Disclaimers: blah blah, you know; Miyamoto Shigeru-san and the Nintendo company own Zelda: OoT. I own new chars!

Chapter Four: The story of the "Thief"-Part II

'I'm here... I can get my revenge and free my friends...' Raine thought as she gazed at the village roofs that Raine was forced to leave three years ago.
'I wonder what happened to them...'
Raine wandered into the village, but was surrounded by soldiers in no time. There were faces Raine recognized, but they didn't seem to recognize her.
"Leave this place at once!" One of the guards said coldly at Raine.
"Come on! Can't I just stay here for one day?" Raine complained.
"No, that can't be done. Leave here right now, or else." The guards took out their weapons.
Raine sighed as she summoned the double-bladed sword, seeing that the guards wouldn't let her stay. She immediately charged at one of the guards, and knocked his weapon out of his hands; the rest of the guards stood in their place in surprise and fear.
"Don't tell Lord Zack about me." Raine glared at the guards. But she froze as she heard a snicker from the back.
"Don't tell me what?" Zack smiled evilly. Then to the guards, "Guards, take her to jail."
The guards seized Raine's arms and dragged her to the dungeons before she can break free.

Raine fell to the cold ground as the jail bars closed behind her. She got up and grabbed the bars.
"Let me out!" Raine roared at the guards heading toward the entrance.
"It's...No use." An ancient voice said behind her. Raine turned to see an old woman sitting at the corner of the jail, with a couple kids sleeping peacefully in her lap.
"Who're you?"
"It does not matter. Come here, my child. Let me see your face."
Raine obeyed and came up to the old woman and knelt down, showing her face.
"No...! It can't be! Raine, is that really you?" The old woman cried.
Raine looked at the old woman with her confused look.
"You were like my grandchild to me..." The woman sighed. "...I can't believe you broke the seal."
"I-I'm sorry..." Raine sighed as she looked away.
"The rest of the villagers are enraged at you. You must not show your face."
"I know..."
"Then why did you come back to this horrid place?"
"To get my revenge for killing my mother, and to free you fellow villagers."
"You know you cannot defeat Lord Zack!"
"I know, but I'm the only one that can get out of here and assassin him. No one else has that much strength to even stand up to him."
"I believe you're right."
"Well, I'm gonna get some sleep. It's been days since I last took some rest." Raine said as she smiled. She went to the opposite corner from the old woman and sat down.

Night fell. Fewer guards were guarding the entrance of the dungeons than during the day. Raine took this as a chance. Raine summoned her double-bladed sword and slashed at the bars. The bars were sliced, and some pieces dropped, making a loud clanking sound. Raine turned to the old woman, and relieved to see that she was still sleeping. Raine crept out of the jail and went toward the entrance.

"Hmm, I wonder what made that noise?" One guard thought out loud.
"Why don't you go check?" The other guard told him.
"Okay." The guard turned to see the traveler swing a club at his head before he blacked out.
"What the-?!" Before the guard could do anything, Raine swung another whack at the other guard's head. The guard dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"...Then came Zack." Raine told Link. "We had a glaring contest, and finally went into battle. No one else was awake to interrupt us, so I fought like a monster. I attacked Zack furiously; at the same time, Zack defended with all his might: we were equal in strength."
"I see..."

"The battle went throughout the night. It was when the sun was about to rise. The sky was getting bright. Both of us were tiring. That's when Zack made a mistake. He leaned on his sword to catch a breath when I was trying to get back my balance. I charged at him and slashed his left arm. Then suddenly, a bright, red light flashed; I saw my necklace glowing, and then I looked up to see Zack, enveloped in flames. Before Zack or I could do anything, Zack was sealed into some unknown world."
"...And then you lived happily ever after?"
"No. The villagers came out, and saw that Zack was sealed once again. But instead of being happy, they were rather angry-Angry at me for starting this whole chaos. They chased me out of the village, shouting at me to never go back to that place. Since then, I became a wanderer, drifting from one place to another, not having a true home. About five years past before I remembered about the words Lien said to me before we departed. About me being a Hylian."
"...So you came to Hyrule, and ended up here."
"...I'm born with no luck. I'll never be able to be happy and live in peace. There's always chaos around me."
"No, not this time. This time, you are extremely lucky that you've gotten away with only the sealing of your magic spells."
"Yeah... Right." Raine sighed as she rolled her eyes. Then she heard footsteps.
"Hiya Zelda." Link said as he turned to face the newcomer.
"How's the girl?" Zelda asked in reply.
"We've been talking about stuff." Link said. "Do you want to join the conversation?"
"How about we have the chatting in the guest room?" Zelda asked back as she held up the dungeon keys.

Once the trio sat down in their own chairs, Raine told the Sage of Wisdom about her past-how she had no luck, and how she was strangely lucky enough to defeat her enemy in the village she used to live in.

"You don't get any luck for defeating your enemy." Zelda told her new friend. "Your skills helped you."
"Uh huh." Raine replied as she sipped on her tea.
"Zel..." Link whispered at Zelda. "Shouldn't we tell her about what we know?"
"Oh yes." Zelda turned to face Raine. "Um, before I tell you important matters, can you tell me your name?"
Raine stayed silent for a while. Can she trust the Queen? Even if she is a friend of Link, Raine had some doubts.
"My name is... Mei." Raine told Zelda.
"Mei... I see. Thank you." Zelda had a glimpse that Raine was not telling the truth, but she decided not to get into the subject.
"Mei, what we are going to tell you now might be bring nightmares to you..."
"Go on..."
"First of all, let us tell you the man you've met. No, not your enemy, but the other man who was with him."
"That red-haired guy?"
"Yes. In fact, he is the man we sealed a year ago."
Raine couldn't believe it. That tall man was Hyrule's nightmare, and she had let him walk away with Zack!
"This is not good... Not good at all... Why was I so foolish to easily get cursed?" Raine muttered.
"But there's still hope. I'm go to the six temples in Hyrule, and ask the sages what to do." Link told Raine. "If you want to come, I guess you can come too."
"I think you'd be better off without me."
"Link, I need to tell you something." Zelda said as she got up.
Without saying, Link got up and exited the room after Zelda.

"Do you think we should tell her now?" Zelda asked Link.
Link shrugged. "I don't know. Mei doesn't show her feelings that much."
"Mei... I wonder if that's her real name." Zelda wondered out loud.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"It seemed that she was lying. But, I wasn't sure, since she's kind of used to lying; maybe it's because of her past."
"Hmm, maybe so."
Then they heard some talking from inside the room.

"Zane, you can come out now." Raine said. A flame appeared out of nowhere, and when it died, the three-tailed fox was standing beside Raine. It sat down, as if he was tired.
"You know, Zane, I wonder if I should trust them? Well I don't know about Link, but Zelda... I don't know her."
Zane looked at Raine, tilting his head.
"He looks familiar... Before I was taken away... I've seen him somewhere in Hyrule..." Without saying any further, Raine stood up. A fragment of memory flashed in her mind.
Silently, Raine edged toward the window. When she was about a yard away, she ran toward it, jumping through the glass. Zane, of course, followed after.

Suddenly, Link and Zelda heard a loud crash. They burst into the room, seeing a glimpse of a tail. Link went up to the window, just in time to see the cloaked figure on a large fox dash toward Kokiri Forest.
'Why is she heading towards Kokiri Forest?' Link thought.
"Where's Mei?" Zelda
"Went to Kokiri Forest." Link replied. "I'm going off to get her back."
"Yes, it's too dangerous for her to be out there alone."
"But before, do you have a pair of daggers with long skinny blades?"
"Yes... But what are you going to do with them?"
"She's not armed."

'That forest... That's where I saw him!' Raine thought as she held onto Zane's long fur as the fox raced towards Kokiri Forest.
At the entrance, Raine forced him to stay.
"Sorry, but the little kids are gonna get scared. Hmm, if you were smaller..."
Zane looked down in sorrow.
"It's ok. Just wait until I come out, ok?"

Raine thought the forest would be as what she thought it would be from her fragment of her memory: in peace. But what she saw brought terror and rage into her eyes. This forest was the place where she grew up for five years. Only five years, but this was the place where Raine thought as "home"...as for now. What she saw was Moblins standing everywhere. The poor Kokiri children were locked up inside, too afraid to come out.
'These guys are definitely soldiers of that guy called Ganondork...' Raine raised an eyebrow. 'Was that his name? Oh well.' Then a scream cut Raine off from her thoughts. Raine turned to see a green-haired girl get caught by a Moblin.

"Lemme go!" The girl shouted at the Moblin as she tried to force herself away from the monster. Then suddenly, a figure came up from the side, ramming itself into the monster. The monster lost its balance, and was sent into a nearest house.
"Are you okay?" The figure asked as she knelt down in front of the girl, taking off her hood, revealing her red eyes and tied up black/red hair.

Raine figured that the green-haired girl was Saria, but just to make sure,
"What's your name?" Raine asked. Then she added, "My name's Ra...I mean Mei," as she thought, 'Man... I need to get used to my new name.'
"Thank you for rescuing me. My name is Saria." Saria thanked Raine. "May I ask, why are you here?"
"Umm..." Raine looked around at her surroundings. "To rescue you guys?"
"Why thank you! Ganondorf and his friend went into the Forest Temple. You can go there by going through the Lost Woods. But please be careful: Ganondorf's evil soldiers are lurking every—watch out!"
Before she knew what was about to happen, Raine was stabbed from the back. Raine stood in front of Saria and defended herself from the attacks.
'So much of my 'luck'...' Raine thought.

Link came to the entrance and saw the fox curled up, sleeping, waiting for "Mei" to come back. Link slowed Epona down and stopped before the creature. Link dismounted from Epona and knelt in front of the sleeping fox and smiled to himself.
"Epona, wait here, ok?" Link told the mare before heading inside the forest.
Once he was inside, he instantly knew something was wrong: there were Moblins everywhere!
'Ganondorf...' Link thought angrily as he drew out the Master Sword. He ran up to the nearest Moblin and before the monster knew what came up to him, Link slashed the sword at the Moblin's stomach. The Moblin fell to the ground, breathing his last breath.
'I need to find Saria...' Link thought as he looked around. Then Link saw two figures. One was Saria, and the other was "Mei". The two were trapped, surrounded by three Moblins. "Mei" was protecting Saria, also trying to defend herself at the same time, but being unsuccessful. Link got out the daggers Zelda gave him and threw them at "Mei"'s direction.

'I can't die here!' Raine thought as she fought off the Moblins with a stick. 'I can't die here! Not with that Nightmare lurking around in my homeland!'
"Link!" Saria called out. Raine looked in the same direction and saw Link throw something at her. One of the Moblins saw this as a chance and swung his spear at Raine. Raine got hit at her head and fell down to the ground. But Raine regained her ground by landing on the ground on her feet by doing a backflip; and at the same time, Raine caught the daggers by their hilts.
"Nice catch." Link said as he grinned at Raine.
"Nice save." Raine replied as she smiled back. Then they both turned and faced the Moblins. More had gathered, and now there were about ten.
"I can handle all of them." Raine told Link.
"Yeah? Then why were you losing right then?"
"Hey, I didn't have a weapon!"
Their argument was interrupted by an attack from an annoyed Moblin. Link blocked the attack with his sword as Raine dodged. She dashed into the crowd, slashing at random Moblins. Link first finished off his enemy, and then gazed at the warrior; Raine's face was calm as she slashed away in her dancing attack.
'She's a good dancer.'
Within minutes, the nine standing Moblins were all lying dead in a big puddle of blood.
Raine came up to the bewildered Hero of Time.
"Why'd you come here...?" Raine asked in a weak voice. Link blinked a couple of times, breaking his trance.
"Wh-what?"
"Nothing..." Raine mumbled. Link saw that Raine had a hard time trying to stand.
"...You okay?"
"Ugh..." Raine groaned as she fall unconscious. Lucky, Raine fell into Link's arms.
"It's because of the damage she received... And she was forced to 'dance'... Just to protect her 'home place'." Link heard Saria sigh.
"What do you mean?"
"Let's bring her to my house. I'll tell you the rest there." Saria said as she started her way toward her house.

Yes, I just had to stop here—just a little break, all right? Chapter five's gonna be up as soon as I can finish it. If you think the story can be improved, please review! I've been saying that for every chapter, but not a lot of people reviews! _;;