Chapter 10: Aftermath

LinkIsaacANDLloyd's AN: Well, compared to the vast delay last time, I'd say this was nothing. Well, its chapter ten now. Woohoo, yea? The double digits! Anyway, I especially took offense when a certain someone called the characters static. All of them. Well, it was a nice wake up call I suppose, but we'll just see about that. Enjoy this chapter, and know that some very big things are going to happen to Link, Colin, Malon, and the rest quite soon. I'd say one of the biggest plot twists you've ever seen will be coming by, oh, chapter 20 or so, in fact. Let's just hope it doesn't take us a year to get there, haha.

And so it was, when the sun next rose, that the Hyruleans had taken the city of Carentan. After nearly a week of vicious combat and slow progress, a quarter of a million troops and fifty thousand armored vehicles under the command of General Gilbear drove out the last of the Brynyan defenders. Of the fifty proud regiments who entered that battle, five were completely annihilated, seven severely broken and depleted, and the rest suffering their own share of casualties.

The city was left in a condition even worse than even the most devastated regiment. Entire blocks had been leveled during the final assault. Tanks had made their own paths through the ancient and crumbling buildings, causing senseless amounts of destruction. Artillery was fired without a care, bringing down homes that had withstood everything else that came against them for almost a thousand years. But despite the wanton destruction the Hyruleans wreaked on the Brynyans and their holdings, they still had the power to force a counter thrust with their superior tanks through the main square, and for a time the Hyruleans had been routed.

Fate had been with the armies of the Three that day however, and part of the city's ancient aqueduct, preserved for historic significance, had come tumbling down over the square. Countless tons of ancient rock had smashed the Brynyan armor force to pieces and sent their infantry retreating in a panic. The streets around the square had been strewn with Hyrulean dead as the Brynyan counter attack moved unabated down those avenues.

The regiments moving through the square, the Hyrulean 96th Infantry and the Hyrulean 15th Armor, earned themselves many commendations that day. With the aqueduct blocking off the Brynyan controlled part of the square and that entire section of their counter attack, they spilled out into the side streets and met the Brynyans at their flanks. As Brynyans doubled back to defend their vulnerable flanks, the Hyruleans they had previously been driving back fell on them like a storm.

Under attack from both their crumbling front and already very weak sides, the Brynyan formations collapsed in on themselves. The Hyruleans created a vicious crossfire, transforming the streets into killing fields as the Brynyans ran around confused. There was more than one report of Brynyans firing on each other in their panic. A curtain of precision artillery from the Hyrulean batteries effectively cut the city in half. There was nowhere for the Brynyans to run, and the forces of their counterattack were driven against the artillery curtain and completely slaughtered to the last man.

The men of the now heroic 96th led the charge into the then under-defended Brynyan holdings in the northern districts, riding on the tanks of the 15th boldly. Behind them came the full fury of the Hyrulean forces in the city, sweeping every square foot and shooting all the Brynyans they came across. There were no prisoners. Only the Brynyan general, Hans Berdichsnacht, and his closest staff members were taken alive.

Charged with subduing them and bringing them in alive for questioning, was squad 132B of the Hyrulean 96th. The men of the squad had gained nearly legendary status amongst the regiments of Gilbear's army.

It was a resounding victory for Hyrule, but at a grim cost. Carentan was almost completely reduced to rubble and ash, and at least thirty six thousand soldiers had lost their lives in just the short span of a single week. Combined with the battles of Great Bay, the death toll had reached upwards of fifty thousand, and the war in Termina had only just begun. But with their faith in the Three, the Hyruleans looked ever onwards upon the vast expanse of the nation they were sworn to liberate. Millions of Brynyans still stood strong, marching to counter Hyrule's gambit with almost fanatical determination.

The war had barely just begun and though Carentan had been bloody, it was nothing compared to what awaited the Hyruleans next: crossing the boundless green fields of Termina. Were they to be victories, the coming battles would forever be remembered in the annals of Hyrulean history. But if the Hyruleans were defeated, then they would all be forgotten under the fanatical oppression of the Brynyan Empire, and history would never remember the men who died fighting for a free world.

"So, remind me again why we're just standing around here?" asked Malo sourly.

"Fine, but this is the last time before I just deck ya and shut ya up," growled Rawne. "It's rather simple…"

He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table, crossing his ankles and taking a deep draw of the cigar in his mouth, then removing it with a deep, smoky exhale. He tapped the lit end lightly and ash drifted slowly to the dusty floor. Before putting it back in his mouth, he used it to point to the three people bound back to back in chairs and gagged in the center of the room.

"Seeing as how we got lucky enough to find these idiots, it's only fair that we get to guard them until the proper authorities get here. Right, Talo?"

Talo sighed and set his rifle against the wall, walking over to the room's one window. No one seemed to notice it slide down the wall and hit the floor with a light thump. No one, except the three people bound in the center of the room.

"Well, I think we should have just shot 'em in the head and been done with it. They're bastards like the rest, ain't they? Why spare em'?" He turned to address Malo on the other side of the room. "What do you think, Malo? We wasting our time with these losers?"

Though Malo nodded slowly but firmly, Rawne just chuckled and puffed on his cigar.

"Oh, it's not half bad really. Maybe sitting around and waiting isn't very appealing, but it's something we have to do. We can't let them go unguarded, after all." He gestured to their prisoners. "We captured the commanders here, lucky us. We're gonna hold on to em nice and tight until we can turn em over to the general for a nifty reward."

Talo leaned against the wall and nodded slowly, accepting the truth of Rawne's words as he watched the dust in the sunbeams streaming in through the window. He had a sudden urge to hold his rifle when he heard distant gunshots from fighting still lingering somewhere in the city, if only because it reassured him, and reached without looking to where he had left it. But it wasn't there.

Looking to his right in surprise, Talo saw that it was indeed not there. He couldn't see it anywhere in fact.

"I wouldn't do that, Hans."

Talo looked across in the corner of the room. Apparently not napping on a pile of crates with some old Brynyan storm coats draped over him as they had all thought, Ralph sat up and stared towards the center of the room.

"You'd better give that back," he said firmly, stabbing with his finger towards the three people bound in the center.

Looking at them, Talo nearly fainted when he saw how close one was to getting hold of his rifle with his feet. Talo quickly grabbed it away, drawing a string of rough curses in Brynyan from the man who had almost seized it. He glared daggers at Talo for a moment, then whipped his head round to stare even harder at Ralph as the Justicar removed his gag.

"Loslassen mich, Sie wertlos Schwein!" he spat, struggling against his bonds as he shouted at Ralph.

"Funny, General. I don't believe you're in the position to be making demands…" Ralph tossed the gag over his shoulder and walked slowly over to Rawne's table.

He looked from Talo, to Malo, and then Rawne.

"Let's examine another reason for us to keep them company," whispered Ralph in a low, sinister voice.

"What's the first reason?" asked Malo, a bit interested.

"Link and Colin are incapacitated, and it doesn't make sense for an already under strength squad to wander the streets with only four members. Besides, we have to make sure none of these bastards escape. There are two other squads standing guard on the first floor, so we're perfectly safe from any...incursions." No one made to comment further. "I hope you didn't actually smoke that whole cigar, Rawne?"

Rawne sighed and took the object in question out of his mouth, a healthy amount of it left. Ralph held out his hand and Rawne dropped it in sadly. The rambunctious young soldier had been enjoying the sense of accomplishment is left him with. Nonetheless, he put his chair back down on four legs and leaned forward eagerly as he watched Ralph.

Holding the cigar's lit end out, Ralph circled the prisoners. They eyed him and the cigar nervously.

"Tell me, General Berdichsnacht…you commanded all Brynyan forces on the coast, correct?" asked Ralph as he twirled the cigar between his fingers.

"Gehen Sie zu Hölle, verdammt Göttin Saugen Sie Bastard!" Hans hissed back at him.

Shaking his head in annoyance, Ralph suddenly took the cigar and drove the lit end into Hans' right eye. He screamed and writhed in his chair. Ralph pulled it back and frowned. It had hurt, but it didn't seem to satisfy him. Shrugging, he threw it back to Rawne who caught it with a grin and resumed smoking it.

"I guess I'll ask you again. You commanded all the Brynyans along the Great Bay coastline, correct?"

"Ja ... und ein Binnenland, wie auch."

"See, was that hard? Now, how far inland exactly?"

"Nur ... nur Carentan und ein paar Dörfer nördlich von hier. Sie sind alle rund um Carentan Ausbreitung in den Norden …" he replied, shaking with rage with every word he uttered.

"Very good then. I'm done with you for now, Hans. You were very easy to break." Ralph patted the defeated general on the head lightly with a smirk on his face. "You behave now."

"Ah… and you are Tactician Rolf then?" he asked when he stopped in front of his next victim, his last one boring into him with a throbbing urge to kill in his eyes. "One of the best in Brynya, so they say. Too bad you're never going back, hmm? Ah, well, let's get on with things."

The tactician watched him through narrow eyes which radiated anger and revulsion. Ralph smiled mockingly at him and pulled off his gag. Unlike Hans however, he remained cool and collected, not saying anything to his captor.

"Well then, where to begin… Oh, yes! My superiors have told me of reports that indicate you may actually still be holding some civilians captive in those same villages your good friend the general just mentioned. So, I gotta ask you, what the hell is up with that?"

The tactician shrugged slightly but didn't change his expression at all.

"Yea, well, fine. Be that way. You'll be talking up a storm before you know it." Ralph sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and suddenly punched the Brynyan square in the face. He was knocked back enough that the back of his head smacked into a fellow officer's.

As Ralph pulled his hand back, blood oozed down the Brynyan's face. His nose was broken and twisted grotesquely to the right, and several of his teeth had been knocked out.

"Figured I'd get that over with, seeing as how I was gonna do it to one of you eventually," Ralph shrugged.

Rolf gritted his teeth and spat out a wad of saliva thick with blood at the Justicar's feet. Glancing at the stain on the floor briefly, Ralph stepped forward and brought his face close to Rolf's.

"Now, you're going to tell me- ahh!"

He stumbled back in shock as Rolf spat several teeth into his face. One narrowly missing his eye, Ralph glared at the smug Brynyan. A rough backhand wiped the grin from his face, and a he spat more blood from his mouth as it continued to ooze out of it and onto his lap and the floor. Ralph threw several more blows which left him dazed and barely conscious.

"Cocky bastard," snarled Ralph. "I'm not even going to waste my time interrogating you anymore! This is for all the men you killed!"

Rawne watched the whole affair eagerly as Ralph began to lay into the Brynyan tactician. Each blow made Talo flinch and Malo just stared at the wall with his eyes closed. Ralph had begun to taunt the prisoners in Brynyan as he beat them, and the rough dialect seemed almost murderous coming from a throat not used to forming the words.

Turning away, Talo shuddered slightly and looked out the window. He decided he didn't like the new Ralph too much. The one they had been seeing ever since they had arrived in Carentan. As if in an effort to emulate the infamous Tancred, he had grown hard and devious, favoring self preservation in desperate situations but encouraging relentless cruelty when the going was good. He was decidedly two-faced, almost cowardly in some ways and ruthless in others, though he called it common sense rather than cowardice.

Even so, watching him, Talo couldn't help but admit that Ralph was a very charming looking man. Almost perfectly made, his black eyes had a beautiful twinkle to them. They seemed very deep, but unlike Tancred's conveyed only a sense of hostility and not a mix of that and nothing at all. All in all, the rest of him was handsome too. Handsome like a snake or a well serviced firearm blowing out someone's brain. He hadn't looked dangerous during their crossing of the Great Sea when they were assigned under him, or on the beaches of Great Bay. Only when they came to Carentan did he suddenly seem so lethal.

In addition to all that, he wasn't, like the rest of them, a draftee. Most of the officers in the army actually, were just grunts from before the war, men who had signed up willingly, who had been given promotions to command the millions of draftees.

Seeing the way Ralph seemed to expertly work over the Brynyans, Talo wondered, with a brief shudder, what kind of work he might have done before the war. Such things, he figured, were best left alone. What was even stranger was the way Rawne watched him beat the Brynyans nearly to death with extreme attentiveness.

He could understand enjoying seeing Brynyans get their just desserts, but the way he wore a stupid grin the entire time and chuckled quietly every now and then was unnerving. Maybe he'd snapped? That didn't seem likely. There wasn't nearly enough stress on any of them, let alone the generally carefree Rawne. Again, another thing best left alone, he figured.

For himself though, he'd rather be almost anywhere else besides in the room he was then. The smell of blood and the sound of Ralph's hands as they struck the Brynyans created a very disturbing atmosphere. He'd even rather be injured like Colin and Link, and he found himself wishing he had ran out to save Link with Colin after all.

He sighed. Despite everything he and Malo may have said about him, Colin had proven to be braver than either of them could ever be. Faced with the impending loss of a friend and his own doom rapidly approaching, Colin had stared death in the eyes and fought it off, all without throwing up, crying, or wetting himself. Talo smiled lightly and almost chuckled. Progress.

Suddenly Talo noticed movement on the deserted streets below. Several squads of Hyrulean troopers were advancing on the building slowly and cautiously, their guns trained on the windows. Talo quickly dropped out of sight lest they fire on him by mistake, and hissed to the others.

"Hyruleans outside, moving in on the building, sir. Did we take the Brynyan flag down and raise our own when we stormed this place?"

Ralph paused and looked towards the ceiling as he thought about it for a moment, his fist drawn back and aimed to punch one of the prisoners again. Shaking his head, he connected the punch and then turned away, motioning for Rawne to follow him and for Talo and Malo to stay where they were and watch the prisoners.

Grabbing his pistol from his hip holster, he suddenly turned on Hans and shot him in the shin. He nearly fell over, chair and all, as he screeched in pain and writhed against his bonds.

"And that last one's for Bragg, you bastard," he snarled as he stormed out of the room, making sure to retrieve his rifle from the crates nearby, with a snickering Rawne following him.

Major Biggs stopped suddenly when he saw it. The squads around him stopped too, even if they were exposed in the open. They all stared.

Almost daintily, a Brynyan swastika-adorned flag splattered with white paint was poking through the front door of the Brynyan HQ, waving at them. A gesture of surrender. The Major blinked once, twice, in confusion as a dozen or so Hyruleans came out and walked down the steps to meet them after a minute or so of flag waving. The lead one, a man he faintly recognized as Justicar Ralph from his own regiment, still held the flag over his shoulder and twirled it around in his hands. He was obviously very pleased with himself.

"Good morning gentlemen! Great day for a victory, eh?" Ralph said cheerily, waving at the dumbstruck Hyruleans before him.

Biggs cleared his throat. Ralph, suddenly noticing him, dropped the flag and gave a quick and firm salute. The men around him followed his example without hesitation, though their salutes were noticeably sloppier.

"Justicar Ralph…" said Biggs slowly, exhaling loudly as he did. "What have you done this time? Tell me it's not something stupid…"

"Oh, but I'm one step ahead of you there, sir!" he laughed. "You see, I've got something so perfect for you that it will make you forget my insolence now, and all the silly things I've done in the past! Maybe you'll even see fit to give me a promotion…"

The major chuckled at his forwardness.

"Sorry Corporal Ralph. No promotions for you today. The opposite, I'm afraid." He smiled good naturedly at Ralph's stunned face.

"W-What? Major Biggs?" he asked as he fell to his knees, stunned.

"I would like to see what you've got for me, in any case. You!" He pointed at Rawne. "Show me."

"Oh, and meet your new Justicar, Corporal Ralph." he said as he followed Rawne inside.

Biggs walked past him with all of his men except for one. Ralph watched them go, his eyes filling with contempt. He looked up as a shadow fell over him.

"On your feet, Ralph."

Glowing brightly, his gold carapace armor and fatigues reflected the sunlight almost painfully. The sword strapped at his waist stank of putrid blood and rotting flesh, even after countless washing. Its serrated chain-like blade glistened with malice. The pyre pistol at his side spoke of his once great status, and the BAR strapped to his back showed the ruthless close tactics he preferred in battle even when using a firearm.

Small bits of rubble crunched under his hefty and thick boots. They were encrusted with traces blood impossible to wash off, as were his gauntlets. His deep blue eyes pierced into Ralph's soul and confused him with their impossible show of emotions. There was no mistaking it.

"Tancred… Sergeant Tancred, sir!" Ralph yelled happily as he all but jumped to his feet.

"No, boy." Tancred said with a sigh. "Justicar now."

"Huh?"

"It's complicated. They seem to think I'm not mentally sound for regimental command."

"But they let you train us and lead us during the attack on Great Bay! And you did it well! Better than any of them could!" Ralph was almost trembling with anger, and he was unconsciously grinding the flag into the pavement with his feet.

"It doesn't matter. They're afraid… Afraid of me and my reputation. They say this is to ensure there isn't another incident like before. To ensure I don't damn the entire war effort somehow. They told me that giving me regimental command for as long as they did was merely a mistake, that they were so desperate for field officers they even chose me. But the truth is, they knew what they were doing when they assigned me as commander of the 96th. I can tell since they didn't even bother to promote me to colonel. They believed I would die on the beaches, that the battle would dull my grasp on reality and I'd go mad and get myself killed."

He paused and looked up, staring at the flag of Hyrule as it was slowly raised above it on the empty flag pole. A few tanks and halftracks laden with infantry trundled past on the road, towards the outskirts of Carentan where the last Brynyans were in full retreat. Tancred watched them go, not even paying attention as the troops in the back of the halftracks saluted him, thinking him a high ranking officer when they beheld his armor.

"But it seems, that I've cheated death once again. I'm still here, and now they're trying to get me out of the way. So be it. They can demote me and try and get me killed as much as they like. I'll still have a unit all my own."

"Commander!" Ralph began excitedly, making a very formal salute. "It will be just like before, you'll see! Before everything went wrong, and before this war."

Tancred nodded slowly, the faintest traces of a smile appearing on the edges of his lips. Then he became alert again, and looked around. He gazed at Ralph, irritated.

"Corporal, where the hell is the rest of the squad you sorry bastard! Find them! I need to see what kind of shit I have to work with!"

Ralph took a step back, chuckling weakly and smiling. Tancred was back.

It had all begun a week ago, which they now knew was the approximate date of the Hyrulean invasion. All of them had breathed a sigh of relief and silently cheered. Finally, they would be saved.

Their optimism quickly died however, when they realized where they were. Locked in a prison in the heart of Sumeria, they were almost two thousand miles south of the Hyruleans. The Brynyans knew this all too well, and they ensured hope was beat out of them by broadcasting the news of the war in Termina throughout the prison. Some suspected it was heavily twisted to be in favor of the Brynyans, but it all came at them so fast and forcefully they had little time to question it.

Many returned to how they had been before, despising but accepting their new labor. They had no choice in the matter, after all. A precious few continued to cling to the optimism, and to their newfound hope. Through the beatings, the sickness, and the near starvation the Brynyans put them through, they kept their dreams of salvation alive. Some, in a display of absolute defiance to the Brynyans, even returned to their worship of the Three. They sent their prayers to the Hyruleans, begging the gods that there would be saviors would end their living nightmares.

It had all begun a week ago. A revolution of sorts amongst the prisoners. A precious few bold ones began to dream of rebellion against their oppressors.

In the end though, there wasn't anything they could do. The new labor forced upon them by the Brynyans left them weary to the bone every day. Even if they had the means, a revolt would be impossible in their states.

This new chapter of their nightmare had begun with a massive black cloud rising over the compound. Whispers ran amongst the prisoners, carrying hopes of the place burning to the ground. That dream was destroyed when a part of the large outer wall had peeled away with a loud moan, ancient gears within grinding against years of rust and neglect. Beyond the hidden gateway was a massive facility.

Scores of warehouses and factories, topped with immense smoke stacks that belched thick black smoke into the sky, were lined up along the walls. In the center was a massive field, the ground a dusty grey, and at the other end was another gate, far more visible than the first. The guards came for them, cell by cell, grinning evilly as they led them through the gate and into the factories and warehouses.

Inside them it was hot. Too hot, almost. Compared to the brisk air outside and the frigid nights they had all become accustomed to, it felt to them like they had truly entered the forges of Hell itself. The factories had not been run since the first Great War, decades before. As they came to life, fire belched in great violent bursts from the machines and smokestacks. Some equipment, overcome by rust, coughed and died on the spot. Sometimes it exploded as vital systems were too damaged for it to operate correctly, and prisoners in range were incinerated along with it.

After they had been reactivated and brought around to working order, massive assembly lines ran through the factories, carrying different pieces of some great machine. The prisoners monotonously operated them, contained between two long wire fence lines that let them reach their work and funneled them to and from the factories, piecing things together and ensuring nothing went wrong. The work was incredibly mundane, and some looked ready to snap and lose their minds after just one seventeen hour shift.

Several days had passed before they learned what it was they were making. Rolling onto the field in the center of the manufacturing plant one day, were the first complete products of their labors. Lines of Saber main battle tanks, and thousands of shells and millions of bullets. There had been a grim silence as the shock rippled through them all, bit by bit. They were making the very weapons that Brynyan soldiers would be using to kill Hyruleans.

She realized, as she sent another Saber cannon muzzle down the line, that she should be crying. But there were no tears left for her to cry. Her hands had become raw and bloody from constantly handling the rough and jagged metal she was forced to work with. The heat from the forges drenched her with sweat and it fell from her dreary face steadily.

Drip, drip, drip.

She blinked furiously and rubbed at her eye with the back of a greasy hand as a bead of sweat slid into it. Its saltiness stung and the grime from her hand only made it worse. She looked around and over herself awkwardly. Everything was encrusted with blood, grease, and sweat. Sighing, she tried to wipe away some of the grime from her hand and wiped her face with it.

Sweat still fell to the floor from her stiff and dirty hair. It clung to her head like clothes that were too tight, and it was matted down with all manner of filth. She tried not to cry, then remembered she couldn't anyway, when she reflected on how bad things had become in just a little more than five months in this hellhole.

A blast of heat from behind her startled her, and she looked behind her at the raging flames of one of the forges. The molten metal within churned and bubbled as it was worked and processed by two very distant looking young men. There was a rattle from the walkway directly above her.

She looked up through the steel grille pathway that sat over the fences in front and behind her. A Brynyan guard stared down at her, his face hidden by his helmet and visor. He yelled something at her in Brynyan. When she stood there, staring at him in confusion, he thrust his cattle prod through the floor or the walk and into her shoulder. With a light scream she fell to her knees and shook as the electricity ran through her body.

Other guards patrolling along the walkways over the prisoners as they worked all turned in the direction of the fuss and laughed. They laughed even harder as they watched the struggle of the lone prisoner as she was repeatedly shocked again and again as she tried to stand. The rest of the prisoners in the factory turned away and continued with their work, not wanting to be singled out for anything.

Ike and Sothe, working the forge behind Malon, looked on with dismay, Sothe from the corner of his eye and Ike with a full on stare. Ike clenched his fist and felt his entire arm shaking with rage as he watched helplessly. Sothe put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. His handsome, lean face was well hidden by fatigue and layers of sweat and grime, but Ike could still see the look in his eyes.

Nodding slowly, he turned back to the forge and pulled out two short metal spikes from the bin of icy water next to the forge to cool finished metal pieces. He had risked life and limb to create them in secret during his shifts with Sothe. Now complete, he handed one to Sothe and they tucked them away under the folds of their greasy clothes.

The guard had grown bored with Malon and left, but she was still on the dirty floor. Whimpering in pain, she struggled to her feet and back to the line, where work she could barely understand awaited her for ten more hellish hours. Drops of liquid were splashing onto the dirty floor beneath her, but it wasn't sweat. Somehow, she still had tears left.

Ike watched her from the corner of his eye. He felt the cold metal hidden in his clothes and narrowed his eyes. Staring on the belly of the forge, he watched the molten metal until he could see two emerald orbs staring back at him. He glanced at Malon one more time before returning to work.

"Just hold on… Just a little more… I won't let you down. Not this time. Not you or anyone else..."

xakattak's A/N: Well, first of all, most of the work for this chapter can once again be accredited to LinkIsaacANDLloyd. Next item of business is that of geographical locations in our story. As a few reviews have stated, many of you seem confused as to the geographical implications of the events in this story. For those of you who would like to know exactly where everything is located and just how long of a journey Link and Co. have ahead of them, we have maps available to any who would like them. Just give us an email address and we will send any map of your preference, for we have a few.

All right well thanks for reading. We appreciate your feedback and interest in our story. We love writing it, too. :D Well, since I have nothing else to say, we would love for you to read and review. So do it. Thanks.