Hello again. Sorry this took me so long. Had really bad writer's block.listening to Lord of the Rings CD. The shrimpy kid on track 17 has talent. Ahh.piercingly high notes sung by a boy.oh, my poor eardrums. Oh well. Sorry, I think I'm starting to catch my mom's flu.

-Shawshank

Chapter 7 - The Beginning of the End of the World

Sheik froze.

The other figure froze.

Their faces turned slowly, in unison, until they were facing each other. In the dim light, Sheik saw a huge purple spot on the other's face, accompanied by still-bleeding scratches. He also saw a pair of stern, haunted blue eyes.

Link grinned, then winced as his wounded skin stretched painfully.

"Sheik!"

Sheik grinned.

"Link!"

They both sat there grinning, until Sheik's sense of reality snapped back into place.

"Link, grab my dagger. I have a feeling this is not a good place to be."

They made lame conversation, dancing around the topic mainly on their minds, as Link groped for Sheik's small blade.

"Got that right. My stay so far has *not* been fun."

"Neither has mine. Ever since we got to this place nothing but bad things have happened."

In the shadows, Sheik saw a sweet but wistful look steal across Link's face.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Not everything."

Link stared at Sheik with those piercing eyes, while Sheik avoided his gaze. Finally, he grew uncomfortable.

"What?"

Link had found the dagger, and he now used it to cut their bonds. His earring jangled as he sawed at the ropes made of braided grass. Evidently, the grass was a lot stronger than it looked. Sheik saw that he had developed red marks from where the grass ropes had made contact with his skin. At least he wasn't cut.

Link shook off his friend's question, trying and failing to put the question of Zelda's alias out of his mind.

"Nothing. By the way, what happened earlier? I remember..."

His face reddened slightly.

"Some things, but the time after it is all dark. I don't remember anything after-after the fire went out."

Sheik grinned, because now that he knew Link was alive, what had happened just hours earlier didn't seem quite so frightening.

"You died, is what happened. Or at least I thought you did. I guess not."

Link straightened up fully, his head nearly hitting the top of the small tent they were encased in.

"Wait a second. I remember that. I remember...my vision fading. I couldn't see anything. Then, I went to this place..."

***

Link stood, confused, in the place after...what? Anyway, this whole thing was just too mixed up. This plane of existence was the strangest thing he had ever seen, and that was saying quite a bit. The things he had seen and lost, including his own innocence...he shuddered, and shook it off.

He thought strange things as he walked around this place.

As he walked through the ankle high, green grass, he thought of Zelda. He loved her so much; he wondered if she had seen it. He remembered how he had always felt so clumsy around her, and, in fact, anyone smaller than him. He had always treated everyone as gently as he could, as though he was afraid that he would break them, like an angry Moblin breaks a simple piece of pottery.

He walked, the sun high above his head.

He thought of Sheik. His best friend in the world; his love in disguise. How did that spell work, anyway? He wondered about that often. How could Sheik be in control sometimes, and Zelda in others? How did Sheik know that he had died if Zelda was in control at that time? The whole thing was too confusing, so he put it out of his mind.

He walked, destination nowhere.

Link remembered his childhood. He had, in accordance with Zelda's wishes, lived it out in Kokiri forest. But the day he first noticed that he had begun to change, that small hairs were poking through the skin on his face, he had waltzed right through that log tunnel and out into the over world. He had never found Navi, though he had wandered through the Lost Woods for most of his days. Saria had cried when he left, and given him a Fairy Ocarina, just like she had in the other timeline; the only difference was that he had been much younger. He had left Kokiri when he was thirteen.

He walked, wanting suddenly to see what was beyond that horizon.

He remembered his time in the over world. Those four short years he had wandered around, exploring and reacquainting himself with his friends in the alternate universe. Malon, Talon, the Gerudo woman Arianna. The Sage Reincarnate, Kaepora Gaebora, Pierre the Scarecrow, the old scientist in the lakeside laboratory. Darunia and Link, Darunia's son, Anju the cuckoo lady, the guy in the windmill, Dampe the Grave keeper. The Skull Kid, who was going to go journeying around the Woods, visiting other worlds, making better friends, Lumi, a stray fairy.too many others to name. He remembered them now, and smiled at the memories he had accumulated over the years. His eyes, normally blue and clear and haunted by unspeakable tragedy, misted over as he thought of the good times.

He walked, wondering who he would meet in this world.

He thought of the bad times, not wishing too, but not being able to sway his mind from those occasions upon which he had lost so much. He had lost his friends, his life, his control, his soul, his innocence.he had been taken captive, had to kill brainwashed creatures that had no idea they were doing anything wrong. He had been tortured, oppressed, even enslaved; but always, it came back down to surviving. Simply surviving. His instincts would not let him die, and neither would his friends. Sheik had saved him from so many scraps that Link owed him his life a thousand times over.

He stopped and thought and listened to his surroundings.

He had died so many times over, and yet had never been to this place. Arianna, his Gerudo friend, had told him of the afterlife the female warriors had so much faith in. It was a place of glory, earned in combat; only those who proved themselves worthy could go there. Those with ambition, skill, the ability to fight and even to slay, the wish to live for the thrill of living, were sure to be delivered to that place. In the other timeline, Arianna had died; she had been 'made an example of' in front of the whole of the Gerudo forces by the Evil King, who personally supervised the whole thing. Link knew that when she had died, she had gone to that place. No warrior was more deserving than her.

He sat down in the grass.

He was different than her, he knew. He did not want to live his whole life as a slayer, even if it was for good. He searched only for peace. But how could he have peace when the whole world was against him? The Goddesses would not grant their Hero the thing he desired most. Peace. A life of peace with Zelda by his side. Of course, he could not stay in one place; his soul needed to travel to stay burning. He would travel with Zelda, see everything there was to see, then travel to the stars and sail away.

His body jerked. Something was wrong. Somebody was pulling on him, pulling him down. He did not want to leave this place of yearning; he resisted. Then he gave in; he realized that Zelda was not here. If Zelda was not here, how could he live, knowing she was elsewhere, separate from him? He sank through the grass, through the dirt, then through the sky; suddenly, he was among those stars he had so yearned to become a part of. He gave a great shout of joy, then was pulled earthwards. He saw his body, and he flew down to it. Zelda was near. He knew it. Not Sheik; Zelda. He was sucked into his body by a force beyond magic and power; he was sucked in by the life still remaining in his body.

His mortal eyes fluttered, and the crowd of beings standing around him sucked in a breath unanimously. They raised their hands towards him, and stepped back as he stood up, holding his head. Then they jumped him. They bound him with grass ropes, glad that their scheme had worked, and stunned him. They tied him to a pole and left him. Now, all that needed to be was for the other to come.

***

Of course, Link did not tell all of this to Sheik. He just told his best friend what had mainly happened; he could never have told anyone the rest. They felt they were ready to go after this, having stretched their legs and arms; so they drew steel and stepped cautiously out of the small hut-like tent, prepared for anything. Link's hand flew out, and stopped Sheik.

"Listen, I think I had better go first."

"What! Why?"

"I don't know. My instincts are telling me that you should stay. Sheik, please don't argue. Just stay. You'll be more helpful if you do, trust me."

"But-"

Link turned, and pierced Sheik with his eyes, staring at him with such intensity that Sheik was almost frightened.

"Just do it."

Link's voice was low and dangerous. Sheik stayed.

Link's faded green tunic worked as perfect camouflage as he worked his way through the grass and shadows, heading for the small fire, which he estimated to be in about the middle of the encampment. He parted the grass and looked through, noting the figures casting shadows around the meadow of flattened grass. He tried to circle the lit area, but in doing so forgot to watch his feet. He stepped on a small, dry twig. It snapped like a firecracker.

The crowd turned as one and, with only a slight delay, jumped him a second time. They crowed their victory, and with that, Link realized that all of them, or at least most of them, were female. He threw them off as gently as he could, then fought harder when he realized that they had knives. They were *sharp* knives, and their cuts were like the stings of a cloud of hornets. He grunted as he struggled to throw them off. They clung to his back like annoying flies, swiping at him with their small blades. He finally went under, the swarm of them still clinging to his back, legs, and arms. He stopped struggling, and let them overpower him, hoping it was a sign of his surrender. Apparently it was, because with that, they all got off and circled him, chunnering and laughing. He felt that they had bound his wrists, but not his ankles, again with that tough grass rope. They led him over to an apparatus built out of wood, indicating that he stand in the middle of it.

It was like a model of a prism, triangular and three-dimensional. First, they tied his arms to the logs on either side of him, stretching them out to their limit. Then, they fastened his ankles to the bottom log joints. He felt like a hog on the spit, and hoped desperately they weren't cannibals. Link's hopes vanished as he watched them light torches, then hold them in their gnarled hands, standing around him in a wide circle. He watched, half in terror and half in fascination, as they all dropped the flaming torches.

A ring of fire lit up all around them, with Link in the exact centre of it. He felt a great power building up around him, and saw that the women's hoods had fallen back, and they were holding their hands up to the sky. Energy was gathering between their outstretched fingers, and he swore the stars were dimming. He wondered what they were doing, and even though he didn't find out exactly what it was until later, he had a sinking feeling in his gut.

The witches' faces turned towards him, for that was what they were, and he saw that they were all young and pretty. Then they all blinked in unison, and he was now gazing upon ugly old hags. He blamed it on the high fever that was returning, and tensed his body. When the first blow hit him, he was winded.

He looked down at his chest, where the sudden and heavy pressure had struck him, and saw many small white essences flying out of the place directly above his heart. The flow started to taper down, and the witches cried out. They rotated, the three who had sent the first volley at him moving to the right. When the second volley came, Link knew that if a high fever could kill him in long, drawn out hours, this would kill him in minutes.

He felt a great sadness sweep over him, and the pain began to fade. He was losing already; he had not even got to see Zelda one last time. He hoped that they would not execute the same punishment on Sheik; he didn't want them to hurt either his best friend or his love. His eyes flew open as the third blow hit him. Zelda. They would hurt Zelda. He knew it. He cried out, and started to struggle against the ropes, summoning all the power he had. Now was the time to use it.

The witches stepped back, surprised, but one gave a shout of joy as she saw the aura that was gathering around Link. She grinned and aimed for him, wanting to catch him in his one moment of weakness. Her single blow flew for him, headed straight for the cavity in his chest that held his beating heart. The moment hung in eternity, and all the onlookers knew they would never forget the sight. The ball of red magic, flying towards the Elvin being surrounded by a greenish white aura.

Just as the two powers were about to collide, a third power stepped in. A flash of brilliant blue light stopped everyone in their tracks. A shield of blue erected itself around the being struggling on the wooden frame, and a small voice cried out above the resulting explosion.

"Leave him! I command it of you!"

Zelda stepped into the clearing, her hair floating about her in a wind struck up from nowhere. Her body glowed with an ethereal light, and she channeled her power to collect around the red ball. She sent it up into the sky, then retrieved her stream of magic, adding it to the prism around her, looking like one of the Faeries of the Sacred Realm. To Link's great surprise, the whole crowd of witches turned their faces towards her, and fell to the ground, shaking and shivering and imploring in whining voices for forgiveness. Zelda held out an elegant hand, and the chattering stopped instantly. She used her magic to walk above the ground, and so she did not disturb a single blade of grass as she paced around the thoroughly cowed group, giving them a good dressing down.

"You had no right to do this! When I had returned, I expected more of you than this! You have sunk so low, I have a mind to place you all in the depths of the ocean as punishment."

One of the women stood up, having decided to speak for her people.

"We are sorry, O Mighty Vendance. We did not know of your coming to us."

Zelda put on an air of infuriated rage.

"Sorry? You're sorry? You almost killed this man and all you have to say is that you're sorry! I am ashamed of you. Deeply ashamed."

The woman pleaded with her as Link looked on, confused.

"What more can we be, Lady? We cannot go back in time and correct our mistakes, as can you, and so we can do naught more than offer our repentance."

"Ah. I see. You are wise, woman, but not wise enough. What if this had never happened?"

"I do not understand, Lady."

"You don't. If this had never happened, you would not have to be sorry for it. You can prevent it, that is what you can do! Never do this again, or I will not be so merciful. You may leave."

The women got up, still with their faces to the ground, and left, still facing the floating princess and bowing as they shuffled backwards. When they had entered the shadows, Zelda let her magic flow back into stasis, and alighted gently on the ground.

"So, you owe me again."

"You still haven't paid me back in full, remember. I saved Hyrule, which is an entire kingdom, not just one person."

"Good point. Oh, I'm sorry. Here, I'll untie you."

Zelda padded over to him, scuffing her feet on the charred grass. The magic wind she had created had blown out the ring of fire. She looked down, partially in distaste, and partially to avoid his eyes.

"I'm sorry, it took me a while to overpower Sheik. Normally I can only do it when he's feeling weak or tired."

Link looked straight at her face, even though she was staring at the ropes as she chopped through them with Link's sword, which she had found in the tent.

"Zelda." He did not ask the question on the edge of his tongue, but rather the one in his mind.

"How did you-"

She smiled, relieved he had not asked the question she knew he wanted to ask.

"A kind lady came into the tent to see to the prisoners. I was myself by then, and, seeing that I was female, she treated me well and fed me. She told me the basis of their culture when I asked, and I found out that they had a Goddess. I told her that I was that Goddess, and was testing her, then I ordered her to show me where you were. It was actually pretty funny, she was shaking in her shoes like you always where when my dad loomed over you when you were younger. She showed me the way to here, and I used my magic to impress them while she spread the word around the crowd."

Link shook his head, tired and aching and still confused. Zelda cut the last bond and stepped out from where she had been holding him up, assuming that he had his feet on the ground. However, he didn't. He fell down with a loud smacking noise, and was left winded and rubbing his sore back. She tried to apologize, but couldn't, because the sight was too funny. Her eyes were watering with held in laughter, and she finally let it burst out. Link watched as she practically rolled on the ground laughing. She was holding her stomach, and her face was wreathed in brightness. He muttered under his breath darkly beneath her laughter, "At least she's happy," and started creeping off to begin tramping through the field once again. He was limping, and still couldn't breathe properly. Zelda looked up, and sobered instantly, calling after him, "Wait, come back, I'm sorry!"

He stopped so that she could catch up, and walked, leaning on her heavily for support. "It's not you. It's those women. They're evil, I swear, and I don't want to kill them all, so I'm walking away before a bad situation gets worse."

She struggled not to start laughing again as she replied.

"They're not evil, and this is not a bad situation. Their society isn't governed by fear you know; they follow a Goddess who saw them through the hard times in the past, and they love and respect her. Why don't we at least stop a while so you can rest up?"

"No way. There's something beneath that, something your nurse didn't tell you, and I'm not sticking around to find out what it is. I've learned to trust my instincts, Zel, and I'm not going to ignore them because you've set yourself up as a Goddess."

At that exact moment, he tripped over his torn-loose bootlaces, and she started to chuckle again. Link silenced her with a playful glare, and got up again, his heart somehow lightened, though he still failed to see how the situation was so funny. Zelda laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to convince him.

"Come on, Link, we'll be fine. You're just paranoid. You need to rest, after that fever."

She stopped, suddenly reminded of the events of a few hours previous. What he had helped her remember, what she had realized, what words they had exchanged.she swallowed, hard, and grabbed Link's arm. Zelda turned, towing Link along in her wake, and headed for the small encampment. Link stumbled, such was the pace she set, and tried to keep up as she berated him.

"You're tired and hurt. I'm going to get you some medical attention. Something tells *me* that we need to remain here for a while. Something's going to happen, I just know it, and we need to be there."

Link was muttering again, low enough that Zelda couldn't hear. It was times like these that he wished he had Navi to talk to.

"Need to be there, she says. Yep, something's going to happen, and that something is us getting killed. I know it. Why does every single princess of Hyrule I know have to be so bossy? It must be the way she was raised. 'Do this, do that, fetch me this.' Goddesses, her dad would've given her the stars in the sky if he could've. Spoiled brat, you can't help but love her."

She looked back at him, and he stopped abruptly, wondering if she had heard. He saw an eyebrow hike its way up her forehead in surprisingly Impa- ish fashion. She turned back and kept dragging him along, smiling as she listened to him mutter, hoping he didn't know she could hear every word. It was just too hilarious for words.

"Takes after Impa, she does. Sheesh, even had a nanny instead of a mom. I had.hmm, let's see.the Deku Tree and Saria. Oh, what great guardians I had. Wish I could've lived in a castle, wonder what it'd be like.Probably lots of food stored away in there, and good food too, not twig and leaf stew or whatever Mido called it.he never was a very good cook, it was one of the twins, what was her name again? Ah well, they both looked the same, guess it doesn't really matter. But the Gerudo, they were great cooks, they could whip up a feast from a coupla Leevers they drowned in the sand. Yum yum, Leevers for breakfast, lunch and dinner, talk about a staple diet."

They had reached the tent now, and Zelda dismissed the nurse, laying Link down in the bed of blankets. He was still muttering as she tucked him in, like Impa had always done for her, and got into bed herself on the other side of the tent. She blew out the single candle, and breathed in the sweet smoke as he continued to talk to himself. She supposed that he must have used to talk to Navi like this, and in lack of having a fairy on his shoulder, was now talking to himself. She hoped that the fever wasn't back or anything.

"I wonder what you can do with a Leever. Boil it, grill it, throw it in the fire and eat the embers, that sounds good. Wish someone had told me Leevers were flammable, I would have set fire to them and run, instead of letting them tear me apart piece by piece. "

Zelda realized that he was talking about the alternate timeline now, and instead of stopping him, let him talk himself to sleep. She had often wondered what Link had been through in that other world, and now she had a chance to gain some small amount of insight. His voice gradually lulled her into a dreamlike state.

"I wonder how Arianna cooks them. Oh, right, she hates Leever. She goes for Skulltulla. I wonder what those taste like.maybe like web. I got a bunch of that in my mouth that time in the Deku Tree, it didn't taste half bad. Hmm, wouldn't blame her. Oh, Gohma.ugh. Blue and red blood everywhere.green guts.no."

She realized sleepily that he was going through bad memories. She wondered how many good memories he had. By the sound of it, not many.

"Stalchilds, chasing me.swiping at my back.Gannon on that damn black horse, that thing gave me nightmares for weeks.the castle.skeletons.I was so afraid one of them might have been hers.oh Goddesses.what if one of them was her.dead.all bones and teeth, bones and teeth.nothing left. Black, obsidian, blocking my way, the monsters chasing after me, every step."

His voice slipped off, and she heard him quivering under the blanket. She was now awake, and afraid. Afraid for, and in a strange way, *of* Link. Zelda got up, retrieved her blanket, and placed it over Link. She crawled into Sheik's body, and lay down close to Link, and slept.

*** ~ They're here. They've come. What now? ~

~ I do not know. The future is...clouded. We will see. ~

~ What do you mean, 'we will see'? What kind of a reassurance is that? ~

~ Be calm. Can you not see? ~

~ What? ~

~ Things are coming into place. The prophecies are being fulfilled. ~

~ No. You couldn't possibly mean... ~

~ Yes. It has begun. ~

***

Man, that was deep. A little too deep if you ask me.sorry, I've been slowly wading out of the shallow kiddy pool lately. Not having fun in school. My class hates me.ah, sorry, too much information. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. As per usual, R&R is greatly appreciated!

Luv ya forever,

-Shawshank (Please ignore the mindless rambling above. Thanx.)