Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series or the Characters.

Chapter 20: Emotions

Rose and I dated each other for a year and a half. We had a really great time together, and I was starting to develop strong feelings for her. I've never felt that way before, so I must admit, it scared me. Sometimes when I was alone, I questioned the strength of our relationship. I didn't question it because I thought that either one of us could be unfaithful to one another; I knew that we both would never do that. I questioned it because I was afraid. I felt that I didn't deserve Rose; she was too good to me. I felt that I shouldn't weigh her down with my own imperfections. But whenever I thought in this way, I'd think about how much we cared for one another, and then I'd forget about it. This time was different. I knew that I deeply cared for her, but she had to go home to Nikitre. That day was pretty sad for me.

I gave Marie a hug. "I'm going to miss you, Marie."

"I'm going to miss you too, Link! It'll be weird not having you with us." She said sadly.

I nodded in accord and went up to Rose. "I'm going to miss you…so much." I gave her a hug and a quick kiss.

"I'm going to miss you very much as well." Tears started to flow from her eyes and I used my finger to gently wipe them away. She gave me a big hug.

"Be safe. I don't want you hurt." I said.

"Don't worry. I'll be alright." She smiled. I looked over at Marie who was over a few yards away talking to and petting Epona. Rose quickly got my attention again. "Link…"

"Yeah?" I said, looking into her eyes.

"I…" She paused for a long time. "I thought about us…I want us to still be together, and I know we can be. It would just have to be a long-distance relationship. I know that no matter what, we'll always be friends, but I want us to still be a couple, too."

"I do, too." I said. "I think that sounds great…but we'll have to try our best to visit one another as often as possible."

"We can do that!" She smiled sweetly.

I waved goodbye as they left and shortly after, they were out of sight. I felt terrible. I contemplated about our "long-distance relationship" all of that afternoon and all through the night. I began talking to myself. "But she's a princess. And obviously I'm not a prince. We won't really work out in the long run, especially because her father will never accept me as her boyfriend. She needs to be with a prince." That next day I called her on my orb.

She answered happily. "How's my man doing?"

"I'm good." I said. "How's my lady doing?"

"Good."

"I need to talk to you about this face to face, but you're too far away already to do that."

"Ok." She said.

"I don't…" I had extreme difficulty getting the words out. "I don't feel like we're working out."

"Huh?" she said with a confused tone. "What do you mean?"

I was trying to hold back tears. Midna looked worried for me. "Just a second." I said to Rose. I covered the reciever and turned towards Midna. "I…" I took a deep breath because my voice was breaking. "I need to talk about this with Rose alone."

"Ok." Midna answered. She left the room.

I uncovered the receiver. "I don't deserve you…and I need to be honest. You need to be with a prince, not with me. I don't deserve to care about you in a way that's more than a friend. Why should I keep you from loving someone that deserves you?"

"Link…this is silly." She cried. "I don't care if you're a prince or not! I'm still going to care for you in the same way. Nothing can change that."

I have to think of a way to break up with her so she can find a man worthy of her. "I…I don't truly care about you in the way you care about me." I just want to be friends." I lied. "I don't have time for a relationship, anyway. I need to focus on my work. So I'd like to end it…Friends?" There was no answer. "Rose?" She had hung up. I was sad about it, but I figured that I did the right thing. Now I couldn't hold her back. Now she had the opportunity to fall in love with a man of her dreams.

(Note: Rose tells the story.) I couldn't believe it…I was hurt so badly. I was mad at Link. I mean, I thought he felt the same way for me as I felt for him. I should've talked to him before I left and told him how I felt. Now he's lost interest. I cried after I hung up the receiver. I went to the pond to wash my face so Marie wouldn't see, but I couldn't stop crying. I went back to the campground with tears in my eyes. "Are you ready to go, Marie?"

"Yeah." She said, looking at me. She looked disturbed almost instantly. "What's wrong?"

"I can't hide it from you, huh? Link and I…we…we broke up…"

"Huh? Why?"

"He doesn't care about me in a way that's more than a friend." I looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry…" Marie replied sadly. "We'll still be friends with him and talk to him, right?"

"I don't know, Marie…he broke my heart." Tears swelled in my eyes.

"Oh." She frowned. "I guess fairytales don't happen, huh?"

"I don't know anymore…" I sighed depressingly.

We stayed silent as we packed up our stuff. We then loaded our packs into the carriage and continued towards Nikitre. I cried for so long and so often that I can't put a number of hours to it. I don't think I'll see or talk to Link for a long time…or maybe never again, which makes me sad. Nothing much happened for the rest of the trip home.

Once we were home a few days later, Marie and I went to go say hello to everyone. Tyler came up to me. "So…how did dating Link go?"

I was shocked. "You knew?"

He nodded. "Yep."

"Does father know?"

"Yeah…father knows, and he doesn't like it at all." He looked serious. "He told me that he wanted to 'have a few stern words with you' when you came home."

"It's alright." I said, looking down at the floor to hide my sadness. "We aren't dating anymore."

"By the way you're acting, something went wrong. What happened?" He asked.

"I don't know…the relationship was going really well. And then Link just said suddenly 'I don't deserve you. You deserve a Prince, not me. I don't feel for you in a way that's more than a friend. Let's end it.' It broke my heart…and I don't know why he did it."

"Oh." Tyler said. "He's right by saying that you deserve a Prince; you're supposed to be with a Prince. This is why royalty dates only royalty, not common-folk like Link." He looked at me. "But something bothers me. Treating you like crap like he did…that's not normally like him. I wonder what's wrong."

"I do, too." I said forlornly.

A couple of days passed. One day my father came up to me to have a father-daughter talk. "I know it makes you sad…this whole thing with Link. It's for the best, though."

"Perhaps it is." I said.

"I have a proposal." He said. "Why don't we forget about Link and find you a real man? A Prince!"

"I…I don't know." I said to him. "I don't think I'm—"

"Nonsense! Of course you're ready! It'll help you recover from this dilemma. That, and compared to your brother, you're quite late for finding the spouse that you'll share the throne with."

"Alright." I said. "I'll do it."

"Ok. But we don't have enough time for you to have a very long relationship…you have waited too long for that. I've already taken the liberty of finding a few takers. We'll have to see who turns out to be the best man for you."

"Ok." I said, feeling a little down. Strangely enough, however, I felt a little more at ease than I did before. It felt like starting over; a new slate when it came to relationships. "When will I see the candidates?"

"They're coming here tomorrow. So dress in your best clothes and look pretty!" He told me.

"Ok. I understand." I replied.

The next day was absolutely insane. I met a lot of men and they were all quite interested in me. A few of them were very odd and they scared me, so they were easy to eliminate. I was down to three men…this wasn't what I had in mind, but ok...So basically I was picking my future spouse tonight, we'd go on a couple of dates, and then we'd get married within less than 3 months…ok…It was between a really nice man named Shon, a man named Erick, and a man named Thomas. Thomas and Erick were a little odd, and not my type. I really liked Shon, and I thought he was a sweet man. So, since I had to pick, I picked him.