Chapter 10: Too Blind To See
"Unbelievable." Neosquid shook his head as Link entered the Rag's meeting room. "Un… freaking… believable. Landed on by Mothula, slammed into a tree by Blind, burns ALL over your body from both… and you stroll back in here two days later whistling cheerfully, with nary a scratch nor a scar. Come ON, kid."
"Like I told you last time I came here… a friend of mine is a whiz with magic potions." Link chuckled, then winced. "Admittedly, it took a LOT of them this time… but results are what's important. I'm ready for the next one… and after that incident in the forest, I think I know who it should be… how did that turn out, by the way?"
"We all made it away fine… got a bit dicey over the forest when Vitreous showed up, but Birdbrain managed to outfly him long enough for us to bring the eyes down." Handy explained. "The fire died down some time yesterday… the Skull Forest, as you might imagine, is pretty much ruined. I'll bet Ganon's pissed about that… or maybe he might have actually ordered it, to keep Mothula's research from falling into our, well, hands. Who can tell."
"Yeah… you can never tell with that guy." Link shook his head. "Well, anyways. As I was saying, I've had just about enough of the big bad Blind showing up after every success. I don't suppose any of you would be adverse to doing something about that?"
"We wouldn't be adverse at all." Neosquid grinned. "So Blind's the next target… we'll have to do things differently then from the others, then. See, Blind's HQ isn't out in the middle of nowhere. It's in the center of the Village of Outcasts… or to be more specific, it's UNDER the village, and the entrance is in the center. There's a big statue there… it used to be of Ganon, but we kept blowing that up, so the latest one is just a generic gargoyle. The entrance to Blind's Lair is under that."
"Hmph… he's staying true to form." Link grunted. "He and the Black Eye Gang had a hideout in Kakariko back in Hyrule, too. If the village is full of Ganon loyalists like you say… that could get tricky."
"Very." Handy agreed. "Your normal style of infiltration and assassination simply won't work here, I'm afraid. So, we've come up with an alternative plan." Link raised an eyebrow.
"And that would be?"
"Full frontal assault." Neosquid pounded the table with a tentacle. "No diversions, no nothing… the entire Rag charges down main street, bust the place wide open and mow the Black Eye Gang down while you find and finish Blind."
"…Heh." Link chuckled after a moment. "Gutsy. I'll give you that. But at the same time… incredibly risky. If two of the other Eyes weren't already dead, it wouldn't even be worth considering… and as it is, we'd likely get Vitreous and probably even Agahnim… Ganon… himself on our tails in less than ten minutes. If Blind isn't dead by then, we all might wind up facing the three of them simultaneously, and I don't need to tell you how that would turn out. So… convince me."
"One." Handy held up a finger. "That would happen no matter which way we did this… like we said, the village is filled with Ganon supporters. There's no way you could get into the hideout and not be spotted, with or without us. Two, if we came along it would speed things up… we'd tear up the place, and with all of us looking we'd find Blind much faster than you would alone. Three, I really do doubt that the Forger himself will show up… he hasn't so far at any of these places. At all. No reason he'd break that pattern now. And four… well, let us tell you a little story."
"Once upon a time, there were a group of friends who called themselves the Rag, who were dedicated to opposing the big, bad Ganon." Neosquid picked up. "About ten years ago, a new group of guys came through the portal to the Dark World, and the Rag found them right away. There were a lot of them, and their leader looked powerful, so the Rag asked them to join. Their leader was named Blind, and he seemed to hit it off well with the Rag's leaders, Handy and Neosquid. He said he would think about it, and to meet him a week later in a cave north of the Pyramid."
"But Blind had other plans… Ganon." Handy continued. "Blind decided that he would be better off allying with the man in charge than the resistance, and he sought out the Forger. Ganon saw potential in Blind, and that Blind was powerful… powerful enough to become one of Ganon's lieutenants, his Eyes of Ganon. But Blind didn't make this apparent… he kept it quiet, and he went to the meeting a week later as planned."
"Blind pretended he wanted to join up… he talked with the Rag, got them thinking everything was going well… and then, while the Rag were talking with Blind, the rest of the Black Eye Gang attacked them." Neosquid growled. "They massed in front of the cave to keep the Rag from escaping… and when they tried to anyways, Blind mauled them from behind." Most of the other Rag members were looking angry now. "Rabite and Bomb Boy weren't there at the time… they came through and joined the Rag at later dates. But the rest of us… we all remember that day, remember seeing our friends die screaming in that cave. We numbered twenty before that day… seven of us escaped. Ramses wasn't there. And ever since that day, Blind's been constantly trying to finish the job and kill the rest of us too. He hasn't succeeded… and now, we finally have the opportunity for payback. More than any of the other Eyes… this one's personal, kid. We want in on this… we don't want a single one of the Black Eye Gang to escape. Understand?"
"…Yeah." Link remembered how he had felt when he had first snuck into Hyrule Castle, and discovered his uncle dying by Agahnim's hand. "Yeah, I do. I get it. All right… we'll do it that way. Full frontal assault… but we've got to do it quick. There's no point in it if we all die down there in the process. Ten minutes… after that, we pull out. Or should I say, you do… I can finish off Blind and then use the Magic Mirror to escape, if need be, but since you guys refuse to use it, you can't get trapped down there. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Handy conceded. "That's all the time we'll need, anyways. We can do it in ten."
"Good…" Link's eyes narrowed. "And on that, by the way… one of these days, I want to hear the entire story on why you two are so adamant against that. And don't give me that line about not giving up the fight again… it's more than that, with you two at least, and we all know it, don't we?"
"Tell you what." Neosquid cracked a sly grin. "We'll explain THAT to you on the same day YOU explain to US how you knew to use that Hookshot right away, how Mothula recognized you from before she came here… and how you're using the bloody MASTER SWORD. Yeah, we know it… didn't at first, but as soon as Rabite spotted it he knew what it was and he told us."
"Heh… fair enough." Link grinned as well. "We all have our secrets, I suppose… but that can all wait for another day. For right now… an enemy waits for us. Let's not disappoint him."
"Come on, missy… just talk a little, huh?" Blind asked, lounging in a room in the back of his hideout. The crystal girl who was his captive, Lucy, glared at him.
"And why on Hyrule would I want to talk with a monstrosity like yourself, fiend of the Forger?"
"Aw, don't be like that. I'm not really THAT bad a guy." Blind's grin widened. "Okay, okay, who am I kidding… yeah, I am. But that doesn't mean I can't be a scintillating conversationalist. And you see, I'm BORED down here. Got nothing to do at the moment. So…"
"Hey, boss!" One of the Black Eye Gang threw his door open. Like the rest, he had been transformed into a horse-headed man, this one colored a deep blue. "You got a visitor. It's the eyeboy. Should we run him off?"
"How many times do I have to tell you, Butch, we NEVER do that to the other Eyes… and ESPECIALLY not to Big G. Stop asking… and let him in." Blind rolled his eyes.
"Okay, boss!" Butch nodded and ran off. Blind sighed.
"You ever heard the old one about finding good help these days?" Blind appealed to Lucy. "Well, don't buy it for a second. Those guys have all been in my employ for ten years, and look at 'em. It's hard to find good help in ANY time period."
"I'll keep that in mind." Lucy replied dryly. Blind chuckled.
"Good girl. But for now, away you go." She flew back up to the ceiling, and a moment later, one of Vitreous' eyeballs pushed the door open.
"Hey, Blind. Nice attitude on your guys here."
"Augh…" Blind slapped his forehead. "They give you lip?"
"Told me I was just lucky 'the boss' hadn't told them to donate me to the local bowling alley." Vitreous snickered.
"Goddesses… I'm sorry. I'll talk to them… not that it'll do much good, but I'll try again, at least." Blind sighed theatrically. "They just can't seem to get their minds around the idea that there are people they should treat with respect aside from me."
"I suppose that's what you get when you bring guys who are used to working for you only into this gig." Vitreous chuckled again.
"Yeah, but you'd think after ten years they'd have figured it out." Blind complained, shaking his head. "Mothula always used to say…" He paused. "…Well, never mind that."
"Yeah…" Vitreous looked downward. "First my sis, then her… what's next?" Blind's answer was cut off as the door opened again.
"It's the wizard, boss." The same Black Eye thug reported. "Here to see you. Should we-"
"For the Goddesses' sake, NO, Butch!" Blind yelled. "And DON'T give him any mouth, just show him in!" Butch nodded and left. "Ugh. They don't even remember what happened the last time one of them did that to the boss… we were picking pieces of poor Kilgore out of the wall." Vitreous attempted a wince and failed miserably.
"Yeesh… yeah, being a smartass with me is one thing, but the boss… BAD idea. Oops, here he is…"
"Hello, Blind… and Vitreous? Visiting?" Agahnim raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah… and don't worry, boss. I'm still on lookout duty at the same time." Vitreous assured him.
"Good." Agahnim nodded. "And how are your duties progressing, Blind?"
"Better…" Blind's eyes started glowing eerily. "I think I might finally have the lead on where those damn rebels are hiding out, boss. Just say the word, and I'll take my boys down there right away and smash it to pieces."
"Ha… I think not, Blind." Agahnim replied coolly. "The Rag are not important any more… not as important as the upstart Link, who will doubtless soon make another attempt to rescue one of our… hostages. You must be here on hand in case it is yours… what if you attacked the place, and it turned out you were wrong? Or you were right, but they had all already left… and while you demolished with your men, they were here stealing the girl away? Even if you took her with you, you could very well be ambushed easily out in the open like that."
"But…" Blind protested. "The brat'll likely be there with them, boss! And they helped him take out Arrghus and Mothula… shouldn't we pay them back for that?"
"Pay them back?" Agahnim smiled strangely. "Whatever do you mean, Blind? Arrghus and Mothula both died doing their duty, serving me… I see no reason for any sort of 'payback' here."
"You-!" Vitreous started to rage, but a hand raised in warning by Blind cut him off.
"You're saying that we should attach no onus to the punk for this." The grinning demon guessed. "That because they died serving you… that their deaths were fitting in some way."
"Of course… I'm sure if you had asked Mothula herself beforehand, she would have agreed." Agahnim explained, reason and rationality dripping from every word. "I told her the last time I saw her she was my most valuable tool… and she agreed with me."
"Tool, huh…" Blind repeated, eyes beginning to glow again.
"Yes, that's the word." Agahnim continued, turning to look at a wall. "But you shouldn't feel bad about that… you two are both highly valuable as well. As was Arrghus… and even Kholdstare has his uses."
"So you'd really prefer it if we didn't die too…" Vitreous' pupil narrowed. "Because then we wouldn't be of use to you any more."
"Exactly. You've hit it right on the head." Agahnim praised them. "The loss of the other two has been bad enough. At least Mothula managed to finish her masterwork… although there was something else she was going to work on that I shall sorely miss. Ah well, perhaps her assistant will be able to come up with something… he's the head of the Wizrobe order, after all. Name of Zektal, I believe…"
"And that's the only regret you feel over Mothula's death…" Blind seethed. "That she couldn't make something else for you… and the same for Arrghus?" He and Vitreous were moving forward now. Agahnim nodded, not turning.
"I'm afraid so…" As they neared him, he casually looked over his shoulder at them, smiling… but his eyes froze them both in place. "Was there something… you disagreed with me about?" There were a few moments of absolute motionlessness… and then Blind and Vitreous backed away.
"No…"
"Nothing…"
"Good." Agahnim turned towards the door. "Well, I'll be off. Be prepared in case either of you are attacked next… and oh, good luck, of course." He closed the door behind him, and Vitreous shuddered.
"Oh, man… did we almost just do what I think we did?"
"Yeah…" Blind sighed. "I think we might have all made a mistake, Vitreous. A big mistake. We've been riding the tiger… and now the tiger's throwing us to the lion."
"So what do we do?" The floating eye demanded.
"What CAN we do? We shack up, and wait to be attacked… and when we are, we fight, and hope we get lucky." Blind shrugged helplessly. "You heard the man… we're just tools in his belt, and that's what he's telling us to do. I've got a plan that just might work… we'll have to see."
"…All right." Vitreous sighed, floating towards the door as well. "I'll… see you around, Blind. Or maybe not. Who knows."
"Who knows indeed… it just may be that all of us fall to the reaper now." Blind mused to himself. "But if we do… well, it's been fun." And the demon grinned, as he always had, no matter what emotion he felt inside.
"All right, it looks like we're ready to go." Link smiled, looking over the miniature army behind him. Each one of the Rag had armed up, and were separating into pairs. "Who am I partnered with?"
"That'd be me, young man." Rabite, the brown frog, croaked and hopped over, easily carrying a massive sledge. "Normally I'd be with Ramses, but he's the closest to Bomb Boy aside from Bugoff, who's still missing, and the kid needs a best friend… he's still only six." Link winced.
"Sheesh… poor guy. He the newest here?"
"Naw, Rabite is, actually." Neosquid called over. "Bomb Boy's been here for eight years now, but Rabite dropped in only a few weeks before you did, kid." Link blinked, confused at the mathematical illogic for a moment, but then he realized something else and his eyes narrowed.
"Huh…" Rabite glanced away and coughed.
"Well, shall we get going?"
"Yeah." Link turned north.
"Remember, if things get dicey, we can head on back out… Blind won't be able to chase us himself out in the open, not in this weather." Handy pointed upward at the sun, blaring down even brighter and hotter than usual. "He's got sensitive eyes, see… that's why he named himself that, we figure, all the way back in Hyrule. It's not the sort of name a mother bestows on you." Link nodded.
"Good to know. Well then…" He drew the Master Sword and pointed it north. "CHARGE!" Screaming like banshees, the Rag surged north into the Village of Outcasts, with Link at their head. Startled villagers resembling foxes and rats ran out of the way, and transformed Knights of Hyrule in the forms of bulls and boars were swarmed under. In less than a minute, they had reached the gargoyle statue. A pitchfork it held hung down to block a staircase in its base with the tines. Grinning evilly, Brutus took hold of one of them. Rabite took a second, and Link a third with his Power Gloves. All three snapped, and the Rag moved in.
"Hey, what the-!" A startled man with the head of a red, fanged horse yelled and was cut off as Neosquid fell upon him, whirling and slashing with short knives held in six tentacles. Several more ran in, and other Rag members scattered to take them on, while the rest moved towards doors.
"Blind'll be towards the back, probably!" Link yelled at Rabite, who grunted and swept a Black Eye's head off with one blow of his sledge. "Let's go!"
"Right!" Rabite pulled out his copy of Blind's hideout map as he hopped up next to Link; Handy and Neosquid had issued duplicates to all of them prior to the attack. "We'll want to get clear of the large complex at the front as soon as possible… take a right here, then we drop down a level…" He paused for a moment as they engaged a pair of Black Eyes each. "Right then, now we-UGH!" He buckled as a fireball slammed into his back, launched from the mouth of a red Black Eye. Growling, he turned and raised his palm, and from it a much larger fireblast shot out, engulfing the enemy and reducing him to a smear of ashes against the wall. He blinked. "Um… oops. Lost my temper there…"
"Heh… that confirms it." Link chuckled. "You know fire magic… you're a weapons smith… and you came here only a few weeks ago. So, why didn't you tell me who you really were, Tom? Descendant of the Sage of Fire, Darunia?"
"I… wanted to be sure of you first." Tom admitted, bowing his head. "I wasn't yet… I had to see what you could do with my own eyes. That's why I really asked Ramses to team up with Bomb Boy… so I could accompany you. And… my daughter is the one who's here…"
"I understand." Link nodded. "All the same… I'm glad I figured it out. Now that we've got that settled… let's go bust Blind's head and get Lucy back, hm?" Tom grinned as he hopped forward.
"Oh, YES!" His sledge swept the skull off another Black Eye who had been sneaking up on Link. "Come on! Forward, then up a level, and through this door on our left!"
"It's locked." Link growled.
"We'll see about THAT!" Tom raised his hand again, and Link scrambled away as another fireblast blew it off its hinges.
"Whew… you don't mess around."
"Oy, you two! Keep going!" Brutus yelled as he and Ballio passed by, the latter wearing several metal spikes. Brutus kicked him into a cluster of Black Eyes with disastrous results. "We're on a time limit here!"
"Yeah, yeah…" Tom and Link both grumbled. Together, they ran forward into a long hall. At the end was a large but empty room. Tom shook his head.
"Nothing in there… let's try to the left!" A couple of rooms with nothing important later, they emerged into another long hall, this one floored by a conveyer belt that tried to pull them back into a wall of spikes.
"Oh, no you don't…" Grabbing Tom's arms, Link used his Pegasus Boots to rush forward to the other end of the hall, and a staircase leading up. "Hm… what's up here?" They walked up and found only a few storage rooms. This floor was on ground level, and roofed with thatch poorly; in several places, light shone through. "Well, we definitely won't find Blind up here." Returning to the conveyer belt hall, they ducked into another side door, further along than the one they had entered by. Waving at Ramses, who was headchecking a Black Eye viciously, and Bomb Boy, who was nervously launching the explosives implied in his name around, they moved on.
"There should be a door to the basement down… there." Tom pointed. "Blind's got to be there." Walking down, they demolished a pair of Black Eye guards. "We can go left or right…"
"Left it is." Link decided. In the room there, they found a huge treasure chest. "Damn… no key…"
"I've heard you had a hammer of exceptional power?" Tom inquired mildly. Link the Magic Hammer and handed it to him.
"Well, yes, but-" He blinked as the powerful smith swung it and bashed the front of the chest in, lock and all. Prying it open, he removed a pair of gauntlets, identical to Link's current, save that they were gold and not silver.
"Whoa… the Titan's Mitts. Link, these…"
"Belonged to my ancestor?" Link guessed. "Thought I recognized them… should be stronger than these silver ones." Slipping on his new gauntlets, he flexed a fist. "All right… now to get Blind!" They looked in the other basement room, but did not find the grinning demon there; instead, another pair of Black Eyes guarded a locked cell. They were easily disposed of, and the cell opened, revealing a young girl who resembled a deer.
"You… are you here to help me?" She whispered, disbelieving. "You're not allied with the Forger, are you?"
"Uh, no." Link glanced at Tom, who shook his head. "Who are you miss…?"
"Eliza." She introduced herself. "I was… a servant, at Ganon's tower. Until one day, while Lord Blind was visiting… I was polishing a chandelier, and I accidentally broke the rope… causing it to fall on Lord Blind. He's kept me down here ever since."
"Well, we'll take you outside." Link promised. "Come on, let's go up and get you out of here…"
"Um…" Eliza hesitated. "I think… wouldn't it be dangerous out there? I mean… do you have friends? You couldn't have gotten in here alone. Maybe if we all left together…"
"Maybe." Link admitted. "Well then, we know a place you can hide. Let's go on up." They went back up to the main floor as Neosquid and Handy ran by, chasing a pair of Black Eyes.
"Hey, kid! It's been six minutes!" Handy yelled. "Hurry it up!"
"Six minutes?" Eliza inquired.
"Nothing." Link shrugged, leading her to the conveyer belt hall. "All right, go on up to the second floor… it's just storage rooms. Nobody will find you up there." Again, Eliza looked worried.
"Er… are you sure? I mean… what if any of the Black Eye Gang went up there after you left? I'd be helpless… I don't know…" At that point, dark suspicions began to surface in Link's mind. He glanced at Tom, who nodded grimly.
"Well… we'll go check it out. Stay here." He instructed. Eliza nodded, and the two of them walked upstairs. Once they were clear of the stairs, he turned to Tom. "Well? Thoughts?"
"She doesn't want to go outside, and she doesn't want to go up here?" Tom looked around at the sunlight shining in through the holes in the thatched roof. "I'm thinking Blind, that's what… Ganon has a order of dark sorcerers on his payroll, the Wizrobes. They could have transformed him… and when the moment's right, he turns back and catches us with our pants down."
"But we can't be sure." Link frowned. "We can't just attack the girl."
"No… but…" Tom examined his map. "Look over here… this room's directly above that one large, empty one." He moved over to the room in question. "And here… the floor's crumbling underneath the beam of sunlight." Link's eyes widened in realization.
"So I take her to the empty room, get her to stand in the middle, and signal you to bust it open?"
"Exactly." Tom nodded. "I'll wait here… get her to the room, then yell."
"Got it." Link went back down and rejoined Eliza, who was looking around nervously for guards. "You were right… there were some up there. Tom's dealing with them."
"Tom?" Eliza frowned. "I thought his name was Rabite."
Bingo, Link confirmed mentally. We never told her our names, so if she knew his… "Oh yeah, my bad. Tom's another guy. Well, let's go… there's another place I know." He led her to the empty room and walked in. "What do you think?" Eliza walked forward and looked around.
"This looks very-" She stepped into the center.
"NOW, TOM!" Link bellowed, and a moment later, the ceiling exploded in rubble as a sledgehammer smashed through it… and a bolt of sunlight hit Eliza head on, transfixing her.
"ARGH!" She screamed. "Too… bright… YAH!" She exploded in a burst of red smoke, and Blind emerged, towering over Link. "Agh… smart move, brat! So, you figured it out… but that's not going to help you…" The grinning demon shook his head and recovered, stretching his claws out. "This time, you're mine for GOOD!"
"Other way around, slime." Link growled, deflecting one hand with the Master Sword and shoving the other aside with his shield. "If all was right in the universe, it would be Handy and Neosquid finishing you off, not me… but since this place is far from right, I'll have to do."
"Ha! Those clowns have nothing to be pissed at me for… I never really tried at all!" Blind crowed. "If I had, they'd have been long dead… I've known their base was in the shooting gallery for years!"
"So you're saying you didn't really try to rub them out?" Link wondered. "Why the heck wouldn't you?"
"And put myself out of a job?" Blind began spewing fireballs, which Link dodged. "If I actually got them, Big G wouldn't have any further use for me! So instead, I've been letting them get away by just a little each time…" His grin resembled a sneer now. "Unless you're referring to a little massacre ten years ago when you're talking about justice and those two?"
"That's it, all right." Link pulled out the Ice Rod and fired it. "And that's why I'm going to take you down, here and now!"
"Wise up, kid… gimmicks like those won't get you a win forever!" Blind contemptuously destroyed the cloud of ice energy with a fireblast before it even touched him, then stared as he saw Link swinging at his neck.
"The word is diversion." Link quipped as the Master Sword went right through Blind's neck. The grinning demon's head flew off, sailing across the room to smack into a wall. "Phew… that was easier than I thought it… would… be…" He stared as the head remained in the air, refusing to fall as gravity dictated… and turned to glare and grin at him.
"Heh… we're just getting STARTED, kid!" Link turned, too late, as one of Blind's claws grabbed the sword and held him aloft by it. A second head had sprouted from the stump of his neck. "Let's get rid of THIS…" Whirling, he slammed Link into the wall with enough force to crack the floorstones. Involuntarily, Link's grip on the sword loosened, and Blind jerked it out, throwing it to the other side of the room. "There! Let's see how good you are without your shiny sword, hm?"
"Oh, you bet we will…" Link growled, rising unsteadily to his feet. A pair of laser beams from Blind's eyes hit him in the chest and knocked him back down.
"Looks like that's 'not at all,' kid. Sucks to be you." Blind advanced on him, floating severed head leering over his shoulder. "I'm gonna make this nice and slow-"
"Oh, NO you don't!" Tom bellowed, jumping down from above and swinging the magic hammer in a broad horizontal circle, blazing with fiery red energy. The second head was knocked off as well, and both were sent flying away. "Link, are you okay? Are you… oh, no."
"Fool!" Blind screamed, belching a fireball that smashed Tom against a wall and following it with a double laser blast. "Taste REAL firepower!" The blacksmith slumped down on the ground next to Link, who was finishing off a red potion. "Ho… up for another round, even without your sword?"
"You bet… you forget about this?" Link shoved the Magic Mirror in Blind's face, and as he screamed, with his other hand the young hero used the Hookshot to pull the Master Sword back to him.
"NO!" Blind's other heads screamed, launching fireballs.
"Yes." Link snarled, grabbing the sword, ignoring the fire and going for Blind's neck one more time. The head flew off, and as it did, all three heads burst into flames, as did Blind's body. Slowly twirling back over to it, the heads settled down upon it as Link stepped back.
"Ha ha ha ha ha…" Blind cackled, his entire body erupting in white-hot flames. "Good job, kid… here's something interesting before I head to hell for real! Big G can't return to his body for now… ever since he departed it, twenty years ago, to roam the Dark World as a bodiless spirit waiting for some poor idiot to possess who he could take back across the other way! He's been gone from his real body too long… and in his new one too long, too! He CAN'T swap them back out! The only way he MIGHT is if his current body is killed, and even he doesn't know if that would free him, or kill him for real!"
"…I don't get it." Link frowned. "Why tell me this?"
"Ha… like I'm supposed to be loyal to him?" Blind laughed once more. "I just joined up for the hell of it… on a lark! I was along for the ride! And he only saw me as a tool to be used… so I don't give a damn about him no more! Tell Handy and Neosquid it was fun… so long, kid! I'm coming, girls!" With one last laugh, the grinning demon's body collapsed entirely into a mound of ash. Tom slowly rose to his feet as, from the ceiling, a crystal descended.
"Lucy… Lucy, you're safe now…"
"Is that you… father?" Lucy whispered. "You're alive… thank the Goddesses. And Link… you slew that demon."
"All in a day's work, ma'am." Link sheathed the Master Sword.
"For the descendant of the hero, I suppose it must be…" Lucy nodded. "The last true Knight of Hyrule." THAT one caused Link to jump.
"What…? Come on, Lucy… you know me. I'm just the same Link who hung around Kakariko Village…"
"Nevertheless, you are descended from the founder of the Knights of Hyrule… and with the order's minds warped by Ganon, you are the only one left to take their name." Lucy persisted. "Thank you for saving me, both of you… Link, the Princess has a message for you." Her eyes went dim for a moment, and then she spoke in Zelda's voice.
"You've rescued four of them now, Link… good job."
"Zelda… I haven't forgotten you." Link promised. "I'll get you back."
"I know you will… but not yet." Zelda shook her head. "Link, the other two Eyes… I've heard about them, and where they dwell. In order to enter… you'll have to seek out the Medallions." Behind him, Link heard Tom breath in sharply.
"Medallions, huh… I suppose I can ask the old guys about those?" The young warrior raised an eyebrow. Zelda nodded.
"You've got it."
"All right." Link smiled. "Stay alive, princess… I'll see you again in person before you know it." Zelda smiled back, and then she was gone from Lucy's body.
"…Link." Tom turned to him. "Thank you… so much. I owe you a tremendous debt… so much that it can never be fully repaid. But… I can begin to, I think." Link blinked.
"Eh?"
"The Master Sword." Tom pointed at it. "Blind shouldn't have even been able to touch it without suffering incredible pain… but he did. That's because of how long it was asleep… much of its original power has faded. But if we return to Hyrule… with my partner Harry, I can temper the blade and restore most of its lost strength."
"All right…" Link thought for a moment. "But I thought you and the other Rag… weren't going to leave until after the fight was over?"
"Haw… no, it's cool kid. If Rabite can spiff up your sword even more, then more power to him." Neosquid grinned as he and Handy walked into the room. "I assume Blind has left the building permanently?" Link indicated the pile of ashes. "Good… that just leaves Vitreous. And Kholdstare, but he doesn't bother us. But before that, let's get back to the base. If Rabite's heading back to Hyrule, then there's only one thing for it…"
"A send-off party!" Handy pumped his… well, his body… into the air. "Come on, everybody, let's bug off before Vitreous shows up! Woo HOO!"