===== December 13, 2022 - Floor 3: Kakariko Village =====
Link woke up in what had become his new favorite position: at Zelda's back with his arms tightly wrapped around her. He quickly checked the clock: 6:48 AM. No reason to get out of bed just yet, since today would most likely be a day of freelance hunting around the fields of Necluda, so he gave her a solid squeeze and closed his eyes again. That was enough to wake her up, as she turned to face him and nuzzled her face in his chest. "Mmm, good morning, my wonderful Hero," she moaned, "do we have to get out of bed yet?"
"No, it's still early... we can sleep a little while longer."
"Good," she said as she closed her eyes once again, but for whatever reason the thoughts from the night before invaded her consciousness once again before too long, and she became restless and fidgety. Finally she sat up, and brushed off Link's attempt to pull her back into bed as she stormed into the shower.
Why am I having these thoughts? She's a member of our party so it's only natural that he want to keep her safe... and I care about her too, right? I mean, I spent the entire afternoon with her yesterday. So why does the idea of him caring about her - as if she were a real person - bother me so much, when I feel the exact same way? I hate this... I wish I didn't feel this way...
She sighed as she slumped down against the shower wall.
"Love is weird..."
Eventually she finished showering and got dressed. She sat quietly on the bed while Link showered and dressed himself. "I guess since we're both up and dressed, we might as well go get Kiwi and head out for the day, huh?" he said.
"Actually, could we... you know... not?"
"Umm, I actually don't know... could we not what?"
"Take Kiwi with us today," she replied sheepishly.
"I don't mind," he replied. To his credit, he chose not to make right now the moment to question her decision. "But we are going to tell her before we leave the village."
Zelda was shocked. "Why? Do we really even have to? She's... she's just an NPC, after all!"
Link leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his trademark thinking pose. "I find myself questioning that more and more every day. The way she interacts with us is far too unscripted to be an NPC. The level of programming it would take to script behavior that comes that close to humanity..."
He let out a heavy sigh. "If I'm being honest with you, I have enough on my mind just being trapped in this death game, just trying to keep you and me alive. And Kiwi acts enough like a real person to where I feel comfortable treating her like one without overcomplicating it. Is she a real person or not? I don't know, and I'm okay with that because there's nothing I can think of doing that would clarify that one way or the other, short of outright asking her."
Zelda groaned; she hated it when she wanted to act all emotional and he came along with his logic and sense. Then again, it was that part of him that kept her grounded, and one of the things she loved about him. "All right, fine... but you're going to be the one to tell her."
"You're not coming with me?"
"...No..."
"All right, fine... I'll be right back." He left the inn hastily, not bothering to try to change her mind. As determined as he was to find out exactly what was bothering her, here and now did not feel like the time or place.
Link found Kiwi outside of her grandmother's house polishing some statues posted there. To his surprise, she took the news of her exclusion from the day's hunt exceedingly well, looking forward to spending the day with her sister and grandmother. "Will you at least try to be back before nightfall? I'm sure Grandmother would love to have you for dinner."
"Sure, I don't see any reason why not." He had actually already committed to staying in the village for at least a week, hoping to avoid running into those player-hunters again. "It's barely 7:30 now, so that shouldn't be a problem."
Husband and wife went into the fields, and they had an absolute blast. Whether it was raiding camps of enemies, riding on horseback through the plains, or taking pictures of rare creatures and plants, they were doing something they hadn't allowed themselves to do in quite some time: simply enjoying themselves, and each other. Around midday they took a break on a small hilltop, eating a quick lunch while cuddling together against a tree and enjoying the scenery.
Zelda was laying across Link's lap, twirling the end of his scarf while he stroked her hair. "Stop that," she giggled as she curled up like a kitten, "or you're gonna put me to sleep."
"You don't seem to be complaining, though," he chuckled.
"I'm not, I'm really enjoying it," she replied. "In fact, I've enjoyed all of today. But still... I do feel like I owe you an apology."
"For what?"
"I made you take me out today because I was jealous of Kiwi."
"Well, obviously... are you perhaps ready to explain why?"
"I don't know why, but seeing you so concerned about saving her yesterday made me feel some type of way."
"Like I wouldn't do the same for you?"
"...Yes."
Link turned Zelda's head so they were looking each other in the eye. "I would have put an arrow through his skull with no hesitation had he laid hands on you, if I felt like you couldn't handle him yourself."
"What do you mean, if you felt like I couldn't handle him?"
"I mean, we've been in Aincrad for a little over a month now, right? I can't remember a time when you looked like you actually needed saving. Hell, you've been the one saving me more often than not."
"But-"
"With that being said," he said with that dreaded familiar 'STFU' tone he was notorious for, "every Princess wants to feel safe and secure that her Hero will rescue her if need be." He paused to give her a lingering kiss on the forehead before continuing, "And that is not something you should ever be worried about. Whether you need to be rescued from a horde of enemies, some players with evil intentions, or your own out-of-control emotions, I promise that I'll always be here to save you."
"Thank you... wait a minute, what do you mean by my out-of-control emotions?" She reached for her sword-
*WHACK!*
She drew her hand back from the hilt of her weapon like she'd been snakebit. Link had somehow beaten her to his feet and smacked her on the wrist with the flat of his own blade. He said nothing, merely standing with a smirk on his face for a brief albeit tense moment, before taking her sword and holding it out to her. "C'mon, Princess... we still have a world to save."
"I swear to whatever gods this world adheres to, I am going to murder you one of these days," she growled, trying not to laugh at the same time.
Unbeknownst to them, a dark presence had been listening and watching them the whole time...
Somewhere in the realm of Aincrad sat a palace surrounded by evil energy.
In the highest turret, a pair of deep purple eyes looked out from behind a sinister-looking mask.
Their owner had seen and heard the entire exchange between Link and Zelda.
"Finally," a deep, sultry voice said, "I've found the darkness in your hearts, and soon enough I'll use it to destroy you!"
Thunder crashed around the castle as wicked laughter echoed in the background.
The sun was setting and the two heroes were leisurely riding back to Kakariko Village. Zelda was smiling and laughing, her "date" with her Hero having been just what the doctor ordered. She knew she still had to sort out how she felt about Kiwi in regards to both herself and Link, but that could wait; all that mattered right here and right now was that she had spent an entire day alone with Link and she couldn't have been happier. They were on the final approach to the village when Link steered off the road.
"What's wrong?" Zelda asked as she pulled up beside him.
"Out there," he said as he pointed into the distance. "That's the enemy camp we took down earlier."
"You mean that stone skull where all those Lizalfos were?"
"Yeah, that one. It looks like they've respawned, and they're awfully riled up." He activated the scope function on his Sheikah Slate and could barely make out a group of humans among the monsters. "There are players over there. I can't tell how many from here, but they're humans for sure."
"Should we go help them out?"
"You read my mind. Those monsters gave you and me problems enough, so I'd at least like to make sure they're okay."
The pair spurred their steeds toward the monster camp, getting into shouting range just in time to see the last monster fall. Left standing were a group of six players, fairly worn down from the fight but still alive. Seeing no further need for their presence, Link and Zelda turned back to Kakariko Village, but not before one young girl caught a glimpse of a green tunic and blue scarf...
Back at the village, Link and Zelda stabled their horses for the night and went straight to Impa's house, where they found Paya and Kiwi awaiting their arrival as well. Paya welcomed the two with a deep bow, which Kiwi quickly repeated out of instinct. "I trust your hunt went well?"
"I would say so. We've got a ton of loot to sift through before we go selling it off."
"Can I take a look?" Kiwi inquired.
"Sure." Zelda opened her inventory for the Sheikah girl to peruse. She spoke to herself out loud as she scrolled: "Hmm... can't use that... can use that... definitely need that... how'd you even find that..." Once she finished sifting through the list, she opened a trade window with all the items she had selected and set an amount of Col for Zelda to review, which caused her eyes to nearly bug out of her head. "Link! Look at this!"
"Hmm? Wait, what... are you kidding me?! That's more than twice what the vendors would pay!"
"That's what I said!" She quickly hit 'Accept' to everyone's satisfaction, significantly boosting both Kiwi's inventory of materials and Link and Zelda's cash reserves. "But... are you sure you're okay paying us this much?"
"Of course! Things like that are what I hunt for when we're out in the fields together anyway, and I know you guys haven't figured out how to make the best use of them yet, so it only makes sense for me to take them off your hands."
"Which then begs the question," Link interjected, "how exactly do you use this stuff?"
"Hmm, let's see..." Kiwi pulled a mortar and pestle set from her pouch. "Two Blue Nightshade, one Sunset Firefly, and two Bokoblin Fangs... and... presto!" She ground the ingredients together and created three Flash Powders, which she then combined with Steel Casings to make Flash Grenades. "Impressive, right?"
"I'll say... so these are what you used to get away from those robbers last night?"
"Yup... like I said, I use the materials we find in the fields to make them. I can only make flash grenades so far, until I increase my crafting skill."
"Well, keep it up... those could come in real handy in the future."
"Thank you, Master, I will," Kiwi said a little too cheerily for Zelda's liking. She tried to shake her jealous thoughts out of her head for the time being and just focus on her partner having a highly useful skill.
Dinner was excellent, consisting of roasted meat and vegetables grown in the village gardens. Conversation was lively, with Link telling plenty of stories about the trio's adventures. Kiwi was seemingly enraptured with every word to come out of Link's mouth, which just pissed Zelda off even more.
As a result, their lovemaking session later on that night was anything but. It was carnal, dynamic, vigorous, and borderline violent - no, it actually was violent, evidenced by the furniture displaced and the bedding ending up everywhere except the bed. Eventually, Link and Zelda lay in a sprawling tangle on the floor, panting for breath and too exhausted to move.
"I don't know where this came from," Link gasped out between breaths, surprised that she had been so aggressive, "but I definitely liked it."
She reached for whatever part of him she could grasp at without moving too much, which at the time turned out to be his ankle. "You belong to me, dammit... you got that? You're mine, and no one else's."
"Sure... whatever you say." Whatever had sparked this territorial fury in his girlfriend would have to wait, as he was in absolutely no condition to argue. But it was clear that tonight had absolutely nothing to with love, or even pleasure. She had not set out to please him, nor was she concerned about being pleased. She had one goal in mind: total, absolute, unquestioned domination. And he had allowed her to at least think she had achieved that, simply because here and now was absolutely not the time to argue the subject. They would wake up tomorrow morning and discuss it then, but for now Link's only concern was getting off the floor, but they were both too weak to even do that. "At least toss me something to cover up with."
"Can't... reach... sleepy... good night." And with that, the last of her fire left her and she fell asleep on the floor.
That really just happened... oh well, screw it. And with that, he proceeded to sleep on the floor as well.
Zelda rose as she had fallen, spread out on the floor. Somehow one of Link's massive quads was now draped over her torso. Good to know he doesn't skip leg day, she thought to herself as she wormed her way free. Her back was absolutely wracked, and everything else on her was in pretty rough shape as well, a consequence of sleeping on the hard floor. She stood up and looked down and Link's still-sleeping form, and chuckled softly as she limped into the shower.
Oh well... it was fucking worth it.
In her mind, she had left absolutely no doubt who the only object of Link's affections should be. Kiwi might be their partner, but Zelda was his wife, now in this world, soon in the one beyond. She would be the only one Link ever had eyes for, and they would clear this game and live happily ever after...
...right? Right?!
The more she thought about it, the more something tugged at Zelda's heart. Was she really being too selfish? On more that one occasion, Lanay had fantasized about sharing a girl she had brought home for the night with Chris, before they had even become a couple or started being intimate together. The last couple weeks had done nothing to quell those feelings; on the contrary, from time to time she still found her imagination drifting back to those nights in their apartment, and what might have happened if he had walked in on her and her companion. But those were just fantasies born from a perverted mind under the influence of far too much alcohol, or so she tried to tell herself. So why did the possibility of another girl catching his eye... tear her apart like this? Frustrated and with no clear answer to her questions, she did the one thing she hardly ever did since she came to Aincrad, and something she only did when her husband was concerned.
She cried.
She braced herself under the shower and just cried.
She tried to do so quietly, but that only made the tears bigger and the sobs louder. Soon she was such a blubbering mess that she didn't even hear Link enter the shower behind her, completely oblivious to his presence until she felt his arms wrap around her.
His arms... in her emotional distress, she had forgotten the power his arms held. Not 'power' by this world's artificial standards, not 'power' defined by numbers, but a completely different power, a power she alone could understand. The power to blot out everything else in the world, as if the only other entity that mattered at that moment was him. The power to grant her strength when she was at her absolute weakest.
The power to make her feel totally, completely, utterly safe.
She gave herself to him in the shower, and once again in bed once they had finished putting it back together. As she did so, she relished in her safe place, that state of mind that allowed her to give herself over to him completely, even in ways she would never contemplate doing for anyone else, because no one else had ever made her feel so safe and secure, much less done it so effortlessly.
They were now finished and tucked into bed, him with his arms wrapped around her and stroking her hair, her with her face buried in his chest. "Chris?" she whispered, almost whimpering. "Promise me one thing?"
"What's that?"
"..." She paused for a moment, confronted with the absurdity of what she was about to say, but she said it anyway. "Promise me that no matter what happens, you'll never stop loving me."
Her answer came in the form of a kiss, soft yet strong at the same time. For two people who had known each other as long as they had, language sometimes took different forms, but their meaning was understood all the same.
The next week went somewhat similar, hunting and leveling up during the day and making passionate love at night. They did bring Kiwi along since she was still a member of their party, but staying in Kakariko Village allowed her to sleep in her own home, giving Link and Zelda the privacy of the inn. On the morning of the 20th, Link's last planned night in Kakariko Village, the final clearing meeting was held to plan a strategy to defeat the 3rd Floor Boss, Nerius the Evil Treant. The following afternoon, Link, Zelda, Kirito, Asuna, Kiwi, Paya, and 30 others took the boss down and opened up the way to the 4th floor.
After accompanying Paya back to the village and affording Kiwi one last opportunity to see her sister and grandmother, the heroic trio made their way back to the tower and prepared to ascend to the next level. As they approached the town at the base of the tower, Zelda seemed lost in thought and fell a few steps behind. Kiwi quickly dropped back to check on her friend. "Zelda? Are you all right?"
"Yeah... I'm okay," she lied.
"Oh... tomorrow was supposed to be the day," Link grimaced.
"What day, Master?" Kiwi had still not taken to calling him 'Link,' despite his best efforts.
Zelda let out a defeated groan. "The day we were supposed to fly back home to visit our families for Christmas."
"Oh..." Kiwi looked away, mortified at having prodded into such a personal matter. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry."
"Eh, don't worry about it, I'm just being dramatic," Zelda said with a smile. She took a step to catch up with Link, but Kiwi jumped in front of her and caught her in a bearhug. "Umm... what exactly are you doing?"
"It's okay, big sis," Kiwi whispered, which caught Zelda completely off guard. "You're not alone in here, remember? You have Master and me to rely on, so you don't have to be so strong all the time."
Zelda was shocked; here was this girl she considered a love rival actually caring about... her? Just how badly had she misjudged this girl?
Despite Kiwi's best intentions, Link had overheard the exchange and was ticking off his fingers. Three... two... one... meltdown.
On cue, Zelda dropped to her hands and knees and started absolutely weeping. Now it was Kiwi's turned to be surprised, as she certainly hadn't expected this. She looked back to Link for help, who simply waved her on with a small smile. It took her a moment to figure it out, but eventually his message came across.
You got this.
She knelt down and held Zelda while she sobbed her eyes out. When she finished, she pulled back and looked at Kiwi, seeing her in a new light. Whereas she and Link had known each other their entire lives, and so he knew her better than anyone else could ever hope to, he was a fixer. No matter what problem she might have, he was always ready to analyze the situation and at least attempt to provide a remedy.
Which wasn't entirely a bad thing, but sometimes she just needed a hug and to be told everything would be okay, and Link was horrible at that.
Fortunately, he wasn't the only person in Aincrad she could rely on. She knew that now.
"All better?" Kiwi asked. No judgment. No questions. No solutions. Just care and concern from a friend... or as she put it, a little sister. A luxury she never had growing up.
"Yeah. All better," she replied, wiping the last of her tears away.
"Good. Then let's get moving. Master - I mean, Link is waiting for us."
Zelda giggled. "And it wouldn't do well to keep him waiting, would it?" The two ladies caught up to Link, who had wandered ahead of them.
"Everything okay, nee-chan?" he asked, walking a fine line between serious and teasing while using the honorific he had heard Kiwi use.
"Yes, everything is okay. I just..."
"Needed that."
"...needed that. Yeah."