Well, as far as Author Notes go, this one's going to be short. Thank you Jenova Remnant AKA Fishie, freakyanimegal456, Amekoryuu, NightmareSyndrom, Canada Cowboy, Sythe2, eliteforce, Toyax, pokemon-35055, and mandrakefunnyjuice for reviewing. The winner of the Character vote is: Link
Link: "Okay, I.K.A. Valian does not own Tales of Symphonia or The Legend of Zelda."
Dark Link: "I bet the world would be better off if I owned them. A lot of things would, actually. Explosions for everyone!"
Link: "You suck, Dark Link, you really do."
Dark Link: "Not as much as you do, sissy boy!"
Link: "Shove it!"
(The two boys start fighting… again).
Every time… on with the story!
- - - Sylvarant/Balacruf Mausoleum (Link) - - -
"Link!"
Loud buzzing filled the darkness. It made his head spin horribly. Made him want to upchuck his lunch. But why? He was dreaming, he had to be. As soon as he opened his eyes, he'd find himself in his own room. Back in his bed with the sheets pulled all the way up to his chin. He could feel his mother putting her hand onto his forehead. It was cool and soothing, as it always was, as he needed it to be.
"Link, wake up!"
Why was his mother calling to him? She sounded so far away. It made his foggy mind spin all the more as he tried to reason why his mother's voice was so far away, echoing in the distance, but at the same time, he could feel her fingers tip toeing around on his forehead.
"Link!" cried his mother. "Link, please wake up! Open your eyes."
Link was worried now. Not only was the dizziness getting worse, but the worry in his mother's voice was making him worried. So he tried, really hard, to open his eyes. All the effort he put into moving his seemingly stone eyelids made his head spin faster and faster. By time the first blurred out images traveled along his worn out optic nerve to his brain, Link was ready to fall back into the dark abyss for another nap.
"Link!" A bright blue ball appeared just in front of his face. "That's it Link! You can do it! Wake up! Open your eyes!"
Link parted his parsed lips and croaked out, "Nn-aaa-vviii?" Link realized that he really must have been hit hard. For one thing, Navi didn't sound anything like his mother. And more disappointingly, Link's real mother never worried about him like that. Not anymore.
"Yes!" The blue ball flipped several times in the air and then settled in front of him again. "You were trapped in this room with that Iron Knuckle. I-I don't know how, but you beat it. When the doors reopened, I found lying on the floor in a pool of your own blood. But… it seems you've stopped bleeding. I don't know, I'm not good with these sorts of things."
Link lifted his arm to feel the back of his head. His back and entire upper skeletal structure cried out in pain from the impact with the wall during the fight. That fight. He couldn't remember anything about it. But there was a fight… wasn't there?
His fingers touched the scabbed blood on and in his dirty blond hair. It originated from a large bump on the back of his head. He grimaced from the pain that exploded from the knot when he lightly ran his fingers over its rough surface.
"Link, you need to get up," said Navi, "There's a pool of water in the next room that you can clean your head up with."
Link tried to move his legs, but the movement made more pain radiate from his head wound. Minutes flew by as Link forced his legs to move, disregarding the pain in his head. He'd dealt with worse. His parents were always scolding him for getting the snot beat out of him. His father was sore at him because he never stood up for himself. His mother, though concerned, became so used to the sight of Link coming home in his own blood from one wound or another that it almost seemed like she couldn't be bothered to help him after the tenth time. The other kids didn't stop hurting him after the tenth time though. Some Hero he was.
The minutes ticked by as Link forced his body to move up the stairs. Large beads of sweat fell from his face and twinkled in the light before splashing audibly onto the dusty brown rock steps. Despite the cool air flowing past him in the underground labyrinth, his tunic was soaked with sweat and his arms and face were shiny with perspiration.
"Come on Link, you're almost there!" Navi hovered over Links head. His labored breathing was causing her to come up with another encouraging comment every few seconds. By the time Link appeared at the entrance to the next room, he was not only out of breath and unable to take another step, but his ears were twitching every time he heard Navi open her mouth to speak.
"Navi," he gasped, "Please… I'm not going to… stop here. So please… stop pestering… me."
"Well what do you expect me to do," she asked quizzically. "You look like an Iron Knuckle and a Lizalfo took turns body slamming you."
Link stood and thought about how fitting an end that would be to his pitiful existence. Squished by two ugly monsters any real Hero would be able to take out without a sweat. That'd be the perfect way to go for someone like him.
"Come on," said Navi. She flew into the room and came to a stop over a pool of water. Her glow made gave the liquid an unearthly blue glow that reflected back into the room. Little waves were created by the lift her wings were creating to hold her up. Link stood mesmerized for several seconds, dumbly staring at the way that the waves of reflected light moved about the room.
"Link!" Navi wobbled back and forth above the water. "Hurry up before you fall over."
Link blinked a few times and started the journey across the room to the illuminated pool of water. Three feet from the pool, Link's boot caught on something. He hit the floor with a dull thud, is face making a splash in the shallow part of the water. The cushioning effect that the cool, soothing liquid had was not unnoticed by the boy, but the impact still made his head feel like it was about to explode.
"You are a clumsy boy," Navi admonished. "Is anything broken?"
"Rrrrmmm," Link groaned.
"What was that?"
"Rrrrmmm," he groaned again.
"Would you lift your head and not speak into the water?"
"Why am I still doing this," Link muttered to himself. "I was never any good… no matter what I did."
"It's a healing pool," Navi explained, ignoring Link's musings. She started flying lazy circles around Link, explaining as he bent over and started drinking as much water as he could. "It wasn't here originally, but I guess some time over the years the waters must have found a crack somewhere and leaked in. The healing part probably comes from the magic that holds this place up. But I'm not too sure about that. Who knows, could be a healing fairy stuck in the wall there somewhere, ha ha."
"I don't care how it got here," Link said in between slurps of water. Navi wobbled oddly from the motion of crossing her arms and shaking her head.
"Either way, now that you're all better, let's get going. We have a lot of ground to cover. Speaking of which, could you get out that mask."
Link took a deep breath and sat back. "I… I don't want to do this anymore."
"What?" asked Navi. She flew over to hover in front of Link. "Come on, get that mask out and blow those boulders up."
"I mean it Navi. I… I'm not cut out for this. I never was." Link shivered slightly in the now cooler air. "I almost died back there. Heck, I've almost died several times so far. I don't know why the princess called to me. And at this point, I don't really care. All my life I've always pretended to be this Hero. But I always, always, failed. I'm just going to do the same thing again, so I think the safest thing to do, for me and everyone else, is to just stop pretending."
"But Link…" Navi squeaked. "You're the Hero. I mean, you're him! No one but you ca-"
"Stop it!" Link shouted. He swatted at Navi, sending her flying away. Then he curled up and hid his face in between his knees. "I don't want to be the Hero anymore!"
Navi's blue hue flickered back and forth between a lighter blue and a darker pink. "I'm not sure… what do I do… How… Why? Why are you doing this, Link? You're supposed to come in here and… and I'm supposed to help you… and… I don't remember what else. But I know you're not supposed to be like this!"
"I don't care!" Link said from behind his legs. "I'm tired of being hurt. I'm tired of others making fun of me. I'm tired of losing. I'm tired of it all. I don't want to be the Hero anymore! It's… too painful. I'm tired of all my hopes and dreams being squashed every time I try. I don't even have to do anything before there is someone trying to steal them or outright destroy them. No more! I'm not doing it anymore! I don't want to be a loser anymore!"
"Link…" Navi's voice was wavering lightly. "Link, please, I… I don't know how to do this alone. I… need you're help. Please!"
"No!" Link sniffed loudly and brought his arm to his face and wiped furiously. "Find someone who's not going to screw it up. I'll just mess everything up. I can't even save the Princess without getting us both sent to another dimension. I'm not cut out for this. I can't do it!" Link pulled out the mask and threw it as hard as he could into the darkness. "I don't want to be the Hero!"
The white face mask flew into the darkness and clattered loudly on the ground somewhere on the other side of the room. Navi wavered back and forth. She emitted small whimpers everywhere she went. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't remember the words. Every time she tried to think of the words, a black void reached into her mind and snatched them away.
"Link," she whimpered. "I'm scared. I… I… I don't know what to do."
Link didn't respond. He didn't want to. He wanted all of this to go away. He really wanted to be back in that warm, and safe, bed. Snuggled under the covers, the only place he really did feel safe anymore. Navi stayed above him for several minutes, groaning and moaning without actually saying anything. Then suddenly, she was gone.
"What a wimp." Link shuddered and shrank in onto himself. He didn't want to think about his dark copy. He was done with the Hero business. "Well now. It seems like I don't have a purpose anymore. Oh well. I guess the first thing I'll do is kill you. Then I can go and kill that little Princess of yours."
"Shut up!" Link shouted. "Go away! I'm not the Hero anymore! Go find someone else to fight with, I'm done!"
"Heh." A hand grabbed a firm hold onto Link's shirt and lifted him into the air. Because the torches from the hallway didn't reach into this room, Link had no way of seeing his dark counterpart. He could feel him tightening his grip though. "I don't think so, boy. You're done when I tell you you're done. Ha!"
Dark Link spun around and threw Link as hard as he could. Link didn't even try to stop him. He flew through the darkness and landed on the ground roughly. His shirt, which wasn't in good condition to begin with, was now ripped where Dark Link was holding it right over his collar bone.
"It doesn't matter what you want, boy," sneered Dark Link. "You are the Hero. For now and forever."
"Nooo!" Link shouted. He clenched his fists, pushed himself up, and launched himself in the direction that he last heard Dark Link.
"Oh, look at that," jeered Dark Link from the opposite direction. "You went the exact opposite direction that I did. If you were smarter, you wouldn't have shunned that stupid fairy. At least then you'd be able to see." Link grit his teeth tighter and launched himself again in the direction that he last heard his doppelganger's voice.
"Missed again, Hero," Dark Link taunted from the opposite side of the room.
"No!" Link shouted. "I refuse! I'm not the Hero anymore!"
"You are a fool, Hero!"
"Shut up! I hate you! I hate the Hero! I'm not him! NO!"
"Heh, heh," chuckled the Dark Link. "Do you, foolish Hero, think that just anyone carries the Triforce of Courage with them?"
"That's…" Link faltered and looked down at his hand, which he could barely see the outline of. Dark Link suddenly smacked Link in the back of the head. "Ow!" Link swung back with his hand, but hit nothing but air.
"Too slow Hero!" Dark Link laughed. "Try to keep up, will you!"
"Why are you doing this to me?" Link shouted. "Make someone else be the Hero! I don't want this stupid Triforce! I don't want it!"
"You are a pitiful crybaby, Hero." The Dark Link snorted loudly. "Hard to imagine why the Goddesses would choose someone as weak willed and as childish as you to be the Hero."
"That's just it," said Link, "they didn't choose me! I don't want to be the Hero, so I'm not the Hero. Someone else must be him!"
"I don't think so, Hero." There was a sudden whooshing as Dark Link dashed forward and grabbed Link's left arm. The Triforce mark on the back of his hand suddenly exploded with light. The brightest pulse coming from the bottom right golden triangle of the three. "Do you see that? That's the mark of the Hero! Hahahaha! You are him!"
"Noo!" shouted Link again. He clenched his eyes shut and for a brief second the golden light coming from the Triforce mark pulsed brightly. Link balled his right hand and let it fly. The blow connected solidly with Dark Link's jaw.
Dark Link staggered back. When he let go of Link's wrist, the glow from the Triforce mark died out. Link opened his eyes again to find himself back in the darkness.
"Nice…" said Dark Link. "That was certainly unexpected."
"I'm not the Hero!" shouted Link. "I'm not going to be him either. I don't care what's in my hand or not!"
"Well, if that's the case. Then I see no reason to go on with this. It was fun playing with your head, but I'm getting bored. Time to end this so I can move onto that Princess of yours!"
"Don't you-umph-" Link felt all the air in his lungs forcefully ejected by Dark Link's fist as it slammed into his stomach.
"What was that, Wimpy Hero?" Dark Link asked. "Did you say something?" Though he couldn't see him, he knew that the Dark Link was grinning. "Heh, didn't think so!"
The Dark Link grabbed Link's shoulders and pulled his upper body down to meet his knee. Several ribs snapped from the impact.
"I wonder how many ways I can make that little Princess of yours scream. Hahahahahahaha!" Dark Link punched Link in the face several time and ended by roundhouse kicking the boy in the shoulder. Link fell to the ground and stayed still.
The metallic ring of a sword being drawn echoed throughout the room as Dark Link drew his sword and swung it about. "I guess she better not wait up for you, Hero, because you'll be dead."
"Stop… calling me… Hero!" Link gasped. He reached a hand out to grab Dark Link's leg, but his hand instead collided with something cold and smooth.
"I call you what you are, Hero. I do enjoy watching you suffer though. Perhaps I should have called you Hero more often." Link listened as Dark Link feet approached him. That's when an idea popped into his head, one that made him wish he really were back at home under his blankets again. "Since you don't want to be the Hero so badly," said Dark Link as he stopped just in front of him, "I enjoy pointing out that you are the Hero, and there's nothing you can do about it. At least, there was nothing you could do about it, because now you're dead."
"Shut… Up!" Link shouted. He grabbed what his fingers collided with and brought the object to his face. "Bomb!"
The explosion was not as large as the one that blew apart the rock golem, but it was violently fiery enough to destroy the wall behind Link. Along each wall in the dark room, magic began lighting torches.
Link pulled the mask away from his face and looked around the room, but couldn't find Dark Link anywhere. He could still hear him chuckling though.
"So… hahahaha… in order to prove to yourself that you weren't the Hero, you proved that you were. Heh, what an incredible piece of work you are, Hero. Hahahahahaha!"
Link cringed as Dark Link's laughter echoed into the distance. He didn't want to accept it. He couldn't accept it. He was not the Hero and he was never going to be.
"I'm not the Hero," said Link into the empty room. "I never will be. I'll prove it. I'll show you. I'll show all of you! And when I fail and everyone's dead, you'll all be sorry!"
Link grimaced as he stood up and turned around. He would need some more of that water to heal whatever it was that Dark Link broke. "Navi!" was half out of his mouth when he saw the monument with glowing runes on its side. It looked exactly like the first one, except the room wasn't glowing red around it. Sighing, Link held the mask up and it floated from his hands.
- - - Sylvarant/Balacruf Mausoleum (Lloyd) - - -
It was windy and it was cold. It was that way for a long time inside of the Mausoleum, ever since it was sealed by the royal Balacruf Family over two thousand years earlier. During that long period of peace, randomly interrupted by Chosen's every so many years, the entire tomb became a den of monsters and other creatures.
The entrance to the tomb, whose job it was to assure that none but the Chosen of the time entered, was protected by a stone slab over four feet thick. The only way to move the slab was to engage a semi-magitech machine from the outside that would cause the stone slab to sink into the floor. It was this slab that Lloyd and the others were staring at for several minutes, trying to figure out how to get it to move.
"You know, I never though a giant rock would be this much trouble," mused Lloyd. "I mean, it's a rock. It can't do anything but sit there."
"Lloyd, I can make rocks kill people," said Genis. "They don't just sit there when Mana is involved."
"Kratos, why didn't you mention that we needed Zelos to open the Seal?" Sheena asked.
"I did not mention it because there are other ways of opening this Seal." Kratos stood to the side of the slab, inspecting the wall to the right of the giant stone slab. He had his hand up against the wall where he was letting his fingers slide over the roughly carved, but highly polished stone.
"What do you mean?" asked Lloyd. "Kratos?"
Kratos fingers slid down another inch and then stopped. For a moment he let his fingers rest in that spot, and then moved on, sliding them down again. When he reached a level parallel to his waist, which was still taller than Genis, he stopped again. And for several more seconds nothing happened.
"I don't have a clue what he's doing," said Genis. "I bet Raine would know though. She's read more books about this place and the whole Balacruf dynasty than anyone I know."
"You guys sure had a lot of books," said Lloyd. "I don't know why, I mean, there was no way you could have read them all."
"Just because you read at the pace of a snail," retorted Genis, "doesn't mean everyone does."
"Hey…" Lloyd grabbed Genis and started tickling him.
"Lloyd! He, he, he!" Genis twisted out of Lloyd's grasp, using his oft remarked short stature to his advantage. "Don' t make me use my secret technique," said the half elf with a dangerous grin on his face.
"I'm done," said Kratos. The two boys stopped their little friendly showdown and looked at Kratos. Nothing was different, the door was still there, smiling brightly at the sunny skies above, denying their entrance happily. But moments later, the stone slab started shaking and began to sink downward.
"Wow, what did you-" The rumbling suddenly stopped, cutting Lloyd off. Kratos froze, having turned moments after the door started moving to walk away. In two blinks of an eye, Kratos pulled his sword free of the scabbard, sliced at the stone slab horizontally, and ended the quick maneuver by replacing his sword smoothly back into its scabbard.
The top half of the slab slid backwards at a shallow downward angle and then toppled onto the floor inside of the Mausoleum's entrance. Kratos snorted and started climbing into the new entrance to the Balacruf Mausoleum.
Once everyone was inside, they gathered themselves together just beyond the large stone slab where the most light was shining in. Lloyd was not shivering like Genis, but he did have his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Sheena was doing the same and Kratos was standing there like a rock in a blizzard, totally uncaring.
"Why doesn't Kratos ever get cold or too hot," asked Genis. He rubbed his hands together to try and generate some warmth in them.
"It's cause he's a hard boiled mercenary," explained Lloyd. A sudden gust of wind cut off any conversation. It died down quickly though.
"The lights will not have been lit in here because the Chosen mechanism has not been activated," explained Kratos. "Be on guard for room sized traps. The Balacruf Dynasty was famous for killing tomb raiders."
"But we're not raiding a tomb," said Lloyd.
"Lloyd, this whole place is a tomb," said Sheena. "There are traps everywhere in here."
"Oh…" Lloyd thought on this for several seconds and then grinned. "This is so cool! We're like explorers or something!"
"Sure Lloyd," said Genis. "You'll be bored of this in several minutes anyway."
"Let's go!" shouted Lloyd as he ran off into the dark hall.
"Lloyd!" Genis took off as fast as he could after Lloyd. Kratos sighed in exasperation and both he and Sheena followed the two boys into the Mausoleum.
- - - Sylvarant/Balacruf Mausoleum (Kvar) - - -
Kvar raised his right hand into the air. All motion around him stopped. The man securing the new bridge across the chasm stopped mid swing of the hammer and stood up straight at attention.
"It appears that this earthquake was not a natural one," said Kvar. He lowered his hand and continued speaking. "Someone that we don't know about was down here. It could even be those rats, the Renegades. Though I don't know how they learned of our operation so quickly."
"Sir," said the Desian workman holding the hammer to his head in a salute. "The bridge repairs are complete."
"I think it's time we searched this cavern more thoroughly," mused Kvar aloud. "I'll lead a five person team down the branching set of stairs while the rest of you move on to the final chamber. Don't descend into the pit. Simply… wait."
"Yes sir!" acknowledged all fourteen of the men.
Moments later Kvar led four Desian soldiers down the stairs next to the hole in the wall that his men had earlier blasted into the rock. They descended the long set of stairs until finally the entrance to the Octorok room appeared in the distance.
Kvar walked into the room and grinned his shrewd and evil grin. Link, who'd walked into the room at the same time but from the opposite side, stared in horror.
"I see we meet again," Kvar cackled. "So nice of you to drop back into my hands."
Kvar motioned for his men to move forward with on flick of his hand. The four Desian soldiers moved forward as one. Just as they passed in front of the pool of water, there was a loud 'sploosh' and the Octorok's head popped up above the surface. The Desian soldiers failed to notice this though and continued on their way until one of them was knocked onto his rear by a flying ball of Octorok spit.
"Gross!" shouted the Desian. "What is this stuff?!"
"Hey, that thing is spitting at us!" shouted one of the downed Desian's comrades. "Kill it!"
The Desian turned and opened fire with their Mana based machine guns. The Octorok wasn't stupid enough to wait for the bullets of pure Mana to tear it to pieces. The creature dove beneath the surface of the water just as the bullets began biting into the water's surface.
The four Desians stopped shooting when they realized that there wasn't anything spitting back. They all crept closer to the water, keeping their rifles aimed at the waves still lapping across the surface.
"Stop him!" The soldiers didn't have time to turn before Link jumped passed them and into the pool of water, cannon ball style. The four Desians were covered from head to toe in water from the splash.
"Fools!" Kvar walked up behind them and shot each of the men in the left foot with a Mana based hand gun. Though the bullet did not tear into their feet and blow open a bloody hole, it did have the same physical reaction. And to Kvar's satisfaction, the nerves in their feet would be acting up painfully for a long, long time. That thought alone made Kvar smile, which completely weirded out his soldiers who now faced him while trying not to stand on their left feet.
"You two," Kvar pointed to the two Desians on his left. "You go up those stairs and see what that little rodent was doing up there. And you two," Kvar pointed at the two Desians on his right, "wait for the boy to surface. If he doesn't, use your underwater gear and retrieve his body. You'd better hope he comes out of this alive or you'll be wishing I'd shot more than just your feet right now."
"Yes sir," the four Desians said while saluting.
"When you're done," Kvar added, "report back to me in the final chamber, I'll be returning there alone."
"Yes sir," the four repeated.
Kvar turned without another word and started the long journey back up the stairs. The four Desians waited until he was out of earshot and eyesight before they started hopping up and down, shouting in pain. Each one fell to the ground holding their left foot.
- - - Sylvarant/Balacruf Mausoleum (Link) - - -
Link was swimming as fast and as hard as he could. He didn't know what he was thinking when he jumped into the pool of water. He knew he was going to drown. And then that Kvar would win. So would Agahnim. So much for Link the non-Hero, he thought.
Link reached up with his hand and rubbed the mask under his tunic. It kept moving around and tickling his chest as he swam. Moving it around though didn't seem to work, so he pulled the mask out and swam with it in his hand. At least he tried to keep swimming, but every time he took a stroke, hundreds of bubbles would explode from the mask.
For an entire minute, Link stopped swimming and stared at the mask. No, he thought, it couldn't be. Shaking his head, Link held the mask up to his face and breathed in. He wasn't as surprised as he would have been before this crazy journey started to find that he could indeed breathe, quite regularly.
No longer straining to hold his breath, Link started swimming again. He looked over his shoulder, but the only thing he could see behind him was more of this underwater tube. The Octorok was not in the water when he jumped in. There were no fish either. The tunnel itself looked like it was carved by hand, but the walls and ceiling were not flat and even, but rough and jagged, almost as if this tunnel was a last minute idea.
Link swam down the dim tunnel, idly wondering how he could see without light, when the tunnel suddenly veered off in two directions. Concluding that it didn't matter which direction he went in, he'd die horribly either way, Link swam into the right tunnel. He didn't have much longer to swim though because he soon emerged from the tunnel into a well lit and very large room. The sounds of water splashing and wet foot steps echoed easily and for a long time.
The floor was covered in patterns of one sort or another. Someone with a chisel and a lifetime of nothing to do couldn't have done better. Most prominent of these carvings was a large and geometrically correct carving of the Triforce. In the center of the space between the three triangles was a tall pole topped by an unlit torch. In the center of each triangle was a small pedestal. Each pedestal had dust marks indicative of something having been sitting on them relatively recently.
Link studied the room for several minutes, waiting for some monster to pop out of nowhere to eat him or for an idea to hit him in the head. The latter happened when he spotted something buried in the wall. When he finally pulled it free of the hard packed dirt, he was holding a large, heavy, gold triangle.
"It's a Triforce," Link said to himself. He turned his head, looking back and forth between the golden triangle in his hands and the symbol carved into the floor. "Perhaps I should put the triangles back on the pedestals."
Link hobbled with the heavy golden triangle to the closest pedestal and heaved the gold laden weight onto it. Free of the weight, Link started scanning the walls for another sign that something was buried underneath. But there were no more bumps or other tell tales signs of something buried in the wall.
"Now what?" asked Link. "I guess I failed… again." Link kicked a rock on the floor in defeat. The rock sailed through the air and knocked a rock loose from the wall. The rock knocked loose from the wall pulled others with it. Pretty soon an entire section of the wall was lying in a pile on the floor. Revealed was a hidden room with another golden triangle lying on the center of the floor within.
"Oh great," said Link. He grunted as he picked up the second golden laden weight. "Why couldn't they make these things lighter," Link grunted as he wobbled across the room toward the next pedestal. Before he could make it though, his boot caught on one of the carved lines and he tripped. The golden triangle flew from his grasp and landed a short distance away with a loud metallic clank.
Link frowned. "That sounded like it hit metal," he mumbled. Link pried the heavy weight that he dropped off of the ground and looked at the hole it created upon impact with the ground. Gold shined back up at him from beneath the cracked surface of the stone carving of a badly designed grinning ladies face.
Several minutes of hard labor later, all three golden triangles were sitting upon a pedestal. Once the final golden weight was in place, the torch on top of the pole in the center of the Triforce carving roared to life.
The ground rumbled as the wall on the far side of the room, opposite the water tunnel entrance, slid away to reveal another part of the room. Inside was another glowing monument. And on the back wall was another set of carvings.
A set of stone stairs rose from the floor. When the final step locked into place, the room stopped shaking. Link walked up to the stairs to the new second level. His mouth dropped in awe of the new carving, which was several levels better in artistic skill than the floor was. There were drawings of nine people on one end. On the other end was a carving of the mask Link had inside of his tunic. Rays of light and gusts of wind surrounded the mask. In between, there was a whole array of different carvings that told a story of some kind, but Link couldn't understand the words carved next to the pictures.
"I remember everything now."
Link turned and spotted Navi sitting on the tip top of the monument. "Navi!"
"Actually," the fairy said seriously, "My name was Zephyr. But I suppose you can keep calling me Navi if you want. I… had forgotten so much."
Link turned back to the story carved into the wall. "Do you know what this is then?"
"Yes," said Navi. "Actually, I was the one who carved it. A long, long time ago."
"You carved this? But… why?"
Navi sighed. "I am the guardian of this dungeon's piece of the Proto-Triforce. I always have been. Ever since we sealed Agahnim with it."
"We?"
"The nine of us," said Navi, flying over to the carving of the nine people. "It so very long ago that we all set out from Hyrule. We were the ninth team sent out by the Great King to find the Goddesses. At least, that was the impression I had of our mission. It turned out that our King was corrupt and wanted more power than even the Triforce could grant him. He wanted the power of a God. Agahnim was his loyal servant, something which only became clear after we arrived here."
"So… you know the Spell of Before then, right?" Link looked at Navi hopefully. The fair swayed from side to side.
"No, I was never that good at using Magic. I was a warrior. I used my wind Magic to enhance my own and the others physical abilities. I was the youngest warrior in the group, so naive. Do you know, it took fifty years to carve this dungeon out of the rock? I learned a lot in that time." Navi flew back up to the carving, next to the large picture of a tall man with the piercing eyes of a bird of prey. "Neppolo tried to teach me new Magic, but the most I could accomplish was that silly mask you have."
The room fell into silence. Link watched Navi float next to the picture of the eagle eyed man for several minutes. But his curious mind got the better of him. "Why did you use the Proto-Triforce to seal away Agahnim?" asked Link, breaking the solemn silence.
Navi stayed next to the eagle eyed man picture for several more seconds and then flew away from it to float next to Link. "He was insane, and far too powerful to just lock up or kill. Even if we had done something like that, it would only be a matter of time before he broke loose and we'd have to catch him and lock him up again. We needed something more permanent to hold him, especially after he used the Niflheim book to enhance his already powerful shadow Magic. It was Katrina who came up with the idea of sealing Agahnim in the Proto-Triforce and then splitting up the pieces to insure that he never gained the strength to break free." Navi flew over to the picture of the nine people, right next to the picture of a green haired woman with electrical sparks surrounding her.
Link stood and walked up to the wall. The picture of a phantasm being sucked into the Proto-Triforce while screaming was so intricately drawn that it sent chills down his spine. Navi moved to hover over his shoulder.
"That was a night I'd never forget," said Navi forlornly. "Even when I couldn't remember anything, I could still hear his screams and pleadings, his tortured cries for mercy… his threats. All of us who were left swore to protect the pieces so that he could never escape. One or two of us began to believe that someone, anyone would come to destroy Agahnim, that the Goddesses would have to send someone to wipe this kind of evil away, but no one ever came. At least, not until you arrived, Link."
"Stop," said Link. "I'm not-"
"It's okay, Link." Navi patted the top of Link's ear. "I don't think it was right to have pushed anything onto you. I don't know how or why you're the one who showed up, but you are here. And if Agahnim has been released, then something must be done." Navi fell silent for a second before she started chuckling.
"What's so funny?"
"I was just thinking about how I got stuck in all of this mess. I wasn't that much older than you, actually, just 16 years old. My master called me in one day and said that I'd been chosen by the King for a very important mission. And here I am… still on the mission."
Link sighed. "I'm not this Hero," he said resolutely. "I'm never going to be. But… everyone wants me to be this Hero." Link lowered his head and studied the floor. "I don't want to be the Hero, but I can't be anything else until others stop bothering me about it. So I'll do what they want me to, I'll do what the Hero would do. That way, when I don't succeed and I fail, everyone will stop asking so much of me and just leave me alone."
Navi thought about what Link said for a few minutes and then tapped Link on the ear. He turned and looked at the ball of light. "If you don't want to be the Hero, then I won't ask you to be. I know how horrible it is to be expected to do something when you're completely unsuited for the job. But, because you want to prove that you're not the Hero, then I say, give this journey everything you have. If you're going to fail, fail spectacularly. Give those who forced you onto this journey something other than Hero to call you."
Link smiled. For the first time in his life, he genuinely felt happy. He finally met someone that actually cared about how he felt, someone who understood he was just a boy, Link, the weak little boy with dreams that never came true.
"And the first thing you could do, is hold the mask up to the monument," said Navi flying into the air around the top of the monument. Link frowned wryly and pulled the mask out. The white face ornament floated from his hands toward the monument, repeating the process from all the other monuments.
- - - Sylvarant/Balacruf Mausoleum (Lloyd) - - -
"Man, this place is boring!"
"I told you so," said Genis smugly.
"Shut it, Genis."
"We are near the summoning altar," said Kratos. "I would assume you'd be happy this is almost over."
"I'm happy we didn't get skewered in that last room," said Sheena. "We almost died."
"No thanks to Lloyd," Genis grumbled.
"How was I supposed to know that X meant death!" shouted Lloyd defensively. "I thought it mean that it was a secret room or something."
"Wind Blade!" Kratos cast the wind spell on the small windmill next to a large stone door. The door slowly sank into the floor, revealing a light filled stair well ascending to the roof. "Come," said the mercenary, "let us acquire the next summoning pact and then find your friend."
The four emerged from the stair well onto the roof of the Mausoleum. It was a large and very open. Gusts of wind blew in all directions, causing the frilly parts of Kratos' and Sheena's outfits to flap about. Everyone's hair was all over the place, including Lloyd's perpetually spiky hair.
"What's that?" asked Genis, pointing to a large machine with wires, hoses, and other long, string like objects connecting it to the altar.
"That's one of those Mana siphoning machines," said Sheena. There was one in the Fire Seal. Kvar must be trying to steal Wind Mana from Sylph!"
"We got to stop him," said Lloyd.
"I'd like to see you try, hahahahahaha!" Everyone froze and turned around.
"Kvar," mutter Kratos, reaching for his sword.
"Frankly, I'm surprised you figured it out, Kratos," sneered the evil man. "How did you manage to track me here?"
"You should be more careful who you tell your plans to," boasted Lloyd. "We found out everything you're trying to do in Asgard. But we stopped you, every one of your men in that base are dead! Soon, you'll be joining them."
"Is that so, subject A001." Kvar chuckled loudly. "I finally learned about you, Lloyd Irving. It took me a while, because information is so much harder to come by now, but you are the one I've been searching for. Had I know earlier, I would have taken your Exsphere before now. I'll be taking it now." Suddenly, a dozen Desian's appeared with their machine guns leveled at the group.
"What's so special about my Exsphere?"
"Lloyd." The boy looked at Kratos. He wasn't looking away from Kvar, but he was speaking quietly enough so only their small group could hear. "Don't listen to this madman, he'll only attempt to play with your head. He's the worst kind of manipulator." And then to the rest of the group, he said, "It looks like we'll have to fight out way out of here and come back for the pact later. Be ready, follow my lead."
"Now now, Kratos," said Kvar, "you're not thinking of attempting an escape are you? How many times must we go through this scenario?"
"What are you talking about, Kvar?" growled Kratos.
"Oh you know," Kvar grinned slyly, "where you try to escape, and before you can do anything you're forced to kill the one you love the most. Last time you killed Lloyd here's mother."
"What!!" Lloyd jumped away from the group and drew his swords. "You killed my mother! Is this true Kratos?!"
"Lloyd!" shouted Kratos. "Get control of yourself!"
"It's true then!" Lloyd shouted, on the verge of tears. "You… you bastard! You killed mom!"
"Oh my, having a family spat I see," chuckled Kvar. "I think it's time to activate the second phase of the project then. Lloyd, what do the little birds sing when they blow up in a volcano?"
"What?" asked Genis. "What's that supposed to mean." He turned to Kratos, but the only thing he was doing was staring at Lloyd. In fact, some of the color was still draining from his face. Genis turned to look back at Lloyd but was socked violently in the face by a red glove clad fist.
The end.
Link: "What the heck was that?! You can't end it there!"
Yes I can. I just did, in fact.
Link: "But what's happening? What happened to Lloyd? Why is he punching Genis in the face? And what happened to me? And… and…"
Dark Link: "Quit whining you big wimpy baby."
Link: "I thought I pushed you off of a cliff."
Dark Link: "I can fly."
Link: (Growling) "Why… you…"
Okay, so tell me, was it exciting? Was it good? Did it fill that need some of you have for random violence and plot development/character development? Please review and tell me.
Link: "And thanks for reading. And voting for me… I feel so special."
Dark Link: "Just because you go to Special Ed, doesn't mean you are special. It means you are stupid."
Link: "I hate you Dark Link, I hate you a lot."
Dark Link: "Hey! That's my line!"