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Eventually

"We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world."-Helen Keller


Next morning was terrible. What else can I say? I looked in the mirror in the worse shape I'd ever been in my life. My hair was an absolute mess, my eyes were bloodshot and had dark shadows under them. Skye and Leanne both dropped in to check on us, and were shocked at my current state. Leanne forced me to sit while she did some basic make-up to cover up some of the mess I was in.

"Can Zelda rest today?" I heard Karane ask Skye.

"I'm afraid not, unless you want Ghirahim to get there first," Skye said, a note of melancholic depression in his voice. I could tell he wasn't liking saying what he felt he had to say.

"What do you mean?"

"Some of my sources on the Surface have told me Ghirahim is active once again on a new plan. He's planning on using the flames to go into the distant past to seize Link."

"Why does he want Link so bad?" Karane asked, wondering. I perked up; I still wasn't sure of that either. Like it mattered.

"Ghirahim needs the Hero's spirit that resides in Link, like how Hylia is in Zelda, to revive his master Demise. If Demise rises again, nothing will top him from wiping out Hyrule again. That's why you and Zelda must find the flames first."

"Oh."

"Are you sure he'll find them..."

When Leanne had finished, I waved her away, trying to appear normal. I was crimson with determination despite my sleep-deprived state.

"We're going to the Surface," I said, putting an end to the discussion. "We're going to go into the Ancient Cistern and get that flame. Hylia has cut off my sleep, then so be it."

Karane, Leanne, and Skye all gave me apprehensive looks, but I ignored them all. I had lost too much, seen too much, to give in now. I could only hope it wouldn't be the death of me.

"Karane, keep a close eye on her," Skye said, clearly worried. "Leanne and I have to talk to the Old Woman."

Before I knew it, we were back on Faron's island, glancing at the opening to the Ancient Cistern, as Faron had called it. The waterfall was gone, done away by Faron at my request.

"Ready?" Karane said.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I conceded.

Both of us clambered into the cistern and went down in the main chamber. It was vast and enormous. A vast statue of a mysterious figure rose high above us, carved elegantly out of some kind of tan stone. It's 'arms' splayed out high above us, forming a series of walls that divided the main chamber into three different sections. Large attached to the statue's arms restricted travel to only a few small areas. Many of them were filled with water and seemed to be impassable to all but a Water Dragon.

"The flame is in here?" I said, more to myself than anyone else.

"Yes it is," Karane said. "We need to find it."

"Let's hope we get it soon," I said, gripping the Goddess Sword, as Bokoblins awoke and began to charge us. "I don't want to deal with too many of these soon."

With that I blasted six of them into oblivion. Sleepiness was at the edge of my eyes, but I refused to give in.

"I wonder how Link would deal with this," I said aloud as I lifted a lever to drain some of the water in the temple.

"Me too," Karane added as a Bokolin faded away into nothing before her.

"Fi help please," I said, wanting more information on this dungeon, as we walked into the second portion of the temple.

She appeared out of the sword.

"My Mistress, the Ancient Cistern is part of a water system that once fed the ancient people of the Land of Hylia."

She gazed up at the massive statue above us.

"After the great battle, the Cistern fell into ruin and was abandoned as the humans took to the sky. Monsters have recently infiltrated it, but I sense the flame of Farore buried near the bottom. Please proceed with caution my Mistress."

She disappeared back into the sword.

"That means we go down," I said, pointing to a group of stairs.

"Yes it does," Karane said.

We descended to find a large body of water, with waterfalls everywhere. Another group of stairs was across the room underneath the waterfall. Many levers dotted the walls around the edge of the large pool. I'd long since shed my dress for the knight academy uniforms as they were easier to use, but I was in no mode to test my clumsiness in a swim to how far down it was to go.

"Three levels to go," Karane said to me.

"Let's get started...", I said. Karane took her bow and began to turn the levers, hoping for one that would drain it. On her third one, it started to drain.

"Excellent," I said, wading into the draining water. "Onward."

Second floor down, was much of the same, but with more pools.

"F**** it," I swore.

Karane flinched.

"What?"

"You just swore."

"Oh," I said stunned. I hadn't even noticed. I joggled my memories; to my atonishment, Hylia, or I had some pretty dirty language. "Hylia swore a lot. Strange, I'd always imagined her as prim and proper."

"It's okay," Karane said, laughing. "I wonder what other of her habits might eventually surface."

"Don't remind me," I said, more tired than ever now. "When will this cistern end?"

It seemed to take forever to get through this thing. We'd been blessed so far, but I had to admit, I was getting tired of this thing. But finally, boringly we got through the last trap to the very bottom of the Cistern where Fi had said the flame was.

"Yikes," I shouted as dark, black, Bokoblins marched towards us.

"Fi, what are those things?" I screeched. Apparently harboring the soul of a Goddess didn't quench my aversion to disgusting things.

"Cursed Bokoblins, unlike Red Bokolins, they have been tranformed by thousands of years trapped at the lowest level of the Ancient Cistern," came the reply. "Light is their eternal enemy. I suggest using a light source to repel them."

"Light, we need light," I said, plunging my hands into my satchel and pulling out my harb. It erupted, spilling the entire area in light; the Bokoblins simply melted away.

"Do you know how grateful I am for this," I said to Karane. "It used to be Hylia's herself you know."

"I guessed," Karane said, giving the harp a grateful look.

We stepped on a center platform, and almost fainted when it rose. Slowly we rose from the darkest level of the Cistern to the top of the massive statue.

"Look who it is," came from above us. I looked up; Ghirahim was sitting on a pillar some twenty feet above us, a prime attack position.

I growled, gathered tendrils of light from my hand and chucked a light ball at big, fat, and ugly. He swatted it away with a click of his finger.

"You see Spirit Maiden," Ghirahim said, sitting on top of the statue. "As your power grows, so does mine. You took me off guard with Faron, but not this time. Tell me, where can I find the Spirited One and we can end all this?"

"Never," I huffed. I wasn't going to let him get anywhere near Link.

"Fine, I'll leave you to deal with my friend here," he said, clicking his fingers. He was gone.

Suddenly pieces beneath where he'd been sitting came to life. A smaller version of the giant statue came to life. It wielded huge blade on four of it's arms and was connected to the ground by a small metal piece. Tan and made entirely of medal, light glowed in it's 'eyes' and it screeched. Dark spots floated out of it every now and then, showing the dark magic Ghirahim had used to bring it to life.

It slashed at me, wielding a blade large enough to cut me in half. Golden light emanated from my hands and I raised it into a shield. Karane slammed into me, and my golden shield faded.

"Don't try it," Karane hissed in my ear. "Fi, a little help please!"

"My Mistress and Friend Karane," Fi spoke from within the sword. "This is Koloktos, an ancient machine created by the Ancient Robots to defend the Cistern from water thieves. It's been reanimated by Ghirahim into one of his dark creations. Beware of it's enormous blades."

"OF COURSE BEWARE OF THEM?!" I shrieked, fuming. My new found powers erupted to my defense. I threw several light balls at it; they merely bounced off of it's iron hide.

"Okay," Karane said, thinking as a blade cut off part of a rock wall above her. We took refuge behind a large chunk of what had used to be part of the ceiling. "What is it weak too?"

"Not my magic obviously," I said.

Karane glanced at it; under her expert eye, she saw something.

"The thing that connects it to the ground is thin, if we break it..."

I chanced a peek; and was rewarded with a blade swipe.

"...it'll lose it's power and collapse. Karane, you're a genius."

Karane blushed deeply, but didn't press the point.

"Okay, three, two...GO!"

Karane leapt out, just avoiding one of it's swipes and used her momentum to slide on the ground below the flaying arms. She slashed the link between the machine and the ground; it froze for a moment. I raised my sword to the sky; the Goddess Sword glowed blue and I used it to batter the defense mechanism. It shivered, then swiped at me. I raised the Harp.

CLANG.

Metal met light and I was thrown back, the Harp thrown clean out of my hands. I grabbed my sword and jumped behind a stone as a blade cleaved the ground apart where I had just stood.

Karane threw a rock at it; it round on her instead. I took advantage of the distraction and slashed the pedestal again.

BANG.

I was thrown back and had to scramble to avoid the machine's third attempt so far to turn me into a salad. I was furious. Karane appeared at my shoulder.

"Why didn't we bring Leanne and Skye along?" I asked. "They're Shiekah, they should be here, not us."

"We didn't know this thing would be here," Karane pointed out. "Look, if we're going to take this thing down, we're going to need to take some risks and work together as a team. The pedestal is it's weakness; if we attack it in turn we'll take it down eventually."

"Eventually."

My bad mood did little to stymie Karane's optimism.

"Fine, let's do it," I conceded.

The next ten minutes were literally the most harrowing of my life. Every time I'd dash out, send light balls at it, and get nearly cut in half for my efforts. Karane would then slash at it's pedestal. Eventually, we brought it to the point of collapse. Almost.

"AAHHH!" Karane yelled as it landed a blow on her midsection.

My nightmare was coming true. She was bleeding out; I felt rage take ahold of me. With reflexes that were definitely not my own (might've been adrenaline or Hylia, I don't know) I dodged it's right blade, it's left, and then it's lower. With finality, I drove the Goddess Blade into it's pedestal, slashing it out clean from the ground. Whatever Fi had called it collapsed, went lifeless, but not...

My legs gave out. A bright vibrant red something was leaking from my stomach. I collapsed to the ground, my powers rushing back into my body. Lying there on the ground, I had a strange lucidity of thought. No pain, just pressure and the sight of my blood rushing out of my body. Strange. They say your life flashes before your eyes, it does actually. Father I'm sorry, please forgive me...Karane, everyone, Link, Hylia...I've failed...all went black.


"Wake up and shine," said a voice over me.

I jolted awake, panicked. I glanced over at Karane, she was awake too, very much not dead. I glanced around; Skye and Leanne were there. Some of their clothing was still stained dark black; blood. My blood probably.

"Why aren't we dead?" I asked, my right hand caressing my stomach and only feeling whole skin.

"You would've been had we'd not gotten there in time," Skye explained. "Leanne and I were visiting I...I mean the Old Woman when she sensed something wasn't right. We came out here and..."

"Found Faron," Leanne said. "She told us what happened and we came looking. You killed it, but nearly died yourselves. We took you back and Faron healed you with a spell. Make sure you thank her for it though. She's already sour enough."

"Thanks," was all I could say.

Faron came up to the island, freshly healed from her fight with Ghirahim.

"Close call Her Grace," she crooned in a superior voice. I scowled at her, too weak to really do anything but stand. "I brought this out for you."

She had in a her hands a small torch and floating on it was a green flame.

"The Flame of Farore," I muttered.

"Stand and hold forth your blade," Faron said, placing it in front of us. "Hylia herself told me of it's purpose."

Carefully and with Karane supporting me, I stood and held forth the Goddess Sword. Suddenly the flame acted of it's own accord, shooting from the torch onto the blade in my hands. It transformed; the hilt widened and the blade flattened out, growing slightly larger. When it had finished, though, it still felt as light as a feather in my hand.

"What the?" I said, stunned. I was used to my hands shining, but not this. The emblem of the golden triangles was shining on the back of my right hand, one of the lower ones's brightly emphasized.

"What does it mean?" Karane asked, holding my hand so she could get a better look at it.

"It means you can now wield the Triforce piece of courage," Skye informed me. "From the old Shiekah legends, in order for one to wield the...golden triangles, one must be balanced in his/her heart."

"Which means?"

Skye didn't say anything, but Leanne jumped in for him. She wasn't blushing, but acting normally. I beamed; it seems she'd taken my advice to heart and was controlling her feelings.

"Maybe Hylia wants us to use them," Leanne suggested, blushing heavily as everyone gazed at her for once. "The three attributes; wisdom, courage, and power.

"Hmmm," I said, with much to think about as the triangles vanished from my hand. My eyes peeled back their eyelids, I felt Leanne catch me as I went down-again.

Why?! I shouted inward as my mind retreated into darkness for the second time.


"Sister, think about what you are asking?" Nayru said, walking around Hylia. She was agitated and worried. Hylia was dressed in white while Nayru was wearing her signature blue dress. The White Goddess stood on the edge of a white, cloudy platform that merged with the darkness of space. It looked like Nayru had caught up to Hylia before she was about to do something.

"Asking what?"

"You are asking the humans, the Gorons, the Kiwki, everyone to give up their lives for a plan that might not work," Nayru pointed out. "How can you do it?"

"Well, will it succeed?" Hylia asked. Nayru didn't say anything. "Or is that forbidden by Din as well? You hew too closely to her and Farore's line.

Nayru closed her eyes, Hylia's words stinging more than she could have ever wished.

"You're my Sister and I love you to death," Nayru said finally, taking Hylia's hands in hers. "But I fear for you. We gave humanity a gift and left you to guard it, just guard it. By law we cannot interfere, even when our eternal enemy, the Demon King rears his head or we'll cease to become..."

"I don't care Nayru," Hylia said, pulling her hands free. "I don't care what Din says, I don't care what Farore says. They're the biggest, laziest do nothings ever. You and I do all the work and they take the credit."

Nayru didn't argue; inside she agreed with every point Hylia was making.

"Not my point, what I mean is I fear you're asking too much, using others, it's not right," Nayru finally said. "You're depending on human emotions things we..."

"...you cannot hope to understand. Love, self-sacrifice, are all things that us Goddesses cannot fully appreciate. I'm descending to meet my champions, are you coming or not?," Hylia asked. "Or we're done here."

"I can't come," Nayru said. "They'd allow a minor Goddess like you to be lost rather than.."

"A higher ranking one like yourself, how typical," Hylia said in disgust. She gave Nayru a big hug. "I love you. Please, never forget that. No matter what happens, promise me you'll look after me."

"Always," Nayru said, returning the embrace.

She turned and jumped on her Loftwing.

Shimmering...

Hylia broke down in her quarters. Link was dead, Rosalina had died, all for nothing. Her people were in the sky, but it had cost so much.

Perhaps Nayru had been right. Yet now she was alone...thousands of her people were dying and yet...yet...she glanced up at the Golden Triangles, the result of the mess. Then it hit her..maybe...only she could do it. She stood up and faced the wall. She walked outside to see a vast army of Gorons, Parella, four dragons, Kiwki, and the Ancient Robots.

One of the Gorons stepped forward.

"Hylia, we are ready to fight, give us the word," he said.

She walked through the ranks of her newly formed army, Harp in her right hand. Before her stood the Demon King and his vast armies. She smiled; the joke was on Demise, his object was gone.

"Charge," Hylia commanded. "But Demise is mine and mine alone. I have to do this next part alone. No one else can get hurt."


I jolted awake, to the astonishment of no one. Karane and now the Shiekah were used to my fainting, which was becoming all too common. If I wasn't already clumsy enough.

"What did you see?" Karane asked.

Could I tell her? Could I really tell her? No I can't. Or the decision I realized I had to make. The one I should've made back on Skyloft two weeks ago when Karane forced the truth out of me.

"Hylia and Nayru, they knew each other," I said. "When she descended to earth, she did so against the law of her sisters. That why she was cast out, why she became...me."

"She always was my favorite Goddess," Karane commented, pulling me into a hug. "To think she chose you...my best friend...is beyond my wildest dreams."

My mind was made up. Eventually, the dreaded word, eventually, I'd had to do this on my own. I couldn't risk her...or anyone's life anymore. Yet, I knew deep down in my heart Karane would hunt me to the ends of the earth if I ran for it. The only question was how to get her to understand that simple truth; that only I could do this.

Karane looked in my eyes, and immediately scowled. I realized that look; it was the look she gave me when I swear she was reading my mine. Somehow, she knew me so well I swear she was telepathic or something. I looked away, hoping she hadn't gotten too much.

"Come on Zelda, back to the Sealed Grounds again," she said, leading me away, Skye and Leanne behind us. "We need to find out where to go next."