Hey Guys and Girls! This is my first one-shot, and my first Zelink. I am really happy with how this story turned out!
Disclaimer: I own nothing, NOTHING, if i did Zelda and Link would have been together since the very first game :P
Another Disclaimer: If you like Ilia.. you may not want to read this
My name is. . .
Zelda stood at her bus stop, umbrella in hand. The rain pattered down in soft, continuous treads, casting a hazy glow to the world around her. She smiled to herself and lifted her hand to catch the water as it whizzed to the ground. She reminisced about how her mother had cried as she watched Zelda walk down her street to her stop. That was because she was starting middle-school today, her first day in 7th Grade!
She tipped her hand over and watched the small puddle trickle to the ground in a disorderly fashion and wiped the excess off on her skirt. She was now attending Hyrule's finest public school, since private schools were a little out of her family's price range at the moment. It was named the Golden Goddesses Middle-school, and, in four more years, Zelda would be attending the Golden Goddesses High school as a 9th grader. She couldn't wait!
The bus pulled up to her stop indolently, its lights flashing red and yellow as the stop sign extended, allowing Zelda to cross the street safely. Zelda proceeded, following the older kids (high school students and middle school students rode the same bus) to the big yellow tank.
Suddenly, Zelda's foot slipped and she felt the world move out from underneath her. Somehow, her foot has slipped on a puddle, and as she saw herself fall back she twisted and put her hands out, so as to land in a safer fashion. Quicker than she could blink, a hand flew out and caught her, preventing her from landing painfully on the cold, wet asphalt.
She looked up at her hero and instantly was locked in on by crystal blue eyes that were staring intently at her. A boy with dirty blonde hair in a green v-neck with a nice, young build was holding her waist, steadying her.
"Are you all right?" The boy asked, helping Zelda to her feet.
"Yes, uh, I'm fine." Zelda couldn't help gazing into his blue eyes, they were so pretty. She brushed her golden blonde hair behind her ear and began to ask his name when the bus driver honked her horn loudly, obviously peeved. The boy smiled again and walked hurriedly past her to the bus, Zelda following close behind.
When Zelda got on, she quickly chose a random seat in the front next to some kid with an Afro wearing what looked like a bird nest hat. She turned and watched her hero make his way to the back, where his friends were waiting, waving him urgently over. One of them patted him roughly on the back and joked loudly,
"Ahah! No wonder you're such a ladies man, Link!" The boy, (Who had very black hair and eyes) laughed again, jollier this time. Link blushed and looked in Zelda's direction. Her eyes met his for a few moments, and she turned away quickly, her face flushed red and her heart pounding.
So my hero's name is Link? She thought, so handsome…
Zelda's first day was a blur, going from class to class in what felt like seconds, until finally it was lunch time. She walked down to the cafeteria with her three best friends: Saria, Midna and Malon. Midna and Malon both had reddish hair, but Midna's was more of an orange red. On the other hand, Saria's hair was forest green which contrasted greatly with Zelda's golden blonde locks. When walking in a line, they drew many heads in their vibrant, colorful fashion. They chatted excitedly about their days as they entered the lunch line, grabbing their trays. Midna, the sarcastic comedian in the group, was entertaining them with a tale about how the class delinquent, Mido, had already gotten detention by pulling a chair out from under her history teacher when Zelda spotted Link. He was in the back of the sandwich line, and she rushed over to join him, her friends following in suit. He looked over when she came up next to him and gave her a cute half smile. She returned the favor, blushing slightly.
"Hey, you're from this morning right?" Link began. He was just trying to start a conversation, there was no way he would forget the violet eyed beauty that made him catch his breath every time he saw her. He had cursed himself throughout the day for not asking for the girl's name and was deeply overjoyed to see she was in his lunch.
"Yeah…" Zelda answered, "I wanted to thank you earlier, but the bus interrupted me. You're Link right?"
He nodded, smirking, "Yes, how'd you know?"
Zelda's face turned bright red, and she began to fiddle with her empty tray. "I, uh, overheard you and your, uh, friends talking on the bus." She stammered, trying hard to be nonchalant.
He laughed, "Did you now? Sadly, I did no such thing, so I never learned your name. Could you please tell me?"
Zelda laughed, he had such great vocabulary, and was about to answer his request when the lunch lady barked, "NEXT!" and Link diverted his attention to tell the woman his order. when he received his sandwich, he stepped away to wait for Zelda while she did the same.
Suddenly, Zelda heard a loud, excited, female, voice boom, "LINK!" and over bounded a girl with highlighted brown hair pulled into a swishing braid. She hugged him tightly, almost squeezing his eyes out.
"H…Hi… Ilia…" He choked. Zelda stared at the scene unfolding, but was brought back to reality when the lunch lady handed her the bagel with turkey and lettuce. When she turned towards Link again, he was having a friendly conversation about what he was doing over the weekend with the brown haired girl.
She still hadn't told him her name.
She shrugged it off and went to grab a salad and a water bottle, then headed to the cashier. She took out a blue rupee, paid for her meal, and went to the lunch table she and her friends had picked out earlier.
As Midna, Malon, and Saria came over after paying for their lunches, they gave her inquisitive looks. Malon, the Romantic of the group, folded her hands under her chin, and grinned at Zelda, stars in her green eyes.
"Sooo… Who was that?" She asked in a singsong voice.
"Nobody." Zelda muttered, stabbing her fork into her salad. She lifted the saturated vegetable to her mouth, chewing it slowly.
Malon rolled her eyes, "Oh come on Zel! Obviously, he's not 'nobody', you struck up a conversation with him! You never do that with guys!"
Malon was right, of course. Zelda never really wanted anything to do with guys after one of them (named Ganondorf) had bullied her throughout 5th grade. To her relief, he was expelled in the beginning of 6th grade, and she hasn't seen him since.
"Oh, please tell us Zelda! He was rather cute, and your face was as red as a tomato! Is he in one of your classes?" pressed Saria, who was the soft-spoken "pet" of the little clique. Zelda shook her head, finally giving in. She told them about their encounter that morning, how Link had stopped her from falling into the puddle of water.
Her friends exchanged mischievous glances, each of them grinning hylian ear to hylian ear. Midna scooted her chair closer, her fiery orange pigtails swishing wildly underneath her black hood.
"So," she began, grinning evilly, "Do you find him sexy?" The question caught Zelda off guard and she almost choked on her drink. She sat there, coughing, with Saria gently patting her back to help.
"Mi-Midna! We're in 7th Grade!" Zelda stuttered. "Besides, I don't even know that much about him. So far I only know his name."
Malon frowned, " Zel! You mustn't keep him so far away! He may be taken by some other girl before you make your move! He's not ugly you know, in fact, he's quite handsome."
Zelda shrugged, standing up to clean off her tray. Her friends followed, and when they returned, they were surprised to see Link was waiting at the table. He looked up when they came over.
"Oh! Um… hi, Link." Zelda began as they took their seats.
He smiled calmly, "I apologize about before, Ilia's my… Childhood companion. She can be over protective sometimes, I guess."
Zelda gaped at him, he had such good vocabulary! There was no way Link was in 7th grade.
"What grade are you in?|" Zelda blurted. Link blinked in surprise.
"Haha, I'm in 8th grade."
Well, that explained it. There was no way this boy would pay any attention to Zelda, since he was almost 2yrs older than her!
She smiled tensely, "Oh. I'm in 7th." She said weakly.
He smirked, "Oh really? I was wondering why I hadn't seen you on the bus before. So how were your first days in the middle school?" He asked, addressing the whole group.
"Wonderful!" The three girls sang, watching Zelda and Link converse. Zelda blushed and echoed their response. Link smiled brighter, and Zelda wondered if there was any way for him to stop smiling, but it seemed unlikely. Zelda loved his smile; he had perfectly white teeth surrounded by pale rose lips that stretched into a beautiful thin line. His blue eyes twinkled and his dirty blonde hair glowed. Link cleared his throat awkwardly, and Zelda realized she had been staring.
"Oh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention." Link gave a reassuring nod, chuckling softly.
"It's alright. Anyway, I came over here to continue our conversation from-"
He didn't get to finish because at that moment the lunch bell rang. The bell was loud and obnoxious and didn't stop ringing for 30 seconds. And by the time it did stop, Link and Zelda had been separated by the wave of people exiting the cafeteria.
Dammit!
He wasn't on the bus. Zelda had no idea why either. When she had asked his friends from that morning, they just shrugged and kept walking.
Then the boy with black hair got on. When Zelda got an up close look at him, she realized that he looked incredibly similar to Link, a fact that stunned her.
Timidly, she asked him, "Uh… err, excuse me? Do you, um, know where Link is?"
The boy laughed, "Oh that guy? He's probably still inside the school with Ilia. They walk home together; I think they're in love. Sorry toots, but you still got me!" He winked and kept walking down the bus aisle.
What? When Link had spoken of Ilia before, he hadn't mentioned anything special about her, just that she was his childhood friend. Zelda sighed remorsefully as the bus got ready to leave the school.
When the bus reached her stop, the rain from earlier had begun to fall harder. She stepped off the bus and cursed under her breath as she struggled to open her umbrella. When she finally opened it, it splayed water droplets everywhere and splashed Zelda in the face.
"Just great." She muttered as she began the two block walk to her house. When she reached her street, she saw Link and Ilia at the other end. They were sharing an umbrella and holding hands, but it looked more like Ilia was grabbing Link's hand and him just letting her do so. Or maybe that was just Zelda's imagination. She paused and they continued their way toward her, not paying attention and chatting amiably.
When they got closer, Link looked up and spotted Zelda. His eyes widened and he quickly dropped Ilia's hand. Ilia stopped walking, Link leaving her behind with the umbrella, and looked quizzically at his back. She then realized she was getting wet (obviously not the brightest under the sun…) and ran to rejoin him.
Zelda sniffed with an indignant fashion and airily entered her house. She didn't care if Link was holding hands with some other girl, it's not like they were in a relationship or anything. Besides, all Zelda wanted to do was answer Link's question. That was it.
Or was it?
Maybe she was starting to fall for Link. She never acted the way she did around any other guy she knew of, it seemed her and Link just… clicked. She shook her head, there was no way! She had vowed she would never love beings such as men after what Ganondorf did to her, but maybe she had never taken the vow to heart? Or maybe Link just made her forget?
She dropped her books in her room and lay down on her bed and gazed at the ceiling. Painted on it was a mural of the heavens. It showed the sun rising in the East and the moon setting in the West. In the middle, the triforce was shown with each golden goddess holding her respective piece with clouds lazily strewn about around it on the deep blue background. The mural was supposed to give Zelda inspiration and hope, and she often found herself looking up to it when she needed to make a decision or didn't know where to turn. It was the sky that she reached to, instead of the blue mirage that was normally seen outside. She did this now, her arm outstretched as if to catch an imaginary hand in hers, and slowly fell into a deep sleep.
The school year went by quickly without much quarrel. Zelda found her studies easy and the teachers affable. However, she never saw Link much after the first day, since her and her friends schedules got switched around because of an error in the school system. She also didn't see him on the bus because she had permanent rides to school with Malon and her cousin, Ingo. Of course, Link still walked home with Ilia (since Zelda saw them from time to time), and Zelda had even heard a rumor that they had started dating a few months into the school year.
That bit of news had depressed Zelda, and she often stared at her ceiling, trying desperately to catch the imaginary person's hand, to no avail. She had no idea why she was so disheartened, she had only talked to him a few times, so why was she so sad? Even if she had a crush on him, it didn't make a whole lot of sense.
When she had asked Malon about it, she dreamily said, "That's love, darling. You found your soul mate!"
When she asked Midna, she just raised an eyebrow, "Isn't that what you call lust?"
Midna's response had annoyed Zelda. For her to think of Link as only a sexual magnet was impossible, especially for a girl her age!
"Get your head out of the gutter." She muttered and ran ahead to talk to Saria.
"Aren't you just jealous?" Saria said carefully, after being prompted with the same question. "I mean, Ilia and Link are such good friends, and you feel as though you were forgotten. It's only natural to think so."
Saria's answer cheered Zelda up immensely, and she smiled, giving her green haired friend a big hug.
Later that day, Zelda got on the bus to head home. She looked down the aisle and saw that Link too, had gotten on the bus and was sitting alone. Quickly, she went over to him, and as she approached, he glanced up, slightly surprised.
"Oh! It's you." He said after few moments of awkward silence.
"Y-yeah, um, can I sit here?" Zelda played with the bow in her hair nervously.
"Yeah, sure! Sorry if I seem out of it, I'm kind of down."
Zelda slid in next to him. She looked at him tenderly, not sure if he wanted to share his throes. Gaining courage straight from Farore herself, Zelda asked him what his problem was.
"No one knows about it yet, but Ilia and I are… in the middle of a quarrel. Apparently, she spread rumors about the two of us dating."
Zelda blinked in shock, "That was a rumor? Oh, I'm so sorry Link!"
He smiled lamely, "I'll be alright, but I feel kind of betrayed. Right now I'm really bummed." Zelda smiled sympathetically and took his hand. He looked at their linked* hands and smiled slightly.
She gave it a tender squeeze and said, "Well, if it's any consolation, I still consider myself your friend."
Link smiled gratefully, "Thank you, I appreciate that."
"No problem."
She squeezed his hand again and they rode the rest of the bus ride in silence. When their stop came, they broke their temporary union** and got off. As the bus pulled away, Zelda took a step towards her house.
"Wait." Link said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She turned slowly towards him, waiting expectantly.
"Yes, what is it?"
"Your name. School ends tomorrow and you have yet to tell me your name!"
Zelda blushed, her heart beating faster and faster, "Oh, yes. I'm sorry."
"That's alright, but I hate referring to you as 'the pretty girl down the street.' to my family. So, can you please tell me that seemingly confidential information?"
Zelda's face turned red, all the way to the tips of her elfish ears. She took a step closer, her violet eyes searching for confirmation in his blue orbs. When she found it, she slowly stood on her tip toes and…
Kissed him.
He tasted wonderful. It was like the mural on her ceiling, perfect harmony, and balance, inciting hope for the future. His smell was a mixture of earth and woods, a fresh, piney scent. His bangs tickled her nose as he moved to put his arm around her waist.
Slowly, and reluctantly, Zelda pulled away and whispered into his ear, "My name is Zelda Harkinian, my dear Link Avalon."
Link smiled wide and leaned in to kiss her again. It was then that Zelda realized whose hands she had been reaching for all this time; he was the boy who would carry her name.
Well? What do you think? I tried not to bore you or stretch it out, but i have a tendency of making short stories incredibly long, which seems kind of impossible haha. Anyway, I thought that younger Link and Zelda couples are rather rare, and most AUs centralize around high school or college life. So, i thought i would differentiate from the pack and give you Middle school story. My first idea was to make Zelda a 5th grader and Link a 7th grader, but that was to weird to read, so i changed it.
Key:
*"linked" haha, get it? it's a pun, lol
**"...broke their temporary union." In case you didn't understand what that meant, it just means they stopped holding hands ;)
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