Sorry that this took so long guys! I just started school this past week and I have been SUPER busy going into my senior year! Yay! XD Anyway, thanks for all of the uplifting reviews from the last chapter! They made me feel a lot better about myself! hahahaha I'm kinda crazy like that :) So anyway, thanks to zelinkforeverlovers and TwilightWakerofTime for following! Now onto the reviews!
Lovely girl 10-If you think Fi was epic there, then just wait until the chapter after this one ;D And as for Zelda, this chapter is pretty much focused on her, so enjoy! And reading this one first is the best way to do it, since its the first in the trilogy as a whole, I'm just writing them out of order because... uh... I don't really know... :o
ixPinkRoses-No no no no no! Book 1 is nowhere close to finished yet! There's still a whole lot more to this one, I can promise you that! :D
ShadowNinja1011-Thanks!
Mekuda-I knew that I had to add that little easter egg in here somewhere ;D And Link is pretty cute, isn't he? hahaha and if you like Sheik now, you'll absolutely LOVE her later on! I've barely even gotten started with her yet! And there's plenty more Sheikah history on the way! I can't wait to write it! And yes, these interlopers are the same ones from TP, who will eventually become the Twili. I'm basically retelling their story in my own unique way :D
Zelink005-Oh don't worry about Sheik. She may seem kinda mean to Link now, but their relationship will develop a great deal later on as they grow into good friends and partners! And thanks for the self esteem boost! I needed that!
silverhawk88-Fi's themes in Skyward Sword are just infectiously beautiful! I often listen to her various songs as I'm writing to give me inspiration :) Epona is gonna be awesome later on in the story, so keep your eyes peeled for her! And I'm glad you liked the back and forth between Link and Sheik! There's definitely more to come later on! And thanks for your review on chapter 8!
And that's if for all of the many supportive reviews we got last time! Keep em coming! Enjoy chapter 10!
Chapter 10: Lost in the Shadows
"Love will lead us all to smithereens.
Dying is easy, I believe my love and my love relieves me..."
-Lean, The National
Zelda didn't remember being knocked unconscious by her captors, but when she came to, she found herself surrounded by an immense darkness. When she opened her eyes, she was unable to see even an inch in front of her and the air of the space around her was thick and stagnant, making it hard to breathe. The only thing she could make out was the cold, hard stone floor beneath her as she sat up and tried to make sense of where she was. She remembered her encounter with the rebel Sheikah, as well as making a deal with them to exchange her freedom for Link's life. Zelda frowned as she recalled their bittersweet farewell before their cruel separation, one that she hoped and prayed would not last long.
Before Zelda could even try to work her way through the extensive darkness to find a way out of it, a stone door on the other side of the large chamber that she was in slowly started to slide open, flooding the room with a dull fire light. In it, the girl could see that the room she was in was large, built of strong and sturdy stone, but empty aside from her. There were no windows to let any other source of light in, but there were two doors on either side of the room, neither of them locked for some reason. Zelda only had a moment to take in her surroundings however, as three figures came into the room through the opened door.
Veress herself, followed by two of her comrades filed in, one of them carrying a torch that provided the fire that lit up the room. The leader of the rebels wore a wicked, triumphant smirk on her face, though there was a slight look of irritation there as well as she approached Zelda. The girl rose to her feet and watched her new adversary warily, wanting to be prepared just in case her captors intended to inflict harm upon her. About halfway through her saunter across the wide room, Veress stopped and simply stared at Zelda silently for a moment with a look of both twisted delight and close examination.
"So this is the honored and all powerful goddess Hylia reborn as a mortal?" Veress asked sarcastically. "I have to say that I'm not impressed. The legends say that you used to be quite impressive back when you were immortal, but now... You're nothing."
Zelda glared at the former Sheikah, trying to hide her otherwise obvious fear and replacing it with bravery and boldness. "At least I'm not a traitor like you and your followers," she said defiantly, crossing her arms and standing firm.
Veress's calm expression did not change. Rather, she slowly started to step closer to Zelda, her hands placed behind her back as she spoke quietly. "I don't think you get it, Hylia," she said darkly. "You are our prisoner. By your own choice, you gave up your freedom and safety. And for what? The life of your foolish hero? A lot of good that's going to do either of you in the end when we get our hands on the Triforce. But you won't have to worry about that... By then, both of you will be long dead, I'm sure..."
"But you said that you weren't going to hurt him!" Zelda protested angrily.
"And I kept my word..." Veress scoffed in annoyance. "But I think both you and I know that if I don't kill him, whatever has started to overtake his mind will..."
Zelda couldn't hide the fear and dread in her expression as Veress brought this up. "Ah..." the rebel leader mused as she slowly started to circle the girl, who stood still and apprehensive. "I see that I've hit a nerve, haven't I? Watching the two of you from the shadows certainly has aided us well... Thanks to our careful reconnaissance, we know everything about both of you..."
"You couldn't possibly know what's wrong with him!" Zelda proclaimed firmly, skeptically believing that even Link himself didn't know what was really wrong.
"You're right," Veress smirked as she stopped in front of Zelda. "I don't know. So..." the Sheikah woman leaned into the girl's face menacingly with a taunting grin. "Why don't you let me in on his little secret, hm? After all, its obvious that you know..."
"I don't," Zelda said broadly, keeping a straight, brave face.
"Don't try to deny it to save his skin," Veress said. "The two of you are constant companions! You have to know something!"
"I told you, I don't know anything!" Zelda argued. "And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you! Why do you even care in the first place?"
Veress was silent for a moment, her expression mysterious yet ominous. "The answer to that question is quite simple, Zelda," she said, her dark crimson eyes almost glowing from the soft firelight of the room. "I care because I know that nothing, absolutely nothing, is ever what it seems. Take us for example. Upon a first glance, we all appear to be typical Sheikahs, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. We are by far superior to those who swear fealty to you. We have power that you couldn't even begin to imagine and soon, all who live in this land shall see it first hand. And then there's you... One would think that you're nothing more than a simple human girl, never thinking that you could possibly the goddess reborn as a mortal unless they were told that. And finally, we have your dear hero... On the outside, he looks just fine, but you and I both know that something is terribly wrong with him. When my followers and I defeated him, I sensed a dark presence stirring within him, something undeniably evil... Something that seems to seek your downfall just as much as we do..." Veress smirked when she saw the clear look of fear on Zelda's face as she spoke her cold-hearted words.
"You're wrong!" the girl proclaimed desperately, balling both of her hands up into fists near her sides. "Link would never hurt me!"
"Oh really?" Veress asked wickedly. "Then what's that?" she pointed to the cut that the hero had unintentionally left on Zelda's shoulder, which was still open and lightly bleeding through the tear it had left in her dress. The girl glanced at it and then set her gaze on the stone ground beneath her, letting out a quiet sigh of defeat.
"That wasn't his fault..." she muttered softly, but Veress simply let out a cold laugh.
"But it was done with his sword, wielded by his own hand, was it not?" she asked pointedly. "So you mean to tell me that you're going to defend the 'hero' who could have very well killed you back in the woods? The same hero that you gave up your freedom for? How foolish..."
Zelda's anger towards her captor grew with each condescending, bitter word that Veress said, until finally she could contain her rage no longer. "Stop it!" she shouted in fury. "Its not foolish! I love Link and he loves me! That's how I know he's coming to save me and he's going to stop you!"
"Love?!" Veress scoffed callously. "Don't make me laugh! I knew you were a fool Hylia, but that's absolutely absurd! You really think your hero loves you as much as you claim he does? Don't you think that if he did, he'd fight harder against whatever's wrong with him for your sake instead of letting both of you fall victim to it?"
"He's doing the best he can!" Zelda protested with determination, not letting the Sheikah's harsh criticisms get to her. "And he will win in the end! He's not as weak as you think he is! His spirit is unbreakable, which means that no matter what you or anyone else does to him, he will not shatter. He can carry on through anything. He's done it before and I know he can do it again!"
Veress's smile faded as she gave the girl a piercing gaze. "That so called 'unbreakable' spirit of his will do nothing for him when I'm through with him," she said twistedly, bloodlust showing in her scarlet eyes. "In fact, just so I can crush any useless shred of hope you have left, I'm going to tell you exactly what I plan on doing to him. Once we capture him, we're going to bring him here, to our temple of shadows, a place we've been building specifically for the two of you to serve as a grave for both of you. And then, I will personally see to it that he's tortured so much and for so long, that his spirit will break like a twig within a matter of days. And the best part of it all is that you will watch every agonizing second of it. Your screams of anguish and sorrow will be mingled with his, until you both die a slow, painful death of grief and heartbreak. Do you understand, your grace?"
As the rebel leader made her sadistic speech, Zelda could not hide her fear and panic. She was down right terrified of what Veress had just told her, but she was not afraid of what would happen to her. Rather, she was terrified of what would happen to Link if the traitors had their way. They intended to kill him in the cruelest way they possibly could simply for their own perverse pleasure and they'd force her to watch every awful second of it. Her heart and mind could not bear to let such a despicable thought in. Warm tears began to steam down her cheeks as she looked down in fear. Despite her best efforts, Veress had finally succeeded in unnerving and frightening her to her very core. However, in the depths of her fear, Zelda remembered something very important. "You promised that you wouldn't kill him..." the girl whispered hollowly as she locked eyes with her captor. "We made a deal!" her voice began to bolden as her fear turned to anger. "My freedom for his life! You can't just go back on your word like that!"
"And who says I can't?" Veress smirked as she crossed her arms triumphanly.
"But that isn't fair!" Zelda argued bitterly.
"Nothing is ever fair!" Veress said harshly, something other than anger starting creep into her tone. "Its not fair that you disregarded the strength of our tribe and tossed us to the wayside despite all we had done for you in the past, but you did it anyway! So don't tell me what's fair and what isn't when you don't even know what fair means!"
Zelda was silent for a moment as she glared at Veress, her mouth set in a tight line of frustration. "You're wrong," she said quietly after some time. "I never disregarded you in any way."
"But you did," Veress said, scowling hatefully at the girl. "The moment you chose a fool hero to take on Demise instead of letting us do it was your fatal mistake."
"What?!" Zelda exclaimed in shock, realizing what all of this was really about. "You can't honestly think that the Sheikah tribe would have been able to fight Demise and win! He would have killed all of you, like he almost did in the ancient days! That's why Hylia- I mean, that's why I decided to choose a hero in the first place! To keep your tribe from seeing any more bloodshed! Only the power of the Triforce could have defeated Demise, and only someone with an unbreakable spirit can use the Triforce properly. Face it, Veress; if it wasn't for Link, then there wouldn't be a surface left for you to try and conquer now. Demise would have destroyed it and slaughtered every one of you in an instant if Link hadn't defeated him!"
"Lies!" Veress hissed furiously, drawing one of her two knifes and pointing it right at Zelda. "You claim that your hero saved you and every one else on the surface, but that's complete nonsense! He only got rid of the one thing that truly stood in the way of us and the Triforce back then. But now, its the only two of you who are in our way to true power." The Sheikah took in a deep breath as her anger started to subside, though she still kept the tip of her knife poised towards the girl. "But you won't impede our path for much longer... After all that is why we brought you here. I can't have you running around free to get in the way by secreting the Triforce away from us. But I didn't come in here just to gloat over you, Hylia." A small grin crossed the rebel leader's face as she continued. "I want information."
"What kind of information?" Zelda asked suspiciously, keeping her eye on the knife aimed for her chest.
"Oh, nothing really..." Veress said casually. "Just how to break that little seal you cast on the Triforce..."
"I told you," Zelda said firmly. "I'm not telling you."
"Oh, but you will..." Veress said darkly. "We can both be sure of that..." She was silent as she sheathed her knife and stepped towards Zelda once more. The girl moved away carefully until her back was against the wall as the Sheikah's fingers began to glow an ominous shade of red.
"W-what are you going to do?" Zelda asked, watching her foe warily with wide eyes.
Veress grinned wickedly as she stopped only a few mere inches away from Zelda. "You'll see," she said mysteriously and before Zelda could even react, the rebel leader, pressed her fingertips hard against the girl's forehead, using her strange, evil magic to completely halt any movements she could have made. Zelda's vision went black and her body grew numb for an indefinite amount of time. When her vision finally did seem to return to her, she gasped in shock and relief at what she now saw. "Link!" she cried out tearfully as she took in the sight of her hero standing on the other side of the room. When he heard her call for him, Link looked over at her and returned her overjoyed and relieved smile.
"Zelda!" he called out to her as he began to hurry towards her. As excited as the girl was to be reunited with the hero, she found that she still could not move an inch and she also realized that Veress and her guards were nowhere to be seen. She took in a sharp gasp when she pieced everything together and immediately she shouted out to Link in newfound fear.
"Link, wait!" she cried, her eyes wide as she scanned the supposedly empty room once more. "Its a trap!"
The very moment that she called out to him, the hero stopped running as he let out a sharp cry of shock and pain before collapsing to the ground only a few feet in front of her. Zelda screamed when she saw the long knife that was buried into his back deeply, positioned extremely close to his heart as blood started to trickle from the fatal wound. "No!" she shouted, desperately trying to move, but failing. She wanted nothing more than to reach him, to hold him in her arms to simply try and help him ease the no doubt intense pain he was in during his last moments, for she knew that trying to save him would be completely hopeless and futile.
Tears streamed down the girl's face as the suffering hero looked up towards her with agony showing in his light blue eyes, his breathing heavy and labored. "Zelda..." he muttered in pain as the girl locked eyes with him in grief. There was nothing that she could even say at the moment, as she was too heartbroken to barely even think. As the couple stared at each other in misery, a cold laugh began to echo throughout the room. Veress herself materialized from the shadows and stood over Link, triumphantly grinning at Zelda.
Passionate anger began to well up inside of Zelda as she fought hard against whatever was restricting her from moving. She wanted to do anything she could to make Veress pay for what she had just done to Link. She glared viciously at the Sheikah woman, who continued to callously smirk at her while she slipped her knife from the hero's back, causing him to gasp in intense pain. "How dare you!" Zelda shouted at her in blind rage. "You won't get away with this!"
"Oh, I won't?" Veress asked with sarcasm as she gave Link a harsh kick in the side, forcing him to roll over to lie on his injured back. Before either the hero or the girl could even respond, Veress positioned her knife high above him and let it go altogether, her red eye alight with bloodthirsty excitement. The tip of the blood-painted blade landed with precision on the hero's chest, digging itself deep, but somehow not instantly killing him. He let out another sharp cry of anguish as Veress merely snickered cruelly, enjoying his immense suffering and Zelda's extreme heartache over having to watch this awful sight.
"No!" the girl screamed in dispair, her tears flowing without stop. "Please, stop! You can't do this to him!"
"I can't?" Veress raised an eyebrow at her, though she still smirked evilly. "What's stopping me?" She continued to grin as she drew her other knife and placed it's deadly edge against Link's neck, ready to finish the job she had started.
"Stop!" Zelda shouted in sheer desperation. "I... I'll tell you anything you want! Just spare him, please!"
"Anything?" Veress asked with genuine interest, knowing that she was getting the exact response that she wanted. "Then why don't you tell me how to break the seal on the Triforce, hm? If you do, then I will set both of you free from your suffering... I promise."
Zelda was silent for a moment as she looked between her victorious captor and her dying hero and found herself more torn that she had ever been before. Her lack of movement made it impossible to help Link without giving into Veress's wicked desire. The hero was almost dead, but the Sheikah had promised that she would revive him if the girl told her how to obtain the Triforce, though doing that would ensure the destruction of the land. But all Zelda could really think about as she looked into her beloved hero's pained face was that she loved him, perhaps more than anything else, and that she simply couldn't let him die like this. And so, she came up with a plan, one that could hopefully save both of them. "Fine..." she said as she hung her head in shame. "To break the seal on the Triforce, you'll need to play the Ballad of the Goddesss on the Goddess's Harp..."
"And where is it?" Veress asked as she pressed the knife down slightly harder against Link's neck.
"Let him go first, and then I'll tell you," Zelda said as she looked at the rebel leader with pained anger.
Veress frowned, but complied as she sheathed both of her knifes and took a step away from the hero. Zelda took in a deep breath as she looked at Link once more, noticing that he had fallen into unconsciousness. "He has it," she said, nodding to him but keeping her eyes on Veress the whole time.
The wicked woman grinned triumphantly as she let out a loud laugh. Suddenly, Zelda's vision went black again as her movements began to return to her. When her vision cleared once more, she saw Veress standing right in front of her as she had been before Link appeared. The rebel leader took her finger tips away from the girl's forehead and backed away, though she still wore an evil grin on her face.
"W-what... what happened?" Zelda asked in utter confusion when she noticed that the hero was nowhere to be found, and that Veress's two guards were standing in the exact same place that they had been before, as if nothing had changed at all. "What did you do to Link? Where is he?"
Veress laughed once more as she placed her hands on her hips and smirked at the girl. "Oh Zelda..." she said in a condescending tone. "He was never here to begin with! Everything that you just saw was a vision, induced by my magic. And it was rather effective if I do say so myself... After all, I got the information that I was after..."
"You... you tricked me!" Zelda exclaimed in fury when she realized that Veress had fooled her by using one of her greatest fears to deceive her.
"Well of course," Veress said. "And it wasn't that hard, considering your foolish devotion to that hero... I can only imagine how pathetic you'll be when we actually do kill him."
"You'll never get that chance!" Zelda shouted out in determined rage. "You'll never get the Triforce and you will never win! And you will never defeat him!"
"So you think..." Veress laughed as she rolled her eyes. "But thanks to you, I know exactly how to get the key to the Triforce! And with that knowledge, I think I'll go pay your hero a little visit..."
"And what about me?" Zelda asked.
"Oh, that's right!" Veress said, as she turned away from the girl. "Well, at the moment you're of no use to us, Hylia. But don't think that we're going to let you go so easily. You may have noticed that we haven't locked you up or chained you to any walls. That is because there's no need to waste our energies doing that. We're going to let you wander freely about our temple, though I have to warn you, this is no playground. There are traps and creatures set at every corner and each of them has the potential to kill you if you're foolish enough to cross their paths..."
"Aren't you worried that I could escape?" Zelda asked with suspicion, thinking this to be too easy.
"Of course I'm not," Veress said calmly as she started to head for the door. "You can take solace in the fact that you'll never see the light of day again or take in another breath of fresh air, because you'll never make it out of here alive." The rebel leader laughed as she finally left the room with her cronies, letting the door slam shut on the way out and leaving Zelda alone.
"So you think..." Zelda said under her breath with a smirk once Veress was completely gone. She had no intention of letting this place be her grave. There had to be a way out of this place and she was going to find it, despite all of the traps that Veress and her followers had set. She was determined to get out of there and prove Veress wrong. She was going to see the sun's warm light again and breath in the fresh, clean surface air. And most of all, she was going to escape before Link could even come after her, so he wouldn't get captured for her sake and endure the torture that Veress had implied she would inflict upon him. Zelda refused to believe that there was no hope for either of their situations. There was a way out and a way to keep the surface safe and keep them both alive and well.
At the same time, Zelda also had no intention of letting Veress have the Triforce so easily. It was for that purpose that, even though the Sheikah had deceived, Zelda had also tricked the rebel leader herself. She had only told Veress about one of the two keys needed to break the seal on the Triforce. It was true that the Goddess's Harp was one of these two keys, but without the Ocarina of Time, it would do nothing to destroy the new seal that she had placed on the Triforce. The girl bit her lip anxiously though, when she remembered that she had entrusted the care of both instruments to Link, and that by telling Veress that he had one of them, she had placed his life in considerable danger, but she trusted that the hero would keep the promise that he had made to her and keep them both safe. She believed fully that he would be able to handle this new threat and protect the Triforce in her absence. And she also believed with all of her heart that they would reunite soon and that they would both survive to be with each other for another day.
So, I don't think anything other than exposition and plot development happened in this chapter, but I can promise you that the next one will be awesome! After all its gonna have Link, and Sheik, and Fi! Yay! I am super excited for it! And there might even be a little action depending on how I intend on splitting the chapter up :D So anyway, I don't really have a ton to say. Leave a REVIEW as always and Until Next Time! :D