Fade to Bones

By MysticSaiyan7 (aka Aeris Deathscythe)

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"People are disgusting. My own father and mother are disgusting. You must be disgusting too!"

The blond kid in the stupid green outfit had looked a little taken aback at those words. He couldn't have been any older than ten at the time, anyway. The boy-who had a fairy no less- had given him one last curious look before quickly running off to where ever it was that he had been headed to. It had probably been the graveyard.

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Nomis shuddered. People, when they died, rotted away, consumed by worms and other bugs. People were disgusting, and not just because of the bugs. He had never seen the blond boy before, but since he was a person, he was just as bad.

People made all the wrong choices, said stupid things, did stupid things. They made him sick. Couldn't they see how truly grotesque they all were? His mother was an ugly old revolting hag who made potions for the rest of the disgusting population. His father was a master craftsman, out ogling the Gerudo warrior girls. Disgusting! Nomis had to pride himself on stealing his father's saw, which he had left with his wife, so that he couldn't use it. It was a poaching saw; one he had been using to take plants from the Lost Woods. Now his sister…his sister wasn't so disgusting. She raised cuccos, just like his Cojiro. He had naturally assumed that the boy was disgusting, since everyone else was disgusting. All people were.

That's why he'd always sat alone at night under the tree at the entrance to Kakariko village. And that was why he had finally left them and gone into the Lost Woods, where he sat now, leaning against a tree stump. But that was not why he was too sick to find his way out and bring the odd mushroom to the old hag.

And then the kid had come and found him, and he had remembered seeing him seven years ago, if his memory served him correctly. He was so tired, so very tired, and the boy, though older now, the boy had woken him up from his long sleep by using his cucco. /His cucco!/ Cojiro.

/Normally only a nice guy like me can tame you…/ he had said, and because of his excitement his hands had started shaking uncontrollably. /Which means…You…You must be a nice guy! Must be! You must be!!/ Nomis had gotten it all wrong when he had first met the kid. He wasn't disgusting at all, he was a nice guy like him! He had agreed to bring his odd mushroom to his vile mother in Kakariko village so that he could get a potion to heal himself. If all people besides he could have potions, than he deserved one as well, more than they, in fact. The kid only had three minutes to get the mushroom to the old witch before it disappeared. And the potion…there was probably no limit to that.

His stomach grumbled angrily. Nomis didn't remember the last time he had eaten, though he didn't eat much in the first place. He was skin and bones, and his yellow pants had been tightened to the limit, and his rings, the ones that matched his white, empty eyes, threatened to slip off of his fingers. They nearly had during his conversation with the kid. But he couldn't eat. What was there to eat? He was too tired to move, and even if he could he'd lose himself further to the woods, and the boy, who knew if he would find him again?

He hoped the kid would return soon. He'd overheard the rumors about this forest from those nasty people; and though he wasn't sure he believed them, he still wanted to leave as soon as possible. He had things to do when he returned to the village. First, he would scrub every last bit of dirt from his body, and then he would /kill them all/.

The thought, though it was not his own, did not frighten him. After all, people were disgusting, weren't they? They deserved to die, every last one of them.

Nomis closed his eyes and sighed peacefully. They would all die, just as soon as he had his potion… But he did not get his potion. The Lost Woods claimed his body before the man in green could return. It took him into the earth, devouring him before he had a chance to protest.

At first his entire body was filled with pain as his flesh melted away, revealing a pale gray skeleton, and then as he lay there, drawing in a shuddering breath with invisible lungs that filled only with dirt, his bones exploded. His skeleton expanded, stretching itself, as bone built upon bone, until at least he fit the Lost Wood's demands. And then in his hands appeared a sword and shield, and the Woods gave him armor and ragged clothing to wear upon his frame. The Lost Woods released him, yet claimed him forever as he awoke in a room of stone.

He was suddenly filled with only the desire to kill-to thrust his sword through sweet Hylian flesh and watch the blood spill to the ground-and nothing else. Nomis wasn't himself anymore; he was a Stalfos.

A door opened, then shut, the bars sliding in place, preventing the man in green from leaving. And then the Stalfos appeared. One the Hylian man killed with ease despite the obvious pain he was in, but the other was more difficult. The Stalfos laughed, a deep, dangerous sound.

He wanted to kill this man, badly; to see him writhe in pain on the floor before he took his final breath of life. But the man, though weary, evaded him as he attacked, barely hearing the high squawk that emitted from the Stalfos' absent vocal cords, shimmering off of his bones.

The man dodged in and thrust his sword through his empty ribcage, claiming the first blow. Angry, he charged the man, knowing his life was at its last, only one half of a heart left. Crying out, he struck the man just once with his dark blade.

The Hylian stopped, his eyes wide with pain, and then a choking gasp left his throat as his knees slammed on the stone floor. Another, softer breath, came a second later as he fell forward onto his stomach, and lay there, completely still.

The Stalfos cried out again, with glee this time. He had won. Life, which he had once had, could he remember it, had now been taken from this blond fighter. He had taken it from him.

But then time seemed to freeze and a pink fairy, glowing with energy, emerged from the man's body, giving him back his life; his precious, futile life. The warrior stood, his mouth curving into a small, victorious smile, and then he jumped up and sliced downwards with his blade and claimed another blow.

The Stalfos cried out with rage, pulling in his shield too little too late. His next attack was reckless and the man dodged the blade by rolling to the side and struck him across the back before he had a chance to turn. And when he did, the man in green circled him patiently, waiting for his next opportunity to attack. It came soon as the Stalfos crashed his blade down on his shield, and he darted in and wounded him for the fourth hit.

What was going on? /He/ was supposed to win! He had killed the disgusting Hylian yet he had come back. /He/ hadn't been able to come back! He wasn't entirely mindless to be sure of that fact. The man hit him again as he barely held up his shield to defend against it as his empty skull filled with disjointed thoughts. But any recollection that he could have had of his former life suddenly faded away as his blade finally connected with flesh. The man made a noise that held no significance to him except for the satisfaction of knowing that he had caused him pain, but it did little to quench the thirst that had permanently claimed him.

But suddenly the final blow slid through his body, and as the red light in his eyes faded away, the warrior wrenched his sword free of his body and smirked triumphantly. Then, with one last unearthly shriek, the Stalfos crumpled into a pile of bones, which then faded to dust, as his lifeless life left him. And the blond man, who would claim his title as the Hero of Time, continued on his quest.

But Nomis would come back. He would always come back. The Lost Woods had turned him into something evil, something mortal but immortal. For in Hyrule, evil could never be truly eliminated, and those that were good, would always have to fight.

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~Owari~