An: So like… where the hell have I been? Let me shit out some excuses and apologize my ass off. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!

Two months ago I moved out of my mom's house! yay! I'm an adult now! Living on my own! Should be able to concentrate on this more! But… nope. Also I was seeing a guy that I'm now not seeing. -sad face- I really liked him. He was reading this shit. You know your boy is a keeper if he actually want to read your stupid romantic fan fiction and even gives you pointers. But, he was also an alcoholic and had commitment issues so… damn. And was pretty attractive. Double damn. So than like, I got depressed. Lol Alone in my apartment. But now I'm back! :D

And this is a pretty long chapter that I was just like, Damn why won't you write yourself?! I'm not good in this type of aria, and with the story coming to a close I had to wrap up all this shit and it was like… be done already… So it was slow going for me. And I would write one sentence, forget to save, rewrite it. Yea it was bad. And I started hating the beginning because I've reread it so many time. GOd. But I hope that I got over my writer's block. There's only 2 chapters left after this. Next chapter is Zelda's last. So it should be fun. BE FUN

Sorry about any type-os, but this is long over due.

-Link

Behind the Spirit Tower was no longer a good hiding place for me. No, I needed to be in a place where no one could find me. Yet I couldn't just leave the camp filled with all my people that needed me. I had to stay. There was too much I still needed to do. So I did the next best thing.

I climbed up a tree, and didn't come down. I always did feel more comfortable up high. It was more safe. When I was on my own, and could make my own decisions, I always chose to live in a tree. It's pretty practical actually. I can't think of a single enemy, that's a huge threat anyway, that can climb. Sure there's the occasional hornet's nest, or bad bird, but most things can't get you in a tree. I also felt the higher I was, the purer the air. The higher you were, the closer to the sun you were, the closer to the Goddesses; the closer to Heaven.

Not that any of that shit mattered. There was nothing in the sky. Yet, for some reason I still missed flying through it. I still yearned to be up there.

What caused me to eventually come down was the sound of Mary calling. But it wasn't me she was calling. It was Lana's name.

I bounded down a couple of branches before landing hard on my feet next to Mary. She let out a little cry in fright.

"What happened?" I asked seriously, no time to explain where I'd been.

"Lana's not with you?!" Of course she wasn't with me. She hated me.

"What happened?!" I asked more forcefully.

"I can't find her!"

How could Mary lose our only daughter? How could she be so stupid?! She was right with her! She should have known that the girl was upset, and stayed with her.

For a moment, I raged, blaming what was happening all on Mary, but it quickly became my fault in my head. It was my fault. Lana hated me. So she had ran away.

I helped Mary search, as well as a few other townspeople trying to lend a hand. My voice was much louder than everyone else's. I may have been a quiet man, but I sure knew how to yell when I wanted to.

"LANA!" I unsheathed my sword as I walked deeper into the forest, cutting away anything unlucky enough to grow in my path. "LANA!"

Listening hard, I froze when I thought I heard something, like a crunch from leaves of someone running. I changed my direction to the noise.

"Daddy!" and when I heard her voice I broke into a run. She wasn't that far at all, and I was too relieved in seeing her to be mad. I crashed to my knees in front of her and she kept running until she collided with my chest. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she said. "You have to save her! I couldn't do it. You have to save her, Daddy!"

At the time I thought she was apologizing for running away. I thought she was begging me to save Epona, who had already been long gone for hours now, but maybe she was in denial.

I picked her up and started to take her back to the direction of camp so I could find Mary and tell her that she was alright. Lana started to fight me, but of course she would. She was still mad at me.

"No!" she struggled, but I was bigger than her. "Daddy! Stop! We need to go back!"

"What are you talking about?"

She pushed on me. I was holding her quiet tightly so she couldn't look me in the face. "They took her! They hurt her bodyguard and then they hurt her, too!"

"What?" Even though I should have really known by now who she was talking about, I just didn't expect such news to come from her, so I didn't comprehend at all.

"The Queen, Daddy! Zelda!"

It wasn't really that I didn't believe her. It just took a long time to sink in. In realty, this was not a new experience to me. Part of me sighed at the news, wanting to mutter "figures," out loud, but the panicking in me wasn't letting my body respond. Every single possible time of ever losing Zelda, hit me all at once, from hearing about it, to watching it happen right in front of me. My mind and body began to shift, like everything was adapting to this new situation, this task that was, and would truly always, be my purpose in life.

Find Zelda.

Now that this was finally happening, I couldn't say I felt relief. I had been waiting for this to happen. Part of me even wanted it to, but it wasn't relief. There was no time to feel it. No time to feel worried, or scared, or that usual feeling of ill confidence I felt when this sort of thing was happening. There was no time to feel anything at all.

I put Lana down. "Where did they go?"

She bolted in the direction in which she came. I actually had a hard time keeping up with her. Me being quite a deal taller than her, I would have thought following her wouldn't have been a problem, but I was forgetting how old I was.

Just when I thought I was going to lose sight of her flashing red hair, she stopped, staring at something in the distance. When I caught up, she pointed.

"There."

She didn't go any closer to the unconscious, face down form of Lance. That didn't give me much hope for the bodyguard. I laid a hand on her shoulder as I past her, not wanting her to come closer if the man was in fact dead. Lana had already experienced death today. I didn't want her to have to see more of it.

I slowly crept closer to the body, kneeling down and gently putting my hand over his shoulder. He was still warm. He was alive.

I turned him over slowly to his side. There was a large bruise, smacked between the eyes, and it was bleeding a little, but even as I was moving him, I could see his eyes fluttering.

"Lance," I stated calmly. I felt all of his muscles tighten, and I wondered if he was going to panic or attack in late self defense, but he seemed to immediately understand his situation and stayed still were he was.

"I fucked up, didn't I?"

"Tell me what happened."

"Shit. She's really gone."

"Lance, I really need you to tell me what happened."

He stared at a leaf that was siting in front of his face. "I don't know. They got me even before I could see them coming," he admitted.

"I saw." I turned my head quickly to Lana. "It was a bunch of Bokoblin. They took her that way." She pointed. "They hurt her, Daddy. I heard her scream."

That sent chills down my body, but I tried to stay calm so that I could see the situation clearly. Of course they had taken Zelda to the castle. I just had to go to the castle.

But I had to take Lance back first. I started to pick him up.

"No, wait, wait. I can walk," he said as he attempted to crawl away from me.

"You have a concussion."

"Don't tell me what and what I don't have!" he snapped and gave me a push. "Now help me up!" I let him take my arm and I pulled him to his feet. He put a hand on my shoulder once he was up, and I watched his pale face, waiting for his knees to buckle and just fall again.

Very slowly, we started walking back the direction of camp. "We going to the castle?" Lance asked.

"We're taking you back to camp."

"We got to go after them."

"We got to take you back first."

"No." He shook his head. "I'm fine. I got to go make sure she's alive." He stopped walking. "I got to go-"

"Lance. I'll go. We can't just rush right after her, anyway."

"Sure we can. Why not?"

"Because that's what they expect," I said as I pushed Lance onward. They expected so because that had been my strategy for thousands of years. "Besides, they're not going to kill her. They need her alive if they want me to go after her."

"Maybe they don't want you to go after her. Maybe they just want to kill her. Maybe they just was to kill people."

"Come on, Lance." I said, deciding just to not respond to that.

I stopped before entering the camp. If I walked in there right now with the Queen's bodyguard injured and Her Majesty no where in sight, it was sure to cause panic. A full, rushed, desperate attack from us might have just been what the bad guys were hoping for. With Zelda gone, the King would have the freedom to give the okay. They were ready, but we couldn't attack just yet. Not yet. I still had to go in there first to give us a fighting chance.

I looked at Lana. "Go to the medical tent, and bring one doctor over. Don't say anything until they get here. They just need to be here."

She nodded her head once before dashing away. I lead Lance to a nearby tree so he could rest.

"I'm sorry, Link. You must hate me."

"I'm sure there was nothing you could do."

"I should have been more aware or our surroundings. I could have dodge it." He grabbed his head. "Stupid..."

I waited patiently for Lana to get the doctor. Then I would leave. I'd gather my supplies and head for the castle.

"Don't leave me here."

"I'm not, Lance. I'm right here," I reassured him.

"No. Don't go after her without me."

I gave him a quick glance, but didn't answer. I couldn't take Lance with me. He'd slow me down for sure. And he needed to see medical help. Once the doctor got here, I'd slip away before he could stop me.

The doctor came. I left. Lana watched after me with worried eyes, but I couldn't reassure her or say anything. If I stopped to talk, it would give Lance more time to weasel his way around the doctor and follow me.

I was heading to our tent so I could grab a few things for the mission. I ran into Mary on the way, still panicking over Lana.

"You haven't found her?!" she cried, for Lana wasn't with me so she had assumed the worse.

"No, I've found her. She's fine. Listen-"

"You found her?! Where is she?!"

"She's with Lance and the doctor on the North edge of camp. The doctor's for Lance." I quickly said when I realized how it sounded at first. But of course, Lance needing a doctor also showed the obvious implications of what might have happened. Mary stopped talking to me, and just stared. I took that opportunity to continue. "They've taken the Queen."

Neither of us said anything for what seemed like an eternity. I almost moved to go around her and not say anything else, but she spoke the words we already both knew.

"You're going to attempt to rescue her."

I noticed she used the word, 'attempt'. I would have just stated I was going to rescue her.

"Yea," I said as I did move around to get into the tent. She didn't follow me. I grabbed what I could find the quickest; the hookshot, my bow, the Hylian Shield. I only happen to come across the Goron's bracelet by chance, and picked that up, too.

I should go to the medical tent to grab some health potions and magic, as well. That would be my next stop.

I left the tent, passing Mary, for she hadn't moved at all, and I figured ignoring her was the best thing to do at the moment. I didn't have time to fight her.

"Link." I stopped even though I didn't want to. Her voice just sounded so pathetic. "I'm never going to see you again."

I turned to her to say something. I wasn't sure what it was. Something along the lines how that was a stupid thing to think. I had stay with her all this time. Why would I leave now? But before I could even speak, the realization that she could be right, hit me. When I did crazy things, I tried not to think enough before hand to ponder me making it out or not. That kind of thinking never did me any good.

But here I was, pausing, and letting Mary put the thought out in the open. And of course she was right. Mary always seemed to be right, somehow. And if I was never going to see her again, it wouldn't be right for me to just run out without saying much of a goodbye and then die on her.

I wasn't very good at goodbyes.

Mary was covering most of her face with her hands, so only that her teary eyes could be seen. When she realized I wasn't going to argue with her with false words of comfort, she choked out a sob. I could see a little bit of wrinkles around her eyes that I hadn't seem to notice before. I had wasted so much of her life by marrying her. She had become a sacrifice in order to create Lana.

I put my hands on both her shoulders.

But there was still hope for Mary to find happiness. Unlike me, she could have a long life. She could maybe even fall in love again. For real this time.

I pulled her against my chest, and she clung to me, crying freely. I didn't try to shush her. I didn't care that it was drawing attention. Mary needed this. All I could think to do was stroke her hair repeatedly, and kiss the top of her head over and over.

I had wanted to tell her that I was sorry. I was sorry for being a horrible husband, for not giving her the love that everyone needed, for marrying her for such a meaningless reason. That's what I had wanted to say, but instead...

"Thank you." My voice came out weaker than I expected it to be.

Without Mary, I wouldn't be here. Without Mary, there wouldn't have been any Lana. There would have been no reason for me to stick around. It was Mary that forced me to stay. Lana may have been the carrot, but Mary was the whip. She wouldn't let me take the easy way out. If she wasn't here, refusing to leave me alone, making me see what was right in front of me, who knew where I would have been, long gone, probably dead. I wouldn't be here to save Zelda.

Without Mary, I wouldn't have been here to save Zelda.

"Thank you."

This wasn't regret. This was gratitude. Overwhelming gratitude. I couldn't repay her for this. The fuckup that I was, all I had ever done was hurt her, but I had hoped, after me, Mary would finally be happy.

I pulled away a little. "If I don't come back..." I said, 'If,' because who was to really know?

She shook her head. I kissed her forehead, my lips still against her skin as I spoke. "... please be happy without me." Then I kissed her full on the mouth so she couldn't argue. I could tell she was surprised by the gesture.

I turned to leave quickly, but I didn't get very far.

"Daddy!" I panicked slightly, fearing that Lana could somehow see the situation that was happening. "Daddy, don't leave yet!" She stopped before reaching me to dig into her pocket.

Saying goodbye to Lana was going to be harder than Mary.

She pulled out a handmade necklace made of stems and an acorn pendent. "This is your good luck charm!" she told me. "I was going to give it to you for your birthday, but you're gonna need it to save the Queen."

I fell to my knees before her, opening my arms. "Lana." She slipped the necklace over my head before abiding me and going into the embrace. "I love you."

She looked up at me, blinking her large blue eyes. "I love you too, Daddy. I don't really hate you. I'm sorry for running away."

I held her tighter, pressing her face into me so she couldn't see my expression. I felt myself start to shake slightly.

"Daddy? Are you okay? Are you nervous about the Queen? You can do it, Daddy! You're good at saving people!'

"Lana, I need... to tell you something." I didn't want her to know what Mary and I feared, or have any doubt in me, but... if for some reason, I wasn't there for her, I had to tell her. "You know all those stories I told you?" I pulled away to look at her in the face. "Those stories were real. Even... Even if I said they weren't."

"I know, Daddy."

I bit my lip, and looked away, not sure how I wanted to say this to her. "The Hero... somehow always comes back."

"Yes! He always comes back, Daddy. Even after his life has ended, his children, and his children's children, make it so he comes back."

"Right. His children. They're important. They have an important job to do."

"I guess so."

"Lana, I need you to be strong." Her eyes looked scared. It probably was my tone of voice. I should change it somehow. "You... you have to be safe. Because... Because the Hero's inside you. Do you understand?"

She stared at me for a moment, and I couldn't read her expression at all. I could always read Lana's expressions before. In truth, it unnerved me, that she already had the ability to mask her feelings from her face.

"You're the Hero, Daddy," she suddenly said. It wasn't a question, but a statement. I didn't know if she had just figured it out by the simple words I was saying, or if she somehow always knew. "You're the Hero, Daddy, so I know you're gonna save her. I'll be safe," she promised. Then she kissed my forehead. "That's your good luck kiss."

I blinked at her, staring at her in amazement. I didn't know what to say.

"There's no more time to waste!" she told me sternly.

"Right," I breathed. I kissed her on the forehead back. "And that's yours," I managed to reply back weakly. "Thank you."


I snuck away to where the army kept the horses of war. I scanned over them, knowing I'd have to pick one to take me to the castle, and finding none of them like Epona. They all stared back at me with soft dark eyes. I knew whichever one I did pick would most likely be killed on the way there.

I heard someone behind me, and spun around nervously. I didn't want whoever it was to know I was leaving, or why I was leaving or that the Queen was even in danger. I knew the secret wasn't going to keep for long, but if I could leave before that happened, it would be faster.

It was Lance moving his way slowly to me, but that was even worse than the entire town finding out. I pressed my mouth closed into a grim line.

"Go away, Lance."

"I'm coming with you."

I thought of knocking him out, but I was a little concerned with his already concussion. "You're gonna slow me down."

He shook his head. "Listen. Remember when Zelda said that if anything bad happened to her, that she'd teleport or some shit into the Spirit Tower?"

I breathed in a whoosh of air as I remembered. I had totally forgotten.

"Well, after I got away from that damned doctor you sent on me, I went straight there. Not a single fucking sign of her."

"You're sure? Maybe-"

"No Link. She would have done it the first chance she got. She no doubt would have known that the two of us would go after her and do something stupid if she waited. If she didn't come back, it's because she can't. It's because she's hurt. Or she's dead. And if she's dead, I'm killing the mother fucker who did it."

"Lance, she probably has good reason to not have used Farore's Wind to teleport back yet. She's probably just waiting for the right moment. You need to stay here. Wait to see if she does come back. And if she doesn't, I'll get her."

"You stay and wait for the bitch, and I'll go!"

"Lance."

"Link, shut the fuck up! I lied about seeing no signs of her. I found this!" He held his hand up, and at first I didn't see what he was holding. His fist was shaking so he forced it still as I took a closer look. Very delicately, I touched the long strands of gold hair. As I came to the ends of them, I noticed the dark blood, still wet enough to rub off at my touch. "She fucking tried! She's hurt!"

We knew she was hurt. Lana had told us.

"I need to go," I said. "Stay here."

Lance grabbed my arm forcefully. "You don't understand, Link! You can't leave me here! I was supposed to protect her. That's my job! It isn't just my job, it isn't even just my fucking income!" He let go of my arm to fling his violently, letting go of the strands of hair that gently floated to the ground. "It's my entire life! I was trained all my life to be her bodyguard! If I let her die, if I fail at my only reason in living, I have nothing! I CAN'T LET THAT FUCKING HAPPEN! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" His voice was growing louder and louder, making the horses uneasy, and no doubt alerting a bunch of people.

I didn't move to quieten him. I just stood there and stared as I watched him seem to crumble, gasping for breath.

"You're wrong," I told him quietly. "I do understand. Come on, let's go."

"What?" Lance asked, shocked that he was able to convince me to change my mind so easily.

Of course I understood.

I picked a horse, who came willingly with me, trusting me, even after all that had happened. War horses were trained to trust the men that continued to put them in harmful situations. They still rode out into danger, even though it would kill them. But it was their sacrifice for the kingdom.

Lance would probably die, too. But how could I deny him dying for his Queen when that was all I had ever wanted to do as well. Everything died. They might as well die for something worth it, since it seemed like I couldn't.

Lance made to grab another horse.

"Leave it," I told him. "I'm going to lose you if you don't ride with me."

"Uh...okay..."

I mounted the horse, and Lance mounted awkwardly behind me. I could tell he didn't know where to put his hands. "You're gonna want to hold on tight," I told him with a grin as I sent the horse off at a trot.

We rode in relative silence. Right before we reached the edge of the woods, Lance spoke up. "What exactly is the plan here?"

"We break into the castle, kill whatever is in our way and then find Zelda," I said.

"Seriously, is that the plan?"

"That's how I've always done things, Lance. If you don't like it, you don't have to come."

"No, no. I like it. But how exactly are we getting into the castle?"

"I'm figuring that out when I get there."

"Because, most of us escaped the castle through the secret passageways, and I just figured we'd try one of those. Sure, the enemy has probably found a few of them, but there's got to be one they don't know about."

I stopped the horse and turned around to glare at Lance. "Why didn't you tell me about those before we rode all the way over here?!"

"I thought you knew about them! I've even taken you through one of them myself! You're the one with the plan, Link! You should think about these things."

"I don't come up with plans! People tell me what to do! Well, fuck it. We're here already." We stared at the carnage before us, a good five miles before the actual first wall around the castle. I stayed close to the treeline as far as I could as we got closer to Castle Town. It had grown dark now, so we should have been harder to see. The barricade around the town had halls leading into the knight's corrodes and then into the castle itself.

The underground passageways did seem like the more logical way to go then the front door option I was going for, but I wasn't so sure that they hadn't already been found, with Dark Link scouting the castle like he had, and besides, coming this way would be much more surprising.

"Whatever you do, don't let go of me," I told Lance.

"Why? What are we doing? Link, you do realize that they're not going to just drop the drawbridge for us?"

I cued the horse into a canter. "Don't let go!"

"What the fuck Link!?"

I kept my eyes on the wall. We were in plain sight, if anyone was paying attention. You think they would be, considering they had just taken Zelda from me. Maybe they had expected me to come from the passageways. I couldn't be this stupid.

Once we were about two miles away, I pushed the horse into a gallop, and Lance, who had been holding me pretty tightly already, dug his fingers into my ribs as his body smacked against me uncomfortably with every stride. Only now did I hear the warning horn of my coming, and as arrows came, I released Nayru's Love to protect Lance and me.

We were coming to the drawbridge at an angle, for I had kept closer to the trees rather than going straight in. What I was about to do was going to be more difficult with Lance dragging me down, but things had never been easy anyway.

Fifteen feet away, I pulled out the hookshot and aimed for the wood at the top of drawbridge. I felt my body slip out of Lance's grip. Nayru's Love was still up, but the blue crystal was better at keeping things out than in, and with my free hand I tried to keep a hold of Lance's arms around me. As we shot though the air, my right arm scrambling to get a better grip, I felt the rip of clothing, but there was no time to think. Soon the hookshot chain had reached its limit, even as our momentum was still calling us up. Suspended in the air for a second, I twisted and pulled with my arm, heading in the direction of the closet window.

I wasn't expecting glass. I mean, if there's a window, in the first wall protecting the city that was protecting the castle, it's the first line of defense, and as of first line of defenses, gets attacked first. Sure, maybe, possibly, that glass window is going to stop an arrow from getting through, but if something big was shot at it, there was no hope for it. Just an unnecessary mess. But you know, in this stage of history, why not?

So Lance and me crashed through glass, obviously slowing our momentum down, and ruining any sort of nice landing. Naryu's Love was starting to flicker out of existence as well, so shards of glass hit us as we skidded across the floor.

And of course this room was filled with Boblins.

I had attempted to land on my feet, but I lost my balance and had somehow turned around in the air so that I had been going slightly backwards. I rolled on my shoulder twisting around a little in attempt to see where I was going and got my feet underneath me the same time I was able to get my sword out. I collided with two Boblins who were dead in seconds, being impaled by my sword before I slashed right through the next one. I spun around, still lost in my movement, and made for another one.

I wasn't too sure where Lance had landed in the fiasco. I scanned my eyes around the room as I dispatched the next Boblin. I saw him crumpled up in a heap, but before I could worry about him, a leg shot up to kick a Boblin in the face. With a whirl of both his legs he was soon upright and I put my attention back to the other Boblins. We were able to kill all of them before any of them had any time for a defense attack. It's kinda a surprise when the enemy just bursts through the window.

We had made quite a commotion so I knew more would be coming soon. I pressed my body against the wall before sticking my head out the door to see. I quickly moved back to avoid getting hit by an arrow to the face.

I sheathed my sword and took out my own bow and arrow. Lance quickly went beside me, but before I could knock my arrow, Lance put a hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at him...

…and he punched me in the face.

"You Mother Fucker!" I almost dropped my arrow and lost my barrens for a second. He slammed me against the wall. "If we're gong through windows, you tell me we're going through fucking windows!"

I rubbed my face a little. "I didn't know we were gonna do that until it was happening."

"I don't believe you! Any more bizarre crazy pants shitting plans?! Are you pulling me through more windows?!"

"Not at the moment that I can think of," I grinned.

Lance mimicked me and push himself flat beside me on the wall. "When this is all over-" A Bublin ran into the room and I stabbed him in the face with my arrow before pulling it out and knocking it for the next one. "-I'm killing you."

"Get in line," I muttered.

"We don't even have any idea where Zelda is. Are we just going to go through the entire castle and fight every breathing thing in here?"

"We'll find her," was my answer. I always found her. "So you ready?"

"Ready?! Read for what?! Killing everything in the castle?!"

"Well, you told me you liked to be warned about this type of thing. We're heading out."

"Into the hall? Is there still enemies? How many are left?"

"I dunno," I shrugged vaguely as I returned the bow, and unsheathed my sword. "There's really only one way to find out," I grinned. I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulder to see how stiff it was being today. Actually, it didn't seem to be bothering me at all. I always felt better when I had the Master Sword out in my hand. I'm sure it had something to do with the sword. It was magic. Ever since it was returned to me, I had been moving faster, my blows stronger, my aim even more true, like I was twenty years younger. Not even just younger, but inhumanly better. This was a sword of goddesses.

It was glimmering blue already. I had made sure to consume as much magic as I could swallow before coming here, and I felt the sword feed off of it hungrily. There was something else that I knew the sword was also feeding off of as well. Even as I thought about it, the blue shimmering grew into a quiet, transparent flame.

I knew Lance was staring at the sword comprehensively, but I wasn't paying attention to him.

The sword has always had this uncanny ability of getting rid of my anger and fear. Since both those two types of feelings were inside me so often, I tended to notice when they were gone. They would try to come back, like flashes of thoughts that flew in and out of my head. I would think, "That move could have killed me," or "I wish this thing would just die in the most agonizing way possible," but then the feeling would leave and all I had inside me was a calm, collective coldness. The Master Sword would just seem to grow stronger the more I used it.

With all the heaviness lifted off me, maybe it was really no wonder I felt so elated when killing.

There wasn't much room in the hallway, but I was gonna have to make do.

I've never been quite tall. I wasn't short, but I wasn't tall. It also didn't help that I tended to be a late bloomer with growth spurts. That, and giving that most things I fought tended to be fucking huge, it always bugged me that I wasn't able to just bop them on the head.

I jumped, using the wall to hop against, sending me higher. I had gotten pretty good at that trick, even using the Moblin's, who was coming after me, shoulder for another stepping stone. It was almost like flying, being able to jump so high.

I came down, sword first into the skull of a Moblin. I felt the sword pierce through bone and into the soggy mass of brain as the two of collided with the floor. I blocked the next blow with my shield. With my sword still stuck in Moblin skull, I smacked the new opponent a few more times in the face with my shield as I took the time to release my sword and end him, too.

As I swung and twirled around, the blue light of the Master sword cut through the air as well. It seemed harmless against the stone walls, but it severed through flesh that was just out of reach of my sword.

I got to the end of the hall before I looked back to see how Lance was doing. He was several feet away, just standing there. "I'm gonna leave you there!" I threatened.

"I just … want to stay back from you a little."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not gonna hit you by accident," I said, thinking maybe he was worried about the extra beams that were coming out of the Master Sword at the moment.

"No, I know," he said as he started coming. "You know I never really believed what they had always said about you."

"What are you talking about?" We rounded the corner to face the next enemy.

"That you're some sort of immortal incarnate."

I ducked a blow before doing a spin attack and cutting the monster right in half.

"Now I believe it. You're fucking scary."

"Come on, now," I laughed. "You can't shit your pants. We just got here!"

The place was filled with monsters. You couldn't walk a few feet without finding more. We fought all night, slowly making our way to and through the castle. After a while I realized Lance needed a rest so I stopped once we cleared a servant's corridor room. I was getting frustrated with how long this was taking, but like always, the feeling left me and went into the sword. I stood by the window holding it, because it made me feel better.

"Get some rest. I can keep watch."

"You're not high on some sort of magic adrenaline which will suddenly run out and you keel over, are you? You haven't acted tired yet." Lance asked in a huff before he settled himself on the floor.

"Probably."

"Great. Just wake me up before you die."

"Will do." I watched the sky out the window. It was starting to turn blood red from the dawn. I suddenly let out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"It's my birthday today."

"Happy birthday."

"Shit. It's my birthday. I'm thirty fucking eight." I dropped my sword, and slid to the ground in disbelief. A new record. After all this shit, and I made a new record. I covered my face with my hands.

"Dude, are you crying? Do you want me to sing?"

"No. No." I rubbed my face. "I'm just really surprised."

"Birthdays come every year, man." Lance got up and walked closer to me. "Days come if you like it or not. You can't stop them."

"I just… didn't think I could last this long."

"You haven't slept in a while, have you?" Lance sighed. "You go first and I'll keep watch."

"I can't sleep."

Lance pushed me in the head, and I actually fell over quite easily. "Don't make me knock you out."

Damn him. I was out in seconds.


I heard a scream. It seemed to come from right in front of me. It was impossible not to be shaken awake from it. I knew it instantly. I knew her voice and her scream, like a name to something horrible.

I bolted upright to my feet in seconds, my sword already in my hand. I didn't remember drawing it. Was it always in my hand, or did I just grab it?

Lance was sitting across the way, leaning against the wall watching me. "Hey," he greeted calmly.

"We have to-didn't you hear?!"

"What?" he asked confused.

"The-the scream. Zelda-"

"Link you were dreaming. You want to head out?"

Lance didn't get to go to sleep, but I was feeling suddenly nervous. "Yea," I answered.

I had no idea where we were going. I took us down to the dungeons first, and started working out way up. The dungeons had always seemed to be a favorite place for them to stick Zelda, but she wasn't always down there. After a pretty thorough searched we moved on. The other place they liked to keep her seemed to be a room in the tallest freaking tower possible. I seriously thought they did that just because they liked to see me climb stairs.

Eventually we got to the part of the castle that was damaged by the gleeok. We had to stop when we came across a dead end. The entire hallways was blocked with rubble.

"Oh no!" Lance cried out. "We're fucked!"

I walked closer to the pile of stones. I grabbed one and pulled. It was loose. "Naw, we'll get through."

"How? By digging our way through?I have back problems." I gave Lance a skeptical look. "It's from being tall!"

"It's from being old."

"I'm not old!"

"If I'm old, you have to be old."

"Nobody said you were old."

I grabbed a large bolder and chucked it to the side.

"Old people can't lift shit like that!"

I laughed. "I'm cheating," I said, flashing the Goron's Bracelet. Lance eyed it suspiciously. "It's magic," I explained. "But maybe I should give this to you, since you're the one with the 'back problems'."

"I'm not wearing some stupid princess bracelet!"

"Well you're being a lot of help. I'm glad I brought you with me," I said sarcastically. Lance placed a hand over his chest and made a very girlish offended noise.

Though I had the Goron Bracelet, picking up all these rocks by myself was going to be time consuming so I rummages through my bag for something else. I found what I was looking for and sent the round black explosive at the base of the rubble before grabbing a few more.

"Wait. What are those?"

"Hmm?" I looked up from looking for matches.

"Are those bombs?! You're going to blow that shit up?!"

"Well it seemed easier than digging and breaking your back."

"Hold the fuck on!" He grabbed me arm and pulled me back slightly. "You're not lighting this shit. I'm lighting this shit. Please let me light this shit!"

I laughed and smiled at how eager he was. I let him take the matches from my hand. I was feeling tired again. I was always tired, but I didn't always notice when I was doing things. I was also feeling cold. I thought the temperature should have warmed up by now. Heat rises, so the higher we got up the castle, the warmer it should have been. I watched Lance watch the the fizzing of the bombs before grabbing his shoulder and making him step back a few more feet.

The explosion sent me wobbling a little. I could distantly hear Lance letting out a shout of excitement. I steadied myself and listened, wondering if we woke up something angry on the other side of that wall of rock. The dust made it too hard to see. I waved my shield in front of me in a vain attempt to clear it.

"Now that was awesome!"

The dust was slowly settling. Nothing so far.

"Do you have more of those?"

"What? Yea. They somehow jam pack those things in the bag. I should have about 17 left." I still had the feeling that we had woken something up, but there was nothing to be seen. I turned my attention to Lance who was gapping at me with eyes wide, like a kid would looking through the glass of a toy store window.

"Can I have some? You don't need 17. And if you do, I'm here with you and I can use them for you."

I crossed my arms. "Why would giving you explosives, be a good idea."

"Since when has anything to do with me not been a great idea!"

I started to think about that but he didn't give me anytime to.

"Exactly! Please! You got all this stuff and all I have are a few throwing knives."

"Alright, alright. You should have been more prepared then." He hit me, and I realized he was still beating himself up for not being prepared.

We continued combing our way through the castle. We hadn't met up with an enemy in a while and it was making me nervous. Lance was studying one of the bombs I had given him as he walked. I wasn't sure if that was making me nervous as well or not.

"I like bombs. You know why I like bombs?"

"Because they blow shit up?"

"No. I mean yes. I like that part, too. But I like bombs because I understand them. They're a metal casing filled with gun powder which is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the potassium nitrate works as an oxidizer. Light the fuse, and the chemical reaction causing an explosion. It's man made. We understand it."

I didn't mention bomb flowers to him. Bomb flowers was a twisted product of mother nature. I didn't mention them because I remembered they had all gone extinct and Lance would probably not believe me.

"But know what I don't understand?" He glanced at me for a second. "Magic. I didn't believe in it as a kid, and even after knowing Zelda for the first few years, I thought it was some sort of trick with fancy lights. It doesn't make sense to me. How is it possible to gather energy out of nothing and make things explode or move without touching them. How is any of this possible, an army from no where, a stone head that can move on its own, a dark version of you? What the fuck is that?"

I felt myself wince a little. I didn't know why. "Magic," I answered, and I tried to grin.

"You can't just explain everything you don't understand with the term 'magic'. Like you don't know."

"Okay," I admitted. "I know a little bit about it."

"Well what I want to know, is if this thing's gonna kill me." He thrust one of his shoulders that was bandaged in my direction. I had noticed it before, but I had just assumed it was one of the many scrapes we all had gotten during the loss of the castle.

"What is it. How did you get that?"

"Crazy You shot me with an arrow. Zelda said it was dark magic."

I stopped my walking. "I'm sorry."

"Why?! Is it going to kill me?!"

"No. I don't think so. I think you'll be okay. I'm sorry I-I mean he did that to you."

"I only really ask because the last few hours or so, it's been really bothering me. It's always been kind of sore, but now it's really sore."

I froze, the pit in my stomach sinking deeper and deeper. It was way too cold in here to be this high up in the castle. "It's because he's nearby," I finally said.

"Who?! Crazy You?! How do you know?! What do we do?! What is he?!"

"He's me."

"I know he looks like you. But he's not fucking you, because you're fucking you, so don't use and sort of metaphorical language or I'll fucking kill you!" Lance was talking fast in his nervousness. I unsheathed my sword and got a better grip on my shield, as I let my eyes dart around the hallway we were in.

"He's the darkness inside me. The Goddesses created him as some sort of test."

"What?! That doesn't make any sense! A test for what?"

"I don't know! Like if I'm good enough to keep being the Hero. Something like that. Only I can defeat him, but he can't really die. I just defeat him for a lifetime. And it has to be in a way I wouldn't normal defeat something since he has all the same thoughts that I do."

"I hate you, you know that? I really… hate you."

"I'm sorry!"

"I told you to make sense!"

"Fuck!" There he was. He came so fast that he seemed to take 10 steps in the time that it took me one. The one step I took was a side step as I moved in front of Lance and protected him with my shield as my sword blocked Dark Link's sword. He had attacked so fast, that the sword lock we were in seemed to last forever. As his sword began to slowly slide down mine, sparks flying from the force, I watched his face in slow motion. He was looking at the Master Sword, quite pleased that I had it with me now.

He stepped back, but I knew it was for a spin attack and blocked it with my shield. As I dogged another one of his attacks, I could see the acorn pendant Lana had given me fly up in the air from under my tunic. It was a brief thought I had. A brief hope that said I really, really hope I didn't lose that thing. As brief as it was, it was all Dark Link needed to have the thought, too, and he grabbed it, breaking the steam and he ran for it.

"That fucker!" I cried after him.

"What'd he do?" I heard Lance ask as I bolted after him.

"He stole my birthday present!"

The rational thinking left me quickly, especially since I sheathed my sword in order to run faster, pumping my arms hard in order to keep up with him. I'm sure he could have easily disappeared into the shadows and never let me catch him, but he wanted me to follow him.

He went out a door and we shot into open air. We were in what was once a large room inside one of the many tall towers of the castle. Of course it wasn't the tallest tower. Or if it had been, it wasn't anymore, since the ceiling and anything else that might have been above it was long gone. Boblins in higher and neighboring towers spotted me and started their shooting. "Dammit," I muttered as I blocked some of them with my shield. I hear a loud scream and saw a gleeok flying above us.

"This sure doesn't seem like a fair fight!" I called out to Dark Link. He rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. He had lead me for the space, since there was more here than in the hallway. He couldn't have cares less for the other enemies around us. I knew this because I could think his thoughts.

Lance finally caught up behind me, huffing. "So this is where the party was the whole time."

"Lance. Dark Link is immortal. You won't be any help in this type of fight. You should get out of here."

Lance let out a loud breath in annoyance. "Yea, whatever, Bro. Do your thing." And he ran to the edge of the broken tower, leaping what looked like must have been close to 20 feet to get to the wall of the next tower, where he somehow managed to swing himself up and attack a Boblin. I didn't have time to continue watching him because Dark Link was getting impatient with me.

He swung Lana's necklace before holding it over the edge. He told me I was all out of luck.

Of course I decided to be impulsive about it and attacked him. The Master Sword could only keep up with my violent urges, so much.

He attacked, and I countered. I attacked and he countered. It was much more of an even fight now that I had the Master Sword. So even that it was going no where. While I was beginning to get frustrated, I could feel Dark Link become content, an easy smile on his face. He didn't have any worries. He could do this forever. He didn't get tired.

I cursed at myself for thinking about it, because as I thought about it, I could feel my muscles start to give, screaming at me to rest. Dark Link over powered one of my blocks, and I felt my arm swing without control wider than it should have, leaving me open.

The shadow of the gleeok flew over, and luckily distracted both of us, but not Dark Link enough to completely miss me. I heard the sword tear though clothing before I felt it glide through skin. I ignored the pain as I tried to get Dark Link while he was also distracted.

A flash of light flew over us and I thought maybe it was the gleeok blowing fire, but it was coming from the wrong direction. Dark Link was actually the one to turn and look. Ha! I tried to decapitate him, but he dodged by falling backwards and landing on his hand.

Then the explosion went off. It sent the both of us off balance as the sky began to rain blood and guts. It took me a second to realized what must have happened. Lance he'd thrown a bomb, and one of the gleeok heads must have swallowed it. A severed head fell in-between us, still moving and biting. I step back to avoid its teeth and loss sight of Dark Link.

He suddenly twisted himself over the squirming serpent in a leap. I barely blocked him. He was moving so fast, I had no time to waste on the dying beast. He was more relentless now. No more playing around.

He grinned as he cut my shoulder, but that was not really why he was grinning. I wasn't paying attention to the gleeok, and it slammed into me, knocking me clean off my feet before finding a way to clamp its jaws around me. Teeth pierced skin, but that was about all it did, for the creature soon died.

But now that it was dead, its jaws were locked and I was stuck.

Dark Link wasted no time on that opportunity. He stabbed his sword through the scull, and if I didn't wiggle as much as I did, I'm sure it would have killed me. Instead it pierced my side, and probably damaged some sort of vital organ. Fortunately, his sword going through the stupid thing's brain must have triggered some sort of nerve and the jaw snapped open.

I scrambled out while Dark Link's sword was stuck and decided to take a few steps to run away for my life.

The rest of the gleeok landed hard on the tower we were on. Though it looked like the bomb had only knocked off one of the heads, it was bleeding profusely from the wound and could not keep its self upright as it staggered about.

Dark Link tried to follow me at the same time the gleeok's tail swung out of control above us. I ducked. Dark Link did not.

"Link!" I looked over to where Lance was running at me, dodging the flying limbs of the gleook. "Did you see that?! I totally nailed that! I threw that sucker right into the fucker's mouth! Why isn't it dead yet?! It should be dead!"

I grabbed Lance and pulled away from the gleeok's second set of teeth, grabbing on one of its scales on its tail, and using the galloons of blood on the ground to slide away with its momentum. "Yea, good job. Just keep moving."

Dark Link suddenly leapt over the body of the gleeok, covered in blood and crazed. He tackled me in a frenzy, and as we rolled I tried to get my feet underneath me again. Soon the swords continued their clanging and I was fighting for my life. I couldn't remember if I had even gotten a hit on him yet. Every time I thought I got him, I realized he had just gotten me.

I don't know what I was hoping Lance to do. Get out of there I guess. We had moved away from him and were getting dangerously close to the edge of the tower. I realized quite quickly what Dark Link planned to do with me.

Suddenly, Lance ran over to us and literally just socked Dark Link in the jaw. I was momentarily paralyzed with shock that he could do it, let alone had the nerve to. Dark Link was also very mush surprised, and stopped killing me for a second to hold his face.

Of course that only lasted so long before Dark Link took a swing at Lance. In a panic, I tried to block his attack, not doing it very well at all, for I lost my balance and almost fell on Lance, but Dark Link's sword hit my shield instead of his flesh.

"What the fuck are you doing?!"

"You said you had to defeat him in a new way that he wouldn't expect!" Lance cried as he ducked, away.

"You're not helping me!" I cried out frustrated as Dark Link resumed his attack on me. "You can't kill him!"

"Psh…! Just because you can't doesn't mean you can tell everyone else they can't either." He attacked Dark Link again, with a few punches and kicks before Dark Link kicked him the face back and sent him sprawled over the floor. I hoped that he was unconscious and not dead. I really hoped he was unconscious so he wouldn't get up again.

Lance was still and Dark Link was satisfied before he lunged one more time. It was only now did I realize how much blood I seemed to have lost. As long as I didn't stay too close to the edge...

But Dark Link's moves were pushing me back there again, and I wasn't having the strength to stop them.

Yet I wasn't going to die. Because Lance had been playing dead.

He had lit a bomb when he had been down, and attached it to his belt. He swung the belt over Dark Link's neck when his back was turned on him. "Sorry Crazy Link. But Real Link's got me this time."

He pulled, flipping Dark Link over his head, and then rolling him off one of his shoulder to the edge of the tower. After seemed to happen in slow motion.

Dark Link gained some of his senses to grab onto Lance's sleeve as he started to tumble. I ran forward, reaching out to him. I knew even if I reached him in time, all three of us would probably fall, but I could figure out a way to save our landing, or maybe grab onto something with the hookshot. There were a million things I could have done.

But right before I could make a grab, Lance lifted up his knee and kicked me away in some sort of stupid heroic move that made me hate him.

I was confused at first. Why was I being propelled in the other direction?! I could even see Lance lift his hand as if to reach for mine, but he only tossed me Lana's necklace which the bastard must have somehow stole from Dark Link.

"LANCE!"

As soon as I could stop my momentum from his kick, I changed it to go back to the edge. I almost leapt after them. But then the bomb exploded, and I was once again shot back in the other direction.

"FUCK!"

I returned to the edge, but all I could see was smoke and dust."FUCK!" I cried out louder. And then I just screamed, clutching my head, hoping that my will of how much I didn't want this to happen would just make it not.

It never did. No matter how much I willed it. Just like any other time something died. They died anyway.