"Where is he?"
It had been twenty minutes after Barinade's destruction. Twenty minutes of Ruto searching through chunks of green-stained meat and burning smoke in an attempt to find her friend. The fact he wore green clothes, which blended with the blood, didn't help one bit.
"I don't know! We've been looking for… loads of hours now and no sign!" replied Ruto as, with a sickening slithering noise, she moved another piece of sticky flesh out the way.
Nope.
Only more green, slimy meat. Only this time, it was moving and groaning. "Gross!" thought Ruto as she winced in disgust, about to move onto the next piece. When the piece of meat said her name, she quickly turned back to it. "Link? Is that you?"
"Ow… Burn… Hurts..."
The princess followed the gasping voice, tracing it back to the pile she just moved. Blending in from his green clothes, Link was hardly moving. The only times he did move was to wince and scratch an electricity burn. Acting fast, Ruto turned to Navi. "He's not looking so good. What do I do?" she said, her voice breaking with concern.
"Just get him and you out of here." replied Navi, turning a hopeful pink-red colour. "With Barinade gone, Lord Jabu Jabu would probably be willing to let us out."
"I hope so!" With that, Ruto hauled Link to his feet as gently could, slung an arm of his over her shoulders and walked him to the hole that went up to the neck.
With an almighty yawn, Lord Jabu Jabu opened his mouth to let Ruto and Link out. In a backdrop of smoke from the last explosion, Link and Ruto hobbled out onto a branch that was several meters away from the altar, since the whale had gone on a little swim while they were in there.
"Air!" squeaked Link as he ran out onto the end of the branch, feeling better in an instant. "Fresh air! Light!" He tried to turn and find Ruto, but within an instant, she had gone. "Ruto? Ruto, don't tell me you've gone back in there! I can't stomach another trip through that whale maze!" A pink glow caught Link's attention. When he looked up, Navi was flapping above his head, clearly amused over something. "Navi? Have you seen Ruto anywhere? And no jokes! I know what that shade of pink means!"
"I honestly have no idea!"
Link frowned at his fairy, hearing a bit of a playful giggle in her voice. "Cut the cover-ups! Where did she go? This is serious!"
Link turned around away from Navi and almost walked right into a smiling, fishy face peering straight at him. With a strangled gasp, the boy fell backwards, hitting the water with a stinging slap.
SPLAAAAASH!
It was the face of Ruto. Still grinning as Navi burst into uncontrollable laughter. Just as they had done when Link started his adventure, his burns had stopped hurting completely. Unlike the last time, they did not completely disappear. They were still there, but they were no longer causing intense pain and suffering, not even when he touched them. However, his tunic was still burned black in some places. "Hey, don't do that!" said Link, furrowing his brow. He was clearly trying his best to hold back his own laughter. "I think I've had enough of water for now!"
With a giggle of her own, Ruto majestically leaped into the air, becoming a silhouette in the sun and flicking drops of water, before swan diving gracefully into the water. Darting around underwater like a gentle torpedo, Ruto finally began to slow down as she surfaced, facing Link. "Hey… You were pretty cool." admitted Ruto flatly. "Water way to escape the belly of a deity!"
"Oh, get out." Navi laughed flatly at Ruto's joke as she descended onto Link's head.
"We are out, fairy! We got out just now!" Ruto's impish smile got wider and wider, enjoying playing around with Navi.
"AAARGH! I'll see myself out!"
"But you already are!" repeated Ruto. Navi was so flushed that she dove straight into Link's hat.
"Anyway, back to you..." Ruto swam closer to Link, who could soon feel hot breath on his neck. It felt like a hair dryer was being turned on and off onto his neck at a low volume, minus all the whirring. "For the boy who saved this loach from becoming lunch, you can name your prize! I will make certain that it gets to you!"
Link couldn't help turning red in the cheeks as Ruto swam even nearer. He almost wanted to back away but he didn't want to come off as rude. "Anything?"
"Yes! Anything!" repeated Ruto, passionately shaking her head. "Money? my dad has MILLIONS of smackers! Just say it and I'll convey it!"
Discreetly swimming backwards to give himself some space, Link pulled on his collar to let some water out before mustering up his thoughts for an answer. "That ring you got back in Lord Jabu Jabu… Can I just see it for a moment?"
With a sharp, toothy grin, Ruto pulled her ring off of her finger. "This one? Whatever for?"
Oh.
This wasn't going to be easy to explain.
"Well… I… You see… Your ring is..." stammered Link, his premeditated sentence falling apart in moments. "It's..."
"Pretty?" suggested Ruto, tilting her head. "I agree. It still didn't lose its sheen even after Jabu Jabu swallowed it!"
"Speaking of that, how did that happen? Did you accidentally drop it in with his fish and then dive in after it?"
Ruto puffed on the sapphire, wiping the remaining traces of slobber off of it before dipping it in the water to demist it. "No, not like that!" denied the girl, "I went to feed him, as I would do, but when I dumped all of his breakfast bristlemouths on the floor, he inhaled WAY too hard! He caught me with them and I was so surprised that I dropped my ring!"
"Same here." answered Link, shaking his head with a small laugh, "The fish you were eating in there was actually how I got in."
"Well, we're out now." Ruto finished. Presenting the ring to Link, she smiled once more. "Did you want this ring?"
"Yes. Long story short, it's to stop Ganondorf getting the Triforce and… blowing the world up."
"Right… My mother always told me to give this, the Zora Sapphire, to the person I am going to marry. Do you accept that?"
"Marry?" mirrored Link's head as he raised one side of his face as if it were a separate entity. Whatever it meant can't have been good because Link heard a small, stifled laugh from his hat. Whatever it was, was also necessary, however. Link had to do it. "Yes. I do."
Ruto looked like she had taken a once in a lifetime opportunity. The happiest girl on the planet, she immediately gave Link a squeezing, slimy hug which almost sank the boy like a ship with a leak. "Careful! Careful! I can't breathe underwater!"
Slowly and sheepishly, Ruto let him go. "Sorry about that!" she nervously laughed, turning salmon red. "Just… give me your hand a moment so I can put this ring on." Not sure where this was going, Link did so. Ruto took his arm in her hand and slid the Zora Sapphire onto his ring finger. "There we are! It's nice isn't it!"
"Navi?" hissed Link up to his fairy, who lifted his hat up to peak out. "What does 'marry' mean?"
The titter that came back from Navi made his face instantly go red with fear. "It's when two people become a unified couple to declare their love for each other!"
Immediately, Link's face went white like a piece of paper. "What?"
And then he lost consciousness once more.
Unfortunately, it was too late for Zelda's plan to work at this point. As you may have gathered earlier, Ganondorf, Ganondorf Dragmire, the Great King of Evil, had laid siege to Hyrule Castle. In he had galloped on his black horse, all his Gerudo following him. By that, I mean he literally rode into the castle.
"Kwiliwch dod yssafel ness bwyddych chi'na bob a hiid i'ra offrein hwnnwr!" Ganondorf barked orders to his Gerudo in Gerudian, who were frantically bursting into rooms and raiding the guts of them.
CRASH! A woman smashed into the kitchen, prompting the pear-shaped chef to yank his ladle out of his hot soup for a fight. He was struck down in seconds.
SMASH! Another bandit came crashing into the lavatories, crashing into all the locked stalls and quickly making an escape when no sign of the instrument turned up.
CLATTER! A thief destroyed the door to the pantry. The preparer quickly reacted but, despite being able to dump a bag of flour over her head, he was quickly cut down.
SPLINTER! A scientist shattered into the cellar with a flask of chemicals. All she succeeded in doing was hitting the window with it instead of the storage man before she was hit by a crossbow bolt.
"BLE WYR PICWS?" blasted Ganondorf with more Gerudian. The Gerudo all ran back towards their master before pointing behind them. To answer his question, there was the princess, fleeing around a corner. "How many people must die before they learn their lesson?"
Ganondorf cupped his hand at the princess as a fireball began growing inside of the shape. With a deep roar, the wizard shot a flamethrower blast at her. The princess was just able to escape around the corner as the blast roasted the wall.
"Father! Father!" called the princess, hot tears dripping to the floor as she put her head down to the floor. As she turned the corner, she almost ran smack into Ganondorf, who had warped in front of her.
"Calling your father is no help now."
Savouring the fear and blank sorrow on the girl's face, Ganondorf drew his gigantic broadsword. The sides of it were coated in blood.
Royal blood.
"He is now being eternally tormented by how he couldn't protect his daughter!" whined the malevolent man, savouring the taste of the words as he released them, "He should have given me the Ocarina of Time immediately, as should YOU!"
Ganondorf swung his blade down as hard as he could, smashing into the floor and just barely missing Zelda, who slipped around him and ran away as the King of Evil tried to pull his sword up and out of the floor. "Cae fwrn y hollon! CAE FWRN Y DDWRYG HOLLON!"
As soon as he gave that order, every Gerudo in the castle stormed after the princess, who was now heading straight for the ice house. There was only one way in or out. She was trapped. Painfully, sadistically slowly, Ganondorf advanced on her, his sword dripping with blood. Right at that moment, Impa leaped into the scene with a single-edged blade, faking Ganondorf out with it before punching him straight to the floor. "Princess! The window! Quick!" In one quick motion, Impa cut the entire glass pane of a nearby, small window clean out of the frame before taking her and diving out of it as the Gerudo charged. Just before the naginatas were able to draw any blood, both targets vanished from sight. They rolled down awning after awning, Zelda screaming as they went, ripping through one final obstruction and landing on the royal white horse, Regius.
"Go!" ordered Impa, cracking the reigns of the animal. Serious and determined, the horse jetted off down the path and towards the town, an enraged Ganondorf watching with tranquil fury from the broken window.
"Ryddhau'wr anghenfill."
Link had discreetly slipped out of Zora's Domain, giving the King and everyone else a wide berth. He did NOT want them to know that he was going to marry their prince. Luckily, all had gone well. Ruto had rejoined her father, the King had thanked Link, dubbing him the Hero of the Zoras and Link had awkwardly shuffled his way back out of the cave. He could not breathe again until he had passed through the waterfall back outside to the banks.
"Well, that was weird! I never thought you would join families with a fishy fille!" joked Navi, having picked up some French from the chatting Zora. Link rolled his eyes.
"That wasn't funny!" protested Link. "What will everyone in the forest think? Mido will never let me hear the end of it. Maybe even Saria will make fun of me."
Navi was about to try and be serious and tell Link that a good friend would be accepting of that, but Link was swept from beside her. "Not again!" huffed the fairy, turning red and jetting up after the owl that had taken Link, hopefully not being an unknown second Magna owl who had mistaken Link for a tasty mouse.
"Mr. Owl? What's going on? What's the rush?" asked Link as he felt Kaepora's talons were wrapped around his shoulders much more tightly than usual. He was also panting heavily and his flappers were going like the clappers.
"Ganondorf has started his attack on Hyrule Castle!" puffed Kaepora breathlessly, "We need to get there as fast as possible!"
"Right." Link accepted Kaepora's erratic behaviour as he flew faster than usual, out of Zora's river and over Hyrule Field once more, Navi struggling to catch up.
As Link rose over Hyrule Field, so did smoke over Hyrule Castle. Fire was burning through the palace, reaching out the windows in search of anyone to engulf. Little ants of people in the town all screamed and ran away as a figure on a horse barrelled into fruit stands and fountains, destroying everything in its path.
Rummmmmble!
The great owl gasped at the sight of storm clouds billowing overhead. Rain started letting loose from them and eventually, thunder began smashing down. "I'm going to have to let you down here, Link!" shouted Kaepora over the sounds of howling winds. "It's getting dangerous up here!"
The bird of prey descended and put Link down just by the closed drawbridge. The boy drew his sword and Deku Shield as Kaepora stood firmly behind him, ready to fight if he needed.
"I've… been here before." said Link quietly, inspecting the familiar surroundings. He was standing in an empty… piece of land. No trees, no forest plants, just short, green grass and annoying torrential rain all around.
"I would hope so!" replied Kaepora, rolling his eyes. "You've met the Princess here, haven't you?"
"No, not that! I know I've been here before, but I'm getting… that feeling where you think you've already experienced a situation. Was that a dream?" shivered Link as he stared at the strange structure ahead of him. His boots began sinking into the ground and water seeped down the back of his neck like the chill of a nearby ghost.
"Brrrrr! What's going on?" chattered the boy as he stepped back a little. The water was now seeping into his boots. He was not dressed for this weather. His charred tunic stopped just above his knees and the sleeves didn't even reach his elbows. Definitely not clothes for temperatures that allowed you to see your breath.
With a rattle of chains, a large board of wood was lowered to the ground like a coffin being laid into the dirt, revealing Castle Town behind it. What stood out most was the galloping white horse.
...Is anyone else getting deja vu?
Clippity clop, Clippity clop, Clippity clop, Clippity clop.
The white horse sped straight at Link, who dived out the way. As he pulled himself up, Link caught a glimpse of the passengers.
Zelda and Impa. Just like every other time Link had seen this scene, Zelda was giving him a deer-in-the-headlights look whilst Impa kept looking straight ahead, serious as ever. Not like every other time, Zelda had something blue and shiny in her hand. Fighting with herself on whether to part with it, she finally lobbed it behind her.
"What's that?" murmured Link, watching the glinting instrument flying through the air towards him. With a loud KNOCK, it bounced off his head, forcing him to the floor before it whistled back up and landed in the moat.
PLOP!
Forcing himself back up as Navi finally caught up to him, Link held his head from the impact. Kaepora said nothing, knowing his destiny. His mind was awash. He was hardly attentive when a deep voice yelled out…
"HEY, YOU!"
Storming out of the castle, riding a black stallion, was an armoured warrior. A black knight. Black armour and a cloak.
GANONDORF.
His stallion galloped across the drawbridge that had lowered to the floor and skidded to a halt, creating a seismic wave. Instinctively, Link shielded Navi from the blast.
"Tell me, Did you see that white horse that went across the drawbridge? Where did it go?" pressed Ganondorf. He stared at the scrawny child for an answer. As for him, he was completely lost for words. This was playing out exactly as it did in his dreams. Even voices! Well, he didn't have a massive bird backing him up in his dreams.
"You! Do you have any idea how I would know where they went?" Link was able to piece together. This time, fight won over flight and Link drew both his Kokiri Sword and the Deku Shield. "Come at me!"
"Hm… I like your attitude, boy!" smirked the hateful Gerudo knowingly. Without even a wind-up, Link dove at the warlock.
All he did was throw his hand out. All he did was release a fireball about the size of a golf ball.
A fireball hungry for blood.
Young blood.
This time, Link didn't wake up from a bad dream. A potent explosion knocked the boy to the floor where he skidded to a halt several feet back. "Link!" cried Navi, turning that one shade of pink like she had done in the graveyard and flying to her friend's aid. Delayless, Kaepora narrowed his preying eyes, which flashed yellow.
"Demon! You don't belong in this world!" With a grating screech, the great bird of prey leaped into the air, raised both wings and formed a ball of wind. This ball shaped into a cutter, which Kaepora fired at the wizard.
"Childsplay." was the man's flat response. Grabbing the left side of his cloak with his opposite hand, he flicked it. The blade of wind was instantly reflected back at the owl, cleanly hitting him. A pain-stricken shriek forced the owl back into fighting, where it dived head-first at Ganondorf's horse, completely bent on destroying both of them. Ganondorf stood up, reeled back his fist, cloaked it in darkness and lunged.
SMAAAAAASH!
Link could only watch wordlessly from the floor as Kaepora used the momentum from the punch to take off to the skies, where his mentor disappeared. He couldn't speak. He was still winded. He didn't even run to stop Ganondorf when, after the Fairy Ocarina was launched from Ganondorf's attack, the evil king bent down to pick it up, no doubt mistaking it for the blue one Zelda had thrown into the moat. All he could do was angrily clench a fistfull of grass as Navi settled on his shoulder.
"I can't, Great Deku Tree!" whined Link, looking at the pouring rain above him. "With this small body… I'm no match for him! What do I do?"
Finally, his voice broke and, for the first time in what felt like ages, he had a heavy cry into the grass.
It may have just been his imagination or it may have been real, but he heard the Great Deku Tree in his head for a brief moment. He heard his deep voice saying:
"Th're is nay such thing as "I can't."
Quote of the Day:
"Believe in yourself, and the rest will fall into place."