Heart of a Heroine: Power of Innocence
This is a story of what happens to all the children of Hyrule that were captured in my other story Heart of a Heroine. Hope you enjoy.
Some small pairings, so far only LudaxColin, but more may be added later.
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"Okay, just so we all remember, we've been captured, we have no way to fight the uber creepy things that captured us, all the grown-ups are in a different wagon, and Colin still wants us to try to escape." Malo said pessimistically.
"He's gonna get us killed." Dudley, one of the trader kids said.
"Hey, he's just trying to do what he thinks is right." Talo said, defending his friend.
The children had been put into a wagon after the attack, rather, they had woken up in a wagon after the attack. When they looked to see who was pulling it, they were met by a disturbing sight, what seemed to be a ghost of a horse, something who's black, rotting flesh, clung onto it's bones, pulling the wagon, with some, dark, black man, riding it. Once he had turned to look at the children, and they saw that his eyes were a bright red that scared them intensely.
If they looked out on the other side, they could see other wagons, being pulled by the same types of horses, and the same type of riders. They had noticed that there were far too many wagons to hold all of Ordon, even with all the traders.
They had been traveling for about three days since the Ordon Festival. They had gone through mountains, forests, and they were currently between a plain and a large amount of cliffs. If they looked at the sky, they would see that it had changed completely, it seemed as though the blue had turned into gray, and that everything had begun to whither slightly.
All the children seemed to have been lumped together, Colin, Talo, Malo, Beth, little Mark, Dudley, Vernon, Antoinette, Jotun, and the twins Andy and Mandy, were all placed in the same wagon, all of them having their hands tied together.
"It's what Link would do, he wouldn't just sit by and do nothing." Colin said.
"Oh yeah? Then how come he hasn't already done something about it?" Antoinette, another one of the more, snottier, trader kids said.
"I'll tell you why." Vernon, one of the bigger, dumber kids said. "I bet he's dead."
"TAKE THAT BACK!" Talo said, trying to strangle Vernon, anger burning in his eyes, despite the fact that Vernon was twice as big as he was, and that his hands were tied. Beth and Colin managed to calm him down, and keep him from killing Vernon. "Don't ever say something like that again." Talo told him.
"Oh come on, do you actually worship him?" Antoinette asked. "No one could do half the stuff you think he did."
"Ignore her Talo." Beth said. "These losers aren't worth our time."
"Losers!? You're the losers! You don't even know what the world is really like out there! We do!" Dudley fumed.
Soon, Colin's little brother, Mark, began to cry. Colin tried to pick his little brother up, and calm him, although it was difficult since his hands were still tied. "Look, here we're all equals, nothing else really matters." He told them. "Look, I know it might sound stupid, crazy, yeah, but what do you think those dark men are gonna do to us, when we get to wherever we are?"
"We're probably gonna go to this really fancy place, wherever they live, and they'll keep us locked up in our rooms." Vernon said.
It took a few seconds, but soon, Talo, Colin, Beth, and even Malo were laughing at the absurdity of Vernon's suggestion.
"Keep it down you brats." The Dark Rider told them. It didn't take more than his words to instantly silence them.
"Do you know what happened to us in Kakariko?" Beth said after a while.
"No, I was too bored during the festival to care when you told you're little stories." Antoinette said.
"What happened?" Jotun asked, speaking up for the first time since they had been captured.
"When we got to Kakariko, everyone was nice to us." Colin said. "They knew everyone was going through tough times, they wanted to help us get back home. Then those Twilight Creatures attacked. We hid in the Shrine, with the Shaman, his daughter, and the guy from the Bomb shop."
"After it was safe to go out, we were the only ones left. We had heard they're screaming." Talo continued, letting the effect set in. They hadn't even told their parents this part of the story.
"So, are you thinking that..." Andy said, afraid to finish the sentence.
"Look, these guys stop, and set up camp each night, we just have to slip out of these ropes, and run." Colin said.
"If not, we might end up like those poor guys from Kakariko." Beth said.
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Getting out of the ropes wasn't the tricky part, after all they had small wrists. The problem was going to be making sure they didn't get caught. The riders had decided to set up camp in a canyon, high cliff walls on either side.
It had been decided that they would run to an old house that they had seen along the way as a means of shelter. As the Riders made their campfire, the kids sneaked out of the wagon.
They decided to travel in groups, Dudlley, Colin, and little Mark, now asleep being carried on Colin's back with the rope that had tied their wrists, Malo with Vernon, Jotun and the twins, and lastly, Talo, Beth and Antoinette. All seemed to be according to plan, until, that is, the Ordon kids stopped to check the other wagons, and the Trader kids didn't.
"What are you doing?" Dudley whispered, grabbing on to Talo's shoulder.
"What do you think I'm doing, I'm trying to help everyone else escape." He told him.
"We're gonna get caught." Dudley told him.
"So you want me to leave Link, and Ilia, and my Mom, and my Dad, and your Mom, and your Dad?" Talo said.
"Well I..." Dudley said, trying to think of a response.
"Think of someone besides you for a change." He told him.
"Hey, guys!" Beth whispered, glancing over to the fireplace to make sure that the Riders hadn't noticed them. "Your gonna want to see this!"
Talo, and Dudley came to where Beth was, right next to one of the Wagons, to see what she wanted.
"They're not from Ordon, I think they're from somewhere else." She said, pointing inside. Talo and Dudley looked inside, and saw more kids, some they're age, some younger, and some older, but all of them most definitely kids.
"Hey, are you guys all right?" Talo asked.
"Who are you?" One of them inside asked.
"Getting you out of here, come on Dudley, help these guys out of those ropes." With that Talo climbed into the wagon, just as packed as theirs was, and began untying the ropes.
Meanwhile, Colin was checking another wagon. He peeked inside, and saw something that was both a good thing and a bad thing.
"Luda!" He exclaimed, seeing his friend from Kakariko. He got inside, and gave her a big hug. "I missed you." He said.
"I missed you too." She said. "Now, what in the name of Eldin are you doing here?"
"Did these strange, kind of... hollow creatures attack? That looked as though they had been drained of everything that makes something good?" He asked.
"Yes."
"Us too." With that he helped untie her ropes. Colin looked around the wagon, and saw a large number of Goron kids as well, having their hands tied too, but with thicker rope apparently.
Luda and Colin helped untie these kids too, trying to be quiet, and listen for the riders outside.
Soon everyone was untied, so they filed out of the wagon, seeing Talo, and Antoinette leading a bunch of Hylian kids out of another wagon. Talo saw Luda, and ran up to her giving her a hug.
"It's good to see you. Sorta." Talo said.
"Yeah, it was quite lonely in Kakariko, with no one to play with." Luda said.
"Who's this?" Antoinette asked.
"Luda, she was the Shamans daughter in Kakariko." Beth said, coming out of the other end of the Wagon.
"Well, I don't believe we've been properly introduced." Dudley began.
"We don't have time for that." Colin said, getting in between him and Luda. "Where are the others?" He asked.
Soon, Malo, riding on top of Vernon's head, came from behind a different Wagon, with Andy, Mandy, and a bunch of Zora kids.
"How did you get them to help you?" Talo asked in awe.
"Never underestimate the power of persuasion." Malo said.
"Where did they come from?" Dudley asked.
"They say they're from Zora's Domain." Mandy told him.
"Whatever, is that everyone?" Colin asked.
"Doesn't matter." One of the riders said, embedding his black sword into the ground before his feet. "I was wondering which of you runts was gonna try to escape. I was hoping it was you, now I get to see that pathetic look on your face drain when I kill you."
With that, the man grabbed Colin's neck, and picked his sword form the ground. Mark still slept on Colin's back.
"LET HIM GO!!" Luda yelled, trying to charge into the man, only to be kicked aside. Talo tried attacking the man as well, but another one of the riders put his sword in his path.
"Just watch the show kid, we only kill you one at a time so you can learn something." He told him.
The first Rider kept squeezing Colin's neck, but Colin kept fighting, trying to kick the man, trying to loosen his grip on his neck, and ultimately, biting into his hand, causing him to let go, Mark begging to cry after the fall.
"AHH! That little vermin bit me! Now it's gonna be painful this time around kid." He said, raising his sword.
Colin braced himself for impact, but before the sword struck, a strange music filled through the canyon, bouncing off the walls, echoing, making it louder and louder.
As Colin opened his eyes, he saw the Riders holding their hands on their ears, trying to keep the sound out. The horses were rampaging, trying to get out of their reigns, bashing against other wagons, all of them leaving their cargo behind, and running into the distance. The Riders jumped on to the remaining horses, the one that was strangling Colin giving them one last contemptuos look before riding away.
Colin let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, and looked around, everyone was dumbfounded by what had happened, but certainly no one was complaining. Eventually the music faded away, but everyone had the tune memorized, as it had just saved their lives.
"What just happened?" One of the Zora kids asked.
"I don't know, but we sure are lucky." One of the Hylians remarked.
"That's for sure, that kid would have died if that hadn't happened." Someone else said.
"What are we gonna do now? Does anyone know where the closest city is?"
"Yeah, what do we do for food and water?"
Colin looked around him, and tried to comfort his little brother, and stop his crying. 'What are we gonna do know? I never really thought about that. And know we got all these other kids.' He thought.
Colin picked up a fallen wooden crate from one of the wagons, and placed it on the ground. He stepped on it, and raised his voice for all to hear: "We don't know what just happened, but we should consider ourselves lucky. We need to gather whatever those guys left, and make sure no one is left behind. For now, we'll make sure everyone has been untied, and set up camp so we can sleep. Tomorrow, when the sun rises, we'll gather up everything we can use, and look for some shelter."
"Who made you boss?" Andy asked.
"Nobody, you feel you can do a better job, by all means, go ahead." Colin said, stepping of the crate. Already the kids were doing as Colin had said, checking each wagon, and getting together some blankets to sleep on.
Since Andy hadn't stepped on the crate, Colin got back on and said: "Alright, once everyone is untied, and we have somewhere to sleep, find some weapons, and use them to guard over the people who are sleeping, and keep the fire lit. We'll take shifts, so once everyone is ready to sleep, wake up an equal number of kids, and give them your weapons, okay?"
The result was an Okay from everyone assembled. Colin got off the crate, and began to work with everyone else, his friends congratulating the way he had taken charge.
"That was very good leadership." Luda remarked. "You're gonna be someone important one day."
"Oh, I'm just trying to get things done. Doing things that should be done." Colin said, blushing.
"Hey, Colin, may I ask you something?" Luda said.
"Yeah, what?"
"Who's that on you back?"
"Oh, well, remember how I told you that I was gonna get a new baby brother or sister soon?" He asked.
"Yeah, I remember."
"Well, this is him. His name is Mark." He said, turning his back to show her the two and half month old baby, who had calmed down from the fight with the Dark Riders, and was now asleep.
"I hope you grow up to be just like your big brother one day Mark." Luda said.
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"Hey Colin, what are you doing?" Luda asked, walking up to Colin, who was sitting by the fire, about three hours since the Riders had run.
"Oh, hey Luda." Colin said, yawning. "I'm keeping watch."
"Yeah, but shouldn't you be done by now?" Luda asked.
"Well, for some reason, even though I'm sleepy, I can't sleep." he said. "You know, I talked to some of the other kids, they said that they were attacked by the same monsters, everyone was."
"Have you found out where we are?" She asked.
"I have no idea." Colin said. "I wonder where everyone else is. When those monsters attacked, I'm sure they took everyone else in Ordon, but where are they, if they're not here?"
"I don't know. I wonder if my Dad was caught, or some of the Goron traders." Luda wondered.
"I hope not." Colin said.
After awhile, Luda said "You know, your acting like a real leader here."
"Me? A leader? I'm just trying to do what has to be done. I don't think I'd be a good leader." He said. Colin laid back on the ground, and began to stare at the skies. "You know, the stars are kinda different here."
"Yeah, your right." Luda said, joining him on the ground. "You can barely see the Triforce. You can hardly make out Farore."
"I can still see the Great Deku Tree." Colin noted.
"The what?"
"Over there." Colin said, pointing. "It's beneath the First Goron and the First Zora, and to the Right of Prince Benedict." He said.
"Oh, I never noticed that, your right, it does make a tree." She said.
"The Great Deku Tree is a special, talking tree, it protects all the Kokiri." Colin told her.
"What's a Kokiri." Luda asked.
"They're these forest kids, they live in Kokiri Forest, it's somewhere in Faron Woods. Ilia goes there a lot, but she's never found the place, so I think it's hard to find. The kids there, they just play all day, and they have these fairies look after them, and make sure they don't get in trouble. But what's really cool about them, is that they never grow old, the just stay in the forest and play."
"Wow, I wonder if we'll meet any here." Luda thought aloud.
"Maybe, but I'm not sure the monsters would find Kokiri forest, Ilia goes there all the time, she's never once met a Kokiri. Link too, when he goes into the wood to chop down firewood, no one in Ordon's ever met a Kokiri." Colin said getting up.
"Well, you never know, it'd be really cool to say you met a Kokiri, don't you think?"
"Yeah, at least they'd have some friends here." Colin said.