Emotional Limbo: I Forgot What Part We Are On
Chapter Eleven I suppose: if counted in Numerical Order. But if you think about it, what Chapter are we on? When Past and Future were from the last Part. Why is the Present Now?
Zelda slumped on the chair. Her eyes dilated while her head was cocked to the side as she was surrounded by a never ending sea of blood. The walls? There were none. But yet, as her slit wrists from the purification drained onto the floor, it began to fill this mysterious room. The blood was almost up to her kneecaps.
It just kept draining onto the floor. But she didn't care. Romano has Link and has his Lauretta.
"I'm crazy... I'm mad... I belong with all the other mad... I deserve no crown... I deserve death. Maybe I should've died. The world will move on..."
Oddly, she felt at peace right now. She can't feel her arms. It's like they were just sewn on.
"Maybe that's what I am... I'm a doll! A doll that was meant to be placed on a shelf and to collect dust. I should know my place. Link knew his. Now he's happy. Oh dear... its going higher! But I don't care. No I don't. Maybe a little? Should I? I guess for old times sakes."
Perhaps she was bored. Or maybe she really was crazy... or lonely... or both crazy and lonely... or lonely and crazy. Is there a difference between lonely and crazy? They seem to go hand and hand with each other.
It's quiet in here.
Except for the drip drip drip. Sometimes it's a subtle stream, and other times its flowing waterfall.
Too quiet.
Is this all she can do? Swing her feet left and right like a perfect pendulum on a grandfather clock?
If this was all there was to life, she has taken boredom for the easy life of just ripening here. Right here on this chair.
Its soooooo quiet.
So so quiet.
Very quiet.
Did she mention it was quiet?
Let's sing!
Zelda wave her head from side to side. "La la la la la la la. LA la la la la la la. La-la-la-la-la-la-la." She lazily sung each word. First from low to high and then high to low.
Oh dear!
The blood has risen to her knee caps!
"Do I care?" she muttered to herself herself. She slowly rolled her head back and was tickled with giggles and delights.
Too too quiet.
Let's sing! "La la la la la la la. LA la la la la la la. La-la-la-la-la-la-la." Zelda began to sing her legs from side to side, thoroughly amused by the swish swash swish of each little swing.
She sighs as she closed her eyes and allowed her arms to fall off.
Plop!
Plop!
Why should she use them. They are useless now.
Of course everything is useless now.
So very quiet.
Let's sing!
"La la la la la la la. LA la la la la la la."
"La-la-la-la-la-la-la!" echoed a voice.
Zelda's eyes shifted. "Hello there... I'm bored... will you sing for me?" she requested sweetly as her left arm floated by. Suddenly, a slight bubbling erupted about four feet away from her. Zelda tilted her head curiously. "Oh my. What is that? HELLO!" she cried out.
Another round of bubbles cracked the surface.
Zelda stared at the surface of the scarlet plane. She didn't know how long she stared but she stared at it a great deal. Finally, boredom crept completely through her body. She summoned her arms back upon the empty sockets of her torso and stood straight up. She began to trudge through the thick red ooze until finally she came upon the place where the bubbles originated.
"Hello? Please show yourself? I know someone is down there! For there was nothing before when I first began to bleed but myself and that chair."
The bubbling erupted once more. Zelda felt the room shake as a bubble, the size of a beach ball, emerged from the pool and into the air. A glow of warm pink light emitted from the object. "But what is a thing of such wonder and beauty in a dreary place like this?"
The bubble emitted a giddy laugh. "Because you ARE beautiful! You made me beautiful... at least at one point of your life! Well maybe things do look more beautiful when you are in love. At least, we were in love at one point with each other."
Zelda felt odd at this statement. For one thing, she was never 'in love' with anyone. Even Link; for one thing, he never showed any real affection except on a few rare points. Those were probably accidents. "Were you my 'first' love?" It was a stupid statement. But at this point, she was curious at hearing anything that came from this bubble.
"No; that was Pink Blanket. Next was Mr. Giddenbroght Roma Peraghoia the Third, than me. However, you ran off with Prince Vincent of the country of Grover. Do you not remember?"
Zelda reached up and grasped the bubble. "But those were just my toys and Prince Vincent was nothing more than a character from the playwright: Night of Heaven in a Farce Farce World."
Suddenly, the pink bubble's surface began to melt away revealing a plushie with two black peas for eyes, large engaging ears and a long flimsy tail. Zelda stroked the scruffy brown fur for a moment before nearly dropping the creature... or thing or whatever you should call it.
"Kiki!?! But... you are just a stuffed animal. You can't talk."
Kiki squeeked a small delightful laughter. "Can't talk? You used to talk to me all the time. Remember? We would sleep together, eat together and sometimes bathe together. Although the maids would complain about how hard it was to get me dry afterwards."
"How can you be real? For you see, when I cut, I bleed."
"But if you cut me, don't I bleed too?"
"It's just stuffing."
"If you cut a tree, and maple syrup comes out, does that mean it's not real?"
Zelda frowned; the small ape's smile widened as it leaped up and crawled over to her shoulder.
"Oh Zelda, you have changed so much since last we talked. I mean look at this dreary place. You must really have some serious problems going on for us to be standing like we are in the River Styx," he spoke as he took his hand and viewed the dark room like a mast hand on a pirate ship.
Zelda walked over to the chair. Her white dress floated on the surface's edge as she sat herself on its hard surface. Kiki crawled back on her lap.
"You look confused."
"Because I am; where in Din's name am I? What is going on!?! One moment I'm holding a deformed Ganondorf, the next Link's having sex and now... what is this place? I WANNA GO HOME!" Zelda clasped her ears and pulled her head almost to her chest.
"But you are home! Right now you are in a nice cozy bed with white sheets and goose feathered pillows."
"Then what am I doing here!?!"
"Because you want to."
Zelda twisted her head violently from left to right. "NO NO NO! Why would I want to be in a place... like this!?! And you still haven't told me where am I!"
The monkey shrugged its tiny shoulders. "You tell me, you're the one who wanted it this way."
Zelda had enough. She grabbed the stuffed chimp by the head and heaved it to the side. She folded her arms briskly and huffed. Her face was a bright red. Kiki paddled back over to Zelda and began to crawl back on her lap. However, he didn't' leave any blood prints anywhere. He was as clean as he was when he first met her.
Zelda began to loosen the grip she had on her chest and began to sob. "Just leave me alone. Is that so hard to ask?"
Kiki jumped back on her left shoulder. His tail motioned over by her cheek and caught each tear. "This is alone, Zelda. We're alone as alone can be."
"But you still haven't told me, where I am at?"
"Of course I did! We're in a nice cozy bed with..."
Zelda was about ready to rip her hair out. "NO! Where is THIS... PLACE!"
Kiki giggled. "Ohhhhhh, you want to know THIS place... you silly girl, you should be more specific next time."
Zelda frowned as she lifted Kiki up to her eye level. She gave a peculiar glare at its beady eyes and brought it so close to her face that her breath would cause the brown fur to flicker with each exhale.
"If you really were a living memory of my stuffed monkey, why are you so tactful with words? Personally, my memories with you were with tea parties, my defender against the closet monster, and a lucky charm in chess matches with father." She felt awkward saying such a bizarre accusation, especially in this place; but nevertheless, she trusted this thing as much a thief with a knife at her throat.
The monkey still giggled as it wiggled out of her loose grip and into the air. "My oh my, aren't you perceptive. Perhaps you're not quite as pseudo- pawn as I thought you were. Very well, if you don't like the monkey look, we can always go for something else. Personally, I thought it was a cute... I can be anyone you want... Impa... your mother... but then again I love doing animals... would you settle on a blue hedgehog instead?" it smiled as it began to shift colors.
Zelda stood up and yanked it by the tail. "WHO ARE YOU!?! WHAT'S GOING ON!?!"
The monkey jerked its tail back. Kiki pulled it up, and began to stroke it carefully as an imprint of Zelda's hand was bruised right on it. He sighed once as he floated onto the empty chair. He wiggled his toes for a moment before looking back up.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. We're in your mind silly! Of course, it's a rather dreary place when it's as depressed as you are."
"This can't be! Look at it! We're in a sea of blood... the only thing in here besides you and me is a chair."
"What is depression?"
"That's easy, its prolong sadness, at least according to my studies."
"No no. What IS depression? Is it red? Does it have a bill and quacks?"
Zelda placed her hands on her hips. "You can't describe something like that! It's an abstract! It has no physical form."
"No no, again! Nothing in this place has an abstract feeling to it. It all has shape and form. But look around you!"
"Around where? There's only blood on the..." Zelda stopped in mid-sentence as she felt herself sinking in an endless pit of sand. "WHAT'S GOING ON!"
Kiki floated over to her shoulder as Zelda struggled to keep her upper torso above. Her arms strained as she attempted to lodge herself free from its grip.
"Confusion grasps thee, eh?"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING... ABOUT!" she shrieked as the sand climbed to her neck.
"Zelda, just calm down... as I said this place has no part in the form of the abstract. If you want to stop sinking further, just relax your body and think of clear thoughts. Anything!"
Zelda's eyes shifted as she spits sand that began to push itself through her lips. She closed her eyes. "In the game room. Various board games in the corner. Sitting in a chair. In the middle of a small but comfortable room with a small log burning in the fire place." She had no idea why she picked that location. Perhaps Kiki reminded her of all the times she and her father played chess together? But just as the sand began to cover the top of her crown, she slowly felt as if she was falling once again through the sand. Zelda's body slowly began to be pushed down until she felt like floating into another chair.
She turned all over the place to discover she was in the room she described. Zelda brushed off the sand off her clothes and proceeded to the chair. Her hand reaches back to ensure it was hard and wooden and surely enough, it was!
Kiki floated on top of the table. He placed his hands behind his back and leaned forward. "Perceptive... but extremely emotional. Reminds me more of a cat than anything else. How you survive in this world would be an interesting story altogether."
"Why are we in a room now? Why couldn't we be in one back..."
"Because silly, you didn't want to be. Last reminder, your mind has no value for 'abstract'."
Zelda looked up at Kiki. "But who are you? You never answered me back?"
"Who am I? Whatever I want to be. I can be a happy monkey, a sad monkey.... a horse..."
Zelda bit her lip as she struggled for a better way of wording her question. "What is the name of your true form that was given to you?"
"Ah, now that's more precise, but sadly I cannot give my true form's name. At least, not yet."
"Than... what is your purpose or purposes for coming into my mind?" Zelda felt as if she was in kindergarten again. Thankfully, vocabulary is a strong trait of her family's.
"Let's just say, I'm here to help you. A guide if you may."
"What benefits will you receive by guiding me?"
"None."
"None?"
"Nun? I'm not a Nun. Why did you ask about nuns when none have no purpose here? Would you like a nun for a guardian? I think nun monkeys are very cute as well. Wait, none monkeys? That's not right... the correct grammar would be 'no monkeys'..."
"Why are you so interested in being literally correct? You're just a visitor. You're not one of my true memories. The only one that should be literal is me!" Again, Zelda felt odd saying her statement. But for some reason, it made sense. Kiki crawled to her side and hugged her cheek. His furry string lips gave her a big dry kiss on the cheek while a pink heart lit up above them.
"Gosh you're so darn cute," it spoke as it nuzzled its plushie head against her hair. "But, anyhoo you are once again correct. Why should I, the 'outsider', worry about being literal when the only one who has to worry about it is you, the one who controls? Because it's good practice!"
"For what?"
"I don't know, you ask me? Diamonds? Spades? Clovers? Hearts? Were we just now playing gin rum?"
Zelda growled as she attempted to control the temptations to rip the stupid thing in half. "QUIT PLAYING AROUND! Just... TELL ME..." Zelda turned around the room. The temperature felt as if it rose substantially and didn't feel like discovering what happen when she's angry. She took a moment to breathe in and out. "...there is no point in trying to play a dumb monkey when you have already admitted that you never were one in the first place."
Kiki flew over to a table and laid right on it as if he was doing nothing but watching clouds go by; if there were clouds in the room that is. "Do you understand what happened before?"
"Of course; at one moment I was Lady Magnolia. The next, I woke up to hear the tale of the Rat Kingdom, I saw Link being violated by that horrendous woman, and finally Malon stole the Fierce Deity Mask and delivered it."
"No silly, what happened to 'you'."
"But I told you, I was Lady Magnolia!"
Kiki's face turned down a little, causing a small shadow to cast over his beady eyes. "You're going to find yourself in a nuthouse if you continue to describe things like that. How exactly can you be Lady Magnolia when she died centuries before you were born? After all, you didn't exist and..."
"Alright, in my dream, I was playing the part of Lady Magnolia, Link was Romano, and Impa... was Impa... "
"And then?"
"I woke up."
"How?"
"The medics revived me, of course!"
"No they didn't, if they did, you wouldn't be here. You're in the state of unconscious right now."
Zelda almost choked on her breath. "What are you talking about? I was... I was there when that woman told the story..."
"Then how did you know about Link when you weren't even there?"
Kiki sat up and leaned forward to her. It was the first time Kiki looked into her without grinning. Quite frankly, she found it frightening. "Think Zelda... how is it possible for someone to be in the past, and yet continue on without waking up?"
"..."
Kiki folded his arms and nodded. "I see... well then... let me rephrase the question... how would you know if something is going to happen before you yourself sees it happening?"
Zelda bit her lip in stupidity. "A vision... you mean... it was all a vision of what's to come?"
"Indeed. What you suffered, was not just a time-slip, but a time-jump or a vision soon after as well. A very VERY rare occurrence. However let me point this out." Kiki reached behind his back and mysteriously pulled a book out. "This is a history book. It talked about the fall of the Kingdom of Yean and the Rise of the Wocks. Now... if I were to scribble out names, rip out pages, rewrite battles, than congratulations, the only thing I accomplished was destroying a book. The past can never be altered by mere mortals. You can only look back and interpret it. But the future is very... abstract. It is the unknown, the unwritten, and more importantly, it can be altered by anyone with brain activity. You and Link have excellent first hand experience at this. If I told you, you were going to stand up and stretch, would you still do it as a means to fulfill the future or refuse just to prove me wrong?"
"Determines how much respect I have for you."
Kiki flew over by the walls and looked around. "Visions are very similar to predicting the future..."
"But isn't a vision defined as 'to predict'?"
"Simplistically, yes! But however, think of it this way." Kiki threw the history book aside and pulled out a white book. It was almost three times larger than the small monkey. When he opened it up to one of the pages, it looked as if the book had two brown feet. He used his tail to steady the book while drawing one of his hands close to his face to clear his throat. "The future prediction I have here, is that you will wake up in a bed. There will be a Hylian Phoenix next to you who will talk to you about your health while another one will walk up to you and test your ankle. You notice, he has a slight limp to his step. My, don't they look familiar?" He placed the book to the side and looked up. "That is what is known as a prediction. Predictions are cut and dry because they tell the future without human emotions standing by and are a made by a statement of the goddess. Whenever someone else tells you the future, you accept that as your future and nothing more. But visions are made by the people themselves. There is no goddess intervention, therefore there is doubt. When doubt is present, it clouds the mind and thus twisting the original future."
It's amazing at how two-sided this creature was. It was so hard to take anything it says seriously. At that moment, it appeared to be the sanest thing around. "You think that those things about the Rat Kingdom and such were twisted enough because I was... well..."
"No child, I don't think, I know. Look at where we were the first time you and met? I found you hidden in the game room but, when I got there, it looked like some sort of apocalyptic aftermath. Than at almost at the snap of the fingers, you shifted it like it was nothing. Zelda, you have a problem with being a bit, bipolar with your emotions. One moment you are sad, the next you are angry, than happy and back to sad. You are a telepath. Being so high-low like that will get yourself killed in this situation you're in."
Zelda leaned against the chair. She sighed as her fingers on the side began to clench her dress and twist it nervously. "I can't die... not yet... I have to save Link."
Kiki's swelled brow lowered. "Would you like to know something?"
Zelda turned up nervously. "I guess." Her words stutter with doubt.
"Link's going to betray you, very soon. That was the vision you had."
Zelda's body went numb. The room began to grow very dark once more as she felt her hands grow sweaty. All of a sudden, the lighting in the room began to lit up as Zelda gritted her teeth. "HE WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT! I know, Link. He wouldn't . He couldn't. He was the one who stood up to Romano and prevented him from doing me in!"
Kiki went back to her lap and grabbed her hands. "I'm sorry Zelda. But what I say is very true and very unavoidable. Heed my words, kill this man before he strikes. At first he will be hesitant but, soon will despise you, lie to you, and hate you. He will betray you and he will do it, willingly from his own heart. Not Romano's."
Zelda pulled her hands away. "Link would never become something that heartless..."
"I didn't say 'heartless'... I said... he will hate you with a passion from his own heart."
Zelda had enough of this. She stood up and shot towards the door leaving Kiki on the table. She twisted the knob as hard as she could but it wouldn't move an inch. "I want to go back. TAKE ME BACK TO REAL WORLD! I don't want to dolly-dally in my head while Din-knows-what is happening out there." She had spent far too long in this place. Why should she continue to talk to a stuffed monkey? Link was in trouble and she isn't going to go anywhere lying in a bed.
Kiki sighed as his left hand began to glow. "Before you go, I'll give you three hints to aid you:
1) Your first task is to find Lauretta's body and talk to it. A Poe Hunter can help you with this one. Don't bother finding Link; if you do go into the wine cellar, you'll die by another enemy. That's a guarantee.
2) Don't refer to Romano as just a poe anymore. People won't believe you. Instead, refer to him as a man, and you may find those who are old enough to remember him as valuable allies... or possibly enemies.
3) Your vision's timeframe is in the next two days starting tonight. It's also mixed up with one piece of false truth that you yourself added in. How you interpret it, is up to you."
Kiki pointed his hand toward her. "Wake up."
The words echoed as Zelda fell to her knees. She clutched her ears as a high pitch whistle emitted in the air.
"Its good to see you're awake, your Highness."
Zelda opened her eyes as a brown haired man with a mustache was holding a stone next to her foot. He was still in his red and white armor with a white coat over it.
Wasn't he the one who woke her up in the first place? Or at least she thought he did? Another soldier was also in the room. He too bore the armor of the Hylian Phoenix Medical Brigade. She watched as he dumped her bloody, ripped-up dress into a box for disposal.
After washing his hands, he approached her and began to study her eyes while taking her pulse.
"Zelda, my name is Pheno. Vinder-Ross. This is my colleague Pheno. Hawks, a specialist in bone fractures and surgery." Pheno Hawks took a moment to wave once before applying some ointment to its colorful texture.
Zelda looked around the room. She never had been in the Royal Healing Chambers before. They had a strict policy of allowing as few people as possible into it to keep it sanitary. She was amazed at the gorgeous white marble. If it were not for the fact that some of the stones had cracks and the various tools that were around the place, she could've sworn that the room could've go on for miles.
She never saw anything so dust free before. Its said that the Hylian nuns scrub the place every night yet it has only been used in a handful of occasions.
Vinder-Ross turned toward Zelda and felt her forehead. "I see you are much better... earlier you were mumbling all sorts of nonsense and were singing at a point... Hawks got a real chuckle out of that. But now, your forehead is much cooler and your breathing is less ecstatic."
Zelda's bandaged head sank into the pillow. It felt so peaceful in the room now. The rain outside was beating pretty hard like little pebbles against the glass. She yawned for a moment as she observed the two Phenos walking back and forth with magic charts and various cocktail medications for her. Somehow she felt somewhat drawn to Hawks as he hobbled on his left side. After all, he was a bone Pheno, and for him to have problems like that. In a way it was both ironic and humorous. Zelda's face twisted as a strange sense of déjà vu began to reveal. The situation, although different, doesn't seem too different. No its not. Is this the beginning of the vision? "He's not going to say it... goddess... if he says it, it means... my forty eight hours have begun..."
Hawks opened a small window and pushed his short frame up towards the opening. "Impa, we got her to wake up."
To be Continued... again
Chapter Eleven I suppose: if counted in Numerical Order. But if you think about it, what Chapter are we on? When Past and Future were from the last Part. Why is the Present Now?
Zelda slumped on the chair. Her eyes dilated while her head was cocked to the side as she was surrounded by a never ending sea of blood. The walls? There were none. But yet, as her slit wrists from the purification drained onto the floor, it began to fill this mysterious room. The blood was almost up to her kneecaps.
It just kept draining onto the floor. But she didn't care. Romano has Link and has his Lauretta.
"I'm crazy... I'm mad... I belong with all the other mad... I deserve no crown... I deserve death. Maybe I should've died. The world will move on..."
Oddly, she felt at peace right now. She can't feel her arms. It's like they were just sewn on.
"Maybe that's what I am... I'm a doll! A doll that was meant to be placed on a shelf and to collect dust. I should know my place. Link knew his. Now he's happy. Oh dear... its going higher! But I don't care. No I don't. Maybe a little? Should I? I guess for old times sakes."
Perhaps she was bored. Or maybe she really was crazy... or lonely... or both crazy and lonely... or lonely and crazy. Is there a difference between lonely and crazy? They seem to go hand and hand with each other.
It's quiet in here.
Except for the drip drip drip. Sometimes it's a subtle stream, and other times its flowing waterfall.
Too quiet.
Is this all she can do? Swing her feet left and right like a perfect pendulum on a grandfather clock?
If this was all there was to life, she has taken boredom for the easy life of just ripening here. Right here on this chair.
Its soooooo quiet.
So so quiet.
Very quiet.
Did she mention it was quiet?
Let's sing!
Zelda wave her head from side to side. "La la la la la la la. LA la la la la la la. La-la-la-la-la-la-la." She lazily sung each word. First from low to high and then high to low.
Oh dear!
The blood has risen to her knee caps!
"Do I care?" she muttered to herself herself. She slowly rolled her head back and was tickled with giggles and delights.
Too too quiet.
Let's sing! "La la la la la la la. LA la la la la la la. La-la-la-la-la-la-la." Zelda began to sing her legs from side to side, thoroughly amused by the swish swash swish of each little swing.
She sighs as she closed her eyes and allowed her arms to fall off.
Plop!
Plop!
Why should she use them. They are useless now.
Of course everything is useless now.
So very quiet.
Let's sing!
"La la la la la la la. LA la la la la la la."
"La-la-la-la-la-la-la!" echoed a voice.
Zelda's eyes shifted. "Hello there... I'm bored... will you sing for me?" she requested sweetly as her left arm floated by. Suddenly, a slight bubbling erupted about four feet away from her. Zelda tilted her head curiously. "Oh my. What is that? HELLO!" she cried out.
Another round of bubbles cracked the surface.
Zelda stared at the surface of the scarlet plane. She didn't know how long she stared but she stared at it a great deal. Finally, boredom crept completely through her body. She summoned her arms back upon the empty sockets of her torso and stood straight up. She began to trudge through the thick red ooze until finally she came upon the place where the bubbles originated.
"Hello? Please show yourself? I know someone is down there! For there was nothing before when I first began to bleed but myself and that chair."
The bubbling erupted once more. Zelda felt the room shake as a bubble, the size of a beach ball, emerged from the pool and into the air. A glow of warm pink light emitted from the object. "But what is a thing of such wonder and beauty in a dreary place like this?"
The bubble emitted a giddy laugh. "Because you ARE beautiful! You made me beautiful... at least at one point of your life! Well maybe things do look more beautiful when you are in love. At least, we were in love at one point with each other."
Zelda felt odd at this statement. For one thing, she was never 'in love' with anyone. Even Link; for one thing, he never showed any real affection except on a few rare points. Those were probably accidents. "Were you my 'first' love?" It was a stupid statement. But at this point, she was curious at hearing anything that came from this bubble.
"No; that was Pink Blanket. Next was Mr. Giddenbroght Roma Peraghoia the Third, than me. However, you ran off with Prince Vincent of the country of Grover. Do you not remember?"
Zelda reached up and grasped the bubble. "But those were just my toys and Prince Vincent was nothing more than a character from the playwright: Night of Heaven in a Farce Farce World."
Suddenly, the pink bubble's surface began to melt away revealing a plushie with two black peas for eyes, large engaging ears and a long flimsy tail. Zelda stroked the scruffy brown fur for a moment before nearly dropping the creature... or thing or whatever you should call it.
"Kiki!?! But... you are just a stuffed animal. You can't talk."
Kiki squeeked a small delightful laughter. "Can't talk? You used to talk to me all the time. Remember? We would sleep together, eat together and sometimes bathe together. Although the maids would complain about how hard it was to get me dry afterwards."
"How can you be real? For you see, when I cut, I bleed."
"But if you cut me, don't I bleed too?"
"It's just stuffing."
"If you cut a tree, and maple syrup comes out, does that mean it's not real?"
Zelda frowned; the small ape's smile widened as it leaped up and crawled over to her shoulder.
"Oh Zelda, you have changed so much since last we talked. I mean look at this dreary place. You must really have some serious problems going on for us to be standing like we are in the River Styx," he spoke as he took his hand and viewed the dark room like a mast hand on a pirate ship.
Zelda walked over to the chair. Her white dress floated on the surface's edge as she sat herself on its hard surface. Kiki crawled back on her lap.
"You look confused."
"Because I am; where in Din's name am I? What is going on!?! One moment I'm holding a deformed Ganondorf, the next Link's having sex and now... what is this place? I WANNA GO HOME!" Zelda clasped her ears and pulled her head almost to her chest.
"But you are home! Right now you are in a nice cozy bed with white sheets and goose feathered pillows."
"Then what am I doing here!?!"
"Because you want to."
Zelda twisted her head violently from left to right. "NO NO NO! Why would I want to be in a place... like this!?! And you still haven't told me where am I!"
The monkey shrugged its tiny shoulders. "You tell me, you're the one who wanted it this way."
Zelda had enough. She grabbed the stuffed chimp by the head and heaved it to the side. She folded her arms briskly and huffed. Her face was a bright red. Kiki paddled back over to Zelda and began to crawl back on her lap. However, he didn't' leave any blood prints anywhere. He was as clean as he was when he first met her.
Zelda began to loosen the grip she had on her chest and began to sob. "Just leave me alone. Is that so hard to ask?"
Kiki jumped back on her left shoulder. His tail motioned over by her cheek and caught each tear. "This is alone, Zelda. We're alone as alone can be."
"But you still haven't told me, where I am at?"
"Of course I did! We're in a nice cozy bed with..."
Zelda was about ready to rip her hair out. "NO! Where is THIS... PLACE!"
Kiki giggled. "Ohhhhhh, you want to know THIS place... you silly girl, you should be more specific next time."
Zelda frowned as she lifted Kiki up to her eye level. She gave a peculiar glare at its beady eyes and brought it so close to her face that her breath would cause the brown fur to flicker with each exhale.
"If you really were a living memory of my stuffed monkey, why are you so tactful with words? Personally, my memories with you were with tea parties, my defender against the closet monster, and a lucky charm in chess matches with father." She felt awkward saying such a bizarre accusation, especially in this place; but nevertheless, she trusted this thing as much a thief with a knife at her throat.
The monkey still giggled as it wiggled out of her loose grip and into the air. "My oh my, aren't you perceptive. Perhaps you're not quite as pseudo- pawn as I thought you were. Very well, if you don't like the monkey look, we can always go for something else. Personally, I thought it was a cute... I can be anyone you want... Impa... your mother... but then again I love doing animals... would you settle on a blue hedgehog instead?" it smiled as it began to shift colors.
Zelda stood up and yanked it by the tail. "WHO ARE YOU!?! WHAT'S GOING ON!?!"
The monkey jerked its tail back. Kiki pulled it up, and began to stroke it carefully as an imprint of Zelda's hand was bruised right on it. He sighed once as he floated onto the empty chair. He wiggled his toes for a moment before looking back up.
"I'm surprised you haven't figured it out. We're in your mind silly! Of course, it's a rather dreary place when it's as depressed as you are."
"This can't be! Look at it! We're in a sea of blood... the only thing in here besides you and me is a chair."
"What is depression?"
"That's easy, its prolong sadness, at least according to my studies."
"No no. What IS depression? Is it red? Does it have a bill and quacks?"
Zelda placed her hands on her hips. "You can't describe something like that! It's an abstract! It has no physical form."
"No no, again! Nothing in this place has an abstract feeling to it. It all has shape and form. But look around you!"
"Around where? There's only blood on the..." Zelda stopped in mid-sentence as she felt herself sinking in an endless pit of sand. "WHAT'S GOING ON!"
Kiki floated over to her shoulder as Zelda struggled to keep her upper torso above. Her arms strained as she attempted to lodge herself free from its grip.
"Confusion grasps thee, eh?"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING... ABOUT!" she shrieked as the sand climbed to her neck.
"Zelda, just calm down... as I said this place has no part in the form of the abstract. If you want to stop sinking further, just relax your body and think of clear thoughts. Anything!"
Zelda's eyes shifted as she spits sand that began to push itself through her lips. She closed her eyes. "In the game room. Various board games in the corner. Sitting in a chair. In the middle of a small but comfortable room with a small log burning in the fire place." She had no idea why she picked that location. Perhaps Kiki reminded her of all the times she and her father played chess together? But just as the sand began to cover the top of her crown, she slowly felt as if she was falling once again through the sand. Zelda's body slowly began to be pushed down until she felt like floating into another chair.
She turned all over the place to discover she was in the room she described. Zelda brushed off the sand off her clothes and proceeded to the chair. Her hand reaches back to ensure it was hard and wooden and surely enough, it was!
Kiki floated on top of the table. He placed his hands behind his back and leaned forward. "Perceptive... but extremely emotional. Reminds me more of a cat than anything else. How you survive in this world would be an interesting story altogether."
"Why are we in a room now? Why couldn't we be in one back..."
"Because silly, you didn't want to be. Last reminder, your mind has no value for 'abstract'."
Zelda looked up at Kiki. "But who are you? You never answered me back?"
"Who am I? Whatever I want to be. I can be a happy monkey, a sad monkey.... a horse..."
Zelda bit her lip as she struggled for a better way of wording her question. "What is the name of your true form that was given to you?"
"Ah, now that's more precise, but sadly I cannot give my true form's name. At least, not yet."
"Than... what is your purpose or purposes for coming into my mind?" Zelda felt as if she was in kindergarten again. Thankfully, vocabulary is a strong trait of her family's.
"Let's just say, I'm here to help you. A guide if you may."
"What benefits will you receive by guiding me?"
"None."
"None?"
"Nun? I'm not a Nun. Why did you ask about nuns when none have no purpose here? Would you like a nun for a guardian? I think nun monkeys are very cute as well. Wait, none monkeys? That's not right... the correct grammar would be 'no monkeys'..."
"Why are you so interested in being literally correct? You're just a visitor. You're not one of my true memories. The only one that should be literal is me!" Again, Zelda felt odd saying her statement. But for some reason, it made sense. Kiki crawled to her side and hugged her cheek. His furry string lips gave her a big dry kiss on the cheek while a pink heart lit up above them.
"Gosh you're so darn cute," it spoke as it nuzzled its plushie head against her hair. "But, anyhoo you are once again correct. Why should I, the 'outsider', worry about being literal when the only one who has to worry about it is you, the one who controls? Because it's good practice!"
"For what?"
"I don't know, you ask me? Diamonds? Spades? Clovers? Hearts? Were we just now playing gin rum?"
Zelda growled as she attempted to control the temptations to rip the stupid thing in half. "QUIT PLAYING AROUND! Just... TELL ME..." Zelda turned around the room. The temperature felt as if it rose substantially and didn't feel like discovering what happen when she's angry. She took a moment to breathe in and out. "...there is no point in trying to play a dumb monkey when you have already admitted that you never were one in the first place."
Kiki flew over to a table and laid right on it as if he was doing nothing but watching clouds go by; if there were clouds in the room that is. "Do you understand what happened before?"
"Of course; at one moment I was Lady Magnolia. The next, I woke up to hear the tale of the Rat Kingdom, I saw Link being violated by that horrendous woman, and finally Malon stole the Fierce Deity Mask and delivered it."
"No silly, what happened to 'you'."
"But I told you, I was Lady Magnolia!"
Kiki's face turned down a little, causing a small shadow to cast over his beady eyes. "You're going to find yourself in a nuthouse if you continue to describe things like that. How exactly can you be Lady Magnolia when she died centuries before you were born? After all, you didn't exist and..."
"Alright, in my dream, I was playing the part of Lady Magnolia, Link was Romano, and Impa... was Impa... "
"And then?"
"I woke up."
"How?"
"The medics revived me, of course!"
"No they didn't, if they did, you wouldn't be here. You're in the state of unconscious right now."
Zelda almost choked on her breath. "What are you talking about? I was... I was there when that woman told the story..."
"Then how did you know about Link when you weren't even there?"
Kiki sat up and leaned forward to her. It was the first time Kiki looked into her without grinning. Quite frankly, she found it frightening. "Think Zelda... how is it possible for someone to be in the past, and yet continue on without waking up?"
"..."
Kiki folded his arms and nodded. "I see... well then... let me rephrase the question... how would you know if something is going to happen before you yourself sees it happening?"
Zelda bit her lip in stupidity. "A vision... you mean... it was all a vision of what's to come?"
"Indeed. What you suffered, was not just a time-slip, but a time-jump or a vision soon after as well. A very VERY rare occurrence. However let me point this out." Kiki reached behind his back and mysteriously pulled a book out. "This is a history book. It talked about the fall of the Kingdom of Yean and the Rise of the Wocks. Now... if I were to scribble out names, rip out pages, rewrite battles, than congratulations, the only thing I accomplished was destroying a book. The past can never be altered by mere mortals. You can only look back and interpret it. But the future is very... abstract. It is the unknown, the unwritten, and more importantly, it can be altered by anyone with brain activity. You and Link have excellent first hand experience at this. If I told you, you were going to stand up and stretch, would you still do it as a means to fulfill the future or refuse just to prove me wrong?"
"Determines how much respect I have for you."
Kiki flew over by the walls and looked around. "Visions are very similar to predicting the future..."
"But isn't a vision defined as 'to predict'?"
"Simplistically, yes! But however, think of it this way." Kiki threw the history book aside and pulled out a white book. It was almost three times larger than the small monkey. When he opened it up to one of the pages, it looked as if the book had two brown feet. He used his tail to steady the book while drawing one of his hands close to his face to clear his throat. "The future prediction I have here, is that you will wake up in a bed. There will be a Hylian Phoenix next to you who will talk to you about your health while another one will walk up to you and test your ankle. You notice, he has a slight limp to his step. My, don't they look familiar?" He placed the book to the side and looked up. "That is what is known as a prediction. Predictions are cut and dry because they tell the future without human emotions standing by and are a made by a statement of the goddess. Whenever someone else tells you the future, you accept that as your future and nothing more. But visions are made by the people themselves. There is no goddess intervention, therefore there is doubt. When doubt is present, it clouds the mind and thus twisting the original future."
It's amazing at how two-sided this creature was. It was so hard to take anything it says seriously. At that moment, it appeared to be the sanest thing around. "You think that those things about the Rat Kingdom and such were twisted enough because I was... well..."
"No child, I don't think, I know. Look at where we were the first time you and met? I found you hidden in the game room but, when I got there, it looked like some sort of apocalyptic aftermath. Than at almost at the snap of the fingers, you shifted it like it was nothing. Zelda, you have a problem with being a bit, bipolar with your emotions. One moment you are sad, the next you are angry, than happy and back to sad. You are a telepath. Being so high-low like that will get yourself killed in this situation you're in."
Zelda leaned against the chair. She sighed as her fingers on the side began to clench her dress and twist it nervously. "I can't die... not yet... I have to save Link."
Kiki's swelled brow lowered. "Would you like to know something?"
Zelda turned up nervously. "I guess." Her words stutter with doubt.
"Link's going to betray you, very soon. That was the vision you had."
Zelda's body went numb. The room began to grow very dark once more as she felt her hands grow sweaty. All of a sudden, the lighting in the room began to lit up as Zelda gritted her teeth. "HE WOULD NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT! I know, Link. He wouldn't . He couldn't. He was the one who stood up to Romano and prevented him from doing me in!"
Kiki went back to her lap and grabbed her hands. "I'm sorry Zelda. But what I say is very true and very unavoidable. Heed my words, kill this man before he strikes. At first he will be hesitant but, soon will despise you, lie to you, and hate you. He will betray you and he will do it, willingly from his own heart. Not Romano's."
Zelda pulled her hands away. "Link would never become something that heartless..."
"I didn't say 'heartless'... I said... he will hate you with a passion from his own heart."
Zelda had enough of this. She stood up and shot towards the door leaving Kiki on the table. She twisted the knob as hard as she could but it wouldn't move an inch. "I want to go back. TAKE ME BACK TO REAL WORLD! I don't want to dolly-dally in my head while Din-knows-what is happening out there." She had spent far too long in this place. Why should she continue to talk to a stuffed monkey? Link was in trouble and she isn't going to go anywhere lying in a bed.
Kiki sighed as his left hand began to glow. "Before you go, I'll give you three hints to aid you:
1) Your first task is to find Lauretta's body and talk to it. A Poe Hunter can help you with this one. Don't bother finding Link; if you do go into the wine cellar, you'll die by another enemy. That's a guarantee.
2) Don't refer to Romano as just a poe anymore. People won't believe you. Instead, refer to him as a man, and you may find those who are old enough to remember him as valuable allies... or possibly enemies.
3) Your vision's timeframe is in the next two days starting tonight. It's also mixed up with one piece of false truth that you yourself added in. How you interpret it, is up to you."
Kiki pointed his hand toward her. "Wake up."
The words echoed as Zelda fell to her knees. She clutched her ears as a high pitch whistle emitted in the air.
"Its good to see you're awake, your Highness."
Zelda opened her eyes as a brown haired man with a mustache was holding a stone next to her foot. He was still in his red and white armor with a white coat over it.
Wasn't he the one who woke her up in the first place? Or at least she thought he did? Another soldier was also in the room. He too bore the armor of the Hylian Phoenix Medical Brigade. She watched as he dumped her bloody, ripped-up dress into a box for disposal.
After washing his hands, he approached her and began to study her eyes while taking her pulse.
"Zelda, my name is Pheno. Vinder-Ross. This is my colleague Pheno. Hawks, a specialist in bone fractures and surgery." Pheno Hawks took a moment to wave once before applying some ointment to its colorful texture.
Zelda looked around the room. She never had been in the Royal Healing Chambers before. They had a strict policy of allowing as few people as possible into it to keep it sanitary. She was amazed at the gorgeous white marble. If it were not for the fact that some of the stones had cracks and the various tools that were around the place, she could've sworn that the room could've go on for miles.
She never saw anything so dust free before. Its said that the Hylian nuns scrub the place every night yet it has only been used in a handful of occasions.
Vinder-Ross turned toward Zelda and felt her forehead. "I see you are much better... earlier you were mumbling all sorts of nonsense and were singing at a point... Hawks got a real chuckle out of that. But now, your forehead is much cooler and your breathing is less ecstatic."
Zelda's bandaged head sank into the pillow. It felt so peaceful in the room now. The rain outside was beating pretty hard like little pebbles against the glass. She yawned for a moment as she observed the two Phenos walking back and forth with magic charts and various cocktail medications for her. Somehow she felt somewhat drawn to Hawks as he hobbled on his left side. After all, he was a bone Pheno, and for him to have problems like that. In a way it was both ironic and humorous. Zelda's face twisted as a strange sense of déjà vu began to reveal. The situation, although different, doesn't seem too different. No its not. Is this the beginning of the vision? "He's not going to say it... goddess... if he says it, it means... my forty eight hours have begun..."
Hawks opened a small window and pushed his short frame up towards the opening. "Impa, we got her to wake up."
To be Continued... again