Darkness Doesn't Necessarily Mark One as Evil

RATING: T

SUMMARY: Kit knew all too well that things were not as they seem. Darkness didn't always mean evil, light didn't always mean good, and just because someone had been controlled didn't mean they didn't deserve a second chance. OC warning! Femmslash/Possible Yaoi

AUTHORESS'S NOTE: Alrighty…I was reading Dark Link/Link fanfictions, so you can guess easily where I got inspiration…Or perhaps not… And I've been languidly typing this chapter, all in a few hours. I'm beginning the second chapter as I edit this one, too, so it's one of those fun projects.

DISCLAIMER: Oh, for Naryu's love! I don't own anything except Kit and whatever random person I choose to make up to suit my needs!

"Link, I still don't trust her." Navi grumbled, sitting on his shoulder instead of floating about as usual.

He glanced to her. "Why?" The redhead sleeping across from them had been nothing but helpful and kind; especially considering what she had been through in the past few years. She had joined them near the middle of their journey to collect the three sacred stones, having been newly orphaned and desperate to do something good, something right. She had told him the reason was because she could spare her life; she had nothing and nobody waiting for her. Since nobody would cry over her grave, she was perfect to send into a seemingly impossible fight.

Not only had she saved his life multiple times; she'd saved Navi's life more than once too. The fairy didn't trust her because she simply didn't talk about her past, and Link could understand that. It was painful to be reminded of all that they had lost. He had been so torn up when he had gone back to the Kokiri village only to be called 'Mister'. At least he wasn't alone in that respect; the Goddesses had decided that she was essential to his quest, apparently, because she had been sent to the Sage's sacred realm to sleep for several years too. She wasn't too pleased, but he could understand that. She got over it quickly.

"Because. We barely know anything about her past."

He sighed. "…Haven't you thought about that it might be too painful to even mention still?"

"We've known her for two or so years now, pretty much. Not to mention the several years plus that." He sighed.

"At least call her by her name."

"No."

"Navi," He groaned. "Can't you at least try to be nice to Kit?"

The fairy bobbed as she flew up from his shoulder. He had dealt with fairies enough to know that that was a refusal.

A groan from across the way alerted him that the redhead was awakening. It was a good thing, too. She'd gotten injured from a wild Wolfos that had been prowling about the field for awhile. When she'd gone for her bath three nights ago it had attacked her, but she'd been able to kill it by dragging it into the deeper water and by drowning it. Kit had gained a new wound on both her shoulder and on her right hip, but it hadn't been too life threatening. He hadn't even known about it until she'd returned to camp.

She sat up sharply, a hand clutching at the place where her heart would be. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and her eyes shut. She had been frowning a little and fidgeting in her sleep, but he hadn't thought much of it.

"…Nightmare?" He asked softly. Her head snapped towards him, a bit surprised that she wasn't nearly as vocal as he was where nightmares were involved. He supposed it came from her being disciplined or by holding back.

"…Yeah." She wiped her forehead with her hand, and then stood up sharply. "I'm going to get dressed." He turned around wordlessly, and he heard the ruffle of her nightclothes drop to the ground, and then the ruffle and clinks of her everyday attire as she clothed herself. It took her longer to get ready, she told him once, because she had to wear undergarments he didn't and she had to do a little more than he did. Mostly he didn't change into sleepwear, actually, and she rarely did too, but she'd helped him wash their clothes last night.

"I'm decent." He turned around and smiled. She was in a pair of rather form-fitting and only slightly loose black pants which ended a few inches below where her boots—which looked remarkably like his only made of darker leather and they were also made a bit slimmer—began, so they could be tucked in, with a dark grey top that had slightly loose sleeves that were elbow-length and showed a bit of her cleavage. It was more comfortable, she said, because she was curvy and it was only going to cost more rupees if she had to have tops completely custom-fitted. It was laced together between her breasts and at both sides of her hips, up to four inches below her armpits a bit loosely, showing skin. But this made her more comfortable as she had never been one to wear the conservative dressings of Hylians—vastly preferring the garb of the Gerudo women, if anything. She always told him that if and when they would go back near to the fortress, she was getting something made.

She deserved it too; her clothes were taking months of abuse well but eventually they would either be damaged beyond repair or they would fall apart. She combed through her hair with a brush she had had in their Bag of Holding—if they didn't use a magical bag for some of the items they carried, it would be impossible to travel about quickly—before she tossed it to him.

"You look like you've been worrying." She shrugged, and then traced the bandages woven around her sides. The wound was nearly gone, actually, but she could worry about that herself.

"Thanks." He brushed through his somewhat-short blonde hair, not minding that they shared a brush. She was surprisingly clean for how unfeminine she acted. He threw it back and she caught it easily.

"I'll be able to go without the bandages in a day or so." She spoke softly.

"That's good, Kit. We're nearly to Zora's Domain."

She nodded. "Perhaps we can get a couple Zora tunics…We have to go to the water temple, do we not?" She remembered what Rauru had said, and it was ingrained into her memory deeply.

"Yeah, we might. If we don't though, we'll have to figure something out. I need someone to help me in there."

"You don't need me to help you Link…Of that I am certain." She sighed, and then began the mechanical routine of packing up the camp. Even though it was extremely dark out they still preferred to travel at night, just in case the Dark King decided to send out a patrol or something.

She effortlessly moved about quietly with all her belts, pouches, and gear. Much more quietly than Link was able to. She had been fighting for years longer than he had, however. Through the bits and snippets of her past she'd allowed to pass through her lips, he'd been able to figure out that when she started practicing with the sword or just a blade—be it a dagger or knife—she had been about four or five years of age. Perhaps she had been three, as she had been surprisingly intelligent and advanced at that age, having learned to read.

He'd also been able to figure out easily that Ganondorf had destroyed the village she had once sought hollow comfort in protecting, and that she had run. She had met with Saria in the Kokiri Forest by chance, and she had told her of Link. She'd also met with the Princess, and then had been sent to Link to help him, not only for his sake but for hers as well. She needed a friend, a way to do something right so she could heal. He needed guidance and someone to protect him when he was injured and recuperating.

"Aren't you going to pack up?" She asked quietly, looking up at him from where she was rolling up her bedding.

He paused, and then patted the bedroll beside him. She wordlessly complied, and sat down beside him.

"…Please. Tell me about your past. If you cry, I'll hold you like we did when we were kids."

She seemed hesitant, but nodded. "…Fine." After Navi sat down on her shoulder, she began.

"When I was born, nobody knew how I came about. I had a mother and a father both, yes, but they both had easily-tanned skin and brown hair, with the usual blue eyes. Not exactly the formula for red hair and warm reddish brown irises. The village I came from had been separated by Hyrulian rule for half a century, the Kingdom having forgotten all about us, thus relinquishing their power over us. There were never more than thirty or forty people at a time, really. Disease in the wintery months killed most little ones and the elders off, and the harsh summer heat contributed to a few deaths by weakening the ones who were able to work out in the fields."

He shook his head. How horrible! They either worked themselves to death or got sick and froze. Not exactly the way most people wanted to go out.

"I suppose I saved my own life by teaching myself how to wield a sword as soon as I had read about it in a book. The sword I had back then was one that I had been given by the old, dying swordsman. It was the blade he had practiced with as a child. I also took a slightly longer sword of his after he died, for when I was older, and that was the one that you saw me using when I found you. They appointed me to watch the fields and fend off the Keese and Poes that liked to try to enter the village and graveyard, and I did my job well. My family fell ill when I turned eight and it left me all alone, already treated like an adult because of their mistrust. I never played with the other children, because they were told I was evil, that I was some demon or monster sent to plague them in a girl's body just because of my differed appearance."

Link choked. "T-that's stupid of them!"

"Yes, it was. However, they're all dead now, so I'm not angry at them anymore. They used to call me it, you know? Or just her. They refused to call me a Hylian; even though I'm pretty sure I have at least a bit of that race in me. I just don't know how I got this colouring. Green eyes, blue eyes, grey eyes, black, brown, blonde, burgundy hair. Not a trace of dark crimson hair and dark brown reddish eyes to be found in all the people I have seen. Not to mention the troubling aspect of how my skin doesn't burn or tan—it's useful, yes, but it unnerves people. No matter how much they like me or are thankful to me for something, there will always be the question of my ancestry and the fact I have such different colouring." She sighed, scratching the end of one of her long pointed ears, and then fiddled with one of her earrings.

She and Link had had their ears pierced while they had slumbered, but they weren't too terribly upset. She was just glad she didn't have to take care of them while the piercings were still fresh, as she had heard the complaints and groans of many Hylian girls and boys who had gotten the same piercings back in Castle Town when they had stopped by to get supplies.

She sighed. "The night the village was destroyed…" She bit her tongue slightly, and then started again. He realized her voice had almost wavered, and he could see tears pricking her eyes. "I was coming back early from watching the fields. The Poes and Keese were strangely absent, I remember, and they had been for a few days. I extinguished my lantern far away from the village because there was a blaze. I thought that perhaps they had started the storytelling we did every week without me there—it wouldn't be the first time, I assure you—but it wasn't the right day. I entered the village and that's when all I remember is immense fear…Horror…Disgust." She shuddered. "He had set all the houses on fire after blocking the exits, Link…I heard them screaming and wailing in their houses, including mine. All I could center my gaze on was him, though…He looked at me with such mirth, as if I would be something of great amusement to him. I ran as he laughed behind me. I was faster in the forest than he was on his horse since it was large and the trees were thick, so I escaped with my life. I ran for days until I ended up in the Lost Woods somehow, and I passed out. Saria took care of me and gave me a little food then told me to go to the castle to meet with the princess."

"And then after you met Zelda, you were sent after me."

She nodded, a tear rolling down her cheek, her eyes dancing with emotional pain. He wiped it away with a slightly calloused finger. "Yes, I was…Both so I could heal and so you would have someone to help you and be there for you when you were injured. Thankfully enough it worked out." She blinked furiously, trying not to cry. She had said often she didn't like to. She rubbed a little at her eyes, her gauntlets on. She almost never took them off. He wondered at that, before she stood, packing up their newly cleaned clothes and placed them in their respective packs.

"Come on, now; we need to go into Zora's Domain."

XxXxXxXxX

A half-hour later, they stood in the icy, frozen place. She walked onto the ice carefully, before she kneeled down and brushed at the surface, the snow—which was obviously enchanted as it drifted down from the ceiling—moving away. "Goddesses," She breathed out, falling onto her behind. Link easily saw what she had seen.

The Zora were frozen beneath the ice.

"This is…This is sick." She choked. "Absolutely just fucking sick." She hurried off the ice. Link felt bile rise in his throat, but she was holding back her snarls of rage. They had been attacked and imprisoned in their very own domain. If they were ever thawed or if they survived, she knew they would never find any peace in a home again, no matter how well-guarded and secure or sacred it was. It wasn't only a low blow, no; it was a psychological blow that would affect generation after generation of Zora.

Navi kept in his hat; he knew she was probably asleep. She didn't care much for the cold and she preferred to stay out of the redhead's way when she was angered.

She calmed herself. They would save them. Ganondorf would pay. She had Link to look after, and there was no sense in giving into anger quite yet. She gave a shuddering sigh. "We need to go to the Zora King. Maybe he's unfrozen."

When they had gotten there—slipping and sliding and cursing at their now sore-bums, and in Kit's case a reopened wound that she had thought was almost done healing—they arrived in the Throne Room.

The bad thing was that the King was encased in red ice. She made her way over to it slowly as Link kicked the wall, frustrated beyond belief at the predicament they were in; the King was frozen, and the store that carried the tunics they required was sealed shut by a solid stone slab—when she hummed in thought.

"…This ice, it's different. All the ice here's enchanted to stay frozen, but…This ice…It holds a different magic."

Ah, yes. She had this natural ability to sense magic. Another reason she had been hated. It was quite handy, though, because before he had still been developing a sense for magic, and even now she could sense the tiniest change.

She remembered something. "Hey, remember that ice cavern Ruto was babbling about when I was carrying her through Jabu-Jabu?"

He nodded. "Yeah. The ice cavern."

"When you went outside to get more supplies she talked to me more—she was rather clingy, actually. She kept talking about how it had this blue fire and how it could melt a certain type of ice, which was enchanted and usually coloured red." Her eyes shone.

"Oh, no. You're not going into that ice cavern." He frowned. "You're bleeding."

She looked down and cursed. She went to the platform where Link was and undid the bottom ties on her shirt, then wrapped more bandages around her midsection along with a pad of cotton that she'd bought just in case she needed it to soak up blood, like right now. Bandages could be washed. "Fucking…" she moved to get up but cried out. "Oww! Fucking wound. Fucking Wolfos…" She gritted her teeth together and stood with his help. He understood her dislike for the creatures, having had to kill many of the animals.

She moved slowly back towards the king, and he followed. She went past the King into the place where they had once gaped at Lord Jabu-Jabu's size. Outside on the platform, her shoulders sank a little as if she was giving in. "I will stay and wait for your return, Link. Be careful in the caverns." She took a blanket from her pack, and handed him their Bag of Holding. He placed his pack down too.

"Good. I think Ruto would like if you were safe." He chuckled, and she sighed.

"I wish I could have told her back then that the engagement wasn't necessary for just carrying her, but we did need the stone." She'd talked it over with him after they had left Zora's Domain the first time when they were younger, so he knew what it had meant. The King was very happy about it, though—two female rulers meant more offspring faster and one of them was a powerful, exotically-coloured swordsperson who just so happened to be travelling with the Hero of Time. She groaned. It wouldn't work out, though; as she didn't really feel all that certain that she would live through this whole thing. "I hope she doesn't try to act on the engagement when we see each other, otherwise it will be very awkward."

"Not into girls?" He asked pointedly.

"No, I'm fine with that; it's just that I don't love Ruto like she probably has loved me for years." She shook her head. "I can't even call it love, but every time I came here she would hang on me and try to make me relax."

He nearly laughed. Oh, he remembered. When they had come here once, while he and the King chatted the Zora princess had taken Kit to have a bath—that ended in Kit unwillingly spending the night in the Princess's room due to the fact that Ruto wouldn't let her out of her sights for an instant so she could make sure she wasn't 'stressing herself out'. The redhead had been less stressed out at the end but extremely annoyed that the Princess was trying to pamper her. She'd left some Stalchildren wandering about with their heads kicked into a stream that night before she snuck back in as to not worry Ruto. He had been laughing but had clammed up about it back then, not wanting to tempt her to try to see if they could still kill something while left sightless.

"It'll all work out. I'm sure she'll understand that it just wouldn't work out." He spoke patiently as she grunted and sat down on the ground. Her fingers gently pressed against the lump of bandages above her wound.

"It probably will…but goodness, the three sure have one hell of a sense of humor." She gave a laugh and then it ended in a strangled gasp. "Right, right, being wounded sucks." She wrapped her shoulders in a blanket she had taken from a pack and leaned against a pole. "I'll be waiting for you here."

He nodded, and then began to go. "Hey, Jabu-Jabu's gone."

"'Course he is…He wouldn't have let such a sick thing happen to these poor people." She mumbled, and then watched as he made his way across the glaciers to the Ice Cavern. Kit set her mind to thinking on how she could get Ruto to understand that even though the Zora knew of a technique that allowed females to impregnate other females, it just wouldn't work out. She had a duty that was above even that silly engagement, and it was to rid Hyrule of Ganondorf alongside her best friend Link. Beyond that, she had a duty to following her heart and doing what was right. It's all she could do, really.

She thought up at least twenty ways of telling the Zora Princess that she had to end the engagement—but all of them seemed rather lengthy and just rude. Even the blunt approach failed. All that resulted from it in her mind was a screaming, crying Ruto and being hit by the Princess. Or being scorned by the Zora—if there were any there—or of even hating herself.

"Gah! Must this be so difficult?" The back of her right hand itched underneath her gauntlet and she ignored it mostly, her left hand reaching up and prodding the spot.

This would be a long wait.

XxXxXxXxX

Link slowly came back, lips blue and skin pale from the cold, but in the Bag of Holding he had two bottles of Blue Fire, ready to use at their disposal.

"Link…You're cold." She opened up a side of the blanket and he immediately was at her side, teeth chattering. She shivered too but wrapped her arms around him, trying to warm him up. A Hero-sicle wouldn't be of much use, and she'd rather not have to drag him to Kakariko to find some decent shelter with him suffering hypothermia.

"Well, no duh!" The shrill voice of the fairy came as she darted out from his cap, where she had undoubtedly been staying warm. "It's called an Ice Cavern for a reason!" The redhead ignored the barb in the little fairy's voice; she didn't feel like dealing with Navi at the moment.

After he warmed up she stood up, and he pouted from the loss of the blanket. She folded it up and put it away, and then picked up her pack. "Well? Come on."

He nodded and stood, bringing his pack up with him. As they slowly walked towards the Throne Room, Kit was getting fidgety. "…Are you nervous?" Navi cackled at that, which earned a look from Link's cerulean eyes that spoke clearly to behave herself.

"Yes." She sighed. "I'm going to have to tell him the engagement isn't going to work out." She nibbled on her thumbnail, not biting any of it off but still trying to get rid of the nervousness twisting her gut. "He's a wonderful man and I appreciate all he's done for me, but…I can't string Ruto along and now that I can end it, I have to lest I end up hating myself for the rest of my life for hurting her or myself." She stretched, trying to shake off how suddenly clumsy she felt.

"It will be fine." He consoled. "She'll probably understand." Navi nodded, taking this seriously for once. She could tell the redhead was truly troubled—even though she trusted the girl about as far as she could throw her; she was still someone who had saved her and who she could accept as a friend as long as the term was used lightly.

She snorted. "She tried to treat me like a Princess too when all I am…is…a…" She shook her head. So many words came to mind. Like peasant, combatant, even just girl. "Well, I'm just Kit." They reached the throne room and he tossed her the jar. She nodded and he went to sit on the platform, dangling his legs over the edge. She uncorked it and nearly yelped as the fire came rolling out onto the king, melting the red ice.

He seemed to shake off the cold, and moved his gaze around. His eyes met the dark reddish brown ones of the redhead, and he smiled. "Ah, Kit! You've come back to Zora's Domain at last." He also said his hello to the Hero, who was waiting patiently.

She nodded. "Yes, I have…I'm sorry that it's under such horrid circumstances, however."

He gave a nod. "Ruto waited for you, you know." Her breath stilled. "Up until she was frozen…"

"I didn't see her among the frozen." She had looked, yes, but only so she knew the fate of one of her closest friends.

"A young man named Sheik saved her, but I was frozen again soon after."

"Ah, the Sheikah." She nodded, having known him longer and a bit more than Link. He had met her, after all, outside the castle gates so very long ago and when she went off on her own she usually ran into him. Some people thought they were related because her eyes were just slightly redder and warmer than the usual brown eyes that were occasionally seen.

The Hylians didn't really like those of the Shadow Race all that well, and since her ancestry was up for debate she wasn't shielded from the pure discrimination that they sometimes showed. It was pathetic and rather closed and weak-minded, really. That showed how stuck in old times the Hyrulian people were, whereas she had been engaged to a female Zora and would have been shunned even more among the Hylian people had it not been for the royalty of said Zora princess. "Good. She's safe for the moment, then."

"…Where have you been for the past several years, you two?"

She went to join Link on the platform, but a flipper on her arm stopped her. He apparently needed her at his side, and she couldn't blame him. She stayed. "We've been induced into a magical coma, of sorts." She shrugged.

"Pretty much." The floating blue orb squeaked.

"I wasn't ready to wield the Master Sword when I first took it from its pedestal." Link sighed. "It's my fault."

"No, it's not. It's not anyone's fault but his," She spat the last word. "For being such an impatient bastard."

The king didn't comment on her brash language, as anger was allowed in this case. "Kit, we must talk about the engagement."

"…Yes, we must. Link, Navi," she looked to them both, the little orb surprised that she hadn't just said 'fairy' after she had laughed at her predicament. "Please wait for me out in the main room. I will be out after the king and I discuss this matter."

He nodded as Navi bobbed up and down and they left, him carrying her pack with him after she had tossed it to him. "…I can't marry your daughter." She spoke softly.

"Why not? You can still have children; you are loved here, not disrespected like with the Hylians. She loves you, you know."

"Because I carried her throughout Jabu-Jabu's belly and saved her from the monsters inside." She interjected bitterly. "I don't want to be loved just because I saved her. I consider your daughter one of my closest friends; I do, and I consider you more of a father-figure than I have ever had in my life. She has certainly been more pampering than anyone I've ever met in my life," He chuckled. "But I cannot keep her waiting for a future that may never be. I might not survive this quest, king, and I have a duty above that; I have a duty to doing what's right, no matter the cost."

He sighed. "She knows you might not be able to live to be wed, but she still loves you. She loves you for more than just carrying her through Lord Jabu-Jabu, Kit. She loved you even more after she got to know you, and she knows that you wouldn't let anything hurt her. She feels safe with you…Even though you don't want to wed her anymore…you're still a daughter to me."

She hugged him, used to the slick skin of the Zora because she'd been around them long enough. For goodness sake's she'd hugged nearly every one of them at one point or another! "Thank you, King… but I just have a feeling that this won't work out. I'm sorry."

"Do not be; you are courageous for coming directly to me to discuss this…You two must come to the final decision, not I."

She sighed. "I understand."

"That's my girl." He spoke fondly. "Make sure when you see her you tell her that her father loves her, and don't tarry in discussing this most delicate matter with her."

"I won't delay it more than necessary." She smiled. "I promise."

"And…I love you too. Be careful. And once this is all over, you're still considered honorary Zora royalty." She was shocked and touched at the same time. She gave a smile and hugged him once more.

"I love you too, king. I'll be as careful as I can, and after this is all over I'll definitely be coming back here as soon as I can." He nodded.

"Here, for the Hero and for you, the Heroine, for saving me." He handed two Zora tunics to her, and she gave him a final squeeze, a bit confused at what he'd called her.

'The Heroine? Is he joking? I am no hero.'

"Goodbye, Kit." She smiled, nodded her respectful goodbye, and then left the throne room in a decidedly better mood. She was actually half-singing half-humming Epona's song when she came upon Link who was trying not to look at the horrific sight of the Zora encased in the ice. She had enough self-control to not look for the sake of keeping her anger in check.

"Well, you're happy." He spoke, a bit confused.

"Did he call the engagement off?" The fairy asked lightly.

"No, he did not Navi. Ruto and I have to settle that amongst ourselves. And…Well, let's just say that I have a place where I'll be accepted now. It won't ever be my home, but even though the engagement's probably going to be off the king still considers me his daughter, and I'm honorary royalty among the Zora as well." She shrugged. "It wasn't as bad as I envisioned it."

"That's because all you ever expect is the worst."

She rolled her eyes. "When haven't I been at least partially right? Ruto might still freak out. I'm not out of trouble yet." She frowned. Link knew she had a heart so she couldn't bear to hurt Ruto deeply—but her common sense and logical side fought with that decision as well, telling her this had to be done. All he could do was console her and tell her everything would be all right, and if push came to shove he would talk to Ruto himself. The princess was his friend too, which was natural because she knew even after this ended Kit and he were too close to just abandon each other, and listened to him. She had come to him often to ask about her when they had stopped here.

"That may be true but she has sense."

The redhead nodded, and sighed. "…Well, we might as well make our way to Lake Hylia, eh? That's where the water temple lies. Oh yeah! And the king gave us these," She handed him his tunic, which was a great deal larger than hers. Hers had obviously been custom-made, and they had been extremely accurate on how her body would grow. She was actually amazed for a moment that it looked almost like she had gone in for fittings for it. She supposed Ruto had been involved with how this enchanted tunic came to be.

It had silver thread woven through the hems on the sleeves and the bottom of the shirt, as well, in the shape of waves, and it even held the royal seal of the Zora in the center of the chest. It held no rough string or any string to tie it in closer at the neck; instead it held silver-coloured clasps. she was pleased that the royal seal was all silver, that signified both that she was close to the king and that she was an honorary member, otherwise the seal would have been bronze or in normal, non-metallic thread.

"Yours is a lot fancier than mine." He pouted.

"I can't help that, Link. Besides, the decorum on one's clothing means nothing with what we're doing." She folded the tunic gently and placed it in her pack, and then smiled at him as he did the same with his own. "All right, then. Let's get going. When we arrive at Lake Hylia we'll have to change into our new tunics."

"Oh yeah, and I found these." He opened their Bag of Holding, which while being hung on the dark leather belt around her hips wasn't too awkwardly opened as they were around each other quite a lot, and he brought out two dark-grey and apparently heavy metal things that would go over his boots.

"Huh…Let me guess, we'll need them to traverse the temple?"

"Well, yes…I'm a great deal more buoyant than you." He spoke as if embarrassed.

"I'm merely more used to swimming underwater, Link. And it won't matter if the water's as deep as I think it might be." She had obviously thought about it a great deal. "…Well, we'd better get going." When they exited it was light out, and Kit was relieved beyond words. She didn't particularly like the dark, per se, but she would and could endure it. Navi flew out of Link's hat and was now floating by the blonde's forest-green capped head.

They walked along the path they'd followed into the place and then exited back onto Hyrule Field. Just because they preferred travelling when it was dark didn't mean they always did.

Link got out his Ocarina, and before he put his lips to it, she smiled. She had the Fairy Ocarina, if only for the sake of teaching her the songs as she was a fast learner when it came to music, even faster than Link himself at times.

"I'm going to sing along, okay?" He nodded, and put the instrument to his lips.

Her voice rose and fell with the Ocarina, both of them swaying a bit to the music. He loved her mature voice; she was quite a good singer, actually. She had told him once that she'd taught herself with some books out of the schoolhouse's small library in order to pass the time and lift her spirits, but she'd never really had a teacher. The orb of light that had been flying about his head had gone nearer to the redhead and bobbed along to the music.

Epona came galloping and stopped perfectly four feet in front of them about ten minutes later, obviously happy to see her master and mistress.

"Aww, how's my girl?" Link patted her on the snout, earning a small gentle nudge in the shoulder. Kit pet her too, only she got her fingers nibbled on instead of a tiny head-butt. Epona knew when and when not to nudge them, and Kit was still injured. The jostling from riding Epona would not help but perhaps she could haggle some red potion away from the old scientist residing in the lakeside laboratory, or maybe from the captain that ran the fishing pond. Or she could deal with the wound, yes, that could very well work too.

She sighed and waited for Link to get up on the saddle, and she placed a kiss on Epona's forehead. "We're going to Lake Hylia, okay girl?"

The mare gave a snort and then a short shake of the head. In Epona-language that meant 'Okay, let's go then!'.

She climbed atop the horse to sit on to what space was left on the custom-made and rather ornate saddle, and she cursed inwardly and bit her tongue the whole way up. Ruto wouldn't be too happy with her new speaking habit, but she had cursed even back then, since she was considered an adult and had gotten used to being treated as such, and she would try to hide it from the princess as best she could. She could make no promises, even to herself, if her wounds kept on like this though.

"Are you sure you don't want the front spot this time? I could still steer."

"Nah, I'll be fine." She grimaced as the wound on her shoulder gave a twinge, but she didn't feel wet warmth on the surrounding skin so she assumed it wasn't bleeding through the bandages yet. She wrapped her arms around his waist, regretting her decision to stay where she was a little bit now that she thought about how rough the trip would be, fences included. "Let's just go."

With a "Hyaah!" and a short yelp from the redhead, they were off towards southern Hyrule, where Lake Hylia lay.

K.L.K- So? What do you think?

Link-…So, instead of Ruto being engaged to me through the Zora Sapphire…

Kit- You passed that onto me.

K.L.K- Essentially so, yes. Since Ruto admired Link in OoT for being able to defeat the monsters in Jabu-Jabu's belly and for saving and carrying her, I left Kit to that because she wanted to have Link have as much of a chance as he could to beat the monsters. That and since she had been fighting for longer than he had, she could work around the problem of carrying Ruto and fighting. Besides, he already has so many women vying for his attention…

Link- Ah… I see.

K.L.K- That and Navi wagered a bet that Kit wasn't strong enough. (Snickers)

Navi- Well… I didn't think she could.

Kit- (smirks) Hah. I won that bet. (Smirk disappears) She doesn't like me much, does she?

K.L.K- Nope. As far as she's concerned you're some extra that shouldn't be intruding on the Hero of Time's quest. And the people of Hyrule are rather set in their ways, so of course you—with your odd colouring and point of view—would be something different, uncontrollable and unpredictable to them. The Zora are more…um… reasonable, obviously.

Kit- Easily. So, what's with the title?

K.L.K-…We're getting to that.

Kit- In the next chapter?

K.L.K- Possibly. Depends how much detail I want to put into the Water temple—which in all honesty is a jerk in most of the games, more so Twilight Princess than OoT—and if I decide I'll be nice about you getting some red potion.

Kit- I don't care either way. Dealing with a wound's fine, and that vile stuff is easily bypassed.

K.L.K-…Indeed.

Link- (feeling sort of left out) Hey, just for them, (points to the vastly confused Readers) When did she find me, exactly?

K.L.K- You were working on Dodondogo's Cavern, and when you came out for supplies and food she was waiting with a letter from Zelda to confirm that she had indeed been sent to help you.

Link- (nods) She also dragged me into the Goron City to make sure all my wounds were clean.

Kit- And you whined like a toddler who touched the stove after being told not to.

K.L.K- (grinning behind one hand) Okay, okay…Wari, Wari, I don't want a spar or even a play-fight in here.

Kit/Link- Fine…

K.L.K- Alrighty, please review!