Chapter 5

Link

Link awoke to soft music, what he had set as the ringtone for when Zelda called. He grabbed it quickly, fearing that she had called him already to try and wake him up. "Zel! How many t-times did you call me? Is this the fir-rst or am I gonna be l-late?"

"Don't worry Link, it's fine. First call, and you've plenty of time to get ready." He sighed, relieved.

"Thanks, Zel."

"You're welcome. By the way, how did you sleep?" He frowned, the awful memories still present.

"Not well, but it's s-something. I feel be-etter than I did earlier. By the wa-ay, is your father l-letting you come this time? W-with a bodyguard, at least?" As Central Hyrule's Hylian representative of the governing Alliance Council, Zelda's father had a target painted on his back. For the sake of his three children, he had hired bodyguards.

"He'll let me go, and Cado is coming, even though he's not the most competent. It'll be fine, though. Nothing ever happens."

"Ok then, I'll se-e you at the m-match. Bye!" She said her goodbyes and ended the call. He let out a breath, his heart racing. Zelda always had that effect on him, whether right next to him or miles away on a phone call. Link shook himself. Get it together and get ready for this tournament; it's the final one!

He raced to get ready, excited to fence. It was one of his strong suits, and he was glad that Castle Academy had the funding for the sport. Though I wouldn't be there if not for Zelda and her father... His family was relatively poor, even with his father being Chief of Police.

He felt guilty that Zelda's family was paying for him and Aryll to go to a good school, but Zelda had told him to shut up, and that had been the end of that. She never did stuff like that, not to him at least.

He shook himself. Stop thinking about Zelda and get going!

_/|||\_

At one point in the day, the school had hung banners over the hateful graffiti covering the wall. Good. Don't need any distractions like that.

Stretches. Warm-up. Practice: swing, dodge, thrust. "Hey, shorty!" Link sighed and continued to go through the movements. Darn Groose. The redhead grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. "Hey, look at me when I'm talking to you!"

"W-what do you wa-ant, Groose?"

"Listen, you stuttering idiot," Groose said, jabbing a finger at Link's chest, "I know you think you're good with a blade, but I'M the one who's gonna do the best against the other team, just you wait. And then Zelda will see how cool I am and finally leave your sorry, dopey butt behind."

Link strained to not roll his eyes. He did fear that Zelda wouldn't want to be his friend anymore, but she hadn't left him yet... and it was unlikely that an incredible girl like her would stoop to hanging with Groose of all people.

"And just what are you talking about, Groose?" Zelda appeared and stepped up next to Link.

"I- uh- guh- i-i-it's nothing! Uh, I'm gonna go... practice... now." He left Link and Zelda with a heated face and drooping pompadour.

"Erm... wh-what's up?" Link stuttered out.

Zelda frowned. "First... Link, you can't just let Groose and his goons push you around! You really ought to stand up for yourself!" Link shied back, dipping his head down. I... I made her upset... I'm not strong enough. I... I'm sorry. You should find a better friend, one who doesn't hurt you, make you worry. He didn't voice these thoughts. She sighed.

"Link, I'm not mad at you, but... I can't watch you be hurt while you do nothing. Please, try?" Link glanced up, then away. "For me?"

"I- I... I'll try, Zel."

She smiled. "Good. Now, I what I really came over here for is... well, I wanted to wish you good luck!"

"O-oh! Thank you." She seemed to debate something in her head for a moment before grabbing him in a hug. Link's face reddened as he felt her warm breath on his neck. Zelda quickly pulled back and glanced away; she didn't do stuff like that often, knowing he didn't much like being touched.

"Umm... see you... after you win this thing." She looked up and smiled again. "Uh... bye," Zelda said, waving. Then she walked away.

I- I... can and I will win this. And I'll try to be better. For... for Zelda.

_/|||\_

He would be the last to fence against the competition. Groose had won once, then failed against a more agile opponent. Link would be up soon, for yet another match; he had won a few others. He looked over to the opposition's side of the gym, and chills rapidly trekked down his spine, and he froze in place. It may have been seven years, but he still remembered the face of the man that had tortured him all those years ago.

Ghirahim was here.

He quickly grabbed his mesh mask and placed it over his head. He didn't know if the Yiga would recognize him, but he was not willing to take that chance. The boy with reddish-brown eyes and white hair that Ghirahim had been talking to nodded and put on his own protective mask. The current match ended, with his school's team member reaching the 15 points needed to win. The announcer grabbed a microphone and began to speak. "For our next match, we have Link Farole of the Castle Academy Knights, and Reiko Tanour of the Canyon High Boars!"

He held his sabre in his left hand, and raised his mask. Link and his opponent, Reiko, faced and positioned themselves on the piste and saluted to each other, then the officials. The fencers lowered the masks, and went into the "en garde" pose. The announcer spoke again: "Pret? Allez!" And the match began.

The two blades clashed, and the two moved back and forth. At one point, the other pushed Link back and glanced behind him, looking for approval from the crowd, or perhaps Ghirahim specifically. This led Link to score, however, and the two reset. For three minutes, they fought, ending up scoring 4 points, evenly matched in their skills.

Link stepped back during break, thinking on his opponent's movements. He carried more force, but his movements were less quick and agile than his own. Reiko also kept glancing at Ghirahim for presumed approval, and yet... The man was watching the stands. Only looking at the fight sometimes. Perhaps he was waiting... but for what? The announcer called out again, and the two moved into postion.

This time, he put more force into his blows, and ended up pressing Reiko off the edge of the piste, earning him a point. Reposition, and again. At the end of the 3 minutes, Link had 11 points, and his opponent 10; it was still anyone's game. He raced to the edge for a quick drink of water, and glanced back at the stands. Zelda was chatting with some of her other friends, when Cado tapped her shoulder. He whispered in her ear, then got up and left the stands. Link swiveled to look at Ghirahim; the Yiga was smiling as he watched the bodyguard leave. The hair on the back of his neck raised. He had to be careful, make sure that Zelda was safe.

One last time, the blades of the competitors met. Thrust, block, swing, backpedal, press forward. Soon, the two were tied at fourteen; the next hit would decide the match. As Link placed himself, he chanced a look at Ghirahim. The man had a crossbow in his hand. Everyone else was focused on the match in the center of the gym. He slowly began to stretch upward, and something happened, a ripple, and the bow disappeared. Link tensed, blinked and the weapon reappeared. Others saw the Yiga, but couldn't seem to notice the bow.

Then the fight began, with neither willing to give up easily, exchanging blows. Reiko thrust forward. Link dodged. Time slowed. Suddenly, he was aware of everything. Each movement, every breath, of every person in the room. Ghirahim's crossbow was pointed directly at Zelda, finger on the trigger, beginning to pull. No. NO! YOU WILL NOT HARM HER! He slashed at his opponent's torso to end the match, otherwise he would lose for leaving the piste; not to mention, Reiko was clearly part of the scheme. The buzzer began to ring, echoing slowly through the gym. Link lunged to the side, racing up the stands directly to Zelda. He could see it, each ripple of the fletching as it sped through the air. He got to where she was as it did. There was no time to push her to the side or to take the arrow himself. He reached out his hand and-

Grabbed the bolt. Time returned to normal. The arrow was centimeters from Zel's heart. He stood straight and looked to where the Yiga had been. Ghirahim gave him a furious, snarling look before turning and rapidly walking away. The announcer grabbed the microphone. "And the winner is Link Farole! That match also concludes the finals, with Castle Academy winning the Championship for the third year in a row! Astounding work!"

The man continued to ramble, but no one could hear it, with the roar of approval from the Knight's side of the gym. Link was hauled down from where he still stood in front of Zelda and was shoved into the huddle of the team, where hundreds of students surrounded them, shouting and cheering, though many seemed confused as to what had happened, how he had suddenly been in the stands. At some point, Link was placed on top of someone's shoulders and given the trophy. The rest of the team cheered and called his name, seemingly ignoring his protests that he shouldn't be the one holding the award; they had done this too after all.

At one point he shoved the trophy into someone's hands, leapt down from his perch, and approached Zelda. She was giving him an odd look. "We'll talk about whatever that was somewhere more private," she whispered. Then she gave a big smile. "You did amazing, though! I really enjoy watching you fight." She looked a bit embarrassed as she said this. Zelda seemed to again debate in her head before pulling him into a hug. His face flushed, and again, she seemed to be thinking. Then she looked him in the eye.

"I... um... thank you. For saving me from that bolt; I really didn't think anything like that would've happened." Zel gazed into his bright blue eyes, and he stared back into hers of emerald green. She suddenly pushed her face forward and kissed him gently on his left cheek, where his scar was. That made him feel even warmer, and he looked down, ignoring the twitching of his elven ears as others on his team made catcalls. Wha... What? That doesn't make sense... I feel... nice though...

"Miss Zelda! Your father wants you home; we need to leave." Cado's voice shocked Link out of his thoughts. The Sheikah placed a hand on Zelda's shoulder. She nodded. All the excitement had clearly worn her out.

"Bye Link. Let's talk about what happened soon." She smiled and waved, a hint of pink on her cheeks as she walked away.

He raised his hand slightly, still feeling a bit shocked from everything. Out of nowhere, Aryll jumped on his back.

"Big brother! That was SUPER AWESOME! He was all like aghh! And you were like slash-pow, I win! C'mon, let's go, let go, let's go! We have cookies! Gramma didn't burn em' this time!" She then whispered in his ear, "I saw her kiss you. Get the hint, dummy!"

His face reddened, and he curled in on himself. Nope. Not good enough for her. And if the Yiga are after her again... I have to focus, can't get distracted by anything, not even Zelda.

Aryll began to tip off his back, unable to hold on with just her arms with his movement. Everything around him slowed once more, and he turned in an instant to hold her smaller-than-average twelve-year-old form against his chest. Aryll sighed dramatically, but didn't fight him as he carried her.

She continued to chatter as he walked with her and his uncle and grandmother to their beat-up minivan. He did stumble a bit, everything feeling muted and blurry from exhaustion. Whatever happened with time slowing... that must be why I'm so tired. I'm not usually doing so bad after a simple fencing match. What happened there?

Seconds after he fumbled the buckle into the lock, Link fell into a miraculously peaceful sleep.

A/N: The piste is the small area where the competitors fence, and leaving it results in the other getting a point. Saluting to your opponent and the judges is customary before a match. The words "Pret? Allez!" Mean "Ready? Go!" in French. The arrow of a crossbow is usually called a "bolt."

Hey, James Birdsong, I saw the review and I'm glad you like my story so far! :)