyway, the letter must be formal since its job related, by that I mean they don’t write it at home like casual delivery, they must print it, the cost of that can be high or low depending on how many letters are used… making olive a better option to describe a color against green-brown don’t you think?” Martin ends his explanation with a genuine smile.
That… makes sense [image of Chacha’s face mocking him] FUCK
“I understand, I need to learn the colors then” Link says completely defeated.
“You are young, it will be easy I assure you, for now let’s start with your wardrove: olive, maroon, navy and charcoal, you will figure out which is which”
“But you made six, didn’t you?” Zelda asks puzzled.
“The remaining two are basic colors, even I know them: brown and black” Link says with a tone of anger but not at the princess, at himself for not knowing about press charges.
ZELDA POV
Oh, dear goddesses, I AM LOVING THIS. I know basking on this doesn’t make me a good person, but I am enjoying seeing Link trying hard to repress his anger at failing to know something. And it was Martin who granted me this. I think I am going to like him a lot.
“By the way Martin, I was wondering if you could make something for me” Zelda asks with puppy eyes.
“I specialize in men’s clothes, sorry my Princess” Martin answers emphatically.
“Yes, I know that, I just don’t have anyone else to ask for this and you have the experience on making what I want… I told you before, Link almost died because I had his jacket on, I don’t want that to be an issue in the future, I need a jacket of my own”
“But a jacket will look horrid paired with her dresses, for that reason I suggested her to speak to you, maybe you could come up with something she could use” Link adds and lifts both his eyebrows hoping Martin could help.
Martin is staring at both of them when an idea pops in his head “how about a corset?”
“That fits under the breast, I won’t even cover her chest area properly” Link says with doubt.
“Some of them do, hers will be an over bust corset, since I am NOT an expert on female proportions and clothing, the least complicated corset I can make is a laced in front one, the laces make it laborious to put on, but with them she can adjust it to her body angles nicely.” Martin is trying to sell the idea to the Princes, but he is talking to Link.
“That sounds good, I should wear it under the dress, right?” Zelda asks thinking she may need to change her whole wardrove for bigger dresses, dresses that can fit her and the corset.
“WHAT, OF COURSE NOT, WHO IS GOING TO MARVEL ABOUT IT THEN? Wear it on top of your dress… I was thinking of making a white and a black one, those colors can be paired with any other color, but I will need you to tell me the colors of your dresses, so I can give you laces that match them” Link smiles proudly at Martin’s idea.
“I am not sure about th-…”
“Let’s paint a picture, imagine you want to wear your purple dress, what color of corset do you want to pair it with?” Link asks her.
“White?”
“You grab the white corset, and pick the purple laces to tie it with, can you see it?” Link asks
“I will make the laces long so you can get creative with the tie patterns” Martin adds
OH MY GOSH, I FUCKING SEE IT. IT LOOKS BEAUTIFUL. I could pair it with white or purple shoes and earrings, depend on how I feel that day, I guess. OH MY… the black corset fits the dress too, and kind of looks sexier in an intimidating way, I NEED this.
Zelda covers her mouth with a hand, and looks at Martin teary eyed.
“Please make them for me, it’s not your expertise but I know they will be great if you make them, I will pay double” she informs Martin.
“No need for that my Princess, I don’t accept bribes” Martin answers with a smile
“IS NOT A BRIBE! YOU DESERVE IT, HIS FUCKING JACKET SAVED US AND YOU WERE THE ONE WHO MADE IT!” Zelda yells at Martin exasperated. Martin turns to the Prince for a little help, but Link smiles and mouths ¨you heard the lady¨
And I was the one trying to keep Link from losing his cool, hehehe… ups. Oh well, on my defense, Martin made me lose it by suggesting I was bribing him.
“I will send you a letter with the color for the laces later today” the Princess smiles at Martin, hopping he understands that she is not angry at him.
“I will be waiting for your letter my Princess” Martin bows at her.
“Well, this went better than expected… but we need to head back now Zelda, we just suddenly left the throne room. That was NOT appropriate behavior now that I think about it” Link says with a sheepish grin.
Zelda laughs “And NOW you are thinking about the repercussions of what YOU made me do?”
Link stares at her squinting his eyes “It’s not like I forced you to anything”
“No need, I had to follow you to make sure you will not misbehave” the Princess sighs and continues “And you are absolutely right, we need to head back. Nice meeting you Martin and thank you.”
“Take care” Link says waving a hand at Martin as he turns to board the carriage, Martin waves them off and suddenly gets ambushed by his neighbors.
“By the love of Nayru, what are they...is he going to be ok?” asks Zelda when she notices the wave of people circling her favorite tailor.
“Yes, he just became popular” Link answers with a half-smile.
Link planned this, he yelled to draw EVERYONE’S ATTENTION, so he could praise Martin publicly. And I think I played my part perfectly. Even my outburst at the end played in favor… wow. He completely manipulated me… US. I am sure he even thought of Martin’s possible reactions and had a plan on what to do for each one. I want to be angry; I FEEL I should be angry. But I am so fucking happy, Martin gained notoriety and I got what I wanted too.
LINK POV
The ride back on the carriage was uneventful, and in reality, felt like a short ride. As they approached the castle main entrance, Zelda notices Cormac waiting for them.
“The butler is waiting for us; I don’t know if that is good or bad” she informs Link who answers negating with his head and raising his shoulders.
Once they finally arrived, Link gets off the carriage and helps Zelda out, Cormac approaches them.
“Good evening, I must inform both of you, the King and the Queen are not at the throne room anymore” Cormac smiles “in fact they are not in the castle at all, they left on a couple outing.”
Link exhales and smiles at the Princess, Zelda smiles back and rushes inside the castle. Cormac clears his throat to draw Link’s attention and hands him a sheet of paper.
“It’s from the King, meant for your eyes only, I will go find something to do” Cormac bows and walks slowly towards the castle, but is stopped right before entering by Link’s laughter.
Yes, my King, I will raise a prayer to Farore on your behalf. But you mustn’t be afraid, Claire loves you too much, she won’t kill you. Me on the other hand…
Revealing that I am to become Zelda’s guardian is going to put me on Claire’s sadistic path of destruction… FUN TIMES you know.
*You keep saying that to yourself if it helps you jerk off, but I know the truth.
MOTHEF… indulge me please.
*Claire is a little hard headed, but she can’t deny that Zelda has changed, and that you had a BIG part on her growth. She is a responsible mother that will help her daughter anyway she can, even if that means allowing her out of Hyrule. It will not be fast or willingly but she will fold, I assure you*
I REALLY want to believe that, I mean I KNOW she will fold, what I don’t know is if Daphnes will achieve it on his own during their outing, or if I still have to convince her tomorrow. She is a loving mother and I am a monster. How can I make her feel safe about relenting Zelda to me?
*No fucking idea, but don’t think about that just yet, we deal with the downfall if, and when it happens, right now let’s have faith in the King. The letter said tomorrow 9 am if everything goes according to plan. Eat, sleep, bathe, prepare for tomorrow… maybe a drink? *
“Cormac, I am going to need… who am I kidding, bring me a whole bottle of booze will you? The brand and year of your preference”
Notes:
Hope you are liking this story
Chapter 32: Guardian
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The singing of a cuckoo is heard on the distance as the sun starts to come out on the horizon. The King was getting everything ready with the help of Sebastian in the throne room, the Queen was scowling not at all convinced about what the King wanted to do, but she agreed to not interfere.
Meanwhile on the east tower, Link was about to choose the suit he intended to wear when he hears knocking on his door. He slowly walks towards the door to open it, he was expecting Chacha to start cleaning the room or something, but it was NOT Chacha.
LINK POV
“What are you doing here so fucking early, have you got no compassion?” Link extends a hand.
“Compassion? For you? Please” Pepe reaches to take Link’s hand and shakes it.
“Really why are you here?”
“I promised mom to check on you, she saw the butler carrying a wine bottle to your room yesterday… I don’t have time for soppy stories so shoot?” Pepe says curtly.
“I stole the seal, we have not gotten caught so far, and we made it part of our creed not mention your name under any circumstance” Link summarizes.
The door opens slowly and in comes Chacha with a broom and a mop.
“What are you doing here?” she asks a little angry.
--speaking at the same time--
“I am a free man; I can be wherever I want to be missy” Jose states crossing his arms
“It’s getting late I know, wait… how do you know about my meeting?” asks Link
--
“I was asking the fu- whatever, I got my answer anyway, YOU” pointing at Link “I have no clue about your meeting and YOU” pointing at Jose “get out of here, I need to clean this room and your presence disturbs my peace”
Jose raises both his hands and walks to the door, then he does a 180 turn and asks.
“Should I be worried about your meeting?”
“No… should I use charcoal or black? I want to look formal and a little older” Link openly asks noticing how Chacha started to giggle at the color he named, so without looking, the hero points at where his maid stood. “If you say anything about this you are going to regret it” Link warns.
“Hahaha… I don’t need to say anything, you already know what I thought. And answering your question, both of them will make you look formal but I am not sure if older, they fit you TOO well” Chacha answers honestly.
“Black” José declares “I have not seen the suits you are talking about, but black tones add an intimidating factor, it may not make you look older but if you need to look like you have fangs, wear black” Pepe says as he leaves glaring at Chacha.
That was a good advice, do I need to show fangs? I do, I need to be perceived as competent and even dangerous. Claire already knows I won’t harm any of them, but I need her and the King to realize that I am more than capable of causing harm to protect my Princess, so Black it is.
Link strides to his changing room and does not take long to reappear in front of Chacha all changed. He points at himself raising an eyebrow. Chacha smiles and raises her thumb. Link exhales and leaves his room in a hurry.
ZELDA POV
“That was all we did at the market yesterday, I swear, there are witnesses that can confirm it Ivanna” Zelda says almost pleading.
“All right, let’s say I believe you. Still doesn’t explain why Link requested alcohol yesterday” Nana says raising an eyebrow at the Princess.
Did he? Why? Are we in trouble?
“You lost me, I have no idea why ordered that, maybe we got caught. But why didn’t he tell me?” the Princess starts pulling at her own hair. “I don’t know ANYTHING… And for the love of Nayru, where is Link right now? it feels like he was ambushed, I shouldn’t have left him alone like that yesterday, Cormac was there, maybe he knows something” Zelda rushes out of Nana’s kitchen and collides with Pepe falling back on her butt.
“Well, that hurt, but hello Princess” Pepe extends his hand to help the Princess up, he then looks directly at Nana “he is fine, no signs of hangover, even though he DID finish the bottle” Pepe says raising his eyebrows in amazement.
“You just saw Link? is he still at his room?” Zelda asks in anguish.
“No, wow… I wonder if I will ever have a beautiful lady search for me with this level of despair” Jose jokes a little.
“FOCUS JOSE, this is important, where is he?” Zelda asks exasperated.
“He was supposed to attend a meeting… I am guessing he is at the throne room”
Zelda runs out of the kitchen and head to the throne room, she almost falls in the middle of her run, but quickly recovers her balance and continues.
I should have been paying attention, he has been found out, that has to be the reason why my parents cited him and ONLY him. I can’t let Link take the fall for me; I asked him… pleaded him to steal my royal seal. Why didn’t he tell me about this?
Zelda reaches the double doors of the throne room and starts to push them open when she hears laughter inside. Curiosity gets the best of her so she opens the doors wide, only to witness Link standing from bending on a knee, and the King putting away a sword he only uses for investiture ceremonies. The Queen was witnessing everything in silence, but the moment Claire notices Zelda’s presence her face changes from being stoic to shock. This only scared Zelda further.
“What just happened?” Zelda asks puzzled.
Daphnes froze at the sound of the Princess’s voice, Link turns to her and produces a smirk opening his arms wide for a hug.
“You are staring at your legal guardian, and he deserves a hug for his effort don’t you think?” Link says.
HE BETRAYED ME… HOW COULD HE?
LINK POV
Sebastian stops what he is doing once he notices the deathly silence that fell on the throne room. Zelda’s eyes show a fire that could burn anyone in front of her, but they are also glistening in tears of betrayal. She turns and starts walking away raising her middle finger.
“I told you she was NOT going to be ok with this” says the Queen raising from her throne.
“She just needs to understand what all this means for her” The King states and signals for the Queen to sit back on her throne.
“I WILL make her understand all right” Link says in a somber tone, he looks at a soldier standing at the corner of the room and approaches him asking to handover the bolases.
The King upon witnessing the exchange yells “LINK”
Link starts jogging out of the throne room with the bolases in hand “I WONT HURT HER” much
Link exits the throne room giving chase to the princess, the Queen stands from her throne and begins running behind Link, but Daphnes grabs her by one of her elbows and stops her.
WHO THE FUCK DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?
*The princess of Hyrule, DUH*
Whose side are you on?
*NOBODY’S, come on… like you don’t know me, I only exist to add fuel to the fire*
She is being completely irrational about this. She doesn’t even know what this involves for her, and does not care to ask either. I thought Daphnes was exaggerating when he demanded secrecy for this, but I get it now.
*She is female dude, emotional to the core, she is not seeing anything but her anger… you want her to see reason, YOU HAVE TO MAKE HER.*
Link throws the bolases at Zelda’s ankles, making her trip and fall face down. She turns and starts trying to disentangle herself, a difficult task since she is having a hard time seeing through her teary eyes.
Link reaches her and watches as she seems to be unable to free herself, Zelda screams in desperation and stands up with her ankles still tangled. She then swings at Link who deviates the blow with his right hand and rams her with his left shoulder, the force of the impact makes her stumble back, and since she is not free from the bolases, she ends up falling on her back.
Link quickly gets on top of her and uses his right hand to grab both her wrists on top of her head, this to effectively stop her from punching. And uses his left hand to hold her neck applying enough pressure to scare her, but not enough to choke the Princess.
“What are you doing bitch? I thought this was what you wanted?” Link asks her demanding an answer.
“WHY WOULD I WANT THIS! I AM TIRED OF PEOPLE RULING OVER ME” Cough “of people telling me what to do, how to dress, how to speak, even how to think…” Cough “I thought you were on my side, now you are just another person with power to command me, I HATE YOU, I HATE THIS”
“Yes, I have THAT kind of power now, SO WHAT? what have I asked of you so far? I will tell you what… I have asked YOU to be strong. Was I wrong demanding that from my future Queen? why are you afraid of me commanding you?”
Zelda stares at him, she wants to speak but fails to find something to respond. Link sights and releases his hold on her neck.
“You are failing see the whole picture, let me explain it to you. I became your legal guardian, meaning I am obligated to ensure your well-being, and NOW I have a say on anything and everything that has to do with you… are you following me Princess? That means that if I say ¨You must sing for your dinner¨ You better start sing. If I say ¨I am leaving Hyrule on a SWORD mission and you are coming¨ You better be one foot out the door and smiling. Not even the King can stop me now… if I say you are coming with me, YOU ARE COMING WITH ME.”
Zelda’s eyes widen, Link releases her wrist and climbs off of Zelda sitting by her side. She also sits rubbing her wrists, with doubt she manages to start speaking.
“Did you just said…” she does not end the sentence; her voice was breaking.
“Not always, depends on the level of danger the mission encompasses, but I can say that WE are leaving in a few days” Link says.
Zelda starts weeping loudly. In the middle of her cries, she pulls him by his jacket and leans on his chest sobbing. Link slowly surrounds her with his arms and pulls her up with him.
Cormac approaches to check on them, he panics when he hears Zelda sobbing and starts running towards them. Link notices and holds a hand up to stop Cormac, the hero smiles at the butler and raises his thumb. Cormac sights in relief and returns to the throne room to inform the King and Queen.
“Princess, do you need me to take you to your room?” Link asks once her whimpering stopped.
Zelda looks at him and nods wiping her tear away with her hands, Link searches in his jacket and hands her a handkerchief. She looks at it and smiles timidly.
“This is the second one I get to use, should I think of replacing them?” Zelda asks, but she WILL replace them no matter what Link says.
“Maybe” Link says offering his arm to escort her to her room.
*COME ON, don’t tell me you are a gentleman now*
I am not, her stance doesn’t feel sturdy, I just want to steady her, after all I threw the bolases at her feet, I could have hurt her ankles.
Zelda takes his arm and they both start walking to the stairs that lead to her room. She is leaning on him a lot, which causes Link to slow down for her.
“Did I damage your ankles with the bolases?” the Prince asks.
Zelda widens her eyes a briefly and smiles “My ankles hurt but they are ok. It’s my knees, they are shaky… it’s just the emotion, I still can’t believe what you told me” She looks at Link, eyes glistening and hoping for Link verify what he just said to her.
“What can I say… it’s happening and there is no stopping it” Link states looking ahead as they continued walking.
“I… DID wanted this, I just had no idea what it involved, I am sorry for how I reacted, for not staying to talk about it… I should not have doubted you” Zelda admits.
“You shouldn’t have” Link agrees with her.
Zelda pulls on Link to stop right in front of the stairs “I need to tell you something would you listen?” he nods so she continues “The reason why I am so excited about this is my father. When he left us, he said he was leaving Hyrule. He had encountered a woman named Mishel and she was not from Hyrule, she talked about her world and he fell in love with the idea of living there.”
Fuck, she is talking about Michelle, well… at least the man did not leave them because he was chasing another woman, I hate him a little less.
“I did not understand what he talked about at the moment but now I do, there is a world out there and he is there, I want to search for him, would you help me find him?”
*You said it before, daddy issues*
I will help her with this
*Why? *
Why not? Maybe if she meets the man, she can come to terms with why he left, and move on… hopefully opening a small breach Daphnes could fit through. It’s a win-win.
“I would need his complete name, and a picture. That will make it easier to search for him in SWORD’s data registry”
Zelda beams at Link “I have all that, Link” she gets on her toes and kisses his cheek “thank you… and I am no bitch” she says squinting her eyes.
“Don’t behave like one then, and don’t kiss me” Link warns her.
Notes:
Hope you are enjoying the story
Chapter 33: Stablehand
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Zelda opens her eyes; she was awakened by the sound of birds chirping and the sunlight entering through her window. She opens her eyes wide in panic and jumps out of her bed. She looks at the clock hanging by the window, it read 10:05 am.
ZELDA POV
WOW, I slept 12 hours straight. That was unexpected, how long has it been? 5, maybe 6 years since the last time I was able to sleep 8hrs straight, and now I slept 12. Something must have changed.
[Link quickly gets on top of her and uses his right hand to grab both her wrists on top of her head, and his left hand to press on her neck]
It was Link. He is still a brute, but he made me feel accompanied. He makes me feel like he KNOWS my head is in a turmoil, and has taken it upon himself to fix it, whether I wanted it or not. This is a level of certainty I am not accustomed to… but I like it.
She heads to her walk-in closet to properly dress herself, once out in a white dress, she walks to her desk and opens the drawer. The Princess moves trinkets and papers around until she finds the photo she was looking for; she smiles and heads out of her room.
In the middle of her walk towards Link’s room, the Princess starts to overthink her current actions, causing her to slow down to a complete stop.
Wait, it’s not that early, I may not find him in his room… also, I should have written my dad’s name on the back of the picture to make things easier. But I just went through the items in my drawer and didn’t saw any ink left. Let’s trust Link’s memory, or that he has ink and paper to write it down himself.
Zelda thought as she continued to walk down the corridor towards hell. Once in front Link's door she hesitates before knocking, The Princess starts to lower her head, obviously backing down but then a gloved hand slams on the door right next to her. She freezes over for a second and slowly turns around to find Link with his head low trying to catch his breath, he looks disheveled and sweaty.
“You should teach me how to do that” Zelda states.
Link raises his head to look at her with a questioning look, still trying to catch his breath.
“To walk without making a sound I mean” she clarifies.
He smiles “Impossible if you are using heels, do you need anything?” Link asks.
“Damn it, I definitely can’t lose the heels… I brought you the photo of my father” Zelda says handing him the photo.
“Great” Link says lacking excitement, he grabs the photo and enters his room, heads to the desk and grabs his cellphone. After a few seconds he takes a snapshot of the photo with it, then hands the actual photo back to the Princess.
What did he do? I get to keep my father’s photo then? I had mourned departing with it yesterday, thinking it was worth it if I got to see him again.
Link was looking at Zelda raising both his eyebrows.
“Right, sorry, I was… Bardick Tudor is the name”
Link types it on his cell and shows it to Zelda.
“Did I write the name correctly?”
Zelda looks at the little screen of his cellphone and is amazed at the quality of the image, it almost looked better than the actual picture, she reads and rereads the name at the bottom of the image, just to making sure there is no spelling errors. She then nods at him and he sends it.
“SWORD will notify me of where to find him” Link lets her know.
“How? Do they know where EVERYONE lives?” Zelda asks.
“No… kind of. They only know if there are legal records of you, meaning if you exist on paper they will find you. Your father DEFINETLY exist on paper since SWORD allowed him entrance”
“But… he left his clothes and all his paper behind?”
Link chuckles at that “I am sure SWORD generated papers for him, like a birth certificate. Papers he will need to apply for a job, and to rent a house. Papers that will allow SWORD to keep track of him” Link says hoping this Tudor guy has remained easy to track down.
“Makes a lot of sense” Zelda trembles out of excitement and hugs herself “This is definitely happening, isn’t it? wait a little… are we searching for my dad NOW? don’t you have something SWORD needs you to do? I mean, thank you… but I don’t want to interrupt your job affairs.”
“My job this time is to stablish friendly contact with some unicorns… I CAN dedicate a day to search for your dad. So, let’s make this trip a family gathering”
Zelda looks at Link puzzled “Family gathering? Unicorns?”
Link closes his eyes and breathes in deeply “The people I am searching for possess a DNA profile very similar to mine” Zelda still looks confused “That means they can donate me blood as if they were my family… but they are not. That is extremely rare, so my mission it to confirm it”
Oh, unicorns of course, very rare and very important. He needs those blood bags in case he gets hurt. Had no idea it had to be family, I thought it could be anyone’s blood… I need to check on how we do that here. Hehehe Link said to call it a family gathering.
Zelda begins to smirk at Link “How does it feel to suddenly have a family? A royal one at that, and we appear to be multiplying in and out of Hyrule” Zelda laughs at the hilarious idea.
Link stands straight, and answers with a neutral face.
“It’s awful”
Zelda drops her laughter “I… was not expecting such a straight and honest answer, but what you say rings true, family can hit you where it really hurts, its stressful not knowing where the next punch is coming from… anyway, when are we leaving? Do I need to buy clothes or anything?”
LINK POV
That played out different in my head, she talks like she receives punches from her family frequently, and SHE DOES NOT. She is just a privileged girl that claims to suffer on a daily basis, and now she wants to talk to me about pain? What does she know about pain?
*Not much, not in the sense we do, you are an expert on physical pain… I think she is talking about emotional pain*
Emotional pain… I have a master on that too, emphasis on betrayal.
*And that is the common ground you both share, you both find it difficult to trust. You were both betrayed by someone you thought cared for you, someone you loved… in her case it was her bio father. Is not physical pain, but it does leave deeper scars, doesn’t it? *
“Buy comfortable boy clothes, and shoes you can run in, you will start exercising once we come back, and I will make you run tomorrow morning before we leave” Link looks at Zelda as he says this, she is pursing her lips in thought, and paying attention to everything he is saying.
“Leaving this land implies we must follow protocol, meaning we should not bring anything from Hyrule with us, that includes clothing. I will lend you some clothes of mine the day we leave. The first thing we are doing once we arrive, is buying you proper clothes for that world.” Link says half closing his eyes. He had been expecting and outburst from her, since he was suggesting to dress her in his ¨filthy¨ clothes, but the Princess remained relatively calm.
Zelda looks at him a little nervous and quietly asks “Not even undergarments?”
“As I said before, I will lend you clothes. They will not fit, but you won’t be naked, or are you backing down on me over this?” Link asks raising an eyebrow with a half-smile.
“NEVER” Zelda answers with determination “I will buy what I need for tomorrow, good day” she walks out of his room.
Link closes his door chuckling, fetches his cellphone from his desk and dials Carla.
“What do you want Kid?”
“Can we fall on the basic level of civility? Greeting each other properly you know and-”
“Too busy to put up with your crap, good bye”
“NO, wait, I do need something… I am expected there tomorrow, right? just making sure that the General is aware of my current legal situation as the Princess’s guardian… and that we BOTH will be arriving tomorrow” Link states.
“HE FUCKING KNOWS THAT!!! Why do you think I am so busy here?” Carla yells.
“Wait… I send all the paperwork you could possibly need to expedite the procedure” Link says perplexed.
“Oh yeah, that was beautiful work from your part, thanks for helping me with that. the problem I am dealing with is that I need to dress your Princess, and I have no idea of her size on any-”
“Carla calm down” Link says trying to placate her “just get some shorts, and flip flops, I am taking her to buy clothes immediately”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN CALM DOWN? You have NO idea what being a woman means, she CAN’T go out to buy clothes without panties and a bra on”
Oh yeah… that is something to consider.
“Why not? I go around without boxers”
*don’t push her motherfucker*
“That is because you have bubblegum in your brain, its insane how you still manage to properly function. But she is a sane and pretty girl, I am not allowing her out of the base without panties and a bra, so I am looking at pictures of models her age and probably her size, to properly guess and order some”
“You know… you are not an agent, you are just a secretary, I am sure they can spare you for a few hours, so why don’t you come with us to find her proper clothes?” Link asks knowing he is going to be denied.
“HAHAHAHA, just a secretary, IF ONLY THAT WAS TRUE, all of you depend TOO MUCH on my work, I can’t leave my station. But do send me pictures of her outfits when she tries them on… and get here early tomorrow, so you can give her proper time for shopping”
“Consider it done madam, do I need to beware of Zalatoris upon arrival?”
“No, I don’t think so… I thought he was going to freak out when I showed him Daphnes request, but he didn’t, he just took a deep breath and singed it. But YOU MUST stay on your best behavior not to spike him. The General is allowing this because he is in debt with the girl. He understands that you are alive because of her, so if she wants to come, he won’t deny her”
Link sighted in relief and walked towards his window, then he sees something that makes his eyes open wide.
“FUCK!!! Thanks, the call ends here” he hangs and runs out of his room heading for the garden.
*Hahaha, don’t yell at him*
DAMN RIGHT I WONT YELL, I will just punch the living lights out of him.
On his way out, Link notices the King sitting in Nana’s kitchen, but he can’t stop to inquire about it, Pepe seemed to be organizing a fight between the carpenters and the castle guards. He had to take care of that first.
As he exits the castle, he notices a groom tending to a horse in the middle part of the garden. He stops to look at the interaction, he notices on how the horse slowly relaxes and allows the boy to examine the hooves. Link laughs when an idea crosses his mind.
Jose needs to work, and the perfect job for him is being a stablehand.
*How did you come to that conclusion?
He is like a smart canine, if he is not occupied, he engages in destructive behavior. And since he can’t work with people due to his defiance, that means he NEEDS to work with animals. He will be devising training schedules, choosing feeds for optimum nutrition, ensuring the horses are shod, wormed, inoculated and provided with timely veterinary care. For doing all that, Jose will have to pay attention to detail, develop empathy and responsibility. In time he will transfer all this to human interactions… THIS IS PERFECT FOR HIM.
Link rushes to where he saw Pepe instigating the carpenter, José had been handing them shovels and pike forks to use as weapons against the guards. Link arrives to the area and notices the carpenters were starting their attack, so he whistles loudly using his fingers.
Silence reins in the garden after that, the Guards in shame drop the sticks, rocks, and what appears to be horse manure. Things they picked up to arm themselves without drawing their spears. Link proceeds to scold the carpenters.
“The castle is still under repair, YOU” Link points at the carpenters “where hired to perform said repairs, why are you not repairing? Why am I even asking… I could care less. GET BACK TO DOING WHAT YOU WERE PAID TO DO” Link reprimands them.
The carpenters stare at Link with wide eyes, and start pointing at the guards but Link squints his eyes at them. Defeated, the carpenters drop the pikes and shovels and run back to the structure they were fixing by the moat. Link now direct his judgment towards the guards.
“And YOU pledged to serve and protect this land and all of its people, those carpenters ARE the people you swore to protect. Go back to your designated positions and expect retaliation for this”
The guards start groaning about this, one of them kicks a rock in the middle of his tantrum and the sound of bones breaking is heard. Link just closes his eyes trying not to mock him and points towards the infirmary, the injured guard is taken there by his peers. Link slowly opens his eyes and freezes Jose with his stare.
“I know it was YOU who started all this, every fiber of my being is shaking with the impulsive need to batter you, you have 10 seconds to tell me why I shouldn’t”
Jose chuckled and was about to start mocking Link’s bravado, but he stopped himself since it didn’t feel right to do so. After all, it was the first time he was allowed to defend himself; he was used to just being punished, nobody care enough to listen. But this time it was asked of him; so, he took the chance.
“I am not evil, I am just angry, why do I have to be the only one who is confused and agonizing? why do THEY get to live a happy life without suffering, even though they are lazy and don’t lead and exemplary life" sighs "sounds stupid, I know... but I was just trying to balance this karmic injustice”
Good, he ACTUALLY told me, I really thought he was not going to, that he was going to banter, and I was going to break his jaw. But… he is not that far gone, I am glad. On the other hand, I REALLY need to punch something, but it will be a mistake if I attack José, he is just hurting and trying to communicate his hurt in a very ineffective way.
Link looks at José, smiles and drops to his knees to start punching the ground, Pepe just stares confused, but soon produces half a smile, he understood his Prince is just letting out his harm impulse. After a few seconds Link jumps back to a standing position dusting his hands.
“Come with me to your mom’s kitchen” Link says as he starts walking back inside.
“NO, don’t get her into this, I am sorry” Pepe says pleading.
“We are not talking to Ivanna; we are meeting someone a little bit more important” Link says giving him a side glance accompanied with a grin.
Notes:
glad you are still reading this
Chapter 34: Sharing is caring
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The sound of a heavy roar of laughter is heard inside the castle, it started joyous but it ended sounding malevolent. The origin of it was King Daphnes, Nana kept cooking trying to distract herself from what was happening, she was silently praying for her son.
“What do you say then? Do you accept the challenge?” the King asks Pepe, whose face is drained from all of its color.
“Of course he does, he will put all your stablehands to shame” Link answers confidently.
The King stares with disapproval at Link “Don’t answer for him” He returns his attention to Pepe.
José felt like he was about to piss on his pants, he definitely could not muster the courage to answer verbally, but also felt he was in no position to back down now… he nodded at the King and extended his hand for a shake.
LINK POV
Well look at that, Pepe managed to look like a secure and confident man right now… but I know he is shitting his pants hahahahaha. He can act, I will give him that.
The King shakes Pepe’s hand firmly and proceeds to finish his meal.
“You used wine to cook this didn’t you?” Daphnes asks Ivanna.
“I was told beef heart tastes good with it my lord” Nana answers hiding her hands, since they were shaking still.
“IT DOES, or at least I liked it, I will be back next week, don’t forget to inform Zelda that I am following her feeding schedule” The King stands, rolls his shoulders and sights as he marches out heading to the throne room.
“Well, that went better than expected” Link exclaims happily.
“I will kill you” Pepe tells Link menacingly.
“Why? I landed you a GOOD job” Link retorts.
Pepe opens his eyes wide in anger “YOU FUCKING GOT ME ON A BET WITH MY KING”
Link chuckles “Amazing right?”
Pepe stomps his way to Link in anger.
“Wait, wait, hold your horses… haha, I completely intended that pun because I am hilarious, but hear me out first. He named you Stable Master, are you prepared for that? Of course not, nobody here was prepared for their own job, there is no special course for anything, you have to learn on the go by reading, observation and firsthand experience”
“He gave me A DAY to learn as part of his challenge” Pepe says with exasperation
“SO WHAT? Is more than enough time for YOU. I was not lying when I told my King that YOU are smart, he is just testing your steel so don’t let him scare you, Daphnes is the one who should be scared. Just get hold of the notes the previous SM left behind and study them, observe how the grooms handle the horses and practice it yourself. And you will be good to start tomorrow”
Nana was paying attention to everything that was said, she smiled proudly at her son, knowing that everything Link said was true. Jose was TOO SMART for his own good most times, he could pull this off no sweat.
“That actually sounds easy, my King heard what Link said about you being trustworthy and is willing to try you out, I say you should give it a go” Nana encourages her son
“Sounds easy right? but in reality, ITS NOT. That’s why my King has not been able to find a replacement for the previous SM, but your son here can put to sleep the harpy inside of YOU when it awakens” Link winks at Nana then turns to Jose “or instigate people to violence if he so pleases” Link says holding Pepe’s stare, making the teenager look away “if he can do that with people, he will do GREAT with the horses” Link finishes his statement smiling at Nana.
Link starts to walk out of the kitchen when he feels a hand on his shoulder, he turns to find Jose looking sad. Link signals for him to follow. Once out Nana’s earshot, Jose wastes no time
“Why are you doing this?” asks Jose suspicious, he doesn’t believe people to spontaneously do good deeds, there is always a gain for them, he needed to know what his Prince is gaining with this.
“I love your mom and I hate having debts, you helped me once and gave me your trust without knowing me, I am just returning your kind gesture, favor is paid with favor” Link says
“That simple? Really?” Pepe says a little incredulous
“Sounds like that doesn’t it? but it wasn’t simple. I noticed you were in trouble, and just now you told me you are in pain” Jose rolls his eyes, disregarding himself, he is not lying but…how can the Prince believe him since he is OBVIOUSLY not hurt or wounded?
“NO, NO, STOP THAT CRAP, don’t disregard yourself, physical or emotional, PAIN IS PAIN. And I’m sure having direction will slowly get rid of the pain. But direction should not be given by a superior, since you refuse to follow orders. That only leaves ONE option, the person in charge HAS to be you. To be in charge you need to have discipline, or in other words SELF-DIRECTION. Took me a few days of pondering to come up with this, but I finally did and can help you help yourself, just accept it and don’t fuck this up.”
Jose looks down, pursed his lips and pulls Link into a manly hug giving him two pats on the back, he then runs off to the stables. Link chuckles and gives himself a pat on the back.
*What was that for?
I deserve it, Jose did not trigger a violent response with his hug… I am getting better at this family shit. I should find Chacha, and text Carla.
Link draws his cell and sends a text, then runs inside hoping he can find Chacha still cleaning his room, mid run he accidentally pushes to the floor an unlucky maid that happened to be on the way. He helps the maid up apologizing, then continues his way to hell. He went up climbing two stairs at a time and soon Link was in front of Zelda’s dormitory watching Chacha, she had a basket with dirty clothes and sheets on her hands.
“PLAT… CHACHA, I need to ask you a favor” *you fucked up*
“And I need you to NEVER use my name, you already know that I hate it, why would you tr-”
“Because I am a moronic forgetful man, but do believe that I hold your wellbeing as one of my priorities, will you help me?” *Well, you DO have a way of getting out of shit by sweet talking*
Chacha sighs “what do you need?”
“I need you to measure the princess’s bust and buttocks”
I should have said that differently
*Yes, you should have, she is going to kill you
Chacha stood there frozen in place, she just stared at him with a blank expression that slowly morphed into a grimace, she drops the clothes basket
“YOU FILFTHY DO-”
Zelda opens her door and watches Chacha about to pounch/kick the Prince and just looks at both of them quizzically.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Link quickly starts speaking “Carla can help buying undergarment for you, will you let my beautiful and trusty maid measure you?” Link asks Zelda almost pleading
Zelda immediately understands what may have happened, and smirks at Link
“Right now? I still need to go buy the clothes I need for tomorrow. And also, I really want to see what was about to happen right now, it will easily be the highlight of the week for me” Zelda says cynically
Hahaha this wench… the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, right? [Queen Claire’s face smirking]
Chacha realizes she misunderstood the situation and sighs heavily “If you approve of Link’s request, I will just need a moment to get the measuring tape, the measurement itself won’t take longer than a few minutes” Chacha says.
Zelda nods at the maid “I will wait for you in my room then” Chacha bows and walks away, Zelda turns to Link and crosses her arms.
ZELDA POV
“Why are you are not leaving?” Zelda asks Link.
“Why would I? I need to know those measurements for Carla, she is buying you some undergarments for tomorrow morning” Link says calmly.
“Wait… what do you mean by TOMORROW MORNING? I thought tomorrow I was starting my exercise, are we still doing that?”
“Yes, tomorrow you are running early in the morning, after that you eat your breakfast and take a bath before we leave Hyrule, blame the rush on Carla, she insists I should give you a whole afternoon to shop for clothes” Link answers rolling his eyes, obviously bothered by the prospect
Fucking Din, Nayru and Farore. ITS HAPPENING TOMORROW.
“Why blame her? You make it sound like rushing this is a bad thing, I think it IS a great idea, I need the extra time to choose good clothes… I want to look good for my dad” Zelda says giving a small timid smile.
“Of course you think that, you are female. For the record, males despise the idea of taking more than an hour shopping… hence why you are STILL running tomorrow, the more tired you are, the easier you are going to settle for any type of clothes, meaning you won’t be dragging me from store to store”
Zelda’s jaw dropped in disbelief “you are trying to manipulate even THAT to your convenience, just because you find the experience unpleasant… as if this was about your comfort, well ITS NOT, as my guardian you are supposed to take my needs and comfort on high account, but you are clearly not doing that, it feels like you would even dress me in a potato sack if you could” Zelda says disgusted by the idea
Link smiles and nods agreeing with her statement, Zelda’s jaw drops.
“Oh, my goddesses, you ARE evil” Zelda exclaims in surprise.
Link answers smirking “you were not aware of that? I guess we haven’t been introduced then” Link approaches her extending his hand “Raziel Link Nohansen, active SWORD agent, and the only survivor of the terrible fate that befell on Kokiri Forest, a pleasure naïve princess”
Wait what? I heard of that a year ago… people claimed they could hear the screams from the children of the forest, and suddenly there were no Kokiri anymore. Was he involved in that?
Zelda frowns at him, and swats his hand away from her. Link raises an eyebrow at her half smiling, she turns around in anger and confusion. Chacha is heard approaching them.
“Oh, ok… you want this to be done out HERE and not in your room, I don’t mind that if you don’t” Chacha claims as she immediately starts using the measuring tape on Zelda.
The Princess feels flustered by this happening in front of the Prince, but then notices Link retreating to his room
“HEY!!! Where are you going? Get back here… my Prince” Chacha says… suddenly ashamed of her outburst at Link in front of the Princess.
This is how these two relate? It’s so unprofessional, it lacks basic respect… as if there is no social status difference. Is this friendship? I WANT MY OWN CHACHA.
“She does not want me there, just yell the measurements for me” Link answers without stopping.
“OF FUCKING COURSE NOT, I will not ventilate personal data from my Princess” Chacha screams at Link.
“I am going to steal your maid” Zelda informs them both, thinking the Prince was already too far away to have heard… she was wrong.
Link stops dead on his tracks, turns 180 and walks back.
“Hahaha, the fuck you are, I struggled to have her and I am capable of exerting physical pain to you over this, SHE IS MINE” Link states angrily inches from Zelda’s face
I… won’t back down on this, I have never had a friend, she could be my friend… I hope, I don’t want to give this up, I have given up so many things already.
He sounds different… kind of scary when he gets angry, it’s the voice. His voice sound different when he gets angry, like with a weird eco effect? But I should not fear… he wants a strong Princess, I will show him how strong I can be, I WONT back down on this.
Chacha pushes Link back to get in between them and gets on her tiptoes to whisper Zelda’s measurements on his ear.
“Would the both of you stop being toddlers and just learn to share? I know you ARE trying to leave a dirty room for me my Prince, but I still have a lot of time on my hands… I could use that time to take care of the Princess’s room too. Just let me know if you manage to agree on this to make a schedule I can follow” Chacha picks up the basket of clothes she originally dropped and goes down the stairs humming.
Link and Zelda stare attentively at the retreating figure of the maid, and then at each other squinting, Zelda closes her eyes and sights before opening her eyes and smiling at Link.
“Sharing is caring you know, and I care… do you?” Zelda tells Link extending her hand for a shake.
Notes:
thanks for reading this
Chapter 35: Lost Woods
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The sun was rising over the horizon, everything around the castle seemed to be at peace, the only sound that could be heard was the birds chirping, and Zelda’s heavy panting as she is jogging around the castle. She looks behind herself in panic as soon as the birds stopped chirping, realizing there is nothing she can do to change the immediate outcome, she decides to push herself and run as fast as she could… but it was not fast enough. Link comes running behind her and rams her to the ground, he laughs before picking himself up and reassuming his run. Zelda assumes a fetal position and begins to cry frustrated.
ZELDA POV
I KNEW he was going to make it hard for me, but THIS is completely unfair.
-------------------------REMEMBRANCE-----------------------------
“Well…” Link looks at Zelda up and down “it appears you were mindful choosing the attire, or got properly oriented. Overall, it seems functional” Link says nodding.
“Thank you?” Zelda answers unsure if that was a compliment.
“Oh, don’t thank me” Link says showing a malevolent smile “Let me set the rules: you run one lap around the castle as fast as you can”
“That is, it?” Zelda asks
“No, I am running too, every time I pass you during my run and you are still not done with your lap, I get to tackle you”
“Well… ok I guess, it’s not going to happen more than once, maybe twice, so it’s all right, I can take it” Zelda says grinning, Link just looks at her and slowly smiles.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HE IS A FUCKING RACE HORSE, how many times have I been thrown down so far, 4 or was it 5? IT HURTS LIKE HELL, I can already feel the bruises forming. This HAS to be part of his plan to shorten the shopping time, He wants to make me tired and sore, to ensure I will not want to spend a lot of time shopping. I MUST PREVAIL.
Zelda picks herself up and wipes her tears with her hands. She begins to run again. On the good side, she was very close to finishing her lap, on the bad side… the birds on the proximity were no longer chirping.
FUCK… If there is something I have learned, is that the birds are terrified of him.
She could NOT hear him, but the bird’s silence meant he was very close. She entered a panic mode and forced herself to run faster that she had ever done, pushing through the pain caused by her sore body. Suddenly she sees Link pass her by her right side, once he put enough distance between them, he stops and turned to look at her. Zelda finishes her jog and drops to the floor to catch her breath; she looks at Link full of curiosity.
“Why didn’t you tackle me?” Zelda asks breathing heavily.
Link shrugs “It wouldn’t had been fair; you had practically finished your lap” He states.
“So, you CAN be a gentleman, I am so lucky” Zelda states rolling her eyes.
“Don’t push it girl, I consider myself to be FAIR, but don’t mistake that with chivalry, I am NOT a gentleman, and if provoked, I can be vindictive” Link says pointing at a bruise that was already showing in her exposed shoulder. She adjusts her tunic back in place hiding it from sight.
“Go eat something and take a shower, I will catch up with you when I am done here” Link says, Zelda nods at him and stands up to runs inside the castle.
He said vindictive, so this is his revenge on me? what for? I have been nice.
As the princess climbs the stairs to her room, she hears a familiar humming and a door closing, Chacha must be inside her room cleaning it.
Oh… yeah, he does have a reason to exert vengeance on me I guess, why is she starting with my room and not his?
Zelda enters her room to find Chacha looking a little distressed.
The Princess smiles at the maid “Hello, I am glad you are here, I would like to ask you to bring something... but first, why are you starting here and not in hell? and DO SPEAK NORMALY PLEASE, talk to me as if I was Link, just prettier” Zelda says winking.
Chacha looks at the Princess with uncertainty, but chooses to do as she was told. “The devil happens to be very disciplined, not much to clean in there most days, I told him to be a proper man and leave a mess, but the bastard thinks leaving a few socks thrown around is enough of a mess” rolls her eyes “Your room is unexplored territory, I rather start here in case I need extra cleaning supplies” Chacha says shrugging.
Zelda is looking at the maid in disbelief, her eyes glistening with tears of happiness, Chacha got confused noticing the unshed tears and started to apologize, but Zelda raised her hand to stop her.
“I thought it was going to take you some time to start speaking like that to me, but you jumped right on it, and I am so FUCKING glad” Zelda said gleaming and hugging her.
DIN, NAYRU an FARORE finally answered, I think I have a friend now, and she is AMAZING.
Chacha was stunned, the Princess also jumped right on the confidence train with her, she used a common curse word and hugged her not really minding the status difference. She always thought Zelda was a demure and snobbish girl. Seeing this side of her Princess was a pleasant surprise. But then she remembered Zelda calling Link a fag once. The relation between them was chaotic, but everything improved after the Gerudo attack… what changed? Can she trust her current self is the REAL princess?
“I want to ask you something my Princess, what kind of relationship do you and my Prince have?” Chacha dares to ask, thinking the answer will help her deduct if this Zelda is here to stay, or not.
The Princess looks to the ceiling pondering “Not sure, it’s not a healthy one I must say” Zelda looks at the maid and rolls her eyes deciding it’s safe to show her, she turns and lower her tunic to shoulder level, displaying some of the bruises.
“HE I” Chacha says in disbelief [Look sweetheart, open your ears and pay attention, it’s not a complicated question, what is your name?] “He DID this to you didn’t he? I will kill him”
“NO, YOU WONT… it was a challenge, and I agreed to it. He DID used more force than necessary though. In his mind he was punishing me for trying to take you away from him I think” Zelda says smiling shyly.
Chacha exhales loudly in exasperation, but a LOT of relief “Oh goddesses, why are men so childish?” The maid asks Zelda, who just burst out laughing. Chacha decides her Princess is not faking.
“By the way… you needed me to bring something for you, what do you need?” Chacha asks the Princess.
“Please go to your mom’s kitchen and bring me some of her food, I don’t care what it is… if you haven’t eaten bring some for you too, so we can eat together. In the meantime, I will take a quick bath. Just enter and set the food on the desk, you can start eating if I am not out by then”
LINK POV
Link sends a text notifying that he is on his way, and that he should be expected there in half an hour. He stores the cellphone in the back pocket of his jeans and puts on a blue t-shirt, he then tosses a black medium size t-shirt and a boxer over his shoulder. His hair was still wet from the bath he took, but he could care less about that, he never really did anything to style it anyway. He headed out of his room and towards Zelda’s premises. He knocked on her door and Chacha opened it for him, Link looked at her squinting his eyes.
“What are you… Is that food I smell?” Link asks with curiosity.
“Nana’s special cuisine actually, I would offer you some but” Zelda says quickly munching on what was left of her gizzard’s taco “there is no more left, you should have gotten here earlier” she smiles innocently at him.
Link turns to Chacha noticing the maid was trying to cover her laughter.
My maid is having fun with this, she is lucky I can’t get angry at her for enjoying bashing me, this whole situation is actually kind of cute… DAMN. I knew there was a reason why I was against pairing these two. Well, I am feeling vindictive so here it goes.
He sights, and walks inside of the room, he closes his eyes and proceeds to shake his head ferociously, Chacha uses her hands to protect herself from the water droplets and starts laughing frantically. Zelda stood and wiped her face and arms in anger.
“HEY!!! We are eating, Now EVERYTHING is wet and contaminated with your germs, thank you very much” Zelda scolds him.
“YOU said there was no food left, and I am sorry to tell you that you are about to get even more contaminated” Link hands her the t-shirt and boxers “put this on, don’t worry about the King and Queen, they have been informed… we need to leave now, I will wait in the carriage”
Zelda opens her eyes wide and nods, she starts to undress right there in front of Link, Chacha hurries to get in front of her effectively blocking Link from watching anything, but he was not interested to begin with, he exited the room closing the door behind himself.
*This is going to get interesting; she is going to have questions… how are you going to avoid answering them?*
I am not going to avoid anything; I will expose her to a truth nobody wants to talk about. Rewriting the event to camouflage what happened was a mistake. The nobles choose to hide this to protect their people’s mental stability, but it makes them weak if you ask me. I won’t lie to her; it will be up to her if she wants to believes me or not.
Link thought as he watched the Princess run towards the carriage yelling, she had no shoes on and it was noon already, the floor was hot. Link chuckled a little at that realization. Once she boards the carriage, they started heading towards Kokiri Forest. During the ride, both of them kept to themselves, both trapped in their own rail of thoughts, the silence was almost disturbing in itself. Once they arrived Link got down and signals Zelda to climb on his back.
“I can walk thank you” Zelda says with dignity.
“No, you can’t, it won’t be hot like in the castle, but the ground is full of stones and twigs that can damage your feet and make it painful to walk”
Upon hearing that, and fearing to submit her feet to more damage, Zelda climbs on Link’s back and they cross the bridge to enter the Kokiri Forest. Zelda closed her eyes and pressed against Link’s back trying to avoid feeling dizzy, she HATED heights. As they finished crossing the bridge, she mustered the courage to ask him the question she had since their fight for Chacha.
“Link… yesterday you told me something I found disturbing. So, I must ask, where you involved in ANYWAY with the end of the Kokiri race?”
“No, but I happened to live with them most of my childhood, what happened was a punishment from the goddesses, and I am glad it happened.” Link answers bluntly.
“But… you knew them, didn’t you? You grew up with them, how can you be glad they got killed off” Zelda asks refusing to believe he was a heartless monster.
“I grew up DESPITE of them, they were… a barbaric bunch at best, with a tint of sadism when they got bored. I would have died had I not been found by the ONLY decent Kokiri in the whole forest” Link says with nostalgia.
Zelda finds herself petrified by Link’s description of the Kokiri, she always believed the forest dwellers to be an innocent and pure race. They were children, how could they be anything but innocent?
“Well, we can visit the grave if you want, I don’t mind” Zelda offers sincerely.
“She is not dead, none of them are, they just transformed painfully into tiny wood people, they hide their face behind leaves in shame, if you pay attention, maybe you will catch a glimpse of them” he said, secretly hoping she does so she will believe him.
“How do you know that?” Zelda asks still doubting the narrative.
[The Kokiri where running around the forest in fear and screaming out of pain. Link was standing in the middle of the grove, watching and smirking at the whole situation. Then he felt somebody graving on to his left hand. Standing there, teary eyed, with half his face already morphed was Mido. The Kokiri leader was reaching to him for help, but Link pulled back his hand and started scoffing at him.]
Sight “I was there when it happened” Link says with finality.
With wide eyes “Wow… the must have been traumatic, I am sorry. And I am sad for the Kokiri girl that helped you. She deserved better” Zelda says empathic.
Link shrugs “Don’t be, she is all right, I convinced her to leave the forest with me” Link chuckles “In a way, I may have been responsible for what happened here. I extracted the only righteous Kokiri out of the forest, allowing the goddesses to exert their punishment without concern of damning a virtuous soul in the process. She lives in Kakariko Village now, and pretty much OWNS me. Most of my earnings are destined to sustain her.”
“YOU DO WHAT? I had no idea you… she got to keep her human shape?” Zelda asked, she had to admit that this turn of events made her admire Link somehow.
“Yes, Saria is her name. She does ask about you a lot.” Link answers.
“WHAT? She knows about me? How often do you visit her, and when?” the Princess asks with curiosity.
“Often. What do you think I do all day? Stay in my room?” Link asks lifting an eyebrow.
They reached the tunnel entrance to Lost Woods, Link stops in front of it and allows Zelda to climb down to stretch her legs, she notices a Korok looking at her before running off to hide. She giggles about it and turns to Link, but then she notices him looking at the tunnel pondering about something. She begins to wonder if she did something wrong, but then he speaks.
“We need to enter Lost Woods, it’s a maze in there, I bet you have heard stories of what happens to people who get lost there. The most responsible thing to do would be to blindfold you, to ensure you will never risk entering here without me, but I think I don’t need to do that right?” Link asks still staring into the tunnel.
*Nice move*
Could not find another way of telling her I trust her without saying it.
*But, do you really trust her?*
Not at all, well… its complicated. I trust that making her believe I do; she will NOT disappoint me or betray me.
Zelda stands rooted to the ground, opening her mouth and closing it back fast, she does that a few more times, like a fish out of the water. Then she finally spoke with a solemn air.
“I want you to blindfold me, I mean… I believe I would never do something so stupid. But recently I acted like a spoiled child when I thought you had betrayed me. To my understanding, that means I am unstable… unreliable in other words. I don’t want to risk betraying your trust, so please blindfold me”
HOW THE FUCK DOES SHE KEEP DISARMING ME SO DAMN EASY?
*But you were right, she did not disappoint*
Link approaches her and starts ripping the lower edge of the T-shirt, and uses it to blindfold the Princess
“There are Skull Kids in there and they shoot pellets at strangers, I can easily avoid them but you stand no chance, if you climb on my back, I can keep us both safe. I am not tired; you won’t hinder my movement” Link assures her.
Zelda immediately jumps on his back making him stumble back a few steps, but he recovers and runs inside the tunnel leading to Lost Woods.
Notes:
thank you... definitely loving my take on the Princess
Chapter 36: Are you going to tell her?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
I have always mocked people who claim to fear darkness, there is absolutely nothing wrong with darkness, the only challenge it brings is that it cloaks your sight, not very different from being asked to close your eyes if you ask me. What people actually fear is the UNKNOWN.
Link was thinking as he was running evasively from the pellets the skull kids where shooting at them. So far, he has been able to avoid the projectiles, sparing himself and the Princess from harm. But he was currently finding it hard to continue dodging for one simple reason, he could barely breathe. Zelda was holding tight to his neck in fear, she was partially chocking him.
I could ask her to loosen her grip on me... but I won't do that to her. She is completely terrified, and has EVERY right to be. She was put on a vulnerable position where I blinded her and forced her to trust I would be able to carry her to safety. In other words, SHE CAN'T SEE OR TRY TO RUN AWAY. All she can do is listen, and what she hears is malevolent children's laughter and the sound of pellets being shot. It must be UNNERVING for her... Yet my Princess has not screamed. She is biting my shoulder instead. I am allowing it because it prevents her from disclosing our location with her screams.
*Quick reminder, the Princess appears to be afraid of heights, be nice and prepare her for the fall*
"We have to fall through a ground hole, it's not a long fall, try not to scream" Link informs her.
Zelda just nods and whimpers softly. Link jumps down the hole, Zelda felt she was about to throw up, but they soon landed. The Princess could not help but smile at her success, she had managed to avoid screaming, even though she was terrified. Zelda was about to boast on it when she notices a metallic taste in her mouth, in fear the Princess immediately removes the blindfold noticing Link's right shoulder. It had 4 bite marks and 2 of them where actively oozing drops of blood.
"SHIT, I DID NOT MEANT TO I SWEAR" Zelda tells him in shame.
"I know, don't worry about it, you got your rabies shot this year, right?" Link jokes half smiling.
"FUCK YOU, I am not an animal" Zelda screams frustrated.
"We all are animals... I would actually like you if you were one... it's a work in progress" Link says winking at her.
In progress? What does he mean by that?
Link grabs Zelda's hand and directs her towards the exit. Once outside, she looks back at where they came from and concludes they came out of a cave. The first thing the Princess noticed once outside, is that air somehow smelled peculiar. She could not really place it but there was something different about it, also the sky was not as blue as Hyrule's. Someone came rushing to covered Zelda with a towel. Then they were both ushered to board a van.
Zelda could barely maintain her footing; everything was new and different. There where sounds she could not recognize, lots of shiny surfaces blinding her, every person smelling a lot of cologne and yelling something, it was too much stimuli all of a sudden. The world around her starts spiraling out of control.
*She is on panic; you need to ground her*
Link grabs her by the shoulders forcing her to stare at him, and stare at him she did. She takes note of his eyes, a gray color that wanted to become blue but never quite got there. She feels his thumbs rubbing her shoulders. Link inhales deeply and exhales, he repeats the action pointing at the Princess, implying she should do the same. Zelda closes her eyes and takes a deep breath; she begins to smile once she notices Link’s particular scent… an odor she knows displacing all the other unknown smells. After exhaling she opens her eyes and finds Link staring back at her, he begins to smile.
"I am right here" Link says.
ZELDA POV
I have lost my mind, how can a dangerous and insane person with no moral compass be my safe place? yet... he IS. And in a deranged way, it makes total sense to me. I need professional orientation for this. Actually, that is a no-no. The last thing I want is for a medical professional to box me on a mental condition, I am the Princess, I can't afford to be labeled crazy. I need to read more about this first, there must be some info on this at the castle's library.
"I know… and I am glad you are here with me" Zelda answers.
Link lets go of her shoulders, sighs and gives her the most important instruction.
"Rule of thumb, no matter where you are, you do what you see. In other words, you imitate the locals. That way you don't let people know you are an outsider. If you are not an outsider, they won’t prey on you. Right now you have me, that means all you have to do is mimic me. If you don't see me worried or scared you shouldn't be either... Let me know if you have any question, I will explain to the best of my ability" he ends his discourse.
Zelda starts to smile and points at the Van, then adds "also… do I have to use this towel? I am sweating, I wish to take it off"
Link extends a hand to take the towel from her, Carla gets out of the Van in shock and angry at Link.
"Zelda is hot ma'am, she may not be wearing appropriate clothes but she is not naked" Link says with a tint of anger, willing to defend his Princess choice to rid of the towel.
Carla Sighs "Well then let's head to the facility, I brought some clothes she can use for when you take her shopping today... OH! And I bought a bra and panties too. She needs to try those, check if it's her size for when you buy her more... and YES, you have to take her to buy MORE underwear, one is not enough for her stay" Carla stares at Link with mischief " YES, I am making you enter a lingerie shop... and I am not sorry at all" the overworked secretary mocks Link.
"Let's just end this now, shall we? Bring the acid barrel, I will happily jump into it" Link states solemnly.
Carla laughs at his statement, Link chuckles and points at the VAN looking at Zelda "That is a motorized carriage, motorized means it's a machine that moves burning fuel inside instead of needing horses"
It burns inside? We are inside a moving boiler then? And what type of fuel does it use? It can't be wood logs, can it?
"I... am not sure I understand how it works"
"You don't need to, not many people do and they still buy and use them" Link opens the back door and signals for her to get in.
They both get inside and the driver takes them to SWORD'S facility. Zelda was amazed at the VAN, it was comfortable to ride on, and the temperature inside was fresh, Link told her it was the air conditioner of the vehicle they were using; it cooled or warmed the air on demand.
The humans here appeared to have discovered how to use electricity for commodities such as this, and it's not difficult for the rest of the people to get these commodities, I have seen a lot of similar vehicles with families passing us by.
They arrived to a tall structure, Zelda thought she will see SWORD'S name somewhere, but there was nothing, it in fact looked abandoned. That only made her feel suspicious and insecure. She turns to Link who covers his mouth to yawn.
"It can't be here, there is no SWORD logo anywhere" Zelda points out.
Link chuckles "If everyone knew where to find us, they can execute a plan to get rid of us, we must remain in the shadows for safety" he says.
Link opens his door and exits the Van; Zelda follows behind him. they start walking towards the building, once they entered, she found the place filthy, and it appeared to be an apartment building, Link drew a key he used to open a mailbox, he removed his glove to insert his right hand and get it scanned, after that the elevator opened and he walked inside pulling Zelda with him. Link was putting the glove back when they started to descend getting a squeak out of Zelda. Link just chuckled.
"This concept of going down without the use of stairs is new to me, don't explain how it works, I won't understand and it will stress me" Zelda looks fixated at Link's hands "You know, I always thought your hands were deformed, burned or full of tattoos, and that is why you insisted on using those gloves at all times, but your hands appear to be normal, why the gloves?" Zelda asks with intrigue.
"Habit, I am a SWORD agent, can't leave finger prints behind that could connect to me, Hyrule doesn't have the technology to find finger prints, but this world does, anything you touch you leave a finger print on it."
"Wait... that means it's easy to catch thieves and other type of evil doers, how come the population still needs SWORD?" Link just stares at her with a neutral expression waiting, then Zelda opens her eyes wide in realization "you are not the only ones with access to information and resources, criminals are completely able to find ways to bypass surveillance, am I right?" Zelda asks but doesn't need an answer, she is right and she can bet on it.
Link just continues to stare at her, but this time he produces half a smile and gives her a small nod. The elevator door opens again and they walk out into a hall that connects to many rooms.
"Is that you Kid? Get in here you need to see this" yells Wolf from one of the rooms.
An elevator that was next to the one Link and Zelda used opens, out comes a man dressed in a blue robe, with a goatee beard and strands of grey on his hair. He smiles at them and approaches Link shaking a bottle with pills.
Link looks at the bottle and shakes his head "You were right Stephen; I don't need them anymore" he tells the man refusing the pills.
"Its Dr. Strange to you, and I am always right Kid, have you considered..."
"No, SHIELD is full of extremely powerful people, you don't need me, the only benefit I bring is access to Hyrule and I am NEVER GOING TO ALLOW SHIELD TO HAVE THAT. I believe you know why."
"I know, and I also know the future is not set in stone, it always changes, reason why I find it my obligation to always ask if you changed your mind" Stephen Strange says as the elevator opens again and Carla comes out, she notices the Doctor and quickly exchanges pleasantries with him as he boards the elevator back.
Did... did this doctor just invited my guardian to join SHIELD, and he refused? I need to remember this to ask about it later, and what's with those pills? Does he have a condition or something? FUCK, maybe he is sick… then he definitely needs a donor for health safety. WAIT, he said he doesn't need the pills anymore, didn't he? I am so confused.
Carla approached them running "girl you should come with me to try some clothes" she tells the Princess and drags her away; Zelda turns to Link who just waves her off as he enters one of the rooms. The Princess is pushed inside a bathroom; Carla closes it from inside and turns to the Princess.
"All right, let me show you what a bra is and how to use it"
Zelda doesn't know if she should be excited or scared, so she just breaths in slowly. Then a hard thud is heard, both girls frown a little but dismiss it completely. Outside of the bathroom and two doors down the hall Wolf is trying to calm Link as the latter massages his now injured hand, Kid had punched the wall in anger. Wolf's laptop still displayed the image of Bardick Tudor next to very scandalous headlines. Link started reading all of the headlines on the laptop. He growled and closed it in anger.
"Are you going to tell her" Wolf asks Link handing him the printed info on Bardick current location.
Notes:
FINALLY, this was the last one, next will be up 24-26 of May. Thanks for reading me.
Chapter 37: Just get me out of here
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link looks at Wolf and takes the papers from him; Wolf knew that Link was purposely avoiding to answer his question, so he didn’t press on the matter and allowed Link reopens the laptop to read through the info on Bardick, he appears to have several misdemeanor crimes on him, but it has never escalated to a felony status. That alone protects him from SWORD agents knocking on his door...
But he DID come close to committing a felony once when he started inviting women for sex. He quickly read that on the extra sheet of paper that Claudio handed him along with Bardick’s address. Turns out, one of the females invited managed to conceal her age from the group of men participating in the orgy. Luckily one of those men had the common sense to ask her age before starting, sparing the whole group form a mayor felony.
Link memorized Bardick’s face and his current address, after a sigh he ripped the papers with a smirk on his face, then turned to face Wolf and raised a finger to his lips, Wolf released a sigh and nodded understanding that he was to remain quiet about everything.
LINK POV
I loathe men like Bardick, I was hoping to find a man that reinvented himself. A remorseful dad that feels ashamed for leaving his family behind in debt. But that was NOT THE CASE, I will refrain from disclosing anything to the Princess, she would not believe me… she ADORES her bio dad. Zelda needs to witness what her father IS first hand, she needs to feel disappointed, ashamed… even hatred towards the man. At the end, I will be there to pick up the pieces and Daphnes will help fill the holes in her soul.
“Is this attire good enough?” Zelda enters Wolf’s cubicle asking both of them.
The Princess was wearing skinny jeans, a pair of white tennis shoes that combined with the blouse, which was white with a big blue flower printed in front. Wolf smiles and raises a thumb; Link looks at her up and down.
“Are you comfortable wearing that?” Link sincerely asks her.
Zelda looks down at herself “well yeah… kind of. You said I should mimic you, these clothes where the closest thing that matches what you are wearing, the jeans fit too tight, making them uncomfortable to use but I think I look cute. I ask because there was a small yellow dress but… you dress like this for a reason, right? both of you do, so I should dress like that too for safety” Zelda states with conviction “yet I will use the dress if you tell me that I got it completely wrong”
Is this how a parent feel like when the child chooses to be like you? I don’t have the right to feel like this, she is not my child.
*but you are her guardian, isn’t that kind of the same? *
Wolf start laughing loudly “Damn girl, you absolutely hit the nail in the head, I don’t hate you anymore”
“The attire is good, and I am sure Carla was displeased when you neglected the sundress, that only makes it even more PERFECT” Link says with a malevolent grin “Ready to go?” he says walking out.
Zelda smiles and claps her hands a little before following Link. Wolf looks at her with a sad smile and secretly hopes for the best outcome, he never really hated her, he respects the Princess and does not want her hurt in anyway, but he doesn’t think that is possible anymore given Bardick’s record. He only prays it won’t hurt her as much.
Outside crossing the parking lot Zelda starts to speak.
“It’s still kind of early, could we go visit my dad first and do the shopping tomorrow? Maybe he would want to go help me choose my clothes, that way I won’t force you to do something you hate”
*Hehe, she is using YOUR words against you… I like her. *
“First, ALL men hate shopping. Second, how do you know he is close by?” He asked Zelda but kind of suspected who told her.
This IS the reason why I insist that women are dangerous, they act as a collective reservoir of information, and they gather to discuss it dismembering and reorganizing the info in a way they can benefit from it… and then they have the gall to call it harmless gossip.
“Carla told me he can’t be that far from SWORD’s quarters, the General won’t allow it since they need to keep him under surveillance” Zelda chimes in.
Link sighs “Yes, we could do that… are you sure you prefer it like this?” he asks tired.
Zelda nods smiling, as they approached the street heading to a taxi, she notices a bus full of people passing by, the sight amazes her.
She looks intrigued by the bus… we must board one.
*HAHA. Good luck with the sharks*
Link deviates from the taxi and steps on the road raising his index finger, another bus stops in front of him, he ushers Zelda to board it and pays for both of them. Zelda sees there are no seats available, but there where people standing holding on the handgrips the bus provided. Then bus starts to move continuing its route, she almost fell with the sudden movement but Link pulled her by the edges of her blouse stabilizing her.
“What do I do? I am not seated and its already moving” Zelda asks puzzled.
“Neither are they” Link says referring to the passengers that were standing “since there are no seats available, they ride standing, and what do we do?” he asks adjusting his hold on a handgrip.
“We do what we see, got it” she sees the only other available hand grip was too far from her, but then notices a girl holding on the upper arm of her dad, said arm was holding a handgrip, effectively stabilizing both of them. She chooses to mimic her and holds on Link’s bicep too, Links glares at her but she proudly smiles before asking “what happens if people keep boarding and we don’t fit?”
“If there is no more space the driver will cease boarding people. Before you ask, this is a BUS, its used for public transportation, lots of people don’t have the means or the age to own a vehicle” Zelda looks at him kind of lost, so he clarifies “a motorized carriage of their own”
“I see, this is going to takes us to my dad?” Zelda asks.
“Not exactly, but close enough, we walk the rest of the way”
After 15 more stops they finally got off the bus, Link exhales loudly and rolls his neck, it was a tiring ride for him, he kept giving death glares and growls at men who tried to position themselves WAY to close to his Princess’s buttocks.
Link looked up at the nomenclature plates to verify the street’s names and reassumed walking, as they were reaching their destination Link started walking slower until he stopped. When Zelda noticed, she stopped too and approached him.
I need to tell her not to reveal she is a royal. The LAST thing we need is for Tudor to move back to Hyrule because his daughter is the Princess, he has never attempted to obtain a job in all these years. Hence, his means to obtain money for expenses are unclear, that is enough for me believe he is a parasite. I don’t want THAT in my homeland.
“I need to tell you something, your father does not stay in a place for more than a month, there is a possibility we may not find him, if he is there and you meet him, don’t tell Mr. Tudor who you are” Link tells his Princess in a somber tone.
ZELDA POV
Zelda smiled “I don’t think I need to; I am sure he will recognize me in a second, I am the spitting image of my mother” she answers smiling.
Link shakes his head sadly “What I meant is; do not tell him you are the Princess of Hyrule”
WHY THE FUCK NOT? It’s something I can use to impress him, make him proud of me for it, even though I didn’t really work for it any of it.
“Why?”
“For his and your safety, the less he knows about you, the less likelihood of Hyrule and this world to collapse. Both worlds depend on NOT interacting much with each other, to sustain the balance required for their continuity”
“But… many people in Hyrule already KN0W of this world how is it different?” Zelda asks already doubting Link’s reason to hide such an important part of her.
“Mental stability plays a part on the balance equation in this circumstance. Mental stability is lacking in this world, knowing about us could disrupt people’s mentality here, over time creating a shift on overall energy waves destabilizing the balance necessary for both realms to exist.”
Zelda seems to be pondering about this when Link continues “Hyrule’s people are more stable mentally, they can comfortably accept the existence of this world with all their technological advances… but their open mildness only goes so far. Interaction with SHIELD could break the citizens in Hyrule, SHIELD’s power is too overwhelming, their presence in Hyrule will cause panic and destabilize everything… that means the implosion of both worlds. Reason why even here in their home world, SHIELD agents remain hidden from the public. The people don’t know about them, they think of them as part of a comic or an entertaining children story”
THAT explains part of the interaction with Dr. Strange, Good since I had not found a way to casually ask him about all this.
“If Bardick is really interested in knowing more about you, he should travel back to Hyrule and find out himself” Link states in a bitter tone.
Not sure I completely understand how all this works, but I understand that is dangerous to mix both worlds too much, so I am not going to fight him over this, I won’t tell my dad.
Link points to the second floor of the apartment building in front of them.
“208, knock on the door that has that number, I will wait right here” Link promises.
“But… you are not coming with me?” Zelda asks a little sad about it.
“No, I don’t want to intrude on a family moment, but if you need me just scream, I will be right here”
Zelda smiles and nods at him, then goes up the stairs with happiness. Once she arrives at the designated door, she doubts about knocking, but garters enough courage and finally does. She hears nothing at the beginning but then clearly hears someone approaching, and the door slightly opens. Bardick looks out with caution but once he sees Zelda his eyes go wide and he closes the door again. Zelda waits a little before knocking again.
He is just scared and in shock, hehehe silly dad.
This time Bardick opens the door wide and looks at her in disgust.
“Why are you here?” Bardick asks harshly pulling her inside.
Shocked by his aggressive attitude she says “I… wanted to see you, I missed you, did you miss me too?”
“hahahah, I don’t have time for that, do you see where we are? I can’t get a good job here without previous education and I am too old for school, I have to scavenge or cheat people out of their money every day to survive, I don’t have time to be thinking about you or anyone else sweety” he tells her bluntly.
This isn’t real, it cannot be happening… he is my dad, of course he cares and misses me, right?
“Don’t lie to me, you cannot be that bad off if you have a house to live in” Zelda counters.
[Your father does not stay in a place for more than a month] This isn’t his house, is it?
“HAHAHA, don’t be naïve, this house is not mine, my current girl rents the place”
A voluptuous lady comes out of a room naked; she is surprised when she sees Zelda.
“You told me she was working… wait, this one seems too young… are you replacing me already?” asks the naked female.
Bardick approaches the lady and surrounds her with his arms “No sane man would replace you my love, the girl is just a visitor, I love you and will move in with you in 2 days if you still want me”
He is cheating on his girlfriend, on the woman who believed in him and placed a roof over his head, when did he became like this? This world must have changed him somehow and…
[Claire on her knees in the kitchen’s floor, her hands hiding her sobbing face, her arms full of bruises]
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!!! Did I just remember that?
[Claire yelling at Bardick for coming home so late and drunk, he shut her up with a hard punch at her face, little Zelda turned back to her bed and hid under the covers]
No this is not real, it can’t be real.
[Little Zelda came running to show her mom a necklace she found, Clare closed her eyes as tears begun to drip recognizing who it may belong to. But she smiled and told Zelda to put it back where she found it, maybe it was a present, they didn't want to ruin the surprise]
The world begun to spiral around Zelda, she placed her head between her hands as memories came rushing back.
[Claire being pushed inside a room, Bardick entered the room behind her and closed it on little Zelda’s face. Soon she was hearing her mother screaming in pain, and the sound clothes being ripped accompanied of slaps] she could not take it anymore.
“LINK!!!” she yelled loudly, scaring even Bardick.
FUCK, I need to get out of here ASAP, if I let Link get here, he will most certainly HURT my dad, not that Bardick doesn’t deserve it, but Raziel could kill him, I don’t want his death on my conscience.
Zelda turns and runs to open the door for herself, Bardick quickly reaches for her arm stopping her.
“I am going back to my mother in Hyrule” Zelda states in anger.
Bardick nods and releases his hold on her chuckling “Good call”
Zelda opens the door and runs out willing herself not to shed tears. As she approaches the stairs, she finds Link already up the stairs and running towards her FAST. She closes her eyes expecting Link to ram on her by accident but he doesn’t. Link grabs her by the upper arms and looks at her from head to toe, he then lifts her face with his finger and turns it from side to side.
“You seem to be ok, are you ok?” Link asks with worry.
“NO. take me home please” Zelda begs him.
Link widens his eyes and frowns “I can’t do that” tells her in sorrow.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN’T? I am not asking for Nayru’s sapphire or… damn, that one is on me, my bad.
“Not to Hyrule, what I meant is your place, or wherever I was going to stay in… just get me out of here please”
Link grabs her hand and begins to walk guiding her, he does turn his head to look back and sees a young woman exit Bardick’s apartment, giggling and sending kisses to the man inside. Link gives them dirty look before going down the stars and approaching a taxi that was leaving the building, they board it and start heading to a hotel.
[Don’t tell Mr. Tudor who you are] Link knew about my father, and he didn’t tell me.
During the ride Zelda remained stoic and did not shed a single tear, but her glare was slowly becoming somber. Link avoided speaking to her at all, he really wanted to know what happened, but was not willing to risk upsetting her any further, so he chooses to wait until she wanted to speak about it.
The taxi left them in front of a hotel close by. Entering the reception, Link asks for a room and pays for it. Once he receives the room’s key, he turns to Zelda and notices the glare she was directing at him, but he chooses to dismiss it for the time being and guides her to the room they were going to use. Inside the room Zelda turns to Link, a sorrowful expression on her face, but fire in her eyes.
"YOU FUCKING KNEW!!!" The Princess yells as she grabbed a decorative vase from the dining table and threw it at Link, who evaded it ending causing the base to smash on the door. Zelda picked up a piece of the broken vase from the floor and charged Link.
Notes:
thanks for reading
Next Update: May 30
Chapter 38: I want you to kill me
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link looks down at the floor, water sprayed everywhere and lots the broken vase pieces were scattered around. He was not angry at Zelda for trying to hurt him, he understood where she was coming from, he would have done the same thing in her position. He was angry at the mindless destruction of property, that vase WAS NOT HERS. And he was also overwhelmed by the loud sound the vase made when it smashed on the door, it had surely alerted someone. Link watches silently as Zelda picks up a piece of the broken vase and charges him.
LINK POV
Oh, is that what we are gonna do today? We are gonna fight? Bring it on kitty.
Zelda tries to stab him using her right hand, but the movement felt too slow, and too weak. Link easily blocked her attack with his left hand, grabbed a hold of her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back.
“Drop it” he warned her.
CRACK!!! Link breathes out upon hearing the sound of the vase fragment dropping to the floor, he releases his hold on the Princess. She immediately turns to him and knees him in the groin, Link falls to his knees in pain and Zelda tackles him to the floor, and begins to punch him.
What is wrong with her? She is not even trying.
*What is wrong with her? What is wrong with YOU? defend yourself*
I can’t in good conscience do that. I won’t hit her back when she is not really punching me… she is pretending to do so, I don’t know why, but I know she does not want to hurt me.
*She is provoking you then, your Princess wants YOU to punish her, DO IT*
Zelda kept throwing swings at Link, he covers his face with his fore arms and pumps up his hips, causing the Princess to lose her balance and fall forward on her hands since she was seating on top of him. Link quickly grabs her right arm pulls it to the left, he lifts his hips up again forcing her to fall off to his left side. Once she is off, Link jumps to a standing position. Zelda panics and tries to crawl away but Link places a foot on her back pressing her against the floor. He then crouches over her and pulls on that messy blond mane of hers, making her arch her neck back. Leaning forward he whispers in her ear.
“So, you wanted to dance with the devil”
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Link closes his eyes in relief, he really enjoys the idea of punishing Zelda, but this felt bittersweet. He releases the Princess and hurries to answer the door.
A young Concierge is on the other side of the door smiling “GOOD AFTHERNOON, there were some complains about noises coming from your room, is everything ok?”
Link smiles sheepishly “Yeah about that, I am very clumsy, I tripped and broke one of your decorative vases, I will clean it up myself, so don’t bother sending someone over, just charge it on me”
“Are you sure? The complains suggest a fight may be taking place” the Concierge continues to ask worried, since the adjacent room who complained was hosting a family. He must be extra cautious and solve the issue fast.
Zelda finally stands from the floor and starts speaking “No fight was taking place, what the people heard was me having one of my seizures. By the way, it was not him who broke the vase, it was me” Zelda says approaching the door smiling.
The concierge gawks at the Princess, she is beautiful and the short messy hair makes it difficult for him not to think of sex. He immediately shakes his head remembering she is underage and that her brother IS present, or at least that is what he was informed at the front desk, that the room was being used by underage siblings, and that it was paid by the boy since he had a power of attorney, meaning that by law they could dismiss his age... fucking rich people.
Link notices the naughty looks the concierge was directing at Zelda and growls, Zelda giggles and ensures the concierge they are fine as she closes the door on his face. But she remains standing by the door, pressing an ear on it, until she finally hears the young concierge walking away. The Princess turns sighing and leans her back on the door covering her face with her hands.
“Are you done now or should we continue where we left off?” Link asks.
“I am spent. If you want to continue, I won’t say no, but I will not be fighting back”
“Why must you take away the fun from EVERYTHING?” Link asks sarcastically, then sighs “what you said was a joke right?”
“That I won’t fight back? Implying that I don’t mind if you beat the crap out of me? I meant every word” tears start to fall from her eyes. “I want you to kill me… please kill me” Zelda tells him somberly.
I failed, I underestimated this whole situation, Tudor didn’t break his daughter, he killed my Princess
*Zelda is not dead, you can hear her, see her and even smell her. As long as she is still around you can glue her back. Didn’t you said you would pick up her pieces? FUCKING DO IT.*
“Why would I kill you?” Link asks shaking his head in disapproval.
Zelda sobs a little before answering “Because there is nothing left for me, I am a failure. I am a terrible daughter and I suck even more at being a Princess.” snuffles “I loved and believed in someone who never loved me, and you know what the sad part is? That I witness the beatings he gave my mother, and how he used to spend our money on alcohol and other women” snuffles “And for some fucked up reason I forgot about it all, how can a person forget all this… how could I have forgotten it?” Zelda starts banging her head with her hands, Link grabs her wrist to stop her from hurting herself.
*This is it; this IS how you help her, Vincent talked about this once, just digest it a little for her*
“It was actually perfect, you were very small therefore, you had no control on what was happening, your brain did what it needed to do to keep you safe and ensure your continuity” Link started his speech.
“Make me stupid and forgetful?” Zelda said scowling.
“Giving you selective amnesia, making you forget painful events and love your tormentor, that way you would not act defiant towards Bardick, meaning he won’t feel the need to harm you” Link smiles and taps on her forehead with his gloved index finger “I am actually impressed that your toddler brain pulled this stunt, selective amnesia is a FUCKING COMPLEX survival mechanism… you should not underestimate it. It kept you safe.”
Zelda pondered about it for a while, then started to smile.
“I guess I am just that awesome, and now that you mention it, makes sense that mom is a light sleeper, she must have developed that as a survival mechanism too, right?” Zelda asks him, still teary eyed but slowly regaining her happy attitude and curiosity.
Link opens his eyes wide before slowly frowning at her “Indeed… so you KNEW she could have caught me red handed, and still didn’t bother to inform me, because fuck me, right?” he says smiling a little.
This girl and her fucking memory are going to get me killed one of these days, at least I did manage to bring her up a little. The fact that she wanted to die still worries me, she now is very unstable, I need to be mindful of that before doing something that could throw her over the edge. Hopefully I can help her leave all this behind and start anew.
ZELDA POV
I… didn’t told him? and he still managed to steal my seal? How the hell did he do it?
“I would love to tell you that I actually tied to fuck you, but I didn’t. It must have completely slipped my mind, I am sorry. But I can PRAISE you for still managing to steal it for me, or do something for you in return if you want” the Princess offers with sincerity.
“I don’t need praise, but I do want you to do something” Link draws his cellphone and shows her pictures of female clothing “Lets scroll through some catalogs. That way, you get a glimpse of the type of clothes this world has to offer, you choose the type of clothes you would like to try, saving us TONS of shopping time tomorrow”
OMGODESSES, YES!!! I WOULD GLADLY DO THAT.
Link continues “I really HATE shopping, but it needs to be done. I am not backing down on it” Link tells her honestly.
“Then I will gladly help shorten the torture time” Zelda winks at him, but then her mood turns gloomy.
Link notices the mood change and after rubbing his eyes with his left hand’s thumb and index, he asks.
“What is the matter?”
“A moment ago, you lied to the concierge… I thought you said you didn’t lie. Can I trust that you are not lying to me right now? about the selective amnesia?”
Link looks at her and smirks maliciously “Did I said that I didn’t lie?” he chuckles “That would be stupid considering that I am a SWORD agent don’t you think? If I can speak, I can surely lie. What I said was that I hate lies and liars, but I am more than capable of lying if I need too, I just abstain from doing that with my people, and I ask the same back from them.”
Does… that make me part of HIS PEOPLE? Even though I tried to kill him? Is it ok if I feel overjoyed about this? because I kind of do.
Link signals for her to sit on the couch with him to check the catalogs, she happily does. As they start scrolling Zelda is slowly learning how the cellphone works and asks to look for clothes on her own. Link nods and stands leaving her scrolling on his cellphone. He then remembers something and leaves the room.
I WANT A CELLPHONE, these things have many useful appliances, like an alarm and it takes pictures. How much would it cost to buy one? Wait… where is Link?
The Princess raises her head and looks around the room, but he doesn’t seem to be there.
Did he just left me here alone? Why would he do that? He just made sure I was feeling better only to end up abandoning me. Who does that? [Bardick smiling face]
But Link is not like that fucker, is he? Link actually cares… in his own way. But then again, why would he care? why wouldn’t he leave me? I have been HORRIBLE to him.
The door opens and in comes Link with some takeout food, and a plastic bag containing a few water bottles, a single serve cereal box, and a half pint milk carton. Link freezes when he notices Zelda staring at him, her eyes about to spill tears.
“Thought you may be hungry” Link says lifting the take out to show her.
He went for food, he did not leave me, I WILL NOT CRY… oh what the hell.
Zelda stands dropping the cellphone on the couch and runs to hug Link crying, then starts to weakly bang on his chest.
He is at fault here; he could have told me he was going out for food. But then again, he does not speak unless spoken to, or if he really needs to. Well, I don’t care, he is at fault and THAT IS THAT.
Link kind of hugs her back with one arm and starts laughing “Of course you weren’t scared, right?”
“Of course” Zelda answers letting go of Link “but now that you mention it, I AM a little hungry. Could you divide the food in two portions? I get the smaller one” Zelda says looking up at him with puppy eyes.
“No” Link breaths in “I don’t eat much; I would rather you eat and I finish whatever is left”
“What are you talking about? I have seen you eat at the castle, and it’s like feeding 4 men” Zelda reminds him of how bestial his appetite can be.
“I am not allowed to eat much while I am here” Link raises a finger in the air to silence Zelda before she starts arguing “let me explain… due to the nature of my job I need to be ready to act at all times. A person will not move or react as fast with a full stomach. I do not allow myself to eat to my heart’s content during my stay in this world, only enough to survive… as I said before, YOU eat. I will feed on anything left”
I… CAN’T ACCEPT THAT, what if I leave too much? Or WORSE, too little… I can definitely see him starving with a smile on his face for my sake. He has to separate his portion first and I eat the rest, not the other way around.
Zelda grabs the foam container and hands it to Link.
“I don’t want to make mistakes, pick your portion and I eat the rest, if for some reason I can’t finish it, it will be part of my breakfast” Zelda states and turns her back on Link, leaving no room for argument.
Link raises an eyebrow, and then starts piling some food in a corner of the Styrofoam container, carefully and clearly separating his portion from the rest of the food. Then hands it back to Zelda.
“JUST THAT?” Zelda asks him.
Link confidently nods at Zelda.
“This is torture… why are you doing this? I MEAN you told me but still, are we in danger? Or why do you need to enter this protocol now?” Zelda asks a little worried.
“No, we are fine, this mission is not dangerous at all, but I still need to take all precautions because you are here with me. I can’t let anything happen to you; I need to be fast to be able to ensure that.”
So, it’s my fault he is not eating then. No Zelda, don’t put words in his mouth, he never said that. It’s his job, he would still enter this tortuous protocol even if I was not here.
Zelda breaths in deeply, then proceeds to eat her food leaving Link’s small portion, once done eating she picks back the cellphone and continues using it until past midnight. Link bathes and starts turning the lights off, he approaches Zelda to take the cellphone away, forcing her to go to sleep.
He should at least SAY something, not just take the cellphone away and turn the lights off.
She glances at the TV before he turns it off, it read 12:36pm at the lower right corner.
All right, IT IS LATE, I forgive him.
The Princess groans, but lays on her bed covering her body up to her chin with the bed’s sheet. But as the night when on, Zelda kept tossing and turning on her bed. Memories with Bardick and what he has done kept plaguing her mind. Huffing she leaves her bed and stands near a window.
Lots of lights are on despite the hour, people here don't sleep apparently. So different from the world I live in. And the worst part is… there's nothing to look at, nothing to distract me from my demons. [Bardick's smirking face]
She turns from the window and sees Link lying face down on his bed.
Maybe HE can help me chase my demons away.
She heads to Link’s bed and slowly slips in, trying hard not to wake him up. Once she manages to get on his bed and under the sheets, she noticed he was shirtless and rolls her eyes.
Of course, he is, and why am I getting under the sheets with the human heater to begin with? I am going to burn, I may not deserve to be living, but I am not a masochist.
The Princess removes the sheets from herself and lays on top of them, still trying to get as close to Link as possible, but avoiding touching him, she didn’t want to disturb his sleep. She manages to get close enough to smell him and feel the heat emanating from him, that lulls her to sleep. Link opens his eyes when he perceives the change in her breathing pattern. Upon seeing her sleeping next to him, Link chooses to ignore her presence, and tries to go to sleep himself, but sooner than later Zelda starts whimpering during her slumber.
LINK POV
This girl just keeps challenging me one way or another. I don’t want to wake her, its late and she needs her rest. Would me hugging her be enough to stop her trembling and silence her whimpers? I also need my sleep, I may not be Claire Harkinian, but I am also a light sleeper. Her whimpering wont allow my needed rest.
*Give it a go then*
Link shifts his position to facing up and slowly pulls her in for a side hug. The Princess’s head ends up on top of his right shoulder and her right arm resting on his chest. She stops her trembling and smiles; the effect was almost immediate.
Now this is odd, back when we were running from the Gerudos, Zelda could not sleep, she kept tossing and turning despite my presence. But right now, she is snuggling to me smiling. What changed? How did I pull this off? Because let’s be real here, I am no sweet dream; I am a hell of a night. She can’t possibly feel safe with me.
*Well, you have put on an EXELENT production here, Hollywood would gladly take you if you leave SWORD… As for her, I kind of feel sorry, she feels safe cause you have been her rock up until now, if only she knew how many times a day I want to dissect her. And how easily I could persuade you to actually do it. *
Link bites hard on his inner cheek to chase the images away from his mind.
EASY THERE, MONSTER. Don’t make me regret not taking those pills.
“Thank you for buying me a cellphone” Zelda suddenly blurts out during her sleep.
Link just looks at her incredulous, and then starts laughing.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, next update will be on June 7, i promise.
Chapter 39: Choir Voice
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The sun was beginning to rise, yet the sound of birds chirping was barely heard, it was obviously overshadowed by the sound of cars using the already busy streets. Zelda sat on the bed, and slowly got out of it, trying really hard not to wake Link. Once out, she rushed to her own bed and laid on it, her intention was to pretend she had slept there all night. Link was trying hard not to bust out laughing.
LINK POV
She doesn’t want me to know… fair.
After the shopping is my turn for people meeting, and I am feeling anxious about meeting them. Are they really other version of me? And if they are, how much do they remember? I feel like I failed them. But at the same time, I want to find them as soon as possible and mend for my mistake, I don’t know if there is anything I COULD do to appease my guilt, but setting them as my potential donors IS a good first step.
If they are recognized as my donors, SWORD will protect them. Make sure they own a house and have enough money to buy food. I… WE need them healthy in case I ever need an organ or blood from them. And if they are NOT other versions of me, everything will remain as it actually is. In that scenario I hope these people can still be my donors, I hope I never need an organ, just help maintaining a steady blood supply, since last time…I finished my blood bags and the General feared it would not be enough to bring me back.
That scared my peers, either because they know me and would miss me, or because my death meant SWORD loses an agent. Finding another agent is like trying to find a needle in a pile of hay. This line of work is physically and MENTALLY demanding. Accidents may and will happen, that is why l need a donor.
Link sat at the edge of his bed and grabbed his cellphone, he confirmed that they were on walking distance to a mall, and then started checking a few airlines.
THERE, just bought tickets to travel to Huston today, I am going to cut her shopping time even more so we don’t lose our spot on the airplane. Not really sorry about it but I admit it was a dick move. Good thing I have an ace under my sleeve to keep her happy.
Link stands and approaches Zelda’s bed, he notices she even took the time to make it look like she tossed and turned all night, earning a smile from him. He touches her arm.
“Wake up Princess, I want to start the day as soon as possible and so do you”
Zelda slowly sits up, stenches her arms a little and yawns.
You are overdoing it girl, just hurry up.
“Good morning, aren’t we having breakfast first?” Zelda asks.
“YOU are, that is what the cereal and milk are for, not nutritious, but it will provide you with enough energy for what I want you to do, I need you to be done shopping in 2 hrs.” Link said with such finality that the Princess found it hard to argue with him, but she could not stay silent about it.
“That IS crazy, why?” Zelda asks frowning at him.
“I bought tickets for us to travel to our next destination today, but we have to be there on time, for buying early flights I received a 20% discount, the money I saved doing this can be repurposed into buying a cellphone”
Zelda gleams at this “You are buying another one? Could I have your current one then?”
“NO, Mine was provided to me by SWORD, it has expensive applications pertaining my job. The one I am buying will be for you”
*Ready for the downpour?
Not really, hope its quick, girls in general should learn to control their emotions.
*Why would they want to do that? It has worked in their favor for millennia. Manipulation… their most effective and lethal weapon*
Zelda’s eyes open wide in hope and disbelief, she was waiting for Link to say it was all a joke, but he remained silent looking at her with concern. She starts whimpering covering her face with her hands, but soon she recovers and raises her head cleaning her tears.
“You, Raziel Link Nohansen, have reached a deal with me, Zelda Harkinian” she states in an attempt to give formality to this interaction, her way of trying to ensure that he will keep his promise.
“Do I get to pick it or you pick it? FORGET THAT, I don’t care, I would just like if it has an alarm, a flashlight and catalogs like the ones I was watching”
Link closes his eyes and shakes his head smiling “Girl… I need to teach you how to navigate the internet, using it you can access store catalogs for clothes, shoes, jewelry or ANYTHING, I promise your cell will have all you are asking for and more”
Zelda starts screaming in a high pitch note and jumping around the room, Link flinches with every scream, when she was passing by him, the Hero shots his arm to grab her, pulls her in and lifts her by her torso, holding her a few inches from the floor. This shuts her screams effectively, but she sustains her happy grin. After a few seconds, he places her back on the floor.
“Breakfast NOW” Link commands her.
“Yes sir” Zelda salutes Link.
The Princess grabs the small cereal box from the counter and opens it, she starts eating straight from the carton box inclining it over her mouth. She then digs into the minifridge searching for the milk, once she finds it, she opens it with one hand and takes a long drink, then continues with her cereal… she repeats the cycle while standing until she is done, she notices Link looking at her and just smiles in shame.
Why? just… why?
*Why not? It’s an easy way to eat fast, you have done it yourself, besides… she looks SO DAMN SEXY DOING IT.*
Not helping
Link sighs and opens the door to exit the room without even looking at her.
ZELDA POV
Did I stain my face with food or something? I don’t think I did… he would have told me, right? That cereal was crunchy and tasty by the way, not like the cereal we seldomly eat at the castle.
But getting back on subject, is he avoiding me or something? Why? I did what he told me to do, and as fast and efficient as I could. Oh well… as long as he is buying me things, I don’t mind. He can behave as neurotic as he wants… I AM GETTING A CELLPHONE!!!
I am getting one, right? I mean… his code is his word, he would not lie to me, I hope.
Zelda followed Link completely lost in her thoughts, hence not paying attention to her surroundings at all, making it a complete sock for her when they entered a complex with many stores for different things, Link stopped and turned to her signaling a place.
“That door leads to a store for feminine underwear, 5 of everything if you want, in the meantime I am going to that store” he signals a store that read Samsung “I am choosing and buying your cellphone”
Link turns and walks heading to said store, Zelda stays frozen for a while.
He IS buying one for me… I mean, yeah of course he is doing that, he said he would, and he does not lie. How come I had not noticed before, the best part of the Prince is his obsession with keeping his word, making him incredibly reliable. It kind of sucks that he hates me… he has not said it but I know, I feel it at times. I don’t know why he does, and I am not sure I want to ask him, but I know he pushes through the hate to care for me. And for that… I am grateful.
Zelda heads to the store Link pointed at, once inside, she is completely overwhelmed by the several mannequins modeling female underwear. Nobody seems to be bothered by the almost naked female look-alikes, Zelda ran out to take a breath of air and settle her head.
[wherever you are, you do what you see] Zelda remembers that advise and shakes her head.
The other costumers are not bothered by the female figures, they don’t even stare at them, which means I shouldn’t either. It’s going to be hard though; I am very prude. Yes, I may have slept with Link several times, but we were both DRESSED... except yesterday, but he was NOT completely naked, and neither are the figurines, so get a grip and just do the thing.
The Princess settles herself and goes back inside. She heads directly to the man in the counter.
“You work here, could you help me? I am in a hurry” She asks having a hard time maintaining eye contact with him, due to the merchandize surrounding them.
The store clerk rolls his eyes “Well… then we have a problem, all the girls that come here take AGES looking through ALL articles on this store, so I call it bull shit that you are in a hurry. What you want is a personal slave to follow you around the store” he says ill-mannered.
Zelda squints her eyes at him “Did I stutter? I believe I was perfectly clear with my demand, should I repeat myself?”
The man leans back on his seat in shock, most women just turn around and look for help with another clerk leaving him alone, but this girl decided to bite back, he was actually impressed.
“What do you need” the clerk asks defeated.
“I am not sure; I have never bought underwear in a place like this one”
“Fair, let’s go basic then, panties, bras and some socks” The clerk looks at her up and down “I would say small panties is the safe choice in your case. I can’t help you with bras you have to choose them yourself, but you CAN’T try them on so choose them well. And the socks should be easy, just follow me”
The man directs her to a stand that contained lots of panties, he lifts a small packing that contained 3 panties
“This brand is known to be good and lasting; this packing contains a black, white and beige pantie. Those are the basic colors any girl wants, if you want another you pick them yourself from these area” he points ahead “there are some teen bras from the same brand I believe, you also want at least the 3 basic colors”
Zelda nods and turns to the clerk “Thank you”
He nods at her and as he is leaving, he turns to yell “I forgot the socks, just look around and pick the ones you like best, by the way, the length of your arm between your wrist and the elbow, is the length of your foot, just in case you need that measure”
Zelda opens her eyes wide and sits on the floor, she takes off her left shoe and places her foot on her right forearm, and laughs realizing it is true, they are the same size. She decides that medium size socks is too big for her feet, but small falls short, she notices some of them stretch a little if pulled, so she picks 6 pairs from those, not minding the color or pattern, who would pay attention to that?
Today is a good day, I learned something new about my body, the attendant did make this a LOT easier for me, but he was kind of grumpy [all men HATE shopping] HAHAHAHA, I guess Link was right on that one. Now… shouldn’t he be here for me already? I have no rupee to pay for anything, would I be allowed to pay with rupee here even if I had some? I will scream to call him when I am done.
Zelda picks another packing of panties, then goes to the bra section and starts searching for the same size as the one she is currently wearing, it fitted her perfectly according to Carla. Once she is done, Zelda leaves her stuff on the counter asking her favorite store clerk to keep an eye on her merchandize for a few seconds, she then walks out of the store and screams “LINK!!!”
A loud whistle is heard. Zelda smiles identifying it as Link’s, since it sounded like it had a very slight echo, she yells back “I WIIL WAIT HERE THEN!!!” and gets back inside heading to the counter, she proceeds to retrieve her clothes and thanks the clerk for watching over them.
“Are you buying these?” the clerk asks.
“No. I mean, YES. I am just waiting for the person who is paying to come” the Princess answers.
“You mean the person who just whistle at you like a dog?” the clerk says angry at the disrespect shown towards her.
Wow… I have not thought of it like THAT, but it could be seen THAT WAY from an outsider’s point of view. I must admit, I was kind of expecting something like this from Link, since he avoids rising his voice. I kind of suspect why he does, but I still want to ask him personally… actually, no. I can’t just bluntly ask him, I am going to use this event to imply on the topic, yeah that is a safer route.
“HAHAHAHAHA, he is NOT being disrespectful, believe me” Zelda tells the clerk to calm him down.
The door opens and Link enters, he had two bag packs in hand, he approaches the princess handing one to her.
“Once I pay you put your clothes inside” Link tells her and turns to pay.
Zelda opens it to start shoving everything and notices the box containing her cell phone. She lowers her back pack to the floor and gives Link a sided hug. He does not react at all, just continues to pay using his credit card.
“Thanks for shopping with us today” the clerk states handing the receipt.
Link nods and ushers Zelda outside of the shop, she waves at the clerk and the man waves back smiling, Link notices the interaction and as they start walking, he asks.
“Did you two became friends?”
“I am not sure… I think we are now, I thought he was going to give you an earful about whistling at me like if I was a dog” Link stops and smiles enjoying the idea, the Princess continues “Just to be clear HE SAID IT, not me, I am using the exact words he used.” Zelda sighs and follows behind Link as he reassumed his walking.
“Bu… but don’t worry, I know you didn’t do it out of disrespect, you did it to hide your choir voice” Zelda states.
Link stops walking and turns to look at her, curiosity mixed with anxiety on his face. Zelda decides she needs to let him know she is not a threat for figuring this out, so she continues.
“I noticed that your voice echoes oddly when you rise your volume, it makes it sound like a crowd speaking. You do a great job hiding it but… I guess I just make you want to scream at me VERY OFTEN” she chuckles a little at that.
“I don’t fear you by the way, there is a registry of a person with a voice like yours in Hyrule’s archives, he got sentenced to death because he was OBVIOUSLY possessed, so they expected forces of evil to violently leave his body while he burned alive, but nothing of the sort happened… That occurred centuries ago, but I understand why you would feel the need to hide it.” Rolling her head “AND if people in this world are as fragile as you say they are, they will dissect you in fear once they find out, so you hide it her too.” She smiles reassuringly “I guess I just wanted to say that you don’t need to hide it with me…”
LINK POV
I tried… I knew this big family crap was going to expose me sooner or later, she is right on one thing tough, I DO find it particularly hard to moderate my volume with her, she is just so FUCKING INFURIATING. If someone was to find me out on this, it was going to be her.
I believe the Princess just told me she is not afraid of me, and that she does not mind my voice, can I trust her word?
*I don’t know. But right now, she is expecting an answer from you*
I do not want to thank her for accepting me, and I don’t think she is expecting a thank you, but she is waiting for something. Maybe she wants me to confirm her assessment of me.
“Choir voice?” Link asks.
“Yeah, I mean. You kind of have a low deep voice, very similar to the voices of the monks that chant at the Temple of Time. But with the difference that you sound like a multitude. So… you have a choir voice”
Link closes his eyes and exhales; he continues walking and Zelda follows him smiling.
“Where did you buy these weird luggage bags?” the Princess randomly asks.
“Mine is the one I use when I stay in this world, yours is a present from Wolf, he came while I was paying your cellphone and threw them at my face. Completely my fault so I don’t hold a grudge, I forgot mine at SWORD’s premises and it hadn’t even crossed my mind you may need one too.” Link says with a mischievous grin.”
Like I would forget that, I was planning on making you struggle a little my sweet Princess, but it appears you woke up Claudio’s fatherly side.
“Are you also going to buy clothes?” Zelda asks exited by the idea.
“No, my garb is already on my backpack, it’s called a backpack by the way” Link informs pointing at it.
Link stops in front of a display of the map of the mall, and uses it to point at 3 stores
“We are running out of time, so we have to do this fast. These 3 are well known clothing stores, we have time to visit ONLY 1, choose"
Notes:
Thanks for reading and supporting my story
Next update: June 14
Chapter 40: It's You
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The line for boarding the plane was long, but at least it was not noisy since there were no traveling families, which meant no kids making a ruckus. Flights at this hour are mainly work related, the usual passengers tend to be very tired employees.
Link was keeping a firm hold on Zelda’s hand, anyone who happened to notice them would say that they looked like normal siblings traveling together. But in reality, Link was almost dragging the fearful Princess.
Zelda was trying to portray herself as a serene and composed young lady, but deep down, she wanted to hiss at Link and bite him like a scared kitten. She could not stop him from dragging her, but she could definitely make it a VERY DIFFICULT TASK, so she did just that. Every step she took she was almost digging her feet and legs on the floor, making it hard for Link to pull her. But he still managed to drag her without making it look like a kidnaping was taking place.
ZELDA POV
PLEASE, it can’t be safe to ride a machine that promises to fly, yet has no functional wings. I know now that this world is the impossible machine world, but come on, the car made sense, it had 4 circular parts that rolled around to move it. But THIS, this is impossible… if I board it, I am going to die.
“Please don’t make me do this, I am afraid of heights, I don’t feel safe boarding a machine that claims to be able to fly” Zelda begs him in a low volume, she does not want strangers judging her for this.
“That would mean something if I actually cared” Link declares intending to harm her, but sighs realizing his mistake and immediately tries to correct it ”All I know is that I need to be somewhere in Huston. The question is NOT if the plane can fly or not, the question is: are you coming with me?” Link says looking at her sternly and extending a hand at her.
Zelda does not answer, she closes her eyes and nods taking his hand. Link guides her the rest of the way until they board, since the Princess refused to open her eyes out of fear. Once inside, he guides her to their seats and places the backpacks on the hand luggage compartment.
As Link takes his own seat, he notices Zelda praying to the goddesses, he sighs and takes hold of her hand, then an announcement is heard from the pilot’s cabin, he is telling the passengers they are about to depart. Zelda immediately bites her lower lip and squeezes her hold on Link’s hand.
Link chuckles at that “As I said before, this is not the first time I use a plane, I assure you it’s a safe way to travel” he whispers to his Princess.
“Accidents can happen you know?” Zelda manages to say between her chattering teeth.
“Indeed, but accidents can happen on a bus too, or any other method of transportation… just rejoice in the fact that if you die, you take me with you” Link jokes.
“NOT HELPING AT ALL LINK!!!” Zelda yells at him in anger.
He pants “Really? I thought I was doing a great job, given that you have not even noticed we are airborne”
“You are lying…” Zelda opens her eyes, she notices everyone is calmly seated and that there is a window right next to her, she looks out and sees that they ARE flying, she also discovers that she is not scared at all, but rather fascinated by the sight.
How? I thought it had to flap its wings like the birds do, but the wings of this particular machine are fixed in place… so of course I thought it could NOT fly, but IT IS FLYING. I am not going to ask about it, I know I will not understand, the important thing is that I know this is a possibility in this world.
Thinking about it, I kind of understand why people here are so unstable, this world is FULL of possibilities. That goes hand in hand with a lack of limits, and you need limitations and restrictions for social and mental stability. And no stability means lots of bad apples running rampant for SWORD to take care of.
It took 3h25m for them to arrive at their destination, Zelda was very glad that Link never mocked her for being afraid, he actually encouraged her to explore the plane, she discovered the plane had a bathroom, and that the pretty ladies are called air hostess, their job is to assist the passengers and respond in case of an emergency, they are also trained to do CPR, like what was done to save Link. Zelda thought maybe she should learn to do that too.
When the plane landed, she witnessed lines of people waiting for their luggage, turned to Link to ask about it, but he just started telling her as if he could read her mind.
“Small luggage like ours can travel with us in the plane, bigger luggage like those suitcases” Link points at some that where being carried away “travel on the cargo compartment of the plane, that is why I like to travel light… there have been plenty of cases where luggage gets lost or misplaced, it ends up traveling in another plane” he tells Zelda as he opens the back door of a taxi stationed there.
Misplaced? How can they make such a stupid… I understand, is safer to travel light.
After Zelda boards, Link takes the copilot seat and tells the driver a direction. The driver nods and tunes the radio to his favorite music station before driving off. Zelda suddenly raises her head in amazement at the music sounding, she touches Link’s shoulder and wants to ask about it but just bites her lip.
I WANT to ask him, but HE told me to avoid at all cost letting people know I am not from here.
Link kind of understands what the problem may be, and grants her half a smile.
“Do you have a preferred radio station sis?” Link immediately turns to the driver “excuse me, do you mind if I change the station on the radio?” Link asks before manipulating the car’s radio, showing her the part of the car responsible of the music.
“What station do you listen to on your cellphone? Or do I just pick one”
OH, MY GODESSES, MY CELLPHONE CAN DO THAT?
[I promise your cell will have all you are asking for and more]
What else can it do? What Link just did was brilliant by the way, he managed to show me that the car has a music box and how to work it, making it look like a normal exchange between brothers.
Zelda smiles at Link hugging her backpack.
“Leave it where it was, but can you increase the volume?” Zelda says trying to play along.
“Sure can-do missy” says the driver as he tunes the previous radio station and turns the volume up.
After 4 songs and a few commentaries from the radio host, they arrive to a tall school building. There are several cars stationed around it, surely the teacher’s property. And a few youngsters running around in a hurry. Link pays and turns to Zelda once the taxi leaves.
“This is a school for kids our age, the person I must meets is enrolled in this school, so we must enroll too, I wanted to take care of doing that today before it closed, I need a few minutes to short some legalities here before we can enroll, in the mean time you can look around, just don’t exit the building” Link says as he heads for the principal’s office.
He does like to leave me alone A LOT. But that is good right? I mean, it shows that he trusts me somewhat, or maybe he is trying to build mental strength in me. NO, he is trying to test my capabilities… FUCK IT, I don’t know what he is doing, and I don’t care.
Zelda thought as she was walking down the hall, then a wall cached her attention, it had a lot of pictures of different school events, she was looking carefully at all the faces in those pictures.
WHAT AM I DOING? Let’s be real here, I am not going to find him, I don’t even know what he looks like, the only lead we have is his name. A name I don’t know because Link didn’t share that info with me, looking at these pictures hoping for a miracle is a WASTE OF TIME.
Zelda thought, but kept looking though the pictures and reading a few headlines posted, when a guy came to lean on said wall to catch his breath.
Wow, Link finished sorting everything rather quickly, I wonder why he ran here, I am not THAT FAR away from the principal’s office. OH! that looks interesting, is that a common dinner room? I want to visit it.
“Are you done? Can we enroll here now? you know…. I would love to visit some of the places in these pictures if we have time today” Zelda starts speaking still looking at the pictures of happy students.
“I don’t know who you think you are talking to, but I am NOT him”
THEN WHO THE FUCK IS THIS!!!
“I am sorry I just thought” Zelda starts to apologize, but then looking at the guy her jaw drops for a second, then she begins to giggle.
“It’s YOU” she yells “it HAS to be you” Zelda says trying to touch him, just to make sure she is not imagining him.
The guy notices her attempt and slaps her hand away glowering at Zelda “DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME BITCH”
Zelda pauses for a moment, then she beams at him clapping a little, the boy looks at her puzzled and raises an eyebrow at her merriment.
They even share that snappy hot temper; he HAS to be the donor.
“Zelda… we have to regist-” Link stops speaking and stares at his look alike menacingly.
Zelda turns beaming “LINK, LOOK WHO I FOUND!”
LINK POV
He is a fucking CLONE of me, well… almost, we have 2 clear differences. The hair and the eye color, my hair is a dirty blonde while his is more of a chestnut. As for the eyes, his are green, more on the emerald spectrum, while mine are silver gray. He may look like me but it’s not an exact copy. Once I verify his identity, I need to contact SWORD for them to retrieve blood samples and analyze them. But right now… all I need is to take my Princess away from him. If he IS me, he is dangerous and I should not trust him near her right away.
Link uses a hand motion to call Zelda to him, never breaking eye contact with the clone boy, whom was also shocked by Link’s physical similarity to himself, the boy quickly sized his blond version up and deemed him dangerous, he thought it would be a mistake to turn his back on the blond or break eye contact first, so he didn’t.
*Dude, you need to be the bigger person here, if he IS us, he won’t risk moving an inch, you need to move first. *
Zelda approaches Link skipping happily, then turns and waves good bye at Link’s look alike.
“See you tomorrow” Zelda chimes happy, Link squints his eyes at the boy and turns to head for the principal’s office with Zelda.
After getting registered and receiving a list of school supplies, Link begins walking around seeking the apartments the principal recommended. Since they needed to live close by to assist that particular school. Once he found them, he rented one, he did not even check it, since they were not staying for long, besides… anything would be better than sleeping outside on the street. He thinks as they enter their temporary home.
“What now? I don’t mind sleeping on the floor since we don’t have a bed. I am talking about your donor” Zelda asks.
“I need to corroborate his identity first, then talk to him about SWORD’S donor program. If he agrees, someone will show up to take a blood sample, and SWORD will test it to verify how much of a match we are” Link answers bluntly, but deep down he is in a state of dread.
I want him to be me, that will give me a chance to mend things. I don’t know if he remembers anything, or if he has been suffering all this time. Time I could have used to search for him but I was so self-absorbed in my pain... This guilt is going to suffocate me.
Zelda interjects “I hope he agrees to the program, it has benefits for him, right?” she asks.
“Yes, SWORD is willing to pay for the donor’s living expenses, but to apply for the program, he needs to be a 90% match with me in a health evaluation from SWORD. That to ensure I will not reject any donation from him” Link breaths in suddenly feeling very exhausted.
“90%.... that means family?”
“No… being family helps a lot, but DNA is not the only measure considered. Natural siblings are only a 50% DNA match most times. But you also need to be aware of HLA tissue typing, a Cross-match, age difference and weight difference. And since SWORD is willing to ensure his living expenses for life, the donor must be able bring me back from death’s door, that means a 90% transplant success rate measured by SWORD” Link informs her.
“Oh… I don’t know what all those tests you mention are for, or why age and weight are important for this. But it doesn’t change the fact that he IS going to be your donor”
Link stares at her “What makes you so sure about that outcome? Please enlighten me” he mocks her cynically.
“Because he not only looks like you, he SMELLS just like you” Zelda states confidently.
Was she a Hund in her previous life or something?
Notes:
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Chapter 41: He is capable of laugher after all
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It was early in the morning, Link hadn’t really managed to sleep at all, even though they used a big inflatable mattress he bought, big enough to not bother the Princess with his body temperature, making Zelda no longer a concern, yet his mind would not let him rest. He checked the time and decided to wake the Princess up as a courtesy, to give her time to bathe, fix her hair and put on some makeup. That is the general routine most girls follow, and it takes them HOURS… but he soon found out that his Princess was a HUGE exception to the rule. Zelda didn’t bathe since she had done it yesterday before going to sleep, she just brushed her hair and teeth, then pulled a random blouse out of her backpack to put on, and reused yesterday’s jeans. Link’s constant glare was making her uncomfortable.
ZELDA POV
He has been staring at me for TOO LONG, I think I look fine, my clothes are on and properly placed, I mean my blouse is not backwards or food stained, my face is clean and my hair is knot free. Why is he staring at me like that?
“Do you need something?” Zelda finally asks Link.
His eyes meet hers as he answers “I was just wondering, you bought make-up, why are you not using it?”
Zelda rolls her eyes “You told me to do what I saw others do to avoid standing out, the girls at the mall were buying it, so I bought some. Not planning on using it though. I don’t believe in make-up… If you are pretty, you don’t need it. If you are ugly, you REALLY don’t need it. Using it will age you and make you uglier over time according to mom, I see no gain using it under any circumstance.” Zelda answers with conviction.
Link smiles genuinely at her “With that I agree, let’s go then”
They both left the apartment and headed to school, it didn’t take them long to walk there. As they approached the school entrance, they received curious stares from the other students, but most of them where nasty glares from the girls. Zelda was perplexed by this.
“Do they hate us? Why?” Zelda asked Link on a very low volume.
“Not me, but they may hate YOU a little… that is because you are cute” Link answers her.
“WHAT!!! That makes no sense, why would they hate me for that?” Zelda asks.
“Jealousy maybe, I don’t know, the female psyche is unexplored territory for me” Link answers faking being sorry for not being able to provide an answer.
Jealous… of me? Really? But I am so petite an undeveloped compared to them. These girls are tall, with glossy hair and curvy bodies.
They enter the school and continue walking until they reach Zelda’s room, Link leaves Zelda there and tells her to move to the next room in her schedule when she hears the school bell. If she has trouble finding her next classroom, she can ask any teacher for help.
Zelda opens her eyes wide “WAIT, you are leaving me here?”
“My class is somewhere else, I need to hurry to get there, you will survive right?” Link says, then he turns and rushes off, the bell starts ringing.
Zelda shivers and hugs her transparent zipper binder.
[“THERE, you should be able to carry sheets of paper, your pens and pencils in this” Link hands her the binder “the school requested us to use this or a see-through backpack, since they don’t have lockers” Link takes a deep breath “the need to see what students carry at all times, means it’s not a safe school environment, you should avoid conflict with other students… but don’t let them trample you either, am I clear?”]
After taking a big breath Zelda turns and enter her classroom.
LINK POV
“I am terribly sorry madame, I got a little lost since it is my fist day here, may I come in?”
“Of course, you may sweety, there is an open seat next to Briana at the back, or you can sit next to Li right there, he doesn’t talk much though” the teacher says trying to warn him.
Link looks up and there in the middle of the classroom was his clone, they stared at each other for a few seconds, then Link starts smirking.
[“Link you have to promise me something. If or when you meet your donor, you talk to him gently”
“He may be a monster you know? Link says.
Zelda rolls her eyes “He is not, he is like a scared animal… he bites mainly out of fear, so be gentle. I will not forgive you if you scare him off”]
“Lee sounds perfect mam; I hate having to chat with people” Link says to the teacher and turns walking to take a seat next to Li.
I send a text yesterday to Carla, just to ratify the donors name to be Robert Li, that last name is clearly Chinese and the boy does NOT look Chinese at all, but according to Carla, it IS his name… how did he came to have it?
Link sits next to Lee and extends a hand at him.
“We started on the wrong foot yesterday, I am Link”
“Li” he answers shaking Link’s hand.
“That is a Chinese last name, isn’t it? You don’t look Chinese”
“And you are not the first bright bulb to notice” Robert answers bluntly.
This motherfucker, but all right, I won’t press… either way I just confirmed his identity, I need to tell him about the donor program, and also… find a way to make him start talking to me. I need to know what he knows, and if he remembers anything.
The class continues, the literature teacher adjusts her glasses and FINALLY notices the cause of the ruckus in her classroom. The new student and Li look VERY alike, she sighs at the realization and mentally smacks herself for not noticing before. Link closes the book he was reading and stares at the clock, 5 min. left before the bell rings.
“Li, when do you have your lunch period today?”
“Why?” Li asks with reserve.
“I need to talk to you, figured lunch time is a good time” Link says in a happy tone.
“What if I DON’T want to talk to you?”
Link starts showing a malicious grin “Look, it’s going to happen willingly or not, but I rather go about this the civil way” Link starts twirling a pen in his left hand “I can promise you one thing; you DEFINETLY want to hear what I have to say” Link says as he throws the pen in the air, catches it and brins it down stabbing the desk with it.
*So much for being gentile*
Gentile my ass, even if he is not me, he will soon be a man. Men don’t respect feminine traits in other men. And I need him to respect me enough to believe everything I have to tell him.
Li stares back at Link and answers “10:40pm”
“Perfect” the bell rings “see you then” Link says as he raises from his chair.
Once he starts to head out, he notices an odd distribution of the female population smiling mischievously at him and pilling to obstruct his path. A loud whistle is heard, Link turns to see Li calling him back with his hand. Link he heads back to Lee curious.
“Lesson 1: you ALWAYS want to wait a few minutes after the bell, to avoid the mob of desperate horny bitches… but if you crave the attention I recommend Hanna, she is discrete” Li tells him while closing his own book and placing it on the book tray of the desk.
Link nods at him and half smiles thinking of a meme “Robert of the literature classroom, share your wisdom” he smiles joking.
Li makes the association with the meme and starts roaring in laughter. The room goes radio silent at that moment; they all stared at them wide eyed. Link starts to freak out a little looking around for the obvious treat. Li slowly dims his laughter falling into silence, he shakes his head, stands up and walks out of the classroom pulling Link by the front of his shirt whit him.
Cough “I should be going that way” Link says pointing at a completely different direction.
Li sighs and releases his hold on the hero’s shirt. Link just looks at Robert and decides to ask “They have never heard you laugh before, have they?” Link asks.
Li ignores the question and continues walking to his next class.
From what I gathered, Li does not smile or laugh often. Why? What happened to him? also, my name did not ring a bell at all, I will assume his memories about his life as Hyrule’s hero got whipped out… or he isn’t me after all. Either way I need to know about his past, about his family, where and how he currently lives. Even if he is not me, I am going to make things better for him if I can, I like the guy.
Link enters his next class, but the algebra teacher was a cranky old guy, he refused to take into account that Link was a new student and could get lost. Without much pity he requested Link to walk out of the room, and to arrive on time tomorrow if he wanted to attend his class. Link came out rolling his eyes, he decided to head to the library and pass the time there.
Now that I think about it… I could just skip the next class too and wait till 10:40 to speak with Li. But… I guess I can’t do that in good conscience. I told my Princess that she could safely follow my lead. If I am claiming to be a role model, then I better be a DAMN GOOD role model. Skipping a class is behavior I would not condone from her, meaning I CAN’T do it either.
He kept walking around searching for a book that may catch his interest, but he found nothing of the sort, not like he was disappointed, this WAS a middle school after all, the school had no interest on reviewing complex and thought-provoking literature, just the normal dramas to entertain teens. The bell starts ringing, Link opens his own binder to check what class is next for him, and finds his next period to be Algebra once again.
*Well, this is going to be fun. *
Not at all, I am not even going to try, the fucker already turned me down, he even said to try again TOMORROW, not later today, and I just happen to be a very obedient boy.
*That is a way of skipping without giving a bad example… kind of*
ZELDA POV
“But I did not start this, SHE did” Zelda claims pointing at Kenia.
The principal rubs his temples “I don’t care who started, all I care about are the repercussions of what you both did. And so far, it’s not good. 12 girls injured is more than enough reason to expel the both of you” says the principal exasperated.
“NO FAIR. Most of them just fell on one another” Kenia tells him dismissively.
Clearing his throat “From what I was told, most of them began punching each other siding one of you” the principal says pointing at both of the girls.
The Princess rolls her eyes “As I said before, Kenia started it, she pushed me into the mud and when I didn’t respond to the attack, she tried to make Emma eat a death snake she found on the garden” Zelda reiterates.
“THAT STILL doesn’t give you permission to swing a punch at my face, you broke my nose stupid blonde” Kenia said in anger rubbing the ridge of her nose.
“It’s not broken, it just bled a little, and don’t lie, I didn’t throw a single punch at you, I just tried to shove the snake down your throat” Zelda adds mischievously.
“JUST BLED A LITTLE? I had to change my clothes cuz of the blood stain”
The principal just reclined on his chair breathing out loudly, thinking he was not paid enough to be dealing with this shit.
“I think I don’t want to know any more details” said the principal shocked by the savagery of the girls.
Zelda grins wickedly at him “You don’t want to know, but I am going to tell you anyway or how else are you going to pass a fair judgment?” clears her throat “As I was saying, while I was trying to make Kenia eat a spoonful of her own venom, one of her friends kicked my face, Emma began crying for help and several girls gathered to defend us, but more of Kenia’s friends came to join the fight and… I guess you know the rest”
The principal takes a deep breath and comes to a conclusion he was surely going to regret. Dealing with Kenia was difficult, but dealing with her mother was a whole new level of an ordeal. The lady was packed with money, and this was the 3rd school Kenia was moved to… The mother refused to believe her daughter had an aggression problem. She was surely going to be pissed about this, and he would have to hear ALL about it, and get scolded by her for not doing his job and failing Kenia.
The principal takes a deep breath before informing the girls of his decision “Zelda, it’s a shame but you are suspended for the next 3 days. As for you Kenia, you have a long record of aggression towards other students, I won’t tolerate it anymore, you are expelled”
Kenia opened her mouth wide and frowned, then started insulting Zelda and the principal himself, he stood up and pushed them both out of his office.
“Call anyone you need to, but get out of here or I call the police” the principals say to Kenia “as for you Zelda, you have 1 hour to leave the institution, I will see you back on Thursday” the principal says closing the door of his office. Kenia comes dangerously close to the Princess, growls loudly and leaves dialing someone on her cellphone.
Well, damn. Will this get me in trouble with Link? It should not, I mean, I did what he told me to do, I did not let the bitch trample me.
Zelda starts heading to the entrance of the school unsure of where to go now to find Link, she needed him to hand over the keys so she could enter the department. She sees a line of cooks rushing over with bread trays to the cafeteria, and in the line helping with the trays was Link.
Why? What exactly is he… what am I saying. Its Link we are talking about, of course he would get involved in the kitchen affairs, surely that is how he meet Nana and Chacha.
“LINK!!!” Zelda yells.
LINK POV
Link turns to look at her rising an eyebrow at her. He was about to ask her why she was there and not in her classroom, but he noticed Lee behind her approaching them.
Why is Lee here too? And why is Zelda all covered in mud?
"And I thought you didn't come to school today" Li said to Zelda.
"OH, HI… I am sorry I can't stay to chat" she turns to Link "I got suspended, I need the keys to head back please" Zelda tells Link with sad puppy eyes.
The Prince opens his eyes wide "Suspended? What the fuck did you do?" Link ask more surprised than angry.
"I kind of started a girl mob fight, WAIT NO, I did not start it, but I DID finish it." Zelda says rising her head high in fake pride.
Li starts cracking in giggles, by when Link and Zelda notice and turn to him, he could not hold it in any longer, he blurted out with maniac laughter. He then points at Zelda.
“YOU, fragile, petite and absentminded girl got on a fight?” Li says as he continues to laugh.
Link turns to Zelda and balancing the bread tray in his left hand, he uses his right to grab her chin between his index and thumb to lift and turn her head, he sighs and half smiling hands her the keys.
“Give me a quick recap of the damage I am seeing” Link demands.
The Princess clears her throat “I was thrown on a mud puddle, scratched with impossibly long nails, kicked in the face and my hair got pulled… I will survive though” Zelda answers no longer afraid of Link scolding her “but she got it worse, I kicked her, punched her nose, bit her leg… and also ripped the wig out of her head.”
Savage, I shouldn’t be feeling so proud of her.
“The fight was with Kenia right? this is her trade mark” Li says as he points and rubs on Zelda’s cheek where she had a mark from Kenia’s ring. Link nods at Lee’s thanking him for telling him who had dared to harm his Princess.
Zelda notices the vengeful vibe both of the boys where exuding "In case you were thinking doing something to her because you are both brute animals... you don't have to worry; I got her expelled" Zelda brags proudly.
Li starts laughing again and walks towards the food line still cracking up. Link follows him with his gaze, then chuckles.
I suck at this, I am supposed to be angry at her for getting suspended, but I am not, my kitty used her claws and fangs to fend off. I am so fucking proud of her. And I should not feel like this I think, I should reprimand her.
*Oh, cut the crap, will you? You are NOT her dad, you are her guardian, that means you are here to protect her, and to teach her how to defend herself for when you are not around. *
Smiling the hero turns to Zelda “Once I get home, I want all the details… and good job by the way” He winks at his Princess.
Zelda smiles elated “I demand an explanation of THIS too” she points at the bread tray he is still carrying; she turns and walks away giggling.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking this story, grant me a Kudo, post a comment, bookmark the story or create a collection.
Chapter 42: I am going to obliterate them
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link blatantly entered the school kitchen. The ladies that served the food looked at him with contempt. The main cook smiled at him as she took the bread tray from his hands, she whispered a thank you and gave him a brownie. Link takes it kissing her hand and making her laugh in the process.
LINK POV
*That kiss was taking it a little too far, don’t you think? *
Not at all, life has shown me the importance of befriending the proletariat, they function like an ant colony, meaning they are trust worthy and capable of incredible feats of strength if ever needed. One very important bonus of this relation is that you now have eyes and ears EVERYWHERE.
Link quickly scans the cafeteria looking for Li, he soon sees him waving. Link sighs and heads there. Li notices that his blonde duplicate is not carrying a food tray, he points at Link’s hands frowning.
“I am not hungry” Link answers as he proceeds to take a seat in front of Robert.
Li quickly raises both his shoulders thinking ¨if you don’t care, I don’t care either¨ and continues to eat, Link closes his eyes and decides that he can’t keep stalling over this, he needs to tell him everything NOW.
“Listen Robert, I am taking advantage of our current location, it’s a familiar environment for you, and loud enough to avoid people listening in. The information I am about to disclose demands absolute secrecy. You are not to talk to ANYONE about what will be discussed here, not even to your family, am I clear on that?” Link asks sternly.
Li stops eating and looks straight at Link “I am listening” he says while he continues to eat “don’t worry about the secrecy part, I don’t really have friends and my family is probably death”
His parents may be death? I… will get back to that later.
Link clears is throat and continues “Listen, regardless of my age, I belong to an organization that imparts judgement on people, this line of work often places me on danger’s path. It’s vital for me to keep track of people that could be potential donors, that is the reason why I am here talking to you. According to Zhongshan Hospital archives, you were admitted there 4 years ago, your health records strongly suggest that you could enter the donor program of the organization as my donor”
Robert stares at Link frustrated “Do you enjoy pranking people like this?” he asks, but remains a little suspicious, because how the hell did Link knew about a Hospital in Shanghai.
Link breaths in slowly “You don’t believe me, I understand, I will prove it to you” Link takes out his cellphone and opens an app “dial your cellphone number and click send” Link states handing over his cellphone to Li.
The brunette hero looks at the cellphone, an unknown app is open and running. Robert glances at Link with distrust, they don’t really know each other for that long. In fact, just yesterday both of them behaved extremely weary of each other. Why would he suddenly trust this boy with his cellphone number? What if all this is just a sick prank and he ends up becoming the target of a scammer.
Link notices the hesitation, and tries to reassure his clone by mouthing ¨just trust me¨ Li sighs and grabs Link’s cellphone and after dialing his number, he clicks send. In less than a minute Robert’s cellphone rings, but it does not display the number of the caller. He looks at Link wary but answers. The call ends quickly and a few seconds later his cellphone rings again notifying that he received a message.
“What did I just agree to?” asks Li exasperated “the lady that just called welcomed me as a contestant and hung on me, I don’t even know what this so-called program you spoke off involves”
“You agreed to a medic coming to visit you later today, he or she is to take a sample of your blood to verify if we are a match, if we are you will gain access to the benefits of the donor program, such benefits are listed on the text they just send to your cellphone” Link answers calmly.
Li stares at the hero enraged “You TRICKED ME, you got me enrolled on a doubtful program that conveniently demands secrecy… why did I trust you? You could be selling me to a mafia for all I know, how could I be so darn stupid”
Selling him to a mafia… that is a little TOO specific, I don’t like where my head is taking me… I should not overthink this, maybe he enjoys watching telenovelas. Mafia involvement is a recurring theme in Latin TV productions, isn’t it?
Link smiles “I implore you to read what was sent to your phone, in no way am I seeking to hurt you” he sighs “My time here is limited and you are hard headed, hence why I opted to trick you into testing for this, I figured it would be faster and easier. If we are NOT a match, you can forget about everything and carry on with your life. But if we are, you still have to call them to accept or refuse the program. I am not forcing you into anything, I only coerced you into testing for it. Please, read the information that was sent to you. It provides details about the benefits of the program, and also the hindrances” Link ends lowering his volume.
Li was about to grab his cellphone and start reading, but his hand trembled, this was too much… and happening WAY too fast for him to keep up. He places his face between his hands and takes a few deep breaths.
“Don’t you need parental consent for this” Robert finally asks.
“No. As I said before, your involvement with SWORD has to remain a secret from everyone, that includes your parents, violation of the secrecy pact has… consequences” Link answers.
“SWORD?” Li asks rising his head.
“Sentient World Observation and Response Department”
Li scoffs “An acronym, makes me think of SHIELD, but that is a fictitious agency used in comics and recent movies” Robert suddenly widens his eyes realizing he is being played and begins to laugh manically “Come on, I thought you had more imagination” he laughs a little at himself for entertaining the idea of all this being real.
“It IS a sister organization I admit, but let me correct you on one thing: SHIELD IS REAL, they hide conveniently under the guise of Marvel comics, but they are out there... and so are we” Link answers with more patience that he knew he was capable of.
Li shakes his head not sure of what to believe and uncertain about trusting Link. But still, he somehow felt like he should trust him… like he KNEW the blonde boy. Staring into those gray eyes was like staring right back at himself, that sensation baffled him.
The bell rings signaling the end of the lunch break, Link starts to stand but Li reaches to grabs his arm. Link stops and stares at him noticing he lacks color on Robert’s cheeks and lips.
“I… don’t feel good” Li says in shame.
Fuck, what do I do? I did this to him… is he not eating properly? maybe I should not have blurted out everything all of a sudden.
*But, on the other hand*
On the other hand, my forwardness and lack of hesitation caused an implosion on his mind. His logic tells him that I am obviously lying, but deep down he must feel that he can blindly trust me. I need take advantage of this…
“I understand… you should go home, let me take you.” Link offers as Li stares back at him with contempt “don’t get me wrong, I am just a little worried, I don’t want you crossing streets alone feeling weak and distracted with all this…” Link says staring at him with concern.
“Fair, if you don’t mind skipping classes, let’s go” he agrees avoiding Link’s gaze.
Li stands grabbing on Link’s shoulder for stability since he was feeling dizzy. He continues to use Link for stability even when they reach the street. Link doesn’t mind at all, Li’s idea of grabbing on his shoulder was infinitely better than grabbing on his arm for support. That would have socially emasculated both of them.
They walked for 8 minutes till they arrived to a VERY small house. Once they entered Link noticed the house was one big room that functioned as a dorm, kitchen and dining room.
“Are you renting this place or…” Link asks with curiosity.
“I rent it, its small but I don’t need anything else, and its cheap” Li clarifies.
“How are you paying for this? you are not old enough to work” Link asks.
“My… family gave me some money and put me on a plane; I need to make that money last until I am 14 or 15 and can apply for a job” Li answers rather quickly, not wanting to dwell on that.
So, he rented the cheapest place he could find, and is probably skimping on his food.
“Your family, you said… by that you mean your biological family or the family that gave you the Chinese last name?” Link bluntly asks.
Li freezes a little, breaths in slowly to regain his calm.
“I am curious you know, you don’t look Chinese at all, or even half Chinese. How did you come to have that last name?” Link presses on the topic.
Li looks at Link a little angry, but then he starts looking depressed and sighs. Link starts to back down.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, its ok, I will back off” Link says squinting his eyes a little.
No, it’s NOT ok. If he needs time to open up, I won’t press. But I still require to know this… the Chinese culture is very closed off and strict. I need to know what where the circumstances of his adoption.
“I was sold to a Chinese mafia” Robert suddenly blurts out.
Link looked at his duplicate in shock, he quickly shakes his head trying to avoid all the ugly images that came to his mind.
Li sighs “My father won a trip to Shanghai, then acquired a big debt at the hotel’s casino, he was offered to settle it in exchange of me, they wanted to use me as a drug mule… since nobody suspects a kid”
“Did they got to use you to transport it?” Link asks trying to keep his calm.
“No, not as a drug mule, that would have been better… look I” Li interrupts himself to get a coup of water for himself.
Li’s hands are shaking really badly, making it difficult to pour water in a coup for himself. Link stands, takes the cup from Robert’s hand and fill it with water for him. Robert hesitates a little before taking the cup and drinking from it…
Truth be told, Li felt apprehensive about sharing that dreadful part of his life with a boy that may, or may not be playing a prank on him… but for some reason, he felt like he could definitely trust him… like he somehow knew him. He smiled thinking he must be going crazy.
“They tried inserting some ballons with coke up my rectum, but they could not fit them through my anus, they said they needed to loosen me up a little, and the best method to do it was to rape me”
Link closes his eyes irate “Tell me they didn’t get to do that to you… please” the hero implores Robert.
“Don’t worry, I don’t remember any of it. The lady of the mafia lord entered the room and discovered what they were doing to me, she had lost the ability to carry a baby to term do to a car accident, so this made her furious. She demanded for them to be decapitated on the spot, but the lord just fired them” he chuckles nervously “Apparently, I was pronounced brain dead by when I arrived the hospital, but the lord’s lady refused to give up on me and kept me connected 4 years. When I woke up from the coma, my physical features had changed apparently, and I had a major memory loss, I couldn’t remember anything, not even my name or my parent’s faces…”
Li takes a deep breath before continuing with his narration.
“All I am telling you is what the medics at Zhongshan told me, I don’t remember any of it. Guilt is the reason why the mobsters kept paying the hospital so many years, and pity is why they raised me as their own for 2 years” Robert sighs and stares at Link to check if the blonde was actually listening to his narration, but got goosebumps at the sight before him. The hero was trying his best to contain his rage, but could not really hide it. His facial expression was grim hinting at danger, and his gaze was intense and unsettling.
Trying to deviate the hero from the dark path his mind was on, Li clears his throat and continues “Then I noticed my new family was being hunted down, when I asked about it my Chinese mother protected me by sending me to America with some money, that is why I am safe, but not sure if they are still alive”
They killed him, Robert died that day and the goddesses used the empty vessel to place one of my duplicates… I don’t need a fucking DNA test, he is me, I am sure now.
“You know… I was forced to read a book about psychotrauma, and let me tell you, there is no way you don’t remember, your brain can be easily tricked, but the body remembers” Link says with dread “do you really don’t remember anything”
Li stares at Link a little terrified by the idea, up to this day he had chosen to believe he was lied to “I… can’t bring back the memory of it, but I have disturbing dreams often, no images whatsoever, all of the dream transpires in complete darkness, but I can still hear men laughing maliciously, and a kid pleading and shrieking in pain… if what you say is true, maybe they are not just dreams” he shakes his head furiously “But I don’t know how the mind works, so I can’t be sure of anything” Li says trying to avoid breaking down.
Sadly, he will remember something awful that didn’t even happen to him. This was a cruel twist Farore, or whomever of the three glorified peafowls thought this was a good idea.
The men who did this are part of the vermin that I, as a SWORD agent, should take care of… I swear, I AM GOING TO OBLITERATE THEM, AND I AM GOING TO FUCKING ENJOY IT.
“Li, I am going to ask you for something… I need names, and a physical description of the abusers. Do you remember enough to do this for me?”
Robert shakes his head “I don’t know the names, but I kind of remember the nicknames they used to refer to themselves. I can make you a drawing of their faces. My mother showed me pictures of them hoping that would unlock my memory but it never did... Why do you want that?"
Sighs “I belong to SWORD, that is above all, an observation and RESPONSE department, and I swear I AM going to respond.”
ZELDA POV
I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind, staying behind all alone doesn’t sound fun at all, but I am having a blast. I have learned more about the appliances my cellphone has, And the night before, Link showed me where and how to watch movies on it. I believe he did that to prevent me from doing something stupid.
What is he afraid of? That I could end myself? He should not be, I am too much of a coward to do it, I need external assistance if I want to carry it out, and I already burned that bridge with him. Besides, I am having so much fun, I am enjoying myself despite what happened with my dad, or with Kenia. I now realize that I am more than a wounded child, and I have the potential to be the person I always dreamed I could be. I want to aim for that… I don’t want to die anymore.
The door knob turns, Zelda stands on high alert, but relaxes when she sees Link entering.
“WHY WAS THE DOOR OPEN?” Link yells at Zelda without turning from the now closed door.
Wow… he DOES have a choir voice, I knew it. I am glad he trusts me enough to let me hear him, but on the other hand… he is irate at me. I may have made a stupid mistake by leaving the door open, but I am still here, and I am safe, so why is he FURIOUS, what happened?
Zelda approaches him slowly, putting on a shameful face.
“I am sorry, I thought to leave it open since you no longer had the keys, but you are right, I should have closed it… is everything went ok with the donor?”
Link turns from the door to her, his eyes closed as he leans back on the door.
“I talked to Li, he will accept the program I am sure, but it weights me knowing why he will... I won’t say anything else about this” he clarifies staring deeply at her.
Fair, I won’t ask about it… I wonder if Li is ok, at least it doesn’t appear that they fought.
“Ok, I am sorry for the both of you, but it’s still good news, right? we… YOU can help him a little now, right?”
“Yes, I suppose” Link opens his eyes to look straight at her “this really doesn’t scare you?” he asks pointing at his vocal cords.
Zelda grins at him and shakes her head “it sounds cool actually, I like it” she answers truthfully.
Link grunts a little, then retrieves the brownie from one of his pockets and hands it to her.
“Before you ask, I tend to befriend the service people wherever I go, they are a great source of information”
Zelda laughs “I suspected something like that, I mean… you didn’t befriended Chacha because she is cute, did you?” Link smiles confirming what the Princess said.
“THIS… they gave it to you right? YOU should eat it then”
“I can’t”
“Just give it a small bite, I eat the rest” Zelda encourages him as she opens the brownie’s plastic wrapper.
“You don’t mind doing that?” Link asks raising an eyebrow.
“Of course not” the Princess says, then looks up at him mischievous “I mean… you DO have your shots, right?” she jokes.
Growling, the hero snatches the brownie from her hands, takes a bite, and hands it back at her with fake disdain.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking this story, grant me some Kudos, post a comment, bookmark the story or create a collection. Next update will be the 5 of July
Chapter 43: Bonding with Robert
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
FAST FORWARD TO THUSDAY
Zelda woke up exited, she was FINALLY leaving the department. Link kept looking at his Princess, she was running around trying to collect the few sheets of paper she still had. Zelda had spent her time alone drawing. The Princess had almost finished her sheets of paper, not that Link minded in the least, she used them so they served a purpose, hence the money was not wasted.
Even though it was a little fun watching her stressing, he still found it hard calming his own nerves… Li had not showed up to school yesterday, he knew Li’s address but… he did not want to show up uninvited.
Once Zelda was ready, they left for school. As they approached the entrance, a boy tried to tackle Link, but the hero lowered his stance, meet the charging boy's pecs with the blade of his right forearm, instantly rotating his right hand to grab on the back of the neck, using his other hand to push on the boy's shoulder, effectively avoiding the hit and redirecting the charging energy to slam him against a wall. Link then stood straight dusting his gloved hands off and looked at the small audience that gathered.
LINK POV
All of them are waiting for my next move, how spiteful of this lad to attack me because of a game we played yesterday. I believe THAT must be the reason since I have done nothing to him, aside from mercilessly targeting and hitting him with a ball… he is trying to regain his manliness I believe. Too bad I will not allow him to; I will take this as an opportunity to make a statement here; I need them to know I am NOT GAME.
"So… who else wants a piece of me?" Link ask using his hand to taunt them to approach.
The boy stood up wiping blood from his nose, then left cursing. The boys in the crowd throwed daggers at Link with their eyes, but also left. The few females present gathered together and rushed out giggling and smiling at Link. Zelda exhaled in relief, she was about to scold Link for taunting his fellow school mates, but she begins to hear steps getting closer. A smile graced her face once she noticed who it was.
"I was... not expecting that at all. What did you do to offend Jim?" Li asked laughing.
Link sighs slowly regaining his calm.
“Exist?” he answers and gives Robert a fist bump.
Zelda raises her index finger “Actually… I could be wrong, but I think it has to do with the game you were playing yesterday at PE” she laughs “the one you told me you enjoyed because everyone was an easy target” She reminds Link, he nods smiling at her.
“We played dodge ball yesterday? damn” Li says feeling regret.
“Serves you right for skipping classes that day” Zelda scolds him, but she is not really angry.
“I guess we will see you during lunch” Link says.
“Her lunch break is also at 10:40?” Robert asks surprised at the coincidence.
Zelda laughs at that “of course not, Link’s lunch is at 12:40 I think, mine is at 11:40”
Li opens his eyes wide realizing both of them would be skipping classes.
“I know what you are thinking, but don’t mind that, we are not here to study, we will meet you at lunch” Link assures Robert.
Link starts walking away but Li stops him pulling on his shirt.
“I skipped class yesterday because I could not concentrate, a Medic did show up, which means this is FUCKING REAL.” Sighs “I couldn’t… I still can’t. I needed to verify your existence first, to silence my head and convince myself that this is not a dream”
Hahaha, NICE. I have him now.
Link gives half a smile “as I said, we are not here to study, we came here to find YOU. Wanna get out of here?”
Li opens his eyes wide “I… yes, but my place is too small and messy for…” He looks at Zelda.
Zelda rolls her eyes “Oh gosh, don’t mind about that, he made me sleep on a grass bed” she points at Link who just smiles and nods at Robert, Zelda continues “if your house has 4 walls its perfect.”
“The place we are staying at is bigger, but we don’t have amenities, it’s your place or a public place like a restaurant” Link says.
Zelda hypes at the idea, Li looks at them and closes his eyes, he was trying to make a mental note of how much money he could spare for this. Still, he rather wastes his money buying food that letting them visit his place, he kind of wrecked it in an anxiety attack. Link notices his clone’s hesitation and decides to throw him a bone.
“There is a park in front of our place, why don’t we go there? A neighbor sells hotdogs for 2 dollars if we get hungry”
“LET’S DO THAT” says Li and starts heading out of the school.
Well, he jumped on that one, he doesn’t want us at his place… Hehe, I wonder what he did to it.
Zelda giggled happily and started jogging behind Robert. Link checked his cellphone but there was no new message from SWORD, he sighted in desperation but shakes his head to reset his mood and ran behind his Princess.
Zelda walked a little worried, she feared being reprimanded by other adults for not being at school, but the few ladies that saw them couldn't care less. As they approached the central piece of the park, which was a water fountain, Zelda was going to ask the boys why the ladies from before where so… indifferent. But she was interrupted by a beeping sound.
Link's pulls out his phone and notices he has a message from SWORD, then Li's phone sounds too. They both look at each other already knowing what it was about, as Link was about to check the message, his cellphone rings with a call from the General Zalatoris, he answers immediately.
"Kid, is Robert with you currently?"
Next to the hero, the Princess yelps and hugs Li exited.
"He is, what is going on?"
"YOU NEED TO MAKE HIM ACCEPT THE PROGRAM; we took longer than expected because we had to run the analysis several times… it's just that the results where unbelievable, 98%... Kid, he is basically you" states the General.
Fucking 98%, DAMN… I already knew he was me, but I was expecting somewhere around 80%, praying for a 90% so he could enter the program… seems like I should not have been worried at all.
“I get it, don’t worry, I will make him accept” Link ends the call.
“LINK!!! HE IS A MATCH!!! I KNEW IT, BUT THE CONFIRMATION MAKES ME SO HAPPY” Zelda yells jumping a little.
Robert looks at Link puzzled, the hero nods and starts mouthing ¨she knew¨ Li opens his eyes wide.
“THE FUCK? How did could she?” Robert asks Zelda, looking at her like she was a witch.
Zelda smiles with pride “Because of how you smell”
Li stares at her with doubt, then turns to Link.
“Is she a fucking dog?” Robert asks.
“HEY!!!” Zelda yells in anger, Link smirks before answering “a hound I would say, she does have a sharp nose” Link states chuckling.
Robert laughs a little, but then secludes himself in his head for some reason. Link was about to touch him, just to snap him out of it. But Li starts speaking.
“Is it true that I will be getting a deposit of 8 thousand per month?” Robert asks.
“Yes and no, it was actually 10, but I called them and told them about your living situation, they lowered the monthly pay in exchange of placing you in a better house on a better neighborhood… the house may not even be in this state, and it will be small, but I think you don’t mind that right?” Link asks raising an eyebrow.
“Hehe, yeah, I don’t mind that at all, I hate this place, anywhere else to rent is good” Li says confirming he is willing to move.
Link almost cracks laughing, he covers it by clearing his throat before speaking.
“Robert, you won’t be renting. It may be small, but it’s going to be YOUR HOUSE”
Li’s jaw drops “no, no, don’t joke with me here, YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS, WHY WOULD THEY DO ALL THIS? AM I BEING LIED TO?”
Zelda giggles a little and raises her index finger again to draw their attention.
“I think it makes perfect sense, they will be taking your blood every month” Link raises 3 fingers and Zelda immediately corrects “every 3rd month, they need you to be properly feed for that, and healthy… that means not stressed. You worrying about your living conditions is a stressor” Zelda tells him.
“And you also need to subscribe to a gym or do something to stay in shape, in case I ever need an organ… the operation is easier if there is not a lot of fat around the organ” Link adds sitting down on a nearby bench.
Closing his eyes and breathing in deeply “Eating healthy and exercising, I don’t know why those are listed as hindrances of the program but oh well. I don’t mind them at all” Li says.
Link’s cellphone beeps announcing a message, he reads it and raises from the bench. Then looks at Zelda with dread.
Its children… I need to respond. They will understand.
“Guys… I need to go. SWORD informed me that there is a situation involving child kidnapers and I am the agent closest to the site, hence the fastest responder right now. They told me that I CAN refuse to engage, since I am currently dealing with my possible donor… but”
Link stops speaking once he notices Li’s grumbling, the brunette starts walking in circles with his head between his hands and cursing under his breath. After a few seconds he stares straight at Link.
“LET’S GO” Li yells.
Link’s sudden dread is palpable “What? No… both of you stay here, I will…”
“ITS FUCKING KIDS LINK, WE MUST GO, I CAN HELP” Li yells.
*The case is too close to him; he could make mistakes and hinder the mission*
Zelda suddenly blurts out “I also think he can help; he knows a little self-defense and has training in shooting”
Shooting… of course he does, he comes from a mafia, but how does the Princess know this? when did she talked to Li?
Link breaths in closing his eyes, arriving to a decision he hoped would do more good than foul.
“Let me make something clear, SWORD punishes people, our directive IS NOT to save them, I CAN AND WILL save people if doing so does not interfere with my main directive. You can come with me but you have to follow my orders, no questions asked, fair bro?”
Li agrees with a nod, then asks “Bro?”
“WHAT DID I SAID ABOUT ASKING FUKING QUESTIONS LI?” the Hero roars.
Robert nods, it’s not like the tag bothers him, he was just shocked by the sudden familiarity.
ZELDA POV
Link starts dialing on his cellphone, and walking in circles like a caged lion. Zelda sits closer to Li and leans to whisper him something.
“Just so you know, he is not angry with you, that is just the character he has. Or maybe not, it may be the character he has forced on himself… anyway, I guess he called you bro because in a way you are. I read siblings tend to match 50%... SWORD demands 90%”
“The fuck. How? I couldn’t possibly… but apparently, YOU were sure I was going to be in the program. Smell can’t be your only lead, so how did you do it?” Robert asks Zelda intrigued.
Zelda grins and gives him a side look “Well, you both look alike and even share that awful character. That is all, it was primarily the smell for me, both of you smell A LOT” Li turns his head to his shoulder and tries to smell his armpit “NO, not like that, you don’t smell bad at all, I was referring to your natural musk, maybe you won’t be able to pinpoint it since you live with it.”
“STOP THE NEXT TAXI YOU SEE” Link orders them still using his cellphone, he appears to be fighting with the recipient of the call.
Zelda stands and heads for the road, Robert follows looking back at Link who was now yelling… Robert could not help feeling guilty about that, shaking his head he turns to the road and whistles to stop a taxi that was passing by. They board it and wait for Link who ends his call and rushes to board in the copilot seat. Link shows the direction to the driver and they head off. Robert leans forward and starts whispering with the intend of being heard, but only by the Hero.
“I will accept the program. I don’t think there are any serious hindrances to it, not even the possibility of donating and organ or a body part. I will gladly do it after this... I am sorry if I forced you to included me, but I couldn’t ignore it. It hit way too close to home…” sighs “and I know that the correct thing was for you to take care of this, leaving me and Zelda behind. This situation I forced caused a fight between you and someone of higher command at SWORD. Thanks for still bringing me, I will not fail you.” Li finally ends expressing what was on his mind.
Well, they seem to be getting the hang of each other, I am jealous. if my dad had only… NO ZELDA, HE IS NOT WORTH EVEN A FRAGMENT OF YOUR THOUGHTS.
Link chuckles “You could have said all that earlier you know… to give me a solid reason to contest my general and avoid disobeying his direct orders”
Robert just grins with malice “Forcing you to turn to the dark side IS what a good brother does, stop complaining and start bonding with me” he says as he reaches to grab on Link’s left shoulder.
Link tries to suppress his laughter by just tapping on Li’s hand in his shoulder.
I hate Link, why does he get to have a family and I don’t? this is fucking unfair. I am going to make him pay for this… I am going to slap him or kick him during his sleep. Yeah, I will do that, he can’t blame me if he thinks I was asleep.
Zelda was plotting her vengeance, but deep down, she was happy for the boys.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, support my story with Kudos, comments and add my story to your collection
Chapter 44: Organ Farm
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The TAXI stooped at what appeared to be the end of civilization, the ground ceased to be pavemented, not allowing vehicles to continue, but the diver got them as close as he could to their destination. Link paid the ride and Zelda just stared as the driver left them behind in a cloud of dust, in the middle of what felt like a desert. Link approaches her to tell her something, she begins to complain a little but just drops to sit on the ground puffing as she sees the boys running off together.
ZELDA POV
And he left me again… THEY BOTH left me, I really hope it won’t take them long, its hot in here. Where am I by the way? this look like a prairie, a very dry and unkept prairie. Link said a store was not far from here, that they would visit and be back soon… but why couldn’t I go with them? and who builds a store in the middle of this?
VVVRRRROOOOOOOOMMM!!! Zelda immediately stood up and turned scared, as two guys wearing helmets close in on her mounting a very slim vehicle that appear to use only 2 tires to move. One of them extends a hand at her. The Princess frowns in hesitation.
Why would I take his hand? Who is he? Any decent man won’t hide his face like that.
Link angels his head in wonder and soon realizes what the problem is, so he lifts the visor of his helmet. Zelda immediately recognizes those gray eyes and takes his hand; Link pulls her to mount the dirt bike behind him.
“Hold on tight, and close your eyes and mouth” Link says as he starts driving away, followed by Li.
Close my eyes? But how would I look at the sena- OH FREAKING
Zelda rubs her eyes on Link’s back.
A freaking piece of something got in my eye, this vehicle can ride in all this dirt, but it spits pieces of it right at the driver, the helmet makes sense I suppose. I GET IT; I WON’T OPEN MY EYES... And I have to add out of respect, a GENIOUS businessman builds a store in the prairie to sell a vehicle that can move around in this terrain.
Zelda thought as they started to slow down, Link was making hand sings for Li to stop too. They exchanged a few words and left the dirt bike on the floor next to a tall prickly pear cactus. Zelda began to look around, the excessive light would not really allow her to see much, but as her eyes adjusted to the illumination, she slowly started to see a building ahead of her. It was tall, but not too tall, 2 stories high maybe... but it still looked ominous to her somehow. Link and Robert slowly approach her.
“The kids are in there aren’t they?” Zelda asks.
“If they still are, yes” Link answers somberly, the Princess stares back in shock.
OH DIN, they could be death? Why? I really don’t see what could anybody gain from killing those kids.
Robert chuckles “hopefully… we can get to them before getting killed ourselves” he adds in a mocking manner.
The hero turns to his clone “Speaking about safety… let me take a look around the entrance, both of you stay right here, just wait for my signal. I MEAN IT ROBERT, DON’T ENGAGE” Link warns.
Li rolls his eyes and nods; Link starts heading to the building crouching and trying to use the few patches of tall grass and cacti to cover his advance. Zelda was finding it difficult to focus her sight, the sun was not helping at all.
“Is it normal to find it so difficult to focus my sight right now?” Zelda asks.
Robert answers laughing “Yes, it’s the brightness, most people use shades to see properly at this hour” Robert informs her.
Shades? What is even that? I don’t think he means using you own shadow; how would that work? … is that bright dot twinkling the signal?
Zelda points it at Li, he smiles and nods grabbing her hand and crouching to approach the building. Once they got there, Zelda noticed a small bus parked by the entrance.
“What did you do?” Robert asks referring to a guy currently laying on the ground, his head bent on a weird unnatural angle.
“What I had to do… here” Link throws him a handgun.
Robert expertly catches it “It’s the death man’s weapon, isn’t it?” he asks lifting an eyebrow.
“It is, do you have a problem with that?” Link challenges.
Li starts to nod but immediately shakes his head, he then proceeds to open the bullet magazine to check how many it still had. Link was cleaning and storing a dagger, surely the death’s property too. Zelda was getting anxious watching them prepare for who knows what.
“Princess, I need you to stay out here. Li, you stay by the entrance, I go in first. This is the only exit available, use the gun to kill anyone who tries to leave” he said before approaching the entrance and bluntly kicked the door open running inside.
Robert’s eyes opened wide as he started to mutter curses at Link for rushing like that and tries to follow, but a bullet rain starts and he end up leaning against the wall to protect himself, once he had an opening he peaked inside and started shooting, after a while he also barged in. Zelda drooped to the ground and curled in a ball covering her ears, she was shaking in fear.
This is not happening, this is NOT happening, Link did not run into the bullet rain, and Li did NOT just follow him in there. I HOPE I am exaggerating; I hope Link is fine and not bleeding to death, and I hope Li ran inside because he found an opening to do so, and not to avenge Link.
LINK POV
After kicking the door open, Link ran straight ahead and slashed the first neck that appeared in his visual field. He rolled away to take cover behind a set of boxes present, and he waited for the adversaries to empty their guns before engaging again. His next victim almost made him feel sorry for what he had to do, it was an obese rookie, he was completely unfamiliar with the situation and kept tripping and dropping his weapon. Link slowly got close and when the bullets started again, he grabbed on the man’s ankles and pulled to drag him, knowing nobody would hear or notice with all the shooting taking place. The man begged but Link just hushed him as he slowly pierced his lungs… after all, a man can’t scream if he has no air.
All right, I managed to avoid being shot while making a big entrance… I hope it’s enough for them to pay attention to ME and ignore Robert pecking in and shooting back. I would have loved if he had just stayed safe at school with my Princess, but he is using this to soothe his own pain, I can’t deny him that.
I may be overprotecting him though… it’s been only a few minutes and he has already lost the little reservation he had on killing people. He has shot down 4 guys already, one of them wasn’t even posing a threat, yet he killed him because he was screaming too much. He is getting a like for this… hehe, that is bad. Or maybe not, it may be perfect. The General is not going to like this... But if Robert asks me to help him join SWORD, I will gladly do so.
“Are you ok?” Li asks approaching.
“I am”
“Good” Li appears to point his hand gun at Link.
Link close his eyes to avoid moving as the shoot was taken. It was very odd that he didn’t felt fear at all, he somehow KNEW Robert was not aiming at him. Of course he could not be completely sure of that, but he felt he could trust Li with his life. After the shot he heard a body fall behind himself. Link opens his eyes and turns to approach the fallen guy who tried to attack him, he noticed the criminal must have been standing directly behind him, but Li still managed to shot him right between the eyes.
OH, MY FUCKING GOD, I AM SO GOING TO VOUCH FOR HIM TO JOIN SWORD IF HE ASKS. THEY ARE GOING TO ADORE HIM.
“That was a very nice shot Mr. Mafia” Link tries to mocking him, while also complimenting him.
Li scowls at the mafia reference, Link whistles loudly to signal Zelda to join them.
“Are you sure she is not a dog?” Robert asks.
“If she were, she would be obedient” Link plainly answers.
Link starts to laugh at the idea of an obedient Princess, Li’s mouth hangs open once he notices Zelda coming in tears, and pretty angry. The Princess approaches Link and gives him a hard slap. Link growls back and was about to grab her but Robert gets in between them.
“Nice slap my lady, what did he do to earn that?” Li asks trying to appease them through dialog.
“Risking himself like he just did, who the fuck enters kicking the door like that? He knew they were armed; does he have a death wish or something? If he does, I will gladly kill him myself” Zelda answers.
Li chuckles “I think you are being too harsh on him, yeah… it was reckless, but he did it for us, to draw attention to himself so we would not be noticed, he kept you safe and cloaked me” Li tries to reason with her.
Zelda looks at Robert still angry “But at the expense of getting hurt, he should NOT have done it like that, he still has promises to keep, Link claims to be a man of his word, but how can he keep his word if he dies? dying is not an option”
Li lifts both his hands in surrender and turns to look at Link mouthing ¨I am out¨
Link breaths in deeply and just yanks a thick power cable hanging on his left side. The background sound stops in the whole building.
“Good, that noise was driving me crazy” Link looks directly at Zelda “willingness to put yourself in danger and dying are two very different things. Knowing you could get hurt and doing it anyway IS what my job demands of me, getting hurt is always a possibility, hence the importance of donors on my field. I assessed the situation and opted to do what would keep ME relatively safe, and cloak the BOTH of you from the bullets. Dying was NEVER an option” Link assures her.
Zelda’s anger was slowly receding, she already knew his job was dangerous, that he may have already seen and done worse, but seeing him and hearing him do it was a whole different experience. She gave him a slap in anger, but she was actually angry at herself, at her inability to do something, and the lack of capability to deal with her emotions, she should not have cowered in fear, and she should have trusted Link… it’s easy to say, but to keep your fear and doubt at bay IS VERY HARD.
“I haven’t really thought… I understand now, I am sorry.” Zelda tells him genuinely.
“Glad we are pass that because I have to lift you”
Link grabs Zelda’s hand and drags her with him to a wall in the building that seemed to have a second floor, but with no stairs to reach it. Link crouches in front of her tapping on his shoulders.
“Both feet on my shoulders, use the wall to lean on for stability as I lift you, once you are up there, find something we could use to reach you”
Zelda nods and climbs on his shoulders as instructed; Link slowly starts to rise her up. She manages to grab on the ledge and hoist herself up.
“If that is not obedient, I don’t know what it is” Li comments laughing a little.
“That is being hormonal yet reasonably smart, that is kind of dangerous for her if not properly guided”
“For now, but she is going to be the danger in a few years, and you pampering her by calling cute nicknames is not helping.” Robert says smiling and negating with his head.
“You mean Princess? That is… not a nickname, it’s her title”
Li adopts a rigid stance and looks a Link puzzled.
I think I should tell him, because WHY THE FUCK NOT, he is a version of me, and he has shown me I can trust him already.
“Have you heard of the kingdom of Hyrule?” Link says faking a cheerful tone.
“No, sounds like a fairytale” Robert says dismissively.
“It’s real… she is the Princess there. If you want to know more about it, ask her directly, I don’t want to keep talking now… I feel uneasy for some reason” Link states.
Li was shocked by the news, but not at all surprised, it had been hectic since he met Link, and kind of unbelievable, yet everything Link has said so far has turned out to be true, if he says Zelda is a Princess, he will believe it.
Then they suddenly saw an extension ladder lowering, Robert smiled and begun climbing it. Link still felt like something was fucking wrong, but followed his duplicate.
Once they were up, Link saw a monitor on the wall, with a section beeping in red. Below it, was a small table with an odd keyboard. Link kept looking and reading the post-it notes trying to understand what the monitor displayed. Li was trying to open a trapdoor he found in the middle of the floor. Zelda was looking around and moving boxes, trying to find something that could help them locate the kids. So far, she had found a folder with pictures of kids. She was about to show it to Link when the sound of metal snapping was heard.
“THERE, well… I was hoping to find some kind of loot or something incriminating, not a flooded basement” Li dips his hand on the water and retreats it “DAMN, that is fucking cold”
Link’s eyes darken finally understanding the post-it notes, angst reflected on his face as he ran to the trap door yelling.
“IT’S A FUCKING ORGAN FARM, THE KIDS ARE DOWN THERE. FIND A WAY TO DRAIN IT” Link orders pointing at Robert and he dived into the freezing water.
Notes:
Than you for reading. Kudos and subscriptions will be appreciated.
Chapter 45: Ben didn't drown
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Robert stood up and ran towards the monitor, he started ripping the post-it notes from the wall and reading through them fast. Zelda crouched down to touch the water and started weeping. The water felt like it would start to freeze over at any second. But she didn’t allow herself to continue crying, that wasn’t helpful at all, Link just dived in there, and THAT has to be because he thought they could still be alive. She stood up and ran towards Li to see if she could be of help in any way.
Robert was typing commands on the old keyboard; he was following the instructions on the post-it notes to safely open the drains without flooding the whole building. Everything was moving fast and according to plan, until the system demanded a code to finally drain out the water, a code he could not find in the notes. He stared pulling at his hair groaning.
ZELDA POV
“What is wrong? What can I do?” Zelda asks fearing she may be too incompetent to help.
“I need a code, I don’t want to start guessing on it, it could take hours or lock itself down due to many failed attempts” Li says in anger.
A code, that is like a password, right?
She looked down to the folder she had and opened it, on the inside of the folder there was a sticker with a serial number on it, she showed it to Li.
“Try that” she says in a demanding tone.
Li looked at it and cursed while typing the serial number, then pressed enter. They waited for a few seconds, the image on the monitor appeared to have frozen, Zelda was about to start screaming when they heard a heavy clank, and then the sound of running water. They both looked at each other and ran towards the trap door, the water was actually draining fast, but not fast enough for both of them.
Praise the goddesses, its finally draining. I have to look for towels or something in case is needed.
Zelda started running around again searching for towels, Li was slowly breathing to calm himself as he looked at the folder’s content, it had photos and information on the kids. 15 children that where now under the freezing water, aging between 7 and 11 years old, and MOST of them were bought from their families, they assailants only kidnaped 3 of them. Li closed the folder and was about to rip it in anger but stopped himself from doing so.
“I found a towel, but it’s a gym one… its small but better than noting” Zelda announces, but Robert didn’t even react. Zelda approaches placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you ok?”
Robert kept staring at the pictures “Most of them were bought, their families sold them, people who bowed to protect and care for them… how much were they sold for? I hope those families PAY for this, may their soul eternally bur-”
“STOP IT, LI” Zelda yells “You don’t know, maybe they had no other option, maybe the rest of their family was in danger, maybe the weight of this decision will end up making them suicidal, YOU DON’T KNOW”
“Hehe, suicidal... I SURE HOPE SO. I find it stupid to still have hope for humanity, ANY ANIMAL is more capable of empathy than us... So far, I have only seen and experienced the worst of the naked ape” Li answers.
“So… even I AM the worst humanity has to offer?” Zelda asks in a challenging tone.
“WHAT? NO, meeting the both of you was…” Robert sighs in defeat “I get it”
“Good, just do yourself a favor and stop generalizing. It’s a mistake to assume the worse FROM EVERYONE, ALL THE TIME” Zelda tells him softly.
The Princess moves to stare at the trapdoor again, the water was almost drained, the fixed ladder was now visible.
“We should go down there, see if we can help” Zelda suggests.
“Let me go first… and be prepared, you may not like what you see, if there is anyone still alive, they can’t see you crying, they need to see you strong to feel safe, got it?” Li warns her.
Zelda nods at him. and watches his slow descend, after a while Robert scream for her to come down, and to do it slowly since everything is still wet; she could slip and fall. Zelda begins her descend slowly, her hands sticking to every step of the ladder, due to the clashing temperature between her hands and the iron.
Dear goddesses, how cold was the water? Why where the kidnappers using almost freezing water. I should ask Li… but I am not sure I want to know the answer.
The Princess was thinking as she reached the bottom of the ladder. Li was kind of preventing her from turning from the ladder.
“What is wrong?” The Princess asks
“Deep breaths, remember you MUST be strong” Robert says before turning himself heading towards a sobbing sound.
Did I hear sobs? They are alive? WE DID IT!!!
Zelda starts running, but as soon as she approached Li, she began to see children laying on the floor, some of them blue, some with their mouths and eyes wide open, all of them chained to the floor and pretty death. Zelda’s eyes began to tear a little but she then hears the whimpers again. Looking ahead she saw Link carrying a boy in his arms, he was trying to warm up the child by rubbing his back and pressing him against himself. There was also a preteen girl latched on his back, hugging him with her legs and arms, she was the one sobbing.
LINK POV
*Was it fair to ask THAT of Li? you should have stayed and done it yourself*
NO, no time, he IS ME, he works well under pressure, and he will understand what to do better than me, he is a rail engineer after all, even if he doesn’t remember.
He was thinking as he immersed himself further into the freezing water, soon he began to see the children´s bodies semi floating, most of them had died with their mouth and eyes open, they appeared to be chained by their feet to the floor, preventing them from even trying to float for air.
Damn, I was TOO FUCKING LATE
Link was about to head back when he heard a scream, he started looking for the source and there, on the celling in a corner of the room were a pair of legs pedaling the water. He immediately swam there, glad to have unplugged that cable before. Apparently, that cut the energy to the water inlet, preventing the room from completely filling with water.
“Grab on to me” Link said as he emerged from the water.
“BEN DROWNED!!!” the girl screamed trying to point to her right, where Link saw air bubbles coming out of the water as the child’s was sinking.
No, he won’t.
Link immediately dived to retrieve the boy, he hadn’t sunk that far, grabbing and pulling him back to the surface was not complicated, the concern was checking if he could still breathe. Once Link reached the surface carrying Ben, he rested a leg on the top of a tall shelf under them, this to use his leg as a surface to sit Ben on and check on his breathing and his vitals.
“Your name?” Link asks the girl as he continues to rub and slap Ben’s back, to stimulate circulation and keep him awake.
“Millie” answers the girl rattling her teeth.
“Get here and hug my back Millie, we need to stay warm” Link orders her.
Millie slowly tried to swim towards Link, he helped her by grabbing her hand once she was close enough and pulled her in. She hugged him and immediately placed her legs around his torso too. It was cold but he oddly felt a little warm. She started to verbalize several times but never really finished even a word.
*Dude, help her here, answer any question she may have to appease her.*
“Ben is fine, just very sleepy. I can’t allow him sleep for safety reasons. I… no, WE are here to help, my friends are out there trying to drain the water down here, it shouldn’t take them that long, we just have to wait a few mi-” A metal cranking sound is heard, Link laughs a little in amusement and relief.
Well, that was FAST engineer.
“It appears that we are getting drained NOW” Link smiles as they start to hear the water draining out. After a few minutes the water level had lowered a lot, but Link stayed standing on top of the tall shelf he had used for support previously.
“If you need to… you can put us down, we must be heavy, I can carry Ben” Millie tells him, she doesn’t want to bother him in any way. He appears to be helping so the least she can do is to NOT be an inconvenience.
“NO, you both must stay away from the cold water, we are staying here on the shelf until it completely drains, I won’t let you down so don’t even try it, got it?”
Millie’s eyes started to tear up, [I won’t let you down] the wording he chose… he could mean that he won’t allow her to climb off, or that everything is ok because he will help. She really wished he meant both things, Ben deserved that… she didn’t deserve shit. It was her fault the rest of them drowned, she managed to free two more but one of them drowned immediately since he couldn’t swim, and the other soon went down under like Ben was about to do.
Once the water appeared to have drained completely, Link carefully jumped down from the shelf, mid fall he realized he could not roll the fall since Millie was latched there. He still managed to pull a hero landing that kind of focused the strain of the fall on his left knee and right arm, since his left one was holding Ben close. As he raised, he heard Li and Zelda running towards him.
“Hand me the boy to dry him” Zelda says extending a small towel.
Ben buried his face on Link’s t-shirt, Zelda looked up to the celling and started blinking to prevent the tears, but soon recovered and smiled.
“Sweetie, I get it… but you are wet and so is him, let me help you dry yourself, and let him take that wet shirt off so you both can warm up, ok?”
Link opens his eyes wide looking at Zelda, but she stares back at him challenging him to deny her. She was completely serious about her request.
I… am NOT a pleasant sight, Millie could probably stomach it, but Ben is too small, I don’t want to traumatize him in any way.
*I am with the Princess here, Ben has been in hell already, I don’t think ANYTHING could scare him now, not even you. Besides, it’s not pretty but it doesn’t look disgusting either*
Breathing in deeply he speaks softly to Ben “The pretty girl talking is my friend, you can trust her, lets dry up a little so we don’t get sick, just do me a favor… close your eyes until I tell you” Link asks, his intention was not to hide his scars from Ben, it was to prevent the boy from seeing the corpses laying around.
Ben closes his eyes as Link detaches him from his torso, he also lowers Millie so she can stand on her own. Link then proceeds to remove his t-shirt. Li stares at Link’s torso in shock and looks at Zelda, she gives him half a smile and mouths ¨later¨ holding her palm up to signal Robert to wait until later to talk about it. Millie also stares perplexed, Link notices the eyes on him. He raises his glance to meet Millies’s.
She doesn’t look scared or disgusted, that is good, but she looks broken and remorseful.
The hero sighs “You had nothing to do with what happened here, you did what you could… and if it is the sight of me what disturbs you, know that they are scars from an old wound, not your fault at either” Link adds winking at her, he was trying to bring a smile to her face and erase that look of guilt.
Millie heard him and smiled a little, her mind believed everything he said, but her heart still tormented her, she failed to save them all. The girl glanced at all the child corpses laying around and truly felt that she would be better off dead with them.
Link takes Ben from Zelda and carries him to the fixed ladder, Ben had his eyes closed as he promised, but Link still covered his eyes with his hand… the boy didn’t need to know the fate of the rest of the children. Once they climbed out of the basement and down to the first floor, Link hands Ben back to Zelda.
“They both need sun; I need to take care of a few things here” Link informs the Princess.
“Got it” Zelda says as she carries Ben and grabs Millie’s hand to pull her out to the sun too.
Once they headed out, Li gathers enough courage to ask “What do you need?” he knew they weren’t done yet, but after the basement he could not focus, he depended on Link’s direction to still be considered an asset.
“I will call SWORD to notify what happened, and ask what I should do with Ben and Millie, would you find me some dry clothes to put on? An something for the kids too if possible” Link asks.
Li nods and begins his search, he found a relatively clean t-shirt with the image of Iron Man, so he took that one from a guy who was wearing it, He thought Ben will definitely love it. He continued to search but could not find anything else that was not blood stained, so he took his own shirt off for Millie and stripped a few diseased for clothes that could fit Link and himself.
“I told you it was a good idea; he has shooting skills that would put to shame half of the department” Link said to the call recipient.
“Are you telling me you allowed an UNDERAGE to use a gun?” the General asks trying to keep his calm.
“I saved 2 of the kids, and to do so I did what I had to do, isn’t that SWORD’s creed?” Link answers justifying his decision.
“You DISOBEYED direct orders, you are not getting paid for this, in short we will let you know the location of the hotel you must head to.”
“Fair, but I actually NEED money, do send some to rent movies and videogames, and maybe grab some pick up food?” Link asks crossing his fingers.
“FUCK YOU KID, the organization is not paying for your entertainment”
“Did I say it was for me? I may be a complete human failure, but even I am not that selfish, everything I have done so far is for the kids, and that will continue to be my commission for as long as they remain under my care. I will be waiting for the hotel’s direction and for the deposit” the General groans “Don’t complain, do it for the kids” Link hangs laughing.
Li is standing in front of Link, he is wearing a t-shirt with bullet holes and blood stains, the brunet proceeds to throws some stained jeans and a torn shirt at him.
“These clothes are from the diseased right?” Link asks closing an eye.
“They are, is there a problem with that?” Robert asks lifting an eyebrow.
“No, it’s perfect, thanks” Link starts to change.
“Do you need anything else? Maybe the folder with the info about the children…”
“That exist? I want… Leave everything, SWORD’s cleaners are coming in shortly, they will take care of EVERYTHING, we must go to a hotel, there we wait for the social workers to retrieve Ben and Millie.”
After that exchange both of them exited the building, Link walked up to Ben and started changing him into the Iron Man t-shirt, it fitted him like a pajama, but it brought a smile to his face. Li approached Millie and offered his shirt, then turned around to give her privacy. It was a big fit, it reached her knees and the arms where a little long, but Zelda thought it was perfect, it was long enough to fit her like a dress.
With that in mind, the Princess ran inside and came back with a belt, she used it on Millie’s waist and opened the last button by her knees, all to make it look even more like an intended dress.
“Ben rides with me and Zelda, Millie with Li” Link says.
Zelda lets go of Millie’s ice-cold hand and ran closer to Link. Once in front of the hero, the Princess states in a low volume “Link… I think I should ride with Robert, so both kids ride with you” Zelda says staring at Link with pleading eyes.
Link glares at her with a little doubt and exasperation.
Females need to stop thinking we can read their minds.
Zelda quickly stared at Millie and back at Link, so the hero picks on the hint to check on the Millie. He approached the girl only to notice she was completely out of it; completely unable to register anything. Link tries touching Millie’s hand, hoping that something as simple as that interaction could bring her back… but his eyes go wide after touching her, he then extends his other hand to pull Ben in.
I get it Princess, they ride with me, they need to regain body temperature.
Link nods at the Princess as his cell beeps with a message, it’s a message from SWORD with the hotel’s direction, he starts explaining to the children where they are headed now and what is going to happen. Robert looks at Zelda confused about the shift on the riding arrangement.
“Both kids will ride with Link because he is hot” Zelda plainly says.
“Of course he is, he looks like me” Li states rolling his eyes.
“OH MY… I did not mean it that way. I am NOT saying that you are unattractive or anything” Zelda tells him distressed.
Li scoffs at her “HEHE, I know what you meant… I have touched him” Robert wiggles his fingers in front of the Princess.
Zelda sighs “Good, that said… I will be gracing YOU with my presence during the ride” she playfully states.
“That’s actually perfect PRINCESS, because I have questions” Robert says glaring at her.
Zelda stares at Robert in panic, not sure if he is playing with her or if he KNOWS how she is. And if he does know… did Link told him? She tries to find Link for reassurance but he is already walking away with the kids, he heard the exchange so he gives Zelda a side glance raising both his shoulders to let her know she is on her own. He then picks up Ben who immediately hugs him with his arms and legs, then the hero mounts his bike and instructs Millie to mount behind.
Notes:
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Chapter 46: The Children are Fine
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
They arrived to the destination, Carla did an excellent job choosing that hotel, it’s new and still not well known since its almost located in the middle of the prairie. That alone was really good news for them, they could ride the dirt bikes there, no need to leave them behind and pay a taxi.
ZELDA POV
Li turned his bike off and started to remove his helmet.
“Are you completely sure you can do that?” he asks the Princess.
Rolling her eyes “I am the fucking Princess, of course I can” Zelda gloats on that fact, she knows she will meet antagonizing forces, but she is sure she can get Li a pass to enter Hyrule whenever he wants.
“Fair, I will take you on that one, Hyrule’s Castle has internet connection, right?” Li asks.
“Yes, it does, it’s the only place with that privilege in Hyrule, I really couldn’t care less about it before, but now that I see how it can be used, it’s a privilege… can I have your cellphone number?” Zelda asks.
Robert laughs a little “That is where I was heading at Princess, we need to stay in contact, I don’t want to importunate with my visits.”
Li and Zelda pulled their cellphone out to quickly exchange their contact number, then they rushed inside to catch on with Link and the kids. Once they got to him, he already had the keys to their room in hand.
“I have never been on a hoctel before, it’s pretty” Ben says eyes full of excitement.
Link turns to him grinning “H.O.T.E.L., have any of you played videogames before?” he asks.
Millie shakes her head furiously; Ben’s eyes grow wide. “I don’t have, but I have seen my uncle play”
“Never and no, PERFECT. I just rented an X-box console at the front desk and some games, how about we play a little with that?” Ben starts yelling and jumping in excitement “BUT FIST, you need to bathe in very warm water, I don’t care who bathes first, once you are BOTH bathed, we can play for a while” Link states as he opens the door to the room, Ben frowns at the idea of bathing.
What are videogames? But more importantly, Ben doesn’t want to take a bath, I guess I understand, he almost drowned in freezing water. He may want to stay away from water for the rest of his life… I think I could bathe him myself.
Zelda clears her throat to draw attention to herself, and uses a finger to signal the Prince to come closer. Link approaches allowing the Princess to whisper.
“I think Ben is scared of water, maybe I could bathe him”
“NO, I need you to help me do some quick diligences, Li can take care of Ben and Millie for that matter”
“Li? I don’t think he can treat them tenderly” Zelda says feeling uneasy about it.
“They don’t need endearment anymore; at the beginning they needed it and you took care of that by making them feel serene and encouraged. Now they need structure, they are NOT victims, they are survivors, I am sure Robert can guide them on that path” Link states with such finality that Zelda didn’t even question it.
Link gets closer to his duplicate and whispers.
“I am going to buy dinner, and other amenities with Zelda, Ben is afraid to take a bath, take it with him if he needs you to, and keep a close eye on Millie, she seems unstable. I won’t take long”
“But… I am not all that good with kids” Robert states a little overwhelmed by what was required of him.
“PERFECT, pizza is good right?” Link says and grins when he hears Ben’s exited yells.
ROVERT POV
This motherfucker just walked out with Zelda and left me to root here with the gremlins. I hope they don’t multiply when they come in contact with the water.
“All right, time for a bath, come on Ben” Robert states.
“I DON’T WANT TO” Ben yells and turns his back on Li.
Robert stares at the toddler in anger “WELL THEN YOU DON’T WANT TO PLAY VIDEOGAMES” he says roaring, then turns to Millie "how about you missy? Are we going to have a problem too?” Li asks daring her to challenge him.
Startled Millie furiously shakes her head, Ben is ranting on the floor.
“You want to make that a NO PIZZA FOR YOU?” Li severely reprimands the toddler, who slowly stops his ranting.
“GOOD, here is how we are going to do this” Li turns to Millie “when you take your bath, I will respect your privacy, BUT I need you to start singing LOUD, I want to hear it, the moment you stop singing I barge in to check you didn’t faint, or slipped and hit your head, won’t care at all if you are naked, fair?”
Millie nods and goes inside the bathroom closing the door, a few seconds go by before Li yells.
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU MILLIE”
Millie starts singing a song, it sounded more like screams than singing but that worked for Robert. He approached the X-Box Link brought and started unpacking it to set it for later use. Then quickly stared at Ben, who was standing close with his face full of tears.
How am I supposed to get through to this little man? I don’t want to force bathe him; he doesn’t need any more trauma.
“I… I DO want to play sir” Ben says in a low volume.
PERFECT
Robert looks at him smiling “Then you know what you have to do don’t you?”
“What if I drown?” Ben asks crying
“That CAN’T happen in a shower, BUT if you faint or slip and fall, I will be here to help you, you won’t drown, I won’t let it happen… I will need you to be singing too though” Li answers half smiling.
Ben pants a little “I don’t know many songs like Millie, can I mew like a cat?”
LI chuckles “why a cat? I hate cats, can’t you bark?”
Ben grins wide and shakes his head mewing, Robert laughs a little at that. He actually manages to make Ben help put together the X-Box while they waited for Millie. Then the bathroom door opens and Millie comes out using a bathrobe.
“My turn, Meeewww” Ben says rushing pass Millie to take his bath.
That… was easier than I thought.
Millie looks at Robert “It was this and a towel, I choose to leave the towel for Ben, that is good right?”
“I think… the robe would not have fitted him at all, just don’t put your clothes back on, I am sure Link and Zelda are buying you some”
Millie sits on one of the beds and stares at a glass whale decoration on top of the drawer, she grabs it and after looking at it she opens her hand and lets it fall, breaking the whale into pieces. She gets on her knees apologizing and starts picking up all the scattered fragments. She then holds a particularly long shard and stares at it fixated. Li was silently staring at the girl’s sudden interest in that particular shard.
Millie is considering ending herself using the shard, damn. I heard when Link said she seemed unstable, but this is a whole new game… I have to do something, but what? Or maybe I don’t have to do anything, maybe I just need to make her speak. The girls love speaking right?
“It’s not like in the movies you know, it’s a slow and painful way to go” Robert states calmly.
Millie looks at Robert scared she got caught. She started to sake her head trying to deny it but Li just glared back lifting an eyebrow.
“Why would you even think of fucking doing something like that?” Li asks.
Millie opened her mouth but instantly closed it “You would not understand” she answers setting the piece in the floor and looking down at the mess.
Li rolls his eyes “Of course I won’t, and I don’t want to, what I want to do is help but I CAN’T if you won’t even speak to me…” Li turns his head towards the bathroom “THAT IS NOT A CAT SOUND BEN, WE DIDN’T AGREE ON CHANGING THE ANIMAL” Li says in a demanding tone, but deep down he was glad Ben appears to be having fun.
Ben giggles “IT’S A SHEEP, EVERONE LOVES SHEEPS… BAAAAAAA”.
“So, are you going to tell me so I can let you know why you are wrong and stupid, or do I have to get it out of you?” Li says to Millie in a menacing tone.
Millie stares back in anger “What is wrong with you? How can you insult someone like me? Don’t you see I have been through enough already? I am broken. A complete and utter failure, I tried to save them all, but I couldn’t. And the ones I did manage to release still drowned”
Li glares at her “Ben didn’t… you couldn’t release all of them, shame… but you DID save one, I call you stupid because IT IS stupid to think about the ¨what if’s¨ You need to focus on what actually happened… on what you managed to do despite the circumstances, your situation was NOT easy but you didn’t give up” Robert reaches for a box of facial tissues and hands it to Millie.
“You couldn’t save them all, but one of them is alive because of you. And he is currently bathing making animal impressions” Ben was now mooing “If you are taking the blame for what happened, then take the WHOLE BLAME, the good and the bad, THIS” Li points at the bathroom door where Ben is now oinking like a pig “This is your fault too, isn’t that great?”
Millie couldn’t believe it, he was painting her like a hero, but she didn’t feel like that at all, she felt undeserving. Robert went to sit on the floor in front of her, she blew her nose and cleared her throat before speaking.
“I… thank you for thinking so highly of me, but I am not all that, I believe that if they didn’t deserve a happy ending, why do I?”
BANG!!! Robert punches the floor destroying what was left of the whale. His fist is now bleeding and Millie yelps scared.
“WHO THE FUCK CARES IF YOU DESERVE IT OR NOT, they were not there, YOU were, you feel like you could have done more, well BOOHOO, that is the baggage fighters have to carry all the time”
Robert stares at Millie straight in the eyes “Yeah, you heard that right, what you are feeling is normal. Fighters have to live the rest of their lives feeling they could have done more, is a heavy load but I don’t regret it even for a second, why do you?”
Li stands up and starts rushing to the bathroom, he hadn’t heard Ben doing animal sounds, but there standing by the door is Ben, eyes wide in fear. Robert tries to play it off and smiles at him.
I should learn to control my temper; I should not have done what I did just now. Ben, talk to me. Say ANYTHING, help me save this situation.
The boy points at Robert’s hand “What happened? Millie is crying and you are bleeding” Ben looks between Millie and Li expecting an explanation.
Robert sighs “I was clumsy, I dropped a glass decoration, Millie is crying because she is a little sad, but we can help her smile again, right?” Li states at the toddler with a reassuring smile.
“YES, but… how did you got cut? Does it hurt a lot? Can you still play?” Ben asks worried about losing a friend he could play videogames with.
“I am an EXCELENT player, I needed to give you an advantage so I punched on the whale’s remains, it hurts but I think I can still beat you” Li says wiggling his eyebrows.
“YOU WISH” Ben says frowning and smiling.
Millie begins to genuinely laugh at them, that makes Robert smile.
Disaster avoided, on BOTH fronts. LINK YOU OWE ME
LINK POV
The pair went to the Hotel’s entrance, around it where a few keepsakes stands and small restaurants, she doubted they could find all that was needed there, but then some t-shirts where visible and an old lady was trying on some flipflops for the hotel’s pool. The sight filled her with determination, she WAS going to find all they needed there no matter what.
“A change of clothes, underwear, flipflops, toothbrushes and paste, is that it?” Zelda asked Link
“Yeah, that should do… no wait, something they could wear to sleep on too” Link says trying to see what the Princess was looking at that got her on warrior mode.
“Ok, do I wait for you, or how do I pay for everything?” Zelda asks.
The Hero hands her some cash “If you still need more just wait for me, I should not take long, it’s just pizza” Link answers.
“They sounded pretty excited about it, what is it?” Zelda asks with curiosity.
“I… forgot this is new for you, don’t worry about it, I promise you will like it. Now let’s hurry, I do trust Li with the kids, but not for long periods.”
I mean, he IS good and all, but he is got contained frustration and anger issues. The children could quickly exhaust him if they misbehave, a tiered beast can be very scary.
*He won’t harm them*
Of course he won’t, but causing them a panic attack right after a traumatic event, can’t be good for mental health.
He ordered two regular pizzas with pepperoni, and bought a small cup with pineapple, in case one of the kids was a whacko, he/she could add it to his/her slices. He was NOT going to damage the integrity of the whole pizza with that fruit. He went back for his Princess; she was already on the line, she started talking to him about her treasure hunting, she seemed very proud of the clothes she managed to find.
“It was HARD, since most stands are only selling souvenirs, but I think this will do” Zelda stops talking and starts sniffing “Is that delicious smell the pizza?”
Link smiles and nods at her, he is currently balancing both pizza boxes in his left hand and using his right to retrieve and carry Zelda’s shopping bags. She was about to protest but Link softly shushes her and they start heading back.
Kind of rushing back to the room, Link was about to open their door but stops and leans in the door, he smiles and puts down everything to listen in on the quarrel inside. Zelda looks at him puzzled and then starts to listen in too.
“You are a fucking cheater” Ben claims
“No, I am not, you just suck” Robert answers
“NO, I DON’T, my mum convinced me to leave my formula long ago” Ben proudly states
Millie laughs really hard at that one “FOUL, you lose because you lied claiming he still sucked, hand over the controller”
“WHA, FUCK YOU!!!... whatever, you are going to give it back in a few minutes, you play worse than Ben.
Link was outside pressing his back on the door and smiling, he was holding Zelda firmly against himself facing away from the door. His left arm going around her upper chest and holding her right shoulder firmly while his right hand covered her mouth. This in an attempt at prevent Li and the kids from hearing her giggles.
The children are fine, Li somehow managed to draw them out, I think is time for them to meet the new challenger.
“We are going in, clean your face” Link orders Zelda as he picks the pizza boxes from the floor. Zelda wipes her teary face with her hands, but she continues to giggle while crying. She always thought crying of happiness was a myth, it just didn’t made sense at all, but now she understands. Its relief, you cry because you were so scared and worried and suddenly you don’t have to be anymore. She takes few deep breathings to settle and picks up the bag of clothes.
“WHO IS HUNGRY?” Link yells as he opens the door.
“NOT THEM, they both are cheaters, they don’t deserve food” Li says fuming.
“Well, you are a SORE LOSER” Millie states right before losing, she lowers he head and hands the controller back to Robert.
Li takes the controller producing an evil maniacal laughter, Ben shivers at that and starts blaming Millie for loosing so soon. In reality, Ben was now a little afraid of playing against Robert. Millie yells back at Ben angry claiming it was not her fault, Li’s laughter has not subsided yet, giving the scene an ominous vibe. Link is overwhelmed by the situation, and then salvation arrives.
“HEY!!!” Zelda suddenly yells, everyone goes quiet and looks at her.
“I am hungry… you” she points at Ben and Millie “I picked some clothes for you, so rid of the robe and the towel to dress up, THEN we sit at the table and eat. You can go at each other’s throat after that”
Link stares at her and smiles “Sounds like a plan” he turns towards Li and starts to frown noticing the cuts on his knuckles. Ben sees the frown and starts speaking a little nervously, he wanted to defend his new friend.
“He… did nothing wrong, he is just clumsy a broke the whale, then got angry at it for breaking and punched it” Ben explains, hoping to justify Robert.
Do I believe that is what Robert did? OF COURSE NOT, he is not clumsy at all. That is what he told Ben, or what Ben just made up to save him, JAJAJA. I was NOT wrong leaving them with Li, he started to fix them at a low cost… I mean, his hand will heal.
Link continues to frown but with half a smile “does that mean you won’t be ready for a real challenger?” he says shaking a controller as he puts it away.
“The real question is… are YOU ready to face me?” Li asks back wiggling his eyebrow.
ITS ON… after we eat of course. I am ready for him but not to face off against my Princess. NEVER take your chances against a hungry female.
Notes:
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Chapter 47: I Want In
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The room was quiet, except for sounds of shots coming from the TV. It was not loud, Link had lowered the volume enough to let his Princess and the children sleep, he frowned as he lost again, and handed the controller to Robert how played the mission masterfully, having learned from previous attempts and from watching Link’s gameplay, it appears he would finally complete the mission, but was spotted and received a bullet to the head at the end.
LINK POV
“I say fuck it, let’s go to sleep” Link says tired.
“Good idea, you… are not going to ask me about what happened after you left?” Li asks.
“What for? They seem good, you are good” the Hero looks at Li’s damaged hand “Kind of… it appears that dealing with them was harder than expected” Link says half smiling.
“It wasn’t a joy ride, but they both are good kids. Needless to say, you OWE me”
Link stats laughing at that, but Robert was not laughing.
Wait, he is serious about this? COME ON.
“I thought you were doing this philanthropically” Link states.
Robert chuckles “Philanthropically, seems like you don’t know who you are talking to. I never do anything if I am not getting something for doing it… anyway, I just want you to go to sleep knowing that YOU OWE ME”
He WANTS something, cut the crap and just tell me what you want… or is he trying to manipulate me? I never thought he was THAT kind of guy. No, I STILL THINK he is not that kind of guy, so what is wrong? Is it shame? Or does he believe it’s too much to ask?
Link looks up at the ceiling and sighs “Let’s say I do owe you, when you owe someone, you are supposed to pay, and I WILL pay, just please don’t ask for something outlandish”
Robert just smiles at Link and nods satisfied, then turns to choose a spot in the middle of the room to sleep, no pillows, no extra sheets, he just dropped to the floor. Link also chooses a spot near Li to fall asleep, since the beds where currently being used by Children and Zelda.
A few hours later Link suddenly wakes up feeling movement around him. He slowly turns to see what is happening and finds Ben trying to accommodate a pillow between Robert and himself, once he does, he lays his head on it and falls asleep really fast.
What the fuck? Why? Was the bed uncomfortable?
*Dude, I think he had a nightmare, his eyes were teary, he just wanted to feel safe… he is giving the BOTH of you a compliment, he feels safe with you*
Link decided to smile about it and went back to sleep. By morning he opened his eyes to see Li sitting with a puzzled look on his face, next to him and hugging Ben was Millie, and behind Link himself was Zelda.
“Did something happened while I was sleeping?” Li asks shocked and curious.
“Not that I know off, don’t question it… Do me a favor and call the Hotel’s kitchen to order 4 breakfast?” Link asks.
Li negates shaking his head “We are not 4, we are 5… are you ok? Yesterday you only ate 1 slice and a half of pizza”
*Tell him*
“I actively try to remain hungry while on duty, I don’t think or move as efficiently on a full stomach” Link bluntly states.
Li widens his eyes once he understands what Link said, he has questions but chooses to leave them for later. He heads for the drawer to use the land line. Link starts moving Zelda to wake her. She sits up yawning
“What are you doing sleeping on the floor Princess?” Link asks genuinely curios
“I don’t know, I woke up in the middle of the night and all of you appeared to be having a pajama party, I just decided to join uninvited” Zelda grins.
“Eggs for breakfast is good right?” Robert asks the pair
“NO, I want French toast” Ben answers, his face buried on his pillow making them all wonder how does he manages to breathe.
“Well too bad, if you are not paying you don’t get to choose” Li answers mocking him, Ben begins to mimic a baby crying waking Millie up.
Zelda turns to Link “But YOU ARE the one paying, so let’s start the negotiations. Kids need a healthy breakfast but LOVE sweets, can we get some scrambled eggs an anything sweet they offer for dessert?” Link nods at her as she claps her hands happily
The Princess has taken it to herself to mediate, to find a grey area she could use to keep everyone happy; she has been doing a great job. I don’t think she noticed but yesterday, she was able to quiet the room with a yell and order us around… that was very regal of her. Daphnes would have been impressed and very proud.
“4 Scrambled eggs with 3 coffees and 2 orange juice drinks, with the addition of 4 cinnamon rolls. I am not asking; I am just letting you know what you are going to eat” Li said with a little exasperation as he started ordering.
“Excuse me, Link is your name, right?” Millie asks.
Link looks at her and nods trying to recall if Zelda or Robert used his name in front of her or how does she know, not that it bothered him.
“Her name is Zelda then… but what is HIS name? I heard Li but also Robert…” Millie asks pointing at Li who was ending the call.
Link grins a little “Why don’t you ask him? he barks a lot but won’t bite, I promise” looking at Li he starts waving a hand “HEY THERE, Millie wants to ask you something” Millie opens her eyes wide throwing daggers at Link, he just chuckles.
“Do you now missy?” Robert ask lifting an eyebrow “well shoot”
Millie looks down at the floor from side to side before arming herself with bravery “You told me both their names” pointing at Link and Zelda “but you didn’t tell me yours… how should I call you?”
Lifting an eyebrow “Thought it was obvious by now, refer to me as excellen-, OUCH!!!” Li whines when a shoe was expertly thrown at his face by Link “ROBERT… Robert is the name” he answers Millie massaging his forehead.
“Robert, can I call you Bobby?” Li starts growling at that, Millie starts fidgeting and changes her suggestion “Rob… I will call you Rob, its sorter and I like it” Millie says smiling, hoping to have been able to appease him.
Rolling his eyes “I am supposed to be the one who likes it, not you… but Rob is good” Millie smiles at that.
“So… when is social services picking them up?” Li suddenly asks.
“Don’t know, I think it may be around 10 or 11 am. They said in the morning and its already 8… lest finish the breakfast so we get one last chance to completely destroy Ben before he leaves” Link says showing a murderous grin, Robert approves of the message lifting his thumb.
Millie rolls on the floor laughing, yesterday had been epic. Ben beat them all by far in ¨The game of life 2¨ The boy is a living lucky charm.
“If we get a chance to play again, YOU are playing this time” Zelda point at Millie “I am not willing to go through THAT again” Zelda exclaims pointing at Ben.
They all were laughing as they sat at the table to wait for breakfast, Link was shuffling the channels on the TV, but he turned it off after the news channel started covering the storage where multiple bodies were found. Right at that moment a knock on the door announced the breakfast. The children helped setting everything on the table.
“It smells DARN GOOD, are you sure you don’t want any-” Li begins to ask already knowing the answer.
Link shakes his head smiling “The coffee is fine, thanks for that… I think is too much of a serving for Ben, if he finishes it good for him, but if he doesn’t, I will. Don’t worry about me papa bear” he says smirking.
Li growls at the nickname. Everyone started eating, as they did, they were discussing forming an alliance, they were planning on helping and favoring Millie so she could overcome Ben’s lucky dice roll and win. Ben was laughing at them like a mafia lord.
After a while, Ben can’t laugh anymore, he is full but he doesn’t really feel confident enough to tell them he is done, Zelda notices Ben is just moving his food around the plate.
“Are you full already Ben?”
Ben nods at her and was about to say he is sorry for not being able to finish, but Zelda just took his plate and smiled at him winking an eye.
“Link, Ben is done… he didn’t finish his food though”
Link raises his head and extends his arm to reach for the plate, he finishes it in one big spoonful, and what was left of the cinnamon roll in one bite. Once he is done, he puts on the game in the console, but right in that moment there is knocking on the door. Link sighs as he tells Ben and Millie to please help putting the console back on the bag it came with. He approaches to open the door for social services.
We had a game plan; Ben was going to fall… shame.
Once the kids notice they get scared, but the social service ladies were very friendly and soon relaxed them. Ben approaches Link, Zelda and Robert for a goodbye hug, but Millie is unable to follow the example, her eyes were tearing up. Li looks at her sternly, silently demanding her to stop being weak. After that, she manages to shake hands with the three of them, all the while expressing her gratitude for everything. She starts following Ben and the ladies outside, but halts and rushes back inside crying to hug Robert.
“Thank you, Rob. I won’t forget any of this, I am a survivor, and stronger than most, I will live by that from now on, I promise.” She lets go and runs behind Ben, not glancing back even once.
Link shows half a smile at Li “THAT was intense, but it was also a compliment to a job well done on your part… you should call SWORD to accept the program you know… I am not sure how much time they gave you accept it”
Rob sighs deeply as he closes the door “Link, I don’t want to be part of the donor program”
DON’T FUCK WITH ME, YOU PROMISED, I ALLOWED YOU HERE BECAUSE YOU SAID YOU WOULD ACCEPT THE PROGRAM IF I DID
*HEAR HIM OUT, he is not done yet*
“Why?” Zelda hears the anger and walks away to one of the beds, Li squints his eyes a little, not sure if he heard or imagined Link’s voice producing an eerie sound effect.
“I DO want to help you if you ever need me to donate anything, but what I really want is to be a SWORD agent, wont being a part of the donor program interfere with that?”
DAMN. This changes everything. I want to hug him. A manly hug of course, but I have to let him know he can’t join… yet.
“You just love complicating things for me, don’t you?” Link states.
“I heard that is what brothers do” he winks at Link “And as your brother, I expect you to fully support me on my desire… besides, you OWE me”
There it is, the OWE card, I feared how he was going to use it, but he just wasted it. I intended to helped him anyway. I would had even move a mountain if it meant I could get him to be part of SWORD’s ranks… I failed him once; I want his life to be EXACTLY how he wants it this time.
Link chuckles and raises a had “No need for that, I am part of SWORD because I am legally an adult in Hyrule, but you live in this side of the pond, you need to be at least 18… let me make a call and see what I can do”
Link retreats to the bathroom. Zelda quickly stands, rushes to Robert is and slaps him, not hard but still a good slap, then starts scolding him. “What the fuck are you doing? you already had your life sorted out and handed to you on a silver plate, why would you want to be in the line of fire? This IS dangerous, something terrible could have happened to you and Link yesterday.”
Li rubs his check and calmly grabs both her shoulders “I am broken… my involvement on this helped piece a part of me together, besides you saw me in there… I THRIVE in these types of scenarios, just let me be happy”
Link’s yells are heard inside the bathroom making Robert half smile. Zelda’s eyes fill with tears that want to be shed, but she manages to contain them.
“You have to promise you are going to be safe, even if it means someone else dies. Link explained to me once that SWORD agents are not heroes, they are just the executioner… so don’t play hero and remain safe please” Zelda begs him.
“I will need to hear that explanation myself, but I hear you, I will be safe” Li says hugging her.
Link comes out of the bathroom cracking in laughter, then points at Li “You are underage, you have to accept the donor program, that will ensure you will live healthy life style until you reach 18, THEN you can request admission as an agent, you will be submitted to evaluation for that… and you will pass with flying colors, I have already taken steps to make sure of that” Link says with conviction. Robert sighs as the Hero continues.
“For starters, I requested a complete shift to your particular donor program, you won’t have a house anymore, you will be somewhat of a nomad, since I requested for your exercise regime to be shadowing a SWORD agent, that means you will be following an agent around learning firsthand how we do things and what it involves… sustaining a high protein diet and an exercise routine is a must. You won’t partake on the missions since you are underage, but you will see and hear about every aspect of it” Link stares at Robert’s puzzled yet gleeful face.
“Is it giving you an advantage? Yes. Could it be considered cheating? Absolutely. Do I care? NO, I want you in there, we need you and you need this.” Link states with finality.
Chuckles “Sounds good to me, so where to now boss?” Rob asks.
Link looks at Robert perplexed.
“You said I will be allowed to shadow an agent; YOU are an agent; I am shadowing you…” Robert answers rolling his eyes.
I did say that, in theory he can do this, and there is nothing to stop him… William is going hang me for this.
It’s just a search and find mission like it was with him, it should be safe to take him… with luck he can help me find the pirate faster.
“Australia, we have a possible brother to find there”
Notes:
Thank you for sticking with my story, support me by giving kudos, comments and subscribing so you wont miss updates. Next Update: August 9
Chapter 48: Sydney
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The return to their respective residencies was a short ride, but felt like ages somehow. Link quickly got rid of the dirt bikes by selling them very cheap at the store he bought them originally from, of course the owner of the establishment bought them back noticing they were dirty but in neat condition. Link called an Uber to head back to the park in front of the house he was renting. Li could not help but wonder why he was directing the driver to the park, but soon dismissed it.
The Hero was following a safety procedure, never give your exact direction to a Taxi or Uber… for safety reasons. Once they arrived, Link told Robert to go home and pack light, by this he meant some clothes and other amenities like a toothbrush and dehodorant. Everything he choose to carry should fit inside his backpack.
Buying the tickets of the flight was kind of rushed, but Link managed to find a flight that was not full for the next day. Link texted Robert the hour at which he had to be there tomorrow for their departure. Even though the success in booking the flight, the lack of excitement from Link was worrying Zelda. The next morning Li’s languid expression made Zelda question if there was something wrong that she didn’t know of. Link informed her the flight was going to take almost 20hrs.
ZELDA POV
“20 hours… Link, that’s a WHOLE DAY!” The Princess says as they were making line for boarding the plane.
“I know… putting up with you for a few hours is a chore, 20hrs is torture, but I will endure it.” Link says making a fist and hitting himself on his chest.
Zelda stares a Link with contempt, she then turns to Robert.
“Isn’t there a flight that can get us there faster?”
Li shakes his head smiling “Doesn’t work that way, this airplane is as fast as any other, Australia just happens to be WAY too far from our current position. That is why it takes long to get us there”
Frowning “Damn… well, the plane DOES have a restroom if I remember correctly. But what about food? We need to eat, when and where are we going to do that?” Zelda asks genuinely worried about that.
“That is why you shouldn’t be angry at him” Robert points at Link “he is paying A LOT for this, he paid premium economy class tickets, that guarantees you 3 meals during the flight. And I mean ACTUAL FOOD, not a simple sandwich and crackers”
He paid to include food? The plane not only carries people, it carries their luggage and food for everyone. AND IT STILL FLIES!!! That sounds EXPENSIVE.
Zelda turns to Link, shame on her face. “I am sorry to be such an inconvenience, you didn’t have to waste so much for me… you know I would be willing to even sleep on the floor; I don’t need all th-”
Shushing her “I AM YOUR GUARDIAN; I must be able to ensure your wellbeing… that means a roof over your head and nutritious food. I am NOT going overboard Princess, the tickets I paid are still lower class”
Zelda frowns at his statement “I don’t care about the class of the ticket… it still must have been expensive and you paid that amount for the 3 of us, I didn’t ask for you to ensure my wellbeing but thank you for doing so” Zelda tells him with gratitude.
“You didn’t ask for this, but Daphnes did. And I agree with his reasoning, if I am advocating for bringing you with me, it means I must be able to keep you safe and sound” Link says aiming to end the discussion.
“Pay attention, we are boarding now” Li informs them.
All the passengers boarded the plane orderly and peacefully. Midflight the Princess realized something that piked her curiosity, so she decides to ask Link about it. She double checked on Li to make sure he was sleeping, since she didn’t want him to hear anything, not that she thought that hearing could hurt Robert in anyway, but she still felt the needed to proceed with caution, maybe Link wouldn’t want Robert to know about what she wanted to ask. She leaned a little closer to Link on her seat and started speaking.
“You know, the way you handled Robert’s request was… like you KNEW what you were doing. I have 2 theories: you wanted this outcome and did everything to draw Robert in, to the point of making him think it was his idea to join, thus making you a manipulative fucker. Or maybe… you have done this before. So, which one is it?”
Link chuckles at what his Princess just implied “Both and none, I wanted Robert to be part of the donor program so he could benefit economically from it, but after seeing how he handles himself with a gun, how he kept his cool during the rescue, and how he basically guided the kids back to normality… I thought it would be good if he joined SWORD’s ranks. When he asked for it by himself it was a pleasant surprise.” Link sighs and begins to play with his fingers “I have never done something like this, but I saw it being done before… Snail did it to get me in”
“Snail?” Zelda asks since she has never heard of that person before.
“The code name for agent Michelle, she showed me the way, I am just following her breadcrumbs”
Zelda widens her eyes for a second then shakes her head briefly “Wait… you use code names? Is perhaps YOUR code name Kid?” Link nods, Zelda giggles “I thought it was a nickname they used for you out of love or something. Very stupid of me to believe that now that I think about it. Code names are used to avoid revealing the actual name, I guess that is done to prevent attachments between peers, since they could… you should NOT know or be using other agent’s names” Zelda says pointing a finger at him.
Link produces a low laugh “You are right, I shouldn’t. But I don’t want to stop doing it… I believe it is important to FEEL their absence If and when they are gone. Besides… it speaks volumes when you have the mental fortitude to move past the pain left by their absence, and still complete your tasks efficiently”
“Volumes you say… well right now it screams MASOCHIST” Zelda says starting to roll her eyes.
“Sadomasochist is a more appropriate term to define me… and yes of course I am, I am a SWORD agent, why wouldn’t I enjoy a little pain?” Link answered half smiling and without breaking eye contact with his Princess.
Zelda’s face starts turning red so she turns her gaze away.
NOT GOOD. All right girl, lets settle some things first. Why is my face flushing?... I don't know, I guess it has to do with the way he shamelessly admitted to enjoy pain while staring at me with those gorgeous confident eyes of his... Though now that I think about it.
“I should stop kicking you” Zelda suddenly said and used both her hands to cover her mouth immediately.
FUCK! I was NOT supposed to have said that out loud, what am I doing? How come that just escaped my trail of thought.
Link chuckles “I knew you were doing that on purpose, thanks for the confirmation. And NO, I was not getting aroused by that so don’t worry, its… not that simple” he winks at her “What did I do to make you want to punish me every night?”
Zelda now relaxed and capable of staring back at him answers “Because it’s not fair, this was supposed to have been a family bonding trip, how come you got yours and I didn’t?” she answers fuming.
“YOU DIDN’T? what are you talking about? Bardick was shit, but you got a cool mafia brother… you DO know he is also your brother, right?” Link states as matter of fact.
Mafia? What is that? I should ask Robert about it later… WAIT, lets backtrack a little. Link found a brother and I am his sister by adoption, meaning LI IS ALSO MY BROTHER!!!
Zelda begins to grin like the Cheshire cat at the realization, Robert suddenly sits up eyes wide. He then points at Link and then at Zelda.
LINK POV
“Wait a sec… you two are brothers? Wasn’t she supposed to be a Princess or something?” Li asks confused.
“SHHHH. I am a Princess. The King… my dad adopted Link. As I said before, this was supposed to be a family bonding trip, that includes bonding between the Prince and Princess of Hyrule too”
She said ¨MY DAD¨ damn, why wasn’t I filming this?
Li hides his face between his hands and leans forward as far as the seat in front allowed him too.
“My brother is an abnormal mix between an agent and a royal, and I have a sister… well that one is out of the bucket list I guess.”
Link smiles at what Robert said “so glad you are reacting calm and composed, I wouldn’t want to draw the other passenger’s attention”
“CALM AND COMPOSED MY ASS, I am shaking here, I need to eat before I faint” Robert yells.
“Faint? Why? You did have a hearty breakfast, right?” Zelda asks noticing Li’s lips where absurdly white.
“NO” Robert points at Link “He doesn’t eat most times, and when he does it’s a modest quantity. I wanted to see how that felt”
Link laughs at that, he then calls a stewardess to order a meal for them all.
He made a rooky mistake, it sounds easy, but you have to train your body to withstand hunger before going all in like that. The good thing is that he was not alone, I am here and I know what to do to prevent him from going into shock.
“Shortly they will bring the food for all of us… what you are feeling is normal Robert, you need to train your body for this regime, SWORD will take care of teaching you how”
Robert growls “So, there is a proper way to starve yourself, and you need training for that? Well FUCK”
The remainder of the flight was uneventful, Li ate like a cannibal… but after eating a soup and a yogurt Link ordered for him first… Link said something about avoiding refeeding syndrome, so he stopped Li from eating solids at the beginning of the meal. After an hour, Robert was free to feast on meat as long as he did it slowly and included salad.
The serving in itself was not that big, but Link still left half of his dish, so Robert finished it for him with occasional help from the Princess. She would suddenly pick bites from Link’s plate until they finished it.
Robert showed Zelda how to use her cellphone to watch videos and play games, she was entertained for a while, but would NOT forget the other question she now wanted to ask. The moment the plane landed for them to board a new one, she decided to go for it.
“I have a question that needs an answer” Zelda exclaimed as they were walking through a small garden in the waiting zone for the next plane, both boys stopped and turned to look at her.
“Just ask” Link told her.
“What is Mafia?” Zelda bluntly asks.
Li’s eyes widen a little, Link smiles and smacks his forehead with his palm.
“Yeah, sorry, completely forgot you couldn’t possibly know about that… a Mafia is an organized group of criminals, the crime they specialize on varies from Mafia to Mafia, Robert here ended up being adopted and raised by one of those organizations”
Zelda turns to look at Li in shock, expecting him to confirm or deny everything, he just nodded at her.
“They thought me how to shoot most single-handed fire arms” Li says avoiding eye contact with her.
Zelda asks solemnly “So, you are telling me Rob was part of a group of BAD people?” both of them nod.
“WAS being the important word here, he left them a while ago” Link says placing a hand on Li’s shoulder and grinning at him. But Rob still looked defeated and almost ashamed of his past.
Don’t worry bro, you DON’T know my Princess, she adores you, and she will continue to do so.
“THAT SOUNDS SO COOL!!! ¨My brother was part of a Mafia¨ DAMN, it gives me chills just saying it” Zelda says smiling and brushing the chills from her arms.
Robert stares back at her in shock, he was NOT expecting that reaction from her at all, but it brought a smile to his face. Link senses the peace veil that just fell on his duplicate, and decides to give him a quick squeeze to the shoulder, and then nudges him away playfully.
A few minutes later they were called to board the plane, after doing so they dined on board and tried to sleep. The seats were comfortable, but it still was hard to sleep for all of them. By morning everyone was exited to leave the plane and talking about visiting the Opera House and many other things. Zelda’s eyes glisten in curiosity, she begins tapping her fingers down the rail of the stairs used to disembark.
*Did you SEE THAT? Your Princess is curious about Sidney’s architecture, you should tell her to shove those ideas up her ass, we are not here on a tourist voyage, but say it in a nice elegant way… you KNOW how to do that kind of shit.*
Yes, I should, but turn that hate down a notch, she has behaved so far.
*Doesn’t mean it will stay this way, she is a master of deceit, have you learned nothing?*
All I know is that I can’t judge a person on something they have not done, this Zelda is innocent. I still don’t trust her, but I won’t punish her over something she was not a part of.
Link approaches Zelda showing her pictures of Sydney Opera House on his cellphone.
“That is what the passengers were talking about, it’s a performance art center. Best known for hosting theater, symphony and opera shows. And NO, we are not going to visit, we are not even staying here, to find the next donor we need to go to a… more rural area.”
“Wait, rural Australia, that means we will be dealing with Aboriginals… my other brother may be black?... amazing.” Robert says in excitement.
“What does he mean by Aboriginal?” Zelda asks.
Shit I just KEEP FORGETING that Robert has excellent hearing abilities, I need to start keeping that in mind.
“It’s indigenous people from Australia, they are dark-skinned” Link answers his Princess.
“Like the Gerudo?” Zelda asks starting to imagine a Gerudo as her brother.
“Darker”
Zelda’s mouth goes in a u shape for a second, and then begins to smile wickedly, rubbing her lips with her fingers. Link’s eyebrows raise wondering about his Princess’s suggestive behavior, but then he closes his eyes and starts walking away.
Do I want to know what is on her mind? No, I don’t. She can do or think whatever she wants as long as she is not harming anybody or interfering with me, she can even organize an orgy with both my brothers for all I care.
ROBERT POV
Zelda stares at Link as he starts walking away.
“Is he angry or something?”
“Maybe a little, I think it’s more shock than anything”
“Shock? Why? I didn’t tell him about my fantasy, and why would I? he would consider it naughty” she says rubbing her lips.
I DON’T WANT TO KNOW… but please do tell, I need to verify this shit before making assumptions, its Zelda we are talking about, her mind can’t possibly be as putrid right?
Robert makes a hand gesture for her to continue “I was thinking that I would love it if my 3rd brother was a thief. I mean him possibly being dark skinned sounds cool and all but… if he were a thief, that would mean my family is full of powerful and DANGEROUS people. My father is King, and I would have 3 scary brothers, an executioner, an ex-mafia, and a thief… It’s cool but kind of depressing now that I think about it, I have to step up somehow…” the Princess rubs her lips again “I need lip balm by the way; my lips feel chapped”
Li sighs in exasperation and relief “The fantasy didn’t involve anything sexual then, right?”
Zelda stares back in shock “WHAT, WHY? I am a lady, not a degenerate…”
Her eyes start opening wide at the realization, she points at Link’s figure walking away, Robert nods at her. She rushes out, with speed that she was not aware she had and screaming for Link. Li followed her but running slowly, not in a hurry to catch up on the drama.
And there she goes, why did I ever thought that having a sister was something I would ever want? Its stressful. The thought process is not linear, it’s completely erratic. I thought not all females where like that but apparently, they all are, and is WORSE if they are smart. I am completely out of luck here, my sister is not only smart, she is also gorgeous. I have already lost count on how many people I have intimidated for looking at her with lascivious eyes.
“DON’T TOUCH ME” Link roars.
Robert raised his head when he heard the yell, and noticed other tourist paying attention now.
“STOP WALKING THEN, I should tell you what was on my mind a while ago, since it includes you” Zelda adds thinking that mentioning him would deter any ill thoughts he may have about her.
“I don’t want to know or be a part of, or do you want me to thank you for considering me?” Link says as he slowly approaches his Princess smirking. He coups her face with his hand and using his thumb to rub on her lips.
Zelda turns red in fury and pushes him away yelling “WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU IMPLYING? I AM NOT A SEX LUSTING BITCH” she screams not caring about the tourist hearing everything.
Li rubs his temples with his right hand’s thumb and middle finger as he watches the small audience gasping and laughing a little at what they heard. He then notices a few others were staring right at HIM.
Why me? Oh… right, they must suspect I know her, since I came running behind her. They may even think I am the broken-hearted 3rd wheeler. Everyone enjoys a good drama I guess… THAT IS IT.
Robert starts chuckling and clapping “AND THIS WAS A SNIPP OF THE FIST OPERA HOUSE OUTDOOR’S PLAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION AND PATRONAGE”
I take back my bucket list wish of having a sister, they just complicate EVERYTHING.
The people stared at each other confused, but slowly start clapping and then cheering the young actors, some rooting for Link and others for Zelda. Link notices but his stare remained fixated on Zelda, the Princess was squinting at him, both of them waiting for the other to make a move or start speaking. Li approaches them, grabs their hand to force them to smile and curtsy to the crowd. The people explode in cheers and ask for them to continue the interpretation of ¨a fight between lovers¨. But Li pushes them away from the Pier. Once they are alone and at a respectable distance from people Robert starts scolding BOTH of them.
“Let’s start with you dear” he stares at the Princess “you HAVE to stop behaving like a vixen, NO shhh, I am not done here, I don’t know if in Hyrule is a common practice, but HERE you can’t be smiling at everyone who passes you by, is NOT common courtesy, is an invitation for them to think you are sexually available”
Zelda stares back in shock and a little angry “You are exaggerating, nobody has said or tried anythi-”
“Because I haven’t let them, do you have any idea of how many times I was about to start a fist fight because of you?” sighs “Here you have to keep in mind how people perceive you ALL THE TIME, ask if you have doubts about how to react to something… a while ago you made facial expressions and hand gesture that made even ME start thinking poorly of you, and I am sure that is what caused all this problem”
Zelda looks down at her feet in shame “I didn’t know I was causing all that trouble; I am not used to having all eyes on me, I was never allowed out of the castle… what I am saying is that I am sorry. I promise to learn appropriate and safe mannerisms” Robert nods at her pleased enough.
“And YOU” directing to Link this time “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? WHY WAS I THE ONLY ONE PROTECTING HER ALL THIS TIME?”
Link frowns and then lowers his head “I have no excuse, I was only focused on oncoming physical attacks from an outer circle, hence I completely omitted paying attention to ¨friendly¨ attacks in the inner circle. Won’t happen again”
Robert sighs in relief; Link turns towards Zelda.
“I am ready to listen now Princess, and I am sorry”
Zelda sighs and smile back at him, then proceeded to explain her whole fantasy as clearly as possible, to Robert’s surprise, Link didn’t immediately dismiss her delusion, he laughed a little about it, and even entertained her idea of using this hypothetical thief brother for their gain. Li couldn’t help but feel that Link knew something about the new donor… but what? And how?
Notes:
Thanks for reading, comment/subscribe and or give me some Kuddos. Next update: August 23
Chapter 49: A Known Criminal
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link didn’t trust the only taxi available outside of the airport, the driver appeared to be under the influence. So, he decided to walk, even though it was going to be a very long walk. The Hero bought a few water bottles for all of them in preparation for the long walk.
What bothered Kid was the lack of information provided by SWORD, all that they were able to gather was that the Pirate got treated recently on a rural clinic due to an electrolyte imbalance. No info on his name, age, or home direction. Hence, the only option available was to head towards the clinic and start asking around.
As they were walking, Zelda felt a little tired, and incredibly thirsty, so she asked for a small recess to drink. The boys complied and pulled out their own water bottle to drink. The Princess remembered she wanted to ask Link something as she was storing her water bottle.
ZELDA POV
“Link, have you received any information about the kids?” Zelda asks.
The Hero smiles “Yes, their families have been located, they will be returned shortly. Millie was kidnapped, Ben was an accident, he got inside the bus by himself, he was unsupervised when he saw a BIG car. Curiosity got the best of him, he opened it and entered all by himself.” Link rolled his eyes “it was easy for the abductors to just take him too. Both families were searching for their kid”
“Wow… I am glad for Ben and Millie… but I wasn’t asking about them, I was asking for the kids who drowned” Zelda clarifies.
“What about them?” Link answers annoyed.
“It was an organ farm you said, and they died, where the organs still used?” she asks puzzled by Link’s previous tone of annoyance.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care” Link states plainly.
Zelda opens her mouth wide in shock “WHAT? How can you not? The organs of the diseased were meant for other kids, right? those kids will still need that organ”
Sighs “Let me repeat myself, I could fucking care less” Link stops and turns to stare directly at Zelda.
“I will tell you something that for some reason you keep forgetting, so engrave it on your head this time. I am NOT the hero, I am not here to save anyone, I will if it does not interfere with my primary mission AND if I feel like it” Zelda’s eyes start tearing, he just breaths in and continues “The buyers paid to kill a child so their own child could live, they don’t deserve any sympathy from me”
“But the buyer’s children, they are innocent in all this” Zelda tells him sobbing.
“Not sure about that. A rose doesn’t bloom in gravel. The parents paid for someone to freeze children to death, to ensure the integrity of the organs for later use on their own child. What can I expect from a child raised under the guidance self-absorbed parents?... I will tell you what, for him/her to grow up and do something even worse and end up under one of my blades” sighs “I rather them death now than having to deal with them later” Link states bluntly.
Zelda’s eyes are tearing heavily, but she refuses to shed them “They don’t have to follow that path; they could have turned out to be good”
“That type of outcome is RARE; I am not going to waste MY or SWORD’S time waiting to see how it plays out. I say good bye and good riddance” he ends on a somber tone.
Zelda whimpers finally letting the tears fall, but she immediately wipes them using her hands, Link now turns to address Robert who has remained stoic during the whole discussion. Link slowly approached him to ask a question, he was dreading the answer Li may give him… but he had to follow the bread crumbs.
Clearing his throat “This IS part of what the job involves, you still want in?” Link asks Robert almost challenging him.
“It’s cruel… but necessary, I don’t see a reason why I should withdraw” Robet declares.
Link nods at his brother pleased, and they reassume their walking. Zelda eventually stopped crying all together, she could not believe Link to be so cold blooded, but apparently, he was. And the worst thing about it is that he had a very solid reason.
I fucking HATE this, he is right… I mean there are unicorns that manage to break family curses, but if that is not you, you will always be a diluted version of your parents.
How the fuck does he do it? be able to detach himself emotionally like that? I can’t do that; I still feel for the organ-buyers, and for the kids who will not receive the organ they need. How messed up is that? how can I feel pity for them… after what they put Ben and Millie through.
I guess this is what Impa, RIP meant when she told me: being TOO GOOD of a person is the same as being an IGNORANT. I personally believe that ignorance is one of the steps you take on the path of becoming evil… I don’t want to be evil. I need to grow a backbone to do what I have to do, and also learn to deal with my emotions.
Zelda then noticed they were partly inside an establishment; she rolls her eyes blaming herself again for zoning out on her thoughts and not paying attention.
“I just told you; we don’t accommodate underage people, I don’t want the Federals shutting down my business” the owner told him, almost pleading him to leave her alone and go somewhere else.
“And I sustain my answer, CALL this number” he pushes a small piece of paper with the number using his finger “Verify the authenticity of my Power of Attorney. IF the federals dare bother you about this, you can counter demand them, it’s a long process but they will end up paying you money for the trouble” Link ends with a smile.
The owner looks nervously at the floor from side to side “I am not sure about this, putting up this Hostel took years of savings… and other sacrifices. I don’t want to just to throw it all to the ground with a fake POA”
Link sighs “I could waste my money elsewhere you know, but I REALLY want to rent here, it’s closer to where I am going. Let me suggest something, I will leave my things here and pay for the night up front, you make the call and verify my POA, once everything checks out you will guide me to the area we are to use.”
LINK POV
The owner of this Hostel is distrustful… that is understandable, she has to be in order to protect her business. Anyway, I believe her to be smart enough to notice she has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO LOSE. And to dissipate her distrust on us I offered to pay upfront, given that her other costumers pay the day after their stay, this should be enough to put her at ease.
“I… will need a few hours to check on everything, I must warn you though, if everything is legal and you still want to stay, it’s gonna be on the shed, the 2 rooms available in here are already full… The shed it’s not dirty but nobody wants it because it’s too small”
“It’s the one at the back of this building, right?” the Hero smiles “I prefer to describe it as cozy… we are going to love it” Link says winking an eye at the owner.
Link grabs the 3 backpacks and places them by the owner’s feet behind the counter, he then pulls American dollars to pay, the owner was about to protest but quickly covers her mouth.
“I know it exceeds the amount required for the stay, take it as a tip for watching over our luggage and for the POA trouble” Link says nodding at the owner, he then begins to approaching Li and the Princess by the entrance.
“We are staying here, I need to find a bank to exchange my dollars for Sidney’s currency, and ask about the Aboriginal villages close by, to know how they take to strangers. The luggage is staying here. How about you two find something for dinner?” Link starts pulling out the dollars he had left, but Zelda stops him.
“How about Li goes searching for food and I stay here, I don’t want to leave our luggage completely unattended, and I could search around the area, see what I find of use, we passed by what appeared to be a clinic or a hospital, I could check that out. Not that we need one right know but… just in case you know… this place feels like a hazard in itself”
I couldn’t agree more, since we got here it feels like someone is watching… could be EVERYONE setting a land mark on us, not just a person. Most people in the area are of mixed race, our white skin color stands out like a flare here.
“I hear you Princess, hence why I don’t trust leaving you alone here, the clinic is too far from the Hostel. I will check on it later or tomorrow, since that one IS the clinic I was heading for”
The Princess smiles “Fair, I won’t go to the clinic, but there is still 1 or 2 hours of sunlight left, I will only visit business located around the Hostel, nothing is going to happen to me so just go already, I want you both back as fast as possible” Zelda says as she pushes them away.
“No time for negotiation then” Li says raising an eyebrow as she retreats.
Link chuckles “No need to, she is kind of right. Still, we should hurry. I don’t trust leaving her alone here for too long”
“Any food suggestions, I have never been here” Robert asks not wanting to mess up.
“M… if you find meat pies of ANY variation that would be great, 2 for me. Here” Links says as he hands over the bucks he still had, but Robert denies the money.
“You are short on money, go to the bank first to short that out, I brought my own money, dinner is on me since I don’t need to save it anymore, right?” Li smiles a little as he starts walking away set on his food search.
He is good down to the core, very rough on the outside, and a little edgy at some corners… but he is good. With luck SWORD will help me mold that, he can’t be THAT good and empathic all the time. In this line of work, good and empathic is a weakness.
Link walks around asking people where to find a bank, once he finally reaches one, he could not help but listen in on a lady talking to a man next to her. Apparently, there was a ¨known¨ robber around the area, and he ambushed the lady’s son putting him in the hospital. The young man got a really good beating to his face and liver, and also a deep stab on his thigh. The Criminal was unscratched.
“I say to EVRYONE willing to listen, it’s not safe here anymore, we should leave” says the lady.
“Don’t be so rash, the situation is not as gloomy, this is a known criminal who is always on the move, soon he will leave the area… your son must have tried to fight him off, that is why he got the beating” says the man.
There is a criminal on the lose right this moment, and my Princess is alone walking around. FUCK. But I can’t head back right now… I should change at least 500 dollars to AU dollars and rush back to her. She is not safe on her own.
Link waited in line a few more minutes, after changing his dollars he started running back to the Hostel, after all, she DID say she was going to visit business around it, meaning she would not be too far away.
As he was approaching the Hostel, he felt dread.
*You and your damn feelings*
HEY, do not make the mistake of mitigating them, they have yet to fail me. Something IS happening, and not being able to locate her is not helping with the dread.
Link keeps jogging and then notices movement, a person was standing in the narrow space between the Hostel and a neighbor building, he appeared to be struggling with something. But once he got closer to the scene, he notices there was another person that was being blocked from view… Link then realized that the first person was a young man wearing a ski mask struggling with someone else.
A ski mask on this weather, really? he is obviously a criminal, and currently mugging somebody. Well… not my responsibility, Zelda on the other hand IS my charge, she doesn't seem to be out here, I hope she is inside the Hostel.
Link started to walk away when the thief suddenly turned his head to look behind himself and noticed the Hero walking by. He produced a small yell and dragged the person he was ambushing in front of him, revealing that the victim was a female, and she was being threatened with a knife to the throat…
YOU FUCKING SAID YOU WERE GOING TO BE OK. All right, breathe… priority, rescue the fucking Princess.
Notes:
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Chapter 50: Bandit Brother
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Zelda pushed the boys away, trying to motivate them to start doing what only they could do. Zelda told them not to worry about her, but she didn't feel all that safe to be left alone, so she wanted them back as soon as possible. After ushering them way she shook off the fear, she needed to focus on her new mission. Finding something useful around the Hostel, and also keep an eye on those backpacks…
She tried to visit all the business around the Hostel, but most of them where already closed, except for a convenience store. The establishment was very small, and only sold everyday need items like tooth paste, or toilet paper. It lacked variety, but it was conveniently located right next to the Hostel, she would have visited it first but she didn't know it was a business, it looked like a normal small house. But when she saw someone walk in and out with a shampoo, she decided to check it.
Once she got out, she was set on heading back to check on their luggage. She was secretly praying for the boys to be back already, but then she saw the shadow of a person jumping from the roof of the Hostel to the convenience store. Looking up she saw the figure had managed to grab on to the edge of the roof, but failed to hold on and fell, breaking a few boxes that were left forgotten there between both buildings.
ZELDA POV
For the sake of Din, what was he doing up there? He is lucky to have landed on his back, and that the boxes broke most of the fall.
“Are you ok? Do you need help sir?” Zelda asked as she carefully approached.
The unfortunate man grunted and started lifting himself up, somehow making it noticeable that he was not a man yet, he was a teen at best. He looked at the Princess tilting his head, and grabbed her arm to pull her towards himself, and quickly shifted their positions, making her face the back wall hiding her from public view as he started feeling her body. Zelda tried to scream but he pointed a knife at her throat as he whispered to her ear "Shhh, kitty"
He is going to rape me, what did I do to deserve this fate? I know I have not been all that good but… What is he doing? I thought he wanted to feel my boobs, but he barely touched them. Now he is getting his hands inside the pockets of my jeans. He is not raping me; he is robbing me. That is a LOT BETTER, supposing he doesn't get angry at me when he finds that I have nothing…
Oddly enough, I am rather calm. Why am I calm? Maybe it's that sme- OH MY FUCKING GODESSES… IT CAN'T BE.
Zelda attempts to turn her head towards the robber and get a good sniff at him, when the criminal notices he squints his eyes at her and in confusion, then turns to look around, when he sees Link a few paces behind him, he decides to use the odd girl as a meat shield. He draws the Princess placing her in front of him, still pointing the knife at her neck. Link slowly starts to reach for his blades.
My knight in shiny armor is here, wait… LINK IS HERE, and he plans on using the stilettos.
[Zelda watches attentively as Link hides a dagger inside one of his boots, and straps two more longer ones to each side of his hips, then pulls up his pants completely hiding them.
“It’s kind of disturbing being watched as you dress you know” Link says to the Princess without staring back at her.
Zelda looks at him and rolls her eyes “I am not spying on you, but it was educative, now I know how you conceal your weapons”]
I can’t let them fight, come on girl THINK OF SOMETHING.
Zelda starts mouthing desperate ¨DO NOT FIGHT HIM¨
“Why” Link asks serene, but anger pouring out of his eyes.
Zelda wrinkles her nose briefly pointing at it, then points at Link with a sheepish smile.
Squinting his eyes “you are kidding right?” Link says in such a low volume, that it was almost a whisper.
The Hero still draws one of the stilettos and straightens his stance grinning at the robber.
"DAMN, luck must be on my side today. I honestly thought she had managed to escape, but thanks to your timely intervention lad, I may still get paid for her" Link smiles sheepishly as he rubs a side of his chin with the base of his palm.
MESSAGE RECEIVED LOUD AND CLEAR.
Zelda produces a weak nod signaling that she understood what Link was requesting of her.
[“You know, since I have not been able to go to school, I have been watching TV, I saw men fighting on a ring, big gloves on their hands, and I wanted to ask… can you really knock out someone with a punch to the jaw?”
“The sport is called BOX or maybe you watched a UFC fight. And YES, during a fight is tricky because both fighters are moving around to avoid getting hit. But knocking someone out is very easy if you know what you are doing, even you can do it, you don’t need to apply much force”
“I don’t believe you, the fighters seem to throw STRONG PUNCHES” Zelda tells him.
Link stares at her wickedly "I am not lying, let me show you" Link says as he tilts her head up with his left index finger, he then throws a very weak hit at her jaw line with his right lower palm. Zelda rolls her eyes back and starts falling, Link catches her with a hug, preventing her from hitting the floor.]
“Be a good Samaritan and hand her over” Link says twirling the stiletto with malice in his eyes.
Zelda is starting to grin at the sight of danger staged by Link, but forces herself to remain stoic. She is supposed to play the part of a scared innocent girl, she was finding it REALLY hard to cry though. On desperation, she chooses to bite on the inside of her cheek.
There… tears on demand. FUCK, why did I do this? hurts like hell and now I can’t speak or even smile, blood will pour out of my mouth if I do.
The bandit looks at the Princess and notices her tears, he loosens his hold on the Princess a little and shakes his head at Link refusing to hand her over. In that moment Li approaches whistling and stops dropping the plastic bag where he carried the meat pies, Robert draws his gun ready to shot at whomever was taking hold of Zelda.
The mugger opens his eyes wide in fear and drops the knife releasing Zelda's neck, and immediately pulls her to once again shifts their positions. His intention was to shield the girl from the possible bullets. Zelda took advantage of that and looked up at him smiling, she then executed an uppercut using the base of her palm instead of a closed fist. The criminal stumbled back a little and fell to the floor.
Link approaches them kicking the bandit's legs a little, just to make sure that he was out. He then looked and the Princess, she was smiling with tears still running down her face, blood stained her perfect teeth and a drop of red escaped from a corner of her mouth.
LINK POV
Fuck, she looks beautiful, with a psychotic vibe going on but still gorgeous.
“Well, that is a scary look there, no wonder you caught him off guard”
Zelda realizes she is smiling and covers her mouth with her hands.
“I had to make it believable” she says pointing at her teary eyes “so, I took a bite at my cheek”
*I wonder where she learned to do that*
Shut it, I am still a good example.
“Thanks for playing along, and good job” Link winks at her.
The Hero takes his shirt off and rips it to use it as a rope, he begins to tie the mugger’s hands and feet. Robert approaches after putting away his gun and picking up the food.
“You ok girl? What happened?” Robert asks worried.
Zelda’s eyes glow with pride “This criminal tried to rob me, Link wanted to end him, but me being my wise sensitive self, managed to stop him from making that mistake, then I fainted him with my own hands” she points at the mugger who was being aggressively tied by Link.
Li turns to Link for confirmation of the tale. The Prince nods solemnly.
“Wow… impressive sis, but why not kill this human waste?”
“Because that waste is YOUR BROTHER” Zelda says grinning and tapping on her nose with her index finger.
“OH, MY FUCKING GOD, ARE YOU SERIOUS?” He turns to Link “IS SHE SERIOUS?” he doesn’t even wait for an answer and gets back to Zelda “GOSH… I am glad it was Link and not me who stumbled on you, because I WOULD HAVE SHOT HIM, no questions asked, not even caring to hear what you had to say about it. NOBODY touches my sister”
Zelda hugs Li from a side “I love you too”
Link stands up “Rob hand her the food and help me carry him”
“Where to?” Robert asks.
“To the shed over there, that is going to be our space since the rooms are full… it should be open, I hope” Link says as he pulls off the ski mask, revealing a boy with long hair that looks similar to himself.
“DAMN, he is not black… but he does look the part” Zelda states upon looking at the criminal’s face.
“He does? He is too thin…” Link says worried “I should go buy more-“
“You won’t find food now, they close early here, but there is no need, I bought 3 orders of meat pies, each order has 5, meaning there are 3 extras pies from your order and I can give him one from mine” Li says.
“I can give him one of mine too, and yeah… he is skinny, but he still looks handsome like the both of you” Zelda chimes in smiling.
That is what she meant with ¨he look the part?¨ She thinks I am handsome? Ok… I guess. This thief does not reassemble me as much as Robert does, but he definitely IS me. Since he is underweight, I should be able to carry him on my back easily.
“It will be easier if I carry him, can you help me place him on my back?” Link asks Robert.
“NO, I will carry him, you need to inform SWORD and talk to the owner of the Hostel to retrieve our luggage… maybe buy some chloroform to keep him sleeping” Li says lifting an eyebrow.
Link just laughs and helps place his unconscious brother on Robert's back, He then he shakes his brown undershirt a little, attempting to look presentable enough, and heads to the entrance of the Hostel. Before going in, he decides to call Carla to inform SWORD.
“Hey beautiful listen, I have a situation here, I found my other donor and I kind of kidnapped him, so how do I proceed?”
“HOLY MOTHER OF… HOW DID YOU FIND HIM SO FAST? You had no name, no home direction, just a vague ubication of the clinic that attended him months ago”
“I have a Hund, I will explain later, I know no medic is coming to my location to test him… tell me where to go.”
Sound if typing is heard “We will send a medic from Sidney to the clinic closest to your current location, be there with him tomorrow at 9 am. Make this new boy trust you, he needs to go voluntarily for the testing. And what do you mean you kidnapped him?” Carla asks.
“Exactly what I said, he may wake up soon, it will NOT be pretty, I will see what I can do to earn his trust”
Link hangs the call and enters the hostel, the owner smiles upon seeing him and grabs the backpacks, she then places them on top of the desk, and nods at Link. A lot of laughter and music is heard from one of the rooms. The other room was in silence, but the open door showed around 10 people occupying the room, and they appear to be waiting for more people.
I will take that nod as an indicative that she confirmed my POA. She was not lying about the rooms being full. Not that I mind the shed at all, I actually prefer it. Especially now that we have HIM.
Link thinks as he carries the backpacks to the shed. Once he opens the door he feels tension, Li looked disheveled and his new brother was awake and sweaty, Zelda was positioned between them, she looked at him pleading for help with her eyes, her neck showed light bruising and scratch marks.
ROBERT POV
Zelda opened the door of the shed and moved away for the boys to enter; Li entered grunting due to the load he was carrying. And he just dropped the thief on the big tatami in the middle of the room.
“HEY, treat him with respect” Zelda yells at Li.
“Men love men with violence, I just told him that I love him” Li answers in a condescending tone
WELL, I just meet him, I can’t love him right away, but I do care for him, he could be my and Link’s and my donor after all. BUT I can’t forget the fact that he held a knife to my sister’s throat. Falling catastrophically on the tatami is a weak punishment.
“Maybe men should find another way to love” Zelda says as she sits on the tatami.
“Maybe you should grow a dick before giving your opinion on how men should be” Li answers aggressively.
Zelda stares at him hurt by the comment. Li sighs.
“Sorry for that. I am used to females always diminishing me for being born male” Robert says.
Zelda shakes her head perplexed “why? I don’t get it?”
Don’t you? she… is a fucking Princess. She may really not know, they may nave shielded her too much. I will try my best to explain it, I just hope to not be wasting my breath.
Li sighs “It’s just a VERY different world for males and females. Girls are always cherished and protected, no matter if you are beautiful or not, short or tall, fat or thin. It’s not the same for guys, we are expected to be tall and strong, so pray the lord you have tall relatives and good genes for muscle building. We are supposed to protect you, so we can’t be fat in fear of losing mobility to act fast, or thin in fear of not being strong enough. And we are NOT ALLOWED to show weakness, emotions are considered a weakness so no expressing emotions too much. The only one allowed is anger, but too much anger is considered violence” Li says rolling his eyes in exasperation.
Zelda widens her eyes “I had no idea… NO, I never bothered to notice. It now makes sense why kids from a young age play mostly violent games, and if one gets hurt and cries about it, he gets mocked by the other boys... And parents are no better, they tell him to suck it up. Who imposed this?”
She heard me and believed me? really?
“I don’t know… all I know is that this is a complicated chore for us, they want us to protect and provide, we CAN provide, but we need to be capable of violence to protect… it takes a MONSTER to scare the skeletons away” Li takes a deep breath before sharing a little of his past.
"Back in the day, my family used to target their clients by filtering young boys and girls whose father didn't pose a threat from the rest. By threat I mean a father involved in their lives, a father watching over them at all times and capable of violence if ever needed." sighs "Those kids with absent father figures where easy to manipulate into buying our shit, or readily coerced into doing something dreadful for it"
"I never thought the father figure was THAT important. My mother raised me alone in the beginning since my dad was a fucking coward, he used to spend his days drinking and beating my mom… he later abandoned us" Zelda shares trying hard not to cry.
I thought her father was Hyrule's king... apparently, he is not her bio dad from what I am able to gather. And she does not have a close relationship with him, I won’t unnecessarily hurt her by asking about this.
"COWARD, that is an appropriate word for misguided men who abuse their children and women" Robert says granting her a smile. "But now your dad is a king, there is no bigger threat or greater provider, is there?"
The Princess smiles "No, there isn't...” Zelda sits straight on the tatami “To sum it all up, violence is an inherent trait of men that should be properly directed and valued" Zelda declares.
Li smiles “And respected”
“And THAT” Zelda falls back on the tatami closing her eyes “But please do me a favor, STOP believing I am out to get you. Link has been teaching me to MEAN what I say. If I ask or suggest anything to you, is only THAT, it’s not an attack or reproach from me, it’s an honest question or idea.” The Princess says, she really didn’t want Robert to feel like he should always be snapping defensively at her.
Li chuckles “I will stop responding defensively, but only to you Princess”
She smiles and nods, then turns on her side to face the criminal, she wanted to keep an eye on her new brother, but yelped in shock noticing the mugger staring right back at her frowning. He suddenly rose up and started choking her, using his weight to press on her neck. Li immediately tackled him off the Princess.
A fight begun between the two on top of the tatami, Li beating on his brother and the Pirate biting and scratching Robert whenever he could, since he was still tied up. Zelda wanted to catch her breath but she needed to stop them first. She started looking around for something to throw a them and stop the fight, but the room only had the tatami. Then Robert managed to get himself behind the thief and applied a choke hold. Zelda started calling on Li, begging him to stop chocking the burglar, but Robert was not hearing any of it.
Zelda got herself in front of both boys and touched Li “I am fine, you don’t have to protect me anymore” she said to her brother.
Why are you trying to protect him? just because he MAY be our brother? You could be wrong you know. Or you could be right… but he still is a black sheep. He tried to KILL you. FAIR, I will spare him if that is what you wish.
Robert losses his hold on the thief and stands back pulling Zelda with him. The delinquent starts coughing and catching his breath, then stares right back at them smiling.
“So that’s how it is? you just do what she says… come on, you know better than that. You know I was about to kill her.”
“Please just stay quiet, don’t you see I am trying to help you?” Zelda begs.
“Help me? YOU? A backstabbing WHORE?”
Zelda takes a big breath of air before answering “Backstabbing? I wanted to help you and you decided to rob me? if anyone here is deceitful is YOU”
“Mug you? I was just fondling your body kitty; I prefer them bustier but you have nothing to be ashamed of” the thief says licking his lips.
Wtf is wrong with this mother fuc-… He is trying to provoke ME by offending her. He should already know that I will kill him if we brawled again, and he would be an easy target since his hands and feet are tied. So why is he doing this?
Zelda stands between them in panic, fearing Robert will fall into the provocations and start fighting again. Then the door opens and Link walks in. after a quick assessment of the situation his eyes begin to squint in anger.
Using both his hands to point at opposite sides of the room “CORNERS NOW!” The Hero commands both males present.
All right, I was NOT imagining anything, his voice sounds with an odd echo when he is angry… well, maybe not an echo, it kind of sounds multiple, ha-ha is he possessed? Should I start calling him Legion? He is not gonna like it, so maybe I should just to piss him.
Notes:
Thank for reading me, Kudos and subscriptions will be appreciated. Next update: September 20
Chapter 51: Z1D-403
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“CORNERS NOW!” Link commanded Li and his unidentified brother. Both of them actually moved to a corner each, the bandit was making a tantrum on his way though. Link approaches Zelda and lifts her head with his left index.
LINK POV
My Princess appears to have been in distress. And I can see in her neck vestiges of SOMEBODY choking her.
I was expecting the Pirate to give a fight, I mean… I would. But I was NOT expecting him to attack MY Princess. How did it happen? Robert was here to guard her, wasn’t he? I need to talk to both of my duplicates. Let’s start with the one I left in charge.
Link approaches Robert’s corner. Zelda drops down to her knees on the tatami in the middle of the room. She needed to catch her breath and collect herself before speaking with Robert. Seeing the boys fight disturbed her deeply… she had been scared of them SEVERILY hurting each other.
Link reaches Rob and sighs “What the hell happened? I want the short version” the Hero asks with serenity.
Li stares back in anger, he was ready to inquire on why Link he was questioning him and not the burglar. But Robert calms down and sighs before answering.
“The fucker woke up and tried to strangle Zelda, I pushed him off of her and we fought a little… there is something wrong with him up here” Robert says tapping on his temples “he appeared to want to fight me, but his punches were weak beyond his weight, he was not really trying. I felt like he just wanted me to punch him… like he actually wanted me to end him.”
Fuck [Zelda sitting on top of him, apparently trying to fight him but throwing weak punches at his arms and face] Back then, Zelda was depressed and wanted me to provide her an easy way out. Why does the Pirate want to die?
Link nods and gives Robert a pat on the shoulder, he then turns and walks towards the mugger. Zelda stands up and runs to Li, she needed to let him know the robber was not really trying to strangle her, he made it hard for her to breathe but not impossible. He may be skinny but of course he could still manage to choke her… meaning he was using her to provoke the fight between them.
Link stands in front of the mugger. The blonde boy was just sitting on the floot, not really paying attention to what was going on around him. He was spaced out.
“Would you care to tell me what happened?” Link asks.
The thief lifts his head angrily “EXCUSE ME, I AM THE ONE WHO WAS KIDNAPPED, YOU TELL ME WHAT’S UP!” he then looks at the ground and lowers his tone to a whisper “Why am I here… what more do you want from me?” he says in despair.
*WHY IS HE ASKING THAT? WAS HE BEING HELD SOMEWHERE? *
I don’t know, but if he was, they were at least starving him.
*Motherfuckers... You need to take out the trash*
And I will, once he gives me some names.
Link sighs and looks at the Pirate with a friendly smile “I will explain EVERYTHING while we eat, care to join us?” he asks stretching out his hand.
“What?” the mugger asks not believing what he just heard.
“I am sure you know what a meat pie is, we just bought some, let’s eat them shall we?” Link says waggling his eyebrows.
The larcenist just stares not being able to close his mouth, or form a coherent response. Raziel chuckles and grabs the Pirate’s arms to pull him up to a standing position, then he begins to untie the thief’s hands and feet. The Pirate was about to knee Link on the face but a giggle distracted him from doing so. Looking up at the source, he saw the girl smiling and wiggling her fingers happily at him. He then he saw the boy who fought him previously. He was frowning at the beginning, but shook his head and started waving at him to come over and join them. The sight completely disarmed the larcenist.
Once Link released the assailant’s feet, he started pushing the Pirate forcing him on the tatami. As they were heading there, he noticed the pirate walked hobbling.
Is he hurt? Did Robert do this or is it an old injury?
*Kill them*
If he happened to have been held captive, of course I will.
Link waited for him patiently, when they arrived at the spot Link han envisioned for the thief, he pushed him down by his shoulders, forcing him to a sitting position on the tatami. Zelda had already opened her order and started choosing which pie to give her new brother, Li just ripped off the top of his food container to use it as a spare dish, and then placed a random pie on it before handing it to Zelda. The Princess placed her pie in there too and quickly handed the makeshift foam tray to Link, who took it and started checking his order to preferably choose meat pies for his bro, avoiding the cheese one. He placed 3 on the makeshift plate and gave it to the Pirate.
“Enjoy” Link said handing it to the criminal.
“Why?” ask the pillager utterly confused, but still taking the tray of food.
“Why not?” Link asks lifting an eyebrow.
Li coughs “Actually… I think I handed you the cheese one from my order, give it back and grab another one” Robert says handing over his half of the container with his meat pies.
The thief shakes his head in refusal “I am ok with the feta and spinach pies”
Link scowls irate “NO, YOU ARE NOT” Link says as he grabs one of the meat pies from Li’s tray and places it on the Bandit’s “If you don’t want to starve Robert then give him back the Feta pie” Link says grinning maliciously, Robert whines pouting and trying to mimic a hurt puppy.
This earns chuckle from Zelda and a snort from the Pirate “All right” he looks for the feta pie and palaces it on Robert’s Styrofoam tray.
“I don’t mean to rush you, but could you start talking?” the thief urges them.
Link smiles “Of course. By the way, I am Link, Robert there” Link points at Li who just waves a little “and this is Zelda. How should we refer to you?”
“Z1D-4… damn forgot the rest. Just call me Z” the delinquent says as he starts tensing with uncertainty.
The Hero rolls his eyes exasperated “Don’t fuck with me, that can’t be your name. That is the nomenclature the clinic used to treat you… right?” Link exclaims, but soon starts noticing the Pirate looking around the room, as if searching for something...
*HEADS UP: He is planning his escape route*
The Hero opens his eyes wide in realization “Fuck, that IS your name” Link pulls out his cellphone and starts retrieving the only document SWORD had on this boy “Z1D-403… this name is not acceptable at all” Link says in shock and with some sadness.
What the actual fuck? He is a person, not a robot, why does he have THAT name? I need intel on this ASAP
Zelda crawls to Link and takes the cellphone from his hands, she quickly reads on it taking special notice on the so-called name, then reads the diagnosis. Cerebral Edema that put him in a coma for 3 days. They treated him with serum bags only, hoping an electrolyte deficiency was the root cause. She immediately stops reading, she wanted to avoid knowing too much, the last thing she needed right now was to get emotional.
“You know what? Your name is too complicated, can we call you Zid?” Zelda suggests and hands the cellphone back to Link who starts grinning.
HAHAHA, I see what you did there Zelda. Z1D-403… Z1D… Zid. You, my royal ass of a Princess, are a fucking genius. Well… not really, but you think fast and beyond your emotions apparently. I respect that.
Link chuckles and hands his cellphone to Robert, Li starts scanning through the document. He smiles when he notices where the Princess got the name from. Then he got to the notes where the medic stated he was NOT sure what the problem was, they were hoping it was an electrolyte deficiency since all they could do was plug him on a serum bag. After all, they were not being paid. Fortunately, he responded favorably, the clinic still made a thorough examination using his blood and was deemed malnourished by the medic in charge.
“I don’t mind. Zid… I think I like it” Zid says beaming, but soon his smile falls and his gaze lands on the floor. Suddenly he raises his head with a guarded look.
ZID POV
“As much I am enjoying this, let’s cut the crap. Where and when do you want to do this?... and what are you using to hunt me?” Zid says expecting them to be compassionate enough to answer.
Li rolls his eyes, Zelda stares at Zid with curiosity, Link answers with a blank expression.
“Tomorrow, at the Clinic 5 minutes from here, and nobody is hunting you, I just want to test your blood”
“Blood extraction? What for? Is that really all you want from me?” Zid asks perplexed, he was NOT used to being treated like a human being at all.
Link squares himself and stretches his neck from side to side cracking it in the process “The information I am about to disclose demands absolute secrecy, you are not to talk to ANYONE about what will be discussed here, am I clear on that?”
The fuck… the mood just shifted, Robert and… was it, Zelda? Even stopped chewing. This is serious, do I want to be here? Am I in danger? Come on, don’t be a coward, what’s the worst that could happen? That I get murdered? That is what I wanted, I was pushing Robert to kill me a while ago, I got nothing to lose.
Zid nods with apprehensiveness.
Link nods “I belong to an organization… an agency that imparts judgement on people, that alone puts me on danger’s path. It’s important for agents like myself to locate donors that could help if things go dire. We happened to come across a document that makes us believe you could be a donor for me”
Zid shakes his head in confusion “You couldn’t have, I destroyed everything, I heard men in suits were coming to sniffing on medical documents, so I broke into the clinic and destroyed mine… it’s important for my safety to not exist”
Link opens his eyes amazed at finally learning the reason why SWORD could not find more information on Zid.
“You didn’t destroy everything then… but please indulge me on why you thought we came here to hunt you down, and on the reason why you deemed it necessary to destroyed your papers”
“Maybe someday”
More like NEVER.
“What do I gain from this? because I do gain something right? if not, I am not interested” Zid says.
Link smiles “How does 10k monthly sound?”
FUCK. That is a lot, I was bluffing and being an ass… is he for real? Of course he is not, how could he be, Link is not old enough to be working for starters.
“DOLLARS? AMERICAN DOLLARS? YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING WITH ME… I am used to people trying to deceive me, so don’t lie to me so blatantly. You are under age, so you can’t possibly be working for anyone”
Link chuckles shaking his head “I operate under very special circumstances, but what I told you is the truth, I don’t lie Zid” Link says staring into his eyes “our Medic is travelling here to take and analyze your blood tomorrow 9am”
Do I really believe any of this? No, but they seem set on following this delusion, and it seems fun so let’s play along.
“So where do I sign? For that money I would donate you even an eye right now”
Bluffing again, I would NEVER donate an eye, I need them to be able to protect myself. But I could lose a finger on the spot for that kind of money, it would mean I could stop stealing, hunting, and fishing… gosh I hate fishing.
I SHOULD STOP LYING TO MYSELF, I want to believe this delusion. It would solve EVERYTHING. And Link is not helping me see this clearly, he seems so fucking serious about this… I want to believe him, I want this to be real.
“We need the results of the analysis first; you need to be a match with me of at least 90% to enter the program and benefit from it”
Zid’s excitement plummets “90? Oh… don’t bother testing me then, I am NOT your man, can I still finish my pies though?”
Link stares at him frowning, unsure as to why Zid seems so sure of not being a match. Li tries to say something but can’t find the words. So that gave the Princess an opportunity to intervene.
Chuckling “I beg to differ; I think you are EXACTLY the man. Let’s just get you tested first before claiming anything, how about that?” Zelda tells him.
“If you are still willing to go through with this, I don’t have a problem. Just telling you in advance I am not going to be a match” Zid says as he starts munching on his meat pies.
Zid stops after the first bite and his eyes start to tear up. Zelda was about to ask if something was wrong, but Link pulled on her arm effectively silencing her, he smiles at her and brings an index to his lips, signaling for her to remain quiet. Zid actually starts sobbing.
I can’t believe I am crying over food, it’s just meat. I eat it from time to time when I manage to catch a rat or a fish. But the taste is so different, does salt really makes this much of a difference? No, I don’t think so, there are other spices involved I bet. I am going to miss this… I am going to miss THEM.
Why are they so nice to me? I thought Robert surely hated me, and Zelda at least feared me but… they do not, not even a little.
Lots of tourist hear about the legend of the cursed children and they hunt us down, believing they would get paid by the government for killing us. So, why are this tourist being nice to me and feeding me. Could it be that they don’t know...
Zid thought as he devoured his food, earning stares from the others.
“Did you get your fill? If not, I am sure there is something I can do to remedy that” Link assures him.
“I don’t know what full feels like, but this was more food than I am used to. Don’t worry about me, I will live through the night” Zid winks at him with teary eyes.
Link inhales deeply “Tomorrow we leave at 8:30am, the blood test requires you to be fasted, but what do you say we stop at a restaurant for breakfast when we are done at the Clinic?”
Zid opens his eyes wide and shakes his head “NO, I would rather eat home prepared or to go food”
The three of you may be alright, but I don’t feel safe sitting in an unfamiliar place for too long.
“Actually, the food stand where I got the meat pies sells a breakfast pie, its cheese, bacon and an egg on top of it all, that is only available from 7:00am to 10:30am” Lee informs them.
“Excuse me, what is bacon? What if I don’t like it? Some cheese or milk will do for me” Zid states.
Zelda’s eyes go wide as she turns to Link anguished, he retains his stoic countenance and nods at her. He was about to tell Zid to shut the fuck up and eat whatever they feed him, in nicer words obviously, but Li beat him to it.
“THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY?” Robert yells “NO BROTHER OF MINE REFUSES BACON” He inhales deeply “you are eating bacon tomorrow, and you are gonna love it”
“I AM NOT YOUR BROTHER!!!” Zid screams back.
Robert smiles with his eyes wide open as he tilts his head “Got news for you, if you pull off a 90% match you might as well be OUR brother” Robert loses his demented smile and points at the Princess “She knows you will be a match and I trust her judgement. You, my dear BROTHER, will eat bacon even if I have to force feed you, and believe me… you don’t want ME doing that” Link’s suppressed laughter is heard in the background, Robert smiles at and says “It will be out of love though”
Link cracks laughing at the whole scene. He was NOT expecting his brothers to start their relationship fighting and arguing. The whole idea was hilarious but felt right and normal somehow.
Out of love? Ha-ha, who the fuck does something so savage out of… mothers force feed their kids veggies to keep them healthy. DAMN… I am loved. WAIT, WHAT!!! We just meet. He cannot love me already, can he? None of them can, they haven't even SEEN me yet.
Zelda giggles a little before clearing her throat “I say tomorrow Link and Zid head to the clinic, and Li and I will go order the breakfast pies… maybe buy some fruit if possible?” she shyly asks, hoping Link’s economy would allow it.
Link nods at her “Sounds like a plan, let’s get some sleep. Li, can I count on you for guarding rounds?”
“Sure, but fist I should go get a toothbrush for Zid? And…” Li says expecting Link to finish the sentence.
"His pants are fine, I will give Zid one of my shirts, just bring him the toothbrush" Link says as he throws a tank top at Zid who immediately catches it.
“Bring a hair tie please” the Pirate says sheepishly looking at the tank top.
I have not been able to find another one, and I am sick of having my hair all over my face. I like this brown sleeveless shirt, it may actually fit me. I wonder if Link would allow me to keep it.
Li nods and walks out followed by Zelda; she points him where the convenience store is at and sends him off.
“You told me his name was Robert” Zid complains.
Link chuckles a little at that “I didn’t lie, that is his name, Li is his last name, we call him like that from time to time”
“I see… I could assist on the guarding rounds too you know”
“Yes, you could, but I won’t let you, those dark circles around your eyes are terrifying, you need sleep to make them disappear. We are big boys, we can take care of everything here, change and go to sleep”
Notes:
Thanks for reading. Subscribe and throw some Kudos please. Next update: October 4
Chapter 52: Monkey Tail
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Zid suddenly sits, gasping for air. He had just woken up from an unpleasant dream, as always. But this nightmare was different. The inhabitants on the vicinity discovered what he was, and were trying to kill him. Link and Robert fought to protect him but the dwellers outmatched them 6 to 1. Zid and Zelda were caught and chained like dogs to a tree outside of the shed, all Zid could do was wail as he watched how they gutted his brothers inside the shed. Li quickly fainted due to the pain, but not Link… he just took all the pain in without flinching or screaming. The Pirate watched as Links eyes slowly dulled once they ripped his heart out. Zelda’s pained cries was all Zid could hear, and it ripped him apart.
But the dream wasn't done with him yet, they unchained and dragged Zelda inside the shed without closing the door. Meaning Zid could hear and watch the men laughing as they tore Zelda’s clothes off and started rapping her… she yelled loudly and wouldn’t stop fighting them, so they started beating her hard on the head. After a while, she was fighting no more, she turned to look at Zid and with teary eyes mouthed ¨I am sorry¨ Then a stream of blood came pouring out of her mouth, she had committed suicide by biting her tongue off.
The men who had been raping her noticed immediately, but they just shrugged and continued defiling her body as Zid was crying his eyes out, and stared to smash his head HARD on the tree he had been chained to, leaving traces of blood as he cracked his skull… he wanted to die.
ZID POV
Holy fuck, why did I fucking dream that? do I already care enough about them to have a nightmare like that? All I know is that Zelda fainted me, and the boys kidnaped me. I don’t hate any of them for it though, and that is an ODD thing to say about the situation.
But it scares me to KNOW that if something like THAT ever happened to any of them, specially to her. I will end myself… how fucked up is that? have they really grown that much on me in such a short period?... I guess they have. I think I must have been a dog in my past life. They just feed me and showed me kindness, and now I feel like I owe them love and loyalty.
Zid starts looking around, when he sees the Princess, he places a hand close to her nose, to check if she was breathing. He notices Robert lying next to her but doesn’t bother to check his breathing since he was snoring. Link was nowhere in sight.
Link is obviously no here, maybe he went outside… and WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME? He said that THEY will take care of everything, and ordered me to sleep, and it was like a huge stone was removed from my back. I obediently feel asleep almost instantly. Do I really trust him that much? Damn. I am going to miss them a lot when they leave. Because that IS what will happen… this is not their side of the puddle.
Zid was thinking as he stood up and opened the door to go out. One step outside he immediately felt like he was being prayed on, but looking around he could not identify why he felt like that. Then something landed on the ground close to him. Looking around he saw Link standing up and dusting his pants. He appeared to have dropped from a tree nearby.
“Where you trying to run away?” Link asks slowly approaching.
“No, I was searching for you”
The Hero raises both of his eye brows in surprise “What am I good for?”
Fuck, I did not get this far in my head… I don’t want to talk about my nightmare, so… let’s make him talk about himself.
“Fill me in again on who you are? and who do you work for? You never really told me”
Link smiles sheepishly “you are right, I didn’t” sighs “I work as an agent for Sentient World Observation and Response Department”
“That is a mouth full”
“The acronym is easier to remember: SWORD”
“Ha SWORD? Not SHIELD like the comics?” Zid begins to laugh “I am a thief you know; I have stolen a few comics from tourist” he sighs sadly “just when I was starting to believe all your bull crap”
Faking to take offense “As I said before, I am not a liar. SHIELD conveniently guises its existence under Marvel comics, SWORD tried that too for a brief period, but it didn’t work. Yet both of us definitely exist”
Zid stared at Link with uncertainty, then suddenly the door opened and out came Robert. He looked a little exasperated but relaxed after noticing the Pirate was still there and talking to Link.
“Don’t get me wrong, but it’s my turn to sleep, any further questions you can ask Li, or go to sleep and wait until tomorrow to ask me” Link says and starts yawning as he heads inside.
Li approaches Zid with curiosity, but doesn’t ask him anything. He just stands next to him leaning on the tree and opens his water bottle to take a sip.
“Link told me you could answer my questions, do you also work for SWORD?” Zid asks in a dismissive tone.
Robert violently spits out his sip of water coughing a little.
“Wow, you two were having THE talk… and no, I do not. I want to work for them though” Robert answers.
“You mean to tell me this is no bullshit? This is real?” Zid asks with eyes full of wonder.
“Yeah, it IS real, I actually got to experience how they work first hand when Link found me”
“WAIT, lets back track here, what do you mean by ¨when Link found me? ¨ NO, scratch that, tell me everything, pears and apples because I AM stupid at best, but I still want to know EVERYTHING”
Li chuckles at that and begins to tell him how he came into contact with Link thanks to Zelda’s sense of smell, how Link didn’t even try to convince him into believing SWORD was real, and they were offering to pay him monthly for blood donations. He figured it will be easier to just TRICK him into accepting getting his blood tested. And finally, how he basically blackmailed Link into letting him take part on a mission if he wanted him to accept the donor program. Over all, Robert told a very short version that lacked a LOT of details, since he didn’t feel it was right to reveal a lot about himself, or about the dynamic duo currently sleeping, not right now at least.
Boy… Link appears to be cunning and deceptive, and Robert knows this, yet he trusts and follows him. And probably so does Zelda. How fucked up is that? as fucked up as the fact that I am NOT AFRAID OF HIM AT ALL. The real question is why? I need to really think this through, and to try to arm myself against him just in case.
Zid heard every word trying to memorize a few things, so he could use them later if he needed to.
“You have been here with me for more than an hour, you really should go back to sleep, oh and by the way” Li says as he hands Zid a hair tie he pulled from his back pocket.
Sweet, tomorrow I get to present myself like a normal human, and not like a savage boy.
“OH, you remembered sweetheart” Zid says as he puckers his lips at Li. Then quickly turns running to take cover inside when he notices Robert picking up stones to throw at him.
ZELDA POV
Zelda opens her eyes waking up, she lazily stretches yawning, she hears somebody moving around, probably Link or maybe Robert. Turning around she catches a glimpse of Zid braiding his hair.
Wait, he knows how to do that? I mean I of course I know how to do a braid but how to you make it stick to your head like that? and how do you start it from the crown of the head instead of from the nape?
“It’s amazing that you can braid your hair like that, and it seems like you have natural highlights making your blonde braid kind of stunning, I love it… you need to teach me how to braid like that”
Zid slowly turns his head to look at her frowning a little but starting to smile.
“Good morning to you too dear, how was your sleep? Mine was kind of hectic but all good, thanks for asking”
Link starts coughing trying to hide his laughter, Li was still laying on the tatami and sits ups to stare at the princess with a devilish smile.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. And I thought YOU were versed in proper etiquette” Robert reprimands her.
Zelda stares at Li widening her eyes “So… I am expected to behave like a Princess at all times?”
Link walks to her extending his hand to help her up “NOTHING of the short is expected of you, Robert is just trying to rile you up”
Zelda rises her eyebrows and stares at Robert seeking for confirmation of what Link just said. Li wickedly smiles, confirming he was just messing with her.
“Zid, you ready?” Zid stands up nodding at Link, then speaks to Zelda without staring at her directly.
“it’s a French braid, I can teach you how to do one later. But you need to remind me or I will forget”
Zelda energetically nods at Zid smiling. Link was talking to Robert and hands him some money, he then waves at Zid to follow him out. Once they left, Robert stretches and yawns.
“Shit, I still need sleep… whatever. Link said that the blood extraction shouldn’t take long, so they will probably be back soon. Meaning we should go get breakfast NOW. Do you know where to find those apples you wanted?”
“I think I do, he left us some cash, didn’t he? Grab what you think you are going to need for the meat pies, hand me the rest so I can buy some fruit.”
“AGHH” Robert yells “After what happened yesterday you are asking me to let you wander around alone? Not a chance missy” Li tells her frowning.
“YES, I am asking for that precisely… we could save time and effort. Besides, the biggest danger out there happens to be my brother, doesn’t that mean I should be safe” Zelda says winking.
YOU HEARD ME, my brother Zid is the threat out there. So, by default, I am protected. And my criminal bro happens to be a really nice guy, kind of an asshole at times, but only when provoked.
Li still frowning grabs her by the shoulders, and growling starts shaking her back and forth in exasperation. After a few seconds he let go of her and starts walking without saying a word. Zelda follows grinning and taking that as a win.
Once completely outside of the hostel Li speaks.
“I am heading east, where are the fruit stands?”
“That way I think” Zelda points “I don’t know what cardinal direction I am pointing at”
“south-west, girl you can’t even tell me where… are you sure about going alone?” Robert asks with genuine concern.
“I am sure, I want to do this myself, besides… YOU KNOW I WILL BE SAFE, if you really doubted, you wouldn’t even consider it, you will be dragging me with you by the hair like a cave man” Zelda scoffs.
Rolling his eyes “Fair, just be safe and don’t take long”
LINK POV
Well, that was fast. The medic proceeded with the blood exaction kind of aggressively, but Zid didn’t complained, or even flinched. I will venture to assume he didn’t even felt the needle.
After the extraction I asked the Medic when could I expect the results. He told me they will have them in a few hours; I was not expecting that at all, he explained that the hard work was done with Li since he was my first and only donor, but now they have a map of what to look for, all that is left is to fill the blanks.
Zid kicks open the door of the shack, Link stares in disbelief.
“Wait… you continue to limp yet you have the strength to kick like that. are you faking an ailment?”
Zid froze on the spot realizing he had been caught, but soon his semblance shifts, he turns to face Link with insolence.
“What if I am?” Zid says.
Sighting “it doesn’t change ANYTHING, it only means that I can stop worrying about Robert or Zelda having caused that limp… you do you, I don’t mind.”
Zid opens his eyes wide, but immediately turns away trying to hide his surprise. In that moment the door opens again, Robert enters with the food, Zelda follows carrying a small bag with an apple for each and a small bag with nuts.
Her eyes fixed on the ground as she extends her hand holding the nuts “I didn’t buy them; they were handed to me for buying the apples. They said they were the leftovers of last season’s batch; they are getting rid of them before harvesting again” Zelda says unsure if she did the right thing.
Link grabs the small plastic bag from Zelda “hazelnut, a few pistachios and macadamias, aside from the apples… nice” Link rubs her head completely messing her hair and making her frown.
“How was the hunt, Li?”
“Ha, hunt. I ordered 5 trays, I wasn’t sure if you would eat but if you can’t, Zid and myself will finish your order” Rob says confidently.
“Actually, I will eat breakfast with you all this time, still not going to finish the order tough, I am counting on you for that” Link says looking at Zid.
“But… you could store it for later, no?” Zid suggest.
“It will go bad, and I hate wasting food, if you don’t eat it, I will force Zelda to eat it.” Link says in a threatening tone.
Zelda panics “But… I don’t know if I can even finish 5, yesterday I was FULL with four” Zelda says in fear of what Link just said.
“Start jogging or something to make yourself hungry, because you will be eating 7, am I clear?” Link says sternly, but manages to send her a quick wink.
That is all I can think of to hint her, I need her to help me convince Zid to EAT ALL THE FUCKING FOOD.
Zelda starts to smile but soon begins to sob as she looks at Zid with teary eyes.
“You know he can’t force you to do anything right?” Zid tells her.
“Can’t I?” Link asks tilting his head a little and smirking at the Princess.
Zelda’s gaze begins to show utter panic and Zid turns her body to force her to look at him.
“Has he…” Zid glares angrily at Link “WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?”
Link approaches the Princess and raises her blouse to expose her back a little, bruises from him tackling her and scratches from her fight with Kenya still present. “I did what had to be done”
Zid was about to punch Link in the face and run off with Zelda, he had no money or a house but he could treat her better at least. He could not believe he misjudged Link that much, he was even starting to trust him.
The sound of Robert’s chuckles makes Zid even angrier, but then he hears Zelda’s giggles. He slowly turns his head to stare at Link, who is trying to hide a grin “YOU” he then turns back to Zelda as she was hold back her laughter. “THIS IS MUTINY, YOU ARE A FUCKING BASTARD” he yells pointing at Link “AND YOU ARE A MANIPULATING BITCH” Zid yells at Zelda avoiding eye contact with her.
Roaring in laughter “NICE sketch” Robert says raising his thumb at the royals “You should apply for Sydney’s Opera house” He then directs his attention to Zid “and you… I understand if you want to remain cautious around us, but Links pulled this shit just to force you to eat properly, is that a sin in your book? I swear both of them will behave from now on if you just eat. If you can’t finish it all, I will help, we won’t torture Zelda.”
It appears Robert’s superpower is logic, that makes him very smart and a natural mediator, SWORD is going to love him. They have trouble with me because my superpower is INSTINCT. I easily gain people’s trust and then betray them by installing dread and magnifying it. People’s survival instincts force them to BELIEVE anything I say, and to follow my orders since they trust me. Yeah… I am an asshole; I play with how I make people perceive things like a puppeteer.
Zid sighs and nods, he quickly manages to put everything that just happened behind him. He then sits on a corner of the tatami. The rest sit as well smiling. Robert gives a Styrofoam food container to each. Zid took a bite of his breakfast pie and started coughing almost spitting the food on his mouth.
“Wow, what happened, are you ok?” Link asks
“I don’t know, the taste was… unfamiliar. Is it the bacun you were talking about?”
“BACON, I don’t know so let’s test it” Link says as he tears open one of his pies and pulls out a bacon piece “this is a piece of bacon, eat it and tell me if it was this…” Link hands it to Zid.
The pirate smelled it and gave it a small lick, then glared at Zelda when he heard her giggling at what he was doing. He then silently prayed as he gave the bacon a bite, but soon started moaning as he chews. Robert raised both his eyebrows, Zelda started to giggle, and Link raised his left fist to his mouth and bit on his knuckles chuckling.
“I will take that as: you like bacon” Robert says.
“I LOVE IT, what is it? It smells like meat but the taste is a little different”
“it’s animal fat with a thin slice of meat” Link answered “So… lest dig in already, Zid is making me salivate”
The boys started to eat ravenously, scaring the Princess a little, watching how much Zid was enjoying the food, Link decided to start a game, he started shaking one of his extra pies up in front of Zid and threw it up in the air for Zid to catch, and he did catch it with his mouth, Zelda laughed and clapped at that. She also tried to throw him the pie she was not going to eat, but when she threw it, Li was the one who caught it. Zid started growling but let it go once Link drew his attention with another pie, but he didn’t throw it up in the air this time, he was not going to risk Robert catching it.
I am so fucking glad we still have apples, apparently BOTH my brothers are hungry. Li can have my apple, but it is important for Zid to eat protein, so he gets my remaining meat pie.
BEEP!!! Link checked his cellphone immediately and started laughing, Robert mouthed ¨really? That soon? ¨
“Yeah… the tedious job was done with you” Link point at Rober “since you were my fist donor EVER. For Zid is just following a list of markers previously set and see how many of them he meets” he turns to Zid smiling “Congratulations, we are a match”
Zid stares at Link in disbelief and a little of panic, Zelda hugs him happily, Robert asks Link for his cellphone to see the study and grins.
“95, not bad… not as good as 98 but not crappy at all” Robert says winking at Zid.
“That… is not possible. You need to redo the test” Zid exclaims.
Squinting “Thought you would be more excited about this” Link says with wariness.
“How can I? my blood or an organ donation from me could kill you. This is wrong… the test is wrong. We can’t possibly be a match”
Link sighs “My patience is limited, I won’t ask again, why do you think we are not a match?” he says enraged.
The Pirate lowers his gaze “Because you are not like me… nobody is” Zid raises his eyes to face Link “you won’t believe me if I say it, so I rather show you” Zid stars unbuttoning his trouser and pulling them down.
Link immediately turns to shield Zelda’s eyes, but Robert was already pressing her against himself effectively shielding her sight. The Hero turns back to Zid irate about the exhibition, but opens his eyes wide at what he saw. The color drained from his face.
What the f… HE IS ME!!! of that I am sure, so how did this happen? How did my favorite Pirate came to have a monkey tail?
Notes:
TERRIBLY SORRY FOR THE DELAY. We were going through a hurricane here, hope you still like this chapter and support me. (Next update: October 21)
Chapter 53: He Is Chaos
Notes:
NOTE: It’s important to have read chapter “52 Monkey Tail” before reading this one, or you would be very confused.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Link stared at the tail for what felt like hours to Zid, but in reality, was just a couple of seconds.
“In case you forgot about it, there is a lady present” Link says giving a quick glance in the Princess’s direction.
Zid nods and starts to pick up his trousers, but Link snapped his fingers to draw Zids attention, then held up his palm to signal Zid to stop. Link walk towards his backpack and opens it to pull out some boxers, he then grabs the knife he hides in his boot to quickly make a hole on the boxers.
“Am I supposed to remain half naked then?” Zid asks annoyed.
Link hands Zid the boxers “Put these on, I teared a hole for that appendage of yours, I don’t what you to keep coiling it around your leg, I understand the need to hide it, but you are applying too much pressure on your leg” the Hero tilts his head staring at the leg's color "you are strangling it. And now that I think about it... it's probably the root cause of your limp, isn't it?"
ZID POV
Well yeah… it is. I won’t stop doing it though, pressing on my leg with it prevents me from moving it and being noticed. And of course my leg it’s a little blue, I have been chocking it with my tail since you kidnaped me.
I am kind of surprised at Link’s observational skills, and how fast he connected the dots; I guess I am not used to being paid so much attention to. I still consider him an asshole.
WOW… this piece of clothing feels so soft. I am gonna keep it.
"It is, I needed to avoid moving it in order to keep it hidden. My solution was to coil it around my leg pressing hard" Zid said as he moved his tail around enjoying the freedom "This really doesn't bother you?" Zid asks.
“Your limping bothered me, not this.” Link turns to Robert “You can release her now, Zid is decent”
“You call THAT decent? He is not wearing trousers” Li complains.
“He is not naked either, that is decent enough” Link says rolling his eyes “I bet Zelda is not going to mind”
Li sighs and turns the Princess to face her new brother. Zelda’s jaw drops, she slowly approaches Zid her gaze fixed on his cerulean eyes, and not on his tail. That amazed and kind of scared Zid.
“Zid, is that real? Why were you hiding something so amazing?” she says.
EXCUSE ME? This is FAR from amazing, it almost got me killed way too many times… You have no right to make me feel special about it, I KNOW I am not. Stop playing with my emotions bitch.
“What is so amazing about an animal part attached to me? or are you saying it’s amazing I have managed to stay alive despite of it” the Pirate asks her in a somber tone.
Link makes a hand gesture to invite Zid to sit on the tatami, the Pirate reluctantly sits and the Hero follows sitting across from him. Zelda chooses to sit between them for precaution. Li on the other hand, chooses to remain standing.
“Do you know how you got that tail? And no… I am not going to ask for the blood test to be redone, they already ran it 3 times before telling me you are my match, that means WE ARE A MATCH. So, start speaking bro”
-----------------REMEMBRANCE-------------------
Zid opens his eyes as confusion sets in. Where is he? Why is he in a bag of some sort? And most important of all… who is he? He could not remember ANYTHING, he tried but his memory was a void. He managed to open the potato sack he was in and was about to climb out of it, but stopped as soon as he heard voices.
“I say we put some stones on the sack and throw him in the ocean”
“Yeah, that sounds easy enough” sighs “I will miss him though, I kind of liked his company. But he was born male, buyers pay for the girls with animal parts, not for boys, they don’t find them cute enough. Did I tell you how much we are receiving for X2P-678?”
“No, you didn’t, who is she by the way?”
“I thought I did, maybe you were busy preparing the pentobar shot for this guy. Or checking on the embryos. X2P-678 is the girl with the cat ears”
Buyers? Animal parts? I guess they are manipulating our genes somehow, and profiting by selling us. What animal part do I have?
The van they were riding passed under a light pole, the brief moment of proper illumination allowed Zid to see he had a medical bracelet on his wrist, it read: Z1D-403
I guess this is supposed to be my name. Wait, I am sure something moved in here. FUCK!!!
Zid managed to contain his scream, there was something with him in the sack. The way it moved made him suspect it was a snake. But he soon realized it was a tail… HIS TAIL.
They gave me a tail. These motherfuckers are playing God, but they are far from being one, they can’t even choose the sex of the embryo or what animal part we get. The bastards just cross their fingers and hope for the best.
“Just throw him out already, we need to head back to the lab, there was someone interested on the girl with a horse tail, and we need to vote if we get rid of the one with the monkey feet or not, I mean… feet are a kink for some”
Zid quickly tried to reclose his sack and stayed very still, he felt how he was pulled out of the car, then a man opened his sack to place a few big rocks inside with him, sighting the man said: "I am sorry little guy, I thought you had a chance at being bought, but years kept going by... you were getting old" the man said as he stared at Zid for too long, he was studying the semblance of the monkey boy, the child looked different from what he remembered. The man shook his head thinking he must be hallucinating; then closed the sack and tossed it into the ocean. Zid held his breath and didn't emerge until he was sure they had left.
-------------------------------------------------------
“You are telling me you were made? And there are others?” Link asks maintaining his stoic mien.
“I am telling you all I know, I don’t remember anything before that, I tried seeking help but the people here feared me and even tried to kill me.” Zid sighs “Months later I heard the lab workers got killed and the Lab exploded killing the babies and embryos in the explosion… lucky bastards. The older ones managed to escaped, but eventually got killed by locals or some tourists who were promised pay. But all I heard was complains from the tourist because they never got paid” Zid said chuckling about it.
Link was trying to maintain his composure, but was finding it hard to do so the more he heard. Suddenly Robert started speaking with indignation.
“The inhabitants started a witch hunt on your kind out of… fear? I find it hard to believe that they had no idea of what was happening on that lab, they should know you are not monsters, you are victims”
“THEY DO KNOW, what angers me is that they did nothing to stop it. They started referring to us as ¨the cursed children¨ and put a price on our heads to get rid of us without dirtying their own hands”
Link started fidgeting, he needed to punch something but felt like right at that moment… he should not fall prey to his aggressive desire.
Li then cleared his throat “Damn, I think the locals behaved that way because they could not stand the shame, maybe they could not even look at you without feeling regret for actively dismissing what was going on. So, they opted to get rid of your kind to permanently erase the reminder of who the real monster is. And to seek peace of mind for themselves” Robert said unable to hold his tongue any longer “Hope they never found the peace they craved, they don’t deserve it.” he ends and starts walking around in the room trying to drain his anger somehow.
LINK POV
Z1D-403 died, just as Robert did. I think the lab’s explosion was SWORD’s fault. I remember the event being referred to as the ¨happy accident¨ by my peers. It was an accident that killed all the targets effortlessly, but also innocent unregistered children. Skull was in charge of that mission, and was demoted from agent to archivist because of that outcome. He demanded to repeat training for reinstallation, and SWORD agreed.
Link smiles sadly “All this is kind of depressing, and we should not be… thanks to Zelda’s sniffing power we found you, we should be celebrating with food… meat preferably.”
Zid’s eyes widen “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” he yells.
“ME? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” Link yells back.
Zid covers his face with the palms of his hands “Do you really don’t fear me at all? Or just how morbid are all of you?”
“Very morbid” Li says joking.
Zelda throws a murderous glance at Robert, then talks to Zid “Why should we fear you? you have not harmed any of us in any way. I actually think your tail is cool, I mean I am kind of jealous, to think of all the mischief I would do with a tail if I had one” she catches her breath and just blurts out “How much can you control it? Can you pick things up and throw them with it? How strong is it? I mean… can you hold your body weight from a branch with it? All that is gross motor skills, can it perform fine motor skill too? Which ones?”
Robert gasps and slowly approaches Link’s frozen sitting figure.
“Look at that, the princess asking THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS” Li whispers chuckling.
Damn right she is, and she is doing it without any shame or concern. I want to stop her; she could be coming in way too strong. But I can’t, I want to know too.
The Mugger raises his palm in front of Zelda's face to stop her "PAUSE, BREATHE. No need to throw a grenade of questions at me, we have time, I am not going anywhere… unless you ask me to" Zid looks at the boys as he makes that statement.
Link stares at Zid shifting his seating position "You know, I was about to ask you to OUCH!!!" Robert kicks Link on the ribs, then says looking at Zid.
"Why would we want you to go anywhere? You still have to accept the program, RIGHT?" Li states as he kicks Link's rib cage again.
Gosh, I get it. No joking with the monkey boy. WAIT… I need to finish reading the data SWORD send me, I need to know how can Zid accept the program if he does not have a phone, papers or a house? Wow… he cannot receive the program’s benefits if he technically doesn’t exist.
Link stands up and walks away scrolling on his cellphone. Zelda is giggling at the whole scene and listens attentively to Zid’s answers to her questions. Link calls the general and starts arguing heatedly.
“I wonder how he plans to negotiate the deal for you?” Robert says.
That peaks Zid’s interest “What do you mean?”
“The basic deal is 10 K monthly, he managed to lower my pay to 8 k in exchange of a house, then I shifted the deal by demanding him to let me participate on a mission if he wanted me as a donor, and finally he renegotiated the whole thing when I said I wanted to become a SWORD agent” Robert shares the ordeal he put Link through.
“Is that what you did now?” Zid grins mischievously and stands up to walk towards Link.
Link notices Zid’s approach but maintains his stoic countenance “Zid… the only way for you to consent to the program is verbally, you could speak now with my boss and agree to it if you still want it, he will answer any questions you may still have”
“Hand me that phone then” Zid says.
Link gives Zid his cell “It’s a video call so behave BOTH OF YOU” he warns both talkers, laughter from the General is heard “Try not to touch the screen as much, so you won’t accidentally end the call” Link tells Zid.
The Pirate holds the cellphone “Hello bigshot, before you say anything I wanted to negotiate”
“Damn, you look just like… What do you want?” asks the General.
WHAT? It’s not like he should not negotiate, but he didn’t tell me he wanted something in particular, what can he possibly want? I was thinking of asking to relocate him to the USA.
“I want the WHOLE EXPERIENCE, like Robert got, I mean a house and to participate on a mission. I would love it if the house was located far away from Australia, since I am kind of hated here.”
Link slowly turns to stare at Robert, disbelief radiating from his eyes. Li just raises both his shoulders with a sheepish smile. Link closes his eyes and shakes his head chuckling.
“I… SWORD doesn’t allow for normal citizens to participate in our assignments, even less if they are underage” William says with finality.
“I don’t care, it still happened for Robert, meaning it can and should happen for me too. That’s IF you want me to accept the program… we will be waiting for SWORD’s assignment. Good day.” Zid hangs and gives the cell back to Link. Everyone was staring at Zid.
“WHAT? I was not disrespectful, I behaved… besides I saved you” points at Link “the hassle of fighting for me, I can fight for myself, I am a big boy” he says smiling with pride.
Yes, you are… one of the biggest. DAMN HIM, I don’t really know him, how can he make me so fucking proud. Might sound egocentric since he is ME in a way, but I know that is not the case… he is his own person. They both are their own person. As fearless and capable as me, but still completely different from me.
Link grants him half a smile and grabs the trousers.
“I am going to make a hole on these too if you don’t mind”
“WAIT, NO. I can’t go out showing my tail, what abo-”
“WHO FUCKING CARES!” Link yells “You are with ME, I fucking dare them try to attack you in my presence, they will regret it”
Zid’s face drains in color, he begins to remember his dream, he starts hyperventilating. Zelda notices, so does Link and Robert, but she is the one to rush to Zid’s side and give him a hug trying to soothe him.
“What’s wrong?” Zelda asks in a sweet tone
“What if they hurt all of you too”
Zelda laughs at that “I am glad you care, but you still have to know your brothers. You think Link is making a hole on your pants out of care? Sorry to burst your bubble, but he wants to use you as an excuse to start a fight with the locals” she points at Robert “they both want to start a fight, just to rid of how uncapable they felt listening to your story. You shouldn’t worry about them; they both are REALLY GOOD fighters.”
Well, look at that. the princess figured out my real intentions… I guess she pays more attention to me than I thought she did. I don’t know if that is a good thing.
“Should we really continue to allow her to speak?” Robert asks annoyed.
“Has she lied about ANYTHING?”
“No”
“Then I have no reason to stop her” Link answers.
“YOU have no reason, but I DO, she is making me feel exposed and ashamed on top of the frustration, I can’t stand it.” Robert starts walking towards the Princess but Link pulls him back by the neck line of his t-shirt.
“Bro, you need to learn to handle praise, you are going to get A LOT of it from now on” Link says.
Zelda managed to put Zid at ease, he actually begun laughing at the stories she told him about Link, and the few she knew of Robert. Link give the trousers back with a hole and Zid put it on, marveling at how different the pants felt now with his tail free. Zid turns to Zelda lifting and eyebrow.
“I have a question pretty lady; do you also work for SWORD?”
Robert and Link start chuckling.
Ha, NO SHE DOESN’T.
Zelda cackles at that “Fuck no, I love myself… why do you ask?”
“I thought they hired you in case logical thought and convenience was not enough to convince me to agree. Your job would have been to…” Zid caresses her arm with his index knuckle “persuade me, if you get what I mean”
Her eyes open wide “YOU THOUGHT WHAT!!!” Zelda yells slapping his hand away.
Zelda turns to Link exacerbated; but Link is laughing hard. Once he stops, he tells her “What? You want me to reprimand him? I won’t scold him for thinking something I would have thought myself, sorry”
Zelda squints her eyes and turns to Li, he shakes his head slowly “never told you, but I also thought that was your purpose at some point” Robert says chuckling.
Zelda throws a disdainful snort and exits the shack. The boys kept staring at the now empty space left behind by the Princess, Zid sighs.
“Well fuck, I took it too far, I need to tell her I am sorry; I don’t want her hating me” Zid laments.
“DONT” both Link and Robert scream.
“She will NEVER hate you; she ADORES YOU. she is just a little pissed right now, she will get over it in a few minutes.” Link assures him.
“She will? I have never met a girl that doesn’t hold on to grudges… she is so fucking weird; she is all sweet and lady like one moment, and the next she knocks the light out of me. I just never know what to expect from her” Zid says shaking his head.
Robert whistles and half smiles “Neither does she about you. Damn, I myself don’t know what YOU will come up with next, it’s kind of scary. You and her are the same that way. Me, I am stable and predictable as fuck; with Link you have to toss a coin but he follows a pattern most of the time, but you… you are CHAOS. That is what I have seen so far”
My silent engineer analyzing the fuck out of all of us, cool.
Zelda rushes in with a smile and hands her phone to Link.
“READ IT” she orders.
The Hero opens his eyes wide and taps on the pockets of his jeans searching for his cellphone “MY CELLPHONE IS SENDING CARLA TO VOICE MAIL?” Link yells confused; he draws it noticing it was turned off.
Zid looks at Link mischievously “That may or may not have been me, it may or may not have been an accident, I may or may not have been trying to get some extra time with you. Since you can’t prove it was me and I won’t admit to anything, there is no point on berating me or me apologizing, is there?”
Link glares at Zid as Zelda winks at the Pirate smiling, she then turns to tell Link “Don’t worry, you gave Carla my contact number, so she sent ME the details of the mission, you are welcome” the Princess says grinning as she approaches Zid to give him a high five. Zid gives her one and then closes his hand into a fist for a fist bump, she gladly gives him one giggling.
“CHAOS, I TELL YOU” Robert yells raising his hands and arms dramatically.
Definitely chaos, but I don’t mind a little chaos in my life, I am used to it.
Notes:
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Chapter 54: The youngsters had no idea
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link clears his throat and starts informing them on what their next move is going to be.
“The assignment is to get rid of a group that has been assaulting people in the rural region of Sidney. The inhabitants are frightened and the government ignores their pleas for security.” Link sighs “The assailants steal their food, rob and damage their crops, and enter houses to rob them or kidnap people... We are talking RURAL here” Link looks at his brothers and then at Zelda before continuing.
“That means, aboriginals that distrust tourist. Direct contact with them will result in panic and or hostility from the inhabitants, hence we are not even approaching them or their villages. That means we are not sleeping under a roof, we are staying out in the wilderness, and we hunt our own food” Link informs them.
Li nods, Zelda start going through her own backpack, Li notices and opening his eyes wide for a second, he stars rummaging through his own too.
Link smiles watching them “Free as much space as possible in your backpack, if we manage to find fruit or anything we can eat, we need a place to store it” The Hero himself starts taking everything out of his own backpack, choosing to keep what was truly necessary, and throwing out what he could leave behind. Robert recharged his gun and choose to leave behind a few old t-shirts.
Zelda threw out 2 denim shorts Carla gave her as a present, she never got to use them but was not going to miss them even a little. Link doesn’t use shorts for a reason, right? she won’t use them either.
“Can I help in anyway?” Zid asks all of them, but only Zelda answers.
“YES, open that drawer there and bring me the blanket at the very bottom” Zelda tells him.
Zid walked to what looked like a small box, he opened it hoping that WAS the drawer Zelda talked about. Inside it were 2 pillows and a few blankets, he grabbed the one at the bottom as Zelda instructed… it was a very old and stained blanket with a few holes.
“Is this the one?” Zid asked a bit confused by the state of the blanket.
“YES, thanks” she says as she rolls the blanket enough to fit it in her backpack and still have a small amount of free space. She was taking that blanket to guarantee them a surface to sleep on.
“You are stealing that right?” Zid asks tilting his head.
“Yes, but… it’s a very old blanket, they won’t miss it. I bet the owner doesn’t even remember to have it in the first place.” Zelda claims starting to shrink herself feeling judged.
Link sighs “I over paid the owner of the hostel for this room, my Princess can take the ugly blanket if she desires, I am sure it costs less than the amount extra I paid” Link says.
Zelda looks at Link surprised he choose to side with her. She smiles at him and mouths ¨thank you¨
Zid looks at the Princess as she starts to hum happily and asks her “You are not scared at all by this, are you?”
LINK POV
Zelda smiles “Why should I be? I am with all of you… Ziel is a damn good tracker and-”
“WHO THE FUCK IS ZIEL?” Robert asks aggressively interrupting her.
Link drops his backpack on the tatami and tilts his head glaring at his princess, he was waiting for an answer to Robert’s question too.
The Princess rolls her eyes and points at Link “You of course”
Link frowns and point at himself raising an eyebrow, Zelda huffs exasperated.
“It’s YOUR name you know… Ra-ZIEL”
Link raises both his eyebrows in surprise.
IT IS MY NAME, DAMN. I forgot. When did she came up with the nickname? I never thought she would waste her time pondering on a nickname… for ME, of all people. I actually kind of like it. Better than Ra or Razy like Wolf suggested.
“Wait, Raziel is your name? you presented yourself as Link, or is that just your code name?” Li asks perplexed.
“Raziel Link Nohansen is his full name” Zelda says grumpily storing the tooth brushes before closing her backpack. She was still pissed at Link for forgetting the name. Queen Claire taking time and effort to do something for someone not even blood related was RARE, and she had gladly done it FOR HIM. Zelda had been jealous of him for that… and now he just goes and forgets it.
Robert looks to the side pondering, then nods “Fair, the name actually fits your royal status”
Zid’s eyes open wide “ROYAL? WHAIT A SEC. WHAT AM I MISSING HERE?”
Robert begins to chuckle “I will take this one” he cracks his wrists “short version cuz I don’t have the time or the crayons to explain this to you” Li points at Zelda and Link “These two come from another dimension per se, in their world Link ended up being adopted by the King, because who doesn’t fucking want a SWORD agent in the family? He is prince by adoption, but Zelda is the real deal here”
Link clears his throat to continue the explanation himself “THAT is the special circumstance that allows me to work for SWORD despite my age. In my land, the coming of age is 13 years old, that allows SWORD to make use of me without legal repercussions” Zelda looks at him in confusion.
Link looks at his Princess and chuckles “Zelda, I was 13 the day we meet, my papers state that I was born at 12:40pm. I meet with your father at 10:00am, so technically, I didn’t lie, at that moment I was still 12.” Link clarifies before smiling “And YES, I am sure the King knows and played along… it was a convenient technicality for the both of us” Link says wiggling his eyebrows at Zelda.
“So… you are somewhat of a royal and Zelda IS the Princess? That implies having a castle, and a lot of benefits, right?” Zid asks.
Zelda stares at Zid with sadness “Yes, that is exactly what it means… the castle feels like a prison though” she answers solemnly.
Link begins to eye the Pirate with suspicion as Zid produces a malevolent grin and opens his arms wide for a hug “SISTER” he yells waiting for Zelda to come to him.
Zelda breaks into laughter and runs to hug him. Zid lifts and spins her a few seconds, then rubs his cheek on the top of her head. Link approaches the happy pair with an eerie aura.
“ZID… what are you hoping to get out of this… out of her?” Link asks in a warning tone.
The Pirate smiles “Anything she allows me to get away with, I don’t think she minds, or do you sweety?” Zelda shakes her head, Zid smiles and continues “SEE? Besides, it’s a give and take relationship… I am sure she is also thinking on how she can make use of me, or why else would she ask so many questions about my physical capabilities?” Zid ends grinning widely.
Link sighs closing his eyes as he nods with a smile.
You are damn right, she wants to use you, we even joked about it… but you don’t seem to mind that at all. You even found a way to flip the coin on her… in a way you just stated that ¨two can play this game¨ and if she opens that door, you will comply, but it won’t be for free, and you will make sure the cost is high.
Robert is right, you are chaos, you thrive in it, and a woman’s emotional outlook is chaos in itself. But you, being the expert here, just managed the Princess to your convenience… I wonder when and where did you learned to do that. Agents at SWORD are going to fear you. Because that is where you are headed bro… I will make sure of that.
“Sis, you were describing amazing me and the other two pesants, right?” Zid says with an arm around her shoulders.
Zelda laughs at that “Yes, I was. Ziel is dangerous and a good tracker, he will find us game. Rob is goal oriented and a VERY good shooter; he will shoot game or any threat. And YOU are sneaky and a local, you can point us in the right direction to find food while keeping us from danger. I am with a group of highly capable boys” The Princess takes a moment before ending her statement “To answer your question, NO… I am not scared, why should I be?”
Zid let go of her and took a few steps back, mouth open fishing for something to say but failing terribly. Li was cracking in laughter and raising his thumb at Zelda. Link was unsure of how to react, so he didn’t.
That is what she thinks of US… she is not wrong, but something about this warmth she generated on my chest feels off.
*Maybe because it’s not the first time she has betrayed you with this kind of charade?*
Maybe….
“Is she real?” Zid genuinely asks Link.
“Zelda? Of course not, she is an annoying hologram I brought from SWORD to keep me entertained, because she is not good for anything else” Link answers bluntly.
Before you say anything, I KNOW what I am doing.
*You sure? she is going to rant and try to beat the crap out of you*
And she is welcomed to do so, I NEED her to beat some sense back into my brain... to push away this warmth feelings. They have no place on my being.
“LLLLLIIIIIIINNNNNNNKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!” Zelda yells irate and throws her backpack at Link’s head, Zid looks at Robert confused as water bottle flies right behind his head, then a pain yell from Link is heard.
Robert smiles “Siblings am I right? advise for you: don’t try to understand her or to justify him, just flow with the beat.” Li tells Zid and blows a loud whistle to draw the royals’ attention. Zelda was holding a small lamp on her hands, and was about to beat Ziel with it still plugged.
“HEY, LETS MOVE MAJESTIES” Robert yells.
YES SIR
Link and Zelda stared at each other for a second and then she placed down the lamp grumbling, Ziel picked up the backpack handing the Princess hers. Then they followed Robert to the entrance of the hostel, Link needed to sign off their stay at the hostel’s entrance before leaving and starting the new assignment.
The lady at the entrance smiled at them, but soon the smile turned into disgust and fear once she saw Zid. She was diligently keeping an eye on any movement coming from Zid. Link caught sight of that and also of her dialing someone. After Link signed off, she asked them to NEVER COME BACK, shutting the door behind them.
They had only crossed the street when people started gathering around them with brooms and shovels. At the back of the mob was a man preparing a Molotov. Zid was pushing the Princess behind him trying shield her.
It was the owner of the hostel, she let them know Zid was here. The bitch.
The old man aimed and threw the incendiary weapon, but Li had his eye on the projectile and ran following the trajectory of the bottle, caught it and immediately threw it back. The action caused a stir on the mob as a few of the people closing in caught on fire, distracting most of them as they tried to put out the people who were ablaze.
Meanwhile Link had managed to knock down a man that came running at them taking his shovel. The Hero ran toward a female that was standing close by and hit her with the blade of the shovel on the side of her head. As she fell, he picked up the pitchfork she was holding and threw it at Zid.
ZID POV
The monkey boy caught the pitchfork amazed at what was happening around him.
[You shouldn’t worry about them; they both are REALLY GOOD fighters] I should listen to Zelda more often; she was damn right. Those two are moving fluently and defending the area where we stand, no words exchanged between them, not like they need to, they know exactly what to do, and what the other one is doing… but HOW?
The crowd finally managed put down the ones who got caught on fire, then a man steps forward hands raised “You don’t understand, we are not attacking YOU, we are attacking HIM” the man points at Zid “HE IS A MONSTER, he is better off dead”
Zid growls in anger and points the pitchfork at the man, but Zelda places a hand on his shoulder and then on his arm asking him to put the pitchfork down. She then frowning yells at the man.
“YOU don’t understand, you are trying to damage MY PROPERTY… HE IS MINE, I BOUGHT HIM” Zelda yells.
What the fuck? That can’t be right, she said I was her brother. She has a plan in mind, doesn’t she?
Zid slowly lowers the pitchfork and looks Zelda, then at Link, who signals him to calm down and wait. A young man laughs at the Princess.
“Come on, don’t lie to us. Or tell us who did you buy that monster from?” the man says mocking her.
Zelda begins to stumble, but Link emits a quick yell to signal Robert to come to him, the engineer does without taking his eye from the horde and grabs the shovel the Prince hands him. Link turns his back on Li and the mob and looks directly at his Princess mouthing ¨I got you¨ that fill her with determination.
“I don’t remember the name, but I bought him em…” Link lifts 3 fingers and is currently typing on his cell “3 years ago, he seemed nostalgic of late, so I decided to bring him back home for a visit. But I was NOT expecting the people trying to damage me or my goods” The Princess says exasperated.
DING!!! Zelda draws her cellphone, it’s a message from Link that reads: animal cruelty 309k, 3-7 prison years.
Zelda grins. She starts circling Zid, lifting his tank top a little to check on his torso, then his hands and arms. Link pulls Robert’s shirt back a little to signal him to start retreating. Li did but walking backwards, not daring to look away from the mob, and Link approaching slowly mouths at Zelda ¨KEEP TALKING¨
“I will never understand why you hate them; I mean this place was obviously getting a share from the selling of these chimeras. And don’t tell me you were not since you now have a small hospital. That is an institutional building that only belongs in a city, not in a small town like this one. So, why would you have it? Because this town was thriving thanks to the money from the illegal sells of the chimeras, right?” Zelda says as she finishes scrutinizing Zid. Teens and young adults turn to look at their elders in confusion, anger and disgust.
The young ones didn’t know… and are angry at their elders for keeping them at bay on this matter. CHECKMATE.
Once Robert finally reaches them, he whispers: “We should leave now, I was hearing murmurs, these people are on the verge of revolting against themselves. I SAY LET THEM BURN”
Zelda nodded at Robert, Link smiled at her and whispered “Threaten them” And that is what the Princess did.
“You should thank my two companions for protecting me and my pet” the Princess says briefly looking at Robert and Ziel “If I had found a bruise or even a stain on my pet, I would have pressed charges, that means a 300k fee and 7 years prison time for everyone involved. AND YES, I HAVE THE PAPERS TO PROVE HE IS MINE, SO WHAT HAPPENS NOW?”
Some dropped the weapon they were holding and a few took a step back in fear of repercussions. Zelda grinned at them.
“Thought so… let’s go boys, they won’t bother us anymore.” Zelda confidently says.
They all start walking together out of the town, as they were leaving, they could not help but hear what they left behind. Lots of younger people yelling angrily at their elders, some loudly wailing for what they have misguidedly done to innocent children. Then they stared hearing wails, furniture being smashed and glass breaking. Zelda was about to turn her head and look at what was happening behind her, bur Li stopped her by pulling her by the arm shaking his head.
The group soon finally put enough distance between themselves and the town in havoc. Link just chuckled “And we left the town in chaos, sounds fitting, doesn’t it?” Link says as he lands a hand on Zid’s upper back “Better than what you had in mind I hope” he tells the Pirate.
“BY FAR, I was afraid they were too many for us to handle, leaving me unable to…” Zid doesn’t finish his thought in shame, so he turns to the Princess “So, I am your pet now?”
Zelda stares at him in bewilderment but soon recovers and grins.
“You are my brother, but you can be my pet if you want, I don’t mind fulfilling your fantasy” she says in a cheeky tone.
FUCK, I love my sis… I wonder if she will take me home with her if I declare I wanna be her pet. Nah… I don’t think so, Li said something about outside people not allowed entrance… THAT is what I want from her, I want entrance to Hyrule.
“Will being your pet gain me entrance to your kingdom?” Zid asks hopeless.
Zelda loses her grin and shakes her head “No… but being my brother might”
ZELDA POV
Link interjects “Like it or not, you kind of resemble me, and a DNA test says we could be siblings, Zelda is my family by adoption, making Zelda your adoptive sister too. I am sure we can abuse that technicality and grant access to both of you, I just need to dive deep into the matter”
“WE need to dive deeper into it” Zelda corrects him.
“We… of course my Princess” Link states correcting himself.
“HAHA, look at that, you got them to work together” Robert says to Zid chuckling.
“WE, and they work together just fine… you all do. I mean I saw what you just did” Zid points at the boys “Both of you took a stand to defend our position” he then turns to Zelda “And she delivered the final blow with her words… I mean of course she did, you were not going to allow her to fight or get harmed in any way, right? that immediately turns her into the group’s speaker” Zid whistles “And boy did she spoke, she just kept pulling out every fucking dirty shock they hid on the couch. Did you plan this before you found me or right after we left the hostel?”
He... thinks all that was sketched by us? Am I that good of an actress? Robert may have been right, I could work performing.
Zid also mentioned I completely destroyed the moral of the inhabitants, am I that good of a speaker? Could that mean I am lowkey fit to rule? WAIT, WHAT DO I DO NOW? SHOULD I TELL ZID THAT ALL THIS WAS IMPROVISED?
Zelda turns to look at Link distressed, he looks at her half smiling and brings a finger to his lips. He then repeats the gesture to Robert who gets the message and nods. The Princess lowers her head and walks behind Link as he laughed and began walking while typing, completely ignoring the Pirate’s question. Zid was pretty much chasing him, not demanding an answer, he just started talking frenetically about what just happened, and how it could have worked as content for a movie. Zelda receives a message a minute later ¨Zid is really enjoying the idea he formed of us, and what we did. He will know it was happenstance, just let him enjoy a little more… I feel like he needs this childish glee right now¨
Notes:
thanks for reading, if you like the story throw some kudos this way and subscribe so you wont miss any updates in case life happens and i fail to update on time. Next up for Nov. 16
Chapter 55: Camping with the boys
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The sun was setting, Zid was asked to find a safe place to camp and to gather dry branches for a bonfire. Zelda helped finding and gathering tinder to easily ignite it. Link and Robert headed out to hunt something to dine on.
[Link taped on Li’s shoulder “You come with me and help me hunt, but let’s not use your gun this time, I have no hunting license” Robert laughs “Fair, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty you know?” Robert says as he cracks his knuckles]
ZELDA POV
I am sure they will bring something, even if small. But how am I going to cook it? I have nowhere to boil it and even if I did have some type of casserole… it’s not a good idea to waste our water on that.
“I should have gone with them too you know” Zid says grumbling.
The Princess gasps “And leave me here all alone and unprotected?” Zelda smiles and starts sobbing, obviously faking her despair.
Zid rolls his eyes “TSK, we both know you don’t really need me; the area is secure enough and you are not defenseless. But my bros… not that they are weak or anything, but it’s already late, there is not enough daylight for them to easily spot tracks for a hunt, or notice an incoming animal attack… I should have gone with them, to help you know”
O my… he cares. He can be a little rough at some of his edges but… what is there not to love about Zid?
Zelda grins “Don’t worry about them, they will manage, in the mean time you cou-” Zelda stops mid-sentence, eyes opening wide in fear and worry. Zid turned to look behind his back triggered by the face he saw on the Princess. The figure standing in front of them was Link, and he was drenched in blood. Zelda was about to rush to him, check if he had any bleeding injury. Link raised his palm at his Princess to stop her and winked, that action alone put Zelda at ease immediately. Zid gasped and slapped his own forehead with his palm.
“Things didn’t go according to plan” Link informed them with half a smile.
“WE HAD A PLAN LEGION?” Robert states in anger as he approaches them, he was disheveled and covered in mud and something else.
Link frowned angered by the nickname, but looking at Robert’s sorry state erased the anger and brought a smile to his face. He simply could not get angry at Rob at the moment “Not really… but I thought we could improvise” he answers mockingly.
Li answers exasperated "Don't get me wrong, you and Zelda are EXELENT at that shit, but this time you involved ME… why the fuck would you think that I will be fine with this? I got dirt everywhere, even inside my boxers" he says shaking some of the dry mud from his hair and pants.
“Must I remind you that you what you said about getting your hands dirty? or are you backing off on your word like a little pussy?” Link challenges.
“NEVER, I said what I said and I stand by it… I jumped on the fucking boar, didn’t I? you just stayed back smirking and clapping” Li refutes.
Link walks away laughing “Yeah… sorry about that, I could not take my eyes off of you wrestling a feral pig. But you DID get back at me when you pushed me into the pool of blood and innards”
So that is why he is drenched like that... wait, they left the innards behind? Why?
“We are not eating the innards?” Zelda asks a little worried, no innards meant less food for the group.
Hearing her, Link realized what her concern was and chuckles “No innards this time, we can’t boil them and roasting innards is a hassle, we just eat the meat this time. It’s still enough meat so don’t worry”
Sighting “That sounds good, but where is the meat?” Zelda asks.
Link stops and opens his eyes wide turning to scream at Li.
“MOTHERFUCKER, you forgot the meat back there on purpose, didn’t you?” Link yelled as he opens his backpack drawing big chunks of meat out, he was smiling at his own theatrics.
Li Rolls his eyes “You asked me to help you hunt, not to help you carry meat around DUMB ASS” Li yells as he also draws a big piece of meat from his backpack, and places it next to Link’s. The brunette looks down at all the meat and smiles satisfied, he then raises his fist asking for a fist bump. Link quickly clean his hand from the dried blood to answer Robert’s bro fist.
What is going on? Why are they fighting? Are they fighting at all?
Zelda turns to Zid puzzled, who is finding it hard to keep his laughter at bay, Noticing the Princess’s confusion he says “They are just professing brotherly love to each other… isn’t that right Ziel?” Zid taunts.
“FUCK YOU” Link answers and sighs “just be quiet and come help me set the fire” Ziel half orders and half ask.
“I need a bath” Robert blurts out helpless.
Zelda stares at him distressed, she wants to help him, but how can she? Zid grins remembering something.
“SIS, remember we just passed a Banksia tree? The one with the odd yellow flowers? There was a burble sound around the area. Take Robert there to find the water, I will take Link after we set the fire”
YES, I remember… such a beautiful flower, that was like 3 minutes ago. There was a burble sound? I really need to pay more attention; hope Li can find the water source fast.
The Princess takes hold of Robert’s hand and starts pulling him away, Li barely manages to grab his backpack. Meanwhile Zid started making a small circle with stones, to mark the area where the fire will be.
ZID POV
“Do I just throw everything in there?” Zid asks.
“Of course not, have you never made a camp fire before?” Link mocks him as he grabs the meat to cut it in smaller pieces.
Zid rolls his eyes “Obviously not, you think I am stupid? Why would I signal the locals where I am with light and smoke?”
Link stops cutting the meat, slowly realizing the stupidity of his comment, and what Zid must have gone through to survive. He could not help but admire the Pirate for his resilience.
“Then how did you c- " shakes his head "forget it… just pay attention”
Link says as he begins to clear the area of grass, leaving only dirt inside the ring of stones Zid made. Ziel then grabbed some of the tinder Zelda managed to collect, placing it on the center of the stone ring and building a teepee on top of it with Zid’s twigs. Link then pulled out his Swiss army knife, and opened it to pull a miniature ferro rod that was placed where the toothpick should have been. Then he drew forward the knife pressing on the rod with it, generating a couple of sparks.
Zid smiles amazed “That easy? I saw tourist do it using 2 stones”
“Surely made from the same material used for my convenient toothpick. Start the fire” Link says as he hands over the ferro rod and the army knife.
Zid stares back doubtful “But… I have never”
“You are smart, and you saw how I obtained the sparks didn’t you?” Link challenges.
Zid squints his eyes at him, and starts his first attempt, though he got the spark to kind of start igniting the tinder, the flame didn’t grow enough to ignite the twigs.
Fuck, it’s good that Zelda found plenty of tinder, maybe if I blow on the small flame, yeah… I should try that. Why do I feel like I am being put to the test here? Link is just staring at what I do, stoic as ever. Kind of what he must have done when Li mounted the boar now that I think about it…
HE IS TESTING US ISN’T HE? WHY? Worse thing is that I feel like I need… like I WANT to impress him. Why the fuck would I want to impress him? who the fuck is he to me? I met the guy 2 days ago.
Zid managed to produce another spark that ignited the tinder, he lightly blew on it making it grow into a full fire. Link started clapping.
“Perfect” Link says as he starts adding bigger pieces of wood to the fire “Lets stick the meat in some sturdy twigs and place them close to the fire, the heat should cook them”
As they start doing that, Link asks the question that was bouncing on his mind “So… you really never cooked anything you caught?”
“Nope, I eat it raw, or dried by the sun. I try to avoid drying it though, most of it gets stolen by birds, doesn’t taste bad but it’s too dry, I could choke on it since I don’t carry water”
Link nods with understanding “Speaking of, take me to the water source Zid, I can hear that the Princess and Rob are already coming back”
“Will do, you desperately need it… you reek” Zid mocks him.
Raziel feigns being hurt by the comment. They both stand up; Link grabs his backpack and right at that moment Zelda arrives with Robert. Link tells them to watch over the roasting meat, and to put some more when the current pieces are done. Li nods and informs them where the water stream is located.
The Hero and the Pirate walked in silence following Li's direction. Once they arrived, they noticed it was a very small stream that could be easily crossed since it was not deep at all. But it was flowing water, Link was not going to complain. Zid kneeled next to it washing his hands, arms and face, once he was done, he gawked at the sight of Link shirt less.
WTF, when? how? It looks awesome in a way, not gonna lie. 4 gashes crossing his chest and belly diagonally, I would love to have a tattoo like that. But damn, gotta respect the real deal. Those scars seem to have been really deep, how did he survive? WHAT THE F… HIS BACK IS DAMAGED TOO!!!
Zid walks up to Link from behind and grabs him by his shoulders. Link sighs realizing what must have caught Zid’s attention. He also had plenty of scratches, gashes and bruises on his back, but most of them where already healed and barely noticeable, not as ghastly as what he had on his abdomen. Zid turned him but not to look at his abdomen, he stared right at Link eyes.
“What happen? Short version, pears and apples please”
Link smiles “Was attacked by Hyrule’s wild fauna, a monster that was supposed to have been eradicated from the area”
“How did you survive this” Zid points at the gashes on his torso.
“I didn’t, they had to resuscitate me, your sister helped with that.” Link grins sheepishly.
You telling me I almost didn’t get to meet you? ANY of you for that matter. Cuz, I understand it was you who set out to find Robert and me… you and Zelda, why is she tagging along by the way?
“How did my sister got involved in all of this?” Zid asks.
“I was protecting her; the beasts did a number on me but I killed them and Zelda was unscratched” Link says.
Zid lifts both his eyebrows in amusement “NICE, but not what I was asking… I wanted to know why is she here helping find us, and not in her kingdom doing princess stuff?” he asks curious about Zelda’s involvement in all this.
“That is due to a promise I made to her, my way of showing gratitude for what she did for me. If SWORD’s mission does not pose a danger to her, she tags along.” Link says as he changes his jeans.
Zid gives a step back laughing, then invites Link to follow him as he starts walking back. Link quickly puts on a clean t-shirt and follows.
“So, I am to believe that you always keep your promises, right?” Zid asks in a mocking tone.
Link stops dead on his tracks, Zid turns to look at him, Link’s face showed disgruntlement at what Zid implied with his comment.
“There is something you need to know about me. I don’t lie, if I say I am going to do something you better consider it done. I hate weakness, lying is not only a direct aggression, is an act of weakness. Is the coward’s way out of conflict and responsibility. I am no coward and neither are you. Do not EVER lie to me.”
DAMN!!! This motherfucker keeps making me want his approval badly. I wonder if Robert feels the same way. The worst part is… I now KNOW that I would rather die than fail him, because somehow that would be like failing myself, WHY do I feel like that?
“I promise to continue to be a pain in the ass, but I will never lie to you, I am no coward” Zid declares.
Link nods with a smile and hints for Zid reassume their walking. As they approached the camp, they could hear Zelda screaming at Li for not waiting for the boys before starting to eat. Link enters the area chuckling.
“Girl don’t yell so loudly; the whole jungle doesn’t need to know how much of a shitty brother Robert is”
Li lifts and eyebrow “Ziel… I don’t mind animals knowing about my shitty ways, if screaming it out makes her feel better about it, let her. I will continue to feast on this porcine leg” Robert bites on it joyfully.
Link Rolls his eyes “I am making you immune to my teasing am I not?” he utters.
"Oh, you were teasing? I thought we were stating facts here" Robert says, chin tucked in and emerald eyes staring up at Link with an evil smile "I AM a shitty person, but you already knew that didn't you?" he chuckles "It's kind of fucked up that you do not mind that flaw… or do you?" Robert asks defiantly.
"Haha, you are flawed, but trust worthy and highly capable. That is my favorite type of person, of course I don't mind" Link answers bluntly disarming Robert immediately.
Link may have known but I didn’t. I thought Robert was just a very reserved guy… but he is reading us far beyond our own understanding, and he is physically capable from what I remember of our fight. I was only paying attention to Link, but I should be wary of Li too. Just in case.
Link and Zid lower themselves to sit on the old blanket Zelda extended on the ground.
“I told her we could sit on the ground, that she should have used the blanket to cover herself during the night” Zid exclaims to everyone present.
Zelda exhales exasperated “And I told you, WE need an area to sleep on. I don’t need it to warm myself, I WON’T be cold” she winks at him.
“None of us will be” Li adds between mouthfuls “Unless you are a lone wolf and decide to sleep far away from the group… don’t recommend it though, it’s not safe. I CALL DIBS ON LINK’S LEGS”
Zelda and Zid’s eyes go wide open, Link hides his face between his hands. Zelda raises her hand yelling.
“NOT FAIR, whatever, he is hugging me… or I am hugging him. Isn’t that right Ziel?” Zelda stares at Link daring him to disagree.
What? Dibs on Link? [Zid walks up to Link from behind and grabs him by his shoulders] So… I didn’t imagine it back there; he HAS a thermic imbalance. And these fuckers are taking advantage of it… maybe I should too.
“I have an idea” the Pirate exclaims “Li can make use of the legs as a pillow or whatever, but Link lays on his side, he spoons you sis, and I spoon him, that ok?”
LINK POV
I always knew that at some point a mob was going to be fighting for me… I was kind of hoping it would be composed of sexy females, not of highly skilled men-boys and my ward.
Link sighs “You have not even asked me; we are out in the open in the middle of a jungle. I am staying on patrol all night” he looks at Li and Zid “no need to take turns for guarding, I will take care of it”
“NO, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WILL TAKE CARE OF IT?” Li barks “YOU are part of the defense program here; we need you rested”
“We don’t know how close we are to the fugitives we are chasing, and not all wild life in this particular area is friendly. I won’t be able to shut my eyes, better make use of my anxiety don’t you think? Besides… is not the first time I take an all-nighter, I will be fine, you all go to sleep. I will be leaning on that tree” Link points to an acacia tree nearby.
“Hug each other if you need to, I swear that what happens in Australia stays in Australia” Link says wiggling his eyebrows.
And with that they forget about me and start fighting each other in… 3, 2, 1.
Zid and Rob start growling at each other, the Princess rolls her eyes and puts herself between them.
“I know, I know… EW. How about this, Robert hugs me and I hug Zid, that way you don’t have to touch each other” the Princess suggests.
Link rolls his eyes Damn this bitch, she won’t let me have my fun.
Link grabs a small piece of meat, eats it and heads to the acacia tree, leaving the rest to negotiate who hugs who. After a while no more sound is heard from the group. Ziel chooses to slide down the trunk of the tree to sit on the ground, he bends his knees to rest his arms on them, and hangs his head between his legs closing his eyes.
3 days, that is our time limit, and we don’t even know if the assailants are still around. The aboriginals gave up trying to seek help from the government, that was 3 months ago. They could have already moved to other areas of Australia. We should not be far from a barley plantation if I remember correctly. And it’s supposed to be close to other 2, a wheat field and an apple orchard. Maybe we should try to locate an area between the three, to allows us to respond fast to any of them if anything were to happen.
Movement is heard, Link doesn’t open his eyes suspecting who it may be. Zelda managed to find her way out of Robert´s hold. As she walks out of the blanket Zelda notices Li pulling Zid into a hug. She smiles but continues walking towards Link. Stops in front of him and crouches trying to look at his face, to cheek if he is sleep, or anything.
“What do you need?” Link suddenly blurts out without opening his eyes, the Princess yelps in surprise.
“I… wanted to check on you, see if you were fine”
“I am, go to sleep”
“Ok” Zelda sits next to him and tries to hug him from the side.
Link immediately moves away from her “What the fuck are you doing? Get back to the blanket between my brothers” he tells her.
“That is no longer an option” Zelda giggles.
Link raises his head to look at what the problem is, he notices the compromising position his brothers were in and smiles.
I should take a picture of that
*You said that what happens in Australia STAYS in Australia, are you going to betray them?*
DAMN… I will behave
Link sighs and lowers his legs, he then starts to dust off his pants with his hands. The Princess smiling gets between his legs and lays her head on his right thigh, then hugs said leg with her arms, but not before reaching for his left leg and placing it on top of herself.
Oh, wow… ok I guess, if she is comfortable. Better than her sitting on me
*COME ON, you wanted her to sit on your lap, didn’t you?*
No, I didn’t. When I saw her getting between my legs I started to panic. I still HATE her, yet I don’t want to cause her any harm. And if for some reason her actions where not demure, I would feel compelled to slap the shit out of her.
*And I would have paid to see you do that*
Notes:
thanks for reading, please send some kudos this way and subscribe so you wont miss any update. Next: November 29
Chapter 56
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ROBERT POV
Rob slowly opened his eyes, woken up by Zelda moving around under his arm. Looking down he saw her blond hair styled in a French braid.
Was Zid able to teach her how to braid hair like that? if I remember correctly, she didn't know, and wanted to learn how.
Upon closer examination his eyes open wide in fear, he noticed the fucking monkey tail. Robert yelps sitting up, the explosive reaction woke Zid, who yawns and lazily turns around only to realize his sister is nowhere to be found. Zid notices Li's exalted demeanor. Then the pieces start falling into place on the Pirate's head, Zid quickly performs a floor kip and walks away from the Engineer. Being hugged during his sleep by another male brought him a lot of shame, an emotion he was not used to feeling. This caused his head to start spiraling in panic. Then Rob snapped his fingers.
Smiling sheepishly, Robert extends his hand for a shake "What happens in Australia" he says.
Zid sighs chuckling "Fucking stays in Australia" Zid exclaims as he shakes Li's hand.
Clapping is heard by both of the brothers as they turn their head to the source. Link is slowly clapping at them; he slowly glares at each one smirking and stops clapping. He then starts placing his left arm on his raised knee, and his right hand on Zelda's head as she lays on the floor hugging his other leg.
"Glad you solved everything like adults"
He fucking saw and heard EVERYTHING... how come I didn't notice him when he woke up? Oh... right, he said he was not going to sleep, I thought he was joking. Who the fuck stays up all night willingly? According to what I know of SWORD so far, this can't possibly be part of their training. That means Link had been doing shit like this on his own since before being hired by the agency. WHY? what happened to him? what kind of situation forces a child to remain vigil all night?
Wait, why is Zelda sleeping on Link? She was supposed to be sleeping with us… but she left, causing this humiliating situation to begin with. She doesn't deserve to continue to sleep peacefully after this… the fucking Princess will have to answer to ME.
Li squints his eyes and slowly crawls towards his sister. Once he got close to her feet, he started tickling them. Zelda gave a hard kick witch Rob masterfully avoided; she sat up scared checking if she had an animal crawling up her feet. She then stares at Rob furiously.
"Why would you disturb my peace of mind like that?" Zelda asks clearly angry.
"I don't know... maybe because YOU disturbed mine" Li answers bluntly.
Zelda stares at him in shock "WHAT? How could I? I was sleeping"
The Engineer produces a clicking sound "Well yeah, but you were supposed to be sleeping between Zid and me, not hugging Link's leg?" Li yells demandingly.
"Ow... that, I am sorry, I had to piss. When I came back, there was no space for me between you both anymore." Zelda says with a sheepish smile.
All right, that sounds plausible.
Link gives the princess a side glance full of disdain, it was a very brief moment, but Robert noticed.
What the fuck was that? did he just... she IS LYING. That must be the reason
[expect a medic from SWORD to visit you any moment now, I swear I am not lying about ANY of this... I hate lies and liars]
That is what he told me when he left my house back in Huston. And I believe him.
Li squinted his eyes at the Princess, but could not really formulate his next sentence. Fortunately, Zid intervened.
"Honesty is the best policy you know?" Zid tells Zelda lifting an eyebrow at her.
Haha Zid knows she is lying too, good.
"Why would-" she stops mid-sentence and looks down between her feet. The Princess closes her eyes tight and takes a very deep breath. "ALL RIGHT, let's put all the cards on the table... I woke up from a nightmare, it was very cold and Link was alone by the tree. When I sat up to look at him, I got scared, he didn't seem to be breathing... I mean his eyes where closed, what if he passed out?... As I said, it was a cold night, I left the both of you to go check on Ziel out of concern all right?" Zelda says looking away from all of them.
"THERE, those are all my cards, YOUR TURN, how much did you enjoy the hugging session?" Zelda asks trying the sink the dagger deeper, she pissed at them for forcing her to speak.
This fucking bitch just had to give one last blow, because why the fuck not. She did come clean at the end though; I respect that... But I don't understand why she even lied about it in the first place? Was it that she didn't want us perceive her as weak or something? [Zelda yells irate as she starts throwing objects at Link] Wait, wrong question. She didn't want to reveal her concern for Link... why? What IS the story between those two?
Link half smiles and looks at his duplicates waiting for them to answer to the Princess, Zid starts wiggling his eyebrows and approaches Li very seductively. Robert squints his eyes and stops Zid's approach by holding his shoulders with both hands, Robert then half smiles.
What the… oh, I see, you want to dance. Then let's dance.
Robert lovingly puts a lose hair strand of Zid behind his ear, then produces the most captivating smile he can muster.
"Maybe" Robert answers Zelda as he coups Zid's face and tries to caress the pirate's lower lip with his thumb. But the rover bites said finger.
Argh!!! Robert complains and examines his finger.
Zelda kept staring clearly mortified by the interaction between her brothers, Link just burst out in laughter watching her distress, and Rob's bleeding thumb.
"Not sorry, you were taking it WAY TOO FAR bro" Zid exclaims grinning.
Zelda relaxes once she notices it was an improvised act meant to shock and mock her. She raises her eyes to the sky and mouthing blasphemies.
Chuckling "yeah, sorry about that, got inspired" Robert says smiling.
"I cause that on people, so don't sweat it... where to now Link?" Zid asks.
Link told them that he requested information on their current location, since they were staying only for 3 days, and one of them was already spent. Turns out there are three plantation farms close by, they had to choose one since time was limited. Zid immediately suggests the Barley farm, claiming that it was managed by two sisters, they may not catch the criminals but if they could at least guard the girls for the next 2 days, he will consider it a successful mission and accept the donor's program.
He better accept it. That way he will be economically and medically taken care of. Releasing us from the burden of having to constantly worry about him... well, at least I worry, he seems and moves fine, but THAT WEIGHT IS NOT HEALTY.
ZID POV
Well... right now we have been walking in silence, but I have been having so much fucking fun. Zelda is still angry at me and Li. Because we basically made her admit to have feelings for Link... or at least that is what I think the problem is, could be wrong though.
Been trying to make up with her but she is a hard cookie, and that has been one of the most delightful parts of this journey for me. I have been improvising scenarios that will force her to talk to me... my favorite so far is when I came across a tarantula and caught it, since she didn't even flinch, I decided to pushed it further and attempt to eat the arachnid in front of her. Was not going to really do it of course, but I got what I wanted… she screamed swatting the critter from my hand, then began to yell at me for even attempting to eat it, then left my side pissed that I was just staring at her grinning like a mad man. Hate to admit it but I can't stand her silent treatment. I needed her to react to me, to insult me at least or something.
The group kept walking when suddenly Link stops and asks them all to stop by lifting a palm, then places a finger on his lips to request silence. Then after a few seconds he starts running REALLY fast. Li grabs Zelda's hand and pulls her to ride on him piggy back style, then starts running behind Link. Zid just gives chase to all of them confused.
What the fuck is happening, did Link found the criminals?
Zid caught up with all of them really fast, they appeared to be crouching. Link had his index finger on his lips, still requesting them to be quiet. He opened the foliage a little to see, in front of them where was a barley field, not big but not small either, about the size of a soccer field. On the edge opposite to them was a small house. The door was kicked open from the inside, a man came out zipping his pants and grinning proudly as he heard the girls he left behind sobbing, then another man entered the house closing the door. Terrified screams were heard and then a hard slap. They all knew what was happening in there, Zid was about to jump into action but Link tackled him to the ground hard.
"What the fuck? We need to save them, YOU NEED TO SAVE THEM, ISNT THAT YOUR JOB"
POW!!!
Link connected a punch to Zid's cheek bone and answered irate.
"I AM NOT SHIELD; I don't save people. I execute them, engrave it on your fucking head" Link says in a low menacing tone.
The scared pleas of one of the girls was heard, followed by the sound of a man yelling and smacking them, which only fueled the girl's fear making them shriek in terror. This only caused the assailant to lose his patience and start beating them with something, a metallic tube judging by the sound.
Zelda dropped to the ground covering her ears, her whole body was shaking violently in fear and impotence. She started rocking herself as a cascade of tears dropped from her eyes. She was biting hard on her inner cheek to contain her own screams.
"And HOW do you plan on executing them genius?" Zid exclaims in a low tone.
"The only way it can be done... ambush. I NEVER just rush in, no matter what is happening and to whom, if I enter the scene imprudently, I am essentially giving away my position and granting some of them the opportunity to flee. I CAN NOT allow that; I have to rid of EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM... it has to be done in a way where they won't even see me coming, so they won't have time to warn the rest. Do you understand? Can I count on you?"
NO, I mean, I do understand the need to remain undercover, but how can you stay here knowing a rape is taking place and not do something to stop it? This motherfucker is not my brother, he is a fiend, a complete sadist, a-
BOOMM!!!
A gun shot is heard, followed by the loud bellowing of one of the girls. Zelda covers her mouth and weeps in sorrow. Li frowns and looks at Link.
"Am I allowed to use my gun now?" Robert asks with a neutral semblance.
"YES, go around the back of the house, anyone that runs your way trying to escape, you put a bullet between their eyebrows... If they are not trying to run away" Link draws a dagger from his boot and hands it him "you end them with this, to avoid alerting the rest with the sound of a shot"
Robert nods grabbing the dagger and starts heading to the back of the cottage. Zid stares at Link, who only raises an eyebrow. The sound of a heartbreaking low cry is heard. It was Zelda, she was afraid for the girls, and found it hard to contain her whimpering... watching the Princess like that disturbed Zid, it brought back the memory of the dream where Zelda had been...
Zid started beating his own head hard with his fists. Zelda yelped scared for her brother, she started to crawl towards Zid to stop him, but Link grabbed her arm and pulled her away, he remained stoic, waiting patiently for Zid to come out of his inner struggle.
Then, as if by magic, it all fell into place, Zid didn't knew who or what he was, his existence had been hell on earth so far, but none of that mattered anymore. All he cared about was the light he was able to see at the end of the tunnel, a light that glimmered promising that HE HAD A PURPUSE, a role to play in all this mess. Zid stopped hitting his head and rolled his neck, then he heard men laughing. He opened his eyes knowing what his purpose was: he wanted ALL of them DEATH.
"What do you need me to do?" Zid asks in a neutral tone.
Link smiles.
Notes:
thanks for reading, subscribe so you wont miss any updates, and send some kudos this way. Next up: December 13
Chapter 57: To Beat The Imposible
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link gave Zid some instructions and headed into the orchard crouching. Zid stayed behind counting and then followed the Time Hero. Zelda was told to sit and remain quiet. But of course, she was not going to do that. Yes, she was scared, disgusted by the idea of what was happening to the girls inside the shed, and completely revolted by the prospect of Link slaughtering the men responsible…
Zid's task in all this was disgusting, but VERY important. He had to scan the bodies left behind by Link in search of any type of information. Names, bank accounts, cellphones, ANYTHING. The info was necessary to conclude if these criminals were casuals, or if they were an organized group with branches across Sydney.
ZELDA POV
¨Stay here and don't look¨ Link said, well that is kind of IMPOSIBLE. Those are dangerous people; how can he tell me to just stay put? It's my brothers and HIM risking their lives, I need to be able to respond quickly if needed, and to do that, I NEED TO WATCH.
The Princess breaths in to calm herself and parts the leaves to look at the field. She could not locate Link in there, then she notices a figure slowly rising from a crouched position, he was wearing a brown tank top and holding stilettos in his hands.
That must be Ziel… he was not wearing a tank top, was he? Well, I guess he could have been wearing that under his t-shirt. WHAT THE…
Link suddenly rushes in to ambush his first target from behind; he slashes the man's neck with his left hand while his right one was thrusting his stiletto on the mugger's back. Link seemed to be enjoying the man's panicked attempt at screaming, but with a stiletto piercing his lung, and his vocal cords damaged, the best he could do was a low whimper. Link lowers the thug to the ground, then moves to his next victim crouching.
That was… the delinquent wasn't even aware; he was completely caught off guard. How? I remember reading that we don't perceive most smells consciously, but most of us are able to avoid incoming attacks from other people because our unconscious mind smells them. Link's steps may be silent, but how the hell does he hide his smell?
Zid starts searching on the fallen outlaw's pockets and even looks inside the shoes when a grunt is heard.
"WAS THAT YOU LEAF? Another villain on the vicinity yells.
A small grunt is heard followed by a cough; Link suddenly stands facing away from the other speaker. He continues to fake cough and raises a thumb to signal he is OK. Link was wearing a brown cap that must have been Leaf's.
"I fucking told you to medicate that cough you fucking ass, I have a mint. Get here so I can shove it down your fucking throat"
Link continues to cough as he approaches the man while keeping his head down, all under the guise of having trouble breathing and shallowing, but in reality, he was avoiding detection. Link stopped his advance and lowered his body when the wind blew hard, faking a coughing attack. Once he got close enough, he impaled the man's head with his stiletto. Drawing the man to his knees, Link carefully grabs the dead man’s hair with his right hand, avoiding the frontal bone where the tip of his blade was clearly coming out of. The Hero then pulls the bladed weapon out from the criminal's chin with his left hand. Link was smiling while cleaning the dagger on the mugger's clothing, then released the dead man's hair, allowing the body to drop heavily on the ground. Zelda refused to shed tears, but was clearly affected by what she saw.
I think I get how he pulled it off the first time, he waits until the wind current is not strong enough to give him away, and when it is, he crouched to mix his sent with the barley… simple but he is completely avoiding detection. The idea of a slayer being able to approach you unnoticed is terrifying.
ZID POV
LINK WAS NOT JOCKING. I must admit that I still had my doubts about him, but DAMN. He knows what he is doing. Even now that he gutted one in front of another, the fucker who watched the carnage ran off screaming… and I believe that was no mistake. HE ALLOWED IT KNOWING ROBERT WOULD TAKE CARE THE DESERTER.
BANG!!! Link chuckles at the sound and turns to Zid dusting his gloves "How many did I get, and did you find anything?"
I used to believe he was testing me and Li, but it's not that at all, he has high expectations of us, based on what I don't know.
"7 if you count the one that Robert just shot, I found no info that connects them to a larger group, but their ID show that they were foreigners from New Zealand" Zid says with clear doubt.
Link frowns and shakes his head "No, with those facial features they cannot be New Zealanders… they were preparing to migrate there" he states as he waves for Li and Zelda to close in.
That sounds possible, damn… this guy is sharp.
Zelda approaches them, her eyes still a little glassy due to her crying not so long ago. Robert jumps from a tree to the roof of the house and climbs down.
Then a slap is heard followed by a whimper. Link turns to Zelda.
"Stay out here, you really don't want to see this" Link warns the Princess, and this time... the Princess obeyed.
Link silently jogs to the shed's door and with a smooth, practiced motion, he turns the handle ensuring the door swings open with minimal sound. His eyes go wide at the scene beyond the door frame, but he composes himself and smirking he stares at Zid. He opens the door wider using his left hand and steps back slightly inviting the Pirate to enter first. Once Zid enters he hollers irate seeing the felon still pumping in and out of one of the girls… hell breaks loose after that.
LINK POV
Zid ran up to the ravisher and pulled him off the girl slamming him to the ground. Then sat on top of the felon and started throwing savage punches at his face. The man starts screaming and throws his hands up to shield his face from the punches. Zid, bothered by this, bites off the man's middle finger, staining himself and the felon with the blood spurt coming out of the fingerless hand. Zid smiles viciously hearing the rapist wailing in pain, he then spits out the digit "YOU DON'T GET TO DEFEND YOURSELF FROM ME!" he roars as he continues the onslaught.
In the middle of the room laid the body of one of the sisters, bruises and gashes filled her arms and legs. Her right humerus obviously broken, since the bone was clearly visible sticking out of the skin. Her face was swollen and tainted in red and bluish-purple, due to the multiple hits it sustained, a small string of blood was pouring out of her mouth, her eyes where open and still holding terror in them.
Li entered when he heard there was a fight going on, and upon seeing the scene he tried to join Zid on punishing the rapist but was immediately stopped by Link.
"This is HIS fight, I believe he knew the sisters, don't interfere" The Hero of time declares.
Robert widens his eyes and yells loudly exuding pain and impotence, then glances at Zid with sorrow before walking out of the shed.
Well monkey boy is a savage, FUCKING GOOD, I believe the rapist is dead by now but I will stop the battering in a minute, Zid needs this. Let's check on the survivor now.
Link start walking to the girl, she tried to cover herself with sheets from the bed she was on. She was watching everything Zid was doing, even when he stood up to retrieve a knife and came back to harshly cut the penis of the assailant, but the man didn't react, he was already dead. Yet Zid continued his merciless punishment. Curiously the girl didn't appear to be afraid of her unlikely savior. Then the victim looked at Link and managed to speak.
"He is Z1D-403 isn't he?" the girl asks.
Link stares at her lifting an eyebrow.
Well, that confirms my assumption that Zid knew the girls.
"Were you the one who took him to the hospital a few years ago?" Link asks her.
"No… that was my sist-" she starts sobbing without ending the sentence.
Link nods and walks towards the Pirate to stop his merciless beating. Zid finally does once he notices the girl sobbing, he sighs and slowly walks towards the dead sister's body. Crouching down he retrieves the bracelet with his name from her wrist, then kisses his right hand's second and third fingers placing said kiss on the death girl's cheek.
Walking back, Zid says to the surviving girl "Please don't cry, I am not here to hurt you"
Sobbing and trembling in pain the girl looks at Zid "I know that, I am not crying because of you… I am crying for Ava" she wails.
Zid starts punching his own head "This shouldn't have happened Isla, I should have been here on time, I…"
"DON'T, this was not your fault, you should not have been here to begin with, you were supposed to be death… Ava believed you were, but you aren't, you came for us… thank you" she wipes her face clean from the tears "Ava would have loved seeing you alive and well" Isla says, not because she was trying make Zid feel better, but because she honestly believed Ava would have loved know that her monkey boy was alive.
Zid smiles, but soon realizes a harsh truth, he starts pulling on Link's arm in panic "If word gets out of this, Isla will never find a husband... nobody wants a defiled woman, no matter how it happened"
Is that what worries you Zid? Do you even know who you are talking to?
Ziel answers with a malevolent grin "That is why she will lie, and we will help her do it… FIRST we get rid of the bodies in the field" Link turns to look straight at the girl "Don't you dare clean yourself in any way, just put your dress back on and wash your lady parts, but don't put on clean clothes or brush your hair. Your current appearance only helps make the story you are going to sell more believable"
Isla stands, not caring about her nakedness, and puts her dress back on. It was dirty and ragged, surely due to the fight she must have put. Link takes a deep breath in and smiles at the image.
"You are going to tell them that the man was alone, he raped and killed Ava. You were not here, you just came back from buying whatever and saw the man defiling your sister, you grabbed this kitchen knife and staved him" Link actually grabs the knife Zid used on the rapist and stabs him once again in the heart, he then rubs the handle harshly with his gloved hands to erase the Pirate's hand prints and hands the knife to Isla, to get her print on it.
"She ends up claiming to have done all this? the beating, biting of a finger, cutting out his-" Zid asks and watches mortified at what Link was about to do.
The Hero picks up the finger and approaches Isla, she closes her eyes in fear as Link rubs the finger around her mouth, the girl begins to gag and Link uses that as an opportunity to shove the finger inside her jaw, Isla just spits it out and glares at Link in anger, blood staining her mouth and face.
Link grins "PERFECT" turns to look at the Pirate "Tell me that is not the face of a demented girl that could have done all this out of vengeance" Ziel chuckles "She did all this out of vengeance. After she stabbed the man in the heart, later checked on Ava and realized she was dead. Fury made her go back to the rapist and beat the crap out of him in anger… then she called the cops"
"That… doesn't sound too bad, I can see it happening that way" Zid exclaims amazed.
"She will need her hands to be stained with his blood too" says Li as he reenters the shed.
"I don't think she will mind giving him a few punches of her own, right sweetie?" Link taunts her.
Isla stands up and sits on top of the rapist and starts punching him. Making sure to stain her dress with his blood in the process.
She is already committed to the story; she is taking care of staining her dress with his blood too… I love smart girls.
Link clears his throat to draw his brother's attention "She may need privacy to wash her intimate parts, lets rid of the bodies outside, Isla… 30 minutes and you make the call, we were not here, ok? May the rest of your life be peaceful and happy." As he was leaving, he turns back "One last detail, after you stabbed him, he did not die immediately, he tried to grab you and that is when you bit the finger off, he fell on his knees and dropped dead soon after. You went to check on your sister and came back to do the rest out of vengeance… then you called the cops"
Isla nods at Link and stands up rushing to hug the monkey boy.
"I feel I won't be seeing you again. Just… take care, and THANK YOU" she says as she briefly kisses him on the mouth, Zid's eyes open wide at that as Isla's tears continue to roll down her face "That kiss was from Ava" she says as she takes the bracelet from him to place it on her own wrist sobbing. Zid bows at her and turns to exit the shed.
"Half an hour and you make that call; we were never here" Link tells the survivor and follows his brother out of the shed.
After cutting the bodies in pieces and digging them under the barley crops as fertilizer, everyone was walking back in silence. The group managed to reach another small town but… Link felt they all needed solitude to wrap their minds around everything, also Zid will surely have questions, Link needed privacy to answer them. Hence, he told them to camp just outside of the town.
This time around, Zid taught Robert how to ignite the campfire. As they all were sitting in a circle around the fire, Zelda began to dig inside her backpack for the apples she had stored, that apple was going to be their dinner since they were too close to the town to legally hunt.
"Does this classify as a normal work day for you?" Zid asks Link on a neutral tone.
"Yes, sometimes is better, others MUCH worse"
"But… when does it ever end?" Zid asks in defeat.
Link smiles "It doesn't, there will always be bad people, and that is normal. It's like cancer cells in your body, they spawn everyday but your T-Cells find and destroy them… we are humanity's T-Cells"
Zid shakes his head "Still, you kill one but 10 more spawn, I don't think... the task sounds IMPOSIBLE"
Link looks at Zid, takes a big breath of air, and slowly lifts his knees to rest his arms in them before answering.
"It does sound like an overwhelming task, but that doesn't change anything... we still have to do it. To beat the impossible, we end up doing the unthinkable" Link's left hand simulates a plane or ship going down "We, have to sink to the enemy's level. That means, we study them, their habits, we learn to think like them, eat like them, and mimic them in every way. the objective is to become undetectable"
"In other words, unstoppable" Zelda comments as she takes a bite from her apple.
Link smiles at the Princess statement and nods "That is the idea my Princess, they can't fight against whom they won't even suspect, that is how we fight fire with fire… constantly resisting the devil's pull"
Zid perks at that last statemen "Wait, what do you mean by that? what is the devil's pull?" Zid asks.
Link chuckles "It’s the feedback loop, you always end up becoming what you imitate. We SWORD agents may have morphed into them… but we must never forget that WE ARE NOT THE SAME"
Zid ponder about what he just heard and then looks at Link with eyes full of determination "Ziel…" Zid stands up and goes down on a knee in front of the Hero "I need your help, I CRAVE this you are speaking of, how do I become a SWORD agent?"
Link smiles evilly.
Got you.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, please subscribe and send some Kudos this way. Next will be up by: December 27
Chapter 58: Leaving Australia
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link was a few yards away discussing with general Zalatoris. Zid stayed sitting by the fire, his eyes reflecting the flame, but his mind was wondering around what he had said before about accepting the donor program if he participated this time. But now his demand has changed, he would still donate anything to Link in the blink of an eye, but he also wanted to become an agent.
Zelda was walking around in circles, anxious but smiling and giggling every now and then, obviously happy with the turn of events. Robert, on the other hand, was picking stones and throwing them at places he was sure to have heard sound from.
ROBERT POV
No luck so far… well, not that I am actually expecting anything from throwing a few pebbles… still, it gives me something to do, and best-case scenario, I manage to hit a small bird or a rodent and we eat a little meat.
"Maybe I should intervene, I need the big shot to know my request is MINE. I don't want Link in trouble for this." Zid informs them before standing up.
Li grabs on his tail and pulls Zid back to a sitting position "This is HIS thing, let him deal with it. Besides… he thrives in conflict. You should consider yourself part of the SWORD team already." Robert says as he throws another pebble.
"BUT" Zid tries to protest.
Zelda stops her walking and blurts out "They LOVE Link, if he says you should join, they will at least give you a test try… don't worry" she assures him.
BARK, BARK, BARK!!! Zelda and Zid cover their ears and try to take cover scared, that sounded like a dog but it could not be, it was coming from the trees. Li stands up grabbing a hand sized rock and throws it, then they all see an explosion of feathers and something falling a few feet from them.
I fucking, did it? I was thinking a weebill or a magpie. I got a fucking barking owl, using a rock as a weapon, aiming with poor sun light... I guess I am THAT GOOD.
Zelda approaches the fallen bird to look at it "We are going to eat it right? you both start plucking the feathers and cutting it, I will search for branches to put the meat to roast" She orders and heads out, she only had minutes of daylight left, she intended to use them.
"A little bossy, isn't she?" Zid says lifting an eyebrow.
Rob chuckles "Yeah, but that is good don't you think? Since she is a future Queen in the making"
Zid rolls his eyes "Well… if you put it that way, yeah, it's good"
Robert picks up the howl and brings it for them to start working on it as the Princess ordered. "And as her brother I think it's a blessing. It means she has character; no fuck boy is gonna get his way with her… not easily at least"
Zid opens his eyes wide and starts chocking a little at the idea.
"I had not thought so far ahead. This FAKE FAMILY SHIT is forcing me to feel for ALL of you… that means I can't be selfish and just care about myself, now I have to worry about all of you. Well, you and Ziel don't really worry me, you both can take care of yourselves. But HER… she is young and beautiful, that makes her a magnet for perverts, and I can't cage her in a bubble, WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THEN?"
He… actually did a VERY GOOD JOB voicing the concern I have been living with since I meet her at Huston. So good of a job that he managed to demoralized me, now I feel like an uncapable piece of shit.
Robert smiles at Zid and places an arm around his shoulders.
"Welcome to the nightmare" Robert says with fake joviality as he starts plucking the bird.
Around half an hour later, Zelda returns carrying 4 sturdy branches to roast the bird and some more tinder just in case, her hair had a few leaves and branches stuck in it… her face had dirt spots and she somehow ripped the lower part of her pants. She noticed both her brothers staring at her state and just beamed at them.
As I said… beautiful, Damn this girl.
Zid grabs on Robert's shoulder and looks at him in utter defeat, they hug each other and start sobbing. Zelda rushes to them to let them know that she is ok, she may have fallen and rolled on the ground a little, but nothing to be sad about. Both boys turn to glare at her and smirk before they start pulling on her hair and chasing her around the fire.
After a while of tormenting the Princess, Robert starts cutting the bird in pieces and Zid places the cuts of meat on sticks by the fire. Then Link enters the scene talking about what was to happen next but goes death quiet once he notices what they are doing. His face begins to scowl, his eyes seemed to have darkened their natural gray color. That made Zid and Zelda flinch and point at Li.
WTF… these mother fuckers betrayed me. Come on, THINK. How do I get out of this. I appeal to reason, that is how. Because he may be a monster, but even in that state, he retains cognition, doesn't he?
"DID YOU HEAR A SHOT?" Robert shouts.
Link immediately halts his rail of dark thoughts.
"You didn't, did you? because I did not shoot the bird down, no illegal hunting happened"
"Then how?" Link asks with curiosity.
"He fucking threw a rock at it; you should have seen it" Zid answers exited and starts narrating the event using mimics to add drama and excitement to the whole thing.
Zelda was laughing at the theatrics, Robert was looking away, his face red in shame. Link just chuckled at all of it.
I can't handle this, I hate being the center of attention, and Zid is not only putting me there, he is also praising me. I am not good with positive feedback; I should stop this.
"Link, you were about to tell us something right?" Robert asks trying to leave the spot light by changing the subject.
Link rolls his eyes realizing what Robert was trying to do "Yes, tomorrow we are heading back, both of you will read and sign a contract with SWORD stating that you will be tested, physically and psychologically. When you both pass those tests, you will begin a program of ¨slow approach¨ since you are not 18, meaning you won't be admitted as agents yet. You will retain the original income of 10k, and you will use it to feed yourselves, dress yourselves, and pay for transportation to follow agents around, thus being exposed firsthand to what we do and how we work. Until you turn 18 and become SWORD agents"
Robert gins widely and thanks him. Zid on the other hand, starts sweating and showing signs of insecurity.
"What if I don't pass the test? I mean… you know me by now, I thrive on being a disappointment" Zid says with a sheepish smile.
Li grunts irate and throws a punch at Zid's stomach. Zelda yelps in fear, Zid falls back on the ground as Robert sits on top of him and starts punching him EVERYWHERE, Link roars in laughter. Zelda turns to Link confused by his reaction as Robert stands up leaving Zid on the ground.
"It's brotherly love Princess, Robert is telling him ¨stop being a pussy, you are NOT going to fail… and if you do, I WILL KILL YOU¨"
Zelda smiles weakly "Really? Gosh… why the need to be violent about it?"
"We are MEN, we must be the stronghold of our family in the future, this is how we practice… don't worry, we kind of love him, those were soft punches" Link smiles at his own statement.
ZELDA POV
SOFT PUNCHES MY ASS, his lower lip is bleeding and his left cheek now has a bruise. Is it just them? or this is how brotherly love works for everyone? does this means they don't love me?
[Link saying "We are MEN"]
Wait…
[Robert waking her up tickling her feet]
[Zid trying to eat a tarantula to spite her]
[Rob and Zid chasing her and pulling her hair]
They DO love me, they don't punch me since I am a girl, but they find other ways to grant me ¨soft punches¨
Zelda takes a big breath of air and begins to smile widely.
Men love is primitive to say the least, is it weird that I still find it endearing and kind of cute? Well, at least Robert and Zid love me. But with Ziel… it's not like he gives me soft punches, he actually gets there with the intention to cause harm...
The tackles he gave me were VERY aggressive. I still feel the bruises… that only means he doesn't mind physically hurting me at all. But he won't kill me either… and It's not like he can't. He has more than enough strength and lack of moral ground to do it. But he has never even tried to, he overall protects me when needed and hurts me if I give him the chance… so, does he love or hate me?
Zid finally sits up massaging his face.
"Message received… now come down here and let me love you back" Zid says in a dangerous tone as he frowns at Robert.
Damn, Li is not going to back down, and Zid wants to start a fight, how do I stop this?
"I think the meat is ready, grab your piece and eat it before the smell attracts something" Ziel says.
FOOD, of course…
And as if by magic, Robert and Zid forget their quarrel and focus on the food, they even start sharing ideas on how they could have spiced it. Link decides it's his chance to question Zid about his past.
"Tell me how you got to meet the twin sisters back at the Barley orchard" Link asks.
Zid swallows his bite and closes his eyes a few seconds, then opens them deciding he trust the group to speak about this.
"I am just going to say this once, so pay attention. I was feeling terrible for days and fainted in the middle of the forest, Ava found me and brought me to her home, Isla tried to convince Ava to put me back where she found me and let nature take its course, she was afraid of what the locals would do if they found out about this, they could destroy the farm. Ava didn't listen, she took me to the hospital where I recovered. They medic told me their code of ethics would not allow them to refuse me treatment, but that I should leave before I cause the hospital any trouble. He also suggested that from now on, I should avoid the girls to keep them safe from the locals… and that is what I did."
Zid rubs both his eyes with his right thumb and index, his manly way of ridding of the moisture the memory brought to his eyes. Then decides to get back at Link.
"So, now that we are answering questions, how did you get that bite mark on your middle trapezius?"
"You KNOW your muscle's names?" "It IS a bite mark, isn't it?"
Link says lifting an eyebrow says Li
Link turns to look at the Princess, she seems to be ashamed by the events that lead to that. He silently exhales and points at the Princess. Both Li and Zid open their eyes wide.
"WTF, WHY? HOW?" Zid yells.
"It was… an unnerving situation, she did it to hold her screams and avoid revealing our position. Looks bad, but I don't hold a grudge on her for this, she did what she had to do to keep us safe." Link says as he takes a bite from his apple.
Wow, I… thanks. He made me look good despite what I did, I can't help but feel like shit about this… I should come clean and tell my brothers why I bit Link, that it was completely intentional and not out of fear like I made him believe.
It was a scary experience, I wanted to scream so I bit him, but I continued to bite even harder out of spite, and then framed it as panic. I don't deserve to be on high regards for this.
Zelda placed her head between her palms, took a deep breath and opened her mouth to speak, but an apple was placed in her open jaw by Link, shutting her up.
"You eat that, I am not allowed to finish it"
Zelda removes the apple from her mouth and looks at it, it was half of Link's apple. She opens her mouth again but Link shuts her again by placing a small plumb on it.
"There, happy? I found it during my call, just eat it in silence" Link says staring at her menacingly.
HE KNOWS I LIED… of course he does, why did I thought I had managed to deceive him? yet... he wants me to shut up about it. Why? Not that I don't appreciate the gesture… I just don't think I deserve it.
"Why give it to her? I thought I was the one with an underweight problem" Zid complains.
Link rolls his eyes "I am giving YOU half my meat piece, so shut up" Link tells his monkey brother.
Zid smiles at that and starts dancing with his shoulders. Link shakes his head and gets back to Zelda. The Princess notices his intense glare on her and her heart starts beating wildly when he leans in to whisper in her ear.
"If you let them know you hate me, they will try to fix it, do you want that?"
She furiously shakes her head. Link winks at her half smiling and places an index finger on his lips "shh". Then turns his attention back to the boys.
Zelda turns away from them all, she was struggling to maintain a calm breathing pattern, and trying to keep far away from the bonfire so her brothers won’t notice her red cheeks.
Link did this to me... I think I like him? How can I like that prick, he is basically an animal, primitive to the core, all he does is enhance his attributes to scare and intimidate people into submission. Well… he is also a man of his word, meaning he is trustworthy, he is VERY smart and physically capable, that mixed with those eyes make him dangerously attractive. Oh, and let's not forget that he also hates me, or doesn't he? SHIT. I MUST HAVE GONE MAD. What do I do now? am I a masochist?
It was quiet for a moment around the fire, but soon Li nods at Zid and stretches his fist for a fist bump. Zid answers it at turns to Link with a sinister smile.
"It's getting late, you should sleep, NO EXCUSES ZIEL, you didn't sleep at all last night, that is not healthy. Robert and I will take turns to keep watch overnight"
When? Gosh, I hate them… how can they communicate without speaking?
Link rolls his eyes "I already told you; I will not be able to sle-"
Robert chuckles "We heard you, you either suck it up and try like a good boy, or I can make you sleep if you want" he says cracking his knuckles.
"I would love to see you try" Link answers dangerously.
Fuck, appeal to reason. If Robert could do it, Hyrule's Princess also can.
"BOYS, PLEASE… Ziel, they allowed you to stay awake last night without complain. Please allow them to guard us this time, it’s only fair, makes them happy and gives you time to relax" Zelda suggests.
Link breaths in deeply "Agreed"
LINK POV
Damn, I… appreciate what my duplicates want to do, but ITS NOT going to work, the dangers of sleeping out in the open are still rooted in me, BUT… I can try to rest a little. I still won't be able to sleep, but I can completely grant them the guarding duty and just relax as Zelda suggested.
Link was trying to until he started to hear teeth chattering, he opened his eyes and looked around, Zid was sleeping close to him, but Zelda is far away from them, trembling.
The fuck, why is she over there?
*No idea, what did you do?*
NOTHING, I haven't done anything… she can't be angry at me for not letting her expose how much of a hag she is, or is she? Fuck this bitch.
Link stretches his left arm to grab a small rock and throws it at the Princess. She immediately looks around, when their eyes meet, he mouths ¨GET YOU ROYAL ASS IN HERE¨ Zelda stares at him in anger, but complies with his rude remark. Once she is close enough, Link pulls her in to spoon her. The Princess kind of tries to fight him off, but just concedes when he starts growling… after all, she was cold. Robert just chuckled at the interaction from the tree he climbed.
The next day, Li woke up early and introduced Zid to a makeshift fanny bag with a hole, he was to wear loosely around his waist so it would cover his but. The plan was to use it to hide his tail inside of it. Robert was very proud of having thought about it, and being able to craft before his guarding shift ended. He used a pencil pouch that was attached the inside of his backpack, and teared one of his shirts to improvise a belt for the fanny bag. It looked a little odd, but Zid loved it, it was the most fashionable thing he has ever had.
After that, they hurried to catch the plane. It was Zid's first time flying, so they pretty much had to blindfold him to get him on the plane. Once they were airborne Zelda removed the blindfold. That was like setting the devil loose. He was terribly afraid at fist, but that quickly morphed into curiosity. He wanted to see what the pilot was seeing, so he tried to enter the cabin, but was stopped by an air hostess. He then tried to follow her around to see where she got the food from. Link just grabbed him and pulled him to his seat, then sat on top of him. Zid began rant about it, but Robert pulled on his braid from a side and explained to him how his behavior was causing trouble, for the air hostess and the rest of the passengers. Zid understood and promised to behave. Link then moved to his own seat and breathed out loudly.
"It's not his fault you know… this is completely new for him. He is intrigued by all of it and can´t contain himself" the Princess justifies the Pirate.
"YOU did not make this big of a hassle, and you are not from this world. HE IS, he just exhibited undisciplined and irreverent behavior… hopefully SWORD will help set him straight"
"Ha, I am sure they will, he was just lacking human interaction and exposure. He is very smart and above all cunning, He will catch up with you and Robert in no time" Zelda says with certainty.
"I… guess you are right"
Notes:
Thanks for reading my story, If you like, throw me a Kudo, comment on it, and subscribe so you wont miss on updates. Next chapter is up by January 10
Chapter 59: You didn't got me
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link removed his left glove and placed his hand on the scanner, the machine beeps a few times and access to the building is granted. Zelda could not help but stare fixedly at his hand… it had a big starburst pattern mole covering a big part of the dorsal side of his hand. She was about to comment on it but decided not to.
They finally enter a small white windowless room. In the center of it was an office desk, and a lady sitting behind it, she stood up mouth agape when she saw them. Link chuckles at that.
“Shut your mouth before a fly gets in” Link says to Carla.
“Stop talking and bring him to ME” Carla says stretching her hands trying to reach Zid.
“YES MAM” Link yells as he drags Zid by his shirt towards her.
Carla holds Zids face between her hands and moves it from side to side, then up and down. She giggles and suddenly hugs him with more force that Zid thought possible coming from her.
“He does reassemble you, but I think the use of ¨uncanny¨ was an exager…AAAHHHH” Carla screams when she notices the brunette boy standing next to Link, they both stare at her and smile, it looked like a copy paste. She then turns to Zid.
“You are not Li are you?” Carla asks the Pirate.
Zid frowns and shakes his head. Carla grabs him by the shoulders and turns him 180°, then back.
“You are Zid then… weren’t you supposed to have a tail?” Carla asks.
The Pirate looks at her unable to comprehend how the fuck did she knew so much, then he hears Link clearing his throat.
ZID POV
Of course, Ziel must have informed her at some point, who is she? Anyway… time to strip, hehehe lets make this sexy.
Zid begins to laugh at his own thoughts and starts shaking his hips as he slowly unties his makeshift belt. Robert starts laughing like a maniac, Zelda already used to Zid’s boldness, grabs a magazine and sits in one of the chairs available in the reception. Carla looks at a stoic Link for help.
“Tell him something” she demands of agent Kid.
“I am not the adult here” Link retorts.
“KID!!!”
Link rolls his eyes and places a hand on Zid’s shoulder “No need for the sexy dance Zid, just take it off and show her.”
DAMN, I was having fun making her uncomfortable… oh well.
Zid just drops his fanny bag and out goes the tail and it starts coiling on itself a little, Carla gasps in surprise.
“Not that I didn’t believe you” Carla says to Link “but I thought it was a small tail, a deformity of some short, but this is… I mean how long is it? Do you want it removed Zid?
Do I want it removed? I mean… I am used to it. I would miss it, but I can live without it. Life would be a lot easier, so yeah… lets remove it.
“””NO!!!””” Link, Robert and even Zelda yelled in unison, Carla jumped startled.
Link begins to explain “He has complete dominion of it, can even hold his own weight with it… it’s basically another limb. Why would I want his 3rd arm removed? It’s an advantage.”
Carla rolls her eyes “But it requires to remain hidden, I think it’s more of a bother than anything else”
“Dress him in sweat pants, or anything loose fit. That will grant him space to hide a rod or something to coil his tail around. Believe me… that is ALL he needs to keep it hidden”
“But if he still needs to keep it hidden, would it not be better to remove it?” Carla insists.
Link sighs and shakes his head “He will eventually need to jump, run or fight… you are asking him to take away a limb that aids his balance, and to rid of an extra arm he can use in a fight. The tail stays.”
I… have not thought of all that. I am used to seeing it as a bother, a curse even. But it DOES help me run faster, and I can walk on a rope thanks to the balance it brings… I get it, it’s an asset, I will keep it. By the way… did I heard a weird echo when Ziel spoke, or did I imagine it?
“All right then, you still have to talk about this with the general, but the boy NEEDS A HAIR CUT NOW, no discussion about it” Carla says with finality.
“Wont object to that, hair is a DNA trace, shorter hair trends to be easily dismissed or blown away, making it safer for us.”
Carla nods pleased and rushes to Li, she starts examining him closely, turning him around several times and moving his face left and right. “Uncanny was an understatement… if he dyes his hair blond and puts on grey contacts, he is basically you Kid”
"Or I could dye my hair brown and use and green contacts" Link smirks evilly making Robert smirk too.
And that statement makes it more real, they really are not related. For a moment I thought they were fucking with me, that is why it took me long to really trust them... those two are going to abuse their similarity to get away with mischief, aren't they?
Zid chuckles and looks at Carla’s desk. On it was a small mirror, he picks it up and looks at himself. His big dark eye circles where receding, he was still thin, but his skin now had a healthy glow… he actually kind of resembled Link and Robert a little.
Maybe Zelda’s take on all this is not as deviated as I thought. Maybe… I can actually believe we are a family. We look alike, we smell alike… according to her. We even share similar DNA. I have never had a family, and the one I found is AMAZING. How are you going to try and take them away life? I won’t let you; THEY ARE MINE.
“Take them to the waiting room over there, I will send a hairdresser” Carla commands Link.
Link nods and whistles to draw his brothers and the Princess attention, then uses his right arm to signal them to follow him.
Nope, it’s not the echo, by whistling he covers it A LOT but I still hear it, how does he manage to sound like that? Sounds cool, I wanna.
OH… right, I have to teach my sis how to braid hair before they cut it.
They enter a room with a few old chairs. Zid runs to sits on the only office moving chair available, he spins himself and then unties his braid calling the Princess.
“We have minutes, so pay attention” Zid tells his sister.
Zelda smiles and runs to him, Zid gives her little instruction and starts doing the braid on himself to show her what he meant, then asks her to finish it. Rob approaches curious.
“Wanna learn too?” Zid asks raising an eyebrow.
“Was just curious, honestly I don’t think I need to know how to do this” Robert retorts.
“BUT YOU DO” the Princess agues “what if you have a girl in the future? Don’t you want to be a SUPER DAD that knows how to braid?” Zelda jokes.
Li starts remembering a toddler girl that used to visit the Li family frequently. He was starting to learn the language, so he read her a lot of stories when she visited to practice. Then she came no more… he later found out someone had shot her dead.
Rob’s eyes start to water remembering the sweet girl. So, he approaches Zelda and starts braiding HER hair mimicking what he sees the Princess do on Zid’s.
The Princess was not expecting this from Li “As much as I am loving this… my hair is too short Robert; I don’t think you or anyone would be able to braid it” Zelda complains.
“SHUT UP AND DON’T MOVE, I think I am doing it” Li answers a little pissed.
Zelda smiles at that, and Zid chuckles at the idea of Robert doing Zelda’s hair and Zelda doing his hair, so he decides to complete the family picture.
“What about you Ziel? Get here and be a part of this family” Zid taunts Link.
Link rolls his eyes and approaches, he then kicks Zid’s moving chair away from Zelda, she growls irate.
“You want me to be part of this circus?” he positions the Pirate facing Zelda “I will be, but I am handling HIS hair, it’s longer thus easier to braid” Link says as he undoes the Princess work and pulls a strand a little too hard, this earns a weak scream from Zid. Link smiles diabolically.
Zid stares at Li and Zelda with eyes wide open that scream ¨HELP¨ The Princess and Robert sheepishly smile back at Zid, Zelda then lowers her gaze to avoid the Pirate’s pleading eyes, and Robert focuses on braiding the Pincess hair easily ignoring Zid. They all continue like that, with some whimpers from Zid now and then, when a lady wearing a stylist apron enters the room followed by Carla.
“What are you doing” Carla asks them.
“What does it look like?” “They are in the middle of a learning curve… ouch!”
Link answers in anger Zid states
“Learning curve of what?” Carla asks again.
Zelda answers “We are learning how to stile hair with a French braid… French right?” Zid nods at her and receives a smack on the back of the head from Link.
“I said don’t move” Ziel growls at Zid.
Fuck, that felt like a whiplash to the head, this son of a damn whore.
“Save me from this torture please” Zid begs the stylist.
“But… he is almost done, and it looks beautiful”
Zelda taps on Robert’s hand for permission to stand up. He quickly ties her braid and grunt to let her know she is allowed to move. The Princess quickly stands to see what the stylist is talking about. She gasped at what she saw.
“What is that?” asks the Princess.
“That is a French fishtail braid” answers the stylist.
Link chuckles “You mean to tell me THIS is a type of braid? I was just struggling with a 3-strand braid so I opted to do this… get here Princess, you are going to finish it”
Zelda smiling took his place as he quickly instructed her on how to do continue the braid, he then stood and was about to head out but stopped, he turned and asked Carla to take his brothers to William’s office once Zid’s hair cut was done. The Hero then turned to Zelda and asked her to dress back on the clothes she came with and wait for him, he still had things he needed to take care of. He said before leaving the room.
LINK POV
Who do I ask? Claudio shaves but with an electric shaver, he wouldn’t give me much guidance… who else shaves and currently finds himself in this precinct?
Link then rushes to help a lady who was carrying TOO MANY dishes on her hands, he managed to steady the pile of dishes before it fell down, then proceeded to take the pile away from her.
“You should not carry this big of a load, just take as many trips as you need instead of risking possible injury… who are you by the way?” Link asks with a charming smile.
“Te… no need, I am an eventual that came here to dispose of extra and unused kitchen wares”
She received direct instructions not to disclose personal information… I am sure. She said dispose of… maybe I can benefit from this.
“Te-something, would you mind if I take a look at what has already been discarded?”
The lady laughs “Are you looking for something in particular?”
“I would love a clay casserole, or anything made of clay that can hold 4 liters to a flame”
The lady frowns “I am getting rid of more than 10 clay casseroles, but they are small… 1.5 or 2 liters” then her eyes suddenly shine as she remembers something “you said ANYTHING made of clay… there is a pot of clay in there. Apparently, it was never used 'cause they don’t handle kitchen wares carefully, so they were obviously going to break it. I think it holds 6 liters, that ok?”
“PERFECT, thank you Te, where should I go to pick it up?” Ziel asks.
Not 4, 6 liters. Nana is going to be so happy about this… I still need to be instructed on how to properly use a shaving knife, I wanted to avoid asking William since he may still be angry at me, but none of the agents are here to help me, so I have to ask the General… better do it when he is no longer busy with my duplicates right?
Link was thinking as he loaded the dishes on a van for Te. Once he got back, he walked to the bathroom and opened the door, his right hand turned the door knob, his left holding a polypropylene bag that contained the clay pot. As he stepped inside the bathroom, he was received by the image of a tall man in a dark suit.
“And I thought this was the perfect time to get some fucking privacy… Jesus.” Said ex agent Skull as he finished applying shaving cream on his face.
Link just grinned as he approached a urinal “Had I known you were here I would have considered coming here first with my donors, just to see what else we could do to derange you.” Links says chuckling. Once he finished pissing, he adds “And I am just kidding George, you know I love you, how much longer for your reinstallation?”
“A month, maybe even less. It will happen soon so I came for warm up exercises” Skull says as he draws a shaving knife and starts using it.
Did I say I loved this man? Because I DO LOVE HIM, he just fell out of the sky to be my teacher… well, more like crawled out of the sewers, but who cares, the goddesses put him on my path and I am grateful.
“George, will you teach me how to use a shaving knife?”
Skull turns to look at Ziel perplexed by the request, but raises both his shoulders and calls him to come closer.
SKULL NEEDS TO COME BACK ASAP, I understand why he got suspended but… he is a great guy, doesn’t ask question, just helps when it’s demanded of him, I feared this period of inactivity would end up towing him to the dark side… but he did not lend an ear to temptation, his resolve and integrity remained. WHAT MORE PROF DO YOU NEED? HE IS WHAT WE NEED.
ZELDA POV
This chat with Carla has taught me one VERY important thing… I am forbidden to ask or even mention Michelle’s death to Ziel. It’s a sore spot, he blames himself for it. But there is absolutely NO WAY he could have caused it, or prevented it.
From what Carla has said so far, Link managed to connect with Michelle on an emotional level. SWORD agents have to maintain emotions at bay at all times, since it easily leads to fatal mistakes… like what happened to agent Snail.
Apparently, he believes to have opened a door in her heart and left without closing it. Link believes this led Snail to easily connect with a pregnant woman who was about to be shot death. Taking away the most important person was the gang’s way to punish the members who failed to follow orders. Michelle ended up taking the shot herself trying to push away the pregnant lady.
“After Michelle’s death, adjustments were made, they deemed that a female is TOO emotional for this job, hence allowing Michelle to work as an agent was a mistake, no matter how good of a fighter she was, or how smart… in the end, she let her emotions cloud her judgment and ended up putting herself on death’s path.” Carla breaths out slowly “so… that is why I never got the chance to be an agent, got the basic training but was placed here” Carla says smiling, but her eyes showed sadness.
“I would give you a pat on the back to comfort you, but reality is… you are very involved with the cases despite not being an agent, besides… your economic remuneration is not negligible at all” Link says as he stood leaning on the door with his fore arm.
Zelda smiles at that a little, Carla rolls her eyes and sighs. Then Robert and Zid enter the room. They were kind of shaking but smiling.
“I thought he was going to kick you to the curve, I mean, come on. Who answers THAT?” Zid tells Li mocking him.
“I just thought lying was not on the menu, I answered as truthfully and concise as I could” Li retorts.
“Concise my ass, that was a clear threat” Zid replies.
“Care to explain?” Link asks intrigued.
Zid starts clearing his throat “Thanks to agent’s Kid influence” Zid stares at Link “and my sister’s prayers, we both got accepted”
Zelda yells and starts clapping, Zid smiles and continues “The General greeted us and cut to the chase. He asked why we wanted to be part of SWORD” Zid chuckles at the memory “I gave a very basic but honest answer… I wanna make the world a better place regardless of the measures” then the Pirate points at the Engineer “But this motherfucker said: That is not the question, the question is why would SWORD wants me in their ranks. And my answer is: because you really don’t want ME fighting for the other team”
Zelda opens her mouth in shock at that, Link opens his eyes wide staring at Robert, who is currently looking at the floor like it’s the most interesting thing in the room, his face is slowly turning red in shame.
My brother is a fucking stud… have I said that I love him? because I fucking do… all of them as a matter of fact.
Ziel clears his throat “All I can say is what William may think of both of you” he points at Zid “he may see you as a wild card. You refuse to share your real motivations, making you deceitful, but he still finds utility in keeping you around.” he now points at Li “You… you are a piece from a whole other type of game, you are like a tower from a chess game, you annihilate anything on your path… that level of focus and destruction IS dangerous and NEEDED. I think he may now understand why I pushed for the both of you”
Link turns to Zelda, she had changed into his boxers and his black innerwear, he frowns and then raises an eyebrow.
That bad? It’s the same fucking clothes I used when I got here
“Is that all? You are not taking your cellphone?”
“I… thought I couldn’t, of course I want to take it” Zelda goes around Carla’s desk and opens a drawer with her things, once she retrieves her cellphone, she hands it to Ziel.
“I don’t have pockets, could you please carry mine for me?”
Link extends his hand to grab her cellphone, once he pockets it Zid’s eye go wide.
“WHAIT… what is going on, are you guy’s leaving? YOU CAN’T LEAVE” Zid yells and pulls on his now short hair.
“They are not from here; you already KNOW that” Robert reminds Zid.
“But… it’s too soon” Zid says and stands arms wide open to blocks the exit path “you can’t leave me… I JUST GOT YOU” Zid screams deviating his gaze, he was tearing up.
HOLY CRAP, he has been alone for too long, and now that he has US, a family not tied by blood but still very real, he must feel like we are bailing out on him… ITS NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL, but how do I explain that to him?
Zelda starts extending her arms to hug Zid but stops herself since she wanted to cry, if she hugged him like that it was going to cause more harm than anything… she turned at Link for help mouthing ¨what should I do?¨ Ziel uses his hand to signal her to wait, and then approaches Zid chuckling.
Zid raises his head to look at his brother perplexed. Link stops and stares at Zid with malice.
“So… you think after everything I did, I would just back off? Seriously? You have no fucking idea of what lengths I am willing to go to continue my torture on you… just because I fucking enjoy it” Link breaths in slowly before continuing.
“Understand just one thing, you didn’t get me, I GOT YOU… it’s not a warning, is a menace. You will get a cellphone later today; it’s to be used for your training… but I will use it to check on you. I will be calling both of you until you abhor the sound of my voice. You may not see me frequently, but believe me… I will be there, following your every move. And you better not fail… because if you do, I will know and there will be hell to pay”
Talking about studs… NO, Ziel is more of a monster. But I must admit this ¨menace approach¨ is working. TOO stern if you ask me, but they needed it like this, since they don't respect weakness. Zid has stopped shedding tears, I guess the idea of being under vigilance by Ziel soothes him, and Robert is trying to hide his smile.
Zelda clears her throat to draw attention to herself “Be sure that I will be asking Link to share your contact info with me, so you are not getting rid of your annoying sis that easy either… next time I see you will be in Hyrule, I will make sure of that, so you better take care of yourselves, I won’t forgive you if you don’t come visit me because you are sick or hurt”
Link then puts a hand on Zelda’s shoulder making her turn to look at him. He then tilts his head to a side. The Princess lowers her head a little and then looks to the side at her brothers… but Link shakes his head.
He won’t let me hug them good bye… I kind of get it, if I hug them goodbye, I will start crying, that won’t help at all. DAMN IT, I MISS THEM ALLREADY.
Zelda blows a kiss at each of them and waves them good bye, she didn’t dare speak another word fearing tears will shed if she did.
“I will see you when I see you” Link says as he places an arm around the Princess’s shoulders and starts heading out with her.
ROBERT POV
Damn it, I am going to miss them a lot… and we didn’t even spend that much time together.
Li turns his gaze to his monkey brother; on first glance everything seems to be ok with the Pirate… even though he is the one who got to spend less time with this ¨new type of family¨. Robert sighs with relief at that.
“Was all that intimidation necessary?” Carla complains rolling her eyes.
“YES… I would not have trusted him had he said it differently. Now I know that he will carry through with everything he said. Not to torture me and Li… but because he cares” Zid says as he gives a long sigh “being motored by him is not the same, but I am not alone anymore I guess… and I will see him and Zelda again, right?” Zid asks nobody in particular.
Robert smiles and places an arm around Zid’s shoulders. “You are not alone stupid, I am here”
Robert stops the hug once he notices Zid freezing over, but the Pirate soon starts roaring in laughter, his face red and his eyes tearing. Once he finally stops, he starts dancing with his shoulders.
“You, my brother, are, fucking, right” Zid chants happily as he raises his right shoulder once then again but this time rolling it back and repeating the movement with his other shoulder.
“He is 13 at most, 13…” Carla whispers to herself fanning her face.
Notes:
happy new year, thanks for reading me. Please support me by adding this story to your library and with some Kudos.
Next one is up by January 24, 2025
Chapter 60: Derrick’s yearn
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link and Zelda enter the cave once they hear the car that brought them driving away. Once inside, the Princess begins to search around for some type of ladder. In her head, if they fell through a hole, they needed to climb out of it to go back to Hyrule, the easiest way to do that was using a ladder. But she was not finding anything of the short.
She was avoiding talking to Raziel, since she still blushed when she looked into his eyes… but she could not avoid the interaction any longer.
ZELDA POV
“How are we going to go back to Hyrule? We fell through a hole, that means we have to go up, but I see no ladder or stairs”
Ziel shakes his head chuckling at her “Because there are none. If there where, I would have used them to get down here instead of falling down a hole don’t you think?” Link ask her raising an eyebrow.
Damn, I had not thought of that, but he is right, we would have used them…
“How then?”
“We climb” Ziel said as he grabbed some dirt from the ground and rubbed his gloves with it.
Zelda stares at him in horror “You can’t be serious, it’s not even a steep incline, it goes completely up how are we....” the Princess stops talking when she notices Link’s annoyed stare.
“Who do you think you are talking to?” Ziel asks exasperated.
I think I made him angry, but I guess he is right, he is been doing this for some time, why am I even doubting him?
He is staring at me expecting an answer. But what do I answer? Who is he? I have 3 answers to that question actually… I am just going to tell them all.
The Princess breaths in “That depends… you are Raziel, Prince by adoption of Hyrule. Or you are Kid, a SWORD agent. And last but not least, you are a young man with a strong build and a lack of morality named Link” Zelda ends folding her arms.
Link raises his eyebrows chuckling.
“Was not expecting THAT answer… seems like I am a lot of thigs” he sighs and looks directly at Zelda “who or what else do I have to be for you to follow my lead?”
That’s not it… YOU are not the problem, I AM. You are awesome. You are followed and respected by the beasts I now call brothers... I am just a scared and uncapable girl who became a Princess by luck. The problem is ME.
“I am NOT doubting you; you are…” she doesn’t end her sentence “I am doubting myself… I don’t think I am strong enough to make that climb” Zelda says in sorrow and a little of shame.
“You don’t have to be… just hold on tight to me like before” Links says as he steps close to her and delicately removes the hair tie of her braid.
Fuck he is hot; I think I just wet my panties, that odor he carries is NOT HELPING… I blame all of this on this trip; I think it was an emotionally heavy ride. I mean, at a point I wanted to die, and the next day I was on top of the world; and Link was there with me holding my hand… I must have developed attachment to him. Meaning this is NOT LOVE, I just need to get a hold of my hormones and remember that HE HATES ME.
Ziel proceeds to use Zelda’s hair tie to close the reusable bag he brought with the clay pot. After wrapping the elastic band around the opening of the bag and securing it tightly, he places the bag’s handles on the Princess shoulders, making it look like she is wearing a makeshift backpack. He then goes down on a knee and ushers her to climb on his back.
NO FUCKING WAY, IS HE SERIOUS? Don’t argue with him, he is already kind of angry, and he is also very stubborn… not a good mix to contend against. Just go with the flow.
Zelda climbs on Link’s back, he slowly raises and walks to the wall but stops right in front of it.
“I need to ask; did you notice when we used the hole that we slowed down during the fall? Like there was no gravity pulling us any longer”
“We did what?” the Princess asks puzzled.
“I guess you didn’t… that is how those holes in Hyrule work, in the middle of the climb it will try to suck us up and spit us out of it, you will feel like you are floating away, don’t be scared and don’t let go of me” Link warns hers as he starts the climb.
I had no fucking idea holes in my land did that… all of them or a few selected ones? I will investigate that later.
“I think I know why you use gloves all the time” Zelda suddenly interjects while Link was already climbing.
“I would tell you to shut up since you are disrupting my concentration, but now I am intrigued…”
She giggles “To hide the big mole on your left hand… but you don’t need to hide it really, it looks kind of eerie but my family won’t mind it at all.”
Link grabs on a rock to hoist them up, but once he applies pressure on the rock it peeled from the wall falling down.
“Well, that was the easy way up… And it’s not a mole, it’s a tattoo” Ziel clarifies.
Zelda shakes her head puzzled “Why would you tattoo a mole on your hand?”
“To cover up a birth mark… maybe Claire and Derrick would not mind at all, but why give other nobles something to criticize and shame us for?” He back tracks a little and changes the route of the climb “Had been wondering if it actually looks real, thanks for the confirmation” Link said after reassuming his climb.
He covered it to shade us from being the talk of the kingdom… that was thoughtful of him.
“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to use fingerless gloves instead of complete gloves? They will still cover the mole you know” Zelda suggests.
“Can’t do that. The Quantum world, the world we are currently leaving, has technology that allows them to scan fingerprints. They also keep a record of everyone’s fingerprints. I am a SWORD agent… I can’t be leaving my fingerprints everywhere for them to find and track me”
Finger prints, I am not sure who would scan a whole area for finger prints, but it makes more sense now why he avoids taking them off. I thought he was eccentric but he is just being responsible.
“That’s reasonable. By the way, who is Derrick?” Zelda casually asks.
Link suddenly stops his climb; the question almost made him loose his grip.
“What do you think the other D on the King’s name stands for?”
Wait… DERRICK IS MY KING? Why didn't I know this? Was I so detached from him?
And for what? for someone like Bardick? The guy doesn't even deserve the FATHER title, but Daphnes does. I like the name Derrick now that I think about it, sounds strong and approachable.
“How do you know that is his name?”
“Why didn’t you?”
Zelda was about to retort, but she starts to feel like she was being pulled up and taps on Ziel’s shoulder. Link notices and checks by pulling a few vine’s leaves and letting go of them, they float a few seconds and then they are pulled up. He grins.
“Princess, I am going to hoist myself up the wall, we will be pulled up and land out of the hole, once we do, I am going to dash out, I am counting on you to hold on tight”
Zelda nods hugging hard on Link and pressing her face on his back. “You didn’t even suggest to bandage my eyes this time, I am still closing them, it’s up to you if you believe me or not”
“I believe you”
Does he?
Zelda feels as Ziel pulled them up with force, she bit on his shirt waiting for them to start falling down because that is how gravity works, but they didn’t. She opened her eyes to see as they were being pulled up by a force she couldn’t comprehend. Once they were thrown out of the hole, the Princess looked around and saw the skull kids turning their faces towards them... their eyes shining with malice. She closed her eyes again in dread as the wood foes started moving towards them. The sound of cracking chestnuts these foes made and their mocking laugher unnerved the Princess… but she was not as fearful as the first time. After a few minutes of running everything was quiet again.
“You can open your eyes, we are out” Link says as he goes down on a knee to allow her to climb down.
The Princess opens her eyes, they were at the tunnel entrance of Lost Woods, a few curious Koroks popped out to watch, one of them begun to approach them but Ziel kicked him away with a mock laugh. The rest of the Koroks remained vigilant in their place. Zelda was about scold Link for doing what he did, but stopped herself after seeing the hurt in his eyes.
That one was Mido was it not? Was that the name of the one who bullied him? well… ALL of them treated him poorly if I remember correctly, but Mido was a special kind of asshole. Yet I see it in his eyes, it pains him, even if just a little but… why does he still cares? I would say FUCK THEM ALL if it were my case.
“Why do you still care about them?” Zelda genuinely asks.
“I don’t, that would be a little twisted… but Saria does. She would have reprimand me severely for what I just did. I am sure.”
“Would… I ever meet her?” Zelda asks in a low tone already expecting a negative answer.
LINK POV
Would she? I… am not sure. Actually, it may be beneficial. Saria would be a good influence and could become a good friend, BETTER than any other spoiled rotten noble girl. A friend that would keep her entertained whenever I can’t take her with me.
*Malon also exist you know*
Damn… yes but, Malon is kind of a hard cookie, she is not reserved and structured like Saria, she is vocal, passionate and untamed. But the ranch girl is also hardworking and honest to herself… yeah Malon IS another influence I want in my future Queen.
“Do you want to meet her? I may go visit tomorrow” Link says as they started crossing the hanging bridge that led to Hyrule field.
Zelda’s eyes squinted at him as she pointed at her throat, then suddenly sparkled at the idea of meeting the LAST Kokiri and nods. Links smiles back and points at his own throat, he then flips the hand with said finger, to signal her that he knows he reversed to a normal tone and the change was conscious.
Yeah Princess, I know you don’t mind my voice, and you even like it because you are a weirdo, but we are heading to Hyrule… I need to keep it a secret from everyone there.
As they left the forest behind, the Princess sees a carriage waiting for them.
“How?” the Princess asks.
“SWORD always gives a communication device to the King of Hyrule, a cellphone basically, yet none of the previous rulers have EVER used it until Daphnes. That is how he requested SWORD’s assistance when the Gerudo attacked. I trusted he wouldn’t put it on storage again, so I called and informed my King that we would be arriving today… or did you preferred to walk barefoot to the castle?” Link asks jokingly.
Zelda stares at him with disdain and climbs on the carriage, Link chuckles and follows her. The travel to the castle was traversed in silence. Once they arrived to the castle entrance, Cormac received them effusively, brought a pair of shoes for Zelda and told them to head to the throne room, since the King and Queen awaited for them there.
They both diligently walked to the throne room, not bothering with Zelda’s lack of proper clothing and Link’s disheveled state. Zelda stops in front of the door doubting about entering, she hugs herself and sighs.
Well, she is obviously distressed by the idea of meeting with them. I myself feel like that too, I have no idea how this is going to go, since Queen Claire was VERY against the idea of Zelda leaving Hyrule. But this isn’t my first rodeo, let’s grab the bull by the horns and end this.
Link smiles at the Princess and offers his forearm, she takes it and enters the room with him after he pushed open the doors. A few second after entering they both are thrown back by a female scream.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH” The Queen yells and basically jumps out of her throne to receive them.
Claire reaches the Princess and gives her a quick and very weak slap on the cheek “That is for leaving without saying goodbye” the Queen says and proceeds to hug her REALLY HARD. Zelda turns red due to the lack of oxygen. Daphnes is roaring in laughter from his throne, but slowly stands up to also approach them.
Well… the lioness was annoyed, but not irate, GOOD. This is far from a bad scenario.
“How was the trip?” asks the King coming closer, he quickly raises his palm to silence Link “I am NOT asking you Raziel” Daphnes says in a very serious tone.
Fuck… he does not want me to influence the Princess response, he wants feedback directly from Zelda. PLEASE give him a good answer my Princess.
“It was… a trip that forced me to self-discovery and growth” Zelda claims with certainty.
The King and Queen stared at her in a mix of overall confusion and eagerness. She notices and proceeds to explain to them what she means.
“You see… I was kind of forced to consider others and not just myself. I learned I am good with words under stress, that I have it in me to command people, and that my sense of smell is top notch” Zelda smiles at the memory of it all.
“About that last point” Link taps on his nose “is my King completely sure Zelda is not blood related?” Link asks earning a chuckle from Daphnes. The Princess rolls her eyes and continues.
“I am sure I discovered many other things but can’t recall them all at the moment. Overall, it was a good experience that opened my eye to realities I refused to acknowledge”
The Queen smiles overjoyed with everything she has heard so far, but gives her daughter a second look and scowls.
“I can’t get my head around the idea of what you are wearing… not proper at all for a Princess. Go get changed. I almost forgot, Martin’s package for you got here yesterday, its outside your door”
Zelda’s eyes widen in enthusiasm as she pulls on Link’s arm “those are my corsets, right? I will go change and check on my package” Zelda starts to run out of the throne room but stops and turns.
“Both of you are following the new diet, right?” the Princess asks the King and Queen.
“YES” “EM…”
answered the King says the Queen embarrassed
Zelda stares at both of them in shock, turns to look at Link as she points at the royals. Ziel just laughs at the pride reflected on Daphnes’s semblance, contrasting with the shame on Clare’s, and the utter dismay plastered on Zelda’s face. The Princess turns and walks back to face her mother, her face reflecting disappointment. Yet when she spoke, her voice was firm and a little aggressive.
“Are you still a child?” Zelda asks the Queen “of course you are not, you are a Ruler now, stop your silly tantrums and eat what you are supposed to, because I am not afraid to use a funnel to force it down your throat too” the Princess sighs.
“I just can’t believe that my father is the one who has embraced the diet change, and he doesn’t even need it… BUT YOU DO” Zelda points her finger at Claire. Link puts himself between the Princess and the King to block him from her sight, and starts trying to push her away delicately.
She said FATHER, and Daphnes heard it. I saw it in his eyes… he broke down the moment she pronounced the word. I need to take her out of here fast. I can’t allow her to realize how much pull she has on my King… not yet at least. In due time, but as off now, I don’t trust her enough, she could abuse this power.
Ziel clears his throat before speaking “Let’s give the Queen some time and privacy to feel bad about her deeds, in the meantime, why don’t you check on what Martin send you? I will find Nana to give her this” Link lifts the reusable bag shaking it a little. “So, Nana can cook us something for dinner that Claire will definitely have to eat” he says wiggling his eyebrows.
Zelda smiles at the idea and lets him push her out of the throne room, but says loudly as she is leaving “I do love you mom, but you have to love yourself too, do better to get better for me” Link turns and winks at the royals before shutting the doors.
The Queen is irate for being put on the spot by her daughter, but can’t contain the smile of pride that starts blooming on her face. Claire rushes to her stoic King and hugs him from a side, yet he continues to stare at the door with yearn. As Daphnes slowly comes out of his trance, he places an arm around the Queen’s shoulders.
“She gave you an earful didn’t she… I will need to write all this down so I don’t ever forget it” the King says mocking the Queen.
“She did, but my favorite part was when she called YOU father” Claire says giving her King a side glance as tears start rolling down Derrick’s face.
Notes:
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Chapter 61: Happy Birthday Princess
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
As Link closes the door to the throne room, he sighs and turns to the Princess.
“That was overwhelming, I was not aware you had it in you… the fortitude to engage with them like that.” Link said grinning.
Zelda answered with a smile of her own “I KNOW, I was not aware either… It just happened; I was angry and also afraid for my mom. Who the fuck gets told what to do to help themselves and still refuses to do it?”
He sighs as they begin walking “A lot of people actually”
Zelda opens her eyes wide looking at Link “Really?” rolls her eyes “Must be stressing knowing that you have to kind of force them to remain alive”
Link chuckles at that.
Indeed, my suicidal Princess.
Link suddenly points with his left index towards the east tower’s stairs. “You should go to your room and check on the corsets, maybe even wear one for dinner tonight. I will give this to Nana…” he tells her shaking the reusable bag with the clay pot.
“Divide and conquer, sure.” Zelda says as she starts walking to her room, right before the stairs she yells “I am keeping your clothes for next time, you don’t mind, right?”
Link quickly shakes his head to give the impression that it’s no trouble for him at all, then reassumes his walk towards Ivanna's kitchen. Even if the Princess had insisted on returning the clothes, he was not going to wear them again… he would most likely throw them away or burn them just for fun.
ZELDA POV
The Princess approaches her bedroom, but notices there is no package for her by the door. She breaths in deeply thinking that there must be an explanation, so she just enters her room. Once inside, she notices Chacha sitting at her desk, the maid's focus absorbed in a calligraphy exercise provided by a book. Zelda immediately recognized the book as the one she had given her before leaving.
I was not expecting to find her in my room, but it’s nice to know that Chacha has been doing the homework I left for her… I have never had someone take me so seriously, I adore her.
The maid finally realizes that she is not alone anymore and lifts her head to look at the door. After seeing the Princess standing there, she jumps from the chair and proceeds to perform a deep curtsey.
“Welcome back my Princess” Chacha says grinning.
Zelda chuckles and extends her arms for a hug, Chacha rushes to comply laughing. Then immediately separates herself from the hug and points at a corner in the room.
“You got that yesterday; it’s kind of heavy for being such a small package” the maid said.
Zelda walks to the corner and picks up the package smiling “Is a clothing article, I want to try it on actually… tell me a color”
“I don’t know… blue?” Chacha blurts out.
“Baby blue or navy-blue?” Zelda genuinely asks.
Chacha stares back at Princess in shock “NAVY BLUE OF COURSE, why do you have a baby blue dress? Throw that away, you may look cute on it, but it doesn't really match your age and regal status anymore”
“HA HA HA, I may throw ALL the baby colors from my closet… since in a week I will no longer be considered a girl” Zelda proudly informs the maid.
Chacha gasps in shock “SHOOT, I… still have the 100 rupees Link gave me, is there anything around that prize that I could buy you as a present?” Chacha asks concerned.
Zelda turns to look at the maid clearly surprised “Link gave you 100 rupees? Why?”
“For a job I did for him… or that’s what he made me believe. He rewarded me for my work with a free day and rupees for me to spend however I liked, but I bet it was all part of his plan to get me out of the castle the day of the Gerudo attack… I am sure of that now.”
Oh, that was a smart move to get her out of here, and all without revealing anything and causing panic. So meticulous of him, but in all honesty, who goes out of his way like just to save a maid? DOES HE CARES FOR CHACHA?... Such a stupid question, of course he cares, he asked my parents for her specifically and managed to stop me from completely taking her away from him.
Am I getting envious of Chacha? ZELDA, get a grip. You had rationalized this already, it's not love, so don't act possessive… and if it were love, YOU STILL DON'T ACT POSESIVE OF HIM, I read that men hate women who act like this.
Besides, Chacha is my friend. It's not her fault that I can't handle my hormones, so I am not going to take it on her.
Zelda shakes her head and smiles “Navy blue it is, would you wait for me to come out? I want your opinion on how my new garment looks… and by the way, don’t buy me anything. Continue practicing so you can write me a letter, that will be my present” Zelda smiles reassuringly.
Chacha flushes and lowers her eyes “Really? I… will work on my calligraphy to able to write a birthday letter for my Princess” Chacha says and she sits back on the desk to continue practicing, she was doing exercises of drawing along the dotted lines.
Zelda enters her closet and closes the door to change inside, draws her navy-blue dress and chooses to use the white corset with it. She struggles to find the combining lace, but once she did, she starts adjusting it to her body shape. Before going out of the closet she stares at herself in the mirror.
HOLY MOTHER OF… I look GOOD. This thing is great. If I were to gain weight, or my breast decides to suddenly bloom, this garment will still fit since I can adjust it to my body. And with the proper laces, I can combine it with any of my dresses. Martin is a genius.
The Princess walks out of the closet, Chacha opens her mouth wide and quickly stands pushing the chair back with the motion.
“Holy… why?” Chacha asks as she approaches the Princess “This should be worn under the dress, no? but the embroidery makes it clear that this is meant to be worn on top of it” Chacha says squinting her eyes puzzled.
“Yes, that is the idea… does it look so bad?” Zelda asks.
Chacha shakes her head “No, not at all but… you look kind of sexy, was that also the idea?” Chacha asks.
Zelda laughs at that “Kind of… the idea is to draw attention to me, and to make a statement to the nobles that they should not mess with me”
“Well, you do give off an edgy vibe now that I look at you closely” she starts giggling “You are going to low key threaten them, and also give them a hard on, if you know what I mean” the maid says lifting her eyebrows with a smile.
Zelda starts choking on her own saliva at that comment, Chacha decides the opportunity is too good to pass on, so she continues poking the Princess.
“That is a common kink you know… sex with a dominant female. Dominatrix is the word to describe her I believe”
Zelda’s face turns completely red, but not in anger… in distress, she is completely helpless against the teasing of her own maid “STOP, I beg of you, in fact… leave my room. I need to bath and get ready for dinner”
“As you wish my Princess” Chacha leaving the room laughing evilly.
I wonder if Link could have THAT kink… [“Does treating me like a human translates into becoming meek? I swore to help and protect the Princess, and let me tell you… my Princess is anything but meek”] He may, but… [“Seems like I am a lot of things. Who or what else do I have to be for you to follow my lead?”] He also may not. My best bet is to just consider it a success if I manage to get a reaction from him when he sees me.
LINK POV
Link enters his room and closes the door; he then presses his forehead on it as he gleefully smiles.
----------------remembrance------------------
“By the grace of Din, Nayru and Farore… you didn’t” Ivanna says staring at the cooking pot.
“Please woman, don’t tell me what I can and cannot do” Link states with a fake air of superiority.
“This thing is HUGE” Nana says as she inspects the clay pot with merriment.
Link smiles diabolically “Thought so too but brought it because maybe you could still use it… I will take it back if the size is a hassle”
Nana then hugs the clay pot and starts hissing at him “IF YOU EVEN DARE TO TOUCH IT, I WILL BITE YOUR HANDS OFF”
-------------------------------------------------------
Ivanna was obviously pleased with the clay pot. I asked her to inform me which dishes has the Queen been avoiding, she told me ALL OF THEM, but that she specially hates beef innards, the sight of them makes her want to vomit. So, I asked her to cook some innards for dinner today. She roared in laughter.
Link entered his closet to search for a suit to wear, he picked the charcoal grey. Once dressed, he exited his room in a hurry, since he had taken too long talking with José once he left Ivanna.
----------------remembrance------------------
Link approaching the stables, they seemed to be empty, but he was told José would be there. Once inside he spots Pepe trying to feed a foal while he hummed.
“Is he alright?” Link asks pointing at the weak baby horse.
Pepe turns his head and stands smiling; Link approaches him and gives him a quick hug.
“No… he is sick, but if he survives tonight, he may still have a chance”
“Why are you the only one seeing to this?” Link asks.
“Cus I am the only one who cares”
----------------------------------------------------------
Well… at least José adapted well to his new job, no further mischief from him. His peers are still wary of him but he prefers it that way. I need to convince Pepe to seek an audience with my King. Daphnes should be informed that the other stable hands are not taking proper care of the foals, possibly causing their premature death, leading to unnecessary money waste since the animals need to be replaced.
Link was thinking about that when Zelda comes out of her room rushing to the stairs. As the Princess was about to use the stairs, she notices Raziel staring, arming herself with courage she tops and walks towards him. Once the Princess reaches him, she extends her hand reaching for him. Link kept staring at her a few more seconds, then notices her hand and immediately offers his arm. Zelda starts smiling in accomplishment, she takes his arm and begins walking down the stairs with Ziel.
In the middle of their descend Zelda decides to ask “Do you think the Queen will slap me again once she sees me?”
“I don’t know, we will cross that bridge once we get there”
“We?” The princess asks him with surprise.
Link turns his head to stare at her directly “You don’t need my assistance then?”
“Raziel Link Nohansen, I am Princess Zelda Harkinian, a simple royal, not the lamp genie. Of course I need all the help I can get, and YOURS is… invaluable” she states and pulls out her tongue playfully.
Link roars in laughter, Zelda giggles at herself and grabs harder on his arm for stability.
I know she is just arguing for the sake of arguing, but… it relaxes me that she retains the notion that a royal is not an all-powerful being, and even jokes about it.
Link stops his laughter right before the dining room, he breaths in deeply closing his eyes.
Zelda stares at him with concern “What is wrong Ziel”
“Nothing… just clearing my mind to be able to counter any negative comments directed at you. How old are you?” Link asks.
The Princess looks down at the floor for a second “12” Link makes a scowl but she quickly adds “but I will be 13 next week” she says with merriment.
Fuck, I felt my soul leaving my body when she said 12, and then brutally town back at me when she said ¨13 next week¨… The age argument is the strongest one the majesties can contest me with.
“That is great” Link says smiling as he pushes open the door. But Zelda still felt nervous, so she decided to follow Zid’s advice… she needed to fight, and not only that, she had to win said fight. That is how the Princess decided to poke Link a little.
“What are you going to get me for my birth day?” Zelda asks as the door to the dining room opens wide, freezing Link in the spot, but he soon recovers grunting at the question.
“I already give you a cellphone, consider that your birthday gift” he says frowning.
“If only… you and I both know you wouldn’t just give me a cellphone because I wanted one, you got it for me because it was convenient, it offered a way for you to keep track of me at all times” the Princess turns her back on Link and scoffs a little “Even Chacha is getting me something, but my brother is not?... Not every day a girl turns into a woman you know.” Zelda says trying really hard to hide the smile that kept creeping up to her lips and eyes.
I didn’t buy the cellphone to keep you under vigilance, I bought it to bribe you into staying alive. Must admit that it didn’t took long for me to begin using it to keep you under surveillance.
I am surprised you noticed and are now using it against me… you even threw Chacha in to gilt trip me. Hehehe, my Princess came prepared to take a stand against me… I guess you DO deserve a birthday gift.
The Queen was about to stop the discussion, since she feared it would escalate. But the King raised a hand to stop her and smiling pointed at his hear. Daphnes wanted to listen to them arguing, his personal way of getting to know them.
Link grunts at her, and proceeds to take out a chair for her to sit on. “Fair, what do you want then?”
Zelda sits down clapping a little “You know those devices you put on your ears to listen to whatever you have going on in your cellphone?”
Link opens his eyes wide as he walks towards his seat “Air pods… those are very expensive”
Zelda shakes her head “Oh no, I don’t want those, I tried putting a hazel nut on my ear once to simulate what it would be like, and…”
Link was about to take a seat in front of the Princess, but stops and leans over the table looking directly at Zelda “HOLD it there, you did what?” Link sighs “that was… what if you couldn’t pull it out?”
Zelda whistles rolling her eyes “Stupid, I know, but YOU where there. I was sure if one got stuck you will find a way to pull it out” Zelda answers confidently.
Ziel stares at her and sighs “Don’t ever do that again” he says with a pinch of concern.
Zelda smiles and nods “Of course I won’t, one scare is enough”
Link shakes his head and falls back on his seat; Zelda just beams at him sweetly.
“As I was saying, I rather you get me headphones. You know, the type that reassembles a diadem. I believe those are cheaper… I just want to use them to listen to music… and they look kind of cool”
“Definitely cheaper, I will buy them for you next time. But you will only use them in the quantum world and in the privacy of your room, is that clear? … Happy Birthday Princess”
The Princess stands from her seat smiling, walks around the dining table to hug Link.
This… was unnecessary.
*You could twist her nec-*
IF YOU FINISH THAT SENTENCE, I AM TAKING THE PILLS AGAIN.
The King smiles and was about to call for their dinner to be brought, but this time the Queen stops him.
“Zelda… come closer and let me see what you are wearing”
Zelda approaches her mother and stands proud in front of her, she then twirls around herself to properly show the corset. The Queen´s gaze stays fixated on the Princess, mouth agape. But she quickly regains composure.
“You look like a courtesan” says the Queen furrowing her eyes. Zelda’s gaze lowers in shame and frustration. Link inhales irate and was about to contest the Queen but Derrick spoke first.
“NO, SHE DOES NOT… she is not even showing any flesh, but I do find her alluring.” the Queen was about to say something but the King slams the table, he then looks straight at the Princess “You are not allowed to use that garment until you are officially a lady, is that clear?”
Wow, my King supports us? GREAT, we have the biggest chip in our side, we basically just won the battle. That is a relief because Zelda does looks good wearing that garment.
Zelda’s eyes start to water, she runs to the King and hugs him giving him a kiss on the cheek.
I believe she finally understand WHO is her real father… I am happy for my King. THIS is all he ever wanted, to dine happily with a loving family.
Claire clears her throat “What your father just said, and remember to ALWAYS wear it on top of a dress, or clothing that does not exhibit much flesh, no further discussion about it…” the Queen stares at the table with dread before saying “I was not informed we are eating innards, since it’s our first meal together in a while, could we shift to something more appetizing?”
“NOOOO” answered the King, Link and Zelda in unison.
Notes:
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Chapter 62: Stable Master and shopping
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
The Princess entered her room with a wide grin, as she closed her door, she looked at her bed and sighed.
I DID IT, I managed to sell the idea of using my corsets, and also got Link to promise that he was buying me headphones. He doesn’t lie, or so he says, that means, I AM GETTING HEADPHONES. He also said that he is visiting Saria tomorrow, I can join him if I want to, but he is leaving early… so I better go to sleep NOW.
She changed into a yellow night gown and proceeded to sit on her bed for a moment, after a while she gained enough courage to turn off the lights.
Not as dark as it could be, common girl, this is your room… your domain. You can do this.
She tossed and turned for a while until sleep finally claimed her. A few minutes later she starts tossing and whimpering in her sleep, tears star falling from her eyes, her hands shoot to her hair pulling on it… then she screams sitting up on her bed and waking up.
Zelda hugs her legs whimpering while she starts rocking on her bed, eventually she managed to calm herself, but the tears would not stop rolling down her face.
I don’t get it, I was fearing my nightmares would come back, but NOT THIS BAD. The ones I had in Australia were pretty tame… I thought that I had finally overcome this. What is the fucking dif- OMG… its Link. It is with HIM that I don’t get nightmares. Zid and Robert smelled and felt like him but couldn't really do it for me since I still had them, just not as bad. But with Link, I manage to sleep like a baby. I don't get why but who cares? I need him.
The Princess stood up and grabbed her pillow before heading outside of her room. She started walking, but as the floor creaked under her weight she started to run towards hell. Once in front of the door she hesitated to knock… but she snorted and begun knocking.
After a while, Ziel opened the door clearly pissed “What?” he said and started taking note on the Princess, the night gown that clearly indicated she had been sleeping, her red puffy eyes, and the pillow she was hugging. His eyes widened at the realization of what was going on, and he began to shake his head crossing his arms.
“No, you can’t sleep here… it’s not appropriate” he said.
But I just… NO ZELDA. You know you need him to sleep, and HE said his princess is NOT MEEK, so DON’T BACK OFF
“True, but Hyrule’s Princess sleep is of parliamentary importance, I don’t mind turning a blind eye on this if it means I get appropriate rest, what about you?” Zelda states as she pushes past him to enter the room.
DID I JUST, WHAT THE FUUUU… breathe girl, prepare for his counter statement
Link closes his eyes and quickly lifts both of his shoulders “I don’t mind, I have slept in worse places” he says as he closes the door and approaches his bed to retrieve his pillow.
He… gave in? no brawling? He… really doesn’t mind. Cool but, what is he doing? WAIT, DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE PRETTY BOY.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Zelda asks a little panicky as she places her pillow on his bed.
Link sights “My Princess wants to sleep in my room, that does NOT mean she is laying with me on the floor” Link drops his pillow “She is sleeping on my bed while I take the floor”
But… I need him to sleep next to me. Damn it, how do I fight this? I need to know what he feels or fears of the situation… all right, let’s ask.
The Princess sighs “I… am not a monster, I won’t take you out of your bed.” She picks up his pillow and places it on the bed next to hers “So why don’t we do what we had been doing so far?” Zelda smiles and sits on the bed; she then starts to pat on it to invite him.
Link slaps his forehead with his palm “I don’t think the King and Queen would approve of this”
“True, but how would they know? They never come here, only the service people do” Zelda counters.
“In other words, Chacha will find out” Link assures her.
“Chacha is my… OUR friend, she will keep quiet about this if we ask it of her”
Link lifts his face to stare at the ceiling and uses his hands to cover it groaning “There is something that feels immoral about this.” He retorts.
“So… are you implying that you ARE an obedient citizen with morals?” Zelda asks raising an eyebrow, daring him.
Link squints his eyes at the Princess “This will bring serious repercussions for me if we get caught, so be certain of this: if I am falling, I will be dragging you down with me, fair?” Link says as he pushes her on the bed to make room for himself. Zelda nods smiling.
I LOVE this new me. The way I can now confidently face problems, and solve them with coherent arguments, sometimes abusing on my previous knowledge of the other's person character… I am enamored by myself. The time I used to hate me feels so far away.
The Princess was thinking about that, but soon sleep claimed her. When she woke up, she found herself alone in hell. Was about to jump out of bed in panic but noticed a note on the desk. She stood up to read it and smiled.
He didn’t leave me behind, he just woke up early to check on Pepe before coming for me, I should change, he asked me to wear something simple and comfortable. I think I have a dress that meets the criteria.
LINK POV
Link was leaning on the wall opposite to the throne room. He was wearing dark trousers and a white long-sleeved shirt, and on top of it he wore a grey vest. Martin had sent it with his new olive suit as a present.
He was silently waiting for those double doors to open, he was set on not moving from that spot until José came out.
-------------remembrance-----------------
Link enters the castle’s stables to check on José and the colt’s health status, but as he entered, he found the place had been trashed, wood benches thrown, sacks that contained the horse’s feed slashed and thrown around messily. And José trying to sweep but he couldn’t even see. He was crying and his left eye was closed due to a huge bruise.
“What happened? Are you…” Link asks worried.
“He died” José sighs “I confronted my peers an hour ago, told them HE was not a bad specimen, he was perfect, THEY were the ones who KILLED HIM… and we got into a fight” Pepe explained.
Link grabbed Pepe by the shoulders “You have to inform the King”
“He is a busy man, why would he care about what happened here” José said with uncertainty.
“Because he cares for his people, who do you think paid for that colt?... the money came from the taxes, the people paid for it. Yes, the King is a busy man… so he has to trust that his workers will tell him if things are not running correctly. BE his eyes and ears on the stable and tell him.”
-----------------------------------------
One of the doors slowly opens, José steps out pale as a ghost, but his eyes reflected joy. Link approaches him with doubt. Pepe finally allows himself to smile and embraces Link strongly earning a yelp from the Prince, then quickly releasing him form the bestial hug.
“Are you trying to break me?” Link asks laughing.
“Shut up… the King just named me the stable master, he is whipping the stable clean, I will have to hire the new stable hands… it’s too much, I am not sure I...”
José starts saying distraught, but the Prince pushes him making him fall back on his but, effectively interrupting what the new stable master was about to say.
“No, I won’t allow you to say or even think that, you are no longer a boy, you are a man now. BE a fucking man and don't discard yourself. You know this... and if you don't, then you know where to go to learn it. It’s that simple”
Link approaches Pepe and grabs his hand to pull him up, he then stands next to José and straightens his posture lifting his head proud. Link gives Pepe a side glance expecting him to mimic his demanor.
José nods with a sigh and squares his shoulders lifting his head with a nervous smile. But he managed to stand proud next to his Prince. Both of them start laughing and turn their heads once they hear the sound of heels approaching. Zelda was running towards them, clad on a plain white dress that was shorter than usual, since it only reached her shins.
“I came to look for you since you were taking too long” Zelda tells Link, then directs her attention to José “and what happened to you?” she asks pointing at the palpitating bruise in his eye.
Pepe smiles at her and was about to speak, but couldn’t. He just looked at Link with wide eyes.
*I think he fears his voice is going to crack mid-sentence*
Thus making him look weak in front of the Princess, don't worry bro, I got you.
Link starts answering the Princess “Short version, he got in a fight with the other stable hands due to their incompetence, the King was informed of this and named José the new stable master”
Zelda covers her mouth and nose with her hands, her eyes start tearing up. Pepe opens his arms for a hug and Zelda complies.
Shedding tears “For a moment I thought Ziel was going to tell me the King fired you for fighting… but Daphnes rewarded you… the other guys must have really fucked up”
José starts roaring in laughter at her statement, his eyes tearing up a little, but he did not shed tears. Link chuckles.
“Oh, they DID fuck up all right, all of them were fired” Link says as he leaned his back on the wall, he then taps on his ear.
Zelda takes the hint and starts paying attention, soon she can hear yells followed by begging. She points at the throne room looking at Link, he smiles evilly and nods at her. Then Derrick lost his patience and roared. “I DON’T FUCKING CARE, GET OUT OF MY SHIGHT OR I WILL KILL YOU” And the doors opened as 5 guys ran out in panic.
Yes my Princess, they were begging your father for another chance. But our King is just, he doesn’t give 2 chances easily. Don’t pity them.
Zelda opens her eyes wide, then scoffs at the incompetent men. She then walks towards Link who was closing the doors of the throne room. “Am I good?” asks the Princess as she twirls.
“Yes and no, the dress is good, but those heels…”
Pouting Zelda insists “But, these are the lowest heels I have”
Link hold his chin pondering “You know… I need to go to the market first, do you have any rupees on you?”
Zelda squints her eyes “I do… what for?”
“I will search for a few items I need; you go buy yourself some sandals”
“Sandals? Really? Those are beggar shoes…” Zelda states with disgust.
Link growls at her, closes his eyes and taking a deep breath “Sandals are made for working people, try running or lifting boxes with those heels” he sighs “Kakariko village is located at the foot of Death Mountain. That means the village is built on inclined ground, you won’t be able to walk there on heels. Buy sandals or flat shoes like the ones Chacha uses.”
Zelda puffs in defeat “All right, let’s go”
They used the carriage to go to the Marquet, Zelda had been stealing glances at Link during the whole ride. He of course noticed.
“Are you sure you don’t want a pet horse?” Link insists.
Zelda giggles at the memory of their first interaction “I don’t, but I wanted to ask… where did you got that vest?”
“A gift from Martin, he blames me for his sudden commercial success” he chuckles “I could not deny it… he made it just the way I like it”
Zelda snorts before saying “Thick, simple and pierce resistant?”
Link produces a click with his tongue and briefly points at her winking.
The Princess broke in a fit of laughter, a fake one… she was actually trying to hide the blush she got watching Link do what he just did. A few minutes later, the carriage stops. Ziel jumps out and stretches his had to help the Princess out. She accepts it and Link tells her to meet back in the carriage in an hour, after that he runs to the food area of the market. Zelda starts asking random people where to buy shoes.
Soon the Princess finds where to buy the footwear. She found the working shoes cheap, and since she could not decide if she wanted the sandals or the flats, so she bought both. In the meantime, Link was loading big cheese pieces on a sack that already had fruits, vegetables, milk, bread and eggs.
I think I have all she needs, but I should take a small meat package too… she loves cheese and eggs, but she should also eat meat since she is under development. I should treat her to some nuts too.
Link thought as que entered the carriage, Zelda was already in it to his surprise. They rode in silence to Kakariko Village. The carriage took them to the stair, they had to climb those to enter the village… Link climbs out of the carriage, grabs the sack and carries it over his shoulder. He then holds a hand out to help the Princess climb out of the carriage.
Grabbing his hand she asks “What is in the sack?”
“Food” Ziel answers plainly.
As they start going up the stairs, Zelda became REALLY GLAD to have changed into the sandals… her heels would have already destroyed her feet.
Once they finally enter the village, Link starts walking towards a house that appeared to be right in the middle of the whole town. It was a house that had been under construction indefinitely, but Link paid a hefty amount to buy it, so the construction workers had to finish it in a hurry.
Ziel whistles and a girl’s head pops out of the small front garden, she smiles and stands dusting her hands on her long shorts. The green haired girl starts running towards Link, he slowly lowers the sack and opens his arms to embrace her once she reaches him. Zelda frowned a little at that, they looked so perfect. His arms around her torso holding her delicately, her hands on his nape and giggling.
After a quick word exchange, they let go of each other, Link picks up the sack and carries it inside. The girl stays behind just staring at the Princess, after gathering some courage, she starts walking towards her.
“You must be Princess Zelda, I am Saria” the green head extends her hand for a shake “Nice to meet you”
Notes:
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Chapter 63: Saria
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Zelda kept staring at the girl in front of her, mouth wide open and unable to form coherent sentences to answer the greeting. She was barely able to stretch her hand for the requested hand shake. Saria smiled sweetly and pulled the Princess in for a quick hug.
ZELDA POV
She doesn't look like a Kokiri, I mean… she kind of does but, she is my height or an inch lower, that is TOO TALL FOR A KOKIRI.
Blinking Zelda finally spoke "I am sorry if I was rude… you left me speech less, I was told you were a Kokiri, but you don't look the part"
Saria puts her hands behind her back and wiggles a little “Oh, that… is because I am not a Kokiri anymore… or that is what I think, I have been growing during my stay here in Kakariko Village” Saria goes red remembering something important just happened to her, then looks at Zelda and decides to share the event since the Princess is also a girl “I even got my period recently, I had NO IDEA females bleed monthly, Anju helped me with that… she is the lady that tends to the chickens”
Zelda stare at her in shock, and then with a little of envy "Congratulations, you are a normal lady now. That means you will no longer be an immortal child... doesn't that scare you?"
Rolling her now hazel eyes "It actually doesn't. Yes, I will die of age. When? Who knows. Do I care? Not really, I don't even remember how old I am, I lost count after 300 years, but I have lived more in the last 2 years than in my previous 300+ years. And when I am done, I will be smiling"
This girl... She is aware her life will eventually end, but she does not mind that at all, she actually welcomes it. Why is she so brave?
The Princess starts shaking her head "Wait… you already had your period?" Zelda asks.
Saria squints at the Princess "You… haven't?" looks at Zelda up and down "But, your breast… and your hips… you are starting to look like a woman. You will get your period soon I bet." Saria looks from side to side and leans closer to Zelda "Maybe we should continue our talk inside"
Zelda starts looking around and notices they had caught the attention of some villagers, so she nods at Saria and lets the Kokiri girl guide her inside.
Once inside, Zelda takes note on the structure of the house, then smiles a little.
It’s clear that Raziel got a hand on the construction of this house. It reassembles the distribution of the houses in the quantum world. A separate room for the kitchen, for the toilet, a bed chamber… He put a lot of care and attention to detail in the making of this house… AND ALL OF THIS FOR HER. WHO IS SHE TO HIM?
“As I was saying, Anju helped me A LOT when I had my period, which was great because the pains can be a hassle. If you ever need recommendations on what to take to alleviate them, just visit me” Saria smiles with glee.
Link finishes storing the food and frowns at them.
“What are you talking about?”
“Woman stuff of course, go hide in your cave, would you?” Saria orders Link, but she kept staring right at Zelda with mischief.
Link growls loudly at them, he then takes the stairs to the second floor, where the bedroom is obviously located. Saria giggles.
“What is there not to love about him right?” Saria says chocking in laughter.
A lot of things.
“I think he got angry”
“Yeah… he does that a lot, it’s like his second nature, or is he different at the castle?” Saria asks.
Zelda opens her eyes wide and chuckles “NO, HE IS VOLATILE AT BEST” the Princess laughs a little and changes the topic “If you don’t mind me asking… how long have you known each other?”
"All his life. His mother entrusted him to me… Who would trust a girl with a baby right? but, she was on her death bed, she had no better option." She exhales at the memory "I pretty much raised him, made sure that he ate, that he bathed, taught him how to walk and talk… I even played with him because he refused to play with the other Kokiri, he never told me why"
Saria is his mother. Not biological of course but… I understand now. He never told her he was being tortured by the other Kokiri.
---------remembrance-------------
"Why do you still care about them?" Zelda genuinely asks after watching him kick one of them hard.
Link bluntly answers "I don't, that would be a little twisted… but Saria does."
-------------------------------------
I guess he is shielding her from a truth that could break her.
Zelda starts grinning, thinking how easily she could hurt the green head, and why wouldn't she? Then starts shaking her head to rid of those thoughts.
“Well…” Saria rolls her eyes “he never told me anything, and never complained, but I knew they were mistreating him… not sure who or if all of them, but he always returned with bruises and scars.” She heads to the kitchen to fix herself a tea, offer the Princess some and comes back with the 2 glasses. “Link never allows me to visit them at the forest, do you know why?”
My previous thoughts of harming her were so miss guided. Saria has been a sweet and good host. Its not her fault that Ziel adores her. And since honesty is the best policy, I will tell her.
"Apparently, the minute you got out, a curse befell on the Kokiri. They no longer have human bodies… they all still live, but they now have small wood bodies and use a leaf to mask their faces"
Saria's face went bonkers for a few seconds, but then she started roaring in laughter. Once she calms down, her eyes start reflecting malice as she whispers "Good, they deserve it"
This girl… she is sweet and polite, but she is got a mean side to her that is kind of scary. That in itself is amazing. I mean, how can you be afraid of a fluffy little rabbit?… I like her.
Zelda smiles at Saria “I know right? I am glad you got out before you became LIKE THEM”
"I guess… but we should be thanking Link for that. He wanted us to leave but I wanted to stay. That forest was all I knew, and we were told that leaving the forest meant death. Yet somehow, Link was sure we would be fine, he convinced me… and for that I am grateful."
They both hear a door open upstairs, out comes Link staring at his cellphone, he jumps down next to them instead of using the stairs.
“What did I say about the stairs?” Saria starts scolding the Hero.
“That you sweep them from top to bottom?” He answers sarcastically.
Saria yells “THAT YOU HAVE TO USE THEM, this is not a training camp” sighs “I am going to kill you one of these days”
Zelda stares in shock at Saria, then slowly turns to look at Link when she hears him chuckling.
“Come at me girl, I am right here” he taunts.
Irate, Saria stand from the table they were using, then runs at him. Her intention was to tackle him, but Link was waiting for her. He quickly gives a small side step, enough to avoid upfront coalition, but manages to use his arms to grab her and flip her over his shoulder. Saria screams in a mix of exhilaration and distress as she ends up standing right next to him.
OMG, that was… cool. He respects her like he would a mother… but treats her like a he would a friend, or a little sister. I want to be flipped too! It looked awesome.
“NO FAIR, I am an old lady, you should not be treating me like that”
Link rolls his eyes “Well decrepit lady, I am a young man, you should not be trying to tackle me… it's a fight you can't win"
I am so jealous of how they interact with each other… Saria is angry but can't contain her happiness, and Link enjoys pissing her off. I want that too.
“Weren’t you coming to tell us something?” Saria says faking anger.
Link raises his eye brows “Right” turns to Zelda “SWORD left the antennas they used to communicate through Hyrule. That means you now have connection through all of Hyrule”
Zelda smiles and claps a little “That is great…. Wait. What if Hylians find the antennas and break them?”
“According to William, they won’t even dare to touch them. The antennas have the Nohansen family emblem”
Zelda start jumping a little celebrating, Saria looks at the Princess like she has gone crazy. She slowly stops her celebration when she notices Link, his face stoic as ever.
“This is good… right?” Zelda asks.
LINK POV
For you my Princess, it is. But not necessarily for me. when I had no access to internet, I was bound to check on sword’s quarters once a week, to see if they needed me for something. Now THEY have access to me ALL THE TIME. It’s not that is bad, far from it… it just makes it hard to balance my time. I HAVE to give myself time for my family, and also for my friends… that means I won’t have time much for myself anymore.
Link rolls his eyes “Means I will be on call more often” Zelda begins to smile at that but Link continues “Just to clarify. This doesn’t mean I will take you with me all the time, we clear on that?” Zelda’s happiness slowly morphs into sorrow.
“By the way, you will be getting a message later today from each of your brothers”
Zelda’s face glimmers again at that, she takes a deep breath and approaches Saria.
“Saria… would you mind being my friend?”
The Green head takes a step back in shock, looks at Link, he just smiles and does a quick lift of his shoulders, obviously stating that this is her call.
“No… I mean, I think I kind of like you, but you are a Princess. I am a nobody, what will the nobles say if they see you hanging with me? besides, I don’t have the means to accompany you during important events, give you expensive gifts or-” The Princess interrupts her by grabbing a hold on her hands. Zelda’s eyes had started to water.
“I don’t want a convenience companion; I want a friend. Someone I can visit to a chat about whatever, someone that can visit me too at the castle, where we could spend some time figuring out how to make Link pay”
Wait, what? Why? Whatever…
“I don’t need you to buy fancy clothes or win me over with expensive gifts, just be there for me-” Saria suddenly hugs the Princess, cutting off what was being said.
“If you still want me to, of course I will be your friend” Saria says hugging her hard.
"Great, CALAMITY" the Hero says pointing at Saria "meet CATASTROPHIE" he says pointing at Zelda now. "We are leaving" Link informs them with finality.
Zelda huffs rolling her eyes, then separates from the green head a little. "Do you know how to write and read?" Saria nods.
"Good, I will be writing you from time to time, good bye for now"
"See you later Princess, and Link… you should visit the ranch, I think today is the day"
"I know, that is why we have to leave now, by the way, EAT THE MEAT" Link grabs the back of Saria's head and draws her in to kiss her forehead. "Good bye"
Saria grins and waves them off.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking this story, grant me a Kudo, post a comment, and subscribe so you wont miss
future updates
Chapter 64: Malon
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The carriage started to move once the Prince and Princess boarded it. It did not take long for them to reach Lon Lon Ranch. Zelda was very anxious during the travel, she had not known they were also heading there, she had not prepared herself with knowledge about the place. And what if her attire was not adequate?
ZELDA POV
“Ziel… is my dress appropriate for the ranch? Should I change my sandals for my flat shoes? I don’t know how much protection is needed for my feet. Was coming here today the plan all along? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Link raises his palm to stop her “I think I am developing a headache with your incessant questioning” he pinches the bridge of his nose “your dress is appropriate for the ranch, change your shoes only if the idea of dirt and mud in your toes bothers you. Yes, this visit was part of the plan, and I overlooked telling you about it because I didn’t feel like it”
What does he mean with ¨I didn’t feel like it¨ just how inconsiderate can he be? And for no fucking reason… I mean, I have behaved so far, right? or is this his lame attempt at getting back at me for forcing my way into his bed?
DAMN… I am so glad I did not voice that last thought; it actually sounds really bad. I need to think of another way to phase it.
“I am getting angry, so explain further” Zelda warns.
Link nods "If I had told you, you would start asking questions like: What is the reason for the visit? Who do you know from the ranch? Since when? What do they do? And so on. I was mentally drained; the last thing I needed was to start a whole new conversation with you at the moment. So, I rather just do it. Let future Link deal with the repercussions… Not the best idea apparently, since I was still unable to avoid the question grenade"
Zelda awkwardly smiles and looks down at herself “So… my clothes were for the ranch visit and not for Saria?”
The Hero exhales and patiently explains “The ranch is a working environment, I asked you to wear a mid-calf dress so you won’t stain the hemline of it with mud or fecal matter. The added bonus of your current attire is that you won’t get caught in ranch equipment or on bushes. Saria doesn’t care about the type of clothes you choose to wear; she is not that type of girl. Malon though…”
“Malon?”
“The ranch owner’s daughter. She… is not bad, but she doesn’t tolerate nonsensical behavior” Link notices Zelda’s puzzled face “Lets paint a picture. You being a Princess show up at the ranch with a very expensive dress and heels, expecting that your attire won’t get dirty or damaged during the visit. Then you leave early in tears with a torn dress and broken heels. She is not going to comfort you at all, she will fucking destroy your for being so darn stupid.”
And he says she is not bad? Damn, ok maybe she is not a bitch, but she is not very tolerant either…
--------------remembrance------------------
Link exhales "If I open my mouth, I will obliterate them, and whomever survives my attack will be left mentally lacerated" the Prince declares threateningly”
----------------------------------------------------
Hehehe, Malon actually sounds a little bit like Link.
The carriage stops in front of Lon Lon Ranch, the driver told them he had other diligences to attend to, but he would be back in a few hours. Link helps Zelda out of the carriage and nods at the driver. Once the carriage left Zelda follows Link inside the ranch.
Talon was leaving in a hurry. He had some deliveries to make, but he still waved at Link when he saw him. Link waved back and enters the house without shame, he signals Zelda to wait and goes upstairs but soon jumps back down.
“I bet you are glad Saria is not here” Zelda says laughing a little.
Link half smiles at that as they exit the building. He proceeds to enter the barn telling Zelda to stay behind him. Once inside he is received by the sight of an obviously pregnant cow and a red headed girl moping the floor.
“What happened Malon?”
The red head drops the mop and smiles at Link, but she doesn't fail to notice the blonde girl behind him. Malon briefly lifts an eyebrow at that, but still runs towards Link. She easily jumped on him giggling, her legs instantly wrapped around his waist and her arms around his neck. But behind his back, the ranch girl was staring at the Princess with hostility.
What the fuck is wrong with this bitch jumping on Link like that? She is obviously claiming Link as hers… HA, like he could belong to anyone.
Lately I have been thinking about my feelings for him... I am not sure if they may grow or stay the same since we had a rocky start. But I did brought him back after some wolfos mauled him to death. What have you done for him chili head? If someone has a claim on him its ME
Link puts the ranch girl down slowly; Malon quickly pecks him on the cheek and answers his question.
“My girl here is about to give birth, her amniotic sack just broke, I was mopping it out” Malon gives the Princess a quick side glance “By the way, I don’t want the blonde here… what were you thinking? You were thinking with your dick that is what. She IS pretty, but come on, I bet she hasn’t even used a broom in her life”
--------------remembrance----------------
Link squinting his eyes as he says "She… is not bad, but she doesn't tolerate nonsensical behavior"
------------------------------------------
Nonsensical behavior… why would she consider my presence here nonse- OF COURSE. Because she thinks Link brought me here to work for her, right?
Zelda clears her throat “Malon, right? I did not came here seeking for a job, I know I am under qualified”
The read head approaches the Princess tilting her head.
“So, you know your dainty hands are useless… why are you here then”
Why am I here… Ziel told me he wanted me to meet you, and maybe befriend you. I was hoping for that too, but I am not sure that is still a possibility for us. We are just too different. But that does not mean I am not willing to give it a try.
“To know and learn about the work that is done here” Zelda answers confidently.
Link chuckles at that statement and curls his index finger up and down at the Princess, making Zelda beam at hi approval, he then directs his attention at Malon.
“She only knows about work done in the castle, she wants to know about the ranch so show her the ropes here” Link informs the ranch girl.
Malon stares at the Princess intrigued "I… still don't understand why you may want to know how things are done at the ranch, but you DID came prepared with appropriate clothes…" sighs "so I might as well give you a quick introduction to the life here. THIS RANCH is a working area, it's not gonna be clean, and it's gonna smell a lot at times. There will be loose cuckoos everywhere, that means you have to be careful of not stepping on them or on poo. And you may also get trampled by a horse if you don't look both ways before walking anywhere"
Malon closes her eyes for a moment before her next declaration "THIS IS NOT THE CASTLE, I don't know what your position there is, but I don't care. I will drag you out of here by the hair if you start ordering me, my dad, or Link around, was all that understood?"
Dear goddesses, Malon is a female version of Link in every way. She is got a strong character paired with outstanding beauty. She has long and luscious red hair, blue eyes, breast too big for her age, wide hips and her derriere. It’s not fair at all… I think I am jealous.
Zelda straightens her stance and salutes the ranch girl military stile. Malon smiles and rolls her eyes.
Link leans close to the red head and whispers “She is your Princess, just so you know”
Malon’s facial expression shifts from amusement to incredulity.
“You mean Zelda? Her?” Malon asks pointing at the Princess.
Do I not look like a Princess? I suppose I currently don’t, I am dressed like a commoner.
Link nods and Malon takes it as a signal to approach the Princess, the ranch girl aggressively takes Zelda's hands and turns them around several times to look at them.
"I see, well that explains a lot actually" the Malon says giggling a little.
She just blatantly touched me… she is not afraid of my title. I may grow to like this girl.
Link clears his throat “Mal… when did you say Moomoo’s amniotic sac broke?”
“Like ½ an hour ago… something is wrong, isn’t it?”
“Maybe… we should already see the fore legs popping out at least, allow me check her”
Link said as he quickly removed his gloves and washes his hands. He then starts to roll his sleeves up and insets a hand into the cow’s vulva.
What the fuck is happening? Why is he… but Malon seems perfectly OK with all this. That means this is normal procedure, right?
“What do you feel hunk? Do you need the chains?”
"The legs are about to pop out, but I don't feel the head" he insets his arm deeper "There it is, it’s just not facing the birth canal. I can fix this, no chains needed gorgeous" he winks at Malon "But Mootilda is not going to enjoy this"
Did she just refer to Link as hunk? And he called her gorgeous… What type of relationship do these two have? And who is Mootilda? I thought her name was Moomoo… Ziel is just making up names for the cow, isn't he?
Malon headed to caress the cow’s head and started singing to soothe her. Zelda froze in place mesmerized by the red head’s beautiful singing voice.
Meanwhile, Link was inserting his other arm, since he needed both hands to be able to correct the head dystocia. With one arm he was carefully bringing the head of the calf into its normal position, with the other he was pushing the calf’s body back and away on one side, since he needed the space to properly rotate the head and avoid damage to the cow’s pelvic inlet.
The mother cow groans in discomfort “Zelda don’t just stand there, help me by massaging her.” Malon orders.
Zelda hurriedly starts caressing the cow, but the ranch girl yells at her.
“HARDER, don’t just pet her, that feels pretty but does nothing for her, she need a proper massage to get relaxed… unless you want her to kick the lights out of Link.”
What if I do want to see that?... No, if Mootilda puts him out of commission, her baby will die. We have to endure this for Milkshake.
LINK POV
Link was able to place the calf’s head correctly in the birth canal, he pulls both fore legs just a little to stimulate the cow to keep pushing. He then sits back cleaning his hands with a towel. Malon and Zelda leave their position to join Link and both of them gasp when they see the calf’s head already popping out. Malon grabs a towel and gives it to the Princess.
“Clean the baby’s face” Malon orders.
“Me? but… he or she is still coming out”
“I don’t care; it needs its airways clean to breathe” Malon barks.
Zelda hurries and starts cleaning the baby cow's face. The Princess was actually doing a stellar job this time around, she cleaned the nostrils and even opened its mouth to clean it without the need of being told to. since the baby calf may also use its mouth to breathe. Malon was watching the tenderness Zelda was using to clean the unborn animal. She never thought she would see a noble girl helping at the ranch with such devotion and care, and this was not any noble, it was Hyrule's Princess. The red head started to grin happy, Hyrule will be left in good hands.
Malon sighs "I am sorry I couldn't give you a tour around the ranch, its messy but you would probably love all the animals, especially the horses" Malon says sadly.
"Actually, this was a lot better, right Princess?" Link asks Zelda with a smile.
“Stressful, but WAY better than just looking around. Milkshake is half way out by the way. Does the calf land on the floor or should I catch it?”
“Milkshake?” Malon asks looking at Link.
"Yes, since Link had to shake it a little before delivery, like the milkshakes sold at the market in summer… Come on, don't just stare at me like I am nuts, THE NAME IS PERFECT AND YOU KNOW IT" Zelda yells with pride, Malon actually cracks in laughter after that.
It’s actually perfect, but they don’t name the animals here… since if you name it, you grow attached to it. But maybe they could make an exception for this one, the they did it for my horse.
“Just come here Princess, let it drop to the floor, Cinnamoo will take care of the rest herself” Link says before a young horse neighs and enters running towards Link.
"Hello beautiful, how have they been treating you here?... AAHH, seriously?... When?" the mare neighs shaking her white mane "She can be a bitch, I know. But she loves you and you really needed those shots" Link says laughing at the make-believe scenario he just pulled with Epona's help, he then produces a carrot from his trousers for the mare.
Zelda stares at Link’s interaction with the mare with longing.
“I really hope it wasn’t me you and Epona were talking about” Malon exclaims trying to portray anger, but failing miserably.
Zelda clears her throat “Malon… I believe the ranch is doing very well economically, you should be able to hire somebody to help you, why haven’t you?”
Malon points at Link, who immediately displays wrath by baring his teeth and narrowing his eyes.
--------------------------------REMEMBRANCE (In a future 10 years ago) ------------------------------
Link had found Talon in Kakariko Village. The man was having trouble staying awake, but managed to tell him that Ingo had forcefully thrown him out of the ranch proclaiming himself as the new owner. The conflicted father asked Link to visit the ranch and check if his daughter was ok.
He had tried to… but the ranch was closed off to the public, EXCEPT on weekends from 8 pm to 3 am. And you had to pay a hefty sum to enter. Link didn’t mind having to pay, he minded the strange visit hours and the fact that he was asked to leave his sword and any weapon behind. He was a seasoned warrior by now, leaving his weapons behind felt like publicly stripping. But he didn’t question Ingo’s request since it felt legit, and was assured that his belongings will be left in a chest that only he had the key to. So, he choose one of the 5 chest that could be used by paying visitors.
Once he paid Ingo, the Hero entered the ranch. The first thing he noticed was that ALL the animals where outside of the barn, he found that a little disturbing so he entered the barn. His facial expression slowly shifted from upbeat ingenuity, to uncontainable wrath.
There in the middle of the barn was Malon on four naked. Being violently penetrated by an older guy. While a younger one was attempting to force himself into her mouth. Her face was mud stained, trails of previous tears could be seen on her cheeks. But she currently appeared to be no longer crying, her eyes seemed void… unfocused. Her back was full of old and new scars. Her arms and legs had burns and bruises.
Ingo joyfully enters the barn "You are new right? WELCOME, you can either wait for your turn, or join them. she still has a hole waiting to be filled" he states grinning with malice.
Smirking the Hero and approaches the skinny ranch owner, he shoots his arm out to violently grab Ingo's neck and lifts him in the air.
"What if I want to fill YOUR holes?"
Ingo starts screaming, Link takes that as an opportunity to reach for one of his glass bottles and pushes it hard inside Ingo's mouth. The action forced the mouth corners to crack open, since the bottle was too big of a fit. Link then performed an uppercut, breaking the bottle inside Ingo's mouth.
The hero releases his hold on Ingo, who falls to the ground whimpering. He then proceeds to jam the door close, to prevent the other two rapists and Ingo from escaping. He turns to them and tilts his head grinning wickedly, the naked men cower away in fear, but there is nowhere to go, no place to hide.
The Hero picks up a large piece of the broken bottle and stares fixedly at them, he had plans that involved the broken glass and the anuses of the offenders.
Heart breaking screams were heard from outside of the ranch, accompanied by Link's diabolical laughter. As the hours passed, a female voice was also heard, at times sobbing in anger, but others happily mocking someone with vile. None of the men including Ingo where ever seen again after that night.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“He won’t let me hire people… MEN specifically. But let’s get real, no female wants to work here… they all are whinny little bitches” Malon complained.
Link sighs “Why are you making me repeat myself?” he asks exasperated “You exude sex through every fucking pore. That instantly makes you a target for male desire. Any men working here poses a threat to your chastity. Talon agrees with me on this”
Malon rolls her eyes “Of course he does, he is my father. And since we… since YOU discovered that Ingo was putting sleeping medicine in his meals, he fired him and grew suspicious of everyone”
The Prince moves his head in quiet disagreement "Not everyone, just every male. The job here is physically demanding, so why would Ingo make it even harder on himself by putting the main worker out of commission? Because he was not here to work. He had set his eyes in something... someone else"
Link gets close enough to Malon and caresses her cheek with his knuckles, before using them to tilt her face up, forcing her to stare at him directly "If you catch my drift"
O dear goddesses… Link just implied that Malon was going to be raped, and I believe him. She is drop dead gorgeous. She is not my friend, but I have to protect her too. There must be something that can be done.
Malon aggressively shakes her head free from Link’s hold. He just sighs “You used to tell me that Ingo’s constant gaze made you feel uncomfortable. I don’t think that my belief on what could have happened is completely off the mark”
Malon was about o retort but pressed her lips shut and looked down at the floor. She really would love to hire somebody, but she completely understood her father and Link’s concern. Sadly, that left her and Talon a lot of work, and she did most of it since Talon came very tired after the deliveries. That is the one thing he never recovered after the sleeping medicine fiasco… his stamina.
Zelda grabs Links arm before speaking “She gets it… but the job itself it’s too demanding for only 2 people. There must be something we could… how about asking José to help out?”
Link looks at the Princess unimpressed “Pepe, really?” he asks her point-blank.
Zelda processes the idea a little and backtracks on it completely “You are right, bad idea”
Link sighs heavily, stands up and walks a little followed by Epona. Then stops and turns to speak at Malon.
“How about this… you hire men for short periods of time, casual workers if you prefer that therm. They will be here a week, two at most. Try to time it to periods where you know you will need the extra hands, like births, vaccination, etc. I am willing to allow that IF you promise to avoid physical contact with them. Does that sound good enough?”
Malon starts beaming at the proposal when…
THUD!!!
Link looks behind himself and turns back to the female crowd with a smile “Milkshake has just been born”
The Princess squeals in happiness and grabs another towel before rushing to the calf’s side. Malon can’t help being infected by Zelda’s elation, so she stands up to join her. But as she walks by Link's side, the ranch girl stops and looks at him smiling.
“I accept your proposal and I pledge to abstain from physical interaction with males” Malon states extending her hand.
“IT’S A GIRL!!!” Zelda yells.
“I will bring this proposal to your father and see to it that he also agrees” Link assures the red head as he shakes her hand.
“Thanks for understanding hunk” Malon says winking an eye, and heads to where Zelda is.
The Princess was on four trying to shield Milkshake from his mom, since she was afraid that Cinamoo would eat her own baby, the cow had already eaten the amniotic sac and some hay, she was obviously hungry.
The Hero laughs at Zelda's weak attempt to push the mother cow away "Zelda, Cowrina is trying to lick her baby clean, let her."
"She won't harm the baby, right? she has eaten everything around her so far, even the…" Zelda stares in awe as Link pull a piece of the amniotic sac left in cow's vulva, the cow slowly turns and eats it right out of his hand.
Malon leans close to the Princess “Its normal for them to eat it… its actually very nutritious. We used to sell it for expectant mothers” says the ranch girl with an evil grin.
Zelda opens her eyes wide and moves, allowing Cowrina to lick her baby.
Link reaches for a water bucket and washes his hands to put his gloves back on. "Zelda, give Milkshake a kiss good bye, we are leaving"
"WHAT? Already? but…" Zelda complains still kneeling on the floor next to the baby calf.
Malon walks to her smiling "Don't worry girl, it's getting late, I need to cage my animals and clean before it gets dark. If you want to, you can come and visit anytime. Just tell me beforehand. It's difficult to keep the ranch clean, but I like to at least fix my room and wash the dishes when a friend is coming over"
Zelda stares up at Malon and stands up smiling "Did… you said friend?"
Malon rolls her eyes "Of course, unless the idea of being my friend gives you nausea"
The ranch girl starts to walk away but the Princess stops her pulling on her arm. "I would be honored to be called your friend" Zelda hugs the read head, catching her off guard. Soon, both of them start laughing,
And this is how my tormentor managed to take EVERYTHING from me…
*Don't be unfair, she hasn't taken anything, and you are not giving anything away either. You are just being a big boy and sharing*
I suppose… though, it feels like I am forcing her to see the world through my glasses.
*Maybe, still much better than the pink glasses most nobles use... that is how they end up look down on the rest of us*
Notes:
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Chapter 65: To bring the loop’s home
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA'S POV
The Princess enters her room and starts undressing.
Well, the ride from the ranch to the castle was… uneventful. Link remained quiet and didn't even attempt to start a conversation with me.
Once naked, she entered her bathroom shower.
All right, I clean myself, I put on a nightgown, and I head to hell with my cellphone, because I need to check on my brothers. I just hope they are ok… I should also take the books I gathered yesterday.
Once done bathing, Zelda dries herself as fast as she could, put on her nightgown, grabs the books and cellphone and left her room. As she was approaching Link's room, Chacha was coming out of it.
This… is not good. But oh well, I had to face her eventually, I just have to remember to stay calm.
"Nice evening Chacha" Zelda chimes.
"Nice evening Princess… I wanted a word with you. Are you sleeping on Link's bed?" Chacha asks avoiding eye gaze.
And there she is… bold as ever. But I am the Princess and I am not weak, I can't back down now.
Zelda inhales deeply "Yes, I am. Why?"
Chaha's eyes widen at the Princess response "I thought the Prince was joking… This is improper behavior my Princess" Chacha says in a judgmental tone.
Zelda grunts a little "Improper behavior would be to bed him and I am not doing that, we are just sharing sleeping space to rid me of my nightmares" sighs heavily "not getting enough sleep endangers my health, making me spend money on medicine… MY PEOPLE'S MONEY. Taking care of myself is taking care of my people"
Wow, sounds like bullshit but it does make a lot of sense.
Chacha sighs loudly "That kind of makes sense in a twisted way… I am guessing I am not supposed to speak about this arrangement with anybody, right?"
"I would be grateful if you keep this a secret from EVERYONE… that includes Nana" Zelda warns the maid.
Chacha smirks "That is a BIG ask you know… but I would consider it if you were to offer me something for it"
Zelda stares at her in shock but recovers quickly "What do you want? I currently don't have a lot of economic resources, but if it's expensive I will see how to get it"
The maid offers a timid smile "It's expensive for someone like me, but not for you… I want a flying squirrel"
"You… want a pet? Do you even have time to care for one?" the Princess asks.
Chacha claps her hands quickly a few times "That is the amazing part, they are nocturnal, I can keep it all day with me, it will be sleeping inside my garments, and at night when it wakes up, I feed it and we play. Its perfect for me"
Zelda smiles at Chacha's excitement "It does sound perfect… I will get you one"
"And I will bring another chest tomorrow, one that you can use to hide your pillow, in case someone that is no me enters" Chacha winks and leaves skipping happily.
That… was easier than expected.
Zelda enters Link's room without even knocking, and sits on the bed.
Link grunts "I was kind of hoping you would back down on sleeping here" he says walking around his room.
"I am not a quitter. By the way, I just talked with Chacha, she now knows of our sleeping arrangement… so I had to bribe her"
Link suddenly stops walking and turns to look at the Princess "WAIT, YOU DID WHAT? I thought I was already doing that, what did she ask of you?"
Zelda squints her eyes "A flying squirrel, what did she asked of YOU?"
The Prince chuckles "A big cage with a hammock for her pet" Link growl and Zelda starts to giggle.
"This BITCH already knew… and planned on how to take advantage of it" Link said angry.
She may have, but it somehow makes me happy.
"Don't be angry at her, what she asked for is not that expensive. Besides… I think she never planned to tell on us, this is just her evil side seeking profit"
Link rolls his eyes "I am not angry at her; I am actually proud. And I ABHOR you for making me admit it out loud" he points at Zelda accusingly.
RING!!! RING!!!
Link quickly answers his cellphone "Hey there, what happened?"
LINK POV
Robert sighs "I need you to talk to Zid, SWORD wants to give him papers, birth certificate, SSN and so on. But he refuses to take any name. It has to be Zid… because you and Zelda gave him that name."
He is holding on that name because of US?
*Can you blame him? he was completely alone for years, then he had you, Li and the Princess. He is clinging to the memory of a family... HIS FAMILY*
Li exhales and continues "I told him that his name doesn't exist, but the name ¨Sid¨ with and S does, and it sounds very similar… He started a tantrum. Apparently, his name is special because it starts with a Z, like Zelda and Ziel. Do you know how scary a tantrum from an overgrown monkey is?" Robert asked chuckling.
I do not, but I can imagine. Damn… how to I solve this? I don't want to speak to him, he may break and I am not good dealing with tears.
Then a sports announcer scream is heard GGGGOOOOOLLLLL!!! Robert immediately lowers the TV volume.
"Sorry about that, I just turned down the volume" Robert says holding the remote.
Robert appears to be watching a soccer game, I never understood why they call it soccer instead of football. It's the logical name given that is played with a ball and your feet. While in American football you mainly use your hands… WAIT!
"I FUCKING KNOW WHAT TO DO. Name him Zidane like the French trainer of the Real Madrid."
"Dude, Zidane is the trainer's last name"
"But IT IS a name in Jamaica I think" Link parts from his cellphone a little and speaks to the Princess "Search Zidane as a name in your cellphone please, Z.I.D.A.N.E."
Zelda immediately types it and sure enough, it was a boy's name from Arabia and Jamaica. She shows Link her screen.
"It's an Arab and Jamaican name, and we can still call him Zid. The name definitely has mine and Zelda's approval"
"Ha, I will tell him and then we talk with the General. Zidane… I am digging it, I think he will love it too, but I will let you know" Robert hangs the call.
Link smiles before the Princess taps on his shoulder.
"Zidane has my approval apparently, but for what?" the Princess asks.
"To be the name of your monkey brother" Link answers.
Zelda's eyes go wide and she starts to smiles.
"Zidane… Zid… I love it. What about the last name?"
Link sighs looking up at the celling "I don't know, SWORD will choose one at random…" Zelda looks at him distressed by the idea.
Ziel frowns "That is not good enough, is it?... How about Nash to keep it green?"
"What do you mean by ¨keep it green¨?" the Princess inquires.
"Li, Robert's last name, means plumb tree. The last name I use in the quantum world is Saller, which means sallow tree. Nash means ash tree"
Zelda smiles joyful "SOUNDS PERFECT, I WILL TELL THEM RIGHT AWAY" Zelda says as she starts typing on her cellphone. "Just so you know… I will be referring to you as Saller from time to time"
Link glares at her with distress, then his mood quickly shifts "Tsk, tsk... Princess, I am already disturbed; do you want to upgrade my mental status to psychotic?"
Zelda pales a little "Wait... would that happen just for calling you Saller?"
"Not only is my voice multiple, I possess multiple names. Saller, Nohansen, Raziel, Kid, and Link... all of them are fragments of me, yet all of them play a different role" Link sighs and starts to chuckle "So, you want to cause me D.I.D. on top of my already diagnosed Schizophrenia... that brings me a step closer to becoming psychotic don't you think?" Link asks tilting his head and smirking.
The Hero just expressed himself with a transparency that frightened Zelda a little. If he really is a schizophrenic, mixing that with dissociative identity disorder meant he is not safe to be around... Yet she refused to dismiss all the moments they have shared so far. Moments where she felt safe despite the situation, where she had grown as a woman and as a ruler... and every time she had been carefully guided by him. She arrived to the conclusion that Link was unstable, maybe even very dangerous, but also someone she could trust with her life.
Zelda sighs and stares at him directly in the eyes "We both know that your mind is not as fragile, if it were, you would have broken a long time ago due to the torment you were put through, not because of me" the Princess deviates her gaze suddenly ashamed "I am not trying harm you in any way; I was just having fun at your expense" she admits.
They both go quiet after that. Zelda not knowing what else to say, and Link not sure if to believe what just happened.
I just basically confessed to her that I am mentally ill. Didn't go into details like telling her about the voice I hear... but she appears to not really care about it.
*Not only that, she is willing to tease you for fun... like if you were a normal guy, and not someone who she should be wary off. She either trusts you completely, or her survival instincts are whacked*
BING!
Zelda draws her cellphone and smiles "I just told both of them about the last name we want for Zid, he is excited about it and Li gave me a thumbs up" Zelda giggles.
*And she changes the topic, coward*
Actually, so will I. there is no reason to delve on my mental status, and I want her to know that I am not angry or anything.
Link smiles and looks at his desk where Zelda left a few books "Radically changing topic, I noticed you brought books with you, are they interesting?"
"No, they are not novels or anything like that. One of them is on medical advances in Hyrule, the other one is about Hyrule's law system… I need to study them to bring my brothers home"
To bring the loops home… does she have any idea how much this means for all of us? none of us ever had a home to go back to. A lot of things happened during our journey… and we are not proud of most of the things we did.
Something inevitably broke in our head to ensure our survival, meaning we were no longer safe to be around… hence why we always left everyone and everything behind. It was better to live with the memory of what once was, than to watch them distance themselves from us out of fear.
*She has no way of knowing of your perils, but this Zelda… was exposed to different experiences, making her more emphatic. She is doing everything she can to be there for them, I don't mind that at all, do you? *
Of course not, I always wanted something like this, we ALL did. To always be able to return to people that didn't fear you, people that respect and accept you with ALL of your shadows.
"I have been checking on that myself" Link says as he walks to his desk and retrieves a book, he hands it to Zelda whose eyes go wide.
"So, YOU had this one… I couldn't find it yesterday, have you read it?"
"Yes, I even wrote a short summary of it, you can find it written in sheet of paper stuck somewhere in the middle of the book"
Zelda quickly opens the book searching for the summary, and there it was… it was sort indeed, but concise. "Perfect, now I just need to read these other two, to formulate plan to bring them here."
"I… never thought you were going to take this so seriously" Link tells her in disbelief.
"Why wouldn't I? those demented boys are my brothers. I only had a few days with them, but… they feel like family you know? And its sick because we are not even blood related. Yet, they deeply care for me, and made me feel like I was part of something bigger with them" sighs "I even forgot about Mr. Tudor. THAT FILFTY MOTHER FUCKER IS NO FAMILY OF MINE" the Princess yells.
HAHAHA, EXELLENT DECISION
Link raises his eyebrows and starts to smile. "Sounds like them to form that kind of attachment with a bratty girl they barely know" Link says trying poke her ego and start an argument.
Zelda opens her eyes wide "I know right? they went through hell and came out of it transformed into something beautiful… I care for them a LOT. That is why I need them here and you must help me. Read this book too please" the Princess hands Ziel the biology book "And make a summary too, I will read this other one since I believe YOU will have to perform a blood ritual with them"
"You mean, become sworn brothers?" Link asks referring to the Goron ritual.
"Yes. It's not like I don't want to do it myself, I would gladly. But it's strictly a male ritual. If done with a female it means marriage, depending on who you ask and where you do it."
"Fair" Link turns the room's light off, sits on his side of the bed turning the side lamp on.
"Go to sleep Princess" Ziel opens the book to start reading it "Tomorrow, I will wake you up at 6 am, we start with a light exercise routine for you, I need to make sure you have enough muscle to maneuver a short sword"
Zelda smiles at the prospect "Ok, just don't stay reading until late"
Link nods in agreement, and 20 minutes later he had already finished it. He reached for the ink and paper he had in his bureau, and quickly wrote the relevant fragments down before turning his lamp off.
That was ALMOST a loss of time. The available knowledge on human biology is scarce in Hyrule, we don't have enough medical equipment and technology for a DNA test. All the information the medics have on that regard is: if a patient needs blood, the patient MAY survive if said blood comes from a parent or a sibling. But they still hold it to a 60% chance of survival…
HOLY FUCK, THAT IS IT. Medics here are able to perform a blood transfusion. I need to bleed out a little, and receive blood from the loops. Me surviving the procedure will prove they are my brothers. That way we get everyone's approval to allow them entrance. Then we perform the Goron ritual just to completely silence worries and complains from the nobles. THIS FIXES EVERYTHING.
Link smiles victoriously, turns to look at his Princess, but she was fast asleep.
Link leans close to Zelda's ear and whispers "I think I have figured it out how we could bring them here"
The Princess begins to wrap her arms around his torso in her sleep. Link chuckles at that, and stretches before properly laying down on the bed next to her.
*You should try to separate yourself from her*
No, she should learn that it is on her best interest to keep away from me.
*So you let her wake up drenched in sweat, and probably sick… yet you claim I am the evil one*
Link breaths in deeply closing his eyes tired. He opens his eyes again only to find himself inside the Deku Tree. He smiles and looks up knowing he will find Goma there.
And here we go again, I wonder why I keep dreaming my past battles… I should ask Vincent next time.
Link started to fight the monster when suddenly a human head could be seen reflected in Gohma's eye, or at least it appeared to be a head. The eyes of the head seemed completely rolled back or death, since you couldn't see the iris. The face was ruthlessly painted turning it into a war mask, and the hair was as white as the eyes. Then the spider monster morphed into a human torso full of cuts and bandages, in the middle of the chest you could still see Gohma's eye looking around, and coming out from the torso where the legs of the spider monster.
What the…
Link woke up. He was confused by the dream, but most of all, displeased. He would have loved to fight that abomination, just to see if he could have beaten it.
Ziel's eyes go wide once he realizes Zelda is still in contact with him, so he turns his head to look at her. The Princess cheeks where flushed, but she was not sweaty. She was no longer hugging his torso; she had her arms wrapped around his left hand. And she appeared to have kicked the blankets off the bed.
*Well, that also works to keep the heat at bay*
Damn it.
Link touches her shoulder with his right hand "Wake up Princess" he whispers.
Zelda slowly opens her eyes and yawns covering her mouth with her hand. The Princess quickly sits rubbing her eyes with her fists.
"Can you head to your room by yourself?"
"I can, what do you need from there?" she asks yawning again.
This girl is still asleep.
Chuckling "I need you to change into your boy attire before we exercise"
Zelda squints her eyes at him, and suddenly snaps them wide open, stands from the bed and runs out of the room. Less than a second later she reenters Link's room, gets inside the bathroom, throws water at her face, focusing on the eyes. Link watches bewildered but grabs a towel and hands it to her.
Zelda takes the towel smiling "Thank you".
After drying her face, Zelda starts moving her fingers in front of her eyes and then looks directly at Raziel, she points at her own eyebrows moving her fingers up and down and then points at the Prince. Link frowns confused, but then catches on, so he starts wiggling his eyebrows. Zelda smiles and waves Link good bye as she rushes out of his room.
What was that? was she having troubles with her sight?
*Morning blur perhaps*
Raziel shakes his head and proceeded to put on some trousers and a charcoal sleeveless tunic. He then headed to the garden to wait for Zelda.
Once he got there, he noticed one of the carpenters trying to do pull ups "Good morning, Ichiro, have you managed to do some?"
"I can only do 3… do you need to use this door frame now?"
"No, I will start with my run, maybe the pull up is too advanced for you, why don't you just hanging while you lift your legs as high as you can, then you slowly let the legs fall down. Start with 10-15 of those" Link tells the carpenter smiling.
*He appears to be motivated to continue with this*
I hope he is, exercise is always good on the body, especially for his line of work.
Zelda comes out of the castle and runs to Link; she then starts stretching her arms and legs preparing herself for the run.
"Same as before? I run the heck away and you tackle?"
Link chuckles "No, I will do that again once you have completely healed. Right now, I can still see a few bruises…" Link walks behind her and ties a rope around her hips "I will run up to you and pull on this rope making you fall back on your butt"
ZELDA POV
Really? SO MUCH BETTER. I guess today he does not feel as vengeful… that is good right?
"All right, how many laps this time?"
"Just one… I will tell you what to do after that"
The Princess smiled and started running, Ziel frowned at her cheating but started his run grinning. Zelda didn't take as much damage this time around, but Link managed to catch her 4 times before she finished her run.
ALL RIGHT, this was SO MUCH BETTER, I am not completely sore and he got to me 4 times instead of 5… though that does not put me on a good on light if I think about it. I will show him that I can improve.
"So, what now?" Zelda asks Link.
Ziel ponders for a moment "I need to check on your physical state. I don't think you could do a pull up, but I can measure how long you can stay hanging"
"That… will evaluate my body?" Zelda asks
"In a way… I will give me an idea of your starting point before making an exercise schedule for you to gain some muscle"
Zelda looks at the ground "I… don't want to get bulky Link"
Ziel cracks up in laughter "GOOD, because you won't. Do you think I am bulky?"
"No, you are not small… fit but not bulky"
"The body is smart, it won't allow you to grow too much naturally" Link pulls out his cellphone to show her an image of bodybuilders "Bodies like this don't function for survival purposes, they can't even reach their own nose. To pump your body like that you have to overdose on protein and maybe steroids, that is a drug that has bad side effects. You will look just fine."
Link grabs her by the sides of her torso and pulls her up so she can grab on the ¨door frame¨.
"I was thinking that you should continue to do this until you manage to last a minute. If you happen to fall from the roof of somewhere and you are left hanging, I have a minute to react and think of a way to help you" Link lets go of her.
"You may..." Zelda yelps dropping to the ground, Link just closes his eyes and helps her up. "Girl, that was not even 2 seconds"
Zelda looks at him teary eyed "I FUCKING KNOW THAT. Damn, that was pathetic. What… how can I stretch my time?"
Link stands really close to her and grabs one of her arms, he starts pressing on different parts of her arm, he then goes on a knee in front of her and does the same with one of her legs. The Princess is actively avoiding Ziel's eyes, she didn't want him to notice his touch was flustering her.
"Princess… there is muscle because you can walk and run, but I can hardly feel any of it. You will start weight training, once your muscles grow, we progress to calisthenics, by then I will trust you enough to safely start training with the wooden sword"
"Calitetics?"
"Calisthenics, means you exercise with your own body weight"
"But… shouldn't I start with that and then move on to using weights? I mean… it's my body weight; it should be easier"
Link chuckles at that "You just failed to hold your own bodyweight for 60 seconds" he reminds her smiling.
"OH, MY GODDESSES, that was calisthenics?"
"One of the many exercises… Since you can control how heavy the weights are, it's a perfect starting point for beginners. Calisthenics is more of a middle ground, and in your case, the ending point. If you progress into using heavy weights, you will get bulky"
Zelda wrinkles her nose and shakes her head "And we don't want that… I like rubbing my eyes and scratching my nose if its itchy. So, what do I do now then?"
"Go inside and fill some bags with beans, 2 bags of 2 kilos each, you will exercise with those today. I will get you proper weights tomorrow… by the way, I think I figured out how to grant my brothers entrance to Hyrule" Link says as he starts running again.
Notes:
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Chapter 66: Overgrown Lizard
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Overgrown lizard
Zelda opened her eyes… her body was very fucking sore. She couldn’t even turn around in the bed. She was slowly having regrets from overdoing the exercise. Back then she felt fine, she could obviously keep going with it. Link had warned her about overexerting herself, but she didn’t listen… she is now starting to see the error of her ways.
ZELDA POV
One day of exercise, two days for recovery. That is what Link said, I thought it was an exaggeration but fuck, IT HURTS. And I still need to force myself to eat meat for breakfast… Gosh, I am not used to starting my day with a heavy meal. I usually eat cheese, some bread, fruit juice or milk, and some yogurt if any. But Ziel said that I need to wake up eating good protein sources from now on. I still think Nana's cuisine may be WAY too heavy for me, I should wake Link and let him now that I rather have my breakfast prepared by Rolo.
Zelda tries to lift herself but finds it hard, so she stars groaning. Link begins to chuckle.
“Yeah, that is normal” he says smiling at her as he sits up on the bed.
“Why the fuck does it hurt this much?”
“It’s not that bad Zelda; it could be WORSE. It hurts because you destroyed your muscles yesterday with the exercise” Ziel clarifies.
“What the… was I not trying to build muscle?” Zelda asks.
“You can’t just build on top of things… you need to destroy what is there first, to reconstruct it stronger. Muscles need protein, so let’s go down for some breakfast” Link says as he gets out of bed.
Reconstruct my body… ok, I am up for that. But I really can’t move.
“Can we eat breakfast here? It hurts to move and also… Nana’s food may be too heavy for me; I am used to having a light breakfast. Let’s ask Rolo for something”
Link looks at her lifting an eyebrow “You can’t stand? weak” Zelda stares at him in despair and unable to contradict him.
Link heads to his closet and comes out sporting a dark sleeveless tunic with white trousers.
Are all his tunics sleeve less? I believe Martin likes how Ziel’s arms look, not that I mind the view.
Link puts on a belt and ruffles his hair before looking at the Princess "I will go down, to pick up something from Nana for me, and also ask Rolo to prepare some scrambled eggs, and add a cup of yogurt with some strawberries on it. Is that, ok?"
Zelda nods smiling.
Thank you darling, eggs may still be too heavy for me, but A LOT BETTER. You know … I don’t want to eat breakfast alone.
"Will you be back?" Link stares at her stoic, she continues "Please don't leave me here eating alone… I don't know how my body is going to react to food. Right now, everything hurts and I may choke or throw up"
Link sighs “I will be back” he turns the door handle and leaves.
Zelda tries to sit on the edge of the bed but the pain in her abdomen increases with the movement, so she ends up lying flat on the bed.
I give up, I wonder if I can make Link feed me… NO, that would be pushing him too much.
He said I needed to destroy my body to reconstruct it stronger, this is going to be a long painful process, isn’t it?
A weak knock is heard and then Chacha comes in with a broom, she looks at the Princess, giggles and waves hi.
“Why do I keep doubting my Prince? he said you would be here defeated, but he didn’t tell me why. So, would you tell me what happen?”
Zelda starts speaking laying on the bed and staring at the ceiling “I started exercising yesterday, and now I am regretting it”
Chacha opens her eyes wide, and then frowns at the Princess. “This whiny attitude is due to a little exercise? Please…” the maid rolls her eyes “you don’t know what a day of labor is”
Zelda opens her eyes insulted and raises to a sitting position ready to argue, but notes the maid’s pleased smile.
“SEE” Chacha point at all of her “it hurts but if you just push through it, you can still do shit. It’s not like you broke something” the maid says.
I… she is right, I just sat down, I thought I couldn’t. Anger pushed me forward, GOT IT. I will be angry at myself for being so weak and that should be enough of a push for me.
Zelda puts her hands together in front of her head and bows at Chacha “Thank you for sharing your handmaiden wisdom”
“Pff” Chacha mocks and pulls an envelope from her dress, looks at it with dread but hands it to the Princess. “Your birthday gift”
Zelda rips it out of the maid’s hand and stares at it in awe “Are you serious? It has not been that long… how did you?”
“ITS NOT POETRY, it’s more like childish gibberish. I am not stupid so I can do that at least.” Chacha says clearly ashamed “I did what I came here to do, I will go and start my chores at your room. I will come back and clean here once you are both done with breakfast, good day” Chacha’s face is completely red at this point, so she leaves the room in a hurry.
Chacha exhales trying to regain herself, and once she is in front of Zelda’s room, she notices Link coming up the stairs.
LINK POV
“Do you need help carrying that?” The maid asks staring wide eyed at the Prince carrying two breakfast dishes with their juice glasses.
Link raises his head to look at her, he smiles and continues to climb the stairs. Once he is up and next to Chacha, he puts one of the platters on top of his head and spins the other plate still on his left hand. In the middle of that, magically a chocolate bar appears on the plate and ends up directly in front of the maid. Link grunts bringing it closer to Chacha, who stares in awe, but soon begins to smile.
“Did you used to work in a circus?” she asks as she takes the chocolate.
Ziel negates with his head “sharing is caring, right? I expect half of that chocolate to be left in my desk once you go clean my room”
“WHAT? Is not that big of a piece” Chacha counters with anger.
“Like is not that big of a deal to lie to me about owning a pet” Link looks at her displeased.
Chacha looks down at the floor stuttering an answer. The Prince groans.
“Don’t EVER lie to me, if your day was stressful and you feel like you need to fuck me up to feel better, just tell me… I will allow you to torment me since I don't want an agitated maid"
Head still low in shame “Damn, I understand Raziel” Chacha enters Zelda’s room mumbling complains about the Prince.
Link chuckles and walks towards hell.
*Given the current situation with the harpy in there… the name of your room it’s fitting*
Indeed it is
Link balances one of the platters on his head again to open the door, he had not even bothered with knocking. He expected to find Zelda still laying on the bed, but she was standing performing some stretch exercises. She smiled at him, but once she noticed how he was carrying the food, she ran towards him to retrieve the platter from his head, he crouched a little to allow her.
The Princess got hold of the platter and placed it on his desk “Did you came all the way from Rolo’s kitchen balancing both plates like that?”
“I… no. That just happened to free one of my hands to open the door. I was carrying them with both hands like a normal person” Link gives a shy smile.
Zelda stares at him rolling her eyes “Right, because any sane person would do that instead of asking the maids to carry them.”
“Of course,” Link sarcastically answers and takes a seat by his desk. “I thought you could not move”
“I thought so too… turns out, I can, it just hurts a lot at the beginning, but it gets better the more I move” She sits on the bed as close as she can to the desk, Link stands and moves the desk to get it closer to the bed so the Princess could eat.
“Thanks” The Princess says as she picks up her bread and looks at her eggs with contempt.
“Don’t over think, just fucking eat it, or I will” Link states bluntly.
Zelda squints her eyes at him and grabs some of the scrambled eggs with her fork. Once she starts eating, she discovers she absolutely loves the taste. She soon starts devouring those eggs. Link just starts to chuckle.
The Princess soon finishes her food and stares at Link who is still eating, her stomach starts to growl turning her face red in shame. Ziel pushes his plate towards her and hands her his fork.
“No, I… thank you. I don’t know what is gotten into me.” the Princess says confused with her own behavior.
“Your body want to repair fast; it needs protein for that. YOU WILL WANT TO EAT MEAT”
“Wow… the body is smart then… what am I eating here?” She asks pointing at Link’s food.
“Pork lungs, when you are done, eat your bread but add A LOT of butter on it, it will taste heavenly.” Link stands up “I will go down and see if there is still something left for me to eat”
Zelda opens her eyes wide “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that, but really thank you, it’s delicious…” she sighs “About my brothers, the book I was reading says it’s impossible to make my brothers Hylian. So, what do we do now?”
Clearing his throat “You don’t need to make them Hylian, you just need them to be allowed to access Hyrule whenever they please. I think I know how to do that; I wrote it down for you, the sheet I used is under my pillow… I will go now. I need to talk with Darunia about this blood oath”
Zelda starts grinning widely “You… already figured out? THAT IS GREAT, I will check on it… once I finish your breakfast”
“Enjoy” Link says as he closes the door behind him.
*This is going to get interesting… what are you going to ask Darunia? *
EVERYTHING, what it involves, if I will have any short of legal obligations now, if it’s true that it can be done only one in your lifetime. If that were the case, would I be able to include a 3rd person?
Link thought as he boarded the carriage and informed the driver to take him to Kakariko Village.
The carriage had left a long time ago, Link was catching his breath after going up the Mountain for half an hour already. It would not pose a challenge under normal circumstances, but he had not slept well and the summer heat was destroying his drive. He was then spotted by a Tektite.
“Great, just my luck… and I was trying to avoid these 4-legged menaces” Link was yelling loudly, the tektite kept advancing towards him “If only there was someone, somebody strong enough to kill it off for me” Link yelled, but ended up rolling out of the tektite’s path.
Well, shit.
Link started to draw his stilettos when a heavy reptile fell on top of the tektite, opened its mouth wide, showing his big sharp teeth as he bit down on the arachnid ripping off its legs one by one. Link just smiled at the sight with pride. The overgrown reptile suddenly raised his head and started sniffing.
“LINK” the dragon screamed as he came jumping towards the Prince.
FUCK, I should tell him that we should stop doing this. he is getting too big for me...
*But*
The Hero quickly widened is stance, preparing himself to receive the overjoyed dragon. Who just jumped on him like he didn’t weight 200+ pounds.
I can’t. This makes him so fucking happy… we will continue this until I succumb under his weight.
The Hero thought as he lowered the dragon, petting his head. He still marveled at the sight in front of him. Huge bath like-wings, a not too long muscular neck, sturdy limbs, and curved back horns that are either naturally polished or some Goron has a lot of free time. Nothing like the small headed long fiery serpent he had fought. Ganandorf’s influence had managed to change his friend a lot… he was glad to be able to appreciate how Volvagia was truly meant to look like.
“WHAT THE FUCK VOLVAGIA? Keeping the trail to Death Mountain safe it your only job, why did it take you so long to come to my rescue?” Link asks trying to be severe.
The dragon lowered his head in submission “Sorry… we were sleeping, I didn’t want to wake up the baby” Volvagia looks up at him with puppy eyes, the sight was ridiculous but Link was completely moved by it.
All he saw was the sad small baby a merchant was selling for 70 rupees, he claimed it was an overgrown lizard… understandable since Volvagia never opened his wings, he wanted to hide them by passing them as part of his body. Since he knew the merchant will dissect him and sell the organs if he knew what he really was. He was a very smart and underfeed baby dragon.
Link had originally bought the dragon during his quest, but Ganandorf got hold of him during the 7 years Link was sealed on the sacred realm. Sadly, the hero ended up having to kill his friend to save the Gorons. A choice that burned at his heart from then on. Since there at the end, Volvagia had recognized him and called his name… maybe he could have done things differently to save him. But he would never now.
“Of course, you should never disturb baby Link, how old is he now?” Raziel asked.
The dragon moved his tail exited “A year, they say he is growing big fast, but I am faster. I am way past your hips now”
“And you used to fit inside a small cage, I remember. What are they feeding you?” Link ask raising an eyebrow.
"They buy the things on the list you left, sometimes the Goron who buys it also brings a strange fruit from Saria. She sends it specially for me and I love it"
And I thought she planted those to eat them herself.
“But some days… I get really hungry. So I go down to the small river late at night, and I catch some fish for myself.”
“You still get hungry? … I will see to that” Link promises.
Suddenly Volvagia opens his eyes wide and extends his wings to fly up, catching Goron Link before a tragedy.
“YOU… DISOBEDIENT LITTLE FUCK” Darunia comes down rolling and screaming.
Link retrieves the baby from Volvagia thanking the dragon, and dismisses him to spare him from Darunia’s apparent wrath.
“ONE OF THESE DAYS I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF LINK” Darunia yells once he gets there.
Both the hero and the baby look at Darunia, the baby happily extends his arms at his daddy. Link stares at Darunia puzzled, he was not sure who the Goron Patriarch was talking to... after all, Darunia had plenty of reasons to claim that he wanted to kill the Hero.
Rolling his eyes “Not you Raziel, HIM” pointing at the baby “for being so headstrong” Darunia directs his speech to his son “If I tell you that you are going to fall off. YOU ARE GOING TO FALL OFF” the baby giggles.
“Like father like son, right?” Link jokes.
Darunia facepalms “Fuck, I am doomed then”
“Hahahahaha, I am sure it’s just a phase… Darunia, I wanted to speak to you about the blood oath you performed with my King”
Darunia breaths in deeply, retrieves his son from Link and signals the Hero to follow him into Goron city.
Notes:
NOTE: if you play the game, once you defeat Volvagia, you notice that his head moves on the ground, like he was going to say something. Or actually said it, but the whole side story with him and Link got removed. But the manga still talks about it.
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Chapter 67: Cult ritual and Nuthaniel
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Darunia carrying little Link enter Goron City followed by Link. As they walked to Darunia’s room, Link told the Goron Patriarch why he needed to know about the ¨Sworn Brothers Ritual¨ Darunia sighed and began to share how the ritual is performed.
LINK POV
*This dangerously resembles the beginning of a cheap cult movie*
It kind of does… I mean, you have to fill a cup with your blood for the other person to drink it, and I have to drink his blood too. It DOES sound like a sketchy cult ritual. But that is ok, I don’t mind turning into a vampire for them.
*That is you, but what about them? the 3 of you have to discuss this first just in case*
I will tell them, but I don’t think they would mind either.
“Up until now, everything sounds doable. But I would like to perform the ritual between 3 people… could it be done? Or does it strictly have to be only between 2 people”
Darunia contemplates the question rubbing his chin. “It could be done, just not at different times, it would have to be the three of you at the same time… but why would you want to do that?”
“What do you mean?... what are you not telling me?”
Darunia sighs "Look, the ritual is not a joy ride, it must be performed with someone who you absolutely trust. By Hylian law, if your sworn brother where to commit a crime, he has to pay the price for the crime, and so will you. If he dies, the upkeep of his state is now YOUR responsibility, along with supporting his family if any. If he did something heinous and is condemned to die for it…"
“I would have to die too…” Link says with an air of doom.
Darunia opens his mouth wide and frowns at Link "WHAT NO, OF COURSE NOT, that is where we draw the line… Well, kind of. If your delinquent brother ran away and we could not find him within a week, its expected of you to honorably offer to die in his place. Since somebody has to die you know"
What the… HAHAHAHAHAHA. I wonder what situation made my King perform this ritual with Darunia. What where these two trying to get away with?
The Goron Patriarch grunts before folding his arms “I understand if you still want to do this, but with two people? That only doubles the risk for you”
Link smiles “And I am ok with that, I will tell them too but I assure you, they won’t mind. This is going to happen Darunia... So, where is it performed?”
Darunia exhales deeply “You trust them that much?”
“With my life… you just need to meet them to understand Patriarch, both of them are just like me”
“I will have to take your word on that… The ritual is performed on the entrance of the Fire Temple, you tell me the day you want it to be performed. Volvagia and myself will clear the place of nuisances for that occasion”
“Thank you”
ZELDA POV
The Princess left hell, her mind repeating again and again what Link wrote. Her brothers may be able to come and even live here in Hyrule. But they needed the Kingdom’s approval first. She reached the stairs and turned back, then screamed to empower herself and rushed down the stairs.
I fucking need to speak with my King, but what do I tell him? ¨Daddy please let two unknown boys from the Quantum world enter Hyrule?¨
I can´t tell him that, he will rip me to pieces… I would rip myself to pieces. I should start explaining from the beginning, but which beginning?
Zelda approaches the throne room, but nervously stops in front of it. She was about to turn back, but then she starts hearing in her mind Link’s confident voice saying: [If anyone can convince him, it’s you]. So, the Princess breaths in deeply as she pushes the doors open.
Claire raises her head to get a glimpse of the newcomer “Zelda? I… we were not expecting you.” the Queen states a little confused.
What is mom doing here? I thought she had something important to do early in the morning… it’s not early right now, is it? Well, she was going to find out eventually so…
“Hi, I… needed to talk to my King, but I am glad you are also here” Zelda says referring to Claire “Saves time and energy.” Sighs “Could we seal the doors close? We need privacy for what I want to say… it may also take some time, if you rather do this another day just-”
“Nonsense” Daphnes states and motions for the knights inside the room to exit, and to not allow entrance from anyone.
Well, here goes nothing.
“I wanted to talk about my experience out of Hyrule with Raziel. Not going to complain at all, it was amazing... we had to find and confirm possible blood donors for him”
“Blood donors, for Link? Don’t they HAVE to be family for that?” asks the Queen
Zelda smirks “Actually no, the Quantum world is full of technological advances, they have developed microscopes” the Princess tries to remember that one class she had where they examined an onion skin “That instrument works using powerful magnifying lenses… turns out, the blood needs to match on certain things for de body to accept the donation, and they use the microscope to ensure the procedure is a success. It could be performed by family members or not.” She giggles “certainly is more provable for family members to be a match but a complete stranger could also be a match”
Both royals stare at the Princess socked, as they start digesting the information, the King’s semblance turns to amazement, but the Queen remained doubtful.
“So… did my son found a match?” the King asks.
Zelda smiles “We actually found 2”
Claire lifting an eyebrow “WE?”
“YES… I played an important role on this, all three of them smell alike, I found them before Link did himself.” Zelda giggles.
And this is when we start lowering his defenses.
Zelda clears her throat before continuing "Link told me to ask you once again, is there medical certainty that I am not your daughter?" she says pointing at her nose and then at the King's wrinkling her own.
Daphnes understood what the Princess just implied... that she has to be his daughter since she inherited his powerful sense of smell. His eyes started glistening before he erupted in a thunderous laughter, accompanied by Claire's giggles.
First shot landed perfectly, now let’s throw the bomb.
“Before I continue, I must ask… why don’t you use the name Derrick anymore?”
The King freezes and peels his eyes wide at Zelda’s statement. “How do you know my name?”
“Oh, you were hiding it? Why? It sounds cool… Daphnes Derrick Nohansen. I LOVE IT”
The King lowers his gaze, his cheeks tuning red. “I… find my name to be disgracefully similar to Bardick, I don’t want any of you to associate me with that man”
Zelda rolls her eyes “Bardick is Bardick, and Derrick is Derrick. And I LOVE DERRICK… I hope he loves me too.” The Princess looks away in shame.
THERE… it’s all I have; I only wish for this to be enough.
Derrick hides his face between his hands, exhales loudly and starts to bring both of his hands down “I may start using my second name then”
Zelda smiles at him, the Queen is overjoyed by the playout of this. The Princess clears her throat and continues.
"Getting back on track. Once I found the donors, I got to meet them, both of them are strong, astute and dependable young men. If you like Raziel you are going to love these boys."
Queen Claire suddenly stands up "Hold it girl, we are NOT going to meet them… how could we?"
"If you allowed them entrance you could" Zelda says tilting her head.
“But of course we won’t do something so stupid” The Queen says rolling her eyes.
"I wouldn't call it stupid mom… the blood similarity they share with Link is such, that if they lied and claim to be brothers, no medical exam would be able to prove them wrong. So, they took the liberty to bond with me as if I were their sister. You know, since I am Link's sister by adoption, that makes me their sister too. They immediately jumped on the brother train and adopted me"
The Queen rolling her eyes “And?”
“We fought, we laughed, we did mischief, and we put our heads together to solve problems… It was the best time of my life” she pauses before staring directly at the Queen “Don’t take that away from me” Zelda pleads.
The Queen sighs and starts rubbing her temples “COME ON, you played with them a little but THAT IS IT. They are not your brothers”
Zelda looks at the Queen irate, flashes a quick glance at the King before speaking “Don’t force me to say something that you really don’t want me to say”
The Queen stared back at her daughter puzzled. But the King immediately understood the Princess. He knows that you don’t have to share blood with someone to form a deep bond with them. Like the one he formed with Zelda and Raziel. If he found it easy to love and respect both of them, of course his daughter and son could forge a brotherly bond with these complete strangers.
And the best part was, that these lads somehow shared Link's blood… a blessing he unfortunately won't ever have, but Raziel was lucky enough to have it. Knowing that, and seeing the Princess fighting for them made the King a little jealous. The Princess caring for someone else was a miracle in itself, Daphnes wanted to comply with her demands but… how?
“I can’t adopt them” the King exclaimed.
For Nayru’s love, I fucking got him.
The Princess giggles “You don’t have to… just recognize them as Hylians” she proceeds to clear her throat “let me suggest how… allow them at the border to perform a blood transfusion with your son”
“Are you suggesting…? Raziel could die” The Queen exclaims exasperated.
“Link is more than willing to bleed for this cause, allow his sacrifice. Once my brothers save him with a blood donation, nobody would dare to claim they are not family, and since they will be recognized as such, they will become Hylian by default”
The King produces half a smile “It’s not that simple… even with witnesses, my people would still not trust them. Don’t underestimate how hard the Hylians can make your life just because of lack of trust”
“But... to kind of solve that, they could perform the Sworn Brother’s Ritual, that would immediately place the blame on the Prince if these lads where to act against us…” adds Claire still pissed.
And I though my mother was my most fierce adversary… I mean, she has been all my life. But apparently, she is also very reasonable. And if the data suggest that she may be wrong, she can perfectly shift her view point… I think I kind of admire her for that.
“But that would make YOUR SON” Claire says directly at Derrick “responsible if these lads ever misbehave… but I shouldn’t worry about that, right?” The Queen says now staring at Zelda “You claim to completely trust them, or am I putting words in your mouth?” Claire says defiant glaring at her daughter.
She is giving in… but she is letting me know that she is not completely on board. That is ok, I am sure my brothers will win her over somehow.
“I stand by what I said… and I can assure that if Raziel is not here with me this moment, is because he is already preparing the ground with Darunia for the ritual… I just need your signed permission to start with all this” Zelda says that last part looking up at Daphnes with puppy eyes.
The King retains his stoic semblance “Give me a few days to think about this, I will like to verify the data you are confidently exposing here before making a decision.”
Damn. But I guess this is reasonable… a few days he said, THAT IS TOO INACURATE, IT COULD MEAN 2 days, OR A MONTH. I must be demanding and shorten the time.
“3 days, if by the 3rd day I have not been informed about your decision on this, I will come back” Zelda warns them.
The King grants her half a smile and nods.
LINK POV
I think I will leave this here with a note.
The Prince places a big enough cage for a squirrel in Nana's kitchen, the cage came with a nice pouch for said squirrel to sleep in and to travel. He chooses to leave it in Nana’s kitchen for now, since he didn't want to intrude in the maid's quarters. Nana looks at the cage puzzled.
“What is that for? I can’t fit it here or with me, it would be unsanitary”
“Don’t worry, it’s a present for Chacha, I am guessing she knows where she can place it”
“I hope since she can’t use the maids quarters either, the other girls would not be pleased with making the area more crowded.”
They all sleep together? she doesn't have a room of her own? then, how was she planning to keep the rodent?
Chacha enters the kitchen and stares at Link then at the cage "Oh, A PRESENT FROM THE PRINCE!!!" she yells.
The maid rushes to examine the cage smiling. The sound of heels is heard approaching fast.
That is got to be Zelda, I hope she has an idea on how to approach the subject of my brothers with her father.
Zelda enters the kitchen and notices the cage immediately, she gazes at it in awe and merriment, but then turns to look at Ziel in anger.
She starts whispering “Not fair, I obviously have not had the time to look for the…”
The Princess goes quiet as she sees Link pull out of his tunic a sleepy rodent and hands it to her with a paper slip that read: 50 rupees. He winking at her as she gets rid of the paper mouthing ¨Thank you, I will pay you back¨. Then turns to Chacha.
“Hey… I think somebody wants to meet you” the Princess says holding the already awake squirrel.
“This is no joke, right?” the maid asks already holding the rodent “THANK YOU… you have to name it. What is it? A boy or a girl?” Chacha asks.
Zelda stares briefly at Link, he mouths ¨BOY¨
“It’s a male squirrel… I am not sure about me giving it a name though, I am not the owner”
The Prince chuckles “Why not? It would not be the first name you have given, I believe you are good at it” Link says crossing his arms and mouthing ¨Choir voice, Ziel, Zid, Milkshake¨ Zelda smiles sheepishly at that.
Ziel then speaks to Chacha “Where are you going to keep it?”
Chacha sighs “Pepe is going to keep it since he does have a room, I will have to go every day to play with it and feed it. José claims to not mind my presence every day come sunset. It will be awkward at first but… I trust him. He has changed a lot” turns back to Zelda “still waiting for a name”
Wow… José has changed that much already? that is so fucking good, he just needed to feel trusted and depended on.
Zelda looks down at the floor, then at Nana who smiles at her supportively at the Princess. And finally looks at the squirrel being feed a nut by Link.
"Nuthaniel…"
Nana laughs loudly at the name, Chacha smiles and nods happily as she starts chanting the name over and over. Link smiles.
You didn't disappoint my Princess; the name is PERFECT.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking this story, grant me a Kudo, post a comment, and subscribe so you wont miss
future updates.
Chapter 68: We need to talk
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
Zelda and Link were going up the stairs to their respective rooms in silence… A silence that clearly bothered the Princess, but she could not muster the courage to break it.
Why is he not asking me how it went? I told him that I had talked to my father before we exited Nana’s kitchen. So why hasn’t he bothered to ask me about it? Do I really have to initiate this talk?... Maybe I do. Now that I think about it, he could be asking himself why have I not asked him how it went with Darunia yet.
As she approached her door, the Princess turned and spoke to Link.
“We need to talk”
“Indeed, we do” Link answered as he kept waking to hell.
“I will be at your room in a few minutes if that’s ok?”
“I will be waiting”
Zelda entered her room and dug in her drawer pulling out 200 rupees. She was about to head to Link’s room but stopped by the door.
I shouldn’t offer this much to Link. Nuthaniel only costed 50 rupees, and Ziel is NOT going to accept more than that, he is too proud and a little stubborn to just take my money… Well, he will have to since I don’t have change.
The Princess shakes it off and leaves her room. As she is walking towards hell, her resolution starts to waver. She really didn’t want to anger Link with something so stupid as rupees.
Maybe… he won’t even mind about this. And if he does, its not like he would be super angry about me not being able to pay him right away. After all, he chose to do this as a favor to me, so why am I being so fidgety about this?
Zelda nooks on Link’s door.
“COME IN”
The Princess enters and finds Link walking around the room with his cellphone in hand. He stops, and turns to her. His eyes are slightly closed but not really squinting, as if he is trying to achieve mental focus. The good thing is… he is not angry. The Prince comes close to her, his steps not making a sound as usual, and he closes the door behind her.
“We do need to talk, and it must be the 4 of us… But first, what do you needed to tell me”
Suddenly Zelda was struggling to form coherent sentences in her head, she soon gave up on that and just extended her hand with the gold rupee. Link looks at it and takes it, then walks away from her and towards his desk, where he opens the drawer and tosses the Ruppe inside. Then he enters his closet.
That’s, it? He just took it? I was NOT expecting this, I thought I knew him a little but… not that I mind him taking it. I mean, I OWE him a lot, he bought me a cellphone, I would give him more rupees if he asked.
Link walks out of his closet, a coin purse in hand, he stands in front of Zelda and frowns at her. She opens her eyes wide realizing what he wants, and opens he right palm. He pulls out 10 red rupees and a purple one placing them on her open palm.
“150 rupee… to be honest, I was not expecting you to pay it, I was just avoiding a future discussion by informing you how much Nuthaniel costed… anything else before I call them?”
I KNEW IT. Wait…
The Princess stares at Ziel curiously “how do you have change…”
[Saria’s smiling face] He buys groceries for Saria; it would be stupid if he didn’t have any change.
“Forget it, that was a stupid question… call them”
Link starts dialing. “I am going to put the call on loud speaker”
And also shift your voice back to normal I suppose.
The Cellphone starts making ring noises for a few seconds, then Zid answers.
“You have reached Pyre Paradise Crematorium, because your loved ones deserve to go out in a blaze of glory”
“FUCK YOU” Link yells smiling, Zidane’s laughter is heard on the background as someone takes his cellphone away.
“Hello” Li says properly answering the call.
“Hey, I called you too but you didn’t answer, how are you holding up?”
“CUT THE CRAP. What is the purpose of the call? I am following Viper on a mission. I can only dispose of an hour, so shoot.”
Wow, I knew Li had a temper but... Link should make this short and concise, I don't want Li to miss out on this chance.
Link chuckles before answering “We investigated, searched under the stones, and found a way to legally allow the both of you entrance to Hyrule, but it involves an almost satanic ritual… are you still interest?”
That HAS to be an exaggeration.
“Fuck yeah!!!” “What does this satanic ritual involve?”
says Zidane asks Li
Link bluntly answers “You have to grab a dagger and slash your forearm from your wrist to your elbow”
YOU WHAT?
“That is a suicidal wound… sweet, what happens next?” Zid asks.
“You fill two cups with your blood, give one to each of us, you accept one from the recipients too. Then you drink it”
This has to be a joke…
“Then, we die from blood lost?” Li sarcastically asks.
Link lets out a suppressed laugh “Hopefully not, the Gorons… the people from the area will treat our wound with a salve for the occasion… I have been told that it stings a little, but seals the wound rather quickly, and leaves a unique mark around the wound, a mark the three of us will share. Don’t ask me how and why that happens”
Zid whistles “Satanic as fuck… I am up for it. I am curious to see what pattern I get on my arm”
“What pattern WE ALL get, not just you Zid. Is that all Link?” Li asks.
That is all there is to this right?
“No, if we perform this ritual we become each other’s advocates. To put it simple… if I were to commit a crime, WE ALL pay the price, not just the inflictor… that is all.”
“Fuck, in a sense we become one… that means I have to be on my best behavior at all times or you two will also get in trouble” Zid sighs “I agree with the terms and conditions”
“So do I… good afternoon” Robert hands the cellphone to Zack and leaves.
“And that was responsible Robert” Zid mocks.
LINK POV
“He is following Ronan, right? it shouldn’t be difficult for him”
“Who the fuck is Ronan? All I know is, Rob is busy and I am not, apparently… they don’t trust me yet”
“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you?” Link mocks.
“I do” Zelda suddenly speaks.
“Haha, I had no idea you were there, you have been so quiet all this time… is Link treating you good?”
“Yes and no, but I am agreeing to all of it, so don’t worry about me” Zelda answers.
“Well, that is good… before I go, I should let you know they are thinking of getting rid of the music program”
The fuck… I guess it’s logical, nobody appeared to be interested but me. Everyone is painting, drawing, doing pottery, sculpting. Why would they keep a program the agents rarely use.
“Well, fuck…”
“That’s it? You are not going to fight for it?” the Pirate asks defiant.
“No, it’s just me using it, I understand if they consider it a waste of resources…”
“It’s not just you, there is someone else inscribed on it, agent Skull I believe.”
George… really?
“I would inscribe myself too, I love music. I don’t know what instrument to choose though” Zid says shameful.
Of course you don’t, you didn’t play any, you directed music with a baton, that is not provided but...
“For you Zid, I would recommend the drum battery… you have a lot of explosive energy, that instrument will help you drain it. And the drums lead the whole song, since it establishes the rhythm, guides song transitions and marks the intensity for the other instruments”
"Well… with that description, I am intrigued. I am going to learn how to play it; we all have to play something together before the program banishes. What should I tell Robert to play? And, what do you play?"
“Any instrument in the music room I can play, some on a basic level but…”
“FUCK YOU”
“Please do, very slowly and with lots of love please” Ziel teases the pirate, making Zid growl in frustration “I… will talk with agent Skull, I need to know what instrument he is proficient in since I would love to invite him so we can all give the music program a proper good bye with a good song cover… Most songs have a battery, an electric bass and a guitar, allow Li to choose which one to play and I play the other one. I am sure with those instruments we can accommodate whatever Skull plays.”
“SOUNDS AWSOME, let me know once you contact Skull, and also once you know when we have to perform the vampiric shit ok? Bye Zelda” Zid hangs the call.
Link put his cellphone away smiling, but the Princess is still unsure about everything. Link takes notice of Zelda nervously playing with her hands.
“Something the matter?” Ziel ask as he continues to pace around the room.
“Why are you doing all this? the whole ritual pact, isn’t it taking it too far? and for what? For me? a stubborn selfish attempt at a Princess?” Zelda claims.
Link stops his pacing and turns to stare at the Princess irate at her, then slowly his semblance shifts to a smirk “Do tell exactly WHEN did I say I was doing this for you? why would I do ANYTHING for you? have I not done enough already?”
Raziel takes a deep breath trying to calm himself, and notices his Princess starting to cower away “But you got one thing right you know… you are selfish and self-centered, why does everything have to revolve around you? why does THIS has to be about you?”
Zelda finds herself crouching on the bed, but she manages to look up at Link with eyes wide in fear, but still willing to make a stand.
“Because it’s easier to understand the world that way, since I only really know myself. I have no other point of reference, the closest one right now is YOU, but you are so distant and guarded towards me… I can’t really use you as a reference point. Is this about you then?” she genuinely asks.
*Hahahaha, this is fun, how are you going to answer that without lying*
With the truth.
Looking down at the floor with regret “No, it’s about THEM… I have a debt with them that I will NEVER be able to repay… let’s just leave it at that” Link starts to walk out of his room.
Zelda looking completely confused starts to speak, but the Prince shushes her and closes the door behind him.
And that is how you do it, I did not lie, but did not stay to continue the conversation. Hopefully she will be empathetic enough to understand I do not wish to linger on the topic. And won’t ask again.
Link starts running down the stairs and heads out of the castle. Once outside he begins to entertain the idea of heading to the market and play in the shooting gallery. He was feeling frustrated, with the Princess but also with himself, he needed to DO something. Then a horse approaches him and starts trying to make Link rub its nose.
“Hello there… why are you out here and not at the stable?”
“Because he has an energy managing problem… More like I have not been able to meet his exercise demand” José answers as he is slowly approaches them, he then stops and glances at Link “There is something off about you…”
Ziel turns ignoring José comment and talks to the horse "Dude… do you know how lucky you are to be a horse from the castle? You have good food, top notch veterinary attention, and have a stablemaster that actually cares. Stop giving trouble"
José sighs “He can’t help it, he is politely letting me know that I am not meeting his physical demands, he could be causing havoc in the stable”
“Like somebody I know”
José winks “True that, I don’t want to push him into becoming an equine version of me, so I was going to run him senseless… but maybe YOU should do it my Prince, seems like you need it”
Link opens his mouth fishing for something to say, but immediately closes it and takes the reins
“Were to”
“Wherever you like, in the track, around the castle, out of the castle even. He is not fussy about where he runs, he just wants to run… and I just want time to re-plan my work schedule, I need to spare 30 minutes every day to run him to exhaustion.”
Chacha was not wrong; he is taking his job with the horses very seriously. People are going to start noticing him, and how reliable he can be… HAHA, I wonder how many girlfriends is this going to land him.
The Prince swiftly mounts the horse “We are headed to Lake Hylia then…” Link chuckles “by the way, who are you and what did you do to my favorite rascal?”
José cracks up in laughter as Link gives a gentle bump with his heels on the horse, the equine immediately dashes off.
Wow… this foal does have a lot of pent-up energy haha, he is running like a monster is chasing us. All I can do is keep my weight off the horse’s back using my legs. Its physically demanding, but the pain is welcomed. It keeps me from overthinking.
*You could have fucking destroyed her you know? But you didn’t, you behaved like a controlled and measured monster. Don’t overthink this, you were not at fault*
But neither was she, that makes me feel bad about it for some reason.
Link arrived at Lake Hylia, allowed the horse to drink a little and rode him back to the Castle, the horse was visibly spent by the time they arrived, Pepe was laughing at the tired semblance of the foal.
“HEY, this is no laughing matter… he is tired now but he LOVED EVERY PART OF IT. Once you start taking him out for a run every day, make sure you arrive to a lake or pond, he lets loose running and needs the hydration to cool off and continue.” Raziel says light-heartedly as he dismounts the horse.
José answers between joyful laughs "Considered it done my Prince" the stable master takes the horse's reins and guides it back to the stable.
This DID work to help me ease my mind, I should head back to my room, hopefully she is not there.
Link thought as he started climbing the stairs of the east tower two at a time. Once up the stairs he ran down the hall to his room, he was about to knock just in case, but shook his head and just opened the door… this was HIS room after all. Zelda’s surprise yelp shocked him.
What the fuck is this bitch still doing here?
*Don’t know, but don’t you dare to leave again. THIS IS YOUR TERRITORY*
Link closed the door behind him and stood there by the entrance, just staring at her. The Princess could not hold his gaze and started pulling at strands of her own hair. She finally produced a long sigh and stood from the bed to hand Link a folded sheet of paper.
“You don’t have to read it right now, but I would appreciate that you do” Zelda says looking down at the floor.
I have time now and I rather be done with all this shit. I hate you, but I don’t have the heart to push you away. So, let’s get this over with.
Link took the folded sheet and opened it, Zelda stared at him in panic, bit hard on her lower lip and started to scratch her arms with her nails, leaving red lines of injured skin. Link began to read the letter and without looking at her, he slapped her hands to make her stop the self-harm. She whimpered a little and retreated to his bed.
-------------ZELDA’S LETTER-------------------
You are right, it may have been presumptuous of me to think you were doing the ritual because of me. But I don’t know you. All I know, and only from recent experience, is that you are capable of doing crazy things for the people you care about… And I believe that includes me.
This ritual, as scary as it sounds, you would do it without batting an eye for any of your people. I just wanted to make sure you were not doing this for me, because believe me, I know I don’t deserve anything from you. I know that your teachings, as unorthodox as they may be, are part of a contract with the King. But your attention, your guidance, your protection… your kindness. Those are a gift; one I do not deserve. Just promise me that you are ok with all this, that I am not forcing it in any way. And if I am, we will stop all this. No hard feelings.
-----------------------------------------------------
Link crumpled the letter in one hand and threw it in the air, it landed on the trashcan at a corner of the room. He then turned to look at the Princess, who was still sitting on the bed, hugging her knees. She looked up at Link and he noticed her eyes where glistening with unshed tears.
Well… I can’t remain angry at her for this. and I definitely won’t say that I am sorry, BECAUSE I AM NOT. I said what I said, and I meant it. But… I can throw her a bone at least.
“I am ok with the ritual… AND this was day 2 of rest, you start your exercise with me tomorrow.”
Zelda rubs her eyes a little smiling, she nods standing from the bed. She slowly approaches Link and hugs him for a few seconds. Then she rushes out of his room leaving him alone in hell.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking this story, grant me a Kudo, post a comment, and subscribe so you wont miss future updates
Chapter 69: Learning how to defuse Raziel
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
It was early in the morning, Zelda was paying attention to Link moving around in his room, but didn't want to get caught watching him, so she faked to be asleep.
“I am heading to Nana’s kitchen to get some breakfast; do you want me to tell Rolo to prepare and send breakfast to your room?” Link casually asks her.
I didn’t even open my eyes, how the fuck does he know?
“Yes… I want yogurt, and 3 scrambled eggs with some bacon.” The Princess sits up in her bed “How did you knew I was awake?”
Link smirks "You are not a pretty good liar Princess"
Zelda gasps "What are you talking about… I lied to the people in Australia, didn't I?"
The Hero lifts an eyebrow "Did you?"
FUCK, I actally didn’t, I threatened them with actual facts Link gave to me.
“But I told them Zid was my pet, and that I had his papers” Zelda counters.
“Given the circumstances, and that you actually HAD Zid's papers at the moment, not of ownership, but HIS medical papers. I don't count that as a lie"
Zelda squints her eyes not giving up yet "And at the hotel before we flew to Li’s school, I…"
"You were having troubles to fall asleep so you decided to climb on my bed. Then woke up early, moved back to your bed, and feigned you sleep there all night"
He knew…
"How… why where you not asleep?" the Princess asks with curiosity.
Link smirks "Turns out… Claire is not the only light sleeper you know off" Link said before turning around and leaving the room.
I really need to mind what I do or say in the presence of this guy… well, time to head back to my room.
Zelda stands up, takes her pillow and stores it in a small pink chest in a corner of Link’s closet, and walks to her room. The Princess was about to enter her it when she heard someone coming up.
It can’t be my breakfast, can it? It’s too soon.
Chacha was coming up the stairs and smiled at Zelda upon seeing her.
“I will start in hell this time, don’t worry my Princess. Raziel told me you were going to wait for your breakfast in your room.”
“Ok… WAIT. Is he there?” the Princess points at the maid’s bosom.
Chacha raises one eyebrow and then laughs. “You mean Nuthaniel. Yeah, he is, take a look” the maid leans closer to the Princess and widens the collar of her dress for Zelda to look inside.
Really? I can look inside? No shame whatsoever. We definitely are friends.
The Princess looks inside the maid’s collar and in between the breast is the cute squirrel curled in a ball, holding tightly to the gauze Chacha used to give support to her chest.
“Oh my… he is so cute” Zelda chimes.
“Really? Let me see” Link says taking a step back to effectively avoiding his maid’s uppercut.
“That could have killed me you know?” Link says frowning.
Rolling her eyes “With all due respect, if being mauled by 2 wolfos didn’t kill you, nothing will… my Prince”
Link grunts at the maid and connects his forehead with hers “I thought I had told you to refer to me by name”
Zelda pulls Link back from the angry maid “Ziel, she just got angry at you for trying to steal a peek at her bosom, you should apologize”
The Prince raises his voice a little in exasperation “For what exactly? For mocking what the both of you were doing instead of calling you out on it? you do realize the aisle is not a private enough environment to be doing what you were doing?”
Chacha still angry lowers her gaze in shame, she had been overly excited about her new pet, and completely failed to notice her surroundings.
"And by the way, I didn't actually lean in to look at her. So, please Princess… do indulge me on WHY I should be the one apologizing" Link almost screamed that last part at Zelda who just cowered in fear.
“STOP YOU TWO, I AM SORRY, OK?” the maid suddenly blurted “My emotions got the best of me, I failed to notice what I was subjecting myself and the Princess to in a public area. And I also failed to control my fight instinct… potentially putting my Prince in harm’s way” the maid said with a teary face “I promise to learn to control my-”
Link shushes her “You have it wrong, you shouldn’t apologize for your quick defense reaction” he charmingly smiles at Chacha “it pleases me knowing that my favorite maid is capable of defending herself, and may also end up protecting my Princess” he heavily sighs “but do take responsibility for your actions”
“But… I just said I was sorry” Chacha insist.
“Because I called you out on it… you could have defused everything easily, watch”
The Prince turns to Zelda producing a high pitch voice, trying to sound like a female “for the love of Nayru, I am terribly sorry my Prince, I got scared. I just suddenly heard a male voice speaking relatively close to me, I thought we were in danger” Link signals for Zelda to continue with the improvisation. Zelda chuckles and plays along lowering her pitch.
“Don’t worry about it, I should not have scared you like that, it was very childish of me” Zelda says trying not to burst out laughing at her poor imitation of Link.
Link exhales and makes a doubtful face “That was a meek interpretation of me, but more or less… this is what could have happened” the Hero says wiggling his eyebrows at the maid.
Chacha looks at the floor to ponder a few seconds "I think I get it. I should learn to deescalate situations, but never apologize for my fight reactions…" she grins "you just served yourself on a silver platter, you know that right?"
He produces a subdued laugh "You are asking if I know that I basically allowed you to beat the crap out of me. Yes, I know I did, just be smart about it. Press my anger button and my forgiving button at the same time. Like in the scenario your illustrious Princess and myself just acted out for you. I will still be angry, but just a little, and I won't feel the need to avenge myself" he cackles "You don't want to deal with me trying to get revenge" Link warns.
Learning how to defuse Raziel Link Nohansen 101. I hope all of this works for me too.
Chacha smiles and hugs the Prince, who turns to Zelda “I will go back for my breakfast, I just came to inform you, I need to head out again, it’s not on a mission, its worse” Link claims dejected “I need to attend one of Stephen Strange expositions about something, it may be boring… you don’t need to”
Zelda didn’t even allow him to finish the sentence “When are we leaving?”
Link slaps his face with his palm as Chacha releases him from the hug giggling "Of course…why wouldn't you want to come. I still don't know the specific date of the lecture, I will let you know once they inform me " he sighs "For now eat, and then get your ass outside. You will be doing exactly what you did last time, so loose the pretty dress and put on your pants and boots. I will also explain the exercise routine I want you to follow from now on"
Zelda looks a little doubtful "But... the new exercises are still doable for someone like me, right?" she asks lifting her eyebrows in hope.
“They should be… unless you somehow lied about your physical performance all this time”
Zelda smiles and negates shaking her head “I did not lie; I tried my best”
"Then there is nothing to worry about… now, would you excuse me my ladies" Link bows a little at both girls, then lifts his hands to place them behind his head and walks away whistling.
LINK’S POV
I absolutely hate Vincent's lectures… the information on human social behavior is invaluable, it allows us to manipulate people. But the exposition also throws in affirmations that claim: "No matter how nefarious you have had to become, that does not turn you into a criminal"
*That is why they are necessary*
I KNOW, its SWORD's way of ensuring we remain focused and human, stable enough so that we don't suddenly flip. But I find it tiring.
Link enter his room and finally checks on the texts he received.
----------------------------------------
Zidane's text:
DUDE, I LOVE PLAYING THE FUCKING BATTERY. I told Li that with his grumpy bossy attitude, he should help me stablish a rhythm to guide the song. So, he picked up the bass… it amazes me how fucking good he is playing it, almost as good as me. It's like we are music incarnate. Dude, you should pick up on the guitar, so we can soon play something basic that we can pair with… whatever instrument Skull plays. See ya.
-------------------------------
My dear brother, we kind of ARE music incarnate. Given your natural curiosity, you will soon realize that you can pretty much play ANY INSTRUMENT… It's a virtue granted by our patron Goddess.
Link closes that interaction and quickly opens the other text he had. It was a text form ex agent Skull.
---------------------------------
George's text:
I never got to use the music room, even though I signed up for the program… if you want a small meet before it disappears, I will be there.
I will get properly reinstalled in a week, any day before I get back as a SWORD agent, would be great.
---------------------------------
Perfect… I made a mistake though, I never bothered to ask what fucking instrument is he proficient in, or if he plays anything at all. Not that it matters, I am sure we can still play something together, and give a proper goodbye to this branch of the emotional regulation program.
Somebody knocks on his door, he answers and receives a turkey sandwich, he had already eaten with Nana, but he still asked Rolo for a quick meal for himself when he ordered Zelda's breakfast. He finished the sandwich in 3 bites before heading out of the castle.
Once in the garden, he was stretching a little when he saw a familiar face approaching.
“HEYOOO!”
“Ichiro?” The Prince looks him up and down and smiles “looking good”
The Carpenter smiles “I know… I can now do 10 pull ups, I still have a belly but not as pronounced, and my arms look GOOD” he cackles a little at that The wife is pleased… and I like my new vitality and appearance. I call this exercise structure ¨door frame¨ because it reassembles it, but what is it called?”
Link chuckles “It’s a pullup station”
Ichiro looks up at it pondering about the name, then he nods “The name makes sense… well, I must leave now”
“Take care, I will see you when I see you”
The carpenter smiles and bows at the Prince before leaving. Link then hears the sound of Zelda’s hurried steps.
“I am here; do we start now? I need to tell you something… yesterday I had ¨the talk¨ with dad about my brothers, I didn’t tell you since we kind of fought but.”
“And you figured now it’s a better time, IT’S NOT. Tell me all about it when you start working with the dumbbells, then I will listen.” Ziel smirks evilly at the Princess “Now start running… 10… 9…”
Zelda dashes off in panic.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking this story, grant me a Kudo, post a comment, and subscribe so you wont miss future updates. Next in 14 days
Chapter 70: Derrick's joke
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
FAST FORWARD 2 DAYS
The Princess was going through the dresses in her walk-in closet. She had already thrown out what Chacha referred to as ¨baby dresses¨. Yet, it was not like she suddenly became dress less, she had kept a few of her old dresses and bought lots of new ones.
She was now able to start wearing her corset, and for today… she REALLY wanted to use the black one, so she chooses a white dress to pair it with.
She stood in front of her whole-body mirror of the closet, and spend 10 min trying to French braid her hair.
ZELDA POV
Damn it, I can't. It's too short for me to manipulate. Would Ziel help me if I ask him? I like how I look right now but… my short wavy hair only makes me look cute and completely harmless. And I need to look sharp if I want my King to take me seriously.
Zelda breaths out loudly and exits her closet. She grabs a bottle of olive oil from a drawer before leaving her room. She walks down the hall towards hell, praying to find Link still in there. Zelda stands idle in front of the door for a few seconds then nocks.
The door is opened immediately by Link who stares at the Princess with hostility, then sighs completely shifting his semblance.
“Fuck, I was about to bawl obscenities at you thinking you where Pepe”
“José? Why would he be here?” Zelda asks.
“Because he just left once I gave him ideas for the vermin… so, he is now making an interactive habitat inside the cage for Nuthaniel”
Zelda looks at Link in shock, but then starts smiling mischievous “He likes the little squirrel, doesn’t he?”
Link shakes his head slowly “I… prefer to describe it as: he feels responsible for the rodent; he wants to mentally and physically challenge the vermin. So, he is going to set several closed boxes around the cage, and hang some bags that will instantly fall with his weight. He will be hiding the food all around the vermin’s habitat, and changing the hiding places every day.”
The Princess smiles clapping a little “Wow… sounds awesome. And he is doing all this because?”
"To help Chacha, she ends her shift late and spending time playing with Nutaniel must be draining. Pepe just wants to tire the squirrel enough for her to feel like she doesn't have to spend too much of her rest time with the glider"
“That’s pretty thoughtful of him…” then the Princess slaps Link’s arm “I am completely getting out of topic, and it’s all your fault. I need your help”
“Why the fuck would I help a Princess that obviously abuses of her power to beat me”
"Because you know that was NOT abuse, it was just a playful slap. And because you need me" Zelda says as she pulls out her cellphone with a picture of her, Link, Zid and Li as her lock screen image.
Link groans “What do you need?”
"Today is the day I talk to my father about bringing my brothers… I need you to braid my hair; I need to look formal and aggressive, not girly and cute"
Link groans “I don’t know how to do a French bride, last time I did French fishtail”
“I don’t mind, it still looked awesome, would you braid my hair please?”
The Prince approached his desk and pulled out the chair for her to sit on. Zelda happily complies.
“If you need to really pull my hair, DO IT. That is what Robert did when he braided me so I can stand it”
Link smirks before closing the door of his room. Minutes later, the voice of the Princess can be heard squealing inside of Raziel's room. "I know you are doing this on purpose Saller… AAAHHHH" the sound of a chair being kicked from under the Princess is heard, followed by the sound of the Princess smashing against the floor. The memory of the brief moment Zelda was falling to the floor in panic, made everything worth it for Link.
Why the fuck was I stupid enough to wave a red fabric in front of the bull? Because I was dumb enough to believe he would not retaliate. But he did, and now I am sore… Will this stop me from calling him Saller again? OF COURSE NOT.
Well, at least he did a very good job with my braid, it looks perfect… no revel hairs popping out.
The Princess thought as she approached the throne room, her mind set on demanding a decision from the King. As she approached, she noticed the door was being guarded from the outside by two knights.
“Good evening cavaliers” Zelda said as she tried to enter the throne room, but was immediately stopped by the Knights’s lances creating a cross in front of the door.
“His majesty is discussing important matters; he can’t be disturbed.”
"Oh… I will come back latter then" Zelda replied.
One of the guards told her sardonically "Do not bother my Princess… the King told us that if you came, we were to send you away" he chuckles "The King said that you should learn your place. Setting a deadline on the most powerful man on the land is disrespectful, specially coming from an unreliable Princess… He will attend to your ridiculous demand when he sees fit" The knight said half smiling.
He said WHAT? How could he, I thought we.. I FUCKING HATE HIM. Why did I thought my mother would have chosen a better man this time? He is fucking worse than that shit of a man I used to call father.
Zelda turned around and started to walk away, eyes already glistening with unshed tears. But a Knight’s hand fell on her shoulder stopping her. He drew a sheet of paper and handed it to her. “The King also told us to give this to you my Princess”
Zelda didn’t want to take it, but still snatched it angrily from the knight and walked away. She then heard the knights suppressing their laughter, that made her stop in her tracks.
What the fuck? Are they mocking me? how dare they.
The Princess turned back to the unrespectful knights, anger radiating from every pore in her skin. The knights instantly straightened up in fear and pointed at her sheet of paper. Zelda doubted but started reading it.
----------------------------------------
¨Hello daughter, I told my Guards to play along with me on this one. I will be busy discussing important matters all day. So how about we discuss your brother’s future visit over dinner tonight? By the way… you are very important to me, and your demand is not ridiculous, all that speech the guard said was me poking you because you look adorable when you are flustered¨
---------------------------------------
The Princess stars to pull at her own hair grunting. One of the Knights rushes to her telling her to stop, and offers to be punched by her instead. Zelda didn’t think twice about the offer and started throwing punches at the Knight. The other cavalier started to laugh at the whole scene.
He may be King, but that does not grant him the right to play with my feelings like that. Am I angry at him? I don’t know… I mean YES, I am angry. But it was just a joke. I have done MUCH worse to him over the years, and I was not joking, I actually wanted to inflict pain.
After a few punches the Princess breathed out her remaining frustration, approached the door to the throne room screaming as loud as she could “THAT WAS NOT FUNNY DERRICK”
A loud roar of laughter in heard coming from inside the throne room, Zelda was irate, tears still threatening to fall, but could not hide the smile forming in a corner of her mouth.
LINK POV
“As I have been telling you… it has not been that difficult or hard for me to adjust to my new role” Maco told Link with sadness in his eyes but smiling exited.
Link chuckles “I have no idea what strings did my King pulled to keep you here despite your age, but I am glad he did”
“I am not that young anymore… 11 is not that far from 13, is it?”
“Is much better than 10 but still… when was your birth day by the way?”
“It’s in a month, but the lawyer told me to start presenting myself as an 11-year-old, just in case”
Link starts to smile at that when a female scream is heard “NOT FUNNY AT ALL DERRICK” and then Daphnes thunderous laughter.
The hero enters a high alert state and runs out of the storage, followed by a very scared but very curious Maco. As they approached the throne room, Link stares at the knights stationed outside without stopping his run, both knights lower their gaze pointing at Zelda down the hall. Link continues running followed by Maco.
She appears to be crying… WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?
Link finally reaches Zelda and stops her by placing a hand on her shoulder. She sniffs and turns to look at him. Her hair appeared to be ruffled and her eyes were full of unshed tears.
“What happened? Who did this?” Link asks pointing at her disheveled hair.
Zelda cleans her face and eyes with her hands and answers “I did it myself, out of frustration.” She hands him the sheet with the note from the King.
Link quickly reads it and lifts an eyebrow at her. She sights.
"He told the guards to let me know that I should know my place, I should not be placing deadlines on the most powerful man in Hyrule. And that he will see to my demand whenever he wants" she sighs "then the guards handed me the note"
Link chuckles a little at first, but soon starts laughing loud.
I understand why she screamed. Daphnes joke was awesome… but my Princess is emotionally and mentally fragile right now, she must have been deeply hurt by her father's refusal, This is GOOD right?
*It is more than good, if Daphnes can inflict this type of pain on Zelda, it means he has already rotted in her heart*
“Why are men like that?” Zelda asks Ziel with sadness in her eyes.
“Men? Isn’t that a huge generalization?”
"Is it though? Robert and Zid enjoyed playing games on me. Games meant to bother me, cause a mental strain or a little of physical pain. YOU absolutely love making me suffer. And apparently, Daphnes also loves upsetting me"
Maco says laughing a little “My Princess… that is completely your fault”
Bold. I mean, it surely is but… even I would not have blurted it out like that.
Zelda turns to the boy angry “Wha… why? How can it be my fault?”
“It’s a human reflex… I call it cute aggression. For some reason we ALL want to tease or hurt cute things. You see a cute cat and you want to bother it somehow, poke its nose, pull its tail, or something. Some women even claim to want to bite their babies at times” Maco smiles at Zelda “it’s actually a compliment, bothersome but that’s the price you have to pay for being pretty. My Granma always wanted to bite my arms when I was little, I hated visiting her because of it… I should just shut up now, right?” He turned adjusting his glasses, and starts walking back to the storage. Zelda and Link followed his movement with their eyes.
“That boy…” Zelda says pointing at Maco’s retreating figure “his name is Maco isn’t it?... is what he said true?” The Princess smiles tilting her head “Do you find me pretty?”
FUCK
*What do you men fuck? she thinks she has you on the ropes, but you are an animal, CHARGE HER LIKE A BULL*
Not like a bull, that approach may be too harsh. And she has been harmed already. But I can still be a wolf and cause her a little of inner turmoil.
Link watched her the way wolves watch the forest, with patience and hunger. There was something wild in him, something that couldn’t be leashed. And as she stared into his grey eyes, something in her forgot how to think.
"Yes, I find you pretty… I thought you knew since I actually admitted it to you in not so long ago." Link leans in closer to the Princess "Were you not paying attention to me? or are you just that forgetful?" he taps on her temples with his index finger, his smile soft, but laced with danger.
Zelda lowers her sight feeling ashamed and intimidated, she was not expecting Link to answer so bluntly, she was expecting him to deny it, call her crazy for even suggesting it. But his upfront honest answer made her knees quiver out of fear... or possibly something else.
"I… I just wanted make you say it again" she said trying to sound confident. "Would you help me fix my hair again?" she quickly tries to change the subject.
"If you want… but I think that deranged look fits you nicely" Ziel tells her.
Notes:
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future updates
Chapter 71: Noted, you all have a kink
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
Zelda entered her room and immediately headed to her walk-in closet to look at herself in the mirror. What she saw made her gasp in terror.
HE MUST HAVE BEEN PLAYING WITH ME, how could I look good like this? I look demented…
[I don’t lie to my people] She remembers Ziel telling her.
I am one of HIS people, right? That means he is not lying to me. He finds this catching somehow? What the fuck is wrong with him? is this maybe a kink of his?
The Princess starts laughing at that a little, and then almost falls back in shock when she noticed her reflection in the mirror.
That is ME? I still look disgraceful… but laughing at Raziel having a kink, I looked STUNING, wildly bewitching even. I GET IT, I just need to be a little bold.
Zelda laughed out loud, and starts striking poses in front of the mirror. But soon became inhibited and started to shake her head.
I CAN'T DO THIS... it just isn't me. Maybe I don't have to pretend being something I am not… maybe just being confident in myself would do.
She looked back at herself in the mirror, and tenderly smiles at the disgraceful girl she saw reflected. Soon her eyes start to tear up, but even then, she looked adorable. The realization made her laugh at herself.
Link was right… I really don’t look half bad, and I am still myself… Damn him.
Soft knocking is heard, then the door is opened and in comes Chacha with a broom and a duster. Her eyes widen once she notices Zelda.
“It’s the time to clean your room my Princess… should I come back later, or do I start?”
Zelda smiles and waves at the maid inviting her in “I am sorry… I should no longer be here, just came to check on myself. Please start your diligences”
“THIS IS your room Princess, don’t apologize for using it… by the way, it’s an odd hair style, but it looks good on you, how is it done?”
But of course, teach my trustful maid how to braid my hair so she can help me, instead of submitting myself to Raziel's special brand of torture.
“It’s a special type of braid; I will teach you how to do it later”
The maid shakes her head “Don’t bother yourself with this, just tell me who did it and I will go and learn from the master directly” the maid happily says.
Zelda smirks “Link braided it”
Chacha straightens herself and clears her throat “Then I will come back tomorrow morning to be instructed by you, my Princess”
Zelda falls on her bed laughing hysterically “YOU afraid of him?”
Rolling her eyes the maid answers “Well YEAH, who wouldn’t be? The fucker is capable dismembering a person, no matter the gender, and impaling them because why not. Got eviscerated by wolfos and lived to tell the tale. I would be stupid if I didn’t fear him a little”
HE DID WHAT?
Chacha noticing the Princesses confusion smiles evilly "Oh, right. You have no reason to know any of this… so let me ask, what do you think happened to the Gerudo that entered your room the night of the ball?... and who do you think cleaned all the mess left behind?" she points at herself.
FUCK, how come I never thought of that? All Link told me was that he used one of my chess pieces to cauterize his wound. But it never crossed my mind to ask how he got out of that situation, or what had happened to those Gerudo.
“You are right… I don’t know anything, would you tell me?”
“I don’t really know, everything I said is a guess given what I saw in the room… if you really want to know, ask HIM”
“Maybe I will… but you don’t really fear him, do you?” Zelda asks.
“I actually do, I know he would never hurt me, but I also know I better choose my battles with him… so, I rather you teach me. Besides, I need to protect Nuthaniel too”
LINK POV
The hero was putting on his brown suit before slowly rolling his head around to relax. Then his cellphone starts beeping, he walks towards it and check on the new message.
Shit… they had assured me that Stephen’s exposition was going to happen sometime next week. Tomorrow is too soon; my King and Queen are not going to like this.
Link thought as he started heading to the dining room. As he approached it, he heard nothing… the absolute silence made him weary, he readied his hands to draw his kunai, a blade he carried hidden under the sleeve of his jacket. The hero was silently regretting his choice not to carry his stiletto blades. He slowly opened the door to enter and the first thing he saw was Zelda, she looked at him mortified and then at the floor. Link finished opening the door and saw both his majesties staring fixedly at the Princess, Queen Claire’s mouth opened in shock while the King was just amazed.
The Princess started walking out of the dining room, but Link leaned on the door frame blocking her escape route.
“It’s getting late my Princess; sit so we can start our dinner” Link whispered.
“Please move, I won’t take long, I will just fix my hair so I won’t inconvenience anyone anymore” the Princess says sobbing.
Link laughs inwardly “I don’t think you need to… my majesties are just astonished by you, I am sure” he loudly says, intending for his King and Queen to listen.
“I am appalled actually; did you fell or something? Are you hurt?” Queen Claire asks her daughter, her face frowning with worry.
Raziel chuckles “No, my Queen, she just did what she could to bride her short hair, I think she looks lovely”
Claire tilted her head looking at Zelda and smiled “She kind of does, doesn’t she?”
Daphnes nods “Indeed, in a deranged kind of way”
Link smirks and approaches the King raising a fist, the royal smiles and fist bumps the Prince.
Smiling, Zelda rolls her eyes “Noted, you all have a kink for mentally unstable people”
Daphnes roars in laughter.
Link grabs a chair and pulls for Zelda "Yes, we do. Just shut up and sit my demented Princess" Zelda giggles at that and sits.
Hearing the exchange between Raziel and Zelda, the Queen erupt in laughter. The King grins and claps for their food to be brought in.
Derrik clears his throat “I wanted to inform the both of you that I am more than willing to help those lads you call brothers enter Hyrule. And believe me… it will be done, but even with the blood transfusion as proof, it will take years. I need to revise and rewrite laws, shift interpretation we currently have about the Quantum world, and find loopholes that would allow them passage” he sighs “I just wanted to inform you that it will be a long and tedious job, but it will be done.”
Zelda stood up in distress, was about to protest but could not say anything. She turns to look at Link begging him with her eyes. Raziel sighs and turns to face the King smiling.
"I understand, I don't care if it takes years to do, as long as its properly done" Link says with a nod. The King smiles. Zelda shakes her head and was about to throw a tantrum but Link continues.
"But that is taking into account that they will be allowed to live here as Hylians and not just come for a short visit, right?" Zelda's eyes go wide open in shock, but slowly the shadow of a smile can be seen on her face.
Derrick tilts his head smiling "Of course, I thought you wanted them to be able to live here, enter and exit as they please, like YOU do" The King says pointing at Ziel.
Daphnes looks up at the celling and smiles "That is the reason why it would take long, I have to prepare papers for them, to allow them to buy or build their own house, to legalize them so they can receive medical care if ever needed, to marry a hylean if they want to, and get drafted if Hyrule ever needs them to fight for the land…"
Zelda turns to the King “Drafted… but, dad” she says in anguish.
The King raises his palm to silence the Princess “If they want to be Hylians, then they must abide to our demands. There will be no difference between them and the rest of the Hylians… if I can draft MY men to fight for Hyrule, then your brothers should enter the drafting list too”
Zelda heavily sits defeated, realizing that it’s on her best interest to study and become the best Princess Hyrule has ever had. She now has 2 reasons to find a peaceful paths to solve disputes, she would not allow war ever if possible… to protect THEM.
Link grins “I already informed them about all this my lord, and they agree to everything. Please proceed with the paper work”
*You told them? when? *
I implied it, I will speak with them about this again but I AM SURE they won’t mind at all.
The King raises an eyebrow “Great, I need to speak with medics that could perform the transfusions needed to validate all this… a sworn brother ritual will also be needed, I believe you know what performing the ritual demands of you legally, don’t you son?”
“I do my King, and I am willing” the Prince says confidently.
“Even if you don’t really know these lads?” The King presses on the subject.
Daphnes didn’t want his son to make the mistake of trusting strangers on a whim.
“I know them more than you knew Darunia when you both did it”
Frowning Daphnes counters “I believe I am a good judge of character, and I deemed the Goron Patriarch to be trustworthy. Besides, we needed them as allies as much as they needed us once the Hyrulean Civil War ended”
The Princess clears her throat “Talking about the Hyrulean Civil War, how did the Sworn Brother’s Ritual come to be? I have looked for it but I have not found anything about it yet.”
The King smiles “The Gorons where understandably distrustful of us… and so where the Hylians of the Goron race. To pave the road to a peaceful existence between our people, we decided to mix a meaningful Goron ritual with a Sheikah one”
“The Gorons performed it by exchanging valuable gems or rocks in the entrance of the fire temple, the blood drinking part is from a Sheika ritual” Raziel said to further clarify things for the Princess.
Zelda stares at Link with curiosity. “How do you know that?”
Link chuckles "I read about it in the castle's library, I will get the book for you later if you want…" looking directly at the King "Speaking about the library, I never found a book where a procedure for opening an envelope without damage is described"
Derrick chuckles and answers smirking “Because that book does not exist”
Figures, I kind of suspected that one. He just said it to manipulate me into agreeing with the adoption… I can’t even be mad about it.
Link puts his hands behind his head and tilts it up to the ceiling “I kind of fell into that one, didn’t I?” turning to look at his Queen. “I have not heard you so far my lady, are you ok?”
“I AM GREAT, I love this stew… I was just eating and paying attention” Claire says smiling and tilting her head to the side.
Link laughs at that a little “Good… Please be assured that I am sorry for what I have to do now” he turns to look at Zelda “Once you are done dinning, we are heading back to the Quantum world my Princess”
The Queen chokes on her food and the King frowns “You both just came back, this is preposterous” Daphnes says trying to remain calm.
“I know my lord, but it will only be 2 days since I have to attend an exposition from SWORD. This will not be dangerous at all, it may actually be boring, but my Princess still wants to come with me”
The King sighs, the Queen coughs a little more and finally says “Fair, the carriage will take you, let your father know once you are back for the carriage to be there to pick you up. Now start eating before it gets cold” She orders.
I wonder why did Vincent pushed for the exposition to take place tomorrow... I trust him, so I know he must have a reason, but I still wonder what that reason might be.
Notes:
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Chapter 72: Edna
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The carriage departed, leaving Link and Zelda by the entrance of Kokiri Forest. The Prince got down on one knee offering to carry the Princess the rest of the way, since she was not wearing any type of footwear. Zelda nodded and climbed on Link’s back.
They soon crossed the bridge and as they were passing through what used to be the village, the Princess decided a quick tour wouldn’t be such a bad idea.
ZELDA POV
“You lived here once, right?”
Link nodded.
“Did you have a house? Which one was it?”
Ziel point at the tall tree truck that had a ladder attached to it.
“That one? It looks nice, compared to the others I mean. Yours looks better preserved by the passage of time, do you still clean it?”
Link snorts “I have not visited it in the last 2 years” sighs “the trick is on choosing a sturdy tree and avoid damaging the trunk as much as possible. That means don’t make spacious rooms”
“So… it looks big but your house is really small right? then why the need to make it high up like that?”
“Safety, as long as they had to use the ladder to enter, I could hear them coming and prepare”
He sounds like he had to be on guard at all times… where they really that bad to him?
“Can we visit your home?”
“NO… well you can visit if you want, you have 5 minutes, if you are not out, I will come and drag you out by the hair”
Zelda nods accepting and taps on his shoulder, Link takes it as a signal to let her climb down. Once the Princess touches the ground, she rushes to the ladder of his house climbing up as fast as she could.
Better do this quick, I don’t know if he begins his cunt down now or once I enter.
The Princess started smelling a fetid odor once she had climbed up, holding her breath she enters the house. She almost screamed at what she saw, there where hateful messages written on the walls, animal corpses rotting on the floor, Link’s bed was torn right in the middle and then filled with animal guts, the few bases he had were broken into pieces on the floor, and there was already dry crap and surely piss everywhere.
WHAT THE FUCK… he was right. The Kokiri were deranged animals at best. 5 minutes is TOO LONG for this shit; I am out of here NOW.
Zelda walks out of Link’s house, her eyes filling with tears of a suffocating sadness that she had never felt before… and a lot of anger. As she was crossing the small porch before the stairs, she realized how much her emotions had affected her. Her legs where wobbling, she currently didn’t have the strength to climb down the ladder by herself. After quickly cleaning her face from the treacherous tears that managed to spill, she forced herself to ask Ziel a question.
“Link… would you catch me if I jump down?”
Ziel looked up at his Princess, tilted his head and half smiling, he then pointed to his left “head” then pointed to his right “legs and feet”
The Princess understood he was giving her directions on how to fall, yet he never actually said he would catch her, but she just closed her eyes and jumped down hopping for the best.
Link caught the Princess bridal style, was about to put her down but Zelda hugged him trembling.
“That bad”
“This is not your reality anymore, you are a Nohansen now, and my guardian. That means you don’t have to tolerate hate crime anymore; I won’t allow it”
“Are you saying that to me or to soothe yourself?”
“A little bit of both” she says finally climbing down. The Princess changes the subject “You know… I would like for you to accompany me to the market, help me choose boots or shoes that will allow me to run from the skull kid’s pellets, and that I can safely use on both worlds, like your boots.”
Link goes down on one knee to allow the Princess to climb on his back. As she does, he starts heading to Lost Wooods. “I hear you my Princess, it would be convenient for you to have some boots, but I will still need to carry you through Lost Woods”
“But… I don’t understand, I would be able to walk and run on my own”
Link chuckles “Let’s make a deal, I won’t blindfold you this time, once you see what you will be dealing with, you decide if you still want to try it or not”
“Sounds reasonable” Zelda says as they enter Lost Woods.
Once inside they soon encounter skull kids who start laughing malevolently and shooting at them. Link rushed and twisted out of the way of the pellets, at times he stopped death on his tracks, others he crouched all the way down, and he also jumped up at times. All of these while carrying the Princess and moving in a zigzag pattern.
I understand. I don’t have, and maybe will never have the dexterity necessary for this.
“Jumping down”
Zelda was still very afraid of heights, so she closed her eyes as they fell down the hole. it felt like a normal fall for a second, suddenly the fall slowed down, then gravity took hold of them again, but they landed on the ground safely.
One of these days, I am going to open my eyes during that fall.
The Princess quickly climbed down from the hero’s back; she then grabbed his hand pulling him out of the cave.
Outside there was a car already waiting for them, they were taken to a house relatively close to SWORD’s quarters. The old lady living there used a room for herself and rented the rest of the house, it was commonly and briefly used by SWORD agents.
The lady recognized Link and smiled tenderly at him. She then noticed Zelda and started to frown, then to lift one eyebrow with curiosity, and finally she quickly lifted both her shoulders and pulled out a notebook where she wrote the occupants as she pointed at a door.
I… thought we would stay at SWORD's premises. Not that I mind this at all.
Soon they heard knocking at the door. Link opens and the old lady is there with a bunch of covers, he hurriedly takes them from her.
“What is all this for Edna?”
“For you of course… I believe you will let the girl sleep on the bed you will take the floor or the couch”
Link just looks at the lady in the eyes and starts smirking as he wiggled his eyebrow. Edna opens her eyes and mouth wide and starts trying to pull Zelda away from him.
“THANK YOU, EDNA, I was thinking he could use the couch but it may be too small to fit him.” Zelda immediately says, looking at Link with suppressed anger for trying to scare the sweet lady.
“Or you could come sleep in my room, its small but we can make it work” Edna offers
“No need to bother yourself with that, he appears to be a menace, but in reality, he is very tame”
Link glanced at his Princess from beneath his brow, his eyes narrowing slightly.
I fucked up
Edna laughs a little at that and after giving them both a hug, she leaves. Link slowly closes the door and turns to Zelda irate.
“Tame you say… I will fucking show you how tame I can be”
Zelda squeals and runs off to the closest door slamming it behind her. “I AM SORRY, YOU ARE NOT TAME. I JUST SAID THAT TO MAKE EDNA COMFORTABLE”
“Who told you to do that?”
Zelda frowns at that and slowly opens the door to peak out “You wanted to scare her?”
Link grabs the door fully opens it “Yes, scare her, disgust her… make her lose faith and trust in me”
“Why?”
Ziel sighs deeply “She is beautiful, I thought I had a chance at dissuading her from renting her place to men and make her rent it to females only” Zelda leaned on the door’s frame and looked at the hero expecting to hear the whole story.
Link closed his eyes and continued “A year ago, someone followed agent Widow here, with the intend of killing him or causing him damage at least. The criminal ended up hitting Edna in the head.” Zelda gasped covering her mouth with both her hands.
“It didn’t kill her of course, but ever since, we have told her to only rent the place to girls, but she does not want to. ¨Girls are welcomed and trusted EVERYWHERE, but it’s not the same for you my dear boys, you will always have a place with me when you need it¨ she said”
Zelda giggles at that “You just have to try again I guess”
“You don’t get it, WE HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING… Wolf came with the plan of being a rascal, got the police to come here a few times, Edna just sat with him to talk him out of misbehaving” Link rolled his neck trying to remember.
“Agent Widow came with his clothes blood stained, she smiled, washed them and told him to be careful next time” he said, Zelda smiled thinking of the sweet lady.
“Viper opted for making her vomit, he came FILFTY… she got out and came back with a soap bar for him to use pushing him into the shower. Then burned some smelly herbal bouquet, waved it all around the house taking the fucking smell away” Link said rolling his eyes.
Zelda was laughing hysterically at the image implanted in her brain.
Damn… SHE IS GORGEOUS, I want her as my grandmother… that means I must protect her. I can’t let the agents chase her away. A little selfish of me but, come on, seems like she enjoys mothering them.
Gathering courage the Princess starts speaking “Poor thing, she is treating all of you like sons, and you still want to chase her away” Link glares at Zelda intensely, not giving of if he is angry or not.
“Have you all considered that maybe she needs this? to take care of you all… you pushing her away may be like killing her”
Link briefly thinks about this “May be, but it’s dangerous to be around us… she needs to-”
“It’s more dangerous for her to lose her boys, we are talking causing her depression and anxiety, what if she kills herself?”
Link shakes his head dismissively “If she ends up doing that, it would have been HER choice, but not because we brought death to her door”
Zelda opens her eyes and mouth wide “That’s it? you all just don’t want to be blamed if something happens?”
Raziel sighs, rolls his shoulders and grins at his Princess “Dear Princess, you have to understand one thing, I AM NOT A HERO, none of us are. We are more like a necessary plague. We will always try to chase her away since she has grown on each and every one of us. We deem it safer for her to stay away. For her wellbeing, and for our own mental health. It’s not easy playing a protector and a killer at the same time” Link looks at her right in the eyes and lifts both his eyebrows.
Is he hurting because of me? FUCK.
Zelda turns away from Link in shame “This… arrangement you have with my father must be killing you”
“In a way it does, but don’t blame yourself for this. I was the one who proposed this in an attempt to repay my debt to you”
“Your debt to me? what debt? I don’t -” Link shushes her, takes a big breath and tells her.
“It doesn’t matter… all the info you need is that I owe you and I will be paying that for the rest of my life, fair?”
“But Link… that is. I don’t feel comfortable about any of this now… What can I do to make it easier?”
“Stop following me into this world”
Zelda’s eyes shoot wide open and star filling with tears.
The Hero sighs "I am aware this has helped you to grow a lot, you now have a shot at being the Princess Hyrule needs. I won't force you to quit, it wouldn't be productive. The only thing you can do to make it easier is to endure the stress of it all with me"
To just hold on… that can’t possibly be all. It’s so passive. I have to try and be an asset, to be useful to him, not just a chore. I will be his travel version of Edna. It wouldn’t hurt, would it? I mean… not more than what it already does. Gosh, if I am going to be an asset, I need to learn to wash, and cook at the very least… MY MIND IS SET.
Zelda nods in agreement and walks towards the room. Link the blankets that Edna brought and starts placing them on the floor. Zelda pops out of the room.
“You do know you are not sleeping on the floor, right?”
Link takes off his shirt and pants, pacing them on top of the makeshift bed and rubs his head on top of it attempting to leave some hairs behind.
“I am aware Princess; I still need to make Edna believe I slept here and not on the bed with you.”
LINK POV
The next morning the Hero woke up with almost no motivation for the day. Yet he forced himself into the shower and woke up Zelda. Contrary to Raziel, the Princess was very excited. She may get to see her brothers again. Link begun to prepare some eggs that Edna always left on the fridge for them.
After feeding Zelda and arguing with her why he would still not eat, even though they were not on an official mission. Once done they left for SWORD´s premises.
After scanning his hand to enter, he was immediately received by happy yells. Zidane came rushing towards them. Ziel started chuckling once he noticed that the pirate was not aiming at him. Zelda just disappeared from Link’s right side as Zid rammed into her.
“Hello Carla, at what time does the conference start?”
“Hello Kid, just go right in, Dr. Strange is already in there waiting, Robert and George are in there too, just pull your monkey brother in there with you”
“Who else do we have to wait for?”
Carla smiles “This is it, just the 4 of you.” Link was about to start ranting but Carla placed a finger on his mouth to silence him “before you say anything, THIS was needed… to properly introduce you brothers to SWORD, to reinstall George as an agent, and to punish you for being such a disobedient boy"
Well… if this is all the punishment I am going to get for kind of going off rails with my brothers, then I really CAN’T COMPLAIN.
“All right, fair is fair. ZIDANDE, get your ass in here, we are starting with this shit.”
Zidane stands up and follows Link, leaving his beautiful sister on the floor with her hands and feet tied. Carla approaches to help the Princess and chuckles “He is getting better with his knots, that is good”
Link laughs loudly hearing Carla, and Zid just smiles.
How Zid tackled Zelda to the floor and begun to tie her up was kind of mean. But I think I enjoyed it.
“How are we going to do this?” the Pirate asks.
“How it should be done… we sit still, pay attention and incorporate as much as we can into our core beliefs”
“You know that is not what I meant bro”
“Once we are done with this, the four of us get to play a song, let’s say good bye to the music program with a BANG”
Link opens a door to enter the study Vincent had prepared for the occasion. Doctor Strange handed them a pamphlet and told them to read it out loud, that they had to use a different intonation for every paragraph. He had to leave right now, but they were being recorded so he would know if they did it. The doctor stood up, fixed his cloak and left the 4 of them there with their mouths open.
This failed attempt at a theurgist just bailed on us... why the fuck would he had called on this meeting if
*Dude… its Dr Strange we are talking about. He obviously has a reason; we are just not seeing it yet. *
George suddenly stands up and starts reading out loud on a Mickey Mouse voice. Li starts to laugh at that and reads the next paragraph trying to mimic Bart Sympson. Link raises both his shoulders and joins the game. He goes for Sponge Bob’s voice. Zidane laughs out loud and goes overboard with his voice, he begins to mimic Donald Duck. They continue reading and playing around with the pitch of their voices and 15 minutes later they were done.
“And… we are free the rest of the day, why don’t we play around with the instruments” the Pirate suggests.
“Yeah… I saved most of them, they took the flutes already, left the rest for today after I begged”
They fucking did? They were getting rid of everything today? [Stephen’s face smiling knowingly] the fucking wizard knew. That is why he pushed for this today. He was trying to give us a chance to play something before the end… a chance I am not going to waste.
George scratches the back of his head “I would love to, but I am not sure I can”
“Why? What instrument do you play?” Zid asks.
“Accordion… my grandpa taught me how to play it”
Kind of PERFECT actually… there is an alternative rock band that only has 4 members and plays using an accordion too.
“FUCK, how do we pair that with the bass, guitar and my battery?” Zid asks.
“Fairly simple actually” Link hands Robert his cellphone “KONGOS, I have several songs from them in my play list, listen to them and choose one for us to play it” he turns to Zid “you come with me, let’s bring everything here… I am sure Vincent wants us to record whatever we do”
Zidane starts smirking “Of course he does, he did leave the room recording, what do we need to bring” the Pirate asks as they walked towards the music room.
“Guitar, bass, battery, accordion, the keyboard with its laptop and 4 microphones because you are not leaving all the vocals to me”
Notes:
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future updates
Chapter 73: Take me back
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
ZELDA POV
“I just don’t get it, I mean I was completely aware that Zid is kind of a loose bullet but come on, I am his favorite girl, right?”
“HAHAHAHA, of course you are sweety. Didn’t you notice? He wanted to flaunt his newfound prowess making knots. But he didn’t want to brag about it, he wanted to show you… and maybe show Kid too”
“Well… he could have charged Link instead of me”
Carla stares at the Princess lifting an eyebrow “Could he now?”
FUCK, no he could not. Raziel would have defended himself… that is a fight I do not want to ever see.
“I get it… but I am not his favorite girl, I am his ideal prey”
Carla rolls her eyes and smiles “And the difference is?”
Zelda sighs in defeat.
I suppose this is what having a brother is like. I still would not change it for anything… I love that stupid ape.
“Well… he does make GOOD knots… did he gain weight?” Zelda asks.
“Not sure, we have not checked, but he IS a lot stronger now… he must have gained muscle weight. He exercises a lot and eats like an orphan” Carla laughs “That is Robert’s fault but I we don’t mind”
“Li’s fault?”
Carla nods “He is set on making Zid gain weight, but not fat weight, muscle weight”
Kind of what Link is doing for me, gosh… I suddenly feel very loved, but Ziel hates me, doesn’t he?
“Carla… would you mind telling me if it’s going to take long? I would like to know if I can entertain myself watching a movie or something”
Carla rolls her eyes “Should not take them long… the pamphlet they are using is small and Dr. Strange left them alone in there” Zelda stares back puzzled, Carla giggles already accustomed to Stephen’s antics. “I don’t know what he left them doing in there, but knowing them they are already done or almost done”
A cellphone beeps, Carla checks on it and whines tossing it aside.
“Is… that ok to do? Isn’t it important?” Zelda asks.
“It’s the movers insisting on taking the rest of the musical instruments, but I already told them no” the Princess stares back puzzled, Carla sighs “SWORD agent have a series of artistic programs… it’s all meant to keep them sane and controlled despite of what this job demands of them.”
“Really? What type of programs do they offer?”
“Paint, wood crafts, metal sculptures, even pottery. They were making clay pots once I think… some of them where pretty, I wonder what happened to those?”
They were thrown away, but Link saved one for Nana I believe.
“Anyway… they had musical instruments too, suggested by Kid. But it’s been a year and it didn’t draw the attention of the rest of the agents, so we are getting rid of it” sighs “A shame really, Kid plays really well. Zidane pleaded me to stop the movers until later today. He wants to play with Kid and Robert before that I believe”
Really? Zid and Rob play?
Suddenly the girls start hearing a sound, the Princess is completely mesmerized by it, but Carla immediately identifies the instrument played as the accordion.
“Is that Skull playing?” Carla asks herself when she starts hearing a battery and a bass accompanying the accordion. Carla’s eyes go wide as she stands up and rushes out of the room, she immediately tuns around, picks up her cellphone from her desk and taps on the Princess’s shoulder. Zelda takes that as a signal to follow.
Why? What the fuck is going on?
The sound of a guitar joins in, Zelda checks that she is also carrying her cellphone and pulls it out.
---------------Singing---------------------
"I talk of six while forgetting five"
"can’t even taste if my food is alive"
"I’m watching music that I can’t hear"
"staring down some invisible fear"
----------------------------------------------
Holy fuck, that definitely is Link… He is singing? I must record this shit.
Zelda follows Carla inside a room, and finds all her boys playing an instrument, and a man also playing with them. He was holding a weird wind instrument between his hands and sitting in front of a small piano and a laptop.
Li signals for the girls to remain quiet. Carla is videotaping everything with her cellphone. Zelda begins to do the same. The Princess walks to the middle of the room and stars recording everyone around her playing. She catches Skull start singing with Link, the man notices and smiles at her. She rotates to Zidane once she hears him start singing too, the Pirate stares right at Zelda’s and winks, never missing a beat on the battery. Zelda then turns to Li, he does not look at her, he is focused watching a countdown timer in front of him, and giving everyone reassuring nods. The Princess finally turns to videotape Link.
LINK POV
The hero closes his eyes but can’t help watching the Hylian warrior version of himself staring back. This version’s right arm had been replaced with a prosthetic. Said enhancement is what allowed him to hold the crystal used to contact every version of himself. And that is how they all eventually decided to put an end to this repeating cycle once and for all.
---------------Singing---------------------
"Oh Oh I remember now"
"Too far below to turn around"
"Too bright a light to let go now"
"Take me back my friend"
"Take me back on home"
------------------------------------------
*Haha, that is what we want to do right Link? Bring your clones back home... are you sure it wasn’t you who picked this song?*
They picked it themselves
*Then they do remember… in a way*
Zelda smiles feeling all the emotion Ziel put behind that part of the song. Trying to distract herself from it, she turned back to Skull, who stopped playing the keyboard and started playing the accordion accompanied by Zid’s battery and Robert’s bass. Then Ziel’s guitar joined in, giving the song an eerie feeling. Link stared at his Princess and smiled at her while he continued singing.
---------------Singing---------------------
"Now what I´m saying is nothing new"
"This repetition’s right on cue"
"A wise men said, you’re amused to death"
"Too much talk, too much wasted breath"
------------------------------------------
The Princess then felt a tap on her shoulder; Carla showed her palm where she had written with a pen ¨send me your recording of this¨ Zelda nodded enthusiastically mouthing ¨you too¨ Carla smiled at that. Zelda kept recording Raziel.
---------------Singing---------------------
“You are overjoyed”
“and over-fed”
“over-sexed”
“you’re almost dead"
Li stared singing with Link.
“Gotta work gotta stay awake"
“God I’m tired can I take a break"
---------------------------------------------
For the next minute and half, it was the four of them singing the choir of the song and playing the hell out of their instruments. It was not a cute catchy song… but for some reason it fitted all of them perfectly.
At the very end Robert threw a punch in the air cheering. Immediately after the timer reached zero and started beeping. Zid and George were staring at the laptop waiting. Then both of them yell and hugged. Link approached them and sighs pleased. The screen read: 90%
“What was the score?” Li asks.
“90%” Link, Zid and Skull yell happily.
Carla clears her throat “Would someone explain that to me please”
“It’s a program Robert found; it listens to your song and compares it to the original recorded version” Kid answers.
Carla raises both her eyebrows and begins to smile “You do realize that… not even the original singers manage to sound like their recorded version when playing live don’t you? 90 is fucking good, I need that recording”
“90 MEANS WE ARE ALMOST GODS… BUT I DON’T CARE; I AM JUST FUCKING HAPPY TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PLAY AT LEAST ONCE WITH YOU GUYS” Skull yells with his eyes tearing up.
Carla turns away from George, she didn’t want to witness him breaking apart like that, out of respect for him. Link touches her arm to draw her attention.
“You need to ask Dr Strange for it, it’s his recording after all. He left the machine recording us to hear us reading his pamphlet using high and low pitch voices”
Pretty much preparing our vocals for singing now that I think about it... Fucking Stephen did this on purpose. Thank you Doc
“And we decided we wanted to try to squeeze a song played by us there. A present for the bastard because why not” Zid finished.
“And that was a good decision" Carla says still recording "You know, I never agreed with taking the music program down… in fact, Li” Carla hands Robert her cellphone “Record me please”
Li adjusts the zoom and begins recording. Carla dramatically turns smirking “William, I dare you. I fucking dare you to take this away from them”
Li raises an eyebrow at that. Skull chuckles and Zid starts howling at what Carla said. Link smiles shaking his head.
“Are you sure you can speak to the general like that?” Zelda asks concerned.
Skull breaks in laughter.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… If anyone in this fucking building can do it, its HER” George says with pride as Carla clicked send smiling.
Vincent didn't want to gift us a cool brotherly experience... he gave us a shot at actually saving this program, I am sure of that now.
Notes:
The song name is: Take me back from KONGOS, if you are liking
this story, give it some Kudos, post a comment, and subscribe so you wont miss
future updates
Chapter 74: Hate is not the oposite if love
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
Minutes after Carla send her video to the General, an alarm started sounding. All the screens displayed a message ¨ALL SWORD EMPLOYEES PRESENT MUST REMAIN IN THE BUILDING¨ Zelda begins to panic but Link put his hands on her shoulders.
“Breathe” he commands his Princess.
Zelda closes her eyes and says “I though you said this was a good idea, now they are coming for you”
“Nobody is coming for anyone” Carla blurts out “William must have passed on my message to the higher ups. They must want to discuss with us” Carla says with a wicked smile.
Sounds like it, I should inform Vincent about this… though he may already know. I will still text him just in case.
Link turns to the Princess “I believe we are going to talk about the music program. This may take a while… you should leave”
“I… ok, how do I do that”
WHAT? NO FIGHT? She really got scared, didn’t she?
“Go out to the parking and approach the car that got us here. That will alert a guard or the driver, you tell them you arrived with Kid, and need someone to deliver you back to Edna”
“Got it, I will be waiting for you” she smiles, takes her shoes off and turns running fast towards Zidane, basically ramming him to the floor.
Robert approaches laughing “That was unfair, he was distracted talking to Skull”
“He wants to be a SWORD agent, doesn’t he? He must always expect the unexpected” Zelda says sitting on top of Zid.
I… can’t argue with that logic.
“Besides… he owed me this” Zelda says with malice as she starts lifting herself from on top of the Pirate, Zid groans and just stayed hugging the floor like a squished roach.
Oh yeah, Zid kind of deserved that. So… my Princess can be childish and vengeful, note taken.
“He owed you this?” Robert asks and looks at Zid irate “What the fuck did you do to her” he growls.
Link chuckles “He rammed her to the floor once we got here, and started to tie her up”
Li soon begins to relax hearing Kid’s playful tone narrating the event. If Link was there then the Pirate was not attacking, he was just playing rough. Li then glances at Zelda’s wrist noticing that she does have rope marks, but her skin does not look scraped by it. His brother was rough indeed, but not completely uncivil with his sister.
Rolling his eyes “But it’s only Zid, the underfeed, fragile monkey boy… what if you break him?” Li says hinting that he is just mocking his bro.
“Impossible, if Australia didn’t break him nothing will. Besides… he actually feels sturdier” Zelda smiles and hugs Robert good bye.
The Princess turns to Zid who was already seating on the floor and blows him a kiss, the Pirate angrily catches it and rubs it on his armpit. Zelda laughs “I still love you” she says as she is putting her shoes back, then leaves the room.
Zid stands up frowning and meanly yells “WHO THE FUCK DOES SHE THINK SHE IS?”
“A Princess” Link quickly adds whispering.
“I hate her”
Kid shakes his head “No, you don’t. You hate how weak she managed to make you feel right now… and how you still feel proud of her for it.”
Zid’s angry scowl starts subsiding, replaced by a smile. “I guess you are right… how are you so good at this? emotions I mean”
“Because I actually know what hate is and how it feels like… Besides I know you” he snorts “of course you don’t hate her”
BUT I DO
Robert clears his throat “Guys… maybe we should start picking all this up?” Link and Zid nod and the three of them start picking up the instruments.
George glances at Li with doubt plastered on his face “Why? They are clearly coming to talk and negotiate about the music program… it may not disappear. So why bother moving everything? It would be better if we wait until after the discussion”
Zid smiles before answering “Because I promised I would, I don’t want them thinking I am a simple thief that can’t keep his word. I want to be appointed a SWORD agent… being considered a liar is not the way.”
I… the Pirate and the Engineer where only a few days with me. Yet they have completely assimilated perks of my character. Like not lying.
*Just in case you still had doubts about them being you*
Skull looks at the three of them and shakes his head. “Fuck Kid, when did you replicated?”
The 3 brothers looked at each other and started laughing like maniacs. Carla begins to stand from the corner she was at, and stomps hard on the floor to draw attention to herself.
“If you are going to pick up the instruments START NOW, Zalatoris will get here in 5 minutes approx.”
All the Heroes start to unplug the instruments and pick them up.
ZELDA POV
“So, I just keep mixing this?”
“Yes dear, until the eggs mix perfectly with the sugar” Edna answers.
“I will need you to tell me when that happens… I have never done muffins before”
Edna stares at the Princess surprised “YOU HAVE NOT? What are they teaching girls these days?”
“Not this” the Princess continues to mix using the wire whisk.
“it’s a shame… cooking was supposed to be a woman’s job, but most girls today burn the water” Edna laughs shamelessly. “This is why I can’t let go of your boy and the others that I frequently host here… a man’s place is not the kitchen” she sighs.
“It saddens me watching them work all day, come back tired and filthy, and they still have to cook for themselves. I try to leave them a dish with dinner as often as I can” Edna adds cheerful.
“So… you don’t have females here ever?” Zelda asks.
“I do, from time to time. But I don’t cook for them”
“Why? Maybe they don’t know how to cook like me”
Edna rolls her eyes “Well, if they really don’t know, me cooking for them is not going to teach them anything. Besides, they always manage to have some guy buy them things or invite them dinner”
Maybe Edna is right on this... the attitude from the girls that have come here sounds is really bad. Like these girls are using their beauty to coerce young males into buying them things, low key prostituting themselves in other words. THIS SOUNDS HORRIBLE, no wonder she prefers her boys.
Zelda was about to speak again but Edna hushes her “Don’t, I am not changing my mind about this…” sighs “you know, I am aware all 13 of them work in the same place, and that what they do is not legal at all”
Damn, how?
“Did they tell you that?”
Edna stares at Zelda and rolls her eyes “Girl, I am old, I know a lot of things, and I notice many others. Like the fact that you both slept together on the bed”
Zelda opens her eyes wide in fear and her knees and ankles start to give in forcing her to grab on the table for support. Edna starts laughing.
“Oh my gosh, you look like a fawn caught on the car’s headlights. I know you didn’t do anything improper… or did you?” Edna asks raising an eyebrow in fake suspicion.
“Of course not, ma’am. That was just a sleeping arrangement we have… I can’t sleep alone. NOTHING improper is ever going to happen between us. He HATES ME”
Edna stares at the Princess for a few seconds and smiles “So?”
Zelda’s face morphs from shock, to surprise, and finally to disbelief. “What do you mean with SO?”
Edna starts laughing hard at that “Gosh… what are they teaching you girls now a days?” Edna raises her eyebrow in realization “I think nobody told you, so I am going to tell you right now… the opposite of love IS NOT HATE”
Is not? What a preposterous conception.
“Can´t… what is the opposite then?”
“INDIFERENCE”
The Princess starts shaking her head negating the idea, she opens her mouth to speak but the landlady hushes her and elaborates more on it
“You must have seen shows where love is this sweet fuzzy feeling, and the other person feels it too, they live happy ever after and bablah” sighs “that is the modern conception of love, something that makes us feel good all the time. THAT IS IMPOSIBLE”
Zelda walks away a little and pulls two chairs for them to sit on. She then stares at the lady and asks.
“What is the distinction between hate and indifference?”
“HATE… you can’t hate someone unless you felt attacked or betrayed by him or her. Meaning you can only hate someone you previously care for or loved” she smiles at the Princess “INDIFERENCE is the lack of concern, the lack of feeling anything for the other person involved” sighs “The difference between the two concepts is that one is the projection of a very strong and unpleasant emotion, while the other is complete emotional detachment”
“But… wouldn’t that be better than actually feeling hate?” Zelda genuinely asks.
“NO, emotions are malleable. Hate can turn into affection, friendship, even love… and then hate again” Edna laughs a little “But if there is no emotion then there is nothing”
“Hate again?” Zelda asks puzzled
Sighs “My husband… ours was an arranged marriage. I didn’t love him when he put a ring on my finger, and he kind of hated me” she smiles at the memory “Most of the time we were yelling at each other for something… but he was always there for me. When I got sick, when I was scared, when I was hungry… even when I spontaneously aborted and lost my ability to get pregnant again. My dear Albert would always make sure that I was healthy, well feed, and every night he whispered in my ear ¨good night¨ when he thought I was already sleep. It didn’t matter how pissed I had made him throughout the day; he would wish me good night and kiss my forehead”
Edna smiles with a teary face “Our love was not the romantic love sold to us by the TV, but that level of care, despite everything I put him through… He just loved to hate me, and I enjoyed every fucking second of it” she broke crying.
Zelda stood up to hug her and softly said. “Maybe, that is what true love is… or something like that at least. Romantic love is beautiful to look at, but the one you and Alfred had… I mean, to trust that the other person will always be there with you through thick and thin… that sounds FABOLUS, kind of EPIC. You were… ARE so lucky Edna” The Princess started to cry with the lady and asked “Please… tell me he died knowing you DID love him”
Edna sniffs and wipes her eyes with her hands “Oh he did… I had told him many times through the marriage. He was the one who suffered troubles communicating his feelings”
Zelda pales at that, she wanted to know if he ever told her, but she felt it was not her business to ask. Edna smiled noticing “He never told me. Not that I needed to hear it, I felt it…”
ITS NOT FAIR. How could he have never…
The Princess then remembers a discussion with Li [We are NOT ALLOWED to have feelings, since they are an indication of weakness]
HOLY FUCK… to this extent? How can men cope with this? can this even be called living?
“I think I should go… thanks for everything Edna” Zelda hugged the lady and left. Edna smiled and turned to open a drawer to retrieve an old letter from it. She kissed it softly before opening it up to reread it out loud.
-------------------Letter-------------------------------------------
The house, and whatever possession I have is yours. Rent the property woman, make it an Inn. I don’t want you to feel lonely, and you need a distraction. Snooping in other people’s life and taking care of them suits you, because that is just who you are. Don’t forget to eat your veggies every day or I will come back to haunt you. I love you; see you later.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Edna sobbed as she remembered how Alfred had tried to tell her something the day he died, but she didn’t let him. she hushed him with a kiss and told him not to tire himself with that, that she already knew. He smiled and hugged her for hours till he passed.
Zelda slid down Edna’s front door, she had stayed to breathe a little before going to her room, but then stayed once she heard Edna reading out loud. She needed to yell and weep, so she started biting on her hand really hard as she tried to slowly and soundlessly walk to her room.
The Princess entered her door, closed it and started to cry. Half an hour later she heard Link opening the door to enter. The Hero immediately felt something was off… so he entered with caution. Once he noticed his Princess crying on the floor, he dropped a plastic bag he was carrying by the side and approached Zelda.
“What happened?”
Zelda blows her nose and looked up at him “I know why Edna won’t consider renting to women only”
“You mean her hate for modern girls, or Alfred?”
She stands up looking at the Hero “So, you knew…” sighs “you should leave her alone then. Stop your ferocious attempts to force her to shift the clientele. She wants to continue having you all as clients because you remind her of Alfred”
Link looks at her, leans back on a wall crossing his arms “Ferocious you say? you don’t really know me, or any of the agents for that matter. If we really did ferocious… this whole block would have been sealed to the public a while ago.” He straightens and rolls his head cracking the neck in the process “Edna is a beautiful lady that deserves love, care and respect. What we are doing are very meek attempts to tire her and force her to change her preferred clientele. And we won’t stop doing it because we love her”
Zelda looks down at the floor and smiles “And she won’t stop opening her house for all of you because she also loves you”
Link nods agreeing with her and smiles “We all know this is a battle to see who lasts the longest, and I am not willing to give up yet”
Zelda raises her head to look at Link and begins to grin remembering something. The Princess raises her palm and clears her throat before starting her impersonation of Edna “Next time, don’t make me bend over to pick up blankets you had no intention of using. Or better yet, next time don’t try to fool me. And always make sure to carry some protection if a girl is around… better safe than sorry” she giggles “that’s what she said” Zelda says before bursting out laughing at Link’s scowl.
“You told her”
“No, she figured it out by herself. She knows we are not sexually intimate, but she still wanted me to tell that you just to piss you off” Zelda says beaming.
Link groans loudly, slaps one of the walls, and walks towards the entrance where he left the plastic bag he was carrying. He picks it up and angrily throws it at Zelda before leaving.
So glad Ziel enjoys a little pain, because sweet fragile Edna is mercilessly giving him a mental beating.
Zelda is still giggling about all of it before gasping at what she found inside the plastic bag.
Notes:
Thanks for reading, if you are liking
this story, give it some Kudos, post a
comment, and subscribe so you wont miss
future updates
Chapter 75: Refusing acknowledgement
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Link started walking in circles on the property’s front porch. He just wanted to shake the uneasiness he felt, and some of the anger… not all of it of course.
“Is it my fault that you are behaving like this?”
Ziel turns to stare right at Edna standing there with a water jug in one hand, and the other offering him a glass of pineapple water.
LINK POV
Yes, it’s your fault venerable and sadistic lady.
Link grabs the glass and retrieves the jug form the lady, then takes a sip from the glass “Thanks”
“The jug is not heavy at all; I can hold it perfectly boy”
“I know, but I still don’t care… Move woman, and open the door so I can place YOU and the jug back where you belong”
Edna smiles rolling her eyes “You mean the kitchen?”
Perfect, she fell right into it.
Link looks at the lady widening his eyes in disgust “NO… I meant INSIDE, why would you even… " Ziel glares at her lifting an eyebrow “On top of insinuating that I could indulge in having sex with a minor, you believe me a misogynist?” Link shakes his head a little as he stars stepping back.
Edna panics and rushes to hugs him “I get it, please don’t leave because of this. I am sorry” the lady starts weeping on him. Links face contorts in pain; he then finishes his juice and places the glass on a window stand.
DAMN, I failed again.
*What were you trying to do here?*
Zelda said it, she won’t let go because she loves us, forcing her to back down won’t work, I tried backing away myself by forcing this situation. But…
*She won’t back off herself, and won’t let you do it either… what is there not to love about this old hag? *
Raziel hugs the lady until her tears start subsiding. He then slowly starts separating from her, she looks at him still fearful of what his next action is going to be. Link stares at her in the eyes and starts wiggling his eyebrows at her, earning a genuine smile from Edna. The Hero then turns and starts walking back to his room whistling. He didn’t dare to speak to Edna, doing so was giving the lady a chance to use his creed against himself. In other words, he wanted to avoid making promises to Edna, promises that he would not be able to keep… because he loved her too much.
Link stood in front of his door releasing a deep sigh. He then entered but his Princess was not where he had left her. He smiled noticing the empty plastic bag carelessly thrown around. He bends over to pick it up and properly dispose of it.
After getting rid of the plastic bag, he opened the door leading to the bathroom covering his eyes.
A timid female yelp is heard
“Are you decent?” Link asks.
“Yes… but you still should have knocked you know?”
The Prince looks at her, she was wearing her new cat ears headphones, he chuckles. “Did you throw away the receipt? If those don’t meet your fancy, I can return them with it”
Zelda shakes her head furiously with a smile "I think these are great, they look cute" she approached him and give him a big hug "THANKYOU… I LOVE THEM" she separates from him very suddenly "But… why didn't you took me with you when you bought them?"
"I was not planning on buying them, I just happened to see a music store selling EVRYTHING at 50% discount, so I entered and those where the ones left"
“Well, you are in luck, I DO LOVE THEM. I should start reading on how to use them… or you could also teach me.”
“Yes, I could” he said smiling right after.
But am I going to? Of course not.
Zelda waited a few seconds for him to continue, but Link didn’t spoke again, so she sighs and asks with a grin.
“Would you show me how to use them then?”
“No”
“Why? I have been behaving; I follow your orders and I…”
“Have you? I believe I have more than implied that I won’t follow a meek ruler”
“You have… that is why I followed you here. You are trying to make me a strong future Queen”
“Exactly. Right now, you needing me to tell you how to use your wireless headphones implies weakness”
Zelda looks at the floor in shame “But… I tried reading the manual, it started using words that I have no idea what they even mean”
Ziel chuckles “Meet me half way Princess, I already went and bought you the headphones, and even gave you a Cellphone, use it to search any word that confuses you.” Sighs “I have given you everything you need, so show me how my Princess would do this”
ZELDA POV
Damn it, I just wanted him to teach me about my new appliance… but he refuses to help me claiming that I should be able to figure it out by myself. And I surely can, it would just take me some time… time I wanted to save by using him.
A royal is not supposed to be a know it all, we are just supposed to gather plenty of resources and manage them effectively when its demanded.
Agent Kid is a BIG resource; I thought he would help me with this. But he… I can’t be angry at Ziel for this because he is right to an extent, BUT I AM ANGRY. Why does he treat me like this? is it purely to teach me, or is he trying to torture me?
[Edna’s smiling face: hate is not the opposite of love] Zelda then grins.
“Do you hate me?” Zelda asks Prince Nohansen.
He turns to look right at her before walking out of the bathroom “Thought it was obvious by now” he sighs “But I am a man of my word; I would never hurt you no matter how much I wish I could” then he retreats to Farore know where.
Meaning that if he hadn’t promised to keep me safe, he would actually hurt me? Then it’s not simple hatred, is it? it feels like a loathing that runs really deep. Yet… it’s still something that he feels for me. I may be able to work with that; I just need to play my cards correctly. Hope you are right about this Edna; I want him to like me at least.
The Princess thought as she exited the bathroom, then grabbed the headphone’s box with the instructions paper inside and headed for the bedroom.
Once she got there, she noticed Link laying on one side of the bed, legs crossed and fully dressed still.
“Are we staying here tonight?”
“No, we head back to Hyrule in two hours”
“Meaning that I have two hours to learn how to use my cat ears, since I won’t be able to take them with me to Hyrule… Challenge accepted”
Zelda drew the instructions from the box and dropped heavily on her side of the bed; she raised her upper torso leaning on her elbows and started reading. Link just chuckled and continued to watch the tv. After a few minutes the Princess just blurted out.
“You didn’t tell me… are you all keeping the music program?”
“I don’t know, they were still discussing about it when I left. Should not take them long to arrive to a conclusion” he says nothing more about it and starts changing channels.
He is not going to tell me anything, I should ask Robert or Zidane about it, I don’t want to piss off Link anymore.
Zelda pulled out her cellphone and then a ding was heard coming from it. It was a message from Carla.
“You have friends now?” Link ask in fake interest.
“No, it’s from Carla”
The Princess stands up from the bed and exits the room the moment she saw that Carla had send her a video and an audio.
This HAS to be the video of my brothers singing, but what is the audio?
As she was pondering about this, she received a text from Carla.
----------------message----------------
It’s the video I recorded, and the audio the boys recorded themselves. Call me
------------------------------------------
All right, time to use my headphones… I hope I am able to do this right.
The Princess removed them from her ears to search for the few buttons it had, and then turned them on, after that she followed what she understood of the instructions to sync the cat ears with her mobile. And then played a random video on YouTube. She smiled and decided to hear the audio Carla send her.
Holy fuck… these things are perfect, the sound they reproduce is so clear that if I close my eyes, I can imagine I am there again recording the boys playing.
Once the audio ends, the Princess decides to call Carla.
--------------the call-----------------
-Gosh I was wrong, I thought exchanging contact with you was too much, but it was needed.
-Hello Carla, why did you wanted me to call you?
-Right, thought you wanted to know what happened here, since I am sure Kid won’t tell you anything.
-How do you know he won’t tell me? Did he do something?
-Hahaha, not at all, but he still won’t tell you because he has always felt that he is lacking. He refuses to receive acknowledgment for his wins. And this was a BIG WIN… for all of them.
-It was? What happened? What did he do?
-SWORD’s Board heard the original song and what the agents played, they refused to believe that they had played it at all. They claimed the agents were pulling a nasty prank, all of them almost got fired… Being fired from SWORD means you get a lethal injection… Seems extreme but it’s not, SWORD agents are dangerous, we can’t trust them to just blend back with the normal population.
-HOLY MOTHER OF…
-But Stephen suggested that before taking such drastic measures, they should make sure the agents actually played the song. My video and the Dr’s audio was not prof enough; since it could have been manipulated.
-But who could have manipulated that from the 4 of them? I mean, come on.
-Robert could… did I ever tell you he is kind of a tech-savvy?
He is?… OMG, of course he is tech-savvy. He quickly read and understood the half-written instructions to open the drain when we rescued Ben and Millie.
-Thing is, Kid kind of broke, he begun to laugh maniacally. Gives me chills just remembering. He then approached the members of the board grinning and said: ¨Its obvious you need to see it and hear it yourselves to believe it, let us show you then. Give us 10 minutes to prepare¨
-They played another one? PLEASE tell me you recorded that.
-Of course I did, will send it to you at the end of this call. It's from the same band since they didn't have time to search for another. But it's a different song… a harder one if I must say, since it demanded all of them to half sing half scream without skipping a beat on the instrument they were playing. And Kid outperformed himself, he can make his voice usually sounds like a small crew speaking, but his time he managed to sound like an angry swarm.
She… SWORD think Link makes his voice sound like that. While he is actually forcing himself to sound normal all the time.
-Carla… what do I do? I feel like going back inside screaming in happiness and try to hug him.
-DON’T. He will most likely faint you. Walk… or watch something, distract yourself. By the way, I never told you anything ok?
-Ok, thanks Carla and good bye.
-See ya.
--------------end of call----------------------------
Link steps out of the room carrying both backpacks.
“Whatever you are doing stop, we must leave. Did you managed to learn how to use your headphones?”
“YES, I used them during the call I made to Carla”
“Good” he says without looking at her and heads to the stairs. Zelda suddenly grins as an idea pops up in her head.
As Link is going down the stairs, Zelda walks down two steps and dramatically yelps as she stars falling. Once the Hero notices, he moves to a side, thus allowing the Princess to continue falling and roll down the last stairs until she reached the ground.
WTF, he was supposed to have helped me… why didn’t he?
LINK POV
The Hero finished going down the stairs roaring in laugher.
That fall was so majestic, I would love to have recorded it, just to watch it again and again.
Zelda stood up dusting herself and breaths slowly to calm how irate she actually was “Why didn’t you help me? I could have broken my neck and died”
“Yes, you could have broken your neck, but you would not have died”
Rolling her eyes “I may be Hyrule’s Princess, but I am still normal so, how can you claim that breaking my neck would not kill me?”
“Because I am here” Link pulls her towards him by her upper arm and clutches a chunk of her hair gripping it firmly. After a few seconds he released her hair opening his hand, revealing a now squeezed long legged spider smeared in his glove. “I would have corrected your neck position allowing normal breathing, strong blood flow and steady nerve communication. Then I would have called an ambulance. You would not have died… sadly” he says as he uses his other hand to slowly remove bits and pieces of the spider left in her hair.
Zelda looks down at the floor, her cheeks turning a little red, Raziel chuckles “Where you expecting me to stand in the middle of your fall, thus allowing you to hug me?”
Zelda opens her eyes wide, then grunts realizing Ziel is reading her like a book.
“YES… I was expecting you to be a gentleman, completely forgot that you are not and will never be” Zelda says fuming a little.
“Why do you want to hug me to begin with? that is like sticking your hand into a meat grinder”
Zelda looks at him directly in the eyes “Because you saved my brothers from the lethal injection…”
Carla must have told her that… what else did she told my Princess?
Zelda starts to walk away but turns grinning wide “And just so you know, even a meat grinder needs washing and maintenance, I could do that… I just need to find a way to safely open you up and clean your blades without chopping off a finger”
Link just grunts at that, Zelda chuckles pointing to her hair “And thank you. You could just have scared the spider away, but you took vengeance on for daring to touch me” Zelda beams looking at him “you DO care”
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Chapter 76: Sword training starts
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The Pince and Princess boarded the carriage that was sent to them by the King, Link had called to notify that they needed a ride back to the Castle.
Link was anxious about Daphnes's voice tone during the call… it sounded ominous like something had gone south.
As he was pondering about that when his cell started vibrating in his pocket. Pulling it out, he noticed a few messages in a group chat that he now shared with his clones. Raziel started reading angry messages from Zid. The Pirate was berating about the torment SWORD's board put them through. Robert just wrote ¨Zid… it was hash, but they never stood a chance¨ and then added a notice from SWORD that confirmed the music program was to stay for one more year.
To sustain it permanently, they need to have more agents participating. And from now on, the Board was going to be sending them challenges that the agents have to complete if they want to keep the program.
LINK POV
---------- A few hours earlier inside SWORD’s premises---------------
The Hero approached his brothers and George already scrolling through his phone. Robert grabbed him by his shoulders and shacked him hard once.
“WHAT THE FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING?” Li asked worried.
“The board members have busy schedules; I am sure they did not even want to come here today. 10 minutes is me… IS US showing them respect for their time, and it also flaunts our competence and adaptability. That is just to show them it’s their lost if they cut us out”
“But dude… it took us 2 hours to set things for the first song; you want us to do it in 10 min?”
Link smirks and raises an eyebrow “Are you insinuating that we can’t?”
Li stares back at Kid with a dangerous vibe, George roars in anger and stands up pulling Zid with him. “Let those two choose a song and star memorizing it, you help me bring the instruments here” George tells Zid who starts laughing as they left the room. Zid then reenters the room to tell his brothers.
“If we are doing this, we are gonna do it right. We doing ‘REPEAT AFTHER ME’”
Zygote’s demand is received with silence from Robert and shock from George.
“I know that song demands a lot from Kid vocally, and the rest of us have to find a way to help him without losing the beat. But we can pull it off, can’t we?”
Link grins widely “I hear you… Consider it done Zy” Link yells back.
Li smiles worriedly and turns to Kid “You really believe we can do this right?”
Link leans closer to whisper “I believe they never intended to fire us; it’s not like SWORD agents grow on trees… they wanted us to plead for their mercy. Their own twisted way of punishment for wasting their time with this”
Robert laughs “But they failed to scare us enough to plead. And not only that, we are also keeping the music program after we pull this off… Dude, you are evil in just the right way”
“Thank you”
-----------------------------------------------
Challenges the notice read… I believe it’s their special brand of torture; and I am going to fucking enjoy every second of it.
“Was that a message from my brothers?” Zelda asks.
“Yes”
She looks down at her fidgeting hands before saying “I… can I ask you something?”
“You just did”
Zelda opens her eyes and mouth wide “NO… THAT DOESN’T COUNT”
Link chuckles “Ask”
“When I was talking to Carla a while ago, she referred to Li as Blast, is that going to be his agent’s name?”
“His code name is going to be Blastocyst. And Zidane’s code name is Zygote” he lifts his sight and notices the Princess staring at him perplexed “It’s an inside joke… Back then, they wanted to name me fetus because of my age, but decided against it. I was NOT a fetus, I was already well formed and capable, so they tagged me Kid. Zidane and Robert need to wait until they reach 18 to join, that gives SWORD the chance to actually shape them how they want… hence the names. Zygote and Blastocyst are stages of embryonic development”
Zelda smiles and then breaks into laughter.
“You say it’s a joke, but I think they are calling them their babies” Zelda says pleased.
Link lifts both his eyebrows.
That… may be, but I am not putting my money on it.
“By the way, any news about…” The Princess starts to ask but is kind of afraid of finishing her sentence.
“Yes, we are keeping the music program… at least for another year. We could make it permanent if we manage to increase its popularity among the agents”
The Princess smiles genuinely “That is GREAT, the four of you were amazing… I am sure you will make the program permanent in less than a year”
Link just huffs at what Zelda said and looks outside his window. He then releases a heavy sigh.
The Princess worriedly asks “Something wrong?”
“I… am not sure. Don’t mind me”
Rolling her eyes “You do realize that it would be kind of stupid of me to dismiss if a SWORD agent is acting preoccupied?”
Link chuckles “If you put it like that… when I talked with your father earlier, he sounded stressed and overwhelmed. I don’t know if something is wrong or not”
Zelda's cheerful semblance drops “THAT is troubling… we should ask him”
“He is King, he may not have the time to…” sighs “He eventually will tell us, but on his time. Meanwhile, this uncertainty is going to eat me alive”
Huffing “You once told me to trust him, where you lying?” she raises an eyebrow as Ziel looks at her murderously.
“Since you were obviously not lying, then I give you the same advice, TRUST HIM. Everything is all right, and if it’s not and we can do something about it, HE WILL TELL US”
Link turn his gaze to the floor and smiles “Wow… since when did you became so wise” he jockes.
Zelda answers beaming “Since Derrick hired you as my guardian and teacher… Actually, I think I always was, I just didn’t have many opportunities to show it. But now you are cultivating it and somehow guiding it”
That… could actually be possible. Nayru choose her for a reason after all, and my aim is to nurture her despite all the hate. After all, I DO want Hyrule’s next leader to be as capable and prepared as possible.
She sighs “Or that is what I take from all the times we have… discussed; I could be wrong”
Link chuckles “You said it in a much more civilized manner that I would have”
The Princess cracks in laughter “THAT part about me expressing the idea better, IS A BLATANT LIE. You are VERY good with words yourself… what I take from your comment, me being my wise self, is”
The Princess smirks “That you would have found a way to say exactly what I said, but adding a hostile vibe to the message to destroy my already low self-steem”
Well yes, of course. But what is absolutely bizarre it that she somehow finds that fact funny?
“So… you are a masochist now? should I stop thrashing you then?” Link jockes mischievously.
“Maybe you should, but… can you?” Zelda asks innocently tilting her head.
THIS MOTHER FUCKING BITCH
*Keep staring at her, don’t back down… and cross your legs*
The Prince sighs and crosses his legs in an attempt to hide his waking organ.
“I don’t think I can, but I will be keeping it low, it should be easy since you are kind of growing on me”
*Quite literally HAHA*
SHUT THE FUCK UP
Zelda’s eyes widen, and then she slowly stars to grin and was about to say something but Ziel stops her raising his palm.
“Don’t get me wrong, what I meant is that I have gotten used to your presence, not that I like you and we are friends now”
The Princess quickly raises her shoulders and lets them fall “well… it’s something at least”
She is ok with that?
*The beggar is content with just a few crumbs*
The carriage stops; Link opens the door making the driver frown since opening the door for the royalty was his job. Zelda extends her hand out and the driver happily helps her.
The Princess clears her throat as she is descending from the carriage “Just so you know, I have no idea how, or when, but I am going to make you like me” she tells Link.
“Is that a treat?” Link asks daring her.
Zelda continues walking up the stair to the Palace entrance “A treat? Of course not, I am not an executioner like you… but it IS a forewarning” she smiles as she enters the castle, but is abruptly stopped as she collides with the King. Link smiles and performs a small bow to show reverence.
“So, you are finally here. Good” Daphnes nods at them and walks out, Zelda pulls on his sleeve effectively stopping him.
“Not even a welcoming hug?” Zelda says indignantly.
Daphnes froze and stopped beathing for a second. He was not expecting Zelda’s reaction, he was sure his role was to provide and to maintain distance from the Princess, especially since his joke had not been well received.
Daphnes turns grinning and pulls her by the hand she had used to grab on his sleeve. She yelps as the King gives her a bear hug. Link rolls his eyes with a smile. Zelda is finally released from the bestial hug and starts coughing.
Derrick chuckles “WHAT? I thought you wanted a hug from me”
“That was not a hug, that was chocking me with love”
The King starts roaring with laughter.
Zelda asks coughing “By the way” cough “where are you going dad?”
“To meet with the nobles, they are afraid of letting strangers enter… I am sure I can convince them to do it, but not soon, maybe in a few months or years”
“YEARS? That is too long… do you need me and Link to accompany you?”
Ziel frowns “Actually Princess, that is a bad idea. If we go, the nobles may think the King’s initiative is not out of his own volition. That will lead them to assume that Hyrule’s supreme leader is being steered by us” he points at Zelda and then at himself “That will damage his public image, making him look like an easily malleable leader… WEAK in other words. If you want to overthrow a hierarchy, you make the people lose faith and respect for their leader. That is something we should not even consider.”
Daphnes clearing his throat “Exactly that… I could have easily explained it too, just so you BOTH know” The King chuckles knowing he is not fooling anyone “But I am glad I didn’t have to, it would not have been such a short and easily digestible explanation” Derrick looks at Link and grins “I think adopting you was the right move”
“Until you notice her bruises” Link replies in a very low volume.
“What?” the King asks unsure if the Prince had said something.
“What?” Link asks back, trying to deceive his King and make him believe he imagined things. But then gives Zelda a side glance and he briefly takes his index finger to the lips.
ZELDA POV
He knows I heard what he said, and is now requesting me to keep quiet about it. Not like I was planning to denounce him to my anyone.
Zelda starts pushing the King out of the castle.
“Well, you have a job to do… don’t let us delay you any longer” she says sending her father off.
Daphnes laughs as he goes down the stairs and into his carriage. Zelda waves her King off using both hands. Link stands next to her and also waves a hand.
“There is still an hour of sunlight… do we start with the bruises now?” Link asks.
Excuse me? he wants me to run around the castle now?
Zelda answers clearly confused “I am not understanding”
Link chuckles and points to the delivery spot, there was a box. “I am sure that box is your sword”
Zelda beams and skips all the way to where the box lay. Tries to open the box but is unable to, she looks at Link with sadness when he approaches. He steps on the box and grunts as he tries pull the top part.
He is fucking opening it? but… the box is sealed with nails.
“Ziel… use some pincers or something, you could damage your”
Then a loud creaking sound is herd as Link pulls open the top part of the box revealing a beautiful short sword. Zelda rolls her eyes but kneels to hold the sword.
“This is mine, isn’t it? it’s beautiful” Zelda says caressing it delicately with a finger.
Ziel nods “After we are done here, I will take this to your room, hang it where it would be easy to retrieve it for use” Link draws a wooden sword from a sheath that also came inside the box, and throws it at the Princess.
Wow, this thing is HEAVY… I guess is supposed to help me build muscle and stamina.
Ziel nods "After we are done here, I will take this to your room and hang it somewhere easy to retrieve" Link draws one of the 2 wooden swords from a sheath that also came inside the box, and throws it at the Princess.
Zelda nods, Raziel smirks as he puts the actual short sword back, he then suddenly swings the wooden sword and the Princess’s head. She just yelps but managed to avoid the hit by dropping to the floor. Link then stands in front of her and brings down the wooden sword with a yell. The Princess just closes her eyes in fear, but no harm came to her. She then opens her eyes and notices the tip of Link’s sword touching the crown of her head.
“You are dead” Link says lowering his wooden sword.
This was just practice. For a second there I saw his eyes and I though… but if he really wanted to harm me, he would not have put away the short sword. I should have known; I shouldn’t have been afraid. HE IS A DEVIL, but tied by his word to me.
Shaking her head “WHAIT, NO FAIR, YOU NEVER TOUGHT ME SWORD MOVES OR ANYTHING”
“And I never will, I never understood why people want to learn flashy sword techniques, they always only work to answer one particular type of attack…” sighs “I am not teaching you a swordplay choreography, I am teaching you how to fight. Get to know your body, its perks and also its limitations. Your body IS your main weapon; the sword is just a convenient tool”
Zelda slowly stands “But how do I” CLANK!!!, the Princess was able to see Link’s next swing and clumsily blocked it holding her wooden sword by the hilt and the edge.
Link chuckles “How do you use it? like that for starters, but take into account that we are simulating a real sword fight, so don’t EVER hold your sword like that again, had it been your short sword, I would have cut some of your fingers off”
Zelda takes a few steps back to put some distance between them “it’s still not fair”
Link laughs wickedly “I know, I should not be limiting my strength and reaction speed, and we should be using actual swords, but it is what it is” he swings at her diagonally, Zelda tries to block it but is unable to hold against the force of Link’s swing, his blade connecting with her obliques as her own weapon was thrown a few meters away from her.
“Dead” Link tells her.
All right, I get it. THIS is how much he is willing to downplay his technique for me. Me still complaining about the unfairness of it shows only one thing, I SUCK. The good thing is… I can only improve. SO, LETS PLAY.
Notes:
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comment, and subscribe
Chapter 77: Cycles
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
LINK POV
Link woke up in the middle of the night, it was 3 maybe 4 am. What woke him up was not the sound of the small carnival that was being celebrated by the Hylian people. It was loud, but not loud enough to bother him. What woke him up was the smell. He stood up from the bed, entered his bathroom and threw some water on his face. Then lighted a candle and breathed in deeply.
Its HER. I thought maybe Edna had shifted the soap she uses for laundry, but… damn. I am having trouble, is this going to be my calvary every month?
Link stands tall, rolls his neck and then notices a blood stain on his leg.
“AHHHH!” Zelda screams.
Link grabs the candle and rushes to her side to hush her. The diming light the candle offered showed the Princess’s face bathed in her own tears.
“I AM DYING” the Princess screams.
“No, you are not” Raziel lifts the sheet from her “you are only bleeding” he sits on the bed next to her.
Zelda begins to throw punches at him “THAT IS HOW PEOPLE DIE YOU MOTHERFU-” Link slaps her and harshly grabs her by the shoulders.
The Hero breaths in deeply “I have tried to remain calm through this, even though you stained my sheets and bed, but you are fucking insufferable”
Zelda wanted to say something, but the only thing that came out were sobs and tears. She started trembling in fear and her sobs turned into pained cries. Link stares at the pitiful scene in front of him.
This… it’s her first time, isn’t it? but, she is 13. Shouldn’t it have happened when she was 11 or so?
He sighs and chooses to throw a bone at her “You are not dying, the blood and the pain is normal, it happens to every female once a month”
Zelda stops her sobs and stares at Link. Then her eyes grow wide “Are you telling me this IS the start of my cycle?”
Link nods and points at his bathroom. She stands and heads there closing the door, she needed to verify that the blood was coming from her lady parts. Link then hears the Princess weeping inside, so he enters the bathroom and finds her sitting in a corner smiling and cleaning her tears.
“I am sorry if I scared you… these are happy tears. I am just very glad to have finally started to bleed. I thought there was something wrong with me… that maybe I was infertile”
Link sighs and rolls his eyes, offering his had to pull her up “13 is later than most, but you are not the first one and DEFINETLY won’t be the last one… let me change the sheets so we”
“NO, no. It’s too late in the night for you to be taking care of this… go sleep at my room. I will write a note for Chacha, then I will catch up with you”
Link cover his face with both his hands and slowly brings them down “Can’t do that. It’s not proper of me to enter the Princess dorm in the middle of the night. And before you say anything about it, it’s different when YOU enter my dorm. I can’t allow myself to do something like that”
Zelda smiles at him sweetly “I thought you said that you were not a gentleman”
“And I stand by that, I am not. Hence why I allow you to sleep with me. But I AM A MAN. And any respectable man won’t be slipping inside a girl’s dorm in the middle of the night”
Zelda nods defeated “Fair, but going trying to clean and dry your bed won’t do either. I really wetted your bed… lets sleep on the floor. I will go to my room to change; you should put some blankets for us to lay on” she says as she hurries out of hell.
*Well, she adjusted to you and solved the sleeping predicament*
Solved it only for herself. Me on the other hand, I am stuck with her hormonal smell tempting me to fuck her.
*Start clearing your head by expressing correctly. You don’t want to fuck her; you want to rape her. I admit that watching her face writhe in fear sounds delightful. But we can’t back down on our promise to Derick*
I know that, and I will never back down on my word. I will just have to push through this… I do need to ask since I am puzzled, why does the Princess affect me this way? No other woman has ever made me feel this way with their body odor.
*Because you ABHOR ZELDA. As I said, you don’t want to satiate any sexual desire, you want to destroy her*
ZELDA POV
The Princess cleaned herself and changed her sleeping attire using the cloth rags as Queen Claire had instructed her to do.
I understand now why mom once told me that I would need to check on my rags and change them often during the day. THAT WAS SO MUCH FUCKING BLOOD. I believe Link will have to ask for a new bed. I… should visit Saria tomorrow. She knows what herbs to eat for the pain right? Will Ziel allow me to do that instead of exercising tomorrow?
The Princess left her room walked towards hell slowly, she felt that if she walked fast, she could end up staining herself and the floor. Once she reached Link’s door, she was about to just open it and enter… but she hesitated and choose to knock instead. Soon the Prince opened the door and leaned against the doorframe with an arm.
“Are you going to let me inside?” Zelda asks.
“Are you going to ask me to invite you in?” Link counters.
Zelda half smiles and closes her eyes “Prince Raziel, I am tired and a little shaken. Would you allow me to sleep in your room with you?”
Link steps to a side allowing her to enter. She enters smiling and right before laying on the blanquettes that Ziel placed on the floor, she turns to stare directly at the Hero.
“I have 2 things to say; would you please listen?”
Link nods. Zelda clears her throat and starts “First. I am sorry, I should not have broken the way I did, I allowed fear to take control of me. I am the Princess, I should have been able to keep my composure instead of screaming like a banshee. And I should not have raised my fists against you either... Thank you for that slap, I deserved it”
THERE. I started claiming that I was wrong, and even thanked him for turning my head around with a slap… THAT should predispose him to agree to the demand I am about to make, right?
Link just stared at her and acknowledged her apology with a small nod.
She smiles “And second, I don’t think I should be doing exercise or sword training during my cycle, it will be like squirting a ketchup bottle” she giggles a little at the idea.
The Princess continues “And I am having cramps; I would love to visit Saria for advice on that… could we do that instead of sword training?”
Link half smiles and starts clapping “That was a good way of swaying me into agreeing with your demand, I will give you that”
DAMN, just how much does he know me and how? I must be wary from now on, he seems to read me like an open book.
“And no, I can’t go with you to visit Saria, you have to go by yourself, hope you don’t mind.”
“Wait” she breaths in deeply “I am understanding that I can skip training tomorrow and visit Saria. Am I correct?”
Link nods “After your lessons with your other teachers of course, your period is no excuse to miss those”
Zelda claps happy and starts to lay on the floor, but then looks up at him and asks “Why exactly can’t you come with me?”
“I will be heading the other world, I have some unfinished business there… and NO, I am not taking you with me, neither will I tell you what I am doing. I will be back the same day”
He doesn’t want to take me... why? What is he doing? Is it even SWORD related? Maybe I am reading too much into this. I will be visiting Saria tomorrow, so I should be happy and forget about this.
LINK POV
Link woke up at 6 am groaning. He draws his cellphone from under his pillow to turn of the alarm, then checks on Zelda. He finds the Princess sound asleep.
Good, I feared my sensitive Princess would also be able to feel the vibration of my silent alarm and wake up. I am glad that so far, the only sense I should be weary of it’s her sense of smell.
He stood up slowly, wrote a note and left it under his cellphone on his desk. Of course he was not taking his cellphone, he needed SWORD to believe he was in Hyrule. Link changed and left his dorm.
--------------------LATER THAT SAME DAY----------------------
Link traveled to Florida and currently stood at the entrance of ZooTampa. He was discreetly following a man who happened to be visiting with his family, which consisted of his wife, his teen daughter and his rampant young son. Once the family descended from their truck, the man headed to pay for their tickets to enter the Zoo. The boy was completely hyped by the visit, the girl was preparing her professional camera to shot pictures during the visit, while the mother and father kissed and hugged sweetly. Link purposely bumped with the little boy making him fall back on his butt.
"Whoa, sorry there" the Hero stretched his hand to help the boy up, both parents instantly approached worried and a little angry. The father was about to start berating, and Link was more than ready to answer, but the teenage daughter came to his rescue.
"HOLD IT DAD, he did nothing wrong; your gremlin was running rampant as always, you should put a leash on him" she looks up and down at Link and winks at him. Ziel smiles charmingly before asking her.
“YOU, and your family are going to the Zoo, right?”
The girl smiles flirtatiously “Yes and no, we are going in, but my parents are taking my little brother to the petting zoo area only. I will go around the whole zoo, but not for a visit. Just to take pictures of the megafauna for a school project… how about you?”
“Going in for a visit, just waiting for my friends to arrive, I guess I will be seeing you in there” Link says as he taps on her nose.
The teenage girl smiles and blows him a kiss “I will be waiting… remember, I will be around the megafauna” she says as she waves good bye following after her brother and mother. The father tuned and gave Link a menacing look before following his family.
Identity confirmed.
Link thought identifying the man as one of the 3 psychos in Robert’s drawings. He casually walked into the parking and approached the man’s truck and ¨accidentally¨ dropped a few coins. He knelt down to pick them, but in reality, he placed a tracker under the vehicle.
Time to head back to Hyrule.
*WTF, really? That is all you are going to do?*
Yes… He hurt my brother’s vessel in a way that transcends even death, since it still affects him even though it happened long before he inhabited the body.
What I plan on doing to this pig of a man is not PG-13. And since I would love for Robert to witness all of it, I have to wait a few years for Robert's sake… I am not repeating the abuse cycle by making him watch now at this tender age, I need him to be older to fully enjoy this vengeance. In the meantime, I must keep track of this abuser and protect him from ever being targeted by SWORD, because I HAVE BE THE ONE TO MAKE HIM PAY.
*Got it, you still need to find the other two though…. Waiting for Blast to turn 18 sounds like torture*
Good thing is that I don’t mind the wait… I am a VERY patient man.
Notes:
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future updates
Dove Silver (Guest) on Chapter 1 Fri 13 Jun 2025 06:36PM UTC
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IHOP on Chapter 3 Mon 24 Feb 2025 09:52PM UTC
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4glae on Chapter 3 Tue 25 Feb 2025 01:56AM UTC
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IHOP on Chapter 5 Tue 25 Feb 2025 04:24AM UTC
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4glae on Chapter 5 Wed 26 Feb 2025 04:53AM UTC
Last Edited Fri 07 Mar 2025 04:18PM UTC
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juyangism (Guest) on Chapter 70 Sat 14 Jun 2025 11:04PM UTC
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4glae on Chapter 70 Sun 15 Jun 2025 03:07AM UTC
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