Breath of the Wild College AU fanfic │Thinking About You

Paya

"Father!" I shriek and freeze. His lips are moving, but I can only hear the throbbing thunder of my heartbeat pulsating beneath my ears.

"Zelda?" He says again, louder and even more annoyed this time.

"S...Sorry! What did you say?"

"Whom are you talking to?"

"No one."

"I can see that."

Then why are you asking? I wish I had the guts to say that.

"I heard you were crying on campus today."

"What?" How does he know about that? He wasn't even on campus.

"People witnessed your meltdown and informed me. Are you struggling in your classes?"

He almost sounds empathetic. Didn't he hear my unintentional confession just now? He's so calm, too calm. It's freaking me out. He looks disappointed, but that's just how he always looks at me, so that doesn't tell me much. There's no way he didn't hear me mentioning the pier and the hoodie. Or biology. How long has he been standing there and how much did he hear? Why is he so calm?

"Zelda!" He repeats impatient.

"Father..." If I don't say it now, another chance might come too late. "Getting a 100 on every assignment is impossible!" I burst and breathe heavily.

"Then drop biology."

"No," I shake my head, searching his eyes for the empathy they were holding seconds ago. Where has it gone?

"No?"

"I won't drop biology."

"Then you better study hard." He turns away from me. "The food is getting cold."

"You can't make me drop biology," I say bravely.

"You're still 17. You're my responsibility. If I want you to drop biology, then you will drop biology."

I want to challenge him, contradict him, but the moment I open my mouth, he glares at me and robs my breath with a subtle threat.

"Don't test me, Zelda. Now go eat dinner."

With legs as heavy and liquid as the chemical element mercury, I drag my feet downstairs to the dining room. Impa is already seated, pretending to have starved while waiting for me. I'd love to play along and toss a pea at her overdone corpse, but I feel stiff, unable to say anything. I sit down opposite her and stare at the plate in front of me. I think I lost my appetite.

"Something wrong?" Impa asks, apparently revived.

"No."

I don't say much during dinner. I'm sunken into thought. I've had enough of Father controlling my life. He made that 100 rule deliberately, knowing that I would fail. But you just wait.

✤ ✤ ✤

On Monday morning, my alarm wakes me at 5 AM. Usually I'd be able to sleep until 7 AM, but I have to ride with Father today, and he leaves extra early every day. Yesterday, I stayed home since I don't have my car, and got some future assignments done on my laptop. Although I prefer working at the library, I was productive and managed to get ahead in a couple of my courses. Let's just hope I didn't get any answers wrong... I worry most about subjective grading.

Father and I barely exchange as much as three sentences during our shared drive to campus. At least he doesn't seem to know about the pier or the hoodie--wait... oh no... I search my book bag in a heartbeat, but I already know that what I'm searching for isn't here. I slap my forehead, remembering that Link's hoodie is still hidden in the corner of my closet.