Well, here we are. Chapter six. Yeah.. I don't really know what to say. I unfortunately couldn't entertain you with my stupidity this time. Aw, bummer. L

Chapter 6 - Rais's Loss

Link had a problem with mastering telepath. He told Rais 'I'll get brain damage', but there was a time when Rais had to learn how to use telepathy and he understood Link's pain.

Link was stubborn and even more at the moment, considering the new rules he had to follow. His free time was cut in half, training replacing it. He was having trouble in his current subject, his mental powers. He griped and griped Never did he have a problem with his physical strength, and now here he was, trying to master his mental strength. He had been training for five years and he didn't want to end up stuck on this subject. He didn't want to train for another five years, although Rais assured him that wouldn't happen. Not everyone had mental powers, but Rais was certain Link did.

Link only believed him when he said it ran in his family's blood. Rais actually wasn't sure of this, but he knew it would be the only way to really get Link to try.

"Teach me how to fly" Link mumbled out of nowhere, after trying for a few minutes to send Rais a mental message. "That's the only inner power I need."

"The only people who can fly aren't of this world." Rais brushed his big horse, Euru, as Link protested.

"But you fly." Rais found his response amusing. Link glared as he waited for him to explain.

"No," Rais shook his head. "That's hovering. And it's hard enough to even do that, let me tell you..." His eyes widened from the thought of it while he repacked the utensils they had used for lunch. Rais had chosen to train in the valley's with some distance between Hyrule. Besides, he needed to give the king and his men the time they needed to think about the purple aliens. Not to mention princesses.

"Why is it important I learn telepathy? I mean, how many people are gonna talk to me? Your really the only one who knows how." Rais stopped brushing Euru and put the brush down next to him. He walked over to Link and laid next to him in the grass. He sighed as he crossed his arms behind his head.

"I'm going to teach you how to talk to other people. And when you make a connection with them, you can hear their voice, maybe thoughts if they know how." He didn't pay attention to Link's excessive groaning.

"Telepathy is stupid." He held his head. Rais gave him a disappointed look, hoping he wasn't giving up now. He just needed Link to tap into the power and learn how to handle it correctly, but it was proving to be a task even to just teach Link.

"You just aren't handling the pain. You've gone your whole life listening to your own silent images and thoughts. Your brain isn't used to the foreign signals it receives. So yeah, it's going to hurt." He closed his eyes and relaxed. "A lot." He opened his eyes again and took in his environment.

He studied the area around him, provided himself with a mental picture, and forwarded it to Link. However, his hopes of Link receiving the image properly were ruined when Link jumped up and started to scream.

"Ag! Jeez...! What was that…?!" This time his eyes were hurting too. Everything looked blurry and they felt sore and heavy. His eyes were stinging like mad. "Rais...!" Rais scurried over to Link's side and sat by him. He held his head in torture, wishing he could tear his brain out. Rais watched his facial expressions and tried to calm him down.

"Link, you need to relax..." He told him placing a hand on his shoulder. Link shoved it away.

"How can I! This is insane!" He started hitting his head into his knees. "I HATE THIS, I HATE THIS, I HATE THIS, I HATE THIS..." Rais grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up. Link was startled by his aggressive action. He hadn't ever done this before.

"Listen to me. I know it hurts like hell and it makes you want to die, but you have to do it. Now why don't you grow up and take the pain. Try again." He let go and Link stared. The pain was gone, and he assumed it was because of Rais's touch. Usually when Link was hurt badly he could heal him with his hands.

Rais was about to speak again, but something interrupted both of them.

"...can you help me... I need help..." Rais and Link both jerked up and looked forward. There was a dark forest ahead of them where the whispers came from.

"Someone's hurt?" Link watched the woods. Rais quickly grabbed his shoulder, making sure he didn't attempt to get up and go see what was wrong. There was something odd about the voice, and Rais didn't have a good feeling about it.

"I don't know...but I don't think we should trust it..." Rais didn't let go of him. Those were the Dying Woods. Most people didn't go near them for all the stories about them. There were myths about people entering and never returning. There were stories about people seeing tall, black creatures walking out of them and wandering in the night. Rais had never thought they would be seeing anything while they were there, and this was unusual.

"Rais! If someone--" Link tried before Rais cut him off sharply.

"You don't know! Shut up!" Link attempted squirming away from his hand, but it wasn't working. Rais held him down, being more forceful than he usually was. Link was going to have to start listening to him.

"You shut up!" He spat back. Rais tightened his grip, he wanted to beat this kid silly. He wondered for a moment why he never had in the past. Link was always doing things he wasn't supposed to, and now he wondered if it was because he wasn't strict enough.

"Knock it off! Don't talk to me like that!" They started hearing more whispers from the woods. Link and Rais watched, waiting for it to come out first. Rais still held onto Link.

"...let me out..." It started to moan and began hissing 'out'. The hiss startled Rais and Link finally broke away from his hold, darting towards the trees. Rais yelled and ran after him, but Link continued to run as fast as he could. The trees grew bigger and bigger as they neared closer, and Link was coming dangerously close to the trees. He heard Rais calling out behind him.

When Link made it to the edge, he saw a blue orb hanging on the end of what looked like a leaf, but in the straight position of a stick. It was glowing bright; urging someone to touch it. Link grabbed it. He felt how warm and soft it was in his palm, so he began to pull on it. It came off easily, but a string was attached to it. Rais made it over to him and smacked it out of his hand. It dropped to the ground without making a sound and disappearing into the bushes.

"What are you doing! Link, you really--" A black smog began to exit from the woods. It came out from where the orb was, shooting out like it was coming from a pipe. Within seconds, a giant, dark blue creature emerged from within, screaming as loud as a flock of birds. Link and Rais jumped away avoiding the beasts' powerful fall. It was just like the purple ones, except twice as big and blue. It's eye was black with the center piece being bright red.

"Oh shit!" Link jumped back and almost tripped, but caught himself. Rais gave him a dirty look while the monster screeched again.

"Don't curse, dammit!" He scolded him.

"But you just--" The monster hissed and flung the slimy acid from it's fangs. Rais grabbed Link by the arm and pulled him as he began running. Link pulled his arm away from Rais and ran behind him, just as fast. The monster turned and watched them run.

"...s-stop running from us..." It tried to luring them back, but Rais and Link weren't up for falling for it. He whistled for Euru and Epona, who both galloped towards them the instant they heard the whistling from their grazing spot under a field tree. Once Epona reached Link, he grasped her reins and hopped on, but not as fast as Rais had.

The monster was right on their tail. Epona turned, and out of fear hopped back before darting into a mad dash into the opposite direction of the beast. It hissed as the scared horse trotted away at a speed it knew it could never catch up with.

"No...! Go back.." He tried to pulled her back but she wouldn't stop. Rais ran after Link too, but knew that they couldn't just run, or the bug would end up in one of the towns. He pulled on Euru's reins and stopped in his spot, while Epona continued darting to safety. Link attempted to stop Epona once more, but couldn't get her to stop until they reached the top of the hill.

Rais repeated three words of a spell three times. He held out both his hands as if he were holding a bow and arrow. As a blue smoke fell from his fingers, a blue bow and arrow molded beneath his hands. As the monster roared and ran after him, he released his arrow. It slid as easy into the monster's eye as a hand sliding in water would.

It screamed, and Rais was sure he had killed it. But it decided to give one more blow before it went out, and plunged through the air towards it's foe. Rais wasn't expecting it and it leaped above him in the air.

"Rais!" Link held out his hand. "Watch it...!" He warned. Rais hear his warning and drew his sword as fast as he could and sliced the monster; but the acid blood fell from it's body and his arm was in it's path. The thin glue-like substance drenched his arm from shoulder to wrist.

Rais screamed while his arm detached from his body. Euru jumped back in alarm at his master's sudden explosion of fear, and emotion that he had never sensed before in him. Rais fell to the ground, with only one arm left. He dropped his sword to his side and he fell onto his back in the grass, right next to the dead monster. Euru ran in circles, completely spooked.

Link jumped off Epona and ran as fast as he could towards his fallen friend. He had to run on his own legs now that Epona refused to go anywhere near the monster, even if it had been dead.

He finally reached Rais, who was laying back while staring up at the clear sky. Link dropped down next to him, and looked at his blue eyes. He noticed that Rais didn't make contact with him, only stared into nothing at the sky. Link touched him, but he didn't budge.

"Rais…?" He did not respond. Link felt himself trembling.

Rais's world faded into darkness as he went unconscious.

-

His world came back into picture slowly. He looked around when he got control over his breathing again. He saw a bright light above him, and felt a cool air next to him. He knew he was back in the castle and was probably being cared for by one of it's nurses.

"You okay?" He heard Link next to him. He looked over at him and saw him stare at him. He could see how troubled Link was through his eyes. Link reached out and touched his shoulder, and Rais watched him, sensing how concerned he was.

"I'm fine, Link. You don't need to worry." Link pulled his hand away and looked at the floor. Rais watched him without talking. He knew how guilty Link felt. He could feel it.

"Rais… I…" Link stopped and sighed. Rais lifted his hand and held it above his face, watching it in the light. He looked to the other side Link wasn't sitting on and felt the bed where his arm should have been. All he could feel were the cold sheets of the bed. It was all empty.

He closed his eyes and sighed as he recalled the horror scene he experienced. It was a depressing thing to think about. Losing his arm. He would have to become skilled at using one arm to fight with now.

He took a deep breath and laid silent. Link watched him, hoping he wasn't going through any serious pain. Now he felt stupid about complaining his head hurt. He looked away from Rais's body. It was hard to see him without a second arm.

His heart jumped when he felt Rais grab his arm. He didn't open his eyes.

"I'm going to be alright… you should go. I only need some rest." He let go and pulled his only arm back onto the bed. Rais felt incredibly tired. All he could think of now was taking a long nap and sinking into his dreams for awhile. Link felt relieved by his response. Rais hadn't ever lied to him before.

Link watched him as he fell back to sleep. He sat in silence for a moment, making sure Rais didn't stop breathing. Rais continued to breath normally, however, and didn't seem to be going into permanent sleep. He seemed okay, and Link decided it would be best to let him rest for awhile. He got out of his chair quietly, exited the room while shutting the door as quiet as he could.

-

Rais had almost been killed. The thought terrified Link. If Rais had died Link would never be able to talk or train with him ever again. He knew how hurt he would be if he lost Rais, he knew that now more than ever. He had always hated the rules ever since Rais made them, but he felt that he should respect Rais a little more. What would he have done if Rais had deceased while he was still mad at him?

He could handle no Zelda and cut free time, right?

"Link?" A female voice spoke from behind. Link felt his heart thump in his chest. He turned, seeing a familiar face. Zelda smiled at him.

"So much for rules…" He mumbled. Zelda laughed, watching him and noticing his depressed expression. She frowned and he felt even worse about making someone else upset.

"What's wrong?" He scratched the back of his head and looked away.

"Um... my friend had an accident..." He told her. She frowned. He smiled at her so she didn't feel upset or bad for him. He tried to change the subject. "Are you supposed to be here?" He teased.

She placed her hands behind her back. "No." It was her simple response. He lifted an eyebrow as he approached her, noticing how nervous she suddenly became. "But… uh… I didn't come here looking for you, if that's what you think…" She blushed as he was now only inches away from her.

"No? Then what were you doing?" He tried to meet her eyes but she only looked away. She turned her head and closed her eyes, so she didn't have to see him tilting his head trying to see her face.

"None of your business." She decided not to tell him since she couldn't think of an excuse. She opened her eyes and saw him grinning above her. Oh, God, he thinks I like him! She panicked and tried to seem as if she didn't have any interest in him.

"But shouldn't you be…" She cut him off, just to try and sound like she didn't have any feelings for him.

"There's a difference between things I would do, and things I should do." She laughed at his puzzled stare. "Like your any better..." He felt as if someone threw a rock at him. Not really because of Zelda, but because of how true the statement was. He thought of Rais and all the times he should have listened to him, but didn't.

Zelda felt nervous by the silence and his lack of eye contact. She was confused by her feelings. She didn't want him to know she liked him, but then again she didn't want to scare him off either. Now she was afraid he was getting annoyed with her. She watched his expressionless face, and her heart skipped a beat when he looked back at her. This time she could look away from him. He smiled at her and her face felt hot with her blushing. Now she hoped she wasn't doing it too bad, or it would be clearly obvious what she thought of him.

"Hm. Okay then." He watched her, waiting for a response. She shook herself out of her trance and stared at him. The way he looked at her made her feel like he could read her mind.

She held out her hand. "Well… would you like to come and talk with me for awhile? I'm rather bored and there's no one around to talk to…" It was a bland excuse, but an excuse that seemed to work.

"No one else?" She was sure he was teasing, but tried to make it seem like she thought he was serious.

"Well, do you want to come or not?" She felt him wrap his rough hand around hers, and it made her legs wobble. He pulled her hand down and stared at her face again.

"Sure." He waited for her to show him the way. She nodded after a pause, and turned to lead him.

"Um, yes. This way!" She held her head down so he couldn't see her blushing.

-

This is a big improvement from what it used to be! Hope you liked it, haha. XD

Well, keep on going! Can't stop now, can you? (evil grin) Hahaha!