Darunia: Disclaimer! Selphie Louise does not own the Legend of Zelda or any of its characters. They are the property of Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo.

Tingle: The characters she does own are Selphie, Iggy, and Jiji. The characters of Kage, Yugi, Mable, and Raven belong to Kearra. The character Ravick is the property of Selphie's friend, Patrick.

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Chapter 3

"I can't do this…" Kage whispered. After disappearing from the wedding, he'd gone to the Sacred Forest Meadow. He sat down and leaned against the stump, holding his forehead in his hands. "Stupid, stupid, stupid…" he said a few minutes later, hitting himself in the forehead. He took a deep breath and looked around.

"Is something the matter?" Kage jumped slightly. The voice had come from behind him. He turned around and jumped yet again. Sitting on the stump was Selphie, wearing her regular clothes. "What's the matter? You seem so nervous," she said worriedly kneeling down to where he was. She reached out her hand to touch his cheek.

Kage closed his eyes. "Selphie… I…" he trailed off waiting for her touch. He opened his eyes and sighed. She wasn't there. It had been an illusion. "I deserve it, I guess…" he said. He leaned back against the stump and closed his eyes.

"It's so beautiful out today…"

"Almost as beautiful as you…"

"Oh… Kage!" Kage felt Selphie's lips against his and opened his eyes. He was still in the Sacred Forest Meadow, but he was standing now, and Selphie was with him. The only difference was that they were on the other side of the hedge maze.

Kage walked with her into the hedges. They heard a spitting sound and Kage knocked back a deku nut at the deku scrub that had shot it. "My hero," Selphie said, hugging him tight. Kage smiled at her and offered his arm. She took it and he guided her safely through the maze. "You're such a gentleman…" she said.

He smiled again at her compliment, but had yet to say anything since the beautiful day comment. In fact, he looked a slight bit uneasy as they ascended the stairs to the Forest Temple. When they reached the courtyard, Selphie walked purposefully to her favorite seat on the stump. Kage looked increasingly nervous as he walked more slowly to the spot. However, he didn't sit down beside her like he usually did. Instead, he simply stood right in front of her and looked down at her nervously.

"Kage, is something wrong?" Selphie asked, looking up at him curiously. Her jade green eyes caught the sunlight and sparkled beautifully. He almost turned around and ran at that point, but something made him drop down on one knee. Selphie looked startled at this and looked down at him, her eyes no longer sparkling with sunlight, but wide with surprise.

Kage took her hand in his and kissed it once. "Selphie…" he said. Daisuki… I love you so very much… and I know you love me…" He kept talking but it was more like babbling and he didn't really hear what he was saying… "What AM I saying?" he thought. Finally he shook his head, remembering himself again and reached into his pocket. "What I mean to say… Selphie…"

"Oh, my gosh…" Selphie exclaimed when she saw it, her free hand flying to her mouth. Kage was holding a ring- a beautiful white gold ring with an opaque white gem. What really made it beautiful, though, was the tiny fairy light imbedded in the jewel, causing it to sparkle with an inner light.

"Will you marry me?"

"I dunno… don't you have someone else?"

Snort. "Gah!" Kage gasped as he opened his eyes again. "Er… who's there?" he called nervously, absolutely aware that whoever it was probably was in the process of hunting him down to make him sorry for running out on the wedding.

"Why, tis me, your good friend: Ravick," came the familiar voice of the mage. Ravick was hiding in the shadows but now popped up, looking down at the formerly sleeping Kage.

"Good…" Kage sighed in relief. They both were hit at the same moment. Ravick looked at Kage oddly as Kage stared off blankly. "Did I just say that…?"

"You must have something on your mind if you said that," Ravick said.

"Yeah…" Kage said distractedly, thinking again.

"Wanna talk about it?" Ravick offered.

Kage looked at him with an expression that screamed, "Think about what you just said.

"Okay, never mind then…" Ravick said, looking away.

"Yes, please," Kage said, standing up and starting to walk away.

"I'll bet anything he's up here!" Kage's eyes widened in fear.

"Hey, was that Darunia's voice?" Ravick asked. "Hey! Darunia!" he shouted in the direction of the sound.

"Ravick, no! You idiot!" Kage exclaimed, disappearing.

"Eh?" Ravick asked turning around, looking for Kage. But he was nowhere to be seen. "What the-?"

"There he-!" Darunia shouted reaching the top of the stairs.

"Aw, no. It's just Ravick," Iggy said starting to turn around again.

"Wait, maybe he's seen something," Link grabbed Iggy's arm and led them toward the mage. "Hey, Rav!" he called.

"How do you do, Link?" Ravick asked amiably, striding forward to meet them.

"Have you seen that little bastard, Kage, around here?" Darunia asked, looking around and cracking his knuckles.

Reading into this action, Ravick thought about it for a moment. "Uh… no, haven't seen him," he answered.

"Damn… I would'a bet anything he'd be here," Darunia said.

"Eh, give him a little more credit. He probably wouldn't head back to the place where he proposed to her. It's too obvious. We should've known better," Iggy said.

"Huh?" Ravick asked confusedly. "Proposed? To who? Selphie?"

"No, one of his other girlfriends-," Darunia said, then his eyes widened. "He better not-!"

"I don't think so," Link said touching Darunia's arm.

"Why are you guys looking for Kage anyway?" Ravick queried.

"Because he's still a bachelor when he was supposed to marry Selphie this morning!" Link replied angrily, thinking about it again causing the irritation to flare once again.

"You mean he ran out on his own wedding!" Ravick asked incredulously. "Why would he do that?"

"Don't know. Don't care," Iggy answered.

"But we're gonna find him and make sure he's sorry," Darunia said, moving his finger across his neck to mock slitting Kage's throat.

"Okay…" Ravick said understanding how big this was to them. "Well, I'll just let you guys get back to it then."

"You don't want to come help?" Link asked before Iggy inconspicuously stepped on his toe. "Er… I don't wanna force you into anything. See ya later, Rav."

The three avengers turned and left. When Ravick was sure they were gone, he turned around and whispered loudly, "Kage? Kage!"

"Gah!" Kage fell out of the tree he'd been hiding in. "Yeah, that was just great."

"Yes, very graceful indeed," Ravick said striding forward.

"I was talking about you, you idiot," Kage said. "You realize you almost let them catch me?"

"Really? I thought I just sent them off in the opposite direction," Ravick said smartly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, well…" Kage said, realizing he owed the mage big now. "Thanks for that much anyway…"

"You wanna tell me what's going on now?" Ravick asked.

"No."

Ravick cupped his hand over his mouth, "Oh, Dar-!" Kage leapt forward and covered Ravick's mouth before he could do anything. "Yeah, I figured that'd do it," he said smugly as Kage removed his hand disgustedly.

"Damn you…" Kage muttered. He sighed. "If you're going to make me talk can we at least do it somewhere safe?"

"Er, I just sent the guys off on a wild goose chase," Ravick said confusedly. "I don't think they're going to be coming back here any time soon."

"Them, maybe not," Kage agreed- wow, never expected that to happen. "But if those three are out looking for me, that can only mean they are too."

"Huh?"

"You may have sent the guys off, but the girls are a completely different story…" Kage elaborated.

"Ah," Ravick nodded his head in understanding. "Okay, where are we off to?"

"I think the mountain might be a safe bet," Kage said, walking tentatively toward the hedge maze.

"The mountain?" Ravick repeated skeptically.

"Yes."

"The mountain where Darunia lives?"

"Yes."

"Are you hearing what you're saying! It would be suicide to go there at a time like this!"

"Exactly."

"What?"

"The others are going to think that too, and you just heard them say that I'm smart enough not to go to the obvious places, which is why that is exactly what I'm going to do."

Ravick stared at him for a moment before following into the hedge maze. "I'm not sure what you just said, but it really didn't sound like you've changed your mind about going to the mountain."

"Don't cry, Aunt Selphie," Mable said putting her hand on Selphie's cheek like her mom did when she was sad. Selpie shook her head. The little girl just couldn't understand.

"Mable…" Raven said, pulling his sister away a little and shaking his head solemnly. "Aunt Selphie's sad cause Uncle Kage left."

I know that," Mable answered. "But when you or me are sad Mommy always talks nice to us and holds us close."

"I don't think that's going to work for Aunt Selphie," Raven said sadly.