Link's POV

The turkey is ruined: crispy black and chipped on the surface, burned to its core.

"I'm so sorry!" Zelda says, her face full of shame and her head hanging low.

I pat her shoulder. "It's okay."

Impa crosses her arms and scoffs, "It's Malice's fault. If she hadn't disappeared, Link wouldn't have left the kitchen to search for her."

Malice points at Kiroh. "Then it's Kiroh's fault for giving me his phone in the first place."

"I vote that it's Link's fault." Ravioli aims his eyes at me and tells everyone, "Because he left the kitchen and let the turkey burn."

I squint at him but stay quiet, even though there are so many ways I could roast him back. Like in the oven, or on a grill or pan. I bet he'd turn out oversalted and sour.

"It's no one's fault," Pik tries to stay positive.

But Kiroh frowns. "Poor turkey died for nothing."

"What do we do now?" Mipha asks the question we've all been avoiding.

"We could just eat out somewhere," I suggest to the group.

"It's Thanksgiving," Zelda waves her hand like a flyswatter to get rid of the smoke. "So most places will be closed."

To get our attention, Impa clears her throat. "That bar we went to last year is open on holidays. We could go there."

"And celebrate Thanksgiving by drinking cheap beer?" Ravioli questions. "We might as well have stayed at the frat house."

"They actually serve some decent food," Impa fires back.

"How would you know? You've been there once!"

While they bicker back and forth, Mipha turns to Zelda. "What do you think, Zelda?" she asks her. "Since you invited all of us, and since we are your guests, you should be the one to decide what we do for Thanksgiving."

Zelda lifts her head from hands and takes a look around the kitchen. We're all standing in a circle, the black block of meat in the center like it's a funeral, and suddenly tears form in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I ask, putting my arm around her.

As she wipes her tears, a smile appears on her face. "I'm just so happy," she cries. "I usually spend Thanksgiving alone! So if you want my honest opinion, it really doesn't matter to me what we do. It doesn't matter to me at all that the food got burned. We can stay in or go out, it doesn't matter. I'm just really happy to be here with all of you."

And like magic, everyone else in the room suddenly seems to care much less about the burned turkey.

"We are all happy to be here," Mipha says, placing a hand on Zelda's shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks for inviting us," Kiroh nods.

Impa steps forward. "So it's settled then! We're gonna go out!"

"Nobody agreed to that!" Ravioli complains.

"Zelda just did," Impa sticks out her tongue to taunt him. Back to bickering.

"Given that we don't have food at the lodge other than vegetables and snacks, going out doesn't sound too bad," Mipha says. Ravioli shuts up immediately as if Mipha had used a secret button to mute him.

"I guess," he says and tries to ignore Impa's triumphant smirk.

Everyone seems to agree now. Everyone but Malice. "I'm not going anywhere in public," she says. "Especially with Link around."

"What did I do now?" I ask confused.

Malice takes a nervous look around. "I don't need Ganondorf to randomly spot me in the background of some groupie's selfie on Instagram or Twitter."

She's got a good point. We're in a ski resort, so chances are someone will recognize me for my snowboarding career and take a photo without my consent. And if they upload it, and if Malice is anywhere near me, and if Ganondorf somehow sees it, we could all be in danger. I know that's a lot of if's but we still shouldn't risk it.

"You should just go without me," Malice says but Zelda shakes her head.

"You're not going to spend Thanksgiving all alone."

"Unlike you, I don't mind," Malice tells Zelda. "I could actually use a break from everything for once. So yeah, unless you're scared of leaving me unsupervised, I don't see a problem."

Zelda seems hesitant. I can't tell if it's because she feels bad about leaving Malice all alone or if it's because she doesn't trust her to be left alone for the time being. I'm assuming it's the first, because Zelda really hates being similar to her dad in any way, and since he always left her alone on holidays, Zelda probably doesn't want to leave Malice. Sometimes it feels like she adopted Malice. I wonder how long she'll stay with us.

"Guys, if it's okay, I'll stay too," Pik suddenly says. "I'm still adjusting to the new surroundings, and going out might be a bit of a sensory overload."

"Perfect," Impa smirks. "Now Malice doesn't have to be alone anymore. Problem solved."

"Yeah... Perfect," Malice mumbles to herself.

Malice's POV

A few minutes later, the others are all ready to leave the lodge. And I am ready to spend my first night alone without having to hide in a room.

No clue what I'll be doing for the next couple of hours, but even if I sit on this couch all night and do absolutely nothing at all, I'll be content. It's warm, it's quiet, it's safe. What more can I ask for?

"Hey," Link gets my attention. He takes a seat next to me on the couch.

I acknowledge him with a simple nod. "What's up, Link?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" He asks. "We don't have to go out tonight."

"I'll be fine," I say, fixing my eyes on the empty fireplace. "I need this, Link. I need to just... exist for once. Without anything going on at all. I'm not going to cause trouble. You trust me with this?"

"I don't trust you with anything," he admits. I turn my head to look at him. "But... I believe you."

I'm not sure how to respond. He gives me somewhat of a smile before he gets up to join the others by the door. They head out moments later, leaving me to the silence and solitude of an entire mountain.

The living room is so clean and spacious. The stone wall is decorated with a portrait painting of little Zelly, dressed and groomed like a princess, her royal-ass parents standing proudly behind her. The painting is crowned by a majestic set of antlers. It looks real. Probably is. I wonder if her dad shot the buck or if they bought it at one of the local shops.

...

The first hours are spent on the couch, flipping through the family photo album I found on one of the bookshelves in the back. It was squeezed between T.S. Eliot and Chaucer. Somebody probably misplaced it.

Cute little Zelly page after page. No worry in the world. Look at her perfect school uniform, free of creases, and those two golden braids, undisturbed by a single loose strand of hair. Her smile is so symmetrical, it makes me think she went through years of training on how to pose for the camera.

If I didn't know better, I'd assume that the man behind the camera was her dad. But from what Zelda has told me, I assume her father wasn't there for any of these photos. After age six—after her mom's passing—there are barely any more photos. Especially none of fun trips, like the museums, historical landmarks, monuments, and libraries her mother used to take her to.

I flip to the next page. Zelly looks like a robot, a machine programmed to excel. There are only 8 photos left after the funeral, all of which were moments of achievement. In one photo she's getting acknowledged for some victory in chess, in another one she's receiving a medal for a research project. Here she's shaking some prominent politician's hand on a stage, and in the last one she's graduating high school.

I notice that she's not smiling in a single one of these pictures. Where'd that trained symmetrical smile go?

I close the photo album and tuck it back into the poetry section where I found it.

The silence in the lodge is haunting and comforting at the same time. I have no idea where Pik has disappeared to, but I don't mind his absence. Being left alone gives me the freedom to do whatever I please without the prying eyes of the others.

The only downside is boredom. The photo album didn't help. If anything it just made me fucking depressed.

I explore the kitchen in search of something to eat. A half-empty container of sour cream, a jar of pickles, a block of cheese wrapped in plastic, ketchup and butter. I shut the fridge, wait two seconds, and open it again. Yup, still the same. This fucking blows. The cabinets are empty too. I guess there are chips and cookies. Not the meal I was hoping for but still better than starving.

Oreo in hand, I take a seat on the kitchen island. First, I separate the cookie from the cream. Then I scrape the cream onto one half of the cookie. Saving the cream for last, I eat the cookie first. And then I do it all over again with another Oreo. I keep doing that until a familiar craving begins to surface. A temptation that never seems to fade completely.

And even though there's this voice in the back of my head screaming, "'You've come too far to relapse," I get up anyways and leave the kitchen to find the nearest bathroom. The first one is just a guest bathroom on the first floor. The cabinets are mostly empty. 

Shit, one of these bathrooms has got to have a first aid kit or some kind of pill cabinet. I don't want to do it, but part of me believes I need to.

I cross the living room to explore the other side of the house. On one side of the hallway hangs a large scale oil painting of the snowy mountains, and on the other side we have the floor-to-ceiling windows and a door to the backyard. I spot Pike outside on the patio and instinctively come to a stop. He's sitting on the wooden steps, unaware of my presence. His back is turned toward me, making it hard to tell if he's looking at the mess of swirling clouds or the thick fog that has settled between the piny hills.

Goosebumps rise on my skin when I realize that he's likely not looking at any of those things. I don't know how long he's been blind or how it came to it, but the second I saw him get out of the car with that white cane yesterday, I knew without a doubt that he had lost his sight. I haven't said a word to him since. What is there to say, really?

I open the patio door without much thought. A chill evening breeze—thick with moisture—greets me as I step outside. The daylight is almost gone, but you can still make out the silhouette of the forest that borders the backyard.

"Come to join me?" Pike asks. There's an unsettling calmness to his voice. It almost sounds resigned.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Enjoying the sunset," he jokes without any laughter or joy in his tone.

"There is no sunset."

"There is. You just can't see it."

As the wind ruffles the wet leaves on the lawn, thunder rumbles in the distance. I can feel the air charging with electricity, like a warning of what's to come.

Rubbing the goosebumps on my arms, I keep some distance between us. "It's cold," I complain. "And wet and windy."

"Then you better head back inside."

"What about you? You're gonna stay out here?"

He shrugs.

Annoyed by his impassive attitude, I take a seat next to him, hoping it will get him to talk. "Are you avoiding me?"

"If I was, I wouldn't have come to Mammoth Lakes."

"Then why are you out here?"

"You really want to know?"

"Yes."

He smiles. "Sensory overload." Between his fingers, he's fumbling with a dead leaf, taking it apart like I do with my Oreos. He tears the margin, careful not to break the stem. "You'll laugh... I actually like that the wind is cold and that the patio is sort of damp, and that the air smells like moss and pine needles. I like it because it paints a mental picture of all the things I can't see. I'm hoping it'll rain soon too."

"You're too fucking dramatic for your own good," I tease him.

"I knew you'd make fun of me," he says with a comforting smile.

He's sitting next to me like he's got the weight of the world on his shoulders, but even in this crappy weather, there's something peaceful about being out here, away from the chaos.

"Are you shivering?"

"No," I lie.

"You should go back inside."

"Why? Am I disrupting your date with nature?"

He chuckles, "No, but you're cold."

I don't move. Something just keeps me from leaving, and once he comes to terms with me staying, he takes off his jacket and places it over my exposed shoulders. The jacket is tan in color, but it almost looks yellow compared to the dull backyard. It's made of waterproof material, a windbreaker jacket whose fabric feels warm and familiar.

I accept his kind gesture silently, remembering the countless times he has placed his jacket over my shoulders in the past.

When we broke up, I didn't think I was ever going to wear this jacket again, but that's mainly because I didn't think I was going to make it past 18. Yet here we are... so many years later. And I'm still alive. And so is he. Even if it's not the way we had hoped, we should count ourselves lucky to be here. Somewhat together and somewhat not.

I lean into the familiar feeling of his hug, even if it's not his arms that hug me. The jacket carries the scent of his cologne; it makes me feel like we're back in high school. When everything was a little less fucked up. Way before I became the person everyone hates so goddamn much.

We sit in comfortable silence for a moment, listening to the rumbles of thunder and the rustling of leaves in the rich tree crowns. His eyes remain fixated on the grim scenery, never leaving the sight, not once, not even to look at me. I wonder if he's unaware that I'm staring or if he simply doesn't mind. I try to look away but I just can't help myself. His eyes are so pale. More gray than I remember. Less lively too.

"When did you find out you were going to lose your sight?" My question catches him off-guard and it takes him a few seconds to find his voice.

He lowers his head, still holding on to the skeleton of the leaf. "A few weeks after I graduated."

My jaw drops. "That long ago?" Eyebrows dipped in disappointment, I ask, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Would it have changed anything?"

"Yes, I could've been there for you."

"You had your own shit to deal with," he claims. "I should've been there. I should've taken care of you."

"You were always there for me," I tell him honestly.

He shakes his head. "I left you behind."

"Bullshit, Pike... You got into your dream school!"

"Doesn't mean I had to accept their offer. I should've stayed with you. You needed me."

"No, listen...  Shit was going on in my life, stuff you don't even know about. I was definitely at fault for things going south between us. I was confused and angry. And it wasn't fair of me to put the blame on you. I should've just been happy for you. I always knew you wanted to and deserved to go to Julliard, I just didn't want to accept it when the day had finally come."

He lifts his head slowly and—for the first time in years—looks at me. Truly looks at me. Not the typical angry scowl or look of disappointment. Or the subtle glances on campus when we'd pass by each other and pretend we didn't see each other.

The way his eyes plunge into mine makes me believe that, sight or no sight, he sees the person we both abandoned so many years ago. Staring back into his eyes, every part of me wishes it wasn't too late...

"I was going to come back for you," he says, still facing me. "You know that right?"

"Yes."

"I did come back for you."

Ashamed of my actions, I'm the first to break eye contact. "I know, and I'm sorry," I say, my voice barely a whisper.

That memory is burned into my memory like a branding iron; the moment I heard his knock on the door of my dorm room. It was my first semester at Hyrule University. My first semester of being Ganondorf's personal pawn. I was supposed to sabotage Hyrule's best students, yet I spent most of my time with Ganon. He'd protect me and stand up to his father for me, and I was set on never leaving his side. I was set on surviving.

He got up from the bed when he heard the knock. I glanced at him, silently urging him to come back, but when he heard Pike's voice in the hallway, curiosity got the better of him. He unlocked the door, wearing nothing but his boxers. Ganon didn't even try to hide what was going on, he wanted Pike to see me. And Pike did.

I will never forget the look of heartbreak on Pike's face that day. From the moment the door opened, his eyes held on to mine as if nothing else mattered. Ganon said some harsh words to him, but Pike kept his gaze on me the whole time, up until Ganon shut the door, cutting off our connection.

For so long, I believed Pike simply couldn't bear to look Ganon in the eye. But now I realize he just wanted to take one last look at me before he lost his sight... And in that fleeting moment, I think he saw everything he had lost and everything he was about to leave behind.

It's almost like that morning after Karusa and I took acid. I woke up first. K was out cold, so I took a last look at him before I left his dorm. I didn't know what was yet to come, but I think part of me had a feeling that we weren't gonna see each other again. His long torso lay bare against the mattress, his pale back hardly covered by the blanket. His hair was messier than usual and his face partially hidden behind his arm. I could've woken him up and said goodbye properly. Instead, I stole a joint from his drawer and snuck out without a word.

I take a deep breath, trying to shake off the weight on my chest. Lately, everything has been so overwhelming that every breath feels like it might be my last. But somehow... sitting next to Pike... I wouldn't mind taking my last breath.

I return my eyes to the leaf in his grip. Only its veins are left. Safe and unbroken. That's how you know those are the hands of a painter; steady, gentle, and always aware of the value they hold between their fingertips.

Without much thought, my hand reaches over to take that dead leaf from him. Part of me wants to crush it and I don't even know why. But when our hands touch, I drop the leaf as a jolt of electricity courses through my body. The feeling of anticipation has frozen my whole body.

I know he must feel it too. We're both holding our breaths, not saying a word. I don't pull away and neither does he. We're probably both playing with the thought of reaching for the other's hand.

I can't believe that after all these years and despite all the shit we've gone through, there's still a part of me that feels so goddamn drawn to him.

I don't know who moves first, him or me, but our fingers lace together as if that was their only purpose. My hand feels small and fragile in his, but also safe and valued like that leaf.

Feeling almost shy about it all, I break the silence. "What now?"

Pike's gaze remains fixed on the leaf that now rests between his worn out sneakers. "I don't know," he admits, his expression unreadable. "I guess we just... sit here."

"Real exciting."

He chuckles softly, a sound that sends a shiver down my spine. "Sorry to disappoint."

Pike shifts next to me, his shoulder touching mine. I take it as an invitation to lean my head against him. Once I'm sure that he doesn't mind, I take another breath.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Depends," he says, "Do I get to ask something back?"

"Sure."

"Go ahead then."

The wind picks up slightly, finding its way under the jacket. I bring my knees closer and curl up next to him, trying to shield myself from the arriving evening cold. Not letting go of my hand, he places his other arm around my shoulder, rubbing my back gently as I form my question.

"I think I might have seen you a few months ago. But I'm not sure if it was you."

"On campus?"

"No. It was the last day of summer break. And... it was in the middle of the night."

His tone shifts slightly. "Like... on the streets?"

"No, at a house."

"A house? What house did you see me at?"

"Um... A dealer's house."

"Oh," he says, sounding kinda embarrassed. "You were there?"

"Yeah. I was getting acid."

He nods, lips pressed together in discomfort. "Same."

"Shit..." I mutter under my breath, hoping he'd tell me it wasn't him, or that he bought it for someone else. "Pike... Do you even know what the fuck that shit does to people?"

He smiles vaguely. "You're one to talk."

"Yes, I am. And it's not some fucking joke. It could seriously ruin your life in ways you can't even imagine."

"I can imagine."

"Then why would you do it?"

"I just wanted to... to see some colors and shapes one more time."

"So you thought you're just gonna pop a tab and hallucinate some pretty things? Pike! It fucks with your head, messes with your perception of reality, and turns your brain into mush. One bad trip and you could end up in a psych ward, drooling on yourself for the rest of your pathetic life—" A chuckle interrupts me. "Why're you laughing! This isn't funny!"

"It's cute that you care so much."

"Shut up!" I say, trying not to focus on him calling me cute. "I'm being serious here!"

Calmly, he tells me, "I didn't take it."

Shocked, I collected my thoughts for a moment. "You mean... You didn't take any drugs?"

He confirms with a nod. Thank the fucking Lord his common sense kicked in that night and stopped him from taking the acid. Or maybe he just chickened out—drugs were never his thing. Doesn't matter, I'm just glad he's okay! All these months I was so mad at him, thinking he was becoming a screw-up like me.

I feel the urge to tell him how relieved I am that he's doing okay. But I know he's not really okay. The fact that he even thought about it and went as far as to buy the drugs says enough about his mental state.

Tears well up in my eyes. I don't fight them. All I've been doing is fight fight fight... I'm too tired to keep up with that. Especially with Pike... I don't feel the need to hide my pain from him.

When Link was trying to teach me tennis and told me that people should do things that make them feel alive in order to enjoy life, I was thinking about the way Pike always made me feel alive. And how dead I felt when he was no longer part of my life.

All these years I tried so hard to hate him. I don't know if I was blaming him for things or if I was trying to convince myself that we had changed too much. All I know is that I believed I had fucked up for good and that he didn't care about me anymore. But what if Impa was telling the truth earlier... I mean... if Zelda can care about me, would it be so crazy to believe that Pike can too?

I wipe the tears with the sleeve of Pike's jacket and quietly sniffle next to him. I feel like the shittiest person on the planet. I can't believe I never noticed his pain back in the day. Back when he needed me just as much as I needed him. He always made it seem so possible to just pretend that everything is fine. Even now when everything is so fucking far from fine he makes me think that being close to him will make it all okay again.

Fuck... I miss him so much. All those good memories I tried to bury over the years are now coming back to life...

I realize that I never fully dealt with our break up, and now that it's finally hitting me, it hurts so goddamn much to think about having lost it all. I want to go back to that time. Just for one day. Hell, just for one night! Even if it's just to tell him how sorry I am.

As I try to control my breathing, his hand gives mine a gentle squeeze, letting me know that he's right by my side. With a quivering chest, I place my head back on his shoulder in a desperate attempt to feel closer to him. He lets me. Even when I let go of his hand to cup his cheek, he lets me. And when the cold tip of my nose rubs against the warmth of his neck, he turns his head toward mine, as if to show me that it's all okay.

He lets out a subtle sigh. "May I ask you a question now?"

I give him a nod. That's all I can do without giving away how heavily I'm crying.

"I hate to ask this, but I feel like I should." He removes his arm around me, as if he already knew the answer. "Are you still dating that guy?"

My stomach twists and turns just thinking about Ganon. Until recently, I was sure Ganondorf would make arrangements to get rid of Ganon, either in prison or the Pacific Ocean. That's the reason I escaped from that hellhole; I thought I was going to be next. But from what Karusa told me, Ganondorf might have other plans for us. Or at least for Ganon.

"Mía..."

"Does it matter?" I keep my hand on Pike's cheek to prevent him from turning fully away from me. "Can't we just... not care about any of that? Just for today?"

Pike shakes his head. "I'll always care."

I move in closer. Close enough for him to notice. "Then pretend you don't."

"Mía, I can't do that..."

"You don't want this?"

"You know it's not that simple." He lets out an unsteady breath. "You're with Ganon, and I... well, I have other things on my mind."

Through the tears, I look up at him to see if he's telling the truth. He wears a calm mask, but his breaths are just irregular enough to give away a hint of uncertainty. It might be hard to ignore the truth... that it would be nothing more than a temporary escape from the pain we're both trying so fucking hard to ignore, but... Maybe that's good enough for us.

Despite his words of caution, I draw nearer, just like the thunder that is slowly crawling toward us.

Pike's hesitation is clear, but his resolve begins to falter as his fingers slowly trace my jaw. His thumb brushes over my chin, and not soon after, our noses are touching. Then our foreheads. Gradually, he finds his way to my lips.

We close the gap in surrender. His lips are cold against mine, his breath hot, and his touch both tender and greedy, as though he can't decide whether it's right or wrong.

He holds back for a split second, caught off guard by his own actions. Should we stop even though we both want more? His hands slide to my neck, urging me closer and letting me know that he needs this just as badly as I do.

It's reckless and impulsive. Just what I needed to distract my mind from all the shit that's been going on. Drugs, alcohol, Ganondorf, Karusa, Impa... I want none of it to matter. Even if it's just for one night.