Caranril: I'm so sorry! I'm such a bloody slacker! It's been...well too long to count and I haven't updated yet! I'm still dodging imaginary stones and various objects being thrown by impatient readers. For the delay, I deserve to let Legolas tie me to a chair and gag my big mouth. Would that suffice for punishment?
Legolas: Definitely!
Thanks to: RayxJade (Muwahahaha! I love those nasty little cliffhangers! Glad you like the story!), Lone Antarctic Wolf (Or in this case Malon. Huzzah for cliffhangers!), Demonwolf98 (Sorry about the lack of updating for the past few weeks! I beg your forgiveness!), Sphinx Jinx (Oh, well I'm glad Legolas and I are entertaining. I was wondering if anyone would dislike this fanfic...thanks for clarifying that I'm not perfect. : D Thanks for the fireworks!), harrypotterfan (Oh goody! People were telling me I was nuts for being able to read that book all the way through...twice!)
Legolas: You are nuts.
Caranril: (grins evilly) I know. Enjoy this chappie! I'm going to be tied up now.
The Dark Before The Dawn - Chapter 18: The God of Time
The whisperings of infinite voices filled Link's ears. He gasped as air filled his lungs and he lived again. He opened his eyes widely, trying to see in the darkness. Was he blind or...A pleasant blue light formed ahead of him, then reached out through a fog-like darkness to spread tendrils of blue.
"Am I dead?" Link murmured.
"You used to be, but in a different Time," whispered a voice in his ear. Link twitched and searched for the source, but he appeared to be alone.
"What?"
A chuckle, one that sent shivers down Link's spine. "I thought the Hero of Time was intelligent. I wonder whatever gave me that idea." A form shimmered in front of him. Link gasped and grabbed for his sword, but it was no longer at his side. In fact, he didn't have any equipment on him. He straightened and met Jeric's cold eyes. At least, it looked like Jeric; the voice he heard had a much more pleasant ring to it.
"I notice your reaction to this form." Jeric looked his hands. "I do not blame you. It is a rather ugly creature, but it served me well. Little did it know that I would not have enough power to create my old form. His sacrifice was necessary, as were all the others whose blood he Let."
"You're Meltose," Link whispered.
"A mere fragment, but yes, I am essentially he. I do not have the power I need to destroy the Triforce and defeat my sisters..." Meltose gave him a steely glance. "Unless you help me, Hero. The way I see it, you have two choices: you aid me willingly by giving me your piece of the Triforce, or I take it from you. Either way you must part with it."
"What gives you any idea that I'd help you. I've been trying everything to keep you in bondage!"
"Pity. All that hard work gone to waste. If I had my power, I could erase your existence with a twitch of my finger. You would never have been, Ganondorf and Majora's Mask would have destroyed the world, and I would have escaped anyway. Sorry to say," Meltose grinned, "I'm going to have to kill you the old fashioned way." An enormous blue hand emerged from the darkness and grasped for Link. He felt a tugging on his left hand and looked at it. The ring on his finger was glowing, and as the blue fingers reached to envelope him, Link thrust his fist forward. An iridescent shield defied the angry fingers that tried multiple times to reach Link from different angles. Link's arm ached against the force, but he was safe from Meltose's grasp.
Meltose dropped his arm and sighed in exasperation. "Fine. Since I cannot seem to be able to touch you, I will find other means of...persuasion." The blue light spread, and at each pulse another figure appeared. Impa, Darunia, Nabooru, and Ruto were amidst the blue fog, each frozen in a position as if they had been interrupted whilst doing menial things. A blue hand grasped each one, their touches awaking the Sages to the Time Link and Meltose were in. They saw Link, each other, the hands as big as their own bodies, and last of all Meltose.
"All I have to do is squeeze..." Meltose demonstrated, "...and they die. Do you really want the deaths of the Sages on your head?"
"Don't listen to him, Link!" Ruto ordered.
"You know better than to listen to creeps like this guy," Nabooru scolded.
Link studied them, then glanced warily at Meltose. "Where's Saria?"
"She had already been called home by the golden goddesses," Impa answered. "He cannot touch their rea..." Her voice was cut off by a warning squeeze.
"Too true," Meltose sighed. "And I am growing bored of this. Perhaps these are not the right incentives..." The Sages instantly disappeared, and Meltose took a moment to think. "Ah, yes of course."
"No..."
Mirwen was floating next to him. Apparently her soul hadn't been called home yet either.
"Link, what's going on? I thought we were at-" A blue hand cut her off.
"I know this Hylian means something to you, Link. Would her second death destroy you? No? Well then, how about this..."
Sheik appeared in front of Link and Mirwen. He wearily lifted his head and met Link's eyes. They grew wide as they realized they were seeing once more.
"What is this? You do not belong here. You should not be existing." Meltose studied Sheik. "Oh I see. I will just have to do something about this." Two blue hands came at Sheik from two sides, each gripping an arm. And they pulled. Sheik resisted, but the power of a god was much stronger. He let out a horrific scream that echoed through Time. Link nearly puked, for the sound of a shattering soul wrenched through his heart and into his own soul. The echoes continued for several moments after Sheik was silent, and when the ringing in Link's ears cleared and the nausea passed, he looked up to see an image he never thought possible. Side by side, each limp in a blue hand, were both Sheik and Zelda.
"By Farore, what did you do?" Link swallowed, afraid they were both dead. Again.
Meltose shook violently. "Never say that name!" He seethed. "Or the other two! Unless..."
"No!" Link said in panic. He tried to compose himself, but it was so unnerving to see the individuals he had known to be one person were now within their own bodies. Sheik moaned and lifted his head. He saw Zelda next to him and his eyes went wide in horror.
"Sweet Nayru! What's happened to me? To Zelda? Oh goddesses!"
Meltose's hands covered his ears, dropping Sheik and Zelda from his grasp. Link immediately ran to Zelda's side and lifted her up. Her eyes were half open and she was muttering incessantly.
"Zelda, Zelda, it's me, Link," he soothed.
"Link...Link? She told me...told me that the Hero can...you can...control Time...Nayru...Master Sword...Meltose's bane...yes, it's his bane. Find the sword! Find it! Link!" By this time Zelda was hysterical and grasping blindly at Link's tunic.
"Link."
He looked at Sheik.
"I don't know how, but you can find the sword. You have to find it before it's-"
Meltose cut through Sheik's quiet words with an enraged scream. "I have had enough with you insolent fools of the Triforce. It's time for you to die!"
Without thinking, Link dropped the unconscious Zelda and grabbed the Ocarina of Time out of his belt. He quickly played the Song of Time before Meltose had composed himself, and focused all his will into the melody. He felt himself falling...falling through the blue fog of Time. He almost lost himself, but he found his friendships with Sheik and Mirwen, his passion to defend his homeland, and his love for Zelda to be anchors within the whirlwind. He kept his eyes shut, fearing he would be lost in the cyclone that was spinning him round. As his spinning slowed, he ventured a peek. A blue light was piercing the fog and dispersing the clouds. His feet settled on stone, and he looked up to see the Master Sword in its pedestal in the Temple of Time. His hand reached for the handle, and as he grasped the familiar blue hilt, he felt two other hands join his. One little hand was connected to the arm of a ten year old boy with an eager yet awed look on his face as he was about to pull the sword from the stone. The other hand was nearly as large as his own and belonged to a boy of about seventeen who was returning the blade to its rightful place. He glanced up at Link with sad eyes. The little boy glanced up too, and with a nod, the three of them reclaimed their right as the Hero of Time.
Link opened his eyes with a grunt, finding himself exactly where he had been before, only instead of holding his ocarina he wielded the Master Sword. Meltose stretched his hands towards them in fury. Link swatted a blue hand away with the sword, then charged forward. Meltose had been so intent on killing them all that he failed to realize he close Link was and what he held in his hands.
"Oh, f-"
Link silenced the god with a level swing through his neck. The body fell into ashes then disappeared in a blue fire. Link held the sword ready, for he knew Meltose would not be so easy to destroy. An echoing moan sounded all about him, varying in pitch and length as it traveled throughout Time.
"Link!"
He turned to Sheik.
"Come here quick! While he is recovering!"
Link complied, kneeling beside Zelda as Sheik was.
"Link, I must take your Triforce," Zelda wheezed. "And with mine we can summon two of the goddesses, who will most likely...ugh, most likely summon the third. They can take care of Meltose. There's...there's nothing more you can do as long as he is free of a human shell."
"But do you have the strength for such a task?" Sheik chided. "Seems to
me you'd kill yourself doing this."
"I'd have to." Zelda took a deep breath. "Like it took dying blood to release Meltose, so will that same blood be needed to call the goddesses."
"H-how do you know this?" Link gulped.
"She...Nayru...told me. She said that the souls called home with the Triforce can summon them to this place. But...it has to be the blood of death."
"Why would the goddesses make it this way?" Mirwen asked, tears coursing down her cheeks.
"The Triforce was intended to protect us, but since it doesn't seem to be working in this case-"
Meltose's moans came louder and more angry, nearly drowning out Zelda's ailing voice.
"In this case, the goddesses left death as a last resort. Of course, after this, the Triforce will be destroyed."
"Do you think your blood by itself will work for both pieces?" Sheik asked.
"Sheik!" Link glared. He looked at Zelda. "I'm not going to let you do this. You have no need to die. We can figure this out!"
"Link," Zelda said in a voice that silenced him. "Which is more important, me...or the world."
Link's eyes began to tear against his will. He blinked, struggling not to cry, but he failed. "Oh, goddess, Zelda!" He lowered his head and held out his hand. Her cold hand grasped his weakly, gave it a gentle squeeze, and Link suddenly felt like he was falling. He beheld a vision of the Triforce piece within him, spinning endlessly as it lent him Courage, then it began to fade. Fading in distance and colour. He reached out to it, but it was gone.
He blinked his tearing eyes. He was back with his friends, wherever in Time they were, and he felt an awful hole in his heart with the Triforce gone. Zelda held two pieces in her palm: Courage and Wisdom.
"Do you think your blood by itself will work for both pieces?" Sheik repeated his earlier question.
"I-I don't know," Zelda admitted. "She...didn't say." She looked at Link. "Link...may I use...your sword."
It wasn't voiced as a request. Zelda meant to take her life by whatever means was available, and the most logical object was the Master Sword. Link held the pommel to his chest.
"I-I can't let you do this!" he protested. "Besides, what if only one person's blood doesn't work? What if you need two?"
The air began to grow thick, and the hair on each person's neck stood up. It was like the brewing of a great storm.
"We don't have time for this, Link!" Zelda protested. She struggled to stand and take the sword from him. "Now give it to me!"
"No!"
Sheik reached between them and grabbed a piece of the Triforce from Zelda's hand. He gripped it tightly and backed away from the surprised pair.
"If we need two, I will be at least one of the sacrificed," he said with conviction. "My time with you, Zelda, and even you, Link, is over. I have fulfilled my duties even to a second death. I would prefer to die a third and final to go home to the goddesses. I tire of this world, and now's as good of time as any to go."
"Sheik..." Link and Zelda said in unison. They stared at him, both too afraid to speak for fear of losing control.
"Besides, I can do it in a way it won't be painful." He gave them a sad grin. "I shall watch over you."
"Wait!" For the first time, Mirwen piped up. She grabbed the other piece from Zelda's hand. She walked right up to Sheik. "You're not going anywhere without me," she whispered. Then louder, "I've already died, but I want to correct the death that brought about a mad god by bringing a goddess. There's nothing for me here, anyway. In life." She gave Link a smile. "Thank you for being my friend."
Link nodded slowly and handed the Master Sword to Sheik. Sheik quickly ran his hand across the blade and gripped the Triforce piece in that hand, and Mirwen followed suit. Setting the sword aside, Sheik motioned for Mirwen to kneel.
"I will be chanting a spell that will slowly stop my heart, and therefore I will die without pain or suffering. Say it with me, Mirwen." Sheik spoke a short phrase, very solemnly, and Mirwen joined in after hearing it twice. Link swallowed hard, wiping the blood from the Master Sword's blade. Zelda had managed to stand and was shaking slightly as silent tears flowed down her cheeks. Link gently touched her, then held her tightly for fear of losing her too. Zelda had turned her gaze away from the pair and buried her head into his shoulder. Link continued to watch as he stroked Zelda's blond head. Mirwen's eyes were drooping and Sheik's head was falling. They held each other in a supportive embrace, heads on each other's shoulders. Mirwen closed her eyes...Sheik's arms went limp...their words became slurred...and they were silent.
> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >
Caranril: (silent)
Legolas: (silent)...Wow.
Caranril: It's so dang hard to kill people off. (sniffs) I don't think I shall ever get over it. And yes...if there's any confusion, Sheik and Mirwen are dead...again.
Legolas: (silent)...Wow
Caranril: Well, now I bet you can guess that there's gonna be another chapter, 'cause I'm sure you want to know whether the trick worked or not.
Legolas: Of course! Ahem, I mean, what, who could be interested in this story. After all, it was written by you.
Caranril: Whew! You had me worried by your silence for a minute there, princeling.
Legolas: Yeah, yeah. Hey wait! What happened to the gag?
Caranril: Oh yeah. Oops, guess I forgot to write it in. Authors have that power you know.
Legolas: I knew she'd figure it out one day!