We all are animals anyway

Link looks down at the floor, water sprayed everywhere and lots the broken vase pieces were scattered around. He was not angry at Zelda for trying to hurt him, he understood where she was coming from, he would have done the same thing in her position. He was angry at the mindless destruction of property, that vase WAS NOT HERS. And he was also overwhelmed by the loud sound the vase made when it smashed on the door, it had surely alerted someone. Link watches silently as Zelda picks up a piece of the broken vase and charges him.

LINK POV

Oh, is that what we are gonna do today? We are gonna fight? Bring it on kitty.

Zelda tries to stab him using her right hand, but the movement felt too slow, and too weak. Link easily blocked her attack with his left hand, grabbed a hold of her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back.

"Drop it" he warned her.

CRACK!!!

Link breathes out upon hearing the sound of the vase fragment dropping to the floor, he releases his hold on the Princess. She immediately turns to him and knees him in the groin, Link falls to his knees in pain and Zelda tackles him to the floor, and begins to punch him.

What is wrong with her? She is not even trying.

*What is wrong with her? What is wrong with YOU? defend yourself*

I can't in good conscience do that. I won't hit her back when she is not really punching me… she is pretending to do so, I don't know why, but I know she does not want to hurt me.

*She is provoking you then, your Princess wants YOU to punish her, DO IT*

Zelda kept throwing swings at Link, he covers his face with his fore arms and pumps up his hips, causing the Princess to lose her balance and fall forward on her hands since she was seating on top of him. Link quickly grabs her right arm pulls it to the left, he lifts his hips up again forcing her to fall off to his left side. Once she is off, Link jumps to a standing position. Zelda panics and tries to crawl away but Link places a foot on her back pressing her against the floor. He then crouches over her and pulls on that messy blond mane of hers, making her arch her neck back. Leaning forward he whispers in her ear.

"So, you wanted to dance with the devil"

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Link closes his eyes in relief, he really enjoys the idea of punishing Zelda, but this felt bittersweet. He releases the Princess and hurries to answer the door.

A young Concierge is on the other side of the door smiling "GOOD AFTHERNOON, there were some complains about noises coming from your room, is everything ok?"

Link smiles sheepishly "Yeah about that, I am very clumsy, I tripped and broke one of your decorative vases, I will clean it up myself, so don't bother sending someone over, just charge it on me"

"Are you sure? The complains suggest a fight may be taking place" the Concierge continues to ask worried, since the adjacent room who complained was hosting a family. He must be extra cautious and solve the issue fast.

Zelda finally stands from the floor and starts speaking "No fight was taking place, what the people heard was me having one of my seizures. By the way, it was not him who broke the vase, it was me" Zelda says approaching the door smiling.

The concierge gawks at the Princess, she is beautiful and the short messy hair makes it difficult for him not to think of sex. He immediately shakes his head remembering she is underage and that her brother IS present, or at least that is what he was informed at the front desk, that the room was being used by underage siblings, and that it was paid by the boy since he had a power of attorney, meaning that by law they could dismiss his age... fucking rich people.

Link notices the naughty looks the concierge was directing at Zelda and growls, Zelda giggles and ensures the concierge they are fine as she closes the door on his face. But she remains standing by the door, pressing an ear on it, until she finally hears the young concierge walking away. The Princess turns sighing and leans her back on the door covering her face with her hands.

"Are you done now or should we continue where we left off?" Link asks.

"I am spent. If you want to continue, I won't say no, but I will not be fighting back"

"Why must you take away the fun from EVERYTHING?" Link asks sarcastically, then sighs "what you said was a joke right?"

"That I won't fight back? Implying that I don't mind if you beat the crap out of me? I meant every word" tears start to fall from her eyes. "I want you to kill me… please kill me" Zelda tells him somberly.

I failed, I underestimated this whole situation, Tudor didn't break his daughter, he killed my Princess

*Zelda is not dead, you can hear her, see her and even smell her. As long as she is still around you can glue her back. Didn't you said you would pick up her pieces? FUCKING DO IT.*

"Why would I kill you?" Link asks shaking his head in disapproval.

Zelda sobs a little before answering "Because there is nothing left for me, I am a failure. I am a terrible daughter and I suck even more at being a Princess." snuffles "I loved and believed in someone who never loved me, and you know what the sad part is? That I witness the beatings he gave my mother, and how he used to spend our money on alcohol and other women" snuffles "And for some fucked up reason I forgot about it all, how can a person forget all this… how could I have forgotten it?" Zelda starts banging her head with her hands, Link grabs her wrist to stop her from hurting herself.

*This is it; this IS how you help her, Vincent talked about this once, just digest it a little for her*

"It was actually perfect, you were very small therefore, you had no control on what was happening, your brain did what it needed to do to keep you safe and ensure your continuity" Link started his speech.

"Make me stupid and forgetful?" Zelda said scowling.

"Giving you selective amnesia, making you forget painful events and love your tormentor, that way you would not act defiant towards Bardick, meaning he won't feel the need to harm you" Link smiles and taps on her forehead with his gloved index finger "I am actually impressed that your toddler brain pulled this stunt, selective amnesia is a FUCKING COMPLEX survival mechanism… you should not underestimate it. It kept you safe."

Zelda pondered about it for a while, then started to smile.

"I guess I am just that awesome, and now that you mention it, makes sense that mom is a light sleeper, she must have developed that as a survival mechanism too, right?" Zelda asks him, still teary eyed but slowly regaining her happy attitude and curiosity.

Link opens his eyes wide before slowly frowning at her "Indeed… so you KNEW she could have caught me red handed, and still didn't bother to inform me, because fuck me, right?" he says smiling a little.

This girl and her fucking memory are going to get me killed one of these days, at least I did manage to bring her up a little. The fact that she wanted to die still worries me, she now is very unstable, I need to be mindful of that before doing something that could throw her over the edge. Hopefully I can help her leave all this behind and start anew.

ZELDA POV

I… didn't told him? and he still managed to steal my seal? How the hell did he do it?

"I would love to tell you that I actually tied to fuck you, but I didn't. It must have completely slipped my mind, I am sorry. But I can PRAISE you for still managing to steal it for me, or do something for you in return if you want" the Princess offers with sincerity.

"I don't need praise, but I do want you to do something" Link draws his cellphone and shows her pictures of female clothing "Lets scroll through some catalogs. That way, you get a glimpse of the type of clothes this world has to offer, you choose the type of clothes you would like to try, saving us TONS of shopping time tomorrow"

OMGODESSES, YES!!! I WOULD GLADLY DO THAT.

Link continues "I really HATE shopping, but it needs to be done. I am not backing down on it" Link tells her honestly.

"Then I will gladly help shorten the torture time" Zelda winks at him. But then her mood turns gloomy.

Link notices the mood change and after rubbing his eyes with his left hand's thumb and index, he asks.

"What is the matter?"

"A moment ago, you lied to the concierge… I thought you said you didn't lie. Can I trust that you are not lying to me right now? about the selective amnesia?"

Link looks at her and smirks maliciously "Did I said that I didn't lie?" he chuckles "That would be stupid considering that I am a SWORD agent don't you think? If I can speak, I can surely lie. What I said was that I hate lies and liars, but I am more than capable of lying if I need too, I just abstain from doing that with my people, and I ask the same back from them."

Does… that make me part of HIS PEOPLE? Even though I tried to kill him? Is it ok if I feel overjoyed about this? because I kind of do.

Link signals for her to sit on the couch with him to check the catalogs, she happily does. As they start scrolling Zelda is slowly learning how the cellphone works and asks to look for clothes on her own. Link nods and stands leaving her scrolling on his cellphone. He then remembers something and leaves the room.

I WANT A CELLPHONE, these things have many useful appliances, like an alarm and it takes pictures. How much would it cost to buy one? Wait… where is Link?

The Princess raises her head and looks around the room, but he doesn't seem to be there.

Did he just left me here alone? Why would he do that? He just made sure I was feeling better only to end up abandoning me. Who does that? [Bardick smiling face]

But Link is not like that fucker, is he? Link actually cares… in his own way. But then again, why would he care? why wouldn't he leave me? I have been HORRIBLE to him.

The door opens and in comes Link with some takeout food, and a plastic bag containing a few water bottles, a single serve cereal box, and a half pint milk carton. Link freezes when he notices Zelda staring at him, her eyes about to spill tears.

"Thought you may be hungry" Link says lifting the take out to show her.

He went for food, he did not leave me, I WILL NOT CRY… oh what the hell.

Zelda stands dropping the cellphone on the couch and runs to hug Link crying, then starts to weakly bang on his chest.

He is at fault here; he could have told me he was going out for food. But then again, he does not speak unless spoken to, or if he really needs to. Well, I don't care, he is at fault and THAT IS THAT.

Link kind of hugs her back with one arm and starts laughing "Of course you weren't scared, right?"

"Of course" Zelda answers letting go of Link "but now that you mention it, I AM a little hungry. Could you divide the food in two portions? I get the smaller one" Zelda says looking up at him with puppy eyes.

"No" Link breaths in "I don't eat much; I would rather you eat and I finish whatever is left"

"What are you talking about? I have seen you eat at the castle, and it's like feeding 4 men" Zelda reminds him of how bestial his appetite can be.

"I am not allowed to eat much while I am here" Link raises a finger in the air to silence Zelda before she starts arguing "let me explain… due to the nature of my job I need to be ready to act at all times. A person will not move or react as fast with a full stomach. I do not allow myself to eat to my heart's content during my stay in this world, only enough to survive… as I said before, YOU eat. I will feed on anything left"

I… CAN'T ACCEPT THAT, what if I leave too much? Or WORSE, too little… I can definitely see him starving with a smile on his face for my sake. He has to separate his portion first and I eat the rest, not the other way around.

Zelda grabs the foam container and hands it to Link.

"I don't want to make mistakes, pick your portion and I eat the rest, if for some reason I can't finish it, it will be part of my breakfast" Zelda states and turns her back on Link, leaving no room for argument.

Link raises an eyebrow, and then starts piling some food in a corner of the Styrofoam container, carefully and clearly separating his portion from the rest of the food. Then hands it back to Zelda.

"JUST THAT?" Zelda asks him.

Link confidently nods at Zelda.

"This is torture… why are you doing this? I MEAN you told me but still, are we in danger? Or why do you need to enter this protocol now?" Zelda asks a little worried.

"No, we are fine, this mission is not dangerous at all, but I still need to take all precautions because you are here with me. I can't let anything happen to you; I need to be fast to be able to ensure that."

So, it's my fault he is not eating then. No Zelda, don't put words in his mouth, he never said that. It's his job, he would still enter this tortuous protocol even if I was not here.

Zelda breaths in deeply, then proceeds to eat her food leaving Link's small portion, once done eating she picks back the cellphone and continues using it until past midnight. Link bathes and starts turning the lights off, he approaches Zelda to take the cellphone away, forcing her to go to sleep.

He should at least SAY something, not just take the cellphone away and turn the lights off.

She glances at the TV before he turns it off, it read 12:36pm at the lower right corner.

All right, IT IS LATE, I forgive him.

The Princess groans, but lays on her bed covering her body up to her chin with the bed's sheet. But as the night when on, Zelda kept tossing and turning on her bed. Memories with Bardick and what he has done kept plaguing her mind. Huffing she leaves her bed and stands near a window.

Lots of lights are on despite the hour, people here don't sleep apparently. So different from the world I live in. And the worst part is… there's nothing to look at, nothing to distract me from my demons. [Bardick's smirking face]

She turns from the window and sees Link lying face down on his bed.

Maybe HE can help me chase my demons away.

She heads to Link's bed and slowly slips in, trying hard not to wake him up. Once she manages to get on his bed and under the sheets, she noticed he was shirtless and rolls her eyes.

Of course, he is, and why am I getting under the sheets with the human heater to begin with? I am going to burn, I may not deserve to be living, but I am not a masochist.

The Princess removes the sheets from herself and lays on top of them, still trying to get as close to Link as possible, but avoiding touching him, she didn't want to disturb his sleep. She manages to get close enough to smell him and feel the heat emanating from him, that lulls her to sleep. Link opens his eyes when he perceives the change in her breathing pattern. Upon seeing her sleeping next to him, Link chooses to ignore her presence, and tries to go to sleep himself, but sooner than later Zelda starts whimpering during her slumber.

LINK POV

This girl just keeps challenging me one way or another. I don't want to wake her, its late and she needs her rest. Would me hugging her be enough to stop her trembling and silence her whimpers? I also need my sleep, I may not be Claire Harkinian, but I am also a light sleeper. Her whimpering wont allow my needed rest.

*Give it a go then*

Link shifts his position to facing up and slowly pulls her in for a side hug. The Princess's head ends up on top of his right shoulder and her right arm resting on his chest. She stops her trembling and smiles; the effect was almost immediate.

Now this is odd, back when we were running from the Gerudos, Zelda could not sleep, she kept tossing and turning despite my presence. But right now, she is snuggling to me smiling. What changed? How did I pull this off? Because let's be real here, I am no sweet dream; I am a hell of a night. She can't possibly feel safe with me.

*Well, you have put on an EXELENT production here, Hollywood would gladly take you if you leave SWORD… As for her, I kind of feel sorry, she feels safe cause you have been her rock up until now, if only she knew how many times a day I want to dissect her. And how easily I could persuade you to actually do it. *

Link bites hard on his inner cheek to chase the images away from his mind.

 EASY THERE, MONSTER. Don't make me regret not taking those pills.

"Thank you for buying me a cellphone" Zelda suddenly blurts out during her sleep.

Link just looks at her incredulous, and then starts laughing.