Free to Love - A Zelda x Link Fanfiction

XI: Not For Spying Eyes

Link's Perspective:

I was surprised to wake alone on the bed. Zelda was nowhere to be seen, but her side of the bed was cool. I blinked, rubbing the drowsiness from my eyes. She must've been gone for a long time, but where was she?

The room seemed to be as pristine as we left it, all our belongings where we placed them last. No signs of a struggle, then. She was most likely fine. The room was small, however, meaning there was little or no room to hide. My eyes landed on the old door that led to the bathroom. The only other place where she could be. I unsheathed my sword from beside my bed, just to be safe.

I crept to my feet, moving towards the door. I didn't see any light from under door, so was she really in there? I pushed my back to the wall, gently nudging the door open with my foot.

My breath escaped my chest in quiet surprise. Thankfully, the princess was in the bath tub, seemingly well. I knew I should leave, look away, leave her to her personal time, but I couldn't turn away. The moonlight shining through the window illuminated half of her face, casting the other half in shadows. Her face I already memorized, eye closed and eyelashes glistened with drops of water.

My eyes began to skim lower, though I knew I shouldn't. Her chest was adorned with tiny crystals as the light reflected from the water. Her shoulders were relaxed, her breasts smooth against her body. Her legs peeked out from the edge of the tub, long and slender with a water-like gracefulness I had only ever witnessed within Mipha's movements.

Her eyelashes flattered as she blinked what I assumed to be drowsiness from her eyes. I momentarily felt frozen, both from fear but from the sudden aura I felt from her. The light reflected off the pale green of her eyes. This felt like something I had never seen before.

Her eyes looked like they changed to aqua in the moonlight, pale pools of ocean ringing her pupil. The light seemed to hover over her eye for slight moments, almost as if it were creating a spectrum of light across her iris. The blues within pulsed with unmistakable power, the power of Hylia herself, and the power that I knew was disguised within her veins.

Her eyes pulsed with the light quickly, once twice. Soft blue power emanated off of her, and I felt the need to run to her. My fingers itched to hold her and caress her while I yearned to stare into the endless seas within her eyes. I probably would've run for her, if it hadn't been the heavy weight of the Master Sword in my hand.

I had gripped the handle so hard, it had left markings engraved into my palm. Think pink lines criss-crossed my hand, the sword weighing me down, keeping me grounded. Rational. I couldn't.

I bowed my head, retreating. Perhaps it would've been better if I hadn't even seen her at all. Even as the guilt scraped the inside of my chest...

I didn't regret it.