Hi. The evil twin nudged me hard enough, and this came out. I don't know what I was thinking, or even why I wrote it. I just did. I suppose conclusions can be drawn accordingly.

Storyline is mine, I think, but nothing else is. If you're going to sue all you're going to get is a new pair of pajamas. Actually, please don't sue. I like these pajamas.

The story will contain yaoi. Don't fancy men with men? Please don't read it. The back button is your friend. Enjoy.


"Who is that?"

Absorbed in the question at hand, he missed everything Zelda was saying to him, and her patience—while great—finally wore thin. "Link, you haven't heard a thing I've said for the past fifteen minutes now! What on earth has you so distracted your ears detach from your head?"

"O-oh. Sorry, Zelda. What was that?"

With a sigh the princess rubbed her temples. "Link… I honestly think you need a girlfriend. I know you're not interested in me, but… there has to be somebody around for you." Zelda blinked as a thought came to her. "You're not gay by any chance, are you?"

"... Hmm? What was that?" Link's gaze had been captured by a flash of gold nestled in shoulder-length blue locks. He followed the tiara in his vision until he lost track of it, catching a glimpse of a royal blue cape as the tiara's wearer disappeared into a hallway.

"Link, if you aren't going to listen to me will you at least tell me exactly what you're looking at with such great interest?" Zelda crossed her arms over her chest, tapping a foot impatiently. "I would certainly like to know what you found more fascinating than the things I ask you to try to help you find a…" she paused, rethinking the word she was about to use "partner."

"Zelda?" he asked suddenly.

"What is it, Link?"

"… I could swear I just saw the Zora Sapphire."

The princess of Hyrule blinked at the Hero of Time. Once, twice, three times. "…The Zora Sapphire? I thought the Zoras had custody of that. How… strange."

Link shook his head. "Not Nayru's stone or anything… I meant I thought I saw a person like the Zora Sapphire!" For all that he was nearly twenty, Link still hadn't quite gotten out of the habit of his childlike exclamations, and the number of looks this outburst got him made him color in embarrassment. "… I just never saw her face."

A smile spread across Zelda's face. "Oh, I understand now. I think I know exactly who you mean… though you may be a little surprised, Link. Come with me." She took his hand and dragged him off to get seats in front of the large screen showing the matches.

--------

Ten minutes later, seated between Zelda and Samus, Link wished more than anything that Navi was around to help him make some sense of this madness. He didn't understand why Zelda had coerced him to sit and watch the matches being fought, and he certainly didn't know why this had anything to do with the sapphire he was so curious about from earlier. This was the third match he'd seen so far, and Ness was unleashing his fourth PK Flash on Donkey Kong.

"PK FLASH!" An earlier, weaker hit had knocked Donkey Kong back far enough to allow Ness time to charge his attack, and with a brilliant flash of green energy the ape flew off the screen.

"GAME!" shouted the emcee—Master Hand, probably.

He was just about to get up and leave when Zelda grabbed his arm. "Watch, Link. The next match is the one you want to see."

"One stock match! Marth versus Ganondorf, at Fountain of Dreams! Ready… GO!" As the two combatants lunged at each other—one clearly much more agile than the other—Link suddenly understood what Zelda had wanted him to see.

"I believe that should answer your question, Link," the princess remarked. "I can introduce you to him if you'd like. He's beautiful, isn't he? I heard he was a prince of a kingdom somewhere, but he never speaks of it."

-

Beautiful is not a word you can use for men, the Hylian wanted to protest. Yet as he watched the swordsman fight—sword point flickering deadly patterns in the air as Ganondorf's damage percentage rose, and rose, and rose—he realized that Zelda was right. "Beautiful" suited the man perfectly. Marth seemed to have everything he did not—grace, speed, a deadly efficiency in his movement that left Ganondorf few opportunities to land a hit.

He winced as the swordsman stepped too close and Ganondorf grabbed him, landing several hard strikes before hurling the man away. The one thing he seemed to lack was endurance, for as he picked himself up and lunged for the warlock again his movements were a little slower than before. Gradually the Gerudo king gained more and more ground, and feeling himself backed up against an edge Marth chose to move onto the upper platforms.

What happened next was a blur—Ganondorf charged up an attack to try to send the lithe swordsman flying, and in the confusion of the flurry of energy the warlock's fist was emitting Marth had rolled around to his back and unleashed a single, potent strike.

"GAME!"

Just before he was transported back to the teleport room the swordsman looked towards his audience, and Link felt his heart stop for the barest moment as his gaze met the iciest pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. With a shiver, he breathed, "Beautiful."

Full lips tilted up very slightly, then—a smile, if slightly mocking. The hero's breath caught in his throat, and then the prince was gone.