A/N: Hello all! I've been hit with a writing frenzy as the two year anniversary approaches, I hope I'm not leaving anybody in the dust with the updates for these revisions!

Revised as of 10/4/14

Chapter 21 - The Antics of Otherworlders

"Wake up!"

Okay, that was loud. The tumultuous water must have been more aggressive than I'd though nearing the lake. My head was aching, I hoped I hadn't been out for long. It didn't feel like I was floating anymore, either. In fact, whatever I was laying on felt really cold and hard. I was pretty sure we were in Lake Hylia now.

"Ugh... my head." I grumbled, eventually opening my eyes. So, I was right, we were right outside the spirit spring.

'Are you okay?' Link asked.

"Are you?" I retorted, getting to my feet. I swayed, feeling the blood rushing away from my head suddenly. Everything seemed really off. I also saw that the vessel of light was attached to my hip again, and there were four tears in it already.

'We decided to bring you in here, and Midna insisted we get as many of the tears as we could.' Link explained. Well, that made sense I supposed. Better to get as much work done as possible rather than wait for me to wake up. That just made everything faster. From there, I checked my map. There were little points of light all the way up the river, into the Zora domain, and one in castle town. .

"Okay. That makes sense. The closest tear is in Castle Town, so we should head there. Wait, no..." I frowned. "No, we have to use the hawk grass to get upriver..." I remembered. "..I can't use that stuff. Think you can howl the tune?"

Link nodded. I wasn't enthusiastic about using the giant Kargorok again, but there weren't a lot of options, and we needed the tears going up the river.

"The Game."

"Carmen, you suck!" Bethany yelled at the blonde, throwing her hands up in defeat. The kids began laughing at the exclamation. They'd been watching the two girls playing for the last several minutes, and they'd been in the middle of a staring contest when Carmen had said that.

"What's the game?" Colin asked. Bethany and Carmen shared a look and a laugh before Carmen spoke up.

"It's just... the game. The rules of The Game are this; you cannot think of the game, you are always playing the game, if you think of the game, you lose, and if you lose, you have to announce it." she explained. They understood, but they didn't get the point of it. Neither did the girls.

When asked, Bethany replied, "It's for when you're bored. That's about it." The kids laughed at this, before going inside, leaving the two girls on the porch by themselves.

"I miss Earth." Carmen sighed after a moment. "I miss Donna and Natalia, Natalia teaching me to speak russian," she laughed at the memory, before sighing. "Not that all this," the teen gestured to everything around them. "Isn't amazing, but... I miss my mothers."

Bethany could relate. She'd had a good relationship with her parents, but she never thought she'd find herself missing the Twin Terrors back home, but she was. On the other hand, she was in Hyrule. How many people could say that truthfully?

"Beth, have you been having any weird dreams lately?" Carmen suddenly asked. Bethany shook her head, confused.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well... ever since I came to Hyrule, I've been having these weird dreams. There's a woman named Cariel, she's some kind of knight, and a bunch of people I've never seen before, but... I feel like I know all of them. And there were younger versions of us! You, Rose, Scott... Only, your name was Arynn, and we were calling Scott 'Aldy'. And you guys were calling me Carma."

"...Erin?" Bethany questioned. Carmen shook her head.

"No Arynn, like with an A."

"That still sounds like Erin though-"

"Quit focusing on that! I'm trying to figure out what the hell these dreams are supposed to mean!" Carmen suddenly shouted, frustrated. The teen let her head fall into her hands. "These dreams are important, but I can't figure out why..."

Bethany sighed. Whatever was going on with these dreams, it had her friend pretty freaked out.

"That was... severely unpleasant." I decided, hopping off the Kargorok when we reached the upper river. Several waterfalls that had been dried up on our first time across were running again, and more than once we'd been drenched. I was soaked through, and shivering. I couldn't wait to get this over with and finally get to Castle Town.

'Agreed. We didn't miss any, did we?'

I shook my head, allowing myself a few minutes to sit.

"There's one under the stairs over there," I pointed to where Iza's spirit was hovering, but made no move to get up. I curled in on myself, repressing shivers and conserving what body heat I had. "Howling stone. And, there's two Zoras over there," I pointed to the stone and the other spirits. Link approached the stone, and I saw him close his eyes, listening to the sounds of whatever song this stone was playing.

I recognized the tune he howled as Requiem of Spirit, though unfortunately I was left in the dark for the rest of the song, which Link would howl with the Shade. I watched with interest as he slowly slumped to the ground, unconscious. I had no idea what to do, and decided to introduce Midna to a game to pass the time.

"Okay, I spy with my little eye, something that is..." I trailed off, trying to find something. Then the hanging jars by Iza's door caught my eye. "Orange." Several wrong guesses later, Midna realized she couldn't find anything orange because the jars were hanging above her.

Midna huffed; she didn't like Eye Spy.

"This is boring." she said, nearly pouting. Of course, at that very moment, Link came to, and my phone vibrated in my pouch. Without looking, I knew it was indicating the location of the Golden Wolf.

"You need to teach Rose some fun games, the ones she plays are boring." Midna stated to Link as she hopped onto his back. I rolled my eyes. Out of nowhere a voice flitted through my mind, accompanied by small flashes of my memory.

"I have to stop him. We have to protect her from him!"

It was my father, talking to my mother in a hushed but urgent voice.

"Before he and his army reach Castle Town."

I saw my smaller self peeking through a crack in the door, as my parents spoke.

"But what is it he wants?" Liliandil asked fearfully. "What did you and Hael discover?" Then I allowed myself to be fully drawn into the memory. My father sighed heavily, his eyes sad, angry, and grievous.

"Hael was captured, and is now under the service of Astaroth.." he started. Rosalie and Liliandil gasped. "The demon plans to attack Castle Town, with Cariel, Ardea, Edriel, and now Hael commanding his troops." he continued, his hands clenching into fists.

"Why, though? Why are they coming to Castle Town?" Liliandil pressed. My father leaned close, and whispered something that sent icy fear shooting down my spine.

"He knows she has it, and he will not stop until he takes it."

I snapped my eyes open again, and I was back on the edge of the Zora river.

'Rose, are you-'

"Do not ask if I'm Okay, please. I am so tired of that question." I interrupted. "I'm going to get the bug in Castle Town, you and Midna should get the ones in the Zora domain. Don't worry about the map, you'll be able to see all of them."

Both of them looked ready to protest.

"We'll cover more ground splitting up. Trust me, I'll be fine."

Link just sighed. 'Fine. I won't say 'I told you so' if you get hurt.'

"What do you mean the attack failed?! One girl, an imp, and their damned beast, and yet four of your best riders could not capture her!" Ardea screeched at the creature below her.

"Mistress, there was-" it stammered, shying away from the woman's fury.

"I do not want excuses, I want results!" she cut him off angrily.

"Mistress, I have other news, though-" the creature spoke up quickly to save it's skin, though interrupted again.

"What?"

"The-the other children, your niece and Cariel's child- they are- they are residing in Kakariko village, mistress!" the creature stuttered, trembling pathetically. Ardea thought on that for a moment, before waving the creature away. It practically ran from the room, tripping over its feet on the way out. Ardea began pacing.

"Peace, milady. There's no need to worry. I'm sure we will capture the girl in time." a cold voice spoke up. Ardea whirled with a glare, but another voice spoke up first.

"And how do you propose we do that, Edriel? Launch a siege, when we don't even know where she is?" Cariel demanded.

"What about the location spell?" Edriel asked, raising an eyebrow. Ardea shook her head.

"I couldn't locate her, there's barriers around her mind were too powerful." A scoff was heard.

"Her mother's magic, I imagine."

"How do we get around it, then? Larger packs? Scouting parties?"

"No. For now, we observe. When the time is right, we will take them. Allof them."

"Bethany, it's nearly dark. You should come inside, before you catch a chill."

"Give me a few more minutes, Renado. I'll be in before sundown." Bethany promised. Renado did not return inside the sanctuary as she'd expected.

"Something troubles you." he said, not a question. It was clear on her face.

"..Yeah. Just a theory, it's been bugging me since Carmen mentioned having strange dreams, earlier today." Renado's silence prompted her to continue. "A friend of mine, Scott, went missing about a year ago, and he'd been talking about the same kind of thing. Now... I'm left wondering if he might be alive, here in Hyrule." she admitted. Renado hummed.

"From what I have head from Carmen and Rose, it's probable."

"But then... Rose's weird dreams were her memories of her old life here. Carmen said that in one of the dreams, we were all together, with different names. Carma, Arynn, Rose, Aldy. I'm wondering, now, if... we might all be from Hyrule."

Renado did not speak for a long while.

"Whatever the case, you are with us now."

That did little to ease Bethany's worries, as new ones kept cropping up. What if she'd come by accident? Rose and Scott had vanished two weeks after their birthdays, she had come a few days after Rose, and her birthday was only today. Was it a mistake? Would she... be taken back to Earth when the story ended?

But then Carmen had said she'd been in the dream as well. Maybe she would start remembering soon?

"Such worrisome thoughts should be pondered elsewhere, a cold wind is coming in from the mountains. Come, child, it's far warmer inside." Without taking 'no' for an answer, Renado guided Bethany back into the sanctuary.

Of course, it had to rain again. Fortunately, I was nearly to Castle Town, where there were buildings and archways to take cover beneath.

There was just one...tiny detail I'd forgotten; the shadow beasts just before the bridge that led to the town's east entrance. At least, until the pillars dropped and penned me in.

A curse slipped from my mouth. I should have waited and had Link come with me, I knew. Or at the least, remembered that they would attack. Then I could have gone around, with Farore's Wind perhaps. It was out of the question now, I'd just have to deal with it.

"Alright, bring it on." I muttered, drawing my sword. Before the Shadow Beasts gained their bearings and noticed me, I ran for the one by itself. It made a wild backwards swing when it saw me, which I easily dodged. Its other clawed hand was swiping downwards towards the ground, and incidentally me. I barely raised a shield in time. The overlarge hand left sizable dents in the metal, and under different circumstances I would have groaned in dismay. Another thing to fix, on top of my bow. As it was, I was pinned. Thinking quickly, I plunged the sword upwards into the beast's chest. A strangled shriek erupted in my ears, choking off into a gurgling cry before the creature collapsed on top of me.

I grunted at the sudden weight, pulling my sword out and shimmying out from underneath the creature. I tried my hardest to remain quiet, keep from drawing attention. There was no way I could take both of those things out on my own. My legs were still caught underneath the Shadow Beast.

And it seemed my bad luck wasn't ending there, as I'd been seen by the other beasts despite my efforts. They both lumbered towards me, and I struggled to free my feet. They were inching out from underneath the dead beast, and I was running out of time! Panic was building in my chest, and one of the creatures was rearing up to attack, but suddenly both creatures were screaming in pain, before they collapsed. The beasts exploded into twilight shards, forming another portal and revealing a dark hooded figure. My eyes widened; another person! In the twilight?

"Reckless child! You are still learning to fight, and yet you thought you would take on three Shadow Beasts on your own?" the voice was angry, and clearly female. I didn't recognize the voice. I shakily got to my feet, wiping rainwater from my face and trying to get a closer look at the woman.

"Who- who are you?" I asked. The woman shook her head beneath the hood.

"Later. Collect Lanayru's light. Go." Her voice was firm, leaving no room for argument. With a short nod, I continued on my way into Castle Town. When I looked back, the hooded woman was gone.

A/N: anyone wondering who the hooded lady was? Hope you liked this! :)