Darunia: Disclaimer! Selphie Louise does not own the Legend of Zelda or any of its characters. They are the property of Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo.
Tingle: The characters she does own are Selphie, Iggy, and Jiji. The characters of Kage, Yugi, Mable, and Raven belong to Kearra. The character Ravick is the property of Selphie's friend, Patrick.
Chapter 5
"Jiji," Iggy said, giving her a gentle shake. "Jiji, wake up."
"Nnng…" Jiji groaned. "Iggy, I'm cold…" Her eyes opened slowly and she watched him for a moment before they slowly began to fall shut again.
"No, no, no!" Iggy said, giving her another shake, her eyes opening again. "Come on, Jij. You gotta stay awake. Come on. Drink this," he added, uncorking the bottle. He sat her up and held the rim to her lips, tilting the bottle and draining its contents down her throat. Jiji swallowed hard and color instantly returned to her cheeks.
"Ugh… I forgot how awful that stuff tastes…" Jiji said as she sat up, hand going to the wound in her stomach.
"You're okay!" Iggy exclaimed in relief.
"To some degree," Jiji answered, wincing slightly. "I think that fixed the blood loss problem, and that's about it…" She looked at Iggy again and her eyes widened. "Iggy! You're alive!" She touched his arm and stared in disbelief.
"Of course I'm alive," Iggy replied.
"Oh, gods! I thought you were dead!" Jiji exclaimed. "When I caught up to you and the Garo in training, you were lying on the ground and not moving. There was blood all over the side of your head. I thought for sure you'd…"
Iggy shook his head. "He was aiming for the temple but missed. I was just knocked out is all." Jiji nodded her head slowly, unable to get over her relief. "Did that tyro do this to you too?" Iggy asked, indicating her injuries.
Jiji shook her head. "Nuh-uh. Twas his partner. He came after me in Hyrule… I thought I'd taken care of him there, but apparently he followed me back to Ikana. Bastard snuck up behind me and I landed a roundhouse kick in his sword and he sliced me across the stomach," she sneered.
"But why'd you come back here anyway?" Iggy asked.
"You don't think I'd let you go back to your death all by yourself, do you?" Jiji replied. "The one that hunted me down told me that his partner was going to kill you, so I had to try to catch you."
Iggy nodded slowly. "Thanks… and I'm sorry. This wouldn't have happened if I'd listened to you and stayed in Hyrule."
Jiji shook her head. "Don't beat yourself up," she said. "We had it coming either way…" They sat in silence for a moment before they heard the sound of the witches screeching far in the distance. Something about Koume not touching the potions in weeks. Kotake not knowing whom else could have made the mess. Silence for a few seconds before:
"GITs!" Iggy and Jiji's eyes widened and they turned to look at each other. Gits was what the sorceress sisters called Garo in training ever since they began stealing things from their potion shop.
"We have to get out of here. If they find us, they'll kill us for sure!" Iggy said. Jiji nodded and tried to stand, but collapsed on her wounded leg, crying out in pain.
"I can't walk," she said. "There wasn't enough potion for that…!"
"Well, how else are we gonna-?" Iggy stopped short and looked down at Jiji. "Jij… put your arm around my neck," he said, stooping to her level.
"Um, okay? Why?" Jiji asked, complying. "Whoa!" she exclaimed as Iggy put his arm around her. "What the hell are you doing!"
"Getting you out of here," he said, standing them both up. She leaned on him for support as they hurried from the area.
"Are you kidding me?" Iggy stared at the Trading Post owner incredulously. "You don't have any red potion?"
"Nope. I was expecting a delivery on potions this morning, but the old witch that runs the swamp potion shop never showed," the man answered. "It's not like the old bat."
"Oh…" Iggy said slowly, glancing at Jiji, who had sat on a stool at the table. "Well do you have anything else I could use to heal someone?"
"Nope," the man shook his head. "Nothing. You might consider-." He was cut off by a knocking in his backroom. "Wait there a minute," he said before disappearing through a door behind the counter. "Oh, there you are!" Iggy heard him say to his visitor. "Did you bring the potions?" Iggy and Jiji each paled.
"No, I didn't bring the potions," they heard Kotake's voice. "Some stupid GITs from the Garo encampment broke into my shop and broke the whole of my red potion supply. It'll be another few days before I get anymore made."
"That long? Jeez, those bastards have the worst timing! I've just got a couple of kids in the shop looking to buy some red potion," the shop owner's voice answered.
"Kids? …What'd they look like?" Kotake's voice asked.
"I dunno, couple of teenagers. Clothes were identical, um… khaki shirts, brown pants-."
"You idiot! That's what GITs wear!" Kotake's voice screeched.
"What! You mean I have a couple of Garo sitting right there in my shop?" They both burst from the backroom and into the store. Iggy and Jiji were nowhere to be seen… and neither were a box of bandages or a length of terry cloth. "Goddamn it! I've been robbed!" he shouted, pounding his fist on the counter.
Iggy and Jiji meanwhile had escaped the shop quickly when they heard Kotake in the backroom. Jiji's leg had begun bleeding at some point when they started walking again. Iggy had grabbed a box of bandages and terry cloth so that they could at least address that issue. The two managed to make it to the clock tower and out to the forest before anyone could sick the soldiers on them. Finding a small pool of water, they finally stopped and set out to clean and bandage Jiji's wounds.
They sat in silence as Jiji took the terry cloth to her leg and stomach. Iggy stood by watching quietly. Jiji was having trouble with her leg because she had to bend it in a strange position. After watching her struggle and wince when she rubbed it the wrong way, Iggy finally sighed and walked over to Jiji. "Here, lemme help…" he said quietly, taking the terry cloth.
Jiji was silent as she watched Iggy clean her leg almost expertly and then bandage both wounds with impressive skill. "You're pretty good at that," Jiji said as he finished wrapping the bandage around her stomach.
Iggy gave a small shrug. "I wasn't very good at combat and fighting… figures my skills would be at the opposite end of the spectrum…" he answered as he tied off the bandage. Jiji watched as he crawled back a short distance and sat down. "I guess everyone was right… there's no way I ever could have become a Garo."
"Iggy, that's not true," Jiji said.
"Sure it is," Iggy replied. "I could barely keep up in our training, easily taken out of any competition. Only reason I made it as far as I did was because you partnered up with me…"
"You would have made it without me being your partner," Jiji said. "It may have been a bit more difficult, but I think you could have done it…" Iggy rolled his eyes, sighing. "Until you reached the field assignment."
"See? Even you expected me to fail that," Iggy said.
"Yes and no…" Jiji answered. "I think you would have been able to kill whoever they sent you after… if you weren't you…" Iggy looked at her questioningly. "This is why neither of us would ever have made it as Garo, Iggy," Jiji said. "Unlike the rest of them… even our own parents… we have decent consciences. Any other Garo could kill any random person- man, woman, child- and not bat an eyelash. But you or me, we'd never be able to live it down. I think I'd have a little more tolerance to it than you, but still."
"So basically you're saying we're both weak-minded, myself more so than you?" Iggy said skeptically.
"No, I'm saying we're both strong-minded, and yes, you more so than me," Jiji answered. "And not only do you have a stronger mind than the other Garo, you have a good heart."
"…" Iggy mulled that over for a second. "…A good heart?" he asked.
"Yes, a good heart," Jiji repeated.
Iggy nodded his head slowly. "…Do you have any idea how cheesy that sounds?" he smirked. Jiji seemed halfway startled by this statement but quickly narrowed her eyes playfully.
"Not nearly as cheesy as some of the jokes you make," she came back.
"Well that would just be my 'good heart' trying to make light of a dark situation," he replied.
"Any situation," Jiji corrected, smirking.
Iggy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You know you think I'm funny. No matter how corny it may be you almost always laugh."
"Almost always." They snickered quietly for a minute when suddenly Iggy yawned loudly. "Tired?" Jiji asked.
"…Practically carrying your behind around all day, hell yeah I'm tired," Iggy responded. Jiji shook her head exasperatedly. "No, but really. I haven't slept since that tyro knocked me unconscious. I really do need the sleep."
"Makes sense," Jiji said, looking skyward. "It's after sundown."
Iggy shook his head disbelievingly. "Amazing how you can just sit there and not notice when it gets dark around you." Jiji nodded her head in agreement. "Well, I'm going to try to get some sleep," he added, lying down. "Think we'll be okay without a fire tonight?"
"I think we'll manage," Jiji answered, lying down as well, careful to lie on her back. She stared up through the canopy to the sky above. She realized that they were sleeping bareback on the ground just like when they were Garo in training. "Iggy, make me a promise," she said.
"What kind of promise?" he yawned, using his arms as a pillow.
"Promise that once we get out of here, we'll never sleep outside with nothing but the hard ground again," she said.
"Right…" Iggy answered drowsily. Jiji nodded and closed her eyes. "I'll make sure to find us some nice soft mud next time…"