Hyrule Academy

by Escae

Hello, welcome to my LoZ AU. I'm still relatively new to writing fanfics so please R&R. I'm a huge Zelink supporter personally so that'll be the ship in this story, but the romance will be short & mild for the first several chapters. In spirit of my first story, I'll try to keep my author's notes short and simple, and leave most of the space on the page up to the story itself. Enjoy!

Sunday – Zelda's POV

"I said I don't want to go, Dad!" I said for the thousandth time. It sure took a lot to get through that thick skull of Daphnes Nohansen, didn't it?

The thick skull of Daphnes Nohansen turned to face me in the backseat, taking his eyes off the suburban road for a few seconds.

"And I said, you have to go," Dad said in that gravelly baritone of his. "Just because we are moving to Hyrule doesn't mean you stop getting an education."

I wish it did, honestly. "But do I really have to go to the snooty–"

"Enough! Impa, please tell our daughter to stop complaining."

My mom, Impa Nohansen, turned around to address me as Dad put his eyes on the road again.

"He's right, honey," she said in her serious but affectionate voice. "The Hyrule Academy is the best place for you in this city, especially with your growing mind."

I groaned. Out of all the annoying things my parents do, bragging about my "intellectual talents" is probably the worst. I mean, I get it, I'm super smart and all. But that doesn't mean I have to go to the most expensive school in Hyrule, right?

Mom turned back around and I slumped even further into the backseat. I didn't want to live here. My life was great in Castle Town, I had plenty of friends, I got good grades, our apartment was small but comfortable. The prospect of a bigger house should have been shot down when you consider that I have to leave behind my entire life. But no.

"Look, this is our street," Dad said, trying to sound cheerful. He turned down a one-lane road lined with trees and fairly large modern houses. A sign on the corner read, "Ordon Avenue."

Mom let out a sigh of relief. "Finally, we can start unloading. That was a long car trip, wasn't it?"

I didn't deign to reply. I was too busy sulking and trying to think of ways to sabotage the move-in so that we could just drive the six hours back to Castle Town and rethink all this. My long blond hair blew in front of my face with a gust of wind from the now-rolled-down window, making me even more agitated.

After what seemed like ages, we pulled into the driveway and the dull red sedan that had been our home for the past half-day sputtered to a halt.

"I don't want to help move," I mumbled inaudibly.

"Well, fortunately for you," Mom started (don't ask me how she heard), "there's a boy about your age next door that the realtors mentioned. You should go over and say hi."

What? I didn't know about this. Having a neighbor my age could go one of two ways. Either, I could easily make a new friend and ally for my first day of school tomorrow…

Or I could embarrass myself before I even walk into the school. Not a risk I want to take.

I say as much, and then Dad is suddenly lifting me out the open car door. "You are going to be social, or my name isn't Nohansen."

"Ah! No! Dad! Stop!" It's no use. His massive tree-trunk arms put my feet on the driveway outside our new pale modern home, where hedges fortunately block the neighbors' view of my tantrum.

"Agh, you people are insufferable."

"Yes, sweetie, but it's our job," Mom told me. She was already watching the moving truck pull in behind our car before I could reply. Guess that left me to go see those neighbors, then.

I walked around the head-height hedge surrounding our driveway, peering around the end to an identical driveway and similar modern home to the right of ours. I silently gathered my thoughts. Now was my chance to make a friend before the start of the school day.

Don't be an idiot, don't be an idiot. The thought whirled around in my head. I can't screw this up.

I walked up the driveway to the small stone front porch, and noticed a pool in the back out of the corner of my eye. Pool parties, Somewhere inside me thought hopefully. That is, if you manage not to embarrass yourself now.

No answer came from inside the house, but there were lights on, so I knocked again.

"Ack! Coming!" I heard a female voice, slightly younger than mine. I thought a boy lived here? For some reason, that was slightly disappointing. Oh, stop that! It's not like anyone could have a crush on you anyways.

The door opened and a perky young face peered out at me.

"Hey, can I help you?" she asked.

"I… uh… just moved in next door… and… uh…"

Goddesses, I sound like a blubbering idiot.

"Ohhh!" the girl's face lit up even more, if that was possible. She let out a squealing sound. "Oh my gosh, you are gonna love it here! I can't believe I finally…"

I must have been looking at her funny because she started talking much more slowly.

"Sorry. I'm Aryll, and I get very excited when talking to new people."

"It's not a problem." I felt much more confident now that she wasn't talking a thousand words a minute.

"Um, welcome to Ordon Avenue, I guess. We're your neighbors, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better." Aryll sounded like a different person, much calmer. I preferred this.

"Thanks, me too. Who's we?"

"Huh?"

"You said, 'we' live here."

"Ohhh," she said again, "that'd be me and my brother. I'll get him for you."

She turned around and yelled into the house. "LIIIIINK!" After no response came, she said, he's probably out back, you're welcome to come meet him if you want…"

"Sure." I shrugged. "Better than helping lift furniture next door."

Aryll laughed and stepped outside, shutting the door behind her. "Link's probably at the pool. It's just down here."

She began leading me down the driveway to the pool I'd seen a minute earlier. Once we rounded the hedge, we could see some stone bricks arranged in a wide rectangle as a back porch, adjacent to the pool in the back. It's white stone matched that of the outside of the house, and in the sparkling blue water was a boy who looked about my age.

With a splash, he climbed out, dripping water everywhere. Aryll squeaked and jumped back, and I took a step in that direction too.

"Link, you can't do that to our guest," she scolded.

"No, it's okay…" I started, then got a good look at Link.

Woah. I couldn't help but admire how he looked shirtless. Aside from his abs, though, I noticed his extremely unkempt dirty blond hair and large, piercing blue eyes.

"Hey," he said in a friendly but deep tenor, while shaking the water off himself like a wet dog. "Who's the guest?"

The piercing eyes turned to me. After realizing I was numbstruck, Aryll spoke up. "She's our new neighbor, moving in to the left. Her name is… uh…"

I realized I hadn't even told them my name yet. "Sorry," I said, shaking my head. "I'm Zelda."

Link gave me a wolfish grin. "I'd shake your hand, but…"

"Right." I took another step back from the water cascading off him.

"Go, go inside and get cleaned up!" Aryll ushered him through a sliding glass door on the back and he disappeared. She turned to me, flustered.

"Sorry, I didn't think he'd be swimming…"

"It's ok." I didn't mind… no! Don't think like that, Zelda! "So, how old are you guys?"

"Well, I'm fifteen," Aryll mused, "and Link's seventeen."

Ah. So he was my age.

"But most of the time I feel like I have to be the mature one, honestly."

We both chuckled. "So," I asked, "where are your parents?"

Aryll's face immediately darkened for some reason. "Oh, they're, uh, on a business trip. They won't be back for a while."

She turned slightly away from me. Was it something I said?

Her face went back to its normally perky state. "Can I get you something to eat? That road trip must've starved you."

My protests were drowned out. "No, no, I insist, and besides, Link will be down soon." Aryll led me through the sliding glass doors into a large kitchen area. A granite countertop at the end was connected to a colorful living room with a huge TV playing some commercials. A hallway led to what looked like an office and some carpeted stairs went to, probably, the bedrooms.

As Aryll led me to the countertop, she mentioned that our new house was almost exactly like theirs. That's good, because this is really nice.

I sat one one of the stools and Aryll pulled out some cheese, crackers, and veggies. I heard a door open and close, and Link's hair came bouncing down the stairs.

"Hey there," he said to me, still grinning broadly. I couldn't help but smile back, he was infectious.

"So, you're the new neighbors, huh?" He gave me a quick look up and down. "You look about my age."

"Seventeen," I nodded.

"Cool! I can already tell we're gonna be good friends." Did he ever stop smiling?

"I might need some." I said, remembering why I came over here in the first place. "I hear Hyrule Academy can be unforgiving when you don't know anyone."

"No way!" Aryll cut in. "Link, she's going to HA!"

"Cool," he said again. "Wow, good thing you came only two weeks into the school year. Otherwise, you'd have a lot of work to catch up on."

That didn't make me feel better. I was already dreading the huge workload and strict teachers that were trademarks of the prestigious Hyrule Academy.

"Well, if you want me to show you around Monday, just come over here in the morning. It's a lot, going to a new school, but you look like you'll do fine."

Wow. Seriously, I think that bright smile is permanently fused onto his face.

"Thanks." His compliment makes me blush a little. I know I complain about my parents talking about my "intellectual talents" but coming from someone else makes me glow with pride. I've already made two friends, so maybe it won't be so bad here.

I wave goodbye to Link and Aryll and step out of their house and into ours. They were right, it does look exactly like theirs. We bought it pre-furnished, so the only things we had to bring in the moving truck are personal belongings and some essentials.

Mom leaned over the rail at the top of the staircase. "Isn't it great? I knew we made the right choice."

"Yeah, Mom, it's not as bad as I thought." I rolled my eyes.

"Stop that," she scolded. "How were the neighbors?"

"Great! They were super nice and gave me food and they have a pool and there's a guy my age and-"

"Woah, woah, slow down, sweetie!" Mom chuckled. "I didn't know you were that excited about your friends! But I'm glad you made some so quickly for the school day tomorrow."

Speaking of which, the sun was starting to go down. It was about 5 o'clock now, and the road trip had me beat. I laid on the brightly colored couch and watched some mindless TV before eating a early dinner, showering, and plopping into my new bed. No sense in making myself tired tomorrow. It's gonna be rough.

So, what did you think? My first chapter of Hyrule Academy. Again, I'll try to keep these author's notes short and sweet so you can get on with the next chapter. Please review, it means everything to hear that my story is loved!