I started a poll to see which of my new story ideas would be the most popular. Check it out on my profile page!

Thank you to DalekDavros, TheChargingRhino, James Birdsong, and burning book for their reviews.

DalekDavros: You asked what happened to Link's other stuff between him leaving Termina and getting to Castle Town, where he sold his sword, shield, and bow. I understand how you could have missed that explanation, as it was just in passing near the beginning of Part I. When he returned to Hyrule, a lot of the things he got from Termina disappeared, like how rupees, bombs, and arrows, are lost in the void of time after returning to the Dawn of the First Day. They just slipped out of his pockets as he was falling from Termina and back into Hyrule.

If you weren't acknowledged or thanked for your review, it's because I considered it spam.

Important!
This is the last chapter of Part II. I'm sorry this has come as a surprise, I would have liked to inform everyone that this was the last chapter when I announced it last Friday, but I wasn't sure, as it's not the end of the journey, just the end of the beginning of it and the most relevant part to the overall plot of the story. I might write some of Link's smaller adventures and maybe some of Zelda's back at the castle during this time period, but I'll be focusing on getting out Part III. I'm not actually sure when Part III will be ready since I'll be very, very busy with other things, like college, but I will write at least one Intermezzo before or when Zelda Wii U comes out and announce it then, unless it's delayed, then the deadline for the next Intermezzo is sometime in March, 2017. (Also, less importantly, FF was acting up last week and I can't update Thunderer, the last chapter, so I can't remove the update date or fix the incorrectly labeled chapter number, just ignore it. I'm trying to come up with a solution.)

Part II
The Legacy of a Hero
Years 505 FH

Chapter IX
Brotherly Betrayal

It had been days, and the storm hadn't let up in the slightest. Christofen was starting to run out of vine to burn and mushrooms to eat. Epona had left early on the morning of the second day and he hadn't seen her since. He'd been practicing the various folk melodies he knew on Link's ocarina, to pass the time trapped in the cave. But by now, he'd have to venture back out into the storm, if only to find more food. While he was at it, he decided to search for whatever was causing the storm, if it wasn't a natural occurrence. It was unlikely that this storm was natural.

His first course of action was to scrounge through the soaking underbrush for edible plants, since he didn't necessary need to cook those to eat them, like berries or roots. His second was to head for the center of the storm. If anything, he'd be able to discern exactly what was causing all that rain, be it natural or supernatural.

He had managed to get enough berries to satisfy him for quite a while, and he'd been walking for hours up hill in the rain and wind. He had located the center of the storm at the top of a mountain. It was a fixed location, which indicated a supernatural presence. The difficulty now would be to reason with the spirit and get it to stop dropping buckets of water on everything in a hundred mile radius, or however big the storm was, Christofen couldn't tell. All he knew was that he had to find his son and he couldn't do that in this rain.

If Link was smart, he'd stay somewhere safe, out of the rain and wind, and wait for Christofen to find him. But something told Christofen that his son was too much like his mother to sit and wait for something to happen.

(1)

"Now what, genius?" Leka whispered angrily. The three of them had indeed left the cave once Link was feeling better. And now, here they were, near the peak of one of the many mountains in the eastern provinces, hiding once again from Dead Fang, who was now camped near the center of the storm. They seemed to be trying to find a way to direct the spirit, and by extension the storm, further east, but it was hard to tell since they couldn't hear anything from the bushes where they hid.

"Well, I didn't think they were involved," Link pointed out. "I mean, this is ridiculous. Why can't anything be simple?"

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die," Fen whimpered quietly. "We're screwed so bad right now."

"Not if we leave and try to find the rest of the company. The bandit's aren't looking for us anymore, are they?" Leka pointed out. "Need I remind you that I'm in charge? Your father put me in charge."

"Yeah, of the mission, which has gone very sour," Link said. "We weren't even technically supposed to cross the river. I mean… wait, who's that?" Link squinted through the rain. A hauntingly familiar, very angry figure left one of the bandits seemingly enchanted tents, they were undisturbed by the wind and rain, and started yelling at Bloodletter, who was trying to come up with ideas with Burne. All three of them together didn't seem like the most productive of trios. "I'm going to get a better look," Link whispered over the roaring wind.

"No, you're not," Leka snapped, grabbing a hold of Link's tunic. "We're leaving."

"You leave, I'm getting a better look," Link shrugged her hand off of him and started stalking closer.

"Link, no!" Leka huffed. "I can't leave you behind, you insufferable idiot!"

"He can… he can take care of himself, Leka," Fen defended his fried.

Leka glared at him.

"Well… I am… I mean, I think he can but what do I know, right?"

Leka rolled her eyes. "Stay here, I'll get him before he gets himself killed."

Link inched as close to the camp as he could without being seen, but it wasn't close enough. He could guess who the man was, and he suspected quite accurately, but he didn't want to be wrong. He also didn't want to be right, not really.

"This sucks," Link grumbled. He was about to start hiding behind tents to get closer, but two more, hunched and unmistakable figures left the same tent the first figure had come from. Link's heart skipped a beat or three.

Suddenly, a hand reached from behind him and clamped onto his arm. He almost screamed, but the first shock had muted him momentarily.

"Link, what are you doing?" Leka snarled.

"Witches," Link pointed behind him.

"What?"

"The Gerudo witches," Link said. "They're hear."

"The Gerudo left after Ganondorf was executed. There can't be…"

"It's them, I know it is."

"How. When have you seen Gerudo witches?"

"I just know. We have to leave."

"Yes, I know."

"Oh no," Link suddenly realized something. "We can't leave."

"Oh, and why in the names of the three Golden Goddesses not?"

"We have to stop them. Whatever they're up to, it can't be good. I'll bet you that the witches pissed the storm deity off on purpose and now they're trying to manipulate it into destroying something with its untempered rage."

"How are we going to stop a storm deity?"

"I can play it a song? Oh no, I don't have my ocarina."

"Can you sing?"

"Can you?"

"Guys!" Fen's startled yelp echoed over the defending wind. "Help!"

In their distraction, Fen had been discovered by a bandit patrol. He probably had his eyes closed and they snuck up on him loudly. He was struggling valiantly, but his two captors were much bigger than him and were only a little inconvenienced. (Fen used Splash. No effect!) Link was about to rush to Fen's aid when Leka stopped him.

"You're unarmed."

"Give me your long bow."

"You'll never hit anything in this wind and I'm a foot taller than you."

"I can smack them with it."

"Fine, but only if you buy me a new one when we get back to civilization."

"Can do!"

Link took Leka's bow, Leka drew her sword, and they charged the two bandits. The two bandits did not expect that at all and when they saw them, they both dropped Fen and fumbled to grab their weapons. Leka sliced at one, sending him careening into the bushes with a shout, the rain washing away the red before it could linger. Link hit the other in the knee so hard with the bow that the bow snapped in half. When the man fell to the ground, Link kicked him the face, knocking him out.

"Nice," Leka said.

"Sorry about your bow," Link handed her the two pieces. Link took the unconscious bandit's short sword in his arm and felt the weight. It was crudely made and ever so slightly unbalanced, which he knew would drive him nuts if he had to use the sword for too long. "I miss my sword," Link pouted.

Fen pushed himself up from the mud and shivered.

"Fen, arm yourself, we're making a run for the eye of the storm."

"Why‽" Fen all but cried.

"Because it's the right thing to do," Link answered.

"Dammit," Fen grabbed the second bandit's sword.

Link felt a little bad. He knew what he said was true, but it still felt like he was manipulating Fen into doing something stupid that could get him killed.

"We should, uh, avoid confrontation unless necessary, right?" Fen suggested.

"That's probably the best," Link agreed.

"On my mark," Leka said, looking back into the camp. "We'll skirt around the edges and make a run through that clearing for the eye."

"They'll see us once we reach the clearing," Fen worried.

"But not in time to catch us, and they can't hit us with their bows because the wind's too strong," Link reassured him. "We'll be fine, Fen."

"Alright, now! Run!" Leka ordered.

The three of them quickly rushed through the soaking underbrush, doing their best not to make too much noise but with Fen failing miserably it wasn't much of an accomplishment. Luckily, the storm was loud and their ruckus wasn't heard or seen until they had reached the section of the clearing bordering the wall of wind a rain that surrounded the eye of the storm. Link could hear the rumblings of a storm deity just on the other side.

(2)(2)

Christofen cursed his leg and sat on a fallen log. It felt like he had been climbing up the mountain for hours. He wished he could run, but his leg would collapse under him if he tried and he risked never being able to walk again. What good was a General who couldn't walk, or a father for that matter. He was a fool for thinking he could find Link without help.

"Damn everything!" Christofen shouted to the sky. His little boy was out in this weather, and there were bandits in the woods. For all he knew, Dead Fang could have him by now. Christofen had seen the destruction and despair the bandits had caused first hand during the war, he'd seen the burning villages they ransacked and looted and the grieving villagers left behind. They could be… "No, I can't think like this. They took my wife. I won't let them take my son as well."

Christofen stood to his feet and continued his hike, uphill and against the wind. He could barely see ten feet in front of him for all the rain and it fell with such force he couldn't even be sure it wasn't hail falling from the sky. He was certainly cold enough to be drenched in ice. The ground underneath him was equal parts roots and rock as it was mud and sludge. He was having difficulty keeping his footing.

He hadn't gone fifty steps when his bad leg caught in a protruding root and he fell to the ground. White hot pain shot up his leg, seizing his brain and all of his thoughts. He couldn't even scream in pain. The mud splashed into his face and made it nearly impossible to regain his footing, so instead he rolled over and lay on his back, facing the sky in despair and anguish.

"Why have you taken my boy from me a second time?" Christofen whispered to the heavens. "What have either of us done to deserve this suffering?" Despite his long ears, said to be able to hear the gods themselves, Christofen never received a response.

He reached into the inside pocket of his cloak and took out the little ocarina. He held its now comforting and familiar shape in his hands and closed his eyes. He placed it to his lips and played Epona's song, calling for help, if she could hear him over the raging of the storm.

A number of long painfully silent, painfully lonely heartbeats later, as if by magic or miracle, Christofen heard the sound of hooves thundering in the mud. She had heard his call.

(3)(3)(3)

Link hadn't had this much fun in two years, if it could be called fun. It wasn't so much fun as it was an exhilarating feeling that this was what he was supposed to be doing, that he was in the right place at the right time and everything that happened in the thousands of years before now had led up to this moment and would lead up to hundreds more like it, all with him leaping head first into the middle of it. Link was where he belonged.

Then he realized he was being chased by bandits lead by his uncle and was running for his life in the middle of a supernatural storm. All just days after being shot in the shoulder with an arrow that nearly killed him. He could very well die in the next few moments. Link decided that this might be hazardous to his health and feeling so at home like this was not a good sign.

"Where did…" Bloodletter shouted over the storm.

"How did they…" Burne shouted over her.

"Stop them!" Quan screamed.

But it was too late. By the time the bandits closest to them could draw their weapons, the three of them had jumped through the wall of water and wind that shielded the eye of the storm from the chaos and destruction it caused.

It was like a breath of fresh air. The wind didn't pound angrily in their ears, there was no water constantly beating down on them, and, best of all, there wasn't a single cloud blocking the sunlight. It was like jumping from the ravaged future and back into the peaceful past, only without the unchanged transition of the Master Sword Chamber and the Temple of Time in between.

"This is nice," Fen sighed, resting his arm on Link's shoulder. "Why didn't we come here sooner?"

"Foolish mortals!" A voice echoed from above them. "You dare enter the domain of Cyclos, uninvited and unannounced‽"

"I think that's why," Link answered.

"Oh, yup, I can see that. Yup."

Floating above them, perched on a cloud, was a giant angry frog man. He was red as a beat and had his arms crossed in front of him, glaring down at them with his big grey frog eyes. The tip of his long tongue flicked out of his mouth hungrily and he tapped his long fingers on his elbows.

"Yet more of you mortals come to pester me. Prod me with your puny, primitive magic, will you?" Cyclos continued. "Why have you come to me, mortals, so that I may sate my curiosity before I destroy you like the flies you are."

"Okay, first of all, we're not flies…" Link started. Leka elbowed him in the shoulder. "Ow, what was that for?"

"Just a moment, please, your holiness," Leka smiled to the big frog before them and practically curtsied. Then she pulled the three of them into a small huddle to talk privately. "Are you trying to make him more angry?" Leka hissed at Link under her breath.

"I believe the proper term would be angrier," Fen corrected her.

"Fen, I will break your mouth," Leka snarled. "We need a plan to calm it down. And before you suggest anything, Link, I'm not talking about a battle plan."

"Why do you think my suggestion would be to attack?" Link asked, a little hurt.

"You get this… look… when things start getting hot," Leka explained. "It's kind of scary, actually. You are way too small and adorable to look like you're thinking about murder."

"I do not think about murder. I… um… I think about… not murder? Look, I don't know what I'm thinking when shit goes down but it's not murder."

"Alright, fine, then do you have any suggestions?"

"We could ask really, really nicely for him to stop making it rain and go away," Fen suggested.

"I was going to say that we should… uh…" Link paused, realizing what he was about to say. "Um…"

"Oh my Great Golden Goddesses," Leka sighed. "Really?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You had the look."

"Well, I wasn't going to suggest murder… exactly," Link stammered. "Look, my Plan A was to play songs on my ocarina until he starts dancing, but I don't have an ocarina right now, so the only other thing I can think of is hitting him until he agrees to go away."

"We're going with Fen's idea to ask him nicely to stop and hope he goes away," Leka said, glaring at Link, who found himself fidgeting sheepishly.

"Wow, I actually did something right!" Fen smiled.

"Not to burst your bubble, but it hasn't worked yet," Link pointed out.

"If Fen's idea doesn't work, we're probably going to have to go with Link's idea," Leka told them.

"He did say he was going to destroy us," Link said. "If anything, we'll have to defend ourselves."

"Okay, but fight a literal god? You know that sounds insane," Fen whimpered.

"At least the bandits didn't follow us," Link tried to cheer Fen up. Not everyone could face a god and remain relatively fearless. The only reason Link wasn't terrified of Cyclos was because his sense of danger had been dulled by all the abuse it had taken during his adventures.

"Mortals!" Cyclos's voice boomed over them. "I am not a god of patience. Give me your answer and die!"

"He doesn't sound like he can be reasoned with," Link winced.

"Oh great and powerful Cyclos," Leka started. "I know I am but a puny mortal fly compared to you, but please, your storm is destroying our home."

"Why does this concern me?"

"Well, it is your storm, so, it's kinda because of you that we're suffering," Link said. He was trying his best.

"I care not for the shortcoming of mortals."

"How is it our shortcoming that you keep making it rain?"

"Are you even trying?" Fen hissed.

"Maybe?" Link whispered back.

"What quarrel could you have with the rain? It does not kill anyone. You have yet to tell me the reason you have come and my patience grows thinner than my curiosity."

"We came here to ask you to make it stop raining," Link said very bluntly. "Please… your holiness."

"Link, really?" Leka whispered angrily to him.

"What? I said please," Link shrugged.

"I care not what you have to ask of me, mortal," Cyclos thundered. "But your bravery amused me, tiny green child. I met consider your offer if…"

"Boy!" Quan's voice ripped through the calmness of the eye and cut into Cyclos's statement. Link, Leka, and Fen spun around to face Quan, who had built up the nerve to pass through the wall after them, sword in hand. "You've been a thorn in my side for too long, it ends now." He pointed the sword at Link, murder in his eyes.

"I've been a thorn in your side?" Link scoffed, not at all afraid of the weapon in his uncle's hand. "Says the man who beat the living crap out of me and had me kidnapped and tortured. Yeah, sure, that makes total sense."

"You'll have to fight all three of us," Leka snarled, taking up her sword. Fen was nervously standing next to her, but his sword was ready as well.

"Stay out of this, this is a family matter," Quan snapped at them.

"Why? Don't think you can take on all three of us?" Leka smirked.

"You do know you'll have to kill of us to cover your tracks, if Father doesn't catch you first."

"You think my brother can stop me?" Quan almost laughed, his face twisted in a contemptuous sneer. "I have allies with power you can't even begin to imagine!"

At that, the two witches flew in on their brooms, launching fire and ice at Cyclos, reigniting whatever previous rage had caused him to move his destruction inland. They cackled and swung their wands around, flying circles around the god of storms, chanting in an ancient Gerudo tongue lost to all but them.

"What are they doing?" Fen asked, frightened of the display. He looked to Link for guidance, but Link didn't know if he could give it. He only had a hunch as to what they were doing, he might have seen the results of their first go at magic like this.

"I think they're binding Cyclos," Link whispered.

"Kill them!" Quan shouted to Cyclos, pointing his sword once more at Link and his friends.

Cyclos rumbled in anger at first, grabbing his head in his hands and writhing in pain. He was struggling against the spell, but the Twinrova were powerful and had had time to prepare this spell. Without a bow, Link had no projectiles and no way of interrupting the witches' magic. Cyclos was bent to Quan's will.

"Cover!" Leka screamed, turning to run. Link was ready to run behind her, but Fen was rooted in place. It didn't matter, however, the thunder strike sent all three of them flying through the air. Leka landed against a protruding rock, her head hitting it with a sickening crack, while Link and Fen landed on the hard ground, winded. Neither Fen nor Leka were moving.

The lightning empowered Cyclos, and the Twinrova had to double their efforts and divert all their attention to keep the god from breaking free of their control.

Link tried to get up and check on Leka, but a boot crunched down on his right arm, pressing it against the ground. Quan pushed into it, leaning down and resting his arm on his knee. It felt like Link's arm was breaking under the pressure his uncle was putting on it. Link cried out in pain.

"You're never going to defeat me," Quan snarled. "Not you, not Christofen, nor anyone else."

"You… you're wrong," Link hissed through clenched teeth, trying somehow to squirm out from under Quan's boot.

"Tell me, boy, before I run you through, do you know that you're the Legendary Hero," Quan asked.

"What‽" The pain in Link's arm became secondary to his shock. "How did you know? No one knows that."

"So you are aware of the power you hole, yet you let me, a mere commoner compared to you, beat and humiliate you. You must have been desperate for any kind of family. Shame you'd only had me," Quan laughed darkly.

"I have my father," Link snarled.

"Yes, there is always him," Quan spat.

"How… how long have you known?"

"I was there, during the attack," Quan began. "I had come to Castle Town to surprise my brother and congratulate on his victory, of course I believed he would win. Or so I said. Really, I was opening a secret passage to let my men in. It was easy, no one suspected that I wasn't checking the rear defenses for my brother. Anything to help the King." He snarled the last words like they were bitter on his tongue. "I had no idea you had been born that very morning, no idea of the destiny you would be saddled with, or would have if you survived."

"That doesn't explain how you know."

"I returned to the manor to kill your mother and you along with her," Quan spat the words in victory at Link. "I was going to leave that job to my men, but I decided I shouldn't always have others do my dirty work. Besides, she was a trained warrior, I'd seen her fight. Even heavily pregnant, she still had a chance of fighting them off. I, on the other hand, had to element of surprise."

"Why are you telling me this, if your just going to kill me?" Link asked.

"Because I can," Quan said. "And I enjoy watching you suffer. You look just like your father.

I armed myself, a wise precaution that would go unnoticed in the heat of battle, and let myself in, and was about to enter the bedroom, where I knew she was resting, when I heard you crying in the nursery next door. I have to admit, I was curious to see my brother's child. I dismissed the nursemaid and picked you up in my arms. I could have easily killed you then, but your mother would know of my intentions immediately and I would have lost my chance.

That's when I saw the mark on your hand. Linandra walked in just as I'd noticed. She knew as well, I could see it on her face. She was terrified. At first, I thought she was on to me, but then she told me how scared she was. She blamed herself, insisting on naming you Link was like signing you away. She walked right to me and took you in her arms. That's when I stabbed her through with a poisoned arrow from my quiver.

She put up quite the fight. She held your to her chest and hit me over the head with one of the glass bottles the nursemaid was using to feed you. I blacked out and when I came too, they had told me my brother, sister-in-law, and their child had all been lost in the battle. I hadn't expected Christofen to die as well, I suppose I always saw him as some legendary figure. I'd thought he was the Hero before I learned it was you. No matter, though, I'd had the dukedom and no one knew I had killed your mother."

"This entire time, you were the on who'd killed her!" Link screamed at him, struggling with all his might to be free, but to no avail. Quan was still bigger than him. "Murderer!"

"Just my luck neither you or your father ended up dead in the end," Quan ignored Link's struggles and accusations. "Of course, your death can easily be rectified," Quan raised his sword over his head, preparing to strike the final blow. Link closed his eyes, tears falling down his face.

"Quan!" Christofen's voice, accompanied by the thundering of familiar hooves, sang in Link's ears. He'd never been so happy to hear his father's voice or hear Epona's approach. "Stop!"

Quan spun around, removing his foot from Link's arm, his face pale as terror itself. Link shoved himself to his feet and, despite his father being there, despite the fact that the man before him was his uncle, he swung his sword in rage at his uncle, intending to do to him what he had done to his mother.

"Link, no!" Christofen pulled on Epona's mane to stop her and tried to dismount with hurting himself.

Christofen's warning was all Quan needed to spin back towards Link and block the blow. Link swung again, and again and again, screaming in anguish and fury with each blow. But they were slow and sloppy, easily blocked by his uncle, the lesser swordsman by far.

Christofen staggered towards his son, his leg screaming in protest of the pressure, but the sight of his son trying to kill his little brother filled him with determination to put an end to whatever madness he had interrupted. But he couldn't get close without risking getting caught in the blows. Neither was paying any attention to anyone else. "Link, hold! Drop your weapons, both you!"

But it didn't reach them. Before long, Quan started to slip up and Link was starting to gain ground, backing Quan closer and closer to the edge of the mountain and the long, steep slope below. Link landed a few nicks on Quan, but not enough to do anything but annoy him. Until Quan stepped on a lose rock and lost his footing, twisting his ankle and falling to his knees, mere steps away from the edge.

"You killed her!" Link screamed, moving to swing his sword at Quan's neck.

"No!" Christofen cried, his voice cracking in fear.

The sound of his father's utter despair snapped Link from his rage and he stopped just in time to avoid decapitating his uncle. He was breathing harder than he ever had before and, though he was soaked to the bone from the rain, he could taste the salt running over his lips. There was a long, palpable moment of silence between the three of them, Quan helpless on his knees, Link with his sword and Quan's throat, and Christofen frozen with the fear of losing either of them in this manner.

"Kill them, you fools!" Quan snapped them out of the moment and was answered by the cackling of witches. Link had forgotten all about the storm god and the witches tormenting it.

Christofen, acting on impulse, took Link's bow and quiver and tossed it to him, knowing the bow was too small for him to use correctly. Link caught them and rolled out of the way before the lighting, ice, or fire could kill him where he stood. Without pause, Link exited the roll into a crouch, drawing his bow and aiming it at the jewel they had stuck to the god's head, his arrow shattering it into a million pieces, breaking the spell with no easy chance of recasting it.

Free of their magic once and for all, Cyclos thundered in rage and grew at least twice as big as before, summoning an angry looking storm could to smite the witches.

"Well, that's our queue to leave, sister!" Kotake, or was it Koume, said.

"I agree, sister," the other responded.

And with that, they flew off, disappearing into the storm, leaving Quan behind to fend for himself.

Fen and Leka were starting to stir again and Link thanked the gods they weren't dead. They looked a little surprised and disorientated, they had missed quite a lot in the moments they were unconscious. Link stood up and ran to his father, who caught him in his arms and held him close, both of them crying with joy to be reunited once more.

"I knew you'd find me," Link said happily.

"I will always find you, Link," Christofen kissed the top of Link's head and squeezed him tight before pulling away and placing a hand on Link's cheek. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"Only a little, I'm fine," Link admitted.

"Good, I'm glad," Christofen patted Link on the head lovingly and then stood tall, facing his brother, who was still on his knees, glaring at them. "Mind explaining yourself, little brother?" Christofen adopted his General voice, cold and calculating and every bit meaning business.

"He… he killed Mother," Link whispered quietly, just barely loud enough to be legible.

"What‽" Christofen's stone façade fell away, replaced with utter shock. He looked into Link's eyes with hurt, betrayal, and disbelief. When Link met it with grief, he knew Link was telling the truth. "Quan, tell me this isn't true."

"What, I didn't hear the boy through all that mumbling," Quan played innocent.

"Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't murder my wife," Christofen snarled. When Quan remained stubbornly silent, Christofen grew angry. He stalked, or tried to, to his brother and grabbed him by the front of his coat. "Answer me, dammit!"

"Yes," Quan sneered right in his face. "I killed her in cold blood, ran her through with a poisoned arrow in the nursery."

Christofen screamed, punching Quan in the jaw and throwing him into the dirt. "Bastard!" He screamed, his fists shaking and his knuckles white. "How could you do this? What possessed you to murder her‽"

"I wanted the dukedom," Quan laughed, pushing himself to his knees and wiping the blood from his chin. "I wanted power and money and to be worshiped, but you and Link stood in my way. Killing your wife and child would also kill any chances of you having an heir, leaving me that much closer to not only the dukedom, but the kingdom as well."

"Why? Was what you already had not enough?"

"It was never enough!" Quan shouted. "No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, you were always between me and what I deserve! What's rightfully mine. You had everything, Mother and Father favored you, they never had time for me. I am better than you! I deserved the dukedom, not you!"

"So you killed my wife? You… goddess, Quan, did you create Dead Fang?"

"No, not entirely. They were already bandits when I found them. I made them into what they are, feared and powerful. What have you done? Run and hide?"

"You'll be executed for this," Christofen sounded defeated now. "Is this all really worth your life?"

"It is if you suffer for it," Quan answered, grinning triumphantly. He knew that he had at least one victory out of all this. "Despite all I've done, you'll always regret my death. It will torment you until the day you die as well."

Link went to his father and wrapped his arms around him. Christofen ruffled Link's hair, but he didn't smile. Link looked up at him to see tears falling down his father's face. He didn't think there was anything he could do about it.

"Dammit!" Christofen shouted, pushing Link away. He stalked off a few paces. "Damn everything." He turned to Quan, he finger pointed threateningly. "I will do everything in my power to see that you are locked away deep into the Twilight Realm itself, the goddesses help me."

"Is that still possible?"

"Yes, it is," Christofen said.

"No, you can't send me there," Quan faltered. "Only the worst criminal's get sent there."

"You are the leader of the largest, most widespread group of bandits in known history and have orchestrated hundreds of deaths over the last twenty years, I'd say you fit the profile perfectly. And at least you won't be dead."

"No, you can't do this!" Quan stood up, taking a step towards Christofen. Link moved to stand between them, lest Quan kill his father, too. But Quan wasn't after Christofen. In one swift movement, Quan snatched Link and spun him around, holding him hostage, a dagger at his throat. "You're going to let me leave here," Quan threatened. "Or you'll lose more than a brother."

"Quan, let him go," Christofen stalked forward, threat dripping on his voice.

"Or what‽ You'll kill me?" Quan scoffed, taking a step back, pulling Link with him. Link dared not struggle, lest his uncle flick the dagger and slit his throat. "There are other kingdoms in the world, ones without people like you in them."

"Quan, stop," Christofen held out his hands in a motion to accept Quan's potential release of his son. "Please."

"Not until I have your word," Quan continued to back peddle away from Christofen.

"Stop!" Christofen shouted, lunging forwards suddenly. Quan sprang backwards to avoid his brother's reaching arms, only to take one step back too far. His heel slipped against the edge of the mountain top and suddenly, both he and Link went tumbling over the side of the cliff. "No!" Christofen fell to his knees as both his little brother and his only child fell from his line of sight.

But before he could even look over the edge, a great big red blur whooshed past him, lunging over the side after them and disappearing over the edge, the force of it pushing Christofen back away from the cliff and down on his rear. There was a tense moment where Christofen could only hear his heart beating against his rib cage. Then, up from the side of the cliff rose Cyclos on his big puffy cloud, Link sitting next to him. Cyclos moved close to the ground and Link jumped off and fell to his knees, his face whiter than fresh snow.

Christofen, in his relief, let himself fall on the ground. There was too much excitement in too little time for him to even consider putting weight on his already stressed leg. Fen and Leka ran to Link and checked him over while Christofen caught his breath, and came to terms with his brother's death. He wanted to scream and cry, but he had three apprentices who needed him to be a leader and one who needed him to be a father. He would have to mask his grief until he had time to himself to cry and scream and curse.

"Holy shit, dude!" Fen all but shouted. "What just happened? I think I followed some of it but most of it went right over my head. I missed so much."

"Don't scare me like that!" Leka punched Link in the shoulder.

"Yeah, also that," Fen agreed. "I would also like if you didn't fall off of any more cliffs. That would be pretty cool."

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Link groaned in response. Both Leka and Fen jumped away from him like he was a flashing bomb flower.

"Thank you," Christofen pushed himself to his feet once he had regained frontal of his emotions and his lunges. He bowed his head in thanks to Cyclos. "I can't repay you for saving my son."

"Haha," Cyclos chuckled, his voice echoing. "It was not you whom I saved. The boy freed me from the witches, that is why I saved him. That, and I haven't been that entertained in a long while. You mortals and your quarrels."

"Cyclos, one more thing," Link said, fighting the rising urge to empty his insides after the tumble he'd taken combined with the rush after Cyclos had caught him. The cloud was not as soft as it looked. "There's a group of people just on the other side of your wind wall thingy that want to kill us. They were with the witches and… and…" he made a motion to the edge of the cliff, still stunned that Quan was dead and that he nearly died with him.

"I will smite them myself," Cyclos rumbled, thumping his fist on his chest. "They will torment me no longer."

"Cool," Link gave him a thumbs up.

Cyclos flew up into the sky. The farther away he got, the more and more the storm dispersed, until both he and the storm were gone. They could see the remains of the partial camp, not a single bandit left. There were some smoking piles of ash left, but they couldn't have been campfires. Link supposed they'd never know if any of the bandits, mostly their leaders, fled before the camp was wiped out as none of the remains were even obviously human.

"Come on, we should get back to the group," Christofen said, rounding up the three apprentices. Fen helped Link up and the four of them and Epona walked down the mountainside together. Link had a feeling that none of the other adventures he'd had in the following year traveling across the country with his father would beat this one. He couldn't wait to write to Zelda about it.

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