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

Deal (19)

8/23/16

(I wrote this with an adorable kitten on my chest, I'm in heaven. He kept messing with the trackpad though...but it was cute. Stuff is about to get interesting again, enjoy :3)

Zelda walked back to her room alone at the end of the third week of being out and about with the Remnant. They really seemed to trust her; allowing her to go around without supervision. Maybe the fairies had been wrong; she didn't seem to be a prisoner anymore. Sure, they weren't exactly answering all of her questions, but maybe they had a good reason for that. More than anything she just wanted to be able to settle; to have a little calm in her storm.

Still, she mistrusted Kreuk. But that was a small qualm when compared to her safety there. Nothing too major had happened in the past weeks and she was grateful for that. More than she could ever say. Too much had happened to her through the weeks before, and she just wanted some quiet.

She had needed the quiet.

Even lost as she was in her thoughts of who to trust and who not to trust, she still heard the voice from around the corner. Pressing close to the wall, she inched closer to eavesdrop. Most of the torches had gone out and she couldn't be seen in the shadows.

"I still don't trust her."

"She's given us no reason to doubt her story."

Zelda's breathing stopped. That was Tel's voice, was Tel defending her?

"What story? She knows nothing; she says nothing."

"To you, Moir. She talks just fine to me."

"A fat lot of good that's done us, and now Kreuk is just letting her wander around on her own? She needs to be watched, especially with them closing in; she's our only leverage."

"I'd be with her right now if you hadn't insisted on this stupid meeting of yours, which has been most enlightening to your superstitions. Have a good night, Moir, I need to find Zelda," Tel said dismissively.

Zelda saw her silhouette against one of the torches as she walked past, down a different hall.

"Stupid woman," Moir spat after her when she was out of earshot. "She's got a soft spot for the Beacon."

Zelda bit her lip in anger at the insult to Tel, but she inched closer; interested in what she could hear next. She felt a sharp illusion of pain in her arm, and she whipped around to see that someone had grabbed her.

"What's this now?" said a gruff voice. "Hey, Moir, you've got a little eavesdropper here," he said as he threw her around the corner.

Zelda rolled as she hit the ground and got to her knees quickly. She hadn't even felt the impact of hitting the ground. "I was just walking back to my room."

"And listening near the wall?" the man sneered. "That didn't look like just walking to me."

"It's not my fault you were having a conversation on my path back... I wasn't about to interrupt," she said as she got to her feet.

"Not your fault, eh?" Moir said. "Well, I don't care if it was your fault or not... how long were you listening in?"

"Like I'd tell you," Zelda sneered.

A muscle on Moir's temple tightened as he gritted his teeth. "You'd better."

"And what are you going to do when I refuse?" she asked, smirking in the torchlight.

Moir stepped forwards and took a swing at her face, which she easily ducked.

Probably shouldn't have goaded the man with an anger problem... Zelda thought, but it was too late for that now. He threw another punch, which she wasn't fast enough to dodge, and he hit her on the side of the head. The pressure of it was disconcerting but she barely felt a hint of pain. "That all you got?" she couldn't help but mock. Bad Zelda, bad. Stop.

He growled, looking like a teakettle that was about to boil. "Why you little-" he sputtered, punching at her again in a blind rage.

She ducked and then ran forward, hooking her foot around his ankle and tripping him from his forward momentum just like she'd learned. The large man and Moir's other 'friend' converged on her, and she darted past them up a passageway.

They pursued her as she ran; desperately trying to find her way to the surface. Turning down tunnels, she saw activity everywhere; strange for how late it must have been. People were running left and right, gathering things up in their arms as they went.

She must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because she'd ended up in the bathing section of the fortress. Trying in desperation to disappear, she hid in one of the side rooms and dove behind some crates.

Her heart was pounding, but she shouldn't have been so shaken up by just getting chased. She couldn't be hurt. But the fact that she was being chased by some of the Remnant still remained. It wasn't her safe haven anymore. She had to get out now; she was ready to run.

Making her break for cover, she ran back the way she had come and chose what she hoped was the right way back to the lunch rooms. If any of the people she kept seeing stopped her flight, she would tell them she was running away from Moir, who had attacked her and that she was lost now. Which was true. Zelda stared down three different halls. Which way now??

"Zelda!"

She looked towards the voice and her heart leaped. "Tel!"

"I've been looking for you! What are you doing?"

"Moir-"

"Tell me on the way, come on!"

Pushing aside asking where they were going until later, she started to explain what had happened, walking after Tel in her quick stride.

"So you heard us," Tel said with a sigh.

"Just from the part where Moir said he didn't trust me, I got caught pretty soon after you left."

"Why did he attack you?"

She frowned, wasn't that obvious? "Because he caught me listening in."

Tel shook her head. "He's hot headed but not nearly that stupid, especially right now. Did you provoke him in some way?"

Zelda bit down on the inside of her cheek lightly. "I might have."

With a sigh, she shook her head. "Indestructibility makes you overconfident."

Miss overconfident stayed quiet after that, not even asking where they were going; she had already recognized it as the path to the surface she had been trying to reach. Was Tel taking her outside? Why would she do that?

When they reached the door, there were two guards standing beside the exit. "There has been a change of plans, Zelda," Tel told her as the door was opened for them.

She followed Tel as she led the way out of the fortress. "For plans to change you'd have to have an original one. What were you planning to do with me?" Zelda demanded from Tel.

Tel was silent as she led the way up to the top of the fortress. The only light they had to go by was the moon, which was almost full and particularly bright in the sky.

She finally stopped. "The Remnant wants nothing more than the freedom to live our lives. Away from Hyrule and its many faults. Because of our fierce desire to achieve this... we wanted to use you as leverage to keep Hyrule from destroying us..." Tel sighed. "Apparently Kreuk had other ideas... and did the most foolish thing he could have possibly done. He, and the rest of them were so blinded by their hope that they forgot just what the Guard is like. Just what the king would do; they were tricked, and now all our lives are on the line."

"What did he do?"

She turned towards Zelda. "He made a deal with Hyrule."