Thank you for all the nice reviews, guys! You are so nice! I did miss your reviews! Sorry it took so long to get the last chapter out. I'm sort of heading the right direction. I need to get another person in somehow ^_^ but I'm not telling who! Anyway, hopefully this chapter will be longer again like the last one. Since they take ages to write, it'll be a while before I get this out, but lets hope not!

This will be a very quick chapter so it'll probably need rewriting soon because I'm in my exam period so I've only got a little time.




So we were waiting for Link, waiting being the exact literal activity. We were sat in a tent all day waiting for him to arrive. Nothing to do, all my stuff was at the inn and all Lucy's was at her house in our world.

So we waited. For three days, and for another three days, the snow fell again and stopped, then fell again. It grew colder and colder. We went out of the tents only to go to the toilet. Which happened to be a hole in the ground away from camp. Our meals were brought three times a day and other than that we had no contact with anyone.

Seven days. A week.

Link didn't show up. But someone else did.

It was late evening of the eight day of our waiting. By now Lucy and I had decided that all hope had gone and were waiting to be killed by the Shadow Man or for the world to end.

We were just lying in the tent (again) and chatting about school, pretty ordinary considering we were in another world entirely. We began to hear orders being barked and footsteps that were half muffled by the snow.

I sat bolt upright, was Link here finally? About time.

But it wasn't Link who was carried in, wrapped in furs and being offered drinks of hot tea.

It was Kafei.

I hardly recognised him in adult form, and because he was almost blue from cold. But he was shivering and I heard leaving men and coming in men whispering hypothermia to each other.

They lay Kafei on the opposite side of tent and piled yet more blankets and furs on top of him, feeding him soup and more tea followed by a cup of steaming water containing crushed herbs.

Shigeru came in and went out again, and I recognised Croa as his companion, they talked to Kafei in hushed voices and went out again. Not looking at either Lucy or me on their way.

I sat and listened, the camp was alive with activity compared to the quiet we'd experienced less than an hour ago. Was Kafei's arrival a sign of something?

Kafei.

Anju had been worried sick about him, and with a child too. She shouldn't be worrying like that during pregnancy; I had half a mind to tell him off. But then, he'd looked so cold and sick when they'd brought him in.

"Well" Lucy said, "We have a companion"

I nodded and crawled over the soft, carpeted floor to our new roommate. I peeled back the rugs on top him slowly and peered down at him.

Adult Kafei, much better looking than his child version, yet his face still held that child like quality few boys hold on to. Anju must have fallen head over heels.

He looked cold still, his teeth chattered and his eyes were bright with fever or whatever he had. He still had the strength to peer back at me though and grin through his shaken jaw.

I smiled down at him it was quite entertaining to see his teeth chatter like one of those wind-up toys, "Cold out there?"

"Y-y-y-ou bet"

"Anju is dead worried about you, you know," I scolded gently

His eyes widened and then he managed "You met Anju?"

I nodded "I stayed at the inn for a while"

"T-t-the inn, do you know about the baby?"

"It's fine, not out yet but" I smiled "they're both fine, yet worried about you. Where have you been?"

"Caught in a blizzard" he grinned, then sneezed

I winced and wiped it away with his rug blanket "Nice"

"S-s-orry" he grinned again, his eyelids drooped

"No problem" I replied, then I had an idea "Kafei I know you're ill, but, did you see anything in the snow?"

Kafei didn't answer, he just fell asleep. But I couldn't help but notice that when I had asked the question, his eyes had widened momentarily. So he did know something. That was why Shigeru and Croa had come in to talk to him.

But what had he seen? The Shadow Man? Something worse?

Whatever it was, he was asleep now, so I couldn't ask him.

Silence had engulfed the camp again. In the distance I heard a lonely wolf cry and as the echo died away the quiet night returned.

I turned back to Lucy and introduced Kafei to her, but since he couldn't reply it was more like a storyline session instead. I got her to grips with his life story and name and such.

We didn't speak much, Lucy was intent on staring at Kafei, and I think perhaps she was slightly smitten. But of course she wasn't going to say anything because he was married and she knew as well as I did her crushes developed daily.

So I left her alone and lay down on the floor, listening to the sounds of Kafei's laboured breathing and Lucy's soft movements. I listened to the sounds of the camp and thought about things. I wondered about this seer thing.

So that was why I had seen Link until the accident. I winced at that thought and felt the spots where the old scars had long disappeared, but their presence remained in my head. I barely thought about them, I'd almost forgotten them, but they'd always been there to welcome me back.

A seer, it felt like I'd caused so much trouble for being here last time. Was I causing it again? If this Shadow Man wanted us perhaps he meant to avenge the sealing of Reika in the sacred realm with Gannondorf, but she'd wanted Gannondorf, so I couldn't really see the problem.

So we were here to fight against him, although we were the very things he wanted. I wish I could see where he was right now so I could run far, far away. That would be good.

I wonder if I ever saw him when I was a child, a lot of people from Hyrule seemed to turn up at one point or another before...yeah. So maybe I'd caught sight of him before and that's why he'd seemed familiar. But I still had my theories on why I'd recognised him slightly.

I was caught up in thinking about Link when I fell asleep.


***

I woke with a start, wiping night sweat from my face quickly. I suddenly felt deaf in the camp; I started and cried out in protest against this sudden denial of hearing, my cry breaking the silence and I gratefully returned the world of sound.

I heard the familiar noises return to me, the movement of the other men in the other tents and Lucy's soft breathing, the new arrival of Kafei's laboured breathing and my own heart beating out to the sounds fo the night.

"What the f*** is with all these dreams lately?" I hissed at myself wiping my palms down on the nearest rug

It must have been around two in the morning because even though I hadn't looked at me watched, I could see a tiny patch of sky through a crack in the flap of the tent, it was dark, no trace of light.

Yes, and now I was an expert because in the extreme boredom of waiting for Mr. Hero of Time to turn up I had been having sleepless nights, so I would guess the time, compare the sky to my watch and memorise it. Yes, that is how sad I had become.

I watched a small gasp of air irritate the flap of the tent silently before crawling over to retie the strings once more to keep it shut.

Something moved in the night.

Freezing, I listened even harder, holding my breath.

Nothing.

It had stopped.

Not even a wisp of wind blew across the open circle. The world has ceased to move for a moment.

Still nothing.

I let out a small sigh, relived.

I began to tie the flaps again.

A sword ripped through the canvas, a yowl of pleasure of the other side as the blade met the resistance it had seeked when buried itself into my stomach.

Blood. I could see blood on the blankets. Dazed I stared at it, was it mine?

Yells were going up now, joining in with my own cries of pain as I scrambled back off the blade which drew back on it's own accord, stained.

We were under attack. Attack. Attack. The word flew up in my mind as I held my gut tightly.

I heard Lucy faintly yelling but it was unclear, even Kafei's voice blended in to a haze of sound. Confused I looked back and saw her scramble up and grab her sword from the other side of the tent, horrified to the point of sickness at what she saw.

Screaming in agony I moved myself backward as the tent flap was drawn back and the perpetrator stepped through in dark shadow.

The shadow Man. I felt myself retch. Wiping my mouth I saw yet more blood running from my fingers, mine? No. Yes. I watched the figure with wide eyes.

He drew into the tent pulling up to his full height, which darkened his figure even more and screeched that god-awful screech once more. I struggled to get back again, I heard Lucy screaming something once more, the sound pelting into my head along with his cries.

Terror. Fear. Sickness. My body was losing itself in the darkness he seemed to bring in waves. Dizzy. Dying.

He drew his sword back again and brought it down on to me once more. Pain exploded as it connected with my collarbone, the same place I'd been struck years before.

He pushed me to the ground and strode past me; sounds of battle had erupted in seconds from outside. I heard screams, yells, battle cries and the smell of something burning had begun to drift in from outside.

Link.

I heard swords clash and a yelp and scream, Moblins rushed through the flap, striding past me, I was dead, they didn't need to finish me. I lay there, listening to the fray. Screams, cries, yells, smoke, battle.

Dazed I looked up to see Lucy kicking and screaming in the arms of the Moblin, almost sick with fear and terror. Crying and trying to call out to me, reaching and straining, kicking out with all her strength.

In a stream of memory I could remember Boromir. Lord Of The Rings. I remembered how he'd died like this, almost identical deaths.

It was comforting thinking of that, I was a hero.

I looked at my fingers again, scarlet. It didn't hurt anymore. Strange. I closed my eyes, the sounds fading away.

I wondered where I was going to go when I died. Smiling I thought briefly of how stupid the situation seemed, dying on the floor of a tent in the middle of a battle.

Joan of Arc sprang up as I felt myself slipping away.

I closed my eyes gratefully, I was so tired. I hoped Lucy would be alright. She'd get saved by Link. I could rely on that.

I was so tired and cold.


* * *


Burning. The smell of burning met my nostrils, irritating my sense of smell. I could taste blood in my mouth and I hurt all over.

I tried to move and discovered to my dismay I couldn't.

Was I dead?

No, dead people can't feel or smell.

My legs were wet and cold.

I opened my eyes slowly and looked around.

The camp was burnt to the ground; amazingly I was lying in the middle of it, pools of water all around and no one in sight that I could see. Ashes and remains of swords and arrowheads littered the floor.

Alone.

Confused, I wondered what had happened here before it all return to me. We'd been attacked. I'd been killed, or so I remembered. Why was there no pain?

Screams, dead, burning.

As it came back I threw myself up stiffly to vomit my disgust at the memories and myself. I'd let Lucy be taken by Shadow Man. I'd failed her again. How many times would this be cycled? Tears forced themselves out as well, tears for everyone who'd probably been burnt along with the camp.

Sobbing and heaving I sat in the middle of nowhere.

I finished.

Wiping my mouth I froze in horror at myself. My hands were stiff from caked blood; they stank from the age of it. My front and side where a gory mess, they were stinking as much as my hands did, or worse.

It came again.

I threw up the last of my last meal and started to rip off my top, in the middle of the snow. Or not the snow since the heat had melted a small circle of snow away from where the camp had once stood.

I stumbled up running across the camp, ripping my layer of clothes off, sobbing even harder and scrambling at the pools of melted snow, scrubbing my hands till there were numb and frozen, letting the cold air meet my skin, trying to get rid of the stinging smell of smoke. Striking the floor in anger and despair.

I wasn't dead.

No injury traces, just dried blood. Nothing. My hair stuck to my face stiffly from water and blood and I'm sure I looked a state.

I wasn't naked, I still had my underwear on, and who was going to see? Everyone was dead.

I felt guilty that I wasn't dead, what right did I have to live when I'd abandoned Lucy again?

The seer always did bring bad luck. Just as I'd thought.

Finishing my rampage I collapsed on the floor, freezing, but barely feeling it against numbness, in my underwear in a puddle.

I was going to die here, in the middle of nowhere, slowly. I was in water; I'd get hypothermia or freeze soon anyway. Might as well wait for it.

I'd worn myself out again, not even ten minutes after waking up. Exhausted once more I lay quite calmly in the pool and then decided I'd save death the job of waiting and rolled over.

Telling my body to wait, I fought the temptation to pull up and out of the water. Drowning wasn't that bad anyway. I felt the water rippling on my body that was above the water level, and my hair floating and tingling my face.

My lungs fought my head fiercely, wildly telling me to breathe, to pull air in and save myself. I ignored them, and breathed in a deep breath, finally submerging to haze once more.

I knew what death felt like now, and I could feel it again crawling back into me in the space of air.

A muffled scream, a yell. Memories? Real? Noises. Memories. Ripples of water on my face and arms, my skin tingled.

Real.

A loud thud, thudding, running. Someone near.

No.

My eyes snapped open.

If someone came...if they'd come to find us, they needed to know what happened.

More shouts and yells.

They were there, hands reached down to grab me, I found the ways to make my own tired and fault arms work, I pushed myself up, gasping and choking, into someone's arms.

Blinking water, sleep and death away I stared up into brown eyes. I coughed up the water that I'd breathed in so dedicatedly all over them, gripping who ever they were tightly to convince myself that this wasn't a vision or a dream.

The arms were warm and furry.

Furry?

They were wearing furs. That was right, I was coughing up water and saliva all over these furs as the warm arms held me tightly as I did so.

They drew me into a warm embrace, and gripped tightly, not minding I was coughing and spluttering still, trying to clear my water-blindness to identify them. I was grateful though; the human radiator by my side was welcome.

"I thought you were dead, all of you!" someone was crying and sobbing, "I thought you were dead, but you're alive, alive, alive, alive, alive, the only one here. Thank the goddesses"

Sao, Sao was the one cuddling and weeping over me. Relief flooded over me, I wasn't the only survivor. I began to cry again, the warm water collided with the cold water on my face and his tears dripping onto me.

"You're alive," he repeated again and again, rocking and warming me slowly through the cold that enveloped my bones "Thank the goddesses, theres someone alive"

I lay there and let him cry himself out, cry the grief away to a suitable distance for comfort for at least a while.

He stopped after about half an hour and sniffed "Say something then" he said hoarsely "Are you dead?"

"No" I whispered

His grip tightened then loosened, I remained there, not sure what to do, I was still half dead I suppose, and realised dully that I was half naked in a guys arms.

"Do you have anything for me to wear, I'm cold," I said a bit louder

My own clothes were blood caked and soaked, there was no way I would willingly put them on again.

He didn't seem fazed by this, as if he was used to having girls in his arms with this level of clothing on. He grunted and heaved his weight up along with mine, carrying me over to the packhorse he'd obviously ridden, not his large horse I'd ridden on the way here.

He pushed me up onto it and held me there while he pulled a large blanket out of a saddlebag to wrap around my shoulders tightly before climbing on himself, wiping his eyes.

We sat on the horse, I felt even more vulnerable than I had ever felt before, weak and tired, grief-stricken and guilty.

"What happened?" Sao whispered, upset at what lay before us

Nothing remained of the camp but ashes and metal. No trace of the people who'd once lived there. The beautiful tents were gone, the horses and carts gone, the people gone. Lucy gone.

Nothing but ashes and metal.






****