Early update! OH MAI! But be warned, I don't know of you'll get a chapter Saturday! Because alas, I am still addicted to MapleStory and I have an insane quest to finish (ROWEN THE FAIRY I HAET U LONG TIEM!). So if it comes to that, take this as Saturday's chapter. But I will still try to get you an update Sat.

Place-wise in the story, we're in the later half. We'll probably be reaching the end soon (but don't worry, soon for me is like 15, 20 chapters). Goddammit, I really had no intention of making this such a long story but it just seemed to end up that way... Oh well. Whatev.

Sad chapter makes me almost cry. D:

The king snored loudly as he slept, completely at peace. He never would have thought that a Twili creature was investigating his room in the shadows. And since it was night, there were plenty of shadows.

Zant came completely out of the shadows, fairly certain that the king wouldn't be waking anytime soon. But they said under the pillow… he reminded himself.

Carefully, he slipped a blue hand under the king's pillow. He paused when the king snorted from the shift of the pillow, but the king simply turned to the other side when he finished his snort. Containing a sigh of relief, Zant let his hand crawl carefully under the pillow. At first, he didn't feel anything except the feather-down mattress and pillow sandwiching his hand. Then he felt something cold and metallic. Furrowing his brow, he wrapped his fingers around the object and carefully pulled it out.

When he had pulled it out, he was surprised to see an amulet featuring the Hylian crest. Was this what Anya and Quinn had been speaking of?

The Twili heard a groan and he turned his attention to the king. The man had seemed so at peace before, but now he seemed to be having a sort of fit. He looked back at the amulet and then searched it with his own magical sense.

In surprise, he let it go and he scrambled to catch it before it pounded on the floor. This time, Zant did let out of sigh of relief. The king, in his fit, did not seem to notice nor did Zant even check. The amulet he was holding was the important thing… and he needed to take it to Ganondorf right away.

Fading into the shadows again, he quickly returned to Ganon.

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"It has Quinn's stink all over it." Ganondorf commented as he fingered the amulet. As calm as he appeared, he was actually very angry. He was seething, really. He knew Quinn was up to something but he never would have thought that little novice of a wizard was capable of charging such magic into one little amulet. It was that piece of metal that had kept his curse at bay. That's all it did, though; slow the inevitable. But it was slowing it enough to throw a rock in the works. So if Quinn could do that, what else would he be doing to interfere with his plans? He already knew Anya was a double-agent, and that was no big surprise.

"I think I've let that kid move around too much." Said the Gerudo almost absently.

Zant, who had remained nearby, nodded and said, "Would you like me to take care of him?"

"No." Ganondorf said. "I'll take care of it myself."

Quinn had a bad feeling. He found himself biting his thumbnail from this bad feeling that he couldn't identify. Looking down at the papers before him, he went back to what he was doing before. He took his pen, dipped it in the ink and finished off the few remaining words the paper required. Part of the bad feeling told him he needed to finish the papers…

When finished, he folded them neatly and opened up the drawer in his desk. He removed the fake bottom of the drawer and opened up the secret space. He gently placed the papers in the space and put the fake bottom in place. Once that was done, the young wizard felt more at ease but still troubled. Getting antsy from the lingering presence, he rose, grabbed his father's staff and walked out of his study.

As he walked, he became more aware of the staff in his hand. His father's staff… Finely crafted and given to his father by the king, himself… His father, Agahnim, had taught him mostly everything he knew. When he died, he literally left everything to Quinn. The staff meant more to him than the position he held… but for some reason, it seemed to be extremely eerie at the moment. It seemed that no matter where he was going to wander, something would keep the eerie foreboding feeling around him.

"Quinn."

He flinched at the sound of Dragmire's voice. He was the last person he wanted to see… Turning and facing the Gerudo man, the young wizard nodded cordially and said, "Lord Dragmire."

Dragmire had a pleasant air about him, as always. Yet there was something different about him today. The glint in his eye told Quinn that the Gerudo's intentions probably weren't very good.

"Quinn, I believe it's time we had a talk." Said Dragmire, "If you would follow me to a more appropriate setting, we can have our chat."

Well, the young wizard obviously didn't have a choice in the matter. He just nodded and followed the lead of the dark man. A private conversation…. Dragmire had obviously caught on and wanted to let Quinn know it. How much he had caught on to was a different question that he didn't know the answer to.

The Gerudo lead him to the smaller meeting room, the one used only in times of war and where privacy was definitely required. Thinking about it, the young wizard supposed that it was also a kind of symbolic declaration of war on the bigger man's part. Nonetheless, the two entered wordlessly into the room. Ganondorf closed the door behind them.

"What do you wish to speak of, Lord Dragmire?" Quinn asked politely. He made sure to keep the distance between him and the Gerudo significant, but not so much as to be rude.

"You can drop the formalities." Said Dragmire dryly, his expression turning into one of utter boredom. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Dragmire then threw it on the table.

The wizard tensed as he saw the object was his amulet.

"It has your magic all over it." The dark man continued. "Care to explain or is it safe to assume that you're working against me?"

There was no use in playing dumb. "The latter. I can't say I like the idea of a man who's killing the king being the next king."

Dragmire sighed tiredly, as if attempting to appear pitiful. "Quinn, it's safe to say that we don't like each other. It's also safe to say that I'm ambitious and you don't seem to like that. Normally, I would ignore it but your meddling," he walked over to where the amulet was on the table and tapped on it, "Proved to be very annoying."

The wizard did not like where this was going. He gripped his staff tightly. He may not have been able to cast a decent self-defense spell but he knew how to use a staff.

The dark man smiled a cruel smile. "It seems you've figured out that I can't have you interfering any further."

There wasn't that much time. The bad feeling Quinn had been having since morning was obviously warning him of this very moment. He was all the way in the back of the small meeting room. To his right was a table and chairs, directly in front of him was Dragmire.

He grabbed a chair and half-dragged, half-threw it at the Gerudo king. The wizard wasted no time sliding under the table and going to the other side of the room. Scrambling up and making a run for the door, he could hear Dragmire laughing. When Quinn was three inches from the door, unseeable force dragged him back. Feet still on the ground, he turned his heel and caused himself to twirl around. Staff at the ready, he attempted to strike a blow but was disrupted when the dragging sped up suddenly. Before he could react to it, Dragmire struck him in his arm and caused him to release his staff. Grabbing the same arm, he dragged the wizard towards him.

Time seemed to freeze afterwards.

Quinn felt something strike him in the chest… in his heart. A pain that throbbed each time his heart pumped. He might've screamed, he might've coughed… whatever happened, he tasted blood in his mouth.

He heard the door to the meeting room open and he heard Anya's voice. "You called Lord Dra-… Quinn!"

"Ah, perfect timing, Anya!" Said Ganondorf cheerily. He took the knife from Quinn's body and let the wizard fall to the floor. "Just in time to catch your beloved's last moments."

Anya automatically ran to where Quinn fell. She turned him over, seeing that he was still alive but bleeding…. Bleeding so much… She attempted to put pressure on his wound, despite knowing the knife had pierced his heart. "Quinn… Quinn, you can't die…" Even her whisper was shaky and weak.

"Anya…" Quinn mumbled.

"No, Quinn… please don't talk…" She told him, still weak in her voice.

The dying wizard had an annoyed expression. Using possibly the last of strength, he grabbed her head and forced her down near him. Four words… he whispered four words to her… and then he kissed her. And then he fell back and took a final breath.

"Quinn…" Anya whimpered with bloody lips as the tears started to flood onto her face. She caressed his cheek with a bloodied hand. But there was no response of course. He lay there, not breathing… his green eyes still open and staring at nothing.

And Dragmire was still there, laughing. "I wonder what he said to you, Anya… Then again, I don't. No doubt nothing important… words of meaningless love." He leaned over her, grinning evilly. "You proved to be quite an asset, dear Anya… probably more to me than you were for him. But I no longer have any use for you, as entertaining as you can be."

She kept her eyes on the dead wizard in her arms.

Ganon stood straight and made for the door. He paused and then turned on his heel. "Isn't it a shame that assassin came and killed poor Quinn? He fought his hardest but… he was a novice wizard at best. We were there, so I assume our stories will match. If they don't, then one of us will certainly be wrong… And it won't be me." He said, not hiding his threatening tone. "Now… I'll inform one of the guards what happened."

And he left.

Anya still remained with Quinn, feeling his body grow colder and colder. She wiped his blood off her hands and then closed his eyes.

Quinn… I… I never had the chance to tell you… That was the prime thought in her mind. She wondered what his reaction would've been if he had known… Because Quinn oblivious to it until the end. Dragmire had thought those four words he whispered to her were words of love… But that couldn't have been more wrong. The kiss was only to make it seem like that.

In actuality, Quinn's last words had been "Desk and Eugen's nephew."

The king could not attend the funeral, as his condition had suddenly worsened. Since it was a person of high status who had died, the turn out was large. Anya had many come up to her, offer their condolences… Why did they come to her? Was it so obvious to everyone that she had loved him? Or was it because she was the only one that had been close to him? Most likely the latter…

Anya the whore couldn't love anyone, after all.

In her heavy black dressings, she walked to the casket. People seemed to immediately clear the way for her. She stared once again at the lifeless body of the man she loved. He was in the finest garb of a royal wizard she had ever seen on him. He was so pale… and he had never had the chance to cut his hair. She parted the red bangs on the lifeless forehead and felt the tears start to flow again. He looked almost as if he was sleeping… And it was in death that he looked like a man…

She took one last look at him and then went back to her seat. Despite the tear streaks on her face, she appeared as stoic as ever. In her sleeves, her hands were clenched into fists. The time for sadness was over… the tie for rage had come.

Observing her stoic appearance, Carolus whispered to Eugen, "Anya must be stricken with such grief… I've never seen her look so empty."

Eugen, smiling broadly despite the occasion, merely adjusted his glasses. "I don't know what you're seeing, Carolus. Now that I have my glasses on and can actually see, I see a woman scorned."

"If you're so blind, how do you walk around the castle with such ease without them?" The horse-faced province holder asked bitterly. Then he continued, "If anything they're making you blinder than you claim to be. Anya is obviously upset! Look at her!"

Eugen adjusted his glasses again, but his smile seemed to shift a bit… It was a knowing smile. "But I am looking at her, and I do see an upset woman but…"

"But?"

With his knowing smile, the short blond looked up to Carolus. "I thought you would know." His glasses seemed to flash in the light. "No one upsets Anya."

QUINN IS DEAD. SAD FACE.

In all seriousness, yes I am sad. I really liked Quinn. I'd reuse him in one of my original stories but alas... I don't know where I could possibly stick him. So for now, he wanders around my head with a halo. D:

Also, Eugen is about to be a very important character (andyeswe'llgetintotheglassesthingsodon'taskbutyou'reprobablystillgoingtoaskbecausethelackofspacesmakespeoplewanttonotreadthis).