Link lay awake in his bed, he closed his eyes but every time he would soon see Zelda sitting there crying, not from physical pain but emotional. He pushed his blanket aside he wanted to scream and storm around to release his anger. He couldn't yell at Samus or Peach, not yet at least since he didn't have any proof that the two were the ones who had hurt Zelda. He could have made a false accusation and that would have only made him angrier, and it wouldn't ease Zelda's pain, he knew that no act of violence would ease it. He paced around his room eventually he grabbed his sword and left his room, it was still late at night but he needed to get his anger out a bit. He didn't care if he got in trouble or not, as long as he didn't wake anyone up he would be safe. No smasher was allowed outside after 11:00 so he walked to the practice room and began to swing his sword. He made different moves, spun swung left then right. Jumped, thrust, everything he had learned even pulling out special moves. His frustration lowered a bit but it wasn't enough, he returned his sword to its sheath and sat down.
What had happened between them? Link had had times when he was sure to expect Zelda to cry, but not once had he ever seen the Princess shed a tear. Even at her own failure to protect Hyrule, she had shown how ashamed and disappointed at herself she was but not a tear. She showed determination and faith that all would be well again. When she had left her father and kingdom to be with the smashers she was sad but not a tear. Her first injury in battle, her first loss, not once had he seen the girl cry. It practically killed him inside that he didn't know what to do, he took in a deep breath then released it, he repeated it two more times before standing up. He would take his frustration out on the practice match with Roy tomorrow. As he walked back towards the hall he decided to make a quick stop at the kitchen where he grabbed an apple, the workout had made him hungry. Link took a bite and walked through the hallways and eventually reached the main area that would turn towards his hall. Something was going to happen, he could feel it inside of him; he took another bite of the apple.
Zelda opened her eyes to the sound of knocking on her door "hey Zel, want to come and check out the preliminary list with me?" Links voice called out through the door.
Zelda quickly sat up and down at herself "just a moment Link" she called and rushed over to change her clothes and get ready.
After a few more moments Zelda emerged from her room and saw Link standing there waiting patiently. "Want to have breakfast first or the preliminary list?" he asked her standing up amazed at how she had cleaned herself up from last night but he wondered what her reaction would be when she saw Peach or Samus.
Zelda had brushed her hair and teeth as well as taken a quick shower. Each smasher had been given their own bathroom after Master Hand had heard enough complaints about how long the smashers would have to wait. He had resorted to just instead of making the bathrooms larger so each smasher could go faster but had merely given an addition to their rooms. Link would always wait for her no matter how long she took but she always tried to do it quickly so she wouldn't make him wait to long. "Breakfast sounds good, if Roy hasn't eaten yet we can always eat with him," Zelda said.
Link nodded "he's in the cafeteria now, I left a few moments ago."
"Oh so did you already eat then?" Zelda asked.
"No, I decided I'd wait for you" Link told her, "if he's still eating I'll bet he's aiming for seconds."
Zelda smiled and nodded and the two headed for the cafeteria. The line was long but it wasn't unusual, Zelda and Link had split for a moment. Link was going to see if Roy was still there while Zelda could keep their place in line. She slowly took a few steps forward, "I wonder who I'll be against in the preliminaries" she said to herself thoughtfully. She ran a list of the smashers in her head trying to take a guess at who she wanted to face and who she would face.
"Thinking of something?" Links voice broke through her thoughts, "Roy is finishing up he's with Peach. Do you want to sit somewhere else?" he asked slightly concerned.
Zelda looked at Link and frowned remembering what Peach had said earlier. She had been pushed away from Peach and Samus, they didn't want her around them anymore but they hadn't mentioned anything about Roy. All she needed to do was just ignore contact with Peach "no, why would you think that?" she asked. The last thing Zelda wanted was for Link to worry about her and her fight. "Besides, looking at the tables I don't think we can be to choosey" she said pointing at the full tables of smashers eating.
"Hard to believe that it's already time for the preliminaries" Link said with a stretch as he and Zelda finally reached the trays and began to board their plates with breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, and a bunch of other food were all laid out for the smasher crew. Link and Zelda reached out and took plates of food and scooping up other things to eat, each grabbed a bottle of milk at the end of the table before heading in the direction of where Roy and Peach sat. "I told Roy to wait for us," Link said as they walked among the smasher tables reaching the one where Roy and Peach sat at. "Hey Roy" Link greeted Roy cheerfully receiving a nod in return as the boy had a piece of toast in his mouth.
"Good Morning Roy," Zelda said she caught herself before she greeted Peach as she had always done in the morning. Peach shot her a glare. She placed her plate down and pulled out her chair.
"Good morning Link" Peach greeted with a smile but her eyes were cold towards Zelda. "Princess Zelda" she said in her high voice, "was my statement towards you last night unclear?" she asked noticing Roy looking at her confused. Peach shot a glare at the Hylain Princess before taking her spoon and gently bringing it up to her mouth she continued to quietly eat her porage.
Link looked at Peach so his assumption about her had been right, Peach and Samus were the ones that had hurt Zelda. "Peach" Link said, "what did you and Samus say to Zelda last night?" he asked.
"No Link, don't mind," Zelda said, "yes things were understandable however Roy is also a friend of mine and is sitting here. I may not have been invited to eat with you but Roy is an entirely separate matter and I won't allow you to use him as an excuse not to eat here" Zelda looked at Peach. Her eyes were clear, not cold or filled with anger. The eyes that belonged to the Princess of Hyrule, clear and strong; ones that gave no regret or take back of her words.
Roy leaned over "did something happen between Peach and Zelda?" he asked Link.
Link looked at the girls, "not sure" he replied just as quietly.
"Well anyway girls, lets just eat and enjoy breakfast before checking the prelim list" Roy said finishing his toast.
Peach finished her cereal and saw a shadow above her, she looked up and saw Samus standing there in her blue suit. "Excuse me, but may I borrow Roy for a moment?" she asked before looking over at Zelda, the Princess looked back at her and Samus frowned.
"Hurry up and finish so we can check, I'll be right back" Roy said as he stood up and Samus led him to the opposite side of the cafeteria.
"So what'd you need to borrow me for?" Roy asked Samus.
"It's about Zelda" Samus said looking at him.
"Yeah, and what about her?" Roy asked placing his hands behind his head.
"I want you to denounce your friendship," Samus said, "or anything that might make her sad or hate you."
"What, why the heck would I do that?" Roy asked in shock, "besides Link would kill me if I hurt Zelda, and I'm not ready to die just yet."
"You need to Roy, that's why Peach and I have been so rude to Zelda. You can tell can't you, not all of her power has been drawn out" Samus said.
"So you think that hurting her would help? That would only devastate her, do you honestly think I would do that?" he asked.
Samus sighed, "Peach and I have already warned her and are aiming to keep her away. She really only needs Link, he's really the only one she trusts the most" Samus looked at the table where the two sat chatting about something.
"I don't want to hurt her, but Peach and I want her to be able to fight this year" Samus said.
"So you are saying that you want to make your opponent stronger, and you want me to help?" Roy asked, "I thought you were smarter then that Samus" he said and turned around.
Samus grabbed his shoulder and forced him to look at her "listen Roy, Peach and I are dying when we yell at her, we don't want to hurt her."
"Just tell me one thing Samus, the tournament is on its way. Why of all times now do you want me to help you get Zelda to become stronger if that's even if you want" Roy said looking at the girl.
"You spar with Link that makes him stronger" Samus said.
"Yes, but sparing makes me stronger as well, just ignoring and hurting someone is different" Roy replied.
After a moment neither said a word, "Peach and I…we want Zelda to be the strongest she can be. Even so, do you want to fight an opponent that is holding back, even if you know they don't know it?" Samus looked at Roy, "if you want to fight someone strong then you will help."
Roy looked at her, before heading back to the table where the other three sat waiting for him "are you three ready to check out the list?" he asked.
"Alright, let's go see who we get to knock out first" Link said as the group stood up and left heading towards the main hall to check out the preliminary list. "What a line-up" Link said surprised, "awesome I'll be up against Ness" he said with a smile.
Samus frowned at least he'll be gone she thought knowing Link would obviously win against him. "Hmmm looks like I'll be against Yoshi" she said.
Peach smiled as she placed her hands together "I'll be facing Mario" she looked over at the plumber who was also looking at the list.
Roy was up against Fox, and Zelda was facing Pikachu "interesting line-up" Roy said inspecting all the others. "So Link, ready for our training session?" he asked smirking.
Link looked over at Zelda who nodded her head "alright" the two boys nodded their heads "stop by the courtyard later Zel, you can see some pre-action" he called with a laugh before the boys disappeared amid the crowd of smashers.
"I will" Zelda said waving before she was alone once again. She looked around, the first thought that came to mind was to talk to Peach and Samus about the line ups but she remembered they no longer wanted to be friends with her so she pushed through the crowd and headed towards the stairs. "A game sounds like fun" she said to herself, "I haven't really played in the game room for awhile" she passed Samus as she reached the stairway.
"Princess" Samus said quietly turning her head only the slightest just to see if Zelda wasn't breaking.
Zelda said nothing and headed up the stairway.
"Samus," Peach said rushing over to Samus after Zelda walked past her, "I don't like treating Zelda like this. She sat at the same table as me because of Roy and Link, and it was hard not to talk with her, especially about the tournament."
"I spoke with Roy but I wonder if I got through to him, he wants to fight strong opponents but he doesn't seem to want to help Zelda; but we may need to both approach him in a different manner to make him understand" Samus replied, "even so the only person we really need to worry about is Link."
"But you and I both know that Link would never hurt Zelda," Peach reminded Samus once again, "I don't want to do this anymore Samus, even if Zelda doesn't fight to her fullest in the tournament it most likely won't matter. Zelda has never really cared about winning, I mean sure every year she tells us how much she wants to win but she has never minded if she loses." Peach looked at Samus, "I want to make up with her, tell her everything" the mushroom Princess looked at the bounty hunter.
"You can quit if you want Peach," Samus said, "but I want Zelda to finally get that power released, I want her to fight with all that she has this time."
"Same here but…I don't want to go to far, if we break her she won't even end up competing and all will have been for nothing" Peach said, "I'd rather Zelda fight with what she has now rather than hurting her anymore." Samus turned so her back was facing Peach; the girl closed her eyes and remained silent.
Zelda watched as Link and Roy both slashed and struck fighting to get ready for the prelims. After a few moments she held up her hand "Roy wins" she called when Roy had his sword against a swordless Link.
Link walked over and picked up his sword and Roy sheathed his. "Not bad," the blond said looking at Roy.
"You expected otherwise?" Roy said with a laugh.
Zelda watched the two and for some reason while they joked and talked as they got ready for the second round Zelda thought of her and Peach laughing and joking. Zelda pulling out of her usual calm and refined character for only a few seconds, to cheer with her friends loud and proud. She was pulled back to reality when she heard Roy and Link point out different angles to try. "Ready?" she asked calmly as she looked at the two swordsmen.
"Start the second round Princess Zelda" Roy said with a smile.
"Alright," Zelda raised her arm and paused looking at the faces of the two before bringing it down swiftly as she released a loud "begin!"