Well, well, well. Look who's back from the dead! Me! Not really, I just waited until today to update. I have a lot of great ideas for the next few chapters, so be sure to stay tuned. As always, thank you to each and every reviewer, you guys rock!

Sunday – Zelda's POV – Ordon Avenue

I woke up from the most refreshing sleep I've had in a long while to discover I was home alone. Not wanting to cram my schedule with too much since I first moved here, my parents had gone off to worship Sunday morning without me. Upon walking downstairs, I discovered a note saying they would be running errands until dinnertime, leaving the house to me for the day.

Upon preparing breakfast for myself, I kept glancing at my hand. The faded, brown Triforce mark itched on my hand. I noticed the bottom left triangle was slightly larger and darker than the others. I wonder if Link has the same thing? This inspired a thought. Link and I both had the same mark, so if we met up to do some research today, we could maybe figure out how to hide them or deal with them before school tomorrow. And if anything besides research happened to occur… I really needed to shut that voice up. It was going to get me into trouble someday.

Shoving all non-research related thoughts of Link aside, I picked up the phone and dialed his cell. It rang three times before a crackling silence filled the line.

"Uh, Link?" I said after a moment.

"What?" He had probably just woken up.

"Did you just wake up?"

"Mmhm."

"Well," I launched into a speech, "I was thinking that, because of the strange symbols that we saw yesterday, on our hands, you know, the glowing ones that looked like the Triforce…"

"Whoa, slow down, Zelda." I could see him holding up a hand in my mind's eye. "All you had to say was, 'want to come over?'"

"Yes, but that would imply we were doing something unspecific." I felt the sudden need to clarify. "You are just coming over for research."

"Gosh, you're such a nerd," he said, his eye roll coming across in his voice. "I'll be there in five."

"Five minutes?" I asked, surprised. "But I haven't had breakfast yet, and you just woke up!"

"I'll just eat breakfast at your house," he said, before cutting the call short.

"Well," I grumbled into the receiver, "you're welcome for the invitation."

Sunday – Link's POV – Ordon Avenue

I had barely even knocked once on Zelda's door before she flung it open. "Five minutes, thirty-seven seconds. You're late."

She looked so cute when she had her hand on her hip like that. A confident smile and a raised eyebrow completed her self-satisfied image. Wow, I liked it. "Look, it's still faster than my usual, alright? Be glad I graced you with my company."

"You're insufferable." She turned on her heel and led the way inside, where the coffee table in the living room housed a small, silver laptop, open to a web search. "I started looking for other examples of marks appearing on people that could be transferred by touch. The only real example is the plague."

I made a face. "This is no plague, or else we'd be sick already."

She nodded. "I feel the opposite, actually. I feel more alive than I have in… years."

I pondered this for a minute. "So maybe the marks signify some kind of special powers. Look for, 'marks signifying power' or something like that."

Keys clacked for a few moments. "Well, there's certain desert cultures that mark themselves as a coming-of-age ritual. They mark their foreheads, though."

I leaned over her shoulder to look at the search results and pointed excitedly. "Hey, those guys tattooed the Triforce on their hands to look like the Hero of Time!" I laughed. "What a bunch of morons."

Zelda gave me a frown. "Even if the Hero of Time is just a legend, you should be respectful. They act in church as if he's real."

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, Zel, you can't really believe that. I suppose the Princess of Destiny and the Sages and the Demon Thief are real, too?"

"Hmm. I guess the whole story is a little far-fetched." She thought for a bit. "And if the Hero really reincarnates, then he would've stepped up and we would've heard about it on the news or something."

"So," I summarized, "the only real example of a Triforce on the hands is the Princess and the Hero of legend. How helpful."

"There's got to be something else," Zelda pressed. "We should keep looking."

And we did. For hours. Nothing even remotely similar except the Princess and the Hero came up. Finally, we decided to take a break and get some snacks. While lounging at the bar, she asked, "What's with the nicknames?"

"What?" I said, turning my head toward her in confusion.

She gazed at me dully. "Don't think I missed that."

"Missed what?" Her look turned smothering. "I seriously don't know."

"Calling me 'Zel?'" She prompted. "What, are we on a pet-name basis now?"

I sighed and leaned back in exasperation. "We're friends, it's not weird. Why are you so offended by that? Can I not show affection for my close friends?"

"It is weird, Linky."

"Okay!" I sat up again. "That's not even a real thing!"

"Neither is 'Zel.'" She paused. "And what affection do you mean?"

I flashed back to seconds earlier. 'Can I not show affection for my close friends?' Oops.

"Ah, nothing, I just wanted to show that somebody loves you," I teased.

"Oh." Her face seemed to relax, but she frowned at the same time. What does that mean? "Well, good."

We sat in awkward silence for several minutes. Finally, I broke the silence. "So, are we going to keep trying at this, or give up for now?"

We looked at our hands simultaneously. "They seem pretty unnoticeable for now," Zelda agreed. "We should be okay for school, as long as nobody looks too closely."

"And we don't accidentally touch hands," I added.

"Right." The awkward silence returned. Why could I not just be normal around her nowadays? It was like I lost all coherent thoughts and just said whatever came into my head. I probably looked like such an idiot to her. What happened to the suave, confident, funny attitude that came so easily around my other friends? Maybe it would return with the school week. Or maybe it would just get worse and I'd gradually become less popular. Or maybe-

"Link," she said, her concerned face coming into focus behind her waving hand. "You alright?"

"Sorry," I shook my head, trying to dispel my musings. "Just lost in thought."

She gave me a slight smile. It was timid, coy, maybe a little flirty. "About what?"

I returned her smile with a confident slant of my own lips. "About all the things I'd rather be doing than researching boring stuff with you, nerd girl."

'Nerd girl' laughed and her smile widened into a grin. Ah, the ringing of crystal bells. "Like what, Linky?"

The retort took me by surprise. I had regretted the words as soon as they had come out of my mouth, immediately wanting to take them back in case Zelda took them the wrong way. But she could always tell when I was teasing, and making her laugh took all my worries away. Since I wasn't expecting a reply, however, I struggled for a response. "I… uh… plenty of things… like…" Goddesses, I'm such a klutz. Finally, I just hung my head and whispered to myself, "nothing."

"What was that?" She giggled and leaned closer to my face, her warm breath caressing my hanging hair. "Speak up, Linky."

Uh oh. I had said that out loud. I knew instantly that I wouldn't be able to come up with a believable response. My only option was either to deny I said anything… or go for broke and tell her what I really had meant.

Life is full of choices, isn't it?

"I said," I began in the same low voice now that she was listening closely, "that there was nothing I'd rather be doing than researching boring stuff with you."

She was silent for many long seconds. I finally looked up, expecting shock, dismay, or even disgust. But I was the shocked one when I saw nothing but joy sparkling in her deep violet eyes. Whoa. Wasn't expecting that one.

"Me neither," she breathed, our faces almost touching. We stayed like that for a long time. It might've been minutes, hours, or even weeks for all we cared. I don't even remember getting up, or leaving, or the rest of my day. I only remembered laying down that night, trying to fall asleep, my dreams haunted by a pair of purple irises.

Bit of romance in this chapter, huh? I hope you enjoyed it. Like I keep saying, this is not what I usually write about, when I write fanfiction at all. That being said, please review, and don't be afraid to speak your mind! If you don't like these romance sections, say so, and I'll focus on the drama more. It's your story as much as mine!