Chapter One

Lilliana sat on the edge of her bed watching her best friend, Malon, doing her hair in front of the dresser mirror. She smiled as she got up and walked over to the chest of drawers and picked up a pair of earrings and began putting them in. With a "Santa-hat" on her head, her hair was pulled up and curled and the red, satin "Santa-dress" that she wore was just like the one that Malon was dressed in. It was red with a few patches of silver sequins dotting the top which stopped at the thin, black belt that circled her waist. Around the bottom of the extra-short, mini-skirt, ran a ring of white fur. It was very pretty and the weather made it almost too cold to wear. The only things that kept the girls warm, at all, were the white knee-high boots that completed the outfit.

"Are you nervous?" Malon asked, quietly, as she turned to Lilliana. "I am, well, a little bit, but I'm mostly really excited! This is going to best party I've ever been to."

Lilliana laughed, "I'm nervous, but not as much as I am excited. This is going to be pretty fun, huh?" The girls giggled, but were interrupted by the knock at the door of their dormitory.

Lilliana raced over and opened the door, greeting the two young men as she let them in. "Are you girls ready to go? Almost everyone has already headed to the Smash Club, downstairs." Marth noted as he took Lilliana's coat from the coat rack.

"Yeah, hurry, girls. We better get moving, if we don't want to miss anything." Leon said in response to Marth. "Make sure you've got everything you need, so we don't have to make any trips back up here."

"Yes, dear," Malon replied, rather sarcastically, as she handed her jacket to Leon.

The girls got their purses and locked the door to their dorm. As they walked down the hallway and rounded the next corner, they boarded the elevator and were on their way to the Smash Club.

Link walked across the room with Zelda on his arm. They walked over to the punch table and he took a drink for both of them. "I wonder where the guys are, Zelly?" he asked, looking around the room. His girlfriend smiled and searched around as well, "I really don't know, honey. I figured Lilliana and Malon would be here by now, too. I guess, they took a 'detour'," she laughed and nudged Link, gently. He smiled, "Must have, babe."

As the couple was talking and cutting up, a red-headed boy about Link's age walked up and entered the conversation, casually. "Hi, Link. Hi, Zell," he greeted them both with a nod.

"Hey, Roy," the two answered in unison. They both smiled and giggled at the other. Link seemed to be enjoying himself, but Zelda was acting rather strangely around her boyfriend of three years than normal. "Honey, why don't you go look down the hallway, and I'll go look for them in the foyer. We're bound to find them if we split up! Roy, why don't you go check around the stairways. Maybe you'll run into them along the way," Zelda suggested, hastily.

Link wrapped his arm around her, "I think that's a terrific idea, love. I'll see you in a jif!" He leaned in and kissed her, rather quickly and then, he headed off in the direction of the men's dormintory hall.

Zelda looked at Roy and motioned for him to follow her, "Come with me… No one needs to see us, together, here. Link can never find out… Just wait for me to get outside and then give me a second to 'get to the foyer' and I'll meet you by the fountain in the square."

Roy winked at her and brushed his auburn hair back out of his face, "Good plan, Zell… I'll see you, shortly…" He walked over to the punch table and took a drink as she turned and hurried to the door to the outer halls. She glanced back at the red-headed swordsman and, making sure no one saw her gesture, she blew him a quick kiss with her hand, before turning the door knob and entering the outer hallway.

Marth slipped his arm around Lilliana as they entered the Smash Club dance hall, "I'm really glad you weren't too mad at me after this weekend and all… I was a little worried that you weren't going to want to go with me, there for a while."

His girlfriend turned to him and looked at him softly. The look in her eyes had addressed her confusion for her, but she decided to talk it out with him, "What do you mean, babe? I didn't know that you thought I was ill with you…" The dark-haired girl sighed and touched her hands to the prince's, "I wish you would have told me how you felt. I was never ill at you or disappointed with you. I know how hard you have to work to be able to get to do things with me. You're a great guy and I love you… an awful lot, Marth. I'm sorry…" She brushed his cheek with one of her hands and held his hand with the other.

He held her hand tighter and pulled her head onto his chest. "I'm sorry, too… I guess we both get a little carried away with what we think, sometimes, eh?" He chuckled, softly, and lifted her chin to look her in the eyes. The teal-haired teen shook his head and broadened his smile as he leaned in and kissed her gently on the tip of her nose. "But, I love you, too, baby girl…"

Lilliana laughed. "Marth, I don't know what we're ever going to do with each other. All I do know, though, is that I can't wait to get back to the rooms, tonight… and I think it's safe to say that you can't either…" she taunted him, coyly, flipping her hair over her shoulder and shaking it out across her back.

Marth's eyes gleamed and he raised his eyebrows, "Oh, really, now? Well, what are we waiting for, baby? The party's over, now!" He laughed as Lilliana hugged him and backed him up against the wall as she ran her fingers through his thick, dark hair, "No, it isn't, hon. We've got till eleven 'o' clock and then, we can go back to our rooms. Then, we'll just have to have our own little Christmas party, there…. Won't we, dear?"

The stars twinkled as they hung ever so lightly in the glimmering night sky. Zelda sat quietly on the edge of the fountain waiting for Roy as she gazed up at the sparkling masterpiece. She raised a hand from her knee and brushed her fingers across the icy water in the fountain. The crisp, cool air tossed her cornsilk hair around her shoulders as she pushed it back out of her eyes. As she circled her finger in the water, she watched the ripples emerge one by one.

A hand rested on her shoulder and she whipped around to see Roy standing beside her, pulling his jacket around him with his free hand. "Hi, Zell…," he said, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her to hold her close to him.

Zelda smiled and leaned in to the auburn-haired teen's embrace, "I've missed you, Roy… It's been a long three days, hasn't it?" She sighed and lifted her eyes to his. They sparkled as he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"It sure has, Zelly… I can't believe I actually got you away from Link, tonight… I guess we just got lucky, huh?" he smiled at her and hugged her closer to his body in an attempt to warm her up.

She grinned at him sweetly, "I know, Roy… I know… but, I think I owe you an apology for not being able to be with you the other night, on account of Link's eighteenth birthday dinner." Zelda lifted her head off of Roy's chest and leaned into him, kissing him gently. He broke their kiss and started another on his own, again… and again… and again.

Though the night air was cool and mistier than usual, Zelda pulled Roy's coat off of him and laid it on the grass beside the fountain in the midst of their kisses. He pulled out of their kiss, only to help her down off of the concrete edge of the fountain and laid her in the cool grass. He then took her hair down and out of its usual jeweled clip and raised her head, pulling his coat out from under them.

Roy wrapped it around them as Zelda pulled off his sweater, and Roy began to pull at her attire, as well. It didn't take long for him to succeed in removing the princess's evening gown.

He pushed himself up off of her and looked into her deep, blue eyes. "I love you, Zell… I wanna finish what we started the other night… I want to show you how much I love you. I want to prove to you that I can be more to you than Link ever dreamed he could be… I know I'm ready…"

"I love you, too, Roy…." Zelda replied as she kissed him and worked her hands down to the button and zipper on his breeches.