Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story.
Zelda woke up in her bed the next morning, stretching. "Mmm… wonder what that was about last night." She wondered before getting up and got herself dressed, then looked outside and noticing it was overcast outside. "Oh, looks like it's going to rain." She said and then walked out of her room to get the newspaper on the front porch before she went to make herself some breakfast.
She opened the door and bent down to grab the paper, humming to herself and then walking back in, closing the door behind her as she went to make some breakfast and noticed that she was by herself again, which was no big deal to her. Her father worked at the bank and her mother is a nurse at the Hyrule Senior Retirement Home. They usually left right before the paper got there, so it was usually Zelda's job to get the paper. She sat down at the table and began to eat while reading the paper, and read the headline that nearly made her choke on her toast, making her cough. "Wh-what?!"
"King Rhoam Hyrule Murdered at Temple of Time Last Night." The column read as Zelda read it thoroughly. She looked like she'd seen a ghost. King Rhoam had been murdered? Who would murder such a benevolent king that everyone adored? This had to be a joke, right?
"Link… does he know?" Zelda wondered as she got up, downing her orange juice before hurrying out of the house, but not before going to the Temple of Time to make sure she wasn't reading things wrong, and she saw a large crowd had already gathered around the crime scene where guards were holding them back. "What's going on?" She asked.
"There's been a murder here last night. No one knows who did it." The guard replied.
"Who was murdered?" She then asked, hoping that the answer wasn't true.
The guard said nothing, but turned his head. "I imagine you read the paper?"
"Yes."
"It's true." He said and moved to the side to see them covering up Rhoam.
"Wh-what?!" Zelda put her hands over her mouth in shock. "Who… who would do this?!"
Link found himself sitting on the edge of his own bed, looking like he's seen a Poe. "Did I just kill my own father…?" He asked, wondering if what had transpired yesterday actually did happen. Did he actually do it? Was it all just a dream? There's no way he could have done it. It was most likely just a nightmare and today was the actual day of his test!
He looked at his wrist, and then saw the Triforce of Power on it, his eyes widening in shock. It felt like such a blur…
"Oh Hylia… I actually did it." He quietly said, flashing back to what happened after he killed his father. He had gotten into the castle without saying a word to everyone, having the bloodied sword in his sheath and then went to bed and not said a word. He wondered why he didn't do a killing spree at that moment.
He heard the sounds of screaming and wailing right after… it sounded like his mother had just found out, and then now his sister was crying too. He could hear the both of them in the hallways.
It irritated him to no end… it must be stopped.
He then heard his door opening up to see his mother approaching him, with tears staining her cheeks. "Link… there's been a tragedy… your father is dead!"
So it was true. Link thought to himself. "When did this happen?"
"Late last night. Link… you didn't kill him, did you?"
"No."
"That's good." She smiled and then hugged him. "We must go to the cemetery at once."
"Right." Link nodded as the Queen walked away, while Link stood there and clenched his fists, then having a mad grin on his face. "Well now… let's have a funeral, shall we?" He smirked.
About a few hours later, Zelda was within the large crowd at the cemetery, watching the beloved king being lowered into the grave while their own pastor said a few words about the king. She saw Link near the Queen, but she could tell something was off about him. Everyone looked sad but Link looked indifferent. Had the king's harsh words to him affected him that much and he's still angry about it? No… of course not, he would never hold a grudge, she knew her best friend. Is this how he coped with loss?
Once the funeral was over, Zelda approached the prince while Dampe proceeded to bury the good king. "Link?"
Link looked at Zelda for a few seconds before looking back down to the grave. "Zelda." He said, hiding the venom in his voice.
"Are you okay? It must be hard losing a family member. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Yeah, it sure is…" Link quietly said.
"Do you… want to talk about it?"
"No." He said and looked away. "It feels surreal that he's dead."
Zelda looked at him in concern. His tone of voice didn't match the look in his eyes. Something was really off, she could just tell.
"Link, you can tell me. You usually do." Zelda said. "Is there something you're not telling me?"
Link said nothing and looked up to the sky. "There's a change in the air, Zelda… and we all need to be ready for it."
"Huh? Link… what are you saying? You're acting really weird."
Link turned to her, this time showing off a hateful look. "Leave me alone, woman." He said spitefully and walked off,, leaving a shocked Zelda alone.
"Wh-where did that come from?" Zelda wondered, taken aback by how he treated her.
"People handle grief in their own ways. I'd take what he said with a grain of salt." Dampe said.
Zelda looked at Link leaving. "Link… I hope you'll be okay." She whispered and walked away, but not before putting her hands together. "Gods, please watch over their family over this trial that has happened to them." She prayed and then walked off.
Later that night, Link sat on his bed and with a deep breath, he stood up. It was time.
He grabbed his sword and sheathed it, then walked over to his mother's room and opened the door. "Mother?" He called out, but saw no one in the bedroom. "Hmm?" He closed the doors and turned to a guard walking by. "Excuse me, have you seen my mother around?"
"She's in her study."
"Thank you." He nodded and walked off as the guard walked by, but then stopped and turned to see the sheath on Link's back. He found it a bit odd but he shrugged it off. Maybe the prince was going to let the queen know he was off to go find his father's killer.
Link walked up to the study and opened up the door. "Mother?" He called out.
"Out here, Link."
Link followed the source of the voice and found that she was out in the balcony drinking some wine. He walked out and saw her leaning on a railing, looking out toward the kingdom. "Everything okay, mother?"
The queen turned around. "No… your father is dead and I'm resorting to drinking. Typical." She muttered.
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. We'll get through this together." She said and then hugged Link. "We have to stay strong." She whispered and then felt something on his back. "Honey, what's with the scabbard on your back?"
"I'm planning on going out and avenging our king."
The queen smiled. "Oh, honey… avenging doesn't suit you." She said and then turned around. "Believe me, darling… I know you enough that you wouldn't want to harm a soul." She took a sip of her wine and looked at the stars. "Still, we have to move forward."
"Yes, we do." Link said, slowly reaching for his sword's hilt.
Zelda walked over to the castle, having baked a cake for the royal family and was carrying it over. "Oh, I hope this will lift their spirits up." She said and then looked up to see the queen over the balcony. "Oh, the queen is out tonight?" She asked and thought it would be best to get her attention. "Hey! Your majesty! I'm bringing you a cake!" She called out to the queen… and suddenly, the queen fell limp on the balcony… before she fell to the ground, landing with a thud in front of her.
Zelda stared at the Queen's body in shock, before her eyes widened in horror and then let out a blood curdling scream and dropped the cake, splattering it all over the ground. "OH MY GODS!" She screamed, unaware of Link hearing Zelda's screaming.
"Tch, let her scream." Link said and then started to walk away.
"Hey mother~!"
Link's eyes widened. Her.
"I was wondering if-" Aryll stopped to look at Link. "Bro? Where's mom?"
"She stepped out for a bit."
"Huh? What do you-" Aryll saw the blood dripping from the tip of Link's sword. "Why is your sword-" Her eyes widened. "No… NO! You didn't! You killed mother, didn't you?!" Link looked at her and said nothing, his dark expression saying it all. "You did! And you killed father too! Why?!"
"It's so I can become king of Hyrule, not you! It's so I can sit in the throne!"
"What do you mean by that?! I can rule Hyrule far better than some tyrant!"
Link glared at her. "Oh, is that right?" He asked and then walked to her.
"Wh-what are you doing?! Get away from me, you psycho!" She shouted, but then Link grabbed Aryll's wrist. "Let go! LET GO OF ME!" She screamed, and then Link smirked and then put his sword to him and sliced his chest, making it bleed.
"AAAGH!" Link screamed in pain before handing the sword over to Aryll's hand, before using his blood to smear it on Aryll's cheek.
"What- what are you…?!" Aryll demanded to know as Link held on to his chest while sitting on the floor.
A guard came in a panic. "Link! Aryll! Your mother has been-… what in Hylia's name?!"
"It-It's not what it looks like!" Aryll exclaimed.
"It… it's horrible… I had found out Aryll killed father and was plotting to kill mother next. I tried to stop her but it was too late…" Link winced. "I tried to reason with her but she hit me with that dumb sword… she's plotting on taking over the throne!"
"Sweet little Aryll… how could you do such a thing?" The guard asked in horror.
"No! No, it's not what it looks like! He's lying!"
"Link, we're going to have to take you to the infirmary to patch you up. Aryll… I'm afraid you'll have to come with me."
"No! You don't understand! Link did all this!"
"Link would not do something this horrendous. He's a far better ruler than you." The guard snarled and then grabbed Aryll, dropping the sword. "Come on, we are out of here. We are going to put you in a special room for a very long time… and it's not going to be in the castle!"
"NO! LINK, HOW COULD YOU?! I THOUGHT WE WERE FAMILY!" Aryll screamed, but it fell on deaf ears as her screams faded away while another guard came in and pulled Link to the side.
"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." He said.
"R-right." Link winced with a nod. It had occurred to him that he should've sliced his arm up instead, but what's done is done.
Just outside, a few guards were trying to console Zelda from the horrifying scene that had just happened, when one guard heard Aryll screaming from the doors. "What's going on? Why is Princess Aryll screaming?"
"She's plotting on overthrowing everything and taking over the throne." A guard explained. "She killed her parents and almost killed Link."
"NO! IT'S NOT TRUE!" Aryll screamed.
"What?!" The other guard exclaimed. "Sweet little Aryll? But she wouldn't hurt a fly… especially when one of her friends is that so-called bug queen."
"Looks can be deceiving." The first one muttered. "Take her away to the cells."
"Yes sir!" The other saluted and the two of them took Aryll away, with her kicking and screaming while Zelda had snapped out of her daze and looked at Aryll.
"Sweet little Aryll did all this?" Zelda wondered in shock. A sweet girl such as Aryll killing her parents in cold blood? No… that doesn't make any sense. Aryll wouldn't do such a horrid thing!
Zelda clenched her fists. She was going to get to the bottom of this.
I was going to post this chapter after playing around with Joker in Smash tonight, but apparently, I can't do THAT thanks to the dumb server errors!
So instead of me explaining my thoughts on Joker's play style, i'm just gonna ask this instead:
To those who actually HAVE Joker, how is he? I think i'll have to wait 'till morning. (And posting my thoughts on Touhou Galaxy too.)