Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, its characters and locations are all property of Nintendo. Any and all OCs and original locations belong to me unless specifically stated to belong to someone else.

Soul Secrets

Chapter 36

Garrett was already waiting for them by the sewer grate the city watch had opened for them. It barely looked wide enough for Nikal, much less the bulkier Garrett and Eren. She noticed a few people standing in the shadows, watching Garrett intently. His "little birds", perhaps? They didn't seem to be hostile or dangerous, and she supposed that it wouldn't enough with the three of them trying to capture the creature in the sewer.

Garrett frowned upon spotting them. "You were supposed to come alone," he admonished her. "The fewer people who know about me, the better."

"Eren is my partner," she said firmly. "Where I go, he goes. What I know, he knows."

"When it's convenient, that is," Garrett said, standing in front of her, giving Eren a look of distaste. "Does he know how long you and I have been working together?"

"Yup," Nikal said, suddenly under the impression that Garrett was testing her. "Told him everything, actually."

"Everything?" Garrett said, eyes flicking between them. "And you are all right with that, Mister Layr?"

"She had her reasons for keeping quiet about it," Eren said, glaring at him. "And I've kept my own secrets, so I figure we're even. Now, are we going to stand out and talk for the rest of the night, or are we actually going to get to work?"

"Naturally," Garrett said, raising his hand. The people in the shadows emerged into the moonlight and stood behind him. There were ten, five men and five women, all in their twenties or so, dressed in identical outfits, presumably what passed for a uniform if you were in Garrett's service. "Nikal, Mister Layr, meet my little birds. They are here to assist us."

"Do they have names?" Nikal asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Yes, but they will remain unknown to you, for the protection of them and their families." He patted the shoulder of the closest one. "You can trust them."

"About as much as I can trust you, huh?" Nikal said wryly.

"Exactly!" Garrett smiled brightly. "You're starting to think like me, Nikal! I'm proud!"

Eren shot her a strange look, but she shrugged. "So, what's the plan?"

"Take a look at this map," Garrett said and showed them a piece of paper with a labyrinthine network of pipes and tunnels drawn on it. "It's hardly complete, but it seems that we have managed to narrow down the creature's nest to somewhere in this area." He pointed to a circled area deep within the bowels of the sewers. "It doesn't seem to venture much outside of the nest save for when it ventures outside."

"How do you know this?" Eren asked.

"Why, thanks to my birds, of course. They've been...probing this place for the last few days, you see."

"Why couldn't they capture it, then?"

Garrett hissed. "I'm trying to get you the credit here, Mister Layr. You and your partner will be the heroes of the damn day once you bring this creature to the princess. Imagine, the fate of Hyrule, decided by you two."

Eren's eyes narrowed. "Why is this creature so important? And as for credit...what do you get out of all this?"

"The creature's importance is something you will have to figure out for yourselves, I'm afraid," Garrett said. "Though I daresay that will become apparent the moment you see it. As for what I get out of all this, it remains the same thing I told Nikal the day we met. I have a vested interest in seeing Hyrule prevail in this fight, the details of which I will not share with you."

Eren gave Nikal a dismayed look. "And you want to work with this guy? We don't know even know who he really is!"

"Desperate times call for strange bedfellows," Garrett said, putting an arm around Nikal's shoulder. "Rather wonderful, don't you think?"

Eren focused on Garrett's arm, wishing it would wither and fall off. Nikal didn't seem to mind him touching her, though she did eventually shrug him off. "We don't have any choice, Eren," she said. "Things are getting desperate. Garrett's been genuinely helpful so far, and if he says that this will be decisive...well, I'm willing to take that chance. Besides, I owe that thing in there a wallop for the last time we met."

"That's the spirit!" Garrett exclaimed, giving Eren a smug look.

Shaking his head, Eren pushed past Garrett's birds and crouched by the sewer entrance. "I'm not even sure we'll fit in here."

"It widens a few feet in," Garrett said. "As long as you can get your shoulders through, you're good."

"Hmph."

"He's not very cheerful, is he?"

"Leave it, Garrett," Nikal said. "We don't have time for this."

"You're absolutely right, of course, and I apologise. Would another kiss make up for my childishness?"

Nikal could have sworn Eren's neck cracked loudly as his head snapped to look at them. Groaning internally, she pushed Garrett away and went to join Eren by the entrance—a gaping, black maw in the side of a stone wall. Boys would be boys, she supposed, but she couldn't be having with this shit. Not now. She didn't even know if she liked either of them!

"So, who goes in first?" she asked.

"My birds," Garrett said. "They will take up strategic positions and block the creature's way once you locate it."

"And the general plan is?"

"Drive it into the open and knock it out. Easy-peasy."

"I hate it when people say that," Eren muttered.

"And why is that, Mister Layr?"

"Because things never turn out that way. And stop calling me that. My name is Eren."

"As you wish, Eren."

It took a little while for the little birds to enter the sewers, but once they had they were gone, immediately heading to their positions. Eren and Nikal were next, and Garrett followed closely after.

"So you're coming with us?" Nikal asked.

"Why wouldn't I? I offered my help, didn't I?" Garrett said, sounding miffed.

"Yeah, but I expected you to just offer resources. You don't strike me as a hands-on type at all." She tried to ignore the sensation of her boot sinking into something soft and yielding. The smell of it was bad enough; she did not need to know what it looked like.

"I'm not, usually," Garrett confessed, lighting a pair of torches and handing Eren one. "But this situation has required me to get more involved, and given that we are essentially on our own in this, I figured an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt."

"Do you know how to fight?" Eren asked.

Garrett gave him a look. "Would I be down here if I didn't, Eren?"

"I don't know, you seem like someone who pays other people to fight for him, rather than do it himself."

"I usually do, but that doesn't mean I can't handle myself in combat," the information broker said, sounding annoyed.

It was strange, Nikal though, how simply Eren's presence seemed to piss him off. He had clearly wanted to be alone with her. She nearly shuddered at the thought. What sort of liberties would he attempt to take then?

"Let's get going," she said, pushing them both forward. "I'd rather not spend any more time in here than I have to."

"You and me both," Eren agreed. "Where to?"

"Take a right at the next junction, then follow the tunnel as straight as possible until we reach an iron door. We're heading into the one of the oldest parts of the sewers—the brickwork is practically falling apart. Be careful, you don't want to get buried under the collapsing tunnels down here." Garrett folded the map and put it inside his breast pocket. Something flashed in the torchlight, and he suddenly had a long dagger in his hand. "These are the creature's hunting grounds. Be prepared for anything."

The information broker took point, having studied the map in advance. Nikal and Eren fell into step behind him, and Nikal noticed her partner giving her very pointed looks. She felt guilty. There were several things about Garrett she'd failed to mention when she told Eren—chief among them his shape shifting abilities (which Eren had not yet noticed, thankfully, even if Garrett kept making minute changes to his face, presumably to annoy Nikal), and the...kisses.

Well, the cat was out of the bag on the last one, Eren clearly deducing what another kiss had meant. The comment really couldn't have come at a worse time. She could only hope that Eren wouldn't let it ruin their operation here...though her partner and Garrett were clearly involved in some sort of pissing match. She hoped it wasn't about her. That would be far too stupid.

It took the better part of an hour to navigate the labyrinth that was the sewers, and Nikal was unsure of how much longer she could stand it. The smell was one thing—and she'd gotten used to it pretty quickly—but the heat and humidity coming from the numerous pipes had soaked her through and made it difficult to breathe. She was soaked through with sweat, her hair clinging to her neck in a sweat ponytail. Eren didn't seem to be much better off, his face flushed and sweaty. Garrett, on the other hand, didn't seem to be bothered by the environment at all, casually strolling along the corridors, easily dodging the piles of indescribable refuse that littered the floor.

Finally, though, they reached the door. One of Garrett's birds was standing outside, armed with a stiletto.

"It's in there?" Garrett asked.

She nodded. "Heard it shuffling around five minutes ago. It knows we're here."

"To be expected," Garrett said. "We're deep inside its territory, after all. Get to your position and be ready." She scampered off, and Garrett carefully opened the door. Nikal winced at the squeaky hinges. "Hm, broken," the information broker muttered. He pushed it open as wide as it would go, and a rush of freezing cold air washed over them.

"Shit, that's cold," Eren muttered. "Why's it so cold?"

"Presumably we're quite close to the city's water source," Garrett said. "A vast underground lake. Temperature's bound to drop near it."

The torches barely lit up the large room beyond the door. A short, wide set of steps descended a few feet to a wide, open space...or as open as things could get in a place like this. There were four large tunnels that split off from this room, each heading in a different direction.

"Ah, no wonder it chose this place to make its nest," Garrett said, consulting the map. "See, this is actually a dead end, but the tunnels are all connected by smaller rooms and service halls. It's a maze within the maze."

"How do we draw it out?" Eren asked.

"I don't think we need to," Nikal said, eyeing one of the tunnel openings. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. "It already knows we're here." Something moved in the dark, and then it was gone. "Damn it, it's gone."

"This is what we will do," Garrett said, showing them the map. "There are far too many places it can hide in the outer tunnels, but as you can see here," he said and pointed to the very middle of the nest, "there's a choke point. If we can drive it here, we could point it towards the door and into the main system. My little birds will do their jobs, and voila."

"We'll need to surround it from the start," Eren said. "Nikal, which tunnel did you see it in? That one? All right, I'll go down there; you'll head down the next one, and Garrett the third. With any luck, one of us will stumble over it and force it to the back. When we do, we shout as loud as we can to alert the others, who will start moving to the choke point. We'll try to take it out here, rather than risk it escaping into the main system."

Garrett nodded, even though his plan was being supplanted by Eren's.

The creature announced its presence properly right then...its voice echoed through the halls in a long, desperate scream.

All three were rooted to the spot.

It sounded so...lonely, to Nikal. Lonely and hungry. She almost felt sympathy for it.

"Right, it definitely knows we're here," Garrett announced, lighting a third torch and handing it to Nikal. "Don't want to get lost in the dark."

They began with no further ado, quickly heading into their assigned tunnels. The second they were separated, Nikal dropped her torch to the ground and left it there. Carrying a torch while hunting a creature like this was suicide—a bright visual marker to let it know where you were. Drawing her sword, she waited until her eyes grew used to the dark and continued on her way.

Even having looked at the map, the nest was a confusing mess of doorways and side rooms. She kept an eye on each one as she went past, but they soon grew too numerous to keep track of. Knowing that the creature could be hiding within any one of them made her heart beat faster and faster. Strangely enough, she wasn't afraid. Nervous, certainly, but not afraid. She'd fought this creature before and survived, albeit slightly scuffed. She could fight it again.

She reached the end of her tunnel, which terminated in a brick wall. Turning around, she looked back the way she came. The torch had been left undisturbed at the mouth.

A second light was approaching from her left.

"Eren?" she asked.

"Yeah?" he said, stepping into her part of the nest. "Anything?"

"No. You?"

"Nope."

"Put the torch away—it gives away our position."

He nodded and threw it back into the tunnel from which he'd come, and as a duo they moved into one of the side corridors, intending to hook up with Garrett.

They passed several empty rooms, moving slowly and watching every corner carefully. Then Nikal spotted something inside one of them.

"Eren," she said, pointing out the shape on the floor.

"On it," he said, rushing into the room and securing it. She kept watch at the door while he examined whatever it was. "Nik."

It was a body. A very dead one.

"How long, do you think?" he asked.

"Couple of weeks—the temperature will have preserved it quite well."

In the dark, she could barely make out its features. A man in his mid-thirties, perhaps, dressed in the clothes of an assassin. His weapons lay around him, presumably where they'd been dropped. His throat was a mess of bite marks and torn skin. Strangely enough, there was hardly any blood, on him or the ground.

"No blood," Nikal said. "Remind you of something?"

"The dead guard at the border," Eren said, nodding. "Whatever was held in the cells..."

"How'd it get into the city?"

"No idea, but the sooner we capture it, the better."

"Who was he, do you think?" She gestured at the dead man's gear, all of which looked to be of extremely professional quality. "This stuff ain't cheap."

Eren rifled through his pockets. He withdrew a small metal object, which, upon further study, turned out to be a small representation of a sun. "Well, this could either be a massive coincidence, or we just stumbled across a dead Sun member. Good riddance."

"I've got it!" Garrett's voice, slightly distorted by its path through the nest, announced. "It's heading to the centre!"

They sprang into action, and Nikal ran out of the room...and was immediately knocked down by something coming the opposite way.

She grunted and turned the fall into a backwards roll, immediately getting back on her feet. Red eyes flashed in the dark, and she barely got out of the way of the fist that was swung at her face. She lashed out with her sword, a cut that might have connected...but the blade was too long and caught on the wall, producing a rain of sparks that briefly lit up the creature's shape. It was hunched over and crawling on all fours. Its face was hidden beneath its hood, but its mouth was momentarily visible...ugly grey and yellow teeth reflected the light, and caked blood covered its lips.

She gave it no chance to launch a second attack, dropping her sword and hurling herself forwards, barrelling into it and knocking it to the floor. It growled and tried to shove her away, but she held onto it with all her strength, aiming several punches into its sides.

"Nik!" Eren shouted somewhere to her right, just as one of the creature's fists collided with her temple, forcing her to let go for just a second...which was enough for the creature to shove her off and try to scamper away.

Eren was on it, though, and was blocking its path. He aimed a kick at its face, but it dodged and grabbed his now airborne foot, yanking him off his feet and punched him hard in the face.

By then, Nikal had recovered and grabbed the back of its filthy robe, pulling it off Eren. It tried to struggle, but she kept pulling it away, refusing to let it get a handhold or traction. It was weaker than the last time she'd encountered it, she realised. Living in the sewer had not done it a lot of good, it seemed.

"Let go!" it hissed.

"Eren!" she shouted. "Get up!"

"Already am!" he shouted and came racing out of the dark in front of them. The kick was vicious and hard, and far from elegant. It connected with the creature's jaw with a loud crack, and it went limp in Nikal's grip.

The struggle had lasted for mere minutes, but they were both out of breath as Garrett suddenly appeared with his torch, looking surprised.

"Oh, you caught it already," he said. "Well done. Tie it up with this." He handed them a long piece of rope. "Tightly—you don't want it to escape now, after all." He gave them a dazzling smile and turned to leave. "Best of luck of to you."

"You're leaving? Just like that?" Eren asked.

"My job here is done," Garrett replied, shrugging. "It's up to you to get it to the princess now."

"You could help us carry it, though," Nikal pointed out, making sure the knots were extra tight and secured with secondary ones. There was no way in hell she was going to let it escape now. She wrinkled her nose at the rank smell coming off it.

"Hm, no, manual labour isn't my strength," Garrett said. "I will leave you this, though," he said, handing Eren the map and torch. "And I will repeat: good luck."

They watched him disappear in the dark, giving each other incredulous looks.

"He seemed a lot nicer before," Nikal offered as an explanation. "I don't think he likes you very much."

"No surprise there," Eren muttered, crouching down by the creature and rolling it over. "Now, let's see what this bastard looks li...Goddesses..."

Nikal was as speechless as him, looking down upon the creature's face...which was very familiar indeed.

Impossible, she thought.

To be continued…

Who could it be?!

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