Chapter 19: Mourning

Only a few hours had passed after the for the Sages miscalculated fight, which was sort of a pyrrhic victory for Ganondorf. Majora's actions caused the two pieces of the Triforce he had desired so much to be still out of his grasp, just when he was so close to obtaining them, leaving him with just the Triforce of Power to utilize. He grumbled as he walked about within his chambers, ignoring the cackling which Majora had been emitting for the past few hours, with the mask itself currently occupied by tormenting prisoners with various curses and its effects on them. He was certain that neither Link nor Zelda would have survived the attack Majora inflicted on them, but even so, could Majora not have waited a little longer? Did the mask hold no regard for the legends of Hyrule and the sheer power which laid beyond it? He was this close of fulfilling his dream of becoming the True Evil King, and now that desire had to be unfulfilled for just a bit longer. In his anger, once outside his chambers, he summoned one of the Stalfos Knights to him, the Stalfos being some of his more faithful subordinates.
"Your orders are?" The Stalfos Knight asked.
"Take a patrol and go out of here to locate the bodies of Link, the 'Hero of Time', and Princess Zelda. Do NOT return unless you have retrieved their bodies, got that?" Ganondorf barked at the Stalfos Knight, who did not flinch in the slightest.
"Commencing immediately." The Stalfos Knight said, before departing to carry out his orders.
Ganondorf nodded, watching the Stalfos Knight go on its way.
"At least I still have some loyal subordinates around here… let's hope they can find those bodies before those three other Sages do." Ganondorf muttered, before continuing on his way, making new plans while en route, gathering forces for an assault on the Gerudo Fortress in the Gerudo Valley, his old home, in recognition of the knowledge that most of the Gerudo had turned on him thanks to Nabooru, so he hoped that with her demise, their overall morale would drop significantly to where they would be forced to serve him once more, if they wanted to live, or otherwise be forced into servitude by means of various spells he knew…

Impa was crying non-stop as she carried Zelda's corpse along with her, following the direction that Rauru was walking. Rauru himself seemed to be brooding, blaming himself for miscalculating and underestimating Ganondorf's cunning and power as well as Majora's own power, while carrying the bodies of Nabooru and Ruto with him. Darunia however looked worse for wear. Sure he remained firm and everything, but on the inside he was an emotional wreck, which was logical as he was carrying Link and Saria's bodies with him. But who could blame him? The merciless torture of the group by Ganondorf and Majora both had impacted them severely, but with the cruelty of how the five were slain made him also outright furious. During their trip, the three Sages were accompanied by three fairies whom caught up with them. Impa, Darunia and Rauru were able to recognize Navi, but remained silent as Navi flew toward Link's body, trying to fly all over him like when they first met for a second or two, only to settle down on his body with her wings hanging low. Much to Tael's own surprise, Tatl eventually joined Navi on top of Link's body, although she wasn't exactly crying as Navi was, at least not yet, it was still clear that Tatl was definitely sad and mourning his loss… apparently she was still in denial of having grown attached to him, trying to distract herself by comforting Navi whom was crying bitter tears by this point.
"Who are you two?" Darunia asked the red fairy as he flew in front of him.
"My name's Tael, and the yellow fairy on Link's body is my sister Tatl." Tael said.
"You know Link?"
"Well, sort of. I don't know him very well, but my sister was at his side during his trip in Termina when that mask-possessed Skull Kid was wreaking havoc in that distant land. Apparently she has grown a bit attached to him." Tael said.
Tatl tried to talk back to her brother, obviously trying to deny this, but her own emotional state prevented her from doing so, or even admitting that she had grown to like him.
"I see." Darunia said as the group walked on.
"So, where are you going?" Tael asked.
"Rauru's leading us to a place where we can lay low for a while until we've found a way to bring our friends back. But until then, we have to be sure their bodies remain…" Darunia said, walking on.
The trip continued on for another 15 minutes, when Rauru eventually looked up as they saw their destination, which was a cavern, partially hidden by various bushes and shrubs surrounding it.
"We're here." Rauru said as he entered the cavern, with Darunia, Impa and the fairies following.
Looking around, the group noted the sapphire-bluish colored rocks and a chilly atmosphere that was present within the cave, which to Tatl felt similar to Snowhead and its temple.
"An Ice Cave… perfect." Rauru muttered as he moved over the path to an opening in the wall straight ahead, which led to a small yet beautiful Fairy's Fountain with a large Fairy statue in the middle of the room.
Walking to the far side of the room itself, Darunia first gently laid the bodies of Link and Saria down, before he unleashed his frustration by striking the opposite wall with a powerful yet focused punch, creating a large crevice inside it. Using his pyrokinesis to smoothen the icy surface and get rid of the shards after which the area cooled down rapidly, Darunia then picked up the bodies of the two children and laid them inside the crevice next to each other. Once that was done, Impa laid Zelda's body down next to Link's other side, with Rauru placing Ruto next to Zelda and Nabooru was laid next to Saria. After that, Rauru focused his own powers and covered the crevice with a large slab of ice using the water in the Fairy's fountain as part of his spell, after which Impa reinforced it with her own Shadow Powers so that the slab of ice could not be removed by anyone except by the Sages themselves. This in turn sealed the deceased five people inside the icy wall with the hopes of whatever remains active within them goes in suspended animation and in turn keep their bodies as fresh as possible until the remaining Sages had found a way to resurrect them. As the process was underway, Rauru discovered that the most important treasures, the Ocarina of Time among them, were still among the group's possessions, being made partially visible through the torn parts of their respective outfits, miraculously having survived through the attacks as well as the subsequent fall, although Link and Saria's Ocarinas were severely damaged and had to be repaired one way or the other before they could be used without the danger of breaking. Seeing those items with the group did bring some form of relief to the Sage of Light, as it would be certain that those treasures could not fall into enemy hands. After the deed was done and the five bodies were gently sealed within the ice wall of the Fairy Fountain, Impa couldn't help but burst out crying, the once tough Sheikah woman suffering an emotional breakdown, at which Darunia responded by gently holding her, giving her a shoulder to cry on. Once more Darunia remained firm by staying as calm as he could, but even he couldn't help but shed a tear for his Sworn Brother, the Princess of Hyrule and his three fellow Sages in turn.

Navi on her turn sat on top of the Fairy statue, being no better off than Impa. She had hoped of at least seeing Link once more and try to apologize to him for her leaving him after the initial fight with Ganondorf was over… but when she found him however, her hopes were dashed. She frantically tried to wake him at first, wondering why he wasn't waking up… and why any of the others weren't waking up either, only to have to hide when she heard someone approaching, unaware it was Impa. It was only after both Darunia and Rauru had broken the news to Impa that her worst fears had come true, somehow believing that it was all over now. Both Tatl and Tael were sitting on either side of her, trying to comfort her, although Tael ended up trying to comfort his sister as well. It was eventually revealed that Tatl had indeed grown to admire Link through his courageous and determined demeanor, which was especially shown when, after the Four Giants had been summoned and Majora's Mask went to possess the moon, Link chose to enter the moon himself as well to end the threat Majora posed once and for all instead of choosing to heed to Tatl's request of playing the Song of Time once more. Apparently Tatl forgot that each time the Song of Time was played by Link in Termina, the Goddess of Time would come and gently taking both Link and Tatl back to three days before the moon would crash on Clock Town. But now their hero and companion was gone…

After Impa had calmed down, relinquishing herself from the embrace he had given her, Darunia sat down on the floor, with his back towards the slab that was like an icy gravestone, his expression being serious.
"I take it… you want to stay here… and watch over this place?" Impa asked.
"Yes. If anyone tries anything funny, I'll gladly rebuild their faces for them!" Darunia replied.
Impa could only nod in understanding, since she knew that Darunia too was having it very hard in coping with this loss. Darunia had not been this angry since Ganondorf had the gall to seal the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern after the Dodongo creatures infested it, preventing the Gorons from entering the cavern to mind their primary food source, but now his rage had reached a point where not even Saria's Song would calm him down, especially as the one whom played the song nearly all the time was amongst the fallen. Impa could see the rage on Darunia's face clear as day, and decided to leave him be for now, right as she saw Rauru moving towards the exit of the Fairy's Fountain, having made up his mind of what he must do.
"Rauru? Where are you going?" She asked.
"I'm going to see if I can at least retrieve the equipment that they have lost, as well as trying to find the Master Sword itself. If we are to avenge them at some point, we need to at least be prepared." Rauru said.
Impa saw the logic in it, as well as suspecting that Rauru was trying to do his part in making amends for his own overconfidence or having simply underestimated Ganondorf and Majora altogether.
"Just… be careful on your way." Impa said.
"I will." Rauru said, before transforming himself in what appeared to be a light wisp before he moved on, being gone in a flash, leaving only Darunia and Impa alone with the fairies Navi, Tatl and Tael in the Ice Cave.
Darunia remained silent, but acknowledged Rauru's departure with a nod, as if wanting to wish him good luck, before Rauru was gone.

Outside the ruins of Hyrule Castle, the influence of Ganondorf and Majora was steadily growing once more, already extending as far as Death Mountain and the deserted Kakariko Village, with monsters appearing in large numbers in Hyrule Field, but instead of spreading out to take the other regions by force, they marched straight to the west, in the direction of Gerudo Valley. Seeing this going on, Talon had wisely put Lon-Lon Ranch in effective lockdown, not wanting to endanger the refugees whom were hiding and helping out at the ranch, with the few soldiers whom were also present there drilling volunteers into using weapons like spears, glaives, swords and bow and arrows in case an invasion would be imminent and the front gate was breached. Only time would tell if there would be a battle at the ranch. The monsters may be ignoring it for now as per their direct orders, but the soldiers there weren't taking any chances, especially considering the valuable livestock the ranch was trying to maintain during all of this. The only thing that was of any consolation was that the soldiers and volunteers practicing archery occasionally went out at night when on their night patrol, using the Guays which were moving about the ranch during those nights as target practice in order to make their shots count, as well as retrieving and, where needed, cleaning any arrows that remained intact after being fired, with new ones being made or salvaged from broken ones, just to conserve as much ammunition as possible. On her turn, Malon was in a sad mood herself, partially due to Epona having ran away from the ranch and, with the current lockdown in place, had no way of entering the ranch without potentially attracting attention. She only hoped the filly at least was wise enough to hide when there was danger close.

Speaking of Epona, she was currently galloping like crazy through the vast forest, avoiding the trees wherever it could, as if it was in quite the hurry. Several of the other forest animals went out of the way to avoid being trampled by the animal, while Epona herself remained cautious not to get itself in trouble regarding the natural hazards, and to avoid any confrontation with any monsters whose presence she would be able to detect within the forest. It was apparent she was looking for either a safe haven, or otherwise for a certain someone only she found trustworthy enough to be comfortable with in terms of presence overall.

Cremia, the ranch owner of Romani Ranch, was currently taking care of her younger sister Romani, whom had fallen ill from a small fever. A doctor from Clock Town had said that Romani would recover from it over the course of the next few days, but that she had to take it easy. Cremia had heeded to the advice and saw to it that she would get as much rest as possible, blaming the fever on the fact that Romani could overexert herself on practicing her archery skills. She never really understood why Romani was so determined with practicing her bow at her age, wondering why she wouldn't play with regular toys instead. Of course Romani did help her older sister out when asked to, but whenever she could, she would always practice. Even the visit from that young boy, Link, or as Romani affectionally called him 'Grasshopper', didn't deter Romani from continuing to practice her archery skills, although Cremia had to admit that Romani was steadily improving. She suspected that something was up, or that Romani was hiding something from her in order to not make her worried about her, so she could go on with her duties as ranch manager. It couldn't be the story that Romani did tell her about 'them', right? She didn't believe that story or thought that it was a mere scary story that Romani believed in and just felt that she had to do what she thought was right. Whatever the reason, she did support Romani like an older sister should and was rooting for her during practices when she had the time to observe her, even having decided to add a challenge course for her to humor her… and yet she had questions… and she also had her own insides tied in a knot in a figurative way, suspecting that something really bad had happened recently, yet her occupation as a ranch owner prevented her from so much as going outside to find out and she couldn't afford to leave Romani alone, much less send her out… she was taking comfort in the fact that Anju and Kafei would come and visit tomorrow, perhaps she could ask them for a favor…

A sudden *THUMP* and the consecutive splash of the water that was present there on the ground shook Impa and the three fairies out of their reverie, before noting that Darunia stood up, rage clearly visible in his eyes.
"Darn it! There has to be SOMETHING we can do to get back at Ganondorf and Majora!" Darunia snarled, breathing heavily as if he was on the verge of a breakdown himself, although this was more of pure anger, sadness and misery altogether from the helplessness, compared to her own breakdown earlier.
"There has to be something indeed… but I wish I knew what." Impa replied, understanding him, somehow having the urge to cut something or someone up with her own daggers.
"Oh, I would love to wreak havoc on one of their hideouts and just smash everything up," Darunia said, "if I only had the Megaton Hammer with me, I could use that to crush their skulls!"
Impa chuckled lightly and bitterly.
"I hope you will get your wish soon, Darunia," She said, "to think that our fallen friends already wiped out one outpost they stumbled upon by mere coincidence… perhaps if we can find one for ourselves, we can go crazy all we want."
Darunia nodded as he thought for a moment.
"I doubt that Ganondorf would let this go however…" He said.
"What do you mean?" Impa asked.
"Ganondorf looked pretty upset at Majora for blasting Link and Zelda away before he could retrieve their respective Triforce pieces… I believe this may have caused a fracture in their alliance, but I suspect Ganondorf may be biding his time now… or in any case has sent patrols out to look for our fallen friends." Darunia replied.
It was now Impa's turn to nod, seeing Darunia's point.
"He may think he has us beat, but I doubt Ganondorf is stupid enough to drop his guard at this very moment and is likely plotting things in case his patrols do end up a head shorter either because of yours truly, or if they happen to get ambushed by soldiers whom may be trying to defend refugee camps and the like… if this keeps up it will be total chaos in Hyrule, and if word gets out of Link and Zelda's deaths, this won't do the morale of our remaining allies any good… it could be a crippling blow to them, not to mention how devastating it would be for the King…" The Goron patriarch then said, which made Impa shiver at the thought of the King just surrendering his remaining troops, as he would be too distraught to think clearly if he ever heard about his daughter's death…
"That is true," Impa said, taking a bit of time to consider the options there, "so we have to either avoid the soldiers to prevent them from telling the bad news, or 'bend the truth' a bit; just telling them that they are critically wounded and are just laying low to prevent attracting attention while recovering…"
"It is possible, but how long would it take for them to figure out what's really happened?" Darunia said, "I think it's better for us to lay low until Rauru has returned with whatever equipment he's been able to retrieve; that way we can make plans accordingly to move out and find a way to bring them back somehow…"
Impa nodded at this, before she gazed once more upon her fallen friends through the slab of ice which served as a makeshift tomb. Link, Saria, Zelda, Ruto and Nabooru all looked peaceful on the outside, but on the inside, their bodies each held a short story of unspeakable torture. She did note several scars on their bodies of past fights, some old and pretty much healed over fine, others were more fresh and had only recently stopped bleeding, not counting the wounds they had suffered by the hands of Ganondorf and Majora respectively… by all accounts, it appeared both Link and Zelda were the worst ones off at that too… it made her heart ache with severe regret of having been unable to protect them, despite her best efforts.
"We'll get you back… we'll get all of you back… I promise." Impa softly said, ignoring the brooding Darunia for the moment as she gazed at their bodies, a tear slipping past her right eye.

Rauru in the meantime managed to retrieve most of the equipment that the group had lost during their fatal flight, primarily two bows and a bundle of arrows, a Big Bomb Bag containing several bombs that were left intact due to the tough exterior of the bomb bag itself, a few bottles that had survived the trip, several Deku Nuts, Saria's Slingshot and a number of swords, evidently from Link, Saria, Zelda and Nabooru, but not the Master Sword… at least not yet. Rauru also discovered some shards of metal, evidently remains of a shield which was destroyed by a harsh impact. He took some of the shield fragments, to see If he could find or buy replicas of those shields anytime soon. Once he collected what he could, he assumed his disguise of a lone traveler, masking his appearance to be as inconspicuous as he could be, if only to prevent being recognized on sight by any patrols. Sure he could defend himself if it would come to a fight, but he didn't want to attract the immediate attention of Ganondorf and Majora if he would use his abilities out in the open, which would most likely he'd be joining the others in the hereafter quicker than having Darunia and Impa come to his aid. He sighed deeply as he continued onward through the forest. He hoped to at least come across a merchant from a local supply wagon to get him some additional supplies, before going to take the risk in heading back to the ruined Hyrule Castle, figuring he would find the Master Sword there. He only hoped his disguise would remain in effect until he had departed from the region and making his way back to the remaining Sages afterwards.