Path of Time

Author's Note: I honestly don't know what the heck inspired me to write a POR/LOZ crossover, but I suppose it comes from the fact that I really miss playing Ocarina of Time. Call it nostalgia, that's probably it. I am quite aware that this chapter came fast, but don't expect all updates to be this way. It will be rather sporadic. Some days, it may take only a day, and on other days... well, you know. School work and all that blah blah blah. By the way, just to warn you: this chapter may be filled with... well, stuff you would typically expect from horror movies. Other than that... enjoy!

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Chapter One

The Greil Mercenaries, tired and dreary, were all nervous as they awaited the news on the mage girl's condition. Particularly Mist and Rolf, who weren't used to seeing that much blood. Mist felt rather nauseated. It grew to be very late, perhaps after midnight.

Rolf rubbed his eyes tiredly as he fought to stay awake, but the sound of the rain outside didn't exactly help.

The room was silent as the weary warriors sat nervously. Boyd tried to calm his nerves by perhaps swinging his axe around, but he couldn't get it out of his mind, and stopped after two swings. Normally, Titania would have scolded him for stopping short on his training, but not tonight. She either didn't notice it or she didn't care, but either way, she was too tired to pay much attention to what Boyd was doing.

Finally, after a few silent moments, Rhys and Ike came out of the room. Boyd and Oscar rushed over to the two men.

"Commander, the girl," Boyd said. "How is she?"

Ike looked at Rhys. He was obviously too tired to answer. Ever since his father's death, he hadn't gotten much rest, and it was taking its toll on him. Rhys, despite the fact that he looked just as weary as Ike, looked at the two brothers.

"She's going to be just fine," he said, smiling. "She's so small... but she's obviously much stronger than she looks."

When the two brothers didn't respond, he continued.

"Although she's very tired because she had lost a lot of blood, running on that leg. Fortunately, I managed to remove it, and her wound doesn't appear infected."

Oscar sighed.

"Thank goodness... I didn't think she'd make it, to be honest, but... I'm glad she'll be just fine."

"Did she happen to give her name?" Boyd inquired.

Rhys, Ike, and Oscar looked at him. Boyd frowned.

"What?"

Rhys sighed.

"Nothing, Boyd... anyway, her name is Ilyana, and apparently, she knows the merchants who are also staying here with us. They're in there with her right now."

Boyd nodded.

It was then Ike turned to look at Soren, who was unusually quiet. Mia, sitting next to where Soren was standing, stretched and yawned.

"That was some night," she said offhandedly.

Soren then turned to regard her, which was unusual.

"Yes, but I don't think we should rest easy just yet," he said.

Mia looked up at him.

"What do you mean? She's going to be safe, isn't she?"

"Yes, but... don't you think it's a bit unusual?"

Ike then walked over to Soren.

"What is?" he asked.

"That girl, Ilyana... Oscar carried her in with an arrow embedded in her leg, did he not?"
Oscar nodded.

"Yes, but... I don't see why that should be a cause for..."

Boyd turned to look at Oscar as his eyebrows furrowed together.

"What's wrong?"
Oscar frowned.

"The laguz don't use weapons if memory serves me correctly," he said observantly.

Soren nodded.

"Exactly. Even if Ilyana did have the means to arrive in Gallia as we had... she should not have came in with an arrow in her leg."

The thought then registered to Titania.

"Which may mean..."

Mia's eyes widened.

"You've gotta be kidding me! The Daeins are HERE in Gallia?!"

There was a gasp from the entire group, but Ike quickly diffused the situation.

"Oscar, Boyd, Titania, Soren. Move out now and find out where they're waiting!" he ordered hastily, as rage filled his mind. "Titania, you'll be in charge!"

Titania nodded.

"Yes, Commander!" she said, and the other three followed behind her in order to get their preparations ready.

Ike then turned to the rest.

"Mist, Rolf! Go into Ilyana's room and wait there until I say it's okay to come out!"

Rolf reluctantly obeyed, but Mist didn't budge.

"Mist, go!"

"But Ike..."
"Mist, just do as I say, all right?!"

Mist, realizing it was useless to protest, could only nod as she then rushed into the room with Rolf.

Ike then turned to Mia and Rhys.

"I want you to be with me, just in case they're around the fort somewhere," Ike said, unsheathing his sword.

Mia seemed a little bugged out, but she managed a smile and nodded.

"Yes, Boss!"

Rhys, on the other hand, was a little nervous, as he wondered if Ike neglected to remember that he couldn't fight or defend himself. On the other hand, however, he figured it was much safer than the scouting mission he had sent Titania, Soren, and the two brothers on.

---

Boyd shivered from the cold rain drops running down his muscular arms as he ran to catch up with Oscar and Titania, who were on horseback. However, he decided to tough it out the moment he turned to see Soren, who didn't seem at all affected by the cold rain. After all, he didn't want Soren to think he was weak in anyway. He wanted to show them he was tough, especially Titania and Oscar, who always criticized him for supposedly being reckless in battle. He couldn't prevent his teeth from chattering, though. He just hoped that no one heard it.

Once they entered the forest, however, Oscar and Titania slowed their horses down and dismounted them, because they knew the sounds of galloping hooves would echo in the forest and therefore attract attention from the Daein soldiers. The four mercenaries looked around their surroundings warily, as they tried to find any hint of movement whatsoever. So far, there was no such luck, and this made each and every one of them nervous.

On one hand, the forest was completely quiet because of the rain, but on the other hand, Oscar knew that a quiet forest was bad news, and it didn't exactly help that the two factors of the rain and the presence of the Daein army accounted for the total silence, either. In fact, there weren't even locusts making a noise tonight.

Soren may not have showed it, but he felt that something wasn't right. Where were the Daeins? If they were in this part of the forest, why hadn't they attacked yet, considering this was only four mercenaries out of seven? Or were they truly deeper into the forest?

He hoped that was the case instead, but he knew it to be unlikely. After all, assuming that Ilyana had been captured then escaped, she was obviously attacked, and most likely the soldiers were made aware of the girl's escape. Did they simply let her go in order to lure them out, or- most unlikely- did she manage to kill the archer before he could sound the alarm?

He knew she wasn't a skilled mage, so he doubted that. Which must have left only the first...

Before Soren could think further about the possible situation, he heard a strange noise echoing throughout the forest. He stopped cold in his tracks. He could hear Boyd gasping nervously behind him as he rose his axe, desperately searching around for any signs of danger.

For all of his big talk, Boyd was terrified, as the combination of the rain and cold sweat ran down his forehead. Something about that noise just didn't seem... human.

The four warriors pressed their backs together, looking around warily. They didn't know what the noise was, but it didn't sound human. Oscar turned to look at his younger brother, who was frightened to the point where he was short on breath. Oscar desperately scanned his mind for something to say to calm Boyd, but he couldn't find anything, for he was just as scared.

As if it wasn't bad enough, both Titania and Oscar's horse began neighing in panic, rearing and trying desperately to back away. Titania knew better than to think this was normal behavior on the horse's part. They never even came close to behaving this way in front of enemies, so she didn't know why they were acting up now. It was then she saw a figure walking slowly toward them, but she knew instinctively something was wrong, because the moment the horses saw the figure, they started behaving even worse, almost to the point where she had to pull Oscar away before he was kicked in the head and knocked unconscious. Despite their panic, though, the horses stayed, seemingly torn between fear and their loyalty to their riders. When she squinted at the figure, she immediately saw why the horses were panicking at the sight of it. The figure looked like a mummified corpse. It was dragging its feet as it made its way toward them. Its eyes were gone. Instead, they were hollow eye sockets. It was moaning, seemingly in agony.

Clearly, the other three saw it too once their eyes adjusted, and Boyd's fear only increased. Soren opened his Wind tome, ready to attack, when he saw others walking slowly behind it.

"Deputy Commander..." Oscar said, raising his lance.

He didn't like the idea of fighting those creatures at all. He had no idea what they were, but he hated the idea of confronting them, not knowing anything about them. He wondered what Titania would do. He just hoped he could trust her judgement.

Titania turned to the others.

"Do not confront them!" she ordered. "We retreat!"

She and Oscar mounted their horses, and the mercenaries began making their escape, but they were quickly blockaded by even more of the seemingly undead creatures. Titania and Oscar's horses once again reared up. Quickly realizing they had no choice but to fight, they all readied their perspective weapons. Whether they wanted to or not, they had to fight their way through, but at the same time, they were too frightened to charge at the creatures.

Boyd, deciding he had enough of this, charged straight for the seemingly sluggish creatures. He hollered as he hacked away one of them with his axe. It was then he heard a piercing shriek from another one, and the moment he did, he stopped in mid-swing.

I... can't move! Blast! I can't move! Why can't I move?! What's wrong with me? Move, body!

The creature he was attacking then recovered and jumped on him. He shut his eyes, thinking it was all over, but Oscar, who managed to calm his horse down just long enough to move it, thrusted his lance at the creature. Fortunately for Boyd, the creature's flesh was too hard too penetrate, so Oscar managed to kill it without inadvertently harming his brother as well.

Soren raised his arm and let it down as his wind magic cut one of the creatures, but to his dismay, it barely made a dent on its body. Titania was attacking viciously as well with her axe, but she could only manage to dent it.

"What's going on?! Why can we not hurt them!" Soren shouted as he attacked again.

The only one who seemed to be causing any damage was Boyd, but even then, swinging his axe at the creatures was exhausting, as they were hard to cut into.

Soren looked around, trying to observe the situation. There were only about ten of these creatures, and out of all of them, only one was dead. They seemed to have both good resistance and they were nearly as hard to harm as a knight or general.

Once again, a scream rigged the air, and all four of them found themselves paralyzed. One quickly jumped first onto Soren and holding his neck, then bit him.

"Soren!" Boyd shouted before another one jumped on him.

Oscar and Titania were both struggling to move, but they were pulled off their horses by the rest of the creatures, and Oscar let out a gasp as he felt teeth sink into his neck. He tried to push the creature off, but his strength was seemingly gone and could only tightly grip onto the creature's head.

Titania, seeing Oscar near her, tried to reach out and help him, but she also found herself too weak to do any more than reach her arm out. It was then she realized the reason why: her life's blood was being sucked out of her body, and although the creature hadn't even come close to drinking all of it, she could already feel drowziness overcome her body.

The Commander... entrusted me with Oscar, Boyd, and Soren's lives, and I've failed to... help them... Commander Ike... forgive me...

Titania closed her eyes, preparing to die, when she heard a footstep splashing through the puddles of the wet ground. Her eyes instinctively opened, just in time for a figure to viciously slash away at the creature sucking her blood. Then what she saw amazed her. Unlike her and the others, he easily pierced through the creature's flesh, and it died, struggling to stand. The figure then thrusted its sword down and impaled the one attacking Oscar. It then rushed to Boyd's side and took care of the creature attacking him, then it eliminated Soren's attacker.

To Titania's relief, all three of them were all right, as they sat up, holding their necks then looking at their apparent savior. They couldn't quite see the figure in the dark, but they knew he was a young man, perhaps of the same age as Ike.

"Are you all right?" he asked as the mercenaries slowly stood up.

Boyd rubbed his neck painfully.

"Yeah, I think I'll manage," he responded. "You couldn't have come at a better time! Thank you!"

The figure shrugged.

"Don't mention it."

Boyd then looked questioningly at the figure.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Link, but there's no time to explain. There is even more of them in this forest!" the man, Link replied. "Are there people in that old castle?"

Titania nodded.

"Yes. There are merchants, children, and some of the members our mercenary company."
Link was apparently alarmed.

"We don't have time to lose! You have to get out of here!" he warned.

Titania, understanding the seriousness of the situation, nodded.

"Understood! Oscar, Boyd, Soren!"

After Titania and Oscar mounted their horses, the mercenaries headed for the castle, along with Link, who had already ran on ahead.

---

Mia and Ike stood protectively over Rhys, who had been thrown brutally against the wall by a shadow. The priest was unconscious. The shadow stood there, almost as if waiting to see what the swordsman and swordswoman would do. Mia was enraged as she rose her sword. She then charged straight for the shadow, but it dodged her and started moving along the walls rapidly. It then charged for the swordswoman.

"Mia!" Ike shouted, as he charged straight for her, in a futile attempt to save her.

However, the moment the shadow attempted to strike Mia, it was paralyzed in its tracks as a red light flashed around her. She struck it with her sword, but to her dismay, her sword fazed right through it.

"What?!" she shouted in dismay.

The shadow laughed.

"I'm impressed, wench. I hadn't expected you, out of all people, to possess a skill such as this," the shadow taunted. "Unfortunately for you... you only possess an ordinary weapon. Without a sacred blade, you don't stand a chance."

The shadow then violently uprooted Mia by the neck and squeezed tightly. She tried in vain to pry the fingers off, but her fingers only fazed through it. She began kicking and flailing her legs as her oxygen was cut off. Ike was enraged.

"Let her go!"

Despite the fact he knew his sword would probably faze right through the shadow just as Mia's had, he didn't care, as he was desperate to save her. Just as he predicted, his blade went through it. The shadow laughed again.

"You are an incredibly dull-witted boy..."

Ike was then uprooted by the neck just as Mia had, but the shadow, apparently losing interest in Mia, sent her flying. She crashed into a table and knocked it over. She moaned and tried to stay conscious, but the pain was too much for her, and she fell unconscious.

Despite the fact he was suffocating, Ike was more concerned about Rhys and Mia than about his own life.

"Rhys..." he rasped. "M-Mia..."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha... you actually remind me of someone..."

Ike was thrown against the wall, but not as brutally as Rhys had been earlier. Ike raised his head slowly, only to see the shadow towering above him. The shadow reached its arm down, and Ike flinched, preparing to be strangled again. Instead, the shadow grabbed him roughly by the chin and forced him to look into its red eyes. After looking at him for a moment, the shadow then laughed, and Ike's eyes widened as he wondered what the shadow could have possibly thought was so funny.

"Oh, I remember now," the shadow said, with amusement. "I recognize that look of determination anywhere... I believe the boy is just your age... ha ha ha ha ha ha... How ironic. I escape from that place, end up here... I thought I would be free. How ironic, however, that I would happen to meet a boy who has the same characteristics as the very hero who had defeated me..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ike said through gritted teeth, struggling to stand.

The shadow laughed again.

"No, you wouldn't have a clue, would you, boy? How brutally honest of you... ha ha ha ha ha ha..."

Ike gritted his teeth.

"Say good-bye, boy... you may be a rookie, but if I let you live, just like I had made a mistake with that boy who defeated me, you may find a way to overthrow me. I can't let that happen."

Ike, too weak to defend himself, cringed as light gathered in the shadow's hand. He knew this was it. He was going to join his parents soon, even he had promised his father he would protect the company... and Mist...

"Ike!"

Ike looked up at the mention of his name, and when he looked up, he saw his sister standing bravely in front of him, staring defiantly at the shadow.

"Mist! Run away! Don't stay!" Ike desperately shouted.

Mist turned to her brother.

"I'm not leaving you, Ike!" she shouted. She turned to Mia and Rhys, who were still unconscious. "I won't abandon Rhys, Mia... or anyone!"

She then stared defiantly at the shadow, who seemed surprised.

"You're going to have to go through me... I won't let you touch my brother!"

The shadow hesitated, staring at the girl, trying to scan in memory who exactly she reminded her of...

Princess Zelda...

Just hearing that name in his head angered him. Just as he hated the hero who defeated him, he also held a special vendetta against the very girl who...

The shadow then laughed.

"You... maiden... you also remind of that girl... I won't even give you a chance to survive. Neither you nor that boy..."

Despite the fact the shadow was ready to throw his light at her, Mist stood bravely in front of her brother. She didn't plan to escape and abandon him. She was getting tired of being left behind and constantly having to worry about him and the other mercenaries. Even though Ike was her only living relative now, she came to accept the other mercenaries as her family. She thought of all the ones she loved dearly... Titania, Oscar, Boyd, Rolf... Rhys, Soren, and even though she barely knew Mia and only knew Ilyana's name, she had also already come to accept Miaand Ilyana as new additions to her ever-increasing family... Even if she had wanted to, she couldn't leave her family behind, however distant her relationships which each member may be. If she was going to die like this... so be it.

"MIST!!!" Ike screamed, oblivious to the fact that his own life was in danger.

Suddenly, an arrow of light pierced through the shadow before it could complete the light spell. The shadow fell to the ground, crumpled. Mist looked up and saw the others. She smiled.

"Titania! Oscar, Boyd, Soren! You're all right!"

The four of them were standing behind a stranger dressed in a green tunic and a strange green hat. Mist gawked at the stranger, not because of his strange appearence, but because he had potentially saved their lives. The man gritted his teeth after looking around and seeing Mia, Rhys, and Ike, all injured. He pulled out another arrow. The shadow rose to its feet and turned to look at the green-clad stranger. It then squinted its red eyes at him.

"You..."

Then to everyone's surprise but the stranger's, the shadow then transformed into a tall, dark man with red hair and yellow eyes. He was heavily armored and dressed in garments that none of the mercenaries had even dreamed of. He scowled at the stranger.

"How did you follow me to this land?" he demanded.

The stranger wasted no time readying his bow.

"I followed you, thanks to my ocarina. That's what," he retorted before he released the arrow.

The dark man swatted the arrow aside as if it was merely a pestering fly. He then smirked and laughed.

"I've been waiting to wreak revenge on you, boy," he said. "But it looks as if you had conveniently come to me."

The stranger rolled his eyes.

"What are you waiting for? Let's take this elsewhere and leave these people out of it."

The dark man then laughed.

"Oh no... I cannot do that. In fact... I rather look forward to seeing you again... but now isn't the time."

The stranger's eyes squinted.

"What do you mean?"
The dark man smirked.

"Didn't you hear? There's a war going on in this world. It is most unspeakable in our own land of Hyrule, for that land is full of peace. This land of Tellius, on the other hand, has merely started the war a few days ago."

He turned to look at Ike, who had by now stood at the other side of the room, standing protectively in front of his sister.

"Isn't that right?"

Ike gritted his teeth, but didn't answer.

"Judging by that scowl on your face, the answer is quite obviously, yes."

Soren, growing impatiently, nearly charged forward, but Link held his arm in front of the mage.

"Enough already of your gloating!" Soren shouted across the room. "What could you possibly seek here?!"

The dark man laughed.

"I have heard of a certain medallion that will unleash the dark god if this whole world of Tellius is engulfed in the war... I want that power so I could rule Tellius just as I had once ruled Hyrule... until a certain BRAT defeated me."

Seeing the confused looks on everyone's faces, he laughed.

"Not that any of you would know anything about it," he laughed. "After all, you are all rather ignorant."

"What was that, scum bag?!" Boyd shouted, and he proceeded to charge, but once again, Link held him back just as he had done Soren.

The man laughed, to Boyd's expense.

"Anyway... Link, you would let me escape, if you don't wish for any of these... sellswords to be harmed. Otherwise..."

Seemingly to demonstrate his point, he rose his hand, and then Mist was encased in a diamond prism.

"Mist!" Ike shouted as the prism, containing Mist, hovered over the dark man.

Link gritted his teeth.

"You vile-!"

"You'll cooperate, then?"
Link slowly lowered his sword and his bow.

"Yes... just don't hurt her."

The dark man shrugged.

"All right."

With a jerk of his head, the prism then slowly lowered, and vanished. Mist fell to the ground and quickly scrambled over to her brother's side. The dark man then laughed as he turned into a shadow and vanished. There was silence all around the room except for the sound of the rain outside.

"Are you all right?" Link asked Mist.

The girl nodded.

"Yes... I-I'm fine. Thank you."

Link then turned to Ike.

"Are you the leader of this band?" he asked.

Ike nodded.

"Yes."

"It's not safe for us to stay here any longer. We have to leave quickly."

Ike cast his face down in thought as he remembered that they were supposed to have waited for a messenger from the King of Gallia. On the other hand, however, the safety of his mercenary band came first and forthmost.

"Understood."

Ike turned to Oscar and Boyd.

"Tell Rolf it's safe to come out."

Oscar nodded.

"Understood, Commander."

Oscar then grabbed Boyd by the arm and came into the room where Rolf and the merchants were hiding. Ike and Soren then went to check on Rhys and Mia. Soren, bending down next to Rhys, turned to Ike.

"He's fine," he assured Ike, who looked up after checking Mia.

Link made his way over to them.

"Stand aside. I have something to wake them up."

Soren raised his eyebrows questionably at Link, but stood aside as he took out a bottle, containing a glowing light. Mist's eyes widened.

"What is that?"

"It's a fairy. Just watch her at work."

Link opened the bottle, and the fairy flew out and after hovering over Rhys, then flew rapidly in circles around him, sprinkling dust on him. Rhys moaned and his brown eyes opened.

"Uhn... C-Commander?"

Ike held him up.

"You'll be okay Rhys, I promise."

Ike then slung Rhys' arm over his shoulder and helped him up. When he let Rhys go, the priest was a little wobbly on his feet, but with a shake of his head, he was all right. When he looked over, he saw Mia still unconscious.

"Oh no... Mia!"

Link held up his arm, and Rhys calmed down as the fairy then flew over Mia and after sprinkling dust on her, the swordswoman opened her eyes.

"Oooh..."

Ike held her up.

"Are you all right?"
Mia's green eyes widened.

"I don't I'm going to be able to sleep well with all the... Wait, I'm not even injured."

The swordswoman helped herself up and dusted herself off.

"What just happened?"
Link was rather surprised by her perky attitude.

"We'll have to explain it later. Right now, we have to get out of here as soon as possible."

Mia's eyes widened as she looked at the stranger. She giggled.

"Commander Ike, since when did you hire him?"

Ike shook his head at the same time Link did.

"Um... Mia... actually, we just met him. He's the one who-!"

Mia smiled.

"Wow! You saved us from that shadow thing? You must be pretty tough to deal with that thing, I couldn't even hurt it!" she giggled girlishly.

Link looked at Ike, who in turn shrugged.

"Mia... just pack your stuff for now," Ike commanded.

"Yessir!"

The girl then ran on ahead to pack her stuff, and the room went quiet. A few moments later, the mercenaries were ready to go, and they quietly left the fort before the sun even came close to rising. Once they were out of the forest and onto an open place, they knew they were safe for now.

---

Whoo! That was soooo long! Anyway, to explain the part when Mia tried to attack the shadow. I was imagining how Vantage would work in real life situation, and that was what I came up with. I'm sorry if that was a little lame, but that's how I honestly believe Vantage would work.

And as for the little flirtation between Link and Mia... no, I am not trying to pair them up. It's just... in every Zelda game I've played, from Ocarina of Time and up, there are ALWAYS potential suitors for Link, so I decided to let that in there. Heh heh heh. Did you honestly think I would forget to add Link's seeming tendency to attract girls all over? And if you think that's bad... wait until he meets Marcia next chapter! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!! I'm going to enjoy torturing poor Link!

Once again... please read and review! I know there are Zelda fans out there!