Beautiful Darkness
Disclaimer: Not mine. Hence I'm posting on a place called 'fanfiction'.
Hope you enjoy. Not beta-read, so may be a few mistakes - feel free to point them out, and I'll try and rectify the situation. Reviews are much appreciated and will be guzzled indulgently.
A place can change a lot in a thousand years. Much is gained – technology, knowledge, power… Yet more is lost – purity, innocence, hope – the history of a land rescued by a single green-clad man, known as the Hero of Time.
However, one thing lost from this golden age is soon to be rediscovered in the new one…without the man in green, can this newly freed evil be suppressed by a Hyrule full of scholars and peaceful farmhands?
Chapter one: Attention
"…and in the final confrontation with Ganondorf Dragmire, the Hero's fairy, known as Navi, was unable to come to his aid. This is of course because of the power of dark magic, which is known to have an adverse effect on the internal organs of a fairy. Other examples of this effect can be found throughout history…"
I watched my fairy fall back, and smiled sadly at her. I knew I had to go on alone, and the guilt on her face was unbearable. Gently, I reached out to touch her outstretched hand with my forefinger. However, when I heard the terrible foe making ready to attack (after making jibes of unimportance), I had to turn away from her penitent gaze, and raise my bloodied sword. With my free right hand, I wiped the sweat off my forehead, the gold of my gauntlets glinting in the waning light of day.
"…the ancient texts in the Royal Library lend some insight into the movements and life cycles of fairies from the Kokiri Forest. It appears that Navi was one of the only Kokiri fairies to leave the Forest for any prolonged period of time…"
The figure before me was lit from behind by the last rays of the sun, making his black armour glint like the wing cases of a giant beetle. I could just make out the cruel smirk on his face, but felt no fear when I caught sight of the princess to the left. She was encased in rose-coloured crystal, her face frozen in shock. Determined to release the wise and rightful ruler of the Kingdom, I parried the enemy's first attack and returned one of my own.
"…it seems that Navi was not the only fairy outside of the Forest. It's believed that another species – the kind often used, even today, in the practice of old medicine – once dwelled in several 'Fairy Fountains' dotted all over the kingdom…"
A ball of crackling dark magic flew towards me, and with a loud yell, I dove out of the way. The smell of burning reached my nostrils. Looking around, I couldn't detect where the smell was coming from; panicking slightly, I circled my adversary. Curiously, he seemed to have acquired a cigar…the sight was so odd that I paused, giving him just enough time to attack me again-
"And if Miss. Xavier would care to stop staring out of the window, perhaps she'd like to contribute to the ancient history of fairy habits?" I started, and nearly tipped backwards off my chair at finding myself face to face with my history professor. He didn't look best pleased, and dragged heavily on his cigarette, making the ash drop onto my desk. Carefully, I rocked forwards so that all four legs of my chair were on the floor, and then smiled as best I could, racking my brains for an interesting fact. "Well?" Professor White urged.
"Urm…well…although fairies from these 'Fountains' seem to have healing properties, there are no records of Forest Fairies being able to heal, sir." I flushed, and stared at my desk, hoping that I'd remembered what I'd read in the textbook correctly. Professor White sighed, and stood up straight from leaning on my desk.
"Miss. Xavier, if you ever actually paid attention in my lessons, you could be brilliant. See me after class."
"Yes sir." Internally, I cursed – it looked like I was going to be yelled at again…
Damien, (the veritable sexiest guy in the class), leant back on his chair, and muttered, "Good save Ver." As usual, I went all girly at this point (he had this great way of rolling the 'r' at the end of my nickname), and just giggled,
"Thanks!" At a glare from the professor, we both hurriedly began copying the notes he was scribbling on the whiteboard. At every squeak of the board marker, I flinched, the noise hurting my ears – I'd forgotten my sound-mufflers again. Mind you…I did that quite a lot…they were just so bulky and embarrassing…
The Gerudo man tapped the ash from his cigar, and paused in his attack. An amused grin crossed his face, and he gestured towards my ears. "What the Trio are those ridiculous things for?" he chuckled slightly. I reached up self-consciously, and removed the bright red clip on mufflers, having the feeling that my face was much the same colour. Angrily, I pocketed them, deciding I cared more about being taken seriously than protecting my ears at that point.
The bell cut through my daydreaming about being taunted by the ancient villain, Ganondorf Dragmire. (It sounds weird that I daydream about this kind of stuff, but, well, with a family like mine, I suppose it's not that surprising…) Damien hurriedly swept all of his books, notes and stationery into his bag – I did the same, only a much slower pace. This was mostly due to the fact that I had to stay behind…but I did have ulterior motives (as always!) Remaining seated, I was able to catch a fabulous view of his arse as he stood up, followed by a fantastic profile as he looked over his shoulder at me (at which point, I guiltily looked away from his backside in order to focus on his face.)
"It all right if I bring in the notes tomorrow for you to check over in your frees?"
"Huh?" I knew I sounded like an idiot, and wished that I'd been able to stop my mind wandering, just so I knew what he was on about. Thankfully, he just laughed, and turned around fully, ignoring his friends as they headed out of the classroom.
"Sometimes I wonder how you got so clever, the way your mind wanders." I frowned and flushed at being called clever, and murmured,
"Nah, I'm not-"
"Bollocks you're not!" he contested, ducking down and leaning on my desk. "I'm talking about the presentation we have to do on ancient Sheikah history – just my luck to get the only person in the class to have a mountain of books about it." He beamed and tucked a few awry strands of black hair behind his pointed ear.
It suddenly clicked what he was talking about, and I grinned sheepishly, remembering just how many of my parents' history books I'd leant him to do the research on Sheikah roles in Royal Hylian history. We'd been paired up a couple of weeks ago, and each pair given a different topic to research about and make a presentation for, so I'd been lucky to get Sheikah history. (Very appropriate, considering I'm the only Sheikah in the class.) All this flashed through my mind in a moment, and I formulated an answer. "Urm, yeah, sure – I've done an A2 presentation on religious symbols and the Eye of Truth, as well as a factfile on the famous Sheik. Did you manage to get some good stuff out of the books?"
"Yeah!" he answered enthusiastically, and I was ingratiated to see his eyes light up in joy at the thought of history – I loved history after the way my parents went on about it, so seeing someone else with the same passion for the subject was always great! "It was hard to actually cut down my notes, there was so much info – must be grand having your own library at home."
"It's pretty good, yeah. Just glad they were useful! D'you want to meet up in the common room after school as well so we can put the presentation together?"
"Sorry, I can't, I have fencing."
"Oh yeah, should have remembered that…"
"Eh, you can't remember everything," he shrugged.
There was a loud cough from the front of the class, and I realised that all the other students had now gone. Professor White was stubbing out his cigarette, and I knew by his face that I was about to be sternly told off. Damien pulled a face at me, nodding minutely to our professor. "Good luck," he whispered, then added loudly, "Well, I'll give you the notes tomorrow morning then. See ya!"
"See ya."
And with that, he swept his bag off the floor, and hurried out of the classroom – just before the door swung closed, I saw one of his friends pounce on him, obviously to ask a question. But then the door drifted shut, and I was left alone with a man who looked as scary as I always imagined Ganondorf Dragmire would be…
After the quiet click of the door, there were a few seconds of tense silence. Then, Professor White inhaled deeply, dropped his cigarette stub into his ashtray, and stood up. I nervously shuffled the paper on my desk, waiting for the shouting tirade to begin – I'd been getting into a lot of trouble about drifting off in lessons recently. The professors were all getting really edgy this close to exams, so I suppose it was only to be expected.
When he spoke, however, his voice was quiet. "Miss. Xavier, I know that you may well find these lessons boring, considering how advanced your knowledge is due to your parents, but I cannot have you daydreaming during my lessons. Now, your last essay," he picked up his mark book from where he had put it down on the desk he was perched on. He scanned down to find my name. "Your last essay was only 60, and I know you can do better. However, if you don't pay attention, the exams are going to prove very difficultfor you, you realise that, don't you?" I gulped and nodded guiltily.
"Yes sir – sorry."
"It's all well and good being sorry, but if your marks continue to slide, then I'm going to have to contact your parents." I nodded again. "OK. Just make sure that presentation of yours is excellent, and I suppose I'll forgive you," he smiled kindly, and slipped off the desk in front of me. "Off you go." As soon as he said that, I launched myself out of my seat and hurriedly packed my things away. On the way out of the classroom, I nodded farewell to my professor, and stepped out into the hall, which was already empty. People always seemed to be in such a hurry to get home at the end of the day…
As usual, I was in no hurry at all. I didn't particularly fancy putting up with the twins (who had finished school already for the preparation running up to Linkmas (the celebration of the birthday of the Hero of Time)), whereas the rest of us in normal school had another two weeks to go…
To explain, the twins are Nabooru and Xenia – the daughters of Valerie and James, the family I'm staying with whilst my parents are away. They're archaeologists you see…and there's this big dig in the desert, so they're away for a while. I would have stayed home, but Sheik (my big brother), who normally looks after me when mum and dad are away, got a job in a lab in the Hylia province, so…I was dumped on my parents' friends… They're all right really – especially Valerie – probably the only Gerudo who doesn't bully me for being a Sheikah. James (her husband; a Hylian) is OK too, if a bit quiet. But the twins are just – eurgh – too 'popular' for my taste, I suppose. Being a geek and all that…
Anyway, being in no hurry to get home allowed me the pleasure of meandering through the empty halls, my ears blissfully safe from the usual shrieks and yells that the other students made when going in between classes. Sometimes, I almost thought the embarrassment of wearing mufflers was less than the pain caused to my ears by all this noise…but not often! Sheik would of course be annoyed that I don't wear them as often as I should…but what he doesn't know can't hurt him, right?
Walking past the drinks machine reminded me that I was thirsty, so I paused in front of it, dropping my bag onto the floor so that I could fish around in my pockets for change. After digging around in my right pocket, I finally settled on a round object. Expectantly, I pulled it out – alas, it was only a button! I tried the left, and came up blank. "Damn…" I muttered, before looking left and right along the corridor. Seeing that no one was about, I stepped up to the machine, putting my hand over the glowing price screen.
After another furtive look around, I looked at the splayed fingers of my hand. Guilt briefly shot through me, though it was soon replaced with the thought that it was the school's fault for not magic-proofing the machines. So, I closed my eyes, and searched around for the appropriate spell. When I found it, I grinned, and opened my eyes again.
"Wouldn't be magicking cans out of the machine, would you Ver?" I jumped about a mile, and whirled around to confront Celia.
"Bloody hell, you nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you were a teacher!" I stretched out my arms and embraced my half-Zoran friend. "Have fun in art?" I snorted, pulling my hands away to find them covered in yellow paint. She just turned around to show a yellow smiley face smeared across the back of her overalls. Then, she slyly asked,
"Can you get me a can?"
"I suppose so," I sighed dramatically, before muttering the spell quickly, twice under my breath.
The machine whirred and dispensed two cans. Celia stooped down to pick them up, "Oh, they're both lemonade – I wanted coke!"
"Yeah, well this isn't an exact science you know!" I grinned, taking the can she offered, and then picking up my bag.
"Meh, I guess free is free," she conceded, cracking open her drink and falling into stride next to me. "You still up to help me with the multicultural project?" she asked wheedlingly and I rolled my eyes at her.
"Yes, I stupidly agreed to help, remember?"
"Just checkin'…" We walked along in silence for a little, sipping our drinks. It was only when we came to an intersection in the corridor that we found the need to speak again.
"So what's the plan for this evening?" Celia asked, running a hand through her bristly hair (blue).
"Urm…dunno…the club?"
"Nah, that place is getting boring."
"Well, do you have any ideas?"
"Nothing other than going to the rink to watch Damien," she nudged me in the ribs, nearly making me spill my drink.
"Watch it!" I exclaimed, hoping my flushed face looked like a result of anger, rather than embarrassment.
"Sorry…so…?"
"So what?" I played dumb.
"Do you want to go to the rink?" Celia asked impatiently, hand on hip.
"Urm…"
"Look, you know you want to!"
"Well, all right, but not for too long – I need to put the finishing touches to my half of the history project."
"You two are made for each other – history geeks together, how sweet!" I just glared at my blue skinned friend, and then burst into a fit of giggles at the mock scared expression on her face.
"Well, before we go, this history geek needs to go home and collect her sound-mufflers," I pointed a thumb at my own chest. "You know how loud the rink is."
"Yes, I do…which is why I have these…tada!" with a flourish, she withdrew a pair of super-sleek black sound-mufflers from her large front pocket on her overalls. My eyes widened as she shoved them into my hands. "No need to thank me – they came free with my new stereo," she winked, and then started walking again. I hurried to catch up with her, putting the mufflers in.
A thought suddenly struck me. "You had this planned all along, didn't you?" She looked guiltily at the ceiling, smirked, and nodded rigorously.
"If you hadn't gotten yourself into trouble, we might have been able to tag along with Damien himself."
"You devious creature!"
"Well, I do try," she preened, making me laugh once more.
OK, a brief explanation of 'sound-mufflers' for you all. Basically, as Sheikah hearing is so sensitive, it can't really handle the loud noises of modern day life very well, so most of the Sheikah have these 'sound-mufflers'. Ear plugs, if you will. Imagine a pair of those headphones that you can clip over your ears, but without the band of plastic that goes around the back of your head. That's pretty much what 'sound-mufflers' would look like. Understandably, younger Sheikah would probably find these contraptions embarassing and cumbersome, so wouldn't wear them as often as perhaps they should.
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