Okie doki Loki! Chapter ten! Can you believe it? Ten chapters! It hasn't even been two week! (I think) this is great!
Ummm story?
Story.
The wind was rustling the branches from the surrounding trees and the wind had picked up from the north. Slowly the sun was setting in the west, or at least, trying to. There was a massive grey cloud in front of its view of the world. Link and Zelda were sitting on their couch, looking out the window, starring at this massive cloud, questioning its appearance.
"What do you think... is it going to rain?" Link looked a Zelda in curiosity.
"No," she said "It's too cold. It might snow however." Zelda looked over at Link and his face lit up.
It was a rare occurrence in Skyloft for them to get snow, since they lived above the clouds. Even when it did, it was barely half an inch, not much to work with. However, when Zelda and Link were nine, they got snow, and a lot of it. Seven inches of snow coated the ground everywhere in Skyloft, except the rivers. For some reason, they still ran and didn't freeze.
The snow was the greatest thing Link had ever discovered in his childhood. The first time Groose had actually beat Link up was because he shot him with snowballs; he grabbed him by the collar and punched his gut, then his face, but Link was still laughing about it. The way he could shape it into anything, and the way he could use it as anything was inconceivable to him. It could be a home, a weapon, dessert, an art medium, and a form of faster transportation. Heck, Link even thought it was a great blanket after you got used to it.
But that snow only lasted a few days, and they never had anything like it since.
"Do you really think so?" Link looked back at the window.
"It is winter time. But I don't know how much snow the surface would get anyway. I mean, the rivers here are all frozen over, so it's below freezing outside. It's all a possibility."
Even if Zelda didn't show it as much, she enjoyed the snow as much as, if not more, than Link did. She's the one who threw a chunk of ice at Groose to stop him from beating up Link. She mainly liked making things out of the snow, but weaponry wasn't a bad talent snow had either. She just could not get into the 'using it as a blanket' as Link did. He would just lay there, waiting for snow to pile on him from the sky. It was her job to keep his face clean of snow. They would usually tell stories while Link would relax in his snow bed.
Link decided this was a fine opportunity to use their fireplace for the first time. Getting up to grab some matches from one of their cabinets, Zelda had tried to say something.
"Link, before you light the match, you need to remember-"
"Calm down, the fireplace is made of bricks, remember?"
She knew that.
"No, I mean th-"
"The house isn't going to catch on fire, it'll be fine, and all the wood has special concealer on it, preventing things like that."
"No, I mean we don't have an-"
Link lit the match.
"-firewood."
;'.;'.;.;.''.;.';
After getting a Jacket and some gloves from their closet, Link went out to find some firewood demanding that 'I made this dang fireplace, so we're going to use it.' The sun was already going out by the time that Link grabbed their axe.
"I need to hurry if I want to still see my way back to the house." He made his way up to the patch of small trees up the path a ways. He began to chop them, only pausing to look into the sky for some sort of measurement of time. Slowly his pile of logs grew. He didn't want to chop too many of them, or else he couldn't carry them all back and either have to leave them, or make two trips.
Link had chopped seven when it began. The snow started so soft and quiet that Link didn't even notice it until he looked back into the sky. He could only see white specks, and nothing more. Slowly, but surely the snow began to pile up, making tree branches and logs visible.
"Should seven be enough? I don't really know, but it's going to have to work." Link tucked four logs under one arm, and three under another. Looking down he saw the axe, remembering he had to take that back as well. Carefully he bent at the knees and reached for it with his fingers, grabbing the handle. Even more careful than before, he straightened his back, and started to walk.
He started moving towards the house, feeling accomplished. If he had to guess, only about twenty minutes had passed. He was feeling fine, until it set in. He couldn't protect himself like this from any attack. It's not like he needed to be worried about a surprise attack in the forest, but something didn't feel right. He didn't like this. He felt defenseless in the forest without some sort of protection. Right now, he was a walking ball, just waiting to get rolled over. What made matters worse was he could hear every snowflake as it touched the ground, and as he stepped on them.
Crunch, crunch, crunch
Every step he took. It felt like he was below The Ancient Cistern, crunching on bones, and hearing zombies rising from the ground. A bird flew off into the trees, and Link jumped. A branch snapped, and he yelped. At every twist and turn another sound was heard, another creature stirred. What made matters worse was that the moon was covered by clouds, barely reflecting anything off the snow. He heard a crash, and started a sprint in the direction-he hoped-was home. His instincts tuning in, he was jumping over roots and ducking under tree branches. He believed he lost a log of wood, but he didn't plan on coming back for it soon.
He reached the edge of the clearing and stopped to catch his breath. Why was he so scared? What had made him worry? Nothing bad was going to happen, right?
His thoughts were broken like a guitar string when a door opened. Looking over at their house, he saw Zelda step out, looking into the clearing. Putting her hands against the railing of their porch, she looked outwards. Link believed she muttered something, but he was too far to tell what she said.
She paused for a moment, and the whole world seemed to stop moving. Everything seemed to stop their existing, only to simply acknowledge hers. The snow, the clouds, the trees, their leaves, the air, even Link sopped breathing and looked at her, even if only for that one second. Everything probably would have stayed like that if the clouds weren't being rebels and moved. At least, most of them were rebels, some stayed perfectly still, exposing the moon.
The moonlight shone onto everything in the clearing with the desire of making everything more beautiful. The half inch of snow already on the ground seemed to radiate with joy at the feel of the moonlight, the trees, with their leaves, seemed to stretch outwards towards the moon. But all that was irrelevant to Link, for his eyes were on one thing and one thing alone.
Zelda.
Her beautiful blonde hair cascading down her back as she moved her head upwards to view the moon. The moon corresponded by seeming to shine brighter than before, reflecting off of her skin. In that moment, all the flaws on her legs seemed to disappear. Months had passed since the fire, but they were still clearly visible, and Zelda didn't mind in the slightest; neither did Link, but in this moment she seemed so… so…
Immortal.
Nothing was wrong with her, she had no flaws, there was absolutely no way to get anymore perfect than what was standing in front of Link at that moment. She was untouchable, seeping with beauty, nothing was undefined on her, and it all flowed together like two rivers of the same destination, into one. Slowly, but smoothly. Pushing and pulling each other until they found the perfect balance. That balance was Zelda.
But that moment didn't last forever either, the clouds, however sad the fact, had other jobs to attend too. They rolled over the moon, silencing its rein over the surface, if just for a minute. Gathering his composure, he made his way over to Zelda.
She heard him before she saw him. The crunching of the snow was defined enough for her to hear it from twenty feet away.
"How did it go?" She more yelled than said to him.
"Good, good. I think I lost a log in the process of returning, but I still have six." Link walked up the two steps leading to their front entrance, and kicking his feet to knock the snow off.
Zelda counted.
"No Link, you have seven." She said as she raised an arm to her chin in wonder.
He looked at his arms. One, two, three… six, seven. He counted, and counted again, wondering what he had dropped. He distinctly remembers something coming out of his hands and landing on the ground. His hand, what was in his hand?
"The axe…" Link muttered.
Zelda laughed.
"You dropped the axe? Really?"
Link looked at her.
"Hey, what's happened has happened, and I sure am not going back to get it now, nope. I'm cold, so I am going to go inside and start this fire. You can make some hot chocolate."
As soon as he said it, he wanted to take it back. He just ordered her to do something. He knows very well not to do that. He waited for her to yell at him, but instead of yelling, there were laughs.
"Okay, okay, I get it; axe isn't worth going back for. I'll make you hot chocolate, it okay, you can get it tomorrow.
Link let out the breath that was stinging his lungs in anticipation for the next breath. He hadn't gotten yelled at. That was good, he never like when Zelda would yell at him. He cursed himself in his mind of commanding something of her.
';.;';.,;.;.;
Throwing the match into the fire after it was lit was much easier than getting the fire to light. Placing his hands on his knees for support, he stood up just in time for Zelda to round the corner, two cups in hand. She handed one to Link and kept one for herself. Taking the cup, Link moved himself to the couch.
This couch wasn't even a year old, and it already had to be sewn back into place three times from various things from wrestling, to actually getting it cut, to trying to help someone keep balance (cough-Spence-cough) and accidently ripping it. He waited for the day that they had to throw it away because it was irreparably, and counting all the stitches and patches it would have at that point, remembering all the memories both he and Zelda had made on this couch.
Zelda had come to join him on the couch, grabbing her favorite blanket in the process. She offered some of it to Link, but he said he didn't need it. Wrapping herself up in it, she took a sip of her hot chocolate, and gagged. Curious, Link sipped his. It was awful. It tasted of spit and cat litter (not that Link has tasted any of these things before.)
"Oh my gosh, what happened to it?" Zelda was questioning herself. She had made hot chocolate many times before, but this batch just seemed so bad in everyway, she didn't know what to even do about it. Nonetheless, Link finished his, then excused himself for a second, and went to there room, closed the door, and came out two minutes later.
"What did you do?" Zelda chuckled out.
"I, uh, I readjusted my stomach." He said as he snuggled into the couch again. Zelda put her cup down on the coffee table, and scooted it away from herself.
"You know, I bet it was the marshmallows. I never trusted them." She said while smiling at Link.
"Well, you shouldn't. They're like, the spawn of all hatred and envy. They want to be a candy, but can't, so they want to be a snack, but after you eat five or six, you get sick of them. They're only good if they are burned over a fire, or in hot chocolate. They are destined to just be labeled 'marshmallows' their entire life." Link finished his monologue.
Zelda giggled while snuggling up against Links shoulder, still wrapped in her blanket. She stared into the fire.
"You know, it's so strange. Fire is so destructive, but when it comes down to it, it can be so pretty when contained." Zelda kept on staring into the fire as she spoke.
"I've noticed that. It's like, it can't be beautiful on its own, when in reality, and it does the greatest things when let loose." Link thought of the burnt area of the forest. Already new trees and plants were beginning to grow there, more lush than before. "But we can't see that in the overall picture, so we contain it into something we can see, and say that's more beautiful, when really, it's not doing anything but getting approval from people."
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Link woke with a thud. He didn't open his eyes at first, and just took in the surroundings without sight. Cold, arid, dry; the first words that popped into his mind. Feeling around, he could tell he was on a wood floor.
Slowly he opened his eyes, and realized he was on their floor in the living room. He looked up to Zelda having her hands covering her mouth, and staring at him. She said something, but Link didn't quite catch it.
Removing her hands from her mouth, she spoke again. "I said, are you okay?"
Link was confused.
"I woke up because you moved and the next thing I know, you fall over towards the ground!"
No it made sense. They had fallen asleep on the couch and Link thought it was his bed, so he wanted to shift positions, but failed to remember that there wasn't bed there, but air. Slowly he remembered the events of the night before. The hot chocolate, the axe, the fireplace, the moon, the snow…
The Snow.
To say Link wasn't excited to look outside would be a lie. He sprinted to the window. His feet were cold, but he didn't care. He knocked his leg against the table, but didn't seem to feel it. He put his hand on the curtain, rolling it back.
Everything was white. The ground, the trees, the sky, everything. Even the part of the Goddess statue that he could see was white, with the yellow glow from the Triforce bouncing off the precipitation. Not just everything was white, but the layer of whiteness seemed to be over a foot of it.
Link was smiling. He couldn't remember a time where he had been more excited to go outside. The only other time that could compare was when it snowed in skyloft.
Link heard a door close. Turning around he saw that Zelda wasn't there.
"Zelda?" Link could taste his morning breath and reminded himself to brush his teeth before talking to her face to face. It's not like he could forget, the taste was just gross, but he still kept a reminder.
"You better hurry up, or my fort is going to be better than yours!" A muffled voice sounded from their room. Link continued to smile.
;.;';'.
After brushing his teeth and changing his clothes, he reached for his jacket by the door. Zelda had about a five minute lead on him right now, and he had to make up for lost time.
He opened the door only to see that Zelda was standing only about two feet ahead of him, not even off the porch. Link didn't blame her though; the snow was hard to walk in when it's almost up to your knee. Link made his towards her, taking gigantic steps in the process. Ever so gracefully passing Zelda, he turned back at her. She was starring off into the distance. Too concentrated on Zelda, Link himself fell into the cloud of white below him. This was enough to make Zelda break her starring contest with the sky, and watch as Link, covered in snow, got up to his knees.
She was thinking about if it snowed back on Skyloft, and how everyone would just love to come see this view. She directed her attention at Link.
She stared giggling, and she spoke "That was one of the better acts of gracefulness I have seen you do!" and continued laughing. Her laughing only broke when something hit her face. Cold and wet, she suspected it was snow. Her prediction was right; as soon as she readjusted her head to look back over at Link- covered himself in snow- laughing at her. She moved her leg up, and then kicked at the ground, flying snow over at Link.
She wishes she could have paused at the one second where Link realized what was going on, but couldn't prevent it. His eyes were wide and his mouth was gaping open. Not only realizing that the snow was coming from Zelda, but as it was also a return fire- that moment.
Falling over, and making another dent in the snow, Link gave off a yelp about an octave higher than his normal voice. Zelda never heard his voice go so high before, but she found it sort of cute, like Link had a more feminine side to him. With all the monster slaying and head bashing he had to go through, it felt kind of like a relief. Even though he acted like a kid some days, he would always act like that. Zelda didn't know if it was a ruse, or if it was true. But the noise he made him seem more down to earth.
Of course, she would never say it to his face.
Not wanting that to be his last stand, he dove into her, grabbing her feet, and making her fall down in the snow. Countering with her shoving a giant layer of snow on Link's body that was attached to her via her legs. But Link wasn't done.
Link shook off the snow in all directions, like a dog. Getting up to his height, he grabbed Zelda's awaiting arm. She was expecting him to help her up, but instead he grabbed her arm, spun her in, grabbed her waist, and picked her up.
"Link, Link what are you, Link, no. Link Link LinkLinkLinkLINKLINK! Don't you eve-"
He tossed her in the snow. She yelped exactly as Link did before.
Of course Link laughed, how could he not? But when Zelda didn't come back up for a while, he started to worry. Hurrying over to where she was, he noticed her back was turned to him, in a sort of fetal position.
He bent down to check and see if she was okay, and was just met with a face full of snow. Zelda had turned around, snow in hand, and shoved it directly at Link as he was leaning closer towards her.
That was the final straw. Link ran off in the distance and started making some sort of wall. Curiously, Zelda asking what it was he was doing.
"I'm making a fort, and if you don't hurry up, your defenses will be no match for my invasion!"
He didn't even look back up at her as he was too busy expanding his empire of snow. Zelda tried to do the same. Patting down snow, pushing up more, lather, rinse, repeat. But she wasn't quite as fast as Link was, so in a matter of minutes she was getting impaled with snowballs at intervals of mere moments. She wanted to yell at him for it, but he had given her fair warning. Besides, it wasn't like her to complain all too much.
;'.;'..;'
They had a snowball fight to end all snowball fights. The whole experience made them feel like children again. They would call in reinforcements, and different platoons, just by changing the pace of which snowballs were made, and thrown. Link was more offense, while Zelda focused on defense, trying to make her enemy tired of attacking, and then take him down all at once. This is exactly how she won. Link's walls had crashed, and he was ambushed by balls of furiously white snow. Hew collapsed in the snow, and threw some in the air above him, as a sort of white flag. Zelda walked over, and he admitted defeat. Just when Zelda was about to counter with some comebacks of how he should have played this game, it started to snow again.
She stopped, and looked into the sky. Her eyes sparkling with wonder and excitement. Link wouldn't notice, but his were as well. Zelda put her hand out into the sky, catching a snowflake. It melted before she got to see its design.
"You know," She said. "Some people believe that snowflakes are the souls of people. Each one unique in its own way, just like people. But when showing its true form, the pretty outer shell comes off, and what's left is the truth of what it really is." Looking over at Link, she starts again. "Water. Just pure water that can, and will alter its shape again."
She laughed at herself.
"The last part doesn't really make sense to people, but then again, I didn't make it up." She looked back into her cherry red hands, wiping off the little drop of water left. They were freezing cold, but she didn't feel it. Her hands were too numb, but then again, she didn't care.
Offering her hand towards Link, she demanded.
"Now, you can go inside and make something warn. Like hot chocolate… without the marshmallows."
Link jerked his head back at the remark. So she had been offended by his demand last night. Since she did it for him, I guess he would have to do it for her. Releasing his hand from her grasp, he bowed at his hips.
"Yes, your majesty. I will make it the finest hot chocolate in all the world and lands over!" Raising himself up, he started running to the beat of Zelda's laughter.
He was just about to reach for the doorknob of their house when he remembered two things.
The Axe.
And how he didn't know how to make hot chocolate.
Sorry for the wait on this chapter. I understand it's not the best chapter I have written, and/or will write, but its still ZeLink Fluff and Stuff.
There will probably no chapter again until about late Monday night! I do have other teenager things to attend to, sadly.
With that, I fly.
Review?
Review.