Well, it's a beautiful Tuesday in April. Second day off of school; eight
more to go. Oddly enough, it's about 7:30 in the morning. My muse hit me
kind of hard, and kind of early. She must be crabby since DarkDragon drew a
picture of *her* muse (a dragon, duh) beating up *my* muse (I'm not quite
sure what she is, so I'll just call her a tiny dancing sprite).
Well, here we go again! And many, many thanks to anybody who's reading this (especially regularly) and many thanks too to anybody who feels brave enough to review. That's all. Have fun.
-Shawshank
Chapter 16 - The Forgotten Future
"What the *hell* was that?"
Tyr brushed the leaves and dirt off of her now ripped pants, grumbling under her breath. She inspected her limbs and found two new multi - coloured splotches to add to her collection. She picked herself up, fighting the urge to bite Link's head off. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kawhin's mouth forming a slow smile. That was *it*! She'd had enough! She wanted Zelda back. She stalked over to Link, for once not caring that her feet stomped the ground too loudly, especially the heavier, clawed limb. She tapped him on the shoulder, purposely using her scaled hand, and roughly spun him around. Tyr bared her teeth as she said under her breath, "Bring Zelda back, now. I'm sick of all these Sheikah."
Link almost laughed at her expression, but saw the threat behind it, and agreed. Trying not to be too obvious, he let the diamond-shaped aura of pure, green tinged light come up around him, and he reached out for Zelda. A tendril grasped at Sheik, directly through the weeping red eye on his chest; again, it found nothing, but Zelda still appeared. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell forwards, stopped at the last second by Kawhin's pillow of mental energy. He let her down slowly, then shook his head, panting.
I've never had to work so hard to lift something, except when I was first learning. Your Zelda is a strange being.
While Kawhin was speaking, Link had been rushing over to Zelda's side. Now he kneeled on the loamy forest floor beside her, feeling at her neck for a pulse. He sighed and closed his eyes in relief as the faint pulsing beat beneath his fingers. He rolled her onto her back and placed her head in his lap, stroking her hair, unaware of the others' stares. Suddenly, he spoke.
"She's just tired. She's transformed twice in less than half a day. Believe it or not, she just fell asleep."
Tyr came padding over, then crouched down, staring at Zelda's unresponsive face. She gently placed her human hand on Zelda's face, closing her eyes, probing. Zelda's mouth opened, and she gasped for breath. Tyr stepped back, still watching the princess with suddenly tired eyes. Or at least her human eye was worn. The dragon part of her was unaffected. Link turned his gaze back to Zelda, then blushed as he realized her head was still in his lap. He gently lifted her shoulders and head, moved back, then laid her back down. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him through blurry eyes. He smiled, and she smiled back. Her eyes closed again, and she breathed deeply. Link turned back to Tyr.
"What did you do?"
"I gave her some of my energy. We need her back on her feet as soon as possible."
Tyr walked away, wavering slightly on her feet. Link knew that she was lying when she had said *some* energy. He had never seen Tyr so weak. Then again, he had known her for about two days, but still. He went over to catch her when she tripped over a small outcropping of grass, and whispered angrily into her ear, "What do you think you're doing? We need you at full strength."
She whirled around, anger and adrenalin fueling her.
"No, you don't, not as much as you need Zelda. No, not like that. She's got powerful magic. She'd be of more use than I ever would."
She stalked away, leaving Link to stare after her. It amazed him how deeply her insecurities ran. He turned away and went back to Zelda.
Tyr stopped and watched the two. If the Prophecies were right, they would soon be ripped apart forever. And it would be her fault. She sighed, and started to gather up the shattered obsidian.
***
Kawhin studied the many shards of black, shiny rock that Tyr had laid on the ground before him. He worked with his mind, arranging them into their original rectangular shape that was slightly bent in the middle. While he did this, Tyr paced nervously around the edge of the clearing, constantly throwing glances to where Link was sitting with Zelda. Tyr had regained her energy very quickly, but for some reason, such recovery was going slowly for Zelda. Even as Tyr watched with the restlessness of the wolves, Zelda tossed and turned, her head tossing in Link's lap. She shuddered, and Link patiently wiped away the beading sweat on her forehead with a scrap of fabric. Tyr tore her gaze away and resumed her frantic pacing. Something was going to happen, she knew it. She could feel the-the *wrongness* of it pulsing through her blood, screaming inaudibly in the back of her mind.
Suddenly, her head snapped around. A wolf's lonely, haunting, soul- shattering call resonated through the forest, a warning. Her throat opened, and she called back, knowing the truth. She let her gaze drop to the two sitting beside the fire, and a sob caught in her throat. Yes, it would be better had she been dead a long time ago. But it was meant to be this way.
What did that wolf tell you?
Tyr waited until her pacing took her close to Kawhin before answering, and then in a low whisper.
"They're approaching."
Should we tell them?
"No-no. We can't. It isn't our place."
She sat down beside him in the grass, staring not at the moving rock shreds, but at him. She almost remembered a time when she had been that innocent, that caring for others. She almost missed that time. But then, she surmised, it was for the best after all. Well, maybe not the best for Link and Zelda, but the best for the world. And another wise saying she firmly believed in was that the common good overshadowed by far the tragedy of one. Anything else was just plain stupid.
She shook her head regretfully and turned her gaze to the stars and the two moons that were framed in the leafy branches.
"Well, Hyrule is a dark land. It has been ever since the first insult was traded that began the Great War. That shadow will never completely fade, but it will strengthen. Heroes like Link are the ones who will push it back. It is like the tide, ebb and flow." She turned to him suddenly. "I don't suppose you've ever been to the ocean, eh Kid?"
He shook his head, concentrating on sliding two shards into the slightly shaky puzzle block he was constructing.
"I'm going to go back there before I-die. You do know the Prophecies, right?"
A nod.
"You know the Hybrid, the betrayer?"
Again, a small nod.
"The Hybrid is me."
WHAT!?
His concentration utterly broken, the block fell apart. He clenched his jaws and turned to Tyr.
Now you've ruined a good hour's worth of work. And you can't be the Hybrid. I didn't think you would be so arrogant as to think you are.
She cut off further thought, shaking her head slowly and solemnly.
"I've known it for about a year, soon after I was cursed. I went to visit the Great Fairy, and she showed me Link and Zelda. I don't think you were a part of the plan, Kid. However, one part of the vision the Fairy showed me still hasn't come to be. Hmm."
Her voice trailed off as Kawhin huffily began rebuilding the block, moving quickly through the pieces he had already put together. He let his mind open, hoping it would speed his work. Suddenly, his mind's eye was assaulted with images. He sobbed, willing the brief moment to end. The block fell to the ground in complete disarray amidst Tyr's frantic calling of his name.
***
The manacles cut into his wrists, and blood dripped out of his mouth and from the corners of his eyes. His head hung, and his grimy hair hung limply along with it. Thunder angrily crashed overhead, mingling with forked lightning. The sky was dark. The world's hope was dying.
***
Zelda's eyes snapped open, and she flung herself upright, throwing off Link's offered assistance. She strode straight to Kawhin, roughly shoving Tyr aside. The two warriors stared as Zelda stared straight into the Sheikah's wide-open, no longer mirrored eyes. The irises now seemed to have an infinite depth to them, chasms opening up to reveal the intensity inside, the fire in his soul. The eyes no longer bled, but burned. Zelda angrily stood up.
"Oh, the poor little fool. He opened his mind, and now my-well, I guess they were my prophecies-are being transferred to him. I can't do anything else now. We'll just have to wait it out."
"How long," Link wanted to know.
"I don't know. It varies on how much the event I forsee affects the world, and how violent the event is. If it's just something as simple as knowing the milkman is coming, the prophecy is just a slight, two - second dizzy spell while I'm walking in the courtyard. If it is something as powerful and - disturbing as this one was, at least what I can remember of it, then it could last for days. We might even have to force-feed him."
She sighed and let her head fall into her hands, thinking back to when she was smaller, when she had gone through much of the same thing. Zelda had sometimes spent as much as ten days in her room, thrashing on her bed, her saliva bloody. At least, that was what Impa had told her, when she had asked repeatedly.
Strong, comforting arms circled around her, and Link's head fell onto her shoulder, a sign of weakness he seldom let slip through that stupid mask he wore so much these days. His breath, when he let it out, was shaky, but when he drew it back in, he seemed to calm down, and his muscles began to relax. Tyr sat by Kawhin, placing a calming hand over his eyes. Or at least that's what Zelda thought she was doing.
When Tyr paled and began to fall sideways, she broke from Link's welcome embrace and ran to her. Tyr's human side was completely exhausted, but somehow she managed to keep from falling asleep. Kawhin looked like he was coming out of the dream, prematurely, Zelda knew. Tyr murmured through slightly blue-tinged lips, "Couldn't let the Kid sleep for so long-should die-better-"
Her head fell to one side, and Zelda panicked when her breath shuddered to a stop. When Tyr's drained lungs sucked in more oxygen, at first in starts, then becoming more steady and even, Zelda allowed herself to relax. Now she was convinced. Tyr was willing to die if it meant easing others' pain, and she was actually *trying* to kill herself, but only if she could benefit a friend in the act. She shook her head and looked to Kawhin, who was rubbing his head and blinking slowly. Her blue gaze met his red one, and he caught his breath, afraid.
***
'You have settled the fate of this world. All is lost.'
'I know. I'm sorry. But I can't let my friends suffer like this.'
***
"Kawhin? Are you all right? Have the visions faded? Kawhin-"
***
His chest was still heaving. He had felt one of his ribs puncture a hole in his lungs when the thing had kicked him in the chest. He took in breath, forcing himself to gather oxygen despite the pain it caused. He was dying, and he could feel it.
***
"Get him near the fire. Link, go to the river and get water. Quickly!"
***
He turned his gaze to the - the *thing* standing in front of him, then looked back to the ground. He couldn't bear to look at any of them. And when they caught the forth one; well. Then he would watch them all die, slowly, his heart dying with them. And then *he* would die. This was all his fault. He let a few tears leak through the mask, weeping silently for them. It was all his fault.
***
"Link, where's that water? Tyr, if you can find Link's bag, there should be another green tunic in there, sized for a child. Rip it into strips."
***
It was his doing that they were here, waiting, just waiting to die. His carelessness, his rashness, his misplaced devotion. And it wouldn't have happened had he not been so stupid, so *blind*! He bared his teeth, clenching his jaws together. He breathed loudly through his teeth. It was all *his* stupid fault!
"It would be better for the world had I not been born."
***
"Give me that water. This always worked before, I don't see why it shouldn't now."
***
He looked to them. They begged him to stay strong, to not give in to the creature. His breath came out as a whimper. He spoke to both of them, but loud enough for anyone who was listening to hear.
"I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry."
***
"Get that water away from the fire! It has to be cold. Tyr, can you find me some dock leaves? Or any kind of leaf will do. Check it first for bugs or anything like that."
***
Seven voices spoke as one, and their beauty broke Kawhin's heart.
'Now, Shadow-On-the-Wind, you will forget until it is time. Forget, child. Forget.'
***
Kawhin sat up straight, gasping for air. Zelda held Link's now sodden hat in equally sodden hands, having dumped water over Kawhin's head just as he was beginning to come out of the dream. He shook water out of his eyes, immediately shoving up his mental barriers, and sighing with relief as the remnants of the vision left his mind. Vision? But what had it been about? Had he even had a vision? He shook his head. He was just concocting things out of nothing. The last of the anguish fled out of his eyes, and he forgot.
"Is dumping cold water over people's heads your favourite pastime or something, Zelda?"
She grinned evilly at him and threw his child-sized hat back at him. The hat, which was now acting like a wet rag, slapped him in the face. He disdainfully picked it off of his face and threw it back at her, but she stopped it in midair with a hand and a mere wisp of deep violet-tinted light. She winked at him and flung it at Tyr, who merely plucked it from her shoulder and flung it in the fire. It smoked as the water evaporated, and Link snatched it out quickly, blowing on it and running off to the river to extinguish the flames.
The water hissed as it made contact with the flames and Link's slightly charred fingertips. He stuck his hand in his mouth and sucked on the ends, feeling the blood pound painfully through his veins. He winced as the sharp edge of one of his teeth scraped over the raw area, and happened to look into the forest. One edge of a glowing, silver-tipped wing disappeared behind a tree. He silently leaped over the river, adrenalin coursing through his body, following the mysterious glowing figure. He saw that it was female, petit, and definitely lost. She had the wings of the small Kokiri faeries, but how could that be? She was far too large to be a Kokiri guardian. He stepped on a twig, and he looked down in shocked surprise, suddenly realizing that it didn't matter that he wasn't armed. He would never think of hurting an angelic creature such as that.
She looked at him, and his gaze rose to meet hers. Her eyes lit up in recognition, and Link's brow furrowed with his confusion.
"Who are you?"
She looked hurt, and her wings stiffened, just a bit.
"Don't you remember me? I thought you kept your memories? You didn't-forget- did you, Link?"
He rubbed his eyes with a fist. He was dreaming.
"Trust me, I would remember if I met anyone like you on my first journey. Are you some kind of Great Fairy?"
She didn't answer, but stared at him, a single tear slowly slipping down her cheek.
"I didn't know you went on other adventures after ours together. I'm sorry I wasn't there, Link."
His jaw dropped.
"Navi? No way in hell. You *cannot* be Navi."
She grinned, and shook off the tear. It landed, still shimmering, among the still decaying leaves.
"Missed me?"
"Missed you? *Missed* you!? I felt like half my heart was ripped out! Where did you go, Navi? Why did you leave me?"
Her smile was sad, now.
"I'm sorry. I had to. It wasn't my choice. We all decided to try to give you back your life like it was supposed to be. We didn't think you'd go *looking* for trouble."
"I would have eventually. I had to grow up sometime, right?"
She shook her head slowly.
"No. You would never have grown up completely, had you stayed in the Forest."
"What? What are you talking about? I'm not Kokiri!"
"Yes, but you're part Kokiri." She held up a hand to forestall his questions. "It's too long of a story to tell. But it is a-curse of sorts, or a blessing, whatever way you choose to see it. When anyone with any portion of Kokiri blood enters the forest, their growth will either stop during their time there, or be slowed, depending on how much that person is Kokiri. If they stayed long enough, their growth would eventually stop entirely. The Great Deku Tree gave them this magic long, long ago, and it was slowly sapping the power out of him. So, you see, he was already weakened when Ganondorf cursed him with the monsters."
"But Navi, how can the Kokiri become children, then? If they don't grow at all-"
"I didn't say that. Milo and all of your friends are mostly of Kokiri blood, but not entirely. One of them is even part Sheikah, and Milo has a small percentage of Gerudo blood in him."
"But then, what happened to all of the full-blood Kokiri?"
"Saria is the only one left. Her parents, like yours, were killed in the wars long ago. She is almost two hundred years old, and the rest are around half that age. All of their growths has completely stopped. Saria is a child only because her parents left her in the forest when she was that age. She *hasn't* grown."
"How could they leave the forest? Her parents, I mean."
"They had never lived in the forest. They lived in Hyrule; all of them did. The Deku Tree gave their children the magic spell."
"How could they leave without dying?"
"It was the Deku Tree's warning to the Kokiri's children. If *they* left, they would quickly revert to their age, and their true bodies. So, they would all be dead within minutes. You, on the other hand, never really stopped growing. I thought it would happen eventually, but you never know."
Link shook his head and sat against a tree. Navi sat beside him. He looked over at her, and she smiled up at him.
"Navi, why are you so big? You were just a little ball of light with wings in my set timeline."
She smiled again, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"It's a spell set on me by-by someone I once knew. It will wear off soon, and I'll loose all of my knowledge."
"Your *knowledge*?"
"Yes. In my other form, I won't know that you're part Kokiri, I won't remember who set this spell on me, and why-I won't even remember I *had* a spell on me."
"What *will* you remember?"
"That you're my friend, to the death."
Link smiled and stood up, pulling Navi to her feet. She embraced him, a little roughly, and he choked out with shortened breath, "I missed you. I went looking for you. Where did you go?"
She looked up at him, her face winding into a confused knot. "What do you mean, where did I go? I had to go, that's all. But now I'm back."
Link felt her hug loosening. She was shrinking. The spell was wearing off.
"No, not yet! I still have so many questions I need to ask!"
Navi curled up, shuddering, and was reduced to her other form, the so- called ball of light. She quivered, rose up, and flitted around Link's head in happiness.
"Link! How did I get here?"
He shook his head sadly. She was too far gone now.
"I don't know, you just showed up, as if from nowhere. How are you?"
"I'm wonderful, Link! I've missed you so much! I'm sorry I had to leave."
"That's all right. The important thing is, you're back now."
He smiled, and chased all thoughts of the beautiful, graceful, wise Navi from his head. He knew he would meet her again someday.
He turned and began walking towards the campfire, chattering with Navi, who was sitting on his shoulder.
Yes, he would meet the true Navi again.
***
Woohoo! Another chapter done, and in about three days! It's a record, and it's also time for lunch. I'll finish this up quick.
Wow, TWO whole entire new reviews in one chapter! Still many thanks extended to ???, my favourite frequent reader! Also, thanks to Raiya Storm. You put me on your favourites list too, huh? Wow, you must really like my story! Thank you very, *very* much! You guys inspired me to write the last page or so of this part! Now onto the dailies (weeklies, whatever).
Today's Wisdom Quote Thingie: (not from my brother, from me)
Never wait to tell someone how you feel.
Yes, this one also kinda came to life on me (If Kay-one of my friends-is reading this, she'll be hounding me for months to come) recently. Yes. Anyhoo, more sections.
Today's Revelation: Even hard rock songs can make you cry, if you listen to the lyrics.
Today's Lyrical Quote:
Playground, school bell rings, again.
Rain clouds come to play, again.
Has no one told you she's not breathing?
Hello, I'm your mind, giving you someone to talk to; Hello.
If I smile and don't believe,
Soon I know I'll wake from this dream;
Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken.
Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide,
Don't cry.
Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping,
Hello, I'm still here,
All that's left of yesterday.
-Hello, by Evanescence
The song has so few lyrics, I figured I'd just put 'em all in. You should check out this song, it's beautiful. The piano, and the lady's voice- *sigh*. Yeah, I'm done now. Y'all come back now, y'hear?
Oh, and Navi is welcomed back to the gang. Oh, and things will become much clearer very soon. Oh, and bye.
-Shawshank
Well, here we go again! And many, many thanks to anybody who's reading this (especially regularly) and many thanks too to anybody who feels brave enough to review. That's all. Have fun.
-Shawshank
Chapter 16 - The Forgotten Future
"What the *hell* was that?"
Tyr brushed the leaves and dirt off of her now ripped pants, grumbling under her breath. She inspected her limbs and found two new multi - coloured splotches to add to her collection. She picked herself up, fighting the urge to bite Link's head off. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kawhin's mouth forming a slow smile. That was *it*! She'd had enough! She wanted Zelda back. She stalked over to Link, for once not caring that her feet stomped the ground too loudly, especially the heavier, clawed limb. She tapped him on the shoulder, purposely using her scaled hand, and roughly spun him around. Tyr bared her teeth as she said under her breath, "Bring Zelda back, now. I'm sick of all these Sheikah."
Link almost laughed at her expression, but saw the threat behind it, and agreed. Trying not to be too obvious, he let the diamond-shaped aura of pure, green tinged light come up around him, and he reached out for Zelda. A tendril grasped at Sheik, directly through the weeping red eye on his chest; again, it found nothing, but Zelda still appeared. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell forwards, stopped at the last second by Kawhin's pillow of mental energy. He let her down slowly, then shook his head, panting.
I've never had to work so hard to lift something, except when I was first learning. Your Zelda is a strange being.
While Kawhin was speaking, Link had been rushing over to Zelda's side. Now he kneeled on the loamy forest floor beside her, feeling at her neck for a pulse. He sighed and closed his eyes in relief as the faint pulsing beat beneath his fingers. He rolled her onto her back and placed her head in his lap, stroking her hair, unaware of the others' stares. Suddenly, he spoke.
"She's just tired. She's transformed twice in less than half a day. Believe it or not, she just fell asleep."
Tyr came padding over, then crouched down, staring at Zelda's unresponsive face. She gently placed her human hand on Zelda's face, closing her eyes, probing. Zelda's mouth opened, and she gasped for breath. Tyr stepped back, still watching the princess with suddenly tired eyes. Or at least her human eye was worn. The dragon part of her was unaffected. Link turned his gaze back to Zelda, then blushed as he realized her head was still in his lap. He gently lifted her shoulders and head, moved back, then laid her back down. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked up at him through blurry eyes. He smiled, and she smiled back. Her eyes closed again, and she breathed deeply. Link turned back to Tyr.
"What did you do?"
"I gave her some of my energy. We need her back on her feet as soon as possible."
Tyr walked away, wavering slightly on her feet. Link knew that she was lying when she had said *some* energy. He had never seen Tyr so weak. Then again, he had known her for about two days, but still. He went over to catch her when she tripped over a small outcropping of grass, and whispered angrily into her ear, "What do you think you're doing? We need you at full strength."
She whirled around, anger and adrenalin fueling her.
"No, you don't, not as much as you need Zelda. No, not like that. She's got powerful magic. She'd be of more use than I ever would."
She stalked away, leaving Link to stare after her. It amazed him how deeply her insecurities ran. He turned away and went back to Zelda.
Tyr stopped and watched the two. If the Prophecies were right, they would soon be ripped apart forever. And it would be her fault. She sighed, and started to gather up the shattered obsidian.
***
Kawhin studied the many shards of black, shiny rock that Tyr had laid on the ground before him. He worked with his mind, arranging them into their original rectangular shape that was slightly bent in the middle. While he did this, Tyr paced nervously around the edge of the clearing, constantly throwing glances to where Link was sitting with Zelda. Tyr had regained her energy very quickly, but for some reason, such recovery was going slowly for Zelda. Even as Tyr watched with the restlessness of the wolves, Zelda tossed and turned, her head tossing in Link's lap. She shuddered, and Link patiently wiped away the beading sweat on her forehead with a scrap of fabric. Tyr tore her gaze away and resumed her frantic pacing. Something was going to happen, she knew it. She could feel the-the *wrongness* of it pulsing through her blood, screaming inaudibly in the back of her mind.
Suddenly, her head snapped around. A wolf's lonely, haunting, soul- shattering call resonated through the forest, a warning. Her throat opened, and she called back, knowing the truth. She let her gaze drop to the two sitting beside the fire, and a sob caught in her throat. Yes, it would be better had she been dead a long time ago. But it was meant to be this way.
What did that wolf tell you?
Tyr waited until her pacing took her close to Kawhin before answering, and then in a low whisper.
"They're approaching."
Should we tell them?
"No-no. We can't. It isn't our place."
She sat down beside him in the grass, staring not at the moving rock shreds, but at him. She almost remembered a time when she had been that innocent, that caring for others. She almost missed that time. But then, she surmised, it was for the best after all. Well, maybe not the best for Link and Zelda, but the best for the world. And another wise saying she firmly believed in was that the common good overshadowed by far the tragedy of one. Anything else was just plain stupid.
She shook her head regretfully and turned her gaze to the stars and the two moons that were framed in the leafy branches.
"Well, Hyrule is a dark land. It has been ever since the first insult was traded that began the Great War. That shadow will never completely fade, but it will strengthen. Heroes like Link are the ones who will push it back. It is like the tide, ebb and flow." She turned to him suddenly. "I don't suppose you've ever been to the ocean, eh Kid?"
He shook his head, concentrating on sliding two shards into the slightly shaky puzzle block he was constructing.
"I'm going to go back there before I-die. You do know the Prophecies, right?"
A nod.
"You know the Hybrid, the betrayer?"
Again, a small nod.
"The Hybrid is me."
WHAT!?
His concentration utterly broken, the block fell apart. He clenched his jaws and turned to Tyr.
Now you've ruined a good hour's worth of work. And you can't be the Hybrid. I didn't think you would be so arrogant as to think you are.
She cut off further thought, shaking her head slowly and solemnly.
"I've known it for about a year, soon after I was cursed. I went to visit the Great Fairy, and she showed me Link and Zelda. I don't think you were a part of the plan, Kid. However, one part of the vision the Fairy showed me still hasn't come to be. Hmm."
Her voice trailed off as Kawhin huffily began rebuilding the block, moving quickly through the pieces he had already put together. He let his mind open, hoping it would speed his work. Suddenly, his mind's eye was assaulted with images. He sobbed, willing the brief moment to end. The block fell to the ground in complete disarray amidst Tyr's frantic calling of his name.
***
The manacles cut into his wrists, and blood dripped out of his mouth and from the corners of his eyes. His head hung, and his grimy hair hung limply along with it. Thunder angrily crashed overhead, mingling with forked lightning. The sky was dark. The world's hope was dying.
***
Zelda's eyes snapped open, and she flung herself upright, throwing off Link's offered assistance. She strode straight to Kawhin, roughly shoving Tyr aside. The two warriors stared as Zelda stared straight into the Sheikah's wide-open, no longer mirrored eyes. The irises now seemed to have an infinite depth to them, chasms opening up to reveal the intensity inside, the fire in his soul. The eyes no longer bled, but burned. Zelda angrily stood up.
"Oh, the poor little fool. He opened his mind, and now my-well, I guess they were my prophecies-are being transferred to him. I can't do anything else now. We'll just have to wait it out."
"How long," Link wanted to know.
"I don't know. It varies on how much the event I forsee affects the world, and how violent the event is. If it's just something as simple as knowing the milkman is coming, the prophecy is just a slight, two - second dizzy spell while I'm walking in the courtyard. If it is something as powerful and - disturbing as this one was, at least what I can remember of it, then it could last for days. We might even have to force-feed him."
She sighed and let her head fall into her hands, thinking back to when she was smaller, when she had gone through much of the same thing. Zelda had sometimes spent as much as ten days in her room, thrashing on her bed, her saliva bloody. At least, that was what Impa had told her, when she had asked repeatedly.
Strong, comforting arms circled around her, and Link's head fell onto her shoulder, a sign of weakness he seldom let slip through that stupid mask he wore so much these days. His breath, when he let it out, was shaky, but when he drew it back in, he seemed to calm down, and his muscles began to relax. Tyr sat by Kawhin, placing a calming hand over his eyes. Or at least that's what Zelda thought she was doing.
When Tyr paled and began to fall sideways, she broke from Link's welcome embrace and ran to her. Tyr's human side was completely exhausted, but somehow she managed to keep from falling asleep. Kawhin looked like he was coming out of the dream, prematurely, Zelda knew. Tyr murmured through slightly blue-tinged lips, "Couldn't let the Kid sleep for so long-should die-better-"
Her head fell to one side, and Zelda panicked when her breath shuddered to a stop. When Tyr's drained lungs sucked in more oxygen, at first in starts, then becoming more steady and even, Zelda allowed herself to relax. Now she was convinced. Tyr was willing to die if it meant easing others' pain, and she was actually *trying* to kill herself, but only if she could benefit a friend in the act. She shook her head and looked to Kawhin, who was rubbing his head and blinking slowly. Her blue gaze met his red one, and he caught his breath, afraid.
***
'You have settled the fate of this world. All is lost.'
'I know. I'm sorry. But I can't let my friends suffer like this.'
***
"Kawhin? Are you all right? Have the visions faded? Kawhin-"
***
His chest was still heaving. He had felt one of his ribs puncture a hole in his lungs when the thing had kicked him in the chest. He took in breath, forcing himself to gather oxygen despite the pain it caused. He was dying, and he could feel it.
***
"Get him near the fire. Link, go to the river and get water. Quickly!"
***
He turned his gaze to the - the *thing* standing in front of him, then looked back to the ground. He couldn't bear to look at any of them. And when they caught the forth one; well. Then he would watch them all die, slowly, his heart dying with them. And then *he* would die. This was all his fault. He let a few tears leak through the mask, weeping silently for them. It was all his fault.
***
"Link, where's that water? Tyr, if you can find Link's bag, there should be another green tunic in there, sized for a child. Rip it into strips."
***
It was his doing that they were here, waiting, just waiting to die. His carelessness, his rashness, his misplaced devotion. And it wouldn't have happened had he not been so stupid, so *blind*! He bared his teeth, clenching his jaws together. He breathed loudly through his teeth. It was all *his* stupid fault!
"It would be better for the world had I not been born."
***
"Give me that water. This always worked before, I don't see why it shouldn't now."
***
He looked to them. They begged him to stay strong, to not give in to the creature. His breath came out as a whimper. He spoke to both of them, but loud enough for anyone who was listening to hear.
"I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry."
***
"Get that water away from the fire! It has to be cold. Tyr, can you find me some dock leaves? Or any kind of leaf will do. Check it first for bugs or anything like that."
***
Seven voices spoke as one, and their beauty broke Kawhin's heart.
'Now, Shadow-On-the-Wind, you will forget until it is time. Forget, child. Forget.'
***
Kawhin sat up straight, gasping for air. Zelda held Link's now sodden hat in equally sodden hands, having dumped water over Kawhin's head just as he was beginning to come out of the dream. He shook water out of his eyes, immediately shoving up his mental barriers, and sighing with relief as the remnants of the vision left his mind. Vision? But what had it been about? Had he even had a vision? He shook his head. He was just concocting things out of nothing. The last of the anguish fled out of his eyes, and he forgot.
"Is dumping cold water over people's heads your favourite pastime or something, Zelda?"
She grinned evilly at him and threw his child-sized hat back at him. The hat, which was now acting like a wet rag, slapped him in the face. He disdainfully picked it off of his face and threw it back at her, but she stopped it in midair with a hand and a mere wisp of deep violet-tinted light. She winked at him and flung it at Tyr, who merely plucked it from her shoulder and flung it in the fire. It smoked as the water evaporated, and Link snatched it out quickly, blowing on it and running off to the river to extinguish the flames.
The water hissed as it made contact with the flames and Link's slightly charred fingertips. He stuck his hand in his mouth and sucked on the ends, feeling the blood pound painfully through his veins. He winced as the sharp edge of one of his teeth scraped over the raw area, and happened to look into the forest. One edge of a glowing, silver-tipped wing disappeared behind a tree. He silently leaped over the river, adrenalin coursing through his body, following the mysterious glowing figure. He saw that it was female, petit, and definitely lost. She had the wings of the small Kokiri faeries, but how could that be? She was far too large to be a Kokiri guardian. He stepped on a twig, and he looked down in shocked surprise, suddenly realizing that it didn't matter that he wasn't armed. He would never think of hurting an angelic creature such as that.
She looked at him, and his gaze rose to meet hers. Her eyes lit up in recognition, and Link's brow furrowed with his confusion.
"Who are you?"
She looked hurt, and her wings stiffened, just a bit.
"Don't you remember me? I thought you kept your memories? You didn't-forget- did you, Link?"
He rubbed his eyes with a fist. He was dreaming.
"Trust me, I would remember if I met anyone like you on my first journey. Are you some kind of Great Fairy?"
She didn't answer, but stared at him, a single tear slowly slipping down her cheek.
"I didn't know you went on other adventures after ours together. I'm sorry I wasn't there, Link."
His jaw dropped.
"Navi? No way in hell. You *cannot* be Navi."
She grinned, and shook off the tear. It landed, still shimmering, among the still decaying leaves.
"Missed me?"
"Missed you? *Missed* you!? I felt like half my heart was ripped out! Where did you go, Navi? Why did you leave me?"
Her smile was sad, now.
"I'm sorry. I had to. It wasn't my choice. We all decided to try to give you back your life like it was supposed to be. We didn't think you'd go *looking* for trouble."
"I would have eventually. I had to grow up sometime, right?"
She shook her head slowly.
"No. You would never have grown up completely, had you stayed in the Forest."
"What? What are you talking about? I'm not Kokiri!"
"Yes, but you're part Kokiri." She held up a hand to forestall his questions. "It's too long of a story to tell. But it is a-curse of sorts, or a blessing, whatever way you choose to see it. When anyone with any portion of Kokiri blood enters the forest, their growth will either stop during their time there, or be slowed, depending on how much that person is Kokiri. If they stayed long enough, their growth would eventually stop entirely. The Great Deku Tree gave them this magic long, long ago, and it was slowly sapping the power out of him. So, you see, he was already weakened when Ganondorf cursed him with the monsters."
"But Navi, how can the Kokiri become children, then? If they don't grow at all-"
"I didn't say that. Milo and all of your friends are mostly of Kokiri blood, but not entirely. One of them is even part Sheikah, and Milo has a small percentage of Gerudo blood in him."
"But then, what happened to all of the full-blood Kokiri?"
"Saria is the only one left. Her parents, like yours, were killed in the wars long ago. She is almost two hundred years old, and the rest are around half that age. All of their growths has completely stopped. Saria is a child only because her parents left her in the forest when she was that age. She *hasn't* grown."
"How could they leave the forest? Her parents, I mean."
"They had never lived in the forest. They lived in Hyrule; all of them did. The Deku Tree gave their children the magic spell."
"How could they leave without dying?"
"It was the Deku Tree's warning to the Kokiri's children. If *they* left, they would quickly revert to their age, and their true bodies. So, they would all be dead within minutes. You, on the other hand, never really stopped growing. I thought it would happen eventually, but you never know."
Link shook his head and sat against a tree. Navi sat beside him. He looked over at her, and she smiled up at him.
"Navi, why are you so big? You were just a little ball of light with wings in my set timeline."
She smiled again, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"It's a spell set on me by-by someone I once knew. It will wear off soon, and I'll loose all of my knowledge."
"Your *knowledge*?"
"Yes. In my other form, I won't know that you're part Kokiri, I won't remember who set this spell on me, and why-I won't even remember I *had* a spell on me."
"What *will* you remember?"
"That you're my friend, to the death."
Link smiled and stood up, pulling Navi to her feet. She embraced him, a little roughly, and he choked out with shortened breath, "I missed you. I went looking for you. Where did you go?"
She looked up at him, her face winding into a confused knot. "What do you mean, where did I go? I had to go, that's all. But now I'm back."
Link felt her hug loosening. She was shrinking. The spell was wearing off.
"No, not yet! I still have so many questions I need to ask!"
Navi curled up, shuddering, and was reduced to her other form, the so- called ball of light. She quivered, rose up, and flitted around Link's head in happiness.
"Link! How did I get here?"
He shook his head sadly. She was too far gone now.
"I don't know, you just showed up, as if from nowhere. How are you?"
"I'm wonderful, Link! I've missed you so much! I'm sorry I had to leave."
"That's all right. The important thing is, you're back now."
He smiled, and chased all thoughts of the beautiful, graceful, wise Navi from his head. He knew he would meet her again someday.
He turned and began walking towards the campfire, chattering with Navi, who was sitting on his shoulder.
Yes, he would meet the true Navi again.
***
Woohoo! Another chapter done, and in about three days! It's a record, and it's also time for lunch. I'll finish this up quick.
Wow, TWO whole entire new reviews in one chapter! Still many thanks extended to ???, my favourite frequent reader! Also, thanks to Raiya Storm. You put me on your favourites list too, huh? Wow, you must really like my story! Thank you very, *very* much! You guys inspired me to write the last page or so of this part! Now onto the dailies (weeklies, whatever).
Today's Wisdom Quote Thingie: (not from my brother, from me)
Never wait to tell someone how you feel.
Yes, this one also kinda came to life on me (If Kay-one of my friends-is reading this, she'll be hounding me for months to come) recently. Yes. Anyhoo, more sections.
Today's Revelation: Even hard rock songs can make you cry, if you listen to the lyrics.
Today's Lyrical Quote:
Playground, school bell rings, again.
Rain clouds come to play, again.
Has no one told you she's not breathing?
Hello, I'm your mind, giving you someone to talk to; Hello.
If I smile and don't believe,
Soon I know I'll wake from this dream;
Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken.
Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide,
Don't cry.
Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping,
Hello, I'm still here,
All that's left of yesterday.
-Hello, by Evanescence
The song has so few lyrics, I figured I'd just put 'em all in. You should check out this song, it's beautiful. The piano, and the lady's voice- *sigh*. Yeah, I'm done now. Y'all come back now, y'hear?
Oh, and Navi is welcomed back to the gang. Oh, and things will become much clearer very soon. Oh, and bye.
-Shawshank
