lil-dragon-blue – Thanks for the tip. I fixed it as you can see.
A/N - HELLOOOOOOO! As you might have noticed, something very interesting just happened. Wanna know what happens next? GOOD, CUZ YOU'RE FINDING OUT!
Layla laid on her bed and sighed as wiped away the last of her tears, mulling over what she could possibly to do get out of this horrible mess without upsetting Link any more. Soon, she heard slow heavy footsteps carry the hero into his room from through the wall. She listened for anything that might help her understand what he was feeling at the moment. Did he feel like she felt? Was it anger, regret, devastation? She couldn't hear anything. She listened to the soft shuffling of the leather of his boots coming off his feet and heard him hurl himself onto the bed and there was silence until...
It wasn't loud, not really. But it was so stifled and so sad sounding that it made Layla's ears hurt. Link was crying. He was sobbing, the emotion that he had probably never been able to show before was coming out and being soaked into the cloth of his pillow. Layla thought that it must have been very stressful growing up trying to beat everything against the odds and you could never ever fail because the fate of the ENTIRE LAND had been put upon your shoulders and you had no choice. Of course he was rewarded, but still...and now...he had finally failed at something. Well, he hadn't actually failed, but somebody had beaten him. The one thing that he wanted more than anything in the world at the time was Layla, and somebody had taken her from him.
Layla felt her heart break, and she felt like it was her fault. If she had only married somebody first, she would have never been on duty that day, she would have been taking care of her baby, and she would have never met Link. She would have never run into the desert, she would have never been through the Spirit Temple and she would have never helped Link beat Twinrova. She would have never got into the fight with him and they would have never got romantically involved. She felt like a bitch. She felt...she felt...incredibly tired...
The next morning, Link was nowhere to be found, and Layla got out all her frustration by training. Immediately afterwards, she had to compose herself and go meet with Cameron and Nika to discuss finally, the wedding.
"Hello, dear, how are you this fine day?" Cameron had said. It sounded very polite but by the way he was looking at her she knew it was with malicious intentions that he said so.
"Fine, Cameron." Layla said very stiffly. "And you?"
"Just fiiiine?" Cameron pursued her. "When you are here with me, planning out long-awaited wedding? You do mean more than fine, shouldn't you say? You mean WONDERFUL."
Layla wanted to grab him by throat, throw him down and yell, "WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT I MEAN? I HATE YOU, YOU FUCKING BASTARD! GET OUT OF MY LIFE! YOU'VE ALREADY RUINED IT!!!!" because she obviously was capable of it, with all the training. She did get ready to, she flexed her muscle, but then Nika came in and Layla's expression changed from angry to ecstatic.
"Oh yes, Cameron dear, I wouldn't want to be anywhere in the world but here with you, my love." She got big, shiny, happy eyes that showed nothing of what she felt.
"Today, Layla, you will be fitted for your wedding dress. Thanks to Cameron's generosity, it will be made of the finest silk." Nika gave her a meaningful look.
"Anything for my beautiful QUEEN..." Cameron said, wrapping his arms around Layla. Layla quickly occupied her hands with her hair to keep from punching him in his royal face.
"Yes, Cameron." Layla said quietly.
"Now, now, enough with the lovey-doveyness, you two lovers. Layla, get up on the stool." Nika shoved her over. Layla got up and Nika whistled. Two other Gerudos came out and threw a piece of cloth over Layla's head. Layla pulled her head out through the low-cut neck and recognized them as Zara and Namiustukami, (known mostly as Nami, because her name was so long) two of the head nurses. (You know Zara already.)
"Hey, Zara!" This brightened Layla's day a little bit.
"Hello, Layla, how are you?" Zara smiled at her as Nami pulled down the hem of the dress and began to pin it up. Nika cleared her throat from across the room and Zara quickly came to attention, bent down, and began to help Nami with the pinning.
"This just isn't going to fit right with your other clothing on, Layla, you're going to have to change out, if you want it to look right." Nami informed her. Layla blushed and glanced over towards Cameron and Nika. Nika was shuffling through some papers, no longer concerned with Layla's state, and Cameron was watching her hungrily as she hesitated.
"No reason to be modest, dear, we're all adults here..." he prompted her. Layla gulped and nodded slowly as Zara and Nami pulled the dress over her head. She reached slowly behind her neck and untied the strings, and then pulled up her skirt and let both articles of clothing fall to the ground. Cameron was absolutely gleeful. Luckily, Zara sensed what was going on and immediately covered Layla with the dress as soon as she was naked. Layla silently thanked Zara and Zara nodded and glared at Cameron, who was now twitchily looking through a book he had brought.
When the dress was finally finished and ready to be hemmed, Nami pulled out the huge full-length mirror and Layla looked at herself in it. The dress was beautiful. Blindingly white, with beads all up the torso, and a fluffy skirt covered with a shiny material. She had long, white, satin gloves on with no fingers and single, large jewels on the back of the hand. The veil was long and it fell behind her head, a little past her hair. Layla blushed as she looked at herself in the mirror, thinking about how beautiful she would look on the day of the wedding. But it didn't matter, because she would be marrying Cameron, that bastard. Not Link. And that meant that the wedding was meaningless. Cameron stared at her.
"Magnificent."
Meanwhile, in Kokiri forest, this was happening.
(This part of the story will be told from Navi's point of view.)
As I followed Link through the dark tunnels of the Lost Woods, I was worried, so worried about him. He had woken up angry, stormed out of Gerudo's fortress, and walked into Hyrule Field with a scowl on his face. Eventually his expression had softened, and he had just begun to cry, never ceasing in his trek. Now his tears had finally stopped because he had to concentrate on where he was going, but I could sense his broken energy, and the extreme decrease in his power was devastating. Link had lost the one person that he had ever truly cared about—fallen in love with—and now he was a lost soul.
When we finally got to the deepest bowels of the forest, Link took out his small Kokiri sword, which was now knife sized for him, and began to cut into one of the giant trees that lined the forest. At first I thought this was just out of frustration, but then the cuts he made began to look like a triangular object with a handle. Under one side he put his name, and on the other, he put Layla's.
(A/N- For those of you who don't know, it's...like...well, people do it when they're going out or they wanna go out with someone, in Japan. It's supposed to be an umbrella. Kind of childish, I Know, but hey, the kid's only 17. Oh yeah. And for this next part, let's just PRETEND that Link can do magic without...Like…the ocarina. Thank ya kindly.)
Link put his gauntletted hand onto the carving and began to whisper words so softly that I couldn't hear anything, but the carving began to glow so brightly that it looked like there was green lava flowing inside of it. Once he had finished his chanting, Link drew a quick slash across it and waited. The green filled the slash he had made, and then a sound like shattering glass echoed through the forest along with a blue glow that came from Link's carving. Link stared at the carving a while and glared.
"Hey! Link, what's up?" I asked him.
"Cameron." He said simply, and began to walk away from the now lifeless carving.
"What are you talking about?"
"He's got to have some powers. He's obviously stopping me from casting any spells upon him or even on Layla for that matter, so I can't control him, or, even if it came to this, cast a love spell on Layla."
"Link! Layla loves you already! She loves you more than you could ever know, but she has an obligation to marry Cameron, which I'm sure she's not happy about herself. But she knows as well as you and I that Cameron has power, A LOT of power, different kinds. And she wants to do what's best for her people. I'm also sure she understands that you truly love her as much as she does you, and that Cameron is just a horny rich bastard who can do whatever he wants because of his money, but still, that doesn't change anything."
"Navi, you're really not helping." Link growled. I stopped flying and landed, cross-legged, on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Link. I know how hard this must be for you. I'm just being logical."
"Yeah well. Life isn't all about logic."
(A/N- Especially when your god damn fairy is a dunderhead! XD Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! Hey! Look! Listen! Watch out! Hello! FOR GODS SAKE, WOMAN!)
Link and I walked back to the fortress and straight into Link's room, where he usually spent most of his time.
(A/N- Okay, Navi is no longer telling the story.)
Layla was extremely uncomfortable. She was clumsy and she knew it, and yet, she was still being forced to learn to dance. Waltz, really.
"And a-one, two, three..." Said Cameron as he lead her. Layla stared at her feet. Partially because she didn't want to look Cameron in the face, partially because she didn't want to step on him anymore, and another part of it was that Cameron was actually allowed to touch her for this. He had one of her dainty hands in one of his own large ones, and his other hand was on her waist while her other hand was on his shoulder. "Now now, Layla, pay attention. You have to be able to look up at me while you're dancing in order to make it look good. Now come on, one two three..."
Layla looked up and a little past Cameron's face tried to concentrate on dancing and looking at the same time. She was actually getting the hang of it. She began to loosen up as she was complimented on her sudden improvement by Cameron, and looked around her room a bit to experiment with her skills. They turned and Layla suddenly saw a pair of bright blue eyes staring though the crack in the wall. Layla gasped at stopped in her dance.
"What? Layla, don't stop now, you were doing so well!" Cameron pleaded. He followed her gaze and saw her staring at the crack in the wall. Layla motioned to Link and he ducked away while Cameron looked through the crack to see what she was staring at. "Why, there's nothing here at all except an empty bed, Layla, why did you get startled by it?"
"Oh, I...nothing, I just thought I saw someone, that's all."
"I...see..." Cameron said slowly. Layla gave a nervous smile and her walked back over to her. "Are you feeling tired? We can stop." He said. He was acting along nicer now, because Nika had walked in.
"Yes, I am a bit worn out. Tomorrow we can continue." Layla said daintily. She saw Link peeking through again.
"Well then, tomorrow, darling." Said Cameron, bending and kissing her hand. Layla smiled fakely and waited until he was long gone before she rushed over to Link's crack in the wall.
"Oh, Link, I'm so miserable!" Layla exclaimed, fighting back tears as she reached through the crack the best she could, wedging her fingers between the stone blocks. Link looked at her sadly and wiggled his fingers in too, just far enough for their fingertips to brush together. "I don't know how much longer I can stand it!"
"I know, Layla, I'm miserable too. I just...you have no idea how bad it feels to me that I've let you down, I mean, I've lost you. I feel like a failure and a coward. I'm sorry." Link said, looking at the ground, when he noticed that Layla fingers were gone. "Er...Layla?" Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and Layla was burying her face in his shoulder.
"No, Link, that's not true at all. This is Cameron and his mendacity. It's all his fault. Nothing is wrong with you!"
"No Layla...you should just go marry him. I can't do anything for you. Forget about me."
"Link!"
"I'm SERIOUS, Layla! Why should you love me? He's PRINCE Cameron! He's got money and fame and good looks and he can make you the happiest girl in the world! And I'm just a petty warrior…" Link's voice trailed off. Layla stared at him.
"Oh Link…" she said quietly. "Link, no, don't say that! Nobody can make me the happiest girl in the world except for you!!" she exclaimed. And with that, after a small hesitation, searching her face, he had kissed her so passionately that she felt like she had melted into him and that she could stay like that forever, frozen in time, however…that was when Prince Cameron walked in.
"Let's see what in this—" he broke off his sentence when Layla broke away from Link, backing away, up against the wall. "So THIS is who is staying in here! Did you SEE him before, Layla? Was THAT it? Did you stop because you saw him peeping through the cracks in the wall in your room? Yes, I know all about those little cracks. I had no idea that this fool was staying in the next room and had the ability to WATCH you while you SLEEP, however!"
"He's not a fool!" Layla said with contempt.
"And I don't watch her while she sleeps!" Link said, a little weakly.
"Wait, do you?" Layla said quietly to Link, looking suspicious.
"Well, I mean...well, there kinda was that one time...I mean...no...of course not..."
"Link."
"Layla."
"Link."
"Okay maybe I did once but it was only for a little bit and this isn't helping my case while Cameron is standing right there if you failed to miss that." Link said quickly out of the corner of his mouth.
"What are you two whispering about?" Cameron demanded.
"Nothing!" Layla said quickly.
"Link! You are never to come near my woman again, do you hear me? You shall not see her again until the wedding, because I hear everybody is invited so I can't exactly stop you."
"Ugh!" Layla made a sound of disbelief in her corner.
"And as for you, DEAR!" Cameron grabbed Layla by the arm and held her to him. "You will be kept in MY quarters, from now on, and you won't be allowed out until you are bound to me in marriage, do you UNDERSTAND!?" Cameron growled. He led Layla out of the room, practically dragging her, while she looked back at Link sadly as he held a hand to his mouth, kind of biting his fingernails.
"This is sick." He said, when they were out of the room. "This is totally sick."
Meanwhile, Layla had eventually stopped struggling but was still being dragged by Cameron to his quarters.
It was a large room with a very large bed and yet another in the corner. A trunk stood next to them, supposedly housing Cameron's belongings, and a very large aquarium which the Gerudos had built quite a time ago contained 6 or 7 large fish which were a sort of pet for the Gerudos, besides the tamed wolfos which belonged to Nabooru. There was a small dark hallway leading into the bathroom, and there were a couple barrels here and there probably filled with spare Gerudo things. There was a barred window at the top of the room that let in a little light from the moon, and however many torches Cameron lit, the room still had a dark feeling to it.
"You will be sleeping over THERE." Cameron coldly pointed to the small bed. Layla sighed. She knew she was right. She walked over to it and flopped down.
"If it were up to me, that Link would be BEHEADED before you could say Kakariko Village, you know."
"I know." Said Layla, speaking into her pillow.
"And if we were in my village, he'd be dead already."
"I KNOW." Layla sighed. She turned towards the wall and wriggled under the covers of her bed. She stared at the wall and counted the cracks until she fell asleep.
The next morning, while Layla was training, she didn't even bother to yell out the certain calls for the attacks. Silently, she ripped through the air with her scimitars. She started another boring day as prison guard, and eventually climbed up the vines to the highest part of the fortress where nobody ever went, well, rarely. Layla sat in a corner and stared out into the blue, clear, desert sky. This was her meditation.
She felt very stupid for going into Link's quarters and kissing him. She had had a feeling that Cameron would catch her at it eventually...but the look in Link's eyes last night...it had just been too much to bear. Layla didn't feel like siting here brooding about it would help her very much, so she leaped across the roof to the infirmary. She walked in and peered around the curtain. A Gerudo nurse with very long hair tied up in pigtails looked up from the desk she was at.
"Yes, Layla?"
"Hey, Judith. You know where Zara is?"
"Oh, yes. She's not in today, she is filling in for the bridge guards."
"Oh, okay. Thanks, Jude. "
"Noooo problem." Jude said. Layla skipped away and out towards the entrance of the fortress. She slowed to walk when she got to the bridge and stopped when she saw Zara.
"Hey, Zara! Come here!" Layla called. Zara looked around and waved to Layla, saluting the head bridge guard and walking over to Layla.
"Hey, Layla, honey, how are you?" she asked. She flipped her hair, which was now down from it bun, the sides flipping out a bit and her few strands of bangs hanging loosely in front of her face. She wore the bridge guard outfit, a purple iron breastplate and purple baggy pants with gold trim. She looked great.
"I hate Cameron." Layla said simply. Zara looked at her sympathetically.
"I know, honey, I see it in your eyes whenever you look at him. I feel so sorry that you're being torn away from Link like that."
"If only I had just been more decisive earlier in my life! If only I hadn't been so picky with the suitors that had been put before me when I was younger! Then I would have never met Link and none of this would have happened!" Layla thought out loud.
"Layla, do you really believe you'd be happy if you hadn't met Link?" Zara questioned her. Layla pondered this a minute and shook her head. "Exactly. You'd be with a betrothed husband and with a baby that meant nothing to you. Link came into your life for a reason, Layla. And I think you know that."
"Yeah…I guess..."Layla said. "But still, I don't know what I'm going to do, I mean, I cant back out of it, I act like I love the guy, and I know how much it means to Nika and the others…" Layla's voice trailed off.
"Well, I don't think you should marry Cameron either way, but it's your choice. I understand your hesitation, but if it were up me, I'd choose Link any day." Zara informed her.
"Hm. Thanks Zara. See you later." Layla said. Zara nodded and jogged back to her post.
Layla turned back around to go find something to do and walked into the fortress. As soon as she turned the corner, though, she bumped into someone.
"Ow!" she said, rubbing her head. She looked up into bright blue eyes. "Oh…" Layla stared into Link's eyes and analyzed what she saw. She no longer saw the fire burning to save Hyrule. No, now they were filled with the smoke of an extinguished fire, one that had been trampled on many a time and was slowly deteriorating more and more. They stayed like that and stared at each other for what seemed like a whole 5 minutes, until Layla finally blushed a deep shade of red and ran past Link, after whom she ran into Cameron a little ways along.
"Cameron!" Layla said when she saw him.
"I thought I told you you weren't allowed OUT!" he said to her.
"I was training!" Layla said nervously.
"Oh REALLY? At the BRIDGE? Why, I didn't know they held training sessions there, did they? Remarkable! I could have sworn you were sneaking off to go speak with your dear sweet friend Zara. Well. I should warn you. I think you should stay away from her if you value her life." He narrowed his eyes.
"You MONSTER." Layla whispered.
"Perhaps..." said Cameron airily. "Or perhaps I'm just concerned for your safety as well as hers." He said. He whipped around and pointed to his quarters. "GO." She said simply. Layla glared at him a glare that held the most hatred she had ever felt in her life and walked silently back into the room.
Later that day, Cameron brought in a meek looking Gerudo girl looking about age 15, with big ringlets held up in pigtails on her head.
"Layla, I'd like you to meet Celia. She'll be your new...assistant slash sitter, making sure you don't do anything I wouldn't want you to. I'm sure you two will get along, right, Layla? Celia?"
"Yes." They said unenthusiastically in unison.
(A/N- I stole the name Celia from Harvest Moon as well! XD)
"Marvelous! TA!" Cameron trotted out of the room and Celia sat down on his bed, getting out some knitting needles and string and began clacking away nervously, making what looked to be the beginnings of a skirt.
"Celia..." Layla started. The young girl blushed and looked up at Layla.
"Yes, Miss Layla?" she said in her soft, high voice.
"Just Layla. Uhm...how come I don't...know you?"
"I…uhm…I'm not from around..." said Celia quietly.
"But...you look like a Gerudo."
"Because I am...but...I grew up in Kakariko village. My mother died and so my father brought me there to grow up...I...never knew Gerudos had a whole fortress. I knew that they existed but…" Celia stopped to fix a mistake in her knitting.
"That's really weird...who is your father?"
"He's just a simple man...but he must have been special to the gerudos because they didn't take me from him when he proposed to move to Kakariko Village with me."
"That's what I was saying...because...usually you'd get a foster mother or something, right?"
"Correct." Celia answered, silently continuing her work.
"So how did Cameron come across you?"
"I was just shopping in the Town Market and he told me I looked charming and decided to bring me here to be your...sitter? Right?" Celia queried.
"Well, yeah, but let's not call it that. Seeing as your younger than me and stuff...how bout we're just buddies?" Layla suggested. Celia giggled.
"Alright."
About an hour after the sun set, Cameron came in and dismissed Celia. Celia bowed to them both and left hurriedly.
"Cute, isn't she?" Cameron asked Layla.
"Sure..." Layla's mood had dropped sharply when Celia left and Cameron had taken her place.
"She'll be around early in the morning until I come home at night to watch over you, isn't that wonderful? I don't have to worry about you hurting yourself." Cameron said, with ulterior motives of course.
"You mean to keep me from seeing Link."
"Precisely! I'm marrying a sharp one, aren't I?" Cameron snickered.
"If I had my way, you'd be 'marrying' a sharp KNIFE." Layla growled at him.
"Yes, I know." Cameron said sarcastically. "Too bad it's not up to you. Goodnight, DEAR." He saidto her before blowing out the torches and getting into bed.
"Whatever."
A/N- Well, looks like Layla has a new friend! But is this mysterious young girl really who she says she is? Is she a plain and simple Kakarikan Gerudo? Or is she working for Cameron in more ways than one? Or perhaps is she affiliated with Link? Nobody knows, but we'll find out. As soon as I figure out for sure which one it is myself.
:D Review please!