*Sapphire's P.O.V*

"So…it's almost noon."

Kildea and I had waited pretty quietly for the past couple of hours. Nothing had happened in that period of time, and it was making me worried.

"Should I go look for him?" Kildea asked. "I know he said to leave, but…"

"No, I agree. You should probably look. I would help, but I fear that I would just get all of us caught. That wouldn't be good."

"No, it wouldn't. I thank you for your will to help, though. I can warp out if needed, so it will be alright. If by some chance I do not come out after a while, you will definitely leave. No ifs, ands, or buts. Hyrule needs a hero at a time in need, so we cannot risk losing the one we have. Understand?"

'I hope she realizes I will not listen to anything she just said.' "Understood."

"Good. I hope to return soon." Kildea shrunk down to the size of a forest fairy and flew off.

*Kildea's P.O.V.*

I stayed close to the ceiling since I was small and less likely to be seen. I traveled quickly through the long hallways of the castle, keeping an eye out for the prince and anyone else that may be in need of help. So far, all that was seen was stationary guards. I turned around many corners and still saw nothing.

'I can't stay in this size for much longer. I can feel my magic power running out. If I want to be able to warp out, I'll have to go back to normal size.'

I found a hidden corner, so I landed there and returned to my normal shape before continuing on. After what seemed like a half hour, I heard the sounds of children whispering. I peeked around the corner to a large room. On the other end was quite a few guards, but on the end I was on, there was a group of children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers.

'I guess I found a back way into this room that they didn't know about. Lucky.'

One of the younger children seemed to notice me there. He looked at the corner with curious eyes as he tugged on the sleeve of a teenager. She turned around to see what he was looking at and she noticed me as well. Unlike the child, she grew scared and prepared to scream. I quickly tried to shush her.

"No, no, shh, I'm not with them," I whispered as quietly as I could so the guards wouldn't notice. "Why are all of you in here?"

The girl's eyes were still wide with fear. "I-I don't know. We were t-taken here. Please help us!"

I motioned for the children to follow me. One by one, they came around the corner. None of the guards seemed to notice. If any of them did, they didn't even try to stop them. Once all the children were around, and there were ten of them, I led them to a safer spot.

"Miss," the girl spoke, "I know this sounds like I may be asking for a lot, but our parents were taken from us. I know where they are. I overheard that they took them to the dungeon."

"Oh." I blinked. "It would be easy to help them out since you know where they are." 'Perhaps I'll find the prince on the way.' "However, all of you should get out."

Another child tugged on my dress. I looked down to see a small boy.

"Are you a fairy?" He asked with big eyes. I nodded. "Yes, yes I am."

He smiled. "I knew they existed. I told my momma they did, and she scolded me for believing it."

I smiled back. "Well, now you can tell your mother that you saw one." I looked back at the teenage girl. "What is your name?"

"Anastasia." She did a small curtsy. "And you?"

"Kildea. How well do you know the castle?"

She nodded her head. "I've lived here for about a year, so decently well. Why?"

"Can I trust you with the responsibility of getting everyone here out? It seems the guards aren't very…guard-like, so I don't think you'll have a problem. There is someone waiting outside the gate. Tell her I sent you, to take you all outside, and to point you in the direction of Kakariko Village. I'll go help your parents."

Anastasia curtsied again. "Thank you. I can get them out safely if what you say is true. Good luck." She rallied up all ten children. Before walking away, she turned around.

"By the way, how did you find that entrance to the throne room? That's a neat little secret."

I shrugged. "I kind of just walked around until I found it."

"Hm. Interesting. Anyway, it was nice to meet you." She led the children around the corner. They surprisingly walked quietly, with the floors being hard and them being a large group.

'Alright. Now for the dungeon…'

*Liam's P.O.V.*

I awoke on a sofa. At first, I couldn't make out where I was, not until my vision focused. I sat up and groaned.

"So you're awake."

I then realized I was in my grandfather's study. I looked towards the voice and noticed it was Ghirahim. It was also then when I noticed that I still had my weapons on me.

"I was going to have you talk to Ganondorf himself, but it seems he's out at the moment. Only the Goddesses know when he'll return, so I get to decide what to do with you instead." He was sitting in an informal position in Grandfather's chair behind a desk. "I would really love to know your name, though. It just feels so impolite to have a discussion and not be able to refer to you by name."

I glared at him as I wiped my chin. I had been hit so hard that there had been blood coming out of my mouth. "You're one to talk for politeness."

He scoffed. "Well, for all I know, you don't know any better. You could just be some peasant that happened to be…no, wait." He stood up. "You are the one who tried to attack me that night I killed the king. The little boy I flung off like a ragdoll. You screamed something like, 'You killed Grandfather,' am I correct?" Each sentence he spoke came with a different body position.

'Well, there goes that.'

Ghirahim laughed. "I can't believe it! You are this prince I keep hearing about! This revelation has just made my day! The butterflies in my stomach cannot begin to express how this makes me feel!" He sat back down and put a hand on his forehead. "How exciting," he whispered. "You know, you really do take after your mother. I've seen her painting in that large hallway. But this is no time to talk about family." He picked up a book and flung it at me. "I've been informed that members of the royal family can read Ancient Hylian. Tell me what's in here, boy."

I watched as the book landed beside me. The cover read, 'The Sacred Locations in the Land of Hylia', but I was not about to give that away.

'If he already knows I can read this, I'll just pretend it's something else.' "Why would you want to know about flowers?"

"…Excuse me?"

"It's a book about flowers. You know, the colorful things that-"

"I know what flowers are, boy. Don't fool with me. What is it about?"

I laughed. "I'm not fooling with you. It's about flowers. I can show you." I skimmed through the book, praying to the Goddesses there was a picture of a flower. To my amazement, there was. I showed Ghirahim the page. "I told you. Flowers. Such a shame, really. Now, can I go? I have places to be, people to see…"

"Wha…? No, you can't leave! How stupid do you think I am? Stop fooling around and tell me what's in the book before I force it out of you!"

'And there goes that.' I sighed. "Okay, fine, you got me. I can't actually read this. I guessed, hoped there was a flower in the book, and there was. Whoever told you forgot to mention that I was never taught. Sorry." I shrugged nonchalantly. "You'll have to find someone else. Oh wait, you can't, because you killed him. Unless you can bring people back from death, you're at a dead end."

Ghirahim suddenly stood up and took in a deep breath. "You are testing my patience. Stop with the idiocy."

I stared him in the eyes. He blinked and leaned forward on the desk.

"Listen to me very carefully. I have been very good with not killing you. You see, I unfortunately have to keep you alive because Ganondorf needs you for his plans. Therefore, I'm not allowed to kill you. But, he said nothing about torture or emotional draining. I am very skilled in both. After all, I've been around for centuries. I have to get a hobby to keep from boredom." He smiled slowly. "And I have yet to do it to royalty."

Thinking quickly, I drew my bow and shot an arrow at him. I managed to land a hit on his shoulder, so I took the opportunity to grab the book and make a run for it. I turned the corner and ran into something.

Or someone.

Kildea happened to be there. We both fell over. Ghirahim appeared not even a second afterwards. Kildea quickly shot up and started attacking him.

"You again?" He shouted. "Why do you always keep appearing? Are you some kind of guardian fairy or something?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?!" The two kept fighting, blasting magic at each other. Suddenly, Ghirahim took out a blade from nowhere and sliced at Kildea. Even more surprisingly, Kildea reached under the skirt of her dress with both hands, pulled out two knives, and put up an amazing fight. She was pulling off moves I had only ever seen Impa do, and Impa was already impressive enough.

'Kildea gets more and more surprising. First, she tells us she's with the sages, and now, here she is fighting like a Sheikah. Who or what is she really?'

Deciding to help, I pulled back another arrow and aimed for Ghirahim's head. I had to wait for the release, fearing I would accidently hit Kildea instead. However, she ducked for a split second, and that was all I needed to hit Ghirahim in the forehead. He stumbled back and glared at me.

"Forget this, I don't have time to deal with it. Ganondorf can find you on his own just fine." He pulled the arrow out of his head and dissapeared.

Kildea rushed over to me, dropping her knives. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you? Oh, there's a bruise on your face. He hit you, didn't he?"

I shrugged. "It hurt worse when Grandfather did it. That also may be because I wasn't unconscious afterwards and could feel the pain. Anyway, didn't I tell you and Sapphire to leave if I didn't come out?"

"You would be on your deathbed if I didn't show up."

"Fair." I took in a deep breath and stood up. "Well, since you're here, there are children-"

"I have already helped them. I was actually trying to find their parents. However, I can't seem to find the dungeon. At least, that's where this girl named Anastasia said they were."

"Anastasia? She was here too? I'm surprised they didn't keep her somewhere more secluded, as loud as she is. Anyway, I know where the childrens' parents are. I found them earlier. Come on."

Kildea nodded and picked up her knives. As we made our way down, I couldn't help but ask her about what happened.

"So, about that fight…"

Kildea laughed. "Yeah, I guess I did forget to mention the knives hidden under my dress. Did I scare you? I promise I didn't mean to."

I shook my head. "No, you didn't scare me, but you did surprise me. Now I know not to make you angry. But if you can fight like that, why have this whole get-up? I feel like the dress would just get in the way. Not to mention your hair as well. It's long."

"Well, I guess you could say I like to look nice. It definitely throws your enemies off, at least. They don't expect someone dressed like a high class citizen to be able to put up a fight."

I glanced at her, and I couldn't help but do so suspiciously. "I can't help but be curious, though. Who are you?"

"What do you mean? I've told you who I am."

I stopped walking. We had made it to the dungeon door, but I wanted to know the answer before we walked in. "No, I mean, who are you really?"

She looked at me. "I'm Kildea, and I'm a fairy of the sages. That's all."

"No background, no ulterior motive to work for the sages, nothing?"

"Well, Liam, everyone has a background, however, not everyone likes to share it. If you must know, I can tell you, but now is not the time. Are we going to help these people or just stand here and talk?"

I was taken aback by the sudden seriousness in her tone of voice. Even her facial expression had a hint of irritability, though I wasn't sure if the lack of light was creating it. I nodded slowly, feeling like a scolded child. "I suppose we'll help them now."