A/N: So I know not a lot really happened in the last chapter. This chapter, I'm planning to make things become more dangerous for our heroine. A character who hasn't been seen since chapter two will also be back in this chapter.

It's really exciting to get more followers each chapter! Welcome to esty1315 and Ashlen the Moonstruck Aquarius! I hope everyone is enjoying so far.

*snaps fingers* Without further ado...!


Chapter 6

Week Three, Wednesday
Location: Room 503C
Status: Engaged in group work for Mythology class

It was the best luck she'd had in two weeks. Tiv avoided Link if possible, and when she thought the blonde wasn't around or wasn't able to interfere, she was fast by Vaati's side. Despite keeping a close eye on the Yiga and even bugging Vaati so she could listen in on their conversations, Link hadn't gained a single bit of useful information that could help her pinpoint why Tiv was targeting Vaati. It was near impossible to directly talk to her - she'd already made multiple unsuccessful attempts to do so. But now, in their Mythology class, Link, Zelda, Vaati, and Tiv had been grouped together. Link smiled in a friendly way at Tiv, but her real thoughts were, Finally got you!

"So, which myth do we want to do?" Vaati asked the group. They'd been given the task of choosing from five different mythical places and applying the theory they'd learned in class previously. "Skyloft, the Lost Woods, the Minish Woods, Termina, or Koholint Island?"

Tiv's hand immediately popped up. "I vote for Minish Woods!"

Nibbling on the end of her pencil, Link leaned forward to look through the list that Vaati held. "We have to identify a story that goes with the place..." she mumbled thoughtfully.

"That would be the legend of the Minish Cap," Zelda offered in her quiet voice. "Where the Hero befriended the Minish and fought the Wind Sorceror, Va..." She trailed off, eyes straying to Vaati's face as though she wasn't sure if he'd approve of what she was about to say.

"The Wind Sorcerer Vaati," he confirmed calmly.

The others looked at him curiously. "Your parents named you after an evil sorcerer?" Tiv blurted out the words everyone was thinking.

"Something along those lines. And if you want to know why, I don't know either. I never met them, so obviously I couldn't ask what possessed them to do so." Vaati pushed the assignment paper away from himself. "I'm fine with doing the Minish Woods," he stated, clearly trying to end that particular conversation.

Tiv completely ignored the hint and fired another question at the purple-haired man. "So is that why you want to bring back magic? Because, like, he was so good at magic that some people even called him a god!"

"He abused magic. I have no desire to be like an evil madman that was repeatedly sealed away and never learned his lesson. I'm not answering any more questions," Vaati almost snapped when he saw Tiv open her mouth again. "Let's get this assignment done already."


After class, Link lingered in the classroom doorway while Zelda neatly packed her bag. She blinked her blue eyes when she saw Link waiting for her.

"Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to grab lunch together?" Link asked with a friendly smile.

But the girl shook her head, not meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry, I have to study."

"We could eat in the hall where you usually study. And I can buy lunch for both of us, my treat."

Zelda knit her brows. "How do you know where I usually study...?"

Link chuckled and rubbed the back of her head as though she were embarrassed. "Sorry, I've been sort of following you sometimes? I've just wanted to talk to you. You got me really curious about what you were trying to ask me the first day in the cafeteria." Seeing Zelda's eyes flicker uncertainly, she added, "But we don't have to talk about that, if you don't want." The goal, of course, was to find out Zelda's question, but for now it seemed that Link needed to build trust with her classmate. "Also, it's boring eating lunch with Vaati lately. All he does is glare at me when I talk."

Her classmate hesitated, but finally nodded. "I don't mind," she conceded.

They grabbed lunch from the cafeteria and then headed to the lower hall that led out of the main building. It was generally unused and quiet, and Link could see why Zelda chose it as her study spot. They sat down across from each other at a table by an open window. Link promptly dug into her lunch, which was a sloppy joe sandwich with plenty of cheese.

Zelda quietly ate her sub sandwich. She watched the trees outside as she ate. Link kept checking the girl's expression, but it seemed like she was determined not to give anything away. Her face was calm and blank.

She was the one to finally break the silence, however. "Are you friends with Vaati?" Zelda asked, at last moving her blue eyes away from the window to look at Link.

The blonde mulled over the question for a moment, then shrugged and grinned. "We're just roommates. I like hanging out with him, but I'm pretty sure he hates my guts." She laughed.

"Do you think he's serious about wanting to bring back magic?"

It wasn't a question Link was expecting, but she replied easily, "Yeah. That's all he ever focuses on. I think someday he might actually be able to do it."

At this, Zelda shook her head roughly, eyes wide and body tense. "That's dangerous!" she said. Link was taken aback by how loud and firm her voice was when she said those words. "Magic is dangerous. Why do you think it was sealed away? In all the myths, magic is what allowed evil to destroy Hyrule time and time again. Even the Tri-Force, which was meant for good, was the cause of so many calamities..." Suddenly, it was like she deflated, her shoulders sagging and eyes dropping to look at the table. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout," she apologized in a whisper.

"No worries," Link replied, giving her a friendly smile. "You do have a point, and I'm sure there's a reason you feel that way about it. Magic's something that could be used for good or evil. I have a question, though..." She paused to give Zelda a chance to turn her down if she wanted. When the girl said nothing, Link cautiously proposed her question.

"Do you think it's dangerous because Vaati is the one trying to bring it back?"

The way Zelda's eyes quickly flew to Link's face, and then away, suggested that she was right. Zelda gave no reply to the question. Instead, she stood, grabbing her bag.

"I'm sorry, I have to go. Thank you for lunch, Link," she said apologetically. Then she was walking away.

Link made no move to follow. She crossed her arms and stared out at the trees while she thought carefully about the exchange she'd just had with Zelda. An inkling of an idea was beginning to form, but she knew to approach ideas cautiously. It seemed to her that the object of interest was not actually Vaati; or rather, he was just the means to the real object. That object being magic.

If her hunch was correct, the Yiga wanted Vaati to bring back magic for their own purposes. They might even go as far as to try to recruit him. Meanwhile, Zelda wished for the opposite, though Link wasn't sure why the girl distrusted Vaati. Zelda didn't seem the type to fear someone just because of a name, and yet Link couldn't pick out anything that could have made her feel so.

While she was mulling this over, there was a sudden brisk breeze from the window that made Link's bangs sway, followed by a thunk in the wall. Link quickly turned her head to see an arrow embedded in the wall. She shot to her feet and moved back from the open window, scanning the yard for any movement, though she knew it was futile. Yiga were notoriously skilled at vanishing. No one else would randomly try to shoot her with an arrow.

Cautiously Link walked over to the arrow. The arrowhead had pierced all the way into the plaster wall, so that only the shaft was visible. A paper was tied to the metal shaft.

'If she awakens, or if he is prevented from doing his research, the next arrow will not miss.'

Link furrowed her brow. 'If she awakens' - did they mean Zelda? But what did they mean by 'awaken'? 'He' was most likely referring to Vaati and his research into magic. Did this threat mean that they knew she was a spy, or was it simply a warning to anyone who got too close to Zelda or Vaati? She sighed heavily and tugged the arrow out of the wall. Her list of questions just kept growing.

She twirled the arrow in her hand as she walked out of the hall, back to the dorm. When she got to her room, she greeted Vaati with a cheerful smile. "Look what I found stuck in a wall!" she said, sticking it in front of his face, ignoring that he was obviously reading a book and making him scowl.

Link hid her lingering uneasiness under a smile and continued to bug her roommate. Whatever was going on, Link didn't plan to let Vaati know about it.


The next day, Thursday, 8:00am
Location: Farore Dorms Gym

Link hummed along to the music pulsing through her earbuds as she ran on one of the treadmills. She was grateful that each dorm had their own personal gym. It was important for her to stay in top shape, which was sometimes difficult to do on certain missions. As a young male college student, however, no one would be suspicious of Link for exercising each morning.

The treadmill beeped at her, informing her that she'd reached the end of her half-hour run. The belt gradually slowed to a stop. Link pulled out her earbuds and paused to let her breathing return to normal, downing the rest of her water and stretching out her arms. Each morning, she got up at 7:00 and headed to the gym to do her warm-ups, crunches, pull-ups, planks, and then thirty minutes on the treadmill, ending with stretches so she wouldn't be sore. After that, it was off to the showers. There were usually only a few other students in the small gym when she was there.

She was in the middle of her stretches when a certain white-haired man sauntered into the gym. A snake-like grin spread over Ghirahim's lips when he spotted Link, and he turned his steps towards her. Link cursed internally, but kept her face carefully neutral.

"It has been a while," Ghirahim greeted her. "Link, wasn't it?"

"How lucky of me that you remembered my name," she replied, continuing on with her stretches as though he weren't there. Link wondered why she felt so uncomfortable around him. True, he had invaded her space and made some suggestive comments the last time they'd met, and he had a reputation for being violent, but that still didn't account for the intensity of dislike and discomfort that filled her whenever she saw him.

He didn't seem to notice her lack of friendliness. As she stretched out her legs, he just watched her, that smile still on his face. "Do you come here often?"

"Occasionally," Link replied shortly.

Ghirahim was suddenly next to her, his hands snaking out to grab her arm. Link flinched at how cold his fingers were as he traced the muscles in her upper arm. She jerked free from him, but he just smirked. "The strength in your arms suggests otherwise. You are built like an athlete. What sport do you compete in? Track, perhaps, or soccer?"

Link shook her head. "I used to do a little archery," she said as she stood and grabbed her empty water bottle and bag, tossing her phone into the bag and slinging it onto her shoulder. "I'm off to the showers. See ya." Hopefully not...

To her great chagrin, Ghirahim followed her out of the gym. Link tried her best to ignore him, but when he continued to follow her even into the shower locker room, she turned around and narrowed her blue eyes at her. "What do you want?"

"I am merely curious about you." The white-haired man smiled and crossed his arms, leaning against the lockers. "You remind me a great deal of a person I used to know. Those fierce blue eyes of yours are exactly the same." His black eyes scanned her face. Gradually, his smile faded into something more serious. "I detested him with my entire being. Always, he got in my way, with his constant sickening courage and that look in his eyes as he tried to stop me." Ghirahim's pale cheek twitched. "Looking at you brings back that boiling anger in my soul."

Faster than Link could move, Ghirahim darted forward, pinning her to the lockers with his hand gripping her jaw painfully. She could see the hatred burning deep in his black eyes as he stared at her. "I would really rather not waste all my time watching you, so I'll leave you with a warning now: do not get in my way, like he did. I tend to indulge in a little violence when I'm angry, and it would be a shame to gouge out such nice blue eyes." He licked his lips and released her, stepping back and slowly smiling once again. "Enjoy a nice, hot shower, Link." He gracefully sauntered away, leaving Link reeling from yet another threat against her life.

"This may be getting out of hand..." she murmured to the empty locker room.


A/N: So, that ended up longer than planned. What relation does Ghirahim have to the other events going on? I'm not sure I'm happy with the last scene, so I might change it; not sure. Drop a review and let me know what you think!

Coming up next: Link and Vaati take a weekend trip to Kakariko City!