Chapter 17: Celebration; Night of Festivity
Annex of the Far-Off Dominion Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Behind the Clouds" - Black Lagoon OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Refreshing Morning" - The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Remains Sleeping Underground"; Scaverin's Theme (B) – The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Commercial City Bose" - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky OST. Scene 2 (First & Second Halves) and 3 (First Half).
"Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves" - Final Fantasy X-2 OST Scene 4.
An incredible and heart-wrenching duel indeed; with much toil, sweat and even drawn blood itself, the Palashian Premier is, at last, an end and a fiery one at that. Having blazed through his earlier match-ups with little trouble, both friend and foe alike, Link hopes with sheer blind faith to once again clash with his rival from another time; last surviving member to the near-extinct Van Garrick clan, Raynard Van Garrick himself.
Unfortunately for Raynard and even for the happy-go-lucky Barkner himself, they are both eliminated by the mysterious competitor recognised only by the moniker; 'Unknown'. Though they have their long-held suspicions that 'Unknown' is Palashia's princess herself or, indeed, a proxy of the royal family, their suspicions are soon confirmed when she at last reveals her presence both to the world and her final opponent, the Hero of Time himself.
Vassia Palashia, seventeenth heir to the royal Palashian line.
The battle begins as the concerned Impa had once feared; a powerful and near undeniable offensive start for the loud-mouthed princess that sees the poor Link on a worrying defensive. Thankfully, and noted by the ever-attentive Raynard, the brazen blonde's tactics of holding himself back to elicit more enjoyment manages to enrage the similarly audacious young princess to untold amounts.
Enough even for the young adventurer to score a successful series of swipes and strikes of his own to even the playing field between them; a revelation that enrages the easily-angered Vassia further still. She manifests it in her next offensive option; forming an extra pair of arms, both made of a powerful and dense shade of Aegir. The epiphany, shocking enough even for the watching Impa and other adults in the audience, leaves enough of an impression on the Hero of Time that he responds in the only way he knows how.
To up her game entirely.
With a huge chunk of his own Aegir and even maintaining it somehow, the brash and overconfident youth manages to materialise six arms, all including his original two. These extra four, however, are all maintained through a mixture of the Multi-Form and after-image techniques; such an advanced form of Aegir-control that even adults themselves struggle with it. Although Link manages to not only surprise Vassia in his sheer shock and awe but force her on the defensive, she still manages to find a way through his impressive effort and even breaks his neck in the ensuing scuffle.
An act that would have, otherwise, disqualified her completely from the championship.
As Link is about to lay down dead and buried, however, his body convulses and like within the Hylian Hyrax and many other times through his journeys, the spirit hiding within his dormant piece of the holy Triforce reacts; Kage Narumono, demonic will of chaos and power emerges to take control of the blonde boy's body once again.
A savage and ruthless exchange begins as the fatigued and near-beaten Vassia soon finds herself on the constant defensive of an animalistic aggression, laid bare in all of its divine glory; a chilling reminder for the watching Raynard of his own grand finals match with the demonic being himself. Soon enough, the pair's clash comes to an end not in the ground but the air and high into it at that; having used the gargantuan-sized Metsu Hadoken projectiles in order to kill the young girl in the air, Kage utilises one last gamble to assassinate her with.
One final charge through the air, laced with hellfire's Aegir.
In a wise defensive manoeuvre, Vassia curls her body up and intensifies what little Quintessence she carries to tank the hit but it's not nearly enough; the poor lavender-haired youth is smashed brutally and hopelessly diagonally down through the air and the pair soon become meteors, both headed directly for the far-off main hub of Palashia itself.
Rocknesse.
In mere milliseconds of one another, Kage crashes his Hylian host's form just before Vassia's; an act, however unfortunate, that sees Link eliminated into second place for the Palashian Premier. As Vassia lands in a broken, bloodied and bruised heap of her own, her victory is only just assured in the bare time difference with which she won it; a fact that stays with her for a long time to come. Having grown herself up, rarely been questioned and even challenged, her impression of the talkative and overconfident Hero of Time soon begins to take root; a seed that plants for the future.
Link, meanwhile, tries his best to awaken soon in order to prepare for the next upcoming national championship...
Scene 1
"Grnnngh... Naze gozen watashi koko-ni?"
Kage's deepened and demonic baritone, a hellish mockery of Link's old adult tones, knocked noisily against the walls of the blonde boy's subconscious. The fiery-haired demonic will himself stood back up to his feet, his own consciousness having been restored, and narrowed his hateful-eyed glare past through the bars that had reappeared before him. He growled in anger before swiping his long clawed arm across them fruitlessly, twitching his scowl in display of his annoyance as he did.
KRRRR-CLANGGGG
It was only when his eyes refocused to the darkness around him that he finally took notice of the staring Link on the other end of the cage he stood in; sure enough, to look at the two forms, one would think they were one and the same bar minor differences. The hellish-red Aegir that filled Kage's form, the tone of his devilish voice and of course his satanically-charged powers; a fitting mirror of the Loftwing-Style that Link already utilised in his fighting.
"Hmph... so it's you...," the demonic will spoke in modern Hylian greeting at last, eyes glaring in the inflection of his hatefully-spat sentence. "Last I remember... I was..."
"About to kill Vassia."
Kage's scowl deepened but just a little; his eyes narrowed in recognising and memory as he thought back to merely a few moments ago or, rather, what felt like a few moments ago.
No doubt it'll have been hours by this stage.
"Yes... yes I was...," the chaotic reflection of the youth shot back, tilting his fiery-haired head back at him as he did. "If only that foolish brat had allowed me to... she was stronger than I gave her credit for."
"That makes both of us," Link batted back, this time in a well-natured chuckle as he smirked on to contrast with the scowling-faced Kage. "I'm just happy no-one got hurt beyond medical treatment."
"But they did little Link."
The former Hero of Time, surprised, dropped his confident grin in place of a curious frown and rose up his straw-shaded eyebrows in response.
Kage glared on as he re-opened his mouth to continue. "She broke your neck... don't you remember?" He posed forward, fiery eyebrow of his own rising up. "It was me that saved us..." He claimed, his eyes narrowing once again in the inflection of his sentence as he edged a thumb in his chest's direction.
"Yeah... I guess she did...," Link conceded, not without some form of melancholy. "I don't think she meant it though... not like you would have."
Kage pulled his head back and morphed his hateful-faced scowl into a hilarious laugh. "Please...!" He hissed back confidently. "Do you really think she, or anyone else for that matter, would have left you alive if she could have?"
Link re-rose his oceanic eyed gaze to match his darkened reflection's; the figure that Sheik once referred to as 'Dark Link' in the time he came from.
"The only one you're fooling with that talk... are those sentimental stooges you travel with and yourself," the hardened demon continued on, his grin soon dropping in favour of a serious and firm-faced scowl. "What is all this even for anyway...?" He posed forward, re-rising his head up to stare haughtily down at the youth, almost as if to judge him. "We only just got back from your useless pilgrimage in Termina and you waste time fighting for fun like this...?"
The listening Hylian opted again to remain in cautious and objective silence, staring back into the demonic will's hateful-eyed glare as he spoke on.
"It's for that insect, isn't it...?" Kage broached, leaning his head lightly forward as he did. "'Navi'... you called her."
Link's sea-shaded eyes narrowed in his patiently-held silence.
"You want her to get rid of me... Hmph," he chuckled, pulling his devilish head back as he grinned in satisfaction. "That damn Deku Tree...," he cursed, eyes narrowing in his newly-gained scowl once more. "He knew far too much about the Shinzui..."
"I guess he did."
The blonde's words managed to surprise the demonic will; he furrowed his brow in curiosity as he listened on.
"I always wonder if that's why he sent me Navi in the first place...," the young adventurer wondered aloud, eyes lowering to the watery ground of his subconscious in deep-thought. "I think, somehow he knew... all that time. If he knew all that history about the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide and of the Sainted Three... then he definitely knew about the Shinzui too."
"Hmph..."
"To answer your question, Kage... yeah... this is all for Navi's sake," the young Hylian continued, regaining his frown as he re-faced the demonic reflection. "Whether I'll find her or not I ain't caring."
"So then why in the name of the Sanmiitai are you even-?"
"It's to find an answer."
Kage's brow furrowed a second time and in unsure doubt at that; he growled lowly, his eyebrows lowering in deep-thought of his own, as if to ponder very quickly what the youth could mean.
Link rose up one of his small fists, palm opened up to look down at it in a firm-faced frown. "I need some kind of answer to fight without relying on the Shinzui," he postulated on before re-rising his blonde-haired head to face the demon with, a hardened and determined look in his cerulean eye. "That's what this is all for."
"Tch...," Kage muttered out in distaste, fiery-crimson eyes narrowing as he did. "There is no other answer," he shot back, rising up his left clawed fist to grapple at one of the bars of his cage, tilting his lava-haired head back at the boy. "The Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai is the greatest level of strength your puny plane has ever known... even the Sorcerer himself can attest to that," he claimed firmly. "Even the men from his almighty clan can't even begin to dream of the incredible godlike divinity and potential that you and I can reach."
Link's frown soon switched to a light smile, happy-go-lucky as always; he chuckled back as he re-opened his mouth. "Yeah... maybe."
Kage narrowed one of his eyes in scrutinisation, unsure and doubtful. "What the hell does that mean?"
"I mean maybe you and the Shinzui ain't as strong as you think you are... Kage." Link shot back, leaning his straw-haired head to the side, eyes lightly narrowing in the light grin he gained as he spoke.
"Hmph... kudaran," the demonic will huffed back in a hardened glare of his own. "If not for the Shinzui... you would not be living."
Link's grin fell in response to the chaotic spirit's words.
He wasn't wrong.
When he thought back to the many times his life was in danger both through Hyrule, Termina and in his new journey, Kage had always been there to back him up; even if the maddened and psychotic freak of nature knew no difference between friend and foe.
And then of course there was the recently-acquired power of the 'Fierce Deity' himself; a fabled existence said to somehow mirror Kage's very existence himself, gained from his adventure in Termina.
Even now it was a dark and yet righteous power that chilled him to the bone to even think about.
"The only answer you will find in the end... is to give in to the Shinzui," Kage's hardened baritone spoke out, the demonic filter managing to force the youth to swing his blonde-haired head back up from his deep and quiet thoughts. "Or are you telling yourself that the power of heaven we tasted when we exorcised Majora's Mask... is not enough...?"
It was almost as if Kage Narumono could look into his heart and read his very thoughts; a fact that left the frowning-faced Hero of Time glaring back at him.
Again, he wasn't wrong; the power of the elusive 'Fierce Deity' was absolute. An eldritch Aegir that even Majora's Mask itself could not hope to stand against, let alone even think of overpowering. Adding even further complications to his concerns were the worrying comments made by Yoshiyuki Miyazaki, the Last Garo; a formidable foe once fought within the forgotten walls of Rockvale and Aki Kitamura.
Two formerly forgotten relics of the past that illuminated his connection to the legend of the 'Fierce Deity'; a man claimed to be a similarly obscure fallen figure of power, said to even have powers and abilities like those of the Sorcerer himself. Having infiltrated through Rockvale Temple in Termina with his partner at the time, Tatl, Link soon found primal-like illustrations of the 'Fierce Deity' himself and bore a shocking and horrifying resemblance to himself.
A man with curtained silver-shaded hair and bright-red and blue war paint resting around his eyes and lower face.
"Whether you give in to its influence today, tomorrow or far into the future... it matters not."
"The drawings... they are of you."
"That shadow that stalks under you... that is your link to the name 'Akuma'."
Three sentences the Last Garo once uttered to him that still resonated well within him and filled him with foreboding; it was a revelation that he realised only when he was on the cusp of ending Majora's Mask's horrific grip on the land of Termina.
"I was going to give in then... and lose myself to the Fierce Deity. Kage and I would have became something entirely different."
His private and silent thoughts were answered by the hardened scowl on Kage's face as he watched him, knowing and similarly silent.
"It is inevitable... Link," the demonic spirit spat his last word out, as if the word were mere acid to his similarly acidic tongue. "Just because you avoided that fate in Termina... does not mean you won't give in, in the future..."
Link's contemplative frown twitched thoughtfully and worryingly. He spent a second or two in pondering before eventually rising up his frown to face the spirit with, glaring back at him past the bars of his man-made cell.
"We'll see...," he shot back simply. "Kage."
Just like that his small form materialised out of the subconscious the two shared and the watching Kage Narumono huffed out, one of his demonic-toned eyes narrowing in response before he opened back up his mouth to voice his thoughts.
"Hmph... hanashi ni naran na..."
"Hey, he's waking up!"
Link groaned, his eyesight blurry and his head pounding; he instinctively brought his left arm up to block the intense light directed in his line of sight, wincing as he did.
"Sorry!"
The sound of Malon's voice, a surprising apology in her words, made him lightly turn his head in her direction; he listened on quietly as she reached presumably for a curtain to pull and, sure enough, the new darkness that permeated 'round him was at last tolerable. The shapes and figures that stood all huddled and staring back at him appeared to be watching him from his laying position in a bed, all soon coming into focus as the light died down a little.
Something about this feels familiar, the blonde youth thought to himself comically.
As he had half-expected he found Impa, Barkner, Alwyn, Zelda and of course Malon all standing 'round his once-slumbering form, as if having been waiting for him to awaken. Barkner, folded-armed in a pose similar to the ever-frowning Alwyn next to him on the boy's left, flashed him one of his many sociable smiles.
"Feelin' better pipsqueak?" The happy-go-lucky Goron asked, eyebrow rising up as he did. Link couldn't help but chuckle in the man's direction, gaining a light grin as he always liked to.
"Little I guess," the youth began as he grunted out in effort as he rotated his neck. He winced when he felt a sore within before soon remembering that it had been broken by his opponent merely hours earlier. "Head's killin' me otherwise."
FLUMP
"Ngh...!"
He grunted out in sudden surprise when he felt a similarly small form collide with him in a crushing hug, near taking all the remaining wind out of his lungs. He grit his teeth in abrupt shock before realising who the scent's owner belonged to and turned his half-annoyed frown down on her; the blonde princess of Hyrule herself managed to surprise him yet again by acting gregariously, a fact that he didn't take too well after becoming more familiar with her far more demure and reserved nature in his own time.
"I was so worried for you when she broke your neck...," she whispered in his ear, drawing a rolling-eyed frown from the youth. His cheeks began to burn an incessant and embarrassing red as he felt the stares of his smirking mentor and companions watching them. "Thank the Sainted you're alive..."
"Yeah, yeah come on...," he groaned back, raising up his hands to pull at her arms wrapped 'round his neck. "I'm fine," the time-travelling youth added on, this time in his usual overconfident grin as he gently placed her form a few yard back from his own. "See?" He asked, eyebrow shooting up as if in confirmation.
Although she didn't respond vocally, he found her smiling weakly back at him, almost as if forced in some way or another.
What's she feeling so guilty about this time, he wondered silently, his dubious frown soon returning to him.
"The sleepin' prince awakens."
The deepened tenor he had grown so used to hearing echoed out behind the tall Barkner and Alwyn's forms, making the frowning-faced Link swing his straw-haired head 'round in surprise only to find the rarely-smiling Raynard standing at half-height beneath them. His arms, as always, were folded and his own wounds from his earlier battle with Vassia appeared to be healed.
"How you feeling?" The black-haired mercenary pressed him lightly, nodding his head upward as he did.
"Yeah, good... considering," the sociable blonde shot back, flashing him a half-surprised grin as he did. "So what were the results? I kinda lost consciousness when Vassia broke my neck." He finished in a well-meaning chuckle, lightly embarrassed as he scratched at the side of his head.
"You lost unfortunately," Alwyn spoke up at last, frowning in contrast to his younger companions. "Kage chased Vassia in the air and you both ended up ringing out, one after the other."
Link's smile phased into a half-annoyed frown before it soon returned in a light chuckle, shaking his head. "Should have known..."
"Mm... about that..."
He swung his blonde head up to find the similarly folded-armed and leg-crossed Impa frowning back at him curiously. "How is it that even with Zelda overlooking your sealing duties with Kage personally that he still manages to find a way to surface?" The Sheikah questioned him curiously, tilting her silver-shaded head at him as she did.
"Ah...," the listening Link chuckled back, wincing as he did. "Well...yeah I-"
"He basically died, didn't he?" Raynard spoke up for his younger rival, turning his own folded-armed frown on the Sheikah. "We all saw it," he continued, turning his frown on the surprised youth. "That kick probably would have broken my neck too."
"That Shinzui thing must activate when your life is in danger then," Malon began on the blonde's immediate right, poking a finger into his bandaged chest. "You should take better care of yourself!"
He flashed her one of his ever usual overconfident grins and chuckled back at her as he did.
"Well... I suppose I can't give you into trouble for something you have no control over...," Impa murmured out, her contralto spoke almost as if in what sounded to be a disappointed tone of voice. "I'm glad Kage was at least there to save your life."
Link's smirk fairly quickly dropped in consideration to the woman's wise statements.
She wasn't wrong; if it wasn't for the Shinzui, he easily would have died.
"Oh!" He exclaimed out, suddenly surprised he remembered the brash young girl. "How is she? And how long has it been?"
"You two been asleep for hours," Barkner responded, rocky-bodied arms folded as he cast his smirk down on the young Hylian. "After that fight though... who can blame ya both?" He added, this time in a well-meaning, shut-eyed grinning chuckle.
"Her royal highness has been up since eight this morning," Raynard threw into the conversation, his firm-faced frown ever carrying him through. "Been asking about you... actually."
Link couldn't help but arch one of his blonde-shaded eyebrows up in half-curiosity, a grin of mischievous intent growing on his face. "Oh really?" He pressed his older rival. The listening Zelda sitting next to him rolled her eyes in her well-kept smile, drawing a humorous vomit-like sound from the frowning and open-mouthed Malon; a display in which she jabbed a left index finger toward her open mouth, as if to gag.
Even the listening and stoic-tempered Impa let loose a low-voice chuckle, her business-like frown melting to an amused smile.
"Of course you'd sleep in to about ten," Barkner teased his close companion, grinning as he leaned down to rub the grinning youth's blonde hair. Link laughed out aloud as he reached up to grapple at the man's much larger arm fruitlessly as he swiftly drew it back. "As a tournament rule she wasn't allowed to see you before eight or even before you woke back up but I imagine she just wants to say good games."
The former Hero of Time let loose a scoffing snort, his grin soon dropping. "Doubt it...," he shot back. "Not if we're thinkin' of the same chick. She was horrible."
"I mean he's not wrong," Malon stood in agreement, shrugging in her own grin before she folded her own slim and slightly-tanned arms. "I don't think anyone liked little miss high-horse."
"Jealousy does not become you, heir to the Lon Lon clan." Impa shot over, her smirk growing lightly. Barkner, Zelda and even the stoic Alwyn and Raynard all reacted in their own ways, holding back laughs.
Link however, ever the uncouth youth, laughed uproariously and insultingly before leaning his head in her direction. "Burn!"
His exclamation, however childish and joking, caused the snorting Barkner to lean back and burst out laughing. Raynard rolled his eyes, Alwyn cocked a small smile and Zelda put a reserved hand to rest on her smirking face, sky-shaded eyes watching the angered farm girl directly. Almost immediately Malon reacted and leaned forward to grapple at the boy's neck; he yelped out as she drew him closer and rubbed her right fist into his mess of dark-blonde hair, flailing his limbs around madly as if he were being assaulted.
"Why are you all laughing?!" The injured youth called out, annoyed, drawing even further grins and chuckles. "I've just woke up and she's man-handlin' me!"
Impa, though smirking lightly, rose up her left armoured hand and waved it as if in silent gesture; Malon rolled her eyes, as if disappointed before agreeing to let go of his head and returned to her original position. Link growled in her direction as he reset his own position, lightly tilting his neck as if to restore the blood flow to it.
"Well... anyway...," he began, half-annoyed before returning his frown on his mentor. "How's the next tournament lookin'? We gotta leave immediately or?"
Impa shook her silver-shaded head, a rarely-relaxed smile on her face. "No," she answered, re-opening her mouth to elaborate. "The 'Kaioh Bio' won't be for another month, at the very least, so we all have some time to prepare, travel and celebrate."
Even the listening Zelda had to swivel in her seat; eyebrows raised she faced her attendant in genuine shock, drawing similar reactions from the rest of the surveying group. The Sheikah rose an eyebrow as she mixed expressions with them all.
"What?" She hazarded back.
"It's um... surprising... is all." The untalkative Alwyn soldiered back in an understanding frown of his own, drawing a lightly-amused snort from the ever-noisy Barkner next to him.
"Downright shockin' is what it is." The Goron batted back the banter in an amused grin of his own.
"Hey! Come on guys," Link admonished his companions in a disapproving frown before re-facing his mentor and smiling. "What they mean to say, Impa-sensei, is you're one big stick in the mud. So hearing this legitimately surprises all of us."
The listening Impa rose up an eyebrow back at the deadpan frown resting on her student's face, almost as if for some form of weakness as Barkner pulled his head back and let loose a roaring laugh. "How is that better than what we said?!"
Link shrugged as he swung his head to eye the laughing Goron, grinning back. "Hey at least I was direct."
Alwyn and Raynard, though clearly in some form of disapproval or another, both nodded in comical understanding.
"Wait," Malon began again, brow furrowing in concentration. "Does that mean... we can actually party for once?"
Impa's irritated frown slowly melted back into a light smile and she nodded, drawing whoops and yells from the more talkative members of the group.
"The Palashian royal family have invited all members of the tournament and audience to an after-party in the palace," the Sheikah explained briefly. "They expressly asked if you would show, actually." She added, nodding her head in the surprised Link's direction.
"Hell yeah!" The grinning-faced Link called out. "We sure earned this one!"
"You ain't kiddin'; nearly dyin' qualifies I would think." Barkner joked, ever in his comedic beam.
"Damn right," the young Hylian batted back in his excited grin, turning to eye the frowning-faced Raynard. "You gonna join us Ray?"
Startled he was asked, the young mercenary blinked in his hopeful-eyed gaze before briefly double-taking in Impa's hardened glare. "Um... no...," he began, eyes watching the Sheikah carefully. "I... have to be somewhere." He merely answered with, glowering back at the suspicious-faced Sheikah.
Link traced the pair's glare before shaking his head and re-facing the youth. "Come oooon!" He called over, regaining his infectious grin. "You gotta! Make it a favour to me!"
Raynard rolled his eyes and groaned before at last nodding, eliciting a satisfied chuckle from the blonde. "I can only stay an hour or two; I have errands to run."
"What could be more important than celebrating?!" Link shrugged back at the black-haired boy. "You're way too strict with yourself!"
"And you're too lax," Raynard batted back, a small grin of his own forming on his hardened glare. "You have far too much potential to just be slacking off or joking most of the time."
"Yeah, yeah..."
"I guess I'll see you all at Palashia palace in a few hours...," the mercenary began again nodding his head upward in Alwyn and Barkner's direction, as if in respect, before briefly eyeing the girls and nodding downward in farewell. "I'll let her highness know you're awake..." He threw over his shoulder in a light grin, obviously referring to the haughty princess Vassia. Link chuckled good-naturedly from his upright position, grinning back at him as he left.
"So what time's it starting?"
Link's sudden query, spoken ever in his usual sociable smirk as he re-faced the Sheikah, made her blink back curiously before re-opening her mouth to respond.
"Ah... four in the afternoon I believe," she responded, nodding as if to confirm her memory callback. "I imagine we'll be fine to move you there even if your wounds aren't-"
Soon realising the smirking Link's grin only widened, almost as if to mock the Sheikah's very possible postulation, she rolled her fiery-crimson eyes in a light sigh as she did.
"Yeah... four in the afternoon." She sighed out in light defeat.
"Sounds like fun," the adventurous young Hylian nodded his head upward before turning to eye his two companions next to him. "What about you two, comin' with?"
"Of course!" Malon shot back matter-of-factly, grinning down at him in her standing position as she folded her slim arms. "Someone's gotta make sure you don't drink yourself into a stupor."
"As if anyone's lettin' him near alcohol," Barkner snorted from across her, similarly folded-armed as he cast her a grin. "He'd finish a full keg I bet if they let 'im." The Goron ad-libbed, drawing an appreciative chortle from the listening Link.
"Maybe we can introduce ourselves to Link's new parents-in-law?" Zelda posed over her shoulder in a light smile; the grin that Link always faithfully carried very quickly dropped in favour of a horrified frown and he swung his wide-eyed look on her.
"What the hell does that mean?" He asked the pink-dressed princess. "I lost the grand finals didn't I? S-So... I shouldn't have to-"
"Oh she told Raynard earlier," Malon spoke up next to him, her own smirk widening a little as if she were enjoying the look on the terrified youth's face. "Apparently she still wants to enforce the number one prize you apparently would have won."
Barkner, of course, pulled his head back and burst out laughing, drawing a quiet sniffing chuckle from Impa and a head-shaking smile from the ever-quiet Alwyn.
"B-But that ain't fair!" Link argued back, rising up both his small arms as if in gesturing to show his distaste. "All I wanted to do was win the championship! Not marriage!"
"Well...," Impa began again, her grin slowly returning to her as she spoke ever in her suggestive contralto. "Looks like you're gettin' it."
He groaned, blonde-haired head in hands, eliciting out laughs from the well-natured group.
–
2
"You didn't win this one...?"
"No Scaverin-sensei... I'm sorry."
The robed Hylian growled lowly under his breath, his hazel-shaded eyes briefly casting a glare on the unsuspecting civilians of Rocknesse and Palashia. Having hidden themselves away in the back alley streets of the white-pristine city, the two Hylians at last convened with one another following their last meeting, presumably to swap information with.
"That's fine...," the man began again, raising up his calloused hands to pull down the hood he carried to reveal his ever-bald head. "My scheme doesn't require you to win any of these anyway..."
Raynard's frown twitched in annoyance and some form of envy, mainly directed in his younger rival's direction. While the happy-go-lucky Link had a group of companions that celebrated his victories and even found some winning in losing, he on the other end could barely get a word of praise from his own mentor.
It frustrated him beyond belief.
"Now... we're going to have to get moving very soon," the former right-hand to Ganondorf started once more, turning his glare down on the frowning-faced Raynard. "The Templars will already be en-route to Kaiohdrahl as we speak; we have very little time to work with."
Realising he had promised his new companions that he'd have met them at Palashia Palace for the tournament's after-party, Raynard winced as he lowered his black-haired head and rubbed the back of it almost as if to look for some kind of excuse to go. The watching Scaverin rose a hardened brown eyebrow down at him, curious and all.
"What?" He questioned.
"Um... it's just...," the youth began doubtfully, his frown twitching as he re-rose it to face the older man. "They asked me to go to this... after-party later and-"
"Tch...!"
Raynard flinched, almost as if the man's voice was acid itself on his body, preparing his nerves what perhaps inevitably came next.
"You realise that these people are essentially pirates?" The man cryptically claimed, eyes narrowing down at the boy. "They wait for no man."
"I know," he sighed back. "I'm sorry Scaverin-sens-"
"What time is this... celebration?"
Surprised, he could only rise up his frown to face him again.
"U-Um... four I think," he answered. "Or so they told me."
"Hrm...," Scaverin began again, turning his bald head 'round back to eye the city streets beside them, almost as if in pondering. "The most you can spend there is perhaps an hour; after that we must leave."
"Why's it so important to get there so quickly anyway?" Raynard chose to question the wiser man, rising up a raven-shaded eyebrow as he did. "What's in Kaiohdrahl? The national championship isn't for another month, so-"
"Do you really think this is about a tournament?"
Scaverin's sudden cutting words made the boy falter in his sentence so much that he gasped out as he blinked cluelessly. The former bishop cast the black-haired boy a head-shaking, woe-driven sighing frown before re-opening his mouth as if to elaborate.
"We must get to Kaiohdrahl in such a way that appears innocent to the Templars, little Raynard...," he began lightly, eyes narrowing as he spoke. "Otherwise... I will most definitely fail in my-"
"But I don't see why you have to get imprisoned by these people to get this thing do-"
"It is because you don't understand that you fail in your own endeavours!"
The man's words, so harsh and fierce, managed to cut through the wide-eyed boy's once-thought impenetrable exterior; he gasped back at the wizened, glaring man before lowering his eyes and scowling, as if in silent defeat. Scaverin's own scowl twitched and he turned his growl back on the nameless people sauntering through Rocknesse.
Sure enough, they didn't seem to notice his outburst.
Good, the former bishop thought.
As long as our position isn't compromised.
"Forget what I said," Scaverin began again, as if to remedy his own outburst as he turned back to face the disappointed boy. "I am... feeling rather hesitant with the next step in my scheme is all," he claimed, eyes narrowing in thought. "You are stronger than that boy; believe it," the robed man claimed zealously. "He is of a forgotten relic from a family with no recognisable surname... you however... you are a Van Garrick... the very last of them," he continued on, his victorious grin slowly returning to him. "Even if this boy is the royal family's supposed 'Hero of Time'... he compares in no way to you in the end."
Even in his mentor's near clairvoyant words, Raynard found himself doubting his words; he cast a weak smile up to face the man and nodded but held back his inward concerns.
If our skill is so far apart then why did I barely win last time, he wondered silently.
"There's more to him than meets the eye."
"What comes next, however... is 'Torment'," the older man continued on, his confident grin soon giving way to a hardened and concerned frown. "'Domination' was fairly easy to execute... all that required was a few hundred men's lives... but this... this will take mental and physical fortitude of my own to undergo."
Raynard's frown twitched as he listened and re-rose it to face him. "Scaverin-sensei...," he began doubtfully, gulping down nervously-gained saliva as he did. "What's the need for any of this?" He pressed curiously. "To go head-first into a gang of pirates and lawbreakers just to fulfil this ritual thing; I don't..."
"Do you remember anything about the legend of Alphanion?"
His sudden query made the black-haired boy blink briefly back in response; he lowered his tree-shaded eyes concisely before re-rising them to face his older mentor. "Um... some of it, but... mainly stuff I heard on the stree-"
"Alphanion, the Absolute, was said to have only achieved his godlike deity powers that surpassed even the Sainted Three... through his ascension in undergoing treatment beyond what any person could; Aurelian, Hylian, Goron, Deku, Zoran... anyone," the man explained briefly, his hardened frown returning to his face. "I must do this, Raynard...," Scaverin continued on, a firm zealot-like quality resting behind his eye as he did, his tall form looming over the boy. "If I ever hope to ascend humanity to a level beyond even what he had dreamed of..."
The young mercenary sighed lightly through his nose and lowered his eyes in deep-thought.
It's a hell of a plan, he pondered silently.
All this on a whim, with little to no guarantee that it would work?
"Although I suppose if it's something as grand as this... of course there'd be no guarantees..."
"You'd better get going."
His mentor's abrupt baritone made him blink out of his silently-held thoughts, rising up his frown to find the man bringing up his hood to rest over his head as if to prepare to move. "H-Huh?"
"You want to go to this... celebration thing... don't you?" The bald man pressed him curiously, turning back his eye to face him briefly, drawing a lightly-grateful smile from the boy. "Then get going," he added, re-turning his head to eye the open streets on their right. "I'll get things ready for our pilgrimage to Kaiohdrahl."
WHOOSH
The last Van Garrick gasped, chestnut-brown eyes shut in sudden surprise from the abrupt kick of unnatural wind that blew in his face; as he brought up a slim arm as if to block it from his eyes he soon found the man vanished somehow.
A trick of his Aegir perhaps.
He sighed through his nose a second time and let his frown carry him as he began to march toward the open streets of Rocknesse, his concerns for his zealous mentor worrying him.
I'll never understand him, he thought.
But maybe it doesn't matter in the end.
"Not if I can be World Champion when all of this is over..."
It wasn't long for the Palashian Premier after-party to take great hold on Rocknesse and Palashia Palace itself; even the civilians themselves were taking the celebration straight to the city streets themselves, cheer and delight filling the grand metropolis. Having swiftly recovered from his wounds, in part thanks to the elusive powers of the Shinzui, Link and his companions hot-footed their arrival fairly quickly only to be greeted by the Prima World Tour staff themselves; familiar faces such as Mr. Marshall and Tasty Seth waited for them all, gifting them with souvenirs and thoughtful conversation.
Waiting there also was Rocknesse's mayor and son, having been previously met; Lavrentius and Lycidas Marino.
Link, however and as always, was only more anxious to begin travelling for the very next national championship; the supposedly named 'Kaioh Bio'. Although the staff members at least confirmed the existence of such a competition, they of course said little more on it; perhaps bound by word and stricture of their employers.
"Figures..."
The young blonde's bored and disappointed sigh carried out from him as he cradled his left cheek into his raised up palm, his light elbow resting on one of the lounges' many large glass windows. The sun had already begun to start dwindling down; a sure sign of sunset approaching.
"Link."
The youth, now at last fully re-dressed in his trusty old adventuring tunic gear, double-took his oceanic-eyed gaze 'round only to widen them at the result; the folded-armed and ever firmly-frowning faced Raynard glared back at him wordlessly, standing not far from one of the room's many drink-infested tables.
"Ray!" He called out, his frown soon switching to a light grin. "I was startin' to wonder whether you'd show!" The former Hero of Time flashed his chuckling smirk back at the unsociable Van Garrick. "How you doin'?"
"Fine... can we talk outside maybe?" The young boy responded calmly enough, stepping forward as he cast his frown toward the balcony that the large glass window overlooked. Link blinked in his well-designed seat before nodding unsurely and following his older rival out. He double-took a second time behind him when he heard the whispers of the grinning Malon and Zelda positioned in a corner of the room nearby, joined by the rest of the city's young girls.
No doubt they're whinin' 'bout me I bet, he thought shamelessly.
He nodded his smirking-faced head upward toward them all in a silent greeting, almost as if to provoke them and it did its intended job; the group of girls all let loose listening giggles and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes in response.
When he stepped out into the pleasantly-tempered evening he was genuinely surprised by the weather and the lovely tint the sun-fall gave off.
The girls would've loved this, he thought mischievously in one of his ever usual little grins.
"Now, I fought with myself over whether I should tell you this or not, but..."
Raynard's sudden words caused the newly-frowning Link to swing his curious gaze on the black-haired boy, raising up a blonde-haired eyebrow in the process. The young mercenary stood facing the sun, his back to his younger rival as if he were considering something significant.
"The man I'm travelling with... Scaverin-sensei..."
Link's frown took a darker turn and his eyebrows rose up in recognition, eyes narrowing as he listened on silently as Raynard glared on back at the falling sun.
"He's the one who called that gigantic Wolfos that killed all those men down in the Greymont Mines," he revealed, ever in his hardened scowl as he at last swung his leaning-faced frown on the blonde boy. "Why he did it though...," he began again lowly, shaking his spiky-haired head in doubt. "I'm not entirely sure yet."
"So someone did call that thing...," Link murmured back, brow furrowing in memory and thought. "I knew it!"
Raynard nodded. "I'd apologise for it, but..." The boy replied knowingly, lowering his eyes in a guilty fashion as he shook his head, as if the matter was near unredeemable. Link winced similarly, knowing of the many lives that were lost during.
It was genuinely surprising how Lavrentius was able to shoulder such a burden, he thought wonderingly.
"I can't stay here long either unfortunately," Raynard murmured out in continuation, briefly eyeing the warm lounge to his left, shaking his head again as he returned it forward. "Scaverin-sensei wants to get to Kaiohdrahl as fast as possible; I don't see the rush personally, but... it's something to do with this plot of his."
Link's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do you know anything about it?" He pressed the Hylian. "Like, anything at all?" He asked hopefully, rising up his hands as if to gesture at his sides.
"I mean...," Raynard began doubtfully and cringing, lightly tilting his head in thought. "He's mentioned the words 'Domination' and 'Torment' so far, but..."
"'Domination' and 'Torment'...?" Link parroted thoughtfully, folding his small arms as he lowered his blonde-haired head as if in deep-thought.
"Anyway I have to get going but it was genuinely nice to-"
"Wait!"
As the young mercenary made to walk for the balcony's glass door he hesitated and turned his black-haired head to face his rival, rising up an eyebrow as he did. Link stared back at him in a hardened frown of his own, his hands lowered to rest at his sides.
"When I saw you use the 'Final Reppuken' technique yesterday in your semi-finals match...," the young Hylian chose to broach, oceanic eyes narrowing as he spoke. Raynard's frown twitched and he lowered his eyes, nodding. "It was from...?"
"Scaverin-sensei...," Raynard nodded in a light sigh. "Yeah."
His inner fears were allayed his suspicions were at last confirmed; although master of the Shinzui himself, Ganondorf, clearly could not have taught Raynard the Reppuken technique, only the last remaining right-hand to him could.
At least things aren't as bad as I was worrying, he added silently to himself.
Good news for Impa-sensei.
"It's a shame we never matched up once. Even before the grand finals."
Raynard's abrupt words made the former Hero of Time swing up his blinking frown to face the boy again, surprised. The stoic-tempered youth shot him a lightly-friendly smirk as he re-opened his mouth to continue.
"I would have liked to have seen us both go for the title of 'Palashian Champion'." He finished, his competitive grin ever carrying him in his oddly-sociable conversation. The listening blonde couldn't help but grin back, lightly lowering his straw-haired head as he nodded in agreement.
"We'll have-ta make sure we're in the grand finals for the Kaioh Bio then... huh?" He batted back drawing a shut-eyed smirk from the mercenary and, as always, his ever-favourite response.
"Hmph."
–
3
"A hot date out on the balcony? Oooh."
The mischievously-spoken words of the ever-grinning Barkner managed to draw the blinking-eyed Link's attention as she stepped on back through into the large and warm lounge; by the time he walked in after Raynard stepped out, having spent a minute or two admiring the sunset, he had essentially re-entered by himself.
As he had half-expected, the unsociable mercenary had already left, seemingly choosing not to speak to anyone else in his short stay.
"What'd he do, whisper sweet nothings in yer ear?" The cheeky-voiced Goron grinned on, his words reinforced by the listening giggles of the girls behind him and the oddly smirking Alwyn standing on his left side.
"Yeah, yeah...," Link cast his own knowing grin back at the older man, placing a hand on his hip as he did; an old habit. "It's just info for Impa-sensei; where is she?"
"Getting drunk, actually," Alwyn answered the youth, his business-like frown re-adorned on his face. The grinning Link soon dropped his expression in favour of a shocked blinking frown, near unable to find the words with which to respond to such a statement. "I know; it's not like her," the Zoran sighed out frustratedly, ocean-shaded eyes shut in brief display of his annoyance before soon re-opening them. "But I don't think it's noticeable."
Link blinked again, doubt filling his furrowed brow. "How can it not be-?"
"You said you have some information for me?"
He swung his blonde-haired head 'round in surprise, eyes widened, only to find the ever firmly-frowning face of Impa herself looming over him. She carried what looked like a mug, presumably of alcohol, as she looked down at him in her ever-usual bored frown.
"She... looks the same..." He thought half-curiously, brow furrowing again cautiously.
Maybe Alwyn's right, he added silently.
Oh well; better tell her.
With that he essentially passed the messages he received from Raynard on to his group's leader and the rest of his companions; a revelation that saw the Sheikah ever-thoughtful, even seemingly as covertly drunk as she was.
"Well... at least I was right in my suspicions..." She murmured out curiously.
"Question is why though?" Alwyn shot back, eyes narrowing in his own display of suspicion, arms ever-folded. "Why go to all that trouble of killing so many people?"
"I'm more worried about this 'Torment' thing comin' up...," the wincing Barkner muttered back in response, his body shuddering as if in thought of it. "I mean is he gonna torture someone? One of us even?"
Link snorted back, nodding his straw-shaded head back up at him in his overconfident smirk. "Fat chance," he began lightly, rising up his left clenched fist as in gesture. "He ain't gettin' by this first!"
"I think we should err on caution regardless of how confident any of you are," the Sheikah spoke out demandingly, frowning on as she always did. "Too many people in Palashia died alone; I don't think Lavrentius will fully recover his political authority from such a manoeuvre."
"That Scaverin guy sure knew what he was doin'..." Barkner murmured out quietly, rising up a rocky-bodied palm to softly graze his chin thoughtfully.
"Well... at any rate you've all earned a break tonight so let loose and the Kaioh Bio isn't for another month," Impa reiterated as she eyed the rest of the men, ever in his frown as she turned to leave. Before she did, however, she briefly swung her frown in Link's blinking direction. "Oh, the Palashian princess asked me she wanted to see you personally," she threw over her shoulder, eyes lightly drooped as she did. The listening young Hylian's frown soon took a dark turn and he winced, drawing a hearty laugh from the standing Barkner. "Just anytime you're free."
As Impa walked off away, presumably to leave the men to their own devices, Barkner re-opened his mouth as if to voice his inward thoughts.
"Ooooh you know what she wants!" The Goron began, casting the youth one of his many impish grins. Link rolled his eyes in his own knowing smile, readying to prepare his nerves for dealing with the Palashian princess in question.
"Yeah, yeah...," he waved him off before folding his slim arms up at the Goron, tilting his blonde-haired head at him curiously. "It ain't no surprise to me; I mean... I can hardly blame her, I'm gorgeous." The brash and brazenly-tempered boy merely shot back, grinning on in shouldering the extra attention he received with a simple shut-eyed shrug.
"Good luck," Alwyn replied, his own frown soon sliding into a slight smirk of his own. "I hear her parents are here to join her so she may introduce you to your new in-laws."
"Ah, there you are!"
The boy's spine shivered a little in response to both the former soldier's words and the greeting with which he recognised. He slowly swung his eyes 'round to find the lightly-smiling form of princess Vassia herself, standing ever in her usual standoffish way; her left arm sat horizontally under her raised right, the elbow resting on her lowered left hand. Standing behind her, presumably, were her parents; a man and a woman.
Realising they were presumably not welcome for the inevitable discussion and introduction, Alwyn and Barkner nodded the annoyed Link away as they turned to walk off, as if to give the new four some space.
As the watching Link had half-expected they wore glittering and glorious decorum indeed; crowns of beautiful pristine-white sat upon their heads, complimented only by the bright-violet of their robes and mantles. Sure enough the pair were fairly comely-looking, just as their daughter, and seemed to be in fine shape physically.
I guess that's where she gets it all from, the half-smirking Link thought to himself.
"I was wondering when you'd leave that incessant medical wing," the smirking-faced Vassia greeted in a superior-sounding chuckle, eliciting the listening boy to drop his own grin in favour of a half-annoyed frown. "I'm surprised you have less than a scratch on you after that thrashing I gave you!"
Although the young girl's parents were clearly present, Link held back his tongue from lashing back in anger and opted instead to upturn his frown instead.
"Same goes for you I guess," the young Hylian batted back, tilting his straw-haired head back at her in soft defiance. "You took a lot of punishment yesterday."
Vassia, her own annoyed frown soon returning to her face, responded in an annoyed huff before soon regaining her grin; an odd quirk indeed.
"Am I... correct in saying you did not win the Palashian Premier young... Firbrand was it?" The nameless Palashian king began lowly, joining his hands to rest softly under his horizontally-positioned elbows. Link rose up his oceanic-eyed gaze to face the older man and smiled sheepishly back at him, nodding.
"U-Um, yeah...," he replied oddly timidly, his earlier confidence soon drizzling away from him. "Your daughter managed to beat me."
His admitted words, though managing to bring a superior smirk to the young violet-haired princess' face, made the listening Palashian king and queen exchange unsure looks together.
"Excuse us a moment." The non-introduced king nodded in the boy's direction before he turned to eye his family, re-opening his mouth to whisper down at them quietly. Link nodded in another sheepish-looking smile before turning his oceanic eyes 'round away in stiffness, feeling rather awkward in obvious knowing that they were discussing him of all people.
"I wish she'd just let me go."
His inner were soon answered however, just as quickly as they began to crop up; the look on Vassia's now-angry face was near-enough for the watching and silent Link to deduce what was happening.
"No, father!" She called up incessantly and indignantly. "You told me it was my choice and mine alone!"
"But dear he didn't even win and from what I hear he comes from a jungle," the woman blanched out, very briefly eyeing the insulted green-clothed youth. He folded his slim arms back at her and furrowed his brow, aggrieved by her words. "Honestly there are far better choices than-"
"I said no mother!"
Vassia's shrieking angry soprano managed to silence the wincing king and queen; they exchanged another fruitless look together before shaking their similarly purple-haired heads at one another, as if in simultaneous and co-operative defeat.
"Yo."
The trio of royals and nobles all swung their violet-haired heads 'round to eye the source of the tenor and blinked back at the firmly-frowning Link; he re-opened his mouth to speak following his interrupted greeting.
"For what it's worth I ain't interested myself," he responded fairly quickly and disrespectfully, tilting his head at the adults as he did. "Just like you say! I didn't win so I don't qualify as a candidate," he added, this time in a shut-eyed shrugging smirk before he soon regained his simple-faced frown. "And anyway I'd rather not get involved so if ya don't mind I'll-"
"Nope!"
Even when he attempted in complete vain to walk off and do his own thing he soon found his path blocked when the absurdly-strong princess grappled at the back of his Kokiri tunic, eliciting a surprised gasp from him in response.
How the hell is she so freakishly strong like that when she's so small, he wondered silently.
"You're mine now Firbrand...," she whispered in his small pointed ear; he flinched and winced, eyes briefly watching her cautiously. "Whether you want it... or not."
Having finished with the arduous introductions that his new companion and, apparently life partner Vassia essentially forced on him, Link opted to whittle the rest of the night away in well-earned peace by partaking in a small soft drink in the lounges' corner completely free of other people. Although it was a rather big change for the young sociable blonde, given how overly personable he'd gotten since his first adventure, he'd like to think he'd earned some private time every now and again.
If only Saria knew, he thought in a lightly-wry grin.
It wasn't long however until his leisure was soon interrupted, and surprisingly rudely at that, by the laughing Zelda; he grunted and turned his wincing frown on his immediate left as she crashed into him, seemingly having been rushing over.
"What the-? Zel?"
"Lllliiinkkk..."
He groaned as he felt her weight press on his forcefully; although he felt strong enough to push her he didn't feel comfortable in doing so. The blonde youth double-took however, sniffing twice in the thin air between them before narrowing his oceanic eyes suspiciously at her.
"Your breath smells like...," he murmured out, narrowed eyes darting down to the glass of liquid sloshing in her untrained hand. "No way...," he gasped out, eyes widened. "Are you drunk...?!" The worried youth hissed out, placing down his own glass via a nearby table before grabbing her by the shoulders as if to get through to her. She stared back at him wordlessly and cluelessly, blinking on before giggling and raising up her free index finger to rest in front of her open mouth.
"Shhhh...!" She sounded out, overextending and overreaching. "Just a little..."
It was only a whisper and bold-faced lie at that, but it was effective and strong enough with the smell of what seemed to be rum and vodka lacing her soprano, that it essentially near kept him wincing away from her.
"Damn it Zel...," Link murmured out, half-annoyed as he turned to eye the room curiously and worriedly. "If Impa-sensei catches you like this she'll kill me."
"Immpaaa won't knooow...," she giggled a second time, her form stumbling briefly into his own. He groaned as he held both their positions barely in time to save them from falling, eyes darting around in swift search for his ever-harsh mentor. "Oop... whoops..."
"Come on...," the worried young Hylian swung his blonde-haired head 'round in troubled and anxious search for the Sheikah woman. "Maybe I can still sneak you outta here..."
"Hey... hey... Liiinnnk..."
He twitched when he felt her breathe heavily into his small ear, attempting with great difficulty to find a road by the many socialising people nearby.
"You were reeeeaaallly strong todaaay..."
Just ignore her he thought, his annoyed frown twitching as he marched on, her small arm ringed 'round his right green-clothed shoulder.
It's the alcohol talking.
"I-" she began again, momentarily hiccuping as she spoke. "I have a sssecret too... I like you..."
Link rolled his oceanic eyes, holding back a sigh. "I like you too Zel."
"I-I mean I... like-like you..."
The second hiccup she gave did little to weaken the verbal blow she dealt him; he twitched for what felt like the umpteenth time and stopped marching, wincing forward as he did.
Okay it's definitely the alcohol talking, he thought.
Please let it be the alcohol.
"Everything okay over here?"
He froze, every bone in his body going numb; he went over the voice that suddenly spoke behind him, a commanding contralto and, sure enough, it was her standing behind him.
The ever firmly-frowning Impa.
His horrified frown very slowly stitched itself into a makeshift smile and he used his free right hand to wave shakily up at her.
"I-Impa-sensei...," he chuckled out nervously, a bead of sweat forming up on his forehead. "U-Um... n-nothing! I'm just... hangin' with Zel... that's all!"
"Hic!"
The sudden hiccup the clearly-inebriated young princess gave out, though in her usual quiet demure soprano, was more than enough of an inkling for the keen Sheikah to take notice of; she narrowed her fire-red eyes briefly down at the blonde girl in response.
"Impaaa!" The youth cried out, stumbling from the wincing Link's grip to stagger toward her attendant, soon dropping what remained of her glass drink to collide into the Sheikah's legs with a slurring hug. "I love you..."
The deadpan-like frown that Impa hit the terrified Link with sent sheer shivers down his spine. He could only blanch his face in response; a fierce and abrupt response to the hardened and inevitable disapproval on his mentor's face.
"I-I-I know what you're thinkin' Impa-sensei... and you're wrong!" The nervously-chuckling Link shakily spoke, his body near trembling in comical fear from the arduous look she gifted him with. "It's just juice! We swear!"
"Shhhh...!"
The thus-far silent Impa swung her silver-shaded head down to find the next softly-voiced interruption come from her princess, a kind of slurred look in her eye as she brought another index finger up to rest on her soft lips.
"It's just juice...!" She hissed out, half-giggling and near stumbling in her delivery of the relatively simple-spoken sentence.
"She sure looks drunk to me..."
Link's eyebrows shot up in shock and he darted his straw-haired head behind him only to find the smirking-faced Malon watching, slim arms folded over at them. His initially-surprised frown soon took a dark turn into annoyed; it twitched and he leant it briefly, as if to warn her before swiftly deciding against provoking the fire-haired maiden. He attempted to settle his rickety nerves and folded his tunic-clothed arms, oceanic eyes shut as he grinned on in bravely-handled confidence.
"Maybe to the untrained eye...," the young Hylian began again, shrugging back as he did. "But it ain't my fault if you can't tell these things!" He batted back, re-rising up his arms to unfold his arms into a simple shrug as he cast his smirk at her over his shoulder. She couldn't help but grow her own smirk as she listened, eyebrow rising up as if in curiosity.
"If she's not drunk... then what in all hell is she?"
This time it was Impa's hardened contralto that made the seemingly sturdy Link's body twitch. His grin dropped but only briefly; the brazen youth swung his head 'round to face his mentor and grinned on in classic show of his overconfidence, deathly hoping that his sheer tenacity and false assurance could sell the situation he so desperately tried to establish.
"She's just high on... life! Yeah!"
Even when the words came out of his mouth and the listening Malon behind him snorted out, presumably in a mixture of derisive glee and genuine amusement, he knew in his bones that it was too flimsy for even the most gullible of listeners.
Fortunately for him, and oddly enough at that however, the frowning-faced Impa merely rose up her eyebrow before briefly eyeing the clearly-drunk Hylian princess hugging at her legs.
"All right," the Sheikah frowned simply, drawing shocked looks both from the wide-eyed Link and Malon together. "Make sure she gets to bed okay."
"R-Really?"
"Really?!"
The contrasting tones in which both young Hylian children spoke, a genuinely-surprised tenor and a near-offended soprano, managed to add a new layer of humour to the scene.
"You want... more?" The frowning Impa questioned curiously, eyebrow rising up once more as if in unsure curiosity. Almost immediately Link found his smile returning to him; a wide and relieved grin that flavoured his swift head-shake and similarly comically-quick palm waves.
"Nope! Nuh-uh! I'm good!" He called back hastily before slinking forward to hang the inebriated Zelda's slim left arm over his shoulder, utilising his right hand to help her balance. "Time to go to bed Zel!"
"Beeeeeeedddd..."
Even as the relatively-disappointed Malon watched on, clicking her fingers as if to display it, she missed the half-amused smirk that dotted 'round the ever-observant Impa's face.
–
4
"Ngh..."
Although she presumably weighed less than he did, Link was legitimately surprised and near-shocked at how difficult it was to guide the intoxicated Hylian princess back to her room. By the time he even managed to locate her room, all amidst the slurred teasing and touching she'd irritate him with, he considered it a sheer moral victory in and of itself. The former Kokiri, very carefully in fear of his mentor watching him somehow, placed the humming blonde girl on the lavish quilt and bed laid out for her.
He breathed out in a mixture of relief and effort as he ran a slim arm across his forehead, a small grin re-adorning his expression.
Hell of a day, he thought cheerily.
Wonder why Impa-sensei didn't chew me out.
"Maybe she was just too drunk to notice herself."
She really hides it well though, he replied to himself before shrugging and slapping his hands together, as if to rid them of dust.
"Okay, have a nice rest Zel!" He called over his shoulder as he turned to leave, grateful for the ending to the relatively uneventful night.
It was only when he felt his forest-shaded tunic being pulled via his lower-left that his smile twitched and he realised that it was her again.
"Noooo..."
His oceanic eyes slowly snaked to his left, near-unwilling to move his head as if to acknowledge her perhaps inevitable request.
"Stay with meee..."
His stiff form soon softened up into a half-annoyed, half-defeated sigh, rolling his sea-shaded eyes as he lowered his stance briefly as if to display it.
I really shouldn't, he thought.
Impa-sensei'll kill me.
"She'll kill you anyway if you leave her alone like this too."
"Damned if I do and damned if I don't, huh...?" He murmured out briefly, frowning on as he did.
Zelda, red-faced from the excessive drink, could only blink up at him. "Huh...?"
He shook his dark-blonde head back at her as he turned his body to re-face her. "Nothing," he sighed back before stepping 'round the massive bed to dump himself next to her in a sitting position. "I guess I can just sit here 'til you go to sl-"
FLUMP
"Gah!"
Surprising him for what felt like the umpteenth time, the playful princess giggled ever-mischievously as she wrapped her arms 'round his neck and pulled him backward, essentially sending the defenceless youth tumbling down into her laughing embrace.
I forget she's still just a kid, he thought.
Mentally and physically.
Maybe that's a good thing though, he added.
When his mind recalled the terrible toll and stress that it took on her adult form in the time from which he came, he couldn't help but grow a small smile watching her now.
"At least she's happy now."
"Thanks for taking me back...," she began, almost as if in answer to his silently-voiced thoughts. Her initially-abrupt and sudden grapple soon switched to a softened one. "I really wanted to see you."
He turned his head 'round to eye her suspiciously, his inward flags soon turning red as he realised her well-held ruse.
"You ain't really sleepy are ya...," he spoke so softly and quietly in his hardened narrow-eyed stare that he managed to make her swing her eyes from his, the red-cheeked smirk still adorned on her countenance. "Or even that drunk..."
At last she faced him again, this time to briefly hang her tongue out of her mouth as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Got me," she smiled back well-naturedly, unhooking her arms from the back of his neck to allow him time and space to swing 'round to face her fully. "Well... kinda...," she amended this time, chuckling nervously as she ran a small hand through her long light-blonde hair. "I'm definitely a little tipsy."
"That so...?" Link batted back, his frown soon switching to a half-amused grin as he turned to face her after tossing off his boots, crossing his legs as he sat a respectable distance across from her. "How much you have to drink?"
"Just a glass or two," she shrugged in response, smirking similarly in her reddened complexion. She brought up her hands to wrap softly 'round her raised purple-dressed knees. "I guess I kinda am tired too."
"I'd think so...," he laughed lightly, eyebrow rising up in half-surprise. "You managed to fool everyone in that lounge... me and Impa-sensei included."
"I guess I'm a good actress huh?"
"Tellin' me..."
The air, in spite of how comfortable they normally felt together, suddenly began to feel heavy; an odd kind of overcast hanging on them all of a sudden that made even the sociable Link feel out of place.
I really shouldn't be here if she's sober enough to be safe by herself, he thought.
"Yeah, better just leave."
In that single wizened thought that even his mentor would no doubt be proud of him for he rose up his hands, clapped them and turned his body 'round to begin taking his form off the large bed they sat on together, beginning his long trek to his own room.
"Was fun!" He called over his shoulder, half-smiling as he turned his straw-haired head back toward the door he left open, a light cast in the long halls outside. "I guess I'll see ya in the mor-"
He stopped dead in his tracks a second time when he felt her suddenly grapple again at the back of his Kokiri tunic; the former Hero of Time shut his eyes, his forced smile very quickly breaking down into an awkward zig-zag-like frown.
"Please don't leave me alone tonight..."
He sighed softly through his nose before turning his head 'round to eye her reddened figure beneath him, watching her with some form of compassion and melancholy.
This is a really bad idea, he thought.
Last thing I wanna do is make things complicated; I did enough of that with her in the time I came from.
"Oh hush up; what's the worst that could happen? She's still mentally and physically a child."
His rational, if rude thoughts soon answered his own concerned queries and he considered the merits of them for a moment.
It was true; thanks to his long and arduous adventuring through his own country and the far-off land of Termina and, of course his original princess' decision to send him back, he always had the mental maturity advantage over his old companions.
Nothing has to happen if I don't let it, he added silently.
"Besides, she probably just wants a friend; that's all."
If there was any vestige left of childish embarrassment or awkwardness between them it certainly didn't show; Link morphed his saddened frown into a comforting softened small smile as he nodded back in understanding.
"Sure."
With that single bend to her request he made the decision to climb back up on the bed and lay down next to her, threading his fingers together and resting them on his chest. Zelda smiled down at him gratefully and opted to lie down similarly on his immediate left, cautiously keeping her hands to herself as she lay on her right side as if to face him.
I can just lay here 'til she goes to sleep, he thought.
Then maybe I can go get some sleep myself.
"Link?"
"Mm?" He murmured out, his smile slowly slipping into a surprisingly-tired frown, his cerulean eyes heavy-lidded and slow-blinking in and out as he did.
"What were things like in the era that you came from?"
The former Kokiri, genuinely surprised again by her, could only briefly face her in a frowning raise of his eyebrow before re-facing the ceiling high above him and re-opening his mouth.
"Not good...," he answered her simply and bluntly. "Lot of people died in the civil war; both of 'em. Things got even worse when I pulled the Master Sword too."
Zelda's frown carried with her as she briefly lowered her own eyes in thought to the memories he once relayed to her before she re-rose them to eye him again.
"I mean... what were we like?"
He watched her carefully before re-facing the ceiling again and opening his mouth. "Same as we are now I guess...," he began doubtfully before narrowing a single eye, as if in deep-thought to his own memories. "Well... no... not really..."
Zelda slipped her right hand to rest under the right side of her head as she listened on intently and curiously.
"We were... I dunno... different," he began carefully. "Had to be; things were horrific under Ganondorf's rule; man was intelligent, really kept us both against a wall for seven long years."
The listening princess lowered her sky-shaded eyes in similar thought.
"Impa-sensei, Barkner, Alwyn...," he started again before his tired frown soon upturned into a half-amused chuckle. "Even Ray... it's hard to imagine him any more sociable than how he is now but-"
"N-No..."
Her sudden interruption, so urgent and intrusive, managed to stop him dead in his tracks; he swung his head 'round to face her and found her avoiding his eyes, an odd kind of look in them both.
"I m-mean... you and... me..."
Link's stare turned suspicious again and he shut his eyes back, near shaking his head in light amusement as he turned back, ever to the ceiling.
"Well... you were definitely different," he began again, casting a nostalgic smile skyward. "Elegant... careful... really strong too. You were basically an inspiration to everyone fighting for independence; it was really great to see, lookin' back," he explained lightly. "Impa-sensei would have been proud."
The Hylian princess' frown slowly converted into a pleased and half-embarrassed smile as she listened on. "W-What about... you...?"
"Me...?" He batted back half-curiously, his eyes briefly wandering in her voice's direction before they faced up again in reminiscing.
'Let's see if it's fair to pull a kid out of his life to be a chesspiece.'
'Let's see if it's fair to string him along for seven years!'
The memories and reminders of the horrible things he said to her when he discovered her true identity reared their ugly heads and he couldn't help but deepen his frown into a disappointed grimace.
No wonder Navi left in the end, he thought to himself.
I'm a horrible person, looking back.
Somehow, in great spite to his own mental maturity over her, she reached over with one of her small hands and rubbed one of her thumbs against his own resting hands; he swung his head 'round to face her, surprised only to find her frowning back at him in a similar kind of melancholic look.
How can she do that, he wondered silently.
She might as well be reading my mind.
"You don't... you don't wanna know what I was like back then," the anxious Link shook his head back at her, a kind of forced smiling chortle before he inevitably turned his eyes from hers, wincing as he did. "I made a lot of mistakes."
"We all make mistakes."
He shut his eyes and listened, the sound of the far-off party echoing out from outside the open door's hallways; noises of light music and the reverberation of his companions' laughter melding well with it.
"I'm sorry," he at last responded to her with, his tenor spoken in a saddened and matured quality that mirrored his old baritone. "I should just go let you sleep and-"
Before he could even finish his awkwardly-spoken sentence his form twitched in startled disconcerting when he felt her shuffle closer to him, wrapping her left hand softly 'round his laying form. He found his own cheeks growing red this time, and not out of simple inebriation; a fact that followed him mercilessly even as he turned to eye her, watching him curiously in her own head-lowered red-cheeked frown.
The look in her eye said it all; a remarkably-similar look to the one she used to give him in his own time. One by one he felt his mental walls break down as she, very skilfully, threaded her left fingers into one of his own resting hands; a slow but daring advance that saw her wrap the rest of her limbs 'round his fatigued and sleepy state. He opened his mouth to speak to her and voice his inward anxiety but, as he had half-expected, she leaned her free right up to softly brush at his opened lips; the former Kokiri soon closed his mouth into another zig-zag-like frown, eyes lowering clumsily in response.
Her own frown slowly swung up into a satisfied-looking smile, eyes shutting as she presumably went to sleep. He resisted the urge to turn and face her and, giving in to his own long and gruelling fatigue, Link at last chose to rest in using the nostalgic aroma of Zelda's nearby scent carry him off to slumber.