if i die tomorrow - permanent hiatus

case

     "Are you sure?"

     "Of course I'm sure." I smiled at you, a hint of mischief dancing at the corners of my mouth. "I mean, how could I do worse than they are doing right now?"

     "They are professionals." The brilliant afternoon sunlight liquidized your golden hair, a glowing, molten waterfall alive with the flowing currents. "There are standards."

     "Please." I rolled my eyes. "All they are are some pretty names. Status. I doubt any of them had any experience at all with dead bodies."

    "But these people had cracked cases. They had brought out the truth to the world." You persisted, shuffling your way to my front so that I had to look into your wide eyes. 

     "Ah, Zelda." I shook my head, amused. "They just say that they did while the people that actually had worked hard stay in the shadows. I must say, it was fun to watch them work their five collective brain cells and run around in circles."

     "So you're taking a look yourself?" You couldn't help but be intrigued as you tailed my steps. "The body had been soaked in a lake for Hylia only knows how long. Found five days ago. Are you sure that you will do more good than harm?"

     "I at least have a bit of experience with bodies," I replied, shrugging as I made my way down to where the new, mysterious body was kept. "These people that call themselves 'coroners' probably had never even seen one before. I bet they're scared out of their wits," I added, snickering.

     "I have to say, it's interesting." You bounded at my side, thinking. "Five days and they are yet to give us an answer about how she died, never mind who she was when she was alive, or her time of death."

     "Which is why we have to take matters into our own hands." I grinned at you. "I mean, how could we possibly do any worse?"

     "Fair." You seemed convinced. "But you must be careful."

     We made our way through the long, winding halls of the Castle, wordless in our anticipation. If I knew anything about the useless nobles that called themselves forensic pathologists, they wouldn't even bother hiding the body away, just tossing it onto some ice and calling it a day.

     "Here we are." You gestured to the plain building founded in the shadow of the Castle. "This is where they do work like this and stuff."

     "Great." I examined the smooth brass handle of the door. "But-- Are you sure you... want to see this? They say that her face was--"

     "I know." You cut me off, staring at me seriously. "I know it's going to be scary. But if you are doing it, then I am."

     I smiled to myself. "All right, then. If you're sure."

     You nodded, your face set with determination.

     It didn't take me long to pick the simple padlock adorning the handle, and I took a breath as I let myself into the dark hall.

     It was deathly quiet within these walls, as though I was walking through row after row of gravestones, which I suppose I was, in a sense. You shivered involuntarily, stepping closer to the warmth of my body.

     "I remember it was in room 118." You whispered, the soft noise echoing in the cold silence, magnified thousandfold. Our footsteps were uncomfortably loud, piercing through the thick air like a drunken blade.

     I nodded tersely.

     I couldn't help but be unsettled by the unnatural chill, the cold seeping into my bones. I swallowed nervously and kept going.

     Room 105. Room 106. Room 107. Room 108.

     "We're here." I murmured. 

     The knob rattled without further response as I twisted it. This lock was slightly harder to pick, but nevertheless easily doable. My doubt of the competence of these idiots deepened. Such a baffling case, and they use basic locks like this?

     "Last chance. Are you sure you want to do this?" 

     "Let's see..." You feined indecision. "I would be breaking about 20 rules. Seeing a dead body for the first time in my life. Openly declaring my skepticism of the Hyrulean court. Why not?"

     I nodded. "Okay then. If you insist."

     I opened the door and bowed in comic deference, you giggling through the quiet.

     If I had known what burden the truth held, that day when I snuck into the autopsy office with the Princess at my side just to spite the nobles I hated with every fibre of my being, then I would have turned back right there.

     Yet I didn't. 

     That was but the beginning of the endless string of mysteries following me at my heel.

A/N: Have fun waiting around for the next chapter where I follow this scene :D