Chapter 7- Allegiance

The sun had already set, leaving Link to squint at the wall as he jogged. The heavy gates were slowly being closed, sending him into a panic. He needed to get in before he was left outside the walls for the night. Panting and already exhausted, he sprinted towards the men. The guards turned towards him, one holding his torch out to get a better look at the boy as he stood, Link's hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"What is it boy?" one asked, irritation creeping into his voice. When Link held up a hand, asking for one more moment to catch his breath, the guard sighed. "We don't have all night."

"Come on, he looks tired," the other said cheerfully, slapping the other guard's shoulder, earning a grumble. "Where'd you come from, lad? You look like you've been running for a while, or maybe jumped into a river."

Link drew in one more large breath before straightening his back. "Kakariko."

The gruff guard held the torch closer to Link, looking over him one more time, noticing all of the dirt and sweat covering Link. "Kakariko?" he said, stunned.

"Didn't they send a few scouts earlier?" the other asked, his young face looking to the older guard.

"Yeah, and they didn't come back. What's going on over there, boy?"

"Monsters were attacking- some sort of shadowy looking things. I didn't see much while there, but when I was leaving I saw their leader and he said that I should tell the court that he was going to take over Hyrule for the Twilight and he threw a bomb at me before teleporting off using some sort of portal," Link rambled.

The older guard stared at him, taking in what he'd said. "You sure he said Twilight? As in the Twilight Realm?" Link nodded, the guard shaking his head, eyes wide. "By the Goddesses."

"I thought those were just stories," the young guard said in awe.

"A lot of things are supposed to be 'just stories,'" the older man grumbled sullenly. "What's your name, kid?"

"Link," he said quickly, happy that they didn't just dismiss him. "Did something else happen?" Link asked, curious about the older man's words to the younger.

"Earlier today that blasted advisor showed up and forced every knight and guard to meet with her and the King," he grumbled. "Went and told us that the monsters were gathering to attack under some sorcerer or something, and that the Twilight would return. Prophecy nonsense." He scoffed before muttering, "Guess I shoulda listened."

"Advisor?" Link asked, beginning there. Much of the guard's explanation made little sense.

"A strange woman, some sort of sorceress or something. You ask me, she seems like a monster: yellow eyes, purple nails, the magic. She shows up unannounced and tells the King about what monsters are doing every so often, sometimes gathering up the knights and guards to order us around like she's our boss." He paused to let out an annoyed huff. "Come on, we gotta get you to the castle."

Link didn't hear the last part, standing still with wide eyes. That sorceress again. She was an advisor to the king despite being a monster? He couldn't wrap his mind around the ludicrous idea that she had warned the king about the Twilight. Was nothing ever going to make sense again?

"Hey?" The younger guard waved his hand in front of Link's face, ending his spacing out session. "Come with us," he said, resting a hand on Link's shoulder to gently steer him towards the gate.

"What did she say?" he asked after he helped the two men shove the gate closed.

"Who? The advisor?" Link's nod confirmed whom he was talking about, the older guard sighed. "She just told us to be prepared for attack, that either a demon sorcerer or Twili would be heading for Castle Town. Apparently the Twili will be the ones coming, according to you."

"Yeah," Link said, trailing off. Demon sorcerer?

The group walked down the quiet streets, the torch's flame creating dancing shadows across the cobblestone streets and wood buildings. He watched the shadows uneasily. Something wasn't right.

"Wait." Link stopped abruptly, the two guards turning to him when they stopped a few feet away. Link stared at the shadows. The only one that seemed to be moving unnaturally was his own.

A twilight portal opened above them, several shield-helmed beasts falling to the ground. Before Link even had time to draw his sword the beasts fanned out, their strange moans breaking the silence of night. From his own shadow, another appeared, sending Link stumbling backwards. The three spikes raising off of the shield. The ornate carvings. It was the same beast that had attacked him back in Kakariko.

It leapt forward, Link bringing his sword up to block just in time. He heard the older guard shout, and when he looked over he saw one of the beasts fall to the ground. The one in front of Link growled before shrieking. Link and the guards watched in horror as the fallen beast picked itself off of the ground. They could revive themselves.

Link held up his sword, studying the monster in front of him, waiting for the opportunity to strike. It had to be leading the rest, its helm more regal then the others. He hoped that by defeating it the others wouldn't be able to revive.

The monster lunged forward again. With an outstretched arm, it reached to grab at Link. He struck it away with a well-timed slash, but he felt the strength behind the blow. The monster was powerful, no doubt. When Vaati had hit it away earlier, it had not been injured, instead using the time to hide in Link's shadow.

Link charged forward, leaping into the air to use a downward swing to power his hit and hopefully take it out in one blow. His sword struck metal, the noise ringing out. With a toss of its head, the shadow beast threw Link to the side. He was hit from behind, one of the other monsters taking the opportunity to strike. As he gasped, the air being forced from his chest, he stumbled to keep on his feet. The leading monster ran for him again. He held it off, barely, using his sword to push against it head.

"You are outmatched," its voice echoed, Link's eyes widening at the sound.

He shoved it away, quickly stepping back from it while paying mind not to let another hit him from behind. Link stared at the monster, now knowing it was capable of speech. "Who are you?" he demanded.

It ignored him, lumbering forward. As it neared, he adjusted his hold and crouched down. When it swung for him, he ducked and delivered a hit to the monster's chest. It jumped backwards, an almost silent, beastly hiss escaping from it.

While the monster stood still, Link hazarded a glance at the guards. They were both disarmed and backed against a wall by three of the beasts. The monsters did not seem to be going in for the finishing blow, either.

"Kiera!" a new voice boomed, the noise inhuman and filled with rage.

Link felt a rush of air as something flew over him before it crashed into the monster in front of him, sending a shower of stone skyward. Once the dust cleared, Link stared, mortified. Another monster. This one was large and round, and had rows of bat wings as well a single, burning red eye.

The shadow beast jumped away from the seething eye. Then it stood as though it were staring at the flying monster.

"What are you doing here?" the bat growled, beating its wings to create a small whirlwind. "You were to stay in Kakariko. Why are you acting on your own? Do you understand that now everyone in Castle Town sees what they are up against? What foolish excuse do you have for yourself, Kiera?"

"I had the opportunity," the shield-headed beast, Kiera, stated flatly. "You had left this human to run free."

The bat demon growled again, this time a large vortex surrounding it. When the wind had cleared, Link stood dumbfounded as Vaati stomped over to Kiera. "I did not reveal anything important. You think that idiot," he pointed to Link, "would have been able to describe what was happening in Kakariko? No! But here you are, opening portals and summoning shadow beasts out in the open!"

The beast's shoulders twitched in what seemed to be a small shrug.

"Return now and maybe I won't tell Sha-Darcel of your idiocy!" Vaati raged, the wind still swirling around him as a threat.

"I will return to Kakariko," Kiera answered without emotion. A portal formed, pulling all of the shadow beasts into them without another word.

"Vaati?" Link returned his sword to its sheath as he hesitantly stepped forward. When he thought things couldn't possibly get any more complex, his friend turned out to be a demon. Link felt that this was the demon sorcerer the wish granter had warned the royals about. It was… a lot to take in. "What is going on?" he shouted, finally losing it. He needed answers. Now.

"I," Vaati began, his face falling blank quickly as he found himself, for once in his life, speechless.

"Where have you been? In the Twilight Realm?"

"Yes," Vaati admitted. "I was pulled into the Twilight Realm after Eivie 'granted my wish,'" he said bitterly, nearly snarling the name Eivie.

Link kept the name in mind, but asked, "Why are you working with them? Kiera and Darcel?"

Vaati sighed and rolled his eyes. "How else was I supposed to get out of that void? It was not my first choice, believe me."

"But you're here now, so why are you still helping them?" Link said accusingly.

Vaati stared at him wordlessly, thinking through what he wanted to say. Link figured it wouldn't be the whole truth if he needed to think about it. "Why else? I plan to betray them."

"Really?" Link gave an incredulous look. "Is that all?"

"Yes, that is all," Vaati snapped.

"Who's Eivie?"

Vaati froze at the question. It took a second for him to reign back in the anger that seemed to flare at the mention of the name. "That is the Wish Granter's actual name, as well as the Hunter's, the poes' leader's, and who knows what other titles' actual name," he hissed.

That would explain the hostility, Link thought. He was surprised that all of those stories –The Wish Granter, The Hunter, and The Undead Queen- were about the same person, as well as an advisor to the court. It didn't make sense; if she was monster, why was she warning the King about the attack? "Why does she hate you so much?" Link asked, thinking that she had been just as hostile towards Vaati.

"That does not matter." Vaati's eyes narrowed to match Link's suspicious glare.

Link pressed his lips together. It did matter, clearly. She hated him enough to dump him into the Twilight. "Why not?"

Vaati crossed his arms over his chest defiantly. "That is a long and boring story that I can tell you later if I absolutely need to. Right now, however, we both have things to be doing," he deflected.

"Vaati, she told the King that the Twili were planning an attack. She's some sort of royal advisor."

"Eivie," he cursed again, throwing his arms down to clench his hands into fists. "I have no idea what that woman is planning. It seems she is allied with everyone except me." He sighed in frustration when he saws Link's raised eyebrow at the mention of her allies. "She was the one that allowed Shadow, otherwise known as Darcel, and Kiera entrance into Hyrule. If she is also working with the King as well," he paused, red eyes narrowing. "She is plotting something, likely using the Twili as a diversion."

"What in the world is going on!?" a gruff voice yelled, budding into the conversation. The old guard stepped forward, sword raised, the younger guard trailing behind him. "This is the demon sorcerer that advisor warned us about!" He pointed his sword at Vaati's face.

"Get that sword out of my face before I am forced to do it for you," Vaati growled, the interruption irking him irrationally so.

"Vaati, if you are a demon, killing this guy is not the best way to make allies," Link tried, stepping between the guard and Vaati. "Also, why would Eivie say you planned to attack Hyrule?"

Vaati raised an eyebrow at Link for stepping in. He glared for a moment before throwing his hands up in the air, muttering, "Can't believe I am listening to the hero."

"Hero?" Link thought back to earlier that day, when he had met the sorceress in the field. "Eivie called me hero, too," he stated in confusion. His eyes widened when he realized the significance of that specific word. He prayed he wasn't the Goddesses' hero, doomed to fix the problems of Hyrule by defeating powerful, gargantuan beasts. He did not sign up for that! He was just going to find his friend, maybe join the knights and help them defeat regular monsters like bokoblin!

Vaati stilled at Link's comment about Eivie calling him hero. "What did she say to you?" he asked cautiously, an almost worried tone creeping in underneath. "Did she say anything about me?"

Link shook his head. "As she left she, called me hero, why?"

"No reason." Vaati dared him to push the subject with an angry stare. When Link did not continue, he crossed his arms over his chest again. "Are you done with the silly questions? Good," he said, not giving any more opportunities to ask more. "Go to Lake Hylia. Before coming here, Shadow mentioned that he wanted to cut Castle Town off from any other allies. With Kakariko and the Gorons captured, he will likely move on to the Zora. Stop him."

Link nodded, understanding the importance. With Castle Town surrounded by enemies, they would be trapped, supplies minimal. "And you?"

"I will continue to play their ally for a while longer to gather information." He was silent for a few seconds before his face lit up and a smirk formed on his lips. "Link, if you happen upon Eivie again, act disappointed in her recent actions and hurt by her trickery. Tell her that she has changed, that she has become an awful monster."

"Why?" Link raised an eyebrow, not knowing why the sorceress would care for his opinion.

"Just-" Vaati's eye twitched. "Just do it, damn it! Explaining would waste more time and I said no more questions!" he shouted before turning away. "I will probably see you at Lake Hylia if you do what I told you to and get there quick enough." Link frowned at the scathing remark, ready to say something back, but Vaati would not have that. No, the sorcerer briskly walked away and down the darkened street. A gust of wind a few seconds later let Link know his friend had left town.

"What is even happening?"

The young guard's question made Link sigh as he turned to the almost forgotten men. "I don't even know anymore," Link said under his breath. "Let's just get to the castle so I can share what I know because apparently I need to go to Lake Hylia."

"We'll probably be sending a scouting party there as soon as we get things in order," the old guard stated as he started walking again. Link and the other guard fell into step with him. "I'm too old to be for this nonsense," he grumbled.

Link figured no one wanted to be dealing with this nonsense. He certainly didn't. So far being the hero wasn't all the stories made it out to be.


The ground was a blur as a furious Vaati flew over the fields on his way back to Kakariko. What was that woman planning? That question bounced around in his head, unanswerable. She had deliberately brought Shadow and the Twili to Hyrule, but she warned the humans ahead of time. From the guard's shouts, it seemed that Eivie had warned them about him just in case he left the Twili in pursuit of his own goals. She told Link he was the hero, but failed to mention that Vaati had tried to kill him numerous times in the past. Eivie even avoided telling Link that he was a demon; the surprise when he showed up made that clear. She had him scrambling to save Link too, somehow knowing that Kiera was with him.

He growled, whirlwinds tearing through the ground below. Eivie had some other motive. She was not helping Shadow or Hyrule, rather pitting them against each other in a likely attempt to conceal her true objective. Vaati could see that. The problem is he had no idea what her true motive was. He could not see what she would gain from this war. Her seeking revenge on him was more out of opportunity than it being her actual goal. She could have killed him instead of letting him regain his memory, or left him trapped in the Twilight.

He despised to admit he felt like her pawn now. He rolled his eyes when he considered that this was also likely part of her revenge. She wanted him to know how she felt when he used her to get the Triforce.

It was game and he was fairly certain he was losing.

Once he arrived at the foot of Death Mountain, he flew down into the quiet village. There were shadow beasts guarding the door to the house crammed full of villagers. The beasts looked at him as he transformed back to his Hylian form and trudged past. There was one house with light streaming out the windows and smoke rising from the chimney. From the smell of food, he assumed Shadow was throwing a one man party.

When Vaati slammed the door open and entered, he stared wordlessly. Shadow sat behind a table heaped with food, a pile of plates next to him. He had, in fact, thrown himself a feast. Kiera was on the other side of the room, arms crossed over her chest, giving Shadow much the same unimpressed look that Vaati was. She had reverted to her humanoid form, her orange hair glowing with the light cast from the fireplace.

Shadow sat down the cucco leg he had been eating and wiped his face on a nearby cloth. "Where have you been?" His eyes narrowed. "I thought I ordered you to stay here?"

"I had something to attend to. I left Kiera to watch the village, though it appears she did not quite understand the simple command." Vaati looked at the woman in question. Her face remained blank, like she did not care that he had ratted her out.

Even Shadow did not seem surprised. He glanced at Kiera before asking, "Where did you find her?"

"She was in Castle Town, blatantly showing them who had attacked Kakariko and allowing them to see what they were facing." Vaati raised an eyebrow when Kiera did not offer any arguments or even defend her actions. She could have easily brought the focus back to Vaati by mentioning him saving Link from her twice. Instead she stood calm and uncaring, letting Vaati spout whatever he wanted.

Shadow nodded his head before he leaned back in his chair. "Where did you go?"

Vaati held back a growl. Shadow did not care that Kiera had ignored his orders. No, Shadow was more interested in why Vaati had left his post. "I had gone to take back my palace from Eivie," he snapped. "While there, I had a pleasant chat with her. How much do you know of her?"

Shadow paused at the question when he heard the suspicious tone of Vaati's voice. "She is the wish granting sorceress that leads the poes. She helped us get to Hyrule upon my request to do so, and said she will continue to assist us in our endeavors. Is there more I should know?" He leaned forward, red eyes staring at Vaati curiously.

"She warned Hyrule of your arrival even before she brought you here." Vaati smirked when Shadow's eyes widened. "She has been acting as an advisor to Hyrulean Court. Eivie is the least trustworthy creature in Hyrule." Besides me, he finished mentally. "I would be careful with what you tell her." Maybe by tearing apart her alliance with Shadow, her plan would be ruined or drastically altered. He needed to take her advantage before he moved to take her down.

"I see," Shadow spat, his jaw tight as he tried to keep some of the anger at bay. "Leave me. I need to think. Just remember that at first light we are going to Lake Hylia." He waved his hand to dismiss them.

Kiera was by Vaati's side before he even thought of actually leaving. That was it. No more mention of Kiera shirking her responsibilities. Vaati was sure that he would be extremely angry with Kiera for gallivanting around Castle Town, but Shadow seemingly did not care about that.

When he heard Kiera open the door behind him, Vaati turned away from the infuriating Shadow Link. He had at least accomplished one thing. Shadow was now wary of Eivie.

Once outside, Vaati had planned on storming off to an empty house, but he stopped when he saw Kiera. She was looking upwards, staring at the moon and stars above. The Twili woman was out of place in Hyrule with her height and elongated features. A twilight creature had no reason to be standing in the world of light without consequence, even at night. Both her and Shadow should not have a physical form here.

Vaati walked forward until he was standing beside her. "How did Eivie make it so you can exist here?" He ground his teeth together when Kiera began to walk away. He was prepared to shout, but she took him off guard, cutting his words off.

"A mirror," she answered simply, continuing to move away.

"A mirror?" Vaati repeated, surprised she responded.

Vaati frowned, now wondering what mirror she was talking about and if he could destroy it to end this stupid game of Eivie's.


A/N- That was a lot of talking, but hopefully interesting! No one seems to know whose working with who and it's a party! In case I made it confusing to follow, have a short list: Shadow knew Kiera was following Link and that Vaati knew Link, but does not know much about Eivie; Vaati did not know Kiera had permission to be running about or that Link met Shadow, nor that Eivie was working with Hyrule and the Twili, or that she talked to Link before Kakariko; Link does not know the legends about Vaati and, well, he's in the dark about a lot of things. And Eivie is up to a lot, isn't she? Yep. There are my ramblings for this chapter.

Please review. Right now, this story has a lot less reviews than Among Humans did at this point, and I really need to know what people think of the plot thus far. It would help greatly.

Thank you to all who have read, followed, favorited, and reviewed! Also thank you to TheBlueGumball and AMaeJay (Ayako Zetra) for the continued support.

In other news I'm almost freed from school. Also, I could have lost all of my writing stuff because my flash drive decided that it was done with me after three years and hundreds of files (I am so lucky I copied everything before it completely stopped working)!

-AwkwardBlackCat