Disclaimer: I do not own anything LoZ related.

A/N: … :'(

Chapter 10: Malon Ackerman

Ackerman House

Middle of Nowhere

Sunday, August 7th, 12:51 A.M.

So, it's been a week since the Zelda/Sheik/Mike incident. Ick. Sheik's completely better, and Zelda just has slight headaches now. Link can walk, and doesn't complain about pain, so he's okay. I've been over there anyway. I'm driving home (using Link's car… since he got hurt, he's been letting me do anything, hee hee) to go get some clothes, take a shower, check up on dad, etc.

I park the Mustang and gently close the door. Link will kill me if he gets better and finds even the slightest dent or scratch on his baby. It's disgusting, his love affair with the Mustang and Sheik's with his Lamborghini. Well, I say it's disgusting, but it's pretty funny. I'm happy. Link has been pretty good with me, lately. I mean, we're still just friends (I gave up a long time ago on us being anything more than that… But never quite completely) but we're better friends now. It's pretty good.

Except for the fact I'm unemployed. This past week has just been a giant headache and I haven't said a word to anyone or tried to find a new job.

"Dad?" I say, opening the door. It's never locked; like we have anything worth stealing. The booze is always gone, the house is a wreck, and it's empty. The worst thing is it smells like chicken poop.

Except for right now. Ew, whatis that? How long's it been since I've been here, anyway? A few days, I guess. I've been showering and eating and stuff at Zelda and Link's. Link hasn't moved from the couch hardly at all, and Sheik comes in and out. He's been weird since the incident with Mike, though. At first, he came back and (as Zelda informed me later) was practically on his knees saying sorry (an exaggeration, probably… Zelda doesn't lie, but sometimes she exaggerates). I guess he said some pretty hurtful stuff to her. Well, at least he didn't make up lame excuses like "It was the pain pills!" or "I was under the influence!". At least he's honest.

Good Goddesses, what in the hell is that smell? It's like a dog crawled in and puked, and then a cat dragged in a dead bird.

…

Goddesses. I hope Dad didn't leave the windows open again.

"Dad?" I call. Nobody answers. How odd. Even when he's drunk, he'll slur something. Usually derogative towards me. But always something."Dad?" I say, a bit more panicky. Okay, what's going on?

I drop my bag by the door and speed-walk through the house, my heart pounding. Not in the living room. Not in the kitchen. I pound up the stairs.

Not in my room. Not in his room.

"Dad?" Okay, now I'm scared. Where is he? It doesn't matter what he's done in the past, a dad is a dad, and right now I really want mine. "Daddy?" I say, near tears. This is weird. I haven't said "Mommy" or "Daddy" since I was, like, eight. "Where are you?"

Only one more room. I walk down the hallway and open the door to the bathroom, where the source of the smell is coming from.

"Dad?" I say weakly, tears sliding down my cheeks. And my goddesses, if there's one thing I'm not, it's a crier.

But, there he is. The man that I grew up with. He's motionless on the floor. It's too… perfect. Or, maybe, imperfect. His hair is so perfectly imperfect it's not real; his clothes are so imperfectly wrinkled and puked upon I wonder if he didn't wrinkle them on purpose; his eyes so dreamily shut it's as if the Goddesses themselves came down and closed them for him.

"Daddy?" I say. It is so quiet, you wouldn't believe it. I already know what happened. "Daddy, please, no," I choke out, crawling down on the floor beside him and burying my face in his cold, stiff arm. "Daddy, I need you. Daddy, I don't care what you've done to me or Mommy in the past. Daddy, I can forgive you. Daddy, I'm sorry for being worthless, I'm sorry for being a wench and I'm sorry for not loving you when you needed me. I'm sorry I didn't cry with you once when Mommy died, Daddy I need you, I don't care about anything else… Daddy, please come back… Daddy I need you, I need you, Daddy…"

But Daddy's not coming back. What do you know , the Goddesses did close his eyes, after all.

Auru Apartments, Room 2-B

Hyrule Castle Town

August 7th, 1:34 P.M.

The paparazzi followed me all the way here. I knew it would only be a matter of time. Cameras clicking, I pound on Room 2-B's door. I can't speak. I haven't spoken since…

"Who is it?" I hear Link call. I pound on the door harder, nearly in tears.

"Ms. Ackerman, Coke or Pepsi?" asks a reporter, a camera clicking in my face. Ohh, how I want to jack this guy in the mouth. I hit the door until Link opens it. I rush in and he closes it.

"Where's Zelda?" I ask, my voice shaking.

"She's with Sheik," Link says. "What happened?"

"I need to talk to her."

"Malon, what's wrong?" Link asks, placing his hands on my shoulders and staring at me with those intense dark-blue eyes. I stare back, and then some tears find their way rolling down my face. Link looks away. He takes my hand and guides me to the couch, where he seats himself. He wraps his arms around me and I put my face in his bare chest, which is healing. "Mal…"

"He's dead," I choke out. "Dad died yesterday."

"What?" Link says. "How-?"

"I went home…" I describe the scene to him, my voice coming out muffled. My eyes are probably huge and puffy and I probably sound like an idiot, but I don't really care. I'm kind of incapable of thinking right now. I'm just conscious of my pain, Link's arms, and how badly I want to shove that camera right into that guy's face. Hopefully, I could shatter his nose. Then, someone could be in as much pain as me. "I called the paramedics… They said he basically drank himself to death."

"Malon…"

"He passed out and choked on his own vomit, that's why he was in the bathroom," I cry. "If I would have been home, then I could have helped him, I could have-"

"Don't talk like that," Link cuts me off. "You couldn't've done anything, and it was bound to happen anyway, the way he drank. Malon…"

"One thing. I've learned," I squeeze out between choking sobs (I'm going to kill myself for crying like this later on), "Is that. Death. Is really. Quiet. So quiet. You don't even. Understand."

"Malon… The Goddesses work in mysterious ways," Link says.

"That's what the cop said!" I say in disgust, getting up. I'm conscious of Link's arms remaining around me. I look at him in the face. Ugh, I've probably got snot rockets going on. But the cool thing is, it doesn't look like Link much cares. "And what possible way could he be gone for?! You don't think I've freaking run through every freaking possibility?!"

"Calm down, Mal, I'm on your side, remember?" Link says, gesturing to his bruised chest.

"I'm sorry," I say, wiping my nose with my sleeve. Gross. "But you know? I'm in a worse position now than I was before," I say. "I just wanna die… I wanna jump off this building and-"

"Don't." Link says. He suddenly reaches out and I'm in his arms again. There's nothing more comforting than being in his arms, next to his strong chest. "Please don't talk like that, Mal, you're scaring me."

"I thought nothing scared you," I whisper.

"Some things do," he says back. "Your death is one of them. Malon, you're not in a worse place."

"Please, explain how," I say sarcastically. "Enlighten me."

"He was holding you back," Link says. My arms hurt from the position they're in, so I put mine around him. Who woulda thought I'd be in this position? I don't really agree with what Link's saying, but, you know what? Crying sure as hell makes you tired. And I just want someone older and wiser to tell me the answers. That's never really happened before, but with Mr. Jay. He actually let me graduate early from summer school. "Malon, you weren't fooling anybody… We know he made you stay home on some days, and on the other days you stayed home because you had a good heart and you were helping him with his hangover. He hit you, and Malon, we know."

I want to argue, but, he does know the truth after all. And at this point, what's the point in arguing? Who cares? He's gone.

"Maybe with him gone you can make something of yourself," Link tells me. "You can get a new job. Yes, I knew about that," he says, reading my mind. "You don't think I kind of figured, how you didn't go to work for so long, and then went once for only an hour, then came home and never went back? Wait a year for college, work up some money. Talk with Mr. Jay, maybe he can pull some strings and have the school pay for some of your tuition. You don't have to go anywhere special, just some community college. It'll be something. Then you can get a real job, maybe as a nurse or something. You're good at that."

I don't argue with this, either. I like helping people out. I did nurse Dad when he had hangovers, and I did enjoy caring for Link, Zelda, and Sheik when they were sick.

"Then you'll be raking in the money and you can fix the house and start a family and make something of yourself. You've got it in ya, Mal, I know you do," Link says. I sniff and close my eyes. Link tightens his arms around me.

"My head hurts," I complain. I feel like such a bitch, I'm not even sure why. Was I yelling at him earlier? Everything's kind of… foggy. All I hear is Link's voice, all I feel is his strong chest, all I can remember is Dad's body, just like when I found Mom. But this time is different. This time, I have somebody with me. Somebody who doesn't understand, but somebody all the same. And, sometimes, that one somebody is everything you need. That somebody makes the world go round. That somebody is a string that's the only thing keeping you attached to this world. That somebody makes all life's problems, like money, love, and death seem like nothing. Funny. A week ago, I was worried if Zelda would ever be my friend again and I thought that was the biggest problem in the world. Turns out, worse things can happen. Worse things did. Thank Goddesses I found my somebody, my string tying me to Earth. I cry into my somebody's chest, and he strokes his hand through my hair.