A Pirate's Life For Me; Zelink, Pirate AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Chapter Fourteen; Out Of All The...

"What does that even mean."

Link groaned. "Must you hate me," he grumbled to himself. "I'm saying... goddess I am actually saying this..." He pressed his hand to his face. "You are the only one in the world I could ever consider marrying."

Zelda stared at him, face blank, her mind was raging like a circus gone horribly wrong. Animals of thought rampaged through the arena and she couldn't rope them back in. Honestly, she didn't know why she was so... conflicted about him. It didn't even make any sense. Her hand went to her face and she sighed. "I would have married anyone but a complete troll. And now life has thrown me you. Someone I know... and now..." She bit her lip and looked away from him. "I don't know what to do anymore." 

"Why is knowing me a problem?"

The 'Tetra' in her scowled. "You destroyed my planning. I thought I had prepared for everything... I was wrong, apparently." 

Link smiled, but then it turned into a smirk. "We're not just acquaintances. We've already kissed."

Zelda turned red and she glared at him. "I only did that because I thought I was never going to see you again! I should never have seen you again!"

Link smiled at her embarrassment. "You're cute when you're all red."

She bit her lip and turned away from him. "Shut up."

"And...-"

"And shut up," she snapped.

"... I think I'm going to wake up soon because there is no way you can pass for a princess. This has got to be a dream."

Zelda focused her glare back on him. "I was trained since I was small to hide my true emotions so as to be presentable in court," she said in her lofty tone, tilting her head back. 

"So you just lie all the time then."

That drew a growl from her. "You're one to talk." 

Link shrugged. "Seems like it to me," he said. Then, before she could bite back, he continued. "So then, what are we to do?" 

"About this... arrangement?" 

He nodded. 

Zelda bit her lip. "Well... you said you weren't going to run away."

He nodded again. "And you?"

"I never was running away from this."

"Alright, so now what?" 

"...I don't know..."

Link sighed. "What's the problem? I'm not a troll."

Her lip twitched with amusement. No, I suppose you aren't. "The problem is... I don't trust strangers. Let alone a prince." Zelda rubbed the scar on her hand. "If I agree to marry you, my parents will suspect something."

"So... give them a run for it. Tell them you're thinking about it."

"I am thinking about it," she replied before she could bite her tongue.

---

"So, Zelda, what do you think of Prince Link?" her father asked her in the meeting room.

"He's... polite enough," she said simply.

"He was quite handsome," her mother commented.

Zelda reddened and turned away from them, adding to her small act of shyness. "Well... yes, he was."

"So you will agree to marry him?"

Sheesh mother, just because he's good looking... Zelda folded her arms around herself to show her hesitation. "I am not... against him but... really, talking to a man for one hour does not constitute knowing whether or not I could spend the the rest of my life with him." Granted... it's been a little longer than that.