(A/N- First, I wanna say that I love all of my reviewers. You guys make staying up till 3am every night totally worthwhile. Actually, I kinda like staying up till 3am, but...you guys gimme a reason to do so. Besides, I'm at my most creative at night - wait a minute.............Okay, I'm back. My little brother and I had to make coffee. We have to stay up all night. By the by, this chapter should probably be rated R to be safe. Millerna has some, uh, interesting things going on in her head.)







For hours I sat with Link on my bed as he told me all about his "Hero of Time" ordeal. And what did I think of this? He'd never had any time to just be a kid! I mean, day and night, doing Zelda's bidding, trying to find and stop this loser, Ganondorf. And he hadn't even killed the guy! The "Sages" just locked him in some other dimension. Yeah, *that'll* keep a homicidal psycho away for a long time.

"Explain to me again how you got stuck with this," I said. "It doesn't seem fair."

"It's not," he said. "But it's this stupid ancient prophecy, and apparently I was chosen to fulfill it from the day I was born." He shook his head and sighed.

"So I take it you didn't apply for the position," I remarked.

"No. And - I've never told anyone this, but - I wish the position weren't mine. Wish it every day of my life. The battles, the killing, the chance of being killed...I never wanted that." I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him a little.

"And you can't tell anyone that either, can you?"

"Of course not," he said bitterly. "I'm the Hero of Time. I'm not allowed to get angry, confused, scared, or otherwise fuck up in any way, shape, or form. But my God, Millerna, it's scary as hell living like this. And nobody cares, as long as I do what I'm supposed to."

"I care," I said, taking his hand in mine and kissing his fingertips. He gave me a half-smile.

"And you have no idea how grateful I am for that," he replied, his other hand stroking my cheek.

"Helps to vent your frustrations, doesn't it, Pretty Boy?"

"Yes, it does." He leaned in and kissed my forehead. "Thanks for listening to me. I'll let you sleep now." He touched my face one last time, and went back to his room. I fell back on my bed and sighed, enamoured. The fluttering of my heart, the warm feeling... Ayden had told me about this when I was younger.

It was how you felt when you were falling in love. And with that notion, I crawled back under the blankets and fell asleep.



***





***...Our bodies pressed together. I could feel his breath, hear his heartbeat, taste his lips. He kissed my neck and stroked my breasts. It was wonderful. He gently forced his tongue into my mouth, and at the same moment, he entered me-***

"Millerna, get out of bed." I bolted upright.

"Oh...uh...it's you," I said stupidly, with the distinct feeling that I was blushing like crazy. It's not preferable to be woken up by the person you were just dreaming about having sex with. "Why exactly are you waking me up?"

"Because it is almost ten o' clock and time for breakfast."

"Oh. Shit," I mumbled groggily. "Look, do I have to go down there? I don't wanna get all dressed up, and it's too early for me to be around lots of people."

"I could have food brought to you. Being surrounded by servants has its advantages, after all," he said, smiling.

"I just want coffee, man," I said. "Lots and lots of very strong coffee. No offense, but the food here sucks. I need to give the chefs a lesson in cooking properly."

"Yeah, the food definitely could be better, but you get used to it," he said. "At least they cook better where you're going." Huh? Oh, yeah, he was taking me to live with the Gerudos. I'd forgotten that...

"Mmm," I mumbled. "That's a good thing, I guess."

"What do you mean, you guess?" he teased, sitting down beside me and finger-combing my hair. "You still want to live with the Gerudos, don't you?" Actually, I wasn't so sure anymore. I shrugged. He smiled.

"I'll go have someone get your coffee."



***



"Can they make nothing properly around here?" I asked sadly, staring down at the coffee.

"It doesn't seem like it," Pretty Boy replied, looking thoroughly amused. The coffee tasted awful, and it had taken a hell of a lot of sugar to make it palatable. "You see why I don't drink the coffee here?"

"Yes, yes I do," I said. "But when you're a caffeine addict, you can't be picky." I downed the rest of the coffee in one gulp and shuddered. "Okay!"

"Well, now that you're all caffeinated," he said, laughing, "we should get going."

"Get going where?"

"The Princess thinks that I should show you around Hyrule. Let you get used to it here."

"Works for me," I said. "I was getting damn tired of this place," I added, waving my hand around the dark room for emphasis.

"And for the occasion, the Princess had this made for you," he said, handing me something wrapped in brown paper. I opened it, finding brown pants and a tan shirt.

"No more dresses," I sighed, relieved. "Oh, thank God."

"Don't get too happy, she also gave me some girly stuff for you. Not that I expect you to use any of it, but it was nice of her," he added. "Now you get dressed, and I'll saddle up the horses."