Chapter 2: Reunited Lovers

Caeda was now resting in a makeshift shelter Link had built out of fallen branches and vines he found around the ground in the Lost Woods. He'd thoroughly studied wild plant life, but he couldn't find anything that would help him treat her wounds. He built the shelter next to a small river, periodically trying to treat her burns with the water, but she still refused to wake up.

Link had tried several times to try and find a path of some kind, but every time he did, he'd end up right back where Caeda's shelter was, despite the fact that he even made sure to mark where he went to avoid walking in circles. It seemed almost like a curse on in these Woods that prevented him from getting anywhere. He was just happy it would bring him back to Caeda. He wasn't comfortable with the idea that he could leave and not find her again, so he decided to wait until she awoke before he would go anywhere else. If there actually was anywhere else to go.

Link sat still, kindling a small fire that he took some time to make to keep himself warm. His tunic was also burnt in places, but not as much as Caeda's own. She was lying in the shelter, covered by naught but the tunic she had. Link had taken her armor off of her so that she could be more comfortable.

The fire cracked, and Link heard Caeda grunt in a weak, timid voice. He stood and rushed to her shelter, and was pleasantly surprised to see her sitting up, rubbing her head. He at least suspected that she was going to be bedridden for a few days, but she seemed completely fine apart from the burns, which seemed to be going away rather quickly for how serious they were.

"Hey!" shouted Jixi excitedly. "Omigosh, I'm so glad you're okay!" She fluttered around Caeda's head, making her giggle.

"Yeah," said Link awkwardly, "but how? I thought those burns were more…" Link stopped as Caeda uncorked a small bottle of a yellow liquid and gulped the entire thing. Her burns became even less pronounced than just seconds earlier.

"Ahhh, nothing like a good vulnerary to pick me up," sighed Caeda, tossing the empty bottle aside. "Too bad it was my last one, these burns still hurt like crazy, but I can manage with this." Link stood gaping at what he'd just seen. Only an hour before, she was unconscious, covered from head to toe in serious burns, but now she was completely fine, only small burn marks remaining beneath her singed clothes.

"What was that?!" shouted Jixi excitedly. "That was so cool!"

"What, you guys don't have vulneraries?" asked Caeda incredulously. "How do you get better after a serious fight? Come on, I know this place has to have something like that, you just don't know yet." She motioned for Link to get out of the shelter so that she could follow him out.

The two of them stood up, and Link observed the forest to make sure there was no one or thing watching them. "Where's my armor?" asked Caeda, as soon as she realized he'd taken it off. Link pointed to the light armor hanging from a tree branch close to the ground. "Oh, great, now there's gonna be sap all over it. Don't you know it's pretty creepy to take a girl's armor off while she's knocked out?" Link flushed red, and averted his eyes from her as she giggled.

"He only did it so you could feel comfortable, we didn't know you'd be able to get out of bed so soon!" said Jixi, trying to defend Link.

"I'm only joking, it was sweet of him to do that," remarked Caeda. "Where are the others?"

Link paused for a minute and looked back at Caeda, who was fitting her armor about her. "You mean Lucina?" he asked, remembering that there were two horse riders pursuing them from his home.

"Heh, yes Lucina," chuckled Caeda. "And the other man, too." She walked towards the river and began to look around it. "Isn't there any water that isn't running so I can see myself clearly?"

She cares about what she looks like at a time like this? thought Link. What's she on about? "Yeah, just up a little way," he said. She walked up to where a small pond sat beside the river.

"All my clothes are wet, too; did you try and treat my burns?" asked Caeda as she beckoned for Link to follow her. He quickly tried to stamp out the fire, knowing that they weren't likely to come back to this place unless they were still affected by the curse. He picked up his bow and quiver of arrows, along with his small bag full of small strings he could use to set traps. He'd kept his dagger on his person.

"I didn't know about vulneraries," said Link, trying to ease up around her. She was beautiful, but something told Link that she was off-limits for some reason. He followed her to where she was trying to straighten her currently wild hair while observing her reflection in the small pond. "And I don't know where they are, we've been in here for all of the afternoon."

"Figures, he's always kept me waiting," said Caeda, pulling small twigs which had somehow managed to get tangled in her hair.

"I'm sorry," started Jixi, "but exactly who is he?"

"I think she's talking about me."

Link jumped back immediately drawing his bow and pointing it at the source of the calm voice. A man roughly Link's own height stood a few meters away with Lucina, both of them with slightly ripped and charred clothing. It was apparent that they'd both taken vulneraries to recover from wounds, given there weren't any even under the torn parts of their clothing.

For the first time, Link had a good look at Lucina. She was about a head shorter than him, and her blue hair reached to the middle of her back. It wasn't as well-kept as Caeda's, but on her it looked great. She had fair skin, and her eyes were a deep blue, though in her left eye there were strange markings Link couldn't distinguish clearly. On her head was a tiara-like crown, and even though she didn't wear much makeup like Caeda, she was just as pretty. She was also quite thin, impressive for someone like her, who was clearly a very capable warrior.

The man who stood beside her bore a striking resemblance to her, though he was more masculine and his hair was about as long as Link's own, but it was groomed as if to perfection. The blueness of his own matched perfectly with Lucina's. He had a sturdy build, and his royal blue robes and tiara-like crown meant he was a prince. In fact, his entire being exemplified everything Link imagined a prince would look. An impressive, dragon-like sword hung at his side.

"Marth!" exclaimed Caeda exuberantly, running to meet him in an embrace. She began to kiss him, which made Link feel a bit uncomfortable, though it ended quickly. She broke away from him and looked at Link sheepishly. "O-oh, sorry, I forgot to mention, this is Prince Marth. He's my fiancé!"

"Your WHAT?" exclaimed Jixi disbelievingly. Link was intrigued at her surprise; it seemed almost obvious to him that she was spoken for.

"You heard her right," said Marth calmly, walking towards Link with an outstretched hand. "Like she said, I'm Marth, Prince of Altea. I saw you two fall from the pegasus, and I was worried sick." Link took his hand and shook it, noting the firmness of his grip being in line with his character. Marth looked back to his fiancé now embracing Lucina, who looked a bit uncomfortable to be treated such. "Speaking of which, how did you two survive? You look awful," Marth said sincerely.

"I…" started Caeda, flushing red with anger at his insensitivity. "I have no idea, the last thing I remembered was seeing you guys racing towards us. I blacked out after that." Marth turned back to face Link, as Caeda walked to him and punched his arm. Lucina also walked towards them, though she stood a bit away from them when she stopped. "How did we survive that fall—erm—L…?"

"Link," spoke up Lucina for the first time since their arrival.

"Right!" exclaimed Caeda. "Sorry, I only heard the guy say your name once. Anyways, how did we survive?"

Link remembered the glowing triangle that appeared on the back of his hand when he and Caeda miraculously slowed down. "There was a bright light, and we just slowed down," he answered simply. Lucina strode quickly to Link, which made him take a step back. He knew what she was capable of with that sword which hung on her belt.

"Where did the light come from, exactly?" she asked, taking a keen look at him. Link noticed that she had a very pleasant smell coming from her, surprising for one who seemed as serious as she did. She took his left hand, which was covered in a leather gauntlet, and eyed it suspiciously.

"Um, from that hand," said Link, feeling slightly nervous at her touch.

"Then it's exactly as that weird sorcerer said," remarked Lucina, letting Link's hand drop back to his side, though she didn't take any step away from him. "Which means we definitely have the right guy."

"Whaddyou mean by that?" asked Jixi, flying to hover in front of Lucina's face. Lucina's eyes widened as the fairy's light illuminated her features.

"S-so pretty!" she let slip carelessly. She covered her mouth and shook her head as she tried to regain some of her lost composure. "S-sorry. Agh, I think you can explain, Hero-King." She slumped next to a tree and sat against it, looking rather embarrassed at her outburst of admiration at the fairy. Link chuckled slightly, finding it funny that a warrior such as herself could be girly.

Marth sighed at the apparent title that he had been given by Lucina. "Is that really what they call me in your time?" he said. "And yet nothing about Caeda?" He sounded surprisingly annoyed about such a great title being applied to himself yet not to his beloved. Link was also a bit confused by what Marth meant when he said 'your time.' "Eh, it's fine. I suppose you're wondering why we're here, aren't you?"

"Of course we are! We were just trying to find stuff to eat when you weirdos showed up!" exclaimed Jixi.

"Well, as it happens, we're about as surprised about this as you are. I thought all the trouble in the world had ended when I finally stopped Medeus, but as fate has it, here we are," said Marth. "I can't tell you much right now, because even I don't understand all of it, but…" He looked expectantly at Lucina who was still sitting against the tree.

"My father and I managed to kill a fell dragon named Grima," she said. "But about a year after we defeated the dragon, a… sorcerer, or diviner, or whatever he claims to be… he came and showed me a vision of the same dragon coming after a boy in green with a golden triangle on the back of his hand.

"Without an explanation, I found myself here, in the Lost Woods, with Marth and Caeda. Then the dastard appeared and told us to bring the boy I'd seen in the vision to a temple in the middle of these woods and then he'd explain to us what we're doing here. He told us where your village was, and thank the gods that we arrived when we did. I don't know as well as you what we're all doing here, Hero-King." Lucina remained seated, holding onto her knees.

"That's basically the same story as mine, except Caeda came with me, and there was no mention of any Grima. He only brought us here and told us we had to bring you to him," Marth said. "And for the last time, could you at least call me by my name? I know you're from the future of my world, but I think we've reached that point."

"It just feels weird," replied Lucina simply. Clearly there was something she didn't want to tell Marth, though she apparently respected him greatly. "Anyways," Lucina started as she stood up, brushing the dirt from her rear, "I don't know if the man's intentions with you are honorable, but we're going to bring you there just the same. And stop him if we have to. Any man with as much power as he seems to have is dangerous. He's disrupted time and reality to bring us all here, and I don't like the idea of him roaming around unchecked."

"And the same goes for us," piped up Caeda. "No matter what, I can't feel okay until we know what's going on. Until I know my prince is safe…" Her grip tightened around Marth's arm as he rolled his eyes.

Link looked at the three of them with utter confusion. He didn't even know what to say to all of them, but he didn't have any room to doubt them after all they'd gone through to save him from Ashnard. "It's getting dark," Link said, trying to avoid having to go further into their observations.

"We've had absolutely no luck in finding anything here, anyways," said Jixi. "Every time we leave we just end up by the river again. Better that we rest and eat now, so if we do find that temple, we can be prepared."

"Great, you have something to eat?" Marth exclaimed. "I'm starving, haven't eaten anything all day!" Link shifted uncomfortably. While he was searching for a road, he did manage to catch a small rabbit and snag a few berries for when Caeda woke up, but it wasn't nearly enough to feed all four of them.

"As long as it's not bear meat," sighed Lucina, walking to where Link's recently extinguished fire was still smoldering. "I'll get this fire going while you boys prepare the meat for cooking. Caeda, I assume you can make shelters?" Lucina gestured to the small shelter Link had prepared for her earlier.

"Actually, that was Link. But I think I can do fine," said Caeda, hurrying over to where Lucina was nudging the coals.

Marth stayed by Link, studying him almost as intently as Lucina had. The two of them looked extremely similar, as if they were related. "I'm guessing you don't have enough of whatever it is to feed all of us, right?" Even though they were roughly the same height, Marth seemed taller than him. Link nodded and motioned for him to follow him into the woods. "We'll be back; we're just going to catch some more meat!"

"Be safe!" shouted Caeda back to him.

Link walked back to where he had shot the rabbit. He'd actually set a few traps in the same area, as he'd been planning on staying there with Caeda for a few days while she recovered. Hopefully he had an early catch.

"So how long have you known Caeda?" Jixi broke the silence of the walk. The sun continued to set lower in the sky, the light shining through the canopy becoming orange and the air cooling around them.

"Ever since we were kids," said Marth, happily recounting his history with his fiancé. "We've been through hell together, that's for sure. As soon as I regained my kingdom, the first thing I did was propose. Didn't take long for us to get into more serious danger, though. Our wedding was supposed to be a week from today, after being delayed so often."

"I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Jixi honestly, flying next to Marth. "And as you can see, my friend Link here doesn't talk too much, I do most of it for him! So if you have any questions you can feel free to ask me!"

"I see, not so much the talking type, are you?" remarked Marth. "I've known plenty of great warriors like that. I heard from Lucina that you handled the Falchion quite well, an impressive feat for one who's had no training. In fact, she said you did so well, if you actually had the ability to truly wield the blade, you'd have been able to hold your own against Ashnard and his wyvern."

"Truly wield?" questioned Link.

"You see, only those of the royal bloodline of Anri can use the Falchion properly," said Marth, as they continued towards the traps. "You couldn't possibly have used the sword to its full potential, unless there's something very shocking you aren't telling us. Perhaps we need to find you your own legendary sword to do battle with, eh?" Even though he was mostly kidding, Link could tell there was a note of seriousness in Marth's voice.

"So that sword you have there?" asked Link, pointing to Marth's sword dangling from his belt.

"Well, it may not look it, but it's actually the same sword Lucina is holding," said Marth, unsheathing it to show Link. "Clearly it went through some changes over the years, but this is the one and only Falchion. Heh, she acts like I don't already know, but Lucina is actually one of my descendants far down the line. There's no other way she could use my sword unless she was."

"Yeah, about that whole time, future, thing," started Jixi, "what's that all about? You say that Lucina is your descendant? That's your sword she's holding? Then why aren't you like super old or anything?"

"I don't know," said Marth, shaking his head. "We've been pulled out of different times in the same world. That's what has me so worried about this sorcerer. If he has that kind of power, what else is he going to do with it?" Link continued to walk in front of Marth until they arrived at his traps. Luckily there were two rabbits caught in them. One was rather plump, the other was quite thin. It would be enough, if they continued to take more berries from the plants around them.

"Either way, what are you thinking of Lucina?" asked Marth suddenly, untying the thin rabbit from its trap and ending its life. "She's quite pretty, isn't she?"

"I noticed," he said simply, ending the life of the plump rabbit. He tried to hide his slight grin as he thought of Lucina's silly outburst at the fairy's aesthetic. He didn't want to give Marth anything that he could use against him.

"I think you noticed more than just that," chuckled Marth, holding up the rabbit by its legs. "Let's take these back, but I don't think it'll be enough to fill us all."

"There's actually another fat one back at camp that we caught earlier," said Jixi, still hovering around Marth's head. She seemed to take a liking to the prince. "We should be just fine if we get some berries!"

Link and Marth trekked back to the camp to find that Caeda had put together two more shelters, one much bigger than the other two clearly meant for her and Marth. They were somewhat crude, but they would be good enough to keep them covered from the winds and the bugs.

Link prepared the rabbits and Caeda cooked them over the open fire which Lucina had brought back to life. They ate enough until they were all satisfied and the bones of the rabbits were buried far away from the camp to keep wild animals away. Link retired to the small shelter that Caeda had made, and allowed Lucina to take the one he'd prepared for Caeda earlier.

Link couldn't keep his eyes closed for once in his life as he tried to drift off to sleep as he normally did. He shifted constantly trying to get comfortable, but the thoughts of the wyvern king and his sorceress continued to plague his mind until he decided to try and catch some air outside. He made sure not to disturb Jixi's resting body as he quietly slipped on his boots and walked outside.

The fire was still going, which surprised him. He'd thought that all the others had gone to bed, but Lucina was still prodding it with a short branch. "Someone has to keep watch," she said at his inquiring gaze. "For all we know, that evil king is still looking for you." She didn't avert her eyes from the flames.

"He flew away after we fell," started Link. "I don't think we have to worry about him anymore for now." He walked to one of the rocks that had been placed around the fire earlier and sat on it, however uncomfortable it was.

"Either way, better to be safe than sorry," said Lucina, looking up at him. She gave him that same small grin that she had when she first introduced herself after he tried to rescue her from Ashnard. "I never got a chance to thank you for coming back for me. Even though I clearly had it under control."

"Clearly," chuckled Link. He felt a small rock hit his forehead, and he looked up to see Lucina holding another small pebble in her fingers.

"…Thank you," she finally said, dropping the pebble. "You can go back to bed now. I'm fine taking watch for the night."

"Can't sleep," said Link, trying to make himself tired by staring into the flames.

"I don't think any of us can. I doubt Marth and Caeda are sleeping in there. They were supposed to be married next week, now their lives are in danger once again. They're probably just talking like we are."

"He knows," said Link, looking up at Lucina. "About how you two are related somehow."

"So is that what you two talked about out there?" asked Lucina with curiosity. "I figured he did, what with the Falchion and everything. But I didn't want to be the one to bring it up, and I'm guessing neither did he."

Link shifted uncomfortably on the rock. "I can take the watch if you want," he said.

"I can't sleep," said Lucina. "I know I need my strength, but that's just it. When my eyes grow tired, I'll go to my shelter and you can stay up."

Link nodded at her and the two of them sat in silence, both trying to contemplate the future and what it held for them. Earlier that day, the only thing Link had been worried about was whether or not he'd have enough food to survive the Winter. Now he was worried if he could survive another night in the woods surrounded by complete strangers from different worlds.