My Midnight Angel

Previously…

"It means that Arwin's father and I come to an agreement in which all of our land can be combined and be dictated under one common ruler."

I spoke up for the first time now. "But what exactly does that mean for Zelda?"

"Zelda and Arwin are to be married."

Chapter Five

Upon hearing these words spill from the Kings mouth, I was temporarily robbed of speech, but Zelda was not. In fact, her words came out almost instantly and in a state of rage. "No! How could you do this to me father?" Her fists were clenched tightly and as she yelled and her words echoed back at us. I could see tears of hate welling up in her eyes and my heart began to race with fury.

The King seemed completely adamant about Zelda's actions and he continued to speak in the same calm tone that he had used before. "Zelda, darling, you knew this was coming. Every princess must marry a prince that her parents arrange for her. It's a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation because it is necessary to expand our family's kingdom."

"To hell with the kingdom!"

I was slightly surprised at the language that Zelda used; not only was it improper for a princess to curse, but she never talked like this, and especially not in front of her father. I guess all of the rules of royalty had gone out the window the moment her father presented the idea of an arranged marriage to her.

Zelda's father still kept his composure despite the fact that his daughter was becoming enraged. "Now Zelda, please try and understand. This has to be done."

Arwin then stepped forward and gave Zelda what he must have thought was his best 'innocent' look while taking her hand once again. "My dear princess," he started with his utterly fake foreign accent oozing through his words, "I promise to take the best care of you when you become my beautiful wife."

He tried to kiss her hand again but this time I stepped between them and shoved Arwin away from her without saying anything, but instead, giving him an intent glare of pure hatred. I positively could not stand to see another man touch Zelda, and especially not right in front of me.

Instead of continuing this downward-spiraling conversation with her father, Zelda stomped her foot against the floor, making a loud clank as she shouted, "I am not going to marry him!" then she turned abruptly, sprinted out of the room and slammed the huge wooden doors behind her.

Before I proceeded to follow her out of the castle, I looked at the arrogant man in front of me and said in a gruff, disgusted voice, "I'm not going to allow you to do this to her, 'Prince' Arwin. Zelda deserves to marry someone who loves her, not some rich royal bastard like you." With that I turned and dashed out of the room in pursuit of Zelda.

I figured that wherever Zelda was going, she would have to be taking her white stallion to get there, so I started off in a full sprint in the direction of the palace stables. By the time I made it inside the stables, the main gate was flung open wide and Zelda and her horse were both inexplicably absent.

Epona whinnied brightly at my entrance and pawed at the gate like she knew what was going on, so I let her out as fast as possible. I didn't even bother to strap on her saddle, I just swung myself onto her back, thrust my heels into her sides, and took off at top speed riding bareback.

When I got out into the open field, I could barely make out what appeared to be a small cloud of dust hovering over a hill that lay off in the distance. The cloud of dust was most likely caused by Zelda's horse, so I knew that if I followed it, I could eventually catch up with her.

Zelda was a pretty fast rider, so when I finally caught up with her, I ended up in Lake Hylia. She was out on the little island that lay in the middle of the lake and was connected to the land by a wooden bridge. When I got close enough, I could see Zelda sitting under the giant oak tree with her face resting in her hands, sobbing quietly.

As I approached her, she looked up at me with a look of pure helplessness looming in her eyes. The tears that trailed down her creamy, porcelain cheeks reflected off of the sun that was rapidly disappearing behind the hills that lay beyond the lake. My heart ached within my chest at the sight of her; I hated seeing her upset, especially when I could do nothing about it. I attempted to choke back my emotions for her benefit. It would just make her feel worse if she knew that I was taking this news just as hard as she was. I needed to keep my composure if I was going to try and make her feel better about all of this.

As I crouched down on the ground near her, she let herself fall into my arms. She nearly knocked me over, but I managed to sit up and lean against the large tree trunk. Her arms were wrapped around my torso tightly, so it was hard for me to sit comfortably, but I didn't mind in the least bit. Whenever Zelda was upset, it was like she needed to hold on to something, like a small child holds on to a doll or a teddy bear when they're frightened, and lately, she seemed to want to hold on to me.

When she finally started speaking to me, I almost was unable to hear her since her face was still buried in my chest. "Oh Link…I hate this…"

I ran my fingers through her thick, silky cornflower hair as I spoke in almost a whisper. "I know Zel…I hate it too…" I constantly had to remind myself to keep my emotions in check while I talked to her because tears had started welling up in my own eyes as I began to soak in the enormity of this situation: The woman that I loved, was going to have to marry some filthy rich prince, who could never love her or take care of her in the way that I could. She was going to have to marry, and live out the rest of her life with some guy that she didn't even know, and all I could do was to sit back and watch as my heart and hers are ripped to shreds by the hands of the law, and her own father.

"All I want to do is be with you…" after saying that she broke down into another wave of tears and clung to me much tighter than before.

Then it hit me. All that either of us ever wanted to do was to be together. It wasn't fair. Every time that we tried to be together, something always managed to tear us apart. No matter how hard we tried, fate never allowed us to be together. Right at that moment, I made a decision. Nothing, and no one, was ever going to keep us from each other, even if it meant the death of us both.

(A.N.) Hurray another chappie completed! Wheeeee! I know this one was EXTREMELY short, but I just had to end the chapter with that last line. Anyway, you know the routine; you've already read it, so now it's time to review.

Thx-Punkiemonkie