ch 8, Q and A

"Excuse me? Excuse me Miss, I don't mean to interrupt, but you landed me in some serious dedongo dung."

Rebecca once again found herself waking up in a comfortable bed with no recollection of going to sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and saw hazily a worried face stooping over her. "Hoozat?"

"What?" the man said and jerked away. "Well, at least you're conscious. Now you can get out."

"Out… oh Jesus." She sat up and felt her ribs. They ached like she was run over by a truck. "Look Mr., can't I crash here for a while?"

"Most certainly not! If they find you here, then they'll kill me! Or worse, resend my VIS privileges." He walked across the small hut and opened the door. "Out you go Rebecca. Sorry I can't help."

Rebecca just sat there, suddenly suspicious. "O.K… let's get this straight for the record. Who are you, what happened, where am I, why do you know my name, who's 'they', and why the hell are you kicking me out?"

The man paused and looked like he was considering answering. "If I tell you, you won't let anyone know you saw me?" she nodded and he sighed and closed the door. "This might take a while. Well, I'm Kikaru, sage of light and guardian of the temple of time. What happened is that you very, very, VERY foolishly let Gannon free and then you killed it, with my help of course. I know your name because I got a report about you like all the sages and royal family. 'They' are Princess Linnet and Prince Zedar who both sent out search parties for you and I'm kicking you out because I don't want to be charged with 'aiding a felon'." He then opened the door again hopefully.

"Not on your life" Rebecca said flatly. Kikaru closed the door again and sat down opposite her on a chair. "New questions, where's the sword, what's a sage, why am I a felon and is the monster gone for good?

He put a hand to his forehead like he was suffering a fool. "They're questions I need answered!" she said angrily. She was going to wring him for all the information he was worth!

"Yes, yes, alright. The sword is back in the pedestal. A sage is someone, like the bearers, protects Hyrule and the tri-force. You're a felon because you murdered Queen Zelda. The monster is gone for good, at least the body is."

"I didn't kill that stupid old woman!" she jumped out of bed, pain forgotten. "And what do you mean 'at least the body?'"

"And Saria, Anha, and I all agree you didn't do it. You destroyed the body of Gannon, but the soul is currently in another body. Now will you please GO? They might decide to search my hut soon!"

"Then why are they still chasing me if some people believe me? Why don't they just leave me alone? Everything was fine until that damn bastard Maurice came!"

"Don't you get it?" Kikaru jumped up too "Are you as dumb as I think you are? That evil boy has the soul of Gannon in him!"

Rebecca stopped dead. "You… you mean he's that monster?"

The man sat down again. He seemed to age about twenty years. "Please, I told you everything. Now go."

"What, you know all this but you're still booting me out? You're supposed to be protecting Hyrule, not send its last hope out with a 'bon voyage'."

He laughed hollowly. "So you're our last hope? Farore, I wish I hadn't given up drinking."

She was full of wrath, but a small feeling of pity welled up at seeing this man so heart broken. She wanted to stamp out but she got control of herself. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kikaru, I see I'm not wanted here, so I'll leave." She reached the door of the hut and opened it.

"Wait a second." He said and she stopped. "Just… remember the picture on the dais. That's all"

Then Kikaru was alone. "And good luck" he whispered.

--

Wrapped in a cloak, Zedar rode around Lon-Lon ranch, vaguely hoping he had missed a gigantic sign on the wall saying 'Here she is'. Both Linnet and he had been searching all night until three in the morning when she finally gave up and went home. He, of course, had to send his search party home to avoid being suspicious.

Thankfully, anybody who didn't know the secret entrance couldn't get out of Hyrule. It was made in a basin of strange mountains and forests that prevented anybody from leaving. It had even taken his father and mother years to find the entrance and once they did…

They abandoned us he thought bitterly. His horse whinnied and shifted and Zedar loosened the reins a little. It was no time to think of that now, he had to find Rebecca. He kicked his horse and they sped off back to the castle. Maybe she had returned to the only place she knew.

He mulled over what he and Saria had talked about. She had figured out a rough guess of the events leading up to now. Ganondorf had flung the tri-force of power and his soul out of his body just as the sages had sealed him away, sending his lifeless body to another realm. This prevented the tri-force from reforming and protecting the land as it should. Link eventually found the other world that the power triangle was sent to, and for his own inscrutable reasons, gave the triangle of courage to Rebecca. The whole punch line of this great cosmic joke was that the bearer of courage was scared silly by the bearer of power. Not only that, Linnet had joined up with Maurice, and she was already trying to take over Hyrule.

He shivered in the cold as the drawbridge lowered for him. He wanted no part of this fiasco. For all he cared, the tri-force could go leap off Death Mountain, ideally with his sister.

Zedar dismounted, giving his horse to the only of guard nearby and walked towards the temple of time. He couldn't go to the castle, not right now. He needed to clear his head badly. As he walked up the stone steps noticed something was wrong.

"Who's there?" he whirled around and drew his dagger. Someone in a black cloak was following him, trying to stay out of sight.

"Oh dear, There you are!" goddesses, the only person who could make this situation even more nightmarish than it already was. Linnet came after him and now he needed an explanation for what he was doing out here "I was so worried when you went out again and didn't tell anyone. Still looking for the blood thirsty murderer?"

She is NOT he silently screamed but put on a bland smile instead. "Sorry, I just needed some fresh air"

Linnet smiled back dazzlingly "you know, while you were gone I searched the castle from top to bottom. I know I should have asked you first…" she shrugged "but I of course checked your room as well"

"So?" I'm smart enough to keep everything well hidden from conniving witches like you! "Did you find anything too incriminating?"

"Well, I never really would expect you to be smart, let alone more knowledgeable than me. Could you really believe he's smarter than me Maurice?"

"What the, SHI-" he felt something hard strike the back of his head and all he saw was stars.

--

Soooo… now what. Once again Rebecca was hiding outside the castle with no idea what to do. At least she had a sword. That was one step ahead but what was the next? Did she just barge in and start slashing away or did she have to sneak in and wait for them. "I guess I don't make a very good hero…"

"I just think you need a little help. I'd be glad to give it" Rebecca jolted from her musings and spun around. The figure spoke again "Don't make a sound. Just follow me quickly"

It was the beautiful woman that she saw in the forest. She had a dark dress on and her hair was covered by a cloth but that still didn't stop her from being lovelier than she could ever be. Now's not the time to be jealous! She berated herself. Her mind was churning. Could she trust this woman? "Who are you, what do you want?" she said cautiously.

"Please, no time. I've got to tell you everything because Nayru knows Linnet won't tell you." she beckoned and moved down the earth path to the castle. Rebecca followed slowly. she had a point. From the little she had seen of Linnet she knew she wasn't the type to tell you her master plan as you were slowly descending into a pit of snakes… or whatever equivalent they had here.

They kept walking till they came to a small path branching off to the side. It was obviously a dead end with nothing in it so she was about to keep going when the woman stopped. "No, this way" she caught Rebecca's arm and pointed to the base of the wall

She squinted at it "What? I don't see anyth- oh you've got to be kidding me." A small hole, maybe one she could crawl through if she held her breath, was down there. "I am not going in there under any circumstances."

"Well, I'm going in there and I've got the answers. See you around." without a backwards glance she stooped and wiggled into the hole.

"No way… just what? Why do we have to go in a hole?" She grumbled to herself as she crouched as well. "What's all this random stuff? Why am I forced to say 'what' every sentence so far tonight?" she eventually got on her belly and closed her eyes, trying not to imagine herself being trapped in the darkness and closeness of a dank smelly cave with a complete stranger. No sooner had she thought it she was out of the hole and gaping like an idiot once again.

A stone fountain shone with an ethereal glow as it shot out pure water. Shimmering dust fell from the cave ceiling and danced like snowflakes around what could only be described as fuzzy white balls with wings. "This is the fairy fountain" the woman explained, taking the cloth off of her hair. "I guess you haven't been to a one yet."

"No, I would have remembered this" Rebecca said drawing closer to the pool. "So these are fairies? I thought they would be a tad more impressive."

"What, you mean like me?" a deep voice spoke and giggled as Rebecca jumped. A giant woman materialized and she could be summarized in one word: Ugly. As the mystery woman was pretty she was just as UGLY! She was clad only in vines and Army boots with a pointed, hooked nose and horribly painted lips. She had waist long blood red dread locks that spread out from her head and made her look like a kind of monster Christmas ornament. The over all affect of her appearance and the insane cackle that accompanied her was enough to drive you to tears.

"Oh dear, Great fairy, I didn't mean to wake you up!" she looked no happier at the arrival of the stranger as Rebecca was.

"Nonsense, Saria dear, you must be here for an upgrade anyway! Hoo my, now where did I put my new invention…"

"No, no, no need to do that we just needed some privacy." The emphasis on privacy was lost on the fairy. She was rummaging around behind the fountain and with a little cry of triumph she pulled out what looked like a small crystal. "Oh," she said hastily "I believe that your invention would help out Rebecca more!"

"Oh really? Here it is then deary." The fairy showed it to Rebecca who had remained silent out of apprehension. What was this weirdo… sorry 'Great Fairy' trying to pass on her? It actually was a small crystal but the center had a golden light coming from it. She gave a dubious look to the woman who now had a name. Saria gave her a tiny nod.

"My sister's and I finally got together and shared notes." She said proudly. "No more running back and forth, one upgrade does it for everything now!"

"really..." Rebecca eyed the little crystal suspiciously. Now what did upgrade mean? The fairy held it out to her expectantly. Rebecca had already broke her 'don't take anything from extremely weird strangers' policy so she decided to grab it.

A force slammed through her body, like a million watt light had just been switched on. She felt the constant ache that stayed with her since the fight in the store room vanish and then felt a strange growing feeling in the back of her mind. A green light was there too, and even as the bright light eventually faded it remained.

She noticed she had fallen down sometime during this process. "…But I get up again… Never gonna keep me down" she muttered to herself and Saria helped her to stand up again.

"Hmm, interesting side affect" the fairy noted "I believe that would of killed a normal person, but of course you bearing the tri-force and all-"

"Kill me? KILL ME? You mean you weren't sure I would survive it!?" Rebecca drew her sword and pointed it at the fairy. She was so mad that she could…

Shoot lasers apparently! To her utter bewilderment the sword turned green and shot a beam at the fairy who disappeared with another ear grating cackle. What am I, a spirit detective now?

Saria seemed unperturbed. "Magic, well, that makes your life easier. Now can we get down to what I have to say?"

Rebecca sat with a thump. "I'm going to sit here while my head implodes from the sheer hilarity of it all. Do please go on."

She gave Rebecca a worried look then sat down as well. "We'll be safe here for a while. I'll tell you a story then you can ask any questions you like."

Her head hurt too much to protest story time but she soon forgot about implosions when Saria started her tale.

A young boy named Link was the only Kokiri to not have a fairy. Then, the guardian of the forest grew ill, and asked Link to kill the monsters that had invaded him and break the curse. The guardian died, but not before warning him about the evil man that had cursed him. Link left the forest, and gathered the sacred stones that would open the door of time and lead him to the ultimate weapon. Everywhere he went, stories of the evil man went before him. Aided by the princess of Hyrule, Link was able to open the door of time and reached the weapon of evil's bane, the sword of time. However, the sword had deemed him too young to wield it and sealed him away for seven years. The evil man however, had planed on this, and Ganondorf revealed himself and took the unguarded tri-force.

When Link awoke, he found the land ruled by darkness. Then he woke the sages one by one. Link received help from a man calling himself Sheik, but when Link had found all of the sages, he showed himself to be Princess Zelda who was disguised to hide from Ganondorf. She told him that while Gannondorf held the tri-force of power, they held the other two pieces. But the dark king had used Link once again, and kidnapped Zelda once she revealed herself to him. In a final battle, Link faced Gannondorf, who released his power and turned into Gannon. When he lost, Gannon was sealed in the shadow realm forever.

"The tri-force should have been put back together." Saria sighed and worked a kink out of her back "but from what we could tell was that Gannon had actually let his body be trapped in the shadow realm while his spirit and the tri-force of power escaped to goddess knows where before eventually becoming Maurice. Link and Zelda agreed that time should be turned back to before Gannon had done his evil work so the kingdom could start anew. They went back in time, along with the rest of Hyrule forgetting all the events that took place. They might have gone to being children again, but even that could not stop fate. They eventually were married and had a son. Everyone had forgotten about the missing tri-force except for me." She smiled sadly. "Time plays constant tricks on me. I'm held in limbo between the ever young Kokiri and the quickly aging Hyrulians because of my sage powers. I also remember every detail of this story, though no one else does. I think only Zedar truly believes me."

Rebecca remained silent. This was seriously a raw deal. Why didn't she get to fight dragons and save people in the depths of a volcano? Why didn't she get to fly on magic bean plant and be able to breath under water? Why didn't she get to fish, and bowl with bombs, and visit Epona on a wide grassy plane?

Saria must have seen it on her face and said "Heroes don't get the easy jobs, Rebecca. Link could have died many times over if not for our friends here." The white fuzzy balls had landed in a circle around them, seemingly to hear the story better. They fluttered up and continued to drift around the water.

"Well then…" she said getting to her feet and rubbing her sore backside. "That was a really, really long story. Now it's my turn" she paused trying to remember what she wanted to ask. There were only a few questions left unanswered, most important "What do I do now? To stop Maurice and Linnet I mean."

"Do you want to do this?" Saria said seriously. "Maurice may have Gannon's soul, But Linnet is just as powerful as the original was"

Rebecca looked at her hands. Could she really kill someone? Slaying a ferocious black mage seemed much easier on the gameboy… but now she had seen the face of her enemy. Could she really chop Linnet's head off if it meant-

KABOOM!

They screamed as chunks of shattered rock blew around them "We stayed too long!" Saria screamed "RUN, REBECCA, RUN!"

"You're not going ANYWHERE!" another voice shrieked and tendrils of solid blackness shot into the dawn brightened chamber. They wrapped around Rebecca and Saria before they could move and hauled them out of the now ten foot wide entrance way. Linnet stood there grinning triumphantly. "There, the last traitor sage and the tri-force of courage! They all belong to me!"

"Oh, FUCK NO!" there was a swooshing howling sound and the Great Fairy stuck her head out of the fountain. "I JUST HAD THAT CHAMBER TOTALLY REMADE YOU BITCH!"

Anger suited her features much better. Her hair lashed angrily around her and she grew taller and taller with her eyes becoming glowing pits of fire! She howled her fury all across the kingdom and the Rage Fairy lunged at Linnet and knocked her off her feet.

Linnet's captives fell to the dusty path as she turned to do battle with the murderous magical being. Saria was first on her feet and dragged Rebecca after her. "Just take this and leave! I'm going to help the Great Fairy."

"No! I have to fight her-"

"There's something wrong at the castle, I feel it! You have to go and find out what happened to Zedar!" Saria tucked something in her pocket and pushed Rebecca up the path. She then threw herself into the fray of flailing black and pink tendrils of magic, adding her own green color.

"Whoa, hey wait a sec…" she did not even want to think of what would happen if she went into that swirling multicolored cloud. But what now, what could she-

Shut up an internal voice said surprising her and stop asking other people what you need to do. Do what you need to do.

After all, isn't that what courage means?

She slowly turned around to face the castle. The last traitor sage Linnet had said. Did that mean that not only Zedar was in danger but Junior too? What about Ahna and Kikaru? She had to use this time that Sari and the fairy had selflessly (Well not for the fairy so much) given her.

Without a backwards glance she rushed to the castle.