A/N: The story needs sufficient introduction... which a bit unfortunate. I'm sure you readers might want to see some action, or at least some plot, but the plot I have in mind would be far too contrived to be believable without some sort of build-up to it. Even with it, it may be too much of a stretch. We'll see.

§ Chapter 2: Memorial §

Link was flying toward the Sealed Grounds with the same diligence and ambition he displayed by rising every morning at dawn. As you might guess, this means he was sleeping though the task. Zelda had mandated that he leave before noon. Well, 11:59 is before noon. He didn't see why she was so mad about that. He was technically on time. It wasn't his fault if the whole world liked to get up when all decent people ought to be asleep.

As he approached the sealed grounds, his loftwing nudged him awake. After wiping the sleep from his eyes, he surveyed the land below for any sign of the annoying but as-of-recently good-hearted inventor. Link noticed that all of Groose's tools were sitting uncovered on the grass near the entrance to the temple. He didn't see any sign of their owner, so he assumed that he had gone inside the temple for one reason or another. The obvious thing to do, then, was to go inside himself.

Link was stunned by the sight that met him within the stone temple. Groose was there as he expected, but he wasn't working on some contraption or taking a breather from his work outside. He was lying on the ground, all gray and blue, in a puddle of stale blood. Link stood in the entryway, unmoving. He wasn't sure what to do. As best as he could tell, there was no immediate threat nearby, which was almost unfortunate. If there had been an enemy, he would know what to do. He was very experienced in that area. Also, it would have made it easier to figure out what had happened to Groose. But there was no malignant force nearby, leaving Link with no motivation to act, no story to tell the other villagers, and no clue what to do.

He waited for nearly a full three minutes before he heard a voice from behind the inactive Gate of Time, "I was wondering if you might show up at some point."

That voice was unforgettable. The demon lord who had chased Zelda all across the surface was here. When Link had killed the king, Link saw him disappear. He had thought that was the end of him, but here he was, the demon sword Ghirahim, strutting out from behind the massive stone gears as nonchalantly as the first time they had met, here in this same room. Prancing around as if he had some great purpose and did not deign share it with such common mortals as this Hylian urchin. Simultaneously formal and informal, he always carried himself as a king to small children. Condescending and patronizing.

"I suppose you're surprised to see me here. Did you think I had died in our last conflict? Did you hope that when I vanished, I would not reappear? Did you believe that just because my king is dead, I would give up my efforts to rule this land? No. I will try all the more because of it. Not only will I conquer the surface. I will avenge my master by ending you," the pale aristocrat taunted.

Link drew his sword and raised it in a defensive stance as Ghirahim began to circle him. As he sized his opponent up, he made note of several important details. One, he donned the same attire that he had in their very first encounter. That meant that whatever he was planning was still in its infancy. As Ghirahim's plans progress, he prefers to be more and more directly involved. It is as though he is excited by the blood he himself has poured in the water, and cannot help but begin to feed. As this happens, he sheds more and more of his garish garments so as to not restrict his fighting. Two, he was confident. That was bad. From Link's experience, when Ghirahim is flustered and spontaneous it means his plans are falling apart. When he is calm and collected like he was today, however, it means that he is confident in his plans and sure of himself. Given that he was beaten by Link before, his plan must be quite good in his eyes for him to feel so in control. Lastly, he was being very redundant. This was nothing really new or significant, it was just bothering Link to no end. Ghirahim always seemed to feel the need to restate everything three different ways as theatrically as possible. The Hylian saw Ghirahim eyeing his sword and refortified his stance that weakened during his thought.

"Ah, what a beautiful item of craft you wield. So elegant! So graceful! So definitely not the accursed blade with which you smote my master," Link's enemy jabbed verbally. "This one here told me that you resealed that blade after your victory. It seems that the current resolution left us both incomplete. I had promised him that I wouldn't kill him if he provided me with some useful information, but by the time he spat that out, I had changed my mind, so I killed him anyway."

The knight let out a battle cry as he charged at the blade spirit, knocking him back with several well placed strokes in quick succession, but ever the showman, the lord recovered gracefully and retaliated orally, "You won't be able to hurt me without my counterpart that you so foolishly removed from your own grasp in your misguided desire to believe that peace had come. I would love to stay and fight you now that your unfair advantage has been removed, but I really must depart. My presence is needed elsewhere, so I bid you farewell." Demise's servant gave a bow and a flourish, glancing up from the trough of his descent to look the hero in the eye.

And with that, he disappeared, leaving the hero alone with the dead Groose. He didn't wait long before reverently lifting the corpse and setting it into the bed of the invention outside. Using the tools that the deceased boy had left out, planning to return after a short interim but never getting the chance, Link cut off the bowl of the catapult and fastened a wooden bar to it via a rope.

The crimson loftwing allowed its master to climb onto its back before it entered the skies, grabbing hold of the rod. In this way they bore Groose's body back to Kakariko, making neither a word nor a crow. The trip was completely silent, save for the soft beating wings of the rider's best friend. For this journey, Link did not sleep. For this journey, Link did not meander. For this journey, Link did not give even a moment's thought to his own troubles. He may not have liked Groose or gotten along with him, but he could not deny that when it mattered most, he had proven himself to be a trustworthy and dependable ally. Although before today Link would have been reluctant to admit that without Groose and his invention he could not have survived his adventures, he would now declare it readily and willingly.

As he descended into the village, the inquisitive questions as to what he was carrying gave way to the same heavy silence that had plagued him on his flight. The entirety of the town, with the exception of some mothers who were keeping their young children away, had gathered at the landing site of the only crimson steed.

After a moment shocked stillness, Zelda asked the burning question, "What happened?"

Link looked at her. He looked around at the various faces. He looked at her father, the mayor. Finally, he looked down at the ground and uttered one single word, "Ghirahim."

The weight of that word, the gravity of that name, was not lost on his audience. They had all heard the fantastic story of his adventures below the clouds. They may have scoffed at him or disbelieved him, but the land was just as he described, the tower full as per his story, and Groose and Zelda had both confirmed their roles. So they all knew what this meant.

Link picked up the body of his fallen former classmate and began walking. The crowd followed him, whether out of respect or curiosity unknown, to an alcove behind the mayor's house. The hero then set the body down and began to dig. He dug there for over an hour as the town stood quietly by. When had finally finished, it had begun to grow dark. He picked up Groose's cadaver, still in the bowl of the catapult, and laid it in the hole.

He then began to replace the dirt over top of the boy. The sun was disappearing, and one by one, candles and torches and stars took its place, giving a subdued orange glow to the proceedings. When the grave was finally filled, he took the bar he had cut from the catapult, sharpened its end, and stuck it vertically into the ground.

"Groose was a member of our village who, in the darkest hour our world has yet seen, chose to overcome his fear and put his effort toward helping to keep Skyloft, the location, the people, and the way of life, alive. His efforts culminated in an invention he called 'The Groosenator', which despite its childish name, reflected a maturity he had finally come to reach. This machine saved my life. It saved everyone's lives. Without Groose and his device, none of us would be here now. That is why it is so fitting that he be buried with it as his casket and his tombstone. It is a testament to his character that we are able to use the pride of his life to remember him and honor him in death."

As the moonless night peered down at the sorrowful village, Link shed a single tear for his longtime rival, and, in the end, friend.

As that tear hit the ground, a zephyr extinguished all of the lights.

A/N: ... Anybody else marginally depressed? I never did like Groose much, even after he 'saw the light' as it were, but I do find myself respecting his actions. I feel like Link might be the same way... After all, even something as large as the Sealed Grounds fiascoes wouldn't change the fact that Groose is a rather annoying person. But anyway, after not even giving him the dignity of showing his death, reducing him to being mentioned as dead in the prologue (and not even by name), I felt compelled to let him be kind of the star of a chapter, albeit posthumously. As it turns out, I did manage to get a little bit of conflict worked into this one for you all. I hope you enjoyed it!