Zelda stood up. “Hey Jake, wanna help me fix dinner?”
Axel shrugged. “I was thinking we’d just throw a frozen pizza or two in the oven.”
“Well… I’ll go preheat it, then. Wanna come up with me, Jake?”
Pablo looked back at me, confused. “It’s just turning a dial and waiting.”
“Actually, I do kinda want to go with her.” Jake stood up. “There’s something I’d been meaning to ask her about… uh, in private.”
Axel and Pablo glanced at each other, then back at Jake and Zelda. Pablo grinned. “Sure Jake. You two have fun.”
Zelda tried not to groan at Jake’s fumble. She’d wanted to avoid those two thinking there was something dirty going on.
When the two reached the ground floor, she shut the door to the basement behind her, and went into the kitchen. “So, Jake,” she started, turning the dial to preheat the oven, “has something got you down today? You’ve been acting weird since I got here.”
“Yeah, actually,” Jake glanced around nervously. “Funny enough, it’s kinda related to what I wanted to ask you…” He paused, looking at her chest again, before looking back at her face. “Where did you get that pendant?”
“I… found it,” she replied, not sure if she should spill the beans on every part of it just yet. “Outside your house. Why do you ask?”
“... Did you find it after signing a clipboard, asking if you would change humanity if you could?”
She reached up to cover her beak as she gasped. “...Yes… Wait… Do you have a pendant like this too?”
“I uh, used to.” Jake looked away nervously. “Then I felt guilty after I used it, and it vanished.”
Zelda took a seat on one of the kitchen chairs. So, she wasn’t the first person to have this? It had been used at least once before? She couldn’t think of a lot of other humanoid fliers… At least, none that weren’t the stuff of myth, or had shown up in this area. Except…
“Hold on.” She raised a talon. “Jake… Were you the reason my dad was able to find that sorceress, and convince her to transfer my soul to this body?”
“Uh… kinda…” He hung his head. “I’m so sorry, Za-, uh, Zelda! It was so stupid of me! I was thinking of silly situations, half-expecting it to not work, and-”
In an instant, Zelda’s arms and wings were wrapped around him. “Oh, don’t say that! I love this new body! I’d MUCH rather be the way I am now, than the weak and sickly boy I used to be! Even if it means I technically didn’t pick this body, I still remember doing it way back when, and I don’t want to go back.”
Jake shook his head. “That’s… that’s not all of it. I didn’t get the pendant when you were five, and remember being sick. I got it less than a half hour ago. Up until this afternoon, you were a healthy guy, living a happy life. Then I-”
She put a talon over his lips in a sushing motion. “And now, I’m a completely unique creature, that’ll probably NEVER have health problems, living a happy life. I’d say you improved me in every way.” Zelda had to admit, finding out the change was a lot more recent than she remembered was a lot to take in, but she doubted Jake would intentionally give her a worse life.
Jake sighed. “I… I get that you, I mean, who you are now, likes it. But I don’t even know if you’re really the same Zack.”
“Hmm… So, what ways did you change my personality, then?”
“I… made sure you were happy with the body you had. And… I guess I indirectly made it so you attended some girls-only events rather than boys-only events, which might have changed some subtle things.”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah, but that’s kind of the thing, I worry you don’t really-”
“Hold on,” Zelda interrupted. “Was the old Zack happy as happy with his body as I am with mine?”
“Well… No. He really didn’t like how he looked.”
“Then, again, it sounds like you only improved things, to me. You don’t need to feel guilty about this.”
Jake remained quiet.
“It’s kind of a shame, though, that you did,” she let go of him. “Even if it was just a joke, I’d have loved to see what sorts of other crazy stuff you’d have turned people into if you kept it. But, I get you, too. It’s something you’ve gotta take seriously when you only get one shot per person.” She felt over the pendant with her talons. “But if you don’t feel like you can do it, I’ll be more than happy to spread this gift to everyone instead.”
“I… Guess I can’t stop you.” Jake shrugged. “So… was Pablo your handiwork?”
“Yep! He makes for a pretty handsome snake man, doesn’t he?”
“I guess?” Jake leaned back on a counter. “It’s just freakin’ weird knowing that he wasn’t always one, even though I remember him being like that since I met him.”
“Can’t be much weirder than finding out I was a human guy thirty minutes ago.”
“...Fair enough.”
The oven rang, announcing that the preheating had finished.
Zelda ignored it for now. “So Jake…” She ran a talon along the pendant once again. “What kind of creature would YOU like to be? A super flying robot? A cool, tough bird of prey? An air-headed living inflatable? Maybe another golem? Or perhaps a regal phoenix?”
Jake’s eyes went wide, and he waved his arms defensively. “Hey! I’m not looking to get changed into anything.”
Zelda chuckled. “You said you’d change humanity if you could, right? You know that includes you?” She pointed at him. “For now, at least…”
"It's not like, uh... I meant that more in a... 'I would make humanity a lot nicer, put an end to war and selfishness,' that kinda thing."
"And yet, when you changed me, rather than making me an old-fashioned, person-with-wings-and-halo-angel, that caused everyone near me to lose the will to fight, you made me into a buff female owl ice golem. Even if it was 'just a test' I can't picture you coming up with something like that if at least one of those elements didn't interest you."
“I- Look, this whole thing has been a roller-coaster, and it’s barely even been an hour! Is it really so weird that I’d have second thoughts?”
“Hmm, no. But hopefully I can get you to have third thoughts about it eventually.”
“...That phrase barely even makes sense.” Jake said, chuckling, as he reached into the freezer and pulled out frozen pizzas. Putting them into the oven, he asked,
“What do you plan to do with that pendant now?”