When Link and Zelda had walked out of the hallway and into the living room, they weren't really surprised to find Impa talking to the dog while they both sat on the couch. Their footsteps was what made Impa turn from the attentive animal and look at the two teenagers who looked at her with amused expressions.
"I was telling him a story." Impa smiled and turned to Lake to give him a brief rub on the head before getting up to walk over to the kids standing in the middle of the intersection for the kitchen and living room. "So," she said, placing her hands on her hips, "what are you guys gonna do? At this point, school is halfway done."
Link glanced at Zelda, who did the same, before he set his eyes on his aunt and held his hands together before he opened his mouth to say, "Zelda and I would like to go out and take a walk. To...clear some air."
"'To clear some air?'" Impa rose an eyebrow and looked at Zelda, which lead the blonde to grin weakly to avoid speaking. It had worked, because Impa stopped asking telepathic questions and inquired her answer. "I believe that's not...the best idea, at the moment." She nodded to Link, keeping her eyes on him. "Someone might be concerned for someone that might be missing school, so what if someone sees the two of you out?"
"We can make up an excuse if someone asks." He folded his hands over the other behind his back. "Lunchtime."
Zelda hadn't said anything throughout the whole conversation yet, but she needed her curiosity to be fulfilled. "Do...people outside actually care, though? If we miss school, I mean."
She had tried her best to not expose herself to being homeschooled, and it seemed to be believable because Impa shrugged and answered."Well...some do...but not everyone, and—" she shook her head—"that's not...it... I just..."
Having heard Impa's pause, Link rose an eyebrow. He was unsure of what she was getting at, but she let out a sigh of defeat and was unable to further her reasoning. "Just go," she said. "If something happens, please call."
"This hasn't been a problem before, though, Impa...," was what Link had wanted to say, but he kept his lips tight as he nodded to her words.
Zelda, on the other hand, smiled politely and gave her reassurance to Impa. "Will do. And I'll make sure Link is in safe hands."
"And she'll be in safe hands as well," Link inquired, looking at Zelda. She slightly turned pink in the face from his abrupt response, but she smiled it off.
"Okay." Impa bit her lower lip, smirking just slightly. "Just be careful out there, lovebirds. You may be alone, but that's not an advantage."
It took Link a few seconds to comprehend exactly what she had said, but he blushed and exclaimed, "We know what we're doing!" afterwards. Zelda didn't seem to understand, and she thought she was talking about something less erotic, so she smiled again and said, "It's okay, we know our limits."
Impa laughed and Link almost grabbed Zelda's hand to just leave, but the red on his face would have made Zelda curious and he didn't want to explain so he just bit his cheek.
"I'll be back later to pick up my things," announced Zelda, breaking the silence in Link's head. He looked at her but she was smiling at Impa—the polite smile she always had. "They're going to be sitting in Link's room, if that's alright with you."
"Oh, it's alright." Impa let the conversation die off when she held up a hand to wave at the two kids in front of her. "It's best you guys leave now, just in case I change my mind."
"Oh, uh—" Link turned his head to Zelda to give her a small nod before smiling at his aunt—"right. We'll...see you later, Impa." He turned to Zelda to give her the smile as well and grabbed her hand to lead the way out of the house.
Impa only watched as the door had opened and then closed once the two teenagers disappeared to the other side. If anything, she'd preferred they stayed. She felt it risky for them to leave, for so many reasons, but she knew they were going to be stubborn. But, as they've assured her, they would be sure to call her if anything happened.
Hopefully.
~0000000000~
"We're waiting until we are given the signal, Link." Zelda tugged on Link's hand, chuckling slightly at his pout.
"But there's no vehicles coming our way...," he mumbled. Zelda had heard him loud and clear, though.
"Yes, I see that, but I kind of value my life at the moment so it's better to be safe than sorry," Zelda pointed out.
Link sighed in response to her, nodding his head to and forth. "Ah, I suppose."
A smile was given his way, and the two started walking when the signal to cross the street was shown to them. A few other people were walking with and/or passed them, so they weren't the only ones. It gave Zelda slight anxiety, especially if there was a chance of people catching them. Link didn't care, but he had started to care when a burly man accidentally bumped into him.
"A-ah, I—" Link turned around, stopping at the curb as he looked at the back of the walking man—"I'm sorry..." The man had walked away, so Link's words trailed off.
Zelda lead them further off the curb, but Link was glued to his spot as he stared with a puzzled gaze at the tall man's physique. A Gerudo male, he supposed. He found it odd, for there weren't many male Gerudos. If anything, there were almost no Gerudo males. They'd almost gone extinct.
Zelda felt Link's hand tighten around hers, and she glanced down at their linked hands with confusion, maybe even concern. She pursed her lips and furrowed her brow, pouting slightly as she shifted their hands to intertwine them together.
"Hey," she called out. She looked up, but Link was looking at nothing but empty space. She tried to grab his attention by tugging on his hand a little hard, holding it with her other hand as well. "Hey. Link."
Link had to force himself to look at Zelda, his brow tense. "Yes?"
"Are...are you okay?" Zelda asked.
Zelda's worried expression made him ease a little, his face relaxing. His lips were parted and his words died in his throat when he tried to force them out of his chest. Instead, he tightened his lips and swallowed, looking ahead to find no man in sight.
"It's...nothing," he uttered. "But...he just...looks really familiar." He turned to Zelda, blinking when he saw the worry on her face not shifting. He smiled, instead, and used his free hand to scratch the back of his neck. "It's alright, though. Nothing big."
That time, Zelda rose an eyebrow. She wasn't buying it.
Link ignored it with a nervous laugh. "So...shall we continue our walk?"
It took the girl at his side a few moments to comprehend all that had happened in the span of a few seconds, but she nodded and let Link lead the way.
It irked her, just slightly, that Link had been quiet along the way. Well, quieter than usual. She had gotten used to hearing at least one word leave his mouth and grow into some kind of rant, so the silence made her sigh. It made her sigh loud enough for Link to hear her, which lead to his head turn to her direction.
"What?" he asked, softly. She wasn't answering and it made him worry a little bit more, so he gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Hey, you okay?"
Zelda nodded solemnly, and he unknowingly got the silent treatment back. He was unsure of what to tell her to get words out of her system, but he figured it'd be better to playfully tease her about it.
"Hey," he started, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk but moving to the side to leave space for any other people that came along the way. He smiled slightly, trying to ease her worries. Luckily, the area was slightly secluded so if anyone saw it wouldn't be as embarrassing—not that he would've been embarrassed, anyway. More about privacy, really. "What's up?"
"It's nothing, I just..." Right when her words were going to come out, she closed her mouth and inhaled and exhaled a sigh, swallowing an irrelevant lump as she looked down. "It's nothing."
"Come on, tell me." Link grinned by then, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're ticklish somewhere, right? I can be those corny Hylians and tickle it out of you."
At the mention of being ticklish, Zelda's expression perked just a teeny weeny bit, so that made him broaden his smile all the more. He moved his hands down to her upper arms, raising an eyebrow. "Wanna tell me? Because you're obviously not okay."
"Um—" Zelda placed her hand over Link's, holding down one of his hands in case it moved any further—"later."
Link breathily laughed, nodding his head toward her. "You sure?"
That made Zelda smile herself, which resulted in a brightened expression on Link's features. She said, "Positively. Now, let's keep on walking before people think we're crazy."
Link didn't let Zelda leave until he moved forward to plant a soft kiss on her brow, which made both of the two blush minimally. He moved back, shifting the hand under Zelda's own to grab it and intertwining them, as always. "If anything, we're already crazy if we're the reincarnated heroes."
Zelda placed her hand over Link's mouth, shushing him harshly. "Link! Don't say that out loud in public." She contorted her face, moving her hand away from his mouth when he licked it with a smile.
He was saying, "It's okay. I said that quietly, and no one's here. Now—" he gestured to the Lost Woods' direction with his head—"the forest we go?"
Zelda sighed through her nostrils and laughed in disbelief, but she still smiled sincerely. "Yes, let's go."
~0000000000~
"I feel so dirty."
Link stopped to watch the air, but he briefly turned to Zelda with a glance of confusion. "Huh?"
Zelda rephrased her words. "I mean—" Link started moving again, so her hand tightened just a little—"I've been wearing the same clothes that previously had dirt on them for two days. At least I showered but-"
"Zelda." Link stopped walking and turned around to completely face the rambling teenage girl. "You're fine." He smiled, and she felt her heart flutter. "If you're concerned that I think you look or smell bad, trust me when I say you're fine the way you are."
"Even if my clothes are dirty?" Zelda inquired, a shy look on her face. She was given a confident smile by the male in front of her.
"Even if you or your clothes are dirty." Link gave her hand a squeeze before turning around to follow the wind. "It's kind of natural for someone to be dirty in some way, anyway."
"I suppose you're right."
After those words, it had become eerily silent. To Link, at least.
Zelda followed Link through the smog, and she couldn't help but think of the Master Sword and its hidden area.
The silence was becoming too much to bear, anyway.
"Link," she called out, grabbing half of his attention. He grunted in response, so she continued. "Um...what are we going to do about the sword anyway? I mean...what if nothing happens and that sword is just something we have because you were destined to have it, for some reason."
Or maybe I'm just a fortunate guy to have been able to pull it out in the first place— "I don't know, but like we've discussed I'm pretty sure the Deku Tree will have our answers," Link said.
"Well, believe in yourself and maybe you'll get it soon enough—we'll get it soon enough," Zelda rephrased.
Link bit the inside of his cheek as he found the entrance to his hangout, already knowing he'd made a remark and pushed further away from his beliefs in his mind. Simply, he grunted in response. Nothing else was left to say after that, but Zelda only followed behind Link as he made his way over to where the sword was buried. She merely watched as he released her hand and knelt down onto his knees.
"Can you, uh..." He had a small smile on his face when he looked up at Zelda. "Can you get me the shovel? I have a small gardening one in there," he nodded to their tree, "somewhere."
Zelda nodded, holding back her retort as she turned around to quickly make her way to their tree. She was going to ask why they didn't use the small shovel instead of the big one, but she realized he probably didn't want her to get her hands dirty. So, it was fair enough.
When she made it through the opening, she let the minimum amount of sunlight seek through the cracks and holes. Link didn't specify where the shovel may have been located, but she didn't want to interrupt him from the deep thoughts he seemed to have been having. If she just had to guess, he was probably pondering over the whole "Goddess' Chosen Hero" fiasco, as always. She didn't see a point as to why he was so determined to ignore the fact that he was chosen—she ignored the big shovel and grabbed the smaller one—as the hero. It was so...obviously obvious, as she'd put it.
Zelda was starting to head out of the tree, but a small, single jingle halted her movements. Her heart dropped, just slightly, in fear of something being in their area. She slowly turned her head to where she heard the sound—the couch's area—seeing nothing but unmoved furniture.
Her mouth opened, but her words came out croaky when she spoke. "Hello?" She felt stupid—talking to nothing—but she felt it necessary because if there really was someone there then they were screwed.
A few moments had passed since Zelda had heard the sound, so she decided it'd be best to leave and discuss it with Link, but she heard it again so she gripped the shovel tightly in her hand and cautiously walked over to the "living room". She found it best to say nothing and instead stared at the couch, inspecting it from a distance.
She waited for another jingle, but the thing thought it best to not do anything so she frustratingly groaned and quickly left the area and out into the forest.
Link had been staring at the direction of their tree when she came back, and the first thing Zelda saw was a smile grow on his face.
"I was getting kind of worried something happened." Link grabbed the shovel from Zelda and turned to the dirt, sitting on his knees. "You were taking quite a while longer than I originally thought you'd take."
"Oh." Zelda saw him dig into the dirt, carefully maneuvering around the flowers that time. "I, uh..." She debated on whether or not she should've told Link about the jingling, but she decided against it. She had a feeling she probably was hallucinating...but...why would she be?
"I kind of...tripped." More like tripped out, but—"I was trying to find it but I tripped on a root."
Link gave her a grunt, but he sent her a glance as he placed a few flowers to the side. "You okay?"
Zelda nodded, but she remembered he wasn't looking. "Yes. It didn't hurt, or anything, just a small fall."
Link was focused on not damaging the plants, so his signature grunt was his only response.
He placed a set of flowers aside, getting rid of the dirt that covered the Master Sword when he found a safe spot. His hands moved a few chunks of dirt to the side, but when he reached to grab the sword's hilt, the weapon had a small glow on its blade. Link turned his head back to Zelda, alarmingly, and looked back down to the sword as he pushed himself away.
"Did you see that?" Link almost stood up, but Zelda crouched down to see the problem up close.
"See what?" Zelda asked, crouching and reaching out to grab the sword herself. She picked it up, letting the weight fall on her hand. "It seems normal to me."
Link's mouth was hung open, just slightly, and he was unsure of what to say. He swore he saw a glow on the sword's blade. He wasn't going crazy—maybe he was, actually, but he didn't want to make matters worse. Instead of saying anything, he sighed and moved back to sit next to Zelda, grabbing the sword by the hilt.
He was going to stab it in the ground to pick himself up, but the sword actually made...a sound, and it startled Link so much that he threw the sword a few feet away from his hands. He stood up, and he found himself standing next to a standing-Zelda.
"Okay, now see it," claimed Zelda.
Link turned his head to her, pointing at the sword. "Did you hear it, too?"
Zelda shook her head, and it made Link drop his hands in disbelief. He leaned on one side of his leg, running his hand through his hair until it reached his hair tie. "But...how?" he breathed out. "It was kind of...loud."
"Okay, yes. I heard something but it wasn't ridiculously loud, y'know? And," Zelda was saying, looking at the unmoved object ahead of them, "I saw a blue glow."
"Yes! That's it." Link smiled, relieved that he wasn't going crazy. But, he didn't know what to do; the Master Sword wasn't...quite acting like a sword. He shot a quick glance at Zelda before he walked over to the sword, bending down to hesitantly pick it up by the handle. He straightened his back, letting the flat side of the blade rest on his right hand.
Weird, he thought. Link was going to turn back to get to Zelda, but he felt the sword vibrate, and the sound and the light all emitted from it. His hands almost gave out on it, but he still held it. He was unsure of what was happening, but he decided it'd be best to ask the more...knowledgeable historian in the area.
"Do you have a hunch as to why the sword is acting up like this, Zelda?" Link walked over to Zelda and showed her the sword, waiting for something to happen. Anything.
...
"...Um, Link, I think I might know," Zelda said after the moment of silence, holding out her hand right after as she stared at the sword's blade, "but I'll need to hold it for a second just to confirm it even more."
"Uh," he passed the sword over to Zelda, "okay."
He watched as she observed the sword, noticing how her lips pursed and her brow furrowed in thought. He found it adorable.
If anything went wrong and there really was an evil lurking around that he had to fight, Link pondered, at least he was able to find his first actual true love.
While Link was getting mushy, Zelda was waiting for the sword to react to her. Nothing had happened for those moments, and it pushed her thought even further as to why it reacted like it did with Link.
"It's because you're the chosen hero," uttered Zelda, carefully turning the sword over in her hands.
Link blinked away from his thoughts and looked into her eyes. "Hm?"
"You're the new hero," repeated Zelda. She handed the sword over to Link, and once he touched it the sword blinked aglow again. "Which means you're the Chosen One and the sword's owner." Zelda nodded her head to the Master Sword, looking at it before glancing at Link. "I've heard that the Heroes long ago used to be able to talk to the Master Sword—most of them, at least."
Link scrunched up his face. "What do you mean 'talk to the Master Sword'?"
Zelda smiled slightly. "What I mean is—"she brought her hand up to softly place it on his cheek—"those noises it's making, it's trying to talk to you. I can't hear it, and that's probably because I'm not the Hero of the Goddess."
"But...you're technically a goddess, and the Goddess Hylia made this sword for the Hero, shouldn't you be able to hear something coherent?" Link placed his hand over her own that was on his cheek, pulling it off to hold it in his grasp.
Link's words brought Zelda to wonder, but she only shrugged in the end. "I dunno, maybe we can ask the Deku Tree about it whenever you have all your memories and you're confident about who you are."
"But I have all my memories," Link protested, squeezing her hand and letting the sword's tip rest in the dirt. "A-and I'm confident."
"Wrong." Zelda squeezed his hand back, and he frowned instead.
"But—"
"For one," said Zelda,"I know you don't have all of your memories because I know with you it'll take some time, especially since you're being stubborn about your status as a legendary hero."
Link had his mouth open in slight disbelief. Zelda wasn't wrong, that was for sure. But...it hit too close to home because she was right.
Zelda continued her statement. "Anyways, you'll know when you're ready, trust me. It'll be soon, too—hopefully."
"I'm sure I'll one day get to my senses and start believing it." Link released the sword from the ground and eyed it. "Soon, maybe. It didn't take very long for you."
"Well," Zelda started walking to their tree, which made Link follow along, "I believe our lifestyles are kind of different, in this case. I grew up with...history itself without even knowing it, and you grew up as a regular kid—" she entered the tree and glanced over to the couch where the sound once was—"which...makes me believe it has to do with some kind of experience."
Link stood quiet, looking at the sword in his hands in deep thought. "I suppose," he mumbled.
Zelda saw Link concentrating on the sword, but she was able to see the look of disappointment on his face even more. She walked closer to him, placing her hand over the sword and gently pushed it down just a little bit to gain his attention.
Link looked up and into her eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Hm?"
"I know what you're thinking—you're feeling doubtful now, aren't you?" asked Zelda.
Link blinked once and licked his lips unsure of how to form his words. "Um...," he shook his head, softly, "I wouldn't say...doubtful, but I'm just mad—or, I guess, disappointed—that I can't get my memories sooner and believe that I used to be a legendary hero."
"With time, Link." Zelda gave him a soft smile and stroked the back of his hand with her thumb. "With time I believe you'll get it."
A soft sigh broke past Link's lips, and he gave Zelda a small smile to show her his gratitude. "Thank you," he had said, but there was something else he wanted to add. Link moved to feeling shy, and he gave Zelda's hand a small squeeze. "I...I love you."
Zelda seemed to have given off her own flustered expression, and she gave him a single nod before releasing his hand to cup his cheek and used her courage to bring him close to kiss him.
"I love you, too." Zelda smiled and moved back to where she was before, both red on the face.
No matter how many times they were open and affectionate, at that moment it had still left them flustered.
~0000000000~
"Hey...I have a question to ask you." Link played with Zelda's hair and used the tips of her golden hair to brush against his cheek. He looked into her eyes when she nodded to let him ask his question, which was, "Why do you think the monarchy from centuries ago was the last one? We never really were given information from that because no one really knows why or how it ended."
Zelda shrugged immediately, no answer to his question. "I don't know. I've tried looking up on that for years but I've never found anything. Maybe...it's something left unrecorded? Or..."
"...or—" Link decided to answer for her—"it could be something left hidden?"
Zelda looked at him, and that was when she realized he could have been correct. "It...makes sense." She scoffed, lowering her voice with a small sneer. "Probably my father's doing. He hid those paintings of the princess and her partners! Who's to say he isn't hiding more information?"
Zelda sighed and leaned against Link when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to bring her close. He gave her his two-cents on her claim. "Well...maybe he is—you live in a historical building with your father hiding many things, hence the books you brought over."
"There was also really old furniture—really dusty."
Link amusedly chuckled and rested his head on her own. "Do you think I'll ever visit your house one day?"
Zelda let out a sound of some sort, a disbelief-snort maybe. "I don't know, but I can't be positive it'll ever happen. With how my father is, especially him knowing what could potentially happen he would want to rid of you real quick."
"But," Link started saying, removing himself from Zelda so that he could look her in the eyes, "that wouldn't make sense. I...can understand if he wanted me exiled for...this...but everything is already...set in place." He frowned. "I have the Master Sword, you're confirmed to be the Princess of Hyrule reborn with...some kind of power, I believe, we've seen the Great Deku Tree, and I'm supposed to be the Hero of Whatever now. I- we are the only ones who can take down the monster that'll come one day."
Zelda only listened to what Link had to say, and all of what came out of his mouth had made a lot of sense. She merely nodded, leaning against the back of the couch. She was going to say something, but a jingle brought her attention away from the topic.
Zelda stood up very quickly, pointing to the couch as if she had discovered something brilliant. "That!"
"What?" Link stood up as well, slightly scared but curious as to what it was. "What was that?"
"I-I've heard it before." Zelda turned to Link. "When you were out there waiting for me to bring the shovel. That's why I took a while, I was trying to figure out what that sound was!"
"So..." Link looked at Zelda right as she walked over to the couch, so he was looking at her back, "you didn't actually trip?"
Zelda shook her head, and she used her hands to grab the corner of the back of the couch, nodding for Link to help her with the other side. "Can you help me pull this out?"
Link was confused as to what she wanted to do, but he complied.
When the couch was pushed out of its original spot, Zelda screamed in fright when she saw what was behind the couch and jumped back almost a whole foot.
"What, what is it?" Link rushed over to Zelda and held her by the shoulders from behind, making sure she was stable and okay. "What'd you see?"
Zelda looked at Link in the eyes, slight panic in them. "I...I-I—" Instead of saying anything else, she pushed Link to go look at what it was she saw. Link looked behind the couch, and he himself screamed in fright seeing what was there, as well.
"A Korok?!"
"Yahaha!" The little creature jumped out of the spot it had been hiding in and stepped onto the cushions of the couch itself, watching as the two kids in front of it were both frightened and shocked. "You found me!"
Both Link and Zelda were mentally observing what the Korok looked like, and it had a weirdly shaped leaf on its...face—head? They weren't sure; it didn't have a neck.
"U-uh, yeah!" Zelda was the brave, tentative one to speak up, still hiding a little behind the man in the room.
Link blindly reached behind him to tap her side and gave her a small smile over his shoulder, looking back at the creature right after. "Um," he was saying, "are you a...Korok?"
"Yup!" The little thing jumped off of the couch, letting out a whine when it hit the ground too hard and lost its balance for how small the legs on it was. "Whoops."
Zelda silently "aw"ed without knowing it, and Link chuckled at the little fella. "It's kind of cute," Zelda whispered over Link's shoulder, and he nodded in agreement with her.
"I mean, kind of freaked out, but it's...," Link's eyes followed the Korok as it waddled over to them, "still cute."
"Mr. Hero? Is that you?" The Korok moved its eyes from Link to Zelda, and it brightened up. "Princess!"
Both Link and Zelda looked at each other, an odd pang in their hearts hearing the Korok think they were...who it used to know. They continued to look at each other, a mental fight on who will tell the Korok the truth, but Link lost the battle and felt Zelda remove herself from holding onto his shoulder and as he said, "K-Korok... Zelda and I...," he pointed in between them, "we aren't the Hero and the Princess that you used to know..."
If the Korok could tilt its head it would have looked like it. "What do you mean?" The Korok pointed with its stick at Link. "You're the hero who's going to save the land," it pointed the stick to Zelda, who was now side by side with Link, "and you're the Princess of Hyrule."
Zelda and Link looked at each other, and the Zelda was able to just hear Link's heart drop after hearing he was actually supposed to save the land. Whereas for Zelda herself, she was just confused as to how the Korok knew such things.
"First of all," Link exclaimed, "how are you alive?"
"I never died, silly!" The Korok's voice broke the teen's eye contact, and it jingled once again. "I'm already a spirit, ya know? I don't believe we die since we're kind of already dead. Well, that's what I was told."
Hearing the little guy say something so...depressing made the duo's heart clench. They both had already known about the Koroks' origin, but to know that the Koroks were once people by a Korok itself was something in another light.
"Second of all," Zelda added on to switch the mood, "how do you know about Mr. Hero and I being the, well, Hero and Princess?"
Link pursed his lips are hearing Zelda use the nickname the Korok had for him, and the Korok merely jingled. "It's simple! My dad told us there were to be new heroes sometime soon and he told us recently that they're here!"
"Dad?" Link inquired.
"The Great Deku Tree!" The Korok's voice became even more cheery. "He watches over us! The Spirits of the Forest!"
"Is he really your dad?" Zelda asked. She was given something akin to a shrug.
"Dunno, but he raised me so I consider him as my father...also, he said we're his dearest children so I suppose so!"
Link chuckled, his face breaking into a smile without control. Zelda watched as that happened, and she couldn't help but smile as well. So, they really were the ones who would stop the great evil that would come through eventually...which means—
"Wait a minute, so it's confirmed that Zelda and I are the ones who need to fight some big dude?" Link had everything hit him right at that moment, and his breath couldn't have labored even more.
"Indeed so. And," The Korok walked over to Link and tapped his knee with his stick, looking up at him, "it's not just some big dude. It's a greater evil that can potentially destroy this whole country."
"Jeez, thanks, little guy," Link said, somewhat sarcastically. He took a deep breath, not wanting to imagine that the whole of his country was on his shoulders... Except...that was exactly what was going on.
"Do you...," Zelda stepped up, crouching down to talk to the Korok, "do you know when it will come?"
The Korok jingled and shook the head it had, sticking the stick into the ground and leaning on it. "Nope. That I do not know, Princess Zelda."
"Zelda is just fine, Korok." Zelda smiled and moved back up on her feet. She looked at Link and frowned when she saw how much stress he had going on at that moment.
"I have a name, guys! My name's Jaak."
That announcement of the Korok's name brought Link out of his negatives. "Jaak?"
Jaak nodded and waddled over to the couch, trying to jump to reach for it the edge, "Yes, Mr. Hero! But, I should get going, I'm a little sleepy."
Link laughed, feeling more light in the chest and walked over to Jaak and bent down to pick him up. Jaak let out a noise of surprise and jingled, steadying himself to not fall off of his hands. He thanked Link when he set him behind the couch, Zelda watching from the side with a smile on her face.
"Goodnight, you guys! Good luck with your adventure!" Jaak laughed and waved to Zelda when she peered her head over the couch.
"Where do you go from there?" she asked.
"There's a hole there, you see?" Jaak used his stick to point at the hole with a top taken off behind the couch next to him, fit for a small being. "I go there and it leads me to my house!"
Zelda laughed, smiling warm-heartedly to the Korok. "Alright, then. See you later, Jaak. Thanks for everything."
Jaak waved once more before jumping into the hole, his stick closing it right after.
Zelda stayed staring at the closed hole for a while, many thoughts swarming her head like—Who's the evil guy? Is it Calamity Ganon? What if it's a human? What if he's here, right now. In Hyrule. Planning every-
"Zelda, um..."
Zelda turned around, facing Link. She was going to ask how he was doing, but she knew he wasn't doing well by the looks of it. "Link-"
"Zelda, I-I feel...like..." Link's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his eyelids closed right as his knees gave out on him. He landed on the dirt below, face first, and Zelda let out a scream of worry while she rushed over to his side. She rolled him over, supporting his head as he was knocked out cold.
Oh, my goddesses, what do I do?! Is he... Zelda hesitantly placed her ear over his chest, trying to hear for a heartbeat.
Luckily, she had found one.
He's just unconscious. Oh, thank the gods above. Zelda released a breath of relief and placed her forehead over Link's, simply holding him. "I thought you randomly lost your life, or something," Zelda mumbled to Link. She knew he couldn't hear, but it was a good reassurance that he was okay.
She removed herself from his forehead, planting a soft kiss on it instead. She set him down gently and stood up. She walked to grab his ankles to drag him to the middle of the tree, since she was incapable of carrying him.
When she made it over there, with some effort, she let out a breath and looked around for the makeshift bed. Which wasn't very far, actually, so she strode over to it and grabbed the pillow and blanket. Fortunately—for her—the bed was pretty large so the blanket and pillow were as well—fit for two people. She would have placed him there, but she wasn't capable of picking him up, once again.
I guess Link likes to sleep with a lot of space around him, Zelda thought. She referred back to his own bed, which had barely managed to fit the two of them. It was also...where our first kiss happened. Zelda couldn't help the smile that crept up on her face at the thought of the kiss that started something she had never even dreamed of.
She had a gentle smile on her face as she spread the blanket over Link's torso as neatly as she could. She pushed his arms inside, folded them over his stomach, took off his shoes, and grabbed the pillow to place under his head right after it was lifted by her.
By then, Zelda had felt just as fatigued as Link probably was. Actually, probably less since he was passed out but she was still tired.
Zelda took off her shoes and set them off the side, picking up the cover and sliding onto the...ground with Link.
She didn't know what to do since they were pretty much a couple. Should she have hugged him? Held him, maybe? She didn't know. Maybe, she had thought, that it would have been better to wait and see what happened overnight—or over-something because the sun was still up, it seemed, so she was unaware of how long they would've slept or napped for—as a natural occurrence.
In the end, she settled for cuddling into his side.
It has been months and I apologize haha. I've been really busy with school but then even during summer break I had gotten even busier. I have a really fun idea I have for a story right after this one, so I'm excited for that. I will be posting it on fanfiction(.)net only though. It is Zelink and botw related, except it is in the original timeline and not modern. Sorry if this wasn't the best either, haven't written very much in a long while haha. But, I have the next chapter and some of the one after already drafted, so all I'll need it just to write it. Not sure how long that will take, but I hope soon :)
I'm a 10th grader now, though, and with my age and intelligence I really want to try and improve and expand my writing and vocabulary throughout the school year since I know most things already, just not enough, I believe. Thank you so much for those who stayed strong with me though :') I have the ending for this fanfic done already, as well (the draft actually) but let's see how far this story will go on.
Till next time. Excuse my mistakes please