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Chapter 22: The Tower

The Tower:

The Tower represents disruption. There will be conflict. The life that The Magician knows will be overthrown or even ruined.

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Dark pressed his finger along the faint indents in the wall of his cell, marking the forty-fifth day of his imprisonment. He picked at the marks with a bit of incredulity that so much time had passed; the fact that Vaati wiped his memory of his time here every so often really did make it seem as though no time had passed at all…

Dark's expression hardened as he traced the forty-fifth mark with his finger. They were entering the middle of the second month, meaning that the time limit for Vaati's completion of the cap was frightfully near. Even if Hawk or Kestrel couldn't stir things up in time, something was going to happen very soon. He still hadn't heard back from them, but Bates always ended their debriefing sessions with the last message that Hawk had sent him:

Be ready.

Oh he was ready all right. Even though he couldn't actually do anything physically to prepare for the day when they decided to strike, he made sure to keep up to speed by talking to Bates whenever the sentry wasn't busy gathering information from around the facility. He'd made sure to ask Bates for at least an hour of his time, just to give him an idea of the layout of the facility he was in. Sometimes a bit of doubt would creep in where he would wonder if this was even worth it, since his memory would be wiped out eventually anyway, but a part of him hoped that maybe, just maybe, his subconscious could keep it for him. It was a stretch, sure, but anything that could even possibly give him help when the time came was worth trying.

To be honest, they were in a desperate situation after all…

Bates didn't really tell him much about the very specific details of whatever it was Hawk and Kestrel was working on. Dark was sure that it wasn't because Bates didn't know: in fact, Bates was probably the single entity who knew close to everything that was going on. Bates had mentioned a few times, almost apologetically, that the whole plan depended on the element of surprise especially since they were outmatched in terms of resources, and that the fewer people who knew about the plan, the less risk there was of an information leak. It took a lot of convincing from Bates for Dark to back down on this matter, but at the end of the day the sentry was right. There was no way to know how they, both Vaati and the wizzrobe, could coerce information from him if it came down to it. It gave him some comfort, though, that Vaati was probably in the same situation: if Bates wasn't telling him all of Hawk and Kestrel's plans out of fear of information leaks, then he definitely wasn't telling Vaati, the one who was in the thick of all this, everything as well.

It was pretty crazy to think about how far Bates had come in terms of becoming a much more autonomous creature. Dark doubted that Vaati had an independent thinker in mind when he first created him. That little bat thing had started out as a highly obedient servant, to something that didn't exactly follow his master's orders blindly. Vaati didn't strike him to be the forgiving type towards deviant servants; Dark hoped that by the end of all this, he could convince the sorcerer to spare Bates for some of his independent behavior…

Sure, in the very beginning Dark only saw the sentry as a tool for Vaati that got in his way… but now he considered Bates as more than a 'thing.' He was convinced Vaati only saw Bates as another object, a tool, and that he wouldn't hesitate to replace the sentry if Bates' personality became a problem.

Dark shook his head. He'll figure something out by the end.

The end. Dark bit his lip. The implications of the end, whatever it was, was huge. He hadn't really put much thought into it, because he honestly didn't know what they could do. Let's say they cleared their objective to retrieve Vaati and kill Condor, what then? The person who had been so powerful he'd been able to keep Vaati under control was still around to do whatever they wanted to do. What would keep them from pulling this same stunt again? They hadn't actually solved anything – only delaying the scenario.

Did Hawk or Kestrel even know what was going to happen at the end? Did they even plan that far, or did they not care about anything else now, except to take their revenge on Condor?

The only thing that would upset the balance enough that this insanity would end, was to remove the wizzrobe. Dark smiled bitterly. 'Remove.' Ha. That was putting it way too nicely. Maybe he'd picked up habits from the Talon guys, who always seemed to avoid using the words 'kill' and 'death' outright.

To kill. That's what they were going to have to do, wasn't it? For one side to survive, the other was going to have to die. Dark grimaced at the thought. He hadn't signed up for an assassination job, but that's what this was turning into. In the happiest scenario, no one would have to kill anybody, and everyone would leave each other alone, but Dark was extremely sure that wasn't an option.

He didn't know what kind of person this wizzrobe fellow was, but he knew Vaati. That guy wasn't going to settle for a peaceful solution where everyone agreed to leave each other alone. Even if it wasn't this time, Vaati would someday, eventually, decide that he was the only one who was going to stay standing at the top.

And let's say, by some extraordinary miracle, Vaati did actually back down and agreed to a truce. Dark was willing to bet that the wizzrobe would eventually try something as well. The man was a person with incredible power right now; people with that much power would end up convincing themselves that they were so great they didn't have to compromise any more. The only way this was going to work without anyone 'removed,' was if both Vaati and the wizzrobe were peaceful in nature and were terrified of conflict.

Yeah, no, that's not going to happen.

And so, if it came down to it, was Dark ready to kill someone?

He didn't really know the answer to that question.

"Pay careful attention, I am about to relay Hawk's message in real-time."

Bates voice suddenly startled him out of nowhere, and Dark jumped slightly when he found the eye-bat right behind him. He hadn't noticed the sentry who had appeared in the cell. Dark was about to complain for being surprised, and then he stopped when he realized what this meant. Hawk had a message. That meant they were going to start something, and they were going to expect him to be ready for whatever it was they needed him to do. Dark took a few slow breaths to clear his mind of his troublesome worries, and focused.

Focus. He needed to focus. There was no going back now, and messing up wasn't something they could afford.

Bates settled down on Dark's lap as he opened communication with the Talon men. Dark could hear their voice in his head.

"Darkie you're there right? You don't have to answer, the little eye guy can confirm that you can hear me. Alright. Good. Listen closely because we're not going to have a lot of time after this to sit and chat."

It was Kestrel's voice, the techie who couldn't part with his sunglasses. There was also another voice in the background who seemed to be talking to him at the same time, and Dark guessed it was Hawk. There was a brief pause from Kestrel as he confirmed something with the other voice, and then came back to update Dark. It started with a huge sigh.

"Alright, sorry about that. Okay so we have a good idea about what's been going on now, thanks to your demon thing. So apparently there's this wizard guy who's pretty much in control of the entirety of US politics to his benefit, and he's also the same guy who we, Talon, have been after since the very beginning. Yeah, so, basically we want him gone. I guess."

Dark listened quietly. Yes, he remembered Bates telling him something about why Talon had even existed in the first place. They were just a group that had probably gone too far while they were trying to uncover some kind of conspiracy involving magic and whatnot. Turns out the one involved in the conspiracy was the wizzrobe involved in the current mess as well. It was kind of crazy how all of this was coming together, really.

"Anyway, Condor's also with him, so we're going to try to take both of them down. Bates said he couldn't find anyone who matched our description of Condor, but we're pretty certain he's there. He'll probably turn up when he figures out we're going in to get you and your friend out of there.
Oh, right, so I forgot to mention, I should probably say that you're going to get YOURSELF out of there. I'm going to be straight with you; you're not really our priority anymore, so we're not obligated to save you. But hey, we're going to give you an opportunity to get out. If you manage to meet up with us on our way out, you've got a free exit. In the same vein, if you turn into a liability if and when you manage to meet up with us, we're going to have to shoot you."

The Talon techie's voice was inappropriately casual for someone talking about shooting someone down. Dark didn't doubt that he meant it, too. He wasn't that surprised about it anymore, though. He'd been unsettled when he'd first spoken with Hawk: how could someone with such an innocent expression be talking about shooting people in a tone that could be used over afternoon coffee? Now he figured anyone who'd been crazy enough to loyally follow Dugal probably had a little dose of crazy of their own.

"We're going to try to slip by as quietly as possible, but given the circumstances, that might not be so quiet after all. I mean we're talking about infiltrating a military base with a two-man team here, it's not that easy. Bates managed to find a remote shop a few miles away from the actual base that's connected to the underground facility where you are, which makes it less impossible, but it's still pretty difficult, yeah?
There's going to be a brief window of time where we're going to cause a blackout. Bates will help you with the door, and you should be able to leave your cell. The rest, though, will be up to you. Your eye bat friend will be your guide, so follow him."

There was a pause as the techie appeared to go back to talking to Hawk. There was a rapid back and forth conversation in the background as though they were talking about something urgent, and then it was Hawk's turn to talk to Dark.

"Dark? You're still there?"

Dark slowly stood up, and followed Bates who had flown towards the door. "Yeah."

Even before Hawk spoke, Dark had an idea of what he was about to say. "Blackout in ten."

"Wait."

Even though the request hadn't been directed towards the sentry, Bates flinched and glanced back towards Dark.

Dark pressed his hands against the cold metal door. "Why are you helping me? You don't owe me anything."

There was hesitation on the other end, and then laughter. "Don't owe you anything? Ha! I owe you for Harrier, if you haven't forgotten. After this, we're even."

"Hey, well, thanks."

"Blackout in 10," Hawk repeated. "And… good luck kid."

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Vaati, who moments before had been carefully crafting the Wishing Cap, was frowning. He wasn't working on the cap anymore, because he couldn't see what he was doing. And not only could he not see what he was doing, but the machines he'd been forced to use to create the cap were also not working. They were, as far as he could tell in the complete darkness, dead chunks of unresponsive metal and wires.

He looked down at his hands he couldn't see, looked up in the general direction where he guessed the cap room was, and then looked down at his hands again to frown some more. A blackout? What were the backup generators doing, unless something had happened to them too? He couldn't see a damned thing!

Taking the special gloves off that let him control the mechanical arms in the room with the cap, the wind mage threw his hands up in the air to give a loud, exasperated sigh. At least, that's what he was going to do until his hands smashed against a screen above his head, causing him to yell out and shake his hands in annoyance. He lit a small ghost light so he could see his surroundings, and then shot a glare at the offending screen that he'd accidentally smacked with his hands.

Well, now what? Vaati thought, kicking his feet up in the desk and leaning back in his chair. He smirked caustically. Guess your fortress still has technical problems, eh, wizzrobe?

Vaati's ears twitched, when he'd suddenly sensed an… anomaly. His summoned servant was using quite a bit of its own magic somewhere. He could feel a faint tickle along his fingertips as some of his own power seeped away from the sentry using it for… whatever it was using it for. Granted it wasn't much, but it was certainly enough to get Vaati to notice.

The sorcerer immediately made mental contact with the sentry, and he saw to his surprise that the thing was in the middle of melting off the lock in Dark's cell with its laser attack. Vaati's eyes narrowed under the ghost light, and one eyebrow rose a few centimeters in surprise.

He watched what was going on some more, and then his focus drifted over to the sentry's copy that was with Hawk and Kestrel. It appeared to be leading the two men into the underground facility through the monorail tracks that Vaati had used to first arrive here.

It was enough for Vaati to put two and two together and figure out what was going on. He sat up in his seat and angrily switched his view back to the sentry that was with Dark. He'd been aware that they had been planning to infiltrate Thistle's underground facility sometime soon, but if today had been the day, why hadn't he been informed of it?!

"Why didn't you tell me about this?" Vaati snarled at the sentry that was busily working away at the lock in Dark's cell.

Bates squeaked in surprise and he shot back away from the lock, stopping his progress on melting the lock. Then, he looked back towards where Dark was standing in the darkness, and then with a determined expression went back to working on the lock. Bates surprised Vaati with a firm, resolute reply. "I apologize for my transgressions, Lord Vaati. I do not have time to explain."

And then, just like that, communication was cut off. It was like someone had cut the phone line and there was no way to contact the other person again.

Vaati stared blankly at the blue ghost light that flickered in front of his face. It took a few minutes for him to register just what, exactly, had happened.

A servant had openly disobeyed him. Disobeyed him. Him.

What the hell?

He probably should have been a lot angrier, but he was too shocked to be mad. Never in all his days (and he had a lot of days, mind you) had a servant, especially one he had summoned, disobeyed him. It was something that just wasn't supposed to happen, so when it finally had, he wasn't really ready for a response.

Then, he also realized he didn't have the time to be mad.

The sentry was right, things were starting up, and he didn't have a whole lot of time to come to a decision on what to do next. His gaze immediately fell on the cap that was sitting on the table behind the thick glass. He'd kept the original design when he worked on it, so hardly anything had changed about its appearance. The frame was a thin gold band that eventually curled in an ornate design around the red gem. The band itself was infused with the Life Force Dugal had collected in the Phantom Hourglass. The cap was made of a deep purple cloth that tapered to a tip. If he'd really wanted, he probably could have made it into a baseball caps just for laughs, but he considered the cap as something sacred, not something to fool around with. He still held a certain respect for the original design, and so he'd decided to keep it. It was almost complete, and all he had to do were the finishing touches for it to become that horridly powerful object.

Thistle was in possession of the last materials needed to complete the cap, but it wasn't something Vaati himself couldn't find. The frame was set, the cloth of the cap was put together, the gem was sitting neatly on the frame, and the careful threading laced with complicated enchantments was already complete. All he had to do was burn some more charms along the side of the frame, and let three drops of blood fall onto the gem.

The only reason why he couldn't finish the cap in his current state, was because the only way for him to finish the step requiring blood was to break past the glass and actually enter the cap room himself.

Now, it wasn't the actual act of breaking into the cap room that was difficult. He could always just teleport into the room and do it. The only problem, however, was the fact that Thistle had warned him that Condor would immediately be alerted and would come after him. He hadn't been able to steal the cap earlier because it would be a declaration of war on Thistle, and it was a war he couldn't win…

But now…

His eyes slowly moved to the right, and then to the left. A small smirk played on his lips as he thought about his options. Right now it was a complete blackout, so any security systems in place wouldn't be online to alert that creepy metal-faced Condor. But let's say Thistle had been extra cautious, and had placed magical enchantments that would alert Condor that there had been a break-in: Vaati would actually be adding to the chaos that Hawk, Kestrel, and Dark would undoubtedly appreciate for their infiltration scheme.

It would be worth it. He pressed his fingers up against the glass, and looked at the terrible cap, sitting deceptively peacefully on the table below him. If he could just get away from this facility with the uncompleted cap, and then finish it before Thistle could find him again, then he could make a wish that would utterly destroy him. He would have everything. He would be free from the reincarnation curse, and he would have the power to stand up against Thistle's control.

Thistle had promised to tell him the secrets of the complete reincarnation spell, which would allow him to come back to life with all of his memories upon death, but why would he need that if he had a cap that could grant any wish he desired?

He pressed against the glass harder. He stared at the cap like a cougar ready to strike. This was it. This was the chance he'd been waiting for. He wouldn't have another chance like this again.

There was a faint flicker and Vaati vanished, only to immediately reappear in the cap room where the wishing cap was sitting. He reached out to grab the cap.

His hand didn't hit the soft cloth of the cap.

Instead, they touched the bony contours of a thin hand.

Vaati's hand snapped back in surprise, and he exhaled sharply. A silhouette stepped out of the darkness, and amused, green eyes glimmered back at him under the ghost light. Weird, unnatural shadows played across the bird mask, and it made the figure look like some kind of underworld monster.

Well, truth was the person in front of him did happen to be a monster.

Vaati's lips were pulled back in a snarl, but a bead of sweat rolled down his nose when he realized who it was. It was over. He'd been too late.

Faint, suppressed chuckles eventually grew to full blown sinister laughter that was all the more chilling within the pitch-dark room, with only a ghost light illuminating the walls. Thistle threw his head back, roaring in laughter, as he held his sides with one hand but never letting go of the cap with the other.

Vaati stood frozen as Thistle eventually wheezed and calmed down. He slipped a finger under his mask to wipe away a few hilarious tears, and caught his breath. "That look on your face," he coughed, "that was so priceless. I'll never forget it."

The wizzrobe picked up the cap, examining it in his hands. "You know, I expected you to do something like this Vaati. I mean, I didn't exactly expect a whole, facility-wide blackout happening but given the situation I thought you'd try something like this. I'm sure Condor or the guards or someone would take care of the blackout eventually; that's not something I care about right now."

Vaati's eyes wandered hurriedly, almost in a panic. What could he do? What should he do now?!

Thistle flicked the red gem on the cap, letting a light tinkle cut through the air. "Ah! But look at this, you're practically done with the cap! Why waste our time then, let's finish this right now and we can celebrate with a few fireworks and champagne, shall we?" The wizzrobe ran a finger across the golden frame of the cap as he muttered some spells under his breath, and red runes sparked across it as his finger slid across slowly. He did this with careful precision, and the whole process took three full minutes where all Vaati could do was stand and watch. Once it was done, Thistle reached over towards one of the metallic claws of the machinery hanging from the walls and pricked his finger. As blood dropped onto the gem, the hat gave off an eerie, almost black light as though it were awakening.

"There! It's done!" Thistle cried proudly as he held up The Wishing Cap. "Kehaha! Oh, this thing is so perfect. I love its design! Its looks just like the drawings in Ezlo's old notes."

Vaati watched in horror as time seemed to slow down. He could swear Thistle was giving him the cheekiest grin from behind that infuriating mask.

"I think this hat looks better on me, too." Thistle threw his hood back from his head, and placed the hat on his head.

The hat.

The Wishing Cap.

It was on Thistle's head.

Vaati's mind pulled a blank. This was the worst possible scenario that could happen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The snarky voice of his Gale personality took over for him because the Vaati personality had become paralyzed.

Well.

Fuck.

fleets: GAME OVER EVERYONE. The story is going to end right here because let's face it, it's over.

Just kidding.

Did you honestly think I was going to make it easy and let someone other than Thistle get first dibs on the hat? Of course not. Well Vaati, at least you tried.
Sorry this is such a troll chapter. Probably one of the worst cliff hangers I've ever ended on, but it was just so much more dramatic to end it here. Anyways, wishing time!

Reily96: It's going to be reaaaaally slow but you'll see bits of it. Eventually. And hurray stuff is actually happening now whooo

Anonymous: Okay I'll start with your chap. 20 review first: Wow that theory... I don't know if it's canon or ever mentioned, but I like it! I didn't put that much thought into what Light Force and Tri Force was, but I just figured all of the force-related objects were triangular, and in PH you get the sand that's also triangular from defeating things, AND in FS games you get force gems from killing monsters... well I just assumed they were related to life/soul in some shape or form. In regards to Minish Cap, I think (and I could be mistaken) that the Minish gave them the Four Sword, but not the Light Force? In that case your theory would make even more sense. In short, yes, I agree and I'm really happy how neatly it falls into place!
Now onto review 21: Everyone wants to wish something, don't they... I'm rubbing my hands together from reading your guess on Thyme's wish, because that's a neat idea and it would work, except! Dun dun dunnn I have a couple of more plot twists that would totally screw that up (one of them being the fact that Thistle got the cap first hehehe).
And you were absolutely right, Vaati is upset that he wasn't told everything. And nooo worries, you can see that Bates is also thinking about Dark at this point ;) He cares about them both equally, but it's just the relationship between him and Dark, and him and Vaati, are totally different.
Well, hugs are awesome! And there can never be too much hugging :D
And OF COURSE you can talk about theory :) Your theory reviews always gives me something to think about, and that is awesome.

Serpent Tailed Angel: Hello! Yup, Dark's had some time now to think about what's coming next. He's pretty rational: staying angry doesn't help solve the problem, so he thinks about potential solutions instead.

xObsessiveGeekx: Thank you! And reading reviews like yours puts a smile on my face. :D I was kind of worried about this story because I was beginning to wonder if it hadn't departed too much from the Zelda-verse, but I'm glad people are sticking around after all this time and still reading :)

Iris Martinez: And here's another update! Thyme's confused, Dark's in trouble, and Vaati's in even more trouble. Can I make things worse for everyone but Thistle? Hmm. Thank you for reviewing so loyally, it makes me happy to see people are enjoying the chapter updates even after so long :)