Hello readers! Chapter 155 is here, and with it, the conclusion of the Widowmaker arc! This time Darius is about to reveal the truth behind everything, but what was the killer's true goal? Read and find out!
Link, Nabooru, Aviel, Nemisa, Jovie, Petra, Inspector Turrell, Countess Roesia, Foreman Mutoh, the knights and the carpenters were waiting at the remains of the bowling alley. Prince Darius had left to see to a certain matter, and they were all left wondering what he was going to reveal to them all.
"Sorry about the wait. It took some time to acquire this!"
They turned to see Darius returning to the scene with three of Mutoh's carpenters both carrying what appeared to be a jukebox like the one that had been in the bowling alley before.
"Huh? Where did you get that?" Inspector Turrell asked.
"I borrowed it from the shooting gallery down the street for my demonstration." Darius said, "For you see, the forlorn jukebox of the bowling alley is at center of this case!"
"What, how can that even be possible?" Countess Roesia questioned.
"In due time, my crimson-clad buxom beauty." Darius spoke, "But first, a demonstration!"
Everyone looked completely confused about this, while Darius turned to four knights.
"Now boys, I have some little assignments for you." he pointed to two knights, "I'd like you two to take some Bombchus and play a few frames of bowling." he turned to the other two, "As for you, I'd like you to sit at those chairs and discuss with each other how Gorons can properly digest rocks!"
"Uh… okay?" spoke one of the knights in confusion, as they saw to their tasks.
"Prince Darius, what is the meaning of this?!" Roesia asked, "What does that have to do with anything?!"
"To answer your first question, 'This' is to identify a specific person or thing close at hand or being indicated or experienced." Darius explained, "And for your second question, you'll just have to wait and see!"
"Now wait a minute Prince, it's dangerous to use those Bombchus when the bowling parlor is in this state!" Turrel shouted, waving a cheese danish at him.
"I think it'll be fine, right Link?" Darius said with a knowing smirk.
"Yeah, it should be perfectly safe." Link nodded, he turned to Jovie and smiled lightly, "After all, she built those things to last."
"Wh-What?!" Mutoh's jaw dropped, "Yer saying Jovie built those alley lanes?!"
Jovie smiled ever so lightly at Link's words, before she turned to Mutoh and sported a wide toothy grin,
"Yeah, not so useless after all, ain't I Pops?"
"Kor… it can't be…" Mutoh muttered.
"Now before we begin, I'm going to make one little adjustment." Darius walked over to the jukebox, and using the key he received from Petra, inserted it into the jukebox at the very bottom and twisted it, and the others could hear a winding up sound.
Darius then pulled out the key and called out to the knights, "Okay, please begin!"
Everyone watched curiously as two of the knights started hurling Bombchus down the lanes and blowing up the targets, while the other two were siting at their chairs speaking to each other.
"This is a complete waste of time…" Roesia spoke, rubbing her head at all the noise the explosions were making, "I think I'm going to need another martini."
After a while, Darius finally called out to the two knights playing bowling, "That will do!"
When the noise settled down, Darius inserted the key into the jukebox and twisted it again. He then reached into the back of the device, pulling out a roll of white paper with small rectangular notches.
"So what do you have there?" Nabooru asked, "Looks like the music sheet for a player piano."
"A player piano…" Link paused, before his eyes practically popped out of his sockets in surprise, "You're kidding me!"
"A fine observation Gerudo Queen." Darius said, "Now we're going to fed it into the player part of the jukebox, and wait until you see what happens!"
Darius inserted the paper roll into the top part and pushed the play button on it.
Instead of the bouncy little melody that Link was used to hearing at the shooting gallery and bowling alley though, they all instead heard something rather shocking.
"So we're just supposed to talk about Goron digesting rocks?"
"You heard the prince. So how does that work anyway?"
"Well they got teeth hard enough to break rocks, maybe their stomachs have something that melts it down?"
"Wait, you mean like they got lava for stomach acid? Weird, I always thought the rocks just sort of fuse into their bodies or something. I can't even think of any nutrients that rocks could have."
"Maybe they just absorb the minerals?"
"That's the wrong kind of minerals!"
"You know, that makes me wonder, what do you think Goron poop looks li-"
"Aaaaand I think that's quite enough of that!" the prince hastily turned off the jukebox as the two knights looked mortified, "I think you all get it now."
"The jukebox was able to record their conversation?" Roesia exclaimed.
"But that's not possible, how did it record what they said so clearly when all those explosions were going off?" Turrell asked.
"This jukebox you see, has a very interesting function to it." Darius spoke, "By adjusting the settings on the bottom here, you can actually record certain sounds while blocking out other sounds. Even something as loud as explosions. I learned it from a certain repair shop in town!"
"That's right!" Link realized, recalling the old man at the repair shop that Petra tried to steal trinkets from earlier.
"Basically they work like player pianos, using long sheets of paper with holes in them called 'note rolls'. Each hole in the sheet represents notes, and as the roll moves over the machine's tracker bar; the playing cycle for each musical note is triggered."
"Even more impressive about those things is they have a secondary function that allows one to record music as well as play it. Using the settings on the device, you can even adjust the frequency of sound it records so it can block out background noises and get a clearer recording of the music."
"I suppose that's impressive, but what does it have to do with the Widowmaker killings?" Roesia asked.
"All of this was a mere demonstration of the device's capabilities." Darius spoke, as he signaled to a knight who came over and handed him another paper sheet like the one he just used, "Now it's time for you all to hear something much more informative than Goron excrement."
He fed the paper roll into the jukebox, hit the play button again, and everyone listened carefully to it.
"So did the deal go through?"
"Yeah, we got a whole 25000 rupees from it."
"Alright, hopefully our guy follows through on the next one."
"You mean Rochchild? Yeah, he's definitely good for it."
"Wasn't he havin' a lot of money trouble lately though? I heard he was robbed recently."
"Nah, he's good for it. He just got a huge rupee payout from someone who owed him big."
"Nice, maybe we should go celebrate. Let's order some cucco wings and bowl another frame." they heard a voice calling out, "Hey Ms. Jovie, could you get us another serving of-!"
The jukebox was turned off, and Darius smugly turned to the group, who looked even more shocked at this.
"What th- What even was that?" Roesia asked.
"That my dear Countess, was a conversation that took place within the Bombchu Bowling Alley. Most likely within the last few weeks." Darius spoke.
"Ah, I see what you're getting at." Nabooru spoke with a smirk, "This matches right up with the blackmail letter I found at Rochchild's estate."
"I don't get it, what does all this mean?!" Jovie asked.
"It pains me to have to tell you this Maam Jovie," Darius spoke somewhat reluctantly, "But it seems your boss has been recording conversations from the various patrons of the bowling alley. I procured this music sheet from your boss' office the night of the incident."
"People would seriously talk about this sort of matter in public like that?" Turrell asked.
"Yeah. In fact, it was probably one of the best places in town to do such a thing." Link said, recalling something Jovie told him about the noise at the bowling alley back when he and Darius were playing there.
"You'd be surprised what kinda talk people can make around here that gets drowned out in all the noise. Like this one time I heard a guy talkin' about a secret mistress he had, another mentioned how he was robbin' cash from his boss' funds..."
"That's right…!" Jovie realized, "This must be the reason the boss changed the opening time of the alley to evening as well, people are more likely to talk about that sorta thing late at night!"
"Aww, so that's why we never had time to go bowling?" Aviel pouted.
"But when did you have time to go into his office Prince Fargent?!" Jovie asked, "If Mista Burbok saw you there he would have kicked you out on your hoity toighty rear, royalty or not!"
"Ah, but there was one time when he wasn't there." Darius said, "Do you recall that Link?"
"When could you have…?" Link pondered, only to shout out, "NO WAY!"
"This is getting kind of tense. Think we should speak up Darius?" Link whispered to Darius as Jovie and Burbok were arguing with each other.
"Indeed we should." Darius nodded,"Mr. Burbok, I have something very important to ask of you..."
"Yes...?" Burbok asked.
"...I need to know where the men's bathroom is!" Darius said.
"Its in the back." Burbok said, sticking his thumb out behind him in the direction of it.
"Then I shall make great haste!" Darius said.
"You see, I've been investigating the Widowmaker killings for a while now." Darius said, "Especially since there has been a few fools impersonating him while trying to assassinate my father-in-law the king."
"Like that one guy who attacked him when we first arrived." Link nodded.
"And you suspected Burbok as the killer at some point?" Nabooru asked.
"Precisely. It was just a hunch, but some of the information I obtained was leading to him." Darius nodded, "That's why I insisted we go out to the bowling alley that night to begin with, Link. You fit the description of the Widowmaker's targets, and I had planned to use you as bait to draw him out."
"Oh I get it." Link realized, "He recognized me as the Gerudo King, and he saw I was bowling with my left hand, so if he was the Widowmaker, he would have considered me a possible target."
"Yer kididn' me…" Jovie spoke with her jaw dropped.
"A clever plan, was it not?" Darius spoke smugly.
"Prince Darius… you're rather lucky..." muttered Nemisa, folding her arms as she was glaring at him darkly, she brought up one hand and crackled her knuckles, "If you weren't a member of the royal family, I would crush your body into the earth for endangering my lover like that…"
"Yeah, that was pretty mean Prince Darby..." Aviel said as she too gave him a menacing glare.
"T-They're pretty, but the Gerudo can be really scary too…" the carpenters all cowered.
"Maybe we outta change our plans to go visit them…" trembled another.
"N-Naturally I knew Link could protect himself if it came down to it!" Darius gulped nervously at Link's bodyguards, before regaining his composure, "But regardless I still worried for his safety, so I kept my eye on him as much as I could that night."
"That explains why you were so worried when I left to escort Jovie home." Link commented.
"What'd you just say?" Mutoh shouted in anger, "You went home with her as an escort?"
"Ah wait, I can explain!" Link said frantically, "It wasn't that kind of escort!"
"Yeah, it's not what you think Pop, he just dropped me off at my home!" Jovie said in his defense, though a little surprised that her father was so upset about it.
"Back to the case Prince." Roesia said coughing a bit with a light blush on her cheeks.
"Naturally. While I was in the office, I did find multiple other music sheets like this," Darius spoke, "And since Burbok was the only one with the key to operate the recording function of his jukebox, it's my belief he was putting together information on various targets for his killings."
"But I don't get it…" Jovie spoke sadly, "Why would he do all of this?!"
"Because of the blackmail letter." Nabooru spoke, "He was gathering information to order to find out the identity of the one that was extorting him."
The prince nodded, "Yes. I think it's safe to assume from other blackmail letters he's received that all the information he had to go on was that the culprit was a nobleman, was married, and was left-handed..."
Darius then turned to Turrell and Roesia with a serious stare in his eyes.
"...and since he couldn't determine who the blackmailer was based on such minimal clues, he had no choice. He had to kill every single nobleman who fit that description."
"You're kidding us…" gasped Turrell, squeezing a cream danish in his hand until it sprayed out the sweet filling like a geyser, "THAT'S what this whole thing was about?!"
"Burbok must have been very desperate to find the blackmailer to sink to that level. I figure once he had finally dealt with the culprit, then he would have stopped." Darius spoke,
"And since the victims had those random similarities, it could be just chalked up as being a mad serial killer." Nabooru said, "The press coming up with the 'Widowmaker' nickname played right into his hand."
"And ironically it was right after killing victim number twenty five that he would meet his own end, by the hand of his own employee." Darius nodded.
"Mista Burbok…" Jovie whispered, "So that's what he meant when he asked me about 'the key'. It was the key to the recording on his jukebox."
"And that means… I was reason that bloke snapped..." Petra said hanging her head down, "Because I snatched his key, and he blamed this lady for it..."
"So to summarize all of this…" Nabooru began, clearing her throat.
"Mr. Burbok was involved in the transporting and storing of illegal items with the black market. At some point the nobleman Welsom Rochchild became aware of this, and sent him a blackmail letter threatening to reveal the information unless he paid him rupees. Time past, and Burbok was getting desperate with all the money he was losing to the blackmailer."
"Correct." Darius nodded.
Nabooru continued, "He only had what was written in the letters as clues to who the extortionist was; that the culprit was a married, left-handed nobleman. So he used his jukebox to record conversations with the patrons and gather information on potential noblemen who could be involved and fit the description. He then went out as the Widowmaker and killed each one of them, in the hopes that the blackmail letters would stop."
"It's still so hard to believe, but it all fits together." Roesia spoke gazing downwards, "So that's why my late husband had to die..."
"It was a tragic tale spawned from one of the greatest sins of man, greed." Darius nodded, "Thankfully it's all over now. The mastermind behind all this has been found out, and even the Widowmaker has met a fitting end."
"There is one last thing though…" Turrell spoke, "It's the matter of Jovie's actions in killing Burbok."
"Huh?" Jovie asked.
"But isn't the person she killed a bad guy?" Aviel asked, "She should be a hero!"
"Besides that, it was justified self-defense, right?" Nemisa asked.
"Unfortunately that's not how the law works here in Hyrule." Roesia spoke somewhat pitifully, "As of right now we only have her word on whether her killing of Burbok was self-defense or not. Judge Isambard could easily argue she killed him in cold blood for any reason."
"But I was attacked by him, I swear!" Jovie spoke desperately.
"Kwaaaah! You heard her!" Mutoh shouted, stamping his foot, "My daughter rightfully defended herself! Can't you let her go based on that?!"
"I'm afraid the Countess is right. Unless it can be proven the death happened as she said it was, we still have to press charges against her for it." Inspector Turrell said sadly.
"This doesn't seem right at all..." Nemisa scowled.
"As unfortunate as it is, I can understand why they have to enforce the law like that." Nabooru said, "If only there was some way to prove her testimony to be correct…"
"Wait..." Link said pondering, he turned to the little thief, "Petra, you swiped the key from Burbok while we were playing at the bowling alley, right?"
"You just gotta keep bringing it up..." Petra muttered, kicking at the ground, "What about it?"
Without replying, Link ran right over to the bowling alley jukebox. He puled on the bottom door of it where the recording function was, though it was difficult since it had been damaged in the fire. After some struggling, he managed to yank it off, and get out a very long but intact roll of paper with many rectangular notches on it.
"I knew it!" Link said, lifting it up.
"What's that, another music sheet?" Nabooru asked. After a moment of thought, her eyes widened, and she threw her head back laughing, "Ah hahahaha! Link, you're an absolute genius!"
"Wait, what's this all about?" Turrell asked.
Link explained, "Mr. Burbok must have been recording conversations that very night we were at the bowling alley, but since Petra stole the key to the recording device while I was speaking to him, he wouldn't have been able to turn it off and remove the recorded sheet that night."
"That's probably why he was so desperate to get the key back." Darius nodded.
Link continued, "From before the time she stole the key to the time the jukebox was destroyed in the fire, the device was recording any conversations going on. That means it probably recorded the entire fight Jovie had with him!"
"Y-You…" Roesia stammered, as she failed backwards in shock, "You can't be serious!"
"Then let's roll that succulent sound sheet!" Darius said.
They all stood and listened to the shooting gallery jukebox play the sheet. It took some time as they sat though some long-winded conversations that took place that night. Eventually the recording got to one particular part after closing that caught everyone's interest.
"Alright, it's gettin' to be about time for that appointment those guys mentioned in the last recording. Guess it's time to go ambush him..." they could hear Mr. Burbok speak, as well as the sound of some metal, presumably the dagger, "Better turn off the jukebox first before I g- wait… where is it? Where's that key?"
They heard some things being shuffled and thrown around for a while, accompanied with some shouting and cursing. Jovie was saddened having to hear her boss like that.
"Ah fuggetaboutit! I don't have time! That guy needs to die tonight!" they heard him throw on some kind of cloth, "Hopefully this is the last time..."
After that they heard a door shut, and there was silence.
"By jove, that proves everything Prince Darius figured out!" Turrel exclaimed, "Burbok really was the Widowmaker!"
"Not bad Link, I didn't even consider he was recording that very night." smirked Darius.
The recording continued in dead silence for a while, until they eventually heard Burbok come back into the bowling alley and lock the door.
"Okay, that did it… if what he said was true, then it's finally all over. Just gotta get rid of all these now."
They then heard the crackling of a fire that grew a little as they heard some thumping noises.
"That must be him burning the music sheets." Darius commented.
Then there was a knocking at the door, accompanied by a certain familiar woman's voice.
"Mista Burbok! Mista Burbok, it's me Jovie!"
"Huh? Whadda ya want? I'm busy over 'ere!"
"I forgot my keys to my apartment, can you let me in so I can get em?"
"Ugh, okay ya stupid brood!" they heard the door unlock and open, "Just grab em and make it quick!"
"Is that smoke? What are you doin' back here in the office anyway?"
"I'm… uh… roastin' weenies, fuggetaboutit!"
"Why you doing it in the trash can? That's dangerous! I told you to be careful when you smoke!"
"I said fuggetaboutit, just amscray already!"
"Okay fine, jees. I got my keys anyway."
"Wait a sec… lemme see those keys you got there!"
"Huh? What for?"
"You sure those are just your keys? I'm missin' one right now."
"Yeah, these are just the keys to my apartmen- hey, what are you doing?"
"You sure you didn't get yer hands on any other keys than this?"
"I swear, I didn't take any other keys! What's your proble- ack!"
"Quit lying ta me! You were the last one to leave the place when we closed. Where's the key I had?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, you're hurting my arm Mista Burbok!"
"Cough em up right now ya stupid brood, I ain't gonna ask you twice more!"
"Let go of me! Heeelp!"
They heard the sound of thrashing and screaming on the recording. They also heard the crackling of the flames getting louder.
Jovie was so horrified by having to relive what had happened. Link noticed this and held her in his arms to comfort her, and she buried her face in his shoulder.
"If you ain't gonna give it up, then I'll make you!"
"What are you doing Mista Burbok?! Put down that knife!"
They heard some more trashing and straggling, before they heard a very loud impact.
"G-GAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"B-Burbok… Mista Burbok?!"
They heard Jovie scream out in horror as the crackling flames grew louder, and shortly after that the roll of sheet paper reached it's end.
"Unbelievable." one of the knights said with his jaw dropped.
"Well, I believe this proves everything; Prince Daruis' theory, as well as Ms. Jovie's testimony." Inspector Turrell spoke, "What a sad tale this all was..."
"I see…" Roesia spoke, with a hand to her hip, "I just have one question to you Ms. Jovie, why didn't you tell us what happened sooner?"
"Because I didn't think anyone would believe me..." Jovie explained, "Besides, I didn't know why Mista Burbok snapped and tried to kill me to begin with, I thought there had to be some sort of misunderstanding… I had no idea he was the Widowmaker this whole time..."
"It's understandable you'd think that way. Sounds like you went though absolute hell that night." Nabooru assured her.
"Well, I'd say this case is finally closed." Darius smirked, "Thank you all for your participation."
"We should be thanking you three." Turrell nodded to Darius, Link and Nabooru, "We would have never unraveled this case without your help."
"I suppose so." Roesia spoke with a genuine smile, "You all did fine work, and with the Widowmaker dealt with, I hope my husband can rest peacefully in the World of Spirits now."
"I guess that's it for the bowling alley then…" Jovie said sadly, looking up at the remains of the building, "Mista Burbok's gone, and I'm out of a job..."
"What are you going to do now?" Link asked.
"Dunno, working the counter and making those bowling lanes was all I was ever good at." Jovie frowned, "I dunno what I'm going to do about money."
"…" Mutoh stared downwards for a moment, looking like he was about to speak up.
"Pardon me!" spoke up a knight, he came up to Turrell holding a pouch as well as a note, "We discovered this while going through the black market items."
"Let me see that." Turrell looking into the sack, "Well by jove, this is full of rupees!"
"Strange, I thought he was having money trouble due to the blackmailing." Nabooru said.
"What about the note?" Link asked.
"Hmm…" Turrell read over the note, only to gasp out, looking like he was on the verge of tears, surprising everyone, "Th-That's…"
"What's the matter?" Jovie asked anxiously.
"...Miss, I think this is for you to read." he said, handing her the card.
"Um… o-okay…" Jovie gulped and began to read it.
'Jovie,
If you're reading this, I'm probably not around anymore. There's been some bad stuff going down with a side business I'm involved with. In this pouch is a little nest egg I've been saving up for you, in case I have to abruptly leave town. I couldn't leave you with chicken scratch after all. I'll leave the bowling alley itself in your hands as well, if anyone in this town knows how to run it proper, it's you.
I'm real sorry about this, after all the years we've worked together, and all the time you spent helping me improve the bowling alley, it feels rough to say goodbye. You're a good kid though, almost like a daughter to me sometimes. You got some real charisma and talent, and I think with that you can do anything you want with your life.
And if you ever think you're not good enough… well just fuggetaboutit!
From your boss..."
"...M-Mista Burbok…" trembled Jovie, as tears started to spill down her face uncontrollably.
"It looks like he cared for you after all." Link smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"But he cared for her so much, then why did he try to kill her?" Nemisa asked.
"This note looks like it was written a long while ago." Nabooru said, "Perhaps after all he had done and losing the key to the jukebox, he panicked too much that he lost control." she looked to Jovie, "But despite him being extorted by Rochchild, he still saved a little money on the side just for her…" she smiled lightly, "How sweet."
"Y-Yeah…" Jovie said with a smile, wiping away a tear. "But is it really okay for me to just keep this?" she asked, "A lot of it was probably from his black market deals!"
"It would probably be needed to be taken in as evidence." Turrell admitted.
"Not to worry about that." Roesia spoke up, waving her hand dismissively. She snapped her fingers and her bodyguards all came up to her side, "Just make sure the amount is properly counted out and recorded so that it lines up with his work with the black market."
"Are you sure about that Countess?" Link asked.
"I'll allow it to go overlooked." Roesia spoke with a chuckle, "Consider it a reward for striking down the Widowmaker and avenging my husband."
"Um… I don't feel right about havin' to do it… but thanks." Jovie spoke.
"That's rather nice of you Countess." Nabooru said, "I didn't think you would allow something like that."
"Regardless of what you think about me and the Hylian Parliament, I can tell you one thing, in the end we have the kingdom's best interests in mind." Roesia spoke, beginning to walk off as she tipped her martini glass, "Now a good day to all of you…"
She took a moment to look to Link and Nabooru,
"…and I'll see the two of you at the meeting."
With that, the countess walked off, leaving the others in stunned silence.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to honor the Countess' request." Turrell nodded, looking to Link with a small smirk, "But I think there's one other lady that needs to be taken care of as well."
"Alright, Darling'll be happy to finally be released!" Link nodded, as the group walked off.
Mutoh and his men went to check on the building structure and make sure everything was secure before they left,
"Alright men, hop to it!"
As his men worked, Mutoh glanced to the side, reflecting on the words Burbok had written in his note to Jovie, as he gazed back up at the remains of the Bombchu Bowling Alley building, before going to help his men.
Meanwhile, one last person stayed standing still for a moment.
"This whole thing…" Petra whispered staring up at the ruins of the building, then looked downcast, "It was all my fault…"
"Hey Petra!"
Hearing her name be called out by Link, the young thief took a deep breath, and followed after him and the others.
"King Link!"
The group had returned to the knight's town quarters, and watched as Darling enthusiastically ran out from her cell as soon as the knights unlocked it. The woman lunged at Link and threw her arms around his neck, causing him to spontaneously grab her around the waist, and the two spun around for a brief moment before coming to a stop.
"My beloved king of the wastes, you saved me from my steel confinement like a caged bird being allowed to spread it's wings and fly into the blue horizon! Thank you ever so much!"
"Well, I couldn't have done it without everyone elses help." Link sported a goofy grin.
"While the knights and even my former lover Honey doubted my words, you still believed in me all this time..." Darling whispered, leaning closer to Link with a warm smile, "You truly are a thief of hearts, my dearest king of the wasteland..."
She reached up a hand to Link's cheek and gave him a good firm kiss on the lips, lifting up one of her legs behind her as she did. Link couldn't bring himself to resist anymore, and returned the kiss back.
"So the rumors were true," Jovie gasped with a red face, "Ms. Darling really did find a new lover!" she looked over to Aviel and Nemisa both smiling, "And you two are okay with that?"
Nemisa nodded, "Of course. Link is the Gerudo King after all, and he's working to build his harem of both wives and lovers to have and to hold. As long as he keeps us all happy, then we're fine with whomever he fanicies."
"While she's not in any position to qualify as a Gerudo queen, I have no issue with him having her as a side lover." chuckled Nabooru, "It's good for him to expand his horizons after all."
"Yeah, and every new woman he takes means a bigger family for all of us!" Aviel said cheerfully.
"A family, huh...?" Jovie whispered, looking at how happy Link was to hold Darling.
"You know, in a way we have you to thank for this too." Link looked down at Petra with a smirk, "You are the one who helped me get to know Darling better by knocking her into me after all."
"Th-That was an accident. I was just tryin' to lose you after I took your ocarina." Petra said folding her arms behind her head and looking aside, "S-Sorry about being rough with ya, lady, and… ya know... takin' your potatoes."
"Oh, so that was you?" Darling spoke, bending over to get a good look at her. She smiled and gave Petra a light kiss on the top of her head, "In that case, I should thank you for curing me of my blindness of misguided puppy love, and casting me into the clutches of my true desires of passion!"
"...you say some really weird stuff, lady." Petra muttered wiping at her head, making Link snicker.
"So what's going to happen with that poor child?" Nemisa asked Turrell.
"We'll be bringing her into custody for the time being, until we can get her back home to her mother." the inspector said, "Lady Rochchild was happy to hear that her daughter's okay after she ran away three months ago."
"Did she not report her missing?" Nabooru asked.
"She said her husband made the missing child report, but he was lying just to keep her calm all this time." Turrell frowned, ""Blackmailing, extortion deals, and child abandonment on top of that... That man was sure a piece of work."
"That poor child…" Darling whispered.
"Hey Mister?" Petra spoke to Link while staring downwards,
"Yeah Petra…?" Link asked, kneeling over to get as eye-to-eye with her as possible.
The little thief paused for a moment, looking up at Link, before she gave him a hard kick to his shins, making him yelp out in pain.
"Yeow!"
"You caused me a lotta trouble, you bloody wanker!" Petra shouted in a fit.
"Hey, watch it you little brat!" Link shouted back in annoyance as Nabooru burst out laughing.
Seconds later though, Petra lunged forward and hugged Link tightly around his waist, burying her face against him.
"But… th-thank you… Mister King Link... for everything."
"…of course." Link said, hugging Petra softly. "You stay good okay? You need to be there for your mother now, and make sure you follow through on your promise to me."
"I-I didn't promise nothin'!" Petra shouted, breaking away and swatting him on the arm, making Link laugh.
"Oh my, King Link is so good with children…" Darling spoke with a deep blush.
"Sure gives you ideas, huh?" Nemisa chuckled lightly.
That night, Jovie came back to her apartment with the bag of rupees in tow. She locked the door behind her and let out a sigh of relief to finally be home after a couple days.
"Mrooow!" spoke up a noise, as Jovie looked down to see a cat standing before her. It was black-furred with bright green eyes and had a pink ribbon around it's neck.
"Hey there Shada, sorry I've been gone for so long. I had a bit of a time." Jovie leaned down and pet her cat on the head, "You must be starving, lemmee get you some food."
Shada jumped up onto the kitchen counter as Jovie went to the ice box and pulled out a can of wet cat food, pouring it into a bowl. Shada went right to town on it as Jovie leaned on the counter, watching her cat with a small smile.
"Well it looks like I won't be working for the bowling alley anymore. Thankfully Mista Burbok left me a little something so we can get by for a good while."
"Prrow?" Shada asked.
"Even with that though, what should I do with my life now…?" she asked, looking out at the window at the night sky. She saw Hyrule Castle off in the distance.
Jovie recalled something Link's bodyguard Aviel said earlier that day, about not being able to go bowling like she and Nemisa wanted to…
She then thought of Link; how happy he was to clear Darling's name, and how well he treated the young kid Petra. She found herself blushing lightly with a light smile, as her shoulders and hips shifted left and right.
"I wonder…?"
"Ugh… What's going on…?"
Link's eyes opened, his mind started to come into focus, as he took a look around to see where he was.
It was a very familiar sight, a large grassy field, and in the center of the area was a giant tree. He knew this all too well at this point; he was within his own mind, in what he interpreted as a replica of the eerie place he had been to when he battled against Majora back in Termina.
He had many dreams in the past three years where he would end up here, only to be confronted by a mysterious man. For so long Link had no idea who the snarky guy was that he met...
"Hello there buddy! Long time no see, huh?"
Link narrowed his eyes as he turned to a lone figure standing against the tree.
It was a tall, muscular, tan-skinned man with long white wild hair. The man's left eye had a red pupil, while he had an eye patch over his right eye. His face had some familiar markings on them, a blue arc shaped mark on his forehead, as well as two pairs of red crooked lines on his cheeks. He wore a tattered scarf as well as some battle-torn aqua-colored armor, the chest part having a moon and sun engraved on it. He was also holding a large tempered glass sword shaped like a helix.
"You again." Link spoke bitterly.
It was the powerful but dangerous spirit of the Fierce Deity Mask. The very one Link had used to defeat Majora, as well as assist in the great war he had gotten involved in after slipping through a time wrap and meeting Lana.
"Hey, don't act like you're surprised." shrugged the man, casually strolling up to Link, "You asked for the strength to save that chick, and so you got it!"
"What even was that...?" Link said, keeping on his guard, as he knew how the Fierce Deity wanted him to lose his mind and go mad, allowing him to take over Link's body.
"Just a little something I used back in my time." the Fierce Deity spoke with a smirk, "But don't think I'm just going to hand it out to you whenever. It's takes a pretty tough toll on yer body if you're not used to it."
"Even if I knew what it was, I don't intend to." Link scowled, "If anything I'd prefer if you just went away all together."
"Heh, how ungrateful." shrugged the Fierce Deity, before he pulled out his giant helix sword and held it out at Link, "Maybe I outta just deal with you right now... see how desperate you need that power."
Link gulped, as he didn't have a weapon in this mental world of his to fight him with.
But then a figure jumped out of nowhere and struck at the Fierce Deity, forcing him to spin around and fight against it.
It was a skeletal knight of some kind, somewhat like a Staflos. It wore golden armor with traces of ivy and foliage hanging off of it, and was wielding an old sword and shield. It had one eerie glowing red eye while the other seemed to be missing.
"Forgotten by those yond I once did protect, but I shalt not back down. Has't at thee, monster!"
"Not you again!" shouted the Fierce Deity, using his helix sword to fight against the strange skeleton.
"Who even is that?" Link asked.
"Hell if I know, he keeps butting in every time we try to have a conversation lately!" the Fierce Deity exclaimed, parrying an attack. The skeleton seemed to anticipate the attack and evaded his counter though, "Back off you bag of bones!"
Before Link could try to get away though, he felt the ground underneath him open up, and he fell into a strange void. Rather than waking up immediately though, he found himself suspended in midair, and he sensed a strange voice speaking out to him. The voice was very gentle and soothing to him.
"...I still... please Link... if… can hear me..."
"Huh? Yes, I can hear you, sort of!" Link called out to the voice.
"You must seek... and come to... I can... put a stop to... before they can..."
"What are you talking about?" Link asked, "Seek what? Who are you?"
"Please... hurry to the..."
But before Link could get a grasp of what the voice was saying, he fell into the void below.
Link snapped awake, looking around to see he was back in his bedroom.
He looked down to see Nabooru sleeping by his side. They had fallen asleep shortly after a hot night of love-making, Nabooru's idea to reward Link for his work in the investigation that day, and to help relieve some stress from both of them. He stared at Nabooru's blissful face, sleeping soundly.
He recalled back when he went berserk at the thought of his child-bearer Esolu having been killed, but was calmed by the effort of his beloved fiances, as well as Nabooru.
Even though she refused to marry him and become his official Grand Queen, she still cared so much for him. She gave him the strength he needed to resist the power of the Fierce Deity.
Link smiled as well, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek, before going back to bed, having much better dreams for the rest of the night.
And that ends this week's chapter. Thank you for baring with me through this long and complicated attempt at writing a murder mystery story! It was a fun little exercise in story telling, and it served a s away to deepen Link's relationship with Darling, as well as properly introduce Petra and Jovie to the story.
Jovie was originally supposed to debut in a mini arc where Link and his friends enter a bowling tournament, but I cancelled the project since I didn't have very much material to write from the premise. Thankfully I was able to tie her and the bowling alley into the Widowmaker plot.
Next time, Link and his friends sit down with Impa to discuss an important matter, the secrets of a certain organization that's been causing them all trouble for a while now, the Order of Reyahm occult.
Thank you all for your continued support over the years! Please like and follow the story if you're new, and leave a comment or private message at your leisure! Your feedback is always encouraged!