Chapter 21

Journey to Lanayru

Zelda turned to the young teen from Earth with a smile.

"Well it looks like you're stuck with us Jedi until you can find a way back to your world and time." Zelda laughed.

The teen just shrugged and laughed.

"What, are you insane?! This is so cool! I get to hang out with my favorite Princess and Jedi!" the teen said with a broad smile.

Zelda placed her hand on his shoulder.

"That's the spirit, Stephen. You'll get through this yet. I know you will." Zelda said as she turned to the Jedi.

She gathered all the Jedi Masters around her plus Midna and Stephen.

"So, am I right in assuming command of this fellowship, or should someone else take command?" she began.

"Well, we all believe Link handed command over to you, Princess. Lead on!" Gandalf smiled with the rest of the Masters.

"Thank you Masters." Zelda said as she bowed.

"Speaking of Masters, young Princess; it is high time for you to be trained." Aragorn said as he walked over to the Princess.

Zelda was beaming in shock.

"Are you going to train me?" she gasped.

"Indeed, for I too am a ruler of a people." Aragorn said with a grin.

"I would be honored to be trained under you, Lord Elessar." Zelda whispered in shock as she bowed,

Midna was hissing with laughter now. All eyes turned on her now.

"What, am I, Princess of Twilight, to be trained as well?! I have no knowledge of this 'Force' of yours! You can't expect me to become a Jedi!" Midna laughed nervously.

"I expect great things from you, Midna, we all do." Gandalf said with a warm smile as he put his hands on her shoulders.

"You would be willing to train me? I would be honored Master Mithrandir!" Midna said in a whisper as she bowed.

"Well, what about me?! Surely I'm not about to be left out?!" Colin demanded with a scowl causing all the masters to laugh.

"For you we have a very special Master." A voice said from the woods.

All the fellowship looked for the source of the mysterious voice. All of a sudden they saw a shimmer of blue light and a being stepped out from the woods. It was Vergere!

"Everything I tell you is a lie." She said simply as she stood before Colin.

Colin scratched his head in confusion.

"What in Hyrule is that supposed to mean, Master?" he asked.

"When you know the answer, only then will you be a Jedi." Vergere said mysteriously.

Colin ran a hand through his short blonde hair; this was going to take a while. Stephen chuckled to himself.

"Get used to it kid, that's Vergere for ya; vague and mysterious. It took me a while to get used to her character. Oh, that's right! Lumiya said she was a Sith! Great Scott, we can't have you training under a sith!" Stephen suddenly remembered.

Aragorn and Gandalf walked over to Vergere with blades lit.

"Let's not get hasty, Jedi." Vergere chuckled nervously.

"Oh, we'll get more than hasty! How dare you try to brainwash the Hero of Hyrule! The Jedi shall not stand for this. One brainwashed Jedi is already enough, but a trainee? That's the last straw! I'm afraid we're going to have to end your-, oh right, you are dead. Well, this is interesting, isn't it? An undead sith! Wait until Skywalker hears this one!" Gandalf mused.

Vergere smiled in relief. They couldn't kill her even if they tried; she was one with the Force.

"Nice try, Jedi. You made your choice, now I must act." She chuckled as she shot lightning at young Colin.

"That's enough, Vergere!" a voice boomed from behind Colin.

The lightning disappeared in a flash of golden light and there was a blue flash. Standing behind Colin with a grim smile was Link! Link walked towards Vergere with a scowl.

"To believe I trusted you! We all trusted you! How did you deceive the Force?" Link asked in unbelief.

Vergere just smiled as she prepared to disappear in the Force, but Link held out his right hand and stopped her.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you! Oh, and in case you haven't noticed I can control you now. I made the ultimate sacrifice a Jedi could make, and did it with a pure heart. Know what that means? 'I' am the Master of the Force." Link grinned.

Vergere's jaw dropped. She shook with rage. This was unbelievable! She had been outdone by a kid!

"Now, that's what I'm talking about! You're the man, Link! I knew there was something special about you. Wow, that was an eye-opener! Not in my wildest dreams did I expect that! Well, with you on our side; just maybe, we can drive the Sith away from Hyrule. It's a slim hope; a very slim hope at that." Stephen said.

Vergere was fuming now.

"You can't do this to me, boy! You have no right! Jacen will stop you, you know! He is more powerful than any of you can imagine! The Sith WILL have their revenge once again. Mark my words, Jedi. We will have our revenge." She sneered as Link put her in what looked like a Force crystal.

Everyone's jaw dropped. Zelda was rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Link, how did you do that?!" She asked in shock.

"I am the Master of the Force now, remember?" Link chuckled as everyone nodded their heads in silent, surprised unison.

"Well, good luck to you all. Oh, and Colin, your new Master shall be none other than Grand Master Skywalker; that is when you reach Middle Earth. For now, Master Gandalf shall train you." He said with a smile as he vanished with Vergere.

"Well, I guess it's off to the Lanayru Province. We shall finish what he started. Hyrule shall be returned to light once more." She said with a grim smile.

"What about its former glory?" Stephen asked.

"I am sorry, Stephen, I'm afraid the Sith hold too much power here. We will all have to go into exile, and travel to Middle Earth." She said as a tear ran down her cheek.

"I'm sure Grand Master Skywalker and Link will think of something, Princess." Stephen said with a small smile as he put his arm around her.

"You know Luke and Link, they've conquered and driven out evil before. This time is no different." Stephen added.

"Well, with the exception of all the Dark Lords teaming up and the Sith returning and all." Colin chimed in. Everyone glared at him.

"Not helping, Colin." Stephen whispered.

Zelda sighed.

"I'm afraid we will have to go into exile nonetheless. Off to Lanayru." She said with yet another sigh.

"ZELDA! Trust in the Force and, your feelings! Don't give up hope while the Jedi still live!" Stephen urged the princess as he shook her.

Zelda blinked.

"Of course, Stephen! I would never give up hope! The Force is with us! Come on, we have to save Lanayru!" she smiled finally as she mounted Epona with Stephen behind her.

"Um, does anyone have a spare blaster?" Stephen asked.

"And some suitable clothes from this era?" he added.

Aragorn chuckled as he tossed the teen some spare clothes along with a cloak and one of Han's old blasters. Stephen stared at the blaster in amazement.

"This was Han's! This is so awesome!" he whispered.

He quickly donned the clothes and the cloak and holstered the blaster and jumped on behind the Princess.

"Hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride!" Zelda laughed as she sped off towards Lanayru.

The fellowship began the long journey to the Lanayru Province and traveled far into the night and across many miles of the fields of Hyrule before they finally paused for camp. Stephen stumbled off the horse and dropped on the spot, snoring as he hit the ground to everyone's amusement.

"Poor dude, got dragged all the way from earth to be stuck with us!" Aragorn chuckled as he picked the teen up and laid him down on a blanket by the fire. Zelda came over and draped another blanket over him.

Zelda took the first watch for three hours and woke up Aragorn.

"I sense evil looming near, be on your guard." She whispered as she yawned and laid down.

Aragorn sat on a nearby stump and stared out into the darkness, alert for any trouble. As it was nearing dawn there was a terrific roar and a great beam of light as Jacen showed up with an army of stormtroopers and Dark Jedi. Aragorn activated his blades and charged.

The rest of the fellowship woke with a start as soon as they heard the hiss of the blade. All sleep was gone from their eyes as they charged forward. Stephen aimed the blaster at a stormtrooper and fired a spray of laser beams at him. The stormtrooper fell dead moments later to the teen's amazement.

"Wow, this is easy!" he exclaimed.

"Don't get cocky, kid!" Zelda yelled back not daring to look back in fear of being cut down by the Dark Jedi.

Stephen finally noticed the Dark Jedi advancing upon him and sent a spray of laser fire towards them, which they easily blocked. The teen gulped in terror and in a sudden revelation knew they had come to capture him. Within moments they were mere inches from him.

"Umm, help! They're after me!" Stephen stammered as he continued to spray the Dark Jedi with laser fire.

There was a terrific yell of 'Elendil!' as Aragorn came bounding up from behind them with both sabers drawn and a look of fury on his face. Within mere seconds, Aragorn had cut them all into pieces. Stephen nodded his thanks to the Jedi.

"You'd better stay by me, Stephen. They almost had you back there." Aragorn said with a grim look.

The teen nodded as he killed a legion of stormtroopers coming their way. At the same time Aragorn had killed a legion of Dark Jedi. All that was left of the ambush was Jacen. Zelda advanced upon the traitor with a grim smile.

"Well, if it isn't the traitor of the Skywalker-Solo clan, Jacen Solo. I can't have Sith Lords running around in my kingdom, can I? I'll have to take you to your Uncle, the Grand Master of the Jedi." Zelda said sweetly as she walked towards him.

"You will try, Princess!" Jacen snarled as his eyes gleamed red.

"Only a sith deals in absolutes." Zelda replied with an icy glare as she put her lightsaber in a defensive position, ready for anything.

"Petty words for a Princess!" Jacen cackled as he began slamming his ruby blade down onto her blade.

Zelda expertly swerved her blade to the side and leapt back. The battle was on! It was like the great Jedi-Sith battles of old. The blades crisscrossed with a hiss as the two combatants leapt and danced around each other with the occasional Force choke from Jacen.

"You fight well, young princess! But it takes more than skill with the lightsaber to make you a Jedi!" Jacen smiled as he shut his blade off.

"Let's see how skilled you are with the Force!" Jacen laughed as a nearby tree lifted off the ground and swung towards the Princess.

Zelda turned off her blade in a split second and raised her hands in the air and sent the tree straight at Jacen who shot Force Lightning at it causing it to rip in a thousand pieces.

"Very good, Princess! Let's see how you deal with a more natural use of the Force!" he cackled as he hurled waves upon waves of lightning at her.

Zelda dispelled them with a wave of her hand and shot beams of light at him. Jacen caught them in his hand and turned them into beams of darkness and hurled them at her. With another gesture, the princess made them vanish too.

"Very well, princess, this is the end; farewell!" Jacen smiled as his eyes gleamed red with fury.

Before Zelda knew what he meant a huge portion of the cliff behind her broke off and hurtled towards the rest of the fellowship. She was forced to turn her back on Jacen and stop the inevitable crash. It took all her strength to get a grip on the huge chunk of rock and hurl it out of the way. When it landed with a thud a mile away, she turned back to Jacen only to discover he had fled while she rescued her friends.

"That little coward! He knew I would have to save you, guys!" she fumed.

Stephen walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright Zelda. During the Clone Wars, Yoda had to make the same choice. Instead of going after a Sith, he chose to rescue Anakin and Obi-Wan. You made the right choice. Rest assured, Caedus will see justice." Stephen said grimly.

Zelda smiled as she clipped her lightsaber back to her belt. Everybody got back on their horses and galloped off towards the Lanayru Province. They traveled leagues upon leagues over the fields of Hyrule until as the sun was setting, they glimpsed the outline of Hyrule Castle.

"Welcome to the Lanayru Province. We are not at our destination, yet, however. We much reach the Zoras before daybreak. I fear a fate worse than death has reached them. We must make with haste!" Zelda said as they galloped with all speed for Lake Hylia.