Nothing moved in the lightless, cold castle town. No one made a sound, a sense of foreboding in the air. The guards around the castle felt this, but it was their job to keep watch. They would not leave their posts, despite their quivering knees and their hands shaking so much their spears almost rattled. That was when the thundering of hooves rung out through the still night air, a black stallion with red-orange mane and tail charging through the streets. A tall man with golden eyes and hair the colour of flame jumped off the horse at the entrance to the castle, lifting his head to look up at the castle before him. The low rumble of thunder echoed around them, but the man didn't seem to notice at all, simply resting one hand on the neck of his horse.
"I've been expected." Was all he said to the nearest guard, who jumped at his voice, which was low and imposing, not unlike the thunder that had sounded just before.
"Um...Y-yes sir... or course." The guard forced out, motioning for one of his comrades to take the horse to the stables while he lead the man into the castle. The young man knew how much fear he caused. He'd gotten used to it since his first arrival in Hyrule. That didn't mean he had to like it, per say, though it did have its uses. For a moment he watched his horse being taken away, then glanced back down the trail a bit. His nod was barely detectable, but it did it's job, then he followed the guard inside.
The girl he nodded to stepped back into the shadows, completely vanishing from view. Not that she had been very visible before, but now it was like she had never been there at all. She slowly made her way over to the castle, pausing at the sight of some stupid man standing before her way inside. She scowled, reaching behind her and grabbing a small flask along with a scrap of cloth. Slowly, so as not to draw attention to herself, she poured a bit of the liquid on the cloth, replacing the flask where it was meant to be, then snuck up behind him, covering his mouth and nose with the cloth before letting him fall to the ground.
Idiot.
She kept going, slipping into the castle and locking the door behind her. She'd find another way out. She was reasonably certain that the nice big tower would be a good place to jump from. A smirk slipped onto her lips. Well... there was one person she was certain would love to go flying out a window from there. Just picturing it now, the fat man with his arms flailing as he fell, was more wonderful than she could describe. She shook her head, still walking. Her boss had gotten her so mucked up in the head if she thought that it was fun to throw fat kings out the top of the highest tower in the castle. Her ears flicked back and she only just managed to dodge as a strange girl with round ears, long dark brown hair and... glasses... charged at her, a scowl essentially engraved on her face.
"What happened? Wind changed and your face stuck?" The would-be assassin taunted, turning so she had a clean getaway if she needed it.
"Sure, but what's your excuse?" She smirked, pointing her sword at the assassin, who chuckled.
"A talker, huh? Nice."
"That's not an answer."
"I like making kids scream and run away. Means I don't have to deal with them." The assassin pulled out her own sword, not even looking like she was getting into a position to fight off her attacker. The brunette leaned her head to one side, smiling awkwardly.
"So what's your name, then?" The assassin asked, perfectly politely.
"What's yours?"
"Tsk tsk," The assassin shook her head, "I asked you first. It's only fair you answer first."
"Ren, Renita... take your pick."
"Nice to meet you, Renita. Now, if you don't mind, I have a king to kill." The assassin bowed, rather extravagantly, then turned to leave. Ren's scowl returned and she slashed at the assassin, having her blow blocked almost too easily. The assassin didn't move, then slowly turned to face her, her face blank.
"And we were having such a good conversation."
"You never told me your name, I couldn't let you leave without that little tidbit, now could I?"
"Many people now me by many different names. They just don't know that they're all for me. I am a shadow, the Queen of Death, a child, and many more things beside. I am doom. And this speech is getting very annoying. Could you just hurry up already?" Now she looked past Ren at someone the brunette hadn't noticed coming up behind her. Next thing she knew she was being swung around and thrown into a nearby room, her glasses sliding off her nose.
"What?! Hey!" She yelled, hitting the door, struggling to find the handle with her now severely limited sight, "Let me the hell outta here!" The assassin thought for a moment, watching the door.
"Did you have to take her glasses?" She asked the tall red-haired man towering beside her.
"They're safer with me, I suspect. Besides, it means that she isn't about to go anywhere." He neatly slipped the glasses into a pocket, along with the key to the room that Ren was locked it. The assassin shrugged.
"Whatever. I have a job to do."
"Ralia – "
"Don't call me that. Besides," The assassin turned to look back at him, "You have to make sure your alibi is fool proof, and the goddesses damn it, these people are all fools."
"Just be careful."
"He's a half wit king who I should hope by now is sufficiently drugged so he won't be able to do a bloody thing. I've dealt with more troublesome people than him." Then she was gone, leaving behind a girl hitting the door so hard she would get splinters in her hands, and an over-sized red head who looked surprisingly concerned before he walked off down the hall to find someone so he could have an air-tight alibi.
The kingdom was mourning the loss of their king... or most of it was. There were a few that celebrated thee occasion. This was the start of something that would hopefully end the way they wanted it to. Ganondorf looked out over the kingdom from his room in the castle, his face blank. He hadn't seen Ralia for ages, evidently she had managed to escape cleanly. Not that he doubted she would – he had trained her himself, but her skills as an assassin far exceeded his own. And was smart. She just played dumb. It got on his nerves a bit, actually. Slowly he turned away from the window. He would have to return to the desert soon. With any luck he would meet the young red-head hylian there, though somehow he had his doubts. The girl Ren had already stumbled away, somehow managing to find her way around reasonably well despite being essentially blind without her glasses. He wondered where she had gone. She had shown skill with that sword of hers. It was a shame she had worked for someone like the King of Hyrule. Perhaps there was a way for him to corrupt her. That was if he could find her again. Ganondorf shook his head. Why should he worry about some brunette with little to no eyesight? Right now he was supposed to be concentrating on returning to the desert. That was his primary objective.
The assassin, or Ralia, as Ganondorf had called her, was indeed back at the Gerudo Fortress. She wandered it aimlessly, nothing better to do except for trying to stay away from her brother's mums. They sometimes got on her nerves a bit, but only because they seemed to care so much. She pushed her long, red hair behind her ear, running her fingers through her hair as she pulled it up into a ponytail, revealing one gold eye, one blue-violet, something that she didn't show anyone else. Her hair itself was strange enough, one black streak running down the right side of her hair. Behind her right air was a dragon's head birthmark, which she tried to hide. Then she heard the tell-tale footsteps down a corridor nearby and looked around. She didn't recognise the sound, and she knew there different footsteps of pretty much everyone in this place. She was one of the few who didn't really make a any noise when walking normally, and no noise when she was trying to hide. Slowly she walked forwards, her feet now silent, and then peered down the corridor, peering around. Then she smiled.
"I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here." She called out, rather coolly. Ren jumped slightly, looking around and glaring at Ralia.
"Hey, you're that chick that helped steal my glasses!"
"Yeah, that would be me. Sorry about that, by the way. I had no idea that the big idiot would do that. Slightly surprised the clumsy oaf didn't slip up and break your nose by accident, actually." Renita frowned.
"You do know who you're talking about... Don't you?"
"Oh yeah. Ganondorf Dragmire, the idiot in charge of this place. I'm actually waiting for him to get his arse back here," She paused, pulling something out of a small bag on her belt, "Thought you might want these back." She held them out and Ren started managing her way over, pausing a moment before reaching out and taking...
"My glasses?" She asked, slipping them on, now able to see pretty much perfectly clearly. The assassin nodded, shrugging slightly before leaning casually against the wall, quickly undoing her hair and letting it hang loose around her shoulders, falling in front of her left eye (the golden one), hoping that Ren hadn't yet seen it.
"Why?" Ren asked.
"Well, Renita dear, I figured that Ganondork went a bit far when it came to taking your glasses. And he's well and truly too dumb to have realised that I managed to pick his pocket," She shrugged again, "Also it means you have no reason to steal from the King of Thieves, which, entertaining as that may be, it's also extremely stupid because you would then have a whole hoard of thieves after you. Clearly you're too stupid to have thought about that before you came here after revenge."
"I... what... how dare...!" She started turning red and the assassin couldn't help the smirk that slipped onto her face.
"You're so easy to annoy, you really should work on that." Then she turned and started walking away, completely ignoring the flustered and slightly pissed of would-be thief.
"Hey! Don't turn your back on me – ah... hang on..."
"Well that ruined the effect. You were doing so well at the whole undignified and needing to extract your revenge act."
"Oi!" Ren snapped, storming forwards and grabbing the assassin by the shoulder, only to have her hand thrown off, a hand wrapping around her throat, and finding herself slammed up hard against the wall.
"You might not want to do that again." She was told in a low, intimidating voice.
"I'll bear that in mind, thanks," Ren snarled back as she was released, "What's your name, anyway? That big oaf, as you so delicately put it, jumped me before you finished your "I'm Batman" speech."
"Who's Batman?" Renita sighed, hanging her head slightly.
"Forgot you don't have him here..." She muttered before looking up at the red-head again, "Some superhero vigilante type. Now, your name?"
"Batman, apparently." Ren finally lost it.
"Ugh! Just tell me your thrice dammed name already!"
"Temper temper."
"Oh-ho... girly, you really don't want to piss me off more than I already am."
"Don't I? This is actually kind of fun..." The assassin lowered her voice and said as gruffly as she could "I'm Batman." Ren paused, struggling with herself a bit.
"OK, that was actually a half descent impersonation."
"Why, thank you." She bowed, then thought for a moment. Then Ren remembered the whole point behind this argument.
"Are you trying to make me forget that I asked you your name?"
"Yep. But it's your fault for not asking the right question."
"My – ?! Well excuuuuuuuuuse me!" Ren was beginning to go slightly red in the face, "You're the one who... who..."
"Who what? Keeps managing to beat you with my words? Yeah, and there was me hoping for a challenge. Evidently I'm going to be disappointed." The assassin looked down at her fingers, seeming to be checking them for dirt. Ren thought for a moment.
"What do most people call you?" Now the assassin looked up, her eyes shining slightly, though the rest of her face held no sign of emotion.
"Now we're getting somewhere," She muttered, "Nim, though you'll find that Ganondorf calls me Ralia, him and his mums. Everyone else who calls me that finds themselves missing a tongue, or perhaps their reproductive parts if they are men and extremely annoying. And if you try asking me what my real name is, you're going to find yourself unable to eat solids for a couple of weeks. It has happened before. No one knows my real name, and no one ever will. We clear on that?" Nim hardly paused to see Ren's reaction, "Good. Now come on. We gotta get you looking at least slightly presentable before Captain Dork gets back." Unsure of how to respond, Ren just followed Nim down the halls silently, more than a little confused about what just happened.
Ganondorf arrived back at the fortress a few days later, flinging himself tiredly into the nearest seat and feeling his eyes shut, even if only for a moment before someone barged into the room and ruffled his hair annoyingly.
"Get off." He mumbled.
"Aw, poor little thing," It was Nim's voice, "You must be so tired after your journey. I am so, so sorry to hear that." She flopped down, leaning heavily on his shoulders.
"I told you to get off." Ganondorf growled, sounding a lot more forceful as he opened his eyes and sat up straight, turning around so he could tower over Nim, a scowl etched on his face. Nim just folded her arms, not a hint of emotion in her one visible eye. He never did understand why she bothered hiding her golden eye, especially here in the desert where that was normal. Her ears folded back slightly in annoyance or exasperation, Ganondorf never did get the hang of telling which was which with Nim.
"Letting you know now you have a guest. You're not allowed to kill her while I'm gone, you understand? I would say she's my guest, but I've had hardly anything to do with her since she got here and I'm ditching you in a couple of hours, tops. Got another job lined up, some idiot in Hyrule wants another idiot dealt with. Before you ask, no, it doesn't interfere with any of your plans." Ganondorf just stared at her for a moment, still finding it a little off putting how... professional Nim was. He knew she'd become more professional than human, but still... this was just starting to get a little spooky, even for him.
"Who is it?" He asked eventually, still sounding slightly more gruff than he normally would. He always treated Nim a little different from the rest of his sisters. She was, after all, the only one he shared no blood with, and yet – though he would never admit it – she was the one he cared about the most.
"Oh, don't worry. You've met before, and I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about." If Ganondorf didn't know any better he could have sworn that her eye sparkled in what was her version of a smile.
"Ralia..." He warned.
"You really think I'd have a house guest that would kill you as soon as lay eyes on you?" Nim snapped, her eyebrows coming slightly more together, "And you're supposed to be intelligent" She out her hands up before Ganondorf could reply, "I'm going. No killing each other. If you need to throw her in the dungeons. But no killing. Understood? Good. Now, have fun." With that she turned and walked out, her long, wavy hair hanging down her back and swishing slightly as she moved. Ganondorf scowled. Why did she always have to be so rude? He sat back down with a sigh and glanced out the window, freezing when he saw the brown haired girl... with her glasses...
"NIMUE!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, knowing that she wasn't going to come back, but needing to vent some anger somehow... that didn't involve killing Ren.
Soooooo... nice little prologue, yeah, there's fourth wall break with the character Ren, who is character I borrow from my buddy ArtemisStar2007, who has the original version of Ren and some other very interesting characters. I've done a variation on a theme, that's all. My main character is Nim, who has been in other fanfics, but this is the line that she was originally made for. Hope you enjoy! :)