A/N: Well, I've been picking at this since Halloween. I started it to get my mind off My Bloody Valentine, and now it's like a month later. I'm sorry.

Rewritten as of 4/09/13, completed as of 1/12/13

Chapter 13: Kakariko's Tears

I'm not sure how many times I've said or thought it, but the Twilight is depressing. The colours are all so gloomy and dark, and anyone from the light world appears as just a small green flame. If it were just me, I'd go mad in a place like this.

To get away from the frankly concerning thoughts, I looked around us as we entered the village. This, this was different. Not by much, but it wasn't the mirror-image that Ordon had been. A few more buildings were scattered about, and the whole village was in a state of disarray. And then in the midst of it, lumbering around outside the Sanctuary, were three shadow beasts.

"This is depressing." I said, referring to the state of the village. "Or, is it just me?" I asked.

'It's not just you,' Bethany sighed. 'Let's get this over with, I can't wait to be in the normal world again.'

"Right, that makes how many portals now?" I asked when we finished dealing with the Shadow Beasts.

"A lot. They're marked on your map, right?" Midna asked. Remembering that, I checked and counted the portals on the map. There were six portals now. I held up six fingers once I put my phone away. Then I heard it; the same choiral tone that Link and I had heard in Faron Woods. A light spirit crying for it's lost light. This one sounded weaker, I noted. Almost like it was...dying.

The light spirit Eldin spoke when we approached. It was weak, and whispery. I couldn't tell if the voice was masculine or feminine.

"Heroes chosen by the goddesses... look for... my lost light... Gather the light...stolen by the shadows... into this..." As the spirit spoke, the Vessel of Light materialized, attaching itself to my belt and settling on my hip. "The insects of darkness...they are the...form, taken by the evil that... attached itself to my light..."

Thought I already knew what Eldin would say, I hung on every word the spirit said. It was like seeing the remake of an old movie, where you want to see the differences and the things kept the same.

"In this twilight...the shadow insects are as invisible... as the people from the world of light are... with the last of my power... let me mark your map with... the locations of the shadow insects... and allow... the young woman to see..."

Then two things happened at once. My phone buzzed in my pouch, and my eyes tingled again like they had when Faron gave me the ability to see the tears of light. Bethany's eyes widened, I saw in my peripheral vision. I gave her a 'what?' look. She didn't have time to answer before the spirit spoke again.

"But... beware... the darkness now hunts you..all."

Well, if that wasn't worrying, I didn't know what was. It was also thought-provoking. Was it just Zant's darkness that Eldin was referring to? Or was there someone else, maybe someone from my past, that was planning to resurface soon? Sure, things hadn't deviated much from the game's storyline yet, but how long would that last? I didn't know, but it was worrying all the same.

Then there was another thought nagging my mind; what would happen when the game was finished? The only epilogue Twilight Princess had was in the credits, where everybody's returning home and going back to some semblance of normal. But it wasn't like they showed what happened after that. Life went on, I knew that, but was it quiet or was there more to deal with?

I'd have to cross that bridge when I came to it.

"Okay, looks like we've got another bug hunt on our hands. Bethany, you know where to find them, right? We've only gone one map." I said, getting a nod from my friend.

'I watched you enough times, I've basically memorized them.' she said. Not as well as she had Wind Waker memorized, I knew, but well enough.

"Great. We can get this done a lot quicker if we split up. I think the two of you should get the ones on the mountain. I'll get the ones down here in the meantime, and then we can get the rest together." I suggested. I saw Bethany nod, but Link and Midna looked sceptical.

"How does she know where the dark insects are?"

'What if more Shadow Beasts come?'

The questions were asked at the same time, the first of which I wasn't sure how to answer.

"I'll explain the 'how' later, but let's just say I'm not the only outsider who knows more than someone from another world should. And with that, I also know that no Shadow Beasts are going to show up. Well, there's one more group of them up at Death Mountain, but they're easy. Now, can we get going?"

Still looking unconvinced, Link nodded before turning to the mountain, taking off at a run with Bethany close beside him. Once they were out of sight, I set out towards the hotel. There were two bugs inside, I remembered, and two twilit Bulblins.

The Bulblins were easy enough to deal with, and the only issue I had was dealing with my uncooperative map, which had decided to freeze up on me and not show where the bug was hiding. Only for a few seconds, though. I also noticed in an unoccupied corner of my mind that it was raining outside when I heard the pattering of raindrops on the doof. I was just glad it wasn't snowing yet, and that Winter was still a distance off. I was not looking forward to Snowpeak. I'd have to get warmer clothes. I was also glad I still had my cloak, even if it had holes in the shoulders from my Kargorok misadventure the previous morning.

It should be noted that, while warm, the cloak that Uli gave me was in now way waterproof, and that when wet, said cloak became very heavy.

After coming to this realization - and knowing there was nothing I could do about it - as I exited the motel, thoughts that I'd pushed back more and more often as my memories resurfaced more and more started coming up to the forefront of my mind again, demanding attention. Thoughts about my life, new and old, my family on earth, the memories that I still had yet to recover, my friends. Though, there was one thought in particular poking at me more than the others; what did Astaroth want so badly, that I apparently had? What warranted attacking an entire town. just for one girl? Warranted killing so many people?

...Astaroth was a madman- or, demon- and I doubted that his plans even took the death toll into account, especially the human/hylian count. I still wanted answers, though.

Again, I'd have to cross that bridge when I came to it.

I blinked in surprise when a raindrop suddenly dropped into my eye, jolting me back into reality. It didn't take long maybe five seconds, to also realize that while I'd been lost in my thoughts, I'd been standing out in the open rain and was now soaked to my skin. And cold.

As cold as I was, the clean water was refreshing on my skin. I hadn't had a chance to properly clean off since before the attack, and the feel of clean water was a welcome relief. That didn't change the fact that it was freezing cold.

Unfortunately, I couldn't just stand in the rain forever. The sound of a Twilit Kargorok nearby alerted me to that fact. I quickly decided to get the next tears in the little boarded up house across from the motel.

I had to fight off one of the aforementioned Kargoroks on my way to the roof, and those pesky little raven... things. It wasn't fun, putting it lightly.

Once I was done in the house, as well as Barnes' shop, my next targets were in the bomb storage and the lookout. I knew Bethany and Link had to at least be finishing up on the mountain by now. I picked up the pace, not wanting to keep them waiting if they got down before I finished.

I started with the bomb storage. At first, I wasn't sure how I was going to get in, I certainly couldn't dig in like Link had in the game. I tried the door, thinking maybe it was unlocked. It wasn't, but it seemed... structurally unsound, so to speak. Like it would break off with enough force...

Judging from the protesting squeals of the hinges at the slightest rattle, "enough force" wouldn't even need to be all that much.

"Okay... let's give this a go..." I muttered, before throwing my weight into the door. I wasn't expecting it to give as easily as it had, and I fell with it before I could catch myself. I ended up landing with the doorknob digging into my lower ribs. Ow. That was rude. I winced, getting to my feet. That could have gone much better.

Wanting to get out as quick as I could, I lit the fire in the corner to smoke the bugs out of the chimney. In my haste, I'd forgotten that the bugs didn't just come out... they came out on fire, which lit up the whole bomb storage.

I got out quick, pulling the door up behind me so the bugs wouldn't get out. I started running the second I was out, wanting to get far enough away from the impending-

Boom!

-explosion... I stumbled at the sudden shaking of the ground, followed by an almost shockwave at my back. I moved quicker, using Farore's Wind to get further away to avoid parts of the storage building that had completely blown off in the initial explosion.

When the dust cleared, the three tears were floating innocently in the storage house's remains. I saw the rubble that had scattered everywhere hadn't really gone all that far, and there was minimal damage to the building beneath it, beside the bomb shop. My ears were ringing as I got to my feet, disorienting me. On a particularly slippery part of the ground, slick from the rainwater mixing with the dirt, I slipped and fell, landing with a wet splash on the muddy ground. I sat there for a second or two as the mud seeped into my cloak, and my hair, and my back, not only soaking me more but making me dirtier as well. The sound of another Kargorok reminded me that I couldn't sit around much longer.

Bethany and Link were back in the village by the time I exited the other storage building atop the lookout. The rain also appeared to be dying down. I hurried to join my friends on solid ground, nearly slipping again on Barnes' roof. I used Farore's Wind again to safely get back to the ground.

"You guys good?" I asked. The two of them nodded.

'Are you? You're soaked.' Bethany pointed out.

"Yep, I'm fine. A little messy, a little cold and yes, soaked, but I'm fine." I answered. Honestly, I was more than a little cold and messy, though. I had mud all in my hair from slipping earlier, and it had soaked into my shirt, too.

'Where's your cloak?' Link asked. I pointed up at the lookout.

"It was soaking wet, and weighing me down, so I left it up there. I'll get it later. And, the only bugs left are in the sanctuary and the graveyard."

'I'll get the one in the graveyard.' Link volunteered. Bethany and I would wait behind, heading towards the Sanctuary. I yawned.

'Tired?' Bethany asked. I nodded. 'Same. We've been going and going since we left the Forest Temple...'

That was true. We'd been up since that morning in Hyrule Field. When we got the bridge, it had been nighttime. Who knew what time it was now.

"Death Mountain's coming up fast. We'll have to rest up. Though... I'm not sure how the three of us will be able to get through it together. Unless we can make two more sets of Iron Boots, which I don't think we can."

'You've got Farore's Wind.' Bethany reminded me. 'You could probably go through the mines using that.' she suggested. I just shrugged.

"I guess I could..." I mused. It wouldn't be that hard, except for the drain on my energy. I voiced this to Bethany.

'That's true, I guess we'll just figure it out when we can.' she agreed. Shortly after, there was a little burst of like from the tears' vessel. Another tear was there. Now we only needed three more.

"Finally..." I whispered. We could get out of there, back into the light world. "Come on, we'll meet Link on the roof." I pointed to said roof once we reached the sanctuary.

Once I was up on the sanctuary roof, Bethany and I had a conversation similar to the one we had in the forest temple. Well, if one could really even call it a conversation.

'Are you sure the roof will hold me?' she asked. I rolled my eyes, sighing and poking my head out into her view. My instincts screamed at me to get as far away from the edge - that was actually quite high up - as possible, but I forced myself to ignore it.

"Let's not start this again. Just get up here. We'll be going down again soon anyways." I reminded her. Well, falling down soon, but it was basically the same. And then we could get out.

'I know, but I don't want to break even more of the roof...' she grumbled with a huff.

"You won't. Other than the one spot, it's sturdy, so get up here." I ordered impatiently.

With another huff, Bethany finally nodded, flaring her wings with her muscles bunched, before leaping into the air. My basic human fight-or-flight instinct kicked me at the sudden black preadator flying towards me, but I just sidestepped a few times to give her an easier landing.

Bethany landed - surprisingly softly- about a metre away from me. We just sat there for a second, Bethany practically radiating giddiness and me just staring at her. It'd be weird to know that you were staring at a dragon, who also happened to be your best friend that you'd known since infancy, wouldn't it?

The sound of running paws on the wet ground below us alerted me when Link returned. I leaned over to beckon him up when he came into sight.

"Come on up, you can climb up over there." I pointed to the place where he and Midna could climb up. It was different watching from above than it was from behind like it was in the game.

I saw Link's curious gaze when he reached us, I was just waiting for his question.

'Why the roof?'

"The door's locked." I said with a shrug. That, and breaking the ceiling would probably motivate the villagers to make their defenses a bit stronger.

'Right, so how do we get do-' Bethany's question was cut off with a yelp and a wooden 'crack'. She'd stepped right on the weak part of the roof and had fallen though.

"Watch out for the broken section of the ceiling." I called unhelpfully. I got an answering growl and a 'Shut up' from below. I knew she was alright, probably just startled and grouchy.

"Alright, I'm coming down next." Aside from that, the only warning my dragon friend got was a flash of green beside her, then I was there. "Okay, not doing that again for awhile..." I mumbled to myself. I was already drained, using my powers wasn't helping. Now it was just Link that needed to get down.

Before I could call up to Link something caught my eye. Or rather, several somethings. Too many for the village kids, Shaman and the bomb-maker. Too many spirits.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... Eight? Nine, ten eleven?" I counted aloud, confused. "There can't be that many... Way too many..." I continued muttering to myself. Eleven spirits were in the sanctuary, that was way too many. But maybe there were more survivors. The village had once been full of people, having only three left plus the village kids just seemed too little. That would also make more sense with the few extra houses I'd seen.

'Rose! It's Carmen!' Bethany whispered quickly. I whirled quickly to face the dragon -and briefly saw Link in my peripheral- with wide eyes. The situation definitely hinted towards who the other "traveller" would be. I was there, Bethany was, now Carmen. There was no way that was a coincidence, so the signs pointed to Scott being here, alive and well. But I still had no way to be sure, so I'd keep quiet.

To my dismay, I still had no way to see spirits. I didn't know what was happening with the villagers, so I had to rely on my friends to relay what they were saying. I learned that aside from Carmen and the regular villagers from the game, there was a woman named Aren, her son Ben, and a young woman named Twill.

"Aw... These kids knew you'd come to save them! What a hero!" Midna giggled. "How sad, to be right in front of someone and not be noticed at all..." she sighed in mock-sympathy, and I rolled my eyes.

"Nothing like rubbing it in his face..." I muttered.

"Sorry. You are chosen by the gots, and that's the only thing that's keeping you from becoming spirit. Or worse, a dark monster. And no one even knows what you've done. You may be doomed to obscurity forever..."

I scoffed at that, though honestly I didn't know which would be worse; Saving Hyrule and having no one know it was us, or saving Hyrule and having everyone know it was us.

"Anyway, what's with having to light candles to get to the basement? Not very subtle, is it?" Midna continued speaking, almost sounding mocking and incredulous.

"And you would know everything about subtlety, wouldn't you?" I asked sarcastically. She glared at me and I ignored her, looking to Bethany and gesturing to the candles.

'Already on it!'

With that, Bethany shot little jets of flame towards each of the candles. Once the last one was lit, the statue of Eldin in the middle of the sanctuary slid across the floor, revealing the entrance to the cellar.

"Magic.." I muttered under my breath. There was just no way to explain magic. It just... did things because it could. With that, I jumped down into the cellar, my friends following closely behind. Wanting to get this done as quickly as possible I didn't wait, running down the surprisingly long dug-out tunnel that led to the larger area of the cellar. As usual, I fought the well-engrained urge to go in the opposite direction when it came to the dark insects that were basically the size of a volleyball. Bugs that size were just... wrong. Without wasting time, I took the first of the bugs out before it knew what hit it. Link got another, and Bethany got the last one by, of all things, sneezing.

My guess is the dust in the room was too much for her nose to handle, so she sneezed. In doing so, she sent out a burst of flames that hit the final bug straight-on. I couldn't help my laughter at this, things like that were seen in cartoons, I'd never expect to see it in real life. Bethany narrowed her eyes at me, before pawing at her snout with a whine.

'Stop laughing at my misfortune!' she grumbled as the last tears flew into the vessel. With a chime similar to the Light Spirit's mourning cries earlier, the vessel began to glow bright blue, so bright that my vision went completely white, and I knew soon I'd be back in the world of light. Back with a human Link and Bethany, back with Carmen and the villagers. Back to normal.

Well, more normal than anything else I'd had to deal with recently.

A/N: Finally, I finished! So sorry to keep everyone waiting, I seem to be doing that a lot, but I hope you liked it! Leave a review below?