The Both Of Us | Zelink X The Last Of Us

Chapter Six

Zelda's pov

"Wake up princess," Impa says as she shakes my shoulder. I tried to go back to sleep when Link woke up. I don't know if he knew I was awake or not but I think he has nightmares like me. Maybe we're not so different after all.

I sit up and rub my eyes. The sun is just barely creeping in through the tattered curtains and I feel sticky. It's humid today. Air conditioning is higher on my list of things I miss than I'd like to admit.

"Here's what we're going to do," Link says as he pulls out a map, the kind people used to get at rest stops when they'd go on road trips. He points to a highway heading north. "This is the only highway out of the city cleared by the military." He points to another spot on the map and I lean closer to see. He looks up slightly and glares at me. "We have a straight shot from where we are and it won't take long if we move quickly." I didn't miss the emphasis. He's still upset about yesterday. We lost time because we had to hide in this apartment until the infected calmed down. "We have a truck right about here. Its how we got to this shithole in the first place." He folds the map and shoves it in his back pocket as he stands up. "Let's go."

The streets are now silent when just yesterday they were full of hungry screams. I'm nervous about leaving the apartment but the roads are empty now and we keep moving at a steady pace. Link walks ahead, rifle in hand while Impa hangs back with me.

"He's still mad," she says quietly, almost like a joke. He's a little too scary to joke about. I give her a small forced smile before returning my gaze to the cracked pavement.

"You know," she starts again after a few minutes of silence. "This is our last job. For awhile at least."

"Why is that?" Link may be terrifying, unreadable, and mostly silent but at least I can talk to Impa. It's nice being around a girl.

"We're tired of it. Or at least I am. As stoic as I am." She smiles at me. "I don't enjoy killing people and that's what most of our jobs are. We take out targets that are...getting in the way for someone you could say."

"You're assassins?" I think back to all my precious books with assassins and heroes. I used to think they were cool.

"Assassins, mercenaries, thieves. Whatever you want to call it."

"Is he tired of it too?" We both look up at the man leading us. He's ready to shoot at any given second with his head always on a swivel.

"I don't think so. He doesn't feel bad about killing. Or torturing." I gasp and look at her. Every time I ask about Link, I find out about some new, horrible quality of his I should be scared of. "Sometimes we have to get information and not everyone is so willing to give it without the proper persuasion." Persuasion is one way to describe it.

"What does he do?"

"I don't think you want to know." I don't. "He makes everyone suffer like him."

"Killing people won't make any of that better."

"Don't try to tell him that. Don't try to talk to him about personal things at all actually."

"Why?"

"He doesn't like talk about himself. I tried to get to him to open up once and he was ready to rip my throat out." She laughs a little at the memory. I can tell she's comfortable with him in a way I'll never be. She makes jokes about his cruelty while I add to my list of things not to do.

"Is it okay to ask about your past?" She's been talking to me like a new friend. She makes me comfortable and I do want to have a friend. She balances Link out. He's brooding and intimidating while she's friendly, acting like we've known each other our whole lives. I don't know how well I would do on this trip if she wasn't here.