Walking along the same street I do every morning. I stop. Wait for the traffic. And go.
'Okay, so milk, tomato ketchup and bleach.' I think to myself. Glad that I remembered everything. It's quite sunny today, nice weather to go shopping instead of going out in the sun. I look at my phone, not paying any attention to where I'm going, then all of a sudden I stumble on something. Once I gain sure footing I look back. 'A broken plant pot? Okay…'
I shake my head and carry on going.
A few moments later I start to notice that the grass along the path has all been unevenly trimmed. 'Weird, I didn't think they'd cut the grass again after it was only done last week. And it's messy too.'
Something seems a little off walking towards the shops, and I'm almost at my destination until something really strange happens.
I turn a corner and see some children standing outside the park. They are staring and pointing at something. I look over to a large tree, and spot a young man, hanging by his legs from a branch. He is dressed in a green sort of tunic, white… leggings, and brown boots. There is a green hat laying on the ground underneath him and his light blonde hair is all in disarray.
The kids start chuckling and walk off, kicking a football in the road. I turn back to the man and decide to open the park gate. Approaching the tree cautiously, I pick the hat up off the ground and call out to him.
"Uh, are you alright up there?" I must have startled him as he had already started to upright himself and he may not have noticed me from that position. He jumps and comes crashing to the ground with a loud… clank?
"Are you okay?" I say, feeling that it was all my fault. He does this weird back flip thing that takes me by surprise. He picks up the think that clanked, a sword. 'Okay, he must be a cosplayer.' I think.
He grins at me and I hand him his silly cap. He runs his hand through his hair, picking out a couple of leaves and places it on his head. I notice that he has funny pointed ears,
"Umm..." He looks at me with deep blue eyes. They almost don't look… real. Smiling, he reaches out a gloved hand and brushes my hair behind my ear, picking out a leaf.
"Oh, thank you." I say, blushing slightly. He looks about my age and I have to admit he's a very pretty looking person.
"Why were you up in that tree?" I say, trying to break the awkward silence.
He laughs.
"I have no idea." I notice a blue spark flash from up in the tree.
"Huh? Wha-"Before I can finish the man launches himself under the falling blue dot and catches it just before it hits the ground.
"Navi?! Are you alright?" My eyes widen at the name. The blue speck shakes.
"Yes. Thank you Link." It starts to move. Fly. Fly up, into the air. Fluttering around the man's head and under his hat. He smiles again.
"Where am I?" He says. A look of shock has taken over my face. Or so it seems, because the man is looking at me worriedly.
"A...are you, Link?" I stutter after a moment of silence.
He nods.
"And you are?" He looks at me with the most adorable face and I can't help but smile too.
"I'm _." I hesitate slightly. Is this the real deal? The real Link?
He holds out a hand for me to shake, but I ignore it and lunge at him, throwing my arms around his waist. He manages to stay standing, even though most people usually fall to the ground when being bear-hugged.
"Okay..." He says, laughing again. I release myself, realising that I could have just hugged a completely random man, after all, how could the real Link be here? In this world? I look up at him and apologise several times before a hard football comes flying in our direction, knocking Link right in the face.
It's those same kids from earlier. They've came back to tease and make fun.
"Hey!" I shout at them angrily. They all start laughing hysterically and one of them shouts out to us,
"Love the ears dude!" The others continue to laugh whilst I turn around to Link, who is on the floor, the ball now rolling down a hill.
"Link?" He slowly gets up, revealing a nose bleed. I grit my teeth. Those little- I stop. Link reaches for his sword, but I stop him, clasping my hands tightly over his.
"You can't." I say. He looks at me with those deep blue eyes again. But this time they hold a saddened look about them. I walk down the hill and pick up the football, which has blood on it, and kick it as hard as I can back at the group of kids. It hits one of them. 'Good, you deserved that." I think to myself. I go back to Link, who is watching them all run away.
"Are you alright?" I sigh, looking at his nose bleed. He goes to wipe it on his sleeve but I hand him a tissue.
"Who were they?" He says, sounding slightly nasal.
"I dunno, some neighbourhood children." His eyes widen and he looks at me strangely. Dropping the tissue on the ground he reaches forward and grabs both my ears, tugging at them.
"Oww! Link, what are you? Stop it!" He looks fascinated.
"You have human ears!" I hear my heart pounding slightly. He's right up close to me, touching me. His hair, his eyes, everything. It looks so much, I don't know, more amazing up close.
"You're a girl aren't you?" He looks right into my eyes. I pull away, unable to handle all the feels.
"What's wrong _?" I turn, hearing a jingle in my pocket. Then I remember.
"Oh crap, I was supposed to get shopping!" Link puts his hand in a brown sack-like bag and out emerges some glistening diamonds. Or…rupees? There are two red ones and a yellow one. They look strange, not like some cheap plastic ones or glass, they look. Magical.
"Here. You can have some." I suddenly think of something.
"How many do you have?" I say, hoping not to come off as rude. He puts his hand back in his bag.
"About..237." He says finally. 'Huh. That's exactly the amount I have on my- ah, never mind. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.'
I shake my head.
"Ah don't worry, I'll just use these." I pull out some coins and a note briefly, then put them back in my pocket.
"Are you coming to the shops with me?" I suddenly think, what if everyone treats Link the same way those kids did?
"Okay." He says, grinning. I lead the way.
As we walk towards Tesco Link spots a dog sitting outside.
"Oh no! You poor thing, all tied up here! Hey _, why is this poor dog just left here like this?" A lady walks through the automatic doors and walks up behind Link.
She unties the dog and I pull him away, before he can say anything stupid. Link is startled by the doors. Confused at all the isles of food and products. Staring at each person as they walk by. I go over to the first thing, milk. Link wanders off, and when I find him again he's unsheathed his sword and is showing it to a little child, who is in complete awe.
"Link! Come on!" I drag him by the ear away from small children that he could possibly endanger.
"Hold this for a sec." I say, handing him the milk. He opens the lid.
"Link! You can't drink that yet!" He stops peeling the top off and looks at me, confused.
"Why not? I thought it might help with my nose."
I sigh. We walk to the next thing, Ketchup.
"oooh! Red potions!" He says excitedly, picking up several bottles.
"Why are they all in different types of bottles?" I start taking them off him and put them back, save one.
"We don't need all different types. Just this one." He nods.
Thank god there's only one more thing.
"Ok. Just this and then we can-"I freeze. Link is drinking the bleach. I knock the bottle onto the floor, causing it to go everywhere. A couple of people in the isle gasp at the mess.
"What did you do that for?! We could have saved that, blue potion is only for major wounds!" He looks down at the blue liquid spewing out in all directions.
"You mean you didn't drink it?" I ask hurriedly.
"No." I gasp a sigh of relief.
"*Clean-up in Isle 7*" I gasp, pulling Link away from something yet again.
I go up to the self-checkout and start scanning.
"What on earth is this!?" Link shouts, causing lots of people to look at him.
"Don't worry about it."
"*Please place the item in the bagging area*"
Link jumps.
"Woah! It spoke to us!" I rush to put my money in the machine, hoping to get out of here as quickly as I can. Picking up the bags, I pull at Link's sleeve, but he doesn't move.
"Hey, _, that's me." I turn to what he's looking at. 'Hyrule Warriors'
"Oh that's a new game that's come out it-"Link picks it up and all of a sudden a group of children rush over to him, their parents all talking,
"Strange, I didn't think they'd have someone dressed up in Tescos."
"My son loves the Legend of Zelda, but it is kind of strange to have someone dressed up as Zelda in a shop, yeah."
'His name's not Zelda.' I grunt inside my head.
"Woah! Link can you show us your master sword?!" One of the kids says.
Link laughs.
"Well, I don't exactly have the master sword yet, but I will get it one day and show you!" The boy looks disappointed until Link lifts his hat off and Navi comes flying out.
"Oh my!" I hear the amazed cries of parents and children alike as Navi starts flying and talking to everyone. 'Ok, time to go' I think.
"Hey, Link! It's time to go and save Hyrule!" I shout out to him, winking, hoping he'll get the message. It takes him a while, but he does figure it out.
"Oh, yeah, uh, bye everyone! Nice talking to you all!" The children wave and I take Link's hand, leading him out of the scary doors.
We start walking down the path and then I think of something.
"Hey, Link, when you said 'I don't exactly have the master sword yet' what did you mean by that?" He stops examining the ketchup and puts it back in the bag.
"Oh, well, before I ended up in that tree I was in a temple. I have heard of the master sword but I don't have it myself."
'In a temple? I wonder if… Nah, it must just be a coincidence.'
We start heading back to my house and then I think, do I really want him in my house? What if he starts wrecking everything? Ah screw it.
"Link? Want to come back to mine for a little while? You can try some of that ketchup if you want." He nods eagerly,
"I'd love to hang out with you!" I feel my cheeks flush slightly.
"And… I don't really have anywhere to go…" I'd never thought of that. What's going to happen when it becomes dark? He might get run over by a bus or something…
"You know, I'm sure you could stay over if I explained the situation to-"
Ketchup. On my face.
"OH! I'm so sorry!" I hear him rummage in his bag for the tissue I gave him earlier, which I thought he'd dropped.
He starts dabbing the tomato sauce off of my face, holding my head still with one hand. My heart. It's so loud. I hope he can't hear it. Although, he's leaning so far in I wouldn't be surprised if he-
"What's that sound?"
'No way can he actually hear that.' I think.
He lowers his head to my chest. 'Oh god, he's right there.'
"Woah." I feel my heartbeat get even louder at this happening.
"Oh, _?" I hear someone call out to me. Link moves himself upwards again, allowing me to breathe.
'Ah crap, it's that annoying next-door neighbour!' I think.
"Uh… sorry! We have to go!" I grab Link tightly and haul him inside my front door, almost slamming it shut.
"So this is your house huh?" Link looks around in amazement. I walk into the kitchen and put the milk away in the fridge. Link seems yet again fascinated by the object, opening and closing it to see the light flicker on and off. I go and put the bleach somewhere he won't find it and then return to the kitchen to find him drinking the tomato ketchup.
"Link, that isn't for drinking." I say taking the bottle off him. "You dip things in it."
I go to the freezer and take out some chips. I pour some into a bowl and pop them in the microwave. I turn to put the bag back and see Link with his head in the freezer.
"This is incredible! To have some ice in your house like this, it's in its own tiny room!"
I pull him out and shut the door before he gets his tongue stuck.
"Link, I know you're curious and all but you need to be careful what you do, you could end up getting hurt you know."
He leans over me, sniffing. I look up, feeling my cheeks flush again.
"Those weird stick things smell nice." He says. I laugh.
I hear a little thud come from the living room.
"Oh, Navi!" Link says walking quickly to her. I spot Navi lying on top of the coffee table.
"Sorry, I was just flying around and bumped into something." She says. Link scoops her up gently and places her so she's just poking out of his hat. It gives me butterflies, seeing a man being so kind and caring.
"Oh~" He looks around at all the foreign objects, intrigued.
I hear the microwave ding.
"Ooooh, what's this?!" He goes over to something, prodding it.
"One sec. don't touch anything."
I get the chips out and bring them and the ketchup in for me and Link to share.
"Oh wow!" He comes over to me and takes the ketchup eagerly. I sit on the couch and he sits right up next to me. He pours an excessive amount of the stuff all over the chips. Yuck. He takes one and pops it into his mouth, one end hanging out. I've seen this enough times to know what to do next. Without really thinking, I put the bowl on the table and push my hands onto his, intertwining our fingers. I quickly bite the other end of the chip, which is now connecting us. I see Link move uncomfortably, obviously slightly shocked and unsure of what to do. Then all of a sudden he bites. He pulls the chip from my mouth and our lips crash together, all saucy and red. Our eyes are both wide open. His cheeks are flushed a bright shade of pink. Then unexpectedly, he pushes his tongue into my mouth, licking the ketchup. I flinch and fall back, knocking something onto the floor. I realise it was the Nintendo 64 controller.
"I'm sorry! I wasn't trying too…" He says franticly, looking at me with those eyes again. This time, they look desperate. Then I notice. Those eyes are fading. Getting lighter. In fact, his whole body looks lighter, paler.
"Link?" He lifts up his hand, his fingers are starting to fade away.
"Link?!" I can see through him all of a sudden. He is barely even next to me anymore. I lunge forward, pressing my lips against his one final time. We separate quickly, too soon.
"Thank you for today." He says, smiling. I feel my heart. It feels extremely heavy. It hurts. Why?
Then I look behind him, the Nintendo 64 is on. The title screen for my game has come up. Somehow, it has already started. My Zelda game. I press to continue. The Link in game looks partially faded. But so does the real Link. The one next to me. Is Link going back into the game? Is that where he came from? My save file?
I look back to the faded figure next to me.
"Please. Take good care of me." I nod.
He fades away completely, not leaving a trace behind.
Looking back at the TV I notice that the in game Link is back to his full colour and is waving at me. I can't help but smile. He's back where he belongs.
Extra~
'Ok.' I think. Finally, it's time for the epic showdown. The ultimate battle. Between the hero and his evil half. Dark Link. I make my little hero walk into the room. Only a single tree. My heart beats. How dramatic. Wait.
"Huh?" I lean forward in my seat. The same seat that Link sat in all those days ago.
"What's going on?" Walking around the tree I go. Nothing.
"It's definitely in this place right?" Nobody. Absolutely nothing at all.
Dark Link isn't there. I reset the game. Still not there. I look it up on a walkthrough. Yeah, just as I thought – he is the mini boss, so, why is he not there?
I decide to turn the game off and go outside for a bit.
I walk down the path, along the same street I do every morning. I stop. Wait for the traffic. And go.
I choose to go to the park.
No broken pots.
No unevenly trimmed grass.
No annoying kids.
Water.
"Huh?"
The sun has gone in and it makes it difficult to see. However, the rain on the ground looks incredible, like there is a long sea of liquid that is dark, but oh so beautiful.
The tree. I start approaching it, cautiously.
Then I stop. I turn around, taking in what is going on. The water, the tree. The darkness. It all adds up somehow. I turn back to the tree but am greeted with a dark figure looming over me. I flinch and close my eyes.
"Hello there." I open my eyes, slowly. A pair of bright red eyes staring at me.
"What are you doing in a place like this?" He smirks.
"I have no idea."
"Dark Link."