Chapter 25

"Well what's wrong with her!?" Lana finally shouted snapping me out of my trance.

"Well she has the symbol of the triforce on her hand but..."

"But?" Midna asked urging me to go on

"Well as I've said my mind is a bit loopy due to... complications... but I distinctly remember that the goddesses pieces all took a certain position, wisdom and courage being the two bottom pieces and the top being the triforce of power."

"You're telling usall this why?" Aidan asked clearly bored with the tiny details.

"Please be quiet for those who are actually listening boy, I'm saying this because those who hold the triforce pieces have one distinct section of the triforce shaded on the faint symbol on their hand, it's very hard to see but if you look hard Adonia's piece is not the one it should be." I said holding out her hand for all of them to see it.

Midna's eyes grew wide and she stared right at me realizing which piece she had. Lilith spoke up finally, "But... I thought that... the triforce of power belonged to..."

"Correct, it usually belongs to a great evil, like Ganondorf, in MOST cases Ganondorf actually... regardless our friend Adonia here seems to have the triforce of power, but does not seem evil in any way if you ask me." Not but a second after saying this we all began staring at Adonia, like we expected her to burst into flames screaming unholy prophecies or something.

After a minute Adonia finally felt very awkward put both of her hands to the back of her head and pulled it so she was staring at the ground, "Quit it!" she squeaked through her arms at us.

"Doesn't seem to fit her very well." I said turning to ponder how we would get back to the other side.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" she growled angrily at me.

"Just saying I'm not sure why you got that piece of the triforce, you seem like a bit of a wimp if you ask me," I said making a shrugging motion with my arms and shaking my head. I heard a loud startling roar of a battle cry from behind me and as I turned to see what caused such a noise I was greeted by four knuckles hitting me square in the jaw. I felt myself fly backwards, much longer then I would have expected and when I finally hit solid ground the voices of my comrades sounded distant and my jaw felt out of place. Sitting up my jaw slightly agape I grabbed hold of the back of my head and shoved my jaw back into place wincing as it cracked loudly. "Son of a..." I yelled shaking it off.

"Are you okay?" a new yet somehow familiar voice called out from behind me. I turned and saw a man, who looked maybe just a tad older then Rusl, and come to think of it shared some similarity with the man.

Then it dawned on me and my jaw dropped open and I couldn't help but point, "You... you're... Colin!?" I continued gawking uncontrollably as the boy was definitely no longer a boy, even if he had aged considerably his arms were nearly as thick as tree trunks.

"Hm I think your mistaken, Colin is my father's name, or I suppose I should say was," with this the man's head drooped and I felt a tad guilty.

"Ah, I'm sorry but you bear a striking resemblance to him," I said doing a slight bow in a sign of apology.

"You... knew my father? Wait, are you one of those... oh what were they, dad said Link told him about them a couple times, well it was a long time ago he told me, but he said that Link said they live a lot longer then we do!" he seemed rather excited that I was part of an old tale his father's role model had spoke of.

"Um, well, not really..." I said glancing over a the others and it was now I noticed that Adonia had one of Lilith's feet in her hands and was lifting her up and down slightly, like she was getting ready to toss something heavy. "Oh, hell no!" I shouted as Adonia threw Lilith like she was a log tosser throwing what was probably the lightest log in the competition. Lilith let out a loud squeal as she flew through the air and I couldn't help but let loose an exasperated sigh as I ran over to catch Lilith. Luckily for me she approached the ground head up and with her back facing me and I merely had to absorb the impact of her flying through the air, which I managed to mess up anyways and ended up flat on my back with Lilith half sobbing half laughing on top of me.

As she slowly regained her sanity and realized she was alive she grabbed hold of me tightly and almost broke down sobbing, "I was so scared!" she weaped into my shoulder.

"Then why did you let them throw you first?" I asked very curious to what brought about this stupid plan in the first place.

"We drew straws"

"Straws?" I questioned where they would have gotten them.

"Well we used strands of grass" she was beginning to settle down now.

I thought about it for a minute, "Was Midna holding the grass?" Lilith nodded, "was it her idea?" Another nod. "You do realize you got cheated right?" Lilith looked at me with a blank stare and I gently got up and walked to the edge of the cliff and stared at Midna, none of the others looked to eager to try that. "That wasn't very nice of you Midna!" I yelled across the gap.

"She drew the short straw!" I heard her yell back at me.

"I don't believe any of your 'straws' were different lengths until she reached to grab one, were they!?" I shouted but got no reply.

"If you want my grandfather left his prized possession with my dad, who passed it to me, it could help your friends cross that gap." I turned and opened my mouth to address him but realized I didn't even know his name and make an awkward scrunched up face that made him laugh, "oh, yes my name is Jack." Oh thank god finally a simple name! I thought as he grabbed hold of my hand and shook it quite vigorously. Holy crap my brain is shaking inside my skull, I thought as he let go.

"Well... Jack, what exactly is this "possession?" I asked and he smacked his palm with his forehead.

"Dad always said I forgot to tell people a lot of stuff, it's this golden cucco, it flies really well, it's crazy how fast this thing flies too." I smiled and nodded at him to go get the bird.

"Don't worry... Jack," I put a lot of emphasis on his name and paused to let them all ponder who he was for a second, "... went to get his golden cucco, it'll be able to help you all fly across!" I yelled unable to hold back a burst of laughter after saying this.

After much toil with the golden bird flying everyone across then trying to get it back to the other side again Jack brought us all back to Ordon where we talked a long time with him and Adonia's father as well. It turned out Adonia had always had a gift of strength, and then it dawned on me, "Wait, if Adonia isn't the hero... where is our hero?" I looked around the room and no one replied. Throughout this entire "meeting" I had noticed several things. First, Jack and Adonia kept staring at each other when the other wasn't looking, neither of them were locking eyes either as they always looked away when the one they were starring at looked at them. Second, Lilith, whom was also sitting right next to me did not take her eyes off me at any point during the whole meeting. Third, Midna was glaring at Lilith as she stared at me and Aidan could not take his eyes off the woman staring at me. As we sat in silence for nearly five solid minutes my temper finally hit boiling point and I could hold in my speech no longer.

I slammed my fists on the table as I stood up and my voice boomed through the whole room, "First off, Jack stop staring at Adonia when she isn't looking at you! Adonia same goes to you! Don't be laughing Aidan I saw you staring at Lilith! Midna would you please just stop glaring at Lilith and Lilith... do you have something you'd like to tell me, cause now would be the time!" Everyone looked at the floor now, "Okay... I just made things really... awkward... but you'll all thank me for it later, maybe not today, or tomorrow, but I swear someday you'll thank me!" I said storming out of the house. I walked away from the house grumbling loudly to myself thinking of where I could go for some peace and quiet. I didn't realize how far I'd wandered until I noticed I was standing right in front of Link's house. Besides some growth and other flora it looked about the same as I had remembered it. I climbed up the ladder and pryed the door open a large amount of dust flew into the air and into my eyes and nose, causing me to cough.

I walked inside and found that the house looked as though it had not been entered since Link likely left it all those years ago. I explored the house quite a bit, completely forgetting my storm of angry impatience and found myself looking under Link's bed. I found what seemed to be a sketch book of some sort. Hm, looks like Link decided to do some drawing at some point or other, I thought blowing a thick layer of dust off the book and cracking it open. The first couple pages were just rough random sketches, some of them were of people I remembered, like Ilia, a younger Colin, Epona and some of animals commonly seen in the area. Guess he had to do something besdies hang out with those kids and herd goats all day, I thought flipping past all these pages. The next page astonished me, it was a drawing of the imp creature I had seen in my memory, the memories I'm seeing are the true ones then, I started flipping back and forth through the pages seeing many of shadow beasts, that seemed very rough but each time I came to one of the imp it seemed as though there was much more attention paid to every detail. I ran my left hand through my hair, pushing my hood off my head and held the hand at the back of my neck a moment.

I flipped the page again, there was now a picture of princess Zelda. Another flip revealed a doodle more then a picture, I couldn't help but laugh at the picture as it was terrible but in such a funny way. It was likely a doodle Link drew when he got bored. Link was stabbing Ganon whom he had draw with little X's for eyes and he was saying "blarg I'm dead." I smacked my forehead with my palm and held back a laugh. I then turned the page again and was met with a extravagant drawing of the light spirits. After looking over every detail of the spirits I flipped the page once more and my eyes grew wide at what I saw. I stood up bringing the book better into the sunlight that barely shone through Link's overgrown window and as I became sure of it my head began to ache with a huge pulse. I dropped the book and clenched both sides of my head trying to control the immense pain. I let out a howl of pain as I fell to my knee and could stay conscious no longer and all went black.

I awoke and found my face feeling very odd. It felt as though it was wet, and then I felt something press up against my lips and my eyes shot open and I found that my lips were now locked with that of someone with green hair that seemed to glow in the darkness of the room. The figure quickly retreated when it realized I had awoken and then I saw who it was. "Lilith?" I said questioning myself more then her.

"I came in and you were out cold on the floor, I tried to find your pulse and when I couldn't find it I thought..." she paused and wiped tears off her face attempting to do so in a manner that I would not see she was crying but her tears glistened in the dim moonlight. I put two finger to my neck and found it covered with the crystal armor my body formed when danger approached and when I looked at my wrists they too were covered with it, along with quite a bit of my chest.

"That picture, it caused me... to black out?" I said turning to see the book still lying where I dropped it and I picked it up. "That picture... could it have been... Midna?" I said her name in a whisper.

"What's that?" Lilith gestured to the sketch book in my hand.

"Link's little book of drawings, he drew quite a bit after our journey... and somehow... he knew Midna... which would mean... I don't... but it seemed the more he cared for something he drew the better it was... and that picture... it was astounding!" I said cracking the book open again Lilith snatched it from my hands. "Hey!" I yelled as I reached for the book back but Lilith moved it farther away yet and stuck her tongue out at me. "Lilith give me that," I said a very serious tone in my voice.

"If you want it so bad you'll have to get it from me!" she yelled dropping the book down to the lower level of Link's house then suddenly diving into the shadows and re-materializing where she dropped the book she took off running. Without a second thought I was over the railing and chasing after Lilith who ran surprisingly fast for a girl who didn't seem too inclined to do very much. She was drawing closer to Adonia's house and I'm not sure why but a sudden burst of determination pushed me forward and I dove through the air ending up flying through the air as a tangled mess with Adonia and the book as well. The end result of this mess of a pursuit was Lilith ending up with her back flat on the ground, me practically mounting the half-dazed Twili girl and the sketch book no more then a few feet away floating away in the small river. I however did not notice the book right away as I had to keep my arms planted on the ground to keep my face away from Lilith's.

"Hmph," was all I heard coming from the direction of Adonia's house and as I looked up I saw Midna standing there with her arms crossed clearly dsigusted with my situation as she would not even look my way.

Part of me acted quickly forcing me to my feet and towards Midna and saying a line that every man at some point says but it is likely no woman will ever believe, "Midna, this isn't what it looks like!" As promised Midna clearly did not buy the lame attempt at an excuse and threw a ball of Twili magic in my face and dove into the shadows as I dodged the magic bolt and moved to grab her arm. I faintly saw the dark spot that was Midna trail off from the house and quickly lost track of it.

I sighed and without a word walked off into the darkness of some nearby trees, found the "comfiest" one leapt up to a branch and dozed off to sleep. I had kind of developed a "thing" for sleeping in trees, I wasn't sure why but good things seemed to happen when I did. This was maybe not so lucky a tree as when I awoke not a word was said instead everyone gathered their things, Adonia included, and we set off towards Kakariko, at least that's where Midna was leading us, as I still wished to hide my identity and she was the only one who knew where all the light spirits were, at least that's what Aidan and Lana thought. The journey to Kakariko by foot was a long one, and every step seemed longer in the dense silence of our group. Any of us who dared break the silence for any reason was quickly stared back into silence by any who had not made a sound. Noises outside the sounds of nature but still outside our group were glanced at as we continued to walk. I glanced around at the scenery as we walked at one point so engulfed in looking at a strange bird that I ran smack into a tree. An apple fell out of the tree and after bonking me square on the head it bounced down into my lap.

I promptly picked up the apple and took a large bite out of it, "Delicious." I exclaimed happily and found five sets of eyes staring me back into silence and I shuddered. I've suddenly lost my appetite, I thought tossing the apple aside. We reached the entrance to Kakariko by the end of the day, it was however hard to tell as the Twilight had engulfed the area, but for some reason had not yet expanded beyond the gate. We came to the gate and found it locked and Aidan drew his sword again. "Are you really going to try that again?" I asked and after a moments hesitation he sheathed his sword and I threw a crystal into the lock and it quickly exploded. Confident in my power I moved forward to pry the lock off and found it in "almost" perfect condition, upon a first glance I had done no more then shook the lock. Looking inside I noticed the lock had been scattered and blown apart beyond repair but had not unlocked. Nervously I dropped the lock and covered it with my back and stood there.

"What did you do?" Midna asked moving to look at the lock but I would not allow her to see, with a quick spark of Twili magic I was tossed a few feet aside and Midna inspected the lock, much to my dismay. "Great! you broke it, now I can officially call you an idiot on top of you being a pervert!"

"A pervert!? When did I earn that oh so endearing tittle!?" I retorted.

"Last night, straddling Lilith like that, I can't believe you!" Midna shouted at me again.

"Say WHAT NOW!?" Lilith shouted but I ignored her and went on.

"That wasn't at all what it looked like Midna." I said trying to calm her down.

"Then what WAS it?" she inquired.

I opened my mouth to explain and paused... for some reason I could remember chasing after Lilith but I had no recollection of why. "I... I... don't remember?" my inquiring tone striking a look of frustration and confusion onto Midna's face.

She opened her mouth clealry about to yell at me again but Lilith interjected, "Wait Midna! I'm not sure why... or how... but I can't recall why he was chasing me either... I just remember we were in Link's house, then... I ran out and he came after me... and then... he managed to tackle me... but... I can't... remember..." Lilith suddenly swooned and began to fall over, I quickly stuck out my arm and caught her.

"Is she okay?" Aidan asked quickly.

I pushed lightly on her neck with two finger and felt her heart beating rather quickly, "She'll be fine, I think whatever removed that memory from me is trying to keep it repressed from both me and Lilith." Midna coughed and gestured to the lock. "Ah yes, Lana could you hang on to Lilith for me please? Thank you." I said handing Lilith over to Lana. I pulled out one of my needles and changed it into a large two-handed mace and smashed the lock. Nothing happened. I grabbed two more needles and made a very large hammer smashing the lock even harder. The lock grew a small dent but nothing more. I now made myself two large clubs in either hand using up every needle to make their surface tougher. I smashed away at the lock form every angle over and over again but it did nothing more then shake and rattle at each blow. In one final attempt I ordered everyone to back off, put all my needles away and filled the entire lock with a large crystal and ran back. There was a huge explosion and I ran back to the lock and found it in the exact condition I left it in. "I give up!" I shouted and collapsed with a thump. Lana, who had now layed Lilith down on the ground as she was beginning to wake up due to the smashing and explosive noises nearby, walked over and picked up the lock and inspected it.

"I think..." she said letting the lock hang loose again, she pushed down on the bottom of the lock, ever so lightly and a light click was heard. Astonished I was on my feet so quick, you would swear there was not a motion between me lying on the ground and me standing next to Lana gawking at the now open lock. "The mechanism is very simple, and tricky at the same time, whoever put this lock on here knew monsters were coming and would try and force the lock. So they made it so that a gentle touch ONLY could open the lock, and more force then that required to push the bottom down and the lock would hold." Lana said smiling at my clear amazement.

"I... I uh... knew that, I just wanted to see if you could figure it out, you clearly get your brains from your mother Lana." I said in a sad attempt to make Midna a little less mad. It clearly failed as I felt something push my head to the left. I grabbed at the right side of my head and felt a small burning ball of Twili magic sticking there "What the hell!?" I said and jumped away from Lana while attempting to tear the thing from my head, with a large bang and a force on my head that felt like I had just been punched by a train I was thrown to my side like a rag doll. There was a small hole in my cloak and smoke rising from where the ball had hit me. "Now that was just plain mean Midna," I said rolling onto my cheast so I could push myself to my feet. With a giggle she leapt into the wall of Twilight followed quickly by Lilith, Lana and finally Aidan. Midna's giant hair hand flew out of the wall just as Aidan walked in and grabbed Adonia pulling her in as well, and sure enough not but a second later Lilith's huge identical hand, except that the glowing line symbols were all green instead of orange-ish red picked me up and pulled me through the wall.

Yay I actually got a review on chapter 24 ^.^ Thanks to Majora for the review :) Had some spare time and felt really motivated so I did this chapter rather quickly... messed with my original plans... again, I've got lots in store though so please keep reading, and review are appreciated.