Dawn had just begun to crest over Gerudo Valley, and Kali was thankful, feeling it chase away the night chill that crept into the dark coach. She had spent most of the night awake, unable to keep still or remain comfortable in her anticipation. She replayed the last time she'd seen Linkin her mind over and over again, her heart pounding in her chest at the memory of their kiss.
She hadn't been able to stop herself. His lips were so warm, the first real comfort she'd received in months since she'd gone undercover with Pallas. He smelled like the wind and rain that cascaded outside the cave. His hands were solid but gentle as he clutched her to him. She had nearly forgotten how steady his touch made her feel. She'd missed him...She'd missed him so much that she had to avoid any thoughts of making it back to him, she'd missed him so much that it physically ached when she thought of him. So she let herself get lost in that single moment. She let the movement of his lips against her own sweep her away from the life she struggled to stay sane in with Pallas's watchful eyes, his horrible shadows, the shining wet mouths of his soldiers.
But then, reality rushed back in. Styx, the guards, Nabooru and she sharply gasped through her nose as the panic overwhelmed her. Her cheeks burned red, and Link did not fail to notice when she pressed against his damp chest, to push him away. He grinned at her, and seemed all too pleased to see that embarrassed flush on her skin. "No, no, no...Not now." she stammered, breathless from her moment of weakness or the panic..or perhaps the heat of the kiss. She struggled to form sentences with those damn hands still squeezing her back, her waist, "If you're caught, and I'm….if we are caught, you'll be killed and I'll be a real prisoner."
Link only chuckled, the rumble of it vibrated through her whole body and she realized….he had pushed her against the cave wall. She was sure her face had caught fire all of a sudden. He'd never been so sure, so direct as to kiss her that way...had he? She questioned many things she ought to remember, but perhaps didn't. When she tried too hard to recall, she only found a headache inducing gap of nothingness in portions of her memory. She could have sworn she'd never forgotten a single detail about him. She shot him a look, "Link, seriously. You can kiss me when our lives aren't in immediate danger."
At that, he stepped back sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck, attempting to bite back that happy grin that made her heart flutter. As if he'd been embarrassed too. "I'm just so….glad to see you. To know that you still know me." he explained softly.
"I couldn't forget you Link. I'd probably die first." She mumbled, unable to keep truths from slipping past her tongue after months of nothing but lies. She startled at her own honesty and then rounded off the statement with a firm plant of her hands on her hips as she added, "You didn't really think he'd get away with it, did you?"
"I didn't want to believe it," he chuckled, "But your acting was really...alarmingly convincing."
She only shook her head at him and gave a long sigh as her arms relaxed at her sides again, "I know. But really, it's time to go."
He reached for her, entangled his fingers with her own and gave a tug as he stepped towards the cave mouth, "Come on then, we can go home together."
But she hung back, an apologetic expression worked onto her face as he glanced over his shoulder. She couldn't make herself separate their hands as her thumb swept a circle over the rough material of his worn, brown gauntlets. She had to admit, she didn't feel ready to let him go already. Kali swallowed and said, "I still have work I need to do here. I have to stay, with my cover intact."
He opened his mouth to speak, probably to argue, but she cut in, "Last night - which you spectacularly almost ruined with your attempt at spying - was only a test to see if I could get away on my own with the dagger I need successfully. But unfortunately, Styx almost always catches me. He is able to move where any shadows exist, and no matter how discreet I am, he always seems to find me. I can't even use one of my portals because Pallas will sense that use of my power if he is nearby. He is so familiar with sensing my abilities now that he could just follow me wherever I go - and I assume the wards on the castle are no longer open to me. But I cannot leave without that dagger, I think it'll be the key to defeating Pallas for good."
Link studied her, his jaw set in a hard, defiant line. He wasn't ready to let her go either. "Are you able to stop the attack on Gerudo Valley?" he asked quietly, his eyes thoughtful.
She frowned apologetically and shook her head, the strands of blonde hair escaping the tight twist it was pulled back in, "I can't. Not without drawing up too many questions with no answers. If I appear too suspicious, I don't think Pallas would bring me to the fight at all."
He frowned at his boots as she felt a forgiving squeeze of his fingers on her hand, as if to say it was alright. But it wasn't. The Gerudos were in mortal danger, and there was nothing she could do until she was in the midst of battle where the chaos would allow her some leeway, making her actions less questionable on the side of the heat of war. "I can tell you that Pallas is having a hell of a time working out the issues with the bottleneck of the valley." Her tone was hopeful, willing to give him anything for Hyrule to work with.
No matter what angle Pallas looked at the maps, what strategy of approach he concocted, there was no way around the choking, narrow entrance to the valley. It meant they would have to fight tooth and nail to tear their way through. They'd have to kill everyone that stood in their way...Which Pallas had no issue with, but he didn't like the idea of sacrificing so much of his monsters to do it. He wanted his army as whole as possible when he faced the royal forces.
Link's free hand scrubbed at his jaw with thought, and the light of an idea began to illuminate those eyes. He reached into one of the leather packs at his belt, and then he turned over the hand he was holding to press something made of cool metal into her palm. When she eyed the item, her brows raised at it. It was a purple handled magnifying glass of some kind, but the lens was tinted an odd, shimmering shade of magenta. It appeared to have a slitted red pupil of an eye in the middle, and three red spikes jutting from the top like exaggerated eyelashes. "Gerudo Valley will be mysteriously empty on the day you attack in….?" Link started, his voice rushed.
"Two days time." Kali clarified as her fingers closed around the handle of the strange item.
"Right," Link continued, and she could see the forming of the plan coming together in his mind, the logic brightened his face, "See if you can convince Pallas to continue to lead the army further west into the desert. There is almost always a sandstorm there, nobody will be able to see or find their way around except you with that lens." He gestured towards the magnifying glass he just handed her.
Then his eyes softened as he gazed into the lens, his fingers squeezed hers again but she sensed it was an involuntary gesture. His voice was more somber as he said, "It was….Impa's, in a way."
Her heart jolted at his words. Her eyes found the lens in her hand once more and she gripped it tighter. A thousand tiny moments of her with her fallen friends flashed in her mind. Her low chuckle, the squareness of her shoulders when Kali was knocked down, the way she quietly observed, thoughts churning in those startling crimson eyes.
"It's called the lens of truth. Bring it to your eye in the storm, and if you see a...phantom." He hesitated on the word, probably considering too late that the knowledge would frighten her, "Don't be afraid to follow the spirit, it'll lead you where you need to be."
Her coach stopped, the suddenness of it pulled her from her memories of that night. She felt the solid shape of the lens of truth in her dress pocket, and the warmth of the gold against her skin at her chest where her triforce necklace was tucked beneath the dark fabric of her clothes. When she glanced out the window, she saw the army as it paused at the threshold of the vast, sandy desert before them. Link had been right about Gerudo Valley itself being empty. There thankfully hadn't been a soul to be found, and Pallas's assumptions had been that it was evacuated, much like Kakariko Village. So the army pressed on, determined that the Gerudos didn't have the ample time to escape the army through the entrance, but only hid themselves far, far back into the back of the valley. With the desert that spanned before them now though, Pallas actually hesitated.
Kali stepped out of the coach and pulled a cloak tightly around her torso to conceal that she clutched something wrapped in the same thick, velvety cloth as when she'd snuck from her tent. She gazed out into the desert, her pulse pounding in her chest, her head. She was so close to the end of her self made in prisonment with Pallas. On the other side of this desert her friends waited for her, but it was up to her alone to make her way there with the dagger in her possession. Well….Not exactly alone if she were to truly follow some kind of ghost. Despite the rise in temperature, the thought of it had her fight back a shudder.
She stumbled towards Pallas, cursing her newfound clumsiness. Since seeing Link again, she was thrown off balance somehow. The mask she'd so carefully constructed for herself in the presence of her enemies gone slightly askew. Her armor hewn from deceitful words and actions came loose in the presence of his affection, his comforting body and easy smiles. Her eyes squinted at the shine of the morning sun against the white and yellow sands. It was blinding, not to mention the gusts of sand that picked up in the slicing wind. There wouldn't be any shadows for Styx to follow her in this time, that was for sure. Even her own shadow would be too small for him to hide in.
"What do you think?" Kali asked from beside the grimacing sorcerer. Little nudges, little words to prick at his pride, which was absolutely his greatest weakness.
He was silent, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. She knew he hated to call off an attack more than anything, fearing it would display vulnerability. She noticed the perspiration that began to bead on the skin of his forehead. It wouldn't take long for the heat to become unbearable.
Pallas peered at her speculatively from the corner of his eye, "You can stay behind."
It wasn't exactly said as an order. It was a rare moment of consideration that Pallas sometimes displayed - a suggestion, maybe even a plea. It made it extremely difficult to not view him as a human being in those moments. She swallowed, the knowledge that she was about to outright betray him weighed on her like a large stone. She hoped it came off more as nervousness in the face of their current challenge. Meek, quiet, reserved, but determined - the ideal mask for her when he was around.
"I won't," she said evenly with a slight lift of her chin.
Pallas's lips twitched, as if fighting back a smirk, and only shrugged his shoulders. "I shouldn't have expected anything less."
In the months he'd spent teaching her how to use her powers to the fullest ability, aspects of her old self had made themselves known in the midst of "learning who she was again". Pallas had found her inherent stubbornness rather charming somehow. Or so he said. "We won't be able to take the coach, it would never make it in those shifting sands. So you'll have to travel with your guards, and stay close." Pallas ordered as he uncrossed his arms and strode away after a significant look at her to listen to his instructions. Her commander, her emperor. The mighty Lord Pallas, always to be obeyed when bid. She had to bite back a frown as the taste of bile filled her mouth.
She gave a single nod, and went back to her coach to collect her guards as well as a scarf to wrap around her neck, to pull over her face as much as possible. She already felt the sweat that began to collect under her cloak as the temperature outside continued to rise. The cloak and scarf were necessary to attempt to block the painful snap of the whirling sands as much as possible, as well as a wicked sunburn. Her guards surrounded her, and Styx moved close to her side. She always felt that they stood too close, gave her no personal space but resisted fidgeting away from their closeness. She would either have to take them out, or figure out how to slip away. Perhaps it wouldn't be so difficult with the sand in their eyes. Except Styx, maybe. For him, she'd have to catch him off guard somehow. Regardless if he was in the shadows or not, or how he was supposed to keep her alive, he was still quite a disabling foe. The only reason she'd been able to slay his brother months before was because his brother hadn't anticipated that level of rage, or savagery from her while in the throes of grief. Styx had always been the more careful of the two.
As usual, they were to wait for the bulk of the army to march ahead of them with Pallas being swept up with it to serve as the commander. When she wasn't being unleashed upon someone, he always preferred that she hung back with her guards to keep her away from any unnecessary danger. She never got a say in what was necessary, and what wasn't.
At first the trek wasn't so bad. The wind tore at their cloaks, and she kept hold of one flap of her own with the same hand that clutched her parcel to her chest to keep it concealed. Then the wind picked up, impossibly fast. It pushed at their bodies, forcing them to lean against the direction of the wind as they struggled to keep pace with the soldiers. The sun got hotter, hotter still. She tried to resist taking sips from the waterskin at her hip just in case she ended up stranding herself somehow, but it was difficult in the dry, endless heat. She squinted her eyes and had the good sense to dip her head against the sharp sting of sand that battered her cheeks. Most of her guards didn't have the same train of thought and when a sudden gust blew a cascade of sand into their eyes, she used the opportunity to slip the lens of truth into her palm. She shifted so that she carried it in the hand that held the cloak close to her body, still hidden beneath the cloth. The metal was warm from her skin, and she could feel the nervous pulse of her own heartbeat pounding against it. She tugged at her cloak with her free hand, attempting to seem like she was coaxing it to better protect her from the slicing sting of sand on her body. Her focus sharpened to a knife point as she firmly grasped the handle of a dagger she'd always carried with her at her hip with cloak's edge still pinched in her fingers. The cold press of it against her overly hot skin soothed her nerves. It would feel very good to use a blade in earnest again.
"Where the hell are these Gerudo?" one of the guards grumbled, adjusting his scarf over his pig-like nose. His voice was like a pair of boulders being scraped together.
Really, Pallas had to be the dumbest man alive to assume that someone from our world - memories or not - wouldn't find this army horrific. But somehow she had managed to remain uncowed by the army in his eyes. Maybe that made him like her more.
"They're probably hoping we will give up after marching circles in this Gods forsaken wasteland," another guard responded, equally as unhappy. He had only one eyeball and horns that reminded her of a ram. "Maybe we should…." he added darkly.
Kali couldn't have that. Her friends were waiting for her on the other side of the wasteland. Though she still struggled with the logic, the sanity, the mere concept of actually following some kind of ghost in order to find them. She supposed it wasn't the craziest thing she'd experienced in Hyrule so far.
"Don't be ridiculous," Styx snapped, bringing the guards to attention again, "We are here to rid this land of the scourge that is the royal family, and to have Pallas as our righteous, glorious emperor. We have almost succeeded. We won't stop now. Have faith in Lord Pallas."
Kali had to fight the urge to roll her eyes so hard she might see her brain. She had faith Pallas would kill anyone in his way, even if it were his own men. She had faith that he would lie, and manipulate, or even burn the entirety of the kingdom to the ground to just rebuild from the ground up. She took a chance against the sands, and glanced up. They had lost sight of the army from lagging behind too severely. It had been consumed in the blinding whiteness of the desert, and she could barely see 10 feet in any direction. Perfect.
Without warning she whirled on the two guards at her back, her arm with the dagger outstretched. She used her powers to speed her strike so that it was barely visible. Their eyes went wide with shock and confusion as blood poured from their throats in a smooth curtain of crimson. She didn't pause to watch them go to their knees as she was upon the two guards in front of her. They hadn't even turned yet, the men she'd slain hadn't made a sound and Styx had only just begun to register that she'd moved at all. She delivered a savage kick to the back of one guard in front of her, effectively knocking him to the sand while she turned on the other and drove the dagger into his heart. It gave a familiar, sickening pop as it broke through his ribs and the guard wheezed wetly. She didn't flinch as he coughed blood into her face, and kicked his body away from her, freeing the dagger. The guard she'd knocked to the sand watched in horror as she descended upon him. Her eyes were cold - the same dead expression she'd used to terrify the Hyruleans she'd been commanded to assault. They deserved to feel the same paralyzing fear, the same creeping dread she'd seen contort the faces of so many innocents these soldiers had slain, or captured.
"You sniveling, lying snake!" It was Styx.
Damn...she'd been too slow - too sloppy to finish off the other guard. She turned just in time to duck away from a dark fist flying for her face. Styx grunted as he missed, his arm overextended. He was too used to her playing the foolish girl with no memories of her friends or her combat training. How many times had she faked being a poor fighter with him looking on, a cruel, amused sneer on his face. How many times had she made herself appear lower than all of them for the sake of staying close? No more playing pretend. She had to do something to slow him down, to keep him busy so they couldn't pursue her as she escaped. She bared her teeth at him as she twisted to begin her sprint away, and before she was out of range from him she gave a swift but deliberate strike of her blade towards his face, towards his left eye. He screamed, both of his hands going to his face as dark, nearly black blood leaked from between his fingers. The strike would blind the eye that it sliced through, and she was sure the wound wouldn't be able to be healed by someone quickly enough for him to regain sight. He would be left with yet another scar from her. All those times he stalked her, made her feel uneasy or inadequate, made her doubt herself, her sanity in these months under Pallas's care - it was extremely satisfying to see him go to his knees before her, a failure in all ways. With Styx too preoccupied with his own injury, and the other guard too terrified to even move, she disappeared into the howling sand storm.
Kali re-adjusted her scarf over her face, wishing that she could just use her powers to create a portal away from the desert - back towards Hyrule field, or Lon Lon Ranch, anywhere else. But Pallas would sense it, and he would know something had gone awry. She didn't let herself pause as she sprinted across the shifting sands, her legs burning with the effort of it. She hadn't been able to maintain her usual training regimen, and while she wasn't starved as she had been while captured the first time, she was significantly weaker than she had been while at the castle. But she couldn't let herself stop for even a second until there was a good amount of distance put between her and the soldiers. Only when she was convinced that she was well and truly alone did she give herself a moment to stop, doubled over with one hand on a knee while the other arm held tightly to her package and the lens of truth. She took great heaving breaths, her lungs felt dry and the new effort of running so far burned like fire - but the pain of pushing herself was familiar, comforting even. She felt that armor she'd carefully constructed through deceit, through careful acting begin to fall away from her, freeing her spirit. The weight of it became less and less with each gasping breath as she straightened, and tilted her head towards the sky. She could be herself again, and hoped that whoever it was carried some semblance of who she'd been before all of this….Worry about it later, she told herself as she sheathed her blade, and used her free hand to pull the lens of truth from beneath her cloak. It glinted in the sun, and her heart continued to gallop in her chest - but it wasn't from the effort of her running anymore. It was with fear, and uncertainty. What would she see when she peered through the glass? She imagined a thousand things. Decrepit, pale corpses, decaying phantoms, eyeless faces with wide, screaming mouths. But Link had assured her that someone would lead her where she needed to be, and she trusted him more than she feared anything else. She closed her eyes tightly in mental preparation as she remembered his lips on hers, her back against the stone of the cave, those pleading blue eyes on hers. She could do this. Nobody else could do it for her.
She brought the lens up to her eye, squinting the other one shut so it was protected against the punishing whip of the sand. It was almost a relief to have the protection of the glass as it tinted the world an odd, pink-ish purple hue. She saw nothing out of the ordinary, and was relieved for only a moment before panic worked into her bones. She was alone in a desert wasteland with a ridiculously large army led by Pallas trying to find its way through. She had made it abundantly clear that she was a traitor after leaving behind Styx and that guard she hadn't had the chance to kill before getting away. If there were no ghosts, she had no chance. She'd either die wandering in the desert, or Pallas would find her and imprison her. She wasn't sure which was worse...She whirled again and again, taking steps in random directions. She was confused, unsure of which way to go.
Then her eye snagged on a shape in the distance. It was barely a wisp of shadow really. A chill crept up and down her spine at the sight of it, and she suddenly felt cold all over despite the desert heat. Then as she identified the shape of the shadow, she was sure her heart stopped dead in her chest. It was so far that all she could do was make out the shape, and no distinct features but she knew in her heart that she recognized that proud poise, the squared shoulders, the posture of a warrior hewn from steel. Even in her old world, she heard that sometimes people saw things they only wanted to see in the desert and it made her want to question what she was seeing as she took small, tentative steps towards the ghost - tried to hold it in her mind that perhaps the lens was playing on what had well and truly burdened her heart. But the shadow only blurred from view, and then bloomed into existence farther away. She was sure this was the phantom she was to follow, but tears stung her eyes. She swallowed a hard lump in her throat, and did as it bid her - as Impa had done many, many times before.
"I'll always be with you. All of you."
Those had been some of Impa's last words to her. The shadow shifted once more, then reappeared a distance away as she drew closer. It stayed far away from her, but not so far that she couldn't spot the blurry shape of it. Surely Impa hadn't meant those words literally.
"Just because my body is gone, doesn't mean I cease to exist."
Those had been the following words and Kali couldn't stop the tears from pouring over her face now. The sands stuck to the wet spots, making her skin feel tight as the tears dried nearly as quickly as they fell. Impa really was still with her. All those months of grief, of believing that Impa was gone and it was all her fault - had she been with her all the while? Helping her, making her stand tall, guiding her just as she was still doing now?
Impa's shadow paused, and allowed Kali to draw even closer than before. Maybe she wanted to speak to her, and she felt a relieved smile pull at her lips. The head of the shadow whipped around, and the shining, crimson light that pulsed where Impa's eyes should have been gave her pause. She felt goosebumps prick at her skin running all down the backside of her body, her neck, her back, her arms, her legs. The eyes were looking through her...no...Past her. Only one thing wiggled it's way into her thoughts. A warning.
Kali just began to turn when her body contorted from the force of the kick that struck her back. Pain burst through her as she fell down, and she yelped as her face hit the sands. She had been unprepared for the blow, and watched with dread as the lens of truth as well as the cloth covered box flew from her hands. Both of the items fell into the sand as Kali rolled, she had to get to her feet. It wouldn't take long for the pour of sands to cover her belongings, but she was frozen in place under the furious, green stare of Pallas. He knew that she'd betrayed him, and she wasn't sure how, but it was plain from the glowing rage that twisted his mouth into a grimace. Perhaps Styx had run straight to him somehow..
"Why." Pallas seethed through grit teeth. It wasn't a question. It was a demand.
She didn't bother to answer as she carefully inched towards the lens of truth and the box. She wasn't sure how he'd managed to find her, and it honestly didn't matter. She knew she just needed to get away with her belongings, and Impa's ghost was her only guide out of this place.
"Your memories were taken. You're supposed to be mine now." He growled as he took a step closer to her. Mine….an ugly, possessive, implication.
Sharp, exploding pain bloomed on one side of her face as her head snapped back and she fell to the sand once again. She hadn't even been able to see his arm as he backhanded her across the face so hard that she was pretty sure she actually saw stars. Bursts of white specks of light and color fractured her vision. She spat blood, her mouth coated with grit from the sands, and then coughed, "You didn't get them all." There was no point in pretending anymore.
Her fingers frantically searched the scalding sands while she kept his eyes captured with her own furious gaze. He knocked her closer to the lens, so where was it? If she lost this lens, she was done for. And she would have failed, yet again.
"So everything we've been through.." Pallas started, his tone giving her pause. Though he still sounded furious, there was a hint of what might have been pain there.
Move! She thought to herself, although something in her twisted guiltily.
"I thought you were going to be my companion, someone to finally reach my goals with." he continued, trying to throw more poison, more accusation into the words - but he failed. It sounded like he knew it too.
She turned her eyes to the sands, sure that her things have been covered by now as her free hand searched frantically. She heard the soft, hissing shift of his footsteps as he slowly approached her. The whipping sands in her eyes combined with the blinding sun made it difficult to even make out her own fingers in the sand. "I thought we were….friends." Pallas finished, sounding like he resented the truth of it.
Kali twisted to peer at him from over her shoulder, her eyes squinted. The iron tang of blood still lingered in her mouth. "Friends don't try to control each other like some kind of puppet, Pallas."
At his expression, she paused again. His eyes weren't glowing with rage, though a hint of it still lingered there, but they were just so sorrowful - so genuinely sad that a shot of guilt rolled through her like a sinister wave. She'd only seen that expression once before….when he told her about his family. She shook her head, willed herself to not think of that awful story. She was sure that thinking of it would only make her stop and get her captured for real again. The guilt was quickly washed away by relief that flooded her as her fingers closed around the burning, metal handle of the lens of truth.
"We probably could have been friends, once. In a different timeline." She continued as she pushed herself to a sitting position, her free hand grasped a handful of blazing sand, "I wish you would have approached me a different way. Less violent, less vindictive, more compromising. I wish you would have been willing to hear me, like real friends do."
Pallas had the good sense to look chastised, his weight shifting awkwardly as he averted his gaze. He looked alarmingly just like what he really was - just a boy that came to a strange, new land after a tragedy whose moral compass was crushed under the weight of so much power.
She brushed blood from her face with the fabric of her cloak at her shoulder, "But you've made it impossible for us to be anything but enemies."
With that, her hand swiped out, casting the grains of sand at him. Her power focused on each speck of it, increasing it's velocity so when the sand struck him - each bit embedded deeply, painfully into his skin, into his eyes.
Pallas cried out, his hands at first going to his eyes. But then he used his power to reverse the path of the grains of sand, freeing his sight as Kali scrambled for the cloth covered package she saw peeking from the sand to her left. She needed to take it with her, or there was no point in leaving at all….The desperation must have shown on her face because Pallas swiftly kicked the box away. Her heart leaped as his face contorted with rage once again, he recognized the box. He should have recognized it from the very start. "You...You tried to steal my dagger! You treacherous little bitch!"
He aimed another fast kick towards her body, and Kali closed her eyes in anticipation of the pain, her hands going up to protect her head. The pain never came. There was a sharp gasp and then a soft thump, like a body hit the sand. When she opened her eyes, her blood ran like ice water in her veins. That chilled spider crept up and down her spine again as she beheld a tall, shifting figure standing before her. Pallas also stared with wide eyes, opened mouthed, frozen with terror. Somehow, Impa's ghost had materialized so that she was not only visible, but had apparently tripped up Pallas mid-kick and knocked him to the ground. Impa's glowing crimson eyes leered down at him menacingly as she stood between them, a protective wall that dared him to try and hurt Kali again.
She was suddenly sure that Pallas had never actually seen a ghost before, because he paled and scrambled away from the specter. Impa shifted so that she gazed down at Kali over her shoulder. Her form began to flicker, as if she was beginning to fade. Impa pointed a long arm in a direction, away from where she sat, also frozen with shock. Her job was to guide Kali, so that's what she was going to do. She could practically hear her even voice commanding her to run.
"But...The box…" Kali stammered, slowly pushing herself to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly as the figure stared her down. The glowing spots of scarlet only narrowed slightly, and she pointed in the same direction again - insistent, annoyed even as she often got when Kali disobeyed.
Her eyes jumped from Impa to Pallas, who looked like he might actually piss his pants. And Kali only nodded, "Thank you, Impa…" she choked out before she sprinted in the direction Impa had pointed her in, the box left behind.
Kali ran until she was out of breath again, and then she walked. It felt like she'd been walking for hours, occasionally glancing through the lens of truth to find nothing. Perhaps the encounter had drained all of Impa's energy...But she wasn't about to stray from the path she was on. She only hoped she wasn't steering herself in hopeless circles. Impa had pointed her in a direction, and all she could do was trust that her teacher was right. Her heart swelled with sorrow, with hope, with grief. But a desert wasteland wasn't the place for tears, there were safer places, a better time for her to let the overwhelming emotion leak from her at last. In the meantime, she drew her thoughts to the beginnings of a plan to defeat Pallas that had started to hatch somewhere in her brain. It wasn't the kind of plan any of her friends liked, the kind that put her in direct peril. But it could work. She would make it work...
Before she could develop the thoughts further she paused, scenting something on the wind that was wildly out of place. Her eyes scanned the immediate - nothing. She peeked through the lens of truth - still nothing. But that smell. It was sweet, floral. It put her in mind of the waterlilies she knew from her past life, though….she couldn't recall a time where she'd ever been anywhere with waterlilies. Then she felt a breeze that was entirely different from the ferocious whip of the painfully consistent desert storm. It was gentler, cool, soothing. Her feet took off, her legs sore and burning. She didn't care. The smell grew stronger as she sprinted through the sands, making her feel much slower than she was actually moving.
Then all at once, the storm cleared. Her feet were still planted firmly in loose sand, but the wind abruptly relented, the sand no longer assaulted her skin, blinded her eyes. She blinked several times, to assure herself that she wasn't hallucinating the pretty blue oasis before her, surrounded by what appeared to be some manner of palm trees, greenery, pops of color that must have been the tropical flowers she smelled on the air. Surrounding the oasis was the gerudo clan, they stood or sat in small and large clumps, and watched her warily. But they were safe, out of harm's way. They were still armed, and smartly so - ready for if the enemy happened across this blessed place. Kali doubted it. She was suddenly sure that the army had probably separated and would be wandering the desert hopelessly for a long while before they could regroup again. The thought brought her a vicious sense of satisfaction.
Then, her eyes settled on a particular group that stood out from the rest. Princess Zelda disguised as Sheik, whose hand came up to her mouth with surprise, her crimson eyes wide. Kiden, who was fully equipped with his potion master's goggles that protected his eyes. She didn't need to see his eyes to know he was glad to see her burst through the storm, his posture showed it all as it sagged under the weight of the relief. And finally Link, who took a tentative step towards her, looked as tightly wound up as a coil. His eyes scanned her with a pensive expression, taking in her bruised face, the dried blood that wasn't all her's crusted with sand. Then he outstretched his arms towards her slightly, an invitation.
She needed no more persuasion than that as she rushed towards the group. A bright, wide smile broke over her face as she sped forward, and she realized that it was the first real smile that pulled at her lips in months. She threw herself into Link's arms, squeezing tight as she slumped against him. Her exhaustion overtaking her body, all the remaining strength bleeding from every cell in her body. He supported her weight fully, easily. She felt the firm press of his mouth against her hair.
Tears came unbidden from her eyes, and she gave a quiet sob into Link's shoulder as he supported her. She'd missed it so much, missed them all so much. Safety. Comfort. Her friends. The ability to be herself again. The boy that had found her again, and again, and again.
Finally, after so many months of enduring lonely nights filled with silent tears, facing people who had once been her friends, careful, such careful actions, living in constant fear of discovery, of messing up everything she'd worked so hard to achieve, making herself watch people be tortured, reduced to dust, bloody battles.
After enduring it all alone, she was finally home.
Author's notes: Shew! Sorry for the slight delay on this one! I was traveling over the weekend and I also edited this a few different times. I've also begun doodling some scenes or artwork from this fic and I was wondering if anyone that actually enjoys this series would actually like to see things like that? If so, what scenes in particular?
I'm going to throw up my twitter stuff cause - yknow...why not? Then you can keep up with me there if you'd like, and it's easier to communicate with me that way. Thank you for reading! Let me know your thoughts!
Twitter: KaliMonsterrrr (with 4 r's, if that helps)