Illusions and Lies (A Super Smash Brothers fan fiction)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: DISTRACTED.

Warnings: This chapter contains mentions of self-harm. This occurs from the second half of the chapter until the end. Read at your own discretion. 

It had been a week since the rescue, and Zelda went to sleep each night either exhausted or worried. Sometimes both, if it had been a particularly trying day. Adjusting to life in the city was so difficult, especially considering how she could hardly go and talk to people who'd been raised here for advice. They all looked at her like she was insane. 

Adding to all this stress was her worry about her brother. He'd been walking around, looking like he was dead inside. Granted, Sheik usually looked dead inside to some degree, but he'd seemed extra out of it lately. Zelda had to do something about it, but she didn't know what the hell she could do. 

She half wanted to confront him about it, but how could she bring it up without setting him off? Zelda knew that he was likely barely holding it together. She didn't want to send him over the edge by asking what was wrong, since he'd freaked out in the past when asked "are you okay?"

So, if she couldn't talk to Sheik about it, why not talk to his best friend?

There she was now, standing in front of his door. 

Zelda raised her hand and knocked three times. 

"Be right there!" Corrin said, followed by running footsteps and then the sound of muffled cursing. 

Corrin opened the door. He was standing on one foot and grimacing in pain. His pained expression quickly turned into surprise, then confusion. 

"Zelda? I wasn't expecting you. Sorry about that." Corrin said sheepishly, putting his other foot down and smiling apologetically. 

"Did you stub your toe or something?" Zelda asked, since she was genuinely concerned. 

"Ahhh, it's nothing. Don't worry about it." Corrin mumbled. 

So now Corrin seemed out of it, too. What the heck was going on? Was everybody just dying inside now? 

Great.

"Are you feeling okay?" Zelda asked.

"I'm fine. Now, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?" Corrin lied. If Zelda wasn't so good at listening to the tone of a person's voice while they replied to that question, then he would have gotten away with the lie. But, no. 

"I wanted to talk to you about my brother." Zelda said, deciding to just move past it for now.

Corrin literally jumped a few centimeters in the air, and his hand slipped off the doorknob. The door nearly closed on her, but luckily she was able to enter the room right in time. 

"Dude, seriously?" Zelda yelped, startled by almost being killed by a door.

"Sorry!" Corrin exclaimed, looking just as startled as Zelda. "M-maybe you'd better follow me." 

Zelda sighed in exasperation and followed Corrin, since she had nothing better to do and she really didn't want to get killed by a door. He led her to the kitchen/small dining room, since the rooms each teenager had been given seemed more like small apartments than anything else. 

"Go ahead, sit down." Corrin said, still seeming freaked out from the mere mention of Zelda's brother. "What did you want to talk about, again? I'm so sorry for almost killing you."

"I wanted to talk to you about Sheik! He's been acting weird ever since we got here, and he won't even talk to me! Surely you know. He tells you more than he tells me." Zelda exclaimed, sitting down on one of the barstools by the kitchen counter.