Hi all, Joe Elf here with chapter 11.
So, um... Yeah. I was a bit busy last week with easter and all. Plus watching the live stream of PAX east, playing MM, WW and Zelda II. In the end, I just didn't have a lot of time. But now I'm back an better than ever! And I'll finally write that super-long outro I was going to last time. For now, though, I would like to thank DrinkMePlease, anderew and LoZfanbman for their awesome reviews and the bman's concern for my well-being (at least until the story is over) and hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 10: Failure

"Captain, we're going to have to lower the gates to let them in."

"I still can't believe those three left the confines of the palace without our permission..."

"Technically, they didn't. The Hero of Time was promoted to general, was he not? So they did have the military's permission."

Kyo and the captain of the guard were standing, along with the rest of the army, in the central courtyard. As soon as they figured out what was happening, they called out a massive red alert and assembled the army to repel the invaders that were sure to come. But, of course, they weren't about to lock three of the most important people in the world out of their own palace to get massacred. Thus, the captain signaled the gate-keeper and he removed the support keeping the doors shut tight allowing them to be pulled open.

"It's going to be difficult..." the Twili pointed out.

"Indeed," replied the man at his side, "But do not forget that we need only close the door as quickly as possible. Once that is done, not many will be able to enter."

"I suppose you're right, in a sense."

"I always am," then to the gate guardians, "Get ready. We're going to need precision here."

"Right Sir! Yes Sir!" they all replied in unison.
The rest of the army stood, restless but at attention, behind the two leaders. According to the contingency plan that had been established in a couple of seconds after Kyo's enlightenment, they were to allow the three goodies in, destroy the baddies that got in in the process and do everything they could to get the gates closed as quickly as possible. They had also been warned, of course, of the severe consequences of getting cut by the blade-arms of the shadow beings. Finally, the plan was that if ever Ghirahim himself showed up, it was up to Kyo to distract him and, if possible, destroy him despite his injuries.

For now, however, the Princesses and the Hero were no where in sight. That is, not in sight for the Twili. Soon, with his augmented sight, Kyo spotted his three friends running full speed towards them. It seemed his theory had been confirmed. "Here they come!" he yelled out calmly to his fellow soldiers, pulling out his own blade. He would fight. He would not have the additional power of the Goddesses and God on his side, but that didn't mean he wasn't a good fighter without them. Sharing a glance with the captain, he steeled himself for battle.


"Whose... Idea... Was this?" Princess Zelda yelled to her friends as they ran as fast as their feet could carry them away from a horde of shadow beings dotted with the occasional Twili rebel. Neither of the other two answered her, being too busy running themselves. Link, being the more athletic of the three was up front, ideas racing through his head about how to get out of this situation without endangering the palace residents. Zelda herself was next, motivated from the feel of the healing flowers still clutched in her hand and the thought of the safety of his presence. Midna brought up the rear for, as the Hero would be sure to remind her every chance he got, she had not gotten any exercise from her previous adventure since she took advantage of a certain Hylian's free transport system the entire time. Thus, she was the least fast of the trio.

They pretty much ran the same way back as they had creeping there. They rushed past the central plaza, ignoring the looks of terror on the faces of the nice family that had helped them before as they just barely avoided getting trounced by a mini ambush comprising of the two enemies they had jumped over last visit. Along the streets, side and main, they went, amassing a larger and larger following the entire time, until they reached the boundries of the town and began the last stretch of sprint to the open doors.

"Wait, open? Thank the Goddesses to whoever figured out this was a trap and alerted the rest. Of course the only person that could have know it was a trap is Kyo, so that's pretty much the same thing as just thanking him..." sighed Midna, adrenaline rushing back into her system.


The captain of the guard nodded to the two gate guardians and they both prepared themselves to force the doors shut amidst a mass of attackers. Kyo held up a hand, watching the runners closely as they got closer and closer until...

"They're in!" he cried, motioning with his hand.

Indeed, they had finally managed to reach the safety of the Twilight Palace. Completely out of breath, they fell to the ground, huffing and puffing, as the troops braced themselves. "Almost there, almost there..." mumbled Kyo as he observed the rate of closure of the gate in proportion to the distance of the enemy. It would be close... The gate was closed. They were safe.

"Wait, the lock!"

Oh, crap.

The doors were blasted open again by the sea of enemies forcing their way in. The gate-keepers, caught in the way of the blast, were struck down and trampled as the battle commenced. Forced to their feet yet again, the two princesses pulled back and the Hero prepared for a long, tedious fight.

The first thing on Kyo's mind was to get the doors closed again - locked this time. To do that, though, he would have to avoid a huge amount of hits and force the doors closed despite being forced open from the opposite side. Luckily for the defenders, Ghirahim's army had obviously not been prepared to be met by such resistance. Thus, the first wave of intruders was easily suppressed. However, if the gates were not soon closed, there would be chaos.

"Captain, get the gates! I'll distract them!" called out Kyo, deftly dodging and slicing an enemy in half.

"Yes sir!" he answered, then motioned to two other soldiers to follow him to the front lines.

"Right then... Distractions... What to do? Got it." Already putting his idea into action, he jumped into the air and began... Hovering.

Link stared in awe as his friend on the battlefield stood on air in the center of attention, his entire body glowing red. He soon made complicated and deliberate hand movements and further added to the overall impressiveness of the display by shooting multicolored projectiles from his very skin.

From the moment he had began, everyone had been focusing solely on him, enemies included for they feared the power he demonstrated. Feared, that is, until they realized that he was, in fact, not harming them in any way. Following that enlightenment, they resumed their barbaric charge.

"Damn. I was hoping it would last longer... Only thing left is to fight, I suppose," thought Kyo, and he lurched downward, sword poised, and speared a shadow being's head clear through. Recovering quickly, he spun and sliced another in half. And so the battle raged. Around him, the world was but a frenzy of blades, friend and foe, to destroy or protect, felling one monster after another until...

"WATCH OUT!" Link yelled, scooping up the bow of a fallen ally and shooting a precise shot directly into the heart of a beast that was about to impale his friend.

"Thanks!" answered aforementioned friend, finishing off his current opponent. Coming back-to-back, fighting like brothers, the Hero of Time and the bearer of the fourth Triforce slew all who stood in their path. Like a raging cyclone, they cleared out a large area in no time. But trouble still stalked.

Just as it seemed like nothing could destroy the perfectness of their teamwork, a shadow fell between them. And by "shadow", of course, I mean none other than Ghirahim himself. Like a bird of prey swooping down on it's victim, he arrived from the sky, cutting apart the duo of fighters.

"Well, well. You're quite the soldier, aren't you? We could use your kind of talent on the good side of this war," he proposed to Kyo. Of course, since their last meeting had involved Kyo impersonating Princess Zelda, there was no way he could have know they had already met.

"Not today, not ever," replied Link's friend.

"Sigh, what a shame. I guess I'll have to kill you then..."

"Feeling the deja-vu last time you told that to Link?"

"Shut up, pest. And burn in hell!" screamed the evil entity in rage as he pounced at the cocky jerk that dare taunt him.

"You lose," smirked Kyo, grabbing onto Ghirahim's face and letting out a blood-curdling roar.

It was as though time had frozen around the two battlers. Neither moved for neither could move. Brighter than the light of the light world's sun, a halo of shining silver light burst forth from the end of Kyo's hand and the face it was latched on to, blinding all in the vicinity. And yet, the light faltered...

And died.

The sudden change in power level, shot the good guy back like a cannon, while barely affecting the enemy leader; causing only extreme fatigue. Huffing and puffing, Ghirahim looked around only to realize that he was alone. The captain had sealed the gate and the Twilian Army had dealt with the few remaining lackeys, leaving him to take on the entire armed forces by himself.

"Don't think this is over," he growled, addressing everyone present. "You obviously figured out my strategy, but tomorrow that will not matter in the slightest. Tomorrow, my full army will storm this hideaway. An army large enough to simply smash down the walls and take by brute force what is rightfully the property of my master and thus MINE! You'll regret the day you challenged the will of Ghirahim!" and just like last time, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"Uh. That was... More potent than I expected..." grumble Kyo, lifting himself from the ground while his friends rushed to his side.

"Why did your spell fail? Was it because he was attacking you?" Link asked, to which the man simply shrugged.

"Well," sighed Midna, "At least we got the cure."

Zelda, who had as of yet been quiet, suddenly burst into tears. "Uh-oh..." said Link.

"I dropped it! I dropped the cure! The plant! We had just gotten back in and when the attack started something shoved me and I dropped it and one of those shadow thingies trampled it! I can't believe it! You all risked your life for nothing because I was stupid enough to drop a plant!" From that point onward, her sobs became incoherent and Midna and Link's efforts to try and comfort her only resulted in her running away, back to inside the palace.

The Twilight Princess shook her head sadly. "I think she might need some time to herself. To sort out her feelings. We should try again tomorrow..."

"Probably," agreed the Hero. "Kyo, I'm sorry we couldn't get the cure. As I'm sure you figured out, it was all a hoax."

"I promise, the best healers in the realm will be trying to find a cure before your time runs out," assured Midna, wiping a tear from her eye.

"No worries," answered Kyo, though somewhat nervously, "If worst comes to worst, I will simply have to accept my destiny, as it was designed."

"That's a pretty dark destiny if you ask me..." sighed Link.

"In the mean time, there is nothing to do but solidify our defenses and hope we can last the morning," nodded Kyo.

"And at that time, it will be an honor to fight alongside you," affirmed the hylian, shaking his hand.

There was nothing else they could possibly do. For the second time in three days, the residents of the palace would have to wait and hope. Hope that the attack the following day would not be large enough to consume them in darkness. Archers were place all along the fortified walls and temporary guard tents were mounted in the front entrance. Everything was ready and all were sound asleep, waiting for the big day. Well... Maybe not all.


Kyo slowly entered the room were he knew Princess Zelda to be crying quietly. Her own room, in fact. Out on the balcony that overlooked the endless plummet of the Twilight realm.

"May I join you?" he asked politely, causing her to jump a bit, but she nodded. For a moment, the two simply stared out, contemplating the mysteries of time and space.

"What happened today," began the man, breaking the ice, "was an accident."

"And? I still let you down. I still forced you, Midna, Link and every one of those soldiers to risk their lives for absolutely nothing. I still failed to bring you a cure."

"But you did so with good intentions."

"I know that. That doesn't change the way people feel about it."

"It changes the way I feel about it."

"..."

"Let me ask you this: as a Princess, did you expect to go through your reign never making a single mistake?"

"As few as possible, I should hope..."

"The imperative words there being "as possible". There is no way in life to ensure you can make a right decision at a right time."

"But this wasn't a decision! It was an action!"

"But it applies for actions just as well. The past is past. There is no possible way to change it. It is better to simply forgive and forget."

"But what if I make another mistake like that? Giving me any sort of responsibility after that would be like encouraging me to fail..."

"And here is were the good intentions come in. If your intentions truly are good, you should not feel enticed to make further mistakes."

"But... Why? Why something so stupid? Look at me!" she chuckled sadly, "I can't even carry a plant around."

A pause.

"If it makes you feel any better, it took me three years to be able to focus my mind on only one thing. In the midst of battle, it is no surprise you weren't as attentive."

"And because of that, you're going to die..."

Suddenly, she clasped his hand.

"Please. I know you said you did not want to love if you were doomed. But let me love you," she begged, leaning in for a kiss.

"I'm sorry... I must follow the path chosen for me..." Kyo replied, holding her at arm's length, then he let himself fall back, over the ledge, and out of sight.

If one listened clearly, they could hear the sounds of quiet sobbing throughout the night.

So, you can see why I named this chapter "Failure"... Four times in a row, man! Anyway, I'm actually leavong for Europe in about 10 minutes and unfortunatly I probably won't have an internet connection for the next two weeks. Now fret not, I have arranged for my beta-reader-ish guy to upload chapter 11, which I plan on writing during the 9 hour flight, for me next weekend. I just say this so that no one is surprised if I don't answer any reviews or PMs until the 30th unless I find free wi-fi. On another note, I wish to anounce that this is the next-to-last chapter in this fic. Then there's the epilogue, the epi-epilogue and maybe a "X years later" thing if I feel like it. After it's over, I'll mainly be working on my other story "Aura Sect", but if anyone has any ideas for another LoZ fic or something else I might like, I look forward to your suggestion. Also, since I won't be A/Ning the final chapter, I'd like to thank all readers and reviewers past, present and futur for their support and advice. You guys rock. Finally, I wanted to know what you guys think of Kyo as a character? I don't know if I made him too present in the story or too odd, so I'd appreciate feedback on that if you have time. Oops, my taxi's here! Got to go, bye!