Sorry for this taking so long again! There was just, SO MANY THINGS GOING ON! Homestuck ended, I'm almost done with Fire Emblem Fates Conquest and Birthright, STEVEN UNIVERSE IS COMING BACK IN MAY! AND SCHOOL, UGH! Hopefully this chapter will make up for it, it's longer than the others, and it also has a little explanation to what Lora's "other form" is, in case some people were confused and were too lazy to look it up. Now let's get to it, shall we?

Chapter 30: The Brave and the Cowardly

Zelda's POV

We wished the three good luck as they all rode out of the village and into Hyrule Field. They all raced as fast as they could to Death Mountain, I sincerely hoped that they would find the last two people quickly, both Din and the last Triforce bearer, whoever it was.

I will admit it, I was worried for all of them. Both Nayru and Farore were heavily guarded. Nayru was guarded by Yeto, who had been corrupted by the Fierce Deity's magic, and Farore (from what Link had told me) was guarded by a giant crab-like creature called a Gohma. If not for the Master Sword or Aden's restoration powers, we might not have made it back!

So that led me to think, 'Who, or what was guarding Din?' Perhaps it was a Goron, or maybe some other creature all together. Din was the Goddess of Power, so it would make sense that she would be the most guarded out of all three goddesses. At least, that was my guess.

When Epona's hooves faded out, I stopped and turned around to face the peeking sunrise. It felt nice and warm, contrary to the cold morning air. Even in difficult times like these, I always felt that it was important to stop and take in what was around me. So I did, until Aden and Midna stopped walking in front of us.

They were both staring at us, stunned at what just happened. Link, Adri and Logan all left without even saying something like a "goodbye". Standing side by side, Midna's mouth was gaping in surprise, while Aden wore an expression that I could read as "I knew this would happen".

"Did, did they just..?" Midna stuttered. This was a first, I had never hear her stutter before, but that was beside the point. Aden looked up at her, with a sorry look on his face. Lora looked like she was panicking on the inside, then she tried to explain what happened to them.

"Hey, uh, sorry. Logan said that they had to go right away, so they just left. Adri really wanted to say something but, well, you can't really change Logan's mind if he's set on something, ya know?" She explained poorly. Midna closed her mouth, and looked at Aden, returning the look.

"Look guys, I'm really sorry, but Logan"-

"No, no. It's fine. Logan said they had to leave right away, so they did. You don't have to apologize, it was all on me." Aden said. This was, unexpected to say the least. 'Just what was going on back there with those two?' Lora was looking heartbroken.

"Aden, I"-

"Look Lora," Aden interrupted again with a surprising stern look on his face. "let's just start waking everyone up, okay? We should just do what Logan told us to do, we have to get ready."

Lora was about to say something else, but then she closed her mouth, figuring that it was useless to keep going on like this. She nodded and trudged past them and on to the houses. I decided to do the same, but when I passed them, I noticed something, odd, about them. No, it wasn't the fake smiles that they had on to pretend that they were okay, when I looked at their faces facing away from the sunrise, they were dimly glowing. 'Were they crying?'

As I walked away from them to find some of the castle soldiers that were here, I heard them start to whisper. I stopped when I heard it, but I didn't turn around. They stopped too when I stopped. As curious as I was, I had to give them some space for them to talk. So, I kept walking to try and find the soldiers.

It didn't take me long to find them, they were all in one house together, sleeping side by side. I had only noticed it now, but there were not that many soldiers here. There was only eight, a lot of them did not make it. I wished that I would've noticed sooner, I truly felt sorry for them. But what was done is done, there wasn't anything I could do now to bring them back.

I cleared my throat to get ready to speak, but that woke up one of the light sleeping soldiers. He groggily looked up at me and peered through the tiny gap that was for his eyes. When he saw me, he completely woke up and yelled, "P-princess Zelda!" This caused the other guards to wake up, and frantically start to stand to salute me. But this caused some of the guards to bump into other guards, which made them fall down. This went on for a while.

Finally, they were all in a line and ready to follow orders. Their backs were straight, hands at their sides, and helmets adjusted correctly. Now I could finally tell them what to do.

"Men." I said firmly. All of them straightened their backs even tighter. "I want all of you to wake up the people and gather them in the center of the village, I would like to make an announcement to everyone."

"Yes Princess Zelda!" Yelled one of the soldiers as he saluted. He turned to the other guards and yelled, "Move out men!" They all then turned and marched out of the house, and onto waking up the people. I sighed, the guards can be big hassles sometimes. Even if they are the soldiers of Castle Town, you could never find one that was completely professional. Then Lora peeked through the doorway over at me once the guards passed.

"Uh, hey Zelda." She said, walking into the doorway. I greeted her with a comforting smile.

"Hello Lora. Do you need anything?" I asked. She walked in with her hands behind her back, one hand clenching her other arm. She walked slow, like she was nervous about something.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk to you about something. I wanted to get it out of the way really quick." She said. She definitely sounded nervous, whatever she was going to say. She rubbed her arm behind her back. "It's about that power that Farore gave to me yesterday."

"Ah, yes I remember it. It was that strange transformation where your clothes changed and your hair turned into tentacles, correct?" I also remembered Link, Midna and Aden getting ready to fight just in case, but I decided not to bring it up.

"Yeah, that one. I just, thought I should tell you what it was so you wouldn't freak out again if you saw it." I nodded, and she breathed in, ready to receive her explanation.

"The power that she gave me was a sort of, transformation into a different form called an Inkling. It's creature not from your world. It has the power to shapeshift at will from a human, to a squid. I can also fire toxic ink that hurts others, but I can swim through in my squid form. I've actually had it for a while, but I had it taken away from me for some reason when I came here."

I listened to all of Lora's explanation, but I didn't understand a thing! What did she mean by all of that? 'She's had that form before?' I thought. 'Where did she come from? And then how did she know Aden?' This, was extremely confusing, to say the least. Lora seemed to spot my confusion.

"Yeah, it's kinda hard to explain." She said. "Maybe I should just show you instead." She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Then, she began to transform into the creature she transformed into the day before.

Her cloak, and her clothes underneath began to get covered in a strange light green ink-like substance. It appeared as if it was out of thin air, It seeped down her shirt, shoes and pants, but not a single drop fell onto the floor. All of it stayed on her clothes, and began to seep into them.

She parted her long brown hair with both of her hands, and the hair began to stick together, with the same green ink! The two long sides of the hair stuck together with the ink, until they were both entirely covered in it. Then, the ink seeped into the hair, showing that the hair had turned into tentacles! They were long green, slightly slimey. Light green around the top, but slightly purple at the bottom, with some spots scattered around them.

There were also certain changes on her face. Her eyebrows had turned into ink as well, the same color as the top of her hair/tentacles. Her eyes were surrounded by black circles, they were stuck to her skin as if they were part of her face. Lastly, her ears had turned from their original shape to a triangular shape, but not like normal Hyleans', they were just flat triangular ears.

The clothes however, were the strangest thing of the bunch! The shoes were shiny green and black, and went way past her ankles, almost like boots. They also had a light blue glow in certain spots. Her shirt was a long sleeved tight black shirt, with something else over it that was hard to explain. It was light green with silver stripes. They were unlike anything I've ever seen or heard of!

Her transformation had only taken about seven seconds, and words could not describe how amazed I was! She had turned into an entirely new race, species even, right in front of me! She was unlike any creature I've ever studied about in my entire life, she possible could not be in any books at all!

Lora took a deep breath and let out an audible sigh, but it sounded kind of gurgled, as if she was underwater. She looked at her new form and smiled a big smile, bringing her arms around and hugging her strange tentacle hair. She looked so happy, like she has not felt like that in a long time. I decided to take a good look at the new form, walking around her.

It was astonishing, the ability to go between one form to the next in an instant. It was almost like Link's wolf form or Midna going in and out of shadows, but much more unique! As I walked around her, I noticed something on Lora's back. A very large container filled with the exact same light green ink from Lora's transformation! Attached to it on the top was some sort of blasting device, similar to Auru's, or the one he made for Shad. It was almost the same color as Lora's other clothes, and it had the same blue glow. 'This must be what she uses to shoot her "toxic ink"'

Lora turned around to look at me, and she looked as happy as she could be! She laughed a gurgled laugh and said, something. I had no idea what she was saying, she was speaking a whole other language! Just like her breathing and laughing, this sounded gurgled as well. She kept talking to me in her language, but I was more focused on the people outside now.

More and more people were coming out to the center of the village, around a house with an upper platform on the outside. Some have not noticed us yet, but it was only a matter of time until they all got scared like we did when we first saw her new form. Lora stopped talking and followed my gaze, and immediately reacted.

Lora swiftly grabbed her cloak off of the ground and hid behind the wall. She threw the cloak around her back and threw up the hood before anyone noticed her, tucking the tentacles under the dark green cloth. She pulled the hood farther down her face so nobody could see her, and transformed back into her old form. I could tell because the black spots around her eyes disappeared, and when she breathed again, it was smooth and clear.

Lora took off her hood, eyeing the people outside, and took a deep breath.

"That," she started in a quiet voice. "Was way too"-

"That was amaaaaziiing!"

We both looked to the voice that interrupted us, and it was none other than Agitha, along with the strange creature from Hyrule Castle following right behind her! Agitha quickly walked up to Lora, with the creature stomping along with her. Agitha got right up into Lora's face.

"That looked sooo pretty! Your clothes were shiny, the tentacles looked pretty, and your clothes were green! I love the color green!" You could almost see Agitha's eyes sparkling with amazement. The creature behind her let out a familiar "Mooouuun", probably for, agreement?

"Why were you so scared of everyone else seeing that? It was amazing!" Agitha yelled. Lora quickly put up her hands in defense and shook her head.

"Please, be quiet!" Lora sharply whispered. She took another peek at the people outside, there were a lot more than before now, and some were starting to get suspicious. They were looking at us with suspicion on their faces, but just kept walking along. After a couple more seconds of silence, Lora went back to Agitha.

"It's, hard to explain to you okay? From the way some of you guys" She looked at me. "Reacted when they saw that form, imagine what would happen if everyone else did! They would run away, scream, call me a freak, try to hurt me, try to"- Lora would keep going on and on if Agitha had not interrupted her. It almost looked like she would break if she kept going on, almost like she had experienced it before.

"It's okay, I was scared too." She said. We all stopped and stared at her, except for the creature of course. 'What does she mean by that?' I thought. The creature let out another "Moouun", probably for confusion this time(?).

"When I first started talking to my bug friends, lots of the other kids called me weird and laughed at me. I got sad and thought about not doing it again, but a small butterfly told me some advice. 'Don't be ashamed to spread your wings, because those wings are yours!' I took the butterfly's advice, and I've always been happy of what I do since! You should take the butterfly's advice too Lora, she was a pretty one, and you're pretty too!"

Lora smiled a little when Agitha said that last part and scratched the back of her head. It seemed she liked the comment. The creature behind Agitha let out another "Moouun". I was not sure what it was for this time.

"See? Even Mister Clayface thinks so!" Agitha said excitedly. I giggled a little.

"Mister Clayface?" I asked. Agitha looked over at me, and nodded with a big smile on her face.

"Yeah! I had to give him a name since he helped us, and Mister Clayface was the perfect name! And he seemed happy with it too, isn't that right Mister Clayface?"

"Moouun" the creature, I mean, Mister Clayface said with a smile. Lora let out a good, deep laugh, then stopped and looked down at Agitha.

"Thanks Agitha, I guess I needed that advice."

"Princess Zelda!" A soldier guard yelled from the doorway. We all looked at him, including Mister Clayface. The soldier marched towards me, walking slightly faster passing Mister Clayface, then stopped in front of me to salute.

"We have gathered everyone in the center of the village, we are now ready for your announcement." I smiled, and nodded my head.

"Follow me Princess." The soldier turned around and marched in the other direction. I looked back to the three, wondering what they would do. After some quick thinking, I decided that they should stay where they were. What I was going to say to everyone, things might go bad quickly. I didn't want them to get involved in it too. So I motioned a hand down, and Lora seemed to get the gesture. So I turned around and followed the soldier.

They certainly did their job, everyone in the village was crowded in the center. It was almost as crowded as Castle Town's Central Square! All of the people were talking to one another, until the soldier that was guiding me yelled to everyone, "CLEAR THE WAY, THE PRINCESS IS HERE!" Everyone stopped and looked at us, and did as he said. The people cleared a way to where I was to give my announcement, a house porch that was under a balcony.

As I walked through the crowd, I looked around. Many people I knew were here, Telma the Bartender and the other members of the resistance were here. Auru, Ashei, Rusl and Shad were all here! There was also a couple more that I knew, but I could not recall their names. But as I looked around, I realized that neither Midna or Aden was in the large crowd. 'Where are they now?'

We got up to the house porch, and the soldier stayed in front to guard me in case anyone decided to try and attack me. I walked past him and walked on to my "stage". I will admit it, I was nervous. If I angered the people, or scared them in any way, they could very well turn on me. Then Logan's plan would be ruined completely! I took a small breath, and addressed the crowd.

"Hello everyone. I must apologize for everything that has happened to all of you for the past few days, but we have been very, busy. However, the reason I have called you all here for, is not exactly the best of news." The people started to mumble to each other, and a lingering feeling of dread began to fill the air. I lightly bit my lip.

"The barrier around this village that protects us from the enemy, The Fierce Deity, is connected to the leader of this village, named Impaz. She used this spell just for us, and has allowed everyone here to stay here so they may be safe. We owe her so much." More mumbling, this time for confusion about Impaz. "Who is she talking about?" I heard someone say. 'I probably should have informed them about her'.

"However, recently she has caught a very strange illness, and she has been getting worse by the day. The healers and doctors that are here have been doing all they could, but they have all been unsuccessful. They all fear that her last day, may be today." I could see everyone's eyes widen, and the soldiers' heads snap back to me.

"Now please everyone, do not panic just ye"-

"Don't panic?!" Yelled a woman from the crowd. "How do expect us to NOT PANIC?! You just said that today was going to be our LAST DAY ALIVE!"

"Please, if you could just let me explain a little"-

"STOP TRYING TO ACT LIKE YOU'RE SO CALM ABOUT THIS! HOW ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS?!" the woman kept yelling. Before she kept going on, Auru (who was right next to her) looked straight at her and said, "Hey! Let her speak!" The woman got the stern message, but still stole a mean glance in his direction. Auru looked at me, and nodded.

"As I was saying, Link, Adri and Logan are currently looking for the last person we are looking for at Death Mountain. If they can find them before, the time comes, then it is possible that we could avoid any if all fighting with them. But if they do not, we have to be prepared. That is why I have gathered all of you here today.

"If they do not make it back in time, we will have to fight them, and there will be no avoiding it. Currently, Aden, Midna, Lora and I have all decided that we will fight, but we cannot do it all by ourselves. We need people to fight with us, as many as possible. The more people that are willing to fight with us, the better. If we can all band together, we can put an end to the Fierce Deity's rampage, and restore Hyrule!"

Everyone went silent and stared at me again. Even though I had prevented everyone from rioting, I still felt that feeling of lingering dread in the air. A soldier walked up to me, and said, "Princess Zelda, I only have one thing to say."

The soldier took off his helmet, revealing an angry tanned face with short brown hair. He threw his helmet on the dirt and stomped on it with his iron boot, crushing it. Then, he looked at me straight in the eyes, and yelled in my face, "I QUIT!"

Aden's POV

Midna and I had gone off in private behind one of the houses when Zelda walked away. Midna said that she just wanted a breather, and I agreed with her. Things were getting a little too out of hand, and after, earlier, I decided that it was probably for the best. The back of the house was dark because of the sunrise, but just to be safe, Midna casted a spell to hide in its shadow.

It was actually pretty spacey, even though Midna said that it might be a little cramped. The walls and floor were all completely black, but the ceiling was see through, and you could see the orange sky from in there. It was like we were in a big, underground transparent box. As soon as we were in, Midna sat on the ground.

"This should give us some privacy for a little while." She said. She laid on the ground, with her arms above her head, and looked up at the sky. I sat down right next to her, with my legs crossed.

"All of this is seriously starting to get out of hand now. Who knows, this just might be the last bit of downtime that we get here!" She chuckled a little at her own words, but stopped.

"Yeah…" I agreed. It felt nice here, but it felt, weird just leaving that conversation from earlier up in the air. Maybe she brought me here to talk about that? I looked at her, and asked "hey, do you want to talk about something?" she shook her head on the ground.

"No, not really. I brought you here because I thought you needed a break too. After, what happened earlier, I thought you would want this." I smiled since she thought of me, but looked away when she mentioned earlier. I didn't really expect that little outburst, but I just, lost control of all of my emotions when I was talking to her, and I couldn't help it! I just kept going and going until I said that, confession. I was just happy that she felt the same way.

"Okay, I just thought you wanted to keep talking about the others, or"-

"Aden, please." She looked at me in my eyes, but didn't get up. "Right now, I just want to avoid some stress right now, so do you think we could just, do nothing for a while? Please?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it quickly. If she wanted to relax, then I would let her relax. So I nodded, and she smiled.

"Thank you Aden." Midna looked back up at the sky, breathing in and out through her nose. I decided to lay down with her, maybe this actually was what I needed. The sky had an amazing color from the sunrise, it was a little cloudy here and there, but the sky was a nice shade of orange. Almost like our hair!

I put a hand underneath my head, and another at my side. This, actually felt really nice. Just doing nothing after all of the recent chaos. I wondered how many times Midna used this spell. I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye, and looked towards it. Midna was staring right at me, and our heads were only a couple inches away from each other. I felt my face start to heat up, but I smiled at her anyways.

She quickly looked away, starting to look a little nervous. I held in a laugh, I've never seen her like this before, and it was pretty funny to be honest! Eventually, Midna sat up, and said "Actually, I think there is something I want to talk about."

I sat up too, responding with a "hmm?" I could see a tiny spot of dark blue on her cheeks.

"You've only had amnesia for, three days, right?" I nodded. "Well then when exactly did you, well, know?" This, believe it or not, was a tough question. I never really took the time to think about WHEN I started to love her, so I had to think about it. So, I thought back all the way to when we first met.

I remember her crying so much when she first saw me, she could've cried more than I did earlier! However, I don't think I really loved her at that moment, but I still considered her a friend. Later, we were running away from Zant and the Fierce Deity. We both protected each other like partners, but I only really felt like that when that happened. A partner, not a crush.

But then there was after that, and I knew that it was that moment. That was the moment where I knew I loved her.

"It was probably when you helped save me back at the spring near Link's house. You were, really scared and worried about me and, I guess that was when I realized it?" I tried to explain. The little dark blue spot started to grow, and Midna grabbed her arm and looked away from me, smiling. She was blushing! That was when I decided to have a little bit of fun with her.

"Alright Midna, I told you, so why don't YOU tell ME now? When did you have a crush on me?" Midna's head snapped up, and the dark blue blush flushed the rest of her face like a waterfall into a lake! I tried really hard to not laugh, and I almost burst out while doing so! Midna caught on quickly.

"Aden! Why w, h-how could"-

"It's only fair!" I yelled, trying to keep more laughs in. "I told you, so just say it!, C-come on!" I was having too much fun at this point! My stomach started to hurt from trying to keep the laughs in, then with her face entirely dark blue, she blurted out "OKAY FINE!" I calmed myself down (at least enough to stop the laughing), and sat with my legs crossed again to hear the story. Midna breathed in and out one last time before starting, like she was bracing herself.

"It was when we were little kids, and we were both in my room. It was really late, but I really wanted to go outside that day for some reason. Then after seeing how much I wanted to go out, you said that we could, sneak out, both of us. I hated the idea at first, but seeing how much you wanted to make me happy, I just decided to go with it." The blue blush went away a little bit.

"So when it was time for me to sleep, you hid under my bed when the guard came in. After he left, I stuffed my sheets together to make it look like I was sleeping, and we both snuck out the way I sneak you in. Then, we were out of the castle. I was a little uneasy, but you were really happy for me! So you took me to wake up some of your friends and play.

"And we did, we played throughout the whole night! We ran around through a nearby forest, played games with each other, you even took me to one of your favorite places in the Twilit Realm." She laughed a sad laugh, I could see her eyes start to glow. "You called it, 'River Falls.' For obvious reasons.

"That night, when you showed how much you cared about me, that was when I realized it. That night, was one of the, the g-greatest moments in,"- Her eyes were getting brighter by the second, she was going to cry! All the hilarity from earlier was completely forgotten, and I instantly went up to her and held her hands.

"Midna, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have brought that"- She then tackled me in a hug, holding me tightly.

"Oh shut up! Don't be sorry, it was the stupid amnesia's fault! I just, I just wish that you could remember that night. I should've stopped talking when I could." I waited for a couple seconds where I was, hugging Midna, and sighed.

"Midna…"

"I QUIT!" Midna and I jumped out of our hug when we heard the person yell, following a quite loud CRUNCH. Not only that, but it was also entirely quiet now, even though earlier I heard lots of people talking. 'What's going on out there?' I thought. I looked at Midna, who was still staring up at the top of the box. She looked at me, and after just looking in each other's' eyes for a moment, Midna nodded, and got us out of the "Shadow Box."

We ran around the side to see a crowd of people around the center of the Village, and standing on my toes helped me see Princess Zelda, and somebody arguing. Well, arguing as in the person only yelling at Zelda and her not yelling back.

"I don't care if Hyrule gets saved or not, I'm leaving here and now! Those, THINGS killed all those people in Castle Town, Ordon, AND Lake Hylia! So tell me Princess, how exactly are WE, a bunch of people who are ANTS to them, supposed to take them on?!" The person said. Some of the other people started to get angry along with him.

"We know the enemy, and we know how they will act. We also have very skilled fighters here, ones capable of taking down multiple beasts at once. We"-

"Yeah, I get it." the person interrupted. "But if you're so confident that your "Skilled fighters" can win, why are you asking US for help then? Well I know why, Princess. You, are scared. Scared like the rest of us." Zelda was starting to look very nervous now.

"I, I most certainly am not. We have dealt with these beasts in the past, and"-

"Oh shut it! Nobody here buys your little act, we all know it! So stop acting like everything is always okay, because it never is! You just try to ACT like you're tough so people won't see the truth. That you, are a COWARD!" The other people started to yell at Zelda, they took the accuser's side and attacked Zelda. Both figuratively, and literally! Some started to throw rocks at her!

Zelda put up her hands to protect her face from the rocks. Her face had turned from calm to fearful, her own people turned against her! She had her Rapier at her side, but she did not draw it as the people began to close in. "Coward! Monster! Disgrace!" they all yelled. Zelda backed up farther and farther into the building, slowly walking. This was not good!

The crowd was too thick to run through, and I wasn't the best at using Farore's Wind, I could only go a couple feet away from me! Then I noticed the balcony above her, and I had a plan. It probably wasn't a good one, but it was a plan. I looked over at Midna, and said, "Midna, I think I might need a little boost."

She looked at me, gave a confident smile, and nodded. She waved her right hand, and her hair shook and grew into her giant hair hand! She lowered it down to the ground where I could jump on, and I did. Then, she threw her hand up and I flew up into the air! Completely ignoring my fear of heights! I focused on the building's balcony, and closed my eyes, imagining that I was right at that spot. Then Farore's Wind worked its magic, and there I was!

Not wasting any time, I ran down into the house, almost falling at the small ledge that kept me up. Zelda was backing up farther and farther to the corner closer to me, as the people were closing in. The person that started to yell at her had armor like the Castle Town soldiers, so I assumed that he was one. That made it even worse, when another soldier handed him a sword. He took it with an evil grin on his face, and walked right up to Zelda, who had backed up to the wall, still refusing to draw her weapon at her own people.

"When I kill you, I'll keep all these people safe! I'll take them all to a place where those horrible monsters will never find us! We will live on, even if it means," He gripped his sword tighter, and raised it up into the air. Worried parents covered their kids' eyes. I leapt off of the ledge and down to the ground.

"KILLING YOU!"

As soon as I hit the ground, I thrust out my hands and casted Nayru's Love! The sword bounced off the blue crystal, a second later and either Zelda or me would be dead! I looked back at her, and asked "Are you okay?" Zelda's dress was dirty now from the rocks, and her face was too. But what caught me off guard, was how she was acting. She was trembling, her hands were shaking, and kneeling down to try and duck underneath the sword.

Zelda was actually scared!

But that didn't stop me from helping her anyways! She looked up at me, her eyes were as wide as they could be, but she nodded yes. I smiled, but went to a serious expression when I looked back to the soldier. I stood up, and put down my hands, getting rid of the crystal.

"You call HER the coward, but look at what you're doing! You're trying to kill one of the only reasons that Hyrule COULD live after today!" I pointed a finger right at him, yelling right in his face, making it harden.

"And who're you supposed to be, you freak? One of the Coward's friends I'm guessing?" He laughed. The other people behind him seemed to have realized what was ACTUALLY going on now.

"No, I'm one of the Princess's friends. And if you want to kill her, then go ahead!" I brought my arm across my shoulder, and prepared a Pointed Shockwave.

"But you'll have to get through me first!" The soldier bit his lip, but then smiled. And laughed. He gripped the handle of the sword again, and said, "Gladly."

He brought up the sword above his head again, and I flicked my fingers across the air above his head, slicing his sword in half! The top piece fell down to the ground and clattered, while the soldier just stood there, shocked at what I just did, looking down at his half sword. He looked at me, and stepped back.

"Everyone listen!" I yelled. "I get it if you don't want to fight, but this is wrong! Maybe if you " I pointed at the soldier, "wanted to find a coward, then you should've looked in a mirror. As for everyone else, if you don't want to fight, then go back to your houses and STAY there! We're here to help." I held out a hand for Zelda to grab.

"Not to kill."

Zelda took my hand and I helped her up. People started to leave the building and go back to their houses, while others stayed. Maybe this WAS a house that some people were staying in, or maybe they actually wanted to fight! Either way, I watched lots of people leave. The soldier turned his back to me as he walked out of the house. But stole one quick, dark glare at me before he left. I looked at Zelda, but she was still messed up. It almost looked like she could snap at any second, almost like what I did earlier.

"Well? Are you just going to ignore us or what?" one of the remaining people, a woman, said. Zelda and I looked at her and the others. There was a man about as tall as me with glasses, a tall and old dark skinned man, a tall thin girl with black hair on her shoulders, and Shad from Ordon! And standing in the doorway was Agitha Midna and, Lora. They all walked in and closer to me.

"That was quite the act of bravery young man, I'm impressed, and grateful that you were able to save our princess. We don't know what we would do without her." The woman said. Zelda seemed to be a little reassured by this, and gave a slight smile. When the woman saw how, different Zelda was, she grumbled.

"I knew that soldier, he was a regular at my bar. The man hated his job, and constantly made slurred threats at the royals, saying many, many rude things about them. But he also said that the only reason he was in that position was to help his family. But they're, gone now, so that must've made him snap. I can't help but feel sorry for him. But back to the topic at hand!" She looked at me.

"We're not the type of people who wait for things to blow over, nor the type that would do what that man did. We're all here to help in any way we can, now what was your name again young man?"

"Aden." I said.

"Well then Aden, I say we finally stop all of this messing around and get to business! We have people to protect, and a land to save. Isn't that right?" I gave a confident smile, and nodded, then looked at Zelda. "Are you okay now Zelda?" I asked. I could still see her tremble a tiny bit, but it mostly went away now! Her hands were still, and after taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and said, "Yes, I am. Now, let's prepare for the Fierce Deity. He'll be coming soon," she looked through the upper door and at the sky.

"But we'll be ready."

Well that's settled. For this chapter, I wanted to cover the struggle between Zelda and the people, but I also wanted to deepen Midna and Aden's relationship too! So, I did both! I hope this chapter made up for all that time between the last chapter and now. Anyways, I should sleep now or whatever. R,R&S guys! Later!