The Legend of Zelda: The Return
A Brief Interlude
The afternoon sun glinted and shone off the surface of Lake Hylia, which sat mostly undisturbed except for the occasional Zora popping up and rippling it's face. All along the base of the Lake were tents, of every imaginable shape and size and people of the same varied state; Gorons, Zoras, Gerudo, Sheikah, and Hylians alike.
Jinni, of the Gerudo, sat on the grass on the side of the rough circle Hunter had drawn, and watched the lesson he was attempting to give to Malon; every not and then she'd throw in a word of advice or encouragement to the Hylian, or a sharp word of criticism to the Sheikah. Both responded in kind. So engrossed was she in the lesson, in fact, that she failed to notice the figure walking silently up behind her.
"Hey there!" Ketari said brightly. Jinni shouted an oath, whirling around and to her feet in one, fluid motion.
"Dammit, Sheikah!" She growled, clenching her fists. "Next time you do that I'm going to kill you!" Ketari smiled brightly.
"You say that every time,' she said. "And so far I'm still breathing."
"I'll remedy that soon enough," Jinni muttered. "What do you want now? Why won't you leave me alone?"
"Because I find you engaging and interesting and amusing," Ketari answered. "I've decided I like you and I fully intent to hang around and bother you until you stop asking me why I won't go away. Fair enough?"
"No, but I suppose if I try and do anything about you, the King will take a fit. Now what do you want? To spar?"
"Nope," Ketari said. "Not right now at least. I was thinking that since our respective people are too busy watching each other to be paying that much attention to watching the camp like they're supposed to, it wouldn't hurt, since I've got a bit of free time, to take a bit of a scouting trip around the outskirts of the camp. And then I was thinking that maybe, since you have some free time too, that you could come with me. I could use an extra pair of eyes, and you happen to have some." Jinni gave her a flat look.
"You talk too much."
"Great!" Ketari cried. "I'll take that as a yes. Now come on, we're burning daylight." She turned around and jogged off. Jinni hesitated only a minute, wondering how she had gotten suckered into this, before jogging off after her.
"Well," Hunter said, watching them go, "now that the peanut gallery's gone, maybe we can get some work done." Malon gave a tired groan and fell over onto the grass.
"That wasn't work?" She moaned. "I'm aching all over!" Hunter laughed and dropped down beside her.
"Well," he said, "maybe we can take a bit of a break." He set his sword across his knees and absently started fingering the hilt as silence descended between the two.
"Thinking about you dad?" Malon asked.
"Hmm," Hunter said, confirming her suspicions.
"Me too," she said. "Do you think they'll be all right?"
"I hope so," he said with a sigh, lying back beside her and looking up at the clouds. They lay together in companionable silence for a while watching the clouds drift lazily by and listening to the muffled noises coming from the direction of the camp.
"Ahem."
Hunter blinked and propped himself up on his elbows. Rue raised a silver eyebrow at him, her arms crossed over her chest and her weight shifted onto one hip.
"Sorry to interrupt your . . . lesson," she said. "But have you seen Link?"
"Not since this morning," he answered. "But his battle plan for today was to go and freak out at the Zora's for snubbing the Sheikah, followed by flipping out at the Gorons for provoking the Gerudo, after which he wanted to go shout at the Gerudo for taking the Gorons up on their challenges, and then planned to end the day by yelling at the Sheikah for meddling, and spying and being just completely mistrustful of everyone in general."
"Please note that the Hylians are the only race behaving," Malon said brightly. Hunter raised an eyebrow at her.
"That's because the Hylians all went and got themselves captured," he answered. "There's like . . . five of you here. Oh and by the way," he added, looking at Rue, "he's still not happy with you about the whole Neesha vs. the Witches thing. He'll probably want to yell at you some more today too, just on principle."
"Has he been sleeping at all?" Rue asked.
"What am I, your spy?" Hunter demanded. "I'm not some . . ."
"No," Malon interrupted him. "Link hasn't been sleeping right. And neither has Hunter, which explains his crankiness and he's very, very sorry for snapping at you, Rue."
"Apology accepted," Rue said with a grin. Hunter sighed and dropped back onto the ground.
"Sorry," he muttered. "And thanks." Malon reached over and squeezed his hand affectionately.
"That's what I'm here for," she said. He squeezed her hand back.
"Much appreciated."
"Ahem." Hunter propped himself up again and raised an eyebrow at Rue.
"You're still here," he noted. "Something else you need?"
"Yes," Rue answered. "You."
xxx
Chapter 32
I just want to sleep. That's all. It's not that much to ask, is it?
I shift my weight and only half pay attention as Goron general X, explains why Zora general Y is a jerk and Zora general Y explains why Goron general X is a moron. This is how I've spent the majority of my time since we got to this goddess forsaken lake. Spent . . . no, wrong word. Wasted. This is how I've wasted the majority of my time since we got to this goddess forsaken lake.
It's been one week, seven and a half days, since I got here with the Gerudo.
It's been five days since the last of the races arrived and we settled down to business.
It's been three days since the Moblins finally noticed our rather large presence and started sending their preliminary scouting groups.
I don't even remember the last time I've slept, or eaten for that matter, and I have to keep reminding myself that I'm here to rescue Zelda and the Sages, defeat Dark Link, stop Ganondorf's evil plan, and save Hyrule.
Because I'm not doing any of that.
All I'm doing is listening to this Goron or that Zora complain about this Sheikah or that Gerudo.
I don't understand.
Do they want to die?
Because I've got less than a week to make them start getting along or that's what's going to happen when we actually attack Hyrule Castletown.
But I can't even start on trying to make them get along, because I'm too busy trying to keep them from killing each other . . .
At this rate I'll be running into Castletown alone.
Suicidal though that is, I'm starting to wonder if it's not the better plan.
As the Goron and the Zora continue their fight I grind my teeth so hard it hurts physically.
"Deep breaths, Link," Navi advises quietly from under my hat. "Don't lose it now . . ." Fortunately, before I can lose it, Dune, coming from nowhere as usual, steps between me and them, turning me around roughly and shoving me the other way.
"Sorry, Isilan, Karis," she says, "the General here is needed elsewhere. I'm sure you two can sort this out on your own, hmm?" She catches up to me and falls into step beside me. "You know," she says, "you don't have to handle every single disagreement personally."
"I never said I wanted to," I point out, frustration obvious in my voice. "They wait 'till they see me then they jump me! Bam!" I throw my fist into my palm to emphasize my point. It feels good, so I do it again.
"Anyway," Dune says, "Rue and I have been looking for you. We're having a Meeting of Generals. Kind of important that you be there, what with you being one."
"An unwilling one," I can't help but mutter, rubbing my head.
"Pardon?" Dune asks.
"He said . . ." Navi starts, but I pull my hat further down over my head and muffle the end of her sentence.
"Nothing," I say hurriedly. "Let's just go." Navi struggles out from under my hat and hovers around my head.
"You're so rude," she mutters crankily, crossing her arms and glaring at me.
"Sorry," I say.
"No you're not."
A moment later we reach the large tent in the center of the camp that we use as a meeting room. Guards from all the races are stationed around the outside of it (looking at each other distrustfully I can't help but notice) and the banners of all the different races are hung up on the outside of it. Nodding my head at the guards I push aside the flap and step into the tent. Karun, Acqul, Hunter and Rue all look up when we enter.
"Found him!" Dune says brightly.
"Good," Karun rumbles. "Now we can start."
Spread out on the table in front of them is all sorts of maps, most of which I can't even begin to fathom, with lots of markings of all different colors on them. There are other assorted papers with scribbles and writing and diagrams and all sorts of interesting, confusing things added to the mess this particular tent is constantly in.
"What's up?" I ask as Dune and I join the huddle around the table.
"We've been breached again," Acqul says. "The Moblins actually made it to the camp this time."
"What?" I cry, my head snapping up. "Was anyone . . ."
"No," Karun answers. "The Moblin parties are still small. A few minor injuries, but nothing serious."
"This time," Hunter says grimly.
"Who was supposed to be on guard duty?" I demand with a frown. Rue and Dune suddenly avoid my gaze and answer my question in that way before Acqul even speaks.
"The Sheikah and the Gerudo."
My head is pounding . . . I don't need this right now . . . I don't . . .
"Someone want to tell me how a group of Moblins with the combined mental IQ of a blueberry, and the subtly of a . . . a . . . for love of Nayru! They were Moblins! How the Hell did they get past you?"
"Well," Dune says, "the Gerudo . . ."
"Don't blame this on the Gerudo!" Rue growls, narrowing her eyes at Dune. "If this was any one's fault it was your Sheikah's." Dune glares at her in irritation.
"How were my Sheikah supposed to do anything with your Gerudo getting in the way?"
"Ladies," Acqul said cautiously.
"They weren't in the way!" Rue cries. "They were doing their job!"
"Guys, come on . . ." Hunter says, raising his hands. "This isn't going to . . ." Dune crossed her arms across her chest.
"If they were doing their job, how did the Moblins get in?"
"Dune," Karun says, "calm down. Maybe Rue's got a reason . . ."
"A reason for what?" Acqul demands. "It wasn't the Gerudo's fault that the Moblins got in."
"So you're saying it was the Sheikahs?" Karun asks.
"I didn't say that," Acqul said with a frown. "Why do you always assume that? If anyone here is picking sides, Karun, it's you."
"What are you saying exactly?" Karun demands in an ominous rumble.
"We weren't the only one on Guard!" Rue growls at Dune over Acqul and Karun's own bickering. "What right have you to accuse us when you are just as much at fault? If not more!"
"My right comes from . . ."
I grit my teeth.
I can't take this anymore . . .
"Hunter, come help me."
Hunter and I leave the tent. The others are too engrossed in their arguing to even notice us leaving.
"What are we doing?" Hunter asks.
"Something drastic, I bet," Navi says.
"Making a point," I answer. "Run to the other side of the tent and grab whatever banners are over there then bring them inside. I'll get these ones." He does as I ask and a moment later we both head back into the tent, loaded down with the huge banners. The others finally notice us.
"Clear off the table," I snap at them.
"What? Why?" Rue demands.
"Just do it," I growl. Raising an eyebrow at me (and at my tone) they hurriedly clear off the table of papers and everything else. Hunter and I drop the banners on the table. I pull my bow off my back.
"What are you doing with those?" Karun asks.
"You see those banners?" I demand, pointing at them with the bronze arrow now in my hand. "Let's pretend they're us. Let's pretend they're the people of Hyrule, okay? Now, let's pretend that the people of Hyrule, all hate each other. Let's pretend that they're foolish and stupid and can't get over their petty hatreds from two decades ago. And then let's pretend that the leaders of said people, can't even get along. Let's pretend that that big pile of banners is our army, and our camp, and our people, all right? Are you all with me so far? Can you handle that?" I glare at each of them. "Good." I say, then fit the arrow to my bow. It bursts into flame, causing everyone but Hunter to jump back, and I loose the arrow at the banners. It impales them to the table and they go up like a torch. The others stare at the burning mass of cloth in shock for a moment, the flickering light dancing on their faces, then as one they turn to me. "Are you still pretending?" I ask. "Because that's still us. And that's exactly what will happen to us if we can't get this hatred under control." I throw my bow back onto my back. "Now if you're all done wasting my time, I'm going to go find my friends, who, I might add, are of all different kinds of races and get along just fine, and take a break, because if I don't, I'm going to kill someone." Without waiting for a response I turn on my heel and leave the tent, Hunter right on my heels.
"You planning on relaxing any time soon, or should I keep my distance?" He asks once we're away from the tent and from most of the camp. I let loose an inarticulate, furious scream, and make strangling motions with my hands for a minute. Hunter raises an eyebrow at me when I'm done. "Feel better?" He asks.
"Yes," I say. "A bit."
"You're gonna have a heart attack if you keep this up, you know," Navi points out. "This many temper tantrums in a row isn't healthy, you know."
"In Link's defense, he's got perfectly valid reasons for throwing tantrums," Hunter says. "He's right about the fighting. If we can't get them to stop it, then the Moblins are going to eat us alive."
"Well," Navi says, "it's going to be kind of hard to get the soldiers to stop fighting when the general's are all at each other's throats." I pull my hat off and run my hand through my hair.
"Zelda was right," I say with a sigh. "This is impossible. This is never going to work."
"Hey, come on," Hunter says. "Don't give up yet. You're supposed to be the one who never quits."
"I know, I know," I say. "Dammit, I'm tired. Where are the girls at?"
"I left Malon over on the island," Hunter says as we step onto the long rope bridges connecting said island to the mainland. "No idea where Neesha is. I think she had training earlier, but that's probably over by now so she's most likely looking for you."
"She's on the island too," Navi says, shielding her eyes from the setting sun. "At least there's a blob of red over there."
I can't help but smile when I think of Neesha in the Red. As furious as I still am at the way she went about getting it (at both her and Rue. They're both stupid for doing that. Stupid, stupid, stupid. You do not mess with Black Magicians! You don't! Let alone ones as skilled at it as the Witches!), she does deserve it, and for whatever reason, her wearing that red uniform has righted all wrongs between us. Things have gone back to exactly the way they used to be. It's like something came with the uniform that fixed whatever mental problem she was having with me being King and being her friend.
I suspect Rue also had something to do with that, and that there's something they're both not telling me, but I don't care. Neesha and I are friends again, and that's all that matters.
"Hey, speaking of blobs of red, where's Jinni? I haven't seen her in a few days."
"She and Ketari have been hanging out lately," Hunter says. "An odder couple I've never seen."
"Really?" I ask. "Jinni and Ketari? Funny. They don't seem . . . compatible."
"They're not," Hunter says with a shrug. "In the least. I just think Jinni doesn't know what to make of Ketari and vice versa. They're like little kids who've found a new kind of bug and they're going to poke at it until they understand it."
"Here's hoping they don't poke too hard," I say with a grin.
"Or with anything sharp and pointy," Hunter adds wryly.
The sun finally falls below the mountains in the distance as Neesha and Malon spot us and start towards us.
All I want is some time to wind down and then to sleep . . .
xxx
I'm trembling.
Because of the cold? Because of the pain? Because of the fear?
I don't understand . . .
I'm surrounded by whiteness, cold and blank. I spin around, searching desperately for some familiar sight. Some sign that I'm still . . . I don't know, alive?
Alive or not, there's nothing here. Nothing but me and this whiteness. Suddenly, however, I see something, out of the corner of my eye. I turn and look, hope rising up in my chest, then dying still born when I see it. It looks almost like a ripple. A huge, dark, ripple in the whiteness. I swallow hard and take several steps back as the ripple advances, picking up speed as it comes. Some buried alive instinct thumps deep in my chest . . .
"This is going to hurt."
I gasp in surprise and turn to see who's speaking. My eyes widen.
"Dad?" I ask in surprise. Brayden of the Sheikah stares back at me, his face grim.
"This is going to hurt you," he says. "It's coming."
"What?" I cry in confusion, starting towards him. "What's going to hurt me? What's going on?"
"I'm sorry," Brayden says. "Run Link! Don't let it get you! I can't stop it! Run!"
I whirl around in an attempt to run from the ripple, but I've take no more than two steps before it reaches me. My father is swallowed into the darkness and I'm knocked back against a stone altar. I'm pressed up against the smooth stone, uncomfortably aware of the three dents in it. Pain sears through me. Every inch of me burns with a pain unlike anything I've ever felt before . . .
Or have I?
Blurred images run through my mind. A tall, imposing man – Ganondorf – with ember eyes glaring at me with a venomous look. I see him raising his hands . . .
Another, earlier memory . . . another tall man . . . with crimson eyes . . . not like Ganondorf's, but close . . . it's Detsu . . . he raises his hands as well . . . but he's not aiming for me . . .
I scream as the pain increases.
"Hero of Time . . ." A voice whispers. Gritting my teeth I force my eyes open, peering around me. The whiteness is gone, replaced with an absolute dark.
"Who's there?" I cry around the pain. I press a hand tightly to my stomach and work my way into a sitting position. "Dad? Where are you? Who's there?" Before I even finish the question I know the answer. I know who it is.
It's Psycho Me.
It's Dark Link.
"HERO OF TIME!" Screams a voice from behind me. I whirl around just in time to see an ebony figure lunging at me, out of the darkness, three feet of black steel gleaming in his hand.
"Wha . . ." Without wasting any more time on half formed words, I try to roll off the altar and onto my feet. The pain abruptly increases however and I cry out and crumple back on the cold, smooth surface.
"HERO OF TIME!" The figure screams again.
"Link . . ." Whispers another voice. Dark Link leaps at me again and I struggle to roll out of the way, but I'm not fast enough. His black blade slides through my stomach, impaling me, pinning me to the altar as my blood runs down the sides of it, filling the gaps in it. I gasp and my eyes go wide, even as my hands clutch at the blade inside of me. Dark Link smiles wolfishly down at me. My blood coats his hands.
His face blurs and shifts . . .
He looks . . . like . . .
"Dad?" I whisper, unable to understand what's going on. "Dad . . . why?" He lifts his blood-covered hands to his face and stares at them as his form blurs again. His face contorts in pain and suddenly there's two of them. Brayden, and Dark Link . . . Dark Link rips the sword out of me and slams it into my father's chest.
"Dad!" I cry, unable to move. "Dad! No!"
"Stupid kid," Dark Link hisses, a sadistic smile on his face. His eyes gleam as red as the blood that's flowing out of me. He rips his blade out of Brayden and the Sheikah falls to the ground and disappears into the blackness. "Dad's dead."
"No," I whisper, my head falling to the side. "No . . . he's not . . . he . . . he can't be . . ."
"Your blood," Dark Link hisses, his face so close to mine that all I can see is the red of his eyes, "will open the seal . . ."
xxx
A Brief Interlude
It paced agitatedly in the shadows cast by the pillars in the Temple of Time.
It didn't like this place.
It didn't like this place one bit.
This place reminded it of the boy . . . but not of the boy's pain, oh no.
This place reminded it of the other side of the boy . . .
It didn't like that side.
And it hated this place.
It was impatient. It didn't want to be there. It wanted to be out hunting. It wanted to be out hurting . . .
It was waiting . . . waiting for the boy . . .
It knew he would come there. The boy always went there. He gravitated to the Temple of Time the way thieves gravitate to gold. There was no question.
But the boy hadn't come . . .
It had been forever since it had taken the Seventh Sage . . .
And still the boy hadn't come.
What was he waiting for?
Why was he hiding?
It wasn't like he was even hiding that well . . .
It knew where he was. He was holed up at Lake Hylia.
It paced faster.
It wouldn't be hard to get to him . . .
Not for it.
If the Moblins could make it as far into their camp as the spies reported, then it would be no problem . . .
It wanted to kill the boy so bad . . .
It wanted to taste the boy's lifeblood . . .
It hated the boy almost as much as it hated the Thief . . .
But it couldn't just kill the boy.
It had to wait.
It had to kill him there. At the Temple of Time. On the Altar.
That was the way it had to be.
He couldn't kill the boy at Lake Hylia, that would do nothing . . .
It wanted to be free.
It wanted to be free of it's weak physical form.
It wanted to be free of the Thief's power.
But to be free of the Thief's power, it had to set the Thief free.
And to set the Thief free, it had to kill the boy on the altar at the Temple of Time . . .
It whined in frustration.
Why did it have to be so complicated?
It mentally checked the bonds on the Other's spirit.
It had been leery about the Other ever since he had managed to awaken . . .
Granted the Witch's had forced him back to helplessness, but there was no telling if it would last . . .
The boy . . . the boy . . .
All it wanted was to kill the boy.
It froze.
Maybe . . .
Maybe it could still go to Lake Hylia . . .
Maybe it could go there and take the boy the way it took the Seventh Sage . . .
It's lips split into a sadistic grin.
It could go to Lake Hylia, and take the boy back to the Temple of Time and sacrifice him on the Altar, and free the Thief, and kill the Thief and finally be free!
It's eyes narrowed into thin, hungry slits as the darkness swirled up and around it and it disappeared . . .