1 YEAR LATER
Zelda and Saria got out of the carriage in front of Lon Lon Ranch, the Princess was wearing overalls and boots… last time she had been not careful enough and Milkshake pushed her into a pound of mud and Nayru know what else. So, this time she was prepared.
Saria was wearing her green tunic, only this time she was not wearing the usual turtle neck under it, just her sleeveless tunic, brown shorts and boots
Once they entered the ranch, Zelda picked her hair up in a pointy tail before entering the barn. It was early in the morning, meaning that surely the read head was there milking the cows.
"FUCK YOU DAMN READ HEAD" Zelda yells approaching the ranch girl with a smile. Saria just waved her hand.
"FUCK YOU BACK BLOND BITCH" Malon yelled back standing up and opening her arms wide for a hug.
Damn, Malon's hair is perfect, completely disheveled… but she looks gorgeous in the middle of that mess. Her hips got wider, as if she needed her hourglass body to stand out even more. And those breasts… they are not humongous, but they are still big, it's not fair. Yet, I can't bring myself to hate her for being gorgeous, she doesn't even really know about the hex she puts on men, she is pure and innocent that way. I just love her.
Malon released the Princess from her bestial hug and motioned with a hand for Saria to approach her.
"Come here forest rabbit, I won't hurt you this time"
Saria rolls her eyes "You didn't hurt me, you just scared me, just don't press on me too hard"
---------------------Remembrance--------------------
Saria basically dragging a 6-year-old Link as she tried to run away from a Moblin trying to impale them with his spear. Out of desperation, the forest sage pushed Link out of the way and ended up receiving the attack. Luckily, the Moblin didn't manage to stab her with the lance, but he did manage to push her against a wall and pressed on her with his muscular body, cracking 2 or 3 of her ribs. She could have died if the monster continued to press on her, but Link managed to grab a rock and throw it at one of the Moblin's eyes, forcing it to retreat to rub on it, and giving them the chance to scape.
That moment, Saria decided not to go to that part of Lost Woods again, no matter how hungry Link was.
----------------------------------------------------
Malon hugged the green girl delicately; Zelda watched the scene and smiled.
Saria may not have wide hips or big boobs, she is even smaller than me… but there is something about the forest girl. Her childish face paired with those blue eyes of her that reflect wisdom beyond her age. She is beautiful in a mysterious way. I love her too.
Malon releases Saria from the hug and asks "You both are here not just for a visit, are you? What's up?"
Saria immediately points a finger at Zelda "I don't need anything, but she does, she brought me here"
Zelda huffs "I… wanted to vent with someone, and I need input on the matter from both of you"
Malon smiles "Let's go to my room and talk" she suggests.
The girls started walking following the ranch girl. Talon was inside snoring loudly. Zelda looked at him with pity and asked.
"Has there been any improvement?"
"No… but I don't mind this, it's better than before Ingo, he does randomly fall asleep but anybody can wake him up by shaking him a little" Malon answers cheerfully and goes up the stairs to her room.
The Forest girl looks utterly confused, so she decides to voice it out.
"Would you mind telling me what you are talking about?" Saria ask as she starts going up the stairs following Malon.
Once they enter the room, the red head closes the door and turns to Saria.
"Short version, we had a worker named Ingo, he was feeding sleeping potions to my dad every day, so he could steal product and revenue from the sales. He was also staring to make me uncomfortable; Link cached him spying on me as I was undressing and beat the crap out of him. My dad fired him obviously, and since then, my dad got better. He no longer sleeps until he hears a cucco crowing"
"And no other man is allowed to work here either… for Malon's protection" Zelda adds.
"Wow, I was not aware that happened, Link never… I am just glad both of you are fine"
Malon smiles "We are… but getting back on track, unload on us Princess"
Right, I had almost forgotten.
"As you must already know, I am expected to meet and date nobles, with hopes of matching myself with one in the future… BUT IT'S JUST SO FUCKING HARD AND STRESSING"
Malon stares at the Princess puzzled "How is it hard? It's just spending a little of time with guys to meet them, right?"
"If only, turns out that most of them are egocentric narcissistic rascals. So, I cross their names on the list of possible mates" sighs "and if they are not rascals, they are obese, too old, or smelly"
"Or they spit when they talk maybe" Saria suggests the nastiest thing she can think off.
"O Din yes, one of them was like that and ate with his mouth open"
Saria gagged making the Princess and Malon start laughing.
"Have any of them been action-oriented? You know… quick thinking followed by a fast reaction?" Malon asks
"Buff, not even by mistake, most of them have been kind of brain dead. I threw a loaf of bread at one for fun, he didn't even blink, and it hit him square in the face."
Both Saria and Malon giggled at that.
"Last week's bachelor was a feeble man; he could not even help me move a box around. Oh, and I have had to deal with fearful men that run away at the sight of a roach or a spider. How am I supposed to trust any of these men with mine and the Kingdom's safety?"
Saria clears her throat "To sum it up, you want a man that is not displeasing to look at, that smells good, has basic etiquette" Malon cuts in "And is also strong, intelligent and brave"
"Yes, he has to all of that at least. Oh and don't forget, he has to be capable of violence. I mean, he is going to be the most important man in Hyrule, people need to respect him or maybe even fear him"
The ranch girl turns to look at the forest sage, and then looks back at the Princess smiling wickedly "He set the bar really high, didn't he?"
What? Who?
Saria cracks up smiling "I thought the same" she claps her hand with Malon's. "He always ends up doing that I guess… that kind of makes him the worst male specimen you may come across, since it's incredibly hard to find another who can match him for yourself"
"But you still love him, and so do I" Malon says to the green girl.
"I know… its hard not to" Saria agrees smiling.
It's the Prince… they are talking about Link. They both claim to love him, and why wouldn't they? I suspected as much. But why haven't they made a move?
"Wait… you just declared to love Link, didn't you? Why haven't you told him? Or, how do you love him exactly?"
Saria ponder a little before answering "He definitely draws my attention like a man, but I would never approach him with that intention… I may not BE his actual mom, but I raised him. He is handsome and capable, but he still is my boy you know."
Well, I kind of suspected something like this was the matter with Saria. But now I am interested on Malon's reasons to reject Ziel, because that is what she did right? Though, maybe she is just afraid of approaching him, I don't know.
Zelda turns to look at Malon pursing her lips in distress, hoping that the read head would just start talking and offer the information regarding her and the Prince. The ranch girl closes her eyes and sighs.
"My case is a little weird, I do find Link extremely attractive, but he is very similar to me… meaning that we would not work as a couple"
Zelda stares at the red head completely confused "I don't understand, don't we tend to look for similar traits on a mate? Please explain this reasoning to me"
"Its part of the teaching my mother left me before leaving… she said ¨Don't fall for the trick of choosing someone like yourself for a husband¨ we tend to choose similar people to become friends with, but for a life partner… you do need him to have some things in common with you, but also a LOT of things that oppose you. He is not you; he is supposed to be your other half"
"You mean that he should be able to do whatever you are incapable of doing and vice versa. That way, you don't just lust for him, you actually need him and he needs you… you complement each other. Your mother was very wise" Saria adds smiling at Malon.
I think I get it, I should compromise a little… but what I am asking for are things I should not compromise on; I am choosing a possible future king here. Sounds hard but I already found a guy that meets all of my demands and more, and our meeting was an accident. If Raziel exists then there should be someone else who doesn't fall short.
LINK POV /WARNING... you have been warned/
Link was walking around in the kitchen finally reading the Driver's Handbook that Jasper brought him a month ago. The Hero closed the handbook and put it away, since the carrot cake he had on the oven was about to come out. As soon as the clock hit 12:00 pm he took the cake out of the oven.
And I think I am done here. I still need to taste it, but it smells delicious.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Link frowns confused but then starts hearing the rhythmic tapping sound of a cane as it strikes the marble floor.
"Don't scold me; I got in just a minute earlier because the sun was too hot" Jabez said.
"Wasn't going to since you can still make up for it, just go outside at sunset. You should wake up earlier to start the day, and this wouldn't be a problem"
Jabez gives Link a dirty look and makes a throat noise.
"How have you been feeling?" The Hero asks.
"My balance is still off, so I still need the cane, but only for that. My legs are getting stronger somehow, weird since all I do is work my upper body, and walk around the garden at times"
"Walking is a tame work out. I was thinking on buying you ankle weights, so you can start working your legs more"
"That… actually sounds like a good idea" Jabez inhales deeply "The cake smells delicious by the way, throw it out"
"Why the fuck would I do that?"
"Why would you eat it in front of me? You know I am avoiding sugar"
Nice, he is taking his eating regime seriously now; regaining his legs must have been a miracle for him.
Link smiles "It's a sugar free carrot cake, of course you can eat it"
"Sugar free cake, really?"
"Yeah, I used Monk fruit. That is a safe sugar substitute like the stevia you use for your coffee"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's eat it" Jabez says rubbing his hands greedily.
"As dessert, let's eat our lunch first, and then we munch on the cake."
Jabez ponders about it taping on his chin with his index finger "We still have to wait an hour to eat, how about you help me with something meanwhile? The detective should come for a visit in 2 or 3 days. He held up his part of the bargain by bringing you. Don't get me wrong, I hate you with passion, but you managed to slowly heal me. So, I am keeping my end of the bargain too"
Ziel slowly starts to smirk, but quickly covers his killer instinct with a question?
"That is great, how can I help with that?" Link says crossing his arms.
*Come on, you already know what he is going to ask for, and even where it is*
"Go to my room, open my closet and bring me the small biometric safe box. It's black and at the very back of my top shelf"
Link turned his face to a side, feigning to be bothered by the sudden request. When in fact, he was trying to hide his murderous intend.
"You want me to fetch that for you now? I will do it… but promise you won't start nipping on the carrot pie" he sighs "I am serious Jabez; it better still be intact when I get back" The Hero says half serious and half joking. The accomplice just bursts out laughing.
Link walks out of the kitchen and enters the felon's room, Jabez's laughter could still be heard as he retrieves the safe box and gets back.
"There you are Raziel, did you find it?"
Link smiles and places it on the table in front of Jabez who smiles and uses his fingerprint to open the safe, but it does not open. Jabez starts beating the safe frustrated.
"Wow, I don't think beating on it is how it opens" Link comments.
"Of course not you stupid fuck, it's supposed to read my finger print and open, but this fucking shit" Jabez kept beating on the safe.
"HEY STOP THAT, maybe it's just a little dirty; allow me to clean it before you try again" Link offers.
The Hero goes around the table and stands behind Jabez holding the cloth he usually uses to clean the kitchen. He had previously used some of Jabez's capillary oil to purposely stain the finger print scanner, and allow an interaction where he could naturally position himself behind the criminal. He leaned over the criminal's shoulder to reach and clean the scanner. After cleaning the scanner, the safe read Jabez's finger print and opened. Link never left his place behind Jabez.
The accomplice smiled and pulled an USB out of the safe "I am going to check on whatever I have saved in here, there may be private things that don't concern the Detective" he rolls the USB around a little to look at it "You know… what I said abut you is true; I really hate you. But you know your shit, and you put up with my bad character. So, what if you continue to work for me after this? I promise to duplicate whatever the detective is currently paying you, and to partially pay for the virtual schooling you have been taking, meaning you could keep studying"
Link feigns to clear his throat to ponder about it "mhm…" then his left hand stiletto quickly pierces Jabez's cranium entering through the lambdoid suture and coming out through the glabella. The criminal's eyes kept moving from side to side in fear of what just happened, but no scream was heard.
Link produces a sinister chuckle "What? I have been waiting for this 2 and ½ years and not even a discomfort sound?" he smirks "not that it matters, we are still going to have fun" he whispers in Jabez's ear as he starts slicing his throat slowly with his right stiletto.
It took a few minutes after that for Jabez to finally die; the cause of death will forever remain unclear. It could have been due to being impaled on the head, but that couldn't be the reason since he could clearly still move. There is also the blood loss caused by the neck slice, though the slice was not deep since Kid wanted to torture him. Or it could have been due to a heart attack caused by fear… Link choose to believe the last one, since there at the end, Jabez managed to produce a somewhat gagged scream and tried to shield his face, implying he was seeing something that scared the shit out of him… quite literally.
...AN HOUR LATER.
The Hero is sitting on the kitchen enjoying the carrot cake; he would have enjoyed it even more if he could have smeared it with jam… and if Jabez had not craped on himself out of fear before dying. The smell was not as bad as 2 years ago, but just knowing that a soiled corpse lay 2 meters from him was enough to close his appetite.
"Such a shame that you couldn't taste this cake, but you just had to choose your last minutes to be a good boy grant me the USB with the list, didn't you?" Link cynically spoke to Jabez's body lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. "I can't finish it, but that is ok. I am sure the cleaners and even Jasper will help" he says as he stands up, took off his left glove and dipped his index finger on the pool of blood, then proceeded to write a message on the table, the message read: ¨It was backed today by Kid, it's not poisoned and its sugar free, EAT IT¨
*Because they will simply obey an order written in blood, right? *
They will follow my demand. The cleaners are as disturbed as us; they just don't have the guts to actually kill… But they have been through shit, and have seen worse. As for Widow, he will eat it out of disdain for Jabez.
The Hero put the glove back on and called agent Widow to inform him of what happened. Link apologized thinking that Jasper was going to be angry at him for taking the liberty of killing his commission, but the agent just roared in laughter.
"Kid, the moment you took over it became YOUR job. I was only supervising to continue the ruse. Dude, you just set the bar a little high… not many of us would have tolerated that situation for as long as you did, for that I do hate you so expect a beating. By the way, once you get back to Huston you will receive your provisional driver's license, a car is already assigned to you, and you are expected to drive yourself around from now on… you did memorize the Driver's Handbook, didn't you?" Jasper laughs evilly and hangs the call.
Link shakes his head smiling. Once he finished his slice of cake, Kid stood up and looked at Jabez's corpse one last time, he smirked before kicking the corpse in the head and then he vacated the house. He left everything open for when Jasper and the cleaners arrived. As he approached the street, he raised a hand to stop a taxi. Once he mounted one, he texted Derrick and then the Princess the following: ¨I am done here, might be arriving at the castle late at night¨