Falling Worlds; Zelink, Modern Magic AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Wings (16)

"Show me; prove it."

Tel tilted her head and gave a smirk. "I was about to," she replied as she walked to the edge of the fortress.

"Wait, what are you-"

"Relax," Tel said as she glanced back at her, and then she jumped.

Zelda leaped to her feet and ran to the edge. What!? she thought furiously, fearful that the woman who had been the only one to answer her questions would fall through the clouds and disappear forever.

"Looking in the wrong place," Tel's voice came from behind her.

Zelda whirled around, and her eyes widened. "Holy crap Tel, that-" she fell silent as the woman's wings rustled in the slightly breeze. "-was... amaz...ing..."

"Since all of us can do it, it's considered normal." She smiled. "So it's refreshing that someone is so amazed by it, thank you."

"Normal?" Zelda walked over to her. "Where did they come from??"

"My back."

"How were they in there?"

"Magic. Does it matter?" Tel asked, amused.

"It mattered to my father. He wanted to prove magic existed scientifically."

Tel nodded. "Sounds like the man I knew. Unfortunately we don't know how it works. Just that it does. We call it phasing."

Phasing... My father was here before... She closed her eyes at the thought, then shook herself to focus on the matter at hand. Zelda held out her hand. "Can I...?"

She smiled. "Go ahead."

Zelda grinned and gently touched the wing. It was soft, she could feel the strength beneath her fingers. She couldn't believe what was happening, but as she drew her hand down the wing she knew it was real.

"This is incredible... This is..." She brought her hand to her face, and her confusion, worry, sadness, and betrayal melted away. Replaced by the wonder of what she had seen. What she was feeling with her own hand. "I can't believe it... It's all true... isn't it," she said.

"Well I don't know everything you've heard, but everything I've told you is the truth," Tel said, and as she spoke her wings disappeared like mist in a harsh sun, phasing out of view, leaving only brown and white specks to fade into the air.

"That is so cool," Zelda exclaimed.

Tel smiled. "I like you," she said, and then she frowned. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask you your name."

Zelda blinked. In the confusion of the day, she only just realized she'd never been asked. "It's Zelda."

Tel pressed her lips together. "Well, Zelda, nice to meet you," she said as she held out her hand.

"Likewise," she replied as she shook her hand.

"Listen... I know you've had a hell of a last couple of days, and I wish I could say it will get better... but..."

"But if the rest of Remnant are like-" she paused, "Moir right? Then they don't like me."

"No, they don't."

"Why?"

Tel shrugged.

"What is it about me that made your people go to the trouble of finding me in the motel? Why fly me up here? What is the Frost Tribe? Why did you refer to Link as my knight? What's so special about me that all this stuff is happening?"

"Zelda-"

"Why did you say I could break out on my own when you let me go? You know more about me than you're saying don't you?" she accused.

Tel bit her lip and didn't look her in the eye. "I don't know anything for sure. Just what they believe, and you're better off not listening to their superstitions, alright?"

"Please Tel-"

"Telthati, what are you doing out here?"

Zelda looked backward at the new voice. The broad, striped wings were the first thing she noticed, and then the shorter man that was hosting them.

Tel turned towards him and inclined her head. "You're back early. I was just showing Zelda the islands. She'd never seen them before."

"You ignored my son," he said simply.

"Your son is not the boss here, Kreuk. I was given no orders that he was in charge while you were gone, and so I wasn't about to bend myself to a self-serving little brat," she said as she folded her arms.

Zelda's eyes widened. Tel was talking trash about the leader's son, to his face? That shocked her. And made her like Tel just a little bit more.

"Fair enough," Kreuk said with a chuckle. "Apologies for his little tantrum yesterday."

She waved her hand. "He was right to question, but I don't roll over."

He chuckled. "I don't expect you to."

Tel turned to Zelda. "Kreuk, this is Zelda," she introduced.

Zelda bit her lip. "Leader of The Remnant I presume?"

"Indeed," he replied as he looked her up and down. "This is the one?" he asked Tel.

"So they think."

"Excuse me but... Who do you think I am?"

The leader of The Remnant shook his head. "Confidential, kid."

She sighed. "Of course it is."

"Shall we head back inside?" Tel suggested.

Kreuk nodded and as he turned to walk back down the steps, and Zelda had the clear view of his wings dissolving into the air.

She was starstruck. Amazed, yet so inexplicably terrified. The scientist part of her really wanted to figure out just how those wings worked. The other part of her wanted to run and hide from the unknown that was barraging her from all sides.

Tel followed Kreuk, but turned back to smile at her. "I'll make sure you're safe here."

"It's not my safety I'm worried about," Zelda replied softly. "It's my sanity."

She remained silent the entire walk back to the room she had woken up in. While voices may have been raised towards her, she ignored them. She barely even heard them over her own racing mind.

She was trying to make sense of everything, but it seemed like that wasn't going to happen; not without more information. But she feared that if more was presented to her she'd go insane. Too much had happened. Too much was happening.

"Zelda?" Tel said as she grabbed her shoulder.

"Huh?" Zelda looked up and saw the bed, and she knew she was back in the room. "What? Sorry."

Tel had a sympathetic look on her face. "I was saying that until things settle down here, you'll have to stay in this room. I'm sorry but-

"No it's fine," Zelda interrupted. "Really, what I need now is to just be alone to think...I don't think I could process any new information anyways. I just need to sleep; like a lot."

Tel nodded. "I understand... I'm sorry."

"For what?"

She hesitated. "Just... for your confusion... And for denying you the answers that you're looking for."

Zelda shrugged. "I'm not looking for answers... Not really. What I want is to go back to my simple life. Where I had my father, and I had my life..." she walked over to her bed and sat down facing away from the woman. "None of this is your fault Tel, so don't feel bad," she said as she laid down and curled up facing the wall.

"... Just knock on the door if you need anything, and you can open the shutter on this light if you want it." Tel said, and then she shut the door and she was gone.