The Both Of Us | Zelink X The Last Of Us

Chapter Thirty

Zelda's pov

"Zelda, wait!" Urbosa calls after me when I leave the dining hall as quickly as I can. I can't untangle the emotions sitting like a rock in my stomach. I'm jealous, angry...heartbroken.

I frantically wipe my tears when I step outside before they can freeze on my cheeks. I ran outside without the slightest idea of where to go. I don't know this town or the people in it who are staring at me and my snotty face.

Firm hands turn me around by my shoulders and I look at Urbosa's welcoming face. She gently wipes my tears away with her thumbs.

"Come on little bird," she says softly. "Let's get you cleaned up."

I let her take me to a house, hold the clothes she puts in my hand, stand there as she turns the warm water on in the shower, and strip down to nothing when she leaves. There's still traces of dried blood between my thighs from my last period and I feel disgusted upon finding it. I scrub my body under the hot water, angry that I'd wanted it to be Link's hands on my skin. He ran to her and kissed her like I wasn't there, like we hadn't shared kisses this morning, like he hadn't pulled me close to his body last night to keep me warm. I wash my neck where his fingers had been, where I wanted his lips to be. I'm a fool.

I dress in the warm clothes Urbosa gave me and trudge my way out of the bathroom down the hall to the kitchen where she's waiting for me next to a chair. I sit down and let her rake a brush through my fresh hair, gently tugging out each tangle. The pit in my stomach is eating away at me as I think about what Link is doing with her right now. She's the one cradled in his arms. She's the one he breathes quiet words of love and pleasure to as his hips rock against hers. I wanted it to be me.

"Who is she?" I croak, my throat too tight to manage more.

"Mipha." The way he'd said her name. He's in love with her. "She's been here for about a year. My scouts found her wandering by herself miles away from the nearest QZ. She said her brother died and I took her in. She told me her parents and boyfriend died years ago but it seems she was wrong about that." Link.

"He was kissing me this morning," I choke, desperately fighting the tears. I feel like I can tell her anything like I've known her my whole life.

"You can't expect much from him," she sighs and drags the brush through my hair again. "I can shoot him for you."

I shake my head. I don't want him dead. That'd be worse. "Thanks for the offer," I try to joke.

"Well I could send him away and you could stay here with me. You'd have whatever you want." Guilt creeps over me when I consider it. How selfish would that be? To stay here rather than reunite with my father. To let her send Link away and I'd never see him again. It's tempting.

"I don't know..." Why didn't I listen to Revali?

"Link is broken. He's buried too many, killed too many to be normal. A little of his humanity slips away each time he takes the life of another because he likes it. He doesn't just do it because he has to, he wants to. He enjoys watching people in pain because it distracts him from his own." That's sick but true. I've watched him kill. I watched when he killed that man with his fists and a crowbar. He relished in the warmth of the blood. "He thought she was dead like she thought he was. He found a little of himself when he saw her." I thought I'd shown him.

"It's not fair," I whimper. It's not fair that I love him. It's not fair that he found a missing piece in Mipha and not me.

Urbosa hugs me around my shoulders. "I know little bird, I know."

Link's pov

I pull away from our kiss and notice Zelda isn't sitting in here anymore. What the fuck did I just ruin?