Okay! Chapter two!

I am not proud. Ugh. Don't you hate it when you know exactly how to do the beginning and the end but not a bit in the middle? Ugh.

Here goes. Whoahboy.

DISCLAIMER: No part of the Zelda franchise belongs to me. Tingle is proof of this.

CHAPTER TWO: CONFLICT

--

A full day had passed since the forced meeting. It was a day full of grudging, awkward silence- of mistrusting glares and quiet whispers. Ganondorf either walked far ahead or fell behind, straying as wide as he could to avoid the two do-gooders he had been saddled with. How they all wished they were in saddles: the endless magic-dead wilderness stretched on and on, and honestly Ganondorf was not one for green things like trees and plants. Zelda had been holding up relatively well, but often they found themselves stopping to tend to her now-muddied gown or to rest for the fact that she was wearing at least thirty pounds of fabric.

Not to mention they had little in the ways of food. The princess had managed to surprise them all earlier by shooting a a rabbit with Link's bow, but for three people a single rabbit was not much to chew on.

But slowly, the threats had been easing. None of them kept hands to their weapons anymore. None of them expected the other to attack. It was impossible, anyway. If they didn't wish to die, they had to keep moving: that was the reality.

"This was a fire," Zelda said, observing the wide ring of ash in the round, well-beaten clearing. "But least it's something. I was getting worried the world was deserted!"

Link nodded in agreement, rubbing a bit of soot in between his fingers. "Not just one fire- this thing is big. There's been fires here for years, I'd say. Maybe there are some people close by?"

"Obviously," Ganondorf grumbled, but said no more, resisting the constant pain inside him. The only thing restraining him from destroying all then and there was the fact that at any attempt, his body would simply cease to function. Instead… his new ears twitched. There was a sound off to the left. Crunching leaves. And the footsteps were approaching.

"In the bushes," he ordered somewhat awkwardly, still attempting to think of something other than his predicament and possible advents of escape. It wasn't working. "Someone's coming."

It was not like him to hide, but he (or any of them) was not foolish. Man or foe- he didn't know who it was that was crashing through the undergrowth. As the King of Thieves, he understood the merits of stealth. And their situation didn't exactly favor being attacked at that point in time. Somehow he suspected they would all kill each other by accident if they were attacked…

Hesitantly, Link and Zelda obeyed. Once-enemy or not, his word counted as much as theirs. He didn't endanger all of Hyrule by being stupid, after all. And not a moment too soon- because a boy stepped into the circle of light, shoes crunching the charred ground.

"Who…?"

"Ssh, Link!"

The boy seemed not to notice their whispers. Instead, he just crossed his arms and pouted. "Figures nobody shows. It was a prank, after all."

"You're late."

The words sharply issued from the darkness of the forest, the still air rendering it impossible to pinpoint. Not only the boy startled, but also the three champions. There was another person at the scene- a person who may have seen them all, unnoticed in the dark.

"Who's there?"

A figure slid out from the shadow behind a tree, the pale, unreal light flashing upon cold eyes. "Midnight at the firepit. It's not exactly a vague invitation, Darek Mengsk."

"Who are you?" the boy squinted. It was just a girl that had stepped out of the shadows. Just a girl.

"The name is Morrigan," she said. "I'm a friend of Dizene's."

The young man, Darek, crossed his arms angrily. "You're that freak Karai that all the girls are afraid of," he spat. "Any reason you drag me out here in the middle of the night?"

"I wanted to talk to you," she said honestly. "In private. About Dizene."

"What about her?"

She gave him a slight frown of disbelief, one that made Link's eyes narrow slightly in his hiding place. What was going on here? Who were these people, and why did this girl arrange a midnight meeting?

"Oh, give it a rest," said Morrigan. "You know why. I know you've been threatening her."

He just laughed as if the girl was speaking nonsense. "I have not! What's wrong with talking to someone? Who made you queen of the world?"

"Dizene wouldn't lie to me," she pressed threateningly. "I'm just here to say that she doesn't want you. Leave her alone."

"Look, you aren't part of this," yelled Darek. "Stay out of my business!"

"You mess with Diz, you mess with me. And you don't mess with me."

"She does like me," he said. "So it doesn't matter what you think. I don't care!"

Morrigan sighed in exasperation. "Get a clue; it'll never happen! You're only going to hurt her. Denial stinks, and you reek of it."

"You're wrong! She's beautiful- she comes with me. If you really want to get in between us, I'll give you a punch you won't forget!"

For a minute, Morrigan said nothing, but then she regarded him with brutally hard eyes. "How far would you be willing to go?" she asked sharply. "Would you really fight for her?"

"Huh?"

"Dizene is my best friend, and she personally entrusted me with her safety tonight. I hold her in the palm of my hand… get it?"

Darek squinted again. "No."

"I have her. You want her. I'm not going to give her up without a fight," Morrigan said. "Not a hard concept. Is silly hero going to claim said pretty princess from mean old me, or are you going to turn tail? I won't do anything more if you never bother her again."

Darek paused, but then cracked his knuckles. "So you really want to do this?"

"If I didn't I wouldn't take the suggestion seriously," said Morrigan. "Dueling is not so archaic in Karai as it is here. In fact, it's commonplace to settle things over some nice bruises. What, don't want to hit a girl or something?"

He hesitated.

"Cuz' I've got no problems at all about hitting boys," she finished. "This is your idea anyway, so you get the first move. I'm so nice, I'll even give you a head start of five seconds."

The boy laughed out loud again. "You're really serious, huh? I'm the best at home, you don't stand a chance!"

"That's nice, but I don't care," Morrigan yawned. "You now have four seconds."

With a frown, the boy stared to lunge for her. "Run away, or I won't be kidding around!"

But the punch never connected. The girl had dodged ever-so-slightly to the side. It wasn't even fast. He had speed on his side, but momentum prevented him from adjusting his course. The girl had utter control over him by simply stepping out of the way. It was something practiced,with a sort of precision that hinted to hours repeating a single motion. It was not a ruffian's move, Link noticed. Whoever this girl was, she was at the very least a student of some sort of combat art.

"Three."

"Argh! Stay put!"

"Two."

He missed again… and again…

"One."

"Damnit!"

"Zero," Morrigan said, jumping back. She began to smile. It was not a nice smile. It was the clandestine smile of a fox in the henhouse. The sort of smile that made Zelda shiver a bit. "Well, what do you know? Your time is up."

"The hell it is!"

Morrigan did not have the leeway to dodge this time. Instead, she simply took the punch to the jaw. Her leg braced behind so she did not fall, but her head did whip around painfully. Zelda frowned in the bushes and began to ready a small amount of magic, Link ready to jump out and save the girl…

"Good arm," Morrigan said, eyes angrily snapping straight in the bright moonlight into a baleful leer. "Mine is better."

And with that she seized his collar and before he had the time to say 'ouch' he was sent sprawling to the ash, victim of a thunderclap punch to the face. He struggled upright with anger and humiliation in his eyes, already running to pummel her. "Bitch!"

"Thank you," Morrigan said, ducking him. His knuckles barely grazed the top of her head and he was forced to stop suddenly lest he trip over her kneeling form. But it didn't last for long- she abruptly struck him to the jaw again, knuckles planted squarely on the underside of his neck. "I really do try."

"Damn! You freak of nature! You're a girl- what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is," she said, pinning him to a tree while he was still addled and shouting his confusion out to the forest. "It's a Central and Ciel thing that women are helpless. If you are born a women in Karai, then you really don't want to be mugged. Take my word for it."

"You're still a freak! A city burning, lawless, mafia-bitch freak!"

"Why can't I smack you around? Am I supposed to stand still while you hit me or something? Is that really your idea of a fight?"

He struggled weakly, kicking her with his unpinned legs. "S…stop!"

"You stop," Morrigan hissed, restraining Darek tighter, despite his greater size and strength. Ganondorf vaguely recognized the grappling hold she had over the boy- it used leverage and twisted the joints so that no matter how strong you were, you would not escape if you valued your arms. While it definitely wasn't able to hold him, he had to admit that the girl knew at least a little of what she was doing. But the tree he was forced against was awfully close to some bushes…

"D…damn…"

"You lose. Dizene stays with me. Game over," said the girl. "Do I make myself clear?"

Darek flailed wildly again, trying to make headway. He didn't- she didn't even have to hold him hard. The angle she was pinning his arms at made movement impossible. "I don't even care! Hell with you, you gangster!"

"Look, you," she growled, forcing harder against the tree. "You mean nothing to Dizene. And you never will. If you're going to force her you can expect a repeat of tonight… except I won't be civil next time."

"I'd like to see you try!" he cried. "You just caught me off-guard, that's all. You're nothing but a bluff!"

"Am I?" said Morrigan, digging the sharp nails of her off hand into the soft flesh of his neck. "I am not afraid to beat you to a pulp, Darek. She is my best friend, and if you hurt her I'll make you pay in ways a demon wouldn't think of. Don't mess with me, Darek Mengsk."

He whimpered. Suddenly this girl… this girl that had attacked him like a hellish fury… seemed far bigger than him. It didn't make sense. She was almost a head shorter. And only a little more than half his girth.

But she was far tougher. And he understood this now. She was the alpha wolf. He was just a lowly street dog.

"I've played nice so far and followed the rules. But if you give me a reason to break them, you won't just be in hell," she said as the crooked smile surfaced again from under angry eyes. "You'll be in my hell. And you had better pray if you so much as breathe a word about tonight to anyone, you bladeless bastard."

She threw him down to the dirty ground of cold, dead cinders as to impress her point, gazing upon him coldly: a blistering ice storm that froze more than the chill starlight upon his shoulders. Link was beginning to doubt exactly who was the 'good guy' in the scene. He had wanted to rescue this girl from being beaten by the random assailant, but he had been wrong. The girl had the entire confrontation under meticulous control, and he suspected it had been that way since the very beginning. Who was the Hero? Who was the Villain? The line didn't quite seem so clean-cut anymore.

"You'd better run now."

Darek gladly obliged, whining like a kicked puppy all they way, a very obvious wet spot staining his pants.

Morrigan yawned, smiled, and stretched contentedly, completely breaking her somewhat menacing aura as if she hadn't just threatened somebody with a brutal beating. "Ah! That's better," she sighed cheerfully. "I feel much better now. Dizzy, you owe me big time," she said, disappearing into the night, supposedly off to her bed to later wake at a saner hour.

Link looked at Zelda. Zelda looked at Link. Ganondorf looked quite interested.

"What… what was THAT?"

"I don't know," Zelda said. "She just… um…"

"Completely destroyed that whelp's self-worth," Ganondorf finished. "Though the technique could use some work…"

"Don't you have any pity?"

"No."

Link looked to the full, piercingly bright moon overhead with a somewhat suspicious eye. "Well, we know one thing," he said. "There are definitely people close by."

--

"Dizzy, you are a godsend and a wonder," Morrigan remarked, standing on the roof of the dormitory. Not a single light was on in the entire camp. In the bright sunlight, there was no activity at all. A lone tumbleweed rolled past in the breeze, cliché as it seemed. The complex was entirely deserted.

Dizene waved happily. "Hey, Darek got off my back, right? It's the least I can do."

"But… man, how did you pull it off?"

"Simple!" Dizene grinned. "I signed us up for the camp-wide trip, and then snuck into the office and erased us!"

Morrigan and Dizene were alone now in the whole camp. Every other week there was a major hiking trip, which only half the counselors attended. The other half got the two days off. The camp slept in a series of lodges in the nature hiking reserve, far away from the dormitories and office. No counselors. No annoying bunkmates. Just them and the entire campus to run wild with. Two whole days.

"Wow, Diz. Tampering with records. I'm impressed, miss goody-two-shoes. But like I said- godsend, wonder," Morrigan exalted, swinging down from her perch on the probably too-accessible roof of the cabin. "Any idea what to do first?"

"Well," Dizene said. "We could have a party with the big TV in the common room- rent movies or something. But we'd need enough snacks to last the whole day."

Morrigan nodded, catching her fist in a mock-punch. "All right- snacks. On it."

"Where will we get them? They don't have anything but nasty camp food in the mess hall!"

"The corner store just inside of town," said Morrigan. "It's not too far if you think about it."

Dizene looked horrified. "All that way? Carrying groceries? We can't walk that!"

"We don't have to," Morrigan grinned. "I have my bike. We can ride tandem- there are no helmet laws in this territory, so you don't need one. And I'm not planning on crashing."

"Oh yeah," Dizene frowned, smacking herself in the face for feeling stupid. "I forgot you rode that thing up here with your stuff. How you managed to fit a trunk on a motorcycle I'll never know…"

"Magic," Morrigan winked, starting in the direction of the storage garage.

Dizene held up an expressive finger. "Duct tape?"

"That too."

--

It was seemingly abandoned, they concluded. They looked in all windows and doors, but nobody seemed to be home. The sprawling complex in the middle of the woods was completely empty. But what was strange was the state of it all. It was as if everyone had suddenly stepped out, with unkempt beds devoid of dust.

They had found many strange apparatus about the buildings, but they all were for mundane functions. None of them were magic. Instead, they operated under a strange mechanical force the likes of which none of the three had seen before.

Zelda had concluded it was some kind of new technology.

Ganondorf had concluded that the concept of a machine to brush your teeth was absurd.

--

It had been feeling ominous for a while now, Dizene shivered. They had returned from their short escapade bearing many snacks, but they needed cups to put drinks in, so Dizene had ventured up to the kitchens. The cutlery had been annoyingly well-hidden, to her great displeasure, so she was having to look far harder than she otherwise would have.

But that did not explain the heavy, ugly air swirling about the camp. Even Morrigan was on edge, leaving briefly to check for evidence of intruders on campus. But she had found nothing, so business proceeded as usual. Nevertheless, both of them could not shake the unsettling feeling. Yet as it didn't make sense, they busied themselves with business as usual.

As she brushed aside some plates, there was a scratching at the door. It sounded like metal on wood, a dull scraping sound.

"Morri?"

The scraping turned into a thudding, a banging. Something was trying to break down the door.

That wasn't Morrigan, Dizene realized in alarm. Her mind raced for the possibilities, but she couldn't wrap her brain about who could be trying to break the door. There was nobody left within miles. And wouldn't a person just knock?

Slowly, she grabbed a hefty, sharp kitchen knife from the counter, inching slowly to the doorknob. Shaking slightly, she began to turn the handle ever-so-slightly…

CRASH

The door collapsed inward, forcing Dizene to shield her eyes from wood splinters. A vile hissing erupted from the dust cloud in the kitchen, girl too paralyzed with fear to move.

Slit eyes flickered open in the murky light, a scaled body lifting out of the gloom. Clawed hands gripped a crude sword, razor teeth clicking in hunger. What looked to be a weapon-wielding dinosaur had broken into the kitchen. And it didn't look like a friendly whatever-it-was.

"Aiiieee!" she screamed and ducked as the short sword sang to catch her in a fatal way. The knife she held in her hand, Hope had taught her how to use it… but the game seemed far away and unreal now. Hope was only a game, an immersion game created by Eclipse Inc. What use were games when a terrifying, real lizard-beast was after you?

So she ran screaming out of the kitchen, clutching the knife for dear life. Another one leaped out of the shadows outside, like a twisted horror movie, and charged her, but Dizene in her blind panic just evaded feverishly and ran… ran away…

DIZENE, YOU IDIOT!

The roar of her best friend in her head made her flinch slightly as she curled up in a handy hiding-place. Was the shock really so bad that her conscience was speaking to her?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHY ARE YOU RUNNING? IT'S ONLY A LIZARD! A LIZARD! DO YOU WANT TO DIE? CUZ' THEY'RE GOING TO FIND YOU HOLED UP LIKE A BUNNY!

Stop that, she scolded her conscience for mimicking her best friend. Stop!

COWARD! COWARD! COWARD! COWARD!

Stop!

COWARD! COWARD! COWARD! COWARD!

"STOP IT!" she screamed through tears, lunging forward to run again, but felt herself crash against a rough pebbly surface. She felt the point of her knife sink deep into warm flesh, acidic blood pooling the ground.

At that moment she opened her eyes to see that a lone lizard-horror had died by her blade, crumpled at her feet. Bile-foul blood condensed in darkened drops upon the cold steel of the knife, only impressing what she had just done upon Dizene.

Dizene had slain a living, breathing creature. Not something from a game. This was not illusions and cold machinery. This was flesh and bone.

Taking a deep breath, Dizene heard her conscience quiet down, gripping the utensil that had just saved her life tightly. These lizard-things were not so bad, she concluded. They were big, but not so big. And they were not too fast. One hit right to the vital stomach area would end them quickly.

Her character in Hope was a fast, close-range type, wielding two long knives. She had fought fake versions of this sort of monster all the time back at home on the weekends. But that was not to say she was experienced in the real deal…

Suck it up, she told herself. This is no time for horsing around! Morrigan, tough as she was, was alone. Maybe she wouldn't fight, but she could at least see that Morrigan was all right! And she would never leave a friend alone to these things. She would sooner die!

Which seemed an all-too-probable possibility. But she tried not to think about that as she ran off in the direction of the cabin. There would be time later… she hoped.

--

"What the hell?" Morrigan almost yelled at the line of ugly beasts that was gathering in her way. The first one she thought she had just imagined. These, she was seriously considering going in for a shrink session. As if it would help.

Unlikely, she decided, because these things actually made dents if they hit. They weren't hallucinations. Which meant that getting hit by them would be very bad for her.

Fight or flight, she asked herself quietly as the grotesque monsters circled in upon her. Flee or face it?

Hardly a choice, in her opinion. Sure, these things were alarming. But maybe it was a bad thing that she had a very lacking sense of fear. She should probably see the shrink after all, if she wasn't really scared by these things…

At the last minute, she sidestepped and elbowed the lunging lizard in the snout, causing it to crash into a building, winded. The other one she just rammed off of her. She had to be careful… fist experience (thank you, Mom, she silently praised for her 'education') or not, swords were bad. Lucky the things holding them had just about the brains and skill of a gecko to match.

What she really was scared for was Dizene. The image of her best friend, splayed out and bloody on the ground, torn apart by these ugly monsters played again and again in her head. She feared. But not the monster. She feared the future- a future she was desperate to change.

As she began to run, ducking blades, she could only remark a single sentence to herself.

"Looks like it's just one of those days."

--

"Morri! Morri! Where are you?"

Nothing.

"Morri!"

Dizene was terrified. It was deserted. The camp was too big, she lamented. She couldn't find anything. Only these hideous, warped creatures. The kitchens were on the complete opposite side of the campus from the dormitories, and she was having trouble covering the ground. As it was, she was keen to stick to the back ways to keep out of sight. Already she had ample bruises and an ugly slash wound on her shoulder. Her breath steamed with barely-controlled fear as she rubbed the bloodied strip of her shirt she had tied about the wound. She was not cut out for this... even if she wasn't in a raving panic anymore...

At least she was good at running.

"Morr-AIIE!"

A heavy hand flew out from the darkness around the corner, grabbing her collar and lifting her into the air. Roughly, she was slammed on the cold concrete wall of the storage house she was hiding behind in the shadowed alley , legs dangling in thin air. She struggled, forced her eyes open, but immediately wanted to shut them again in pure terror.

He was only a little older than her. Maybe. But his formidable height, his monster strength held her aloft as if she was a mere rag doll. Morrigan's eyes were quite startling, but next to this man she felt they were those of a mere kitten. The untold depths of rage and bloodlust contained within this man's beastly stare froze her on the spot, like an animal in a hunter's light. Dizene went rigid, shaking and stammering. Her eyes strayed to his ears... this man wasn't a Ciel, or a Centrallian, or even Karai. He was something else, something dangerous and feral.

"Speak, girl," he ordered harshly, hand pinning her pressing harder. Dizene vaguely noticed a strange symbol branded into his gauntlet… but that wasn't her concern. The handle of the cruel blade at his back was. "And quickly. Where is this place?

She sputtered, completely immobilized by terror, and forced out something without any semblance of an answer. "Morri… help…"

He was not satisfied with the reply, Dizene could tell. An alarming crackle of power formed around the hand nearly choking her: dark, ominous energy. It was then that she shut her eyes tightly and prayed for a miracle. She couldn't breathe… she couldn't breathe!

"Ganondorf! Put her down!"

Dizene thanked her lucky stars individually and by name as the horrible, stifling something vanished, the huge man looking over his shoulder with an exasperated expression.

"I'm busy," he said. "This girl is a native. And if she won't speak I'll have to find a way to make her do so."

"Ganondorf!" A young woman called out. "I won't allow you to torture! If you kill her-!"

With a thud, Ganondorf dropped the girl like a rock. She coughed and sputtered weakly as she tried to get her bearings. There was the evil-eyed man… but there were two new people. One, a boy in what looked like a green tunic and a hat, and another, a beautiful lady in an elegant gown. Her head spun. What was going on? Who were these people? And what was that energy… magic?

"Calm down now, it's all right," the young woman said, stooping down with a kind smile and eerily-knowing eyes. "What's your name?"

"D…Dizene," the girl said, the ground settling down back in its proper place under her feet. "Have you… seen anybody else?"

The kind-eyed young man, the one with the green hat approached as well, as the muscled one with the odd brown-green skin tone drew back: presumably sulking. "Anybody else? Like who?"

"She's around my height," Dizene said, straightening up shakily for a moment before stumbling down again. Something about these two people was the polar opposite effect of the unsettling man with the burning stare. She felt better just by looking at them. "Black hair. She's a Karai… light-skinned, with sort of gray-silver eyes. If you've seen her eyes, she's unmistakable. Her name is Morrigan."

The two exchanged glances, and Dizene could even see the imposing man that had choked her nod in recognition.

The name is Morrigan. I'm a friend of Dizene's.

"I need to find her," Dizene continued. "I know she can take care of herself… but these scaly-things are bad news."

"Lizalfos," the green-hatted boy corrected.

"Lizalfos," said Dizene, trying to right herself again but failing. "Right. Whatever. Look, I have to go. Morrigan is out there!"

The lady in the gown sighed and helped her steady. "All right. Link- should we help her find her friend?"

"I don't see why not. Lizalfos are small-fry, anyway."

"You'll help me…?" Dizene blinked in confusion. "Who… who are you people?"

The boy in the tunic (Link?) just smiled and pulled out a beautiful silver sword. "Not important right now. We'll tell you when we're through here. But right now, we've got your friend to save?"

As they all departed the safe alcove and into the maelstrom, Ganondorf was wondering why he was fated to put up with these do-gooders.

--

It was not hard to finally find Morrigan. In fact, she was right out in the middle of the open, by the loading zone where things that were trucked in were unpacked. It was getting there that was the scariest thing for Dizene. Next to these people… she felt like a child. Strange magic, inhuman strength, unbelievable blade-skill: that was what these champions had over her. She was a kid with a kitchen knife. At least she had something.

"Morri!"

What was really hard was recognizing her.

With two hands Morrigan was sweeping a metal-bladed canoe paddle around with a crazed fury, forcing the lizalfos back from her bruised and bloody form. Her mouth was upturned in a vicious, desperate scowl, and her eyes were beyond anything that Dizene had seen from her before. Only one thing was in her mind- survival.

But at the sound of Dizene's voice it all broke. She became human again. "Dizzy!" she cried, ducking and trying to work her way over. "You're all right! Thank the Three!"

"Yeah, I do thank that three," Dizene shouted back. "Be damned if I know who they are, though!"

"Link," the green-hatted swordsman said, dispatching another foe. He did not elaborate, though he knew he had a title.

The lady in the ornate (now-stained) gown threw another small ball of light into the charging hoard that was rushing over like a line of cursed waves. "Zelda," she said, "Princess of Hyrule."

"Then who's the big guy?"

The mentioned 'big guy' took down eight lizalfos with a single blow, annoyed that the mindless rabble had forgotten who had commanded them so well. "I am Ganondorf, King of E- NGH!"

A jarring shock of agony split him in two as he attempted to say his self-awarded title. Ganondorf almost dropped his great blade. It was worse than a light arrow- almost as bad as the Master Sword itself. He was beginning not to know when the pain ended and began… it seemed like every thought he had was a burning brand. This was his torture- the torture of the divine fire.

"King of Engh? Never heard of it," Morrigan frowned. "What's a Hyrule, anyway?"

"Morri! Not the time!"

Indeed, as a huge scream roared out from the forest beyond. The lizalfos bolstered themselves. Zelda panted slightly as she remarked upon the amazing luck of these two girls they had stumbled upon. Both of them were cut and bloody- but not mortally wounded. Lucky, lucky…

It was short-lived as the biggest dinalfos that even Ganondorf had ever seen thundered out from the brush, swinging an enormous club. With one sweeping hit it knocked aside all but Ganondorf, who was lowered to his knees himself.

"Aiie!"

"Bastard!"

Morrigan had begun to charge, the others too busy with fending off the redoubled efforts of the Lizalfos, her impromptu weapon held high to strike back.

It happened too fast. The next few minutes were a blur. Cold steel sprouting from Morrigan's back as a sword pierced her through- a Lizalfos defending its leader. Morrigan dropping her weapon in cold shock. Dizene rushing, slashing in shock and horror at the beast's eyes. The great dinalfos knocking her aside with its club. The three champions of the Triforce being pinned down and unable to progress… Dizene losing sight of her best friend…

And a bloody blade tearing asunder the Dinalfos's stomach, a gore-streaked and weak Morrigan coughing up blood and clutching where she had torn the steel out of herself. Her last breath was a harsh, ragged gasp as she collapsed, dead on the spot. She had taken the gruesome monster with her to the great beyond.

"Morri! Morri! No!"

The lizalfos scattered in fear, now that their leader was gone. Link personally did away with the last one as Dizene ran, eyes full of tears.

But it was too late. Morrigan's once-fierce stare was glassy and blank, her life slipping away like a snowflake in the breeze. "No, no, no…" Dizene cried. "No… you were so tough, such a hardass… you can't die! You're Morrigan Rengard! No… no…"

Zelda's face paled at the scene. She had healing magic, but even she could not revive the dead. That required a different sort of spell, one from the ancient vassals of Faore herself. "I…"

"Can't you do anything? Help her, please! I'm begging you!"

Ganondorf muttered a "Pathetic," under his breath and turned away. Zelda was appalled at his heartlessness, leaving Link to step forward as Hero of Time.

And as Hero of Time, he had learned to trust his hunches. And one said that this fierce girl was needed alive…

"I may have a way to save her," he said. "Please don't be alarmed."

Slowly, he drew a bottle from somewhere unseen, a bright red spark floating inside of it lazily. With a pop, he eased out the cork and a fairy flew from the glass container, dazed and confused. But it settled upon Morrigan's still, lifeless form and circled in a streak of light, eventually disappearing to the wind.

Impossible, Dizene marveled. The blood on the ground was drying up, the red-smeared wounds on her fallen friend mending together seamlessly. The only scars she bore now were the twin entry-and-exit points of the lizalfos blade in her stomach. Color returned to her face and abruptly she gave a series of harsh coughs as a heart began to beat in her breast once more.

But she did not wake.

--

YES, I have said this. Morrigan is actually a VERY good fistfighter. It's not due to any sort of special power, but because she has literally spent years learning how (from her mother!) and it has to do with her Karai background. The world will be explained next chapter- if you feel confusion, that's intentional. Our Champions are mighty confused, too.

If anyone was wondering, Lizalfos are not normal for this world, and Dizene actually knows a bit about knives, too. But while she is brave, she is not accustomed to stress or threatening situations like Morrigan is... and she's also not slightly crazy like Morrigan is...

Trust me to almost-kill off my favorite OC in the second chapter...