Yeah, yeah, I know, I know, you're wondering where the hell I've been! I toldja that I would update soon and it hasn't been soon (for you probably) >. So sorry, but school is getting to be an extremely annoying time-killer that I do not want! Please enjoy!

And be afraid... XD Be very afraid...

Zelda awakened from her sleep, drifting in and out at every sigh of Link's movement in his hands. She crawled closer to his muscled, yet very comfortable chest.

She looked up to see him asleep and smiled. Zelda was so happy. She hadn't felt this way in a long time. Link seemed to heal her wounds and make her feel protected from all evil. He was her warrior… Her hero… Her new love…

Link's hand sleepily brushed against her hip, causing her to get an itch on it. She went to go and rid herself of it, until her elbow connected with Link's right side, waking him up with a loud cry of pain.

"Link!" Zelda said shocked. "Are you alright?"

Link sighed and made a sharp wince before relaxing again.

"I'm fine," he replied. "It's nothing…"

But Zelda knew something was wrong. She had never heard Link make a noise of pain in her life, let alone wince from something. She turned around and started to unbuckle Link's belt.

"Zelda what are you doing?"

"Checking to see what is wrong."

"Nothing is wrong!"

"Yes there is! Stop lying to me!"

She unbuckled Link's tunic and grabbed it, along with his white shirt, embarrassing him by pulling it up to look at his right side.

She made a loud gasp in horror at the sight.

There along his right side was the largest gash she had even seen in her entire life. The cut was unnaturally wide and long, almost cutting into half of his stomach. The wound itself was a black ashy color, and slightly red, meaning that he was cut on that wound again. Zelda didn't need to think twice to know that the monsters in the forest did the second wound. But what horrific monstrosity could do the first cut?

She looked around the cut as she thought of this and saw small burns around the wound, obviously, which was usually a desperate attempt to close a wound that wouldn't stop bleeding.

"Holy Farore! What in Din's name happened to you?" Zelda said in shock.

Link sighed. "Ganondorf… When I fought him, he had an axe that I tried to dodge, but he still clipped my right side with it."

"He didn't clip your right side, he nearly chopped you in half from what it looks like."

"Yeah well, Ganondorf was a great fighter," Link replied. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Right," Zelda said, becoming extremely quiet.

"Link," she murmured.

"Yes Zelda," Link said as he pulled his shirt and tunic back down again and buckling his belt.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Zelda then began to feel tired and closed her eyes to drift off into sleep.

Link watched her with a smile, and then turned his attention to the scar on his right side.

Goddesses, what did I do to deserve this, he thought. He closed his eyes.

Heat bathed down on the warm cot, drying everything out in the desert like place. The only liquid came from the small cotton cot itself. A liquid seeped through the bed and formed a red pool of blood on the floor.

All the while, Link stirred, feeling the signs of numbing pain and excruciating aches all over his body.

And yet there was a tingling sensation inside him. He slowly opened his eyes to see a group of fairies spreading their magic on his right side, repairing and patching all the organs and muscles that were sliced apart.

Link winced, feeling his head and chest throb horribly as the sound of liquid dripping to the floor seemed magnified over a thousand times.

And what were worse were the voices in the next room. A group of girls stood behind the door, their voices loud and clear even through the door.

"Shauna! We can't use any more fairies! We've used about a dozen to heal his side, and it still won't stop bleeding!"

"What? But Nabooru strictly ordered that this man lived, no matter what we had to do!"

"Our fairies have done enough. The only hope we have is to burn the wound, or else he'll die from loss of blood."

"We could rebel and kill this man. After all, just when we thought we had a great King to rule the fortress, this piece of dirt comes, humiliates him, and kills him."

"We have to have hope. Maybe Nabooru is a better queen."

A great king… Nabooru, a better queen… These words confused Link for a second.

He was supposed to help Nabooru get past the guards so she could sort things out with the king. Nabooru said he was corrupted by his power and was abusing the gerudos, but why would these girls speak so highly of him?

"I have to admit, I liked Ganondorf better. He was kind and caring, strong and handsome, and very charming."

"But I've got to hand it to Nabooru. She tricked that kid to kill our King just so she could take the throne. That was very sly of her. A true gerudo she is…"

Anger welled up inside Link. He gritted his teeth and balled his fist.

How could I be so stupid? Link thought. Malon was right all along. Nabooru couldn't be trusted, and he gave up his bond with her for this.

"She tricked me," he whispered with a groan that the gerudos could hear. They opened the door with a couple gasps.

"Well! This is a surprise," said one of the girls.

"I was sure he was going to be unconscious longer," said another.

"I wish I was," Link muttered too quietly for them to hear. "In fact I'd rather be dead now."

"Poor kid," said another girl. Link couldn't exactly tell who was who, since his vision seemed quite blurry. "We have to close this wound by burning it. It's either that or you die of loss of blood."

Link would've given anything in world to have the energy to say, "I'll die of loss of blood thank you." But he was too weak, and moving in the slightest bit caused his head to pound even harder.

They pulled out a red-hot iron rod and pressed it on his wound, causing him to scream as loud as he could throughout the entire fortress.

As soon as the wound was closed up, Link drifted back into sleep, not wanting anyone else to bother him.

Link walked out of the fortress. A total look of depression was on his face.

"Link!" said a voice. Link turned around to see Nabooru. He glared at her.

"I want to say thank you for helping me," she said. Link lowered his head, but not his glare upon her. His eyes ice cold with a look of unbending hatred on his face.

"I didn't help you really, I did your dirty work, and killed an innocent and strong leader," Link growled.

Nabooru's plain look turned to a look of shock. "You heard?"

"Yes," Link said, his voice fierce and piercing to the heart of Nabooru. "I heard that you used me like I was your assassin."

"Link I'm really sorry," Nabooru said. "I didn't know what I was thinking, I swear. I didn't mean for this to happen to you."

"Happen to me?" Link shouted angrily, walking up to her. "You tricked me! I gave you the benefit of the doubt, thinking you were an honest person trying to help your people! But all you wanted was the power to rule and used me like an assassin to kill a man who could bring this land into peace!"

Link turned on his heel and walked away, leaving a stunned Nabooru standing still in remorse.

Zelda opened her eyes to see the sun shine upon her face. She closed her eyes again to rid herself of the sun, and shifted a little as her back pressed against Link's.

She looked up to see Link just lying there, his hand holding up his chin. He smirked at her as she smiled back.

"Sleep well?" Link asked. Zelda nodded.

"Haven't slept this well in years," she remarked. This cheered Link up.

"Well I guess that we should go back to the castle," he suggested. Zelda nodded.

"Yes, I don't want my father to worry that much," she said.

"I agree," Link said. "The last thing I want to do is get in some sort of trouble again."

Zelda giggled and got up, brushing her dress off. "Ready to go for another swim?"

Link didn't reply; he just dove into the water, sending a splash of water at Zelda's feet, making her shiver slightly. She embraced before jumping into the cold water.

She made a gasp in surprise as well.

"It wasn't this cold yesterday!" she made a shiver again. Link nodded, ignoring the fact that he was freezing as well.

"The water isn't heated enough by the sun Zelda," Link informed. Zelda rolled her eyes and they both swam over to shore. Zelda walked up to Epona as Link walked over to her and threw a blue tunic at her.

"Link!" Zelda said angrily. "What was that for?"

"It's so you don't freeze," Link said making a cocky grin. She knew he threw it at her roughly on purpose, but was still making a point. She pulled it on, feeling warmer with both her light blue dress and Link's thick warm tunic on.

"Thanks," Zelda said.

"No problem Zel," Link said.

"No, I really mean it," Zelda said, walking up to Link. "Thank you for everything," she said with a smile. She reached her hand up and touched his cheek. Upon instinct Link wrapped his arms perfectly around her waist.

"I love you Zelda," he said, looking deep into her eyes. Zelda smiled brightly.

"I love you too," she said, moving forwards. "My hero."

She gave him another kiss before breaking apart. Both had a large sheepish grin on their faces before Link hugged her tightly.

"My princess," he muttered. Zelda looked over to Epona before smirking at Link.

"Oh! My feet do so terribly hurt! After all that swimming!" she said dramatically, pretending to faint in his arms. Link sighed.

"Alright," Link sighed before picking her up and carrying her towards Epona with her arms around his neck. Once she was on Epona, she neared as close as she could towards Link. They rodenorth towards Lon Lon Ranch andCastleton.

Cheveyo watched as Link and Zelda walked up to the gates of Hyrule Castle. His long braid billowed in the gentle breeze. He made a slight smile as he saw them share a kiss. He sighed.

"I can't believe I'm going to do this," Cheveyo muttered to himself, biting his lip and lowering his head.

He watched Zelda and Link get nearer, and he forced an emotionless expression in his eyes, promising himself not to show any weakness whatsoever.

"Zelda has returned?" said a voice. Cheveyo sighed.

"Yes Prince Xenon, Zelda has returned from her journey," he said in a low voice.

Prince Xenon made a smirk. "Good."

He made a slight frown as he saw a stranger so close to the princess. And what was worse was that he seemed like a simple warrior.

Zelda noticed Prince Xenon and Cheveyo standing there.

Prince Xenon walked up to her, a smile on his face.

"Welcome back milady," he said. "I do hope you had a safe journey…"

Zelda looked at him in confusion. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?"

Xenon made a chuckle. "Oh I'm terribly sorry… Allow me to introduce myself… I am Prince Xenon of Menefer."

Zelda recognized that country. "You must know Princess Cassara. Is she well?"

"Yes," Xenon replied with a smile. "She is in wonderful health. But how about you?"

"Perfect, I must say," Zelda brightly smiled, shooting a glance at Link. He smiled back.

"That's good," Xenon said, ignoring the glances the couple gave to each other.

Cheveyo walked up to them with a frown on his face. "Princess Zelda, I need to talk to you in private."

"Wait," Zelda said. "I just want to see my father first."

Cheveyo hesitated before replying. "That's what I need to talk to you about."

Zelda made a look of concern. "What's wrong?"

Cheveyo frowned. "You'll have to see for yourself."

"I'll wait here for you Zelda," Xenon said. "Then we can talk."

Zelda nodded before following Cheveyo into the castle as Link followed in curiosity.

They walked up to the entrance to the lounge in the castle. Cheveyo looked over to Zelda.

"I must warn you. What you see will not be what you expect."

Zelda hesitated before opening the door. The door slowly made a loud creak on its hinges, taking forever to allow Zelda to fit into the room.

She walked over to see a chair with it's back towards the window. A person sat in the chair. A person that Zelda recognized as her father…

"Father?" Zelda said to get his attention. She failed. She slowly walked up to his chair and turned it around with a gasp.

There sat her father, deathly pale with his eyes closed. In panic she grabbed his wrist and searched for a pulse.

There was none…

"He's…" Zelda said in shock. "…Dead?"

Link walked forwards to her side looking at him.

"No wounds… Was it of natural causes? Heart failure?" he said turning to Cheveyo.

"The physicians checked him. He was perfectly healthy. Except…"

"Except what?" Link said putting his hand on Zelda's shoulder in hope to comfort her from her silent sobbing.

"They detected poison in his bloodstream," Cheveyo replied. Link gasped.

"Murder?"

Cheveyo nodded. Zelda listened intently and wiped away her tears.

"But why would anyone try to kill my father?"

"He is a big target for assassins," Cheveyo said. "We have to find that criminal."

Zelda nodded as she neared towards Link. He had a habit of comforting her in the direst situations, and now was the perfect time. He wrapped his arms around her, almost protecting her from everything around her.

Cheveyo frowned. "I predict that Zelda's father isn't the only target though."

Link lowered his head to her chin. "I know."

He shut his eyes tightly as Zelda sobbed in his tunic. "Link, I'm afraid."

Link held her even closer. "I know Zelda. I won't let them hurt you."

And surprisingly enough, that made Zelda much happier…