Aloha! Konnichi ha! And so on. Hi ya'll! Remember me? The annoying one? Heh, yeah it's been a while.oh well! Here tis!

Disclaimer: Been there, ate that.

Chapter 3

We would have stayed up talking the whole night, except for the slight problem of exhaustion. Malon made me sleep in her bed, and she found some spare mattresses for her and Link to sleep on, on the floor. I slept better then I had in years, and woke up sometime in the late morning. Link and Malon were still out cold, and deciding not to wake them, I carefully stepped over them and downstairs. I noticed dimly I was still wearing the same clothes I had arrived in. I quietly left the house, and went out to the corral in the center of the Ranch. Some of the horses eyed me as I came in, but other then that ignored me. I smiled and spun in a slow circle. The very air seemed to sparkle, and I pinched myself to convince myself I wasn't dreaming.

Hyrule.

I'd finally come back!

The joy I felt was almost physical, like a bird trying to climb its way through my chest then out of my mouth. I laughed, slightly intoxicated with the feeling. I turned and walked back towards the house, thinking Link and Malon might be up by now. However, my plan was halted by something running full speed into my back and knocking me over. Swearing, I rolled onto my back and tried to sit up, but the child-sized.thing leapt onto my neck and pressed its body over my face. Thinking it was trying to suffocate me, I screamed as loud as I could, but it (of course) came out muffled.

However, it seemed to do the trick.

As I was trying to yank the thing off my face, I heard a shout, and the thing stiffened and dropped off, running towards the fence. From the back, it really did look like a child, only wearing a big floppy hat and tattered clothing. I couldn't see any of its skin, only layers of raggy clothing. Link darted after it, performing a flying tackle and pinning it to the ground. Malon ran out of the house and towards Link, and I followed her.

"You okay?" I gasped.

"Fine, you?" Link replied, struggling with the creature.

"Well enough. What is that?" I asked, trying to see the face under the brim of the floppy hat.

"Oh sh-Link, that's not a skullkid, is it?" Malon asked, turning white. I couldn't blame her-last time I was in Hyrule, Malon nearly died from a skullkid attack.

"I think it is-Ev, can you get its hat off?" Link asked. I did so, and Malon turned out to be right-it looked more intelligent then the ones that tried to kill us before, but it was a skullkid, no mistake.

"What are one of-THOSE doing here?" Malon demanded.

"I dunno.hey you, what are you doing here?" Link asked. The skullkid glared at him.

"Never did learn diplomacy, didja Link?" I asked. He grinned up at me then turned back to the attacker.

"Well? I know you can talk." He said.

"Job." Came the answer. The voice somehow reminded me of rain in the forest.

"What kind of job?" Link asked.

"Kill!"

"Kill who?"

"Hero." I raised an eyebrow at the last answer.

"But.I'm not a hero, why did you attack me?" I asked cautiously. The skullkid stared at me out of the corner of his eye, without turning his head. I shivered-it gave me the creeps, somehow. It didn't help that the entirety of the eye was a deep gold with only a black dot in the center for the pupil.

"Kill! Kill kill kill! Killum all heroes! Killum dead! Killum girl too-she dangerous! She die! All die! Kill girl! Kill hero! Kill girl!" It shrieked, the pitch rising until it sounded like fingernails on a blackboard. Link shook it.

"Shut up! Why do you want to kill us?" He demanded, but the skullkid froze. It started to moan and arched its back as if in pain, the moan raising until it was a shriek that reminded me of blood dripping from a fresh wound. I covered my ears and shut my eyes, and when I opened them again, Link was staring confused at the skullkid. It was obviously dead-the gold eyes were dulled and rolled back into its skull, and a line of blood was coming out of the corner of its mouth. Link stood up slowly, still staring at the body.

"Well.it looks like we have a new evil on our hands." He said slowly.

Was it worth the wait? ^-^''' I'll try to get these puppies out faster, really I will! But finals are coming up.BLECH!!! ~Dekustar the Mad Author