This child was the personification of a miracle. His body had been broken beyond repair. Limbs had been shattered, skin ripped off in a moments rage, blood had spewed from his mouth like water from the raining sky. His mind had been damaged so tremendously. People had died in front of him, been slaughtered before him, had their souls destroyed right before his eyes. And yet… he had not broken. His faith had not yet shaken. In his eyes there was still hope. Hope for a hero, hope for an escape, hope for a stolen freedom. He still believed in something other than the stone walls and silver shackles that bound him. The boy still believed.

"You are a fool." The cursed sword said to the elfin boy. "You stand before me shackled to a stone wall, helpless to free yourself, injured well past your limits," His hand reached out to the boys bloody throat, and squeezed until he was sure he had choked out the last possible breath. "And you still have the gall to wish for a savior."

There was defiance in those blue eyes. It was amazing. The boy could not even breathe, and yet he still had fight left in him. He still had the will to live buried deep within those sea blue eyes. He was still challenging Soul Edge with every fiber of his being. A miracle indeed.

"What makes you so strong?" His grip on the boy's throat loosened, but those eyes held fast to their strong opposition to the one attached to it. "Your princess was down here for a mere three days before her spirit was finally broken."

"I'm nothing like her." He growled out. "I won't give up so easily."

"You seem bitter." If physical torture would not work, perhaps emotional battering would be a better strategy to put to use. "If you hated her so much you should have just left her here. You should have just taken off without her."

The boy took in a deep breath; almost certain he would not be given the opportunity to take another. "My people need their princess. I could never deny them that."

"Yet they denied you your freedom." He mentally told himself to remember that the boy had specifically said 'their' princess. Not 'mine' or 'our'. "None of them have even tried to rescue you. That princess of yours ran away." This boy was a bit harder to break than most. Shocking really, considering that he was one of the younger warriors to ever come into contact with Soul Edge. The youth were usually the first to be cast over by absolute darkness.

But him…"I will get out of here." He said confidently. "I will make it out of this alive."

"Big words for a little boy." He was different. Link, yes that was his name, was a regular diamond in the rough. His faith was strong. "You're loyalty to your goddesses is amazing."

The elf faltered for a second. His eyes became glossed over with some type of, what seemed to be, painful emotion. It wasn't fear per say, and Soul Edge could not bring to himself to call it sadness. It was more or less like guilt.

"I'm not a child anymore." He said softly. "I can't depend on the goddess's strength forever." More like he could not bring himself to put his life into the hands of beings that had done nothing but misuse it throughout his entire existence.

But there was still belief in those young eyes. They believed in something. If not his goddesses, then perhaps, "Your princess then. Do you believe she will save you?" Had the sword been wrong in assuming that girl had meant nothing to the Hero of Time?

But the boy closed his eyes and bit his lip. It was another of his quirks, Soul Edge mused, that the elf used to show emotion. This one, he found, was also used to show signs of guilt.

"She won't come to save me." More like he didn't believe she could. "It's not fair to ask that of her." It was not smart to call upon the aid of a damsel in distress that he had been forced to save time and time again.

"Then who is it?" Soul Edge was quickly becoming frustrated. His questions were getting him nowhere and had served no purpose except to allow the elf a few more moments of decent breath. "Who is this mysterious hero you have placed all your trust in? Hmm? I'm dying to know."

Link actually laughed at him. It was odd, and awfully infuriating, to hear. The sound was not unpleasant. It was not as joyful as a bout of laughter from Link should have been, but it was sort of like a melody in its own right. "You don't know?" A smirk landed perfectly on teasing lips. "Honestly?"

The sword growled. How dare this child openly mock him, laugh at him? Did he forget what the creature before him was capable of? "Watch your mouth child. I might just decide to cut it off."

His threat seemed to just be shrugged off. Link was not afraid of him. At this point it was safe to say he no longer feared for his life. His eyes were bright enough to shine through the darkness of the cell he lay trapped in. They showed understanding. An understanding that any death threats made against him would go unheeded. Soul Edge could not kill him, unless he wanted his own body to fall apart.

Enraged, the disgusting excuse for a human body reached out disfigured claws and ripped at the boy's throat. The gashes were nowhere near deep enough to be fatal, but they were deep enough to start quickly gushing out blood. Link's smile vanished from his face as he bit down on his tongue to keep from crying out. He would not give the creature before him the satisfaction of screaming. But the pain was apparent in his eyes and the blood pouring out of the corners his closed mouth was enough of a reassurance.

"Now tell me boy," The sword hissed out. "Who is it? Who is this person you have put so much faith in? Who in this world, or any other world for that matter, could possibly stand up against me?"

Link narrowed his eyes. He turned his head to the right then swiftly swung it to the left, taking care to spit out all of the blood that had built up in his mouth right in the center of Soul Edge's face. He savored the moment of shock written in the evil blade's expression before gathering enough strength to answer.

"The one who freed himself of you many years ago." His voice was strong, despite blood dripping down from the sides of his mouth. "The only man who was ever able to escape your grasp."

Soul Edge narrowed his mutated crimson eyes. This child could not possibly be speaking of who he thought he was speaking of. He could not possibly mean that one soul Link had taken from him long ago. He could not possibly mean…

"Siegfried." The angelic voice called out, before succumbing to the all too tempting darkness unconsciousness offered him.

His body lurched forward almost instinctively. Breath released itself slowly and painfully while the lungs did their best to steady them. Eyes moved swiftly from side to side, helplessly, fearfully, and almost desperately. Siegfried could see nothing but the room he had been shown the night before. The room he had been told would be his until he decided to leave the mansion of the old man. There were o dungeon walls, no chains binding someone to the wall, and there was no Soul Edge torturing an elf Siegfried had cared about more than anything else in the world. What he had seen had been nothing more than a dream.

A choked sob escaped his mouth accompanying small streams of tears relentlessly clawing their way out of his eyes.

That had been…that was just so…

Cruel.

He held his knees tightly to his chest and rested his head upon him. He had known long ago that he would encounter enemies in his life. As a knight he had been almost guaranteed armies worth of adversaries in the battle torn world. Monsters, humans, weapons and spirits, everything had been a possible opponent. Every aspect of life was expected to be your worst possible enemy. But Siegfried had never expected his own mind to betray him.

It knew Link was his biggest weakness. Everyone in every world in every dimension in any parallel universe knew that. It was no big secret. Even if Siegfried wanted to hide it, which he never would in the first place, he would never be able to pull the charade off. Link was too precious to him and he would always have a special hold on the German's heart. Because of that, Siegfried would always treat the elf differently.

He would always be gentler with Link, even if he was acting foolishly. Everyone else was sure to get the riot act read followed by a look that said, 'You reek of utter stupidity'. Siegfried would always go out of his way to make Link smile, even if it were just for a second. Anybody else could simply get over it or continue to wallow in their depression. Link was always fist on the list. Anyone else was lucky to even be written down.

It was blatantly obvious that Link had Siegfried wrapped around his pretty little finger. Still, that did not give anyone the right to use that against him. Especially not his own mind. It knew that Link was special to him. It knew that seeing the boy tortured and hurt, even if it was just a dream, would kill him to the very core. So why the hell had it done that? And why had it made that dream so real?

Everything had been so clear. There were no faint spots of moments or hazed clarity. The German had seen everything perfectly, from the rust of Link's chains to the decayed skin on Soul Edge's body. He could smell the foul stench of the musty cell mixed in with the sweat coming down from Link's brow. He could feel the thickness of the air surrounding both captive and his capturer. He could practically taste the blood coming out of Link's stubborn mouth. Worse than that, he had heard every pained noise the elf had made, almost as if the two had been right next to each other. And he had been able to do nothing to stop it.

Siegfried had no idea what that was, but it was sure as hell no dream. He wanted to believe it was. More than anything he wanted to fool himself into thinking that what he had seen had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination. But who was he kidding? Nothing so terrible could be fiction. Life saved the worst of things for the real world.

A knock sounded through the air, but Siegfried was in no mood to hear it. His ears were still focused on the last thing he had heard before he had woken up. His name, Link had muttered it right before everything went black. He had called out to him, and Siegfried could do nothing. He was not even able to answer. Some help he was.

The door opened up and in waltzed Mitsurugi. By now the tears that had fallen down Siegfried's face had ceased in their decent. Maybe they decided to give the obviously distraught knight some type of break, or perhaps they knew they would not be wiped away or paid attention to. Whatever the reason, by the time the Samurai had stepped into the room, there was nothing on his solemn face to signify that he had been crying.

Still, something had seemed out of place. "What's wrong Schtauffen? Rough night?"

Siegfried did not respond. He did not so much as move.

"Siegfried?"

The knight could barely hear him now. The images, the sounds, the taste of blood on innocent lips, were clouding his mind over in a crimson mist.

Mitsurugi shook the young man when he got no verbal response. The action got him nothing. Not a twitch of the eye, not a shake of the head. Just more silence. The samurai shook a bit harder. The German stayed still. So he tried harder still. He did not get even the slightest of peeps from the dazed blonde.

It was quite unnerving. Mitsurugi knew that Siegfried was not a morning person. It did not matter who had awoken him. If it was before noon they were considered public enemy number one, and as such they were wanted dead or alive. While not one warrior would ever admit to being concerned about such a thing, they would testify to it being the reason why they had always wanted Yunseong to wake Siegfried up. That or they would need to call upon the only person Siegfried never allowed his temper to hurt. Link.

And then it hit him like a sack of thick bricks. "Link."

That managed to get him a reaction. But as he looked down at those devastatingly heartbroken eyes, he found himself missing the silence he had been wary of a second ago. "Good God, what the hell happened to you?"

"I saw," Such a soft voice. Far too dormant for a knight of great strength. "I saw him."

"Saw who?"

"Link." Came the longing reply. "He was hurt."

Mitsurugi could not follow Siegfried's train of thought. The German was not even really saying anything. Just short bursts of soft thoughts. "What are you trying to say?"

Siegfried sighed and looked down at his hands. "I fell asleep, and when I woke up I remember seeing him. Soul Edge had him and," His eyes quivered just a bit. "He called my name."

Well, while he still did not have a complete picture, he at least had the border of the puzzle. "You had a nightmare."

Siegfried shook his head. "It was so real."

Mitsurugi tried coaxing the knight out of bed. He did not have much difficulty actually getting him out of it, but he did have a bit of a problem getting him away from it. Siegfried seemed to want to stay near the last possible place he had seen Link, even if it that place had given birth to a nightmare. Because even though it had hurt him to the very core, that bad dream had been the only concrete and real time he had seen the elf in over two years. In this state the German was unable to see that nothing about that nightmare had been real at all.

"Come on," The Samurai insisted. "Let's get you into the shower so you can wake up."

Siegfried resisted him. "I am awake."

Now the Samurai was starting to panic. The longer the German spoke, the more it sounded as though he had lost the will to live. "Snap out of it Schtauffen. You had a bad dream. End of story."

"But it felt real." He insisted.

"Nightmares often do. But it was all a figment of your imagination, understand? It was not real."

Siegfried actually looked at him with disbelief. He honestly thought that Mitsurugi was lying to him. This was getting ridiculous. Mitsurugi was a patient man, and extremely lenient when it came to the younger warriors he had traveled with in the past, but even his patience had its limits. Fear was one of the few things that could put it on a very thin line, one that broke as easily as glass shattering on a patch of rocky terrain. And right now he was not ashamed to admit that he was afraid.

In a moment of uncertainty, and utter frustration, Mitsurugi brought up his hand and quickly connected it with Siegfried's face.

The clap rang out through the empty room, leaving an awkward echo in its midst. Siegfried blinked several times as Mitsurugi brought back his hand. The samurai could not keep his vision on one object for very long. His gaze kept shifting from Siegfried back to the hand he had slapped him with. His eyes were confused on whether to convey a feeling of guilt or complete satisfaction. His mind was having the same discussion.

Finally his voice decided to attempt some kind of explanation. "I'm--"

"Thank you."

The samurai looked back to the young man. "Come again?"

"I said thank you." He rubbed the side of his face with his hand. It didn't really hurt all that much, which was surprising considering who had struck him, but it was odd to feel that familiar sting again. No one had laid a hit on him since Soul Edge's defeat. "I needed that."

Mitsurugi was not quite sure how to respond to that. He had to admit it. It was strange for someone, anyone really, to thank another person for physically assaulting them, even if the assault was rather small. Still, Siegfried's voice sounded stronger than it had been a little while ago, and that apology actually seemed sincere.

"You're welcome?" So he decided that for the moment he would leave the situation as it was.

Siegfried continued to rub at his injured face. "I was pretty out of it wasn't I?"

"That's a bit of an understatement."

"Sorry." He said sincerely. His voice was sterner, a lot more like the Siegfried Mitsurugi knew. "It won't happen again."

"What the hell made it happen the first time?"

"That dream," His voice trailed off as the content of his midnight scare returned.

Mitsurugi was almost frantically trying to figure out a way to keep those thoughts from overtaking Siegfried completely. The problem was that he had no clue what this dream was about. How was he supposed to keep something at bay if he could not even know what made up its being?

"You keep talking about this dream. What happened in it to make you so disturbed?"

The German laughed. It was a brittle little thing that sounded rather pained and forced. "Disturbed? Isn't that a little harsh?"

"Trust me. I could think of a lot harsher things to say."

Siegfried knew that was probably true. "It was more of a nightmare." Siegfried admitted. "Link was chained to a wall being tortured by Soul Edge."

"What did it look like?"

The blonde scowled. "Like a burned bloody body." In fact it had looked exactly as Zelda had described. "It seemed to have no qualms about making Link squirm. It kept picking at him, kept trying to break him, both physically and emotionally."

"Did Link survive?"

Siegfried clutched his head. "I think so. He seemed to black out at the end of the dream, but I think that was more exhaustion than anything else." And also, "He called for me right before he passes out. He told Soul Edge that he was sure I would save him. Then everything turned black for the both of us."

Mitsurugi did not know what to say. He knew the knight was still somewhat distraught. It was obvious in the way he spoke, and apparent in the way he moved. There was still a part of that dream that unnerved him, even though Link had not died within it. Yes, he knew all of this. Yet, Mitsurugi had no idea how to comfort him. At best he could only offer a few kind words, but that was about it. And even then, those supposedly kind words would probably end up coming out crueler than Mitsurugi intended. He never had been good at consoling anyone.

"Are you going to be okay?" Was about the only response he could come up with. It was short, uncaring, utterly pathetic, and Mitsurugi cursed himself for it the second it left his mouth.

Siegfried simply waved him off with a tired hand. "I'll be alright. You go on ahead. I'll meet you at the breakfast table." He saw doubt rein over Mitsurugi's eyes. "I'll be fine, really, go get something to eat. And check on Epona for me while you're at it?"

The samurai stood his ground for minute, but finally relented and turned towards the exit.

Siegfried waited until he heard the familiar click of the door, before he finally collapsed back on the bed. Now that he had a moment to relax he realized…he was in pain. His senses had decided that now was the best time to bombard Siegfried with a dose of their most powerful capabilities. The light around the room seemed brighter to his fragile eyes, small noises seemed explosive to his poor ears, and even the smells around him seemed more potent to his defensive nose. It took him a second, but he realized, with a great amount of distaste, that he was in the middle of a hangover. A very painful, though somewhat delayed, hangover.

He sat up slowly, wondering how he had managed to get inside his room in the first place. Had he gotten up on his own? Had he been carried? He couldn't remember. He had obviously gone a little overboard with the drinking the night before. Maybe he should have toned it down a bit? He had drunk so much he was unable to recall anything that occurred after that first glass.

He had a very vague idea of what might have transpired. He must have told Mitsurugi what had happened to Link. That had been the purpose of the alcohol in the first place, after all. To loosen his tongue so that he would have been able to explain the unfortunate circumstances without sounding too pathetic. It might have worked a little too well if his memory had become this impaired.

Then again it might not have worked at all. All that drinking could have been for nothing. He might have just passed out after the first few drinks, or completely gone off topic and blacked out before he had the chance to say what he wanted to.

And that dream. He groaned as the remnants of that dream reached the forefront of his mind yet again. That had been such an awful nightmare, and such an odd one at that. Now that he had the time to examine it rationally, he realized how out of place it was to him. Even for a nightmare straight out of his own somewhat twisted subconscious, it was completely out of his league.

Siegfried would not deny the fact that he had dreamt of Link before. They used to be simple figments of his imagination, just little occasions the two of them would encounter in his head. Recently they had shifted to memories the two of them had shared together, just as the first dream he had experienced last night had been. But the second one…he had never had dreams quite like that one before. That was neither imaginary nor a memory of a beloved past. This one was…

It had seemed too real. He could see the blood falling from the elf's gentle lips. He was able to hear the ripping of the boy's soft skin. He could practically taste the mildew encased in the small damp cell. He could actually smell the sweat coming down from Link's soaked brow. That could not have been a dream. No dream was as clear and precise as what he had seen last night. He was willing to bet money that he had been right in assuming that it was more than just a stream of unconscious thought. So if it wasn't a dream, what was it?

His mind tried to rationalize the whole thing. Maybe it had been the after effects of retelling all that had happened to his trapped friend. Perhaps his mind had simply chosen to torture him by giving him the absolute worst possible images of what his friend was going through. So it felt real, that was normal right? All nightmares feel real when you're trapped within its grasp. That is, after all, what makes them so scary. So if he kept thinking along those lines, then all he had to do to avoid dreaming about things like that again, was to not tell anyone else just how much trouble Link was in. He would just have to avoid thinking about how much danger the young blonde was in, and how pain he must have been suffering.

Siegfried blinked. He would need to stop thinking about those things fairly soon, lest his sanity be lost with the sands of time. In fact he would have to forget about that dream altogether. He was thinking about it far too much, his logics were conflicting with one another and his minds thoughts were beginning to repeat themselves.

Groggily, he stood up and made his way around the room in a blurred frenzy. Finding clothes, putting them on, trying to figure out what time it was, all done with a sloppy precision the knight was surprisingly able to pull off. The alcohol he consumed the night before was now starting to fully work against his system, lending him a horrible nausea to add to the horrible headache pounding against his skull.

Throughout the course of getting ready he mentally told himself over and over again that he would never do something so stupid again. Next time, that princess was opening her mouth and telling the story herself. The only reason he had explained it in the first place was because he had no idea how Mitsurugi was going to react. For all Siegfried knew, Zelda could have been killed the second she took the blame for what had happened to her young hero. That was not the result Siegfried wanted, or needed for that matter. As much as it killed him to say it, he needed her alive. So he took it upon himself to tell a story that killed him a little more on the inside every time he uttered another word.

He would never make that mistake again.

"Link," He whispered miserably. "I should have never let you leave this world."

That had been the real reason for his disappearance all those years ago. That had been the motive for isolating himself from all those who cared about him. That had been his ammunition that he used to punish himself with. He had left Link leave this world, and he was pretty sure he could have stopped the departure. After all he and Link had been friends, good friends, and they would have done anything for each other. Or at least, Siegfried would have done anything for Link.

He should have asked him to stay. Maybe none of this would have happened if he had. But he had been scared. Scared of the rejection, scared of the result, scared of what that question really meant to him, and scared of what that question might mean to Link. In the end it had been easier to just let go. Let go of those amazing blue eyes, let go of that angelic voice, and let go of that absolutely amazing smile.

And what good had that really done him? Now, Link had become nothing but a memory. A precious memory that would be all he had left of Link if he were to betray his friend's trust, and arrive too late to save him.

MistressOfTime1218: And there you have it. Three chapters of one of my favorite stories. Though it is a bit shorter than what I had wanted, and the ending isn't really up to my expectations. But it got the job done.

K-Chan: Finally! You'd think that you'd given up on this the way you kept putting off the posting date.

MistressOfTime1218: Never!

StormBlitz: Well I'm just happy you put this out, but you've made a lot of people unhappy. I wouldn't be surprised if your readers stopped looking at this.

MistressOfTime1218: I know, I know. So in an attempt to make up for my lack of updating I propose a peace offering. Any reader who feels like they want more may ask me for a one-shot involving this story, in fact please do so if you really want one. Or they can choose another fandom. If I know about it I'll try to write for you. Consider it my way of apologizing for keeping you all waiting.

DarkMist: Any limitations?

MistressOfTime1218: Nada. It can be AU, or romance, or dark angst, absolutely anything you want. It really doesn't even have to be SiegfriedXLink, though I think most would want to. The choice is yours.

StormBlitz: Finally! I want Marth!

DarkMist: Ike first!

K-Chan: You better do Roy!

MistressOfTime1218: Whoa! I said readers get to choose.

K-Chan: We do read this!

DarkMist: And after all the times you made us reread it, we better get some kind of treat for not killing you!

MistressOfTime1218: (Backing up) Fine, fine, I'll do it. But only because I love you guys. (Grabs laptop) What do you guys want?

K-Chan: I want a Roy and Link Halloween fic. A murder mystery, or haunted encounter, whatever, but make it creepy.

MistressOfTime1218: I'll do my best, but it might not make it in time for Halloween.

K-Chan: I suppose that will be fine. But I expect you to add on once other holidays arrive. Including my birthday!

MistressOfTime1218: Good grief.

DarkMist: I want Ike angst. Don't care what he angst's about, just make it make it angsty.

MistressOfTime1218: I think I can do that.

StormBlitz: Like I said, I want Marth. Marth and Link would be good and I want a confrontation between Marth and Siegfried. Have Marth give him an encouraging yet discouraging speech about Link at the same time.

K-Chan: Did that make sense? At all?

MistressOfTime1218: That's ok. I think I have a good idea on what to do anyway. So the rest of you are all welcomed to do what these three just did. Just send me the details and I'll get to work.