"So..."

Awkwardly, Roy poked at the two boxes of fries the two of them had ordered as soon as soon as they had returned. He snuck a glance at Zelda, but she seemed distant, her eyes gazing over his shoulder at something far away that he couldn't see.

She had been like that ever since they had returned to their table. Roy felt he could understand why. Talking about something as difficult as the lives a ruler had to manage was never a topic that weighed lightly on the mind, especially not when it came to discussing which lives to sacrifice. Still, as the silence stretched on, even he felt like something was up.

"Zelda?"

Zelda blinked, and her eyes landed on Roy again. The gentle glint in them, one Roy had become so used to seeing on her face, it was still there, but it was so small and so faint. He could still see it in her eyes, but it was not as warm as it always was, and just barely out of reach.

He wanted to badly to reach out and bring it back, and bring Zelda's smile back with it.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, slowly.

"Oh. No, nothing is wrong," Zelda said, and she shook her head. "My mind is simply lingering on something you said."

Immediately, a wave of guilt crashed down on Roy's shoulders. Something he'd said? Was this because he had disagreed with her?

"I'm sorry," Roy blurted out. "If you did not want me stepping into that argument, that is. I did not intend to offend you, I just got worried when you did not return, and I had to step in to make sure you were alright."

"Huh?" Zelda frowned, confused, before her face softened in understanding. "I am not upset that you did not take my side. As you said, everyone has their own opinions. To lie about it would have been a betrayal to yourself. Your genuineness is good enough for me," she said, smiling.

The smile did not reach her eyes.

"Still," Roy said, and he reached into the box, took out a fry, and twirled it around. "It was your argument. I should not have intruded upon your business like that."

Delicate fingers intertwined with his own. Roy stared at her hand, gently resting atop his, so light it was like being brushed with a cloud, before his gaze rose to meet his.

This time, the light had returned to her eyes, dancing gracefully as her face glowed in the low, cheap yellow lights of the food court.

"Roy," she said, her berry pink lips releasing every word like it had soft white wings. "Do not apologize. You did a noble thing. You should never be ashamed of doing a good thing."

"But–"

"When you have a kingdom to lead," she cut him off, "you cannot be ashamed of the good things you do. You may make mistakes, but as long as you try to keep putting good into the world, you may always hold your head high."

Zelda sighed. She reached into her box of fries and extracted a long yellow strand, before she nibbled at the end. "And besides, no one has stood up to me for a very long time. I appreciate the fact that you decided to step in to help me, more than you could ever know."

Now, it was Roy's turn to look surprised. "Are you serious?"

"I am." Zelda turned to him, and her glittering blue eyes bore into his. "You are a very good person, Roy. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a friend."

Roy's heart did a flip. A smile spread on his face, and he glanced away to hide the ever-growing heat on his cheeks. "Oh. Thank you."

"My words are yours to keep." Zelda's eyes flicked to the clock, before she paused and reached inside her pocket to pull out her phone.

"I truly must be going," she said suddenly. Her chair scraped back against the floor as she stood. "My boyfriend will be waking soon. I would like to meet him before he disappears."

"Your boyfriend?" Roy blinked, and he shook his head. "Oh, yes. Your boyfriend. He disappears?"

"He has been avoiding me lately. I wish to speak to him over dinner to see if we may resolve our differences."

"Then get going! You cannot miss your chance to speak to him!"

Zelda nodded, and she turned to leave, before another thought came to Roy. Before she could run away again, he reached out to her.

"Wait!" he said.

Zelda paused for him, and she turned around with a curious look. Roy knew that she couldn't wait, so, hastily, he pulled out his purse and fished a handful of paper cash from it.

"For the meal," he said when she frowned. "I said it would be my treat. This is my thanks for how much you have helped me."

To his confusion, she grazed her hand against his and pushed it back toward him. "Keep it. Your company is payment enough."

Roy's lips pulled down, and he stepped forward to offer the money again. "I must insist."

"I do not need it. The time you spend with me is more valuable than any money you could offer. You are the best friend I could have asked for, and every moment that I spend with you is one that cherish. So please, keep your money."

Slowly, Roy's mouth fell open. He stuffed his money back in his pocket, trying to buy time to think of a response, but none came to him.

"I–you too," he muttered.

Zelda smiled, and she nodded in understanding. Even without any words, she knew what he had wanted to stay.

Before Roy could say anything else, she turned around and sailed away, leaving Roy speechless by the table they had once shared.

Bringing a hand up to his cheek, Roy noted how warm it was quickly becoming and ducked his head. He hoped Zelda hadn't seen how madly he was blushing, but with how red his face felt, it was an almost impossible ask.

He was half tempted to run after her, to get one more word in, but what would he say? That he cherished every minute they spent together as well? It was the truth, but that was exactly what she said. She wouldn't be impressed if he just repeated what she'd told him.

Maybe he could walk back with her. If he had more time to talk to her, he was sure he could come up with a better way to speak all the dizzying thoughts rushing around his head. And what if she got in trouble again? It couldn't hurt if he was there to make sure she got to her destination safely.

Then, Roy stopped. His hand drifted over his heart. Even through his ribcage, he could feel how fast his heart was beating. It pounded against his chest, like a fountain trying to burst out of him.

Roy knew he could be dense. He knew that he could be awkward, and he knew that sometimes, it took him some time to understand the things people said. But even he wasn't so dense to miss his own feelings.

Wordlessly, Roy sat back down. He gripped at his chest, still hammering furiously, and as he stared back at the empty boxes still on the table, only one thought crossed his mind.

What am I supposed to do now?


Zelda slipped through the mall's bustling halls, her head ducked low. The mall was the most crowded at dusk, and that made it difficult to avoid running into people. For anyone else, it might not have been a problem.

Zelda just ducked her head lower, tugged her arms close to her body, and hoped for the best.

Her sides knocked against the sides of other people as they passed her. Zelda let them, moving aside as they walked right through her, like she did not exist. Zelda could only pray they did not realize she existed.

Her eyes flicked to the clock, but with all the people in the way, it was hard to get a glimpse of the time. Luckily for her, she had a phone with her that had a clock on it as well, and she dug a hand into her pocket to fish that out too.

5:45pm, it read. Link always emerged from his room at 6:00pm–late enough to sleep through the day, early enough to avoid her before she returned to retire for the night.

Zelda knew he had his reasons to avoid her. She knew, but still, a small part of her held on to hope that maybe, just maybe, she could speak to him one last time. Maybe one last conversation was all it would take to bring things back to the way they were.

I need to hurry if I want to make it, she thought, a frown pursing her lips. It should not take more than ten minutes to return to the shop at any other time, but with this crowd, walking across the mall may take up to twenty minutes.

Really, she should have had the foresight to leave earlier. If she had, she could have avoided all this traffic, but Roy had seemed so miserable and unsure of himself. He'd even apologized for stepping in to defend her. No one else she knew had ever been that hesitant about themselves.

Zelda wished she'd had that same lack of confidence when she had been crowned ruler. Perhaps, had she not had such confidence in the Triforce of wisdom, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Zelda tore her gaze of from where it had lingered on her phone, just in time to see a Hylian man coming toward her. Zelda tucked her arms in and tried to step out of the way.

The man's shoulder still clipped against her and knocked her against the railing. Zelda was able to recover quickly, but the guilt still weighed on her that she hadn't been fast enough.

"Sorry," she mumbled, and she turned to walk the other way.

The man just huffed. "Murdering piece of shit."

Zelda stiffened. She knew she shouldn't look back, she knew she should have just kept going, but in a moment of weakness, she glanced back.

The man's narrowed eyes burned a hole straight through her heart.

Zelda's eyes briefly widened, and she ducked away, but the damage had already been done. Another woman, Hylian too, had caught her gaze, and as Zelda walked by, she heard her mumble, "Off to find another city to burn?"

Zelda ran a little faster. She needed to get out of here, but no matter how fast she fled, she could never outrun the whispers just a step behind that quickly gathered as more eyes slowly drifted her way.

"–I can't believe she's still their ruler."

"–executed for her crimes–"

"–how dare she show her face so soon?"

"She'll lose her throne soon–"

"She should turn herself in–"

Zelda threw open the door to the Hyrule shop and rushed inside before any more words could reach her. Her heart thundered in her chest, hammering away from the ever-rising panic in her throat. There was so many people, so many voices–if she had stayed there for a second longer, she didn't know what they would do to her.

As she clutched her chest, Zelda's eyes scanned over the mattress store. The lights were still off, every white mattress dusted in a soft yellow in the faint light leaking in from the store windows. Not even the curtains twitched, and not a sound disturbed the layer of dusty air that filled the shop. It was like standing in a graveyard.

No one ever came here. The only people who ever visited this place was its residents. Ganondorf, her, and Link.

Zelda caught a brief movement in the back of the store. One of the doors creaked open, and out stepped Link.

He looked like he had just crawled out of bed. His clothes were wrinkled, likely haphazardly thrown on, his hair was a mess, and even from so far away, Zelda could see that he was hunched over and stumbling in that way people did when they were half asleep.

Link, ever the vigilant one, sensed her, and looked over. For the briefest moment, their eyes met.

"Link," she breathed out.

"Zelda," he said.

Then, he turned to slip back into his room.

This was her chance. Maybe it would be her only chance to speak to him. She couldn't just let him leave, not like this!

She had no time to think. Zelda's face broke, and she yelled, "Wait!"

Link stopped.

"Please," she said, slowly. "I want to talk."

Link didn't reply. He didn't make a move away from her, either. That... that was good. That meant he was listening. That was better than what he'd done for the past month. It was progress.

A small part of her, though, knew that it wasn't. Not really. Because what progress was there to make?

Zelda fumbled for the bag at her side. She reached in and pulled out a bouquet of flowers, only for them to slip out of her hand before she could thrust them toward Link. A curse slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it, and when she knelt down to pick them up, the book she had bought for Roy spilled out of her bag.

When her eyes fell on it, she had to stop herself from groaning. In her rush, it seemed that she had forgotten to give it to him.

Oh, Hylia, I'm a mess. Why wasn't I like this earlier? she bemoaned to herself shoving it back inside and picking the flowers off the ground. I didn't even give Roy his present, and after all those things I told him–I truly am a horrible friend.

She stumbled to her feet and dusted her dress. When she glanced back at Link, she found him already halfway through his bedroom door.

"Wait!" He stopped again, and this time, Zelda was able to wave the flowers at him. Hopefully they were bright enough, even in a place as dark as this, to catch his attention.

She had no time to think about her words. She opened her mouth, and they came tumbling out. "A date. Please, have one last one with me. I know a place, a very good place. I'm sure you'll love it."

"Zelda."

"You love sunsets, don't you? You told me that on our second outing. Here, I even brought food." Zelda reached into her bag with her other hand, and she pulled out a box of meat she had bought earlier, the package still warm in her hands. "We can discuss this over dinner. How does that sound?"

Slowly, Link turned to face her. Even before he opened his mouth to speak, she already knew what he would say.

"Zelda. I'm sorry. I can't."

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out before he could say another word. She knew that it was stupid, she knew that no matter what she said, nothing would change, but maybe if she kept talking, maybe if she kept saying things, something would change.

"I know better. If it were to ever happen again, I would never make the same mistake twice. Please, do you think you could ever find it in yourself to forgive me?"

Link sighed.

Zelda knew. She knew she should have walked away then and there. She knew that, if she heard another word out of his mouth, her heart would crumble like the lovestruck promises they had made to each other so long ago, but his empty, blue eyes nailed her through the heart and against the wall.

"It's not about forgiveness," he said. "What we did, it was..."

"Wrong?" Zelda said, almost afraid of his response.

Link glanced up at her. Anyone else would have been annoyed. Link just looked tired.

"It wasn't wrong," he said. "It was horrible, but it wasn't wrong. No choice you've ever made has ever been wrong."

"Such is the will of the Triforce of Wisdom," Zelda said.

Again, Link sighed. "Such is the will, and the weight."

"But I promise, I will never do that again."

"Would you?" Suddenly, Link's eyes turned accusing. The nail pinning her heart to the wall twisted, and Zelda's heart lurched. "We had no choice Zelda. Don't lie. You know that. I know that."

"But then... why?"

"Because even though I know that, I just can't let it go. We killed so many people, Zelda. Men, women, children. Everyone in that city. Gone." His eyes narrowed. "You weren't there, Zelda. Down in the city, trying to hold back everyone that was trying to flee. Not one of those people wanted to die, and yet..."

Slowly, Link turned away and stepped back into his room. "I can't be in love with someone I know who is capable of making such a horrible choice."

"I can change, Link!" Zelda said. Before Link's door could shut, she scurried over and grasped the doorknob, holding it open. "Give me a chance, Link," she said, doing all she could to keep herself from falling to her knees. "Do you remember how, when we were kids, we promised to get married someday?"

With his back turned to her, Link replied, "I made that promise to a lovestruck little girl who dreamed of spreading peace to our world. You are not that girl."

And with that, he pulled the door shut. Right in her face.

Zelda's flowers fell to the floor. A moment later, she did the same.

Zelda pressed her back to the door in a feeble attempt to stay standing, but her legs would not hold. Her weight dragged her down, and she slowly slid down until her knees were pressed up against her chest. Zelda grasped at them, holding them close like they were the only thing keeping her anchored as everything crumbled around her.

As she stared up into the ceiling, into the empty lights still hanging above her, one thought crossed her mind.

What am I supposed to do now?


Next update will have to be delayed. I may not have internet for the next week, as I will be on a cruise and lost in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Here's to hoping I make it back in one piece.

Until then, remember to take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!