FILE 06 - "Devotion"
Master, so shall it be known.
From this moment forward, I am your servant, willingly serving by your side as your blade, your confidant, your aid.
I shall always be devoted to you, and only you, and every incarnation of you. I will never leave your side, not willingly. Never willingly. It has been my task to always serve you, and I shall always serve that purpose.
"Bloody hell."
That was the only phrase that came from Captain Falcon upon arriving at the run down home just outside of the main area of the Advance Division. Run down and decrepit, the group could see that the home had at least two floors, and the door was coming loose from its hinges. When they knocked, Samus felt for a moment that it would even fall off. Link quickly returned back to his human state, his friend disappearing into his shadow. Samus unfortunately didn't remember her name.
It didn't take long for a set of off tempo steps to sound from the inside of the building. Soon, it opened wide, and they were greeted with the face of Duster.
"... Can I help you?" was his words, stated with a somewhat kind tone.
"Uh, hi," started Samus somewhat awkwardly. "I'm looking for three boys - two with blonde hair, one with black. One of the blondes is Hylian and..."
"Don't worry 'bout it," Duster interrupted, shaking his head and waving a hand at her. "They're here. You made it to the right place. Name's Duster."
Samus stopped. "Samus."
"Captain Falcon!
"This is Link," Samus added, gesturing to the silent young man. "And you have the boys?"
"Yep," Duster replied. He limped out of the way, gesturing for them to come in. "You arrived at a good time. I just made some soup."
The three adults stepped inside to find Lucas and the others huddled around Little Link's sword, a pink-haired girl poking and prodding at the hilt, as if trying to coax it. Samus felt it was somewhat odd, but decided they were just playing a game. She had to stop when suddenly there was a brown dog in her way.
"Dog's Lucas'," Duster explained as he limped away to the nearby counter. "Name's Boney. The girl with the boys is Kumatora."
The place was better than Samus had expected. She remembered Wess' place - run down as well, but with rotting walls and dirty floors and counters. At least this place showed some effort in keeping it clean. From her memory, she didn't recall the limp being as noticeable, but maybe that was just her mind making things up.
As soon as the adults were inside and Link closed the door, Ness looked up and shouted in excitement, jumping up and rushing over to them. He gave a wide smile and exclaimed, "You made it!"
"That's right, kiddo, we did," Captain Falcon laughed. "Still no word on Fox, but Dr. Mario's working on it, he said. How's Little Link?"
"How about you ask him?" Ness asked somewhat slyly. "Kumatora really helped us out, but at the moment she's checking out the Master Sword."
"What for?" Samus asked, noticing Link's suddenly somewhat feral expression. All Links were protective of their sword.
"She said it was alive. Can you imagine?" Ness seemed excited to recite these words. The three older Brothers gave him confused looks, but he just shrugged. "Don't ask me, I didn't even notice anything weird about it until she pointed it out. It has memories, memories of all kinds of Links before Little Link. Memories, guys. It remembers!"
Captain Falcon crossed his arms and frowned somewhat. "That's something big to announce, little buddy."
"Hey, I saw them," Ness replied, pointing at Captain Falcon. "I saw them! It remembers a big sky, with floating islands, and I bet I saw the first Link flying through them on a big red bird! And I saw the first Zelda and the first villain, and the making of Hyrule!"
Link blinked at the claims. He almost wanted to cut in, but Ness continued to speak.
"And then, they all ended at a point where the first Link had to put the sword in the pedestal where all the other Links found it - he seemed kind of sad to do it, but he had to," Ness said further. "For a while after the sword was placed in, it just focused on Link for a bit, and then everything faded away..."
None of them knew what to say at Ness' words. None of them really got a chance, as suddenly, Duster was inching into the room a wide table with some difficulty. Captain Falcon and Link quickly went to help, and soon, they were all crowded around the table eating away at the soup that Duster had prepared. Samus watched the boys carefully, seeing how happy Lucas was to be here. He sat beside Duster immediately, and Ness decided to sit next next to him. Kumatora quickly claimed the spot on the other side of Duster, and Boney opted to circle the table excitedly, as if he was hoping to get scraps.
Duster gestured to the kitchen once Boney reached him. "Food's in there, buddy. It's soup for us today, so you're not getting any table scraps this time."
The dog immediately whined and sauntered off toward the kitchen.
"So, Duster," Captain Falcon began, earning his attention. "You take care of Lucas and Kumatora?"
"I've been taking care of Kumatora ever since she was a small little thing," Duster replied, turning his eyes to his soup. "Lucas was kind of... dropped on me by his father, Flint. He wanted to make sure that Lucas would be okay while he was gone looking for Claus, but... he hasn't been seen since."
"You're a brave man, taking them in. There's all kinds of kids wandering around 64 where I live, but no one really has the bravery to take them in," Captain Falcon continued, giving a sigh. "I would do it if I had the room, but unfortunately, I don't."
"I do what I can," Duster answered. He seemed to at least appreciate the praise. "I mean, I'm not saying it's easy, because it's not. The harbour's the poorest part of the Division, I don't get a lot of money coming in. But these two..." He then put his hands on Lucas' and Kumatora's heads, affectionately. Both of them giggled. "These two are worth it."
Soon, it was nighttime. Strange sounds erupted from outside as Duster locked his door and closed all of his windows. He turned to see the strange looks he was getting and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Sorry, guys. You're not heading home today," he said, limping toward the couch where Captain Falcon was sitting. "Strange mutated creatures come out at night and attack anyone out in the fields. We're smack dab right in the middle of it, so I'm not kicking you guys out knowing you'll get attacked."
Samus nodded from the chair. "We appreciate the concern."
Duster nodded right back. "I hope you don't mind staying the night, then."
Link shook his head. He was already taking off his gear.
Duster quickly ushered the children upstairs and put them to bed. Lucas and Kumatora offered to share their shared bedroom, and with some help of Captain Falcon, Duster moved in some stored mattresses from when he had more children staying with him.
As soon as the children were put to bed, Duster headed back down to make sure Boney had some water, before settling down on the couch next to Captain Falcon, massaging his lower left leg.
"So..." Captain Falcon began, looking at it worriedly. "What happened?"
"My dad was training me in thief arts when I was younger than Lucas," Duster explained. "An incident with Wall Staples went a bit... out of control. I slipped and fell, and... well, sprained both my ankle and got one of them stuck in my leg. I panicked... I mean, there was a lot of blood, but my dad kept his cool and took me right home. He took care of it as best he could... But I guess home medical care wasn't enough for it."
"And now..."
"Yeah, now I limp and agitate it almost everyday because I have to keep up with Kumatora and Lucas," Duster went on to explain further. "It's easy to ignore it now, though. So don't worry too much about it."
Samus leaned forward a bit, preparing to say something then. "You know, I'm glad Lucas has you and Kumatora. Ness didn't have anyone after the Polygons attacked, and even though one of the families offered to take care of him, he left the moment that he began to worry that he was a burden..."
"Ness told me about that," Duster said with a nod. "Said that the woman who was taking care of him was pregnant with her seventh. I can't believe it."
She shook her head. "Yeah, I can't, either... That's why I'm saying that I'm glad that Lucas has you to take care of him. I'm glad that he still has the feeling of family, of security."
"I try my best with what I've got," Duster replied. "... I admit, I don't pay for my bread, and I don't pay for a lot of the meat that I make. Sometimes I have to steal. I've got two growing mouths to feed, as well as a dog, and then myself and whatever street kid comes begging."
Something told Samus he was referring to Ness.
Duster then crossed his arms and shook his head. "Point is, it's hard, but those two kids that I take care of... I'd do anything to ensure that they were happy, that they at least aren't hungry when they go to bed, that they have a bed... Heck, if Flint came by tomorrow and said he wanted Lucas back, I'd punch him in between the eyes."
Samus' eyes widened at the words. Captain Falcon made a choking sound. Link looked at Duster, surprised.
If Duster noticed the looks he was getting, he didn't make any indication. "Flint's done nothing for that kid since Hinawa died. I'm the one that comforted him for the past year. I'm the one that had to help him with every nightmare he's had about the Wireframes and Hinawa. I'm the one that had to come up for a reason as to why his father wasn't back yet from looking for Claus. I don't think Lucas is over the death of Hinawa, and Flint just seemed to think that Claus was more important than helping Lucas through the death of his mother."
He leaned forward a bit, clearly angry with Flint.
"He's never getting Lucas back from me. It's his fault for deserting him."
Captain Falcon suddenly grinned. "To be honest, I completely agree with you. I bet you've been more of a father to that kid than that other guy ever was in all his life in the past year."
Duster smiled.
"We're supposed to be sleeping!"
"Oh, come on, I just want to see...!"
"... It's not waking up, I bet it just wants me to sleep, like I was told to..."
"Guys...! If Duster finds out that we're not sleeping, we'll be in trouble...!"
The four children were huddled around the Master Sword in the center of Kumatora and Lucas' bedroom on the second floor. The sword appeared bare, nothing special. Little Link carefully placed his hand on the hilt again, and focused.
Please... Can I see you? I'd like to meet you...
The room was quiet for a moment, when suddenly, the hilt of the sword began to pulse a bright blue light. The four children gasped out of surprise for a moment. Kumatora then broke into a grin, practically bursting with excitement as she tackled Lucas into a hug.
"Look, look! Look!"
Little Link grasped the sword, and then, to his amazement...
... A figure burst from the sword, a beautiful blue figure with no arms, but a flowing cape. A figure with a blue dress and dark navy stockings with criss-crossing blue lines going down it. The figure didn't blink its eyes, but then its mouth began to move.
"You wished to speak, Master?" it asked suddenly, it's voice quiet. It appeared to know that they weren't supposed to be up.
Little Link burst into a smile. "I wanted to meet you! I'm sure you know who I am."
"That I do. Your name is 'Link', and you are the Hero of the Winds. When you acquired me, you were taken from your journey to this planet, as this is where the Heroes are needed," the figure spoke. It then twirled in place and bowed delicately toward him. "The designation I was given by the Goddess Hylia upon my creation was 'Fi'. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance once again and serve by your side as had been my original task handed to me."
For a moment, the four children were silent as they admired the figure now known as Fi. It appeared to be a she, so Little Link decided to think of her as that. He smiled up at her in awe, immediately nodding.
"Thank you, Fi. See, it's just me, now, except for my friends. The one that had been helping me is not with me anymore... I kind of left him behind," he explained.
"I understand the predicament in which you have been placed," Fi replied with a quick nod of her head. "It is with the utmost devotion that I will intend to serve you and aid you in this quest, and help you as best as I can. With my former Master, the original Link, I had been intended as a guide, as an aide. Now I wish to serve the same function toward you."
Little Link nodded, clearly excited. Kumatora, Ness and Lucas leaned forward, anticipation rising in their hearts.
"Whenever you require my assistance, grasp the hilt of the blade and think of my name. It will alert me that you request my aide, and I shall come forth from it," Fi continued. Then, she faded, disappearing back into the blade.
The room was quiet for a moment.
Then, Ness spoke. "That. Was. AWESOME."
"She's very pretty..." muttered Lucas shyly.
"Yeah, she's pretty awesome and pretty," Kumatora agreed, before flashing a toothy smile. "But the whole thing was pretty cool. Now you have some extra help, Little Link!"
Little Link nodded, a small smile on his face as he admired his sword. He felt a strange, familiar pang inside of him when he had seen her. Although he tried to hold it back, it felt like he had seen her before. It was like... He was glad to see her again. Happy... yet sad. As if before, he had to say a goodbye that felt like it was forever.
But not this time. This time she'll stay awake.
The next morning brought a bit of rain. Duster grumbled to himself as he limped around the house leaving buckets where leaks were in his roof that he kept telling himself to fix. Lucas was stationed in the kitchen that morning, asked by Duster to make breakfast as he defended them from water. So, Lucas took an old frying pan, some eggs from the nearby farm, and began to make omelets.
He hummed away cheerfully as he did so, and soon, everyone was enjoying them. Just as the group was about to leave after a tearful goodbye from Kumatora before she rushed away to her room, claiming she wasn't crying, Duster approached Samus with a duffel bag.
"This stuff is for you," he explained, handing it to her. "It's a few of Lucas' things that I'm sure he'll appreciate having now that he's going to be heading off with you, helping out and all that."
Samus took the bag and opened it, seeing a few odd items. A doorknob, a bat, a few strange sticks, a badge... and a snake?
"Listen."
She looked up at Duster, a serious look on her face.
"Samus, you're the only one that I feel like I can entrust Lucas to. So you have to promise me that you'll watch him for me," he told her. His voice was deathly serious. "Right now, he's my responsibility, but I'm temporarily passing that on to you. Please. Just watch him for me."
"I will, Duster." She meant it.
The group headed off, and Duster watched from his window. He couldn't help but feel that something very wrong was going to happen to Central Planet. He was no psychic, but he felt that he was gaining a bit of a sensitivity to the world around him due to Kumatora and Lucas' capabilities. He gave a sigh and looked down at Boney.
"I guess all we have to do now is wait, boy," he said to the dog, patting him on the head. "Wait, and make sure Kumatora doesn't go after them."
The Alloys looked out over the Gamecube Division, already loading a large cannon with some kind of ammo.
They were quiet as they moved, except for one humming the theme song to Super Smash Brothers. Another glared at it as they locked and loaded and then finally, they all turned to the unsuspecting Division below them.
Finally, their maker arrived, lurking in the shadows and gazing down at the moving and bustling people below. A haunted mansion, a farmer tended to his crops and animals as the townspeople went about their daily lives. A Pokemon trainer walked through the streets, followed by his Espeon and Umbreon.
Peaceful. But not for long. The leader of the Alloys turned to them, and finally, uttered one very dark word with a soft, hidden sneer.
"... Fire."
FILE 06.5 - "Love"
You've grown to be such a strong boy, haven't you?
I'm so proud of you.
I love you very much. I'm always here for you. Have no fear. I'm with you. Always.