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

"I Can't" (11)

Zelda's eyelids were heavy as she tried to cling to her sleep. She groaned and opened her eyes a bit. Sunshine filtered through trees and birds twittered obnoxiously in the morning light.

Her eyes focused on Link, who was hunched in front of her; she frowned in confusion, bleary-eyed. "Wha...?"

He looked down at her, biting his lip. "You alright?" he asked.

"Fine..." she muttered, "What happened?"

"The Frost Tribe managed to find you, and they almost got the both of us," he said quickly, looking down at his hands.

She held her hand up to her head. "The... the what?"

"I managed to get us to a forest. They won't be able to find us here easily," he continued.

"...frost tribe?"

"They're... the bad guys."

Zelda sat up and stared at Link. "What's going on?" she asked again.

"I can't tell you."

"Oh? And why not?"

"I literally can't. I'm not allowed to."

"By whose decree?" Zelda scoffed. "What's so incredible that you're not allowed to tell me."

Link finally looked up from his hands. "You really have no idea..." he said as he looked at her.

"You're right," she started with a glare as she straightened up. "I have absolutely no clue what is happening in my life right now," she said angrily, "And you seem to have the answers that I need. My father? He just died," Zelda snapped and stood up. "I wake up in a forest with a complete stranger after my house exploded, who seems to have known him better than I did, and all he tells me is that the 'bad guys' almost got us." She folded her arms and glared down at Link who had flinched when she said 'complete stranger' so icily. "What in Hyrule is going on, Link?"

He remained silent and had once again gone back to staring at his hands.

"You know what? Fine," she said, "Fine. Be that way. I'm going," she snapped as she turned around and started walking in a random direction.

"You can't do that," Link said in a low voice.

"I'm doing it."

Link sighed in frustration. "I can't let you."

"How are you going to stop me Link?"

"I'll have to tie you to a tree... or... or something," he replied.

"There is no way you're going to do that," Zelda spat as she looked back at him for a moment. "Good. Bye," she said as she turned her back on him and continued stalking away.

Without knowing how he had even gotten up so quickly, Link was beside her. Her legs were swept out from under her and she landed heavily on a root sticking out of the ground. She hissed in pain but quickly realized that she hadn't actually felt it.

Link pinned her to the ground. "Please Zelda, just... trust me."

She glared. "Trust you? I don't even know you," she growled.

"You said that you could consider me a friend."

"That was before you threatened to tie me to a tree you creep," she said and then drew her legs up under him and kicked him quite hard in the gut. She rolled over and then started to run as quickly as she could away from him.

Link's curses floated in the air after her but she didn't look back.

"Zelda! Get back here!"

"Not a chance!" she yelled as a reply. Seriously, what the heck? Does he think I'm going to just let him tie me up? What is wrong with him. Distracted by her thoughts for just a moment, she looked ahead of herself and yelped in surprise.