MistressOfTime1218: Kay, third chapter is about to be up and running.

StormBlitz: That took longer than the last one.

MistressOfTime1218: But it's just as long. Besides I'm pretty sure no one's still mad at me.

StormBlitz: Then why do you still have Link's shield in front of you?

MistressOfTime1218: Pshh, obviously I'm holding it until Link get's back.

StormBlitz: I see. So why'd you ask him for the sword?

MistressOfTime1218: It goes well with the shield?

StormBlitz: Just forget it.

DarkMist: MistressOfTime1218 does not own Soul Calibur, Legend of Zelda, or anything that involves Brawl. If she did, Link would be in absolutely everything.

MistressOfTime1218: On with the story!

He knew he probably should not have taken her in there. In places like these, where smoke is considered high class perfume and pocket knives are world class belt buckles, people like her were bound to be in trouble.

She was a high class lady. Someone who enjoyed the finer things life had to offer her. She had been fortunate enough to be born into a life where she had everything. Clothes to keep her warm in the winter, food to keep her nourished and able, an education to help her understand the world, and morals to keep her soul as pure as it possibly could be.

These people had no such luxuries. They were born on the streets where the only cloths and food they ever received were the ones they had to steal for themselves. They had no money. They could only ever consider themselves wealthy if they robbed, or killed, a particularly rich merchant or a duke of some kind. And the biggest difference of all was that these people had no morals. They did not care who lived or died, as long as they were alive and well. It was a dog eat dog world after all, and there was no room for sympathy.

Still, even though it might have been a mistake, Siegfried knew that he and Zelda would not be followed into the pub. That fact that it was dangerous meant that no one would think he would ever risk taking a princess inside. It was about as inconspicuous as he could afford to get. Besides, as long as the two of them kept their cloaks on at all times, they would not attract any unwanted attention. He hoped.

"I don't like this place."

Siegfried quickly looked around their table to see if anyone had heard her. He doubted any one would, as he had chosen a table as far away from the crowd in the establishment as possible, but you could never be too careful. "Keep your voice down." He warned. "Talk like that could get you killed."

She pulled the hood of the cloak even further down on her head. "Remind me again why we're here."

"I told you, we need a plan." He called over a nearby waitress and asked that she bring him a pencil and piece of paper. He knew that he had to think about his next move very carefully. In all honesty, he had never expected something like this to happen. When Link had left this world two years ago, Siegfried assumed that would be the last that anyone would ever hear of Soul Edge. He never anticipated that anyone would release what had been so carefully sealed away.

"Can't we just go back now? What's stopping us from rescuing our hero this very second?"

That had been what the German knight had wanted to do in the first place. In fact his first instinct, upon hearing what had happened to the elf, had been to grab his sword and rush off into battle. Now that he had taken some time to cool off he could clearly see how completely stupid that was. Something this important, something this dangerous, could not be handled so foolishly. There were too many risks.

For one thing, Siegfried did not know if Zelda had been followed here. Sure, she had not mentioned seeing anything following her into the portal, but that meant nothing at all to him. For all he knew Soul Edge could have sent some type of shadow creature after the princess in order to ensure she never made it back home. The thought had never crossed the knight's mind before, but neither did the thought of Soul Edge actually receiving his own body. That had been why he had insisted on disguising, and hiding, themselves for as long as they could. He had no way of knowing who was stalking them, just waiting to strike from within the shadows.

Besides, there was no guarantee that he would be able to fight such a monstrous enemy on even terms. Siegfried, though he would never admit it, was not strong enough to fight Soul Edge on his own. It had taken over him before, it could do so again. He had fought against his other side and had eventually broken free, even helped Link seal the dammed thing away, but his gut told him not to dwell too much on those facts. After all, Link had done most of the sealing and Link was the reason he had been able to break free in the first place. He hated to admit it, but he would need help, and a lot of it. He could not risk losing this fight, because if he did it would be Link paying the price. Siegfried would not let Link pay for his mistake.

"Too risky," The waitress finally returned and threw down Siegfried's requested items before running to take a local bandit's order. The young German would have thought such an action inexcusably rude, if he had not been so focused on the task at hand. "We can't afford to make any mistakes."

He began scribbling down anything he thought might help. Name's places, weapons, anything and everything he thought might give him an edge when confronting Soul Edge. Ten minutes went by, and almost every weapon he could think of had been scratched off of the piece of paper. In fact the only sword still on the list was Soul Calibur, something he had no time to look for, and something that had gone missing when Link had left. It really was useless to try and think of a location that would give him some type of clue as to how to beat the evil blade. The only place he could even think of was Ostriensburg Castle and he was never setting foot in that place again. Besides, it was next to useless if he wanted to help someone in another world.

That just left his list of names. "I'll be honest with you," He found himself wishing for some type of drink to magically appear in his hand. "You are going to have a very hard time in this world. We'll be lucky if you manage to live through this."

He could feel her glaring at him through the fabric of the cloak. "Is that a threat?"

"It's a warning." He leaned back in his chair, holding up the list so that he could easily see the names he had written down the moment before. "You've made a lot of enemies simply by telling me you put Link in danger. Believe it or not he had friends in this world, friends that will be just as angry, if not more so, than me. And unfortunately for you, they're exactly the kind of help we need."

She knew he was serious. "How many?"

"Too many for you to handle." He handed her the paper and opted to rest his head on the table. He could feel the presence of an oncoming migraine.

Zelda looked over the list carefully, trying to see if she was able to recognize any of them. "Who is Sophitia?"

Siegfried caught the undertone of jealousy. "You can calm down, she won't go after Link. She's happily married and has two children." She seemed to calm down. "However, her sister, Cassandra, will. She's had a crush on him ever since he rescued her niece and nephew."

She glared at him, yet again.

He couldn't see it, but he just knew she was giving him all sorts of dirty looks. "Watch out for them. Sophitia won't go crazy and kill you, since she's really not a violent person, but she did consider him one of her own. No one messes with one of her kids and gets away with it. Cassandra will most likely have to be restrained. Her infatuation with him was strong, probably still is."

"What about this Seong Mina person?"

Siegfried found it amusing that she had started questioning the women first, when he had put the men at the top of the list. "She's a girl Link and I happened to run into when we ran into a young man named Yunseong. This guy was hiding from her and he asked Link to help him out. You know as well as I do that Link can't refuse a cry for help. Eventually the two ended up fighting. He beat her and she was very impressed by him. The two taught each other a few tricks and the rest is history. She considers him a good friend as well as a strong fighter. Yunseong pretty much thinks the same. Both will be pretty mad about what happened to Link, so don't anger them anymore than you already have."

"And what about this Taki person?"

"She's another one you have to watch out for. She's a ninja. We found her passed out in a forest after she had been poisoned by a group of bandits. Those potions Link had on him saved her life. Apparently, some kind of ninja code says that if someone saves you, you owe them your life. Or at least that was the excuse she gave us when she decided to stick around for a while. Link was the only man she could really stand. He was so innocent to her. She wanted to protect him as much as possible from the tainted outside world. When she hears this story you're going to be in a lot of trouble."

Zelda knew that. If Siegfried was any indication, she was in a lot of danger. "Ivy? Isn't that some type of weed?"

"Let her catch you saying that and you'll be six feet underground. She's an alchemist and the daughter of an undead pirate named Cervantes. Quite the solitary creature. She blockaded herself into her own home for years hoping to eventually die alone. Link refused to leave her side until he could somehow get her to understand that she did not have to be alone. It took a little while, but he eventually got through to her. She was never able to thank him enough."

"So were they… close?"

"She called him her sun."

Zelda did not wish to go any further. "Talim?"

"A young wind priestess who was very fond of Link. He rescued her from a creature we all called Necrid. He was as soft hearted as she was and they ended up convincing me to let the guy go. She considered him her older brother and respected and admired him greatly. Barely a day passed when she was not by his side. She was devastated when Link had to return to Hyrule. If she could have, she would have gone with him."

"Xianghua?" The last women on the list. "How did you find her?"

"Technically, she found us. We had barely managed to escape a ship full of bandits at the time. We had been fighting for what seemed like ages before we finally had to jump of the boat in a last ditch effort to get away. When she found us we were knocked unconscious on the shore of some type of beach. Took care of us for awhile, and when we got better she asked us for a favor. She wanted us to help her find her friend Kilik who had gone after their other friend Maxi. Of course, Link did the hero thing and got both of them back to her in one piece. It wasn't easy, he took quite the beating for interfering in other people's business, but we got three new allies out of the deal. He thought it was worth it."

"Yoshimitsu." She read out loud. "I think I've heard our hero mention him before, when he had rescued me using those tunnels."

"I'm not surprised. Link looked up to him a lot."

"Was he a warrior?"

"Kind of. He knew his way around a sword, but his profession was that of a bandit. Link was amazed by this real life Robin Hood and proceeded to learn all he could from the thief. Yoshimitsu took a liking to Link early so he never minded the onslaught of questions Link always seemed to have right up his sleeve. I thank Yoshimitsu for any kind of street smarts Link has, for you see, those are his doing."

"You haven't told me how you two met up with this bandit."

"He can tell you that himself when you meet him. I'm not one to go spreading private business around."

"A simple meeting is private business? My, this man must have been very secretive."

"Extremely." A smile found its way onto Siegfried's face. "He wore a mask 24/7. It used to drive Link crazy. I guess he didn't like it when people didn't show their face."

Zelda fidgeted slightly. She knew that Link did not just simply dislike it when someone hid their face behind a mask. He absolutely despised it, hated it with a passion, and she knew the reason why. Heck, she was the reason why. However, she was less than eager to say such a thing to Siegfried.

"You'll notice," He began. "That there are two human beings left on that list. The first is Mitsurugi, a samurai who became a sort of surrogate father to Link, and Raphael, who appointed himself as Link's older brother."

"Hold on," She glanced back down at the list in her hands. "You said there were only two others left. There are still two names on this list."

"What I said was there were only two other human beings left on the list."

She frowned, and this time she lifted her hood up so he could see her frown. "Come now, isn't that a bit harsh?"

She sounded a bit like Link when she said that. "It's harsh because it's true. I'll admit, Lizardman was human once, but now he's nothing more than a giant reptile. And as for Voldo…" He shivered. "I don't even want to think of what Voldo was. Hell I don't even know what he is now."

Her frown deepened.

"Look, when you see them, you can decide for yourself what you want you want to call them. I don't consider them human, so I won't mark them as such."

"What does our hero consider them?"

"He, of course, considers them his friends. They, however, consider him their master."

Zelda almost fell out of her seat. "What?"

Siegfried shrugged. "Beats me. He saved them, and after that they deemed him worthy enough to be their master. I guess they too got caught up in his innocent charm."

"And he just let them think that?" She was almost shrieking.

"Calm down." He said harshly before he continued. "What was he supposed to do? Say, 'I'm flattered now leave'? He would never be so cruel." 'No matter how many times I told him it was perfectly fine to do so in their case.' He added in his mind.

"So many names." She seemed utterly exhausted. Had she been any one else Siegfried might have actually felt sorry for her.

"So many people you need to be wary of."

She looked over to him desperately. "Isn't there anyone I don't have to worry about?"

He sighed. "Let me break it down for you. Link is important to four different groups in this world. The first is his surrogate family. His mother, Sophitia, will not like you one bit. She won't kill you. His father, Mitsurugi, will probably be disgusted with you. He won't kill you. Talim, his sister, will be devastated by your decision. She will not kill you. Raphael, his older brother, will hate you with all he's got, and this guy will kill you if given the chance."

"Three out of four isn't bad."

"Then we have his female friends. Xianghua won't like you, but she's a bit to kind hearted to kill you. Seong Mina won't kill you either."

Zelda felt herself relax.

"She'll just beat on you whenever she gets the chance."

And she immediately stiffened.

"Cassandra will have the intent to kill, but she'll be so loud you'll be able to hear her coming, so the chance of her actually landing a hit on you is slim. Taki you have to watch out for. She's the epitome of silent but deadly. Ivy, well I don' know what she'll do but it can't be anything good."

Zelda could feel a headache coming on.

"His guy friends won't be much better. Kilik will be polite, which is the best deal you could ask for so you should consider yourself lucky and leave it at that. Maxi will hate your guts and will do anything in his power to make your life utterly miserable. The only good thing about him is that he would never resort to hitting a woman, at least, not unless he's in a fair fight with her. Yunseong will be the loudest of all your enemies. He'll be mad at you all the time, but the worst he'll do is yell."

"Oh that's all?" She muttered sarcastically.

"Now his pets," What he preferred to call Voldo and Lizardman. "Will want to kill you. Scratch that. They will want to kill you, chop you up, throw the pieces down on the ground, spit on them, kick them in the mud, and feed them to something that will probably be vicious and savage."

"Please don't hold back on my account."

He shrugged. "You wanted to know."

He heard her head fall onto the table. He had to admit. It was very amusing to see such a high class lady acting like an over worked child. "Anymore questions?"

"Just one." She mumbled. "With little exception, you've told me how our hero came to be acquainted with each of the individuals you've mentioned."

He blinked. "Yes." He really could not understand why she couldn't just speak normally. Formality was fine when someone was in a castle or some type of high class court. But in a pub like this, speech like hers just seemed really awkward. It was a lot better, and a lot more inconspicuous, to speak like you would on the streets.

"So how did you meet him?"

Siegfried was surprised. He was not expecting such a question.

"Who are you?" Nightmare asked as he drew his sword from its sheath.

The blonde teenager, for there was no way he could have been an adult, in front of him took the opportunity to unsheathe his sword as well. "My name is of no consequence. But yours would be very much appreciated."

The dark knight noticed a pair of pointed ears atop a mop of golden hair. "You're not human, at least, not the ones I'm familiar with."

The boy smirked and lowered his body, mocking the knight before him with a simple bow. "Thank you for noticing. I'm a Hylian, you're people would call me an elf." He straightened himself up and went straight back into his fighting stance. "I was ordered by my princess to destroy you."

Nightmare could not help but scoff. "You? You're just a child."

The knight could have sworn he saw the other's eye twitch. "I would hardly call an 18 year old a child."

"My apologies." It was obvious that the evil knight was being sarcastic. "Come then." He bellowed as he took up his own fighting stance. "You shall become part of me."

The boy barely had time to blink before he became bombarded with an onslaught of swift slashes. On instant a shield was brought up to his face and upper body before any of the attacks could make critical contact. At first it was a struggle to try to protect himself. The warrior in front of him had a crazy forceful set of skills that must have taken years to perfect. He had a rhythm all his own. A deadly serenade that could kill any man on the dance floor who was too slow to follow along.

The blonde was determined not to be that poor sap on the dance floor. He knew I would be difficult. He had never danced to such an intense and frantic melody before. It would take some getting used to, and he didn't have much time to get it right. It was extremely hard to do, but the blonde knew it was possible. He knew how to memorize the rhythm of a fight. He knew how to dance along to a battles melody without missing a single beat. He had done it before, he could do it again.

He began by focusing his gaze on Nightmares sword. The blade had an intense evil aura surrounding it. Every move it made, every attack it unleashed, could be seen with a keen eye. They could be heard with a careful pair of almost hyper sensitive ears. They could be sensed with keen and fine tuned spiritual intuition. The 18 year old was lucky enough to possess all of the keen senses mentioned above.

He was not able to make a single hit, he was sad to say he was not so in tune with his senses, but he did manage to avoid any serious injury. His eyes were sharp enough to see oncoming attacks, and his body was quick enough to move out of the way before they made any kind of contact. On more than one occasion the dark knight attempted to forcefully grab hold of the young man, which forced the blonde to duck away from the threatening touch and roll out of the way. Nightmare was too slow to stop him.

The boy knew he could not take on the knight evenly in close combat. He could no longer rely on his speed with his sword to get him by in this fight. Now the game had changed. It was no longer about beating his opponent down; it was about tiring him out. All he had to do was keep running circles around his opponent. It was not long before his efforts paid off.

"Who are you?!" Nightmare panted out, leaning against his sword for support.

"My name is Link." The boy said at last. "I'm known in my homeland as the Hero of Time. That sword of yours had caused a lot of trouble in my world and I'm here to destroy it."

Nightmare suddenly sensed something about the boy, and fixed his eyes on him with a heated glare. "You," He was standing up straight in an instant. "You carry a part of it, don't you?"

Link did not falter, but his hand did instantly cover a brown pouch on his leather belt. "You're pretty observant. I commend you."

"Give that back to me!"

Link shook his head. "You won't be getting this back ever again if I have anything to say about it."

"You cannot ever hope to control it. A child like you will only succumb to its evil in the end, no matter how strong headed you may be. Hand it over right now, and it will be less painful for you."

The elf's grip on his sword tightened. "I'm not afraid of getting hurt, and as long as I know who I am, this thing will never corrupt me!"

Link rushed forward, using both his hands to swing down his sword like a hammer. He realized a bit to late that he had been hasty when he assumed he had completely tired Nightmare out. The dark knight was able to block the attack with the sword Link had not seen move from the ground.

It only took a second fro Link to sense that he was being pushed back. He clamped his eyes shut and tried to shove the monstrous sword away, but he knew it was hopeless. He was not strong enough. Escaping death was just as tiring as fighting it head on.

"It's useless to resist child."

Link dared to lock gazes with the creature in front of him. What he saw made him gasp.

"Stronger men have tried and failed."

Link could not help but stare. Those eyes were so warm and gentle, hey just drew him in. There was a sense of pride woven into the depths of endless shimmering blue skies. Such dignity and honor, only seen within the finest renowned well rounded soldiers, stood out against anything else Link could see. They seemed to call out to him, almost begged him to dive deeper and figure out the true and absolute nature of those rare sapphire eyes. It was then that Link realized,

"Those aren't his eyes."

Using whatever strength he had left in him, Link managed to push the dark knight away. It was only for a second and Nightmare didn't go any further than about an inch, but it was enough to allow the teenager to roll out of the way of a possible oncoming attack. Before Nightmare could even think of his next move, Link had risen up from his spot on the ground and tackled the dark knight into the dirt. Then he used his own blade, the Master Sword, to pin Nightmare down by his neck.

He was disappointed to see dark tinted flames where light blue sapphires resided only a moment ago. His mind instantly told him he must have imagined it. The raw intensity of his fight must have forced his eyes to betray him.

"Who are you?" But something in his gut told him that was not the case.

Below him, Nightmare fought to free himself from Link's rather strong grasp. "What are you talking about?"

Link seemed to ignore him. "Those weren't his eyes. His are like dark fire, yours are like the sky." He was no longer talking to Nightmare. There was something else, something deep inside the dark one that he was trying to make contact with. "Who are you?"

Nightmare felt some kind of pang resonate throughput his body. He tried, more frantically, to shove Link off of him.

"Those couldn't have been his eyes." Link tried his best to keep the fighter subdued. "They were to kind, too proud." He could feel his strength beginning to diminish. "Who are you?"

That question kept clutching onto to something inside him. It kept reaching out to the heart of something buried deep within his subconscious. Whatever it was it could hear everything that the elf was saying. It could understand the meaning of the words coming out of Link's mouth. It wanted to answer him.

"Were you a soldier?" Nightmare could feel a pulse vibrating within him. "Maybe a knight of some kind?"

Nightmare let out a freakish battle cry before finally throwing Link clear across the battle field.

The poor elf landed flat on his back, with his right ankle twisted to a point of almost no repair. His shield had been thrown off in the opposite direction of where he had been thrown and was now sitting a good couple of hundred feet away from its owner. With his ankle in its current condition, he knew it was impossible to get up and run to it. Right now, it was impossible to get up at all. He looked to his right, and was relieved to see that his sword was only a few feet away from his current position. It was still quite a distance to travel, but not something he could not manage to get to by rolling.

He cried out in pain when he felt something heavy focus all its weight on his bad ankle. Link bit his tongue and looked up to the towering form of the dark knight he had been sent to kill. Nightmare let out a dark chuckle as he lifted his sword up above his head. Link suddenly went back to a time when he had gotten trapped within the confides of a guillotine he had seen in a temple back in his homeland.

"Any last words?"The sword had already begun to drop.

"What's your name?"

Nightmare froze mid swing.

"I know you're not the monster in front of me." Link said, his voice almost begging, his sea blue eyes pleading. "You have a human heart, I'm sure of it." He tried to sit up. "No monster has eyes like those."

Nightmare tried to finish the boy off, tried to forcefully push his sword down upon the vulnerable child forced to stay on the ground. That boy kept reaching out to something that no normal human could see. That something wanted to break free, and the more the blonde boy coaxed the more determined it became. Nightmare had to shut this child up.

"I can tell you're trapped. I know you want to get out. You don't want to hurt me. You don't want to hurt anybody."

The elf had a voice like silk, but it felt like rusted copper to Nightmares ears.

"You are not a monster." Link repeated. "So tell me, who are you?"

"Si-"A voice that was not his own escaped Nightmare's lips. "Siegfried."

A bright silver glow caught the blonde's eye, and he turned to see his sword emanating the stunning silver light. Almost as if in a daze, he reached out his hand and nearly gasped when it flew right into his hand. From there, his body seemed to move on its own. Both his hands came to rest on the hilt of the Master Sword, while his good leg pushed him up into a standing position. Sea blue eyes met sky blue jewels once again, and Link thrust the sword into the dark knight's heart.

Link had no idea what to expect, he could not even begin to guess what might happen next. This fight was nothing like he had ever experienced before. Every second was a new surprise. He wasn't expecting anything, but he was trying to be prepared for everything.

But he was nowhere near ready for what happened next. Then again, no one was probably ever fully prepared for a body weighing over a hundred pounds to slam right into your own, especially when you weighed considerably less than it did. It was enough to knock the wind right out of the blonde el, who had not been expecting such a result. The strain was too much for his ankle, which had already gone beyond its limits by allowing Link to remain standing for even a moment, and he had landed right back on the ground with another body lying on top of him.

Link took in a breath, hooked an arm around the waste of the one on top of him, and as gently as he could, rolled around until the man was flat on the ground. Out of breath, and quickly tiring, Link sat up and spared a glance at the now semi conscious human trying to focus his gaze on something concrete. There was a scar on the right side of his face, going right down from this man's forehead not stopping until just above his chin. He had long blonde hair, a little darker than Link's, which went down to his waist, or at least his shoulder. With him lying down like that, it was hard for Link to tell.

His eyes were slowly focusing on the teenager in front of him, almost looking as though he had opened his eyes for the first time. He opened his mouth, let out a shaky cough, and managed to say, "Why?"

Link smiled. That voice, those eyes, that bewildered stare, there were all human. His instinct hadn't failed him. There really had been someone trapped within Nightmare's body.

"YOU INSOLENT BRAT!"

Link could feel a cloud of strong murderous intent rise up from something behind him. It was so thick and foul, he almost didn't want to turn around. But his head began to turn, his eyes began to wander, and then his body began to shake.

Nightmare had gotten up from Link's recent attack. He was slouching forward with a deep scowl on his face that reeked of his hatred toward the individual in front of him. The Master Sword was still lodged in his chest; Link could see the end of the blade protruding from the dark nights back. He was growling like some type of wild animal. A wild animal that had just set its eyes on its next meal. Its next vulnerable and weak bodied meal.

"You took my servant."

Link glared at the wounded warrior, but did not say a word.

"Do you think you can escape my wrath?"

Link shook his head with a glare on his face.

"Smart child."

"Thank you." His voice was cold, almost calculating, and his eyes remained focused on his sword.

"I'll ask you again. Any last words?"

Link held out his hand while his eyes remained fixed upon his opponents. "Return to me."

Nightmare coughed up a dirty red liquid, as the Master Sword forcefully withdrew itself from his body. Without pause or hesitation, the god like blade found its way back to the hand of the boy who had called it. He only had a split second to glare hatefully at the boy whose face was still fixed in a cold stare, before the world went black.

Link waited for the body to hit the ground, before sheathing his sword and attempting to lift up the man who had escaped darkness. He had no idea how long the dark knight would be out. For all he knew he could wake up in two minutes, fully refreshed and ready to take on the world. Link could not handle that in his current condition. He was too tire, to emotionally worn out, and he had lost all feeling in his right leg. It was no doubt the result of his foolish abuse of his already injured ankle. He would not be able to protect himself, let alone the one he had freed from darkness.

"What are you doing?"

Link took in a deep breath. He was suddenly very winded. "We need to get away from here."

Seeing the way the younger blonde struggled, the man, who Link remembered had called himself Siegfried, lifted Link up off the ground and allowed the elf to lean on his shoulder.

Link blinked, looked bashfully up to the long haired blonde and smiled. "Thanks." His eyes suddenly darted around the battle worn area. "My shield." He said the moment his eyes landed on it. "I have to get my shield."

Siegfried slowly, so as to not harm the elf any further, walked over to the piece of weaponry Link had pointed to. He waited until Link had positioned the shield safely on his back before he spoke again. "How did you know I was in there?"

Link shrugged. "Instinct?"

"That's it?"

The elf chuckled. "That was all I needed." He looked back to the, thankfully, still unconscious form of Nightmare. "Now let's get out of here. I don't want to be around when that guy gets up."

He had never forgotten that day. It was the earliest memory he had of Link, and it was one of his fondest. That had been the first time he had heard that precious voice. The first time he had seen that precious smile. The first time he had been called human by someone who had never even heard of his existence.

"Siegfried."

He snapped out of his daze and focused his attention on Zelda, who was looking at him in puzzlement.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"How did you two meet?"

That was a very personal question. The story was not embarrassing and caused no unwanted memories to resurface, but it was private. It was one of the few moments that had been shared strictly between Link and himself. She had no right to know such a thing. "Mind your own business. It is none of your concern."

She glared at him. She was quickly becoming annoyed with his lack of respect.

"What you should focus on is getting a good night's sleep. You're going to need it. Tomorrow we need to find you a decent horse and get going. We have to time to waste." Yet, they had everything to lose.

"Where are we supposed to sleep?"

"I'll get us a couple of rooms here."

She gawked at him, a gesture very unbecoming of a princess. "You can't be serious. Do you see this place. Sleeping would be dangerous." She whispered harshly.

However Siegfried was unfazed. "Then you should sleep with one eye open."

She seemed to want to say something.

But he continued before she got the chance. "When I said I'd keep you alive, I didn't mean I'd baby sit you. You're a big girl now. You can take care of yourself."

She had nothing more to say.

MistressOfTime1218: Another twenty page long chapter. Sorry these take so long to update. But these chapters run on a 100% inspiration. I actually really like this story and try to take great care in writing. So they tend to be really long and take forever to see. I don't do that with any other story. So you guys can decide. Short chapters updated more often, or longer chapters over a longer period of time? And sorry if this chapter is really boring. It's mostly a filler to show whose going to be showing up and what their relationship with Link was. This makes it easier to see where most of the tension will come from. Please read and review!