Hey there!

Thanks to ShadowNinja1011 and DrDonuts for reviewing! And in response to the Doctor's question, I have the story mapped out, but I don't know exactly how long it'll be. It should be relatively lengthy though.

Hope you're enjoying the story so far! It's more serious than a few of my other stories, but I figured I should try something new. Hope it's working out!

As I stepped into the apartment, I saw Pipit, leaning on the counter. He seemed frustrated, and when he saw me come in, all of that frustration became focused on me. He stood straight, but stayed where he was.

"Call your aunt." He said. Not just said, it was really more of an order.

"And why would I do that?" I asked incredulously.

"Do it. You know why." He didn't budge an inch.

I put my backpack on the floor and sat on the couch. "What's gotten into you?" I asked, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV.

Pipit walked in front of me and hit the power button. He kept his intense stare. "Do it."

Now I was becoming irritated. "What's your problem?"

"I kept getting calls today, once during an midterm." He said, crossing his arms, but never breaking eye contact. "I could've gotten an immediate fail. This has to stop. Call her."

"Why don't you just tell her to leave you alone?" I ask, standing up to meet his eye. "And why did you even have your phone on during a test? Put it on silent or something, moron."

"Why the hell don't you just talk to her?" Pipit began raising his voice.

"Because I already know what she'll say!" I said, matching him.

Pipit kept glaring for a few seconds, but eventually sighed angrily and walked back to the kitchen. It's a good thing he did, we were on a bad path for a second there. He walked to the sink and turned on the faucet. Pipit is a bit odd, in that washing dishes helps him calm down. He says doing a mundane action lets his mind focus and helps him relax.

"If you already know what she's going to ask, shouldn't you have a proper answer?" He asked, already quieting down.

"Not one she'll want to hear." I say, sitting back down.

We were both quiet for a few minutes, only the sound of running water to chase away the still air. Eventually Pipit said, "It wouldn't kill you to visit the hospital once."

I stood up. "Unfortunately." Was all I said before I walked out the door.

I didn't have to work for another hour and a half, and I didn't have any place in mind to visit, so I just kept walking. I wanted to be anywhere that wasn't my apartment. For a place that still feels like home, it's still a source of unwanted stress. Rent, Pipit, Aunt Impa… Right now that place holds everything I don't want to deal with.

I went to the bus stop. I figured I would just ride it for a little bit, get off at some random stop, then take the opposite bus back up here. While I was waiting, I couldn't help but look around to see if Zelda was around. I don't know why she would be, part of me was just hopeful.

As I was thinking about what I would even say if she showed up, the bus came by. Getting on, it was a bit of an odd feeling. The bus I usually take at night felt almost like a second home. I shook my head, realizing how silly that sounded. But there were always the same people, the same sights, it was familiar. This time I was getting on a bus with people I didn't recognize. A lot of people I didn't recognize. A lot of people in general!

As I stepped on and saw no open seats, I remembered I had just gotten on during the rush. The people leaving work and all trying to get home at the same time. I could get more than 3 steps down the aisle before I had to just turn around, grab the railing, and stand there.

This was a stupid idea. Why did leave? I knew if I got off now I would look like an idiot, so I rode the bus for four stops. Once I got off, I immediately crossed the street and waited at the bus stop. Thankfully nobody was around to see my mistake and the bus came after just a few minutes.

I quickly went in and took my seat in back. I stared straight ahead of me, when I noticed the old man. The same old man that was usually on my ride home was here on this bus, a bus headed in the opposite direction. Same seat and everything. I couldn't help but look at him, wondering why he was here.

What do you think their stories are? Have you learned any of their names?

Zelda's words rang in my head. For once, I was actually curious. Why was he here? What was his name?

I don't know what it was that drove me to do it, but I found myself standing up and walking over to him. I heard Zelda's voice the entire trip over to him. I took the seat right beside him. He slightly turned his head to me and gave me a small, polite smile.

"Say son, aren't you usually off the bus by now?" He asked me.

I guess in and off itself, that statement could be rather creepy. But the fact that I was thinking the same thing about him, coupled with his incredibly friendly demeanor made it seem more inviting.

I grinned a bit. "Yeah, I'm usually off by Hylia. I was actually wondering the same about you, though. Aren't you supposed to be off by now?"

He gave a small, raspy chuckle. "I'm on my way home now." He shifted so he was facing me slightly, but still had his hands resting on his cane in front of him. "What's your name, son?"

"Link."

"Link, we see each other every day, don't we? Or just about." He grunted.

"Yeah, we do." I said, not quite sure why I came over here in the first place. I didn't have much to say.

He took his right hand off his cane and held it out for me. "How rude of me, I never introduced myself. I'm Rauru."

I shook his hand. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. Link, when I'm on your bus, I'm going downtown. My son, his name is Auru, lives down there with his family. I try to see my grandson as often as I can."

I smiled at him. "That's great."

Rauru nodded slowly. "Yeah, it really is. See, I wasn't the greatest father to Auru. Ol' Rauru here wasn't home much to spend time with his son. By the time I realized how big my mistake was, Auru had already gone. I'm trying to make up for lost time, you know?"

"I see." Not sure if I would be over stepping my boundaries by asking further.

He grunted again. "What's great about it is that Auru is willing to still be part of his life. And now I want to be there for his son and help him out whenever he needs me." I nodded in understanding. "So yeah, usually I'm off the other bus, but now I'm going back home after spending time with my family. And this bus is where I'm supposed to be."

Hylia Drive came up on the upcoming stop screen.

Rauru began laughing. "Listen to me, chatting your ear off, talking only about myself. I believe it's your stop, Link."

I looked at the sign. I wanted to stay, even though I wasn't saying much. I just wanted to listen to what Rauru had to say. But I had to get back to the apartment, even if I still had an hour to kill.

"Oh, right." I stood up, but turned to face Rauru. I smiled at him. "It was a pleasure meeting you Rauru."

The kind old man nodded. "Feel free to talk anytime."

I stepped into Telma's, ready for work. Some of the regulars were already there, chatting away. When they saw me walk in, they waved. Some of them already seemed a bit tipsy, Darunia in particular.

"Link!" They yelled at me.

I smiled. "Hey guys."

Telma was behind the bar and whirled around to face the door. "Honey, I'm glad you made it. I've got a lot of calls to return, so you're up." She handed me a towel to dry the glasses, and went straight into her office.

I went behind the bar to talk to the barflies. So far, Darunia, Mikau, Ashei, and Shad had shown up. Darunia was a big, muscular guy, which he believed meant that he was able to handle more alcohol than the others, but he was usually gone after four bottles. Mikau was really only a social drinker. When it was just me and him left in the building, he switched to water. Ashei wasn't your typical girl in a bar. She wasn't there to meet up with her girlfriends or anything, she was there to hold her own with the guys. And more often than not, she beat them. Shad seldom drank at all. In fact, I'm not even sure how he started coming here, he was a regular here before I even started.

"No Rusl today?" I asked them.

Ashei shook her head. "No, his son is in a school play or something."

"I believe they're doing a Carlov Figuro piece." Shad added.

"Right, cuz we all know who that is!" Darunia said loudly.

I laughed. "How much has he had?"

Mikau held up two fingers. "Two so far. Give him a few more and he'll be out."

"Hey Link, drink with us!" Darunia yelled.

I shook my head. We were already having this conversation. It happened every night. "I'm not 21, remember?"

Darunia gave me an incredulous look. "Well, so what? Have one!"

"One more year, then I can join you." I said, picking up a glass to wipe.

"Ah Link, so responsible." Ashei said. I assumed she was mocking me, but she kept a straight face.

"It's rather odd that you can be old enough to serve the drinks, but not old enough to actually drink them." Shad said.

I nodded slightly. "Plus, I'm working. Don't want to upset the boss."

"Do you really think she'd mind?" Mikau asked, grinning.

I laughed. We had really shallow conversation for most of the night. Talking about our days, funny stories we remembered. Darunia ended up going home first, which usually happened. Mikau walked him home, as Darunia's house was only a block away, then came back to join us.

"…So then this lunatic ends up screaming at the bus driver from outside the bus about how he's going to bring the moon down from the sky!" Ashei said, laughing. She was probably buzzed, but it's the farthest I've ever seen her go.

"Did the driver do anything?" Mikau asked.

"Nah, he just continued with his route." She told us. "I tell you, there are some interesting people on this city's public transit."

I nodded. My thoughts immediately went to Zelda. She wasn't crazy, but she certainly was interesting. She said she was usually friendlier, but so far the only conversations I've had with her were remarkably impactful. She was friendly, but not in the usually smile and make small talk way. Something about her was different.

"Hey guys, if you were given the option to know your future, would you take it?" I asked them.

"What?" Mikau asked.

"If you could get a glimpse of your life, like 10 years from now or something, would you do it?"

They took a second to let the question sink in.

"I don't know, probably." Mikau said.

Ashei nodded. "Yeah, couldn't hurt."

Shad thought a little while longer, but eventually nodded. "I suppose if my seeing the future wouldn't change its outcome, yes. Why do you ask?"

I looked down at the counter. "I met a girl on the bus who asked me the same thing."

I was expecting drunken coos of how I met a girl, but surprisingly that didn't happen.

"So what'd you say?" Ashei asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I still don't."

"Eh, you're young, no need to worry about the future." Mikau said. Of the four of us left, he was the oldest, but he still couldn't have been older than 30. "Who was the girl?"

"Just somebody I met on the bus. Her name's Zelda."

Mikau and Shad just nodded, but Ashei spoke up. "I went to a high school with a Zelda. Well, sort of. She was a freshman when I was a senior, so I didn't see her much, but yeah."

"Blonde hair, blue eyes?" I asked her.

Ashei had a thoughtful face on. "Yeah, I think so."

I knew that that wasn't enough to go off of, but it could've been her. "I wonder if it's the same girl."

Ashei shrugged and took a sip of her drink. "Possible. She could've easily gotten into Hyrule U. Talk about a girl who had her life on track." I leaned in to hear what Ashei had to say. "Even as a freshman, this girl was top of her class. She was in softball and soccer, was looking into colleges, she was just on the ball."

I stood up straight began washing another glass.

"I remember her name coming up recently." She said. I stopped washing and look at her, curious. She seemed to really be thinking hard. "Crap, I can't remember why. But I'm pretty sure something pretty big happened with her. I was talking to a friend of mine about it." I waited to see if she would add more, but eventually she said, "Whatever, doesn't matter."

I wanted to argue it did, but it was really just my own nosiness. There's no guarantee it was even the same person.

The night ended without any problems. I went back home, knowing I'd have to get up in just a few hours. I wondered who Zelda really was. What made her so scared of the future? Why did she pick me to talk about this stuff with? And what was it about her that had me so interested?