I have excuses, but you don't want to hear them X)

Hello, lovelies, I'm back. I know it's been unforgivably long, and I can't promise that it won't happen again, but I will promise that I will finish this story one way or another. I'm about to become a full time college student with two majors and a minor, and I really have no idea what that entails yet but I expect the workload to be considerable. Just like what happened before, school work always comes before writing. But I won't let you down, promise.

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter. It's my favorite one yet!

~Alyssa

o(OXO)o

She was transformed and out her window into the city in an instant.

Though her eyes watered and her heart wrenched, her limbs didn't dare betray her as she swung up into the trees, climbing through on her way to the wall. She stuck the landing clean, not even bothering to look around before throwing herself down onto the nearest rooftop on the other side. Her feet stung on impact, and she sucked in a breath, lucidity flashing across her conscious for a moment.

It was hardly sunset. It was still bright as day outside, and here she was, flitting across the gardens! A note of panic struck her as she immediately fell into a crouch, glancing behind her at the great, looming wall.

It was high enough that no one would see her here. Hopefully, the roof was wide enough that no one would see her from the ground, either.

She let herself slump back onto the tile, feet falling from under her as her bottom came to rest.

It was there that she finally allowed herself to cry.

She buried her face in her knees, sobbing freely. She wept for what seemed like hours, bitter tears for the mistakes she had made and how they had come to destroy her. She was a fool. She had deluded herself for months. Link didn't care a bit for Zelda. Her feelings didn't matter to him. Her heart, though it would soon be promised to him alone forever, was meaningless in his hands.

He did not—and would never—love her for who she was.

The thought stopped her in her tracks—love. She didn't love him. Did she? She thought she could have, but not anymore. How could she, when he treated her so coldly, when he only responded to her when she was a mystery maiden behind a mask? He only cared for the idea of her.

But Goddesses, the way he treated her when she was Sheik. The way he was able to smile and laugh and speak of careless things. The way his head rested on her knee sometimes when he sat by her feet on the floor, the way he closed his eyes and hummed when she ran his fingers through his hair. The way he joked and the way he teased and the glint in his eyes when he told her stories of his adventures. Every memory twisted in her gut with the idea of what could have been, if he would just open up to her as Zelda.

But he would never open up to Zelda. She wasn't good enough.

He didn't care for the match. He told her as much when he hadn't refuted her words.

It was for both of them, then, that she had to end this. She couldn't let him go through with something that would make him so miserable. She couldn't let her heart become fully engaged, only to be let down.

He deserved better. Though she knew with certainty no man would ever make her feel the way he did with every unguarded moment they shared, she deserved better. They would not be wed. He would go back to the south, to his farm where he belonged. She would find another, much more agreeable man of low standing to suit her purposes.

And he would never see Sheik again.

It was with the realization of this resolution that she finally found the strength to cease her tears. She took a shuddering breath, swiping at her sore eyes as she uncurled her legs. When the world finally came back into focus, she knew she had stayed out far longer than she had intended to.

By the moon, it was well into the night.

There would be hell to pay for this tomorrow when she needed a clear head to guide her more than ever. But she supposed it couldn't be helped.

She stood on shaky legs with every intention of jumping across to the castle wall. She took a step back in order to give herself a start, and with a quick glance at the top of the wall to be sure that the guards weren't alert, she started to run.

She was quite suddenly thrown off her equilibrium, however, by a resounding BANG directly underneath her.

She stumbled just on the edge of the roof, her arms flailing wildly as she struggled to regain her balance.

"Thrice DAMNED," came an exceedingly familiar voice from below.

As she regained her footing, she blanched. Though she hadn't known it possible, he sounded even angrier than he had when she saw him last.

"Farore save me, what am I doing wrong—" Another crash.

A look over the edge confirmed what she already knew. There, in an alley between the roof she stood on and the castle wall, was her intended, ranting to no one as he threw whatever he could get his hands on at the stone in front of him. Though he was two stories below, she knew by his wild hair and ripped overcoat that he was not in his senses. There was no way he could be. She had never seen him lash out like this, and she had seen him at his worst.

He picked up a dilapidated old stool, and with a swear that brought a blush to her cheeks, flung it at the wall. Splinters flew all around him, and he kicked one of the legs out of his way. He was about to make similar work of a much larger crate when she finally gathered the strength to speak up, coughing to clear her throat.

"…Link?" she called, and he froze in place. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"I don't need your advice," Link groaned, though he threw the crate down at his feet. "Get away from here."

"I would, but I find myself worried for your health." Yes, that was it. She coughed again, swinging down off of the roof and onto one of the sills of the windows below. She climbed down into the alley, wrinkling her nose as she came close. He reeked of liquor. "Are you quite all right?"

The alleyway was dark, but she could still see his face. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes were pathetic. "I'm fine. Go away."

"Unlikely." Her voice was flat. "You're drunk."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"I'm not."

"Do you make it a habit of destroying public property, then?"

His shoulders slumped, and he ran a hand down his haggard face. "All right, so maybe I am a little."

She crossed her arms, thoroughly unimpressed. "I didn't know you drink."

"I don't, normally." He sat down on the crate, resting his head in a hand. "I don't know what came over me. Farore." He kicked angrily at the ground.

"What?"

"I screwed up," he said thickly, voice muffled. "So bad."

Something deep in her gut wrenched. She said nothing, bracing herself to hear the words she dreaded.

"I saved Hyrule, and now it's all going to go to Hell because I can't get my thrice-damned act together."

Well, that wasn't what she was expecting.

"What?"

His gaze was fixed on the ground. "The princess and I had a falling out about the stupidest thing I can think of. She's usually so…so calm. But not today. I've never seen her so angry."

"I am quite sure it was deserved," she bit out before she could stop herself.

"It was," he nodded sullenly. "I abandoned her for supper. It was probably very embarrassing. But Farore, Sheik, I couldn't take it anymore! Just when I think we're getting to a place beyond the lie we've been living, she brings it right back up!"

"You don't love her, do you?"

"Of course I don't!" His hands fisted in his hair. "But at least years ago, during the war, we were friends! She could tell the truth about that. She doesn't need to lie about how we met, or the interests we share, or our hope for the future. That's all the truth. That's all we have, honestly, and I would think she'd want the whole world to know about it. But she doesn't. She doesn't care about the truth."

She did care. Goddesses, she cared. But how could she give pieces of her heart to complete strangers to feed their need for gossip? She had been raised to keep the genuine parts of herself at bay to protect what little she had.

But he didn't understand.

"Perhaps the truth isn't what the people want," she proposed, her voice suddenly just as thick as his.

"Of course it's not, or we wouldn't be getting married in the first place." He heaved a sigh. "I just wish…I wish we could work together. I wish she would hear my piece without getting angry. She stormed out before we could even have a chance at talking."

"Well, why didn't you follow her?" she snapped, tears pricking at her eyes.

"I did! I was banging on her door for a quarter hour. She didn't say a word."

Because she was on a rooftop, crying that he hadn't followed her. Because she thought he didn't care, even though he very much did.

Oh, what a mess she had made of things.

"I suppose she's confused," she said after a long second, swiping at her eyes before she could do something stupid like cry again.

"I'm confused. Every bit of my honor says I have to marry her. My country needs peace. It's already been decided. And I want her to be happy, it's just—" He cut himself off.

"It's just what?" she managed to ask.

"I want to be happy, too."

That was what she had been waiting to hear.

"If you can't be happy with her, tell her." She tried in vain to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat. "Tell her, and leave."

"That's what kills me, Sheik. I could be happy with her. Just…so many things got in the way."

It was the same conclusion she'd come to herself. If they were just Zelda and Link, just two people with no expectations or responsibility or titles, they could have been so happy it was agonizing to think about. They were so perfectly suited for the other; the people they were at their cores fit together like soulmates. When they were together at night with nothing but potential stretched out in front of them, they were everything she could possibly ask for.

But they weren't just Zelda and Link. She was a Princess who needed to marry well to prevent a revolt. He was a Hero who the people idolized. They had to deal with the pressure of being shoved together and the whispers of gossip and a stream of lies so long that it was strangling them. Their relationship couldn't survive the strain. What relationship could?

It was for the better that they ended this now, before the wedding.

That meant, however desperately it pained her, that she had to end things with Sheik, too.

"Well…I've been doing some thinking. I—I can't be friends with you anymore," she said after a long silence.

"I can't be friends with you anymore, either." He ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes with a bitter expression. "I've tried. But that's not good enough."

Heat rushed to her cheeks. "I thought you were upset because you can't seem to reconcile with the princess."

"Why do you think I can't reconcile with the princess?" He stood, crossing the width of the alleyway in two long strides. He pointed a finger in her direction. "It's because of you. Farore forgive me, I can't stop thinking of you. You're consuming me, Sheik."

She suddenly found it quite hard to breathe.

"I want to see your face," he said, pulling down the fabric that covered her all the way past her chin. The backs of his fingers traced the path of her bare cheek and came to rest under her chin. His touch was silk, and she nearly shuddered. "I want to know who you are."

She was powerless under the intensity of his gaze. "You know me."

"I didn't know how beautiful you were until this very moment." His voice was hoarse. "There's so many things I don't know about you."

He took a step closer, and what little distance remained between them disappeared. She could feel his warmth through the thin fabric of her suit, could feel his heart pounding heavily against hers. "And I mean to know you in every way."

Her hands found his shoulders, but whether they were there to push him away or to make sure he never left, she wasn't sure. His face dipped dangerously close to hers, and her head spun.

Just an hour ago she had made up her mind in never seeing him again as Sheik. She was certain that only harm could come from spending time with him this way. She was not willing to keep up the deception when it so easily blew up in her face, and resolved to end their engagement because it was better for the both of them.

But nothing was good if it meant she wasn't able to do this.

She had finally gotten her thoughts and future in a semblance of order, but within a minute he had taken all her plans and reduced them to ash.

Nayru, this was wrong. He was half-drunk. She was a wreck. But somehow nothing mattered more than the heat of his hand on her waist and the smoldering look in his eyes.

"The Princess," she murmured, unable to find it in herself to protest any further.

His gaze flickered from her lips back up to her eyes, his voice husky and warm and wanting. "To hell with the Princess," he rasped.

And then his lips were on hers, and she was undone.

She had been kissed before. When she was young there had been a rather long line of admirers eager to please their princess, and she was more than happy to let them. But all of them were nothing more than passing fancies, and when they touched her, it was with a fragility that frustrated her to no end.

Link, it seemed, did not have such qualms.

He kissed her with such a fervor, such an intensity that she would have collapsed were in not for the wall of the alley at her back. In a moment he had ignited such a fire in her, and everywhere he touched seemed to burn. There were no more problems, no more responsibilities, no more doubts or tears, just him and her and his all-consuming kiss.

The need for air compelled her to pull away, but he did not seem willing to allow his lips to break contact with her skin. He kissed down her jaw and latched onto her neck as low as her suit allowed, and a small noise escaped her lips.

Her fingers clutched at his hair, her chest heaving.

"Is this thing glued to your skin?" he rasped, trying and failing to pull the collar of her suit down.

"It's magic," she managed, and she could tell it wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. She gasped as his teeth scraped the juncture where suit met skin, sucking the tender flesh into his mouth in the moment next.

"Promise me you won't leave me again," he murmured into her neck.

"Mmph," she sighed, but it wasn't what he wanted.

"Say you won't go." His mouth trailed higher, paying attentions to a rather sensitive spot just below her ear. She bit her lip to stifle a moan. "There's no reason for me to be here without you."

The words were like a cold bucket of water thrown on the flame he had been building in her. She froze, pulling his head back by the hair.

"What?!" she demanded, her eyes growing wide.

"You're the only reason why I didn't leave here weeks ago, Sheik," he breathed, leaning in to reclaim her lips, "I need to be where you are."

"No—" She twisted her head away, and he sobered in an instant, stopping at once.

"No?"

"You—you can't leave here," she said, voice becoming frantic. She let him go, pushing away from the wall and beginning to pace. "You have to marry the princess! The fate of Hyrule depends on it!"

"That doesn't matter!"

"Of course it matters!"

"How can I marry her when I want you?"

Frustration mounting, she whirled on him. "I'm not going anywhere, Link!"

His mouth fell agape.

"You…you would stay with me, knowing that I'm intended for someone else?"

"Yes," Sheik said, before she could even comprehend what it was she was saying.

"She'll be my wife. She'll have my children."

She swallowed. "I know that."

"And that doesn't matter to you?"

"I want this," she said, instead of answering his question. "I'll stay as long as you'll have me. But you have to promise that you'll get on better terms with the princess and go on with the wedding. Your marriage is bigger than the two of us. It involves the entirety of Hyrule."

He slumped against the wall, running a tired hand down his face. "I know."

She came towards him, standing up on her toes to kiss his cheek. "And you have to promise to get some sleep. You look exhausted."

He wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on hers. "I am exhausted. But if it means keeping you, I'll do what you say."

She closed her eyes. "Thank you."

"Anything for you." He lifted her face, kissing her for too brief an instant before releasing her, pulling away from the wall. "I should be going back to the castle. Will you meet me tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"All right." He smiled, and it was enough to make the heat rise in her stomach once more. "Goodnight, Sheik."

"Goodnight, Link."

He turned his back on her and left then, starting the path back to the castle gate with an all but silent tread. She watched him go until he was swallowed by the darkness, her stomach twisting into knots as she came to realize what she had just done.

She reached up and touched her lips, still buzzing with the electricity from his kisses.

Her final thought as she hoisted herself up onto the wall of the alley was that she had, if possible, just made her mess quite larger than it had ever been before.

o(OXO)o

When he came to her in the morning, it was so ungodly early that she hadn't even changed from her nightgown. But he was insistent and continued to knock at her door.

"I'm indecent," she said, sweeping her hair over her shoulder and hastily braiding it, trying to disguise the darkening mark on her neck.

She could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "I'm to be your husband."

However much she couldn't argue with that point, a look in the mirror listed all the reasons why she couldn't let him in but couldn't dare vocalize.

Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were wild. Her lips were swollen red, so obviously recently kissed that she could hardly stand to look at herself. No, she couldn't let him in, that much was certain.

"Princess, with every respect you're due, we need to talk, and it can't wait. At the risk of sounding rude, you can either open this door, or I'll bust it down."

Her stomach dropped.

"All right, all right, just give me a moment."

She tugged her robe on over her nightgown, tying it tight as she hastily crossed the room to her washbasin. She splashed her face once, and though the cool water felt quite nice on her overheated skin, she knew that it would do little to disguise what she had done.

But he wouldn't wait any longer.

She all but ran to the door, unbolting the lock and wrenching it open.

There he stood, in the same clothes he had worn the night before, though there was no evidence of the drinks he had consumed. If he noticed what she feared he would—and there was no way that he couldn't have, truly—he didn't mention in. Instead, he nodded to her, unsmiling.

"May I come in?" he asked.

Her cheeks flushed even deeper as he looked down at her, expression impassive but eyes conveying the same nervousness she felt.

By all three of the goddesses, his lips were still swollen, too.

"I am unsure if that is the best idea," she said, breathless.

"This isn't a conversation I want to have in the hallway."

"Yes," she agreed, "But—"

"Zelda." It was one of the few times that he had ever used her given name, and she felt herself melt. What power he had been given over her in just one night. She was such a fool. "Please?"

She couldn't deny him anything.

"Very well," she conceded, and with a quick glance around the hall to be sure there was no one around to see, opened the door and gestured him in.

He sat himself down on her chaise, leaning down to rest his elbows on his legs and folding his hands together. She looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

But he didn't. Instead, in an almost identical position to the way he had sat the previous night on the crate, he hunched over and stared at his hands.

She exhaled heavily.

"You asked to see me, you know," she said, and he held a hand up, his brow furrowing.

"I'm trying to figure out how to word this," he said.

"What?"

"Shh," he hushed, and she scowled.

"Did you just shush me, you—"

"Look, Zelda, there are no excuses for how abominably I've acted the last week," he said, interrupting her tirade. He looked up at her, and his eyes were pleading. "I can't blame you for the mess we've been put in."

"What?" she asked again, the breath knocked from her chest.

Abominably. He'd said abominably.

"I understand now how this is going to work. You're going to have your exploits, and I'm going to have mine, but for matters of the kingdom, we're going to work together." He sucked in a deep breath, rubbing his hands together. "We're going to be married because the people wish it, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends, can it?"

She nodded slowly, still entirely aghast. When she'd told him to apologize, she hadn't expected him to be so…sincere. "I…suppose not."

"I'm sorry for the way I've acted. Can you forgive me? Can we start over?"

She exhaled, trying to compose herself.

"Yes," she said, "We can."

He stood at these words, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles with gratitude.

"Thank you," he murmured, and she closed her eyes, trying not to imagine what it would be like if she wasn't the one he was seeing every night.

So how's that for a comeback chapter?

Leave a word if you would. When I was gone, it was the reviews that brought me back. Knowing there're people out there, loving my story, makes it so much harder to stop writing! I don't want to let any of you down.

Check out my tumblr at alyssawritesalot for the original work that I've been working on, fanfic bonuses, writing snippets, and more!