Chapter 19

The house felt eerie since the night my window shattered. I think we all noticed it too. No one would walk in the hall in the dark anymore, and I noticed Ghirahim checking the locks on all the doors to make sure they worked. None of us wanted to mention it to each other. I think we all assumed we were just paranoid.

I barely slept the last few nights, leaving me feeling like a slug. I stayed in bed until almost after noon. I just barely rolled myself out of bed and was still in my nightgown. I didn't bother changing anymore. I found Catto inspecting a puddle on the floor near the kitchen. Perhaps the sink leaked or something. I approached her quietly and studied her standing there.

"The ice room melted." She stated to me while looking at the puddle.

"Are you sure? Maybe someone just spilled something." I reassured. She just looked up towards the ice room door. My eyes followed the puddle back and it most certainly came from under the door.

"We always keep it sealed shut." She explained. "It has a weather-charm on it too, so even if the seal breaks, it won't melt."

That meant someone had to break the enchantment. But why? What is the point of sabotaging an ice room? I didn't even know how to use that magic yet, let alone know that it existed. But with the move approaching, we tried to keep these things to ourselves.

"It might just be a blip, I'm sure if we seal it up that it'll get back to normal." I insisted.

"Yeah." Catto agreed distractedly. She was very skeptical. She placed her hands on her stomach and turned to walk away silently while staring off into the distance. I decided to clean up the water. I went into the closet and pulled out a mop. I used it to soak up the water and then wrung out the mop outside. I repeated the process several times. I turned to go back inside the house, the front door slammed shut in front of me. I froze.

I walked up and grabbed the handle and jiggled it. It was locked. I don't think this door has aver locked for a good reason. I don't even think we had a proper key. I continued to shake it violently. Hopefully having Ghirahim or Catto hear from inside. I was hoping that it was just the wind and that it jammed the heavy door, but I knew was a very calm day.

My breathing quickened and my heart raced. I turned slowly to look around. Behind me was the normal yard. Everything just felt so off. I didn't believe in ghosts, but I began to doubt myself.

"It's no good." A voice hummed around me. I quickly recognized it. Her image was burned into my memory. I took some steps away from the door and off the porch. I couldn't see her anywhere.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked threateningly.

"Why are you doing this?" She mimicked in a mocking tone. "Wouldn't you like to know? Maybe I would have told you if you stuck with the plan. Now you and your mommy and daddy are running away. But it's no use. Time is ticking, I've been patient enough." Her voice was filled with drama. I was trying to pinpoint her location by her voice.

"I stuck to the little to no plan you gave me! You lied to me! You took advantage of me!" I barked.

"Boohoo!" She responded sarcastically.

"What do you want?!" I yelled. "Gerudin! Answer me!"

"I should have known." Ghirahim groaned from the doorway. He sounded disappointed. "You led her to us." He rubbed his face in frustration. He snapped his fingers. I was in a small room I had never been in. It was chilly and stone. Nothing was inside, just a small bench and a wet floor. There was a single door. It was opened and Ghirahim and Catto stood together blocking the frame.

"You're going to stay here until the move." Catto sighed. This couldn't be real. Those words couldn't be hers. I didn't understand.

"Please, I don't know what happened. I'm so confused." I tried to play up my innocence in this situation. I know I was just caught, Gerudin probably set it up.

"She's the reason we can't ever be safe," Catto explained.

"Well, just tell me the story before we move, I took out Demise, I can destroy a crazy old lady." I nervously walked towards the door to let myself out. Ghirahim held out a hand to keep me from moving.

"We can't trust you." Catto declared. I felt my self feel choke up a bit at her words.

"Yes, you can." I corrected her. She shook her head. "I-I worked so hard to be with you guys, I know I've messed up way more than this before, you can absolutely trust me."

"We still love you, we just can't trust you now. We are going to figure out how to handle this. But for now, you need to stay here." She said as she and Ghirahim began to walk out of the door and close it behind them. My breathing quickened and I immediately tried to bust through the door after them. Ghirahim quickly turned around and brought his foot back and kicked me back several feet. I fell onto the mucky wet floor.

"What- what if it freezes?" I called after them while trying to get back up. I watched the door slowly close shut and Ghirahim answered.

"The enchantment's broken because of you, so you should stay warm." The door closed and locked. My panic began to lay into my mind. I got back up and quickly ran over to try and force the door open. I rammed my body into it. I screamed and punched it until my hands were raw. There was no damage or progress made with the door. I tried casting some magic to get it open but it seemed futile. My powers felt weaker inside this room. There was no escaping. Were they truly going to keep me in there until the move? How long was I going to go without food or water until then?

I began to feel claustrophobic and anxious. I tried climbing the walls to see if anything the ceiling was loose but nothing was. I knocked on every stone on the walls and floors for hopes that something was out of place. I needed to break that door down or escape, staying in there wasn't an option. I got progressively more desperate. I decided to go back to the door and bang to more and try to break it down.

"Please!" I screamed. "PLEASE!" I screeched like a banshee and it scared myself to hear my voice echo back. "I'll do better I promise! I can't be alone in here!" I meant it. Things always went bad when I was truly alone. I had no idea what it might be like to be trapped within nothing and nobody, how was I going to react. "Please-!" I sobbed loudly as I gently knocked my head against the door. "Please!" I knocked my head against it a little harder. "PLEASE!" I hit myself a little too hard and I gasped in pain. I held my hand to my head to put some pressure on the new bruise I probably made.

I realized I was going insane, I wasn't going to let myself get that out of hand again, I decided to take some deep breaths. I turned around and leaned against the door with my back. I slowly slid down and sat on the floor, which was wet and slippery. I closed my eyes and tried to find something to focus on, memories, or thoughts that could calm me down or get me through this. I let my mind wander through only the good memories which weren't many, but brought back feelings of simplicity and comfort. Both of which I needed.

"You're going to have to wait here." Link said to me while he went towards the front door. He seemed grumpy as normal. I was only five at the time.

"O-oh ok." I quivered. He turned to look at me. His face didn't seem so irritated anymore. "When can I go outside again?" I asked nervously, I felt like he was going to get mad at the question.

"I am only going to be a few minutes. I'm going to just grab some bread so there's no need to be worried, alright?" He reassured. I was young but I noticed he didn't answer my question. He sighed and closed the door to walk back to me. He equated down to meet my height as best as he could. "You're not in trouble. You just… scared some people when you got upset."

"But I'm so little," I answered. Tears flooded my eyes. I didn't want anyone scared of me.

"You are little. Many people here aren't very brave, so they let little things scare them. Little things like you, but it's not your fault they are like that." He explained. "You just have to be strong and wait it out. It will get better." I nodded.

"I just- I wanted to be good." I sniffled. A stray tear escaped my eye. He looked at it and took his thumb to wipe it away.

"You are good. You are one of the goodest people up here." He laughed, "You're a lot more good than I am."

"No! No, I am not! You're a superhero!" I gasped in surprise. He shook his head with a laugh.

"I'm not super, and I'm not much of a hero either." He shrugged. "But you, you're good, even if you don't think so. Even if people say that you're bad, you need to be brave. You need to stick your head high and prove them wrong. You gotta have some courage, otherwise, you will only be what people make of you." I nodded in determination.

Then my mind quickly jumped to another memory.

"What are you doing here, freak?" A boy from the grade above me in the youth knight program hollered at me. He had a group of friends with him. I was eight at the time. I held my books close to my chest as I was walked up the stairs of the academy.

"I'm heading to class," I said as I turned back around to walk up the stairs. I was well aware that most of the people in the program didn't like me, I wanted to avoid confrontation if I could.

"What for? You're never going to be allowed to become a knight. You're a freak! You're gonna end up killing all of us."

"You don't have to go out of your way to speak negatively." I turned to snap him. I didn't notice another boy at the top of the stairs waiting for the right moment to come down and shove the books from my arms onto the floor. When he did I watched my papers spill out and my work become disorganized down the flight.

"Go back with the worms on the surface, freak." He laughed. I held my tongue, but I was definitely getting flustered.

"How about you boys head to class instead of interfering with someone else's schedule." Link spoke from the top of the stairs. The kid's faces fell from amusement to intimidation. They quickly ran up the stairs and shoved me to the ground while they snickered to themselves and headed to class. I dusted off my uniform and got to my feet.

"If you don't have courage, you'll let them beat you down." Link said as he met me at the top of the stairs.

"Thanks." I huffed.

"You got it next time." He grinned with a thumbs-up.

My mind warped to another memory.

I was sitting on the roof of the academy and reading a book between classes. I was twelve at the time. I heard some of the mean boys picking on someone in the sparring grounds. I decided I needed to stay out of it. I wasn't going to get myself thrown into trouble for someone else's sake.

"Your mom probably didn't even want you. She always talks about how she was too young when she had you." He teased and his friends laughed in support. I didn't hear a response from whoever it was, I wouldn't say much back either.

"What? Remlit got your tongue?" He egged. I decided to peak over and see who it was that they were teasing. It was one of the younger academy boys. He looked to be ignoring them and drawing in the dirt with a stick. One of the other boys laughed as he ran up and kicked the boy so he fell on his face into the dirt. My body clenched. The boy wasn't getting up. He just landed there and was going to accept it. I mean, it's tough being in that position.

"At least I dare to stand up afterward," I mumbled under my breath. But I choked on the sentence. I felt the pain of getting kicked in the dirt before, so what was I doing by sitting on a roof and not helping him? That's not courage, I was disgusted with myself.

I quickly climbed down and ran up to the boy and stood between him and the rest of the bullies. I grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"Well, if it isn't Miss snow cone-head!" The boy laughed.

"Takes someone with a cone-head to know a cone-head." His group was quiet but a couple of whispers were hissed. He grumbled.

"Yeah, but I'd rather be a cone-head than a dumb mutant like you!" He retorted.

"I mean, you're clearly not content with being a cone-head since you only go around breaking down other people," I explained. He didn't want to hear it though.

"Y-you are a cone-head." A voice stuttered behind me. It was the boy I was trying to help.

"Excuse me?" I choked in surprise.

"You heard him!" The bully yelled and pointed. I quickly realized I was somehow alone. Even when I try to help, people turn against me. The boy I was helping got up and ran away. I was left with the assholes by myself. A couple of professors noticed the commotion and quickly approached us, Link trailed behind them.

"What is happening here?" Professor Eagus demanded.

"She was picking on innocent underclassmen!" They accused. I backed away and shook my head.

"We're you causing trouble again, girl!" Another professor shouted at me.

"No! I was trying to help!" I explained quickly in a panic.

"What do you have to gain by helping?" Someone asked. Voices were becoming muffled as I was attacked with questions to answer. I was surrounded by bullies and teachers that hated me.

"Nothing, I was just trying to be good!" I answered.

"You'd never do something heroic like that!"

"Why wouldn't she?" Link asked and walked to stand behind me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. "I am raising her, aren't I?"

"Head Knight Link, we are not insulting your ability to raise her, there are just some things about who she is that can not be trained away." Professor Eagus defended himself. I was beginning to get angry at how they were talking about me.

"I can assure you that I have raised her to be an excellent kid, who may be one of the best knights Skyloft will see." He announced pridefully. "If she says she was trying to help, then I would very well believe her. It's not the first time I've had run-ins with this group before either." Link glared at the boys in front of us.

"That thing will never truly complete the academy training. She is not capable! She might not even have the brain capacity for finishing her courses." My fists clenched tightly. I could most definitely pass some dumb classes.

"If she takes after me she will." Link chuckled.

"She won't! She's not a hero, she's a monster!" The bully boy shouted. He began to cause a scene by fake crying and holding his arm as though it was in pain. "Just before you came out here, she let the underclassman get away, and then she came after me for protecting him!"

"Don't you hear that, Sir? She most definitely can not be trusted!" A professor shouted from the back. The crowds were drawing attention and more numbers. "What did she do to you, son?"

Son? Did they call that brat a son? I was out here helping and doing something honorable. I got backstabbed and I am brushed off as a monster! But he puts on a show and gets the title of being a random professors' "son".

"She-she" He quivered as he tried to get some words out. He began to act as though he was getting an artificial heat flash in his arm and hissed. "I think she broke my arm. That's not the worst thing either! I heard her chant some weird spell like-like a demon!" My eyes shot at him. A disgusting crack was heard and the boy fell to the ground. He clenched his arm tight to him. Link gripped my shoulders tight and muttered under his breath.

"Dammit."

I turned to him confused. I didn't understand what happened. The boy was picked up and his arm was limp and deformed in many different parts of his bone. Link turned to me.

"You need to go home. You are brave, but to be a hero you need to never wish pain onto anyone... even the bad guys." He explained nervously. I nodded. He turned me around and pushed me to start running back home on my own. Alone.

My body clenched and shivered as I woke up. I must have dozed off while recalling memories like those; memories I had locked away. A few tears rolled down my cheeks. I hugged my knees close to myself. Link had his flaws, but he truly did care about me. He was there and kept me looking forward to helping people. I am courageous because of him. He may have lied and grown to be an older grumpier version of himself, but during my most vulnerable times, he truly did more behind the scenes that I gave him credit for.

I quickly wiped away more tears that fell down my face and onto my knees. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I saw my breath cloud up in my face. It was getting significantly colder in here. I quickly jolted up. My legs and but were all cold and wet.

"Hey? What's going on?" I shouted a the door. A familiar maleficent laugh echoed the chamber. Gerudin must have reactivated the weather-charm. I hugged myself with my arms and tried to create some warmth from the friction.

"Let me out!" I screamed. "It's getting cold in here, please!" No one was answering. I wouldn't be surprised that if this was once a prison that it had a soundproofing charm installed as well. I pounded on the door. It was only getting exponentially colder. I tried using a fire starting-charm and it just wasn't igniting. My other powers were weakening in the chamber as well. I had some sort of block that kept me from using them. I got paranoid. How was I going to get out of this?

I was shivering harder by the minute. My toes were getting frostbite. What was I supposed to do in a situation like this? Just let my human shell shatter and die from hypothermia and until then, just suffer? How am I supposed to know how far my body will take me before switching back to my true form? It took so much pain before for it to break the first time.

"Help!" I screamed again. It was no use. No one was going to hear me. Today wasn't the day to roll out of bed in my pajamas. I needed to create warmth somehow. I tried running in place, but after a bit, my numb toes began to hurt. I tried keeping my fingers in my armpits and I kept pacing around the room. The floor was wet from the melted ice, which meant my feet were also soaked and probably completely frozen, not to mention my wet legs and nightgown from sleeping on the floor. It felt so painful to keep walking but I knew if I sat down or stayed still that I would get freeze faster.

Time was uncertain. I didn't have doors or windows and I didn't know how long it had been since I was placed in there. It could have been minutes or hours. I couldn't tell a difference. My eyes were dry and struggling to not freeze shut. My fingers were still in my armpits but they were already past the point of saving. The frozen skin on my feet began to crack and bleed over the floor. My scar from stepping on glass a few nights ago had opened up as well. My numbness crept up my calves. I didn't move my ankles while I walked since I lost feeling to them. I just drug my feet with my knees and hips so I could continue to walk around the tiny room.

I started to trip and feel tired. I just wanted to lay down and sleep. It must have been getting close to nighttime with how tired I was. Wasn't it just morning? I just woke up? Why was I here in the first place? I must have done something terrible. Regardless, I needed help and I needed sleep.

"Pl-spleez!" I tried to yell but my mouth felt too numb to not slur my words. I also didn't have to lung capacity anymore to project what I needed to. "I'mmzz geh-ing too c-cold!" I forced myself to say. Yet there was still no answer. I walked over to the door and tried to grab the handle but I began to fall into the door. I could barely stand anymore. I held tight to the handle as my only support to keep me up. I wanted the door to open. I wanted it to open bad. So when a flash of light blinded me and the door slowly creaked open, I didn't know what to make of it. I stumbled out slowly and fell lazily back into the door, closing it behind me. My feet stood in a constant pool of blood they created in every step. My hair stuck to my face and wouldn't move for me to see. I walked down the hall and peered out the window. It was dusk. It had barely been five or so hours but it felt like an eternity. I didn't know what to do. How did I even get in there? I needed Ghirahim and Catto, I bet some crazy person trapped me in there.

I stumbled my way down the hall leaving my footprints of blood to follow me. I began to notice that I stopped shivering, despite still being numb and cold, my body must have been calming down from getting out of there. I fell into the door to their bedroom as I tried to open it. I fell into the room but I was unable to properly catch myself. My body slapped on the floor. It hurt and I bruised my face more.

"What the hell?!" Ghirahim yelled in fear. I couldn't stand up. I laid there and relaxed. It felt nice to be on the ground for a bit. I heard footsteps run up to me. I had my arms grabbed and pulled upwards until I was on my knees.

"She's freezing." Catto gasped. "You said she'd be safe in there!"

"She was until someone placed the charm back on it." He defended himself.

"Someone locked me in the-the," I muttered. My words blended and made little sense. "The winter?" I wasn't sure if I was making sense. But there was a large gap in my memory now.

"Come on." Catto drug me by my hand and put me in the bed. She covered me with many blankets. I start to quickly warm-up.

"I'mmawarm now." I slurred.

"You have severe hypothermia. You need to get back to a healthy temperature. You could go into cardiac arrest any second now if we aren't careful." Catto was focused on making sure I was tucked in nicely. She turned to Ghirahim. "Be careful, go check it out. Bring back a warm drink." She instructed. He walked out of the room. She rushed into the closet and pulled out some clothes. She rushed back over but she was extremely out of breath. She had to sit at the foot of my bed and take a few seconds. I felt bad but I didn't know why.

"Are you sick?" I asked. She shook her head while panting.

"No, I'm pregnant." She answered. I raised my brows at her.

"You are?" I questioned confused. She widened her eyes.

"Shit." She gasped and stood up to uncover me again she pulled my nightgown off and threw it onto the floor. I felt embarrassed by being there mostly naked, but she didn't seem to care at that moment. She gently pulled a shirt over my head. It was dry and warm. She then tried to pull some loose pants up my legs. As soon as I was clothed she tucked me back in and she began to pace.

"Where is he?" She mumbled to herself.

"Who?" I interjected.

"Stop talking and rest." She spat. I did as I was told. A few more minutes and Ghirahim ran in was a steaming mug but he didn't seem too focused on it.

"The door is opened but the room is empty, her powers must have unlocked it out of a state of desperation." He brought the drink over to me and gave me a bit first sip. "She's going to have to drink this fast."

"She has to warm up gradually or she could die. What's the matter?" Catto went and sat back down at the foot of the bed.

"We have to leave for Lanayru, now."

I have been so tired lately, like wow. But there's another chapter yall! It was long one too. I also broke 20 reviews yesterday! Which I consider great and an awesome milestone for this story! I appreciate all the support! Please continue to read, follow, review, and favorite. All of which are free and super awesome for me to know that my works are well-received and should be continued. It also helps motivate me to write other books or other series. Also, if you'd like, in your reviews, add a little blip to suggest other good Zelda fanfics on here for me to read. I am not always great at exploring on , but I want to continue to read and support other writers. It also helps keep my creative-juices flowing.

-Iris

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