Disclaimer: I do not own the Legend of Zelda series or the Characters.

Thanks again for reading! These past couple of chapters were hard to write! :( Where we last left off, Link admitted that he was in love with Rose, but he wasn't able to get to Nikitre in time to tell her before she got married to Shon. What'll happen next? Read on! :D

Chapter 22: Trouble

I was about ready to leave when I heard a familiar voice. I waited and listened. The voice was with another voice. The voices got louder, and I knew that one of the voices belonged to Annie. The other voice screamed my name and started to come towards me. I looked and there was Marie. She was now 10.

"It's you! And Midna!" She yelled with glee. "I can't believe it! Did you come for the wedding?"

"Yeah." I said forlornly.

She didn't notice my misery. "Well, it's a little late for that. They already got married. I'm sorry."

"I know." I said. At this point I wasn't making eye contact with her or Annie, who had come closer to join the conversation.

"Well…what are you going to do then?" Marie probed.

"Go home." I reacted robotically.

"What?" She cried. "You can't do that! Not yet! Come stay with us!"

"But aren't Rose and her husband there?"

"No. They're going to the country that Shon lives in, Clikorenaf! Tyler and his wife rule Nikitre."

"Oh. Okay, I'll stay."

"Midna?" Marie questioned.

"Sure." She said.

"Okay then!" Marie giggled with glee.

"Say Marie…" Annie said. "Let me talk to Link alone as adults first."

"Okay." She said. "Midna, let's go play in the water!" She ran towards the waves.

"Wait up!" Midna floated after her, wearing a fake smile.

Annie and I sat in the sand. "I've known you for quite a while…not as long as Rusl and the others back in Hyrule, but I've known you long enough to know that there's something wrong. Tell me." I stayed silent. "Don't keep it bottled up. Trust me." I remained still. "I have a feeling that it has to do with Rose. Otherwise you wouldn't have come all this way. If you won't tell me that, then why don't you tell me how your relationship ended? What happened between the two of you?"

"…Nothing…" I finally said. "I just broke up with her."

"Why?" She tested me.

"I…I didn't think I was…good enough for her." I said dejectedly.

"What? Why? All she ever told me was how much she enjoyed being with you and how she was—" She stopped herself by covering her own mouth.

"What?" I queried.

"Nothing." She told me. "She just…never seemed upset with you or thought that you weren't good enough for her. She cared for you very much."

"Oh." I realized that feeling unworthy was perhaps all in my head.

"She…she was devastated when you broke up with her. She cried for the longest time…I tried everything to make her feel better. She probably cried over the whole thing for at least a few days, off and on. It was tough on her. I don't think that's what you wanted, now was it?"

"No. I'd never want to make her cry." I felt really bad at that point.

"I don't think that feeling unworthy of her was the only reason why you broke up with her. Why else?"

"I…let's just say I was scared."

"Of what?"

"Of…" I ended there and took a deep breath. I looked out at the water and in the direction of Midna and Marie.

"I think I know." She said. "You were scared of telling Rose how strong your feelings for her really are. You love her, don't you?"

I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. I quickly opened my eyes in her direction and spoke to her with intensity. "More than anything."

"I see now. It's typical for guys to be like that. They want to seem big and tough…they don't like to show emotion. That's how you were when your dad died, too. So I figured this was a similar situation."

"Yeah." I agreed with her. "I now realize just how big of a mistake that was."

"I'm sorry." She said with grimace. "I don't think there's any way of fixing your dilemma with Rose. She's…well, moved on."

"That's alright. I already understand that."

"Things will get better." She smiled sadly.

"Yeah." I said, not necessarily agreeing with her, but answering her. Midna and I stayed at the castle for a few nights. It was fine, I guess. I spent most of my time thinking about Rose and regretting my decisions. The night before we left, Midna was on her orb.

"Don't you think it's a little odd that no one's heard from Rose and her husband yet?" I asked her.

"It's a little odd." Midna said. "But they're probably just busy."

"Yeah." I said back.

"Midna was doing something on her orb, and then she suddenly looked shocked. "Link! Look at this!" I came over and looked. She searched up Clikorenaf and it said no results. "Clikorenaf doesn't exist! This is getting really fishy!"

I was shocked to see that Clikorenaf didn't exist. Midna called Rose on her orb to make sure she was okay. "Midna!" Rose answered. "God, am I glad to hear from you!"

"Are you alright?" She asked. I was listening to the conversation form a distance.

"No. I'm not. Everything was fine for the first few days, but…" She paused, as if to make sure no one was listening, then she continued. "Shon lied about being a Prince, and he started treating me badly; he's yelling all the time. Now as of late he's been trying to make me help him rule Nikitre, and then the world. He's absolutely evil, and it scares me. I've refused to help him and he keeps on hurting me. He stabbed me in the arm yesterday. It took me 3 hours of compressing it to get it to stop bleeding…" She started to cry softly. "I'm scared of what he'll do next."

"Why didn't you just say so? I'll be there! Don't worry!" I shouted.

"Huh? Is that you, Link?" She asked.

"Yeah…and I'm sorry this is happening to you. I'm coming to protect you! Where are you?"

"I'm on top of Mt. Kammzudem on the main Island. It's an old castle…the one that was the original royal castle."

"Alright! Don't worry!" I said with urgency.

"I won't!"

I calmed down to tell her something. "Rose…I…I'm sorry about how things went with us…I just felt the need to apologize about that." I said sincerely. "I didn't want to hurt you…and I feel terrible about it now."

"It's alright…you don't need to worry about—" Shon barged into the room. I could tell because the door banged loudly and I heard screeching.

"What's this? How dare you tell others about me and my intentions?" He bellowed fiercely. "Here's how I feel about it!" He broke a vase or something else fragile. "That'll be you when I'm done, sweetheart!" There was the sound of more things breaking and Rose screaming.

I grabbed the orb and starting running for Epona. "Fight him off, Rose!" I said while running. "Fight him off until I get there!" There was another scream and the call was dropped. I had Midna put the orb away while I steered Epona, and we rushed to rescue Rose. I didn't want her hurt more than she already was, so I had to hurry!

(Rose tells the story) "Stop it! Stop it, please! Shon! Please don't do this! Don't hurt me!" He grabbed a dagger and tried to slice at me. I ran just fast enough to avoid it, until I tripped. He was trying to get my back, but he got my thigh instead, for he lost his balance and fell as well. I got up, winced in pain, and tried to run away.

"Don't run away, you worthless piece of shit! Let me kill you!" He laughed maniacally. We kept up this fight for a good ten minutes. I found a kitchen knife and figured I could do a better job at trying to defend myself. I stabbed his stomach. "How dare you do that to me?" He grabbed at his stomach in pain. "Prepare to die!" He grabbed my dress and pulled me towards him. He wrapped his arm around my neck and had the dagger aimed at it. "Say a prayer!" I bit his arm and ran again. He dropped the dagger, ran to me, and knocked my knife out of my hand. He then punched me hard enough in the stomach for me to cough up blood, and picked me up and threw me at the wall. He threw me a few more times until finally throwing me down to the ground. My body was in so much pain that it was showcasing convulsions. Feeling weak and defenseless, I just laid there, waiting for him to kill me.

Not a moment too soon, I heard Link scream my name from above. He jumped down and took Shon in an arm lock. He was able to pick him up off of the ground, run towards the wall, and even heaved him at it. "How does that feel, you asshole? Huh? How about THIS!" He threw Shon harder at the wall.

Midna came over to me to make sure I was okay. "Rose…" She said to me. She started to check my injuries.

I was losing consciousness. "Mid…na…" I blacked out. The last thing I heard was Midna scream at me to not close my eyes.

(Midna tells the story) I was freaking out at that point. I started to check her vital signs while watching to make sure Link was okay at the same time. Her vital signs were weak, but she was still breathing. Thank goodness, but she can't take much more. She was bleeding profusely, so I tried to compress her wounds, especially the one on her thigh because it was so deep. Link was stabbed in the arm by Shon's dagger…but Link had the upper hand with his sword. He stabbed Shon in the leg. He broke free for a moment and got a sword. He managed to stab Link deeply in the back, and Link fell to the ground. "LINK!" I yelled. Shon ran towards Rose and I put a force-field on her and I. "Stay away!" I shouted.

"You aren't getting anywhere near them!" Link yelled as he stood up and ran towards Shon. But Shon knew magic as well. He shot a red sphere at Link and it sent him flying back. (It was the same kind of red sphere that the man who broke Link's legs used.) "Link!" I yelled. "It's the same guy who broke your legs five years ago!"

"Yes! I remember you now!" He said as he picked up Link by the shirt collar. "You were the one who wanted to save that little girl! Your father killed my father, but before my father could die, he killed your father, and I killed Rose's mother to get revenge!" Link was angry at this, but before he could react any more Shon threw Link again and ran towards Rose and me. He shot a red sphere at me and broke the force-field. I used dark magic on him, but he was too powerful. He shot out a yellow sphere at me and imprisoned me. I began losing my strength.

"Not again!" I screamed. I saw that Link was unconscious. "Link! Save Rose! Please wake up!"

(Link tells the story) I woke up and saw Shon heading towards Rose. I got up and limped towards Rose. "No!" I screamed bloody murder as I tripped. He stabbed her in the stomach. Midna was unconscious and I was the only one left. I used all of my strength to run at him and try to finish him off. "This is for Rose!" I yelled. I stabbed him in the back until it came out through his stomach. I pulled it out and saw his eyes roll into the back of his head. He collapsed. I checked his pulse to make sure he was dead. There was nothing. The force-field that trapped Midna disappeared and she came to my aid. I went over to Rose and kneeled down. I started to try and compress her stomach wound with a blanket. Midna tried to help me as much as possible. I checked Rose's pulse and it was barely there at all. I collapsed with exhaustion as Midna tried to tend to Rose's injuries along with mine.