A.N: Same as usual. Thanks to my friends yada, yada, yada.

Chapter 6: What ever happens, happens

It was a while before the humans could force themselves to move away from the magnificent company, as they were intrigued. It was Leon who finally made the movement to go, saying that they had training to do as well as making preparations and showing the new comers the rest of Hyrule.

Link; however had the feeling that it had nothing to do with that. He realized why he was anxious to leave with a jolt.

'It's his daughter's birthday, and this is bringing back memories which he wants to forget'.

Realizing this, Link got to his feet, giving the others a sign with his eyes which said 'It would be for the best, I'll explain later'

The group reluctantly got up and saying a quick goodbye to the dragons, and promising to return soon, they left.

While Yunsung was loudly complaining and protesting, with the occasional not-so-subtle hint that he thought Leon was scared, they relit their torches and began to walk to the entrance of the cave, so that they could leave.

Maxi and Siegfried walked silently side by side, and throwing a few glances towards Leon which clearly said 'Why do we have to go? Why did you have to stop us enjoying ourselves?'

Sheik walked behind the group, watching everybody, judging what they were feeling from the looks and glances they were giving Leon, most of which were annoyed glances and looks.

Link walked beside Leon, wondering what should be said to him and the others.

Leon walked silently, staring straight ahead and clearly thinking about something that pained him.

Daylight reached them as they came to the mouth of the cave, and they dropped their torches, putting them out once they reached the outside.

"Uhh, I, um, have things to see to and birds to sort out so, erm, I'm going to head off now. I'll see you at dinner." Leon muttered and then scurried off hurriedly

Sheik excused himself promptly as well and hurried off to continue his training with Impa.

Link was left standing with Yunsung, Maxi and Siegfried.

Maxi gave him a pointed look. "Well?"

"What?" Link asked

"Why did you drag us out of there because of Leon, couldn't you have let him go and we could have stayed there?"

"I could, but he's right. We do have things to do and I didn't want him to go out on his own, thinking that we don't care."

"But we don't." Yunsung answered

"Just because he was scared, doesn't mean we were." Siegfried stated, Maxi and Yunsung nodding in agreement

"He wasn't scared, you don't understand." Link replied and began to lead them out of the area

"Leon's seen scarier things than dragons, and he was at ease with them...it's just memories that are coming back to him."

The three other men gave him a questioning look

"Listen, let's go for a ride out on Hyrule field and I'll explain then."

"Fine."

Link locked the gate to the enclosure behind him and then grabbed Epona from the field she was in and went to the stables to saddle her up. Siegfried attended to Nightmare, who he had permission to handle, while Maxi and Yunsung chose their horses and the group set off.

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when they got onto Hyrule field. The sky was still its usual blue and everything was pretty calm and quiet.

"So, we want some answers." Yunsung stated as they rode.

"You remember Leon said that he wandered through a portal and into Hyrule whilst he was on a job to rescue a girl, the president of the USA's daughter? Well, what he failed to tell you is about his family."

"Family?"

"Leon was married, to a woman called Claire. They had a daughter together a year after they married, her name was Sora. Leon told me about her and it turns out that today is her birthday. I think he just wanted to get away from the dragons because the baby was reminding him about the family he can never see again."

"So what, he has memories." Yunsung stated

"Yes, but a memory is a poor thing to have when it comes to people that you love and Leon never had much of a decent family life when he was growing up. His mother was fine with him, and so was his step sister. But his brother and his father didn't like him, or treat him fairly. Leon vowed not to be like his father and to treat his kids fairly. But because he's separated from them he feels like he's failed and let his family down."

"Oh, I see."

"It's not that he's moody or anything it's just that the current events are reminding him of things he'd rather forget, that's why I made us go with him. Because I don't want him to feel like no-one cares about him, but he obviously wants to be on his own at the moment. It's just so that he knows that there are people who are here for him."

Leon sat in his room, on his bed, his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking from the slight sobs he made every couple of seconds. A photo of his wife, Claire, sat on the nightstand next to the bed. The shutters were closed over the windows, the thick curtains drawn over them; this made the room very, very dark, which perfectly complimented his dreary mood.

The room Leon stayed in was of a fairly average quality (for a royal family), matching that of his former home in Washington, which was a very large flat.

The room was large, and had polished stone walls covered with large tapestries hanging over them to lessen the attention of the monotone grey.

There was a small fireplace in the direct centre of the wall opposite the bed. A door in the far left corner was closed and led to the adjacent bathroom. The large window stood opposite the door that you entered through.

A double bed sat in the direct centre of the left wall, covered in slightly patterned blue sheets. A bookcase, completely filled was to the right of the door and a wardrobe was in the far right corner.

In the top left corner of the room, next to the window was a very large bird cage, filled with small toys a bird could play with. In the cage were 3 sleek mainly black birds, but with their feathers slightly tinted with colour. The largest one had a green tint, the medium a blue tint and the smallest one a very slight purple tint. Each had a yellow streak over the eye and a yellow/orange beak, and a few white streaks, angling downwards, on their chests.

These were Leon's pet birds, the Hylian Night Stars. When he had lived in Washington and had first moved in, his mum and step sister had bought him pet birds to stop him getting lonely. Only they had bought two, a male and a female. Of course they weren't Hylian Night Stars, they were Myna birds and they had a knack for learning how to speak.

The two species were very similar and the HNS as they were called for short learned to speak too. Link, Zelda and Liam had bought them as a present for him. Two to be precise, Lyude and Savyna, one male, one female...which led to Kalas, the third one, being born.

They were of course talking to Leon as he sat there, crying quietly, because they only shut up once they had fallen asleep, which was usually after Leon let them out. And then as soon as they were out a servant would walk in...and the birds would fly out and the castle staff would end up chasing the birds for hours until they were exhausted and the birds would fly back to their cage automatically.

"What's the matter, Leon?" Savyna called...in a voice strangely similar to Zelda's. He looked up at her and then realized that Zelda was actually standing behind him and she had said it, not the bird.

"Uh, the usual." was Leon's heavy reply

Zelda knew what it was automatically and her eyes went to the picture of the beautiful brunette, Claire.

"Leon...I need to talk to you, and I want you to listen to me."

Leon turned round and looked at Zelda, he saw a gentle mixture of emotions on her face, but couldn't figure out what they were.

"Leon. I'm not going to tell you that you need to move on and find someone else, because I know you won't. I'm also not going to judge you in anyway over the matter. But...remember, even though you probably know this, Claire is in a similar state, I'm sure. I also know that she loves you as much as you love her and that she doesn't want you to be like this. I know that it's hard, but you need to cheer up. I hate seeing you like this, because you're one of my family members too. You're like an older brother to me and I just want to see you happy."

"Zelda...my daughter is going to grow up not knowing me. How can I be happy with that working against me?"

"By knowing that Claire will make it clear to her what you were like, and tell her about you all the time. Leon, you have family here as well, and we'll be here for you whenever you need us. Everyone who lives or works in this castle has lost someone in their lives, even me. So I know how you feel. But you haven't really lost them. I know it's a poor substitute, but you'll have memories and part of them will be in you're heart all the time." She gave him a gentle smile and whispered in his ear. "Perhaps you'll return to your world one day and be with them again." She walked to the door, ready to leave.

"Zelda" Leon's hoarse voice called "...Thanks, I know I can count on you, Link and Liam..."

He turned away, standing up opening the curtains and shutters to let the light and air back in.

Leon turned to the birds and Zelda watched him and them.

"I'll leave you alone then."

"Actually...I was going to go out for a ride and take them with me and try to find Link and the others...are you going to come with me?"

"Sure, let me change my dress and tell Impa and I'll be there ...meet you in the stables."

"K...c'mon guys." he opened the door and the birds flew out and sat on his bed, making peeping noises. He pulled a few leather cords out of a drawer and tied it on to each birds leg, then let the youngest, Kalas, settle on his right shoulder. The older birds flew to the door and hung above impatiently, squawking at him.

He sighed and opened the door and the birds flew out, Leon followed them and walked to the pasture where his horse was.

Leading the stallion back to its stable, he began to attend to him. Leon's horse, who he had named 'Thara', was an average looking animal about 15 hands. He was a light palomino/golden colour, with a flaxen mane and tail and a single white coronet marking with blue striped hooves, a strange marking type for the horses around Hyrule as most had completely white or black hooves. There were a few strange lines on his head though, a shade lighter than the rest of the hair on the horses head, but a distinct silver mark on its head, between the eyes.

(Author's note:coronet: a small area about an inch, just above the hoof, blue – a slate blue/black colour. Considered stronger than white hooves. If you'd care to know)

Apart from those markings the horse was very plain. It had a very slightly weak appearance about it, due to its former mistreatment and malnourishment.

It turned out that a man had made his home on Death Mountain for some reason, though no-one could quite figure out why. He had lived with his 5 year old daughter in a secluded cave. He had bought the horse for her as a birthday present, but hadn't had the facilities to take care of it. While she was sleeping one night, he took the horse deep into the mountains and released it.

However, due to the environment, there was nothing for the horse to survive on, with no food and water and no-one to give it the care it needed, the horse wandered through the chasms and trails of Death Mountain.

Link and Leon had found the dying animal a few weeks after it had been released, lying just inside the Dodongo's cavern entrance.

At that point its hooves had been so overgrown they had curled back on themselves and the horse could barely walk, the shoes had fallen off, so the hollow of the horse's hooves had been clogged with dirt, therefore becoming sore, irritated and blistered. His whole body had been covered in various gashes from rocks and predators, the mane and tail had become so tangled that they had to be partially cut off and its coat was matted and dirt covered, so much so that at first the two men had thought the horse was dark brown. The halter that 'Thara' had been wearing at the time, that the previous owner had forgotten to take off, had been so tight, that the rope he had used was cutting into the flesh of the horses face, and maggots were crawling around in the infected wound.

Despite all the horse had been through, though, he had warmed to his new owner and was very gentle towards everyone who approached it.

Leon slipped the bridle onto the horse's head, tightening it, but making sure that it didn't press on the scars left on the horses head.

The three birds were sitting inside the stable of another horse, trying to annoy it by pulling at its mane. The horse gave a snort of displeasure, making Leon look up from what he was doing.

"Knock it off, you three!" he called to the birds

Lyude looked up at him and then went back to pestering the horse. The mare, deciding she had had enough, reared up, sending the birds stumbling backwards.

The stable master walked up to Leon.

"I wish your birds wouldn't annoy her like that." He stated

"Well, I think that they've just learnt their lesson." Leon replied, looking at the princess who had just entered the stable yard.

"Hey, Zelda. Are you ready?" he asked

"Sure, just let me get Burmese ready!" she replied walking down the path

(AN: Queen Elizabeth II was given a black mare called Burmese by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which was the queen's favourite ceremonial mount through the 1970's...which is where I got the name from, incidentally. A bit of British Royal Family knowledge for you)

About five minutes later Zelda came back with 'Burmese'.

After Leon spent a further five minutes trying to get the birds to stop pestering another horse, they set off at a light canter out onto Hyrule field.

Link, Siegfried, Yunsung and Maxi were riding leisurely through the plain of Hyrule, heading towards Lake Hylia, the first stop on the 'tour of Hyrule' as Yunsung had taken to call it. It was the peak of summer at the moment, and about 2 o'clock.

Link was dozing lightly in the hot sun, his eyes half closed. Maxi, Yunsung and Siegfried seemed to be discussing something; Soul Edge was the topic at the moment. Siegfried was trying to steer the conversation away from the subject, as it was uncomfortably closely related to his past. However, either fate or Maxi and Yunsung seemed to have a sadistic side and the inevitable question came up.

"But why and how did you murder your father and not realize it?" Yunsung asked,

Link's ears seemed to prick up at this point, his eyes opened and he turned to look at Siegfried as he struggled to make them lose interest.

"It's " he answered

"My hairy backside, it is." Yunsung stated, clearly not believing the German.

"Alright, I'll tell you. But I'd rather that you keep any judgements about me to yourself. I still, rather obviously, feel guilty over the fact of what I did."

The other three nodded

"A few years before I was born, a knight named Sir Friedrich lead an army of peasants in a revolt against the Roman Empire.

After tiring battles, the army rested in a town back inside Germany's borders. Sir Friedrich spent the night in a house with a woman and the inevitable happened. He left the next morning, saying he would return.

He left for sometime, fighting battles and leading armies in revolt against the people who caused problems.

He returned to the woman, named Margaret, after the battles, to find she had given birth to their child..."

"You." Link stated

Siegfried nodded and continued with his story, pulling his horse to a halt. "My mother and father married a few months later. As I grew up, my father taught me how to use and fight with a Zweihander. Unfortunately, he had other duties to attend to and without his guidance; I began to associate with the wrong type of crowds. The crowds and gangs my father fought against. Apart from the Roman Empire, of course.

I set up my own group of brigands, as you know, called the Schwarzwind and one day we heard about a group of soldiers, heading back from the battles against the Romans. Realizing that if we defeated them we could become rich and powerful, I decided to ambush the soldiers with my group. We attacked them and weak and tired as they were, they couldn't fight us for long. While my gang slaughtered the group, I sought out the commander and killed him myself."

"How?" Yunsung interrupted, seemingly wanting to know the gory details.

"I'll tell you if you shut up." Siegfried retorted

Yunsung huffed, but shut up so Siegfried could continue

"I decapitated him with my Zweihander. When he fell to the floor I picked up the head to show the group that we had victory...but as I did, the man's helmet fell off, and I saw that it was my father who I had killed."

"So what did you do?" Link asked from in front of them.

"Apparently I let out a horrified scream, I expect I would've but it's not important anymore. My mind snapped and I fled into the black forest. Driven by grief, I ran for days, until I was lost. When I finally stopped, I spent days in there on my own, and I grieved for my father. My insanity grew each day that passed, and through denial I came to believe that somebody else had killed my father. I then heard of Soul Edge and I became convinced that this was the weapon that I would avenge my father's death with."

"Ahhh, now I understand...and then you became Nightmare etc."

"Yes...though, I'm not proud of what I did."

"And what about your mother?" Maxi asked

Siegfried sat silently for a minute, deep in thought, before answering. "I haven't seen her since I murdered my father. I actually believe that she wouldn't want to see me, if she knew that it was me who murdered my father."

"How do you know that?"

"How would you react to your son, who you hadn't seen for 7 years, turning up on your doorstep? Especially knowing he had killed the person you loved and wanted to spend the rest of your life with?"

The three other men remained silent, thinking about how to reply. Link was the one who had finally broke the silence. "I'm not sure. Not having any children of my own and never having any parents, I'm not sure how I would feel towards my child. I do know how I would feel if someone killed Zelda...but I don't know if that someone was my child, someone you're supposed to love unconditionally.

The fact is...no-one here has a child. And I'm the closest thing to someone wanting to spend the rest of their life with someone. No-one here can judge, because we haven't got the emotions and love, therefore we can't possibly try to comprehend what your mother would feel."

Siegfried nodded.

"However, I'm fairly certain that she would like to see one of the men she loves again. So perhaps you should visit her and find out, maybe that way you can help yourself more, as well. It's all very well saying that you're trying to redeem yourself by helping me and my people...and possibly be forgiven by us. But that doesn't matter. The people who you need to forgive you are your mother and those you've hurt most. But most importantly, yourself." Link stated

"I don't think I can ever forgive myself after what I did."

"Then you'll never be fully redeemed."

"When did you get so wise?" Maxi asked

"I just matured quickly," was Link's reply "besides you have to be when you've got people like you around." he smirked as he said that last sentence "But Zelda is a lot wiser."

"Why thank you, Link." said a voice from behind the group of men

They turned around to see Zelda, sitting on a mainly black mare, with Leon beside her.

"What are you doing here?" Yunsung asked, turning towards Leon

"Scaling a mountain...What does it look like I'm doing?"

"No need to be sarcastic."

"Well, you asked an obvious question, how did you want me to answer?"

"........Whatever!" Yunsung said, turning away

"Anyway...I partly came here to let the birds stretch their wings properly and partly to apologise for earlier."

"You don't need to...Link explained to us, and I, in the least realize that it was wrong for us to judge you when weren't aware of all the facts." Siegfried spoke up

"Generous of you, I must say. But thank you anyway."

"What's got you so understanding?" Yunsung asked

Siegfried just looked at him, and then turned away, muttering something along the lines of "Stupid kid, what have we just been discussing?"

Maxi nodded along with the German's explanation. Yunsung shrugged and then stared curiously at the birds, which were sitting in Leon's lap.

"Hylian Night Stars." Leon stated "Similar to Myna birds."

"So these are your birds?"

"Yep, this is Lyude, Savyna and Kalas."

After he had finished pointing to each of the birds, he let them fly.

"I believe you were heading for Lake Hylia" Zelda stated. Link nodded and kicked Epona lightly again, to get her to move. The group moved off again, discussing various things, and the talk led to Ganondorf and his allies. While the warriors (Link, Maxi, Yunsung and Siegfried) supplied information about the enemies, Zelda supplied dates and info on the sages and when they'd appear to seal Ganon away, whilst Leon listened, pointing out errors in any plans that the group came up with. Leon wasn't to be in the battle against Ganon and his allies, or in the army fighting the Gerudos. No, he was guarding the princess when the battles were being fought and when she appeared with the sages to seal away the evil King. He had also been sent, by the King of Hyrule on stealth missions, to spy on the Gerudos movements and retrieve any information that the Gerudos and their king were hiding from the enemies.

"Okay so, let's do the easy bit first." Siegfried stated

"And that would be....?" Link asked

"The escape plan."

"Ok."

"All right. Do you have any plan of escape?" Leon asked

"Run." Link answered

"Anything more detailed?" Siegfried asked

"Run quickly."

"Smart ass." Maxi smirked,

"Well, all in all, we have this as a plan....leave Hyrule castle and kick Ganon's scrawny backside." Zelda commented "All I can say is this, whatever happens, happens...and no amount of planning will change fate's mind, one way or another, she'll have her way with us."

The talk continued, soon enough, however, they were approaching the gate to the lake, and they stopped their talk as the split up to jump the fences and ride down the narrow path to Lake Hylia.

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A.N: Again, apologies for the last chapter, with the dragons and stuff...I don't know what I did it for. I didn't have any bad reviews though so....I suppose it's OK.

To Lord Crimson: Uh, it's a good suggestion, though I don't know what I'll be able to do about it. But I think it would be pretty cool to see Siegfried take on a tyrant. I'll see what I can do.

Majin Darkfyre: Thanks for all your reviews so far, it is so greatly appreciated. As for my poem 'The Master Sword' um, I'm sorry if it was a little off to you, I wrote it , like, two years ago and I thought that I may as well put it up as it would be my first Zelda thing on this website.