Chapter 49: Drowning (In the Deep, Dark, Descent)

Search for the Missing Mother Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan fiction.

Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best"The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.

"Cheerful Music Selection 2" – Tenchi Muyo OST. Scene 1 (First Half).

"Inside the Pirate Ship" – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker OST. Scene 1 (Second Half) and 2 (First Half).

"Skies of a Strange Land" – The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel OST. Scene 2 (Second Half) and 3 (First Half).

"Scherzo Di Notte" – Scene 3 (Second Half).

"Hollow Bastion" – Scene 4 (First Half).

"Reviving Hollow Bastion" – Kingdom Hearts II OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).


With their duty to Stralanavia's people, its government and their participation in the regional championship complete, the group of heroes led by Impa of the Sheikah soon find themselves up one member, the very grand-finalist of the Stralanavian Skirmish herself; Veronika Fedoroa. In her recent desire to assimilate herself within the confines of the party, the raven-haired clairvoyant's motivations remain ever an elusive mystery; intensified ever-more when Link, in great surprise indeed, soon finds his private space in his subconscious stepped into and disturbed by the mystical and cryptic-spoken Stralanavian.

After their explosive set in the grand-finals of the Stralanavian Skirmish, Veronika manages to astonish all onlookers even further by not only opting to assist the fallen Link personally, but also elects to bring his unconscious body back to her own residence in Tuvir Street of the slums in Stralanavia's capital, Velinsk City. While there, she uses her seemingly vast level of knowledge to nurse the deeply-damaged young Hero of Time back to full health; an act of such demure-like kindness and charity that the curious Link can only err on the side of caution and suspicion, indeed, as it is preceded by such a savage-like power she commanded mere hours ago in her grand fight with him.

In her short time joining the party of heroes she proves her value and fairly boldly at that; after discovering their next destination, the far-off country of Gylomecia, she uses her odd connections with those at the Stralanavian dock of Belezma to barter passage on one of the most envied merchant ships of the nation; the Saumarez and its experienced captain; captain Reading. With passage on his grand vessel the path to Gylomecia, once thought to be a fairly worrying problem indeed given their lack of immediate vessels of their own to use, is now swiftly solved and with valuable time to spare at that.

However, not all is good tidings for the unlucky group of heroes. When the adventurers manage to get well underway for their crossing of the vast Aurelian ocean, they are very quickly attacked and ambushed by a prowling sea-monster; a horrifyingly-huge creature that the well-experienced staff speak of only in legends and hushed whispers… the 'Kraken.' While the sea-faring sailors are frightened of this monstrosity, the fighting-fit party of heroes manage to overpower it surprisingly easily; a testament to their rapidly-rising skills in martial arts and way of the fist.

It is in their victory over the once-seemingly fearsome sea-beast that the group very quickly discover a fast-approaching problem. In their grand ship's attack, they soon lose focus on their regularly-used sea lane; a navigational route used by the sailors for their trips across to Stralanavia and Gylomecia, as well as back again. With their vessel now drifting into unknown waters, the party of adventurers soon find themselves within another new challenge…


Scene 1

"That wis incredible!"

"Nah, not really," the ever-grinning, overconfident Link shot back, his complexion beaming from the attention he received from not just their ship's captain but the rest of its staff as well. He stood amongst the rest of his disapproving companions down below deck, the group watching on in mixed dissatisfaction and amusement. "I mean it might have been me that did most the work, but…"

"Ahem…"

The newly-frowning Link blinked back over in the firmly-glowering Impa's direction before rolling his eyes humorously in defeat, conceding as he re-opened his mouth.

"We did most the work," he clarified at last. "It was a team effort."

YEAAAAAAAAAAAH

The sound of the small crowd's cheer, while not nearly as deafening or noisy as the ones they were so used to in each national championship they took part in, was still fairly loud enough to lightly vibrate the table on which most of the group sat at; a sign of their growing gratitude for their assistance.

Having just recently dispatched with the latest creature in their bestiary that threatened their party, the Kraken, they were brought down below-deck to celebrate somewhat in the short time they were gifted with following the ship's rescue. It didn't take awfully long for the ever-rambunctious young Hero of Time to lap up the glory and regale the story of the sea-monster's defeat, as if it were simply one of the many he had acquired in his solo adventures across his home country of Hyrule and the more recent far-off exploits of Termina.

"You know you could be less obvious."

The surprised Zelda, having freshly changed back into the common garb she utilised while in Kaiohdrahl, could only blink in quizzical curiosity as she pulled both small hands from the sides of her face from leaning on the table before her, only to find the ever-frowning Impa sitting next to her on her immediate left.

"W-What do you-?"

The wise Sheikah nodded her silver-haired head up to her top left in the grinning Link's direction, his mouth ever-open as he was talking inaudibly to the smiling crew around him.

"You may as well announce it to everyone here," she spoke, almost as if in code to the rest of the lightly-amused listening group seated 'round them. "With that look on your face."

Realising just exactly what it was her astute guardian so judiciously was hinting at, the listening Zelda could only turn her azure-sea eyes away from the Sheikah in a mixture of embarrassment and an odd sense of shame to her newly-cherry cheeks.

"As if there was any doubt?" The ever-grinning Barkner shot into the conversation with a little upward nod, grinning as he reached over to ruffle the Hylian princess' hair affectionately.

"Hmph! One should be more mindful of one's posture and character," Vassia spoke in shut-eyed criticism of her fellow princess, turning her violet-haired head up to the ceiling of the room as she did. "After all-"

"Oh yes one should always be more mindful of one's face and one's behaviour and one's thoughts and one's everything," the frowning-faced Malon endlessly mocked the Palashian princess with, gripping both sides of her face as her elbows leant on the table before her, eyes rolling up to the ceiling in a similar vein to the now-annoyed Vassia. "One can only worry about one's one and one in one's one."

The listening Barkner snorted in growing amusement, drawing out a small rolling-eyed smile from the half-entertained Alwyn next to him. While Impa watched on at the scene before her in her usual impassive-faced frown, even the similarly aloof Veronika's own frown slowly twisted up into a tiny smile of her own as she spectated the scene ahead.

"Are you mocking me, farm rat?" The visibly-irked and provoked Vassia snapped over, swinging her well-kept head over to glare at the red-haired girl.

"Who are you callin' 'farm rat,' you stuck up motherf-"

KRSH

The cutlery sitting on the table they rested at clattered and rung out noisily, easily interrupting the pair's amusing verbal fight with one another and commanding their attention in the direction of its source; they both widened their eyes and found the firmly-frowning form of Impa tilting her silver-haired head at them, ruby-red eyes narrowed at the two warring children before her.

"S-Sorry Impa…"

"I apologise…"

Surprised that even the hard-headed and near-arrogant Vassia even relented in the face of their Sheikah leader's warpath, the rest of the listening group couldn't help but laugh in response.


"Shit…"

"What is it cap'n?"

Captain Reading's firmly-held frown twitched as he stood within the helm, staring out into the great abyss of the Aurelian ocean through the large, beautiful windows between them both.

"Huv ye no' noticed…?" He murmured back, briefly eyeing his surprised first mate on his immediate right. "We're aff the fuckin' path here Hastings…" Reading spoke, this time with a distasteful-looking take to his frown, brown eyes scanning out across the large windows before them as if to confirm. The listening first mate blinked before reaching back for the compass, eyebrow risen up as he gave it a quick look.

"Oh yeah…," Hastings began in reply, detailing his next sentence with a forward nod of understanding. "I sees it now…," he acknowledged before suddenly blinking, as if to realise something. "Oi… wait a tick…"

Captain Reading rose one of his bushy white eyebrows up as he turned the big hardwood steering wheel of the ship, awaiting the younger man's next sentence.

"What the fuck do we tell the grupniks? Have we told 'em yet?"

"Nope," Reading responded with a negative shake of his white-haired head, casting his firm frown forward. "It's whit I've been sittin' here contemplatin'," he sighed through his nose, single eye narrowed as if in self-scrutiny. "For all we know we might be hittin' land soon and even then, it'll be uncharted by the looks."

"Ain't nobody been around here before…?!" Hastings whispered out worriedly, eyebrow rising up. Reading shook his head a second time.

"No' these waters," he clarified. "That fuckin' Kraken…," he cursed out crudely and angrily, shaking his head once more as he thought of the deceased sea-beast so easily dispatched by their recent passengers. "Thank the Sainted that group of weirdos were wi' us today."

First mate Hastings winced as he turned his head away from his captain, deep in thought.

He's not wrong, he thought.

If it weren't for them we'd have been killed, easily.

"So what in Davy Jones do we tell 'em cap'n?" He began again, re-facing the older man next to him as he did. "We have't tell 'em somethin'…"

"Aye… that we dae," Reading conceded with a defeated sigh on his lips, his hardened eyes growing considerably softer to match. "Awright… you call 'em intae the mess hall and I'll join ye's when I get wan of the crew tae take over."

"Aye, aye sir!"

As first mate Hastings turned to run off toward the exit of the helm, captain Reading was left on his lonesome to ponder on the recent happenings of their already-exciting and stress-inducing voyage. He sighed again, long and hard through his nose and mouth, before shaking his head for the third time and re-opening his mouth to voice his irked thoughts, eyelids lowering to a humoured droop.

"Fuckin' Kraken."


2

"What… really…?"

Link's disappointed frown took a scrunching turn as he uttered his words of genuine shock and frustration; a mild annoyance, normally saved for the aggravating personality of his companion Vassia, now utilised in their current little dilemma.

"Afraid so lad," Hastings responded with a sigh of his own, turning to face the young Hylian, having just recently seemingly explained the current situation to them all. "Cap'n Reading's comin' in any minute t'tell y'all soon."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Alwyn spoke up with a business-like frown of his own, slim blue arms folded as he ever did. "I don't imagine it'll take too long for us to re-plot a course… and this captain Reading seems fairly on the ball to me."

"So long as we don't run into any more of those creatures again…," Impa muttered back, silver-haired eyebrow raised up as if to show her light discontent and irritation. "I'm sure we will be fine."

Finding an opportunity to stroke his ego, Link flashed his usual overconfident grin in his mentor's direction across the table he sat at and re-opened his mouth to address her. "You'd think after watchin' me kickin' that thing's butt you'd have more faith in me Impa-sensei."

His brash and near-reckless words of what seemed to be banter could only bring out mixed reactions within their crowd of companions; elated giggles from Zelda and even Vassia, a rolling-eyed light-faced frown Malon, a snort of amusement from Barkner and a near-impassive faced small smile from Veronika on his far-right. Alwyn, as always, chose to remain neutral in his formal-faced frown.

"It's actually because of your irresponsible attitude that I was worried in the first place," Impa admonished lightly in response, drawing out another little laugh from the listening Barkner. Link, while feeling slightly insulted, opted not to display his light frustration with his hard-edged mentor, merely turning his oceanic-eyed gaze away from her fire-red one. "Besides… our real issue here isn't any potential combat; we're fine there," she began again, this time in a light sigh through her nose as she did. "It's where exactly we're drifting off to here that's the main problem."

"Don't you have any faith in the Stralanavian maritime transport?" Vassia challenged back in one of her many bold and audacious-faced smirks, her soprano laden and laced with a derisive and ridiculing tone. "Well… coming from such a reserved backwater as Hyrule… I suppose it makes sense." The stuck-up Palashian princess smirked on in smug satisfaction, shut-eyes and all.

Silence descended down upon most of the frowning-faced companions, unable to find words with which to respond out of politeness. Link however, with a limp-eyed frown of his own, turned to exchange a look with the contrastingly-smiling faced Zelda on his immediate left. She nodded back at him silently and surprisingly-exuberantly, her long ponytail of blonde hair bouncing with her, almost as if she were excited for something soon to come. The former Kokiri opted to remove his restraints of speech and swung his half-annoyed frown on Vassia seated to his immediate right, opening up his mouth as he did.

"Shut up Vassia."

In prompt response were the replies of hilarity; Barkner burst out laughing, his deep baritone filling up the mess hall to meld fairly well with the deeply-amused giggles of Zelda and even Malon. While generally always remaining on the fairly impassive and neutral side, even the watching Alwyn, Impa and Veronika all displayed the smallest of smiles in return, similarly entertained by the children's exchange, much to the listening Vassia's begrudging rolling-eyed and folded-armed frown.

"We ain't actually Stralanavian ye know."

The group, surprised by the interruption, could only swing their eyes and heads 'round to its source at the door to the mess hall, only to find the lightly-smiling white-haired and bearded captain of their ship. He stood in an initial folded-armed smile before unravelling them and marching forward to join them all at their table.

"Cap'n," First mate Hastings nodded over in frowning-faced greeting. "I've already explained to 'em."

"Good…," Captain Reading nodded similarly in a light sigh. "Took me lang enough tae get somebody for the damn wheel let alone dae this."

"So do we got any idea where we are right now?" Link blurted over impolitely, a light-eyed frown dotting his complexion. Zelda smiled again in amusement as the annoyed Impa shot him a light glare.

"Link!"

He flinched in her direction before re-facing the captain. "Uh… sir cap'n." He half-heartedly attempted to amend his manners, drawing out an entertained grin from the listening Hastings and a light smile from Reading.

"Unfortunately no," the captain sighed again this time, dropping his smile as he did. "That Kraken we came up tae managed to fuck wi' the ship's route…," he began lamentably before widening his eyes and realising his social faux pas, wincing in the smiling Zelda and smirking Vassia's directions. "Oh… sorry."

"Think nothing of it," Impa dismissed the matter off with a simple shake of her silver-haired head, frowning as she did. "You were saying…?"

"Ah! Yes…," the man spoke again, lightly coughing as if he just recalled his memory, attempting to curtail his thick foreign accent for the unfamiliar members of the group. "Well… since you guys locked horns wi' that Kraken… we've run aside fae our normal route," he claimed, his frown returning to his face as he did. "Wi' how hard it's hit us we've veered too far aff course and noo we're essentially headin' intae unknown waters."

"Goddamn…," the listening Barkner murmured out surprisedly, placing an elbow on the table before him. "I didn't think it hit us that hard…"

"After seeing the size of it I can't say I'm surprised," Malon spoke up, fire-haired eyebrow raised in the Goron's direction. "Did you see it?"

"Yeah," Link answered for his close Goron friend, turning his half-mocking smile on the farm girl next to him. "Would have been a cool addition to the house back in Kokiri Forest." He joked in his half grin, drawing out a similarly half entertained smirk from the crimson-haired girl; she reached over past Vassia on her left to get at him with a swift slap at the air. He laughed and jerked his body out of the way, pulling a rolling-eyed frown from the sitting Vassia between them both.

"So… what's the diagnosis then?" Impa sighed out with, briefly tearing her eyes away from the pair of children on her right to face their ship's captain again. The listening first mate, similarly curious, could only turn his own head in Reading's direction. "How long before we reach Gylomecia?"

"Honestly… we're no' sure hen," he responded with, folding his big burly arms back at her and shrugging them both as if to display his doubt. "Could be a few days, few weeks, months even… we willnae know 'til we get a decent heading."

"Few months?!" The suddenly-angered Vassia exclaimed out, genuinely shocked. "That's unacceptable!"

The listening Hastings held back a snort, a visibly amused smile dotting his complexion as he turned his eyes from the Palashian princess' in restraint and a weak show of respect, pulling a similar look from most of the group around her.

"That's the way it goes on the sea sweetheart," captain Reading shot back, spicing his words with a sarcastic turn of his baritone and a light tilt of his head. "Until we hit land there isnae much we can dae."

"Can't you just check your compass thingie?" Malon tried to offer into the conversation with, eyebrow rising up as she frowned back at the pair of sailors.

"It doesn't work that way darlin'," Hastings responded in a foreign accent of his own, decidedly contrast to his captain's. "Once our compass gets messed with… it gets 'arder to work with," he claimed before sprouting a small grin and exchanging it with the frowning-faced Reading on his right. "We should probably get a new one eh cap'n?"

The ship's captain shot the grinning Hastings a quick frown before turning back his eyes to face the group. "I daresay we should be fine honestly; we might no' even need weeks at it, might even just be a few mile aff our original course. We'll just need tae wait and see whit time and effort gies us."

"All right, well… we've put our trust in Veronika," Impa began again, nodding her silver-haired head in the ever-silent Stralanavian's seat to her far-right. "So we'll put our trust in you."

Captain Reading opted to smile lightly back and spiced his next sentence with an acknowledging wink and a nod, rising up his rough-laden hand to pull at the hat he wore softly. "We willnae let ye doon hen."


"Just like… this?"

"Nah you gotta like… keep your form loose but firm," Link re-affirmed his red-haired companion with, adopting what seemed to be the bladed stance she had come to recognise him for. Malon stood opposite of him, a kind of awkward take to the blonde boy's own posture, an embarrassed zig-zag-like frown written across her red-cheeked face. He noticed her clumsy and stiff stature, chuckling a little as he pulled away from his own stance before stepping forward to assist in hers. "Here… like…," he began, dropping his earlier-entertained smile for a concentrated frown as he lightly and carefully pawed at her thin arms, placing them in a similar vein to the Loftwing-Style's stance. "This!" He finished with a regained smile.

He rose up his straw-haired head with a well-intentioned beam on his face only to soon falter when he caught her staring deeply back into his own sea-blue eyed gaze, in great spite to the powerful cherry that had overtaken her cheeks. Finding himself overtaken by her, and secretly frustrated by it, he rose up his left clenched palm to cough into as he swung his own embarrassed gaze away from hers in an attempt to save face.

"U-Um… g-good…," Link coughed out similarly awkwardly, swerving the front of his mouth to his sides as he looked away from her, clearing his throat a second time as he did. "That's… that's good."

When he felt her reach forward, surprisingly softly given her usual rough touch with him, and graze at his free right hand, having stepped closer to him, he couldn't help but double-take in her direction, his blonde-haired head leant to the side as he did. The former Kokiri, with all of his might, wanted some way to respond in his usual childish manner and humour yet something in her light-blue eyed gaze managed to quell that urge within him somehow; a look he remembered from her counterpart in the era he had originated from.

Lon Lon's farm girl leaned forward half a step first, almost as if to test the waters between them with her eyes very quickly darting up and down him; a silent request for some form of permission. Link began to sweat from the top of his forehead and held back a wince when he nodded ever so slightly and silently in response, dearly hoping that no-one would walk in and interrupt them.

Or witness what was seemingly about to happen.

She sensed his consent, and her frown softened a little into the ghost of a smile before she finally made the last remaining step between them, leaning her head forward into his, shutting her eyes and pursing her lips. He attempted, with great effort, to quell the fire-beat of his heart and stopped himself from coughing again in genuine anxiety before opting to meet her advance with his own, tilting his head in a more experienced fashion.

"And what kind of 'practice' is this?!"

The pair of Hylian children widened their identically-coloured eyes simultaneously and stiffened on reaction to the authoritative soprano that echoed out around them, an unpleasant hot flashing shiver running down their spines similarly as they attempted to fight off the perhaps inevitable embarrassment that came with being discovered in such a way together. They swung their heads and eyes 'round in the voice's direction, only to find the angered Vassia standing folded-armed in the entrance and exit to the ship's storage, clearly disapproving of the situation before her.

"If I didn't know any better… you two would be… 'canoodling' is the word I believe…?" The angered Palashian princess finished, this time in a half-amused turn of her frown into a light-faced smirk, taking off a hand from her hip as she began to march on toward the pair. Feeling fairly exposed and awkward about his situation, Link could only wince and avert his normally confident-eyed gaze from both the similarly embarrassed Malon's and from the ever-amused Vassia's. While he remained uncharacteristically quiet, Malon instead did not; the volatile fire-haired farm girl turned her crimson-cheeked glare Vassia's way and began marching to meet hers.

"You!" She called out passionately and angrily, rising up a finger to thrust an accusation at her as she did. The watching Vassia, suddenly put on trial, opted to display no real comparable annoyance of her own and merely tilted her violet-haired head back at the girl as if she were mock-surprised by her words of rage. "Why did you have to ruin it?!" Malon finished heatedly, lowering her now-clenched little fists at her sides, her whole small body jerking to match the inflection of her bitterly-spoken words.

Before the grinning-faced Vassia could even cohere an audible response however, the disappointed Malon turned on her heel to push past the satisfied-smirking princess, leaving her to turn briefly and eye her irked walk-away over her shoulder.

"Well! I thought she'd never leave…," Vassia spoke out again, this time in a loud smile, briefly rolling up her raven-shaded eyes as she did. "Mon amour!"

Link's early-embarrassed expression soon switched to an annoyed one and he swung it 'round to face the approaching Palashian on his right, arching down the left side of his mouth in light distaste as she did. "Hello Vassia." He greeted, his tenor spoken in what felt like forced courteousness, near rolling his own azure-shaded eyes in growing frustration as he did.

"And how is my husband-to-be, hm?" She spoke fairly fluently in modern Hylian, belying her Palashian heritage as she stepped toward him, small, gloved hands reaching down to grasp him at his sides. He moved away from her, annoyed at her need to touch.

"Fine… just fine Vass."

The listening princess dropped her friendly smile into a disapproving frown, furrowing her brow contemplatively as she did. "May I ask…"

"Uh?"

"Why are you teaching this friend of yours?" She asked him curiously, piquing up a violet-shaded eyebrow as she did. "You should be teaching me…"

"You're plenty strong on your own." The young Hylian shot back, tilting his green-hat head at her as he did.

She couldn't help but giggle at his unintentional words of praise, raising up one of her white-gloved hands to rest across her mouth conservatively. "Why thank you amoureux."

Shame Zel ain't here to translate, the half-annoyed Link thought to himself, holding back a sigh as he did.

"Vass…," he began again, this time in a tired-voiced sigh. "Can't you just… make the effort?"

Surprised, Vassia could only blink back at him in her earlier high-standing posture, arching up an eyebrow as she did. "Make the… effort?"

"Yeah, like… be friends with her; with Malon," he clarified, a requesting frown written across his languished expression. "She's one of my best friends; I've known her for a long time."

While it was somewhat of a half-lie, having only know this timeline's Malon for a short while, Vassia didn't know that. And she certainly didn't need to be told it either for the purposes of his attempt to bury the hatchet for them both.

Vassia, seemingly a little impatient with the boy's need, rolled her eyes for what felt like the umpteenth time, a kind of knowing little smirk written across her doll-like complexion. "Well…," she began deliberately. "I suppose I should be good terms with acquaintances of my future husband…"

The side of Link's left narrowed in frustration at her constant attempts to get into his head and he swerved his oceanic-eyed gaze from hers, refraining a sigh as he did. "Sure Vass."

She reached forward and he sensed her approach, raising an eyebrow in her direction as she did; it was only when she got within kissing distance that he realised exactly what she was after and found himself widening his eyes, struggling in her grip.

Why is she so goddamned strong, he thought.

She wasn't this powerful back in Stralanavia or even Kaiohdrahl.

"Mm…!"

"Mmm…"

Eventually, through sheer force of will, he managed to coerce her small yet taller form off of his own, spluttering as he wiped away at his mouth desperately as if to rid himself of make-believe infection that she smitten him with.

"Vass!" He called out irritatedly, turning his annoyed gaze back on her. The knowing Palashian princess merely shrugged back at him, averting her own raven-black eyes from his as if she were somehow innocent in the exchange. "Stop doin' that!"

"Just marking my territory mon chéri…"

With that little sentence of victory hanging on her dominating soprano, she turned on her heel, presumably to leave and briefly stopped at the staircase to the upper deck above to get a quick look over her shoulder. Her lavender curls bounced up and down to match the ship's sway and, as Link shot her with another irked glare, the small smirk on her countenance grew powerfully to match. Seemingly satisfied, she at last completed her journey to the upper deck above, leaving the nose-sighing young Hylian to lament his misfortunes.

I wish Navi were still here, he pondered on wistfully before his eyes grew limpid in a humorous little glower.

"Even Tatl'd be a great substitute here… to be honest."


3

"Land ho!"

As the barrelman made his loud announcement from the top of the crow's nest, all the standard passengers alongside the group of heroes themselves still up on deck all flocked to the side of the ship to get a look for themselves.

"How strange…," the watching Zelda murmured out from the top end, craning her pony-tailed head over at the small spit of land not too far off from their currently-advancing position. "It's no-where near big enough to be-"

"Gylomecia, yeah," Alwyn agreed along with the little Hylian princess in an acknowledging nod as he did, casting his own half-annoyed frown forward through the deep vast ocean before them. "Which means…"

"What captain Reading said was true," Impa sighed next to the former Zoran soldier on her left and his right, shaking her silver-haired head in disappointment of her own. "We've veered off course from our original target."

"Maybe it ain't that bad?" Barkner offered into the conversation with, casting his own doubtful frown for the group to see as he stood alongside his close Zoran friend on his left. "Maybe wherever this is, is just a couple miles off of it."

"We… shouldn't be this far off course."

The group of companions swung their heads 'round to find the source of the unfamiliar mezzo-soprano behind them; the ever frowning-faced Veronika, joined surprisingly by the bored-eyed Vassia next to her. The young Stralanavian girl stepped forward to join the group, and Barkner leaned out of the way politely to allow her an eye into the deep and a hand on the ship's rail as if to confirm her own sighting. When she drank it in she let out a small sigh through her similarly little nose, shaking her silky-black haired head as she did.

"Whoever sent that sea-beast after us…," the savant of Soul Power began, her brow furrowing suspiciously over at the recently-revealed land awaiting before them all. "Did so deliberately."

"You don't think it was just a random monster assault?" Alwyn pressed her curiously, his own brow furrowing contemplatively. She shook her long-haired head back at him knowingly.

"No," she responded. "It's too…"

"Convenient," Impa nodded, her own fire-eyed gaze never leaving the fast-approaching piece of land before them all. "It definitely feels off, if anything."

"You people are so suspicious all of the time…," Vassia laughed out, shaking her own lavender-haired head at the group dismissively, a white-gloved hand resting across her forehead as she did. "Who's to say it wasn't just a random beast attack? They're unpredictable aren't they?"

"Remember that fight we had in Kaiohdrahl with that woman in the black cloak?" Alwyn offered the Palashian princess with, about-turning to cast his own hardened-eyed frown on her. Vassia rose up her head and similarly shot up both eyebrows in honest surprise as she recalled the genuinely shocking event.

"Ohhh yeah…," Barkner murmured out in sudden realisation, his own eyes widening as he rose up a small finger to point forward at the Zoran. "They had a weird name…," he began again, lowering his rocky-skinned finger as he shook his hardened head unsurely, as if to begin brainstorming. "Him… something-something…"

"-itsu," Impa responded with, eyes still on the small island ahead before eventually swinging her head 'round to face the Goron with. "Their name, if I recall correctly, was 'Himitsu'," the wise Sheikah claimed in an acknowledging nod of her own. "'Himitsu Shakai' I believe."

"Yes…," Veronika nodded alongside their leader with. "It could very well be the Himitsu. Though for what purpose… even my cards cannot tell me."

"Cards…?" Vassia repeated in a half-derisive little look she gave the Stralanavian with before rolling her eyes impolitely as she looked away. "Fortune-tellers…" She muttered out distastefully.

"All right…," Impa began again, holding back a sigh as she swivelled 'round to face the group. "Someone get Link."

"Why boss?" Barkner pressed her with, raising a curious-voiced eyebrow as he did.

"Because I can see our good captain asking us to go monster hunting." The Sheikah chose to grin wryly in the Goron's direction.


CLASSSH

Raynard's steel halberd collided powerfully with his opponent's similarly steel sword; sparks shot up between the pair as they glared at one another through them both before, finally and suddenly as well, they broke their hold on one another before flipping backward through the air in recovery. Almost as quickly as they landed however they both shot into defensive and offensive slides across the ground, kicking up smoke across the dirty cave's floor, eyes boring holes into one another.

As the unnamed, black-cloaked foe glowered at Raynard through their hood in its right-sideward slide, it seemingly lost patience with the situation, indicated by its eventual and abrupt forward advance; the watching Raynard held back an aware smirk and laugh, knowing and near-smug in and of itself.

SWISH-SWISH

As his ebony-garbed adversary made its final forefront and diagonally slashed up at him before finishing with a similarly-diagonal angle assault, Raynard's chestnut-shaded wide-eyed shock seemingly revealed a mistake he had ostensibly made; something the hooded figure watched on with glee. When no blood or torn tunic clothes came with the sword strike however, the nameless figure soon re-narrowed its eyes and darted its night-clad head around in desperate search.

Unfortunately for it, however, it was simply too late.

FWIP

RRRRIPPP-TEAR

SQUELCH

The sickening sound of the figure's flesh squashing and suppressed emanated out through the deep, dank and dark cave of the island around them; the final seeming blow to end the engagement at last and suddenly as well. Raynard had re-appeared directly behind his black-clothed enemy, steel halberd pressed savagely down into the person's back to send them twisting and agonisingly down into the dirty ground itself, blade bending and curving with great suffering to match.

Unlike with the figure's initial assault, Raynard's managed to draw blood and caked the very ground in its life-juices; a sight that made him near-wince as he kept his head and his posture both raised high above the fallen foe before him.

"Ah… you've successfully killed her. Good."


4

The wide-eyed young mercenary could only snap his spiky-haired head 'round to the baritone's direction, only to find what seemed to be another cloaked figure, only this one a familiar one indeed; the blindfolded Scaverin, also clad in a night-coloured cloak, not quite like his foe's, stood at the cave's hardwood door's first entrance and exit.

Raynard's brow furrowed and he glared back at his mentor. "How the hell do you know it's a-?"

"Take off her hood."

He narrowed his chestnut-brown eyes back at the wise if, cruel summoner, before following his wishes and bending down to remove his foe's hood.

If only to confirm the kill.

Sure enough, as he did, he clocked feminine features on his enemy's recently-revealed face, marked further with beautiful flowing grey-shaded hair placed up in a ponytail. As the small trickle of blood on her lips slowly and gradually dripped down her chin, Raynard could only widen his eyes in shock before swinging his raven-shaded head in his mentor's direction.

"How the hell did you…?"

Scaverin, opting not to vocally reply to his young protégé, merely frowned back as he tilted his bald head to the side and rose up a single index finger to point twice at its side. Raynard's memory went back to when his mentor had first gotten blinded, back in Stralanavia.

The whole thing seemed like a genuine daze; something he couldn't believe happened and yet happened anyway.

With no eyesight left, he shouldn't be able to see, Raynard pondered on to himself.

And yet…

"There it is anyway…"

"It seems as though these rodents have been living here for a while now…," Scaverin spoke again, ripping Raynard right out of his hard-driven thoughts as he did. "How it would not surprise me to learn they've been cooking up all sorts of things on this far-away landscape…" The summoner claimed, turning his blind glare on the cave's second hardwood door, a little grin in the way of his words.

"What do we do about… her?"

Raynard's sudden query made the listening Scaverin about-turn to face the black-haired boy with, brown-shaded eyebrow risen up as he did.

"Leave her," the expert summoner responded with, somehow able to see the very form of the ruined young woman before him with no benefit of eyesight himself. "Let the Himitsu discover her corpse… I'm sure by now they already realise someone's intruded…" The former aide to Ganondorf finished with a half-smirk on his face before swinging his robed body 'round to continue marching toward the second hardwood door; one of the two exits to the chamber.

Raynard turned his head and sighed lightly through his nose in what seemed to be light regret, before twirling the steel halberd he brandished so expertly as if to remove the blood that had so recently gathered on its blade, before casting his hard-iron frown back behind him to follow his mentor closely behind.


True enough to Impa's eventual prediction, captain Reading turned to the group of heroes themselves to go out scouting into the new uncharted island in which they'd stumbled upon, apologising that what little crew he had left he needed for the ship's maintenance and to protect the remaining passengers. When they stepped out onto land, however, some of the more astute members of the adventurers very quickly made the correct assumption that it wasn't entirely uninhabited.

A chilling thought for the usually-stalwart travellers.

"Maybe it'll just be a group of natives!" Link offered into the unusually dire-laced atmosphere within the group he travelled with, his small Hylian hands risen up to rest behind the back of his green-hat head as he did. "I saw a couple of those when I was-"

"Going through Termina?"

Genuinely surprised to find the owner of the soprano belonged to Vassia on his right, he rose up both straw-haired eyebrows in her direction and blinked, unable to find words with which to fire back. She rolled both of her night-shaded eyes in exasperation with the blonde boy before re-opening her mouth to add to her earlier caption.

"As if you'd ever let us forget mon amour…"

Her words, while usually irritating most of the surrounding group, brought even a small smile to the listening Alwyn, a snort of amusement from the marching Barkner and a similarly restrained little smile from Zelda on his immediate left. Link couldn't help but put his frown into a T-like shape of sheer surprise and humoured hurt, swinging it back forward with little else to reply back to her.

"Could be natives…," Impa began contemplatively as she pulled out an odd gadget from her belt; a kind of rectangular tablet-like item. As she aimed it toward what seemed to be a small pond of water, the water reacted by suddenly and surprisingly shooting up a long icicle-like spear to a higher platform. The Sheikah stood out of the wat to allow Vassia, Barkner and Alwyn room to climb the icicle with, re-facing the frowning-faced Link behind her and re-opening her mouth to continue as she did. "But it could be someone else just waiting for us in ambush." She claimed, tilting her silver-haired head to the side as she did in knowing suspicion.

"I agree."

Link blinked a second time as he traced the mezzo-soprano's source, only to find the similarly frowning Veronika stepping past him to about-turn and face him in a comparable manner to his mentor, standing now next to her.

"After dealing with that creature on the sea… I'm fairly certain some unknown party sent it to either stop us…," the young Stralanavian began as she furrowed her brow forward in her own sign of suspicion. "It's just…"

"Too convenient," Impa agreed in a light nodding agreement of her own. "I agree completely," the Sheikah claimed, a hardened frown to her own stony expression. "Sea-monster attacks can be just as random as the next Lynel assault, but I don't think this was accidental. I think it was pre-meditated."

"Well… I guess anythin's possible," Link relented in a soft-faced light smile as he leant his small tunic-wearing form posture up, arms and hands resting behind his blonde-haired head as he did. "Especially when I'm involved." He added overconfidently, unfolding one arm to jab a thumb at his face, shut-eyed and grinning and all as he did. While the watching Impa rolled her fire-eyed gaze in frustration, the listening Veronika put on a fairly small smile to her face in seeming amusement, before turning to leave and follow the rest of her new companions up the icicle block Impa created earlier.

It was only when she left out of earshot that Link decided to continue speaking however, taking great care to omit anyone else's prying ears from the inevitably sensitive nature of their conversation.

"Impa-sensei…"

The listening Sheikah, half-surprised, about-turned in her own march toward the icicle stalactite before raising a silver-haired eyebrow down at the Hylian youth below her.

"Why ain't we suspicious of her?" He pressed her curiously, briefly turning his oceanic-eyed gaze on the elusive young Stralanavian following the rest of his companions up on the platform high above them to their top-right. "There's just too much stuff she can do that it's weird not to be, don't ya think?"

Impa remained silent for what felt like a few seconds before she cast her own swivelling-eyed frown up on the back of the far-off Fedoroa they were discussing. She re-faced the former Kokiri below her and put on a small mischievous little smirk of her own, unusual and yet somehow fitting for her.

"I suppose she could be at fault…," she began thoughtfully, drawing out a humorously suspicious little furrowed brow from the former Kokiri. "But… she did nothing to you when we left you alone with her on Tuvir Street…," the Sheikah smirked before turning to leave toward the icicle she created earlier. Link's frown turned zig-zag in a mixture of shock, horror and obvious embarrassment, his cheeks turning bright red when he recalled the girl's oddly affectionate behaviour with him. "Or… are you telling me now something did happen…? Because I'd hate to have to tell our princess if it did…" Impa finished over her shoulder, her grin growing just a little as if to gauge her student's next imminent explosion of emotion.

"H-Hey!" He called out, half-annoyed and flustered. "That ain't fair Impa-sensei!"

She chuckled, her smirk at last morphing into a light-eyed smile before she reached for the stalactite of ice.


5

When the group had entered the oddly-quiet room in what seemed to be underground caves of the faraway island, they had found very quickly that the area seemed strangely signatured with indications of recent activity; indeed, in the first underground floor they reached fraught with long broken pillars once attached to beams now laying on the ground to be pushed out of the way, the heroes clocked the chilling sight of a fallen and seemingly unconscious body.

Seemingly a young woman of unknown descent, blood hanging out of the side of her mouth to match her shut-eyed and oddly calm-faced disposition. As if to confirm the more astute members of the adventurers' group however, the grey-haired woman lay in a small pool of what seemed to be her own blood.

An eerie sight indeed, even for the more hard-edged crew such as Impa and Alwyn.

"How odd…," the frowning-faced Veronika began speaking in light-eyed curiosity, stepping past the surprised-expressed Link to bend down on the deceased woman's fallen side, hovering one of her lightly-glowing hands over the fallen youth carefully, her light-brown eyes shut as she did. "This one perished… not too long ago." The wise Stralanavian began as she swung her frown on the similar-faced Impa behind her.

The listening Sheikah made a half-frustrated face as she re-folded her armoured arms; an old habit as if in response to a mild annoyance. "I was worried about this…"

"What do you mean Impa?" The ever-curious Zelda spoke up on the Sheikah's right, her hands ever joined softly at her centre, her small ponytail of bright-blonde hair bouncing lightly as she did.

"I mean… we're not alone."

The wise leader's words managed to put some of the more combat-inclined members on edge; Alwyn, Barkner, Link, Veronika and even Vassia all exchanging hesitant frowns with one another.

"It may be a good idea to shift to Sheik here Zel," Link offered next to his close Hylian companion, brow furrowed on down at the fallen grey-haired young woman before them both. "I ain't sure I trust the vibes this place gives me."

The listening Zelda nodded in light acknowledgement, a similarly concerned frown written across her countenance. "Yeah…"


"How odd… there's nothing here."

The frowning-faced Vassia's words managed to pull the attention of most of the rest of the group following carefully behind her, one after the other; they all scanned their heads and eyes around in slow and deliberate search, perhaps looking for what seemed to be signs of foul play.

"There's always something here…," the ever-astute Alwyn pointed out, his brow furrowed thoughtfully as he cast his hardened-eyed glare around the strangely derelict room. "Where corpses are concerned…"

"Yeah I gotta say I'm on edge here man," Barkner agreed with his Zoran companion, choosing instead to wince as he clenched both fists at his sides next to the comparatively calmer fighter. "I don't like this one bit."

"We'll be fine Barkner," Impa spoke up as she stepped in behind the frowning Link and Zelda, now seemingly having shifted to Sheik after taking her younger Hylian friend's advice. "So long as everyone stays-"

"There's another one over here."

Finding the mezzo-soprano soon belonging to their recently-made companion Veronika, the party of adventurers swung their heads in her direction, only to find her knelt down in the top-right corner of the room overlooking something. Sure enough as some craned their necks to see, it looked to be a cadaver of some kind and of some resemblance to the last.

"Urgh… don't touch it," Vassia wrinkled her nose over at the scene before soon realising what words left her mouth. She blinked her face back into a neutral-faced expression before turning both eyes to her side and re-opening her mouth to speak one final time. "Actually… go ahead," she began again before waving her white-gloved hand dismissively. "Better you than me."

Link shot the spoiled Palashian princess an annoyed look before leaving the surprised Sheik's side to jog over and join the young Stralanavian in question. "Hold on I may as well come help."

The sides of Impa's face creased up in rapidly-growing concern and a strange sense of dread filling up her face; it was only when she noticed the difference in shading, however subtle to the tiles that the small Veronika knelt on that the wise Sheikah widened her fiery-red eyes and shot up an arm in vain to stop the two children.

"No, wait!"

CRKKK

Almost as soon as Link managed to step on the tile of dirt and stone that Veronika knelt on did it react somehow; a sickening loud crick that made him stop in immediate horror. He widened his oceanic-eyed gaze and, like a black-maned cat remaining on high alert, Veronika herself darted her raven-haired head in Link's direction behind her. Even the watching members of their allies positioned further back froze in place with similar consternation, the sound of the tile drawing out terrified and fearful looks from within them.

KRRRSSSH…!

Practically immediately did the floor at long last react for the fixed duo of children; perhaps acting in kind to the sudden weight increase Link managed to add to it, the floor beneath them gave way into an abrupt and horrifying burst. The poor pair turned their heads to the cave's ceiling and called out in sudden, shocked screams, their voices knocking against the walls in powerful crescendos of dread.

Veronika was first to go given the position difference, and as she dropped down further, she reached up with both soft hands and barely managed to grapple at the Hylian boy's boot above her. Link, similarly shocked, could barely keep hold of the fast-breaking floor above him that kept them both alive and away from a deep and dark fate to the depths. He could barely hear the sound of his companions above scramble to assist them when, another surge of fear shot up his spine in reaction to the extra weight that was piled on to their fast-growing desperate situation.

He craned his sweating neck behind him, only to widen his eyes when he found the seemingly deceased corpse that Veronika was examining earlier had somehow been roused back to the Light World; having grappled onto the wide-eyed Veronika's legs in a similar manner to her. Her own soft-handed grip very quickly grew desperate and near-clawed around the shocked Link's boot and she opened her mouth to speak, widened eyes never leaving the groaning carcass' hellish-red eyes.

"L-Link!"

He grit his teeth and, with both hands attempting with great difficulty to pull all three of them up, found no option with which to defend her.

Or himself, for that matter.

Unfortunately for the two, it was the very floor itself that gave way to destiny and Link at long last allowed the last dread of horror he had felt since fighting Majora's Mask in the land of Termina creep into his body as he soon dropped down into the darkness below him like a stone, the yelling Veronika and growling corpse echoing out below. His grit set of teeth, a portent to the distress that would inevitably engulf him, carried his desperately stabbing hand reaching up for someone to take.

Only the gasping Sheik managed to reach a close enough distance in time, veritably hanging over the very knife's edge itself to save him, and even then her small fingers barely grazing his own. Time slowed down for the grit-toothed Hero of Time and his country's princess as they both exchanged wide-eyed and frightened stares together before, finally, it regained its usual flow and the poor blonde youth was sent careering hopelessly down into the deep dark descent.

Only the sound of Sheik crying out his name filled his small Hylian ears.