The torture was horrendous, too horrendous to describe.
If I had described it, this fic would become rated M.
Cleo was chained to the wall by her hands, her arms outstretched and her feet hardly touching the ground.
I'm not religious, but where she is, it seemed fitting for her to be in a cross position like Jesus Christ. There used to be a Christian religion and cross in the first two Zelda games. Then the game makers decided to create a more original religion for Hyrule since it's supposed to be a fictional world.
"You must be wishing with all your heart to be dead by now. You'll get your wish soon enough... after I disable every part of your body without fatality and leave you lie."
Another Nintendo easter egg from EB. Before joining the three heroes, Prince Poo goes into a meditative trance where a spirit asks him to do exactly as Ghirahim threatened and Poo would fully accept his horrible fate, and after suffering it would he pass the test.
"Will you hurry up then... start with the eyes so I don't have to see your ugly face."
His expression turned nasty. "...Ugly UGLY!" He smacked her hard on her cheek, adding another dark bruise on her face.
Oh, buuurrrn! Cleo has got to be the bravest human being in the world. How she, despite her condition and having no chance of escaping, just trolls Ghirahim like that takes a lot of balls. A true sign of a chosen hero when she was ready to fight him to the end, even if it's only verbally.
Then he charged, rapier aimed at Cleo's heart...
There was a dreadful groan and blood spilled onto the floor. Cleo's face was numb and staring, Abner look horrified, Ghirahim gave a triumphant smirk, and Phoebe was as pale as a ghost. Standing between him and Cleo, the sage's eyes rolled back and she fell.
This paragraph was carefully crafted in order to trick readers into thinking, for a heart-stopping moment, that it was Cleo who was stabbed. I had to use just the right words that can either mean shocked or dying for both Cleo and Phoebe to make it incredibly intense.
With a trembling hand, she touched his face as though to comfort... Then something miraculous happened, something Cleo had never experienced before or ever would again. She couldn't see it, but she could sense a special aura as it moved from one vessel to another. Abner seemed to have felt it too for his face had the same look of spiritual revelation the previous sages had shown.
This was the emergency passage of a sage's spirit in action. The one and only time where we see one ordinary person succeed as a sage before the previous one dies. And of course, it was planned from the start to kill off Phoebe out of selflessness in order to motivate the rather timid Abner into accomplishing this task.
Abner, tears finally showing, made the sign of the cross and laid her down. "Oh Heavenly Father, please take great care of her in her passing, may she find happiness eternal. Amen..."
I don't know if that was a good prayer I wrote or not, I just winged it.
"There's something here I need to give you before we go on to the Colosseum."
True to his word, he lead Cleo to another underground room that had a chest. She opened it up to find the Thunder Hammer, just the thing she needed to find the secret portal.
The Thunder Hammer is a mythological artifact relevant to Mjolnir, the hammer of the god of thunder, Thor (starting from 1962 in Marvel Comics).
As though by some ancient machinery, there was a loud shifting and twisting of stone and the entire floor slid open, revealing the hypogeum. The maze-like sub-level was in the formation of a spell circle.
You can still be able to go into the hypogeum of the Colosseum, but only the hammer could reshape it into a spell circle.
She was ready to learn the great spin from Link. It was like the skyward strike, in a spin attack form. "Don't overdo that move," Link warned. "The spin is powerful, but you have to only use it for a short moment once in a while. Exceed that limit and you'll be very dizzy and vulnerable to attack."
This actually can happen in some Zelda games. In WW, you can get pretty dizzy after using that super hyper spin attack.
The tower looked like a holy place, with marble walls, ceiling, and floor. There were metal statues and gates along with metal skulltulas, armos, and beamos guarding the place.
This place is very similar to the Temple of Time in TP except it's in the form of a tower. It could actually be the Tower of the Gods from WW.
Cleo discovered a new use of the Thunder Hammer, it wasn't just a weapon, it could also act as a Dominion Rod.
There used to be a Dominion Rod to use to get to the Sanctuary of Light and the hammer was gained in the final sanctuary. But the rod was pretty useless in TP and would be no different in the fanfic. The hammer replaced it with its unique dual purpose.
On the upper floors, there were still water wheel structures and some of the statues stood on black circles instead, so they couldn't be activated. But soon she found a new item, the Geyser Bellows, an item that can absorb and shoot water.
One of my own item creations, even though it was a knock-off from the Gust Bellows. I wanted a sister item that can shoot water because of a sidequest Cleo needed to do in London. It acts very much like F.L.U.D.D. from SMS.
Iron Mechanical Arachnid:
Steeltula
No need to explain how I got the name. But figuring one out was actually difficult, looking up words relating to anything to do with arthropods and metals. It used to be called Iron Armored Arachnid and was described as a giant organic spider wearing armor. But it had to be given a complete makeover in writing because I already made a boss exactly like that and I was just practically creating the same boss. Although it's still very similar to Dodongadillo, at least I made this one a robot completely. How it was destroyed in the end is very much like SJ (Samurai Jack).
It pounced on her before she could react and its legs pinned her arms down. It was about to sink its fangs into her when, in an act of very stupid, crazy, bravery, Father Abner leapt onto its back.
That "act of very stupid, crazy, bravery" was more than enough to make up for his betrayal. Throughout the dungeon, I couldn't figure out what Abner was supposed to do. It wasn't until near the end of the boss battle did I get him to do something, even if it's totally moronic.
"They say that its very presence can cause terrible effects on peoples minds. It can get inside their heads and exploit the very worst in them through fear itself. Exposed for too long and the victims are driven to complete incurable madness. They say a dark interloper was one of those few victims to suffer such a fate."
Upon hearing this, Cleo realized why it was familiar: She had nearly suffered that same kind of curse over three years previously by that same interloper.
When I wrote this, I had yet to make a decision to reenter Majora at the very end of the story. Cleo was thinking back to the time she got cursed by his mask in MTG.
"Two lands, one ocean, and bridges built to connect the lands. If two lands join, there is no bridge... and no ocean to contain the beast."
I'm surprised that I could come up with a good prophetic proverb without the need to rewrite.
It took a moment for these words to sink in. She looked at the image again... and she understood. "Kae... I think the two worlds are going to merge!"
That idea was from the SMB movie (Super Mario Bros.).
"Ghirahim said a special portal that will summon Death Eye is right under the whole world's nose," Cleo answered. "I know what that means now! He's been drawing the circle's pattern across the globe!"
I tried to explain how it wasn't noticed from ground or in the sky via their conversation but couldn't. Please don't ask cuz' I can't figure out an explanation. You're free to in the comments though.
"What is the virtue?"
"The virtue is gratitude."
This is the last virtue I picked in the eight, I pretty much ran out of them. I needed ones that would be completely different from each other and couldn't think of anything else. Faith is just another word for trust, forgiveness is not an option because she's not ready to forgive Ghirahim until the last sanctuary, and honesty won't work either because this is supposed to be Cleo to learn, not Abner.
"You've grown to be such a strong, brave woman. There is no doubt why God... no, why all gods have chosen you. I will pray to them for your safety and success."
Abner was starting to become truly aware that there was more to what's out in the universe than what the religious think there is.
Sheik told SK about the Death Eye and exactly what Cleo and Kaepora had learned just now. SK listened with his mouth hanging open. "And that's not all..." He also told him a terrible secret he overheard from the bokoblins, a plan that required Zelda herself and the skull kid went pale.
"Are you serious? That's why he wanted you? That! Is SICK!"
And of course, I purposefully left out what it is for the sake of suspense. In this scene, Zelda gets recaptured after being rescued earlier, just like in LttP.
As his sight continued to close up around SK, in the very middle, he saw what appeared to be a red blur in the mass of gray. It was small at first, but then it grew bigger and bigger and bigger. It must be one of the giants approaching, he was sure of it. They must've known his end was near... they're coming to fetch him and deliver him to the other side.
This is the first glance of the final sage. The red blur in an arctic blizzard is more than enough to show readers who Cleo was going to meet. At the same time, I wanted to throw them off a little by mentioning the four giants from MM and have them think that SK had actually died. This was a majorly risky move, pretending to kill off a lovable character.
The moment she reentered her realm, a sudden pain shot through Cleo deep in her chest. In a sharp gasp, she fell on her hands and knees, panting hard, clutching at her chest, like she was having some kind of heart attack.
"Cleo, what's wrong?! Are you alright?" Kaepora asked, startled.
"I-I don't know..." she choked. She noticed that her voice was breaking. It wasn't physical pain she was feeling, it was something worse. It felt as though a large part inside her had been taken out, something that was important to her. She knew that feeling all too well... Something's wrong, she thought, feeling tears in her eyes. Something bad happened... but what?
That feeling she had was from SK's supposed death. Love can have a strange and, on rare occasions, psychic effect on people when they have a truly close bond.
'The eighth sage awaits the child before his ceremonial travels, cut off from the world, he grants audience only to those who share the same dedication to charity as he.'
This was the best I could describe Santa Clause as part of the prophecy without being too obvious.
"What Joseph? Joseph?" Cleo knew his silence didn't bode well.
"Uh, hi Mr. Hayster," she heard him say, sounding like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Is that my daughter on the phone?" Cleo's heart skipped a beat. It was her father and he didn't sound happy. "I want to speak to her, NOW!" The phone suddenly hung up.
David, AKA Solid Snake is finally getting involved in the adventure, although it's a pretty rocky start.
But how on earth did he know she was making contact with Joseph?
I was gonna have David explain to Cleo, upon rescuing her that he had been following the signal in her cellphone, since they're all trackable. But I couldn't fit that in the conversation.
Cleo, letting Kaepora fly off for awhile, went to a place called Three Angels Meals & Clothing For the Poor. There she had some breakfast offered to her and she asked for much heavier clothing. Being the middle of winter, they immediately obliged her and gave her a complete outfit, perfect for the coldest of places, and she gave them her old steel sword in exchange.
There was a plan for Cleo to simply go to a store and buy the polar gear. But, in reality, that's actually impossible because she didn't have any money. The charity places were the only way she can get it for the North Pole (of course, she did give something in exchange). That also meant abandoning a brief scene I really liked involving a conversation with a woman at the cash register. Woman: So where are you going miss? Cleo: I'm going to the North Pole to meet a sage because I need to save the world from an evil entity that's going to destroy everything. Woman: Well, you let me know how that goes.
"It'll be alright! I'm getting you outta here!" The girl didn't hesitate in crawling out and hugging her tightly. "You're going to be..." she didn't finish her sentence when she looked into the girl's eyes.
Time was nearly at a standstill, those eyes widened in utter fear and Cleo knew why. Reflected in them, she could see someone behind her, raising a black blade, about to strike. With time speeding up again, she swung around, quickly withdrawing her sword to block the attack.
This was a scene in SJ on Jack and the Ninja episode.
"You caused this, didn't you?!" Cleo snarled. His smile widened. "Why?! She's done nothing! SHE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING TO YOU!"
"So irrelevant, I merely gave her a purpose in life.
And here is the word association similar to the one between Cleo and Joseph when he bullied Joelle.
She jumped from vehicle to vehicle, landing on the other side, nearly toppling a black haired youth in glasses ("Scuse me!").
A Harry Potter cameo. lol!
"Are you alright?"
"I'll be okay," she said bravely, still clinging onto her rabbit. "I'm Molly."
Molly was the first name that came to my mind.
She flipped it open. "Hello?"
But before she even heard his voice, Ghirahim came right out of nowhere to attack and Cleo had to parry again in a loud clash. "-guess what today is?" she manage to catch on the speaker, Finn sounded as though he was having the time of his life.
"Finn, I don't have time for this! I'm in the middle of fighting Ghirahim!" she shouted over the clashing of swords as she swung one-handed while holding the phone in the other. Her hat had fallen off.
"Oh, you're still playing the game? You could just pause-"
"No Finn, I'm fighting him for re-" the phone was knocked out of her hand. Avoiding another swing, she scrambled after it and picked it up.
"Cleo what's going-?"
"I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW! I'M SORRY!" Then she hung up.-
-"Hello?" came the voice of his sister.
"Gooood morning Cleo! Sorry I haven't called in awhile, college work and all." Finn thought he heard sword clashing and wondered if she was playing Skyward Sword. "Hey, guess what today is?" her brunette brother asked, feeling a bit cheery.
But the response he got was far from welcoming. "Finn, I don't have time for this! I'm in the middle of fighting Ghirahim!" she snapped, sounding frustrated. There were more clashing sounds.
Finn rolled his eyes. He figured as much, but what on Earth was she so mad about. He never had that hard a time beating Ghirahim. Maybe she was having trouble with the remote. "Oh, you're still playing the game? You could just pause-"
But Cleo cut him off. "No Finn, I'm fighting him for re-" There was a loud whacking sound and then banging on a hard surface. Cleo's voice stopped abruptly.
"Cleo, what happened? Did you actually throw your cellphone?" There was no answer, instead all he could hear was more clashing and... a gigantic clunking in the background? He couldn't remember such a sound in the game. Before he could figure out what that weird noise was, he heard her rapid breathing approaching. She sounded exasperatedly out of breath and panicky. "Cleo what's going-?"
"I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW! I'M SORRY!" And before he could say another word to her, she hung up on him.
Finn was going to be dragged into all this late in the story, so it was important to repeat the same scene from both the two siblings' point of views since I didn't want to reduce him as just a background character.
"I can't believe she forgot my birthday!"
This reveals Finn's birthdate. The event was on the day before the last day on the Mayan Calendar, which is December 20. Back in the first fanfic, where the story took place in 2009, he was seventeen, going on eighteen, so he was born in 1991. This makes him a Sagittarius and a goat/sheep. He just turned 21 BTW.
"Caution Cleo, should my sword hand slip, her throat will slit!"
"YOU BASTARD!"
That was the worse swear I ever wrote (besides 'bullshit' later in the chapter). I only go beyond K + on rare occasions without trying to make it bad. Ghirahim's actions made it excusable.
"Yes, go ahead and throw your anger at me! Give me the pure hatred of a thousand suns! Let it build up inside until it consumes you! Without a trace of happiness, you will lose... as you will against the Death Eye."
Again happiness, the important story element, has been mentioned. This hints to the very key to its defeat which Fi explains later. If this were an actual Zelda game, the text that mentions 'happiness' would probably be colored to show the importance.
"One more move and I'll show you exactly why the people in this province once called me Jack the Ripper!"
The ripper case in 19th century London was unsolved and the identity of the killer had never been revealed. This was a clever historical easter egg idea I came up with that I wanted to put down. So, ever wondered how he seemed to mysteriously disappear without a trace and wasn't caught? Now we know! For some idiotic reason, I completely forgot to write that whole thing altogether when I uploaded it on Deviantart.
There were hundreds of black bats, all seemed to be watching the intense scene with their red illuminated eyes.
These bats in London might not be bats at all. I can't confirm or deny (that's up to readers' speculation), but they might be Alucard from Hellsing (1997-2012 overall versions).
And throwing her weight, Cleo smashed through, right out into the air*,
*Do not attempt!
Again, I leave an unnecessary warning. I know people aren't that stupid, but you never know.
Very grateful to Cleo, she helped refresh her with a bottle of milk (Cleo kept the bottle).
The last of the four bottles.
Molly was saddened to learn that Cleo was leaving and decided to give her her rabbit plushie, saying she could borrow it for a short while and must return to give it back.
And the last of the four important random items needed to meet the final sage.
Cleo just now realized, looking at her reflection in the shield, that she now had jaw length hair to go with her side-swept bangs.
Hair that's just like Fi's. Appropriate, since Cleo's getting very close to awakening.
Ghirahim appeared at an abandoned gas station. The S in "Shell" had fallen off long ago.
A clever quip added in the story text.
"You cannot deny that there is something great inside her, I know you see it. You once said yourself that she would do big things one day."
A line from the final chapter in MTG returns. I tried to make Emetaly's words as convincing as possible so that David can finally understand why Cleo had to run off so suddenly and it would motivate him into helping her as much as he could. Being a retired super soldier, he's all too familiar with the crucial importance of a mission, especially if it's a mission that his daughter had to do.
"Are you still going after Cleo?!" asked Joseph.
"Well, I'm not gonna let her face god-knows-what by herself, am I? She may need my help."
"Whoa, hold on! I'm coming too!"
And of course, I couldn't leave out Joseph who would definitely want in on the action.
"Where's the Polar Express when you need it?"
This was from a classic Christmas book (1985, 2004 movie).
"It is us, Oi and Ollo, the bokoblin brothers! But you knew that already."
JoshJepson makes this latter statement in every introduction of a LP video. "This is JoshJepson on Let's Play *insert game title*, but you knew that already!"
Then red eyes appeared, glowing softly yet penetratingly through the thick, heavily falling snow. Slowly, a large white moving shape appeared, becoming more and more visible. A polar bear, perhaps? But then she saw something thin and branching above its head, two of them. In careful tottering steps, it approached Cleo as though coming to greet her and then stopped before her.
It stared at Cleo and she stared back. She approached it slowly, somehow knowing it had come for her, and reached out to stroke the pure white fur of the caribou.
This is supposed to be my version of Rudolph. In cartoons, the reindeer look just like regular deer with black noses, whereas the real life ones don't look anything even close (Poor lazy animal design if you ask me). They don't have black noses or a glowing red one and the red glow would look strange on a real reindeer's. So Rudolph had a total revamp where she is an albino with glowing red eyes (yes, all reindeer who still have antlers in winter are girls, even Rudolph).
"Try to keep up." It turned around and immediately took off with surprising speed. Cleo sprinted after it, running just as fast. It turned this way and that in an odd pattern, obviously knowing the hidden path that no other living thing knew about. She kept her eyes on it, not daring to slow down. One wrong turn and she would be lost again and probably wind up back where she started.
This is very similar to the invisible maze task players have to do in some Zelda games where you have to take a certain path with something guiding you as the only way. e. g. The Gerudo Desert with a poe guide in OoT.
She took out the stuffed rabbit and placed it on the symbol of spring, then the chinese kite on fall, Mr. Willoughby's snowglobe on winter, and her re-inflated beach ball on summer. In a moment, the plaque started glowing, liquefying and reshaping into a stairwell.
"Hootie Hoo! You did it!" Kaepora began flapping his wings in excitement. "It was a very lucky coincidence that you had those items." But Cleo was not at all sure that it was a coincidence. Each time she had come across one of those items, a voice in her head told her to take it, a voice she knew was her conscience.
I wanted an explanation as to how she could be so lucky to have these four items just for that. In DB (Dragon Ball), Goku needed to put out the raging inferno engulfing Ox-King's Castle by gathering the egg shell of a fire-eater and honey that's exclusively from octagon shaped honey combs. He'd already got those items, but the thing is: There was no hint to tell him he was supposed to pick these up, this was out of extreme luck. I don't want Cleo to have this same lame excuse, because it would be impossible otherwise.
Cleo went on down the stairs (after retrieving the bunny and snowglobe).
Those two were too important to leave behind. She promised to return the bunny to Molly and Cleo kept the snowglobe as it is the last remaining thing from an old world family.
Cleo stared, not believing what she was seeing and he stared back, also not believing his eyes. They looked at each other for half a minute in stunned silence. "... ... ...SK?"
"CLEOOOOOOOOO!" The skull kid ran at her and glomped her. She nearly fell in the snow. "CLEO! CleocleocleocleocleocleoImissyouImissyouImissyouImissyouImissyouImissyou!"
Yay! SK's alive! You gotta admit, this is cute!
They turned around and saw another Hylian standing above them, wearing a red fur-trimmed cloak, smiling warmly at them from beneath his white beard. It was the final sage.
SANTAAAAAA! Okay, I'll stop squeeing. He was very easy and irresistible to pick as a final sage, since it's December in the fanfic and I needed an extra eighth destination apart from the new seven wonders. He's very similar to human Kaepora, but I can't say what his possible relation to Nick is, if there's even one.
"So they weren't always bokoblins, huh?" The said bokoblins were still unconscious, their blue and green caps were off for the first time, revealing their white hair. Both of them had long, pointy pompadours.
Those pompadours are a dead giveaway if you played SS (or cheated by looking up the game online).
It was a childhood drawing of a girl (a fairy perhaps), she was blue with rippling wings on her arms, one wing blue, the other violet. He remembered this drawing, it was Cleo's when she was only three, he had completely forgotten about the picture. But now that he remembered it, he realized what was weirdly off about it.
"Is that Fi?...! But Skyward Sword didn't exist yet, how did she know abo-"
Yet another Cleo/Fi hint.
"I have her, tucked away in my humble abode."
"That's a total lie!" Finn shouted in panic.
"Is it, now?" he responded slyly, reaching into his mantle and pulling out a cellphone. Finn recognized it, it had a familiar engraving of SK's face on it.
I wanted to give her cellphone a little unique detail so that Finn knows it's hers and be forced to believe Ghirahim's lie about kidnapping her. It took some hard thinking.
Ghirahim's expression was filled with malevolent furor. Choking, Finn pulled the trigger again and again, to no avail, he'd forgot to load it. Ghirahim ignored the harmless snapping.
Of course, I added some slight ironic humor to an intense moment.
Cleo took a step and slipped. In a yelp of surprise, she gripped Nick's robes to keep from falling. She struggled to get back on her feet, which were still sliding. "Sorry, need time to adjust." She let go and nearly lost balance again, giving out a weak wail. "Crud, I wish I had skates!"
"I'll keep that request in mind," Nick chuckled.
'Cuz you know Santa always gets requests from kids on wants for Christmas. I just thought it would be funny if Cleo inadvertently asks him for skates and she gets them later at the end of the story. Also, it's a suitable gift since her spirit counterpart dances like an ice skater.
They traveled along the trail that would lead to the Sanctuary of Water.
In case you're wondering why I chose water instead of ice for a name is simply because they're pretty much the exact same thing. In Chrono Trigger (SNES, 1995), Marle's magic element is called water, yet she uses ice magic.
"Today, I'll teach you the special technique I learned from the far away continent of Tellius. It's called Aether."
This is the extra eighth technique I chose. Since there were only seven hidden skills in TP, I knew I had to borrow a special skill from another game. PoR has Aether as a bonus for Cleo to learn. If BT were an actual game, it would probably not be available to learn unless you meet Link at all the other places. Tellius is the land from Path of Radiance.
"Thank you for your lessons... Master Link." The moment she addressed him, she felt a sense of deja vu... coming from a forgotten, faraway memory.
This is going to be the final hint to Cleo's connection to Fi. The sword spirit calls the hero that in SS.
In this room, there was shallow water on the floor, mist hung everywhere, a lone dead tree stood in the very center...
This is very much like the room where you face Dark Link in OoT. And this is where Cleo would shortly face her own dark side.
Warrior of the Past:
Hero's Shade, Link
This is the most unexpected boss I ever used (besides another one coming in Skribal Sword, a fic I'm currently writing in Deviantart). There was going to be a different boss here, called Frozen Armored Knight: Armir, based on a frost giant in Norse Mythology and the Thunder Hammer was the dungeon item. But the boss never got to exist (maybe someday, I'll put him in another fanfic). Because of Cleo learning the hidden skills from TP Link, I thought it would be interesting if the final sanctuary boss would be the Hero's Shade who taught TP Link those moves. Not only that, but this time, since they were on an even footing with each other, I've decided that Cleo should lose the fight. It really would be best, she wasn't supposed to win, this battle was really about trying to let go emotionally so she can finally awaken to her true self. That gives a more powerful effect to readers than if she actually beat the master.
"Thank you... Link. I'll... tell SK you said hi..."
The shade nodded, the ghost of a smile on his macabre face. Cleo was almost sure she could see the real flesh-and-blood hero standing before her as he faded away.
Cleo remembered that the shade was once SK's old friend who saved him from the Majora's Mask.
"The Goddess Sword has been forged by all the virtues that you have embraced thus far. But there was one left that had failed. I was unable to give the sword that virtue before my fellow sages and I were interfered with by the army of Demise long ago. It is finally time for both you and the Master Sword to embrace... happiness."
"...Happiness?"
This is the explanation as to why Fi is so emotionless.
Cleo's fists gripped tightly, despite all her crying, there was still a grudge in her. It felt unfair, why must she forgive Ghirahim? Was there any good in him that deserved it?... Then she remembered something from long ago, back when her mother was still alive. It was something she was told one day after she had been pushed around by a bully and ran home crying bitterly. "You shouldn't hate him for what he's done, sometimes there are and always will be people in the world who do bad things just because they can. But that doesn't mean you must get back at them for that, it will only prove that you're just like them. You're not going to be a bully too, are you?"
I always thought it was important that Cleo learns to forgive Ghirahim for his actions so she can truly embrace happiness. My mom thought otherwise, she didn't like the idea of actually forgiving such a terrible villain after what he's done, saying it's stupid. But after reading this bit of backstory I wrote, she changed her mind and said it's okay.
To be continued...
