Sorry for the long wait. I'd respond to last time's reviews but I'm not up to it today, guys.

So, if any of you have been keeping up with journal's on DA, then you'll know that August was an absolutely terrible month, and as of today, it doesn't look like September will be as fabulous I'd hoped it would be.

So yeah, not feeling terrible talkative today. checked most of this chapter ahead of time but the later half not so much, so there may be a few mistakes here and there. Whatever.

Itaav flinched as he attempted to twist a bolt on the Helmaroc. A hand went up to his left shoulder, wincing slightly from the brush of his fingers against a fading bruise. That was just one of the horrible results from his precious airship's test flight. There had been another hit in the gut and Link had attempted to give him another matching bruise on the opposite shoulder.

The Engineer scowled and continued his attempt at tightening the bolt without pain. Just a few more bolts to tighten and his baby would be ready to fly on its own, without his help. The pedals would be safe to use and the wings he had rigged for it could finally flap as necessary, allowing him to go higher and lower at will without the use of his magic. And then he would finally give it another test the next day. It was too late now, being night and all. But he couldn't wait either. The Pride would be heading back out to sea in a few days, and he'd prefer his landing base wasn't moving – especially for a test flight.

And he definitely wasn't taking Link along for the next flight.

Nope. As of that moment, they were not friends. Personally, Itaav just thought that Link was being dramatic, but apparently he had really pissed his friend – or rather, former friend – off. Enough for Link to chase him over half the ship and manage to get a few punches in. Needless to say, Itaav began fighting back. But not by throwing punches. It wasn't that he was bad in a fist fight; he just preferred not to get his hands dirty in a fight. In fact, he just preferred not to get into physical fights. He was just fighting back to run away. Link didn't appreciate it, though, and persistently kept chasing him even with blasts of wind magic coming at him from all sides.

It only stopped when a couple of the Royal Guard were called in and forced to separate them. As they were carried off to one of the brigs of The Pride, nasty words were exchanged and they swore never to speak to each other again. Because of his lineage and standing, Itaav managed to get out of the brig quick enough and then went straight back to his precious Helmaroc. And that was just fine with him.

He didn't need people anyways. He had his airship. That was all that mattered… That's what he told himself, at least.

There's no use in being friends with him anyways. A voice in the back of his head told him. He'll only prove to be troublesome in the future.

"I suppose that's true…" he mumbled back to himself. This wasn't an uncommon occurrence, him talking to himself. He just didn't do it often in public. People looked at him strangely when he did. But the hangar was safe for that because he was alone. With himself. Because he was talking to himself.

It wasn't weird. Everyone talked to themselves, just in their own way.

"Still, he's the only guy I really talked to on a daily basis."

So? What does that matter? An occasional interesting conversation is all he was good for. Other than that he really holds no use to me.

"But it isn't really so much 'use' as it is company." He told himself thoughtfully.

His inner self paused for a moment before saying I have the Helmaroc.

"Well, yeah… But, much as it pains me to say… she's just a machine. Sure, she talks in her own special way, communicates in a way that no one but me can understand… not the same as live companionship, though."

… Live companionship is overrated…

Itaav paused in his bolt tightening to think on that statement from his inner-self or whatever it was. Alone… Yes. He had been alone for a while. After his mother had died, he was alone, thrown into the orphan's quarters with so many others that had lost their parents and guardians. Being surrounded by so many, he had still been alone.

And then there were the dreams… Dreams he still had. Nightmares of darkness extending into years of emptiness and loneliness. The worst part was that those nightmares seemed so real. They were so terrifying, he'd wake up in cold sweats, hysterical and inconsolable. Terrible dreams of being alone for years, maybe even centuries on end, and there was nothing he could to do stop it. Waking up never even occurred to him because it felt so real. A prison of nothingness that would drive him insane and-

"They're just dreams." Itaav reassured himself out loud. He had to. His wrench hand was shaking. Actually, his whole body was shaking. He was getting into a cold sweat just thinking about those dreams. He shook his head and continued on tightening the bolts, clearing his mind.

That's right. I've handled it before. I can still handle it. So just focus on my little beauty here, and I'll be flying tomorrow – maybe even to the Palace of Winds. That train of thought had him much more cheerful again, because it reminded him of his main goal. He was going to that Palace, and he certainly didn't need anyone but himself to do it!

Zelda knelt by her bedside, mulling over what to say for her nightly prayers. It was late at night, and she should've been asleep hours ago. But she was only getting sleepy now.

As far as prayers went, there were plenty of dribbles and drabbles already pre-written, embracing the glory of the goddesses and the lesser gods, but the princess found those rather dull. If there was one thing she was sure of, it was that the gods just had to be tired of hearing the same boring words over and over again. So she liked to personalize her prayers, often leading to strange instances like a servant walking in to see her having a full conversation with no one but herself, even though her words were meant for the gods.

She shivered lightly as a breeze came in through her open window. Her mind taken off her prayer for the moment, she got up and went to close her window. As her hands rested on the handles, however, Zelda paused and took the time to look outside. There wasn't much to see. It was night, so the sea looked black as ever. And the side her room was on in the ship didn't allow for a view of Kakariko Harbor. All that was visible to her was a black seascape.

But the darkness of this particular night had frightened her somewhat. Hastily, Zelda shut the windows and locked them. She turned on her heel to return to her bedside, but then turned right back around to pull the curtains closed.

Ever since the Gerudo had raided the ship, she always felt like she was being watched. It made sense with the trauma of the situation, she supposed, even though her rational mind knew that nothing at all was happening. There was no reason to be afraid. The Gerudo were gone, even if they hadn't been found. But it had been nearly two weeks, and if they were still around, they had been very careful not to be seen.

Back on her knees and hands clasped together in prayer, she returned to her nightly prayer.

The window forced itself open.

With a squeal, she turned on her knees and looked back to her window. The curtains were blowing with an ominous wind… and it wasn't even a forceful wind. It was just another creepy breeze. But why would her locked window be forced open from such a measly little wind?

Without knowing why, she gulped nervously. It almost seemed like her dark room had just gotten darker… Her night vision was completely gone. Her rational mind tried to tell her that this was all just in her head. But her gut knew better. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

Zelda stood up slowly, looking around blindly, not sure what was happening or what she should do. All that was really visible were the curtains, and she knew she didn't want to go anywhere near those. It was too dar- what was she saying, too dark? She blamed not thinking of witchlight sooner on the nagging fear. Muttering a small word, a bouncing blue orb of werelight appeared. The sight of what she saw made her scream and fall right on her butt – as well as shutting her up quickly since her head hit the frame of her bed.

"Keh, you're still an annoying girl. But I guess I shouldn't have expected a change after a week and a half." Said Cole's spiteful voice.

"B-but! You're dead! I saw the body!" She squealed.

The short form of Cole, looking particularly devilish in the bluish hue of the werelight, smiled evilly. "Was it my body you saw? Really? Take a closer look, princess." The last word was very sarcastically.

Nonetheless, Zelda tried to keep her head on her. What had he meant 'take a closer look?' He looked… completely different, actually.

The Cole she had known was a short, pale man with an interesting fashion sense. This Cole was still short, but his pale skin, even in the blue witchlight, looked almost green; his teeth all had sharp little points, and perhaps what was the most obvious change of all, were the two demonic horns jutting out right from the man's violently red hair – coincidentally right where he would wear his two little hats.

"What are you…?" Zelda squeaked faintly.

Cole smiled a smile that made him seem like he wasn't entirely there. "What am I? KEH! Ignorant child, I'm exactly what I look like. A demon. And I'm afraid I've waited much too long."

"Too long for what…?" Zelda asked dumbly, as she had managed to figure out it probably had something to do with her. How she wished she could scoot back further, but the damned bedpost…

"Tch," Cole waved a hand in dismissal. "A stupid little wench like you doesn't need to know." From the darkness behind him, shadowy hands emerged, each finger tipped with a vicious looking claw. Worst of all, there were probably more than she thought just waiting all around her.

Her mind raced. She had to think of something fast, but what could she do? Cole certainly was a demon, there was no questioning that. He could probably throw any offensive magic she knew right back at her. There was the chance he couldn't, but she didn't see how that was possible. Even if she did knock him out of the way, those shadowy hands would still get her. I have to get him to talk. He's still Cole, which means he still thinks he's better than me so…

"B-but, how did we find your body! I mean, it doesn't make sense-" Zelda began, before getting cut off.

"FEH! Rotten girl, I'm a demon! Naturally it would be super simple for me to fake my own death." Cole said, falling for her trick to buy herself some time. "Those pesky Gerudo came and I had to make sure you were unharmed! So I sent you off, killed the Gerudo, used what I could of them to make a suitable replacement, and threw the rest out!"

In the short amount of time Zelda had bought herself, she thought of absolutely nothing that could save her. The only thing she could think of was running – which she had already established was a bad idea. But running quickly left her mind. Cole was closing in, and for some reason, she was completely frozen. It wasn't magic. She would have felt if it was magic. No, this was fear. She was literally paralyzed with fear.

"Now if that's enough stupid questions from a stupid girl I'll-"

"Farore's Wind!" She screeched all of a sudden.

The teleportation spell had worked just as it had last time. And she didn't know why she hadn't thought of it earlier. The only issue was that she didn't have a place in mind when she thought of it this time, so when she teleported she was very much afraid of where she'd end up. In the split second during the transfer of her body to a completely different place, Zelda thought of all the horrible places she could move to. She could end up high up off the deck or worse… the water. If she hadn't been flying through the air in millions of pieces to form on the end of some other location, she would've paled at the thought. She'd never been off the ship, so she definitely didn't know how to swim.

In that split second of teleportation, with all that her mind was going through, she found herself praying to the goddesses for safety.

Damned Itaav and his damned airship and the damned sea. After managing to knock around and send his ex-friend running, he'd gone onto the mainland and stayed there. After all, no scaling duty while at port – at least not for a Senior Scaler like Link.

He'd currently been staying at an inn in the town, but since it was the last night before going back to sea, he couldn't sleep. He was afraid he'd oversleep and miss the boarding, so even if it was the middle of the night, he was walking back to The Pride. Every other step, he'd kick at the road, watching the dust rise and fall back to the floor. It wasn't that it didn't happen on the ship, but more like he just wasn't used to dirt outside of the harvest deck.

Why couldn't people just keep their feet on the ground? Frankly, Link felt very comfortable with his boots in the dirt. More comfortable than they felt on a ship swaying back and forth. At the same time, he was very comfortable on the side of ships, cutting off all kinds of strange things from the hull.

Still, whenever he came onto the mainland, he couldn't help but feel a bit more at home than he ever did on The Pride. Maybe one day when he had the rupees he'd live on the Continent. He'd be away from that giant hunk of iron and the troubles it came with – and away from that asshole Itaav. Sure they'd been friends for years, but he supposed that deep animosity that Itaav once had for him never really went away. Not completely.

Truth be told, there was always something about Itaav that Link didn't like either. It wasn't anything he could place, but he remembered that when he first saw the older boy, he actually thought he was a monster. In retrospect, that was really nasty to think. Sure, Itaav looked… well, he didn't look like anyone else on the ship, that was for sure, but he didn't look like a monster. But for some reason, that was how Link perceived him at first.

Itaav did kick him in the shin, though.

Whatever the case, Link wasn't about to try and fix that friendship. It wasn't the first time Itaav had done something like that and taken it too far, nor was it the first time Link attempted to beat the ever loving crap out of him.

Link was around halfway towards the harbor when he stopped, thinking he heard something. It was almost like déjà vu, because he could've sworn he heard this particular high-pitched screaming before. And when he looked up, he saw a very familiar sight.

He would've cursed his luck if he had the time, but he didn't since the girl seemed to be closer to the ground than before, and he found himself doing the exact same thing he'd done last time. He ran out a few steps and held but his arms, praying for the best. The goddesses must have heard him that time, because the girl landed right in his arms. He nearly fell over at the surprise amount of weight in his arms (not that whoever it was this time was heavy, it was just still a surprise) but caught himself. The girl continued to scream for a few seconds after she'd been caught, but upon realizing she was safe and sound, looked around confusedly. She looked up at Link, red in the face and not all sure what to say. Link wasn't sure either, especially since the girl was remarkably pretty – even in the dimly lit streets between Kakariko Town and the harbor, he could tell.

Mustering his smoothest and slyest voice he said, "Um, hi?" He should've paid more attention to the few times Itaav took initiative with girls.

Zelda, on the other hand, was still flustered. The exact same thing happened again, with her teleporting feet off the ground. At least this time she hadn't crushed anyone. Still, she had to act professional, she was a princess. "Ah, well met, sir… Could you be so kind as to let me go?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure." He said as he carefully made to put her back on her feet. He was tempted to ask why she had been flying through the air, but hesitated. At the moment, he felt the most eloquent thing he might be able to say would be "Gachk." This was a very strange situation, so he was surprised he had been able to say five monosyllabic words coherently earlier.

Upon standing up straight, Zelda brushed herself off, suddenly feeling self-conscious again. Not because her night-gown was short, because it was a good length, but more because it was on the thin side. She crossed her arms in a measly attempt to feel more covered up and then looked around. Her brow furrowed. "Where is this?"

Link raised his eyebrows, wondering if the girl was serious. "Kakariko Town?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Wait… You mean, Kakariko Town on… the mainland?" Zelda asked, her grip on her arms tightening slightly.

"I don't know about any other places named Kakariko…" Link answered, somewhat puzzled. How could this girl have not known where she was? Then again, how could she have been flying through the air?

Zelda then looked squarely at Link and said with absolute surety, "Sir, I am about to faint. Please catch-"

She fainted.

He caught her right on time, and he was more confused than ever. A beautiful girl falls into his arms in the dead of night before promptly fainting at knowledge that she's on the mainland.

All sorts of nasty thoughts came into his head at that moment. What if she was a witch running away from someone trying to capture her? Would that make her the good guy or the bad guy? But then how would she not know where she was? And why was she in a nightgown, - a rich person's nightgown? A kidnapped noble or something? But how did they get up there? There wasn't any sign of a hot air balloon or an airship – especially since airships were still a rather new technological advancement. They were few and far in between, with Itaav being the only one on The Pride who had a working one – and that was only because he made it himself.

Holding the girl protectively and looking around skittishly, he began the trek to The Pride again. He still had no idea who the girl was or what had happened to her, but he wouldn't be able to get any clue as to who she was just standing in the middle of an empty road. And judging from her reaction to the mainland, she was from The Pride, making her origins even more confusing. And where on earth would he take her? She didn't fit in his measly little apartment and if any guard saw him carrying her while she was in a nightgown… it wouldn't look good.

Itaav was actually having a pleasant dream for once, involving flying through the air on Helmaroc before awaking to an extremely loud banging noise on the door to his hangar – which he'd fallen asleep in yet again.

Shouting, "Nayru's tits!" as he woke up, he groggily forced himself up while muttering all sorts of unpleasant words under his breath. Judging from how dark the hangar was, it was still deep in the night. He had no idea who could have been knocking, only that he really wished they hadn't.

Opening the door, he was about to yell angrily at whoever was there until he saw that it was Link carrying a girl dressed in nothing but a nightgown. Neither said anything until Itaav looked back and forth from Link to girl and said, "Listen, bringing a cute girl to me in the middle of the night might be your idea of making everything just fine again… but kidnapping is not the way, man." Even though some bit of his mind found this disturbingly nostalgic and was not at all bothered by it.

"This isn't about you!" Link snapped in a hushed yell. "Just let me in and I'll say everything!"

If he weren't still half-asleep to some degree, he would've shut the door on Link's face. Since he was, though, he moved out of the way for Link and the unexpected guest. Actually, both were kind of unexpected, but at least he knew Link. And hopefully, he would get to know the girl a little better.

"Um, just sit anywhere I guess." Itaav mumbled. His hangar wasn't exactly a place meant for sitting and chatting. It wasn't mean for sleeping either, but Itaav didn't usually sleep there because it was comfortable. Convenience was a different story.

When Link placed the girl down and got himself more or less comfortable, Itaav began the pestering process. "So what's with the good looking blond there?"

Link explained what happened. Itaav, now fully awake took another look at the unconscious girl. He went over the story in his head again, before grabbing Zelda's right hand.

"What are you doing?" Link asked in a voice in between worry and suspicion.

"Just checking something," Itaav mumbled, scanning the back of the girl's hand carefully.

It was a weird sensation for Itaav as he checked this girl's hand. Mostly because that disturbing sense of nostalgia had come back again. He couldn't place what exactly he felt, though. He didn't know what was so memorable about her – aside from being extraordinarily pretty. He'd certainly never seen her before… Itaav just knew he had very mixed feelings about her.

Examining the back of her hand very closely, he finally let a little bit of magic flow outward from his hand and held it near hers. He frowned at the following reaction before putting the girl's hand back and figuring out how to tell Link without giving him a panic attack.

"Link?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember the other day how a girl fell out of the sky and you captured her? Just like this one?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember how we found out later it was the princess?"

"Yeah."

"Would you believe me if I said this happened again… say ten or twenty minutes ago."

Link had a poker face then. "No."

"Too bad. That's the princess. The crest is on her hand." Itaav said plainly.

It became eerily silent.

Itaav spoke what they were both thinking. "The princess fell from the sky in her nightgown and you caught her in the dead of night. This won't be fun explaining to the Royal Guard."

The Scaler pressed his forefinger and thumb on the bridge of his nose. He shook his head. "She can't go back."

Itaav stared at Link blankly for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, say that again? Because I think I heard you say something crazy."

"Itaav, she was running for something! You don't fly through the air or teleport or whatever just for the heck of it!"

"I would." The Engineer said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah but you're weird." Link said quickly before continuing with his original train of thought. "A normal person wouldn't do something that crazy unless they really had to. I think she's in danger."

"If she was then why aren't the guards in a panic?" Itaav asked, even though he knew he was in no place to say that. He didn't know what was going on outside, for all he knew the guards were running around in a huff. "Why haven't they done anything to stop it? This ship may be run by idiots but they like to make sure nothing happens to their figureheads."

Link didn't even touch on all the treasonous, but true, things the purple haired teen had said. In his mind, he tried to think of something to say to that but he didn't really know what he could say. The fact was, no one in the room, save for the unconscious princess, knew what happened to send her flying. "Maybe they didn't know or… Heck, I don't know. I guess we should wait for her to wake up…"

"We, huh?" Itaav said flatly, taking off the goggles that had been resting on his head and polishing the lenses with his shirt.

With a grimace, Link said, "Um. Bygones?"

Itaav kept polishing the lenses on the goggles for a few moments. After the lenses were as pristine as could be with a good, old-fashioned shirt polishing, the Engineer slipped them over his head in their normal place and said in the same flat voice as before, "For now, I guess." His tone going back to reasonable, he continued, "But waiting for her to wake up isn't going to change anything. She still needs to go back. And the less we know, the better for us, I think."

His once-again friend had a point. Link didn't particularly like the point, but it was valid nonetheless. Because if the princess was in danger, then anyone she came into contact with was in danger as well. At least that was Itaav's reasoning, which Link could easily understand. Unlike Link, he could say no and refuse to help out a pretty face – not that the princess had asked for help in the moments before she fainted.

"Ten minutes." Link said quickly. "Ten minutes, and if she doesn't wake up, we take her back."

Itaav's poker face was on. The paler teen looked towards the princess again, his mind swimming with mixed emotions again. While some part of him wanted her to stay so badly, the other part wanted her gone and out of his sight. Then he looked back to Link, seeing that his friend had fire in his eyes. For some reason, that determination kind of irritated Itaav, but he said nothing on it because, at the same time, he could appreciate it. No doubt he had that look on his face when it came to the Helmaroc. He couldn't quite understand Link's need to help the princess himself, though, but there was no saying no to that determination.

"Ten minutes, but after that she's going to the guard." Itaav grumbled.