* * *
In her rush to turn her head around to face the newcomer, April fell backward out of the tree, landing on her head. "Owiieeee....." she mumbled as she looked straight up to see the newcomer. Yep. It was Link, all right. And, he was trying not to laugh.
"Not..........funny," she said slowly, looking up, and with her eyes narrowed. 'This isn't how it's supposed to be,' she thought.
Link stopped smiling, and asked her, "Um, do you need help?"
April said, all sarcastically, "Noooooooooooooooooo!" After this, she added, holding out her hand, "Duh!! Help me up, PLEASE!!" After she was up, she dusted herself off, and looked back at the kid standing in front of her. For a kid barely older than ten, he was pretty cute. A blond, like herself, and with blue eyes. She found herself staring, and quickly tried to find something to say. She was saved by a small little ball of glowing light that peaked out, shyly, above Link's head.
April pointed and said, "OH! That's a fairy, neh? Cool!"
"Yes," Link said. "Wait, not to be rude, but do you know where the Princess Zelda is? I need to see her."
"That would be me, oh person who just happens to be sneaking around in my garden!" She smiled as she said this. She thought she might make this conversation at least a little bit like it was in the game. "Anyway, how the heck did you get past the guards!? What do you want?" she asked.
Link blushed a little and said, "Umm, well....."
"You know, you don't even have to answer that first question. I don't think I wanna know." She tried to think of some other things that Zelda had said in the game. "Hey, wait a sec'! You have a fairy, then, does that mean, like, you're from the forest? You know, Kokiri?" Link nodded. "Good! Hey, then you wouldn't happen to have the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, would ya? You DO have it, right?" He nodded again. "HAHAAAAAA!! Just as I thought! OH, look at this! I am SO on the ball!" she said, holding up her hand in triumph. Link obviously hadn't expected the Princess of Destiny to act like this, and showed it by the odd look he was giving her. "Yeah, well..." she started, putting her hand down.
"So, what's you name, intruder? Your lucky you are who I think you are, otherwise the guards would be all over you right now." He looked surprised at this, and he obviously didn't know she was kidding. "It's sooo fun to be the Princess." She took a step toward him. "I'm just kidding. What's your name?"
"Link..." he answered hesitantly.
"Now, where have I heard THAT before? Well, Link, welcome to the castle, I guess." She smiled at him.
"Thank you, I guess..." he smiled back. "So, who did you think I was?"
"Oh," she looked away. "Not gonna tell."
"Why?"
"Because, you fool, if you wanna talk, we should go INSIDE first!" she gestured toward the door she had entered the garden from. "After you."
* * *
"Okay, I get to go first. What do you want? I mean, why did you come here?" April asked Link once they were inside. They were walking through the halls of the castle. April was sure no one would find them, and if someone did come, they could always hide or something. April wasn't sure why, she just had a feeling like nobody else should hear the conversation they were having.
"Well, where do I start?" Link told Zelda, aka April, all about the story she knew all too well of the beginning of his quest to save Hyrule. The Deku Tree, Gohma, you know the bit. (A/N: Plus, I'm too LAZY to write about it. Hehehe.) Only, since this was a realistic dream, she noticed, and some things were different, he told her some things that she maybe didn't want to hear all that much. There was a lot more real violence and risk, obviously, in this dream. April felt sorry for him, and even though she knew it was a dream, she couldn't help it.
"Wow, that sucks," she said, once he was done. "I'm sorry." She added, quietly, "God, I wish I didn't have to do this." April knew she didn't REALLY have to, it was a dream. But, it seemed like just the right thing to do to make the dream like the game.
"Do what?" he asked.
"Oh." She looked back at him, not really knowing what to say. "I guess, well, you'll find out." She shrugged. "Soooooo, okay then. Oh, yeah. Lemme tell you, about my little vision. Wanna hear it?"
"I guess I came here to talk to you, so it makes sense."
"All right! Well, let's see. Um, first, I see Hyrule. It's all fine and nice, but then these big old clouds come. There's an evil feeling I can always sense from the clouds. Then, out of nowhere, something comes out of the forest. I think it's supposed to represent you, because it has a fairy and a green, shiny stone. The Spiritual Stone of the Forest. Kinda weird, huh? But, lemme tell you something. You see, there's this evil guy, the King of the Gerudo they call him, and his name is Ganondorf." She made a face as she said it. "Anyway, right now, he and my dad are making a peace treaty. It's really fishy to me. I can sense that that Ganondorf guy has some weird power. I'm sure if you saw him, you'd agree with me that he looks pretty evil. Well, the point is, I'm almost positive he is the one that represents the dark clouds in my dream."
"You can just jump to conclusions, just like that?"
"I CAN, and I DID. So, there. I'm almost positive he has an ulterior motive for getting close with my father. Well, you know about the Triforce, don't you? You said the Deku Tree told you about it? Well, I think that's what Ganondorf must be after."
"Why do you think that?"
"BECAUSE, why else would he all the sudden decide to get friendly with Hyrule!? I can also sense his hidden, evil power, and I can't imagine what else he would use it for." April knew that this wasn't going to be as easy as just pressing yes or no on the game screen.
"Also, if he was close with Hyrule, he would have easy access to the other Spiritual Stones."
"Other ones?" Link asked.
"Yeah. The Spiritual Stones of Fire and Water. I know for a fact that those two stones would be easy to get to if he had a place in Hylian Court. You see, they are held by races that are loyal to the Royal Family. So, don't you think if he was friendly with us, he would be able to get to those races easier?"
"Yes, it would. One question, though. What would be the point of getting the Stones, Princess?"
"Oh, HELLO! Earth to ME! I forgot to tell you that dumb legend. Well, lemme tell you now. This is a legend that's been passed down by the Royal Family for ages. It goes like this. The Goddesses hid the Triforce away in the Sacred Realm. This was because if an evil person got hold of the Triforce, something REALLY bad would happen. So, the Ancient Sages built the Temple of Time to protect the gates to the Sacred Realm from anybody and everybody who wanted the Triforce. Not only that, but they put up a stone door called the Door of Time that you can only open if you have all three Spiritual Stones. That's why you need them. Also, there's another thing you need. You need a little instrument, I like to call, the Ocarina of Time!"
"Why does everything end in "of Time"?"
"Because whoever made up these names was an total and complete IDIOT!" She always found it pathetic when she laughed at her own jokes, but to her luck, he was laughing, too.
"Well, enough of that. I probably don't even need to say this, but I'm gonna. I kinda, sorta, need to get all the stones if I'm gonna keep the Triforce away from Ganonjerk. And, that's where you come in." She looked to him after she said this, and for some reason, he didn't look surprised, at all. "So, will you help me, Link?"
"Well, after that, how can I say no?"
She smiled at him. "Thank you! Oh, yeah! I'm gonna be in a good mood all day!" She was going to start rambling off talking, until a tall, dark figure knocked her flat on her back.
She looked up after opening her eyes to see Link looking down at her, and then his gaze shifted to the dark figure walking away.
"Um, hey? You just totally knocked down Princess Zelda," he said after it.
It turned around. "So!?"
Link backed up a little and looked down to her again. She decided to talk this time. "Well, you could say SORRY, you.... hey, who are you!!?" she called after it.
"Sorry you weren't paying attention," he, and if you haven't figured it out yet, GANONDORF, said, slyly.
April tried to think of something princess like to say, but found herself opening her mouth and yelling, "Why, who do you think you are, you damn idiot!? Who the hell do you think you are, talking like that to ME in my own castle!?"
Ganondorf most likely would have said something back to her, but instead, pointed behind her with a sickening smile on his face. April, now REALLY pissed off, turned around. Of course, right behind her was Impa, and she didn't look very happy. April immediately shrunk down and gave her a pathetic smile. "Um, hi?"
Impa shook her head at her, and looked at Ganondorf. "Sorry, I think our princess doesn't know when to hold her tongue." April was now even more angry, and she was biting down on her teeth and clenching her fists so her knuckles were turning white. She desperately wanted to yell out again, but she already knew she would never hear the end of this as it was, until the end of the dream. Ganondorf, on the other hand, just smiled and walked away down the hall. April looked after him, and really wish she could go have Link beat him up right now.
"Zelda?" Impa asked.
"I'm NOT sorry!" she called over her shoulder at Impa.
"Fine. You can be sorry later." With that, she left the two youths alone, again.
"AAAAAAAAAAHH!" she screamed with her head tilted toward the ceiling, once the two adults were out of view. It didn't really matter, as most likely all of the castle heard her, anyway, as her scream resounded off of the many marble walls.
April had almost forgot about Link, and when she heard the sound of muffled laughter from behind her, she slowly turned her head to face him. "What are you laughing at!?" she asked slowly and forcefully.
"You. I never expected the so called Princess of Destiny to act like that. I don't think I've ever heard so many cuss words from one girl at the same time."
"Well!" She crossed her arms in front of her. "I never expected my hero to be so completely RUDE!" She turned her head away. When she turned her head back to him, he was still smiling. "I refuse to smile!" she said, almost smiling, and she clamped her hand down over her mouth. She cleared her throat and attempted to regain what was left of her composure, but she couldn't do it, so she fell down into a nearby bench under a window and just laughed. When she could finally talk again, she said, "Well, Hero, are you satisfied?"
"Yep."
"Okay." She shook her head. "Well. Hey, I dunno about you, but I'm HUNGRY!!" she suddenly realized. It was most likely lunch time by now. She hadn't even had breakfast. She thought this was really weird, because she could never be hungry in a dream before. "You want to eat something?"
"If nobody minds..."
"Oh, of course not! Oh, and, maybe we can see my dad, too. Let's go." April started walking, and realized she had no clue where she was going. She stopped dead in her tracks, and thought for a moment. "Well, if we came this way, and turned..." she said to herself.
"What are you saying? You do know where we're going, right?" Link asked her.
"Um, well, kinda, but......You know, I have not the vaguest clue," she admitted.
"I think I might be able to get us back to where we were in the garden. Do you think you can find wherever we're going from there?"
"Yeah. Okay, this is funny. I have to get someone else to help me through my own castle."
"I guess a lot of weird things are happening in 'your own castle' today," he said as he walked in front of her.
"Oooooo," she gasped. Once she had watched him walk a distance away, she ran up and pushed him, almost knocking him over. "HA! Don't EVER mention that thing AGAIN!!"
"Fine, Princess!" He laughed at her again, for the what-th time that day, this author has NO clue.
* * *
"What do YOU want? And, what is that kid doing here?" one of the servants asked April as she was trying to make her way into the kitchen. "You can't go in here," he said, stubbornly.
"Oh, I can't, can't I?" April responded.
"No."
April shot him a look, and if looks could kill, this guy would have had a hole in his head. "Are you SURE about that, you pompous vacuum cleaner bag!?"
"Ah, well....."
"Get outta my way," she said as she shoved past him. She grabbed Link and pulled him with her into the huge kitchen.
"Oh, whoa. Food," April marveled.
"Lots of food,"
"Lots and LOTS of food. HEY! Those two people said something like that on the X-Files!"
"Huh!?"
'I gotta learn to keep my mouth SHUT!' she silently told herself. "Never mind," she waved it off.
Someone called behind her, "Hey, Zel! You DO know that there's going to be a BANQUET starting in a few minutes! What are you doing in the kitchen?"
April turned around to see the same small Zora she had seen earlier that day. "Oh, hi, Ruto!" she said.
"That annoying butler told me you were in here. I wanted to see what you were doing," Ruto said, stepping in. "What are you doing?"
"There's a banquet today?" April asked, and Ruto nodded. "Oh, opps. My bad!"
"HEY!" Ruto said, for the first time noticing Link. "Who's that you're with?"
"Who, this kid? He's Link. And, I think he will be..." she looked back at him. He was shaking his head, she knew why, but she just smiled. "...joining us for the banquet."
"Oh, great! I'll hang with you guys!" she said, as she started to walk away from them.
"Yeah, great!" April called after her.
"Great," Link said behind her.
Ruto turned around and added, "Oh, you know, Zel, there's gonna be a dance going on, too." She looked to Link. "I hope your little friend is staying with us for a while." She turned around and left.
"'Little friend'!?"
"Double great!" April smiled.
* * *
'This dream is way more fun than I'd thought it'd be,' April was thinking a couple hours later. Ruto had kept Link entertained while April went to find something different to wear from her room for the banquet. She wouldn't possibly have been able to dance in what she had been wearing. She found a shorter dress of sky blue silk that looked pretty nice on her, considering her ten year old figure. It hadn't taken her very long to put it on and come down to the main hall. She'd actually had to just follow the crowd to the place, as she had NO idea where she was going, otherwise.
She had been pushed into the crowd and lost among several people with really big hair, but she managed to find a wall and curve her way around it to the area with the food. Around three edges of the large, rectangle room, there were tables and tables of the stuff April had seen in the kitchen. Off to the side of the, toward the middle of the room, there was a large dancing floor. A lively style of music was playing, yet nobody had started dancing yet. Mostly because most people were busy stuffing their faces with the miles and miles of meats, side dishes, and desserts. 'Looks good!' April though, about the food.
She saw Ruto, along with a Link that looked like he was ready to run away from that scene, over to the far side of the room. She quickly walked over to them, and called to Ruto. She turned around and waved to April. When Ruto was turned away, Link gave April a look that seemed to say, "I am going to kill you." April almost couldn't blame him, she didn't even want to be stuck with the overgrown fishy. But, she just smiled and walked to grab a cup of whatever kind of drink it was that was next to her.
By this time, some people had had their fill of food, and one brave couple ventured out onto the dancing floor. Almost everyone watched as they started off the dancing, and they weren't bad at it either. Soon, others had joined in the dancing, as well. Just as April was about to turn her head to ask Link if he could dance, he say him being dragged by Ruto over to the dance floor. She had to admit, Ruto was a terrible dancer. It was almost painful to watch. Link most likely would have been good if Ruto hadn't kept spazzing out and stepping on everybody she got close to. Yes, it was very sad.
When Ruto was in the midst of many people and doing some more crazy little stunts, April walked over, caught Link's arm, and jerked him away from her. Ruto was too busy doing whatever to notice.
"Thank you!" he said to her, once they were back to the tables.
"Yes, the fish is pathetic. What 'r ya gonna do." she said while shaking her head.
For the next couple hours, the two talked, people watched, and other what not that kids would do if they were stuck in the middle of a group of adults. April was glad that now she knew more about Link as a person. She wasn't sure why. Everything seemed dumb that she was doing, since she was going to wake up, any time now. Just wake up.....
"Are you ready to dance, Princess?" Link had interrupted April's train of thought with this, and everything around her seemed to stop. She hadn't realized it, but it had started to become dark, already.
"You know what? I dunno how to..." she started.
"But you can't be any worse than Ruto," he pointed out.
"Yeah, but if you compare it like that, it's just SAD!" she tried to protest.
"Come on, just once? Please?"
"But, oh, er......AW, fine!" she gave up. "But I warn you, I CANNOT DANCE!" She stepped up onto the dance floor. By now, everything had calmed down a little bit, although there were still some people on the floor, April felt like it was too open.
"You know what?" Link asked her.
"What?"
"I can't dance, either."
"Well, that's nice to know. So, we'll improvise. I've seen kids dance before, it can't be THAT hard, and plus, you've already dragged me up here, so there's no way I'm gonna back down." She gestured for him to come up with her.
At that moment, a Spanish-sounding tune began to play. April had an idea pop into her head. "Hey! I think I know how I can start this one." April started off a dance like she had seen in a movie. It was her version of a tango.
She began to dance, and after a while, Link caught on. It must've not been very good, April thought, but she was having a whole lot of fun doing that little made-up, part what she had seen on TV dance. She hadn't noticed, but an amount of people had been watching the young couple at their little improv. When April was finished with her little finale, she looked up from Link to see some people standing around looking. "Well," she said. "We must not suck that bad."
After a few more of her made up little dances, a slow song started to play. It seemed to be a REALLY warped version of Zelda's Lullaby, only so warped, she couldn't tell.
"Oh, great. A slow dance. I don't wanna dance to this one..." she said as she started to get off the floor. Before she was off all the way, though, Link grabbed her hand.
"Oh, don't you want to dance to this one last song?"
"That's what I've been saying for the last, like, four songs..." April started. "Aw, but what the heck. We might as well......"
"How are you supposed to stand? Um, I've seen people do it before, is it like..." Before she could finish her sentence, he walked up to her.
"I think it's like this..." He showed her what he was trying to say by putting her hands, then his, in the right position for a slow dance.
April, at this new, close, position, blinked, blushed a little bit, then looked up at him and said, "For a guy who doesn't know how to dance, you sure know a lot about how you're supposed to."
As the song went on for a while, April thought about this whole dream. It was so weird. She wondered if the only reason she could dance here was because it was a dream, and she could just imagine it as whatever she wanted. The other part of her wondered if she really could dance. That same part of her felt a strange comfort in standing so close and dancing with her new friend, Link. That other half told her she was pathetic. She chose to ignore the latter half.
* * *
Much later in the evening, almost around midnight, the two youths were standing outside of the castle.
"Well, are you sure you don't want to stay the night, Link?" April asked him.
"No, I think I should leave now."
"Oh, okay. Well, I'm glad you came. And, thank you, not only for saying you'll help me with Ganonjerk, but also, for," she hesitated. "...tonight. Dancing and everything. I had fun."
"So did I."
"Promise you'll come back soon?"
"I'll be back."
"Well, I guess, then, this is good-bye for a time, Hero." She smiled at him.
"Good-bye, then, Princess." He also smiled at her as he turned around and left for the castle gates.
"Bye..." She watched him turn into a little dot in the distance, and finally, disappear.
* * *
***Wow. Can you tell I've never even ATTEMPTED to write a romance-ish story? I hope this will get better. And, I also hope you like it. I am oddly out of things to say. So, bye for now, and REVIEW. If you don't review, THE LITTLE DEMON MONKEYS WILL EAT YOU IN YOUR SLEEP!! See, April!? I don't have to threaten them!!
April: *sigh*