Title: Broken Promises

Game: Zelda

Rating: G

Genre: Romance

Summary: As peace and order returned to Hyrule, he left. But a certain princess has sworn to herself that she will find her best friend and bring him back.

Warning: none

Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time belongs to Nintendo.

A/N: Hahaha, it took me a long time to update, didn't it? Well… I've been on holidays, had a major writer's block AND I'm being weighed down by a tonne of assignments, so that's my excuse this time. Hopefully I'll update sooner next time, but I'm not going to make any promises.

Chapter 13

Romani was heaving the large milk bottles onto the cart with the help of the Gorman Brothers who, she had told me, used to be trouble-makers, who would try to steal the Romani Milk when Cremia, Romani's sister, used to transport them to Clocktown. It seems that Link had one night helped Cremia deliver the milk safely, fending off the brothers when they tried to steal the milk, and since then they had been humbled into helping at the ranch for a reasonable wage, especially after Cremia had gone to live and work in Clocktown with their uncle, who ran a Milk Bar there.

Seeing me, she told the brothers to keep working and walked towards me, "What is it, Sheik?"

I gave her a small smile and told her that I wished to return to Hyrule tomorrow, and that I was going to leave perhaps tomorrow morning. To my surprise, she took it rather well.

"Oh. Okay, I understand. I don't blame you for being homesick," she said, smiling at me.

It was a lot more than homesickness, but she did not have to know that. No one did. Yet.

Returning to my work, I smiled, already feeling a little closer to home, to Zelda.

By the time Link had finally agreed on Tingle about the map, he had no idea where Zelda was. She had gotten bored with his haggling and discussing the contents of the map and had wandered off and he had paid no heed to it, but now he didn't know where she had gone. And he was hungry.

"Oh great… where's she gone…"

Walking through the crowds, he finally found her heading in the direction of the Milk Bar.

"Zelda!" he yelled out, running after her.

She turned and fixed him with an jaded stare.

"Oh, are you done already?" she asked, her voice heavy with sarcasm.

Link grinned sheepishly, "Trust me, Tingle's hard to bargain with."

Zelda shook her head, "And why couldn't you just stick with the price he first charged?"

Link shrugged, "Sure. I'll go back and tell him that he can have his three thousand rupees…"

"WHAT!" she yelled, "That's outrageous!"

He chuckled and nodded, "Thought you'd agree."

"I recall him advertising maps for sensible prices!" Zelda asked.

Link laughed and patted Zelda's back, "That's what they all say, Zel. Trust me, you learn a lot when you go shopping instead of sending servants."

"What are you hinting at?" she asked icily and Link laughed again.

"Just kidding Zel, don't go crazy."

Zelda let out a small sound of indignation and stalked away leaving Link to run after her.

"I was kidding!" he yelled at her, "What's gotten into you, Zelda? What's your problem!"

She turned around to him and he didn't need to hear her answer for he already knew the problem.

"It's Sheik, damn it," she whispered, "I… I've had enough of this, Link! Why did he just have to leave like that? He… he was my best friend! That means you can't just ditch someone like that! He left so… so easily! It's like he never cared about me! He didn't give a damn how much it hurt me, did he? He was just thinking of himself! He doesn't care!"

A woman in her late teens or early twenties screaming and crying in the middle of the street generally would stir some curiosity within the passers-by and indeed, a small crowd had gathered to watch. Link looked around and frowned.

"What are you all looking at?" he barked, "Mind your own business!"

Despite his being an unknown to most people there, his voice seemed to carry authority and the crowd quickly dispersed, leaving the dsistraught queen to her own grief.

"Zelda, get up," Link said, offering her a hand, which she took, still sniffing quietly.

"Do you want to leave now?" he asked, "I know we were planning on leaving later, and visiting Romani first, but if you want, we'll go now. Forget everything and find Sheik, what do you say?"

Zelda looked at him, "Why are you so ready to drop everything, Link?"

He shook his head, "Because I can see it hurts you, Zel. I can't stand watching someone hurt the way you do."

Her eyes darkened, "I'm going to kill him, Link."

He looked at her sadly and hugged her gently, "You won't, Zelda."

"Let's at least pay a visit to your friend Romani first… I'll feel bad if we leave before doing so… you've already given up so much for me and I don't think my conscience could bear it if you had to give up this too," Zelda said.

"You'll come back as soon as you've found your friend, won't you?" Kafei asked as he and Link shook hands.

"Definitely. I haven't had enough of this place by a longshot," Link replied, grinning.

"Take care," Zelda said, kissing Anju's cheek, "I promise we'll visit again, and this time I'll bring Sheik along too."

Anju smiled, "Take care too, Zelda. Good luck in finding him."

Zelda returned the smile and joined Link, who was already reining Epona up.

"Thank you, Link," she murmured before beginning to rein up her own horse and mounted, giving Anju, Kafei and Clocktown another look before following Link out into Termina Field.

"It's a good thing Anju let us take packed lunches instead of making us sit down and eat, because this gives us more time. We'll make the visit to Romani Ranch a short one and then we'll be back on the road before dusk," Link said and Zelda nodded.

'I'll find you, Sheik,' a determined queen thought to herself, 'I'll find you soon.'

Good? Bad? Not worth the amount of time it took for the update? Go ahead and tell me.