Author's Notes:

While I stick very closely to the HTTYD movie/TV show lore, I take liberties with the LoZ elements. Please read with an open mind, as if this were a new game.

New chapters on Wednesdays. The whole thing, 30 chapters plus Prologue, is written and will be posted!

Everything about this night was unusual, from the fog that swallowed the boughs of the thick trees—the gentle rustling of branches the only sign of their existence—to the absence of nocturnal creatures. It was as if they sensed the threat in the air and wanted nothing to do with it.

Impa caught herself against one of the smooth tree trunks, gasping for air. Her legs trembled. Sweat drenched her clothes. Her fist flew to her mouth and pressed hard against her lips as she gagged on a sudden surge of saliva. Nausea rumbled in her stomach. She had run non-stop to get here in time; the threat of the Yiga taking the information to Ganon had propelled her beyond her limits.

Slowly, the threat of vomiting abated, and she risked a sip of water from her canteen. She forced herself to breathe deeply. If Link got the message—Hylia! She hoped Daneby and Forbes were safe—, he would meet her at Tanelope Shrine after this.

After this ... A thrill ran down her spine. She told herself she was taking this awful to protect Hyrule. It wasn't to satisfy her own childish hope, was it?

A discarded banana peel peeking out of a bush caught her attention. Her eyes narrowed, took a deep breath. It was time.

She removed her cloak, revealing the red crying-eye of the Sheikah on her chest. Unsheathing her sword, she walked forward into the fog and shouted toward the unseen branches. "You know you should try vegetables once in a while. Radishes do wonders for your heart."

She stopped in a clearing. Not a snap of twig or rustle of leaves betrayed the clansmen's presence. Still, she got to a defensive stance and held her blade ready. "That is, if you still had a heart in that empty, traitorous chest of yours."

A moment later, four figures dressed in the skintight red Yiga armor, all wielding sickles, dropped around her. The red inverted-eye on each of their pale masks mocked the Eye on her own chest.

She scowled at each of them in turn and continued. "Or maybe wildflower tea to clear your mind because clearly you have lost yours!"

She lunged at one, and the battle began. Sparks flew in the darkness as sword and sickles clashed with incredible speed. The Yiga clansman were a blur of red, but the blue Shiekah armor was even faster.

In the commotion, she sensed them moving her backwards and then felt an edge and empty space with her heel. A glance behind revealed a ravine. With a yell, she leapt up and over the four assailants. Upon landing, she swept her blade at the nearest clansman.

The moment she sliced she realized her miscalculation; it went too deep, and he fell with a cry. She choked. She hadn't meant to kill him. His body hit the ground and dissipated in a pile of paper cards. What was that?

Before she could register what happened, the other three pounced over the cards and surrounded her. A sickle caught her on the shoulder, another in the calf. Impa stumbled back, back again, luring one clansman in too close. The Yiga swung, but Impa spun out of the way and kicked her into the ravine. Two remained.

One sliced his sickle at her. She ducked and rolled to the left. The other clansman rolled to the right. They collided headfirst. Both were stunned and held their heads. The standing clansman took that moment and, with a kick, sent Impa tumbling into the ravine. She bounced down the side and hit the ground hard.

The world spun around as she cradled her head. She could barely discern the distant whistle from the edge of the ravine, now so high above her. Impa shook her head, grabbed her sword, and looking up, saw the clansman whom she had kicked down sitting several feet away. She was holding her right knee at an odd angle.

Suddenly there was a grinding sound. Impa stood to face the threat coming from the fog. The injured clansman saluted her and then vanished with a shimmer.

That can't be good. She began running down the ravine away from the noise sparing a single glance over her shoulder. Tumbling down the ravine, bumping into the walls and scraping away the dirt was a boulder. Impa snorted. Ok, that's just ridiculous.

She turned her attention forward. A few hundred feet ahead, the ravine ended in a rocky landslide. Looking up the steep sides, there was no way out except for two vines conveniently dangling into a pile of leaves on the ravine floor. Definitely a trap. The sinister pile of leaves stretched the entire width of the ravine and was too wide to jump over.

Simultaneously, she heard the startled cry of a tiny animal. Her eyes darted to the right where a long-tailed rabbit scrambled at the dirt walls to no avail. Impa dove towards it, snatched it up, and sped towards the trap. Sorry, buddy. This is gonna be rough, but it's better than being a pancake. She threw the animal into the pile of leaves. As predicted, the concealed net flew up. Impa ducked underneath as it whisked the tiny creature twenty feet in the air. Two problems solved; one left.

Three hundred feet until a dead end. Her eyes narrowed. The only way out was up, and she knew just how to get there. She sprinted forward. Then leapt up, flipped backwards, and turned in the air, landing in a crouch facing the boulder as it sped toward her. Running four steps up the side of the wall, she jumped off the rolling boulder and caught the bottom of the net. Impa swung herself to the edge of the ravine feet first, knocking over a waiting but bewildered clansmen.

She pinned his arms to the ground and planted her knee on his chest. Before he could cry out, her blade was pressed against his throat. She couldn't speak—she could barely breathe—but her eyes burned with an anger that surpassed language. Below, she heard a crash as the boulder reached its end.

A low voice came from the mist. "I'd be careful with that toy. It looks sharp. Almost as sharp as mine."

Impa's heart skipped a beat. It had been three long years, but she didn't realize how much she had missed that voice. She looked up and froze. A long black blade was held inches from her face. That blade, the red mist swirled around the dark metal as hypnotically as the day she had first seen it. She lurched off the clansman, crawling backwards until the edge of the ravine stopped her.

The Captain, blade in hand, approached, and the rest of the clansmen, maybe thirty in all, circled around. Impa fought down the lump in her throat. Terror, grief, and rage tumbled around inside her. After three years, she had thought she was ready. Her trembling fingers and shallow breaths proved she was anything but ready.

The Captain stopped about twenty feet in front of her. Pointing the cursed blade at her, he said. "Kneel, and choose life."

It was him. Though now clad in that ridiculous red suit, and his face—that handsome face—hidden behind the pale mask, there was no mistaking it. She had to accept who he was now, who he had chosen to be. The hope and grief slipped away, like water seeping into the sand, replaced by a rage that ran through her muscles like electricity.

Impa got to her feet, straightening up despite her exhaustion. She spoke loud enough for the rest of the Yiga to hear. "Acting in cowardice is not living. You thought as much at one point, Kogah."

The Captain flinched. "Ganon will kill you."

"He will, or you will?" she asked.

His muscles tensed under the tight suit.

The fog settled as the two faced off. The clansmen held their sickles at the ready, eagerly looking from their Captain to the Sheikah.

Finally, the Captain lowered his blade. The muffled voice was soft and earnest. "Impa, I implore you. The path you're on is doomed." Then, even softer he said, "Please. Don't make me do this."

There it was, that tender voice. Free of its own agenda. Pure supplication. Her heart, shielded by a thousand bricks, cried out for his.

Underneath the stars you met me.

Underneath the stars you left me—

Righteous anger strangled the melody mid phrase.

You—Left—Me.

Impa lowered her head but kept his gaze. Her voice was ice. "I am not making you do anything, Captain. You make your choices as I make mine. I will not fall by your blade nor will I break my oath."

The Captain sighed, a deep heavy sigh. He raised his blade, and Impa rushed to meet it.

Author's Notes:

Okay, who called it that the Captain and Kogah are the same person? Don't be shy!

CREDIT TO KATE RUSBY AND VOCES8 for the lyrics "Underneath the Stars". It's beautiful; give it a listen!

watch?v=tORuEdknbWI

Also, "That's rough, buddy." If you know it, you know it. :)

Thanks to Ari Lewis and Luke for beta reading!