Samus and Zelda stood at the crest of the hill on a remote and foreboding planet. All alone, their foes greatly outnumbered them and they had no means of escape. So they stood there holding each other, waiting for death to take them. Neither one spoke; neither knew what to say. The only thing Samus could do now was hold Zelda right to the end. As they stood there, Samus could hear the whine of a ships engine. The pirates had ships in the air too; that was no surprise. It wouldn't have mattered even if they had managed to get to her ship and take off, the pirates would surely have shot them down; it had happened to her before.
"Uh, Sa-... Samus," Zelda finally spoke up.
"What is it?"
The sound of the ship grew louder.
"I, um... I need to tell you... uh..."
"Yes?"
The ship grew even closer. Would it fire on them? Would they not even have these few moments?
"I... well... I know we haven't known each other that long, but... I still feel, um... I... I wanted to tell you this morning... What I'm trying to say--"
The ship roared past, high above them, interrupting Zelda, and sped off to their right; the sound of its powerful engine rolled over the hills... Wait... the sound... the pitch was wrong. That wasn't the sound of any ship she knew the space pirates to use. But it was familiar somehow.
"Samus, um..."
"Hold on."
She turned to look for it, now it was just a speck in the distance. The ship eventually came about and began approaching them again. As it drew nearer she could make out its shape. It couldn't be... it was... the ship was an Arwing.
"Fox?"
"What was that, Samus?"
"We just might survive this yet."
The Arwing was coming now at an incredible speed, at least mach twenty she judged, and it was low, extremely low, not even ten feet off the ground. It passed over the horde of approaching space pirates; the shock wave it generated at that speed was so intense the pirates directly under the ship were practically liquefied as it passed by. Those not directly under were blown fifty feet in the air. They heard the sonic boom as it passed them.
When the ship passed beyond the mass of pirates it made a seemingly impossible ninety degree turn directly upward, rocketing into the sky. A few seconds later laser blasts came raining down on the pirates. The ship flew directly downward at the ground, firing the whole time, and only pulled up at the last second. Then a second Arwing approached and preformed the same low altitude, high speed buzz maneuver, cutting another swath through the pirates.
Samus could hear faint, but deep explosions above them. Looking up, she could see two more Arwings engaged in a dogfight with thirty to forty pirate attack craft. They were fairly high up, in the upper layers of the atmosphere. She put her armor back on.
"Zelda."
"Um, yeah?"
"Let's get going," she said taking Zelda's hand and dragging her along.
They moved along the ridge parallel to the valley. Both forward, and back the way they had come, there were tons of pirates, so it was the only way they had to go. Samus tried to contact the StarFox team through her armor's com system.
"Hey, can you guys hear me...? This is Samus. Respond."
"Hey there little lady, just hang in there. Your ride is on the way," came the familiar voice of an older man. She recognized the voice as Peppy, one of the members of Fox's squadron. "Just keep moving in that direction."
"Acknowledged."
"Umm, who were you talking to just now?" Zelda asked curiously
"A friend of Fox. They're going to help us."
"But I didn't hear anyone. There's nobody around."
"It's... a radio... never mind that now."
As they ran along the top of the ridge, Samus noticed the pirates moving up the hill towards them. Although now they had significantly thinned out due to the air support they got from StarFox, there were still far too many for her to handle at once. Pirates began coming over the crest of the hill, and as they did Samus shot them down, but more and more came, faster than she could take them out.
"Samus! Get down!" Fox's voice came over the intercom.
A few seconds later an Arwing made a strafing run past them, firing into the approaching pirates. Dirt and rocks flew everywhere. Samus grabbed Zelda and turned her away from the flying debris, shielding Zelda with her own body. When the spray of dirt had subsided, they both started running again. Then Samus caught a glimpse of StarFox's battle cruiser and mobile base, the Great Fox. Beneath it suspended in a tractor beam was her own ship. So, the pirates hadn't gotten it after all.
The Great Fox approached them and eventually was hovering over them. It descended until Samus' ship was just off the ground and then released it. Samus picked up Zelda in her arms, jumped on top of her ship and entered the hatch, lowering Zelda in first then jumping in after her. Samus seated herself at the controls and went through the start up procedure, while Zelda knelt next to her clinging to her chair. Once the ship was started up, she lifted off the ground and took off. The two Arwings, that were attacking the pirates on the ground, took up flanking positions beside them. Once safely in the air Samus removed her armor once again. She then received a transmission from Fox.
"Samus, are you alright over there?"
"Yeah, we made it in one piece. How'd you know to show up?"
"I saw you leaving with Link, it looked like there might be trouble, so we followed you. Where is he by the way?"
Samus looked over to Zelda who was now staring at the floor. "He... didn't make it."
"What? He... I see..." The com went silent for a short while. "Take care of the princess, make sure she gets back home safely. We'll mop up here. Fox out."
"Thanks Fox," Samus muttered to herself. She then plotted a course back to the stadium into the nav-computer and engaged the warp engines.
Before Samus' ship sped away, Fox and Peppy broke off of their escort and headed for the fight against the Pirate attack craft.
"Form up. Attack pattern delta!" Fox called out to his squadron.
Falco and Slippy broke away from the fight and joined them; the four craft taking up a diamond pattern. They came around to make a pass at the unorganized group of space pirate ships.
"Don't let a single one escape. Kill 'em all," Fox said in an uncharacteristically flat tone.
All four opened fire into the center of the group, plowing themselves a path right thorough to the other side. Once through, they split into four separate paths and came around, encircling the pirates, then individually plunging into them again. The whole thing became a fur ball.
After a while the pirate's ships had been thinned out and Fox disengaged from the battle. His Arwing rolled onto its side and rapidly descended.
"Fox, where you going?" Falco called to him.
"Take care of these guys up here, there's something I need to finish."
He approached the valley where the space pirates on the ground had massed. They now appeared to be moving in a specific direction, heading somewhere in particular.
"Link... goodbye, my friend."
He flipped open a yellow and black striped protective cover on his console, revealing a small red button. When the angle and distance to the ground were right he hit the button. A small device released from the belly of his ship, started glowing red and took off under its own power. Fox pulled up and hit the throttle hard, the intense acceleration throwing him back in his seat. A few seconds later there was a blinding light, and seconds after that a powerful shock rocked the tiny craft. The ship rocketed into the sky as the cloud from its neutrino bomb slowly rose into the air, the hoards of space pirates on the ground consumed by its unholy fire.
------
Once her ship was underway, Samus turned her attention to Zelda. "You alright? I mean, you're not injured, are you?"
"Umm, no... I'm not..." Zelda said weakly, still staring at the floor. "Link is... he's..."
She couldn't bring herself to say it, as that would confirm the reality of it in her mind. She had trouble believing he was gone, he had been part of her life for so long now; it was difficult to think of a world without him in it. She thought of that last night they spent together; that night she had felt so close to him. It was the last time they spoke with each other, she didn't get to say one word to him when she was rescued. She had fallen asleep back then and didn't even get to say goodbye before he left. There was still so much she wanted to say to him, things she wanted to ask him. But now he... he was... she would never get the chance to do that.
Zelda was startled by contact on her face. Looking up she saw Samus sitting beside her on the floor, her hand wiping the tears from Zelda's eyes. Zelda hadn't even realized she was crying. Samus pulled Zelda in close, and pulled her head down to rest on her chest. She wrapped one arm around her shoulders and cradled her head with the other. Zelda's tears flowed freely.
"I can't believe he's... he's gone," Zelda said, the pain in her voice was very apparent. Samus hugged her tighter, rested her head on top of Zelda's, and held her while she cried.
A long while later, after she finally settled down, Zelda looked up to meet Samus' eyes. "Samus, you came for me... I... I was so frightened. I owe you my life... for the second time."
"You don't owe me anything."
"You risked your own life to save mine--"
"And you're alive, that's all I wanted. Nothing else is required."
Zelda smiled at that but it quickly faded. "I'm... I'm sorry about all this. I really am helpless after all. If I hadn't gotten myself captured... none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have had to come and save me and... Link would still..."
"No!" Samus pulled away and held Zelda at arms length. "Don't you dare!" She shouted angrily. Zelda stared at her confused. "Don't you dare apologize to me! It was all my fault. Ridley wanted me. You got caught up in something that had nothing to do with you only because you were close to me. So don't you apologize. It's my fault you were captured, and it's my fault your friend is dead." She paused and thought about her last words. She sighed. "Death seems to follow me wherever I go. It's like I'm cursed."
Zelda looked at her a bit puzzled. She was about to say something but Samus shook her head signaling her not to. Then Samus pulled Zelda back in to her arms, their heads resting on each others shoulders. "I'm really sorry about Link."
"It... It's not your fault either... I... really miss him," she said still teary.
"If there's anything I can do for you..."
"Can you... just hold me, please?"
"Yeah, come here."
Samus stood and led Zelda over to the pilots' seat. Sitting down in it, she pulled Zelda onto her lap and reclined the seat back slightly. Zelda curled up in a fetal position and leaned up against her as Samus wrapped her arms around Zelda.
"I feel so tired," Zelda said wearily.
"Then sleep. You've been through a lot."
Samus hit a switch on the console and all the interior lights went off save the glow of the console itself. Zelda squirmed around a little to get more comfortable.
"You're warm and soft... you make a nice pillow," Zelda said softly. Samus smiled and stroked her hair. "Samus, you're so good to me. What would I do without you?" she muttered as she began drifting off to sleep.
"Stay with me forever..." were her last words before falling asleep.
Samus winced at that comment.
"Sorry, I don't know if I can promise that," she said only after she was sure Zelda was asleep.
------
When Zelda awoke she was back in her bed in the room that she and Samus shared at the stadium. She saw Samus sitting on her bed, cramming her clothes, which had previously been strewn about the floor surrounding the bed, into her bag.
Samus noticed she was awake. "Hey, you're up. Sleep well?"
"Yeah... how did I... you carried me again?"
"Uh-huh. You were out cold."
"You're packing your things. You're leaving?" Zelda sounded anxious. She had known that this moment would come once they were able to return to their own worlds, but she wasn't at all prepared for it.
"Yes."
Zelda climbed out of bed and walked over to Samus. "But... I... I don't want you to leave... It's... I mean, I... I don't want to be alone. Not right now, not after..."
"Zelda..." Samus sighed, and looked softly at her. "I guess I could stay for another day--"
"Only a day?" Zelda cut her off.
"You didn't think we could stay here indefinitely, did you?"
"No, but I just... I want to spend some more time with you," she sighed. "Is that too much to ask?"
Samus put her hand on Zelda's shoulder. "Hey, it's no big deal. It's not like I'll never see you again. I still plan on coming here, and as long as you still do we'll see each other all the time."
"I know, I... it's just... is that enough for you?"
"Enough?"
"I've only just realized... I mean, gotten to know you, and now you have to go so soon... I..."
"Look, we both have our own lives to get back to. You have a country to run, and I probably have a ton of jobs piling up, and there's still the space pirates and Ridley, you've seen how terrible they can be. I can't just ignore the threat they pose; and then there's who knows what else out there... I can stay a little while, but I really will have to go back eventually."
"Well then... then can't you take me with you?!"
Samus winced, she knew that was coming sooner or later. "It won't be glamorous or fun. Zelda, the life I lead... it's... It wouldn't be easy on you. I mostly live off that small ship, traveling constantly, I'm rarely home. There's constant danger, crappy food, little opportunity for showers, only sleeping when it's convenient..."
"None of that matters to me."
Samus' shoulders slumped. "If it's what you really want..." she said reluctantly.
"It is!" Zelda said sounding distraught.
Samus sighed and looked away, "And what about your kingdom...don't you care that--"
"No, I don't...I don't care... I don't care if I ever go back there! I just want to be with you."
"Zelda... don't you think--"
"Samus, I... I love you."
"You..." Samus stood there expressionless for what seemed like forever, letting Zelda's words hang in the air. Her mouth moved, attempting to speak, but no sound came out. Zelda couldn't read anything on her face.
"Samus?"
"I... I have to go..." she said wistfully, staring blankly into space "...I'm sorry. I really have to go." Samus grabbed her bag and jacket and headed for the door.
"What? Wait! Samus!"
Samus paused, but for only an instant then continued on and went out the door.
"But I... Samus... don't go...don't leave me all alone," she said to the empty room.
She sat down on the floor right where she was, staring at the open door. She half expected Samus to come right back; to realize she made a mistake, to change her mind, anything... She sat there for almost a minute before realizing that wasn't going to happen. Summoning the strength to stand, she got up and went out the door after Samus. She eventually worked up to a run, and headed for the gateway area.
When Zelda arrived there, Samus' ship was already powered up and lifting off its pad. It rose into the air and flew through the portal and was gone. Again Zelda was left standing as Samus left. She clenched her fist, closed her eyes, and swallowed hard; trying not to cry. She took a deep slow breath, held it, and let it out, then told the gate operator that she was going home. The operator opened the gate to her world, one of the smaller doorway sized gates. She walked up to it and stood staring at its swirling energy. She looked over to the gate Samus had left through one last time before finally stepping through.
------
A rock face at the edge of an open meadow rippled as if it were made of liquid. A human form protruded from the rock, wearing the rocks surface like a sheet. Eventually that sheet melted back into the rock and off of the form that had emerged, and the princess was left standing there. She was now back in her own world, the familiar sights of Hyrule greeting her. In the distance she could see Hyrule Castle's spires peaking over the tree tops. She set out on her short journey home. The sun hung low in the sky, it was almost dusk, and that meant Stalfos and Poes would be out soon. Though that didn't seem to concern her now; her mind was elsewhere.
The walk to the castle was uneventful; she made it to the gates before the sun had set so she didn't have to worry about being attacked. Before her was the usually busy market that lay just outside the castle, though at this time of day there weren't many people around. She made her way up the path that led from the town market to the castle itself.
When she neared the main entrance one of the guards approached her. "Excuse me, miss, but visitors aren't permitted at this hour, you'll have to... Your highness! You've returned!"
"Yes, please open the gate," Zelda said sounding tired.
"Yes. Right away."
The guard ran over to the gate house and instructed them to open up. Then he shouted to gain the attention of the other guards and informed them that the princess had returned.
As she walked through the entrance hall more and more of the castle staff came to greet her. Initially most were guards but as the word spread of her return many more came as well; house keepers, her personal attendants, the head chef and the rest of the kitchen staff, and several advisors. As she got to the stairs that lead to the upper floors, she was greeted by her chief advisor Gaebora, who was coming down the stairs.
Gaebora was a middle aged man with graying hair and a distinguished beard. He was slightly overweight and of average height. He wore a rather expensive looking suit and had wire rimmed glasses on. He had previously served as chief advisor to her father.
"Your highness, where have you been? It's been days since you disappeared," the man pestered, but Zelda didn't respond. "Princess you've had us all very worried. You mustn't keep running off like this any longer."
"Gaebora, thank you for your concern, but I am very tired right now. I'm going to my chambers to sleep and I do not wish to be disturbed," she said flatly, with no emotion in her voice.
The man continued to chatter on, but she tuned him out and slowly trudged down the hall to her room. When she got there she opened the door then turned to her advisor again.
"I'm going to bed now, I don't wish to be disturbed." she repeated.
"Allow me to fetch the attendants to prepare your highness--"
"No..." she cut him off, "...just ...go away," she said sadly.
With that, she pushed the large door to her room closed, then slid the bar in place to keep it shut. She leaned back against the door and sighed deeply, staring into the room, which was basked in an orange light from the dusk sky. She sighed and glanced around taking in the familiar surroundings.
Her large bed was on the left side of the room from where she stood, its head up against the wall. Next to the bed was a night stand with a candle stick on it. On the far side of her room was a large opening that led out on to a balcony, draped with lush curtains. To the left of the balcony was a desk with various official papers on it. On the right side of the room was a dresser, a full-length mirror and the door to a walk-in closet.
This was the room she grew up in, being here was somewhat comforting to her after what she been through and what she was gong through now. She'd just lost the two most important people to her, in the span of just a few hours.
'Link... He was...' No. It was just too painful to think about that now. On the other hand, she couldn't stop thinking about Samus; she ran the conversation over and over in her head, trying to figure out what had happened, though the answers eluded her. Summoning the strength to move, she leaned away from the door, walked over to her bed, and lay face down on it.
"Samus..." she whispered.
The tears started to well up in her eyes. She couldn't hold them in any longer, she buried her face in a pillow and began sobbing. Hugging the pillow tight she cried until she fell asleep.
------
When she woke again it was completely dark, night had fallen and she could barely see around her room. She sat up in the middle of her bed still holding the pillow. She thought of Samus again. How could she just leave like that? Was she upset? Did Zelda do something wrong? Maybe she shouldn't have been so aggressive, and just accepted that they would see each other every so often at the stadium. Confessing her love was too much too soon. Now she wasn't even certain she would get to see Samus again at all.
'I went and ruined it,' she thought. She started crying again.
All of a sudden she stopped. Something startled her. She became aware of another presence in the room. She wasn't alone. Fear gripped her and her heart raced. She froze, and looked around the room moving only her eyes, not wanting to alert the intruder she was aware of his presence until she could locate him. There! On the balcony, in the darkness she could faintly see the silhouette of the figure. He was leaning against the pillar that formed the left side of the opening out onto the balcony.
Zelda let out the breath she had been holding since she first noticed she wasn't alone. She clenched her fists then stood up off of her bed and faced the intruder.
"Who's there?!"
End Part Ten