I'd say this got done better than the last chapter. I'm not even going to say anything this time, just go ahead and read.

Chapter 32: Laughter, Sadness and Loss

Lora's POV

After the whole, fiasco, from earlier we got right to work! Me, Aden, Midna, Zelda, Agitha and the Resistance all started to make a plan to protect everyone in the Village. It would be a tough fight since there wasn't that many of us helping, and since Logan went with Adri and Link to Death Mountain, we couldn't rely on one of his plans. So Auru and I tried to work together and think of a plan ourselves. He was "The Brains" of the Resistance after all (well, according to Telma).

First we decided that all of the people (who decided not to help) would all have to stay inside the buildings, no matter what. But I worried that the people from earlier would try something rash. They could try and hurt us and make a run for it, or they could try and fight the monsters themselves. So Auru reluctantly decided that we would pack all the people into the largest building, and board up all the exits. None of us liked the plan, but it was for their own good.

Midna, Aden, and Rusl would try and talk to the people and get them to cooperate. We had to relieve the tension between us and the other villagers, and get them to help us. If we tried to trick or force the people into the building, they would panic and all try to fight back. Getting the people to cooperate and follow our plan would make things easier for us, and the last thing we needed right now was a panic.

Also, Ashei, Shad, Agitha and Mr. Clayface would use the wood from the other buildings, and use them to board up the building where all of the people would be hiding. Because of the construction that was going on for the past couple days, all of the extra resources lying around were used up. So Mr. Clayface and Agitha would take the wood, nails, and other materials off of the other houses, then give them to Shad and Ashei, who would board up the windows and exits of the big building.

The reason why Zelda wasn't anywhere in this plan was because it was too dangerous for her to talk to any of the people. They could go behind our backs and kill her when we weren't looking. Not to mention, we thought that after what just happened to her, she deserved a break. We let her rest in Impaz's house for the time being. Telma offered to go and talk to Zelda while we worked. "She needs to talk to somebody after what happened to her." We agreed, and let her do her work.

We put the plan into action, and everyone started to play their parts without hesitation. Mr. Clayface went up to one of the buildings and began to tear it apart, plank of wood by plank of wood. He did it at a constant pace, tearing off each piece with just one hand. He was strong and forceful tearing each plank off, but at the same time, he was careful about it, making sure not to break any. First he did the bottom floor, then the walls, then did the same thing on the upper floors. Agitha was telling Mr. Clayface where to pull the planks from, while cheering him on all the while. It was amazing how in just a couple days, those two became a team on their own.

Ashei and Shad tried as hard as they could to keep up with Mr. Clayface, but to no avail. Mr. Clayface was tearing each plank off really fast, and the two had to dodge out of the way every time. They couldn't carry all of them out that quick, so they just put all the planks in a pile. That way after Mr. Clayface was done, all they had to do after that was bring them over to the house and hammer them in. I decided to help them out after Shad got slapped in the face with one of the airborne planks.

The building that they were tearing down was almost done! Mr. Clayface finished up with the lower floor and walls, and now moved upstairs with Agitha to continue. Shad and Ashei were still on the lower floor, putting all the thrown planks into one big pile. I ran over to them and started moving the planks with them. After working in silence for a couple minutes, I decided to ask them something.

"Hey," I said as I put down my 6th plank. "Why did you two decide to help us?" Shad stopped while bending over to get a plank while Ashei kept working, not making eye contact with me. She was carrying four planks at a time, two in each hand.

"My father." Ashei firmly said. She let go of the planks near the pile and went back to get some more. Shad picked one up with both hands, holding it weirdly. He looked at me.

"What she's trying to say," he hobbled over to the pile while I went to pick up some more. "Is that she wants to bring back her father. We know what the powers of the Triforce can do, and she knows that if we succeed, she can bring her father back." He carefully placed the plank on the top of the pile. "He was"-

"Don't." Ashei interrupted. She was looking away, and clenching her fists tightly. Shad looked over to me and mouthed "She doesn't like to talk about it". I nodded in response, they didn't need to tell me. We got back to working in silence for a few more minutes. The pile was almost up to our waists at this point.

"So, what about you Shad?" I asked. He was trying to carry three planks at once, but was very unstable trying to walk while carrying them. He started to stumble forward, and tripped over some of the rocks, sending the planks flying in my direction! I dodged to the left and went into a roll, stopping myself with a skid. I wasn't just agile in my Inkling form!

"Sorry about that." Shad picked himself off the ground, patting the dust off of himself and making sure his glasses were okay. I picked up the planks he dropped and put them in the pile for him. Shad refused to say anything while Ashei was walking his way. After she dropped the planks near the pile, he whispered to me.

"My father had already passed away, and I never truly knew my mother. I have nothing else to lose, unlike Ashei. I do feel bad for her. I know what she is feeling, I've lost a loved one as well"

"SHUT UP!" Ashei screamed. Shad fell back, turning as pale as a ghost in just a second. We could even hear Mr. Clayface and Agitha stop working on the upper floor. Ashei was holding a plank on one end with both hands, and she was gripping it tightly.

"You have no IDEA what it was like!" She yelled at Shad. I could see a tear roll down her cheek.

"My father, he died on the attack on Castle Town. I could have prevented it too! That girl," her voice cracked as she pointed upstairs.

"If I hadn't went to go save her, he would still be alive! I thought I could save both of them, but I ran for the wrong person! And now.. And now….." Her voice kept cracking, as the plank she was holding started to crack. Shad tried to say something, but it only came out as a stutter. He could barely get out a word before Ashei lost it.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ashei let go of the plank and punched the nearby building support beam in rage. The support beam cracked completely in two and the whole building started to tip over. We all ran out of the house as fast as we could before we were buried underneath all the rubble. The whole thing came crashing down, and when the dust settled, all that was left was a big pile of rubble. It looked like Ashei sped up the process for us!

Mr. Clayface stood in the center of all the rubble, bending over like a wide arch. Pieces of wood and nails stuck out of his back, but he showed no signs of pain. When he straightened himself out, Agitha appeared under him, with no scratches or injuries whatsoever. Mr. Clayface protected Agitha from being crushed, and that made me feel a little warm inside. When Agitha realized what Mr. Clayface did, she gave him a big, long hug!

Ashei stomped away towards the cave entrance, mumbling something under her breath I couldn't make out. Shad rubbed his head and let out a sigh.

"Oh boy…" he said. "I should, probably go and calm her down. She gets like this, often now." He turned to me. "Thanks for helping us out though, even though it wasn't that much before, that." I shrugged.

"Anyways, I should go, say something to her. I'll be back later!" Shad ran off after her through the cave and out of sight. I decided to leave them to their business. Meanwhile, Agitha was picking the rubble out of Mr. C's back, being careful pulling each little piece out like she was pulling splinters out of a friend's back. It looked like she was fine on her own too. So, I decided to see how Aden and the others were doing.

Long story short, not well.

The three had gathered the people around where Zelda gave her speech. From the looks of it, they were doing a little better than Zelda was. The mob wasn't threatening to kill them, that was a start! But there was still lots of yelling and arguing coming from the people. Aden was attempting to talk to the people calmly, but almost noone could hear him over all of the people's yelling. Rusl was doing a little better, reasoning with some of the people from his village and getting them on our side quickly. Midna however, was not taking ANY of the people's words lightly. From where I was, she was the only one of the three I could hear.

I silently weaved my way through the crowd, turning my body side to side like I was doing some sort of weird dance. I almost got to the front, but before I could-

"GOTCHA!"

The man that tried to attack Zelda grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back to him! I yelped, but he put a knife to my throat, making me freeze up. Everyone around us backed up until we had our own personal circle. I looked at the three, and they were ready to fight! Midna had her hair magic ready, her little ponytail turning into a giant fist, Aden had his right hand raised, ready to do any type of magic necesary, and Rusl, well he decided to not do anything. He didn't have anything on him that he could fight back with.

"Now now! You wouldn't want me to hurt her, would ya?" He was gripping the hair right above my head so I couldn't run away. He held the knife right up to my neck.

...Actually upon closer inspection it wasn't a knife at all, it was the bottom half of the guy's sword! Regardless, Aden and Midna eased off.

"Good. Now if you don't want me to hurt this little, defenceless girl here, just let us go, simple as that!" He was trying to use me to trade for freedom. That was extremely low! And I wasn't just a "Little defenceless girl", I wasn't even scared. I was just waiting, waiting for the right moment.

You see, this wasn't the first time I've been in a hostage situation.

When the man lowered the bottom half of his sword, I elbowed him in the chest, kicked my leg up to his groin, and took the rest of his sword right from his hands in a blink of an eye! He stumbled backwards then collapsed on to his knees, his hands around his groin, wheezing in pain. I dropped the chopped sword and kicked it away from me.

'Never mess with Agent 3'

I walked up to Aden, Midna and Rusl, frustrated that the man would go that low. Trying to trade me for "freedom", like that would even work. The three were surprised that I was able to escape from the former knight on my own, as were all of the other people. I decided to use that to our advantage.

"Where WOULD you go anyway?" I said with a stern tone. All the people turned to me. The former knight layed sprawled across the ground moaning.

"He kept talking about a place safer than here, a place where you all could hide and survive until it all blew over. But where would that be? Kakiriko? Faron? Lake Hylia? None of them would work. Why?" I pointed to the exit.

"If you take so much as a STEP outside the other end of that cave, they will know where you are. They will know where we ALL are! And they will kill you the first chance they get. We are your best option, if not the only one."

Everyone was silent (except for the moaning Knight) for a bit. Then a middle aged woman in the front row yelled "But you're not even giving us a choice! You four are expecting us to all be herded into one house and just wait there, doing absolutely nothing! What if we wanted to do something ourselves?" Midna stomped her foot in response causing the deck to shake.

"Oh I'm sorry, I had no IDEA that you could fight as well as us!" She yelled with 100% sarcasm. "Alright then, go and get a sword and stay out with us, where you could be crushed, torn open, strangled, or suffocate to death! I mean of COURSE someone like you could do better than us, so go ahead!" Midna got right up to the woman's face.

"Make. My. Day."

The woman scoffed at Midna, she looked like she had never been more offended in her life. "And you're wondering why we don't trust you."

Midna turned her hair back into a fist. "Oh you wanna go old lady?!"

Aden quickly got to her side and lowered her hands, telling her "It's not worth it, it's not worth it." and backing her away from the woman. Said woman was glaring daggers at Midna, and you could just feel the tension in the air. Rusl stepped forward.

"Please, we just want t' help you people! The monsters will be here soon, and we don't have much time! All we ask is f'r y'all to hide 'n a house! It'll be easier to protect everyone that way!"

"And how do ya' know that, huh?!" a man in the back yelled.

"Well do you have any better ideas?!" I snapped back at the man. He seemed to sink back into the crowd. Since he calmed Midna down, he stepped in front of us.

"Please, everyone, we're all trying to do what's best for you." he said sympathetica

lly. "I've seen what the Fierce Deity can do, and it, it was horrifying! I saw all of Faron get destroyed right in front of me, I saw how it affected everyone. People lost their families, their loved ones, even pets to the monster! Fire burned down the entire forest, people were crushed to death, homes were destroyed and I couldn't do a single thing about it!" Aden was starting to choke up.

"And that, was just Faron. Up on Snowpeak, I saw a woman have her husband possessed and try to kill her. She couldn't fight back even if she wanted to, and she did not want to! And Castle Town… Everyone at Castle Town…" He stopped himself before he could say anything that might offend people. He wiped away tears of light before they could fall, and took a deep breath. It looked like Aden was starting to have an affect on the crowd.

"I don't want that to happen to any of you, or anybody else. Everyone that is already helping us wants to stop the Deity before it can do any more damage, so please, let us help you people! We're begging you!"

Everyone was quiet again. There was a range of expressions across the crowd of people. Some people looked sympathetic, some looked annoyed, and some were confused on what to do. But it looked like Aden had an effect on them. Some were looking down in shame, wiping away tears that came from remembering their friends and family die. It looked like we finally convinced them.

"OH SHUT UP!"

Midna, Rusl and I groaned. The former Knight recovered from my escape, but was hunched over in pain, holding his lower stomach where I hit him.

"YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT LOSS! ALL OF OUR FAMILY DIED, BUT YOURS DIDN'T! YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING!"

"Hey, leave 'em alone!" One of the kids yelled at the former knight. He turned to them with the same angry expression he looked at us with, but the kids didn't even flinch.

"Yeah, not like YOU know what's best for us!" Ashei appeared out of nowhere next to Shad.

"Hey, I actually know this man!" Telma appeared too. She had an evil smirk on her face. When the former Knight saw her, he just went pale.

"Every night this man comes in to MY tavern and as soon as he takes a sip of anyone of my drinks, he becomes the saddest man in there. Whining about how his wife left him for somebody with an actual HEART! He cries and whines all by himself until closing time, then I have to kick him out! This man is the saddest person I've ever seen in my entire life!"

The entire crowd burst into laughter, while the former knight turned from a ghostly white to a fire-truck shade of red. He didn't say a single word, but even if he did, nobody could hear him over the laughter. I got a good chuckle out of it, Rusl just shook his head, and Midna was laughing the loudest and hardest to the point where she started to cry from the pain. But Aden looked down and sighed, he didn't want this.

I started to walk over to him, but I felt a tug on my cloak. I turned around to find Zelda, with a look of urgency on her face. I stopped laughing immediately and nodded, knowing what was going on.

I ran to Impaz's house, not checking to see if the others were behind me. I was sure that they were anyways. The door to Impaz's house was already open, so I ran inside and skidded to a stop, almost tripping over myself. I looked around for Impaz, and she was lying on the floor, moaning in pain. Her face was completely white and you could see the sweat on her face.

Her time was almost up.

I heard some other footsteps come from behind me, it was Zelda and Aden. Aden gasped and knelt down, muttering "no no no no no no no!" I bent down and checked her pulse. I could only feel one beat every ten seconds. Her breaths were extremely slow too, it wouldn't be long now.

Impaz muttered something, but nobody could make it out. She was too quiet, like she lost her voice while she was sick. More people came in, this time it was Midna and Telma. Zelda told Aden, "Aden, your powers!"

"Uh, uh y-yeah!" He stuttered. He put his hands around Impaz, created a Memory Orb around her, then touched her arm delicately. The bright light appeared and faded away to show,

The same Impaz.

The Memory Orb didn't work at all.

Aden started to panic, big time. "No no no NO NO NO WHY DIDN'T IT WORK?!" He created another Memory Orb around her and tried again, only to get the same results. He tried again and again and again, but every time, she didn't change at all. I could hear Telma say behind us "My goodness…"

Aden tried over and over to heal her but didn't stop until Zelda touched his arm.

"Aden," He stopped and looked at her, starting to hyperventilate. She put her hand over her heart. "I'm sorry."

"But no! This has to work, my powers"-

"Kid, look." Rusl pointed down to Impaz, who was reaching out to Aden. He quickly bend down farther until his face was right next to Impaz's. She put her little hand on his cheek, and spoke something to him. I didn't know what she was saying, she was talking too quietly. Only Aden could hear her. As she spoke, none of us said a word. The laughter from outside seemed to fade away too.

Aden, after listening to Impaz talk to him for a long time, nodded his head solemnly and said "I promise." Impaz smiled, then took her hand off of Aden's cheek, dropping it to the floor. Everyone gasped, including myself. She didn't move for what seemed like an entire minute, but when she started to glow and shimmer, she lifted her hand back up to Aden, and said one last thing we could all hear.

"I, believe in you all."

Then Impaz exploded in white light, little specks of light floating away where Impaz's body was like fireflies. Then one by one, the specks burned out, and before we knew it, all disappeared.

Outside we could hear large cracks, similar to thick ice breaking under the weight of somebody. All of us looked out the door.

A dark blue dome had appeared around the Hidden Village, and light blue cracks were spreading from the top, to the bottom of the dome. The people pointed up to the cracks, huddled together, some even started to scream. The cracks spread further and further until it reached the bottom, then the entire dome shattered, leaving light blue specks in its place, which got swept away by a gust of wind. The dome was gone.

Impaz's spell was broken.

And we were sitting ducks.