Consilio et animis
(By wisdom and courage)
By: Babykoalaprincess (BKP)
"I dare you to climb your father's peach tree!" A young blonde boy told me, wagging his left index finger at me. I smirked. It was such an easy task to complete.
"Alright, I'll show you, Link!" I declared as I grinned wildly. "You better be prepared to clap your hands for me when I reach the top!"
Grasping the first nearby branch of the peach tree, I brought myself up one limb and then another. I scraped my knee. The prickly branches brushed against my cheeks and I felt the tough, raw bark under my hands as I continued to climb. His words echoed in my ears, pounding me, saying that I couldn't do it, that I was scared because my father would kill me once he saw me up atop his beloved peach tree. I didn't care; I was determined to prove that he was wrong. I occasionally glanced back down to see his response, a frown of disbelief on his face. As agile as a cat burglar, I made myself climb to the top.
Clinging to the uppermost branch, I faced him and smiled once again.
"… See? I can climb a peach tree without your help! Now clap for me, Link! You promised to do so!"
His mouth was open with amazement- he never expected such a sign of independence from me. We were only ten.
"… Fine. I'll clap for you!" He said reluctantly. He brought his hands together swiftly, again and again, making his own miniature commotion.
I smiled in delight once again, and I could even swear that the bottom portion of his mouth was curved upwards. He was smiling at me now out of happiness, as he accepted and acknowledged the strong will of the daughter of his uncle's business partner.
Everything was fine. Everything was happy, but then…
SNAP!
I felt a moment of insecurity hearing that branch snap. I fell and I screamed. The last thing I saw from Link was his panicked face.
"Zelda!!!"
"Zelda? … Zelda! Zelda Harkinian! Get your bottom out of your bed, right now, young missy! … Oh Nayru! Do I honestly have to dump a bucket of hot water on you to wake you up? WAKE UP!"
My eyes cracked open, as I found myself back into the reality of lying on my bed. My chest was heaving heavily, even as I realized that everything was just a dream. It was a disgusting nightmare, yet a beautiful dream at the same time... Why did I even dream of Link Virtus, anyway?
"Zelda, get up! Stop lying there like some lazy bum, wide awake! You overslept your nap!" a familiar voice told me, lingering over my head. I glanced upwards.
My mother was frowning down at me, hands on her hips as she sauntered over to open the white curtains of my room, revealing the last traces of light in the winter sky.
"Zelda, Zelda, Zelda… It's time for you to get ready for the party, now HURRY!" She impatiently told me.
"Mom… I don't want to goooo," I whined, fearing those dreaded and embarrassing family duties.
"Zelda! It's a tradition for this family to hold a New Year's Eve party for all of your father's business partners, friends, and their families! Now, march that scrawny butt of yours to the bathroom, and I'll help you get ready."
I sighed in exhaustion; this was the last thing I wanted to do before winter break ended, but my parents gave me no choice. Holding a grudge against my mother for organizing the event, I walked out of my bedroom and into the bathroom.
There were several good reasons about why I hated New Year's Eve parties.
One of them included those mundane steps of smiling, nodding, pretending I looked interested, and repeating all of the above when I was talking to someone who I wasn't that familiar with. The most important reason needed little to no explanation: Link Virtus.
Why? It was a simple answer, really. I absolutely, positively loathed that man to death.
In terms of how I viewed him, he was Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice in disguise... except he was less handsome, less manly, probably more middle class, maybe a tad bit more cold, and of course, would never ever fall in love with me. Besides, Mr. Darcy was supposed to be drop-dead gorgeous like Colin Firth or Matthew Macfadyen, whom by the way, I'd ditch any guy to spend a day with. Link had that same sort of effeminate appearance to him, making him a girly-looking boy. Out of all of the guys I'd seen, Link had the most deliciously androgynous face ever. But he was also an arrogant prick.
If one sat down and really thought things through, one might understand why my mother and father insisted upon placing me in such a stupid, agonizing position and forcing me to spend New Year's with that hateful man, but the reasons were often so dizzying and dumb that I didn't like to dwell on them, and merely accepted the fact that, for some twisted reason, my parents thought that Link and I should be the best of friends... yeah, right. As if.
"Now now, Zellie," my mother told me from the other room when she heard me grumbling about all these things behind the shower curtain. "He can't be that bad. I'm sure that he's really actually a sweet boy, and that you aren't giving him enough chances."
When the water was shut off, I wrapped a towel around me, as my mother proceeded to find the hairdryer and a comb to use. She pulled my hair back, and I all but yelped in pain as she raked my hair with that dreaded comb of hers.
"Link is a very nice young man, and you should be happy that your father works with his uncle. Mr. Virtus is an excellent business man, and his nephew is really smart and handsome... he's any girl's dream."
Oh yeah, sure. I should've been happy at the fact that my stupid dad worked with Link's uncle, and that Link had been pulling pranks on me since I was ten. What a dream guy.
The first time I met Link at my father's promotion party- which just so happened to be on New Year's Eve- I ended up having a cold bucket of water poured on my head, thus giving me a cold and a high fever for over a week. What girl couldn't hate a guy for that? And then the next New Year's I spent with him, I ended up having a toad stuck down my dress, making me jump around and do a funny dance, humiliating me in front of everyone. Of course, his usual pranks were always something I tried to avoid... thankfully, when he reached that age of puberty, he decided to pull off that whole: "I'm-better-than-you,-and-get-the-fuck-outta-my-way" attitude. It was annoying, but it was better than getting warts on my backside.
I rolled my eyes at my mother, then opened my mouth. "Mother… You have to realize that for me to want to be 'nice' to a guy, they've gotta show me some respect first. And then, developing a relationship afterwards? He's really got to respect me! I'm sure Dad showed you at least some respect when you first met him, or you wouldn't have married him."
"Yes, that may be true, but Link is different. He's smart, athletic, and I know that someday he'll be really successful. I want you to marry a prosperous man, because I know that they'll always be able to support you whenever you need it." She sighed, one of those dreamy looks upon her face as she contemplated her beyond belief fantasies.
I should've seen this coming. My mom is always lecturing me on how I should date guys who are only overachievers in every single thing. Mom, for some blasted reason, believes that academics are the always the key to greatness and the only way to be successful in life.
I say, who gives a shit about success? I wanna fall in love with whoever I choose to be with. That was the reason for why I fell for Marth Lowell. Oh yes, he was hot. And oh Goddesses-damn yes, he had the most awesome personality ever. He was a rebel who lived life to the fullest every single moment. He was one of those guys who makes his own rules, like dying his hair and eyebrows bright blue just because he could, and rocking out whenever he felt like it. His eyes were wide and sparkly like blue glass marbles, and he wore black leather pants and a jacket all the time. Whenever he smiled, Goddesses, it was like pure perfection. He had absolutely stunning teeth, pearly white and sparkling. But beneath that whole "bad-boy" image, Marth was really sweet, nice, outgoing, and caring. I could even dub him as a prince, if I wanted to.
Sadly, though, we spilt our ways. It was the day before Christmas Eve when he called me.
"Hey," he said in strangely upset voice. "How's it going?"
"Hey," I replied as I grinned over my cell.
"… Zel… this is getting too much," he said, voice dimming down like the sun setting. I felt my heart stop beating as my smile faded, and I started to feel those heavy weights of depression falling on my back.
"What do you mean?" I had be sure that he was talking about what I was thinking about, though I prayed otherwise.
"I mean, I think that this relationship should stop."
I didn't say anything for a moment. I feared where he was going with this, even though I already knew. I honestly thought this was all too sudden... just when I thought everything in life was all fine and dandy, things began to fall apart, it would seem. What in the Sacred Realm did he mean, "our relationship should just stop?!" You can't just walk out on someone who you love, and not give them a proper explanation… right?
"… I've fallen for someone else."
Oh. Well then. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. How can a person's heart just change in less than three days? Love isn't like that… now is it?
"… And who is this person who you've fallen for?" I asked, trying to be calm and serene... though, it wasn't really working. I felt my voice shake a bit with frustration.
"This girl I met named Samus Aran."
I averted my eyes down to my open toes, wiggling on the ground.
"I see..." I didn't see at all. I didn't understand why Marth would fall for some "Samus" girl he met some other day, and just stop loving me.
In that moment, I hated life. I really did. I hated accepting reality for what it was, and how I lived a lie because it just felt so Goddesses-damned good to believe in what I'd like to happen, never venturing out of my comfort zone.
"Well… I hope you're happy with her," I told him at last. "Just… you remember your promise, right?"
"The one I made when before we got together?" he inquired. I heard him hush down for a moment, as I assumed that he was thinking it over. "You mean the one in which I said: 'I'll always be your friend, no matter what' promise?"
I nodded, then bonked myself over the head as I remember that I was talking to Marth on my cell phone as opposed to in person. And thank goodness, too- I was beginning to feel the stinging of tears.
"Yeah. That one," I said briefly, trying to hold everything in.
"… Zelda, I'm really sorry. I think I've mistaken our relationship as a big brother and little sister relationship… I apologize. Really, I am sorry."
I didn't want to hear it. I didn't, because I didn't want to lose anyone close to me. In the background, I heard someone call his name over the phone. I could only assume it was Samus.
"Listen, Zel. I gotta go. If you ever need me… well, you know where to look and I promise I'll be there for you."
And he just hung up like that.
"You know, I'm glad that Marth broke up with you," my mother told me, jerking me from my thoughts before she started attacking me with light pink blush.
I shot her a look that clearly expressed how outraged I was at that comment. "Why?" I demanded with perhaps more much force than necessary. My mother frowned, clearly put off by my reaction.
"Don't you use that tone with me, young lady. I'm your mother. Anyways, Marth can't live well off of working at a motorcycle shop for the rest of his life. Not to mention, he dropped out of Hyrule University after the first semester."
There she goes again… rambling about my "bad" taste in men.
"But it's inside that counts, Mum. You always said that… So, why are you pushing me into entering into a false relationship with a guy I obviously don't like?"
My mother didn't respond to me, where I only assumed that she had no logical answer for me.
"Just behave, darling," was her final advice for me for the evening.
I would never have admitted it to her, but I didn't think that her advice would work. However, I didn't know at the time that later that very evening, everything I thought about Link would be proven wrong…
"They're here!" my mother announced downstairs, clearly excited at the fact the Virtuses had arrived. She dashed to the front door to let them in, while I was just getting out of the bathroom.
I was walking down the stairs when I saw the Virtuses... Ah, there was Link's uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Virtus, Grandma Virtus, and his younger sister, Aryll. And finally, Link. He was standing in front of me, one of his eyebrows arched as he took me in. He was wearing a green sweater with an expensive Fairy Brand logo on the lapel and both of his hands jammed in the pockets of his beige colored pants. He had a green baseball cap on sideways, giving him a unique look. I could feel his heated stare at me. At first, I thought he was glaring at me, when I realized he was probably staring at my outfit. As it turned out, my mother decided to stuff me into some revealing clothing. Really, it was odd, because normally, mothers are supposed to be all like: "OH MY GODDESSES! WHAT IS THAT? ARE YOU SHOWING OFF YOUR ARMS, WRISTS, AND ANKLES?! COVER IT UP!"
As opposed to my mother, who would take me in and then calmly say: "Zelda, you should be showing off more cleavage than that."
Courtesy of my mother, I wore a blue, sparkly halter top with a design of a flower near the cleavage area of my body. I wore black formal pants with a chain belt and at least four-inch black high heels. It was a horrible selection of clothes to wear in winter, to show off all of that skin, but my mother, for some twisted reason, believed it wasn't too cold to have my arms bare. Really, what was she thinking? She also did my hair in some weird, half up and half down look, which was apparently very popular in fashion.
I met Link's gaze for a moment, though I didn't understand why... Maybe because I couldn't help but notice how pretty his face looked. There was something about his azure eyes that always seemed so familiar and noticeable. I admit, out of his whole amazing figure, I loved his eyes. There was always some mysterious message under them, even though he was a jerk. He was observing me with his eyes round and I may have been hallucinating, but I thought I saw his lips part slightly in awe and desire. I shook off that thought, though. There was no way that Link thought I was hot.
"Zelda!" a familiar voice called.
I grinned as a made eye contact with Aryll. Out of the Virtuses, Aryll was the one I was closest with and the one who I enjoyed being with the most. She's one of those sweet, down to earth girls who also knew when to party, given the opportunity. I glanced at her- she was wearing a short, sleeveless blue dress with red flowers all over it. Her hair was decorated in two nice pigtails, which just made me want to play around with them... perhaps make them spin like propellers. The look would suit Aryll's personality.
"Aryll. How's your second year at high school?"
She shrugged with a bored look on her face.
"Eh, it's okay. Nothing too special. My Honors Physical Science teacher decided to give us an unholy amount of homework before vacation. It was so stupid, Zel! I mean, what in the Sacred Realm was with that guy? You had Mr. Menin too, right?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, he's such a demanding teacher. I can't believe Hryule Academy still has a teacher like that around. He's a rat in disguise when teaching! They should fire him." I agreed.
"Where are the video games?" a voice rudely interrupted.
I shifted my eyes sideways and found myself nose to nose with Link. He was glaring at me like he always did.
"Erm… Downstairs. In the basement," I responded quietly, and he walked off. As soon as he disappeared from my sight, I continued my conversation with Aryll.
"What is with your older brother anyways?" I questioned as we both retreated to the kitchen to snag some left over Christmas cookies. "It always seems that he hates me for some odd reason, when all I've ever done is said: 'Hi, how are you?' to him."
Aryll bit into a Christmas tree-shaped cookie before answering with her mouth full.
"Igh un't ow," she said before swallowing. "I mean, okay. Let's just say that Link really misses a girl whom he really liked… but that girl was taken away from him and he had to start from scratch back at school. Anyways, did you know that guys are really mean to the girls they like?"
I paused for a moment, shocked that Aryll would even hint at such a thing. First my mother, and now Aryll was trying to hook me up with her older brother. So much for one of my friends.
"Oh no… Aryll, if you're hinting at what I think you are, I'm leaving."
"Such a shame then… you guys would make a completely cool looking couple with your cute figure and his…"
I ran out of the kitchen faster than the Legendary Postman.
I disliked being around grown-ups... Mainly because they always asked those lame questions, and then drew awful conclusions, such as: "How are you doing in school? Oh, you dislike it? Oh… that's horrible. You'll never grow up now." Those were the types of questions I had to face when talking to Link's aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Virtus. They were one of those really cheesy old couples that were always silly about what they say, and liked to make really corny, awkward jokes. I, unfortunately, was mauled by one of them in the living room when I left the kitchen.
"Soo… Have you spooned a hottie at college yet?" asked Mrs. Virtus with a sly grin and a wink. Oh, no. Attack of the housewife. I honestly had no idea how to answer her. I hesitantly sipped my glass of water, before I answered.
"Ummm… not yet."
"Oh, that's too bad," she said, casting her eyes down on the floor, seeming somewhat disappointed. "Reminds me back of when I was young and pure… Heh. I remember fooling around a little with a nerdy boy named Christopher during my freshman year at college… He was really interesting. He never allowed people to call him "Chris" or anything else. Just Christopher. You know, it's really a shame. He was such a sweet boy, but his talents lay elsewhere..."
I was absolutely speechless at that point. There was Mrs. Virtus remembering her younger days when she had big hair, dramatized make up, and wore flashy cat suits. I bit my tongue as I tried to think up of some way to change the subject.
"Well. That's nice, Mrs. Virtus. Anyways, what did you major in college?"
"Oh, me? Well, I admit... I wanted to take those drawing courses where I could have an excuse to check out those hot, nude college boy models they used for those still life projects, so I majored in art."
I had made the mistake of taking a deep gulp of my water at that point, but her words caused me to choke on it, and I fought the urge to spit it out or let it fly out my nose. With effort, I swallowed
"Excuse me?" I accidentally let those words slip out.
"Oh, what's wrong? You've never had those sorts of desires to do that in college?" She smiled sweetly, and for a minute, I was disgusted by Mrs. Virus' thinking.
I tried smiling back at her before I conducted a reply off of the top of my head.
"Er… Maybe?"
"I tell ya that there's nuttin' sexier than a guy with a six pack and a nice, tight butt!" The voice of Grandma Virtus interjected.
Mrs. Virtus and I both faced Granny who was sitting on a big, red leather chair in the corner of the living room near the Christmas tree.
"When I first dated Link and Aryll's grandfather, he was nuttin' but a good fer nuttin'! He was a lazy bum, who didn't do anythuang but repair cars! What a bother he wuz!"
I was mildly awed by the old woman- it was only eight o'clock at night, and Granny Virtus had clearly drunk too much vodka already. She took another large swig straight from the bottle. For a moment, I wondered what she'd be like at a modern college party, then shook the thought from my mind with a little grimace of horror.
"I shouldda left 'im for some hawt guy 'amed Slick in the early 70's, and just… 'itched 'im on the spot with those two kids of 'ine! Do you know 'ow much I 'uffered 'aving to 'ork fourty-nine 'ours a week?!"
"Now, Grandma, please don't bring up the past," Link's aunt told her.
As Auntie Virtus and Granny Virtus start striking up an argument, I headed back to the kitchen. Listening to Aryll discuss about how Link and I should hook up was far better than being stuck between a cat fight between two women, one of whom was old and drunk and the other of whom was getting there (on both accounts).
Alas, if it hadn't been for my mother's interception of me, I would've been having a nice conversation with Aryll, but no. I had to go do her dirty work.
"Oh, Zelda sweetie, do you mind going down to the cellar and bringing up some more red wine? I want that bottle of Royal Hylian Crown from 1999," she told me sweetly, when I was heading back to the kitchen. She was readying a tray of appetizers.
I sighed in stress.
"Sure… Just… don't allow that Granny over there to drink. She's erm… well, drunk a lot of Russian vodka today."
My mother nodded.
"Okay, got it."
With a strange, a bit too happy smile, she continued to serve more of what was on the menu, while I took a right. I opened the door leading down to the cellar and closed it, then walked downstairs. When I reached the bottom, I saw Link resting on our black bean bag in front of the television, clearly into one of my cousin's Sheik's old video games, which he'd so kindly handed off to me when he was done with. He was completely unfazed by my appearance. The alcohol cabinet was across the room, cutting across the blonde's vision of the TV.
"Couldn't you take another route?" he asked, annoyed when I crossed his path.
"No."
"Well, find one."
"I apologize, but it's not my fault that I cannot walk around the sofa and straight through a file cabinet."
"If you've got a problem, Harkinian, bring it. I've got over 500,000 points in this game, and I don't plan on messing up right now."
I rolled my eyes, as I crouched down to open the doors of the wine cabinet. My eyes scanned for the wine bottle, and I moved pull it out of the cabinet. Link was still playing video games.... and, oddly enough, there was no malice in the expression on his face. He'd furrowed his brows in concentration and poked his tongue out, but he wasn't mad at me, for once. I turned around and then found that blasted, dusty bottle; it was in the far back right corner of the top shelf. I hoped I hadn't gotten dust on my shirt as I stood.
"Ah shit," I heard his voice from behind me. I turned myself around with Royal Hylian Crown 1999 in my hand, as he was frowning at the game. He bit his top lip for a moment, before setting the controller down.
"Fuck it."
He stood up from the bean bag, and flipped the "off" switch from the game console. When he seated himself back down on the bean bag, he took out his MP3 player from the left hand pocket of his sweater. He placed those small ear buds in his ears and then cranked up the volume. I could hear the faintest sound of rock hovering in the air as I headed back to kitchen. He closed his eyes, as he leaned back with his hands behind his head.
I was almost out of that extremely quiet and deathly threatening position- stuck in a basement with Link, that is. However, there was one simple, stupid thing that got in my way. The door. The door, for some Goddesses-damned reason, was locked. How it was locked, I had no idea, but... it was locked alright. An exorbitant amount of beating on it and jiggling the knob proved this. Deciding upon a different tactic, I pressed my ear against the door and tried listening for someone to pass by.
"Mom? Dad? Aryll? Somebody! Unlock the basement door!" I screamed.
'Shit. Fuck. Crap. Sages. Goddesses. Why in Hyrule did this always have to happen to me?' I thought bitterly to myself. 'Who in the mother fucking Sacred Realm LOCK me in the basement?! With Link?!?!'
"Is something wrong?" Link's voice asked from down below.
For some extremely weird and odd reason, he sounded... concerned. He must've had worms in his brain or something for even asking and acting that way. I glanced down the stairs, and he was right behind me with his left hand on one of the handrails and an eyebrow quirked.
"… No, not really." My voice was a little higher pitched than normal.
"That doesn't seem to be the case."
"The stupid door is locked," I replied with a sigh. I began walking downstairs, twirling around the bottle in my hand.
'Better spend New Year's here with that ass,' a little voice in my head whispered. 'At least you can avoid those really strange conversations with the grown-ups.'
"… Do you want to listen to some music?"
I raised my eyebrows. Was Link actually being nice to me? That would be one of the most outrageous things I had ever heard. The guy was the freakin' Devil in disguise! He probably had something dangerous up his sleeve, and would do something in my distracted and defenseless like pour slime of ChuChus all over me. Yuck. But... what if he was actually trying to be nice? I remembered my mother's advice from earlier.
"Erm… I guess," I said hesitantly, trying to be polite.
I regretted saying that, because he was probably going to make me listen to some weird music, which I obviously wasn't interested in. He just nodded however, and walked over to where the stereo was and plugged in the iPod to the auxiliary jack. He retreated back on the sofa where he relaxed with the music filling the room.
Throw up your rawkfist,
if you're feelin' it when I drop this.
I tilted my head back in confusion for the familiar tune continued to scream words.
"Since when did you listen to Thousand Foot Krutch?" I asked, dumbfounded as to why Link would ever listen to one of the same bands as me. We had nothing in common, right?
All I know is what it did take to make this,
All I am is what it will take to break this!
Link shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly before he answered.
"I dunno. I've always listened to them," he replied in a normal, un-cold way.
"Huh…"
I continued to listen to the song, as I refrained myself from singing along and thus, scaring the wet willies out of Virtus. The song shuffled to another song, with another familiar guitar riff coming.
I'm the business of misery,
Let's take it from the top,
She's got a body like an hourglass,
Ticking like a clock,
It's a matter of time before we all run out,
When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth.
"Oh my," I stated.
"What?" he asked.
"This song… is my favorite."
He smiled without malice before he replied. "Yeah, it's a favorite of mine as well. I really think Paramore will make it big someday."
I waited eight long months,
She finally set him free.
I told him I couldn't lie he was the only one for me.
Two weeks and we had caught on fire,
She's got it out for me,
But I wear the biggest smile.
"… I love the lead singer's voice. Y'know? I mean… She sounds great live. She never fails to impress her fans with her amazing voice. I heard she uses a vocal trainer so that she's always amazing when she sings live."
Whoa, I never meant to brag
But, I got him where I want him now.
Whoa, it was never my intention to brag
To steal it all away from you now.
But God, does it feel so good,
'Cause I got him where I want him now.
And if you could then you know you would!
'Cause God it just feels so...
It just feels so good...
"I met her after a live performance," he told me. "Her voice was awesome, and she's really nice."
"You serious?!? You met Hayley Williams?"
I immediately rushed over from the bottom of the cellar stairs to the black sofa in the center of the basement to discuss more about Paramore with Link.
For some reason, this felt... good. But why? This was Link. Link, the guy who always adored pulling pranks on me and laughing like a maniac when he saw my distress. Link was a stupid, arrogant jerk that always liked bragging on how he pimped out his new car, the Epona 2000, one of the fastest cars in all of Hyrule. Link was... well, he was Link! I couldn't actually get along with him.
"Yeah, she's really cool. She was even cool enough to joke about her own boobs and say how huge they are. It was when a person showed her a magazine on how Paramore is not that pop-like," Link added, followed shortly with a small laugh.
I grinned, as I tilted my head back.
"She sounds quite interesting…"
And then came one of those really embarrassing/awkward positions in which I absolutely had no idea what to do next. There was that fear that if you said something where you thought it was normal… turned out it wasn't, and you had to start from scratch, only worse, because then whoever you were talking to didn't think as highly of you. That's exactly how being three feet away from Link on the sofa felt like to me, listening to Paramore. Awkward.
The song shifted to another one of my favorites, this one more a soft rock and classic.
"… Sooo… How was your first year at Hyrule University?" I asked.
I'd thought it was strange that Link and I had always attended the same schools, but never got to know each other. It was because he was with his male friends and I was with mine, I supposed.
"Alright. It's stressful, but I made it out."
"Agreed."
I didn't say anything, because the rest of our conversation was probably going to meet another dead end. That was the cue for the sneeze.
"Ahh... aaaahhh… CHOO!" I sneezed, rubbing my nose gently.
"Here," he said, holding out a tissue for me. My eyes shot up, as I saw Link standing in front of me. He had a neutral- no, perhaps even kind- look upon his face, not that whole cold glare stuff he had going on.
"Thanks."
"You cold?" he asked.
"Erm… yeah, I guess. My mom forced me to wear this blue top," I said with a little chuckle. "I dislike it though." I added quickly.
"I think it looks cute."
I felt my eyes pop out of my sockets as I heard that. Did Link, that stupid bastard, just tell me that I looked "cute"? He probably caught on to what I was thinking because he said more:
"It brings out your eyes really nicely, and… the design isn't too shabby. You don't look like a slut or anything."
I could feel hotness rising up on my cheeks. Oh Nayru, why in the Sacred Realm was I blushing? This man had no right to go and compliment me, not especially since he's been mean to me all these years.
But then there were the dreams....
Aside from the dream I'd had in my nap earlier, which was recurrent, I had another dream about Link and I. He and I were at a playground on a swing, and he was pushing me on one of the swings. I was happy and I had a wonderful time. Just by the aura though, he seemed pretty happy and was glad to be around me. That wasn't like the Link that I knew, though. All of those Dream Links were all nice, funny, and supportive. I could just tell. It's one of those things in your dreams in which you can't explain it. You just know it. Part of me wonders why I've even dreamt about Link. He was always a jerk face...
Yet, now… he was different. Completely changed and surreal. I wondered for a moment if I'd bumped my head in my frantic attempts to bust through the basement door. I could be dreaming, after all.
"Anyways, is it true that you broke up with your boyfriend on Christmas?" he asked somewhat abruptly, jerking me from my thoughts. If I wasn't a nice person, I'd have slapped him right there for saying that. Well, maybe not really... but it was a nice thought.
"Erm, no. Not on Christmas day, but… the day before Christmas Eve, you know? … By the way, how did you find out?"
"Well, Lulu told Mikau who told Ruto. Ruto told Mido who told Malon who told Colin who told Ilia and then she told me," he listed off with a smile on his face.
"Yeah, well… erm… yeaaaah," I said awkwardly.
"Why did you two break up?" he asked, more curious than anyone else had been thus far.
"He fell for some chick over winter break, so he's basically ditching me for her. I doubt he did anything real special with her before he broke it off with me... Though, he said we'll still be friends, but… I don't know if it'll be the same." I sighed, as I cast my eyes down to the floor.
"… You don't seem that depressed," he stated, watching me with those bright eyes of his. Damn the man for his perceptiveness!
"Well, Marth and I drifted apart. He was always busy working at the motorcycle shop to get a place of his own after he dropped out of college. Not to mention, he also wanted to give some money to his family because they grew up poor."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. I felt that our momentum of being together was tapering off because we had drifted apart. I think we're still going to try our best to stay as friends, though."
"… Doesn't it hurt?"
He was going waaay too far with this. I didn't like it. Personally, I felt that he had no right to just get under my skin and learn about all of this stuff about me, when I didn't even really know him. But for some reason, it felt so Goddesses-damned comfortable and the words kept on rolling out of my mouth.
"Of course it does. Though, my dad told me a very important thing when I was growing up: 'Crying doesn't help. It won't change anything. Tears won't get you what you wanted back.'"
"So, you didn't cry?"
"What's there to cry about? It's Marth's happiness! He's got a girl who he now can adore and cherish more than me! He replaced me!" I said with a small laugh, though there was a slight element of hysteria to it. "He replaced my love with her love!"
"Why do you laugh when you're obviously hurting so badly? At times, nobody would mind if you cried and let it all out. It's healthy," he told me. Then, for the first time that night, he looked at me. And when I meant by looked at me, he really looked at me. Not one of his cold, hard glares… but stared into my eyes with more clarity and depth and human understanding than I'd previously thought him capable of.
"When I broke up with Midna... I thought I loved her. Turns out, I didn't. She's more of a companion to me. I also realized I treated her like a little sister than a lover."
His face softened with fond memories of his lover, while I titled my head with amusement.
"She was really… awesome, but… I was being haunted by someone I'd fallen for a long time ago and never really gotten over. So I broke up with Midna. I cried a bit to let out all of my emotions. Not that much though. Just a perfect amount for a breakup."
Link? Crying?! I hadn't known he was capable of tears... well, anything other than tears of mirth. "… I see," I said, trying to sound engaged with what he was saying. A silence between us slowly drifted back in the basement, as we both didn't look at each other for a moment.
"Do you believe in fate?"
That was one of the most random questions to ask, especially when talking about a break up. Okay, maybe it wasn't completely random, but it was random enough for me to give Link a confused look.
"Huh?"
"Fate…. Do you believe in it?"
"Eh. Kind of," I replied hesitantly. I was going to ask why in the world that Link Virtus was asking this question, but he went on:
"Do you ever believe in being with someone for even the briefest moment and feeling a decent amount of love for them?"
"Maybe?"
"I think you should let it out. Cry. Cry like you did when you were a toddler. You just broke up with someone you loved… I asked you this before, and I'll ask you it again: Doesn't it hurt? Doesn't it hurt to know… that after all you've been through with a person, things still halted and ended? Doesn't it hurt to know that you weren't fated to be together? You weren't linked? Doesn't it hurt to know that after all you've been through, you can't be with that person? That person who's warm, nice, soft, and gentle like the rising sun of a new day, who is your own personal Sacred Realm? Times like these are when Hylians are supposed to cry to make themselves stronger. I'd rather cry and gain strength and peace from it than to not let my emotions out."
As if he was a magician, I felt salty water tears well up right on cue. It was like a command. He made me cry. And I did. I felt that a stream of tears was coming on, and it wouldn't stop. For some reason, he was right. All of that self protection I built up over the years was slowly dissolving in less than five minutes. I cried because it hurt. I cried because I knew that I was replaceable. I cried, feeling that the world was against me.
Link brought himself closer to me. For some reason, it felt nice. I could feel the warmness of his skin beside mine, and Din, Farore, and Nayru, I wanted to hold him. Though, it was an irrational feeling. Link was that same jerk, wasn't he? After all, he had just made me cry.
"Here," he said, pulling off his green sweater as he revealed the black "Got Milk?" slogan t-shirt underneath. "Wear it. You're shivering in that low-cut halter."
I pulled it around my shoulders, as I sniffled heavily. He smiled warmly at me... perhaps the only real smile I'd seen him do except in my dreams. But at that moment, I could swear that his smile… was the same as in the one in my dreams. How did I already know what his true smile looked like? It was a mystery to me.
He started to get up and walk away, and I temporarily forgot that the basement door was locked. I thought he was going to retreat upstairs and leave me all alone without ever returning.
"Don't… go," I said, my voice breaking down.
He whirled around as he sat himself back down on the sofa. As if he'd understood all the fear in my words, he pulled me close.
"I won't."
Goddesses, but this felt wonderful! I leaned my head against his shoulder. "I really don't want to be alone."
"As long as I'm around, you won't be alone."
Had that been a... a promise? A vow? Had Link hit his head?! We were quiet for a moment. I sniffled, then realized something. "Shit. My make up is probably all ruined."
Link looked down at me with a tender smile. "You're cute when you've got messed up make up on your face."
"I probably look hideous."
"You look cuter than a five year old wearing a bunny hood," he stated with a grin.
At this, I laughed softly. Link smiled back, as he slowly brought his face closer… and closer… and closer. Oh, Goddesses. Oh, Goddesses! He wasn't going to... was he?!
Our lips met softly. It was short and sweet, but he wanted more. He kissed me again for a longer, sweeter period of time, but my brain was too fast to react as he came back for thirds.
"No. I can't do this," I said, sliding away from him down the length of the sofa.
"Why not?"
"Because! You've been a jerk to me all these years. This is rash. It's too soon! I don't even know you, Link."
"What's there you'd like to know?"
"… What's your favorite color?"
"Green. Isn't it obvious?"
"What's your favorite drink?"
"Milk. Isn't that also obvious?"
"… Do you genuinely like Paramore?"
He sighed, clearly upset at my behavior. He rested his arms on top of the upper part of the sofa, as he glanced over at me.
"Look, I know I've been a real jerk to you these past couple of years… but I… blame myself for something."
"What's there to blame about? The fact that you've always been so stuck up and always treated me like I'm weak or something?"
"No, not that. It's something else."
"Then what?"
"… There was once upon a time there was a princess and a hero who knew each other since they were too young to remember. They always liked each other, and always wanted to be around with each other. They were like two people rolled into one, because they understood each other so clearly," he began to explain.
'This is stupid. He's doing this whole clichéd story telling shit thing, which doesn't even answer my question,' I inwardly grumbled.
"The Hero always wanted to protect his Princess because he loved her dearly. He didn't know it at the time, but he did. He even protected her when a terrifying man named Ganondorf tried to deal with both the Hero's parents and the Princess' parents, hiding her when he tried to kidnap them. He got that feeling of happiness and completeness whenever he was around her, and he knew that she felt the same."
"Ganondorf," I thought. "That name surely doesn't sound familiar… but I don't remember what that guy looks like. And where have I heard his name before?"
"One day… The Hero dared the Princess to climb a peach tree. She accepted his dare and did so."
This was getting stranger than fiction. It truly was starting to scare the monkeys out of me. I didn't say anything, but I felt my body and mouth go numb.
"So when she reached the top, she gloated there for about five minutes. She was a bit scared on getting back down, but everything was alright... until a tree branch snapped."
My dream. My dream of me falling from a peach tree. So surreal, yet hauntingly real at the same time.
"She fell, and it damaged her head. The doctors said it would give her some brain damage, but nothing too serious. The Princess seemed fine. Everything seemed to be okay… Turns out, it wasn't okay at all. The Princess couldn't even remember her Hero anymore. She couldn't remember who the Hero was and what he meant to her. The Hero blamed himself a lot for daring the Princess to climb a peach tree and didn't wish to be with the Princess anymore…"
He paused for a second, as he closed his eyes deeply and inhaled. I could feel the faintest aura of sadness coming from him, even though he tried his best not to show it. His voice, thus far, had been neutral.
"So, he decided that the only way to get rid of the Princess' beautiful personality of socializing was to be cruel to her. He distanced himself away because he felt that he needed to punish himself and never talk to her again. He wanted to bury himself into a ground of misery and never allow himself ever see her smile again."
I said nothing, because I feared if I said something right then, it'd break him. After that whole "tough, better than you" mask he wore, I could clearly see that he was, in reality, very very fragile.
He glanced up at me and grinned, suddenly and unexpectedly.
"So that's the end of the story! Pretty good, eh?"
I felt tears coming up on me... again. I tried to fight the urge of sobbing, but it was something that just took over me. I looked at floor and let the tears leaked quietly from my eyes.
"That's so sad… that's so sad… Why did the Hero do that?"
Link got up from the couch and walked on over and knelt before me. He was calm and unmoving; he looked up towards the ceiling before he continued.
"Because he loved her, that's why."
"But why? To leave yourself out like that… to put yourself through so much torture… It's sad."
"… That's not the end of the story though."
"… But it's still sad," I said quietly. I could taste my tears, liquid proof of the thoughts of the Hero always longing for the Princess stuck in my head.
"So… The Hero decided after eight long, treacherous years… he'd act the way he normally did to the Princess. He knew that he not only was hurting himself when he didn't speak to the Princess… but he was also hurting her as well. So on the day before the New Year, he concluded that he would do his best to make his dreams come true, and repair everything that he'd destroyed with his Princess."
He paused for a moment once again, before he took something out of his green backpack... I hadn't even noticed it was there with him, leaning against the side of the couch, which just proved how observant I was of my surroundings. He pulled out a big, leather bound book with the symbol of the Triforce on top.
"Here. Open it."
I slowly opened the cover of the book, revealing the context inside. Pictures. Pictures of me… and him.
"This was us when we were young."
I stopped crying. My eyes widened as I flipped through pages and observed picture after picture. All of them… were of me and him. One of them was when we were at the beach, another in front of a local store. Another photograph of when we were on some trip to the tropical regions. I was so tiny back then… My face was chubby with all of that baby fat, and his was more slender and slightly more mature. It was as if pieces of a jigsaw memory puzzle started to fit together one by one when I saw those pictures of him and I. Ganondorf, of course, the businessman who tried to convince Link's uncle and my father to go into a different business range to take advantage of them and rob them of their money, then tried to kidnap Link and myself when he didn't get his way. That sickly man with pasty skin, black eyes, and red hair. One by one the memories were coming back. Everything started to make more sense than they already did. There were pictures of laughter, joy, grayness like a rainy day, confusion, humor, fun, and all of those mixed emotions. Yet all of the pictures had the same thing. We both were holding hands.
I realized what love was like that night. Not fake love, where your partner's personality and yours matched up pretty nicely. Not like the relationship I had with Marth. Not the love in which you just wanted to have sex because you shared a lot in common and you got along with them. Nothing like Marth's and my relationship at all.
True love. True love in which you understood the person you liked. True love in which you felt complete and just happy to be with them when you were around them. Love where you did face hardships and troubles with the person you loved, but nonetheless ended up together, stronger. That sense of happiness and belonging when you were with that person and you felt beautiful because you were around them. That was the love I felt for Link.
I covered my mouth with one of my hands, as I began to sob.
"Oh my Goddesses," I whispered.
Link looked fondly at the pictures as he smiled, before he spoke once again.
"This is a late Christmas present to you. I would've perhaps given it to you before finals ended, but I figured otherwise. I knew that I was going to see you at New Year's anyways, and I didn't want to distract you from your studies."
"Thank you," I murmured.
I flipped to the last and final page, containing only one picture. It was a picture of Link and I at a playground with me swinging on a swing and him behind me. It was clear that he had been pushing me on that swing, just like he did in my dream.
I took a deep breath, before closing the photo album. I tried my best to calm myself down, so my voice wasn't shaking when I spoke.
"… You know… I-I've always had dreams about you and I. Some of them were the memories you and I shared when we were together like we were in those photos," I explained, as I hiccupped loudly. I smiled a little, embarrassed. I wiped away my tears with the back of my hand, before finally gazing Link in the eye.
"I missed you, Link…"
The blasted blonde finally smiled at me... his normal, warm smile like I'd dreamt of from when we were five. He took the back of my right hand, kissed it, and placed it against his cheek. He closed his eyes.
"I missed you too, Zelda."
"I love you," I whispered in his left ear.
He smiled once again.
"I love you too."
He brought me closer, as he kissed me once. Twice. And finally, a third time.
"Five… Four… Three…. Two… ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!!!"
I glowered at everyone upstairs in the dining room, waiting until they'd finished chugging down their champagne.
"I can't believe you locked me in the basement," I stated a bit angrily.
Aryll took another old Christmas cookie, popped it in her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and smiled.
"Well, what do you expect? We all figured that you wouldn't want to talk to Link after all he's done with you for the past couple of years… so locking you in the basement was all his idea."
I shifted my glower at Link.
"Since when did you decide that locking me in the basement was a good thing?" I inquired.
He took a small sip of his experimenting-with-alcohol-illegally-glass, before answering.
"At four o'clock in the morning three weeks ago."
I nearly choked on my ice cream drumstick covered with nuts.
"Wha?!" I asked with my mouth full.
"Yeah… I decided at four AM that I'd been missing out too much. I needed you back," he said. "Badly."
"So we all decided to contribute into helping you get back with Link!" my mother announced proudly, before she started whipping out her digital camera and snapping shots of us.
I rolled my eyes.
"Link… You suck."
He smirked.
"Glad to know that, Princess."
"Don't call me 'Princess'. I ain't your daddy's little girl," I said with a pretend Southern accent.
"Well, excuuuusseeeee me, Princess!" he said again with another sly grin on his face.
"You're just asking for it now."
"Awww," his voice softened, as he began to give me that puppy-dog eyed look. "I'm sorry…"
"That's not going to work. You're going to have to do more than that for me to forgive you," I stated blandly, as I sighed. "Man, I'm beat."
"You think you are? I'm so tired just playing video games against you for a few hours."
"Well, eh. You're tough to beat," I reported with a small smile.
The grown-ups, and even Aryll by this time, started to be in their own little worlds by now, leaving Link and I to talk more.
"Same with you," he replied before he stretched his arms. "Hey, Zel…What would you think if I got a tattoo on the back of my left hand of the Triforce on it with the lower right triangle colored in gold?"
I thought it over for a moment, then smiled. "If you did, I'd have to get one mirrored on my right hand, since you're a leftie."
"… You'd get the exact same tattoo as me?"
"No, you dummy. Mirrored! So that you have the Triforce of Courage, and I have the Triforce of Wisdom!"
"… You, by all chances, would NEVER be wise beyond your years, Zellie."
"Oh shut up, Link! It's not like you have courage either. You chickened out for eight years when I didn't remember you."
"… I had very good reasons for that, you know."
"Yes, I'm quite certain you did."
"Why are you always so cruel to me, Zel?!" he wailed.
I smirked devilishly.
"Because I'll have the Triforce of Wisdom, remember? I'm wise enough to know that I should be cruel to you, because you deserve it."
"That's not fair."
"Life isn't always fair, Link. Accept it."
He pretended to sniffle heavily, while I giggled for a long period of time. He broke that childish act when my moment of mirth was over, as he glanced up at me and smiled wryly.
"Oh… But there's one thing I don't think I'll accept."
"And what's that?" I inquired in a daring voice.
"Having you dominate me!"
With that being said, he began to grab me by the waist and kiss me.
"We're both equal, you know," he told me, after he broke one of his kisses from me. He brushed a lock of my honey colored hair out of my face, as he smiled at me once again.
"I know," I replied with smirk.
The corners of his mouth pulled upwards once again, as he gave me the final kiss.
By wisdom and courage… we would never be separated ever again. By the Triforce, we'd never forget that we were fated to be together.
(A/N): "Consilio et animis" is Latin for "by wisdom and courage."
I give a "thank you very much, you're so awesome & cool" to Lyxie, for her wonderful editing skills. This one-shot would've been very undeveloped and "raw" without her help. Thank you so much for helping me cook and season a better one-shot!
With all my best, I hope that you have a wonderful New Year!
-BKP