A/N:I'm finally getting all of this done, and it feels good! This one I changed majorly, in case that wasn't expected. But soon, it'll be getting to the point where I won't have to

Rewritten as of 10/19/13, completed as of 10/24/13

Chapter 11: Awkward

It was a slow morning, at least until we were all awake. I still had a little bit of the food Uli gave me before we left, and shared what was left among the three of us. I'd offered a bit to Midna but she'd -rudely- declined. As we got ready to leave, I asked Link if we could practice our sword training for a little while, to which he replied with, "I don't see why not."

I wasn't comfortable enough, or ready enough, to use my real sword in our training, so I quickly got two well-sized sticks from the woods, straight and long enough to use as practice swords.

We practiced solo for about half an hour before beginning to spar. I was getting a lot better, but I was still no match for Link. About halfway into our third round, I felt my pouch vibrate -because of my phone, I'd later realize- and a second later a familiar tone practically screeched out of my phone speaker.

"OhmygodOhmygodOhmygodOhmygodOhmygod, I'm in SPACE!"

I dropped the mock sword at the sudden voice of Portal 2's Space Core, which I remembered I'd set as my ringtone for reminders some time ago. I'd completely forgotten! That...was awkward. I felt Bethany and Link's eyes on me as I dug my phone out of my bag to check the reminder.

.::Bethany's birthday in: 7 days::,

Right! Bethany's birthday was just two weeks after mine! How could I have forgotten that? She was practically my sister!

Well, now I was glad I'd thought to set a reminder,even if it did end up initiating an extremely awkward moment in the middle of a training session. But whatever embarrassment I currently felt was dissolved when I saw the look on Link's face. He looked...disturbed. I muffled a giggle, but the icing on the cake was when the tone repeated itself. They did that if I didn't unlock my phone, which I hadn't. Then the dam broke, and I was nearly doubling over. It was a bit silly to be laughing over it, but it had already been too long since I'd laughed this hard.

Bethany was laughing with me, and I quickly unlocked my phone to prevent a second repeat. About half a second too late.

"What's so funny?" Link asked, and I brifely noted he was still looking curiously at my phone. I couldn't answer him right away, but once I'd composed myself enough, I said,, "Sorry, it's just-" I stopped mid-sentence to take one more deep breath, and then I was completely over my laughing fit. "Your face... you just looked really weirded out." And I didn't blame him. "That, and...that, was entirely unexpected. It was funny." I finished lamely. He just sighed, trying to hide his amusement.

"Shall we continue then?" he gestured to the practice sword I'd dropped. I thought about that for a second. The sparring was fun, and doing me a world of good, but we were kinda on the clock.

"Well... we've been at this for almost an hour, and the Twilight won't wait for us... we should go." I voiced my thoughts. Both Link and Bethany - who I noticed had recovered from her own laughing fit- nodded their heads.

It only took us a few minutes to pack before we were off again. We talked nearly the whole way across the field, sharing stories and telling about the places and people involved. Until something unexpected happened, that is. Well, not entirely unexpected, but all the same.

I yelped (screamed) in surprise when I felt large talons grabbing onto my shoulders, and my feet were no longer on the ground. I heard Bethany's exclamation of surprise, as well as Link's voice calling something I couldn't quite make out. Then I looked up -which, by the way, when you're afraid of heights isn't much better than looking down- at an annoyingly familiar and annoying birdlike squawk. A Kargorok. A freakin' Kargorok was trying to carry me off. And, it was huge, much bigger than I'd expected.

"Ugh!" Put me down!" I yelled, and my voice would have probably sounded more commanding, more angry, if it hadn't cracked mid-sentence. I kicked my feet and struggled in vain, trying to get to my sword or get out of it's grip. When I'd nearly squirmed out, the talons gripped me tighter, the sharp ends tearing through the fabric of both my thick cloak and the shirt underneath, digging into my skin. One of the talons' points was digging into a particularly bony spot on my shoulder, making me try and fail to suppress a pained noise.

Then out of nowhere there was the sound of a hard thd, another squawk, and I was falling. I fell for about two seconds. The landing wasn't hard like I'd expected, nor was it associated with the unforgiving grass and soil. Instead it was accompanied with a pair of strong arms and a green tunic; Link had caught me. I don't know now why that surprised me as much as it did.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and I noticed he sounded a little winded. I nodded, a bit shakily.

"I guess we'd better keep an eye out for those things, huh?" I asked, and he let out a chuckle.

"Hell yes! I am not about to let my friend get carried off by a freaking Pterodactyl!" Bethany exclaimed when she caught up, and I noticed she had Link's slingshot in her hand. So she'd been the one to shoot the Kargorok down. She seemed to be having a lot of fun with projectiles lately.

"It's a Kargorok, actually." I corrected like the smart-aleck I was. "Thanks, by the way." I added. She rolled her eyes at me as Link set me on my feet. I held onto his forearm without realizing as I righted myself, blushing red at the smirk I saw Bethany shoot my way. She knew about the "thing" I'd had for the previous-fictional hero in green, and I had no doubt I'd never hear the end of it now that he was real.

Ugh, I was in trouble.

"Heyy!" a voice sounded off, bringing me back. I resisted the urge to groan; the mailman was here. He wasn't as bad as I'm making him sound, I'd just played Twilight Princess so many times that I knew basically everything he had to say.

"Go no further!" he said as he reached us. "The path ahead is blocked by a black wall! I thought I would deliver a few letters, but it seems impossible." he seemed disheartened to explain this. I remembered he was like the postman in Majora's Mask; delivering letters was like a passion to him.

"Who are you?" Bethany asked. The postman turned to her.

"I am the honourable and dependable letter carrier, known to some as the Postman." he introduced himself with a bow. I raised an eyebrow. He seemed very proud of that. Then again, descendant of Majora's Mask Postman. "Now that I have introduced myseld, please! Take this letter and read it at your leisure!" he pulled a letter from his pack and handed it to Link. "Well, my business is concluded! Onward to mail!" he declared before running off. I stared after him for a moment before bringing a hand to my face.

"He is so strange..." I muttered under my breath. Bethany giggled, and Link was reading through the letter.

"Well, we should get going. The Twilight's right there." she said, picking up the pace a bit. If I didn't know her as well as I did, I wouldn't have noticed the nervous edge in her voice. But since I did, I heard it. She was just as worried as I was for her. We didn't know what would happen to her in the Twilight.

"Hey, it was much closer than I thought..." Midna mused as we reached the Twilight Barrier. "You remember, right? You know what this is?" she asked. "If you set foot in there, you might be a wolf again for quite some time. And, who knows what she'll do..." she gestured to Bethany when she finished. Even she seemed a little worried.

"At least as long as it takes us to save Eldin's light, anyways." I supplied a general time to Link.

"So, do you want me to let you three into the Twilight?" Midna asked us. The three of us nodded. Midna then entered the Barrier, creating the familiar ripple, and moments later her magic... appendage was reaching out and pulling us in.

A/N: I'm amazed (and pleased) with how fast I'm finishing these. Just shows how much it helps to work on it in my spare class time. Are you pleased? Hope you enjoyed!