Dante


The voice in his head sighed dramatically. If she were a real woman, he could picture her massaging her temples in frustration. "Speed is of the utmost importance at this point."

Dante grinned. A river skiff traveled much slower than an ocean running vessel and the Princess was obviously unsatisfied with the pace. "This is the fastest way down river." He responded amiably. An occasional breeze tossed short sandy hair off of his forehead as Dante stood at the edge of the deck, surveying the passing and unfamiliar landscape. Rolling hills passed slowly by as evening faded, cool and slow, into night. The flat plains made it easy to see the sun as it dipped leisurely over the horizon.

The ocean was long gone and the air smelled clean and crisp along the river, without even a hint of salt to lend familiarity to Dante's nose. Having never traveled far from the sea, the sailor was surprised at the overwhelming longing he felt to turn around and head straight back to it. He found himself wistfully daydreaming about the next expedition he had been planning with Beedle. It would require sailing into an uncharted archipelago far to the east of Castle Town. Rumor had it, the islands were the seat of an ancient Zora culture and Dante desperately wanted to explore the area for himself.

Of course he had to survive long enough to get back there.

There was still no news from the Castle after the take over. Beedle, on top of looking after Midna and the shipment, had promised to send word to Dante if even a whisper of news was heard.

So far, nothing.

Which couldn't be good, but thank the Goddesses Beedle was not only competent and well connected but willing to risk his prised falcon exchanging messages with Dante. There was no one else the young captain could have trusted with this secret, let alone with his sister. It had been that way since they'd first met. Dante, fifteen, shrimpy and fiercely determined and Beedle not yet thirty and already a major player in the game of political trade.

Of course he had told Beedle the truth, the discerning man would accept nothing less and Dante needed someone in Castle Town who knew the reality of the situation, as crazy as it might be. And, though it was hard to admit, having someone else to confirm that, yes he probably wasn't crazy, was a huge weight off his shoulders.

Unfortunately, that weight was immediately replaced by this ambiguous psychological connection. They'd only been traveling for two days but Zelda and by proxy Dante—because apparently they had to share all of their emotions all the time now—was antsy. It wasn't awful, per say. Dante just wished there was literally any other way to communicate with Zelda other than having to be in constant emotional contact with her.

His head has always been just that. His. Sharing thoughts and especially emotions felt alien and wrong. Zelda, thankfully, seemed to be a rather analytical creature like himself and was not overly profuse with her experiences. Still… there was something inherently perverse about brushing up against someone else's personal and most intimate feelings, either through intention or simply from bumbling around trying to find where Dante now ended and Zelda began.

What bothered him most was that he had no idea how the connection worked. How far did it extend? How much could she see? How much could he hide?

"Do you have any idea who the new Hero will be?" Dante asked idly. Or at least that was what he was trying to project while subtling hiding his agitation deep inside. Dense willow shrubs passed slowly by on the bank and their light silvery leaves contrasted sharply with the dark green cattails and rushes growing directly out of the water.

"There are many warriors of renown in Hyrule. Impa, Auru, Ashi, Shan, just to name a few. Though somehow… I think the 'new hero', as you say, will most likely be someone I've never met. Someone with a special kind of courage." She said the last fondly and Dante knew she was thinking of her friend and partner.

"And Link? Will he also be, ah, a companion to the new hero?" Dante leaned down, putting weight into his elbows and draping them comfortably onto the deck railing. Could she tell he was hiding something from her? Maybe he should just ask her.

"It seems likely. There are a number of differentiating factors between our deaths but occurrences afterword usually coincide. That is to say, what happens to one usually happens to the other, if sometimes in a somewhat delayed fashion. It's possible the new vessel is in a vastly different age bracket or that Link was returned to the Heavens… but I think not. Wisdom, Power and Courage cannot exist solitarily in the physical world for long without the other two. And the same goes for the spiritual. Together, we provide balance. Mutual foils to the others strengths and weaknesses."

Dante didn't know how to respond to that. It all seemed so grand: lofty concepts and obscure ideological systems leading to uncertain conclusions. The young Captain rubbed at his forehead in mild frustration. It was difficult to focus on covering his true emotions. He thought they were bleeding through tiny cracks in the barriers he'd erected between them.

"It seems like there is no rhyme or reason to what the Goddesses do with the Triforce."

"Perhaps if we were omnipotent divinities, their actions would become clearer." Zelda said with evident amusement. "I have nothing but foggy impressions from my past lives but as it is, the annals of Hyrule show consistent and timely arrivals of all three Triforce pieces to Hyrule. Our presence and actions leading up to this generation have ultimately resulted in peace and balance. After whatever tumult Ganon caused, of course." She added with a note of bitterness. Dante wasn't sure whether her ire was directed towards the Goddesses or Ganon or her own failings. Either way, she was being very open about her feelings now and Dante let his attempted barriers fall away completely. Perhaps there were some things he could hide from her, but it would take an awful lot of concentration.

"In any case, the Goddesses know exactly what they're doing. They always do. It's us that must do better to avoid bloodshed." It was odd to hear something so pious coming from someone who was normally so logically minded.

"What if the Goddesses just stopped sending any of the Triforce pieces back to earth? Wouldn't that also lead to balance, without the bloodshed?" Masking his emotions was probably something that could be done in small, isolated cases. Trying to do it for too long had given him a headache.

"The presence of the complete Triforce enriches the land. At least, that's what the lore tells us, but that is a gross oversimplification. The life of Hyrule comes from the Triforce, our joy, our suffering, our trees and rocks. None of it would be possible without the Triforce." There was earnestness to her voice that he hadn't heard before. Dante couldn't help but imagine her in front of a room of rapt children, explaining the secrets of the universe.

The young captain didn't respond for a while.

Despite his devout mothers best efforts, he had never believed in the Goddesses. Brutality, poverty, death and disease… these were common in every part of the world he'd seen. People said you could avoid pain through prayer but Dante had never actually seen that work. What he had seen was mindless violence and some very, very, few people who chose to take responsibility for their actions and do something of value. A select few who would strive to change things themselves instead of praying for change to occur miraculously.

Though with all the inexplicable events occurring right on top of him, Dante might have to revise his outlook a bit. He smiled ironically. Storms, there was tangible evidence right on his hand, hidden still be a meager strip of cloth. Not to mention the woman in his head. But if he didn't focus on that… Dante was actually rather excited by this new turn of events. After some deep thought, it had occurred to him that he was the next chapter in history. Whatever happened next depended on his actions.

That was a lot of responsibility but the payoff… So much would be available to him if he succeeded, so many opportunities. Trade routes, ancient tomes, magical artifacts, he would have access to knowledge undreamt of in his youth.

And all he had to do was defeat the reincarnation of pure evil. Easy. Something like a rueful grin spread across his face and Dante gripped the wood of the ship's railing with callused hands. He could make this work. He had to.

"We must have a pretty good chance or they wouldn't have chosen me. Right?"

He didn't realize he had mumbled this out loud until Zelda's answering flare of amusement told him so. "Yes, well, now that you've finally decided I'm not a figment of your imagination. I'd say that, yes, we do have a pretty good chance."


Kyra


Rain pelted down and fierce cracks of lightening thundered overhead as Kyra sprinted from the arena. Sessions would complete early today and students were to meet at a temporary rain shelter currently being erected. And someone had to run to all the different locations where lessons were being held to relay that information.

Last stop was the lake itself. Kyra's worn leather boots sank into the mud as she finally halted, panting slightly, on the edges of their small rocky beach. Bedraggled trainees where finding what meager shelter they could underneath the massive, drooping branches of Willow trees that lined the shore.

"WHERE'S YOUR TROOP LEADER?" Kyra shouted to them through the noise of the storm.

A few of the boy's pointed out onto the water, where advanced trainees could usually be seen learning small boat maneuvers and the oars, but Kyra couldn't make out any of the familiar blue hulls in the rain.

Right.

Blinking rainwater out of her eyes, Kyra waded into the lake as a few canoes straggled into shore. She counted boats. There were only eight on shore, including the two that were currently being dragged in. That meant there were still four out on the water.

Taking a deep fortifying breath, Kyra dove into the frigid water and struck out towards the center. It was so much colder than she'd expected. Her bones and joints ached and the flesh of all her old injuries flared in protest at the contact with cold water. "How could it have… gotten so cold so fast?" She chattered out to Link, part of her feeling like she must be exaggerating and the other part worrying that some of her appendages were going to fall off.

"I'm not sure… I know the Zora will open up their canals if they grow to full from rain and ice melt in springtime. Maybe that's all it is." He didn't sound too certain but then again, Kyra didn't have a better explanation. She kept swimming.

Two more boats materialized out of the haze. They weren't paddling. It looked like they were trying to haul something up out of the water. Diving again, the Gerudo swam like an eel under the waves and camp up close to the two canoes. They were trying to pull someone up out of the water without being capsized themselves as arrant waves struck the craft. Kyra swam over, grabbed the waterlogged boy's tunic and heaved him into the vessel which one trainee had been attempting to stabilize while the other was pulled at the floundering boys arms.

Once the errant boy was settled, Kyra shouted, "BACK TO SHORE." pointing in the right direction in case they couldn't hear.

They moved off without a word. Her body was on fire with the cold. It crept into her bones, the soles of her feet, making everything numb and achy. Treading water and blinking profusely in the downpour, Kyra scanned the area, trying to locate the last two ships. There! One boat was lagging behind the other and seemed to have just one trainee in it.

Kyra struck out, aiming for the lagging vessel.

Poor kid, paddling alone in a two-man vessel was grueling. He was straggling behind the others by a wide margin when Kyra reached his canoe. Blonde hair was plastered to his head, shoulders hunched as he stalwartly paddled the last half-mile to shore.

The day's events must have been catching up with her because Kyra didn't even bother getting out of the water. She just placed a hand on the back of the boat and started pushing. There was a lurch as the crafts speed increased and trainee looked back in shock. He hadn't seen her approaching.

Fury washed away the exhaustion on his face, "I don't need your help." He spit through clenched teeth with what seemed like more vehemence than she normal evoked. Kyra wondered whom he'd lost in a Gerudo raid. She didn't respond except to keep pushing the boat. The trainee growled in frustration then redoubled his rowing efforts, presumably to rid himself of her presence as soon as physically possible.

Despite the protests of her body, Kyra propelled them forward until they could hear the rough scrapping of gravel against the canoe bottom. The Gerudo dragged her leaden limbs out of the water and helped to pull the boat all the way out and onto the bank, ignoring the angry glare from its owner. All around Kyra could see formless blobs, struggling to haul their own canoes up under the large drooping willow trees. Many boys had given up dragging the vessels further and had tossed them haphazardly in the grass before sprinting for the safety and warmth of the rain shelter.

She moved to lift the craft with the angry boy and he snarled at her, "I didn't ask for your help and I don't need it!"

Kyra hesitated. Now that his safety was assured, perhaps she should back off, so as not to escalate the situation further. Letting go of the haul ropes, she watched the angry boy struggle and drag his canoe a few meters up the slope before abruptly dropping the tether and looking at her in disgust, as if this were all her fault. The boy growled again and stormed off, his figure quickly becoming lost in the rain.

Rolling her eyes, Kyra stepped forward and lifted the canoe on her own, grunting as the weight settled on her. The tree where the canoes belonged was close. The Gerudo warrior slogged over, ducking under the canopy into a welcomingly protected area. Winds had shaken loose many long narrow leaves from the branches above and the ground was littered with them. Here, after letting her burden down, Kyra found one last trainee.

Colin was soaked to the bone and trembling, a timid smile on his face. "Thank you for saving me. If you hadn't been there, I might have drowned. I'm not a very good swimmer." He grinned sheepishly and Kyra found her lips turning up in response.

She hadn't realized it was Colin she'd rescued. What a wonderful feeling to know someone she helped had actually appreciated it. His watery blue eyes gazed at her in something like adoration or maybe it was just relief.

"I thought I was done for." He went on with a sniff, wiping at his nose with the back of a hand.

"Come on," she said lifting an arm towards him and nodding to the shelter. "Let's get you fed and warm."

At her words, Colin's eyes began to spell over and he dashed to her, wrapping skinny arms around her torso in a tight embrace.

Kyra held intensely still, not even breathing.

Every heartbeat sounded loud in her ears.

Outside rare embraces from her father, Kyra had never allowed another Hylian to hug her. Presumably, none had ever wanted to, either.

His unanticipated affection was a torrent of rain on a parched desert cacti. She found herself soaking in the warmth, so refreshingly different from how everyone else treated her.

She wanted to enfold him in her arms but was afraid to poke him with her spines, do something wrong. It wasn't often she saw rain after all.

Yet he held fast, making no move to step away so, hesitantly, she rested a hand to his damp locks and pat his head a few times in what she hoped was a reassuring gesture.

It must have been the right thing to do because he looked up at her with that beaming smile of his before pulling away. "Ok now we can go." He said shyly, sniffing and hastily scrubbing at his face.

It was such a genuine moment, full of childish sincerity and comfort. It felt too good to be true. Kyra couldn't help the warmth and happiness that bubbled up in her like water in a spring. She smiled, big and full and he grinned back, seeming pleased.

Together, they moved out from under the canopy of the trees and ran for the shelter.


AN: Thanks again to everyone who has read this story! Let me know if there is something you're wanting or expecting to see in the upcoming chapters :)