Hey everybody! Next chapter up! This one is the longest chapter yet… over 10,000 words. To me it seemed a little slow but necessary, the action starts to pick up a lot more in the coming up chapters.
As per usual I'd like to thank those who reviewed. So thank you ArchShadow24! Reviews are always loved and cherished.
Adventure 3: The Hero
Hot, I was so hot, my body felt like it was on fire. Every cell screamed in agony as the seconds trickled by and I tried to hold still, but my self restraint was quickly failing. Eventually the horrible burning was too much, I couldn't stay still, I whimpered in pain as I tried to move, or at least attempted to. I was wrapped in something, something warm, too warm. Pushing against it, it seemed to weigh a ton, unable to shove hard enough I was trapped under its infernal weight and heat. I started thrashing even harder, shoving with all my might against my fiery confines when, suddenly, I felt something cool being pressed to my forehead, wonderfully, blissfully cool. Slowly my struggling stopped as my body drained of what little energy it had and the relaxing sensation spread. I wanted to open my eyes, see where I was and what was causing the soothing sensation but I couldn't. My eyelids were too heavy to lift and my tired body begged for sleep. My mind gave up the fight shortly, too exhausted to resist, and I surrendered to the blissful lack of feeling that unconsciousness promised.
(LINE BREAK)
This time it was cold, very cold. I could feel my teeth chattering as I curled in on myself, clutching around me. My grasping fingers came in contact with a rough fabric, pulling it tighter I tried to trap any heat I could. My entire body began vibrating as the cold grew in strength and I whimpered, a soft, pathetic sound. Where was the heat from last time, oh how I missed the heat. Suddenly I felt something lifting up my head, a very warm something. I squirmed as my body tried to get closer to the heat but it was trapped in the blankets. Groaning in frustration I struggled against them for a second before I suddenly felt something at the entrance to my mouth, pressing. Startled I opened my mouth and surge of fluid ran into it, sweeping across my tongue and down my throat, bringing with it relief. After a startled second the warmth seemed to spread through me and I drank greedily, noticing for the first time just how thirsty I was. Eventually the liquid ran dry and I sank back into the arm. The comforting presence slowly lowered my head down and began to lift away. I tried to protest, move, anything to get it to stay but my body wouldn't respond. The darkness slowly returned to my mind as I fell deep asleep yet again.
(LINE BREAK)
I awoke again, this time the crazy extreme temperatures seemed to have passed, but my mind was foggy and slow to react. My body felt like lead, it pressed down on my lungs and made it hard to breath. A dull throb pulsed with every beat of my heart, spreading out until it reached my fingers, only to be replaced by another. My mouth was dry and my throat was sore, like someone had taken a rag through them and stolen all the moisture. My head hurt to, one of those annoying, back of the skull aches.
Slowly coming out of my stupor my senses began to extend. In noticed that where ever I was it was dark, except for an area off to my left where heat and light radiated. To my right was cold and dark, and somewhere off in the distance I could hear the sound of rain. A steady beat that seemed to resonate around me.
Slowly I regained motor function, it started off at an annoyingly pace. At first I could only twitch my nose, then my fingers, and ever so slowly my body came back under my control.
When it got to the point where I could wearily move my arm I found that it was stuck to my side, 'Huh, what?' I thought, panicking a little, then memories from the last while came back. 'Uuuh, what could this be? A blanket?' feeling along the fabric I decide that it most likely was. The soft texture combined with how it encased me in a comforting warmth defied all other explanations.
"Uuuh," I groaned as I slowly opened my eyes. For a couple seconds everything was blurry and swimming around, nothing focusing. It took about thirty seconds but eventually my vision came back into focus. A rocky roof was the first thing I saw, scratched and weathered it seemed to hover above me. Looking down I could vaguely make out where my feet should be, a dull brown fabric was wrapped around them, leading up my body. I notice a light coming from my left, turning towards it I gasped at the brightness and closed my eyes. Shaking my head to clear the spots from my vision I squinted through nearly closed eyelids at the fire that had nearly blinded me.
A merry orange flame danced around in a circle of stone, casting shifting shadows across the walls. Next to it I noticed several piles of rags, a wooden bucket of water, and what looked to be my dagger and bag lying in a neat arrangement.
'What… when did I get here?' The confused thought made the headache worsen. Closing my eyes for a second I waited for the pain to abate before opening them and staring at the unfamiliar ceiling again. Wracking my brain for answers I slowly reviewed the last day or so. 'I was walking a lot…to, to find something…but what was it- Link!' my memory started coming back, 'He was gone… and there was the storm. But how did I get here? The last thing I remember I was walking through the rain and everything started to get blurry.' My confused thoughts were interrupted by a scuffing sound to my right.
"Huh," letting out the noise of surprise I quickly turned my head to the right. 'Urk, bad idea.' My head lanced with pain and my vision started to blur. I noticed a dark shape in front of my face, way to close for comfort. Squinting I leaned back, it took a second for my eyes to clear up but when they did my breath hitched in my throat. A large wolf, dog, thing was sitting in front of me, mouth partially open exposing its glinting fangs. Dark shadows cast by the fire light illuminated large glowing eyes looking right into mine. Its muzzle was inches away from my face.
"GAAAHHHH!" with a high pitched shriek I attempted to jump away, forgetting about the blankets. All I really managed to do was shift my upper body slightly to the right, hit my head on the floor and nearly throw up.
"Ahahahah!" the laughter came out of the darkness from behind me, "Stupid dog, you scared her." The reprimendation came out in a high, belittling tone, sounding much too happy to really seem like its owner was displeased. I managed to hold down the bile and nausea building up and carefully turned my head towards the noise. Two black clad feet walked into the corner of my vision before the voice said again, "Don't worry, he won't hurt you." The foot pointed in the direction of the dog, wolf thing. Although probably meant to be soothing the words came out in such a degrading, 'I'm better than you,' tone that I immediately disliked the person saying it.
Looking at the dog I noticed that it had backed up next to the wall, head hung low and staring at me in an apologetic sort of way, big blue eyes in the irresistible puppy dog look. A smile lit up my face despite the conditions I found myself in, the dog was just so adorable. Upon closer inspection I found there to be strange marking above the beasts snout and its black fur was stuck up into a spiky array behind its head. I also noticed a shackle attached to its right paw.
'Wow, those are the bluest eyes I have ever seen on a dog its almo—wait, blue?' Suddenly everything clicked into place, where I was and what was supposed to happen and I whispered out, "…Link?"
The dogs' ears shot up, eyes widening, before its ears jerked flat against its head. Lips rising as a menacing growl ripped from its throat. The black clad feet suddenly shot away, disappearing from my sight before the voice, now cold and menacing asked, "How do you know that?"
"Link," I tried again, looking at the now terrifying animal in front of me, "It's me, Skyler. Don't you remember? I-I helped saved Talo from those bubblin." I berated myself for the stutter but I couldn't help it. Link, at least I hope it was him, was very scary when angry.
Links ears twitched a little bit, a look of confusion coming into his eyes. The growl faded and the menacing scowl receded slightly as he lifted up his head and sat down on his haunches, staring at me in a stupefied manner.
"Skyler… now where does that sound familiar? Oh yes the mysterious boy of whom you told me who was lost in the twilight." The voice spoke up again, getting closer with each word. Suddenly something appeared next to Link crossing its legs while floating in the air on its side. Head propped up on an elbow which it proceeded to rest on Link's back. She looked like a small girl, about my height, but also older at the same time. Curvaceous for such a small body her skin seemed to be a mixture of black and white patterns, with blue spiraling symbols going up the arms. The most distinguishing thing however was the two pronged crown of stone on her head, filled with intricate symbols and designs. 'Midna,' the thought came to me as I realized who I was looking at.
"So what's, up?" Midna asked, looking at Link, "I thought you said Skyler was a boy about your age, not a tiny girl." I bristled at the last comment but was too tired to really do anything about it.
A couple seconds of silence passed, in which the two seemed to have silent conversation, before they looked back at me. "Seems he's just as confused as I am," Midna said, her red eyes boring into mine, "So who are you and why are you trying to impersonate Skyler?" the last part came out in a hiss as her eyes tightened.
I swallowed before responding, fully aware that if they decided to harm me I didn't have enough strength to fight back, even if I wasn't trapped in blankets. "I-I'm not impersonating him… I am Skyler." I said, the last part coming out without a stutter, "I have no idea what happened, I was pulled into the Twilight with you and blacked out. I woke up in a castle dungeon looking like this." I said, looking pleadingly at Link.
Midna and Link looked at each other and seemed to converse silently again. "So… say we do believe you," she began slowly, "How did you recognize Link?"
"Ah, I… uhh," I paused for a second to think. How the heck did I miss that question? "Umm, it was the, uh, eyes? I could tell because of the eyes. He has the same look in them that Link had." I finished, looking at Link.
Midna look dubious but continued on in her questioning, "Okay, so how did you manage to get out of a dungeon in the castle and all the way over here?"
"Uh…" I began lamely, trying to think of a way to explain my castle escape. For some reason it didn't seem smart to mention how the black triangle acted up, something told me they might get the wrong idea. "The door to the cell was… uh, unlocked and I uhh, I exited through it and found my way out of the castle." I said, building up confidence as I continued along, "I had no idea where I was and nobody seemed to be able to see me so I tried to go back to Ordon. While I was traveling there I got caught up in the storm and that's the last thing I remember."
Midna looked at me skeptically for a moment before asking, "So if you couldn't talk to anyone, how did you know where to go to find Ordon?"
"Uuuh," drat, how did I overlook that, "I found an, uhh, map in one of the, uuh, stalls along the streets in the city." I said, noticing how it sounded flat and fake, even to me, but hey, it's not like I could do much better. I was sore, confused, and had a really bad headache so, by default, the story was pretty good.
"Uh-huh," Midna said, looking at Link again. I swear their telepathy was starting to get annoying. Link carefully stood up before warily walking towards me. A distant part of me wanted to laugh when I noticed Midna's disappointment when her 'arm rest' left. The odd urge left when Link got closer, I flinched a little, causing him to stop. Hey, I couldn't help it, he's scary as a wolf.
"Okay, let's say your… story, is true. We still need proof… Link," Midna said, nodding in Links direction, "wants to know what happened right before you were taken into the Twilight with him."
"Oh, umm, the giant bubblin on the pig had just taken Ilia and ran past me. I couldn't stop it so I went to find Link. I found him passed out in a spring and woke him up and we ran after the bubblin and found the Twilight wall and got pulled in and, umm, yeah, that's about it." I ended lamely.
Link looked at me a second before nodding. This seemed to placate Midna and she left the wall and came over towards me. "So I bet your wondering how you got here." She asked while, at the indication of Link, lifting up my head and slowly setting me in a sitting position. By now the adrenaline fuelled terror was starting to abate and all my pains were once again vying for attention.
"Oh yeah, how did you find me? My memory of the last couple hours is a little fuzzy." I said, sitting up I coughed as I futilely tugged at the fabric that covered me, I mean seriously, what did they do, quadruple knot it? Midna snorted as she began to unwrap the blankets. "What," I asked, peeved at her insulting noise.
"Couple hours, more like three days." She replied in a haughty tone, grin tugging at her lip. She tugged one last time and the blankets fell off, revealing my upper body, covered in a green shirt.
"What! But it's still raining, that would have cleared up if I had been asleep for that long." I shot back, disbelief spreading across my face. Now that the blankets were gone I noticed the slight nip in the air and the dampness that seemed to permeate our cave.
"Yeah… it's been raining ever since we found you." Midna said, glaring at me in a way that seemed to say it was my fault, "What's even stranger then the length though, is that it's raining at all. It shouldn't be possible in the Twilight." Link seemed to nod in agreement. "Well, strange rain aside it was quite stupid of you to just stay out in it." She said haughtily.
"Hey, I couldn't help it, it's not like there was any shelter near by!" I defended in a loud voice.
"Yeah, well it didn't do you any good. We found you passed out near a road on the outskirts of Kakariko. We should have just left you but Link wouldn't, so I found this cave and we dragged you into it. You're lucky you looked so crappy, or I wouldn't have given up my seat." She said the last part as if she had bestowed a great honor upon me, "Your fever was pretty bad, so Link had to go raid supplies from the village. He even made me feed you!" she sounded disgusted. Suddenly her face broke into an evil grin, "You owe me big time."
I paled a little as I realized that the comforting presence during my sickness had probably been Midna. I gagged a little at the thought of finding any comfort from that thing. But I also had to concede that, yes, I did 'owe her big time.' I had an uneasy feeling about what that would entail.
"Hey, do you hear that?" she suddenly said.
"Hear what?" I asked.
"Exactly." Midna stared at me for another second before turning around and disappearing down the tunnel that I presumed led outside.
"Finally, the accursed rain is starting to let up." Her voice echoed back to us. Link's ears perked up and he walked past me to look down the tunnel. Midna floated back into the room before saying, "Well it looks like it's time to continue looking for the Tea—" she suddenly cut off and glared at me suspiciously.
"What?" I said, glaring back. I was starting to get sick of her attitude.
"Nothing, I'm just not sure your trustworthy is all." She replied aloofly. Link yipped and Midna turned towards him, "Wha—well yes I guess it's not very likely but yo—Hey, I'm just trying to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Excuse me if I prefer caution." They glared at each other before Midna turned away, huffing out under her breath, "Fine. But she has to agree to my conditions."
'What the heck was that about,' I thought, switching between looking at Link, who was giving me a wolfy grin, and Midna with my confused expression, then it dawned on me. 'Oh no she didn't.'
"It's HE not SHE bozo, do I look like a gir—wait, don't answer that. Anyways I'm still a boy and you will call me as such!" I shouted out, chest heaving while glaring daggers at Midna. She stared at me with a stupefied expression for a few seconds before that evil grin spread across her face. 'Dang, I just gave her something to use against me didn't I…' Sadly the realization came too late as Midna slowly floated towards me, turning upside down so our heads were level but her feet were in the air.
With crossed arms she began in a smug tone, "Now that's no way to address your master now is it, little girl." She stressed the last word.
"Wha—who, Master—" I stuttered out.
"Yes," she cut me off, her smile growing, "That's the deal. If you want to come with us, you have to agree to do everything I say."
"B-b-but—" I tried again.
"Shhhh, you see, it's not our problem whether you come or not, we don't need you." She said, her smug air seemed to radiate off of her being, "You're the one who needs us, after all, how else do you expect to be able to change back?"
My next retort caught in my throat, darn, she was right. They have no need of me, while I, on the other hand, need them if I want to have any hope of ever getting back to my male self, let alone home.
"…Fine, I'll do what you say." I said sullenly, watching Midna as she slowly spiraled away form me and into an upright position.
"Now, now that won't do." Her evil smirk grew again, I was starting to learn that this was a bad thing for anyone in close proximity to her, "I'll need to hear you say it, 'I will serve you Master Midna." She said the master part like a title. Biting back the bile rising in my throat I replied.
"…I will s-serve you m-master Midna." I chocked out through clenched teeth. This just seemed to delight her even more.
"Ok, now say 'I'm a little princess' while clapping your hands together." she said while miming the motions. I swear, if Midna was within grabbing distance I would have strangled her. But as it was I was in a less than choice state so I settled for glaring daggers at her. If looks could kill Midna would have died a slow and painful death.
Before either of us could say anything Link intervened, stepping in between us and looking at Midna. She looked back for a couple seconds before pouting out, "Fine, let's go."
"Wait, where are you going?" I called as they began to move towards the entrance of the cave.
"Just finishing what we came here to do." Midna replied.
"Wait, don't leave without me." I called as I kicked the rest of the sheets off my legs and began to stand up.
"Uuh, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Midna began but by the time she finished the sentence I was on my feet.
"OWWW!" I cried out as a burning pain lanced up from my foot. Jumping I grabbed the foot in my hand and landed on my other foot, "OWWWW!" the pain came from my other foot, dropping the first foot I switched to holding the second and landed on the first again, "OOOOWWWWWEEEYYY!" I cried, jumping in the air and grabbing both feet at the same time. With an oomph I landed on my butt, slowly stroking my tender feet.
A snicker came from in front of me. Looking up I saw Midna, laughing behind her hand, "I warned you." She said. I didn't help that I could see Link in the background, heaving in a way that looked suspiciously like wolf laughter.
"Hey, it's not funny," I said, holding back tears. For some reason this body seemed way more sensitive then my old one. Everything hurt more and I had a tougher time controlling my emotions, but I'd be darned if I let Midna see me cry. "What the heck happened to my feet?" I said, still massaging the offending extremities. They were heavily bandaged and looked more like a wad of toilet paper than feet.
"I don't know, you answer me that." Midna replied, finally getting her laughter under control, "When we found you it looked like someone had set a deku baba loose on your feet. Bright red and bleeding, I have no idea how you managed to do that."
"Hmmph," I grumbled unhappily, still rubbing my feet. It must have happened when I was walking through the rain, funny, I don't remember my feet hurting, they were just numb. When they started to leave again I panicked for a second, calling out, "Hey, you can't just leave me! Isn't there something like a 'Leave no servant behind' rule?!"
"Pssh, don't worry princess." Midna snorted, "We'll only be gone a little while, so be a good little girl and drink the red potion by the fire," She smirked at me. My face turned bright red and I'm sure you could see steam coming from my ears, "Hmm, yes, princess, I like that. That's it! I found your new name. Well, be seeing you soon… Princess." She ended with an evil smirk in my direction.
"It's Skyler you freak of nature not Princess!" I shouted out the outraged words but Link and Midna had already disappeared around the corner.
"Hmph," I snorted, "who needs them anyways." Turning around I saw that, indeed, by the fire there was a red potion. I hadn't seen it before because it was hidden behind the bucket. Reaching out I carefully kept my feet off the ground and stretched out to grab the bottle. Dragging it to me I lifted it on to my lap and frowned. 'When did the bottles get so friggin big?' The bottle was huge, I could have fit my entire forearm into it. Sighing once again at all I lost with the change I began struggling with the cork, the stupid thing didn't want to come loose.
After a minute of trying, and failing, to pull out the cork I gave in and used my teeth. Yet another useful thing about large canines, they grip really well. As my teeth sunk into the cork I began tugging the bottle away from my face and my face away from the bottle until I felt the cork start to give. Biting down harder I gave one final tug and wrenched it out with a satisfying, 'Pop!' Pulling the cork off my tooth, I stared at the bottle for a second and thought, 'I hope this works as well as last time' Lifting it up I took a long swig and nearly spit it out, "Uugh, this stuff seems even nastier than the first time." Repressing a grimace I continued to drink it and noticed the soothing sensation as it ran down my throat and numbed my injuries. Despite the fact that it was relief the thing tasted so horrid it took nearly three tries to get it all down.
Tossing the empty bottle away I reached over and dragged the bucket closer to me and scooped up water in my hands. Bringing it up to my face I tried to wash out the taste, but man was it strong. After dunking my hands in about five times I realized that I had gotten as much of the taste out of my mouth as I was going to. Sighing I laid back down, pulling the blankets over me. I was tired again, even after all that sleep. Weird how tired you can get by doing nothing right? Yawning I closed my eyes and quickly drifted off into oblivion.
(LINE BREAK)
My eyes snapped open. Sitting up I looked around quickly, cool darkness and damp rock greeted me on all sides. Noticing nothing unusual I rubbed my eyes to clear the bleariness, relishing in the fact that the place I had fallen asleep in had not changed.
"Huaaaaah," I yawned, stretching out my arms out behind my head and noticing the satisfying pop. Lowering said appendages I looked around the cave and noticed that the bucket and discarded red potion bottle were where I had left them, so Link and Midna hadn't yet returned. The fire had dimmed significantly, now just a bunch of chard wood and dying embers.
Quickly growing board of the room I finally noticed something I had overlooked, 'Hey, I feel a lot better!' Checking myself over I noticed that most of the injuries I had before I rested were gone. No more headache, my body felt so much better, all the aches were gone, and even the bruises I got from the shadow beast in the castle had cleared up. Further inspection revealed that even the puncture wounds on my arm had healed over. The last test was my feet. Pulling the remaining sheets off of me I grabbed one bandaged foot and began unraveling it… and unraveling it.
"What the heck!" I exclaimed after finding the fourth layer of bandages around my foot, "What could possibly need this many bandages!" Impatients was one of my many virtues, so basically anything that would require more than three seconds was considered very bothersome. Finally, as the sixth layer came undone, my foot was once again reunited with the air, causing me to grimace.
"… well crap," that statement about summed up what I saw, crap. How the heck did this happen to my foot, it looked absolutely horrid. Long angry red cuts covered the sole, partially healed over they resembled a bloody spider web extending from my heel to my toes. What looked like burn marks ran across the once smooth flesh of the top of my foot, the slightly clear looking scabs cracking as I flexed my toes.
Cringing more at the sight then the pain I slowly lowered my foot. Picking up the discarded bandages I retied a single layer around my foot, trying to take my mind off of the memories of the sight I concentrated on the back of my left hand. Looking at the triangle I noticed something that seemed familiar about it. "Huh… what could it b—the triforce! How the heck did I miss that!" slamming my palm into my forehead and slowly dragging it down my face I was struck with how stupid of me it was to not realize it. I'm in the freakin world of Zelda and I couldn't tell a triforce from a triangle!
'I guess with all the stress it just didn't connect.' I thought to myself, 'Well I doubt that a black triforce would be well received by others… they'll probably think its evil or something, I should probably hide it.' Looking around for my bag, maybe I had a glove or something in it, I noticed it was gone.
"What the heck, Link must have taken it," I grumbled, "Speaking of the devil where is he?" taking the time to wrap my hand with one of the discarded layers of my foot bandages I thought about where Link could be. 'The fire looks like its been going for hours, that much wood would take a while to burn. What are they doing that could take so long?' I churned through my memories, trying to remember the story, cursing the fact that I hadn't played the game more recently. 'Ok, in order to restore the light, you had to find all of those insect, light bug, thingies and refill the glorified grape shaped container. That shouldn't take long, it goes by pretty fast in the game.'
I huffed and folded my arms, and decided to wait a little longer, after all, the size of the plains and the time it took to cross them was grossly underestimated in the game, so why not this too? Whistling bland tunes I whiled away the time, picking out shadow shapes on the wall for amusement, until a thought came to me, 'What if the reason they're taking so long is because they aren't coming back?' The innocent thought betrayed the fears I had been repressing, but as soon as the thought took hold it wouldn't let go.
'Think about it logically,' my mind started working on its own as I tugged at my hair nervously, 'They don't need you, your not really any help to them. Plus, with your feet in this condition they might just think you're a hindrance. After finding out who you are and that you could probably fend for yourself why would they stay? I could be working for the people who started the Twilight for all they know!' While I knew it was irrational I was naturally pessimistic. If something didn't go the way it should I instantly jumped to the worst case scenario, the way I was raised taught you to never take something for granted. It could always blow up in your face.
'Well I'll be darned if they manage to leave without me, there is no way I'm going to lose my way back home after all I went through!' Anger and panic at the thought of being left behind I struggled into a crouching position, ignoring the painful protests my feet gave, 'They will still be at the Goron temple, it's too soon for them to have completed it all ready.' Shakily standing all the way up I hissed through clenched teeth as my feet throbbed, for once grateful for my sharp teeth as the pain from biting my lip distracted me from the pain in my feet.
Unsteadily stepping forward I walked towards the curving exit of the cave, each step bringing me closer to the light I saw coming around the bend. Stumbling I rammed my shoulder into the wall had to steady myself before continuing on, this time using my shoulder and the wall to help keep me steady. Step by step I rounded the corner, the path growing steadily brighter until suddenly I was blinded by the bright burst of light.
"Gah!" I cried out as my foot caught on something unseen on the ground, causing me to tumble forewords. Bracing myself for pain I was startled when instead of the hard ground I found myself slam into something warm, soft, and smelling vaguely of grass.
"And what do you think your doing walking on those feet?" came a gruff voice from above me. Looking up I saw blue eyes and blonde hair framed by a ridiculous looking green hat. Suddenly conscious of the fact that I was being held up off the ground in a very unmanly manner my face turned a deep shade of scarlet.
"Link you idiot, what do you think your doing! Put me down!" I shouted out as I vainly struggled to release myself from his iron grip. But that wasn't the worst, because he chuckled, chuckled! Feeling my face darken, a feat I thought impossible, I glared up at his smiling face as he set me down in a sitting position on a large rock to the side of the cave.
"Now, now Princess, that's no way to talk to a person who just helped you." Came a deceptively innocent voice from Links shadow. Honestly startled by the voice I merely replied by sticking my tongue at the shadow. Midna's only reply was her evil giggle.
As my rapid heart beat started to slow I looked at the still smiling Link before asking, "What took you guys so long? I was starting to wonder if you had ditched me."
"Oh, sorry, our mission took a little longer than we thought it would." He said, and honestly apologetic look on his face.
"Ok, well I see you back to being human again, that's good. So what's next on our list?" the way Link actually seemed sorry about it made me feel bad for yelling at him, but I had a rule for apologizing as little as possible so he'd just have to deal with it.
A confused expression spread across Links face before he asked, "Don't you want to know what we were doing?"
'Crap, I didn't think about that, they think I know nothing. I don't want them to know about my knowledge of what's going to happen, because that could come in useful, so I'll just have to make something up… uh… yeah that's it.' Struck with a rare bout of inspiration I quickly said the first plausible thing that entered my head, "Oh, I thought that since your human now you just went out to change back, I didn't think there was anything else."
I let out a relieved sigh as he seemed to buy the story, Link just nodded and looked over his shoulder. Seeing nothing he turned back and said, "Well, it's not really important anyways, so I guess it doesn't matter either way."
Midna, who had been keeping quiet through our conversation, spoke up again, "Cut the idle chit chat, we need to get that next fused shadow."
Link glared at his shadow for a second before shaking his head and picking me up again, "Hey what the heck!" I shouted out indignantly as I was lifted bridal style into his arms.
"Hey, it's either this or crawling." Link said looking down at me. Grumbling I crossed my arms and glared at the rock I had been sitting on. As much fun a crawling sounded, I would take getting carried over it, I just wouldn't say it out loud. Looking smug Link turned around and started to walk down the trail.
"Wait, what about the stuff in the cave." I said, looking back over Links shoulder, "Won't we need it?"
"It's ok, I already packed up everything we need." Link said, "Including your stuff." He added on as I began to open my mouth again.
"Ok then…" I said, looking down the path we were headed on, I could see a large pond at the end of it. "So where are we headed to next?"
"Kakariko village, I need to check on everybody agai—oh that's right, you don't know yet." Links face lit up as he glanced down at me, "We found them, all the kids, they were here the whole time."
"That's great," I exclaimed, honestly happy about it, even though I knew that they were going to be ok, it was still nice to have it confirmed. I had grown attached to them in the short time I had known them. "So you found everybody?"
Links face suddenly fell, "Not everybody, I still don't know where Ilia is."
Reaching up and patting his shoulder, a movement made awkward by our positioning, I said, "Don't worry, I'm sure she's ok." I wracked my brain for what had happened to Ilia but I couldn't remember, it had been to long. The only thing I could dig up was a vague memory of annoyance about having to do something out of the way after finding her. Dismissing it as unimportant, after all as long as she was okay it was no big deal, I turned towards the shouting I heard in the distance.
"Link, Link come quick!" I notice Beth, quickly followed by Talo and Colin was shouting and waving franticly. Link burst into action, I started at the sudden influx in speed as he quickly crossed the distance to them.
"What's wrong?" he asked, stopping in front of a panting Beth.
"I-its Epona, (pant) she is (pant) out of control," she said, bending over and clutching at her knees. Colin, who was next up quickly nodded as pointed towards a cloud of dust approaching us.
"Look she's coming back." Talo shouted.
Link set me down on the ground and said, "Wait here." With that he charged towards the dust cloud that was quickly taking on the shape of a horse. Epona suddenly materialized out of the dust, moving so fast that her feet were a blur, Link planted himself in front of the horse the distance closing quickly, twenty feet, then ten, then five. At the last possible moment Link threw himself to the side, grabbing at the reins he used Epona's momentum to swing himself onto her back
With a frightened neigh Epona threw back her head and stood up on her hind legs, nearly bucking Link off, "Whoa," he said as he gripped the sides of the saddle with his knees to keep from falling off. Suddenly Epona was down and galloping with Link clutching to the reigns for dear life. Within a couple of seconds they had disappeared up the road leading to town, the clatter of hoofs slowly fading.
My stunned thoughts took a moment to straiten out, '…holy shnikes…where the heck did he learn to do that?!' I was brought out of my stupor by a tentative tap on my shoulder followed by a wavering, "A-are you ok?"
Looking back I spotted Colin standing next to me, a concerned look on his face. "Uuh, what?" I asked dumbly, not getting where his question came from. Colin just nodded towards my feet, "Oh that, don't worry, just a few scratches," I ended with a smile trying to lighten up the mood. He gave a soft smile back.
By now the other kids had taken notice of me, and let me tell you, being stared at by three kids had never felt as strange as now, when I was forced to look up at them. Let's just say this didn't help my ego at all. After five seconds in which all of them failed to blink, let alone respond, I raised my hand and waved it at them, calling out, "Hiya."
There responses all varied, Colin waved back, Beth glared at me for a second before snorting and looking away, and Talo…blushed? Weird.
"Hello," Colin began in a soft voice, sticking a hand out timidly, "My names Colin, what's yours?"
"Sk-," I began, almost saying my actually name, "—aaaam, um, Sam, yeah, that's it, my name is Sam." I finished reaching out and shaking his hand.
Colin smiled and looked like he was about to say something else when Beth spoke up in a loud and obnoxious voice, "What were you doing with Link?" her pointed glare bore into me and I was taken aback. She was so polite when I first met her as a guy, did I do something to upset her? "Well?" she spoke again, this time placing her hands on her hips.
"Is that really any of your business?" I asked, fake politeness burning with acidity. Normally I would have been more kind but under the circumstances I was in a bad mood, plus her uppity attitude bothered me. She was acting like one of those obnoxious neighbor ladies from a bad sit com. You know, the ones who are rude to everyone who isn't rich or male.
Beth face changed colors for a second and it looked like she was about to shout when Colin broke in, "Beth… it's okay, calm down. I'm sure Link ha—"
"Shut up!" Beth's shrill cry cut Colin off. As she glared at him he seemed to shrink in on himself. Now yelling at me is one thing, but bullying someone, especially someone as sweet as Colin was going to far. I was about to stand up on my destroyed feet and give her a piece of my mind when someone else broke in.
"Can it Beth, it doesn't matter anyways. Sam doesn't have to tell you if she doesn't want to." Talo blurted out, puffing out his chest to try and look big. There was a heated staring contest between them while Colin looked at Talo in amazement… so I'm guessing that this doesn't happen often.
"Pft, fine, like I care anyways," Beth muttered as she turned heel and walked right into Link who had come up behind her. "Oh, Link," suddenly her whole demeanor changed, a big smile broke out on her face and her words seemed to ooze emotions no ten year old should have. Gagging slightly I watched as Link smiled back at her and continued on his way to take Epona to the pond. Beth's eyes never left him, except for once to glare in my direction, as he dropped off Epona and returned.
"Well, now that that's all taken care of, what's going on here," Link asked, looking first at Colin then me.
Talo was the first to respond saying with a smile, "We were just getting to know Sam."
Link looked at me, raising his eyebrows a little before looking back at Talo and asking, "And what did Sam tell you?"
"Not much, just trying to figure out how she met you." Talo responded.
"Yeah," Beth said, squinting at Link and fixing him with a suspicious glare, "How did you meet her?"
Link just smiled before answering, not missing a beat, "I found her caught out in the storm on my way here, she got separated from her family and didn't know how to get home so I offered to take her." Well, color me impressed, that was pretty smooth for an on the spot story.
"Wow, that's amazing." Beth oozed out, causing me to gag again, but Link seemed oblivious to it. 'How the heck can he not notice that!' I thought to myself. Suddenly his feat didn't impress me so much… it might make me more like that thing.
Link smiled at Beth and said, "Can you go get Renado for me, I need him to check up on something. Tell him we'll be at the inn."
"Sure," Beth said, casting another revolting look at Link before dashing off somewhere. By now Link was standing next to me, he began to reach down.
"Whoa, whoa, I can walk by myself thank you very much," I said as his arms neared me. I was fine without being carried around again, no need for another repeat of that humiliation. He just looked at me skeptically. To prove my point I stood up and began walking… well, more like a cripple skipping. Hey, they hurt ok.
Link watched me hobble for about five feet before catching up in three strides and picking me up again, "Hey, what the heck!" I shouted as he lifted me up to face him.
"Well, I thought that you would want to be walking again in a day, not another week. The longer you keep trying to force yourself, the longer it will take to heal." He said, I stared into his back in a brooding fashion, he had a good point, curse his logic! "Well?" he questioned.
"… Fine," I acknowledged, then he swung me over his shoulder. I probably would have given him a few choice words, but there were kids here. I swear, one day I'll get him back for this, not only did he pick me up again, but he flung me over his shoulder in front of Talo and Colin. I see them snickering as they followed us.
As Link concentrated on the walking I looked around, lots of old and desecrated looking buildings loomed around us. It looked more like post apocalyptic war town then the thriving city it should have been. I guess the Twilight's pretty tough on everyone. Link suddenly turned, taking us up to a building labeled 'Inn' (I could only tell because there was a sign in English by the bottom of the stairs) and opening the door and stepping inside. Because of the position I was in I had to wait for Link to set me down before I could look around. He took me off his shoulder and put me on a raised stool by a bar near the door, and I finally got a good look around the room.
It was dusty and in pretty bad shape. Several broken tables and chairs had been pushed into a corner under the stairs, the counter of bar was chipped and looked to have been covered in grim recently until it was sloppily wiped off. You could tell by the many piles of dust around the corners and the several chunks of broken counter still resting on it. Looking across to the far side of the room I noticed a large man with dreadlocks walking up as he came to greet Link, a small girl with a bob hovering behind him. They were both slightly darker skinned, they looked sort of central American.
"Ah Link, you're back. I take it this is who you went to get?" the man said.
"Yes Renado, this is… Sam. I found her passed out on the road a couple days ago. She got caught in the storm and just recently got over her cold, so I'd like you to check up on her, make sure nothing is wrong. Oh, and her feet are in pretty bad shape to." Link said, talking to the man, Renado I guess by the context, as if I weren't there. I huffed and glared at the back of his head.
"Hmm, do you know where her family is?" Renado asked Link.
"No, I found her all alone." He replied.
Renado looked to be deep in thought for a second before asking, "Could she be Sheikah?"
'Huh, where would he get that?' I thought, confused for a second before I remembered one of the other unusual changes I had undergone, 'Oh, the eyes.' Red eyes were a natural characteristic of many Sheikah.
"I don't think so," Link replied, "Besides, no one has seen a Sheikah in years, I thought they were extinct."
Renado nodded before turning to look at eh girl with the bob. "Luda dear, could you go get the medical kit from upstairs? It's next to the bed on the end of the corridor." Renado said, looking at the girl with the bob.
"Of course father, I'll be right back," Luda said, then rushing up the stairs. After watching her disappear up the stairs Renado turned to me with a friendly smile on his face, "So, Sam is it? I'll just have to run a few quick check ups, don't worry, it won't hurt." I debated for a second over whether I should protest or not but I figured it wouldn't hurt to make sure I had no other injuries… plus my feet really hurt.
Shrugging I said, "Whatever you say doc."
"Okay then, I'll just need you to take your shirt off," he said.
"… What!" I exclaimed after a short delay, clutching at said shirt.
Renado looked confused for a second, "It's just your shirt, nothing to worry about," Sure, he might say that, but would it be irrational to say I was sort of scared to do it. I hadn't really seen much of my new body, and it seemed weird and slightly perverted to look at it. Then I noticed Link smiling supportingly over in to the side of me… freakin pedo.
"Fine, but you can't look," I said pointing at Link, "Go over there and stand in a corner or something." I turned away from Links surprised face to the sound of creaking and saw Talo and Colin walking in, "You two too, go over there and stand in the corner."
"Hey what did we do?" Talo exclaimed, looking offended.
"I have to take my shirt off, so you can't look." I said, glaring at him.
Talo and Colin both blushed furiously, Colin just nodded and turned over to go to the corner where Link was standing while Talo opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before following suit. I waited to make sure they weren't looking before I undid my belt and removed the overlarge shirt. I felt sort of exposed when it came off and my chest was hit by the cool air. Renado then came up to me and began to gently prod around the rib cage, asking occasionally if 'This hurt' of 'that hurt.' I answered no while studiously looking at the opposite wall.
About a minute of prodding later Luda came down the stairs with a large wooden box in her arms, arguing with Beth who was following behind her, "I told you I—" Luda was rudely interrupted by Beth.
"And I told you that it's stupid, we should just let her go—" Both ends of the conversation cut short when they noticed me looking.
Luda came up and set the box down beside her father and said. "I've got the box."
"Good, thank you," Renado turned and smiled at Luda before reaching down and opening the box. He tsked as he began searching through its contents.
Suddenly Luda and Beth were both in front of me, looking me over. I blushed as they stared intently at my chest, then Beth started to shake her head, "What," I asked after seeing the smug look on her face.
"Oh nothing… your just a little… small," her evil grin growing, Luda gasped while I stared at her dumbly.
When I finally realized what she said I bristled in anger, "Shut up, your not that much taller than me so don't go all high and mighty on me." She stared at me for a second, utterly dumbfounded before Luda spoke up.
"Umm, Sam, I don't think that's what she was talking about." Luda said slowly, as if pointing out something obvious.
"Huh, then what was she talking about," I asked, suddenly confused. Luda's only answer was to point at my chest. Caught by surprise I looked down for a second and found myself looking at the pale, flat chest that looked very wrong on my body. Snapping my head up quickly it took me another second to realize the innuendo that had flown over my head. 'Oh, she was talking about breasts.'
"Uuh, so what's that got to do with anything?" I asked, looking back at them. Luda look shocked and Beth slapped her forehead with her hand. Before they could say anything more Renado popped back up from his medical box holding a small bottle of some strange clear fluid.
"All in all you seem fine, no signs of congestion, fever, or any internal injuries so you should be ok, you can put your shirt back on now." Renado said.
"Ok, thanks." I picked up my shirt and pulled it back on, squirming around a bit to get it to go all the way down. I left the belt off thought because it felt good without it.
"Can we come out of the corner now?" Links voice echoed from said corner.
"Sure," I replied, waving my hand in a go ahead gesture which, when I think about it, he probably couldn't see.
"Now Link said something about you scraping up your feet," Renado said, bringing my attention back to him.
"Yeah, they're banged up pretty bad." I said lifting up one bandaged foot. Renado set the bottle on the counter and took my foot. He began unwrapping it while delicately holding my ankle. A couple of seconds later all the wrapping came of and he gasped. Luda peeked over his shoulder and instantly turned green, retreating quickly.
"How did you manage to do this?" Renado asked.
"No idea," I replied, "I think it happened sometime during the storm, I wasn't wearing any shoes so…" I let the comment drift off.
"So, is there anything you can do," Links voice came from my side startling me, seriously, how is a man in boots like his so quiet?
"Well, the best thing would be rest, but if you want it to heal faster I do have some ointment that might work." Renado said, he went back down to his box and rummaged around for another few seconds before coming up with a sickly green tinted vial.
"Umm, your sure that's not poison… right?" I said, slightly put off by the color. It reminded me slightly of a dangerous fungus I had seen once on discovery channel. Renado just laughed.
"Don't worry, it's Keese guano, it has great healing capabilities." He replied.
"Guano… you want to rub my feet… with bat poo?" I asked skeptically. He just smiled and nodded. I swear everyone here is too happy, you go back to where I live and you're lucky to have no one look at you. Most of the time you bump into someone and its like, "Hey punk, watch yourself." Usually followed by an angry glare. And now mister sunshine is trying to cover my open wounds with bat guano. They're all crazy. "Yeah, I think I'll pass."
"Do you want your feet to heal quickly or not?" Renado asked. I paused for a second, looked at Link, then looked back.
"Fine, put your bat excretions on my feet." I grumbled, no amount of poo of any kind was going to keep me from going with Link.
"Great, now this may sting a little." He said, opening up the jar and taking out a small handful he began to carefully rub it on my foot. I tensed up from the pain for a second before relaxing. The bat poo actually worked, I could feel it soothing my injuries, the throbbing stopping and the pain slowly leaving. Of course it still felt disgusting, it squished between my toes and had this slightly gritty quality that made me want to vigorously scrub my feet, but I put up with it.
After Renado had finished up rubbing it on he rebadged my foot and moved onto the next one. While he was working on it Link asked me, "So I take it your feeling better."
"Where do you get that," I asked.
"Your face," he said, smirking, "Your expressions keep changing to show what your feeling, it's pretty funny actually, especially that last one. The way you scrunched your nose while squinting and generally looking disgusted was quite entertaining."
I blushed and stuttered out a retort. Dang it, and I thought I was finally starting to get the hang of a poker face… curse him for pointing out my flaws!
Renado stood up and screwed the lid back on the jar. He whipped his hands on a towel that was laying on the counter before picking up the clear vial he had taken out first. "Well, the guano should help with the healing, but this will do even more." He said, holding the vial out to me. "It will make you drowsy but it's a great healing agent, so take it before you go to bed."
I took the vial from him and said, "Thanks Renado, you've really been a great help. I'm sorry I have nothing to repay you with."
Renado just smiled, "Think nothing of it, I'm just glad I could help."
Link came over put a hand on my shoulder, "Yes, thank you Renado, I don't know what we would have done without you." He said, giving Renado his signature smile, then he turned to me, "Anyway, Sam, I need to talk with you, do you mind coming to the graveyard with me?"
"Graveyard? Isn't there someplace with less dead people we could talk?" I asked. Link just glanced at his shadow, "Oh, okay…" I paused for a second before grudgingly asking, "Do you think you could help me?"
"Sure," with that Link picked me up again, this time with one arm. "Show off," I muttered as he began walking to the door. As he was exiting the building I suddenly noticed that Renado was the only one left in the room. "Wait, where did everybody go?" I asked.
"Luda saw your feet and scared everyone else away by telling them a slightly exaggerated story." He said, beginning to walk down the road towards the pond.
"Oh," I said. We continued down the dusty road in companionable silence. The light was just starting to fade, casting an array of colors across the horizon. Beautiful reds and vibrant yellows painted the sky. It was really quite pretty here.
When we reached the graveyard the final rays of sunlight started to fade behind the mountains, casting the area in darkness.
"So, what did you need to talk about?" I asked Link. Midna popped out of his shadow and answered for him.
"Our plans for the future." She said, her shadowed form crossing its arms. "We need to know what were going to do next." Link set me down on top of a headstone before taking a step back to look at Midna.
"Shouldn't we look where the light spirit said to look?" Link asked.
"Well, yes, but I meant about him." She said indicating me, "How do we expect to get him home and back to normal?"
"Wait, you don't know a way!" I shouted, panicking slightly.
Midna glared at me before saying, "Yes, that's what we're trying to figure out."
"What about Zelda?" Link inserts.
"Hmm, maybe, she might know something but it's too far away. I need the fused shadow now." Midna said, rubbing her chin as if deep in thought. "Once we get them I know of a way we might get him back."
"You know a way to get me back home," I asked hopefully.
"I said might, it's only a theory but it might work. But first we need to get the fused shadow." She replied.
"Come on Midna, aren't you being unreasonab—" Link began.
"No, time is of the essence! If you want to stop the Twilight first you must collect all the fused shadow. Then maybe with their power I can reversed the curse on Skyler and find a way to get him back home." Midna looked at me, "But in order for me to consider it worth my time first you must help me. Help us get the fused shadow and I'll help you get home."
I looked Midna in the eye for a second before sticking out my hand, "You've got a deal."
She reached out and grabbed it with her cold and ethereal hand before smiling evilly, "Very good, Princess."
I glared back into her eye before smiling. "Of course Cyclops."
"…What do you mean by that?" She spat out.
"Exactly what I said One-Eye," I said, giving her my best and most obnoxious smile.
Before the situation could escalate any further Link broke in and said, "Ok, that's enough, I think we should go to bed now, we've got a long day tomorrow."
Midna glared at me for a couple seconds more before whispering, "This isn't over." And disappearing into Links shadow.
"I look forward to it," I called after her. Link sighed and picked me up of the headstone.
"You really shouldn't have made her angry, you have no idea how bad she can get." He said as he started walking back towards the inn. I just huffed and looked away.
As we walked the gloom seemed to press in. I've never been scared of the dark but something just seemed malicious about this darkness, it was frightening. I unconsciously gripped Links tunic as it seemed to grow darker.
Suddenly light burst out in front of me, I looked to see Links other hand holding onto a lit lantern, looking up I saw Link smiling down at me. I smiled back before turning to look back to the road. All though it was slightly embarrassing I was grateful Link was able to sense how I was uncomfortable.
Link took me back into the inn where we met Luda sitting by a large fire, reading a battered book.
"Oh, your back. Father told me to tell you your beds are upstairs, and so are some night clothes." She said.
"Thanks," Link said while I just yawned. I was too tired for pleasantries, it had been a long day. Link carried me upstairs before setting me down on a cot. I noticed a small night gown lying next to me and picked it up. I turned to find Link but saw that he was already on the other side of the room, pushing aside the curtain that divided the two half's. I saw that Beth was sleeping on a cot next to mine and another was empty, probably Luda's. 'Great, I'm on the girl's side.' I grumbled, but I was too tired to really put up any good complaint.
I removed my shirt and finally noticed something about it, 'Hey, it's green! When the heck did I put this on?' On closer inspection I found it to be oddly familiar to Links hero outfit, '…wait. In order for him to put this on he had to take off my previous shirt… What the heck! I swear, that man is a freaking pedo!' Grumbling to myself about pedo's and men with creepy green shirts I pulled my pants off. Reaching down I grabbed the nightgown laying on the side of the bed and pulled it down over myself. It was then that I noticed something else was wrong, my underwear had been changed.
Instead of the ragged boxers I had been wearing I found a pale white cloth, shaped in a suspiciously diaper like fashion. 'What the—how the- Midna! She must have changed them while I was unconscious. Where the heck did she even get this!' To tired for doing anything about it I settled for quietly grumbling to myself and I pulled the nightgown down the rest of the way. Pulling back the covers I slid my feet in carefully I pulled the blankets up to my neck.
Grumbling about vengeance and torture of the cruelest degree, I drifted off to sleep. Dreams of screaming black and white imps carrying me smiling into a deeper slumber.
Ah, seventeen pages of writing… well I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter should be up by next week so I will see you all then! ^.^
Review and get a free heart container! …Hurry! You're low on health! Review!
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