Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 85- ##t##########

"Good morning, Princess."
Zelda looked at the man with a long blue scarf who was bowing to her.
She smiled awkwardly and said,
"Oh, you don't need to do that."
"But a beautiful princess like you deserves respect."

Behind him, a young man with pink at the tips of his hair rolled his eyes.
"Shove off, Warrior." Then, looking at her, he said, "He does this with every girl he meets. It's no big deal."

She smiled and suppressed a laugh. What a nice group of people. She looked around and saw that most everyone was awake, except for the child. He was still in his sleeping bag, facing away from the group.

She looked at Twilight and pointed at the kid.
"Is he alright?"
"Probably. He likes to sleep in late."
"Ah. So, what are your names?"
Twilight pointed at the young man with pink hair tips. "That's Legend." He pointed at the man with the scarf. "That's Warrior. The one over by Wild is Time." He pointed to a very short boy. "That's Minish." He pointed to a young man with messy brown hair, wearing a simple green tunic. "And that's Hero."

"Um... nice names."
Legend smirked.
"You can say they're stupid. I don't mind. Scarf boy over there might, though."
"Hey! My name is not 'scarf boy!'"
"Of course. I know that. But if Wind isn't going to tease you, then someone has to take his place."

Zelda smiled as they bickered. What a fun group.

●●●

Twilight.
Wind.
Time.
Legend.
Scarf.
Minish.
Hero.

All of them.
Just standing there.
In a group.
Twilight, Wind, and Time were in the front.

Black goo.
Pinkish too.
Spreading across the ground.
Approaching them.

Going up their legs.
Up their bodies.
It enveloped Wind first.
He fell to the ground.
Then Twilight.
Then Time.
Them all the others.

Reach out.
Try to help them.

You can't.
Why would you try?

Lies.

No.
No lies.
Only truth.
You can't help them.

Lies.
It's all lies.
Just a bunch of lies.

Reach again.
But they're gone.
The Malice.
It took them.
Coming this way.

And he was gone.

●●●

Time was still over by Link, and Wind still hadn't gotten up.
Zelda could tell that Twilight was starting to worry. He kept looking over at Wind and Time.

She was curious about Time as well. Why was he just sitting there? How long had he been there?
And what was he thinking about?

●●●

He sighed.

He could have prevented this.
But he didn't realize until it was too late. Until after Wild started freaking out the other day. And by then, he had already left. He was already back in his own Hyrule.

He ran his hand through his hair again. How many times had he done that?

Wild was dead.
Again.
And his Zelda was here. It had been a while since he saw his own. Where was she now? How was she doing?

Wild's Zelda was nice. She was quite serious. But emotional at the same time. It was like she was having trouble adjusting. Which would make sense. There were a lot of things that she'd had to adjust to recently. She was probably still getting used to... emotion.

She was beating herself up over Wild's death. He could tell. And she was worried. About what? Everything. Wild, their Hyrule, everything.

This was the first time a Zelda had been here. He had a feeling it wouldn't be the last time, either.
It was unfamiliar and weird. They all knew her position. A princess. And they all knew their own relatively well.
But Wild... he didn't seem to know her that well. And she didn't seem to know him too well, either. It was an odd relationship.
They knew each other once, but Wild forgot, and he had changed. He was a different person. His Zelda only knew who he used to be.

Wild had come almost immediately after he finished his quest. That was the earliest anyone had come, as far as he knew. And to make matters more complicated, Wild barely had a clue as to who he was. He still didn't. He only knew some of the basics.

●●●

He ran up to her, and they met in an embrace. Such good friends. He had been looking forward to this visit for a while now.
They broke apart, already prepared to tell of their recent adventures.

~

She ran up to him, but he stood still.
"What's wrong, Link?"
He said nothing. What could he say?
He had to be quiet. If he spoke, he could ruin his reputation. Get too informal.
"Is everything alright?"
He still said nothing, only nodding. What could he tell her? That he wasn't here to see her? That he was her for other reasons? That he was here strictly for job-related reasons?
She'd be hurt by it, no matter what he said. So it would be better to just keep his mouth shut.

He looked over at the other guards. If he was one of them again, he could talk to her. At least have a conversation.
He looked at the other princess. She was talking to the king.

He sighed.
"You can tell me if something's bothering you."
"It's nothing. You don't need to worry about me. Go... go do something else."
The least he could do was be blunt. It was better than nothing.

Anyway, her being here would only distract him. He had to focus on the other princess. Not his princess.

●●●