Raising the Stakes; Zelink Coffee Shop AU (The Legend Of Zelda)

Chapter Forty Nine

My fist pounded against the door without thought to the sleeping inhabitants, nor the fact I was probably bruising my hand.

Midna was the one who came to the door, but I rushed right past her and dove toward Urbosa. "Bosa-" I said, my voice high. "Urbosa!"

She only woke up as I knelt on the bed and shook her shoulders.

"Zelda... What's going on?"

"He-" my breaths were shaky, "-he already found out."

"Cole?" she asked as she sat upright.

"There wasn't a name... but... but no one else is sick enough to write something like this," I said as I threw the phone onto her lap.

She looked up from the text. "So he knows you're gone... but he doesn't know where you are, or he wouldn't have texted."

"I don't even know how he got this number..." I said, my hands tightening around my knees, then I shook my head. "But it was a threat." My face felt light as I said it, and I clamped my hands over my eyes to try and focus.

Urbosa's hands pressed against my shoulders. "Little bird be calm..." she said in a soothing but firm voice. "We planned this already. We know what we'll do. This has just taken you by surprise. Breathe."

A sob choked out of me as I nodded. "I know, I-" something came out of me like a whine, "-I know."

She took me into her arms and stroked my hair, whispering words of encouragement for several minutes until I had relaxed enough that my breathing was no longer coming in bursts.

"Oh Goddess... I never thought... I didn't think it would happen so soon. I thought I would be prepared. Thought I would be ready for it to all be over... But now I'm just... I'm terrified."

"You can still change your mind, little bird. We will protect you no matter what."

I pushed away enough to look at her. "No matter what..." I said softly. "No matter what happens, I will do what I have to do to protect you all. This isn't... just about me. And if I have the chance to end this without any damage... I have to try. I have to try..."

Midna finally cut in. "What's going on?"

I didn't look at her. "One of my father's personal henchmen has found out I'm not in my apartment. He'll be looking for me now. But I'm going to leave before he can find me here."

"Are they really that powerful that this is your only option?"

I nodded. "They are..."

"Come on, we need to talk to Link," Urbosa said, standing up and dragging me along with her.

I dug in my heels when I realized I was still in my pajamas, "Ah, wait..."

Bosa stopped at the door and looked down at me. "Right," she said as she moved to her suitcase. "Take this." She pulled out a huge sweater and handed it to me.

I put it on and momentarily lost myself in the smell of home. Then Urbosa dragged me out of the room and up the stairs.

A simple knock on the door later and one look at my face made the color drain from his. "It's happening already, isn't it."

I handed him my phone and he read the text. "So he doesn't know where you are... How long until he can track you here?"

"I don't know... tomorrow? Tomorrow night? I'll have to meet him before then, or else he may find out about all of you..."

Link folded his arms. "Are you sure about this, Zelda?"

I took a deep steadying breath and then let it out. "I'm sure."

"Then... we have to reply to him."

My eyes widened. "Really? But wouldn't that speed up the process?"

"He knows you're not where you're supposed to be already. Now we need to establish convincingly that you don't have a plan. That you're going back only because you have no other options. No other help."

I looked to Urbosa, who nodded. "He's right. Act how you normally would to something like this. If you roll over immediately, Cole may suspect something."

I sucked on my lip and then nodded. "Okay."

A few minutes later the plan was officially set into motion. I wrote up a reply and sent it out.

"Try to put me back in my tower and I will be the dragon who burns you to ash."

He was disturbingly long to reply. I sat between Urbosa and Link on the couch, both of them with a comforting touch on me. Link held my hand and had an arm behind my waist. Urbosa had her hand on my leg and kept telling me everybody would be okay. We'd all come out of this.

A tense half an hour passed before another text came.

"Your new friends will suffer greatly if you do not come willingly."

I should have known that it was coming... it sent a chill through me all the same. New friends. Somehow he already knew.

I took the appropriate time to respond to such a blatant threat. He must really be on a time crunch to not take full advantage of fanciful wording to make me squirm.

"You're a bastard, Cole."

"Not a very nice thing to say to your father's valued employee."

"My father's bloody leech. I'll meet you at my apartment at noon tomorrow. If you dare touch my friends I'll disappear so thoroughly you could never find me, and my father will kill you for losing me."

"Be there at eleven, princess."

I sat back, the phone on the table in front of me. "It's done..."

"Eleven tomorrow..." Link said, his fingers pressing against my side.

I turned. "Link... how would you feel about leaving tonight?"

"We could, why?"

I tightened my fingers around his. "I want to be sure he doesn't try to track me anyways and lead him here. I don't know how he got this phone number... I don't know how he found out about you all..." I shook my head. "I don't trust him to not try to hurt me through you guys even if I am doing what he wants. It's always been a mutual hatred between us. I wouldn't put it past him."

He nodded. "If that's what you want."

"I do."