All right peeps let me say that I am very, very, very sorry about that like eternalwait for an update. I have seven days of school left and my teachers have been putting last minute crams on me. Not math though, she left cause she's pregnant. Hahaha But I kept working on it in my spare time, which wasn't very much. Once summer arrives I will be FREE at last. In the meantime, enjoy this update!
"I was at Kakariko Village…visiting Saria."
The last two words what got Zelda's heart. He had lied to her in order to see Saria. "Saria?" she repeated his words as though she was watching from a third person point of view. "Why did you go and visit Saria? I thought she left."
"She…she did. But she came earlier today. To see me."
Zelda watched almost in slow motion as Link's eyes shut, as if bracing him self for her wrath. But she could not be angry with him. She could not bring herself to raise her voice and shout and scream and tell him how she hated him and never wanted to see him again. Her heart, though frozen, would not allow her tongue to betray it in such a way.
She watched as Link opened his steel colored eyes and gazed down upon her, almost begging her to say something. However, for a long moment she could not think of anything to say in response to his statement. So the princess merely stared at Link in amazement.
"Zelda…are you all right?" the boy whispered timidly. He did not want to reach out and touch her face, as he desperately wanted to. Keeping his distance might be the best option right now.
"Did you really go and see her?" the girl beside him whispered almost silently.
It broke Link's heart to hear the sound of her voice. It wasn't angry, but it was sad and…crushed. He had a very strong feeling that this would be worse than any kind of anger that she could've thrown his way.
"Yes, I did," he strained, breathing in deeply. He was terrified now that he was going to lose her forever.
"I see," Zelda mumbled, looking away to her left. She pondered what this could mean and a dozen things ran through her mind. He could be leaving her to go with Saria again, and that was why he was here, out of guilt. Or he came to tell her that Saria demanded that he make a choice and needed time to decide. And…he could be here because he cared for her and wanted to ask for her forgiveness for lying to her. She hoped to God that it was the last but was not expecting it to be.
"Tell me what she said," Zelda ordered gently, still not meeting his gaze. "Tell me what she said to you."
"Zelda…" Link said, shaking his head. Her eyes snapped open and glared at him. The first true glare she had ever given him. It frightened him into nodding and telling the truth.
"We just…we just talked. I swear to you Zelda, that that's it. We didn't do anything else…"
"I don't care about that," the girl breathed. "What did you talk about?"
Link knew what she was getting at. She was afraid that he was leaving, leaving to go with Saria. But he did not want her to be afraid of such a silly thing.
"We spoke of the past, my past and present jobs…and we talked of you."
"Me," she nodded in confirmation. "What about myself?
Link bit his lip. "About my feelings for you, about how we had grown apart in a years away from each other…how even though we would always love each other, we were not meant to be together anymore."
Zelda didn't know what he was talking about. Of course she was dreaming. She had never dreamed that Link would choose her over his first love. She had always believed that deep down inside of him, that Saria was first. How could it be that Link had chosen herself over her?
"So…what exactly does that mean?" she asked.
"Saria and I, well, if she hadn't have left all of those months ago…then maybe we would have been meant for each other. But so much time has passed and people fall out of love just as easily as they fall in love, Zelda. It is possible that as I grew closer to you, my heart wandered farther away from Saria. It is possible that as I fell in love with you, I fell out of love with Saria. Yes, it was nice to see her again, it was nice to have some closure with her, and nothing will change that. But…yet I thought of you a great deal while I was with her. I missed you and I don't miss Saria right now."
"But you lied," she argued. "You lied to me about seeing her. Why would you do that if you were going to go back to me in the first place?"
"Because, Zelda, I didn't want to hurt you. What would you have thought if I left a note saying that I was going to Kakariko to see Saria? You would have gone right back after me and I know it."
"I might have," Zelda retorted. "Or I might've just sat here wondering if you were ever going to come back to me."
Link grabbed her face and brought it very close to his. "I will always come back to you, Zelda. I promise you that."
"I…I don't know if I can believe you…" she whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut tightly. "You don't know how much it hurts knowing that you went to see her, Link."
Link raised his eyebrows. "I know. I know Zelda, believe me. But please try to look at it from my perspective, the girl I used to love came back…and I needed to see her."
"That's no excuse to lie to me," she said slowly. "You can be honest with me Link. You have to be in this situation. I'm…I'm marrying Ganondorf soon."
"About that," Link said a little stiffly. "How do you think I feel about that? The fact that I care so much about you only to lose you to some creepy man? It kills me, Zelda, it kills me because I know that I could have picked Saria tonight, but I chose you. You, dammit. You need to grasp the fact that I wouldn't be here right now if I was sure I wanted you."
"It's been hard on you, I know, Link," the princess said ever so softly. "I am so sorry about that, truly. I-it may have been better if you had chosen Saria over me. It may be better if this…ends."
"Better for who?" he snarled. Zelda finally looked at him and his eyes were narrowed not with anger, but dubiousness. His hand reached for her face for the first time and he did not miss the slight wince the girl made as he touched her skin. "Zelda, love," she shivered at the word, "I just can't end this. Maybe if we had stopped it sooner, before all of this got started. But now, now I just don't have the self-control and determination to back out. I'm too selfish."
'He's so heartbroken,' Zelda thought sadly. 'He chose me and I'm…I'm acting ridiculous. I need to fix this.'
"Listen Link," she sighed. "I know that you lied, and I am not happy about it. But, it's senseless to argue when you are right here in front of me. It is nonsensical to act this way when we clearly want each other over everyone else. And I do," she whispered, running her fingers through his yellowish hair. "I want you more than I've ever wanted anyone else. I've never really experienced this feeling before, but it's so overwhelming…I don't know if I could ever feel this exact way ever again."
For a long while, it was silent in the room. Link allowed Zelda's words to fill the room and they lingered there, hovering all around them, ringing in their ears and flittering hopefully about the bedroom. They waited for Link to reply, and he could feel this. But he did not know what to say. He had felt this way before, just as strongly… Yet, his affection for Zelda had to be different. It was different circumstances, after all. Of course it was possible to love two people in contrasting ways perhaps this was it? Saria had always seemed more like a companion, someone that would always be there for him and make him smile.
Meanwhile, Zelda…she was more like part of him. It was as though a part of him was missing and only did he realize it when he was with her. He had never felt so complete than when he was by her side. And when he was away, well he thought that he felt normal, like things were perfectly fine and dandy. However, being with her, just sitting next to her outside, or laughing at something with her, it gave him a feeling of swelling satisfaction, as though he had not a care of whatever else was occurring around him. He was with Zelda, and that was all that mattered.
"Link?" Zelda gentle voice broke his thoughtful train and he blinked repeatedly down at her. "You seemed so sad," she added to him in nothing more than a whisper.
"No," he corrected. "I was thinking of how I feel about you."
"And…how do you feel about me? Why would it cause you to look such a way?" she questioned.
"Well, I was just thinking that you don't feel like a mere friend, like someone with whom I associate with, I believe that you feel as though you are a part of myself. Like you are a component, vital to my very being. There is no need for words around you sometimes; the silence is enough to make me sure that you are what I need. Though it is overwhelming, as you stated before, it is the more enlightening feeling I have ever experienced."
The tears that Zelda had been trying to contain for the longest time finally broke through their dam and began to spill down her cheeks. Link saw this and instantly kissed over the salty drops. "Did I say something wrong, Zelda?" he asked a little unsure.
"No, no, not at all," she choked out. "It was beautiful, Link, those words. I feel exactly the same, but I could never put it into the words that you have. You have said everything that has needed to be said."
Her heart pumped loudly in her chest at the look in his eyes. It was such a look of utter love and tenderness, a look that every girl wants to receive from a man, a look that made her feel as though she was the most important creature in the universe. And right now, the look was all for Zelda. She was that important person and Link was the person that loved her. And she loved him too, just as much. Their souls were forever twined together and would never be broken, just from that wordless look; they knew this to be true.
"Okay," Zelda finally said, sitting up all the way. "Let's get our minds off of this stuff. Let's do something pleasant."
"Like…?" Link raised his eyebrow beside her. "It's so late."
"Well…" She whipped her blankets off and in the process, covered Link's head. "We can practice dancing if you would like," she suggested.
The boy under the blanket laughed and pushed it aside. "Zelda, I'm actually pretty tired. I had a very long night, honey. I'd actually rather sleep, if you don't mind."
Zelda pouted but threw herself back onto the bed, her long hair whipping around her head like a fan. "Fine," she breathed out. "You can sleep…" She tilted her head back to look at him. "In your own room."
"Hm?" Link asked, raising one of his eyebrows. "Oh no, no. I don't think I can make the walk. You'll have to carry me." He put his hand to his brow dramatically.
"If one of my servants come in and see you…"
"Do they ever come in before you wake up, Zelda? Ever?" he questioned her.
The princess thought for a long moment before slowing shaking her head from side to side against her mattress. Link grinned and settled under Zelda's covers, resting his head on the pillow at an angle in which he could still see her glaring at her canopy. It made him laugh.
"I won't do anything if that's what you're thinking," he whispered. He reached out and touched a strand of her long hair. He twirled it around his fingers gently while she closed her eyes.
"No, I know you wouldn't do something like that," she half-giggled. "I trust you enough, Link, believe me. It's just…well…" Link sat up a little more as she spoke, her eyes still shut. "I've never had a man in my bed before. It's a little strange, if that's how you would put it."
'Ah,' Link thought. So that was this was all about! 'She's just embarrassed! I knew that there had to be something more to this! Oh she has no need…'
"Zelda," he began, "you don't need to have that fear—,"
"But didn't you and Saria…?" She left the question hang in the air. Link filled in the blanks in the awkward silence she left behind.
"That's not the point," he argued quickly. "It's not about Saria and I. This is about you and I. And you don't need to feel the way you do. You just have to ask me to stay, or ask me to leave. That's all."
Zelda rolled over onto her stomach and smiled at him. She reached out and gently touched his hair, running her three fingers through the blond locks languidly. The look embedded in her cornflower colored eyes was one of pure adoration and hopefulness. It made Link's heart stutter a few beats inside his chest.
"Will you stay then?" she whispered to him.
He smiled tenderly and nodded once, reaching to kiss her forehead. "Of course I will."
"Thank you, Link," she murmured in a low voice, bringing his face closer so she could kiss his lips very lightly. It made them both shudder and grin widely at one another.
"Shall we?" the boy said, raising his eyebrows. He slid over in the large bed, making room for Zelda to crawl under the covers. The princess did just that and snuggled up with her head on her favorite pillow. Link inched closer so that his chest was fitted perfectly to her back. He pulled his arm out of the blankets and draped it over her side, keeping her held close to him.
"Night Link," Zelda said as she closed her eyes.
Link sighed and put his lips at her ear, pushing her caramel hair out of the way. In her ear, he began to hum the song he had created for her, her song, in her ear to lure her to sleep. It had been a rough night for her and he hoped that it would ease her restless mind into sleep.
Of course it worked. Zelda's mind began to grow dark from the soothing sound of his deep voice. She fell asleep soon after, but not before a lose tear lolled down her cheek, her heart full of rapture and light from the knowledge that Link really did care for her more than she could have imagined.
It made her feel so happy and light, that she drifted off to sleep easily.
There we go!! The twenty-second enstallment of It's Yours to Keep! Of course there will be much more to come, you just have to be very patient once I get out of that hell hole they call school. hehe
Oh, and on my bio I have posted a playlist for this fanfic. All the music there has inspired me throughout all the writers block so if you have some time, go and check it out!
Thanks so much for waiting and I am deeply sorry