Hearts of Stone (BOTW Modern AU)

Chapter 5

Link watched, bored out of his mind as another pencil landed in his empty mug with a soft clink. He grabbed another writing utensil, tongue stuck between his teeth as he eyed the distance. With a flick of the wrist, he sent the pen flying, this one landing far off the mark and sliding onto the floor. He sighed, glancing to his computer screen before picking up his next missile. There was still a ring of spinning dots, meaning the data he'd entered was still being processed. For a multi-millionaire rupee company, their systems sure took a long time.

The past few days had been relatively the same. Filling in charts, looking over deadlines, assigning different tasks, and of course, more paperwork. So far they hadn't made much progress and Link hadn't even seen the few artifacts they'd gotten from the 'Divine Beasts' as they'd come to be called. It wasn't exciting work, but it did have its perks. He'd been doing some of his own research on the new machines, though he hadn't found anything groundbreaking yet. From what he could tell, they were big and ancient, any other information was annoyingly redacted. Hylia, he didn't even know where these things were.

He glanced back to his screen, sighing when it still hadn't loaded. He reclined back in his chair, feet propped on his desk as he carefully aimed the pen in his hand once more. As he was about to let it loose there was a knock at his door. Whoever was outside didn't even wait for an answer before barging in, the door nearly flying off its hinges as it was thrown open with immense force.

Link jumped at the sound, swinging his feet off his desk and sweeping paper and other oddities onto the floor. He scrambled to compose himself, grabbing his nearest object to look like he was actually doing something. It was obvious by the glare Zelda gave him as she stood in his doorframe that she didn't buy it.

"I'm I interrupting something," she asked politely, though her tone was icy.

"Yeah, actually," Link mumbled, ducking down to hurriedly pick up everything that he'd knocked from his desk. "Can you please stop barging in like that?" he glared pointedly at her, putting everything back to it's rightful place.

"We have some analytics we need you to look over and sign off on before we can send them upstairs for processing," Zelda told him, ignoring his last statement.

She stared at him expectantly, her foot tapping impatiently against the floor. Link glanced to his screen again, this time to see if he missed a message with the supposed files she was talking about. Seeing nothing, he stared right back at her, his eyes widening and hands out in front of him in a shrugging motion.

Zelda huffed when the silence and staring continued, "Are you just going to keep sitting there?" she snapped, "I need you to come down to the labs."

With that said, she turned on her heel and stomped out the door. Link opened his mouth to explain the harsh reality that people couldn't read her mind, but chose instead to flick his finger up in a rude gesture to her receding back. Really, the nerve she has, Link thought to himself as he begrudgingly hauled himself from his soft chair.

He hurried out into the hall, knowing full well if he didn't go with Zelda now she'd leave him behind. Sure enough, she was already turning a corner, so Link sprinted after her, earning him some strange looks from the occupants in the offices around him.

"You could have at least waited," Link grumbled as soon as he caught up to her, doing his best not to sound irritated.

Zelda ignored him, a regular hobby of hers. She didn't even glance his way as they continued in silence, her eyes fixed forward and mouth set in a permanent grimace. Link didn't even attempt a conversation, he knew from experience it would only lead to disappointment, but he couldn't stop his eyes from glancing quickly in her direction. Each day he could feel his emotions towards her growing stronger- and more muddled. He wasn't sure if all memory of the girl from the airport was completely gone, leaving behind a cold-hearted woman who would much rather stab his back than pat it. All he did know was the unpleasant feeling of frustration swelling like a swarm of bees in the back of his mind.