Falling Worlds; Zelink, Modern Magic AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Of Injuries (8)

The dawn of the day Link was leaving, Zelda found herself rising early for a change. She hopped into the shower and stayed in there for an extended time of contemplation. 

She had made a friend. She didn't have friends; where would she make them anyways? School? No one was nice to her because the teachers thought her father was nuts; no one talked to her because she constantly argued her father's case. She wasn't about to back down just because she wanted to try socializing.

But then there was Link. He wasn't making fun of her because of her beliefs. He wasn't arguing with her about her father. He was kind to her father. He was helpful. Link brought her away from her video games, and in the end, she didn't even feel like going back, (to as much of a degree as her previous obsession.)

As Zelda walked down the stairs to the living room, early as she was, she saw Link reading in the armchair. She smiled slightly at the familiar sight. "Good morning."

Link looked up, saw her smile, and smiled a bit himself. "Good morning."

"You're up early."

"Around usual actually, you're the one up early," he commented, closing his book and putting it on the table beside the chair.

"Well, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep," she said with a shrug. She stood there for a moment, Link just looking at her, before she turned and sat down on the couch. "You're leaving today..."

Link remained silent as he leaned back in his chair. "I thought you didn't like me being here."

Zelda reddened slightly, embarrassed at how she had considered him when he had first came. "Well... I didn't. Not for the first few days. But then, I don't know... I've never had a friend before, but... I think I could consider you one."

Because of the resulting silence, Zelda looked over at Link. His face looked purposefully blank, and yet some emotion was slipping through...was it disbelief?.... Indecision?

"What? Is that so strange?" Zelda asked.

Link pressed his lips together and shook his head. "You... just... surprised me is all."

Zelda shrugged. "Well, it's the truth. Hey, did you have breakfast?" she asked, changing the subject.

"No. Are we doing pancakes?" he asked, but he didn't sound thrilled.

"Do you not like pancakes?"

"I don't know. I like eggs better."

"I'll make both then."

"You can make it?"

"Of course I can, dad just likes to do it."

----

After Zelda had made breakfast they sat at the counter and ate. Sparse conversation filled the preparation of the food, but now, as the were eating, a silence grew.

"So.... You don't have a phone."

"No."

"There's no way for me to keep in contact with you then?"

He shook his head.

"So this is it then."

"This is it," he muttered.

"Will you duel with me again before you go?" she asked.

He stabbed a piece of scrambled egg with his fork and then he nodded. "Yeah... I'd like that."

-_-_-

"Okay, for real, you can't just flail and hope you hit your target," Link said in exasperation.

"And why not?" Zelda challenged with a grin, she knew her technique annoyed him, it was half the reason she did it.

"Because in a real battle you can't expect to not get hurt by stupid mistakes," he replied.

"A real battle? When would I ever be in a real battle," she laughed.

Link scowled and shook his head. "My point is, one of these days you could find yourself in actual danger, and you can't always count on the fact that you won't get hurt."

Zelda frowned and looked down at her stick. "What are you going on about? When would that ever happen?"

He sighed and shook his head. "You know what, never mind," he said as he stepped forwards and swung the stick at her.

She raised her stick to deflect it, and then whacked at him in return. He easily dodged it, and then the pointy end of his makeshift sword slapped her across the face.

Zelda gasped and her hand whipped to her face, "Ow! Hey!"

"You've hit me like that," he said as he pointed to the scratch on his cheek.

"Yeah, but I'm the girl, and you're the teacher," she replied as she rubbed her cheek.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever," he said as he walked over to her and dropped his stick. He touched her cheek as he examined her face.

Zelda felt a strange flutter in her stomach. When she had accidentally touched his hand while teaching him to play video games, he had flinched away, but now he was touching her face without any hesitation.

He shook his head. "You're fine."

Zelda shook herself out of the stupor. "Really? Cause that hurt. You sure I'm not bleeding?"

"I'm sure; you don't even have a scratch."

Zelda frowned. It really had hurt, hadn't it? Why wasn't it even scratched? "You're sure?" she asked.

"I'm sure."

"It's... It's not?"

"Zelda, what's up? You sound off," Link commented.

"Nothing I just..." she frowned again, her eyebrows drawing together as she tried to recall when the last time she'd gotten hurt was. Sure, she had fallen when she was little, she had to have been all scratched up and bleeding as a kid but... By all accounts, she should have injured herself some time in the past decade. She raised her hand to her cheek again and then pressed her lips together. "This... this is really weird."

He folded his arms. "Again, what?"

"I should have gotten scratched by that at least."

He waved his hand. "It's nothing, let's just-"

Zelda shook her head.

"What's up? Not getting hurt is a good thing."

"I want to go see my dad," she said.

Link's eyes widened. "You can't. He's doing an experiment today, and he said we couldn't-"

"I need to talk to him about something important."

"What is so important!?"

"I haven't gotten hurt in years!" Zelda exclaimed. "I've fallen, I've been hit, I should have been cut that time I was making dinner three weeks ago and my knife slipped." She threw her sword onto the ground. "And I wasn't."

Link bit his lip and shook his head. "You can't go to Kaebora with that. Not right now. He'll be back in a few hours."

"How could I have never realized this before..."

"I'm sure there's an explanation."

"How are you calm about this? I'm on the verge of a breakdown! Something really, really impossible is going on, and I only trust my father to explain it to me!"

"Just a few hours and you can ask him all about it, but right now his experiment-"

She stared at him in disbelief. Is he not even listening to me? This is serious!

"Bye," she said bluntly as she started to run out of the yard.

"Zelda!"

She ignored him as she ran: out of the yard, down the street, and all the way to the lab.