You have to apologize.

Zelda was not stupid enough to deny that. The longer she put it off, the worse it would get. If she did not apologize, soon Roy would not find it in himself to forgive her.

And here she was, at the water fountain halfway across the mall, pretending to fill his cup like she really just wanted to get him a cup of water.

He won't wait for me forever. His shift is almost over. Zelda looked up at the clock, reading 6:00 PM. Only half an hour left.

But what could she say? What would get him to listen?

A sigh passed through her lips. Zelda pressed a hand to the side of her head to stem the headache that threatened to overwhelm her, but she could not for the life of her suppress the rising anxiety in the pit of her stomach.

It wasn't my–

Her fault? But she had made the call. She had ordered the deaths of all those people.

I had no–

She had no choice? But she did, and she had chosen wrong. She knew that. He would knew that.

It was for–

For the greater good? What good was there done, when all it would take was a few years for Ganondorf to return?

She had no right to speak. Not for the people she had killed, and not for the kingdom who despised her for it. And Roy would care to hear them speak, wouldn't he?

But he's my friend. Maybe, just maybe, he would listen to what I have to say.

Cold water splattered on her hand and over her sleeves. Zelda yelped, the icy sensation drawing her back to reality, and when she looked down, she found that she had closed her hand around the paper cup and crushed it.

Lucky for her, she had managed to find a particularly quiet part of the mall. Few people noticed her blunder, so she wordlessly tossed the crumpled cup into a nearby bin and reached for another.

That did not mean she had completely escaped their attention. She could feel their gazes on her, hot and unwavering. She finished filling the cup, careful not to fill it too high to spill, but when she turned around, she bumped into another woman. Water splashed out in all directions, soaking the woman in front of her. Zelda tumbled back with a cry, falling to her bottom as water poured down on her hair and drenched her dress.

"I'm terribly sorry," she muttered from the ground, bowing her head. She looked up, and her eyes flew wide as she took in the scowling, dark-skinned woman before her, instantly recognizing her as a member of the Gerudo tribe.

The Gerudo woman scowled. "You'd better be. Asshole."

The woman turned away and continued on her way. Brushing aside the hair clinging to the front of her face, Zelda looked up at the clock. 6:05 PM, it read. If she did not hurry back now, she would miss her chance to speak to Roy. That was the last thing she wanted, water be damned.

But really, at this point it was all wistful thinking. If she couldn't even bring him a cup of water, how could she find the courage to face him as a friend?


"Thank you Santa!"

Roy smiled and waved back as he watched the Waddle Dee child walk away from the Summit. He had been at this for a few hours, and most of the line had died down. A quick look at the clock told him that it was only three minutes until closing.

It wasn't like he wanted to get out of here, but he had been at this for three hours and was beginning to get a little cold, and Zelda had told him that Santa Claus wasn't supposed to get cold.

His eyes flicked to the side. She still hadn't returned.

He tried not to let that fact bother him as he called for the next in line, but it clung to the back of his head like a wet moth.

The telltale crunch of feet on snow warned him to be alert. He glanced back at the line, and who else would he see walking up to him but Kirby, with eyes so bright he could see it reflect off the snow, and a smile so wide it almost reached entirely across his face.

"Hello there, Kirby," he said as Kirby hopped up onto his lap. The boy was so light, it almost felt like a patch of snow had fallen on his knees.

"Hi Santa!" Kirby replied.

"What would you like for Christmas this year?"

Knowing Kirby, Roy had expected something like candy or food. What he hadn't expected was for Kirby to reach behind him and pull out a long list that rolled all the way to the bottom of the Summit.

Roy blinked, then rubbed his eyes, but the list winding down the red carpet did not go away. Humming for a moment, he said, "Wow. That's a lot of presents."

"They're not presents," Kirby chirped, his grin unwavering. "They're questions! For you!"

"Oh." Roy blinked again, then carefully, he asked, "What kind of questions?"

"Well, Mr. Claus, you've gotta be super fast to go around the universe to give all the presents, right? I want to learn all about you!"

Roy was fairly sure Master Hand carefully maintained the stage temperature to keep all the snow in pristine condition. He felt cold just sitting up here, even with all the lights set up around him, and yet he could have sworn he felt a beat of sweat roll down the back of his neck.

Laughing, Roy placed a hand on his other knee–something Zelda had told him Mario tended to do–and asked, "What do you want to know?"

"What do you eat up in the North Pole? Penguins aren't very tasty."

And he knew that how? Roy wanted to ask–but this was Kirby. Asking would likely be pointless.

"Oh, you know. We cook them."

"You cook them?"

Roy nodded and smiled, but he had the creeping feeling that he looked less sure than he would have liked. "We cook them with lots of spices and oil. That makes them taste much better."

"But won't that melt the iceburgs?"

"Not in Santa's Workshop, because it's got magic." That much, he also knew from Zelda.

Then, Kirby frowned. "Wait a minute. Penguins don't live in the North Pole."

"They don't?"

"No, they live in the South Pole. That's the opposite of the North Pole."

"Oh." Roy swallowed. "So they do."

Slowly, Kirby's eyes fell onto him, and they narrowed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm afraid I don't remember all the animals of the North Pole."

"But Santa is supposed to be friends with all the animals of the North Pole."

"He is?" Roy blinked. "I mean, I am?"

"Yeah!" Kirby reached into his mouth, and this time he pulled out a picture book titled "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." He thumbed through the pages, until he stopped and jabbed at a picture of Santa with a bunch of animals. "Here, see! Can't you talk to animals? All the animals in the North Pole are your friends, right?"

Roy supposed that maybe he could. But he hadn't known that, so all he could do was trip over his words because how was he supposed to cover that?

"Well... you see..." Roy adjusted his hat, but no words came to him. "The thing is..."

"Santa doesn't know because we order penguin from a nearby restaurant every New Year's Eve to celebrate," Zelda's soft voice came from over his shoulder.

Roy could have drowned in the relief that washed over him, and it took him every effort there not to turn around and embrace her. He turned to smile at her instead. She smiled back.

"Yes, that's right," he replied. "They never tell me where the penguin comes from, and I'm always too tired to ask."

"Oh. That makes sense." Kirby paused, and he looked between the two. Roy saw him press a hand-stub to his chin, thinking long and hard about his next words, before he asked, "Are you cheating on Mrs. Claus?"

"As much as Santa would love to answer your question, he really must be going," Zelda said. "Christmas will be here soon, and he must begin making preparations for his nightly journey. I'm very sorry to ask this, but would you mind terribly leaving?"

Kirby pouted. "That's not a no."

"But it's a candy cane," Zelda said, and she pulled a candy cane out of her coat pocket and handed it to Kirby. "Please? You wouldn't want the other children to miss their presents because Santa wasn't able to prepare in time?"

"I guess not." Kirby hopped off Roy's lap, and as he walked back down the red carpet and out the Summit, he turned back to give Santa an enthusiastic wave. "Bye bye Santa! See you tomorrow!"

As soon as Kirby was out of sight, and Zelda had closed the gate, Roy took the beard of his face, slumped in his chair and let out a long, slow breath. "That was the longest three hours of my life."

"I'm so sorry for taking so long. Is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"Having you here is enough."

Zelda blinked. Roy blinked too, before what he'd said caught up to his brain, and his face lit up a bright red. "That is to say, you're a great friend, and I know I can always count on you."

"You truly think that of me?"

No, he didn't. But Roy sealed his lips and nodded. A smile broke out on Zelda's face, warm like the sun. Roy wished his heart would not pulse so hard upon seeing it, but his heart did not listen.

"We are friends, are we not?" she whispered.

"We are," Roy replied. "Nothing will change that."

"Nothing? Not even... now that you..."

Roy swallowed. So she did know. "I wouldn't let something like that get in the way, of course not!"

"Oh. That's such a relief to hear." Zelda bowed her head. "I'm so sorry. I know how you feel, and I know how much it means to you. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, please tell me. I would move the sun and moon if you asked it."

"There's nothing that you need to do," Roy said. "After all, we're friends, aren't we?"

Roy liked to think he was a pretty good liar. If push came to shove, he knew how to pull of quite the deception, but standing in front of her, even he felt like her blue eyes could strip away every word out of his mouth down to the white on his teeth.

She had to know. But... what was there that he could do about it, except look the other way?


Really trying to finish this one up. Sometimes I feel like maybe the setting would've served as a comic, but then I remember that I'm not that great at drawing and wouldn't be able to commit myself to it. I'll try to keep this half a bit shorter than the first half, but it's not easy to make things go faster at this point. Feelings are difficult to nail down.

Feel free to comment. It keeps my stories in my mind and helps motivate me to visit them between writing weird original stuff. Until then, remember to take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!