Zelda felt embarrassed as she sat in her car.

There were tears streaming down her cheeks, tears that had lasted the whole ride from her house to the school.

In here, she could smell the metal, taste it on her tongue. She could hear the sound of the impact. She could feel her head moving forward. And she could remember the darkness and the dizziness before the fall.

Driving with this stupid cast was enough to stress her out, especially the sharp turns that usually involved both of her hands, but the memories of the accident, of her inability to control it and to do anything about it, made her shake. Besides it all, facing the school for the first time was beyond nerve wracking as well.

There was the sputter of an engine beside her before it was abruptly silenced. She glanced at Link as he watched her from his motorcycle. He took off his helmet and fixed his hair before leaning against her door, his face close to the window, but not daring to press his face to the glass to leave a giant print.

She made a miserable face in his direction and slid out of the car, early as usual. Though it was already her habit to be at school early, this gave her a moment to take it all in, and to brace herself for everyone's reactions.

Link walked around to her side of the car and opened the door for her, kneeling beside her. "What can I do?"

She'd called him that morning in a panic, unsure if she'd even be able to get into the car, let alone drive it.

Everything, everything, was stressing her out.

"Nothing. Just… just be you, I guess."

"Want me to get your bag?" he said, eyeing a stack of books on the seat, too much to fit in her backpack and too much for her to carry in with one hand. "Oh, Zel…"

He bit his lip and stared at Zelda for a long moment. She finally made a face. "What?"

Link grabbed the bottom of her blouse and shook it so she could see. A large uneven gap. She'd done up the buttons in the wrong holes.

"Fuck!" she hissed, slamming her good hand into the steering wheel. "I want to go home."

"I know," Link sighed, feeling for her. Her anxiety was radiating off of her in waves. "Get in the backseat and I'll help."

"People will think we're having sex," she said, moving from the front to the back anyway.

Link chuckled and closed the door, blocking as much of the window with his back as possible. "So?" he joked.

Zelda joined in his laughter, trying to pry the first few buttons off, but too clumsy to actually make much progress. "Are you the same guy I started dating at the beginning of the school year?"

"No," Link said, undoing the buttons with perhaps too much efficiency. "You made me a bit more confident. I wish you'd take some of it back for yourself."

Zelda had a tank top on under her shirt, so she didn't feel self-conscious when she stopped his hand from moving before she was decent enough to go into the school. "Link, I've kept this hidden from everyone for years. I've always passed out in private. No one ever knew. Now… now everyone knows that there's something wrong with me. They know I'm not safe. If someone sees me get out of this car, they're going to wonder why I'm still allowed to drive if I'm just going to pass out."

Link moved her hand away and lined up the two sides of her shirt. "Fuck them."

"It's not that easy."

"You were all in with me. You didn't give a shit what people thought, even though I tried to push you away. Why won't you go all in on yourself?"

"I don't want to be looked at like I'm sick or different. With you, I had a choice, and I don't regret making it. With this? I have no say."

Link finished helping her with her shirt and grabbed her hand. "We'll get you through today. And then tomorrow, we'll get you through tomorrow. And then people will forget. And if they don't, we're almost out of here and no one will know again unless you let them."

"Yeah," she said halfheartedly. She grabbed Link's collar and pulled him towards her, feeling him chuckle against her lips.

"Now people will think we're having sex," he muttered into her lips.

"So?" she giggled, pulling away from him with a smile that only he could draw out of her right now.

"I love you," Link laughed, offering her his hand as he pulled them both out of the car.

Zelda was still chuckling as she fixed her hair and her shirt. Two girls walked by, whispering to themselves, "Oh, did they just—" "No, that's the girl who almost killed some people on the ro—"

Link glared at them and walked around Zelda's car to grab her things off the seat. "Hey!" he called, lifting his head to them when they wouldn't stop whispering. "Fuck off!"

Zelda's head whipped in his direction, never before hearing him so vocal in public. "Link!"

He slammed her door and walked with her to the foyer. "People still think I'm a murderous arsonist or something. I'll use that to silence these assholes."

"It's fine. Don't do that."

"Just say the word, Princess. My reputation is yours to command."

"Oh, you're so dramatic," Zelda scoffed, smiling as she let him help her get her backpack on.


It took all of three minutes of being in school for people to begin reacting to Zelda.

The first to react had been Ilia. She'd rushed up to Zelda and held her so tight that Zelda's arms had begun to hurt from where they were crushed beneath Ilia's relieved embrace.

Makeela was next, though she'd seen Zelda several times since the hospital, and opted to back off, unlike her usual self. She could read Zelda like a book, and Zelda was not giving off the vibe that she wanted to be the center of attention.

Medli gave Zelda a tentative hug, one that said she was too afraid to break Zelda. That was Zelda's first inkling that anyone thought differently of her. Medli was a tight hugger on a normal day, and now, Zelda could barely feel her arms.

Darunia was worse. He'd never treated Zelda as some fragile thing, but his light touch and concerned looks at her arm had her understanding too well that everyone thought she was broken.

Mrs. Joy even took pity on her, not harking on her for her non-dresscode sleeve length. It was required long sleeves during the winter months, and Zelda wore her shortsleeves for the sake of her cast. And though it received a noticeable glance, Mrs. Joy let it slide.

Mr. Auru asked her too many questions, all out of concern, but too many all the same. Ravio, and Ruto watched her warily, like this had been a ploy for attention. Groose tried to grab all her books from her hands and proceeded to drop them on her foot when she resisted his help.

But things got worse when she attended drama class.

Sidon and Revali were sympathetic, but despite everything, Revali knew her well enough to see that she didn't want their sympathy. There was too much disconnect between them now for him to offer a distracting conversation, so he simply let her be.

Then, Mr. Ezlo broke the class into groups to perform a short scene, and he pulled Zelda into the hallway.

"How are you?" he asked, starting with small talk. Zelda already knew that it wasn't good when the man who'd been her teacher and director for four years couldn't come straight out with something.

"Fine."

"Listen, Zelda… there's no easy way to say this. I know you signed up for auditions, but the school board doesn't feel comfortable letting you go through with the show this year. If you fall, if you hurt yourself, they're liable so—"

"What?" she balked, taking a step away. "You're not going to let me even audition?"

"I have no say in this. I'm sorry."

"It's not like this is a new condition!" she said, her breathing speeding up, her eyes pleading. "I've had this for years and no one thought I was a liability then! Please, Mr. Ezlo! Please help me! Talk to someone, please! It's my senior show! I'm never going to be able to—"

"Zelda, I can't…"

"No, no, please!" Tears freely rolled down her eyes, and she bit her lip to try to stop them. "It's probably the last time I'll even do theater! And they're already taking volleyball from me!"

"I can't. It's not my decision to make." He reached out a comforting hand, but Zelda flinched away. "I can give you a tech job. They don't want you on the stage in case you fall—"

Zelda sobbed.

"—but I can maybe let you work the lightboard. If there's someone with you, I definitely can."

"Was there a meeting all about me?" she asked, waving her arm at some unseen thing behind her.

"Yes," he sighed. "Yes, there was actually. It's not often our students pass out and end up hospitalized. So, we need to minimize your risks of getting hurt."

"And of making me the school's problem?"

"Zelda…"

Her voice hitched up a few octaves. "Can my parents fight this?"

"I don't think so. Legally, the school can do this because it's a safety concern."

"I can't…" Zelda clutched her hair and let the tears fall. "I just want to do the play, Mr. Ezlo. Please."

His expression was genuinely pained as he watched her break down. Every attempt to comfort her was met with a step back, so he stopped trying.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she said miserably, unable to even look at the drama classroom.

"Go ahead," he said, not fooled in the least.

Zelda stormed down the hall, stopping for a moment to rest her head against the cool wall before she continued.

There was a staircase that not as may students used unless they were walking to or from the history classrooms and the library. Zelda found solace on the fourth step and let her head rest under the railing while she had a good cry. It was something she needed to let out, something cathartic about the act of crying helped her clear her mind long enough to let her eyes dry a bit.

Zelda sat there for a while on her phone. She texted Makeela and Link, and she scrolled through some website she had no interest in. Pretty sure that Mr. Ezlo knew she wasn't coming back to class, she was content to sit on this stairwell the rest of the period.

Then, she heard footsteps descending from behind her.

"Oh, this is rich."

Zelda turned to see Ravio striding down the stairs, slowing his steps so he could stand menacingly above her. Zelda's eyes were burning, and she wasn't in the mood for his stupid antics. "What do you want?"

"What the fuck do you have to cry about? You've got the attention of the whole fucking school." He pushed her foot with his own, letting hers fall off the step and sent her jolting forward.

She let out an annoyed breath and moved her foot back into place, determined to let him see that she wasn't bothered by his antics.

But when he sat down beside her, Zelda couldn't help but try to scoot away from him, to gain the distance that she so desperately wanted right now. "I'd rather be alone."

Instead, Ravio made himself more comfortable on the steps, stretching his legs into Zelda's space.

Zelda glared at him before knocking his legs away so she could stand up, but he caught her good wrist and held it tight. "Remember when you used to like when I did that?"

She made a show of thinking about that for a moment before shaking her head. "No. Not really."

"When you broke up with me, you destroyed such a good thing. Didn't even give us a chance."

"When…" Zelda sputtered a laugh and tried to twist her wrist free. "You broke up with me! And thank the Goddess you did. Let go."

"We could do it all over again. You and me and the good times we used to have? They were good."

Zelda stopped trying to free her wrist, too dumbfounded by this random turn of events. "Excuse me? I'm very happy with Link, my boyfriend who I love, you're with Ruto, and even if neither of those things were true, I still wouldn't want to date you ever again."

"Neither of them need to know."

"Gods," Zelda breathed, dragging Ravio down the steps with her since he wouldn't let go. It made him stumble as he tried to keep up, and it gave Zelda a chuckle. She gave her arm a tug and watched him scurry to stay on his feet. He let go to grab the railing and Zelda moved off the stairs with a satisfied smile.

The doors at the bottom of the platform opened, and Revali stepped through with a concerned look on his face. "I just heard. Are you okay?"

Ravio had composed himself and stepped beside Zelda, which had her moving to Revali's side. "She's fine. I comforted her."

"Gods," Zelda scoffed, unable to stand being in his presence any longer. "I feel so bad for Ruto. She got sucked into some twisted little fantasy, but that poor girl deserves so much better than you."

"And it's my fault," Revali said, crossing his arms.

While Zelda didn't want to say it aloud, she wanted to agree with him. He'd done this damage. He'd split up their fried group just as much as she had, but she'd simply distanced herself from people who couldn't accept her choices. Revali had harassed her and led Ruto into an unhealthy relationship with lies meant to hurt Zelda. Then Ravio had taken the reins from there in attempting to make Zelda's life unbearable at school. Little did he know that all he had to do for that was to keep her out of the only two experiences she looked forward to: volleyball and theater.

She didn't even realize that Revali and Ravio had begun to speak to each other, low hushed whispers with the undertones of a potential fight.

And while she wasn't particularly fond of either of them, she rested her hand on Revali's arm. "Let's go back to class. If they won't let me on the stage, then you'll have to do some scenes with me in the classroom."

Revali nodded and followed her from the stairwell, pushing through the doors with her and leaving Ravio behind.

"I'm really sorry that you're not allowed in the show."

But Zelda didn't want to talk about that. "Are you having trouble in paradise?" She wiped some of the remaining tear streaks from her cheeks.

"Yeah. I see why you didn't like dating him."

"Yeah, I wouldn't wish him on anyone. Not even you."

Revali smiled sadly. It was a backhanded compliment, but he took it. "How's Link?"

Zelda nearly tripped. "Good. Sidon?"

"Good." He cleared his throat. "Makeela?"

Zelda had to stop herself before she could say 'good' one more time. "She's doing great. Volleyball is back so she's in her happy place, you know?" She fiddled with her nails. "Darunia and Ilia have been hanging out. I didn't expect that."

"Yeah, he's still hung up about Ruto. I think Ilia helped him set up a dating profile or something, because he's always on the phone now."

"She's a really good wingwoman."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

They lapsed into a silence that lasted through the rest of the class period. When Zelda arrived in class with Revali, she immediately separated herself. Something kept her from holding any significant conversation with him. She didn't remember a lot of that day, going through the motions until she ended up sobbing with Link later that night as she lamented the loss of something she'd been looking forward to since she was a freshman. Her final performance, her final games, her lasting memories. Now, it was all tainted by the realization that she'd always remember being banned from her events for being a liability.

In the days since her ban, Zelda went to every volleyball game, sitting in the stands either alone or with Link, and sometimes even Ilia. If no one could make it, she'd find Darunia and Sidon, reluctantly sitting near Revali only if she had to.

He'd told Ruto what had happened, but she didn't believe him, so across the bleachers were Ruto and Ravio, cheering for other friends on the team.

Zelda enjoyed watching Makeela, but most of the time, it was too sad to see someone else in her position, and she only hoped that her arm would be healed in time to finish the season in some way. Unless they considered her a liability as well.

Auditions came and went, and she found herself staring at the cast list with a heavy heart. Her name was at the bottom of the sheet as the switchboard operator. And her co-operator, as deemed necessary by the school in case something happened to her?

Link.

When she'd cried that night, he'd offered to talk to Mr. Ezlo about his electronics experience and closeness with Zelda, so he wouldn't let anything happen to her. And by that, Link meant he'd sit beside her with his headphones and homework and let her do all the work unless she actually wanted his help. Zelda was beyond grateful that he'd done that, because she knew if it had been anyone else, they'd have thought her to be just as fragile.

Link, however, had hit a hurdle of his own, smoking a cigarette with an old friend outside the convenient store after he'd gone to get milk. He'd come back home utterly disgusted with himself for cracking under something as simple as someone offering him a free cigarette, and he'd proceeded to the gym where he could hit things without repercussions. From then on, Link had the gum in his mouth almost all the time, and the patch grew itchier than it ever had, reminding him of his slip. He tried to get past it, but it seemed that one of the few things that actually helped him was working. So, he'd begun to pick up extra shifts.

More days went on, and Zelda fell back into a familiar routine: she went to school, found ways of catching the attention of Mrs. Joy—which happened now more than ever because Zelda had chosen to ignore the dress code to accommodate her cast—which landed her in either detention or the office, doing her homework, going to work-work, working the switchboard, finishing her homework, and going to sleep. It didn't take Zelda long to find empathy for Link when she'd first realized he had three jobs plus his detention job and school. She found her schedule more difficult to navigate, and weekends grew shorter while she worked on essays and math problems at night instead of having any fun.

She'd come to accept that the strange looks she'd get in school during the week were the norm. She'd accepted that Makeela spent more time at practice and in the gym because of scouts in the audience. She even accepted that Ravio had found something to latch onto in his persistently demeaning treatment of Zelda whenever he caught her alone. But he did seem to be afraid of Link, possibly still thinking him to be a serial killer of sorts.

It was mediocre, and it was tiring, but Zelda had accepted it all.

So, as she sat on her couch at her house, with Link half asleep on the couch beside her, she looked around at the empty house. The television was on, the lights were on, there were dishes in the sink ready to be put into the dishwasher, and yet she still felt as uncomfortable in this house as she did. She worried that her parents would walk through the door and see Link. That they'd treat him like a criminal who'd broken into their home. She'd managed to escape such looks; Link either left early enough to avoid them, or he'd be ready to hide when he heard their footsteps.

It was another thing that they'd both simply come to accept. And Zelda was sick of just accepting the hurdles that life was throwing in her way.

"Link?" she asked, despite knowing that it was probably not the best time with his eyes fluttering open from near sleep. "Can I ask you to do me the biggest favor of your life?"

He looked at her suspiciously but nodded.

"Will you have dinner with my parents one final time? If it doesn't work, that's it. I'm done here. I'm done sneaking around. If they can't handle one dinner, then I can't be here anymore. What do you say? You can say no. They've been… horrible. So I know that you might want to avoid—"

"Zel, stop. I'll do it. I'll have dinner with them every day if that's what you want me to do. Can't say I'd enjoy that plan at all, but I'd do it."

Zelda sighed in relief. "I won't make you do that, trust me. I couldn't even handle it. Thank you, Link. I swear, if they attack you, we're out. For good, this time."

Link sat up and wrapped his arm around Zelda. "I have an idea. It might make it worse, or it might help. You open to plan alterations?"

"Of course."

And Link wondered how quickly he was going to regret his suggestion. Probably right away. He just hoped, for Zelda's sake and the sake of his cravings, that he was wrong.


Reviews: Scarlet Curls: I do love all the "TOTALLY E" elements in these games! The dead hand, 90% of Majora's Mask, TINGLE! Jk Tingle is my man hahahah! Oracle of Hylia: I hope so too! Guest: I too am haunted by those chants! Sometimes I'll just be sitting around and start saying "to sit in solemn silence..." and then realize I've been cursed by the theater gods to repeat it until my diction is clear hahaha! Guest #2 (or maybe you're the same person?): I DO LOVE ME A ZUKO REDEMPTION ARC! But we'll have to see about that! I don't think I'll be doing a sequel for this one, but I'll never say never! Elena Gilbert: Yeah, the motivation isn't quite there right now, but I've just finished two works in progress, so hopefully my brain can just switch into "Alone With You" mode soon! Then it's on to the next project! :) Dk21 XcL: I got so meta there, I just couldn't stop myself hahhahaha! LuniaWolfe: I love me a good binge read! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Jojoker: Right?! I was having flashbacks as I wrote it to googling 'lemons' and 'what's nsfw stand for' for the first time... and now I'm cringing again ahhaha! Gingerale: I'm so glad this fic has been something that's bringing you joy! I hope it continues to do that for you! 33