Author's note: This chapter was based on the opera scene in Final Fantasy VI. I decided to focus this chapter on furthering the fluff between Link and Zelda, but of course I HAD to put in the taste of conflict... well... enjoy! (Don't mock me if the poetry stinks... okay? I came up with it off the top of my head.)
Chapter 6: Beautiful, but Unexpected
The company of three had ridden until they had reached a town, which seemed to be of much higher class. It was almost hard to believe that it was even in the Age of Darkness, even though in our eyes it would have been not as nearly as satisfying, and the people were still victim to slavery. However, one thing that they had seen, which caught their eyes very easily was a theater, which towered over the rest of the buildings. Zelda kept her gaze upon it longer than the others but turned her head when they had stopped at an inn.
Link dismounted along with Ralph before holding out his arms for Zelda to jump in. He had gently set her feet on the ground as she clung tightly onto her shoulders. It seemed that Link was taking care of a child almost when he had helped Zelda out in any way. She was like a defenseless little girl where only adults could do things for her, but perhaps Link was underestimating her a little bit...
When they had entered the inn, the talk of laughter and merriment immediately filled the air. Zelda covered her nose from the horrible breaths that filled the room. It was obvious, even though she never remembered, that in her days of royalty, she never had been exposed this kind of place filled with horrible smells. Hesitantly, Link approached the counter where he found a man wiping the inside of a mug. He had turned around and smiled. At first Link smiled back and before he was about to speak, the innkeeper interrupted.
"We don't allow people like you here." His smile had turned to a frown.
"Pardon?" Link replied, thinking he had heard wrong.
"Get out of 'ere." He said again, with a little more harshness in his voice.
Next thing they knew, the innkeeper harshly pushed them out of the inn and the door had been slammed in their face. Link got up and brushed off some dirt of his tunic and helped Zelda up who tried to get her balance back. Ralph was still on the ground with his arms and legs spread apart and back still on the ground. Link had helped him up as well and brushed off some of the dirt on him.
"Well... it looks like we have to sleep outside tonight..." Ralph had said sadly.
However, a short man had come running up to them with haste, and when he had stopped before them, he kept his hands on his knees and mouth facing the ground while inhaling and exhaling deeply. The three stared at him with confusion as he lifted his index finger, indicating, "wait." Link could obviously tell he was out of shape, this little man had a round belly and little muscle on him. When he had finally lifted his head, he pointed to Zelda still breathing a little hard.
"I need you to be in the opera tonight."
Both Link's and Ralph's eyes had widened and they're mouths dropped open as they both said at the same time, "WHAT?!?"
Zelda fluttered her eyes with confusion before she finally replied with a, "huh?"
"Sir... She's... she's not particularly in the right health to be projecting her voice and to sing that loudly in front of an audience."
"But she must! You see, the lead female singer as mysteriously disappeared... and you see, this girl could be her twin, they look so alike!"
Just as Link was about to pull Zelda aside she replied, "I'll do it."
"Zelda... what are you doing?" Link whispered in her ear.
"I think I have a good singing voice. Besides, it would be rather rude to leave this man still with his problem and us walking away without aiding him at all."
"Fine..." Link found himself saying hesitantly. He wondered how she knew about these types of things; maybe more memories came back to her when he didn't know it?
The little man seemed to be very happy about this; he jumped up and down with joy and led them to the towering theater that went high above the other buildings. It took only the full day for Zelda to learn the score and sing it properly, unfortunately however, Link had not heard her sing in all that time. Both Link and Ralph were given free tickets to watch the opera that night. When the time came, they sat in the highest level, waiting for the opera to begin.
Out of being impatient, Link stood up and told Ralph he would check on Zelda, to see if she was all right before the opera had began. He traveled to the hallways and eventually found her dressing room, in which he had opened the door and found her with her back facing toward him and combing her hair. She turned around and greeted him, however, Link had noticed the beautiful dress she was wearing and his eyes widened when he had learned how beautiful she could be. He turned around to hide his rosy cheeks, and even then, his whole face further went to red, until it was red as roses. Link inhaled deeply, as if he was having trouble breathing and he turned around to Zelda again,
"You look nice." That was all he could say to her.
Zelda weakly smiled, "Thank you."
"I came to check on you before you went on, do you need anything?" Link asked as if he were a polite gentleman.
Zelda shook her head, "No, I'm fine... You should get back to Ralph... The opera should be starting soon."
Link nodded, still blushing a little and went out of the room hesitantly, however, once he got out he took off running, as if he had seen a ghost or something of the sort. When he had sat in his seat once again, Ralph had noticed Link blushing still. He altered the lineament of his eyebrows and sneered,
"What happened between the two of you...?"
Link opened his mouth, but just as he was about to speak, the audience below them began to clap. They had noticed one of the singers had come out onto the stage before them. He began to sing, and everyone could hear it because the room was rather small for a theater. It was far less quality due to the lack of money and financial problems. The floor was covered in hay and the walls were of dirty stone. The stage was lit up by torches, which were newly lit. The singer commenced his part, introducing the opera.
Here is the story of a woman...A woman known as Alanna
She was of great wealth and fair
But indeed she was a slave in her own lair,
For she would be forced to marry a man...
At the coming of the ball...
The audience clapped when he had gone off the stage, awaiting the next number. Then there was Zelda, coming onto the set, and onto a small tower they had built that was made out of wood. She paused a little to wait for the audience to stop applauding. However, Link had gone into a daze and long stopped before she had gone on. Zelda began to sing, and her voice was had an unexpected beauty to it.
Every night I dream of my freedom...
Oh! How can I escape to another place?
The stars, the ocean, the distant desert...
Wherever I go... as long as no one will chase...
But if I am to fall in love...
It will be to a man of pure light...
His eyes will pierce me, and heal me...
But I doubt it will be this night...
He will be the stars, and I will be the darkness...
Our love will be brightest in the sky of light...
I wish I can only fade away, if not, I should meet him...
But I doubt it will be this night...
Zelda then began to traipse around the tower, as an ocarina and a harp were playing together in the background of her singing. Link was now really in a daze, he had almost shed tears her voice was so beautiful, he had almost forgotten everything that happened in the past before then. However, Ralph was still in reality, and he turned his gaze over to Link seeing him in such a state, and nearly laughed. Zelda continued after the instrumental break,
But if I am to fall in love...It will be a man so kind...
He will hold me in his embrace...
But that is just merely in my mind...
He will be the stars, and I will be the darkness...
Our love will be brightest in the sky of light...
I wish I can only fade away, if not, I should meet him...
But I doubt it will be this night...
Once Zelda had continued to sing in "lu's" she walked off the tower and off to the lower part of the stage and went off. The people were applauding her greatly. She indeed had one of the most beautiful voices anyone could have heard. The next number started, and it was the king and chamberlain arguing about who should wed "Alanna." Link decided to go to Zelda again, to give her a job well done, thinking she would still be there.
He had got up and went on the same course as before, but when he at last reached her room, he noticed she wasn't there. Link merely shrugged his shoulders, still thinking she was just waiting off stage for her next part, but his gaze had caught a piece of paper in the corner of his eye. He walked away from the door and picked up the piece of paper and eyed it before confirming what it was. It was a letter, and he began to read it.
Just to let you know, just to make the parting easier... Princess Zelda will be dead soon... and Lord Ganondorf will have her... Mwa, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!
-Agahnim
Link's blood froze when he had read the words on the paper. He thought for a moment how he could kill her until he realized that the best place was from above. He ran as quickly as he could back to the theater and found Zelda had gone on the stage, it was the ball sequence and she sat in her chair as the "prince charming" was singing. He could see a shadow above her and he quickly made his way to Ralph.
"Ralph!" Link said with a harsh whisper, "Zelda's in danger!" He had showed him the paper.
Ralph skimmed it and quickly got up and both of them began to find a way to the upper part of the stage. Meanwhile, Agahnim had a heavy weight he was about to drop. However, due to his frail weakened body, he could barely budge it. However, when it was just about to the state where it was to go overboard, Link and Ralph interrupted him.
"Well, look who's here to witness..."
Link had a most unpleasant look in his eyes as he approached Agahnim slowly. Just as he was about to continue pushing, Link found himself putting his left hand into a fist and shaking it uneasily and he had punched Agahnim to the point where he couldn't stand up. This made Link loose his balance, due to the broad board he was standing on, for that was how the place seemed at the moment. He waved his arms back and forth calling for Ralph to help him, who had just arrived and was trying to help Link back up but instead they had fallen onto the stage.
Zelda had gasped and placed her hands over her mouth, muttering to herself, "Link, what are you doing?!?"
However, it wasn't until when Link stood up and turned around when he actually realized where he was. He had turned around with wide eyes and blushed, then decided not to ruin the show for the others so he played a part of his own.
"It shall be I to have Z- Alanna!" Link didn't bother to sing.
"And I shall assist in accomplishing this goal!"
Off stage, the short little man, who was obviously the director of the opera had placed his hand over his face, thinking of the disaster that he would have to deal with when this was all over. Back on stage, Agahnim had fallen on both of them, and he was still serious in his duties.
"I think not! She WILL go to Lord Ganondorf!"
Link and Ralph sneered at each other then looked at Agahnim; both of them drew their swords. The director motioned for the curtain boy beside him to close the curtains but when he was about to, he eyed the performance once more and stopped the little boy, "Wait! This is getting good..."
Both Link and Ralph charged at Agahnim with their swords raised, however, since Agahnim was a wizard, he had countered them by forcing them both back with one raise of his hand. It was from there he released a ball of energy at Zelda, but then Link had jumped in the way and forced her down, dodging the blow. Ralph had come up from behind Agahnim and struck him down, but that was not the end. He had grabbed Ralph by the neck before Zelda had squirmed out of Link's arms and used some of her magic to throw him aside. When she had done so, the whole audience gasped and clapped, thinking this was all part of the show. When Agahnim had received the blow he had released Ralph and spoke to them.
"I think I've had enough fun with you kids, I'll annihilate you another time, farewell!" Agahnim said before he had thrown down a smoke bomb to disappear.
It was then when the curtains had closed and the crowd had stood up to applause. When the director had come out onto the stage when the smoke had faded, but found that the company of three had gone as well. What they were doing, is getting out of the place. Link and Ralph had left Zelda in her dressing room alone to change into her original garb and when she had done so, they fled out of the opera house. All of them had suspected Ganondorf had known where they were, and they were making an escape to get out of his grasp.
They had leapt on their horses and quickly rode out of the town without talking to another citizen there. It wasn't long before they went into the wilderness again and they were able to slow down. They had made camp, and Ralph was already sound asleep, but Link and Zelda were not.
Both of them stared up above toward the beautiful stars in the sky as the flame in front of them crackled and leapt into the air. Now was Link's chance to compliment Zelda at her voice.
"Zelda..."
She had turned her head toward him as he turned his head toward the fire, trying to avoid blushing, "Your voice was... beautiful today... I didn't think you had that much talent..."
"I know... I think I shocked myself a little too." She said sweetly.
Link had chuckled slightly before she had felt her lips brushing the side of his cheek. He had stopped dead at the feeling and slowly turned his head toward her, with rosy cheeks.
"Thank you... now we must get some rest before the hour gets too deep into the night..." She said laying down on her blanket and closing her eyes and drifting off into a deep sleep.
Link sat there for a while, thinking if she had really done that. His hand drifted to his cheek, where she had kissed him and laid down as well. That almost reminded him of the kiss his mother would give to him when it was time for him to sleep, and how it would always put him through the sweetest of dreams. It was like that with Zelda; he was put to the sweetest of dreams.
Author's note: How was that? I had fun writing this chapter, and with an event like the opera I just had to slip in some comedy. I guarantee the next chapter will be very interesting... I've already planned it... I might alternate between writing the chapters of "Funny-Looking" and this one, so it might take a while though. However, in the meantime, REVIEW!Special thanks:
Crescent-Wish-Forever: Here's the chapter you have been waiting for, and I hope you liked it! Thanks for the review! (I have a whole theory on why Link and Zelda should be together... it's VERY long...)
Brownblade: Looks like your record's been broken... you're second on the list! Thanks for the review and continued support!
pen-gurl: I hope this chapter kept your eyes from looking off the screen. Thanks for the review! I'll be sure to keep updating!
Kat-SageOfWisdom-princessZel: CHOCOLATE IS GOOOOOOOOOOD... Those MaLinks...etc... make me twitch sometimes... that's part of the reason why I only read ZeLinks when it comes to romance fan fictions! Thanks for the review!
LadyofDemons45: ...I haven't seen any of the original Matrix movies actually, because they're rated R. However, we did record the edited TV version... I'll try to dig it out of our video tape stash. (If I can find it.) Anyway, thanks for the review!