Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda or any of the characters in the Zelda series (if I did, I wouldn't waste my time here). I'm not making any money of this and if I forgot anything else in this disclaimer I did or didn't do that as well.

Chapter 46 - Storm in Holodrum

The woman ran through the dark forest. Her hair so black it seemed green, stuck to her face due to sweat and blood. She stopped in a small open space to catch her breath and listened to any sound that may give away anything that could be after her. She touched her forehead and looked at the blood at her fingers. It wasn't much, which indicated the cut wasn't that deep. If she could find the proper herbs she could heal it in a matter of time, but she didn't know exactly where she was. A noise made her look and without thinking she unleashed a fireball. The moblin fell charred at her feet, leaving the two others a bit uncertain at a distance. Since she didn't do anything they regained their confidence and stepped forward.

"S...Stay back!" Maple said, hoping they wouldn't notice her voice shaking.

Unfortunately it came out more of a whisper. She had spend all her magic in that fireball that she didn't even had the energy to run. This was it. The last freedom fighter of Holodrum, hell, the only freedom fighter of Holodrum was about to die. If only she didn't go to check out their base after she heard rumours that large troops left for Labrynna to fight the Gorons. Well, at least on the bright side, the rumours were true. She closed her eyes when the closest Moblin was right next to her and raised his sword. Maple felt something wet and warm splash on her face and slowly opened her eyes. Body pieces of the two moblins were scattered over the open spot and a large blonde man in a black tunic was cleaning his large sword. She blinked as she recognised him.

"Link?"

Link simply looked up to look her in the eye, sheathed his sword and turned around.

"Link!" she repeated, "you've got to help us! Moblins have overrun Holodrum!"

"I know. I've heard."

"You're here to help?" her eyes lit up with a spark of hope.

"No."

"Wha?"

"I'm just here to tell Din that Nayru is dead."

"She... she is?" Maple's mood dropped, "one... one of the Oracles? Are you sure?"

"I am, I killed her myself, and I'm pretty good at that. Must be why everybody asks me to play the hero."

Suddenly she noticed the cold, steel edge in his voice.

"Why...why did you kill her?"

Link turned to face her.

"Remember when I was looking for the essences of Nature? That thunderstorm?"

"When we..."

Link nodded.

"That was special to me. We connected, just like I connected with my wife later. But when I asked Nayru for a favour she asked sex in return. I never felt anything then. She just used me. And the day before I got married, she tried that again. She had no respect for me, or anybody. That's why she had to die. If it wasn't that Ralph had to die as well, I would have let him have her. She deserved what he did to her."

"But she's... an oracle..." Maple's voice trailed off.

"But she wasn't a god. Where's Din?"

"Are you gonna kill her too?"

"Do I have reason to?"

Maple opened her mouth to say something but stopped. She could see in his cold blue eyes he was serious. He would kill Din if there was a reason. That's what's driving him. He's the hero because people ask him for help and he does it. That's reason enough to go and kill monsters. He kills the bad guys because there's a reason to kill them. Give him a reason to kill a good man and he'll do it as well. It was that simple while everybody knows it's not that simple. Everybody learns the world is complicated. But Link never learned since he didn't grow up. She remembered he told her once his past. He missed seven years of his life, seven years where a boy grows up to be a man, where they learn that things aren't that simple. Link learned that life is more complicated than he thought but he kept his simple vision of life. If people are bad, you kill them.

"The...the Moblin King has her," she heard herself say, "I've been trying to rescue her but their fortress is too well guarded, even with the most of the troops gone. I don't know when they'll be back however so we better move fast if we want to save her."

"I know when they'll be back, but indeed we better move fast before they get word from Labrynna. Where's the fortress?"

Maple looked around for a moment and finally re-orientated herself.

"This way."

While they walked to the fortress, Maple told Link what happened to Holodrum in the previous wars. Swarms of Moblins attacked the village from the north and Subrosians attacked from bellow. Link was surprised that Ralph and Shark had been able to rally the Surbrosians to their cause since the underground people tended to keep to themselves and were shy for outsiders. But then again, Shark could be very persuasive, or at least he was. The Gorons in the north were almost obliterated and that's why the Moblin King could spare the troops for Labrynna. While Maple continue to tell Link more of the troops of the Moblin King the Moblin fortress became visible from between the trees. Link readied a fire arrow and aimed.

"Come after me in fifteen minutes," he told Maple and let go of the arrow.

Maple felt uneasy, hearing the Moblins scream only to be cut off abruptly, some even begging for mercy. She just wanted to close herself off from the world and not hear the curdling screams anymore. An approaching horse made her look up and even though it was a Moblin, she was glad she now had something else to focus on. The Moblin stopped when he saw the burning fortress and gazed with open mouth.

"What are you doing here?" Maple tried to grin and look intimidating.

The Moblin never even noticed her, his eyes fixed on the high flames.

"I bare news from Labrynna."

Link had said they had to move fast before the Moblins received news from Labrynna, but he didn't say what news, she suddenly thought. About Nayru's death? But didn't he kill Ralph as well? And Ralph was the new leader of Labrynna...

"What news?" she asked, trying to mask the dread in her voice.

"Labrynna has fallen. Lord Ralph and Shark are dead, as well as the Oracle. The Zora population is massacred as well as all our troops."

"By who..." Maple asked although she knew the answer.

"The Black Death." The Moblin responded.

The black tunic, Maple thought. Oh Goddesses, Link, what have you done? The Moblin suddenly seemed realise what he had been saying and looked down at the person he was speaking to. Maple looked up and knew there was no way she would survive if he attacked. He was big, bigger than any Moblin she had ever seen. Compared to him, hell, compared to any Moblin she looked like a little girl and this one could crush her by breathing on her. There was no way she could summon the power for another fireball. This was it. She was going to die.

"Are...are you gonna kill me?"

Maple blinked. She looked in the eyes of the Moblin and read fear in them. He was serious. He knew that Link was in the fortress and he thought she was gonna kill him.

"No." she heard herself say.

They had been enemies for a long time and had already killed several Moblins, he didn't deserve what Link did to them, none of them did. Moblins died in battle. That was sacred to them. They lived to fight. Surrendering in a fight was the lowest thing a Moblin could do and nobody would ever respect him again, but then an opponent surrendered they didn't kill him, they kept him as servant to humiliate him, but Link just killed them. He didn't care about prisoners, just that nobody would be in his way between him and his goal. She saw the Moblin look up and she followed his gaze. Link came out from between the burning rubble. He stopped before the Moblin and reached for his sword.

"No." Maple heard herself say.

Link glanced at her.

"No," she said much softer now, "he lives."

Link seemed to nod and headed back to the forest.

"Din is in Subrosia." He said.

Maple turned to the Moblin who hadn't moved.

"Run," She said, "and please, don't come back."

The Moblin looked at her, started to nod and galloped away on his horse. She looked at him ride off and ran after Link.

After a few searches Link and Maple found a small stone circle like a water pit, but instead of water some sort of black field rippled like water. Link stepped in and disappeared.

"Link!" Maple shouted.

Link resurfaced and grabbed her.

"We don't have much time." He said and pulled her in.

The blackness she was in felt warm and pleasant, getting warmer the deeper she went. At first she was afraid of drowning but it wasn't water she was in, just... blackness. A red glow at the end started to light up and engulfed her.

"Wow!" Maple smiled as she emerged from the portal.

"You never travelled by a portal before?" Link asked as he looked around.

"No, I had only heard from the Subrosians from Syrup before she died, but I never been here, let alone seen one."

"They're pretty shy and conceal themselves with long robes, I don't even know what they look like. I think I remember where we are, and the biggest place down here is the Temple of Seasons over there."

Maple looked in the direction he was pointing and saw the erupting volcanoes in the background.

"Are you sure?"

"All the other large buildings are above ground and the only way to get in is through the front gate. It's surrounded by a river of lava."

"Lava?"

"Don't worry, I know another way in."

Maple didn't know where they were but they were somewhere underground. Even more underground. Link had been able to evade any Subrosian they saw (and indeed, you couldn't tell what they looked like due to their long robes) and had led her in a tunnel. The atmosphere was hot, and almost unbearable, like the air itself was cooking and it seemed the heat was glowing red. Finally the tunnel emerged somewhere in a small room that was man build. Large stones were used to make the walls and appeared aged. This was definitely something that had to withstand time.

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Inside the Temple of Seasons," Link answered as he walked to the door and looked through the cracks, "I found this tunnel when I was looking for more seasons for the Rod of Seasons."

"Huh?"

"Long story, maybe somebody will tell you someday."

"Why not you?"

Link glanced over to her.

"I don't tell stories anymore."

"Why not?" she insisted.

"Ever since my wife and children died I have had no one to tell stories to."

"Your... children... died?"

Link simply nodded and reached for his sword.

"There are guards outside, I can take them out easily."

Link softly opened the door a bit and slid through. A few seconds later he opened the door and motioned Maple to follow him. There had been about five guards (if she had put the pieces correctly together) and he had cut them in half (and ever smaller bits) in just a few seconds. With that large sword! She knew he was some kind of hero when she had met him all those years ago, how long was that now? She had just turned eighteen then and now she was twenty seven. Nine years already? He looked even better than all that time ago, although he seemed colder. His hair was longer and in a make shift pony tail and his eyes were no longer blue seas full of life, but ice cold steel pins.

"How... how old would your kids have been now?" she heard herself ask.

Link turned around and looked at her. For a moment she thought he was going to ignore him but then he looked down as if thinking of something.

"Darmani and Mikau would have been seven now, Malon five and my youngest, Dekaru four."

"Wow, four kids. You really must have loved your wife." Maple tried to joke.

Link's face showed her there was nothing to joke about.

"Romani was my life."

"So," Maple tried to continue, "how did you meet?"

Link turned around and took out his hookshot.

"We don't have time for this now," he stated as he shot his line over a wall, "we have HERO business to do."

He spat out the word as if he despised it more than anything in the world.

The Moblin King sat on the stairs leading to a throne with his chin on his fist, looking at a captive Din in thought. When the lord of the Subrosians entered the main hall he didn't even look up.

"Why don't you use that throne?" the Subrosian asked.

"It's not mine," the Moblin King said without looking up, "I don't belong on it. This isn't my domain."

"It's nice that you acknowledge my authority," the Subrosian seemed to chuckle as he walked up the stairs and sat on the large stone throne, "but I consider you my equal so you have as much right to it as I have."

"That's what I said," the Moblin King continued, "I don't belong on it."

The Subrosian seemed to blink.

"I'm sorry, I don't follow."

The Moblin King sighed as he got up and slowly turned around.

"This is the Temple of Seasons," he said, "it belongs to the Oracle of Seasons, so it is the Oracle that should sit on it."

"But we have captured the Oracle," the Subrosian shrugged, "we conquered it."

"Yes we did, but it is still the Oracle that should sit on it, and you nor I are the Oracle."

"You're not making sense," the Subrosian shook his head and made a small notion with his hand, "this troubles me."

"I think it's because I'm not to sure about this whole war," the Moblin King sighed, seemingly unaware of the increase of Subrosian guards in the room, "in the beginning it seemed interesting, conquering Holodrum and Labrynna, but that's not us, we fight small skirmishes, not huge wars. The Moblins don't care about power, they only care about force and battle. And this whole war shifted the balance of things. If you own a land, you can't go to battle anymore."

"So you want to go to battle?"

There seemed to be a touch of mock in the Subrosians voice but the Moblin didn't seem to notice. Instead he walked slowly to Din who was tied up to the wall. She tried to get away from his sight but failed. Onox had been a giant but this Moblin was even larger than the dark general. She restrained from crying when she saw him pull out a dagger out of his armour. Was it her imagination or did he just wink at her. Maybe it was just a trick of her mind but she refound her strength thanks to it. The Moblins hand shot sideways with the dagger pointed forward, ready to catch the Subrosian who had just jumped with his weapon ready. A quick motion of his arm threw the Subrosian of his dagger and was ready to fight off anyone else.

"Well, you should have seen it coming." The Subrosian lord shrugged.

The Moblin King was being surrounded when suddenly a figure jumped down from the upper level of the hall, while shooting his bow, killing a Subrosian with each shot.

"You're that guy who blew up my castle," the Moblin King narrowed his eyes, "twice."

"Thrice," Link responded as he unsheathed his sword and killed four Subrosians in one motion, "and you're army in Labrynna is finished as well."

"The balance has shifted again," he simply nodded, "we shall attend to our unfinished business later, after we dispose of these threaterous creatures."

Link nodded and twirled his blade around again, killing off another five Subrosians. The Subrosian lord jumped on the throne and drew his sword.

"Who are you?" he shrieked, waving his sword at Link, "why are you here?"

"I'm here to save Din," Link stated and grinned, "and I'm the one that's going to kill you."

The Subrosian Lord jumped off the throne towards Din and landed right in front of her. He quickly turned around and kicked the Moblin King in the back of his knees sending him down.

"Kill me, heh?" the Subrosian seemed to laugh, "then I will show you my true form."

The Subrosian seemed to straighten his shoulders and his hand went to his hood. Suddenly he lowered his head and a fireball missed him barely.

"Nice try," he laughed out loud, "but to no avail! Now I will kill you."

"Who said I was aiming at you?" Maple shouted from up the upper level.

"I am free from my bounds!"

The Subrosian slowly turned around and saw Din spreading her arms and slowly lifting from the floor. A cold wind blew through the chamber and a thin ice film started to form on the floor.

"This is impossible!" the Subrosian lord shivered, "we're surrounded by lava lakes."

"She's in her temple," the Moblin King smiled, "she's strongest here."

Din started to dance and the cold wind increased. Soon a blizzard was storming through the main hall of the temple, freezing every Subrosian.

"You... you killed them all," Maple stammered when she left her hiding place.

"They deserved it," was Din's only response, then she seemed to notice Link, "well, hasn't it been a long time?"

Link just picked up his sword and held it under the chin of the Moblin King.

"We'll catch up later. We're not completely finished here."

"We are." Din placed her hand on his arm, urging it down, "like he said before, we need the Moblins to maintain balance. The Moblins are the only defence against the real dangerous monsters that are out there. Sure they are dangerous and kill people, but they never attack unprovoked."

Link glanced over to Din and grunted as he sheathed his sword.

"Thank you, Oracle, for saving my life." The Moblin King bowed.

"I didn't say he couldn't kill you," Din turned to the Moblin King, "I just said he couldn't kill you now."

The Moblin King didn't even blink. He just bowed again and with a lot of grace walked out the room.

Din watched him walk out and then turned to Link.

"It's been long."

"Nayru's dead." Link just said.

"I know..." Din lowered her head, "I felt her passing."

She suddenly looked up to Link.

"You killed her didn't you?"

"She deserved it."

"Maybe she did..." Din looked away, "are you here to kill me too?"

"No," Link shook his head, "just thought you wanted to know the news."

"And what will you do now?" Din asked.

Link shrugged.

"Wander around I guess, until I find a place where I find my piece."

Link turned around and started to walk to the door.

"Of course, I hope it's somewhere nice since it'll be the place they bury me."

Din couldn't help cracking a smile. She looked up and saw the silhouette of the man that once was the Hero of Holodrum and Labrynna in the doorway. She knew he would save the surrounding lands from their oppressor because, even if he didn't want to admit it anymore, he was a hero, it was in his blood.

AN: I don't know what you people think of this chapter but this wasn't originally planned. Link would have saved Din, but it wasn't to be told. But to be honest, I needed a Deus ex Machina later on (for those that doesn't understand Latin, it means God in the machine and comes form the theatre world where God flew over the stage thanks to a machine, I guess you could call it a blue screen now, or digital effects) and I suddenly remembered Din was still alive. I know I'm giving away some information of the story but when you guys are gonna reach that part, you'll have forgotten about this, so I'm not that worried. Anyway, in response to Chaz's review, Nayru had offered her services to Link twice, once when he had lost his stuff in chapter 6 and when he wanted to know what the new evil in Hyrule was in chapter 29 and in both cases she demanded something in return (namely sex). I don't know about you, but that makes her an opportunistic bitch in my book and since this is indeed my book, my opinion counts. She has used Link in a unrespectful manner and for that he wanted revenge... or he didn't have time for a quickie. To conclude, see you guys next week to check up on things in Tempora.