Aaaand I'm back! I wish I could've enjoyed the warm weather and relaxed more, but my dad's definition of "relaxing" is do literally as much as possible and only go back to the hotel to sleep. Ah, well. Maybe another day.

I think this was about where I had left off before I started rewriting this story. I had the next couple of chapters after it as well, but I never actually posted them because I hated how they sounded, so this is all-new stuff you guys will be reading form here on out! Milestone achieved!

Reviews from the previous chapter:

Katriss: Glad you enjoyed the chapter! I certainly try my best to keep things entertaining. Also, thanks for letting me know about the repeated dialogue. I try to catch those as I go (I'm basically blanching half the time as I write because of how often it happens), but it does manage to escape my sight every now and then.

Guest: I wouldn't call it a full-blown tragedy, but I sure as heck am not going for the happy happy Disney ending. I don't wanna go into details because I wanna keep some form of surprise going, but I know some people read stories and want 100% happy endings, hence why I decided to mention it just in case there were people reading this and hoping for there to be a perfect ending.

Chapter posted 5.19.18


Chapter 10: Six Words

"Ok, I get that maybe I shouldn't have let that cucco loose in the manor, but did you really have to wake me up this early because of it?" I yawned as I looked out a window in the hallway. "The sun's not even up yet. This is actual torture."

Over the past week, I constantly switched between being Ghirahim's "loyal" pet and being a remlit in hylian form. I really only caused mischief whenever I felt Ghirahim's nonsense was getting a few notches too high, which was quite often during the first few days. He'd tell me there was a tiny smudge on a vase, shortly afterwards he'd find that all of the vases near his room were smeared with soap residue; he'd yell at a servant for tripping and nearly spilling tea on the ground, I'd rig his door to have tea bags fall on his head as soon as he opened it. After a few days of battling his pettiness with my own, he seemed to get the message and dialed it back a little, which was very strange and unexpected as far as I was concerned, but I wasn't about to question a blessing like that.

"Skychild, you know nothing of torture. This is a minor inconvenience at most," Ghirahim replied, ignoring my sarcasm, "and, this has nothing to do with that particular…incident. We will discuss that at a later time. The reason for your early awakening is because of an important meeting I must attend."

"Last I checked, when someone says 'I', they're talking about themselves, not another person."

"Ah, so you remember the definition of a word, how grand." Ghirahim shook his head. "In case you have forgotten, I have made you my bodyguard, so thus you must attend the meeting as well."

"As if there's people you work with who are dumb enough to try and kill you," I scoffed.

"That is actually the case," Ghirahim replied. "In fact, I have suspicions that it was another noble who sent those assassins from the previous week."

"Oh." I winced and shifted my gaze to the floor, unsure of how to respond. This was why I hated getting involved in the lives of royalty or nobility. It seemed like there was always someone scheming to kill someone else for one dumb reason or another.

Ghirahim led me to a room with a large table at the center of it. Various demons, most likely noblemen or military commanders, were seated around it, waiting for the meeting to start. Being in a manor full of people who hated my existence was already bad enough, but being in a room full of the most powerful of them…it set me on edge. I desperately hoped for the meeting to remain cordial, especially since I had no real weapons to fight with. How Ghirahim thought it made sense for a bodyguard to have no weapons was far beyond me.

Ghirahim took a seat at the table while I stood behind him. "I take it General Osoku is running late?" When nearly everyone in the room murmured in confirmation, Ghirahim sighed. "Well, knowing his habits, he won't be here for at least another half hour, so I suppose we shall start without him."

The meeting was mostly about politics, so my interest waned rather quickly. I took instead to sizing up the people in the room. Save for a few scrawny men, they all looked intimidating, cunning, or a combination of the two. These were definitely people I wouldn't want to fight without a sword or a transformation mask. Based on what Ghirahim told me, there were a few of them who wanted his head on a pike. With his habit of flaunting about and the fact that he had more or less taken me under his wing (despite it being against my will), it was no surprise to me that some people would grow tired of his antics. I tried to pick out potential suspects, but looking at their faces was like looking at a brick wall. It was impossible for me to get a read on anyone.

"—long-coveted 'spirit maiden', right?" A voice from the other side of the table caught my attention. The subject was on Zelda now. "I'm calling bullshit on that one. You've been hunting for her for, what, millennia at this point? Face it, Ghirahim; you need to stop living in the past. Demise is dead. There's no changing that. Don't waste your time trying to bring back a dead god."

"You dare assume you know the events of a war that occurred eras before your birth?" Ghirahim gripped the table, causing small cracks to appear in it. "Unlike you, I was there. My Master is merely sealed away. If he were actually dead, I doubt I would still be alive now."

"Perhaps your memory has failed in that time. Physical immortality does not necessarily mean mental immortality, after all."

"Seeing as I have been preparing for the ritual to remove the seal since the day that blasted goddess stripped my Master of physical form, I doubt that I have incorrectly recalled what transpired at the end of the war."

"Well, let's assume for a moment that, perhaps, you're right, and Demise is still alive. Do you really think he'd give you mercy for taking so long to revive him?" The other demon crossed his arms. "I doubt that the stories of his ruthlessness are far off the mark. Sword or not, if he's pissed about how long it took for you to break the seal—which I'm sure would be the case by now—he'd make sure to make it known, even if it ends in your death. I think it would in your best interest to keep him under Hylia's spike. Though, as I've been saying, he is dead, so it doesn't—"

Ghirahim's hand broke the table. "That's enough out of you. One more word of blasphemy and there will be consequences." His voice was eerily calm and cold. I could tell it took all his willpower to not leap across the table and grab his adversary's throat. The other demon raised a brow and met Ghirahim's glare, leaning back into his chair. It appeared that he knew not to push the subject any further than he already had.

"Now, perhaps we can return to a more…pleasant topic. I trust there are no more words to say on this matter?" Ghirahim glared at everyone at the table. Before another word could be said, the doors burst open to reveal a rather stout demon. All heads turned to the newcomer in a mixture of shock, confusion, and annoyance. Ghirahim was clearly more on the annoyed side. "General Osoku! What in Din's name took you so long? And why do you look as though you were chased by a wild boar?"

"A-apologies, milord," Osoku panted. "I would have been here much sooner, but you see, right as I was about to leave, I received an interesting report, a-and I had to double-check to make sure it was correct, which took longer than I would have liked, but then—"

"What is it?" Ghirahim was still clearly irritated from the earlier conversation, as he cut off Osoku much like he did the previous demon. "Quit fumbling over your words and spit it out already! What could possibly be so important that you took well over an hour to arrive?"

My jaw clenched. I didn't know for sure what report Osoku had received, but whatever it was, it was something that gave him an excited glint in his eye and was worth being scolded by Ghirahim for being late. If it was what I thought it was, Link and I were running out of time.

Osoku took a deep breath and collected himself. Looking at Ghirahim, Osoku spoke the six words I desperately did not want to hear.

"The Spirit Maiden has been found."


A bit of a short chapter, but hey. Things still happened, Ghirahim got mad, Rinku's stressed, and Zelda's on the surface? What? Someone remind the writer that Zelda wasn't dragged down by the tornado!

I'm already working on the next chapter, so hopefully it will be up sometime in the next week or two. If it's not, it's likely because I decided to save up chapters so that I can post more consistently during my summer class. It's gonna take up a lot of time and energy, so I doubt I'll be writing much during June.

Feel free to leave a review, ask questions, fav/follow this story, etc, etc. Catch you on the flip side!