Author's note: Sorry for the long, long wait. I had problems with the beginning of this chapter. I just couldn't get it right. I kept rewriting and rewriting and rewriting it. I finally just forced myself to continue with it. So here it is.

Chapter Ten

Melody and Rainstorm were "escorted" through a maze of tunnels to what Mulder and Kearn called The Headquarters. The entrance to the large cavern was guarded by two fierce-looking sufas, who both stepped forward with a snarl at the group. Melody faltered, fear engulfing her. If the legends about sufas were to be believed, then even just one of the guards could take her out in a heartbeat.

"We must talk to the Elders," Kearn said, stepping forward. "As you can see, it's very urgent."

"You don't need to state the obvious," the guard on the left said and glared in Rainstorm's direction. The young sufa squealed in terror and dashed behind Melody. Melody could feel Rainstorm trembling as she pressed herself up against her legs. She glanced back at Rainstorm and started to speak, but fell silent at the sound of footsteps.

"Pathetic!" a cold, arrogant voice spat. The guards stepped aside to reveal the speaker—a large, female sufa. The fur around her eyes was turning white, but that was the only sign of her great age. Powerful muscles rippled with each step she took; sleek wings, white as a new fallen snow, were tucked in close to her sides. Her shrewd white eyes glanced at the bowing figures of Kearn, Mulder, and Rainstorm before finally settling on Melody. "A girl. A human girl," she said. Melody squirmed uncomfortably under the sufa's stern gaze.

"Naresha, I can explain…" Rainstorm drifted off as the sufa's attention shifted to her.

"Oh, you've got a lot of explaining to do," Naresha said, her voice cold. "A lot." She turned her back on them and started towards the Headquarters. "Rainstorm, Human, come." She paused, looking back at Kearn and Mulder. "Go. I'll send for you two later."

Kearn and Mulder exchanged worried glances.

"That's when we'll discuss your rewards," she said, a hint of laughter in her voice.

They sighed in relief and quickly scurried down the tunnel without as much as a goodbye.

"Come on, you two," Naresha snapped at Melody and Rainstorm, both of whom hadn't budged an inch.

"Uh… Sorry," Melody mumbled. She forced her wooden legs into action and followed Naresha into the Headquarters. A quick glance behind her revealed that Rainstorm was following closely behind her, eyes fixed on the ground.

"Dowd, Pyre, we've got a slight problem," Naresha said. Melody jerked her head around to see whom Naresha was addressing, but then something else caught her attention. A gasp escaped her lips as she caught sight of the cave walls, which were made entirely out of diamonds. A glint of blue caught her eyes and she looked down at the floor to see that it was covered in sapphires.

"Wow…" she breathed.

"Slight? I'd say this is more than slight."

Melody swallowed nervously as she caught sight of the room's occupants, both of whom were watching her with a scrutinizing gaze. Her feet faltered and she offered a weak smile at the two sufas, who were as ancient looking as Naresha.

"Yes, Pyre, I said 'slight,'" Naresha replied. "I don't think this will take us very long to sort out."

"Hmph," the sufa on the left said and tilted his head to one side. Melody gasped in shock as she realized that his right ear was missing. His cyan eyes flashed with irritation at the sound. "We're dealing with two very serious offenses here. Sounds too me like this might take awhile. What do you think, Dowd?" He glanced at his companion.

"Depends on how smoothly things run," Dowd said with a shrug of his shoulders.

The two of them walked over to Melody, Rainstorm, and Naresha, hostile expressions on their faces.

"Uh… Hello?" Melody smiled weakly at the two sufas, but her smile quickly faded from view.

"Did we say you could speak?" Pyre asked, but then he continued on, answering his own question. "No. You humans are all the same—greedy, bloodthirsty, stupid, and ill-mannered."

"Let's not start this again," Dowd said. "The last time he went on a rant about humans it lasted for nearly eight hours."

"Both of you hush," Naresha said, "so that we can get on with this."

The two Elders glared at her, but they sopped their bickering.

"Forward, Rainstorm."

The young sufa reluctantly crawled out from behind Melody. "Yes?" she mumbled with a stiff bow of her head to each of the sufas.

"Why did you return, especially with a human?" Naresha swished her tail back and forth. "I would have thought that you'd be the last sufa to do such a thing, considering how much trouble you're in all ready. You obviously have no regards whatsoever for the laws of the sufas."

"I had to bring her here. She needed help. Those stupid wolfoses were going to kill her! I couldn't just sit there and watch it happen! And then they chased after us once I freed her and her leg was hurt so she couldn't run very far and there was a hole close by and the were almost upon us and—"

"That's quite enough," Naresha said, cutting off Rainstorm. "I don't want any stories, lies, or excuses. I want the truth and I want it now."

"But… That is the truth. I'm serious!"

"Funny, but we don't believe that," Pyre said.

"But…"

"Maybe if you told the truth more often we'd believe you," Dowd said. "And, even if she had gotten into trouble with the wolfoses, you could have just flown away. All you've done is dug a deeper hole for yourself."

"You're last punishment obviously wasn't enough," Pyre growled. "So it looks like we'll have to step things up a notch."

"How much trouble is she in?" Melody asked, unable to stay silent any longer. She instantly regretted her question, as it caused all three Elders to glare at her.

"Death is the penalty for bringing a human here," Naresha said, breaking the silence that had fallen upon the small group. "And death is also the penalty for coming back once you've been exiled."

Melody looked down at Rainstorm in shock. Everything had suddenly become painstakingly clear—Rainstorm's eagerness at not being discovered, the hostility everyone was showing to her, the questions about why she had come back. She's in serious trouble for coming back, never mind the fact that she brought me with her.

"So you plan on killing me twice?" Rainstorm asked, her voice full of sarcasm. "Is that it?"

"No, not twice," Pyre said. "But we are going to kill you, along with the nasty little human."

Steven slammed his door shut and hurriedly shoved his dresser in front of it. He dived under his bed and curled into a tight ball. He heard the doorknob jiggle and a loud thud as the door collided with his dresser. Terror ate at him and he had to bit his lip to stop himself from crying out.

"Open up!" came the enraged voice of his father as he continued to swing the door into the dresser. With each bang Steven bit his lip harder. Blood soon gushed out of his bottom lip, but the pain was nothing compared to the terror he felt.

"I said 'open up!'" He slammed the door against the dresser with all of his strength and the dresser fell to the ground. Steven flinched and squeezed his eyes shut in panic.

'He's gonna kill me. He's gonna kill me. Gods, if you can hear me, please help me.' Steven clasped his hands together tightly and looked towards the sky.

The bed was thrown away from him and it hit the wall, knocking a large whole into it. "Hiding isn't going to help you," Cole said. "Come face me like a man. You didn't seem to mind confronting me in front of all of those people!" Each time his steel-toed boots hit the ground with a loud thud Steven would flinch. His father stopped and squatted down next to him. He was so close that Steven could smell the alcohol on his breath. The odor sickened him and caused his stomach to twist into even more knots than it already was in.

"Don't hurt me," he pleaded, looking up into his father's cold, angry eyes. "I'll behave! I promise! I'll do everything you say! Just don't hurt me!" His voice had become high-pitched with both fear and desperation.

"You're nothing but a bloody coward. That's all you'll ever be. You're no son of mine."

The words stung more than any wound he had ever received. He felt as if the ground had suddenly vanished from underneath him. He had known that his father hated him, but this… Steven's pleas died on his lips. He stared at the man who he had called father, but he only saw a stranger standing before him. His left hand flared up with pain; a hatred such as he had never known before filled him. His fear vanished as he focused every bit of energy he possessed into his anger.

"And you're no father of mine." Steven's voice was cold and full of arrogance, like when he talked to the peasant girl. He swiftly pulled out his dagger and placed the tip at Cole's throat. Cole's eyes widened in shock and he started to pull away, but he stopped when Steven shook his head. "You're the one that's a bloody coward. To hide your own fear you made me fear you. To relieve your anger you hurt me. You sicken me." He raised the dagger and twirled it around so that he could stab with it. "I'm through with you." The dagger came down.

"You're going to kill me?!" Melody cried out. "But I didn't do anything! I didn't even ask to be brought here! Just bring me back up to the surface and let me continue on my quest!"

"You've seen too much," Naresha said. "We can't let you go. There's no guarantee that you won't tell anyone about us."

Rainstorm straightened with a jerk and climbed to her feet. "She must go," she said, her voice strong with power. Her unfocused eyes stared straight ahead. "There is a great work that must be done. Many have been called, but only seven are chosen. The First will know who is chosen and who is not. The First must save the world." Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she collapsed.

"Uh…" Melody stared at the still form of Rainstorm in shock. "What… just happened?"

Naresha ignored her and called out to the guards. They quickly trotted over to the Elders and bowed, their keen eyes sweeping over Melody and Rainstorm.

"I need Gloristar. Pronto!" Naresha snapped. Her eyes shifted towards Rainstorm, but she quickly looked away. "Go!"

The guards scampered out of the room, their eyes wild with fear. Fear of who—Naresha, Rainstorm, or Gloristar—, Melody wasn't sure. A few minutes of awkward silence passed and then a young sufa with light green eyes stepped into the room. Her coat had a dark red hue with specks of white sprinkled over it. A gold bracelet with many precious stones set into it hung from around her horn and her left ear was pierced with a small silver hoop. To her greatest surprise, it was the Elders that bowed to the newcomer, not the other way round. This had to be Gloristar.

"What did she say?" Gloristar asked, her voice soft and wispy like the gentle breeze of a warm summer day.

"She spoke of the ancient prophecy of the Chosen Seven and of the First's role," Pyre answered. "And…"

"And what?"

Naresha nodded in Melody's direction. "I think… the human set it off."

"Set what off?" Melody asked. "And what's this prophecy you're talking about? Rainstorm's not a seer, is she?"

Dowd sighed softly and glanced at Melody. "Well, we might as well tell you everything, seeing as how you're going to find out sooner or later. That is, if we have your permission, Gloristar?"

Gloristar walked over to Rainstorm and nosed her gently. "I will be the one to do the explaining, since I have the clearest understanding of everything." She turned her clouded eyes to Melody.

"You're blind…" Melody gasped. She hastily clamped a hand over her mouth, horrified at what she had just said.

"Thank you for telling me. I might not have noticed otherwise." She smiled broadly and nudged Rainstorm again. "Now… where to start? Hmm…" Her smile faded and she became serious. "No, Rainstorm's not a seer, but she does have the blood of a seer in her veins, which is a very rare thing. For that reason alone she gets occasional glimpses from the Spirit Realm.

"The prophecy… Hundred of years ago a sufa seer by the name of Tross gave the prophecy of the Chosen Seven. That was back in the day that sufas and humans treated each other as equals, so the human race knew about the prophecy too. But humans are forgetful creatures. They soon forgot about the prophecy, just as they forgot that they had once treated us as their equals. Rainstorm only spoke a few lines from the prophecy, right?" she asked the Elders.

"Yes," Pyre said. "Except… She added a new line or two. Something about letting the human go and a great work needing done."

Melody was started to grow very uncomfortable at all of this talk about a prophecy, especially since everyone kept looking at her with curiosity. Hundreds of questions flew around in her mind, begging to be asked. She couldn't ignore them any longer. "What has the prophecy got to do with me?" she asked, deciding to go with the question that bugged her more than any other.

Gloristar answer sent chills down Melody's spine. "Everything."

Zale ran through the streets, racing against time. Dread clutched at him—dread for what he would find if he didn't arrive in time. He could feel the presence of darke magic close by, which could only mean something bad was or had happened. He knew that if anyone died it would be on his head. He should have been paying better attention to Steven, but lately he'd been too busy worrying over Melody.

He paused as he reached Steven's home. A bed was poking out of a large hole in the wall. He cursed softly and sped towards the hole. Shoving the bed aside, he slipped into the house. His eyes widened in horror at the scene before him. Cole lay facedown in a pool of blood. Steven was draped over his body, crying heavily. The young boy held a bloodstained dagger loosely in his hand—the same hand that he wore the ring on.

Zale stared at the ring in dismay. It glowed softly as if mocking him and then dimmed. "No..."

Steven whirled around at the sudden noise. His pale face seemed to become even paler at the sight of Zale. He sobbed loudly and rubbed at his bloodshot eyes. "I d-didn't-t m-m-mea…" The dagger slipped from his fingers and clattered to the ground.

"Steven," Zale said softly. "This isn't your fault." He took a step towards the boy.

"Yes, it is!" Steven shouted. He climbed to his feet, turned, and raced out of the room, leaving behind a stunned Zale. That was not the response he had been hoping for.

"Everything?" Melody repeated weakly. Her knees shook, but she forced herself to stay upright.

"Yes," Gloristar said. "Apparently, you are the First. Rainstorm only spoke about the First's role."

"Wait… I can't be one of the Chosen Seven, especially not the First. I'm just a lowly peasant girl! I can't…"

"Yes, you can. Melody, descendant of both the Hero of Time and Zelda, you are destined to save the world."

Author's Note: I'd like to thank Zacharies Ringweaver, who's my beta-reader for this story. He's done a great job in helping me out with things. Thank you so much, Ringweaver!