Warning: Character death, language, and slight gore ahead. I say slight because it's only the aftermath. Your mileage may vary.
I don't own Zelda. If I did, everyone would probably die. Multiple times.
Link slowly blinked awake, squinting at the faint, pinkish light that filtered in through the curtains on the window. He turned and looked at the clock, groaning when he saw the time.
Six o' clock. In. The. Morning. Link tried never to be awake before noon if he could help it. He almost rolled over and went back to sleep, but something caught his eye amongst all the crap scattered randomly on the wooden table next to his bed. The screen on his phone was lit up urgently, and he saw notifications scrolling down the display. His brow furrowed. He didn't remember falling asleep with his phone like that; he always checked it before he turned it silent and went to bed. Link sat up a little, shivering at the slight chill in the air as it brushed against his bare chest. He propped himself up, then fell on his back, holding his phone about an inch away from his face. Link waited for the glowing screen to swim into focus, and when it did, his frown deepened. There were three calls and three separate voicemails, all from one of his best friends, Zelda. The first one came at two am, just an hour after he had gone to bed. He tapped the screen, then held it up to one ear, raking a hand through his blonde hair as he stared up at the ceiling.
The voicemail opened with a shaky breath, then Zelda's smooth voice, tinny through the receiver, started to talk quickly.
"Hey Link, as soon as you get this, call me back. I think there's someone outside my house." The voicemail ended with another sigh and a click. His blue eyes, which had drifted closed as he listened, now snapped open in shock. He quickly pulled the phone away from his ear, gave it an incredulous glance, then swung his legs around and hopped out of bed. Link clicked on the other voicemail and set it to speaker while he picked up a shirt to pull on. The voice on the other end of the phone was now panicked and high pitched, and he froze with his arms through the sleeves of the shirt.
"Link, oh sweet Nayru, please get over here. I swear, someone's lurking outside my house!" There was the sound of a curtain being pulled back and a cautious glance being shot out the window. "I called the police, but they said I was just tired and seeing things, and that they weren't coming over, but Link, I swear..." There was a sniff, then a deep, anxious swallow. "Please come over. I don't feel safe." There was another click, and Link hurriedly finished pulling on his shirt, grabbing a pair of jeans off the floor and wriggling into them. He padded out of his room in sock feet, clutching his phone for dear life. His housemate Sheik was sitting on the living room floor, looking like he was meditating or something, his legs contorted in an odd position and his hands clasped together. Link could hear his breathing from across the room, deep and even. He crept past, not wanting to interrupt his friend's path to epiphany or whatever he was always going on about. He found his shoes by the door right where he had left them last night, and he only slipped the sneakers on, crushing the backs with his heels as he shuffled quickly out to his car. He swung in effortlessly, clamping his phone between his ear and his shoulder after he clicked on the third and final voice mail. Link hoped against hope that what he would hear would be Zelda apologizing, saying that it was just a cat or something, but the terrified whispering that he heard instead made his stomach sink to his toes.
"Link... the guy's in my house..." His blood ran cold as her voice turned small and scared, almost on the verge of whimpering. "The police hung up on me. I don't know what to do... so please... if you wake up... please come help-" Link started as an shrill scream of fear sounded in his ear. He slammed on the brakes on reflex and nearly caused the lone car behind him to rear end him. The car honked loudly, then sped past him, the driver flipping him the bird with a snarl on his face.
Whereas normally he would have shot the enraged driver a smile and a wave, now Link only stared ahead in shock as he heard rustling on the other end of the line, then the clatter of plastic landing on the ground. He could hear frantic, unintelligible pleading and talking, then another high pitched shriek that was abruptly cut off by a heavy, full bodied thud. He sucked in a breath, then pushed down on the gas. He drove without thinking, listening to scream after faint scream, the phone on the other end faithfully recording the sound of someone being dragged across carpet and the tinkle of breaking glass. It finally cut off right as Zelda was howling something about not knowing anything, you goddess damned bast-
Link quickly called her as soon as the message was done playing through, his breath coming in quick, panicky gasps. He fumbled with the keys, swerving to avoid a dog that had run out into the road. He winced as he heard it yelp in surprise, but it was soon out of his mind. There was only silence on Zelda's end of the phone, and he growled, throwing the phone onto the passenger seat, the device bouncing off leather and ending up on the cluttered floor. His shoulders tensed as he grabbed the wheel, and by the time he got to Zelda's house, he was a twitching, nervous wreck, her screams replaying over and over in the back of his mind. Link didn't bother to turn off the car, only shifted into park and sprinted out the door, his mind reeling-
(I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!)
(STOP!)
When he reached the front door, he raised his hand to knock, but as soon as his knuckles touched the door, it breezed open softly. The lock and the knob were a mess of splintered wood, and Link closed his eyes, pushing the door open.
"Zelda?" he called out faintly. He was met with silence. He pushed the door open with his foot, the hinges creaking ominously, almost sounding like a metallic cackle. He stepped inside, his nose wrinkling at the disarray he saw inside. Zelda normally kept her sparse house pin straight, but today everything was off kilter and knocked over. Countless books spilled off shelves, chairs lay toppled on their sides, and stuffing was even pulled out of the couch. It lay on the ground like huge clumps of wooly snow.
Link stepped inside, trying to remain calm despite the now almost nauseous mixture of anxiety and panic he felt. He leaned into her kitchen and was met with more carnage. Her refrigerator hung wide open, a chill sneaking into the tiled room along with a faint yellow glow from the light inside. Fruit and other foodstuffs lay scattered haphazardly on the floor, and Link even saw a smattering of white pills on the counter, the orange prescription bottle they came in upended next to the pile. He turned, seeing the hallway that led to the rest of her house, and swallowed audibly. Alarm bells rang and clattered in his head when he saw several smearings of red on the carpet leading from the front door to the other end of the short hallway.
Link started towards the white door at the end of the hallway, sparing a cursory glance for the bathroom. Yet another mess, beauty products and makeup spilled on the floor and sending off a gag inducing scent mixture of fake roses, ripe apples, and chemicals. Link held his breath as he reached the end of the hallway where the door was. He reached out a shaking hand to turn the knob, then hesitated, his hand turned ninety degrees. He took a deep breath, the smell of wasted perfume making his head spin, then pushed open the door.
Link almost wanted to throw up when the smell of blood and fear mixed with the manufactured scent of flowers. He clamped his nose shut, his eyes watering as he slowly shuffled in the room, looking at his feet because he was afraid of what he would see. The grey carpet was soaked with blood, and he inhaled and exhaled, trying to keep himself from flipping a shit. He lifted his gaze the tiniest bit, seeing two bare feet hanging off the bed in the middle of the room. The toenails were painted a hot pink. Link could see cuts striping up her naked legs even with his view partially obscured by his blonde, shaggy hair. Part of him screamed for him to just leave and call an ambulance, to remember Zelda how she had appeared before, but the other half needed to know
(Please-)
(I don't feel-)
(WAKE UP!)
just what had happened. The decision was made in a split second, and Link quickly flipped his head up, his eyes creaking open. His face crumpled like a rag, disgust and horror both jockeying for position on his face as his jaw dropped soundlessly. He beheld the gruesome scene before him at first with a morbid awe that was quickly dismissed. It didn't leave, only morphed into shock, and every single detail of the scene before Link imprinted itself into his memory, seared into his eyelids. Even when he blinked, the bed and Zelda on it seemed to float in the darkness of his closed lids like the blur after the camera flash.
Link couldn't get over how much blood there was... It was splattered on the wall, it squelched beneath his shoes as he took a step forwards, and the sheets were soaked in red along with her pale skin. Zelda laid diagonal across the bed. She was half naked, her upper half only covered by a tank top that was slit up the back. Her face was turned away from him, her body uncomfortably contorted. Her long brunette hair was splayed out in a bloodstained fan, part of it covering her face like a mask, the other half so long that it spilled off the opposite edge of the bed. Her arms were cruelly wrenched and twisted behind her back, bound with thick twine.
But what was most nauseating about the scene wasn't the blistering burns covering her shoulders and bound arms, or even the thin, red lacerations lacing over every visible inch of skin that Link could see. It was the way in which the body was placed. It looked like it had just been carelessly tossed there, left to rot after being played with for too long. Link found himself shaking in either fury or horror at the sight.
Link took another shuddering step forward, then another, and another, until he was by the headboard of the bed. Her face was half buried in the stained red hills of the sheets and the chocolate strands of her hair, but Link could still see the piercing indigo blue of her eyes, staring at him with a glazed, pained expression. He closed his eyes lightly, feeling hysteria bubble up under his skin and almost come out as a scream. He clamped a hand over his mouth before it could pour out, squeezing his eyes shut as tightly as he could. Even with all the spots and colors dancing in the darkness he had created, Zelda's pointed stare followed him inside his head, and he almost imagined he could hear her rising up from her permanent sleep, screaming about how if he wasn't sleeping so soundly then he would have been able to save her, if he hadn't been a dumbshit and left his phone on silent then he could have stopped this from happening, if he had stayed up later than he had then he could have gotten her phone call, the first one, and she wouldn't have been alone, wouldn't have died in the presence of the monster that had done this-
She had given him a chance to save her, and he had failed.
Wellllluh... I wasn't going to post this until I finished some other stuff, but then I went "screw it," and decided to publish. This was just going to be a take on the whole thing with Impa in SS, where she's a total bitch and is just like, "You were late, you failed, you suck, goodbye," but then it started to evolve beyond that, and so now I have a full blown plot on my hands :P Thanks a bunch, overactive imagination.
The reason for the police being a bunch of assholes will be expounded upon later. Sooooorrrrrreeeeeeyyyy...
Updates will be slow, unless I see like, massive out pour of support. If so, then so be it - I'll do my best to update more frequently. So if you want to see more (I'm serious this time), then review/favorite/follow, and we'll be cool :D
~Eva