An update! yay! Sorry it took so long. I had a huge block. You can thank nyan cat for this update. Yes, you read right. Nyan cat. That internet meme was what got my writing juices flowing again. And boy is it great to be writing again! First thing's first, Forgotten Legends is on an update schedule again. However, this story is not. Forgotten Legends has priority over this one, though you can generally count on an update for this story following Forgotten Legends. In other words, probably around every two weeks, give or take. Just know that nothing is set in stone. I do have a life outside of this, and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier. -w-
fleets, haha sort of. We'll see more of them, don't worry. XD But yeah, he makes his previous incarnations roll in their graves with disappointment. And Twinrova's prediction... hehe, I'm not saying anything... mostly because even I have the vaguest ideas of where I'm going. Well, sort of. I do know what I meant when I wrote that. Mwahahaha. As for who will whine first... well, I won't get into that since you'll be reading it. XD Hopefully the next update won't take a long time! DX
shadowreploid, well no worries about the USB. I gotta better one now! ... Sort of. I just wish I still had the other one. -sob- ANYWAYS, thank you for reading. Hope I didn't make you wait too long. DX
Midna Hytwilian, again, Itaav still is Vaati. -w-
So yeah, this chapter is pretty unchecked for mistakes. There are bound to be more than previous chapters, so sorry in advance. It's 3 AM, I am sleepy and have to wake up early tomorrow, and I didn't want you all to wait. Because if I didn't upload this now, it probably wasn't going to get uploaded until Monday. I'll see about fixing any of the more obvious mistakes then. Until then, adieu and enjoy.
"Will he be alright?"
"Itaav? Yeah; he just needs to sleep this off."
"Will we be alright?"
That was a question Link wasn't sure how to answer. "I don't know…"
Link had no idea where they were; he wasn't even sure Itaav knew where they were. The Helmaroc kept flying until the Pride was out of sight, and even then they were forced to land on a strange island because Itaav was having trouble focusing. They were all nervous wrecks, there was no doubt about it. The creepy atmosphere of the strange island they were on wasn't helping either.
It wasn't a particularly large island, but then again, seeing as how there was only one known continent, most islands weren't that big. What made this small island so exceedingly unnerving, however, was that it was filled with ruins. Link wasn't even sure how they could possibly be there. He wasn't familiar with geography before the Flood, but he was pretty sure there shouldn't be ruins on what were essentially former mountaintops. But he was also assuming they had been sailing over ancient Hyrule, which they might not have given the fact that they had been on the Continent just the day before. "I wonder what these are…" He thought out loud.
"Mother used to tell me that the gods brought them from the ocean, so we wouldn't forget where we came from." Zelda answered wistfully. "Mother always told nice stories…"
Mother… her mother was the late queen. Link didn't know much about the royal family, but he'd always heard the queen often thought of herself as high and mighty. But she was a queen. High and mighty or not, though, she obviously seemed to make the time for her daughter. That must have been nice, having memories of a mother. Link couldn't remember much of his mother… or his father for that matter. And Itaav… Link didn't know. His friend always seemed to get deathly quiet when speaking of his mother. Come to think of it, Link wasn't sure he had ever heard Itaav speak of her. But they were orphans… it probably wasn't something nice to think about.
"I'm sorry, did I say something offensive?" Zelda asked worriedly.
"No!" Link said quickly. "No, you didn't. I just got caught up in my thoughts, is all." He hoped he sounded reassuring enough. They were both out of their element on this island and he didn't want to worry her. There was already enough to worry about…
Neither said anything, not finding any words to say. Any conversation they had would seemed forced right now – even the socially awkward Zelda knew that. They just sat against Itaav's airship, listening to the waves lapping against the beach and the seagulls squawking overhead, grateful for the shade that the Helmaroc offered from the harsh sun.
It was so peaceful and quiet here… So they were both very alarmed when they heard a smashing sound nearby. They froze, just staring at each other in utter confusion. Just as they were about to relax again, the smashing sound happened again.
"… said construction was over…" Itaav grumbled from his pilot's seat in his sleep.
It seemed in his dreams, he still thought they were on the Pride… At the moment, Link was kind of wishing they were… up until he remembered the crazy ginger demon that was after them. To top it off, the sound could be something else looking for them. Again came the smashing sound. Silently, Link and Zelda both seemed to agree that staying still and not moving was probably the best way to avoid the smashing sound. Itaav, however, seemed to disagree.
"Goddess dammit; I'm trying to sleep here!" He shouted as he shot up from his seat. Upon seeing that he was not in his room or his hangar, though, he became just as confused as Link and Zelda… And speaking of them, where were they?
"Psst, Itaav, down here!" Link whispered harshly.
The Engineer looked down over the Helmaroc's edge and frowned. "What's up with you two? And what that's noise?"
"We don't know! Now shut up!" Link hissed.
Itaav just stared at Link blankly, up until the smashing sound came again. Then he looked towards the direction of the smashing sound. "Well, you two can keep huddling up like frightened Gorons – I'm investigating." And with that, he hopped out of the airship and ran off towards the noise.
"Itaav!" Link cried out in a hoarse whisper. Of all the times for his friend to get curious like this! Did he forget that a demon was looking for Zelda? For all three of them?
"Oh dear…" Zelda whispered worriedly, twiddling her thumbs. "Perhaps we should… follow him?"
"I don't know…" Link mumbled out loud. The way he was seeing things, if Itaav got killed for investigating, he kind of deserved it. At the same time, the Engineer was technically his friend and… well, he was the only one who could fly his stupid contraption. "Yeah, we gotta make sure he doesn't get himself killed." He really wished he had his machete…
They both got up and headed off in Itaav's general direction.
"That big sound hasn't happened again…" Zelda mentioned.
Link had noticed that too, but he wasn't sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. But they found the answer soon enough as they caught sight of Itaav in a clearing… And he was chatting away with perhaps the most terrifying man that Link or Zelda had ever seen. And for Link, that was saying something; you saw some pretty terrifying looking people in the Outer Wall of the Pride.
The man was tall and burly, and even though he wore a bandana over the lower half of his face, he looked very intimidating. Perhaps the scariest thing about the man was the enormous clawed gauntlet on his left hand. Yet Itaav seemed to be animatedly chatting away with him. Link did notice that his friend's gaze was primarily on the man's gauntlet, which probably meant it was some sort of interesting contraption he'd like to fiddle with.
"Itaav and he seem to be getting on well." The princess commented.
"I don't know about that… wait, Princess, where are you going?" Link exclaimed as the princess went ahead towards Itaav and the stranger. But she didn't seem to hear him and continued onwards. He grimaced, but followed suit, hoping that he wasn't making a huge mistake.
The scary looking fellow was first to notice the two, facing them with surprising speed and pointing the gauntlet right at them. Itaav quickly grabbed the man's arm and attempted to push it down; it didn't work but Itaav also shouted, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, big guy, they're with me!" Apparently, that was enough to get the man to lower the gauntlet.
Zelda cheerily came up to the man and curtsied, "Hello, sir, my name is Princess Zelda Olivier of House Harkinian. It's very nice to meet you." She then linked arms with Link and said, "And this is my friend Link!" A statement which made the blond boy blush.
The man just looked down at the girl blankly and mumbled awkwardly, "Um… Byrne. Just Byrne."
"Just Byrne? That's a strange na-"
"Uh, yeah, Princess, don't worry too much about it." Itaav said quickly. She never ceased to amaze him with her social awkwardness. "Anyways, the big guy here was the one making that noise. Go ahead, show'em Byrne."
With a shrug, the man turned until he was staring at a good sized rock. He held out his gauntleted hand and – smash! The gauntlet launched and crumbled the rock as if it had been of paper. As if it that wasn't enough, it began to reel itself back into the man's hand.
"Isn't that awesome?" Itaav said excitedly. "I was just asking him about the mechanics when you guys came along. He says he made it himself!"
Zelda clasped her hands together and smiled brightly. "That's amazing!"
Link just looked at the two blankly. He'd never understand the fascination they seemed to have with these weird gadgets. Plus, he had a better question on his mind, "That's great but… Byrne, where did you come from? Do you live here or something, because I didn't see any houses here when we landed."
It was only then that Zelda and Itaav realized that Link had a good point. Their curiosity over his strange gauntlet faded for the moment, and they stayed quiet waiting for an answer. The man called Byrne simply attended to the gauntlet on his hand, remaining quiet. The three could only guess that he was thinking over whether he should answer or not. He finally took his gaze from his gauntlet and looked at the three teenagers. His sharp eyes looked them over, though they did tend to linger more on Link and Zelda. He finally said, "Follow me."
With that, he turned around and began to walk up a rocky hill. Zelda followed closely and cheerily, but Itaav cried out, "But my ship?"
"Don't worry; it's safe." Byrne assured from up ahead.
While Itaav wasn't entirely sure about it, he hesitantly followed.
Link on the other hand was flabbergasted. He followed, but if only because the other two were and he had nowhere else to go. Still, back on the Pride, Itaav had been lecturing him about responsibility! And now they were following a complete stranger – and a diabolical looking one to boot – to who knows where on a strange island? The way Link saw it, they were asking to be murdered… but at the same time, Link could see why following the guy might not be a bad idea. They had no food or water, and the Helmaroc could barely count as a shelter… And if this guy lived on the island, it must've meant it was more than some strange batch of ruins off the Continent.
They descended the rocky hill after Byrne, where Itaav displayed a strange amount of tolerance to the princess by offering his hand in assistance to her. Link found himself mildly jealous when the girl accepted, but he quickly became distracted when he saw Byrne was just standing in front of a stone wall. They had all caught up the man now, who was still standing in front of the wall. His eyes were closed and his right hand was held up in front of him as if he were in prayer. Eventually, they found that if they listened hard enough, they could just barely hear the man whispering something quickly and quietly. A spell of some sort?
It had to have been, because as soon as he opened his eyes and lowered his arm, a gap in the stone wall appeared and he walked on through.
All three of the teenagers were not very excited at the prospect of entering a dark tunnel. Especially Itaav. They'd had enough of that in one day… but they went and followed anyways. But the tunnel only looked dark and scary. They weren't even ten seconds in when a torch lighted the downward spiraling passage. And they weren't even two minutes in when the tunnel opened up in what seemed to be a brightly lit and homey living room. In fact, it seemed to be a whole living complex, complete with doorways into other areas.
"Master, we have guests." Byrne called out as he took off his gauntlet and placed it off to the side.
"Guests? Don't be silly, Byrne; we don't get guests here." Came a voice from another room. The owner of the voice came from a room on the left; she was a short, old woman with a strange swirly updo on what seemed to be some sort of weird automatic scooter. She froze when she saw that her apprentice hadn't been joking. An awkward silence filled the room as she stared at the three teens and they stared at her and her strange vehicle. "Oh… we do have guests. Unusual, but the extra company is always welcome! Make yourselves at home!" She told them cheerily. "Byrne, go get out some snacks – they look like they could use something to eat."
Zelda was the first to recover. "Thank you very much!" And with that, she skipped over and sat upon a couch.
Itaav and Link looked at each other, incredulous looks both on their faces as they both mouthed in confusion, "She skipped."
"Come on, you two! Don't be shy – this couch is very comfy!" Zelda called out.
Figuring that this was better than they had it outside, both went and sat on either side of Zelda. She was cheerfully swaying her legs with her hands on her knees and thumbs twiddling. Itaav kept his gaze on the old woman who was driving up across them. He was really interested in her little scooter – he almost wished he could take it apart. Link was also watching the woman, but for another reason entirely. With Itaav's mind for gadgets taking over his rational mind, it was Link's turn to play the suspicious skeptic. What were two people doing living in the bottom of a deserted island filled with nothing but ruins? Not to mention the fact they had strange devices like launching gauntlets and automatic scooters.
"Well, it's not often we get visitors. I really thought Byrne might've been going nuts when he said there were guests." The woman said brightly. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name is Anjean. And I knew your grandmother, Princess." She pointed right at Zelda.
Zelda pointed at herself, as if making sure that Anjean had been talking to her despite the fact that she was the only princess there. "You knew Grandma Zelda Tetra?"
The old woman winked and nodded. "I sure did – and you're the spitting image of her! Well, a more sheltered image, but her nonetheless!"
"Wait a second!" It seemed Itaav's suspicious mind returned. "How could you have possibly known a former monarch of the Pride? The girls of the noble families never leave the Pride, ruling monarch or not. How would you even know that this girl's a princess? You have to admit, she doesn't look like one right now."
Link's was still working too. He glanced over at his friend questioningly. He knew Itaav was of higher rank on the Pride, being an Engineer… and Zelda had said that "princesses never leave the Pride"… but she'd never been specific enough to say that noble girls never left the ship. In fact, the people on the Outer Wall didn't know diddly about any of the affairs behind the Inner Wall. People knew they had a king and whatnot, but that was about it. When important messages came from the Inner Wall to the Outer, it was usually in bulletin form. It was completely different worlds depending on what Wall you were behind… so how did Itaav know something like that?
But Zelda surprised both of them by answering, "Oh Grandma Zelda Tetra wasn't one for conformity. She had a double that took care of the affairs of the Pride while she went and explored the Great Sea – eventually finding the Continent. She returned and then guided the Pride to the Continent. I'm sure she didn't wear dressing gowns while adventuring. But it's never happened since – a princess leaving the Pride, I mean." She then looked back to Anjean and said with a big grin, "So you met my grandma while she was adventuring?"
Byrne had returned then with what looked like a basket of bread. "We don't have much." He said not-quite-apologetically before standing next to Anjean.
"Thank you," Anjean said to her apprentice kindly. She looked to the three teenagers and said, "Help yourselves. I'm sorry we don't have much more, but I'll scrounge something up in a bit." Itaav was the first to grab a slice of bread and practically devour it. But after using all that magic earlier to keep the Helmaroc from spinning out of control, it didn't come as a surprise even to Link. "Anyways, yes, Missy, I did meet your grandmother during her adventuring days. She was like a firecracker that one… and more help than you can imagine in those dark times…" Anjean caught herself then and then rolled her wrist, as if she was dismissing that line of thought. "But never mind that. What on earth are you doing here? That pale boy does have a point; you royals don't often leave the Pride – especially after your grandmother."
Zelda's happy face dropped; Link tried to focus on a pictograph he couldn't quite make out on one of the walls; and Itaav just stopped eating his piece of bread halfway.
"Nothing good then…" the old woman said with a sigh. She looked over the three, all of them making an awful big effort not to look at her. "Well… I can see you all have had a rough time of it. No need to tell me… not now, at least. Just know that you're perfectly safe here."
"Alright, first question," Itaav said in his skeptic fashion, "What makes you think we're so safe here?"
Anjean's smile reappeared and she winked again. "These ruins are more than they appear young man. Once upon a time they kept a very strong force of evil at bay until it was banished to the far reaches of the Great Sea. So if anything bad is looking for you, it can't find you here. Truthfully, I'm rather amazed that even you three were able to find this place…" She paused, then looked up at Byrne. "How did they even get here?"
Byrne tilted his head toward Itaav. "He built an airship and flew it over here. I haven't seen it myself, but it makes sense."
The old woman had a look of astonishment on her face. "Really now…" She looked right at the pale boy and asked, "Young man, what's your name?"
The Engineer frowned, "Itaav Sallas. Don't see how my name matters much…"
Anjean's face seemed to darken for a split second before smiling cheerily and saying, "Well, that explains it then." Before Itaav could ask how on earth his name could explain anything, Anjean looked over to Link and said, "Now you haven't been very talkative. What's your name, young man?"
"Link Dollet." Said the blond boy a bit blankly.
"Link, eh? Come to think of it, I may have known one of your ancestors too." She said cheerily.
"Wha-" Was all Link managed from that.
The old woman smiled and nodded, "Haha, you two even have the same confused expression! It could just be coincidence, though… yet at the same time, maybe not. Your look-alike sailed with Zelda Tetra those many years ago. I suppose that's why Byrne was so trusting of you two."
All three of them gaped at that statement before gaping at the big man.
"B-but… that had to have been nearly a hundred years ago!" Zelda gawked.
Byrne seemed to shift uncomfortably where he stood, but he didn't say anything. Anjean merely chuckled, though, and said, "That's a story for another time. For now, I think all three of you need to rest."
Despite their heads being filled with many questions, they couldn't have agreed more.
The afternoon had been quiet. Anjean had been kind of enough to offer them the two spare rooms in her little underground complex. Zelda got her own room and the two boys shared, but for the most part, the three spent their time in the spacious living room and taking in the hospitality of the master and her apprentice. There were questions, of course, like what were they a master and apprentice of; how old were they exactly; what was this place supposed to be… but Anjean seemed very adamant on not answering any of those questions until the next day. And just so the temptation wasn't there, Anjean and Byrne seemed to go about their normal business as if the three weren't there.
Zelda ended up retreating to her room first for some sleep, saying, "I really do feel safe here. I don't think Anjean lied about this being a special place."
"This place is weird, Itaav." Link said as soon as he was sure he and his friend were relatively alone.
"You don't need to tell me twice… But this whole situation is weird." Itaav sounded absolutely exasperated, and from the way he was leaning back on the couch, one might've thought he was trying to blend into it. And Link couldn't blame him. This was definitely the weirdest situation he had ever been in. He ended up mimicking Itaav's attempt to sink into the couch. With any luck, they might succeed.
There was some silence, with both boys absorbed in their own thoughts. Eventually, Link said, "You know Itaav… I'll be honest. I wanted off the Pride too."
Itaav tilted his head ever so slightly to get a glimpse of his friend. "Really?"
"Yeah… but you can have your funky Palace. I was just hoping to save up enough money to get a place on the mainland – maybe I could get a job as a gardener or something. I mean, I already kill weeds with a machete all the time… It probably sounds boring, but to me it sounded like an adventure." Link confessed, staring up at the ceiling.
The Engineer stared up at the ceiling again as well. "Yeah, well… right about now, I'd take boring over this."
"Seconded."
There was silence again. Link finally sat up. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay too. You probably should soon too. You've done more than me or Zelda and you didn't sleep for long earlier."
"I guess so," Itaav said, slowly sitting up himself. Then he stood, "I'm going to check on the Helmaroc first."
Getting up, Link rolled his eyes. "I'm sure it's fine, but whatever. I'm not complaining, it means I get the bed." And with that, he headed off to their appointed room.
Itaav walked over to the tunnel and went through. Just like when they had first entered, getting out didn't take long at all. Evidently, they'd been underground for a while. It was dark out, though he couldn't tell what time exactly. It was a new moon out, so the sky was pitch black even with stars. Clouds were also rolling in – it would probably rain later in the night. Summoning up his normal purplish witchlight, he tried to backtrack to where the airship was. But he kept on getting side-tracked. The ruins in this place were interesting. He was sure that they didn't belong to ancient Hyrule, not that he would know. He'd never seen any ruins from there to tell him otherwise. But still, from a geographical point of view, these couldn't have been from ancient Hyrule. They were too close to the mainland.
He kept walking until he found what seemed to be part of a dilapidated old tower. Itaav raised his light a bit to see that it had probably once been very tall and probably even wider. He wouldn't be surprised if all the ruins on this island were parts of the tower… even more parts were probably under the sea… Once upon a time, this island had to have been much larger…
Thunder boomed overhead.
I need to find the Helmaroc.
He went back to business, feeling for his own magic on this island. As he did so, he nearly felt as if he was punched in the face. He knew where his airship was now, but he also now understood why Zelda had said she didn't think Anjean had been lying about this place. There was sacred magic at work here… enough to make him feel almost uncomfortable, though he hadn't a clue why. He was willing to bet that the tower that had once stood here had to have been of great importance… But that wasn't important now. Not compared to the plight of his airship potentially getting rained on.
Finding the Helmaroc, he was happy to see that Byrne was right when he said it would be safe. Evidently, Itaav had landed it perfectly in a place where the changing tides couldn't even reach it. That was a huge stroke of luck on his part. When he landed, he hadn't even thought about that… He went ahead and put water-proofing spells on it anyways, as well as a buffer spell to keep the salty air at bay. Too much salt could damage the foundations… And to be safer, he put a cloaking spell on it too. Sacred magic or not, he wasn't entirely sure what or would not be kept at bay and he did not want the Helmaroc getting damaged or stolen.
Thunder threatened even louder and closer now. With a grimace and a very hesitant goodbye to his ship, he went back to the wall where the entrance to the tunnel was. He'd forgotten that Byrne had used a spell to open it before. If he weren't a magical genius, that may have been a problem. Luckily, he was. He studied the magic on that wall and managed to open it. It caused him a little trouble at first, but he managed to get it before the rain came.
Itaav's steps felt very heavy as he walked through the tunnel. Link was right, he really hadn't slept much earlier…
He yawned, heading to the room that he and his friend were sharing. On the way, he passed Zelda's room. The door was closed, which was only to be expected. A royal girl needed her privacy… Maybe it was the fatigue talking, but she wasn't as bad as he'd first thought. A bit clueless about the outside world, but who could blame her? She was raised in the Inner Wall… and the Inner Wall was a different world. He would know, having spent two years in there before getting kicked to the orphan barracks.
Another yawn creeped up on him as he passed another room. The door was creaked open ever so slightly, a sliver of light falling across the hall he'd been walking through. He could hear voices… Anjean and Byrne were talking, he thought. He felt his ear twitch when he heard his name.
"Itaav… name…"
He got a little closer to the barely open door.
"Do you think it's a coincidence, Master?" It was Byrne.
"Probably not… knowing that boy's mother, she probably chose the name on purpose." Anjean had said, almost sounding kind of bitter.
Wait… his mother? That woke him up a bit more. What did Anjean know of his mother? Had they met?
She resumed, "But that isn't important right now-"
Like hell it isn't!
"I think the fact that the Pride's princess is here is a bigger problem… In all likelihood it means…"
There was silence. Itaav considered leaving, as they weren't talking about his mother anymore… but at the same time, they seemed to know a lot of what was going on with their little… adventure? That was one way of putting it, the Magic Engineer supposed.
"Byrne, will you be okay?" Anjean asked. Her voice sounded grave.
"Master?"
"The last time… the last time you had lost your way. Will you be fine this time around?"
There was silence again. What were they talking about? He kind of wished he could peek in, but if he did he'd get caught. And he had a feeling this was a conversation he wasn't welcome to hear.
"… Yes. He holds no temptation for me now." Byrne finally said.
"I hope so, Byrne," Anjean said tiredly. "He's a vile creature-"
"Oh! What a vile form you have taken!"
Itaav stumbled. That voice! There was a voice in his head and… and a picture… like a memory but… what… what was… What the hell was that? Whatever it was, his heart was pumping fast – as if he'd just seen something like a ghost…
"Itaav?" Anjean asked. "Itaav, are you feeling well?"
The Engineer noticed that he was on all fours, which pretty much put him at the same level as Anjean. He found himself staring blankly at the woman. "Sorry… just… just tired." He managed.
"What were you doing?" Byrne asked. Itaav could hear the suspicion in the intimidating man's voice.
"I just came back from outside… I wanted to check on my airship… It looked like a storm was coming so I put some proofing spells on it. I think I pushed myself a bit after today, though…" He said, still sounding quite blank. Really, what was that thing from before? What had happened? "Sorry, did I interrupt something?"
"No," Anjean said gently. "No, you didn't. Go on to the room and get some sleep now."
Itaav nodded and picked himself up. He supposed he was lucky not have been caught eavesdropping, though he was sure Byrne was on to him… but he didn't care. He was too preoccupied with that strange… whatever it was. It was like an old man… a weird looking old man… He seemed familiar but… Itaav had never seen an old man that looked so strange… And he had been saying he had a vile form… had he been talking to him?
You're going crazy, Itaav. He told himself as he entered the room. You're just really tired. He was half-tempted to kick Link off of the bed, but that would've involved way too much work. His fatigue had come back now… So he just made himself at home in the corner of the room. The moment he closed his eyes, he was out.
In which we find out a bit more about Itaav's early childhood. And in which I introduce Byrne and Anjean earlier than I thought I would. Not that that's a bad thing. I just didn't think Spirit Tracks would be having this much of an influence on the story. I can now safely say that this is an AU of Spirit Tracks. But don't worry, you don't need to have played the game to understand the story. The only thing ST and this story will have in common are characters and just a touch of storyline - which I will have to get into later.
On a completely different note... I want Byrne's babies. I don't care if he's absolutely terrifying, I want them. :B ... Does this mean I'm cheating on Vaati? D: