A.N: Ok. Again, thank you to all reviewees, and thank you to Sacharja for saying that you don't hate me ;) it means a lot to know someone does support my ideas.
Chapter 14
The King of Hyrule stared down at his son-in-law and his captain. Both were knelt before him wearing unusually rumpled clothes.
"So you didn't get the cure?" He asked staring down at Link in particular.
"No, sire." Link replied, lowering his head further at the king's irritated tone and speaking in a very humble form of Hylian, one that used to be used by commoners when they were deemed unfit to speak the same sort of language as a noble.
"You're the Hero of Time, Link….I expect you of all people to get what Hyrule's people need to survive."
"I apologise sire, we would have gotten the cure, but we were chased off the site before we had a chance to get Wesker to give it to us."
"It's not good enough."
"Yes, sire, and I fully intend to get the anti-virus within a few days…we just need a little time to plan, sire."
"Do you realise how bad it has gotten here within the past few days?"
"No, your highness"
"The people have almost no water, an ever decreasing amount of food, and a heat wave struck a few days ago. We are expecting it to return tomorrow…and Zelda is getting worse."
Link swallowed painfully at that, wondering just how bad his wife was.
"I'm not going to punish you Link….but I expect you to have the cure within a few days, so we can get Hyrule back to what it was… no matter what the cost. Now, go and see Zelda…she misses you."
"Yes, sire" Link dipped his head a little more, then turned and walked back out of the throne room, avoiding contact with anyone.
Liam remained knelt in front of the King, before being dismissed and quickly following Link.
"He's angry with you." Liam commented, as they walked up the stairs towards the bedrooms.
"Well, duh," Link rolled his eyes "What did you expect? I'm supposed to be a great hero and I can't even get a cure to a disease."
Liam put his hand on Link's shoulder. "You will get it….anyway, I'm going to get the maids to set up rooms for that lot, and then keep them company. Say hi to Zelda for me, K?"
Link nodded and Liam ran off to find a maid.
The blonde continued up the corridor they had turned onto, then came to the door of his and Zelda's room. He knocked on the door and pushed it open, looking around the room for Zelda, before spotting her, sitting at the vanity table, brushing her hair, humming to herself.
"Zelda?" he called quietly
She turned upon hearing her name, but instead of jumping up and running to him like she used to do when he'd been away before, she merely looked at him.
"Zel?" he asked again
"So you're back….did you get the cure?"
He hung his head as she stared at him with piercing ice blue eyes. "No."
"Then why are you here?" she hissed
"…because we need to plan, and see how bad the virus has gotten…and…"
"And?"
"I missed you."
"…really…well it's nice to know you care." she spat the words out sarcastically
"Zelda…what have I done? Why do you suddenly seem to hate me?"
She sniffed slightly instead of answering, and Link chanced taking a few steps towards her until he stood a few feet behind her.
"You let me down," She finally replied, and the cold façade started to slip "I thought that you would come back with the cure, and that we could go back to being happy."
Link breathed in deeply, letting the air out of his nose in a sort of sigh, before tentatively putting his hand on her slender shoulder and squeezing it slightly. She didn't shrug it off though. Instead she reached up and clasped his hand.
"There's no reason we can't be Zelda….just, it's taking a little more time than we originally thought. Things didn't go as planned, but I swear by the goddesses, Zelda, I will get it."
She sniffed again and nodded slightly, her pale hand tightening on his. He squatted down next to her and gently held her, his left arm wrapping around her waist.
"I know you will," She whispered "I missed you."
"I missed you too," He gently leaned forward and kissed her cheek "And everything's going to be alright."
Liam collapsed into one of the chairs in the 'relaxation room', and sighed contentedly, happy to be home, not wearing a sword and in clean, familiar clothes.
"So you're happy then." Billy commented, watching Liam as he breathed deeply
"What? I'm not allowed to be happy in my home?"
"With all that's going on…No!" Chris answered, watching as the nineteen year old straightened out in the chair, sitting up and opening his eyes.
"Gee thanks…anyway, today I'm going to relax, then we go out, see what state all of Hyrule is in and then form more plans."
"Is Zelda coming to greet us?" Maxi asked
"Possibly. Depends on whether she wants to be alone with Link or not."
"Ah…so it's going to be an hour or so at least?"
"No, it's not Maxi." A voice chided from the doorway.
All heads turned to the door to see who the speaker was.
A round stomached Princess Zelda stood in the doorway, wearing a loose lilac coloured dress, the sleeves stopping at her elbows.
She turned to Chris and co.
"I'm sorry for my sudden outburst, it's nice to see you again…but I'm afraid I haven't met your friend before." She gestured to Billy
"Oh," Chris turned to look at him "That's Billy."
"Nice to meet you." Billy greeted, dipping his head as he did so, looking her over when he raised his head again. Zelda responded in kind.
Link came in behind her, then slumped into a large chair, before being joined by Zelda.
"So…what're we doing for today then?" Claire asked, directing her question to their hosts.
"Today…I think we should just relax, maybe show you guys round the castle….we'll go out to see what's going on tomorrow, and hopefully come up with a plan." Link answered.
"Do you think it wise to wait a whole day?" asked Jill
"…well…there's no reason for us to hang around here, especially since it is early morning. But the people of Hyrule tend to think that if we haven't been seen for a few days, we've run away and aren't coming back, this way at least people know that we haven't abandoned them." Link explained
"So what'll we do?"
"For now, just be contented to sit back. Liam and I will show you all around the parts of the castle you didn't see last time, and then you'll have to see the king and talk to him at dinner, which will be in around three hours."
"We have to wait that long? Until you at least show us around." Claire objected
"Well…" Zelda started tipping her head slightly "You could always have a wander around the library….but the texts are mainly in Hylian so one of us would have to teach you."
"There are a fair amount of things to do around here. It's just that you've become so dependent on electricity, that you can't see them at first glance." Liam stated, straightening up in his chair
"Like?" Billy asked
"As Zelda said, she can teach you Hylian, or explain some of our cultures….festivals and such, you could just have a wander around on your own…and if you're really bored, you could come help Link and I with the horses." Liam sniggered slightly
"I'll come with you on that….I want to see Thara." Leon stated
"Anything else?" Chris asked
"We could teach you archery or swordplay, or just general things about the army once we're done."
The group split up 'til noon, to do various things about the castle. Once they had reached midday and they clustered into the dining hall, they spoke to the king, the Soul warriors not bothering much with conversation, apart from answering when asked a question.
The rest of the day following lunch was mainly spent like the first part, taking in various pieces of information, the cultures of Hyrule, day to day life, the fashion, the politics and the festivals and legends. The group was assembled in the library with Zelda, when Link walked in, having been talking to the guards with Liam, who had gone back to his room to rest.
Link walked into the garden of Hyrule castle, looking around at the bright summer time flowers, and sighed heavily. It was currently the middle of May, so everything was in full bloom, and suffering all the more for it because of a lack of water. The flowers were struggling to survive now, in May, the height of summer, and yet in just three or fourth months, they would be dying off at the approach of autumn.
He wandered over to the doors at the far end of this section of the garden, and pulled them open before walking up the stairs slowly, glancing at the clock up ahead to see what time it was.
8:30 pm, which meant he had about half an hour to get to the top of the stairs. Nevertheless, he quickened his pace, not wanting to miss what he wanted to see. He trotted up several more flights of steps, then slowed his pace again slightly to get his breath back.
It took a while longer but he finally reached his destination at the top of the stairs, and he slipped through the plain door, and out onto the balcony, where he leaned against the railing, catching his breath whilst he looked over all of Hyrule.
The balcony was situated almost as high up in Hyrule castle as you could go, save for the open air plan that was used to look up at the stars, and it provided a view of almost all of Hyrule.
At the moment Link could see all of the green rolling plains of Hyrule field, the cluster of trees that was the Kokiri forest, the softly golden sands of the Gerudo desert and out of the corner of his eye, he could just make out the slope of Death Mountain, and the red roofs of Kakariko village.
What he had come up here for though, was partly to see the sunset, but mainly, to get a view of Lake Hylia, to see if there was anything visibly wrong with it.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he leaned back slightly, stretching his back, neck and arms as the sun began to set.
Link leaned against the railing again, and looked up into the sky where it was starting to turn a dusty pink. He watched for a while longer as the pink gradually grew in intensity, then turned to yellow, then orange. It was as the point just above the horizon had turned blood red, its predecessors trailing behind it, that Liam joined him. He stared out at the view as he moved to stand beside Link, glancing up to where the sky was turning to a shade of violet, then back down to the horizon, where the distant mountains seemed to have been set ablaze.
"We were wondering where you were." Liam murmured quietly, his voice barely more than a slight tremor in the air next to Link's ear.
"Well, you and Zelda know best where to find me…I just wanted to see a familiar landscape from above." He replied, his voice matching Liam's in its quietness.
"From above?" Liam raised an eyebrow and turned his head slightly to glance at his friend, his hands resting on the cold railing.
"It reminds me." Link breathed, raising his head again. Liam followed his gaze and stared up into the sky with his brother, where the sky was the deepest shade of blue it could possibly be before it turned black. A few stars were dotted around, starting to peek out now that the light was thoroughly fading and even the crimson colour was seeping out of the sky, like the way blood ran from a wound.
"Of what?"
"Just after I saved Hyrule from Ganondorf, for the first time. When me and Zelda stood up there in the heavens and looked down on the land like we were both some form of deities. It was so amazing, and I felt so powerful, like I could do anything I wanted…It's hard for me to believe that was only a little more than two years ago. It seems like a century has passed since I had that feeling."
Liam didn't answer straight away, choosing instead to mull over what Link had said before answering.
"You haven't had anything to celebrate for about five months now, so it's unsurprising that you feel like that. There are things in life that will get you more than just that feeling you had when you first killed Ganon."
"Such as?"
"Didn't you feel better than that when you married Zelda? Or when you found out she was pregnant?...I'm not an expert on anything really Link, but I think that you'll get the best feeling you've ever experienced when your child is born."
Link suddenly turned and glared at Liam, his face set in a scowl.
"Liam, my child is going to be born a freak thanks to Wesker."
Liam didn't flinch as Link spat this out at him "Hope springs eternal Link. You and Zelda are the most powerful people on Hyrule, the people who know how to lead, to gain the goddesses favour, to make people think that there is always a light somewhere in the future. How can you instil so much hope in people, but have none yourself? You should know better than anyone that there is always hope, so long as there is life."
Link's expression softened slightly.
"Your child is a new life, and no matter what, that should bring hope to everyone. Life always finds a way Link, without mutation and science. Life finds a way, life is hope, and you bring hope to people. So find a way, Link."
He turned on his heel and walked back towards the door and glanced back at Link before leaving.
Link stood for a while longer, his eyes trailing over the stars in the sky as he thought about Liam's words. If he wanted to do as Liam said, to bring hope to Hyrule, his friends, family and himself, the he would have to do whatever it took to get it. It was something, he realised, that he was willing to do.
If he didn't try to save Hyrule, then there was no point in him living.
The Hylian gazed up for a moment more, picking out a constellation of a bird, a phoenix to be precise.
Smiling slightly, he went back inside, then took a route through the offices of the castle to reach the library. He lit a lamp quickly, and carried it over to a desk in a far dark corner, where people in the castle tended to brush up on subjects they were researching, then picked up another lamp and lit it.
Walking down the long aisles of books, he went straight to the back section that was restricted to Royal Family members and the Sages, and picked out several thick tomes written in ancient Hylian, looking for information on the Triforce, Goddesses and Magic, then walked back to the desk and dumped them on it. He slid down into the chair and pulled a piece of parchment and ink from the draw, setting them on the table, and began to read the book on top of the pile, quill in hand.
Zelda wandered along the corridors of the castle, pulling her dressing gown tighter around her as she paced through the corridors. It was six o'clock in the morning, and there had been no sign of Link since Liam last saw him at just after nine last night. She had spent the night alone but had been so tired due to the pregnancy and the emotional rollercoaster she had been on that she had fallen asleep as soon as she hit the bed. Now she was wondering just where her husband was.
He hadn't come up to the room last night, not and slept there anyway, because she had woken up still dressed and on top of the sheets. If Link had gone to the room, he would have done something about it.
She paused in the main hall of the castle, watching a few blurry eyed maids stumble past, having only woken up about quarter of an hour ago, and got up later than that. They nodded to her slightly as they passed, then made their way upstairs to clean the bathrooms and such before everyone else woke up.
Zelda walked to the 'relaxation room' as she was told to call it. Everyone else referred to it as a lounge, but a princess, who would become Queen in a decade's time or so, had to use the 'proper' language. She peeked inside quickly, but found it to be empty, and so she turned back, thinking about where he could be as she walked away from the room.
He wouldn't still be out on the balcony, Link was forgetful at times but even he would remember to come inside, and she had already checked the guest's bedrooms, Liam's and the spare. He wouldn't have gone out to attend to the horses yet either, despite his love for them.
As she walked along, she suddenly had an idea of where he might be, and doubled back, heading for the section just off the office area, the left wing of the castle, heading for the larger library.
When she reached it, she slowly pushed the heavy door open, and squinted slightly into the few patches of lingering darkness, before striding into the main area.
He wasn't there. But the library was extensive and had many nooks and crannies that were big enough to hide a person. She turned to the darkest area of the library, and, opening the shutters of the window nearest to it, could just make out the slim figure of a person.
She walked over to him, and smiled gently down at her husband, who was asleep in his seat, his head using a thick book with rough parchment sheets as a pillow, and gently pulled back a few strands of hair that were draped across his currently peaceful features.
Her attention was soon diverted though, by the collection of books on the desk, as she skimmed over the titles written in swirled Ancient Hylian characters and she frowned slightly. When Link ended up falling asleep at a desk, with a pile of books that weren't for pleasure reading, it usually meant he was trying to find an answer to something. The current predicament in this case, no doubt.
The books seemed to be mainly about the Goddesses and Triforce, which was no surprise really, but the books that dealt with subjects such as the Soul and Spirit were disconcerting, especially when she noted that the page that was lying open was on the purification or extraction of the soul.
Zelda skimmed across the page briefly, then looked at Link's left hand, holding a quill, and resting on a piece of parchment, covered in Link's hurried and very scrawled handwriting.
She gently pulled it out from underneath his hand and read it over.
It was a little weird, what was written.
At first, all it was was the idea that the Triforce actually held essence of the Gods, and some random lines of that, which was indecipherable to her. This was followed by something vaguely to do with the purification of the soul through means of a priest or monk. It seemed hard to do though, because from the looks of it, the priest had to be completely pure in the first place, to absorb evil into himself.
Link stirred slightly and Zelda glanced down at him before replacing the paper and then gently shaking him awake.
He opened his eyes slowly, and looked around the room, disorientated, before turning his head and seeing Zelda. He smiled at her gently before leaning back in his chair and stretching.
"Good Morning," she greeted, leaning down to kiss his cheek
"Morning," He replied "What time is it?"
"A little after six."
Link groaned and dropped his head, smacking his forehead into the dark wood. "Ow." He moaned.
He pushed his chair back and stumbled upright, grabbing the piece of paper and stuffing it into his crumpled tunic. Picking up the books, he returned them to their places before putting the ink and quill away.
"Do you mind if I head upstairs for a shower?"
She shook her head slightly and he smiled at her, walking for the door and waiting there for her. They walked up to the bedroom together and, closing the doors behind them with a quiet bang, went into the bathroom to shower together.
Liam yawned loudly and tossed over onto his right side, groaning at the loud crowing of the cucco that was sitting on the railing of his balcony.
He scowled at it slightly, cracking an eye open to do so, then glanced at the clock on the nightstand. From the bleary image his mind was giving him, it was just past seven o'clock.
Grumbling, he pushed the blankets back, and meandered into the bathroom, where there was a bath full of hot water, as he had requested the night before. He stripped off his clothes quickly and stepped into the tub, relaxing as the hot water soothed his body as soon as all but his head was submerged.
Liam sighed contentedly then looked towards the door at a quiet knocking. The person on the other side came in without waiting for a response. It was Link.
"Can you wait for an answer next time!" he flushed slightly, covering his lower body with his hands.
Link smirked slightly but otherwise gave no response.
"What do you want anyway?" Liam grumbled
"Oh, I was just told to tell you that breakfast will be served in a few minutes. It's half seven."
"Alright, alright." Liam pushed himself to the other end of the bath, then grabbed a towel, stood up and wrapped it around his waist, before stepping out onto a towel already laid on the floor. Grabbing another towel off the warming rail over the other side of the room, he dried himself off, pausing midway to ask Link;
"What?"
"Hmmm?" Link replied
"You're standing watching me…I know I'm incredibly sexy but please, my door doesn't swing that way."
Link snorted a laugh out in response before walking out of the bathroom and into the adjacent bedroom and waiting in there whilst Liam continued to dry himself off and get dressed.
He came out a few minutes later, his hair still damp and his clothes clinging to him in places where he hadn't dried off fully.
"Ready?" Link asked
Liam nodded and the two brothers began to walk downstairs towards the dining room to have breakfast. Once there they found that the others were assembled and waiting for them.
"Morning." Link greeted them, sliding into a chair next to Zelda, whilst Liam took the one opposite. The response to Link's greeting was made up with various 'Hello's or 'morning's from everyone, and all in varying tones of tiredness and boredom.
In fact, the only people who didn't look tired were Sheik, Impa, Kilik and Siegfried, and to be fair, they never looked tired.
For a few minutes the assembly exchanged various grumblings or comments whilst the food was brought in. Once they had finished, the dishes were taken away, and they moved into one of the meeting rooms.
"So what's the plan for today?" Chris asked, having finally woken up and taken note of the situation.
"We go out and assess Hyrule," Link answered "It'll probably take until about 1 o'clock, and that's if we don't encounter any problems."
"And after that?" Jill asked instead of Chris
Link turned his attention to her "We'll probably plan out what we're going to do, expound on theories etc."
Liam piped up for a moment "And now for a more important question…can any of you lot ride a horse?" he addressed the more modern group specifically, and avoiding Leon's gaze, as he already knew he could ride.
Claire nodded, along with a "sort of" from Billy. Chris and Jill shook their heads.
"Well you're going to have to learn," Zelda commented, smiling at them. She turned to Sheik after a moment "You're not to accompany them, Sheik. I want to discuss something with you." She stood up and walked towards the door, where she stopped and turned back to them "Have fun."
Link watched her go, then looked back at the group "Come on then, we better get started."
He made his way to the stables, the rest of the group following. Liam, Sheik and Leon moved to the horses they were used to straight away, Leon stroking Thara, his former horse, in greeting.
After a few minutes of saddling up their allocated horses, the group mounted the animals, Chris and Jill riding at the back of Billy and Claire, and then moved off onto Hyrule field.
It was about four hours later when the group pulled up onto Hyrule field again, having just come from the Gerudo Valley. They had encountered few problems, aside from seeing one or two mutants in each place, which they had been forced to destroy.
"So," Liam started, looking up at the hill ahead of them, over which was Hyrule castle "What do you think of Hyrule and our lovely selection of mutants?" His gaze darkened slightly
"Well you certainly have a problem, and from the look of the people around here, especially the Zoras, it needs to be solved, quickly." Leon stated, stopping his Palomino besides Liam's Chestnut horse, Epionia.
"Understatement." Link declared, wiping the blade of his sword with a piece of cloth. He had had to put down three Gerudos, two that had already mutated into the inside out creatures that were similar to what the Hylians turned into.
The third had been halfway through the mutations, and it had pained Link greatly to have to do that to her. The girl had been barely ten years old, terrified out of her mind over what was happening to her body, and screaming in agony as wave after wave of pain rippled over her body as she continued to mutate. What had hurt Link the most though, is that he had played with the little girl a few times when he had been at the valley, and she had still had enough conscience to know what was right and wrong, and to know that Link would have to kill her.
He involuntarily shuddered, attracting the attention of the rest of the group. He shook his head quickly.
"Come on, we should get back to the castle." He muttered, tapping Epona's sides so that she began to walk again.
They moved in silence, their horses trotting up the slope of the hill.
It was as they were coming down the other side and the land was beginning to flatten out a little, that Maxi noticed something moving in the distance, and it looked human.
"Link!" He called, and the Hylian turned back to look at him "There's someone over there!" he pointed over towards the indistinct figure that was moving slowly towards the castle.
"Doesn't look mutated," Link commented "And if they had been bitten or anything, they would either be stumbling, running or screaming for help."
"So what do you propose we do?" Chris asked
"We go over and check it out." Liam announced, drawing his sword.
They advanced quickly on the sole person, and as they did, the person's features became clearer, until they all knew exactly who they were looking out. Link blocked the person's path, and pointed the sword at the man's throat.
Chris had dismounted and was now striding towards the man, gun aimed at him. He finally stopped in front of him, then stood there for a moment, before growling out;
"What the hell do you want, Wesker?
Ooooo, Tense-Momenty-Cliffhanger-thing. Tell me what you think should happen...I know what's gonna happen overall, but all thoughts and ideas are always appreciated.
Don't forget to review.