We are back in the clack and ready for another round of storytime. I know last chapter was a little on the darkside, but hey, it is all par for the course here. Who said you can't go dark? Some darkness is good every now and then. As you can see the rating has been upped from T to M. This is just a precaution to stay on the safe side. No, there will not be any woo hoo, boinging time. If your searching for that kind of stuff, you came to the wrong story. There will be some questionable scenes though, so... yeah.
The disclaimer you have been waiting for: Nintendo owns games and characters. Not me. I only own story's OCs.
Link
The first thing Zelda notices is the thatched roof.
That's how she knows she's not at the castle. But then, where is she? This isn't her room. Her room doesn't have wooden walls, wooden floorboards, or a glass-less window with shutters, and her bed definitely does not have a straw stuffed mattress with linens and wool blankets.
A wave of recollection hits her as the events of her journey come back to her. At the memories of her attack, she lets out a silent sob as her eyes water. She is overcome with fear. Had her attackers kidnapped her? Was she in their house? What did they plan to do to her?
She starts to panic. Her heartbeat rises, and she soon finds herself short of breath. She finds it difficult to breath as if someone had their hands around her throat. She tries crying out but cannot. Tears poor down her face, and she becomes weary of every shadow, believing they could be concealing her attackers from her. Her breathing quickens as her heart beats louder, faster!
A loud squeak brings her back to reality as the door swings open. A tall shadow looms over the threshold and two bright eyes stare at her.
Zelda's panic redoubles and she starts to hyperventilate. She feels lightheaded and the room starts to spin. The shadow in the doorway darts toward her at a seemingly inhuman speed. Zelda curls up into a ball, preparing for another attack. But it never comes. Instead she feels warm, strong, muscular arms circle around her as someone draws her into their embrace, resting her head against their hard chest. This stranger then begins to rub circles into Zelda's back, whispering into her ear "it's okay" over and over again.
It takes some time, but Zelda eventually calms down. Daring a glance she raises her head until she can see the stranger's face. Her fear rekindles when she realizes it is a man - a young man to be precise. Panicking once more, Zelda breaks free from his hold and moves as far away as the bed would allow.
A surprised look comes across the man's face, and the hurt in his eyes was unmistakable. "Relax," he says, "I am not going to hurt you."
Seeing how Zelda wasn't relaxing, the man gets off the bed and sits in a chair on the opposite end, moving it back a couple feet to increase the distance between them.
Zelda is still weary of this man, but the increased distance between herself and him puts her at ease, allowing herself to relax a little.
Zelda takes the time to study her host, from his gold crowned head, to his hairy, bare legs. She feels something about him is familiar, almost as if they had met before. His eyes invoke an inexpressible trust in her. Then it dawns upon her: his eyes! They were the same eyes she had seen yesterday - the brightest blue with flecks of grey and gold, glowing like a flame in the dark. Even though this answered her question, it only answered a small part. The greater whole was still a mystery.
"Who are you?" she quietly asks him.
He smiles at her. "I suppose it's only proper for us to make acquaintance with each other. I am Lincoln the Huntsman. However everyone calls me Link." He extends his hand to her.
Zelda hesitates for a moment, but Link's charming smile quells her doubts, so she crawls forward and shakes his hand. "I am Zelda," she replies.
Links eyes widen a fraction. "Zelda Funk?" he questions.
"Yes, how did you know?" she asks, becoming nervous again.
Link smiles in response. "My father told me about you. How he helped you get here from Hyrule."
"Lysander's your father?" asks Zelda. Though now that she knew, she could make out a very striking resemblance between the two.
Link lightly chuckles, "Yes, and I admit I had desired to see you upon hearing about you. However, I had hoped it would be under better circumstances."
"Where am I?" Zelda asks, for by now she was curious and was in need of answers.
"You are in my house," Link replies. "My family's house to be exact."
Zelda relaxes more. Surely Link couldn't have ill content towards her if he had brought her to his family's home. Furthermore, he was Lysander's son. Surely a good man like Lysander wouldn't raise a thug for a son? Still, this begged another question, "How did you get me here?"
Link gives a small grin, "I carried you here."
"You carried me here?"
"Yeah. How else was I supposed to? Don't worry it was rather easy. You are surprisingly light."
Zelda isn't sure if that was meant as a complement or an insult, or if he was merely stating a fact. So he had carried her here, and she was light, okay. But the girl's curiosity wasn't satisfied. She wanted more details. She wanted to know the manner in which he had carried her. If he had tossed her over his shoulder lack a sack or if he had placed her across his shoulders like an injured lamb. If he had been rough and careless or gentle and mindful. Most of all, she wanted to know if he had taken advantage of her. She wanted to know for her peace of mind, but she didn't know how to word this question.
"Forgive me for inquiring," she begins. "I don't mean to make a big deal of it, but..."
"But what?"
Zelda hesitates some more before continuing. "Well, you see...I was wondering, in what way - or rather in what manner - had you carried me here?"
Link raises a brow at this. "Why do you want to know?"
Zelda looks to the side embarrassed and afraid. "Because I am curious." It was a half lie, but not a whole truth.
He smiles before leaning back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head. "A carried you in my arms."
Zelda frowns as she tries to visualize what that would have looked like, but the only image she could get was how a groom would carry a bride.
Flushing from embarrassment, Zelda voices her thoughts to Link. He gives a simple shrug first before saying, "Yes, I suppose I did carry you like a bride. Why does it matter?"
Zelda looks away, too embarrassed to meet his gaze. Through her mind, she recalls stories told to her by the many gossiping young court ladies about their wedding days. About how their new husbands each had carried them across the threshold of their new home and how intimate a moment it was. The closeness of it all. How they could hear each others heartbeat and feel the warmth radiating off of each other. Then there were the subtle and not-so-subtle caresses.
The heat rises to Zelda's face thinking about it. Had she really been held in such an intimate way without knowing it? And Link, had he really held her to his chest? And while she was in his arms, had he dared a touch here, a caress there, or even a grope? How could she know?
A light cough interrupts her thoughts and Zelda remembers that she had been asked a question, and here she was thinking about what could have happened whilst she had been denying her host a simple answer.
"Well you see," she begins. "To be held in such an intimate manner is not an everyday experience for a girl. Also, I have often heard about how men love to feel up their women while carrying them, so I suppose I was wondering if you had possibly taken the time to...you know, enjoy the moment."
At the end, Zelda was dying from embarrassment. Her face felt like it was on fire. Daring a glance at Link, she is surprised by how serious his expression is.
"Do you really think me some sort of base-born scoundrel, to take advantage of a woman like that - of a woman in need, no less?"
His words sting, and Zelda looks away ashamed. Of course Link hadn't tried anything. He had rescued her, and here she was asking him if he had used the opportunity to feel her up, after saving her from men who had tried to do more than simply feel her up.
A tear roles down her face as she cries in her shame and guilt for wrongly accusing Link. She feels the bed shift under added weight, but she does not budge. When he pulls her into his arms, she flinches, but doesn't try to break free.
"Relax," Link whispers as he embraces her. "Relax. I am not mad at you. I'm sorry if I scared you."
"It is alright," Zelda replies as she sniffles. "I should not have made assumptions about you."
"Well, I can't say you're wholly wrong," he says, a wry smile crosses his face. "If the circumstances had been different I might have allowed my hands to wander. But then again," he laughs, and his smile becomes mischievous. "It's hard to grab what isn't there."
"And what is that supposed to mean?!" asks Zelda. Her face was red once more.
He shrugs nonchalantly, and his smile becomes smug. "Oh, nothing really, just stating a fact. A skinny girl like you lacks the curves that we men love so much. Don't get me wrong, you have amazing hips, and a really cute face, but those blocks from earlier must have been desperate to choose you for their next prey."
That was it! Zelda did not escape from a life of politics and servitude, just to nearly be raped and to have her host mock her figure - of which she had always received praise for in the past - and make light of her experience. So in a moment of pure instinct her fear turned into anger and she lets out all her pent up frustration in one of the simplest of actions. She slapped Link across the face.
The surprise on his face said it all. He hadn't been expecting that from her. Zelda was surprised herself, but she wasn't done. She was going to speak her mind for once. "Now you listen here!" she begins in a raised voice. "I didn't leave my home for this land only to be nearly molested by thugs, only to have my rescuer mock me!" She jabbed her finger at him, poking him in the chest. In the end though, her anger wore off and she felt drained of energy. Tears had returned to her eyes and she collapses on the bed.
Link lays his hand on her, but she bats it off. An awkward silence falls over them in which the only sound is Zelda's sobbing.
"You are right," Link says. His voice is laden with emotion. If Zelda only looked him in the eyes, the guilt he was feeling would be evident. "That was rude of me. I shouldn't have said that."
"Well, I cannot say you are wholly wrong," Zelda says, using Link's words from earlier. She rolls onto her side to face him, the tear tracks visible on her face. "I have become aware that I am scrawnier than an old hen. Your father even mentioned that he has a daughter who's younger than me but is already more filled out."
"I can attest to that," Link says. He then reaches out to her with his hands again. When she doesn't fight him, he pulls her into his lap, resting her head on his chest. "Go to sleep," he whispers, and Zelda does just that.
Zelda wakes up to the sun shining on her eyes. She feels something hard beneath her hands, and something - or rather someone - is caressing her hair. She sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and when her vision focuses she is startled to find Link beneath her, looking up at her with a warm smile.
"How did you enjoy your nap?" he asks.
"How long was I sleeping?" she asks him in turn.
"Nearly an hour. You fell asleep in my arms, so I lay down so that you would be more comfortable."
She would have said something, but then the door opened revealing a young woman who looked to be Zelda's age. The woman stared at them in surprise and in seconds she was a flushing, giggling buffoon, much like Zelda's previous handmaids. "Well, well," she says mischievously, "I see the two of you are getting acquainted with one another."
Zelda blushes at the implications of these words. She then becomes aware of the position they are in. In the bed with her hands on his chest, and her buttocks sitting on his lap, and the fact she only had a chemise on, it looked like they were about to do the deed.
"Anyway," the young woman continued, "I simply came here to give you some new clothes." She then places a bundle of clothes she had been carrying onto the bed. "Sorry I interrupted your fun," she says giggling. "Do feel free to continue." With that she exits out the room, closing the door behind her, giddy as a schoolgirl.
Feeling a little awkward, Zelda is quick to climb off Link who had a stupid grin on his face. She puts her new clothes on as fast as possible, not wanting to remain indecent in front of a man any longer. They are similar to her old clothes, except the outer dress was green instead of blue. They are rather loose on her. Tightening the belt did not even help. When done she fixes a glare on the man who had been staring at her the entire time.
"Did you enjoy the show?" she asks huffy.
Link's response is a half smile. He then gets up and walks to the door, and his long strides carry him swiftly and gracefully. As he opens it ,he steps to the side, offering Zelda to go first.
She gives him a quiet "thank you" on the way out, but Link soon stops her with a hand on her shoulder. She raises a brow, but the sudden seriousness of his gaze made her nervous. Upon seeing her reaction he offers a sad smile.
"Listen Zelda," he begins. His voice is heavy and it has a sad tone. His once bright eyes were darkened with regret and shame. "I'm sorry for what I said earlier about your figure. I did that on purpose. I was trying to distract you from yesterday's incident. I was also trying to get a rise out of you. See what you would do." He lightly laughs. "And you exceeded my expectations." He becomes serious once more. "Just know that I wasn't trying to insult you or hurt you."
Zelda isn't sure what to think about Link. One moment he seems to be making fun of her, the next he is apologizing and is more serious than most men his age are.
"Well, I was certainly distracted, so I suppose it worked. I.. I guess I can forgive you."
Link smiles softly. He then raises a hand and brushes some of Zelda's hair out of her face. "Good to know," he says. "Now come, we're late for breakfast."
He turns to leave, but Zelda stops him, for there are a couple things she still wants to ask him. "The men who...attacked me," she says quietly, looking anywhere except Link. "What happened to them?"
"I killed them," Link says bluntly. "All of them."
Zelda isn't entirely surprised. She had expected as much. But it still surprises her that Link was able to take all four men on at once and come out seemingly unscathed. In that moment she gained a newfound respect and fear for him.
"One more thing," Zelda says timidly.
"Yes?"
She looks away embarrassed, her cheeks painted a nice rosy pink. "Do you really think I have amazing hips?"
Link grins at her. "Of course I do. I'll admit, they would look better with some curves to them, but on their own they are just fine. Perfect for childbearing."
Zelda feels the heat rise in her face as she follows Link - who was laughing loudly - down the stairs.
Link has entered the Story! What do you think of his character? Yes, he has a slightly dirty mind. Then again Zelda isn't much better. Yes, he might have come off as a jerk, but don't worry, he has redeeming qualities. Besides, he was trying to distract Zelda from her traumatizing experience. Stay tuned for next chapter where we meet the family.
Review Reply
Lightblade1121 - I know, things became dark very fast. That escalated from a three to an eleven. Don't worry, Link saved her. She's alright. Or is she?
Shout outs to my followers: bdj610, Frozen789, Lightblade1121, Heisenbee, Elatrom, nintendoer27; and to those who have favourited this story: Lightblade1121, bdj610, GuardianNexus89, Elatrom. Thank you all for your support and for liking my story.
And a special shout out to my editor KVeronicaP, who has been a trmendous help in the making of this chapter, and will be in the making of future chapters, so merci beaucoup ma dame.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think about it. Share your thoughts. Until next time.