Chapter 38: The one where you can see trouble brewing
There's a lot of things that can go wrong in a simple situation. And usually one of these things will go wrong, knowing your luck because you were not Luck.
And news flash – one of these things that will go wrong just because they can is obviously your best friend abusing her newfound freedom. Namely to drag you all to the nearby carnival. Which meant you were now exactly where you had started.
And Zelda had even dared to phrase your unplanned excursion as fun and let everyone vote on this unknown fun. Which obviously a lot of them chose as Zelda swore up and down it wouldn't be harmful. You always enjoyed to watch Zelda twist people around her little finger with her words…to bad that she used this weapon of mass destruction against you and common sense now.
"It's gonna be fun" she assured you with a grin, patting your shoulder before going to check on a sickly-looking Wind. "Plus we gotta be here."
"Have I ever mentioned hearing you say these words is the opposite of reassuring?" you mumbled as she sent Warriors off with Wind to the men's toilet to help the poor pirate calm his stomach and if needed empty it. Zelda shrugged, and the bad feeling in your stomach area only increased.
"Welcome to fun!" she then declared to the five remaining Links. "We got a lot planned today, so hop, hop, hop!" And with that she opened a map she had swiped of a nearby info stand and gestured happily to a few attractions. "Alright, we gotta go here and here and here! And it's gonna be a ton of fun!" And thus, once a slightly better looking Wind returned with Warriors, you were off.
Zelda was excited and kept babbling to whoever would listen about what she all had plotted for that day. Which was poor Four, who was dragged along by Twilight – who attracted the stares of thirsty passersbys for more than just his frankly adorable kitten T-Shirt, that clung perfectly to his admittingly well trained frame.
Phtt, no wonder Zel choose that one shirt. Poor farmboy hadn't understood the real reason behind it, though, rather happy over the cute kitten printed on the front.
Also…talking about Four - should you contact a therapist about the kind of trauma Zelda induced to him? Since seeing Zel's furry room he hasn't done much at all, it might be a good idea…though maybe better not. You weren't too sure how a human therapist could help a technically Hylian hero without redirecting him to the loony bin.
Well damn. Guess poor kid would have to deal with this himself.
At least Wind seemed to feel a bit better as he munched on some sweets he had snatched from a nearby stand. Just this once you all decided to turn selectively blind seeing as he wasn't caught and was now smiling and joking with Warriors again.
Falling to the back of the group, you looked at Legend who was hanging a bit behind, much to the worry of Hyrule, which his glances revealed you.
"Hey Leg" you tried to start the casual talk. "You okay?"
He glances at you, looking tired: "…do I look okay?"
You wince: "No, not really. Was Zel's room really that traumatizing? I hadn't been in there quite some time, so I don't know how much she added on to what I saw last."
"I suspected but…to hear you admit it this readily…" He pauses, actually stops his walk and then looks at you utterly betrayed: "You knew. And yet you didn't say a single thing to warn us."
"Well, I did tell you to stay put!" you immediately defend, raising your hands in defense.
This only seems to infuriate him even more: "You knew! And you know us that we'd ignore it! And yet you didn't say a single ducking thing! Left us to find out for ourselves! Is some kind of sick game, some sick joke for you?" he accuses, eyes narrowed, teeth gritted.
"Woah, calm down, it was just a room" you try to soothe immediately. The furry room wasn't this traumatizing, was it?
"Just a room?" he repeats quietly, voice nearly inaudible, shaking his head. "No…"
His gaze steels and suddenly you feel like you made a horrible mistake, yet you can't pinpoint why.
"I can't ever believe I ever trusted you." He straightens, features hardening, gaze steeling. And then he spits out almost poisonous: "This is just a game for you, after all."
And with that he quickly speeds up, catching up with Hyrule who glances at him worriedly, but Legend only shakes his head, telling him not to worry. You're left alone at the end of the group, frowning, his words ringing in your head.
Okay, what was with all his weird drama about one simple room? The furries weren't that bad, yes, they were bad but not this level of bad that they warranted this kind of behavior.
Rude.
You scoff, the jerk wanted to act this way? Fine, two could play a game.
You didn't need them for your survival anymore, you were home and planning to go anywhere any time soon. If anything, they were dependent on you, so they better be thankful and play nice.
And if not, who cares? Certainly not you…
The furry room really couldn't have been that bad, right? Unless…
…no, Zelda wouldn't lie to you straight in your face about a huge thing like this. She was your best friend, you would walk straight through hell and back for her. You know you can trust her.
Zelda leads you all to a high free fall tower and buys for everyone tickets. You squeeze forward to talk to her: "I'm not sure this is a good idea…"
"Why not? They're used to falling and before that we will have a good view of the park and everything around it. It'll be fine and fun."
The Links didn't seem to think being strapped in was the definition of fun, but seeing others follow your examples they relented. And then you all went up, up, up.
The view was amazing and as you circled you could see the whole park borders and even beyond. Beyond the carnival was a large street that was largely closed off street that was blocked and barricaded by police. And within this blockage was a familiar large black portal.
You avert your eyes, stomach churning at the sight. You hated this stupid thing so much…
A gasp from Zelda drew your attention away and she gestures excitedly to the coffee shop just across the borders of the carnival: "Look who's coming out there! Aren't these Luck, Malin and Sky? Oooh! They got another girl with them! And Luck looks mad!"
"What?" you bring out, trying to catch a glimpse but no matter how you turned, you couldn't see a thing.
And that's when the seats stopped circling, your eyes were cast on the portal just in sight.
And then came the first fall.
Screams, shouts, surprised words and then you were pressed down in your seat as gravity caught up to you and adrenaline pumped your veins.
Falling, rising, falling, falling, rising.
Up, down, up, down, down.
Exhilarated screams and laughter.
And then came the final rise, your eyes gleamed the portal again.
It flickered and…was there something coming out from it?
Oh no.
And then came the final fall and with it the screams and laugther.
And that's when the screaming beyond the park started, followed by gunfire.
