Warning, if you have not read my story 'Raven' go read it because that is the prequel and you may not understand a single thing of this story. To those who have read 'Raven,' enjoy.
Chapter 1
The Thief
Link was sitting down at the dinner table with his siblings. Link and Natylee were watching over Yuki and Noburu. Mayra had passed away two years prior. Noburu, who was now 10, was poking at his food while his younger sister, who is 8, was playing with her food.
"Noburu, are you not hungry?" Natylee asked.
"Not really." Noburu said in a bored tone.
"If you wish, you can be excused. It's not good to force yourself to eat." Link said.
"Ok." He got up, picked up his plate and took it over to the counter. He turned around to his older brother. "Oy, brother."
"Yea?" Link asked.
"When do you think I can start sword training? Weren't you ten when you started training? I'm 10 now."
"I was. I guess we can start your training sometime soon. Basics first. Once you master those, I'll teach you the best skills I know. Ancient skills passed down in our family by the great Hero of Time."
"Really?!" Noburu was getting a bit excited, which is quite rare for him.
"Yep." Natylee smiled and suppressed a laugh. They hadn't said anything about his father actually being the Hero of Time. Though he's read the stories. He was a big fan of them. "Anyway, don't-" There was a knock on the door and Link went to open it. He saw the mailman.
"Hey Link, here, I've got a letter for you. It's of high importance apparently."
"Thanks."
"Just happy to be delivering the mail. Onward to mail!" He ran off. Link shut the door and turned around.
"Another mission?" Natylee asked.
"Probably. Looks to have Zelda's seal." He opened it up and started to read it. "Dear Knight, there have been a rash of burglaries among the market. A thief by the name of Star has been robbing houses and food stands for money and jewelry. It is your job to catch her and bring her in. Her description from witnesses, long red hair tied in a ponytail, brown eyes, lower half of the face is usually covered by a cloth. I have faith in you, Hyrule Knight. Sincerely, Princess Zelda."
"What's it say?" Natylee asked.
"A thief by the name of Star has been stealing jewelry and money from houses and food stands. Make sure to hide mom's favorite jewelry. I doubt she'd want it stolen." He explained
"Right. So, you have to catch this person."
"Yep. Shouldn't be too difficult. She must be a decent thief, otherwise, she wouldn't have asked anyone of my rank to catch her. I'm going to go down to the armory tomorrow morning and see if there's any others who also have this task."
"More than likely it's just you on it, like the last few times. The last time you almost got killed."
"But I'm still here, aren't I?"
"Don't do anything stupid, ok brother? I can't lose you either."
"And you won't. I promise. Here, I'll help you put food away. Seems like we're done eating." Natylee smiled and Link walked over to help her clean up. Yuki had to be cleaned up too. Her face was covered in food. Noburu and Yuki are like a yen and yang of Raven's personality. Noburu is the serious, mature side while Yuki is the crazy, childish side. They are almost always side by side. Noburu was reading a book while Yuki was playing with toys next to him. Natylee stopped cleaning and turned to Link.
"Link, I've been meaning to ask you something." He turned to her as well.
"What?" He asked.
"Why'd you join the Hyrule Army if it's so dangerous?"
"Well, I want to serve my country. Also, Father was a knight. I guess I just kind of want to be like him. Hopefully make him prouder. I know he's still watching. Mayra's watching too."
"How do you know they're watching though?"
"When you're alone, do you ever feel like someone's watching you?"
"Sometimes."
"It's them. Watching us. You can sometimes feel that loving gaze. Sometimes we even get dreams of old times. It's them reminding us. So we never forget. As long as we remember, they're with us."
"Wow, that's deep." Link smiled and rolled his eyes. They went on with their cleaning, went about their evening and the next morning, Link headed toward Hyrule Castle. In the armory, there were a few soldiers there, including a close friend he's made since joining.
"Hey, how's it going, man?" The fellow Hyrule knight, Lori, asked.
"Why do you always greet people like that, Lori?" Link asked.
"Because I can. What are you doing here so early? New mission?"
"Yea. Supposed to be a thief girl who steals jewelry." He explained.
"You mean Star?" Lori asked.
"Yea her. Have you received the same assignment?"
"Yea, maybe we can work together on it."
"Cool." Lori smiled. She was one of those rare knights that was actually female. Usually females aren't allowed to be knights. Princess Zelda makes exceptions to the rule since she herself knew how to fight and knows girls are just as capable. She had also developed feelings for her fellow knight, though he's oblivious to it.
"So, what's the plan, Mister Hero?" She's also the only one of the knights who knows his secret.
"We split up and look for clues. I'll take one half, you take the other. We meet up by the fountain and report anything. If we get any clues on where she'll hit next, we'll stake out and see if we can catch her. If that doesn't work, we set a trap for her."
"Ok. Shall we get started now?" She asked.
"Yes. The sooner the better." They were starting to walk out. "Have you had breakfast?" Link asked by habit.
"Yes. Don't worry Link. I'm not a little girl. I am just as old as you and a knight. I think I can take care of myself."
"You're right, sorry. Just being brotherly. It's a habit."
"Well, I'm also no Natylee either. You aren't my brother, so you don't have to care."
"I'll always care. My father wasn't my real father, but he still cared for me like I was his son. Lori, I'll always care for you, no matter who you are to me." Lori's heart skipped a beat and she was trying to keep from blushing.
"W-We better get going." She stuttered.
"Um, right." They walked out of the armory and to the Market. "I'll take the west side, you take the east."
"Kay." The two separated. Link going west and Lori going east. They were quite a ways away from eachother. He heard footsteps behind him. He turned around, but saw no one. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword. He looked around for clues, seeing something out of the corner of his eye, but when he turned to it there was nothing.
"Show yourself. I know you're there." He heard a giggle and that was all. "I don't have time for games."
"Why not, silly?" The voice sounded slightly muffled. He turned around looking for the voice, but found no one.
"Oh, so now you talk."
"Answer my question. If I like your answer, I'll show myself." She said.
"Probably won't show themselves no matter what I say. Might as well humor her. I have no time for games because I'm a busy man." Link said.
"Busy man? You're so young. Why don't you play with me? I love games." She said, astounded sounding to the fact that Link doesn't play games.
"If I agree to play with you, will you show yourself?" he asked.
"Sure."
"Ok. Then I'll play with you."
"Cool. So, what shall we play?"
"I don't know. I'm not really one to play games."
"Then how about we play Hide and Seek. I'll hide and you seek."
"Aren't we already playing that?"
"No, because I'm not hiding. I'm truly in plain sight."
"If you say so."
"Count to 10, then come find me."
"Ok. Fine. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Ready or not here I c-" there was a sharp pain on the back of his head and his vision went double for a second. He didn't waste any time spinning around. A girl was standing there with a branch in her hand. She dropped it and tried running, but Link grabbed her wrist. "What the hell was that?"
"Why didn't it knock you out!?"
"It'll take a lot more than that, believe me. All you did was give me a headache. Now, why did you do that? That was a cheap move, even for a thief."
"You're one of the Hyrule army's knights, right?"
"Yea."
"Then show some compassion and let me go. I have a baby sister at home who has barely gotten anything to eat and a mother who's too sick to even move a twitch."
"So you steal to provide for your family, huh?"
"Yes. I know it's wrong, but I can't let my sister starve. I can't even afford a simple medicine bottle for my mom's sickness either."
"You could have always tried to find a different job."
"I have tried, but I couldn't find anything else. Have some compassion, let me go…" She seemed like she was about to cry.
"I'm sure if we meet with the Princess she will gladly h-" She punched him in the gut, he double over and she kicked him on the side of the head to knock him over.
"Hahahaha, did you really think I was telling the truth? I could see it in your eyes. A sweet, innocent little man trying to follow in the footsteps of his big tough daddy. I knew I could play on your sympathies." Link suddenly grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. She fell down with a shout. Link got onto his knees and sat on the girl's stomach, pinning her arms above her head.
"You may be right, I am following in my father's footsteps, basically, which is why I managed to pin you down. Waiting until the best moment to strike."
"Well, aren't you like a little cobra?"
"A what?"
"Hm, never mind. Seems you've beaten me. Might as well tie me up and turn me in. Or…" She arched her back up so Link lifted up and flipped over her. He landed on his back. Star pulled out some kind of dart and poked it into his shoulder. It paralyzed him so he couldn't move. The thief got up, pulled out a dagger and stood next to Link. The thief paused for a moment… she couldn't move her arm to stab him, lost in Link's eyes. She couldn't kill him. "Consider that a warning, Knight." She put the knife away and ran for the shadows. Link tried moving, but couldn't.
"Why couldn't she kill me? There was something familiar about her voice and her eyes." Link sat there, looking up at the sky. The sun was barely rising, giving a deep orange red color to the skies. He then heard a voice.
"Link!" It was Lori's voice. He heard her footsteps coming toward him. "Link, what happened?" Link couldn't answer her because he couldn't move. She helped him up. "Here, I'll take you home." She got him leaning on her shoulder, providing support the whole way. "Lucky for me you're so short and light." A slight growl erupted from Link's throat. "Hahaha, you're not intimidating, Mister Hero." She got him all the way to his house and knocked on the door with her foot. Natylee opened and gasped.
"Oh gods, what happened?!"
"He won't tell me. Can't seem to."
"Link… I guess get him over to his bed." Lori nodded and walked inside, still supporting Link on her shoulder. She had him sit down so Natylee could remove his equipment. Lori made him lay down and covered him up. "Brother, what happened?" Link tried to speak, but nothing came out. Natylee felt his forehead, but felt no fever, that's when she noticed the dart. She pulled it out. Link cringed a little bit and slightly growled. "Oh man up."
"Let me see that." Natylee handed the dart to her. "I don't think it's a Hylian dart, to be Labrynnian. My uncle might know more, but I think this paralyzed him."
"Oh brother…"
"I'm going to pay my uncle a visit, I'll be back soon."
"Stay safe." Lori nodded and left the house. "Brother, did Star do that to you?" He slightly nodded, starting to get some feeling back. "Seems she's more trouble than Zelda thought. Maybe this is a job for a higher ranking knight."
I noticed there was some confusion between my 'Hero Again' story and the Raven Sequel. This is the true sequel to 'Raven.' I hope you enjoy it. If you wish, you can say 'Hero Again' is the trilogy of 'Raven'
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this starter chapter. Review if you so wish and I will see you next time.
-Twi (Aka Hero of Twili)
