CHAPTER 11

Princess Peach wakes up on a beach with a throbbing headache. She observes her surroundings to the best of her ability. She notices pieces of the wrecked boat around her, she also sees a path of sand that shows she was dragged to shore. She can't see where the rest of her team is, the only person that's on the beach with her is Link, he's standing, leaning against a tree, looking at her.

Princess Peach blinks a couple of times in confusion. "Link?

Link runs over to Peach. Hugging her in relief that she's ok.

"Good to see you...too?" Peach asks, still recovering from the strange situation she's in.

Link looks around, seemingly for the rest of the team.

"I don't know where the others are," Peach answers.

Link snaps his fingers and rolls his eyes.

"Relax Link, we'll find them" Peach reassures him.

Peach begins walking to the water's edge. Link joins her.

"I hope they're okay," Peach says worriedly. Link nods in agreement.

Peach looks over the shoreline. She sees the tip of some structure in the distance. "Give me your binoculars" Peach asks Link.

Link hurriedly hands her them, using them to examine more closely, she's able to spot...

"A flag! A blue flag! With a toad head on it!" Peach joyfully exclaims "That must be where the Blue Toad Castle is!...What's it doing underwater though?"

Link taps Peach on the shoulder and unravels a map of the lands of Hyrule, he points out the Zora inhabit this area, so the Blue Toads may have learned to breathe underwater.

"Didn't you learn how to do that, Link?" Peach asks.

Link nods, then quickly spins around so he's wearing his Zora Tunic. He sticks his head under the water to show he can breathe under it.

"Ok, that's good for you." Peach says assuredly. "Now how am I going to breathe underwater?"

Link shrugs.

"Maybe we should set up camp first, it's getting late."

Link and Peach set up a shelter, Peach uses a fire flower she found to light the fire. Link returns with some fish.

"I can cook these" Peach states. "I used to be a chef back home."

Link shakes his head; he quickly prepares a well-seasoned cooked fish for them to eat. Peach gives it a try.

"Oh, my lord!" Peach yells in astoundment. "This is delicious! I see what Zelda sees in you now!"

Link smiles.

"You're so much better at cooking than Mario is!" Peach continues.

Link laughs.

"Oh!" Peach says, startled. "So, you CAN make a sound!". Link is visibly startled and covers his mouth. Peach giggles as Link silently takes a bite of his fish. "It's ok, I won't tell anyone. "She reassures him.

Peach glances at the sky, it's getting darker.

"We should probably get some sleep," Peach states.

Link nods in agreement and removes his shoes, laying down in the shelter. Using some grass Peach sewed as a blanket. Peach removes her boots and socks and goes to join him but stops...a mischievous grin forms on her face.

"Hmmmm," she thinks to herself.

She surveys over the beach again.

"I bet he wouldn't mind a little fun before bedtime" Peach giggles.

Peach crawls over to Link's bare feet and begins to tickle them. Link jolts up laughing and grabs his feet, glaring at Peach.

"You're cute when you're mad" Peach smirks. "Come on! Let's hear you laugh some more!" Peach grabs his feet and holds him in place as she begins to tickle him harder, Link starts to lose control laughing. Soon enough, he's rolling around on the ground, gasping for air.

Peach giggles and slowly gets up. She walks away from Link, removing her shirt and tossing it on Link.

Link is struggling to catch his breath; he's staring at Peach's exposed body.

"You like what you see, Big Boy?" Peach asks playfully.

Link gets up and walks toward Peach.

"No, No, No." Peach says, shaking her head. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea! We're just friends! Just friends!" Peach pats Link on the shoulder. "I'll see you in the morning, though".

Link's vacant stare suddenly turns to a scowl, but soon a grin comes onto his face. He quickly tackles Peach into the sand and begins tickling her as revenge!

Peach laughs hysterically and squeals in surprise.

"Stop it!" Peach yells.

Link keeps tickling her until she falls over on her back, trying to escape.

"Link, stop it!"

Link pins her onto the ground, finally ceasing tickling her after what felt like hours for Peach but was really only a few minutes.

Peach sighs in relief and looks at Link.

"That was fun," Peach remarks.

Link looks at Peach, confused.

"I know something that'd be even more fun, though!" Peach says with a slight hint of seduction in her voice.

Link looks at her with wide eyes.

"Don't worry" Peach assures him "I'm not planning on making you do anything you don't want to" As she frees her hands and gives Link a big kiss on the lips!

Link is shocked but quickly kisses her back, wrapping his arms around her.

"Oh, this is nice," Peach says. "I haven't done this in a long time. Mario always just wants me to bake him a stupid cake!"

Peach pulls away and pecks Link on the cheek. "You're a sweetheart" she whispers as crawls into the shelter. "Oh that was wild! We should probably get some sleep now though!"

Link doesn't follow immediately, he reaches at his neck for a locket. A locket that has Zelda's face inside it. He considers it while also looking at Peach. While he and Zelda were close, it was still mostly a professional bond they shared together. He would have no idea how to tell her what happened tonight.

"Are you coming to bed, or not?"

Link nods and places the locket back where it was, crawling into the shelter with Peach. When he's under the blanket, he carefully puts his arm over her waist, pulling her closer.

"Sleep well, Link." Peach as she yawns in a way that reminds him of a kitten he used to own and cherish. She soon falls asleep in his arms. Link smiles as he watches Peach sleep, looks at the locket one more time, then eventually falls asleep too.