I woke up the next morning, Zelda's back nestled against my chest, her long hair everywhere, and my hand decidedly on her boob. Because apparently even the Hero of Legend isn't above clichés. What more, her shirt had ridden up during the night, leaving the creamy skin of her abdomen very, very exposed. Which in turn left me in a rather…uncomfortable situation. As slowly as I could, I extricated myself from the bed, tucking Zelda back into the warm blankets before she woke up and noticed my disappearance.
I quickly showered, which also helped me calm down, got dressed, and went downstairs. Hunter greeted me from where he was watching the news on the couch. It looked like we were the only ones up so far, a fact that suited me fine. Figuring Zelda would be up soon and likely want to eat, I went to make us some omelets. Eggs, peppers, cheese, a dash of ham, and fifteen minutes later left me with two very full egg tacos. A little bit of salt and ground pepper, along with a few slices of orange finished the dish. All things considered, I didn't think it looked too bad. Sure, it wasn't Shade levels of cooking, but it was decent.
I carried the two plates up to my room, where my girlfriend was still sleeping. I quietly lowered the plates onto my desk before going to the window. Opening the shades slightly, I let a bit of morning light into the dim room. I sat down on the edge of my bed, looking at the girl still buried under the blankets. She shifted slightly as the bed sank from my weight, but still didn't wake. I will shamelessly admit that I took the opportunity to stare at her peaceful face.
I slowly reached my hand out to trail down her cheek, briefly playing over her slightly parted lips. Her eyes scrunched closed just a little before sliding open in what felt like slow-motion. She blinked a few times before focusing on me and bringing her warm hand up to grasp mine, kissing my fingers.
"Morning," she said, voice wonderfully husky.
"Morning," I returned before clearing my throat. I didn't like how hoarse I sounded. "I made you some breakfast. Omelets." She smiled before nuzzling my hand and gently pulling me down to her.
"Sounds nice, but it can wait." Before I could argue that it was best right away, she caught my lips with her own. I immediately stopped caring about the food.
I had no idea how long we laid there, lips dancing around each other. At some point, Zelda snuck her dexterous lips past my cheek to bit at my earlobe, pulling a sound I personally wasn't a fan of from me. Zelda sure seemed to enjoy it though. Seeing as she started it, I took the opportunity to gently bite down on the skin of her neck. She groaned very quietly and arced her back slightly, seemingly trying to get away from me and closer at the same time.
"Link, we have to stop," she said very calmly, quite the opposite of what her body was saying.
"Why is that?" I looked up at her and noticed that her face was ridiculously red.
"I-…The food is getting cold." It was a poor excuse, but I could tell something was up, so I let it drop. Zelda quickly went to the bathroom and I heard the sink water running for a minute or two before she came back out, much more composed than before. She immediately gave me her normal smile, maybe a little more forced than usual, and dug into the food. I was confused and wary of her abrupt change in demeanor, but let it rest, at least for the moment.
After we ate, I decided to do some basic exercises just to keep myself on form. Zelda went home for a while, saying she had things she needed to take care of. As I did my pushups, I wondered if her 'business' had anything to do with how odd she was acting, but didn't want to overthink it. Sheik was also in the backyard where I was working out and we ended up sparing for a little. Our styles were very different, mine alternating between cautious and aggressive while Sheik prioritized speed and agility, making small but extremely precise attacks.
A few hours later, Headmaster Rauru showed up at the front door, saying Hunter had informed him that I had returned. He was very eager to hear about our adventure, showing great interest in the whole thing and asking questions all the while. A recorder was set up and Rauru took a colossal amount of notes, nearly filling the notebook he brought. I suspected that if one was to compare the written notes and the recording, you wouldn't find many differences.
He also said that he wanted to hear Zelda's point of view on the whole thing, but when I texted her, she just said she was still busy. Luckily, Rauru didn't push it.
The rest of the day passed without incident. Sheik and I hung out for the most part, playing a few video games and comparing stories of our journey. He insisted on seeing and trying to lift the Master Sword but was sorely disappointed when he couldn't lift it. It was still light as a feather in my hand and Sheik glared with envy and menace. Having people try to lift my sword was quickly becoming a favorite pastime for me.
I hardly saw Hunter or Shade all day, the former being at the office all day catching up on stuff for work. I knew all his contracts were still frozen until the earthquakes calmed down, so I wasn't sure what exactly there was to do, but whatever it was, it kept him busy all day. Shade, on the other hand, was in the house all day, more specifically in his room with Midna. He came down for food a few times but was quick to retreat back upstairs. I had no idea what they were doing but decided to leave them to it. I figured it was either innocent enough or something I really didn't want to walk in on and I was fine leaving them to their own devices either way.
Zelda didn't come back over that day, insisting that she had things she was busy with. In the end, I didn't do much. I texted a few of my friends, namely Mikau and Kafei, to see if they were going to the event that was apparently going on at school. They said they were, but didn't know anything more than I did about what it was for. Turned out Mikau wasn't doing anything, so I invited him over to hang out for a while. I really liked the Zora, we just didn't have much free time between the two of us.
He ended up bringing his guitar over to try out some new songs he had been writing and wanted an opinion on. He played for a while before we got to talking.
"Damn Mikau, you've got some good stuff there. I really liked that second song." Mikau snagged a chip from the bowl between us before answering.
"Yeah, I've been really focusing on my music this summer. I'd kind of like to try to get some of it released, but I just don't know. Plus, I don't really know anyone in the business, which just makes it harder to get started."
"I thought Lulu's parents had a few ins in the music business?" I could distinctly remember Mikau's girlfriend saying her parents kept in touch with a few friends that headed up a production company or something like that. The Zora guy grimaced slightly.
"Yeah, Lulu and I have been having some trouble recently. She doesn't like the idea of me publishing my music. I can't figure out why though," he said with a huff. I gave it a minute of thought, trying to wrangle my knowledge of women to form something of a cohesive picture.
"Shot in the dark here, but maybe she's scared of what it would do to you? Like, say you got popular. Really popular. Lots of things come with fame, especially for a good-looking guy like you."
"Are you saying you find me attractive, Link?" Mikau asked saucily. To which I immediately deadpanned.
"Objectively, yes. You're a handsome man-fish. I'd like you to rightly assume that that is as far as that statement goes, and absolutely, under no circumstances, any further." The fish on my couch chuckled.
"Anyways," I continued, "fame changes people. It changes relationships. Lulu might be concerned that you would look at things differently. I hate to say this, but you know the saying 'plenty more fish in the sea.'" Again, a chuckle. "She might be concerned that you would find someone you like more than her. Not just that, it might be that she thinks you would put your music and career before her. That's kind of what happened with…" I trailed off abruptly.
"With Cremia?" Mikau asked hesitantly. It had been an unspoken rule that we didn't talk about my and Cremia's breakup. Mostly because I hadn't told everyone much about what had caused the whole thing. All they really knew was that we had had an argument and split up because of it. I still didn't like that I had broken up with her the way I had.
"Yeah, basically. I still don't know if I'm entirely over it. I still want her to be my friend and I still really care about her, but we dated for so long. Geez, you know, I asked her out the same time you asked out Lulu the first time."
"Asked her out the first successful time," Mikau was quick to correct me. "That was the first time she said yes. I had been trying for months. Though you were a little too love-sick over her hot red-head friend to notice much." We shared a laugh, thinking back on simpler times.
At some point, Mikau's phone chimed and he immediately checked it with an air of desperation. I could tell it was Lulu just from his reaction. His demeanor quickly changed to one of confusion though.
"This make any sense to you?" he asked, holding out the phone to me. I looked as saw the end of a text conversation. 'Have you heard of Link and Zelda Harkinian dating?' My look of surprise probably spoke for itself.
"How in the Dark Realm does she know that?" I asked. We hadn't even really told Hunter, Shade, Midna, and Sheik that we were together. Of course, they had picked up on it, but it wasn't like we were broadcasting it. Especially not to our friends from school.
"Give me a minute here, I'll figure it out," he said, fingers flying over his phone's keyboard.
A few minutes later, we had something of an answer.
"Okay, so Lulu heard from one of her Zora friends that Ruto was pissy about something." I had to hold back a snort at that. Ruto was almost always pissy about something. "I guess she heard from a girl whose boyfriend's friend, Toral, was delivering pizza the other day to you and saw Zelda coming over. Apparently, he's also being hailed as the genius that told you about the thing at school this week. All that, coupled with a little imaginative interpretation, led to the consensus that you and Zelda are apparently dating." I was both impressed and concerned with how quickly our whole school could know such a thing. Because if Ruto and her girlfriends knew about something juicy, you could bet your ass it was about to become public knowledge. Mikau looked up at me from his phone. "So, how's that treat you? Nice to have the whole school riled up about a rumor again, huh?"
I mentally cringed, knowing what was probably coming next. "Yeah, the only stupid thing is that for once the rumor is right." Mikau looked at me for a few seconds, at first not getting it before his eyes went wide.
"Wait, are you kidding me? You're dating Zelda? Since when? And why didn't you say anything?!"
"Because I knew it was going to be a big deal for people who have no business with it. It's between me and Zelda, not me, Zelda, every girl who inexplicably want to get into my pants, and all the guys who want to get into those girls' pants. School's over, my childhood is over, and I have responsibilities now. I'm not here for fun and games anymore. I have a responsibility to the world and…" I trailed off before I said too much. "Anyways, I didn't think it was important to inform everyone under the sun that I'm dating someone. She's fine with it, I'm fine with it, and that's all that matters." Mikau sat in thought for a minute, looking at me with critical eyes. For my part, I relaxed back into the couch that I had unconsciously leaned forward on.
"Yeah, I see what you mean. Lulu and I have been dating for so long, I think I've taken for granted that it just is how it is. But you're right, we're not in school anymore. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks. Come to think of it, I don't know that it ever did. We're making our own futures. The world is ours, so what are we going to do with it? It's on us now, not anyone else." He looked off into the distance, deep in thought. Suddenly, the fish man nodded once and stood up, putting his guitar back in its case. "You give some good advice Link. I think I'm going to take it." I stood up too, not quite sure what he meant.
"Honestly, I think what you said was way better. You've got some good song lyrics there." Mikau paused, head bobbing to a beat only he could hear, before he split into a smile.
"I think you're right. Maybe I'll put them to a tune. But before that," he hoisted his guitar case over his shoulder, "I'm going to go ask Lulu exactly why she doesn't want me to pursue music, and, if you're right, if she'll be the singer for my music. Because you're right. I'm going to change now, whether because I pursue music or not. And I don't mind that. But I want Lulu to change with me. I want us to change together." I couldn't help but smile at his words.
"I think you and Lulu are going to be just fine, Mikau. Thanks for coming over. I'll see you at the school thing."
"Same to you, Link. Good luck with Zelda. See you later." One fist bump later, Mikau was out the door and jogging to his car, pulling out his phone to figure out where Lulu was. I closed the door and almost ran into Sheik as I turned around.
"That was pretty deep, man. Didn't know you had it in you." I rolled my eyes and pushed past him.
"Yeah, not surprised. There's a reason I don't get sappy with you."
"Oh, speaking of which," Sheik wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You and Mikau then? Both of you going behind your girlfriends' backs?" He had to jump back quickly to avoid my grab at his neck.
"Oh, Sheik, it really is a shame. You're not going to be able to go to the Castle and train as a Sheikah there," I said, stretching my neck as I walked towards the retreated boy.
"Why's that?" he asked just as jauntily as before. I clenched my hands together a few times before lunging at the slippery bastard.
"Because I don't think they accept dead men."
I proceeded to chase Sheik around the house until Shade came down and yelled at us to stop being so annoying.
"Hey Link."
"Hi babe, you okay?" I had finally called Zelda at about 9 pm when she never came back to my house.
"Oh, so it's babe now, is it?" I heard Zelda say, barely hiding the laugh in her voice.
"I'll call you whatever you want if you come over here," I said, hoping she would take the hint. Judging from the slight sigh in her voice, she did.
"I'm sorry Link, I'm just not feeling up to it. I'm really tired from the trip. Do you realize how much traveling we did in the last week? It's a good thing we had the Master Cycle, or else we would have spent so much on gas…" Zelda continued half-heartedly, but I could tell she was rambling.
"Well, if I was outside your door, would you tell me what was wrong?" I heard frantic scrambling from the other side of the call before Zelda responded.
"You're not outside my house." I couldn't help but laugh.
"Nope, it was a hypothetical question. But if it'll get me an actual answer, I can be over there in a few minutes." I left the offer open, hoping and praying she would let me come over. That way it wouldn't be rude when I showed up. Eventually, after about 30 seconds of almost being able to hear the gears of her mind working, she answered.
"Okay, sure, fine. Just give me a few minutes."
"Good thing it'll only take a few minutes for me to walk over there," I said, getting up from my bed and pulling on my shoes.
"No Link, I mean like half an hour, so I can-"
"Nope, I'll be there in three minutes. Bye." I abruptly hung up on her. Normally, I would never be so brusque, but I could tell something was bothering Zelda, and I wanted to know what.
True to my word, three minutes later I was knocking on Zelda's door. I faintly heard loud footsteps clomping down the stairs before the door flew open to reveal a disgruntled Zelda. Black sweatpants and a white t-shirt with a faded graphic on it complimented her rather wild hair that stuck out in odd places.
"You know, it's rude to hang up on people," she said, sharp as ever. I gave her my best innocent smile and she reluctantly let me inside, rolling her eyes as she did. "Here, come up to my room. Nothing to do down here anyways." I occurred to me she sounded vaguely grumpy, but it was too late to turn back now even if I wanted to.
Zelda let me to her bedroom, which I was surprised to see was a dark forest green. Her furniture was all wood with hints of color poking out at different points in the room. If I had to describe it, it was like a wooded meadow. Even her bed had dark green blankets, which were suspiciously rumpled and messy. In fact, the whole room was in a state of disorganization. Clothes were lying around, a few bags and their contents scattered in small piles, closet doors askew with a few boxes and bins spilling out.
"What the heck happened in here? Are you sure this is your room? What have you done with my obsessively tidy Zelda?" Zelda sighed again and threw herself on the bed. I stared at her waiting for an answer.
"Stop staring at my ass," she said, pulling her face out of a pile of blankets before letting it drop again.
"I'm not, I'm waiting for an answer. Now stop dodging the question. What's wrong? You've been standoffish all day." She looked back at me and, seeing that I wasn't going to let up, flipped over and stared at the ceiling. With one last sigh, she finally started talking.
"I'm embarrassed, alright? I acted so…wanton this morning and I'm embarrassed. I feel like I've made a fool of myself, sleeping in your bed with you and making out and groaning like some…whore. I was tired yesterday and this morning when you woke me up, I was still half asleep. But when I woke up completely, I was mortified. Not just from what I did, but because I didn't care. I wanted to do it again and again. I've never felt like this, Link." She lifted her head to look at me again before returning her eyes to the ceiling. "I've dated before, I've had a few boyfriends, but none of them made my heart pound at the thought of just seeing them, much less kissing them. I feel like my face and chest are going to burst, and I don't know what to do or how to feel." She let out a scoff and covered her face with her hands as I gently sat next to her on the bed. "Plus, I'm supposed to be this goddess, a paragon of virtue and purity, and all I can think of is how warm it is to be pressed up against you. I just don't know what to do."
I put my hand on her knee. "Here, sit up and look at me." She did, sitting cross-legged on the bed across from me, but not meeting my eyes until I told her to. I could see a myriad of conflicting emotions in her eyes, but the most prominent one was fear. "What are you so afraid of?" She took a breath and dropped her gaze to her lap again.
"I just don't know what I'm doing. I've never really done this before, and you're just so experienced. You had a girlfriend for so long, one who was pretty forward with you. I don't want you to feel like I'm not showing you enough affection, but I don't know how far to push it. But I don't want to seem needy or anything like that either and I just don't know what to do." I let the silence sit for a minute, trying to come up with the best way to diffuse the situation.
"You know Cremia and I only dated for about six months before you came to school, right? Everyone acted like it was so much longer because we both liked each other for ages before I asked her out, but it wasn't all that long. In the end, our dating relationship only lasted eight months. She was really the only girlfriend I had. Experience wise, I wouldn't say I have much of an advantage either. Cremia actually didn't warm up to so much as hand-holding until almost three months after we started dating. She was kind of a slow burn when it came to that stuff." Zelda seemed surprised.
"I thought with how she was on her birthday that she…" her voice trailed off as I shook my head.
"She takes a while to warm up to some things, but once she has, she goes all in." Zelda again looked pensive. "Look Zelda, I don't expect anything from you. I'm not going to push you to do anything if you don't want to. I only went along with things so far because you initiated most of it." She shook her head again.
"That's the problem too. I know I started it, but I don't know how to feel about it anymore. Part of me is saying to just do it because I want to, but the practical, logical half is saying to stop and figure everything out first. I don't know what to do." I couldn't say I had a solution to that.
"Well, how about we start easy. What do you want to do right now?" I asked, trying to do anything to help. I hated being helpless.
Zelda looked at me before her eyes traced their way down my chest. She licked her lips before realizing what she was doing and clapping a hand over her mouth, turning pink in the process. It took everything I had to not laugh, but I managed to resist. Her eyes darted to the messy room around us before she spoke.
"Honestly, I want to clean all this up. I can't stand it being so messy."
An hour later, we had the general chaos of the room tamed back into a more orderly arrangement. Zelda looked around, pleased with herself.
"Much better. I tend to do a lot of things at once when I get anxious, but I'm too stressed to actually work, so it just all becomes a mess. You should have seen me trying to pack before we moved." We shared a laugh, both of us trying to make everything seem normal. Cautious to test Zelda's improved state, I sat down on her large, now made, bed, leaning against the wall. She turned to look at me relaxing comfortably and slowly crawled across the bed and sat down next to me. Extremely hesitantly, she lowered her head to my shoulder. Even then though, she didn't relax completely. I let her stay there for a few minutes before I said anything.
"Feel tired at all?" She shook her head no. "Thinking clearly?" A nod yes. "We don't have to go any faster than you want. I don't think I could leave you even if I wanted to, so don't worry about that. Go as slow as you want." She didn't respond right away, but eventually looked up at me.
"That's the problem. I don't want to go slow." My heart leapt at her words. "I'm just conflicted. Part of me wants to start kissing you and never stop. Part of me wants to wait and see if I still feel like this later and not rock the boat. I need to figure out which one to do." She lapsed into silence once again. I let her sit there for a while, leaving her to her thoughts. Eventually, I spoke up.
"Want to go watch some TV or something? Not that sitting here isn't great, but, you know."
"Not that it isn't great, but you're bored?" she asked, usual wit back in place. I rolled my eyes, but we still go up and went down to the basement where the largest TV I had ever seen was mounted on the wall. "My dad made this a media room, I think so he could have parties over here or something. Thus, the ridiculously large television. So," she tossed me the remote. "What do you want to watch?"
Eventually, we decided on a Labrynnian cooking show that Zelda was familiar with and I had seen Shade watch from time to time. We just sat there, not even on the same couch, watching the manufactured tension of the show and making fun of the ridiculous situations and added drama of the show. To be fair, the food did look pretty good, but it was just so silly sometimes.
Eventually, 11 rolled around and the program changed. I elected to turn it off, figuring I should head home before it got too late. I said as much, and Zelda looked somewhat disappointed, but agreed. She walked me to the front door, where I put my shoes on and we stood for a minute before I opened my mouth.
"Feel a bit better?" I asked, more concerned for her than anything else. She gave me a genuine smile then and I could tell she was going to be fine. Before I dared second guess myself, I ducked my head to hers and kissed her quickly and gently on the lips. She gasped slightly in surprise, but I was gone before she could really react. "Goodnight Zelda," was all I said before I left, closing the door behind me.
I made it all of seven steps down the sidewalk before I heard the door open behind me. I was turning around, checking my pockets, thinking I had forgotten something when a large mass of girl crashed into me and latched her arms around my shoulders, kissing me fiercely. Whatever her surprise at my kiss had been, I was sure this was ten times more. Not that I was complaining.
Zelda eventually detangled herself from me and dragged me by the hand back inside. She quickly ordered me to take off my shoes again, which I did. She then immediately dragged me back up to her room and shoved me down onto the bed, turning on a lamp to give just a bit of light. I was still mostly in a state of shock, but still managed to say something.
"Made up your mind I take it?" To which Zelda gave me the most alluring smile I'd ever seen.
"Yep" was all she said before almost literally throwing herself on top of me and resuming her frantic kissing.
Her hands traced every contour of my shoulders she could reach and occasionally slipped under the hem of the shirt's collar to tease the skin underneath. Her lips were everywhere: my mouth, my nose, the corners of my lips, along my cheeks and to that same bit of skin she had found that morning by my ear. While she was somewhat distracted, I slowly traced the same path down her jaw to her neck that I had earlier in the day, giving her plenty of time to pull away or stop me if she wanted to. When she didn't, I went ahead and nibbled along her silky skin, pulling the same sound of pleasure from her. When she didn't protest, I continued. We both made every effort to get every reaction possible out of each other before we started to let up.
Eventually, we both stopped and just laid there, Zelda laying across my chest with her head over my heart. Hesitant to talk too loudly, I kept my voice down as I talked.
"What made you decide?" I was genuinely curious, not to mention surprised that she had made up her mind so quickly. Zelda shifted on top of me slightly before answering.
"I don't know. Probably all of tonight. You didn't push for anything, even distracted me from the problem for a while. Then at the door, you kissed me, and I could just tell. I'm in love with you and I don't think I could change my mind if I wanted to. So I thought 'why not?' And here we are."
"Here we are indeed." I checked the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was almost midnight. "I should really get home before it gets too late." I waited for Zelda to move to let me up, but she didn't.
"What if you let it get too late?" she asked, even quieter than before.
"I could…" I said hesitantly. "Won't your dad be home at some point? I doubt he'd want to see his daughter in bed with a guy he's never so much as met."
Zelda was quick to shake her head. "He's at a conference in Labrynna right now. Ironic that we moved here so he wouldn't have to travel quite as much. Anyways, he'll be home in a few days, but there's no chance he'd leave before the conference was over. So, unless you've got some other excuse…"
I laughed a little at that. "I thought you were all timid. Two hours ago, you could hardly look at me." Zelda raised a thin eyebrow.
"I could go back to that if you wanted. Well, alright, if you insist." She immediately got off the bed and walked towards the door. I immediately scrambled up after her.
"I don't think I ever insinuated such a thing, so get back here." I couldn't do much other than sit on the bed looking at her, having somehow managed to tangle my legs in the blankets, preventing me from moving much. She smiled coquettishly over her shoulder before turning back to face me.
"Fine. Throw me your shirt."
"What?" I was confused.
"Throw me your shirt and I'll come back. But you have to stay there," she said, clever grin still on her face. I rolled my eyes, but did as she asked, tossing the grey garment to her. "Thank you. Now you stay there. I'll be right back." I was left alone as Zelda turned the corner and walked down the hall.
With little else to do, I untangled my legs and straightened the blankets as best I could and laid down on top of them in just my jeans, waiting for Zelda to come back. It took a few minutes, but she eventually came back around the corner, clad in my t-shirt and tossing her own in a basket in the corner. 'And bra,' the extremely unhelpful part of my brain said. 'Yes, thank you, shut up,' I said back. Because she apparently hadn't thought to before, she pulled off her sweatpants as well, tossing them to the basket, leaving her in a pair of shorts and my shirt.
"You are trying to kill me, aren't you? I come to get you out of your funk and this is how you repay me. Slow, arduous torture? And what's with you and my shirts?" Zelda looked down her nose at me as she sauntered over.
"How I repay you for being rude and confrontational to a girl you claim to love? Yeah, that sounds about right. That'll teach you to be mean to me." Oh, she was all self-assured and confident. When she got close enough, I quickly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down with me, pulling an adorable squeak from her as she tumbled down next to me. I wasted no time kissing her again and playing with her skin where my fingers had snuck under her/my shirt. I could feel her smile against my lips as I did the same.
Eventually, we snuggled together under the covers and turned the lamp off, laying much as we had the night before. "Thank you for staying," she said in a whisper.
"I could hardly say no, now could I?" I whispered back. She laughed a little but stopped quickly.
"But thank you all the same. I needed this tonight. Because now I know this is what I want."
"To be curled up against a half-naked me? Because we can do that as much as you want. But only if you return the favor." She slapped me lightly on the chest for that.
"No. Well, yes, but no. Just to be with you like this. To feel safe and warm. And no, I will not be 'returning the favor.'"
"Awww, but I wanna…" I trailed my hand up her waist slightly, unsurprised when she slapped my hand away.
"Fine, move over." Unsure of what she meant, I moved away from her on the bed. She immediately grabbed the blankets and wrapped herself in them, effectively shutting me out. "There now you don't have to worry about it. You can stay over there, and I'll be over here." I hastily moved back towards her, unwrapping her little cocoon and pulling her tight against me, burying my nose in her hair.
"Nice try, but you're not getting away from me that easily." I felt her smile against my chest before we both dropped off into sleep.
Whoa, holy howdy, guys. Chapter long enough for you? I hope so because it took me...all day to write it. That's right, I basically wrote this entire thing in one day. Except for the bit right at the beginning where Link makes breakfast. That's it. On another note, it's roughly 6,000 words. Sources say that's about 10 pages in my Word document. Fucking hell, do I have no life? Nope, I sure don't. Want to know the best part? I need to be studying for tests this week and next week. What am I doing instead? Writing and watching Just Cause 4 crash repeatedly. One's annoying, one's fun, I'll let you decide which is which.
Before we get to the reviews, I shall mention something. You may have noticed that I posted something new. That's right, the long anticipated Zelda chapters have begun. But they're not going in this story, because that's not how I've set this up to work. So they can be found in the companion story 'Revival of the Goddess'! See what I did there? I'm very clever. If you're interested in that, please head over there to see what Zelda thought of how Chapter 4 played out (and a bit of 5, but it's my story, I can do what I want). If you have a specific chapter you want to see from Zelda's point of view be sure to say so in a review on that story. I repeat, that story, not this one. Because I like organization. If you want to gush about both at the same time, feel free to PM me.
Now, review time. Twilit Lord...that makes sense. A lot of sense. I'm ashamed I didn't figure that out. I'm not forgetting about Vaati, you'll see him soon. I mourn your loss having not seen Ocean's Eleven. It's very good. I can respect the sci-fi though. I don't know why you're stealing wind items, however I suspect it's because you're full of hot air. Unless you're trying to blow me away with your reviews, but I don't think that's working. Sand Seal, good to see your broken mind here once again. It's always a pleasure. I can tell you love it, and I can't wait to see you simultaneously implode and explode over this one. Because the FLUFF. Holy shit, it's a lot. Glad you like the idea of the Zelda chapters (and I know you did enjoy, 'cause you reviewed). I shall let you know if I need advice, I hope I did alright, both with 'Goddess' and roughly how girls think with this chapter. There was a lot of that. I shall indeed write more stories, in fact I just had a fun idea for one with an older Link and Zelda. You'll be happy, it's literally a fluff piece. Like, all romance, all the time, very little plot except for all that 'plot'. Nightwing, yeah, that's fair enough. But they can't all be jerks. I try to reserve that for Shade. I agree with you as far as the relationship goes, I like the idea of near-death experiences. That might come in handy later. For my fictions, I would indeed use Fictionpress, even though it's a lot harder to find something you want to read, in my opinion. It works, but it's a little more 'shot in the dark' than it is here on Fanfiction. Garion, I agree, and so I have. Go check it out. For now, you'll just have to imagine, but maybe in the future, I'll give that and this chapter the Zelda POV treatment. You make a very good point about their relationship, I thank you for that. The 'party' as you say, is big plot advancement, so look forward to that. And don't you worry. There'll be a 'complication.' Definitely. Twilit Lord the second, we're certainly going to find out, aren't we? Psych, I already found out. You can. Nice try.
Random note, I'd like to thank 'Two Steps from Hell' for giving me all the ambient music I needed to write this chapter (and do my math, but I think you can see how well that went). Because who doesn't want to listen to epic music for hours on end? Which is good, because my Spotify playlist for them is almost 24 hours long. So there's plenty to listen to.
Sweet, about done here. Really just more random notes. I wanted to give our supporting cast a little more time in the spotlight, hence the Mikau bit. He's a cool dude and I thought he deserved a small (read actually rather large) segment. Plus he helps Link work through his thoughts a bit and I think really shows the mindset of someone fresh out of high school. At least, kind of. It's been a few years guys. Let's see, what else? Hope the fluff was satisfactory. I can already hear Sand Seal screaming, so I suspect it's fine, but there were a few parts that I maybe went a little overboard on. Oops. Though I figure you're all fine with it. Hopefully. Please don't boycott my story. In fact, anti-boycott my story! What a great idea, huh? Maybe follow it, maybe drop a review, maybe...I don't know, what are the kids doing these days that's cool? What's that you say? Nothing, because they're kids and wouldn't know cool if it hit them in the face like a mortar shell? How astute, I shall take your word for it. Maybe just stick to the first two in that case. Better do both just in case.
Anyways, next chapter will skip ahead a few days to the long awaited 'event.' What's going to happen? Will we see characters everyone's been begging to see back? Will I finally get Twilit Lord off my back about Vaati? Will Toral the pizza guy be the new hot shit at school? Probably not, but stay tuned to find out. See you then!
*Sees word count, both for the chapter and the story, explodes*
~Aro (what's left of him at least)