CHAPTER TWENTY

Link cracked his eyes open, but it was more difficult than he expected; as if his eyelids were caked shut with blood or clay.

Wiping his sweaty brow with the back of his hand, Link slowly sat up. The back of his hand was smeared with blood.

Link got to his knees and stood, but he drew out the motion, as if he was afraid he would fall.

Zelda was about four feet to his left, sprawled on her back, her cloak drawn aside to reveal her royal dress, her auburn locks spread on the ground by her head. It was like someone had painted a picture of her.

A strange figure Link couldn't recognize was lying on her side maybe a foot and a half from Zelda's feet, unmoving. And the soldier, the one who hadn't recognized Zelda, was on his stomach, not far from Link's left side.

"Ugh..." Zelda sat up, wrecking her picturesque position. The right side of her heart-shaped face was bloody. "What happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Link shrugged, then winced at a lightning jab of pain in his shoulder.

"You've got a cut above your eye," She observed, her gloved fingers tracing the wound.

Link swallowed, trying to ignore the pulse of electricity her touch shot through him.

"So do you," he shot back smoothly.

She grinned faintly. "Touché,"

A grunt made both of them jump, and Zelda's hand dropped. The soldier had one hand against his eye, sitting up.

"Where are we?" he asked groggily.

"In hell," Lucilla's voice reached their ears, and they turned to her, but whoever stood before them was not Lucilla.

A tall girl was standing before them, dressed in a long black dress with red and blue embroidery. She looked to be about Link's age, maybe a bit younger, her hair was the color of blood and fire, the irises of her eyes the same hue, and faintly yellow where they should have been white. Her face was heart-shaped, similar to Zelda's, but her features were more defined, more solid than than the Princess's. This girl's skin was a soft midnight blue-turquoise color. Her lips were the color of pink roses. On her right cheek were two white tattoos shaped like tiny teardrops.

"What are you gaping at, Wolfy?" she snapped at Link, who, being so entranced by her, hadn't realized he'd been staring. "It's still me. Lucilla."

"Lu-Lucilla?" Link stuttered. "You're... tall,"

Lucilla looked down at her hands, then her feet. She then said an extremely vulgar and disgusting swear word, her eyes wide in exclamation. "I'm me again!" she said softly.

"Indeed you are, Lucilla." a deep male voice called from behind them, and the soldier stood. "How I've missed your exquisitely beautiful face."

The soldier's shape became undefined as he underwent a transformation. He became taller, his skin darkened to blue, his hair to red. He became swept in black robes and suddenly King Ruik stood before them. The same one who had engulfed Hyrule Castle in eternal Twilight.

"Ruik!" Lucilla snarled, immediately going defensive. Then, a smile curved the left side of her lips. "Did I do that?" she indicated an ugly gash on Ruik's hairline, nearly hidden behind his ear. "Excellent."

"Silence! I saved your life, and this is how you repay me? By siding with Light-Dwellers of all beings!" Ruik's smiled faded into a grimace.

"These Light-Dwellers actually give a shit about what I think, not how pretty my face is, Highness." she sneered back. "Sorry, but I'm staying right here."

"Lucilla, dear," he held out his hand, a wheedling tone to his voice. "The curse I placed on you would have killed you if you remained in the Light for much longer. If you go back to the Realm of Light, you will be forced into your impish form again, and your time will wind down to the end. If you return, you only have about seventeen days to live."

Link noticed how Lucilla's jaw clenched at his words, but she didn't show any other reaction.

"How's your precious daughter doing? Did I break her nose?" Lucilla said instead.

Ruik frowned. "Her nose will never be the same."

Lucilla laughed. "Don't I feel special!"

"This isn't about Perolanda! This is about you, Lucilla!" Ruik snarled over her laughter. "Don't do anything you'll regret!"

"I won't," Lucilla replied calmly, all trace of humor gone from her voice.

It all happened so fast, that for Link and Zelda, it was the mere blink of an eye.

With a savage scream, Lucilla charged down Ruik so quickly, he had no time to react. She tackled him, breathing heavily, hands around his throat.

"Lucilla! Let- let me go!" he choked, but the servant girl's grip was like a vise.

"All these years I've served you," she murmured. "All these years I've been obedient. I need to know, Ruik, before you die. Did you lie to me about my family?"

Silence. Ruik's blue-skinned face was turning indigo and purple.

"DID YOU LIE TO ME?" Lucilla yelled, tears beginning to drip off of her nose. Her grip tightened.

Ruik made a grunting noise.

"What?" Lucilla loosened her hold on Ruik's throat for him to speak.

"Y-yes!" he stuttered. "I lied! You were sick as a child, Lucilla, but your parents didn't leave you! My soldiers burned your village to the ground because of the sickness. Because of your condition, I had to kill everyone in the town. You were highly contagious. Your mother and father wouldn't let them kill you, so we burned down the village. Ironically, you were the only one who survived. I took you in, seeing nothing else to do. In the flames, you were miraculously cured, so you were no longer a danger."

"You murdered my family, and my hometown," Lucilla whispered. Her hands slowly constricting around his windpipe again. "Saving one helpless child and then lying to her doesn't justify anything you have done! Din, Farore, and Nayru damn you!"

"Lucilla!" Zelda rushed forward as Ruik's eyelids began to flutter. "Stop, you'll kill him!"

"That's kind of the point, Princess," Lucilla replied, teeth clenched.

"Lucilla-!"

"Shut up, Zelda!"

Zelda huffed, then, pointing both palms at Lucilla, sent a bolt of bright blue lightning at the Twili girl, sending her flying off of Ruik.

"I won't allow you to take his life!" Zelda set her jaw, feet shoulder width apart.

"You stupid bitch!" Lucilla was on the verge of sobbing. "I was so close! He's going to get away and kill more people!"

It was true. When Link turned back to Ruik, he had vanished.

"I hate you!" Lucilla screamed at Zelda. "You ignorant fool!" She made as if to attack the princess, but Link grabbed Lucilla's forearm and held her.

"It's okay, Lucilla." he said softly. "We'll get him eventually."

She seemed to calm down a bit, and relaxed in his grip.

"I'm just so... tired of him. I went overboard, I know, but it's no more than he deserves." She didn't look at him.

After a moment, she slumped against him, exhausted and unconscious; Link only barely managed to catch her.

"This is crazy," Zelda murmured, her eyes on Lucilla as Link carefully knelt to the ground with the senseless Twili girl. "How did we even get to the Twilight Realm?"

"This is the Twilight Realm?" Link looked at their surroundings, cradling Lucilla's head in the crook of one arm.

They were one a cliff, high above the actual palace, which could be seen far below them. The charred remains of what had once been a pleasant village was all around them, overgrown with moss, grass, and tiny red flowers. Bleached bones lay half-buried in the black dirt. The cliff was set apart from the destroyed town, a sheer drop-off to a pond below.

"When Lucilla said home," Link whispered. "it literally took her home. To her village, where she was a baby."

"Where is it?" Zelda asked suddenly. "Where is the necklace?"

"Um..." Link's eyes searched Lucilla's throat, but the necklace wasn't there. Then, a glint of the faint twilight caught in her tightly clenched fist, and Link carefully extracted the pendant from her grasp.

Zelda sighed in relief. "Okay. So Ruik didn't manage to take it."

"Is Aeli here?" Link asked suddenly. He needed to know if his friend was in this strange place.

"No, she isn't." Lucilla was waking up now. "I don't know where she is."

"You know Aeli?" Link asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I do. I knew her for several days." Lucilla wouldn't look at either of them; her ruby red eyes focused on the distant, red and black sky. "She appeared here suddenly, in the courtyard, nearly dead. Her hands and feet were broken. A slave girl found her and Aeli was taken to the infirmary. I was with her when she woke up." Lucilla sighed. "Ruik tried to take the necklace from her, but we fought him for it, and fought his daughter for it. In the end, I got it, took Aeli's hand, and said, "Take me to Link". As I said it, Ruik cursed me so I nearly died. Zelda saved me, and here we are."

"Why didn't you tell me you and Aeli knew one another?" Link demanded, a harsh tone overtaking his voice.

"Because Zelda knew you would only pester me for her location which, I'm afraid, I have to clue about." Lucilla smoothly replied.

Link swore under his breath. "We need to find her."

"She's not in this Realm, for sure," Lucilla pushed Link away from her and stood. "We were pulled apart while we were nearly at our destination. She has to be in the Realm of Light."

"Are you coming with us?" Zelda asked.

"Um, hello?" Lucilla took her pendant back from Link and twirled it around her fingers. "I think I have the portal. So hell yes, I'm going with you."

"But you only have seventeen days to live if you go back." Link protested.

"Seventeen days is long enough to stop Ruik, Ganondorf, and save Aeli, plus Hyrule. And if it isn't, I can just go back to the Twilight for a couple of days and start over the hourglass." Lucilla shrugged.

"This isn't a game, Lucilla." Zelda emphasized this. "It's life and death, you know."

"Seeing as my life really couldn't mean less, I don't think it matters." Lucilla growled. "I don't fear death."

"Sometimes fear keeps us alive." Zelda replied sagely.

"I don't see much point in living, or much sense in fear." Lucilla retorted.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Link jumped between the two of them before fists began to fly. "This doesn't need to come to a conflict, yeah?"

The two young women were glaring daggers at one another, but both backed off.

"Ready to leave?" Zelda asked. "Oh, wait. Maybe we should ask Lucilla for permission first."

"Oh, we can leave, if this little brat is willing to move her royal behind." Lucilla easily retaliated.

Link gulped, not exactly willing to be caught between two warring women. Those battles were the bloodiest.

Zelda and Link took hold of Lucilla's shoulders as she asked, "Where to?"

"The Sacred Realm," Zelda said before Link could open his mouth. "We aren't ready to face Ganondorf or Ruik yet."

"I think Link should get a say," Lucilla arched her eyebrows.

"I was going to say Aeli, but if the Sacred Realm is a more strategic move, then..." he trailed off lamely.

"You and strategy?" Lucilla giggled. "That mix is about as compatible as fire and ice. Well, whatever. Take us to the Sacred Realm!" She pinched the pendant between two fingers.

The blue light engulfed them, and they were gone.

"Wait!" the lone soldier cried, stumbling to his feet. "You left me behind!"

well, the soldier didn't really have much else to do, and by the end of the chapter I'd nearly forgotten about him, so stay he will.

reviews are appreciated, as always! Luv you all!