Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda series do not, repeat, not belong to me. They rightfully belong to Miyamoto. (May he continue to make exellent games for the rest of his days) What does belong to me are Cleo, Finn, Joseph, Emetaly, Pacha, Paulo, Prince Hassan, Abner, and Oi and Ollo.

The sage in this chapter is baced off of the Afghan girl.


Chapter 27

The whole town was like a maze, with narrow passageways, dead end streets, and no signs that she could read (they were all in Hindi). Without her sword, Cleo could only defend herself as a fox. She had to avoid a fight with the bokoblins if she could, even though there were so many, strolling around the place. They had completely overtaken the village, with wood and iron caged walls and watch towers added. There were no signs of any of the citizens, and Cleo began to wonder with worry what had happened to them.

She snuck her way past the enemies to various places until she found one guarding a treasure chest. Then she attacked it to claim the treasure and regain a piece of her equipment. Then she used that equipment to get past other obstacles and more enemies to get to the other chests. She found a feather and gained the familiar scent of Kaepora to follow. Finally, she found him in a room, caged up and being poked with sharp objects by those monsters as they laughed away. "Now really!" Kae shouted. "This is obviously animal cruelty!"

"Kae!" Cleo couldn't get through the cage door, so she rounded the building, climbed up some boxes and leapt through a window. The bokoblins noticed her and stared at her with confusion, wondering what in the world a fox was doing here. Hackles raised, teeth bared, she charged and tackled one of them. Sharp canines to the neck ended it quickly, then she focused on the others who began surrounding her, their machetes ready. Cleo took them on one at a time with claws and teeth and finished the last three with a tail spin attack. She removed the mask and freed Kaepora from his cage. "Where are the citizens?"

"A lot of them have been captured by the horde. I heard they're being held for ransom."

"But I was already their prisoner!"

"It's not you they're after, it's the sage."

"They haven't captured the sage yet?" She was a bit relieved, but she was still worried for the people. "We gotta go rescue them!"

"Hoo! Hold on a moment, you still don't have your sword!" But Cleo ignored him and went upstairs and through the rooftop doors. She surveyed her surroundings. "You don't even know where the thief is."

"It's that way," Cleo immediately concluded, pointing out the direction.

Kaepora stared at her. "Hoo hoo? Now how could you possibly know that?"

"I just know it's there. I can feel it... like it's a part of me..."

"You're acting strangely lately Cleo... but I guess maybe the reason you feel connected with the Master Sword is because of it's rising potential over the course of this journey."

"Well, whatever the reason, it's proving helpful." Cleo went back to being a fox and followed her instincts with the rejoined Kaepora. Hopping from rooftop to rooftop, crossing planks and clothesline, she suddenly heard screaming. The voice sounded familiar. "It's the thief!" She looked down in the streets and saw him surrounded by the enemy.

"Stay back! Stay back!" he warned in a terrified voice, brandishing the sword he'd stolen. They were closing in. Taking the mask off, Cleo jumped down, rolled upon landing right beside him, knocked the Master Sword out of his hand to regain it, and instantly struck at them. After dealing with them, she turned to the thief who kneeled. "Please don't hurt me! I have a family!"

"You shouldn't steal from others! It's not right!" she scolded.

"I know it's not... I am so sorry... Try to understand, I had no choice. My daughter is gravely sick and we are in poverty. My wife and I, we cannot bear to lose her..."

Cleo's face softened, she could tell he was telling the truth, his words were sincere. "I forgive you. I'll help you if I can, most likely your family is imprisoned somewhere. Let's go find them."

They snuck their way through town to find the prisoners, even with the sword back, Cleo knew not to seek a battle before saving them. They soon found them at a square, all bound and surrounded by the bokoblins. There was a bonfire blazing before them and standing in front of it was the most sinister of the hoard Cleo had ever seen. He was green skinned instead of the usual red or blue, and he wore tribal paints, a skull, and bones, one of them through his nose.

"I am Alo! And from now on, you will all be slaves for the dark one! A new era will dawn soon, an era where we, the mighty warrior race, shall rule!" All the other bokoblins started stamping their feet in rhythm with their low chanting. "But before we employ you to your servitude, we must first find one of the eight sages, who happens to be living among you! So where are you? Stand up so I can see you!" No one in the frightened crowd stood. "Fine, if the cowardly sage won't reveal himself." He approached the crowd, who tried to recoil as best they could. He reached in and grabbed a little girl, a weak and sickly looking girl.

Cleo, who had been watching from her hiding place, felt the thief lurch forward. She grabbed him. "Wait, we need a plan."

"Not her... not her..." he gasped out in terrible dread.

"We can't jump in yet, there are too many. We have to find a way to disperse them."

"If you don't come out now, I'll kill every child one by one, starting with her!" Alo snarled, holding the machete dangerously close to the girl.

"Wait!" a woman's voice called out. All heads turned toward the source and their gaze fell on the woman who stood up, the woman with amber eyes. "I am the sage... I am the one you seek... please don't hurt her."

"Prove it."

"You have my word."

"That's not good enough! I said prove it!"

"I cannot."

Alo gave a sinister smile. "You just sealed her fate." He was about to swing the machete down on the girl when... BOOM! everyone looked up at the sky. BOOM BOOM! BOOM! Explosions erupted and a huge winged shadow with fire from its mouth, trailing behind, flew overhead.

"Dragon! DRAGON!" The bokoblins started panicking and running for their lives, leaving the still bound citizens behind.

"Come back you cowards!" Alo bellowed at them. He got out a knife and threw it at one of his own, killing it. He heard a harsh cough and noticed the girl was trying to crawl away. "Where do you think you're going, maggot?" He grabbed her ankle and a red, furry beast jumped out of the darkness, latching jaws onto his arm. He threw it off and the fox stood between him and the girl, ready to fight. "Your pet? I'll make you wish you'd never had one." He swung the machete wildly at it, which it swiftly dodged and countered. "Vicious thing, that. I'll make a rug out of you!" After a few more fast clashes, Alo managed to land a blow in the face so hard, that it actually knocked the mask off, revealing Cleo. "What?!"

She stood up and drew her sword. "You've forced this injustice on these people long enough!"

After staring at Cleo in puzzlement, he let out a horrible laugh. "How long have you been able to turn into an animal? Is that how you've been able to slip by us all this time? I'll need to report that to the boss."

"Just where is your boss anyway? Why isn't he here?"

"He's a busy man, trying to take care of some unfinished business."

"What unfinished business is there besides me? Does it have something to do with this 'dark one' you mentioned?"

"You're pretty quick for a brat. But I won't be spoiling anything more to the likes of you." So Cleo was right, Ghirahim was not working alone. The prophecy had mention the 'great darkness' which meant that there was someone else pulling the strings. She took a step toward Alo. "Not so fast! You're forgetting about the citizens." He pulled out a familiar remote. "Borrowed your little bombchus and placed them within the crowd. Take one more step and they'll blow sky high!" Cleo made a hateful scowl at his evil smirk, forgetting that she too wasn't working alone.

Alo was backing away to make his escape, only to back into somebody instead. He quickly turned around and was face to face with the thief who roughly grabbed him, forced the remote out of his hand, and pinned him to the ground, then pulled out a dagger and thrust it down before Alo had a chance to struggle or counter. The bokoblin flinched and then went limp, no longer moving.

After that, the team went to untie the grateful citizens. The adults surrounded Cleo with praise and free gifts (which she politely refused, although she did reclaim the rest of her stuff from them) while the children were checking out the giant Kaepora, who was still carrying the lantern in his beak. The thief retrieved his daughter and embraced his wife. To Cleo's surprise, he was married to the sage. "Ma'am?"

The woman looked at her with those amber eyes (Gerudian eyes, Cleo was sure) and apperently smiled behind her veil. "You saved us all, thank you... I know you're here for me, child of the prophecy."

"I'm not gonna take you." Cleo sighed. "Child of prophecy or not, I don't want to force you away from your own daughter in her condition." At that, there was sharp, wheezy coughing. The girl, with eyes exactly like her mothers, was so weak, she didn't have the strength to stand. No doubt, she was slowly approaching death. "I wish there was something I could... wait!" Cleo's saddened face lit up. "I have something that can help!" She brought out a bottle with something glowing inside. "I caught this awhile back on my last trip to Hyrule and I know this will work. It saved a friend of mine once."

Cleo held the bottle out to the child and uncorked it, a fairy flew out and zipped around the girl. Color flooded her and her breathing cleared. She stood up, no longer coughing. "Papa, mama, I feel better!"

Her father, upon seeing the miracle, started crying. The family were overjoyed with the cure and the sage gave Cleo a hug in gratitude which made the teen feel nostalgic. "I'll never forget what you've done." Feeling the yearning, Cleo hugged back.

It was time for the sage to leave her family. "Please mama, take me with you!"

Her mother bent down and removed her veil to give her a kiss. "You must stay here and take care of your father."

"...okay."

"Don't worry, guys. She'll be safe with me and she'll be back before you know it," Cleo promised.