Chapter 26: Day of Rest

My reaction was instant.

"Link!" I exclaimed happily. Before I realized what I was doing, I practically sprinted to him, throwing my arms around him in a hug. Then my mind caught up with my body, and I realized what I was doing. I felt myself blushing as I went to pull back, but found I couldn't. And the aforementioned blush deepened when I realized Link was hugging me back. And he was almost a head taller than me, so it felt like I was a child hugging an adult.

I felt more than heard him laugh as he let go of me.

"Glad to see you too, sleepyhead." he said, the laugh still in his voice. I grinned at him again. Then I had a thought.

"Did you get the Zora Armor?" I whispered. He nodded his head at me, briefly glancing towards his bag. Renado then appeared at the top of the stairs.

"It is very fortunate I removed the arrow when I did. Had I not, we would not have discovered the poison in time, and you would have been lost to us." he said as he descended the stairs.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, curious.

"Five days. Your friends, and your brother, did not leave your side until just yesterday." the shaman answered. Well, that explained the dry throat, stiff limbs and the fact that I felt like my stomach planned to devour itself.

"Rose, can I talk to you for a second?" Link asked. I could tell he meant alone. I nodded my head, but it seemed Renado was going to protest. "We won't be long." Link assured him as he opened the door to outside.

"So, what did you wanna talk about?" I asked. Link had led me to the building at the lookout, our best bet for privacy. With a small sigh, he pulled two folded bundles from his pouch. I frowned slightly as I recognized both of them. Two sets of Zora armor. This was just getting stupid.

"As much as I appreciate that, I'm pretty sure there's only supposed to be one set of Zora Armor." I stated as the pieces fit together. Link just shrugged, but looked like he was preparing to say something difficult.

"I have something I need to tell you." he said. I waited patiently for him to continue. "I...I want you to stay here in Kakariko." he quite suddenly blurted out. A tidal-wave of scattered, incomplete thoughts ran through my brain;

'Danger. He doesn't know what's coming. He needs my help. He could die. He needs me. Why does he want to leave me here. Because I'm a danger magnet. I don't want to get in the way. He needs me. One little slip and we're both dead. But I know so much. He just has the best interests at heart. Stupid overprotectiveness.'

When my words rearranged themselves, I said, "I'd ask why, but that's plainly obvious." He seemed relieved at that. "But that doesn't mean I'm staying here." I added, and he frowned.

"Rose-"

"No. Link, this is my responsibility as much as it is yours. We both have a part of the Triforce in us -even if four pieces of a Triforce makes no sense- and it's both of our obligations to defend Hyrule." I said forcefully. His frown deepened. Clearly, he didn't agree.

"You almost died." he said coolly. "I wouldn't live with myself if you died tagging along in this." I rolled my eyes. I wasn't a tagalong. I knew it, and I knew he did too.

"But it's not your choice to make, whether I stay here or don't. Like I said, it's as much my responsibility as it is yours. And no way am I leaving you to go to the Lakebed Temple on your own. You don't know what's down there." I insisted.

"And you do?" he countered.

"Yep. Chu's, Tektites, Helmasaurs, monster jellyfish, giant man-eating clams, and I'm pretty sure some Lizalfos as well. Among other things. After that, there's also this really gross frog thing, and a creepy monster called a Morpheel." I listed, ticking each creature off with my fingers.

"I still think you should stay here." Link returned to our initial disagreement. I shook my head.

"I can use my magic to defend myself, and in case you haven't noticed, I have decent sword and archery skills." I argued. Link let out an exasperated sigh.

"Because of me."

"Yes, I know that part. Thanks, by the way."

"Can you not be difficult? Please?" His voice was softer as he asked this. He truly sounded worried, but I knew I was in the right. I wasn't abandoning him to go through all of this with only Midna.

"No, I can't do that. I know how things work around here, you don't often see many female warriors, but I'm not a porcelain doll. I can handle a few scrapes and cuts."

"And arrow wounds?" Link added with a humourless laugh. I poked his arm.

"You got shot with an arrow too, I was just unlucky enough to be hit with a poisoned one. Hey, do you think we can stop in castle town before we go to the Lakebed temple? I need to find someone there." I asked, remembering Roran's words about Scott. Link sighed again.

"I'm not talking you out of this, am I?" he asked rhetorically. I shook my head with a triumphant grin.

"Nope. When are we leaving?" I asked.

"After you recover." he instantly replied. Minda, as it appeared, disagreed.

"No way, Mister Big Important Hero!" she snapped, flying up from his shadow. "We've wasted enough time in this dumb village, let's go already!"

"Oi, don't knock the village!" I exclaimed. "It's...cozy.." I defended quietly when she gave me a look. She rolled her eyes.

"Very funny." she deadpanned. "Seriously, we have to get that last fused shadow." Then I remembered something else.

"And to get into the place where the fused shadow is, we need bombs." I cut off whatever Link had been about to say. He gave me a curious look, and I knew he already had bombs in his bomb-bag. "Water bombs." I clarified. Then I knew I confused him. "I don't get it either, but for some reason the water bombs, well, are able to explode under water." I added with a shrug.

"Does Barnes have water bombs now?" Link asked. I nodded. Then his eyes flashed as he remembered something. He laughed sheepishly. "I, uh, don't have any rupees." he said, embarrassed. I giggled.

"I've got us covered." I said, pulling my small rupee wallet from my pouch and shaking it around. The rupees clinked and jingled as they hit each other. Link chuckled, and we left the storage shed.

"Midna, can we make a compromise?" I asked as we walked down the hill. She appeared, and nodded her head. "We stay one more night, here in the village, and we don't stop in Castle Town until after we've got the last fused shadow." I proposed. She thought about it for almost a minute before reluctantly nodding her head.

"Fine." she sighed, disappearing back into Link's shadow.

Bethany looked out the window, watching as her best friend walked down the hill with a person she once thought was nothing more than fiction. As much as she liked Hyrule, she had to admit that she missed when her life was simple, and easy. When the worst thing she had to worry about was an upcoming test she forgot to study for, not wondering when the next monster would attack the peaceful little village. More than anything, she missed hanging out with her best friends, talking and laughing, being silly..

Celia - Rose, Bethany reminded herself - had changed. She seemed so much more mature, and reserved. Not even two months ago, she would have been happy, and hyper like she used to be. But now, she was distant. Bethany hardly ever saw her anymore, and when she did come back, either she or Link were injured.

"Hey." Bethany forced herself not to jump when Carmen's voice suddenly sounded from beside her.

"Hey." she greeted in return.

"You look lost in your thoughts." she commented. With a sigh, Beth nodded her head.

"Just thinking of home."

Carmen thought on that for a few minutes, and they heard Link and Rose enter the inn again, their laughter echoing upstairs and into their room.

"You know what I miss? Proper, honest-to-god showers." Carmen stated. Bethany nodded her agreement.

"I miss my bed, with five pillows and a huge duvet." Bethany responded, and both girls laughed. They traded back and forth for a few minutes, everything from pets to even school. It trailed off for another few minutes, before Bethany thought of something.

"Carmen, you said your mother was teaching you Russian... was she getting anywhere with it?"

"YA nadeyus' chto eto otvetil na vash vopros." Carmen responded. Bethany gaped for a moment, before starting to laugh.

"Translation please?" she asked, and Carmen laughed with her.

" I said, 'I hope this answers your question.'" she giggled.

"You two sure sound happy," Rose suddenly commented from the door. The two girls turned, and Bethany asked, "Did you know Natalia taught Carmen how to speak Russian?"

Rose shook her head, coming unto the room and sitting down on the bed with the other two girls. Carmen entertained the older girls for nearly an hour, translating random phrases for them when they asked.

Later on, they listened to music. While Rose's 'monster phone's main function had shifted from communication to a map, it still had Celia's old music on there. It was refreshing to be reminded of home. Soon, they'd drawn the attention of the children, who all wanted to hear the music from Carmen and Bethany's world.

All in all, it looked to be a fun day.

"Well, that was productive." Rose said aloud as she entered hers, Carmen's, and Bethany's room that night. In the course of the day, she'd managed to find out what she could and couldn't do physically, taught Carmen how to use a sword (even if only for defense), had a nice conversation with Ilia, and helped her clean Epona. Well, there was also that one thing that stood out the most in her mind...

"Bethany, what is it?" she asked as she saw the more-than-a-little-scared expression her friend wore on her face. She looked like she'd just spaced out for a second, and then she'd looked scared.

"I think...something happened that night, when you came back here. I mean, besides the obvious part where you almost died."

Rose waited for her friend to continue.

"I thought it was just a dream, but...I think... I think I was a dragon again, but I don't know why, or how. I just remember hearing this voice in the back of my head, and then I went all...Night Fury." Bethany tried to explain, making shapes and gestures with her hands - that were completely irrelevant to the sentence - trying to make it make sense.

"You mean..." Rose trailed off as she tried to fit the pieces together in her mind. The black shape, the high-pitched whistling coming from the air, and how the wolf just caught fire like nothing. Then it made sense. "That was you, wasn't it? You changed again, and you...you saved Link." she whispered. Bethany shrugged.

"I guess so. But I'd just really be interested to know why I turned into a Night Fury again. And why this guy Hael is pretty much starring in every dream I've had recently."

Rose tensed at the name, and anger stirred in her stomach even hearing it.

"Hael? You're sure his name was Hael?" she asked between slightly clenched teeth. Bethany nodded, not understanding her best friend's instant change in mood.

"Yeah, why? Did you...know him or something?" she asked confusedly.

"I guess you could say that. He used to be one of my dad's friends, but he's also the reason he, and so many other people, are now dead." Rose muttered. She then proceeded to explain who exactly Hael was, and who had had been. And, she learned something intriguing in the process.

"That wasn't his fault! He was under a curse!" Bethany exclaimed. Rose was surprised at how quick her friend had been to defend him when the word 'traitor' came up. She gave Bethany a look that said, 'Explanations are in order here.'

"In one of the first dreams I had of him, I heard him mention something about a curse that works the same way the Imperius curse works. He also said that the counterspell wouldn't work for long, before he was a puppet to the demon king again, as he put it." Bethany explained. Rose sucked in a sharp breath as the realization hit her.

Hael was one of her father's best friends, so why would he betray him? Simple, he wouldn't, unless it was against his will. He'd been cursed into doing it.

She felt bad for what she'd previously thought of Hael. But since Lanayru hadn't shown her that part, she couldn't completely take the blame.

That had certainly been an interesting conversation. One which gave Rose a lot to think over. Why had Bethany turned into a dragon again? Not that she wasn't grateful that Beth had saved hers and Link's necks, but she was curious. The Twilight hadn't come back again, she knew, so that could be ruled out pretty quickly. But then she had a random thought, one that fit the last piece into place.

'Who says memories can only come back when you're awake?'

"That's it!" Rose practically yelled, but covered her mouth with her hands to muffle it. Carmen and Beth both stirred, but didn't wake. Rose then continued her thoughts, in her head.

Bethany could be from Hyrule too! If the dreams she'd told Rose about were any indication, that is... And the dragon thing! General Hael was the commander of Astaroth's fleet for a reason; he was among the extremely rare, next to 0.1% of the Hyrulian population that could shapeshift. It was like being an Animagus, only without all the pesky spell work. From what she knew, after having researched shapeshifters, it was passed down genetically. And, again, if the dreams were any indication...

"For Din's sake..." Rose muttered. "I'd bet every rupee in Hyrule that's why Beth didn't turn into a spirit."

A/N: So, looks like Rose figured something out! I'm sure you guys can figure it out, you're smart :)