Well, I tried extra hard to get this up extra quick. I hope it is appreciated. Thanks a lot you guys for reading.

Malon didn't sleep that night. In fact, she didn't sleep or eat for days. She stayed up in her room and refused all contact with Ingo or even Epona.

Nothing could keep her mind off what had happened. Her father was now gone… for good. She had no idea where her father was now. He could be up at Ganondorf's castle. He could be…

Malon couldn't stop thinking about it. Was he dead? She didn't want to believe it. But… it was so obvious. It was so unavoidable. Everything she had was gone now. Everything but Sheik. Malon had found that she couldn't bare to leave her room even to see him.

It was too much for her. She couldn't handle it. Not anymore. Nothing was left for her anymore. She didn't ever cry. She couldn't bring herself to. She wished she could just sit and bawl her eyes but the tears wouldn't come. Her grief was beyond that of tears. She would try to force them out, but nothing came.

Five nights passed and Malon found it hard to believe that that was all that had gone by. It had seemed like a lifetime had passed. It wasn't fair anymore. Time wasn't fair. Her life wasn't fair.

She knew that she had to do something. Malon decided she would go and see Sheik just to tell him what had happened.

Malon got out of her bed slowly and staggered across the room. She waddled down the staircase and exited the house. She opened up the stable doors and walked in. Ingo had fixed most of it up now. It wasn't such a mess any more. Malon walked over to Eponas' stall and got out her horse. She didn't pet of stroke the horse; she didn't feel up to it.

Malon rode Epona out of the ranch. She was slightly happy about not running into Ingo on the way out. Hopefully he wouldn't see her when she came back either.

She rode across the field in a daze, really not paying attention to what was going on around her… Not that she would care much anyway. Malon eventually reached the gate and climbed it, as always. She entered the lake area.

Malon shivered as a cold wind blew around her. She eagerly searched for Sheik. She crossed over the grassy patch, over to the overhanging cliff.

"Sheik." She called into it. "Sheik get out here… I need to talk." Her voice was croaky from not using it in several days.

"You sound lovely." Was the reply. Sheik came out from the cave-like home and looked Malon over. He raised his eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Malon tensed up just thinking about it. She clenched her fists and dropped her gaze to the ground. "It happened." She told him shortly. He seemed to understand what she was talking about.

"Is that why you haven't been coming lately?" He asked.

Malon nodded. "It's only been five days since he was taken… But it seems like forever. I'm sure that by now he's…"

"Don't say that." He interrupted.

"Don't try to make me feel better by lying either." Said Malon.

"Well then, my choices have been lessened somewhat." He said, "Listen… I know that this is a great loss… and this is hard for you. It always will be. But, you have to stay strong. You have to keep faith. Hope… it all we have left now."

"I have nothing left." Said Malon.

"You can never have nothing… there is always something there." He pointed upwards, to the sky. "They will guide us through this pain."

Malon followed his hand up to the sky. It was so hard to believe that hope remained. She had deep cuts now and she felt that nothing could help.

"Why do I hurt so much?" Asked Malon, not expecting a response, "How could They put us through so much pain?"

"That pain will only heal in time." Stated Sheik.

"Time?" Asked Malon, "Time has been cruel to us."

Sheik sighed. "Soon… Soon this will all be over. I know it will be."

"How can you be so positive?" Asked Malon, looking at him incredulously.

"Because I have faith. You should try believing that this will all pull through soon." Said Sheik.

Malon raised her eyebrows. "Thanks for your help. I should probably get back now. I don't if Ingo will be looking for me or not."

"Malon." Said Sheik, "Don't give up. You've lasted this long. You can hold on a little longer."

Malon tried to smile but couldn't. Instead, she waved goodbye and nodded. Something about Sheiks' positive words hit Malon. It moved her to know that someone still had hope. She wished that she could think like he could. She wished that she could find hope.

So with a heavy heart, Malon walked back to her horse and rode off back to the ranch. Again, the time seemed to fly and she was back at her house in what seemed like minutes. She mindlessly placed Epona back in her stall and entered the place she had once called home.

Malon was taken aback to find Ingo standing in the center of the room, apparently waiting. Had he been waiting all this time for her to come back.

"I thought you were sick in bed." He said coldly.

"Well I-"

"So where were you?" He interrupted.

"I went off to go see-"

"You went off, did you?" He said, looking her over with disgust, "So you were well enough to get out of bed to go out… But not well enough to do some WORK?" Spit went flying at his last few words.

"I just needed some time to think-" Explained Malon.

"We don't have time anymore, girl. I suggest you get out there and do some work for a change before I get angry."

Malon felt anger bubble up inside of her. "Can you just be a little sympathetic? I just lost my dad, for Dins' sake."

Ingo took an impending step towards her. He raised his fist high up in the air. Malon winced as she braced for what was coming. But the pain never came.

She opened her eyes and looked at Ingo. He still had his fist raised, but he looked as though he had no intention of hitting her.

"You're lucky that I have invited Lord Ganondorf to dinner this week, or I would have hit you, wench." He jerked his head in the direction of the door. "That stable needs a good cleaning now. Finish it by today, and I might feed you some dinner." He sneered at her and gave out a short laugh.

Malon nodded her head incredulously. "Fine. If that's how it's going to be. I'll clean your stables." With that, she stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Malon was from then on pushed into a hard routine. She had dozens of chores to do every day, and the moment she felt like she could manage to sneak off to see Sheik, Ingo would come to her with another long list. She did, however, get enough done for Ingo to feed her every night. She was surprisingly thankful about this, since she knew that Ingo was serious about not feeding her. There was very little food left in the house and she knew that he wouldn't waste it on her for no reason.

Malon had managed to push her fathers'…disappearance, they were calling it, out of her mind. She hadn't the time anymore to think about what could have happened to him or morn for him. She wanted him back, yes, but she didn't have time to even say that.

* * *

Today, she had spent all day getting ready for their 'guest' that evening. Ingo was forcing her to cook dinner for the two of them. On top of that, he wanted it fancy. With a dessert and appetizer and everything. Not only did the house have nothing remotely fancy in it, they had so little food that a three course meal seemed impossible for Malon.

She looked through the storage cupboard. They had eggs, milk, bread, a large chunk of beef… er and eggs. Malon dug through deeper. She pulled out an old block of cheese, and what looked to be bacon. The cheese looked all right to eat and she was sure that if the bacon were to be cooked long enough it would be fine too. The fruit and vegetable cupboard was also half full.

She looked at the ingredients and tried to think about what she could make. She could use the beef and make some kind of marinade out of… Nothing. She had nothing.

She eventually threw random ingredients into various pots over the fiery stove. She made a fruit pie for dessert and some kind of bean salad for the appetizer. She grimaced at what she had made. At least it wasn't brunt as her father's would have been. Her father… A fresh wave of pain overcame Malon. She turned away from her work station and closed her eyes tight.

Maybe, just maybe, she could make this nightmare go away. She opened her eyes again. The beefy stew still sat on the fire, the pie still steamed on the table and the bean salad still stood beside the pie.

Ganondorf would be arriving any minute now. Malon sat on a chair by the door so she would be able to greet him when he came, as Ingo had instructed her to.

Ingo walked in through from the adjacent room where she had just finished setting up a table for the two men.

"Where is the food, girl?" He demanded as he spotted her.

Malon pointed miserably over to the fireplace. "There." She said.

Ingo glared at her. "Well. Goon then. Serve it all up so that there's no waiting." He yelled at her.

Malon got out of her chair. She had been so comfortable in it. She was so tired nowadays and it had felt so nice to sit down, even for a few minutes. She walked over to the food and dished it onto the last of the nice plates. She stood back and admired her work with the food. It looked almost edible. She gave a half smile.

"That's what you made?" Spat Ingo, clearly disgusted.

"What's wrong with it?" Asked Malon, "We have almost nothing left to eat. I did my best."

"We can't feed that to our Lord!" Yelled Ingo.

"Then you should never had invited him because we don't have the kind of stuff to make a nice dinner anymore." Malon found that she was raising her voice. She saw Ingo's eye twitch. She immediately regretted saying anything as a hard fist connected with her stomach.

Winded, she bent down and doubled over herself. She fell to the ground and tried to gasp for air.

"You had best make this dinner fantastic, or that'll feel like nothing." He told her. Malon felt her breath come back to her and started to breathe again. "Do you understand?" He screamed to her.

Still on the ground, Malon nodded. "Yes sir." She wheezed.

"Good." He walked out of the room again.

Malon pushed herself of the ground and stood on her feet. She lifted up her shirt over her belly to look at the damage. Nothing much was there yet, just a large, red spot but Malon knew that it will have grown by the next day. She tucked her shirt back in and looked down at her food one more time. It wasn't that bad, was it? It couldn't be. It was the nicest meal she had seen for ages now.

She delicately poked at the food and tried to make it look as regal as possible. Her attention was soon redirected as a heavy knock was heard. Someone was at the door.

"Girl! Get the door." Yelled Ingo from the other room.

Choosing not to respond, Malon walked over to the door and opened it. The dark, familiar silhouette of Ganondorf stood in front of her. She stepped aside and let the man enter. He stormed past her and into the house. Malon quickly ran over to the door that led to the other room. She opened it.

"Ingo's in there." She said shortly in a deadpan tone.

"You mean Mr. Ingo, girl." He corrected her in a growling voice.

"Yes sir." Said Malon.

Ganondorf walked into the room and Malon shut the door behind him. She turned her attention to the bean salad plates. She loaded her arms with the palters and tried not to bend over because of the pain in her stomach. She brought it over to the door and fumbled with the knob until it opened.

The two men were sitting at the table looking over a large array of papers and notes, apparently discussing something of importance. Malon quickly laid down the plates and exited the room.

She reentered the kitchen, her heart beating faster than usual. She got out some of the nicest glasses they had and poured out some of their famous milk. She carried these into the room and placed them in front of the two men. They again said nothing to her. The silence unnerved her and she walked out of the room again.

This was getting stupid now. She sat down next to the door in her seat again. She rested her head in her hands and stared at the plates on the table.

"Girl!" Came a screeching voice from the other room, "Girl, get our dinner in here."

Malon snapped out of her phase and hurried over to the plates. Balancing them carefully on her hands, she walked over to the door and into the room. She gave the plates out and stood in the silence once again. Malon swallowed hard and backed out of the room again.

She sat back down on the chair… again. She folded her arms. Not only was this the most boring thing she could be doing, she was now starving because she hadn't had breakfast and she wanted desperately to leave so she could go and see Sheik. But she knew she couldn't risk even taking one bite and she couldn't possibly leave… That would be suicide.

She rocked back and forth on the chair's back legs. She could try to spy on what they were talking about, but even that didn't appeal to her. She didn't care anymore about what might happen around the ranch, there was no way things could get worse.

She heard raised voices coming out from the room now. They were probably finished with the main course. She piled up the dessert plates on her arms and entered the room. This was getting extremely repetitive. She placed the dishes down roughly in front of the two men. She turned to leave.

"Girl." Called Ingo.

Malon tried to ignore the fact that he had not called her by her name all day long. "Yes sir?"

"You forgot to take away our plates." He pointed his fingers at the small pile of plates on the table.

Malon forced herself not to roll her eyes at this statement. Sighing, she walked back over to the table and grabbed the plates. She turned to leave again, but was stopped once more. Except this time it wasn't Ingo.

Ganondorf had grabbed her by her wrist. She was jolted to a halt by this and struggled to keep all the plates in her hands. She tried to pull away, thinking it might have been an accident, but he held tight. She turned and looked at him. His face was like stone.

"Aren't you going to say 'sorry'?" He asked.

Malon stared at him blankly, still trying to wriggle out of his grasp. He was starting to hurt her.

"Well? Aren't you? You forgot to take away the plates." He elaborated.

Malon didn't think that that was a reason to apologize for, but he was squeezing down on her hand and it hurt.

"Sorry, Mr. Ingo." She said strenuously.

"That's better." He said. He did not, however, let go.

Malon pulled away with the little strength she had. It so happened that at that moment, Ganondorf released his grip. Malon was sent crashing backwards into the wall. All the plates she was holding shattered on contact with the ground. Malon got herself up slowly, paying no attention to the pain in her back, and brushed the shards of plate off her.

"You did that on purpose!" She screamed at Ganondorf. "You let go just then so you could have me fall!"

Ingo stood up and looked panicky. "Malon! Calm down. Down talk to our guest like that!"

"Look at the mess you made me make!" She went on. She couldn't really understand why she went on screaming. She knew that she would get herself into trouble.

"Ingo, get this wretched little girl out of this room." Said Ganondorf. Malon saw him smirking.

"Stop smiling like that!" She yelled at him. "It's disgusting! You're disgusting! Murderer!"

"Get out of this room now!" Cried Ingo.

"NO!" She screamed back.

Ingo grabbed her by her shoulders and dragged her out of the room. Malon began to shake violently.

"What was that?" Ingo screamed in her face. "You couldn't hold your damned tongue for one day?"

"I'm- I'm sorry." Said Malon. She had stopped screaming now and continued to shake. "I don't know what happened to me. I just snapped." She felt a tear come to her eye. "I didn't mean to."

Ingo nodded. "Well maybe I didn't mean to do this." He swung his leg back and hit Malon in the stomach again, the same place he hit last time. Malon keeled over as the pain shot through her.

"Or this." He slapped Malon across the face. "And this." He slapped her again. And again.

Malon didn't dare move or fight back. What if he called Ganondorf in to help him if she did. It was all she could do to sit and take the beating.

"Maybe I didn't even mean to do this." He said, half laughing. He brought his fist back and hit Malon square in the jaw. She fell down to the floor and curled herself up in a ball, trying to shield herself from further injuries.

She could feel a rain or feet kicking at her rapidly. Why had she been so stupid to drop all those plate?

The kicking stopped.

"Now get up and clean the mess you made." Said Ingo.

Malon tried to move and get up. She managed to push her upper body of the ground. She caught a glimpse at her blood on the floor. Her vision was blurred. Her arms buckled and she fell face first back to the ground.

"You can do it in the morning then." Ingo told her. She saw him walk back out of the kitchen and then everything went black.

Well, this story is now coming to it's end. There are only three chapters left. When I get them posted, however, is a different story. I hope to get them all up soon. I'll have an update ready and posted… uh… Later. I have a lot of stuff to do lately (as you can probably tell by the rate I am updating) but I promise that they'll be up some time. Until then (Probably one week), Bye.

Send me your reviews, or even flames if you feel like being mean, and I'll be happy.