Book II

Twenty-three: The Phantom's Lair

"Why," Zelda asked, tossing the bouquet roughly down on Malon's kitchen table, "roses? Why?"

"What bouquet does this make, Zelda?"

"The seventh, at least," replied the blonde in frustration as she sat down. "And they didn't have the decency to send white roses, for purity and friendship. Oh no. I got a bouquet of orange roses. Orange! Do you know what orange roses even mean?"

"I want to get closer to you- metaphorically, not literally," droned Malon as she fetched her friend a vase of water for her pretty flowers. "Come on, Zelda, cut the male species some slack. They just want to get to know you better. After all, you're hot, you're talented, you're fun…"

"And I'm rich," Zelda added glumly. "And blond."

"And in the school's top rock band," Malon reminded her gently. "Come on, Zelda. You're being too pessimistic. You know, ever since you came back from your dad's, you've been really cynical. I thought you were over the whole 'Sterling' episode. You are, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Zelda recalled the day she'd left, how Sterling had tried to kiss her goodbye- in private, of course.

She also recalled how good it felt to slap him across the face.

"Ouch! Zelda, I just want you to like me. I just want to be your friend. Please."

"And what sort of friend tries to kiss another one day, and then ignores them the next! You've been toying with me," she'd told him furiously. "You're not worthy of my attention, despite how perfect you appear to be. Please, don't try and see me again." And she'd gathered up the last of her things and left.

"What a jerk. I still can't believe it." Malon shook her head, red tresses waving around her. "And to think, he sounded so nice on the phone, too…"

"Can we shut up about Sterling?" Zelda snapped, glaring at the roses.

It was Valentines' week, and though it had been nearly a month and a half since that painful Christmas episode, Zelda's heart was still smarting. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she'd yell inwardly at herself in the middle of the night as she laid alone in her room in the darkness. You're so stupid.

"Fine, fine," Malon replied with a sigh, then sat down at the table across from Zelda, pushing the vase of orange roses out of her line of vision. "Girl, you need to chill. Seriously. Breathe in, breathe out. Life giving you a rough time?"

"A little." Zelda drummed her fingers on the table, admiring the way her black and brown leather gloves caught the light. She'd been asked many times what they were for- each time, she replied simply that she'd burned her hands over the break and they were covering up the awful scar tissue. She was glad for the gloves, too- the mark on the back of her hand had finally finished "maturing" and now looked almost like a henna tattoo. There were the three triangles, of course, and the one on the bottom left was shaded in with the royal crest. Bizarre.

Sensing Zelda didn't want to talk about, Malon changed subjects. "So, Zelda, are you going to accept any proposals from your many admirers?" She toyed with one orange rose head, and Zelda sighed.

"No," she replied, exhausted. "I'm just not up for a relationship right now. School's too complicated. The band's too complicated. And Link, of course."

"I thought you said he was like a brother to you." Malon eyed her friend up and down suspiciously.

"Well, he is! I mean, he was! It was just, the other day, he… I don't know, it's just that Link is Link and the last time I even tried to give my heart away, it hurt us both. So, like, why bother? I've got allegiances to him, I've got allegiances to the band, and I've really got to pull my act together in school if I want to get into a good college."

"Zelda," Malon's tone was incredulous, "you've never gotten anything less than an 80 all year."

"That's not enough, though," Zelda replied, frustrated. "Nothing's enough. Nothing's ever enough."

"I have the feeling this isn't about school," Malon stated, watching Zelda as she pushed her chair back and began to pace, running her gloved hands over the top of her head in stress- Malon imagined that her fingers would be scraping through her hair if it wasn't pulled back.

"It's just about life in general, Mal. I have too much to worry about to feed the groin-controlled affections of the delinquents at our school."

Malon nodded. "I suppose that's understandable." She sighed, rolling her head around on her neck, then stood. "Come on, let's get you home."

"Yeah."

Malon had wanted to stop off at her house "real quick" to drop off her things and put Zelda's roses in water, as the Tudor household had been run dry of vases- not surprising, since Impa and Haft didn't seem to know what they were in the first place. Just as Zelda and Malon were collecting themselves, Cremia sauntered in.

Cremia was Malon's sister- Malon's younger sister by a year. She was a bit taller than Malon and strikingly pretty, and, delightfully, she hated Ruto.

"Hey Malon, Dad wants you to cook dinner tonight," Cremia stated, shaking a few wisps of hair from her eyes. "Oh, hey Zelda. Those roses yours?"

"Yeah. You can have them if you want, though."

"No thanks," Cremia replied, eyes looking dreamy from behind their red-plastic rimmed glasses. "I've already got some."

Malon's eyebrow shot up a mile. "From who?"

"I don't know." Cremia sighed, then smiled. "It's so nice to have a secret admirer."

Zelda swore, if Malon's eyebrow went any higher it would get totally lost in her hairline.

"Secret admirer? You? Cremia, I'm shocked."

Zelda had to admit to herself that it was slightly surprising that quiet little Cremia would ever get a secret admirer. Her sloppy, floppy bun usually had a large number of mechanical pencils and cheap pens shoved through its thick length, hair always hung in her face, and her standard uniform was shirts two sizes too big and cargo pants, usually green or black, and a large black duster that looked more like a bathrobe than anything else. Her pale skin, however, was flawless and seemed to glow, and the lack of makeup made her face all the more pretty. Perhaps it wasn't so surprising after all that someone had seen this beauty.

"Is Volvagia practicing this afternoon?" Cremia blew in irritation at a beautiful glossy deep auburn strand, and Zelda couldn't help but grin.

"Yeah," the blond replied. "In about an hour. Why?"

"Would you mind if I came?"

"Honestly." Malon snorted, then grinned, patting her sister on the shoulder. "Zelda, you wouldn't believe how much she's been bothering me about bringing her along to a practice."

"You can come," Zelda replied easily. "But don't invite any of your friends along. Really, it's nothing special. Just… practicing. Fixing bad notes, changing stuff, occasionally arguing and/or throwing things. Really, I think you'll be bored."

"I have nothing better to do with my life," the dreamer responded airily. "I already did all my schoolwork and read every book in the house."

"Three times forwards and backwards, it might be added," Malon added with a cringe, then smiled affectionately at her little sister. "Zelda, you don't mind if she comes along, really, right?"

"Of course I don't mind." And then, directed to Cremia, "I'm just hoping you don't get bored."

"I won't," Cremia assured her. "And maybe I can help you. I have a good ear for music."

Zelda allowed herself to smile. "Perhaps." She looked at the vile orange roses in their vase, and suddenly, everything seemed very funny. "Malon, let's get my roses home now, okay? I'm sure they're lonely and need more rose friends with them." This earned her a snicker from her friend.

"Alright, captain, will do. Shall I pick you up before practice?"

"Would you mind terribly?" Zelda had the good grace to at least attempt at looking abashed. "I don't want to be a burden…"

"Zelda, you're anything but," Malon stated with a sigh. "Right, Cremia?"

"Hmm?" She was gazing dreamily out the window at the back yard. "Right."

"See, even Cremia says you're not a burden." Malon grinned wickedly, then picked up the vase of flowers. "Come on, let's go now. You need to get ready for band practice."

"Yeah, if by ready, you mean I need to lie on my bed trying not to think about homework for an hour? Because I just really need to do that."

Malon shoved the vase into Zelda's hands and then laughed, dragging her out of the house by the elbow. "Let's go."

And off they were to the Tudor house, which was, astoundingly, only a good five minutes away- but only when Malon was driving. Zelda found herself dropped off and walked inside the house, carrying the roses, and then stumbled up to her room and set the vase down on top of her window seat (with cushion removed) as it was one of the only remaining available surfaces. Zelda sighed and turned, taking in the rest of the flowers crammed into her not-so-tiny room. If the constant stream of flowers kept up, she'd have to start moving some into the bathroom.

Sigh. What did they want from her, anyway? There wasn't anything even remotely boy-worthy about her- Sterling had proven her that. Zelda sighed in frustration, resisting the urge to break something.

Sterling.

It had been a month and a half. She should be over it by now, she really should be.

So why wasn't she?

Of course, only Malon and Lulu knew how angry and upset and raw she still was from his cruelty- Zelda didn't dare tell Link, for fear of what he may do. But still, even though it hadn't even been a breakup at all, Zelda wished that the male species would just leave her alone to her single misery.

Stupid men, she thought. Stupid you, Zelda. Stupid you.

She packed up her bass and plopped down on her bed, eagle-spread and staring at the ceiling.

Love doesn't exist. It can't exist. If there was such a thing as love, I wouldn't have these stupid triangles carved into my flesh. No. There's no such thing as love.

-&-

I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm, he came around like he was dignified
He showed me what it was to cry


Well you couldn't be that man I adored
You don't seem to know, don't seem to care what your heart is for
But I don't know him anymore


There's nothing where he used to lie
My conversation has run dry
That's what's going on, nothing's fine I'm torn

I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn


You're a little late, I'm already torn…

They'd covered the good old depressing 90's song, something each of the members of Volvagia recalled as a potent story of their childhoods; it had been Zelda's idea to cover it. Thus, she sang, in her soft, almost-croaky voice, sounding broken, which, in her state of frosty healing, wasn't difficult and seemed to be having the desired effect on her spectators, who were cheering and dancing and jumping up and down and generally having a blast- but during this song, they were dead quiet and attentive.

The crowd was no longer comprised entirely of high-school students, Zelda knew. Even some of the local college students were beginning to attend the Volvagia concerts held every Saturday night at The Phantom's Lair, a club that had been on the verge of closing. Had been, that was, until Volvagia struck up a deal with them.

"So I guess the fortune teller's right
Should have seen just what was there and not some holy light
To crawl beneath my veins and now
I don't care, I have no luck, I don't miss it all that much
There's just so many things that I can't touch, I'm torn"

The words had a heavy significance to Zelda and her slowly freezing heart. She was, to an extent, luckless. And why hadn't she looked at what was really there? It made her head hurt just speculating.

"I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
You're a little late, I'm already torn.

Torn...

There's nothing where he used to lie
My inspiration has run dry
That's what's going on, nothing's right, I'm torn

I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
I'm cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
I'm wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
I'm all out of faith, this is how I feel
I'm cold and I'm ashamed bound and broken on the floor
You're a little late, I'm already torn"

The song ended and Zelda stepped back from her microphone, a depressed but arrogant little half-smile twisting her features as Mikau turned and grinned at her. The crowd cheered, people jumping up and down and making the mass look like boiling water, rolling and tumultuous.

"Let's have another round of applause for Zel-da," he said, stepping up to the mike and beckoning at her with his left hand- his right was clutching the neck to his guitar. The club roared once more and Zelda grinned. To her right, Darmani played a quick little riff on the drums.

"That was Torn, originally by Natalie Imbruglia… Zelda's idea to cover it, actually. Next we're going to play one of our original songs… it's called 'Obligational Catastrophe'…."

Zelda allowed Mikau to start off strumming gently, and she came in softly, not really listening as he crooned depressing words into the microphone, about pain and breakup and broken hearts, running on autopilot, even though she shouldn't. But she wouldn't screw up- she'd written the song, after all. She seemed to write most of Volvagia's music.

Not that there was anything wrong with that.

The leather and cloth of her gloves was slightly irritating, due to sweat buildup on her hands. The lights of the stage were hot and the club didn't have the best ventilation unit. Oh well. It was worth it, especially with the added money that the band was making. The song was over suddenly and another faster one was in its place and Zelda was performing, smiling into the crowd as she did so. And another song took its place and another- the night was a happy haze of rock music, as it always was.

The concert ended and people streamed up to the stage to talk to the exhausted band- both Mikau and Zelda's voices were hoarse from singing as they dismantled things (with the help of a crew) and packed up. Zelda smiled down at the people, wiping her bare arm against her sweaty forehead and hitching up her black spaghetti strap tank. She spotted a face in the crowd close to the stage that she recognized, and stepped forward, squatting, hands on her faded jean-clad knees.

"Marie, do you know what the chemistry homework was?" she asked, not caring that it was a perfectly ridiculous question to make after such a concert- she was a normal teenager and had to worry about homework….

"That worksheet over limiting reactants," Marie clarified with a smile, sleek red hair swinging around her as she leaned on tiptoe against the stage, which began at her shoulders. "Awesome concert, Zelda."

"Thanks," Zelda replied, hot and hoarse but feeling good.

"When's you guys' CD coming out?"

"Probably sometime next month," Zelda responded, smiling wearily at someone who called her name, over on the other side of the stage. The bright lights were inhibiting her view of whoever it was, but she did catch a hand waving in the air. "I'll see you in class on Tuesday, okay Marie?"

"Alrighty Zelda. Hey, Mikau!"

Zelda walked across the stage to squat in front of the person who had called her name, a girl she didn't recognize, who, by the looks of it, was a freshman. There was a timid-looking boy standing next to her as well- it seemed the girl had hauled him over.

"Yeah?" Zelda squatted again, gloved hands resting in fists as she looked down at the 'cute little fishies', as Malon would surely call them.

"My name's Navi. I'm a freshman. This here's Tael- he's just moved here and doesn't know many people. And I heard that you moved here and didn't know anybody either at the beginning of the year, and I was thinking, well, since he's in the same boat you were in, maybe you could help him out!" Navi looked quite proud of herself for this, and Zelda smiled at the short girl, whose hair was so light blond that it was nearly white, and her skin so pale it seemed to glow.

"Would you be okay with that, Tael?" Zelda asked the 'cute little fishy', inwardly wincing at the roughness of her hoarse voice. Wide-eyed, he nodded. "Then I suppose I wouldn't mind. Where'd you move in at?"

"B…. Blackwing Creek…."

Zelda nodded. "You're not too far from me then. You with your parents?"

Tael looked shaky. "Yeah. And my little sister. Tatl…" Tael smiled a little, and then looked back up at Zelda. "She's in second grade."

"Yeah?" she asked, and then turned, looking over her shoulder at Mikau and Darmani, who were trying to dismantle Darmani's drums. "Well cool. I always wished I had a sibling." Zelda spotted Malon over by the steps leading up to the stage and beckoned her friend over. "I'm going to go help those two buffoons," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of Mikau and Darmani, "before they break something, but you tell Malon your phone number and I'll give you a call, try and get you out and about and meeting people. Would you like that?"

"If it's not too much trouble."

Malon was right. Wide-eyed freshmen really were cute.

"No problem," Zelda replied with a grin, patting Tael's messy hair, such a deep shade of red that it looked nearly purple under the harsh, wild lights of the club. Malon clicked over then and smiled at Zelda.

"Yo?"

Zelda grinned at Tael and Navi, and then looked up at Malon.

"I'm going to go help the boys. Could you get Tael's phone number for me please? New kid, doing for him what you did for me."

Malon raised an eyebrow, but saved her questions for later. "Gotcha." She squatted and drew a pen out of her clutch, and Zelda wandered over to the boys.

"Need any help, gents?"

"Could you get the case?" Darmani grunted, jerking his head in the direction of the large round black plastic case offstage that Zelda was sure she could fit in, assuming she curled up into a fetal position.

"Sure." She wandered to it and pulled it off of the "backstage" area and over to Darmani and Mikau, who, panting slightly, heaved it in.

"Thanks, Zelda. We're fine now," Mikau said, grinning.

They continued to pack up the drums and so Zelda, never one to be idle, packed up her bass and began to get all of Volvagia's various amp cables and cords, bundling them up and slipping them into the front pocket of her fat gig bag. Then she packed up Mikau's guitar, and by then, the boys were ready to go, having managed to load the set into the back of Darmani's truck, which was out behind the club. It was late anyway, nearly midnight, and Zelda was tired from singing and breaking down the set. Trying not to yawn, she looked out over the crowd, who had all but scattered as the concert ended- they, too, had curfews, except for the college students- and then walked outside into the crisp late winter night air. Tael and Navi, though only fifteen minutes before, were forgotten to Zelda as she hopped into the back seat of Malon's hummer- Lulu had wagered shotgun for the next 24 hours against Zelda on a game of poker that lunch and Zelda had lost- and allowed the pretty redhead to drive her home, yawning into the silence as Lulu hummed idly along with the soft pop pouring fuzzily out of the radio. Street lights cast strange shadows on the interior of the hummer, and the weariness of the night truly began to set into Zelda's bones as they drove on for what seemed like forever. A sluggish twenty minutes later, Zelda found herself bidding her friends goodbye and wandering into the house, smiling tiredly at Impa, who was waiting up for her in the hall.

"How was it?" asked the older woman, who was clad in a white nightdress and soft blue bath robe.

"It was a good set," Zelda replied with a yawn. "A lot of people showed up."

She smiled. "Good. Why don't you go upstairs and wash your face and go to sleep. You look tired. Would you like me to make you some tea before you go?"

"That's okay. Thanks, though." Zelda smiled, touched by the thought, and began to walk up the stairs. "Goodnight, Impa."

"Goodnight, dear. Do you want me to wake you up in the morning?"

"No, it's fine," Zelda replied. "I'll be up. Goodnight."

She finished scaling the staircase and wandered into her room, setting her bass down by her stereo and stripping off her jeans, deciding to sleep in her tank and panties that night. She stumbled into the bathroom, brushed her teeth and washed the last of the makeup off of her face. Then, hardly awake anymore, she drifted back into her bedroom and collapsed onto her mattress, barely asleep before her head hit the pillows.

&-

They were in Link's bedroom, on his bed, doors locked, sitting very, very close. A little too close to Zelda's comfort. Kind of.

"Remind me what I'm doing again?"

"You know exactly what you're doing. Now come on, take it off."

"No."

"Zelda… you promised."

"Yes, I promised, but I said when I was ready. I'm not ready for this, Link."

"Of course you are. Now take it off, or do I have to take it off you myself?"

"Fine, fine…."

The rustle of fabric ensued.

"Well, Link?"

"…" Link gave a sigh.

"I told you. I knew you'd be disgusted… why did I even let you talk me into this in the first place?"

"No, no, Zelda, it's not that it all! There's nothing to be disgusted at. Trust me- it's fine. I just am not sure how to react."

"What do you mean? I thought there's only one way that you could react to something like this…"

"I want a closer look."

"Link, don't touch!"

"Why not?"

"….I'm tender."

"Why would you be tender?"

"I don't know, every once in a while it just kinda happens…."

"I see."

"…you're not mad at me, are you?"

"What? No, no, not at all, I'm just… looking…"

"But Link, you can't talk about this, okay? Not to anyone at all."

"I wouldn't in the first place, even if you hadn't made me promise about fifty times before agreeing. Wow, Zelda…. Amazing…."

"I don't think so…"

"But, I mean, just look. They're so perfectly shaped."

"Of course they are. It would be kind of sick if they were lopsided."

"When did this happen, anyway?"

"Link, you know as well as I that it's been quite a while since this happened."

"Yeah, but… why?"

"It's just something that happens to the females in my family. Let's leave it at that."

Link whistled. "Jesus."

"Have you had your share of gawking?"

"No, not quite yet… hey, what's this thing down here?"

"Uhhhhh…"

"It looks like an insignia of sorts…"

Link carefully lifted Zelda's hand and tilted it side to side in the light of his bedroom window. Zelda braced herself, putting her free right hand down on the soft green and blue plaid comforter. She sighed as Link wrapped his fingers around hers.

"Well, whatever it is that's caused this, I'm sorry…"

"What for?"

"It made you so sick over the break. I was really worried."

"You didn't need to be. I was fine."

"You wouldn't have thought that if you'd been in my place and I'd been in yours…"

"Oh, Link…" Zelda tiredly leaned over and rested her head against his shoulder, her left hand carrying across to her own right shoulder as Link slipped his arm around her. "I'm so tired."

"Did you not sleep well?"

"No, no, I slept fine. I mean psychologically exhausted."

"What's got you tired?" He stroked her hair with his free hand."

"Oh, goddesses… everything, Link. School, the band, my hand…."

His shoulder shook underneath her forehead. "You made a rhyme."

"Dick." She smacked him with her right hand and then sighed again, leaning closer in to him. "And Valentine's day. That's got me a bit stressed, too."

"It's tomorrow," Link stated unnecessarily.

"Yeah," she affirmed. "On a school day. Why on a Monday? Why couldn't it be on Sunday? Today? Then I could hide from the rabid dogs…."

"Speaking of rabid dogs, your concert was awesome last night."

"Thank you, Link."

"You're welcome, Zelda. And if it makes you feel any better, I can walk around with you all day playing bodyguard."

"You mean playing pimp."

"Er… no… bodyguard."

"Link, I know how your twisted mind works. You're going to think of it as pimping."

"I would never. Well… not with you, anyway."

Zelda's tone was wry. "I'm flattered."

"You should be."

They sat in comfortable silence for a time, and then Link grinned, releasing Zelda's hand and sitting back from her.

"Goddesses save me," she murmured at the carnal expression on his face.

"Let's do something really fun," he stated, and then dove on her.

"Oh, Link! Stop it… jerk… let go….."

"Never! Submit to my evil pimping power, yo yo homie in the dizzle or whatever."

"Ahahahaha… Link…. Sadistic…. OUCH watch the hand…. Hahahaha… stop!"

"Not until you succumb!"

"Hahahahahhahhaa, hahahaha…. LINK, STOP TICKLING ME!"

&-

Uploaded 2:39 PM

Sunday, April 03, 2005

A/N: Welcome back to the world of my demented Zelda brain. Did you enjoy this chapter? Slightly disjointed, but that's the way things'll be for a bit whilst I try and regain my sleep. The show went great, details can be found on my journal. Thank you to each and every last one of you for your support. Update speed, I am sad to say, may be lacking slightly, especially as I've got a wee bit of writers' block, am entering into the last marking period in school, have two more orchestra concerts before May, probably will be returning to dance practice relatively soon, and, lastly, will be getting a job soon, hopefully. Thank you to everybody for reading and for your patience- it means to much to me! Sorry for my rambles. Any comments or complaints, criticism or praise or whatever, feel free to comment or email me. I'd love to hear from you!

See you next week!