Disclaimer: I do not own Zelda

Missing

Chapter 4: Journey

"You can't be serious, right? I mean…I have a life here and you just recently told me that I'm your sister. I can't just get up and leave just like that!" Armelle said nervously. All this information was spinning around her head. Kids just have the wildest imaginations.

"I…I…all I wanted was my sister…" Rina started to tear up.

Armelle couldn't help but feel lower than dirt. Rina was right. "I'm sorry. It's just so much to comprehend right now. I'll tell ya what, we'll go back home and head out early tomorrow morning while everyone is still asleep. What do you say?"

Rina's tears immediately dried up as she smiled and hugged Armelle. "YAY! I'm so happy! Thank you!"

Armelle made a grunting noise as Rina continued her tight grip. Something tells me that she was just doing that to make me say yes. A sweat drop ran down Armelle's face. Once Rina let go Armelle gathered all of her things and began to walk out of the bar. Rina followed her like a little duckling following its mother.

Everyone who was walking through town gave Armelle a weird look. They knew she was fairly young and not married, and since a little girl was following her they all assumed it was her kid. Armelle ignored the stares and walked through the gate to the outside.

"Excuse me miss. There have been some recent reports on monster sightings and ask that you either take shelter here until it's clear or have an escort with you on your way." The guard informed, stopping Armelle and Rina.

"Thanks, but I think I'll be fine" Armelle said while trying to continue on her way.

"I have strict orders from the mayor—"

"Who cares about the mayor. Let's go Rina." Armelle snapped at the guard and grabbed Rina's hand. The two girls walked over to where their horse was tied up and began to saddle up for the ride home.

…The ride back to the ranch seemed to have taken forever. By the time the two reached the stable the sky was already starting to turn orange from the sun getting lower.

After Armelle dismounted she helped Rina down and walked on into the house. No one was in the main room as expected. A couple moments later, just as Armelle was putting away the bought food and supplies, footsteps were heard coming down the stairs.

"Well hello there Armelle. I thought that you were never going to come back. You always take forever when going into town." Cremia commented while now examining the new goods.

"Very funny, Cremia. You know how far away town is so I would hopefully expect you to understand somewhat." Armelle commented back, making Cremia's blood boil. She shot a glare back at Armelle.

"Hey you two…there's a little girl in here." Romani informed as she walked in the door with her arms full of firewood. Rina was shyly standing by Romani who was smiling at the little girl.

"I never knew you were so comfortable with strangers, Romani." Cremia stated while starting to chop up some vegetables.

"I'm not, but Merina is just so cute!" Romani set the wood down by the fireplace and took her spot in the kitchen to help cook. Cremia continued to have a sour look on her face.

Armelle noticed Cremia's constant expression and began to wonder. Cremia normally was pretty easygoing and more concerned with everyone's feelings. Something was going on. Was there something that she knew that Armelle didn't? Armelle began to ponder and think up wild reasons to why Cremia was like this as she continued her cooking job of cleaning the table and setting it.

"Armelle…ARMELLE!" Cremia shouted to Armelle. "Pay attention girl! You're going to break all of the dishes at the rate you're going."

Armelle looked down and realized that there were no plates where she thought she had set them. She looked down and saw Rina holding all of the plates.

"They were about to fall off so I caught them." Rina said in her small voice.

"Are you daydreaming again, Armelle?" Cremia scorned.

Armelle blushed. She knew she wasn't daydreaming, but she didn't want to argue with Cremia. "No…" Armelle sighed, took the plates from Rina, and reset the table.

Early the next morning, just as the sunlight was breaking through the trees, Armelle got up and started to pack her things. Rina continued to sleep on Armelle's bed. Armelle was trying as best as she could to stay quiet so both Romani and Cremia couldn't hear her.

"Rina…wake up. It's time to go." Armelle softly whispered to Rina to wake her up.

Rina slowly woke up and rubbed her eyes. She was still too tired to walk so Armelle picked her up and carried her downstairs. To her surprise Rina was quite light. As Armelle continued to creep softly through the house and into the stable, thoughts about the whole situation swarmed Armelle's mind. Was she doing the right thing? How would Cremia and Romani react? Is this whole thing really true?

At this point Rina was a bit more awake and was able to stand on her own. Armelle helped her up onto Tula and then tied on the clothing and supplies onto the back of the saddle.

"I can't believe this time has already come." A voice said, startling Armelle. She looked around to see Cremia standing right behind her. "I always knew somehow that someday you would leave this place, it was destiny."

Armelle's stomach started to turn into knots as she blushed red. "I'm so sorry for waking you up! I was being as quiet as I could!" Armelle tried to apologize. "And what in the world are you talking about anyway?"

"There's no need to apologize. Ever since Merina came I had a feeling the time was now."

Armelle raised an eyebrow.

"Let me explain. Several years ago, when Romani was still quite very young, a stranger cloaked in a dark hood came buy and dropped of a baby. They didn't say a word except for the baby's name, Armelle, and left immediately. There was nothing else I could but raise the baby myself along with my little sister. I grew to love you and just became a part of the family as if it were real. But since the occurrence was so bazaar I had a feeling that someday, when you got much older, that you would start to feel much different than Romani and myself. And…it has come…the day when you would leave us is finally here." Cremia explained and then shed a tear.

"You knew…didn't you?" Armelle said softly.

"yeah…"

Armelle started to choke up inside. "So…so is that why you've been so controlling lately? You knew this was going to happen and didn't want me to go, right?" Cremia shot a glare. "Hey! It's the truth…"

Cremia sighed. "Yeah…you're right. I don't want to let you go. You're just like a real sister to me."

Armelle placed her arms around Cremia as she started to cry. "I'll miss you, Cremia. I promise I'll come back and visit. I'll never forget you!"

"I'll miss you too. Have a save trip."

Armelle nodded her head and mounted Tula. Rina was sitting and waiting patiently for her. "What about Romani? Does she know about this?"

Cremia hung her head. "No…but I'm going to have to break the news to her somehow."

"Alright! Take care of yourself and I promise I'll come back!" Armelle said as she made Tula gallop out of the stable. She didn't want to get too emotional and have second thoughts about this. This whole thing meant a lot to Rina, and to Armelle herself.

…The sun was starting to rise higher in the sky as Armelle and Rina rode across Termina Field. They arrived at the town gate and stopped for a quick minute.

"I don't think horses are allowed in there, Rina. We're gonna have to leave Tula here." Armelle commented.

"You worry too much big sis! Just gallop right on in there and go through those door I showed you." Rina smiled.

Armelle gave a half smile. This is all happening WAY too fast… Armelle thought to herself. "Ok…lets do it."

Armelle snapped the reigns to make Tula trot on into Clock Town. There was hardly a person around since it was still quite early. Armelle heaved a sigh of relief.

"Hey there! HALT! Horses are not allowed into the town!" A guard announced to Armelle and Rina.

"Oops…gotta run!" Armelle clicked her heals against the horse's sides to gallop. As she galloped off the guard started chasing her, but also called other guards for backup. The ones in front of her held out spears and swords to make Armelle stop, but she just used her riding skills and jumped over them all. Finally reaching South Clock Town there were more guards waiting for their arrival. A few of them took a couple good swings at Armelle and the horse, but was dodged quite easily. When Armelle reached the Clock Tower she dismounted and opened the door to let the horse go on in. She slid on in just as a few arrows flew her way, only to get stuck in the door.

Armelle leaned up against the back of the door and breathed heavily. "Well…that was exciting…NOT. You better be right about all this, Rina! We were almost killed back there!" Armelle shouted.

"I'm sorry…" Rina looked like she was going to cry.

"Ah…uh…hmm…sorry. Lets get going. You sure you remember the way?"

Rina nodded her head. At that Armelle grabbed Tula's reigns and walked on through the basement of the tower.

It was very cold and damp inside of the Clock Tower. The steps were almost worn down and the stream below was unappealing. At the bottom there was a huge door just waiting to be opened. Rina signaled that it should be opened and Armelle did just that.

The land that they were now exposed to was very mysterious. Strange plants grew on the trees and huge flowers were everywhere. There was no sunlight to be found but something was around, glowing, to illuminate the place. Armelle didn't know what to make of the place.

"Are we in Hyrule?" Armelle asked.

"Nope…we still have a long way to go according to daddy's map." Rina answered holding up a huge, aged piece of paper.

Armelle hung her head and sighed. "In that case I'm going to mount Tula. I'm tired of walking." She stopped walking and mounted the horse as she said that she was going to do.

The scenery wasn't changing much, but the internal gut feeling that Armelle was getting was growing. Wow. Who knew that a place like this existed underneath the only place I knew of. Armelle thought.

"Hey…maybe this isn't so bad after a-AHH!" Armelle screamed.

Something spooked Tula and made her rear back. Armelle and Rina both were thrown off the horse and landed on the soft grass. Armelle looked up to see that Tula had run away.

"Are you ok Rina?" Armelle helped Rina up.

"Yeah. What happened?" Rina asked while brushing off the debris.

"I don't know and I don't want to know. All I want to go is find Tula and get the hell out of here." Armelle said and started to walk on.

After a few minutes of walking the two girls heard a loud rustling nearby. Armelle stopped and looked around. "What was that?" Rina looked up at her with a curious look. "Whatever lets—" Something flew threw the air and hit Armelle in the head making her fall over.