A/N: I own nothing except a copy of this great game. Second note: A single singer is demarked in italics "like this", while a crowd singing is demarked "like this."
PRESENT
No one really noticed her return in the midst of the cheers and celebrations. As sing and dance began to fill the air, she was like a shadow fading away in the shade. She staggered through the camp, not even bothering to say hello to any of the soldiers that happened to be awake that night. She just kept moving, knowing that if she stopped she was going to cry.
She found her foxhole, the little thing at the far end of the line and up high that was as far away from Cia's castle as possible. She stumbled into it, nearly hitting her head on the rocky ground. She sat down at the very bottom of the dig, and curled herself up into a ball, bringing her knees in to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. She rocked back and forth slightly.
Only then, after letting out a sort of strangled sob, did she start to cry.
…-…
Twelve hours earlier…
Lana sat on the rock, staring down into the valley. In relation to the rest of the army, she was near the top of the mountain range that they had taken cover on. Every couple of hours, there was a hellish sound of whistling and then explosions as Manhandla Stalk* seeds burst through the air and the mountain, throwing up dirt and earth and splintering wood. She was getting desensitized to it all. She didn't like that.
They'd been stuck here for about four days now. After the ambush artillery strikes had completely halted their advance, the forces of light had been forced to improvise. Lana had watched as Lord Gawain took command of the situation, mere minutes after that hellish first bombardment, as the general air of the army was somewhere between confusion and outright panic.
"Get shovels, pick-axes, whatever can cut into the earth." He'd ordered to the various heroes and commanders. "If you can, cut down some trees and use them for redoubts and roadblocks." He'd turned to the Ravager captains in particular. "You all have done us a damned good service with your blitzkrieg warfare, but here that's suicide. This is siege warfare. We're going to dig in tight as a tick, and from there work on shaking Cia loose from her hold."
The majority of the first day had been a flurry of activity. The hillside of the mountain was littered with holes and wooden walls to barricade the trenches, and at night nary a light could be seen. Lana was part of the lucky few that were placed up near the top of the mountain face, just out of range of the barrage…but the majority of the forces were littered throughout the lower ranges of the mountain and even in the small forest at the base of the rocks. Whenever the whistles from hell began, the cries to take cover were always louder down there.
The second day was brutal. Lana and Itami had gathered as many Ravager shaman and Hyrulian doctors and built a makeshift medical tent at the very top of the defensive line, far away from the range of the Manhandla stalks. The general rules of war were to avoid targeting a place of recovery like a hospital, but Lana figured that Cia was well past the point of caring about rules and regulations. So on one hand, that meant that the hospital was safe. On the other hand, that just made the trip for the wounded longer. And the climb for their comrades transporting them even more arduous. She could close her eyes and still hear the screams and cries of the injured and the dying.
They took harsh casualties, and had been playing catch-up ever since. Ryu, that crazed warrior, had suffered major bleeding from cuts to the face and arms and was even dealing with a possible concussion. She had had to be strait-jacketed so that Itami could treat her, because she refused to leave the rest of the forces down in the "death forest" to die without her. Her foxhole was right in the thick of things, and she repeatedly refused efforts to get her to come back up into a safer spot on the mountain. If she was going to die, she was dying with her men.
Captain Dorias, that brave Skyloftian chap, had suffered a badly sprained ankle during the initial retreat. He kept fighting orders to stay in the med tent and heal, but eventually the stern words of Itami kept him in place. He'd been spending his time hastily scribbling down on whatever pieces of paper he could find. Whenever he was asked about it, he acted as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Why, these are notes for a book I'll write!" He said. "You don't think I plan on dying here, do you? Those buggers will have to try a lot harder than this to get me!"
Lana smiled a little bit, as she thought back to the upper-class gentleman's indignation at being cooped up in the medical tent. She was growing fond of that mustachioed fellow. She hoped that he would make it back home to Skyloft, where his wife and children must be worried sick.
She tensed a little bit when she heard the sounds of whistling in the air. She watched as a few Manhandla seeds lazily arched through the air, slamming into the ground and splintering trees down in the forest below. It didn't seem like there were any casualties. But she would know soon enough.
All throughout the defensive line, the heroes were scattered. Darunia and Ruto were to the western flank, providing moral support for that portion of the army. Fi and Midna were insistent on taking the area directly behind the death forest, so that whenever someone was being transported up the mountainside to be treated they were travelling through "the safest damned part of the line" as Midna had so eloquently put it. Agitha was being kept up at the peak of the mountain, along with Zelda and Link. Impa and Ishaka were directly next to them, in smaller tents in between the medical tent and the command tent. The Sheikah warrior and the Ravager commander frequently risked their safety by patrolling the line, offering support and relief to anyone that they saw.
That left her up here, tending to the med tent while on duty and sleeping amongst Ravagers at night.
It was somewhat adorable, really. These people, dirty and tattooed and looking rather scary in their war paint and scruffy clothes, treated her with nothing but the highest of respect. Curse-laden stories were tempered in her presence, as if they feared offending her ears. Drunks seemed to miraculously sober. And even the most ornery of folk would bow their heads slightly and mutter "Hullo, miss Lana" before resuming whatever it was that they were up to. She was flattered…and yet a little embarrassed at the same time. She wasn't a queen, but they seemed to treat her as one all the same.
There was a gentle breeze in the air. She closed her tired eyes, and let it wash over her. It was cool and refreshing. And there was no sign of the Manhandla bombs about to resume. Most likely they were reloading, or simply taking time to let the forces of light marinate in their pain and suffering. Her Deku spear was resting on her lap, and the feathers that she kept tucked in her hair were flapping slightly in the breeze.
"Miss Lana!" A voice cut through the air. She opened her eyes and quickly turned over to where the voice was coming. It was one of the Ravagers, and he was frantically waving her over. It was at that moment that she realized she'd been blocking out a lot of sound, and just now realized that there was a lot of commotion coming from nearby the medical tent. She hopped off of the rock she was sitting on, and raced over towards the old man. His skin was clearly starting to wrinkle, despite the many strips of face paint he had put on.
"What?" She asked. The Ravager looked pale with worry.
"It's…it's my son! They got my son!" He said. "Please help him!" He grabbed her by the wrist, and rushed her over to the medical tent.
…
They got inside the tent to see chaos in front of a bed. Itami glanced over from the folks that he was currently trying to tend to, saw Lana, and pointed over to the corner. He was unable to take care of this himself; it was going to be on her to take lead.
There was a cadre of Ravagers crowding the bed, all of them trying and really failing to come up with some sort of medical care for their injured friend. She pushed through, and got to the side of the bed. It was a young man lying on the cloth, writhing in pain and bawling like a wounded animal. His face was covered in blood, with a clear and present gash on his forehead that looked deep. There were burns along the left side of his body, and his clothes were either blackened or shorn off into rags.
"What happened?" She asked, assessing the situation.
"Seed hit like five feet from him." One of the Ravagers said. "He pushed Rock over here out of the way." He gestured to a baby-faced Ravager who couldn't be older than seventeen, who was catatonic at the sight in front of him. Lana thought about snapping her fingers, but decided on a different course of action.
"Rock? ROCK!" She said. The young man blinked, snapping out of his reverie. He turned to look at her. "Get me a washcloth. I need to clean his face." The young man nodded, and sprinted off, nearly stumbling over himself. Lana turned to the rest of the group. "Someone get me a knife; I need to cut his shirt off. See if he suffered any serious wounds."
Almost immediately, several hands shot out, each holding a knife. If she hadn't been looking, she might have been poked in the eye.
"Goddesses, one at a time!" She said. She snatched the least-ugliest looking knife, and made an incision down the center of the boy on the bed's tunic. Once that was done, she put her hand inside one of the flaps. Another Ravager grabbed the other side, and they yanked the shirt apart.
The poor kid was covered in burns, but thankfully there wasn't anything blown out of him and there wasn't anything big sticking in him. There was a chunk of wood in his side, right by the the rib, but that wasn't anywhere near a vital organ. He would live. But that was dependent on getting him to calm down.
"Washcloth!" Rock shouted, forcing his hand through the crowd and pushing the wet rag in Lana's face. She grabbed it, and turned to one of the Ravagers standing around her.
"What's his name?" She asked.
"Cecil." The father said, breaking his silence. "His name is Cecil."
"Cecil?" Lana asked, turning towards the pained Ravager on the bed. She started dabbing the boy's forehead, washing off the blood. "Cecil, look at me. Look at me."
Amidst his pained thrashing, she could see his eyes flit over towards her. He was breathing rapidly and very shallow as well. She smiled.
"That's right. Look at me. Look at me. Everything is going to be alright." She was still looking him in the eye when she spoke to the group. "Can someone get me some of Itami's brew to stop cuts? We need to clot that cut on his forehead."
Within moments, someone had returned with a bowl of the stuff. Lana grabbed it in her hand, and turned to look at Cecil.
"Cecil? Cecil, I'm going to give you something that will help you. It's going to hurt, but it's going to help you. Trust me." Gingerly, she dabbed the viscous paste in the cut.
Almost immediately, Cecil began howling in pain and thrashing about as the stinging set in. It nearly knocked the bowl out of Lana's hands. Thinking swiftly, Lana set it down on the ground and then grabbed Cecil's hand in hers. Resting her other hand on his cheek, she looked him in the eye.
"Cecil? Cecil! Look at me. Look at me." She cooed softly. "It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay. I'm going to help you. You're okay. You're okay."
The thrashing stopped, save for a few pained spasms. The young man was practically dry-heaving in pain, but started to calm down. His breathing slowed. He was gripping her hand so hard that it was starting to hurt, but she didn't change her expression. She kept looking him in the eyes, humming a soft lullaby fit for a princess*.
"Lana?"
She almost didn't hear him at first. He had to say it again before she looked towards him. It was Itami, resting his hand on her shoulder.
"Lana, I can take it from here." He said. He looked exhausted and his eyes were baggy and bloodshot, but there was no denying the grateful look in his eyes. "Thank you." Gently, Lana let go of Cecil's hand. Itami turned over to look at the father. "It's alright, Kluya. Your son's gonna be okay."
The old Ravager gave a strangled sob, and threw himself into Lana's arms, hugging her tightly and sobbing into her shoulder. She was a little bit stunned, but tentatively patted him on the back.
"There, there." She managed to say. The man broke the embrace, his hands on her shoulders and staring her in the eye.
"You saved my boy. My only son…you…are an angel, miss Lana." He whispered through tears. Lana blushed at the undue attention and nodded dumbly.
"Th-thank you."
"Heyo, Lana?"
They all turned to see that Ishaka had stuck his head into the medical tent.
"Y-yes?" She asked. The Ravager commander cleared his throat.
"Th' princess needs yeh in th' comman' tent. Yeh ok ta leave?"
"She's cleared." Itami said. "I'm in control of things in here." He gestured for her to follow Ishaka out the tent flap and into the open.
…
They walked through the rocks, making sure not to trip and fall on the jagged and unstable path.
"Yeh ok?" Ishaka asked. Lana nodded.
"Yes, just…tired. It's been very busy in the medical tent. Itami and I are working hard to save as many people as we can. I'm glad that there were shamans and Hyrulian doctors with us when the first strike hit. Otherwise I think that the two of us would have been overwhelmed." She said.
"I feel bad fer yeh." Ishaka said. "Tha' was my faul', leadin' m'men so damned close inta a trap like tha'. It's bad fer morale."
"You're fine, Ishaka." Lana admonished him. "No one would have expected Cia…setting up something like that, of that strength." Something about what she'd just said gave her pause. Ishaka raised an eyebrow.
"Yeh alrigh', miss Lana?" He asked.
"Fine. Just…it's nothing, don't worry about it." She turned towards Ishaka. "What do you need me for?"
"Zelda wanted yeh ta be part o' th' plan." Ishaka said. "We're thinkin' o' doin' summin' big ta git them Manhan'la stalks."
"What about Itami?"
"He don't need ta be bother'd." Ishaka said. "He best off in th' med tent."
They reached the tent that was set up for the command. Uhaa was standing at the doorway, spear in hand. He hadn't even had a proper ceremony yet to be inducted into the Royal Guardsmen, so he was still wearing his Ravager clothing. Ishaka smirked at the young man, who subtly exchanged the glance as well. Both Lana and the Ravager commander got a small kick out of how quickly Uhaa was adjusting to the policy of public stoicism that all Royal Guardsmen had to maintain.
They stepped inside the tent to see that a group was already gathered around the table in the middle. Well, table was an exaggeration. It was two boxes places on top of each other, with a flat piece of wood from a fallen tree that Darunia had pulled apart with his bare hands to use as a table top. Zelda, Gawain, Link, Impa, the aforementioned Goron King, and Midna were looking over something on the table. Agitha, Fi and Ruto were sitting off to the corner. Fi seemed to be listening intently to the conversation going around the table, while Agitha and Fi seemed to be playing patty-cake. Well, Agitha was definitely playing. Ruto was most likely doing it to keep the young girl happy and distracted. Meathook was sleeping in the corner, Agitha having been insistent that he come in the tent with the rest of them.
"It's suicide." Impa said, folding her arms across her chest dismissively. Darunia threw his hands up in the air with exasperation.
"You're too conservative, sister Impa! Fortune favors the bold, you know?" He said.
"Kind of hard to be bold when we're pinned down by sky-fire." Midna deadpanned. Zelda shot her a glance.
"Easy, Midna. Snark isn't helping anything right now."
"It's helping me…" Midna muttered to herself. Ignoring her comment, Zelda smiled at the sight of the two newest entrants to the tent.
"Lana, Ishaka. Welcome. We were just in the middle of planning out something." Zelda said. She gestured to Gawain. "Lord Gawain, would you like to fill them in?"
"Yes, certainly." The young man said. Lana looked at him and winced. He was in his late twenties, not quite thirty, and yet he was starting to look much older than his age. "Here, take a look." He gestured for the two of them to come in closer. There on the map was a scribbled out version of what the Valley of Seers looked like. Lana thought that it wasn't too far off, if slightly vague. There were several red scribbled rings to the side of the map. "Each of those circles is where our scouts think that the Manhandla stalks are." Lord Gawain said. "It was damned risky, and we didn't send them any closer than was safe, but…Fi, what were the odds?"
"I calculated with a 78% percent chance that those locations are correct." The floating sword-lady said.
"Not exactly heartening." Midna said. "No offense, swordy."
"None taken."
"Disheartening or not, it's the best odds we've got." Gawain said. "Now, normally I would organize coordinated assaults to strike these points…but there's a slight problem with the Hyrulian method." He tapped his shining metal breastplate. "We can be seen and heard pretty easily. So…" He turned to Ishaka. "That's where I'm going to need your help, big man."
"Oh?" Ishaka asked, grinning slightly. "An' what would tha' be fer?" Gawain stared him directly in the eyes.
"I want you to get the meanest, nastiest and fastest son-of-bitches in the Ravagers army. The quietest, the swiftest, and the ones that work a knife like artists work a canvas. The fuckers who would kill you in your sleep before you even knew that they had beef with you. And I want…twenty of them. Have them sitting outside of this tent and await for further orders from me." He said. Ishaka grinned. It wasn't a pleasant sight.
"Done." He walked away and out the tent. Midna shivered, and rubbed her shoulders.
"Oof. That guy can be scary when he wants to be."
"You need men like him in war." Gawain said. "I'm happy to work with him." He turned to Zelda. "Your highness, I'm going to need the Hero for this one too."
"Link?" Zelda asked. "Why?"
"He is very swift on his feet, and doesn't carry that much armor. And…you have to admit there's something lucky about the air around him. I wouldn't mind that rubbing off on this mission." He turned to the Hero in question. "I hope you don't mind, do you?" Link blinked once, and shook his head.
"Not at all, sir. I'll do my part." He said. Gawain smiled.
"Drop the sir, Link. As far as I'm concerned, you are my equal. If anything, I'm your subordinate. Such is the manner of the Hero." He cleared his throat, and tapped the map. "There are four major Manhandla stalk locations within reason. If we can get them all, then we can provide some relief for the men and women stuck in the death forest…and maybe buy some time to reassemble the main army while Cia tries to reshuffle her lines."
"Not a bad plan, kiddo!" Darunia boomed, clapping the Lord of War on the back. "The Goron King of this age will love having a strong-minded man of your type to converse with."
"If he's anything like you, I think I'll manage." He said. He turned to Zelda. "I'm going to send out runners. I want forty of the swiftest men we have in the army to be at this tent for instructions. I'm taking personal command of this mission." He looked at the map. "We're going to break their back with this one."
…
As they all walked out the tent and into the open, they were greeted with an eerie sight. Twenty Ravagers were in front of the tent, sitting indian style and staring up at the Lord of War with blank expressions. Zelda recognized Ryu in the front and center, and shuddered with the ease that the Ravager captain was able to go from gregarious to cold in a manner of moments. Ishaka stood in front of them all, a big grin on his lips, and a rolled up cigarette in his mouth.
"Yeh ask'd. I d'liver." Ishaka said. Lord Gawain blinked once.
"…Good work, Ishaka. All of you, stay here, I suppose. We will gather the rest of the forces and I will brief you as soon as I possibly can."
In unison, the Ravagers nodded.
…
"Ishaka."
The Ravager captain turned to see Impa walking up to him.
"Yeah, Sheikah?"
"You are not going on this mission?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip. Ishaka shook his head, puffing smoke out of his mouth and nose as he spoke.
"Naw. I be too big fer this 'un. Too loud. Don't fit th' gen'ral's style."
"Well, I am both disappointed and relieved at the same time." Impa said. Ishaka raised an eyebrow.
"Why be that?" He asked. Impa shrugged.
"I'm disappointed because I know that you are a good soldier, and I know that you must want to be there with your men. After all, this is the sort of thing that you would probably excel at." She said. Ishaka looked at her expectantly, and raised an eyebrow.
"An' yer r'lieved 'cuz…"
"…Zelda is forbidding me from going, either." Impa said with a frown. She looked pouty, like a teenage girl being denied her wish for a pony on her birthday. Ishaka let out a snort of laughter, and then held it in. He looked at her with buggy eyes.
"No shit? Wha' fer?" He asked. Impa's pout seemed to increase.
"She doesn't want so many high-ranking officials out on a dark mission like this, even though this is precisely the thing that I am trained for." Impa said. "I trained every single one of the soldiers that Lord Gawain picked for this raid. They are excellent. I should be out there with them. Zelda knows that, and she doesn't want me out there."
"Gotta let th' li'l birdies fly, Sheikah." Ishaka offered. Impa shook her head.
"I know. And also…also I think that there's another reason why she's keeping me back."
"Wha's that?" Ishaka asked. Impa looked around conspiratorially.
"I think she wants someone to vent to while she frets about Link."
"Why would she fret 'bout…" Ishaka trailed off when Impa gave him a pointed 'are you serious?' look. "….Oh." He said. Then his eyes widened. "Oh!" He had a massive grin on his face. "Hee-hee-hee!" He giggled. "Th' princess an' th' 'ero? Fer real?"
"What, did you not notice?" Impa asked, incredulously. "How could you not-" She stopped, and looked incredibly smug. "You didn't noooootice…" She said in a triumphant little sing-song voice. Ishaka stared at her blankly, and then scowled.
"Aw, fuck."
He reached into his pocket, and tossed Impa a few rupees. He cleared his throat.
"So, uh, she worry 'bout him?"
"Oh my goddess." Impa said, rolling her eyes so far back into her head that she could nearly see her own thoughts. "She doesn't shut up about him. Especially not recently, after she kissed him-keep it down!" She hissed, as Ishaka was starting to howl like a wolf. "Goddess, you're an ordo. Yes, you nitwit, she's head over heels for him. She won't stop going on about how nice and sweet he is, how interesting he is, how he cares about her and others…and how relaxed he is around her to show him what he's really like, it's so sugary sweet I feel my teeth rotting just telling you about it!" She sighed, and stared wistfully at the tent where the princess was no doubt resting. "And at the same time, it's adorable. She hasn't been this happy since when her father was still alive. It's just…tiring. I forgot how tiring a happy and excitable Zelda is." She looked back at Ishaka, and saw he had a positively shit-eating grin. "Oh, fuck off. I'm allowed to be happy for my friend."
"O'course!" Ishaka said. "He took a puff from his cigarette, and then blanched. "Bah, this thing ain't nuttin' c'mpared ta my pipe. Ah well." He looked at her and grinned. "Yeh e'er 'ave one o' those yerself?"
"What do you mean?" Impa asked. Then she caught the subtext. "Oh. No, nothing like that."
Ishaka stared pointedly at her.
"Well, there was this Sheikah boy I knew when we were just kids. When we were teens I thought he was cute and-why am I telling you this?" Impa interrupted herself. "That's private!"
"Appar'ntly not, consid'rin' yeh wer openin' up 'bout it." Ishaka said. Impa rolled her eyes.
"And I imagine you're a regular disciple of Nayru* yourself, hmm?" She asked. Ishaka cackled, and shook his head.
"Me? Nah, nuttin' like that. A few sweet ladies, but nuttin' serious b'tween any o' them. Part'd on good terms, I guess. Even Ryu."
"Ryu?" Impa asked, bug-eyed and trying not to laugh. "You had a thing with Ryu?"
"Naw, nuttin' like that!" Ishaka said. "At a big ol' fire an' drinkin' party, she came up ta me, drunk'r than a Goron king, said summin' I think was suppos'd ta be a pick-up line, and plant'd a big ol' kiss on me. Had ta 'ave Itami wrench 'er offa me wit' a crowbar! 'Course, then she spott'd a few good lookin' gals, an' start'd chattin' 'em up too. Fergot 'bout me."
Impa put a hand to her face to try not to laugh.
"Love be tough, Sheikah. What can I say?" Ishaka shrugged. Impa nodded.
"I agree." She turned around and looked towards the rest of the camp. "They haven't fired shells at us for a while. Must be reloading. It's getting dark, too."
"They prob'ly waitin' fer night. Best chance ta cause mass panic."
"Well, I think that, if all goes as planned, we'll be the ones causing mass panic for once." Impa said. Ishaka's grin behind her, unseen by the Sheikah, was positively wolf-like.
"Oh. No doubt."
…
They were all standing in front of him, standing ramrod straight. He was pacing back and forth in front of them, looking at the ground.
"At ease." He said. All sat down on their knees in front of him. Lord Gawain cleared his throat.
"It's getting late. In an hour it will be sunset." He said. He looked at the sixty men and women in front of him. "Once upon a time, I was a common crook. I robbed. I stole. I threatened, and I did shady things. And the first thing that I learned? Silence is golden." He turned to face the group. "This is one of those missions. There are four targets. There will only be fifteen of you at each target. If they spot you before you are in position, you will be decimated. This is a mission of utmost secrecy. When the sun falls, you move."
He stopped pacing, and stared at them with steely eyes.
"I was once a crook. And I ran with some dangerous fellows. I know what these sorts of missions require. The rules of war? Fair play? Don't matter. They are irrelevant to the task at hand."
A murmur went through the crowd, mostly the Hyrulians. Lord Gawain drew a knife from his hip.
"Anything that you need to use with two hands? Don't bring. Two archers per team. No more. Carry only the clothes on your back, and a weapon that can cut throats swiftly. You are to be the last thing that they never see. Am I clear?"
Sixty heads nodded in unison.
"Any questions?" Lord Gawain asked. Ryu, who was sitting front and center, stood upright.
"Permission to speak, Lord?" She asked.
"Granted." He said.
"Rules for prisoners?" She asked. Lord Gawain paused, and then for a brief moment something changed in his expression. For a moment in time, Zelda and Impa watched off to the side as the Hyrulian Lord of War once again was a small-time crook.
"One if you can. Otherwise it is no concern of mine. And if you do take one…put the fear of hell in him. That makes my job easier." He said. Ryu nodded. "One more thing." Lord Gawain added. "However you wish to…disguise yourself…go nuts." He walked away. Ryu nodded, and drew a knife.
"C'mere, boy!" She barked to a young Hyrulian soldier. Uncertainly, he walked forward. Suddenly, Ryu was taking her knife and cutting off his hair. In a few moments, all that was left of his healthy clump of black hair was a jagged Mohawk down the center of his scalp. She reached for something in her pocket, and unscrewed the jar. She dipped her fingers into the black substance, and rubbed it underneath and around his eyes. Then she took some white powder and tossed it in his face, smearing it everywhere the black hadn't gotten. In a few moments, the young boy looked like a walking corpse. In the gloam, he was no longer a boy but now a terrifying wraith. Something seemed to have come over him as well. Perhaps it was the war paint, but now he seemed to be standing a little taller, his chest puffed out a little bit more. He nodded, and returned to the ranks. Ryu turned to the rest of them.
"Who's next?"
Hastily, the remaining men and women formed a line.
Thirty minutes later, all sixty of the strike force were prepped for war. Everyone had their hair shorn into various mohawks. Various markings and tribal paint adorned their cheeks and faces. Princess Zelda watched them all shuffle down the way towards the death forest, knowing that they would mull around in Fi and Midna's area of the camp until night fall. That left her little time.
She waited for an opportunity, and then grabbed the arm of the one she wanted.
"Gackpth!" Link grunted, as Zelda pulled him off to the side.
They were in between two tents, away from everyone else. Zelda looked behind them to make sure no one had noticed, and then turned to look at Link. She covered her mouh to muffle her scream of shock.
"G-Goddess, you are scary-looking." She managed to mutter.
Link's golden-blonde hair had been cut into a Mohawk just like most of the men and women in the strike force. He had applied black face paint around his eyes, and blood-red stripes across the bridge of his nose and onto his cheeks. He looked nothing like the Hero of the Era. But then he looked sheepish, and Zelda started giggling.
"Oh, oh dear. Now I can't take you seriously." Zelda giggled. "That…that haircut and the facepaint in this light…it makes your head look huge!" She was trying so hard not to burst out laughing. Link frowned.
"Hey! I'm trying…to look tough…here?" He trailed off, realizing that it wasn't working on her. Then he lowered his head so that he was sort of looking upwards at her, and then spoke again in a gravelly voice. "Well, excuse me princess."
"Eep!" Zelda gasped. She frowned, and smacked him upside the head. "Don't ever say that again! That was scary!" Link chuckled. It sounded like an 'aw, hyuck' sound.
"Sorry." He said. "I'm trying to get into character." Zelda frowned.
"Well, not yet!" She looked at the ground. As she did, her hands found Link's, and linked them in hers. "I'm…I'm confident that this is the right mission, but…" Link sensed what she was thinking about, and smiled.
"Don't worry about it, Zelda." He said. "I'll be fine! And I'll come back to you, in one piece. Hopefully not on a hospital bed." He said, smirking.
Suddenly, before he knew what was going on, Zelda had cupped his head in her hands and pulled him in for a deep and passionate kiss. His eyes widened in shock, and then he closed them, enjoying this moment. Almost as soon as it started, though, it was over. She looked at him coyly.
"You'd better. Or so help me I will kick your ass." She said. Link chuckled.
"That's the princess I know." He said. She rolled her eyes.
"Just go, you silly Hero." She said. Link nodded, but then his eyes widened.
"Oh! Here." He tapped his head, and Zelda watched as Proxi flew out. "Keep an eye on her, Proxi."
"You got it, Link!" The fairy glittered. She flew into Zelda's chest, creating a warm feeling within the princess as the fairy merged with her thoughts. Zelda just rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Just…stay out of trouble, you goofball." She said. Link looked at her and winked.
"When have I ever done otherwise?" He asked teasingly, before disappearing into the night.
…
Zelda walked back up the path, trying to be as discreet as possible. Nightfall was essentially upon them, and a few brave souls were daring to start a campfire in defiance of the Manhandla stalks. Those in the forest below weren't so stupid, but those that were out of range dared. Part of it was hubris. Part of it was planned: the enemy would be so focused on lining up their shots that they wouldn't see the strike forces sneaking up under their noses.
Zelda walked past one such fire, not noticing the two sitting by it. Until…
"Hey, Zelda."
Oh no.
She turned slowly, rigidly, as she saw her lieutenant and the Ravager captain staring her in the eye. It was getting dark, but there was no denying the smug look on their faces.
"Hey, uh, Zelda?" Ishaka asked. "Yeh got a li'l summin' righ' 'ere…" He gestured under his cheek. "An' 'ere…" He moved his finger to his other cheek. "An' 'ere…" He pointed to his forehead.
Instinctively, Zelda touched under her cheek. When she looked at her finger, she saw that it was covered in the dark paint that had been all over Link's face. She was silent, staring at them expressionlessly. Waiting.
Ishaka was quiet. Impa was silent. They looked at her. And then they turned to look at each other. And then, in unison, they burst into laughter.
Zelda felt her face burning with embarrassment. She did the only thing that she could think of to save face.
She flipped them off, and then stomped to her tent.
Unfortunately for her, that just made them laugh harder.
…
Lost in the middle of this merriment was the fact that another reconnaise mission was started. Though, unlike the other one, this was a mission for one person. And it was unknown by all except for the one that was undertaking it.
She'd avoided the guardsmen with ease. She was like a leaf blown in the wind, impossible to catch and barely visible to the eye. She felt the wind howling in her ear as she raced through the rocks, and in a manner of moments she was well out of the safety of the Hyrulian line and into the no-mans land in between forces. She was a blur on the horizon, so swift and so soft that it was impossible to hear her.
She had one mission in mind. She only hoped that she had the guts for it.
…
They lay on a rock overlooking the fortification. A squadron of Bokoblins, a Lizalfos, and what looked like an armored Moblin stood guard over the Manhandla stalk, which seemed to be dormant. Link felt someone nudge him. It was Ryu. She looked like a ghoul in her face paint.
"The other groups should be in place by now. What do you think?" She asked. Link nodded. "Thought so. Stay behind me, Hero-boy. Let the bad bitch go to work."
She silently slid down the rock like snake, with Link daintily following after her. They came to a rest about fifteen feet from the nearest enemy, crouching low in some high grass. Link glanced around and saw that the rest of the team was lining up like predators coiled to strike. The two archers were up top, most likely aiming at the Lizalfos. Ryu made a little whistling noise, like a bird. One stupid Bokoblin ambled over, wondering if it was food to eat. As soon as he was at arm's length away, the two of them sprung. Link wrapped his arms around the beast's mouth, while Ryu stabbed it in the neck. They dragged the dying and struggling beast into the brush, and then quietly finished it off. Wiping the blood off of his face, Link drew the knife he'd taken (the Master Sword stood safely back at the camp) and crept forward in the dark. He felt Ryu right behind him. They were directly behind the Lizalfos captain now. Then, with a cry, Link lunged.
He buried his knife in the throat of the Lizalfos before it even knew what was going on. The rest of the Hyrulian warriors and Ravagers burst out of the brush, crashing into the defensive squadron before anyone knew what had happened. The Moblin captain was legitimately beaten to death by five Hyrulians, and the Manhandla stalk was decapitated with the swing of a felled Moblin's spear that Link had picked up.
All enemies lay dead, and it had taken less than two minutes.
"Good work." Ryu whispered. "Give it ten minutes, then we rig the place with bombs and get the hell out of dodge. Salt the earth, too. Don't want them growing more Manhandlas."
As soon as she was finished speaking, several Ravagers began placing gunpowder and torch oil around the ground. Someone was shaking salt in the space where the Manhandla had once been. In a few minutes, this place would be unusable. Link sat down on the tree stump at the edge of the outpost, and sighed. That was rather easy.
…
This was going to be difficult.
She had made her way deep into enemy lines. The magic that caused her to be invisible and odorless took a bit out of her, but it wasn't anything beyond her capabilities. And now here she was. Right where she wanted to be.
Inside the castle ruins.
She leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath. She pressed herself against the wall in fear when she saw a patrol of Moblins come sauntering by. They were mumbling something about something that she didn't want to know or find out about, and then disappeared without having given any indication that they'd seen her. She exhaled. She looked down the hall to the place where she needed to go. She took another deep breath, and prayed that this would not end in her death. Calmly, she disappated her invisibility spell, and walked down the hall.
…
She was sitting on her throne in the darkened room lit only by a few candles that gave a strong smell of incense, slouching to the side of the chair. Resting her head against her knuckles, she fiddled with the broken pieces of the crystal ball in her lap. She couldn't really see anything, anymore. Not after that horrible night. She felt tired. She felt hurt. But most of all, she felt something that she hadn't felt in a long time.
"You know I can sense you." Cia said with a bored tone, not looking up from her lap.
There was a pause. And then, slowly, the intruder made herself known by stepping out of the shadows.
"Cia." Lana said quietly.
"Hmm." Cia said, still fiddling with the crystal ball pieces as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
"I-it's me. Lana."
"I know."
There was another long silence. Lana cleared her throat.
"Um, don't you want to know-"
"No, because I already know." Cia said with a bored tone. Now, she actually turned to look at Lana. The white sorceress shuddered at the contemptuous gaze her other half was giving her. "You're here to talk to me. You're wasting your time. I don't want to talk to you. I don't need to talk to you. If anything, I should kill you."
"If you wanted to kill me, you'd have done it a long time ago." Lana said firmly, trying to be resolute. At this Cia laughed. It was a haughty noise.
"Oh, look at you! Being so tough and brave. A far cry from the last time that we spoke, if I remember correctly."
"Last time we talked, you tried to kill me." Lana said. Cia snorted dismissively.
"A rather jaundiced account, if you ask me. After all, you were trying to stop me from doing what needed to be done." She said. Lana did a double-take.
"D-doing what needed to be done? You wanted to start a war! That's precisely the kind of thing that we weren't supposed to do as the Guardian of Time."
"We?" Cia asked, snidely. "I don't know about any we, Lana. I am the Sorceress of Time here. And, if I recall correctly, you never had any objection to that fact before."
"Well, I didn't." Lana said. "But that's beside the point. You had a job, Cia! A job that you've forsaken because of what? You can't handle it? This was the responsibility that you were given! You can't just…bend the rules because you don't like them."
"Yeah?" Cia snarled. She was sitting upright now, looking at Lana scornfully. "Let me ask you something, dear little Lana: Do you know what it's even like as the Sorceress of Time? To spend eons and eons guarding a glowing little piece of divinity that won't talk to you?" She dangled the Triforce of Power dismissively above her hand. "To be trapped with just yourself for company, never once to have a mind like yours to share the time with? To share the burden with? You would be shocked at what it does to a person."
"Cia…" Lana said, but Cia cut her off.
"I'm alone, Lana!" The Sorceress of Time suddenly shouted. "There is no one here anymore! Nothing except my own thoughts, echoing back to me on an infinite loop even when I already know everything that I could and would say. I know my own thoughts inside and outside and left and right and there and back again! And they drive me mad! There's no one to talk to, no one to listen to me. No one to care about. Nothing!"
There was a pause. And then Lana found her voice. Trembling, she asked the question.
"I-is…is this about…Rauru?" She asked.
"I never even got to say GOODBYE!" Cia shouted, banging her fist on the throne's armrest. "One morning I wake up, and he's gone. He was the only person that ever knew the pains that I would face in this terrible burden, the only person that could possibly understand…and he left without even saying anything! Not even a goodbye! Not even a moment where he told me that I was worthy to carry on his task." She looked like she was about to cry. "And then…" She shakily pointed a finger accusatorily at Lana. "And then you left me! Left me when I needed you. Everyone leaves in the end, Lana. Why does everyone leave me?" She stared down at her lap, gazing into the broken fragments of her crystal ball, and smiled. "But then…I saw him." Her smile was dreamy. "All through the ages, the story was the same. A young boy, thrust into a thankless job. To save the world. Save the world, Lana! He never asked for it. He was never given instructions. And those that could help him left him. Over the ages, he kept coming back to do what needed to be done. Thanklessly. Tirelessly. And everywhere he went, he bonded with people. Understood them. Cared for them." A single, warm tear ran down her cheek. "Is it really so hard to see why I've fallen for him, Lana? We're perfect together. The things I've seen…the things he's seen…no one in existence could better know the thankless burden that we carry other than…each other. I love him. I love him. And I know that he'd think I'm perfect, if only he knew me."
"What's his favorite color?"
Cia snapped out of her reverie. She stared at Lana with a completely blank and confused expression.
"W-what did you say?" She asked, as if forgetting that Lana could talk as well. Ignoring the terrified beating in her heart, Lana closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And then she spoke again.
"What's his favorite color?" She asked. Cia looked at Lana, and then back to the mirror shards.
"I, erm…um-" Cia was cut off again.
"What's his favorite food? What's his favorite book? What does he like to do when it's rainy and he's stuck inside?" Lana asked. Cia shook her head.
"I…I don't-"
"What was his family like? What was his first job? What was the first girl that he crushed on's name?"
"I, wait, you-"
"What is his biggest fear? What makes him happy? What does he want out of life? What-"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Cia screamed, causing Lana to flinch at the burst of black magic that enshrouded the Sorceress of Time. Despite herself, Lana stood firm and shouted back.
"That's my point, Cia!" She said. "You don't love Link! You've never loved Link! You…you…" She struggled for the right words. "You're in love with his shadow!"
Almost immediately, the temperature of the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Cia's eye twitched.
"Shadow?" She asked softly. Another eye twitch. And then she exploded. "SHADOW?"
She stood upright in rage, whipping the fragments of the crystal ball off to the side. They hit the wall and shattered into even smaller pieces. A dark aura was surrounding Cia as she stomped towards her other half.
"Oh, that's rich coming from you." Cia hissed. "Positively rich! Tell me, do you not feel the same feelings that I do? The same yearnings? The same desires? Have you not felt those pangs for things that you know will never come to pass? Have you not felt those moments of bitter loneliness, where you wanted to curl into a ball in the corner and cry your eyes out?" She was only a few feet away from Lana now. "Every feeling that has ever been trapped inside me, you've shared. Every time my heart has broken, yours has too. Every time I wish for something, I know that you've wished it too. And you lecture me on shadows? You? YOU'RE MY SHADOW, LANA!" Cia screeched, a few feet from her face. The dark aura was fading away now, as if Cia was daring Lana to say something.
Lana closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. She knew that Cia was waiting for her to say something. There was only one thing that Lana could say. She exhaled. She opened her eyes and stared Cia in the face. When she spoke, she was as strong as iron.
"But I don't lie to myself: Link doesn't love you. He loves Zelda."
SLAP.
Lana staggered backwards, clutching at her throbbing face. She took her hand away from her cheek and glanced at it. It was bleeding. One of the rings on Cia's hand must have cut her cheek open. Shaking, she looked up at Cia.
The look on the Sorceress of Time's face was indescribable. A combination of rage, and then dawning horror as if she'd finally comprehended that she'd done something that she could never take back. She looked at her hand as if it was an ugly creature, but then looked at Lana. She reached out towards Lana, but then drew her hand back, realizing that something had been broken that would never be fixed. She swallowed, and then looked down at the ground.
"Volga will be here in two minutes for his nightly report." She said quietly. "If you want to make it out of here alive, by the time he gets here I hope that you're-" She looked up.
She was talking to no one.
"…gone."
She walked silently back to her throne, and sat down with a sigh. It felt harder and colder than it had ever before. True to form, the Dragon Warrior emerged from the barracks to enter her room. He was about to speak, but then looked her in the eyes.
"Is everything alright, Mistress Cia?" He asked. Cia opened her mouth to say something, but then stopped. She cleared her throat.
"Volga?" She asked quietly.
"Yes, mistress Cia?"
"Whuh…what's your favorite color?" She asked. Volga blinked in confusion.
"My favor-…I'm sorry, wha-"
"I said what's your favori-never mind." Cia said. She waved her hand. "You're dismissed."
"But…the nightly repor-"
"Can wait till tomorrow." Cia said. "Go."
Volga blinked in confusion, but then bowed and walked out of the room.
Cia waited until he was gone, and then buried her head in her hands.
A single, cold tear ran down her cheek.
…-…
PRESENT
She covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes tightly shut, so no one would hear her. The tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and she felt so terribly helpless and useless. And she was so alone. So afraid.
"Lana?"
She almost didn't recognize that there was someone standing above and behind her. Quick sniffling in a way that she hoped her visitor would think was due to the biting cold that night and not from her tears, she turned around to look up.
"Hi, Itami." She managed to mumble. The Ravager medic was standing above her, looking down from the lip of the foxhole. He was wearing a dirty brown poncho that had clearly been hand-sewn together from several different pieces of cloth. The wind was rustling through the camp, causing his poncho to flutter and flap slightly around his ankles. She couldn't really see his face, but she knew that he was looking her in the eye.
"You ok?" He asked.
"Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She said.
For a moment, neither of them said anything. She noticed that he wasn't moving, still staring at her. She couldn't tell what his facial expression was, nor could she tell whether or not he believed her. She heard him sigh.
"Well, if you're okay, then I'll let you be." He turned around, and started to walk away.
"Wait."
He stopped walking mid-step, and turned to face her. She looked up at him, feeling the tears watering up in her eyes.
"I'm…I'm not okay." She said finally, her voice so soft she could scarcely hear herself. There was an exhaling noise, like someone taking a sharp sigh, and then before she knew it Itami was sliding himself into the foxhole next to her. He shuffled a little bit so that he wasn't in her personal space, taking a seat in the dirt across from her. He was obviously keeping his arms close to him, so that his poncho was acting more like a blanket than a baggy shirt. She couldn't even see his arms. But she could see that he was looking her in the eye.
"What's up?" He asked, after a moment's more of silence. Lana took a deep breath.
"You…well, I've just been having a hard night." She finally said. Itami stared at her, his face expressionless. He nodded slightly. She kept talking. "And…and I just feel sad, is all." She finally managed to say.
"You went and talked to her, didn't you."
"What?" Lana asked, raising her voice slightly and widening her eyes in shock. "Buh-but how do you-"
"I saw you sneak off." Itami said.
"H-how? I was so quiet-" She trailed off. Itami nodded.
"You were. But that doesn't stop me from seeing things. I might be the war medic for the Ravagers…but once upon a time, before we had a lot of people, I pulled double duty. And once upon a time I was Ishaka's head tracker." He smirked wistfully. "I guess old habits die hard, even when you haven't practiced recently."
"Was that hard?" She asked, trying to change the subject from her clandestine visit. Itami snorted.
"Yeah. But I liked it. I was good at it."
"Why are you the main medic, then?" Lana asked. Itami closed his eyes.
"I'm better at it." He finally said.
There was a pause. Silence hung in the air, save for the whistling of the wind as it passed just over their heads and along the lip of the foxhole. Lana looked around, shivering a little bit in the cold.
"Here."
Before she knew what was going on, she saw a lump of cloth being thrown at her. Itami had taken off his poncho and had tossed it over to him. It was thick and made of some sort of cloth that was scratchy, but it was also very warm. It didn't smell, either. She looked at him and frowned.
"Are you going to get cold?" She asked. Itami smirked.
"A little cold never bothered me." He said. He folded his arms across his chest. His shirt and pants were stained with dirt and mud and other earthen substances. Lana felt too clean being in his presence. He read her look and chuckled. "Yeah, the boys and girls are a little jealous at how clean you stay in the field, Lana." He said. "Spend an entire day huddling in the mud and gunk, hiding like prairie dogs from birds of prey…and yet you still look as shiny as the day we all ran into you."
"Thanks." Lana said, though she wasn't quite sure how to respond. Itami stared at her for a moment, and then spoke again.
"So you tried talking to her."
"I…I did." Lana finally said, looking down at her feet.
"And?" Itami asked. Lana looked up at him.
"Why do you care? That's between her and me."
"Well, technically that means that you're just keeping it to yourself. And you'll forgive me if I don't want to have someone let unfounded guilt eat them from within." He paused. "You can talk, you know. I'm a good listener."
Lana sat there for a moment, as if considering his request. She took a deep breath. Still, she said nothing. And then finally, she found the words.
"It went badly." She said. "She wouldn't listen. And…she said things."
"Yeah?" Itami asked. "Like what?"
"Just…things, okay?" Lana said, slightly defensive. "I…" She trailed off. She was so tired. It had been a long day. She'd seen people nearly die. She'd been caring for people for so long now. And then the weight of it all threatened to crush her. The tears strated streaming down her face. "She called me her shadow, Itami!" She bawled. "Like…like I'm not even a person! We were the same, two sides of the same soul. And now she acts like I don't even matter! I don't matter! I…I don't even deserve to exist."
"Cecil woke up a little bit ago." Itami said. Lana blinked back the tears.
"What?" She asked. Itami cleared his throat.
"About ten minutes ago. I came out to tell you, actually. He'd been sleeping, letting the medicine help him out…and then he opened his eyes and looked at me, and you want to know what the first thing that he said to me was?" He asked.
"Whuh-what?" Lana asked. Itami was smiling softly.
"The first thing he asked me was where was the angel that had saved his life." He said. He chuckled at Lana's dumbfounded expression. "I don't think you realize how serious he was hurt. Third-degree burns. A severe concussion. Massive blood loss. Broken foot. And add to that his thrashing? He should have died on that bed, Lana. If it was just me, I couldn't have saved him. I fully admit that." He looked her in the eye, and pointed earnestly towards her. "But you did. You saved her. Now, I don't believe much, but I believe that you've gotta be as real as anything in this world to save the life of another soul the way that you did." He said. "You deserve to exist, Lana. You are your own person, and you've done wonderful things." He sighed. There was a hanging silence in the air.
"Do you know why you went and talked to her, Lana?" He asked after a long while. Why you risked yourself and your life to sneak behind enemy lines and try to talk to her?"
"I…I cared…I care about her." Lana said. Itami nodded sagely.
"Well, yeah, we all have people we love, and we do crazy things for the people that we love. But that's not why you talked to her." Itami said.
Lana said nothing, just staring at him expectantly.
"You talked to her because you believe that there's still hope. Hope isn't a bad thing, don't get me wrong. It's the best thing about you: you always act like a ray of hope. Kinda like the princess, except there's something about you that the Ravagers truly admire." He said. "Hope is a beautiful thing, in fact. You embody it, and you must never lose it." But then he looked sad.
"It's because you still have hope that there's a way out for her. For Cia. You still think that she can be saved. But what you need to realize is that she's already dead. Every other avenue has been cut off from her. This is her last stand. And she won't go down without a fight."
"But, but I don't want that to come to her!" Lana said, sniffling. "I can't-"
"I know, Lana." Itami said quietly. "But when the time comes, there will be a moment where she places you at a crossroads. You might not think it possible, but it'll happen. There will be a moment where you have to decide whether or not you can do the right thing. And the right thing might feel terrible, but that doesn't make it any less right. You have to be able to make the right decision. Without fear."
"I can't choose that." Lana said quietly. Itami shook his head.
"You didn't, Lana. She chose this path. And you've chosen yours. You're not her shadow. If anything, she's become yours." He said. "I know how hard that is to hear. And I know that it rips at your heart? But that pain that you feel right now? It means that you're human. And that you have empathy. You don't wish pain upon anyone. That spark of kindness doesn't always get granted to everyone. You mustn't lose it. Ever." He said quietly.
The celebrations were starting to die down in the background. It was getting quiet again. Slowly, Lana found her voice.
"Itami?"
"Yeah, Lana?"
"If…if that moment comes…"
"Yeah?"
"…And…and I have to be part of…something that'll hurt…will…will you…"
"Hmm?"
"…Will you be there if I need someone?"
"Of course, Lana."
"Promise."
"Heart-promise*."
"…Thanks."
There was a pause. The wind rustled soflty through the foxhole. Lana shivered. Itami slowly started to get up.
"Itami?"
"Yeah, Lana?"
"Do you…do you think that you could stay? I…I don't want to be alone tonight."
Itami looked at her. He settled back down on his side of the foxhole.
"Ok."
A/N: WHEW! Quite the intense chapter. Hope you all liked it. Tried to give Cia motivation and some degree of sympathy. I always found her to be somewhat of a tragic figure, myself. That doesn't excuse her, of course…but it does make me feel for her. Anyway, this chapter was essentially the first real POV chapter from Lana's eyes that I've done all fic. Figured it was about time for her to get some time to shine. Hope it paid off.
Well, next chapter is it. The final battle between Cia and the forces of Light begin. It's gonna be harsh.
HYRULIAN CODEX
Zelda's Lullaby – A famous melody that has been passed down through the generations. Supposedly originating in the era of Sky, "Zelda's Lullaby" is given that name because it was written about the famed slumber of the first Princess Zelda that allowed the darkness to be sealed forever. In modern times, it is used both as a song of love, of calming, and of beauty. Anyone who hears it feels more serene, which is precisely the point. It is a simple, yet majestic piece.
Perfect for a princess.
Disciple of Nayru – As Nayru is the Goddess of Love, it is only natural that these bozos rose up. "Disciple of Nayru" is often used as a mocking term towards a gentleman who believes that he is quite virile and very intoxicating to members of the opposite (or perhaps same) sex, when in reality he is anything but. The correct phrase to refer to a theologian or mage that studies Nayru's magic is "Follower of Nayru." It is far more formal, and far better a choice.
Heart Promise – A very personal promise that was in past eras sworn by blood to be held unbreakable. It is a very, very old phrase; one that is only kept alive by a paltry few tribes to the outskirts of Hyrule. Most people don't even know of the existence of this phrase, and even fewer still truly appreciate the depth of its meaning.