Hey! ;)

So here's chapter 2. Hope you like it! I actually kept my promise. December 24th, here we come!

Sorry if I didn't make this clear before, but this is sort of a time loop story. I kinda forgot to mention that... Hehehehe. I assumed everyone knew what Haruhi Suzumiya was. Well, enjoy. I wasn't really sure if I liked this chapter, so, uh, if it's really confusing, just let me know and I'll try to clarify.

Random Sherlock Holmes reference! Again, sorry if this is unclear. Don't be afraid to say your confused, because I probably did screw up miserably.

~Blaze

Chapter 2: Cinderella

Week 5 - Monday, December 19th

4:36 PM

Baker Hall, Apt # 2210B

Zelda had literally spent the last two days hyperventilating in her dorm room. Thankfully, it was winter break, so she didn't risk missing classes; even if she did, though, she figured she would have memorized the lectures from attending them for so long.

Which takes her back to the reason behind said panic attack.

The mysterious time loop wasn't making it any easier to deal with life. Zelda now regained memories of the past four weeks - no, more like four annoying reruns of the same week, and she had wound up with a nasty headache that was probably going to last her until the end of this whole fallout. Pretending it didn't happen wasn't going to be helpful, either - the more she tried to convince herself it wasn't real, the more she was inclined to throw herself out the window.

And she really didn't want to test if the time loop could turn back death, too.

She had thought of contacting other human beings to see if anyone else thought something was up, but Zelda was never really one of those mystery hunters. She prefered to stay out of trouble that took more effort than sitting down and watching a random show that didn't even suit her interests.

And honestly, she really didn't want to contact him of all people. That guy had cause her enough trouble as it was.

With a sigh, Zelda wrapped herself further into her blanket on the couch, her dead eyes blankly watching the blaring TV. Her fingers occasionally had the motivation to change the channel, but ultimately she was dead, and she seriously wasn't thinking about getting off of the soft cushions.

That is, until someone knocked on the door.

Blinking, she sat up and straightened her hair, brushing off her clothes and throwing on a warm sweater. Zelda wasn't used to visitors, especially on a Monday. Who the heck was at her door today? She padded over to the front and quickly undid the lock, suddenly conscious that her navy blue sweater didn't exactly go with the pale pink sweatpants she was wearing.

When she opened the door, she had to bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming.

"Mind if I come in," Link said lazily, pushing past her without even waiting for a reply. Zelda literally stood there for a minute with her mouth open and her door thrown wide until she had some sense to slam it as hard as she could, whirling on her heel and chasing after the blonde.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Zelda shrieked, grabbing him by his green hoodie and yanking him back to meet her icy glare. When he turned in her direction, his eyes suddenly changed from one of confidence to uncertainty, his smirk falling into a worried scowl.

"You, uh… you do know who I am, right?" he asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, but - "

"Oh, thank goodness!" he said, relief escaping his lips. "For a second I was sure you thought I was some sort of creeper. Sorry."

"Are you - are you for real?" Zelda pushed him back, crossing her arms. "You just barged into my dorm! I'd think you were a creeper regardless of your identity!"

But she could see the amused look growing on his face, and she knew he was just messing with her and she hated the fact that her cheeks were heating up because he actually looked cute like whattheactualhell. "Whatever. Just - why are you here, anyway? And how exactly did you find me?"

"Oh." Link's expression shifted immediately, and he got this weird look on his face. "I - uh - well… I just need to show you something. Come on." He grabbed her wrist and yanked her towards the door.

Unfortunately for Link, Zelda was apparently more skilled in martial arts than he'd thought - maybe even imagined. She swung him around and threw him over her shoulder, satisfied with the groan that came from the impact.

"Aikido. Seven years," she said, "and before you say anything I've also done karate and mixed. Now, answer my question - how the heck did you find me?"

"Ahhhhh. Ow. I'm a weapons sort of dude. Fencing and kendo, to be specific. I'm a bit rusty with judo." He gave a pained snicker. "But I'm going to plead the fifth. You know, right to remain silent and all that."

Zelda eyed him as he stood up and ruffled his hair, rubbing the back of his neck. "Now, I apologize if you consider this sexual assault or breaking and entering," he said with a firm grunt, "but unfortunately you're coming with me."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then fine. No explanations, no problems. You'll be stuck here with no idea what's going on, nor any indication that we'll be getting out of this mess." He walked towards the door, waving exaggeratedly. "See ya."

"Wait. Hold on." Zelda ran straight for the bathroom right then, grabbing random clothes and locking the door behind her. She grabbed her phone off the sink - okay, so she left it there for once, don't judge -and replaced her old sweater with a fluffy pink one. She then loosely tied the ends of her hair back, pulling two groups up front and tying ribbons of blue and pink around each one. Her bangs fell over her forehead in a clean line. She didn't really try any makeup since she wasn't really going out to impress, but she did change her sweatpants to black tights with a skirt.

When she came out, Link's eyes went to her and stayed there.

"Off we go, then?" She said sweetly.

"R-right." Link cleared his throat. "You literally took fifteen seconds."

"I can be fast when I need to be."

He gave her an annoyed look, and she answered it with a smug smile. Link yanked out a set of keys from his pocket and jangled them in front of her.

"Off we go."

Week 5 - Monday, December 19th

5:12 PM

University Grounds

As he headed out, though, Zelda tapped his shoulder. "Link? One more thing."

"Yeah - "

Zelda grabbed his collar and pulled him forward, slamming her fist in his face. Link brought his own arm up slightly faster than expected, blocking some of the full force, but her punch was strong enough to send him crashing to the ground.

"OWWW!" Link yelled, clutching his nose, his voice muffled by his hands. "What the hell was that for?!"

"That," she replied, cracking her knuckles, "was for kissing me without consent. Now let's go. I certainly want those answers, and sitting on the floor won't get them, you know." She made sure to scuttle out before him, hiding her burning face behind a manic smirk and her crazy hair.

Grumbling curses and satanic mantras, Link followed behind.

Week 5 - Monday, December 19th

5:47 PM

Outside University Grounds.

Zelda spent the first twenty minutes staring out the window, scooting her body as close to the door and as far away from Link as possible. There wasn't much to see, quite frankly. It always got darker much faster during the winter months. After a while, her legs started feel like lead, and she relaxed, falling into the soft leather of the passenger seat.

"Nice ride," she said, admiring the warm beige color of the entire vehicle.

"Thanks," Link said, his voice full of pride. "Epona's been my companion since I got her. Somehow always comes back to me. I guess it's an emotional attachment."

"Your car has an emotional attachment?"

"You'd be surprised."

Zelda laughed. "I'll take your word for it."

He shrugged, his eyes leaving the road every other minute to glance in her direction. "So if you haven't guessed, we're obviously in some sort of time loop."

"I figured that out myself, funnily enough," she said with a grin. "I also want some answers. And maybe food, if we end up staying out here longer than I'm anticipating."

He paused, breaking at a stop sign. "You're taking this an awful lot better than I did."

Zelda blinked. "Riiight. So shutting yourself in your room with boxes of ice cream and cake and movies with absolutely no human contact for 48 hours is going to help."

"Okay… You sound like you just got dumped."

"Well, that was part of it."

Link made a bad turn, swerving too much and nearly throwing Zelda out of the window. "Sorry! Sorry. Point taken. Um, right. So answers. I can at least give you my side of the whole issue." He was quick to change the subject, Zelda noted as she shakily clutched her seatbelt. Link took a breath. "Uh, so I woke up on Saturday, December 17th whenever I thought it was Sunday on the 25th. I nearly tore my head off trying to think about how I could have dreamed an entire week without trying when I realized I hadn't."

"Ouch," Zelda said, cringing. "I'm sorry."

"That wasn't even the worst of it," he said quietly. "I've literally broken up with my girlfriend at least four times, and this might be a bit horrible for me to say, but I've actually gotten used to it. My friends kept looking at me crazy everytime I tried explaining it to them. It was weird, like as if they were avoiding it, or some part of their brains were blocking it off. I didn't really get it. So I followed the week as I had done before to see if I could get answers."

"But that doesn't explain why I remembered," Zelda replied.

"I'm getting there. See, as it turns out, you seemed to be on the brink of remembering unlike everyone else. That week - the 2nd week, I'll call it, when I realized what was happening - you repeated a phrase that I had said the week before, something I'm sure you couldn't have even thought up unless you remembered me saying it."

"Is this about the whole you-look-like-your-cat-just-died thing?" Zelda asked.

"Exactly." Link grinned. "So the 3rd week rolled by, and it seemed like I wasn't getting anywhere - when I got this letter in the mail. Which was strange because I never got mail from things other than new textbooks. Here, open the glove compartment. It's the one with just my name on the front."

Zelda reached under and pulled the shelf open, then pulled out the letter from the already torn envelope. It was written on some old notebook paper, urgently scrawled as though the writer didn't have much time. There were a bunch of directions and street names listed in order, then a short message at the bottom.

"Collect the key," Zelda read, "necessary to open the path. The connection will be the guide to deactivate the time lapse." Zelda frowned. "Con-connection? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Whenever I got the letter, I tried following those directions listed without heeding the message below. The weird thing was that every time I attempted to follow the road, one of the major ones would be road blocked by construction. I tried going around, finding new roads... I dented Epona a couple times in the process. There was something interfering with me getting there. I didn't really understand what the connection was at the time."

"Do you even have a clue where we're going right now? Or are you just blindly following these directions? You know, this could be some sort of trap that could get us both killed."

"Unfortunately, I have no idea, but it's our only lead. And besides, as terrible as this sounds, I don't really care if I die right now." Link scratched his head. "I apparently needed a link - no pun intended - that had something to do with the time loop. At first I thought it was an object, but then I figured - why couldn't it be living?"

"Then what makes this time different? What exactly is the - "

Zelda stopped, suddenly hit with realization. "The connection… it's me, isn't it."

"Bingo." Link gave a nod in affirmation, his grin growing wider. "You were the only person in this upside down world who shared the same memories as me, albeit vaguely. If that doesn't count as a link or connection, then I don't know what does. I wasn't really sure how to push you in the right direction to remember. I was getting impatient, so…" he smiled sheepishly. "Well, I tried going the Disney route."

"What? 'Waking me up' with a kiss? This isn't Cinderella, you know," Zelda said. She was glad Link had stopped turning in her direction, because she was sure she was blushing again.

"Wrong princess. Sleeping Beauty's more accurate. But you're on the right track." Link leaned back in his chair, cracking his neck. "I needed a connection, desperately enough to get sued for assault if it was necessary. I'm guessing you're the shoe that fits, so to speak."

Zelda rolled her eyes. "I don't see you treating me like royalty."

"Would you rather me call you 'Your Highness', or just plain old princess?"

"Don't expect me to call you my Knight in Shining Armor, kid."

"Whatever pleases you, Your Grace."

Zelda didn't answer after that.

"Well, we're here, and not a single roadblock," Link said after a few minutes. "And it's not even seven yet."

Link brought the car to a slow stop. "Oh, wow," Zelda said, looking out the window. "I can see this building from my dorm all the time. I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself."

Link began to get out of the car, his smile dying into a serious scowl.

"A clock tower, huh? How fitting."