37. Just get me out of here

Link looks at Wolf and takes the papers from him; Wolf knew that Link was purposely avoiding to answer his question, so he didn't press on the matter and allowed Link reed through the info about Bardick, he appears to have several misdemeanor crimes on him, but it has never escalated to a felony status, that alone protects him from SWORD agents knocking on his door...

But he DID come close to committing a felony once when he started inviting women for sex. One female managed to conceal her age from the group of men participating, luckily one of those men had the common sense to ask her age before starting, sparing the group form a mayor felony.

Link memorized Bardick's face and his current direction, after a sigh he started to rip all the papers with a smirk on his face, he then turned to face Wolf and raised a finger to his lips soliciting him to remain quiet about everything.

LINK POV

I HATE men like Bardick, I was hoping to find a man that reinvented himself. A remorseful dad that feels ashamed for leaving his family behind in debt. But that was NOT THE CASE, I will refrain from disclosing anything to the Princess, she would not believe it since she ADORES him. Zelda needs to witness what her father IS first hand, she needs to feel disappointed, ashamed… even hatred towards the man. At the end I will be there to pick up the pieces.

"Is this attire good enough?" Zelda enters Wolf's cubicle asking both of them

The Princess is wearing skinny jeans, a pair of white tennis shoes that combined with the blouse, which was white with a big blue flower printed in front. Wolf smiles and raises a thumb; Link looks at her up and down.

"Are you comfortable wearing that?" Link sincerely asks her

Zelda looks down at herself "well yeah… kind of. You said I should mimic you, these clothes where the closest thing that matches what you are wearing, they are not uncomfortable to use and I think I look cute. I ask because there was a small yellow dress but… you dress like this for a reason, right? both of you do, so I should too for safety" Zelda states with conviction "yet I will use the dress if you tell me that I got it completely wrong"

Is this how a parent feel like when the child chooses to be like you? I don't have the right to feel like this, she is not my child
*but you are her guardian, isn't that kind of the same?

Wolf start laughing loudly "damn girl, you absolutely hit the nail in the head, I don't hate you anymore"

"The attire is good, and I am sure Carla was displeased when you neglected the sundress, that only makes it even more PERFECT" Link says with a malevolent grin "Ready to go?" he starts walking out

Zelda smiles and claps her hands a little before following Link. Wolf looks at her with a sad smile and secretly hopes for the best outcome, he never really hated her, he respects the Princess and does not want her hurt in anyway, but he doesn't really think that is a possibility given Bardick's record so far. He only prays it won't hurt her as much.

Outside crossing the parking lot Zelda starts to speak to Link

"It's still kind of early, could we go visit my dad first and do the shopping tomorrow? Maybe he would want to go help me choose my clothes, that way I wont force you to do something you hate"

*hehe, she is using YOUR words against you… I like her.

"First of all, ALL men hate shopping. Second, how do you know he is close by?" He asked Zelda but kind of suspected who told her already

This IS the reason why I insist on the fact that women are dangerous, they act as a collective reservoir of information, and they gather to discuss the information dismembering and reorganizing it a way they can benefit from using it, and they have the gall to call it harmless gossip.

"Carla told me he can't be that far from SWORD's quarters, the general won't allow it since they need to keep him under surveillance"

"Yes, we could do that, are you sure you prefer it like this?" Link asks tired

Zelda nods smiling, as they approached the street heading to a taxi, she notices a bus full of people passing by, the sight amazes her.

She looks intrigued by the bus… we must board one then.

Link deviates from the taxi and steps on the road raising his index finger, another bus stops in front of him, he ushers Zelda to board it and pays for both of them. Zelda sees there are no seats available, but there where people standing holding on the handgrips the bus provided. Then bus starts to move continuing its route, she almost fell with the sudden movement but Link pulled her by the edges of her blouse stabilizing her.

"What do I do? I am not seated and its already moving" Zelda asks puzzled

"Neither are they" Link says referring to the passengers that were standing "since there are no seats available, they ride standing, and what do we do?" he asks adjusting his hold on a handgrip

"We do what we see, got it" she sees the only other available hand grip was too far from her, but then notices a girl holding on the upper arm of her dad, and he was holding a handgrip, she chooses to hold on Link's arm too, Links glares at her but she smiles and asks "what happens if people keep boarding and we don't fit?"

"If there is no more space the driver will cease boarding people. Before you ask, this is a BUS, its used for public transportation, lots of people don't have the means or the age to own a vehicle" Zelda looks at him kind of lost, so he clarifies "a motorized carriage of their own"

"I see, this is going to takes us to my dad?" Zelda asks

"Not exactly, but close enough, we walk the rest of the way"

After 15 more stops they finally got off the bus, Link exhales loudly and rolls his neck, it was a tiring ride for him, he kept giving death glares and growls at men who tried to position themselves WAY to close to his Princess's buttocks. Link looked up at the nomenclature plates to verify the street's names and reassumed walking, as they were reaching their destination Link started walking slower until he stopped. When Zelda noticed, she stopped too and approached him.

I need to tell her not to reveal she is a royal. The LAST thing we need is for Tudor to move back to Hyrule because his daughter is the Princess, he has never attempted to obtain a job in all these years. Hence, his means to obtain money for expenses are unclear, that is enough for me believe he is a parasite and not want him back in my homeland.

"I need to tell you something, your father does not stay in a place for more than a month, it is a possibility he moved, if he is there and you meet him, don't tell Mr. Tudor who you are" Link tells his Princess in a somber tone.

ZELDA POV

Zelda smiled "I don't think I need to; I am sure he will recognize me in a second, I am the spitting image of my mother" she answers smiling

"What I meant is; do not tell him you are the Princess of Hyrule"

WHY THE FUCK NOT? It's something I can use to impress him, make him proud of me for it, even though I didn't really work for it any of it.

"Why?"

"For his and your safety, the less he knows about you, the less likelihood for this world or Hyrule to collapse, both worlds depend on NOT interacting much with each other, to keep a thermodynamic balance that allows their continuity"

"But… many people in Hyrule already KN0W of this world how is it different?" Zelda asks already doubting Link's reason to hide such an important part of her.

"Mental stability is lacking in this world, knowing about us could disrupt people's mentality here, over time creating a shift on overall energy waves destabilizing thermodynamics. Hyrule's people are more stable that way, but I have to admit it's because its SWORD we are dealing with. Interaction with SHIELD could break the citizens in Hyrule, SHIELD's power is too overwhelming, their presence in Hyrule will cause panic and destabilize everything. Reason why even in their home world SHIELD agents remain hidden from the public, the people don't know about them, they think of them as part of a comic or an entertaining children's story"

THAT explains part of the interaction with Dr. Strange, that is good since I had not found a way to casually ask him about all this.

"If Bardick is really interested in knowing more about you, he should travel back to Hyrule and find out himself" Link states in a bitter tone

Not sure I completely understand how the thermodynamic balance works, but I understand that is dangerous to mix both worlds too much, so I am not going to fight him over this, I won't tell dad.

Link points to the second floor of the apartment building in front of them

"208, knock on the door that has that number, I will wait right here"

"But… you are not coming with me?" Zelda asks a little sad about it.

"No, I don't want to intrude on a family moment, but if you need me just scream, I will be right here"

Zelda smiles and nods at him, then goes up the stairs with happiness. Once she arrives at the designated door, she doubts about knocking, but gartering courage she finally does. She hears nothing at the beginning but then clearly hears someone approaching, and the door slightly opens. Bardick looks out with caution but once he sees Zelda his eyes go wide and he closes the door again. Zelda waits a little before knocking again.

He is just scared and in shock, hehehe silly dad.

This time Bardick opens the door wide and looking at her in disgust asks

"Why are you here?" Bardick asks harshly pulling her inside

Shocked by his aggressive attitude she says "I… wanted to see you, I missed you, did you miss me too?"

"hahahah, I don't have time for that, do you see where we are? I can't get a good job here without previous education and I am too old for school, I have to scavenge or cheat people out of their money every day to survive, I don't have time to be thinking about you or anyone else sweety" he tells her mockingly

This isn't real, it cannot be happening.

"Don't lie to me, you cannot be that bad off if you have a house"

[your father does not stay in a place for more than a month] this isn't his house, is it?

"HAHAHA, don't be naïve, this house is not mine, my current girl rents the place"

A voluptuous lady comes out of a room naked; she is surprised when she sees Zelda

"You told me she was working… wait, this one seems too young… are you replacing me already?"

"No sane man would replace you my love, the girl is just a visitor, I love you and will move in with you in 2 days if you still want me"

He is cheating on his girlfriend, on the woman who believed in him and placed a roof on his head, when did he became like this? This world must have changed him somehow and
[Claire on her knees in the kitchen's floor, her hands hiding her sobbing face, her arms with bruises]
WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT! Did I just remember that?
[Claire yelling at Bardick for coming home so late and drunk, he shut her up with a slap, little Zelda turned back to her bed and hid under the covers]
No this is not real, it can't be real.
[Little Zelda came running to show a necklace she found to her mom, Clare closed her eyes as tears begun to drip, but smiling told Zelda to put it back where she found it, maybe it was a present from her father, they didn't wanted to ruin the surprise]

The world begun to spiral around Zelda, she placed her head between her hands as memories came rushing back, then one of the memories was just the sound of her mother screaming in pain, she could not take it anymore.

"LINK!" she yelled loudly, scaring even Bardick

FUCK, I need to get out of here ASAP, if I let Link get here, he will most certainly HURT my dad, not that Bardick doesn't deserve it, but he could get killed, I don't want his death on my conscience.

Zelda turns and runs to open the door for herself, Bardick reaches for her arm and stops her

"I am going back to my mother in Hyrule" Zelda states in anger

Bardick nods and releases his hold on her chuckling "Good call"

Zelda opens the door and runs out willing herself not to shed tears. As she approaches the stairs, she finds Link already up the stairs running towards her FAST. She closes her eyes expecting Link to ram on her by accident but he doesn't, Link grabs her by the upper arms and looks at her from head to toe, he then lifts her face with his finger and turns it from side to side.

"You seem to be ok, are you ok?" Link asks with worry

"NO. take me home please" Zelda begs him

Link widens his eyes and frowns "I can't do that" tells her in sorrow

WHAT? I am not asking for Nayru's sapphire or… damn, that one is on me, my bad.

"Not to Hyrule, what I meant is your place, or wherever I was going to stay in… just get me out of here please"

Link grabs her hand and begins to walk guiding her, he does turn his head to look back and sees a young woman exit Bardick's apartment, giggling and sending kisses to the man inside. Link gives him them dirty look and approaches a taxi stationed close by, they board it and start heading to a hotel close by.

He knew, and he didn't tell me

During the ride Zelda remained stoic and did not shed a single tear, but her glare was slowly becoming somber. Link avoided speaking to her at all, he really wanted to know what happened, but was not willing to risk upsetting her any further, he chooses to wait until she decides to speak about it.

The taxi left them in front of a hotel, once inside Link asks for a room and pays for it, once he receives the key, he turns to Zelda noticing the glare she was directing at him, he chooses to dismiss it for the time being and guides her to the room they were going to use. Once inside their room Zelda turned to Link fire flaring out of her eyes.

"YOU FUCKING KNEW!" The Princess said as she grabbed a decorative vase from the dining table and threw it at Link, he evaded it ending on the base smashing on the door, she picked up a piece from the floor and charged him.