After parting from Cremia, I kept making my way through the darkened school, trying to either make my way back to Zelda or find more people. Knowing Zelda was headed towards the cafeteria, I wove through the halls, trying to find the fastest way back that direction. Eventually, I found a hallway that seemed relatively ghost free and saw some light shining out from around the corner. Eager to get out of the dismal gloom that pervaded the school, I hurried towards it. My hopes quickly fell when I realized who was waiting for me around the corner.
"Oh, gosh, not you." I immediately made to turn around, intent on finding another way around, but immediately slammed my face on an invisible wall. Groaning in pain and annoyance, I grudgingly turned to face the person in the hall. "What do you want? And can we make it quick?"
"Funny you should ask, Link. That's exactly why I'm here," Vaati said, standing in the middle of the hallway, blocking my path. "Moroth gave me a chance to finally put you in your place. All I had to do was set this whole thing up. He was pissed you weren't here when he showed up, but we made do." He shook his arms out before taking a step forward. "He's waiting for you up ahead, but I doubt he'll be too mad if I knock you around a bit." I was about to tell him just how bad his threat was when the air distorted in front of him, immediately followed by a huge hit across the face that sent me sprawling to the floor.
As I was getting pushed all over the hall (and probably getting my clothes absolutely filthy in the process), I had a minute or two to think my current situation over. Unless Vaati had been making some serious magical gains, his strength was probably thanks to more of Moroth's interference. I lost my train of thought when my head slammed into one of the lockers and decided it was time to stop being a ragdoll. I grabbed hold of one of the locker handles and managed to pull myself upright again. Vaati's wind swirled around me, considerably less effective now that I was rooted in place. He tried to batter me with sudden gusts again before stopping. I was hopeful he wouldn't start up again. My hair felt like it would never be the same.
"Are you done?" I asked breathlessly. Vaati looked rather annoyed that I wasn't quaking in my boots. Which I wasn't even wearing.
"Are you kidding me? Didn't you see what I can do? I could tear you apart!" I rolled my eyes and drew the Master Sword.
"Look Vaati, I know you've never liked me. Honestly, the feeling's mutual. But I don't have time to hash this out right now. There's people in danger here, and I'll be damned if I let them stay that way." My words seemed to make Vaati madder, even as he eyed my sword.
"And there it is again, your damn hero complex. You've always got to be the one to come to the rescue, always have to be in the spotlight. You're no better than me, you suck-up. At least I'm not playing around behind a façade." Now I was confused.
"Dude, what are you saying?"
"Don't try to play innocent with me!"
"I'm not, I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about." Now I was just getting annoyed.
"You can't hide it from me, I see through you, Forester! You're the suck up, the guy who makes nice with everyone. Putting on this face to try to get everyone to like you. And to make it worse, you don't just play the nice guy, you want to be the hero. You don't want to be liked, you want to be worshiped. But you want to know what I hate the most?" I cocked an eyebrow, waiting for him to get to his point. "It works! It fucking works. You've got most of the population of the school wrapped around your finger, half the girls want you, half the guys want to be you, you somehow manage to get two of the hottest girls in the place to date you back to back, and I am fucking sick of it." At this, he summoned two small tornadoes in his hands. "I'm going to take you down a notch."
He threw his hands out at me, directing the swirling winds at me. I barely had a second to brace myself before the gusts hit me again. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and my hand slipped from the locker I was holding myself to. This time though, I didn't get pushed all over the hallways, just got sucked into its center where swirling winds held me in place. "Not so fun now, is it?!" Vaati laughed as his winds buffeted me as I was held in place. I managed to get just enough of a foothold on the ground to make a desperate attempt at escape. Holding the Master Sword straight out from my body, I twisted myself as hard as I could opposite the wind. Somehow, I managed to get enough momentum to spin and cut through the miniature tornado. Freed from the winds again, I looked back at Vaati.
"Okay, are you serious? Are you telling me that you are collaborating with terrorists and putting your friends' lives in danger because you refuse to believe that I might just be a good person? News flash Vaati: I don't give a shit what people think of me. The number of people in this school whose opinions of me actually matter to me can be counted on two hands. Everyone else can do what they want. They think I'm a jerk? Great. They want to praise me as a hero? Whatever. I don't want girls throwing themselves at me, I don't want to be idolized, and I definitely don't want to be some self-glorifying bastard." I ran at Vaati, dodging the hasty gusts of wind he threw out at me. "I'm not a good person so I can be a hero, I'm not a good person for the fame and adoration, I'm not a good person for the girls." I spun under one last burst of wind and stood face to face with my long time enemy. "I'm a good person because I decided to be. What kind of person do you choose to be?" I stared at the stunned boy for a second before smacking him in the side of the head with the hilt of the Master Sword.
He went down hard and didn't get back up.
For a second, I worried that I hit him too hard, but I could still see him breathing, so I figured it couldn't be that bad. I hastily turned and ran down the hall the way I had been going before Vaati had interrupted me. Seriously, what a terrible time to sort out a grudge.
I had been walking for about three minutes when I saw a flash of blonde hair disappear around the corner up ahead. I immediately started to run after it, calling to the girl it was attached to.
"Zelda!" A moment after I yelled out, I saw her head poke back around the corner and a smile run across her face. It was really a sight I'd never get tired of. As soon as I got close enough, I threw my arms around her in a tight hug as she laughed.
"Link! It's been fifteen minutes since you saw me! I hardly think-" I cut her off with a hard kiss and smiled when I heard and felt her groan into me. After a few moments, I pulled away.
"What were you saying?" I asked. Her lips were slightly parted, and I saw desire and passion flash in her eyes for a brief moment as she looked at me before she got herself back under control, blinking rapidly.
"Nothing. Did you run into any trouble?" I quickly told her about my run ins with Cremia and Vaati. "I figured you'd have something to deal with. I had kind of the same thing as you with Cremia, but with forty of them. Do you have any idea how many of the girls in this school want you?" I couldn't help but wince.
"Yeah, and I hate it."
"Well, they all hate me now too. What did you even do to make them all want to get in your pants?"
"I don't know. What did I do that made you want to?" My words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. Naturally, they were the most ridiculous thing that I could have possibly said in the moment. It was almost worth the embarrassment I felt to watch Zelda's face go from her usual color to bright red in a matter of seconds. I tried not to laugh.
I really did.
"Link, would you stop it?!" Zelda practically yelled at me as I leaned against the wall, hoping I could get the air back in my lungs before I literally died of laughter. I looked back at her, still giggling. Apparently, I didn't look contrite enough, because she just stomped her foot slightly and crossed her arms in a pout. Which sent me spiraling into another fit of laughter. To my credit, I did try.
"Sorry, it's just…your face…hahaha!" I fell back into my hysterical laughter, the mere memory of her face enough to send me back.
"LINK!"
We continued through the dark school, eradicating every Poe we came across. They got a little sneakier, coming through walls, floors, and ceilings to swipe at us with their distended limbs, but with a little added vigilance, we kept heading towards the gym unimpeded.
As we cut our way through the spooky ghost hordes, Zelda told me about how she dealt with my group of would-be girlfriends. Apparently, a little mild ghost possession really brings out the hate in people.
"I managed to get the Poes out of them by hitting them with a little light magic and then finishing them off once they came out, but the really tricky part was making sure no one got trampled. I had a hard enough time avoiding tables without insane girls climbing over each other and benches to get to me. They passed out once the Poes were banished, so I had to lead them on a chase through the cafeteria, dealing with one or two at a time. They were practically rabid." I chuckled as a thought came to me.
"So wait, how is that different from when you…" I trailed off as Zelda shot me a look that told me I really didn't want to finish that sentence. At the same time, her hand flew out and grabbed a Poe by the hood, her hand burning with light magic. The poor ghost screeched in agony as my girlfriend slow-roasted it before letting it disappear.
"What were you saying, babe?" she asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. Point taken.
"Nothing," I said quickly, cutting through another ghost to avoid saying something I would doubtlessly regret.
"That's what I thought," I heard Zelda mutter from behind me.
Within another two minutes, we saw light pouring through the open doors of the gym. There didn't seem to be any more Poes, so we crept to the door and looked inside. The majority of the teenagers in the gym were crowded onto the bleachers, a few whispering to each other. Midna was walking back and forth, yelling at anyone talking too loudly. Her yelling seemed to work for a second, but the whispers would just start up again once she moved on. She was on the far side of the gym, so it was hard to see for sure, but it looked to me like she had motes of darkness floating around her, similar to when I saw her use magic before.
In the middle of the gym was what really drew my eye though. Shade stood there, stiff as a board, while Moroth walked around him, talking quietly. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but I didn't think it was anything good.
"Hey, didn't you cut his arm off?" Zelda asked from beside me. I took another look and realized she was right. Just like how Keritan had alluded to earlier, Moroth had his arm back, looking none the worse for having lost it just a few days ago. I snuck as close as I could while still staying mostly hidden by the door. Fortunately, everyone in the gymnasium seemed pretty occupied. Except for one guy.
I was looking the room over again, trying to come up with a plan of attack when my eyes locked with the same guy who had delivered my pizza the other day. I figured his name was Toral since he was the only person who could have leaked Zelda and my relationship. After a second of eye contact, I saw him get visibly excited. Before he could do something stupid like announce that I was hiding out in the hallway, I quickly made a shushing motion with my hand. It looked like his eyes went wide and he nodded subtly. I breathed a sigh of relief that our hiding spot wasn't blown yet.
And then Toral turned to the guy next to him.
Before I could do anything, whispers cascaded through the crowd and furtive glances were shot at me hiding behind the gym door. I'm sure they were trying to be subtle, but when about 80 people are all trying to keep the same secret, things break down pretty quickly. Midna caught onto the glances and whispers and whipped around to see me crouched in the doorway like an idiot. Seeing that I wasn't going to be able to hide anymore, I grudgingly walked into the now quiet gym. Making sure to shoot a dirty look at Toral on the way. At least he had the nerve to look apologetic.
Moroth spun away from Shade to look at me as I walked in. I thought I saw just a hint of a smile on his apathetic face. "The fool makes his appearance. Finally. You have no idea how annoyed I was when you weren't here earlier. After all the work I put into this trap, you couldn't even be bothered to be in it when it was sprung. Instead, all I got was a look-alike and a swarm of idiots. You're lucky I didn't just kill them all. I considered it, of course, but I figured they'd be better bait. Oh, and look at this," he said in his normal monotone as Zelda walked in behind me. "The divine whore's here too. I guess it was too much to hope that you got torn apart by the wonder idiot's fan club. Still, I tried."
"Cut the shit, Moroth," I yelled, once again getting annoyed with the man. "I'm here now, what do you want?"
"What do I want? It's a long list, but I'll give you the short version. I want payback. You should be dead, so now I'm going to make you just that. Lucky for me, I found a few useful helpers. The Twili was too easy. Just a little more dark magic than she was used to and all of a sudden she's trapped inside herself. And this guy." He gestured back at Shade, who hadn't moved a muscle. "The inside of his head is a mess. What resentment, all directed at you. He does love you, you know, your brother. Such a shame that I'm going to have him kill you. You can rest assured though, he doesn't want to. He put up a good resistance before I broke him." Moroth rubbed his hands together, making a sound like metal rubbing against metal. "Enough talk though. Time to die, whelp."
Once again, Moroth burst into dark flames, but this time when they cleared, a long black sword floated in the air where he had been. It spun in place for a moment before flying into Shade's hand, who finally made a move, walking towards me and staring vacantly.
"Shade, you all right man?" I called out tentatively. No answer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zelda step up next to me and Midna moving towards us as well. "You take Midna?" I asked Zelda, who nodded and walked off to the side pulling Midna away from me. "Last chance Shade," I said when he was just a few yards in front of me. Still no reaction. Seeing that it was useless, I pulled the Master Sword from its sheath and blocked a heavy strike from my brother.
Shade flew at me like a man possessed, which, come to think of it, was more than likely. Normally, I would have counted on Zelda to exorcise the ghost, but she was a little busy dodging tentacles of dark magic from Midna. Looked like I was going to have to do things the hard way. As I should have expected.
"Sorry about this, but I think you'll thank me later," I muttered, slipping through Shade's guard and pressing the glowing blade of the Master Sword against his chest. Shade blinked but was otherwise unaffected. I had to roll out of the way to avoid an incoming swipe. I tried again at the next opportunity, scoring a light scratch on his arm, but again there was no reaction. "Okay, so maybe not possessed."
After a few minutes of not getting anywhere, Shade jumped back, out of the range of my attacks. The sword in his hand morphed from a straight blade a little shorter than my own to a nasty twisted cleaver. Hooks along the edges looked like sure-fire ways to get disarmed, which would probably end up with me dead.
As we fought, I knew I had to come up with a way to end this before one or both of us got seriously hurt. Shade clearly wasn't pulling his punches. My brother might not have been possessed, but something was clearly controlling him, like with Cremia. If I could figure out what it was, I could stop this. But as I looked over Shade's body, I didn't see anything out of place or glowing with malevolent energy, other than the large sword in his hand. "But wait," I thought as I ducked a vicious swipe. "Maybe Moroth didn't teleport like I thought. Maybe he's controlling him with the sword? He did say he was in Shade's head. I bet if I disarm Shade, he'll stop."
Finally with a plan of action, I traded a few more blows with me brother before catching one of the jagged flanges of his blade with my own, tearing the sword from his grip with a quick twist. The dark sword jumped from his hand and went skittering across the gym floor. Just like I thought, Shade stumbled and blinked rapidly, falling to one knee. What I didn't expect though was for his sword to come flying back across the room. He quickly caught it and resumed his onslaught. I tried again, only to be met with the same result. Even when I tried to knock the sword out of the air, it just adjusted its course and returned to Shade's hand.
"You think I haven't come up with ways to prevent such basic tactics?" My eyes snapped up to Shade when I heard the voice, but his lips didn't move. The sword itself was talking. "I'm a blade demon, you imbecile. Just disarming him won't do you any good." Now I could see where Moroth went. He was the blade. Finally seeing that my real enemy was so close, I redoubled my efforts. Maybe I could pummel the sword hard enough to break it.
In an effort to get some stronger hits on the sword, I couldn't just block the attacks, but manipulate them to try and get Shade in a position that I could let loose on the sword. In the end, I just ended up taking a few hits to my arms and torso. None of them were particularly bad, but I could tell I was getting worn down while Shade didn't seem to be having any problems. Benefits of being mind controlled, I guess.
"Split them up!" I heard someone yell from the side of the room. I gave them a glare like I hadn't already thought of that, but then realized it was Vaati yelling at me. I must have looked pretty confused, because Vaati yelled again. "Just do it!" Figuring I didn't have anything to lose, I took advantage of an opening in Shade's guard to plant a strong kick to the middle of his chest. As I hoped, his grip on the demonic blade loosened and the dark sword fell to the ground while Shade slid away. The sword tried to fly back to Shade's hand again, but suddenly stopped in midair. Near Shade, I could see Vaati focusing and as I looked again, I could see the tell-tale shimmer of his wind magic near the sword, which soon dropped to the ground.
"Stupid turncoat," it said, twisting and expanding until Moroth stood at the edge of the wind barrier. "I'll end this pathetic whelp myself then. And then, Vaati, I'll make you scream." Moroth turned back towards me where I was waiting. While he had been distracted, I looked over at Zelda, who looked to be doing just fine, throwing an enormous amount of light magic at Midna. I didn't have time to figure out what was going on before Moroth walked towards me.
"Alright then, boy. Let's see how long you last against a real opponent." Moroth's body jerked as sharp points poked through his clothes, shredding them to pieces. Black blades of every shape and length pushed their way through his ruined clothes and I realized they weren't just coming through his body, they actually were his body. His entire torso, arms, legs, and head were a twisted, jagged amalgamation of swords and daggers. "No shame in being afraid," he said, probably assuming my shock was fear. "You're facing a real demon now."
"Oh, I'm not afraid," I shot back, raising the Master Sword. "Just thinking about how useless it is to have so many swords when they're all shit." Moroth roared and jumped at me, a literal whirlwind of angry metal.
I dodged and ducked around his attacks, jumping over blades that flew at me from his twisted body. Right from when I landed the first attack though, I could tell this fight was different. With every swing, the Master Sword cut through the demon's slices like they were nothing. Metal shattered and fell to pieces with my every parry and cut. I'm sure there was some magical reason for my newfound success, but all I cared about in the moment was that I was finally able to take this monster down.
Moroth roared in rage, finally displaying emotion as I hacked away at his body. Finally, I felt my victory. The demon's attacks grew less frequent, he took more steps back, and I could see the metal of his body severely corroded from my own attacks. At last, I saw a flaw in Moroth's defense and slammed the Master Sword down, chopping his arm off once again, the sound of broken metal ringing through the gymnasium. Without giving him a moment to recover, I spun around and brought my sword down on his leg as well, crippling him.
"This is it, bastard." I said, watching Moroth's swirling eyes of darkness flit around, trying to find some avenue of escape. "Nothing else for you to do. You shouldn't have tried to fuck with my family."
"My failure doesn't matter, you incompetent whelp. You'll never be able to defeat my master. He is a god! And what are you?! A pathetic weakling, playing at bravery. You've seen nothing yet. Ruin will teach you the really meaning of fear! And he's going to enjoy watching you break, boy." I took a slow step towards the crippled demon, who looked like he was kneeling on what used to be the joint of his leg.
"You know, you keep calling me 'boy,'" I said slowly, pulling the Master Sword back. "You've got it wrong, Moroth. I'm no boy. Your your so-called master doesn't stand a chance, god or no. Know why?" His eyes flashed with confusion and my face split into a smirk. "I'm the Reincarnated Hero of Legend, bitch."
I slammed the Master Sword forward, stabbing the sword demon right through his surprised face. My blade flashed, and I watched the darkness in Moroth's eyes fade away before his whole body rusted away, crumbling to dust.
Damn, that felt good.
Cheers erupted from the bleachers, making me jump in surprise. I had been so focused on the fight that I had forgotten we had an audience. I quickly made sure Shade, Midna, and Zelda were all okay, and was relieved to see none of them seemed worse for wear. Zelda was helping a dazed looking Midna off the floor and Shade was sitting up from where he had been sprawled on the floor, holding his head. I immediately ran over to him as my classmates trickled out of the stands.
"Oh goddesses, my head…" Shade groaned as I helped him stand up. He almost fell over right away, forcing me to catch him and thread his arm over my shoulders for support.
"You alright?" I asked as we moved over to Midna and Zelda. My twin blinked hard a few times as he came back to himself.
"Yeah, I will be. Whatever that dipshit did to me, I would not recommend it. It's like hangover, but for your entire body. I can feel my blood flowing, I don't think its supposed to do that. Oh, gods…" he groaned again, gratefully sinking to sit against the bleachers when I put him down. Midna was quick to scoot up next to him, both of them supporting each other. I turned to see Zelda standing next to me, and she quickly enveloped me in a tight hug.
"You're not hurt too badly, are you?" she asked, looking me over. I shook my head.
"No, a few cuts and bruises, but nothing terrible. I'll be okay for now at least. You alright too?" Zelda nodded.
"A little tired from all the magic. I basically had to force a ton of dark magic out of Midna, which kind of sucked, but I'll be fine with a little rest." I let myself get lost in her eyes for a moment before looking up and seeing all of our classmates surrounding us, watching with everything from awe to envy, and all looking for answers.
"Well, looks like that rest is going to have to wait for a bit. I don't think we're going to get out of here any time soon."
Okay, first things first, I literally just finished writing this and I really want to be done with this chapter, so if there's anything wrong as far as grammar or spelling goes, I'm sorry. But I just don't care. Plus, I don't do all that much checking anyways, so it's probably fine. Now that that's out of the way...
Hello~! Guten tag! Aloha! Bonjour! Something else, I don't know. I really just want to get this up for you guys. Because geez, this chapter has not been the easiest to write. You remember a while back when I wrote Chapter 27 in a day? I do, because I really loved that chapter. One of the best, in my opinion.
Whoever it was that desperately wanted to see Vaati back (I'm sorry, I can't remember and I can't be bothered to go back and look), here you go, this chapter is for you. Now shut up about it. Not really, but you know what I mean. Also, yes, I stole Link's finisher from Guardians of the Galaxy. Because it's an awesome line.
Okay, enough rambling (for now), reviews. Garion, yes, sweeping carpet. Because my dorm/apartment bedroom has carpet, but I don't have a vacuum and its dirty and sweeping it doesn't help much. Not sure what you meant about the thing and the title, but I'm sure I had a good reason for whatever it is. Because of course I did. Maybe, but I would have had to have Groose in the story before in order to do that. Chekhov's gun and all that, can't just drop something in. That's just lazy writing. Also, Moroth is mad (as mad as he gets, damn emotionless jerk), but he's also working on the fly. So all his traps and obstacles are kind of thrown together, like with the sign. Improvised as shit. Not a dog guy, sorry. And I did, thanks! Twilit Lord, glad you get it, I tried really hard to make that make sense. Glad someone got a kick out of it. And no, Gust Bellows are from Skyward Sword, Gust Jar was in Minish Cap. Totally different! And I'll let you have the Roc's Cape, but only if you look fabulous in it. Nightwing, the necklace is indeed beautiful, but it also serves the almighty role of symbolism, and thus it must be broken, to reflect how their romantic relationship is completely broken and gone. You make a good point about the contingencies. All the same, I wish you good luck. Foopuff, I do my best to make all the villains memorable in some way. Moroth's emotionless, Keritan's a flamboyant dick. Glad you enjoy it. And yes, poor Moroth was really annoyed. You bet it does. Yes, all Hylians have pointed ears. There are no humans in this story. Damn Twilight Princess, confusing things. To clarify, rounded ears (of which there are none here), human, pointed ears, Hylian. Thank you much, I tried. That fun is going to happen next time, so continue to come back, I guess. The scythe I justify by her being a farm girl, and they've got scythes on farms. It was either that or a pitchfork, but that's not nearly as cool. I believe the rest of your musings have been answered already. Sand Seal, I don't know if I would say just in time for Christmas, but sure! Cremia's kind of back, but not as a romantic rival. Sorry, but she's got nothing on Zelda. No Twinrova, sorry. They do mind-control, but I think the gems are just a Gerudo thing, since most/all Gerudo have gemstones on their person. But how do they stay on their heads? We will never know.
Sweet, that's done. You guys always cheer me up with your reviews, so thank you so much for that. I really do appreciate it. Miscellaneous stuff here, posted a new chapter to 'Revival of the Goddess' showing Chapters 7/8 when Link passes out during the presentation, so read that if you haven't. Also, if someone could make the week go faster, that'd be great. Not because I'm excited to start school again next week, but because I need more new anime to watch. I want more, but they won't give it to me! The nerve. Don't know how many of you have played Terraria, but if you haven't you should, because it's really fun and I might write a story that kind of follows it's "plot", if you can call it that. I think it'd be interesting, and I thought of it last night, so we'll see. Rambling. I'm good at it, did you notice?
Also, because I need more projects, do any of you have any little one-shot type Zelink story ideas? Because I'd love to write something like that, but I have a tendency to want to write long stories more than one-shots. They're just more rewarding. I ask because I'd love to make you one-shot ideas come true, written by yours truly. So if you have an idea that you're willing to give away, PM with a setting, loose collection of ideas, scenario, or something like that. I shall do my best to come up with something to fit your fantasies and shall credit you with the idea or whatever. And if not, cool. I'll still be working on this, don't worry. I'm in too deep to back out now.
I think that's enough. If I wanted to, I could go on and on with this, so let's just stop now while we all still care. Thanks again for reading everyone and don't forget to leave a review and tell me how much I suck! Or how good it was, I guess that works too. Whatever floats your boat. Anyways, thanks again, and don't forget to always have peanut butter with your chocolate! Cheers!
~Aro