Chapter Twenty-one: Sudden change in plans

"Look, I don't know what's causing the sun to go out either! What, are you planning to send me up into space?!" Link asked impatiently. He was freezing cold, despite the warming clothes that he had, and he was sure that Ruto was too. It had been several days now that the light temple had been restored, but the dark and wintry spell remained over the kingdom of Hyrule. The elders began to conclude that the sun itself was losing energy to something dark and evil inside of it, and they were desperately trying to find a plan of action as to what to do.

One of the elders said, "Link, we apologize for asking this of you, but we need you to challenge Zihark directly with whatever power you have right now. We cannot exactly send you out into space, for we have nothing to do that with."

Link gave them a bewildered look and asked, "You want me to challenge the lord of evil?! In the state I'm in right now?!"

The head elder replied, "Yes. This is the only way we can think of that will save us in enough time to keep us from freezing to death."

Link said, "We can just go into Death Mountain. The heat will still be there for a few precious days."

The elder asked, "Yes, but how much time will that give us to wait for you to destroy this king of evil?"

Link shrugged and said, "I don't know. Any amount of time is worth it, however."

Sheik, who had came back with him, said, "Look, we have to do something about this cold and darkness before people die because of it. Have you seen Ruto? She's-"

Link yelled, "I know!"

He was already frantic enough, though he did not show it. He was very desperately wanting an answer for this problem, and a whole slew of possible scenarios was already running through his head. Yes, he could fight Zihark, but if he died, what then? He could keep on trying to find the sages and preparing himself to fight Zihark, a noble task, but time consuming, and time wasn't something they had a lot of. Or, he could find a near impossible way to get up to sun and free it from the darkness. But then, as it started to heat back up, would he be able to escape it? There was always an unanswerable question for every idea that he came up with.

He ran his hand through his hair, and then said, "There might be a way to get up to the sun and free it from the darkness. I just would have to find it."

Sheik yelled, "Link! You are a mindless idiot! Has the cold gotten-"

He was silenced by a boomerang hitting him alongside the head, knocking him over. Link stared, and then the boomerang hit him on the side, nearly knocking him over. He watched it hit the ground, and wondered what had just come over him. He said, "Sheik, don't call me that."

The head elder said, "Link, Sheik would have had a point, I'm sure. But he ruined it, so I will tell you. Do you know how long that would possibly take? Because no one has ever found a way to do such a thing, there is no fathomable way to do something like that. It is basically impossible to save the sun right now. The only way I can think of is killing the king of evil."

Link replied, "I don't care. I'm not ready, and that's a fact!"

Sheik stood up, still stunned from the blow, and one of the men on the other side of the table, th same man that had been arguing with him before, said, "Link, you have to face him or we will all die!"

Link asked, "Why do you think I suggested Death Mountain for the moment being?! Are you just as clueless as Sheik said I am?!"

Link then yelled, "I have a very good way of getting myself up there with protection, and it involves the light temple."

The head elder asked, "What, exactly, do you plan to do?"

Link replied, "I don't exactly know yet! Do I look like I can just come up with plans like this off the top of my head?!"

Ruto came in, coughing pretty badly. Link turned to see that she was very miserable looking. Her whole body seemed to be trembling like she had a fever. She was wearing heavy furs, and still shivering. The color in her eyes had almost diminished, and there was hardly any color to her face anymore. She asked in a cracked voice, "What's going on?"

The head elder said, "Link here is proposing that he might be able to go to the sun and save it somehow. We are saying that there is hardly any likely way for him to do so."

Ruto said, "No, I can think of way. The lake Hylia. Link, I know that you won't want to go back down there as of right now, but you might want to think of going back into the purification system and telling one of the pipes to take you up to the sun itself."

Link asked, "Now, why do you suppose that such a thing would work?"

Ruto shrugged and said, "It's just a suggestion."

Link began thinking, and then said, "Well, it is worth a shot."

The head elder asked, "How are you planning to get down there without freezing? The water is frozen over, and the water underneath it so cold that one touch is enough to give a finger frostbite instantly!"

Link said, "I need some sort of a suit made that can protect me from the cold. Can we reverse engineer my Goron armor?"

The head elder shrugged and said, "Maybe. Even if we could, would it really work?"

Link said, "Like I said, it's worth a shot."

The head elder asked, "So, we head up to the Goron mountain, and then we have the Gorons reverse engineer your armor. Then, if all goes as planned, you go down into the freezing lake and head into the sun itself to free it from the ghastly occurrence inside. Is that what you're saying?"

Link nodded. Sheik slapped his palm to his forehead and sighed, thinking that such a plan would not work. He said, "I'm leaving."

He walked out of the meeting hall and slammed the door shut behind him. Link said, "Okay, he doesn't have to come with me if he does not want to. Let's go up to the mountain and see what we can do. We have to try this at least. If all else fails, then we go and face off against Zihark's forces."

The head elder said, "Sounds like a plan to me. How about the rest of us here?"

There was a cry of agreement. The head elder smiled and said, "Alright, we'll try this. If at all, at least we have some hope, correct?"

Link nodded, a smile on his face. His cheeks were a bright red from the intense cold, and he was beginning to feel a little cold as well. The head elder said, "Meeting adjourned!"

Link and Ruto both walked out of the room, and then they Zelda walk up to them. Link commented, "I haven't seen you around for a while. Where have you been?"

Zelda replied, "I've been around."

Ruto said, "Well, you weren't here for a long time. I was searching for you before I went into the meeting hall. Were you outside?"

Zelda nodded and said, "I was outside trying to find something of mine that I accidentally left out there. I found it, and so now I'm back in here."

Zelda then asked, "So, why do you two hang out, anyways? Is there some special reason?"

Link replied, "Yeah, we're kind of...in love."

Zelda was suddenly shocked when she heard that. After a few moments of an awkward silence, she said, "Um...I've got to go right now..."

She turned and left, leaving Link and Ruto standing there alone. Link commented, "That was weird."

Ruto asked, "What was with her right then?"

Link shrugged and said, "Ah well. It isn't like it matters too much."

Ruto suddenly sneezed, and then she sneezed about three more times, violently. Link asked, "Hey, are you okay?!"

Ruto stood up, sniffling, and replied, "I think so...I'm not really sure."

Link said, "This is getting serious. I have to stop Zihark sometime soon."

Ruto asked, "Link, don't ever leave me."

Link seemed surprised and asked, "Why would I do that?"

Ruto said, "Just don't. Unless you have to, don't ever leave me to be alone. I don't want anything to happen to either of us."

Link looked into her nearly colorless eyes, and said, "Ruto, I would never do that. I promise you, I won't ever leave you."

She seemed somewhat distressed suddenly. Link asked, "What's the matter?"

Ruto said, "Everything...I don't know what's going on anymore. I've been feeling sick ever since we set foot in the light temple, and I'm afraid. I'm afraid that I might be dying."

Link watched as tears began to run down her face and he said, "Ruto, don't think like that. Even if you feel ill, you'll be fine. Have hope."

Link wiped away one of the tears and said, "I'll always be there for you."

He embraced her then, and held her there. He felt the pain that she was undergoing. Something wasn't right. There seemed to be something like a poison running through her. He wondered what was going on, but he knew, somehow, that everything was going to be alright in the end. He didn't know how everything was going to end, but he knew that there was something good going to come out of this war that had been started. He just feared that Ruto wouldn't be there in the end.

Have hope. I must have that, otherwise I will fail too...he thought. How could he have hope in these times? He just didn't know anything anymore. All he knew was that there had to be something worth fighting for in these hopeless times. And, as he thought about it, he knew what that was. It was the eternal freedom from darkness, something that everyone would cherish for ages to come. He just stood there, a small glimmer of hope beginning to ignite inside of him.

Wow, I seem to be knocking them down again! This chapter only took me about half an hour to finish! Hope you like, and by the way, next chapter will be about hope beginning to really shine in other people's hearts. Hence, it will be titled, "A ray of hope". Hope you all like this chapter, and please submit your reviews or private message me about your opinions on this story. Thanks! Darkcloud780