7 Years Later...

"Get the child!"

The voice echoes in my ears, only this time I'm not a little girl hidden in the servant's corridors.

No. I'm a big girl now.

And big girls don't really find it as easy to hide.

Especially standing right in the middle of an open hallway.

I match the voice to the shadow standing at the top of the grand staircase. He's huge. But his entire image is blurred. I can't make out his face.

I go cold.

Despite the fact the this whole room has been transformed into a fiery hellhole, I feel like my heart's been frozen into ice.

He's walking down the steps, coming towards me.

I have to get out.

This is not the place.

The whole world blurs and fades into nothingness. All there is is this white light...

But he's still here.

I look up at him but I still can't make out a face. He's so close now, but all I can see are his eyes. These horrible red eyes.

His sword flies forward, and I can't avoid it. It slides through my stomach easily.

Goddess it hurts!

"Fool girl," he says, laughing at me as I clutch the blade in my gut.

"Your time has run out."

"NAVI!!"

For almost seven years now, I've never once needed a clock.

No. I've got my own little personal alarm.

And she's gotten more creative over the years. Now she has over a hundred settings. Kick mode, punch mode, hair-pull mode...

Or set-Blaze-on-me mode.

Today she seems to like that one.

I look down at my stomach, my hand clenched over it tightly to staunch the bleeding...but as I peel my hand away, expecting to see a gaping hole...

...nothing.

I'm ok. No wound. No crazy man with his sword inside me.

That nightmare...it was so vivid...so real...

I'm terrified by it.

But I can't let that show to the cocky little bastard standing above me.

I glare at him, but the Sheikah just grins evilly right back. His gray-green eyes are glittering with amusement as I pick up the remains of a deku nut from my pillow. There's a mark on the wall where it exploded.

"That's your fault, not mine," I assure him irritably. "I am in no way taking responsibility for that."

"I'm sure Impa will understand," he replies cooly, scruffing a hand through his short black hair. The mischief never leaves his eyes. "Knowing what a task it is to wake you up. I don't see why we don't just let you get your beauty sleep. Goddess knows you need it."

"Shut up," I growl. I'm supposed to be down with Impa in about 10 minutes. Dammit I can't find my uniform!

"On the floor shoved under your bed," Navi informs me, reading my mind. "Where you throw the rest of your junk, you slob."

I mutter something about stashing her under there too as I grab it. I quickly change (Blaze turns away, but he still doesn't have the propriety to leave the room. Damn him) and within a matter of seconds we're running towards the canyon on the side of Death Mountain.

"You always make us late," he complains.

"Then wake me up earlier," I say, trying to sound spiteful. But it's hard. We both have way too much fun arguing.

"I can't wake you up earlier unless I wake up earlier," he says with a smirk. "Not all of us have our own personal wake up call."

"You can have it. Please. Take her," I grin. And then swear. Navi's given me a roundhouse kick right to the nose. It's a good thing she's small.

Still. It's hard to be grateful for anything with a throbbing nose.

We make it to circle of Sheikah only to see that Impa's already started without us. Crap. It's impossible for her not to notice us. I can already sense Blaze tensing up guiltily beside me and she hasn't even started the death-glare yet. But Blaze always freaks out when she nails him with it. He always feels as though he's directly neglecting his duty as a Sheikah or something noble like that, even if all we've done is "borrowed" one of Anju's chickens so we can try to float off the roof. He melts into a puddle of pathetic-ness before she even lays eyes on him.

See me, I know that stupid things like that don't mean I'm "neglecting my duty as a Sheikah." I know she's just trying to guilt-trip me.

My pride doesn't have to get injured in the process.

Finally Impa looks up, and I throw her my most dazzlingly innocent smile. I know it's useless. It's always useless. But I try anyway. She rolls her eyes, and silently directs us to our places in the circle, where we know and anticipate she's going to melt us for the rest of the meeting.

Blaze is already looking sullen as he drops onto the ground. We've all at least somewhat managed to capture the classic blank Sheikan look (mostly in attempts to get away with something behind Impa's back, but unfortunately she's got a knack for knowing we're guilty anyway), but his eyes always give it away. The bright flecks of emerald green lose their shine, and the dark gray stands out more clearly, as though his eyes are covered in a stormy fog.

I hate it when they do that.

I catch Impa's eye too, and instantly the dark cloudy gray shot through with stormy blue laser beam melts me and I find myself feeling pretty sullen and sulky myself. Navi grins at me smugly like she always does after we get in trouble, as though she's on Impa's side.

Whatever. She knows she enjoys going on with us. I just wish she didn't get to weasel out of trouble. She's my fairy guardian. Isn't she supposed to keep me out of it?

If she wanted to keep me out of trouble she'd be helping us duck Impa instead of ratting us out, I think darkly. Navi's all innocent eyes. I'm tempted to kick her in the nose, but I know that a little glowing ball of splat would probably be less fun than leaving her un-squished.

Besides. It would be nearly impossible for us to get to all the places we shouldn't be going without her there to help us along.

I'm feeling both a rush of affection and a rush of annoyance towards her, but affection gives way temporarily to the desire to put her in my bag.

Goddess I love her.

But the quiet thumps and muffled indignant screams coming from inside my glowing pouch are too much to pass up.

I'm not the only one amused. I can see the green coming back to Blaze's eyes and the faintest traces of a grin forming at the corner of his mouth.

Impa will murder us if we disrupt her lecture again though, so we sit quietly and pretend to listen to the art of something-or-other-related to sneaking (like we haven't already discovered this) with our signature cocky little grins plastered to our faces.

I have this thing.

I like green.

It reminds me of the forest, and Saria, and the Deku Tree...

And all I get in my Sheikah uniform are suspicious glances and shifty eyes.

I don't see why Dalia puts up this fight with me.

"There are no teenaged Kokiri," she says again. I've heard this a billion times. "Nobody in Hyrule dresses like that. You stick out like a sore thumb."

"Because in Sheikah uniform I don't," I reply pointedly.

"Not as much as this," she argues back.

I know this full well.

But I happen to like it.

And I plan on keeping it.

I stubbornly remain quiet, and she gives up.

Dalia hangs around here a bit. It turned out Impa doesn't just visit Kokiri Forest. She visits a lot of places. Sure, she takes up permanent residence here, and I luckily get a place to stay in her hourse, but that doesn't mean she's any less busy. She leaves for two or three weeks at time about once every two months. Today she left just after Sheikah training (not without shooting another glare at me and Blaze beforehand though). While she's gone, Dalia helps maintain the household. Not because she's appointed to or anything. Because she has the crazy idea that, left alone, I would destroy the house.

I can't blame her though.

Looking at the scorch marks still left upon the wall above my bed, I think I probably could.

"Look, I don't care what you wear, just deliver the message already," Dalia frowns. "Impa needed it to get to Castletown before dark."

"All right, all right," I mutter. "Who do I give it to."

"The prince."

I laugh. She's joking. There's no way in hell I'm getting to the prince.

The entire castle's been on lockdown for ages. Ever since the deaths of the Royal Family. There hasn't really been any clarity as to who gets the throne and all that, but the king's best friend fell under the line of duty, and the Hylians of Castletown pretty much decided that he was the closest thing to a leader they were going to get for a while. So his son's been elevated to prince status.

"I'm serious. He'll be waiting for you in the courtyard."

"Oh and how in the bloody name of Nayru am I-"

"Sneak," Navi pops out of nowhere, grinning smugly at me. "It's what you and Blaze do best."

I love how she encourages me to sneak when she wastes half of her time yelling at me that I shouldn't.

Psychotic fairy.