*As always, I do not own either Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji or Legend of Zelda.*

Ciel's Unexpected Trip

The portal had deposited them in the middle of Ordon Spring. Link cast a quick glance around. There was no one there, for which he was grateful. Then, he glanced down. The water of the spring only came up to just above his ankles, but that wasn't what held his attention.

Lying in the water was an unconscious Ciel. He had been worried the boy would be transported with him. Oh well, there wasn't much to be done about it. The boy's clothes were soaked though. So, Link picked up Ciel and took him to his house since it wasn't too far. As he neared the familiar tree house, he noticed it was quiet. There were no birds. No squirrels.

Tossing Ciel over his shoulder, Link climbed the ladder to his house and deposited him on the bed inside. Link knew he should do something about Ciel's wet clothes, but he didn't have anything that would fit the boy. It was likely Rusl would though. Colin was probably about the same size as Ciel, so it was worth a try.

So, Link left Ciel to sleep. He exited his house and entered the village. As soon as the village came in sight, he could do nothing but stare. He'd seen what had become of Castle Town, but what the village had fallen to was so much worse in his eyes.

The shop...Sara's shop was destroyed, nothing left but charred debris. He stared at that for a long while, refusing to even look at the rest of the village. He didn't want to look. Link walked over toward the remains of the building and hesitantly started to sift through the charred rubble, hoping, praying he wouldn't find any body. As he lifted and set aside varying pieces of wood, metal and stone, he suddenly saw something move. He didn't hesitate and climbed over what was left of the counter toward that small movement. His first thought was that it was one of the children and he was worried about what he would find as he moved aside more debris.

Underneath fallen planks, Link found the cat. The creature meowed loudly at him, but otherwise didn't move. With a sigh of relief, he continued to clear around the cat before gently running his hand along the creature's body, checking for serious injuries. Finding something damp, he pulled his hand away and found his fingers were covered in blood. He frowned upon realizing the poor creature was hurt, but he didn't think it was too serious. Still, it would need tending to and, though Link had plenty of practice tending wounds, he had never had to treat an animal aside from Epona...Epona, he'd have to see if she were still around somewhere...if she'd come to him when he called. He doubted it, but he'd have to try.

First, though, he set about tending to the cat, carefully treating it's wound - which mostly consisted of the cat hissing and scratching at him while he let fall a few drops of a healing potion over the wound to disinfect and speed up the healing. He couldn't do much else, but apparently that was enough for soon after, the cat, seeming to be in less pain, got to its feet and padded over and away from the rubble.

Link got to his feet as he watched it go and it was only then that he let himself look over the village. It was as if a fire had raged through the village, every home burnt to the ground, the ground itself nothing more than scorched earth. No longer were there fields of grass or clusters of flowers and reads. And the water...debris floated upon the water of their pond and in the stream, turning it dark and murky, lifeless fish also floating upon the still water. It had once been so clear and pure, to see it polluted was heart-wrenching...to see the entire village all but gone was tear-inducing, but Link refused to shed a tear. The village was gone, but he had yet to see any one of the villagers. Because of that, he had hope.

He walked through what little remained of the village, refusing to look in any one place for any longer than he had to. He searched every pile of rubble that had once been a house, but he found no one. He soon found himself in front of the mayor's house and he froze. The house was no better than the rest of the village. In fact, it was probably worse for one could hardly tell it had ever been someone's home, yet alone home belonging to the mayor and his daughter. But it wasn't the state of the building that made Link stop. No, it was what was to the left of the rubble. It couldn't be…

Link cautiously walked toward it, praying to the goddesses he was wrong. As he neared, it became clearer and he couldn't lie to himself any longer. It was a body - bald and wearing a white, sleeveless shirt...

He ran to the still form and knelt beside it, immediately placing his hand on the neck, his fingers checking for a pulse...but he found none. Link simply knelt there, eyes fixed on the still form of, when alive, had been Mayor Bo.

The body was faced down, but there was no denying the identity of it. Carefully, Link reached forward and pushed the body, turning it over. As soon as he did that, he immediately regretted it and gasped. It's eyes were wide with fear, staring lifeless out at nothing, its mouth opened in what might have been a cry or plea. The front of what had once been a beige shirt was stained red, a dagger still protruding from the chest.

Link quickly stood and took several steps back from the body. He was no stranger to death, but never had it been someone he knew. Never had it been someone he considered family. Never had it…

Ilia.

She came to mind, interrupting his other thoughts. Link, shoving all other thoughts aside, quickly began searching the remains of the house. He left nothing unturned. He left nothing unchecked.

Several minutes later, he stood once more in front of the house, breathing heavily.

Are there any survivors?

Many fled and I expect them to have headed to Kakariko or Ordon…

No one was left in Ordon. Their mayor was dead and the villagers were gone. Castle Town was destroyed. Ordon was destroyed. Link could only imagine what the rest of the kingdom looked liked. He clenched his fists. He had to do something. The sorcerer had to be stopped. Link had to reach the castle.

He cast a glance skyward. He was already too late, he knew. It was early evening; he'd never make it to the castle before the announcement in the morning. He'd have to figure something else out...somehow. He lowered his gaze, finding the body of Mayor Bo once more. He figured he should bury it, but for some reason couldn't bring himself to move near it again. It shouldn't have happened. He should have been more...more anything. He should have been able to realize what was going on before anything happened, before he and the princess were attacked.

He tore his eyes away from the body and looked toward Fado's ranch. Perhaps...perhaps there was the slight chance that it was left untouched. The ranch was separated from the rest of the village, so maybe...maybe there was some hope. Without much more thought, he ran up to the ranch, following the winding path up to the open field.

When he got there, he slowed to a stop and slowly walked toward the barn, his eyes scanning the area. It didn't look any different from when he had left. The grass was untouched by fire, the barn still standing off to the left. There were no goats grazing, but there never were at such an hour. He hoped they were alright.

Reaching the barn, he pulled the doors open. As he did so, he heard the scuffling of feet. Human feet. "Who's there?" he called into the darkness of the barn.

"Link?" a male voice asked.

Link recognized the voice immediately and cast his eyes about the inside of the barn as he walked forward, searching the empty stalls. No goats, which saddened him, but there was someone there. "Rusl?" he called back. "Where are you?" He heard the movement to his right and stopped. His eyes had adjusted to the lack of much light and he saw one stall was not empty.

"Link, it's so good to see you," said Rusl, standing and pulling the young Hylian into an embrace.

"What happened here? The village…" Link didn't know where to begin.

Rusl took a step back and was quiet for a moment or two. Finally, he said, "Let's go outside."

Link sighed, but nodded, following the older man out of the barn and out into the field. He eventually asked quietly, "How long?"

Rusl looked up at the sky as he answered, "Just a day or so. We were caught unawares. We couldn't do anything to protect ourselves."

"What happened to the other villagers?" Link asked, afraid of the answer. "I found no one except -" He was interrupted by a new voice.

"Link!"

The Hylian turned and was shocked, then relieved to see yet another familiar face. Without thinking, he ran to her and wrapped his arms about her, pulling her close. "Ilia, I'm so glad you're alright," he whispered softly.

The young woman nodded. "I'm fine." Her hands clenched the fabric of his clothes and he heard her voice shake as she continued, "Rusl and I...we're okay."

"I should have been able to do something," Link said softly, holding her all the tighter.

Rusl said, just as quietly, "There was nothing you could have done, Link. It happened so quickly...We lost everything in minutes."

"What of the other villagers?" Link asked.

Ilia clung to him. "They escaped. Father...he made sure everyone had time to escape the village."

"Ilia…" Link began, but he wasn't sure what to say. The image of Bo's lifeless body came to mind and then it didn't matter for there was nothing he could say without his voice breaking.

Rusl said, "The bandits...they had ever intention of slaughtering us, but Mayor Bo...Bo protected us. He took on the bandits on his own, giving everyone time to flee the village to Kakariko."

"Why didn't you both go with them?" Link asked, though he was sure he knew what the answer was. There was no way Ilia would leave her father. As that thought crossed his mind, he became aware of quiet sobs and glanced down at her. She still clung to him and he could see her shoulders shaking. She was crying, he realized. In all the years he had known her, he had never before seen her cry. She had always been so strong.

"She wouldn't leave," Rusl answered sadly. "When Bo...when he fell, we had only a few moments. I carried her up here and let out the goats. The bandits couldn't get to us through the herd and we hid. Neither of us have gone back to the village."

Meanwhile

Ciel woke up a short while after Link had left him and he was more than a little disoriented. For one, the bed he found himself was in was quite small compared to what he was accustomed to, Second, he quickly realized he was cold and that was due to his clothings being soaked and he was quite sure when or how that had happened. Third, he was not in the clock tower. Fourth, Link was no nearby.

Sitting up, he got out of the bed and took a few steps looking around cautiously. It was a strange, small building with ladders used to get to higher or lower places. He climbed down one ladder to what he assumed was the main floor and looked about. There was a chest that was filled with clothing too big for him. There was a table completely empty of anything. There were weapons, he noticed, along the wall. Of the weapons, he found a small dagger and took that, slipping it under his clothes, out of sight. It could very well be useful. Pausing a moment, he called out, "Sebastian! I order you, come to me!" He waited...and waited...but there was nothing. Ciel groaned in annoyance before continuing his small search.

He checked a couple cupboards and found a couple vials of some red liquid. His first thought was whoever lived there was keeping blood in the cabinets, but he quickly dismissed the thought. It was far too absurd and he proceeded to pocket a couple of the vials.

He then went to the door with the intent of figuring out where he was and froze as soon as he took one step out the door. He instantly realized he was in a tree and around him were grass, rocks, a scarecrow and other trees. Just where was he? And who thought it a good idea to build a house in a tree, he wondered.

Hyrule.

The name crossed his mind and he frowned. There was no other explanation he could think of...Except, perhaps, he had been drugged and it was just a hallucination of some sort...

Carefully, he started to climb down the ladder. He lost his grip once, but was lucky enough to grab hold again before falling. When his feet touched solid ground again, he took a proper look around and realized that the house was build in a tree, but into the tree, which was fascinating. But he didn't care much for it at that moment and continued looking around. Ciel quickly decided there wasn't much worth his attention apart from two paths. One seemed to lead into a forest and the other was some sort of winding path off to somewhere else. There weren't any other indicative marks; so, he made the most reasonable choice: He started walking toward the forest.

*Reviews are always appreciated.*