Got the idea, and it started eating my brain to make a story out of it. Got the idea vaguely from reading Super Smash Bros. fanfiction.

Disclaimer: Don't own the Legend of Zelda or Soulcalibur. I do own Kris and the Hegen jerks.

"I'll find you somewhere, I'll keep on trying until my dying day. I just need to know what has happened; the truth will free my soul." ~Somewhere, Within Temptation

Prologue

The cold desert region of Khaunuth had never been known for its hospitality. A young warrior was about to learn firsthand why. Two large, strong men appeared out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground before he even had a chance to fight.

One pinned him down, face pressed into the suffocating sand, while his partner took the shoulder belt that held the young man's sword and used it to tie him up.

"He'll make a good fighter."

"Yep, probably going to last us a while."

Once their victim was securely tied and gagged, they picked him up and carried him away. "Say hello to your new home, boy," the one carrying his upper body hissed. "Soon it'll be all you ever knew."

Chapter 1

Five weeks later…

"Guh! OW! Ugh…" A girl in her mid to late teens struggled with branches that seemed to be playing a game of "Let's hit the human".

"Link…" she groaned through her teeth. She struggled into a clearing, lifted her face to the sky and shouted, "LINK, IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP SOON, I AM GONNA BRUTALLY MURDER YOU!" Of course, she was too mad to consider the lack of logic in what she had just said.

She dropped to a cross-legged sitting position and slumped. "Where are you?" she whispered, throat growing sore. "I don't know where to look." Her eyes watered, and she rubbed at them ferociously. Kris Hayden Thomas did not cry. She still missed Link, though.

She forced herself onward until she reached a town. She remembered her friend's departure…

"Let me come with you!"

"No."

"Why no-o-o-t?"

"Because, it'll be dangerous."

"'Be-cause, it'll be dangerous," she mimicked sarcastically. "Puh-lease, I've been living with you for a year now. I eat danger for breakfast."

"That's right, and you could get food poisoning from that. You're staying."

"I eat FOOD POISONING for breakfast!"

"…That makes no sense, Kris. Just stop trying. I promised Zelda you would take my place as her bodyguard."

"Sheik can do it."

"She already does," Link reminded her gently. "You're staying, Kris." He smiled and put his arm around his younger friend's shoulder. "If you don't hear from me, you can send someone to drag me back by the ear." He squeezed slightly, and Kris allowed herself a crooked grin as she returned the friendly hug. Link smiled wider and walked away. Kris shouted after him

"I'm holding you to that dragging-by-the-ear offer!"

"Hey, you there, girl," someone called. Kris turned sharply and set her hand on a sword hilt dangling from her belt. "Easy there, girl," an older man sitting on a barrel told her. "Just wanted to talk."

Kris crossed her arms over her chest. "So talk."

"You have the look of someone who's looking for someone. A friend, or perhaps… a lover?"

"EW!"

"Okay, not a lover," the man hastily amended. "But you have lost someone very important to you and have come this way seeking him."

Kris narrowed her eyes. "How would you know this?"

"You're clearly not from around here. And I saw a young man come through here a couple months ago." He tapped his head. "The old noggin never forgets."

Kris frowned. "What did he look like?"

"Describe your friend."

"Describe the guy you saw first." Kris had never been one to trust anyone quickly.

"Medium height. Blue eyes, dirty blond hair, pointy ears, he was wearing a pointy hat and a green dress."

"That's him. And it's called a tunic." Kris started to walk away, but the man called after her, "My condolences."

Kris pivoted to face him again. "Huh?"

"He went to Khaunuth. A one-eyed monkey could tell he was a warrior. You might as well go home now and don't waste your energy."

Kris stepped closer, worried. "What's so bad about Khaunuth?"

"It's a cold desert where the Hegen hunters spend at least half the year. They nab promising warriors and take them to their stadium."

"I've never heard of any Hegen."

"Lucky you ran into me, then," the man shook his head of greasy hair. "Don't set foot in Khaunuth."

"But you said Link-"

"I said he went there, yes. Believe me, girly, if you go there, you might find him, but it won't help either of you. Let me tell ya what happens to warriors who get caught by Hegen, what has happened to your friend." The man leaned forward. "He's either brainwashed or dead. If he's dead, then that's that. If he's brainwashed, fighting is all he knows now. He wouldn't know you, he'd attack you and leave you to die. Either way, your friend's lost forever."

Kris clenched her fist against the dread forming inside her. "You don't know Link," she told him firmly. "He's handled worse."

"Maybe, but no one has ever escaped the Hegen. More than likely your friend won't either."

"Then I'll just have to go save him," Kris walked away, ignoring the man's calls.

A massive arena loomed ahead of her. Kris drew one of her two morph blades, turning it into a dagger. She swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and boldly strode up to the entrance.

And so ends Chapter 1. Next chapter!