Blackened Dawn

Chapter Fourteen

"I'm sorry for arriving so suddenly, Yukie…" Shiori spoke firmly, like always, making her sound almost unapologetic. Yukie knew Shiori better than that… she was a kind, gentle woman. She was certainly managing to prove it in her work with the bandages.

"No… It's quite alright, Shiori. You are always welcome in my home at any time… even if this isn't my real home, it still counts." Yukie was trying hard to keep her hands still. Her fingers stung quite a bit from the medicine… at least the bandages were doing well enough to protect the wounds, numbing the pain to some degree.

"That's comforting to know… but can you please explain to me why you were cutting your fingers like that?" As Shiori finished with the bandages, she took Yukie's hands firmly in her own. "You scared the life out of me… Try to imagine how your children must have felt seeing that."

Yukie looked down, staring at her two children, who were clinging to her quite desperately, both looking on the verge of tears. Even Shiori's son Aki was looking at her with an expression of fear and worry, though his arms were currently occupied, holding his infant brother so that Shiori could do her work.

"…I'm sorry…" Yukie closed her eyes, hanging her head. "I just… couldn't take the pain anymore… so I had to distract my mind with another pain… something different… not as mentally scarring."

"What pain was so bad that you chose to start cutting all of your fingers?" Shiori asked, raising one eyebrow.

"His pain." Yukie started wringing her hands. "His nails…"

"…I see…" Shiori sighed, gripping Yukie's shoulders. "You need to find other coping methods, Yukie… this is resorting to self-destruction. Since he is gone, your children are relying on you to be stable and strong. You are their mother. Without you, they would be defenseless, alone, scared."

Yukie could feel both Raven and Mable nodding their heads frantically as they buried their faces against her side.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled weakly, almost seeming to stare through Shiori rather than at her. "I'm so sorry…"

"Stop that!" Shiori shook her slightly. "What you're doing now is shameful to yourself and to him! Think about why he's suffering…!"

"That's enough Shiori…"

Both Shiori and Yukie turned when they heard Seiryu's voice, staring at him for a moment as he stood in the doorway. The Shadow God pulled the door shut behind himself before approaching the two woman slowly, looking more than a little worried. He approached Shiori first, who rose from her chair to embrace him firmly, clinging to him almost desperately, as though afraid to let go. Seiryu was a bit taken aback by her fierce grip, patting her back a bit awkwardly before returning the embrace. It wasn't like the normally cold, forward, rational Shiori to be so… clingy. If her presence in Kakariko hadn't worried him enough already, her sudden need for closeness certainly did.

It was a few moments before she let go, forcing herself to sit down, carefully taking Shale from Aki's arms, focusing her attention to the sleeping infant. Trying to hide the fact that she had allowed emotion to take over her rational mind, if Seiryu had to guess. He didn't say anything about it, though, turning his attention to Yukie and extending his hand to her.

"It's been a while."

"…It has…" Yukie took his hand meekly, allowing him to help her to her feet, making sure not to cause Raven and Mable to trip while doing so. The twins let go of their mother, Mable instead wiping her eyes to brush her tears away. Aki approached his cousin meekly, offering her a hug, which she took gladly, sinking to her knees as she wrapped her arms tightly around him. Even if he was shorter than her, he was still older by many, many centuries. He knew how to be an older brother… it just sucked to some extent that everyone was going to be way taller than he was for most, if not all of their lives.

When Yukie was on her feet, Seiryu kept a hold on her hand, staring into her emotionless face. It was painful… seeing his once lively and confident sister reduced to… this. The woman who could probably be considered some sort of super-mother, practically radiating the light that she as a Goddess reigned over… Seiryu had seen dolls with more life in their eyes than hers. The once seemingly infallible Yugi… had become the meek and broken Yukie.

…He couldn't stand to see her like this.

Now it was his turn to be clingy.

He wrapped his arms around his sister, placing one hand against the back of her head as he rested it against his shoulder. She didn't resist in the slightest, allowing her body to be manipulated easily, a marionette on strings being pulled around and posed to the puppeteer's fancy. The former Shadow deity held his sister close, stroking her hair gently… trying to soothe the pains that she seemed so obdurate not to express.

She just let herself be held… resting against him idly. He was almost afraid that if he ever let go or moved, she would just fall and break.

Seiryu felt a slight tug on the edge of his tunic, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Raven standing there, looking up at him. "Uncle Kage… you're gonna help Dad out, right? He's gonna come back… right?"

"That's right, Raven…" He managed to crack a smile, albeit a weak one. "Not just me, but all of your aunts and uncles are working hard to help him out, along with some of your dad's old friends." He could feel a light grip on the back of his shirt. It was Yukie's hand… apparently something had struck a chord deep down inside her. "We're all going to help him out… starting by fixing his sword."

"You can fix it?!" Raven's grip on the edge of his tunic tightened. Mable was on her feet in an instant, clinging to her mom's dress as she stared up at him. Aki was a bit dazed by the sudden absence, but he drifted quietly over to his father's side, clinging to him on the side opposite Raven.

"Indeed we can." Seiryu's smile became a bit more confident. "Uncle Koboku has already heard the plan, and he's going to spread the word to everyone else. We're definitely going to fix your dad's sword… and your dad is definitely going to be coming back alive."

The grip on the back of his shirt tightened fiercely, and he could feel a warm dampness growing against his shoulder. His grin softened considerably, and he resumed stroking his sister's hair, feeling her entire body trembling against his own as she tried to fight back the tears.

"…It's alright, Yukie…" he said softly, "Let it out. You're allowed to cry…"

He could hear a strangled whimper come from Yukie's throat, feeling her head shift against his shoulder as she nodded. He just continued to hold her as she clung to him tightly and cried. When was the last time he had seen her cry…? How many months ago? Six months… back when Link had first disappeared. He still remembered so vividly…

Link had brought Yukie and the twins to his house in the forest. He had been desperate, practically begging for him to hide them somewhere, anywhere… while he went off to confront Ganon. He didn't allow for any protest, and had all but demanded that nobody follow, that Yukie and the children should be relocated and hidden and no word about their location be revealed to anyone. And with that, he just left. And so Seiryu, with the help of his brothers and sisters, managed to escort them here, to Kakariko, and the others placed an enchantment over the house to dispel evil. The same enchantment placed on the Master Sword itself.

Six long months… in the beginning she had broken down in tears, had tried to fight, to be strong for the sake of her family… but as time passed, her tears faded into silence, and her light was eventually extinguished. He didn't even remember when it happened… though he was unable to remain by her side the entire time, needing to care for his own family. He had relied on his other siblings to keep an eye on her, and so they had kept him up to date with her condition… but even then, he could not pinpoint when the change set in. The most he could recall was a period of time in the beginning, when she would venture out on her own, disappearing out into Hyrule Field with no warning, returning by the time the sun went down…

Perhaps that was it… how she had gotten the Master Sword. Going out every day to collect the shards scattered across Hyrule Field…

At least they could be thankful for that.

As her tears finally ceased and her grip weakened, Seiryu loosened his grip on his sister, allowing her to sit down in the chair once again. Her eyes were a bit red from crying, but she at least looked a little more alive than she had in months. When Yukie was seated, Mable climbed into Yukie's lap, clinging tightly and burying her face in her mother's shoulder. Seiryu stared down at his niece sadly, sighing to himself. She had been taking her father's absence just as badly as her mother. The once hyper and tomboyish child she had been reduced to a meek, clingy little crybaby. She had once been the braver of the two, but now Raven, who had once been a shy little 'mama's boy', was now the one with the greater emotional stability. He had to be… his mother was now emotionally dead and his sister was a clingy crybaby. If he wasn't the stable one, then everything would fall apart for them all.

Seiryu sighed, scratching his head. They needed to get Link back to his family… just as he himself needed to get back to his own family. He wasn't too happy about the fact that they were here, since they could easily have been tracked and followed… but at least if they stayed in this house, they would be safe as long as the spell held.

Seiryu grabbed a third chair, taking a seat between Shiori and Yukie. He stared at his sister for a moment longer before turning his attention to Shiori. She was still staring down at Shale, who had woken up and seemed a little fussy. The infant laid his eyes on his father, and immediately he raised his little arms, making grabbing motions, obviously wanting to be held by his daddy. Seiryu gave Shiori a questioning look, but she only smiled weakly, offering Shale to him. He took his son in his arms, and immediately Shale's face was buried in his dry shoulder, his hands tightly clinging at his father's tunic. Seiryu couldn't help but smile a bit. Even in such dark times, it was still a warm and comforting feeling being able to be with his family… which is probably why he could sympathize with Link's and Yukie's situation so well.

He watched as Shiori picked up Aki and set him in her lap, holding him tight in her arms. Anyone who knew her could probably tell from her actions that she had something troubling her deep down inside… and since the silence between them had gone on long enough, it was probably best to ask at this point.

"…So how come you're here in Kakariko, Shiori? You said you would wait for me back at home."

"I did… but something happened shortly after you left," Shiori responded softly, her mismatched eyes staring at the floor. "I tried to ignore it, to shut it out, but when that Shadow showed up, I knew I had to come here and tell you about it before it is too late to do anything."

"He went there first?!" Seiryu groaned. If he hadn't been holding Shale, he likely would have struck his own forehead with the palm of his hand. "That moron… even if everything were fine otherwise, I'm glad you came here. He could have been followed… stupid… moronic… ngkh!" He made a strangled noise, unable to vent his frustration properly within range of the underaged. He sighed heavily, trying to push his irritation aside. "…What happened that you needed to come here to tell me?"

"I had a vision…" Shiori's face belied her concern. "It was so vivid and clear, I can see it even now… in my head… but I can't make any sense of it."

"How is that possible? You're normally able to read them accurately." Yukie frowned slightly, her eyes on her hands as she worked on braiding Mable's hair. Mable was trying to sit as still as she could, staring at her brother, who was standing by the window, peering outside.

"Well, it didn't occur normally… it came to me in the dead of night, as a dream." She placed one hand over her left eye. "It was nothing but symbols… I can barely make sense of what was going on… let alone what it all means."

"How about you tell us what you saw?" Seiryu asked, "Maybe we can figure something out."

"Are you sure…?" Shiori chewed on her lip a bit. "I can't even figure it out, and I'm the one who's had premonitions all her life."

"If we can't figure it out, I know someone who might." Seiryu gave her a prompting look. "There's no harm in you telling us… so go ahead and say it. If we can't figure it out, then we're no worse off than we were before."

Shiori stared back at him for a good, long moment, as though taking his words and turning them over in her mind, thinking over what he had said. Finally, she sighed, nodding her head and closing her eyes, drawing upon her memory to bring the image to the front of her mind.

"…Alright."

~'*`~

"A blackened, stormy sky blocks out the light of the sun.

Setting in a pool of blood, the sun slowly sinks below the horizon.

As the sun sets, the moon passes in front of it, hiding its light in a silvery shroud.

A dragon flies from the earth to the sky, disappearing into the black clouds.

Darkness covers the land, and two beings appear, one gold, one silver.

Holding hands tight, they stand together at the heart of the land, surrounded by darkness.

A being of pure light appears, firing an arrow into the sky.

The clouds are torn asunder.

Light gradually returns to the land.

The sun slowly rises once more, but is forever stained red with blood."

Author's Notes: Yes... I missed a day. This chapter was a little hard to write, but the main problem was actually that yesterday morning, around 3 A.M., the power went out, and was out for several hours. If I were like any 'normal' person, this wouldn't affect me. However, my circadian rhythm is still set to living in Japan (I never go outside, so my body doesn't recognize the rising and setting of the sun), so I tend to wake up between 1 and 4 P.M., and I stay awake until 5 or 6 A.M. (except during school, which hasn't started up just yet). But as you can see, my best writing times run between midnight and 6 A.M., and so a power outage in between put a major damper on that. So here you go.

On another note entirely... I love symbolism. Like psychology, symbolism is fun to pick apart and see what lies underneath the surface. So, of course, using symbolism for a prophecy in a story or game is a fun way to drop hints of what is to come without actually spoiling it. I'd love to see what people think the symbols mean, what it all means will happen to the characters. You never know. You could be right.