Playing With Knives- LoZ

scene 126- minutes

He walked to Castle Town. He didn't ride a horse, he didn't teleport. He walked. The whole way.

A bit of a punishment, if you will. For trying to kill Wind. Twice. No- three times.

That was three times too many, if you asked him.

An arrow shot past him, and he jumped. He looked behind him. Just a bokoblin. He took out his own bow and shot the bokoblin, killing it instantly. He put it away and kept walking.

When he got to Castle Town, he headed for the castle. Good progress had been made. He walked up to the guards, who stopped him.

"What are you here for?"
"To see Zelda."
"And why do you want to see her?"
"What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about? We don't just let random people into the castle. You could be a Yiga spy."

He balled his hands into fists, blinking. Did they really think he was a Yiga? Did they not recognize him?

He sighed and turned away. He was about to leave when he heard a new voice. Zelda.

"Link! You're here!"

He turned back to to her and smiled. The guards awkwardly looked off in another direction, avoiding his gaze.

He walked up to Zelda and hugged her.

"Is there something you're upset about? You seem... a little... sad."
He sighed and nodded, stepping back. Zelda smiled at him.
"Why don't we go inside so you can tell me what's wrong?"
He nodded and followed her up to her room.

He kept his eyes to the floor, not wanting to look around too much. He was afraid that he'd freak out again, like he did when they came in here to check it out. Luckily, that didn't happen.

They entered Zelda's room, and she shit the door behind him.
"What's bothering you?"
"The guards wouldn't let me in. They accused me of being a-a Yiga spy."
"What? I'll give them a piece of my mind-"
"No, no, it's fine. I'm just... already upset about something else."
"What is it?"
"I-I was going to kill Wind. And I've already tried to do it twice..."
"Wind is one of your friends?"
He nodded. "The youngest."
"Ah. I remember him. Why would you want to kill him?"
"I don't want to. That's the thing. I wasn't thinking, and I almost did it. Except the last time. The first time, he called you stupid and I overreacted. That was a while ago."
"He told me about that."
"The second time, just a couple of days ago, he accidentally broke Mipha's spear. And that time, I actually nearly killed him. I was just about to hurt him. I-I was about to stab him, but Time got in the way. And I stabbed him instead." His eyes were tearing up now. "And the most recent time... was with that mask. I was trying to destroy something. I'm not sure what. Then I was going to kill Wind. I was actually planning on it that time. And I don't know why. And now I feel like I can't be around Wind, or else I'm going to hurt him."

"Oh, Link. It's okay. I could tell that mask was no good."
"I'm pretty sure Time used that to defeat something. It's not the mask that's bad. It's me."
"No. I..." She sighed. "I don't know what to say to you anymore. I'm really sorry. I... I just... I don't know."

She buried her face in her hands.
"I don't know what to do..."
"Oh, no. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I shouldn't have told you about that."
"No, it's fine. It's fine. I'm just having a bad day."
"Me too."

He stepped closer to her and hugged her.
She needed it.
He needed it.

~

The hug lasted for quite a while.
It ended when Zelda stepped away, looking down.

She couldn't do this. She couldn't bear to interact with him like this, not when she was going to do something absolutely horrid.

Hopefully the castle would be finished soon so she could just get it over with. It was hard to deal with Link being near her right now. Since, you know, she was going to-

"Zelda? Is everything okay?"
She looked up at him.
"Hm? Oh, yes. I'm fine. You go... find someone to help. If you'd like, of course. I won't make you do something you don't want to-"
"It's fine. Where is Bolson?"
"I think he's in the Champion's Hall."
"Oh."
"Uh, why don't you help me finish sorting books on the library?"

He nodded, smiling. She really didn't want to be around him at the moment, but it was the least she could do to make him happy. After all, his happiness was more important than hers. Especially right now.

●●●

He smiled and followed Zelda to the library. She was being really nice.

"I noticed you cut your hair."
She stopped walking and put her hand up to her hair, looking down. She ran her fingers through it, ruffling it up just a little. He couldn't help but smile. It looked adorable.

He could think that, right? It was fine. They were close enough. Maybe. It didn't matter.

"It looks nice."
"Thanks."

She put a hand up to her face. She was probably brushing hair out of it.

They continued walking. He caught up with her and started walking next to her. She was still looking down, and her hair was falling into her face. He reached over and tucked it behind her ear, and she looked in the other direction, covering her ear back up.

The tip of it was poking out of her hair. It was reddish.

He smiled. She was cute. He couldn't deny it.