Six words: I don't own Legend of Zelda...

-LOZ-

Ch. 34: An Opening

-LOZ-

"Just what do you think you're planning?" Ganon sneered, crossing his arms.

Silence answered him. The wind howled, and the clouds brewed overhead. As the wind ran swift among the course grass below her feet, Airaen remembered the path she had chosen. She shuddered, fearing its unknown, impossible outcome, but she took a step forward. I will not be afraid...

"Insolent girl!" Ganon roared. "Answer me, damn you!"

Ba-dum...ba-dum...ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dumba-dumba-dumba-dum.

Is that really my heart?

Airaen was amazed she could still think as she leapt into the air at a height that even surprised herself. She brought her knees close to her chest, feeling a friction with the wind that slowed her down. Bringing her hands up, she summoned. "I am the Messenger," she murmured, then brought the bright light in her hands crashing forward to the ground.

Ganon barely had time to leap out of the way to avoid a full collision with it. His snarl quickly turned to surprise as Airaen came sailing down to the ground in front of him in a crouch. The tie that had held her hair back from her face had broken, causing her blonde, shoulder-length hair to fall around her face, a veil that covered her eyes.

"What..."

Airaen pushed forward off the ground using her toes alone, striking her fist hard and deep into his stomach. Ganon's eyes bulged as he stumbled back, trying to stay upward.

She pulled her arm back an inch from his stomach, then opened her fist wide, her fingers outstretched. Slowly, she looked up at him, eyes glinting beneath her hair. "Now, die," she whispered, summoning the same power as before again.

Ganon was flown thirty feet in the air, pain as he had never felt erupting through him. Thankful to him, he angled his body so that the spell would only graze his chest, but even that small scratch erupted in a fireball of absolute agony. He fell to the ground on his back, then quickly pushed himself up in a sitting position as he leaned heavily against his hand, gasping for air. Where...where is this coming from?

He didn't have time to answer his own question as he quickly dodged a flash of steel. Rolling backwards and leaping to his feet, he stared ahead, his mouth open in shock. "How...how did you...how did you get your sword again so quickly?!"

Airaen didn't answer as she crouched low, her sword held close to her face. Her silence only added to Ganon's discomfort, but it was her eyes that disturbed him most. They gleamed with an inner light that was intoxicating. He snarled and jumped forward, trying to gain the upper hand by striking at her sword arm. She crouched low and rolled away, keeping a firm grip on her sword, then kicked him squarely in the back. He fell forward, then turned quickly to see her already in the air, sword brought behind her in a jump attack. Drawing his own sword, he jumped back, then, summoning enough power, soared into the air and stayed there, hovering high above her.

Flight?

Airaen hesitated a moment as she stared up at him.

How am I supposed to reach him up there?

She didn't have time to think when she saw him prepare for a powerful spell. "Dammit," she hissed. Think! He'll expect me to answer...so I'll just have to surprise him.

Driving her sword point first into the ground, she brought her hands behind her, feeling the warm sensation of energy form in her hands as a bright light poured forth from what was contained cupped carefully in her hands. She gritted her teeth, thinking, He's expecting me to do this. Idiot.

She smiled to herself in anticipation.

As Ganon sent his spell crashing towards her, she pushed off from the ground and ran towards him, still keeping a good hold on the energy in her hands behind her and to the side. She licked her lips as she ran, keeping a wary eye on Ganon, who was looking at her with a shocked expression on his face.

"Trying to attack me from below, huh?!" he yelled, trying to summon another spell.

Narrowing her eyes, Airaen jumped up and threw her spell at the ground. As the beam of light from her hands, the momentum created by it, added with her own jump, increased her elevation, defying gravity in one momentous moment. True, her acceleration did not allow her time enough to summon another spell for her enemy, but it did give, coupled with sheer force of will, raw, physical power.

She had already balled her fist as she came soaring upon him, nearly three hundred or more feet off the ground, the highest she had ever jumped in her life. Her prize was shock, making her smile even as the wind whipped at her hair and licked her face. As his surprised face loomed before her, she, using will and physical strength coupled with acceleration and a defiance of gravity, brought her fist forward in a swift uppercut as she passed him, then, with a jerk, turned and pummeled both fists on top of his head. She was rewarded with a gurgle as Ganon was sent back to the ground.

Well, I didn't think this far...

Airaen turned her head towards the ground that was rushing towards her, the wind screaming in her ears. Her position in the air was slowing her down, but, at the moment, she needed speed. Flipping forward, she brought her arms as close as she could near to her body, then drew her legs straight. Tongue between her teeth, she quickly measured the remaining distance towards the ground.

Not much further...this is really not good...okay, then!

She gritted her teeth as the ground loomed in her vision. Swiftly, she brought her arms forward and gripped at the ground. Sheer momentum caused her to flip over, but instinct caused her to roll over to her hands again. Thus, she was locked in a bitter cycle of momentum and instinct as she flipped over and over again along the ground before friction did its handy work.

As her feet drove towards the ground in what seemed the hundredth time, she twisted her body expertly to the side, causing her feet to skid along the ground. To keep her balance, she dug her hands into the ground as they scraped across it, dust flying behind her. Finally, she came to a stop, allowing her to sit for a while.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow."

Airaen wrung her stinging hands, then wiped the blood from the cuts on her hand onto her tunic. "Let's hope I don't have to do that again...damn, that hurt! Shit, three hundred feet? What the hell was I thinking?"

Sighing, she lay back on the ground, trying to still her breathing. Ganon, she could sense, had not entirely recovered from shock and a rather nasty crash into the ground. But, at the moment, she was content to lay there with her eyes closed.

-LOZ-

There was a rather large crater nearly the size of two men standing on each other's heads. As a groan escaped from it, a dirty, bleeding, callused hand shot out and gripped at the lip of the crater. Presently, another similar hand copied its neighbor. As each pushed against the ground, a head appeared, followed by a neck, torso, and so on.

With a last groan, Ganon pushed himself over the edge and collapsed for a moment on the ground, breathing hard.

How...did that happen? Why didn't I anticipate?

He moaned and pushed himself to his knees, wiping the blood that trickled down from the cuts on his face and the gash along his arm. "Damn...her..." he hissed.

Slowly, he got to his feet and walked towards where Airaen was lying on the ground, her eyes closed in a peaceful expression.

"Get up," he growled as anger shook him. "You insolent shit!"

He made to kick her, when she rolled quickly away and up to her feet in a crouched fighting pose. She narrowed her eyes at him, then lunged forward suddenly, her fist flying towards his face. Eyes wide and full of rage, Ganon sidestepped, but the sudden movement caught him off balance. Pushing forward on her toes, she hit him using the side of her palm along his neck, sending him sprawling. Snarling like a wounded animal, he pushed himself up and leapt back a good ways, a trickle of blood running down his mouth.

She stood and resumed her fighting stance, knees slightly bent, left arm held in front, the other back, her hands loose with fingers slightly outstretched.

Shaking with rage, Ganon quickly drew a knife from the interior of his left boot, its sheath cleverly hidden. With a yell, he charged forward, the knife tip pointed towards her. Biting her lip, Airaen sank to one knee and pushed off to the right, narrowly missing the blade. She flipped back and resumed her stance again, eyes never leaving his wrist.

"Now, die!" Ganon roared, charging forward again. With blinding speed, he cut through the air - sideways, forwards, vertical, horizontal. She dodged and ducked, eyes still on his wrist as she moved along the ground. Without a defense, all she could do was to be on the aloof defense. As Ganon cut horizontal, she jumped, then brought her foot down on the blade, catching him off guard as he stumbled to the ground, the knife held prisoner under her weight. Letting go of the knife, he lunged forward with his fist. Airaen jumped back, sailing through the air, then took off at a run towards him, jumping up and over his head, then ran on.

Shocked, but still enraged, he quickly unsheathed the other knife in his other boot, knelt down, grabbed the knife, and turned. With a cry, he tore off after her, even as she reached her sword. He leapt in the air, roaring a challenge, and brought both knives down at different angles: one held vertically, the other horizontally. She sidestepped the vertical knife and parried the other, her green sword flashing in the shrouded sunlight. Pushing the knife back, she whirled in the air and kicked him in the chest. He flew back, hitting the ground until he stopped on his back in a cloud of dust.

Breathing hard, Airaen resumed a fighting stance, her sword held at an angle in front of her, left arm held back near her face for defense.

For a while, nothing was said, until Ganon began to laugh from where he lay. With a grin, still chuckling to himself, he sat up and drove the knife he still held in his right hand into the ground.

"How very foolish of you," he chuckled, wiping the blood from his mouth.

Airaen relaxed her stance a bit and stared at him, a glint of confusion in her eyes. "What do you mean?" she said quietly, her eyes narrowing.

Ganon rubbed at his left wrist, still laughing. "In every way, I must admit, you are my equal...maybe even my superior..."

He laughed again.

Airaen brought her sword to the side, her head cocked to one side as she stood.

"But even if, by some pathetic miracle, you do manage to defeat me...perhaps you haven't noticed my army yet? Men who are willing to die for me and my cause. Even as we speak, they fight around us, but there are many among them who keep an eye on this fight, even now. So, should I die, another will take my place, and another, his....and so on, and so forth. So, you see, little sunset, your fight is eternal. It will never stop...your killing will never stop until you die! Your pathetic cause, your purpose in life has no meaning!"

Airaen stopped.

"Where is the warrior's spirit if he has no cause?"

Ahrima had always said that, but she had never really thought it had anything to do with her. She had a cause, a purpose...

But as she stood there, caught in the sudden realization, she knew the truth in the words. The blood would not stop until her death, and then would continue by another after her. Killing Ganon was her one objection, and, doubled with the limited resource from Hyrule Castle, she couldn't fight off an entire army!

Hyrule would fall.

Her will left her as her sword dropped to the ground.

She didn't even defend herself as Ganon came through the air, a kick angled at her chest. Buckling under the blow, she barely had time to look up before he grabbed her tunic, lifted her up, and drove his fist to her gut. She vomited blood past his shoulder as he threw her slightly up, then sent a powerful kick along her side; she flew back, skidding along the ground to a painful stop.

Moaning in agony, she gritted her teeth against the pain.

What can I do now? This is pointless...

Ganon walked over to her, bent down, grabbed her by her shirt, and pulled her up to his face. "Stupid girl-child," he hissed in her ear, his hot breath whispering along her face. He raised his hand for one final strike, then stopped at the sound of a horn. "What...?"

-LOZ-

If anyone could see past the glowing blue aura, they could see Gate grinning. From where he floated, he could see the battles raging across Hyrule Field. But one battle sparked his interest, and, though he refused to admit it to himself, his utmost worry and concern for that certain individual fighting for her life. He sighed inwardly, trying to quell his fear. He turned to the Zora captain standing next to him, her fin held as a shield while her other was held as a weapon.

"I'm going to assume you and your little friends are ready?" Gate said.

Nodding, the Zora turned to the large host of Zoras behind her and motioned for them to make ready. "Imagine us fighting alongside the Gorons," the Zora said with a sigh.

"I resent that," Link the Goron said, beating his oversized fists on his chest in challenge. "I'm the son of Darunia, and I was named after the Hero of Time! Don't you dare start this up again, Fishy!"

"You want to keep those fists, Rock-Boy?"

"People, people!" Gate yelled, coming in between them and flying up and down in agitation. "We just went through this! There're a lot of good people dying down there, and the daughter of the man who saved both of your kind is going to get killed one way or another if you don't help her!"

Goron Link licked his lips, then nodded. "I'm only doing this for the Hero of Time and his family, as the Blood Tribute my father made with him..."

"Psh...and I'm doing this because Hyrule's more important," the Zora said with a shrug. "Zora at the ready!"

"Goron make ready!" Goron Link retorted, raising his fist.

There was a roar from both Goron and Zora, united in one voice as each army ran forward as one unit.

Gate flew at the head. "I'm coming, you arrogant kid!"

-LOZ-

"Idiot fairy," Airaen whispered with a grin as she shook her head.

Ganon gripped her tunic tighter and pulled her closer to his face. "'Fairy'? What fairy? It better not be that stupid blue fairy of your fathers!"

Airaen laughed, one eye closed. "No...he's my fairy..."

Growling, Ganon tossed her to the ground. "Fool!" he yelled, turning to the large host of Zoras and Gorons running rather quickly towards them all. "Hylians don't have fairies! Hey, Captain! Sargai Captain!"

A rather bloody fighter bearing a bloodied sword came running up. "M'Lord," he said with a quick bow.

"Don't just stand there, you fool! Get those Zoras and Gorons, you pathetic shit!" Ganon roared. "Form some ranks! Don't stand there like an idiot! GET TO IT!"

As the exhausted man ran off to do his lord's bidding, Airaen was up and trying to get Ganon from behind. He turned and sent her flying back with a carefully positioned punch.

"I see you have your fighting spirit back, then," Ganon said with a shrug as she stood up in a fighting stance.

"Yeah, and now I can kill you!" she yelled as she leapt at him, her sword angled along the ground. She swung her sword up towards him, sword clanging against his knife.

"You're going to stop at nothing to ruin everything for me, huh?" Ganon hissed.

"Runs in the family," she replied, then leapt up in the air, her sword glinting.

-LOZ-

SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! I HAD SCHOOL, AND SINCE I'M A JUNIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL, IT'S ALL EXTRA WORK! PLEASE FORGIVE ME AND REVIEW!