Here you go! (I really need to start working on some of my other projects!)
Anyway, if you would be kind enough, please come up with some good Twili names. Seriously, it took me forever to continue this because I couldn't come up with a good name for the person that I settled for naming Solka. I actually just took Sol/soul and added -ka at the end and called it good because I couldn't come up with anything else. Ugh.
Also, errors. I'm not reading through this again, so please help me.
Chapter 8
Just outside a small town near the border, that had no more than 20 people living there, three beings materialize. One Twili, whose uniform betrayed that he was from the neighboring tribe that was attacking, one wolf, and one imp, who sat on the wolf's back. The poor villagers were understandably scared at the newcomers, fleeing into their homes and slamming the doors shut before they were even done materializing.
Link hadn't expected the warmest of welcomes, as Midna was not in her real form, but he didn't expect for all the doors to be slammed shut before his eyes materialized again. Blinking in surprise, he changed form to his Hylian self. He turned to Midna, who was now floating. "I don't think they trust us."
"No, whatever gave you that impression?" Midna asked sarcastically.
A man opened his window, yelling, "Go away, we don't have any money! We're a small town; we don't have anything to give!"
Midna changed to her real form. "Is that any way to treat your princess?" She shouted back.
For a moment, there was silence. Then, "You can't be the princess! Why would she come here?"
"To get away from the death and destruction of everywhere that's being invaded, duh!" Midna yelled.
"Did you seriously not plan for this?" Link asked. "I mean, you have a secret tunnel leading out of your castle in case of an attack, but you never figured out where you'd go, and you figured you'd just wing it? In a land of magic where anyone could impersonate you? Actually, why haven't they already done that?"
"Don't give them ideas!" Midna hissed. "And I never had time to plan! I got as far as getting the tunnel built, and everything went to shit afterwards." Calling out to the villagers, she asked, "What do I have to do to prove I'm not evil, or whatever term you feel fits?"
There was another silence. Then, "You can't be the princess! The real one wouldn't be seen with a member of the tribe that's attempting to murder her!"
"You have a fair point," Link yelled back. "But how do you even which tribe is attacking?"
"We have a Hawkeye!" The man replied. "And I have seen in clear detail which tribe attacked the nearby town. Plus, there is only one neighboring tribe."
Link turned to Midna. "What do we do? I don't think they'll trust Kage. Also, how do they have a Hawkeye?"
"I don't know," Midna sighed. "And you'll talk to them. You're not of the attacking tribe, nor are you 'attempting to impersonate the princess'." She made air quotes with her fingers.
Link nodded. "Alright. But if any attacking forces arrive, warp out. Don't wait for me, OK?"
Midna nodded in agreement. "Alright," she yelled. "I'm sending Link, the little green boy, in. He'll chat with you, and we'll wait out here. Deal?"
"Fine!" The man barked.
"Oh, and if he walks out with a hole in him, you're dead meat, got it?" Midna shouted.
"Got it," the man squeaked.
Link entered the home, looking around, noting a young woman and her child were cowering in a corner. At least, the woman was cowering. The child, who couldn't be more than 6 or 7 years old, was staring at Link with wide, unblinking eyes.
"Alright, boy!" The man barked.
"I think you're scaring the woman," Link pointed out.
"Leave my wife outta this!" He yelled.
Link held up his hands. "Alright, alright. I don't mean you any harm."
"That's him, daddy!" The child suddenly spoke up. "That's the odd white-skinned creature in green that saved me when I was a monster!"
Link glanced at the child, vaguely recognizing the child as one of those he saved by exposing the light of the Sols to. "I remember you now," Link said, a small smile forming on his face as he crouched to be at eye level with the kid as he rushed up to him. "You were one of those that I helped when I was on a mission to take down the bad guy enslaving you."
The child nodded. "Yeah, I remember! I first saw you looking around the area, and you almost attacked one of the cursed people, but a shadow stopped you, and then you walked away. Later, you emerged from a building with a Sol. And then you ran around saving people from their curses!" He smiled.
Link smiled, looking up at the father. "Not many light dwellers have come to your realm, you know. Except criminals, of course, but I'm assuming you had some way of dealing with them. Please, believe me. My name is Link, and I saved your realm from Zant. I never tell a lie, so please believe me when I say that the princess out there is the real deal. We fled from the castle when it was attacked, and somehow, we recruited a member of the other tribe to assist us along the way. Apparently Midna is a horrible planner, though, something that I'm surprised I wasn't aware of until now, and so here we are, requesting your aid. Test us any way you feel is necessary. We mean you no harm."
The man studied Link for a moment. He then turned around, saying, "Come with me, boy."
Link followed the man as he walked outside after retrieving a kitchen knife in case of an attack, which made Link twitchy, not wanting it to be used. He called to Midna and Kage and led them into a vacant house, probably to get them away from his wife and child. Midna and Kage explained their stories, which ultimately seemed to frighten the man, possibly because he didn't know if they were lying or not.
There was a knock on the door, and another man entered. He looked at the three, and then turned to the first man, speaking calmly. "Why?" He asked simply. "These people haven't attacked you yet. They won't harm you."
The man pointed at Midna. "This one says she's the princess! But when she arrived, she was an imp!"
"I was using that form until I could get away from the attack," Midna explained. "After all, do you honestly expect me to parade around normally when dozens of people are storming my castle, desiring my head on patter?"
The second man nodded. "Reasonable."
The first one turned to Kage. "And what about him!? He's from the attacking tribe!"
"I've told you, I don't wish harm upon this land. My parents forced me into the army; I had no choice in coming here," Kage told him.
Though the second man had a skeptical look on his face he nodded. "I don't think we can trust you completely, young man, but your explanation makes some sense."
Kage nodded. "I understand. I didn't expect to be greeted anywhere in this land with smiles, as long as this goes on. So long as you don't lock me up in a dungeon for the rest of my days, I think we'll get along just fine."
Finally, a finger was pointed at Link. "And him?"
"You heard from your kid. I'm a light dweller, who, for some odd reason, has two separate selves, one here, and another in my realm. I saved your people from Zant," Link replied.
The man looked helpless as the second one spoke. "Forgive him; he's twitchy about the invaders."
Link nodded. "We understand. These aren't exactly happy times."
The man smiled. "Good. I'm sorry you were doubted. I wanted to go and see who you were when you arrived, but my wife was begging me not to. I'm the mayor of this town, and my name is Solka. The paranoid one is Bob."
"Bob?" Link asked, attempting, and somewhat failing, at stifling his laughter.
"Yes, my parents heard somehow that Bob is a common light world name, so they thought because we don't live there that 'Bob' could be considered a unique name," Bob explained, clearly grumpy about having to explain the origins of his name for what was probably the 50th time in the past 10 years or so. "Needless to say, I plan on getting my name changed someday, and I've refrained from naming my own child such a ridiculous thing."
"The funny thing is, Bob isn't a very common name anyway," Link said, putting on a straight face.
"Good to know," Kage said uncaringly. He turned to Midna and Link. "Ok, so what now? We can't just hide here."
Midna nodded. "I don't plan to."
Link shook his head. "Oh no you don't. I'm not going to allow you to risk your neck, especially since when it's you they're after."
Midna glared at Link. "And that stopped me how when the Twilight covered your world? Just because they're after me doesn't mean they can take me down. These are my people, Link. I refuse to just sit around and let them be harmed simply because you want me to do my best Zelda impersonation and do nothing while someone else does all the work."
Link could see there was no arguing with her. Letting out a sigh, he said, "Fine. But I want you to be in your imp form at all times, just in case."
Midna nodded. "Fair enough." She turned to Solka. "So what do you have in the way of weapons?"
An hour later, Link had been equipped with a rusty sword, as well as an equally rusty shield. While they were basically useless, he figured it would work until he could find that swordsmith that he met at the festival. Looking at the business card he still had on him, the group was able to determine that he should be only one town down, which was a really lucky break. And so, Midna and Link set off. Kage figured he could help defend the town if invaders arrived, so he stayed behind.
As Link and Midna walked, Link smiled. "This feels familiar, huh?"
Midna nodded. "It does. It's nice to get out and travel; even with the thought of the kingdom getting destroyed looming over us."
Link nodded, looking to the sky. "Yeah, only, this time, we're in a different realm for the whole of it, and I can't tell the time."
Midna looked to the sky too. "Oh, that's easy. I'll teach you tomorrow. Basically, it's almost night time."
"Oh," was Link response. "Crap. I have a tournament to be at in the Light World tomorrow." He let out a groan. "I don't want to think about it. They're all such weaklings."
Midna rolled her eyes. "Oh, get over it. Maybe while you're there, you can tell Zelda what's going on and get her help."
Link nodded. "Yeah, I know, but I don't want to leave, in case something happens here."
Midna shrugged. "I can handle any situation that arises until you can return."
Link agreed, though he was a little paranoid. They set up camp and fell asleep.
Link awoke to Telma knocking on his door, telling him it was time to go. Link let out a half-asleep grunt to confirm for her that he was awake and was going to get ready. After getting dressed and throwing his cloak on, he walked out, giving Telma a red rupee in exchange for some breakfast. Once he was done, he slipped on his mask and walked out to the castle.
At the castle, he got plenty of dirty looks from just about anyone that cared about the competition, and many people whispering that they couldn't wait for 'the smug bastard' to be taken down in the next round. Link ignored them and headed for Zelda's study, where he figured she would be. Of course, she was there.
Zelda looked up. "Link!" She greeted happily. "Did you sleep well?"
"Uh, technically," Link replied, unsure as to how to explain his situation.
"I'm… not sure what that means," Zelda told him.
"I know. It confuses me too," Link admitted, launching into the story about his adventures in the Twilight.
When he was done, Zelda had a look of shock on her face. "So you… have another body?"
"I think," Link answered.
"And Midna's tribe is currently being decimated by another tribe that wants her dead?"
"Yep," Link confirmed.
"Well, shit," Zelda swore, causing Link's eyes to widen.
"You swore!" Link yelled, pointing an accusing finger at her.
"Is it that surprising?" Zelda asked.
"You never even said anything close to vulgar the whole of the Twilight invasion, so yes!"
"Clearly you weren't around when I was first locked up," Zelda said with a chuckle. "I was chucking so many swears at the guard that I think he was actually physically wounded."
"That doesn't sound very lady-like," Link commented.
"Clearly you don't know Midna then," Zelda laughed. "I mean, I was bonded with her for half your adventure, of course I'm going to pick up at least some of her ruder aspects."
"You weren't bonded with Midna when you were chucking swears at the guard, though. And seriously, swearing? That's what you decided you wanted to pick up? I don't even hear her swear all that much."
"It wasn't my fault. I didn't want to start chucking swears around."
"Sure you didn't," Link said sarcastically.
"Oh, go fight your fucking match," Zelda demanded.
Link laughed at her and obeyed, heading down to await his match. When it came, he was faced with a more experienced soldier. Stepping out onto the battlefield, he smirked under his mask. "I hope you'll provide a decent challenge for me!" He called out, causing the crowd to yell various annoyed things. At least one person yelled, "Go to Hell!" Link was annoyed at that particular comment, but he chose to not visibly react to it.
The announcer stepped in and shushed the crowd. "And now, if our third match of the day, Fado," the crowd screamed at him, yelling to kick Link's ass. Fado responded with a smug grin, acting as though he had already won the match. "And Link!" The crowd booed, but again, Link didn't visibly react. "And… start!"
Neither participant moved a muscle, both sizing up their opponent. As soon as Link had enough of standing still, though, he started to calmly walk forward, sword and shield put away, almost as though he didn't want to fight. Fado was understandably confused Link's simple actions.
"What, don't you trust me?" Link asked jokingly. "No, of course you don't. And for good reason." His hand flew to his sword's hilt, and he drew it with incredible speed, attempting a Mortal Draw. Fado let out a high-pitched surprised shriek that sounded rather undignified as he raised his shield to defend.
Link's sword bounced off the shield; leaving him wide open for a counterattack, but Fado instead ran away in fright. Link recovered, and yelled, "I was wide open. Why not attack? You'll never win if you can't exploit an enemy's weakness!" Fado didn't respond, instead taking the time to recover from his earlier shock. "Was my attack that surprising? I was just simply testing you, and you're already afraid of me?"
Link dashed forward, striking the man's raised shield, almost knocking it out of his grasp. Link jumped away, yelling, "Give me a challenge, dammit!"
Fado recovered, letting out a loud battle cry that sent the crowd into a frenzy, rushing forward to attack. Link smirked happily, rushing forth as well to meet him halfway. The two swords clashed.
Link let out a small grunt of effort as he attempted to overpower Fado. "Finally, some decent competition! But not good enough!" He pushed with all his might, sending Fado stumbling back and knocking his sword out of his grip. Link pointed his sword at Fado's throat. "Not bad," he praised. The announcer proclaimed Link the winner, and he relaxed his stance, putting his weapons away. "If you attacked while I was open, you would have done a lot better, you know," Link told him before leaving.
Before Link left the castle, he returned to Zelda's study. "Hey," he greeted as he walked in.
"Ah, Link, I have some exciting news," Zelda said.
"And what is that?" Link asked.
"This," Zelda replied, holding out a small object.
Link picked the object up, finding the Triforce symbol in the middle. And the material… "No way, is this…?"
"A part of the Mirror of Twilight?" Zelda finished, excited. "I believe so."
"But how? I mean, we watched it shatter into a million bits before our eyes. I think a couple particles even got in my eye," Link commented.
"I don't know. Maybe it's the Goddesses work. All I know is that it seems that parts of it are reforming right when we need it."
"I'm assuming I have to travel Hyrule again to find them?"
Zelda shook her head. "No, not until the tournament is over. The Group will be searching in the meanwhile."
"Damn," Link swore in annoyance.
"I know, you're annoyed. But don't worry; there are only 2 more matches. I don't have that many guards, after all.
"15, soon to be 16, guards still feels obsessive," Link commented.
"You never be too careful," Zelda replied.
"Whatever you say, dear," Link said sarcastically. "Well, I'm off to cut some grass for rupees. Maybe I'll stumble along a piece of the mirror as I go."
"Try not to step on it and break it," Zelda joked.
