Disclaimer:
1. No
2. Own
3. SSBM.
Righty then. Welcome to the third chapter, where Zelda's relationship with dear mommy takes a turn for the worse. Note that this is not empirical.
Enjoy : )
The night was cool and calm, and if she didn't think too much about it, Zelda could swear she was back at the dorms provided by the Smash Committee, where she shared gossip with Peach and Samus and giggled about the silliest things. Those pleasures, however, seemed suddenly precious, and she longed to be back in her lilac bed, her dorm room decorated with drawings (art was a pastime of hers) and photographs of herself with friends… with Marth.
She had an unpleasant surprise as she heard high-heeled footsteps clanging noisily against the stone behind her. Turning, she saw the most undesirable of sights running towards her: her mother.
"Goodness, dear," the woman exclaimed worriedly, stopping in front of her daughter and waving her hands precariously in front of Zelda's chest, "you're – you're popping out!"
Zelda glanced down at the neckline of her corset-dress and rolled her eyes – she was rather protuberant, but then again it had been Peach who had picked out the gown, and it did look good on her. Marth had told her so himself, and she had been satisfied to see the way he'd fought to keep his eyes off of her bust – such things made her giggle, but it was especially the fact that he didn't gawk like Link had…it made her feel respected, in a way, as a woman.
Queen Harkinnian pulled up the tight corset, causing Zelda to gasp as the air was forced from her lungs, and 'tsk'ed loudly.
"Oh dear, what must the prince think?" the elder woman muttered nervously.
"I'm sure the prince doesn't give a damn," Zelda replied dryly, once again forced to grow accustomed to people around her referring to Marth as nothing but 'the prince'.
As if one time hadn't been enough, Zelda's mother yanked up the corset one more time, making her gasp again and not doing much to conceal her further. Winded, the princess wriggled out of her mother's grasp and came to a halt a few feet from her. "Really, mother!"
Queen Harkinnian ignored her and contented herself tidying Zelda's elbow-gloves and straightening her tiara on her head. Zelda glared at her as the older woman's mouth spread into a smile thick with lipstick.
"Hm," she sighed contentedly, "what a fine young man, don't you think? So wellborn, and classy as well! I am glad he would have you…"
Zelda stiffened. "What do you mean, have me?" she asked incredulously, "What, am I undesirable or something?"
Queen Harkinnian sighed, and offered up a fake smile plastered upon her waxed lips. "Well, dear, you must understand that you've never been a very feminine sort of girl."
Zelda uttered a small noise that wasn't quite a shout or a grunt, but simply indignant. "What do you mean?"
"Of course," the queen continued, "I suppose I saw it coming, but you certainly lack the grace, I suppose, of some others – "
"What," Zelda spluttered, "because I didn't show up to enough etiquette lessons? Sorry if I had better things to do than learn how to hold a spoon!"
"Yes, but," Queen Harkinnian replied, shaking her head, "horseback riding? Swimming? And fighting, goodness me, I was shocked to hear about that! Always running off with that scoundrel, what was his name? Link!"
Zelda flinched – that was one thing she shared with her mother: both of them had a strong dislike for him – but had no time to continue, as Queen Harkinnian had launched off again.
"Of course, half the time we had no idea where you were, and the thought that you were somewhere doing Goddesses-know-what with that scalawag – "
"Mother, I never – " Zelda cried, aghast at the very accusation that she had done something with Link, but her mother cut her off.
"Now, Zelda, don't forget your manners, you should never interrupt! Goodness knows I hope you don't interrupt the prince like that!"
Zelda wanted to throw her hands into the air and scream – here was her mother, the respected ruler of a large and powerful country, brown-nosing like she never had before, and to a man she'd never before met.
"Well, mother," she said, "obviously I interrupt whenever I possibly can, since I never learned how to be proper. And what's wrong with fighting? What's wrong with learning to defend myself?"
"That sort of thing is quite proper for a young man of Prince Lowell's caliber," Queen Harkinnian retorted, "accomplished young men like him, of course, such noble pursuits are no doubt very desirable – "
"God!" Zelda yelled, "can you please stop kissing his ass for a second?"
The queen's face became very white, nearly the color of milk and Zelda knew that if the insult hadn't hit some kind of target, her mother wouldn't have reacted so strongly.
"Don't raise your voice to me, Zelda."
The blonde princess bit her lip, afraid that at any moment she might feel a hot tear on her cheek, and clenched her fists – even after all this time, she felt small and terrible whenever her mother acted as if Zelda had done her a great personal wrong.
"I was worried that you guys weren't going to like him," she said bitterly, failing to keep a pout off of her face, "not the other way around."
At this, a most alarming change came across the queen's face, and she seized Zelda around the arms. "He doesn't like us, dear? Whatever for? What have we done?"
Zelda threw off her mother's grip distastefully and replied, an acrid tinge to her voice, "I don't know, I haven't gotten a chance to speak to him since dad abducted him!"
"Abducted is a strong word, Zelda," the queen told her with a stern tone, "your father just wants to get to know the prince better, that's all."
"All he's interested in is kissing up so that Altea won't kick his ass in a few years," Zelda retorted sourly.
She regretted saying it the very instant that the words left her mouth, for the queen was quick to administer a vicious slap to the side of her daughter's face. Zelda was unable to do anything but stare at her mother with shock, and suddenly she began to quiver with the most intense hate she had felt in her life.
The area on her face began to sting as Queen Harkinnian straightened out, her mouth in a perfectly straight line. The queen had rarely hit Zelda in the past, but she seemed not even to care – the lines on her face were livid and white now, and the princess actually felt a twinge of fear.
"Don't you ever talk about your father like that," Queen Harkinnian said fiercely, "or use that language in front of me."
"Yes, mother, of course, mother," Zelda spat and took a step backwards, resisting the urge to put a hand to the red patch on her face. "you can slap me around as much as you like, but whatever I said is still true."
"Even so," Queen Harkinnian said, her breath still coming in slight heaves, "he's no different than the man to whom he's talking. They're all politicians, Zelda!"
"You guys don't get it," Zelda breathed angrily, "Marth isn't seeing me because I'm the princess of Hyrule."
"But – "
And then Zelda was truly disgusted, as a confused and perplexed expression came over her mother's face. "But then what is he seeing you for, dear?"
Zelda had never felt so much of an urge to shriek and to shout and to claw out someone's eyes, but instead she gritted her teeth and forced herself to breathe systematically.
"Because I'm not like other girls, mother," she said angrily, "because I fight, because I swim, because I can ride all the goddamn horses in the world. Because I'm me!"
She was becoming hysterical now, but the look on Queen Harkinnian's face remained simply baffled, "He's seeing me because he's in love with me! Do you even know what that means?"
"I'm afraid I don't understand, dear," the queen replied, "how can you be sure?"
Zelda clenched her teeth and turned away from her mother, clutching the rails of the balcony so hard that she was afraid she might crush them. "Leave me alone."
"Zelda," Queen Harkinnian said sharply, "don't give me orders. I'll stay as long – "
"Mother, please!" Zelda interrupted, "Can you just go away?"
There was a livid silence, and then with a grunt and a ladylike 'hmph', the queen swept regally around and stalked back into the noisy atmosphere of the ballroom, leaving her daughter to stare blankly across the landscape with nothing to think about but the stinging handprint on her face and the awful words, which in truth, stung more than the slap.
Hmm, drama. I loved writing Queen Harkinnian... she's so prim. Now for the shouts.
Nox - It's a pleasant surprise to see you here! You're brave - venturing forth into a new category like you did. Thanks for checking out my other stuff; hope you like.
Mr. Lefty - Apologies for no shout-out in the last chappie... your review showed up too late. And thank you for the compliment, although I wouldn't boast THE best of anything : )
razzkat - It's okay. I like Link/Zelda fans just as much as anyone; in fact I used to write that pairing a lot. I guess I was just looking for a change... a nice, nice change... ; ) Maybe I can make you a Marth/Zelda supporter if I try.
Jamie - I had a dream last night that link, lowercase 'l',fell off a cliff... this is becoming much more serious than a simple joke!
RedRose722 - Writer's block is certainly an unsurmountable evil, but it often goes away with time. Try standing on a beach somewhere, pretending that at any moment a handsome young stud will come sweep you off your feet... what? No, of course that's not what I do! I'm shocked that you even asked.
YukiSweettfurr - Heh heh. (singsong voice) Someone alerted my stooo-ryyy... better review quick, before I tell everyone that a respectable yaoi fan like yourself read such a slimy hetero drama!
That's all folks. Tune in next time for the random interlude that actually takes Marth's point of view... wow!
However, as I don't know how men think, it's about three paragraphs long.
