Hello, everyone. I hope I can finish this before school starts…

So I have, basically, a day to write a 3,000-plus chapter.

Fabulous.

Anyway, here's chapter 7, and I hope you enjoy what I did to Luke. *Evil Grin* And for you disappointed people, I started the chapter off with a nice fluff scene

Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

This chapter is dedicated to Eternal Nocturne, who has done my typos from the very beginning. I love you!


I woke slowly the next morning. Sunlight streamed cheerily in through the window, badly reflecting my mood.

He didn't come home.

Shaking the thought from my mind, I slid down the ladders with fake enthusiasm. I began to ponder what to make for breakfast, when suddenly I noticed the table.

A beautiful meal was spread out across it. Eggs with toast, a small plate of bacon, and a tall glass of iced tea dominated the scene. A single rose stood in a crystal vase, wet from what I assumed was dew. A small envelope, propped against the vase, bore my name in messy handwriting.

Link.

At this point, I did a mental "AWWW!". I couldn't help grinning. He was too sweet for words!

The envelope, I discovered, was empty. Sitting myself down at the table, I ate, awestruck at how delicious the food was. During my solitary meal, I pondered how I was going to thank that wonderful, amazing young man.

I flew out the door after the meal was done and cleaned up. I raced through town, ignoring Luke's greeting, and sped towards the ranch where I knew Link would be letting the goats out. All the time forgetting, of course, that I was wearing only a tank topand shorts.

I saw Link shepherding the last of the goats out and shouted his name. He looked up, confused at first, but then his face brightened as I ran towards him. I tackled him to the barn wall, pressing myself up against him.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed. "What's this about?"

"Oh, you're just the most amazing guy in the world." I smiled up at him. He let me hug him, and buried his mouth in my hair. This made my heart skip a few beats and my stomach's temperature rise unbelievably.

After about a minute, I let go of him.

"What spurred this revaltion?" he asked, smiling at me.

"Oh, I don't know," I shrugged. "Maybe it was the amazing breakfast you made me?"

"Breakfast?" Link looked confused. "What breakfast?"

"The breakfast… that was spread on the table this morning?"

"I didn't make any bre-"

"Morning, Annie!" Luke came up behind us. He ignored Link, simply turned to me and asked, "Did you enjoy the breakfast I made for you?"

"Wait, you made the breakfast?" I pointed at him, incredulous.

"Yes, indeed!" He smiled like he had just won a Nobel Prize.

I glanced at Link, but he was closing the barn doors. I thought I detected an annoyed look on his face. "Uh, well, thanks… I guess."

"No problem. I'll see you around, right?"

For one second, I thought Luke looked lustily (A/N: Again! Stupid thingies!) at my chest, but then it was gone and he was on his merry way back to town.

Good riddance.

I turned back to Link. He was on Epona, making his way towards the gate. Something inside me wanted not to call after him, but I did. He halted and I ran up to him.

"Hey, give me a ride back?" I smiled at him. At first he looked disbelieving, almost like I was going to zap him when I touched him, but then he held out his arm. I grabbed it and he hauled me onto the back of his horse, awesomely strong.

Dang it, I wished Luke had never come. He was screwing things up for me and Link, big time.

"Hey, Link?" I said in a small voice as we clopped softly towards town.

"…Mm?" Link replied.

"I have something to tell you about Luke."

"…What is it?"

"He…" I began, trying to find the right words. "I don't really li-"

"GOOD MORNING, LINK!" This time, it was Zelda's turn to interrupt us. I sighed quietly, and I imagined I heard Link do the same thing.

"Morning, princess," Link replied politely.

"Hey, Link. Mayor Bo said you could take me to see Ordon Spring this morning. Do you mind?"

Link glanced over his shoulder at me. I nodded, falsely encouraging him to go. Frankly, I wanted him to stay with me. Protect me from Luke, who I was just positive was going to turn out to be a perv. (I may be paranoid, but that doesn't mean they're not out to get me! My motto :D)

"No, I don't." Link slid off his horse. "Annie, can you take Epona back to the house?"

"Yeah, no problem," I mumbled. Epona trotted off after I flicked the reins.

The rest of the morning I spent inside, doing random chores and sewing and brooding. I must've dusted the shelves at least twice. And every minute, I would glance out the window. Though I wasn't sure who I was looking for. Link, or Luke? I knew one was sure to come.

At lunchtime, I saw Link and Zelda pass through our front yard, talking amiably. Again I felt that prick of jealousy, which caused me to scrub the pots out for a third time. They didn't come in, and I assumed they went to lunch with the mayor. I ate rice.

Sometime after lunch I sat down at the desk on the main floor. I looked at the pictures briefly, then got up and sorted through the books on every shelf. Unfortunately, they were all written in Hylian. Drat.

I scrounged around some more, finally finding a stack of blank paper, which was surprisingly large. Picking up a few pencils, I stared at the top blank page for a while. Then I carefully penned- or penciled- two sentences.

His eyes were blue. Blue like the sea.

I began to write more fervently. My words filled to blank page, then a second, then a third. I began to write almost anything I could imagine, jumbles of words. I wrote about Hyrule, Ganondorf, Ordon, Luke, Zelda, and Ilia. I wrote about my family, and how much I missed them. Before I never really thought about how much I missed my family, but it all just came flowing out onto the parchment. Emotions, thoughts, feeling, just absolutely everything poured out onto the paper. I made written documents of every nightmare I had had the past few days, and a few teardrops stained those pages. I wrote at least five just about my brother.

And then there were the pages about Link. I had at least twenty of those, not including pictures I began to draw. And they weren't halfway bad, either. I barely noticed the sky get darker and darker. It was like I was obsessed. I wanted, no, needed to get those thoughts out of my head.

Finally, my poor hand couldn't take it anymore. It simply collapsed on the desk. I realized I had no words left; not now, anyway.

I stood. I needed fresh air. Moving swiftly from the house, I jogged into the dark and deserted town. Only the windows were lit, shining like beacons in the night.

Spotting the large rock plateau-y thing, I climbed quickly up the vines; it was easier than I though. I hopped from platform to platform, stopping at one in the centre of the pond.

Seeing the huge expanse of stars above, I sighed in pleasure. I settled myself down on the soft grass, a breeze gently caressing me.

"Hey," said a voice behind me. I had been expecting him, but I jumped a little anyway.

"Hi, Luke," I sighed, getting up. "What's on your mind?" Like I care.

"Oh, nothing much," he said aloofly.

"Well, that's good because-"

"I was thinking about love, too… earlier today."

I sighed in my head, prepping myself for this conversation. "Yeah, and?"

"I think I'm in love." Luke spilled it out like it was hurting him to keep it bottled up.

I tried my hardest to look interested. "Really? That's great! Who's the lucky girl? Is it Zelda?"

"No. She's really smart and funny and totally hot and sexy." It takes all my willpower not to smack him right then and there. I hate being called sexy, it ticks me off like nothing else.

…Assuming that he was talking about me, of course.

"What's her name?" I asked politely.

"It starts with a 'Y'," Luke said. My eyebrows rose up. So he wasn't talking about me! Awesome!

"…Yolanda?"

"The next letter is 'O'," Luke looked at me.

"Yolanda. I'm stickin' with it."

"The last letter is 'U'."

Crudballs.

"W-what?" I stammered. Luke looked at me.

"I love you, Annie. I really love you," he rushed.

"Luke…" I started, but he wouldn't let me talk.

"Annie, I fell in love with you the moment that I stepped out of the carriage."

"Luke-" I tried to stop him, but he barreled on.

"You were so beautiful, and your body is so…"

"Okay, stop."

"…Hot."

At this moment, he grabbed me by the arms and kissed me. Suddenly I was reminded of Anthony-Ganondorf, especially when his hand traveled south of my back. I quickly pulled away, and for a brief, I saw the (sick) desire in his eyes.

I slapped him. Hard.

Like, I would've gotten an award for the best Jackie Tyler slap since… well… Jackie Tyler. (A/N: Who ref again.)

A blazing red mark appeared instantly on his cheek, showing me my success.

"Don't. You. Dare. Touch. Me." I growled. "Pervert!"

"Annie…" Luke reached out, moving towards me, but I sidestepped him. Angrily I kicked the back of his knees. He buckled, then, losing his balance, fell into the water with a splash. I dusted off my hands satisfactorily.

Just then, I saw a dark figure standing by the dock. I squinted at it, and then recognized the magical pointy hat.

It was Link.

From the look on his face, I deducted that he had seen the whole thing. His mouth was open in shock. (Meanwhile, Luke was treading water and muttering dirty curse words.) I smirked, and then stuck out my hand, thumbs-up, like Job well done.

It took a minute, but then Link grinned and returned the gesture. I hopped gaily across the plateaus, meeting Link at the bottom of the vined one.

A few wet and unhappy Luke passed us. He shot me a death glare, and I smiled merrily back at him.

"Good riddance. He was a jerk." I crossed my arms.

"…Oh, Annie," Link said, his voice quiet. I looked at him, surprised.

"What's wrong?" I asked, lowering my voice.

"…What almost happened… What he almost did to you…" Link looked me straight in the eyes.

Suddenly, it dawned on me how much it must've hurt him to see me kissing another man. Again. I mean, just after Anthony-Ganondorf and all… And then he started to pull moves on me…

I hated Luke and Ganondorf even more for hurting him.

I tried to smile bravely. "It's okay," I said, though the look on his face wasn't 'okay' at all. I slid my arm around his waist. "I'll always have your shoulder to cry on, right?"

Link didn't smile. Abruptly I remembered last night, when I woke up and he wasn't there. Was he guilty about that?

"Hey, where's my smile?" Link offered a feeble one.

"That one's so lame. C'mon, bigger!" It widened slightly.

"Bigger!" I nagged. The corners of his mouth twitched.

"Okay, that's it. I'm outta here. Here's a farewell gift." I leaned in, like I was going to kiss him on the cheek, but then poked him hard in the stomach (and almost broke my finger in the process: Man, his abs were hard!) and took off, laughing like a maniac. I heard Link laugh finally (YES!) and chase after me. He finally reached me in the front yard, but then I feinted right and took off left, towards the spring. My braid flew out behind me, I was running a top speed. I dove into the spring, rolling over then popping up. But my upright position didn't last long, as Link ran- literally- right into me, sending us tumbling into the water. We rolled through the water, laughing all the while.

Cheering up complete.


Ganondorf cackled again, and pressed his hand down on the air. Link was calling my name, over and over again, writhing under Ganondorf's powerful grasp. I tried to get to him, but I was bound in the back of a car…

Chase's car.

Link screamed my name again, and I struggled against the ropes… no, they were whips. Ganondorf suddenly raised his left arm towards the car, and then I saw the stop sign. The horrible stop sign. My heart was being torn in two places, one for Link, and one for Chase. I tried to call out to both, but my voice didn't exist. I couldn't decide which was more terrible. Then there was the squeal of brakes… no, wait… that wasn't breaks… that was Link screaming! And there was the metallic crash. It rang in my ears, painfully combined with the sound of Link's cries. My mind swirled, and my stomach twisted, and then it all went black…

I woke suddenly, gasping for air. Once again, I was covered in cold sweat warm, salty tears.

Only… tonight, I wasn't cold. And I could feel this weird sort of… pressure. I waited for my vision to clear and my eyes to adjust to the darkness. They widened when I realised…

I was wrapped firmly in Link's arms. His eyes were closed, that and his gentle breathing told me he was asleep. Which was a good thing, because he didn't see me blush furiously. We were semi-propped on the headboard, kind of laying, but also kind of sitting. His mouth was, again, buried in my hair. My head and hands rested against his… bare… chest…

I almost started hyperventilating. He was… asleep… holding me in his arms… and… and…

…It was a dream come true. (Well, the shirtless part was kind of unexpected.) I grinned, and grinned, and couldn't stop grinning until I realized how stupid I must look, then proceeded to muffle it significantly.

…Yay.

I snuggled my head into his warm chest. Link's arms tightened slightly around me in his sleep.

The gentle beating of his heart lulled me back to sleep.


Ahhh… yayz…

I would've liked to put a bit more plot into this chapter, but it seemed a good place to end. School starts tomorrow, so I'll try to update ASAP.

School… *Groan*…

I hope you guys liked it! Reviews are much appreciated, and this time I think I can give out a teaser for chapter 8. It's probably going to be a fluff chapter.

Eternal Nocturne, typos, please! You know I love you!