Author's Note: Yay for 's website going down last night, so I couldn't post the next chapter :)
'Zelda has not always been a princess. Historical accounts have described her as an island girl before becoming the Goddess reborn, or as a swash-buckling pirate of the seven seas before returning to her title of princess. Either way, royal or not, the essence of Zelda has remained a constant in Hyrulean culture as a sign of kindness, equity and determination to protect others.'
—Extract from 'The Human Princess' by Traysi Journaux
In The Shadows
~O~
Chapter 4: Something Awful
"Who was she?" I dare to ask.
Standing in the dimly lit Temple of Nayru, Link and I stand mere feet away from the newest victim in our case. A young woman lays at the feet of the statue of Nayru, her once vibrant blonde hair now dull and limp and dark blood trailing down from a stab wound in her chest. The only difference is how young she looks. In comparison to Rinku and Ganondorf, which in no way excuses their horrific deaths, she's younger than me and I can see the full extent of her final days and hours in person rather than in a file.
"Whoever killed her wanted us to know who she was," Groose explains next to us. "The other victims didn't have ID, but she did. Name's Tetra Winds—22 years old and a recent graduate from Castletown University."
Only 2 years younger than me…
Fi straightens from over the woman's body and brushes some dark hair from out of her eyes. She's a rather quiet woman, but her violet eyes reflect how serious she is as she confirms, "Everything seems consistent with the other victims. The single stab wound to her chest is most likely the cause of death, though there's also signs of bruising around her neck from strangulation. From the marks on her wrists and ankles, it's highly likely that she was bound like the other victims too."
Goddesses… how she must have suffered...
"Who found her?" Link asks.
Groose's shoulders deflate, "I did…" My heart sinks at the sight of his dejected expression. "We had two out the front and the rest of us were patrolling the perimeter. None of us saw anything. Whoever managed to sneak her in without raising the alarm knows what they're doing."
I bow my head and turn away from Tetra's form. I prayed for a new lead and I suppose I finally got it. Tetra was the name of a pirate who was fabled to have been Princess Zelda in disguise, though it's never been verified by historians or documents. It seems that the killer will take any vague connection to the piece of Triforce that they're searching for just to fit their idea.
Vaati's fake letter insinuated that someone was about to die and I suppose he was unintentionally right. The fact that the killer managed to get through a wall of security and escape without a trace is both confusing and chilling—if they can do it once, then who's to say that they won't do it again?
"Can we get a list of who was patrolling tonight? And who was guarding the main entrance?" Link asks whilst I'm lost in thought. Groose raises a brow at him.
"I think it was Dorian and… Astor, I think, on the front entrance. Why? Do you think one of the guards was in on it?"
Dorian and Astor, I muse, unsure if I can remember them. Then again, I'm never good with names.
He shrugs, "I'm not sure, but it's better to check every option." Groose forces a breathless laugh.
"I'll let you say that to Impa personally. It was good knowing you."
We shake our heads, knowing that he's not entirely wrong, and head out of the Temple of Nayru with heavy hearts. Whoever the killer is, they're keen on remaining in the shadows and not giving us any connections or leads to follow—they know what they're doing. Neither Rinku, Ganondorf or Tetra are connected apart from their historical names, though with so many people having similar names (and vague connections to historical names too) it's not like we can force them all into hiding; the world would descend into panic.
I'd rather it not come to that.
But still, they're not making this easy for us. We need them to make a mistake, but in the meantime we're stuck waiting for them to do so and the bodies will start piling up.
The media are already swarming outside. They'd be on us instantly if it weren't for the barricade at the bottom of the temple steps. That doesn't stop them, however, because within moments my vision is filled with camera flashes and a torrent of incoherent questions. It's sad that I'm used to such attention, even if it's not normally like this during our usual cases, so I keep my head low and ignore them as best I can.
The night air is cool against my skin, though it's not like I can enjoy it, and the sky above us is starless. Apart from the frantic reporters, the recovery of the new body has put a damper on everything. Even the officers inside the temple are losing their determination over the case. I can't say I blame them, though; I'm starting to feel the same.
Not long after Paya had called me to tell us the awful news, Impa had asked us to head over to Tetra's apartment after we'd finished up at the Temple of Nayru. With the police talking to Tetra's family, we have a perfect chance to talk to her roommate. With Paya's help, we manage to track down the small flat complex where she lived on the outskirts of Castletown.
Castletown University is one of, if not the most prestigious universities in the kingdom, so being able to study there is no small feat. Driving to the outskirts of the city, it's easy to spot whose flat is Tetra's as there are a number of police cars already stationed outside. We quickly make our way inside, following the directions from the officers inside and clambering up the numerous flights of stairs despite the curious looks we get from the residents.
The door is open when we reach the right flat, a couple of officers inside but only doing a general check after telling Tetra's housemate the news. They didn't take the news well, according to the officers downstairs, but I'm hardly surprised. I don't know how I would react if the police suddenly turned up at my door and told me that my friend was brutally murdered.
The flat itself is a typical student place—on the small side for it to be affordable and yet filled with a spectrum of nicknacks belonging to both Tetra and her housemate ranging from sea charts to thick chemistry textbooks. A shared bedroom sits off to the right of their communal area, and it's there that we find this housemate.
We nod to an officer as he steps outside, revealing a frail young woman sitting on one of the beds with a scarf tangled up in her hands on her lap. The room feels like it's been split in two—one side filled with rich blues and maps whereas the other side is a mix of deep purples with shelves adorned with textbooks and family photos.
The young white-haired woman sits amongst the rich blues and sea maps, so consumed by grief that she doesn't even hear us enter. I softly clear my throat, trying not to scare her. She flinches a little before slowly turning her gaze to find us, lips parting at the sight of us and her lavender eyes glazed over with grief.
My heart skips a beat.
She looks just like—
"L… Lana?"
Her eyes widen at the sound of that name, though she quickly shakes her head and murmurs, "I guess you've met my sister, huh?" I exchange a glance with Link, but he looks just as confused as me. "I'm Cia… Lana's my sister—twin sister—but I haven't seen her in years…" She tucks some hair behind her ear.
We lapse into a pregnant silence then, all of us unsure of what to say. It can't be a coincidence that these sisters have been closely connected to at least two of the three victims so far, but then again it would be pretty farfetched to say two sisters are the main connection in one of the biggest cases in years. Then again, it's not like this case has been conventional so far.
They could be the only lead we have, or it may just be another wild goose chase.
Either way, this gets more confusing by the second.
I go to say something (anything to break the silence), but I stop myself when I see how Cia's looking at Link with an intensity that I can't describe. No wait, I can describe it. She's looking at him like Lana looked at me when we met her. She's got this strange look in her eyes as she studies him, as if she knows him from somewhere and can't physically take her eyes off him—it's almost… possessive.
I shake my head; it sounds like I'm jealous. She's just found out that her friend is dead, and here I am overthinking things.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," I say before I can think about it any more.
"Thank you," she whispers, sitting down and taking the scarf back into her grasp. "It was… such a shock."
Gesturing to one of the chairs, I ask, "May I?" She nods and I take a seat. "There'll never be a good time to ask you questions about Tetra, but it'll all be at your own pace. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?"
There's a brief silence before she slowly nods, and I can't help but feel for her. She's going through so much right now, and if it wasn't so necessary to talk to her then I'd just leave her be. Cia shifts her weight on the bed as Link pulls up another chair, daring to look at him for a few moments too long.
"You both study very different things," he remarks as he looks around her room.
Cia hums absently, "Yes. I study chemistry and T-Tetra studies— studied —marine biology."
"Did anything about her seem strange in the past few days? Was she on edge at all?"
But Cia shakes her head, "Not at all. She disappeared so suddenly… we never thought anything of it at first—we assumed she'd gone home with someone after a night out, and then she didn't come back…"
"Did you report it?"
She turns her attention to Link, eyes glistening at his question, "We didn't know what to do. We thought she was okay and had just gone away for a few days. I… I don't know… we thought she was alright."
I place my hand on her knee without thinking. She grows less flustered and studies me with a mix of compassion and surprise. "Was anybody acting strangely in the past week? Maybe hanging around for longer than usual or trying to get friendly with you and Tetra all of a sudden?"
"I mean, we're students—there's always someone weird hanging around," she says lightly. "But no, there wasn't anyone like that. We usually kept to ourselves, especially with the new semester."
I nod and lean away, though I can't help but notice Cia staring at Link again, so I ask before I can stop myself, "Is something wrong?"
She blinks and snaps her gaze over to me, then breathes, "No, no… it's just a lot to take in…"
I nod, though it's Link who says, "The officers will need to take an official statement from you, so thank you for talking to us at such a difficult time." His formal tone surprises me, but I notice the way he's tapping his thumb on his leg nervously and I know he wants to get out of here as much as me. We're uncomfortable and we can both see it in each other's expressions. We stand and move the chairs back to where they used to be and make ourselves scarce.
"Thank you again, Cia," I say. "If you think anything might be important to help find the person responsible then please don't hesitate to call."
Cia bows her head, purple eyes finding Link's as she looks up again. I feel him tense up beside me and I turn to Link before she can say anything, forcing a smile and nodding at him to leave. We're silent as we leave Cia behind to grieve, wordlessly nodding to the officers we pass until we're back outside and in my car.
The two of us sit in my car for a long few minutes as we try and process everything we heard and saw. Something isn't right, but I just can't figure out how it's all connected. I turn to Link who simply sits there and looks out the window.
"That was… unexpected…" I murmur. He hums but says nothing in response. "Something's not right. It's too much of a coincidence for them to both be a part of this. Apart from the victim's names, those women are the only other connection."
"I know."
"And she looked at you like Lana looked at me."
"I know…"
"Link…" I breathe. "This goes a lot deeper than we thought." He grips the steering wheel and continues to stare out the window. I frown and reach out for his arm, "Are you—?"
"Let's get back to the station," he cuts me off before I can finish. "We need to take a look at these sisters."
I nod and pull my hand back to let him drive, but my heart starts beating faster even after the conversation's ended. It's like something awful is about to happen and we can't prepare for it no matter how hard we try. Whatever these sisters are hiding, I dread to think what's waiting for us around the corner.
The rest of the car journey is silent.
Tetra's family arrive the next morning to formally identify the body. I'm not there for it, but I can only imagine how they must be feeling. It's hard enough to break the news to family members as it is, but when you add a highly publicised case into the mix it only adds more grief to the situation. I just hope that we don't have to give such bad news to any other families.
We tried to stay up during the night as we waited for Fi to come back with the post-mortem exam results and did our best to keep busy by helping Pipit look through Tetra's phone and card records for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. We also try to look into Cia and Lana, but there's barely anything on them apart from Cia's university record which is squeaky clean. By the early hours of the morning, Link and I are nudging each other awake every few minutes. So, once Tetra's family leaves that morning, Impa orders us to go and sleep.
"You aren't of any use to us barely awake," she'd told us. "Just go to sleep before you pass out on those desks."
There's a spare room at the back of the station with a few bunk beds for officers who are working a late shift, or for family members who need to stay at the station for some time. It's far enough away from the main office that we aren't disturbed, and we manage to get a few hours of sleep out of pure exhaustion before I start tossing and turning.
By the time it's midday, I'm too restless and frustrated to stay in bed any longer. Of course Link seems to be sleeping like a baby, but that's hardly a shock. Leaving him be, I make my way out of the makeshift bedroom and make my way to the kitchen to find a means of waking myself up.
As I grab the kettle to make some tea, a voice remarks, "You're finally awake." I jump and turn as Impa stands in the kitchen doorway, inclining my head in greeting. "You might be helpful with our cases, but you certainly don't have the body clock for an officer."
"And I don't intend to get one," I say with a small smile. She doesn't completely react, though I notice the corner of her lip twitching. The Sheikah leans on the counter beside me with crossed arms. "Have we got any updates?"
"Not much more than what you already know," she says honestly. "The chest wound was determined to be the cause of death, and was the same sized weapon used on the other two victims, which further proves their connection. There weren't any traces of sedatives in her body, so she wasn't drugged like the other victims. They're all connected, but the killer's making sure that we don't get much farther than that."
I hold up the boiling kettle and raise a brow at her, to which she nods and pulls out another mug. Pouring the water into the three mugs—one for me, Impa and Link when he's awake—I ask her, "Have you had cases like this before? Ones with no connections?"
"All the time. Sadly not all cases are destined to be solved. Thank you," she adds when I push her mug over to her. "I'm sure you've had some of your own, Hark."
I shrug, "There's been a few, but they've never been as big as this." I pause, then, "Do you think we'll solve it?"
Impa sips her tea, "I can't say. I hope so, of course, but we'll need a miracle to break this case; I just pray that the miracle isn't a body." I hum. She's not wrong. "What do you think?"
"Huh?"
"Do you think we'll solve this case?"
I blink at her, stumbling over my words as I stammer, "I-I don't know. After seeing Cia yesterday and knowing that her sister is connected to the other victim makes it feel like the answer is right in front of us, but we don't have the evidence to back it up." I sigh. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up, I suppose. Link's the positive one out of the two of us."
She snorts dismissively, "If he was awake for long enough then he'd see the world for how it truly is, then he'd know better."
"Speaking of which," I say after a breathless laugh, nodding down to the third mug. "I should wake him up."
"Good luck with that, Hark." I smirk and grab the mug. As I make my way back out, I stop when she calls for me. Turning to her, I'm surprised when she comes over to squeeze my shoulder, "Make sure you keep your chin up too. This isn't a case for the faint of heart and we don't want anyone burning out."
"I'll do my best," I say truthfully.
I leave her behind in the kitchen, thinking on her words as I head back to where I woke up. She's right, after all: we can't lose our heads to this. I suppose I do rely on Link a lot when things get tough, but he radiates such a warm energy that's gotten me through the most difficult of times, both at work and personally. It's tricky to stay positive when cases go cold so we need to uplift each other.
My face splits into a smile as I step into the dark room and find Link still fast asleep. I place our mugs on the closest table and plop myself on top of him, purposely putting all my weight onto him until he groans and tries to swat me away. It's cruel, I know, but he should know better to oversleep when I'm around.
"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead," I say brightly. "Get up before your tea goes cold and—"
His hand appears out of nowhere and shoves me to the floor with surprising strength for someone who's just woken up. He cracks a grin as I fail to tug the covers off of him. "I've been awake for a while, you know. I didn't need your alarm clock services today." I cross my arms at him.
"Oh, so you just decided to be lazy, then?" He rolls his eyes. Pushing myself up onto my feet, I pass him his mug and give him the sweetest look I can, "Peace offering?" He exaggerates a huff and takes the mug. I smirk at him. "You're so easy to please."
"So I've been told," is all he says, his smile curving above the rim of the mug.
I smile, my heart twinging as I think about what Impa said to me, "You know, I wanted to thank you for everything." He snorts. "No, I'm serious. We've done a lot of stuff together and I don't think I've ever said thank you. This case is getting more twisted and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you."
"Well, I could say the same for you." His smile seems shy which surprises me. "And for the record, you've thanked me even when I haven't even done anything, so it really should be me thanking you."
"This is my corny moment, not yours," I counter, trying not to show how flattered I am.
"It can be our corny moment," he compromises, putting down his mug to hug me tightly. "Thank you, Zelda, and I really mean that. I wouldn't have got through any of this without you either."
I squeeze him back, "I wouldn't want anyone else at my side."
"Goddesses, I need a bucket to throw up in." We break apart and turn to Pipit who watches us in the open doorway.
"You officers need to give us some warning before you sneak up on us, both you and Impa have done that to me this morning," I remark, my smirk fading when I realise how worried he looks.
Link notices this too, "What's happened?"
"It's Lana, that priestess from the Temple of Din," Pipit says, then, "She says she knows who's behind the murders."
