Harsh Reality

~~~~~~~~~~~

By Zel the Stampede

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Disclaimer: Standards apply Zelda and all related trademarks belong to their respected creators and I, unfortunately, am not one of that elite group.

Chapter 4 at long last, its delay can be blamed on a faulty Escaflowne: A Gaia in Girl DVD and a severe case of "Oh-Dear-God-What's-Going-To-Happen" Syndrome.

R&R!

~~~~~~

Chapter 4: Puppet

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rain came down in icy torrents as Link gazed up at the black spire jutting up from the broken landscape. At long last, Ganon's tower, the final trial.

Lightening crackled in the heavens, striking the withering turret with fire-white spears, casting flickering shapes across the walls. The decaying structure mirrored Hyrule's glory once upon a time in the dusty shards of shattered glass and shredded threads of ruined tapestries. Rotting stairs spiraled up from the spoiled hall to the tower's crown, their flagstones trembling with the roar of the storm.

'I'm nearly there, wait for me, Zelda!' Link's footfalls echoed off the shriveled walls, ringing back to him as he dashed up the steps. The stair ascended further into a shadow penetrated only by the dwindling haze of light squeezing through the heavy door at the very top. An ancient door, moss laced over the cracked planks and the knob was edged with rust.

"Come in."

The portal groaned, opening as if by its own will to allow the intruding stranger entry. The master sword slid readily from its scabbard, glinting liquid silver in spite of the room's bleary luster.

"Welcome, hero, to my humble abode." The shadows melted, as Ganondorf appeared clad in his dark Gerudo armor, the brocaded cloak rippling with the slightest gesture.

"Where's Zelda? What have you done with her?" Link demanded.

"So hasty," Ganondorf sighed in disdain, "but does a rivalry such as ours really require formalities?" The master sword slid past, nearly taking a portion of Gannondorf's side had he not sidestepped the blow. "Guess not," the King said coolly.

"I'll ask you again where's Zelda?" Link hissed.

"She's here of course," Ganondorf replied, waving at the high, shadowy rafters of the chamber. Link glared up at the dim crossbeams adorned in veils of cobwebs.

"You can't see her," Gannondorf went on, "because you don't want too. You don't want to see the princess for what she truly is."

"What are you talking about?" Link said sternly. Gannondorf laughed, "Poor, stupid, blind boy." Link charged, catching Gannondorf's torso in a wide arc. The King lay in two pieces, a dead, lifeless wooden thing, with splitters of wood scattered about the marble floor. Hinges held its joints, rusty and metal peeking from the elbows, knees and even the corners of its mouth. Strings wrapped about the carved hands, climbing from the limp, broken body to the ceiling beams above.

"A puppet?!" Link gasped, "How? What is this?"

"Reality," something whispered high above.

"Who?" A phantom garbed in rose and lavender silk sunk down from the canopy of darkness. Princess Zelda suspended by near-invisible threads, the hinges creasing the expensive satin as she focused blue-glass eyes on Link.

"This is Hyrule," she mumbled, stiffly raising a wooden arm, "an illusion, a cheap carnival trick." Link shook his head, "No-" The other sages fell from the rafters, hovering aloft over Gannondorf's shattered frame.

"Our world is not real," Rauru said gruffly.

"We are not real," Saria murmured, "And neither are you." Link stepped back from the marionettes, "But-I'm-I'm real!" Strings lashed out from the walls, looping around his wrists, ankles, and his neck, growing taut as they pulled him towards the shadows.

"No! No! I'm real!" Link grunted, struggling as he fought the threads' tight holds.

"Don't fight," Zelda said slowly, "don't fight what destiny has deemed so."

"You'll only bring yourself to ruin," Rauru muttered. The strings gripped his arms as Link tugged fiercely. Slitting into the flesh and bone, the threads tore his arm apart.

"A puppet's no good in pieces," Ruto said softly. The wires twined rigidly about his body. Blood, bone, and insides fell into a slow descend plopping like wet rags upon the reddened floor as the strings knifed through his chest.

"Good night, Link," Saria whispered, lashes closing over her glassy emerald eyes.

'No! It can't be! No!' The cord clenched about his throat as Link grimaced, feeling liquid squeeze from the wound, 'It's not! Hyrule's real! No!'

"No!" Link jolted up in bed, drenched in a frigid sweat, the room swimming. Bile exploded in his mouth as Link hungrily gulped oxygen. The tip of his tongue was raw and bloodied he'd bitten it in his sleep. He swallowed, pulling a hand through the tangle of damp, golden hair. Just a dream, no strings, just a dream, no sages…his thoughts trailed off as he fumbled over the surface of the bedside table for that little bottle. He shivered, closing his hand about the plastic vessel so carelessly left in his reach.

Link grimaced, fidgeting with the container's stubborn lid; he wouldn't feel anything once he downed a few of the tiny capsules. Thunder rumbled and Link jumped, the pills flew across the tiled floor, into air ducks and under furniture. He groaned, groping for the lost tablets.

"HELP! ME! SOMEONE! PLEASE!" Navi shrieked. The shadow creeping along the crumpled sheets, shredding the delicate material with the inky crescent-shaped pincers.

Link tilted his head just slightly, cries drifting from the eastern corridor of the asylum. A lone wailing cut bitterly through the dark halls as a fistful of pills rained down on the floor, "Navi!"

"LINK!" Navi gasped, pressing further into her corner, "Malon! ANYBODY!" The shade slunk nearer, hot coals burning in its eye-sockets.

The halls were dark, crawling with shadows. Empty and desolate passages lined with the empty eyes of paintings on the walls and dim light-fixtures.

"Help me! Please!"

Link tore down the dark hallways as Navi cried, the air trembling with her terror. 'Navi, I'm coming! Don't-' the halls split here, branching off into separate wings as Link gazed helplessly at the crossroads. Navi wailed again, her horror vivid and louder this time. `Link veered down the left way, panting, his blood pounding in his ears.

A door stood ajar. A rectangle of blackness against the gray and Link faltered a chill creeping across his nape, "Navi?" The door rasped along the linoleum titles as Navi whimpered, crying miserably from her niche. She shrilled gaping horror-stricken at the wrinkled folds of her bed-sheets…yet there was nothing there. Rumpled bed linens and nothing more.

"Navi," Link said gently, cautiously approaching the bed. Navi shuddered violently tears coursing down her face, "Navi." Gingerly, he caught her shoulders as she went slack, slumping against him.

"A monster," she stuttered, "Oh god, a monster, a monster." Link held her close, resting her golden head on his shoulder, "It's gone, there is no monster." Navi sighed, sniffling and sobbing.

"Oh Link," Navi murmured, "I was so afraid…"

"What are you doing in here?!" Malon stood silhouetted in the square of white light pouring into the dark room. Link shrunk away from her flinty glare and Navi fixed blurry, teary eyes on the woman in the doorway with the giant telltale shadow of Dragmire looming behind her. Navi's jade eyes dulled, dilating as she slouched forward in a faint. Link swallowed the sticky lump forming in his throat as he felt the prick of the icy glowers.

"Mr. Riles," Malon began frigidly, "please-" she gasped as Link went sprawling on the floor, Dragmire standing above him. Malon swayed, steadying herself as she turned fiery blue eyes on Dragmire, "What-what did you do?!" Dragmire lightly cracked his knuckles, "Forgive me, Dr. Kit, but if I allowed him consciousness, Ms. Wicket's safety would be in jeopardy." Malon fell silent, glimpsing the growing purple welt underneath the fallen man's eye. "But," she started again, "was that-"

"Of course, it was necessary, Dr. Kit," Dragmire assured, "a patient's security are put above all things. Were you not worried Riles might harm her?" Malon frowned and stuttered, "But isn't Mr. Riles' your-"

"You can't save them all," Dragmire mimicked coldly, "sacrifices must be made to ensure the life of another." Malon stilled as the tall man swept by her, assigning two night-shift nurses to 'remove' Mr. Riles as he trudged down into the lower levels of the institute.

* * *

Navi shuddered she couldn't remember ever being so cold not even in the ice caverns. The bite of those wintry caves and Zora's Domain couldn't possibly compare to the desert at night. The sand gleamed like driven snow in the frosty moonlight while a crisp wind whistled over the barren wasteland. Navi sneezed, huddling close to the temple stones, the cold biting through her clothes.

It was never this cold with Link, he was always warm, and now he was gone. Whisked away to who-knows-where by those two witches all puckers and wrinkles. Tears gathered her amber eyes as Navi hugged her knees. With the stars blazing in the ebony sky overhead, Navi was sorry, very sorry, Link should have never been taken. It was all her fault. She failed to protect her charge, failed to perform the duty she was born to do. Navi stifled a sob; she was a horrible fairy.

"I'm sorry, Link," she sniffled, "I should have been a better guardian. I should have-" Some many "I should have"s and not enough "I did"s. Navi trembled, teardrops stained her cheeks, "It's all my fault this happened…I wasn't good enough to be your fairy. I was never good enough. No matter how I tried, bad things kept happening to you. I just wanted to protect you and I couldn't even do that!" Navi sobbed, long and hard, curled up in the hand of the Goddess.

Dawn broke, caressing the world with her gilded fingers. Birds swarmed in the blue vault of the sky above. Navi frowned, 'Good, maybe they'll eat me and I won't have to fail again.'

* * *

The nurses' station was unusually quiet and nearly empty apart from a solemn Malon feigning business, a collecting of medical documents and patient transcripts before her. Her eyes wandered listlessly over the neatly typed manuscripts though her mind was else where.

Her darkest fear had come true or seemed too, according to Dragmire's investigations. Malon folded her hands beneath her chin; a part deep within her didn't want to believe he did it. Didn't want to believe that Link, the man Navi called friend, had somehow hurt her. Dragmire blamed the 'attack' on a drug-overdose after discovering remnants of medication scattered about Link's room.

Malon sighed heavily; her happy little sanctuary was coming to pieces.

* * *

The sky was dusky violet when Navi woke, casting a roaming gaze over the empty sands. She whimpered, in her dreams the battle had blazed up again, more terrible than reality, twisted by her troubled mind.

Navi dangled her legs over the rim of the Goddess's palm, what could she do? Being tiny as she was and crippled by her wing, she felt utterly powerless. More than ever, wishing for a big companion, someone Link's size, who would aid in her plight. Navi sulked, burying her face in her hands, Gerudo Fortress, Death Mountain, Kokiri Forest, anyplace that might offer help was miles away. And there was the obstacle of being able to get there.

Angry sobs rattled Navi's little bones, "What can I do? Oh goddess, what can I do? Why do I have to be so damn small?! If I were big…" 'Who would I be if I were big?' The cherry orb of the sun dipped behind the dark yellow hills, the cloak of night was descending once again. Tears beaded down her cheeks, helpless, hopeless tears.

"What can I do? Goddesses, help me," Navi breathed, "I cannot save Link by myself."

"Are you alone, fairy girl?" a voice floated up from the ground. Navi gasped, startled, gazing down at the platform below.

"It's you," she whispered, "the Sheikiah boy." Navi felt him smile beneath the cloth mask, "Yes, I, tell me, fairy girl, Link tarries…" Navi frowned, "Yes, he does…"

"Where is he?" asked Sheik, stoic.

"He-he has gone away," Navi said tearfully, "the witches took him."

End of Chapter 4

I can never turn reviews away! Please send them to me!

Zel the Stampede

Coming Soon:

Chapter 5: Garden