Hi all, Joe Elf here with chapter 6.
Well, despite what I said last time, it's been a while, hasn't it... It seems I underestimated the power of college homework. But whatever, I'll still be writing this whenever I can, so expect updates (like you haven't seen that a million times before). Onwards: chapter six. I feel like I've seen this before somewhere... As always, many thanks to Narita, alfred pierce, Robotfairy, Dire Heart, LightResurrection and LoZfanbman for their awesome reviews and the awesome time it took to write those awesome reviews after reading this awesome story. Awesomely. I would also like to thank those who favorited and/or followed this story; your support means a lot. Let us begin!

Chapter 6: Back where it all began

Fourth stood in the entrance to the dinning room, looking at the three other residents who had all just stopped cleaning up and were looking at him worriedly. "Umm... what's for dinner?" asked Romal. His master sighed.

"Roast rabbit in a mushroom sauce. I hope they aren't poisonous..."

The maids relaxed visibly. "Thanks..." they grumbled, looking down while the god tossed his catch in the kitchen and rummaged around for a knife.

"Don't get me wrong," he warned sternly. "Romal, that was a completely legitimate part of your training. You failed the first task I gave you." The student sat down and watch in slight disgust as Fourth, having not found what he was looking for, began to tear the rabbits skin off with his bare hands. Confused, he asked him:

"I'm not sure I understand... How can helping people be considered a failure?"

"I'll explain over diner," was the answer. "In the meantime, why don't you three go outside to the back of the house. There's a small vegetable and spice garden there and I'll need some ingredients if I want to make this taste good." Any reason was good enough to get out of cleaning duty. Glancing at each other, the mortals quickly rushed out of the room.

Princess... It had a nice, nostalgic feeling to it. At first, she had regretted her choice, worrying about what would happen to Hyrule and, more importantly, to Romal. But she was over that now. She made her decision and she would stand by it. At the rate at which things were progressing, there was no time for her to question her moves. She had managed to evade all the guards and get to where she was now. She would not turn back.

Slowly, she entered the Hidden Village. She had never actually been there, but just as Link had long ago described, the were a bunch of crumbling wooden houses on either side of the main road. At the end, as expected, was the one house in relatively good shape: the home of the old woman who was the last of the ancient Dark Sword's protectors, though even she hadn't known it. Cursing the fact that she didn't think of changing into something a bit more suited to adventure upon departing her former home, she hurried quickly to the end of the street.

Taking a calming breath, she knocked on the one door that could be answered. There was a short pause, then the sound of someone feebly calling "Come in!" Carefully, she turned the knob and stepped inside.

Age had obviously caught up to the old woman. She was laying in her bed with some soup on her end table. It was probably all she could do now, eat and rest, thought Zelda. "Hello, dear," wheezed the elder, "And who might you be?"

The Princess curtsied politely. "I am Princess Zelda, it is a pleasure to meet you."

The old woman coughed a she gasped in surprise. "Oh! My lady, such an honor for you to visit me at my humble abode. Please excuse the mess! I can't get around as well as I could in the old days..."

As she said this, she attempted to get up, holding her back and propping herself up on the foot of the bed. "Please, rest! It is fine, really, you need not trouble yourself for me. Besides, I'm afraid I can't stay long..."

Slowly, the other lowered herself back down. "If time is of the essence, please tell me: what is wrong?"

The former ruler looked away before answering. "A dark scourge will soon fall over the land. A former hero has deserted us and sworn our demise."

"Oh dear," exclaimed the servant, "That sounds terrible!"

"But we have hope, for we believe that the power sought out by the Hero of Time in his last visit may help us defeat the enemy."

"That dashing young man in the green outfit? How has he been? He was ever so kind to me. Cleared up some nasty little bulblins for me the first time I met him..."

"He's..." She hesitated. "Doing great, but his help was needed elsewhere, so I came in his stead."

"Yes, yes, of course. I imagine he's doing everything he can to help Hyrule, fine young lad that he is. Now lets see... last time he visited me, he was asking about some ancient legend about a cursed sword or something..."

"Yes, that's the one," encouraged the Princess, "What happened?"

"Well, as I told him, we have nothing but rumors. I told him of the alcove that nobody had managed to reach he rushed off." She chuckled quietly. "By the happy yelling, I assume he found what he was looking for. Perhaps legends are not all fairy tales after all."

"Excellent, that's exactly it. Could you point me in the right direction?"

"Certainly. It's a little ways up the hill, when the rock becomes a flat cliff..."

"As they probably would say had Hylians evolved differently and thus had a completely different language: bon appetit!"

Not even bothering to answer, the three other residents of the mansion dug in to their meal. And what a meal! Two roast rabbits, cooked to perfection, upon which was dribbled a mouth-watering brown mushroom sauce and a side dish of home-grown vegetables; carrots, leeks and potatoes.

"Dif ish delifous!" exclaimed Romal through a mouthful of food.

"Yes, yes. How about you swallow next time," suggested the god, who was lazily picking at his own meal.

"If you won't eat yours, can I have it?" asked Okami hopefully.

"No. Shut up and stop talking to me," he answered.

That sort of froze the atmosphere. Everyone but Fourth stopped eating and glanced at each other. Completely oblivious, the speaker took a bite of meat.

"Sooo... anyway," began the student in an attempt to divert attention from the previous statement, "You said you would explain why I failed your test..."

"Ah yes, indeed!" the other exclaimed, seeming glad for a reason to lay down his fork. "Now then, the first step of understanding is knowing, so explain again what you did."

"Well," thought the heir, frowning, "You told me not to help Okami and Kitsune clean up the mess that I myself made. I found that a bit unfair, so I decided to help them, like any good citizen would. The role of those with power is to help those without it, no?"

Fourth nodded wisely. "Absolutely! In fact, had I not explicitly told you not to help them, I would have been the height of rude not to help them. However, since we're having this conversation, you obviously did not understand the reason that I gave you the task I did. Tell me, what do you think, and be honest here, were my intentions?"

"Well," the apprentice scratched his head, "To be honest, I thought you were just being mean to them..."

"And that, my friend, is the true reason you failed," stated the god. "You see, there was a way for you to have passed that test while still helping out your friends. But the answer you just gave me means that you didn't."

"I'm... not sure I understand..."

"It's simple. Well, for me it is, probably not for you... You see, this was an exercise. A practice of something you might need to do some day as you wield the power of the gods."

"Which is?"

"Let me put it this way: in battle, what positions are there?"

"Well... attack and defense, I guess..."

"Wrong! You're missing one. Can you guess which?"

Romal closed his eyes and thought for a good thirty seconds before shaking his head in defeat. "Nope. All other strategies will come down to one of the two in the end..."

"Well, there is a third. It's true: you can attack and you can defend, but you can also do nothing."

"Nothing? How is that a good idea? It seems pretty stupid from where I'm standing..."

"True, in most cases it serves absolutely no purpose but to be killed, and true, in a one-on-one fight to the death, it's not a very smart move, but there are times when waiting is not only ideal, but downright necessary."

A moment of silence passed as the learner digested this new point of view. Suddenly, he looked up. "Waiting is part of my strategy! You said that when dad got his hand lopped off! Is that what you meant?"

The jester smiled, looking very pleased. "Excellent! Yes, that's exactly what I meant!"

"Well then I'm afraid you'll have to explain everything all over again, because I think I'm missing something."

Fourth raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

"Yeah. How can the King's hand getting cut off be the optimal solution. If you had intervened earlier, no one would have been injured."

"Well, the answer is twofold. Firstly, it was essential that everyone see that Kyo would not turn back and that it was not some weird misunderstanding. If the same thing that happened at that point had happened at a later, more crucial point, even worse things could have come out of it. It was better this way especially considering I knew full well that healing his hand would be a piece of cake."

"And secondly?"

"Secondly, the result would have most likely been worse if I had intervened before."

"What? That doesn't make any sense!"

"That's because you do not yet understand mine and Kyo's power as we do. If I had attempted to stop him before, here's what would have happened: I would have charged forward, weapon drawn and he, realizing that he wouldn't be able to fake me out, would have made the most of the situation and tried to killed the person closest to him. I simply couldn't risk a life against a hand. Possibly even two lives before I would have been able to stop him. Then, he would have simply vanished. Returned to the sacred realm like he did in the end anyways. The way I did it, we were facing each other and we both knew it would have been a stalemate. It was pointless to attack the other directly. That means that it is no longer a battle of steel, but a battle of words, which is exactly what it turned out to be."

"I think I understand..." nodded Romal. "You minimize battle time and you minimize the possibility of casualties. But..." He looked at his Master hesitantly.

"Don't think it's an easy gamble to make. Which brings us back to the moral of your task: there will be times when even thought you want to help out immediately and save someone or many people from much pain and suffering, you simply have to watch them get injured, beaten, enslaved under your watch so as to ensure their the long-term benefits."

"I understand." He smiled. "From now on, what you say goes. You're the god, after all. You're always right."

Said god gave a weak smile. As his student began once again digging into his food, he murmured under his breath: "Yes, well, that lesson will come eventually as well..."

"I've got a question for you too," said Kitsune, reaching for seconds. "Why did you make such an awesome meal if you weren't going to eat it?" It was indeed true. While everyone else was finishing up, he had barely started his.

"To be honest," he sighed, earlier animosity forgotten, "I really hate mushrooms."

"Then again, why make it?" repeated Okami.

"Because you three like it. I don't actually need to eat, so it's more a question of politeness that I'm here."

"Well that was very nice of you!" she said.

"Don't flatter yourself, it wasn't for you, but for him. You're both as useless as ever..." He stretched, getting up. "I'll be off. Be up early tomorrow, Romal. We start training you at 6:00 am so be ready."

"All right," the Hylian answered, looking a bit uncomfortable at the way his Master was treating the others. Completely ignoring everyone else, Fourth simply walked out of the room and left.

"Thank you very much, miss. I promise that once this is all over I'll arrange that you will be able to receive aid in your old age."

"Oh, it's really my pleasure, dear. You just help the people!" smiled the old hermit.

Leaving the house, Zelda rushed up the mountain side as fast as she could. If there was the slightest clue as to how to get to Kyo in the temple that he had once created, then she had to go there.

She quickly found the opening that had been mentioned, but that was the easy part. Now she had to get up onto the ledge; a challenge that had evaded generations of eager hidden villagers. She, unlike Link, couldn't simply clawshot up to it. However, she hadn't gone there without a plan. "The difference," she thought, "Between me and all those other people is that I don't mind... modifying the scenery to fit my needs." She had been practicing a little destruction magic in case she ever needed to defend herself, but was not very good at it. Taking a deep breath, she focused and let out a small beam of light. It flew up at the ledge and impacted on the rock.

It had less of an effect than she had hopped. About half a cubic foot of rock shattered and fell down. Nowhere near enough to make somewhat of a path up. "Oh well..." She supposed she would just have to repeat the process perhaps a dozen times in order to collapse the ledge. Unfortunately, using the magic was really tiring. "That doesn't matter!" she told herself, "I'll just have to suffer through it."

And so, she began repeating the same process over and over.

Eventually, the lack of structural support reached the breaking point. The entire section of rock crumbled down. Gasping and panting from the effort, the Princess admired her handiwork. It was certainly not a luxurious marble staircase, but at least a climbable pile of rocks leading up to a circular door. "No time for resting. I'm almost there!" she told herself. Slowly, she picked her way over the rubble to the entrance of the hidden temple of illusions.

Still recovering from her intensive magical usage, she struggle for a moment with the door until it finally gave way and she stepped into the first room. It was much like Link had described it. A large, mostly empty room with a statue in the middle. The only difference was that there was no sword. Just a large rock with words on it. Cautiously, she approached the stone.

"Beware stranger, for by entering this sacred temple you have sealed your fate. No man may leave until they have passed the three challenges designed and created by the Hero of old. They are made to test your courage, wisdom and heart but be warned, for these task are not for the fainthearted. However if you truly manage to pass these trials, you shall be rewarded with the artifact placed within the last room, the Dark Sword. Good luck and goodbye."

Naturally, there was no Dark Sword to receive, but she didn't care about that. She hoped to find out a bit more about Kyo and, if possible, any clues as to his location.

The door slammed shut behind her, as expected, and a mass of black mist converged in front of her. Within seconds, she was looking at a perfect copy of herself, but a lot more evil. As expected.

"This day you will die, unfaithful one!" said her twin in a shrill, piercing voice.

"I will not, for I know the secret to defeating you."

"Oh really?" asked dark Zelda, circling her opponent, "And what would that be?"

"To let myself be struck down. To accept that I cannot beat you. To let the goddesses decide whether I live or die," she repeated what Link had told her once.

"Oh, and do you really think simply knowing that is enough? Do you think that piggybacking on someone else's wisdom will protect you. You're a fool," sneered the shadow, and she pounced, driving a blade into her heart.

Or she would have if the blade had existed.

Just like Link had said, she still stood while her enemy vanished. "No," she spoke to thin air, "I will survive because I must. I couldn't defeat you, and I knew that, but I trusted fate to allow me to live on."

Not dwindling around, she hurriedly moved on to the next challenge through the door that had appeared on the far side. Walking to the center of the next room, she read her second task.

"Congratulations on completing the first task. Your courage is pure for even in the face of certain defeat, you did not give up hope. Remember this, courage is not only taking up arms to face a dangerous enemy, but also confidence and being ready to accept what fate the goddesses have chosen for you. As you may have guessed, the second task will test your wisdom. To proceed, answer this riddle: what goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening? You have five minutes..."

As spikes began lowering themselves from the ceiling, the Princess regarded the riddle curiously. It was not the same as the one Link had solved. Why? That stumped Zelda more than the riddle itself, then it struck her: everyone who entered was killed until someone passed all three tests. This was a fail-safe that prevented someone leaving the answer behind.

Then she realized she should probably answer the question before she was killed. Luckily for her, she had seen this riddle, and it's solution, in a script back when she was studying up on ways too help Link get back to the Twilight. She remembered because she had thought it might be a clue, only to discover that it had absolutely nothing to do with anything.

"Hylians," she answered confidently. To her dismay, that changed nothing. Taken aback, she watched the spikes approach. "How can that be?" she thought to herself, "I must be missing something. The other races, perhaps?" No. Gorons rolled around and the Zora swam, so neither used canes or crawled... Oh, wait. Of course!

"And twili."

That certainly changed things. The spikes faded into nothing and the path onward appeared. Pleased with her progress, she moved onward. She stopped short before entering the next room though. This was the one challenge she had no advantage over. She thought back to the tale Link had told them all a few months after Ghirahim's defeat.

"And the third task?"

"The third... was much different. There was no physical danger to my body in the sense I couldn't have died. Instead, I could only have lost my mind and lived the rest of my short life in misery and despair; trapped in a vision that feigned imprisonment. That's all I can say, really."

That left a bit of a mystery open. What exactly would happen? A vision of some sort? What was the challenge? Something to overcome in your mind? A battle of willpower, perhaps? If that was the case, she couldn't lose. "Nothing is stronger than my will to find Kyo," she told herself through clenched teeth, and she opened the door to the next room and stepped inside, approached the center and read the epitaph.

"Congratulations on beating the second task. Remember, wisdom is achievable by all. The true challenge lies in it's use in the face of fire or, as in this case, certain death. You have but one task left to complete. The test of the heart. I suggest you find solace in the now and present, for when I created this task, I made it in such a way as to break my enemy's will. Only those pure of heart can survive this challenge. Let us begin..."

And before Zelda could do so much blink, darkness consumed her.

The world swiveled around her, making her dizzy. Finally, it stabilized and she found herself in exactly the same place as before. The sole difference was that she was no longer alone.

On one side, her lover, Kyo, faced her son, Romal, weapons clashing. On the other, Fourth crossed weapons with none other than her former husband and the Hero of Time. Her heart began beating hard as she spotted Midna on the floor, her hair redder than usual as blood trickled down the side of her head. A blue-haired woman stood over her. She rose, hands stained crimson, and advanced on Zelda herself.

"What? No! This can't be right!" she yelled in surprise and the woman jumped into her, becoming a specter as their bodies collided. The Princess cried out in pain, as she felt herself seize up and stretch out.

Her surprise became terror as she called for help and saw Fourth cut both his opponents down. On the other side, her son stabbed straight through Kyo's defenses, impaling him on the end of his sword. He then turned on the jester; cleansing their blades of the corpses of their fallen foes, it was their turn to duke it out, the bodies of dear friends cluttering the floor.

"NO!" Zelda screeched through the pain, "IT CAN'T BE! MAKE IT STOP!"

But it wouldn't. And it got worse. As the two went at it, more people added to the mess, appearing only to be cut down by one or the other: Kitsune, Okami, Ratnak, Kantar, the old captain of the guard, too many to count.

"I DON'T WANT THIS! LEAVE ME ALONE!" she screamed again. But a voice in her mind snickered.

"Stop? Never. You will have the pleasure of watching your future forever!"

She wanted to collapse, wanted to close her eyes and block her ears but she couldn't. Some magical force was preventing her from moving. Then it started all over again. Exactly the same every time. Eventually, time ground to a halt.

Fourth easily leaped up to the entrance of the temple his former apprentice had constructed. "Figures, on a mountain. Ever since that little incident he wanted to make a temple in a mountain..." he sighed. Effortlessly rolling the door open, he stepped into the first chamber. Quickly reading the epitaph, looked up to find himself face to face with himself.

"So," asked his shadow, "How do you plan on doing it? Accepting the fate the goddesses have in store for you? After all, if you do you still won't advance..."

"It's simple," replied the god, "I don't need to accept because you can't defeat me."

"Oh really? And what makes you say that?"

"This," replied Fourth, raising a hand and letting out a blast of energy. His opponent simply melted away into nothing. Continuing nonchalantly into the next room, he read his riddle.

"Let's see... Which came first, the cucco or the egg?" he mumbled to himself as the spikes appear and began bearing down upon him. "The answer's quite simple, really: neither. First came the goddesses. They designed the cucco, then designed their reproductive traits, then created them. It's a trick question. If you mean which came first physically speaking, I can tell you, as someone who was there at the time, that one male and one female cucco were the first to appear by magic. The magic of the goddesses.

The spikes stuttered for a second, seemingly analyzing the response. Then kept going.

"Ah, what do you know anyway?" The jester rolled his eyes and proceeded to blow up the ceiling with his mind. Moving on to the next door, which was still locked, he just kicked it open.

And stepped into someone else's nightmare. He saw himself fighting his student in the middle of the same room as the two others he had just been in. The bodies of all his and Kyo's friends were laying motionless on the floor. In the corner, Zelda was crying quietly as she watched the scene. She gave a start as another god entered. An exact copy of the one currently fighting her son. He made his way carefully around the feuding two to get to her side.

"I had a feeling you might get stuck here," he smiled kindly.

"What's happening. Everyone's dead! You're fighting him. He killed... And... And..." she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Calm down," he soothed. "It's just an illusion. Nothing more. This isn't real. Watch." He clenched his fist in the direction of the room and everything shattered as though it was glass. The pair found themselves back in the first room, the door leading out was left open and daylight streamed in.

Zelda scrambled to her feet. That barely lasted a few seconds before she fell to her knees again. "But... that doesn't mean it couldn't..." she choked out through tears.

Fourth sat down next to her and put an arm over her shoulder. "There's a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery..."

"...But today is a gift. Some gift!" she cried. Again, the god smiled softly.

"Then consider this. You should do what you want to do. Even knowing that fate plays a role in your actions, would you change them?"

"I will never give up on Kyo. Ever," she stated, wiping her eyes.

"Then get up, get ready and go. Find him. Talk to him. Bring him back to the light."

In time, the tears ceased flowing and she got the energy to stand up. "I failed the last test, didn't I. I should have broken free of the illusion. I should have already known what you just told me."

"Yes and no, my dear," responded Fourth, also rising. "Do you remember what you learned from the first test?"

"That I should trust in the fate the goddesses had in store for me?"

"Yes, precisely."

"And?"

"Well, as a god, I went in and rescued you. Perhaps it was your fate to fail the test, which means you didn't fail. Fate exists for us gods, in different ways, of course, but it exists none-the-less."

Zelda nodded. "Then I'll leave." She walked to the exit and paused. "You really are nothing like your usual obnoxious self when it comes to helping others. That really means something to me. Thank yo-"

As she said this, she turned around to find Htruof's face three inches behind her and wearing a creepy smile.

"AH!" She screamed, slapping him hard across the face. "FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!" she yelled, then left in a huff.

Fourth chuckled, rubbing his cheek. "I guess I deserved that one... Ah well, mission complete in any case." And he followed in her footsteps.

Well, I consider this one of the least cliff-hanger-y endings I've ever made, so not much to say. I did have a question for everyone, which is as follows: would you guys like a happy or sad ending? Just leave your replies in the comments! I could go either way, at this point. And remember, you can still leave a comment even if you're not answering, I'm looking at you, random person that is reading this and not planning on leaving a comment!

Joe out.