A/N:

Usual warning for language.

Not much else, I suppose.

Enjoy!

Link held out a hand, and the Yiga behind him halted. The lowest level of Hyrule Castle proved to be labyrinthine in its design, and there were more Sheikah patrols guarding the labs than guarding the queen's bedroom. He carefully drew his sword, listening for the Sheikah footsteps to get closer.

"Do not attack," Link whispered. "We can't let them know that we're here until we set the bombs. If they find us, we fail. If we must engage with them, knock them out as quickly and quietly as possible."

He and his group carefully backed up out of the dim light of the hanging lanterns, huddling in an alcove until the small Sheikah patrol passed by without noticing them. Once the patrol turned the next corner, Link and his group returned to wandering the corridors.

The underground corridors hadn't existed 200 years ago, and based off where some of the doors went, they were created as a way to reach the older city. The halls were narrow and the sparsely placed hanging lamps were dim. Link could see decently fine in the dark but had to give his allies some directions and prodding. A few of his team members wore bags with the small bombs, and they were herded around in the middle of the group. Link held his sword out, ready to attack if needed.

They turned a corner and ran into another group of people- due to the dim light, both groups immediately drew their weapons. Link, his night-vision allowing him to identify who they were looking at, held up a hand and hoarsely called out, "These are allies! If we fight we'll attract attention."

His own group halted, and the other group hesitated as well. One member of each group lit a lantern- each group had one due to the correctly anticipated darkness- and the lanterns were handed up to each group's leaders. Link held his lantern up to his face as Midna did the same. "Good to see you," he whispered. "I knew you weren't Sheikah since they all wear the same thing; even as silhouettes, I can see that you're all wearing different clothes."

"Good way of figuring it out, I guess." Midna lowered her lantern. "Have you come across Ghirahim's group or Linebeck and Damien yet?"

"Nope. I'm focusing on setting out bombs and getting the hell out." Link put out his lantern and began to lead his group past Midna. "If you see the others, let them know I wish them good luck."

Link handed the lantern back and drew his sword. He could see the outline of the blade in the darkness. They rounded a corner and found a door, lights leaking out through the cracks. Link stalked up to the door, holding a hand up, and pressed an ear to the door. After a few moments, Link heard nothing but silence within and felt the wall around the door. He quickly found a sign and held out a hand for the lantern. It was handed to him by Ralis, and Link lit the lantern for a brief second, enough to see what the sign said.

Sheikah Labs Entrance 2

Link hastily handed the lantern away and motioned for someone to give him the bag. When no one handed it to him, he hissed, "The bag! Give me the bag!" There was a murmur, and the bag was handed over to him. "Watch my back! If some Sheikah find us, it's over! They'll sound the alarm, and if we get cornered, we can't set off the bombs unless we're willing to get caught in the blast."

Unzipping the bag, Link kept an eye on the door. It had sounded like the room was empty, but there really was no way to know for sure. The only ones who would be able to safely contact the other groups would be Ghirahim and Midna, with their teleportation magic, but even then, they would have to be very careful. Link's hand closed around a fairly heavy shape and pulled it out.

It wasn't made using a slew of different materials, like how Linebeck would, but was made very consistently with irons and copper wires. Holding it up the to lantern light, Link could see a small screen and a few loose wires. Ralis reached over and tapped it. "Gondo explained it to me; you need to connect all of the same-color wires, and then you'll have a minute to get away before it explodes. There are a couple more in there, so the blast should be strong enough to take out a good bit of this hall and the lab." Ralis paused. "I helped Gondo make them, and we tested them on some monsters in the wasteland."

"I trust you, don't worry." Link pulled out one of the bombs, then held out the bag. "Take the rest and set them up around the door. We'll need at least one person on each bomb, so we can get them as synced up as possible. We don't need to sync up with the other teams."

The bombs had a sticky side, as Link had hoped, and he and the rest of his team carefully stuck them to the door, and to the hall around it. They all froze upon hearing the sound of nearby footsteps. Link motioned for everyone to hide as well as they could. Most of them managed to jump up and reach the rafters, while others pressed themselves close to the wall- Link hid in the latter manner.

As the footsteps grew louder, a figure appeared in front of Link in a burst of shapes. Ghirahim quickly covered Link's mouth with a hand. "Don't say anything," he whispered. "That goes for your entire team. A problem has come up; it seems that a few more patrols have come down here, and a few of them are heading to the labs. We're screwed. We can't get out without running right into a patrol, and we'll probably get stuck in the blast radius that way."

Link's eyes widened. Ghirahim withdrew his hand, and Link whispered, "What can we do? What if Linebeck and Damien can take out the power before we're found?"

"That could be our saving grace, but that hasn't happened yet. If you get caught, try and fight off as many as you can until it's safe for you to set the bombs and get out. ...Good luck." Ghirahim patted Link on the should in disappeared.

Worst case scenario, Ghirahim and Midna could escape unharmed. Damien was supposed to have some Yiga paper amulets, so he and Linebeck could most likely get out safely. But Link was the one who had the Master Sword. All of them needed to make it out, and they would either fight until everything was safe, or wait until the power grid was ruined.

Linebeck's heart hammered uncomfortably in his chest. It felt tight, and he kept his free arm wrapped around his waist. He could only hope that the nausea would go away, too. He tightened his grip on Damien's hand. The bag slung over his shoulder seemed to weigh much more than it should have, and he allowed Damien to practically drag him through the deepest hallways. Bellum hovered just above his shoulder, giving him a concerned look.

"We're out of those darks halls. Just a bit farther, then we can take a short break," Damien promised. Linebeck bobbed his head up and down, staring at the back of his hand. "Are you- do you feel sick?" Damien asked, peering back at him. "Seriously. We will stop in a bit, but we can stop now if you need."

"...'S just anxiety," Linebeck managed. He nearly tripped over his feet, and had to reach out and grab onto Damien's shoulder to keep himself steady. "Just... anxiety. I'm certain."

"Not a panic attack?"

"...No. I'll be fine. Just... go. Let's keep going." Linebeck took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Damien stopped, the two of them at a fork in the hall. "Seriously. We can keep going."

Damien managed to pry his hand out of Linebeck's. "You're the only one who knows how to disable the power grid." He put his hands on Linebeck's shoulder, getting his full attention. "Let's take a moment. Anything you want to say? Do you think that some talking would alleviate your anxiety a bit?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Uh. What should we talk about? We might die soon." Linebeck's eyes darted around for a moment. "Um. How about a few things we've never told each other before? I've got a whole bunch of things I've never told you now that I have my memories back."

"I'll go first," Damien offered, peering at the hallway they'd just come from. "I'd always liked those rumors of the engineer from 200 years ago. Granted, I liked the rumors of all four of you back then, but the stuff about you was always interesting. And I occasionally thought that the engineer back then sounded kinda similar to you, but never gave it much thought until it turned out that it actually is you."

Linebeck let out a short laugh, finally forcing himself to stare at a spot just above Damien's head. "I never really listened to those rumors. In hindsight, a few of them are accurate. Well, uh, I personally don't like dogs very much. I'm a bit scared of them, actually, and they smell bad, but I still think they look cute. Most of the time. Cats are much better, anyways, more manageable, can clean themselves, softer, the whole deal."

Damien nodded a few times. "Yeah. Definitely. Okay. My turn. Um. Honestly? I don't have much else right now." He let out a nervous laugh, then moved his hands from Linebeck's shoulder to his face, grinning nervously up at him. "I'm anxious, too. Not much we can do about it now, though, since we're on a time limit. Anything else, real quick? We can't linger much longer."

Linebeck blinked. "I-If you were to propose to right now me, I'd say yes. Just to let you know. In case we die. I would say yes without pause. O-obviously we're not ready to get married anytime soon, but we won't get a chance if we die, so, y-yeah." He laughed harshly. "I should hope that the reverse is, true, y'know, a vice-versa sort of thing..."

"Of course, of course," Damien breathlessly replied. "We'll be fine. So let's get going! We don't have much time. The others are relying on us." He removed his hands, but Linebeck grabbed at his wrists to stop him.

They stared at each other; Damien tilted his head in a bemused manner while Linebeck impassively stared at him. "We'll be fine," Linebeck hoarsely repeated. "We'll be fine." he let go of Damien's wrists and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms. "We'll be fine. We'll be fine. Right? Goddesses, nothing feels right, and I can't tell why." He shook his head and sighed shakily, hugging himself. Damien began to speak, but Linebeck shook his head, eyes trained on the floor. "Let's go. We can't stall anymore." He started down the hall, taking the left fork. "Bellum memorized a map of Hyrule Castle. The source of the power grid is down this way."

Damien hesitated. He shoved his hands into his pockets, checking to make sure his only Yiga paper amulet- their easy way out- was still there. He inhaled slowly and exhaled as he finally followed after Linebeck.

They said nothing for a few moments, then Damien jogged in order to catch up with Linebeck's longer strides and walk adjacent to him. "What does Bellum think about all of this?"

Linebeck gave him a mildly surprised look. After a few seconds, he said, "He wants us to live, since if I die, then he will probably stop existing, and if you die, he doesn't want to deal with me being all sad about that. Selfish reasons for an AI, but he's rooting for us." He paused. "He's not happy that he didn't have any say in anything when we decided to make out in Zelda's closet. Bellum always gets a bit pissy when I do something even vaguely intimate with you, even though he can just technically sleep until we're done."

"Sleep?"

"He can shut himself off for certain amounts of time. I can make him appear if I want with the right amount of effort, so I can drag him out of his little 'naps', but that's rude, so I leave him be. There's a fork in the road before we get to the power grid; we'll need to take the right path."

"Got it. Not too far?"

"Not too far. We should run. In case some Sheikah find us." Linebeck broke into a full sprint barely after finishing his sentence, and Damien nearly tripped over himself to catch up.

They didn't have to run for long; after just a few seconds of running, they found a pair of old wooden doors. Linebeck placed a hand on them, then muttered, "Yeah, this is it. Help me get the doors open." He paused, then nodded. "Bellum says it's empty inside, and the doors aren't locked. We could just push the doors open." He placed his hands against one of the doors and began pushing it before Damien even moved to help.

Linebeck braced his shoulder against the door and shoved as hard as he could, though the door didn't budge until Damien started pushing with him. "Better to... just open... one door... right?" Damien gave Linebeck a weak smile. "I-if th-they're both heavy..." With a long creak, the door moved inwards just enough for the two of them to slip in. Both of them sighed in relief when the door did not automatically close.

They both turned to look at the power grid source, a mass of iron and bronze wires and beams, Sheikah crystals and thunder magic powering the outgoing cables. "It looks like a mess," Linebeck mumbled. "I guess they took the designs I drew while barely sane a bit too literally. Either way, this thing basically runs on kinetic energy from some wheels deeper inside- they're turned by water that's deep underneath the castle, so the whole city is run by water power. And the Sheikah crystals, I suppose, though they aren't strong enough to handle powering a whole city." Linebeck strode up to the mess of metal and peered into it, then glanced back at Damien. "How many of those paper amulets did you bring?"

"Just one. It can take us both. What's the plan now?" Damien walked up next to Linebeck, reaching over and grabbing the sleeve of his coat. "You... know how to destroy it, right?"

"Yeah. The whole thing will overload if its Sheikah crystals are destroyed. They keep the whole thing under control. They do help power it, but mostly regulate it and limit just how fast it works." Linebeck kneeled down and set his bag down. "...When we set this off, we'll need to get out as quickly as possible. Keep the Sheikah from finding us while I work." He unzipped the bag and rummaged around in it. "But seriously. When this thing is ruined, the Sheikah should make a beeline for this room, so we'll need to be fast."

"No problem," Damien murmured, rummaging in his pockets and ripping a longer paper amulet. It fluttered to the ground in flames, and his axe appeared in his hands. "Did you bring your bow?"

"Nope. Left it home. Stealth mission, remember? And I trust you." Linebeck withdrew a mess of wires from the bag. "Give me a few minutes, either way. This might take a bit."

"What do you need to do?"

"Find the beams that are connected to the Sheikah crystals and send a whole lot of lightning magic right into them. Urbosa helped develop them, so we know they've got some really powerful lightning magic stored in here." Linebeck held up a small green-yellow bulb connected to the ends of one of the wires. "So I'll set this thing, it'll overload the crystals, and we'll need to get the hell out of here. Where can we go with the paper amulet?"

"Outside the city," Damien offered. "We can't go too far, since the one I grabbed isn't linked to any specific place, but we'll be safe."

"Good. And if it doesn't work, I'll stay behind so that the Sheikah will think it was just me and you can get away-"

"We're both getting out," Damien firmly slapped, paling as he spoke. "We're both getting out together, got it? I'm not letting you stay behind." He stared at the half-open doors, but momentarily glanced back at Linebeck. He was working quietly, whispering to Bellum to look and find the Sheikah crystals, then attaching wires.

A commotion sounded outside the doors. "I'm going to check that out," Damien promised, and he waited until he got a thumbs-up from Linebeck before leaving the room. He strode down the quiet halls, pausing when he got to the fork. He quickly pressed himself to the wall, finding himself faced with a few small Sheikah groups.

"...Intruders? Are you sure? Is it the Yiga?"

"Most likely. We're getting our teams ready to converge on all of the lab entrances- those seem to be their targets."

"Damn. Well, I'll be sure to spread the message and speed things up. Can't let these scum halt Zelda's plans."

"Yeah- I don't get what their deal is, those Yiga. Why try and destroy the world? They'll just be killed, too."

Damien gritted his teeth. He peered around the corner at them, quickly identifying who was talking. The groups were small, but if they spread the word of the plan, things would go bad much quicker than it probably already was. He was just one man, but it probably wouldn't be hard to disarm and put every one of those Sheikah out of commission.

Damien crouched in the shadows for a bit longer, waiting for one of the groups to leave, and neared jumped out of his skin when he peered over his own shoulder and realized he wasn't alone. "What are you doing here!?" Damien hissed, grabbing onto Linebeck's shoulder. "Shouldn't you be working on that bomb and stuff?"

"It's done," Linebeck responded, giving Damien a blank look. "And I want to help you with this." He tore his gloves off, his prosthetic hand briefly glinting in the dim light. "I've got my knife and that razor on one of my fingers, I'll help you out."

"I will probably kill a few of these guys," Damien whispered.

"Yeah. I can help." Linebeck smiled.

Damien opened his mouth to continue to list good points as to why he didn't want Linebeck to be an accomplice to murder when the shuffling of cloth and equipment caught his attention. He whipped around, just in time to see the groups walking off. "Just knock them out," he finally growled, before lunging at the nearest Sheikah. He cut open their back and didn't wait to see them fall before he lunged for the next closest Sheikah.

While Damien quickly knocked out the second Sheikah, Linebeck sprinted at the farthest Sheikah and aimed to get him in some kind of chokehold but settled for breaking the Sheikah's arm when they tried to fend him off. One of the other members tried to rush at Damien, drawing their sword, but Damien stepped aside and broke their wrists with the flat side of his axe. They fell to the ground groaning, and Damien knocked them out with a rough kick to the jaw. He sent another Sheikah face-down to the ground with a gash to the neck that would ensure that they wouldn't be getting back up.

He glanced aside in a moment of respite. Linebeck was fending off a pair of Sheikah surprisingly well, covering the exit. One tried to grab at him and got their knee smashed in by his prosthetic foot - Damein had forgotten that his prosthetics were robotic. He'd seen Linebeck show off the amount of force that they could administer and had therefore seen him crush things like an apple and had seen him crack rocks. The main downside was the sheer amount of focus it took for the robotic limbs to continue to press downwards.

The other Sheikah grabbed at Linebeck's left arm and initially seemed surprised when they couldn't make it bend or move until they saw Linebeck's metal hand. Linebeck was not a good fighter but managed to ended the fight quickly by kicking the Sheikah in the crotch with all of the strength he could muster. Damien sighed briefly and turned his attention back to his own fight.

The last three Sheikah had had time to prepare- two came at him with swords drawn, and the third was drawing an arrow back in a wooden bow. Damien knocked the first Sheikah to reach him aside and broke his leg; the second got too close and managed to score a cut on his cheek. Damien briefly fumbled with his axe, trying to find a way to properly attack the too-close Sheikah, and didn't notice the gleam of the other Sheikah's arrow. The arrow flew through the air, and Damien only had time to grab his closest attacker and shove him into the path of the arrow.

The fizzling noise reached his ears just as the arrow exploded. The bomb arrow struck the other Sheikah in the back and exploded, scorching and effectively ruining their back and sending flames and smoke at Damien. The Sheikah in front of him went limp; Damien could see the white gleam of bone through the poor bastard's blackened skin. He tossed aside the charred body and turned his attention to the flames creeping further up his own clothing. His eyes stung from the smoke. Damien silently thanked Hylia that it had been a weak bomb arrow and wasted no time in sprinting at the final Sheikah before they nocked another arrow.

Damien swung his axe quickly, snapping the apparently flimsy bow in half. Before the Sheikah could run off, he grabbed them by their wrist, letting his axe drop to the floor. "Congratulations, you killed your goddamn friend."

"I-If it's to further Zelda's plans, i-it was worth it. I hope you get burned to the bone."

Damien socked the Sheikah in the face, breaking their nose, and let them crumple to the floor. He glanced around, spotting Linebeck stumbling over to him. "F-for the love of whatever, Damien, put out that damn fire!" Damien blinked and was suddenly aware of the pain creeping up his limbs. He looked down at the flames eating up his sleeves and legs and let out a startled yelp.

He initially tried batting the flames off, but Linebeck started clawing at his burning clothes. "Just take it off," he shouted. "Hurry up!"

Damien started tearing his pants off, and Linebeck haphazardly started tearing at the burning shirt. The smoldering clothes were tossed aside and cut off, until a small pile of scorched cloth lay on the ground near them. Damien unconsciously leaned against Linebeck in relief, then jolted away when he felt him flinch. "S-sorry."

"'S fine," Linebeck mumbled. "Your, uh, some of your hair got burnt. It's not too bad, though."

Damien nodded shakily and hugged himself. He had left his axe on the ground, and he crouched beside it. He hugged himself; now that he was in nothing but his boots and underwear, he was acutely aware of how cold it was. "Is anything salvageable?" He glowered at the pile of clothes.

Then his heart skipped a beat. "Son of a-" Damien lunged at the pile of clothes and started digging through it. He found his pants and frantically searched for the pockets and shoved his hands in them when he found them. His heart sunk into his stomach when he withdrew charred paper amulets, all of which crumbled in his hands. He let out a choked squeak. "No, no, no, no, nooooo..."

Linebeck crouched down beside Damien and stared at the blackened paper. "Oh, shit." Damien started to shake; Linebeck draped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close. "Hey, that's alright, we'll be okay. Come on, I think some of your clothes are alright-"

"No, no! We're screwed! We won't be able to get out, we'll be caught the moment that damned power grid blows!" Damien trembled, now leaning heavily into Linebeck, who tightened his arms around him. "W-we're fucked. There's nothing... we'll both die. I-I d-don't know... I've fucked everything up! P-please, goddesses... w-why..."

"Damien, Damien, wait. Hang on, hang on for a second..." Linebeck gently ran his fingers through Damien's hair and kissed him on the cheek. "Listen, okay?" He waited until Damien shakily looked over at him, eyes wide, tears gathering in the corners. "First, let's salvage some clothes for you, okay? I've got a plan, but you won't like it." He helped Damien to his feet, his skin prickling. "A-and please stop leaning against me. My aphenphosmphobia has been worse since we made out in the closet."

"I-is it my fault? I... didn't notice you shaking in the c-closet..."

Linebeck smiled weakly and began sifting through the pile of ruined clothes. "No, I was fine while we were making out. I've just been a lot more sensitive since getting a bit overwhelmed at the party. Though, don't expect me to be perfectly alright with contact after this. I probably won't fully get over this." He gently rubbed Damien's back and handed him what remained of his pants. "These look aright, just a bit blackened. Put them on, I'll see what else is alright." Damien nodded mutely and tugged the pants back on, and silently accepted his surprisingly intact undershirt.

The last things that were salvaged were his gloves; while he quietly pulled them on, Linebeck shifted his weight and murmured, "So. About what I said earlier. You shouldn't stay." Damien paused, giving him a confused look. Linebeck sighed and started tugging on his scarf, unraveling it and pulling it off from around his neck. For the first time in a while, Damien noticed the wires running from behind his left ear down into his shirt. "You know. About me staying back to set off the bomb while you get out in order to evade the Sheikah. You and the others can get out while the Sheikah are distracted by investigating the power grid and catching me."

Damien stared at Linebeck for a long moment. Linebeck studied his own scarf, then began to gingerly fold it up. Once he'd neatly folded it up, he held it out to Damien. Damien stared at it, still processing and trying to wrap his mind around Linebeck's words. He finally carefully accepted the scarf and stared at it for a moment. After Linebeck got his memories back and learned of the origins of his scarf, Damien had started to see it in a different light now that he knew it had a great deal of sentimental value. It didn't really click until Linebeck started taking off his coat; the coat that was he valued so much that he would irritably snap at anyone who made the slightest indication that they wanted to wear it.

"Wait." Damien held the scarf tightly. He took a few unsteady steps towards Linebeck. "W-wait." When Linebeck took off his coat and held it out, Damien batted aside his hand and tightly wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face in his shoulder. "W-what- they'll kill you. You can't just-"

"They need me, remember?" Linebeck draped his coat across Damien's shoulders. It was too long for him; the bottom of the coat brushed against the ground, and it was heavier than he expected. "I'll be fine."

"You don't know that! Zelda could've been lying."

"We've got a better chance of the both of us getting out this way."

"I'm not letting you just... throw yourself to the wolves!" Damien pulled back a bit, staring Linebeck in the eyes. "I'm not going to lose you, alright? Either we both get out together or we die trying, got it? I refuse to let you die while I still live, or vice-versa."

Linebeck wrapped his arms around Damien, hugging him for a moment. He smiled, though his eyes revealed the terror he felt. "You got burned by that bomb arrow. I didn't get out of that Sheikah scuffle without getting hurt." He took one of Damien's hands and guided down his side until they both found a narrow but deep cut in Linebeck's side, still oozing blood. "I'll just slow you down. If we argue about this any longer, the others will get hurt, too."

"I-is that-"

"It's not the only wound, and the only reason you didn't initially see them is because they were all under the coat. Damned Sheikah didn't even want to try and cut through the coat, just went right for the easiest method." Linebeck loosened his arms around Damien. "Bellum will keep me company. Even if I die, there's a chance he might persist; I've been working on a new version of a device to let other people see and hear him, if you want to take the blueprints to some skilled Yiga engineers."

Damien hugged Linebeck tighter, tears blurring his vision. "I c-can't lose you. I'll protect y-you if the Sheikah come!"

Linebeck tried to turn and walk away, gentle attempting to pry Damien's arms off. "L-listen, the longer it takes for me to do this, the less willing I am. P-please. Trust me." He swallowed thickly and continued, his voice laden with emotion. "Please. Let me protect you guys, just once. I'm tired of doing practically nothing to help you guys. You're too hurt to come with me. You can't teleport us out of there. If you're with me, it'll be harder for me to try and sneak out, too. Just... escape a-and keep my stuff safe. If they find me, they won't kill me. I promise."

Damien let out a shuddering breath and released Linebeck. Linebeck started to stumble away, but hesitated. He turned back and reached up and took Damien's face in his hands. They stared at each other for a brief moment, and Linebeck kissed Damien, moved his hands from Damien's face to his shoulders. They kissed for a few silent seconds, both dreading the moment when they separated.

They pulled away from each other and stared at each other for one last time. Linebeck let go first- he took a step back and turned and sprinted off down the hall.

Damien swayed. Feeling dizzy, he managed to slip his arms into the sleeves of Linebeck's coat and draped the scarf around his neck as best he could. He stumbled over to and picked up his axe and took in a long, deep breath. Finally, he dashed off down the hall, running away from the power grid, doing his best to focus on nothing else but saving himself.

Link pressed himself hard into a corner, holding his breath as a Sheikah soldier neared his hiding place and the rigged doors. His heartbeat intensified with his panic, almost feeling as through the organ would burst out of the material it was encased in. He could just barely see the other Yiga in the hall, all hiding in pure terror as their plan was inches from being foiled.

Then, somewhere in the distance, an explosion rang out, the entire corridor seemed to quake, and the lights inside the Sheikah lab went out. The Sheikah searching for them drew in a sharp breath and immediately turned on their heel and sprinted away. Link waited for a few frozen moments, then rasped, "The power grid...!" He pushed himself out of the corner. "Hurry up, we need to rig the bombs! They blew the power grid! Come on!"

Link reached the first bomb, and a few of his group members reached the rest of the bombs. They fumbled in the darkness, too hasty to bother with the lantern, and all waited until they all had the right wires ready. A hushed whisper of affirmation was shared between all of them, and Link pressed all of his wires together. They seemed to fix into place, and all of the lights on each of the individual bombs lit up and began counting down. There was no spoken order; they all sprinted away from the door once done.

Link brought up the rear, helping prod Ralis forward. He drew his sword and shouted directions up to the front as the only one who could properly see in the dark. The lantern got passed to the leader, and Link went quiet once again. They wound their way through the labyrinthine lowest castle floor, eventually meeting back up with Midna and Ghirahim's teams, and they escaped the otherwise deserted halls just as they heard a number of explosions behind them. Unrestrained cheers rose up from the Yiga as they hurried through the dark castle halls.

No Sheikah were found as they looked for an exit; Link could only assume that they were busy dealing with the power grid. Not that they would find any culprits, since Damien and Linebeck had most likely already escaped using those Yiga amulets.

The only known entrance or exit in or out of the castle was the one they'd all entered through for the ball, which was on the other side of the castle. The windows weren't an option, they were blast-proof 200 years ago, and a few Yiga archers had long since confirmed that they were still strong enough to resist high-power bomb arrows.

As they got further though the castle, more and more Sheikah started appearing. Initially, they were busy running around, searching for Zelda or Impa or other Yiga, and it wasn't hard to evade them. But, once the castle was more and more populated by Sheikah, they were spotted more and more often. It initially began when a Sheikah would call the alarm, then ended up where they began getting attacked by those Sheikah.

Link tightened his grip on his sword and slashed at the first Sheikah that got too close, slicing them from hip to shoulder. Another tried jumping at them, and Midna jabbed at them with her spear. It slowly got worse as they continued to get lost and disoriented in the castle, more and more Sheikah desperately throwing themselves at the group, managing to injure a few poor Yiga who got distracted.

Other Yiga stragglers slowly returned to the group, even as they fought their way through the dim castle. An arrow tore through Link's shoulder, one Sheikah managed to get a stab in on Ghirahim's leg, another slashed open a gash across Midna's ribs. Droplets of blood soon decorated the castle's extravagant rugs.

As they neared the exit to the castle, Link spotted a small group of Sheikah in a nearby hall. They all seemed huddled around something, dragging that something through the halls. For a moment, Link spotted a limp pair of thin legs being dragged along the floor, a trail of blood marking their path. When one foot caught on the rug, it twitched and got out of the way, then the whole person struggled for a moment. One of the Sheikah that was dragging them seemed to strike the person and they continued moving through the halls.

Link grimaced and continued moving through the halls with his friends. He was certain that there were other Yiga groups escaping the halls, that Damien and Linebeck were probably either waiting outside or getting out from a different point, and that some Yiga were probably failing to get away from the Sheikahs' attacks. It was inevitable that some would be caught.

As they ran past, Link figured there was nothing he could do to help. He brought it to the attention of Midna and Ghirahim, both agreeing with him when he added that the Sheikah group was too far away, and they were moving too fast.

"It's a shame," Midna growled under her breath, watching the Sheikah and their prisoner slide out of view. "But if we stop now, we're at risk of losing more people." She shoved Link forward, and the whole group turned a corner to find the castle exit. "Besides, we're almost out! We leave, we plan, we come back and bust out any and all prisoners! Come on!"

Link set his jaw and slid the Master Sword back into its scabbard. They would return within days, in a best-case scenario. Worst-case scenario, it would take a month- either way, they were winning. Once they got out of the castle, they would meet with other Yiga who would transport them back to the hideout, and from there, they would celebrate and wait for further news.

They reached the wide-open gates and sprinted out of the castle. Zelda was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Impa. Link could only assume that they were planning a later retaliation, but that hardly mattered. They'd achieved what they'd meant to do, so the Yiga had won the night. Cheerful shouts rose up from the crowd of Yiga even as Sheikah on the castle walls shot arrows at them.

Not a single arrow reached its target, though, as Ghirahim and Midna had them all securely protected, summoning barriers or halting the arrows midair as the rest of their allies cheered and celebrated. They reached the dark city streets and found more Yiga waiting for them. Not a single order was shouted or administered while everyone split off and met up with one of the waiting Yiga, disappearing in a cloud of paper amulets within moments. Link hung back, watching the route from where to came to make sure they weren't still being pursued.

Once he was nearly the last one left, Link ran up to one of the Yiga, gave them a quick thanks, and took their hands. "It's almost over," he excitedly told the masked Yiga, who mutely nodded with clear enthusiasm. "We can redeem ourselves- all four of us!"

The Yiga nodded again, and they disappeared from the city streets, returning to the safety of the Yiga hideout.