Thank you for the reviews, follows and favorites! I appreciate all feedback and compliments.
Anyway, here's chapter nine.
During this chapter, try listening to "Minecart Ride" while Link is infiltrating the Sheikah tribe's village. Try listening to "Goddess Mission" and/or "Zelda's Theme" after that, depending on the mood you get. All songs are from Skyward Sword's original soundtrack.
Side note: Follow MaxSmith26 on Miiverse. He drew the cover art for this fic.
I don't own anything regarding The Legend of Zelda. I wish I did.
Chapter 9: Celebration
I emerged from the trees and walked into the heart of the Sheikah village from behind a tent. A few Sheikahs stood in a group, and some walked alone. I searched for the biggest tent, which I knew would be Gyin's. I found it by the banks of Lake Floria.
A Sheikah guy walked up to me. "Who are you?" He looked puny. "I've never seen you here before!" I didn't respond. I kept walking towards the banks. "What? Remlit's got your tongue?"
Once at the banks, I noticed a group of Sheikahs watching me. I acted like I was walking away, and I hid behind a few trees, but I was able to peek at them. I picked up a large stone and chucked it into a patch of foliage. At that, the group looked in another direction, and I hobbled towards the back of Gyin's tent, hunched over.
I didn't notice someone standing next to the tent, looking at the water. I bumped into him. He stumbled backwards. "Watch where you're going!" shouted Gyin.
My eyes were wide. I was glad that Thorn gave me red color contacts for my eyes, or Gyin would've noticed. "My apologies."
"What are you doing here!? Go and prepare to help me steal the Triforce!"
I knew it. Gyin wanted the Triforce. He couldn't get it; it was impossible. But telling that to him wouldn't stop him. I nervously gripped the cloth that surrounded my right hand, which hid the Triforce. "…That's why I'm here. I needed to tell you that… that…" I thought for a moment about what to say.
"Tell me what?" Gyin demanded.
"…That I know where it is hidden. The truth is, the Triforce is buried underground. It's just outside the main gate by where the castle will be. But don't bring the rest of the tribe because you don't want any of them to steal it from you." That sounded believable… -ish. Maybe Gyin would buy it.
"Is it guarded?"
"By some oaf named Groose. I think you can take 'em," I said. "He wields a sword and shield, and his weakness is a mace. Here, take this." I gave him Thorn's mace that he gave me.
"This is Thorn's mace… How did you get it?"
"…I stole it from him." Hopefully, he wouldn't ask any other questions.
He did. "And why should I trust you?"
"Because I'm a Sheikah, and I'm loyal to you," I said through clenched teeth.
"Okay. I will be there in a half hour. Thank you… What is your name?"
I had already walked off and pretended like I didn't hear him. I sneaked back to the forest, and sprinted back to Hyrule, determined not to waste any time.
When I got back to the main gate, Groose, Thorn, and Zelda stood there waiting for me. "Link! We just finished building a prison outside the Deep Woods!" shouted Groose.
"Good," I said. "We'll need it after this."
"After what?" Zelda asked.
"Did you find out what Gyin wants?" asked Thorn.
"He wants the Triforce… I should have known from the start. Anyway, I told him that it was buried underground right…" I pointed beneath Groose's feet. "…here."
"What!? But that's under my feet!" Groose shouted.
"Hear me out, okay? Gyin's gonna try to get under your feet, so you pester him until he tells you that he's going to steal the Triforce. Pestering him should be no problem for you," I joked.
"So I'll be safe?" Groose withdrew his sword and shield, ready for action. "I mean, I can take on danger," he winked at Zelda as a joke, "but I'll be safe?"
"Yeah! Oh, actually… Maybe not. I told him that your weakness is a mace, and I gave him a mace." I rubbed the back of my neck.
"You gave him my mace!?" shouted Thorn.
"We'll get it back!"
Groose's yellow eyes were wide open. "He has a weapon!?"
"I'll be waiting behind the western wall," I told him. "I'll be there to arrest him when he reveals his intentions. It's foolproof!"
"No, Link, it's stupid! I'm gonna die!" Groose complained.
I sighed. "Groose, you're not going to die. Think of all the people you'll be saving if you do this!"
Groose sighed and nodded. "Okay. You're right."
Thorn walked away and climbed up to the tower above the gate to view the standoff. At the western wall, Zelda waited with me. "Good luck…" she told me. We kissed for awhile.
When I reluctantly let Zelda go, I told her, "Go and wait by the southern wall, where the Academy will be. You'll be safe there with Gonzo, Jakamar, Parrow, and Keet."
I expected her to protest, but instead she just nodded. She kissed me again, and walked off.
I sighed, and waited.
"Hey!" shouted a voice. I peeked around the corner and saw Gyin standing ten feet from Groose. "Move over."
"I can't do that. I suggest you drop the weapon and stand down," said a confident Groose. He crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at Gyin.
"No. I suggest that you move over." Gyin walked forward.
Groose pulled out his sword and shield. "Stop right there."
"No. I need to get past you," Gyin snarled. "You don't want to fight me."
"Oh, I do want to fight you," Groose said. "But that would be unprofessional on my part. Why do you need to get past me?"
Gyin swung his mace in circles, obviously frustrated. "Because. Now get out of my way!"
"Why should I?" asked Groose with a smirk.
Gyin growled. "Because I'm going to kill you if you don't let me have the Goddess-damned Triforce!" He jumped forward and swung the mace at Groose. Groose blocked it with his shield.
'Shit! I'm late!' I sprinted forward, summoning all the adrenaline in my body. I couldn't let Groose die. Gyin was a much better fighter. Groose wouldn't last long.
Gyin landed a hit on Groose's arm. He stumbled backwards, growling. "Gyin of the Sheikah tribe!" I shouted, closing the distance between us. "You are under arrest!" I jumped upward as Gyin looked my way. Before he could react, I bashed Gyin's head in with my Hylian Shield.
"For the attempted murder of Groose, and for attempting to steal the golden power of the Triforce," began Judge Owlan, "I hereby sentence you, Gyin, to a lifetime in Hyrule prison. For you and your tribe's intentions, I hereby sentence the Sheikah tribe to permanent exile from the Faron Province, effective immediately." Owlan pounded the gavel on the desk, which sat in the middle of the plaza, since we didn't have a courthouse built yet. Everyone stood in the plaza as knights Pipit and Cawlin dragged Gyin off. His arms were bound by cuffs that Gonzo had forged. Gyin's head was covered with a black bag.
"This isn't over!" Gyin shouted through the bag.
"Quiet, you." Cawlin elbowed Gyin's side.
The rest of Hyrulean knights escorted the Sheikah out of the gates. "If you are ever seen here again," shouted Fledge, "we have permission to kill you!"
"Get out and don't come back!" shouted Stritch.
Everyone who watched the court gathering departed for their tents in Hyrule's residential village.
As it turned out, Grooseland Construction could fit everyone but the Sheikah into the residential village. The Knight Academy was halfway done. The foundation and the first floor had been completed by Groose, Keet, Jakamar, Gonzo, and Parrow. The castle's foundation had been completed by the Kikwis.
I found Zelda, who was waiting for me while the crowd departed. She stood in the back of the plaza. I jogged up to her. She was looking in another direction, so I caught her off guard when I picked her up and hugged her from behind. "Link? Link!" Zelda shouted when she knew it was me. I let her down and she kissed me. "It's over! No more Gyin!"
I thought about what Gyin said.
"This isn't over!"
If it wasn't over, I'd have no problem with killing him. So, I smiled and said, "Yeah. What a relief…" I sighed, still smiling at Zelda.
Zelda's eyes lit up. She dragged me back to our tent. "Come on!"
"Okay," I said, half confused, half excited.
Once we got back to our tent, it had to be around two in the morning. Zelda unzipped our tent flap and walked in. I followed her into our temporary home and zipped the flap closed.
Zelda reached for something under our bed. She pulled out a long, rectangular box wrapped in golden paper, and it had a red bow on top. A present. Zelda must've noticed the puzzled look on my face because she said, "Link, you don't remember?" I shook my head. "Link, since it's around two in the morning… it's your birthday today!"
That's right. It was my birthday. I must've forgotten from all of the major recent events. "Really?"
"Yeah, silly. Open it!" Zelda set the present on our bed.
I carefully took the lid off the box, and the present was revealed. It was a scabbard, exactly like the one that I had for the Master Sword, but it was red wherever the other scabbard was blue. "Your sword didn't match your scabbard, so I thought I'd fix that for you," Zelda said, smiling beautifully.
"Wow, Zelda… This is amazing… Thank you so much!" I was grinning from ear to ear. I immediately dropped my blue scabbard on the floor and threw on my new gift, the red one.
"Oh, you don't need to put it on. It's late, so we should get to bed." Zelda sat down on her side of the bed, still smiling.
"Okay." I yawned and took off my amazing new gift, carefully placing it on the floor. "Thank you so much, Zelda." I sat on my side of the bed. I kissed her.
"Of course," Zelda said, eyes lit up. Zelda kissed me, and we ended up making out for about fifteen straight minutes. Eventually, we both became tired and climbed under the covers, and we drifted off to sleep.
I awoke to a pillow in my face. "Get up!" said Karane. "You two need to see this." I squinted as the sunlight poured into the opening of the tent.
Zelda groaned as she woke up. "What…? Karane… let us sleep…"
"Zelda, we should get up," I told her. She groaned, but she eventually got up. I did too. "I need to get ready," Zelda complained.
"Fine." Karane walked out of our tent, zipping the flap closed.
When Zelda was done changing, I turned around to look at her. "Wow," I said. Somehow, even though she wore it a lot before, her white dress looked even more beautiful on her than usual (if that was even possible). She wore her purple hair bands and bracelets as well. "You look… beautiful."
She blushed and looked down. "Aww, thanks, Link. I need to look good on your birthday." Zelda grinned at me.
I did too. I couldn't help but walk up to Zelda and kiss her. She returned the kiss just as passionately. When we pulled away, I led her to the flap in the tent, unzipped it, and stepped out.
"There you guys are," said Karane. "Look!" Karane pointed at the castle.
It wasn't even close to complete, but a lot had been done. Two twenty-feet-tall wooden doors were at the entrance of the castle. Bricks had been lined at the perimeter from the bottom to the top of the door's level.
"How do the Kikwis do that so fast?" Zelda asked in awe.
"It's natural talent, koo-kwee," said Bucha. He and Lopsa, Oolo, and Machi waddled over to the three of us.
"Guys, this is amazing," I told them. "Thanks to you all."
"Anything for Hylia," Bucha said.
Machi spoke up. "And for her mate, kwee!"
"Mister Green Guy!" shouted Oolo.
"Yeah!" Lopsa squealed.
"Mate?" Karane asked, confused.
Zelda's face turned bright red, as did mine. "They think that… Link… is my mate…" Zelda said, turning even redder.
Karane giggled. "That's cute." She winked at us. "Alright, well, I'm going to go find Pipit. Later, Link. Bye, Zellie."
"Bye," we said.
"Alright, Kikwis, let's get back to work!" ordered Bucha. "If we keep working at this pace, we'll be finished in four days, kwee!"
After the Kikwis had gone to work on the castle, Zelda and I took a walk around the town. I held her hand in mine, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere now that the Sheikah were gone.
When I turned my head towards a large building by the east wall, my jaw dropped. "The Lumpy Pumpkin was built?" Sure enough, the exact replica of The Lumpy Pumpkin had been constructed by the middle of the eastern wall, with the garden in the back.
"Yeah, Pumm and Kina have opened it, too!" Zelda exclaimed. "Do you want to go in?"
"Maybe… I still have a bad reputation there, though." I shrugged and laughed.
Zelda giggled. She took my hand and led me into the pumpkin-shaped restaurant.
When we entered, it was dark. I couldn't see a thing. "Why is it so-"
The lights flicked on. "Happy birthday!" shouted everyone. I looked around at them, noticing who was there: Groose, Pipit, Karane, Cawlin, Stritch, Pumm, Kina, Keet, Orielle, Parrow, Horwell, Owlan, Gaepora, Kukiel, Batreaux, Jakamar, Gonzo, Peatrice, Fledge, and Thorn.
I grinned at the crowd, then turned to Zelda. "Did you plan this?" The crowd began to converse.
Zelda grinned. "I think I might have."
"Thank you." I kissed her. She kept her grin when I pulled away.
"Hey, hey, hey!" shouted Peatrice. She shoved her way through the crowd to me and Zelda. She pointed a finger at Zelda. "What do you think you're doing!?"
Zelda looked confused. "I'm allowed to kiss my boyfriend," Zelda said.
"Your boyfriend? Sweetie," she turned to me, "please tell this dunce about our love!"
Oh, shit. I was in trouble. Zelda turned to me, half confused, half angry. "Peatrice, I'm in love with Zelda… not you," I said.
Silence. "…What!? But you and I… we had something special! How could you do this!?" Peatrice looked like she was about to cry.
I was stunned. I didn't know what to say because I didn't want to hurt her any more, and I didn't want to make things worse between me and Zelda. So, I stood there stupidly and allowed myself to get slapped in the face on my birthday.
"I don't need you…" Peatrice stormed off and exited the restaurant.
I could feel the heat rise to my cheeks when Zelda looked at me, wanting answers. "Explain."
"…Nothing happened, Zelda. Peatrice thought that I went to the Item Check just to see her, when really… I just went there to store items. She asked me if I loved her and I didn't answer because I didn't want to hurt her because she gets picked on a lot and… and… she thought that I did… and… and I'm really, really sorry for not telling you!" I gasped for breath after rambling.
I expected Zelda to explode, but instead she smiled brightly. "That is probably one of the sweetest things I've ever heard."
"So…?"
"So… it's fine, Link! I understand that you didn't want to hurt her, which makes you really sweet." Zelda kissed me.
"You're perfect," I told her.
Zelda's face turned pink. "Aww, so are you, Link." I grinned and she took my hand. She led me to the table that we always sat at as kids, the one right by the stairs that led to the brand-new chandelier. When we sat down, Pumm placed two plates of pumpkin pie in front of us. "Thank you," Zelda said.
"Pumpkin pie? How'd you know?" I asked with a big smile.
"When we were nine, you told me that your favorite dessert ever was pumpkin pie at The Lumpy Pumpkin. I never forgot that." She leaned over the table and I did too.
We kissed, which triggered a massive "Awwwww," from the crowd. Zelda and I blushed badly.
"How are you two lovebirds doing?" Thorn asked, sitting down next to us. "I honestly had no idea that you were together." He laughed.
We did too. "We'll, now you know," I said.
"What's up with you, Thorn? Are you making friends here?" Zelda asked sweetly.
"Well, I'm still on Groose's bad side, but yeah, I have been. I'd consider Fledge, Pipit, Karane, Stritch, and Cawlin my friends. Oh, and Orielle…" Thorn spaced out, smiling from ear to ear.
"Does someone have a crush on Orielle?" Zelda teased, giggling.
"What? No…" Thorn blushed subtly, but kept his smile.
"Oh, come on. You can't help but smile whenever you think about her," I said.
"Okay, fine. You win." Thorn raised his hands in defeat. "Thanks for the invite, Zelda. It really means a lot."
"Sure thing, Thorn." Zelda grinned as Thorn got up and went to continue talking to Orielle. He seemed to be making quite the impression on her; she was laughing and smiling whenever they talked. "They'd be cute," Zelda said.
I chuckled. Next to join us were Pipit and Karane. "So, Link, you're eighteen!" Pipit exclaimed, sitting down with Karane. "You're finally an adult."
"Aww, Zelda's the only kid at this table," Karane teased.
"Shut up," Zelda said playfully. "I'll be joining you three in a month."
Zelda's birthday was exactly a month after mine. That's how I had begun to remember it when she first told me as kids. "And you'll be dying to know what I'm planning for your birthday," I said.
Zelda blushed and grinned widely. "You don't have to do that, Link."
"Yes, I do." I kissed her.
"Hey, there are kids in here," said Pipit. "Watch the tongue."
Zelda and I turned red as we pulled away. "Shut up, Pipit. At least I don't make out with my girlfriend in the middle of the Academy." I chuckled.
"Well, you did make out with Zelda in front of the bazaar," said Karane.
Zelda blushed and giggled. I frowned playfully at Karane. "You had that coming, Link," Zelda said.
I laughed. "Yeah."
Fledge and Groose filled the two remaining seats at our table. "What's up, guys?" Groose said.
"Nothing much," I said, slicing off a piece of pie. "Just enjoying the party."
"That's good," said Fledge.
"Hey, what do you all think of Peatrice?" Groose asked.
Zelda and I shared a look, and we decided not to answer. "Why?" asked Karane uneasily.
"I'm kinda… y'know… into her." Groose scratched the back of his head.
There was silence. "Go for it, man," I finally said. "Peatrice is looking for a real man. She'd be lucky to have you!"
"Thanks, Link. You know what? I will go for it. Don't wait up, you guys." He left the table.
"Groose and Peatrice?" Fledge said. "I would not have expected that…"
"I'm just glad that he's over Zelda!" Karane said.
"Believe me," said Zelda, "me too."
"What about you, Fledge? You interested in anyone?" Pipit asked.
He thought for a moment. "No, not really. I think I'll be flying solo for a bit." He chuckled. The rest of us did too. "We'll, I'd hate to be the fifth wheel. Bye, guys."
"Bye, Fledge," we all said. He walked back to where he came from and disappeared into the crowd.
"Have you guys met the strangers yet?" Pipit asked.
"Strangers?" Zelda asked.
"You know, the non-Skyloftians, non-Sheikah? There's about forty of them. We just call them the strangers."
"Oh, no… We haven't yet." Technically we had, since Thorn was (now) neither a Sheikah nor a Skyloftian.
"Oh, you totally should!" Karane said. "Most of them are kids, and they're adorable. But there are some guys and girls our age, but mostly girls."
"We should meet them sometime," I told Zelda.
She smiled. "Yeah, but not today. Today's your day, Link." We kissed again.
"Seriously, you two. Get a room!" Pipit joked.
"Pipit…" I growled.
"Just joking, Link."
I laughed. "I know."
I looked around the room and spotted Thorn, who was still chatting with Orielle. I could gear what they were saying. "You can?" asked Orielle.
"Yeah! Watch…" Thorn closed his eyes and spun halfway around. He disappeared in a cloud of dust and reappeared standing behind our table. "See?"
"Gah!" Pipit, Karane, Zelda, and I yelped upon seeing him.
"Wow!" Orielle exclaimed. "That was amazing!"
Thorn reappeared back next to her. "Thanks."
"How'd you do that?"
"Well, only certain people can do it. You see my friend, Link, over there? He could do it, if I taught him."
"When are you going to teach me that, Thorn?" I asked from my seat.
Thorn turned to me. "Well, how about we start today? Consider it my present to you."
"Ooh, could I watch?" Orielle pleaded.
"Of course." Thorn offered Orielle his arm. She took it and grinned. Then Thorn looked my way. "Well, are you guys coming, or what?"
"All of us?" I asked.
"Hmm… Sure, why not." Thorn grinned.
"Okay, let's go."
The four of us followed Thorn and Orielle to the main castle gate.
Maybe I could trust this guy.
That was chapter nine. Sorry it was longer than usual.
To be continued.
Until then, Review, Follow, Favorite, eat sausage, do whatever your heart desires. Just make sure it's legal.
~SausageLink43
