"Wow, this guy's impressive," Roy thought grimly. Maybe taking the test wouldn't have been as easy as he thought. Still, the trainees just weren't doing it right. If they were…

A large Halbered shout out from the canopy and sped towards Invincible's toque. He spun around and snatched it from the air with ease, only to be blasted in the stomach with a hard punch from Rocco.

Invincible doubled over, and Rocco reached for the toque with a quick hand. It wasn't quick enough though, and Invincible roared forward with a vicious head-butt to Rocco's forehead. The halberd was flung aside as Rocco tumbled to the ground with an ugly bruise.

"Hmm… maybe I went too far," the knight said to himself as Rocco rose to his feet.

"It….isn't over yet…Sir Link," he spat.

Smiling kindly, the Silver Knight reached over, picked up Rocco's Halberd and tossed it back to him. "Maybe not. But in thirty minutes, I draw my sword."

His smile was actually frightening. "Then it will be."

***

The Legend of Zelda: Her Story

Chapter 6: Assassin

By: The Kirby Kid.

Disclaimer:

The Legend of Zelda®, Roy, is property of Nintendo. I hate bugs.

Authors Notes:

If you see any 'semblance to anything you've seen in the great anime series Naruto, then you're not mistaken. I borrowed a little here and there. Call it a tribute to a cool manga.

***************

"Now I must say, this country always seems to have the best weather conditions," Regent Nice of Haiken said as he sipped a cup of Koromele Tea. "Do you know how much it's raining right now back in Haiken?"

Mrs. Nice laughed and said something along the same, and the Queen just smiled and laughed along. Zelda said nothing; her face was a mask of complacency. Throughout the dinner Zelda had been the perfect hostess. She smiled when she needed to, laughed when it was appropriate, and was as charming and as pleasant as she had ever been.

It was fake, all of it. Her responses were purely robotic, and she was beginning to tire of it. The truth was, Zelda was numb with rage over what had happened, and this numbness, this complacency was turning into weariness.

It wasn't as if the Nice's weren't good people, they were obviously very…well…nice. The Regent was a clever man, round in stature and jubilant. His wife was also of a portly nature, and as the stereotype goes, she was also very kind and jolly. Their son, June, was similar in personality only. He was tall and fit, with short brown hair falling over his forehead, and with equally dark piercing eyes and a smooth smile. Zelda had to admit; he was pretty handsome, if only in a logical sense. But Zelda wasn't interested. She wasn't interested in this party, in June, or even in the First Rank exam that was taking place at this very moment.

Right then, she was just tired.

"So…um…princess?" June began shyly, " have-have you ever been to Haiken?"

It took Zelda a while to answer him. "…Yes."

June seemed taken aback with her hesitance. "Um, what'd you think about it?"

Zelda didn't answer immediately, and her silence caused the others to look at her expectantly, and her mother to stare at her coldly. "I…don't know. I think it was a while ago…"

"Zelda," her mother told her telepathically, " play a little nicer, if you please."

The princess looked to the ground angrily and frowned. June looked at her with worry. "Are you all right, princess?"

"June, you're a swordsman?" Zelda asked suddenly.

The young man was taken aback by the sudden question, and he answered carefully. "Well, yes, I am…"

"Ever kill anyone, June?"

Everyone was stunned, frozen into place. The queen's face became pale. June wasn't stunned though. Surprisingly, the usually shy boy answered expertly with "Well, my mother tells me I'm a lady-killer…but I try to be humble."

The stunned faces softened and warmed and finally fell into a hearty laughter. The queen also began to laugh gently, but her eyes retained their sharpness.

June smiled and reached for Zelda's hand. "Well, princess, I was wondering if I could bother you for a dance?"

Looking him over once again, Zelda sighed and patted his hand. "Listen June, I'm think you're a great guy and everything…but you don't want to dance with me. In fact, you don't want anything to do with me." She smiled gently and added. "You've no idea who you're dealing with."

"Zelda, what do you think you're doing?" rang the voice of her mother's voice inside of her head. Before she could add anything, Zelda rose to her feet and faced her mother with a slight smile.

"I'm talking aloud now, mother, so if you have anything to say, open your mouth and say it!"

This time, even June was stunned.

Zelda turned to him with a gentle face and began picking off points with her fingers. "I'm selfish. I'm petty, I'm not pretty enough and I don't work hard enough at hiding it. Let's see, I'm rude, offensive, and um…oh what was that word mother? Oh yes, petulant." She glanced at the queen, and then back to June, who was squirming uncomfortably in his seat. Zelda almost felt sorry for him. "Truth is, I'm not someone you can rely on. Just ask my glorious mother; she'll tell you everything you have to know. Until then, all I can suggest is that you set your sites somewhere else." When she finished, she glanced at everyone quickly and then began to take her seat again.

"Get out. Go to your room, and stay there."

Zelda laughed malevolently. Like she had any choice.

"Enjoy your damn party," she whispered as she fled from the chamber.

As soon as Zelda entered the room, the door slammed shut behind her. The indecency of the situation, the rage and despair that she felt when she became a prisoner in her own home, suddenly unleashed itself from within her.  She struck out with her magic, shattering a body-length mirror with sheer will, sending thousands of shards of glass flying across the room.

Letting out a guttural scream, Zelda reached for and threw the pottery from her night table, statuettes, jewel cases, dolls, and vases across the room. The sounds of destruction was almost overwhelming, and Moto, who was on his usual perch on by the windowsill, quickly leapt up to the top of the window and quivered. Zelda didn't see the fear in his eyes. Zelda only saw red.

She bunched her small hands into fists and slammed them on the surface of her large night table, again and again, before staring at the tearstained reflection of her in the other large mirror.

"Image is everything!?" she raged. Her right hand flashed a bright blue, and Gram materialized from her fist.

Finally, she yelled, "Image is everything!?" and with her left hand, she grabbed her hair in her fist at the neck, pulled it in front of her, and with Gram, she sliced across.

Then, there was silence. The only sound of the room was Zelda's heavy breathing. She stared at herself in the mirror, and then to her left fist, which was holding her limp hair with a death grip. Again she looked at her reflection.

Her hair now parted from her forehead and fell across her face, ending jaggedly around the nape of her neck.

"Oh no," she cried.

What did she do?

Was she insane?

Her hair…how could she have done this to herself? As a child, she remembered waiting impatiently to take off the bonnet it was customary for children to wear so that she could have her long hair wave elegantly behind her. Zelda loved having long hair. She thought it was beautiful and she didn't know anyone that didn't.

She stared a moment longer into the mirror, and she felt the strands of hair in her fist fall to the ground through her loosened grip.

Falling to her knees, the princess of Hyrule buried her head in her hands and sobbed silently.

***

In exactly one minute, Invincible was going to draw his sword.

The exam had not been going well for the trainees. Their strikes at the Silver Knight, while inventive, entertaining and intense, were useless. None had gotten any closer than a good reach to his toque, and things were only going to get harder.

Don, Busy and Rocco all stood across from him in the clearing, panting heavily and wincing at some of the blows they had received. They all had their eyes on the prize, and they all knew that it would soon become a whole lot difficult.

Then, to Roy's delight, the three of them rushed the knight at the same time. "Finally," Roy thought gleefully. "I think they get it!"

But it wasn't to be. As Busy shifted left to deliver a front-kick, she got in the way of Don's own sword attack. He rolled out of the way to keep from getting trampled. As Busy went for the kill, Rocco's Spinning Spear cut her off as he rushed ahead of her and shot forward with a strike. Busy was forced off of her feet and she rolled on the ground while Rocco attack.

Invincible reached up with both hands and caught the blade of the Halberd in his palms. With a grunt, he heaved it off to the side, as Paris, the only trainee not to make an attempt for the toque, jutted from the tree slashing at the Silver Knight.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Invincible drew his slender blade from the sheath strapped to his back, and nailed the trainee in the stomach with the end of the handle. Paris's eyes bulged and he fell to the ground hard, before rolling to his feet and stumbling backwards away from the Knight.

"I might have been a little early," Invincible grinned. "Hey, Roy. How's my time?"

Roy glanced over to the clock on the rock slab and then back to Invincible. "You're just on time. Fifteen minutes left."

The trainees vanished at the sight of Invincible's blade, and Roy didn't blame them. There wasn't much time left now, and with the sword out, it would be impossible. Invincible's skills and power seemed to grow exponentially when he had a sword in his hand.

From what Roy heard from others in Hyrule, Invincible was half-Gerudo, and he learned fighting techniques from many different ghosts of individuals known as Hero's of the Triforce. The first hero, the Hero of Time, was said to be extremely skilful and brave. People said that the Triforce of Courage drove these men, and that is why they seemed impossible to defeat.

It was rumoured that Invincible destroyed a small army of insane cultists known as Ghanims when he was just fifteen years old, and that with only a little helped, he drove back an entire Ghanim floating island and the seemingly unstoppable force inside of it.

There was no doubt that Invincible was a remarkable individual, and that he had deep loyalties to the Hierarchy of Hyrule. Now the trainees had to see past all of that and realize the fact that no one was invincible. Anyone could be stopped; it was all a matter of seeing it. They had to discover how to see it. Roy knew it could be done.

Five minutes passed, and no one attempted a strike. Roy knew it could be done, but whether or not these trainees did was another story.

Time was running out…

***

Busy sat silently in the leaves of a nearby tree, hiding carefully from Invincible's sight, and looking for an opening. Several times she saw him stretch and yawn, and even scratch his back. They all looked like openings, but she knew they weren't. It was all a face. She knew that if she tried anything, he'd slice her in half.

She was so frustrated she bit her lip and bled to keep from doing something stupid. There had to be some way. Maybe if she... no that wouldn't work. What if she… forget it, that wouldn't fool him.

All that time spent practising her Seals; the legacy passed on from her father to her…it was all going to go to waste. She was going to fail and there was nothing she could do about it.

The thought was almost unbearable.

Suddenly there was a light poking at her arm. Busy didn't have to look to know it was Don. She smelled him coming miles away.

"Hey…hey…." He said as he poked her repeatedly.

Busy growled. "What is it?"

"You know, you know we can't do it right?"

Busy growled again.

"It's impossible. You know that right?"

"…" Busy murmured with a trembling lip. "I know," she finally admitted.

"Yeah…I didn't want to admit it…but you're right."

Busy turned, startled, and saw Rocco sitting in the leaves behind her. How was she not able to smell her?

Right…he was a Shadow Knight. Good for him, he couldn't get the toque either.

"Listen, listen," Don spoke up suddenly. "There's only one hat right, so three of us are going to fail anyway, right?"

Busy and Rocco said nothing.

"So then, even if one of us can get the hat, at least we would have gotten it off, right?"

Bixenta's eyes brightened. He was right of course. They could at least get that damned hat off of him. She smiled at Don, and then at Rocco. "What have you got in mind?"

***

Five minutes left. Invincible was yawning, with his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. It wasn't looking good for the trainees. There was not one attempt after Invincible had drawn his sword. It was as if they had just given up.

"Come on guys," Roy pleaded mentally. "You can do this, don't give up now."

Apparently, at least one of them heard him. Bixenta appeared in front of Invincible, again with her hands fixed in a Sealing position.

"Farore! Din!" she blasted. The air changed, and out of the blue blasted at least ten versions of Bixenta. They all attacked Invincible head on.

Somehow, the Knight seemed to know exactly which Busy was an illusion and which one was real. He attacked without mercy at the fake ones, slashing their heads and arms off with quick vertical and horizontal slashes, before kicking Busy down to the ground. The fakes exploded on contact and Busy rolled to a slow stop.

Then Rocco appeared atop a canopy of leaves. He soared into the air and flung his halberd at the knight with frightening speed and accuracy.

Invincible drew his sword and parried it perfectly. With a loud clanging sound, the Halberd crashed against Invincible's immovable blade, and spun in midair…

…And with a poof, it turned into a spinning Bixenta.

"What!?" Invincible and Roy said in unison.

Seizing the moment, Busy grabbed Invincible's arm and held on to it for dear life. Before the knight could even struggle, Rocco was on his other arm. Twisting the sword out of his hand, Rocco held on to him with both of his own arms and pinned him in place.

Roy rose with elation. Invincible was pinned! How was it possible? He immediately realized the answer. It was the Seal! Busy preformed a Seal to create illusions of herself, but what Invincible didn't know is that she performed one to make her appear as Rocco's Halberd's. As the Halbered was deflected by the Knight's parry, Busy was able to sneak up to him completely unnoticed.

Then Don leapt down from a tree, carrying Busy's bag of daggers. He reached into the bag, and with a deadly accuracy, flung two daggers directly at the knight's head, one below the other.

Busy and Rocco immobilized Invincible, and he couldn't move as quickly as normal. Just before the daggers connected, he was able to duck his neck. He avoided the daggers…

…But his toque didn't. They were pinned directly to the tree behind him.

And from the top of that tree, a small hand jutted forward to claim the prize. It was Paris. The one who had hardly attacked before.

Roy saw what was happening and cheered. They were going to do it. Time was almost up, but it was going to be done.

Or not. With uncanny strength, Invincible flung Rocco and Busy off of his body, reached up and grabbed Paris's hand, and flung him across the clearing and into the rest of the trainees.

They tumbled amongst themselves for a while, before getting back up to their feet. As Invincible put his toque back on, the others nodded to themselves wordlessly, and they prepared for another joint assult.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The piercing sound of the clock going off alarmed even Roy. The trainees stopped their attacked and looked unbelievingly at Roy and the clock next to him, and Invincible's hand shot into the air.

"That's it! The test is over!"

Busy fell to her knees, not believing it was actually over. Paris fell backwards with exhaustion. Rocco gripped his Halberd with an ever-tightening grip.

"Damn…" he whispered.

Don said nothing. He simply stared forward, not really seeing anything.

With a happy smile, Invincible took a step forward to the decimated trainees. "So, you weren't able to take my hat off me. I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed."

The expression on the trainees' faces spoke volumes. Invincible blinked in confusion and rubbed a finger to his temple. "H..hey, what's the matter? Why isn't anyone saying anything?"

When no one answered, Invincible repeated his question more forcefully. This time, Bixenta answered. "Sir Link…we're quiet because we failed your test. Please don't rub it in, okay?"

Invincible looked genuinely confused now. "Huh? Failed? Who said you failed?"

Now it was the trainee's turn to blink, and they glared at him in puzzlement.

"Remember what I said before? That part of being a Knight is knowing who your team-mates are? Well, part of being a Knight is also being able to trust them to sacrifice everything for your sake, and to complete the mission." Rubbing his nose, Invincible continued to explain. "You all figured out that taking me on one by one was impossible. Individually, you're all very impressive. Rocco's skill with a Halberd is better than anyone I've ever seen. Bixenta, your hand-to-hand techniques and Sealing ability are simply magnificent. Don, you seem to have the knack to pick up almost any and every skill, and Paris, your full of energy and extremely intelligent on the battlefield. All of your individual skills are impressive…" He then grinned and rubbed the back of his head, "but they couldn't do anything against me."

"So…knowing that you couldn't take me individually, and thinking that only one of you could take the hat anyway and pass, you decided to work together, sacrificing your own want to pass the test, and attempted to take my hat with a joint effort. It didn't matter who got the hat, as long as it was taken, and the test was passed…or as I would say, the mission was completed."

Invincible then put his fists to his hips and pointed to the trainees. "And that is exactly what a good Knight would do!!"

As understanding dawned on their faces, the trainees began to brighten and smile gleaming happy smiles. "You sacrificed your own personal agendas, and finally decided to work together to go for the hat. That was what this test was about, and I am very happy to say, that you all passed with flying colours!"

"Welcome to the First Rank!"

Roy smiled as he watched the trainees…no, the Knights…throw their hands up into the air jubilantly and cry out with Joy. Rocco was hollering at the top of his lungs, something about 'wait till Talon hears about' something or other. Paris was dancing wildly, and Don was simply rubbing his eyes, trying not to be overcome with emotion. Busy tackled Invincible and squeezed him until his eyes bulged out.

"Wait a minute," Paris suddenly said in mid-dance. "Sir, why did you say you were disappointed that we didn't take your hat if we passed?"

Invincible squeezed his way out of Busy's grip and shrugged. "Ever since I began this test many years ago, not a single person has been able to take the hat. Taking it was never the real point of the test…but…" He sighed sadly, and slumped his shoulders. "You guys were a good group. I thought you'd be able to do it." Then he straightened and hollered "ATTENTION!!!"

The others quickly got into line and stood at attention. Invincible nodded approvingly. "As Knights of the First Rank, your first mission will be to relax tonight! You've all earned it."

As the others dispersed, Busy came up to Roy and took him from the arm. "Come on! We're going to Castle Town to celebrate at the Knight's Tavern. There's gonna be a huge party!"

Roy smiled and patted her arm. "I don't know if that'd be appropriate, uh, Lady Bixenta. I'm not a Knight after-all-"

"Don't be stupid!" Busy growled. "You're gonna come with us and you're gonna like it!" With that finalized, she dragged Roy by his arm from the clearing and back into Castle Town.

Roy didn't mind. He truly was happy for all of them. All in all, it was a very exciting and pleasant night.

All except for the fact that Sheik couldn't join them.

Wherever he was, he hoped Sheik was okay.

************

It was the wee hours of the morning now in the Kingdom of Hyrule. The night was still quite dark, and most of the Kingdom was finally in a deep slumber.

For the first time in a long time, the princess Zelda slept a dreamless sleep. It was a fitful sleep for Zelda, her tear-streaked face trapped in an eternal grimace. She had fallen asleep hours before, at the time hoping it would be a sleep that would last forever. Her final thoughts before losing herself to the slumber were that of a crippling sadness. She prayed to the Goddesses that her sleep would be dreamless, because above all, she needed an escape from the disturbing events of the day.

Her prayer was answered, for the most part. Up until now, there was nothing in Zelda's mind as her body rested; there was no sound, no vision. Then there was a vision. A vision of red, a vision of flames.

The flames grew hotter and unbearable. She squirmed against the blistering heat and created the soothing cool feeling of blue crystal. The crystal warped and took the shape of a triangle shaped dagger. Gram.

Her eyes flew open, and brought up her arms instinctively. Gram came up and clanged against another blade, a blade of red and flame.

It was wielded by a figure in shadow, thin and lithe-like, he struck again with his blazing sword.

Zelda didn't even think, she parried the blow with Gram, and rolled off of her bed in an attempt to escape from the assassin, but he was too fast. He caught her by the throat as she tried to cry out for help.

Before he could do any more, Moto jumped up to his face, and with a loud 'KU!!', he exploded.

There was a thunderous blast, and Moto dropped to the floor with swirly, dazed eyes. The assassin released his grip on Zelda in pain, and the princess took the chance. Gathering her Wisdom, she caught herself in an unnatural wind and flung herself towards the doorway…

…And bounced right off of it with a hard thud. Zelda shook off the pain and looked at the door in horror. The Imprisoning spell was still in effect! There was no way to escape.

But that didn't make any sense! How had the intruder gotten in if the spell was still there!?

She had no more time to think about it. She raised Gram up in a defensive position and trembled slightly as the assassin with the flaming sword advanced on her.

Next time: His name is Rin.

Thanks for your patience. I hope this was enough action for you guys. :) Actually I really enjoyed writing these chapters. I believe this fic is starting to actually get into the real story behind it…so enjoy. Please review. Later!