Chapter Twenty Six

After searching around for a while they had managed to re-discover the so-called Spirit Train. Aife pretended to know what the hell they were talking about and Byrne promised he would explain later about what they meant.

Link insisted that Zelda should get some rest in the passenger cart, and she, after what seemed like a very long time of arguing, finally sat in the back with Byrne and Aife.

Aife hissed as Byrnes hands carefully slid over the cuts on her stomach.

"Hold still." He commanded.

"Well it's a little difficult to do that on a train that won't stop jerking around." She snapped back.

They glared at each other for a moment and heard a laugh come from beside them, making them both turn their heads.

Zelda turned her head away and tried to hide her laughter from them.

Aife rolled her eyes, huffed, and then hissed again right after when Byrne touched her wounds. His warm hands were covered in some strange blue magic that he said would help quicken the healing process.

She took a deep breath as she felt the warmth of his magic seep into her wounds. The pain in her stomach and chest was slowly ebbing away now and she felt her body relax more.

"Thanks." She mumbled and pushed her tunic down when he finished.

Byrne nodded and moved back.

"So... You don't remember anything?" Zelda asked carefully. Aife shrugged without looking at her. "Do you remember me?" The girl asked.

Aife pursed her lips and she frowned as she looked at Zelda in confusion. "Um..." She started awkwardly. "What's your name again?"

Zelda eyes grew wide as she gasped in horror.

"Kidding!" Aife snickered and started to laugh even more as Zedla started to smack at her arm.

"Oh you-!" Zelda fumed. "That's mean!"

Aife stuck her tongue at her and giggled as she moved over in her seat to sit against the wall. Relaxing in the moment of silence that passed between the three of them.

"Teacher is going to flip out when he sees me again." Zelda mumbled to herself. "But it'll be nice to finally be home and sleep in my own bed again." She smiled at them. "But what about you two? Where will you go?"

Aife glanced over at Byrne, not entirely sure of where she could go.

"The Tower of Spirits. How does that sound to you?" Byrne turned his head slightly to look at Aife for a reply.

She nodded. "Sounds good... I guess." She smiled at him. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go."

Byrne chuckled.

"What?" She asked him and squinted her eyes at him.

"It's nothing." He told her. "I'll tell you later."

Aife rolled her eyes. "Fine! Keep your secrets." She mumbled at him.

"Oh! That means you can come over and visit!" Zelda exclaimed cheerfully.

Aife giggled and then inwardly shuddered as the sudden image of having tea-parties and playing with dolls came into mind.

'And make-up... Ugh.' Aife shook her head to get the image out. She sighed. 'Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.' She had never actually tried it before. 'Maybe if Byrne had a tea party with us it would be fun...' She held back the burst of laughter that threatened to bubble from her at the thought of him at a girlish and childish tea party.

Aife shook that thought from her head while closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath as her head started to spin again. She then tried very hard to not think about Malladus and all the strange things that happened. 'He's dead. Stop thinking about it.' She told herself.

She felt something snake behind her back and under her legs and she gasped reflectively. She opened her eyes to see Byrne scooping her up and hugging her to his lap.

"Rest now. We'll be at te castle when you wake." He murmured in her ear.

She nodded and felt her cheeks grow slightly warm as her eyes dropped.

Byrnes Pov.

Byrne glanced out the window to see the odd colors of the sunset slowly grow darker with trees flashing by in his view as the train sped back towards Hyrule castle.

They would probably be back there past mid-day tomorrow. Considering how Link would obviously need a good long rest soon. He still almost couldn't believe that Malladus was dead. The Demon King, defeated by two kids, a wounded Lokomo, and a human girl who couldn't remember what she was doing there. Byrne shook his head. None of that mattered now. He was alive and so was Aife, and that's all that truly mattered now.

She shifted slightly in his arms and he held her closer, feeling her heart flutter inside her body that rested so close to his. He started to wonder if she was having unpleasant dreams, or if her heart was just jumpy.

"Hm, you really like her don't you?" Zelda asked him while smiling, her eyes half closed.

Byrne looked down at Aife and cocked his head to the side as he smiled slightly. "Yes." He said softly. That wasn't the right wording but he supposed that his answer it would suffice for the girls question.

Zelda smiled sweetly at them. "Yeah, she said the same thing..." She mumbled sleepily.

"She did?" Byrne asked automatically, half cringing for asking such a childish thing.

"Mmhmm." Zelda mumbled as her eyes dropped shut.

Byrne leaned back in his own chair and cradled Aife closer.

The train came to a slow stop and steam hissed in the front as Link staggered into the passenger cart, looking as though he could sleep on the floor and be perfectly happy with it.

The blonde boy glanced at Aife and gave Byrne and her a strange look as he walked up and practically dropped on the seat in front of Zelda.

"Don't you-..." Link start groggily. "Don't you hurt her..."

Byrne glanced down at her and then looked back at the boy. "You need not worry about that. I would never."

Link nodded. "Good... 'Cause other wise... 'Cause-..." Link was cut off as his body became completely relaxed and he started to snore softly as sleep finally took him.

Byrne smiled slightly and closed his eyes.

He was looking forward to this new life.

A white light flashed and something, or maybe it was someone, smiled softly at the small girl that sat in the snow playing with small pinecones as toys alone.

The girl looked up and saw an elderly old man there, his white hair done up in a bun as usual as he sat in his strange little silver and blue wheel chair.

He smiled kindly at her. "I'm so proud of you, Aife." He told her. "You be a good girl, okay?"

The small girl stared at him and then smiled. "Okay." She chirped and smiled up at him with snowflakes kissing her skin and sticking to her hair.

The man smiled kindly and started to fade as more snow came fluttering around them.

The small girl started to cry then, she didn't want him to leave.

But that's how it had to be...

... Snow continued to fill the air.

Aifes Pov.

There was a loud and piercing squeal that shrieked through the air.

Aife woke up with a jerk and took in a quick intake of breath as she felt something tighten around her. She looked up relaxed slightly when she saw Byrne staring down at her in concern. She looked over to Zelda to see her with her nose practically pressed into the widow with the biggest and most ridiculous grin on ever.

"We're here!" She squealed in delight.

Aife gave Byrne a questioning look.

"Hyrule Castle." He told her.

Aife smiled slightly and nodded as she sat up more, rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out of them.

Zelda jumped off her seat as soon as the train came to a halt. Link came to the back and grinned at them. Zelda practically jumped on him as she grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the train.

Aife stood and Byrne followed behind her. She hopped out of the train and when Byrne was down as well he grabbed her hand.

She trudged him along as she followed Zelda and Link from the train and onto the stone covered train station area.

They walked into the main square where people started to stare at them and whisper to each other. And it didn't take long before Zelda was spotted.

"ZELDA?!" A voice screeched from the castles courtyard entrance.

Zelda gasped and waved her arm in the air as she smiled brightly. "Hello Teacher! I'm back!" She giggled and raced up to him.

The elderly man, teacher, ran towards her and started to have a panic attack. He asked, or rather screamed, where she had been and Zelda tried to explain calmly without giving away too much to make him worry for her mental health. He did an examination of her and started to panic again when he saw how ripped and dirtied the bottom of her dress was.

Link smiled and placed his hands on his hips as he watched Zelda's tutor rant about how worried he was and how he nearly had a heart attack because of her and how if she ever ran off again like that he would probably explode from worrying.

"You there!" Teacher gestured to Link. "You helped bring her home safely, correct?"

Link nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Then you have my highest respect. A deed like this is in call for a reward." Teacher continued as he pushed up the small round glasses that slipped to his nose.

Link started to refuse politely but Zelda cut him off.

"Of course! But he wasn't the only one who helped." Zelda explained sweetly as she turned to Aife and Byrne. "They helped too."

Aife frowned. 'With what? Stabbing a demon bull in the head?' She decided it would be best of she just kept her mouth shut.

"Your Majesty," Byrne started. "That is unnecessary." He told her kindly.

Zelda started to pout.

"We must have a welcome home party immediately." Teacher started, already getting worked up about it.

"Oh, don't you think that's over-doing it?" Zelda wondered.

"Nonsense!" Teacher put in. "We must celebrate your return! Come along now." He said as he started towards the castle gates, refusing to accept any more no's from them.

Zelda sighed and smiled apologetically at Aife and Byrne and followed after Teacher with Link.

Aife let out a small giggle and followed behind, taking Byrnes hand.

As they walked, the people around them frowned at them and some even quickly glanced away upon seeing Byrne. Where as the guards just glared at him and basically everything else there.

"I-... don't think I'm very welcome here..." Byrne half mumbled to Aife as they continued past everyone's steely and tense eyes.

She giggled, and spread her arms out to gesture at the people and guards. Some glared while others gave her a wary glance and then quickly looked away.

"Well through all those glares and tense shoulders... They love you! I mean what's not like about a super large guy wearing a wicked looking claw and a scarf? Nothing scary about that." She chirped and Byrne rolled his eyes and sighed as they continued through the street and into the castle.

Once inside, Zelda's tutor started to ramble a million times an hour about how they had so much to prepare for and how it was so great that Zelda was finally home again. He started to snap out orders to the guards nearby and they gave him strange glances as the left to do what they were told.

Aife remained quiet the whole time as people rushed around past them and Zelda and Link spoke to her hysterical teacher who started to sob about how worried he was.

"Your Majesty," Byrne cut in and Zelda turned to him. "If it's alright with you, Aife and I will take out leave now."

"You'll come back later though, for the party, right?" Zelda asked, giving them puppy dog eyes in hope that they would come.

"Of course." Byrne told her.

Aife smiled at her as Byrne lead her out of the castle.

Once they were out sight Byrne wrapped his arms around Aife and before she could even speak, everything grew blurry and they disappeared

Aifes head started to spin as the area around them slowly became clearer.

"You know... You should really give me a warning or something before you do that." Aife mumbled as she rubbed her head to stop it from spinning.

"My apologizes. I just thought this would be much quicker." He replied as he loosened his arms around her.

She sighed and glanced around them.

They were in some sort of strange hall with stone walls and floors covered in weird patterns of different colors. The air had a slight chill to it, and smelled a little dusty.

"Where are we?" She frowned.

"The Tower of Spirits..."

"Ah." She mumbled, having no idea what that was suppose to mean.

She glanced at Byrne to see something like sadness pass over his eyes. But it was quickly gone and replaced with a dark smirk as he pulled her closer to him.

"So now I finally have you all to myself..." He murmured in her ear darkly.

She squirmed out of his arms playfully. "Okay!" She said as she stepped back from him. "That's creepy. Like, really creepy..." She got out while blushing slightly, trying to hold back a girlish giggle.

He chuckled and shook his head. "My room is there," He gestured to the door down the hall. "If you want to change you can. I'm going to make sure the monsters are cleared."

"Oh, monsters live here too?" She questioned as she started down the hall. "Well this place sounds promising already."

Byrne only shook his head as he smirked. "Wait till you meet the phantoms again..." He half muttered as he started down the opposite hall. "Wait in my room, I'll be right back."

Aife rolled her eyes and wondered into his room.

She closed the door behind herself and took in a deep breath, the room smelled just like him. She giggled slightly at that and moved up to what appeared to look like his closet. She opened the doors and peered inside.

Green, blue, brown, green, blue, green, brown, blue, green.

Aife frowned slightly at the color of his clothes in his closet.

"Huh..." She half muttered to herself. "Well he sure has a wide variety of colors..."

She grabbed the closest blue shirt after a second and closed the door, deciding that she wasn't going to bother trying to choose between dark green or 'slightly' darker green.

She pulled off her torn and dirtied tunic and easily slipped on the clean blue shirt. It was baggy and loose on her and ran down to her mid-thighs.

She threw off her boots next. "See ya, boots." She chirped as she tossed them to the side, wiggling her bare toes in relief of having them off.

She moved and sat on the edge of his bed for a bit, swinging her legs back and forth and then trying to count the holes in his ceiling.

When she counted up to thirty-four, she gave up and stood. 'There's too many damn holes to count...' Her mind grumbled as she rubbed her eyes, feeling as they they were slightly burned from trying to spot all those tiny holes in the white ceiling.

She peeked outside the door and into the hall. Seeing that it was empty she slowly walked out of his room and continued down the hall to her right.

After a minute she came across some stairs.

Her expression slowly turned into an evil grin as she raced up the stairs, giggling to herself as her bare feet slapped against the cool stone steps.

After what seemed like forever of climbing up stairs, she came across a large round room with a raised ring shaped arena in it.

'A training ring...' Her mind whispered. '... Sweet.'

She was already starting to like this place, despite the fact that the staircases here were ridiculously long and probably never ending, she still liked it.

She wondered through the room, swinging her arms as she started to hum some unknown tune. She walked through the doorway and saw another flight of stairs.

She stared at them for a moment and growled. She started up them and glanced to the side and gasped slightly.

She could see out for miles and miles. Rolling green hills with train tracks snaking over them. Groups of trees hugging together in strange lump like shapes, and the castle was nearby too, standing proudly beside the tower.

Aife smiled slightly as the wind started to play gently with her hair. The breeze was cool with a faint hint of the fading afternoon warmth.

She continued up the stairs and once she reached the top, she moved to the side and leaned her elbows against the stone ledge that blocked her from falling off. She leaned her body against the stone pillar that stood beside her and sighed.

This place seemed so... Strange. Everything about it just seemed so odd to her. But she supposed that she would get use to it, and she had Byrne with her... She smiled slightly at that thought, he would be here to help her. But now she could start fresh. 'Yeah, I can do whatever I want now. Travel to wherever...' She thought to herself and then remembered something. 'Hmm, I should visit Alfonzo soon. Just so he knows that we're still alive...' She thought distantly.

She glanced down at the black mark on her left hand, rubbing her hand over it.

It didn't hurt like she almost expected it too, instead, it just sat there. Staring back blankly. She frowned at it. 'What are you?' She wondered. '... Oh right, you're a 'gift' from that demon guy, right?' Her frown deepened. 'But what's that suppose to mean?' It looked like it could be a regular tattoo, but there was something off about it... Like it was-

The sound of footsteps coming from the staircase interrupted her thoughts as she snapped back to reality. 'Its probably nothing. He's dead so there's no need to worry about it.' She thought to herself. She heard the footsteps grow closer until they were right behind her. Warm hands covered her eyes before she could turn around.

"Who's there?" She asked, smirking to herself.

"Guess." A deep voice said, she could hear him smiling as well.

She dropped her shoulders "Ugh, Alfonzo, that's really creepy..." She pretended to pout.

She heard him growl behind her, and he whipped her around in a flash, closing the space between their lips.

She smiled and kissed him back.

When he pulled back he gave her a dark smile, his golden eyes gleaming with a hint of amusement.

She gasped and pulled away slightly. "You're not Alfonzo!" She pretend to be utterly shocked and horrified as she gaped at him.

Byrne rolled his eyes and pulled her into his chest. "I want to show you something." He told her as he lifted his claw up and shot it out and up somewhere she couldn't see.

Aifes eyes widened and she screamed as he jumped off the edge of the tower without a moments hesitation.

"Byrne!" She screamed and clutched his shoulders with a death like grip as the ground beneath them disappeared and the air swooshed around them.

She closed her eyes tightly and she thought she heard him chuckle as he swung upward the same time his claw started to pull him towards where it had latched onto.

Byrne easily swung their bodies onto something solid and cradled Aife into his chest.

"You can open your eyes now." He told her softly.

She took a deep breath and once she was sure she was standing on something solid she opened her eyes one at a time.

They were standing on the top of the towers roof.

She gasped and stared in amazement at how close the clouds above seemed to be and how small every thing below was.

She pulled away from him and looked up at him.

"Byrne.." She growled as she glared at him.

"Yes?" He chuckled at her flushed cheeks and angry expression.

She punched his chest. "Don't you ever do that again!" She snapped.

He only chuckled and grabbed her wrist, forcing her into his chest as he spun around with her and sat on the towers roof.

She grumbled something about him being a huge jerk, to which he only smiled at.

"I'm sorry," He murmured. As he kissed her cheek. "Will you ever forgive me?" He asked with a slight teasing tone.

She sighed to herself and gave up on being mad at him. "Fine." She huffed. "But you're still a jerk..." She grumbled.

She cuddled into him as she sat inside the bowl he made with his crossed legs. She sighed and then looked up again to watch the sun slowly start to fade into the horizon.

"So... Now what?" She asked softly after a moment.

Byrne stared at the setting sun with her and hugged her closer.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"What will we do now?" She asked him.

"Hmm..." He mused. "I suppose I could try and re-teach you what was taken away with your memories..."

Aife thought about that, 'Maybe that wouldn't be so terrible...'

"Or... That could wait." He put in at her silence.

She smiled. "Oh? Did you have something else in mind?" She asked innocently.

He smirked at her and kissed her cheek again. "You can decide."

She giggled and turned her head to glance back at him. "... I love you. You know that right?"

Byrnes eyes grew wide and his cheeks grew slightly red as he stared at her. He quickly kissed her and hugged her closer. She only giggled at that.

When they broke apart she sighed happily and leaned back against him.

She looked up to see the sky turning from deep oranges and reds to cool blues and violets. Tiny dots of light lazily started to poke through the deep blue and sparkle slightly above them.

"Goddess... It's beautiful up here..." She half whispered.

"Mmm.." Byrne murmured in agreement as he watched her.

"No. Look at it!" She said as she threw her hands into the air to gesture at the sky. "It's like it's never ending..." She said as she spread her palms towards the sky. "See look. There's a cloud shaped cloud." She pointed at one of the pinkish clouds in the sky.

Byrne looked up and frowned. "It looks more like a boot."

"Dude... I don't know what you're talking about. It's clearly a cloud shape."

His frown deepened. "I don't think you understand the objective of that game..."

She giggled and pointed at another much smaller cloud. "And that's it's mini me." She said while smiling as she tilted her head back to glance up at him innocently.

He looked down at her and smiled slightly as he kissed her nose.

She felt her cheeks grow slightly warm and she tilted her head back so that she could watch the sky again. Byrne wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his chin on the crook of her neck.

"It's really nice here..." Aife half mumbled.

"I'm glad that you like it." Byrne said softly.

She leaned her head back to rest it on his shoulder as she yawned. After a moment she felt Byrne shift behind her as he started to stand, picking her up with him.

"What are you-?" She started.

He smiled crookedly at her. "We're going to be late... Or did you forget about our invitation to Zelda's party?"

Aife smiled slightly. "Oh, right. That thing."

"Yes that thing. Come on, we're going to be late." Byrne repeated.

She hesitantly peeked at the edge of the tower and then quickly looked away.

"Could we just stay up here? And, you know, not jump down like crazy people..."

He grabbed her chin so that she was forced to look up at him. "Do you trust me?" He asked her, his intense golden eyes staring deeply into her own.

She couldn't help but nod, if not a little helplessly as well. 'Damn those eyes...'

"Then don't be afraid," He continued as he tucked her into his chest protectively. "I won't let you fall."

She buried her face into his neck and closed her eyes tightly. "Promise?" She asked softly.

Byrne smiled and hugged her closer as he shot his claw into the roofs ledge.

"I promise." He whispered to her just as he jumped off the edge and into the towers top floor.

Aife smiled as she tightened her grip around his neck, holding back her urge to squeal as they swung off the towers edge.

Once they were inside the actual tower, and on solid ground, Aife loosened her grip only a little around his neck. Byrne chuckled at that and scooped her up bridal style as he started down the stairs.

And into their new life together...

... The End.

A/N: ... X3 ... WAIT! Before you go I have a few very important things I would like to tell you!

-/ There is going to be a sequel. That triangle on Aifes hand is important... *evil grin* By now I should have the first chapter up for it. If not then the title is: Twilight Princess: The Vessel of Darkness. \\\-

Notes:

1- I want to thank everyone who favorited/followed/reviewed this story. It really meant a lot to me while I was working on it. And a huge thanks to all you people who reviewed this story a million times, really, you guys are amazing. ^.-b

2- Another big thanks goes out to Wingscutdarkness *huggles* ^_- What's that? I already said that before? ... Oh well. X3

3- Aife and Byrne show up again in another story I have created with Wind-Mage-Vaati12. The description is in my bio at the bottom of the page. Please go check it out! It's a huge and insane story with a billion amazing LoZ characters that show up. :D

Anyways. *bows* Thank you for reading my first complete story. I really do hope that the ending lived up to your expectations. :)

-Demon Tracks
By: TheMidnightWhisp
(September, 15. 2012 - March, 05. 2013)