Zelda knew how lonely she must have looked, wandering through the arcade on her own. Had she any friends, she would have asked them to accompany with her, but Mario and Peach were off on their vacation, and Roy had... left her.

Zelda was a grown woman. She had dealt with people not wanting to be around her anymore. She had made friends, and she had lost them. Sometimes, the best way to bounce back was to distract herself, because she had to bounce back. It's what everyone expected, and she had a shift in the Hyrule mattress store later today. Master Hand would be cross if she failed to show up or underperformed, so she had to make sure she was ready before then.

But... knowing and doing were two completely different things. She knew she was supposed to be distracting herself, but the weight of knowing that she was completely alone pressed down on her heart like a lead weight. That today was Christmas Eve did not help; everywhere she looked, she saw people shopping or spending time with people they loved, laughing and smiling. Every time she did, she kept asking her why couldn't she have that?

Because she deserved this. Zelda closed her eyes and tried to let the loud and flashy sounds of the place sweep her away, but it was a symphony of electronic noises that only rattled around her empty chest and served to grate on her more than they did to help her forget.

She wouldn't have come here on her own. She would have prefered to hole up in the safety of Rosalina's bookshop and read a book, but she couldn't keep her thoughts straight with how silent it was. Rosalina had suggested she come here, and so here she found herself, regretting every second of it.

But, at the least, it could not have been any worse than being alone with her thoughts.

Her stomach growled. Vaguely, she remembered skipping breakfast this morning, on account of taking much too long to get out of bed. She knew that was not the wisest thing to do; she didn't need the Triforce to tell her that, but it could not force her to get up and pour herself a bowl of cereal from the cabinet they kept in the staff rooms, not with how hollow and tired she'd felt in the morning.

There was, however, a hamburger bar nearby; so close she could practically lean over and touch it, and that meant she had no excuse not to eat. Zelda let out a hefty sigh, and she let her feet carry her away from the arcade machines and over to the bar. As soon as she did, a red cap poked over the edge of the bar and squeaked something. Zelda frowned.

"I'm sorry, speak a little louder?" she asked. "I can't quite make out what you're saying."

She heard whoever was under the bar huff, before she heard rumbling from below, and Diddy Kong scampered up the opposite wall.

"Oh, hello Diddy Kong," she said, and she wiped the frown from her face. "Is Donkey Kong working the Prize Counter today?"

Diddy Kong nodded. He pointed a thumb at himself, quite proud to be working the Burger Bar today, and Zelda giggled along with it. "Yes, he's usually not fond of letting anyone else make the banana milkshakes, is he?"

Again, Diddy Kong nodded. He motioned to the blender behind him, then to his head. Apparently, Donkey Kong had been teaching him the recipe. Smiling, Zelda asked, "Well, do you mind if I try?"

All too happy to let her, Diddy Kong reached beneath the counter and pulled out a notepad with his foot. He plucked the pencil from behind his ear, then looked at her expectantly for her order.

Zelda, not one to make anyone wait, quickly gave her order, and as soon as Diddy Kong finished jotting it down, he turned the notepad around and circled the total at the bottom: 11.78.

Zelda reached into her purse for her money. Then she stopped.

Her purse. She'd left it on her bedside desk. She had all but dragged her feet here, and in her daze, she'd all but forgotten to take it with her.

"If you need money, I'd be glad to pay for you," a voice said behind her.

The frown on her face quickly lifted, and Zelda let out a sigh of relief. "You would? Oh, I would greatly appreciate that."

Then she turned around, and who else did she find standing behind her but Roy, his eyes as wide as hers.


Of all the people Roy had expected to bump into at the arcade, Zelda was the last one he would have expected.

"I'd have thought you would have preferred to spend your time in the Galaxy Bookshop," he said, staring ahead as they both waited at the counter.

On the stool beside him, Zelda hummed. "I considered that, but a change of pace is never a bad thing."

Roy hummed in agreement. She was still as wise as ever. Roy tried not to think how much he liked hearing her speak.

"What brings you here?" he asked. "Don't you have a shift today in the mattress store?"

"I have an afternoon shift. Until then, I have the day off." Twirling the straw in her fingers, she turned to him and asked, "What about you?"

"I'm here to spend the day with friends."

"Oh." For a moment, Roy thought he could see her smile fade. It was gone too quick for him to be sure if it was real, though considering how many times he'd seen it, perhaps something was wrong?

No, it was probably just him. What sort of help would she want from him? What could he have that she would appreciate?

"Would you like to join us?" he blurted out. Zelda looked surprised. Frankly, he was surprised too. The words came to his mouth before he could stop them, though now that he'd said that, and Zelda's face brightened, how could he hope to take them back?

"I... I don't know," she said, tearing her eyes away. ""I feel I may be intruding."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Chrom was fine with me, there's no reason he would reject you."

Diddy Kong returned with two milkshakes and a hamburger atop a tray. Zelda took her meal and her drink. Roy grabbed one too, and he nodded over to a table a few feet away. "Come on, it's not too far a walk from here."

"I mean..." Zelda shook her head, to Roy's confusion. "No, I'm afraid I must turn you down. I really would not want to interrupt."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Please accept my deepest apologies." Zelda bowed her head, and then glid across the floor and disappeared back into the crowded arcade.

When Roy returned to the table, Chrom gave him the oddest look. "What was that about?" he asked.

"Oh." Roy glanced back to the bar, then to where he'd last seen Zelda. "She had left her purse at her station, so I lent her some money to pay for her meal. It's quite the strange coincidence, bumping into her here."

"Indeed."

Taking his seat beside Chrom, Roy slid his milkshake down onto the table and across from him into Lucina's outstretched hand. Setting down her empty glass, Lucina reached for the straw and took a long sip, before she set it down and asked, "You didn't ask her over, did you?"

"Uh... should I not have?"

"Do you feel ready to be around her again?"

"I... I don't know." Roy picked at the plate of fries in front of him, and his shoulders sagged. "Maybe I thought I was. But then she said no, and I really don't think she wants to be around me right now."

"Is that why she walked away?" Chrom asked.

"Probably."

"Are you sure you're not misunderstanding something? Because from where I was watching, it looked like she wanted to say yes."

Roy blinked. "She did?"

"What did I say?" Lucina said, and she took another long slurp from her banana milkshake. "You are a very dear person to her, Roy."

"I guess so..." Roy glared down into his fries.

Could he have been wrong about her, then? Could it really be that she still wanted to be...

Friends?


Zelda sighed as she pressed the button on the machine again. Bright lights flashed, her character on the screen lunged, and the other character fell over as the machine proclaimed her victory. The boy next to her huffed and walked away. Zelda pulled her hood further over her head as he did.

It really was to her advantage that most games here required more thought than they did physical activity. That wasn't to say that she was a slouch when it came to physical activities; as a princess, it was imperative that she learn many different things, and that included keeping her body in physical shape, but with the Triforce of Wisdom guiding her hand, she was sure she made for quite the difficult opponent.

The game booted up again. Zelda swiped her card on the coin slot–a spare card Rosalina had lying around from her last trip there with her Lumas. The game was not nearly as engaging without another player, however, and as she continued to mindlessly press the buttons on the machine, she really wished she'd brought someone along to play with her. Perhaps she would enjoy herself more if she had a friend with her.

As if with a stroke of bad luck, out of the corner of the eye, she saw Roy walk past with Chrom and Lucina. Zelda pulled her hood down further so they wouldn't recognize her, though now that Roy had already seen her, it wasn't likely to fool him. Fortunately for her, he didn't seem to notice, too engrossed with his conversation with Lucina.

Call her selfish, and she most certainly was, but she wished that were her instead of Lucina.

He said something. What it was, Zelda couldn't quite hear. Lucina laughed, and Roy's face burned bright red. He stammered something out, perhaps to cover for himself, but that just made her laugh harder.

Zelda wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. She certainly wasn't ignoring it, that's for sure. Was she... was she jealous?

Zelda dismissed the idea as soon as it surfaced. It wasn't as if it was any of her business. Roy had his friends to be with. She had...

Anyway, what was her business was where Chrom had run off to, because as she watched Roy and Lucina disappear around a nearby corner, she noticed Chrom had not gone with them.

The machine in front of her beeped. Zelda glanced over, and to her surprise, she found Chrom swiping his card over the coin slot.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked. "You looked awfully lonely here."

Zelda would be lying if she didn't say it bothered her a little. "Not at all," she said. Chrom smiled and laid his hands on the buttons on the other side of the machine.

"So," he said as the game began, "you wouldn't happen to be here with anyone, would you?"

"I can't say I am."

"On Christmas Eve?" When Zelda shook her head, Chrom gave her a sympathetic look. "You're not celebrating with the other Hyrulians?"

"I'm afraid we're not that close. Ganondorf and I are never on friendly terms, and Link..."

"Yes?"

Zelda sighed. "Link and I had a falling out."

"Like you did with Roy?" Zelda made a face and glared at Chrom. Chrom raised his hands defensively. "Sorry. Touchy subject?"

"What does your head tell you?"

"Not much." Turning his focus back on the game, Chrom winced as his character took several hits. "You're rather good at this."

"It isn't that difficult. Everyone has habits. If you can keep track of what they do on the board, the game becomes easy to predict."

"Are you sure you're not reading into this too much?"

Zelda paused. Her character took a hit for that, but she turned to give Chrom a confused look. "Into what?"

Turning to face Zelda straight on, Chrom replied, "What did you and Roy fall out over, anyway?"

"I'd rather not say," Zelda grumbled. Chrom's eyebrow raised. Zelda had the feeling this was going somewhere. Where, though, she could not predict, no matter how hard she tried. That frustrated her more than she'd expected.

"Humor me," he said, and he waved a hand.

"We had a disagreement," she humphed. "He did not want to associate with me. That is all I shall say?"

"That's not quite what he told me."

Zelda wasn't quite sure she'd heard him right. "It... it isn't?" she frowned.

"He said you turned him down."

"Turn him down?" Zelda shook her head slowly. "No, I would never. He's my friend."

"That's not what he seems to think."

"How did he..."

Chrom shrugged. "Ask him."

Zelda's head spun with the thought. So he hadn't hated her after all? That sounded much too good to be true, no less for her.

"Look," Chrom spoke, snapping her out of her thoughts as he ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know what's going on between you two. I'm not usually good at this sort of stuff. But, clearly, there was some sort of miscommunication between the two of you, and I think you should try talking it out."

"Surely it can't be that simple," she said.

"It might be. Come on, you think Roy would try to invite you over for nothing?" Seeming to sense her hesitance, Chrom bumped an elbow against her. "It can't be any worse than spending Christmas Eve by yourself, can it?"

"I suppose not."

"Then talk to him. Come on. I'll take you to him." Chrom paused, then scanned around the arcade. "If I can find him, that is."

"I think I may know where he went," Zelda sighed. She stepped back into the arcade, vaguely aware of Chrom trailing behind her. Even as she snaked through the crowd, head low, the faint sensation of hope thrumming in her hope pulled her lips just the slightest bit upward.

Maybe... just maybe, there was still hope for her yet.


It's not Tuesday, but it's closer than last time!

Turns out, I forgot how absolutely clustered my Tuesday schedule is. Either I'll have to write the chapters before then, which is a bit unlikely considering how close it is to my other story (not impossible, but unlikely), or I'll have to move the update day. Depends on how finicky I feel about writing on Sunday and Monday.

Writing Chrom and Lucina has certainly been a really nice change of pace. Taking time off the main duo to have them talk with someone else about their feelings really lets them talk more freely about the conflict, whereas in constant close contact, there's a lot I've got to withhold for the sake of angst. Also doesn't hurt that it pads the runtime (though I guess in this case, since I've been trying to wrap it up, that's more a negative than a plus, though I've been having too much fun to care) I should definitely write more for my side characters in the ship fics.

I'll probably have something figured out by the next two weeks. Or maybe within the next week, who knows. Feel free to review/comment, it keeps this story at the top of my list. Until then, remember to take care of yourself out there, and stay safe!