The Crossing of the Paths
By MMM/AJ
Part III: Of Darkness and Light

A/N: Like Part II, I plan on posting this one in chunks as well. This is Chunk SEVEN. Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes! School is owt! Wh00tx10000000! Now guess what all, it's marathon writing time for me! I'm'a gonna dedicate at least a quarter of every day to my writing from now on, unless other circumstances interfere. And here in this chunk, we're making the chunks longer again! Getting' back to the traditional posting method of the good ol' days. And with this chunk, we exceed a total of Fifty pages for Part III! Partay!

Chapter XII

"I became the full fledged Queen of Hyrule less than a year ago." Zelda said.

Mewtwo and Zelda were walking through the courtyard of Hyrule Castle, across the lush grass, past stunning statuary, and between great hedges. The patrolling guards bowed as they passed.

"When Ganondorf killed Harkinian, my father, I was his only child. My mother had already died a long time ago and I am now the last member of Hyrule's Royal Family." Zelda finished.

"That's a heavy responsibility, ruling this entire Kingdom alone." Mewtwo said.

"It has been difficult, but I have been able to take up my father's torch fairly well. But with link gone, and what with the tidings your story has brought to light, I'm not sure if I can go on." Zelda said, her calm demeanor deteriorating. It was a sight to see such mature and deep emotion on such a young face.

"It's still only a theory," Mewtwo said. "Unless there is some event in my future that will cause my destiny to fly out of my control, there is no way I would ever allow myself to split."

"That is what worries me, no-one can ever fully control their own destiny, and some things can be inevitable." Zelda said, her voice nearly a croak.

Mewtwo walked silently, knowing she was right but rejecting it with voracious fear. He was desperate to prevent his evil from escaping, and he was willing to do anything to prevent it. Then, he caught upon an idea that both chilled him to the bone and relieved him. If he were to end his own life, quickly and before anything should happen, he could prevent Darkest from ever existing. He suddenly felt calmed, and his heart felt cold and less lively. His emotions all quieted at once, all reasons in his mind agreed that it would be the only way to be sure with cold apprehension. His entire body felt icy, as if death were already gripping him. The cool twilight air added to this effect and the stars shining down on the open courthouse seemed to scrutinize him ruthlessly. He craned his neck upwards and stared at them, studying them and wondering if he might see them again in such detail. And as he stared, his eye caught sight of movement in the distant sky.

It was a dark shape in the sky, only visible as stars passed out of view as it moved in front of them and others appeared as it passed them by. Mewtwo blinked and stared intently, the object was moving agonizingly slow, and it was extremely hard to see even to his eyes, but it was like a big red flag to Mewtwo. He stopped walking and stood staring.

"What is it, what do you see?" Zelda asked. She craned her neck in the same general direction as Mewtwo and looked hard, but saw nothing.

"Something is moving far off in the sky, possibly on the border of the planet's atmosphere in orbit." Mewtwo said, pointing at the moving blob.

Zelda followed Mewtwo's hand, but her eyes were not as fine tuned as his, and she could still not see anything. Then, it became quite clear to her when the object suddenly lit up brightly, emitting a pulse of light. As they watched, the light seemingly hung in the same general area of the sky, but then it slowly picked up speed and descended. It reached a stunning velocity and rocketed down towards Hyrule like a great comet. They heard a great roar as the ball of red light grew to the size of a trailer house before it collided with the field a few miles out. The ground shook violently under them and a great roaring explosion filled the air with such a sound that the very air shook.

As the rumbling stopped, Mewtwo and Zelda sprinted out of the courtyard and out onto the high hill that Hyrule Castle held right above the town. They saw a gigantic fuming crater almost three miles out into the field, smoke and dust billowed up into the air in a great plume. The Earth had been thrown back violently but only for a short distance, as if the impact was not of a solid object. The Castle town below was now completely lit up and citizens were running out into the street to see what had happened.

"Look!" Zelda shouted, and pointed up into the sky.

Mewtwo looked up and saw another pulse of light form and begin to move out of the sky. It gained speed and moved off, but did not rocket toward Hyrule, it disappeared far away across the Horizon in the West. Only a slight rumble reverberated through the Earth.

"Quickly! We must go the the Temple of Time!" Zelda shouted.

Zelda grabbed Mewtwo's arm and sprinted down towards the town, and as they made their way, another pulse fell to the Earth even farther away. There was almost no concussion of any kind from the distant impact. As they reached the streets of the town, Mewtwo took another look up at the object in the sky, expecting a blast to come raining down on the town at any instant. But instead he saw the object start to move. It took on a faint red glow and gained speed itself, moving away. With a sudden blue flash, it streaked through the sky and dematerialized into the night. Zelda didn't even see it as she dragged him towards an old looking church-like temple.

White washed marble glinted and glowed brilliantly in torchlight as Zelda and Mewtwo passed through the Temple. Mewtwo looked in wonder at three glowing gems set in a great pedestal, but his stare was cut short as Zelda led him pas thbem and through a door. The next room opened up panoramically into a circular chamber with a gently ascending staircase that rose to a pinnacle in the center of the room. Mewtwo saw embedded in the center of the room a familiar Blue Handled blade, the Master Sword that Ciela had slain Darkest with. It stood nobly, half embedded in the stone as a paramount testament to time. Zelda strode past the sword intently to the end of the room, where another stone platter stuck out of the wall. There rested another series of familiar sights, all of the elemental Medallions were set into the stone in a circle. Mewtwo recognized all of them except one, which was an even brighter shade of gold and held the Hylian symbol for "Light" Zelda stopped in front of the Medallions and placed her hand in the center of the circle that they formed.

"The Light beckons, let this sage and trusted companion enter the eternal chamber." Zelda said in quiet Hylian, and Mewtwo almost couldn't understand it, it was almost a different dialect.

And in response, all six Medallions began to glow brightly their respective colors. They glowed brighter and brighter until they were almost blinding, and then a small blue portal formed.

"Come with me here, we are going to the Chamber of Sages." Zelda said.

She stepped into the portal and Mewtwo held his breath before following. By now, his use of portals had always brought him somewhere strange, beautiful, or dangerous, and he could never tell which. But he trusted Zelda, and hopped through the glowing light finally with enough gumption to toss aside his momentary fears.

Chapter XIII

The trickling sound of running water resonated out of blue emptiness, the Chamber of Sages glowed a soft azure hue. Zelda and Mewtwo appeared on a large rotunda that jutted up out of the blue expanse of the borders of the Sacred Realm. Enlarged symbols of all the Elemental Medallions encircled the platform, and in the center was the Hylian symbol for "Time" There Zelda stood, waiting patiently for a moment.

"Sages of the Elements, come forth!" Zelda blared unexpectedly, and the chamber remained quiet for a moment.

A moment later, a sudden flash of white light appeared over the circle that was inscribed with the "Light" symbol. The flash steadied into a blinding glow and then took on shape. It formed into that of a man, and as the light faded, his form became clearer until he was fully formed. There stood a wise, old, and somewhat large man wearing a great orange robe. He had a long grey beard and a bald head, and his sleeves were tied as if he had no hands.

"Zelda, why is it that you have summoned us?" The man asked in a booming voice.

"Venerable Rauru, I fear Hyrule is in peril. Just moments ago three bolts of wrath fell from the heavens and struck the Earth. Two impacted quite a distance away, and one hit Hyrule Field only a few miles from the castle." Zelda explained.

"What do you believe to have done to anger the gods besides bringing this subdued demon into the Chamber of Sages?" Rauru asked while looking at Mewtwo like a dirty animal.

"I am not a demon!" Mewtwo said, raising his voice. He was beginning to get tired of being thought of this way. His anger seemed to have formed out of nowhere, and Rauru looked taken aback.

"Please excuse his insolence honorable Light sage!" Zelda said, suddenly very humbled in her demeanor.

"By Farore!" Rauru gasped, "You certainly aren't what you appear to be, but by what mother were you born so?"

"I was not born, but created by-" Mewtwo began before getting cut off by Rauru.

"Created! You have come from the gods themselves! Tell me, what is the news?" Rauru asked eagerly.

Mewtwo kept his startled mind in order and was about to explain what was happening when another light flashed through the air. Blue light formed above the Hylian symbol for "Water" and formed into one of the strangest beings Mewtwo had ever seen. What appeared was half child, half fish. Her skin was pale blue-white and glistening with dark blue patches. She had human features along with fins sprouting from her wrists and feet.

"I felt the explosions through the water and came as-" The fish girl trailed off as here eyes landed on Mewtwo. "Zelda, are you off your rocker bringing something like that in here?"

"Ruto I can assure you that-" Zelda began

"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm not a demon." Mewtwo finished in an annoyed tone.

Ruto stood flabbergasted for a moment. "Well then, I guess you're not demonic after all."

Two more flashes of light appeared, one ofver the "Fire" Symbol, and one over the "Forest" Symbol. A familiar girl in green appeared first, and Mewtwo was surprised and happy to see Saria appear. He began to form a sentence to greet her, but the other light took on form and shape before he could speak. It grew into an even stranger sight than Ruto, a gigantic muscular body formed, along with a great girth of a belly.
The whole thing was orange-ish brown and a weathered, stretched face with beady black eyes that was adorned with a craggy beard that merged with his hair.

"We saw and felt the entire event from Death mountain. I-" Once again, speech was interrupted by the sight of Mewtwo. The brown goliath moved quickly, forming his hands into a ball and raising them for a crushing blow.

"Stop!" Shouted Saria, rushing in between the hulking man and Mewtwo's smaller form. "He's not evil!"

"Does he speak?"

"Yes." Mewtwo said, his anger drained away quickly from the enormous boulder fists hovering over his head.

"Really Darunia, you need to learn to think before you act." Zelda said, frowning and pulling Darunia's meaty fists down from the air.

"I'm sorry my friend," Darunia said to Mewtwo, "Your appearance is most decidedly deceiving."

Then another light formed in the air, a purple glow that formed over the Symbol for "Shadow". Mewtwo suddenly felt disquietly nervous. The light formed into a tall, slender, muscular woman who wore a dark bodysuit. He short, hair was pure silver in color and in a bun, and she had red paint stripes on her cheeks. She stood without speaking, eying everyone in the room.

"Well, aren't you going to accuse me of being a demon?" Mewtwo asked irritably.

"Seeing as you just spoke, I would hope not. Trust me, after spending so much time guarding the inner chambers of the Shadow Temple, I know evil well. You have yours very well contained."

Mewtwo was impressed and a bit intimidated by this woman's insight, but Zelda was mildly irritated. "Impa, you're always so blunt about everything. You always have been. You need to learn some proper manners." Zelda said tritely.

"You're telling your own attendant and a fellow Sage how to act?" Impas asked with a smile. Darunia chuckled.

And finally, a darker orange light appeared above the remaining symbol, "Spirit". It formed into a tanned Gerudo woman wearing traditional clothes and an Elder's gem on her forehead. She appeared to be the same age Kalana had been when Mewtwo knew her, and her face was oddly familiar. Then Mewtwo remembered the ghostly specter that had directed him and Kalana to find the Spirit Medallion in the Spirit Temple. It was Nabooru, living and breathing right there in front of him.

"Why is it that you Hylians have brought that creature in here?" Nabooru snapped, backing into a fighting stance.

"He is a sentient being, and his name is Mewtwo. I think he knows about the stars that fell down from the heavens." Zelda said, raising her voice and scowling at Nabooru. The tension between the two was practically tangible in the air.

"Why don't you two put your wasteful war behind yourselves so we can discuss the matters at hand?" Rauru boomed. Zelda and Nabooru silently faced away from each other.

"Now Zelda, why don't you and your friend relay your thoughts on this matter so we can agree on a course of action?" Rauru asked in a calmer voice.

Mewtwo and Zelda calmly explained everything, being careful not to let Nabooru know anything that might further damage the Time-Space continuum. The explained the dreams, theories, and some of the courses of action that they had already begun to develop in their heads. As they finished, the other six sages looked troubled as they mulled over what they had heard and thought of what to do next.

"If these invaders are as powerful with magic as you have said, then we need to find a way to defend against powerful magic attacks." Rauru said, rubbing his rather large chin.

"Zelda, I humbly ask that you let the Gorons move to the safety of Hyrule Castle during the invasion. Our alliance does state that we should provide each other shelter in times of need." Darunia said.

"You needn't ask my friend! You and your brothers are always welcome. But be sure to bring your own rocks, we don't have any lying around the castle for you and your people to eat." Zelda replied. Mewtwo scratched his head in awe, the Goron people ate rocks?

"And what of the Zoras? Surely you will allow us to stay in the castle as well?" Ruto asked.

"Of course!" Zelda said eagerly, then pausing. "But, your people will he hard pressed to stay hydrated, there are only two small swimming pools in the Castle."

"We will manage." Ruto said, taking on an air of determination.

Zelda turned to Saria and spoke next. "I will worry about you and the rest of the Kokiri, the forest will not provide much protection for you and you cannot leave it. Might you stay here in the Chamber of Sages?"

"There is no point, if they are as powerful as you have said, they will surely find a way in here as well. The Deku Guardian will protect us as best as he can." Saria said, fear evident in her face.

"I will call a truce with Hyrule," Nabooru interrupted, speaking airily and in a superior tone, "If indeed what you have spoken is true and these invaders are a common foe. But our fortress in the desert is much safer than your extravagant castle and not one of my people will leave the desert for any reason."

"It is fine by me, I don't need any thieves or spies in my castle during a hostile invasion anyway!" Zelda snarled.

"Would you two end this ridiculous quarrelling!" Rauru bellowed like an angry leviathan, "It is vital for us to work together for the common cause in this type of situation! I do not care how many Gerudos and Hylians have died in your wars, but I do know that all of their deaths will have been in vain if all of us are killed at the hands of these invaders!"

The room was silent for a moment. Impa sneezed and Saria jumped, startled.

"I want something better than a truce," Rauru began again; "I want the old Gerudo-Hylian Alliance restored!"

"That's ridiculous!" Nabooru shouted, "My people would skin me like a leever if I did that! Their distrust and hatred towards Hyrule makes even a truce difficult!"

Rauru sighed deeply and walked over to Nabooru, who took on a look of confusion at his lack of a reply. He gestured to Mewtwo to approach and placed one hand on Nabooru's forehead and one hand on Mewtwo's. Mewtwo suddenly felt his memories being accessed, it was like his mind was a filing cabinet and Rauru was flipping through it. Then his darkest memories of the Empire were drawn out and accessed, and suddenly Nabooru's face blanched to a white paler than any sheet. Rauru's face looked grave as he too witnessed the horrifying images from Mewtwo's mind. Nabooru suddenly tried to pull away, but Rauru's large hand gripped her head and held it in place. She whimpered and panted, beginning to sweat, and suddenly it was over. Mewtwo felt the probe recede from his mind as Rauru released both of them. He observed Nabooru emotionlessly.

"So much pain!" Nabooru whispered, sickened by what she had seen. She looked over at Mewtwo with a whole new air of sympathy and respect. All the other sages stood rapt in awe at what had just occurred before their eyes.

"I…" Nabooru said, slowly regaining herself, "Will do anything to stop those atrocities." Nabooru extended a hand of peace to Zelda.

Zelda hesitated, and Rauru glared at her. She took Nabooru's hand and shook it with a strained smile.

"Next we must discuss how we will defend the castle." Darunia said, dredging on and cracking his massive knuckles.

"The best way would be to create a magic barrier." Mewtwo said.

The eyes of everyone in the chamber turned to Mewtwo, who suddenly felt nervous, but he explained his plan clearly, shoving his discomfort aside.

"The invaders will try to land troops on and in the castle, so we need to have a barrier dome over the entire castle. Also, they will try to invade, damage, or even take control of our minds with their abilities, so we need the barrier to be impenetrable to all energies and for it to form a complete and seamless bubble around the castle." Mewtwo said.

"This kind of magic takes a lot of energy to sustain." Rauru said, "It will take more than all of the combined efforts of every mage in Hyrule, we as sages will need to contribute our energy to such a barrier as well."

There was quiet whispering among the other five sages which ended abruptly when Nabooru spoke. "I will ensure that every Gerudo contributes their energy as well, even if it means passing on to every one of them the images you showed me."

"The Gorons will contribute all of their magic and weapons to fight for the common cause." Darunia said, stepping forward and slamming a fist into his palm. A concussion flowed through the air from the impact.

"The Zoras will do their part; you will have all our magic in the common defense as well." Ruto said.

"The Kokiri will contribute what little we have." Saria said.

"I will summon the remaining Sheikah people from around Hyrule to contribute as well." Impa said.

"And I will give you my psychic abilities, right until the bitter end." Mewtwo said.

The Sages and Mewtwo all put their hands together in the center of the chamber, and the two pieces of the Triforce shone with the new energy of friendship, and the elemental powers of each sage shone as the differently shaped and colored hands held to from the Pact of Hyrule.

Chapter XIV

The next day, all of Hyrule awoke to a darkened gray sky. Heavy clouds hung over the land, casting no rain down to the Earth; instead they stubbornly rumbled with distant thunder and blocked the sun. A plume of oily smoke continued to rise from the crater in Hyrule field, merging with the leaden sky and contributing to the murky sky. Along with it came a pall of drear on the once cheerful people of Hyrule. People went to and from their business slowly and quietly, no shouting crowds haggled at the markets, only lone shoppers picking through the wares and buying what they needed.

That day Zelda made a proclamation to the entire kingdom, announcing that Hyrule's war with the Gerudos had ended and that a new alliance had been formed with them. Some people cheered that their sons would no longer be sent off to die, while others muttered in silent distrust and hatred for the thieving Gerudos. Zelda also then declared that Hyrule should brace for another war, another race of people were about to invade Hyrule. She told the people that the invaders were the same people who had caused the meteors to strike Hyrule last night, and that she had no way of knowing when the invasion would come. The people went into an even more sullen mood at this news, now fearing for their lives against a foe even more dangerous than the Gerudos.

And as the day passed, Zelda reassembled Hyrule's army, ordering all troops to pull back from guarding the border with the desert. Thousands of glisteningly armored Hylian troops marched into the castle from all parts of Hyrule, coming to defend the castle. They arrived slowly over time, gathering inside the walls of the town and talking idly and nervously about the coming invasion.

Mewtwo watched from the highest window in the tallest tower and divisions of troops snaked across Hyrule field from out of the distance and towards the castle like pulsing veins of silver in the land itself. He brooded alone in the tower, fearing and wondering how far the time thread was being bent. In normal reality, the time thread would have snapped back into normality as soon as Darkest had died, the change would have been instant and permanent and it would have erased all of these events. But here, it was slowly bending backwards on itself. Mewtwo was still iron willed to never let Darkest birth from himself, even if it meant death, and still the time stream was bending in order to allow Darkest to continue existing. Time should have snapped taut a long time ago, erasing Darkest and all thoughts and memories of him, but still this form was allowed to exist. It was impossible to understand.

Mewtwo noticed a new movement to the East, something was moving in the river. He saw with his fine tuned eyes a slender glistening form emerge from the waters of the river, half human and half fish. It began walking towards the castle and several more climbed out behind it. "These must be the Zoras, Ruto's people" Mewtwo thought, watching as more and more of them appeared from the water. They walked silently across the field towards the castle without any words, unlike the chattering columns of Hylian soldiers that were always arriving. A bright white flash of lightning arced through the sky and the air shook and grumbled. Mewtwo unconsciously sighed with relief, memories of the Empire's red lightning still in his mind. The Hylian soldiers looked startled by the flash, and the Zoras craned the heads up, almost crying for rain to drench their bodies. They were obviously very uncomfortable out of water.

Mewtwo looked more Northeasterly, up at where the giant form of what he assumed to be Death mountain slowly disappeared into the unsettled clouds. As he studied the mountain more closely, he noticed trails snaking down its sides, and a good number of them curved inwards to intercept a small town maybe 40 miles out in the distance. Bands of people, civilians and soldiers alike, were streaming out of this town in a mass exodus toward Hyrule castle. Another white flash illuminated the sky as a web of lightning traced the sky without striking the ground. Another growling rumble of thunder passed through the stone walls of the tower. Mewtwo squinted into the distance at the mountain, sure his eyes had caught something more. He saw small dust clouds coming down the mountain. They moved slowly in the distance, and as Mewtwo watched, they stopped at the town where the Hylians were evacuating.

Mewtwo saw around eighty of these almost indistinguishable dust signatures trace down the mountain and stop at the town, and he assumed that they were probably nothing since no alarm was raised by the remaining people near the town. Mewtwo then decided to look west into the immeasurable distance; his eyes ran down a line of soldiers marching away from the desert. And he also saw bright red colored clothes, there were Gerudos marching along with the Hylians. "Nabooru must have shown them my memories." Mewtwo thought to himself. It was the only way they would march so trustingly along with the Hylians.

Hours passed, and the sky grew steadily darker as the day passed. The smoke from the crater rose endlessly without waning, it seemed to be a horrible omen for Mewtwo. It was feeding the clouds with more and more sun stopping capability, and as night finally began to approach, it was already darker than twilight. Lightning became more and more frequent in the sky, yet it never arced downwards to meet the ground. And still not a drop of rain fell from the gloomy sky, it stingily held back as the Zoras, Hylians and Gerudos streamed into the castle.

Again Mewtwo cast his glance to the Northeast, and he saw among the Hylians great, massive, rock-like people that much resembled the Fire Sage Darunia. "These must be the Gorons." Mewtwo thought. They stuck out like sore thumbs amongst the smaller Hylians. They crossed the bridge over the river and entered the Castle along with everyone else.

As the day ended, Mewtwo returned to the lavished bedroom that Zelda had given him. He laid down on the silk soft mattress and felt a bit out of place. He was used to sleeping on rough, often hard beds, and this suite was like sleeping on air. Over the past few days he had returned to his diurnal state, but he still found it difficult to sleep in the unfamiliar room. The gentle rumble of thunder muffled by the castle walls eventually lulled him to a restless, dreamless sleep.

A/N: Actually, this chunk was 11 pages, so we're longer than one of the old standard chunks! Just goes to show that school makes all the difference whan it comes to writing time. Now our heroes form the Pact of Hyrule and begin girding for war. What will happen next is still up in the air though, the time-space distortions are throwing things off more than you think. Read and review, and I'll be one happy writer!