His father's car was gone when Link made his way home, but Link still locked himself away in his room, ignoring Aryll's whining on the other side of the door. Aryll pressed her cheek against the door as she called to him in a sing-song voice.

"Come on, Link," she said, her fingers rapping against the wood. "I know you're not really doing homework in there."

"Go away, Ary," Link said once more. He hung upside down on his bed, Switch controller in hand in an attempt to navigate a race course upside down.

"But I want to play your games!"

Link sighed. "I'm going to bed soon."

"No, you're not! Liar!"

"Goodbye, Ary." He grinned when he heard her push herself off the door. Her mumbling was muffled, but he was sure he was calling some kind of childish insult. Stupidhead was her favorite. After a moment more, he heard her bedroom door close. He let the controller drop from his hands onto the carpet the moment he crossed the finish line in the game and he stretched his arms out. He let himself hang for a moment before pulling himself upright. The blood drained from his head quickly, making him dizzy for a moment, and he lay flat across his bed.

At that moment, his phone buzzed on his desk, and he reached over to check it. He held the phone high above him, squinting at the name that appeared on the screen. He groaned slightly and opened Zelda's text.

Meet me at the coffee shop near the park. Now.

She sure was persistent. He moved his fingers to type a reply, but as he did so, the phone slipped from his hands and landed on his forehead. He barked in surprise and rubbed the red mark that appeared. With a grunt, he reached for the phone, turning over onto his stomach as he did so to finish his reply.

Its a little late for coffee for me.

It didn't take long for her reply. NOW.

Link rolled his eyes and blew his hair out of his eyes. He pocketed his phone, then moved across the room, opening the door quietly and poking his nose out slightly. He was sure his father was still up, and considering the fact that his bedroom door was open, he wouldn't be in for a bit. He closed the door softly, then moved back to his bed to open the window against the wall. He pushed out the screen, then pulled himself through clumsily. He landed on the roof top below his window more loudly than he expected, and froze for a moment, listening for any sign of his father. When nothing followed after a few moments, he replaced the screen, leaving the glass open, and moved carefully along the slope of the roof. He sat on the edge, letting his legs dangle for a moment before jumping down onto the grass.

Link jogged across the moonlight yard, his shadow stretching away from him, then jumped the fence on the other side. Back on his feet, he hesitated, looking over his shoulder, but there was no one following him, and he was now out of sight of every window in the house. It was a mile walk to the coffee shop, but Link knew he could make it there in a few minutes if he felt like being hasty.

He opted out of putting any effort into his travel, and it took him twenty minutes to get there. Zelda was waiting impatiently outside on the sidewalk, her arms crossed and her foot tapping. When she turned and saw Link, she rolled her eyes and sighed, her foot tapping faster.

"Please, take your time," she said.

"I'm enjoying the nice night."

"You have the rest of your life to enjoy things," she hissed.

"Well, that all depends on how successful we are in our quest."

"Quest? What is this, World of Warcraft?"

Link ignored her comment. "What's the plan?"

"My father moved the sword out of his office," she said. "It's in Dorian's possession."

"Great," Link said dryly. "Sneaking around Sheikahs is just what I want to be doing."

"I know Dorian has it in his office," Zelda continued. "He's keeping it out of Impa's reach."

"We're not breaking in to a Sheikah's office," Link said, but Zelda was not listening.

"We can pick the lock no problem."

"You know what Sheikah are, right?" Link said, narrowing his eyes on her. "You know, magical ass-kicking ninjas? There's no sneaking around them."

"The sword won't be hard to find. We can get in and out in just a few minutes."

"There's no chance in hell that Dorian is leaving that thing unguarded."

Zelda sighed, growing frustrated with him. "Will you just listen?" she barked.

Link raised his hands in the air defensively. "Fine, fine. This is suicide, but I'm listening."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Impa's got them distracted."

"You dragged her into this, too?"

Zelda shrugged. "It was her idea."

"Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Maybe. Maybe not, if you insist on continuing to waste our time."

"Fine. Are we doing this or what?"

"Fine. Let's go."

Rather begrudgingly, Link followed Zelda to the town car that waited on the narrow street behind the coffee shop. She stopped at the driver side, her hand on the handle, regarding Link over her shoulder.

"Get in the back."

Link raised a brow. "Seriously? You're driving?"

"Don't make me throw you into the trunk," she snarled at him.

Link sighed and obeyed, climbing into the back seat.

"Stay down and keep quiet," Zelda instructed. "My father suspects we'll try to get the sword back. It won't go over well if he finds out you're with me."

"Great plan," Link muttered. "Why don't you just give me a fake mustache, too? He'll never recognize me then."

Zelda peeled away from the curb in response. She navigated the low traffic streets through the city until they arrived at the palace. The car slowed to a stop at the front gate, and Zelda chatted casually with the guard at the station. Link kept himself hidden as they conversed, and after a few more moments, the gates open and the car moved forward, following the winding path. He didn't move until the car came to a stop once more and Zelda cut the engine.

"Come on," she said to him as she stepped out.

Link climbed out of the car behind her, looking around as he did so. Though it was dark, the grounds around the palace were rather brightly lit. Lights were set into the outer walls along the building, and decorated street lamps lined the drive they drove up. There were other various forms of lighting set back in manicured gardens and circled around lively fountains. The town car was parked on the side of a building which Link guessed to be some sort of garage based on the other vehicles lined around the circular drive. All were marked with the Hyrulian Crest. Peering into the windows of the garage showed Link that they were much nicer cars in the protection of the walls. He moaned lightly as his eyes moved over each vehicle in the dim light.

"Are you finished, or do you need another minute?" Zelda said, rolling her eyes. "We don't have a lot of time."

"Do you have a less annoying sister or cousin or something so I can marry into this?"

Zelda snorted and turned her back on him. "Even my father doesn't drive those," she said. She moved across the drive and away from the front of the palace. Link hesitated, stealing one last glance at the protected vehicles before jogging to catch up with the princess. He continued to look around as he followed her, wondering where she could be taking him.

After a few minutes more of following her blindly, Zelda stopped. They were behind the palace, almost a quarter of a mile away, to Link's surprise. High walls surrounded the property of the palace, towers at each corner. Bushes, small trees, and other various shrubberies and plans were decorated along the walls. Link also spotted a variety of security cameras. Zelda pressed her body against the wall and moved quickly along it, instructing Link to do the same. They hurried through the bushes and flowers, and after a few moments more, she stopped again. She got to her knees and lifted a door hidden behind a bush and she took the steps down underground.

The pathway under ground was completely dark, but Zelda and Link lit their way with the lights on their phones. Link kept close to her side, just at her heels as she lead the way through the secret passage ways.

"This is where you kill me, isn't it?" Link muttered.

"These passage ways have been here for thousands of years," Zelda said. "You know, in case we ever need to make a quick and stealthy escape."

"Or if you need to sneak it or out to see your boyfriends."

Zelda shrugged. "I have gotten pretty good at that."

Link barked a sharp laugh, not believing for a second that she ever had any kind of love life. She was far too high maintenance. And kind of a bitch.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I will kill you, though, if you tell anyone of this."

Link crossed his heart with his finger. "You're sex secrets are safe with me."

Zelda ignored his comment as they moved further through, taking various turns as the path wound its way under the palace. After what felt like an endless amount of time, they finally neared the end of the path, climbing up another set of stairs. Zelda pressed a finger to a spot on the wall, though it was too dark for Link to see clearly. Based on what happened next, he suspected it to be some sort of finger print scanner, because the wall slid effortlessly open. Walking through brought Link and Zelda into some sort of storage room, and the wall slid closed behind them.

"This is some serious shit," Link muttered.

They continued onward, moving across the storage room and out the door on the other side. This door brought them into a dark, empty hallway. Zelda moved down the hallway, and Link quickly became aware that they were not even in the palace. The Sheikah symbol marked various draperies that lined the walls, and Link suspected that they were in some sort of building off of the palace meant for the Sheikah.

They climbed a spiral staircase, moving quickly and quietly. Zelda checked around each corner before moving onward until they finally stopped before a large, clearly secure door. Link guessed the keyhole in the knob was merely for show as there were far more advanced mechanisms that secured their entry. A keypad on the wall suggested a password or code was needed. A fingerprint scanner told him that only a certain individual could gain access. And if anyone asked, he would have said he was certain that the door was also boobytrapped.

But none of this fazed Zelda.

"Looks like you didn't plan for Secret Agent Man's top notch security system," Link said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Zelda tapped her fingers against the keypad, however, and the edges of the pad flashed green, signaling a correct code.

"Hacker."

"Hardly," Zelda said. "As leader of the Sheikah, Impa has access to everything the Sheikah do, including passwords, codes, you name it."

"Sheikah told you how to break into Dorian's office?"

"She is on our side, you know."

"Why couldn't she just get the stupid sword, then?"

"She's distracting them, remember?"

Link shrugged. "What about that fingerprint scanner?"

Zelda grinned. She pulled a piece of tape out of her pocket and carefully placed it on the scanner. After a few moments, it, too, lit green, and the door beeped lightly, allowing them entrance.

"Damn," Link said. "Does all this come with the territory of being princess?"

Zelda laughed lightly. "Please. As far as my father is concerned, I should just stand next to him and look pretty." She shook her head. "No, Impa has taught me everything I know."

"Your father sounds like he's stuck in the stone ages," Link said.

"Yeah. Well." Zelda did not continue, however. She opened the door and stepped through into Dorian's office. Just as she suspected, the sword lay across his desk, but it was sheathed in a hilt she had not seen before. She moved to the desk, inspecting it carefully.

"You know," Link started, looking around. "If he has this place so secure, there's probably some traps or something in here." He pointed to the security camera in the corner of the room. "Or, you know, security cameras."

Zelda shrugged. "We got this far. By the time he gets here, we'll be gone."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that.