A/N: Wow, thanks for the two reviews! Seriously- that's actually the most I've gotten on one chapter, believe it or not.
Anyways, looking back on it, I kinda do think that the first chapter wasn't too good- despite my satisfaction abou there finally being a fic where Zelda wants to fight and stuff, it was a complete personality switch from Zelda, seeing as she's the Triforce of Wisdom and stuff and wouldn't be likely to make that decision at all. And I also realized that in Ocarina of Time, which this is following, that Zelda's hair color is blonde and I'm following the Zelda who's auburn... luckily I was able to get that small problem taken care of.
I now also think that I've got most of the plot outlined- a lot of it, at least. I actually do know where I'm heading now, and I really hope that no one else had my idea... which I'll tell you more about. I'm telling this in case if the Red Aura thing seems out of the blue in the plot- trust me, it's not. It's a key factor in the story.
Oh! And I also forgot to mention, this is the first chapter where non-Hylian Brawlers are mentioned! :D I'm still at a loss of what to do for Ganondorf... I mean, he is a Brawler, but he kinda took over Hyrule and stuff, so...
I'm also really anxious about whether this fight scene was good, especially since this is a fighting-oriented story and such. I'm really hoping it's good, I studied SSBB fighting styles and tried to incorperate them into the FanFic...
I think I should shut up now. This is my longest A/N, afte all...
So, enjoy!
Chapter 2: Red Aura
The next morning when Zelda woke up, she had to squint to see past the thin strings of light weaving through the small window and pointing at her.
Reluctantly and groggily, Zelda slowly heaved herself up, then mustered strength inside of her to stand up and stretch. Eyes still adjusting to the new day, her eyes threatened to close before she flapped water from the basin onto her face. Zelda found it easier to stay awake with water dripping down her face.
After quickly drying herself off with a holed towel, Zelda thought about Hyrule. Looking back on it, had she really been so wise to leave her duties just to find a friend and fight in a rink? Who knew what could happen in Hyrule without her!
But the damage was done, there was no turning back. And besides, Impa was one of the Sevem Sages- surely she'd at least know a bit on how to run a country just for a while, wouldn't she?
Zelda smoothed all creases in the flimsy, dark brown cloak before pulling the hood tightly onto her auburn head. Zelda wondered if Link would be able to recognize her with brown hair instead of blonde- she had dyed it before she left the castle so there would be a fairer chance of her not being seen.
Link most likely would recognize her- wouldn't he? After all, he was one of Zelda's closest friends and confidantes and vice versa. And if Link didn't recognize her, surely he'd be able to identify Sheik on the spot.
Zelda tied her sword to her belt once again and collected the few possessions she had before exiting the room. This time, a new smell mixed in with the musty one- a fresh, steaming smell. Breakfast, perhaps?
Zelda eagerly traced the smell to a small kitchen. A long bar offered varieties of breakfast foods- apples, pancakes, muffins, any kind of breakfast. Throught the room small, wooden tables were assorted on the creaking wooden floorboard, and another small window spun light throughout. The only inhabitants other than her was a young woman in an apron looking after the food and two men sitting next to each other, their chatter fading in and out of Zelda's ears.
Zelda looked hungrily at the choices, and for a moment she felt strangely unsatisfied. Back at Hyrule Castle they had provided breakfast better- usually at least twice as the amount and Zelda was willing to bet her throne that it also tasted mounds better.
Zelda growled mentally at herself. Get used to it, she scolded.
In the end, Zelda carefully selected a few muffins and fruits before paying the Rupees. The woman had eyed her a little suspiciously- at first, Zelda's throat had stiffened a little in fear that she would be exposed. But when her hawk-like eyes flew down to the food, Zelda realized that she must have gotten more food than normal- of course.
Zelda breathed a small sigh of relief once the woman in the apron had left. Quickly she was able to distract herself from this rather close call as she began pocketing the majority of the food into the pouch. Once there was an apple and two blueberry muffins left, Zelda pulled on the thick, golden rope drawstrings, closed it, and hooked it back onto her belt.
Zelda gathered the remaining food in her hand and carried it to one of the tables. But no sooner had she sunk her teeth into one of the muffins did the mens' conversation finally tune in.
"-missing, they say," a drawling voice said. He sounded as if he were speaking through his teeth. "Hyrule's gonna blow i'self to bi's if she's not found sooner or later."
"An unfortunate shame for Hyrule," the second man shook his head slowly. "At least it ain't concerning us- our noble land of Altea is much better than ol' Hyrule."
"Won'er what it'd be like if Prince Marth dis'ppeared," the first man remarked.
The second man chuckled at the idea. "Marth's alreadly gone- don't you remember? He left to fight in the Smash Arena for a bit." Zelda felt a stab of guilt, "And he actually got in."
Zelda hoped that she was remaining calm as she loaded apples and muffins with an almost trembling hand.
"A' least they know where 'e is," the first man rolled his eyes. "Pers'n'ly, I think that Princess Zelda's got'n herself into a hab't of gettin' herself kidnapped."
Zelda clenched a fist at the memory as she left the room.
Almost immediately she bolted outside to see Twilight stirring. Twilight's beady eyes seemed to settle on Zelda's hip...
Suddenly Zelda knew what had gotten the horse awake. Zelda smiled lightly as she took out one of the apples from her pouch and offered it to the horse.
Twilight sniffed it, as if not believing it were a real apple at first. But he began to trust it as he began to nibble on it, reluctantly at first, then devoured it eagerly as it pretty much swallowed the entire apple whole.
Zelda giggled at Twilight's fondness of apples, until Twilight suddenly stopped chewing and his pointed ears rose, suddenly on alert.
Following that, a scream rung through the small town. "No, don't!"
Zelda's head turned around to see a small girl running away from something, black hair whipping in the wind and her legs jolted out one after the other. She drew in deep, calming breaths and looked back over her shoulder repeatedly.
The girl finally screamed again and ran harder as a blood-red outline came into view. "My brother's crazy!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
It was then that Zelda could see what the outline was- a teenage boy with a broad, red aura bordering his body. His eyes gleamed wickedly at the little girl, and in his hands he held a large butcher knife.
Zelda's eyes enlarged. That guy... he was trying to kill the girl, wasn't he? Zelda had to do something- if she could help other people than she would be able to help herself. But not in this state...
Praying that no one was watching her, Zelda closed her eyes as the familiar transforming magic surrounded her. Sweat sprouted on her forehead, and half of that anxiety was relieved when she felt the magic dying down.
Sheik drew in a deep breath as she unattatched the cloak and threw it on Twilight's back. "I'll be back in a moment," Sheik muttered under her cloth.
Sheik's red eyes swung to the girl, who seemed to be doing reasonably well and at the boy with the red aura slowly advancing on her. But Sheik was horror-struck when she witnissed the girl tripping over her own feet and the boy quickly advancing on her.
Instinctively, Sheik drew a handful of needles from her pouch as the boy was no more than a yard away from her, pulled her arm back, then flung all the needles at once to the boy.
Just as he had reached the girl, the boy immediately spun around as he felt sharp needles pierce his back, and he hunched down over briefly in pain. This momentary distraction gave Sheik time not only to run up to the boy, but to ready more needles as well.
By the time the boy had recovered, Sheik had placed her body protectively over the little girl and looked aggressively at the boy.
"Leave her alone!" Sheik warned.
In response, the boy merely chuckled, amused, while his fingers tightened maliciously on the knife.
Sheik looked over to the girl quickly. "Run," she breathed to the girl. "Run as fast as you can, I'll take care of him."
But the girl seemed too scared to act anymore, rooted to the spot by her own fear.
Now the boy had an advantage. He rammed into Sheik once more, and the girl took a step back and shrieked again. Sheik's head narrowly dodged a punch from the boy, and Sheik swung her body under the boy's arm and drove a fist into his stomach, quickly followed by a knee into his special place.
The boy took a step back in shock, earning Sheik yet another opprotunity. Sheik aimed a flurry of rapid punches at the boy, who slowly backed away. Finally when he broke from Sheik's grip, he kneeled to the ground and roundhoused Sheik's feet, tripping her.
Sheik watched as the knife advanced on her, but at the last second, Sheik closed her eyes, quick to use magic. Sheik heard a ringing sound as she felt her body travelling mentally through space, now behind the boy's back suddenly. From the looks of it, she had narrowly missed the butcher knife.
Sheik readied a long chain and flung it around the boy's waist, taking him aback and pulling the boy to herself. Now she had a firm grip on the boy once again and performed another series of quick attacks. As a result, the boy drew in ragged gasps of shock and overworking, meekly raising his arms up to defend himself. He grunted as he threw the butcher knife at Sheik.
Sheik broke her grip from the boy, backflipping as she saw the knife sailing way past into the air.
The boy used Sheik's distraction to his advantage and pulled Sheik down to the ground, uppercutting her in the jaw before punching her forehead. Sheik frantically swung her legs at the boy's buttocks, and finally it hit him, knocking him down to the ground.
Sheik placed a hand firmly on the boy's chest to hold him down. The boy thrashed wildly, which was almost enough to distract Sheik from seeing a bright, triangle-shaped light on her palm growing as red energy began to swirl up her hand. At the same time, the red aura from the boy began to seep away, as if he were being drained of it. The boy's eyelids began to droop slightly as his efforts to resist gradually decreased as more red energy began to rise. Finally, the red energy seeped away completely, and his eyes rolled back into his head while all his muscles relaxed.
Sheik straightened her back, watching the swirling red energy dance around her forearm for a brief moment. Suddenly it tore itself away from Sheik's arm, and Sheik traced the energy away as it fled from her, past the girl, and out of the town.
Sheik turned her attention back to the boy, who seemed to be drained of color.
Finally the girl spoke. "Is... is Matic... is he... dead?" the girl wimpered the last part.
Sheik bent down again and placed a palm on the boy's, Matic's, forehead. As if that were triggering something, Matic gave a low, strained moan.
The girl sighed in relief. "Oh, good. I'm glad to see he's safe."
"You seem to know him," Sheik remarked.
The girl nodded quickly. "Oh yes- Matic is my older brother," the girl explained. "Our parents died a while ago, you see, and Matic was of age to take me in. Matic cared about me a lot, you see, it seems like I'm his favorite sibling, ya know? We live in a rather small house, but we never go hungry or anything and we live pretty good. But this morning, Matic suddenly... changed." The girl flinched at the memory. "He just didn't seem like himself, and I could see this very faint, reddish glow around him- it's now gone, I think. I was just asking if he was okay, then suddenly Matic attacked me! I was able to run out of the house, you know... I think that red glow is gone now. I'm Aliah," the girl added as an afterthought.
Sheik looked from Aliah from Matic silently. Aliah had said he cared for her a lot... so why the erratic change in behavior?
As if reading Sheik's mind, Aliah added, "Matic seemed almost possessed, really. Oh look, he's stirring!"
Aliah scampered over to Matic, shaking him eagerly. "Matic, Matic?" she shook. "You hanging in there?"
Matic's eyes slowly opened, a bright vivid blue locking with violet ones. "Aliah..." Matic murmered.
Aliah grinned broadly as Matic observed his surroundings, confused. Matic scrunched his eyebrows slowly, in thought. "Whe... what happened?"
"You tell me," Aliah replied in what was supposed to be somewhat hostiliy, but it came out gleefully. "What do you remember?"
Matic reached into his mind slowly, and Sheik looked at the pair almost hungerily. "I... I remember waking up to something, I guess," Matic slowly recited. "It was this red light... then suddenly it flew up to me, and I felt this kind of pain stab through me... I sorta blacked out after that."
So Matic had been possessed, Sheik observed. If Matic genuinally couldn't seem to remember that, it was easy to see that.
But the real question was... by what?
Then Sheik suddenly remembered when she had placed her palm on Matic's chest. The Triforce Mark had seemed to glow, and whatever had been possessing him had left his body, as if being cured from an infection. Apparently the Triforce Mark seemed to have an ability to cure it.
Sheik snapped out of her thinking when Aliah pointed brightly to her. "That girl seemed to cure you, almost, when you were attacking me."
Aliah stood up and crossed over to Sheik. "Speaking of which, I forgot to say thanks," Aliah bowed respectfully. "What's your name?"
Sheik found her mouth almost beginning to say 'Zelda', but quickly caught herself. "Sheik," she said simply.
Aliah nodded. "Well, thanks a lot, Sheik."
Matic seemed to be recovering a bit. "Aliah... was I really trying to kill you?" Matic asked, shock revolving around his voice unsteadily.
Meekly, Aliah nodded and pointed to the abandoned butcher knife laying alone in the sandy road.
Matic paled in horror. "Oh, Aliah-" Matic desperately tried to apologize as his breathing traveled down a winding and turning road anxiously. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know... I'm sorry... I can't believe myself... are you harmed... so sorry..."
Aliah patted Matic's shoulder reassuringly. "Hey, it's okay," she soothed. "I'm not harmed, and it wasn't you, I promise."
Matic's breathing seemed to steady slowly.
Once again, Aliah turned back to Sheik. "You know, is there anything I can do for you?" Aliah asked hopefully. "You did save mine and Matic's life- there's gotta be something we can do!"
Sheik smiled at the young girl, but shook her head. "Thanks, but I need to get going. I'm heading to the Smash Arena, you see," Sheik explained.
"Oh! The Smash Arena?" Aliah's eyes sparkled when Sheik had brought up her destination. "Awesome! Those tickets are really heavy... I heard that the next Brawl is gonna be in two days. Fox versus Meta Knight, I think. You're gonna go see the match?"
"Actually, I'm going to try to become a Brawler myself," Sheik admitted, uplifted by Aliah's admiration.
The idea of Sheik becoming a Brawler excited Aliah. "Oh, awesome!" she cried. "If you make it in, Matic and I will be sure to come and see you! And I think you have a good chance of getting in- I watched you fight. You're really amazing!"
Sheik smiled broadly at the compliment under her cloth.
