A/N: I am so very, very sorry for the BIG delay in an update for this. Many, many things got in the way, I had crap to do, and I really hated the first draft of this chapter and it took a while for me to convince myself to rewrite it. I was going to rewrite the entire story, but I realized that I don't have the ambition to do so. Anyways…
A lot of people have guessed about the identity of the villain, but the first person to get it right is my friend Luna-Kitsune-Blu. So…she gets a cookie. Not that it's a hard thing to guess. My unoriginality is coming back to haunt me.
In The Shadows
Chapter Four: VISITING THE THIEVES
The first thing she noticed after waking up was the distinct, pulsing pain of a headache pounding in her skull. Zelda pushed herself into a sitting position on the cold marble floor that she had be carelessly dropped on and rubbed her head. She couldn't remember where she was or why she was there, and after examining her surroundings she still had no guess.
The room she was circular and very wide. The ceiling must have been high, since she couldn't see it in the dim light cast from torches that hung off the walls. There were marble pillars that went parallel to the walls. In the center of the room was a tall stone podium.
Zelda stood and went to the podium to get a closer look and saw that there was a large glass crystal at the top, about level with her chest. Light shimmered off of the orb and tiny sparkles seemed to float in the black and blue swirls. Shaking her head, the sage did her best to think of where she could be. None of the sages' temples had anything like this and she was positive that she was no longer in the castle. When she tried to think back to what happened before she had been knocked out her headache would get worse, but she knew that someone had been in the castle and managed to kidnap her.
Casting another glance around the room, she saw two doors, one that lead to stairs going higher into the temple or whatever it was her kidnapper had brought her to and the other door ad gold chains wrapped around it, obviously locked.
Sighing, Zelda looked back at the orb on the podium, curious as to what it was. She reached out to touch it, but she froze when a voice came from behind her. "Don't touch that, Princess." She jumped around and standing there was a figure wearing a mask. She swore he wasn't there before… "You shouldn't touch things that you have no knowledge about. Curiosity killed the cat, right?"
It was obviously her captor. "Where am I?"
"Sorry, Princess, can't tell you that."
Why is his voice familiar? "I expected something like that. Why am I here?"
"Oh, that I can answer. Hehe." Even though the mask blocked her view of his face, Zelda knew he was grinning. "You're here because I brought you here."
"No, I mean…" Zelda sighed, "Why did you bring me here?"
"I can't tell you that, either, Your Highness," he snickered. He said 'Your Highness' and 'Princess' in such a mocking tone that it made the titles insulting. "I came here to say hello now that you're awake—I hope you slept well—but now I must go, although I hate to say it. Heh. I've got something to do."
"What exactly am I supposed to do?"
The figure shrugged. "I didn't bring you here to baby sit you, find something to do yourself. It'll have to be in this room, of course. No leaving, not that you have a choice. Oh, and those sage powers of yours," Zelda covered her slight surprise in learning that he knew about her being a sage, "they won't do you any good in here." He turned and went into the far door with the stairs.
"Hmph." Zelda looked back at the crystal, but before she could touch it, she was interrupted again from a voice coming down from at the top of the stairs.
"Don't touch that!"
Zelda frowned and crossed her arms. It was going to be a very, very long time until someone figured out where she could be…if they ever figured it out. She didn't even know where she was. She sat on the ground with her back against the podium and frowned. Nothing to do but think to herself…
"Come on, admit it!"
"No."
"Aww. I know you know I'm right."
"No."
"Please? I'll stop bugging you."
"No."
"Come on! I know you're regretting leaving Epona at the ranch!"
Link glared at the fairy. It had been a long time since they left the woods, but now they had made it close to the canyon…of course, without his horse, Link had to walk the entire distance. "I'm perfectly fine!"
Navi raised an eyebrow as she fluttered in front of him. "Are you sure? It was a long distance and you haven't sat down yet. Your feet should be hurting a lot by now."
"They don't hurt because I've lost all feeling in them…" Link mumbled, but smiled at Navi and said, "I just want to get to Gerudo Fortress and see Nabooru as soon as possible. Besides, I borrowed Epona in the first place, so she was Malon's the entire time. She'll be better off at the ranch, anyways." They were nearing the bridge across the canyon now, almost to the Fortress. Navi sat on Link's head and dangled her legs in front of his face. "Do you mind?"
"Nope!" Navi giggled. Link sighed and shook his head. "Hey!" the fairy yelled as she clung to Link's hair so she wouldn't fall off, "Watch it!"
Before he could say anything, Link was distracted when he heard a sound behind him. He jumped around, but didn't see anything. When he turned back, though, two Gerudo jumped him. Navi screamed and scurried under Link's hat. He squirmed and did his best to try to get away, but Link couldn't budge the two female warriors. One brought her fist down alongside his head, and he blacked out.
Link woke up a little while later…rather, what he thought was a little while, but night had apparently fallen while he was knocked out. He stood up and almost fell over, being a bit dizzy. "Navi?"
The fairy floated over from one of the corners. "You have a way with people, Link. Why would they attack you? I thought you had that Gerudo pass thing? I thought Nabooru would be here?"
"One, I'm an outsider and on top of that, male. Two, that was before time got all rewound. Three, Nabooru probably doesn't know I'm here."
"Oh…" Navi frowned, "If you still had that pass thing it wouldn't be any trouble. All that time travel stuff got me confused. I didn't like it."
"Yeah, me neither." Link looked up at the window that had been in the little jail the last time he had been thrown in there. Which was technically never due to being sent back in time, but he didn't like to think about things like that. It hurt his head. He pulled out his gold hookshot, the one from Termina, and used it to pull himself through the window. He fell with a thump and winced. At least I've got feeling back in my feet. "Okay, I just need to find Nabooru. Easy!"
"No…" Navi corrected, "You need to sneak through a heavily guarded fortress filled with master swordfighters and find their leader."
"Like I said, easy." Navi rolled her eyes.
Ten minutes later, Link and Navi found themselves back in the cell, the swordsman earning a new lump on his head in the process. "Easy?"
Link rubbed his skull, "It's not like one of the temples. I can't just plow through it. I need to be sneaky—which, I'm not too good at—and it's not like I can just fight my way through…" He thought for a moment. "You'd think Nabooru would have come to see me, being a prisoner and all."
"She's the leader of the Gerudo, she has a lot of more important things to do than to check up on some boy who came to peep on them." She added, once she saw Link about to point something out, "That's not why you're here, but I'm sure they find some guy every once in a while that came here just for that."
"Oh, that's just great." Pulling his hookshot out and aiming at the window again, Link sighed, "I've got another idea. Rather not do it, but it could work." Once he got through the window and landed back on the ground, he looked around at the guards scattered about. Navi opened her mouth to ask Link about his little plan, but Link smirked when he saw a red-clothed Gerudo and rushed at her. Navi followed with a shocked squeal.
The Gerudo turned, both of her scimitars ready, and blocked Link's downward slash, just as he expected her to. He jumped back and waited, both he and the Gerudo sizing each other up. He ignored Navi's shouts of 'What in the name of Din are you doing?!' and focused his mind on his opponent. I just need to win…Link knew, from his last visit to the fortress (which technically never happened. He still hated time travel) that the red-clothed Gerudo were much better than any of the purple and blue clothed ones. That's why there were only three or four that he had to fight last time, and that was enough to become a member of the Gerudos.
The woman leapt forward, bringing the sword in her right hand down, which Link blocked with his shield. Her other weapon slashed at his legs, but instead of severing the limbs, it met his gilded sword's blade. Taking the opening, Link kneed the Gerudo in the gut. He winced from it more than the woman did. I don't want to hurt her, but I do need to beat her. She didn't need to recover from the blow, so she instantly stepped back, and spun clockwise on her left foot, bringing her right into Link's skull.
"You could make this a lot easier on both of us," Link said as he shook his head, trying to shake of the effect of the kick, "I just want to see Nabooru."
"Some pathetic boy is not worth her time."
He sighed, "That's what I thought…" I guess I got to go through with the plan. I just hope beating one red will be enough to get Nabooru's attention. The Gerudo attacked, both of her swords swinging in a fast and controlled fury of slashes, all of which Link blocked with his sword or shield. A large number of the guards had gathered around, wanting to watch what they thought was some helpless boy fight one of their most well-trained warriors. Link swung a punch at the warrior, hoping to hit her arm enough for her to drop a sword, but she evaded it and kicked back, landing it. He only stumbled a bit, doing his best to ignore the sore spot on his waist.
Letting out a quick yell, Link slashed horizontally, the Gerudo easily avoided it with a back flip, just as he was hoping. When the warrior landed, she noticed a brown object flying at her feet, but, being from the desert, she didn't recognize the deku nut. It exploded into a burst of light, making the woman see white and black dots for a moment. Her vision began to clear, just in time to see her opponent land an uppercut into her jaw, making her fly back and onto the ground.
The swordsman winced, "Sorry." It was then that he realized he was surrounded. "Hmm…maybe I didn't think my plan out enough…"
"For the love of Nayru, what were you thinking?!" Navi shouted. "Now they're going to gang up on you and beat the crap out of you!"
"Stand down!" a voice shouted, and the Gerudo that had been ready to recapture Link stopped. They all, including their would-be captive, looked to the owner of the voice. Standing outside of one of the entrances to the Fortress, flanked by two guards was Nabooru, wearing a deep frown directed towards the intruder. She walked towards Link, not removing her glare from him, stopping right in front of him. They looked at each other for a moment, then Link opened his mouth to say something…he was interrupted by Nabooru slapping him in the head. "What in the Hell, my I ask, are you doing here, Link?"
"I—"
"You leave for seven years, and the first thing you can think of doing when you get back is come here and start a fight?"
"Well, not—"
"Why are you here, kid? Want to sharpen your skills or do just like causing trouble in dangerous places?"
"I came here to see you about something important!"
"Then why didn't you introduce yourself to the guards and explain that? They may not recognize you, but 'Link' is one of the few people permanently welcomed here."
Trying to let that sink in for a moment, Link bit his lip. "So…you're saying that if I had told them who I was I could have avoided all this?" Nabooru nodded once. Link sighed and lowered his head and Navi smacked him, telling him how stupid it was to do what he did and how easy it could have been.
A short time later, Link and Navi found themselves in a room with Nabooru and her guards. Nabooru's frown was, miraculously, deeper and she looked even more serious than usual, with a bit of grimness along with it. "No. It's impossible," she said, shaking her head.
"Are you sure?" Link asked.
"If Ganondorf had escaped, I, of all people, would know, Link. Between being a sage and the one person that knew him best, I'd have felt his presence for sure. Not to mention, if he had escaped, I'm sure he'd try to get the Gerudo back first thing. No, it's impossible, he's still sealed up. Whoever it is that's kidnapped Zelda, framed you, and sent those Stalfos after you—since I agree that, if what you said was true, they were acting under a higher influence—it's not Ganondorf."
"That's good news…I think," he shook his head, "I guess I'm back to where I started."
"Well…" Nabooru seemed to be thinking, "Being Stalfos, they're inherently a creature of shadows, so Impa may know where they came from or what's controlling them. The fact that she's been spending most of her time in the Shadow Temple since she doesn't, or rather, didn't need to follow Zelda everywhere makes her all that more sensitive to things connected to Shadow."
"Like Stalfos, and possibly whatever it is that's controlling them. Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be visiting most of the Sages before this is over with?"
A familiar little snicker came from under Link's hat, "I'm sure you're looking forward to going to Zora's Domain. I'm sure it'll be fun for you to explain to your 'fianc' why you didn't keep in touch during your little trip." Link winced.
"Okay, so Impa and the Shadow Temple it is! At least I won't have to walk there this time." As he said that, he pulled out the Ocarina of Time. "Thanks, Nabooru…and sorry about causing trouble."
The Gerudo leader rolled her eyes, "Just don't do anything stupid like that again, kid. Oh, and I suggest that you warp from in here, otherwise the Gerudo you knocked out is going to find you and tear your legs off."
"Gotta love Gerudo hospitality."
"…You attacked her, threw a deku nut at her, and knocked her out," Navi pointed out.
"Yeah…well…" He looked back at Nabooru, "Bye!" After playing the Nocturne of Shadow, he flew off in a burst of purple light.
Nabooru sighed and shook her head, "At least he didn't break anything."
"Heh." The dark man snickered to himself. "Could he have made it any easier for me?" He had been thinking of having something, probably more Stalfos, attack Gerudo Fortress to get to Link, but with so many trained warriors there, he decided to wait and see where Link would go afterwards. He was very glad that he did.
"What…what is that?"
Frowning slightly, the figure turned to see the princess standing behind him. "I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to get the courage to come up here."
"Courage?" the princess asked. "I was getting bored." She pointed to the large mirror-like object on the wall that had been showing what Link was doing. "What is that thing? And…why is Link in it?"
The dark figure grinned under his mask, "It's a little window into that little Hero's life. I've been watching him for quite a while now, ever since he came back."
"Came back?" Zelda's eyes grew, "You mean Link came back? He's in Hyrule?"
"For a while now, in fact. He's going to the Shadow Temple to see that old bodyguard of yours."
"So…that's what you want. You want Link. I'm still not quite sure what you need me for. Doesn't matter, since he's safe from your power in the Temples."
He nodded, "Normally, yes. But…this is the Shadow Temple. Hehe, as you can see I'm a bit accustomed to shadows and whatnot. I'd even go as far to say that I'm as much a part of the Shadow Temple as Impa herself is, for different reasons, of course."
"You can't mean…that you can enter it?"
"More than that. I have free run of it, and, unlike the other temples, it doesn't hinder my power, and in fact, increases it by a large fraction." He turned back to the mirror in time to see Link reform atop the mark of the Shadow medallion in front of the entrance to the temple. "He doesn't have any clue how stupid his new move was."
She did her best not to worry—this was Link, after all, he can take care of himself—but she failed. Whatever or whoever this was, he was trying to get Link just as he had done to her. 'Why' was a question he didn't seem willing to answer and was one that she couldn't guess at. She decided that she would watch him, despite how badly she didn't want to be near him.
"This will be an amusing show, Princess, I suggest you stay here and watch."
FINALLY!! I got another chapter done. Gah, I still don't like it. BUT, it's done, and it's the best I can come up with. I'm sure the next chapter will be more fun for me to write and we be written sooner. MUCH sooner than this one.
Bleh, no reviewer type response things. I've got nothing to say, really, and I want to get this up as fast as I can. But, thanks to everyone reading and reviewing this!