Nightmare or Prophecy
Warning: Just within the boundary...hopefully...
Zelda stood on the sandy shore of Delfino Plaza. She had learned a short while ago that the beach area was called Peach Beach, named after its owner. The salty ocean wind blew through her hair and her lilac, ankle-length skirt. She was barefoot and wore an open blue vest over a buttoned pink blouse that barely contained her ample bosom. Unexpectedly, someone wrapped their arms around her waist from behind.
She smirked. "Hello to you, too."
"Staring out to sea again?" Link asked, leaning his chin on her shoulder. "If I had known that you liked the beach so much, we could have moved to one sooner." He squeezed her gently and kissed her neck.
"Hmm, Link," she giggled and blushed. "Suppose someone is watching? We'll never hear the end of it."
"If anyone has a problem with it, they can deal with me," he said, running his hand through her hair. "Otherwise, they can just watch."
"It just seems so…dirty," she giggled, blushing a deeper red.
He turned her around and pulled her close, with a mischievous grin. "That's why it's fun." Her resulting gasp was enough to pop a few buttons off her blouse.
"Oh, Link!" she gasped, wrapping one leg behind his and kissing him. When she wrapped her other leg around him, he was off-balanced and fell backwards. The ocean waves washed over them and receded.
"Gotcha'!" he chuckled, twirling her panties with Triforce designs and slinging them into the distance.
"Oh, but I've got you!" she grinned, holding up his boxers with heart designs and tossing it to the side. She sunk down onto him and, once another wave came and receded, they were within one another's passionate grasp. Conveniently, there was no one in sight to disturb their lovemaking. Even the birds that had previously populated the town and beach were conspicuously absent. It was almost as if the town, or even the island, had been totally abandoned. Link took no notice since he faced Zelda and the sea. She took notice of the ominously silent setting, but could not care less, since she was with her lover.
Her attention was gained by a shrill scream that was not her own. She saw a familiar, redheaded, young lady, wearing a simple white dress and yellow handkerchief wrapped around her neck, trip around the corner of a building. Zelda recognized her immediately as the only friend she ever had before she met Link seven years ago. Malon had often visited Zelda while either she and or her father delivered milk to the castle. Malon saw Zelda and Link, who seemed to be oblivious to everything except Zelda, and tried to run toward them. Unfortunately, one of the mutant Koopas busted through the building's wall, grabbed her by the top of her skull, and slammed her into the ground.
"Zelda! Link!" she screamed, struggling against the creature. "Help! Please!" She eventually bit down on the monster's arm, which was enough to release herself. But just as she got to her feet to run, a Stalfos skeleton warrior rose out of the ground and slashed at her. Zelda could clearly see a bloody gash across her torso. She fell back and scampered around the two monsters and managed to get within a few feet of Zelda. She suddenly stopped with a yelp and fell face first into the sand. The Stalfos's sword was sticking out of her back. She lifted her tear-stained face of the sand and looked pleadingly to Zelda, while Link remained oblivious.
"Ma…Ma…lon…" Zelda was barely able to say as Malon reached a hand out to her and Link.
"She means nothing to me," Link spoke, as if Malon were not even present. "You're the only one for me." Malon had a face of painful shock. Then, she stared pleadingly into Zelda's eyes, though her own were stinging from the sand and salt water. Zelda stared back, though her embrace on Link tightened.
"It's me, Malon," the redhead sobbed. "Don't you see me in pain?" When she saw Link persist in ignoring her and Zelda's frozen stare, it became evident what was going on. As the Stalfos stepped on her to remove its sword, Malon spoke under her breath, "Even if you don't love me, I always will…" She yelped as the sword was yanked out of her back. She was picked up and thrown back to the plaza area. The Koopa grabbed her once again and slammed her into the wall. She screamed violently until both the Stalfos and Koopa began to hold her against the wall and savagely beat her.
Throughout the entire scene, Zelda was horrified, and Link took no notice at all. Despite the sight of her childhood friend being pummeled by monsters, Zelda could neither say nor do anything about it. She embraced Link as much as he embraced her. She returned each of his searching kisses and motions. When she tried to say something useful, all that came out was either a lusty moan or an adoring exclamation. When she attempted to break her grasp, her hold tightened instead.
"Zel…da," she heard Malon call out painfully. She was slumped over against the wall, clutching her stomach. The Koopa grabbed her by her hair and began to drag her back through the hole in the building. When she began kicking and screaming the Stalfos kicked her in the jaw, silencing her. All three disappeared into the hole and out of Zelda's sight. She was finally able to let go of Link and sit up, while Link held onto her hips.
When Zelda managed to look back toward the town, she could see Saria running from something and in their direction. A Stalfos rose out of the ground ready to grab her. She turned another way and ran behind a building and out of Zelda's sight. The Stalfos turned toward Zelda and stared directly at her with its glowing red eyes. Then, it began to pursue Saria.
"Zelda? Link?" another familiar, yet shocked and strained voice called from behind her. She turned and saw Ruto, the Zoran Princess, standing in ankle-deep water and holding her injured side and looking miserable. Her whitish-blue skin lacked the shine that it usually gave off. The loose, gown-like fins on her arms and hips were torn in bloody dangling shreds and twitched unusually out of sync with her breathing. Her breathing itself was strained, as if she was having trouble outside of the water.
Zelda found herself scowling at Ruto for some reason. Link took absolutely no notice of Ruto, even as she stood directly in front of his face.
"Link," Ruto cried out to him tearfully. "Can't you see me? Or hear me?" As she took a step forward, Zelda abruptly rolled Link and herself over so that she was facing Ruto and abruptly blasted the Zora with her magic. Ruto fell back into the water and scowled at her. She got up once again to reach out to Link, but was caught in a telekinetic chokehold by Zelda. Zelda had no idea why she was doing this to her fellow princess, but could not stop herself.
"I'll never stop loving you, Link!" Zelda growled, directing the statement to the Zora.
Ruto realized what was going on and struggled to remove the force that was choking her. Zelda actually found herself glaring at Ruto and tightening the chokehold. Ruto glared back at her and rasped, "You…bitch!" before Zelda closed her grasp into a fist and crushed the Zora's neck.
Zelda mentally gasped. She had just killed a friend and fellow princess. She watched Ruto's body float in the shallow water with that cold, dead stare. She couldn't bear to watch it any longer and looked back toward the plaza. Saria ran around the corner and into the open, apparently still being chased. She saw Zelda and Link and, despite what they were doing, ran straight for them.
"Link! Zelda!" she screamed, in tears. When another Stalfos popped out of the ground, she scampered under its legs and continued her stride.
"Zelda, I…" Link began.
"Don't hold back!" Zelda yelped, holding onto him tighter. She looked back to Saria, who had almost gotten to them. Then, Zelda stuck out her arm and began to charge energy. Time itself seemed to slow to a crawl. Saria began to skid to a halt as a beam of light was shot out of Zelda's hand.
"Zelda!" Saria screamed, unable to dodge the speedy blast in time.
"Zelda!" Link yelled. She screamed in ecstasy and horror all at once, unable to silence herself as the beam of light magic burned through the green-haired Kokiri girl's chest.
"Zelda!"
Zelda opened her eyes, screaming her lungs out. She stopped once she saw the dark blue ceiling of the hotel room. Then she felt something squirming around on her.
"Could you let me go, please?" Peach asked uncomfortably.
"Peach?" Zelda said slowly, coming to her senses. She had her arm and legs wrapped around Peach, with one arm being held off in another direction as if she was aiming a magical blast. She then released Peach, whom abruptly backed away and onto her own bed. Then, Zelda looked over herself and saw that her chest was no longer full as it had been in the dream. "What happened?"
"At first, I thought you were having a nightmare…" Peach said uncomfortably. Zelda could see her blushing, even in the dark. Zelda's face soon turned red as well. "Peach, I'm so sorry," Zelda apologized. "I didn't mean to…"
"Don't worry about it," Peach said quickly. "Um…I'm just going to go take a nice looong shower, okay?"
A dark star-shaped object burst through the window and landed in front of Peach. A black, lantern-wielding spirit in rags appeared soon after.
"It's you!" the Poe exclaimed when it saw Zelda.
"A Poe!" Zelda said with equal shock.
"Poe?" Peach repeated. Then the Ninji tackled her to the ground and got ready to strike her. She grabbed onto it and tossed it into the wall. The Poe swung its lantern at Zelda, who rolled off her bed and slashed at it with her hand.
"Eek!" the Poe shrieked. It floated back and turned invisible. Meanwhile, Peach pulled a turnip out of the floor with her newly acquired gloves and smashed it over the Ninji's head, knocking it out cold into a corner. The Poe saw that they had timed their attack badly. With the discovery of Zelda's presence in mind, it flew out of the broken window. Zelda wasted no time in transforming into Sheik.
"Of all the times to transform," Sheik sighed, shaking off the sleep. "A little self-control goes a long way, Zelda." He leapt out of the window and after the Poe. It speedily flew toward the spot on the beach where it had warped there. "What are you doing here, evil spirit?"
"Master Ganon will be very interested to know your whereabouts," it cackled as it approached the warp point. It was struck down, however, by a flurry of needles to the back just before it could reach that point. It dissolved into smoke and the lantern shattered on the ground to reveal the Poe's true, though totally defenseless form.
Sheik walked up to it, shaking his head. "I just wish I could have my own body again." He transformed back into Zelda, who captured the spirit in an energy prism.
"Why are you here?" she demanded.
"Why should I tell you?" it laughed. "There's nothing more you can do to me."
"I may not be able to destroy you…" Zelda began.
"You can't kill a ghost," the spirit taunted.
"But you've caught me in a bad enough mood to try," Zelda growled, shrinking the prism.
"Ah! Okay, okay!" the Poe shrieked.
Zelda stopped its contraction and said, "Now, answer my question."
"Master Ganon has formed an alliance," it said meekly. "I was sent to power a contraption that would extinguish the life of a Princess Toadstool. We were hoping to get you, too."
"You did that to me!" Zelda yelled furiously.
"No, no, wait! It had no effect on you. It only worked on Toadstool, or at least partially, but something blocked us from your mind entirely."
"Besides that other creature and yourself, are there any others with you?"
"No…"
Zelda frowned irritably and squeezed the prism. "Don't lie."
"Okay, okay! There's one more!" the Poe said in a panic. "He's only watching our entry point."
"Where did you come from and how did you get past the shield?"
"There is a warp pipe on an island just off the coast of the town. One may return to the town after using any warp pipe in this country. We merely used that one to get inside and a second that took us directly to this beach."
"Where did you come from?" Zelda repeated.
"I…I can't tell you that…" the Poe muttered. Zelda squeezed the prism once again. "Please, have mercy! She will do horrible things to me if I tell you!"
"Who?" Zelda demanded. "Let's who you fear more: her or me…" When the Poe stayed silent, she began to crush it within the prism.
"Zelda, stop!" Peach yelled from behind. "That's enough!"
"Quiet!" Zelda shouted back. "You don't know what this thing tried to do!"
"Yes I do!" Peach shouted, grabbing Zelda and trying to break her vice grip. "But that doesn't give us a right to torture it like this!" She eventually overpowered and restrained Zelda on the ground, leaning most of her weight onto Zelda's back.
"Get off of me!" Zelda thrashed. "You don't know what I've been through!"
"Shh, calm down," Peach said gently, despite Zelda's persistent resistance. "You're right. I don't know what happened to you in that dream. But remember, it's just a dream. If you'd just stop and relax for a moment, we can think about what we need to do next. I'm going to let you go now, okay?" Peach released her and backed away.
Zelda slowly sat up and took a deep breath. "I apologize for going off like that. However, that wasn't just a dream. It felt too real. I remember everything too clearly. Either it was a nightmare brought on by this spirit…or it was a prophecy. But none of my prophecies were ever anything like that."
"My dream was kind of both," Peach said. "Remember when Merluvlee told us that the destined path leads to Pinna Park? Well, the Great Fairy of the Depths was in my dream and said something about the island to the south. She also said to beware the Princess of Evil. I think we should go there as soon as possible. More enemies will come when these don't return."
"None of the boats are running at this time of night," Zelda said, in thought. "We can't just swim there. The entire island is bound to be well guarded. We would need a boat at the very least."
"Let's ask that Ninji…if he's still alive…"
When they arrived at their room, they found Merlee holding up a card in front of the Ninji just before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Merlee, what are you doing here?" Peach asked.
"A few extra star points never hurt anyone," Merlee snickered. "After all that commotion, I was curious as to what had been done… Is what you have there in your hand, Zelda, a ghost? I will pay handsomely for it, indeed a fee of the utmost."
"Must you rhyme every sentence like that?" Zelda complained.
"Can you tell us the best way to get to Pinna Park?" Peach asked.
"I suppose a boat would do it," Merlee shrugged. "I'm not the best at prophecy, I must admit. In fact, I made up everything I said last night. T'would be too embarrassing to be exposed as one with spells, yet no foresight."
"But everything you said came true," Peach argued. "Well, except for the heartache part, anyway." Zelda frowned at the statement. "But it was that dream that gave me these gloves."
"Still, in the morning, seek the advice of my sister or grandfather," Merlee said. "Attempting to rouse them now…well, I wouldn't bother. I will place a seal of protection upon this beach. It should allow you a good night's sleep, my dear Peach."
"Well, thank you," Peach said, smiling now that the situation was slightly less complicated. "Um, I think I'll be taking that shower now." She walked into the bathroom and closed the door.
Merlee looked down at Zelda, who wondered what she was staring at. Then, Merlee muffled her giggle. "Perhaps you should consider a change of clothes. It must feel strange with underwear as soaked as…"
"Get out of my room," Zelda said tersely. "Take the ghost with you."
"Do not worry, for you have not in the least lost my esteem," Merlee said, obviously smiling under her veil as she took the prism and stepped toward the door. "Everyone, including me, has experienced a w…"
"Get out!" Zelda shouted.
Note: If you're experiencing shock/awe, then I've done good. If you're so messed up you'll never read this story again, I've done bad...and you're probably a pansy.