fleets: holyshnizzles I actually made it to this chapter! The title says it all 8D
Chapter 21: Return of the Wind Mage
Zelda was the first to run up to the two Links when they walked into view. She could tell something was wrong from the way Dark dragged along with Link's arm around his shoulder supportively. Even Gale refrained from making snide remarks – he was a jerk, but he knew when someone was so disturbed that they should be left alone.
Link patted Dark on the back, and let him sit down on top of a rock to brood by himself for a minute. If the forest was quiet before, it was a complete vacuum now. No one said anything in fear of saying the wrong thing.
Link motioned the other two over to speak with them privately. Both Gale and Zelda gave him inquisitive glances. "That Stalfos," Link gestured over by the trees they had walked out of, "it used to be his dad."
Gale frowned. "I see…"
"That's awful. How do you know?" Zelda asked.
"I don't really know how Dark found out, but the thing recognized him. He's convinced it's his dad, and since this is the Lost Woods, he probably got turned into a Stalfos."
They threw uneasy looks at the teen who was sitting limply by himself, all of his energy drained. Biting her lip, Zelda slowly began to walk towards Dark with conviction. That is, until she was stopped short by Gale. She looked up at him questioningly, but he only shook his head.
"Words of encouragement aren't what he needs right now."
Zelda pulled away. "What?"
"You have that look on your face a lot of girls have when they want to help someone. Trust me, it's better if you didn't go talk to him right now – he'll lash out at you in this state." Gale stuffed his hands in his pockets. Though he stood lazily, his expression was stern. "I, on the other hand, can handle a few lashings."
Link reached out and grabbed his arm. "Gale, what are you doing? He doesn't need any of your acid right now."
Gale slowly moved Link's hand away from him. "You people always assume I'm the bad guy." Grinning, he winked at Zelda. "Besides, I still owe him an apology, don't I?" With that, he strolled off towards Dark who could have been mistaken for an old doll at the moment.
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Images forced themselves onto Dark's mind and kept flashing repeatedly as chaotic as his state was at the moment. He saw his dad, smiling with his warm, friendly expression, as he led him to class on his first day of school since he had moved to Japan. He saw his dad, still smiling, and never showing a gloomy side even after his mother had passed away. Saw his dad drop him off by the bus stop for his first kendo lesson. Saw his dad giving him an all-is-well smile before he left for work to confront Harrier.
And most haunting of all, he saw his dad smiling permanently as an aging skeleton intent on killing him.
A crunch of leaves made him look up briefly from his nightmarish reverie, and then he went back to staring blankly in front of him when he saw that it was Gale. Dark stiffened, half-expecting Gale to make a callous statement.
Gale, however, simply sat down next to him and stared just as blankly in space. It created a silence that was just awkward enough to be uncomfortable, but not awkward enough to be considered hostile. Dark was having a hard time ignoring Gale, but at the same time he couldn't gather enough nerve to tell him to go away since the other teen had done nothing wrong. Dark struggled to keep his somber quiet, but in the end he caved under the pressure of having Gale sitting next to him, waiting expectantly for something to happen. Dark began to talk.
"I always wanted to find out what had happened to him." He played with a pebble he'd found on the ground. At the sound of his voice, Gale turned his head slightly towards him, but continued to say absolutely nothing. "Now that I have, I don't know if I was ready to find out."
There was a pause. Normally, people would have generally replied or signified they had been paying attention, but Gale was stubborn in keeping his flat expression. Probably more than anyone, he understood that sometimes, people needed to talk to someone without getting a reply back. He had avoided people because he had felt that anything they had said to him would make him feel annoyed, especially since they usually attempted mock sympathy for his upbringing as a kid who had been ditched by his parents – people like him and Dark didn't need people to pretend they understood their situation. All they needed was someone who could withstand their wrath as they vented their frustrations.
Taking a deep breath, Dark muttered, "Why did it have to say my name? That clicking noise… I can still hear it. That thing wasn't my dad anymore."
There was another pause, and this time, Dark glanced over at Gale who was wordlessly sitting next to him. It took a few minutes of ho-ing and ha-ing with annoyed fidgeting before Dark finally snapped at the pale teen. Playing civil was over.
"What do you want, anyway? You walk over here and sit next to me without having anything to say?" He glared challengingly at Gale. "If you have anything to say, then say it goddesses damn you. Are you picking a fight with me?"
Gale considered him for some time, reacting to Dark for the first time. "No."
"You are so irritating!" Dark abruptly stood up and stormed off. Within a few minutes, however, he came back to yell at Gale some more.
"Do you know what I want right now? Do you?"
Gale slowly shook his head no, he didn't.
"I want to kill whoever did that to dad, but I can't! Do you know why I can't?" Dark practically screamed. "Because Harrier's FUCKING DEAD!"
Gale patiently waited for the storm to pass. He ignored Link and Zelda who were staring at them, wondering what was going on.
"I wish I could bring Harrier back from the dead so I can kill him a hundred times over!"
There was a scuffle of dirt as Gale stretched. "If you could do that, you might as well bring your dad back from the dead," he mused. In an instant, he felt himself lifted up by his collar with his face nearly touching Dark's furious glower.
"You want to get smart with me right now?"
Gale shrugged. "Just think about what you're saying."
"I want that bastard to suffer."
"You honestly don't want him to come back again and again."
"What would you know?"
"I know." Gale met his eyes with a 'let's just leave it at that,' look.
Dark seethed at the response. There was an aura of outright hostility surrounding Dark, while Gale remained as calm as ever. For a moment it seemed as though Dark would punch the other boy in the face, but after a while, he walked around and circled back to sit down next to Gale again. Once they were back to where they started, Gale turned his head over to the Temple of Time, considering it. In an offhand way, he mentioned to the air, "Hey, it's okay to scream."
Dark shifted. Grunting, he made to ignore Gale's comment. After some time, he stood up and walked off into the woods out of sight from everyone. Gale's eyes followed Dark's back as the dark haired Link disappeared between the trees, and he waited, absentmindedly picking the leaves off of a twig. In the distance, there was a muffled scream full of hate and anguish, which gradually died down into a choking cry. Nodding to himself, Gale tossed the twig he'd been fiddling with and picked up another one to pluck the leaves off of. By the time he was done, Dark returned with a stern, but less pained expression.
For the sake of Dark, Gale pretended not to notice the reddish tint around his eyes that could only mean one thing. Instead, he grinned slightly. "That felt better, didn't it?"
Dark nodded slowly.
"That's how I feel a lot of the time." He stood up, and then pointed at Zelda and Link who were wide-eyed and worried Gale was screwing things up. "Come on, let's join them before they think we'll start fighting."
Without saying anything, Dark walked past Gale. The albino followed a little ways behind, and was slightly surprised when Dark slowed his pace to let him catch up.
"Thanks," Dark said so quietly Gale had to strain his ears to hear.
"No prob." Gale waved a hand, passing the comment away. Then, he muttered somewhat reluctantly, "sorry about earlier."
When the two reached Link and Zelda, the blond pair expectantly waited for an explanation of some sort. They were mostly looking at Dark, throwing inquisitive glances to check to see if he was fine. Dark looked at both of them, and then shrugged like nothing had happened.
"Sorry I kept you waiting." He flicked hair away from his face. "You guys ready?"
"Nope." Gale stepped forward. "But I can't keep running forever. Let's do this."
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Footsteps clicked softly as the little group moved up the stairs leading to the door of the Temple of Time that had magically re-appeared from the rubble. They moved with some trepidation, and Link thought he could see hints of fear on Gale's face. At the same time, the other teen appeared determined to go through with this.
Zelda was the first to reach the door to the temple. The large crest of a bird was on the huge stone doors, and placing her hand on it, she gently applied pressure. The doors swung open effortlessly, and they all huddled around to take a look inside.
Stained glass with the pictures of different sages lined the walls of the temple. There was a tingling sensation that was barely noticeable on the back of Zelda's hand, and as she observed each glass panel she had a strange feeling of being able to recognize the people represented. Even the alien one with blue skin and fins didn't seem too out-of-this-world for her. At the far end of the temple was a sword standing upright on its pedestal. It had a majestic, royal purple hilt with a yellow jewel embedded in the middle, and the light streaking down from the circular window above created a halo effect around it.
As though it needed to claim more attention.
Zelda followed Link who had taken the lead towards the Master Sword, and she slowly walked towards it as the sword beckoned.
She stopped halfway and looked behind her when she noticed two people had steadfastly remained by the entrance. Both Dark and Gale were unhappily striding around near the door, refusing to take a step towards the sword.
Gale noticed her looking, and he growled. "I don't like that thing." Next to him, Dark nodded in agreement.
Link stepped up to the pedestal and grabbed a hold of the hilt. "What happened to those big words you said earlier?"
"I don't know how to describe that sword in any other way except that it's revolting." Gale scrunched his nose at it. "It makes my skin crawl." Reluctantly, he inched towards the pedestal where Link and Zelda were standing. Behind him, Dark trailed after just as uneasily.
A bead of sweat rolled off of Gale's nose, and he had to steady himself the closer he came to the Blade of Evil's Bane. His vision blurred, and he stumbled, feeling someone catch him under his arms. Gale momentarily pushed them away, insisting he was fine, and took another step towards the temple's sword. The instant he had done so, a throb shot through his skull and his vision went completely haywire. Panicking, he waved, his arms out only to hit Zelda who had stopped him from falling.
"Gale!"
Disoriented, he squinted towards the source of the voice, and became even more confused when he saw the outline of a blond haired girl in a satin pink dress. It had to be Zelda, but since when did Zelda dress up like a princess? When he turned to where he thought Link was standing to see a teenager in a green tunic with a trailing pointed hat. "What…?"
Voices. Voices were calling out his name in worry, and he assumed they were from Link, Zelda, and Dark. However, he couldn't discern the name they were yelling. Nor did he care, since all he wanted to do was get away from Link who had come running up to him with the Master Sword in hand.
If anything in his vision was clear, it was the yellow jewel on the sword's hilt. In a reactionary fit, he slid away from the sword and even attempted to hit it away from him. As soon as the back of his palm touched the sword, he felt a stinging pain pierce his head.
Blasted sword.
He swung his head around, and now he saw a golden sword in the hand of a boy wearing a green tunic he saw Link wearing earlier. He saw the boy, dirt smudged across his face and sustaining several cuts and burns, talk to his hat that was shaped like a bird. The boy lunged with his sword and it glowed, breaking him into four identical clones that rushed to stab him.
As soon as Gale blinked, the images swirled and changed again, this time into four different colored Links who surrounded him. They appeared younger than the Link he knew now, but they all had that same look of mute determination. There was a slight shift in movement behind them, and Gale noticed a fifth Link gripping the edge of a mirror with shaking knees. He was garbed in a shadowy black tunic, and he reminded Gale of Dark. The teen watched as the darker Link pushed down the mirror with his face contorted into a silent scream. The mirror shattered in a million shards of beautiful, blinding silver. Gale squeezed his eyes shut to block the painful light.
The series of images didn't disappear even after he had closed his eyes. Pictures of a dusky room with ancient books stacked between the spider webs skirted across his eyes. Before him, a heavy spell book was laid open and a small, round, bat-like creature with a single eye was resting on the stained pages. It abruptly looked up at him with fright, and flapped its leathery wings to shoot away as a purple streak. The next instant, the room exploded with lightning blue until nothing could be seen.
As soon as the light cleared, Gale was face to face with Link once again. It wasn't just any Link – it was the Link. It was Link Petrov, except he was riding a chestnut mare and was wearing a green tunic instead of a trench coat. Link glanced at him with curiosity, and reached out a hand in a friendly gesture. Gale felt his own hand slap Link's away, but couldn't catch what was being said.
His mind confused with all the images rushing at him, Gale finally gripped his head and screamed. "STOP!"
In the sudden chaos, Gale blacked out mercifully. Within the ancient corner of his mind that had long been forgotten, he heard a gleeful, demented laugh.
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Gale slowly dared to open his eyes after an interminable amount of time. His headache had disappeared, and he saw that he was in an infinite expanse of white that made his eyes tired from having nothing to focus on. However, this place, wherever he was, didn't make him feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, he had never felt more at ease.
"Why, hello there."
Gale froze. It was a haughty, arrogant voice with condescending irritation laid thick on every word. Actually, it sounded exactly like his own voice, and it was coming directly behind him. He began to turn around, but hesitated; turning around to face the voice seemed like something he had been trying to do his whole life, and it was something he had never succeeded in doing. Why should he be able to face the speaker now?
"It's only been a little over a decade of trying to face me, in your case. Surely it's too early to give up?"
Gale grit his teeth. What an annoying voice. "Why should I make the effort for you? How about you make an effort?"
He heard a snort. "You dare suggest such a thing? As though you would know how hard I tried. I've been yelling and screaming at you but your deaf ears never heard a thing. I'll have you know, I've been trying for over eight-thousand years."
The albino teen had had enough of being insulted. He wrenched his head around with an angry growl. "What do you want? It's your fault, isn't it, that my life is so screwed up now?" He let his eyes fall on the speaker and the source of his irritation. Another teenager who looked like his double was lounging on an ornate throne with a single eye as its centerpiece. Like Gale's, his complexion was extremely pale, and the only difference was that his lavender tinted hair was longer. The teen had the same crescent mark under his visible eye, and his crimson eyes had the same mocking glint. A dark purple cape pinned by a gold circle was draped over an equally purple tunic. He was wearing orange wizard sandals along with a pointed hat adorned with a gleaming red jewel. Vaati whipped his cape over his shoulder.
"Finally. After all these years you finally turn around to talk to me. It's rather annoying that Link of all people was the one who helped facilitate this." Vaati shrugged. "His downfall I suppose." The sorcerer yawned, and then began to pick on his vainly polished nails. "Yes. I blame myself for making a rather stupid mistake. My ambitions and desperation to thwart death blinded me to possible nuisances like this one." He drawled on in a bored tone. "Also, just to make things crystal clear between us, it's my life that is screwed up right now. Not yours."
"How is my life yours?" Gale frowned.
"Because you are me."
"I can say the same thing back at you."
"Wha – but I existed first!" Vaati sat up, no longer lounging. It seemed he had not expected any resistance from Gale, and hearing this from his modern incarnation startled him. Vaati didn't enjoy being startled. "You are me, except you are missing my knowledge and memories that should have stayed with you if my spell had gone according to plan!"
"The new replaces the old." Gale crossed his arms. "Why should Vaati be greater than Gale? You're outdated like an old record player."
"Because I masterminded everything!"
"And look how seriously you fucked up!"
Vaati shook his head disapprovingly. "Tch. What vulgar language. I have more class than to resort to such crude vocabulary."
"Would you just acknowledge my existence for once as someone different? I'm different from you, so don't try to fix me! You're just afraid of losing any control over yourself as Vaati!"
"And you're afraid of losing your identity to who you were supposed to be!"
Gale and Vaati were standing so close to each other that they almost had their noses touching. Vaati had stood up from his throne to face his modern counterpart, while Gale had met him halfway. The sound of their angry breathing gradually quieted as both calmed down. They turned away from each other, mumbling in a low voice.
"I just want to go back to the way I was…"
"I just want to go back to the way I was…"
They looked up in surprise, realizing they had said the same thing simultaneously. Vaati looked down at his feet. Sighing, he seemed to think for a little while before talking.
"I see…"
Gale looked down at his feet, too. He hated Vaati for the complications he had caused, but he could feel this hate was different from the way he would hate other people. This was self-hate, because as much as he didn't want to admit it right now, Gale and Vaati were one and the same. Vaati must have felt the same way.
A sad smile appeared on the sorcerer's face. "I propose a compromise." He slowly reached out a hand. "You acknowledge me, and I will acknowledge you. Memories are what make us, and if you really are me, then your memories must also be mine."
Gale stared at the hand offered to him. Was Vaati really giving up so soon to compromise? What a loser. A mischievous grin flashed on his face, and he turned the hand down. "What's this? Is the most powerful sorcerer in the world offering me a hand of truce? This is great."
Vaati glared daggers at his counterpart. "This is no time for levity."
"Hmm, I don't know about sharing with someone who's more of a diplomat than a will crushing tyrant. Come on, I want to see what was so great about you." Gale snickered. "Can you pull rabbits out of a hat?" Gale had lost some respect for the self-proclaimed most powerful sorcerer.
"I'm being civil because I see you as an equal, you fool," Vaati hissed. Then, he sighed tiredly. "I understand you're mocking me because I was the first one to let my guard down. I know, because I do the same thing to people."
"Now the sorcerer is a psychiatrist."
"I also gather that you agree to my compromise."
"I thought it was obvious, since I'm supposedly you." Gale grinned. "This is some super advanced self-reflection isn't it? You get to see what you're like by actually talking to yourself."
"Yes, though if you say it that way it sounds like I'm clinically insane."
"Hey, we actually might be."
"…Dear Nayru. People really must hate talking to me."
"Oh come on, you don't hate yourself."
"Actually, I hate you so much I wish your limbs would burn off in the lava plumes of Death Mountain and your body would be gorged by the dodongos. If you weren't here I wouldn't have had this problem of compromising my life with you."
"And that's another way of saying you get along with me."
"Are you an idiot? It does not."
"Oh please. I would think I know myself best." The two were sitting on the armrests of the throne now. Gale leaned against the throne's back, regarding his sorcerer self with mild amusement. "You're even worse than me, I reckon."
"And why is that?"
"Because I don't do half the things I think of because I know the consequences wouldn't be worth it. You, on the other hand, think you can get away with the consequences so you can act like a total, arrogant sob."
"I don't think I can get away with things. I know."
"Right, because who in their right minds would mess with the world's most powerful sorcerer?"
A small smile emerged on Vaati's face. "Exactly."
"So… we're probably not so different in the way we see things."
"Not at all."
"In the way we act."
"No."
"In the way we make decisions."
"One and the same. However, you might discover you were a nastier person than you once thought when you become spoiled by sorcery again."
"You think I can't handle that?"
Vaati paused. "No. I am positive your peers wouldn't be able to."
After some time, Gale's lips contorted into a crooked smirk. Something in his mind seemed to have clicked. "I like you already. How about I wake myself up and we get revenge on Link for all that he's put us through?"
Vaati turned his head slowly. An identical smile appeared on his face as well. "So much for worrying about sharing identities with you. Perhaps we'll get along just fine." He stretched his arms and cracked his knuckles. "Ready to try some sorcery for the first time in a couple thousand years?"
Gale nodded, his eyes glinting devilishly. "Oh hells yes."
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Link, Zelda, and Dark held their breaths, all huddled beside the unconscious Gale. They had been caught by surprise when he had collapsed to the smooth floor without warning, trembling from head to toe while crawling on his hands and knees. Zelda had been the first to run up to him to support him, but Gale hadn't noticed her presence at all since his blood red eyes were fixed onto the Master Sword in Link's hand. For some time the pale teen had been attempting to ruthlessly claw the sword out of Link's hand, and Zelda and Dark had to keep him back to prevent him from cutting himself.
Just when Gale had ferociously freed his arms from his two friends' grasps, he had screamed a sharp "STOP!" and his eyes had rolled up while he crumpled to the floor limply.
All in all, the whole thing had been a frightening sight to the rest of the three.
"He's breathing fine, and I can still feel his pulse," Zelda declared, Gale's wrist between her slim fingers. Dark knelt beside her.
"What happened to him?"
"Vaati presumably cursed himself with a very powerful spell," Link joined the other two, carefully placing the Master Sword next to him and away from Gale. "This sword is also known to remove certain curses. Gale – or Vaati for all we know – is probably in shock."
"Will he be all right?"
On cue, there was a groan from Gale. One freakishly white hand moved up to his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. His eyes squeezed tightly, and the three teens around him backed away as his eyes opened slowly. There was a blank, disbelieving look on his face as he hoisted himself onto his elbows.
"Gale…?" Zelda asked cautiously.
Red eyes swiveled over to Zelda. They widened for a split second in surprise, and then softened as the boy relaxed. However, it was not "soft" in the pleasant, cuddly sense. Oh no. It was "soft" as in the way a leopard might watch a baby gazelle separated from its parents. "Princess Zelda," Gale murmured.
There was a metallic click as Link picked up the Master Sword from the floor while simultaneously offering Gale a hand to stand up. It wasn't just a helpful gesture – by doing so Link had effectively blocked Gale from Zelda. Mute, Link's intense, analyzing gaze bore into Gale's.
Gale returned a thin-lipped smile. "Why, thank you Link," he said icily to the surprise of Dark and Zelda; his voice was more vicious than necessary. Link seemed to have expected this reaction. What he didn't expect, however, was being thrown violently against the wall of the temple by an invisible force. The other two exclaimed in shock and Dark momentarily made for Gale. He stopped short when the pale teen brushed himself from the floor and shot a cool sidelong look that sent chills up Dark's spine.
"Put me down," Link demanded sternly. He scowled when he tried moving his arms but found them pinned firmly to the wall by air pressure.
A chuckle even nastier than the usual Gale-chuckle escaped his lips. Striding towards Link gleefully, Gale tapped his chin playfully. "What was that?"
"I said put me down, Vaati."
"Vaati…?" Zelda repeated Link quietly. "But… Gale, don't you recognize us?"
Vaati turned with a bright, arrogant smile. He tittered. "Dear Princess Zelda. What makes you assume that I am no longer Gale?"
"Gale's not like you." She said more defiantly, trying to mask her disconcerted waver. She could feel a darkness that hadn't been present before. Dark agreed, standing up to the sorcerer.
"She's right. Gale was an asshole, but a good asshole. You, on the other hand…" he just shook his head, unable to put in words what he could feel about the Wind Mage.
Vaati laughed in amusement. "Haha! Gale is exactly who I am. You only think different of me because Gale was too confused to act on his thoughts. I, on the other hand, know exactly what I want and who I am." Vaati snapped his fingers and Link went smashing into the other side of the wall. There was a loud smack, and Link flopped to the floor like a wet rag. "I am Vaati, the Sorcerer of Winds; or rather, Vaati Engst. After a long, painful struggle, I finally return and I want nothing more than to see you dead, Link. You have been the source of my misery for far too long."
Flicking his wrist again, Link was dragged across the floor until Dark lunged at Vaati in an attempt to attack him. Another flick, and Link went flying into Dark, and the two boys groaned in a tangled mess. His face full of disgust and contempt, Vaati looked down his nose at the two Links.
"Luckily for you, however, I am not going to destroy you just yet. I'm loathe to admit it, but you do have your uses."
Link coughed, and then glared. "I'm having second thoughts about bringing you back. You're even worse than I imagined. At least Gale was manageable."
Vaati shrugged. "You guys really don't get it, do you? I am still the Gale you knew except with a few extra recollections, most of them unpleasant." Vaati face twitched. "For instance, Gale had no reason to hate you, Link. Well, except maybe the fact you showed up on his front doorstep to annoy the living daylights out of him. Now, however, I have countless memories on how you and your reincarnations made my life so difficult. I have every reason to want to kill you. That is the only difference."
The sorcerer's eyes wandered over to Zelda. The girl began to feel uncomfortable from being scrutinized, and she fidgeted before finally demanding, "What?"
As though he were waiting for her to ask, Vaati's grin widened and he vanished into thin air. Zelda felt a slight gust behind her, and she froze when she heard Vaati's voice terrifyingly close to the back of her neck. "Another example. As both Gale and Vaati, I've wanted to see what would happen if I did this," his breath was so close Zelda felt goose bumps rising. Whirling around, she brought her hand up in defense, but Vaati merely caught it with an iron grip. Before she could protest, the sorcerer forcefully pulled her waist closer and hungrily kissed her.
In shock, Zelda tried to push Vaati away and she squirmed to escape his grasp, but when his free hand moved up to her cheek to coax her to calm down, all she could do was let him take control. There were conflicting emotions of disgust and… and something she refused to admit. Cheeks burning, Zelda stuttered when he was done. "You…you…"
"Now can you honestly tell me you didn't like it?" Vaati purred with an evil little smile.
Zelda clammed up with her breathing shallow and her face bright red. She attempted to hide her face behind the white cloth around the neck of her Harajuku outfit in bewildered embarrassment.
Noting her reaction, the womanizing wind mage smiled smugly. "There, see? I'm still the same old Gale except with a different name." Just then, Vaati felt the edge of a sword pressed against his neck. He sized up Link who had the most furious look on his face – something close to murderous intent. "Put that down, Petrov."
"Stand down Vaati. If you're not going to help us, I have to defeat you."
Dark appeared surprised. "Whoa, Link, are you actually willing to kill him?"
Link nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off of Vaati who was finding the entire situation entertaining. The sorcerer barely noticed he had a sword dangerously close to his throat, and sounded too elated of his renewed power to care about anything else.
"Indeed Dark is right. Unlike the old days where any so-called hero could be stab-happy with their sword, murder of anyone including criminals is highly frowned upon in this age. You are not to judge who lives and who dies." With one finger, Vaati pushed the point away from his neck. It would have been a smooth move had he not winced from the Master Sword's holy touch. "Ouch," he shook his hand before regaining his composure with a slightly irritated tone in his voice. "Not that I can be killed by the likes of you."
"It'll be self defense."
"Kukuku, what, I haven't done anything serious yet and I've already announced I'm going to keep you alive. I don't see any problem."
"Why should we trust you? Even the goddesses don't trust you!"
"Well you should have thought of that before helping me get my memories back. I recall you were the one who nagged incessantly to help me remember."
"I didn't have a choice! The world is going to flood and we – "
Vaati interrupted him, haughtily waving him away. "I know, I know. I heard it a billion times from you already and keep hearing it isn't making the experience any better. So there, see? Threatening to kill me won't do any good if you need my help. You should be groveling on the floor to persuade me to help you because frankly," Vaati grinned, a little bit of Gale showing through in his demeanor as he shrugged lazily, "I don't care a rats ass about what happens when it floods."
"…What the hell man," Dark shook his head disbelievingly.
"More beaches for everyone, I say. And now that I know my skin condition isn't actually from albinism but because I'm an awesome sorcerer," Vaati flipped his pair of sunglasses off the top of his head, "I can enjoy the sun without these." Vaati turned to Zelda who was still petrified from what had happened earlier. "Don't you like beaches, princess?"
"Are you going to take this seriously or not?" Link growled, "because we're running out of time. If we screw up here you will be the first one I go after."
"What a temper." Vaati teleported a few paces away from Link. "I say you're just jealous I got to kiss your girl."
Whether the normally calm Link had gone beet red from fury or embarrassment was anybody's guess. Just before things could turn ugly, Zelda snapped out of her shock and ran up to Link, hugging him tightly by the waist to prevent him from rushing at Vaati. "Stop it! Both of you stop it!" She then snapped away from Link, wringing her hands together in a befuddled state. It seemed she was hurt and confused by Vaati as well as Link, and looked at them pleadingly to somehow make everything clearer. "I… I think I know you both…" she said shakily, and then broke down on the floor, overwhelmed by thoughts. "I don't know where, I don't know why, I just… it's like I should remember you but I can't see anything clearly."
While Link moved over to comfort the confused girl, Vaati watched with scholarly curiosity. "Hmmm, interesting. It appears that reviving this temple and breaking my curse has the effect of bringing back past memories of past lives," Vaati mused. "I wonder if Ganon is going through something similar right now."
There was a slight pause, and then with a sudden change in mood the air around the sorcerer became several degrees colder. He was still smiling, but it was no longer cheerfully confident but full of bitter anger. "Oh dear. I almost forgot about that lying Gerudo scum. How could I forget how he tried to take advantage of me like an underling?"
Before Vaati went into a monologue of how he was going to make Ganon pay, Link's darker counterpart had decided he had had enough. "All right, so I know a lot has happened in the last ten minutes but all I really want to know is this," Dark's impatient voice made the three of them look up, "are we still working together or not?"
They had almost forgotten about him since he had been the least affected by the sorcerer's return. Dark continued with an irritated edge. "I mean, to be perfectly honest, I only met you guys a few days ago and I don't have to be with you guys anymore if you're not going to help me get further in my own goals." He crossed his arms. "I want to damage Avilux any way I can because I hate them." He nodded at Link and Zelda. "You want to stop Avilux because they can destroy the world we know." He then turned his head to Vaati. "And you. What do you want? Are you just going to stand there and be all high and mighty, or are you actually going to do something to help?"
Vaati had a scowl on his face that clearly stated he didn't like Dark's comment about him. However, he let it slide, and thought aloud, "Having some experience with the maidens, I suppose it's not entirely farfetched that they would have a foolish failsafe against 'evil.'" He paced around, and then stopped in front of the stained glass window with the royal family's crest. "As much as I would like to see Ganon's face when the world begins to flood, I would prefer to punish him myself."
"So we're in agreement. Link? Zelda?"
They nodded slowly, cautious about committing to their decision. Dark breathed a sigh of relief, and then waved a hand at the sorcerer.
"All right Gale – er, I mean Vaati -," he corrected himself and then continued, "show us where to go."
Vaati huffed, adjusting the collar of his sweatshirt a little. At the same time, there was excitement in his red eyes that he couldn't quite conceal. "Heh, to the Palace of Winds it is."
fleets: So, I didn't really know what to do about the first half of this chapter with Dark. It wasn't in the original story outline, but I realized I couldn't just ignore the fact that the poor kid felt like he killed his dad twice and pretend he was fine. Life doesn't happen like that :(. Meh. Now, the second part though... ohemgee I missed writing like this, with all the Vaati arrogance. It might appear that Gale's character has disappeared, but I assure you it will be addressed. This is just the intro to a series of long awaited sorcerer mayhem XD
Kishoto: Hello, and thank you for the review :) Yeah, BC was (and still is) my favorite story written to date, and it will be hard for me to beat that story. One of these days I'm going to rewrite it so its quality can be as good as my later stories.
Midna Hytwilian: Gale is the same amount of awful as Vaati as demonstrated in this chapter. And by awful we mean awesome.
Shadow Blues: Well, Dugal is sneaky in that he caught them both when they'd sustained injuries in stressful situations (i.e. Link was knocked unconscious, Dark was slashed in multiple places). The cuts aren't that big either, only a few inches long ;) Yeahhhhh finals blowwww D:
henslight: That voice is anything but sweet. It'll come up again for sure...
Sure you can do a fanart :) I usually see him in skating outfit since he likes longboarding, or just a simple hoodie/jeans outfit since he's lazy (but stylish enough since he's mindful of how he looks). Nope, not English at all! I'm actually thrilled I was able to hide the fact I was a non-native :D
And yup! You were right about seeing something from Gale/Vaati
Vaati the wind mage1: w00t! It makes me happiest when I can get a reaction from people reading my stories :)
Astral S. Kepeire: Haha, yeah, I do update at night these days. Mostly because I have no time during the day... urk.
And now Vaati is baaaaaackkkk! finally. I didn't know if I could wait any longer.
Wow, nothing escapes you huh? The voice that is yet to be introduced hasn't really revealed anything about her nature yet, so to answer your question - you haven't missed a thing. I did sneak that in there deliberately (the word "free") but didn't think anyone would actually catch it and think something was up. Kudos! It'll be mentioned again in the future.
Ah I was wondering about that - I definitely felt a twinge of guilt when I reread those parts you mentioned because I had a teeny tiny hunch that they had been rushed. Note to self - revise in future.
And speaking of rushing... oh godsyegods this was SO difficult not to rush. Hope I did a decent job :O
Reily96: It just hit me how much I missed Vaati-speak after I wrote this chapter :)
Sapphiet: AW YEAH VAATI'S IN THIS CHAPTER! ...sorry I got a little excited there.
Ephriokko: Sometimes it's a struggle not to make this whole story without a speck of seriousness. Sticking true to my intended plot keeps me in track, however :)
Arctos: Make way for Vaati Engst, the wind mage of 2010 XD
i-wish-799: Way back when I first made the outline for the story, Dark wasn't in this at all. Now, though, he's become an integral part and is here to stay :)
LunaticEyesInaba: Oh gosh, I hope this chapter didn't let you down! I totally had fun writing it though XD