War of a Moment, Love of a Lifetime
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not, and will never own the characters or the company of the Zelda series.
Link leaned against a wall, grinning ear to ear with the satisfaction of someone who had just managed to pull off a very clever, cunning, and dangerous feat. Pressing his ear against the wall he strained for a while until he heard exactly what he had been waiting for all morning.
"IDIOT OF A KING! STUPID FARMBOY! GOOD FOR NOTHING-" The ranting and raving of a certain blonde haired princess was abruptly cut off by the sound of a pan whacking someone's head.
It was extremely satisfying to know that he, Link Kokiri, had successfully managed to morph the statue-esque Princess Zelda into a ranting, raving, extremely pissed off human girl. And it had only taken two weeks. He snickered slightly at the frantic noises coming from the room behind him and congratulated himself on a job well done.
"You let your guard down! AGAIN!" Another whack. "And you succumbed to exactly what he wanted!" Yet another whack. "I can't believe that as a seventeen year old you still scream and wail and throw fits when you wake up and your face is painted white."
And besides having proven his point, he was also providing himself with a good deal of entertainment. Ranting, raving, extremely pissed human Zelda was almost better than ranting, raving, extremely pissed farm-girl Malon.
"It's not coming off! I swear to the goddesses I'll KILL him. AUGH!"
Except Malon wasn't quite so threatening if he recalled correctly. But that chicken. God. The thing was vicious. So he supposed that that made the two ranting, raving, extremely pissed girls about even. Not that he'd ever admit to comparing the two.
"How do you think I felt when I was a lass? We had our faces painted white, every day!" Link suppressed a snicker, it was nice to have Impa beat up on Zelda, it reminded him of when Malon would sit there and scold the chicken.
But it was way more amusing. What better entertainment than an eccentric, icy, hot tempered, blonde haired, and most importantly- HUMAN, know it all princess getting beat up by a crazy old nursemaid?
Nothing. Tch. Duh.
But Link began to panic as the wooden door swung open and a red- with white flecks of paint- faced Zelda came out into the hall. Perhaps he'd better go through his comparisons again, because the murderous looking Zelda was far more terrifying than the warrior-messenger chicken.
He turned and attempted to make a run for it, but he knew that he really didn't have a chance of survival when he heard Zelda's war cry.
"DIIEE at the hand of my fork! AIEIEIEII!"
"SHIT!"
Link panicked and went running down the corridors, knocking several servants over in his haste. Zelda was hot on his trail, a fork in her hand and her hair flying out in every which way.
The chase seemed to go on for hours, a green blur would rush by screaming, followed closely by a mass of wavy blonde hair and a gleaming silver object- which most assumed was a knife.
With that assumption in mind the hallways were empty, save for the blurs of green and blonde that would occasionally rush by. So much for a job well done.
Later that afternoon Zelda and Link found themselves engaged in a game of chess. Link was missing quite a few pieces, yet he stubbornly pursued Zelda's evasive queen. He'd never admit it, but he was having a really hard time competing with Zelda. Hell, if this was her chess-face, he didn't even want to think about her poker-face.
"Sir?" Zelda looked up at Link sweetly, batting her long eyelashes. The poor boy didn't stand a chance.
Link gulped, something was up. "Yersh?" He hated the way his voice didn't quite come out properly. Zelda really had to stop blinking like that or it would be his ultimate downfall.
"No." Zelda's fist came down against the table, and she glared daggers at the frightened Link. The spell was broken. He'd almost forgotten how violent this particular princess could be. The first week wasn't so bad, as she tried to control herself and only slapped him a few times.
However, he'd found out the hard way that in week two her self-control was waning severely. And while it was flattering to know that he alone had managed to make such a change in the princess, he'd really rather not be on the receiving end of her temper-tantrums.
"Yes'm, Princess Zelda, your highness, greatness, princessness!" Link blurted, in a futile attempt to spare himself from the divine fury that was Zelda.
"Well. How shall I put this…?" Zelda went back to looking sweet and Malon-esque, twirling a strand of blonde hair around one of her fingers. Link swore that her lips were almost pouting. Not that there was any chance in hell that he was looking at her lips. Nuh-uh. No chance. No way.
"Put what?- Err Princess." Link found himself staring at the demure Zelda in an extremely distracted manner.
"You suck." Her voice returned to its normal icy tone as she snatched his king. "Checkmate, I win."
Link's jaw dropped and he glared at the princess, who now had a smug expression on her face. He could've sworn he'd had his king surrounded. So how come there were toppled pieces and his king was missing?
His shock morphed into a scowl. She'd probably used his momentary distraction to take his pieces. Cheater. Stupid girls and their feminine wiles and pouty-lips that he totally hadn't been staring at.
Note to self: Zelda acting cute is evil. Scratch that. Zelda is evil.
"You cheated." Link accused, childishly pointing his finger at Zelda.
"Did not. No pointing, my Lord, it is considered rude." Zelda smacked his hand away, and Link hurriedly retracted his offensive digit. He really didn't want his hand to end up broken.
Link sniffed and turned away from Zelda, nursing his sorely wounded ego. In all honesty, where was Malon when you needed her most? Malon never cheated. Stupid princess.
"Whatever." Link huffed.
Zelda arched one of her slender eyebrows and wagged her finger at Link. He'd also found that the more human she became, the more teasing she'd wound up to be. Sometimes it was amusing, charming even, and sometimes it just irritated him to no end.
No doubt he'd been a very influence to the formerly stoic Princess Zelda.
"Whatever- princess." Link corrected, sick of correcting himself. Maybe one of these days she'd become human enough to let him drop all of the fancy titles. He mentally scoffed, that would be the day all hell broke loose.
"So, what's she like?" Zelda asked as she slid a few chess pieces to her side of the board, presumably cleaning up.
"What?" Link stared at her, confused. He really wasn't entirely sure what she was talking about. Her? If she was talking about the chess pieces, she'd definitely lost it.
"Your fiancée… What is she like?" Zelda asked the question once more, lifting up the foldaway chess table to put the part of the set she'd collected back into its rightful resting place.
Link found himself staring at her as if she'd grown two heads. Where had that question come from? How had she even known that he was engaged. She'd cut him off before he'd had a chance to say it hadn't she?
"Malon?" Link asked, still confused.
"Is that her name? Well, yes. Unless you have more than one fiancée, good sir." Zelda snorted slightly, trying for a hard voice and falling miserably short. She shut the lid and reached over, sweeping up what few pieces Link had managed to collect and keep in the duration of their game.
"She's… simple. Sweet girl… She has this amazing red hair, like fire, and she does the weirdest things…" Link began. Zelda continued her clean-up feigning indifference, though her eyes remained on Link.
"She yells at chickens and chases farm animals. She always finds the oddest things to worry about too… Malon always speaks her mind and she has this kind of country girl charm." Link grinned as he recalled the redhead, a million memories- mostly revolving around chickens-running rampant through his mind. "I can't really explain it. She's just great."
"Do you care about this… Malon?" Zelda's voice had lost its ice, replaced by a sort of curiosity as she once more lifted the board up and shut it, the table now completely cleared.
"Care about her? Of course, I love her. I don't know what I'd do without- why are you asking me this?" Link looked over at Zelda who had averted her gaze to the ground. Funny how he hadn't noticed it was odd until just then. Was this another one of her tests?
"I'm... not quite sure." Zelda's turned from Link, finding sudden interest in the fountain. "I'm sorry."
Had he done something wrong? Oh hell, it probably was another one of her tests.
"For what?" Link asked, his voice laced with confusion as Zelda briefly ran a hand over her face, still not looking at him.
Zelda remained turned away from him, but it was impossible to miss the watery gleam in her eyes. "I- I'm just sorry."
"Why? Princess? Are you… okay?"
What the hell?
"You've been taken away from her." Zelda's voice shook, and it was only then that Link realized just how human Zelda was. There was no question about it. This was no result of his presence, this was just the girl behind the façade. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have done called you here if I had known. I'd have waited. I honestly would have."
The guilt was overwhelming. Link had someone he loved, someone he cared about. Someone who cared about him in return. And he had been taken away from her. Who knew when he would be returning?
"It's fine, Princess. I don't mind." Link said awkwardly, trying to search for the words that would stop Zelda's onslaught of tears.
"No. No it's not, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"
Link had no idea what piece of news had pushed Zelda to ask that question. And he had no idea why she was reacting the way she was, but he felt bad seeing her in her current state.
And then Link's world turned upside down in matter of seconds. Unconsciously he'd moved closer to the crying blonde to offer her some comfort. And when Link blinked and looked down he found himself holding Zelda against him, her tears wetting his shirt.
Funny how he hadn't noticed it before. She was stunning. Beautiful. And just like Malon.
"Oh goddesses, no… I'm sorry, Link." Zelda shook her head and attempted to clear her tears as she pushed herself out of his awkward hug. And as soon as Zelda pulled away and vanished back into the cold castle halls Link noticed something else.
He noticed that his pulse was rushing and his heart was beating like he'd run a marathon with Stalfos chasing him.
"D-Did she call me Link?"
Dinner that evening was eaten in awkward silence. Zelda picked at her food with a fork, managing to complete one lettuce leaf in the record time of two hours. And Impa sat in a state of bewilderment.
Where was the fighting?
Where were Link's country bumpkin manners?
Impa finally banged her frying pan on Zelda's head- hard- which earned her a small shriek and then the Zelda she was used to came back.
"What are you doing? You stupid idiot of a king! Stop drinking with your knife!" Zelda scolded, waving her fork menacingly at Link's face.
"I was prodding the water, not drinking!" Link defended.
Zelda glared at him before he realized his error.
"Err- princess." Link corrected. Zelda's fist came down upon the table. He winced. He'd nearly forgotten about her temper for the umpteenth time that day.
"That's Zelda to you." She corrected, her voice stern as she waved her fork at him.
But even still, Link couldn't resist a grin and Zelda managed a small smile, then all returned to normal with Impa banging them both on the head for putting their knives in their shoes.
As the two retreated to their separate rooms for the night, Impa scratched her head in confusion.
"Since when were they on a first-name basis?"
A/N: Ack. I tried to resist the urge, I really did. And I'm sorry if I butchered Zelda and made that turnaround scene too fast. I've gone back and retouched it, so it should be smoother now, I think. The title is going to start coming into play pretty soon. And yeah, Zelda has a reason for crying. Two actually.
Cappucinno
P.S. Your reviews are my inspiration.
