Reply time! We're almost to the end… oh no! Oh no! Almost to the end, oh nooooooooo!
Dragon-Charmer16: Oh, this one is even better! It gets better and better and better! And you know I can't kill your original character without your permission! …well, not permantently, anyway.
Blondie91: n.n I'm so happy! You caught up! Join the party! We've got free cookies! -hands out cookies- Yay, cookies! -dances- Recommendation is such a very good thing! n.n I'm still happy! And tell your sister… better late than never! I don't mind waiting as long as the reviews come eventually!
Mxedcherub: Yup, Tsuki-chan's the one. And I'm not sure if I'm really going to follow through on the one-shots idea… I might, but I might just write a new story. I'm not sure which to do…
CheeseFromJupiter: O.o They came back… You miss hurting him? And you call me a murderer? XD Well, I miss reading about him getting hurt! Seqeul soon? Happies if there be!
JMG: . Aren't you talkative?
And that does it for replies! Last night was high school orientation. I left the house and lived to tell the tale! But that's another story entirely. You're here to read my finale, not listen to my drab tales about the school which reminds me of a dungeon in Ocarina of Time… So here's the chapter. Enjoy.
Chapter 19: End
Kuro shielded himself from the oncoming assault with a Lizalfos. The scapegoat perished instantly under such force. Hieke darted about his massive head like an insect, nimble and quick. Kaze made his way fighting through the dozens of monsters affixed to Kuro's hulking body. Link used spin attacks and powerful slices on the torso, hoping to find some vital point.
Hieke was swatted aside with a brief cry of shock and pain. "This isn't working!" she shouted desperately. Link halted his relentless attack, breathing heavily. "You're right," he admitted. "We have to try something else!"
"Aw, crap!" Kaze exclaimed. Whenever he slew a monster, two more would take its place. Kuro bellowed and raised his arms above his head. Lightning crashed around them, thunder booming above. Rain of fire fell from the shadows that were the ceiling. Hieke's wings ignited and she gasped in shock and pain. Kaze, using his elemental power of water, extinguished the small flame and shielded them all from the falling embers.
Kuro sliced through the protective barrier with ease. While his sword merely collided with the ground, it sent out a shock wave that easily toppled his foes. Link quickly clambered to his feet and blocked Kuro's attack as he was bringing his blade down upon Hieke. The Spirit scampered out of the way and concentrated her power. A veil of stars appeared around Kuro.
"By the moon and stars, hold this demon fast!" she called and her spell was sealed. But the monstrosity of a man broke his binds in seconds and roared. Lightning began to flash once more, but this time the thunderbolts were clearly intended to be the attack instead of preceding the actual assault.
Kaze dodged the bolts as they struck the ground around him. Link, using Din's Fire, easily repelled the lightning. Hieke was flitting about, trying to confuse Kuro, and didn't notice the thunderbolts at all. When the pulses of electricity stopped, Link pocketed his magic orb and unsheathed his sword. Nothing they tried was working…
"Link!" Hieke called. The young hero was amazed that his friend could keep her concentration on the battle and talk to him at the same time. "What is it?" he asked as he leapt backwards to avoid a slash from Kuro's serrated sword. Hieke grinned. "I'm gonna seal him," she muttered.
This caught Kaze's attention, who had been avidly flaying the miscellaneous monsters attached to Kuro. "What did you say!" he blurted as he nearly dropped his sword in fearful awe. "Try it and I'll kill you!" Link shouted. Hieke giggled, but made no word of reason or protest. Perhaps the comment was intended as a joke…
But all doubt vanished as she lowered herself to the ground and clasped her hands over the Moon Pendant bound about her neck, murmuring some kind of incantation.
"Bythemoonandstarssealthisdemonbythemoonandstarssealthisdemon…"
Hieke repeated the statement quickly without pausing for breath. A soft glow enveloped her. "Don't you dare!" Link cried. He threw his sword aside and ran over to Hieke, Kaze joining him shortly. Link clasped his hands firmly on her shoulders and shook her. "Don't!" he sobbed. "You can't!"
Hieke opened her eyes. "You're right. I can't," she breathed. Kuro chuckled. "As long as the power of the Staff of Nightmares is with me, no one will be able to seal me anywhere," he explained, a smirk on his already contorted face.
"We have to weaken him!" the Spirit said as she took the Moon Pendant in one hand and the Staff of Dreams in the other. She muttered the changing spell and the Staff fused with her pendant, creating a beautiful, heavenly weapon. The blade was long and white with diamonds along its length. The hilt was wrapped in a silken cloth that glittered like silver. The hilt itself was ivory with silver patterns. The sword glowed white light in the hands of the Celestial Spirit.
"This ought to do a little damage, don'cha think?" she smiled as she spun the sword across her fingers and moved into an offensive stance. Link frowned. His weapon was nearly as cool… But he shook his head to clear the thought away and prepared himself for his next attack. Kaze admired his friend's new sword a few moments, then set his gaze firmly upon Kuro.
"You think that pathetic little steel toothpick will be able to harm me?" Kuro chortled. "Well, considering just how pathetic you are, I think it should do just fine!" Hieke smiled. And thus the battle resumed. Kuro set a ring of fire around Link, but Kaze doused it with ease. Angered, he struck thunder upon Kaze, but Hieke shielded him. Kuro created a dark orb around the girl, impenetrable from the inside, but Link freed her with a single slash of the sword.
Seeing his tactics were failing, Kuro tried a new method. The deceptive fog of illusion settled in the room. Link gritted his teeth and tried to think of something to keep the mist out of their minds. Then he remembered what Hieke said… While he didn't want her to sacrifice herself to seal yet another evil, they couldn't harm him as long as he had the power he was in possession of and sealing him was the only way to get rid of him. They had to weaken him… If his evil fog could weaken those around him, who ever said it couldn't also go the other way around.
"Hieke!" Link called. "I'm way ahead of ya, Link!" the Spirit replied. She darted around Kuro's head, redirecting the haze into his eyes with the gusts she produced with her wings. The monster growled in irritation and shut two of his eyes, yet the third had no eyelid and remained open and susceptible to the fog. He raised his arms and the mist vanished, but he had already been exposed and was clearly already witnessing the effects of his own evil.
"A heart as corrupted as his is bound to have all sorts of bitter thoughts locked inside," Kaze muttered. Kuro clutched at his head, writhing and screaming. He shook his malformed head wildly in an attempt to escape his visions. "Now!" Hieke shouted. She threw her sword like a spear and it impaled Kuro's third eye. Upon impact the blade began to shimmer more brightly than ever.
"By the moon and stars," Hieke whispered, "take my soul… and seal this demon…"
Link buried his face in his hands and bit his lip. If there was one thing he didn't want, this was it. He looked up and saw Kaze was in a similar condition, head bowed and eyes closed. The young hero turned to Hieke and took a few steps towards her, then stopped and waited. But instead of disappearing is a flurry of starry light, her wings dissolved and a massive phoenix of white light escaped her body. The incredible light illuminated the area and revealed it to be merely a stone chamber shrouded in shadows. The blazing bird hovered before Kuro; it was nearly as large as him. Soon Kuro's form began to glow.
The demon was pulled into the phoenix and the bird screeched, then crashed through the ceiling and flew off into the horizon. Link and Kaze ducked from the falling rocks until they noticed that Hieke was unconscious. Dodging the boulders raining upon their heads, they hurried to her side and shielded her as best they could.
When the dust settled, a mound of rocks in the center of the room shifted and eventually a hand broke free. Link crawled out from under the pile, dragging Hieke along with him. Kaze followed. "Did you hear what she said?" the thief asked, his breath coming in shudders. Link nodded. "'Take my soul'," he repeated. It was no wonder Hieke was out cold; she no longer had a soul. In moments she would be dead… again.
Link sighed and blinked his eyes to clear the tears in them. When he looked down and saw Hieke's amber eyes open and a smile on her face, he gasped.
"Don't you dare drop me," she warned weakly. With some help from Kaze she managed to sit up. She pulled her hair out of the way and gestured to her ears. Link's eyes widened in awe. They were Hylian ears… But why?
"Look at me, I'm a little elf girl," Hieke chuckled. "Now I'm just a Hylian… The Spirit of Celestials is that phoenix you saw, and it took all of Kuro's evil to the Guardian Tree where it will become a part of the seal. If you look over there," she nodded to the place where Kuro once stood, "you'll find what's left of that man."
She stood and staggered towards the other side of the room, but tripped. Link helped her up, concern in his cerulean eyes. "I'm just coping," Hieke reassured. "I lost a great deal of my power, and I need a little time to adjust." With Link's aid they walked to a circle of fallen stones, in the center of which lied a small child with black hair. He was unconscious. Kaze frowned and picked up the boy. "Is this Kuro?" he asked.
Hieke nodded. "That's the purity of his soul. That form of Kuro knows naught of evil or darkness. If he has a good home, he'll certainly grow up to be a compassionate young man. He won't remember anything that he's seen or done when he wakes. It's probably not a very good idea to keep him in Hyrule, though…" Clumsily her fingers tightened around the Staff of Dreams. It glowed more brightly than ever, for the power Kuro had taken had been restored to it.
"Oh, Staff of Dreams… By your power, send this being to another place, a place where he can live and grow without ever being exposed to this world again," Hieke said. The Staff glowed and Kuro's sleeping body disappeared from Kaze's arms. "Where did you send him?" he inquired. "Far away, to a place we'll never see," Hieke explained.
Link ran his fingers along the silver patterns on the Staff. "Now you'll bring them all back?" he said. The Hylian girl shook her head and placed the powerful object in Link's hands. "This is your place," she smiled, then leaned against the wall with a weary sigh.
Link stared at the Staff for a moment, holding it loosely, then tightened his grip and heaved a sigh. "Staff of Dreams, by your power, bring back the lost souls who have unjustly lost their lives at the hands of Kuro and all his evil!" he said firmly. A blinding light radiated from the Staff and the sky shined with stars. All over Hyrule lights flashed. When finally the glow subsided, the inhabitants of Hyrule looked around themselves in shock, unable to believe they were really alive again.
It had been a long fight, but they had finally won.
As Link, Kaze, and Hieke turned to leave, Zelda and the others ran into the room, waving and calling their names. "You did it!" the revived queen beamed. "You defeated Kuro!"
Ending note in bold! Yay! I remembered! Okay, so here's how orientation went:
The slackers couldn't make a live speech, so they broadcasted a video to every television screen thing in the school. I was bored out of my wits, so I started daydreaming that I pulled out a gun and shot the TV, then Link came in and did a spin attack, killing everyone in the room. After that we went to find my classes so I'd have an idea of how to get around. My first class is Honors Earth Science, taught by some blonde lady. The class is upstairs. After that I go downstairs to art class with some middle-aged woman who was playing either Bach or Mozart. I think I'll like that class, and I'm not being sarcastic. We skipped gym, because everyone can easily find the gym room, and we went out to the 'learning cottages' (what they decided to call sleezy, beat-up portables) and found that my English teacher wasn't in. Which sucked, because I wanted to go inside the 'cottage' and yell at them for not having muffins. And then we went home. W00t. I'm still miffed that I don't have creative writing class until next semester…
So, what do you guys think? Do I write another chapter, or end it at this? I'm thinking write another chapter before I start on the bonus material. Plus, I'm planning a new story inspired by back-to-school. It'll be… most interesting. Sometime soon I'll update "The Legend of Advertisement!", but until then, why don't you review this chapter? Reviews make me most pleased!
