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, Jiji, and Aryn. The characters of Kage, Yugi, Mable, and Raven belong to Kearra. The character Ravick is the property of Selphie's friend, Patrick.

Chapter 17

Kage landed in the clearing where his house was. Iggy climbed down off of his back with Aryn in his arms. The clearing was completely silent and darker than usual because of the cloud cover. Overall, it seemed a bit eerie which is rarely a word someone would consider as describing Kage and Selphie's home. Even the house seemed to loom over them, casting a sense of foreboding.

"Something doesn't seem right here…" Iggy said, keeping his voice up to prevent Aryn from falling asleep. That could be fatal for her.

"How do you mean?" Kage asked as he shifted back into his human form.

"I dunno…" Iggy answered. "I've just got a bad feeling is all." They walked to the front door and Iggy's eyebrows furrowed.

"What's that smell?" Kage remarked sniffing slightly.

"It smells familiar," Iggy said. Kage opened the door and the smell intensified tenfold. "Holy-!"

"What the hell!" Kage exclaimed, throwing his hands to his face, protecting his nose and mouth.

"I know what this is!" Iggy said as he covered his own face. "Chloroform pellet. Don't breathe. It'll put you out." He directed this statement more to Aryn who quickly used her robe to cover her face. They went inside, holding their clothes over their mouths and noses to prevent inhaling the fumes. Iggy sat Aryn on the couch and then he and Kage opened all of the windows in the room to aerate the room.

"Oh, no!" Kage said, walking over and spotting Selphie on the couch. She'd been knocked out by the chloroform pellet. "Iggy, is she-?"

"She'll be fine," Iggy said. "Go check on Jiji. The gas fills the entire room. I wouldn't be surprised if it made it upstairs." Kage nodded and headed up the stairs to the guest bedroom. Iggy returned his attention to Aryn. "How are you?"

"I don't think the bleeding has stopped yet…" she whispered. They'd used her robes as a means of applying pressure to the wound.

"I'm going to treat that right now," he said, standing up and walking over to the bathroom. Kage came down the stairs at that point and met him. "How is she?" he asked.

"She's not, Iggy," Kage answered, eyes wide.

"…What?" Iggy said confusedly.

Kage swallowed once before explaining, "She's not there, Iggy. Jiji's missing."

Iggy's eyes widened when he heard this news. They closed slightly as he allowed it to sink in. Then his eyes widened once more as it hit him. "Oh, gods…!" he breathed.

"What?" Kage asked.

"The chloroform," Iggy repeated. "I don't know why I didn't think of it…"

"What?" Kage repeated.

"Chloroform pellets are a device of the Garo," Iggy said, looking up to meet Kage's gaze, then looking away thoughtfully. "They came after me, it seems logical they would come after Jiji as well."

"But they tried to kill you on the spot, Iggy," Kage said. "Why wouldn't they just kill her in the bedroom and be done with it?" Iggy didn't have an answer for that, but he turned around to look at Aryn on the couch. Without saying anything to Kage, he walked over.

"Aryn, why did the Garo want Jiji?" he asked her. Aryn looked at him and then averted her gaze. "Aryn."

"They need her to find the balteus movere," she whispered.

"The what?" Kage asked, joining them. Iggy looked at her thoughtfully.

"The balteus movere?" he asked. "Why would they need Jiji?"

"Because she's the first born in our family," Aryn answered.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Kage asked.

"We descend from-."

"The Garo who gave it away," Iggy finished the sentence for her. "I remember this legend now. Does that mean they want to extract it from her?"

Aryn shrugged her shoulders slightly. "I just know that me and Davies were sent to kill you and another pair was sent to bring Jiji back to the encampment." She shuddered and inhaled sharply. Iggy sat in thought for a moment.

"What do you make of it?" Kage asked.

"I don't know," Iggy said. "But-." He cut off as he caught a glimpse of Selphie, or more specifically her sash. "Kage…" he said. "Didn't Selphie say she got that sash from a Garo?" he asked.

Kage glanced back at Selphie. "Yeah, I think so." The thought occurred to him. "Wait a minute! You don't think that's the sash the Garo want?"

"I don't know for sure, but if they get that information from Jiji, they're going to come after Selphie. Be ready for that." Iggy stood up and turned to Kage. "Treat her wounds and make sure she doesn't fall asleep," he said, pointing to Aryn and starting to walk past him to the door.

"Whoa! Where're you going?" Kage asked, taking a few steps behind him.

"I'm going to save Jiji," Iggy answered shortly.

"Alone? Iggy, you can't be serious," Kage said.

"Yes, I can be," Iggy replied. "I know you want to help, Kage, but this is my battle. This beef is between the Garo and me… and I know I can handle it."

"How can you be so sure?" Kage questioned as Iggy reached the door. Iggy paused and clutched the door as he looked back at Kage.

"Because Jiji is on the line… and even if I don't make it… it's better than losing her and knowing I did nothing to prevent it…" He disappeared out the door without another word. Kage stared after him for a moment before going into the bathroom and returning with the bandages and such. He kneeled next to Aryn and began cleaning her wounds.

"Why's he so riled up about this?" she whispered.

"Because he's prospectively your brother-in-law," Kage replied.

Aryn was silent for a moment. "Wha…?"

Meanwhile, Iggy had already started through the forest at top speed in the direction of Ikana. There were flames in his eyes. He had been just about to finally propose to Jiji, but those bastards had to kidnap her. That was what really made him crazy! They kidnapped her! They were going to pay. If they hurt her…! He was not mad, nor angry, nor fuming, nor furious. He was pissed.

If one wanted an idea of how pissed Iggy was, they need only look at the speed at which he ran that night. Normally it takes a person about twelve hours to walk/run from Hyrule to Termina. Iggy made it from Hyrule to Ikana in only six. That's how pissed he was. And what did he do when he got there? Well…