GDL: Holy crap we're back. What's up peeps? Miss us? I hope so. Well, I can't think of much else to say. School's been keeping my inspiration at bay, sadly. Anyways…yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except Cat, Léra, and Véra.

Chapter 15 Pt.2: Into the Darkness

~Cat's P.O.V.~

"Link, Jade…Kado? ANYONE?" I called out into the bleak darkness.

Léra sighed, "I knew this was a bad idea. Now we're lost. I bet Link's worried sick."

"I know he's worried sick…I…I just can't take this place anymore. It's bringing out the worst in all of us."

Léra nodded, realizing that she had nothing more to say.

I continued walking around calling out, hoping someone would hear and I would no longer be alone in the dungeon that could suck the life right out of you.

I hoped that nothing would be there, but I continuously had the feeling that I was being watched.

That feeling was answered when two sets of glowing red eyes showed up when I turned around. There were two stalfos ready to kill me at any moment. If it had been any other circumstance, I would have been fine. Yet in my anxious state, I could not grip onto the moment. So, I was screwed. Big time.

Léra flew off, hoping to find Link at any cost, because she knew what I was in for if she didn't find him.

~Link's P.O.V~

I ran aimlessly into the darkness. I had no clue where I was going, all I knew was that Cat was in trouble. I didn't know how I knew, but I knew. I just kept running, hoping that fate would take me to her…wherever she was. Before I got anywhere, something rammed into my head. It caught me off guard, which made me fall to the ground. I then realized it was Cat's fairy.

Léra started frantically shouting, "LINKCAT'SINTROUBLEIDON'TKNOWWHATHAPPENEDBUTSHETURNEDTOICEANDTWOSTALFOSWANTEDTOKILLHERANDIDIDN"TKNOWWHATTODOSOIFLEWASFASTASICOULDTOFINDYOU!"

I yelled, "LERA SLOW DOWN!"

She gasped for air and said, "Cat's in trouble! Some stalfos tried to attack us, and she became encased in ice! C'mon, follow me!"

"Wait-"

She didn't give me time to say anything and flew off into the distance. I ran after her hoping she'd take me to Cat. Now if I could actually do something is another problem.

~Kado's POV~

Which way, which way, which way… I couldn't leave Cat all alone, but Jade was all alone as well. How much more of an idiot could I be? And, as for Link- I'd have to have a word with him after this. How could he leave her- how could they leave Cat?

I cried out in frustration, but at who? I wasn't sure. Me? Them? I stalked off in a random direction, whichever way my pacing back and forth had taken me to. I realized it was Jade's direction- the way she'd quickly gone as if she could run from the darkness and the red eyes that watched her every move. Hardly she knew that it was following her- that I was following her.

Screw the goddesses, I told myself over and over again. What right did they have to control my life? If they wanted my help then they'd follow my instructions. And this meant helping the three in any way I could, in any way they'd let me- and not the goddesses.

I hoped my anger would slip away soon, that my heart beat would steady, but each time I thought of her all alone- of the both of them so alone my adrenaline rushed through my veins and the dirt under my feet crunched under the soles of my boots loudly, echoing even. I lost more time, lost more of their trust. I wondered if they'd ever forgive me for this.

~Jade's POV~

If you were her friend- he'd said "were". Why'd he say were?

It was pointless here, pointless and stupid and decaying and dying and full of death and darkness and loneliness and lost hope and lost life and lost everything…

I was lost. And the red eyes were laughing at me and the darkness was taunting me.

"We're lost, Jade," Véra stated wearily, hovering over my head aimlessly. I raised my hand and caught her in my palm. She yelped softly but once I placed her onto my shoulder she sat comfortably.

"Yeah, I know." I muttered, sheathing my sword. We'd run the same place at least three times already, seeing as how each wall seemed to, in actuality, be a wall, and each door (two) to be locked and all to be exactly the same. And, simply, each direction led to the same place, the same eyes staring. "What do we do? Wait?"

She sighed fairy dust. "I guess so."

"Don't you know where we are?" I asked her, trying to hide the irritation in my voice.

"No." She tinkered, "Not anymore than you."

"Great." And I sat down next to one of the walls and leaned against it, hoping for rest. Instead, I fell back and into darkness, feeling my back slam into something sharp and uneven and as I stared upward I met the eyes that'd begun all this darkness.

~Kado's POV~

I found her roaming the corridors aimlessly, searching for a way out and shuddering at the skeletons in the walls and the voices echoing through their decaying teeth and searching some more. She went to sit down with her fairy clinging to her shoulder when she fell through the wall. I rushed toward her, praying to the goddesses that the floor beyond wasn't an illusion as well, but was caught so suddenly by the ground, by cold dead fingers groping at my ankles, pulling me under. I cried out, trying to kick the bony hands away. Their voices were hollow, echoing off the walls, off the skeletons and their dead eyes that watched in amusement.

"Jade!" I called, but it was too quiet, too low against the pitiful shrieking and chanting of the horrid dead.

~Link's POV~

Léra's light was fading the farther and farther she flew. I tried calling her name, to plead for her to slow down, but she couldn't hear me, or she was too frightful after having left Catherine's side and now she rushed too quickly, too much that I'd now lost sight of her. I continued running, imagining fairy dust in her wake and hoping it was fairy dust and nothing else.

"Link!" I turned around quickly, reflexively. I'd recognize that voice anywhere.

"Kado?" He stood at least ten feet away, shoulders still like he was holding his breath. His eyes burned a bright red and his smile was grim.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "What are you doing here? And what is wrong with your eyes?"

He cocked his head. "I thought you would need some help." His tone was calm, even.

I scowled. "Yeah, I do."

"Where's Catherine?" He asked.

I stepped toward him, irritation edging through like a razor blade. "Wouldn't you know? You're the one who wants to help. You're wasting my time."

He laughed bitterly. "Am I?"

"Yes," I growled, turning around, "Now either follow or find Jade."

"Neither."

I made to turn around, to ask him just what he meant to do- this high-and-mighty guardian when I felt the pain in my back and the dirt scraping half of my face and the eyes of the dead glaring back at me mercilessly.

He cackled manically as if the darkness had made him psychotic. That is all I could hear as I attempted to get to my feet. Before I could even get half way up, I was elbowed in the back, the force pushing me back to the ground below.

The man who at least looked like Kado, questioned, "Is that all the all mighty Hero of Time has? How can you expect to protect Jade and Cat if you can't even defeat me?"

That was the last straw. With a jolt of adrenaline, I was able to thrust the Kado imposter off my back and give him a blow with my sword. To my amazement, he did not fall in pain, but exploded into a cloud of shadow and disappeared. I stood in amazement for a few moments, and ran off, hoping to catch up with Léra somehow.

~Jade's POV~

"Kado?" He pulled me up, hand firm against my arm, before pushing me against the wall for support.

"Jade," he smiled, green eyes blazing, "I'm so glad I found you."

I smiled despite the pain in my back and the way his grip was tightening ever so slightly with each passing second. "Same here."

"I was worried," he stated, placing a cold finger under my chin.

I shuddered. "Yeah…same here."

His eyes roved my face. "Jade…"

"Hmm?"

"I…"

"Kado," I interrupted him, placing a hand on the hand that held my chin up. "I owe you an apology."

His expression didn't change, and I wondered if he'd been expecting my apology, and just maybe that was why he'd come to my aid- maybe.

"I-I…I shouldn't have snapped at you like that…" I said quickly.

He chuckled in a way I hadn't noticed before and I glanced at him. He let go of my arm to hold both sides of my face. "Jade, it is nothing to worry about."

"Honest?"

He leaned close, his cold breath brushing my lips.

"Yes." I quivered as his hands brushed down to my neck, as his fingers seemed to mold into the curves of my collarbone and in the arch between my head and back. Slowly, his grip tightened, his thumbs pressing to my throat- no longer soft, no longer a tingle that sent a disturbance of shivers up my spine.

I gasped for breath, from the piercing coldness of his touch and the loss of air and the sight of his bright red eyes, of the eyes that had taunted me all this way, that sang chants of lost hope and greed and envy and death.

"K-Kado?" It seemed futile to call his name, whether it was to call for his help or to question the one holding me now I didn't know- it'd slipped past my lips as the last breath I'd taken and now released.

His grip tightened and I clawed at his arms, tearing away thin garment and digging into his pale skin. Blue and black veins pulsed under the thin membrane, oozing black blood as I tore at his skin. White bone shone underneath, under his flexing muscles.

I gagged, feeling myself growing light-headed all at once. I shut my eyes to keep the colors from spinning and the world from toppling upside down. Shakily and frantically, I searched for the sword strapped to my belt, but instead, caught hold of one of the sais. I unsheathed it and fumbled for the hilt. I couldn't find it, but tightened my grip on it anyway, and aimed for his side.

He was too busy to notice, and though it was a weak strike I'd impaled his side. His grip weakened and I pushed away with all my strength and tumbled to the floor. He let out an inhuman shriek as he glanced at the wound where black blood gushed through, soaking his torn tunic and staining the dark ground a black nothingness.

As I coughed and sputtered and gagged and nearly vomited he stalked toward me. I saw hues of red and green and blue and gray swirling in my vision as his bony hands made to grab for my collar.

"This isn't over," he hissed into my ear.

I prepared for the final blow, for everything to be over, when there was nothing. As I gasped for breath I opened my eyes and realized he'd gone and there was nothing but the blackness of the halls and the silent stares that stared at nothing but their lost lives and the loss of everything they'd ever wanted.

I grabbed my black-stained sais and struggled away, listening to Véra whisper secret promises of getting us safe and home and back together. For some reason that was the least I was worried about.

~Kado's POV~

"This is how you make them grow, Kado," she whispered into my ear, gazing attentively at the near-dying girl. "This is how they learn their truth, their existence. You cannot teach them- they must teach themselves."

I pushed away from her and her words and her warm eyes. "I don't understand why they must suffer. It's cruel."

"It is their destiny," she replied coolly, stepping toward me.

Her dark red hair seemed to engulf her entire being, her golden skin almost like the sun standing before me in all its glory and humility and beauty all at once.

"Now," she sighed, "Do you see what happens when you disobey?"

I could still feel the cold hands gripping my ankles, my wrists, forcing me down to submission, to what they wanted.

I growled in frustration. "You are despicable- all of this is despicable! How can you do this to them?! Do you not see what you have done?!"

She remained cool, her bright eyes watching me almost curiously like she was a spectator of an interesting sideshow and I was the primate doing the half-assed cartwheels.

"You, dear Kado," she began softly, reassuringly, "Are their guardian, your fate- long before you were born- was to be their guardian, and it has long since been expected for you to act this way. It is natural. You must understand this."

I furrowed my eyebrows, feeling the anger rising farther beyond its natural waking point. My heart was ready to leap outside of its cage and I was sure I'd set it free if this didn't blow over soon.

"So, you expect me to understand that these feelings of mine are absolutely nothing to be worried about- that you long since decided it wouldn't matter what I thought of what was happening? Do you really think, then, that I'll let you get away with this?"

She smiled and for a second I really thought she'd give me a reasonable answer to settle my doubts, that I wouldn't have to worry any longer, that this goddess of power and of fire would solve everything. "Yes."

And she disappeared.

My worries remained.

GDL: And we're done! Look forward to Chapter 15.3 coming…probably sometime this week, considering both xbluxmoonx and I have off the entirety of the week. I wrote the Cat's p.o.v. and the first Link's p.o.v. I wrote the battle between Link and Kado. Xbluxmoonx wrote everything else. Anyway, R&R!