There's some violence in this, but that's why it's got an M rating. Hope you enjoy, see you after the chapter!
Link stepped once again out into the rainy night, still holding the Master Sword tight in his right hand. The doors leading into the Temple of Time closed shut behind him, passing right through the ghost Renna, who was following closely.
"Hey! Just because I'm dead it doesn't mean you can slam doors in my face whenever you feel like it." Renna muttered.
"Sorry…" Link mumbled, casting his gaze around the graveyard to make sure there were no Redead in the area.
"Are you going back to the survivors now?" Renna asked him quietly, her strange voice hollow, as if she were speaking down a long tunnel.
"Yes. I don't know if you've seen it yet, but they've set up a safe house just near the entrance to the town." He answered.
"Okay, let's head there then." Renna said decisively, her red eyes eager.
Link started walking down the length of the graveyard, the ground now muddier then ever and splashing up on his ankles, mixing with the rain.
A guttural, high-pitched scream suddenly sounded behind him, making his body jolt in fear, and he spun around quickly, preparing to defend himself from a Redead.
What he saw instead was perhaps a little more horrifying to him: Renna was on her knees in the mud, both her hands clutching the top of her skull fiercely, as if she was trying to prevent something from bursting out of her head. The girl's mouth was wide open, a wail of pain issuing from therein, and her red eyes were wide with fear and pain.
"Stop!" She screamed at him, and he paused in the act of holding out a hand to her.
"What is it? What's happening?" Link cried, the fear showing in his voice.
Renna's eyes rolled up into the back of her head, and she groaned in pain.
"Why me? Can't you let me die? I don't have anything more to tell you! Oh, Link! Help me!" She screamed, and to Link's increasing horror he saw that the ghost's body was becoming even more transparent by the second. Renna was fading out of existence.
"Come back!" He shouted, and grabbed at her shoulder with a hand.
Instead of touching anything solid, his hand merely sunk through her shoulder, but it seemed that the indirect touch did something, for her body suddenly shone more brightly, became more solid.
Renna fell sobbing to her side in the mud, her body shaking slightly.
Still confused at what was happening, Link could only kneel in the mud beside the ghost in the rain, and pat her head as well as he could with his hand, feeling the slightest physical sensation as he did so.
Gradually her sobbing subsided, to be replaced with weak chuckles, which in turn turned into full-blown laughter.
Link blinked. "What are you-are you laughing now? What's going on?"
Renna looked up at him and grinned bravely, though her cheeks were tear-stained.
"I'm really sorry about that…I guess that was quite a show, huh?" She muttered, still smiling sadly. "I was experiencing a…a flashback of my death. It happens sometimes."
Link's heart ached for the girl. "But why was your body disappearing?" He asked.
Renna bowed her head, and was silent for some seconds.
"The afterlife was calling to me," she said finally. "I was about to pass on to the other side. It's happened before, many times-my body's aura will flicker for a while, but usually I can control it, can hang onto this world. It was just pretty bad this time. Thank you for grabbing me."
Link smiled sadly. "Don't worry about it…you helped me back when I grabbed the Master Sword as well. You just had me really worried."
Renna smiled. "I probably should have warned you about it earlier. Anyway, I'm fine now. Let's keep moving."
Link arrived back at the safe house some ten minutes later, without incident. He felt slightly strange as he closed the front door to the house behind him, shutting out the rain. This was mostly because Renna had floated into the house just next to him, and was now hovering right in front of Scray: the wounded soldier he had spoken to just before he left, who was still lying in bed.
He held his breath, wondering whether Scray would be able to see Renna. He remembered that Renna had told him that only mostly young people could see her, but he still found it a bit hard to believe that she would be invisible to anyone.
"Good to see you back safe," Scray said, nodding at Link. "Rupert would have killed me if anything happened to you."
I guess that means he can't see Renna, Link thought.
"What happened to Scray?" Renna asked, peering down at the injured man. "It's good to see he's still alive, though."
"You know him, then?" Link asked Renna.
"What? Of course I know Rupert…why wouldn't I?" Scray answered him, thinking that Link was talking to him, and raising an eyebrow in concern.
"Everyone in the village knows Scray. We're a pretty close community here," Renna explained, right after Scray had finished speaking.
Link shook his head. "Stop talking, Renna! You're just confusing me." He said out loud, before he could stop himself.
Scray laughed humorlessly, looking worried. "Um, Link? You feeling okay?"
Link held his head in his hand, suddenly feeling very tired.
"Sorry…I just need some sleep." He mumbled lamely, unable to think of a good explanation for his bizarre behaviour.
"I bet, you've been on your feet for ages. There's a spare room over there you can use." Scray offered.
"Thanks, I think I'll do that." Link said, and then he realized that Scray seemed to be the only person in the small safe house.
"Where's everyone else?" He asked.
"There are plenty of other houses, clustered near-by, which we also use. This house is mostly for the sick and injured." Scray explained, and then suddenly he bowed his head in sadness, so that his chin rested on his chest. "As you can see, I'm the only one injured at the moment. Generally, when someone is attacked by the Redead, they're either lucky enough to escape uninjured, or they're…devoured. There's rarely an in-between."
A heavy silence fell, and even Renna bowed her head where she floated, looking dejected.
"But anyway…sorry to be such a kill-joy. You better get some rest. We might need you even more tomorrow." Scray said.
Link nodded mutely, and walked through a near-by door which led into a small, single room. A rudimentary bed took up most of the space, and a window let in the smell of rain from outside. The room was dark, but the occasional flash of lightning turned the darkness briefly white.
He shut the door behind him, glad to have some privacy again. He liked Scray, but when the man talked of the Redead, he felt that he was expected to do something about it.
Of course, he would do as much as he could to help, but the whole situation seemed impossibly bleak to him. The Redead were innumerable, and the survivors were stubbornly refusing to retreat. What was he supposed to do?
His feeling of privacy vanished as Renna materialized through the wall next to him.
"So, what are you doing now?" She asked casually, looking around the room. "I really need to find this person I'm looking for. Now, if you don't mind."
Something snapped inside Link.
"What am I doing now?" He snarled. "Well, I would like to get even one night's worth of sleep for a change. But instead I have to worry about the dying population of this town, about captured prisoners, Ganondorf and Redead. And then, just to top it all off nicely, I have to help a ghost find some person, and I don't even know if Malon's okay at the moment. So you tell me what I should be doing."
Though he was angry, he still tried to keep his voice low, in case Scray heard him and thought he was talking to himself again.
Renna stared at him, her mouth agape, for several heartbeats, and then she suddenly burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Link demanded, his face turning red. He realized he had lost his cool, but hadn't expected the girl to mock him.
Renna shook her head, speechless with laughter, and then composed herself.
"Sorry, sorry. Nothing's funny, really. I just realized how much I was bossing you around. I forgot how much pressure you must have on you, and I even forgot that, unlike me, you have to sleep and eat." Renna said, giving him an apologetic smile.
Link closed his mouth, his anger dying away. "Well, I shouldn't have snapped at you, either. As you can see, I'm a bit stressed right now."
"It's understandable! Oh, and who's Malon, anyway?" Renna asked mischievously.
"Huh?"
"Malon. You just mentioned her." Renna pushed.
"Oh…she's just a friend. I'm not sure why I spoke of her." Link said, and it was true: her name had just sort of slipped out of his mouth.
"Sure she isn't a girlfriend?" Renna asked coyly, her grin widening.
"Oh shut up," Link said, but couldn't stop himself from smiling. "You're so childish. And weird too, by the way."
Renna laughed. "Why thank you."
Link stretched, feeling a bit more relaxed.
"Okay," he said decisively. "I need to work out what to do next. How much time do we have to speak to this person of yours?" He asked her. He knew that Renna was deliberately remaining vague on the identity of the person she was trying to find, but he knew better then to push her into telling him who it was.
"Not much. I need to find him as soon as possible, before anything happens to him." Renna said.
So it's a "he" then, huh, Link mused to himself.
"Right…well, before I can do anything, I need sleep. And then, perhaps some food and water. Then we can find this person of yours, give him your message, and then I can…what? Spend months fighting back the Redead?" Link thought out-loud.
An idea came to him. "Wait. Remember how you controlled that Redead away from me in the mausoleum? Couldn't you just persuade all of the Redead to stay away from the villagers, or even leave the town entirely?" He asked, hope in his voice.
But Renna shook her head. "My control over the Redead is very weak. I can control one, on its own, well enough. But a mob? No way. Their blood lust and mindless rage would override any persuasive skills I could use against them."
Link groaned. "Scratch that plan, then. The only way to get all these people out of here would be to rescue the prisoners from in the castle. And that's pretty much impossible."
Renna looked startled. "There are other prisoners in the castle? Huh. If you want, I might be able to help you get them out."
He felt skeptical. "Just the two of us? How will we even get through the entrance? Float through the…walls?" Link said slowly, as he realized that passing through the walls would of course be possible for him now.
The ghost nodded, grinning. "Float right through the walls, until we reach the dungeons. And then…I dunno, we'll think of something. Even Ganondorf won't expect that. So, after we find my person, I'll help you with that."
"But…didn't you say that you needed to tell this person something, so that you could pass over to the next life? How could you help me afterwards, then?" Link asked, confused.
Renna seemed to hesitate. "Um. I'll be able to stick around, for a bit. Just trust me. I'm not trying to trick you into helping me so I can disappear on you, or anything. Hopefully you can see that…"
Link gave Renna a long look. He did trust her-if she was hiding her true colors from him, she was a fantastic actor. But at the same time he felt instinctively that she was holding a lot back from him.
He yawned widely, unable to remain alert for much longer. He needed sleep badly. He had so much to think about, but if he tried to go over everything in his head right now, he would just end up going in circles.
"I trust you." He told her. "But right now I need sleep…what's the time, anyway?"
"I'll check," Renna said, and dissolved into one of the walls which led outside the house.
She came back a few seconds later, completely dry despite the rain still coming down outside.
"I think it's about…two hours after mid-night. Or around then, anyway. I was never good at reading the stars." She said, grinning embarrassedly.
Link nodded, and struggled out of his wet, muddy boots. He placed the Master Sword next to the bed, close enough so that he could grab it straight away if anything happened.
He climbed under the rough blanket of the bed, and all of the muscles in his body seemed to sigh with relief. Some mud still clung to the bottom of his trousers, but he was too tired to do anything about it.
He beckoned Renna closer to the bed sleepily.
Renna hovered over, her eyes shining with amusement.
"Why Link…I'm flattered that you want me to sleep next to you, but I'm afraid that I'm dead. You should have come looking for me sooner!" She giggled.
Link stared at her, feeling half embarrassed at what she had said, and half amused.
"No…you idiot." He chided softly, smiling. "I need you, if you can, to keep an eye on things while I sleep. I think I'll need at least five hours of sleep, but if it's an emergency, wake me up before that. Only if it's an emergency, though. I won't be much help if I don't get some sleep anyway."
Renna mock-saluted.
"Right. It's kind of hard for me to keep track of time passing, but I'll do the best I can. Have a good sleep, Link. And thank you for helping me…I don't think I've told you what this means to me."
Link smiled, started to say something, but then found that his eyelids were too heavy to keep open. Renna, and the room behind her, suddenly faded out of his sight.
He was in a prison cell, alone. The walls were grimy and black, and everywhere he looked he saw only darkness, so that the only objects he could see were a near-by wall, and the bars of his cell, right in front of him.
He clutched at the bars, trying feebly to open them somehow. He had to get out of here-Malon was waiting for him.
The sound of footsteps came to his ears, and he sensed someone move so that they stood right in front of the bars, on the other side. The darkness was so absolute that no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he couldn't see who or what it was. But he could hear it breathing, in short, excited breaths.
"Who's there?" He called, feeling deadly afraid. "Let me out! Why am I in here?"
The person, whoever it was, laughed gleefully, softly at first, and then with more feeling.
"Why are you in here? Because of your many crimes." The person said, his voice high and maniacal.
"What crimes? I haven't done anything!" Link pleaded, wishing that he could just see who was speaking to him.
"Can you sense me, Link?" The male said, ignoring his question. "Can you sense me getting closer?"
"What are you talking about? You're standing right in front of me!" Link cried.
A hand suddenly shot through the bars, grabbing him around his throat and squeezing down hard.
"You want to know your crimes? Start with this: you killed Navi." The voice hissed, still retaining a shred of maniacal laughter.
"No! I didn't!" Link gasped, struggling to free himself from the stranger's grip.
"You did!" The voice roared back.
"You weren't there!" Link shouted. "You have no idea what happened!"
The hand suddenly yanked him forward, so that his whole body slammed against the bars of his cell.
As the dream-and suddenly he knew that's what it was-started to fade, the voice spoke out one last time, cutting into his mind forcefully.
"I WAS there."
He became dimly aware of his surroundings, but his body felt so groggy, and his mind was confused. He blinked eyes that were sore and heavy, looking around the room.
Something suddenly flew by his head to smash against the wall right next to him-a vase or something, he thought wildly, as he scrambled up in his bed to a sitting position.
He became aware that other objects were flying about the room through the air in a circle, as if a miniature tornado had somehow formed right in front of his bed.
"What in the…name of Hyrule!" He shouted groggily, as the wind swept through his hair.
At his words, the tornado seemed to slow, and chairs, mugs, cloth and plates fell to the floor. Finally, the wind ceased all together, and out from the centre of the vortex floated Renna, who hurried over to him.
"Finally! You're awake!" She exclaimed, her face flushed.
"Did you do that?" Link demanded, his head throbbing. "Ugh, I feel awful. Has it been five hours already?"
Renna bit her lower lip worriedly. "You weren't waking, so I had to start throwing things around the room! Um, it's only been like two hours-" She started.
"WHAT?" Link cried, and all of a sudden he felt a whole lot worse. "Why'd you wake me?"
"We have a…situation. Something's outside. Outside the walls, on the roof, everywhere. I can't get a clear look at it, or them, or whatever. Scray's been yelling for you from the next room for a good minute." Renna said hurriedly.
As soon as she finished speaking, there came a startling crash from the next room, and Link practically fell out of the bed, scrambling for his sword. His body felt like lead, and wouldn't move as fast as he wanted it to.
He stood next to the bed for a second, trying to clear his head.
Two hours! Not enough sleep! I won't be able to do anything…this better turn out to be a false alarm, he thought, his heart hammering.
"Okay…let's go." He croaked, but paused when he noticed that Renna had an odd, pained expression on her face.
"What is it?" He asked worriedly, wishing that he could physically grab her-to offer his support, but also to hold himself up at the same time.
Renna groaned alarmingly. "I'm too weak…to keep this up." She gasped.
The spectral body of the girl flickered dimly.
"Don't go!" Link warned, unsure what he could do.
"I won't cross over, I can get through this," she panted. "But I'm running out of time. I need…I need to rest. I'm sorry Link, I need to go. I'll be back soon…keep yourself alive!"
And with that, she vanished completely.
Link stood staring at the spot Renna's body had occupied, his heart sinking.
He had no more time for reflection, however, as Scray's voice came to him from the next room, raised in alarm: "LINK!"
He shoved the door open and rushed into the room, his sword at the ready.
Scray was still in the same bed, but he was sitting as upright as he was able, his expression alarmed.
Link ran over to the bed, his cloudy vision sweeping over the room. He spotted a smashed lantern on the floor, which would have fallen from high up on the wall-that, then, was what had caused the crash he had heard earlier.
"What's going on?" Link demanded, panting.
Scray looked extremely relieved. "Thank the goddess! There's something on the roof, trying to get in! It's gotta be a Redead! I heard a lot of noise coming from your room, and I thought one had gotten in and devoured you while you slept!"
Link strained his ears, and sure enough, over the rain, came the sound of thumping steps on the roof.
"I'm fine-no Redead attacked me. Okay, I have some questions," he said quickly, trying to get his brain working. "First, you can't walk or anything?"
"I can if you help me up. I'm sorry I didn't come to check on you, but I didn't think I'd be able to move across the room in time, and didn't know where they would attack from-" Scray said, as Link put an arm behind his shoulder and helped him step out of bed onto the floor, where he wobbled on his feet slightly.
"How do you feel?" Link asked.
"Dizzy and weak. But I'll be fine. I think there's a sword over in that cabinet there." He instructed, and Link went over, retrieved a long, steel sword, and returned it to Scray, who gripped it with relief.
"That's better." He said, his expression determined.
"How do you know that they're Redead?" Link asked, glancing up at the ceiling.
"Because they're stupid," Scray replied with a chuckle. "They've spent good minutes bumping into the walls, jumping on the roof…" As he spoke, he limped over to the front door. There was a click as he locked the door, and he turned back to Link, grinning. "But they could have just opened this door and got in with no trouble."
Link chuckled, feeling slightly relieved that the danger appeared to be nothing more then some Redead, which were pretty much harmless if you stayed indoors.
"So, what's the plan? We just stay put?" Link asked Scray.
"Pretty much. Everybody else should be safely indoors as well. Occasionally the Redead manage to get into houses, but since there's only about two hours since dawn breaks we should be able to hold out." Scray said, moving into the middle of the room.
The Redead outside moaned and banged against the walls of the house, which made Link feel slightly unnerved. He didn't like the idea of being trapped while enemies surrounded him.
"Yeah, just keep on knocking, you're not getting in!" Scray yelled, keeping the mood light.
The banging just intensified.
"Are they usually this…aggressive, just before dawn?" Link asked the soldier.
"Well…no, come to think of it. I wonder what's got them worked up." Scray pondered.
Link felt a chill come over him, and instinctively he picked up his shield, which he had left leaning against a wall. He felt slightly better holding it.
"Hey, know what I just realized?" Scray said, swiping his sword through the air to get his body moving better.
"What?"
"This is sort of the second time we've fought alongside one another," the soldier said, chuckling.
Link smiled tiredly. "Well Scray, no offence to you, but I hope we don't make a habit of it."
Scray laughed loudly. "Amen to that!"
Link's ears pricked up: he was suddenly aware of a weird, hissing sound coming from somewhere. He was about to mention it to Scray, when there came a huge blast, and the house shook around them.
Link was thrown to the floor, off balance, and when he struggled to his feet, he saw smoke seeping into the house, from a man-sized hole in one of the walls, which led right out into the chilly night air.
Next to him, Scray also rose to his feet, and automatically spotted the gaping hole.
"Oh no. Now we're in trouble," Scray mumbled. "This isn't really my idea of recovering from the last fight."
"Someone used a bomb!" Link yelled, over the moaning chorus that had sprung up from outside. "Here they come!"
The Redead poured into the house, emerging one by one from the hole and immediately spotting the two fighters.
Link and Scray, both realizing that they needed to escape, turned and ran to the front door. Scray reached it first, unlocked the door, and tried to pull it open. But the door didn't budge.
"It's stuck!" He grunted, heaving with all his might.
Link helped pull, but it was almost as if the door was suddenly made of steel, it was so dense and unmoving.
Scray heaved his shoulder into the door, but it didn't budge at all.
"This doesn't make sense!" Link groaned, half wondering if, in his tired state, he was imagining things.
The two gave up on the door and whirled around to face the advancing Redead, who were moaning and slobbering with anticipation of fresh meat.
"What do we do?" Scray yelled, backing away from the Redead, who already were around fifteen in number.
Link shook his head. This was it. He didn't have any of his equipment on him, apart from his sword and shield. They needed fire, but nothing was available. He might be able to cut down many of them, but they would simply get back up again after a bit. They couldn't get past all the Redead safely to get out of the hole where they had come in from. They were outnumbered, and he was deadly tired.
"Stay back," he ordered. If this is how I must die, so be it. "I'll take down as many as I can. You just try to get out of here, once I fall."
He didn't wait for Scray to answer. He sprang forward with a furious cry, bringing the Master Sword around in an arc so that it slammed into the mid-section of the closest Redead.
He expected the sword to give the Redead a pretty deep gash, but it did something different.
It cut the walking corpse in half.
The Redead screamed in fury as the top half of its body slid sideways to the floor, its legs toppling backwards with it.
Link, amazed and dazed, stared at the Master Sword in amazement. He had no idea any sword could be so powerful.
But he hesitated too long, and a second Redead grabbed him, pulling him forward towards death.
A sword slashed through the arm of the Redead, cutting it away from the body and releasing him from the monster, and suddenly Scray was beside him, pulling him away from the mass of Redead.
"Stay focused, Link!" Scray shouted. "If you keep using that sword like that, we might still get out of this alive!"
The soldier then jumped toward a Redead, plunging his sword into its chest and sending it staggering back against its brethren.
Link shook himself, dropped his shield to give him more maneuverability, and entered the throng of Redead, ducking his body down, away from the monsters' teeth and hands.
The Master Sword lunged out again and again, and Link soon discovered that the sword had an unusual effect on the Redead: he only had to cut the undead anywhere on their bodies and the wound would smoke and burn, the creatures themselves falling to the ground and not getting back up.
Scray, seeing how effective Link's sword was against the undead, spent the fight keeping the Redead away from Link's back and unprotected areas, and, once the Redead's numbers diminished, helped herd the creatures towards Link so that the hero could finish them off with his sword.
Soon, all of the Redead lay unmoving on the floor of the house, smoke rising up from their bodies. Link, panting heavily, still could not believe his luck.
"I…I can't believe they're all defeated. Link, where did you get that sword? Never mind, you can tell me later. Let's get out of here, I don't feel-"Scray began, elatedly.
The arrow whistled through the hole in the wall and thudded into Scray's chest.
The young soldier clutched at the shaft of the arrow with one hand, his eyes wide.
"No…" He managed to say, before he toppled over backwards.
Link caught him just before he hit the ground, and gently lowered the soldier to the floor.
He saw that Scray was still alive, but his breathing was fast and labored. The arrow stuck out of his chest as a straight rod, its tail barbed.
Time seemed to slow down for Link. He knew he couldn't save Scray: he was no healer.
Still, he had the absurd thought that the man shouldn't die with the arrow still in him, but he couldn't decide how to get the arrow out.
He felt numb.
Laughter floated through the house, from outside, followed by a voice.
"Whoops! Hit the wrong target. Oh well! Hey, Link! I've come for you. You did pretty well to take care of all those Redead-you killer, you. I'll meet you upstairs!"
The voice died away, and Link heard a loud thump come from the ceiling as something heavy landed.
The roof, then. He thought.
He looked once more at Scray, who was staring at him with wide eyes.
"Get…out…"the soldier gasped.
"Hang in there, Scray." Link told him, blinking back tears. "Help's on its way. Just…don't die, okay?"
Scray managed to laugh painfully, as if to indicate that he couldn't do much to help it.
Link stood up, dragging the Master Sword and his shield up with him. He felt an odd sensation come over him, a calm fury he had only experienced a few times in his life.
Whoever loosed that arrow would die, he told himself.
He scanned the open hole, leading outside. That would be the easiest, and normally the only way that he could get outside and up to the roof. But whoever was out there would be expecting that.
Running on instinct, he managed to pick up one of the Redead's body, holding his breath to protect him from the awful smell. He walked over to the hole, propped the Redead up in front of him, and then kicked the body out into the night.
He watched the Redead's body flail out over the grass, and a split second later two arrows thudded into its back, as whoever was on the roof fired at the corpse.
Link turned and was running across the room before the body hit the grass. He climbed up a tall, wooden cabinet to its top, using drawers as stepping stones, and then launched himself off the cabinet, grabbing one of the wooden beams that served as the rafters for the house.
Pulling his body on top of the beam, he crawled along it until he was under a particular spot in the roof. He glanced up at the ceiling, readying his sword.
The archer frowned as the arrows hit home into what he at first thought had to be Link, springing out from the house. But now he could see that it was actually one of the bodies of the Redead he had sent into the house.
He clicked his tongue in irritation, but a smile also came faintly to his lips.
Smart.
He readied another arrow, expecting Link to try and make a run for it, now that his diversion had been played. But seconds passed, and nobody emerged from the house.
The archer frowned. He had made sure the front door was strongly barred, so Link could not have gotten out that way. Was there some other way out of the house? He didn't think so.
He remained in the same position, watching the exit, growing more and more concerned and on edge.
Move! His instincts suddenly screamed at him, and he sprang backwards just as the wood below him exploded upwards in a shower of splinters and a flash of red tunic.
He wasn't fast enough. Link's sword, which had easily cut through the wood of the house, sliced into his left leg, leaving a deep gash.
He growled in fury, jumping away from the emerging swordsman, and regained his balance a few meters away, perched on the outer edge of the roof.
Link, his breaths coming out in angry pants, landed on the roof and turned to face his enemy, his eyes narrowed in rage.
The archer smirked, and tossed his bow over his shoulder, where it fell to the ground below. He would no longer need it.
"You will pay for this." Link stated, trying to keep his voice calm and walking towards the man in front of him.
He was sick of being the victim, being the prey. But mostly he could no longer stand the fact that whoever chose to get close to him would be in danger from people like this. He would put a stop to that, starting right now.
The Master Sword dragged along the wood as he walked, throwing up sparks. The rain still fell, making the roof treacherous to traverse, but he would not be on the defensive; not this time. This time he would attack.
Finally, the man's face came into view, and the first shock he felt was the fact that it wasn't a man, but a teenager. The second and most alarming shock came to him when he realized that he knew the teenager well. Better then anybody else in the world did.
Dark Link smiled, his mouth stretching out in a feral grin. He brushed his blonde hair away from his eyes, and glanced down at the cut in his leg briefly. He was dressed identical to Link, but his clothes were a dark black, and a hood covered much of his head.
"Ouch," he complained, grinning. "You got me good there, Link. But wait, I'm not sure we've been introduced. Hello. I'm you."
Before I say anything about the chapter, I just have to say thanks to everyone who left reviews for Link's Trials, or sent me messages. I would have waited a lot longer to write this chapter, had you guys not encouraged me to do so, so thank you!
And chapter 9 received 17 reviews! 17! I didn't even know it had gotten that many, until I glanced at my stats page. That is honestly more reviews then I ever thought I'd get for a chapter, so I'm a bit speechless.
But boy, this chapter. I hope you guys and girls liked it. It had a lot of action in it, lots of drama (I hope I wasn't too heavy-handed with ze drama), and some character development. I have gotten several reviews saying that I should put Dark Link in this story, and now I finally have. Since The Ocarina of Time doesn't have too many characters I can use, I need everyone I can in the story, and Dark Link is a pretty interesting character anyway.
I'm really looking forward to writing the next few chapters: they should hopefully wrap up everything that's going on in this part of the story. What's happening with Renna? Where did Dark Link come from? Will Link be able to save the prisoners? Is Scray dead? When will Ingo come back into the story! (That last one was a joke, don't worry...)
Oh, I should also clarify that, at the moment in the story, Malon is still being held captive at Lon Lon Ranch. It's been a while between chapters, so some of you might be thinking "Wait, isn't Malon meant to be showing up soon?" Nope, it'll still be a couple of nights before that happens. Sorry for the confusion.
After the current plot-line wraps up, I think I also want at least one light-hearted chapter. I don't want this story to be dark all the time.
Um, not much else to say. Renna is a very...interesting character to write. She's so unpredictable, and you don't really know what's up with her at the moment. And poor Scray!
Lastly, expect the next chapter to come much sooner then it took me to write this one. Thanks for reading, and please keep sending your comments and reviews! They help me out so much.