Chapter 4- Searching for Something

Link sat with his feet dangling over the edge of Skyloft, waiting for Zelda to return. He'd borrowed a sword from Eagus and the Sparring Hall, and had given his swordmaster a brief explanation of where they were going. He didn't want to make too big a deal about leaving, since this trip was only temporary. Besides, in the past few months, everyone had been used to seeing him come and go without much conversation, not that he was the biggest talker on the island anyway.

So, when he heard heavy footsteps approaching, he couldn't figure who would even bother to say goodbye to him.

"Link," the unmistakable voice of Groose said.

The surprise appearance had Link springing to his feet. Despite how Groose had acted on the Surface, Link wondered if their return would bring back the bully who'd been tormenting him for years, and Link wasn't one to lack for caution.

"Groose," Link said, brushing himself off.

"Zelda said you're going back to Grooseland for a while. I want to come."

Despite himself, Link grinned. "It's the Surface, not Grooseland. No one will ever go for that."

"Zelda will. I saved her life, after all."

"Okay," Link snickered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "We're coming back after this. We just want to talk to the water dragon. You don't need to come this time."

Groose ran a hand through his hair, fixing it slightly as the wind lightly moved a strand or two out of place. "Yeah, well, I don't think my job is done on Grooseland," he emphasized with a grin, but it faded into something far more serious than Link had ever seen on Groose's face. "Granny… I… she just disappeared. Maybe she needs my help. People can't just disappear! Maybe she used some magic like Zelda has? She could be in danger! I want to go back and find her."

Link shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "I don't think she's coming back. She was with Zelda all those years, guarding her. I think magic was what kept her alive, not what made her disappear."

But Groose was insistent. "Listen, Link, I'm going to go look for her. If she's not there, if there's no trace of her, I'll accept that, but not without trying."

"Okay then. Do you have some things packed?"

Groose scoffed. "Excuse me, you're not the only hero. Of course I packed. I'm ready anytime Zelda or any other damsel needs me."

"What did you just call me?"

Link grinned as he watched Zelda appear behind Groose, poking him in the back.

His face turned a burning shade of red, and he began to stutter. "I-I-uh… Zelda… hi."

She glared at him, and Link watched Groose's face turn from nervous and embarrassed, to absolute infatuation the longer she looked at him. Link had to bite his lip to stop from laughing.

"Zel, he's coming with us to look for Gran- uh, Impa."

Her eyes darted between the two. "Impa is gone, Groose."

"No, I won't accept it until I look for her myself. I need to know."

Link made a face at Zelda, one that said to just let it go. If Groose needed proof, there was nothing they could say to stop him. She just nodded, and that small gesture had Groose beaming.

Link stretched out, trying to work some of his sore muscles. "Pipit seemed pretty excited that he might see the Surface. I don't know if he wants to stay, but he definitely wants to come down and try."

"Oh, he'll come," Zelda said confidently. When Link looked suspiciously at her, she grabbed his arm and leaned closer to him. "Karane is coming. She wants an adventure, and she's not an Outer Sky knight. She knows this is the biggest one she'll ever have."

"Oh great," Link joked, "If we don't get anyone else, it'll be you, me, and Karane living there forever."

"Forever?" Groose repeated.

Zelda gave him an exasperated look. "Groose, I just talked to you about it. Did you not listen?"

"I… was… distracted," he managed, all but drooling over her.

Zelda rolled her eyes. "Yes. Link and I are responsible for the Triforce, so after this, we'll be leaving for good to guard it. We're inviting anyone who wants to join before the cloud barrier heals itself and closes for good."

"You can't just re-open it? Aren't you the Goddess?"

With a bland look, Zelda tried not to take that as a subtle insult. "I made the barrier to protect Skyloft for centuries when I was much stronger. The barrier was meant to keep the greatest evil at bay. It was the strongest magic I ever wielded. If I can re-open it, it wouldn't be for many years until after I get stronger. I believe I could act now while the barrier is open and return Skyloft to the Surface, but I don't think I could do it once it closes. I can't touch the barrier itself yet."

"So bring Skyloft down."

Again, Zelda shot him a bland look and gestured around. "They don't get a say? That's what I asked you to do originally. I asked you to get a feel for what most people would want. Pipit and Karane are going to ask. Hopefully, Fledge will come back soon and he can help us, too."

"Oh, Zelda, leave it to me! I'll get Cawlin and Stritch on it! Don't leave without me!" And with that, Groose ran back to the Academy, his arms swinging wildly as he ran.

Link glanced at Zelda with a grin. "That's the last person I ever expected to join us."

"Agreed."

"Hey," Link said, pulling her against him. "We told your father about us. Does that mean I can do this in public now?"

She leaned back against him. "Yes."

"Good."

They stayed like that for a good while, just enjoying the peace of being able to hold the other without fear of anything. There was no fear of being caught, no fear of being killed. For the first time since they'd gone off together into the Outer Sky for a brief date, they were completely at peace.

"Will you miss it here?" she said, turning into Link so she could look him in the eyes.

"Yeah, I think so. I'll miss our spot by the pumpkin patch. But, for all the dangers we faced, I really miss the Surface, and it has only been a few days."

"I understand," she muttered, watching Groose run back from the Academy. "Do you trust him? After all the years or torment he put you through, you want him to come with us, truly?"

"I'd say it could be the will of the Goddess, but you'd know all about that, wouldn't you?"

She scoffed. "Like I said, there are three others. I'm not all-powerful, especially after giving up my immortal form."

Link grinned to himself, his eyes off Zelda. "I have the coolest girlfriend."

"You do," she agreed with a laugh.

"You're supposed to say something nice back, not agree with me."

She patted his arm and grabbed her things to sling over her shoulder, watching Groose huff a bit too heavily as he jogged back.

"Wait!"

But it wasn't Groose calling to them. Two figures were behind him, and soon, two became four.

Link and Zelda looked at each other with a groan. Groose was immediately trailed by Cawlin and Stritch, both running while their arms flailed wildly.

"Groose is enough of a handful," Zelda muttered with her arms crossed. "We are not bringing them too. Not yet. It can't be you, me, Groose, Cawlin, and Stritch on the Surface."

Link made a face as he watched, but his expression changed when he saw the other two figures who chased behind Cawlin and Stritch.

Karane and Pipit.

The five of them caught up to where Link and Zelda still stood, talking all at once in a horrible overlap of noise.

Link you can't-

But if Groose is going-

Please don't leave us!

I'm going to see-

Link groaned and turned to Zelda for help.

"Stop!" she called, relishing the silence. "What's happening?" They all began to speak at once again, and her hand shot out in front of her. "One at a time, please."

"We're coming too," Pipit said. "You told us that there were still monsters down there, and you might need us. You're our best friends, and if you're talking to dragons or whatever you said you're doing, we'll keep the area safe."

Karane nodded beside him. "I'm coming with you when you go for good. I can start clearing the area you think is best for us to live. We have to make sure it's safe for when everyone comes down."

Link grabbed the back of his neck nervously. "They aren't Keese. Those things are the size of a person. They have weapons that harness lightning energy, they have armor, they're not particularly smart, but they're strong."

"We're Knights of Skyloft just like you are, Link," Karane said defiantly. "You might have more experience with them, but you had the same amount of training as us when you first went down, and you came back. We'll figure it out. And besides… someone has to be the first. We'll learn, and we'll help train any other Knights who come down."

"Give it up, Link," Pipit smiled, clapping him hard on the shoulder. "We're coming. And if you wanted this to be a romantic trip with Zelda… we're ruining that for you and we don't feel guilty about it."

Zelda giggled and grabbed Karane's arm. "Link, you know the monsters better than I do, but you defeated Ghirahim and Demise. It's mostly safe. I think that, if they want to come along now, they should."

"Hey!" Cawlin shouted, "Boss, you can't go! You can't leave us! Please!"

His voice was so desperate that Link almost felt bad… almost.

Groose crossed his arms. "I just gave you an important job! Don't go crying about it, you gotta do it!"

Well, Groose wasn't completely reformed.

"Okay," he muttered, defeated. "We'll let everyone know."

"Good!" Groose shouted, though this time it was more pomp for Zelda, a satisfied look on his face.

"Great, it's all settled," Zelda said, hurrying Karane to the edge before anyone else could say another word. "Is everyone ready?"

When they all nodded, and Cawlin and Stritch stepped away, Zelda took a breath and turned one more time to the Academy. She could see her father in the gateway, watching them. Though she couldn't see his expression, just the sight of him left her as miserable as she had been after telling him she was going. And she couldn't look at him anymore.

Jumping off Skyloft, she called her Loftwing and flew towards the Faron break in the clouds, not bothering to wait for Link or the others. She knew they'd follow.

Pipit and Karane were close behind her, but Groose grabbed Link's arm before he could jump. "Listen, Link, Zelda and I… we have something special. But I saw how you two acted when you were reunited. You're best friends, and you love her. I don't want to stand in your way, but I love her too. I thought you should know that I didn't plan on going down without a fight!"

"Groose," Link said gently. "You get that we're together, right? We have been since before the Wing Ceremony."

Groose's smile faded, and he shoved Link to the side before jumping off Skyloft without another word. Link rolled his eyes and followed.

/

Without the blinding light of the map pieces blasting constant holes in the cloud barriers, the Loftwings were able to descend far enough to reach the Surface themselves. They seemed far less impressed with the fact that there was a world below than they were by the miniature versions of themselves, these little birds that would strain to carry a flower. They pecked at the ground, and Link wasn't sure if he should stop his Loftwing from attacking them, or if it was simply trying to say hello.

The three Surface veterans patted their Loftwings affectionately and left them to chase some new friends (hopefully friends) across the dirt and grass.

Groose had no sooner set foot on the Surface then taken off towards the large building where Impa had been. It left Pipit and Karane to look around, their mouths dropped in a mix of awe and some slight horror.

"It's… huge," Pipit murmured, looking around at the towering trees and the invisible horizon.

"Oh, Goddess, is this real?" Karane whispered, bending to feel the grass. There was something about it that distinctly felt less like the grass on Skyloft. It wasn't as worn, a bit pricklier, but entirely new in its own way.

Link grinned as he watched. "We're going to go check inside and then come right back, okay?"

Both Karane and Pipit murmured some sort of acknowledging noise, entranced by everything around.

Link and Zelda followed Groose inside, though much more slowly than he'd gone, not expecting anything, but hoping nonetheless.

When they opened the door and saw Groose on his hands and knees, crawling to check the small crevices for any sign of Granny, what they'd already known in their hearts was confirmed. She was gone for good.

"Maybe… maybe she went into the woods? Or to the statue?" Groose tried, but Zelda went over to him to offer him a comforting hand on his arm.

"Maybe," Link said, looking around again. The building was huge, and in his hurry to find Zelda for months, he'd barely taken a moment to appreciate the structure itself. It was tall and imposing, despite the years that showed through the broken roof and the greenery that encroached on every surface. But with a little work, it could definitely be made livable, even if it was only temporary until they could build a home. Or, well, figure out how to build anything.

"Groose," Zelda said, brushing the dirt off the place she's last seen Impa. "You should keep looking. We'll go see Faron and then we'll come back here."

"Mmmm," Groose muttered, checking behind a pillar, for what exactly, they weren't sure, but they let him look without description and headed outside into the air that tasted different than Skyloft did.

Zelda grabbed Link's hand, eager to forget the past and to look forward to the future. "So, this is the first time we've been outside the Sealed Grounds and the temple together."

Link nodded, thinking how wild it was that he'd made this trip a hundred times, and Zelda herself had made it, but never together. He tightened his grip on her, though his other hand wasn't far from his sword. Since Demise, he wasn't sure exactly how many monsters still littered the path to Faron.

"Do you think it's wrong to ask people to come here while there are still monsters around?" Zelda asked, looking into the trees warily.

"There are monsters everywhere," Link said evenly. "Even we have Skytails, Chu-Chus, Keese. The Knights are trained to handle that." He glanced around and saw Pipit and Karane wandering around, touching every bit of dirt, every flower… everything. Link realized that he'd been deprived of the chance to experience the Surface for the first time while being at absolute peace, as was Groose. They'd both jumped through the Sky to follow someone during a time of crisis. "Pipit and Karane will get out there eventually, and they'll give it a look. If all of the Knights came down, they'd deal with keeping everyone safe here too."

Zelda smiled as they walked, though it wasn't entirely joyful. "Half of me knows that bringing Skyloft down is the right decision. Another half of me wonders why I think I have the right to say anything about the future of Skyloft."

"Is that just self doubt, or is it the Goddess?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. She's so strong sometimes. It's like that part of me is screaming to return normalcy to the Surface. I'm almost afraid, though. I'm afraid that she'll take control of me and do something that I'll regret. Like, I won't be able to stop myself from bringing Skyloft down, even if the people say no."

Link nodded carefully, trying to understand every word of it. "Is there anything I can do?"

Zelda looked at him with a much happier smile. "No, but thank you. You've sacrificed more than enough already."

He scoffed. "It's not a sacrifice, trust me. Just let me know if there's anything at all I can do." Link pulled her to a stop and grinned. "Hey, I want you to officially meet someone who's been dying to talk to you."

He led Zelda over to a Goron sitting on the ground with a map in his hand and a notebook in his lap, jotting something down. At Link's approach, the Goron looked up. "Oh, hey bud! It's good to see you again!" His eyes drifted to Zelda. "Oh hey, you! Good to see you again!"

"Gorko!" Link greeted. "Good to see you again! Has the temple been calm?"

"Yes, yes, since the statue there fell, it's been calm. I wonder why? When you were here last, it was a flurry of activity. You're a real magnet for trouble, eh bud?"

Nodding along with a guilty look on his face, Link turned to Zelda. "This is Zelda."

"Oh!" Gorko cried. "The girl you were following!" he turned to Zelda, not realizing the red creeping into Link's face. "I'd say good to meet you, but we crashed into each other just before I met Link here!"

Zelda bit her lip and nodded. "I seem to remember crashing into you and screaming. You were the first one I ever met down here on the Surface, so I apologize for the… rude introduction."

Gorko burst into laughter. "No worries, Zelda! You were the first human I've met too! I must say, I always wanted to find one, seeing them in books and paintings and all, but I'd never managed to find one until you! Then Link!"

"And now," Link said, pointing behind them, "there are three others down that way who will be more than happy to talk to you about anything you want to know."

Gorko blinked a few times. "...More?" He grabbed his journal and tucked it under his arm. "It was good to meet you, Zelda! And I hope to talk to you later on as well!"

"Good to meet you too!" she called as he practically ran away.

Link turned back to her, an excited smile on his face. "Well, it's just you and me. Are you ready to find a dragon?"

Zelda laughed and grabbed his arm in anticipation. "What kind of world do we live in where that is a real sentence?"

Link chuckled. "Welcome to the Surface."

A/N: Sometimes I really struggle to write these chapters because I want to do what I did in A Wing and a Prayer, where each chapter has a bit of time that passed between them rather than everything happening back-to-back. I might do the next chapter with a mini time jump because I'm having severe writer's block doing it this way. I'm going to play around with the next chapter to try to make it work, so I might not post next week while I figure that out because this is feeling slow to me. If you're feeling like it's slow too, or you think it's pacing fine, let me know because I'd love to hear how this seems outside my brain.

Reviews: zViridian: I love their strained relationship, honestly. She's a god but also a teen, and he's a concerned father who can't figure out how to deal with the newness of it all. Oracle of Hylia: So am I honestly hahaha! Queen Emily the Diligent: I'd never want to have that conversation. Awkward levels are through the roof. Huckle: Hahaha! I saw your review on Wing and Prayer too! I'm glad you liked that one! Honestly, Skyward Sword needs more love, let's be serious here. Also, that's beyond kind of you to say and thank you so much for even thinking that hahahaha! Here's hoping this one lives up to expectations, especially after the first one!

Duke Serkol: You get your own section because I'm responding to both your reviews here! But yeah, I'm 100% fine with you getting nitpicky and pointing things out so keep going! It definitely doesn't bother me at all!

So, yeah, the chapter you weren't really here for I knew was mostly an exposition chapter without much else, but I wanted to (not to sound weird) word vomit all the backstory stuff out at once so I could keep the plot going from here on out. I used the manga as the backstory because that's really all I had to go off of. Honestly, I think it's a really interesting few pages, but it's really bizarre (like with the talking Loftwing and stuff). I generally enjoy the mangas, despite their usual lack of canon (like the most recent A Link to the Past one having that girl Ghanti in it), but the Skyward Sword one just felt really out of place. I didn't catch the same inconsistencies that you did though, I just rolled with what it said and didn't give it much extra thought (like the Master Sword, honestly I just said "yep sounds great" and went on). I'm pretty sure I had mentioned Hylia's Link in the first fic too, so I'm going to stick with that as my background, but I do totally get what you're saying.

For the people on Skyloft, I thought that there was a scene right after the wing ceremony where Gaepora says he's the only one who knows the stories which is where that came from. I haven't actually played the game over since before starting the first fic, so the details are definitely gone. The three goddesses aren't really going to come into play anyway, it was just more like explaining how prominent Hylia is for them but not the other goddesses.

With Demise, I love how many of the games have a human as the bad guy, not a god or anything. Ganondorf is legit a human (with a lot of things going for him Mr. Gerudo King, Triforce of Power, magic beast man), but he's just a guy who harnessed magic, and since Demise is his spiritual predecessor, I figured he should have some similar human origin. Though (please don't hate me lol) I was also thinking of the cartoon where Ganon and his pals pop out of holes in the ground from his underworld as the "place" where the creatures came from in the first place.

The Goron is in this chapter though!

Okay, I think that was it for that review! Next one! I'm not sure if you read the other fic first or went straight to this one, but that scene with just Link and Zelda on the roof of the Academy was the epilogue of the other fic, so it was kind of rounding that out, and they'd had 10 years of friendship and had been basically falling in love without 'knowing' it (like not a couple), so it was about a month of officially being together, plus 10 years of history. But I also try not to forget that they're still hormonal teens too, despite being in such adult situations and growing up faster than others probably would, so I think them saying they're in love after about a month officially wouldn't be too big a stretch.

I actually went and fixed the Zelda thing, because I meant it in a different way than it came across. I meant that Hylia had been charged with guarding the Triforce so she had it for a millennium, or however long it was, and that's why it calls to her, not that Zelda had a literal piece. I just didn't do a good job being clear there, so thank you!

Yeah, at least in my opinion (and this fic) the barrier is definitely closing, which is what Zelda's current dilemma is: does she bring Skyloft down and everyone's lives are uprooted as they're brought to a dangerous Surface, or does she let them stay in blissful ignorance unless they actually choose to come down. I personally don't think the island itself would fall naturally since other games have floating islands, but the barrier wouldn't open naturally.

I'd been dying to do the Zelda/Gaepora talk for a long time, but the opportunity never fit in until now, so I had a bit too much fun with that part hahaha!

I'm definitely going to talk about the Loftwing situation in the fic, so I won't go into it here. It was part of my problem with the ending of the game where everyone and the birds ditch Link and Zelda and fly away to Skyloft. It just makes it seem like everyone is outta there! The whole inbreeding thing is why I expanded the Sky in the first place, just because everyone would end up closely related with how few people they had in the game, and that's sketchy, so I was never planning to send Link and Zelda down alone. To me though, the game made it seem like they had a creepy Adam and Eve vibe with them being the only two still on the Surface at the end. To be completely honest, I wish I could forget the Ooccas ever existed, let alone be potential devolved Skyloftians bahahaha!

I think I responded to everything?! If I missed something, I didn't mean to!