The Legend of Zelda: Divine Intervention: I'm in over my head
Quincy007
Author's notes: Okay, I lied when I said that this chapter would be from Link's perspective and how he deals with his screwed up head. I wrote it, but I was very disappointed with it. And it didn't bring anything to the story; it'd be more of a side story anyway. If I can make it work I'll put it up, but it sucked.
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She hated walking. It was one of those things that you never really think of until you have to do it. She didn't do a lot of walking as a Goddess overseeing the heavens. But this…they'd been walking for about one and a half hours now, and that bridge seemed no closer.
"I'm tired, can we stop?"
He stopped walking. He turned around to see the three of them, not looking very pleased. Though they were all very physically fit, their minds weren't ready for this kind of exercise. He nodded, and started checking their location and doing calculations. He used to do this all the time before… "Stop it Nil. That's in the past." He told himself.
He suspected they had about another hour of walking, and then it was five minutes to Kakariko. There was something about these girls…if Nayru wasn't lying and they were a Secret Police, Nil would think they'd be very fit to walk long distances. And not one of them questioned his directions. They didn't care if he led them. Either they trusted him, or they didn't know where they were.
"Why do we have to walk?" Din asked him
"Its good for you. Taking a horse is good exercise for the horse. It's not a great big deal is it? That Hero of yours walked most of his journeys from what I hear."
"He has a horse."
"I've never seen him use it."
"How many times have you seen him?"
"7 times. Every single time he was walking."
Din gave a harrumph. Nil smiled and checked the sun. "We can be in Kakariko in about an hour five."
"Hour five?"
"One hour, Five minutes."
"Oh."
He started walking again, leaving them to their own devices. He knew that they would either follow him, or not. They were different. Probably sorceresses or something. He didn't really care, but something about this whole trip bothered him. He tried to tell himself that it was because he'd been denying the existence of magic and Goddesses and Triforces and all that for 2 years now, and it was shoved back in his face and he didn't have a choice but to believe. That wasn't it. He wanted proof, and this was pretty much it. So the Goddesses just don't care.
That particular thought didn't sit well with him. He knew it was wrong, but it seemed so right. He looked back and saw that they hadn't followed him. He didn't want to turn around; he had no desire to be out here all night with the Stalchilds with no sword. But what kind of man leaves women out in the field? Sighing, he slowly spun. He began to walk back to where he left them. As he walked by a bush he kicked it, and a he saw an uncut rupee in the dirt. Picking it up, he saw it was red. Nice. He pocketed it and kept going.
When he got to the clearing he noticed they weren't there, but there wasn't any footprints going away. He felt a buzzing in his head, and his chest felt warm. That damn Triangle was glowing again. Swearing, he turned around again. He wasn't going to just leave them out there, he didn't even know if they still were though.
"That's what I get, I guess. Shit. I can't just not look." Sighing, he started to walk in a slow searching pattern. He moved his shield to his arm when he saw the sun fade behind the mountains.
"I hope this being a nice guy thing doesn't get me killed."
*Kakariko
"Look, no rupees, no rooms. Tough luck ladies."
Din resisted the urge to kick this man's skull in. She had to try really hard. She faintly heard Farore speak, "Is there anyway we can get a room on credit?"
The keeper laughed. "I don't think so. Though…"
"What?"
"If you really need rooms that badly…I could think of something I need…"
Din slapped him. "I don't care what you think you were implying, that's what I heard, and you can consider yourself lucky that I am stopping myself from killing without discretion."
They left in an even worse mood. They'd been in this village for hours, and Chavez had yet to show up. Din was furious. First they let him lead, the man was a slave driver, never stopping. Then he walks off without them. Probably got lost.
They saw Nayru sitting on a crate, looking up at the moon or lack thereof. "It's a new moon tonight, there isn't any light in the field." (New moon is the opposite of a full moon.)
"Whoop de dang doo. I don't care. If that idiot wants to walk about all night trying to find his way here, let him."
"Din, what if he went back to look for us? And we aren't there? He'll be there for a very long time."
Farore nodded, "And don't forget about the Stalchilds. They don't like people."
"If you blame this on me…"
Nayru shook her head, "I don't blame you. I had a hand in it just as well. I think we should go back and look for him."
"Why? He'll get here soon enough. I say we move onto Death Mountain right now and keep this little jaunt a moving. I wanted it to last ten minutes."
"Fine, stay here and get harassed by the young lechers." Nayru snapped. Then she snapped her fingers and was gone in a blue mist.
"Why do you always try to piss her off?" Farore asked, sitting down in the vacant seat.
"Because she is always calm and in control, I like to see her see my side of things every now and again."
"Grow up Din."
"I don't have to."
*Hyrule Field
Nil was standing neck deep in water. Damn Stalchilds came out as he was making his way to the village. With no weapon to scare them off with, he had to wait in the water, a place they couldn't go. They were there on the banks wailing their bony arms at him, moaning and groaning.
"You bastiches are so lucky that I don't have my sword here. I could have gotten all of you." He called out them, but they didn't seem to care about what might have been.
Then he felt that buzzing again. The warm glow in his chest was back. He looked around, and then he saw a brilliant orange light, wasting away most of the Stalchilds. He dived underwater to keep it from hitting him too. As he surfaced, a large meaty hand grabbed his head, and lifted him out the water.
The guy was friggen huge! At least 8 feet tall, and it actually filled out. He had to be about four feet wide! His arms bulged with quivering muscle. He was completely covered except for his face, which was gray color the skin almost loose on his bones. His yellow eyes gleamed with evil power His orange hair almost glowed in the dark. His voice was raspy, but powerful, "This can't be him. There is no power here."
He paused and sneered, "Look, I know what the power feels like, it was in me for a good 12 years!" He growled, "Just because no one else experienced them, didn't mean I didn't."
Another huge hand grabbed his arm, and looked at it. Then his other hand. "See? No mark. This is just another clumsy fool who got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Who…are you?" Nil mumbled.
"Since I have to kill you anyway, why shouldn't you know? I am the great Evil King Ganondorf."
Oh shit, oh shit. Oh shit. Don't piss him off, don't piss him off, umm…stall him somehow! Nil sneered, "If you're an evil king, where is your Kingdom?" No! Not right at all! Stupid! Stupid!
"Insolent fool. For that remark, I shall increase the amount of pain in which I kill you with." He squeezed on his head ever so slightly.
"Don't you ever stay dead?" Nayru said. Nil pondered briefly how she got here so quickly, but he decided to not care for the moment.
"Overcoming Death isn't a problem for me." He said nonchalantly. He shrugged. "I sense a power in you. Do you have the Triforce? I sense its power radiating off of you."
"Sorry, I'm Triforceless. Let Nil go."
"Oh? Is that his name? We hadn't gotten to that part of introductions yet."
Nil smiled as he heard the sound of a bowstring being pulled back. He also heard a humming, low and resonating.
"Gah! Hylian shield time." His grip changed and Nil found himself facing the blue haired beauty with an arrow that glowed yellow. His eyes widened. "Shoot."
"What?"
"Shoot me with the arrow."
"I can't do that!"
"If you don't, we'll all die."
Ganondorf frowned. This man had no idea what that arrow would do to him. He sensed a darkness in him that would most definitely incur the pain of a light arrow. "Where is the Triforce? In you? Or did Din herself comedown?"
Nayru ignored him, and aimed. Nil was still telling her to shoot. She didn't want to hurt him, but there was little choice.
Nil smirked as he heard the bowstring twang. His smirk quickly fell into a grimace as it sank into his stomach. The pain was astounding. It ebbed through his very being, his very soul ached with that one shot. He felt the magic suck a part of his life force out of him. His hand grabbed for anything. It found Ganondorf's right hand, the hand that had his triforce mark on it.
He felt as if Death herself had come to show him the way. And he didn't mind. Not one bit. His vision went black [Do you long for Death?]
Nil felt like he shook his head. "I'm prepared to die. I don't fear it."
[Do you long for Death?]
"It's a sweet release from this bastard life I've been living on."
[Do you long for Death?]
"YES! Are you happy now!? I want to Frickin' die! Hopefully painful!"
[How would that honor their sacrifices?]
"That wasn't a sacrifice! That was a slaughter!"
[How would that honor their sacrifices?]
"You just don't know when to quit, do ya?"
[How would that--]
"Shut-up! Who are you anyway? Answer my question!"
[I am the essence of the Triforce of Power. How would your Death honor their sacrifices?]
"It wouldn't, but I'd feel better."
[Are you only concerned about you? What of the others? Those you leave behind?]
"Don't you lecture me. Who am I leaving behind? As long as you're a part of me, I'm worth something to those girls, but as soon as they collect you, and my purpose is done."
[Some might feel pain at your loss.]
"Yea, right."
[Open your eyes Nil Chavez. We are one for now, and I do not wish to be lonely.]
* Hyrule Field
That was your brilliant master plan? Lose all the pieces to him?
"I didn't expect him to be able to call them out. But that is inconsequential. I can make it work."
How are you going to do that? Now all you have is that pitiful crap you call black magic. Like that can stop the Goddesses?
"Shaddup. I know what I'm doing. Now that they have all the pieces they'll let their guard down a little, and I watch from the shadows. When they get the whole thing no doubt this guy will want to be rid of it, He isn't pro magic you know."
He will hand it over to the Goddesses and they will take it back to the Golden Land, a place you can't enter, because of how Link made it.
"Don't say his name. I told you I had a plan. This is just a step back, that's all. The plan still remains the same."
That's it, I'm sending the Mask.
"Oh hell no! No way! I won't work with something that doesn't have a brain!"
Who said anything about working with it? I should by all rights remove you and let Majora take over.
"That won't be necessary."
I think it is, but since two idiots might make the intelligence of a semi smart person, I'm sending him up. Put the mask on, and use its magic so that you aren't completely helpless.
"Damn you Bob!"
*Kakariko
He felt cold, but it wasn't all over. He took that as a good sign. He didn't feel sore or weak from blood loss. He opened his eyes. Slowly at first, then he let all the light in. He saw a very familiar set of Cobalt eyes. His mind briefly wondered if the 'Triforce' (He was willing to consider that maybe he had just gone insane and that was the voices talking to him) meant literally.
"Where the hell am I?"
"Kakariko Inn."
"Why is it that I haven't gone unconscious in 2 years until I met you three?"
"That sort of thing follows heroic journeys like the plague follows rats."
He sat up. "Out of curiosity are you the only one who cares?"
"Farore thinks you have a few redeeming qualities, but Din pretty much hates you."
"That was Ganondorf?"
"Yes."
"He's built like freaking Dodongo! He's like that high! Somebody has to kill him?"
She shrugged, "Probably, but we're just going to dodge him until we get as much as the Triforce as we can."
Nil frowned. "What the hell was that Glowing arrow? It hurt like a son of a bitch."
"A light arrow. Good for smiting evil."
"I knew I was a bastard at heart." He mumbled and fell back. "So you shot me, I was in excruciating pain…then I'm gone, what happened?"
She stood up and started walking around the room, "You were thrashing around a lot, and you grabbed Ganondorf's hand. That was the hand he has the mark on, by the by. A huge flash of light I mean like Noon at midnight sort of thing."
Nil didn't pick his head up, "Those 'Triforce' pieces get all funky on me?"
She scowled at the way he poured Sarcasm into the word Triforce, "Yes. The pieces resonated, and rejoined. It's probably because you didn't want him to have them anymore. So they left Ganondorf and went back into you. That means you have four of eight."
So there is four more Triforce created monsters out there, and we get to kill them, then Ganondorf?"
"No. We get the pieces back, recombine the Triforce in the Golden Land, Help Link, and have him kill Ganondorf."
He stood up or tried anyway. He fell flat on his face, "Nice to know everybody puts so much faith in me."
"You don't have faith in anyone else why should they you?"
He succeeded in sitting up, "You misunderstood me. I meant I don't have faith in higher powers. I don't trust anything that calls itself omnipotent or anything like that. I can trust other Hylians, Zoras, Gorons, Even the occasional Gerudo, but I can't stand those little Forest people. Something about them makes me all cold in the gut."
"The fact that they are younger than you but about 50 times smarter?" She muttered and hauled him to his feet.
"Did I just manage to piss all of you off today? I can't help it if I'm a cynical bastard who doesn't 'believe' in crazy stuff that only a handful of people ever get to see. I believe in what I can see with my own two eyes."
Her glare eased up a bit, "So if a Goddess came down and talked to you, you'd believe what she had to say?"
"I don't do what ifs. I told you what I believe in, interpret to your heart's desire." He looked around the room, grabbed his shield and his coat. Then he tipped an imaginary hat and walked out the door. She heard a loud crashing and some very loud swearing a few seconds later. She ran out the door to see Nil in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, clenching his teeth, and trying to pick himself up.
He glared at Nayru, who had promptly started laughing, "What's so funny? I could have broken something important here!"
"You remind me of Link so much its funny."
"Harrumph." He crossed his arms and stared straight ahead. After a minute he mumbled, "Could you help me up please?"
"Sure." She smiled and gracefully walked down the stairs.
* That really tall tower look out stand in Kakariko.
Din sighed as she heard the loud crashing from the inn. That idiot would be dead three times over by now if she didn't need him. Why did the Triforce pick him? Why couldn't it have just flamed him like it did that one guy? As Farore put it, "The Triforce works in Mysterious ways." Mysterious? Yea right. Out to get her was more like it. First Ganondorf, now this schmuck…why was it her name was dragged through the dirt?
She looked over in the direction of the field. She had to admit he impressed her when he didn't surrender the rest of The Triforce to Ganondorf. Of course he didn't even believe Nil was the carrier. He also stole the rest of the pieces back. Not bad work for complete idiot who didn't even believe. Link was one of the strongest believers there was and he could do amazing things with the magic he was given. This guy was doing stuff near that level, but he didn't believe a bit. She had to think of why.
It probably had to do with the desperation of near death. The Hylian body is capable of amazing feats of magic and strength when in danger. Satisfied with this conclusion, she looked back up at the sky, and saw a faint purple flash in the sky. Was that? No, couldn't be. It was gone a second later, so she put the thought aside.
"I'll have to tell Nayru later. She'll know what to do. Always does." She started to climb down. "Better not tell her that though."
*Hyrule Field
"I am not putting that mask on. No way on the Goddess's Earth I am putting that thing on my face."
Do you have to fight me on every step?
"I have my pride. That might be good enough for some skull kid, but I am not putting that near my face."
Eternal pain and torture? Or your pride?
Ganondorf frowned and picked up the frail mask. It was almost small enough to crush in his hands, then Bob would get all pissed off and let him fall apart, limb from limb. He stared at it for a long time. "Can't I just…"
No. Mask. Now.
Ganondorf sighed. He turned the mask around and lifted it to his face, but nothing happened. "What now?"
Majora! Work with Ganondorf on this!
If there was a response he didn't hear it. The mask suddenly sparked to life and little bolts of electricity made him let go. It floated for a few seconds and then shot a beam onto Ganondorf's chest. His peeling pale gray skin was pretty much uniform, but it didn't matter much, as the Mask embedded itself in his chest, the heavy chain mail and leather affixing itself around it, like it was always there.
"Great. Now I have a stupid face on my chest."
{Bite me Carrot top. Like I'm thrilled being a part of you?}
Ganondorf sighed and screamed at the top of his lungs, this couldn't get any worse.
{So? Hear any good Princess Zelda jokes lately? How about this one? Princess Zelda walks into a bar…}
He screamed louder and knew that this was his punishment for all the evil he had done in his life.
"If I had known chasing after those damn triangles meant this, I would have became a Mason."
* Kakariko
"Look, I gave you the one room for twenty because I felt sorry for that guy, jeez he has to hang around you all day, and he's wounded. But I won't give you another room for anything less than a striptease."
Din didn't even bother slapping him. She grabbed the guy by the Tunic and she punched him. Right in the face. She felt immensely better as she heard his nose break. Wiping the blood on the scrap of tunic that she had held onto she let him fall to the ground.
"Farore, I've wanted to do that all day."
"You didn't meet him till this afternoon."
"I just wanted to hit somebody. It feels great."
She gave a knowing smile, "That's nice Din, but now how do we get a room?"
"We'll make do with the one."
They walked into the room, and were mildly surprised. Nayru was sleeping on the bed, and Nil was sitting on the chair next to it.
"What the hell is going on?" Din whispered.
"She was tired. It's about 11:00 at night. I let her have the bed, I've spent too much time unconscious today to sleep. So I just sat here."
"I bet. You tried something didn't you?" Din snarled and put her hand on the Master sword.
"You are very prone to violence. It's cute in a sadomasochistic sort of way. I wouldn't do that. Really."
Farore put her hand on Din's shoulder, "He's not lying Din. Calm down. I knew better than to let you taste blood tonight."
Din visibly calmed down. She cuffed him upside the head, "You're getting off light, because I know you were doing something wrong."
He nodded, and as if to make Din feel better he walked over to far end of the room.
Din and Farore did Rock Paper Scissors for the remaining bed, and Nil wasn't very happy with Din and the Master Sword only five feet from him.
He began to think that maybe there were Goddesses, and that they were punishing him for being such an insolent fool all this time.
*Advance a few hours…
He opened his eyes and for the first time in the last few days Nayru wasn't looking at him. He felt oddly disappointed. [Because no one else cares eh?]
"Shut up. I swear to the Go-…" He caught himself. "If you talk to me all day I'll throw myself off a cliff. We are going up a mountain you know."
The Essence didn't respond and he gave himself his victory smile. He noticed that the three of them looked so peaceful when they slept. He couldn't bring himself to wake them up. He stepped over Din and grabbed his shield and overcoat as he slipped out the door.
There was a different guy at the counter who gave him an evil glare. Nil shrugged it off and walked out into the early morning sun. The mist hadn't lifted yet, and it was probably the only time of day he didn't regret being alive. Putting his shield on his back, he carried the overcoat. Now, how was he going to get money for breakfast?
He was walking around almost tripped over a Cuckoo. He watched it go for a little bit, and then he remembered who kept all the Cuckoos around here. Sighing, he picked it up, despite the noise it made. He carried it over to the pen. He dropped it in there and brushed the feathers off of his tunic.
"Hey! Thanks. I've been looking for that one for hours." Said a pretty young woman.
"Not a problem."
She smiled, "I feel like I have to give you something for helping me out, even just a little."
"Really, its not a proble—hey…that's nice of you." He looked at the Purple rupee she gave him.
"Well, I always try to repay kindness, so few people just help out for the heck of it."
"Well, it's a pity. Have a nice day."
"You too."
Nil walked off, surprised that people were still nice. Maybe Hyrule Castle town was just full of pricks. Well, now he could get breakfast.
He stepped back into the room, and noticed that they still hadn't moved. He checked the sun. They still had time. He set the packages down, and began to eat his breakfast.
He was beginning to think that they all died in their sleep when Din started to get up. Nil instantly knew that she was not a morning person, despite it almost being noon. Wisely saying nothing, he leaned back in his chair, and waited. Din stretched which kind of disturbed Nil in a way, he heard cracks and pops that you don't associate with getting up in the morning. He also didn't like how she first grabbed the sword and shield, then did women-y things, like play with her hair and such. Out of all of them Din scared him the most, yet he was at ease with that idea. Nil shook his head and started thinking how he should really start asking what people put in the water around here.
"How long have you been up?" she asked, yawning.
"5 hours, almost 6."
"Ugh, people like you make me sick. Get up at the crack of dawn…"
"I let you three sleep in didn't I?" He said and gestured to the food he had gotten earlier. "I got breakfast, or in your case, brunch. It's probably a little cold by now…" he trailed off when Din just grabbed some of it, and didn't bother berating him for his choice of food or something. He shut his mouth and looked out the window.
Within ten minutes Farore and Nayru were up. All of them ate with very little conversation. Not an odd thing, he realized that these were not the gossiping type. They barely spoke for the hell of it, most of the conversations they had were about business or he had asked something. They probably talked to each other in private, but with him here…He looked out the window and sighed.
"We're going up Death Mountain?" Farore asked him.
"Yes. It's a very rocky, dry boring place until you reach the top, where Goron city is. And even higher up is an entrance to the Mountain crater. That would be where any monsters would hang about." He stopped to think. "Or in Dodongo's Cavern, but we would have heard about that already."
"Why?"
"Because that is where the Gorons eat. The rocks from Dodongo's cavern are very nutritious, or so I'm told. If anything was wrong with that, we would have heard about it."
The entire time he never took his eyes off the window. The entire conversation struck him as odd. Everybody knew this stuff. It was basic stuff you learned when you became a guardsmen for…the king's sake.
[I think you can use the traditional deity related expletives now.] He shook his head. So what kind of sheltered life have they been living to not know this stuff?
"What's bothering you Chavez?" Din asked for the first time noticing he hadn't made eye contact with any of them all morning.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
Nayru rolled her eyes, "Liar. Speak up."
He turned around and glared, "Where the hell have you gals been living as to not know some of this stuff? Unless you're playing ignorant for my benefit, which I doubt, everybody knows this. They publish scrolls upon scrolls of need to know information for explorers. You all project an aura that says, 'I know everything' and you pull it off real well. You're first class fighters from what I've seen, but you are just so…so…"
"Ignorant as to how the world works?"
"Yes." He nodded, and turned back to the window, not really waiting for an answer.
[I could tell you.]
He shook his head. He was going to throw himself off a cliff before the day was done.
[Think about it, extremely powerful, exotic looks-face it even blue hair doesn't happen all that often, all knowing about that the Triforce, close association with Link and the Princess, Ganondorf recognized them even though he's been dead a while.]
He scowled. 'What are you trying to say?' he thought
[Hello! They aren't human!]
'They certainly aren't Zoras.' He ignored the voice. He knew that was the last straw, He was going insane and the voices in his head was acting all weird. Of course never having heard a voice in his head before, this could be very normal.
* Lake Hylia.
"This is not how it's supposed to work. Voices don't speak long monologues or recite a bastardized versions of 'The Odyssey'."
{But you have no fun whatsoever! We should go out and trap some people in the bodies of Deku scrubs or something! It'll be fun!}
"The only thing I'm doing with you, is collecting the Triforce, capturing those three dames, and if my day ends on a high note, killing Link. That is all we are doing."
Ganondorf was walking along the beach, looking for the creature that would be by the Lake. There always was one, because in all of that idiot kid's quests, he had travel on every kind of Landscape. He had gotten Desert, the Chicks had gotten City or sky or whatever, maybe it was field. That left. Forest, Lake, Mountain, and some other one he was forgetting. After his screw up back by Kakariko, he thought it might be best to stay away from those fools for a while. But now he had this stupid mask conjoined with him and it was doing its best to piss him off.
He stopped walking by what seemed to be a flower garden and a really stupid scarecrow. Sitting down, he waited for someone to scream that a monster was eating him or her. He'd wait for it to finish its meal, and then follow it to its lair. Life was mediocre right now, but soon, very soon. It would get better. He chuckled.
{Hey what's so funny? Did you get my Zelda joke? Huh?}
"Shaddup."
* Death Mountain trail
Midday was not Nil's choice to travel up a mountain, but time was of the essence. So they were walking up the trail at a good pace, but the three had spoken not a single word since they woke up. If he had just insisted it was nothing important… but no…he had to speak his mind, and now they were all pissed off at him. They thought he didn't trust them, and that wasn't true. Sure they were hiding things, but everybody had baggage that they don't want anyone else to see. He was to busy berating himself that he didn't notice the hole in the trail. He stepped in it and fell down, landing on his face. He was glad he turned head to the side; otherwise his nose might have broken. Turning himself over he stared at the blue sky for a minute. The three stood over him and waited for him to either get up or ask for help. He did nothing, so neither did they.
He looked to the left a little, and saw the next ledge up. He heard the thwumping and scuttling, and his mind raced to identify it. Tektites. Aw, hell. He then saw it leap off of the ledge and it fell to this level.
"Look out!" He pulled the shield from off his back and stood up with it over his head. The impact of it landing knocked him back to the ground, and the spider knockoff was laying on his shield. He rolled it off and kicked it. He faintly heard another thwump as its buddy came to play too. This was just rich. No matter where he went, trouble seemed to come after him. He raised his shield and it jumped into him again. As it fell back, he kicked it and it fell onto its back. Using the pointed bottom of the shield he stabbed its soft underbelly and killed it.
He pulled the shield out and looked at his companions. They were all standing, and the other Tektite was cut in half. He saw Din holding a spot on her arm. He slowly walked over, "You okay?"
"It got real close and cut me." She said.
"Cut? Or bit?"
"If it had bitten me I would have said so."
Nil shook his head. You would be surprised how many people didn't notice what part had injured them in battle. He's seen a man think a sword had stabbed him, when he was shot with an arrow. "Can I see?"
Din just stared at him. What did he know about first aid? Like she was just going to hand over her arm to this weirdo.
"Please? I won't cut it off or anything. Besides you should probably get it wrapped up."
She relented and let him see the cut. It was about a 1/4inch deep two inches long, which in Nil's opinion made it a gash. You'd need sutures for something like that. Looked clean though, no dirt or Tektite blood or venom. "That needs stitches."
"No it doesn't."
"Then how do you plan healing it?"
Nayru smiled and raised hand. "Me. Watch closely Mr. Nonbeliever."
He rolled his eyes and watched. She mumbled things under her breath and her hands started to glow. She put her hands over Din's gash and there was a soft pink pulse. After a few seconds she removed her hands, and Din's arm was good.
He nodded, suitably impressed. "Nice. Can you make Julian Fries too?"
"Jerk." She lightly shoved him out of the way. He smirked. "I hope your arm stays better." He said to Din.
Farore yawned and looked around, "Why do they always come in pairs? Never threes or fours. And then Din does all the work."
Nil shrugged as he walked by, "You could have always saved me the trouble of getting my shield covered in blood."
"But you looked so good while doing it."
Nil just shook his head and sighed. He walked onward and upward, wondering how he got dragged into this mess.
He found it odd, it took them less time to get to the entrance to Goron City than it took them to get to Kakariko. Dismissing it as unimportant he walked in. And he was shocked.
The place was dead quiet. You could hear the crumbling of the rocks in the giant cavern. There wasn't a sound. He slowly stepped forward, but a hand pulled him back. He looked at Din oddly, who was giving him that 'are you stupid?' look. "What?"
The word echoed throughout the cavern, all three of them took a turn hitting him upside the head. He raised an eyebrow as to say 'now what?'
There was an odd silence in the silence. Nil sighed, and got back up. This time he brushed off Din's hand when she grabbed him. Waiting for something to happen was dumb. Best to find out why. He looked back and saw that they weren't moving from their spot. He gestured a 'come on' but they shook their heads. Throwing his hands up in the air Nil walked off.
Nayru sighed as she watched him go, "Can't he feel it? The evil permeating in the air?"
"He's shut himself off from his magical sensitivity. Unconsciously I bet. Gorons don't just go into hiding for nothing you know."
"We should have brought the Megaton hammer."
"Yea." Din agreed. Watching Nil jump down a level. "Ever realize the pointlessness of asking a God to watch over someone?"
"We are, we just can't do anything."
Nil looked around on this level. He heard a faint music coming from the far door. Walking over he saw a bunch of bomb flowers and boulders blocking further passage. Moving around he saw the Medigoron's Smith shop. Walking in he didn't see Medigoron, but he did see a nice huge sword laying on the table. Picking it up, he remembered hearing something about this guy's work. If it were real important, it would come back to him.
Walking along he got to the bottom level and the huge vase. He definitely heard something as he walked by it. Taking a step closer he put his ear to it. A quiet rumble, then…a snarl? He felt that glow-y feeling again. Then swore. He heard scrabbling and a long thin face of something-looked reptilian-peeked out from the top. Its skin was a charcoal black, but it appeared to be very hard because he could hear it clink and it moved its long neck. Four narrow eyes, two on each side of the face aligned vertically. Its teeth, or the ones that showed, were long and curved, but a glistening bone white.
Nil drew the newly acquired sword and held it both hands. Damn thing was heavy. The creature jumped out and Nil saw that it was so long that it to be uncomfortable inside that Vase. It was shoulder height with Nil, and the huge goring eviscerating claws on each forward appendage looked very not nice. Nil swung the heavy sword at its face, and smirked as a long cut appeared on the side of its face. He brought it back to mirror the cut, and when it hit the thing's skin again, the sword was suddenly very light. He looked at the broken sword, then at the thing, which had slivers of steel in its face, and gave a weak smile.
"Toodles."
He ran. Like he should have done. It then clicked in his brain, that Medigoron made swords that lasted about one cut, or when they hit something hard, then promptly shattered.
"What's that darn fool doing?" Din asked as she heard him running up the steps.
"Running." Farore said, standing up to look down to where he was. They had heard some loud clanging before, but no screams. Nil came running out of a doorway a broken sword in his hand and something akin to fear, but it was more like…he grew an ounce of common sense. They heard a loud growling and the sound of claws on rock as this huge 'thing' jumped all three levels and landed in front of him. He jumped forward and slid on the ground under it, "Run!" He said as he scrambled to pick himself up and out the entrance. The thing followed him, not giving them a second glance.
"I think they are attracted to pieces of the Triforce." Nayru said as she brushed the dust off of her tunic.
"Lets go save his dumb ass." Din said.
They jogged out the entrance, in the wake of destruction.
Nil scrambled for the Summit. He didn't know why he was going up, but he knew that leading it down to Kakariko would be bad too. He jumped over a boulder and was running.
The thing seemed to be taking its own sweet time. It actually stopped to look at something while he ran. And in two steps it was back on him. He felt a powerful blow on his back, and felt severe pain as his shield was ripped from his back, along with several ounces of flesh. He saw the vertical climb part and was up it like a squirrel to a tree. It jumped up at him, and he felt its hot breath on his neck before it succumbed to gravity. He flung himself over the top, and heard it sink its claws into the rock. Great. It was learning. He stood up and didn't see Biggoron, for all the help it would have done. He had two options. Fight and die or run and die.
He saw the entrance to the Volcano's crater, and decided to run and die.
As Farore pushed the last boulder out of the way, they saw it climb halfway up the vertical wall in about three seconds they knew he was screwed. Nayru stopped to fire an arrow every couple of feet, but nothing got penetration.
"Is it just me or are we useless when it comes to these kind of things?"
Din shrugged and started to think.
Farore loaded up the Longshot and shot it up. It clung to the rock and she was pulled up. Nayru shrugged and used a movement spell on her and Din.
When they got up there. Nobody was there. They were all gone. "Where did he go?"
Din looked at the passage to the crater. "Warning. Extreme heat. It is unadvised to enter without protection."
They sighed, "That way."
It was very hot in the crater, near all the molten rock. Gee, that was big conclusion. He looked behind him and saw the thing, in equal discomfort. It was looking, but the heat and sulfur blinded its senses. He looked at the useless sword handle he had forgotten to drop. Idiot, he could have run faster with less weight on. The thing was snarling and screaming now. It was so annoying. The damn thing didn't know when to give up. "Shut the hell up you stupid piece of ingrown white trash!"
He threw the sword handle at it, hoping to bean it in the head.
That didn't happen, but the end result was quite funny. It looked over at him as he was shouting and it snarled back. When he threw the handle, it tried to swallow it and started choking.
It was so busy choking, it fell right off the precarious ledge it had placed itself on. He smirked as he watched it fall into the lava. Then he passed out from heat exhaustion. Not noticing he was standing next to a very high ledge too.
They heard the loud crash and gurgling scream from the crater and had to see it. They watched stupefied, shock, and awe. (Din, Farore, Nayru respectively.) Nil had managed to kill the thing, with a broken sword in this sweltering heat. That annoying smirk of his didn't seem so bad as he watched the monster fall. He closed his eyes and slumped over. Gravity seemed very intent on doing its job. "No."
Surprisingly Din was the first one moving. She started to run for him. 'If you die, I have to start this all over.'
Nayru was the close second swearing their dumb luck. 'He kills the damn thing at what cost? How can anybody be so careless with their life?'
Farore aimed the Longshot and used Link's preferred method of traveling great distances shortly.
Gravity in Hyrule causes objects to fall at 9.8 meters per second per second. Negating air resistance of course. The length of the fall gave them roughly 3 seconds. Nayru knew it was futile, and used her transportation spell. There was a 1 second delay in transit…
The powerful magic worked, she appeared right next to him. Grabbing his pant leg, she grabbed the edge of the crater wall. The sudden stop almost ripped her arm off. She felt the tendons tear and her shoulder pop out of socket. The pain increased her death grip on the rock though. They were about a meter from the Lava.
"Nayru! Are you alright?"
"No! Help!"
Farore hooked the Longshot around a post and lowered the handle. Nayru let go of the rock, and quickly grabbed the handle. They were pulled up.
Farore used the teleport spell this time. They appeared in the room of Darunia, the leader of the Gorons. Hopefully he'd be back soon.
Din walked over to Nayru and shook her fist at her, "Don't you ever do something like that again! A bearer can be replaced, when you die, you don't get to return!"
"I can't do that. We forced this on him. He is our responsibility."
"He is as much our responsibility as the rest of Hyrule is! We did our duty! We made the ground they stand on! We created them! Our responsibility ended there! They have free will! You did that yourself! We shouldn't even care who rules! The only reason I do this is because I can't stand to see Ganondorf defile my creation!"
"Our creation, Din. Never forget that." Nayru snarled. Anger had turned her eyes almost black, "They are our responsibility. They worship us. We are their Goddesses! To ignore their pleas is ignoring a part of you! Why have you forgot that?"
"I made the earth they stand on, the rest is your mess. And he doesn't even believe! Why do you care so much about him when Link is back in the Golden Land laying there helpless?!" Din growled and turned her back to her. She instantly disappeared in a Red mist.
"Din…" Nayru sat down. Feeling the tears burn down her cheeks.
* Lake Hylia
Din appeared in wisp of the wind. She wanted to be as far away from them as possible. How could they be so damn compassionate to those idiots? All Hylians, Gorons, Zoras, and Gerudos did was destroy the land she poured her very being into. They killed each other. They couldn't understand how much it hurt her.
She gave an angered scream and punched the rock wall. A crack appeared. She sank to the ground. Hugging her knees to her chest. He understood. He was always nice to her. No matter what she did to him. He never wanted to hurt her. "Link. Its not just Hyrule who needs you."
And Nayru and Farore didn't care. Even though they all put something into him, they didn't care if he died for them. They were so into watching over the people who would never be as good as Link. He was just a tool. Something to protect their beloved creations. Well who was watching out for her creation? She had been watching the day Ganondorf touched the Triforce. She had so hoped that Link would bear the Triforce of Power. Courage was fitting, but Ganondorf forever sullied her good name.
"Its not fair."
"It never is; is it Goddess?" His cold voice stated. It didn't sneer or mock. It was calm and there.
Din finally found a target for her fury. This man, this stupid pitiful man who thought of nothing better than simply ruling the world. He had ruined her name by taking the Triforce, and made Link suffer. How dare he just approach her? She drew the sword from its sheath, and readied the shield.
"Quite the mood tonight eh?"
She growled and swung at him. The blade cut through his evil barriers and struck him in the side. The metal in his armor stopped it, but it hurt him. He smirked and tendrils snaked out from the mask in his chest. Din expertly sliced two of them away, but more tentacles came out. One wrapped itself around her sword hand and the rest quickly entrapped her. She flexed her muscles in an attempt to break free, but it was wasted effort. Ganondorf frowned. This wasn't right.
He slowly reached out and grabbed her head. Turning it to the side she scowled at his scrutiny. "Let me go."
"I can't do that. You'll just try to stab me won't you?"
"If I don't Link will."
"He isn't a problem at the moment. He is comatose right now, dealing with his own provoked inner demons."
"You did this." Her eyes flashed crimson.
"Well I had a hand in it. When you separated the Triforce my boss wanted a volunteer to get them back. Well, with Link out of the way I thought it would be a cakewalk. Then you three showed up. If I keep you alive, but unresilient, I get to kill him myself."
Ganondorf felt the extreme pain of being set on fire. The tendrils quickly melted under her blaze and wings of flame appeared behind her. He felt a tremendous force run itself through him. He stared at her fury, and realized he had underestimated the Goddesses' human forms. He reformed his plan and willed his body back together. Being the living undead had its privileges you know.
He formed a black shield around him, and charged into Din. She was pushed back by the shield and into the wall. She staggered only a little, but resumed her hail of holy fire on him.
Ganondorf only had to physically touch her to make his plan work. He dropped his shield and rushed her. She ran him through on the Master sword, and he realized he couldn't just will that back together. Damn Evil smiting sword. He reached forward and lightly caressed her face. She gave a short scream, but fell unconscious.
Pulling the sword out caused permanent burns but he'd live. She started to fall to the ground, but he caught her and laid her down. "Sleep well Goddess. Forever." He snickered.
What good did that do?
"She will remain unconscious until she is awakened by someone she cares about. You felt the hate in her heart. It will never happen."
But couldn't they kill her? And then she goes back to the heavens? If she gets back there…
"Nobody will kill a perfectly healthy young girl. Though other things might happen…" He laughed evilly.
{Damn…that makes up for not turning anyone into Deku Scrubs.}
* Goron City
Nil staggered up and looked around the room he was in. Alone. That was a familiar feeling. Maybe they finally realized how useless he was. He gingerly reached around to his back, and felt the heavy swathes of bandages. His arms were wrapped up too, but there was salve under those. He must have been burned pretty badly. He saw his shield laying on the ground. He didn't bother to pick it up. He was useless. He was always being saved by dumb luck. It wasn't fair. He kicked the wall ignoring the pain in his foot. He walked to the door, and when he reached for the handle, it opened.
He turned his head away, "I'm sorry."
Nayru looked at him, "For what?"
"I did something rash and stupid and set us back because of it. Aside from almost getting myself killed, I buried that piece of triforce under a couple thousand gallons of Lava. And since Din isn't here berating me for my idiocy, she got angry and left somewhere."
"You think this is all your fault?"
He nodded and moved past her, "I know it."
"Nil!" She called out, but he kept on walking. "You idiot." She whispered. She looked around and grabbed his shield, it was the only piece of equipment he left laying around.
She walked off into the main room, to see Darunia returning. "How did it go?"
He smiled, "We got it for ya." He tossed her the little triangle.
"Thank you. How can we…"
"We're just glad you got rid of the huge lizard. Who knows what would have happened if you didn't?" Then he beckoned her closer, "My scouts haven't found your friend. We sent word down to Kakariko, but so far nothing."
"Thank you."
"Its nothing, I can understand your concern." Nayru nodded and watched the huge Goron leave to talk with his people. She sighed and transported to the top level.
Farore gave her a weak smile, "We always forget that Din doesn't share a kinship to them like we do."
"Just as we never realize how much she loves the earth." Nayru sighed. "I'm supposed to be sensitive to these things! How can she carry so much hatred for us in her heart?"
"You're overreacting a little. She doesn't hate us, she is just angry. She'll calm down."
"Yea." Nayru nodded, unconvinced, "she'll calm down."
*
"Goddesses, I haven't been this sober since the last time we were all together." Nil sighed. Biting back the sadness in his voice he wondered where he could get some booze in this place. Hopefully something that wasn't a rock derivative. He was in no mood for gray wine.
He noticed he hadn't seen Din raging anywhere. Did she go go? Gone? No, she was the most steady of them all. He felt weak, and there was a pain in his chest. He thought maybe he was feeling bad for her, but he realized it was that Damn Triforce. 'What is it now?'
[Din, she is not here. She left. Angry, sad]
'What can I do about it? She hates me.'
[You aren't whom she wanted to bear the Triforce.]
'Nobody would be good enough for her.'
[One is.]
He nodded. Maybe if he could find this guy or gal and give the Triforce to them, he could walk away from this with his life. He walked back by the ladies He paused when he saw Nayru near tears and Farore trying to comfort her. "Umm…Nayru? Farore?"
Farore looked at him. "What is it Nil?"
"Look…I'm sorry about what I did here earlier. I was being foolhardy and I almost got myself killed. Then all this started happening…I screwed up okay? I'll do what it takes to make it right though. I will."
Farore was surprised. No one ever said anything about blaming him. He did it to himself. He wasn't looking for a scapegoat, he made himself the scapegoat, "Its so much easier to just sit there and blame yourself then to think of ways to prevent it from happening again isn't it? No one blamed you, and it sort of turned out all right. Never offer a confession to something to which you have not been charged."
"I can't do that. Omission of the truth is just as good as lying. I know what I did, and my actions are unforgivable. Given the consequences. I lost the Piece of the Triforce, and now Din is gone…"
"Here." Nayru tossed him the piece of Triforce. He caught it and it sank into his hand before he got a good look at it. But he knew what it was. He just stared.
"How did you get it back? I thought it would be slag by now."
"I asked Darunia to get it back. He was happy to, seeing as how 'we' destroyed the monster."
Nil frowned. He wasn't used to being rewarded for doing things that he felt responsible for. They just needed to be done, it was no cause for special treatment. He looked away. "I'm still sorry."
They all looked at the ground when Nil felt a burning. His chest practically screamed. He fell back, ignoring the pain on his back in lieu of the one in his chest.
[Din is in danger. Pain. Hurt. Din is enraged…pain…]
"Din is…something's wrong with her. What happened?" he wheezed out, sitting up.
"We got into an argument. Harsh words were spoken. She stormed off."
"Could she have gone anywhere?" He asked, gritting his teeth. The pain was gone, and the Essence was still rambling about the pain and the loneliness. Fear.
"Yea."
Nil nodded, "Then she went to Lake Hylia."
"What?"
"Whenever
my sister got angry at me, she would try to put as much distance between us as
possible. If Din could go anywhere, she would be as far as geographically
possible."
Nayru nodded, "I'll go get
her."
Nil shook his head, "No. We'll all go. We shouldn't be separated."
"But…" Nayru remembered their argument, and was glad that Nil hadn't heard it. It would probably crush his already delicate frame of mind. She looked at Farore who just nodded.
"Let him come along. Worst case scenario we all die extremely painful deaths."
Nil frowned as he stood up, "I thought the worst case scenario involved us all becoming quadriplegic vegetables."
Nayru shook her head. "You have to be the oddest person I know."
"What? I would just rather be dead than a comatose brain dead sack of flesh." He said.
Nayru looked at him, then at Farore. Something seemed to dawn on her. "Din!"
They were gone in half a heartbeat.
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I'm not going to be anywhere near a computer for the next week, so I will be late in the next chapter, so I tried to get a lot of story out this week. I'll work on that Link introspection, as I need him back around, kicking ass and taking names. Still, don't hesitate to tell me what you think of it. I'll take serious suggestion seriously, and give a brief thought to the odd ones. Yadda yadda, yakkity yak.