*pretty violent chapter ahead*

Chapter 13

Knock Knock

I growled from my bed. It had been about an hour or so since I came inside from my outburst on Catto. I spend a good bit sulking about what just happened but I was just coming to my senses. I still stood by what I said. I was determined to stick to it too.

Knock knock knock

I felt like I could respond to Catto at my door, or I could ignore her. Regardless she was still going to come in eventually. The knocking continued intermittently. I covered my face in pillows to drown it out. It did not do much justice. The knocking end up stopping. I lifted my head and I saw the door slowly crack open.

"Are you clothed?" Ghirahim whispered, I groaned annoyed to myself.

"Yeah," I responded. Ghirahim pushed the rest of the door open and walked in with a tray of food. He came over and set it on my bed. When he approached my bed I grumpily turned over on my side to face away from him.

"You don't have the right to talk to her like that." He muttered as I heard him set the tray down on my nightstand. I ignored him. "I like to think, sometimes, that I am better than what myself and others make me out to be. Catto is the only person in the world who has convinced me that if I try I can be... good." I pulled a pillow over my head but I could still hear him. "It kills her every day to see you grown without her being a part of your life. My only wish was to give her that opportunity again." I jerked up and threw my pillow at him. He dodged it but it hit the tray and had the dishes crash on the floor, spilling food everywhere.

"So possibly killing her or bringing another taboo kid into this family is you looking out for her well being?!" I yelled at him. He was startled. "You are truly obtuse."

"You're not a taboo child!" He exclaimed.

"Well, the rest of the world disagrees." I huffed. I stood up and shoved him out of my way. He snapped his fingers and disappeared. I marched out the door and down the hall. I made it to the front door. "If you both want a do-over to make up for fucking up me then just say so!" I screamed into the hall. I opened the front door and started to speed walk. I snapped my fingers and my bow was in my hand and my arrows were sheathed on my back. I kept walking and I looked back when I heard Ghirahim yell something I couldn't make out. He was in the doorway yelling at me. I turned around and shrugged. "What are you going to do? Follow me?" And with that, I marched off the dead grass from the front lawn into the lush green of the rest of the forest. For the first time in months I was going to get out of there. And I was going to get as far away as I could for the time being. Maybe in six months they will realize their mistake and apologize when I'm back.

I began to march proudly through the forest. I knew that I had matured enough to handle whatever dumb creature of the Faron woods could throw at me. I could snap my fingers and appear in a tree fifty feet away. Or maybe even snap my fingers and make some poisonous berries go into their stomach. The possibilities were endless. Maybe while I was out here I could meet a cool magical being and get a cooler better family or friends that will care about my feelings for once.

I turned back to see how far I had gotten from the house. I could make out the specks of Catto and Ghirahim at the edge of the yard, still within the protective enchantment. I turned around and give them a middle finger. I turned around and took off in a sprint, but I didn't make it very far.

"Snowhead?" A confused voice spoke loudly in the distance. I turned around, there was a figure in the distance followed by a Loftwing. I began to walk towards it, unfortunately, it was back closer towards the house where Ghirahim and Catto were. After approaching the figure, my heart because to race. It was Mable.

"Mable?" I said loudly and she squealed in excitement. I didn't realize how big of a grin was plastered on my face. I darted towards her. We were still a good hundred yards or so from the house, I just felt uncomfortable knowing they were watching me. One of the Great Tree's large stray root had made its way into this part of the forest and it loomed over had a lot of stray branches sticking out which she used to tie up her Loftwing. I continued to glance over at Ghirahim and Catto as they watched. She ran up to me and jumped into my arms. I was a bit shocked but I spun her around and held her tight. I had missed her hugs, I missed her warmth, I missed her so much. I held onto her and pressed my face against her chest.

"Oh my god, I can't believe I found you." She laughed. I finally let go of her and her eyes glistened with tears.

"You were looking for me? After all this time?" I choked up on my word.

"I mean, I have to admit, most of the time I was just looking for a body, but this is so much better." She grabbed my hands and squeezed them. "We all thought you were dead. Link held a small service for you in the graveyard last month. I never thought I would see you again. Zelda kept assuring me you were ok though."

"Sorry, I've just had a lot of things come up."

"I bet, surviving in the woods all this time by yourself, you're a lot tougher than I thought." She punched my arm playfully.

"Well, I wasn't surviving… just living" I shrugged and rubbed where she punched me. I was blushing a little I could feel it.

"Did you find an old shack or something? Where have you been getting food?" She chuckled.

"No, I found my parents, I've been living with them," I stated plainly. Her face went very blank, she looked taken aback. I was expecting a bit more excitement for me.

"Your parents? Snowhead… sorry, I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly." She tried to smile and reassure me, but it looked a little forced.

"Yeah, my parents… what about them?" I was confused by her reaction.

"Snowhead, your parents aren't really great people." She wasn't smiling anymore.

"I wouldn't say that much but I mean I'm running away for the time being-"

"Did they hurt you? Did you realize they are crazy?" She began inspecting me with her eyes. I shook my head.

"No, they just really pissed me off." I was more confused than ever. "Why do you know so much about my parents?"

"That's not the point. The point is that you got the closure you needed and you're coming back to Skyloft." She grabbed my hand tightly and started to take me towards her bird. I gently pulled myself from her grasp.

"Mable, I'm not going back to Skyloft." I corrected her. The tone of our conversation was taking an uncomfortable turn.

"That's crazy talk, what else would you do? Stay down here and live like a heathen? Or do you still live with your parents?" Her face kept going from stern to fake kindness. I hadn't ever seen this part of her.

"I don't live with them anymore, but I would never go back to Skyloft. Everyone hates me there, and I'll be honest, I hate everyone there too… besides you and Zelda maybe."

"No one hates you, we were all just concerned. We didn't want you to end up like your parents, especially with the amount of power you possess and Link not having the master sword to protect us." She reassured me.

"Who's we? Yourself included?" I asked getting a bit frustrated with how she was talking to me.

"I mean, yeah, me and everyone in Skyloft."

"I don't see why it would include you, especially when you told me that you'd help me find them one day. You listened to all my fantasies of getting to grow up on the surface with my real mom and dad. Are you saying you knew who they were this whole time?" I quizzed, I was getting visibly distressed as this conversation progressed.

"Snowhead, everyone knew. My parents told me when I was old enough to understand and we were all told to never tell you. It was best for you to not know."

"Well, I know now and I'm doing just fine." I snapped at her. "It's frustrating to find out you lied to me just like everyone else my whole life."

"Frustrating for you? How do you think I feel?" She laughed sarcastically. My heart was beginning to hurt. "I was hoping that the moment you met your parents that the good in you would get away from them as quickly as possible. Instead, you lived with them for three months. If you had come back to Skyloft immediately we would have realized you ae sane and like the rest of us."

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize that my life of being bullied and put down was so supposed to train me for some unknown task. I also don't see how this is hurting you as much as it is hurting me."

"Snowhead-"

"My name is Akomin!" I interrupted her. "Why do you keep saying parents like you know who my mom is too. I can get why everyone knows my dad, but what about my mom?" I had tears beginning to weld up in my eyes.

"I mean, you think that crazy bitch didn't make it into any tellings of your story or the story of Link and Zelda?" She now let out a genuine laugh which felt like daggers digging into me.

"Don't say that." I looked back at Ghirahim and Catto still watching me from the distance. "She's a good person."

"A good person? Sure, as good as you can get when you marry a demon lord."

"Shut up, you don't know her!"

"Neither do you, 'Akomin'. Do you really think mommy-daddy-daughter time seventeen years late tells you what kind of person they are? She left you on Link's doorstep less than a day old. Of course, she wants you now, she's had seventeen years to feel guilty about it and make up a story to trap you."

"Mable, I really don't know what you're on right now but you better back off, " I warned. At this point, heavy streams of tears rolled down my cheeks. It was harder to keep my composure. "She is a good person. Neither of them has harmed or done anything to anyone in seventeen years."

"I'm disappointed in you, Snowhead." She sighed condescendingly. "I thought you were much better than this. I wanted to bring you back so bad. I wanted to tell you how much I cared about you and how I would make this right. I blamed myself for letting you go. It frustrated me how everyone seemed glad that you were dead besides me. Heck, even Zelda was glad you were gone." That was the last straw for me. I began balling and I held my arms close trying to figure out what I even wanted to do anymore. I was snapping. Mable got surprised by my breakdown and began to feel bad. She started to walk towards me to hug me.

"I wouldn't come near me right now," I said through my sobs. She got closer anyway. She inched forward and took me into another hug and I cried into her shirt.

"I will always be here for you." She whispered. She tightened her hug a bit. "Come on, let's take you back up there."

At first, I was comforted by her words. She held me tight and started to urge me to walk with her towards her bird near the large root, but I quickly realized what she was doing. As much as I wanted to stay with her, I knew I would never return to Skyloft. I began to pull myself away but she gripped tighter to keep me from pulling away.

"Get off me, Mable," I stated as I began to catch my breath. She only gripped tighter. "Get off, now!" She still just began to take me towards her bird. "I said, let go!" I yelled. I used my magic and shoved her off of me as hard as I could. She went flying towards the root where her bird was tied up. I saw her back smack pretty hard against the tree. I got my composure and was going to help but I didn't know what I saw. Just like the branch she had tied her Loftwing to, there were several more scattered throughout the root. I hadn't paid attention to the amount of force I shoved her away from me with. There was a branch that had gone straight through her neck. Blood was pouring all over her while she gasped for breath. I didn't know what to do or what I could do. I was frozen in fear. Her Loftwing was screeching and moaning in pain, their connection was being severed. I watched as she tried to pull herself off the tree with the last bit of energy she could muster, but she ended up falling flat on her face, bleeding out and unable to get any air through her lungs.

"Mable," I almost threw up saying her name. I was choked up and was still sobbing. I would honestly say I was in hysterics. "Mable, I'm sorry. I don't know-" she took her last scratchy breath and her body relaxed. At this point it sunk in, I let out a horrifying scream of absolute terror. What had I done? She was my best and only friend and I just killed her! In front of my family, in front of her Loftwing. I fell backward onto my butt as I tried to get some distance from her corpse. My eyes were glued to her however, they were able to let go for a second as I looked back and saw Catto crouched on the ground and Ghirahim comforting her. I quickly looked back at Mable. My whole body was trembling. I slowly got up and walked towards her. Her face was buried in the grass and mud. I reached my foot up and tapped her. As soon as I made contact I had to retract and get away to vomit. Afterwards, I got up and slowly made my way back to her body. I closed my eyes and picked up her body which just smelled heavily of blood. I opened my eyes and tried not to focus on her. I walked towards her Loftwing and let it look at her body. I could tell it was still in pain and it knew I was to blame.

I braced myself say, "I am sorry, but you need to take her back home." Her bird bowed its head and sat down so I could set her body across the saddle. I untied the bird from the tree and used the rope to tie her body down for support. When I was done I went to pet its head to let him know I was done, but he squawked angrily at me and turned away. He got up and began to take off into the sky with her until she was out of sight.

Once she was gone I immediately took off running as fast as I could. I ran with no purpose, I just wanted to get as far away as I could from there. I cried and ran. I didn't pay any attention to the creatures around me, I didn't notice where I was going. All I know is that when I looked up, I was trapped in thick woods with no path in sight. It was so thick that I couldn't even see the great tree, and the only life which was noticeable was that of whoever's eyes I felt watching me.