Episode 12: Call

Zelda had been staring at her phone for what felt like hours.

Link's contact was displayed on the screen, the call button right under her thumb.

She didn't know whether to listen to Bayonetta, keep quiet about the situation, or tell anyone who she could.

She decided she had to tell someone.

This was about her friends. Pit, Daisy, Samus, Lucina, everyone.

But to what lengths did those 'threats' go to?

Before Zelda could think of anything else, she hears a light tapping at her door.

The girl got up from her bed, making her way downstairs.

She was the only one home at the moment, her roommates all out shopping, or whatever they had decided to do.

Quickly fixing her hair, Zelda opened the door without question.

"Hello—"

Her voice immediately gave out.

"Hey... Zelda."

"Samus?"

••••••

"Are you sure this is okay?"

"I mean... for me yeah... but if you don't want to then you can wait in the car!" Richter said.

Pit followed behind Richter, the two walking around the old church building Simon bought not too long ago.

Richter left something in the building the other day while him and Simon were talking with some of the inspectors. Pit agreed to come with him, although Richter gave him the choice not to go. It was the least Pit could do for him, after everything in Windinburg that went down. And the ride back from the woods. And the arcade. And basically being his only friend but that was besides the point.

"We can climb in through here." Richter said, sliding open one of the back windows.

"Why can't we just use the front door?" Pit asked.

"Well 1. I don't have a key, and 2. I don't want anyone that has business with the place to see." Richter said as he climbed through the window, looking back at Pit expectantly.

Pit followed soon after, although because he was so small it was a bit hard for him.

The building was dark, still some tears in the walls here and there but it looked almost fine. Richter led the way to what looked to be a storage room.

"I know it's in here somewhere." Richter said before he started rummaging through the objects in the room.

Pit took his time to look around. The rows of seats facing the center pedestal looked fairly knew, made of smooth dark oak. Across from where he was was another little room, although there was a small staircase that led down to it. It must've been some little club room, but like Pit knows anything about the architecture of a church.

He walked to the other side of the room to where the staircase was. He hesitated, for the bottom of the stairs where the door waited at the end was covered in shadows, barely visible to Pit.

Out of blatant curiosity, he walked down the stairs, resting his hand on the door.

Weird.

Pit could feel small vibrations and beats from the other side. He put his ear against the door in an attempt to hear what was going on, or if it was just in his head.

But it was real.

The vibrations seemed to be coming by two maybe three instruments that played an odd tune. He couldn't even call it music. It sounded like some animal that was screaming and whining.

And he could hear people.

They sounded like adults, maybe 30-50 at best. They talked in hushed voices, some singing along to the instruments while others talked among themselves.

As much as Pit would've loved to call this a little church club this all felt to weird to him. He hesitated to call out to Richter, but when he turned around he saw that the other had already beat him to it.

"What's going on?" Richter asked.

"Ah. Uhm... are there like... clubs? That come here?"

An uncomfortable silence came upon them as Richter thought to himself.

"No... no, there shouldn't be. Simon would've had the right to authorize clubs at this point and I haven't heard anything about that."

Richter slowly walked down the stairs, a bit more slower because of his large build.

Another silence washed over them as they listened to the people on the other side of the door.

"What the hell..."

"What are they saying?"

"I can't... I can't tell. But it doesn't sound right. You know? Maybe I should call Simon."

"Yeah... probably. Should we stay in here?"

"Nah. Let's go outside. We'll be safer out there."

The two headed outside back out the same window they came from. They sat on an old crate on the side of the building as Richter pulled his phone out.

"Or maybe..."

Pit looked back to Richter, who still had Simon's contact on his phone. His thumb was right above the call button.

"He should know, Richter. Who knows what they're doing in there."

"Yeah... but— it's not... I don't want to get..." Richter stumbles between sentences, leaving Pit confused and trying to understand the other.

"Why can't you call him?" Pit asked, resting a hand on Richter's shoulder in an attempt to calm him.

"I just... I don't want to get in trouble with him."

Oh.

"Not again."

Oh no.

"What happens when you get in trouble?"

••••••

"Good God all you have is bottled water and sprite? Seriously get like root beer or something..."

"Can you stop fucking around and tell me why you're here?"

Samus perked her head up from behind the refrigerator door, looking back over at Zelda.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I— you can't just come back after three years all 'buddy-buddy'."

"I had every right to leave."

"Without a word! Nothing! You didn't even say SHIT to Ike!"

Samus suddenly slammed the refrigerator door shut. "It was MY CHOICE. Not yours."

"DON'T FUCKING SLAM MY SHIT YOU ASSHOLE." Zelda yelled, walking across the room as she grabbed Samus' hand off the fridge handle.

"YOU CAME INTO MY FUCKING HOUSE, NOW RESPECT IT."

Samus backed down, barely maintaining eye contact as she perched herself on one of the stools in front of the kitchen island.

"I got a text to come back here."

"From who?"

"I figured one of you guys? I got a new phone number so it didn't recognize who texted me. But it has the same area code from here so I figured it was one of you."

Zelda stood, trying to piece together the puzzle.

"It... it must've been Peach or Rosalina or something... probably wanted to plan something special form Daisy's birthday."

"Oh."

"But... she's in intensive care right now, so she's not getting out any time soon."

"What?"

"None of us are really sure, either. The only thing the doctors can really think of is mild panic attack."

"Oh god... I'm uh... I'm sorry."

"It's fine, she's fine."

Painful silence filled the air in the brief moment.

"Can I see the number who texted you? I have to see which one of them texted you."

"Sure, uh, here." Samus opened her phone, going to the messaging app where the text was. She showed Zelda the screen where the number was displayed.

"Huh..."

"What?"

"That's not... I don't think that's any of our numbers..."

"It has to be... I mean I got a good new number but like I figured whoever texted me just asked around to the people I know."

Zelda looked at Samus, not sure what to do.

"Who texted me?" Samus asked.

Zelda couldn't answer that.

"Let's call them, see who reached out to you."

Samus shrugged, handing Zelda her phone with the number still displayed on screen.