Episode 3: Hurry, Please.

"What did the text say, Robin?"

"Palutena said, in all-caps, you guys need to hurry back to Zelda's place right now, they might be in trouble."

Ike bit his lip as he kept his hands on the steering wheel.

He drove as he had Marth in the seat next to him and Robin and Roy in the next row. They had just finished on their day hike and just started their drive home.

"Tell Pat that we still have a good... two hours before we can get home," Marth instructed. Robin nodded as he typed that into Ike's phone.

Today at 4:35

Ike: We still have a two-hour drive to get through, what's going on??

Palutena: Idk,,,,, but I think someone might be in the house with them.

Ike: WHAT?!

Palutena: I got a call from Zel but it wasn't her... it was just someone breathing and I KNOW it was not either of them.

Ike: And...

Palutena: Link and Zelda are downstairs in the living room studying... I think someone might've climbed through Zelda's window and took her phone.

Ike: She does leave her phone a lot...

Palutena: EXACTLY!!!! NOW HURRY HOME!! Peach and I are stuck in traffic and are gonna take at least three hours.

Robin exited their chat before getting another idea. He looked through Ike's contacts and put Daisy and Roy in a group chat with him.

Today at 4:38

Ike: Where are you guys right now??

Roy: Just got ice cream

Daisy: Y, what's going on?

Ike: You two have to go check up on Zelda and Link right now.

Ike: NO questions.

Daisy looked at Roy with a confused look. Roy shrugged as he typed back:

Roy: Ok, we're on our way... but what's going on??

Ike: Palutena thinks that someone is in the house with them.

Ike: She got a call from Zelda but it wasn't her, I think.

Roy: Dude... I don't wanna be rude or anything or kinda touch on a rude topic... but...

Roy: Are you sure she isn't just paranoid??

Daisy: We're on our way to their house, if I may remind you.

Ike: Listen, I don't wanna take our chances like we did last time, ok?? You two hurry over to their house.

Roy: Got it.

Daisy: Got it.

Daisy freed her hand from Roy's as the two went on either side of Roy's car, Roy taking the driver seat and Daisy taking the front passenger seat.

"You think it's that serious??" Roy asked as he started the car.

"I don't know, but you gotta hurry up and get to the house," Daisy responded.

Roy nodded and backed the car out of its parking spot in front of the little ice cream shop, followed up with speeding down the road.

Roy let his right hand take Daisy's left, gripping it as he only took one second to look at her and back onto the road.

Daisy smiled and said, " You're going a bit slow."

"Huh?"

"Speed this car up, will ya?"

"Oh," Roy chuckled. "Definitely."

••••••

"See, Richter?? Free ice cream!"

"Alright Pit, alright. How'd you get to know the workers anyway?"

Pit had recently started to befriend Richter and a few others, but he made a good bond with Richter more than most of the other people he talked to.

The two sat in front of the arcade they had been at for a good few hours. Right now, they were waiting for Richter's ride.

"So tell me more about Simon," Pit said. "Not to be rude or anything but he kinda makes me uneasy."

Richter chuckled. "Yeah, I don't blame you. Not to mention... Simon has always told me that truth should come first... but he's keeping these really bad secrets from me... he's been associating with that old Church not too far from here."

"That was where that cult stuff was going on in the 60s, right? Where it took the police almost a good year to find the founders?"

"Yeah... I've seen him talk to some people there all dressed up... Some of those people he talks to just give me a bad vibe."

"And now he's teaching at our school."

"... yeah... he is," Richter brushed through his brown, shaggy hair. "Now, I feel like he's on the verge of a breakdown. He's always busy with work, grading papers or not. Not to mention, he'll-"

Before Richter could go on, a car horn honked loudly at them. They both looked up to see a red car in front of them. And speaking of the devil, there was Simon in the driver's seat.

Richter slowly stood up. "I gotta go. I'll see you on Monday."

Pit nodded.

"I'll see you then!"

Pit watched as Richter walked to the car, his right hand in his pocket as he used his other hand to open the door. Richter said a quick last farewell before closing the car door behind him, a few seconds later the car drove off.

Pit sat in silence. He felt the soft-serve drip down his hand. He hated to admit it but this ice cream was definitely not his favorite. He tossed it in a trash can off to the right.

Sometimes he hated his feelings.

He wasn't sure if he was just having mood swings or something, but a couple of times a day, he wouldn't feel like himself.

He wasn't sure who to tell or to tell anyone, but all he knew was that he was a little bit more than sad.

"Pit!!"

...

"PIT!"

"Huh?"

The boy turned around to see a familiar grey car stopped once again in front of him.

"Oh... hey Roy!!"

Roy and Daisy both waved.

Before Roy was even able to start off a five-minute conversation with him, Daisy cut him off.

"Pit, get in!"

Recognizing Daisy's tone, Pit rushed into the backseat without question, barely having time to close the door before the car sped off once again.

••••••

"Thank god they're here already."

"Oh, they called Roy and Daisy too!"

Peach closed the car door behind her as she and Palutena made their way to the front door of Zelda's house.

The door was already unlocked, so Peach didn't hesitate to open the door.

As the duo stepped in, everyone in the room noticed them.

Link and Zelda were still sitting on the couch. The others were sprawled out around the room, some of them sitting on the sofas and some were just standing next to them.

Zelda looked at Palutena in the eye, a worried look planted on her face.

"So? The call...?" Zelda asked.

Palutena sighed. "All I heard was someone breathing... I know it wasn't either one of you."

"Yeah... my phone's still upstairs," Zelda said. "Everyone has just stayed down here. We wanted to wait for you guys."

"Have you checked upstairs?" Palutena asked as she was already making her way to the staircase.

"Uh, no. We completely forgot about that."

Zelda followed behind Palutena along with Ike and Roy. The four walked up the stairs. They stopped in the hallway. Lucky them, all the doors were closed.

Ike went to Peach's room, opened the door and scanned inside quickly.

"Nothing here. Let's just check Zelda's room, since that's obviously where we should check first,"

Palutena attempted to open the door.

"It's locked."

"Are you serious?!"

"Well you lock the door from the inside, so this guy obviously came through the window."

Zelda grabbed the key from one of the shelves in the hallway and stuck it in the keyhole, instantly unlocking it. Zelda let Ike get slightly in front of her before she opened the door all the way.

The window was open.

Her room was empty.

Her phone, which was left on her bed, wasn't there.

"He took my fucking phone, Palutena."

"You know what you don't get to complain after last time. And unlike last time, you can buy another one."

"HEY GUYSSSS, POLICE ARE ON THEIR WAY RIGHT NOWWWW" Daisy called up to them.

"THANK YOU," Roy responded.

Zelda sighed and looked at Palutena. Palutena did the same.

"You and Peach are NOT staying in this house anymore."

"I know damn-well I'm not. So you better get your sleeping bags ready."

Palutena groaned.

"Just when I thought I got Peach out of my hair."