Entering her home, Zelda is greeted by a lonely silence. She calls a polite "hello" to the maids of the mansion, her own voice echoing. A few "good afternoons" respond monotonously.

Zelda sighs. The walls of this home are so large yet so empty. The grandeur chandelier diamonds glimmer in the baby rays of sunshine. The chocolate-wood stairs twirl elegantly. The marble tiles dance intricately beneath her feet. Everything seems like it would be lovely, but it isn't.

Zelda ascends the right staircase, her flats echoing in cla-clicks, cla-clicks. Beneath her right arm she carries her calculus book, and with her left hand she feels the sleek polished wood of the arm of the banister beneath her fingertips. When she was younger, she'd slide down it, pretending she could fly. Her mother would scold her, telling her to be careful! Her father would just sit at the base the staircase and grin. The thought causes her to chuckle.

"Zelda," a booming voice protrudes her walking, and Zelda pauses in her footsteps. She recognizes the voice at once. Her name echoes again and again in that thick voice, decibels decreasing as seconds pass.

"Father," Zelda slowly turns, placing her book at the top of the stairs. She swiftly descends the stairs. Since her father is seldom at home, Zelda greets him with a smile.

"Father, I'm glad you are home," she squares her shoulders as she gradually approaches her father, a figure bleached by the sunlight that filters through the large front windows.

"Zelda, I have arranged something," he responds, seeming to ignore her statement. His demeanor is unmatched with her own. Zelda sinks deeper into her blazer. Her gaze falls.
She despises this formal addressing; with this tone, her father usually bears unpleasant news. Or rather, something she finds unpleasant. With this tone, she doesn't feel like father and daughter; she feels like president and citizen.
Her father emerges from the bright light of the sun, nearing his daughter with heavy footsteps. He slowly folds his hands.

"I believe you have heard the news of the increasing attacks of the Yiga gang," he states.

Something within Zelda sparks. Perhaps this news isn't foul! Perhaps this is her chance to lend her help!

"Father, we must do something about the Yiga gang! Why don't we send trackers behind them, or place police officers on guard in neighborhoods? Along with them, I would stand. I can fight. I can protect these people. It's too dangerous—"

"Zelda Hylia Hyrule! How dare you insist such foolish things?!" Her father cuts her statement short with a rage like fire. Suddenly he becomes larger and larger. Zelda shrinks.

"I have everything in order and in complete control. You are in absolutely no place to even speak of such things!" Rhoam yells, scolding his daughter with a voice that shakes the home.

Zelda steps back, eyes wide, heart thumping in her chest. "Father, I—"

"This is why I've arranged for you to have a bodyguard. You're too audacious, too presumptuous!" Rhoam rubs his temples. His statement echoes over and over again. "Why, why would you even suggest..."

Zelda's eyes widen. "A...a what?" She gasps. Her heart falls in her chest. Perhaps she heard wrong...no, no, it can't be. I'm delusional. What did he say? Her heart pounds rapidly in her chest.

"A bodyguard. His name is Link; he attended the most prestigious academy in Skyloft City. He's the son of Barin...and he shall accompany you where ever you shall go. Perhaps he will give you a sense of reality and the danger you pose yourself in," Rhoam crosses his arms. A shadow falls over his eyes, over his face, and Zelda can't look at him.

She boils like a storm. "Father! You can't do this! You're sitting here doing nothing while people are getting hurt, pretending like nothing is wrong. I just wanted to protect our people, to protect this country!" She shouts, her voice shaking, heat rising to her cheeks.

"I want to protect you."

Rhoam narrows his gaze at his daughter, stomping away in echoes that leave the house trembling.

The tears fall down her cheeks, twinkling like the diamonds of the chandelier. "Curse you!" Zelda screams, gasping a cry. She sprints up the stairs, ignoring the blue ribbon slipping from her hair. She strides down the empty corridors, strangled cries escaping her lips, and when she reaches her bedroom she slams the door. With her back pressed to the door, she sinks to the ground, burying her head in her knees.

"Foolish...audacious...presumptuous?! H-he's the one, he's the one who's...w-who's sitting by like nothing is happening..." Zelda sniffs, murmuring bitterly to herself. "He's a coward...a coward!"

Zelda glances numbly to her sad violin tucked in the corner. Her eyes wander upwards to her dresser with pictures of her father and mother. Standing to her feet, she walks to inspect the photographs to clear her mind. With a soft thumb, she strokes a gold-adorned photograph of her mother: a woman of grace and beauty with golden locks past her elbows and eyes greener than grass. Her thin cheeks wear a tired but kind smile beneath her petite nub-like nose. A tear drop plops onto the frame, sliding down her mother's face. Zelda wipes it away quickly.

"You'd b-be on my side, right, Mother?" Zelda smiles sadly. "Y-you would."

Zelda sighs, stripping herself of her school regalia and dressing herself in a t-shirt and shorts. She flops onto her bed, eyes still swollen with excess tears, and she burrows her head into the plush sheets.

An undefinable anger fills her chest when she thinks of her father. How dare he do this to me? Zelda thinks to herself. I took lessons from Impa. I know very well how to defend myself...at least, I used to. But I do remember how to. Who does Father think he is? Assigning that boy to be my little 'bodyguard'!

It all makes sense now why the boy—Link—followed her around all day. Why he knew her name. Like a shadow, he had trailed behind her. He had kept his distance, but every time Zelda glanced at him, he quickly looked away. She's the reason he came to the school. He came to be her bodyguard...

This causes Zelda to cry even more: out of petulance? she asks herself. No, I have every right to be upset. He's going to follow me all around school, and I'll never have a chance to be alone! It is a comforting thought, however, that his presence is unnecessary when I'm at home. I'll avoid him at all costs.

She clenches her fist. "I-I'm not weak. I am not weak. He won't be f-following me around all the time...not if I can move faster than he..." Zelda sniffs, wiping her eyes and nose in a manner that her father would deem unladylike.

That's right. I'll just move faster than him and take alternative routes if necessary. That way, Link won't be following be around. Not if I can help it.

A sudden knock on her door causes Zelda to leap.

"Miss Zelda?" A female voice calls.

Zelda groans, glancing up from the covers to glare at the sealed door. She narrows her eyes, assuming it to be news from her loving Father. "I request solitude at the moment, please. Thank you, you may take your leave."

Everything falls silent on the other side of the door; a few moments pass, and then another knock intercedes. "Miss, it's necessary. Please open the door."

Zelda almost remarks something about her "incompetent father" but holds her tongue. Not caring to adjust her appearance, Zelda yanks open her door. Before the door stands a young white-haired maid and to her dismay, Link.

He still wears the uniform but has removed the tie and unbuttoned the top three buttons, revealing his neck and glimpses of his collar bone. He's tall and slim next to the short maid, who seems to blush at the handsome new protector. Zelda thinks to herself about his unkempt appearance for a 'bodyguard.' She almost takes back the statement when she remembers her own tear-stained appearance; but nonetheless, she holds true to her statement.

"Miss, this is your bodyguard, L—"

"Link. Yes, madam, I am aware of who he is. And his presence is not needed of me at the moment." Zelda begins to shut the door. "Thank you, you both may—"

"Miss Zelda," Link's hand holds the door before Zelda slams it. "Please, could you give me a tour of this home? I need to know every corridor and crevice and escape route in order to preserve your safety."

Zelda winces at the words to preserve your safety. She politely dismisses the maid, who scampers off in blushes, but crosses her arms at Link.

"I can't believe you followed me around all day because you're my bodyguard. I thought you were creepy before, but now, you...you..." She leans toward him, eyebrows furrowed in anger, her index finger pressed to his chest. "This is not fair. My father...my father is foolish!"

Link almost seems confused at her contempt, but still folds his hands politely. "I almost considered telling you, but I didn't find it being my place to do so."

Zelda glares up at him.

"You think this is funny? The last time I had a bodyguard, I was in elementary school. He was your father, in fact. But after that, his assistance was completely unnecessary. Like yours," Zelda snaps, crossing her arms. "I don't want you following me around school all day. You don't even need to follow me around here at home. So go on. Take your leave."

Link's eyes widen, and he takes a step back. The look upon his face in almost anxious, an expression Zelda can't quite define. "Did your father not tell you?"

"What else did he not tell me?" Zelda sighs. "I'm tired of him making decisions without informing me first."

"I'm to follow you around...everywhere, Miss. Everywhere, of course, excluding your quarters and powder rooms—unless necessary..."

"Wait, wait, wait. You're seriously going to follow me...everywhere?" she gapes, her mouth falling to the floor. Her heart plummets to her stomach. So, cancel anything about home being a safe haven from him.

In merely one day, not only is Zelda's respect for her father gone; so is her freedom. Anger and resent and frustration whirl within her chest, and she feels as though she'll spontaneously combust on the spot.

"Sorry, Miss. I don't make the rules," he showcases a gentleman-like demeanor, still patient with her irritation, but something in his eyes glimmers mysteriously.

If this boy's going to follow her around, then she'll never have any peace now.

***

"This," Zelda states, "is the front door."

She motions to the wide wooden entrance, and Link stands stiffly. His eyes wander around the front yard seemingly at the vast array of flowers. Zelda immediately takes notice of this.

"Hey. Are you paying attention, bodyguard? I'm going to show you a secret entrance, but if you're more interested in the flowers, that's fi—"

"I was scanning the yard for other possible passageways and places where an intruder could hide. Sorry, Miss, for interrupting."

Zelda narrows her eyes into his own blues until she almost pierces him with her stare, but continues along a path of stones through the grass carpeted yard. She halts at a large, light pink-dressed rosebush. "Do you see this stone that I stand upon?" She inquires.

Link's eyes fall onto the stone, the eighteenth stone along the stone path to the right of the front door, to the left of the lilac bushes when one stands before the mansion. "Yes," he says, pinpointing this place into his memory.

"If you lift it, there's a trapdoor. Beneath the trapdoor is a secret passageway. We seldom use it, though," she informs a-matter-of-factly. "Come along, now, bodyguard. If you're going to be my shadow, then lend me your attention."

He trots behind her—four paces behind her, to be exact. Hearing his monotonous footsteps behind her is something (strange) she'll have to adjust to.

They re-enter into the home. "You've seen this before. Up the right staircase and to the end of the hallway is my room. All of the other rooms are of guest usage only, besides the one across from my room. It's where I practice piano. Up the left staircase, however," Zelda begins to hike up the left staircase, "is Father's...this is his side, I suppose."

She stops at the height of the stairs. "You'll stay on my father's side in the first room on the left. Just cross this bridge if you wish to...guard my every move," she points to the long, rail-concealed walkway to the other corridor. "Anywho, back to my father's side. His study is that room," she points to a red door. "Come with me."

Link follows her into the room—a room coated in dust and scattered books with notes everywhere. It looks as though a tornado struck and Rhoam never bothered to clean the damage.

"This is where my father stays when he is home. However, it isn't necessary for you to report here unless you cannot find him anywhere else."

Zelda pauses at an overturned photograph. She lifts it, gazing at it momentarily, before hurrying out of the room. Link raises a brow but continues after her.

"That end room on the right is his. Across from it—that's a room you cannot enter," she demands, but adds a "please."

Link nods carefully, glancing at the baby-blue door. "Even I am not allowed in that room, so don't feel too badly for yourself," she hastily adds, striding down the stairs. For some reason she doesn't say anything for a while, but Link doesn't question this.

They continue through the house and Zelda shows him the kitchen, pantry, and miscellaneous rooms. But Zelda's eyes particularly light up at the library.

"This is my favorite place in the house. I've read most of these books," she stretches her arms out, spinning a few times. She hugs her arms to her chest. "It's quite special, no?"

The library is something. It's so large and vast with bookshelves standing like walls; Link swears it could be larger than the public library in town. What seems like hundreds, thousands of books align the shelves in varying colors and widths and contents. The ceiling above is different glass-stained pieces forming a large beautiful picture of a blue and white flower. Link's eyes widen when Zelda picks a particular blue-hued book and pulls it out of one of many smaller shelves. This one sits tucked between three small shelves on its left and seven small shelves to its right. And as Zelda pulls the blue book, the small shelf begins to turn into the wall along with the two of them.

The bookshelf twists into a completely secretive room, and Link stands silently stunned. Now, the two are in a grime-covered stone corridor blanketed in darkness besides a few tiny lit candles.

"Cheesy, I know. You only find these things in movies. Anywho, this passageway leads to two exits: the one beneath the stone, and one that leads to a place a mile and a half away. That one is far, but it's an alternative secret exit," Zelda sighs, seemingly bored. "Is there anything else you'd like to know before you chase me for the rest of my life?"

Link shakes his head.

"Good. Then let's leave this place."

Link recalls every important piece of information Zelda gave him, storing them in his mind. He'd marked certain places he could hide, places to watch cautiously, and even a workout room to practice his fitness.

Zelda, however, feels the whole 'tour' thing is useless.

Link finally leaves Zelda and allows her to be alone in her room (and she still locks the door even though he clearly leaves her be). She reclines on her bed finishing her homework for the rest of the night, murmuring to herself about that 'blasted bodyguard.' It just doesn't seem fair anymore that now her life is to be monitored by a stoic-faced boy when she can already handle herself perfectly.

But Link thinks differently. Seated in his own room, he makes an unsaid decision.

He'll protect her with his life; she just has to give him a chance.

***
MORE ZELONK
WOO
AKA MY OTP SINCE I WAS LIKE SEVEN
ALRIGHT if you liked this chapter, please leave a comment or vote :) Or if you have some critique, feel free to drop below..! Or if you just wanna scream to me about your otp...have at it! My messages are always open😂 I hope you guys have had a great weekend!

Love always,
- lilacfrost021 xxx