Choices
-0-Crimson-0-Nightshade-0-
Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Zelda… or the awesomeness that is Dark Link.
Summary: Zelda must make a decision, a decision that she must make for the good of Hyrule. But how will the best decision sit with her heart? (DLxZel)
Notes: HOLY CRAP!! Why on EARTH haven't I written this yet??? UGH. The start of this was actually written on the plane to my grandparent's house, XD. As usual, thank my Dear Beta, Crimson Kaoru!! She deserves so much for putting up with my sporadic updates. I'm so so soooo sorry for the ridiculously long wait! If you guys still read this, I'll be a happy person. ; I'll try my best to write the next Chapter as fast as I can! ;
o0o0o0o0o0o
The next day was when Zelda realized that there was a slight flaw in the plans she and Dark had made.
They had forgotten to say when or where they would be meeting.
So now, here she was, feeling like a complete idiot sitting in the courtyard occasionally looking through the window to watch the Gerudo King. By the time the sun was high in the sky, she had just about decided to give up entirely when someone entered the courtyard. She sprang to her feet, excited, but quickly felt the smile fade from her face.
It wasn't Dark. If anything, this boy was about as far removed from the shadow boy she had befriended as possible. Instead of Dark's transparent grey skin, this boy's skin was darkly tanned. His eyes were amber instead of red, and his hair was crimson. He wore a vest with familiar blue and red symbols, and flowing pants. Around mid calf the pants were tied tight with bandages that led to whimsically curved shoes. It took Zelda a few seconds to realize why the symbols were so familiar; they were sown all over Ganondorf's clothing!
He was a Gerudo!
This confused the young princess, A Gerudo boy she thought. But aren't all Gerudo's—with the exception of Ganondorf—women?
"Who are you?!" Zelda demanded. "What are you doing here? How did you get past the guards?"
The boy, who had been looking at the plants, turned towards her, and—to Zelda's shock—looked exactly like Link and Dark. He smiled a bit slyly. "Don't you recognize me?" He paused for a moment, looking down at his appearance. "Well, I do look kinda different, don't I?"
Zelda's jaw dropped. She recognized that voice.
"Dark?!"
"The one and only!" Dark grinned mischievously and bowed mockingly to her. Zelda felt a grin identical to Dark's spread across her face.
"How… what happened? Y-you look like—"
"Like a Gerudo?" His grin widened. "Good! I'm supposed to. I guess my spell worked!" Seeing the puzzled look on Zelda's face, Dark sighed and began to explain. "You see, where I'm taking you today," he paused, grimacing slightly, "well, I don't really want to draw too much attention to us, so having, you know, grey skin isn't really gonna help.Plus, being Ga—" he winced, "being a Gerudo, I fit right in like this!"
Zelda eyed him suspiciously. "Where exactly are we going, Dark?"
An innocent little smile played across Dark's face, "Why, I'm taking you to the Market Town a'course!"
"What?!" Zelda thundered, "I'm not allowed to go to the Market Town!"
"Exactly why I'm taking you! If we get caught, I'll take the blame!" Dark smiled widely holding out a hand. "You coming?"
Zelda looked at him skeptically. "Dark, just because you take the blame doesn't mean I won't get in trouble."
Dark waved his hand dismissively at her pessimistic view on the situation. "Eh, just say I kidnapped you or something. I'll be fine if you use that—Father's gotten me out of way worse…" He shook his head. "But, really, I doubt we'll get caught. You're gonna be in disguise too!" The shadow boy smiled mischievously. "Come on!" He grabbed her hand and started running towards the darkened wall.
"D-Dark? What are you doing?!"
"Just trust me, okay?"
"Dark! We're going to crash into that wall!"
"No, we're not! Just watch!"
Ignoring Zelda's pleas, they continued to run straight towards the wall. Just when they were about to crash, Zelda covered her eyes, but instead of running into Dark, she felt like she was running through water for a moment.
"Hey, Princess? You can open your eyes now," Dark murmured, a mischievous smile on his face.
Pouting slightly, Zelda opened her eyes. Somehow, in some inexplicable way, they were inside the castle. Falling over backwards with a cry of distress, she backed away from Dark, looking around in shock.
"What?!" she began shrilly. "How are we—what—did we just—"
As she continued to babble, Dark leaned over and gently put his hand to her mouth, effectively silencing her.
"I'm a shadow, remember? I can get through walls, as long as there are other shadows there to help me out!" A cocky grin was plastered on his face, and Zelda resisted the urge to burst out laughing.
"W-well, you could have told me."
"Eh, it was more fun this way." Dark started walking off to the right, keeping close to the wall. "You coming?" he called over his shoulder.
Zelda sighed and ran after him, grinning fondly. After a few minutes of walking, she stopped abruptly as Dark turned around. He had a calculating expression on his face and he proceeded to examine her dress. "Dark," she muttered, embarrassed, "what are you doing?"
"I can't smuggle you out in that dress," he said, "even if I could, someone in town would probably recognize you immediately."
Raising an eyebrow, Zelda looked at him incredulously. "You aren't suggesting that I get a new dressare you?"
A huge and mischievous grin spread across Dark's face. "No, no. I already have a new dress for you… follow me."
Confused, Zelda nodded"Alright."
"Good." And with that, he grabbed her hand and walked through the wall again. But this time, they didn't end up outside of the palace. Instead, they appeared in a wing of the castle that Zelda didn't come to often. It was by far not the most lavish hallway in the castle, but it wasn't overly plain either. The walls were whitewashed with red and gold accents. The only other thing in the hall was a heavy looking wooden door off to one side. "Wait here, I'll be right back," he called as he turned and slipped through the wall.
Zelda sighed, grinning after the little shadow boy. He was just so spur of the moment that it was hard not to like him. Within a few moments, Dark had appeared once again, holding a rather pretty soft blue dress with golden triangle patterns.
Zelda raised an eyebrow. "Where did you get that?"
Dark grinned rather sheepishly and began to rub the back of his head. "Well, see, there was this merchant—"
"You stole it?!"
He shrugged slightly. "I wouldn't say stole—"
"You stole it," she said, anger rising.
He held his hands up as if in defense. "Hey! I didn't steal it. Even if I had, no one would have seen me." A crooked smile appeared on his face. "After all, I am a Gerudo!"
There was a brief silence. Quickly realizing Zelda's lack of amusement, Dark returned to the tactic of reassuring her.
"Look," he said, one hand nervously playing with his hair, "I just walked over to the merchant, said 'Hey! That's a nice dress!' and the guy practically threw it at me, shrieking things about it being free! Okay?"
Zelda sighed, defeated. "Alright, if you say so."
"Put it on," was his only reply.
The princess blinked. "Well, I can hardly change when you're standing right there, Dark."
He rolled his eyes, "I meant in the room!" he said, exasperated. "Youjust can't believe that I'm an honorable Gerudo, can you?"
She frowned at him. "Well, it's not my fault. I was raised not to trust Gerudos. Especially not their men," she said, a small but mischievous smile on her face.
Dark sighed, smiling as well. "Look, I can change your opinion of my people later, would you just get the dress on? I want to get out of here before noon."
Zelda nodded and took the dress into the room with her. She changed quickly and came back out to see Dark waiting, tapping his foot impatiently. "Well," she asked"w-what do you think?"
Dark looked over at her, his eyes widening. The dress fit her perfectly. To Zelda's surprise a blush slowly crept across his face. He fumbled for words"You… you look… kind of pretty."
Zelda smiled and spun around."You think so? Thanks a lot!" She turned towards the wall. "Alright then! Let's go!"
"Hold on."
Zelda turned and looked at him, feigning annoyance. "Oh, so one second you're all, 'hurry, hurry!' and the next, you want me to hold on?"
Dark smiled sheepishly. "I just want to make one adjustment." Reaching towards her, he pulled her headdress off. Smiling,he said, "There! Now there's no way anyone could recognize you!" He held out a hand. "Ready to go to the Market Town?"
Zelda smiled brightly, nodding. "You bet I am!" She took his hand and walked through the wall with him, into the bright sunlight. She didn't see it, but for a second, Dark winced, his true looks showing through his disguise. Within a few seconds however, his father's spell to ward off sunlight had taken hold, and he looked like a Gerudo once more.
He pulled in front and smiled at Zelda."This is your first time outside the palace, without guards breathing down your neck, isn't it?"
Zelda raised an eyebrow. "No. I go out all the time. I go through the gardens, I ride my horse with Impa… I mean, I've tried to sneak out to the Market town a few times… but, this'll really be the first time I've made it all the way to town for more than maybe an hour." She smiled widely.
Dark nodded and ran off in the direction of the town calling to her over his shoulder, "Last one there has to buy lunch!"
Zelda laughed and ran after him. As she caught up, she thought about what he had said. That hardly seemed fair. She was royalty after all. Shouldn't he have to pay?
o0o0o0o0o0o
"'Oi! You are going to pay, aren't you?" the gruff voice of the merchant shouted. Zelda frozelooking rather annoyed. All she had done was taken a pastry! She had left the money on the counter. Why was he so upset? The merchant crossed his thick arms and frowned at her. "Well, little missy? Where's my money?!" Zelda flushed with anger. Little missy?! She was a princess! She shouldn't have to put up with this!
"For your information—" She was cut off as Dark stepped in front of her. His presence had an instant effect on the man. His face turned into a mask of terror, and he backed away slightly.
"If you notice, sir, she left the money on your counter," Dark said, his tone cold, and clipped like a perfect Gerudo. He had always had the accent of a Gerudo, he simply had changed his tone. Zelda glanced at him. With that slight change in his voice, she would have thought it was Ganondorf if she didn't see Dark right in front of her.
The merchant's voice took on an unctuous tone as he tried to save his skin from this little Gerudo boy. "No, no, sir! You are a guest of Hyrule! Your friend there can have it! She can have it for free!" He smiled, trying too hard to be friendly.
Dark smiled tightly. "Why, thank you so much," he put his arm around Zelda's shoulders and snatched her money back off of the counter, "now, I want all of your merchant friends to know that she's with me. Do you understand?" The merchant nodded quickly. Dark pulled her back into the street.
Zelda shrugged out of his grip. "What was that all about? You went Gerudo on him!"
Dark rolled his eyes, his usual smile returning."Well, he was asking for it!" he said, his voice back to a carefree Hylian. The accent remained, but that had always been there. "Besides, we get free food now! Now we can spend the money I brought on games and stuff!"
"Games?" Zelda replied,incredulous. She didn't know all that much about the many games scattered around town.
Dark's grin widened. "Come on!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her in the direction of the Bombchu bowling alley.
A few minutes, and a few spent rupees later, Dark and Zelda stood ready to start their bowling game. Zelda held a Bombchu nervously. She raised an eyebrow and looked at the shopkeeper, a teen who clearly wished for the day to be over. "Are you sure this isn't illegal?" Zelda asked.
The teen regarded her skeptically. "Well, of course not!"
"But we're—"
Dark cut her off. "What? So we're blowing a few things up. There's no harm in it! Look," he pointed at the alley, "do you see a single living thing in there?"
"Well… no, but…"
"Trust me, it's just a game!" To show her it was fine, he dropped his Bombchu on the ground facing the alley. Instantly it shot off towards the target. It climbed across the floor and up the wall with ease, quickly connecting with the target mark. When it hit, the wall exploded revealing the next level.
"See? No harm in it! Now, you try!"
Zelda's already pale face blanched. Dark made it look so easy… but it couldn't be that simple. She gulped and gently placed her Bombchu in front of the alley. It took off,sending sparks across the ground. The moving bomb slammed with the target, effectively destroying the wall.
For a moment, there was silence in the room. Zelda stood stock-still, staring at the remains of the wall.
Dark walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Zelda?" he asked,"are you alright?"
She turned her head to look at him. "I… I did it. I did it on my first try!" Her face was flushed with excitement. "Can I take the next shot, Dark? Please?"
Dark smiled. "Of course!" He held out a third Bombchu. "We can play for as long as you like."
o0o0o0o0o0o
It was starting to get late, and Dark was almost out of money. The two friends had won so many times at the bowling alley that the shopkeeper had begged them to leave. After that, they had moved onto the shooting gallery, where Dark had shown his prowess with a bow. He had won her a little Keaton doll. The fox doll's nine tails bounced merrily as the two headed in the direction of the back alley.
"I still can't believe you hit two octorocks with one arrow, Dark," Zelda exclaimed, "but you know you didn't have to get me this;you could have gotten a bow for yourself!"
Dark smiled, waving his hand dismissively. "Eh, I can get a bow whenever I want. This is special."
Zelda smiled warmly. Going out for a day with Dark had been a brilliant idea. It was so nice to wander the stalls and houses without being under an adult's constant eye. This was the most fun she had had in a long time. She sighed happily, relaxing as she looked towards the palace.
o0o0o0o0o0o
End Chapter
YAY!! TITANIC CHAPPIE!!! dances happily I did it! I did it! I did it!! WOO. Three Chapters done! I usually only get two out before I give up on a story! XD I'm so proud! Hope you liked the chapter, 'cause I sure did!
And after all of the slash and burning editing this went through, it had better be good!
w
Next time:
A heart-to-heart