Hi! ^_^ This chapter has actually been finished for a while now, but since it was so long, I hadn't made time to update it. I'll try to start updating this a lot more, especially since it only has about 2-4 (maybe five, but that's maybe) chapters left. It's probably more along the lines of two or three. I've had so much fun with this story. It'll be nice to finally finish it. :)

Anyway, thanks to everyone who's still reading this! And thanks to Lady Fai for reviewing the last chapter! ^_^ I hope you guys enjoy this! :D

The Stock Pot Inn was busier than ever on that cold, terrifying night. With all of East Clock Town shaken up by the shooting, everyone had headed to the closest, safest place there was: The inn.

Viscen and a few of the town's guards had gone to arrest the shooter, but when he was no where to be found, they'd gone searching for him.

A couple guards stayed behind at the Stock Pot Inn, just in case the gunman decided to come back for the mayor.

They'd locked all the doors and windows and crowded into the tiny living room. People, especially ones who'd come from afar, were begging to make reservations at the inn for the night.

The tension and fear could be felt just in the air alone and Anju shuddered from where she stood behind the counter, looking perplexed. Everyone was talking at once and she wasn't sure who to answer first.

Not to mention the fact that all the events of the night had caused her enough stress already.

Kafei stood next to her the whole time, rubbing her back in that comforting way he had.

She didn't want to turn all these people away - especially not if they were Kafei's friends and family - but she knew she had to. They were booked solid with reservations already. The Carnival of Time was the next day and everyone in town was so busy as it was.

The red head sighed. "I'm terribly sorry," she finally spoke, loud enough to get everyone's attention, "but we don't have enough rooms for all of you. The inn is completely full. You will have to find someplace else to stay."

Kafei could tell it was breaking her heart to turn them down, so, he quickly jumped in. "Some of you are welcome to stay at the Mayor's Residence, if you'd like," he offered.

Many complaints and opinions all around the room were voiced.

"It's not safe there! Wasn't that killer after your father?"

"Isn't this an inn? You're supposed to have rooms available!"

"Yeah! I'd rather sleep on the streets!"

Anju turned to her fiance, her eyebrows knitting together with concern. "Kafei, you can't go back to your home. It's too dangerous." She had a pleading look in her eyes - one that told him he'd only be hurting her if he went back to his house.

"I'll stay here for tonight, then," he promised. "But I can't hide forever. My mask is at home and our wedding is tomorrow."

At the thought of the wedding, and her unfinished mask, Anju could feel the anxiety growing to the point it was almost overwhelming. She opened her mouth to say something, but she spotted someone through her peripheral vision before she could.

It was Shiro. He was leaning against the wall, staring straight at her with a vicious smirk on his face.

Suddenly, their conversation from earlier came flooding back into her mind, only adding to her pile of worries.

Without warning, tears welled up in her eyes and began to roll down her cheeks. She was quick to turn and hurry out of the room before anyone saw her.

Kafei was the only one to notice. He followed her into the hallway, past the point of worried. "Anju," he said softly, "what's wrong?" He put a hand under her chin, gently moving her head up, but she refused to look at him.

She shook her head, unable to speak due to the tears.

Kafei stared down at his fiance. He would do anything to make her happy, but he knew he couldn't do that until he found out what was wrong. "Anju..."

She slowly sank to her knees on the floor, the weight of everything coming down on her shoulders.

He crouched down in front of her, taking her hands into his own. "What's going on? Why are you so upset?" He moved the hair out of her blue eyes, praying she'd tell him the truth.

She sniffled, trying unsuccessfully to stop crying. He had a hard time understanding what she was saying, but he picked out a few words, like: Wedding, scared, shooter, Grog, and Shiro.

"The wedding will be fine," he began slowly. "And I know you were scared, but it's okay now. We're all safe. We're okay." He knelt down in front of her and pulled her into a comforting hug, gently rubbing her back, wanting more than anything for he to be okay.

He thought again of the last two words he'd understood: Grog and Shiro.

He sighed, almost sure she was upset about the two boys fighting again. "What did Shiro do this time? Is Grog okay?" It suddenly dawned on him that he hadn't seen Grog since Anju's family had first arrived at the rehearsal dinner.

She shook her head, beginning to cry even harder now, shaking uncontrollably in his arms.

His eyes widened. He'd been with her on many occasions in Kakariko Village when Grog would come home after fighting with Shiro. Her brother would be in a terrible condition, sometimes barely able to stand, and even then Anju had never been so upset. Something big must have happened this time.

"How badly is he hurt? Should I call a doctor?" He pulled out of the hug, examining her face.

She shook her head again, but she was hardly able to speak. He'd never seen her act like this - and he'd known her since they were very young. Shiro must have done something far worse than he'd ever done so far. Kafei's blood was boiling now.

Anju, forcing herself to calm down, finally took a deep breath. "K-Kafei..." It wasn't so much that she was worried about something that had already happened, but she feared something terrible would happen if she didn't make her choice.

Her fiance looked up, pure concern and love written all over his face. "Yes, Anju?"

"We..." She wiped away more tears that threatened to fall. "We need to cancel the wedding."

He was feeling a bit heartbroken at first, but the anger washed all of his sorrow down the drain. Shiro had said or done something - something terrible. And he wasn't about to let one guy ruin his life and tear him away from the only woman he'd ever really loved.

"I'll be right back," he whispered to Anju as calmly as possible. He was on his feet in seconds, storming past her and into the main room, looking around for any sign of Shiro.

"Maybe some of you could stay at the ranch?" Cremia was offering.

Complaints arose, just as they'd done earlier. Many of the townsfolk were afraid to enter the ranch after eight o'clock at night. Romani's stories of "Them" had scared everyone away long ago.

Kafei scanned over the crowded room, but didn't see Shiro anywhere.

He turned, still fuming, to go search elsewhere.

That's when he heard a creaking sound on the stairs.

He whirled around and bounded up them, reaching the person immediately. "Shiro," he growled, fury and hatred dripping from his usually calm voice. He grabbed the other boy by his shirt and slammed him up against the wall, glaring. "What did you do to them?"

Shiro's eyes were wide with surprise. He even seemed confused. "Who?"

Kafei pulled him forward only to slam him back at the wall. "Anju and Grog."

Shiro had never seen cool, calm Kafei get so angry. The mayor's son had never looked so dangerous before. In a way, Shiro took pride in the fact that he knew which buttons to push and when. But even so, a look of fear crossed his face for a second before vanishing without a trace. "What are you even talking about?"

"Anju's upset and Grog's hurt!" Kafei told him loudly, but not quite loud enough for anyone downstairs to hear.

Shiro's eyebrows furrowed. "Look, if your girlfriend's upset, it's not my fault. Maybe she's having second thoughts about you-"

"Shut up!" Kafei shouted, his anger growing. He slammed his first on the wall next to Shiro, causing the other boy to jump.

"And it's not like I care about Grog, but since you're wondering... I saw him up in his room a few minutes ago."

Shiro looked and sounded convincing, but Kafei knew better. "What were you doing up here if you don't care about him?"

"Using the bathroom."

"That's downstairs."

Shiro flashed him a smug grin before moving out of his grasp. "Oops."

Kafei looked disgusted as he watched the larger boy head down the stairs.

He turned and headed into the employees' only room, praying Grog would be there and not badly injured.

He swung the door open. "Grog?" He glanced around the room, but saw no one there, not even one single person. He noticed the window had been left open and the moonlight was casting shadows around the room.

Something on the desk in front of the window caught his eye and he walked over to examine it. It was a small, folded piece of paper. He picked it up and began to read the words that were scribbled on the small page:

"Wasn't feeling well. Went to the ranch to see the cuccos. I might be back in the morning. -Grog."

Kafei shook his head, balling the paper up and shoving it into his pocket.

Something was off - way off.

The pounding headache.

That was the first thing Grog noticed when he woke up.

In fact, his whole body was sore - like he'd been tossed through a windmill or something.

He slowly opened his eyes, trying to ignore the pain of his splitting headache.

Everything was a bit blurry at first, but when he opened his eyes, he found that he was in a very unfamiliar place.

It was dark, a bit cold, and definitely not welcoming.

He was too groggy to panic when he realized he couldn't move at all. His hands were bound behind him and his feet were tied to the legs of the... chair he was sitting on.

He made an effort to move his hands, but only succeeded in putting his wrists in and even more awkward position.

He scanned the room around him, but saw nothing useful. Not a knife, a key, or even a door.

He knew he was in no condition to try to escape and he certainly wasn't okay enough to be aware of his surroundings.

He struggled against the ties around his legs as well, but had no luck with them either.

"It's no use," came a voice from behind. He recognized the voice immediately.

"Ichiro?" he asked slowly. It bothered him that Ichiro was sounding so creepy and he couldn't turn around to face the larger boy. "Where... Where are we?"

"The bottom of the Clock Tower, you idiot," Ichiro answered, coming around with Jiro to stand in front of Grog. "This is the only place no one will find you. No one ever comes here."

"It's..." Grog tried to focus on his words, but his head was screaming at him to shut up. "It's the eve of the carnival. Everyone will be here tonight."

"Yes - they'll be on top of the tower. They'll never find you down here. They'll never even notice you're gone." Ichiro smirked.

Grog chuckled as he grimaced. It was a pretty smart plan, which meant neither Jiro nor Ichiro had come up with it.

This was definitely Shiro's plan.

Which meant Anju was in trouble as well.

He tried to move again, but was unable to do so, for his head was still begging him to stop. "What did you hit me with?"

"Your grandmother's purse," Jiro answered, tossing the bag toward Grog where it hit the ground loudly. There was no telling what she put in that thing.

He struggled against the ropes around his wrists again. "Where's Anju?"

"At the inn," came a new voice.

Shiro.

"Don't worry, Grog," he said, a proud smirk on his face as he emerged from the shadows to stand between his buddies. "She's just fine. A little upset, maybe, but that's nothing compared to how she'll feel when she finds out your life rests on the shoulders of her decision."

My life? Grog thought blankly, not wanting to imagine what that could mean. "Leave her out of this," he ordered, sounding calm, but firm.

"I don't know." Shiro shrugged as he kept the evil smirk on his face. "If I were you, I would be glad she's a part of this. After all, if she's smart, you'll live." He paused. "Of course, if I were you, I would have listened to the warnings. I wouldn't have gotten involved." He stepped closer to Grog, looking vicious once again. "But you couldn't stay away. You couldn't keep Anju safe. You're only hurting her now."

Grog glared at him. "What do you have planned?" His headache was, very slowly, subsiding as anger took over.

Shiro grinned. "I told you, I'm going to marry Anju. She'll agree to save your life. And let me tell you, the pain in your head right now isn't even half of what you will be feeling."

Grog's eyes widened a bit. "What-"

He couldn't finish. The air was knocked out of him when he received a punch to the stomach.

His eyes slammed shut and the realization hit him that he was defenseless.

And no one knew where to find him.

It took him an hour and a half, but Link finally convinced the guards to let him into the inn. The people from the rehearsal dinner - plus Cremia, Romani, and Kafei's family - had stayed in the Stock Pot, refusing to leave.

Anju had convinced Kafei to stay and Kafei had convinced Cremia and Romani, telling them he felt it'd be too dangerous to return to Romani Ranch.

That, of course, angered Anju's mother.

Link, in fact, walked into the inn only to hear Catrina yelling at Kafei as the new, unwelcome guests watched with growing anticipation.

Link rolled his eyes, not bothering to help Kafei before he headed upstairs to find Anju. He'd made a promise and he intended to keep it.

The employees' room was no longer for employees only. Many people, including the mayor's family, had managed to set up blankets and pillows all around the floor, leaving hardly any space to walk in.

Link carefully stepped around all the blankets and people, going over to Anju, who sat by herself on a bed.

She sat up straight, looking eager, when she spotted the hero dressed in green.

"Hey," he said, trying to smile in spite of everything.

"Where's Grog?" she asked, skipping her greeting.

His eyes widened. The question had caught him off guard. "I thought he was with you..."

"No. He went to help you take care of that gunman, but that was the last time I saw him."

Link noticed her face was red. She had obviously been crying and he knew she must have been worried. "Anju, he never showed up. I thought he was with you this whole time."

She was on her feet quicker than ever, her eyes wide with fear. "We've got to find him! Something terrible could have happened!"

Link put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'll have one of the guards notify us if they see him anywhere," he told her. "Right now, you need to rest. Worrying won't help him."

Even though Anju was close to tears, Link noticed a determination on her face that he'd never seen before. She snatched her coat off of a nearby coat rack. "He's my brother. I'm not going to lose him again."

Link sighed in defeat. He knew it was his job to protect Anju and he knew that this was too dangerous, but he was also concerned about Grog.

"Fine," he agreed, "but we'll only search for a few hours. Whether we find him or not, we'll come back to the inn later tonight. You'll need to get some rest before tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"The wedding."

"Oh." Anju strode past him, hoping he hadn't noticed her pained expression.

There would be a wedding the next day. But she wouldn't be marrying her prince charming. She'd be marrying Shiro, the ugly frog.

Kafei, after finally escaping the wrath of Anju's mother, had gone outside to get some fresh air.

He'd seen Link leave the inn with Anju. He knew they were searching for Grog.

It bothered him a bit that Anju was the only one in Grog's entire family who'd even noticed the teen had vanished.

He sighed. Shiro was definitely up to something.

He pulled the balled up note out of his pocket. "Grog" had said he'd gone to the ranch, but Kafei knew better.

It was a set up.

Shiro had, quite obviously, left the note there. There was no bathroom upstairs. Grog's handwriting, although not the best in the world, was a whole lot better than the mess scribbled on the paper. Not to mention how Grog would have never ran off, not even if he wasn't feeling well. He would be there, supporting Anju.

Kafei was smart enough to know that someone might be in trouble if they went to the ranch right then. That's why he'd wanted Cremia and Romani to stay at the inn.

Just as he thought of the ranch girls, Cremia stepped outside.

"Kafei." She sounded surprised to see him.

He tried to smile at her, but found it rather hard. His fiance was officially calling off the wedding, Grog was missing, and he had dozens of people in town who were scared out of their wits because of a crazy, dangerous gunman on the loose. It had been the worst night of his life.

Cremia noticed his expression almost immediately. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, stopping himself from blurting out every single thing that had gone wrong for him that night. He didn't want to worry her and he knew they had bigger things to think about, anyway. He couldn't be such a selfish person. That wasn't the way he'd been raised. So, that's when he made a quick decision. Something had to go right tonight. He couldn't sit back and watch his life slip away from him. It was time to change things - for the better.

He turned to look his friend in the eyes. "Listen," he began urgently, "Grog has gone missing. Link and Anju went searching for him, but with just the two of them, they probably won't be able to find him tonight."

Cremia's purple eyes went wide. "He's gone?" She sighed. "I knew he was acting weird earlier." She took hold of his hand. "We'll go search for him as well."

He let go of her hand immediately. "Cremia, this could be dangerous. Make sure Romani doesn't come along. I'll search North and West Clock Town, you look East and South."

She nodded fearlessly, turning to leave.

"Cremia."

She looked back at him. "Yes?"

"Thanks. And... be careful." He reached out and pulled her close to him in a warm hug. "It really means a lot that you'd help."

She closed her eyes and nodded into his shoulder. It was breaking her heart, but she realized that this would be the last she'd see of the Kafei she loved so much. He would be married - to a great girl, but still not her - the next morning.

And this small, simple moment was all she'd have left of him.

But, as she thought about how happy he and Anju would be together, she somehow felt at peace about the whole thing. Like maybe she was letting go, a little bit at a time.

She would always love him, but that's exactly why she would never get in the way of his happiness.

"I don't know, guys..."

"Shut up, Sabooro! You're such a softie!"

Sabooro shook his head. "No. It's just... We can't hurt him. He is the mayor's son, after all."

Shiro glanced back at his friend, his eyes narrowed. "Your point?"

Sabooro fidgeted nervously. "Well... I mean, when this is all over, his parents are bound to find out. Grog might not say anything about what has happened tonight, but Kafei will."

Shiro snorted. "So? Anju and I are leaving. I won't be here."

"Yeah, but we will," Jiro pointed out. "We can't risk getting into that much trouble. If you let that happen to us, we'll tell the mayor and Mutoh where you're going with Anju."

Shiro's eyes blazed with anger and he whirled around, slamming Jiro into a nearby wall. "What makes you think you can threaten me?"

Jiro regarded him calmly. "Look, all I'm saying is that we shouldn't hurt Kafei - just keep him out of the way for a while. All right?"

Shiro sighed, releasing his friend. "Fine, but I won't make this easy on him." He motioned for his buddies to stay quiet as the boy with the purple hair passed through the shadows of West Clock Town.

"On three," Shiro mouthed to his friends. The three of them waited silently as Shiro counted on his fingers before they all lunged out of their hiding spot and forced a bag over Kafei's head.

"Keep quiet - or else."

I know! So much is going on at once. o_O But it shall all work out... perhaps. It kind of depends, really. Let me know what you guys think! ;)

Thanks for reading! ^_^