A/N: The update came slightly faster this time (albeit it still took a while). Enjoy!

Chapter 20: An Unrequited Crush?

Link:

I stood on the Triforce symbol in front of the waterfall that concealed the entrance to Zora's Domain. I had the Ocarina of Time in my hand, ready to play Zelda's lullaby so that we could gain entrance…

But I couldn't do it. Ruto scared me too much.

Ruto was the princess of the Zoras. In the alternate timeline, she fell in love with me when I helped her retrieve the Zora's Sapphire from the depths of the guardian deity, Jabu Jabu (quite possibly the most disgusting experience I ever had…). In the process of getting the sapphire, I also ended up saving her life. Afterwards, she tricked me into becoming her fiancée (in my defense, I was raised by a society that did not have marriage). Normally, something like that would have been dismissed as a childish fantasy. No way would she hang on to the thoughts of marriage all the way into her adult life…

Except that she did…

Since everything had been erased, I had hoped that I would never have to deal with Ruto or her fanatical fantasies again. And now here I am once again, getting ready to dive headfirst into this awkward situation. To be honest, I would much rather be fighting Volvagia again…

"Link!"

I jumped, startled by Zelda's sudden outburst. I turned to look at her and winced when I saw the look on her face.

"Are you going to open the path, or are you going to stand there all day?" she said impatiently. How long had I been zoned out?

I heard Cody shuffling behind me. "Pretty place, isn't it?" he commented.

"Yeah," Malon said, "very pretty."

"B-beautiful even."

"You guys aren't really helping…" I said.

"It is a pretty place, but I don't think that is the reason that Link is holding us up," Zelda stated pointedly.

"Well…" I just could not tell her that I did not want to see Ruto again, or worse, introduce her to them.

I have a terrible feeling that she is going to say something that I will regret…

Zelda sighed. "If you're not going to do it…" she said as she started reaching for her Lyre.

"I got it," I said quickly, bringing the ocarina up to my mouth. I started playing the song, Zelda's Lullaby. From what Impa had told me all those years ago, the song had been passed down through the Royal Family for generations. I never learned what the real name of the song was called. I just called it Zelda's Lullaby because Impa had told me that she played it to lull Zelda to sleep as a child.

The melody echoed throughout the rocky outcroppings. Before us, the waterfall began to part. Staring through the mist kicked up by the waterfall, the well-hidden entrance to the Zora's Domain was revealed to us.

I turned around and smiled, trying to conceal my nervousness. "Shall we go?"

Zelda narrowed her eyes, looking at me with suspicion, before leaping nimbly from the outcropping we were standing on to the entrance of the domain. I stared after her, a feeling of dread settling into the pit of my stomach, when I felt a hand clap me on the shoulder. I glanced over my shoulder to see that it belonged to Cody.

"Is something wrong man?" he asked.

I gave a nervous laugh, "No. Why do you ask?"

Cody rolled his eyes at me. "Well, to quote a saying we have back on Earth, you're about as subtle as a train wreck."

"You're going to have to explain to me what a train is later," I said with a sigh. I leapt across the way to the entrance. Behind me, I could hear Cody swearing about something…

Zora's Domain was just as beautiful as I remembered it. The Zoran habitat had been made inside a large cavern. Unlike Goron City, this place was filled with water. I could see the waterfall cascading down into the pool, and in the main pool next to the entrance there were many Zora swimming. Ahead of us was the gently curving ramp that would end up taking us to where we would probably find Ruto. Zelda was in front of me, and I was followed by Cody and Malon. They stared around the beautiful cavern in wonder.

"Wow," Cody said, looking around in awe.

"It's beautiful!" Malon said with delight.

Via was looking around, seemingly at a loss for words (not that she speaks that much to begin with). Zelda was watching their reactions the same as I was, a small smile on her face. Judging by her reaction, I figured she must have come to Zora's Domain before (didn't she rescue Ruto from the ice in the alternate timeline?).

The domain spoke of peace and serenity…

"Link!"

The serenity was shattered as a blue blur shot from the water and tackled me to the ground. I heard Zelda's Kodachi and Cody's sword clear their sheathes and Malon pull out her bow. They all prepared to strike the unknown entity that had me on the ground…

"Oh Link! How I've missed you!" a girly voice squealed with delight.

"Ruto," I said calmly, "do you mind getting off?"

Ruto just hugged me tighter. Ruto looked just like she did in the other timeline. She looked much more exotic than most Zora. She had flowing fins extending from her arms and hips, giving her the appearance that she was wearing a dress when she was, in fact, not wearing anything at all. Most Zora had a tail-like appendage extending from the back of their heads, but Ruto instead had a large projection that kind of look like the top of Jabu Jabu's head (it even had a pair of eyes).

Zelda, Cody, and Malon watched us, each with the same look of confusion on their faces. They still had their weapons drawn. I noticed that Via was nowhere to be found.

Ruto pushed herself up into a sitting position but did not get off me. "Link," she said with a pout, "How come you haven't visited me in the past seven years. I may not have remembered the time in Jabu Jabu's belly, but I'm sure that our love for each other would have survived anyway."

"Ummm…" I stared at her, not sure what to say. I figured telling her that I did not want a situation like this to happen was not a wise idea.

Luckily for me, she did not wait for an answer. She turned her head and noticed the others for the first time. "Oh, we have guests."

She finally got off of me and helped me to my feet. The others were only just recovering from the shock of me getting tackled to the floor by a Zora girl. Zelda and Cody sheathed their weapons, and Malon put her bow away. They all looked at me expectantly. I guess they want an introduction…

"Um… Everyone, this is Ruto. She's-"

"Link's fiancée," she stated proudly, grabbing and hugging my arm.

"Princess of the Zora," I finished through gritted teeth.

I first turned to Malon and Cody. "This is Malon, the daughter of Talon and future owner of Lon Lon Ranch. This is Cody, an earthling and the Hero of Dimensions."

Malon looked surprised by Ruto's pronouncement. She recovered from her shock though and curtsied, "Pleased to meet you."

Cody was just staring at Ruto, his mouth slightly agape. Malon shot Cody a dirty look and elbowed him. Once he recovered, he grinned.

"Hello," Cody said, nodding his head at Ruto. Cody turned to me, his grin widening as he did so (I knew nothing but trouble could come from that smile).

All of a sudden, I could sense an evil aura behind me. I slowly turned my head around (I could not move my body because Ruto had my arm trapped) to see the person giving me this feeling of dread. Zelda's face seemed impassive, but her eyes… wait, was that fire!? I could feel something sinister rolling off of her in waves.

"… And this is Princess Zelda" I said, hoping my voice did not quaver.

"Fiancée?" she asked with a smile (her eyes still seemed to be smoldering).

"Well…" I said, faltering. "You see…"

"It was romantic," Ruto said as she closed her eyes and blushed, "we went on an adventure in Lord Jabu Jabu's belly! He was so cool. I gave him the Zora's Sapphire as a sign of our engagement."

She remembers things a bit differently than I do. She left out the part where she forced me to carry her all over the place (a difficult task with all of the stupid Biris floating around). She also complained the entire time. You would have thought that I was the one that forced her to come into Jabu Jabu's belly (she went in willingly after the giant guardian deity swallowed the spiritual stone of water: I didn't even come in till much later).

"Wow… That really is… romantic," Zelda said, shooting a look at me.

Why do I get the feeling that she is going kill me later? What did I do wrong exactly?

Behind me, I could hear Cody laughing at my expense. I only hoped that Zelda would let me live long enough to kill Cody first…

"Um… Ruto? We need to find the Orb of Water. Can you help us?" I asked, hoping to get Ruto's mind off of marriage for the moment.

She finally let go of my arm, but kept my hand locked in hers. She beamed at me happily, "Of course my love! Impa already sent me a message explaining everything, and I even figured out where the orb is!"

She immediately grabbed my trapped hand with her other hand and proceeded to pull me towards the water. I dug my heels in to stop her.

"Where are you going!?" I asked as I tried to free myself from her grip.

She giggled as she kept tugging, "To the Water Temple of course. Where else?"

Ah yes… the Water Temple... The most irritating temple that was ever conceived…

"But there's one little problem with that."

This stopped her short. She stopped pulling and gave me a look of confusion, "What is it?"

I managed to free one of my hands from her grip and jerked a thumb at my chest, "I'm a Hylian, remember? I have a little trouble with breathing when I'm underwater for too long…"

She gasped, covering her mouth with her hands (I took the opportunity to back away after she released me). "I forgot. I'm so sorry my love. I'll go grab you a Zora Tunic right now." She took off running past Zelda; probably to the store where the Zora Tunics were sold (the Zora Tunic was a special tunic that allowed the wearer to breathe underwater).

"Don't forget about us!" Cody called out to her, still grinning.

Ruto came to a sudden halt. She turned around and looked at the rest of the group, suddenly remembering their existence. "They're coming too?" When I nodded my head, she seemed briefly disappointed, but quickly perked up again, "Then I shall grab extras!"

With that, she disappeared around the corner. I immediately turned to Zelda, hoping to explain the misunderstanding, but as soon as I looked at her, she gave me a look that froze my blood, and then turned around, showing her back to me.

"Well…" Malon said uncertainly. "That was kinda… adorable…"

Cody stepped up beside me, looking as if he might burst into laughter at any moment. Via flew from her hiding spot in Cody's hood and floated beside him.

"She's sc-scary."

"You think everyone is scary when you first meet them," Cody said to the green fairy. He then turned to look at me, the same evil grin on his face from before. "So… She seems nice."

"Shut up, Cody."

I had a feeling that this was going to be a long day…

After Ruto gave us the Zora Tunics, we all went to go get changed. I exchanged my normal green tunic and Cody exchanged the white one that he had gotten in Goron City. Malon had replaced her top with the blue material. Zelda just wore the tunic over her normal outfit. After we had all gotten ready, we jumped into the water to get used to the sensation of breathing under water. It was rather comical seeing Cody's and Malon's panicked faces as they tried to ignore everything they knew about trying to breathe in water. Via stayed inside Cody's hood (fairies had the ability to breathe and even talk under water).

The entire time we were practicing, Ruto made sure to swim around me, undulating in a way that made it hard to look away. Of course it was much easier to look away whenever I felt Zelda's stare (she did not seem to have problems breathing underwater).

After we finished practicing, we took the tunnel to Lake Hylia. The tunnel had always been strange. Even though Lake Hylia was on the other side of Hyrule Field, the trip never really took more than a few seconds. I assumed that there was some sort of warp effect going on, but I could not be sure. I guess I should ask Ruto about it later.

We came out of the tunnel, and Cody immediately swam for the surface. We followed him up and soon broke the surface.

"Ah," Cody said, taking a deep breath of fresh air. "Nothing beats breathing actual air!"

"You were only under for five minutes," I said, shaking my head.

"I fail to see your point."

I sighed as we swam to the shore. Lake Hylia was the largest water source in the Kingdom. The Zora often came here, though it seemed oddly empty today. The fishing hole was located here as well as the Lakeside Observatory. In the middle of the lake was a set of islands interconnected by bridges. Underneath the largest island was the Water Temple.

We trudged onto the shore. Malon started running her fingers through her hair, in an attempt to help it air dry. Zelda did not seem too concerned for some reason.

Ruto came up on the shore, and then suddenly waved, "Hello Dr. Mizumi!"

An elderly Hylian in a strange blue outfit looked up from whatever it was that he was doing, "Ah, Princess Ruto. What a wonderful surprise."

Dr. Mizumi worked at the Lakeside Observatory, but I was never really certain what it was that he did there all day. As we walked up to him, he hastily wrapped up some kind of object in a cloth, hiding it from view.

"Come on Mizumi," Ruto pouted. "Why won't you ever let me see what you're working on?"

The old Hylian shook his head, "I'm sorry princess, but I've told you countless times that I'm not going to show it until I've completed it."

He gathered up his tools and the object, careful not to let us see anything. "Don't worry princess. I'm almost done with it. If you stick around, I should be finished with it in a little while." With that, he started heading back to the observatory.

As we watched him leave, Cody said, "You know, he did not seem to be very interested in the rest of us. We didn't even get introduced."

Ruto smiled apologetically. "He's always like that. To be honest, I'm sure that he only talks to me because I won't stop bugging him."

You got that right. If persistence had a physical form, then it would definitely be Ruto.

Ruto grabbed my arm once again and started tugging me back towards the water. "Are you ready to go my love?" she asked me expectantly.

"Don't you mean all of us?" Cody asked, reminding Ruto that we were not alone (thankfully).

Ruto frowned at this, and then she smiled (uh-oh), "Link, the Water Temple is a very complicated place to get through. Wouldn't it be better if it was just you and me, seeing as we've both been through it before?"

I stared at her expectant face and sighed. "She's right."

"What!?"

I turned toward Zelda, startled at her sudden outburst. She glared at me obviously upset that I agreed with Ruto.

Cody walked up to me and started poking me in the chest, "Hey! You're definitely not going to leave me behind this time."

"Why?" I heard Malon say, standing directly behind Cody. Sarcasm was practically dripping from her voice. "Are you jealous?"

Cody turned to her, looking confused. He blinked, then blushed in embarrassment. "What!?"

"Cause if you are, you can always go with Ruto instead," she said, sounding a little harsh.

Cody immediately turned back around and clapped me on the shoulder. "Good luck buddy," he said, nodding sagely, "have fun in the temple with Ruto."

"I hate you so much right now…" I said, glaring at the dark-haired human.

He grinned at me and quickly backed away (probably to keep me from doing something to him). Ruto beamed at me as she held my arm. "Shall we my love?"

Without waiting for my answer, she started pulling me back to the lake. As we reached the water, I turned back around to look again for Zelda. As I was pulled into the water, I caught a strange expression on her face. It was not anger. That much I was certain of. It was gone before I could identify it though. I kept my eyes on Zelda as I was pulled under the water.

A/N: Fun Fact: The name for the Lakeside Scientist, Dr. Mizumi, comes from the OoT manga, in case you were wondering.

Link is on his way to grab the Orb of Water with Ruto. Why does Ruto want to be alone with Link so bad (and why am I asking such a stupid question)? What is Dr. Mizumi working on? And what about Zelda and Link?

Stay tuned. The next chapter is the longest so far in OoD.