A/N: This chapter was added for several reasons. One: I wanted a scene where the main characters were alone and not in danger of being killed (they haven't had a real chance to just sit down and talk). Two: I wanted to note a few things that I did not note in previous chapters.

What are those things you might ask? You'll have to read to find out.

On another note, I updated my profile pic. It contains a pic of the Symbol etched into Cody's blade (in case anyone is interested).

Chapter 14: Camping Out

Link:

We were roughly halfway to Kakariko before I insisted that we stop for the night. At first Zelda and Malon objected, noting that camping out in Hyrule Field at night was tantamount to suicide. After telling them about the Staff of Sanctuary, they reluctantly agreed.

To be honest, I was surprised by how well it worked. As night fell over the field, there were no signs of the Stalchilds. We were camped out next to a tree not far from the road. The wagon sat parked next to the tree, and the horses were grazing close by. We set up a fire a short distance from the wagon (do not want to light our supplies on fire). Zelda, Malon, and I sat huddled around the campfire. Cody was sitting next to the wagon, Via's green glow providing the only light around him.

"Why is he being so unsociable," I muttered as I watched him.

"Now, now. He's had a rough time," Zelda said, smiling at me, "I think we can forgive him."

I sighed, "He still hasn't told us how he got the Orb of Winds. And did you see his new boots?"

Malon was being uncharacteristically quiet. She kept glancing at Cody, not paying much attention to the current conversation.

"You okay Malon?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh as she turned back towards the fire, "I was just thinking."

"About what?" Zelda asked.

"Well, I talked with Cody last night…"

She told us all about what Cody had been up to while we were fighting Aviosis. I was dismayed to hear that Malgum was on to us…

"Why the hell didn't he tell us this sooner!" I yelled.

I stood up, determined to march over there and give him a piece of my mind. However, Malon grabbed me by the back of my tunic and pulled me back down into a sitting position.

"I'm sorry Link, but he had his reasons," Malon told me, "it wouldn't have made a difference if he had told you then or now."

"We'll never know now…" I said, still a little angry. If I had known, I would have insisted that we skip the Kokiri lunch/dinner party.

While Malon and I had our little exchange, Zelda was watching Cody.

"You know," Zelda said, sounding thoughtful, "I've been wondering…"

"About what?" I said, turning back to Zelda.

"Why was someone without any combat experience chosen to be the Hero of Dimensions?"

To be honest, I could not fathom why the goddesses would have chosen someone such as Cody to be the wielder of a power as great as the Dimensional Sword.

Malon immediately came to Cody's defense, "He may not be much of a fighter yet, but he is brave."

I could not help but snort, "Brave! More like reckless. Twice he almost got himself killed and all because he got angry."

Malon finally lost her temper, "Why do you hate him so much!"

This brought me up short, "What?"

"What do you mean, what! You haven't exactly made it a secret! What do you have against him!"

I opened my mouth to answer… then just as quickly closed it.

To be honest, I did not know why I disliked Cody so much. There was something about him that set me on edge. While it was true that Cody often annoyed me, that alone would not be sufficient enough to cause me to act the way that I had been acting towards him.

He did some things wrong, but that did not excuse my actions.

"I guess I really don't know…"

"We need to be more patient with him," Zelda said, "You heard what Rauru told him about the orbs. He's far from home and he wasn't given a choice in the matter. We're lucky that he is willing to help us out at all."

"Maybe your both right," I said, "maybe I should try to be a bit more understanding."

"That's good," Zelda nodded happily.

We sat there in silence for a minute when Malon stood up, "I'm going to go keep Cody company for a little while. He looks pretty lonely."

She left the campfire and headed over towards the wagon.

After she left, Zelda slid over next to me and whispered in my ear, "Don't you notice something strange about Malon?"

"Should I?" I asked.

Zelda giggled (I still cannot get over how different she has been acting), "It seems pretty obvious to me."

I rolled my eyes, "Maybe you should enlighten me."

"Sure thing," she said, grinning, "Malon likes Mr. Williams"

I vaguely remember Zelda mentioning that the other day…

"She certainly seems to be acting rather friendly towards him," I said thoughtfully.

"Of course," Zelda said, sounding delighted, "She has a crush on him."

I shrugged, "I guess it's possible. However, she hasn't known him for all that long."

"When it comes to a crush, it doesn't really matter."

"Overheard that from one of the chamber maids?" I asked, smirking. It was hard to take someone seriously when they had never been in situations like the ones they were describing.

She stuck her tongue out at me. Strange…

"It seems almost like old times," Zelda said thoughtfully, after settling down a bit.

"What does?"

"You know," Zelda said with a smile, "constant traveling, trying to stay one step ahead of the man who is out to destroy Hyrule…"

I grinned, "I don't know, it actually seems easier to me. Malgum hasn't exactly taken over Hyrule."

She grinned back at me, "True."

"Hey," I said, suddenly remembering something, "Whatever happened to Ganondorf anyway?"

Zelda frowned thoughtfully, "Thanks to your information, Ganondorf's coupe was discovered before it could take place. He was supposed to be executed by the sacred sages in the desert. Why? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing in partic… Sacred sages?"

"Yeah," she said nonchalantly, "apparently there are other sages. I don't know if or how they are related to me, Saria, and the rest of us."

"Oh," I said, a little shocked, "I guess you learn something new everyday."

Cody:

"I-I guess you don't like company much either, d-do you?"

"It's not that…" I said quietly.

I always turned introspective at night. Whenever this happened, I usually preferred to be alone. In the past, I would usually just mull over all the events that had happened that day. Now however…

When did things get so complicated? It used to be that the only things I would worry about would be homework, bullies, or whether or not I could beat the game I was stuck on. Now I am worried about whether or not I will die tomorrow…

I was brought out my introspection when Via let out a frightened 'Eep!' and dove into my hood. I looked up to see Malon approaching.

"Is it all right if I sit here?" she asked, looking uncertain.

I shrugged, "I don't mind."

I kind of did, but I was not about to insult the one person in this world who respected me for me, and not the sword at my hip.

She sat down beside me, her knees drawn to her chest, and remained silent. This was the reason I did not want her over here. Now I feel all sorts of awkward…

"So…" I said, breaking the silence, "did you need something?"

She shook her head, not saying anything.

"Oh…"

I looked down, examining my new boots while pretending that I was not feeling awkward at all. It was not long though before I became aware of the fact that I was being stared at.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Malon glancing at me. I turned my head to meet her gaze, and she looked away.

"You sure you don't need something?" I asked.

Malon stayed silent for a moment more, then said, "You looked lonely, so I thought I'd keep you company."

I could not help but smile at that. She returned the smile, then frowned as she took in my appearance, "Don't take this the wrong way, but do you happen to have a change of clothes?"

I frowned as well, and then looked down. Since I came to Hyrule, I have bled and been stabbed several times. My jacket had so many holes that it did not seem to serve much purpose. My shirt was not much better.

"Well, when Malgum invited me to Hyrule, he forgot to mention that I should pack first…" I said wryly.

Malon giggled, "Yeah, I see your point."

Malon looked up at the moon, "Hey Cody?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you… miss your home?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah… I can't help but wonder how everyone is doing."

I lapsed back into silence for a minute, and then I shook my head, "To be honest, I'd rather not talk about it."

I smiled at her though, "What about you though? Why did you want to come on this journey?"

She took a moment to compose her thoughts, then said, "It might seem selfish, but I've always wanted to go on an adventure like this. Link would often tell me of some of his adventures across Hyrule, and I always wished that I could experience something like that as well."

She looked over to the wagon at the bow that was sticking up out, "The reason I got so good with the bow was because I wanted to one day help Link out, and I needed a way to make myself useful."

I looked over toward where Link and Zelda were sitting, "What's Zelda's story? How did she and Link meet?"

Malon looked over to the two by the campfire, "I don't really know. All I know is that they've known each other for a long time. I think Zelda knew Link before I did." [A/N: In OoT, Link met Malon before he met Zelda. However, in this alternate timeline, the first thing Link did was go and meet Zelda (right after he put away the Master Sword for what he thought was the last time)]

"Oh."

I looked over at the two once again. I guess if I want to learn more, I will have to ask them myself.

"What about you Via?" Malon asked, looking at my hood, "What was your life like?"

Via peeked cautiously out from the hood but did not answer.

"Sorry," Malon said sheepishly, "I guess that was too personal. Would you mind telling us why you wanted to come with us?"

"D-does it matter?"

"If you don't want to talk about it…" Malon said quickly.

Via remained silent for a moment more. She then muttered something.

I frowned, "Via, you're almost right next to my ear and I didn't hear what you just said."

Via took a deep breath before she repeated what she just said, "I'm keeping a promise… To an old friend…"

"A friend?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

"I'm f-feeling rather tired. I think that I'll r-retire now."

She quickly dove back into my hood before we could press her any further.

"She might have the right idea," Malon said, getting to her feet, "I guess now would be a good time to go to sleep."

She grabbed a few mats from the wagon and tossed me one while keeping three for herself and the others.

As she was walking away, I called out to her, "Hey Malon!"

She stopped and turned to look at me over her shoulder.

"Thanks," I said, feeling my face flush as I said the next part, "for worrying about me."

She smiled and nodded.

"I'm just saying," I grumbled as the cart rolled along, "an extra hour wouldn't hurt anything."

Link ignored my griping and kept watch over the road. I sighed as I leaned back against the side of the wagon.

Malon looked over her shoulder from the driver seat and smiled at us, "We should be seeing the entrance to Kakariko in about an hour."

"Good," Zelda said, "we'll be able to resupply and get you some more arrows."

"And don't forget, we need to get Cody some more clothes!" Malon said a little too gleefully.

"That's right," Zelda said, taking in the sad remains of my shirt and jacket, "Do you mind if we pick the outfit out for you?"

I looked at Zelda suspiciously, "You're not going to pick out something embarrassing are you?"

"Perish the thought!" she exclaimed, an obviously fake look of horror on her face. I sighed.

About that time, I noticed that Link was looking around, as if searching for something.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Do you smell that?" he asked.

I shrugged and sniffed the air. Strange, I never noticed it before, but that smells an awful lot like…

"Smoke?" Zelda said, sniffing the air as well.

"Do you think there was a camp near here?" Malon asked half-heartedly.

"If there was, I doubt the smell would be this strong…" Link said gravely.

Malon nodded and snapped the reigns, urging the horses to go faster.

We sat in silence for the rest of the trip to Kakariko Village. As we got closer, the sky overhead got progressively darker. About fifteen minutes from the village, flakes started to fall from the sky. I got the feeling we all knew what that meant…

Ash…

As soon as we made it to the stairs right before the village, we all jumped from the wagon and dashed up the stairs. We made it to the entrance in record time. I was so pumped up on adrenaline I did not feel any fatigue.

We stopped for a moment as we took in the sight before us.

"Kakariko…" Zelda said, all the blood drained from her face, "it's burning…"

A/N: The next few chapters are going to be emotionally intense (at least compared to the story so far). Things are about to get messy for the Hero of Dimensions.