Chapter 7

All was not well at the castle. When it was discovered that Darunia was now missing as well, Zelda placed all the guards on full alert. They didn't know what they were looking for, but they would let nothing pass. Link, Nick, and Charles were out searching the castle from top to bottom, looking for anything that would give them any clue as to what was going on. William and Aaron went to the missing Sages respective homes, searching to see if they were there. That left Zelda, Impa, and Saria to try to plan something out. Ian had been excused from the planning and was currently spending the day with Adriana.

"Princess, we must do something. All hell is breaking loose and we don't even know who, or what, is behind it!" Impa said.

"I know, I know! But what do we do? How can we protect ourselves when we don't even know what we're trying to stop?"

"We have to continue searching the castle," Saria said.

"Link, Nick, and Charles are doing just that!" Zelda said back.

"Yes, I know, but I feel that we should also be looking. After all, we are the Sages. We should have some kind of advantage over whatever is here." Impa sighed.

"But because we don't know what's going on, this thing has the advantage over us! We can't stop something when we can't see it."

"Let's look ourselves! I don't want to sit here and wait for that thing to come after me!" Saria cried out.

"Ok, ok. Impa, you and Saria start from the dungeons. See if there is anything there. I'm going to go up and find Link." The two Sages agreed and ran off to the dungeons. "Damn it! What the hell is going on? I hope you find something, Link!" Zelda ran up the stairs.

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"Adriana, dancing with you last night made me feel so alive, so complete. I haven't felt like that since… since… Come to think of it, I've never felt like that," Ian told her as he lost himself in her eyes.

"Oh, Ian. I know that you coming here was a goddess-send. We were meant to be together," she said back to him as the two of them embraced in a good, long kiss. They were sitting in the courtyard, not too far from where Ian had captured Rauru in the Topaz. They finally stopped kissing to take in a breath when Ian saw an interesting sight. Two of the three remaining Sages had just walked by, alone. Can I capture two Sages at once? He thought. Yes, you can, Ganondorf told him. I will give you the power to do so.

Then all that I'll have to do is capture the Princess and you'll be free! He told the Evil King.

Not quite. There is one more lock on the Seal that you must remove before I can escape with all my power.

Another lock? Well, what is it? He asked.

The Master Sword. It must be removed from the Pedestal of Time for the Seal to completely break.

The Master Sword? But I thought only Link could pull it out of the Pedestal?

He still is the only one. You must get him angry enough, or threatened enough, so that he pulls the Sword out. By the time he realizes his mistake, it'll be too late! Ganondorf laughed his maniacal laugh.

It will be done, Ian told him. "Adriana, dearest, I must go in and check on something in my room. Will you wait out here for me?"

"Of course, Ian, but why do you have to go now? Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all. Just wait for me." He gave her a quick kiss and ran to his room. He quickly grabbed the Amethyst and the Emerald. He checked the book to see if anything different needed to be done in order to catch two at once. Just a little more time. Good, that's easy enough.

He headed toward the dungeon and noticed that the door was open. He quietly walked down the steps and took the two stones out of his pockets. Saria and Impa were searching everywhere in the dungeon. They had their backs turned to Ian and never noticed that he was in the room. He began chanting the spell and the two gems rose into the air. Impa was immediately frozen in place, but due to the double spell, Saria had a chance to scream before she was silenced. The room filled with mixture of green and purple light. Ian looked at the Sages standing there, and then in a flash, both were gone, inside the gems.

Damn it! That little bitch screamed! I'd better start running before I'm caught! And with that thought, he took off running toward his room.

Link heard the scream and he, Nick, and Charles ran down the flight of stairs. Halfway down, they saw Zelda coming up.

"Zel! What the hell was that?" Link yelled to her.

"I… I think it was Saria and Impa. They went to go check out the dungeon!"

"Damn it! I hope we're not too late!" Nick said as they ran toward the dungeon.

Adriana had been sitting there for almost ten minutes now. What could possibly take him this long? She looked toward the castle, in the direction of his room. Maybe I'll just go see what he's doing. Yeah, I'll do that. I'm sick of waiting! She stood up and started on her way to Ian's room. But before she got there, she heard a scream. She couldn't tell from who, or from where, but she definitely heard it. She stopped where she was and waited to see if anyone else heard it. Then she saw Ian run by the room as fast as he could. She started to chase him. "Ian! Ian, wait up! What's going on?" she called after him.

She couldn't keep up with him enough to talk to him, but she did see where he was going. He was going back to his room. Strange. I thought he said he was going to his room ten minutes ago. What took him so long? She ran up to the door, but decided against barging in. However, the door was opened a crack, so she was able to look inside.

There she saw Ian, pulling his case out from under his bed. He placed it on the bed and opened it up. Immediately, she noticed the colored array of light that came from the open case. What in the world is going on? Ian then reached into his pockets and took out the two glowing gems. He placed them in their respective positions and quickly closed the case and put it back under the bed. He began to turn around and head back out the door. Adriana almost let out a small scream, but she held back. I have to get out of here! I can't let him see me! She turned and ran back down the hallway. Coming from the other side were Link, Nick, Charles, and Zelda. Adriana decided to follow them. Maybe they knew what was going on.

When they made it to the dungeon entrance, they noticed that the door was still wide open. Link ran down the stairs, followed by Nick. Charles and Zelda stayed above. After desperately looking around the dungeon real quick, the two came back up.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing is done there," Link said.

"But something had to be down there!" Zelda shouted back. Link got defensive.

"Well, there's nothing down there now so don't be yelling at me!" Nick stepped in.

"Calm down, you two. Fighting won't solve anything. However, something had to be down there, but it's gone now."

"Who, or what, could do such a thing?" Charles asked. Link shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know."

Nick decided that it was best to tell Link and Zelda what William saw the other night. "Link, maybe we should ask this Ian fellow if he knows anything."

"What? Why?"

"Well, he was acting suspicious the other night at the celebration. We had no idea where he was during the two disappearances."

"And you're just telling me this now!" Link shouted back.

"I didn't want to jump to any conclusions," Nick answered calmly.

"Oh, no," Zelda said. "And when Nabooru disappeared, Ian had been her partner."

Just then, Adriana ran up to the group. "Guys, there's something strange about Ian!"

"Tell us about it," Charles added sarcastically. Adriana didn't pick up on it.

"Well, Ian said he was going to check on something in his room. I waited for almost ten minutes, and then decided to go see what was going on. Then I heard a scream and saw Ian run down the hallway. I followed him to his room and noticed a strange light coming from his case. He pulled two gems out of his pocket. They were glowing too. Then I ran here!" She said all this very quickly.

"Well, it seems that we should have a talk with Ian," Charles said.

Link added, "You're damn right we are." All five of them headed back down the hall toward Ian's room. But before they got there, they spotted Ian walking toward them at a leisurely pace.

"Hello, everybody. I thought I heard screaming. Is there anything wrong?"

Link didn't even stop to acknowledge the man. He just walked right past, hitting Ian with his shoulder. Ian was caught by surprise and nearly fell on the ground. He saw Link and the rest walk up to his door. Oh, no. They know! But how? Ian needed help. Ganondorf! I need your help!

I know, I see. You were careless! That wretched girl of yours saw the gems! But do not worry. I will help you out. Just go in there and make sure you grab the gems and Zelda!

Ian didn't even respond to this. He just ran into his room where he saw that Link had already retrieved Ian's case. Ian tried to stop him, but he was held back by Nick and Charles. Link opened up the case and a bright rainbow of colors lit up the room. He looked down at the gems and finally realized it. Each gem had a color of each of the Sages. Then he remembered the pattern… it was the way the Medallions were stored during his quest to defeat Ganondorf. But what's with the center one? There were only six Medallions, not seven. He turned to face Ian.

"So it was you all along. After we brought you in here out of the rain. Do you know what you are doing?"

"Of course I do. I'm breaking that Seal you placed on the Evil Realm so Ganondorf can come and take what is his!"

"But why?" asked Zelda.

"Because he has offered me the world. He will give me what I wish, as well as being his second in command!"

"And you believed him?" Link was stunned.

Ian tried to wrestle free of Nick and Charles, but they were too strong. Nick looked at Ian in disgust.

"You'll never win," he told him.

"On the contrary, you will never win!" Just then, a band of Moblins and Keese stormed the room. They were all caught of guard. Link dropped the case on the floor and Nick and Charles let go of Ian in order to fend off the intruders. Adriana ran out of the room as the others began to battle the monsters.

Link found himself surrounded by four Moblins. He easily took care of them with a spin attack from his sword. Nick and Charles were doing quite well too. Zelda was able to destroy some of the monsters by channeling the power of the Triforce of Wisdom. As the group was battling Ganon's creatures, Ian ran over to the case and picked it up. As he made his way to the door, Nick stepped in front of him.

"Not so fast!" Ian didn't know what to do. Fortunately for him, Nick was hit in the back by a moblin's club and fell over. As Link and Charles were still fighting, Ian noticed that Zelda was tiring. Using the power of the Triforce was taking its toll on the Princess. Ian rushed over to her and grabbed her. The Princess began to scream for Link. Where the hell am I going to go now? Ian thought. There's no way I'll be able to get out of here with all the guards! Then, out of nowhere, a portal appeared in front of him. He looked back and saw that Link had finished off the last of his enemies and was running straight for him. Without wasting any more time, Ian jumped through the portal with Zelda.

"No!" yelled Link as the portal closed seconds before he got there. Suddenly, all the remaining creatures vanished and the three knights were left standing in the middle of the room. All three were breathing hard from the fight.

"Alright, so what do we do now?" Charles asked.

"We stop Ian from releasing Ganondorf," Link replied. Nick stood up.

"But Link, Ian already captured the six Sages. Shouldn't the Seal already be broken?"

"No, I can still feel the Seal intact, but barely." Then it hit him. "The Seventh Gem… Zelda… she's the last piece! We must find her before he imprisons her! You two go get as many soldiers as you can and make sure you find William and Aaron. They should be back soon!"

"But where are we going?" Charles was a bit confused.

"The Spirit Temple in the Gerudo Desert. That's where that portal will lead to." He ran off out of the room. Nick ran to the door and called out to him.

"Link! Where are you going?"

Link was already down the stairs, but Nick was able to make out what he said.

"To get the Master Sword!"