AAAAAAHHH! I haven't updated in so long! I'm sorry. I have been lazy, and on top of that, school just started up again. Gah! Why does homework have to take up time that I could be using to write for these lovely people? But anyway, I should get started with the chapter. Onward!
ArianandXaia: Why thank you very much! I really wanted to creep people out with that scene, and I am glad that I was able to do that! Oh, and my family considered Penny for a cat name, but we went with Hippo instead. And I really like the Ed Sheeran song! It was quite beautiful. Silhouettes I liked, but I had a harder time connecting with it.
tswift1fan: Yeah, you were right about Ganon! And 'If I die young' is one of my go to melancholy songs. It is just so beautiful.
tronnytron: Thank you! And I like Muse, but I had never listened to Madness before. I was pleasantly surprised.
Dia Newman: That's how I do it!
Guest: I never had any plans to stop writing this story. I love to write, and I love all of your guys' reviews.
Zeltra: Damnit! I should have done that!
Guest: Thank you! I was trying my best to make Ganon creepy. 'The Sound of Goodbye' I really liked. It was very 70's love ballad-y. And 'Big Iron' was badass. It is a classic folk tale.
Guest: Awwww. That is cute, but I have a definitive plan for the story that involves Saria and Mido.
iyerak: That song was very beautiful, and it did remind me of Twilight Princess.
"Zelda! You lazy lump. It's time to get up!" My eyes slogged open as Midna's yell reached my ears.
"Mmmph." I moaned. Waking up sucks. Sleep is better.
Finally, after sitting in my bed for a few minutes, I got up and took a shower. I stayed in the water way too long. What can I say? It felt really good. When I got out, I made my way back into my room to get dressed. I chose out something simple: short denim shorts, with my Biosock Infinite t-shirt.
Once dressed, I went downstairs. Like yesterday, Ilia had cooked breakfast. This time it was eggs and bacon.
"Ilia, you spoil us." I smiled warmly at her. She set a plate of food down in front of me.
"I'm not complaining." Sheik said, scarfing his food.
"Goddesses, Sheik!" I exclaimed. "Slow down! You're gonna choke."
"Please." He dismissed. "I'm a teenage boy. I can eat anything without choking." I rolled my+yes.
"I don't even want to know what 'teenage boy' logic you used to come to that conclusion." I laughed.
"Well, all this choking is fine and good." Midna broke in. "But we've gotta go if we want to make it to school on time."
"All right." I agreed, getting up from the table. "Bye everybody.
Midna and I got to school on time, and made our way to choir. We had found out yesterday that our Special Music piece was chosen to be performed at the Spring Concert, and all three of us were super excited.
Classes went by with little trouble, but all day, I was looking my shoulder to see if Ganondorf was there. He never was. I hoped that I wouldn't see him all day. By the time lunch rolled around, I was completely paranoid. It didn't go unnoticed either. While Midna, Saria, and I were walking to where we eat, they decided to bring up my current demeanor.
"Zelda." Saria began tentatively. She had pulled me over to the side of the hallway, and we had stopped walking. Midna and Saria had that 'Intervention' look on their faces. "You haven't been yourself lately. You've been really jumpy and quiet. It's starting to worry us. What's going on?"
I looked down at my feet, not wanting to tell my friends the reason for my sudden personality change. I don't know what kind of danger I'd be putting them in by telling them.
"Nothing's wrong guys." I waved them off. "I've just been tired lately." I tried to walk past them, and toward our lunch spot. But Saria, stepped to the side and blocked my path. She pushed me back to the spot where they had me cornered.
I stared at the green haired girl in surprise. She was usually so sweet and kind. I would never have expected her to be so forceful. I wasn't mad; I could tell that she was just trying to figure out what was wrong with me. And I wanted to tell her. So bad. I want pour my heart out to my best friends, and have them call the police, and I want to cry into their shoulders and tell them how petrified I am. But the hero in me won't let me do it. I won't let their safety be compromised.
"Zelda, we know you're lying." Saria said, crossing her arms. It made her look like the bouncer at a club.
"I'm not lying!" I pressed on. Trying to smile, but even I could tell that it wasn't convincing.
"We're worried about you." Midna inputted. "Let us help."
"NO!" I exploded. They both took a surprised step back. "I can't let you help me! You don't understand."
"Then help us understand." Saria placed her hand on my shoulder.
"I can't!" I yelled, though I was losing my drive. At this point, I just wanted to cry. "I'd be putting you guys in danger. I can't. I can't..."
I lost it. All of my emotions just came rushing out of me. I fell into Saria and Midna's arms, sobbing my eyes out. Slowly, we sank down to the ground. They didn't ask why I was crying, they just let me cry, and babble nonsensically.
"I-I'm sorry." I hyperventilated. "I didn't mean to worry you guys."
"It's okay, Zel." Midna soothed. "You don't need to apologize. We just wish you would tell us what's going on."
For a moment, I was very tempted to tell them. It would be a huge weight off of my shoulders. They could share this burden with me, and help me through it. But I couldn't.
"I can't tell you." I told them sadly. "But I'm okay. This is just something I have to deal with."
They nodded, seeming to understand. I the tears from my face, and sniffed. "Give it to me straight. How awful do I look?"
They looked me up and down, and dragged me to the bathroom, where they covered my red puffy eyes with makeup. By the time I looked presentable, lunch was over, and we had to get to class.
"Thanks guys." I hugged them. "You're the best."
"Aww." The two of them cooed.
"We're your best friends. Being the best is in our job description." Saria explained. I chuckled. The little sniffly chuckle that you do after you've been crying.
"Well, we'd better get going if we don't want to get reamed out by teachers." Midna pointed out.
We all muttered in agreement, and went our separate ways. I headed off to my World History class. As soon as I stepped through the doorway, the bell rang. I sighed with relief as I plonked down into my seat.
"Jeez." I moaned. "I am so donion rings."
"Donion Rings?" A voice beside me questioned. I turned to look at who had questioned my, admittedly odd, speech patterns. Beside me, sat an irksome redhead. With amber eyes, and annoyingly large hair.
"Yup." I stated proudly, still not exactly sure if I trusted Groose. He could be participating in Ganon's, ummm, activities.
"Hmmm." He mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I think I'm gonna have to use that."
"Feel free." I told him. Eying him up and down. He seemed to kindhearted to be 'in league' with Ganondorf.
"Don't worry, I'm not friends with Ganondorf anymore." Groose stated, reading my mind. "He was getting super weird, and I didn't want to be around that."
"Oh." I chirped. I know I'm not really in a place to just start trusting people willy-nilly, but Groose seemed like such a nice guy. Nice. Such a blasé word. It's so plain, and could be used in just about any context, but sometimes nice is just what you need.
"I know what you're gonna say." Groose drawled. "'You shouldn't have been friends with him in the first place, he's a bad influence. Just save it. I've heard it all already."
"Woah." I put my hands up defensively. "Cool it. I'm not judging." Groose's mood instantly changed back to calm and playful.
"Wow." He reveled. "You really do speak like you're from the 80's, don't you?"
"That's how I do it!" I leaned back in my chair, pretending to be cool. He laughed. A good, hearty laugh.
"I think we started off on the wrong foot." The redheaded teen stated abruptly. "I could tell that all I did was creep you out. But you seem like a killer chick, and I would like to be your friend." I mulled his words over. His eyes were sincere, but, as I said before, I am not in a very trusting place right now. I decided to trust my intuition, and accept his offer.
"I'm in." I shook his hand, finalizing our clean slate.
Our teacher began our meaningless History lecture, while Groose and I passed notes throughout the whole class. All to quickly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.
"I'll see ya!" I waved to the pompadoured teen.
"For sure!" He agreed.
All right. Last class: Trig. My only class with Link.
Objective: Try to avoid talking to Link for the entire class. If you talk to him, you might let everything slip, and put him in serious danger.
With my resolve renewed, I took long, confident strides toward my math classroom. That resolved completely dissipated, however, as soon as I saw Link's careless blonde locks. Goddesses, why did he have to be so cute?
Gluing my eyes to the floor, I walked over to my seat, and sat down. Luckily, Link was in the middle of an in-depth conversation with his friends about the current status of the San Francisco Giants, so the lesson started before he had time to speak to me.
Needless to say, Trig dragged by slower than any class I have ever endured. When the bell finally rang, I packed up as fast as I could, and jammed out the door. I had hoped that I would be gone before Link noticed I was gone, but I had no such luck.
"Zellie, wait up!" I heard his call. I stopped and let him catch up. "Why'd you leave so fast?"
"Midna and I have no rehearsal today, so we have a date planned. We want to get the most out of our free day." I lied.
"Oh." Link nodded in understanding. "Well, I guess it all works out, then. 'Cuz, I'm gonna go weight training with the basketball team."
"Don't work yourself to hard." I warned sweetly. He put his hands on my waist, and I put my hands on his chest. I reached up on my toes and gave him a kiss. "I'll see you later." We then parted ways.
My math class was across campus from my locker, so by the time I got back there, everybody was long gone, ready to claim the afternoon as their own. I moved quickly through the hallways, suspicious of anything that moved. I got to my locker, and fumbled with the lock until my locker opened. I switched out my supplies, and closed it.
When I looked up, nobody was there. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, and began to walk downstairs, toward the entrance of the school.
I had gotten a fair way from my locker, when suddenly I felt a hand slap my rear end. Immediately, I knew who did it. Without hesitation, I wheeled around, and slapped him in the face. The sound of my hand connecting with his cheek rang out through the hallway. Ganondorf stumbled backwards, clutching his face, as a smirk of satisfaction found its home on my face. He recovered quickly however, and stepped forward to loom over me. He was a massive six foot seven, so he towered a foot over me. Of course, I was intimidated, but I wasn't going to let him see that. If I acted confident, I could get out of this.
"What's with the violence, babe." He purred, brushing a stray strand of hair out of my face. And just like that, all of my confidence was gone.
"You slapped my ass!" I shrieked, surprised at how strong I sounded.
"Aww, lighten up." he pouted. He took a step forward, causing me to take a step back. Then he took another step. And another step. And another step. He kept forcing me back, until I was backed up against the wall. He had me trapped just like before. He began to lean in closer to my face. "I'm just having a little fun."
Without warning, he forced his lips upon mine in an awful kiss. His body was leaning heavily against mine, and his hands were on my wrists, holding me in place. I squirmed, trying as hard as I possibly could to get away from this monster. Apparently, he took my squirming as positive encouragement, and he shoved his tongue down my throat. I gagged. By now, his body was pressed so close to mine, that I couldn't move even if I wanted to. His hands, no longer needing to hold my arms, were now snaking upwards on my torso. As his greedy hands grew closer and closer to his goal, I realized that there was no escape from this hell. Even if I did manage to wriggle free, he would just catch me in a matter of seconds. I let my tears flow freely around my as I tried to close my mouth against Ganondorf's advances.
His hands came dangerously close to their goal, and I tried to let out a scream, when his weight was suddenly off of my body.
Link was standing over Ganon's body, which was now crumpled up on the ground, writhing in pain. He had an anger in his eyes that I had never seen before. To be honest, it scare me to see that fury etched in his face. He stepped over to Ganon's body, and started to kick him repeatedly in the stomach. When he was satisfied with the pain that he had caused my pursuer, he stopped. He leaned over so that we was only inches from the green teen's face.
"If you ever so much as look at her, I will kill you." He threatened. Then he stood up, and walked over to me. Without a word, he wrapped me in a safe, warm embrace. I clutched onto his body, wanting him to protect me. I sobbed into his chest, as he murmured comforting words to me and rubbed circles into my back.
"Zellie?" Link asked tentatively after a while. "How long has this been going on?" I sniffed in response.
And just like that, the whole story came flooding out of my mouth. Ganon sending me flowers, and somehow knowing that my parents were dead, how he looked at me in the hallways, how he had trapped me in the hallway the other day, all of it.
It felt like the weight of the world had rolled off of my shoulders. Link listened to me throughout my whole shpeil.
"I know you must think I'm crazy, but I just know Ganondorf has something to do with my parents' death." I concluded.
"I don't think you're crazy." Link told me, as if it was obvious.
"You don't?"
"Of course not." Link stated. "He obviously has a weird think for you. What I don't know is how we can prove it to the authorities."
"I don't want to worry about that right now." I sighed. "I'm really tired, and I know that I'm safe with you." Link nodded, understanding.
"I get it. Today has been rough for you. Let's just get you home."
I asked him to take me home; Midna had probably left long ago. We drove to my house, and Link bade me good bye.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Zellie." He kissed my cheek.
"Umm." I looked down. "Could you stay with me? I don't feel very safe right now, and I just want you around."
"Of course." He smiled softly and pulled me into a warm embrace. We broke apart and got out of the car. I led him into the house, trying to be quiet, as I didn't think Ilia would be to pleased if she found out I had a guy in the house. I quickly led him upstairs and into my room. He sat on the floor, and I sat down with him. "Zellie, are you sure you're okay?"
That question. It was one that I didn't know how to answer. Physically, I was fine. I didn't have a scratch on me. But mentally, I was a wreck. Ganon touched me in a way that I didn't want to be touched, and it made me feel dirty. I wanted to shake it off. I'm a confident young woman, I shouldn't be afraid of men, but I couldn't help it. It was a gross feeling, that I didn't know how to explain.
"I feel... dirty." I finally choked out. Link nodded, seeming to understand.
"Zelda, he kissed you, when you didn't want him to, that is perfectly understandable." Link informed me. "But I want you to know that, as long as I'm still around, he won't lay a finger on you."
I smiled at him gratefully, and a crawled into his lap, where I sat, head buried in his chest, his arms around me.
I'm not sure how long we sat there for, but I do know that sitting there, enveloped in warm embrace, made me feel complete.
I love this man. With all my heart, I love him. I don't care how long we have been dating, or if society says that it is 'too soon' in the relationship to be in love, when you know, you know. And judging by the glimmer I see in his eyes when he looks at me, he feels the same way.
All done! That took a long time. The other night, I was almost through the chapter, when I accidentally deleted almost half of it! I was so angry! But anyway, it's time for the musical recommendation of this chapter!
Not too long ago, I discovered the wonderful band: Fitz and the Tantrums. Their sound is unlike any band I have ever heard, and I love it! So, my lovelies, I implore you to listen to their song 6am. Or their song Keepin' our Eyes out. Or their song House is on Fire. Damn, they have so many good songs! And each one has a different sound! They are so cool! Please listen to one of their songs, they deserve a lot more attention than they get.
Anyway, thanks everybody for reading, you are all beautiful people, and I will see you next chapter! The next one will be faster, I promise.