M.S.K: Hey everybody! How are you all doing so far? Yeah, I know you're surprised on how I uploaded this so fast. Yes, this is a bit of a short chapter. But, hold on tight now, 'cause in the next few chapters, that's where all the excitement will be coming in. So. . . Shadow Link?
Shadow: (Hops off from a tree and lands lightly on the ground.) Of course darling. . .
M.S.K: (Eye twitches) Darling. . . . ?
Shadow: Kaoru doesn't own a single thing about Legend of Zelda: Four Swords. She only owns her own characters. Everything relating to LoZ rightfully belongs to Nintendo.
M.S.K: Eh. . . Arigatou. Now, let's go on. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you guys. The song Zelda sang in the last chapter is actually another song by Anri. It's called Lovers on Venus so, I fandubbed the lyrics a bit. Plus, I don't own that song either.
Chapter 12: Heartbroken Hoshimi
That night, mist shrouded over the seashore around Hyrule Castle. Yet, the moon is still shining its light.
On the balcony, over looking the sea, Shining Link is dressed in a gray colored tunic and he is cloaked with a ebony cape. Now, he is still playing the familiar melody of 'Dolphin Ring' on his ocarina. He doesn't even know that it's Hoshimi's song.
In a short while, Sheik came over to see him privately.
Shining Link finished the last note on the song and brought the ocarina's mouth piece out of his mouth. He then let out a small sigh. Then, he felt Sheik's hand being placed on his shoulder.
After he turned his head around to see him, Sheik spoke to him. "Ryuusei. . ." He began with the prince's nickname. "You know, it might sound strange to you. If there were to be any girl from your dreams, living today, I'd say that I would advise you to keep your eyes steady, look around, and in time, she'll be there. Right before you." He gave him an assuring smile and he walked off.
Now, this is puzzling the Prince. After listening to what Sheik had said to him, he wouldn't know if really did meet the girl he's looking for. He looked up at the window of one of the towers; which is Hoshimi's bedroom, and saw her, combing her hair.
Hoshimi caught sight of him, looking up to her, and waved at him. Then, she walked off to her bed and blew out the candle light, so that she can go to sleep.
Shining Link smiled a bit. But, his smile turned into a discouraged frown. He looked at his ocarina for a bit, then raised it up into the air with his hand. He was about to throw the instrument into the ocean but, a thought struck him. Maybe it would be a bad idea to throw it into the water and forget about finding his lady. Plus, this instrument was passed down in his family for generations. It would be unwise to possess a family treasure long enough to throw it away. He slowly lowered his hand with the instrument in it and he made another slight sigh. He placed the ocarina in his pocket and started to head off to bed too.
Before he can head inside, he heard a voice singing. It's pretty familiar too. It sang. "~Please, marry me! A Dolphin Ring is one simple gift you'd give me for your return of affection to me.~" Shining Link quickly went over to the railing of the balcony and he saw a strange figure walking upon the beach. It was a young girl, dressed in dark blue dress and a black cape. She had flowing black hair that's blown by the wind and she happens to have the same aquamarine colored eyes. She looked a lot like Hoshimi, in spite of her different features. She is even singing with a voice that sounded almost like Hoshimi's, although he doesn't quite know that yet. Around her neck, she's wearing a ruby red pendant. "Who's that? That voice sounds faintly familiar. . ." He thought to himself as he continued to stare at the girl who's walking slowly on bare foot among the sand.
She continued to sing. "I've wiped my tears away, so please do take my hand. With no words alone, your hand wrapped in mine is all I truly need.~" When she sang those words, her pendant glowed and a stream of red smoke flowed from it and it was coming up closer and closer to Shining Link's eyes. Once smoke stream reached his eyes, it seeped through into both of them! After that, his eyes became opaque gray.
Much later on, it's morning again and it's beautiful and bright. Navi is flying around and about cheerfully. Then, she flew into Hoshimi's window, gleefully calling out. "Hoshimi! Hey! Hoshimi! Hey! Wake up! Listen! Listen!"
Now, this shouting, slowly woke Hoshimi up. At first, she is about to wave her hand in the air to knock the little fairy away. But after Navi ducked, her ivory head finally perked up to meet the fairy, who cheerfully announced. "Congratulations, to you, Honey! We made it!"
Hoshimi rubbed her eyes and raised her eyebrow to wonder what's making this fairy so excited, this morning.
Navi giggled at this. "Does that mean you don't know? Well you may not believe this. But, all of Hyrule is talking about it! The lucky Prince is going to be having the bells tolling 'ding dong, ding dong' this afternoon! He's going to get married, Hoshimi!"
Hoshimi is now, wide awake! Her eyes snapped open wide!
The fairy gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "I'm just here to wish you luck, dear. I'll see you later!" Then, she flew out of the window.
But, before she can do so, Hoshimi jumped off her bed. While running over to the window, she fell down on her side. But, she got up and quickly caught the fairy, danced with her for a bit in a circle, and gave her a kiss back. The Princess of Hylia is happy, herself, now that she's given the news. She's about to head downstairs until she stopped by, at her wall mirror. She premed herself a bit, then quickly head out the door.
She is about to reach the last set of stair steps just to meet a shocking surprise. Her excited face turned into a surprised one. She quickly hid behind a pillar and looked down at what she's seeing. What she's witnessing with her own eyes is that there's King Phoebus with Queen Raina, Liliana, and Sheik and they're talking with Shining Link, who is holding someone by the waist. Someone who is like. . . Her! There's the girl the he had seen last night and she's clinging on to him! Her prince!
King Phoebus spoke to his son. "Well now, my son! It's like I told you! When you take the blessing of the 'Spirit of the Stars' with you, you will be finding the one you're looking for! It really happened! Well done, well done."
Queen Raina laid her head on her husband's shoulder. "You don't know how proud I am of you, dear."
"I'm grateful for that too, father and mother." The Prince humbly answered. He's not like himself, though. His eyes are still opaque.
Sheik rubbed the back of his head and said. "Well, it looks like I've been misjudging for a while, Ryuusei. This mystery girl of yours really does exist. And I must say, she is very ravishing, as I do say so, myself."
Hoshimi couldn't believe her eyes. How is it that this black haired girl over there, came out of nowhere, and get the chance to wrap her arms around the one she loved? Shining Link will never turn on her! The one he found on the seashore! So, why is it that he has to be with a different girl?
The King took the girl's hand and shook it. "Congratulations dear. . . um. . ."
"Kuromi." The girl said her name to him.
Now, Hoshimi is more surprised. Her voice sounds exactly like hers before it was taken by Ganondorf!
"Kuromi? It sounds a bit strange, but it its lovely." The King replied.
Then, Shining Link spoke to his family. "Mother, Father, Liliana, Sheik, my bride and I are wishing to be married as soon as possible."
Now, those words send a shock to Hoshimi! She remembered the little fairy mentioning news to her that the Prince is marrying. But, she's not expecting it to be someone else! She's expecting the bride to be her! She's the one who saved Shining Link from drowning!
The conversation continued with Sheik saying. "Of course, Ryuusei. But I think we shouldn't do it right away, though. The preparations take time and . . ."
Before the Sheikah can say another word, the Prince announced. "Your prince has spoken, Sheik. The ceremony will be celebrated this afternoon. Our wedding ship will be departing at sunset."
Now, this made the family look at each other for a bit. Then, the King replied to his son. "Oh. . . Okay as you wish."
Hoshimi hid herself completely behind the pillar and the words about the wedding taking place on a ship at sunset rang throughout her head. Today is the third day and by the third sunset, she'll lose her chances, her prince, and the golden opportunity to stay as a Hylian forever! She felt an urge to cry building up in her, but she quickly fled away from the lobby and down the hallway.
Kuromi however smirked as she continued to cling on to the prince for herself. Then she laid her head upon his shoulder. While doing so, she looked down at her ruby pendant. Inside it, there's a glowing orb. Then a dark shadow appeared from behind her and whispered to her without being noticed by the Royal Family. "Ha ha ha. . . Nicely done, Kuromi. With that little ivory haired princess away, we'll be setting the stage for the perfect part of the plan! There's nothing that can stop you now! You just keep doing your part during the big wedding this afternoon!"
"Yes. . . ." She whispered back to the shadow, menacingly.
From behind a wall, Erune and Snow are observing what's going on with the prince and the new girl. "Hmm. . . Something's screwy here. I don't like that girl. Not one little bit." Said the white fairy. "Shining Link will never be pleased with someone like her. She looks a lot like Hoshimi. But, look at that disgusting hair color! Aye me!"
Erune agreed. "Plus, there's something wrong with his highness too. Look at his eyes. They're always in a platinum white color but, not this grayish. It looks like he's hypnotized or something."
Mid-day passed and it's now later afternoon. The sun is starting to set amongst the sea, giving it a deep orange color. From the dock of the palace, a wedding theme is playing from the Royal Wedding Ship and the invited guests of Hyrule are gathered as they socialize with each other about what's going to take place on deck.
With the ship is sailing away, the only person who's left, standing on the dock is Hoshimi, dressed in her ivory dress again. With a heavy heart, she watched the ship, drifting off, leaving her behind. In fact, she isn't planning to hop aboard on to it. Not as an uninvited acquaintance anyway. Once the ship is further away from her, Hoshimi slowly fell on her knees. Her prince is now going away. Far away. She really wanted to do anything for him and please every whim of his heart. She had a lot of ups and downs with him since her second day in Hyrule. But now, it seems like her time is running out and regrets won't change a thing. She then looked at her reflection on the water and thought to herself. "In a matter of moments, I will turn back into a Mer-Hylian and return to the sea. . . where I was born. . . where I belong. . ." She also remembered the consequence she'll endure if she fails to marry the Shining Link. At this moment, Hoshimi doesn't seem to have the strength to fight her tears any longer, for they are now filling up her aquamarine eyes.
The poor princess pulled out her pearl white ocarina, stared at it for a bit, and puts it up to her mouth. Then, she began playing the lullaby of her family out to the sea.
From below the water, Link, Zelda, Blue, Red, and Vio heard the instrument's melody and they swam up to the surface, knowing that it's from Hoshimi.
Once she's done playing the song, she held her instrument in her hands and waited for them. Suddenly, she heard a five splashes. Up ahead, she can see her brothers and sister swimming to her! They answered her call, just like what Zelda have told her!
Link and the others swam over to the dock and they found their younger sister, looking at them with saddened eyes, filling up with tears.
"Link, Blue, Red, Vio, Zelda. . . ." She thought sorrowfully while showing them what she's feeling right now.
Link hopped up from the water and with his own arms, he climbed up to the dock to meet his sister's face. "Oh, Hoshimi. . . you look so sad. Was there something wrong, sister? Is the Prince going to marry another?"
Hoshimi nodded her head, slowly and sadly.
With a small gasp, Link climbed up on deck to sit next to her. As he done that, Red, Zelda, Blue, and Vio did the same thing.
Red spoke. "Oh dear! Hoshimi, this can't be the truth! If he marries someone else, then. . . then. . . as soon as you transform back to your original state by the light of today's sunset. . ."
Then, Vio finished for him. "You'll have to plunge back down and surrender yourself to Ganondorf!"
"Isn't that what he said to you?" Zelda asked her.
In another way of 'yes', while letting her tears flow down upon her cheeks, Hoshimi placed her fists on the floor of the deck, still kneeing down. Then, she began to weep bitterly and silently. She is completely heartbroken, now.
For now, the only thing her siblings can do is sit next to their sister, and trying to comfort her while watching her crying and waiting to return to her original form. Link laid his hand upon her head while Zelda hugged her gently. Blue is about to say something. But then again, he is feeling deeply sorry for Hoshimi's loss. Red is about to cry too. But not in the way he usually does. His eyes are being filled with tears, slowly. Vio however, just let out a slight sigh, crossed his arms, and shook his head slowly. They may not know what Ganondorf and Shadow will have in store for her once the sun sinks over the horizon and after Hoshimi's legs join together and become the fish tail they all once knew.
Hoshimi raised her head up a bit and stared out towards the ship as it sailed further away towards the sunset. While crying still, her tears are dropping into the sea. Then, she picked up her ocarina that's lying next to her, held it up to her lips and began playing a really sad and heartbreaking song.
While listening to this sorrowful, yet sweet song from their sister's instrument, Link and his fellow siblings looked out towards the sunset too.
Red: Oh. . . Poor Hoshimi! (Whimpers)
M.S.K: I don't blame you, Red.
Blue: Well, I do know who's behind this.
Vio: Yeah, but you shouldn't blurt it out.
Blue: But why?
M.S.K: Must you always make up ways to do spoilers? Anyway, it looks like there's another villain in this story.
Link: Why didn't you say so from the beginning?
M.S.K: It was at the beginning. . . . of the chapter. Well, the story isn't over yet! Keep your eyes open and cross your fingers! So, leave a comment or a review! See ya!