EPISODE 6: Dors Ma Jolie Part 04 Sorry for Ruining Your Life

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Link got into Peach's apartment, looking around carefully as if there was a dragon hiding in there somewhere wanting to eat him. He stopped when Cosette turned to look at him, her smile had been dead for a while already, certain darkness dwelled in her eyes. Her hair hung on her face like a dead rat after rain. She wore a dark red buttoned shirt with black pants, she certainly knew how to dress.

"Umm, hi." He said, desperately trying to find a way to tell her that she needed to get away from Peach as soon as possible.

Before Cosette could answer, Peach glided in front of the door leading to the living room, looking at him with a storm in her eyes. "What brings you here, elf?" She asked with a jeering tone in her voice.

"I'd like to talk to Cosette." He answered simply.

"You work for the S.F.B.I., how can I be sure that you're not going to arrest her and take her sons away from her?" Peach asked, speaking in a very loud tone to make sure the woman in her living room heard them arguing. As Link glared at her she just let a devilish smile curve on her lips. It told him to eithe back off or engage in battle.

"It's surprising that you take someone's side." Link answered coolly, getting ready to battle her verbally. "So far I've never seen you think about anyone else than yourself."

"You haven't seen me much since high school, how do you know I haven't changed?" She answered.

"I love Roy." Link said defiantly, lifting a fist on his heart as if he needed to show her that he had a heart there. He still didn't raise his voice; he knew that sounding perfectly calm and collected would annoy Peach more.

"What a perfect reason to come and arrest Cosette. Take her sons away from her to ease your pain; that must make you feel good." She accused him with that devilish smile on her lips. From her eyes he could see that she was enjoying herself. Well, he thought, as long as everything went the way she wanted. Behind her Cosette stood up, calling for her sons quietly.

"I'm not here to arrest her but to talk to her about her chances of keeping her sons."

Peach snorted scornfully. "Sure, I b--"

"Please, Mr, tell me." Cosette pushed Peach out of the doorway with one strong hand, looking at Link with her dark brown eyes, now filled with hope. Link flinched as well, it could prove fatal to push Peach away like that. He glanced at Peach quickly, who stomped to the kitchen and he could almost see the stormy cloud above her head, thundering like hell. He chuckled internally, but wouldn't let it show to Cosette, not even a little.

"The thing is that I was really sent after you by the S.F.B.I…" He watched the dark brown eyes narrow. "But I want to help you. I'm going to take you to a cabin at the outskirts of this city where you can meet a psychologist friend of mine. He's on your side and I'm sure the two of you can work something out." He explained quickly. She was indeed stronger than a normal woman, but how much stronger, he didn't want to find out by aggravating her.

Cosettesighed. "How do I know Peach isn't right about you wanting to arrest me?"

"You don't. You just have to trust me. If you stay here some other officer will come and arrest you anyway, you won't lose anything." He shuddered. If she really wanted to stay there he couldn't do anything about it, she would be caught, her sons would be taken from her and she would be thrown into jail because she kidnapped them. He knew that she realised that as well, but he had no idea how she was going to handle it.

She looked at her sons with a thoughtful look on her face, wondering what she should do. Somehow her trust towards Peach had never been strong, but she didn't know how to be to this… elf because she had never seen him before or anything like him. He stood at the doorway with a beige pullover, on the chest was a simple logo painted with red. He had black jeans; in his pocket was a small handgun, small enough to hide into his pocket as a large keychain. The way he wore his long hair on a ponytail in the back of his head confused Cosette the most. He was an officer in the S.F.B.I. and yet he had no dress codes in his occupation, he could wear his hair long and any kinds of clothes he wanted to.

It sure seemed odd. She had always thought that S.F.B.I. officers had suits and badges they carried around like in that one show she had once watched… X something… She couldn't remember the name completely. Trusting to someone without any signs or proof about his profession was just foolish. She couldn't know though, maybe the elf really worked for the S.F.B.I., maybe he really wanted to help or maybe he was sick enough to want to take them as hostages as well. She narrowed her eyes, it could be that she was being paranoid, but she had all the reasons.

And even after all that, she really couldn't say what he wanted. Staying at Peach's place would mean that she'd get caught eventually; going with him might free her. And although she was scared for her sons she decided to trust him and said:

"Yes. Take me to the cabin."

"Thanks for trusting me. I really want to help you." Link said gratefully, flashing her a smile.

Cosette called for her two sons and they came, looking scared and tired of running away. Still they had blind trust in their eyes, they were really hoping that the elf could save them; make their father give up on them. He gave them an encouraging smile as they passed him. Cosette took the boys into the corridor, but Link hesitated. He saw Peach looking at him with hatred in her eyes, hating her even more. She had probably had a perfect plan once again to get Cosette to the police, but he had ruined it. Oh, how good it felt to ruin one of her plans, mess one of the spider's webs!

He was about to leave, but something made him stay. He turned to look at her with a devilish smile, wanting her to know how much he had enjoyed watching her plan crumble in front of her. Something like this didn't happen often, it was making it all the more delicious when he enjoyed it a while longer. "Sorry to ruin your evening." He said jeeringly.

She smiled back at him with the same kind of smile, for a while she had been defeated, but she wasn't going to give up so easily. If she couldn't beat him about Cosette, she could beat him with Roy: "Sorry to ruin your life."

Link flinched. Could it be that whatever she had done to get to know that it annoyed him? It was as if she was trying to ruin his life through Roy, using him only as spawn in her little chess game of revenge. He tried to think of something he had done to her, but couldn't remember anything. "I don't know what your motive to get Roy is, but ruining his life completely shows that you have no heart and can't feel any remorse for your actions."

"Oh, I have a heart. I love him." She said almost innocently. "That's my motive."

"He doesn't love you back." Link answered scornfully.

Peach let out a small laugh, maybe to win time in their little verbal argument. "He doesn't need to. He just needs to adore me and he will."

"Only until he realises how much he actually hurts himself." The elf said, reflexively throwing his hands in the air. His blood was starting to boil. It was so wrong of her to use Roy. He was defenseless against his unborn child, without that there was no way she could've ever been able to pull him away from him. Link clenched his fists, it was so unfair.

Peach patted her stomach where her child grew with a fond smile on her lips. "He will be mine forever because I know what strings to pull."

"I hope you burn in Hell." Link said before he disappeared into the corridor with Cosette, closing Peach's apartment's door with a bang. He took a deep breath, wanting to go back inside and strangle her. It would be so rewarding to watch her struggle for her life just like Roy did, watch how she would beg for mercy to save her pathetic, horrible life. She really didn't see anything wrong in ruining Roy's life by forcing him under her boot, to her it was probably just normal to make boys squirm in front of her. Maybe she had first only wanted Roy, but when she had seen the chances of hurting everyone around him as well she had took it and crushed Link's and Marth's hearts as well. The only one she hadn't had her hands on was Young Link and Link was going to protect him from her, no matter what.

They got out to the lively street and Link took Cosette's hand as if they were a couple. That way matching her descriptions from different passers-by would be a lot more difficult. Link guided her towards Pyri Park, a beautiful park in the middle of the city, most of the old people loved to go there because it was full of trees and many kinds of flowers, almost like a forest with small paths, but still only a park. Link wondered that maybe the old people loved the park so much for the illusion it gave; the sense of forest. It was refreshing to walk through a park, especially Pyri Park.

They walked towards the park in complete silence. Link didn't want to strike up a conversation since he knew she was nervous and needed to concentrate on acting perfectly cool. If he started speaking to her, she might panic and it would all be over. Not only for her, but for him too, because he was helping her, not catching her like he should've.

As they got to the park, Link heard a familiar voice from behind. It had been a while since he and Young Link had seen each other because he had been so busy and Young Link had liked to stay at Granny's. They both won; she loved to bake and Young Link loved to consume whatever she baked. He was about to turn around to say hi, but then thought that maybe Young Link would feel that it's embarrassing that his caretaker starts talking to him all of a sudden in front of his friends or maybe one of his friends might blow Cosette's cover.

"Man, that was so cool!" One of Young Link's new friends said with excitement.

"Yeah, Ness, sure he was cool, but did you see Leonardo when he cut those two ninjas in half?" Another boy said, probably even more excited than the first one.

"Yeah! I'm so going to be like Leonardo when I grow up!" Young Link said.

"Me too!" Ness declared. Link glanced at them, noticing that they were all normal-looking kids, nothing to worry about. The one they had called Ness looked very athletic. He wore shorts and a t-shirt with a matching cap. The last boy whose name he hadn't heard yet had dirty blond hair, just as wild as Young Link's. He wore dark blue jeans and a grey shirt with some kind of an emblem on it.

"I want to be Donatello. He's got cooler moves than Leonardo!" The last boy said.

Young Link waved his hand as if the boy hadn't got the slightest clue about what was cool and what wasn't. "Roan, Donatello's not even half as cool as Leonardo!"

"He's cooler!" Roan said defiantly, making some Kung-fu moves.

Young Link narrowed his eyes as he answered: "No, he's not!"

"Oh, yeah, he is!" Roan continued.

Ness thought of a quick way to end the fight before it had even started: "Let's stop that passer-by and ask him!"

"Alright!" Roan and Young Link said in unison. They were obviously friends again; the quarrel was losing its importance. After all, did it really matter which Turtles is the coolest?

"Hey, you! Who's cooler, Donatello or Leonardo?" Young Link said, rising his voice enough to reach Cosette's sons. She stopped immediately, swallowing hard. Link glanced at her, he saw how fear lived in her eyes, fear of losing the two most important things to her. He put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, the dark brown eyes turned to look at him, she was really freaking out. He found himself thinking that maybe she was even too worried… and if she was too worried of losing them, just how far would she go to keep them?

Without wanting to think about it, he whispered that he knew the boy, it was alright.

Cosette and Link turned around and the older one of Cosette's sons took a step closer to the boys, answering: "Rafaello."

"No! Leonardo's coolest!" Young Link said. "And hey, Big." He said as he noticed the Hylian.

"Hi, kiddo." Link answered with a soft smile.

"Donatello." Roan said knowingly. It was like philosophers talking about the meaning of life. What is life? How do you describe life? Where does it come from?

Cosette's son looked at him with fierce eyes. "Rafaello!"

"Donatello." The boy said.

Link and Cosette started to laugh. It felt relieving, like sunshine after a horrible storm. Link couldn't help hoping that Roy would be there with them, hearing the laughter. Although he had agreed to be only his friend, it was probably never going to happen. They couldn't just be friends after everything they had gone through together. How could they be friends if every time they were left alone they acted like a couple?

He sighed, it didn't help Cosette to think about Roy right now: "Aren't they all a team after all? Can't you agree that the Turtles are cool?"

There was a long silence between the boys as they thought about what he had just said. "…Oh yeah…"

"Yeah… I guess we could do that." Roan said thoughtfully.

Link smiled. "Good." He looked at Cosette, but saw someone familiar behind her. He had seen the boy somewhere, but where? Something in him was so familiar, he had seen him somewhere recently, maybe even only a few hours before. His mind brought him the memory of Marth kissing a brunette at the bar, remembering the boy then. Before he took a step to go to introduce himself, he saw Peach come to him, smiling as she came.

"Everyone, let's walk that way." He said quietly, wishing to hear a bit of what they were talking about.

Cosette gave him a confused look, probably wondering why did he want to listen to those two talk. He gave her an apologising look, trying to smile. He knew it was risky to stay in Pyri Park, but he needed to know what the brunette wanted from Peach. Was he just another victim of hers, just another fallen to her web?

As they came closer, they heard Peach say:

"You probably want the money, huh?" Link frowned as she said that. Had she paid the brunette to seduce and sleep with Marth purposely, it hadn't been just coincidence that two lonely souls had happened into the same bar at the same time and got on like a house on fire? Link's jaw dropped. That guy had only been working for Peach, not caring about Marth's feelings at all? Had hetaken advantage of Marth's loneliness cruelly to achieve whatever goals Peach had had...? The elf could feel his blood boiling in his veins when he realised how wrong it was to help her.

But even if he thought about it, he saw no connection. That was so unlike Peach. She always had a goal, she always knew how to achieve it and she achieved it, no matter what it took. This guy sleeping with Marth didn't match the pattern, because he knew her goal was to get Roy marry her. It had nothing to do with the noble, not in any way. Or maybe she was just planning the next step in her vicious dance of chaining Roy and destroying his life.

"Yeah." The brunette answered, looking at her with sparkling eyes. Link glared at him, hating him so intensively all of a sudden.

"Did you make sure he saw you and him together?" Peach asked, narrowing her eyes. It was clear to Link that she didn't like the guy she was talking with, maybe because they had planned the whole thing together and she wasn't sure could she trust him completely. The devil inside him laughed, because she could never be sure that her plans were going to work and when someone would betray her, but at the same time, his heart cried in agony for losing Roy.

"Yeah, I'm sure they did." The boy said.

Peach took her wallet and gave him 200 dollars, saying something quietly so that Link couldn't hear them. It had probably been about him since the boy turned his head a little, glancing at him before nodding to her. Her and Link's eyes met and in her eyes was such devilish joy, such pleasure for hurting him. It made him feel so angry because there was nothing he could do about anything, he was forced to watch as Roy let Peach dance on him, torture him, play with him as she pleased.

Link took Cosette's hand roughly, pulling her behind. She flinched as he acted so quickly, letting out a scared gasp. Link hadn't heard her, he didn't hear or see anything at that moment. He was so mad that his whole vision was red, so broken that he thought he might just fall over after any step and die. Nothing hurt him more than watching Roy walk his road to darkness when he had already seen the light, he had already been happy. Why couldn't he realise that he had had whatever he needed? He had had love and caring, kisses and hugs as much as he had been able to take.

He walked Cosette to his car, without a word he opened the doors and let her and the boys on the backseat. In his mind he could only think about what horrors Peach had in store for Roy. As hestarted the car, he wanted to rip the wheel off and kill someone to calm himself down. He wanted to go crazy.

Then he got it. He didn't need to be crazy. He just needed someone who was.

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Merry Christmas, everyone!

Vyse:Her Chrissy prezzies for ya are the one-shot Waiting for That Special Christmas and the story Cerulean Skies. Read them if ya got time.

Marth: Let everyone around you know you care.-grabs Vyse-

Roy: Don't leave anyone alone. -lets Link hug him-

Link: Kiss and hug a lot. -kisses Roy-

Researcher: Hug…?

Keeper: Tasty hug.

-group hug!-

Then the storyteller threw a piano on them for being so mushy.

Thank you for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts!