The Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ Gerudo Forest ❯ Chapter 56 ( Chapter 56 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Melissa reclined back in the tub. Now this was a proper bathroom. It even had a working toilet. Out of every modern day convenience she could think of, indoor plumbing was one of the things she missed the most. There hadn't been any in the desert and that left Melissa wondering. With a running waterfall so close to the valley, why hadn't the gerudo tried to harness it? She might just bring it up to Ganon later, though he would probably just laugh. The water was warm and it soothed her aches. If only she could get her mind to relax, but that seemed to be an impossible task. The more she tried to empty her mind, the more she thought of the cursed king. She tried to rack her brain. If she had heard of him mentioned in any of the games, she just couldn't remember now. Melissa finished bathing quicker than she thought she would. She really could have stayed in the warm water all night, but it would be rude to hog the bathroom. Plus she really wanted to see if Ganon had returned yet. Once dried, Melissa quickly put on a fresh set of clothes and made her way back to the main floor. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ganon leaning against the wall. He was eating what looked to be a bowl of soup. The room was quiet and everyone but Nabooro and Impa were staring at him. When he spotted Melissa, he waved, making everyone turn to look at her now. The looks she received were of fear and awe, but why? What had changed in the 15 minutes she had been gone? Melissa came to a stop just short of the table, starting to feel uncomfortable. “Why are they looking at me like that?” Melissa whispered to Nabooro who stood beside her. “Well it's not everyday they get to see an evil king and his pet dragon.” Nabooro teased. “ I am not a pet!” Melissa growled louder than she had meant to. Most of the group jumped causing Ganon to laugh softly under his breath. He was apparently amused, but that only made her more upset. The comment wasn't funny at all, not to mention it hadn't been the sage's place to tell these people who she was. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself. Shad was watching her intently, and she could tell he had a lot of questions. Unable to help it, she cringed when he opened his mouth to speak. “So, your one of the Legendary Guardians.” Shad began. Melissa froze. She already felt out of place as it was, and this man was going to make it worse. “I thought you would be a little more... I don't know... grander?” Shad continued unaware of the annoyance beginning to build in her. She was doing her best to keep it contained. She didn't really want to blow up at anyone if she could help it, but she could already feel the heat creeping into her face. Melissa just prayed she wasn't turning red from it. “Shad! Just shut up! Can't you see your bothering her?” Ashei commented sharply with a look of worry on her face. The boy looked quite put off, but it didn't deter his next question. “So can we see?” Shad started again after a few seconds of silence. “Shad!” Auru said smacking the boys head. “Hey! I'm only asking. You all know you want to see.” Shad said readjusting his glasses. “One of these days your curiosity is going to get you in trouble.” Rusl said sternly before turning to Melissa. “ I am so sorry. He meant no disrespect. It's just... well he's always been like this. Why last week I caught him trying to chat up one of those monsters out there.” “ Yeah! Mr. Shad is book smart, but doesn't have a lot of common sense sometimes.” Romani chirped. “Romani! You know better than to say things like that. Tell Mr. Shad your sorry.” Cremia said looking at her sister upset. Melissa almost smiled at the thought of Shad trying to talk to a stalfos. “So what happened? Did the stalfos actually talk to you?” Melissa asked Shad surprised she was actually curious. “Huh? Oh, well no, but he might have if Rusl hadn't dragged me off.” Shad responded sounding a little perturbed. “Boy, that monster was grabbing it's sword hilt.” Rusl interjected. “I did you a favor.” “See! No common sense.” Romani repeated, to which Cremia gave her a harsh look. Melissa had to laugh. They were like some weird dysfunctional family and that one action seemed to break the tension completely. Melissa finally sat down and was passed a bowl, which she accepted gratefully. It tasted pretty good and she finished it fairly quick. After they had finished dinner Melissa helped Cremia clean off the table. Auru sat in front of the fire reciting a bedtime story to Romani and Shad, who was pouring over another book, kept correcting Auru when he found a mistake in the old man's telling. Then in the other half of the room Rusl and Ashei were talking with Nabooro about some sort of distraction they were going to pull off tomorrow. Melissa let her eyes search the room and frowned realizing Ganon had disappeared. Where had he gone now? She asked Cremia about it, but the girl only told her that she had seen him go out the back door. Had he gone back to the barn to tend to the horses? Melissa looked around once more. No one was looking her way so she opened the back door a crack. She could see the barn was close by. Should she see if he was truly there? “And where do you think your going young lady?” Melissa heard Rusl behind her. She turned thinking she had been caught, only to find the man trying to scoot Romani off to bed. That would probably be her to if they saw her at the door. Well, it was now or never. Melissa slipped through the door and closed it behind her silently. She made sure to look both ways before making a run for the barn. She expected to be caught at any minute, but luck seemed to be with her, as she reached the old wooden structure's door no worse for ware. The barn was bigger than it looked. Most of its stalls were empty, but there were a few horses in here besides the ones they had come on. Melissa looked around. She couldn't see Ganon, but she could hear him. Melissa smiled. He seemed to be humming “The Ballad of the Goddess.” That seemed an odd choice for him, but at this point she didn't care. He was singing! She had to stifle a girlish squee of excitement as she made her way past stalls. If he knew she was there he might stop and she didn't want that. She really enjoyed hearing him sing. It was something he had only done for her once. So this was a rare treat. From where she now stood, she could see Trinexx bobbing his head happily at a stall further down. That was probably where he was. “I think she's spoiled you .” she heard him speak to Trinexx, as she snuck stealthily up, finding the stall door open. His back was to her as he brushed the horse's main and she resisted the urge to glomp him. He would think her an attacker so that definitely wouldn't go well. “Where is your cloak?” Ganon spoke again, not even stopping what he was doing. “I was careful.” Melissa replied startled. “Wait how did you know I was here and without a cloak?” He turned. “It was just a hunch.” He chuckled. Did he know her that well? She looked down embarrassed. “You know you could have blown our cover. There are posters of you all over this town. One slip up and you will ruin our element of surprise.” He said looking more serious now. “Well you could have already done that?” Melissa countered. “What if Agahnim has already put up new posters? You weren't wearing a cloak at all as we entered. I can't be the only one to think it was way too easy to get in.” “Well I scouted the area and saw no signs of a trap, but I guess we will just have to see tomorrow.” He said with a grin, patting Trin's side. Was it her imagination or did he look hopeful for a battle? “Speaking of tomorrow... what is the plan exactly?” Melissa asked a little curious. She had missed out on that conversation because of her bath. No one had filled her in yet and that kind of bothered her. Maybe it had just slipped his mind? Ganon opened his mouth to speak, but then narrowed his eyes. Melissa froze realizing she could hear footsteps moving around the building, but that wasn't the sound that bothered her the most. The foot fall was accompanied by a rattling and grinding noise. Ganon quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her into Trinexx's stall. “Keep down and stay here.” Ganon hissed, pushing her to a crouching position. He looked quite furious, but said nothing as he closed the stall behind him. He began to cautiously walk toward the front of the barn. Melissa didn't like this, but as scared as she was, she was sure those skeletons were no match for a dragon. Why did he want her to hide? If this was her fault surely she could help fix what she had done. “Wait! You don't have to hide me! I could help.” Melissa called to him quietly, already on her feet again, ready for a fight. “I said stay there. If they see you, any chance of sneaking into the temple will be gone. That is if you haven't already ruined it.” He responded looking perturbed. Melissa let herself drop back down to the floor upset with herself. Burying her face in her hands, she tried to hold back tears. She had disappointed him and that fact stung hard. It had been a long while since he had looked at her like that. She had given him her word to try and not be careless and so far she was doing a terrible job. Had she ruined it for everyone? She had been so sure no one had seen her run into the barn. Maybe the stalfos were just doing a routine sweep. She sat there for what seemed like hours. She could no longer hear anything. No foot steps. No rattling. Nothing. She waited a few more seconds. Where was Ganon? Surely if the coast was clear he would have returned by now. Melissa decided to risk a peek over the stall. Trinexx seemed to be pawing nervously at the ground, but that didn't necessarily mean something bad was in the barn. The horse could just be picking up on her emotions. She looked both directions and saw no monsters. Nor did she see Ganondorf. That of course worried her. Should she stay put or go take a look outside? Curiosity won over her nervousness and so she quietly flipped the latch to the stall open. Pushing on the door, she cringed as it let out a low creak. Hopefully, if there was anyone near, they hadn't heard it. Trinexx put his head on her shoulder as she peered in the direction Ganon had disappeared. “I know he told me to stay Trin, but how long am I really supposed to wait?” She whispered, rubbing the horse's nose. Trinexx snorted in reply, but Melissa couldn't decide if that meant the horse thought she should stay put, or if he was sympathizing with her. “Well I will only look out and see if the coast is clear.” she said trying to justify this blatant violation of Ganon's order. She closed the stall behind her and crept forward hearing no signs of movement other than her own. Just a few more steps and she would be to the door. Had Ganon gone outside? Why hadn't he returned yet? Stopping at the door, she stared out in shock. It was dark out, but she could still see the man standing in the yard between her and the house. It was the one person she had never thought she would see again. Jimmy! Jimmy was here in Hyrule! She tried to call out to him, but for some reason she just couldn't seem to get anything past her lips. Her former fiancé looked around one last time before walking off. “Wait! Don't go!” she thought desperately, but he had already disappeared around the side of the house. She took off completely ignoring her decision to just peek out the door. How long had he been here? Did he know the danger he was in? She had remembered Nabooro speaking of Zelda's dragon being a hyperactive boy, so he couldn't possibly be a guardian. She turned the corner just in time to see him walk down another alley. Where was he going in such a hurry? That shuffling grinding noise seemed to be real close now, but he seem completely unaware of it. She was sure that meant a stalfos was close. She sped up in a panic, trying to reach Jimmy before the monster did. She knew this was reckless and exactly what she had promised she wouldn't do, but she couldn't just let Jimmy walk to his doom. She approached the last alley she had seen him walk down and peeked around the corner in each direction. Once satisfied it was safe she sped off . Ganon was so going to kill her when he found her gone. Of course that was if the monsters didn't get her first. Hopefully Ganon would understand once he saw who she was bringing back. She tried to calm herself by occupying her mind. It wasn't too hard with all the useless questions and theories that now seemed to be popping up in her head. When she did catch up what exactly would she say to him? Would he be understanding of what had happened to her? Would he think her a monster? Then she realized he had no clue she was now engaged to another man. What would he do when he found out? Would she even be able to tell him? She was sure Ganon wouldn't hide the truth from Jimmy. He might even flaunt it in front of him so that Jimmy would know Melissa was now off limits. If Jimmy still accepted her, would he be heart broken? Her heart sank. This was what she had been trying to avoid all along. Why had she let herself fall for Ganon? Why had she convinced herself it was okay to give up on home and her old life? Was she still technically engaged to Jimmy since she had been unable to officially call off their engagement? If that was true was she now engaged to two men? Would she have to pick between the two of them? Could she? She was so lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed she had walked into a dead end. She looked around not seeing anyone. She was sure he had come this way. There were even footprints in the path in front of her. “Jimmy?” she called softly. “Where are you?” She was met with silence. She looked back the way she had come, but there was no evidence of him leaving this area. It was as if he had disappeared into thin air. “Jimmy?” She tried again, but froze as she felt something cold and heavy slip around her neck. She heard a snap, then felt a jolt, like an electric shock. The pain from it made her vision swim. She turned dizzily trying to focus on what seemed to be several figures now behind her. What was going on? She reached up to her neck and, as her hand touched what felt like metal, she received another nasty shock. She fell to the ground writhing. Melissa gasped finding it hard to breath. The grinding rattling noise was really close now. Melissa tried to get up, but all her energy seemed to be draining at an alarming rate. She could no longer keep her eyes open and fought the urge to sleep with no avail. The last thing she remembered was the feeling of being lifted into the air. Ganon was not going to be happy with her at all.