Never Without You │ BOTW modern AU fanfic

Bus Stop

Finally the bus is arriving.

"Please don't get on that bus!" Zelda begs."You can stay at my house."

"Can I come too?" The man comments and then falls into a coughing fit.

Suddenly it hits me. This man is my future. This is going to be me if I don't turn my life around. One future is waiting on that bus, a dark abyss of addiction and violence, while the other future is waiting in that car, offering a glimmer of redemption—a chance to heal and find hope. The choice is mine, and it's a choice that could rewrite the very script of my life...

The bus driver opens the doors and waits for me to get in. I look back at the shady homeless man on his filthy bench, and at Zelda in her sparkling car.

"Shit..." I whisper to myself, shaking my head. I turn away from the bus and get back into Zelda's car. The bus drives off, the homeless man stays. And I might have just signed my death sentence by staying in SoCal.

Zelda's POV

After I smuggle Malice back into the house and tell her all the rules, like hiding from the staff, staying quiet, keeping the bedroom door shut, and refraining from drug use or illegal activities while I'm gone, I rush to campus.

Thanks to the detour, I hit rush hour and end up 20 minutes late to my first class... It's my archeology class and the lectures are held in a large auditorium with 200 students. I was hoping nobody would notice me entering the room late, but when I open the doors and find a seat right next to the entrance, the professors eyes land right on me, making him stop for a moment.

I shrink in my seat. Some eyes turn to look at me. The whispers and murmurs start, but the professor swiftly resumes his lecture and draws the attention back to him.

"Observe this statue," he says, pointing at the big screen behind him. "It's the same as the one in the manuscripts we discussed earlier."

I recognize his voice but I can't pinpoint where I've heard it before, and since I'm sitting in the far back I can't get a good look at him either.

"Take note that the inscription on this statute reads, 'Awaken us with the seal that breaks us free'," the professor says. "Perhaps, in the end, our scholarly pursuit of languages shall prove itself an invaluable key to unlocking the mysteries of bygone eras."

I quietly pull out my laptop and take as many notes as I still can before the lecture is over.

After class, when people are clearing the large lecture hall, I make my way down the narrow stairs to apologize to the professor for interrupting his lecture earlier.

Now that I can get a closer look at his amber hair and round glasses, I remember our previous encounter. His name is Shad, and he stopped to speak with me in the parking lot last year after my car got keyed. He recommended his mechanic to me, and said he was running late for his lecture. Back then, I assumed he was a student, but now I realize he was the professor of the class he was late for.

He's collecting his documents, folds his laptop shut, and pushes his glasses up. Having noticed me standing on the other side of the podium, he looks up at me, his expression changed in an instant. The way he smiles at me and raises his eyebrows in surprise reveals that, indeed, he remembers me as well.

"It's you," he says, his voice warm and curious. "Were you able to get your car fixed?"

A flush of embarrassment heats my cheeks. I can't believe he witnessed that dreadful message keyed across my car's side that day. "Lying Bitch." What terrible impression he must have of me.

"Yes," I say. "And—just so you know—the girl who keyed my car was mistaken. I'm not a lier and I'm not a... you know. But everything got resolved and your mechanic did a great job at fixing the mistake."