Chapter 10: Or is it?
When Link had been put in charge for the day with Zelda, which had been the princess's own idea, there was one thing he hadn't thought of. Now, the Smash Mansion lay in the middle of a grand field and it was very far to the city, which you could make out far away, rimming the end of the field.
"Link, how are we supposed to get all the way over there?" Zelda asked a bit hesitantly. With Peach they had gone by cab, but had Link paid it a thought?
"No need to worry", Link ensured her. The only trouble was that Link, indeed and as mentioned before, hadn't planned how to get Zelda to the city and wouldn't it be awfully embarrassing to have to tell her that he had to go back inside and call a cab?
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked", Zelda said, worried that she might have insulted him. Of course he would never forget.
"No, no, I had expected our ride to be here waiting so I'm a little worried myself", Link said. The lies seemed to come faster than he could control.
"Sorry to keep you waiting", Captain Falcon interrupted from behind them and both Link and Zelda swirled around to see him sit inside his Blue Falcon.
"You brought your F-Zero racer here?" Link asked in disbelief.
"I'm not leaving my darling for a second!" Falcon responded. "But hurry up and get inside, it's not that much space in here but we should manage three easily."
"You convinced Captain Falcon to drive us in the Blue Falcon?" Zelda asked all starry-eyed. Link glanced at Falcon who gave him a small nod.
"Why, of course", Link answered.
The drive wasn't all that exciting, although Zelda appeared thrilled and Link was distracted by the fact of how close they had to sit.
"I'll be waiting for you at six, 'kay?" Falcon told them. "You do have a watch I hope?"
Zelda nodded and flashed the watch hugging her thin wrist. Falcon gave her a nod in response and drove off fast as the wind.
"Well, just the two of us", Zelda said with a smile and locked her hands behind her back as she playfully shifted her weight from her toes to her heels. Link clamped his teeth. How could it be possible to fall in love with someone to the point that you couldn't look at the person of interest without being struck by Euphoria?
"Is something wrong?" Zelda asked with a frown and Link sighed. He couldn't imagine her ever seeing him in the same light.
"No, no, don't worry. Where do you want to go first?"
Zelda linked arms with him and brought a hand to his forehead. Her hand felt cool against his hot skin and he was sure his temperature was rising under her touch.
"I think we should go and buy ice-cream somewhere and take it a little easy. You shouldn't push yourself."
Back at the mansion Roy entered Marth's room without knocking, it wouldn't have been of any use since Marth never opened the door anyway. The blue room looked even gloomier than usual because the curtains were shutting out the sunlight and the lights were off.
"What's wrong", Roy asked and picked up the pile of letters lying on the desk. He didn't really ask because he wondered. When it came to Marth something was always wrong and the answer to the question was always a grunt.
"Don't read that!" Marth surprisingly exclaimed and ripped the letters from Roy's hand. Roy had jumped at least three feet in the air because he hadn't heard Marth's voice that loud in years.
"You think that I would read anything?" he responded and rolled his eyes. "I was just curious."
Roy had without thinking picked up Marth's best pencil and was twirling it between his fingers as he spoke.
"You are far too curious!"
"Yeah, yeah, so what's wrong?"
Marth grunted in response. Roy smirked at him.
"Say, you aren't going to ask what people down there are doing again?"
Every time Roy had come Marth had made it a new habit to ask what people were occupying themselves with. Even more amusing was that every time Roy started describing what Peach was doing, pretending not to remember her name, Marth would ask "Zelda?" to then appear completely uninterested when it wasn't.
"Could it possibly have anything to do with that date I told you about earlier?"
Marth glared angrily at Roy.
"Well, then, how come you won't do anything about it?"
Marth's response to this was to crawl onto his bed and hug his knees, facing the wall. Roy knew that this meant that he was about to be ignored and in vain tried to make Marth react to something. With a mischievous grin he grabbed one of the letters Marth hadn't wanted him to see.
"Dear Princess Zelda of Hyrule, whoa, isn't that a fancy beginning?"
With a murderous stare Marth slowly twisted his head in Roy's direction to then leap of the bed and try to grab the letter.
"Calm down mate! If you now have fallen head over heels for this Zelda girl I'm not going to make fun of you."
Roy tried to hold the letter out of Marth's reach but Marth was taller, not to mention faster, so he quickly got it back.
"I haven't!" Marth replied sulkily and threw all the letters into a drawer which he slammed shut.
"But that's great! Then you won't have your heart broken because she already has someone she loves!"
With an angry growl Marth shoved Roy out the door.
"I guess I have to spy on Link and Zelda so that I can report to him, or he'll go suicidal", Roy thought aloud with a heavy sigh.
Zelda and Link were sitting next to each other on the edge of a fountain in the middle of a big square. For the city to be of the top modern kind with tall skyscrapers it surely did have a few charming parks and quarters of a more picturesque type.
They were just trying each other's ice-creams, which Link had insisted on paying for, and unbeknownst to them Peach was hiding nearby with binoculars.
"What have I missed?" a voice interrupted and Peach let out a cry of surprise.
"Roy! Don't scare me like that!" she said reproachfully and scowled.
"What have they been doing?" Roy asked, not bothering to apologize.
"I just came here", Peach replied and sourly stared into the binoculars.
"Why are you here by the way?" Roy said and at the same time glared at someone who had stopped to stare at the whispering pair on the ground.
"I'm not buying this whole thing about Link being as innocent as Zelda says. Some women just don't seem able to see when a man is a creep."
"You mean there are things you don't buy?" asked Roy and glanced at the shopping bags next to Peach.
"Aren't you a humorous one!" she responded as a blush spread over her face. "This was just a little something on the way."
"Uhu? So you think there's a better match for Zelda?"
"I didn't say that! I just don't think this is right. Link will mean trouble for sure!"
"You think Marth has a chance?"
Peach's face lit up and her eyes twinkled joyfully as she lowered the binoculars and faced him with a sparkling smile.
"I knew it!"
"Knew what?"
"Marth is interested in Zelda!"
"Well, duh", Roy answered and rolled his eyes. "But what is Zelda and Link's relationship?"
"Zelda is definitely not interested."
"You sure?"
Peach nodded. "Positively! She thinks this is some kind of nice friend socializing time."
"Does that exist?"
Peach didn't answer because she had looked through the binoculars again and stiffened. There was no longer any Link or Zelda sharing jokes and swapping their two cones of ice-cream over at the fountain.
"Roy… they are gone", she whispered so quietly that Roy could barely hear her. He peeked over the sign they were hiding behind and also saw that Link and Zelda were gone.
"WHERE ARE THEY?" He yelled as he jumped to his feet and startled several of the people that had stopped to stare at him and Peach. "Let's go Peach!"
As the duo hurried off to find the two Hylians, Ganondorf, who also had been spying, were following Link and Zelda. Being a professional villain he would never do a stupid mistake like taking his eyes off his prey.
"We said no meddling!" Bowser snorted as he showed up behind Ganondorf.
"I have no idea what you're talking about", Ganondorf replied dryly as his widened eyes went back to their original size.
"Don't think I'm that stupid! Link and Zelda is right over there!"
"Link and Zelda? Where?" Ganondorf asked and pretended to look around.
"There! They are entering that cute café over there!"
Ganondorf knocked the huge Bowser over in pure disgust over the word cute. While Bowser was struggling to his feet Ganondorf ran into the café and looked around.
A waitress wearing a laced shirt, wide skirt and a white apron with pink stripes walked up to him. She took out a pencil from behind her ear and flapped some of her curly blonde hair over her shoulder.
"Can I help you?"
Ganondorf shook his head irritably and scanned the café for a sight of the two Hylians. The windows were huge. To his right tables with red sofas standing back to back went along the whole wall. Waitresses dressed like the one next to him zigzagged between tiny, round tables where people were talking quietly to each other. Everything was either white and red or pink and Ganondorf gritted his teeth.
"Sir? Would you like a table?"
Swallowing the groan that was on its way up Ganondorf turned to the waitress with a warm smile. He had just spotted Link and Zelda by the window.
"I can take care of it myself", the Gerudo told her and gently pushed her aside so that he could sit down at the table behind Link and Zelda's. Luckily enough Zelda was the one sitting with her back to him, being the only one who could possibly have noticed him since Link was completely oblivious to anything going on around him.
"Yes, of course I remember", Zelda said and giggled as Ganondorf sat down.
"But Zelda, are you really sure about being here? I mean, you're not going back to Hyrule?"
Ganondorf rolled his eyes at the tenderness in Link's voice.
"Of course I'm not sure if I should be here, but nonetheless, I'm staying", Zelda answered and met Link's gaze. Ganondorf didn't like the serious turn this conversation was taking. He could picture the determined look of honesty Zelda was giving Link just this moment.
"Then I guess I won't argue, but you know what I think about this" Link said with a sigh. Zelda let the straw in her drink run in tiny circles, the liquid turning into a slow whirlpool in the glass.
"You know I wouldn't dream about worrying you", she said and Link put his hand over hers. At times he could not bring himself to even sit close to her, much less hold her hand but his regular anxiety was not present because he had forgotten all about trying to make a romantic impression.
"And still it seems like I don't do anything else but worry about you."
Zelda smiled sadly and let go of the straw so that she could let her other hand rest on top of his.
"It's quite unnecessary mostly", she said and the sadness was gone in a second.
"That's your opinion", Link stated and leant forwards so that she could hear him speak since he had lowered his voice.
"Didn't we say that we were going to trust each other always?" Zelda whispered back and leant a bit closer too.
"You know I trust you more than anyone", Link said and his expression softened.
Zelda smiled back. That was true. Link would listen to her without any questions or doubts. That was actually how their friendship had begun, she had confided in him and he had trusted her. Her loyalty to him was just as deep.
"He's not all that trustworthy", Ganondorf interrupted with his folded arms resting behind Zelda on the back of the sofa. Zelda and Link released their hands from each other's as they put some distance between them and Zelda picked up her glass to occupy herself with something as she let her embarrassment fade.
"And you shouldn't trust the princess that easily either", Ganondorf went on as he turned to Link whose eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing here?" Link growled.
"Were the drinks to your liking?" a waitress asked as she showed up and let her gaze shift between Link and Zelda.
"They were delicious", Zelda answered politely, not startled at all, while both Link and Ganondorf were staring at the waitress as if she was a Martian.
"Would you like anything else?" the waitress asked as she took the empty glasses. Zelda searched Link's gaze and he nodded before he turned to the waitress.
"We'll take the spaghetti with quenelles, both of us."
The waitress made a nod and scribbled something down.
"I thought this was a café", Ganondorf commented.
"We are also famous for out few, but very tasty, options of lunches", the waitress answered with slight unease. This man had such terribly evil eyes.
"I'll have a cup of coffee too and she'll have tea", Link told the waitress who nodded again and wrote it down.
"You have a very pretty girlfriend", she then stated with a friendly smile. "We happen to be a very popular dating spot. Would you like to have a look at our romance themed menu?"
Link's face disappeared behind a curtain of thick steam as he turned read as a tomato.
"N-no, thank you", he mumbled.
"You really are a good-lucking couple. I'm sure your babies will look adorable", the waitress said before she trotted off.
Zelda brushed off her face with a napkin while Link refused to look at her.
"What a mistake, huh?" Ganondorf said while he watched both of them with a very displeased look on his face. "You'd never go out with Link, right Zelda?"
Link made a choking sound as Zelda turned to Ganondorf with wide eyes.
"Why this all of a sudden? Link would make any girl happy!"
Link grinned triumphantly behind Zelda's back.
"…and our friendship is deeper than you think! So to answer your question, no, we would never date each other."
Ganondorf gave Link a "told you so" look when Zelda turned back to the hero who tried to conceal his heartbreak.
"You might as well give up Link", Ganondorf said and Link would have jumped right at him, if it wasn't for Zelda sitting across from him.
"Give up?" Zelda said and looked at Link, wanting an explanation.
"It's not what you think!" Link exclaimed in a weak attempt to keep his feelings secret.
"It's exactly what you think!"
"Give up what?" Zelda asked and both Link and Ganondorf fell to the floor.
Just as the two men got back into their seats the waitress arrived with the spaghetti. Only thing was that heart shaped hundreds and thousands were adorning the food and the spaghetti was colored pink.
"You got to be joking", Ganondorf said.
"Oh, no, I got the message from your friend saying that you changed your mind about the food", said the waitress with a wide smile which was returned without any enthusiasm.
"What… friend?" Ganondorf asked with flaring nostrils and the waitress pointed to Bowser smirking from the other side of the café. Ganondorf stomped over to Bowser while Link and Zelda stared at their food.
"It… looks good", Zelda said hesitantly. Link only nodded, hiding his face that had gone crimson once again.
Just when Link was sure it couldn't get any worse a guy in a suit showed up with a violin.
"A tribute to your love", he said before he began to play it, all while Link tried to stare him away.
"Why!" Link exclaimed, but the violinist kept on playing. That was when Zelda started to laugh. The pearly sound of her voice did not ruin the pleasant sound from the violin. Rather it made it turn more beautiful and washed away all embarrassment like warmer rain washed away the colder snow when spring arrived.
"What would people say if they saw us now?" she asked and he started laughing too.
"We'd never have a quiet moment!"
"The only thing that matters are our own feelings", Zelda said and Link couldn't help but to smile warmly.
"How about we try some of this spaghetti?"
Zelda nodded and picked up her fork.
"But first, my dear, allow me to propose a toast", Link said with acted pompousness, as he shot a glance at the violinist who took it as a sign to play even more beautifully. "A tribute to our love."
Zelda giggled but raised her cup of tea. "Darling, you really don't have to", she said and his heart must have made a spin inside his chest. He wanted her to call him darling again. As Zelda put her cup down it hit her how warm his smile made her and how at ease she felt in his presence. She wished Link would always be at her side so that she could feel light, as if her feet might lift from the floor and she could fly.
"It's not often I see you smile like that", Link commented, taking another sip of his hot coffee.
"Oh, it's not often I feel like smiling like this", she replied and found that she couldn't stop smiling.
"It makes you look beautiful."
He could have slapped his hands over his mouth. Why could he never think beforehand? Why would he have to blurt out something as revealing as that?
"Thank you, you always know how to make me feel good."
Ganondorf was considering just what he should do to punish Bowser who contently was enjoying a smoothie pink as the waitresses' aprons.
"We said no meddling!" Ganondorf snarled.
"You broke the rules first."
"Did not! I was just talking with my old friends!"
Bowser slurped down some more of his smoothie. "Sure did…"
"It won't count if this makes them hook up!"
"It does, and I'll steal the money you owe me if I have to", Bowser responded but then spotted something very interesting through the window. Peach was walking past the café, looking around as if in search for something. She looked splendid as always, although Bowser would gladly do anything to erase the tiny wrinkle between her eyebrows to see her lovely smile.
"I'll be back", he uttered and walked away, not even aware of Ganondorf's swearing.
As soon as Bowser was gone a waitress showed up.
"That'll be three coins."
Roy grunted and fastened his grip around the many shopping bags he was carrying.
"Tell me why I'm doing this again."
"Well, we couldn't find Link and Zelda in any of the shops and while we were there I just had some errands taken care of."
He would gladly have told her to carry her own bags but although he wasn't the most polite lord there was he knew better than to insult a lady.
"If we don't find them soon I'm going home and although it makes my heart ache I must leave you with your bags", Roy said, hoping she could take a hint.
"Stop your whining! Those don't look too heavy", Bowser snorted as he showed up and turned to Peach, beaming.
"What a coincidence!" he added to the princess.
"Bowser! Have you perhaps seen Link and Zelda?" Peach asked as her face lit up, not because she was glad to see her kidnapper but because finally she had some hope to find Link and Zelda.
"Sure have", Bowser replied merrily.
"Would you mind telling me?" Peach asked eagerly and Bowser scratched the back off his head in pure disbelief of having Peach use her cutest expression on him.
"They are inside that café", he answered. "Why do you want to know?"
"I'm going to ruin the date before it goes too far", Peach said and smiled wickedly.
Now Bowser had a true dilemma. Either he would lose a fortune if Peach managed to break up Link and Zelda and thus endanger his bet, or he would anger the princess and he was sure he wasn't on her top list of most likeable people even now. There had to be some way he could both eat the cake and still have it.
"Peach I have an idea", he said before she could bounce away. "We could make it into a double date and ruin it without making it look suspicious."
He was a genius! He could let Peach try to ruin things while he saved the situation and he would even get a date with Peach.
"Great idea! I'll call Mario immediately!"
"H-he won't get here in time!"
"You're right", Peach said thoughtfully.
"We could do it!"
"You and me? Dear, no one would ever believe us being on a date", Peach answered with a shook of her head.
"HEEELP!"
Roy, Bowser and Peach all ran to the café at the sound of the scream and as they barged inside they saw a waitress hovering upside-down in the air, surrounded by a purple light while Link was swinging his sword at Ganondorf, whose hand were as glowing purple as the waitress. Zelda was running after the two men who jumped from one table to another, ruing everything that happened to get in their way, while she tried to make them stop. With and annoyed sigh her hands where enclosed by a sparkling light and Ganondorf and Link flew in opposite directions. With a shriek the waitress fell down and was caught by Roy who had thrown the shopping bags to the side and rushed forwards to save her.
"That's enough you two!" Zelda exclaimed and walked over to the man at the counter and bowed deeply. "I'm so very sorry. We will make sure you are compensated."
The young man behind the counter nodded as he stared at the mess.
"That's enough!" Peach said angrily and grabbed Roy's ear to pull him away from the curvy waitress who was busy batting her eyelashes at her savior. "How could you toss aside my shopping bags that recklessly?"
"Uhm? Did you not notice the damsel in distress?"
Peach looked away from him, fuming. "I am the damsel among damsels in distress! You think I wouldn't notice one when I see it? That fake was not worth it!"
"Why are you so angry", Roy asked as he bent down and tried to get a look of her face but she kept twisting away. "Pe-each", he cooed but this made Peach shove her shopping bags into his arms.
"Do that again you'll have nightmares about me", she threatened and stomped towards the door. "Are you coming?"
"Bye-bye", the waitress chimed as she waved to Roy and giggled. Peach pulled out a vegetable from nowhere, which happened to have about as sour of a face as Peach, and threw it at the waitress.
"Some women just don't have any dignity", she muttered as she dragged Roy out the door and Bowser followed.
"I hope you are satisfied", Zelda scolded Ganondorf and Link who was walking behind her with their heads hanging. "That was very embarrassing! What do you have to say for yourselves?"
"We are sorry Zelda."
"It won't happen again Zelda."
"I certainly don't hope so!"
"We have learnt out lesson."
"We'll make it up to you."
Zelda stopped and the two men behind her stopped as if on cue. She turned around to face them, still frowning and they both gulped.
"We'll meet you at home then Ganondorf, I'm sorry but I don't think Captain Falcon has any room for you and we shouldn't bother him more than we have already."
"Then I bid you goodnight", Ganondorf said and hurried away.
"Are you very angry?" Link dared to ask.
"No, you were just trying to stop Ganondorf when he lifted that poor waitress up, but please can't you consider your actions beforehand?"
"Are you that disappointed?"
There was something serious about his him that made her breath get caught in her throat and she found that she couldn't say it.
"No, I like you the way you are", she mumbled and grabbed his arm.
Oh, I almost succumbed to the dark side! Quality over quantity any time! (I'm talking of the reviews of course). Thank you so much! You have all been lovely and you are so kind I end up reading every review over and over and over (thank you). As long as one person bothers to offer a kind word it makes me very happy.
Yay for zelinkness! I'm starting to feel sorry for Marth now when things turn out so well for Link… oh, well, unfortunately for Marth there's still one thing left of this date: the classical ending scene in front of the house! Next time I think I'll have Link swallow a truth serum too (and one more person who I haven't decided yet, probably one that hasn't made much of an appearance).