You know what time it is? IT'S TIME TO GET ILL! Ahem. Sorry. Just reminiscing from the third grade... Oh, Mr. Kramer, where for art thou? Actually, it's review reply time. Let's get started!
Da marshmallow: (FYD) That's from Badgers, a flash animation at albinoblacksheep(dot)com. The queen/king thing... Man, I have no idea. Guess it needed some humor. You're up there already? Seems like just yesterday I was replying to your reviews for FtSotW. Watch out Blondie91; your sister's catching up!
Dragon-Charmer16: -gives Seudophed (or however you spell that antihistomine medicine stuff)- Fierce Deity Link was AWESOME! The manga went into it with much more detail than the game, detail which was sorely needed. And Drakar's line about homies is from me having to ride the bus... They really do talk like that! It scares me!
CheeseFromJupiter: You are not alone!
Blondie91: Ooh, confetti! You can't have a party without confetti! IT'S CONFETTERIFIC! Everyone's glad I'm continuing, even me!
JMG: Homework is the antichrist of the school body... We must erradicate it from existance!
JMG: Well, I at least like to THINK they have some decency in hospitals. I've never been to one, so I don't know just how they act. English is this semester for me.
JMG: Well that's because they're crappy pediatricians! Or something...
Tai Aurion: (TLoA!) Commercials? I'm just stealing them from TV and twisting it up with humor, that's all I do...
Tai Aurion: (TLoA!) XD What makes that idea even better is that they have no idea what Pokemon is! I think I've found a winner!
And that's all! Now for the reason you're REALLY here... THE STORY!
Chapter 4: Friend or Foe?
"Kaze!" Link called as he knocked on the heavy stone door. If his thief of a friend was anywhere on that blasted mountain, it had to be in Darunia's room, discussing Goron matters. His first guess, of course, was the Dodongo's Cavern where Kaze was said to have been helping exhume rocks from the walls. After turning up empty-handed, Link decided to have a look inside the Goron City.
"Link, I told you to wait for me!" Hieke scolded, leaping down from a higher level to join Link. The legendary hero rolled his eyes and continued shouting for his friend to come to the door. Hieke giggled quietly.
"What's so funny?" Link snapped, frustrated that Kaze wouldn't respond to him. Hieke shook her head and pulled on a corner of the door. Instantly it slid open and Link, if not somewhat shamefully, entered with his clever friend behind him.
"Look!" Hieke exclaimed as she ran forward and pulled a note off the statue against the back wall. Link peered over her shoulder as she read the words aloud. "It says that the Gorons are inside the Fire Temple and not to worry about them. It also says that Kaze went to the Zora Domain to investigate sightings of a peculiar and somewhat intimidating girl, and it warns us not to follow for the sake of avoiding Ruto."
Link chuckled. "I've braved monster after monster, each more hideous than the last. While Ruto will be a tough adversary to conquer, I think I can handle her," he said. Hieke rolled her eyes and pulled out a pipe constructed from the reeds in Lake Hylia. After carving the instrument, she had taken it to the Guardian Tree so it could be infused with the power of the Spirits. As it was, it was the equal of the Pipe of Ages and the Ocarina of Time; it just wasn't as pretty.
"Remind me, Link," Hieke smiled. "How does the Serenade of Water go?" Link growled. Hieke knew full well that he didn't like to sing. He also knew that she had long since memorized every tune Link had ever learned. Regardless, she would insist that she had forgotten until she got Link to hum it for her. "Might as well give it up," he sighed and hummed the Serenade of Water.
The Hylian girl repeated the melody on her flute and they were taken to Lake Hylia, from which point they would enter Zora's Domain by means of the lake passage. But their plans were interrupted by the mysterious appearance of an old friend and an old foe.
"Drakar!" Hieke exclaimed gleefully. "Kuro!" Link gasped, unsheathing his sword. "Link, Hieke," Drakar greeted as he extended an arm in front of his companion to protect him. "Strangers," the black-haired boy standing behind Drakar murmured.
"Drakar, why is Kuro here?" Hieke asked as she glared her friend's companion. "This is Lor," the winged man said as he nudged the black-haired boy forward. Lor glanced nervously at Drakar, then turned to Hieke and Link. "My name is Lor," he said with an apprehensive smile. Link studied the boy for a fair amount of time before deciding to return his blade to its scabbard.
"I understand now," Hieke nodded. She crouched and picked up a stick, drawing diagrams and formulas in the moist earth. "When I used the Staff of Dreams to send the remainder of Kuro's purity to a different dimension, he forgot about all the evil that he had wrought when he was still a part of the demon that's now inside the Guardian Tree."
"But it's only been six years," Link reminded. "He was little more than an infant when you sentenced him to another world. Look at him; he's nearly as old as us. Explain that, Professor Hieke!"
The Hylian girl smiled mischievously. "Therein lies the beauty of interdimensional travel, my friend. Time simply passes more quickly in whichever realm he's been dwelling in for the past six Hylian years!" she reasoned. Link cursed himself for not seeing the solution to such a simple question before Hieke. The years had made her all the wiser. And all the more beautiful, Link thought with a smile as his eyes swept quickly across his friend. He turned back to Lor.
"You say you're a part of Kuro?" he asked authoritatively. Lor's eyes darted from Drakar to Link. "So I'm told," he replied as he took a fraction of a step backwards. It was almost amusing how he could stand up to the toughest, most muscular bullies at his school, but he was intimidated by this slender blonde gentleman before him.
There was a long bit of silence which was eventually broken by the sound of splashing water not too far away. Link broke off from his staring contest with Lor to investigate. "Look who learned to swim!" Hieke giggled as she ran to the water's edge to help Kaze out. The Gerudo thief swiped his hand across the surface, drenching Hieke. She withdrew her hand and sat down, waiting for Kaze to crawl out of his own power.
"What the hell?" the thief shouted when he saw Lor. "Kuro! What's he doing here! We locked him up in the Tree!"
Lor sighed. "This has been explained so many times, even I know what's going on," he grumbled in boredom while Hieke, once again, passed on her knowledge of how the black-haired boy had gotten to Hyrule.
Kaze regarded Lor uneasily, but still introduced himself. "So, have you heard the rumors?" the Gerudo boy asked as he turned his attention to Link. "They say there's some creepy girl prowling the area. She hasn't done anyone any harm, but the rumors are scaring people, especially those who have seen her."
Drakar suppressed a gasp. "I'm sorry," he said, "but I must depart now. There is something I must look into." Without another word, the man spread his ebony wings and took to the skies. It wasn't long before his silhouette disappeared into the horizon, leaving Lor alone with Link, Kaze, and Hieke.
"You don't know anything about this, do you, Lor?" Hieke asked. The boy shook his head in dissent. He bit his lip anxiously; he wasn't very good in a group of complete strangers. Kaze smirked. "I wonder if she's a cute girl," he mused. Hieke rolled her eyes. Leave it to her friend to always go chasing after a girl before helping his lifelong friend, who also happens to be a girl.
"Kaze," Link growled as he punched the thief's shoulder playfully. Kaze's smirk only widened. "Ya wanna tussle, eh?" he chuckled. Link turned to Hieke for assistance, but she was pretending to busy herself with studying the lake waters. Next he turned to Lor with a hand signal that said, "Dude, help me out here!"
Kaze tackled Link to the ground and there was a brief period of wrestling from which Link was victorious. "Take that, Gerudo boy!" the Hylian laughed. Kaze grumbled and spat a mouthful of accidentally ingested grass out. "Lucky shot, I say," he mumbled.
Lor hushed the ensuing argument. "Listen," he whispered as he closed his eyes. He thought her heard something like branches rustling. Hieke crept over to one of the surrounding bushes and parted the withering leaves. Inside crouched a surprised looking girl with features similar to Drakar's. She whimpered and crawled backwards, crystal gray eyes wide with fear.
"Who are you?" Link asked gently, squatting down in front of the girl. She shook her head, refusing to say a word, and continued to move ever away. "Stop right there!" Kaze demanded as he blocked the girl's retreat. She whipped around and gasped. "I…" she began, her voice trailing off.
Hieke sighed and pushed her Gerudo friend out of the way. "Please, just tell us your name," she smiled. The despondent girl stood and brushed off her soiled gray skirt. "My name is Aiko," she said nervously. Lor, who had engaged himself with a conversation with a nearby scarecrow, perked up at this. "That name sounds familiar," he commented.
Aiko turned to Lor and screamed, backing away as quickly as she was able and eventually tripping over her feet. "Get him away!" she shouted. "He's a murderer! He killed me and tried to kill my brother! Get him away!"
Lor stared at the frightened girl in shock. "I… What did I do?" he asked desperately, turning to Link. The blonde teen shrugged. Hieke, however, seemed to have a much better idea about what was going on. "Your brother…" she said to herself. "Is your brother Drakar?"
Link stared agape at Hieke, then at Aiko. "How did you figure that out, Hieke?" he inquired. The Hylian girl giggled. "You forget that we shared a soul," she reminded. Link nodded in understanding.
"You know my brother," Aiko murmured. "Drakar… He was forced to work for Kuro. That boy there! He did it! He killed me and enslaved my brother against his will! He killed thousands! How can you just stand there in front of him and do nothing!"
Link sighed. "While he may look it, this is not Kuro," he explained. "At least not the Kuro we know. This guy is Lor, and he's Kuro's pure side. He isn't evil in the least. Besides, all the people that were killed have been brought back to life by the Staff of Dreams, which was returned to the Spirit Temple."
Aiko shook her head. "I thought you killed him! You're Link, aren't you? You killed him! I know you did! It was written into the Tomes of Hyrule as recent history! How can he be here now!"
"We did not kill Kuro!" Hieke corrected. "The Guardian Spirit of the Celestials took Kuro's demonic side and locked it into the Guardian Tree with Ganondorf! After, we found the small child that remained, the pure, gentle side to Kuro, and sent him to another world to live and grow. That child is the boy behind us; his name is Lor."
Aiko bowed her head and stood up again. "I… I'm sorry, but I have to go," she muttered. She revealed a pair of black wings similar to Drakar's and took off.
Hieke glanced worriedly at Kaze and Link. "What do you think of her?" she asked. Link shook his head with a sigh. What could he think? It seemed she had something to hide, but at the same time she was very direct with her replies. Lor cleared his throat to resume the role as main original character.
"I'm only causing trouble here," he said sadly, averting his gaze. "I want to go back home. Drakar said I belong here in Hyrule, but I seem to fit in a lot better back on Earth, and I hardly even fit in there. Please send me back."
Kaze sighed. "The only thing with that kind of power is the Staff of Dreams, and it's been locked away in the Spirit Temple by the power of the Sage of Time; you'll never see it again. Sorry, kid, but you're stuck with us."
"I'm not happy here!" Lor shouted, tears at his eyes. "At home I was always happy, despite everything. Here I feel sadness, anger, hatred… And it hurts me! I want to go back and be happy again! You can't tell me there's nothing you can do! There must be something!"
"There is," said a haunting voice from behind them. Link and Kaze gasped, drawing their swords. Hieke, who had done quite a bit of training as of late, pulled out a barbed whip headed with the blade of an ax.
"My, aren't we hostile?" chuckled the bearer of the ghastly voice as he stepped forward.
GASP! Cliffhanger? From moi? How dare I! X3 Next chapter: Who is this new person? He's tempting our protagonists with promises of the fulfilling of their deepest desires, but will they listen? Will they join this new villain? WILL I EVER STOP TALKING! Find out on the next update!
Note: You are no longer allowed to use the word "awesome" in your reviews. -glares- Come on, guys! You can do better than that! Dig out that thesaurus and figure out a few synonyms!
By the way, how do like Hieke's new weapon? Expect an illustration!