Chapter 23:
The Outside

Ventus

It was hard not to turn back, to stay in the forest which had been home for the last three years. That had provided some comfort after everything had fallen apart around them. But still, Ventus focused on putting one foot in front of the other, keeping pace with North as he followed the other boy through the trees which once provided protection now loomed over threateningly.

"Rini, can you stay to the right of me?" he asked, turning to look at his sister. He couldn't see her, but Ventus knew she was there. The eyes got closer, and if she were still alive, Ventus was sure her small hands would be gripping his much larger one. But she wasn't, and it was all his fault.

Ceres began to hop to his other shoulder to follow, but he gently held out his arm.

"It's okay, Ceres, you can rest." Ceres hooted and glanced at Rini, who apparently gave her consent too since the small owl deflated slightly before fluttering into the hood which he had specifically made large enough for her to nest in while they walked. It wasn't Ceres' favorite mode of transport or place to sleep, but she would have to put up with it until they reached Kakariko, until they reached help.

The thick canopy made it seem darker than it was. Only the crunching of footsteps disturbed the stillness around them now. North trudged forward, leading the way ahead, his big leaf hat back on his head again. His dark braid reached to the small of his back, swaying with his stride and the leather pack slung over his shoulder.

Ventus swung his arms slightly, not liking the silence. There never really was silence before. Not like there was silence now, not with the way the wind breathed, but it was different. There was no Saria playing her ocarina or Fado chattering away. No Rini waking him up in the morning or arguing with him about the chore wheel or Mido's passive aggressive remarks. It was just silence.

"So, have you ever been outside the forest before?" Ventus asked, breaking quickly.

There was a brief pause before North replied, without turning or looking, "No."

"Right, right." Ventus could feel Rini rolling her eyes at him. "So, uh, what made you decide to leave finally? And why with me?"

The wind ruffled through the leafy trees, almost sounding like a rushing river as it blew closer. Finally, the other boy said, "Many things… I know that I come from the outside. It only makes sense that I would return someday. I don't belong here."

A crunch of footsteps broke in the pause of his deep but soft and steady voice. "The forest is becoming more dangerous by the day for three cycles of the seasons. I think you're right, the answer lies outside, but Saria is also right, because it also lies within the forest too. We must seek it in both places."

"But you were raised here, right? You have a family?" Ventus asked, frowning slightly. Just because they weren't the same race didn't mean they weren't a family. Ceres was the only one left of his family, but he also loved Saria, Fado and Mido like they belonged there too. "Isn't it difficult to leave them behind?"

The twitch of North's Deku Scrub hat indicated his glancing back at him as he led the charge, but he soon faced forward again. He replied in the same steady voice, "It is."

"But you're doing it anyway, to protect them." That's why Ventus would leave anyway. It's why he came, took the chance to run into the woods, to keep running despite somewhere deep inside knowing they would no doubt become lost. Anything to protect Rini.

Anything.

"So do you know anything about the outside?"

"No more than a Kokiri would."

"Right, right, so I'll give you a quick rundown of what to expect. You see you, and me, we're called Hylians. You can tell by our pointed ears and the fact we look like grown-up Kokiri. There was another race that looked like grown-up Kokiri called the Sheikah. They had red eyes and white hair mostly. They were the keepers of the dead. I'm part Sheikah, which is why I have the Sheikah powers to sense Rini.

"The Sheikah 'bout 10 years ago were killed all off except for Lady Impa by a race known as the Gerudo. They are a race of all women. They're warriors with darker skin and tend to be taller than Hylians. They also don't have pointed ears. Once every 100 years they have a guy born to them who is their king. Their current king is the guy I mentioned—Ganondorf—who started all this shit. He's the one we gotta take down.

"There is also a race of fish people called the Zora. They live in a place called Zora's Domain and tend to stick around places like rivers and lakes. You don't see too many of them too far out past it. Maybe when we get to Kakariko. I'm not sure. There's also a group of rock people called Gorons. They eat rocks. They're super strong and value brotherhood. They do a lot of trading, though I haven't seen any since the attack. I wouldn't be surprised if Ganondorf has fucked with them too somehow. They live in Death Mountain, whose path is just past Kakariko Village.

"Any questions so far?"

"Too many," came North's voice without inflection.

"Well, we got time. Last time I was running through here it was for hours it felt like," Ventus said, who would rather talk about something than nothing at all.

"The outside seems as chaotic and dangerous as it's been said. Do you know why?" asked North.

"There's a war going on," Ventus explained. "After the Gerudo attacked Castle Town—that's where I used to live—and overtook it, people have been acting a lot weirder. I mean I was only a baby at the end of the first war when all the Sheikah were wiped out, so I don't remember what it was like back then, but Mom and Dad never really liked to talk about it. The adults in general didn't like to talk about it. A lot of people died back then too, so I bet it's the same.

"But normally Hylians work together, but since we escaped Castle Town there's been a lot of in-fighting. The village we had run to got hit by Gerudo who killed all the warriors including my Uncle Killian. They made us give all our crops. It was a really shitty winter, so a lot of people starved to death and died. Our mom was one of them. If it were a peaceful time, I'm sure orphans like us would have been taken care of, but we weren't. We had to group together to survive. Then they started talking about overthrowing the adults that shunned us. Rei—a girl who was hurt by one of those twisted wolves and lost an eye—made us run away. Said they were going to kill us if we stayed."

Ventus paused slightly, trying not to think how death followed him wherever he went. Since Castle Town went up in flames and they hid among the floating corpses and the moat of blood, the scent of death had clung to him since.

"It's just—" Ventus' voice cracked as he struggled to not think of the mutilation. The death. The cruelty. The further they walked away from the Kokiri Forest which protected them, the more all those memories began to flood back. "It's a war. It's a warzone out there."

North remained quiet for a few moments. "But why do these Gerudo make war on your people?"

"Excellent question! No fucking idea!" Ventus said, throwing his hands up, earning a small but disgruntled squawk from Ceres. "I asked that very question. The Gerudo broke my nose for asking it, and the adults said it's because 'they're Gerudo.' So who knows? Maybe it's because they religiously follow a murderous lunatic for a leader!"

"Perhaps, it's one of the answers we need to find," the forest boy suggested.

"Great, we'll add it to the list."

North's hat bobbed as he nodded silently. "Once we reach the outside, where are we going next?"

"Kakariko Village. It should be north of the forest at the foot of Death Mountain. My aunt, uncle, and cousins should be there," Ventus said. "They can help us. We were actually heading there before, well, we came here." He paused and grimaced. Better to tell North now then have him find out later. "We might need to sneak in. Last time my family tried to enter, they didn't let us come through due to the fact we are related to this famous necromancer who killed a lot of people in Castle Town a long time ago. They didn't want anybody like me and my mom who awakened the ability to see the dead. So it's better if we find my aunt and uncle first before anything. I'm sure they'll protect us."

There was a long pause, but eventually North's hat nodded in agreement again.

"So… how do you know the way north by the way? Do you know magic?" Ventus asked, hoping North really did know the way north and just now beginning to realize he probably should have questioned this before leaving the village with him.

His shoulders shrugged under his shaggy poncho. "Magic? No, I just know when my feet touch the ground."

Ventus paused. "Do you not know what magic is?"

"I know it is a rare gift." He paused to climb onto a large fallen tree. "Aside from you and the Kokiri, I have never seen it before."

"It's not a rare gift among Hylians. My sister has… had it too," Ventus corrected himself. "And my Aunt Amaya, she's a powerful mage. That means she can do all the magic. She's probably the best person to ask and figure out if you have magic as well."

North jumped down to the other side of the fallen tree, disappearing from view. Ventus paused for a second before taking a breath.

"Rini, stay close," he instructed before gritting his teeth and following North's lead. Upon climbing up on the horizontal tree trunk, he saw North on the ground below, waiting for him. Taking a breath, Ventus carefully lowered himself down and did his best not to cry in pain as his body stretched and pulled at his injuries.

He found North staring at him with his black eyes glinting in the shadows of his hat like dark gems. Like his voice, his expression did not seem to change much. "We should rest for a moment."

"I can keep going, no problems," Ventus lied through his teeth. "We don't want to linger here with wolves and stals around."

North stared at him for a moment longer with his unchanging face. Ventus stared back. He would love to know what went on in North's head, but if he could look impassive and cool, so could Ventus. Then the forest boy nodded and turned around, continuing on. Ventus let out a sigh and followed after him, rolling his shoulders and trying not to wince too much in pain. He didn't last much in silence for more than a couple of minutes.

"So what other questions do you have?"

"None for now," said North.

"Right, right." Ventus thought he lasted longer in the silence this time. He did not. "So what's it like being raised by Scrubs?"

North shrugged again. "I was raised by one Deku Scrub. Her name is Petal. She is kind and wise."

"Well, uh, do you have Deku Scrub siblings?" Ventus asked, beginning to feel like following Fado's whims was easier than getting answers out of North.

A simple shake of the hat indicated no.

"Where did you learn to fight?"

"The Skull Kids."

"What are they like?" Ventus was feeling like he was losing a game of twenty questions, but anything was better than the silence.

"Chaotic in their own way. Music and pranks are their passions in life."

"Are there a lot of new Skull Kids? Do they know who they used to be?" Ventus asked, hearing the stories and wondering how much was true.

"Hard to say, they tend to live alone or in bunches of three or four. They all hate 'adults.' Not all are kind toward me either, but they aren't necessarily a threat, just… unpleasant." North stepped over a root. "Some are kinder, and a bunch decided they liked me. They didn't seem to remember anything about the outside world. I asked because I knew the stories too. Before I met you, they were the closest to knowing my people I knew."

"Did your mom tell you the stories?" Ventus asked, carefully stepping over a root as well.

"Yes, and others did as well."

"What sort of stories did you hear?" Ventus couldn't help but be curious what those inside the forest spoke about the outside world. He talked to Fado a bit about it of course, but they weren't as interested in things outside of the Lost Woods.

"That when children from the outside lose their way in this forest, they become Skull Kids."

"Well, I mean about the outside in general," Ventus clarified.

"It's the only thing the Deku, the Kokiri, and the Skull Kids can agree on. That it's dangerous, chaotic, and full of suffering and death. Your own stories seem to reflect this too."

"It's not always dangerous and chaotic," Ventus protested weakly. "It was pretty peaceful until war happened."

North's shoulders shrugged in front of him. "I prefer to experience things directly. Words are… limited."

This continued for hours as Ventus asked probably every question that came to mind. There were no wolves, no howls. Even that oppressive stillness that had surrounded them before seemed to relent. Ventus could hear birds and insects chirping. More sun streamed through their leafy ceiling. The forest was becoming less dense. The trees were becoming shorter and thinner than the thick and tall giants further in. Eventually, North interrupted him, pointing ahead to the bright edge that announced the end of the forest.

"Oh, thank the goddesses," Ventus gasped. At some point the questions were less to keep the silence at bay than to distract him from the growing pain erupting from his back. He hadn't taken his medicine while walking, not wanting to pause and leave themselves for opening, but once they found a place to rest he could finally get relief.

"We should be safe to rest here?" asked North. "We are no longer deep in the forest."

"Yes. Let's," Ventus said, wasting no time sitting down and rummaging in his pack to get the plants Saria had given him for the pain. Shoving them in his mouth, he took off his shirt to replace the bandages which were now bloodied and should have been changed hours ago. Ceres was irritated at having been awoken when he had to move her, and stared at him in disapproval. If North noticed, he didn't say anything. He just sat down and drank from a water skin.

It took about a half an hour for the medicine to kick in and the pain to subside. Leaving the forest after three years and having the full force of the summer heat was both nostalgic and left Ventus wanting for years past. Yet despite it being summer, there was a darkness which wasn't there before on the horizon. The sun wasn't as bright, which was unsettling.

Looking at the horizon, Ventus frowned and put his shirt back on, Ceres once again nesting in his hood.

"We should get going before the sun sets."

North stood up in response, storing away his water skin in his bag.

"Okay, which way is north? We'll head that way toward Kakariko."

North lifted an arm from under his patchy poncho. Now that they were in more light, he saw that he was a fairly lanky boy, dark green cloth wrapping around his slender fingers, hand, and wrist. He pointed to their right.

Ventus nodded and began to pick up his pace. They followed the treeline between the forest and the rolling plains, reminding him of his time traveling three years ago. They had run into Germanin and … He wondered if he was still alive. The sun was high in the sky, directly above them as they walked. It had taken the morning to just hike out of the forest. They walked now, resting only every couple of hours or so to drink water and for him to chew on Saria's bitter herbs and some salted fish and nuts for energy. The wounds on his back throbbed and burned steadily even after resting and taking the medicine. The heat from the warm day and his warm body was not helping.

The sun was beginning its descent toward the mountains, tiny and small across the plains. It was during one of their rests when North pointed it out to him. Further north in the plans were the dark shapes of buildings, houses and barns perhaps.

"A village," Ventus said as Ceres stirred in his hood. "We should go check it out. We might be able to get some more supplies and stay the night. Better than sleeping in the trees or out in the plains where we're sitting ducks."

North frowned in the shadows of his hat; if one could even call it a frown, it was so faint a tagging at his lips. "Very well."

Yet as they approached Ventus could immediately tell something was wrong. He could sense more eyes as they got closer, and even as he concentrated he could not hear the signs of life. An uncomfortable pit settled in his stomach as he carefully pulled out his sword.

"Something's not right," he whispered, ducking below the waves of the waving plains.

The straw, leaf, and twig hat bobbed in agreement for North. He breathed, "It felt too still."

As they crouched and inched closer, the dark outlines of buildings were illuminated in greater focus. The houses were burned and scorched from fire, but the green vines and foliage crawling up its cracked walls and caved-in barns said this had happened a long time ago, a few years. Swearing slightly, Ceres now full alert and returning to her perch on his shoulder, Ventus could feel there were people who weren't Rini around.

"Rini stay close," he instructed before looking to Ceres. "Keep an eye on her and make sure nothing looks like they want to hurt her, okay?"

Ceres squawked and scanned the area, feathers rustling.

"It was probably hit by the Gerduo, but we might find something in the ruins," Ventus said softly before beginning to move forward only to pause when there was a slight crunch. Looking down he saw his foot had crushed what looked like charred remains of a skull. For a moment there was a brief flash of Killian's head sailing in the air, and Ventus swallowed down bile which crept up his throat.

North's hand touching his shoulder brought him back as he breathed, "There's other people here."

Ventus' head shot up, and glanced around, letting out a breath and letting his senses expand. Listening. Waiting.

"Not right here," the forest boy clarified. "Maybe seventy-five or more paces away, they're in the town. There's four of them."

Ventus nodded, somewhat ignoring him at the moment. Tilting his head he could catch whispers of a conversation, and he tilted his head trying to listen in. They couldn't be too careful.

"Zaysehrn … Rugart, ra yehrba ax. Jino, nrekana ax, ehs fakar." The voice was feminine? Masculine? Ventus couldn't really tell. If it was a man, at least they could cross Gerudo off the list of who they would possibly run into, but it didn't mean it was safe.

"Aks ihsk muhslar ti, ho," said another voice, more obviously deep and masculine.

Ventus narrowed his eyes as he tilted his head slightly. It was Gerudo. That much was for certain. What they were saying he had no idea, but one of the voices had to be male. Which meant only one person.

Ganondorf.

"I think it's Gerudo. The language sure as fuck is," Ventus said quietly. "One sounds like a guy, which probably means it's Ganondorf. If we can jump him, we could probably end this war."

Ceres squawked and bit his ear. Hard. Hissing in pain, Ventus wasn't quite sure if it was Rini or Ceres protesting, or perhaps more likely, both of them ganging up on him in their disapproval. Waving them away, the owl flapping around angrily now, he turned to North.

"What do you think?"

"They're getting closer." North's voice lowered even more. "We're outnumbered. We should retreat."

Ventus swore and looked around quickly. "We don't exactly have anywhere to go. Let's hide in the buildings." And without waiting for an answer, he darted away for the nearest one which was the furthest from any eyes.

It had to be an old barn, one which once upon a time held animals and tools. More importantly, would have a better vantage point in the hayloft which could provide some cover. Scampering up the creaking ladder, Ventus quickly made his way across a groaning beam, covering his currently bleeding ear as Ceres hovered nearby, squawking at him.

The crunch of footsteps below alerted him to someone entering the barn. The crimson red hair easily marked them as a Gerudo. Moving a bit closer to get a closer look, Ventus heard the crack before he felt the support give out from under his feet. Beginning to plummet, he quickly put his hand down and yelled—

"Kaze!" in a desperate attempt to break his fall.

It didn't, though he had another brief second to rethink his life choices as he crashed to the ground, wood falling all around him. The world around him began to spin as fire erupted from his back, and the wound opened up again with a vengeance.

"Fuck," he groaned, trying to get his bearings and look for the Gerudo desperately.

As the dust settled around them, the red hair stood out as a beacon to him. The Gerudo had been knocked to the ground at his feet, coughing as the wind magic blew the sawdust into their face. There was movement, showing that head of red hair turning to see him.

Even though Ventus' body screamed at him to lay still, to take a moment to rest for once in his life, the young boy's fight or flight mode had kicked in. Scrambling up, and using another Kaze to propel himself forward, he knocked into the Gerudo, barrelling them over and pinning them to the ground and putting a hand to their mouth only to pause at what he saw.

They were a Gerudo, no doubt. They had the red hair, the brown pigment in their flesh, and golden bronze eyes stared up into his eyes. However, they had no breasts. The jawline under his hand was strong and masculine as were the rest of the features of their face as well as the rest of the figure underneath him. Normally, he would have immediately thought this had to be him, Ganondorf. It wasn't right though, the Gerudo king was his father's age. The Gerudo pinned there was likely Ventus' age or a bit older.

Staring dumbly below him, the only conclusion Ventus could come to was that this had to be a Gerudo who transitioned. He hadn't heard much about that sort of thing, but it would make the most sense.

Still, as he stared down, hand firmly clamped on the Gerudo's mouth, the words which would kill him on his lips, Ventus hesitated as for a brief moment he didn't see a Gerudo staring back with those wide, fearful eyes and heart pounding so loud it sounded like a snare drum.

All he could see was Rini.

Hand loosening ever so slightly, he could hear more creaking and glancing up he noticed that the roof was beginning to crack. It would fall on them at any moment.

Hand moving down to what clothes the Gerudo did have, Ventus wasn't even sure why he made the choice he did when he pointed behind him with his other hand and uttered—

"Kaze."

And sent them spiraling out of the house and slamming into one outdoors, and that was the last thing he saw before everything went black.