Not in the dining room, not in the training hall, not at the bazaar; Zelda was nowhere to be found. But Samus wouldn't stop searching until she found her. Perhaps she would be at the park. Though, what the huntress would do once she found her was another story. Peach was no help at all; in fact she only made things worse. Now that Samus was in a terrible mood as well, how was she supposed to cheer up Zelda?
"God, Peach is so... arrggh!"
Though she hadn't caught Peach's last words to her, Peach used the term frequently enough for her to be familiar with it. Amazon: a freakishly tall, brutish, warrior woman. Of all the things she hated about Peach, she hated that most; the way the other princess could get under her skin and make her feel like a freak and an outsider, insecurities that Samus was already troubled by.
She knew she was different, that she was rough around the edges and the furthest in the world from a feminine flower as any woman could be. And she knew most everyone else shared that assessment of her; thought she was violent or brutish, and she was often mistaken for a man by those that only knew her armored persona. That's just how people saw her. And why shouldn't they? Most of it was the truth after all.
Though, she privately liked to pretend it wasn't the case. If only in her mind she liked to have some sense of normalcy, and as long as she could avoid interacting with the others too much, and too closely, they wouldn't have the opportunity to make her feel like she was so different. But that damn Peach, it was as if she knew Samus' doubts and deliberately attacked
She was, in essence, a bully as far as Samus was concerned. The Chozo raised bounty hunter wasn't very socially experienced, and felt inferior to Peach in that regard, which is why Peach is able to push her around her. However the princess wasn't just some monster she could shoot to make it go away, which was really the only way she knew to handle problems. Samus was at somewhat of a loss as to how to deal with her.
------
Zelda sighed as she tossed another pebble into the fountain. What was she going to do? This situation wasn't going to resolve itself, but she was far too worried and upset to do what she needed to. The more she thought about it, the worse things looked, which was only serving to upset her even more, when what she need to do was concentrate on the task at hand.
And then there was Samus...'It's like she doesn't even care,' Zelda thought. The only thing Samus saw in her was a buddy to hangout with; she wasn't a true friend. It wouldn't take much to make Zelda happy, all she wanted hear was: "Hey Zelda, I'm sorry you're feeling bad. Tell me what's wrong,"and maybe to hold her hand, and maybe a hug, maybe even for her to...
"Humph, like that would ever happen," Zelda mumbled.
Not that Zelda could spare time to focus on Samus right now; she had to think, had to prepare.
"I thought you had something important to do."
Startled, Zelda jumped, dropping her fist full of pebbles, but didn't turn around to face Samus. "I do... uh, not this."
"Well then let's go."
"Go where?"
"Anywhere... lets do something fun."
"Ugh..." Zelda groaned. That again? That really was all Samus cared about. She left the room earlier to get a way from such pestering, but apparently Samus was resolute enough to track her down. "I told you, I have important things to take care of."
"Obviously not that important if this is how you're spending your time. So just come with me already." Samus didn't wait for an answer; she took Zelda by the wrist and pulled her to her feet.
"Alright, fine... You don't have to be so pushy," Zelda grumbled. She pulled her hand away from Samus and followed closely behind her. "Where are we going anyway?"
"You hungry?"
"A little," Zelda admitted reluctantly.
"Let's go get some pancakes."
"Isn't it a little late in the day for breakfast?"
"Yeah, well... I noticed you didn't eat this morning, so let's go to that place in the bazaar we used to go to."
They did, and they both had their usual order of pancakes; Zelda's with maple syrup, and Samus' with butter. Zelda was moody the whole time, practically refusing to engage in conversation; she usually loved pancakes, but she only finished half of hers. With Zelda's mood now beginning to infect Samus as well, they both left the diner brooding.
"Oh look the theater, let's go see something," Samus said upon seeing the theater across from the diner.
"I'd rather not," Zelda sighed.
"Oh come on, we haven't gone in forever."
Zelda reluctantly agreed, thinking that maybe if she gave Samus more of a chance she'd eventually show some sign that she cared. As usual, Samus made comments to her about the show, which she normally enjoyed or even laughed at. But this time Zelda only sat staring down at the back of the see in front of her. Each time Samus spoke she hoped it would be to show some small sign of concern, but it never came. And with every comment Zelda's depression only grew, eventually becoming convinced she was right about Samus. They left the theater with Zelda more depressed than ever and Samus getting discouraged.
"So what'd you think of it?" Samus said as they exited.
"Eh..." Zelda shrugged.
Samus sighed. 'Zelda, what does it take?' Zelda always had an opinion to spare about whatever they had seen; it was like the girl she knew had gone entirely.
She wouldn't give up, though; she had much more planned, something had to work. "Hey lets go--"
"Have you had enough fun yet? Can I go now?" Zelda sounded annoyed.
'Why won't you snap out of it?' Samus sighed. "Come on, I still want to..."
"Is this all I am to you!?" Zelda finally voiced her concern.
"All...? What do you mean... all you are?" Samus was truly confused.
"You don't really care about me at all, do you?"
"What!? What do you mean?" How could Zelda think that after today? "Why do you think we're here?"
"You just want to have someone to hang out with... to do fun things with you. It doesn't matter how I feel," Zelda sulked.
"It does matter! ...This stuff usually makes you happy. That's why-"
Zelda cut her off. "Why haven't you even bothered to ask me what's wrong?" she asked, a definite note of pain in her voice.
Samus looked dumbfounded; it was so simple, but she never would have thought to do so; she had always felt that Zelda kept her at a distance and wouldn't let her in. "I... I never thought you'd want to talk to me about it. I thought you'd only want to talk about it with friends."
Zelda took a step back, a look of pained shock on her face. "Samus, you are my friend! ...at least ...I hoped you were," she said sadly.
"I meant good friends, ones you're close with, that you talk with normally... like you do with Peach... You told her," Samus said, sounding every bit as jealous as she actually was.
"I told her because she asked!"
Samus appeared to be at a loss, she didn't really have a response for that.
"Well that, and it involves her directly," Zelda continued, "so I had to tell her..."
"Wait... it's Peach's fault you upset?" This only angered Samus. "Damn her."
"No, it's not." Zelda again got annoyed, Samus always got difficult every time Peach's name came up.
"So... then what is bothering you?" Samus asked cautiously.
Zelda sighed sarcastically. "Are you sure you even care?"
Samus felt hurt, "Is it...Are you're mad because I haven't asked you?"
Zelda pouted and folded her arms. "Partly... Yes... A lot, actually."
Guilt and shame aren't feelings that Samus experienced often, but now they came in abundance. Here she had been worried about Zelda all this time when in fact she was part of the problem. "So it's my fault then. You're like this because of me."
"You could have at least shown a little sympathy!"
Samus shrunk away. "I'm sorry. I didn't know... ugh." Guilt was a terrible feeling. "I'm not good with things like this. I do care, really."
Zelda glared at her, half scowling, half pouting, considering whether to believe her or not.
"What... um, what were you upset about in the first place?" Samus finally asked what she should have long ago, knowing full well it was too little too late.
Zelda sighed and looked down at her hands while fiddling with her fingers. She sighed again. "They're going to send Peach home."
"Wait, that's it? That's not bad at all."
"Samus! Damn it. Can't you just get along with her?"
"With her? I'd rather eat broken glass."
"Ugh!" Zelda groaned in frustration. "Just forget it. I was a fool to think you'd give a damn. I'm going," she said angrily, then turned around to leave.
"Ah... Wait!" Samus stopped her. Crap, what the hell did she just say that for? "I'm Sorry! I'm uh... Don't go, ok. Zelda, just..." Samus fumbled around for something to say. She knew she was bad at this and that she screwed things up terribly, but she desperately didn't want Zelda to go away mad at her. "Why don't you tell me about it?" she said finally.
Zelda looked sternly at her, seemingly judging her sincerity. It was a sunny day and the weather was slightly warm; though the environment here on the campus was controlled to a degree so it was always a temperate climate. Crowds of stadium goers and spectators passed them on walkway as they stood silently facing each other, most probably not realizing the two were competitors in the tournaments. Samus shifted her weight from one foot to the other, then furrowed her brow and looked her companion in the eye.
Zelda sighed and gave in; she would give Samus one more chance. She looked to the ground briefly, brushed her hair behind her pointed ear, and then looked back up to Samus. "Well I asked her to help me get back at Link for being a jerk and forgetting... well a very important day for us Hylians..." Zelda sighed then continued "I can't believe I agreed to something so irresponsible...I was just so mad, and it seemed like a good idea when we talked about it..."
"What did she do?" Samus asked, her curiosity piqued.
"They were partnered together in an important match and she deliberately made them lose. Link was quite upset about that and complained a great deal. Eventually the people who run the tournaments found out and apparently there were a lot of people betting lots of money on him...Peach got in serious trouble and now they may send her back to her own world and never allow her to return."
"Oh... sorry about that, I guess... um..." Samus had to fight hard to keep from showing her delight at this news.
"It's ok; you can smile all you want. Go ahead and jump for joy."
Damn, Zelda read her like a book. "Zelda, I wouldn't... it's not like that. Ok, so, she's going away, but its not so bad right? Can't you still go visit her or something?"
"That's not the point. It's my fault, I'm responsible...if she gets sent away it will be because of me. I should never have involved her, I shouldn't have ever tried to get revenge on Link." Zelda sighed and stared at the sidewalk "That was the most stupid and petty I've ever done," Zelda said sadly and hung her head.
"I'm sure hanging out with Peach had something to do with that." Samus muttered under her breath. She was like a plague, ruining everything she touched; even Zelda wasn't immune. As far as Samus was concerned she was entirely to blame and was getting everything she deserved. She wanted to tell Zelda as much and that she shouldn't blame herself, but knew that wouldn't really help the situation.
"What?" Zelda looked at her not catching what she said.
"Uh... why don't you just tell them she did it for you... No, then they'd just send you away... Hmm..." Samus pulled on her left ear as was her habit when thinking too hard.
"Ugh... Well I do have a chance to prevent it." Zelda broke in. "Next week there is a hearing; I will be given an opportunity to convince them to allow her to stay."
"That's good then, right? You're pretty smart; you can probably convince them of anything."
"It's not that simple, the laws they have here are intricate and complex. I know Hylian law by heart, but this place is different. I've been studying them for the last couple weeks and forming my argument... but I... well it's just so much pressure, I don't think I can keep it together in there. If I fail, Peach will have to leave... and I'll never see here again. And that's just making me even more nervous and likely to make mistakes," Zelda ranted a bit. "I just can't seem to focus anymore," she added with sigh and hung her head.
"Well... at least you're not in trouble. You still get to stay even if you fail completely." Samus said smiling but then realized it was a dumb thing to say the moment it escaped her lips.
Zelda huffed. "I can't waste time here like this. I need to concentrate..." Zelda sounded irritated. "I just need to think... I... I have to go. See you later."
That could have gone a lot better. "Yeah, ok... See you..." Samus worriedly watched her leave, knowing she handled things badly.
"Damn," she sighed.
End Part Two