Here I am, again asking for your forgiveness... every time I forget about this fic something reminds me of it, it's like it's getting thrown back at me so I can finish it. I made a vow, I will finish it, no matter what... I just re-read and corrected a few things on the first two chapters and I really hope you find reading the rest of it worthwhile =)

without further ado...

Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda… now THAT is sad =(

Chapter 3

-The Royal Family-

She walked slowly, head high into the grand room.

That was probably the way a princess should always walk but she really didn't care. Today she was holding the act though, as she knew perfectly her mother would soon question her about her whereabouts the day before, when she should have been in the meeting between the nations. She sighed. She hadn't been born for those kinds of things. If only one person could choose what they would do and who they would be... But she guessed they could... she just happened to be lucky enough to have royal blood.

She stopped the moment she laid eyes on her mother. She was wearing her royal attire, with her hair pulled up in a bun. It was a white silk under gown with a slightly different tone of white sleeveless over shirt. On top of that there was a pearl corset that showed her her mother's frame had grown thinner and gloves the same pearl shade that came up to her elbows. On top of her delicately fixed hair was the crown that symbolized her status, carefully made of crimson velvet and gold with the most expensive kind of rubies that once had been brought up from the Goron couldn't help but think that color didn't bring out the best in her mother's features. She had seen portraits and pictographs of her mother in a white and pink gown which she thought looked splendid, but the Queen insisted in only using that pearl shade ever since she could remember.

Zelda was mixing a tea infusion and still hadn't noticed her standing next to the far ending of the table. She seemed to be deep in thought, her eyes seemed almost sad, and the young princess didn't fail to notice she also looked really tired.

Amazing

It seemed the Three Goddesses hadn't heard her prayers that her mother wake up that morning in a good mood. If she looked tired and deep in thought, she had probably been up most of the night pacing around her private garden thinking about some urgent matter of the Kingdom.

Selene looked down at her own clothes. She was dressed in her rich dark blue gown, with her auburn hair tightly pulled into a white and dark blue head dress. There was white over garment hanging with rich embroidered designs She couldn't help but hope her charade was going to work, that her mother would be pleased to see her fully dressed as the dress code for Hyrule's princess insisted. She hated that stupid head dress, but maybe Zelda would be to taken by it as to forget her absence the day before. If there was something Selene hated almost as much as being a princess, it had to be dressing like one. The clothes she had to wear were heavy and uncomfortable, she would much rather just wear a simple tunic and pants. The acting she didn't mind much, she actually had considered if she would've like to be a performer and join the local theatre company if she hadn't being already attached to things more important.

She looked back at Zelda. Her relationship with her mother had always been tricky. It was even as if her mother didn't really like her... the moment she thought that her mother looked up fixing gazes with her. She slowly bowed to the Queen of Hyrule, she always did that to get her mother mad and since she was almost positive the head dress wouldn't work it's charms... she made her way to a chair to the left of her mother, who sat in head of the table. Before she could pull the chair herself, a servant quickly did it for her. Another thing she hated, never being able to do the simplest things herself.

"Where were you last night?" Zelda asked her daughter, just as she sat at the breakfast table.

"What do you mean, mother? I was at the…" she started, but was cut off by Zelda's annoyed voice.

"You know what I mean. Don't play stupid around me." said Zelda, as she buttered a piece of toast.

Selene bit her lower lip, trying to think... what was she going to say?

"But I was…"

"Where were you, Selene?" Zelda asked again, while slowly taking a piece of the buttered toast to her mouth. "You were late and I wasn't the only one who noticed. Your father came up to me asking where you were, and I couldn't answer since none of the castle maids seemed to know, not even your brother! Now tell me... Now."

It was amazing how her mother could forcefully speak to her without raising her voice in the slightest. She always thought it was a good quality for a leader. She knew what she was going to say, she smirked as she, too, picked a piece of toast and placed on the plate before her.

"I was riding, exploring, hunting for treasure… I happened to find a hidden underwater temple, I just wish I could hold my breath underwater a little longer…" the young seventeen-year-old said calmly, taking now a pear from the huge front bowl and placing in on a plate that sat next to the one with the toast.

"I don't have time for jokes, Selene." Zelda told her, but she could hear her mother's words let a hint of worry show. She gently looked deep into her mother's eyes, studying them. Was her mother worried about her? That would have to be a first...

"What is the use of telling you anything if you won't believe me?" continued the girl, a smile playing on her lips. She could tell her mother wouldn't believe her by her dangerous glare.

"Go to your room… Selene, just do as I say..." she whispered seriously.

Selene knew she was really being serious and decided to follow her orders, but not before deciding for the pear instead of the toast in her plate and swiftly getting up from the table. She didn't actually enjoy small talk with her mother and she was sure Zelda felt the same. They were just too different to get along. Her mother loved everything she despised. From the maids doing everything for her, the long and heavy dresses, the feasts, the way royalty was supposed to act, and most of all her crown. She walked fast through the dining room, but not before looking back at her mother.

"You know... I am actually surprised you noticed I was gone... it's not like you usually notice me, the both of you..." she said, her throat clenching at the truth behind those words. She continued walking out and through the corridors that led to her bedchamber.

They really didn't care about her, all they cared about was that they showed the people from Hyrule and other nations that they were a normal and loving family, but that was exactly the opposite of what they really were...

...

As those last words slipped out of her daughter's lips as she left the dining room, she felt as if her lungs failed. With each day that passed, the girl became more and more of a problem for her… She was nothing like her brother, who was the perfect son, the one any mother would die to have. He was handsome and kind; he would be a great king…

But she couldn't accept Selene felt that way. As if she didn't care about her... She had been up all night, pacing in her private garden thinking about her. She was so different, and yet she reminded her so much of herself. The way she hated certain protocols around the castle, how she only wanted to live her life. Though Zelda didn't like those things, she loved her kingdom and it's people. She would never imagine doing anything else that wasn't to rule. Maybe, a long time ago she had had doubts, doubts that had to do with a long lost friend. But her first duty would've always been her country, she knew that. And that's why she had married Friedrich, a good man but not someone she loved, but who had helped her rule. The problem was, Zelda though, Selene would never accept the duties of the kingdom, she was too much of a free spirit.

And she had heard rumors around the castle...

Zelda sighed, leaning her chin on her hand. She looked at the long, rectangular table, which was covered with a gold embroidered cloth. It didn't contrast a bit with the room's clear white marble floor, or with its icy walls. Hyrule castle's floor was all covered in white marble, and its walls were all that icy shade of white. It had great richness in detail, though. There were beautiful paintings of Hyrule's most famous artists and statues of all the old members of the Royal Family. In a way she understood her daughter. Everything was supposed to be so clear all the time when you were a public figure. If she only knew how to deal with her... she had never learnt on the past seventeen years...

Zelda looked at the room's door, as she heard footsteps, and smiled tiredly to the newcomer.

He was wore a white silk tunic underneath a leather sleeveless over shirt which was tied with a hand carved belt made of pure gold with Hyrule's crest that had been made specially to the crown prince of Hyrule. His untidy blonde hair was beginning to grow too long, but he was already a man and she could hardly say anything about it, even if she thought he should get rid of it. He smiled back at her, his light blue eyes bringing her peace. He could always manage that.

"Good morning, mother." said Zion, kissing her forehead, while a servant made her way to pull his chair.

He sat down at the place next to Zelda, before looking straight at his mother.

"Did you and Selene just argue again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow "I saw her storming to her room on my way here..."

Of course he had, and he would now speak for his sister like he always did. He would tell her she was hot headed and stubborn but she shouldn't worry half as much as she really did. She closed her eyes, they were very dry due to the sleepless night. She touched her son's hand, nodding slightly.

"Zion... your sister is without a doubt the most difficult situation that I ever had to face" And as she said that, she actually considered everything. Her fear for her daughter way in life.

"I have heard a rumor around the castle... Selene is seeing one of the castle guards... I can't stop thinking about this, do you know anything about this?" She wouldn't allow that. She wouldn't allow her daughter to fall in love with a commoner guard in order for him to leave her one day and go to war. She would never let that happen to her, not that... not what had happened to her.

"She is not seeing one of the castle guards, mother. And if she was, you don't need to be so alarmed, they are just people like us…" he told Zelda, half laughing at what he had just heard.

"Don't be so hard on her... you have been hard on her since she was born." he told her, taking his mother's hand from his and bringing it to his cheek.

It was impressive how he hadn't changed much from his early childhood to that day. Of course he had grown into a man now, but the same boyish grin still played on his adult face. Zelda sometimes felt like her son, and of course her daughter were her only reasons for living. She would be long gone if she hadn't them. And of course Selene mattered, even if she failed to see it. But Zion was the only one she could fully trust. He was loyal, she knew, and he truly cared for the kingdom, so she would always discuss everything regarding Hyrule with him. Zelda felt hot tears started to form in her eyes as she looked deeply into her sons familiar ones. She blinked twice and controlled it. This wasn't the time, or the place.

"She has been so difficult lately... today I tried speaking to her, tried asking her where she had been during the meeting, she just mumbled a ridiculous response she had been outside the castle..." She took her hand aways from her sons face, and returned it to the knife she was using to butter her toast, she had yet to finish breakfast and had to be in the court assembly in a few hours.

"She said that, did she?" he mumbled

"If she could only care for her obligations... if only she were more like you..." Zelda said, absentmindedly

"Mother, don't you see it? You can't expect Selene to be like me. That's what you are doing wrong… she may be a bit stubborn sometimes, but it's just part of who she is. She can't stand living in a cage, as she often tells me…She has a lot of qualities, I can't help but think you are just too blind to see them.." Zion told her, running a hand through his blonde mane.

Zelda decided to let it go. Maybe Zion was right. Maybe she was approaching Selene the wrong way. She would try speaking to her daughter again later that day, she couldn't think about that now.

The queen quickly finished her meal, before wishing her son a good day and making her way to the court room

...

The assembly had gone terribly wrong.

Zelda had stood before the council only to have them throw a bomb at her. Instead of lowering the Kingdom's taxes as she had planned, they wanted to charge higher taxes. To her immense displeasure, her husband seemed to agree with them. After three or maybe four painful hours, the council, which consisted of her late father's four most trustworthy men, had left them to talk, after the King had asked them to be alone with his wife. It was incredible, even with them being her father's trustworthy men, they had decided to side with Friedrich and not with her. They didn't even take in consideration what her father would have done in a situation like that.

Hyrule's King had an imposing figure. He was very tall and had a large build, the muscles that could be clearly seen through his red royal tunic were result of every day combat practice. His jet-black hair contrasted amazingly with his very fair skin, and his strong brown eyes exhaled maturity beyond a normal level for a ruler of his age. The crown on his head and the matching golden shoulder pads helped the women all over the kingdom have a soft spot for him.

He was indeed handsome. And she knew he got a lot of things he wanted by using his natural charm. But she knew he knew it would never work with her, and he didn't even bother to try a different approach. He wanted to impose the new law, as if she had no say in it. She knew she had lost her power of speech in the court room. Of course everyone would listen to what she had to say, but it was as if they only found it important if it was for the benefits of what they wanted. It was as if she was a little girl again, trying to convince her father that the honorable Gerudo king was in fact a vicious murder.

"I do not agree with it!" Zelda told her husband, after he finished his speech.

"Zelda, this has already been settled… the council agrees with it. Why can't you?" Friedrich asked her, staring at the ceiling with his growing impatience.

"But to take that amount of money from the people? You and the court know they pay enough taxes already..."

"We need to have extra rupees, Zelda! This temple is going to be a new hope for prosperity in Hyrule! Don't you want that? To give people hope?" he told her, running his fingers through his hair.

"You know we don't. You know we have already gathered more than enough funds to build the temple… What are you doing, Friedrich?" Zelda asked, locking gazes with her husband.

"I am the king! I can do whatever I want!" he told her suddenly, before realization came upon his face of what he had just said.

Zelda stared in disbelief. He had never acted that way around her, or her children. On the contrary, he had always been loyal to her convictions, he would never take them for granted. In their twenty years of marriage, he had been an excellent ruler. He wasn't the best of fathers, but still, he loved his children his own way. He had always loved Hyrule and the people...

"What did you just say?" Zelda asked him, her dark eyes blinking.

"I'm sorry, Zelda, I just lost it." he sighed looking tired. "You are too nice to people… Our kingdom will never grow if we don't start making improvements. And we can't possibly make any improvements if we don't have enough funds." he explained, trying to sound calm.

"What do you mean, Friedrich? We make improvements, but we can't make them with the people's expenses!" said Zelda, before sitting on one of the meeting chamber's brown chairs. "It's just wrong!"

"You know I respect your opinion Zelda, you know I do..." he told her, walking towards her chair and kneeling. He took her hand in his before continuing, she could tell by his face she wouldn't like what he was going to say next.

"I'm sorry, but I am the king here. And I am going to do whatever it takes in order to make my kingdom worthy of trust. If we make an alliance with Termina, maybe give Selene's hand to Mayor Kafei's son, we would be stronger than ever. Hyrule would reach a golden age! Could you imagine?"

It was as she had been slapped. She couldn't believe her ears. This was too much, Friedrich couldn't be paying attention to what he was saying.

"You can't possibly be serious?" Zelda's head was spinning, she pulled her hand free of his grip and stood up looking at the portrait of the ruling King and Queen of Hyrule that decorated one of the walls.

She had been but a child when she got married to Friedrich. It was true that their marriage had been good for her. It had been comforting in the most terrible and darkest times of her life. They had grown distant with time but still respected each other, and she was sure she would be the one to blame, she admitted she had become frigid. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for Selene. Of course it had been terrible for her, she truly believed that love was for a lifetime, and she had just lost that part of her, it was dead.

But Selene had never been in love.

Maybe if she met Thor... Maybe if they became friends... It would be hard at the beginning but Zelda new that affection could be constructed. She cared about Friedrich, cared deeply. Friendship was always the path to love, wasn't it? And it would free Selene's mind of her funny ideas. She would be married to a nice young man, who she was sure would never search for trouble, like her lost one used to. But she knew her daughter all too well...

"Selene would never accept this..."

"Like I said before, I am the king, and she doesn't have to accept it. She will marry Thor if that'll be the case… and she will be better of with him. You met him Zelda, he is a good kid..." he assured her.

"Excuse me sire, Lord Kafei has just arrived." interrupted a young, brunette girl.

"I'll be there in a moment, Kaisha." he told the maid before she left.

"What is Kafei doing here?" Zelda asked her husband, anger running through her veins.

So she didn't even have time to think about the matter, he had already decided all by himself. Zelda didn't want to force her daughter to anything. She had married Friedrich. Her father had been blissfully happy about their announcement, he did arrange that the black haired Outseti stayed as a guest at the castle for long periods of time. But in the end she chose him. Friedrich had been her choice, not anyone else's...

"We are going to settle this today." Friedrich told her before leaving her alone, with the company of her thoughts.

...

What was going on with her parents? Ask her to be a princess, alright. Behave like a princess, likewise. Dress as a princess, check. But it wasn't enough, was it? No! Because she couldn't possibly be a true princess without an arranged marriage! That was just plain wrong, and she wouldn't go through that.

"No, thank you..." Selene answered her mother's question. "How can you even ask me that, mother? To give up my life? To give up everything I ever dreamed of? To get married at seventeen to a man I have never even seen before?"

She could feel the moisture in her eyes but she wouldn't cry. She always knew the only one who cared about her was Zion, and yet everyday it seemed more and more difficult to live inside that castle knowing she was only a pawn in that huge chess game. Or maybe she should consider herself a precious stone, to be sold to the highest bidder.

She felt sick.

She knew arranged marriages were normal in royal courts, but she thought that he mother should know they never work, taking from her own experience with her father. Zelda and Friedrich were never really married in her eyes. She always though marriage was the bonding of two passionate souls that couldn't live without each other. The wedding feast, the paperwork, that was all rubbish.

She had never seen her parents look at each other meaningfully, she had never seen them stroll along her mother's private garden, hand in hand, whispering secrets to each other, or even laughing at the simplest things the other did. She knew that when people were in love, they would truly cherish the other, would find ordinary things amusing when they reminded them of their significant other. She had never felt that for anyone, but she had always been very fond of reading.

But her parents were never like that...

"You don't understand Selene… your father…" but the queen was quickly interrupted

"Please, don't finish that sentence! My father? When has he been my father? Biologically maybe, but a real father? Never in my life! And now he wants to be the perfect, loving father by making me marry so he can make an alliance with Termina… this is ridiculous…" she said as she paced in circles around her room, laughing mirthlessly.

"I'm sorry Selene, I'm sorry... But you are a princess. You were born to certain privileges, and with that comes obligations. You always have to think about your kingdom" Zelda told her

"I'm sorry, mother. I don't know what kind of speech he used to convince you that this 'plan' of his was right, but I'm not getting married to a complete stranger!"

"Selene, I'm trying to keep this family together when it's hanging by a thread... Thor is a very pleasant young man, once you meet him. I'm sure he will be nice to you; he will be a nice friend, he will be a good choice for the kingdom. Not everything is about love."

"Mother," said Selene, finally stopping at Zelda's left, her loose auburn hair seemed red in the candle light. "I want love, not friendship. I'm sure what your decision would be if you were in my place, but be sure of something... When I marry, it will be about love. How did your marriage work out for you?"

She was sure her mother would not be happy with her after that. But Zelda hardly looked at her. She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, then gave up. She saw her mother sighed, before turning to the door, not even looking at her.

"Selene, I'm very, very sorry... but this isn't a choice." Zelda said, before she made her way out of the room.

The young princess couldn't believe her mother's words. She could tell she had crossed the line, but that didn't mean she would make it up to her mother by sacrificing her life, marrying whoever they wanted her to marry. She had plans for herself. Plans that didn't include staying trapped inside a castle discussing the important matters of the kingdom, and living, breathing, speaking for the kingdom. She wanted to be her own person.

And she had decided the very moment her mother walked out the door, she would be her own person. She would be treated normally, as an equal, and not be looked at as some kind of deity. She would live her life, her life. Not the life that her parents where trying to plan for her.

She looked at herself in the mirror, she truly looked like her mother and dressed in her royal blue gown, and being taller than most Hylian women she had the same kind of imposing figure as her father. She stared deeply into her own hazel eyes as if asking herself if she was sure of what she was going to do. She could almost hear her reflexion say yes. She only needed to do one last thing...

...

Zelda couldn't believe it. What had she become? A ghost. A puppet. Yes. She did everything that was requested of her, most of the things against her own will. What had happened to the young, strong, wise girl that saved Hyrule?

She knew... she had died. Just like the hero did. Zelda felt tears in her eyes while she made her way through the empty halls of the castle. She only wished her children wouldn't suffer as much as she did, but then... in forcing Selene into an arranged marriage, would she be doing the right thing?

Aha !

I had promised this chapter for some people three days ago, my life was kind of in a rush though, but hey ! It's here now right? Sooo... what did you guys think? Please, Please, Please, Let me, Let me, Let me, Let me get what I want this time... REVIEWS ! Please ?

Thanks for reading ^^

your friend,

Lady Zelda F*