AN: I am so, so, SO, sorry for not updating. The place I live in has no internet connection whatsoever. Yep I live in a jungle.

Disclaimer: I do not own LOZ or KH, since I struggle with internet problems

Please read and review.


Chapter 7: Friends

At the Knight's table it was becoming a common occurrence to see the leader absent. Not that it bothered anyone much, in fact some were relieved. Sora had attended a few times after the engagement ball but since tying the knot, not once did he set foot in the room. When asked, Vanitas gave unsatisfactory answers, propped his feet up on the blue glass and shut his eyes, cutting off all communication. Gradually the conversation at the table morphed from war tactics to stories and reminiscing. To everyone's never ending shock, even Vanitas contributed to the discussions, though they consisted of mostly one-lines and snarky comments.

"I still think wearing armor to the ball was a complete waste, I didn't get to dance with anyone" Zack grumbled.

Aqua sighed "Zack you have been complaining about that for almost one and a half months, we were there for security reasons not to have fun"

"But nothing happened!"

"Thank goodness nothing happened, you should be grateful that it all went well" Aqua said a bit impatiently.

Zack kept quiet.

"Hmm, what should we talk about today?" Asked Auru in an effort to disperse the tension.

"Swap stories" Vanitas ordered much to everyone's surprise.

Ashei spoke up: "I want to hear how the newbie, sorry Link, cleared the forest temple all alone, even if it is a small temple, doing it all alone takes guts yeah."

Link became self-conscious as all the attention now turned to him.

"I didn't complete the temple all by myself actually, I had help"

"Really? From who?" asked one of the knights.

"Monkeys" replied Link.

Silence

"They probably saw a family resemblance in you" smirked an amused Vanitas.

The knights' chuckled good naturedly.

Link began to relate the story of how he was compelled to clear the dungeon. He'd woken up on one of his off days by the hollering of the children in the village. Talo had acquired a slingshot from somewhere and was eager to show Link. Boasting about how he could use it better than anyone, he demanded that Link shoot the home-made targets he put up. Talo was speechless when Link, not only shot bull's-eyes but destroyed the wooden targets as well. Considering this, the little boy now commanded Link to take him as an apprentice. Link being Link refused.

"And so he ran off to Faron woods and his father threw a fit, so I decided to try and coax him back"

"Sounds like a spirited kid" Auru added.

Borrowing a sword and a crude shield from Rusl, Link stepped into Faron woods and was unnerved on seeing the presence of monsters. Normally Faron woods did not house them, maybe one or two, but not so much. Fearing for Talo's safety he searched the woods and found no sign of him. Now close to hysterical, he ran all the way to the entrance of the Forest Temple to see him and a female monkey trapped in a wooden cage guarded by monsters. As he saw Link, the boy yelled in relief.

Link on the other hand was far from comforted. His feet rooted to the ground and he felt faint. Suppressing his fear he yelled a battle cry and charged the monsters.

"I don't remember the battle actually; all I can recall is blindly swinging my sword"

"Still" Aqua put in "it was very brave of you"

"One question, how did you know it was a female monkey in that cage?" Zack inquired.

Link paused.

"I'm not sure, I merely assumed because she had her arms around Talo."

Right.

After rescuing Talo, they resolved to return home, instead the female monkey screeched in Link's face; she kept on dancing around them and barring their way. Instructing the young boy to go back alone, Link allowed the monkey to lead him into the temple. The first chamber was full of human sized spiders, which Link, in a paroxysm of fear managed to kill. The second room opened up to windy corridor and his hat was almost blown off his head.

'So it's not a windsock' the twins thought.

He was chewed and spat out by a Deku Like, thrown off by Tile worms, had bomblings blowing up in his face and almost fell off a broken bridge when he was looking back whilst running from some monster. The primate, in appreciation for her earlier rescue helped Link cross the bridge in a trapeze artist's move. During that time, the poor guy had his eyes shut.

Finally collapsing in a room full of high totem poles, he opted to take a rest, only to receive a face full of wind and a large white furred ape slapping and wagging its butt in Link's face. By now, Link's earlier terror had given way to a sore body, tiredness and anger. Drawing his sword in a smooth motion, he stabbed the monkey's butt with vengeance. Screaming, it dropped a boomerang and left.

"You… stabbed a monkey….in its butt…" sniggered Ashei.

"So that was the mid-boss?" Sheikha questioned

"I suppose" answered Link "it dropped the Gale boomerang and just left, probably infected by the darkness in the temple"

The mood turned a bit tense.

"Carry on with the story" Zack prompted.

Running from one room to the other, Link rescued all of the female monkey's friends. Turns out that this was the reason she dragged Link into the temple. Spotting the boss room on the other side of a large chasm, he decided that he had enough and will now be going back to his village. Fortune was not on his side, as the freed simians made a chain and grabbed Link by the ankles after he faced away; they then tossed Link over to the other side of the gap. He landed face first into the ground and was knocked unconscious.

Waking up, his eyes were drawn to the large padlock securing the entrance to the chamber. Frustrated beyond words because he had no idea one needed a key, he brought his sword down on the lock. Astonishingly it broke. Entering the room he was graced with the sight of the largest and ugliest monster he had ever seen. With shaking hands he managed to pull out his sword and shield, said shield corroded two seconds later while he defended against Diababa's acid breath. Retreating to a place far from the monstrosity's breath of doom Link stared at his sword helplessly.

In a flash of inspiration, Link remembered the Gale boomerang. Taking it out, he threw it at one of the heads without much thought and was delighted when the weapon conjured up a mini-tornado of wind and magical leaves and smacked the head into the pool of acid it was secured on. Getting the hang of it, he flung the boomerang to the other head and it followed suit. Just as he thought the battle was over, both heads resurfaced and brought a third one along.

Link was mad. His rage turned to confusion on seeing the mid-boss monkey give a cry and swing bravely in front of Diababa, with a bombling clutched in his feet. His thoughts clear, Link knew what to do. He targeted the bombling and hurled his new favorite weapon, then guided it to the third head. Upon impact, it resounded with an agreeable boom. He did this twice and was rewarded as soon as the monster shriveled up and died.

The table was quiet as a grave.

And then it exploded into a tremendous cheer.

"You did not seem so fearful whilst leading the second dungeon" Auru commented.

"That's because I had friends" Link replied warmly.

Friends.


Sneaking out of the castle was extremely risky but the prince did it anyway. Sprinting through the dark corridor he was overjoyed the minute he saw all his friends waiting for him on the other side. Tumbling out he sat tiredly on the floor.

"Thanks for inviting us to your engagement and wedding Sora" Riku sarcastically greeted.

Kairi's reaction was more compassionate. She went to Sora and helped him up.

"Riku" Sora wheezed "If I was marrying someone I wanted to marry then you'd be the first guest on my list, the engagement was rushed and the wedding was private so sorry if-"

Riku's eyes softened, "I know, I was just teasing."

King Mickey spoke up: "It's nice of you to visit us at least Sora, we can discuss your problem together"

"I'm not visiting Mickey; I snuck out of the castle since I can't go anywhere. Zelda decrees that we do everything together and I cannot leave her sight."

"That sounds romantic" Kairi offered.

Sora shot her a withering look.

"I want the old princess Zelda back!" he yelled to no one in particular.

Kairi whispered to Riku: "He's losing it, isn't he?"

Riku merely nodded.

Once his breathing was back to normal Sora turned to Yen Sid who was the only one not reveling at the prince's appearance. Gazing at the key-blade master's stern face he voiced out shakily:

"Did you find out how to undo my curse, or at least lessen its effects, or something about it?"

Yen Sid, stroking his beard, took his time answering.

"Your curse Sora has already been undone."

Sora opened his mouth to speak, but the old master stopped him.

"The effects of the curse however, are a different story. No matter what magic spell you try, the results will not change, as with all bewitchings, this one will wear off in due time but how long, we cannot tell. It could stop in a few days or last several years."

The Master knight gulped, several years, he might as well start digging a grave for himself.

"On the eve of our engagement, Zelda had returned to her old self for just a moment. She uttered a premonition and fainted soon after; can you tell me what this means?"

"I suppose, she briefly broke the spell binding her, if you could eliminate the source she'll be back to normal" Yen Sid responded.

Sora's eyes glittered with renewed energy and he smiled.

"It's settled; Riku and I will go to Hollow Bastion and get rid of Maleficent. Everything will go back to normal. The princess will come to her senses and realize that marrying me was a mistake, we'll get divorced and I can go back to living with Vanitas, Roxas and Ventus" he dreamily prattled.

Riku, being the more level-headed one immediately noticed a fatal flaw in Sora's perfect plan.

"Umm, Sora, you can't go, there is a high chance you might just be cursed again, or have something even worse being done to you."

Sora's enthusiasm deflated like a punctured balloon.

"Send Vanitas, he is immune to the powers of darkness right? I'm pretty sure he will do the job as good as you, don't worry, I'll go with him and make sure that we defeat Maleficent once and for all."

Sora forced a cheery smile at his best friend.

"Thanks Riku, I'll do that."


"So who's next?"

"I guess I can tell you guys about Snowpeak yeah." Drawled Ashei.

"Zack is not really fond of that place, are you Zack" Sheikha probed him.

"No, the place is filled with creepy snow wolves or whatever they are called"

At this Link growled, insulting wolves was not cool.

Snowpeak, like the name insinuated, was a snowy mountainous province. Since it is very cold, few people make their homes up there. There is small hamlet from where Ashei comes from, other than that the mountain is inhabited by ice monsters and a pair of abominable snow-man like creatures called Yeto and Yeta.

"Apparently, they are a married couple" the spunky female clarified.

Yeto and his wife lived in a mansion right at the apex of Snowpeak, the fastest way to get there was by sledding, which, to the surprise of no-one, Ashei was fond of. Apparently, Yeta was better and faster than her humungous husband.

"The place is boring, nothing really happens there. So I came to Hyrule to check it out and joined the knights yeah. So far life's been going great" She nodded.

It all sounded so casual to Link that he did not know what to think.

"Link, how about you request a story next" Auru said to him.

He looked around the table and his eyes settled on the twins and their blank faces.

"I'd like to know how Ventus and Roxas managed to join the ranks"

Vanitas' eyes narrowed. "Why?" he hissed.

"Curiosity, they look far too young and delicate to be fighting like soldiers"

At this statement, the 3rd rank holder's face split into a sardonic grin.

Roxas and Ventus were undisputedly very strong. They were ranked 7th because Sora was overprotective and didn't want them to be put in the front-lines should a battle occur. They were recommended to enlist for the knights by princess Zelda herself (and due to the fact that Sora, being the heir of House of Kingdom was quite persuasive.) The decision to enroll them had been ideal as Roxas single-handedly defeated the previous knight in two minutes flat. Moreover he did it without trying.

Ventus on the other hand was trained by Master Eraqus, one of the most respected key-blade masters of all time. Despite being younger than Aqua and less experienced, he could hold himself well in a mêlée against her. Ventus also held the title of being the fastest member in the Master Knights'. Apart from his twin, no-one could match him in his superior speed.

Link stared at them. The twins shuffled nervously, what Vanitas said was absolutely true, he could see the power emanating from them. Bright and beautiful; yet deadly and suffocating.

"You sound proud of your brothers Vanitas" The green-clad hero commented.

"Hmph, my brothers can wipe the floor with your face; but they have a long way to go if they want to catch up to me" Vanitas bragged.

His ears tingled and his breathing quickened at the prospect of a skirmish. Pupils dilating Link challenged:

"Why don't you give us an example then, see who's stronger"

Impa darted a disgusted glance at him.

"We all know that Vanitas is stronger, the twins have no need to prove anything.

Relaxing his rigid stance, his initial thirst for battle gave way to horror.

Did Link just salivate at the thought of a fight?

The mere notion of it scared him out of his mind.