The Great Eight

by TwilightPrince101

Two years after the Twili Invasion, a boy named Aden wakes up in the Great Fairy's Cave, knowing nothing but to seek out his allies, and quickly! Join Aden, Midna, and all their Triforce bearing friends as they try to stop a vengeful deity, save the goddesses and win a battle that Fate never destined. (Please read it gets better as it goes on I started it over a year ago)

37. Hope Fades

Be prepared for a long one folks!

Chapter 37: Hope Fades

Midna's POV

Out of all the places we could appear when we all walked through the doorway, a wide, grassy field was the last place I would expect to appear. Yet there we were!

All eight of us found ourselves in an almost mythical place; we had came from a land that was filled to the brink with destruction, and yet we found ourselves in the most peaceful place anyone could ever imagine. We all stood in a barren field of grass, with the green blades growing seemingly infinitely across the horizon. The blades reached up to our ankles, and since I wasn't wearing any shoes, they tickled my feet a little.

There were a couple clouds overhead, but the sky was a perfect blue! The sunlight felt warm and calming, and the only sound around was a gentle breeze blowing past our ears. Scattered across the grassy field were little white and yellow flowers; I was almost tempted to pluck one for myself. It was very calming and relaxing; enough to where if you laid down in the field, you could have a pleasant and comfy nap. But this drastic change only put me on more of an edge.

The only thing that wasn't just field was a small hill placed right in front of us all. On the top, there was a gigantic arching tree with branches painted with dark green leaves. Even while peering into the top of the tree, I wasn't able to see a speck of brown through all of the green.

"This is… Interesting." I could hear Zelda say to my left.

"No kidding." Zant said behind us. We could hear some crickets chirping below us.

"It's really, quiet here." Adri spoke, slightly confused. "...To"-

"Adri you better not finish that sentence because I know what you're going to say and now is not the time." Logan scowled at her. Adri did as he said.

I looked for Aden, who had thankfully appeared right next to me. He was looking up at the trunk of the tree; it looked like he was staring at something that none of us could see. His mouth opened slightly and I could hear his slow, deep breathes. Maybe he was scared at the battle that was coming? If he was, then the confidence that he was showing earlier seemed to fade. Instinctively, I slipped my hand into his and gently grasped it.

His gaze went from my hand to my face, then he seemed to relax a little. His nervous look changed into a comforting one, and he nodded at me with a smile. I could feel a "thank you" in his expression, so I nodded back smiling too. I was nervous as well; all of us were! We could all feel the tension between ourselves. But if we went into this final fight scared and nervous, we wouldn't get anywhere. We had to stay calm, and stay focused.

A gentle cry snapped us both back to reality. It was feminine, soft and faint, as if whoever was crying was trying to keep her sadness hidden. We searched for the source, but the obvious answer that we should've known was the big tree on the hill. I searched the tree's branches to try and find somebody hidden inside of them. But when my gaze drifted down to the trunk, I realized why Aden had his expression from earlier.

I could make out a very faint outline of a figure on the trunk, and I knew right away that it was Hylia. She was bound to the tree in dark, purple, glowing chains by her wrists and ankles. Her arms hung limp beside her golden hair, and her pure white dress flowed almost below her bare feet. She also wore light purple earrings on her pointed ears and long bracelets that covered about half of the lower part of her arms. She definitely fit the goddess style. But her head was down, and she didn't even seem to notice us appear in the field next to her. Tiny specks of tears dropped from her cheeks and chin.

Aden gasped as if he just now knew who the figure on the tree was. In a whisper, I could hear him mutter her name. But after a second, he sprinted up the hill yelling "Hylia!" Nobody else ran after Aden because of the shock of him sprinting away, but Hylia finally looked up to face us all. Wet trails of tears streamed down her cheeks, and she looked at Aden with a look of pain and grief. Then slowly, while wincing, she shook her head back and forth.

"Ad'n, wait!" Link shouted, reaching out for his friend. Up near the top of the hill, he looked back and started to slow down, but it was too late. The moment he touched the trunk of the great tree, a giant purple shockwave launched all of us backwards! I skidded on my back to a halt, but I saw another figure in the air flying towards me. Summoning my hair hand, I managed to catch Aden in the air before he could have a rough landing. He slid off of it, and after asking each other if we were okay, we took another look at our surroundings.

The calm and relaxing field of grass was all dead; they went from relaxing, tickling blades of green to a dull and lifeless yellow. The sky had turned blood red, and the sun had somehow disappeared! But the perfect, blossoming tree on the hill took the worst of it. All of the leaves on the top had all vanished, and the arching, pointed branches left a chill down my spine.

Still attached to the trunk of the tree, Hylia lowered her head in shame after seeing us get launched by the shockwave. Her figure flickered a bit more, but then she completely faded away, leaving no trace that she was ever there. But in her place, the Fierce Deity had appeared once again. He had his right arm grasping his sword, and his left limply hanging. After quickly piecing together that the Deity had tricked us, we all scrambled to get ready for a fight. Link, Zelda and Zant got ready their weapons, while Aden and I prepared magic. I wasn't able to get a glance at the other three since they were behind us, but I assumed that they were getting ready too.

"Fierce Deity! Your reign of destruction ends now!" Zelda pointed her Rapier at our godlike enemy. He remained expressionless, and began to float towards us, slowly and intimidatingly. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves; it goes without saying that I was a little scared. 'But if we fail, it was still nice to see all of my friends one last time.'

I shook that out of place thought out of my head (by literally shaking my head really quick), and tried to stay optimistic. 'Shut up Midna, stop thinking about that! Just focus on the fight, and everything will be fine! We outnumber him, we can do this!'

The Deity stayed silent and expressionless.

"You're going to pay for what you did to our homes!" Aden tried to yell intimidatingly. It didn't completely work, but he put in a good effort. He was trying to do the same thing I was doing; brushing off any negative thoughts and trying to stay brave for his friends. I smiled, getting reassured by his half-confidence. But the Deity still did nothing.

Link and I exchanged looks, then glanced at the Fierce Deity. "Is he going to… do anything?" Link seemed to try and say. This was starting to get a little weird.

"Come on, let's get on with it already!" Zant yelled at the rest of us, getting angry at how none of us were doing a thing to try and start a fight. Behind us, I could hear the familiar sound of Logan taking out the baton from his case. It sounded like a response to Zant's angry commands. "Why are you all just"-

"Zant, you foolish mortal." The Fierce Deity finally said in a disappointed tone. I don't know why, but hearing him suddenly speak up after a long moment of silence made us jump slightly. We all got back into our battle stances, and I could hear Adri conjuring a fireball in her hand. Aden looked back to see them get ready as we faced the Deity.

"In truth, I was going to offer a fair fight, as taking revenge on defenceless mortals had been too simple. But now…"

The Deity trailed off for a moment, and I could hear a faint gasp come from Aden. I didn't think of it much at the time, since I was more worried about the greater task at hand.

"You know too much."

What happened next was just a gigantic blur of panic in the span of just one second. Aden, just after we heard the Deity say his curse, tackled me, causing me to topple down onto Link. Then he fell onto Zelda, and she fell onto Zant. Aden yelled in a voice of pure fear "LOOK OUT!", and everything went dark. I could feel some sort of strong breeze go right through my stomach, and heard three separate explosions. Then the world went back to normal, and we could all see again. All of us were in a pile, and we moved around in blind panic.

"Aden! What's going on, what (uff) happened what's"-

He hopped off my stomach and spun on his heels. After falling off of Link, I followed his gaze and ignored Zant's frustrated grunts. My blood ran cold from what Aden saved us from.

In front of where the remaining three stood, which was where we were only a moment ago, there was a giant ruined patch of dead grass. It was burning, charred black and covered with purple ink in one gigantic spot of death. But that wasn't all, not in the slightest. Adri, Logan and Lora (now in her alternate form) were surrounded by a powerful dark aura. Their eyes were hollow, and coming from their sockets was a sort of a dark purple smoke that added to the energy around them. Their expressions were empty, not showing a single trace of remorse or regret. Adri's palms were outstretched, Logan had his baton pointed forward, and Lora had her regular weapon pointed at the spot where Zant was standing (and her strange hair was now purple).

It was them.

Our own allies, our friends had tried to kill us.

Their gazes simultaneously shifted from the spot of death to where we sat now, and they each slowly lowered their weapons. I looked back to the Fierce Deity, but he had vanished completely, just like Hylia had. He left us alone with them.

And we had nowhere to run.

Aden's POV

'I knew it I knew it I knew it I KNEW IT I FREAKING KNEW IT!' The same thought kept repeating over and over in my head. 'I could have told them earlier about them, I could have warned the others about these guys and how they might turn on us, I could have prevented ALL of this! But no, even with the evidence already there right in front of me, I didn't tell them. I didn't freaking tell them because of the TINY CHANCE that I could be wrong! Why did I think that'-

Blades clashing against each other snapped me back to reality. Link had leaped in front of me and used his sword to protect me from Logan's daggers. I had got so caught up in bashing myself that I didn't know what was going on! "Come on Aden, snap out of it!" Link yelled, deflecting another attack from Logan.

I slapped my head once or twice then focused back on the action. I moved to Link's side and prepared my magic. Logan stood a couple feet away in a battle stance, holding a dagger in his right hand and his baton in his left. He stood absolutely still, waiting for us to make our move. Looking at him made me feel idiotic for trusting him.

While we waited for each other to make our move, I took a brief glance over to the source of other fighting noises. Zelda, Midna and Zant had split up to fight Adri and Lora while Link and I handled Logan. Zelda had chosen to take on Lora alone, the two trying to hit each other from a distance (Lora with her ink shots, and Zelda with her Light Arrows). Meanwhile, Midna and Zant had partnered up (against all odds) to go against Adri, who was giving them both a tough time. Zant tried to use his blades and Midna tried her magic from a distance, but Adri always seemed to dodge each attack as if she knew the attacks were coming. They didn't seem like they were doing so well either.

I tried to stop worrying about them and focus on our own battle. I spun my head back to Logan, who stood in the same stance he was in when I looked away. I tried to focus my energy down into my fingertips, and prepared a Pointed Shockwave. I had my magic ready, and stared at Logan as if we were in a showdown. Then all at once, I unleashed multiple shockwaves all at Logan! Following my attack, Link charged at the traitor with his sword.

But Logan was prepared for this. The strange dark purple smoke flowed into his dagger, and he raised his newly powered weapon up in defence. When the shockwaves came near, he lashed at the air in all sorts of different directions at blinding speed! On his side, dark purple shockwaves sped out in my direction, then effortlessly sliced through my magic! With Logan's attack speeding towards me, I put up Nayru's Love just in time! The shockwaves disappeared once they hit the crystal, so I put it down as Link just reached the Deity's partner.

Link leaped at Logan with his sword held high, ready to cut him down! But without even glancing at him, Logan sidestepped out of the way. Link fell to the ground, and then he was on the defensive. Logan used his baton to make strong winds to blow Link away! He stumbled backwards a little, holding onto his sword to make sure it didn't blow away. Holding onto my cloak, I rushed to Link to try and help him, while also casting Din's Flame at Logan.

As it reached the two, the winds switched sharply from one direction to the other. Now we were being blown TO Logan, and while that did help me with getting to the two, it couldn't be worse for Link. Logan managed to leap out of the way before Din's Flame went off, and since the strong wind was blowing Link the other way, he flew right into the impact zone. My attack blew him backwards, and he landed right in front of me.

I gasped and panicked, kneeling down to pat out some flames and try to use a Memory Orb to help. But as I started to make one, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Reacting on instinct, I sent out more pointed shockwaves to try and catch Logan off guard. Just like last time, he used his own magic to cut through my own easily. So focusing on Link instead of myself, I grabbed onto my friend and teleported us away.

Managing to teleport under the gigantic dying tree, I tried to use a memory orb to heal Link back to full health. I could see Logan racing towards us at full speed, so I tried to make it quick. I made the orb around Link, I touched his arm then turned around as the bright light shined. I casted Din's fire again and again to try and slow him down, but he kept leaping out of the way. So getting a little desperate, I tried something different as the glow faded behind me.

I waved one hand in wide, fuent arcs while I casted Din's Fire in the other hand. Logan casted more purple magic, and managed to dodge a couple blasts of Din's fire. But on the fourth blast, he was caught mid-leap and was sent flying backwards onto the ground! Link got up to my side, looking as good as new from my magic. He was trying to hold the Master Sword with both hands, but he didn't seem comfortable doing it that way, so he switched back.

"I got a hit on him, but this isn't easy!" I said, keeping my eyes on Logan. "It's like he always knows what I'm going to do whenever I try to go in for an attack."

"Yeah, I think the Deity gave 'em a power boost or somethin'. I can't even get close to 'em!" Link said without a single falter in his voice. It seemed amazing how he could still be confident now, even after everything that has happened. Did he know this was coming too, or was this just the Triforce of Courage? I saw him look away to the others from the corner of my eye.

"The others aren't lookin' so good." He said, now with a slightly nervous tone. I made a mistake, and looked to the others like he did. Zant and Midna both had a couple scars and bruises on them, and Zelda had parts of her hair and clothes singed off from the toxic ink. He was right. Link looked back to Logan and started to say "We gotta hurry and…"

Link trailed off as he looked back to Logan's husk, and before I could see what was happening, Link gave me a shove and yelled "MOVE!" A crack of thunder pierced my ears, and a bolt of lightning struck way too close to the both of us! It was obvious who had cast it, but I was more surprised at Link shoving me out of the way. Link was once again sent flying backwards from the force of it hitting the ground, but thankfully didn't get fried to a crisp.

Landing at the bottom of the hill with a THUD, I had the air in my lungs forced out of me. I wheezed to try and get my normal breath back between some deep coughs. I lifted myself up with my hands and knees, almost managing to breathe normal again. Facing Zelda and Lora's battle, I could hear rapid footsteps behind me, then suddenly stop. After taking one final deep breath, a shadow blocked out the dark red light from overhead.

I knew who it was and I tried to get out of the way! But a sharp gust of wind stronger than anything I've ever felt before shoved me back on the ground. I couldn't move anything, I was stuck. My head pushed against the dead grass at its side, facing the hill, which had an intimidating shadow moving across its surface. It fell from the summit of the dead hill to the bottom, with one of its dark hands holding something like a pointed arrow. I tried to use Farore's Wind, but the roaring wind in my ears made it impossible to focus on a certain spot.

But before Logan's shadow could reach the bottom, another leaped in front of it and held a sword flat against his palms to protect me. But before I had a chance to be relieved, I could see Logan switch his position from trying to stab me, to slice Link. He slashed the dagger horizontally to try and hit Link instead of me. But I didn't hear loud CLANG of the blades clashing and Link protecting me.

Instead, I heard the sound of something shattering. Link's shadow was no longer using his sword to try and protect me. Instead, he was stumbling back, and I saw the shadow of two halves of something falling to the ground. Link gasped and tried to regain his footing, putting each of his feet on different sides of my body. But Logan's shadow reeled back its arm, then thrust it forward. I could feel his blood splatter on my cheek.

Hyrule was now without their hero, and it was all my fault.

I vaguely remember what happened after that. Link's body collapsed next to mine, and he didn't try to get up. Our gazes locked, and it seemed like his eyes were piercing into the back of my brain. Yet there was nothing in his look at the same time. My heartbeat sped-up faster than it had ever went before, and I could feel my pulse pounding in my head like something was stuck in there, trying to get it out! Then, my body let loose a desperate cry.

After that, it was a blur. I remember a breeze blowing through me, then some sort of warmth in my fingertips. The roaring breeze in my ears was replaced by my own pulse. The next, clear thing that I could remember was sta

ring down at Logan's corpse. He was covered in cuts and lashed across his body, with pitch black blood seeping through his clothes. The purple aura around him had faded, but I could still faintly see a sort of glow. My eyes stung and I felt extremely lightheaded, as if I had sprinted across Hyrule Field and back without stopping.

I bent over, wanting a second for myself to just breathe. But when I saw the broken halves of the Master Sword, I snapped myself out of it and searched for what was left of Link. He was right where he was before the blur, lying on the ground near the hill. I hastily made a Memory Orb in my hands and got down on both knees, reaching for Link. 'You can save him, you can save him, you can save him, you can save him.' I kept reassuring myself. But the other half of me said otherwise.

'This won't work, it'll be like Impaz back in the village. Your magic can heal, but it can't bring back the dead.' I began to bring my hands back from my own doubt. My vision got blurry while my eyes started to sting. 'You are too'-

"Stop it, stop it, stop it! You don't know that!" I screamed at myself. I shook and slapped my head to bring myself to my senses. Gradually, I started to reach out my hands again with the Memory Orb still in their palms. "Just bring him back, and then everything"-

"AARGHHH!"

A painful screech made me stop and look back at the other two battlefields. Midna and Zant were doing somewhat okay now, but they've been giving it all they had, and it looked like they wouldn't last much longer. Adri, though, looked completely energized as if the battle just started for her! Link was certainly right about the power boost thing.

But then I found the source of the cry, Zelda. She clutched her right shoulder in pain and had almost stumbled down. I could see a tiny dot of toxic ink on the backside of her dress. Lora was a little ways away from her, down on one knee. She held a long, thin weapon that looked a little like the one I first saw her with. Lora got up and pushed some sort of buttons on the weapon, then stared at the princess. Then she began to sprint.

I looked back and forth, back and forth from Link to Zelda. 'Link, Zelda, Link, Zelda, Link, Zelda.' I could try and bring back Link right away and see if my powers worked, but there was no guarantee that it would actually work or not, and I might not make it in time to help Zelda. But if I ran to help Zelda now, I might not be able to bring Link back? All of the fighting was draining a lot of my magic, and I didn't think I could go on for the entire fight.

But when it came down to choosing, I decided to not take the bigger risk and leaped up to help Zelda. I ran as fast as my legs could take me, trying to focus on getting to Zelda before Lora did. As she ran, her long, thin weapon extended and shifted in different ways. When it finally stopped a couple seconds later, it changed to the giant weapon she was using on the Hidden Village invasion! So when it seemed obvious that she would get there before I did, I focused on trying to be in front of Zelda. I took a deep breath, felt a breeze blow through me, and held out my arms.

"Leave…" I whispered. The world went bright again, and I was face to face with the Deity's ally.

"...HER ALONE!" I ran right into Lora and pushed against her as hard as I could! My shoes dug into the yellow grass as I pushed on Lora's shoulders. But even trying all I could, Lora was still really strong. We shoved against each other, trying to get the best of one another and finish this. 'Why did all of this have to happen.' I choose an innapropriate time to mourn, closing my eyes.

'I just wish things could go back to the way they could be.'

I almost fell forwards, the two way shove contest stopped. I stepped back and opened my eyes, trying to understand why she stopped. When I saw what I had done, I was speechless.

Lora was trapped inside a Memory Orb, a large one that completely surrounded her! I never must have gotten rid of the one I was about to use for Link, and used it on her by accident. Lora buckled over, clutching her head and shaking violently back and forth. It reminded me of something, but I couldn't remember what at first.

Then it hit me; the ghost from the tower in the desert! When I used the Memory Orb on it, it got trapped inside, pounding on the inside to try and get out! Then when I touched it, the ghost had disappeared, dropping the lantI had no idea why, but it also applied to these three apparently! I looked back to Zelda to see if she had the same reaction, but also to see if she was okay or not. The princess was now standing once again, ready for a fight but still confused on what was going on.

I jogged over to her and made another Memory Orb around her shoulder to heal her wound. "Aden? I thank you for saving me, but where is Link?" I winced, and decided to stay silent for that question. 'You can try to bring him back later, you need to focus right now!' My magic did its work, and her shoulder was as good as new. But the Princess must have seen a look in my eyes or something, and she understood. "Oh, oh my"-

She was cut off by the sound of cracking glass, which made me spin around. Lora was slamming the gigantic roller against the inside of the Memory Orb in an attempt to get out. Dark purple cracks covered the orb with each hit, growing wider and wider until they surrounded the entire thing. I backed up next to Zelda.

"My Memory Orbs, I think they can keep them trapped in there and-and I think I can cut off their power! But"-

"Do not worry, I understand." She leapt to my side and readied her Rapier. For some reason, I had a really bad feeling about this. But I tried to give a confident nod in response nonetheless.

The Memory Orb exploded with the Deity's dark purple energy, swirling through the air along with a strong gust. Then coming out as quick as a lightning bolt, Lora leapt back into the fight with the giant roller. Zelda and I dodged in opposite directions, then began our attack. Zelda morphed her blade into the Bow of Light, and prepared some arrows while I got my magic ready.

Between the two of us, Lora decided to chase after me with the giant roller lugged behind her. I ran backwards as fast as I could, using Pointed Shockwaves to try and slow her down. But using the giant roller, Lora tilted her weapon in different directions to block my shots before they got to her. Pointed Shockwave really wasn't working out in there.

So I did the same thing I tried with Logan, I mixed up my Pointed Shockwaves with some of Din's Fire. Lora continued to block my shockwaves, however, and it seemed like Lora learned my tricks. Whenever I started to make a shot explode, Lora leapt to the side and just continued to attack without faltering. My tricks were already starting to get old for them, and the worst part of it was that using this much magic this fast was starting to drain me, and it was becoming harder and harder to cast more magic as time went on!

But then I saw a bright light glowing from the corner or my eye; Zelda! She was getting ready one of her Light Arrows to shoot at Lora's body! But because of how fast we were moving, I knew that it wasn't going to be easy to hit either of us. I had to help in some way, but I didn't get a chance to think about it before Lora finally landed a blow on me.

Right then I understood why Zelda had yelled so loud when she got hit. When Lora had skimmed my face with the giant roller, a ball of the toxic ink splattered on the majority of my right cheek, and it HURT! It felt like acid got splashed on my face, I could even feel my skin start to burn and sizzle! I stumbled and fell over, letting out a scream similar to Zelda's.

I laid sprawled on the ground in pain, grasping my cheek from the agonizing burning of the ink! My breathing turned fast and sharp, and my cheek sizzled and popped even more, making me cringe and grimace from my face getting burned off! I was about to start making a Memory Orb to stop the pain, but then I heard Lora running up behind me at top speeds!

I flipped myself onto my back, accidentally brushing some of the dead grass on my sizzling cheek, making it give me a jolt of pain. Lora loomed above me, holding her original short weapon again, pointing the nozzle right at my head. So just in time, I crossed both of my arms in front of me, casting Nayru's Love! The blue crystal surrounded me just before more of Lora's weapon shot more deadly ink! All of it thankfully slid off of the crystal and fell to the dead grass below.

After firing a couple shots, and having more ink fall, Lora seemed to realize that this wasn't doing anything. So she started banging on the crystal with the butt of her weapon, trying to crack it open so she could get at its insides! I tried to not bring the crystal down or teleport away, I just had to keep Lora like this for a little bit longer. I took a quick peek at the bright light where Zelda was, and right after I

The arrow of light shined like a miniature sun in the barren field we were all fighting in, blinding all of us and making me have to squint even through the tinted crystal to see anything! The bolt of light streaked across the field faster than, well, light, and it barely even gave Lora a chance to see what was going on before she got hit right in the back! It pierced through her body with no effort, and even though no blood came out, her body jerked upright and raised its chest up to the sky, as if it could feel pain from that attack.

The glow faded, and Lora's husk dropped to its knees. The shoulders were slumped over, and the powerful aura around her had faded drastically. Zelda changed her bow back into the blade, and started to run over to the two of us from across the battlefield. On the other side of the hill, Midna and Zant were both still fighting against Adri, same as before out fight began. Wasting no time, I made a Memory Orb inside of the crystal to make sure that Lora couldn't make a jump on me.

looked at it, she fired!

The bolt of light streaked through the air quick and efficient, lighting up the battlefield like a miniature sun as it flew. In only one moment, I could see through squinted eyes how the arrow traveled from Zelda's bow right into Lora's backside! My distraction worked, Zelda managed to hit her! The arrow pierced clean through her body as if it was just thin paper, effortlessly. Lora's body reeled upwards at the impact, is if it had felt some sort of pain during the attack.

The bright light faded, and Lora's body fell to its knees. The body twitched and jerked like it was having some sort of spasm, and it seemed pretty painful. The short but deadly weapon laid at her side, with a drop of the purple ink dripping out. I almost felt a little sorry for her, but I stopped myself, thinking of how they all betrayed us, how they were against us from the beginning. 'They deserve this.'

Zelda ran towards me with her Rapier in hand, having it changed back to its original form. This time, I kept an eye on Lora's body to make sure it didn't try to attack either of us if we looked away from it even for a second! I used my magic to get a Memory Orb ready, trying to use enough energy to grow it big enough to cover her, but not use too much, since we were going to go and fight Adri next.

Zelda slowed to a stop on the other side of Lora's body, in a battle stance just to make sure that she would be ready for any surprise attacks. Just as I managed to completely surround Lora's body with the Memory Orb, Zelda asked "So what exactly will this do?"

"I don't know." I admitted straightforwardly. Seeing as it was safe now, I lowered my guard and looked up to the Princess, who was also keeping an eye on the body. "If we're lucky, the Triforce Piece will go to one of us. If we're not, then it will probably go to the Deity."

For some reason, I thought now was a good time to apologize to her about Link. I looked away, both ashamed and nervous about having to admit this. "Zelda, I'm really sorry for Link. I really did try to help, but I wasn't able to do anything in the end. I'm not even sure if I can even bring him back now with my"-

Cut off mid-sentence, Zelda ran around Lora's body and pushed me out of the way of something. I didn't understand, but as I fell, I saw the horror unfold right in front of my eyes. The opening part of Lora's weapon was sticking out of the Memory Orb, and Lora was pointing it right at the spot where I was standing. Zelda had managed to get me out of the way, but I had to suffer through something even worse. I had to watch another friend get killed right in front of my eyes.

The toxic ink hit her right in the center of her chest, causing it all to burn right through and leave a gaping hole. A bit of her red mixed in with Lora's purple. Zelda gagged and whimpered at the pain, covering the hole in her chest while I watched in horror. For some reason, Lora decided to torture me even more by not ending me there, and forcing me to watch Zelda suffer. I'm ashamed at myself for doing nothing right then. Then, with one final horrified stare at me, the Princess of Hyrule collapsed onto the dead grass.

Hyrule was now without a ruler, and it was all my fault.

But before I had a chance to grieve, Lora pointed her weapon at me from inside the Memory Orb. The same instincts took over from my rage against Link's killer. With lightning speed, I clenched the end of Lora's weapon and flung it to the bottom of the tree hill. Little drips of the purple ink flew as the weapon spun in the air, but none of them landed on me. Then before any more damage could be done, I thrusted my hand inside the Memory Orb and grabbed Lora's arm.

The bright light shined as it worked its magic, but Lora did not try to struggle. Once I had grabbed her arm, everything was over for her. She did not try to break away, and she did not try to fight back one last time. She simply accepted her fate as the light engulfed her. When it faded away, the arm slipped from my grip, and Lora joined Zelda on the grass.

I looked down at Lora's body, which had changed quite a bit from my magic. The dark aura that surrounded her had completely disappeared, and no more smoke was coming from the eyes. Her tentacle hair had also changed back to the light green it originally was. Her eyes were closed and here expression looked peaceful, like she was just sleeping after a long day. From all this, I assumed that the Deity's power was now gone for good, but I'd still have to put up a fight! But by looking at her for a bit longer, I realized that her chest wasn't moving from her breathing. She was gone too.

This time, my tears flowed down faster and quicker than they did for Link. I may have lost a friend by letting Link go, but this was far worse. By letting Zelda die right in front of me, not only did I lose a friend, but whatever was left of Hyrule would now be leaderless. She was the spark of inspiration throughout the survivors, but now she was gone. There was nothing left for them down there now, I failed them.

Things have gone from bad to worse ever since we came into this place. Both Link and Zelda had died because I wasn't able to-no, because I didn't do anything. Both times, I could have done something to save them. I could have used Farore's Wind to teleport out of Logan's gust and stop Link, and I could've paid more attention to Lora when she was trapped in the Memory Orb! But I didn't, and because I didn't do anything to help them, they were gone.

This time, the thought of using a Memory Orb to bring them back had slipped my mind.

A rumble from an explosion knocked me back to the battle, this time coming from the last remaining battle. Midna and Zant were scattered across the grass from a gigantic blast from Adri. Bits of dirt and grass flew in the air, and Adri stood in the center of the crater. She stared at Zant lying helplessly on the ground, and conjured a fireball in her hand. As I did with Zelda, I rushed to his aid.

I sprinted as fast as I could across the field while Zant started to push himself up. Both him and Midna looked really bad, despite outnumbering Adri 2-1. Parts of their garbs and hair had been burned off, and their skin looked terrible covered with different types of injuries here and there. Adri was extremely tough, even when going against two people at the same time. I just hoped that adding one more to their side would help.

Adri finished making her fireball, and then she hurled it at Zant's body! I was able to make it to Zant's side just in time, and I crossed both of my arms to create Nayru's Love around the both of us. The fireball exploded once it hit the crystal, but I saw a slight crack in it when the embers faded away.

I let down my arms to try and get some magic ready, but I instead stumbled to try and get my footing. From using all of my magic to sprinting all the way across the field, I got lightheaded, which was the last thing people want in a fight! Zant leaped up to his feet, and got his one blade out from his sleeve. Without saying a thank you, he leapt right back into the action, going in to slash at Adri!

I ran to Midna's side to make sure that she wasn't seriously hurt, which she thankfully wasn't. She had already started to push herself off of the ground and up to her feet, getting a little unsteady from suddenly moving so much after laying still for a couple seconds. Before she fell back down, I caught her, putting a hand on her back to steady her. Midna turned around to see who helped her, and was more surprised than usual to see me.

"Aden?! Why are you here, you need to go help"-

My stream of tears from earlier made Midna stop mid-sentence. Her eyes turned wide, and she looked around the rest of the battlefield to try and find Link or Zelda. But all she saw were their bodies, lying motionless on the ground. Her eyes started to glow with light from her tears, and she covered her mouth with both of her hands.

"O-oh gods. Link, Z-zelda? Th-the-ey, they"-

Another loud explosion happened to our right, sending more grass and dirt flying in all directions. Midna and I watched as Adri and Zant fought up close, blasting each other with energy shots and slashes from their hands. Each of their shots hit each other and canceled out, leaving smaller explosions in the air between them. Adri seemed like she was doing it with no effort at all while Zant looked as if he had almost used the last of his energy. As Zant tried his hardest to counter all of Adri's fireballs, he stood his ground, while Adri steadily approached him.

Midna hopped up to her feet next to me, ready to rush in if Zant needed help, which he certainly did now! Adri kept walking over to Zant, as the Twili's energy shots came out slower and slower. As if our minds were thinking the exact same thing, we both rushed Adri before she could hurt Zant! We sent out magic attack after magic attack, hoping that we could overwhelm her. But the Deity's partner figured out our plan quickly.

She stopped shooting fireballs from her palms and went into a crouch, aiming them at the ground. When our attacks all got to her, she leaped high into the air and boosted herself with fire jets shooting from her hands! Our attacks flew right by where Adri's spot and into the distance, wherever that led to. So now Adri hovered in the air high above us, almost higher than the tree on the hill! Zant went down into a crouch, exhausted from spending so much of his energy on countering Adri's fireballs.

Keeping an eye on Adri in the air, I went over to Zant to try and help him up. Midna stayed behind, making sure that the Deity's partner didn't try to rush in for an attack while my back was turned. When I got close, I saw just how much the battle was draining Zant. He was panting heavily, breathing in sharply then exhaling for a couple seconds. When I offered a hand, he looked up to show me his pale face, which had turned to a lighter white. The Usurper's expression was of pure rage; he really wanted to kill Adri here and now! All of the anger that he tried to put aside for this truce had been let loose, and he was going all out! His orange eyes were also starting to look a little dim.

When Zant saw my offered hand, he looked to who the arm was attached to, then swatted it away.

"I don't need your help to *gasp* recover, I"-

"Just shut up and get up already!" I screamed at him. With how I had already lost two friends, I wasn't going to tolerate Zant's anger this time! I grabbed his arm and yanked him up to his feet, which was surprisingly easy. Zant himself was actually pretty light, compared to me at least. Zant stumbled for his footing, but found it after a couple seconds. Feeling (and looking) embarrassed, Zant just got ready his blade and said quietly "uh, thanks." I didn't respond, I just wanted all of this to be over already!

"Uh, guys?" Midna yelled to us. We both looked to her, while she was pointing back up to Adri. None of us liked what we saw.

Around her, Adri's dark aura was growing stronger and stronger! The purple haze swarmed around her body like a group of angry bees. Adri's expression still stayed emotionless as the smoke that was pouring out of her eyes went from a steady stream to a waterfall! Her body was spitting out the purple smoke faster than Adri did fireballs at Zant! More smoke poured out, and more haze swarmed around her until it completely surrounded her, and we weren't able to see anything inside.

I ran to Midna's side, and Zant followed close behind. I was low on energy, but I gathered up whatever I had left to fight against Adri. She was tough on her own with her regular powers, since she was able to take on both Midna and Zant at the same time! But I had a feeling that whatever was coming now would REALLY pack a punch! Zant and Midna got their magic and weapons ready too, after they saw me get into a battle stance.

Then I looked over to Midna, in hopes of getting a reassuring glance or a comforting look. I had already lost Link and Zelda; the last thing I wanted was to lose Midna here too! We weren't even fighting the Deity yet, we were fighting our own allies and weren't standing a chance! As Adri got ready her big attack, I started to have my doubts on whether we could even be able to fight the Deity. I just wanted one friendly smile to pull me back into it, just one nod to tell me that we were going to be okay! But when Midna returned the look, it was the same one I had. Scared and doubtful, like she was thinking the same thoughts of doubt as I was.

The purple haze around Adri all exploded out, then jolted into Adri's left fist, which was now raised up to the sky! Her left foot took her left hand's place for keeping her in the air. The hand absorbed all of the smoke, and when all of it was inside, her hand became an extremely dark purple. From on the ground, it almost seemed to me like her hand was pulsing. Then, the jets holding her up cut off, and she started to fall to the ground.

"INCOMING!"

Adri landed on the dead grass and punched the ground with all of her force in her left fist! There was a loud BOOM, and a wave of dark purple haze spread across the ground all around the battlefield! When it got to us, it just passed harmlessly through our legs. I knew something else was coming, and when the earthquake started, I knew I was right.

The strength of the tremors were terrifying! It started off when Adri punched the ground, as if the ground was a giant drum and got hit with the hammer. We all got bounced into the air and fell on our sides! Then the tremors started, and were even more powerful than the starting shake! We were tossed around everywhere, unable to get a grip on anything or even stand up. It was so strong that I couldn't even focus on gathering any magic! We just kept getting shook up and down, helpless on the cold dead ground.

As I was getting shaken with Midna and Zant, I could see blurs of them as my head got banged on the dirt over and over again. They were doing just as bad as I was, unable to get a grip on anything. I instead tried to look for Adri, focusing through the blurs of everything going around. When I landed on the ground, I gripped the grass as hard as I could to try and look around. Everything was still shaking, but I could make out some of the blurs better. I saw two dark blurs on the ground, and one red and purple blur racing towards the one to my right. 'THERE!'

I raised and stomped a foot on the shaking ground, still gripping the grass as hard as I could. I got a bit of whatever magic was still left in me and channeled it into my fingers. The red blur was almost to the figure on the right, so I knew I had to act fast! I swiped my finger and sent out a Pointed Shockwave to the red blur, closing my eyes and hoping that it would hit.

Then, the tremors stopped. It happened just one second after I tried to hit Adri with the Pointed Shockwave, and so suddenly too. I almost fell back onto the ground from the tremors stopping! I started to get my hopes up, and laughed. I thought I did it, I thought I beat Adri with that last attack! But when I peeked open my eyes, I was met with a completely different sight.

Adri was using Zant as a human shield, and there was a wide, dark blue cut across his neck.

My blood ran cold, and my hands dropped to my sides. I fell to my knees, and grabbed at my hair to see if I was dreaming in some sort of nightmare! But nothing happened, and Adri continued to make me watch the horror. Zant grasped for his neck, clawing at it to stop the blood from leaking out and stop the pain. He spat blue, then tried to reach out to me to save him. But after struggling and coughing up blood for a little while longer, and seeing how I wasn't going to help him, he went limp. Then, satisfied with my torture, she shoved Zant to the side, done with him.

Our strongest ally was dead, and it was all my fault.

Adri targeted me next while I was still on the ground, panicking as I did nothing to stop her. I simply knelt there on the dead grass, pulling my hair to try and wake myself up. 'You killed him! You killed him! You killed him!' yelled over and over and over through my head. I don't even think I saw Adri start to charge towards me, I just looked at the ground, and continued to try and wake myself up. But when still nothing happened, I screamed in horror from my actions as Adri was right on top of me.

A dark blur rushed past me, and sweeped up Adri before she could end my life. When I continued to do nothing, a voice screaming at the top of her lungs "ADEN!" snapped me back to reality. In front of me, Midna was clenching Adri as hard as she could from the shoulders down with her hair fist. I could see a desperate look in Midna's eyes as she tried to crush the life out of Adri, and this was the first time I've seen one of the Deity's allies get frustrated. Adri tried to shake herself out of Midna's grip, but she only squeezed tighter with every second.

"ADEN! DO IT NOW!" Midna looked at me and screeched. She lowered her giant fist down to the ground so I could finish her off, still trying to suffocate her in the process. But from getting her lower, Adri was starting to get loose. She almost had her left arm out of Midna's grasp! So I smacked myself in the head and got myself up to my feet to help!

I was very low on energy, but I focused all I could to make the Memory Orb big enough to surround Adri's body. It was a slower process than usual though, and as the orb expanded more and more, Adri kept getting more of her arm loose. When I finally managed to get the orb to fully surround Midna's fist, Adri got her left arm loose and reached out to grab my arm! She clenched it and tightened her grip as hard as she could, making my left arm spike in pain! I could even feel something snap inside of my forearm. But through the pain, I extended for Adri's free arm and grabbed it, trying to equal her force, and then the Memory Orb did its work. The bright light shined and faded, then Adri went limp. The aura around her faded, and no more smoke came out of her eyes.

Frustrated and having had enough of the fighting, Midna took Adri's body, had a running start, then chucked it as far as she could throw it! Her body vanished into the distant field, and Midna was finally satisfied. She took a long, deep sigh, and her hair went back to normal. But neither of us were in the mood to celebrate. As if she suddenly remembered something, she turned back to me, looking panicked. It was from how I broke down earlier, I knew it.

I looked away, ashamed that I wasn't able to save any of them. Zelda, Link, Zant, all of them were gone. All of them were dead and I didn't do a single thing to help them. Midna tried to get close to try and comfort me, but I whipped my head away when she started to move. But the slightest movement in my lower body made my broken arm throb in pain. My eyes started to sting, and I turned to look for something else to look at to get my mind off of the pain.

But then, my heart stopped. In the distance, over by the giant tree on the hill, I could see another faint, but dark aura. It was Logan. 'I never used the Memory Orb on him!' His dark stains from the blood were still on his clothes, but the different rips in them showed no scars underneath them. In his hands, he held his baton and his dagger, ready for a rematch.

As soon as I noticed him, he started to go into a full on sprint! He used his baton to create a strong breeze behind him, to speed up his run. But Midna didn't even seem to notice! With the wind at his back, he raced across the battlefield at an alarming speed.

Right at Midna.

Right then and there, nothing else mattered. My broken arm didn't matter, my self-anger didn't matter, not even the others I let die mattered! Going against the breeze, I ran to block off his path, using every last drop of my magic to use a Memory Orb and try to save at least one person today! I stretched out my arms, despite one of them being crushed completely, despite all of the pain it brought. I used all of my force to push; push through the pain, push through the breeze, and push every ounce of magic out into this last Memory Orb!

Logan was only a couple steps away, but so was I! Midna had finally noticed Logan, but it was too late for her to react. It was all up to me now. Logan had his dagger arm reeled back, ready to thrust it into Midna's heart just like he did with Link! So I got desperate, and I leaped right in front of Logan's path! The whole time, I screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Against all odds, I managed to cut Logan off! The Memory Orb around my hands surrounded, then turned Logan back to normal as I was still in the air. My body weighed down his, and we were sent rolling across the dead grass together. When we stopped rolling, I was on top of Logan's chest, pushing him down in case my magic didn't work. The light faded, and the aura was gone. I took some deep breaths, lifted myself up, and tried to calm myself down. It felt good to finally get rid of these traitors.

But that good feeling was gone when I heard Midna whimper.

I whipped myself around to see why my friend way crying when all of the three Deity's partners were gone. I tried to stay optimistic, and think it was because the others were gone now. But I knew right from when she let out the first cry what had happened.

In the middle of the field, I saw Midna, my one true friend, collapse to her knees with Logan's dagger in her chest.

"MIDNA!" I screamed, and sprinted to her side. The tears already started to flow as I reached her side. I went to my knees and she fell onto her back, pressing against her chest as she whimpered and coughed up more blood.

"Nononononononononono! OH GODS PLEASE NO!"

I couldn't think straight, and I held my head in hopes of trying to think of something, ANYTHING to do to save her! That was when I made my first mistake; I pulled the dagger from Midna's chest.

She let out a loud, excruciating scream from the sudden jolt of pain! More blood flooded into her wound having her entire chest start to seep with dark blue, and some got onto my skin. Panicking, I tossed the dagger to the side so I could try something else. I outstretched my arms and tried to make a Memory Orb with whatever I had left! I focused and concentrated with all of my being to get that one little spark to appear!

But nothing came.

I tried again and again and again, but still, no spark. Not even the tiniest drop of magic was left inside of me. My heartbeat spiked, and I started to hyperventilate. Desperate to try anything else to keep my friend alive, I pressed my hands onto Midna's wound to stop the blood flow. Blood poured from her mouth, and her robes were now completely stained. She whimpered and cried even more, a stream of light came flowing down her cheeks. I looked to the Triforce mark on my hand, which had now become very faint.

"Hylia, PLEASE! HELP ME!" No glow or response came. I turned my head to the bodies of Link, Zelda and Zant.

"DIN, NAYRU, FARORE, PLEASE! HELP ME!" No response came from the corpses. Then, as a last ditch effort, I squeezed my eyes shut and screamed into the emptiness "ANYONE! PLEASE! HELP ME!"

But nobody came.

I made another mistake; I became selfish and tried to hit myself awake again, fully believing now that this had to be a nightmare! Everyone I had traveled with, everyone that I stood by, everyone I had called a friend was gone. And now, I was going to lose my childhood friend right before my eyes, powerless to do anything. "Wake UP Wake UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP"-

Midna's hand stroked my cheek, wiping away some of the tears. Though she was in major pain, she had lifted herself up to reach my face. Though her eyes showed nothing but pure pain, she tried to give me one last smile. Slowly and shaky, she lifted herself up even more. I could see her wince in pain, but I did nothing to try and stop her.

Midna lifted herself up higher, and then being as gentle as she could be, she pressed her lips against mine. I was too shocked to press back, and this just made more tears flow through. Her mouth tasted like blood, and I hated that taste so much. Midna just wanted to go through one last wish of her's before she passed. Then, she let herself fall to pull away, and gave me one last, friendly smile. With her dying breath, she let out her final words.

"I…..lo-ve…...y-yo-ou….A-ade-en."

And then, with one final fall, I watched as my last friend, and my one true love, fade away from my life.