Hey everybody, I'm back with a new story! I won't go too much into it, but just know that this one's much darker compared to my other stories (except for Hero's Fate, but we haven't gotten to the dark stuff in that one yet...) Be warned that this story contains character death as well as heavy themes, and slight language. No mature content. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! My friend helped me come up with the concept, so huge thanks to her!

~Aryll Jaynn

It'll Be Okay

/Lately, I've been, I've been losing sleep/Dreaming about the things that we could be.../

~Counting Stars by One Republic

Chapter One (Link)

My head spun in three-hundred-sixty degree angles as I tried to rack my brain for the answers to our newly assigned Hylian homework.

Screw this language and its uncanny ability to ruin my life, I thought bitterly as I flipped a strand of shaggy blond hair out of my eyes.

It was a typical, boring Thursday afternoon at Castle Town High. I was currently seated at my desk, trying to do my Hylian homework while avoiding the shouts and snickers and obnoxiously loud gaggles of the other kids in my class.

Seriously, it's like these kids were raised in a barn rather than the most prestigous city in all of Hyrule. I'm one of the only students at CTH that lives outside of Castle Town, and yet I'm still pretty mellow compared to them.

It's not like I have a choice, though. I have to be calm and studious. My family isn't very rich, so the only thing we have going for us is our education. My sister, Aryll, and I would have to work our butts off to earn A's in order to graduate early and get a scholarship for college, which our grandmother definitely can't afford at the moment.

The only problem is, well...I'm not very good at school. Aryll's amazing and gets straight A's in all of her classes, while me on the other hand...let's just say I'm pretty average compared to her. Granted, she's a Freshman, a grade lower than me, but she still gets better grades than I did back then.

Now, I can do math and I'm not bad at science, either. History and my other electives are a piece of cake. But what really gets to me are these damn languages. Seriously, who invented Hylian, anyway? Well, I guess it was Hylia...but that's beside the point! It's just so hard, with all the characters, grammar, vocabulary...ugh, it gives me a headache.

At that time, it had been getting so bad, my teacher Mr. Lightte had suggested I get a tutor. Now, as I mentioned previously, my family isn't rich at all. In fact, we're almost kind of poor. There was no way I'd be able to get a tutor. That is, until the headmaster's daughter, Zelda Hylari stepped up and offered to tutor me for free.

I can't tell you enough how grateful I was when Mr. Lightte told me that someone was willing to tutor me free of charge. I was ready to jump up with joy and scream, Maybe I won't fail Hylian and have to repeat 10th grade AFTER all! The catch was, he didn't tell me who my tutor was until our first session.

That's when the poop hit the fan.

I hate to say it, but I've crushed on Zelda since the 7th grade when we started off in the same Hylian class. In 9th grade, she was given the opportunity to skip a grade and go off to AP Hylian, which was an advanced level course for the 'naturally gifted.' The worst part is, Aryll, being the braniac she is, also skipped a grade, so now both of them are in the same class. That's right. My little sister and my crush. In the same class. Thank the freaking goddesses word hasn't gotten out about me liking Zelda, or Aryll would never let me hear the end of it.

As I struggled to get even a single character on the page, I suddenly heard a small knock at the door. Since I sat at the back of the classroom, I turned to check out who it was.

There, standing before me in casual jeans, a T-shirt and a patterned cardigan, holding a huge pile of binders and textbooks was Zelda herself. Her smile was bright when she saw me, causing me to redden slightly, and her blue eyes glimmered. Her bushy, golden hair was in its usual ponytail, held up with a pink srunchie.

"Hey, ready for today's lesson?" she whispered.

I nodded. "Yup. Hey, Mr. L! Zelda's here, we're gonna go study!"

The elderly teacher nodded and smiled towards us right before saying in a firm voice, "All right, class, settle down. Mr. Howei, stop flirting!"

The called-upon Sheikah kid's face turned as red as his eyes as he quickly returned the eraser he'd been constantly stealing from this girl Elera. Everyone laughed.

I hurried to gather up my things and followed Zelda out the door, avoiding the snickers from a few kids and one of Zelda's friends whispering, "I ship it!" rather loudly and making a heart with her hands right before we exited.

I rolled my eyes. Everyone shipped us. Everyone except Zelda, that is. Everytime the subject of relationships was brought up, she give me a long lecture about how dating was just a "waste of time" and that I didn't have time for it, not with my "unacceptable grades and foolish demeanor." I never took it personally, though. After her lecture, we'd always just share a laugh and she'd tell me it was her job to enforce academics over love.

Another thing about Zelda: She's completely clueless. Not academic wise, obviously, but social wise? Definitely.

Like, some guy (and by that I mean me) would compliment her smile and unlike any normal girl who'd probably either slap me or get all flustered, she'd just laugh and say "Aw, thanks. You have a nice smile too. I think everyone does. It's just part of being a human being, you know? Smiling."

And then she'd get back into tutor-mode. Jeez, it's like this girl doesn't even want me to like her, or for anyone to like her for that matter. But even though I can take a hint, I just can't get over her. At all. I have no idea why. Maybe there's just something about her smile, the way she doesn't believe it when I say she's smart (which is all the time), or the way she lectures me about the importance of self worth that just gets to me. Every. Single. Freaking. Time.

We walked over to the library, our usual tutoring area, where the doors were suspiciously locked.

"Hm..." Zelda mused, obviously upset. I swear, that girl literally lives inside the library.

"I guess it's not open," I said, shrugging.

"That's too bad," she sighed, "I guess we'll have to study back in your classroom, which is definitely not the best place, but—-"

My eyes suddenly brightened as I unconsciously grabbed her hand. "Hey, I know! Let's study in Room 117. No one ever goes in there!"

I could see that she looked extremely confused. "Why does no one go in there?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Farore knows. I guess it's just a spare room no one likes to be in 'cause it's too drafty and full of bugs. But it doesn't bother me. I like it. It's cozy. Like the forest."

I waited for her to reply, internally cringing at my nonstop rambling, but she was staring intently at our hands. I instantly blushed and withdrew my hand from hers, shoving it into my pocket instead. Dear goddesses of the Sacred Realm, WHY did I do that?!

"Um...sorry." I said pathetically.

But Zelda simply smiled and shrugged. "No worries. Now, let's go to this remote location. Room 117, here we come!"

…

I led the way to Room 117. With every step on the stairs, another embarrassing moment I'd had in front of Zelda found its way into my brain, leaving me to relive those awful times where I'd completely lost my groove in front of her.

Let's see, there was that time I accidentally told her that she was pretty, that time I tripped over my own shoelace in gym, that time I choked on a strawberry during lunch while she was there, that time we were on a bus and Aryll told embarrassing stories about me as a kid, that time I asked her if she could return a piece of paper to one of my teachers and my friend Sheik told her it was a love letter...ugh. Etc, etc.

Only the goddesses know what else Aryll tells her in their stupid AP Hylian class. I haven't told her directly, but I'm sure my sister can tell I have a crush when I do. I swear, she's like a second mother to me. Always doting over me, telling me to brush my teeth before bed, nagging me to comb my unruly blond mess of hair, to do my homework...ugh. I don't mind it though. I freaking love the munchkin nevertheless. Along with Grandma, she's my everything.

Mom died when Aryll was born. Dad passed away a few months later from cancer. For fourteen years it's just been the three of us. Me. Aryll. Grandma. We live in a small village on the outskirts of Castle Town, called Ordon. Even though I was born on Outset Island, after our dad died, a family friend had driven us to Ordon with all of our belongings to live with Grandma. I was only a year old at the time, so I don't remember my parents much. I only remember my mother's long, golden hair and my dad's forest green eyes.

"It'll be okay,"Aryll always tells me when I think about the past. She always smiles when she says this and puts a comforting hand on my shoulder. Honestly, it's like she's an older sister rather than a younger one sometimes. Though, I guess one year isn't that much. We're the closest in age siblings I know who aren't twins.

"Is this it?" Zelda asked, interuppting my thoughts.

"Yup," I answered, holding the open door for her. "This is literally my second home."

She laughed, entering the room.

I smiled. She had a sweet laugh.

We sat down at a table in the middle of the room. Zelda quickly opened up her numerous binders, books, study guides, etc. while I kind of dumbly pulled out my wrinkled homework paper from my jean pocket.

"All right, let's get started." she said, turning into serious tutor-mode.

I internally sighed. "Right,"

As much as I wished we weren't studying, well...reality's reality.

"Let me see how far you've gotten on the assignment," she said, reaching over to grab my paper.

Pushing up her glasses and flipping a strand of golden hair off her face, her expression turned skeptical as she looked over the horrible handwriting and probably incorrect answers.

I'd always wondered why Zelda's hair was blonde while her parents both had brown hair. I once offered the idea that she was adopted, but she'd rolled her eyes and told me that was impossible, considering the close resemblance she shared with her mother. They literally look so much alike, if Mrs. Hylari were also blonde and a little younger looking, I swear they could have passed as twins. Or at least sisters.

After two minutes or so, Zelda sighed and looked at me, her face serious. "Link, it's almost the end of first semester...and you have a D- in the class! If you don't get up to a C by next month, you'll have to drop out."

I frowned, embarrassed. "I know, I know..." I trailed off.

Zelda's expression turned soft and she looked at me with some worry in her eyes. "Hey, are you okay, Link? Is something bothering you? You can tell me." she offered a weak smile.

I sighed. "It's just that..." It's just that I can't think straight around you.

"What?" she asked curiously, then she smirked. "Do you have a crush on someone? Is that why?"

My eyes widened. Could she tell?!

"Uh..." I stuttered.

She laughed, her sweet laugh. "Aww...Little Linky likes someone! Tell me who it is! Come on!"

Little Linky? I'm only a few months younger than her, jeez! I hoped my face wasn't as red as I thought it was. "No one, Zelda, really! It's no one!"

She gave me an exasperated look. "I don't believe that, Link. You're blushing red as a tomato. Now," her gaze was firm. "Who is it? Do I know her? Or him, I don't know. I'm not discriminative."

My mind was racing. Part of me just wanted to let loose and tell her...that it was her. Another part of me was wondering why in the world she was so persistent on knowing, and the last part of me was the part that won. Let's see if she can guess.

"Um...It's a girl...and, yes...I guess you do know her." I said slowly, setting down my pencil. I could tell we wouldn't be studying much.

Her eyes brightened. "Ooh! Is it one of my friends?"

How do I answer that? "Um...sure."

"What does she look like?"

Oh, boy. Well, if I'm lucky her cluelessness will take over and she won't know. "Uh...she's relatively short...blonde...and she's really smart and nice."

Zelda seemed to be thinking it over. Dear Goddesses! I wanted to yell. It's YOU for Din's sake!

"Hm...well, I'm not sure actually. That could be anyone. I know a lot of short, blonde, smart and nice girls." she answered after a minute or two. I sighed, relieved.

But then, she smiled devilishly. "But I'll find out. Someday. Anyway, we need to work on these verbs! You haven't gotten a single one right!"

I nodded. "Alright, Zel."

She looked at me curiously. "'Zel'?

"...Da. Zelda." I corrected, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry,"

She smiled. "No...I kind of like it. Zel. I wonder if it'll catch on."

We then launched into action. By that, I mean she launched into action, circling the wrong answers and asking me to correct them with red pen.

"See, when you have a verb with a vowel sound following, you have to write the character like this," she explained, leaning over me to write the correct answer on my paper.

"Yeah. Okay." I said. "I think I got it."

Zelda smiled. "Good. Now, correct the rest of them while I see your latest test."

I groaned silently. I'd bombed that test. If there was such grade as an F-, I'd probably gotten it.

When Mr. Lightte had passed it back, I didn't even bother checking the grade. It was just too painful.

I pretended to work on verbs while using my peripheral vision to study Zelda's reaction to my test grade.

For some reason, though, she wasn't grimacing like I expected. In fact, she was...smiling?

Probably at my stupidity, I thought. There was no way I'd gotten a good grade.

"Link, great job!" she exclaimed, patting my shoulder. Her blue eyes were glimmering with pride.

I raised an eyebrow, severely confused. Was she teasing me? "For getting an F?" I asked cautiously.

"What? No! Did you even see this test grade?" She held up the paper. At the top, in bright, red ink was the letter 'B'.

My head exploded.

"I got...I got a B?" I almost yelled. "Are you sure that's my paper, Zelda?"

Sure enough, the messy words "Link Smith" were at the top right-hand corner of the paper.

She nodded excitedly. "Yes! And that's not even the best part, Link! According to my calculations, your grade should go up to at least a C- if you keep up this new streak!"

Yeah, don't have such high expectations, Princess. Wait. Why'd I just call her 'Princess'?

It was weird...like something in the back of my mind had urged me to refer to her as 'Princess'...Or maybe it was just her unbelievable good looks? Meh. Probably both.

Shaking it off, I smiled, truly grateful. "Of course, I couldn't have gotten a grade like this if it wasn't for you, Zelda. Thank you."

She blushed at this. Or was that just my imagination? "N-no problem, Link. I'm here to help."

We sat in an awkward silence for a few moments after she told me to continue with my verbs while she looked over my test.

A bit later, I noticed Zelda had a troubled look on her face. I gulped. Was it something I said?

"...You okay, Zelda?" I asked, setting down my papers.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. It's nothing." she said, shaking her head.

"You sure? You seem a little...distracted. Usually you're so focused on my stupid mistakes." I said, trying to lighten her up.

She cracked a small laugh. "Yeah...well. I don't know, it's just that...I feel like something's not...right. You know, like...something's a bit off about the school today..."

I tilted my head. "How so?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Don't listen to me. I'm just tired, as all." she smiled. "Now, quit worrying about me and get to work!"

I laughed. "All right, all right, Sensei."

I expected her to at least smile at what I called her, but she didn't. Instead, her eyes became downcast and her smiley expression was pure seriousness.

Just as I was about to say something, the announcement system went off. I felt a strange chill up my spine, even before we heard the frantic voice of Vice Principal Sahasrahla.

"STUDENTS AND TEACHERS. ALERT, ALERT! THERE IS AN INTRUDER IN OUR TOWN HOLDING DANGEROUS ITEMS. HE MAY BE APPROACHING OUR SCHOOL. CODE RED. PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND BEGIN LOCKDOWN PROCEDURES. THIS IS NOT A DRILL. OVER."

Zelda and I whipped our faces toward each other.

She was breathing heavily. "Link...what do we do? Our classes...they're on the other side of the school! We can't just stay here alone! Oh, my goddesses...I'm so scared, what do we do?!"

I honestly didn't know what to make of the situation. I'd never, ever seen Zelda freaking out the way she was now. She was always so calm and collected. I was the worrisome one.

The only thing I could think of doing was placing a hand on her shoulder and whispering the words, "It'll be okay."

She blinked, and her pretty blue eyes were close to tears. "Link..."

"Look, we're in a bad situation. But our teachers know that we're out tutoring and they'll send someone to get us soon, I'm sure. Just don't worry."

She nodded through her tears. "I-I guess so..."

I offered a weak smile. "Come on, let's go hide."

I could tell she was too shocked to do much movement, so I gently took her hand and led her to the counter, where I had her kneel down and go under. Then, I quickly closed all the windows and locked the door, making sure to double-check the lock.

After I was satisfied with the lockdown procedures the teachers had drilled us through many times before, I took a deep breath and slipped beneath the counter next to Zelda.

I could feel her trembling next to me. Furrowing my brow, I started, "Zelda..."

"This is what I was talking about, Link." she whispered. "Something just seemed off today...I just didn't think it'd be this bad..."

"We'll be fine. I promise." I found myself saying. "And hey, if anything happens, I'm here to protect you."

Zelda looked at me. Any other time I'd probably blush at the fact that we were sitting so close to each other and she was looking right at me. But this time, her eyes were filled with a deep sadness and fear that I couldn't quite comprehend. But then, she did something that did make me blush.

She hugged me.

"Zelda!" I exclaimed silently, truly shocked. Happy, but shocked.

She burried her face into my shoulder and I could hear her soft sobs.

After my mind processed what was happening, I hugged her back gingerly.

"I'm sorry," Zelda said after a bit, letting me go. "It's just that...I don't know. When I look at you, I feel like I've known you all my life...maybe even in a previous life...Something just made me want to hug you..."

That's kind of like when something made me call you 'Princess'...I blinked several times before answering, "It's all right, Zelda."

She finally smiled. "Now that I'm here next to you, I actually do feel safe. Maybe you're right. I think we'll be okay."

I smiled back. "I know we will."

My mind relaxed at her smile and we sat in silence for several long minutes.

I found myself wondering about Aryll. She'd be in her own 3rd period, which was History. She'd be sitting next to her friends under the desks, probably not as scared as I thought she would be. Aryll's a brave girl. I knew she'd be okay.

Grandma would be at home, knitting, reading, or something Grandma-y like that. She'd be making her overly-early preparations for dinner and Aryll's piano lesson later. But...at this rate...would Aryll even be going to piano today?

No, I snapped at myself. It's going to be okay. Aryll's gonna go to piano. Zelda and I are going to get out of here. It's okay. It's okay.

But the more I kept telling myself that, the more I had trouble believing it.

Thanks for giving this a chance! Please leave a review letting me know your thoughts!