A/N: Um. This chapter gets fluffy. And long. Sorry. It won't stay like that, I promise. Also, I've realized my characters are all OOC. I'll try to stick to their original personalities (I usually never deviate from canon) but some may be explained in time, so bear with me. Oh, and thanks to The Person of Awesomeness for favoriting me and my stories. I hope you review, but thanks anyway!(:

Last End Chapter 5: Legend

The sky was getting darker as the woman beheld it, but she reveled in the sun's dying rays. True, she hated to watch as the horrid moon traversed into it's beaming, glowing splendor, but the sight of the small town hidden in the hills in the sunset felt so natural, she needed to keep seeing it. It reminded her, perhaps too strongly, of the place she had called home that she'd been forced to leave behind, and while the homely little town sealed up some of the longing cracks, it managed to break them apart at the same time.

A gentle wind broke over the land, catching a few crows by surprise. The grass scattered all around her, shimmying and hurrying as the sun threatened to disappear; and in the next second, it was gone.

The temperature change was abrupt and abnormal, but by now, the warrioress had adapted to it. All of the refugees had. The second the moon displayed it's grinning, grotesque face, the air refused to warm, the sun refused to shine, and the once-lively land adopted a somber, desolate plea. None could escape from the moon's unbearable sneer, the way he viciously and hungrily eyed them all, slowly descending closer and closer upon the innocent town and it's people, the simple and useless people that refused to believe it.

It is hard to escape an enemy when it is everywhere.

Shivering in the frozen air, the huntress wrapped her slender arms about herself, rubbing her limbs pointlessly. Hope and warmth were non-existent in this land, and she had but one mission, so she was not to dwell on the hopelessness that surrounded this town.

Yet she could not seem to leave it.

Sighing, the blond woman straightened up from her cross-legged position on the ground. Pulling her flimsy sweater tighter around her, the huntress cleanly strung her bow, propelling it smoothly into the air, and stared down the shaft of the arrow at her target: a simple, innocent bird, without much meat and much use, but it was the best that the night had offered.

Her slim fingers slowly released, one by one, off the end of the arrow –

"Hello."

Instantly the woman went rigid, attempting desperately to place the voice, but she could not seem to. But his breath was tight in her ear, and it was warm, so incredibly warm…

Her shoulder now pimpled with minuscule bumps, she looked over it, her loose hair ratted and knotted, sashaying around her like a wave.

She was suddenly captured in a deep blue eye, the other hidden under shocks of cobalt hair, looking agonized and cautious yet caring…

He didn't look like an enemy. Warily she lowered her bow, her feet still spread in the proper stance, the arrow still ready to the slightest movement of her fingertips. His hand was outstretched towards her, rough and calloused, but his enormous sword was sheathed around his waist.

There was a quiet moment as they observed each other, blond bounty-huntress and tortured, ravished ranger, sizing each other up. He looked weak and beaten, as though he had once been a titan with vast strength, now wearied down to the end of his hope; she appeared as a skilled woman whom had been lost for a very long time.

Finally she released the tension on her bow, and he awkwardly curled back his hand. She looked in his uncovered eye.

"Why are you here?"

He gazed back steadily, though his expression was impassive. "Why are you here?"

She appraised him, slightly impressed, more irritated. "Alright, then. My people were collapsing, but no one could see it; after many attempts to persuade them, I realized it was useless, so I fled. Now I roam about." He continued to stare at her, expectant. "That's it," she insisted, finally breaking eye-contact. "Why are you here?" she repeated, though she could not seem to look directly at him.

He shrugged, nonchalant, yet still slightly stoic. "Does it matter? I'm here. And now that I've found somebody in this godforsaken land that hasn't dodged me like the plague – and why, I can't understand – do you think you could spare me for one night?"

Her eyebrows arched above her jade eyes, but involuntarily she glanced toward the moon. He followed her eyes, and as they glimpsed each other again, a knowing look passed between them.

"Cagey," he said, his gaze flickering between her and the falling star, "of the moon, are you? At least you've more sense than the folk here."

Perhaps he couldn't see the internal battle that was she was urgently losing inside herself, or perhaps he was enjoying her struggle. Either way, she was frenziedly trying to make up her mind about this stranger, before darkness covered completely, silent and muffling like a thick blanket.

He knew about the moon; he was not from the town; he was asking for help; he looked able, though slightly broken; he had an impressive sword, and the strength to match, by the looks of it; but, that being said, he could easily defeat her and run without a trace.

"You're not from around here, are you?" she asked, scrutinizing him, but now he was observing the tiny town as it prepared to put itself to sleep, oblivious to the looming danger overhead.

"And you're not either."

"No, perhaps not," she admitted, staring at her feet. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and saw that she was bending down to build a fire. Grateful, he was eager to help, so he earnestly said, "Here, let me."

She backed away, and he struck the rocks she had put into his hands against each other, but the small sparks fizzled out. Frowning, he tried again; a rare, tiny smile formed on her face as she watched him toil. In frustration, after several failed attempts and the growth of her grin, he chucked the stones to the ground, and suddenly a fire blazed up, consuming the shocks of deadened grass fiercely. For a second they both stared at it in astonishment, until he turned to her with a smug look on his face.

"And that is why you should always let me do things."

"Fine," she agreed reasonably, shocking him slightly. Then she held out her richly carved bow. "Then you make dinner."

As it turned out, Ike was actually a rather skilled hunter, and so it was later that evening that they were enjoying a small type of feast. Granted, it was nothing more than a few mushrooms (sautéed as well as they could be), some Deku nuts (roasted to perfection), and the grand prize: a nocturnal turkey that Ike had actually tackled, rather than "deigning" to use Samus's bow. But while she'd stood rolling her eyes, he'd leaped and managed to bring down the panicked bird.

Now the fire was crackling gently, warmly and beautifully humming; it created a small bubble of protection from the clawing hands of the dark. It's light was cast over her face, transforming her hair to vivid orange as she watched out over the night. Behind her, her new companion Ike was laying, if he was sleeping at all; he didn't seem the type. He appeared as though he'd been through far too much in his life to ever rest peacefully again.

The flames danced wildly, uncontrolled; and the sudden movement brought forth to her mind her current situation. What was she ever to do…

"Remember," she whispered aloud, for she knew he would listen, "Remember when we were heroes?"

He was beside her now, on the other side of the fire, staring directly at her over the swaying light. She was still gazing into the moon's taunting smile, her lips parted slightly. He was abruptly overwhelmed with the strange desire to place a finger to her mouth, to see if her lips really felt as soft as they looked.

He cleared his mind, still watching her. Ultimately he gave up and stared at the sky, whose once jewel-bright stars were dull and dead compared to the gleaming moon. "Yes," he said, his voice a breath of the wind. "Yes, I do."

"We're just legends now."

"That's all we'll ever be."

"Will we ever be heroes again?"

He looked at her anew, his deep cerulean gaze compassionate. "I think," he said slowly, "not. I think legends were all we were ever meant to be."

Finally she turned her head to him, and her face was heartbreakingly sad. "But…every hero begins from a legend, right?"

"No, darling," he replied gently, hating the crumbling look on her face. It made him want to turn against himself for saying this, anything to stop that rapidly falling spirit. "Every legend begins from a hero."

She jerked her head to the sky again, but not before the fire reflected a sparkle under her glimmering eyes. "Ike…" She breathed in his name, actually addressing him by it for the first time. It caught him far off guard, and he gazed at her over the shimmering fire. Her voice was unsteady as she seemed to plead, "Ike…what…what happens to those heroes…the ones that become legends?"

Ike took a deep breath, unsure how to phrase his answer. He knew Samus's fears, because they were also his own; they were not something he liked to confront, and he spent all of his time trying to avoid them. But now, here, under a falling moon and a woman's, perhaps, very sanity, he knew he would have to pull the truth that had been lurking somewhere in his own heart.

"They stay that way, Samus. They simply fade away until a new one replaces them."

The beautiful woman's bottom, soft lip trembled across the light, and she could not hide or disguise the glinting of tears as they strode down her sorrowful face. Without thinking he picked himself off of the ground, and without remembering that he hadn't met her but an hour and a half ago, he sat beside her and wrapped his strong arms around her.

"Shh, Samus," he murmured, gathering her completely in his embrace; she submitted willingly into his hold, gasping from her tears. "Shh…everything will be alright…"

"How?" she breathed, gazing up at him through her watery, emerald eyes. The raw emotion of fear stood naked in her expression, and it struck him to his very core. He'd only known her for a little while, but it was harrowing to see her so broken and him so helpless.

Gently he rocked her back and forth, slowly and reassuringly. "Because."

A weak, skeptical sound was her only defiance, so he looked down upon her. "You asked what happens to the heroes that become legends."

She simply nodded, though a fresh flow of water streamed down her face. Tenderly he swept one away, but the moment his finger brushed her face, something seemed to click inside of her. It was as if she had been stranded in the sky, alone and useless; now it was as though she were quietly descending back into calmness and serenity.

"Well," he said, his deep, low voice consoling and soothing, "I think you forgot something."

Surprised, Samus glanced up at him. It was then that she abruptly realized that, not had his other eye been covered this whole time by his too-long, shaggy and mussed navy hair, but that he didn't have both eyes.

Her expression must have been an odd one, some weird blend of shock, maybe mortification, and still that present sorrow; suddenly his tone turned wry and he looked at the sky.

"I see you noticed that I'm missing an eye."

Color flooded her cheeks as he spoke dryly. Yet his grip on her didn't loosen, and for that she was unexpectedly grateful.

"I'm s—" she began to stutter, but he merely looked at her.

"No, don't be. It's not like it's your fault or anything, and besides that, how could you have known? I'm pleased I keep it hidden rather well. I don't normally get close to people, you see; they tend to run from me like a hare from a wolf." He was staring blankly into space, and, a little hesitantly, Samus studied his eye – or, lack thereof.

It was just a blank, rather eerie black gap in the front of his head; you couldn't see into it, and there was no blood or gore. It was a clean wound, and it looked as though it'd been intentionally done, cut away gleefully and slowly, relishing every tear of tissue, every snap of vein.

His remaining eye slid down to her staring, and she flushed again; but instead he shrugged. "You can touch it, if that makes you feel more comfortable with it. I have no spared nerves, and I doubt it would hurt anyway."

The blasé way he said this astounded her, but tentatively she ascended her hand and pushed back, timidly, the shrouding locks of thick hair, then dabbed a fingertip at the corner of his lost eye. She was at a loss for words, unsure how to express her sympathy for his injury; yet she knew it wouldn't make a difference, what she said. His eye was gone, either way.

She lowered her fingers, and the flames beside them blasted away the chills that suddenly ravaged her spine. "Did somebody do that to you?"

He sighed, shaking his shocks back into place. The hole was veiled once again, and from far away, it would never be discovered. "Yes. It was torture. They wanted me to tell everything I knew of, but thankfully I had never been let in on the meetings, so I didn't have much to tell. Yet they were convinced I did, when it was actually my partner who knew most of it; for some reason they pinpointed me, and, you can see the result. My partner managed to escape, somehow. Unfortunately we were in different cells, in different sides of the castle, and he never came back for me. I don't blame him…neither would you, had you been there. It was impressive to remain alive, let alone leave."

"You are alive," Samus felt inclined to point out, as though he didn't know it; but it was the way that he spoke about his imprisonment, as though it were his fault or he was guilty.

"Yes, but…" His face fell, and now she had a strong urge to wrap her arms around him. But she remained motionless, trapped in his guilt-ridden story and curiosity.

"I was only alive…" he trailed off, his voice breaking. She looked at him. A dreadfully ashamed expression was devouring his face, swiftly smoothing away any hope of consolation. It looked like a burden he would live with forever, and nothing anyone said or did would lift him of that sin. "I only remained alive…because I did know something…and unfortunately…" There was no tone to his voice now, only a dead ring. "It was what they needed."

The horrendous, demonic moon shone delightedly upon his already-pale face, making him look blanched and famished; it heightened the sense of remorse and agony that were growing there. Samus could only gaze at him mournfully, uncertain how to help or offer heart. She felt terrible about it, especially after he had soothed her so gently.

"Ike…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But…you were under torture. I'm sure your people will understand," she tried desperately, but he just stared miserably at the midnight heavens.

"It doesn't matter." He swiped away the subject with a flick of his voice, and instead he released the beautiful woman in his arms. She reluctantly stepped away from him, though there was nothing she longed for more than to feel his embrace. As they unenthusiastically set watches, thoughts of her fears began to haunt her again, and she needed his touch.

But she could not receive it.

"Lay down," he insisted, smiling sadly over her. "All will be right in the morning."

She just nodded, forcing herself to be steady and secure.

"This too shall pass," he repeated, though it sounded as though he were speaking to himself. "When the morning comes."

When the morning comes.

"Oh, and Samus," he called quietly, his voice carrying to where she lay, close as she could to the fire (and to him). "I didn't get to explain about earlier."

She lifted her head. "What?"

"Only the greatest heroes become legends."

A/N: Hmm. What to say about this chapter...yeah...I didn't mean for it to become such a fluff-fest...sorry about that...but if you were paying attention during Zelda's chapter, then you should be able to understand this one! It's not very clear, but if you squint, you can figure out everything. (Well, granted, not everything; then I wouldn't have a story!) You can figure out why Link is on his deathbed. Buuuuuuuuut anyway. Yay, we see more characters! And a mysterious town and moon. Oh, please don't hate Samus for sounding so weak. I'll explain everything in time! :3 Also, sorry for any redundancy or such. And the creepy perspective MIGHT be returning next chapter.

Thank you SOOO much too: JSparks, yes, I really do think it is because you are amazing...I mean, that HAS to it, especially because you bear NO resmeblence to Spune...Oh, thanks for not hating on my poetry skills, hahaha. GASP! You used to hate Link? Oh gosh my life is ruined;) Oh and of course it would be you to spot my hidden line. It's always you! Lovingyourillusion (honestly guys, if you haven't read her story, GO NOW), yes, children's books are sooo f-ed up; Guessworks, aww, thank you so much for reading! That makes me so excited! I'm delighted you like my story so much! Thank you!:D To Anyone, aww, you're wayy too sweet. I'm just doing what I love! I'm glad you like Snake's glasses ;) ChaoticXXHearts, hahaha, well, I think you may have me change the story a bit. Yeah, that whole prophecy - I didn't even mean to write it when I sat down to write about Snake, and come to think of it, now I actually have to follow it. But I already have that figured out. :D "He might not be what the world needs after all." You, I think, have ONCE AGAIN just changed my ideas. As for war, wait, where did you get that? Did I say something like that? (I probably did and forgot.) I can't say too much about that though. Thank you for reviewing, all!

Ugh. My Author's Notes keep getting longer and longer. But I have to thank you guys! Oh, and if you're a reader that doesn't review, please do! C'mon, just drop me a line. You'll get your name mentioned...REVIEW, PEOPLE! :) Hope you enjoyed!