fleets: Whoa. So, sorry about my apparent deadness from the community. I had too many distractions, and I also didn't want to rush this (especially the first half which is completely new).

Chapter 25: A Hero's Obligation

The Ice Wizzrobes and Fire Wizzrobes chattered amongst themselves on the edge of the Hyule castle walls while Argorok sulked next to them. The dragon had no choice but to go wherever they went, bound to rely on them for movement. He was essentially their hostage, so when Lord Ganon had ordered them to keep watch of the castle periphery, he had been dragged along as well. The only reason why the dragon didn't destroy them was because Lord Ganon liked them more than him. For now, Argorok thought viciously, once he ssssees I'm much more loyal he would change hissss mind.

Argorok swished his tail angrily, ignoring the chatter of the Wizzrobes. Looking for something to vent his frustrations, he snapped at the remaining odd-colored Wizzrobe who was sitting a few feet away from the rest of his group, dangling his legs along the edge of the castle wall in an almost childish manner. The Thistle Wizzrobe stared out at the evening horizon with a possibly pensive gaze; it was hard to tell since his mask covered his expression.

"You're the ringleader of thosssse clownssss, aren't you?" Argorok growled, snaking his neck over threateningly.

The Thistle Wizzrobe stopped dangling his legs. "Ringleader?" he asked, giving little indication that the dragon had his full attention. He continued to look at the sky, and then wilted sideways like a soaked daisy. "I'm no ringleader. A ringleader maintains respect, but me?" he waved his oversized sleeves in the air, "they treat me as a fool." There was a pause, and then the Wizzrobe laughed maniacally as he sat back up, "Kehahahaha!"

The dragon hesitated, taken aback by the completely inappropriate laughter from the Summoner Wizzrobe.

"You only think I'm a leader because I'm the only one who's different. Being different doesn't make me a leader, you know. Nor does being an attention whore, which I am. Nor does getting what I want all the time, which… you might think is what a leader achieves but that's just me being annoying." The Thistle Wizzrobe finally turned around to look at the dragon, and Argorok noticed a flicker of green, glinty eyes behind the mask. "I'm well aware I'm too much of a progressive thinker to be a real Wizzrobe. There were probably more like me, but free-thinkers like us also tend to come with an enormous sense of self-inflation that make us stand out in the wrong way; the way that will definitely get you killed in the Guild." The Thistle Wizzrobe snickered, again completely inappropriate to the context of the conversation. "Killed!"

"Then why have they let you live?" Argorok growled quietly between his teeth. He didn't really know why he felt obligated to speak conspiratorially with the odd Wizzrobe instead of giving him away to the others who continued to chatter some feet away. It was complete moblinshit that he wasn't the one directing things.

The Summoner Wizzrobe threw back his head and laughed heartily. "Kehaha! Well that's because I'm too silly to be a real nuisance." He made a motion of a leash around his neck. "They have me under a leash, and frankly I don't mind. What's a foolish Wizzrobe like me going to do to anybody?" His chuckles chimed like bells, and he made a swift change in motion so that the 'leash-around-neck' became a 'noose-around-neck.'

Argorok didn't say anything and swished his tail once. The dragon got the sense that this Wizzrobe was a few bolts short of sanity.

"My only goal in life is to have as much fun as I can," the Thistle Wizzrobe snickered, "and now that Lord Vaati is here, I'm sure there will be much fun and giggles."

That attitude struck a nerve with the dragon. "Thissss issssn't a game, you ungrateful robe!" Argorok snarled.

"What's life without some fun?"

"Life issssn't alwayssss about fun!"

"Of course it is," the Thistle Wizzrobe replied matter-of-factly.

An Ice Wizzrobe hovered over to see what Argorok was so agitated about. The Wizzrobe's blue twin tapped his foot impatiently. "Leave him alone, Summoner."

"I was simply telling him he should lighten up," the Thistle Wizzrobe replied indignantly.

The Ice Wizzrobe shrugged, his robes flopping against his sides. "While I agree with you, there is such a thing as being excessively flippant about… everything."

"Hmm?" the Summoner tilted his head innocently.

"You're the only one who doesn't take the Guild Laws as seriously as you should." The Ice Wizzrobe shrugged again and shuffled back to the rest of his group. "The thing we're trying with Master Argorok… we came to a conclusion that we are definitely breaking Guild Law. You know what that means."

The Thistle Wizzrobe laughed. "We are as good as dead," he answered. Then, "Hey, you decided without me?"

The Ice Wizzrobe continued lightly, ignoring him. "And since you claimed you'll take full responsibility, you'll shoulder all of our punishments."

The Thistle Wizzrobe laughed even more, clutching his sides and leaning against an uncomfortable Argorok for support. "Bastards!" he wheezed, trying to catch his breath and wiping tears behind his mask, "Kehehehe – cough – I can't breathe – snkkk ahaha!"

The Ice Wizzrobe laughed with him for a minute, and then went back to talking with the others. Argorok frowned, taken aback by the whole exchange. Weirdosssss, he muttered to himself. Even though it had nothing to do with the dragon, Argorok was slightly irritated by how carelessly the Thistle Wizzrobe was gambling his life for one sorcery project. It annoyed him even more to see that the Summoner thought the situation was hilarious, when it shouldn't have been. It didn't make sense, and the dragon didn't like it when things didn't make sense. He shook the little robe away from his claw in disgust. "Why are you laughing about thissss?" he hissed. "You jusssst ssssigned your death ssssentence!"

"I'm laughing because it's funny," the Wizzrobe gasped between breaths, his hands on his knees. "Duhs." He fell into another fit of giggles.

"Death issss not funny!" Argorok snarled exasperatedly.

The dragon growled when the Thistle Wizzrobe suddenly grabbed him by his lower fangs and pulled him closer. The Wizzrobe didn't say anything, but he was no longer laughing. He stared at the dragon with an inhuman, mesmerizing gaze from the depths of his silly bird mask. Argorok was a powerful monster – one of the most powerful ones in existence – but that soulless look devoid of warmth gave him chills. After several seconds, the Thistle Wizzrobe let him go and gave a small snicker; the amused chuckles were the complete antithesis of the sorcerer's earlier expression. It made Argorok wonder if he'd imagined that piercing stare.

"Kehehehe… you're right, it's not funny. But I laugh anyway," the Wizzrobe plopped back on the edge of the castle wall, dangling his legs gleefully. "I laugh anyway because I'm excited about facing Lord Vaati." He threw his head back and laughed heartily.

Argorok shot a plume of fire in anger. A Fire Wizzrobe amiably joined in with a fireball even though he hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. The dragon gnashed his fangs together. "I wouldn't be ssssurprised if that weakling wassss dead by now from some common monsssster."

"I would be."

Argorok growled.

The Thistle Wizzrobe tapped the side of his mask. "He's with that annoying hero."

"Sssso? The hero wantssss him dead. The Wind Mage hassss no alliessss. Not even ussss."

"And that's where you're wrong. You see, it's a hero's obligation to save someone who's dying." The Thistle Wizzrobe nodded. "We'll see Lord Vaati again, don't you worry Master Argorok."

XXXXXXXXXXX

The yellowing paper rustled in Link's hands as he took another look at the dungeon map. It indicated that the room in front of him would lead him to a dead end; a spacious, circular chamber. His forehead wrinkled. He put the map away as he pressed one hand cautiously against the door.

The first thing he noticed when he stepped into the ominous room was an insanely broad and heavy sword stuck on the wall next to the door. It appeared as though someone, something, powerful had thrown it violently against the wall: pieces of rock were strewn everywhere along the floor from where the impact had shattered the stone. Link immediately tensed and gripped his sword tightly, getting ready for whatever powerful monster could possibly be in the chamber. He took a few steps away from the door with his back facing the perimeter and his eyes uneasily searching the darkness.

Link's breath caught when he saw something unexpected on the floor. It was the Gale Boomerang, abandoned and thrown into a sad corner of the chamber. There were hints of blood on it, already turning a dark rusty color from starting to dry. Link felt a chill pass over him. Vaati wouldn't part with the boomerang unless he had been forced to.

"…Vaati?"

Disregarding caution momentarily, Link quickly treaded over to the boomerang. Color drained from his face when something else emerged from the obscuring shadows.

Pieces of armor were strewn around the room, and a dead man was on the floor. His skull was crushed to bits by some powerful impact. Next to that… "Vaati!"

Link ran over to the prone mage, even paler than usual. There was a gruesome puddle of blood around him, and Link noticed a vicious gash along his side and arm. His tunic that was supposed to be purple was a deep, splotchy red. He wasn't breathing.

Reflex took over. Link didn't waste his time thinking when he dropped his sword and made a mad grab for his inventory bag. He began to search frantically through the bag.

Come on, come on, come on.

His fingers finally hit a smooth, glass surface, and they closed around them firmly as he brought up the bottle of Red Potion he had stolen from the blue bird at the entrance of the Forest Temple. The cork flew off with a loud pop and Link tried to force the limp sorcerer to drink it. He hadn't even thought of determining if Vaati was already dead.

Come on, come on.

He couldn't let him die like that. Just couldn't. Sure, he had thought earlier that it wouldn't bother him so much if the troublesome sorcerer went to the next world, but it was a completely different story when being confronted with the actual situation opposed to just thinking about it. Vaati was an outright nasty thorn in society's fragile side, but he ought to go out with some dignity instead of meeting an unknown end in some forgotten temple, right?

And he shouldn't meet his end while he had been helping him, right? It sounded wrong – that's not how things were supposed to be. The idea was upsetting to Link just as much as it must be upsetting to Vaati. It should end with a battle, or some form of struggle between good and evil.

Well, it wasn't as simple as good and evil anymore. There was that whole complicated argument on whether or not Vaati or the monsters were inherently evil but…

Ugh, that wasn't the point! The point was that Vaati was dying or dead and there wasn't much time to think about these things.

For a few minutes it seemed like nothing was going to happen, and Link almost accepted the fact that his enemy and travelling partner was never going to wake up. He sat there with numbness. Suddenly, a violent fit of coughing made him jump in surprise, and Vaati's red eyes were open again.

"What…?" Vaati gasped hoarsely with a faint look of surprise before he fell back to unconsciousness.

Link panicked, and then breathed a huge sigh of relief when he saw that the sorcerer had just fallen asleep from exhaustion. He wiped his brow, now damp from cold sweat. I'm going to regret this later, huh. Link leaned his back against a piece of armor that was lying behind him, and he looked at the mess of a wind mage that was collapsed in front of him. A thousand thoughts were swimming in his head now that the worst appeared to be over:

What was I thinking?

It was a reaction.

It would've been wrong to let him die like that.

Didn't I try to kill him before?

That was different.

Really?

Yeah.

He's useless though.

Not always.

But he tries to kill me!

But he never does.

One day though, he might succeed. He might find a way around his curse and then he'll really be dangerous.

But that's at the very end. Not now. Not for a while.

Link shook his head away of these troublesome thoughts and he flopped onto the floor and fell asleep. He was tired.

XXXXXXXXX

Vaati woke up to the sound of munching. He felt like all hell was upon him, but at least he was alive. Alive?

He sat up abruptly only to fall down again in pain.

"Whoa there. You shouldn't move like that yet." Link took another bite into one of the biscuits the Oocca had given them before they left the City in the Sky. "I'm surprised you even recovered with only a Red Potion after that wound in your side."

Vaati grimaced and rolled over away from Link. He slowly lifted himself up on his elbows, wincing occasionally. Link had saved him? Him?! A part of him was extremely insulted, but a part of him was… no, never mind about that. "Nayru, Din, and Farore, you're such an idiot, boy." He sounded flustered. "You're going to regret this. I'm going to make sure you regret this. I hope you know you're going to die because you saved me."

Link continued to munch loudly. "Yeah. You're going to kill me later. You've told me a bajillion times already."

Vaati rounded on Link, flinched in pain, and glared daggers at the smiling boy. "Don't push your luck, boy. You've forgotten what I can do." He grinned, adding malevolently, "Without the Four Sword, nothing can stop me."

Link took another bite. "Sure."

Vaati's eye twitched. "You'll see. I'll find all of your little friends and kill them one by one as you watch helplessly. I'll make sure you hear every last one of their pathetic screams."

Link simply smiled and nodded. He'd gotten used to tuning the mage out; after a while, it was always the same thing.

The mage's voice was rising. "Your grandfather, how about him? Maybe I'll save him for last? Or wait, what about your dear little princess?"

Link perked up. He had finished his biscuit.

Vaati continued stubbornly. "That's right. Your dear Princess Zelda. Wouldn't it be a shame if something befell such a pretty little thing?"

The Hero took out another biscuit from his bag.

"Well? Don't you have anything to say?" irritation was mounting in Vaati's voice.

Link held up the biscuit. "Vaati, do you want to eat the last biscuit?"

Vaati furiously turned away and banged his fists into the wall in frustration. Link thought he could hear a muffled scream of rage.

"I'm sure you're hungry," Link pressed, ignoring the mage's fury and secretly finding schadenfreudian amusement at the sorcerer's reactions.

"You're bloody hopeless."

"It's pretty good."

Vaati ignored him.

"If you don't want it I'll eat it."

Vaati stared at the wall for a few minutes, turned on his heel, and snatched the biscuit out of Link's hand with a curt, "give me that." He then limped back over to the wall away from Link and sat down holding his wounded side glaring at the biscuit as angrily as he could. The sorcerer looked up in disgust when Link rolled over a bottle of Red Potion towards him.

"Don't look at me like that. I know you don't want help, but it'll stop the pain," Link motioned Vaati to take it. "It's the last one we stole from Trill's shop. We're not going to be able to get very far in the dungeon if you're still hurt."

"You mean the one you stole," Vaati muttered, but he took the potion anyway. The mage sat silently, lost in his own thoughts after he emptied the bottle. The sharp pain from his wounds went away, but the frown on his face remained. "Why the goddesses did you keep me alive?" He asked, his voice a strained whisper. "There's no advantage to keeping me alive."

Link shrugged. "I dunno. I've already asked myself that and I can't think of any good logical answer." He wiped the crumbs off of his face with his sleeve. "Let's go get going then, yeah?" Link tossed the boomerang over to Vaati who had finally decided to nibble on the biscuit. The mage promptly caught it and began to twirl it absent-mindedly on his fingers. As Link moved towards the door, he was stopped by an embarrassed cough.

"Link?"

Link turned around quizzically. The mage suddenly appeared fascinated by the chamber floor. Vaati was twirling his boomerang again; something Link noticed the sorcerer did when he was feeling agitated. He frowned at the bloodstained floor with a complicated, pained expression as though he were having trouble finding the words to say.

"Uh… thanks."

Link scratched his head. "It was only the right thing to do."

Vaati narrowed his eyes as he looked up sharply. "Do you seriously believe that?"

Link nodded. "Yeah. I mean, the Oocca gave us two biscuits so that means we each get one."

"Not the biscuits, dimwit!"

There was an awkward silence before Link spoke up. "Oh. You mean the whole saving you from death thing?" Link watched Vaati twirling his boomerang at a frightful speed before he answered. "Well, same answer then. It was only the right thing to do."

Vaati didn't look all that satisfied, but he said nothing and stood up. He picked up the Dominion Rod – still glowing – that was lying next to him, and scrutinized the enchanted statue that had landed the finishing blow on the Darknut. The mage seemed to be feigning interest in the statue at best; it was evident he was sufficiently flustered from the slight awkwardness he held himself.

Link grinned. "You know, I never would have thought I'd hear a 'thank you' from you."

Vaati snorted. "Well you know what? I never would have thought you were stupid enough to save someone who wants you dead." The boomerang kept spinning. "Let's go finish this test then. I hate this place."

Link continued to grin as he walked out the door after the wind mage who was still twirling his boomerang furiously.

fleets: Awww, poor Argorok. Once again he's stuck in a situation that's less than ideal. He doesn't have much luck, does he? XD The first half was a little difficult to write because I kept getting confused with Rend Thistle and OA Thistle. Granted they're practically the same person (personality-wise) I have to be careful of giving too much of his personality away too soon. ;) I also enjoyed writing the biscuit conversation again, even though most of it's unchanged (with a few minor differences).

Shadow R-B: I watched Durarara! Izaya's kind of reminds me of Vaati (at least on his confident days lol), but he's reminding me more of a different character in the story... :P

Midna Hytwilian: Hmmm, I think Vaati might like that XD

msfcatlover: I was looking over the manga version again, and the contrast between his Minish personality and his Hylian personality is so... huge!

Reily96: Awww, poor Evan XD

SubZeroChimera: Ah, that line was there. I made very little changes in the last chapter :) (and sorry about the chapter delays!)

Bishieluver01: I imagine the potions to taste somewhat gross (just going by WW Link's expressions when he heals himself with ChuChu jelly, though those are completely different so ionno). Either that or a neutral taste? Now I'm curious... Ah, yeah, I wish I could've made a cover for this chapter. Maybe I'll get to it later. :(

purplegc: Yeah that would be (yet another) blow to his already shattered ego XD. Yeah I took that line out this time because it just didn't seem to mesh with Vaati's personality this time around (he's tougher, I think). I'm surprised you caught that omission!

henslight: I think (though I'm not sure) I know what part you're talking about. I don't remember well since it's been a while, and I think that wrote itself spontaneously - as in, usually my stories just write themselves... it's a little hard to explain. I'm of the opinion that it can be interpreted in any way that works for the reader, but if I had to choose... ummmm, I would go with something the author was narrating from a third person perspective (like a statement of what was happening). But because I was writing that story pretty much as Vaati, it could be a projection of how he was feeling (or beginning to feel). Does that make any sense at all? :P

SilverEyeShinobi: Ack! Sorry about the update delay - I guess you found me right when I got into a very busy/distracting time in life. But anyways, thank you so so so much for the reviews (I enjoyed reading all of them) and I hope you enjoy this rewrite of my very first fanfic! :D

Sapphiet: I always imagined Vaati and Ezlo's relationship to be one with a lot of misunderstandings and poor communication. (sniff) the tragedy! :'(

LunaticEyesInaba: Daw you're making me blush (hides under desk). O.o I should've noticed about Vaati's skirt - I could've had more fun with the dialo - (glances at Vaati looking extremely upset)... ehrm, maybe I'll write that secretly...
Dingdingding! I was thinking the same thing (with Thistle and Izaya). I had Thistle's personality down before I watched Durarara, and then I saw Durarara and all the time I was thinking "Izaya sounds familiar... OH WAIT." I think Izaya is a lot meaner than Thistle, but then again now that I've seen Durarara I wouldn't be surprised if Thistle gradually transformed into an Izaya clone from influences (though I'll try not to let him haha). His original personality inspiration was a cross between Wizz from The Unresolved (but now Wizz is like a default personality template for all my Wizzrobes) and Joshua from TWEWY (having been playing the game while coming up with the character concept haha).