O Spastic One: Yay chappie five!
WhiteXIII: Um… This is actually Chapter 4, regardless of last A/N promises.
Spazzy: NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Lies, all lies…this is chapter five.
WhiteXIII: Um… Okay. Enjoy!
Chapter 4
Band and Other Extreme Sports
Class: Band Period: 3A Teacher: Nayru
"I don't know what's goin' on with that Banjo, but I don't think it's sanitary," Sheik said, watching as a random person stuffed it into their band locker.
"Cool!" Venex said running over to the sweaty Banjo boy. A few minutes later he returned. "That guy was awesome! He let me lick it!"
"VENEX!" Zelda exclaimed, a look of disgust on her face. "That's disgusting!"
"I know, right?" Venex smiled. "I did it just for you, Zelda!"
"Oh…" Zelda said, not really knowing what to say. "That's…satisfying…"
"Yeah, you'd better be satisfied, sis. Oh, the things I do for you…Like licking a sweaty Banjo. Which was pretty sweet. I think I might get a high off of it!"
Zelda opened her mouth to say something, but was then interrupted by something even grosser than Venex.
"Hello, my lovely," came his oily voice.
"What am I?" Zelda asked, "Cheese?"
"No, but, uh," Ganondorf said, randomly flexing his Pecs, "But we can go and grab a bite."
"Of what? Decaying flesh?" Zelda shot back.
"Oh, yeah!" Venex said. "That's my favorite!"
"Besides," Malon and Ruto added, looking at each other slyly, "She's already got a boyfriend."
Ganondorf's eyes bugged out. Literally. Zelda gave him a strange look as they turned into cockroaches and ran for cover.
Zelda shot her friends a deadly look. "I do NOT!"
Venex and Sheik started singing, "Zelda's got a boyfriend! Zelda's got a boyfriend!" when Link walked into the room.
Zelda suddenly turned red as she hissed, "CAN IT!"
"Your love?" Venex asked.
"Whatever you call it!" Zelda agreed. "Just knock it off!"
Sheik and Venex exchanged glances, smiling evilly. "Okay!" Sheik said, running over to his locker.
"Hey, DUDE!" Venex yelled at Link, waving him over.
Link came over with a slightly confused expression, but he was smiling regardless. "Hey, Venex, what's up?" he asked.
"NOT YOU!" Sheik said, throwing a giant can over Link's head.
Without warning, Venex grabbed Zelda and threw her in as well. Zelda and Link were sitting knee to knee in the limited space. Zelda was about to say something about her brothers being weird, or the situation being kinda awkward… Not that anything was wrong with him. If Zelda had to pick someone to be stuck in a can with, Link wouldn't exactly be at the bottom of the list…
Suddenly, Zelda's world turned on its side as she and Link were shoved out of the can once more.
"Um…" Link said, blinking at the sudden light and seeing Sheik and Venex smiling above him.
"I told ya it'd work," Sheik told Venex, giving him a high five.
"Yeah, but I can't believe you just happened to have a can in your locker! It was, like, meant to be!" Venex said.
"I'll tell you what's meant to be: your immediate death!" Zelda growled, glaring at her brother and cousin.
"Uh oh!" the two boys chorused simultaneously and ran away.
"Okay, kids," Nayru said, coming into the room, "Time to settle down. Get your instruments and take your seats. We have a concert coming up soon."
She turned to see Venex and Sheik frozen in mid jump over their Band chairs, instruments in hand. Sheik spoke in slow-motion, "I tooolld yoooouu thiiiisss waaassss fuunnn."
"III KNOOOOWW!" Venex said.
Nayru shook her head and waved her hand, causing time to resume and their heads to ram into the stands before them.
"Seats," she said calmly.
Zelda sat by Saria, her Ocarina in hand and looked back, only to regret it. Ganondorf stood by his Bass Drum, holding his mallet and flexing.
"Yeah!" he said, looking at his 'mallet', "That's a good one."
She shook her head and looked at the teacher.
"Mr. Siva, we have a shortage of Percussionists. You wouldn't mind switching sections, would you?"
Link smiled. "No problem," he said, smiling and heading back to stand by Ganondorf. The latter growled as Link picked up the crash cymbals.
"Okay. Link, do you know how to work with the cymbals?" Nayru asked.
Link's blank expression was her answer.
"Well, Ganondorf, can you teach him?"
"It would be my pleasure," Ganondorf growled through clenched teeth.
"While he's teaching Link, how about we just carry on with our practice?" Nayru said, pulling out her sheet music and showing them the title.
They all took out their music as they all heard a crash.
Nayru looked back to see Link holding one cymbal while looking at the floor and blinking cluelessly. "Link, did you drop it?" Nayru asked.
"Yeah," Link smiled. "My buddy Ganon here"-he patted Ganondorf on the shoulder-"told me that it's a tradition to drop the cymbals before every practice. It's good luck!"
"No, Link. That's abusive to the instrument. How about we try the gong?"
Link blushed, embarrassed, before nodding and grabbing the gong mallet. He hefted it slowly and looked it over.
A few girls in the flute section sighed.
Zelda shook her head.
Finally, the piece began. Nayru was a great conductor, she was able to give everybody their cues, and recover if a major one was missed. Her eyes flickered to the back and gave Link his cue. He swung towards the mettle rimming that surrounded the center, and hit it perfectly. But the mallet wasn't done yet. In the blink of an eye, it had flown from his hands, smacked Ganondorf in the back of the head and dropped onto a nearby suspended cymbal.
Everybody stopped and looked around, confused.
Ganondorf gave Link an evil smirk, hiding the pain Link had unintentionally inflicted on him.
Nayru smiled. "Yes, Link! That suspended cymbal was supposed to be there. Good job!"
Ganondorf's face turned an ugly shade of red, while Link laughed. Ganon grunted as he shoved the Bass Drum mallet into Link's hand. He dimly muttered, "Switch," before the music started again.
"Okay!" Link smiled and walked over to the bass drum.
Again, the music started and, unfortunately, Link misinterpreted the trumpets' cue for his own. The loud boom reverberated around the band room and everyone looked at Nayru to know what to do.
"Sorry!" Link said. "My bad, my bad."
Nayru smiled again. "Okay. Let's try again."
Zelda was getting a little tired of this. However, it wasn't over yet.
When the music got to Link's cue, Zelda cringed, knowing something bad was probably going to happen because it was fff. Link hit the poor Bass Drum with all of his might.
The mallet had had enough of this abuse! When it hit the drum, it flung itself from Link's hand and stuck itself defiantly in the ceiling above.
Link looked at the ceiling and raised his hand.
Before she could call on him, Venex said, "Um, Nayru? I think there's something wrong with the ceiling."
Zelda slapped her forehead. Why did she have to have him as a brother?
"Yes, thank you, Venex. I kind of noticed that," Nayru replied, walking back to the Percussion section. She grabbed the triangle off of a table nearby and handed it, along with its beater, to Link. "Now, when I give you your cue, you hit this… gently. Okay?" she said, smiling.
Link nodded and took the instrument silently.
"Okay," Nayru sighed, returning to her podium and starting the next piece.
Zelda hoped that nothing would go wrong this time, but after what had just happened in the last fifteen minutes, she guessed something would happen.
Sure enough, when they got through half of the piece, a clattering noise could be heard, followed by Ganondorf's shouting.
"What the heck? That was my ear!"
"It's okay, Ganon, geez. You have another one," Link replied.
Zelda looked back to see the triangle beater sticking out of Ganondorf's ear while he was towering over a smirking Link.
"Boys, boys, break it up," Nayru shouted, finally losing it, and threw her baton at the bigger of the two. "And you're lucky I wasn't aiming, Ganondorf, or you would've had a baton sticking out of your other ear! Now GO TO THE NURSE!"
Ganondorf gladly ran out of the band room, holding his ear.
"You know what, Link?" Nayru said, putting her fingers on the bridge of her nose, "Just go back to your original instrument."
"Okay," Link said, walking over to the lockers.
Boy, Zelda thought, I'd hate to see who that is.
Two minutes later, Link walked to the ocarina section and pulled up a chair by Saria with his ocarina in his hand.
"Of course," Zelda muttered to herself, rolling her eyes. She didn't mean to be rude about it, but music was important to Zelda, and the ocarina was a very difficult instrument. Not just anybody could play it… well.
They started, and, Zelda felt herself get into the groove of it all. The gentle pushes and pulls of the new piece guided her along and allowed herself to take her mind away from all of her problems. By the time the piece had ended, Zelda was smiling contently, and already missing the beautiful tune. They were then dismissed to put away their things.
Nayru looked at the back, finally noticing the giant can that sat on the floor. Her brow furrowed. "Why is there a-?" her question stopped as her eyes fell on Sheik and Venex, who waved. She shook her head. "Never mind. I really don't want to know."
Saria turned to Link, her green eyes sparkling. "You're amazing!" she exclaimed.
Link shrugged. "Not really," he said, putting the blue instrument away.
Saria shook her head. "You could hit those notes better than I could! Mine are always a little flat," she said sadly, looking at her feet.
It was Link's turn to smile. "If you were to sit up a little straighter, then the air would be able to get into it better. That way," he said, putting his ocarina in his locker, "It wouldn't be flat."
"Really?" Saria asked.
Link smiled and nodded.
"Wow! Thanks, Link!"
"No problem," Link said. "Happy to help."
Zelda and Saria had been trying to solve that problem for weeks. "You certainly know a lot about the ocarina," Zelda said as she put her own away.
Link shrugged. "I've been playing for a long time."
"How long?" Ruto asked, coming over.
"Since I was little," Link said slowly, as if trying to remember exactly when he started.
"So, about how many years?" Zelda wondered.
Link looked pained. "Um…y'know, I can't even remember..."
Zelda shrugged. "It wasn't a crucial bit of information. Don't hurt yourself if you can't remember."
"Okay."
"Hey, Zelda!" Venex yelled from across the band room.
"What?" his sister sighed, looking at him.
"Come over here!"
She walked over to her brother and said, "What do you want this time?"
"Um…" He turned to Sheik. "What were we gonna say to her?"
"So, we saw you having a conversation with your lover," Sheik told her slyly. "What were you talkin' about?"
"That's none of your-" Zelda realized her slip-up when she saw the looks on her relatives' faces. "Wait! I mean, he's not my lover! And he never will be!"
Right after she said that, she envisioned Link and herself walking down the hallway in school, holding hands and laughing together as if they'd heard a joke.
"GAAAAAH!" she screamed, throwing her hands in the air.
"Okay, okay, I believe you, Zel," Venex said, backing away. "No need to scream at me." To Sheik, he muttered, "Although I wouldn't be disappointed if she became his lover."
"I'm right here, Venex," Zelda growled. "If you dare consider me and Link a couple one more time, I swear I'm gonna…"
The bell rang, ending class and Zelda's threat.
She rolled her eyes as she walked out of the band room, following her brother who was sprinting away from her as fast as he could.
Class: Physical Education Period: 4A Teacher: Miss Din
Zelda stretched and let out a sigh of relief. For once, she was glad to be in Gym. It was an all girls class after all. No Ganondorf, Venex, or Sheik. Just her and… She frowned. Nabooru passed by quickly. Their eyes caught as they passed and Nabooru looked away with disgust. Zelda sighed. Maybe this wouldn't be so great of a reprieve.
"Hey," Midna said, coming to stand by her. "You know if you keep looking like that your face is going to freeze."
Zelda nodded absentmindedly. "I have a hole in my pants," she said randomly.
"Isn't that fun," Midna said, hardly paying attention.
"Alright, ladies!" Din said, entering the room. "We are going to be-"
The Gym was so full of babble, the ceiling would have plugged its ears… if it had any hands… or ears for that matter.
"Ladies!" Din shouted, trying to get control. However, nobody was listening. She sighed. "WE HAVE A NEW STUDENT ASSISTANT TODAY! EVERYONE MAKE LINK FEEL WELCOME!"
Suddenly, the girls erupted into squeals and giggles as they finally noticed the hunk standing by Din. Link turned away in embarrassment. Why was school so complicated? And freaky? And why does everyone stare!
Satisfied with their sudden attention, Din continued. "We're going to be…" she trailed off, trying to think of a suitable torture for that day. Her eyes gleamed. "Playing Capture the Flag."
The girls nodded dreamily, not paying attention, but at least they were quiet.
Din went to the cabinet to grab the flags and frowned. She returned with a green flag and bad news. "It seems we only have one flag," she said.
The whole gym, who had been fighting as to what team would get Link, all cried out in exasperation. "So, we're going to do this instead." She handed the flag to Link as she spoke. "Whoever gets the flag first wins," she grinned at Link evilly. Link didn't like where this was going. Why did he have to take it? "GO!"
The girls all moved in a sudden mass towards Link, who instantly took off running through the gym doors and outside.
"That was actually kinda fun," Midna said as they changed back into their school clothes. "My favorite part was when Link tried to jump the fence, and then that one chick ran into the fence."
Zelda smiled and nodded. "Or, afterwards, when he fell off and everyone dog piled on him."
The two girls laughed as if they had been old friends for an eternity. Nabooru shot them a dirty look as she hefted her backpack and left the locker room. Zelda frowned. Why did they have to fight? They had been friends for as long as Zelda could remember.
"Catch you later," Midna said, running off towards her bus. Zelda gave her a forced smile, grabbed her stuff and headed to the Band room.
Zelda walked in and saw Ruto. "Hey, Ruto!" she said, going up to her friend.
"Hi, Zel! Guess what Zoranor did today!" Ruto replied and spouted off something that her crush had done for her all in one breath. She took a deep gasp of air and said, "But…"
"But?" Zelda asked, not having understood a word of what Ruto had just said.
"But I'm totally not interested in him. Uh-uh. Nope."
Zelda snapped her fingers. "I know why. Third grade, right?"
"Yup. He's still not forgiven," Ruto said.
Zelda took a deep breath, taking in the smells of valve oil, cork grease, and who could forget the ever-lovable scent of BO. "I could just die in the band room, y'know?"
"I know how you feel, Zel. I mean, we just live in here!" Ruto smiled. "Well, I gotta run! Zoranor said he'd 'walk me home.' Yeah, right," she snorted.
Zelda tried to hide a smile. "Uh-huh. Bye, Ruto!" She looked around for her cousin and brother as Ruto ran out the door.
She looked around but didn't see them. She saw the trumpet section leader and asked him where her relatives were. He shrugged. "Sheik locked himself in a mellophone locker, and I think he's growing mushrooms in there or something."
Zelda rolled her eyes and thanked him. She walked over to the mellophone locker section and looked in. "Sheik, are you growing mushrooms in AJ's locker again? He wasn't very happy about that the first time."
"No," Sheik replied tearfully. "I'm mourning."
"Mourning what?"
"Venex."
Zelda's eyes widened. "What happened? Did he die? Finally?"
"No, it's worse!" Sheik exclaimed in horror.
"Worse?" she said, starting to get nervous.
"His muffin…" he sobbed.
"The one from this morning?"
He nodded, wiping tears from his eyes.
"What about it?" Zelda asked, completely confused.
"It got lost. It's lost, I tell you! LOST!"
Zelda was very confused. "Lost? What?" She thought about it. "Oh…" He threw up. "So did Venex go home?"
"Yeah, but your dad wasn't home, so we made him walk."
"WHAT?" Zelda yelled. "Sheik, he got sick and you made him walk?"
"Well, you had the keys!"
"He doesn't even have a license! And you could've called Mom!"
Sheik nodded tearfully. "I know…" Then he laughed. "And we did. I was just joking."
Just then, AJ, the black-haired human boy mellophone player, walked in and saw Sheik in his locker. "SHEIK! Get out of my locker! I don't want your mushrooms!"
Sheik quickly got out of the locker and straightened himself up. "I wasn't growing mushrooms. Who started that rumor anyway?"
"Uh, you did," Zelda said matter-of-factly.
"I did not! That was hard-core fact!" Sheik said defensively.
"Well, you were the one growing 'shrooms in my locker!" AJ said, crossing his arms.
Sheik nodded. "Yeah, I know…Hi, Mr. Whale!" he suddenly waved at a red-haired man who walked in the band room.
The blind janitor looked towards Sheik's voice in response to his name as his guide dog growled.
Zelda smiled apologetically at the man. Even if he couldn't see her apology, it was the thought that counted, right?
Having no response, the janitor continued on without a word.
"Sheik!" Zelda elbowed her cousin. "Be nice!"
"That's his name! He's the janitor who came to clean up Venex's lost muffin… And he wouldn't let me eat it…"
"Okay, a little too much info there, Sheik," Zelda gagged. "Let's just go home. I hope that he's okay."
"Aww, you care about him!" Sheik smiled.
"That does not leave this room," Zelda said to her cousin.
They left the Band room, which was mostly empty at this point and headed out into the hallway. However, they didn't get very far before something crossed Zelda's mind.
"Wait a second, Sheik," Zelda said, stopping suddenly. "I forgot something."
"You want me to come with you?" he asked, being almost serious for once.
Zelda quickly shook her head. "It's just my ocarina. You go to the car and wait. I'll meet you there soon."
A suddenly smile plastered itself on Sheik's face. "I knew it," he said.
Zelda stopped in her tracks for a moment to give him a quizzical look.
He leaned into Zelda's ear and whispered, "You're meeting a boy aren't you?"
"WHAT?" Zelda exclaimed jumping back. "No! It's just my ocarina."
Sheik smiled, shaking his head slowly. "Ah, young love."
"Go to the car," Zelda fumed.
Sheik seemed not to hear as he stood in deep thought. Suddenly, his eyes lit up and he smacked his fist down into his hand in an 'I-got-it' sort of way. "Is it-?"
"Now," Zelda said, barely controlling herself.
Sheik smiled, suddenly nervous as he headed off towards the car.
Zelda shook her head as she turned and ran back towards the Band room. The few remaining people quietly filed past her and left through the back doors.
'I hope Nayru hasn't locked the doors yet,' Zelda thought anxiously as she approached the doors. 'If I don't get my practicing in, my dad will kill me.' A piece of scrunched paper rolled lazily across the floor as the Band door opened with ease. Zelda closed her eyes, sighing with relief. It seemed luck was with her today, but then she smacked her head against the door frame and that theory was ruined. Shaking it off, she entered. She looked at the teacher's office, only to find it empty and dark. Zelda frowned. Usually Nayru locked her doors… A feeling of dread overcame her as her neck began to tingle. A ruffling noise sounded across the room. Zelda froze.
"Do you need something?" a voice asked, suddenly jarring Zelda from her trance.
She looked at the blind, red-haired janitor, who was currently picking up pieces of paper while his Rottweiler, guide dog sniffed something on the floor.
"Oh," Zelda said, smiling kindly. "How are you… Mr. Whale?" His name was just too weird.
"Just fine, Miss…"
"Altari," she said. "Zelda Altari."
Mr. Whale nodded slowly as if digesting the name. "It's nice to meet you," he finally said, tipping his hat slowly. "I need to clean up here, so if you don't mind…" he said gesturing to the room.
Zelda quickly got the message. "I'll just be a moment," she said and thanked him for his formalities before quickly crossing the room and grabbing her instrument.
"So why'd you want to work here?" Zelda asked after a few moments of silence.
No answer.
Zelda repeated her question, mildly confused.
No answer.
Her chest suddenly felt a thousand tons heavier. Her neck began to burn as her breath became shallow and virtually silent. She turned around slowly.
She didn't even have time to scream.
The janitor lay still, his glasses a few inches from his body, or, rather the skin of it. She hardly had time to look at the grotesque scene of clothes and bunched up skin when she heard it.
"I've finally found you, Princess Zelda."
Quickly, Zelda turned to find the source of the noise, but saw no one there. Even the dog was gone. "What?" she asked, confused.
"You cannot hide from us any longer," said the voice.
"What did you do to Mr. Whale?" Zelda asked, trying to hide her fear as the burning in her neck grew.
A glowing red light caught her attention. Slowly, a floating figure emerged from the darkness. "I am Mr. Whale!"
Zelda felt herself stop for a moment to take a second look. No pun intended. Right before her eyes was a red-winged, horned eyeball with pale, glowing red eyes. It's small body was white and cloud-like and, even in the heat of the moment, made her think of marshmallows. Demon Marshmallows. Zelda was more stunned by the creature than afraid, but the monster took the silence as a sign of fear.
"And now your time is up, girl. Any last words?" The Rottweiler came up slowly behind the floating eye, as if curious.
Words slowly began to form on Zelda's lips. "Sheik was right. Mr. Whale is a weird name…"
The eye glared at her. "Get her," he said. Suddenly, the dog's black fur spilt open as a gigantic, horned, dinosaur-like monster emerged. Drool fell from its overly-huge mouth before its pale blue, clawed feet. Its body curled around, as if readying for a pounce and Zelda realized it had no hind legs, just a long, tail-like body. It leapt forward with such speed that Zelda hardly saw it move.
Everything suddenly seemed to slow as realization dawned on Zelda. She was going to die here. In the Band room. No one was around to save her. But as the creature came into view a few inches from her face, her mind corrected itself by saying, 'No, they'd just die with me.'
Her eyes closed. Time resumed and, without warning, she was flying through the room, lead by the arm. The sound of clanging metal reached her ears as she stood shaking.
"Are you okay?" a warm, gentle voice asked.
Zelda's eyes opened to see Link standing in front of her. She instantly let out the breath she had been holding, but it wasn't as loud as she expected it to be. There was something about the way the shadows lined his face. It made him look much older, serious and… attractive? He held out his right hand for her to take and, instinctively, she grabbed it and held on tightly.
Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "You're going to be okay. I'll protect you," he said, pulling her to her feet slowly.
"You," Mr. Whale hissed. "You're going to pay for what you did to me!"
Zelda had almost forgotten that they weren't alone. It wasn't too great of a reality to come crashing back to it again, but the feelings of dread weren't nearly as prominent as they were before.
Link, suddenly irritated, shouted back a response Zelda never thought she'd hear. "Dude, it's been seven hundred years. Get over it!"
"Never!" Mr. Whale shouted back in response. "You killed my boss, the Sky Whale, poked me in the eye and blinded me!" The dino-dog monster came up behind him menacingly, drool dripping off its huge, blue jaw. Mr. Whale's eye flashed and the creature stood still, leaning forward on its two legs.
"It was more of a slash, and you're only an eyeball. You don't have anything else," Link glanced at the janitor's human skin on the floor. "Except for your disguise, which, I must say, has gotten much better since the last time." He looked back at it with a glint in his eye. "Has someone been practicing?" he asked teasingly. Link sounded confident, but the look in his eyes told Zelda that something was off. It was almost as if he were waiting for something else to happen.
The eyeball's red eye glowed angrily. Zelda grabbed onto Link's arm as the eyeball's voice suddenly became thin, raspy and too much like nails running on a chalk board.
"Stop doing that!" Mr. Whale said suddenly and irritably.
"Sorry," another floating, horned eyeball said as it glided away from the chalkboard. "They told me to," it said, gesturing behind it. Zelda peered around him, only to regret it instantly. There weren't two of them. It was more like two thousand. The room suddenly filled with the flittering noise of their tiny, beating wings. Slowly, they built up behind Mr. Whale with their beady little purple eyes and wings.
"Ah," Link said, almost sounding satisfied by the sudden surge of monsters. "Much better. I was wondering where all your little minions were," Link said, taking on the massive purple, green and red cloud of monsters before him.
Mr. Whale's red eye flashed again and the purple-eyed mass suddenly surged towards them.
Light gathered around Link's hand and, before Zelda knew what was happening, a sword had formed in his left hand as he swung at the first wave of eyeball creatures.
"What are these things?" Zelda asked, trying to keep calm, but failing miserably.
"Eyeball Monsters!" Link shouted over his shoulder as he swiped at another one.
Zelda paused. "What kind of a name is that?" she asked, disbelievingly.
Link shrugged. "I don't know, but it's pretty accurate."
What previously had been a dog, suddenly popped into view, jaws snapping and almost taking Link's arm with it as it retreated from Link's sword.
"What's that?" she asked as they backed up.
"A Dodongo," Link hissed as it came at him again.
It snapped up again, Link dodged, pulling Zelda along with him. The blue-grey skinned beast slammed into the lockers behind them, leaving huge dents on the white, wiry doors. Mr. Whale gave a screeching noise and his massive army of flying eyeballs charged towards Link.
Zelda felt her hand slip into Link's and she held on tightly. He pushed her behind him protectively and cut out vertically at the closest monster.
As the battle wore on, Link felt himself begin to tire. He wasn't sure how much longer he could do this. Whenever he cut through a surge of Eyeball Monsters, another wave would always take its place. He knew he had to get to Mr. Whale, their leader, but he couldn't pull out a move powerful enough to take down the minions so he could move forward. The spin attack would be excellent, considering the many opponents, but he couldn't use it and protect the person behind him. He could use his magic, but, since that wasn't his greatest form of offense, it would only serve to wear him out even more. Plus, he knew he would need it soon. Zelda had powerful magic, but with the fear she was experiencing now, she wouldn't be able to use it clearly. His brow furrowed. He didn't have a choice, but to keep going and to look for an opening.
Zelda trembled as the monsters continued to push them back. Her hand began to feel sticky as she clung to Link's gloved hand. It was growing more limp by the minute. Sweat trickled down his tanned neck and his breathing was coming out controlled, but Zelda could tell he was exhausted. She frowned. She was being a burden just standing behind him. If they were to get out of there alive, she would have to stop being afraid.
Suddenly, the Dodongo lunged from the side, teeth open and gaping. Zelda screamed and Link pulled her away. He grunted in pain as the creature's teeth made contact with his sword arm and drew blood. He pulled his right arm free for a moment, took his sword and made quick work of the monster. It froze for a moment before disappearing with a tiny poof.
The Eyeball Monsters saw their opening and dived.
"When I said I'd probably die here, I meant it METOPHORICALLY!" she screeched at Link as he dragged her along. So much for not panicking.
"They don't have a lot of metaphors where he's from," Link said, dodging the onslaught of Eyeball Monsters. If she were to faint, things would only get more difficult.
"Clearly," one of the purple minions replied before Link decimated it.
With the whoosh of wings another purple-eyed beast headed towards Zelda. With another line of the offenders coming towards him, Link hardly had time to think. Though rather harmless, an Eyeball Monster was capable of going in for the kill. He had no choice.
He flung his sword at the line of monsters before diving into Zelda and forcing her into a run. The charging minion slammed into another locker and disappeared in a poof.
Mr. Whale smiled as he heard the sword clang to the ground and the sound of retreating footsteps. It was check mate.
Link and Zelda fell to the Band Room floor as they dodged monster after monster. Zelda looked at Link. His face was abnormally pale… She then looked at his arm and caught her breath. He wasn't bleeding. Link smiled at her. "These guys are loads of fun, huh?"
She grabbed his left arm, her mind racing. How was that possible? That monster dog bit him. He was bleeding just a second ago! She had seen it.
"Well, well, well," Mr. Whale said, flapping up to the pair on the floor. "Looks like I finally win."
"Who are you working for?" Link demanded, standing up and placing himself in front of Zelda.
He smiled. "Wouldn't you like to know," he taunted.
Link shrugged. "Meh. Actually, it isn't that big of a deal."
Mr. Whale glared in annoyance. "Yes it is!"
"Obviously not," Link replied, laughing slightly, "You don't even have a name made up for it yet? Have you learned nothing at the 'Striking Fear Into Your Hero' class?"
"I'm a graduate!" the eyeball shrieked. "Enough of this now! This is the end for you!"
Zelda's heart began to race, but, as she held onto Link's left hand, her mind slowly began to clear. It was her turn to help now. She suddenly felt a surge of power flow into her. Link muttered words to her quietly. Zelda repeated after him without thinking. She grasped Link's hand tightly as magic began to work its way through her lips.
The monsters gave one last charge at them before they were met with a powerful barrier. The instant the monsters made contact, they vanished to the world they had come from. The barrier expanded, destroying all the monsters in its wake.
Mr. Whale retreated in panic. "She remembers… I must alert the boss immediately!" he muttered to himself. He received no answer. He felt the light from the barrier extending towards him. Panicked, he turned and flew out the nearest window.
As the light began to fade, Zelda's head began to spin. Where had that power come from? Link's face suddenly appeared above her as she slowly faded out to black.
Link's mouth drew itself into a line as he held Zelda's unconscious form. Remembered? No. Definitely not. The light from the Triforce of Wisdom faded now that its job was done. Zelda's blond hair fell across her worn face. Link tucked it away behind her ears and smiled. She looked so peaceful.
He laid her on the ground, crossed the wreckage and picked up his blue-hilted sword. The blade reflected the dim rays of light that cast itself through the broken windows. Link sighed as he sheathed it and it disappeared. He turned to look at Zelda again.
"Why does it always have to be this way?" he asked sadly as the light of the Triforce of Courage faded from his hand.
He picked her up, holding her gently in his arms bridal style and headed out of the Band Room. After muttering a few words, the Band room door swung shut on the room, looking as if nothing had happened.
Spazzy: Okay! Torture time! Updating takes too long, so… When I get three more rabies I'll post again!
XIII: Um… Okay. Good luck with that. (I think she means reviews.)
