To Find the Future, Find The Past

Chapter 9

A Moonlight Meeting

Zelda sat on her bed reading that night. She found the old Hylian texts quite fascinating, and had absorbed as much of it as she could in the past few hours. The ones that interested her the most, though, were the ones about the legend of the Hero of Time.

They all described the Hero as a loner, and the Princess was surrounded by people. All the Hero had was his forbidden friendship with the Princess, and she still barely had any time for him.

It seemed to Zelda to be the reverse this time. The 'Hero' was the one surrounded by friends, and the 'Princess' was the loner. Zelda thought bitterly that there was a cosmic joke being played on her. It was like the Goddesses were toying with her.

Zelda honestly didn't want to be a princess. She had no desire to. If she were presented with the choice, rather than be destined to take it for the good of the world, she would have turned it down. But, unfortunately, she didn't have a choice in the matter.

Zelda's reading was disturbed as her mobile phone started beeping. She jumped out of her skin, and reached for the small device. In the little display screen, it told her that she had gotten an SMS. The only ones that had Zelda's number were her mother, and Link. She had given it to him when she activated it at the shops yesterday.

She opened the inbox to find that it was indeed from Link. It read;

'Hi, soz 4 upstagin u skool. meet me outside ur place in 10 mins. i need 2 tlk 2 u.'

Confused, she closed the message, and deleted it. She couldn't risk her parents knowing that a boy had her number. They'd go ballistic!

She looked herself over in the mirror. She was wearing her new favourite, pale pink, shirt, her dark blue hipster jeans, and sandals. She changed her sandals for a pair of not-so-high heels, and did a touch-up of her make-up. She also pulled out a new pair of dangling triangle earrings, and put them in.

She checked the clock. The touch-up, earrings and change of shoes had taken seven minutes! She locked the new lock that she had bullied her father into putting on the door, and climbed out the window. It was ten o'clock, way past her curfew, so there was no way her parents were going to let her out. Even her parents were in bed.

She snuck around the house, and emerged out into the front yard. There, sitting on the fence, was Link. She gasped when she saw him. He was wearing a dark blue, possibly black, shirt, and dark blue jeans. His, long, dark blonde hair was tied back, and he didn't have his customary cap on, either. His clothes showed off his well-muscled physique, and complemented him better than the school uniforms did.

Zelda mentally kicked herself. 'Friends are off-limits!' her mind screamed at her.

'But that doesn't mean you can't perve on them…' another part slyly put in.

'Just see what he wants!' the most reasonable part of her mind overrode the rest of the voices.

"Hey," Zelda said softly, not wanting her parents to hear her if they happened to wake, "what's the matter? Not many people send messages at ten in the night."

"Walk with me." Was all he said. Zelda's curiosity was at its peak. She followed him, silent as a mouse, down several alleys, and eventually they stopped in the park.

"What's going on?" Zelda demanded to know, louder this time, "You do know that if my parents wake up, and I'm not there, they'll—"

He turned around to face her, and there was a touch of nervousness in his words.

"It's alright… I won't keep you out past midnight…" he mumbled, "I just wanted to talk to you, alone…"

"About what?" she prompted him. He was obviously scared.

"Well…" he faltered, unsure, "you have to promise not to laugh at me… Or get mad at me…"

Zelda firmly nodded her head. She had begun to feel butterflies in her stomach.

"I promise."

"I don't know why…" he started, "But I just feel… like… I don't know what it is…"

Zelda sensed that he was having difficulty expressing himself. She looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes, and put her hand on his well muscled arm in an encouraging way. What she heard next was definitely not what she expected.

"I really like you, Zelda…" he choked out, and looked away, "I think… as more than a friend… I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore… I mean, we barely even met thirty six hours ago… But I just had to get it out."

Zelda was stunned. He liked her? He liked her? Her? The freak that had dreams of monsters and Princesses and Heroes? Her?

She smiled, as she realized that she liked him, too. As more than a friend. She thought it must have carried on from their past lives. But she definitely liked him as he was in this life, too.

She put her hand to his chin, and turned his face to look at her. She looked into his fearful eyes, and smiled.

"Why would I not want to talk to you?" Zelda whispered, "Especially since I like you, too?"

Link's face cracked into a huge smile, mirroring Zelda's. He pulled her close, and gave her a hug, wrapping his arms around her waist. She rested her head on his shoulder, breathing in his scent, and twined her arms around her neck, playing with his soft hair. Until she felt his touch, she didn't know how much she needed it. She didn't know how much she had craved it. Standing there, holding him, and being held by him, felt so right.

He pulled back a little, and looked into her eyes. Their eyes both shone.

He lowered his face to hers, and she tilted her head up. They both fluttered their eyes closed, and waited for the moment when their lips would touch.

It was magic, pure and simple. Everything else seemed to melt away as his lips touched her own. All she was aware of was him, and he her. Their kiss was innocent, sweet and tender.

He pulled her even closer, if it were possible, and touched his tongue to her closed lips. Happily, she let him in. His tongue explored her mouth, and both of them took pleasure in it.

Eventually, they had to pull away for air. Zelda, face flushing, looked at Link, and smiled as he leaned in again.

They continued on like this for several minutes, before Zelda became aware of how late it was.

"What time is it?" she breathed, leaning against Link's well-muscled chest.

"Around eleven," he whispered, "maybe eleven thirty."

"What?" Zelda almost screeched, completely destroying the moment, "I have to get home! My parents are gonna kill me if they find out I've gone!"

"OK, OK," Link looked vaguely disappointed, "I'll walk you home."

He held Zelda's hand, wrapping his fingers in between hers. She didn't object, either. She quite enjoyed it, to be honest.

All too soon, they arrived at her house. Silently, they crept around the back to Zelda's bedroom window.

"See you tomorrow." Link breathed to her as they shared another kiss, and he helped her into the room.

"See you tomorrow…" she echoed as she shut the window, and he crept off.

Zelda smiled to herself as she silently changed into her pajamas. She didn't have a worry in the world at that point.

She continued to smile as she drifted into a deep, seemingly, dreamless slumber.