Hello folks! Chapter 153 is here! This time the investigation of the Widowmaker continues, but a certain circumstance is about to unfold!
Before we begin though, I would like to make an announcement. I haven't gotten too far into Tears of The Kingdom, so I'm not sure where all the plot points are going, or if anything in the lore will directly conflict with the plot of my story. If it does turn out that way, I apologize for any inconsistencies that may occur as a result.
With that said, enjoy!
"Are you sure there was nothing else Mr. Morro?" Darius asked as he and Link stood in a repair shop not far from the murder scene, one full with numerous clocks, music boxes and other various trinkets on display for sale.
After Link helped Jovie get home safely, he and Darius decided to check out more places around the area to see if anyone saw or heard anything about the Widowmaker's latest target, but they didn't have much luck.
"Sorry boys, but just like I told the knights, I didn't see nary a thing." shrugged Morro, an old man with goggles being worn on his balding forehead who ran the repair shop.
"You didn't hear a woman's scream or anything?" Link asked.
"Nah, not with my hearing the way it is, not to mention all these gadgets ticking and playing music drowning everything out." Morro said, finishing winding up a pocket watch, before putting it away and working on a music box, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to some jobs I wanted to get done tonight, no thanks to those knights holding me up with their questioning."
"You do fine work, my good man." Darius observed the way he took apart the music box, made some adjustments, and then quickly reassembled it in a matter of minutes.
"Thanks, it's been my job since I was just a mere apprentice lad." chuckled Morro, "All these years I've worked on amazing technology." he made the final adjustments on the music box to secure the top, "One of the most fascinating things I've worked with are those jukeboxes!"
"Jukeboxes?" Link asked, looking up from a bobble-headed cow figurine.
"Ones like those they got over at the Shooting Gallery and the Bowling Alley parlors." Morro said, "They were crafted by some experts in musical tech and brought here from overseas!"
"Ah yes, I recall that jukebox!" Darius laughed, "Now I have that tune stuck in my head once again!"
"What's so fascinating about them?" Link asked, "I never understood how they work."
Morro explained, "Basically they work like player pianos, using long sheets of paper with holes in them called 'note rolls'. Each hole in the sheet represents notes, and as the roll moves over the machine's tracker bar; the playing cycle for each musical note is triggered."
The old man put aside the music box and began work on a windup cymbal-playing monkey toy, "Even more impressive about those things is they have a secondary function that allows one to record music as well as play it. Using the settings on the device, you can even adjust the frequency of sound it records so it can block out background noises and get a clearer recording of the music."
"I see, so that's how it works..." Link pondered, though not really getting it all that much.
Suddenly the three of them heard a bumping noise, and they all turned to see a small figure trying to leave the store with some merchandise they took from the lowest shelves under their arms. Link and Darius quickly recognized their short stature and clothing choice, namely the blue vest, white baggy pants, and the magenta-colored Breton-style cap.
"Hey, it's the little thief again!" Link said, "You're the one who tried to steal my ocarina!"
"The tiny tot who tried to steal my lovely brides' brooch gift?!" Darius shouted.
"Uh oh." the thieving kid said.
"You again, you little whippersnapper?!" shouted Morro, "Drop that stuff now!"
"What do you care? These things haven't sold at all the past month!" the kid said sticking their tongue out at him.
"I think you need to have an understanding of respecting the property of others!" spoke Darius, he was about to reach down and apprehend the child when they threw their hat at him, which managed to cover his eyes, "Gack! Assault by hat!"
This gave Link a better chance to see the child, and realized that they were actually a young girl whose blond hair was curled upwards at the top. The young girl narrowed her green cat-like eyes as she kicked Darius in the shins.
"Ah forget it!" the kid said, quickly dropping almost everything as she ran out the door in a hurry.
"Little brat! Get outta here and don't come back!" Morro shouted.
"Looks like beyond your workload, you also have a small thief problem." Darius spoke removing the hat from his face as he and Link helped to gather up everything that was dropped, "Emphasis on small."
"No kidding, I've been dealing with that brat for a few months now." muttered Morro, " I swear, folks these days don't know how to properly raise their kids."
As Link helped Darius gather up the trinkets the girl dropped, he fund himself thinking about the pained expression in her eyes just before she left...
"Well that was the last place near the crime scene that was open." Link said walking out of a store, "Any more ideas on where we should investigate?"
"Hard to say for certain." Darius pondered, he looked to Link yawning out, "It's getting rather late. Do you want to just go back to the palace and rest for now?"
"No..." Link shook his head to stay awake, "No I'm fine! I promised I'd help Darling clear her name."
"Heh, your devotion to your friends is quite astonishing Link." Darius smirked as they walked down the street, "Unlike that little thief, you must have had a good upbringing as a child."
"Suppose I did." Link smiled, thinking about how Saria helped raised him, "What about you, what were you like as a kid?"
"..." Darius glanced aside silently, confusing Link, "It's rather complicated. I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I wasn't the... most noble person in the world. It took a major change in my life to be the person I am now..."
Link paused as he looked over at Darius, and the distant stare in his eyes. He wondered what the prince had been through in his past.
"Well... I don't know about how you were back then." Link spoke, he brought up his hand put it on Darius' shoulder, "But I'm glad you're the person you are now."
"Heh..." Darius glanced to Link and smirked a little, "Thanks. That means a lot, my friend."
But then suddenly, the lighthearted mood was brought to an end by a loud screaming, as a large burst of flames could be seen over the buildings, as a heavy cloud of smoke already started to rise up from it. The people around the two all panicked and shouted. Already some knights were rushing to investigate.
"What on earth is that?" Darius asked.
"I don't know, but it looks like it's coming from the marketplace district!" Link said as the two ran off to check for themselves.
Following the rising black smoke, Link and Darius soon arrived at the location of the fire.
Link saw with shock that the Bombchu Bowling Alley, the place they had just visited and played at together that very night, was now caught in a fiery blaze. The area was already being blocked off by the knights as some of their firefighter squad were setting up hoses that led from the outside moat to try and put out the flames.
"The bowling alley?" Link exclaimed, "What happened here?!"
"Perhaps that's the result of eating too many of their hot wings?" Darius suggested, he cast a worried look to Link, "How many did you eat by chance?"
"This isn't time for jokes!" Link exclaimed.
"Please back away immediately!" shouted a knight as he and his comrades were trying to keep the public from getting too close, "This place has many explosives inside, the flames could make them all go off at any moment!"
"Oh my, how horrible!" gasped a woman in the crowd.
"With all the bombs they use in there I'm surprised something like this didn't happen sooner." spoke another villager dryly.
"It's really burning bad, I hope no one was in there." Link said as he watched the fire squad working a pump to start flowing the water through the hoses.
"This place closed over an hour ago at 2 am, I presume everyone has already left by now." Darius noted.
"Yeah, good point." Link said with relief, knowing full well that Jovie was safe at home.
"Hey, now that you mention that... didn't we see that one girl go in a few minutes ago?" spoke a villager.
"Yeah, that purple-haired chick with the shoulders and the hips?" spoke another, which got Link's attention, "That's right! I don't think I saw her come out!"
"Wait, you mean Jovie?" Link exclaimed, then quickly turning to the bowling alley, "What's she doing in there again? I just escorted her back to her home half an hour ago!"
Before Darius could even begin to stop him, Link sprinted over to one of the hoses as water started emerging out from them. He picked it up, and allowed it to dowse him all over in water.
"Hey, what you doing?" shouted one of the fire squad, "If you want a bath, do it in a washroom!"
But Link disregarded them and sprinted towards the bowling alley, leaping over the barrier and avoiding the knights, as he ran right through the front door.
"I don't believe it! That guy went in?!" exclaimed a villager as the crowd started talking wildly.
"Link, get back here!" Darius shouted in a panic, being held back by the knights.
Link ran through the door and looked around, seeing the place they had spent the evening having fun at was now a burning inferno. Even the jukebox was already damaged heavily by the flames, distorting the bouncy melody as it was melting from the heat.
"Jovie? Jovie where are you?" Link shouted looking around.
"Ooooh..."
Link heard a moaning sound and quickly turned to behind some seats, where he saw Jovie laying on the ground in a daze. Her top had a small fire lighting up on it, so he quickly removed it and put his own wet shirt on over her. He slowly got Jovie up and helped her to her feet, shaking her a little to try and rouse her awake.
"Jovie, can you hear me?" Link asked.
"...Linky...?" Jovie groaned weakly, looking over at Link.
"I'm glad you're awake, but we gotta get you outta here!" Link said, as he slowly started to escort her to the door, mindful of her burns.
"Outta here..." she muttered, before her eyes suddenly widened and she looked to the backdoor of the alley, "Wait! Mr. Burbok, he's back there in his office!"
"He's still here too?" Link exclaimed.
Jovie quickly shoved Link away and ran towards the door. She grabbed at the knob, but the heat burned her hand, making her yelp out. Link saw the ceiling above her was cracking apart, and he ran over and pulled her away just before a bunch of wood, stone and metal came crashing down in front of the door.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here!" Link said.
"But what about Mr. Burbok?" Jovie exclaimed.
"I'll try to help him soon, but we gotta get you out of here first!" Link said, holding her in his arms as they headed to the exit. Jovie sadly looked back at the door.
But then the flames around them grew greater, causing Jovie to get forced backwards from a sudden burst of fire, and she fell back on her rear.
"Woah, look out!" Link shouted.
Jovie looked up to see a large wooden beam start to crack apart from the flames and fall towards her. She brought up her arms over her face and screamed out on terror.
"KYYYAAAHH!"
"JOVIE!"
Link ran right up in-between the woman and the flaming beam as it came down at them. He closed his eyes tightly, as he summoned up all his strength to try and do something, anything to stop it...
In that moment, Jovie lowered her arms and looked slowly up at Link, and saw something truly bizarre; his eyes had changed to a blank white, his skin took on a darker tone, and strange markings seemed to appear on his face. She didn't remember him ever having those marks before...
But what was even more shocking was when she noticed how his arm looked like it was on fire. She was worried his skin was burning from the intense flames, but something about it didn't look like normal fire, it was more white-colored than everything that surrounded them...
In fact, it was more like the white flames were somehow coming from Link himself.
"EeeeeeEEEEERRRAAAAAAHHH!"
With one mighty swing of his fist, Link came at the beam and punched it right in the center, causing it to explode and shatter into multiple pieces, with a powerful burst of white flames releasing from it.
"What th-...?" gasped Jovie weakly, She wasn't sure of what was happening to the young man, but as afraid as she was for his safety, she found herself rather taken aback by it... shortly before she passed out.
Her unconscious form was lifted up by Link, who stared down at her with his blank white eyes. The white flames were surrounding his body, but strangely it didn't seem to burn either of them. He turned and sprinted off towards the front door. One plank of wood came down at them but he quickly sidestepped it and kept running. Another plank came down from above, but Link leaned forward over Jovie so the plank would smack into his back instead. He didn't even so much as flinch as he kept going.
As Link and Jovie approached the door, the flames were getting close to a rack of Bombchu. The flames only brushed against the closest one for a mere second before it lit up and exploded to bits, and the others started to explode along with it.
The crowd outside watched as the fire squad tried their hardest to extinguish the flames, but shouted in horror as they saw explosions going off from within. Darius was trying to break free of the knights and villagers who were holding him back.
"Unhand me you clingy knights, my friend is in there!" Darius shouted angerly, "LINK!"
But then bursting out from the front door was Link, holding Jovie protectively in his arms, just as one more explosion went off from inside and causing a major part of the building to collapse.
"Oh my goddesses!" exclaimed one of the villagers in the crowd, "They made it out?!"
Link slowly walked towards the crowd, gasping out as he was quickly surrounded by knights and villagers quickly trying to help him and Jovie. Link was back to normal by the time they got out the door, and the white flames had gone away.
"That man saved her! What a hero!" spoke a villager.
The young king's legs started to grow weak, not so much from fighting off the flames, but a strangely different feeling he wasn't used to, seconds before he fainted.
"...hey, I think he's coming to!"
"Oh what a relief!"
"...huh...?" Link groaned, his eyes slowly opening as he saw he was in an unfamiliar wooden room. He appeared to be laying on a bed in some sort of medical facility in Hyrule Market Town. Standing over him was Darius, as well as a red-scaled, yellow-eyed Zora woman in a white and pink short-skirted nurse outfit, who both looked both happy to see him awake.
"My friend, you've recovered!" Darius said happily.
He was about to hug Link, but was quickly slapped on the back of his head by the nurse.
"Hey, no hugging the burn victim!" the Zora nurse scolded the prince.
"Ugh, what happened...?" Link groaned.
"Shhh... relax. You just barely escaped from that burning building. You sustained some severe burns from the fire, but it seems you manged to recover quite quickly!" the nurse said cheerfully.
"Fire...? Oh right..."
Link looked down at himself to see his bare chest was bandaged up a little. He could also hear some commotion from outside, but he quickly realized something.
"Wait, Jovie! Where is she?" Link asked frantically.
"She's over there." the nurse said, gesturing to the purple-haired girl laying back on another bed sleeping, "Despite her experience in that fire, she had very minor injuries." the Zora girl smiled sweetly, "It was so brave of you to save her life!"
"Oh, what a relief." Link sighed out, failing back on the bed.
"My friend, I don't know whether to praise you for such a heroic act of justice, or beat you over the head for doing something so reckless!" Darius spoke in frustration.
"Heh, sorry about that Darius." Link sported a goofy grin.
But then the door burst open, and Link was quickly assaulted by a small young Gerudo woman with bird wings hugging him tightly.
"LIIINK!" Aviel shouted out, "You're alive again!"
"You moron!" shouted another woman in dancer's clothes, running up and pummeling him on the shoulder, before immediately switching to affectionately hugging him right after, "I swear, why do you keep getting into these stupid messes?!"
"Hey, please don't assault the burn victim either!" the nurse said.
"Aviel? Nemisa? What are you girls doing here?" Link asked.
"Same reason as all of us!" spoke up a country-accented girl.
Link saw Togau at the door, along with a number of his other fiances; Saria, Sarami, Reirousa, Kesuta, Korume, as well as a number of friends like Epona and Halei and a few Gerudo soldiers, who all piled into the room. They all surrounded him, hugging and kissing at him with relief that he was okay.
"We just got word from Prince Darius about what happened and came right here!" Saria said with tears in her eyes as she hugged him around the waist, "I'm so glad you're okay Link!"
"Why didn't you come get me Link? I could have been there to help you with that fire!" Kesuta said burying her face in his shoulder.
"Knowing you, you'd probably just add more fire to it to make it worse." Korume muttered as she lovingly hugged Link's other arm.
"Hey it works, haven't you ever heard the phrase 'fighting fire with fire?'" Kesuta pointed out.
"That's not what that phrase means!" Nemisa shouted, bonking the twins to stop their quarreling.
"Link... you..." Reirousa muttered with tears flowing down her cheeks, she lunged out and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him wildly, "What's the matter with you? You trying to get yerself killed or somethin'?"
"You're going to get him killed doing that!" Nemisa and the nurse both shouted at Reirousa, as Link was left in a daze.
"Geeeh..." Link groaned with spiraling eyes.
"Now now, Reirousa. No need to add more stress to Link's situation." Sarami spoke as she carefully examined Link's injuries. She turned to the nurse and bowed her head, "The treatment you gave here is quite exceptional work, Doctor. The Gerudo owe you a great deal for helping our beloved king."
"I-I'm just a nurse actually, Nurse Meifa. It was my pleasure to help him..." stammered the Zora nurse with a polite bow, showing the long fin growing out of the back of her head, "...b-but I had no idea it was the Gerudo King himself I had helped!" she gasped with astonishment.
"Yeah, I thought you were just goin' out bowling with Prince Prissy-pants over there." Togau asked, "You two didn't blow up the whole place did ya?"
"Of course we did not!" Prince Darius protested, "And my pants are hardly prissy!"
"Link you really gotta be more careful!" Epona spoke with a frown, "I swear, you haven't changed a bit since we used to adventure together. I don't know what I'd do if I lost my master!"
"Hey, don't worry Epona." Link assured the horse girl, patting her head, "I swear I'm not going anywhere."
"Okay..." sniffled Epona as she gave him a light hug.
"Well, well, well, I'm glad to see you're up, my king."
Everyone turned to see the voice came from Nabooru who was leaning against the clinic door fame They gave Nabooru some distance as she casually walked up to Link and lightly jabbed him on the arm, giving him a cross smirk,
"Glad to see you're okay, though I outta knock you out for worrying everyone else."
"Fufufu, as I recall you were rather panicked as well Nabs. Fufufu..." Sarami giggled, as Nabooru shot her an annoyed look.
"Ah ha ha, sorry abut that everyone." Link laughed a little, "I got caught up in a big emergency."
"Emergency with what?" Togau asked.
"Ugh... what's all the yellin' about...?" groaned Jovie, slowly getting up herself.
"Oh, you're up!" Link said. He tried to get up, but the girls all held him back down to make him rest.
"Yaaay!" Aviel cheered, running forward and hugging Jovie with her bird wings, "I don't know who you are, but I'm glad you're okay too!"
"Huh? What's goin' on? Where'd the bird come from?" Jovie asked in confusion, then a second later she realized something, "Wait, forget the bird, what happened to Mr. Burbok?" she tried to scramble out of bed, "I gotta get back to the Bowling Alley to help him!"
"Maam Jovie, I ask that you calm yourself." Darius spoke as Meifa and Aviel tried to keep her on the bed, "The knights are currently investigating the Bowling Alley for your boss. For now, you need to rest!"
"O-Ooh..." Jovie hung her head down, looking clearly worried.
"So let's hear it you two, what exactly happened last night?" Nabooru asked Link and Darius.
"Well..." Link started.
"...I see, so Ms. Darling has been arrested on suspicion for the Widowmaker killings, you two went investigating to try and clear her name, but then a fire broke out at the Bombchu Bowling Alley where you pulled Jovie here out." Nabooru spoke.
"Quite a busy night we've had, hasn't it?" Darius spoke.
"Yes, too busy." Nabooru nodded, "I find it hard to believe these two incidents aren't related somehow."
"After explaining it all to you, I'm thinking the same thing." Link nodded, "As soon as I'm clear to go me and Darius need to get back to the Bowling Alley and check it out."
"Oh no, we're not leaving you alone again!" Nemisa scolded Link, "Especially since you fall right into line of the Widowmaker's targets."
"Yeah, we're still your bodyguards, so we're coming with you!" Aviel said, holding up her crossbow.
"Okay, okay. You win." Link nodded.
"As for us, we'll head back to the castle." Nabooru said with the rest of the girls, "Think me and Halei should look into some more information about this Widowmaker's past killings."
Nabooru placed a hand on Link's shoulder, gazing at him with a serious stare in her golden eyes.
"Just promise me that you'll stay safe, okay Link? We don't want to lose you."
Link stared up at Nabooru. For some reason she seemed a lot more tense than he would had thought. Did it have something to do with the Widowmaker or the fire at the bowling alley...?
Regardless, he took Nabooru by her hand and it gentle squeeze, smiling softly up at her.
"I promise Nabooru." he assured her.
As Nurse Meifa was givng Jovie's wounds a final look over, the parlor girl looked over at Link and Nabooru, and how close the two of them seemed. She found herself taken somewhat aback at the deep look in Link's eyes...
"You sure about coming along with us?" Link asked as he, Aviel, Nemisa and Darius all walked down the street towards the bowling alley, with Jovie walking alongside them. Since her parlor shirt was destroyed in the fire, she was now wearing a pink and white dress skirt with with leggings.
"Of course, I gotta see what happened for myself!" Jovie said.
"So why did you come back to the Bowling Alley last night to begin with?" Link asked, "Didn't I just get you home earlier after what happened with that ex-boyfriend of yours?"
"Hey, don't go saying that in front of all these people!" Jovie complained in an embarrassed fit, she hung her head down, "Truth is, I forgot my house key at work and came back to get it."
"And that's when the fire broke out?" Nemisa asked.
"Y-Yeah, it was all a huge blur." Jovie nodded nervously, "And I'm real worried about Mr. Burbok... I hope he's alright..."
"I'm sure he'll be fine, Ms. Jubilee!" Aviel optimistically chirped, "It's a big bummer about the bowling alley though. Link didn't have time to show us the place."
"You Gerudo girls really would have been interested in it?" Jovie asked curiously.
"Link certainly hyped it up a lot." Nemisa nodded, "He said he always enjoyed coming out there, and we Gerudo are always looking for new challenges."
"Huh..." Jovie muttered in thought.
"Hey... do you all feel like we're being watched?" Darius asked looking around.
"Well the five of us do kind of stand out." Link chuckled, "Maybe we should-"
"Oh my gosh..." Jovie came to a stop with her hands over her mouth, as they all looked ahead.
The Bombchu Bowling Alley building had been almost completely leveled, with only a few parts still standing. There was a crowd all watching as the knights were investigating the scene of the fire. With them was Inspector Turrell, carefully looking over some evidence while eating a plum danish.
"I can't believe it, it's even worse than I thought..." Jovie gasped.
"Yee gads, what a sight." Darius frowned, "To think I was obliterating Link in bowling just last night here."
"Did you have to bring that up?" Link asked as Nemisa and Aviel both snickered.
They noticed a carpenter crew was working on moving the debris so the knights could investigate further into the remains. It consisted of a group of men that Link recognized too well, the very same men he had saved from Gerudo Fortress in the dark future.
The boss of the group, a balding mustached old man, was standing still with his arms folded, commanding out to his men to keep moving everything. Link also saw another familiar sight, a sickly looking young man with a punk hairdo and no shirt, who was laying back against a neighboring building with his head hanging down.
"Come on, put yer backs into it!" shouted Foreman Mutoh, head of the carpenters, "We still got that other building due to be finished next week!"
"Ugh, it's not like this is supposed to be our job to do." muttered one carpenter to his buddy, wiping his brow, "How are we supposed to keep a schedule when incidents like this happen and the boss volunteers us to take care of it?!"
"The work would be easier if that son of his would do something instead of laying about like he is." one of the carpenters pointed out, looking over at the punkish young man who just remained slouching back against the wall.
"What a disgusting sight, all of these people here are disgusting..." muttered the punk man.
"I wonder if the boss thinks he's seriously going to inherent the business?" asked another carpenter as he moved a large plank of wood.
"Kwaaaah! Shut yer yaps and keep at it!" Mutoh shouted, making the carpenters speed things up.
"Come on Mutoh, go easy on your men." spoke Inspector Turrell, "We just need enough moved so that we can finish our investigation."
"Ah, Inspector! It's good to see you again!" Darius spoke, walking up to the two, "Though I wish we could had met again under less unsettling matters!"
"Indeed Prince Fargent. Thanks again for the information you gathered last night." nodded Turrell, he noted both Aviel and Nemisa were there, "But who are those two?"
"It's okay Turrell, they're my bodyguards." Link said. Aviel waved happily while Nemisa scowled and turned her head away.
"Heeey, check it out, it's some Gerudo ladies!" whistled a carpenter.
"I've heard about how dangerous they are, but they're so beautiful..." said another.
"Back to work ya bums!" shouted Mutoh.
"Hm, and I see you brought the parlor girl here as well." Turrell said, noting Jovie was standing behind Nemisa discreetly.
"Huh?" Mutoh turned to see the purple-haired girl trying to hide, "Kwaaah, what are you doing here?"
"Well it is my workplace." Jovie muttered, stepping out into view, "I needed to check in on my boss after all!"
"Keh, well it looks like you won't be working here anymore..." Mutoh muttered.
"What do you mean by that?" Jovie asked.
"...well I'm sorry to be the one to tell you after what you went through Ms. Jovie..." Turrell spoke sadly, he removed his hat and bowed his head,
"But we discovered your boss Mr. Burbok in his office after we moved away the debris, and unfortunately he didn't make it."
"What?" Link exclaimed.
"Oh no..." Aviel gasped.
"No...!" Jovie took a step back in shock, before she buried her head into Nemisa's shoulder, crying out, "NOOOOOO!"
"It's okay Ms. Jovie..." Nemisa whispered, trying her best to comfort Jovie, "He's at peace now."
"What a sad turn of events this is, the poor man..." Darius muttered grimly, "I can't imagine how horrible it would be to die in a fire."
"Well that's the thing, it's not as simple as that..." muttered Turrell, "Truth is when we found his body, we found something else; a dagger embedded in his chest," he turned to Link and Darius, "One I'm sure you two boys know enough about by now."
"What? You're telling us that he was stabbed by the Widowmaker?" Link exclaimed.
"Afraid so." Turrell nodded, "The coroner confirmed it this morning, that despite being caught in the fire, what actually killed Mr. Burbok last night was a single stab to the chest with one of the Widowmaker's trademark daggers."
"So the Widowmaker may well be the culprit behind the fire as well." Darius spoke.
"Wait, then doesn't that mean Ms. Darjeeling is innocent?" Aviel asked, "She couldn't have done it in prison!"
"Huh?" Turrell asked.
"She means Darling." Link clarified.
"Ah. Well you do have a good point Miss, but we can't just let her go based on that alone." Turrel pointed out, "If we just allowed her to leave she'd be a flight risk."
"There is one other matter as well." spoke up a woman's voice, as they all turned to see Countess Roesia walking up with her guards. Despite how early in the morning it was she already had a martini in her hand.
"Oh, it's that woman from the Hylian Parliament again..." Nemisa spoke, she took a moment to look over the woman's body, namely the way her hips swayed as she took each step in her high heels, "She's got some grace to her, I'll give her that."
"Countess Roesia..." Link asked, "What are you talking about?"
"There's an issue with this victim himself in his relation to the Widowmaker killings." Roesia spoke, trailing her finger on the rim of her martini glass, "I knew Mr. Burbok personally. He's been single his whole life, no nobleman status at all, and he was right-handed." she took a drink from her glass, "So he doesn't fall into any of the Widowmaker's targeted traits."
"If it wasn't the Widowmaker, then who do you think it is?" Darius asked.
"For all we know it could just be a copycat. It's not the first time someone had tried to impersonate the Widowmaker." Roesia said.
'Like that guy who attacked the king when we first arrived at the castle.' Link pondered, "But what about the murder weapon? You can only get it on the black market here in Hyrule."
"The weapon is trivial, anyone with the right connections could find a way to acquire it. Maybe they even obtained from the Widowmaker prior to her arrest." Roesia twirled her martini around in it's glass.
"I suppose we don't have an argument against that theory..." Darius admitted.
"...listen Countess." Link spoke, stepping up, "The relationship between me and Darling isn't anywhere as deep as that of you and your late husband, but I know enough about her that she isn't a killer. I'm still going to work to find the proof I need to clear her name."
"...I see..." Roesia spoke staring down at him, "Perhaps you're not the power-hungry tyrant the rest of the Parliament assumed you are, Gerudo King. Regardless, I made a vow at my husband's funeral that I would not rest until I catch the one behind his murder..."
She sneered at the group, "Unless you can find evidence to the contrary, I'm going to follow through on inditing that Darling woman for her crimes." she turned her back to them, "Good day to you all."
With that, she downed the rest of her martini, turned and walked off with her knights, her hips swaying left and right with each step.
"I know she's our enemy... but I can't help but feel bad for her..." Aviel spoke hugging Link tightly, "She did lose her husband after all."
"It's okay, we'll find the true killer if we have to, not just to help Darling, but so the Countess can put her mind at ease." Link assured her.
"Kwaaah! Putting your mind at ease isn't as easy as you think, you pampered king." Mutoh grumbled, "This bowling alley used to be one of the few places I could unwind from the stresses I deal with each and every day. Now even that's been taken from me!"
Mutoh turned to Jovie in particular, folding his arms and stamping his foot to the ground,
"And sure enough, it was you of all people who had to be involved! I knew you were nothin' but a magnet for trouble!"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Link asked.
"When she was little, Jovie would always look up to me and my work..." Mutoh explained, "But as a teenager, she became such a lazy airhead, always dozing off when I needed her!"
"Wait a minute... are you saying...?" Link spoke.
"She'd always be bringing home her loser boyfriends who do nothing but laze around and mooch offa me! Even when she dumped them they kept coming back to harass us!"
"I said I was sorry about all that..." Jovie spoke under her breath.
"I bet that's the real reason yer mother left the house! She couldn't deal with a daughter like you that only causes trouble!" Mutoh shouted, making Jovie flinch.
"W-What?!" Link said with shock, "Does that mean the carpenter boss really is your...?!"
"Yeah... ...he's my pop." Jovie muttered,
"Certainly didn't see that coming." Darius spoke in surprise.
Jovie stamped her foot, "B-But Mom didn't leave because of me, it was...!"
Mutoh scowled, "Kwaaah! Useless trouble maker is what you are! This is why I threw you outta the house all that time ago!"
"You damned Hylian mongrel..." Nemisa narrowed her eyes, "You did that to your own daughter?"
"Darn right, she's goin' nowhere in life!" Mutoh said, not even intimated by Nemisa. He gestured over to the punk guy, "Now my son Izo on the other hand, he's goin' places! Soon he'll be taking over my carpentering business!"
Everyone looked over to the punk guy now known as Izo, who just laid back against the wall with a moody expression. He gazed up the building's remains.
"Ugh, everything is disgusting." muttered Izo, "Wish I coulda seen this whole place burn down..."
"Even if he could be bothered to do so, he looks like he can't even lift a brick without breaking his back." Darius commented.
"He'll get the hang of it sure enough!" Mutoh said, "At least he'll do better than you ever will, Jovie!"
"..." Jovie just lowered her head sadly.
Link looked to Jovie for a moment, then turned to Mutoh with an angry stare, "How about you lay off her, old man? She's been through enough lately."
"What'd you say, boy?" Mutoh scowled, taking a step forward.
"You heard me. How about you shut your trap and put your own ass to work?" Link spoke back with an angry glare, "Or are you just as feeble as your layabout son over there?!"
"Linky...?" Jovie gasped as she looked up at the Gerudo King.
"Hey Link, be careful! Remember your anger issues!" Nemisa whispered.
"I'll keep it in check, don't worry." Link assured Nemisa, then glared coldly to Mutoh, "I think you should apologize to your daughter right now."
"You brat, I'm the boss around here!" Mutoh said, "You see those carpenters workin' for me? They work that hard because they respect me! I don't have time for those who don't respect their superiors!"
"Some boss, you're more like a tyrant than anything." Link said.
"That's it! King or no king, brats like you need to be disciplined!" Mutoh shouted, throwing a punch at Link.
"Woah Pops, don't-!" Jovie exclaimed in a panic.
Aviel and Nemisa were about to stop Mutoh, but the young king managed to dodge the punch attack and grab at Mutoh's wrist, before slamming him down on a nearby table.
"Gack!" exclaimed Mutoh as Link put him in a restrained hold, "Let go of me ya damned brat!"
"Alright, that's quite enough of that!" Inspector Turrell demanded, "We have enough going on right now to worry about a fight, Mutoh!"
"Keh, fine." Mutoh groaned, getting himself up after Link let him go, "Damn Gerudo, I knew they'd be trouble when they showed up here." he looked over to the carpenters who had been watching the fight, "What are you staring for? Get back to work already!"
"Link, are you alright?" Jovie asked putting a hand to his shoulder, "You didn't need to do that!"
"Maybe not, but I couldn't stand him treating his own daughter like that." Link spoke, staring at Mutoh as he went away to order his men around, "And I can't stand people who put themselves so highly over others."
"Linky..." Jovie whispered with a light blush, while Aviel and Nemisa both looked to each other with knowing smiles.
"Ah, there's that charisma again." Darius chuckled to himself lightly.
But when he calmed down, Link realized something was off. He felt around his body, and checked inside his pockets.
"Huh? Where did it go?" Link spoke, feeling around all over.
"What's the matter, you lose something?" Nemisa asked.
"That key I had... the one that was for..." Link trailed off, but then he heard the loud noise of something crashing down.
"Watch it you, that was my supplies!"
They all turned to see a small figure had knocked over a barrel in their attempt to run away. Link quickly recognized the blonde hair with the strand sticking up, the blue vest and the white baggy pants.
"It's her again?" Darius spoke.
Link narrowed his eyes and could see the young girl was holding someone small, green and shiny in her hand; the emerald leaf key he had been holding.
"Hey, get back here!" Link shouted, running off after the girl. As he ran, he turned to Aviel and Nemisa shouting out, "Girls, do me a favor and keep an eye on Jovie while I deal with this!"
Aviel, Nemisa, Darius and Jovie all stood in confusion as they watched Link almost trip over the contents of the barrel, before he shot off down the alley in pursuit of the little thief.
"Never a dull moment with Link, is there?" Darius spoke.
"Yeah, sure is..." Jovie whispered with a light blush still on her cheeks, before she turned to the wreckage of the Bombchu Bowling Alley building with a sad stare.
"Mr. Burbok... why'd this have to happen...?"
And that ends the chapter. Next time Link is once again in pursuit of the mysterious little thief who stole his key. But what is that key's real purpose, and just what is the deal with this child? Find out next time!
For those curious, the punk son of Mutoh is the guy you meet in the Lost Woods as part of the trading quest to get the Biggoron Sword. He's the one you get the mushroom medicine for.
As for Jovie being his daughter, this isn't directly referenced in OOT at all, this is just something I came up with to give her a personal character arc. I hinted at it back in the Reirousa babysitter story. I might have gotten kind of heavy-handed with the drama by the end, but it's essential to where I'm going with her.
Before anyone asks, yes the red zora nurse Meifa is a reference to the character of Mipha from BOTW and Age of Calamity. And yes, I have further plans for her later in the plot!
And as always, thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave a like, follow, comment or just send a private message if you choose. Your feedback is always encouraged!