OH GEEZ. I'm so sorry guys, you don't even know! About a month an a half ago my computer totally died. Again. So I had to send it in, and then they couldn't even find anything wrong with it. Urgh! And then I couldn't even think of what to write for this because I hadn't even looked at it for more than a month. So this chapter probably isn't all that great, but I wanted to let you guys know I was alive.
But don't get too excited just yet. I'm not quite back... yet... See, November is National November Writing Month, as I'm sure some of you know. This is my first year participating, and I really don't think I'll be able to balance this story and the few others I'm writing along with my submission piece. So, I probably won't update at all in November. But I might, so just... keep an eye out, I might surprise you.
Again, I'm really, really sorry and I hope you guys can forgive me. I'll try to make it up to you when I get back for real, okay?
Disclaimer: LoZ does not belong to me.
Warnings: Yaoi. Swearing. General Weird.
A Wandering Soul Precedes All Darkness
Chapter – VII
Title – The Calm Before the Storm
What lay beyond the door was a world of color. A rainbow tempest that splashed the walls and illuminated the floorboards, painting their faces a symphony of hues that had them blinking away at the suddenness of it all.
"Din almighty, not one step into the room and I'm already ready to leave. Let's hurry and get this over with." Dark pulled his hat down past his eyebrows, screening out the unwanted light, but was then faced with the daunting task of blocking out the horrid music filling his ears. He decided to ignore it in favor of stomping up the wrap around staircase that connected the upper level to the bottom.
Link walked into the room more slowly, taking his surroundings in as he too pulled his hat lower. He actually liked all the color because it reminded him of home somehow. But he figured that after awhile it would probably start to give him a headache. Or, worse yet, some sort of seizure.
Upon touching the brim of his hat, the little golden fairy he'd met in the cave with Skullkid poked her head out. He'd not spoken to her much since that day, and she'd even yet to tell him her name, but he wasn't in any hurry to ask her, either. Because, in a sense, they were enemies. Still, he let her occupy his hat and kept her a well-hidden secret from his shadow stalking partner.
'The enemy of my enemy is my friend. ' He reminded himself, and thus repeated the phrase like a mantra when she went on a rant about how slow he was.
"- and for all we know, Skullkid's already squashed my brother. For Din's sake, don't be afraid to actually search a little."
"We're doing the best we can." Link griped, and with that said he promptly tucked her away and trudged up the staircase Dark had already taken.
At the top they found a man who looked liked he'd been expecting them, and, without a word, he took Link by the shoulder and had him stand before the giant telescope occupying the area. It looked more advanced than any he'd seen before, but as he peered through the scope, it turned out to be just as blurry as all the others he'd had the pleasure of looking through.
From their vantage point he could see the city in it's entirety, and even all the little people ambling about it. The booths, the homes, the birds flying overhead... but no sign of Skullkid. He pulled away with a grunt, shaking his head at Dark.
"I didn't see a thing."
The old man grabbed a crank on the side of the telescope and twisted it, angling the machinery upwards. This time he brought Dark to look through the lense, he wizened old fingers fumbling over themselves.
Dark had to lean down to see through the eyepiece, and after taking in the larger details, he scanned for the troublesome little imp they were searching for.
But nothing. He could see nothing, not a single sign of the little brat.
"Link, I think the best we can do for now is to just... wait, what the hell?"
"What? What is it?" Link crowded up against the other, reaching for the scope, but Dark pushed him away, growling.
"Why you little brat, I'll rip your freaking arms off!"
"Dark, what do you see?" Almost whining now, the blond immediately got the shadows attention, however gruff it may be. He was frowning, but moved just enough for Link to stand at his side.
"See for yourself." He grumbled, and Link did, his left eye screwing shut so he could focus with the right. At first he didn't really know what he was looking for, but it was safe to assume that, somehow, Dark had spotted Skullkid.
"He's should be up on the Clocktower." Dark added.
And indeed he was.
Link scowled and pulled away, the image of Skullkid taunting them, somehow knowing their exact location and motif, haunting him. How in the world did the imp know they were looking.
"I'll kill the brat."
"You've already said that, Dark."
"Yeah, well..." Dark waved off the grumbling old man, trying to brush away his intrusion. "I just don't want you to forget." He paused and frowned at the old man, who was almost shoving him towards the telescope. "What the hell are you doing, old guy? I've seen all I need to see. We'll be going now, alr-"
Unceremoniously, the man grabbed the shadow by both shoulders, wrestling him towards the scope and thus preventing him from doing anything but looking through it.
"Watch." He rasped, his voice gravelly and unused. Dark went limp in his hold, transfixed by what he was seeing. Link was left, once again, to watch as the shadows face began to change.
"I... what is that?"
Before Link could ask this time, however, a high-pitched whistle overpowered the music in the room.
"What's going on?" Link shouted, mimcking the other two occupants in the room by covering his ears with the palms of his hands. Darks eyes were wide, obviously trying to tell him that something was definitely amiss, but the old man looked none-too concerned, his face completely calm. The Hero wanted to shake him and ask what the hell was going on, but before he ever had the chance, something collided with the earth outside, and all three of them were sent to the ground.
It seemed like the whole observatory shook, and with the way the telescope rattled dangerously in it's perch, Dark feared it would simply come loose and smash it's way through the staircase until it came to rest on the bottom level.
There was a tiny window perched high on the wall, and through it they could see a blue aura. As the tremors racking the ground began to wane, Link pulled himself up off the ground, reaching for a door he had not noticed until that moment.
"Link, you can't just walk out there, you don't know-"
The door opened, bringing with it a plume of heat and the echo of laughter in the wind. Link stood in the doorway, eyes wide, and slowly made his way out onto the balcony. Dark didn't waste any time following him, knowing that usually, when these kinds of things happened, it was best not to go alone.
And besides, what he'd seen hurtling towards them had been pretty shocking. Not to mention that it had come from the freaking moon itself!
'I knew there was something weird about it... something isn't right about this place at all.'
Outside, he found Link crouched over the black skid in the earth the projectile had made. His head was cocked to the side, deciphering what it was seeing.
"It... it's a tear?"
Dark walked up behind him, leaning to see over and into the muddled earth the intrusion occupied. It was, quiet literally, a tear.
A tear from the moon.
"This is what you saw?" Link asked him, reaching out for the thing. Dark almost stopped him, but even from here he could feel that the heat was fading fast. And Link wasn't that dumb, he wouldn't pick something up knowing that it would melt his fingers off.
"Yeah, that's it. One second I was looking at Skullkid's cocky face, and the next he was pointing up at that freaky moon, cackling all the while. Then there was shine or something, and, well, this thing comes flying out of nowhere!"
It was roughly the size of a fist, and Link held it gingerly in his palms, cradling it like a fragile piece of pottery.
"It's so weird... cause it's not hot at all. You'd figure it would be..." He turned it over in his hands, observing his reflection in it's surface. His eyebrows furrowed. "Do you think that this is some sort of sign?"
"A sign of what?"
"I dunno..." Link hefted himself up, wobbling a little on his feet. "The best I can come up with is that, well, it's a tear from the moon, right? Well, what if the moon is in pain?"
Dark blinked. Link flushed.
"It sounded better in my head."
"Yeah, I bet it did. I mean, the moon is just a rock. It can't feel pain and emotion."
Shaking his head, Link slipped the stone into his pocket. "You're just not looking at it the right way, Dark." He said, and with that he slipped past the shadow, who frowned at his back.
'There's only so many ways you can look at it, right?' Dark snorted, annoyed. 'It's just some random rock that broke off the moon. It means nothing, no matter how silly it sounds. We're just thinking too much.'
Regardless, he hurried after his Hero, nodding a farewell at the oddly sated looking man that watched the two leave.
When they re-entered the town, the first place they visited was the Clocktower. Link had suggested that maybe Skullkid would still be lurking about, and if they hurried, they might be able to catch him before he ran off again. But when they got there, he was no where to be seen, and everyone they asked only gave them odd stares at their description of the little imp.
"Can't say I ever saw anyone that looked like that." A guard told them. But he brought a hand to his bearded chin, stroking, and said, "There's a Scrub guy that lives near the Clocktower, though. If anyone was to see 'im, it would be that guy."
So they returned to the tower, searching for the mysterious 'Scrub guy'. Unfortunately, the couldn't find him, either.
"Why is it that whenever we're looking for something, it turns into some big endeavor?" Dark said suddenly, looking annoyed. The sun was hot and his mouth was dry. Not to mention that he hadn't had a thing to eat in days. When he was unsated, he tended to complain quite a bit more than usual, and this was no different.
"I just keep hating Skullkid more and more each minute. Din forbid we actually find him, 'cause I get the feeling I'm going to be merciless with that one." Dark went on to describe various forms of torture, but quit with a grumble when Link told him to shut his yap.
"You're only complaining because you're hungry, so relax. We'll find Skullkid, and you can do whatever you want. Although, hopefully be then you'll have come to your senses. You can't rip someones arms off and beat them to death with them, by then they'll have already passed."
"Not if you're quick." Dark griped, but Link silenced him with a firm glare.
They stopped to rest by a shallow pool of water that led under the city. In this one spot, they were secluded, but at the same time they could see a large portion of the square just by turning their heads. Dark removed his boots and dipped his feet in the water, much to Links annoyance.
"You know, they probably drink that water."
"A little sweat never killed anyone." Dark smirked, but he scooted back and pulled his feet out of the water. Link turned his head to hide the smile on his face. Somehow, no matter what they were doing, Dark always wanted to make sure he was happy.
"Think we'll find him?"
Link pondered on that for a moment, weighing the situation at hand on a mental scale. When he really thought about it, well...
"Honestly, I don't even know... But for now, all we can do is hope."
Dark nodded and let his head fall back, fixing the moon overhead with his ruby eyes.
Somehow, he wasn't surprised to see that it was ten times closer than it had been the night before.
Later that day, somewhere around noon, the Scrub guy showed up of his own accord.
Or, rather, he descended upon them like a bird of prey, even going so far as to sqwuak at them in his own harsh language.
"You're on my property, you hooligans! What do you think you're doing here?"
He propped himself up on the flowering flora Link had barely spared a glance. It had just been sitting there, feeding off the water Dark had dipped his toes into. He'd assumed it was just some weed, and had even thought about tearing a few of the leaves off to fan himself in the midday heat...
"I own this here plant, and this watering hole as well, so if you don't mind, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"Well hey, 'ya snooze 'ya lose, scrub. You'll just have to find someplace else." Dark turned his nose away from the creature, who promptly removed it's makeshift hat and stomped the cobbestone ground.
"I beg your pardon? I told you I own this area! I will only ask you once more to leave of your own volition before I ask the assistance of guards!"
Dark was about to say something more, probably along the lines of something terribly rude, so Link interjected by clapping a hand over the shadows mouth. "We'll just be leaving." He said, smiling sheepishly. "Just forget we were ever here, alright?"
"You just forget you ever found this place, kid." The scrub grumbled, glaring at Dark as Link tried to drag him away.
"Let's not bring unwanted attention to ourselves, Dark." Link growled.
"Oh, c'mon, Link! He has to be lying! You can't just own some random flower in town, it makes no sense!"
The scrub, who has turned away from them to re-affix his hat to his head, turned back to them and howled, "I'll have you know that my wife and I-"
The two warriors waited, wondering why the scrub had suddenly gone so quiet.
"I think I broke him." Dark snickered. Link rolled his eyes.
"Oh, no." The scrub yowled, falling to it's knees in a dramatic display of well-practiced hysterics. Link and Dark could do nothing but watch helplessly as it began to sob, clawing at it's eyes with knobbly fingers. "I knew I'd forgotten something! Oh, when she finds out I forgot our Anniversary of all things! I'm doomed!"
Link looked to Dark, who shrugged. "The old ball and chain, huh? I almost feel sorry for him."
The scrub, who appeared now to have some sort of enhanced hearing, stopped it's hysterics to stare wide-eyed at the two intruders. He pointed at them, tears streaming down his face.
"Please, do you have anything of value on you at all? A trinket I could buy, perhaps? Please, if my wife comes home and finds out I have nothing for her, I'll... she'll..." He burst again into tears.
"We don't have anything but that tear thing." Dark whispered, cupping his hand to Links ear. The blond nodded.
"I know. But hey, what could it do for us? Besides, maybe we can actually use that flower for something..." The blond turned his head to stare up at the clocktower, and then back to the flower. He grinned to himself.
"Hey, we do have something you could have, actually. I think any wife would love it."
The scrub raised its eyes to them once again, wiping away tears. "R-really? You have something she'd like?"
Link reached into his pocket and produced the moon tear, which, much to his delight, immediately caught the scrubs attention.
"That's one of the rarest stones you can find in Termina! How in the world did you get it?" He pegged the warrior with an intense stare, probably hoping Link would divulge the exact location, that way he too could search for the ascertained 'rare' stones.
"Let's just say it found us." He said, and unceremoniously deposited it in the scrubs outstretched hands. "You can have it for free, it's not like we paid anything for it." Link knew that if he could see Darks face, he would find an expression of complete horror. He could almost hear the whine building in the shadows throat.
'You can't just give stuff away like that!' Link chuckled, that was definitely something Dark would say.
The scrub, who looked like he'd just won a bar of gold in a game of pick up sticks, shook his head in disbelief.
"There's no way I can just take this, even if you two did intrude on my land." At the mention of such, he promptly brightened. "Say, speaking of land, how would you two like the deed to this humble little plot? Scrubs don't need much space, anyway. And besides, the wife and I can always find something better with the cash we'll get off this little gem!"
He turned and busied himself with digging through his belongings, leafing through the flower and it's roots. Dark rolled his neck and fixed Link with a glare.
"Did he just say... cash? Link, we could have made a fortune off that thing!"
"You don't know that." Link scoffed. "Besides, what is money here anyway? We don't need to buy anything."
The scrub returned with a worn sheet of paper clasped in it's hands. Link took it and read the deed, nodding to himself. The scrub looked ready to go to war with the satchels and packages tied firmly to it's waist. He looked impatient, hopping from one foot to another whilst Link read over the paper.
When he was done, Link nodded and pocketed the title. "Pleasure doing business with you. A gem for a deed, a good trade, don't you think?"
The scrub fought back a laugh, knowing fully well just what the gem would be worth to his own people. He'd be living the good life for a long while with the helf of that gem. His wife could have ten Anniversary presents now.
"A fair trade indeed." He said, and with that, he took flight, the wings affixed to the back of it's head propelling it into the air.
Link and Dark watched him go, the shadow glaring all the while.
"We should have kept the damn thing."
In the time that had existed but had never been, on an adventure Link had, but hadn't, had, he remembered coming across a different type of Deku Scrub. A more feral, aggressive kind. He remembered how they would lay in wait in their flowers, listening for the echo of footsteps above ground. And, once they heard them, they erupted from the earth to shoot at whoever, or whatever, was approaching.
Similarly, he could remember seeing them fly straight out of them, soaring into the air to fly away on the current of the wind.
He figured, different times, different land, same principle, and pulled the Deku Mask over his face.
When his body had changed and he'd adjusted to the feel of it, he toddled over to the flower and burrowed into it surprisingly easy. He supposed it was just the instincts of the mask taking over, which had him reaching for a few loose pedals.
And when he finally sprang from beneath the ground, he felt lighter than the air itself. The wind carried him effortlessly, held aloft by the large petals in his hand. He wasn't sure how it all worked, but it did, and that was all that mattered. Far below, he could see Dark staring up at him with wide eyes, and he would have grinned if he could have, but the wind was beginning to pick up and it took all his concentration to focus on the task at hand.
With the clocktower in sight, he urged the wind to carry him to the platform. It did so, and, with little hesitation, he found himself standing in the sealed doorway of the towns clocktower. The door, he knew, would not open until tomorrow. That when the festival began, it would descend and all the townspeople could pray to their Gods at the alter.
But what of Skullkid? Surely he wouldn't let something like that go untroubled. He'd be in the thick of it, causing as much mayhem as possible... Link knew that for certain.
"Link? You alright up there?"
Down below, Dark was craning his head backwards to stare up at Link. The scrub waved and hopped back down, drifting like a leaf from a shedding tree.
"Looks like we have a way to get up there whenever we want to now." He said, looking immensely proud as he pried the Deku Mask off his face. Dark cocked his head.
"Why would we need to get up there? It's just a platform, nothing special about it at all."
Link shrugged and realized he must have seemed pretty airy today, what with all the strange events taking place. "I'm not sure, but somehow, I just know that it'll be useful. Just think, the old man, the tear, the scrub guy, and now a shortcut? Everything is leading to something else. And really, all we can do is follow the steps until we reach Skullkid."
"If we reach Skullkid." Dark added, unsatisfied until he'd had his pessimistic two cents added.
"If we reach Skullkid." Link agreed, playing along despite himself. "But we will find him, so don't worry about it. I've got a good feeling all of a sudden... like everything is going right."
Dark blinked at him, then raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. Link raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"You never say stuff like that, Link." He pinned the blond with a serious stare, his garnet eyes undaunted. "You've doomed us, I just know it."
And at that time, neither of them knew just how right Dark was.
But they'd find out soon enough.
I apologize again. Profusely. -Sobs-
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