Chapter Thirteen: Hyrule Castle: Part Four
"Patience, what you saw better be good--Oh, no..." Faith groaned as she caught up with her younger sister.
"Yeah, I'm thrilled to see him, too," Patience said, her tone a cross between disappointment and irritation. "I thought the shine of his sword was a force gem..."
"Come now, ladies," Shadow Link said, a malicious grin on his features. "Surely you missed me?"
"Just as much as I miss having pneumonia," Faith retorted.
"Hey, you probably have force gems, right?" Patience's eyes gleamed, taking out her sword in a bout of bravery. With a flourish of her blade, and promptly almost cutting Faith's hair off, the young girl charged at the dark male.
Shadow Link just chuckled and leaped effortlessly away from the sword. A trapdoor opened beneath Patience's feet as she ran at him, making her scream as she dropped into darkness.
"Patience?!" Faith stopped short from the trapdoor as it closed back up. However, she could still hear her younger sister's loud voice.
"Faith? Where are you? Where am I?! Faith, come get me! It's dark down here--What's this? Hey, is this a cannon--AHHH!" Patience soon came flying out of a second door behind Faith, her arms flapping as if trying to fly. "Faith, catch me--Oof!"
Faith pushed her sister off of her and turned her glaring gaze to Shadow Link. As he laughed, she nocked an arrow in her bow and let it soar. She was oddly satisfied at hearing Shadow Link's laughter turn into curses.
Patience had regained awareness of her surroundings and grinned as she saw Shadow Link disappear, leaving behind a big green force gem.
Faith sighed and rolled her eyes as Patience once again fell through the trapdoor as she had tried to run over it to grab the gem. The older girl walked close to the south wall to avoid the door and took the gem instead. A thud behind her signaled that Patience had emerged above ground again.
"Hey, it disappeared!"
"Or I took it," Faith said, inspecting some black crystal-like switches nearby. "Walk close to the south wall to avoid the trapdoor--"
"Ooo, these look cool!" Faith jumped, startled at Patience suddenly being next to her. If Patience had been able to steer clear of the trapdoor, why didn't she do that in the first place?
The older one decided not to ask as Patience hit a switch with her sword. She frowned as its green light faded out after a second. "Aww...It looks like they need new batteries..."
"Hyrule doesn't even have electricity," Faith responded. "I think they all need to be triggered at once. I'll take the two top ones, you take the bottom. On the count of three, we'll do the spin attack with our swords to get them all at once. Ya ready?"
Patience had been just tapping one of the crystals, easily amused at the green glow fading in and out. "...Huh? Did you say something?"
With a growl under her breath, Faith explained everything again and soon the two were into position. After a few tries and curses, all the crystals were lit and a rumble shook the wall. Patience gasped.
"Faith, we just tore down part of the wall!"
"And revealed a secret corridor," the older one said, unfazed at the idea of destroying part of a royal castle. She cut down some of the pots close to the north wall, revealing an oddly-shaped switch. "Patience, I need you to stand on here."
"Huh? Oh, sure." Patience moved away from the horned statues that she had been inspecting and stepped on the switch.
"Good," Faith said, just barely spotting a skylight opening on the adjacent roof. "Now, I need you to stay there." Ignoring Patience's protests, Faith went into the door that was nearby. She ascended the staircase that was in the small room and found two switches. The first she tried opened up the door in front of her, and she abandoned the second one for the moment. As she stepped through the door, darkness surrounded her.
She took a sharp inhale of air and yelled, "Patience, what are you doing out there?!"
"I got lonely--Whoa, why is it so dark in here?"
"Because you stepped off the switch!"
"Is that what that was for? Alright, alright, I'll go back out there and stand on it! I'll even pose like those statues!"
Faith sighed and waited for the lights to turn on again. A feminine voice came out of the darkness as the girl waited.
"Who...Who is it? Who's there?"
The girl didn't answer, unsure as to how to respond. However, as the room turned bright again, Faith was suddenly wishing for the dark to come back. The green creature in front of her seemed to have but one eye, while the other was closed as if stitched shut, and inhuman arms and legs.
Faith was actually speechless and realized that going through this level a dozen times when she had played the game never allowed her to really think about how this creature looked. The lights flickered on and off a few times as the creature looked down, seemingly abashed, from Faith's stare for a moment before looking back up at the human.
"You...You're not with those fiends who have taken over the castle, are you?" the creature asked. "Please, would you help me?"
"Well...Uh, sure...?" Some thought in the back of her head pestered Faith, telling her that this creature needed to follow them.
"Hey, Faith, I--Eep!" Patience clung to Faith's arm, peeking out around her older sister at the creature, wide-eyed. "What is that?!"
Faith groaned and rolled her eyes. "Very tactful, Patience," she muttered sarcastically.
The creature stood up. "I heard the maidens' cries and ran here to find the castle a nest of fiends. They captured me and split me in two. That's why I look so horrible right now!" she explained. "Please, I beg of you. Reunite my two halves; make me whole again!"
Patience blinked before slowly coming out from behind Faith. "You kind of look like a sick fish," she stated.
"Patience!" Faith scolded, idly realizing that she was beginning to sound like Hope. To the creature's plea, the older sister said, "Any idea where this other half is?"
Of course, Faith already had an idea of where the other half was. However, she was just curious as to what the creature would respond since the words out of the creature's mouth had been the script from the video game.
The creature, though, just shrugged helplessly. "That I do not," she responded. "We were separated right after we were cut."
"Alright..." Faith nodded. She suddenly glanced at Patience. "How are you in here with the lights still on?"
Patience grinned. "I moved one of those statues onto the button so I could join you! Aren't I smart?"
Faith blinked and just nodded slowly, unsure if she believed that her little sister had moved a statue on her own. Perhaps those statures were hollow, or something.
"Okay, let's go find Link and Hope," Faith said instead of asking questions. To the creature, she added, "Stay close."
Within a few minutes, the trio had passed the glowing barrier, dodging bombs thrown at them from the guard soldiers as they ran. They emerged in the corridor to find Link and Hope leaning against a giant lever. Link grinned as he spotted them.
"See, Hope, I told you they would..." he faltered as the creature shyly stepped up next to Faith, "...find us..." With a frown and a swift movement, Link began to bring up an arrow at the creature. Hope, however, placed a hand on his arm.
"Glad to see that you caught up," the eldest said to her sisters. Glancing at the creature by Faith's feet, she said, "Who's your friend?"
Patience spoke up. "She's someone who needs to reunite with her other half." Passionately, she continued with, "The fiends here separated her and her significant other! It's a tragic love story, really."
Link raised an eyebrow slightly, either from Patience's added commentary or from being uncertain as to how anyone can tell what gender the creature was. However, he got his answer as the creature coughed lightly for attention.
"N-no, I'm separated from my literal other half," she clarified.
"And it's inside the castle somewhere," Faith said briskly. "You two need help pulling out that lever?"
The until-now-forgotten lever pulled out quite easily with the quartet working together. The four, with the creature in tow, entered the new room and went into the back to find a cracked wall. Hope used a bomb to break the walls that blocked their way, and the same feminine voice of the creature next to them spoke from the dungeon.
"Oh, happy day!" The second creature stood up and went next to its other half. "Now, at last, we can merge as one, and I can return to my true form!"
The quartet paused for a moment, waiting for the two to reunite. However, the halves just stared back at the four before one said, "Please take me to the barrier that blocked your way. I'll do my best to aid you on your journey!"
Link shrugged to the girls and led the way out again, the quartet wondering why the heck the creatures didn't just merge right then and there. As the barrier came into view, the two creatures darted in front of the group. In a flash of light, the two forms became one floating individual. She shimmered beautifully; her silver and white colors practically made her look translucent.
"I didn't think I would ever be allowed to reclaim my true form as a Great Fairy again," she said, her voice much softer than her previous counterparts. "Thank you so much, brave ones."
Another shrill whistle sounded, and a few more dozen soldiers swarmed in from across the barrier. Swords emerged from their sheaths as the group prepared to fight, but the Great Fairy just gave them a smile.
"I'll take care of this." Floating higher on invisible wings, the Great Fairy twirled while chanting an unrecognizable language. Suddenly, large bolts of lightning crashed to the earth, eliminating all the enemies one by one. Hope and Patience both gasped, the youngest hanging onto the older one's arm at hearing the small screams from the falling soldiers. Link's mouth was open in shock and awe at the Great Fairy's power, while Faith just raised her eyebrows at the event, apparently only a mildly impressed.
"So this is the barrier that blocked your way?" the Great Fairy asked, gazing at the electric fence that blocked the way into the center of the castle. The quartet remained speechless, but the lack of response didn't seem to daunt the Great Fairy. "Allow me to remove it."
The Great Fairy just waved her arms and the barrier faded out with a glimmer of electricity. She turned to Link, seemingly only talking to him.
"I'll let all of my friends throughout Hyrule know..." she began to say. "'If you run into four travelers with one face, tend to their weariness and ease the burden of their travels.'"
The sisters glanced at each other at her words, Faith's mouth open as she was about to protest. However, the Great Fairy continued to speak.
"There is a tradition that young, noble gentlemen rescue damsels in distress. And so, I leave the well-being of the maidens in your hands," she said. With another twirl, she disappeared while saying, "Take care!"
Faith was the first one to speak. "Okay, yeah, that cut thing must have really affected her eyesight. Not only are we not 'young, noble gentlemen,' we look nothing like this dork!" she said, ending her speech as she pointed to the oblivious-for-the-moment Link.
"She didn't look much better to me in her normal form," Patience said, walking into the newly opened door. "Didn't she look ugly to you guys? Either that, or she's just really old."
"I don't think Hope or I could give you a fair response to that," Faith answered, walking after her little sister. With a glance at Link, she added in amusement, "The only male here seems to have a different opinion, though."
Link blinked at hearing Faith say his name, idly realizing that he had been staring at the spot in the sky that the Great Fairy had disappeared. "Huh?"
Hope laughed. "Don't worry your head over it," she said, dragging him through the open door by his arm.