I *pulls a Cana Alberona on all y'all by sitting on a barrel*...am tired. Major insight for you and all that jazz.

Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know if you care or not, but damn I am a happy (and tired) Junei. Thank you, people who give me input on what they think!

This chapter! Krillin's wound/fail is addressed, random things with Sheik and reveals of some new villains happen, and Will meets his darling Master once more. Enjoy! It's a short one, though...

DISCLAIMER: I, JTS, do not own Dragon Ball Z or the Legend of Zelda. However, I did come up with a few OC's and spells myself, which I'll point out at the end of each chapter so there's no confusion.

WARNING: Every section following this sentence contains SPOILERSSSSSSS for both series! Read at your own risk!

The Rift Induced by the Fairies of Hell

...

Telma's Bar, Hyrule Castle Town

Thirteen hours after the Aeforce

...

"Get outta the way!"

Telma looked up in surprise as Yamcha and Krillin burst through the door, one of them unconscious and one of them half asleep. "What the—" As the surprise he waved her spoon to get her usual patrons out. "Shoo! And you there! Clear that table!" The terrified customer nodded and ripped the tablecloth off of the table. Petrified, the customer sprinted out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

"What on earth do you boys get yourselves into?" she muttered.

"He needs help," Yamcha said frantically, sweat dripping down his face. He and Telma gently placed the unconscious Krillin on the cleared table. Telma simply stared at the bloody gaping hole in his shoulder until Yamcha waved his hand in her face. "Hello?"

"Oh, great Hylia herself!" she fumed, darting around haphazardly in an effort to pull herself together. "Let me get my stuff—things like this happen more than you'd believe." The second she snapped out of it, Telma ran to her counter and grabbed both her medical kit and a clean towel. She dunked the towel in the basin of water next to her sink and came hustling over, dropping her basket of bandage rolls and medicines on the table next to him. She gently cleaned the wound as best as she could and wrapped his shoulder in bandages, but it didn't help much. Krillin had lost a lot of blood from the shot, and more was still coming through.

"How'd this happen?" Telma asked finally, wiping the sweat from her forehead with a bloodied hand.

"We were ambushed in a desert by Majora's Mask. We stopped him by blowing him up, but he got Krillin before he went down."

"Great," Telma proclaimed. "If that scum Majora came back, what's to stop Dampé the Gravekeeper from releasing a plague of ReDeads?"

"…Excuse me?"

"Horrible things, lad, you do NOT want to run into one. They scream and freeze you in place, and then they jump onto you and…" She couldn't continue.

"Okay... But I still fail to see how this relates to Krillin's major injury." Yamcha pounded his fist on the table, making the weak frame shudder. "Damn it all! Why isn't Dende here?"

Telma looked up. "Why?"

"He's a healer," Yamcha explained. "His Ki—he's able to manipulate it to heal injuries, among other things."

"Oh… Healing, you say?" A vague, horrible idea formed slowly in her mind. Telma knew that she would regret it eventually. But if it helped save Krillin's life, she was willing to risk her morals for this.

"Telma? Is something wrong?"

"…You just bet your life on that, hon," Telma said through clenched teeth. She walked over to the coat hook on the wall and grabbed her jacket. "Come on," she said as she opened the door. "And bring Krillin."

"I don't get it." Yamcha cocked his head to the side. "Why?"

Telma frowned, a grim anticipating look on her face. "Shut up. I already hate Termina. You're not making this whole sacrifice any easier." She jerked her head towards the door. "Get him and come. I've got my carriage tied outside the South Gate. We can make it to Clock Town in an hour if I hurry."

"Termina? You mean, where Majora's Mask said it was from? But…what about that huge war you guys had with the ?"

"Some sacrifices must…" She took in a deep breath before finishing. "Must be made."

"…Okay, if you think it's the right thing to do," Yamcha relented. "But what's there that can help Krillin?"

She hated having to even say the words, but she had to explain to him. "…The Great Fairies. They have incredible healing powers, and right now the ones in Hyrule and the Great Sea are a little, er…iffy, to say the least. The only ones still accepting requests are in Termina. Maybe, just maybe, an old friend will help me out."

Yamcha shrugged. "Whatever works."

"Good. Then take Krillin outside and I'll lead you to the carriage." Telma jerked her head once more, and this time Yamcha carried Krillin through the door. She led them on a short walk out the southern gate of Castle Town and to her carriage.

"Get in."

Yamcha obliged the bartender and hopped up quickly, trying his best not to disturb the midget in his arms. He laid Krillin down on a small bench inside and plopped onto the wood floor with a whoosh of breath. It was pretty cramped inside the carriage, what with all the storage jars and crates, so he had to cram in between two of them to fit.

He heard a thump from outside and craned his neck to see what it had been. Telma had seated herself up in front to drive. She pulled back a curtain, through which Yamcha could see two chestnut horses fastened to the reins. Telma glanced quickly at the unconscious Krillin with a stern yet worried look. "Is he okay?"

"Possibly. He's not bleeding as much, but he won't hold out much longer."

"In that case, hold on tight. I'll go as fast as I can. We should be outside the Clock Town gate in a few hours, so I'm just praying he can hold up that long."

"It should be fine, Krillin's had much worse than a hole in the shoulder."

Telma was about to close the curtain, but she paused quickly. "And one last thing."

Yamcha noticed a sort of agonized, tedious note in Telma's voice. "Don't break the pots."

"Wh-what? That's seriously what you have to say...?"

"Don't break them. They hold the only alcoholic milk in existence, Chateau Romani. That stuff is two-hundred Rupees a bottle, so don't spill a drop."

Yamcha tried to get this straight. "Alcoholic…milk."

"Yep. You'd be surprised how often would-be heroes break pots in Hyrule. It's somethin' to behold."

He threw his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "I can't wait to get back home."

A wry grin found itself on Telma's face at his expression. She practically threw the curtain closed and yelled, "Hang on! I'm going as fast as I possibly can, hon—'cuz the sooner we get there, the sooner we leave!" She shouted and cracked the horsewhip, shooting the horses and carriage forward. Yamcha hurried to grab something and hold down Krillin as the carriage jerked over hills and tore through small streams, heading south to Termina.

"You heard the woman," he muttered softly to himself. "Don't you go dying on us just yet."

...

Somewhere

One hour after the Aeforce

...

"Stop!"

Will almost jumped at the noise, but somehow managed to keep himself grounded for long enough to realize that someone was calling out to him. The silence of five minutes had been absolutely overwhelming to him. And then five minutes had turned to six, six to ten, ten to thirty, thirty to sixty. And the silence was never good, from where Will saw it. If someone came after so long, that meant that a big crowd was coming soon.

Confused, Will banged a fist against his skull, and when the resounding ring cleared, he realized that a young woman was on her knees on the ground before him, clutching her head like someone was shrieking into her ears. By this point, he knew the difference between guys and girls fairly well, and something told him that she was definitely, well, just that. A she.

She had water leaking from her eyes, too. He had heard about that before, and he had seen it a couple times, but he wasn't too acquainted with the actual phenomena.

Tears. Those water trails were called tears.

"No!" she cried once more, shaking her head as if trying to throw off a rabid beast. "Stay away from us! You can't touch them!"

He walked up to her quietly and asked, "Are you crying?"

Almost instantly, her head snapped up, and the look in her eyes held such ferocity that Will yelped and leaped away as she jumped to her toes.

"What the—who are you?" she said in alarm, stumbling back over her own feet.

"Willfort Grandine," he replied, so softly that even he wasn't sure that he had actually said it.

"Speak up," she snapped, suddenly looking quite authoritative. He could see the strength she held in her, the power and command—even when she was stumbling back and pulling away from him with all the speed in her body.

"Willfort Grandine," he corrected, louder this time to make sure she could hear. "I guard the door."

"The…I'm sorry, the door?" She appeared slightly more sedate now, so he risked an answer.

"Yeah…" Will's hand reached up to scratch the back of his neck. "But to be honest, I don't really get it. Everyone says there's a door here, but I haven't found it. It's probably a lie."

"A door, eh?" The woman sighed softly, a light strenuous smile playing on her lips. It looked too forced to be sincere. "How good are you at guarding it?"

At this, he straightened up. "Very! I don't know where it is, but I guard the door to heaven very very well."

"…Heaven?!"

Her eyes went wide with fear as she dropped to her knees, still holding her head.

"What's wrong?" Will asked quickly, suddenly feeling this odd sense of urgency. Her time is short. He didn't knew who said it, but he felt that it was true.

A crazed look danced on her face. "Oh, oh no. It's true then. The demon…he really did kill me."

"What demon?"

"Ghirahim."

Will's eyes flew wide open as he rushed to her side, and the questions just started pouring out. "What? Ghirahim attacked you? But I thought he was in prison! Didn't he die too? And was Fi involved? And what's your name? Do I know you?"

A tick mark appeared on her forehead as she muttered shakily, "For a sword spirit, you've got a lot o' questions. I'll answer one at a time. Name's Nabooru, Sage of Spirit."

A Sage? Killed by Ghirahim? That was a capital offense, putting it in mildest terms. "How?"

"He…" She shuddered. "He used one of his secret techniques. Have you ever had to fight him before?" When Will shook his head, she explained, "There's a moment during a fight with him when he'll move his rapiers to streamline himself and rush you, leaving a shadow trail behind. He probably perfected this technique, making it so that he creates a shadow that moves as he wills it to."

"Is it bad?"

She scoffed. "About as bad as it gets. It killed me, and I run an army."

"What's happening out there?" a worried Will asked. "It's not usually this empty around here. More people should have come. A break means a big overflow."

Her expression darkened as she sat up straight and sighed, rubbing her arms. "Something is coming. I could feel it, kid. In the walls, in the air, in the Ae that surrounds our world. In the magic that none of us feel is normal. Everything is shadowed, and what that shadow really represents…well, that's what scares me."

"Is it death?" he asked.

Nabooru gave no answer.

"Are people dying?"

"So far, my guards. Everyone at the fortress is dead, and I imagine our Great Bay hideout is next without me and Kyrior to protect it." Now she had a question for him. "Then will they come here?"

"If they were good people, then yes."

"Then no worries. They may seem tough and bitchy, but they're really the most loyal people I know."

"Ah."

"Thank you for hearing me out."

"That's what I'm here for."

"That's good," she said with a sigh.

Will and the Sage sat in silence for a few moments, until he suddenly noticed something dark out of the corner of his eye. This wasn't right—Nabooru was being slowly but surely eaten away, her body growing more faint by the moment.

"Sage, look!"

"What?" Nabooru suddenly seemed to realize what was happening, and in a frantic rush she grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Crap! This is not good. Will, you must listen to me. This isn't normal, I shouldn't be leaving like this. That means someone is trying to erase me from this place, so the only one here will be you."

Will felt a choking sensation in his throat but forced it down. What did she mean? Why would someone want him to be alone?

Who could possibly need him?

"Someone is coming for you, Willford, but you have to be strong no matter what. You must not fall to him—"

Her words were cut short when her body disintegrated into nothingness.

And then, in her silence, another voice came to fill the void.

"Heyo, Will!"

The voice that he heard made his blood run cold.

Master.

His eyes went wide as he tried to run, but before he could go anywhere a gloved hand wrapped around his neck. He let out a rasping cry as the attacker lifted him up, up off the ground, up above where he normally flew, and squeezed on his windpipe.

"Oye," he snickered, getting nothing but a frightened whimper from Will in response. "You're no fun, Grandine. The hell did you run off to?"

"N-no, it's impossible. You can't be back," he stammered, spots dancing across his vision. Words like loyalty and betrayal flashed across his vision before disappearing all together and giving way to this terrible blankness filled to the top with fear. Something in him went numb with his master's touch, and he felt himself shrinking into something he didn't want to become. A shell of the Will that the years of compassion and friendship had made him into. He didn't want to lose that, but he felt himself regressing to…into something he couldn't quite remember.

Only later would he realize that this was what he was like until his Master left him.

"Heaven's guardian, eh?" the man drawled. "Fits you well. Soft. Weak. Pathetic. Nobody deserves to be guarded in heaven, all the guards should be in hell. Less…breakouts that way."

Desperate, he pleaded with the shadowy figure before him. "Please, Master, d-don't hurt me—"

"Shut up!" In response, a black-clad arm reached out and struck at his face. A searing shot of pain hit Will head-on, but for some reason he didn't have the strength to cry out.

"Why're you begging me for mercy, Will?" he goaded, and with a yell swung him around to slam him into the inundated ground in a collision of water. This time, he found the energy in him to scream, and the sound dragged a cruel laugh from the man.

"Don't be such a weakling, kiddo," the man said with a frown. "I can't fight with a weak-ass sword."

"I…" Will pushed at the ground to make himself stand upright, but to no avail. "I will never…fight for you!"

"That so?" He raised an and pulled Will up to eye level, and Will got another good look at eyebrow those eyes. Those bright red eyes that spoke of evil themselves in their depths. And right now, they glowed with maleficence.

"Oh, I love that about you, Will. You keep on believing you have a chance to rebel against me, when deep down you know that the bond between sword and wielder is permanent and absolute. Honestly, just think! I'm your first priority, but hey. If you want to go to those people whom you so love coddling, then go right ahead. You'll just have to live with me making their trip to heaven plenty painful."

That stopped Will from retaliating. Just the idea of Master hurting the denizens of the waiting place was enough to stop him from arguing, because once the words were out of the man's mouth, Will knew it was true. The bond. Master was forcing the bond on him. If he betrayed the denizens, he went to his abusive Master. If he betrayed Master, the denizens suffered.

So he chose Master.

He was loyal now to Master once again.

He'd sacrifice it all for them.

Master let out a cheery little laugh at Will's resigned look. "Oh, that fits you perfectly, Grandine. You realized where your loyalties lie. And you know what else?"

The man waited for an answer coldly, and Will felt himself die a little inside.

"…What else…Master Dark?

The one and only Dark Link let slip a tiny little snicker as he surveyed his fallen sword spirit, Willford Grandine, and planted a boot firmly on the small of his back.

"Nothing you can do will ever, ever stop me, Will. Now get off your ass and let's go. We have somewhere to be."

With that order out there for the both of them to understand, Will's one and only Master stood in silence and released his sword spirit; and Will, no longer able to do anything more, followed closely in pursuit with one of those things called a tear in his eye.

...

Atop City in the Sky

Thirteen hours after the Aeforce

...

"About time you idiots woke up."

Sheik yawned quietly to himself as the other two, Tien and Chiaotzu, began to stir. About time, too. It was already late afternoon, and who knew if Link was still waiting for him at Zora's Domain. He had been waiting around with Ooccoo the Oocca and her son for them to wake up for a few hours now.

(A/N: Ooccoo the chicken…duck…bird…thing…yeaaaah. Oh my god, is she turducken!? Just needed to ask that, sorry.)

Tien yawned so loudly that Ooccoo shuddered, molting a couple feathers in the process. "Oh, boy. I haven't slept that well since…well, I don't quite know when."

"You said it, Tien!" Chiaotzu jumped up and zipped through the air, startling Ooccoo Jr. in his sleep. "I feel great!"

"You guys are impossible," Sheik said gruffly. "Thanks for sleeping so late that I missed my appointment. Now I'll never make it in time. And our search last night was less than fruitful."

"I'll say." Ooccoo chirped mournfully. "That was a nightmare! I thought Argorok only came out in the day, and I certainly didn't know he was even still alive! Good thing Sheik was able to stop him."

"My wrist still hurts." Sheik held up said fractured wrist and let it dangle loosely in the air for a moment before wincing in pain. "Gotta get that checked."

"Oh," Chiaotzu said as he landed and stretched, "poor wrist. Hey, we should check out the upper areas of this place before we leave, don't ya think?"

A scoff. "Do it yourself, losers. If I had known you guys were this horrible at investigation, I wouldn't have offered to help you."

"And Tien?"

"Yeah?" Tien's three eyes blinked in perfect sync.

"Don't fall again."

Tien smiled wryly to himself as he pulled on his boots. "Not my fault. Sheik didn't tell me that the blue blocks aren't secured."

"I didn't because I figured you'd be smart enough to figure out for yourselves why they were a different color." Sheik turned away sharply, arms folded. "I was wrong."

Behind him, Sheik heard a voice whispering, "Jeepers, who'd have guessed that he has a worse temper problem than Vegeta."

The part of Sheik that was Zelda recognized the name, realized the insult, and went ballistic. It was all Sheik himself could do to stop from using Din's Fire and torching City in the Sky. "Goddamn it, not now!" he mumbled, as he felt something trying to get out inside him. Zelda was trying to take over again.

Tien and Chiaotzu were laughing quietly from the little joke…

Until Ooccoo Jr. squeaked.

And Chiaotzu looked to see what had made the little guy squeak.

And saw that Sheik was glowing white with blinding, barely contained rage.

"Um… Tien?" Chiaotzu stammered. "Why is he glowing?"

"The light's playing tricks on your eyes," Tien said without looking up.

"No, he's really glowing."

"Sure, sure he is."

"Tien, cut it out and pay attention!" Chiaotzu flew forward, grabbed Tien's head, and faced it at the problem.

Tien's face turned pale. "That's some power."

"I…ugh, forget it," Chiaotzu groaned as he shook his pale head.

"You guys are absolute IMBECILES!" he roared, and only when he stopped did he realize that his voice was being overshadowed by the voice of Zelda herself. Sheik was having lots of trouble containing Zelda's rage, and he knew that he was losing the fight. Zelda was the one speaking, not him. He let out a furious yell as the blinding light exploded outward in a flash. Pure whiteness filled the room for a moment, before dwindling away.

Tien, Chiaotzu, Ooccoo and Ooccoo Jr. all stared intently at Sheik, with jaws (or similar appendages) hanging open. Ooccoo Jr. let out a confused squeak before fainting and dropping to the floor.

"What are you staring at, freak show?" Sheik hissed, his head feeling fuzzy.

"Y-you, you're a-a-a…" Chiaotzu couldn't finish the sentence.

"What?" Sheik looked down at his hands and was surprised to see two feminine, white-gloved hands. He looked down a little further and saw a fuchsia dress. "Oh, son of a bitch."

No longer in her Sheik form, Zelda turned to face Tien, Chiaotzu, Ooccoo and her son. "Well, this should be fun to explain."

...

Inside the Prison

Fourteen hours after the Aeforce

...

"So that's what happened at the Ancient Cistern place?" Frieza looked at Ghirahim with the cruelest grin he could manage. "If I had known you were this smart, I wouldn't have been so imbecilic earlier."

"I'll say," Cell said.

Ganondorf chuckled. "Ghirahim, you've actually done something impressive."

"Why, thank you."

"Why do you always die before I can use your smarts?" Demise asked.

"You usually off me, one way or another."

"Such details."

Ghirahim laughed. "My recorded message must have scared Faron to no end. And it probably had that midget prince Vegeta and his green friends on the run too."

Instantly, Cell, Frieza and King Cold whirled around to face the Hylians. "VEGETA?!"

"What? What the problem, guys? I checked him out, and so what if I did? He's not nearly as strong as Link in terms of Ae."

Ganon groaned and pantomimed throwing up. "Oh my god, you have no idea how wrong that came out."

Strangely enough, Frieza was too held up to listen. "Vegeta," he mumbled. "Oh, that stupid Saiyan brat! When I get my hands on that traitorous monkey, I'll—"

He felt a hand on his shoulder and stopped. "…You'll see him soon enough," Ghirahim said coolly. "I've been planning this escape for years, my friend, and nothing will stop us now."

And then Frieza, all of a sudden, recognized that voice of Ghirahim's. He recognized it from 29 years ago, from the voice calls through which he and a man of unknown origins with the alias of Thae had masterminded the murder of Planet Vegeta's queen.

"Ghirahim, wait a—"

Before Frieza could say any more, Ghirahim slapped him a little too hard on the back and wrapped an arm over his shoulder with a jolt. "Because I have a secret weapon! A few of our allies have been in hiding too long." He clapped his hands giddily. "Oh, this is going to be fabulous!" He threw Frieza off before he could complain, and shot him a dirty look at the last moment.

That son of a bitch, I was right! Frieza thought his head might pop of if he didn't cool down, but he couldn't just ignore this.

That man. That man, Ghirahim, had to be Thae.

Ghirahim pointed to the area around the central pillar with a flourish, and Cell thought the air grew slightly distorted, but he wasn't sure. Suddenly, the air turned black and began to take shapes of other people. The first one to emerge from the shadows was a small young man with pale skin, purple hair, and a dark purple hat and clothes.

"Hello there, little brother," Ghirahim said with a grin. "How are things?"

"Well enough." Vaati the Wind Mage smiled as other people began to appear. "It's been a long time, friends."

...

Yeah! Vaati! Wind Bats! Yay!

OC's! Will! Yay! I'm wondering if any of you guessed it was Dark, Will's master; I hope it wasn't very obvious. I feel bad for the poor bloke now. Which one of the two? Well, that's spoilers, so...

Next time! Sorry, but the villains won't make a show. The first of the Z Fighters make it to the Spring, and news of the bosses reaches a few more ears than it should...

Okay, that's it. I'm going to sleep. Hell, I'll end up waking up in three hours anyway. Ciaooooooo... *sinks into dead faint*