O Spastic One: Hey, everyone! I'm alive! Sorry it took so long to update... Yeah... I hope you haven't lost interest or gotten bored (Wait... that's the same thing...) or lost faith in me. Tear.
ENJOY! You WILL enjoy it! Whether you want to or not!
Review please!
Chapter 2
Shadow Stalkers
Day: Tuesday
Zelda sighed, shutting her band locker, which served as her school locker on a regular basis. Monday had been a rather stressful, crazy day with Zelda fighting with her friends, running over people and the overall crazy of Sheik and Venex. Surprisingly her morning had been pretty normal, she had eaten half of her breakfast (Venex once again had eaten the other half) and made it to school early. Nayru had left the band room for the moment so the band room was completely empty except for Zelda and her thoughts.
Suddenly, the room went cold; a shiver ran down Zelda's spine, panic threw itself into Zelda's mind, making her blind for a moment, and her Triforce burned, sensing danger; darkness. Zelda wasn't alone after all. Zelda tried to slow her breath as the panic in her mind worsened. Something was there and it wanted to do her harm.
Something grabbed Zelda's arm, Zelda jumped with a slight scream, turning to see what was behind her. When she saw Malon jumping back in surprise, she felt really relieved and stupid at the same time.
"Geez, Zel! I just said hello," Malon said, covering her ears.
"Malon," Zelda said with a sigh of relief. The dark presence that had been present so strongly before sank back into hiding, the room seemed to heat up again, however, Zelda still felt as if it was still there, as if she was being watched. She looked around nervously, looking for the source, but saw nothing.
"Are you all right?" Malon asked, noticing Zelda's pale complexion. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Huh?" Zelda asked, looking back to her friend. "Oh, it's nothing…"
Malon looked over her friend uncertainly.
"Really, Malon," Zelda insisted. "I was off in la-la land and you startled me…That's all. You don't need to worry. I'm fine, really."
"Okay…" Malon said slowly still not convinced, but she let Zelda have her peace. That was one of the nice things about Malon, if something was bothering you she'd ask, but if you didn't want to talk about something she wouldn't push it; she knew if it was something she needed to know then her friends would tell her eventually.
"Hey, gals!" Ruto greeted chirpily.
"Good morning, Ruto," Malon said, putting her flute away and turning to face her friend. "You're unusually energetic this morning."
Ruto smiled and ran to meet up with her friends. "You won't believe it!" she exclaimed happily.
"Did Zoranor say hi to you again?" Malon asked smiling slightly. Zoranor was a Zora and Ruto's first crush. Whenever he so much as looked at Ruto she'd turn bright red and start giggling like crazy, but she always insisted that she didn't have a crush on him any more. However, all of her friends knew otherwise.
"Talk to me? No," Ruto said giggling. "He smiled at me this morning!"
As Ruto went on about how handsome Zoranor looked when he smiled the three girls gradually migrated out into the school hallways. Zelda tried to pay attention to Ruto's millionth he-smiled/looked/spoke Zoranor moment that month, but her mind wandered back to the presence she had sensed in the band room.
In all truth, there was something wrong. Zelda hadn't told anyone about it, but the dark presence she had felt in the band room had been pursuing her for an entire year now. It seemed that everywhere she went it followed and it was just waiting… for what Zelda didn't know, but whatever it was wasn't good. Zelda had simply thought that she was becoming paranoid and that she should just ignore it, but whenever she tried, her Triforce started freaking out.
And as if these feelings of unexplainable fear wasn't enough, she had started to have the strangest nightmares that always seemed to have the same boy in them, a blond Hylian boy somewhere around her age, dressed in a green tunic with brown gloves… wars and fighting always penetrated her dreams never giving her a moment of rest… and she had always woken up with her Triforce going nuts.
The only times she had ever managed to find a moment's peace from the impending doom that seemed to follow her and the strange recurring nightmares was when she played her ocarina, or even so much as looked at it for that matter. Whenever Zelda had a nightmare or she felt scared she played her band instrument. A bright happy, bouncy tune was her favorite one; she called it The Hero's Tune. It reminded her of knights on horseback; she felt safe, as if those knights and their horses were there to protect her; these feelings were very strong as if they were true, that somebody was really there just to take care of her, but Zelda knew there was no way a knight would be around to protect her nowadays.
Those instances when she played that song was the only time she had ever felt the darkness ever leave her alone, that and when…
Zelda's came to a sudden halt as realization whizzed through her mind like lightning. The dark presence had left the previous day… It had left her alone… But why? Zelda's mind spun like a whirlwind as her mind's clock spun back to the previous day. Nothing had happened out of the ordinary… Suddenly, a slight burning sensation swam through Zelda's right hand. Now Zelda's mind was working harder than it ever had before. Wait. Something had happened the other way that made the darkness leave… but what was it again?
"Zelda!" Ruto exclaimed, waving her hand in front of her friend's face. "Hello?"
An image flashed through Zelda's mind, but instantly faded as Ruto pulled her back to reality. "What?" Zelda asked a little frustrated that her answer had just slipped out of her grasp.
"Is something wrong?" Saria asked. (She had joined her friends as Ruto once again denied her feelings for Zoranor.)
"Huh?" Zelda asked trying to catch the image, but it was long gone. She sighed. "No, just thinking…"
Saria smiled. She didn't need to ask any more, she wasn't much of a talker in the first place.
Malon looked at her friend, concerned, but she still said nothing.
"Zel, are you okay?" Ilia asked, joining her friends behind Saria. "You seem kinda…I dunno, off."
"Guys, I'm fine. Just don't worry about it, okay?" Zelda snipped. "Listen, we need to get to class," she said as the three minute bell rang.
The girls all went their different directions, to their classes. Ilia and Malon followed Zelda closely, trying to figure out what was bothering their friend, but they didn't see anything that could be bothering her. Maybe it was something happening at home. They'd ask her in Kyler's class.
Class: English Period: 1B Teacher: Mr. Shad Kyler
Zelda sighed as she sank into her desk in Mr. Kyler's room. She'd always aced this class, and it actually bored her a bit. Mr. Kyler was awesome, but Zelda just didn't think the material was hard at all, considering she had the Triforce of Wisdom.
Before class started, she tried to think of the image that Ruto had made go away. What had happened out of the ordinary? She ran through her entire day, but couldn't remember. She remembered something had happened, but what was it?
The bell rang and the Twili from the day before ran in. Zelda gaped inside. "Really?" she thought. "How many classes do I have with this girl? She hates my guts, and we really got off on the wrong foot the other day!"
The only open desks were next to Zelda, Ilia, and Malon. So, either way, Midna would have to sit next to Zelda or one of her best friends. "And you are…?" Mr. Kyler asked, flipping through his roll.
"Midna Dawnshade. I'm new here," Midna said, looking around, trying to find an open desk.
"Yes, you can go and sit next to Miss Altari, over there," he said, pointing with the meter stick he always had in his hand when he taught class.
Midna saw who Miss Altari was and scowled at the Hylian as she sat down next to her. Midna seemed to hate Zelda with a passion for no apparent reason.
"Alright, class!" Mr. Kyler said, tapping the edge of his desk with the meter stick. "Today we're going to carry on reading in Romeo and Juliet. And if I hear any complaints this time, I'm going to give you all a ten-page essay assignment about what you got from what Shakespeare was saying throughout the play that will be due when we finish it." No one made a sound as they got out the Literature books and flipped to the play.
Zelda absentmindedly fingered the pages when she got to the page. She knew this play very well, because she'd studied it when she'd learned about Shakespeare. She'd always thought his sonnets and plays were beautiful, but all of them ended horribly, where someone dies.
Mr. Kyler handed out a worksheet about the language of Shakespeare. Zelda sighed. This was why she thought this class was boring. They only did stuff she knew how to do and excelled at. She'd signed up for the Honors English class, but only she and five other people had registered. There had to be twenty people to have the class.
Zelda breezed through the worksheet packet while the other students were trying to figure out what the heck some of the words meant. Midna, Malon and Ilia were some of the students struggling to comprehend the Shakespearian way of speaking. "Zelda…?" Malon asked.
"Yes, Malon. You too, Ilia. And Midna, if you need any help with this, you can come over, too," Zelda said, moving her desk next to her friends and leaving a space for Midna to move her desk.
"No! I get all this fine! I don't need any help!" Midna snapped. Zelda shrugged. She was only trying to be nice! Oh, well. Midna would probably just listen in anyways. She seemed like the type who wouldn't admit that she needed help but would take it when someone was helping someone else.
"Oh. If you get all this great, then do you want to come and help me explain this to Ilia and Malon?" Zelda asked innocently.
Midna's expression changed from one of pure hatred to surprise. Obviously she hadn't thought that all the way through. "I…I, um…That is…"
Zelda's eyes sparkled knowingly. "Come on. I could use your help."
Midna scooted her desk over, suspicion in her eyes. "I just want you to know, I'm not stupid. I just hate reading Shakespeare."
"Of course."
"Oh, I don't believe we've been introduced. I'm Ilia," Ilia said, offering her hand. "And that's Malon," she pointed to the red-haired girl who had her nose in the paper, trying to figure out Shakespeare.
"Midna," the Twili answered, turning to her paper. "Are we going to do this or not?"
"Yeah. So, look at the word bank," Zelda began. She helped her friends step-by-step, explaining it just the way they needed her to.
The worksheet took all period, as it was a three-page packet, front and back. It went a lot smoother than Zelda had thought it would go. She'd expected Midna to be cold and turn her back, but she was quite receptive, contrary to Zelda's first impression of her. She'd opened up a little bit and made some jokes with the Shakespearean language. She was actually really funny. Maybe she and Zelda could get along with each other after all.
"Alright, it's time to pack up," Mr. Kyler said three minutes before the bell rang.
As the four girls moved their desks back to the original places, Midna grabbed Zelda's arm. "I hope you're not thinking this makes us friends or anything like that," she growled. "I still hate your guts."
"Uh-huh," Zelda answered. "Okay. We're not friends at all."
Midna and Zelda stared each other in the eyes for a split second and then Midna broke the contact. "Thanks," she mumbled to the floor as she picked up her binder and junk.
"No problem," Zelda said happily.
She then realized something extraordinary. The darkness she'd felt in the band room wasn't there. Zelda tried to feel it to see if it was there, but it wasn't. She looked around, wondering what or who could be stopping it from bugging her. Her eyes rested on Midna, who was talking with Malon and Ilia. That made sense, Midna being a Twili and all. She could bend the darkness to her will, and Zelda was pretty sure that Midna scared darkness, even though that was her element. 'Well, she scares just about everyone else, I guess her element wouldn't be an exception.'
"What?" Midna asked through clenched teeth, turning around and glaring at Zelda.
"Oh, sorry," Zelda apologized, backing away. She hadn't noticed that she was staring. "I was just thinking about something."
"Does it have anything to do with this morning in the band room, Zel?" Malon asked.
"Um…A little bit…?" Zelda phrased it as a question right as the bell rang.
Zelda and her friends walked out of the classroom, walking towards the band room, where all their junk was. Midna followed them, muttering something about not wanting to get to class for a while, even though her next class was on the other side of the school.
As Zelda got her binder for her next class, she thought about that morning. Why had the darkness suddenly just pounced on her like that?
"Zelda!" Venex yelled as he glomped his sister. "Hey, did you know that an octopus has three hearts?"
Before Zelda could answer, Midna was between her and Venex. "Who're you?" Midna demanded. "And why did you just attack her?"
"Uh…I'm her brother. And I can glomp my little sister any time I want. Geez, Zel. You have such protective friends!"
"She is not my friend!" Midna exclaimed, throwing a book at Venex. "Now leave me alone!" The Twili made quite a scene as she stormed out of the band room, causing many curious glances from the other band nerds hanging out.
Zelda looked at her brother, very confused and a little bit angry. "Where the heck did the octopus thing come from?" she wondered.
"I wondered how many hearts an octopus had, so I texted the question to Apopka, the search engine. Anyways, see ya later, sis! Come on, Sheik! Race ya to Magic!"
The two boys sprinted out of the band room, probably not going to stop running until they got to their class half an hour later. They always did this, racing each other and then tackling each other in the middle of the hallways. They'd gotten suspended many times before because of that. It was a little ironic, because they were raised by a police officer, who tried to keep the peace.
Zelda sighed. The bell rang, and all the people migrated out into the halls. The Hylian walked with the flow, towards her Biology class. She was looking forward to this, actually, because they would get to dissect frogs soon.
Before she knew it, she was at her classroom and entered into it.
Class: Biology Period: 2B Teacher: Mr. Renado Shadrick
Zelda walked in and was greeted by her teacher, Mr. Shadrick, who was standing right next to the door. His long brown hair had always seemed a little casual to Zelda, but she figured he could do whatever he wanted because he was a teacher. He wasn't just any teacher, either. He was one of the most respected in all of Hyrule High.
The Hylian took her seat and took out her Latin book. She still had some reading to do for that class, and she didn't want to do it at lunch. Ruto sat down next to Zelda and chirped a friendly, "Hi!"
"Hey, Ruto," Zelda answered without looking up from her book.
"Okay, so I passed Zoranor in the hall just, like, a minute ago, and he smiled at me!"
Zelda shook her head and, despite herself, smiled. "You don't say."
"Yeah, and I was like, OMG, he smiled at me! Isn't that, like, totally rad? Not that I like him or anything like that, of course."
"Of course, Ruto," Zelda answered, grinning at her friend.
"What 'cha working on?" Ruto peered over Zelda's shoulder.
"Reading for Latin. I don't want to work on it during lunch. So, yeah."
"Ok, sorry. I won't bother you, then," Ruto said, sitting back and putting on her pouty face.
"No, Ruto, it's fine. You can talk to me, I don't care."
"Yay! So, I was walking down the hall talking to Ilia, and then this random guy came up to me and asked me to the next dance. And I was like, 'Uh, dude, I don't even know you!' It was really weird. So, then, he kinda flipped out and was like, 'No, Ruto! I love you with my whole heart!' And I was like, 'Yeah, whatever, weirdo.' And then walked away. Yeah. It was totally weird."
Just then, Zoranor walked in, and Ruto caught her breath. "OMG, it's Zoranor!" she squealed.
"Yeah, Ruto. So are you going to go and talk to him?" Zelda asked, reading the last page of the assigned reading.
"Yeah. Yeah, maybe I will." Ruto got up and walked over to the Zora. Zelda watched with amusement as Ruto giggled uncontrollably and Zoranor looked kind of awkward. However, they made a cute couple. She wouldn't mind if they got together. As long as Zoranor wasn't a jerk like that other Zora Ruto had been with for a while. Ruto said goodbye to her crush and walked back to her friend, beet red and giggling like crazy.
"OMG, did you see the way he looked at me?" Ruto asked.
Before Zelda could answer, the bell rang and Midna ran in, just on time. "Wow," Zelda thought. "I have a ton of classes with Midna! Not that that's a bad thing. I can get to know her a little better the more time I spend with her."
"Name," Mr. Shadrick said. "You're new, right?"
"Yeah. Midna Dawnshade's the name and I'll go and sit over there." She walked over to Zoranor and sat down, because that seemed to be the only desk open.
Zelda waved at the Twili, but Midna didn't do anything, so Zelda didn't push it. The Twili hadn't glared at Zelda, so she didn't absolutely hate her with every atom of her body, but Midna still wasn't ready to consider Zelda one of her friends. Zelda was nice to her, but Twili were very rare, and they usually were kind of mean to people before they got to know them. Midna was probably one of the very first Twili to be accepted at Hyrule High, in fact. Usually people didn't like having the Twili around with their dark magic. But Zelda believed that Midna had good qualities deep down, she just didn't want to let them out because she didn't want to appear weak and a target for bullies. The Hylian was set on making Midna one of her friends, but it would probably take some time to befriend her.
"Alright, class. Please turn in your books to page one hundred and fifty-seven, and we'll carry on what we started last class. Does anyone remember what that was?"
The class went by rather slowly, with not much action, as was usually the case with the class. However, a few minutes before the class ended, Mr. Shadrick made an announcement. "Class, in a few weeks, we're going to be dissecting frogs. I want you to choose your buddies this class so we won't have any contention concerning the partners. Go ahead."
Naturally, everyone turned to the friend they had in that class. Zelda turned to Ruto, but the Zora wasn't there. Zelda looked around and saw her friend with Zoranor, who was standing at the back of the classroom, as far away from Midna as he could get. Figures. She looked at Midna next, who was sitting in her seat, playing with the zipper on her pencil pouch. No one else was around the Twili, probably because they were afraid to unleash Midna's bad side and her dark magic. Zelda put a smile on her face and walked up to the Twili.
Midna looked up as Zelda approached and glared. "Hey, Midna. You wanna be partners for the frog lab?" Zelda asked.
"Do I look like it?" Midna growled and looked back down at the zipper and tore at it with such ferocity that Zelda got a little scared of the Twili.
"Uh, yeah, you kinda do. Considering there isn't anyone else begging to be your partner, I just thought I'd ask. But I guess I'll go and ask someone else." Zelda started to walk away.
"Wait," Midna's voice, defeated, said from behind her. Zelda turned around and faced the Twili. "Fine. I'll be your partner, but only because there's no one else."
"Great." Zelda smiled. She knew Midna was going to open up to her sometime. "Hey, do you want to eat lunch with my friends and me today? We'll be outside the band room if you want to swing by," Zelda said, genuinely wanting Midna to eat with her.
"I don't want to hang out with a bunch of band geeks!" Midna snapped, something Zelda thought she'd do.
"Okay. Well, if you change your mind, we'll be right in front of the band room. See ya later, Midna!" Zelda said as she walked back to her desk and gathered her junk when the bell rang.
LUNCH
Zelda walked to the band room, followed by a love struck Ruto, who was basically drooling all over herself because she and Zoranor were partners for the frog lab. Plus, he had asked her to the dance. "Zelda! He asked me to the next dance!" Ruto had said, and Zelda could've sworn she'd seen hearts in the Zora's eyes.
"Uh, that's…Great, Ruto!" Zelda had replied, unsure of how to react to something like that, because she had never experienced a serious crush, plus no one had ever asked her to a dance. "Anyways, let's get to the band room. I'm starving!"
When they got there, Zelda opened her locker and greeted Saria, Malon, and Ilia. "Hey, girls. What's up?" Ruto chirped, unusually energetically.
"Ruto, what happened?" Malon asked, sure that it had something to do with Zoranor. "Nothing," Ruto giggled, turning bright red. "Okay, I'll tell! Zoranor asked me to the next dance! Isn't that totally awesome?"
"Aw, snap!" Zelda suddenly exclaimed. Ruto looked over at her, hurt. "Oh, sorry. Not about that, Ruto. I accidentally left my lunch in the car. I'll see you guys in a minute."
"Wait, Zel! I want to come with!" Ruto exclaimed, following her friend.
"No, you don't have to, Ruto. Tell them about your experience with Zoranor in Bio. I'll be fine. Venex…The keys." Zelda held out her hand to her brother.
"I thought you had 'em," he said through a mouthful of food. At an evil look from Nayru, he started to walk towards the door, because they weren't supposed to have food in the band room. "Or maybe Sheik has 'em. I don't know. Anyways, let's get to business!" He walked out of the classroom, opened up his lunch and started stuffing his face.
"Okay," Zelda said, wondering where the keys could've gotten to. "Um…Maybe I accidentally left them in one of my classrooms. Sheik!" Zelda walked to where the trumpet lockers were and found her cousin. "Sheik, do you know where the keys are?"
"I thought you had 'em. Or maybe Venex has 'em. I don't know," he said, getting his lunch out of his locker.
"Wow. Do you guys have some sort of link to each others' minds? Cause that's exactly what Venex said," Zelda said, not sure to be amazed or annoyed.
"No. I don't think so. Anyways, whaddo ya need 'em for? You're not thinking of leaving campus, are you?" He gave her a suspicious look because sophomores and freshmen weren't supposed to leave campus during school hours.
"No! I need to get my lunch, cause I left it in the car. I guess I'll just go and find the keys, then." She walked out of the band room and towards her first classroom. As she walked through the hallways, she got an ominous feeling like the creepy darkness was following her, even though there were students lining the halls. As she got to her English room, the feeling was almost overwhelming. She didn't back down, though. That was one of the moments where she was so focused on the task at hand, she wasn't paying attention to anything else. "Mr. Kyler?" she asked as she opened the door. The lights were off, for some odd reason, and Zelda couldn't see her teacher anywhere. "Mr. Kyler?" she said again. Her Triforce went insane for a second, making Zelda grab her right hand and double over in pain. Then, out of nowhere, something grabbed Zelda by the shoulders and pulled her out of the room. She screeched, falling down in the light hallway.
Before Zelda could register what had happened, Sheik came out of Mr. Kyler's room, his face very serious and thrust the keys at his cousin. "Zelda, don't scare me like that. How long has it been following you?" he asked, his features taught.
Zelda's breathing was rushed and she was still clutching her right hand. "What was that?" she asked breathlessly.
"I don't know," Sheik said, his face grim. "But it wasn't good. And don't go off by yourself anymore, alright?" He held out a hand to help her up. The Sheikah cleared the way through the students with one glare of his serious face, which most people had never seen before, because he was almost always smiling and happy, with Venex.
Zelda walked beside her cousin, racked with the experience of the darkness following her. "Sheik…" she said quietly and he looked at her. "I need to tell you something."
"Wait until we get out to the car. We can talk there, so Venex doesn't interrupt us," Sheik said, his voice void of emotion as he looked around, his eyes narrowed.
Zelda had almost never seen Sheik like this. The only other time was when the darkness had started following Zelda. And then it was only for a moment. He had narrowed his eyes and started to say something, but then Venex had broken the trance Sheik had been in.
When they got to the car, Zelda unlocked it and took her lunch out of the glove box. "So, what's going on, Zelda?" Sheik asked as his cousin opened the paper bag and took out an apple. "Well, I don't know," she said, biting into the apple. "It's just like this dark presence has been following me around and I have no idea why. I've been trying to avoid it at all costs, but I haven't been able to. However…" she thought back to the day before.
"What?" Sheik asked, concern in his eyes.
"Yesterday, it didn't bother me at all. It was the weirdest thing. It's been following me for about a year now, and it just…Went away."
"What could've happened? Is it here now?"
Zelda shook her head. "Nope. But…" she gasped as a realization hit her. "Maybe it's because of the people I'm with. Because there was a Twili I was with, and the darkness didn't follow me then."
"Were you with the Twili all day?"
"No, but…I have no idea, Sheik." She looked into the bag, pulled out a granola bar and threw the apple core away.
The relatives were silent for a few moments and then Sheik breathed in loudly. "Well, we'd probably get back to the band room, or the guys will wonder what happened to us. But promise me something, Zelda." Zelda looked up from her lunch bag. "You will never go anywhere without someone by your side. Got that?"
Zelda nodded. When Sheik was like this, he scared her a little bit. Sheik and Zelda made their way back to the band room, the seriousness wearing off a little bit as they reached the place where all their friends were. Before they got there, Sheik bought a soda from one of the vending machines as Zelda gave him a weird look. When they got to their friends, Zelda surprisingly saw Midna sitting next to Malon and Ilia.
"Zelda! Sheik! There you are! We wondered if something, like, ate you guys," Ruto said. "When Sheik rushed off after you, Zel, I wondered what was going on. What happened?"
"Oh, nothing. I realized I had to go and get a soda before they were all gone, but it took forever to choose one. So, then Zel came along and helped me choose one," Sheik lied. Zelda was impressed. It seemed like a relatively believable story, considering he had a soda in his hand.
"Yeah. Anyways…Hi Midna!" Zelda said, sitting down next to the Twili. "So, you decided to join the band nerds' cult."
"Uh, yeah right," Midna snorted. "You would sure like to think that, wouldn't you? Well, I just thought I'd give your friends a try. And so far, I'm not impressed."
"Venex…" Zelda said evilly, turning towards her brother.
"I didn't do nothin!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and spitting food everywhere.
"Yeah. That's my brother. Really stupid. And Sheik's my cousin. Stupid, but not quite as much as my brother."
"Hey!" Sheik said, all trace of the seriousness from a few minutes ago gone from his face. Zelda could still see he was a bit tense, though. "I'm nowhere near as stupid as this cheese-head!" Sheik put Venex in a headlock and gave his cousin a noogie.
"Dude! You're totally messing up my hairdo!" Venex said, getting out of Sheik's grip and flipping his red hair out of his eyes.
"You know, I've never understood how Venex could have red hair and you have blond, Zel," Malon said, biting into a granola bar and looking quizzically at Venex.
"Are you falling for me now, Malon? Cause you were just staring at my luscious red hair," Venex asked, cuddling up to his friend.
"Of course not!" Malon said, shoving him away and giggling. Zelda got the sneaking suspicion that Malon was, in fact, falling for her brother and grinned at her friend. Malon blushed, knowing what Zelda's smile meant. "Now get away from me!"
"Yeah. I don't understand that either, Malon. It doesn't make any sense at all," Zelda answered, shrugging. "Maybe he was adopted."
"Zelda Altari, I was NOT adopted!" Venex said, angrily putting his hands on his hips the best he could while sitting down. "And I don't understand how you ran over that poor, helpless dude the other day!"
Midna sprayed her soda all over the place when she heard that. "Wait! You ran over a guy? I can't see you doing that! Me, yeah. But you?" She shook her head, laughing.
"It was an accident and it wasn't my fault. Those two" - Zelda gestured toward her relatives, who were having a chugging contest - "were being stupid, as usual, and I ran over a guy. I was late to class that day, thanks to them!" The Hylian glared at them, but they didn't seem to notice.
Venex yelled, "VICTORY!" as he held his hand up, his empty soda can clanging on the floor. He got up and started to walk into the band room, probably to start bragging to all the girls who would listen to him. The Sheikah tackled his cousin from behind, around the knees, making him trip.
"Venex could use with a downfall," Sheik smirked, holding onto his cousin. Malon, Ilia, and Ruto laughed, and Sheik flashed them a smile.
"Anyways, yeah. It all happened so fast, that I still have no idea what happened," Zelda shrugged. It suddenly dawned on her. "SHEIK!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, making all her friends jump. "I got it!"
"Got what?" everyone else wondered.
"Oh, nothing," Zelda answered. "It was because I ran over him…" she said to her cousin, hoping he got the message. Sheik nodded. Then, Zelda's mind went into overdrive. Why had it left when she'd touched him and not any other person? Why hadn't have been Sheik or Venex? Actually, scratch that. It wasn't that surprising that it hadn't been Venex. He wasn't very protective of her at all. And he couldn't even protect her from that flying spaghetti that gotten stuck in her hair in third grade. Instead, he had gone for the apple that almost hit the ground. When he rose, he met the infuriated face of his sister.
Suddenly, the warning bell rang, making Zelda scream very loud. "Ow! Geez, Zel! You scream really loud!" her friends complained, packing up their trash.
"Sorry. It just startled me," Zelda said, embarrassed. She had never actually screamed before. The bell had always scared her, she just hadn't shown it. Did that mean she was becoming totally paranoid? Perhaps she could justify it by saying that darkness had been following her for a long time. Nah. Her friends wouldn't believe her, anyways.
"Come on, Zel!" Venex said, pushing his sister to her feet.
"What?" she asked, coming out of a weird trance.
"We have to get to class," Malon said, getting up.
"Yeah. I've got to get to class, too," Midna said, walking away without a farewell.
"Well, at least we're getting to her a little bit," Zelda thought as she gathered her books up. "She's not nearly as mean as she was when I first met her." Out loud, all she said was, "What do we have, Malon?" Then she groaned, remembering. "We have Latin, don't we?"
Malon nodded. "Yeah. I don't wanna go! Zel, don't make me go!" she complained.
"Well, we kinda have to, so we can graduate. Well, let's go. We don't want to be late." Zelda started to walk up the stairs, followed by her brother, cousin, and friends.
"I can't believe that we have to go all the way upstairs, just for one class," Ruto complained. "The class is so boring! It shouldn't be mandatory!"
"Ruto, cool it. We're here," Malon hissed as she opened the door.
Time: 11:50 Class: Latin Period: 3B Teacher: Madame Fanadi
As usual, the classroom was very dimly lit, with just a couple of candles. They looked around and saw the teacher sitting at her desk, reading a Latin book.
"Good afternoon, students," Madame Fanadi's wispy voice said. "Please, take your seats."
The students all sat down, kind of scared about what Fanadi had in store for them today. "I wonder what the quack has for us today?" Venex whispered to his friends, making sure the teacher couldn't hear him. Apparently she didn't, because she just walked to the front of the room and began the lesson.
Zelda kept zoning in and out as the teacher called the attendance list and began the lesson. What was that boy's name…? She'd heard it the other day, quite a few times, but she couldn't remember.
"…Miss Altari?" Madame Fanadi's voice broke into Zelda's mind.
Zelda said the first thing that popped into her head, not having any idea what the question was. "The Goddess of Love, Venus," she answered, hoping it was right.
"Very good. Now…" the teacher carried on, calling on students. Zelda was amazed that she'd answered the question correctly. Oh, well. As long as her mind was in the past, that was good, because she had history next. With one of her favorite teachers of all time: Madame Farore.
The bell rang, signaling the end of third period and the beginning of passing period. "Well, come on, guys. History time!" Zelda gathered up all her junk and bolted out of the classroom. "Come on, guys! You're like old grandmas! Let's go!"
Zelda's friends followed her groggily. "Zel, you are way too eager for history," Venex mumbled. He was one of the normal (as all of Zelda's friends called themselves) people that hated history.
"Venex, you're just a huge stick-in-the-mud. And you're crazy to not like history!" Zelda called over her shoulder, hurrying ahead to Farore's classroom.
"And she's crazy to like history!" Sheik muttered under his breath.
Time: 1:30 Class: History Period: 4B Teacher: Madame Farore
Zelda walked into Farore's room happily. She had been looking forward to this class all day. The only thing she didn't like about this class was the people in it. She loved the material and the teacher. It was just some of the people she hated. Like her brother's jock friends, who always acted like idiots: Jace, Jake, and some other guys she had no idea what their names were. She didn't really care, anyways.
"Yeah! She totally ran over this random dude the other day!" Zelda heard her brother say to his friends.
"Venex! Knock it off! I can't believe you're still going on about that! It happened yesterday! Drop it!" Zelda said to her brother. She was kind of getting ticked. Well, a little bit. As much as she could in Madame Farore's class.
The bell rang and the teacher stepped up to the front of the classroom and started to talk to the students. "Well, class, today we're going to start talking about the Middle Ages. The Dark Ages, as some call them. They were not, in fact, dark at all. They were the beginning of…"
Before Madame Farore could say what they were the beginning of, none other than Midna Dawnshade burst into the classroom, breathless. Zelda chuckled to herself. As far as she could tell, Midna always ran in at the last minute. "Midna Dawnshade," she gasped, clutching her side. "I just ran from the other side of the school, because I'm new here and I got lost," Midna explained.
"Ah. We welcome you, Miss Dawnshade. You can go ahead and sit next to Saria, that Kokiri, for now," Madame Farore said, pointing towards the desk behind Zelda.
Zelda almost laughed. It was almost impossible for Midna to not see Zelda. The Hylian smiled at the Twili. Midna didn't react, and Zelda took that as a good sign. She hadn't sneered or anything yet, so that was all good.
Midna took her seat next to Saria and the class began. Zelda paid close attention, because she loved learning about the Dark Ages. They weren't really dark, though, Farore said. They were the beginning of the Hero of Time's reign. He was always disappearing and reappearing. In today's society, some people theorized that he was an alien, helping to fight the evil of other aliens, such as Ganon, Veran, Vaati, and others. However, the more logical people thought that he had the help of some force to help him stay young. While historians theorized that the Hero of Time's descendants continued on the work of the first; there was no way, even by the help of the Triforce, that a human could live that long, Hylian or not. Zelda wasn't sure what to believe.
Whenever a great crisis seemed on the verge of destroying Hyrule he would appear. Many evil beings from the past were said to have been sealed away, never to be seen again.
"He is commonly known as the guardian of the Times, but, something few people know, is that the Hero of Time of Time was constantly at the side of the royal family." Farore smiled, Zelda could've sworn it was aimed at her.
The rest of the class was all about the Hero of Time. They didn't really talk about anything else, and the class, other than Zelda and a few of the boys who were fascinated with warfare, found it rather dull. However, the way Madame Farore taught it made it bearable. If it had been any other teacher, they all would have been asleep. It was just the way Farore used her words and enunciated them that made the lesson interesting.
When the class was over, everyone except Zelda walked out of the classroom quite quickly, because they had buses to catch, or they didn't want to get caught up in the traffic of the hallways and the traffic of cars. Zelda wanted to talk to Farore about what she had been taught about the Hero.
The student and teacher talked for about five minutes and then Zelda left. She had learned that the Triforce of courage was held only by the Hero and that was the only time in history it had ever been recorded. If the Hero was the only one to ever have bore the Triforce where could it be now? That could be a problem if anything bad were to happen.
When she walked out of the room, she was a little surprised to see Midna leaning against the wall with one foot propped against it and her arms folded in front of her chest with her string bag over her shoulders. "Uh…" Zelda said, shocked. She had expected someone to be out in front of the door, but she hadn't thought it would be Midna.
"Don't ask. I just felt like you could use some protection," Midna said.
"Does she know about the Darkness? How could she?" Zelda wondered.
"Come on. Let's get you to the band room," Midna said, starting to walk down the hallway.
"Wait! Uh…Don't you ride the bus?" Zelda asked, running after Midna.
"Yeah. So?" the Twili said, not turning to talk to the Hylian.
"Didn't you miss it?"
"Yeah. So?"
"So, do you need a ride? Cause I'd be glad to give you one," Zelda shrugged.
"Nah. I can just walk. My apartment's not far from here."
"Do you live with your parents?" Zelda was surprised. She had no idea where that question had come from.
"No…In fact, I live…" Midna caught herself from giving her whole life story to Zelda. "Who I live with is none of your business!" she snapped. "And if you dare to nose around in my personal life, I'll break that pretty little face of yours!" She held up a fist to emphasize her point. "Got that?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Zelda said, holding up her hands and backing up. "I really don't know where that question came from! But, seriously, if you need a ride, I'll give you one."
"What, so you can know where I live and come break in and nose around in my personal affairs again? I don't think so. Just leave me alone!" Midna said to the Hylian and stormed off. Zelda looked after her and sighed.
"Well, that went well," she muttered, walking into the band room and going to her locker to get out her junk.
"Zelda! There you are. We were wondering where you went," Venex said, putting his arm around his sister. "How is my favorite sister?"
"Venex, I'm your only sister," Zelda said, rolling her eyes and pushing her brother's arm off her shoulders. "Where's Sheik? There's kind of an emergency."
"He's over there," Venex pointed toward the trumpet lockers, where Zelda saw her cousin flirting with the girls. "And how come you turn to your cousin instead of turning to your brother?"
Ignoring her brother's question, Zelda walked over to her cousin. "Sheik! Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure. Excuse me, ladies," Sheik said, giving the girls a dazzling smile that made them all melt. "What's up, Zel?" he asked.
"Well, you know that Twili that ran into Farore's class?" Sheik nodded. "Well, she was in front of Farore's room, waiting for me. She said she thought I could use protection. Do you think she knows about the Darkness that's following me?"
"I dunno," Sheik said, rubbing his chin. "I suppose she would, because she's a creature of the darkness, but I don't know. Anyways, if you'll excuse me…" he started to walk away, back towards the girls.
"Hang on a minute, mister. I'm not done with you yet," Zelda said, grabbing Sheik's shirt. "Midna missed her bus, and she won't let me give her a ride home, because she thinks I'm going to nose into her business."
"Well, there, I cannot help you. Now can I go talk to the girls?" Sheik basically begged.
"Fine," Zelda said, letting go of Sheik's shirt. "But if you're not in the car in, at most, ten minutes, I'm going to leave without you. I am not kidding. And tell Venex to lose the girls. I don't want them following us home again. I swear, he has, like, stalkers."
Sheik laughed. "That is true! Alright. I'll tell him that. But can the girls follow me home?"
Zelda rolled her eyes. "No, Sheik."
Her cousin hung his head in defeat. "Okay," he said in a very small voice.
Zelda gathered up her things and stuffed them into her backpack. "Remember, guys! Ten minutes!" she said as she walked out the door. "Bye, Nayru!" she waved to the band teacher.
Zelda walked down the hallway and out the door, toward the parking lot, which was almost empty, except for the stream of cars trying to get out. The Hylian girl looked around, trying to find Midna. She really did want to give Midna a ride home, because the Twili had missed her bus. "Midna, where are you?" Zelda asked under her breath. Then she saw her.
Midna was sitting on the stone bench, listening to her music. Zelda gulped and gathered up her courage as she walked towards the Twili. When she was in front of Midna, she coughed. The Twili looked up and then back down at her music player.
"What do you want?" Midna asked bitterly.
"All I want is to give you a ride home. Really. I just want to thank to you for staying after school, even though it meant missing your bus. Thank you for protecting me. I feel like we could become great friends, Midna," Zelda said, almost pleading.
"I don't want to become your friend," Midna said, getting up and slinging her bag over her shoulders. "Besides, my ride is already here. Just leave me alone." She walked toward a yellow taxi and got into the back seat. She named a street and address, and the taxi took off with Midna in it.
Zelda stood on the sidewalk, looking at the big square of cement. "Well, that totally backfired," she muttered. "Guess she really doesn't like me."
"Hey, Zel!" she heard her name being screamed from across the parking lot. She looked up and saw her brother and cousin waving at her from the car. "You got the keys, sis!"
Zelda shook her head and started to walk towards the car. She was quite perplexed by Midna's actions. One moment she acted like your friend (kind of), the next, she was trying to eat your face. "Oh, well," Zelda thought, "at least I'm not on her bad side. I'm not really on her good side, but I feel like she's leaning toward that side of the fence. I wonder what she's going to do tomorrow…"
With that in her mind, Zelda drove home and did all of her homework. Thoughts of trying to find the boy she had run over crossed her mind constantly, but those thoughts were quickly dashed by her father who told her to stay home that night. Eventually, she was able to push him out of her mind and to move on with her evening.
She thought about Midna and what could have caused her to be the way she was. "I'll find out what makes you tick, Midna Dawnshade," Zelda murmured as she put on her pajama pants. "I won't force it out of you, but I'll become your friend." She sat down on her bed, turned off the light, and went to sleep.
HOORAY!
Seriously, guys, review... please. I'll update! I swear!