This was it. This was the event set up by our superiors to determine which one of our four-person class would be granted Knighthood, and which three would be doomed to another path. I had no other plans, as I had no intentions to lose. I wanted to spend life lazing around the sky with a cool outfit, with everyone looking up to me for my incredible bravery. Most of all, I wanted to be responsible for saving someone from an unworthy death of no closure. Living on a large floating island in the sky, accidents do happen, and people fall. They fall off their birds, or they fall off of whichever island they are on at the moment. Most of the time, due to our academy, there is someone there to save them from disaster. But not always.

No one deserves to die such a death.

My feet were hitting the ground as soon as the instructor allowed. I hoped to get a head start on foot, but everyone seemed to understand the value of starting out quick. As the race began, I was surprised at our immediate synchronization; not only did we all pretty much jump at the same time, but our whistles were harmonic. Among the sandy colored clouds and celeste sky, the golden bird and shining statue were easy to distinguish, fortunately.

Once I began searching, I figured it'd be easy to keep track of the thing. At least one of us should know where it is at all times, I liked to think. But none of us had quite spotted it yet. I wondered how well it was trained and a small, irrational part of me began to panic as I imagined the bird losing us and flying far away, taking my chance of Knighthood with it into a great beyond which no one dared to venture. Of course that made no sense. There would always be more birds and more shiny, beautiful trophies.

My immediate instinct was to go high up, and I did so, pulling lightly on my bird's collar. As we began to ascend, I felt as though I had an easier time searching. The sun wasn't in my eyes as I scrutinized the great azure sky, and I was ready to dive at a moments notice. The height also felt better in that as soon as I eyed the golden prize, I could begin a dive, which is my top speed. A longer time than I expected passed before anyone seemed to make any motions that would indicate that they saw it, and I grew impatient. The instructors were making all of us look like idiots, waiting for a golden flash that may never come.

I surveyed the field, and it wasn't long before I found it easier and more interesting to watch my classmates as opposed to searching. All I had to do was be faster and better than the person who saw it first and I could do that, no problem. Sure enough, before long, I spotted Cawlin make a striking, angled turn and I saw the bright saffron bird only a couple dozen yards away from him. I quickly began my descent. Cawlin was a good measure below the bird, having a hard time climbing up. I couldn't see Stritch anywhere, and Link was a bit further back behind the bird than Cawlin was, but he had an advantage of being on the same vertical level. It wasn't long before he was only a few yards away and reaching for the statue trailing behind the feathered beast.

Eyeing the small buffoon as I quickly raced to his level, I couldn't help but notice that he didn't quite look normal atop his scarlet Loftwing. Of course, one might look strange reaching from their bird in a situation such as this, but something about it struck me as extremely off.

To evade capture by the flaming bird's idiot owner, the statue bird took a sharp dive downwards, where Cawlin was now in it's reach. was just above it as I took my dive to sharp and exhilarating levels. My bird was practically completely vertical as I flew. While going down, I glanced at Link, who seemed to be having some sort of a struggle. His stupid bird wasn't following orders or something and the kid was hardly hanging on. Again, there was something about the dynamic that was off, something bothersome.

The golden bird was now in front of me and trying for height, so I performed a vertical U-curve, successfully placing me directly behind the yellow bird. As I came up behind it, suddenly the yellow in my sight was replaced by a deep crimson, beneath Link, who had his hands close to his chest while holding on to the collar, and barely had his eyes open, as if bracing for something.

It was then that it hit me. I realized that, floating around as if daydreaming like a wimp as he always does, this type of hardcore flying is pretty much new to him. So how did he get in front of me? Especially when he barely even seemed to have control over the monster that carried him?

He didn't.

That bird's doing all the work! He's not even controlling it, really. He doesn't know what he's doing, but the bird sure as hell does.

I've always been angry that it had to be that loser who was graced with the possession and friendship of a rare Crimson Loftwing, but my anger reached rage as I recognized that the bird itself was far more talented at the skills and passion of flight than that kid could ever hope to be. Every word of praise that he's ever gotten has been due to his Loftwing being naturally talented beyond expectation. He's gotten this far without even seeming to understand what really goes into hardcore flight, with the bird taking care of it all. Imagine if that beast had come to me. Our skills combined would make for the most talented team that this world has ever seen.

As if suddenly realizing where he is, Link snapped up and reached for the statue, as the bird glided smoothly despite the kid's only form of contact with his bird being his feet on it's saddle and hand on it's neck for balance.

This victory- and, let's face it, all I've worked for for quite a while- was almost taken away from me by this kid, who's actions had to be considered some form of cheating. His bird was becoming a Knight for him! I wouldn't stand this and I furiously took the initiative that this Skyland is wholly lacking in.

"Hey! Don't you know this is my day to get all the glory?" I yelled as I dove beneath him, jerking up harshly. The contact caused his bird to freak out and jerk to the right and mine to lose major altitude.

"Yeah! You heard him! Let's see how you fly with egg on your face," said my new best friend Cawlin who pulled a stash of eggs and prepared for some splattage.

Smiling, I consistently lifted my bird higher to survey the field again, as I had lost the trophy bird completely. Circling overhead, I saw Cawlin deter Link quite a bit, hurling an egg in his direction every time he (or should I say his bird?) even set his sights on the statue, who I now saw swerving confusingly among the five million or so random rocks scattered about. We had entered an area of the sky which was often used for training and testing of abilities, as each of the small floating rocks served as a threat to balance and poise, while making anything you might be looking for even harder to spot since you had to keep a good eye on where you were going. Meanwhile, each egg would either hit Link or his bird, slowing down progress in obvious ways, or caused him to swerve in a minor detour, which is better than nothing. Stritch was waiting behind a rock for capture, stalling on his bird somehow. That guy's weird.

This went on for quite a long time. The bird made it clear that he had no intent on leaving this difficult battlefield, always swerving back into it if one of us chased it out. It performed maneuvers of constant evasion, and it began to wear on all of our patience. Stritch would occasionally get close, jumping out and surprising the bird, but he still didn't have the control needed to successfully grab the statue when he was close. Cawlin would often get near it but Link would be right beside him, and the two would get distracted in their own brawl and let it get away. I got close a few times but the bird would pull out some tricks that were hard to track and lose me. Despite the lack of encouragement from my failures, I still felt confident that I had the best shot. These guys just don't hold a candle to my skill.

While circling overhead and looking for an in, I saw the bird aiming for a certain rock. This one was like a sphere, but split in half so that someone could fit through the middle. If I began diving now, I could catch the statue from above, going through the middle of the sphere, catching it by surprise and earning victory with such incredible wit. Of course, I began my hasty descent. I oddly didn't see anyone else on the way down and was worried that no one would see such a cunning win, but figured that wasn't terribly important. They'd all know soon.

I passed the first random floating rock in this small field of such rocks, and the yellow bird was about to make its rounds under the sphere when said rock blocked my view of it. I was in the middle of the half-spheres and when I saw the beak and my hand outstretched in front of me. I knew success was in the bag.

I reached, straining several muscles but ignoring them when my hand was mere inches from the statue.

In that moment, the statue was suddenly violently ripped off of the bird, going in the opposite direction. I recognized the hand.

Whistles blew loudly from far off Skyloft, momentarily causing my bird to make its own decisions, as it knew that the race was over. Narrowly avoiding collision with the winner, it dove up and perched on a rock.

I could vaguely feel my jaw begin to hurt from being open so wide, my eyes watering a bit because the dust was getting into them but I couldn't bring myself to close them.

I could feel my companions hesitantly perched on rocks behind me, but not a sound was heard.

And I could feel my heart break as the champion bird flew towards Skyloft with my future.

The small moment before our birds were ordered to return to Skyloft simply sucked. From strain and loss, everything was aching. I witnessed a pink figure gleefully dive onto Link's bird whom I have fear to put a name to. I felt an intense burst of many emotions at once. It wasn't the worst I had ever felt, but it still felt as though the world was coming down around me.

When they finally did blow the high-pitched whistle, my bird's quick movement towards Skyloft felt odd in place; it felt as though the bird- and everything- should simply be slow. I don't know... like everything should be going in slow motion as my future crashes though the clouds to the nothingness below.

I'm not going to be a knight. I'm not going to be a knight. i'm not going to be a knight. What will I say to my dad? What will Zelda think of my losing to such an imp? I could already feel the pain of seeing Link in this year's Knight outfit of whatever color it shall be.

Well... at least Zelda's still here. And with Link always off doing Knight things (yeah right. Like that kid will take the responsibilities seriously), I can spend more time with her.

Maybe it'll be alright after all.

Two voices in my mind that I felt as though I had no control of argued back and forth, one screaming that everything was over and nothing mattered anymore, and the other trying its hardest to see the bright side. The second voice somewhat felt like denial.

As my bird landed and the three of us were dropped off at the dock where we began, I saw Karane. She was an older friend of mine who became a Knight last year in an impressively swift victory. She was looking at me with solemn eyes. She understood what this meant to me.

"Groose..," she whispered sadly, and I suddenly realized all eyes were on me.

Well, of course. Over the past few months of training, each day, I made it more and more painfully obvious that I wanted this win more than anything in the world, that I could never lose to that one who never seems to have his head on straight. I would be a knight and wrong a few rights of this world, and no matter how many people weren't on my side, I would prevail and show them all that I could be better than they had ever now, it's as if the impossible has occurred and they simply wanted to see my reaction.

I was about to say something like "Well, that was unexpected" or even bring up the boy's odd way of winning without doing a damn thing, but when I opened my mouth I could only feel a lump in my throat.

That was when I decided that was enough. I didn't need to hear any post-race "You did your best"s or any thing of the sort. So after merely staring at the excruciatingly silent crowd for possibly thirty seconds, I made a quick stride for the academy and my room.

And no one stopped me.

Upon reaching my room, I dove onto my bed, expecting to drift to a restless sleep of nightmares and fear of the year to come; shame, boredom and more shame. But instead, I did something I simply hadn't expected; I began to cry.

I wasn't whining or pounding my fists or anything stupid of the sort but merely silent tears fell onto my cover in a seemingly endless rain.

I had a hard time wrapping my head around what had just occurred.

You see, I often heard Zelda speaking, whether from disdain or worry, of the kid's inability to fly correctly. Saying that he's always daydreaming, never really practices. You could be his mother, but you can't deny the fact that that's true. But in that race, I realized what had happened and I feel as though it is simply unfair. Being a knight is about the well control of your bird in possibly harmful situations. Not hiding in it's feathers while it does all the work.

I just lost my race to a bird.

I just lost my future to a bird.

But as I drifted to sleep, I tried to keep my mind on the thought that I could still hang with Zelda, maybe try to get to know her better as a use of my non-knight time. So, yeah, everything's okay, as long as she is.

I awoke later at who knows what time of the night to a staring Cawlin, sitting creepily in the corner of the room.

"Great, you're up. I couldn't wake you if I had and opera chorus in here..." he muttered. He sounded as though he were trying to act normal, but something horrible had happened. I didn't like the idea that everyone would treat me with this pity when they see me from now on. The idea seemed excruciating.

"What do you want?" I growled. I was still grateful for his work in the race, but his being in my room was ticking me off. I didn't need anyone around right now to remind me that there is a world I will have to face when morning comes in which I am not a Knight.

"Stritch and I played a game of rock-paper-scissors and I lost, so, sadly, I'll have to be the one to tell you this..," he started, spiking my interest.

He had more bad news. In all honesty, I was surprised that he seemed so tentative. Now seemed like a good time to tell me anything that I would be upset about, as nothing seemed like it mattered anymore. He could tell me that Stritch lost his entire collection of icky, creepy bugs in my room and I could only feel enough to shrug.

"What could have possibly happened now? Really, today was the ultimate low. I doubt anything you can tell me can-"

"Zelda's missing," he interrupted, shrinking back.

Wait... what?

There was an eerie silence before I burst, "Missing? Anywhere worth visiting in this sky is all of, what, two square miles? Where could she possibly be?!"

"She was riding with Link after the ceremony and... there was this odd... tornado type thing in the sky earlier, and she fell below the clouds. I don't-"

"Get out," I snapped to Cawlin. Everything in my body was panicking, screaming, aching, trying to separate and vanish, dissipate into an existence where it didn't have to experience what I was feeling at this moment. The race seemed like a distant bad dream which would be cured by a warm glass of milk, and a true nightmare began to wash over me in its entirety. It left as though I truly had nothing left that mattered. Zelda was gone. She had been consumed by a place from which no one returns. She was a stunning light in this dreary, dull sky and now there was nothing.

"...No, Groose. Y-you need a friend," he stated, confusing me. I couldn't straighten my thoughts out enough to recognize how valuable of a friend he really was.

We sat in more silence for another few minutes. While my thoughts raced around in my head, tearing everything apart as they did, i felt as though I needed an escape and lifted my head, subconsciously looking around the room. Then, something caught my eye. I was my mirror. Yes, it was in my head, but it appeared as though a faint image of her was there, smiling as she always is. That was when the tears began again, harsher than ever, and I slowly drifted to the mirror and leaned against it.

Despite Cawlin's presence and the faint image of poor Zelda in my mirror, I've never felt so alone.

Ten, fifteen, twenty minutes passed with me sitting here, refusing to move and Cawlin, refusing to leave. A sound of my door opening led me to believe that Cawlin had finally decided to get out, but I hadn't turned, as I felt as though I'd lost the will to move.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and stayed still. There was another tap, so I finally jerked around in a bit of anger. I wasn't crying anymore, but my still-red eyes were met with ice-blue ones of the last person I wanted to see, and an undecipherable expression. He opened his mouth.

The last thing I wanted to do right now was hear his pathetic little voice, so I immediately shouted, "Poor Zelda... You... This is your fault, you know. You can barely fly straight, and yet somehow you beat me in the race... It should have been me up there with her that day. But I guess now I'll just have to be the one to save her!"

The words came out before I knew that I had meant them, but I believed them as they rushed out. Maybe Zelda didn't fall. Maybe she landed on something and she's out there, shouting for help and waiting for me to rescue her. Maybe this is all a conspiracy and someone is hiding her, cooking up the perfect ransom note, and I'll bust down the door before they can even send it out. The cogs in my brain began turning in a new direction, one away from despair, and I grasped onto it desperately.

When I do find her, the town will probably realize it's me who should be getting that Knightship, not him. I doubt he'll even lift a finger.

Stumbling back, he looked as if he was almost going to speak, then changed his feeble mind, shaking his head and jogging out the door in his spiffy green Knight outfit. Cawlin looked at me.

"I think he was just trying to help..," he muttered, as I remembered that I never even asked for his help anyway.

"Get out," I repeated from earlier, with more firmness now. No defender of his was any friend of mine.

"No. I said no. You-"

"Get out," I growled in response, successfully send him running out the door. For the first time tonight, I saw that it was about two in the morning. What was that sad excuse of a knight doing up at two in the morning, anyway?

I should see. Besides, now was no time for sleep, it was time for gathering clues that will lead me to Zelda. She's still alive and so she is somewhere in this great sky, I know it. I can feel it.

I walked out the door to see the new Knight just barely slip up the stairs, and I decided to follow. I only made it halfway across the hall, though, before Zelda's dad came before me.

"What are you doing up, Groose? You know we don't suggest wondering in these late hours of the night." He looked as though he had aged another lifetime in a night. But he didn't look like he had given up by any means. He must feel it too. She's still alive and I'm going to return her to him.

"Well, I-"

"Or were you going out to wreck havoc on the townsfolk? Groose, your cheating in today's race was unacceptable," he said sternly.

I didn't expect him to bring that up. There were much worse matters at hand, not to mention that I hardly did the worst that was done during that race. "Me? Cheating? If you'll excuse me, Link was-"

"Link's a good kid. And you should be kinder to him."

"Look, Gaepora. I don't have a problem with you, so I don't see what yours is with me. Just hear me out, and I'll go back to my room and return to my nightmares, but that great kid Link just went up those stairs, and probably out that door. Do what you will with the given information, " I snapped, turning on my heel, somewhat angry at myself that I'd somehow managed to piss of Zelda's dad.

When I returned to my room, I found satisfaction in the sound of the creaking of the stairs and opening and closing of the door leading outside. The guy listened, at least.

And I made due on my promise, much to my dismay. I did return to my nightmares.

And what nightmares they were.