Riptide (Zelink|Modern AU)

Chapter Eighteen: A Little Too Harsh

Link practically ran down the hall after he was out of Ganondorf and Ghirahim's eyesight. "Great job, Link," He thought outloud. "Way to go to make everything worse..."

When he got to Marth's room, Link pounded his fist on the door. Marth swung the door open in alarm. "Link?! What the heck--"

Link barged into his room and slammed the door shut that was followed by a crash. "What is this all about?!" Marth yelled.

"Shh!" Link growled. "Or they'll hear us!"

"First of all: who?" Marth started. "Second of all: why did you slam the door so hard?! You said you don't want 'They' to hear us!"

Samus and Ike appeared in the doorway that lead to the living room. "Good evening, Link," Samus yawned.

"Who's making all the noise?" Ike inquired.

Link sighed. "I guess I should probably explain. But, first there is something I need to talk about."

In a matter of moments, the four friends were sitting in the living room. Three of them ready to hear the other's story.

"Marth," Link started, "You know how you said a few weeks ago that you'd pay me to be Zelda's friend?"

The Altean Prince nodded. "I do. I believe that you two have become very close friends, so I guess I should carry out the deal--"

"No!" Link said quickly. "I mean, you don't need to pay me anymore. I've become friends with Zelda on my own accord."

Samus' eyes widened. "You have?!"

Marth's face lit up with joy. "Does that mean that..."

Marth didn't need to finish his sentence.  The look on Link's face revealed that Link had fallen in love with his best friend. Ike started laughing. "That's great!! Link finally got himself a girlfriend!!"

Link blushed. "Not so loud! And besides, I don't think she feels the same way about me."

"How can you be so sure?" Marth asked. "The way she looks at you, it's a dead give away that she has feelings for you as well."

On the other hand, Samus overeacting and put a hand to her mouth. She kept blinking, trying to dry her watery eyes. "My child has finally got herself a boyfriend."

"Say what now?" Ike asked.

"It's a figure of speech," Samus explained. "I feel like a mother to Zelda at times."

The bounty hunter turned to Link and glared. "If you do something that hurts Zelda, I'm sorry but I'll have to--"

"Sammy will get very upset. It's not good when Sammy's upset," Ike shivered.

Link forced a nervous smile. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You better."

***

Ganondorf took a step away from the door. He and Ghirahim had heard every word of Link's conversation with Marth and the others.

"So," Ghirahim said quietly as they started to walk down the hallway, "Prince Marth basically bribed Link to become Princess Zelda's friend. It looks like he got attached to her more than he wanted too."

Ganondorf smiled wickedly. "It's just too perfect. Imagine Zelda, the strong ruler who is only afraid of love, discovers she had been played."

Ghirahim winced. "Don't you think that's too harsh?"

"We need to get this Link out of the picture if we want to carry out my plan," Ganondorf growled. "When Zelda's dead, I will be king of the Gerudo and Hyrule."

Ghirahim nodded. "I guess we will have to make sacrifices for the good of the people."

Ganondorf smirked. "You can say that. Now go. Tell Zelda that I wish to speak with her."

Without further talk, Ghirahim took down the hallway in search of Zelda. Ganondorf smiled to himself. Everything was going according to plan.

***

"I swear, I will destroy Dragmire," Samus seethed. Link had told Marth, Ike, and Samus about the conversation between Ganondorf and Ghirahim that he had overheard.

Ike put a hand on Samus' shoulder. "Now, we don't know for sure if it was Zelda that they were talking about."

"But still," Marth said, lost in thoughts, "We need to keep an eye out for Zelda."

Link nodded. As far as he was around, no one, not even Ganondorf, was going to hurt Zelda. If they did, they would have to go through him.