Ugh…writer's block sucks. I am so sorry for the wait, but I couldn't decide how this chapter was going to end. I hope you guys are as satisfied with this as I am (but this still isn't the end). So, enjoy readers!

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Link's mind was a blur of throbbing pain and clouded vision as he gradually regained consciousness. His ocean blue eyes slowly emerged from behind their eyelids, blinking dazedly before his vision refocused. Though it was dark, he still managed to see his crystallized puffs of breath as he inhaled and exhaled shakily from his slightly agape mouth. He vaguely felt his body shiver from the cold that had consumed his body while he was unconscious.

He felt so…cold…

His eyes were now fully adjusted to the dark, so he was allowed a better view of his surroundings. The ice that surrounded him seemed to glow in the pale moonlight.

Wait a second…ice…?

He rubbed his eyes with a numb hand, before blinking again. No mistaking it; the room he was in was pure ice- the walls, the floor, the barred door…

……………

BARRED DOOR?

Link racked his brain for any recollection of what happened that led to here. He had gone to the castle, hugged Zelda, apologized for his stupid behavior earlier, ran from the castle…then…Zelda contacted him telepathically…then…nothing. His thick golden blonde brows knit together in a pointed frown. What wasn't he remembering? He remembered thanking Zelda for comforting him…then…then he was hit in the back of the head…

And then it clicked.

Link was not nearly as slow as people made him out to be. He was more than capable of connecting the ogre attack on the castle to his sudden waking up in a cell made of nothing but ice. Damn, what the hell did the ogres want with him? What were they trying to accomplish when they attacked the castle? This behavior was not like the ogre tribe of the mountains. They were a very isolated group, and only attacked when being attacked, or whenever they felt endangered. There had been no conflict between the ogre tribe and Hyrule before, so what had caused the sudden change in behavior? It was not as though Link (let alone anyone else) could simply ask them; ogres only spoke in grunts and growls, so that idea was completely pointless.

His contemplations were cut short at the loud thumping noises that echoed down the icy hall from where he was being kept. He stood uncertainly on the slippery ice, mentally cursing the fact that he had left his hat at home before he left to see Zelda because he had lost all feeling in the back of his head. The source of the loud noises just so happened to be coming from an ogre about three times his size in both height and width that had just appeared before him on the other side of the barred door, as if teasing him with the luxury of freedom that the hero of time no longer possessed, confirming his suspicions that it was the ogre tribe that had taken him prisoner. The barred door was thrown open with one sweep of the ogre's massive arm as it entered the cell Link was being held in.

Instinctively, Link reached behind his left shoulder to grab the amethyst phoenix winged hilt of his Master Sword, but cursed loudly when he remembered that he had left not only his Master Sword in a protected chest at home, but his bombs, arrows, slingshot, iron boots, gale boomerang, spinner, and even his lantern all tucked away in that chest in his basement, and right about now he was pretty sure that if he used his clawshot on this behemoth, he'd just piss it off. He never took any of his weapons with him to see Zelda (mainly because, heaven forbid, that he was ever caught, they couldn't say it was to necessarily harm anyone in the castle). Hell, he didn't even have any potions of any type on him, so he was basically at the mercy of this ogre that may very well be his warden and/or executioner.

Link's eyes traveled down its armored body, what parts of its green scaly form were visible were coated with a thin sheet of frost around the ends of every individual scale. Its red, piercing eyes glared at him through the armored helmet it wore on its head, and without his weapons, the hero of time was feeling pretty small in comparison (hey, wouldn't you?) Without warning, it lunged at Link, catching him off guard. With no shield, the best defense he could put up was raising his arms in front of his upper body and hope to get in some blows whenever he could. The ogre's fist connected with Link's left forearm solidly, making his entire arm recoil from the aftershock of the blow. Link cringed as he felt the bone give off a sickening 'crack' that seemingly echoed throughout the hollow chamber, despite the copper gauntlet that ran from his elbow to his wrist. That was his sword arm…his stronger arm. Either he had to back down soon or come up with some extra advantage to fall back on. He tried to retaliate with a right hook to its exposed chin, but at the last possible second, it turned its shoulder into the path of his fist, and caused his knuckle to collide with the spike on its metal shoulder pad. Luckily, Link managed to restrain his punch just enough so that the worst damage dealt to his hand was that his knuckle was split open, rather than his entire hand being run through with a spike. He jerked his hand back as the blood from the open knuckle trickled slowly from the wound. He cursed under his breath but tensed up for the next blow nonetheless.

Damn, this ogre was surprisingly fast for its size. Link was barely managing to dodge its blows, and his exhaustion was quickly beginning to settle in. He could feel the air ruffle his bangs as he ducked to avoid a punch that had barely missed his left temple. The ogre's other fist, however, managed to connect with his right side firmly, sending the hero sprawling on the floor. He cried out in pain as felt at least one of his ribs crack upon landing on the uneven and jagged ice, causing him to clutch his side with one arm in an attempt to ease away some of the pain that came with so much as a single twist of his body. He tried standing up, but grunted in pain as his side injury stalled him a moment. That moment's hesitation gave the ogre enough of an open window of opportunity to clasp the front of Link's tunic, hauling him up to its eye level so that his feet dangled six inches above the floor as it raised its other fist high above its head. Link's vision was blurring from dizziness…all he could see were those dark, menacing red eyes…

"Humph...that's enough."

Just like that, it was over. The ogre dropped Link so that he lie on his stomach idly on the ice floor and stood stiffly beside the entrance. Link lifted his face from the icy floor to look at the one who spoke in human tongue. No ogre was capable of speaking their language, or at least, not to anyone's knowledge. Though his eyesight was obscured by his crystallized breath and hazy from the pain his body was enduring, he still managed to make out the silhouette of what appeared to be a cloaked figure, of what gender or race, the hero couldn't exactly be for sure, though it only stood on two legs, and seemed to move toward him with unearthly grace, towering over his battered body with such an authority about its attitude that one might mistake its demeanor as either snobbish or royal. A thick black hood prevented Link from seeing this person's face, as it was cast into a heavy shadow of obscurity and mystery. Link could only assume from the voice that this person gave off that it was a female and wondered who in the hell this was.

"Rise onto your feet, hero." The coldness in the figure's voice seemed to make the ice feel suddenly warm and comforting in comparison to the said hero of time, but he only vaguely made that thought come to his mind as he struggled to comply with its request. He lifted his torso from the ground and applied his weight to his knees before slowly rising, so as not to agitate the wounds he had received any further than they already had been. "Link…hero of time…slayer of Ganondorf, wielder of the sword of evil's bane, and savior of Hyrule…has finally been captured." The hilt of the figure's hidden sword suddenly shot out from the part in its black cloak, jabbing Link in his stomach so hard that he swore the skin protecting his stomach was punctured as he sank to his knees, clutching his stomach as he did so. Upon looking at the crimson stain about the size of his thumb that began to form, his suspicions were once again confirmed. "Tell me, O hero of time, since you have done such services for the inhabitants of Hyrule, surely you of all people, would know where the King and his heir to the throne would hide in such a large building as that of Hyrule Castle during an attack on its people, would you not?" The cloaked woman interrogated to the kneeling teenager, who glared up into the figure's hood at where he could only guess that its eyes were.

He knew too well where this was going. This figure…this silhouette, obviously wanted the throne as well as Hyrule for itself, and the only people directly in its way were the King and…and…Zelda…if this creature was to find out the whereabouts of Zelda and the King…no. He wouldn't dare think such thoughts, especially when it came dangerously close to becoming reality yesterday…no! He wouldn't let that happen! He wouldn't be the one to betray his own people, his own kingdom, and-!

"You fought valiantly and tried your hardest, Link, and nothing you can say will convince anyone otherwise. You are my best friend, and you always will be."

And he would not be the one to betray Zelda.

"You will not benefit from asking me. I refuse to aid you. Your cause is not pure, that much I can see clearly, and so not a word of treason shall pass my lips. I absolutely refuse to betray that of which I have grown to love." 'I will not betray you, my Zelda.' The shadowed figure's shoulders tensed in frustration, and Link couldn't help but feel that he had at least won some small battle with his response. For the longest time, the hooded figure and Link were locked in a glaring contest, neither one moving, both egging the other to say something first. The only clear sign that they were both animate objects was the small puffs of white fog that escaped their mouths. Finally, the figure let out a heavy sigh, letting its shoulders return to their poised position.

"Then you leave me no choice." With a swish of its cloak, the figure turned on its heel and walked toward the exit, entering the hall before turning back to motion with an upward sweep of its hand for the ogre to join her. The monster did as it had silently been asked to, shutting the barred door behind it as it left to join the cloaked being. Just as Link was about to settle into a corner in hopes of keeping somewhat warm, the figure's voice called through the bars, "When you decide to tell me where the King and his heir can be found during an attack on the castle, feel free to inform me of such knowledge. In exchange, you will be set free."

"If you plan on taking over the kingdom, than I won't be much better off, and neither will the people of Hyrule!" Link shouted back fiercely to the fading footsteps in the hallway. When silence once again reigned in the chamber, Link cringed as he inspected his stomach wound. Thankfully, the wound stopped bleeding, and the blood stain did not look nearly as menacingly dark as it had before. In fact, it was nearly nonexistent all together. His ribs, however, were throbbing with pain. His cringe darkened as he clutched his side, wondering just how much more of this he would have to take before either the cloaked figure killed him or someone found him. He knew that the chances of the latter of the two choices happening was slim to none, but right now all he could do was hope for a miracle.

It would be rather ironic, he thought, if he were to die a prisoner to an enemy that he hadn't even met face to face. The stories of his heroic deeds- the slaying of Ganondorf, the many times he had saved Hyrule from other, countless perils, would be told throughout the ages of time, even long after he was gone, but the tale of his death would be like a charismatic foil to his life; he died at the hands of an enemy he didn't even know he had. That is, of course, assuming that someone would know how he died. Some might claim him to simply disappear, and was never to be seen again.

Ugh, he really needed to stop thinking so negatively. There was hope, there was always hope. Zelda must at least know that something has happened to him. She was that last one to get in touch with him, and he was cut off in mid sentence during their telepathic conversation, so she had to at least suspect that there was something wrong. Zelda wouldn't just ignore something like that, no matter what her status was, she wouldn't just move on from something like that…

She'd look for him…right…?

She cares about him…doesn't she…?

She'll come…she has to…she'll find him…won't she…?

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Phew! There's that chapter done! Stick around for the next one, k? Click that little purplish-blue button below to send me a review pretty please! Chibi Link, do the puppy dog face!

Chibi Link: -comes out of nowhere from Wind Waker, with the most adorable little pouting face that you'd ever seen, looking absolutely cute- please review!