The carriage departed, leaving Link and Zelda by the entrance of Kokiri Forest. The Prince got down on one knee offering to carry the Princess the rest of the way, since she was not wearing any type of footwear. Zelda nodded and climbed on Link's back.
They soon crossed the bridge and as they were passing through what used to be the village, the Princess decided a quick tour wouldn't be such a bad idea.
ZELDA POV
"You lived here once, right?"
Link nodded.
"Did you have a house? Which one was it?"
Ziel point at the tall tree truck that had a ladder attached to it.
"That one? It looks nice, compared to the others I mean. Yours looks better preserved by the passage of time, do you still clean it?"
Link snorts "I have not visited it in the last 2 years" sighs "the trick is on choosing a sturdy tree and avoid damaging the trunk as much as possible. That means don't make spacious rooms"
"So… it looks big but your house is really small right? then why the need to make it high up like that?"
"Safety, as long as they had to use the ladder to enter, I could hear them coming and prepare"
He sounds like he had to be on guard at all times… where they really that bad to him?
"Can we visit your home?"
"NO… well you can visit if you want, you have 5 minutes, if you are not out, I will come and drag you out by the hair"
Zelda nods accepting and taps on his shoulder, Link takes it as a signal to let her climb down. Once the Princess touches the ground, she rushes to the ladder of his house climbing up as fast as she could.
Better do this quick, I don't know if he begins his cunt down now or once I enter.
The Princess started smelling a fetid odor once she had climbed up, holding her breath she enters the house. She almost screamed at what she saw, there where hateful messages written on the walls, animal corpses rotting on the floor, Link's bed was torn right in the middle and then filled with animal guts, the few bases he had were broken into pieces on the floor, and there was already dry crap and surely piss everywhere.
WHAT THE FUCK… he was right. The Kokiri were deranged animals at best. 5 minutes is TOO LONG for this shit; I am out of here NOW.
Zelda walks out of Link's house, her eyes filling with tears of a suffocating sadness that she had never felt before… and a lot of anger. As she was crossing the small porch before the stairs, she realized how much her emotions had affected her. Her legs where wobbling, she currently didn't have the strength to climb down the ladder by herself. After quickly cleaning her face from the treacherous tears that managed to spill, she forced herself to ask Ziel a question.
"Link… would you catch me if I jump down?"
Ziel looked up at his Princess, tilted his head and half smiling, he then pointed to his left "head" then pointed to his right "legs and feet"
The Princess understood he was giving her directions on how to fall, yet he never actually said he would catch her, but she just closed her eyes and jumped down hopping for the best.
Link caught the Princess bridal style, was about to put her down but Zelda hugged him trembling.
"That bad"
"This is not your reality anymore, you are a Nohansen now, and my guardian. That means you don't have to tolerate hate crime anymore; I won't allow it"
"Are you saying that to me or to soothe yourself?"
"A little bit of both" she says finally climbing down. The Princess changes the subject "You know… I would like for you to accompany me to the market, help me choose boots or shoes that will allow me to run from the skull kid's pellets, and that I can safely use on both worlds, like your boots."
Link goes down on one knee to allow the Princess to climb on his back. As she does, he starts heading to Lost Wooods. "I hear you my Princess, it would be convenient for you to have some boots, but I will still need to carry you through Lost Woods"
"But… I don't understand, I would be able to walk and run on my own"
Link chuckles "Let's make a deal, I won't blindfold you this time, once you see what you will be dealing with, you decide if you still want to try it or not"
"Sounds reasonable" Zelda says as they enter Lost Woods.
Once inside they soon encounter skull kids who start laughing malevolently and shooting at them. Link rushed and twisted out of the way of the pellets, at times he stopped death on his tracks, others he crouched all the way down, and he also jumped up at times. All of these while carrying the Princess and moving in a zigzag pattern.
I understand. I don't have, and maybe will never have the dexterity necessary for this.
"Jumping down"
Zelda was still very afraid of heights, so she closed her eyes as they fell down the hole. it felt like a normal fall for a second, suddenly the fall slowed down, then gravity took hold of them again, but they landed on the ground safely.
One of these days, I am going to open my eyes during that fall.
The Princess quickly climbed down from the hero's back; she then grabbed his hand pulling him out of the cave.
Outside there was a car already waiting for them, they were taken to a house relatively close to SWORD's quarters. The old lady living there used a room for herself and rented the rest of the house, it was commonly and briefly used by SWORD agents.
The lady recognized Link and smiled tenderly at him. She then noticed Zelda and started to frown, then to lift one eyebrow with curiosity, and finally she quickly lifted both her shoulders and pulled out a notebook where she wrote the occupants as she pointed at a door.
I… thought we would stay at SWORD's premises. Not that I mind this at all.
Soon they heard knocking at the door. Link opens and the old lady is there with a bunch of covers, he hurriedly takes them from her.
"What is all this for Edna?"
"For you of course… I believe you will let the girl sleep on the bed you will take the floor or the couch"
Link just looks at the lady in the eyes and starts smirking as he wiggled his eyebrow. Edna opens her eyes and mouth wide and starts trying to pull Zelda away from him.
"THANK YOU, EDNA, I was thinking he could use the couch but it may be too small to fit him." Zelda immediately says, looking at Link with suppressed anger for trying to scare the sweet lady.
"Or you could come sleep in my room, its small but we can make it work" Edna offers
"No need to bother yourself with that, he appears to be a menace, but in reality, he is very tame"
Link glanced at his Princess from beneath his brow, his eyes narrowing slightly.
I fucked up
Edna laughs a little at that and after giving them both a hug, she leaves. Link slowly closes the door and turns to Zelda irate.
"Tame you say… I will fucking show you how tame I can be"
Zelda squeals and runs off to the closest door slamming it behind her. "I AM SORRY, YOU ARE NOT TAME. I JUST SAID THAT TO MAKE EDNA COMFORTABLE"
"Who told you to do that?"
Zelda frowns at that and slowly opens the door to peak out "You wanted to scare her?"
Link grabs the door fully opens it "Yes, scare her, disgust her… make her lose faith and trust in me"
"Why?"
Ziel sighs deeply "She is beautiful, I thought I had a chance at dissuading her from renting her place to men and make her rent it to females only" Zelda leaned on the door's frame and looked at the hero expecting to hear the whole story.
Link closed his eyes and continued "A year ago, someone followed agent Widow here, with the intend of killing him or causing him damage at least. The criminal ended up hitting Edna in the head." Zelda gasped covering her mouth with both her hands.
"It didn't kill her of course, but ever since, we have told her to only rent the place to girls, but she does not want to. ¨Girls are welcomed and trusted EVERYWHERE, but it's not the same for you my dear boys, you will always have a place with me when you need it¨ she said"
Zelda giggles at that "You just have to try again I guess"
"You don't get it, WE HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING… Wolf came with the plan of being a rascal, got the police to come here a few times, Edna just sat with him to talk him out of misbehaving" Link rolled his neck trying to remember.
"Agent Widow came with his clothes blood stained, she smiled, washed them and told him to be careful next time" he said, Zelda smiled thinking of the sweet lady.
"Viper opted for making her vomit, he came FILFTY… she got out and came back with a soap bar for him to use pushing him into the shower. Then burned some smelly herbal bouquet, waved it all around the house taking the fucking smell away" Link said rolling his eyes.
Zelda was laughing hysterically at the image implanted in her brain.
Damn… SHE IS GORGEOUS, I want her as my grandmother… that means I must protect her. I can't let the agents chase her away. A little selfish of me but, come on, seems like she enjoys mothering them.
Gathering courage the Princess starts speaking "Poor thing, she is treating all of you like sons, and you still want to chase her away" Link glares at Zelda intensely, not giving of if he is angry or not.
"Have you all considered that maybe she needs this? to take care of you all… you pushing her away may be like killing her"
Link briefly thinks about this "May be, but it's dangerous to be around us… she needs to-"
"It's more dangerous for her to lose her boys, we are talking causing her depression and anxiety, what if she kills herself?"
Link shakes his head dismissively "If she ends up doing that, it would have been HER choice, but not because we brought death to her door"
Zelda opens her eyes and mouth wide "That's it? you all just don't want to be blamed if something happens?"
Raziel sighs, rolls his shoulders and grins at his Princess "Dear Princess, you have to understand one thing, I AM NOT A HERO, none of us are. We are more like a necessary plague. We will always try to chase her away since she has grown on each and every one of us. We deem it safer for her to stay away. For her wellbeing, and for our own mental health. It's not easy playing a protector and a killer at the same time" Link looks at her right in the eyes and lifts both his eyebrows.
Is he hurting because of me? FUCK.
Zelda turns away from Link in shame "This… arrangement you have with my father must be killing you"
"In a way it does, but don't blame yourself for this. I was the one who proposed this in an attempt to repay my debt to you"
"Your debt to me? what debt? I don't -" Link shushes her, takes a big breath and tells her.
"It doesn't matter… all the info you need is that I owe you and I will be paying that for the rest of my life, fair?"
"But Link… that is. I don't feel comfortable about any of this now… What can I do to make it easier?"
"Stop following me into this world"
Zelda's eyes shoot wide open and star filling with tears.
The Hero sighs "I am aware this has helped you to grow a lot, you now have a shot at being the Princess Hyrule needs. I won't force you to quit, it wouldn't be productive. The only thing you can do to make it easier is to endure the stress of it all with me"
To just hold on… that can't possibly be all. It's so passive. I have to try and be an asset, to be useful to him, not just a chore. I will be his travel version of Edna. It wouldn't hurt, would it? I mean… not more than what it already does. Gosh, if I am going to be an asset, I need to learn to wash, and cook at the very least… MY MIND IS SET.
Zelda nods in agreement and walks towards the room. Link the blankets that Edna brought and starts placing them on the floor. Zelda pops out of the room.
"You do know you are not sleeping on the floor, right?"
Link takes off his shirt and pants, pacing them on top of the makeshift bed and rubs his head on top of it attempting to leave some hairs behind.
"I am aware Princess; I still need to make Edna believe I slept here and not on the bed with you."
LINK POV
The next morning the Hero woke up with almost no motivation for the day. Yet he forced himself into the shower and woke up Zelda. Contrary to Raziel, the Princess was very excited. She may get to see her brothers again. Link begun to prepare some eggs that Edna always left on the fridge for them.
After feeding Zelda and arguing with her why he would still not eat, even though they were not on an official mission. Once done they left for SWORD´s premises.
After scanning his hand to enter, he was immediately received by happy yells. Zidane came rushing towards them. Ziel started chuckling once he noticed that the Pirate was not aiming at him. Zelda just disappeared from Link's right side as Zid rammed into her.
"Hello Carla, at what time does the conference start?"
"Hello Kid, just go right in, Dr. Strange is already in there waiting, Robert and George are in there too, just pull your monkey brother in there with you"
"Who else do we have to wait for?"
Carla smiles "This is it, just the 4 of you." Link was about to start ranting but Carla placed a finger on his mouth to silence him "before you say anything, THIS was needed… to properly introduce you brothers to SWORD, to reinstall George as an agent, and to punish you for being such a disobedient boy"
Well… if this is all the punishment I am going to get for kind of going off rails with my brothers, then I really CAN'T COMPLAIN.
"All right, fair is fair. ZIDANDE, get your ass in here, we are starting with this shit."
Zidane stands up and follows Link, leaving his beautiful sister on the floor with her hands and feet tied. Carla approaches to help the Princess and chuckles "He is getting better with his knots, that is good"
Link laughs loudly hearing Carla, and Zid just smiles.
How Zid tackled Zelda to the floor and begun to tie her up was kind of mean. But I think I enjoyed it.
"How are we going to do this?" the Pirate asks.
"How it should be done… we sit still, pay attention and incorporate as much as we can into our core beliefs"
"You know that is not what I meant bro"
"Once we are done with this, the four of us get to play a song, let's say good bye to the music program with a BANG"
Link opens a door to enter the study Vincent had prepared for the occasion. Doctor Strange handed them a pamphlet and told them to read it out loud, that they had to use a different intonation for every paragraph. He had to leave right now, but they were being recorded so he would know if they did it. The doctor stood up, fixed his cloak and left the 4 of them there with their mouths open.
This failed attempt at a theurgist just bailed on us... why the fuck would he had called on this meeting if
*Dude… its Dr Strange we are talking about. He obviously has a reason; we are just not seeing it yet. *
George suddenly stands up and starts reading out loud on a Mickey Mouse voice. Li starts to laugh at that and reads the next paragraph trying to mimic Bart Sympson. Link raises both his shoulders and joins the game. He goes for Sponge Bob's voice. Zidane laughs out loud and goes overboard with his voice, he begins to mimic Donald Duck. They continue reading and playing around with the pitch of their voices and 15 minutes later they were done.
"And… we are free the rest of the day, why don't we play around with the instruments" the Pirate suggests.
"Yeah… I saved most of them, they took the flutes already, left the rest for today after I begged"
They fucking did? They were getting rid of everything today? [Stephen's face smiling knowingly] the fucking wizard knew. That is why he pushed for this today. He was trying to give us a chance to play something before the end… a chance I am not going to waste.
George scratches the back of his head "I would love to, but I am not sure I can"
"Why? What instrument do you play?" Zid asks.
"Accordion… my grandpa taught me how to play it"
Kind of PERFECT actually… there is an alternative rock band that only has 4 members and plays using an accordion too.
"FUCK, how do we pair that with the bass, guitar and my battery?" Zid asks.
"Fairly simple actually" Link hands Robert his cellphone "KONGOS, I have several songs from them in my play list, listen to them and choose one for us to play it" he turns to Zid "you come with me, let's bring everything here… I am sure Vincent wants us to record whatever we do"
Zidane starts smirking "Of course he does, he did leave the room recording, what do we need to bring" the Pirate asks as they walked towards the music room.
"Guitar, bass, battery, accordion, the keyboard with its laptop and 4 microphones because you are not leaving all the vocals to me"