Illusions and Lies (A Super Smash Brothers fan fiction)

CHAPTER THIRTY: ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE.

Zelda was so tired all of the time. She couldn't explain it. She just was. Everything that was going on was so stressful. Trying to keep track of her friends- who, now that they were actually allowed to explore romantic relationships, were finding that their friendships with certain people were evolving in new and unfamiliar ways- was just... exhausting. The one bright side was that Sheik seemed to be improving, seeing as he was more willing to actually have a conversation with her about his feelings. Sure, he wasn't willing to talk about how he felt all of the time, but it was a start. 

Naturally, thinking about everything that was going on with her friends and their relationships only led her to Link. Every single time, without fail, Link was at the end of the proverbial path of her thoughts. 

And every single time, she managed to get her emotions into a tangled up mess. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about Link, but she was almost entirely certain that he didn't see her in the same way that she saw him. Which was weird to think about, because he was supposed to be her best friend. But at some point, those feelings had changed from regular friendliness to... whatever she was feeling now. Love? Attraction? A combination of the two? 

"This fucking sucks." Zelda groaned and closed her eyes, leaning back on her bed. Even though there was a mess of emotions whirling through her head, her overall approach to the situation was unconcerned. Almost apathetic, really. She didn't feel too bothered by the confusing mess she had to make sense of. Which probably wasn't normal, but then again... Zelda had stopped worrying about being "normal" a long time ago. Ever since she met her parents, really. They meant well, but there was a very clear separation from who her parents thought she was and who she really was. She knew everybody else felt it too.

Who had she been, as a little girl? Had she been happy? She couldn't remember anything. The early years of her childhood were foggy at best, and downright gone at worst. Sometimes, when she slept, a memory would drift through her head. The memories were usually fragmented recollections of nonsensical moments. Just last night she had recalled an afternoon where she was playing in a sandbox with Sheik as a toddler, making sand castles and then destroying them with plastic figurines in the shape of dragons. 

But things like that couldn't really tell her what she had been like as a kid. Honestly, Zelda didn't really want to know. It would only make her feel worse about how she'd changed, when really nothing was her fault. Then again, those feelings didn't really care about the facts. She knew that. Really, no feelings cared about facts. They just happened, and then it was up to the person to decide what to do with them. You could let your feelings overwhelm you, or you could fight them for every inch you gave. 

Zelda liked to think that she was emotionally strong, but moments like right now, when the numb feeling overrode anything else and she just felt like sleeping until the end of time... these moments were what proved her wrong. She wasn't emotionally strong, really. She was just another stupid teenage girl, trying to figure out what the hell she was doing with her life.

Because what was she doing with her life? So far, she'd done nothing but worry about other people. Now that the people that she had previously been worrying about to avoid her own head were mostly doing alright, she had no way to run from this anymore. Hence why she was lying on her bed instead of going out and exploring the city. It was pathetic, and yet here she was. 

Oh, and she kept getting weird letters. She hadn't opened any of them, and they were sitting in the bottom of a drawer. The stack kept growing, and it was concerning. Sooner or later the curiosity was going to get to her, and then what? Would she discover death threats or something?

Gods, she really should get out and do something to clear her head. Link had mentioned Shulk taking the boys to a club shortly after they'd arrived here. Maybe she should go, just to see what it was like? Also, she could really use a distraction. She was sick of thinking. Unfortunatly, she really didn't want to go talk to someone she knew already. It would just remind her of everything that she was stressing out about- namely her confusing feelings for Link, because somehow everything reminded her of him.