Author´s notes:

1. Okaaay…enough with the prologue and build up! This is the final part of the prologue (Omg, I give spoiler to my own fic)

2. I know reading OCs isn´t what you guys are here for, but they are interesting characters…in my biased opinion.

Answers to reviews:

Dunga: If everything goes the way I am thinking it, this story is going to be bigger than what we usually see, so I will have time to properly develop Raye and all the other characters and their relationships. Hope you´ll like them. But woow, I didn´t think about it that way, you´re right, it would add a lot to their relationship.

Lilyanna32: Thank you for your review!*-* I love pure fluffy fics, but the ones that I loved the most are those with more emotional conflict to it.


Prologue – Part 3

The forest floor was covered in white when Hyrule entered the coldest month of winter. That, along with the brightness of the moon thats night, brought an eerie atmosphere to the place that would make even the bravest person look over their shoulders. Most of the animals had fled in search of some warmth and hunting had become a hard and lonely duty.

But hunting wasn´t what brought Aleric to the middle of Faron Woods that night, the largest forest in all of Hyrule, that surrounded the entirety of the little Ordon village, the last village in Hyrule before the Kingdom´s border with Lorule. He would choose to hunt during the brief moments of sunlight the next day and pray that Nayru granted him the patience to endure the hours it would take to find their next meal.

That night he was looking for someone. Someone who was supposed to had returned to their hideout in the caves at least some hours ago. Aleric moved as quickly as his thick winter clothes allowed, eyes searching for the white-haired man.

"Aru!" He called in a low voice, still not trusting what might lurk in the heart of the forest so late in the night. He trusted his skills to keep him safe and bring him food, but he still needed to get stronger, but most of all, not being able to find the other man was weighting on his heart and distracting him from all other thoughts. Aleric didn´t think he would be able to focus on a fight at that moment not even to save his life. He had been searching for at least an hour…

"Aru!", he called again, this time stronger, worry finding its way into his voice.

After so long, the forest started to look all the same, no matter where he turned to and he would have to think how to get back home after finding Aru. He prepared to turn right, choosing another path when something heavy fell on his head.

Looking at the forest floor he saw Agitha´s staff, the responsible for his newly acquired headache.

A noise from above forced him to look up and relief flooded him. There he was, sitting in one large branch, his head resting on the tree trunk, sleeping peacefully. His right hand limp at his side, the one who probably was holding the staff.

"Aru, you idiot!" He almost shouted, grabbing the staff and climbing the tree to wake him up. "Wake up so I can kill you! Hey!" He was shaking the other man violently and Aru awoke with a jump that almost made him lose his balance.

"Wha-what, Aleric? For Nayru, do you want to kill me? Goddesses, my heart! Don´t scare me like that" he grumbled like an elder, even though he was just twenty-four. His white, messy hair plastered on his face because of the position he had been sleeping. His hand scratching vigorously his blue eyes, trying to push sleep away. Aru´s every feature, from the way he carried himself, to the sound of his voice, and the smoothness of his skin, was delicate, which was a stark contrast to all the other hylians that grew up in the farming Ordon village.

"That´s exactly what I want. What on Hyrule are you doing so far into the forest at this hour? I was looking for you forever!"

"Don´t be dramatic. Look, the moon is still not on its peak, it is not even past midnight. And what do you mean what am I doing here? I´m helping you, of course! Agitha told me that I needed to find the deepest part of the forest and gather all magic I could into the staff so you wouldn´t have to use your own. So, I came here, but I fell asleep, I guess…again" He finished, looking down sheepishly.

"Agitha told you that? And you believed her?"

"Why wouldn't I believe her? She is the specialist. And I have seen her doing it once. It is a thing!" Aru said, defensively.

"Oh, Aru, what do I do with you? She lied! You can gather magic into the staff, but it´s definitely not enough to help me…it´s just a small amount. The staff is made to shape magic, not store it."

Aru stared at his friend, clearly confused. Then, as the truth settled in, Aleric saw his face betray the slightest anger. There was something about Aru every time he got angry, in the thin line of his lips and the way his cheeks seemed to double their size, making his face turn almost completely round, that Aleric couldn´t help but find endearing.

Aleric chuckled and urged Aru to get down from the tree. "Come on, let´s go home."

###

Just as Aleric feared, getting back home also took longer than necessary. He was hungry, tired and cold and just wanted to sit by the fire after eating Aru´s delicious soup.

"You really have to be more careful with who you trust, Aru. You know Agitha…is not fond of you, to say the least. If I hadn´t found you, you would definitely have slept until your death….we both know you could do that."

"In my defense, how was I supposed to know? I thought she was trying to help you, which is why she´s here for, right? And why doesn´t she like me, when she clearly adores you?" Aru said, frustration evident in his voice.

"It´s easy actually…the only person you can really trust is me. Everyone else is evil." He said with humor, but also a tad bit of truth.

He had always been like that. Trying to help without asking questions, worrying about everything and everyone and caring for the world. That´s how they had met in the first place. When Aleric most needed, it was Aru who reached out and saved his life. That worked just fine when they lived in Ordon village, but here, out in the world, it would be considered a weakness.

The moon had been covered by clouds by the time they reached the cave and a thick snow started to fall.

The caves were an intricate maze made of several smaller caves and accesses, the only source of light being a few torches on the wall. They had been living as nomads for so long that Aleric didn´t bother to give this place any thought, but he always felt like a criminal every time he went back there. Surely, they didn´t want anyone to find out what they were doing, and it surely was a crime, but still….

Finding their way in the caves was still troublesome for Aleric. They hadn´t been living there for long, so Aru had to lead the way. Only after so much turning and going did they arrive at the main room, that worked as their meeting place for the handful of people that had suddenly joined them.

Aleric and Aru each grabbed a portion of what remained of the soup and sat across each other at the provisory table, discussing their plans for the next day, but the events of another busy day were weighting them down, so they said their good-nights right after eating.

After watching his friend retreat to his hole in the wall that they have adapted to work as an individual room, Aleric turned and moved to a room opposite to his own. He moved the pink curtain to the side without bothering to ask for permission to enter, he was sure he would find her awake.

Agitha sat on her bed, hugging her knees close to her chest. She raised her blond head to him and asked indifferently, "Did you find him?".

"Come with me" was his answer and the smallest trace of concern passed her face when she stood up and followed him to one of the caves´ chambers. That particular chamber wasn´t used by them and Aleric hadn´t been there since the first day they started living in the caves, some two weeks ago, in order to map the area.

The chamber was made of plain stone walls with a rocky floor. Two steps into it would reveal a very large hole on the floor and the only indication they had about its depth was how long it took for a small stone to reach its bottom…and it did take too long.

"Was he ok? Why was he outside at this hour? Is he stupid?" She said and Aleric just stared at her for a while, eyes not betraying any emotion. "Making you go out in this cold to look for him…I bet he was trying to get your attention". She added, getting uncomfortable with the silence.

"He told me, Agitha." Was all he said.

"…Told you what?" Her breathing getting faster.

"That you instructed him to stay outside and gather magic into your staff."

"So that´s where my staff was! I´ve been looking for that the whole day. The selfish bastard must have stolen it to try and impress yo..!" She cut her words short when, in two large steps, Aleric reached for her throat and pushed her towards the hole.

"I understand your reasoning, really. Strangely enough, you don´t like him, but you happen to know that he would always try to help me. You decided to take advantage of that and sent him to freeze in the forest. What did you tell him, hmm? That it was a secret between the two of you? That he couldn´t tell me for some reason?" His hand on her throat wasn´t tight, but he kept pushing her towards the hole, while she fought him with arms and legs to release herself from his grasp. "Let me tell you a secret about Aru, then. For all his kind heart, there are still some things he wouldn´t do for someone else and he would never lie to me or hide anything from me." His face remained emotionless, but he was sure that his eyes were burning with anger. She was at the edge of the hole, body frozen in fear. If he released her, she would fall to her death. "I don´t need you to like him, but try to hurt him one more time and I will make sure you are never separated from that staff again."

"I´m so-sorry…I´m so sorry. I didn´t mean to hurt him…I just wanted him away for a while. I am sorry, please." She was crying when Aleric yanked her back and left the chamber without another word.

###

With a throbbing head, Aleric was walking his way back to his room.

When crossing Aru´s curtains, he heard the man say "You didn´t have to do that."

He pondered for a while. "Yes, I did. For my own sake, I did." Aleric answered, and went straight to his room. A bath could wait until tomorrow.

In his room, he removed his thick winter clothing, but kept the under layers. Even with the improvised fireplace burning in the room, it was still too small to provide enough warmth, so nights in the cave were always cold.

Looking at himself in the piece of broken mirror that hung from the wall, a gift from Agitha, so he could do something about his messy hair in the mornings, he felt old.

At the young age of twenty-six, there was a tiredness in him that he couldn´t change, with all the mirrors in the world. His black, shoulder-length hair was, as usual, locked almost on top of his head, in a bun, but, for all he tried, it would always look messy. His gray eyes staring back at him, betraying a life of happiness and a life of happiness lost.

Looking at himself in the mirror always solidified his resolve.

They could had been so much. He had just taken over his master´s business as Ordon´s blacksmith when everything went wrong. Demand for weaponry was high because of the war and a very possible deal for a better price on rapiers and longswords was under negotiation with the Royal Guard (Aru´s doing).

He would have lived the rest of his life doing what he loved, making weapons that would protect the kingdom and everyone he cared about.

But that was before. Before his world turned upside down and he was forced to leave the cozy village that sheltered him and made him believe that he actually had a chance, that he could have a future. The only things he had left from that life was the broken steel-made medallion that his old master had given him, and bore the emblem of the shop…and Aru.

In the beginning, he wanted revenge. He wanted to destroy the Princesses' world and make her feel everything he had felt. Lastly, he would kill her, just because he could. But maturity made him see that, for all she suffered, his friends would still be gone, his old shop still burnt to ashes. And besides, this was a dangerous life they were living and a revenge that risked Aru´s life wasn´t worth it.

No, maturity made him see that the right thing to do was to make sure that that never happened again, that the Queen wouldn´t have the chance to make the Princesses´ mistakes.

"For my own sake…" He whispered to himself and laid on his back on the bed, the memory of Aru´s angry face bringing a smile to his lips.