Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Chibi Fizz! My favorite reviewer for my GoldenSun fanfiction, and now they're back again! ...My Chibi Fizz...

Disclaimer: I own nothing of SoulCaliburII, but the plot is mine and if you take it I get to sue you.

Chapter Twelve: Shaman Magic

The wind blew harder against them, and they all stood there, staring out in terror, was this truly how they were to die?

Link pushed against the wind, trying to make his way to Talim, and made slow, slow progress, keeping from getting himself tossed into the air and thrown onto some jagged rock like a doll. He made it to Talim, and he grabbed her hand tightly yet gently. She turned back at looked at him, a horrible look of no hope within her eyes. But then, she gave him her small, sweet smile, and as she tightened her own hand around Link's she walked towards him, also being careful not to be whisked off by the fierce winds.

Link pulled her into an embrace, and she rested her head on his shoulders, looking out at the tornado that neared closer while did so, just as Link was doing.

She then let go of Link, giving him a quick glance before facing the tornado, which was so near that the sound was almost deafening.

'My dear Talim… please… forgive me… I was too weh… weak... defeat... Soul…Edge…i-it… must… n-not… rule… su… su… supreme….'

Those had been the last words of the Wind before the Spirit had fallen, not dead, but locked away, put into a slumber that could not be broken unless Soul Edge's power was put down and sent away.

'I can't let this happen, but what can I do?' Talim asked this to herself as she stood there, looking out at the tornado, having trouble keeping her ground, even with Link holding her protectively. 'The Wind is no longer there… it is only Soul Edge.'

Link held Talim in his arms, the wind of the tornado wiping his hair against his forehead. Suddenly, a fierce blast of wind struck at him, and his hat flew right off of his head. He touched his head, both he and Talim turning to see his green hat blowing away up into the sky until it turned by the winds and was sucked in into the tornado. Talim looked at Link, and he looked down at her. Through each other's eyes, something passed between them, silently, without any words at all.

Talim suddenly let go of Link, and without a word at all, she suddenly jumped up into the air. Link let out a painful yelp as she was blown right up into the air in fear and terror for her; flying up faster then he could try to grab her to pull her back down and pull her into his arms again to protect her. Without thinking, he jumped up into the air himself, being whirled through the air like a toy, just as Talim was.

He blew through the air; being thrown up faster then Talim herself had been to where he was at her level within a matter of terrible ticking seconds. Despite this, there was still a distance between them. Link reached out with his hand, and Talim did the same with hers, trying to grab the other's hand. But just as their fingertips were about to touch, they were blown away in opposite directions by the freak wind.

"Talim!" Link screamed out, she faced him, and despite everything that was happening, she gave him her special small, sweet smile, before she was sucked into the tornado and disappeared behind the swirling dirt and random objects that had gotten sucked up into it as well.

Talim pulled herself into a ball as she went in, using it to protect herself against anything that tried to thrash at her. Luckily, Siegfried had done a wonderful job of destroying nearly everything in that area, so nothing close to a large pillar of wood of a destroyed home could crush her. Even so, small rocks seemed to throw themselves at her, slicing her skin like painful little knives.

She kept her head tucked in as well, her eyes shut against the dirt, having trouble taking in her breaths as dirt invaded her nostrils and even when she didn't want to take in a breath, the dirt went inside of her lungs. It even caked against her skin, clinging to the hair on her head, arms, and legs painfully like hungry leeches.

Taking in a curt, deep breath, coughing when the dirt shot through her throat, she straitened herself out, unrolling from her tight ball, her eyes still closed. She forced her arms over her chest, making each hand touch the opposite shoulder, her legs strait together and her feet pointed.

"Wind of Breath and Wind of Sea," She chanted aloud, her words coming from pure memory:

"Wind of Wisdom

Bring your power into my heart

Singing slowly your powerful tune

Give me power so my soul may sing!

Grant me your soul, grant me your power

Open my wings, and touch the sky

Your power shall be mine until the striking hour"

She lifted her arms up slowly, fighting against the wind as she kept her figure perfect, despite the terrible thrashing winds around her.

Link was plummeting towards the tornado, and he covered his face with his hands, curling himself up to protect himself as he flew into the tornado. He could the feel the wind, threatening to tear him apart and rip him to shreds. He felt something vibrating against his back, and he realized something, he realized what it was- his ocarina!
With extreme difficulty, Link reached back, and stretched his arm, reaching into the pack upon his back and opening it just enough to let his hand in, searching for the ocarina that seemed to purposely elude his grasp. He could feel their food, flint, tinder, blankets, and cloak and other items, but where was his beloved ocarina?

Then, he felt something push itself into his palm. He wrapped his fingers out it, and found that it was the ocarina, vibrating, and he could even feel heat within the ocarina itself. He pulled it out, the items within his pack flying out and disappearing within the swirling dirt. Link brought the ocarina to his chest, holding it tightly and protectively within his hands. It vibrated, and he could feel some type of heat emitting from the ocarina itself somehow.

"There was eh stupid kid who came here and started playin' this stupid song!"

Link stood inside of a windmill in Kakariko Village, he had come in for shelter to sleep for the night, and found this strange man sitting in a corner. It took him a moment to realize, that this was the man from his past that he had met in the windmill before in the past when he was a child, and he had a strange instrument that played music when he turned a wheel.

"Stupid kid?" Link repeated as he blinked and frowned, knowing that the 'stupid kid' had in fact been him. By the darkness, the man wouldn't be able to see his clothing, and so he wouldn't know that the Stupid Kid was standing there near him, and, talking to him.

"Yeah! And when he play'd that song, the windmill…" The man's voice trailed off, and Link could hear him cough.

"The windmill what?" Link asked, he hated to poke in other's business, but he wanted to know what had happened. He didn't remember playing any other song to this man then a random tune that he had made up to play to a scarecrow on the banks of Lake Hylia.

"It just… spun madly. Wouldn' stop and kept on going faster then it ever had before and never stopped." He answered, and he laughed, but ended up coughing in the end. "I sound mad, don' I? But sometimes… it'll just start rainin' in here. I mean, rainin'. Gray and black clouds above me at the ceiling, and then… rain. Even if it'll be a dry day outside, it'll start rainin', and there aren't any pipes in this here windmill that hold water."

"What did the song sound like?"

"How could I ever forget?" The man sighed as he stood up, and slowly began turning the wheel to his strange instrument, and a tune formed out of it. He turned the wheel faster, and a song came up, echoing through the walls and bouncing off of them. The man finished the strange song, and he paused, as if waiting for something. "Come on…"

Then, it happened. Link felt a small drop of water on his nose, and he lifted up his head, where he saw a small flicker of light above. Then, another drop, and another, and another…

"What did he call this song?" Link asked once it literally began raining inside of the windmill. How, Link hadn't the slightest clue, except for magic.

"Song of Storms. Name suits." The man gave a snort before he sat down and raised something over his head, which sheltered him from the pouring rain. "Wanna sit over here, young man? Yer gettin' drenched."

"Thank you." Link bowed as he ran over and sat down beneath what appeared to be some type of cloth over their heads that stretched out without getting wet itself, letting the water roll off of it. "Care to play that song again? I take interest in memorizing it."

"Feh, sure. Playin' the song again 'll make it stop luckily." The man stated, and he seemed to take pleasure and honor that Link wanted to learn this song even though he seemed to hate it. The man played the song again, and Link listened carefully, and then the man told Link what the notes were and how fast to play them…

Link let this memory roll into his mind, and he placed the mouth of the ocarina in his own, and taking in careful, dirt filled breath, he then let out the first note to the song, and let it flow out into a song, the Song of Storms.

Despite his playing, the tornado wouldn't stop, and it only seemed to grow even angrier, and Link knew, that now, the tornado would just rip him into pieces now…

Talim finished her poem, but when she found that nothing happened, she felt a sense of lost. Her song hadn't worked, but, why…?

Then, another song came to her ears, a sweet, quick song, and she suddenly felt something inside of her stir. Her eyes flew open, but dirt didn't come into them and irritate her eyes. She could suddenly see clearly, and the song echoed through her ears and bones, the song itself coming from a flute-like instrument. She stretched out her arms, taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes, a new, strange power pouring itself into her. As it passed through her, entered her, she also felt pain, terrible pain as it stretched through her, and began to make her insides burn painfully and then suddenly make her grow stiff. Then, her eyes flew open, and she felt an aura grow around herself, she could feel it, see it- power.

The dirt from Link's lungs suddenly flew out, making him give out in a small fit of coughing that lasted just about five seconds, for now his lungs and throat were clear. He opened his eyes, and he then felt something inside of himself that he hadn't felt sense he left Hyrule- magic. But where had it come from? There wasn't any magic here… from the song?

Then, an aura grew around him, and he felt himself being protected against the wind, and found that he was now simply floating there in place. Then, he felt himself move upwards, through the swirling dirt and rocks that weren't able to touch him.

Then, he saw her, Talim, in her own aura of magic, although she looked like she was in pain as she broke out into a sweat and just had a look of plain confusion. She turned to look at him, and despite their distance, Link raised his hand up towards her, his hand open, and Talim smiled, doing the same as they drifted towards one another through the air. They went through several yards, still outstretched to each other, until their finger's touched, and soon, they were grasping each other's hands tightly, this time, they wouldn't let go.

Their aura's linked together as well, and Link gave Talim a reassuring smile, she obviously had no idea what this energy was, and Link himself didn't know where it had come from, despite this, he gave her a smile, which told her silently that everything would be alright and that what was happening, he knew what was happening.

The wind around them seemed to waver, and Talim closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath once she had taken reassurance within Link's smile. The power that was inside of her, around her… she took it, and felt it weaving itself through her, and she heard a small voice echoing through her head, the voice of the Wind.

'Take the power of the wind, my young daughter, and become not the Shaman of the Wind,but theWind.'

As these words went through her wind, she suddenly felt herself being connected- connected to the air, the winds, everywhere, she could feel the flow of the wind as it traveled through the clouds, through the blades of long sweet grass, carrying the scent of the sea over the shore, singing as it went through valleys and canyons. Everywhere, everywhere…

Talim reopened her eyes, and she still held Link's hand within hers. She looked at him, and cried out, here voice echoing throughout the tornado and beyond:

"I am one with Wind!"

As Talim cried these words out, her aura extended outwards, and the tornado wavered, the winds itself of it giving a final thrash before it seemed to explode- everything that had been inside of it blowing in every direction, except for Talim and Link.

When the Wind cleared, Talim and Link were still floating up in the air, with their aura glowing around them. They slowly descended from their place in the air, Link's feet landing on the ground first as his aura seemed to disappear into the air, Talim going down next in a few seconds, her own aura going out. She faced Link, both of them covered in a light layer of yellow dust.

"Link, wh… where are we?" Talim asked slowly and softly, blinking just as slowly as she spoke as she turned her head up to face him. "Link… I feel… just agh…"

Just as her words ended, Talim's head went around in a circle, her eyelids gently lowering as she made a mumble underneath her breath. Without warning, she fell backwards, Link giving out a yelp of surprise as he instantly brought his arms forward and caught her; her head hanging limply back as he bent down on a knee and held her securely in his arms.

"Talim?" Link called out as he gave an urgent yet soft shake. When she didn't make any signs of a response, he brought his hand up to her neck, placing his rough fingers against the soft silky skin of her neck, feeling for her pulse. He counted her beats, making sure that the rhythm was just as it should be. After staying this way for a minute, he subconsciously nodded to himself.

'She's okay…' Link thought quietly to himself as he sat back on the ground, not really paying any attention to the changed landscape around him as he crossed his legs and placed Talim across them still keeping her head up with one hand. 'It must have been the magic… what was that? I thought that Soul Edge soaked up all of the magic… but that was… strange magic. I know that it was magic, and it was comforting to feel it again. But it was different… I just can't put my finger on what kind of a difference it was, though….'

Link looked down at Talim's sleeping, yellowed face, and he lifted an eyebrow lightly as he thought about why the dust was yellow and not a light brown. It must have been the magic, he concluded after a few seconds of thinking about both this and worrying over if Talim. He sighed quietly to himself, letting the silence wrap their arm around him and the sleeping one within the elf's arms.

Then he noticed as Talim slightly stirred when a tall, long thick blade of grass tickled her cheek. He gave a small smile, and then it slowly faded as something dawned upon him-grass!

Bringing his head up, he saw something that hadn't been there before, and he also realized that three beings were missing. They were no longer in the deserted field of blackened ash and smoke at which Nightmare had created; they were in a plain filled with lush, beautiful grass. And what was missing? Maxi, Siegfried, and although he himselfwas half happy that she wasn't there, thatabnormally loud Xianghua woman.

He couldn't even seen any trace that the tornado had been there. Not a single blade out of place, not a bit of wind moving the air and making the field look like a sea of green, waving about peacefully. It was just empty. Except for him and Talim, and, grass.

"Hello?" Link yelled out as he turned his head around quickly, blinking rapidly as he did so, being carefully not to wake Talim at the same time. Once he had unfortunately confirmed to himself that they were indeed what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, he looked back at down Talim, who couldn't tell him any comforting words that everything would be…

"Link… just… stop it..." He whispered to himself, suddenly feeling angry at himself for wishing that he could rely on her at that current moment. Standing up carefully, he turned around in a circle, trying to see if there was anything in the distance. But no absolutely nothing but grass.

He couldn't just stand there, but he wasn't sure what else he could do. He couldn't hear a stream, or see one, all that there appeared to be was this stupid grass. Muttering something evilly underneath his breath Link went in the direction that he 'believed' the two of them had been going in. His legs and arms felt weak, not to mention the cramp that he felt ripping on his side. Link ignored this as best he could, and took in breaths through his nose and out of his mouth. After a minute or so of controlling his breathing the stitch lessened.

He walked for hours wondering how much longer this was going to last. Normally traveling in a field like this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that they had no supplies whatsoever. It was around then that Link realized that Talim didn't even have her weapons any longer. And to his pure horror, his sacred sword wasn't on his back either. He had stopped dead in his tracks when this finally dawned on him, his muscles growing frozen as he forced himself to control his breathing again.

After a few seconds, the elf slowly began to move his feet again almost against his will. He ignored his thoughts, the pain; he ignored the fact that eventually he'd have to stop to rest. He couldn't give up now. He hadn't before and he wouldn't do that until he got what he wanted.

Suddenly, Link's ears perked up when he heard a familiar taunting sound. Water. Running water. He instantly picked up on the sound and began running towards it, his cracked lips and dried throat begging for at least just a drop of moisture. Then he saw it, a small stretch of blue in what had appeared to be a never ending swamp of green. He went faster and faster, and once he was there he dropped down on his knees and set Talim down carefully beside him. Then he nearly threw himself the water as he leaned down to drink the heavenly blue.

Sitting up, Link's entire head was dripping, but that didn't matter much to him at the moment. Bending over the water he took a handful of it and the edged slowly over to the still sleeping Talim. As carefully as he could, he poured the water in through her slightly opened lips as best he could without splattering it all over her. Once all the water had gone into Talim's mouth or landed on her cheeks or collar bones he held her up and closed her mouth. He waited until he knew that the water had gone down her throat and into her stomach before he set her back down.

Lying down, the elf placed him right next to the sleeping girl, the biting chill of the air only now becoming noticeable to him. Rolling onto his side he placed one of his arms over Talim and pulled her close to him before wrapping her into a tight hug. Another disadvantage about having no supplies was that they had no warmth of their blankets. And with it being close to winter it made that fact even worse than what he would have wanted.

It only took a few seconds from him to fall asleep despite the icy air, still hugging Talim to share their body heat. Clouds circled in overhead like hungry vultures, ready to begin dropping rain down upon the two at any moment. They held it, stretching out and gobbling up any blue that had been left. It began to grow darker, the light from the sun disappearing just as quickly as the sky had.

Neither of the two moved while they were sleeping, the only movements to show that they were actually alive the steady rise and fall of their chests. Another sign the occasional twitching of Link's own ears which were beginning to ache from being so vulnerable to the chill. A few more hours passed until Talim herself slowly began to stir, her eye lids flickering as if she were having a vivid dream for a few seconds before they actually opened.

Talim's vision blurred and then focused and she blinked when she found herself looking at Link's neck. Her brow furrowed before she sat up with the speed of a snail, Link's arm sliding off of her as she went. Once she was sitting all the way up, his hand was laying on the side of her hip. She steadily stood up, Link's hand finally completely falling to the ground with a thumping sound though he didn't wake.

Her legs shook, and she was finding it hard to even stand up without bending over; and even bending over felt painful. She walked over to the small river, coughing from a bizarre taste in her mouth and a film that was coated on her throat. Talim walked strait into the river, sitting down in it and splashing water up into her open mouth. Then, she slowly sank back until her entire body was underneath the water, bubbles rising up and popping once they reached the surface.

After twenty seconds Talim pushed herself back up and wiped water off of her eyes. As she had done this Link's eyes suddenly popped open from the sounds that she was making. It was his turn to sit up and shakily go over to the river and sit down in it. As he sat/fell into the river water flew up onto to Talim but she didn't even flinch or seem to notice that this happened. For a minute or so that seemed to last an hour they sat there in silence, just trying to gain energy from the water around them.

"…Are you okay?" Talim finally asked as she turned her head to look at the elf beside her.

"Yeah. You are too, right?"

"M-hm." She nodded her head before she brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them, resting her chin on her knees. "Link, what was that?"

"What was what?" He repeated as he turned his head to look at the young wind girl.

"In the tornado."

"Oh… magic… I think." He responded as he lifted a hand up and scratched the back of one of his long pointed ears.

"You think?"

"No, not think, sorry. It was just weird magic. I've never felt something like that before…. Um… what about…?"

"The Wind…" Talim whispered, completing his sentence before he had ended it. Link nodded gravely, lowering his hand back into the water. Moving her eyes but not her head she looked at him, her lips in the opposite direction what they normally were. "Gone… Soul Edge destroyed most of their power and took the spirit and locked them away."

Link turned away from her, blinking sluggishly and staring down at the water. It was freezing, so cold that it was making his back ache. "So that's it for the Wind? How is the air supposed to… move?"

"Me."

At her words he couldn't help but turn his head and look her to see that she had moved her own eyes and was looking upwards at the clouds. His eyebrows went together in confusion and he made an 'erm' sound before he spoke. A small silence that lasted for six seconds altogether remained after his mini speech.

"Ah… whadda you mean?"

"I am one with the wind." Talim answered as she straitened her back and placed her palms together, facing them vertically against her cleavage shutting her eyes. "I am the wind."

…Because I needed to update so badly I'll just end it there at eight short pages.

Happy Halloween everyone. For some fun tell me what you're going to be for Halloween in your review. Bwa. Ha. Aha.

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So Until Next Time,

CrypticElf….