Oh! Guys! I just got this idea I want to hear your thoughts on. I've been reading a lot of manga of late that I wish had more fanfiction for, because when I look it up there's not only very little, but very poorly written stories about them. I was thinking that, something I could do, is I could take requests from my readers to write fanfiction for some of these mangas as a way to get the word around about my real novels that I'm publishing in the real world. ^.^ Since I hate marketing and advertising (the idea of trying to convince someone to buy something sounds way to close to manipulation for me), and you guys get free stories in return, so it sounds like a good idea to me. What do you think?

If my novels are successful, I can quit ghost writing for good! :D No more selling my soul to those who wish to use my stories for stupid get rich quick schemes.

Oh, and here's your weekly update. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 37

Septimus began after running a hand through his snow frost hair.

"Male and female is but another name for two different halves of a whole. They were created to complement one another, and so thus, we gods were created with mates in mind as well. Much the same as you two, we fell in love with our natural souls match, and accepted our wives unto ourselves. I, with Nayru, Yorlan with Din, and Charvus with Farore. Together we made love, and with it, the universe and the worlds as you know it. Each of us had our role to play, and each of us had that which we personally held dear. Nayru and I cherished things of the mind, of law and order."

"Din and I, that of a the body and of the physcial world which upheld it," said Yorlan.

Charvus smiled at his turn. "And I and Farore of the spirit, the heart, and the breath that gives meaning to life."

"Mind, body, and spirit," continued Septimus. "And thus we molded and gave birth to children, and in turn created worlds, filled with plantlife and game for them to dwell therein. Each race had attributes of their parents, and each child differed."

"Happy times," said Charvus in his soft voice, that reminded me of all things homey and safe.

Septimus nodded, his smile weak, but Yorlan did not join in the nostalgia.

"Get that stupid smile off your face," the red god growled.

His brothers dropped the look instantly and looked away. Link and I glanced at them all, then at each other.

"So, if you're married...doesn't that mean we're their children too?"

Charvus reached out to pick me up again, which, since he was twice my size, I had not choice but to allow, especially after looking at the pain of his expression. Link followed after me, probably without thinking.

"You..." Septimus hesitated. "You are the children of...of the three of us. And one other."

Link's face paled. "Aw jeeze, don't tell me the three of you and one lady...?"

Yorlan turned on the blue god, teeth bared. "Be blunt with them, Septimus."

Charvus held me a bit closer, while Septimus looked strained.

"We don't know where she came from," he said quietly, "but she distracted our wives somehow, drawing them away from the heavens, but for a moment, and came to us each one by one in the guise of our mates. The moment we realized she wasn't who we thought, the deed had been done, and she fled with our seed."

"That's not it," said Yorlan, who had his teeth bared. "Dare you tell them how she distracted our wives? Dallying about with men in a garden, weren't they? We are hardly to blame—never to blame!"

"Yorlan," started Charvus wanly.

But Septimus's wings had tensed closer to his body as well, and his nose wrinkled. "While we had been deceived, those women had been all to aware of their folly. Drawn by lust. They each gave birth to one of those bastard races below, what do you call them?"

"Yeah," grunted Yorlan. "Some freaking walking rocks."

"And fish," added Septimus.
"Humans." said Charvus quietly.

At this all attention turned to the yellow god, who had his head bowed and his auburn lashes lowered.

"Farore gave birth to humans," he murmured. "Never before had a people been born with such a a zest for surviving, for life. She said they had courage."

The other two brothers fell silent. By the way their lips pressed hard together, I guessed they had nothing as nice to say about their wives bastard children, which I took to be the Gorons and the Zoras.

"Then the whores had the gall to call us adulterers," growled Yorlan. "We, who had simply been tricked, unlike they who had allowed themselves to be seduced."

"It couldn't be," said Septimus with a nod. "A match meant to be an eternity. But instead of focusing on finding the creatures who dared deceive gods, we turned inwards, obsessed with justifying our own pain, which not even we could understand. We had never comprehended what it might be like to experience heartbreak.

"And thus, a war ensued. Our children from different worlds took sides while the goddesses curled around their fragile, mortal bastard children. We ourselves had nothing to lose, and were free to enter the fray, banishing..." Septimus's face crumpled. "Our own creations, which we made with our wives..."

"They deserved it!" Yorlan's fangs snapped together with the words.

Charvus just shook his head heavily, which he then rested gently on top of mine.

"The Twili..." he murmured. "The last."

Link, however, was frowning heavily. "But, then, why didn't you win the war? Your souls got split, didn't they? That meant you lost. Did they trick you or something?"

All three brothers shook their heads. "No."

"Then what?"

Sepitmus knelt down to meet Link's gaze with a significant look. "We received our own delivery. A set of beautiful little infants with wings. Never before had we sired a child, of our own bodies, who inherited a pair of our wings."

"White and black," said Charvus, and I felt one of his fingers gently caress one of my wings. "Dew and Must."

"The goddesses heard about the children, and became so enraged that they started targeting the children only, as though the babes verified our infidelity. They became so incensed that they bypassed the soldiers, abandoning their own bastard children to a world of their own creation, to attack us."

"Leaving behind the whatever was left of our union," said Yorlan, fiddling with the golden triangle which he had taken back out of his pocket.

"And leaving the humans, rock people, and fish people to their own devices," said Septimus. "We had no choice. Wherever they had come from, our winged children had done no wrong. We could sense our blood coursing in their veins, knew them to be ours, and that was all we needed to know in order to protect them. It didn't matter to us how they came about, by treachery or elsewise, they had made no wrong in simply being made."

"And so, thus, Charvus took the children away to raise them in hiding, in the last place the goddesses would expect: a floating city in the sky, right above their own children," said Yorlan, finally allowing an impish grin to break across his face. "Couldn't have done it better myself, brother."

But Charvus didn't respond, only held onto me tighter. Something dark and desperate prickled where his arms wrapped around me. My chest ached with sympathy.

"The goddesses and ourselves are equal in every way," said Septimus. "So with three against three, we would have been fighting forever."

"An eternal stalemate." Yorlan snorted. "How poetic."

"So, with two against three-"

"Batta boom."

"Took them a bit longer to find Charvus though. By then he had managed to raise the twins to a fine race that hid themselves in the skies, away from their estranged step-siblings."

"More like strange," said Yorlan. "By the stars knows what Din had to lay with to make those boulders. Boulders! Really! I mean, Sepitmus, at least with Nayru the fish people made sense. You and her ocean buddies, weren't you?"

Septimus pinched his nose. "Please stop talking."

"So, the goddesses have been killing us off because we're...bastards..." Link sounded faint, and even his face had paled even farther. "Bastards of some woman...thing that you guys don't even know. What, did she just leave our predecessors on your porch or something?"

"More or less," said Yorlan, who missed the look of 'shut up,' from his pale skinned, blue winged brother.

"And we're the children of all three of you? Through her?"

Yorlan shrugged, while Septimus waved his hands in a, 'pretty much,' sort of motion.

Link turned a little green. "Oh...wow. Well. There went my noble fantasies."

Charvus's breath had started to shake against my neck. I tried to look about to get a better look of his face, but couldn't, but I could feel the new wetness on my back. His wings had crept over his shoulder to hide even more of his face, possibly to hide his weakness before his brothers, but my attempts to move had caught Septimus's attention. It only took him a moment for his features to become pained once more.

"Charvus..." he said quietly.

"What?" Link looked back at me, then jumped. "Oi! Don't smother her! She's not a teddy bear, you know!"

Instantly Charvus released me, and I just caught myself from stumbling on my face. I no sooner had my footing before I turned around to find the god had hidden his face once again.

Yorlan cuffed Link lightly over one of the wings.

"Ow!"

"Mind your manners."

"But you saw him! He was crushing her!"

"Boy, you have no idea what he's had to live through. Charvus was the last of us to be sealed away. Piece together what that means."

It occurred to me before it did to him. The last to be sealed away. The last protector of our species. The last one that stood between us and the wrath of the goddesses.

And with that, something else occurred to me.

"Din is represented by red, Nayru blue, and Farore green," I said, pausing to turn in place. "You're the same colors as your mates, right? So...why isn't...?"

Before the other brothers could speak, Charvus spoke in a low voice like the rasping of the wind.

"I had hopes Aspen would be able to lead the last of you in my place."

"You mean Aspen was..." Link's eyes widened.

Yorlan just growled. "That was a smart and a stupid move on your part, brother. If those women ever come after us, you're at half power. We'll be at a disadvantage."

"As long as they're safe," said Charvus. "As long as the fledglings are safe, I don't mind. In fact, I hope those woman find us, so we can beg their forgiveness."

Those words lit up the other brothers like fire.