Chapter 9: Catching up and Contemplation
Link POV
When we reformed again, we were standing at the east entrance of Castle town.
"Well, this works." Michael said cheerily.
"Then let's find Telma's inn; I just hope she won't mind a few late night visitors." I said as Midna pulled the crystal out of my forehead, letting me turn back to my human self.
"Are you kidding? This wouldn't be the first time." Midna scoffed.
"Well, you have a point there." I said, remembering my very late-night visits after a temple or dungeon. "Ah, what the heck, let's go."
As we made our way to Telma's inn, a process made much longer because Michael simply couldn't stop staring at everything we passed, we were walking by the tent of the S.T.A.R. Game show when one of the girls who was usually standing outside the tent whispered something to her other two friend and started following us. As we turned the corner I heard her yell, "SQUEEEEE!" and suddenly she was charging at us. As I turned around there was a loud Bam! combined with a fizzling noise and the charging fan-girl was flying back to bounce to a stop a few feet away. Then my gaze drifted to Michael.
He stood stock still, hooded robe hiding his face, a black sword with a red aura in his hand, what I could see of his fingers through the gauntlets were apparently a bloodless white from gripping the sword so tightly. Then my ears picked up a humming noise and I looked closely at the space where the would-be glomper had hit something and bounced back, I noticed a barely visible black-and-red lens-like shield hovering in mid-air.
By now, the shocked fan-girl got up, ran off to her friends, and started screaming "Get away from me, monster!"
Oh shit, now the rest of the people here are going to get worked up. To avoid having to take care of a possible body count, I immediately grabbed the likely ticked off Michael's shoulder and started to pull him in the direction of Telma's bar. He appeared to break out of his stupor and brushed my hand off to start leaving the scene under his own power, quickly.
When we got to the bar, he was bent double and panting like he'd just run the length of Hyrule Field. "What's wrong? We barely ran a few meters," I said incredulously.
"I…have…four…swords…on…my…back…two…of…which…are…two-handed…" he said, taking a breath between each word.
"Oh," I said, surprised. Getting his breath back, Michael straightened up and walked over to the door, saying, "Well then, so this is Telma's Bar; or at least the outside."
His hand hovered above the door handle for a moment; then he turned it and stepped inside.
When he shut the door I turned to Midna and said, "Well, what's his story?"
She smiled a strange impish smile and said, "Well, it's a bit of a long story that started with the person in question literally flying into my realm courtesy of your bomb arrow."
"That would explain a lot." I said, memories of the last few moments of the Mirror of Twilight's existence flew through my head. So Michael was the mysterious swordsman, it seemed.
"And would you know anything about those four swords he said he was carrying?" I asked, incredulous.
"Four? No. He has five swords; though I suspect that he's probably kept the fifth one in a Twili storage pocket, along with some bottles, and some throwing knives," she said.
"Ok," I said, digesting all this, then remembering something, "Hey, since when are you so forthcoming with anything?"
"I don't trust him. He seems unassuming, but he hints at knowing far more than he probably should, considering that he popped into the picture after our adventure," she said, her voice sounding slightly worried.
"Oh? How so?" I asked, curious.
"He says that he came here to fix the Mirror, but he knows things he shouldn't. I'm pretty sure that this means nothing, but I think that during the job interview, he hinted towards either the day that we cleared Lakebed Temple and were immediately attacked by Zant, or the day when I first met you."
"Job interview?" I said.
"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you; he's also my bodyguard," she said, looking a bit sheepish.
"When did all this happen?" I asked, my head spinning with all the implications. Looking at the guy, I probably would've never suspected all this.
"In the past few weeks. Oh and I forgot to mention, if you think that one hint isn't enough to get you suspicious, here's something else: On the day before we intended to leave, he asked where he could find some bottles; for some strange reason, that also reminded me of our adventure."
"And you think he intended for it to?" I said disbelievingly.
"Like I said, it's weird. And it doesn't end there, but I'll tell you the rest later. He's probably suspicious by now," she finished.
As she continued to explain what had happened during those few weeks between her leaving and now, I became more and more suspicious of Midna's new bodyguard. Right as she finished, Michael popped his head out the door and said, "Come on, Telma said she wanted to meet Midna," turning his head back inside, he said, "Oh and by the way; Shad, you and Rusl both owe Telma fifteen Rupees. It looks like they were catching up." I heard two groans of disappointment issue from the slightly agar door followed by the tinkling of Rupees. Disbelief on my face, I walked into the bar to find Shad and Rusl hand some Rupees to Telma, who had the I-told-you-so look on her face, while Ashei looked on with a semi-amused smirk on her face. Auru, apparently, wasn't here.
"Seriously? A betting pool?" I said, also amused.
"A rather small one, but a betting pool nevertheless," Shad said in his strange, scholarly voice, "It seems that books don't tell you everything." He sighed resignedly and sat back down, seeming to marvel at how his knowledge has failed him.
"Well, hun, what brings you here today? And who's the guy who for some reason simply will not take off that hood? Seems like you know him," Telma said warmly, "But anyway, I have an even more important question; who's your friend over there?" she said, indicating Midna.
"His name is Michael, and he hasn't taken off that hood for the entire hour or so that I've known him. Her name is Midna and…ummm…well…" I said flushing slightly, "She's a…friend. She was the person I told you about who was with me during my adventure."
"Uh-huh," she said with a knowing smile on her face, "Seems like you're really good friends."
"Well…" I said, blushing, "You could say that."
Again she gave that knowing smile, then she looked slightly concerned about something.
"So where is this Michael in all this?" she said.
"Well, according to Midna, he came to fix something." I said, hoping that she would leave it there.
"And how would Midna know?"
Oh boy, this could get complicated.
"Well…the thing is…he's also Midna's bodyguard."
"Oh! Well isn't that something new! I don't think I would've guessed that she needs one," she said, her eyes suddenly darting around, "Say, where'd Michael go?"
I turned around to see a black cloak swirl as its owner quietly shut the bar door.
"Ah well! You're probably starving. Here, let me get you something." She said.
Michael POV
As I left the bar, the crisp night air bade me look straight up at a shining, starry night sky filled with millions of twinkling points of light. This was where I felt truly at home, by myself in the dark, alone with my thoughts, and away from the too loud and too bright hubbub of the bar.
Not enough. I felt hemmed in by the walls around me, as though this was some sort of confinement. I looked around for some way out and spied the crates stacked near the entrance of the bar. Looks like it is time to enjoy yet another hobby of mine, free running. I thought mischievously. The crates were stacked high enough for me to be able to reach the roof from on top of them, provided I could jump high enough.
Nothing like a good challenge.
I walked up to the crates, judged the height, crouched down, and jumped up, hands extended. I achieved a grip on the top row of crates, but wasn't able to keep my grip and slipped back down. I looked around for something to add some height and noticed a crate lying a short distance from the stack; it was the exact same size as the other crates. Perfect. I pushed the crate over to the others; now I only had to jump two rows of crates. Perched on my newfound support, I was easily able to jump up high enough to get a secure hold on the top row. Clambering up, I looked up to judge the height to the roof. Too easy. I crouched down again, jumped up, and quite easily reach the roof. Climbing up, I found myself at rooftop level with a beautiful full moon a quarter of the way through its long crawl through the sky. As I looked around, viewing the numerous uniform tiled roofs, I decided that this might be the best place to simply sit down and think. Doing so, with my legs hanging over the roof, I finally took off the black hood and allowed my now unrestricted eyes to drink in the peaceful splendor of the night.
This is so much more beautiful than night in that polluted, corrupted anthesis of this world. A world suffering under the yoke of exploitation.
Then the more practical side of my mind broke in: Who the heck are you kidding? This world is bound to have its share of evils.
Then the former part said: Oh shut up, would you? Can't you enjoy anything without finding some fault with it?
My practical side: You shut up. I'm the one keeping this guy sane and rooted in reality.
Now my overdramatic side joined in: Can't you two just stop arguing? Can't we all just get along for once? Is it too much to ask? WHY?
Both the practical side and the idealistic side proverbially stared at the overdramatic one: Aren't you being a bit overdramatic? Again?
Overdramatic side: NO!
Other two minds: Ugh, why do we even bother?
I quickly shook my head to rid myself of these annoying voices, concentrated on the beauty of the place, and allowed it to calm me. I let go of my surroundings and let my conscious self hide in the deep recesses of my mind.
Conscious side: Ok, what are we planning here?
Overdramatic side: Utter madness!
Conscious side: Hey, who let him in here?
Book-smart side: Well, we are currently planning to either resurrect the self-proclaimed Lord of Darkness or use our newfound powers of necromancy to draw enough power from him for the purpose of fixing the Twilight Mirror. That sum it up?
Rest of us: Just about.
Paranoid side: There is just one small problem. What if the attempt to control the resurrected Ganondorf fails? What if our newfound companions don't trust us? We're probably all alone in this. Midna likely only agreed so she could see Link again. Now our purpose is served, we are no longer needed.
Angelic side: Ok, seriously, what is your problem? Don't you trust anyone?
Paranoid side: No. Why should I? I am the paranoid side of him.
Devilish side: As humiliating as this is, I find myself in total agreement with my angelic counterpart. Sometimes it's a good idea to gain the trust of others. That way, you don't have to worry about them stabbing you in the back and are free to do so to them.
Angelic side: And you're right about this how? And how is that in agreement at all with my idea? There's a reason that you're the anthesis of me.
Conscious side: Oh great. Here we go again. I think I'm gonna leave this now.
Coming back to myself with a start, I looked around again, gaining my bearings. Having done so, I was about to climb back down when a sudden shout of "Hey!" from below made me look down at the space in front of the bar.
A Hylian guard had just gone down the staircase and noticed me sitting on the roof, causing him to freak out rather loudly.
"OI! What d'ya think you're doing up there?" he said gruffly.
"Sitting on a roof. Got a problem with that?" I said coldly
"Yeah, I got a problem with that," he said.
"Then why don't you come up here and do something about it?" I dared him.
"Maybe I will!" he shouted, then slumped, "After I get a few more drinks." He stumbled drunkly toward the bar door.
No POV
As the guard reached for the door, it suddenly exploded outwards, catching him full in the face.
"What's going on out here?" an irked Telma said. Then she looked down and saw the now floored guard. "What are you doing on the ground?" she said.
"Door hit me," he said, the faint sourness of alcohol on his breath. Getting up clumsily, he continued, "There's someone on your roof," before pushing past Telma.
He made it about three steps into the bar before Telma's hand was in a vice-grip around the scruff of his shirt. "OUT! You are way too drunk to have anymore! Nobody's on my roof! How would they get there?" she shouted before dragging him out. Turning back to Link and the others with a sweet, motherly smile on her face, she said, "Sorry you had to see that," to their stunned faces.
As the guard shambled out of the small square of empty space in front of the bar he looked back up at the roof. Michael was still there, and flashed a jaunty and thoroughly obnoxious smile at the guard. Grumbling to himself about an early hangover, the guard stumbled his way to the nighttime streets of Castle town.
"Well that was unexpected," Michael said sarcastically. Then he seemed to remember something, he quietly muttered an incantation to himself. He held his hand out and there was rush of Twilight particles forming a sword, then they solidified and Orlox's sword was in my hand.
It stayed there for all of about two seconds before Michael put it down quickly, muttering something about how anime had lied about the actual weight of those swords of ungodly size that protagonists would usually carry. He knelt down to the thing and focused his mind on the conscious inside the sword.
Michael POV
Conscious side: So you said that you know a better way for me to arrange my swords?
Orlox: Yeah, and the first thing you need to do is to take the robe off so you can actually reach the swords.
Realizing that I hadn't taken the sword-belt off before putting the robe on, I pulled off the long robe and undid the sword belt.
A few hours later, I had taken three of the scabbards off of my original sword belt and put them on the extra ones I had procured from Orlox's body. Having done so, I positioned the swords so that Laevateinn and Claimh Solais were strapped diagonally across my back, the swords crossed perpendicularly to each other to make an 'X' on my back. Due to Valmanway and Kaladbolg being both one-handed, they were shorter and I was able to strap them to my back so that they were completely hidden behind my back, with the hilts just barely covered by my shoulder blades. With the whole setup on top of the robe and my cape covering all but the hilts of Claimh Solais and Laevateinn, I climbed back down the crates just as Telma opened the door.
"Ah, there you are. I was wondering where you disappeared to. Where were you?"
"On the roof," I said nonchalantly.
"On the- w-what?" Telma sputtered, "How did you get on the roof?"
"There were some conveniently stacked crates beside the wall."
"Oh. But why would you bother climbing up to the roof anyway?" she asked, obviously confused.
"I don't know, I just felt a bit out of place and I needed to find someplace to think about things. I couldn't go out to the field because I don't have a map and don't want to risk getting lost. Climbing the castle isn't really an option either, though it would probably have been a better place to think."
"Ok then. Moving on now, Link tells me that you happen to be Midna's bodyguard. Are you? 'Cause you really aren't the dumb-muscle type," she said.
"Yes, what of it?" I said, wary now.
"She doesn't exactly look the type who'd need protecting, unless of course you count the random crazy people who have beef with every single foreign person they come across."
"You have no idea, absolutely no idea," I said, barely holding back laughter at the irony.
"Ah well, enough about her! You're probably hungry. Here, I'll get you something to eat." She came back a few minutes later with a steaming bowl of soup. I took it, thanking her, and attacked the soup with the ferocity of suddenly realized hunger. A few minutes later, when I was finished, I reached for the wallet I had made back in the Twilight Realm in my spare time to pay for the soup.
"Hey, no worries! It's on the house," she had said, despite my insisting on me paying for the food.
Having said so, she sent me on my way to the three-person room upstairs that Link and Midna were already in. Having arrived there, I opened the door to find that both Link and Midna were wide-awake and waiting.
"We're going to need some answers," Link said, expressionless.
Ganesh295: HAHA! I finally got past the chapter 9 block from my last story! Sorry I didn't write this earlier, but READ AND REVIEW!
Michael: Or else...
Ganesh295: Michael, Stop it. It's ok to freak other people out but when I'm freaked out, then something is wrong. Reviews are my sustenance! FEED ME! (Sorry if that was overdramatic (^.^))
