Never Without You │ BOTW modern AU fanfic

Just For One Night

Link's POV

The turkey is ruined: crispy black and chipped on the surface, burned to its core.

"I'm so sorry!" Zelda says, her face full of shame and her head hanging low.

I pat her shoulder. "It's okay."

Impa crosses her arms and scoffs, "It's Malice's fault. If she hadn't disappeared, Link wouldn't have left the kitchen to search for her."

Malice points at Kiroh. "Then it's Kiroh's fault for giving me his phone in the first place."

"I vote that it's Link's fault." Ravioli aims his eyes at me and tells everyone, "Because he left the kitchen and let the turkey burn."

I squint at him but stay quiet, even though there are so many ways I could roast him back. Like in the oven, or on a grill or pan. I bet he'd turn out oversalted and sour.

"It's no one's fault," Pik tries to stay positive.

But Kiroh frowns. "Poor turkey died for nothing."

"What do we do now?" Mipha asks the question we've all been avoiding.

"We could just eat out somewhere," I suggest to the group.

"It's Thanksgiving," Zelda waves her hand like a flyswatter to get rid of the smoke. "So most places will be closed."

To get our attention, Impa clears her throat. "That bar we went to last year is open on holidays. We could go there."

"And celebrate Thanksgiving by drinking cheap beer?" Ravioli questions. "We might as well have stayed at the frat house."

"They actually serve some decent food," Impa fires back.

"How would you know? You've been there once!"

While they bicker back and forth, Mipha turns to Zelda. "What do you think, Zelda?" she asks her. "Since you invited all of us, and since we are your guests, you should be the one to decide what we do for Thanksgiving."

Zelda lifts her head from hands and takes a look around the kitchen. We're all standing in a circle, the black block of meat in the center like it's a funeral, and suddenly tears form in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I ask, putting my arm around her.

As she wipes her tears, a smile appears on her face. "I'm just so happy," she cries. "I usually spend Thanksgiving alone! So if you want my honest opinion, it really doesn't matter to me what we do. It doesn't matter to me at all that the food got burned. We can stay in or go out, it doesn't matter. I'm just really happy to be here with all of you."

And like magic, everyone else in the room suddenly seems to care much less about the burned turkey.

"We are all happy to be here," Mipha says, placing a hand on Zelda's shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks for inviting us," Kiroh nods.

Impa steps forward. "So it's settled then! We're gonna go out!"

"Nobody agreed to that!" Ravioli complains.

"Zelda just did," Impa sticks out her tongue to taunt him. Back to bickering.

"Given that we don't have food at the lodge other than vegetables and snacks, going out doesn't sound too bad," Mipha says. Ravioli shuts up immediately as if Mipha had used a secret button to mute him.

"I guess," he says and tries to ignore Impa's triumphant smirk.

Everyone seems to agree now. Everyone but Malice. "I'm not going anywhere in public," she says. "Especially with Link around."