Turned Tables

Chapter 10

-o-

A Fool's Errand

"You are unsightly."

Marth's voice was unexpectedly dark but it was clearly something he mastered. Spring that makes winter melt away and the sun return sometimes makes one forget its nights are not like those of summer.

Link exhaled. His hand let go of the handrail, hovering over it. His foot moved back down from the first step to its neighbor.

"What?" Link said, turning around.

One by one, from the pinky to his pointing finger, the prince's fingertips tapped down on the golden hilt of his sword.

"I must admit, I have never had a high opinion of you but this goes below my worst expectations. Never before have I seen so ugly and wretched a thing as your soul."

"Now you're not mincing your words all of a sudden," Link said and his voice shook as though he were about to break into laughter. "You think you got the right to judge me? Play the good guy all you want but I'm not buying it. You knew exactly what you were doing before with Zelda. None of this would have happened if you hadn't started it by making me look bad in front of her. "

Link was sure he had hit the nail on the head but Marth looked, well, as unmoved and frustratingly straight and tall as an un-hit nail.

"I couldn't care less about the crap you cover up with those fancy words of yours but I won't have you playing your two-faced games with Zelda," the hero stressed. "If you hurt her..."

"Me? Hurt her? Surely you jest. I was not the one who a mere minute ago sent her away in tears. I think further proof lies in that you purposefully did so."

Marth started pacing the room. "I can see why you would be frustrated. No matter how you try to please her it ends in failure, then someone else succeeds, just like that." He snapped his fingers. "Did you finally come to terms with how helpless you are when she sees that she does not have to settle? You can fall to your knees, hold nothing back, put your heart in her hand, open for the world to see, and she will let it drop out of her palm and walk away."

They were not so far apart now. Marth leaned his head back and to the side, observing him, waiting.

"It would be the ultimate rejection."

Link shook his head, breathing in, and moved towards the other man.

"Boys, boys boys!" Peach forced herself in-between them. Marth backed away from her palm on the dark metal surface of his breastplate and loosened his hand from the knob at the top of Falchion's hilt. He cleared his throat.

"Princess Peach, I'm sorry if we caused a disturbance. I was merely confirming with Link that he had a good grasp of his current situation."

Link made a second attempt to move forwards, his chest again making contact with Peach's palm that she had almost let fall. The princess made the smallest pout, glancing in Link's direction, before she blinked at Marth, whose ocean blue eyes lifted from her to Link when he replied.

"I think he understands well enough. I'll be taking my leave, for tonight."

Peach stepped back and Marth bowed to her before walking up the stairs. Once he reached the top a glance at Zelda's door could not be avoided, but he went the other way and disappeared behind the wall.

"Well? Peach said, crossing her arms and turning to Link who did not find the energy to raise an eyebrow at her.

"What-a are you waiting for? Hurry up and go after Zelda." Mario said, showing up at Peach's side.

Link's gaze climbed up the stairs. Rumble Falls would have been a more welcoming sight. Marth's words weighted on him, as had he been drenched in water that was still dripping off him one droplet at a time. The prince had been right. He had wanted to hurt Zelda.

Everything had been fine. They had always been happy together, ever since they were kids. Sure, there had been some bad times, but they were nothing to the good times, and then were the times that might not seem like anything special at all. The seconds, minutes, hours, and so on, when they simply were. Until it became strange to imagine what it would be like without her.

If she left she would take a big chunk of him with her and leave a gaping hole bigger than Kirby's stomach. He could not unlearn everything that he knew about her. He would still take notice of things she would like, look up ready to comment on the sit-coms they always watched together, think of her every time he played his Ocarina, be stuck with mushrooms on his plate that he used to trade for her olives and he would not have anyone to share those deepest private thoughts with. Even if she did not go far away, even if, let's say, all that happened was that they decided to stay good friends and things remained pretty much the same, there would be a world of difference.

They were too far gone. But he had walked into this looking towards the horizon and grabbed her hand firmly, never considering the possibility of being stuck far out there alone. He had been nothing but thankful for her. He had been anxious to make her as happy as himself, at the very least. He had begun to feel secure enough to think that she was.

He had not seen her anger coming at all. Such a slap to the face his cheek burned at the memory. All this time it had just been him walking around in la-la land, while she... What an idiot he had been! He wanted to bury his face in his hands and moan just thinking about it.

And in spite of everything he had done to make up for angering her he only dug his grave deeper. Maybe he had been on to something that would smooth things over but then the prince had shown up. Marth did not have to compromise. He could be Mr. Nice Guy and agree with everything Zelda said without risking a future of henpecking. If she had someone like that, why would she go through the trouble of sorting things out with him?

It would do no good to bring a sword when somebody else was bringing flowers. What was left? Surpassing Marth at his own game? The thought alone made every drop of the hero's blood freeze. He could not do that. After all his efforts he did still not understand what Zelda wanted, and apparently he never had. Marth, on the other hand, got it right on his first try. The prince was in his element charming her with elegance and eloquence. It was no contest. Just as Marth had said, if he so exposed all of his feelings completely, begged her to stay, offered her the world, was at her feet clutching the fabric of her dress, he would come up short. Be left in the dirt with nothing left to give. Only knowing, for certain, without a doubt, he was not good enough.

It was checkmate. Whichever way he turned there was a big fat rejection staring him square in the face, glaring at him to make a move so that it could strike. It made him want to flip the table over. Turn it on her. Why had she driven it to this? It should not have been like this to begin with. She had walked out on him too easily, deciding the break-up all on her own, without explaining, or giving him a chance to explain. What kind of person could throw away all that they had been through and shared without so much as a second thought? He would not think Ganondorf capable of something like that (well, maybe Ganondorf was the one exception, but not Zelda).

He had wanted to hurt her. He had wanted to inflict at least an inkling of the pain she had put him through. He wanted a sign that she was aware of what she was doing to him. That she felt something.

Then she had started to cry.

He should have been satisfied. His words had an impact. She was not a victim. He was right in telling her so. Then why did she have to make him feel as if he was kicking somebody he had already punched? Why did he have to feel like the bad guy? Even though he was right?

Worse was that any other day it would have broken him apart to see her cry. He would not have been put at rest until she was fine again. Any other day it would have smashed him to pieces to find out that he was the cause. Even when he hated her for crying, even when he had provoked her on purpose, even then, he had to suppress impulses to pull her to him, rub her back, stroke her hair, do something.

"I think you need to go after her."

Peach was standing with joined hands in front of her. For the first time ever Link felt that he was looking at the Peach Mario always described.

"But after... What will... How will it look if I?" Link scratched the back of his head.

"That's-a being spontaneous," Mario said, pointing at him. Through him. Up the stairs.

Link sucked in a deep breath of air, and straightened his back. Right. If there was anything Zelda would not expect it was that he would search her out first thing after what he had said. She was probably still crying, all alone, thinking he would never again want to have anything to do with her. It was as if he really had flipped the board, whether it had been a good or bad thing; all of a sudden there was room to move again. Now he could actually do something. Now he could either run, and let things end on this bad note, or he could face Zelda. He would not Cucco out on this. He would act on this, spontaneously.

"I'm not sure that..." Peach began.

"I'm going," Link said and Mario gave him a thumbs up, while the Mushroom Kingdom princess pouted. The latter was nothing Link noticed. He answered the plumber's encouragement with as confident a smile as he could put on and started conquering the stairs. Outside her door he pulled his hat off and ran his fingers through his blond hair. Deep breath now. He pressed the handle down, expecting to find it locked. Imagine his surprise when it glided open and he stumbled inside.

"I'm sorry I..." Zelda said, turning around with her palm pressed to her forehead. Upon finding who her visitor was she froze, and stared, much like him in his bent-over position with a hard grip around her door handle.

It did not take long for Link to note that she was not at all crying. Her eyes were still a bit puffy and red, but there were not so much as a shimmer of a wet trail left on her cheek. Her voice had been composed and she was up and walking, not at all collapsed on her bed in broken sobs. He pulled his hat back down over his head, with both hands, and wanted to laugh, really.

"You expected Marth, didn't you?" he said, a tone of mocking sneaking into his voice.

She hugged herself and pursed her lips.

He could not speak. Not turn away from her to close the door or walk out of it. Well, he told himself with a headshake, it was reasonable that she should expect Marth. The prince was always quick, too quick, to interrogate about her well-being.

"Look," Link began anew, taking a step forward. In a flash – a flash from a spiral of green light – Zelda disappeared and reappeared a step back. Link was frozen to the spot again, his hands petrified in their open gesture. Had she just teleported away from him? Not backed away but teleported? One. Single. Step? Although, it could have been a reflex. He relaxed, felt his muscles softening, and tried another step. With a "tch-tch-tch" – a sound like wind running through leaves – Zelda vanished in another green spiraling light and by the time his foot touched the floor, more because of gravity than out of his own accord, she was back, another step away. He grew tense. She remained stiff.

Link took a longer determined step towards her and she teleported an equal distance away. He took a full stride and the same thing happened again. He took another step, and another, until Zelda, by making the smallest turn in his direction upon reappearing, found her pauldron smacking into the wall. Her eyes widened and she drew away far enough to look at how close she had ended up to it. It was over. Link smirked the very second the shock hit her and dashed at her. His hands found the wall. His arms were around her.

Tch-tch-tch.

"Dammit."

He could feel her glare on his back. He hung his head, hands still on the wall. Of course cornering her did not mean that she would not be able to teleport. Cheating magical powers. He let his arms fall and shifted his weight between his feet a few times.

Zelda frowned. This particular body language almost suggested... It was dubitable if the princess had ever lost her composure the way she did when he turned around and got into fighting stance. His fingers moved swiftly in a typical "I'm coming to get you" fashion. There was an electric blue spark in his eye. She began to back away, shaking her head and mouthing "no" with every turn. It was the same horror she could never quite hide whenever he threatened to tickle her.

He went for her lower arm but, probably acting on pure instinct, her fingers snapped together, and the back of her hand slammed into his wrist and blocked him. A good move, but not good enough. Her hand was close and he barely had to twist his arm to grab her. Immediately, eyes ablaze with offense, the side of her free hand struck his wrist with concentrated force. He pulled away, a growling sound forcing its way past his teeth while rubbing the sore spot. Well, the pain was nothing, and she was not going to take him by surprise a second time.

The hero leapt at the princess and she scarcely moved out of his way. If he could get her under pressure this would be over and done with quickly. He knew he could not let up. She just barely evaded his moves. A hint of a frown or gritted teeth began to show every now and then. More frequently, he noted, as they made their way across the room. He was smelling victory when he saw past her shoulder that she was closing in on the still open door.

Oh, no you don't. He pressed his left foot down and sprung with his arm reaching out. She jumped back, leaned back, turned her arm away from his grasp, but to no avail.

"Gotcha!"

Ch-ch-ch.

Link could but stare at his hand grabbing at nothing. He tried squeezing but felt not so much as a Poe. He turned around, just in time to see Zelda with a hand on her hip and pursed lips slamming the door to her room shut, followed by the short dismissive click from the lock.

How? When? Why? He stared at the ugly piece of wood as had it appeared out of nowhere, which, if you asked him, it had. Zelda hadn't been angry. It had been lost in the playfulness. In her facade falling and letting him back in. Had he misunderstood something again? He looked to his left, spotting Peach and Mario still on the first floor. They ought to have got the gist of what had just happened, but judging by their faces, and the fact that they started walking upstairs side by side, they still expected him to tell them.

"You chased her?"

Peach moved her hands from her hips to cross her arms, uncrossed them and put them back on her hips. She opened and closed her mouth..

"I screwed up," Link said, slouching and staring into space, looking more apathetically miserable than Captain Falcon the day he found a millimeter scratch on his F-Zero machine.

"You sure did," Fox cut in, passing by. "Go to bed like everyone else. Or try to keep it down," he added, pointing to his ears and continuing down the hall.

Peach bit her bottom lip.

"It might not be that bad," she said without convincing anyone, least of all herself. "We'll come up with something. Maybe I should..."

"Let-a me talk to Zelda."

It would take a lot for Peach to stare at Mario as if he was a Mr. Saturn that had just proposed to her, but now she did.

"You've worked hard, Peachie," the plumber said. "Let-a me try."

She hesitated even though he was sure to have plenty of reasons behind those few words. It was not that she did not trust him. This was unexpected, yes, but maybe something unexpected was the right cure?

Mario knew she would comply. He also knew that he did not have to ask her to look after Link instead. Peach would not be able to sit around and do nothing, which was actually why he had decided to step in. It could not be denied that both Peach and Link had a tendency to care too much and neither of them were a quitter, and that could backfire when they got more and more entangled in troubles they tried to disentangle. Mario was sure everyone could use that they took a step back, took a few deep breaths, and then Link and Peach would be back with ten times more energy, and hopefully clearer minds.

The only thing that was still holding Mario back was whether it would be a good idea to let Peach, loving to fuss over people, pour her considerations and cares over his friend but one look at them and the plumber decided that he trusted them completely. The stout man knocked on Zelda's door, locked his hands behind his back rocked on the soles of his feet, waiting for a response that never came.

"It's-a me, Mario."

The door was unlocked and opened the tiniest bit. A soft "come in" could be heard from the other side and Mario did not hesitate a second to act on the offer. He closed the door behind him and had a look at the Hylian princess in front of him. The glumness and pallor about her was strengthened by the exhaustion of tears and the smile she greeted him with could only be described as corners being pulled upwards for a second to be instantly let go of. There was absolutely nothing more than a motion to it.

Zelda lead the way over to her desk and Mario was about to follow when a thought struck him. He reopened the door, not the least surprised to find Peach and Link jumping back from it. Peach tried to cover up her blush while Link, still as lively as Mewtwo at a funeral, looked to the side. The plumber closed the door again, sure that they would not linger.

"What do you want?" Zelda said in a business-like manner, pulling the desk chair in a diagonal line over to the armchair by the small bookcase.

"I-a came to check-a on you," he said, jumping onto the soft cushion of the armchair with his feet dangling off the floor.

"How kind of you."

He had trouble reading her. Although, did that really matter?

"I don't-a think he meant it-a."

"He meant every word."

"He loves-a you."

The smile Zelda gave in return made Mario stop swinging his legs.

"I cannot see how that would be of any relevance when all we do is hurt each other. Why prolong the charade? I would even say it was for the better that he said what he did. I wished for a brief aftermath and this way we shan't wish to speak a word to each other."

Mario eyed the ceiling and drew a finger across his mustache.

"But you don't-a look happy."

"If I am not, I shall be, and I rather it be so than the other way around."

Mario shook his head. "He loves you. You love him. No need to make things more-a complicated." He held up a finger as she was about to speak. "He wants-a to make you happy. Let-a him. Explain to him."

It was a surprise to see Zelda allow a painful expression on her face. Or maybe she fought it? She pulled her shoulders up and spoke with lips that wanted to be pressed shut.

"I thought I had already tried to explain in every way possible. I have told him exactly why I am upset and what I want from him. Even when I spell it out he refuses to see."

"It's-a okay to cry," Mario said, but the princess had already blinked the tears back.

"I do love him and that is precisely why nothing makes me feel as desperate as not getting through to him. It's like I am separated from him by a wall only I can see through. Like I don't exist."

Zelda's head snapped back up when Mario touched her hand. Being faced with a broad smile, warm eyes and soft features, she thought of something Peach used to say. Mario would never brood on things. Clouds would never conquer his mind. Above all, he had a good heart.

"No explaining what-a he should do. Tell him how-a you feel and he'll make you smile his own way. You'll see."

"Make me smile? That ought to be the last thing on his mind."

Mario's hand stayed on top of Zelda's, secure and warm.

"Tell him how-a you feel. Just-a that. He loves you."

(A/N)

Hopefully this chapter managed to shed some light on Link's point of view. I do not want to write a story where one is right and the other is wrong. I think it is important to try to see every character (at least every major character) as a protagonist. At least it helps me in life to think that we all carry around novels filled with reasoning and explanations that justify ourselves the same way a protagonist is sold to a reader. When there is a disagreement each person has a whole novel backing them up. In writing, I think it will not turn out well to write a character based on assumptions or interpretation or we end up with flat stereotypes, an outside view with no understanding. We need a bit of that protagonist viewpoint, and we are ourselves a great source for that.

Now to my favorite part. Thank you reviewers!

I am sorry that Ike is not in the story and I thought I could only dream of Link and Zelda's argument to come across as realistic. I have too poor a grasp of reality to ever hope to capture it, though that is why I try hard to keep both Link and Zelda's perspective in mind. It was actually my intention for Link to have a point and Zelda to have faults.

Ha ha, I can actually imagine Link giving poetry a shot. Although I picture him trying it out in secret, being too hard on himself and throwing it all in the trash bin.

Thank you for reading. Special thanks to the reviewers. Späsjal Thänks to the anonymous person who touched my heart. I wanted to fall to my knees, raise my arms to the sky and cry, "yes, yes, yes!" That is exactly it! You got it completely. It is more praise than I am worthy of but you put my ambitions into words. I almost drained the batteries of my phone reading the review over and over (in spite of needing it to call about my arrival so that I could be picked up at the station). I think that requires some special thanks.

Lastly, even if I complain about my own writing there are actually two beautiful sentences to be found in this chapter. They were edited by my dear friend Lays. Thank you!