Chapter 4: New Friendship?
Vaati couldn't take it anymore, he was getting red all over from keeping his laughter. "Link… you didn't forget to wear underwear, did you?"
"OF COURSE NOT!" Link defended, his tone almost annoyed.
Of course he couldn't forget wearing underwear, because that'd be stupid. Of course he wore everything he needed because forgetting an important article of clothing would be stupid as we- Oh.
Link looked down and what he saw made his face red. He turned to look at Vaati and saw that Vaati held what he was looking for.
"I can't believe you forgot to wear pants… good thing you're wearing a…" Vaati giggled again. He continued, "… a long shirt…"
Link knew what Vaati hesitated to say, 'a dress', but he let it go. After all, seeing him laugh was enough to lighten up his day.
Link approached Vaati with a smile and grabbed his tights from him. He took off his boots, quickly wore the tights, and then wore the boots again. He turned to the youngster and offered him his left hand.
"What?" Vaati blushed a bit. He didn't know what Link meant.
"Come," Link answered him. "Don't you want to come with me to the palace?"
'Of course you would, wouldn't you, my dear Vaati?' Those evil thoughts came crossing Link's head again. He could not forget that this seemingly sweet person in front of him had done a very terrible thing to everyone-and yet it's as if no one was even bothered that he's here. In fact, as far as the villagers are concerned, Vaati didn't exist.
"Ummm…." Vaati seemed unsettled. He couldn't even look at Link's eyes.
"It's okay," Link assured him. "No one will hurt you." 'Of course not, because YOU'LL hurt us.' "We're just going to the palace for a little visit, and really, I need to see if the palace is okay. Zelda entrusted me to take care of it." 'And she trusts me well, so if you start doing anything funny, which I know you would, I'm so ready!'
"Well? You coming or not?" Link seemed more insistent.
The young sorcerer didn't want to go, but he can't refuse the offer. It's as if Link commanded him to do it; though in a very friendly way.
He took a deep breath before he said, "Sure."
At that, Vaati and Link set out to go to Hyrule Castle.
"Goodbye, Grampa!" waved Link to Smith, who was already far away from him and Vaati.
Vaati also smiled sweetly and waved at the man who took good care of them both the previous night.
"Goodbye, Link, Vaati! Take care!" waved back Smith to the two.
"We will!" answered Link.
Before they could go to the castle, they had to pass by the village first-that is, the village had turned into a small city two years after the incident. The city had grown four times bigger than its normal range. It was a fast change and Vaati seems to be taking it well. Upon entering the main entrance, he could see many fast-food chains lined up, and that there were a lot of stores with different goods. To his left were mainly residential houses, with some business markets around. He could also see the town's main mall, of which was packed with everything. The village did indeed change over such a short time, but it was a good change for them.
Although, some things never really change. Link met a running man carrying a sack of mails on his back, waiting to be delivered. He smiled at the hero and said, "Good morning, Link!"
"Morning, Mr. Mailman!" he greeted back politely.
The mailman's attention was caught by Vaati who was clinging onto Link's arm, looking as shy as ever.
The mailman stared at him with curiosity. "Hello, who are you?"
Vaati did not reply, and instead of greeting the man, he hid behind Link like a scared rabbit and peeped shyly from Link's back.
"Uh, this is Vaati. Sorry, he's not used speaking with strangers." explained Link "But he really is a nice kid. He's just shy, that's all."
"Oh, I see." The mailman eyed Vaati, and the more the shy youth hid behind Link, blushing. "Well, Link. I gotta go! Many letters to deliver, you see! Bye, Vaati!"
The mailman sped away carrying his bag of letters which never seemed to lessen its load.
Link comforted the shy wind mage. "It's just the mailman, Vaati. Don't worry. You can adapt to this place, I'm sure of it." 'You have to, because you'll have to take over it sooner or later, right? Oh, Vaati… I just don't understand you… have you really changed or are you pulling my leg?' "Well, let's go to the palace." 'So that I'll know if you really have changed or not…'
The boys carried on with their trip to the palace.
The palace loomed overhead as they approached the entrance. Vaati stared in awe, as if he never saw anything like it.
"What's the matter?" Link asked the astonished boy. The speechless boy carefully shook his head.
"I-I…. B-Back where I came from… Th-there was nothing like this… This place… I-it's huge…" Vaati silently said, still not taking his eyes off the magnificent structure.
"Back where you came from?" That statement has piqued Link's curiosity.
He began to worry, but tried to keep it all in. 'Oh, no. You did it Vaati. Now you got him curious. Oh, you stupid boy!' "U-um… I mean, I came from a foreign town…" 'Oh, you loudmouth! Now he'll wonder what town you came from!' "Ahh… I came from somewhere far from here… It's just that I don't do very well with the people back there…" 'DARN! Now you really blew it!' Vaati looked at the ground slapped his forehead.
"Are they that mean to you?" asked the worried Link. "You know, I can teach them a lesson! It's my specialty! They shouldn't be picking on you like that!" he said angrily.
This time, Link didn't know what he was saying. He really felt that Vaati had a rough past, and that he really seemed to have changed. But of course, denials about the youth's past can be easily said, even if the truth is contrary.
'No. That's not enough proof that he changed. Think about it, Link. He turned the whole town into stone before! You shouldn't trust him just like that! He has more "tests" to overcome before you can really say that he's a harmless little boy. For now, he's just a "seemingly" harmless little boy.'
The two looked at the majestic castle, took a deep breath, and went right in.
The guards allowed Link to enter, but stopped Vaati from entering. They blocked his path with their spears and asked him firmly.
"Who might you be, little boy? Haven't seen you around before." said one of the two guards. The lavender haired boy trembled and looked at them.
"Well, this is Vaati…" Link stopped and guarded Vaati and waited to see their reactions.
"Oh, so you have a new friend!" said the shorter, younger guard.
He smiled at Vaati with kind eyes and reached his hand for him. The youth flinched and hid behind Link, somewhat scared and eased by the feeling that the hero is there for him. 'Could I really trust these people… the way they trust me?'
"Well, we're going our way!" waved Link at the two guards as the boys entered the palace entrance.
"Have fun, boys!" said the younger guard.
"And don't even try anything funny!" said the senior guard.
Vaati remained behind Link until they got all the way in. "Relax… it's okay now. We've got the place all to ourselves." he assured his companion.
They were only in the lobby, but Vaati was already filled with so much awe and joy that he couldn't utter a word about anything.
'It's beautiful…it's magnificent and wonderful and… no… it's way beyond words…I wish I lived in a place like this…' Those occurred in his mind as Link navigated all throughout the palace.
The boys went to all the rooms in the magnificent structure, from the lobby to the rooftop. There in the palace, they had fun watching the maidservants take care of the cuccos. Link even asked Vaati to play the cuccos with him. Boys will be boys, and they chased the cuccos until they dropped, which was fascinating in Vaati's point of view.
'Amazing,' he thought, 'I didn't know that cuccos had this much strength even in my Hylian form! I thought that they only seemed to be so durable and strong since I was a Minish…'
Then, they also decided to play with Zelda's stuff and even dressing up in her wardrobes!
"Well, how do I look?" said Link as he stepped out of the dressing room.
It was a cubicle covered with nothing but a lush curtain of silk with a hue of carnation. He was quite the model as he pushed the curtains out of his way with elegance and nobly stepped out of the cubicle. He wore Zelda's pink dress that wasn't supposed to be worn until her sixteenth birthday, where she will be a full-pledged princess. It was backless, laced with many decorations and golden jewelry. He wore it with matching pink high-heeled feminine shoes, although it goes well along with her high-heeled brown boots.
"N-not bad…" blushed Vaati, who was already in a frilly black maid's dress with simple black women's shoes.
Strangely, yes. Zelda also kept some costumes herself.
"Just keeping a collection of wardrobes composed purely of princess gowns is BO-RING!" was what she told Link during one of his visits before the "incident" with the Minish.
Eventually, they got bored with cross-dressing so they decided to check all the other guest rooms and even the guard's rooms after dressing up in their normal clothes.
The guards stayed in one big room, much like a dormitory. It was a vast, simple yet cozy room that can hold up to 24 people in it. Twelve beds were on each side of the room from where the isle and entrance were. Since everyone was out on duty (or out in town doing who-knows-what), they got a crazy idea that formulated in their little heads. Vaati helped Link push all the beds together to form a straight row across the room.
"It's the Rolling Olympics!" Link eagerly said as he plunged into the farthest end of the beds, rolling like a log until he reached the other side at the last bed. The Hylian-Minish giggled and followed the Hylian hero by rolling on the row of beds as well.
Both of the boys found themselves dizzy after some rounds of the Rolling Olympics, so they decided to check out the treasury. It was filled with all the magnificent riches one could possess. The room glittered with gold and silver, and all the precious stones from diamond to ruby and the like glistened with all their brilliant glory.
However, there was this one artifact that caught both of the boys' eyes. The blond approached to see what it was… he was a bit astonished at what he saw.
It was a mirror. A gold-plated mirror, elegantly designed with precious gems, this was considered to be an antique. An antique.
Link could not put his finger on it, but he swore something was up with the majestic, peculiar mirror that stood at the corner of the room opposite the side of which the exit of the room stood. They both stared into it, for it seemed to mesmerize the both of them. It was full of beauty, full of elegance and grace, full of mystery…
It was when they were absorbed by its beauty that Link felt that everything felt so strange…
"… I gotta know where this mirror came from… stay here, Vaati. I'll ask the guards what the deal is with this mirror." At that, the boy clad in green ran out the exit, leaving Vaati all alone in the treasury.
"It's okay, Vaati… don't get nervous… Link told you that everything's gonna be okay…" Vaati tried to convince himself and shook his head to get his mind more focused.
He wandered around the room some more, but Link hasn't returned yet even after some time. He began to get worried and scared. It was then that his eyes got caught by the magnificent mirror again. He slowly inched towards it with mixed feelings. He felt afraid, but he just needed to satisfy his curiosity. As he got very close to it, he just stared into it like it had an extra dimension in it, like he was getting sucked in. But the feeling as he was near it, it's… fine.
Walking footsteps, they were nearing the door. As far as his sense of hearing can tell, they were just a few meters away from the entrance of the room. As he turned to look at the door, excited for Link's return…
"AAAAAH! Li-"
The young Hylian-Minish was sucked into the mirror! Two hands grabbed him; one holding his body and the other covering his mouth.
The door burst open. It was Link barging in upon hearing Vaati's muffled screams for help. He looked left and right, and then proceeded right inside.
"Vaati? VAATI! Vaati, where are you?! This is not funny!" He called out to his Minish friend.
Panic arose in his throat as he realized that his friend was nowhere to be seen.
"VAATIIIII!" He shouted once more with a lot more determination.
But there was no response. It was then that the majestic mirror caught his eyes. Dusty with age, but still stood out with its distant traces of beauty.
'The mirror…' The boy approached the mirror full of curiosity. 'Something is really… familiar with this mirror…'
He touched the mirror and slid his fingers across its fine, dusty glass. It was very smooth and friendly to the touch, but it was… cold.
"!" Link without more ado backed away from the mirror. Now he knows what was wrong… he remembered that ghost story of which he told Vaati just last night before they went to bed. He remembered that night they spent with no electricity. He remembered… that someone attempted to grab him from the other side of the mirror!
Just as he tried to go and seek help, he heard noises… strange noises. But this time, it wasn't his grandfather. No… it sounded authentic… and it sounded like it was coming from the mirror! He stared in horror as he saw a figure just standing there. He realized that there was a familiar face… it was his Minish friend pleading for help! All he could do was stand frozen in fear for all these mystifying things happening to him and his friend.
Almost in an instant, he saw his friend break through the mirror. The mirror remained intact, but Vaati was finally free. The crying Hylian-Minish immediately ran behind Link quivering in fear. "I… I thought you'd never come back… I thought you'd leave me… I thought I'd be stuck there… forever…"
Tears started to roll down his cheeks very rapidly. Link courageously looked at the mirror again. It was filled with a mysterious fog… a mysterious black fog.
"Link, let's get out of here!" cried Vaati, but Link stayed glued to his feet.
The panicking youth wanted to run away, but he could not leave Link for two reasons: first, Link is his only friend he has now, and second, he's too scared to be left alone. A figure appeared in the black fog. It was just a silhouette, so they couldn't quite recognize who it was until…
"Finally…" spoke the silhouette.
When the fog had cleared up, what Link saw brought shock and relief to him.
"Oh…" uttered Link with a sigh of relief, smiling.
"I can't believe you! How dare you hung up on me yesterday and never called back! I was waiting for you so we could play online!" shouted the boy.
It was a boy with black garments from head to toe: a black cap, a black tunic, complemented with white undergarments and brown boots. His eyes were as crimson as ruby, and his hair was as black as the clear night sky. He had pale, shadowy skin. His eyes were focused on Link as he spoke with utter disbelief.
"Sor-ee, I just had to attend to an important schedule! Besides, there was a blackout during the night, so we can't play either way! And it's way too risky and stupid to play online while there were all sorts of happenings outside!" defended Link.
The boy in black then focused his eyes on Vaati. "So you were the REAL reason why Link never called me back…"
The poor Minish grew scared as Dark glared at him.
"Hey, I never said THAT!" shouted Link.
"Hmph. But I'm pretty sure that's what really happened."
Vaati gave Link a quizzical look. "You… know this guy?"
Link looked at the newcomer and then looked at Vaati again, and nodded. "Yep, this here's… wait. Do you mind introducing yourself?" He addressed to the stranger.
"Pffft. Can't you even introduce your alter-ego? Fine…"
The boy approached Vaati. "My name's Link. But that would be confusing; so many people fondly call me Dark. Short for "Dark Link". Nice to meet you… er…" he said as he stretched out his hand to shake hands with the shy boy.
"Vaati…"
"Vaati, eh? Well, do you remember me, Vaati?"
Vaati's expression let out a certain "What?" and Dark began to get annoyed.
"You do remember me, right?" insisted Dark.
Vaati backed away a bit from the dark youngster as he inched his way towards the lavender-haired youth.
"No… this is the first time you've met. You must've mistaken him for someone else!" Link tried to change the subject.
"What are you talking about? Ow!" Link hit Dark's head quite hardly. The black-haired boy moaned. "Okay, okay… I get it."
Dark's pale lips let out an exasperated sigh. He lifted his ruby eyes to stare into Vaati's. "So, what do you guys suppose we do? Go hide and seek in the palace?"
"Wait, wait, wait…" said Link, cutting off the idea. He went in front of Dark and stared him in the eye. "You still have some explaining to do…" Link raised his brow upon saying this.
"Hurr…" Dark made an irritated face. "Fine."
The youngsters decided to find a place where they could stay and share their stories privately. They finally settled themselves under a tree in the front yard of the castle. There, it was peaceful and undisturbed by other people. What more could you want?
Dark started to narrate his story. "So… it's like this…"
"Because you hung up on me yesterday, I decided to do other stuff while waiting for your call. Sadly, you forgot… so I tried to entertain myself since I was so totally bored. Let's see, I tried drawing stuff, going to the internet, playing around with your voodoo dolls…"
"Voodoo dolls?" said the shocked Link.
"Yeah, but they don't work… I never see the effects." said Dark with a smirk. "Anyways… I was so bored and I was all alone in my house as usual. That's about it."
He paused for a while and then his eyes gleamed. "But guys, I stumbled upon the coolest thing in my house. You want me to show it to you?"
Link and Vaati exchanged glances. They both nodded at this, and the group made their way to Dark's house.
They finally arrived. The house was a simple bungalow, it wasn't anything like a mansion, but it seemed a comfortable place to stay in. The house had a small front yard with a lawn, and everything seemed to be plain and simple in his usual dark color scheme. "Welcome to my humble home."
The three entered his house as Dark led their way into his room in the second floor. Link sat on the floor as he gave way to let Vaati sit on the bed. The young dark-haired boy searched his closet for quite a while… then he grunted. He found what he was looking for, and it was something as tall as they were, as wide as two people, and as thin as a picture frame all covered under a large sheet of dirty white cloth.
Dark then unraveled the sheets to reveal…
… A mirror… A beautifully adorned mirror…
"D-Dark… you didn't…" said Link with a lot of worry etched on his face.
"Relax… he's here now… no one'll threaten me… and look at me, I'm safe and sound! See?" Dark assured Link that he was okay and even proved it by saying that he's still standing soundly from where they were.
Vaati became a bit curious about it, but he dared not utter a word. 'They might hate me if I poke in their lives around too much…'
"Enough about that..." Link shook his head and pushed the mirror back in the door closet. "Let's play something… as in…" Link pointed at the Wii.
"OF course!" Dark bolted to the game console to set it up, and the boys enjoyed their whole day playing with the thing…
As they were playing, their bond strengthened, even for just a bit for Vaati's part.
"Hey," said Dark. "I heard that we were going to have a sem break next week."
"Yep. Grandpa's leaving me and Vaati alone for four days in the next week because he had to attend to a meeting. It appears that the shoemakers have annual fairs, and it happened to land on our sem break."
"AWESOME! I'll drop by your house then!" said Dark with incomparable excitement. "IT'LL BE AWESOME, LINK! WE'LL HAVE SO MUCH FUN! You don't know how fun it'll be! We'll make the great escape!"
"… The great… escape…?" Vaati could not help but ask.
Link clarified, "Nah, he's just so find of listening to rock music every now and then. He just means we're really gonna enjoy our sem break next week, as in a guys' night out."
"Sem break…?"
"Er… semester break. You know, a break from school after a semester or in mid-school season…" explained Link.
"Get yourselves ready, guys… next week will be fun…" said Dark in such a happy manner.