Hello everyone! Sorry this chapter is really long, like more so than normal. Actually idk if it is, it just feels like it was longer to write. Haha I didn't get carried away, no ^.^ anyways, enjoy!
The two figures made their way further outside Hyrule, now leaving the outskirts of castle town. They walked in silence, not exchanging a word between them. That is, until Lexi spoke out of sheer curiosity.
"Vaati," she began tentatively, breaking the silence. "What exactly happened with you back at the festival? I mean, I wanted you to meet the princess and Link, but you just..." She trailed off, thinking about how Vaati had looked worried at the sight of the princess and her hero, and she had to ask herself more then once her eyes hadn't been playing tricks on her or if Vaati really had shown a brief moment of nervousness.
Purposely avoiding eye contact with her wide violet eyes, Vaati looked straight ahead. "I just wasn't... Interested in meeting the princess and her Hero," he said venomously, spitting out the word as though it left a bitter taste in his mouth. Of course he wouldn't tell Lexi the real reason he had hid from Zelda and Link, that they would either lock him away or kill him on first sight. He had a feeling she wouldn't take to hearing that bit of news very well.
"There's more to it then that," Lexi stated accusingly. "You're hiding something big, I can tell." Sighing, she lowered her gaze. "You know, if you ever wanted to tell me about whatever it is, I won't judge you. I know we just met, but if you need to talk I'll always be available to listen."
That stunned him, and he couldn't find a bitter sentence to retort with.
"I don't have anything to hide," he said, full of arrogance so to vainly hide his surprise. He didn't want her to know how unexpected that comment of hers was for him to hear. "Even if I did, it's not like I'd tell you anything."
"Oh, stop pretending," Lexi said. "I've been trained as a guard, and as I said before I know when a person is withholding important information. I can tell you are, and you don't have to tell me anything. It's just that, if you ever want to talk, I'm letting you know that I'll listen without accusation. Everyone makes mistakes, and if you did something or saw an event occur... Well, I know how hard that can be to face alone. Just know that I'm here."
"Um," Vaati began, uncharacteristically unsure of himself for once. But it didn't matter what he said next, because Lexi was already lost in her own train of thought with her normally bright eyes slightly dimmed. He even thought that he could see pools of moisture forming in the corners of her eyes as she thought about a past event, but he couldn't be sure. Shaking his head, he carried on walking at a brisk pace with Lexi now trailing slightly behind him.
After a few more minutes of this awkward silence, Lexi asked, "where are we headed now exactly? Not just aimlessly wandering around, I hope."
"No my dear, are most definitely heading towards a particular place," Vaati replied, his voice as full of attitude as ever.
"Then where are we going? There's nothing along this barren route but Death Mountain."
Smirking, Vaati replied to her over his shoulder with superiority. "That's exactly where we're headed, I'm glad you finally noticed." His tone contained this mocking, demoting quality almost as though he was calling her out on stupidity without even speaking the words aloud.
"Why are we going there? It's practically the most dangerous place in all of Hyrule!" Lexi exclaimed animatedly, her arms flailing about to emphasize her distress.
"I know, and what better place for a ferocious boss monster to make his hideout?" More to himself then anyone, Vaati muttered, "if it's who I think it is, he's made that mountain his hideout before."
Lexi was getting more worried by the second, as she'd only ever heard horror stories about what was on Death Mountain, and she'd yet to journey there herself. By the goddesses, she had never even been to the base of the mountain! "How do you even know that!? Anyone else would think you personally knew these boss monsters from the way you speak of them!" Lexi stated, her voice coming out shakily.
Her words struck a cord with Vaati, and he tried not to let on just how deeply they had affected him. "I've got more experience then you may think," he stated darkly. There was an edge to his tone that suggested that they were already too far into the conversation for his liking. Lexi could tell, and decided not to press that topic further.
"Just one more thing," she began slowly. "How far up do we have to go? Surely not the whole way, right?"
"That's where you're wrong," he spoke in a bored drawl. "We're going right to the top of the summit, because that's where the monster will be. I'm sure of it."
Upon hearing this, Lexi gulped. Her hint of nervousness didn't evade his ears, and being the emotionally insensitive man he was, he felt the need to make a stinging remark. "Oh my darling, you aren't scared are you?" He asked, fake worry lacing his words.
Narrowing her eyes, Lexi bravely replied. "No, I'm not scared. I've just never been up there, that's all. But hey," she said, trying to put on a brave face. "There's a first for everything!"
Ugh, her enthusiasm was annoying. Vaati couldn't stand hearing her contagious cheerfulness, it was driving him insane! The moment her usefulness wore out, he would be getting rid of her as quick as a flash.
By now they had approached the base of the mountain. Out of the corner of his eye, Vaati could see Lexi staring up at the summit in combined shock and awe. "Enough staring, lets go," he snapped, and began to make his ascent up the mountain. Lexi, shaking her head out of the daze she had been in, followed closely behind.
Onwards they trudged up the trail, through tunnels and past caves without any uncalled for monster disturbances. Vaati had to admit that Lexi was keeping up rather well. After her initial shock had worn off, her eyes had narrowed and she climbed behind him with this tireless energy about her, as though making it to the top of the mountain was the most important task in the world.
When they were just over halfway up, Vaati spotted some Keese flying overhead. Uninterested in dealing with them at the moment, Vaati directed his hands at the Keese and quietly muttered his favorite, most patented spell. "To stone with you!"
Immediately, the Keese turned to nothing more than grey slabs of stone, and plummeted from the sky down to just a few feet away from where Lexi was standing. Upon impact with the hard ground of the Death Mountain path, the Keese statues shattered into a hundred tiny pieces. Vaati smiled to himself, pleased that his spell had worked so perfectly.
Lexi however had not been expecting some Keese to drop from the sky as stone statues. Upon their impact with the ground, she jumped slightly and let out a surprised screech. "Ahh! What was that!?"
"I'm sure it was nothing-" Vaati began, but Lexi wasn't paying him any attention, which left him feeling slightly miffed. Instead, Lexi had left the path and was looking at the broken stone pieces of the remains of the fallen Keese.
"I wonder what could have caused this," she asked to no one in particular. "These look like... These look like they used to be Keese!" She exclaimed in newfound realization. "Vaati, you've got to come see this! It's like something turned the Keese to stone while they were flying in midair!"
"Wow, I wonder what unnatural being could have caused that amazing display," he replied sarcastically. "Come on, this doesn't affect us at all. Let's get a move on!"
"But what if the thing that turned these Keese into stone turns us to stone as well?" Lexi asked, looking around.
Vaati was finding it extremely difficult not to tell her that it had in fact been him who had caused those Keese to turn to stone. Oh, how that girl was getting on his nerves. "No one is going to turn us to stone, I guarantee it!" Vaati said, annoyance slipping its way into his tone of voice. "Stop worrying and come on!"
Still not fully assured that she wasn't at risk from being turned to cold stone, Lexi left the broken stone Keese and stood up, heading back over to the trail. "Alright," she said with a suppressed sigh.
"Good," Vaati huffed, his typical bad temper flickering dangerously high. If he had to put up with one more thing from this girl... Well, she had better prove herself useful when battling that boss monster.
For the rest of the way up the dangerous mountain path, the pair only encountered a few octorocks which Lexi easily destroyed with her sword. Vaati could have dealt with them in mere seconds, but he didn't want to turn them to stone and have another incident like he had earlier involving the Keese, nor did he want to flauntingly show off his supreme wind sorcery just yet. So he decided to wait until the surely epic boss battle before demonstrating his powers in what was sure to be a most eye catching display of pure talent. Now that was something he was looking forwards to.
Finally, after what must have been a few hours of travel, Vaati and Lexi had almost reached the top of the mountain. It was now nightfall, and they had to be especially careful of where they stepped, to make sure they didn't slip and fall to the rocky depths of the mountain below.
"We're almost there," Lexi said. "So, which monster do you think will be there?"
"I can't say right now, but I only hope my suspicions are incorrect," Vaati said. Outside he seemed calm and ready to fight, but inside he was as nervous as could be. What if it was that one monster... What would he do? Would he be able to fight him? These questions were eating away at him inside, slowly tearing him apart. He had nothing to do but put these thoughts at the back of his mind and hope for the best.
Suddenly, Lexi saw a near-black silhouette of a person running silently up the mountain path, not ten feet away. Quickly they ran upwards towards the top of the mountain until they were out of sight. Lexi blinked, not believing her eyes. That body shape, that tunic, and the hat, they were all too familiar characteristics. The person she just saw had looked exactly like Link, but just darker, sneakier and less noticeable. No, she must be imagining things. It was late, and she was tired. That's all it had been, right?
"We're here," Lexi said minutes later when they too had reached the top of the mountain. Looking around, Lexi didn't see the man from earlier. It must have been her imagination.
So now they were at the very top of the mountain, overlooking all of Hyrule. Yet something was missing, where was the monster? There was nothing in sight!
Just as Lexi was about to make a remark about how pointless their escapade had been, she saw Vaati's eyes widen in shock and turned to see what he was looking at. Her reaction was the same feeling of shock that was clearly evident on Vaati's face.
Flying high in the sky above them was a huge, monstrous bird. It had glowing yellow eyes, red and white feathers decorating the rim of the wings and black feathers on the main body. Long tail feathers of yellow and green trailed majestically behind in the wind, and this beast had a beak as sharp as a blade. This bird was truly a force to be reckoned with, and in a moment of shock Lexi realized that this bird was heading straight towards them.
Feeling weak in the knees, Vaati cursed at the goddesses. How dare they do this to him! It could have been any monster at all, but no, they just had to choose this one. The one he had previously been closest allies with, the only one he had ever called a friend. Now they would have to fight to the death, and there was nothing he could to to help it. His nightmares had come true, and he would finally have to fight him.
The Helmaroc King.
Did any of you guess who the monster was before hand? Are you suprised? I hope you liked the results, and now it's time to answer to my wonderful reviewers! Thank you all again for the great support :)
Legendoffun ~ Thank you, I'm very glad you liked it! Haha yeah, that would have been so funny! He's not scared exactly, he just didn't want a run in with Link (as you can guess, that wouldn't have gone too well) so I guess he was just being smart and thinking quickly...? It did hurt his pride though, thats for sure! He would just die if he was chained up in a dungeon like a common on criminal, that would destroy his ego even more.
Midna213546 ~ Thank you so much for your kind words! It's things like these that make me want to write more ^~^
Zetra Shink ~ Aww, thank you! Vaati is my favorite villain too, much better than Ghirahim XD
Lovely Kiridia ~ I agree, that wasn't the best idea on his part, but imagine how embarrassing it would be for his ego to go by a fake name! He would have been crushed, completely unable to handle it XP Haha, I think 'Lord Vaati' would have been a bit much, but I wouldn't have put it past him. Yeah, I think he does have a crush on her! Ooh wonder how that'll play out...
Melkor'sOnlyLeitenant ~ Haha yes, he does seem jealous, doesn't he ;) Yeah, he can be pretty intimidating sometimes. Hmm, I think Lexi may already be suspicious. Imagine just how surprised she'll be next chapter when he demonstrates his sorcery! Yes, Lexi will fight. She doesn't have a sword for nothing!
purplepanic ~ Thank you! He's not jealous, is he...? I guess well have to see how that possible romance plays out ^.^ I'm glad you think so, I thought it fit his character as well. Haha I like that comparison! I'm excited to write them fighting alongside each other too!