AN: Hello all... did you think I had absconded? No no no... not I, just got a little sidetracked.

So this chapter actually started as a chapter from a fic I'm writing, and yet have not posted since I want to get my other stories out of the way first. I decided I couldn't include it in the story because a) It just wouldn't work with the summertime storyline, and b) my OC is acting EXTREMELY out of character. I'll explain what she would actually would have done at the end! But I loved this chapter enough that I didn't want to delete it so here it is. I considered swapping Orna for Zelda too, but I decided that wouldn't work either, and since I'm not the sort of person who comes up with OC's on the spot, I left it as it is! Enjoy!

Summary: Dark has almost completed a mission to kidnap a princess, but things take a turn for the worse!

Better Alive Than Dead

Orna was shivering violently against the night air. Although the day preceding it hadn't been especially cold, the temperature had plummeted in the absence of cloud, and that now that the pair were approaching the lake, the air around them became considerably cooler still. Orna's bare shoulders hunched up around her neck with her arms wrapped tightly around them in a vain attempt to retain warmth. She looked around hopefully in search of any shelter that Dark might be making for. There was only the marine biologist's shack on the other side of the lake, and unfortunately they seemed to be steering away from it.

As they neared the edge of the forest, Dark stopped near some tall boulders and sat down where he would be out of the chilly wind and glared up at the girl who seemed intent on just standing around. He frowned almost in confusion, before shaking his head lightly and turning onto his side with his back to her.

Orna was rather puzzled. She'd been marched along at knifepoint for a couple of hours since Dark's horse had apparently bolted, but now he was just going to lie down to sleep and leave her unguarded? That made no sense. There were no bonds to hold her, and it wasn't as though she couldn't find her way back to the castle on her own. What exactly was he thinking in just laying down like that? Could it be that he'd changed his mind and just wanted her to leave?

"In case you were wondering, I will can hear you perfectly well if you decide to run" came a rather irritable voice from Dark, as if he'd somehow been reading her mind.

Orna didn't reply, for once in her life she had nothing to say to that. She knew that she was fully to blame for her current predicament. Thinking she could trust to be left alone with this man seemed insane now. It wasn't as though others hadn't tried to warn her, but like so many times in her life, she presumed to know better.

Orna glanced around at the boulders without moving from the spot. They were well over eight feet in height, very convenient for avoiding prying eyes or searching guards she noted to herself. Her legs began to ache from standing still so long and she was still shivering from the cold. Shouldn't he be building her a fire or something? Surely he felt the cold as much as she did. Despite her train of thought, Orna still hesitated for several more minutes about what she should do. Even if she had had formal princess type coaching, she was pretty sure it didn't cover situations such as these. All she wanted now was to be warm, and thought longingly of her soft warm bed.

Very slowly, Orna treaded over to one of the boulders and slouched down the side of it to the ground. She cursed herself for expecting the huge rock to be warm. It was almost the middle of the night, and the boulder had lost its' retained heat from the sun several hours ago. Now it just felt rough, cold and hard; not unlike her kidnapper. She sighed gently and pulled her knees to her chest in a vain attempt to warm herself through her thin evening gown and stared at the ground.

Her eyes felt heavy with the need for sleep, but she knew there would be little chance of that right now. Not that she felt she wanted to sleep. For one thing the man who stole her away from her family against her will lay not six feet away from her. For another, she dreaded what else might happen if she drifted off whilst feeling as cold as she did; she might never even wake up again!

It was only after a few minutes reflection that she realised the tears were falling freely from her eyes. That wasn't the only thing she noticed, she also felt eyes watching her. She twisted her head nervously to see that Dark had silently turned over and sat up. He sat watching her with an almost puzzled expression, as if her current behaviour made no sense to him.

"Whatever it is you're thinking about" he snapped, "I suggest you cut it out and try to sleep, as it's the last you might be getting for a while"

"I'm too cold to sleep" Orna replied so softly and so quietly that anyone with ordinary hearing wouldn't have realised she said anything at all. Dark, however, did not have ordinary hearing.

"Not my problem sweetheart" he replied bluntly before laying back down and once again turning his back to her.

Orna sighed heavily and tried to lie down to the ground. It was damp and cold; and horribly hard. Her body seemed to be giving up on the shivering too, as though it had no strength left to try and stay warm, let alone even think about getting away. Tucking her right hand underneath her head she closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was somewhere else, somewhere warm and soft and out of harm's way.

Dark couldn't sleep. For several minutes he'd been anticipating the girl's fleeing footsteps inviting him to take chase and cut her down, but they never came. He heard her shuffle around nearby, after standing around for far too long, but now he didn't even hear her shiver anymore. Good, that's what he wanted right, for her to shut up and fall asleep? He couldn't care less. He yawned loudly and closed his scarlet eyes.

A few minutes later, he opened them again. That girl's silence was bothering him somehow. He sat up sharply to take a look at her, and the sight before him made him hold his breath.

The girl had turned deathly pale, her usually flushed cheeks and bronzed shoulders taking on a far more ashy hue. Her face looked quite ethereal, and her breath was ragged and shallow.

Was she? Was she maybe a little bit too cold? Dark shuffled over to her and ran his finger over her cheek gently. Her skin felt icy. Dark felt a slight pang of worry, after all, a live princess was infinitely more valuable than a dead one, and he could bet his life that he wouldn't get paid much for showing up with a frozen corpse.

Orna hadn't so much fallen asleep as she had collapsed into a hypothermic state of shock as her body began to give up against the cold. Her eyes were shut, and her consciousness failing fast but she was still vaguely aware of her surroundings. Not that there was much to be aware of, just the hard ground, the freezing wind howling above the boulders and that man whom she wished she'd never set eyes upon. As she finally drifted towards oblivion, she could've sworn she felt herself being gathered up by something.

The resulting warmth felt like stepping into a warm bath. Orna immediately surrendered to whatever the source of heat might be. It surrounded and enveloped her like a blanket, making her shudder as the feeling raced back through her frigid limbs. From behind her closed eyes the princess pictured warm sunshine yellows, sandy golds and burning blazing reds, taking comfort from the colours her imagination chose to give her. It was the reds that seemed to give the most comfort, although she couldn't understand why, and soon all she saw in her mind's eye, dancing in front of her lidded eyes was the red, a deep, dark crimson colour that held her entire body tight, keeping out the cold.

It wasn't long before she fell asleep, but into a natural sleep. There was even more red in her dreams too, and although she couldn't have recalled any actual events in her sleeping visions, she remembered that much.

When she finally opened her eyes, there was no red, nor was there night, or boulders or hard, stony ground. Nor was there Dark. However, there was Link, who was staring at her with a curious yet angry expression on his face.

"And exactly where did you get to last night?" he barked.

She sat up with an intense frown of utter bewilderment on her face and looked about. There was the castle gardens, morning and sunshine warming her limbs. But…. Last night?

AN: So okay, pretty short and sweet, but I promised an explanation on what Orna would actually have done. She would still have got into that predicament (since she's a bit naiive and thinks she's right all the time) but as soon as she figured things out she would've made his life hell. Probably ending up smashing a rock over his head and making a run for it... not that it would've worked but she'd have at least tried! Anyway, I'll try not to take so long next time!