(Fan/Act/Rom) The Legend of Zelda: Empire of Darkness [T]

Beautiful descriptions and great attention to details. The story is fairly organized and I didn't get bored reading it. It's also a good thing that you've put a space between the characters' dialogue exchange, since the first chapter was way too cramped up for me to read the whole thing comfortably. Keep up the good work, Shrub.

Author's Note: Oh and Dark Side, once I post all of my 15 chapters I will be about ... 2/3 of the way through the story. After that I will have a prequel and two other sequels. This is far from over ... I hope no one has a problem with that.
Lone Wolf, thank you very much. I want to edit chapter one but my computer gets very fussy when I try to edit for some odd reason. I'll figure it out. Anyway, on to chapter ten! This is one of my favorites.

Chapter Ten:
Lust and Love

Leita went around healing those who hadn’t been because of the urgency of Ren’s recovery. She had finished with Link and came around to Rontu, who looked at her as if he didn’t know why she was standing there. Leita’s emerald-greens eyes glided down to his chest where his shirt was ripped and a large, bloody cut was.

“Um … Rontu, I need you to remove your shirt,” mumbled Leita as her cheeks flushed pink. Rontu replied by standing up from his chair that he had been sitting on and taking off his black trench coat and shirt. Rontu didn’t look it, but he was very muscular; his trench coat and shirt hid it well. He didn’t have too much muscle but he wasn’t lean either. Leita thought he was just right but she quickly shook this thought from her head as she stepped closer to heal the slash across his chest.

Rontu appeared to be a very experienced warrior because his chest held many scars of war. On his back were many long scars that made Leita suspect he had been whipped by someone. The one that stood out the most was the wide one on his right shoulder. Leita couldn’t stop the question that spilled out of her mouth.

“Where did you get that?”

Leita had finished healing him but her magic left no scar there. Rontu didn’t answer right away. He first pulled his shirt back over his head and grabbed his trench coat he had left on his chair.

“My father gave it to me,” he grumbled and stocked off toward the balcony, pulling on his trench coat as he went. Leita stared at his retreating back; her feet stuck to that spot. She tried not to let her tears fall, but what he said made her eyes water. How could a father do that to his own child? thought Leita as a single tear fell down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away so that Khaz would not worry. Speaking off which, Khaz had been acting strangely since they got back. He was sitting on a purple sofa just staring at the golden end table in front of him. His midnight-blue eyes told her that his mind was somewhere else. She swept over and sat down next to him, but he didn’t even notice she was there. His black gauntlet covered-hand went up and placed itself over his right ear as if he was trying to block out the sound.

“Khaz?” said Leita; panic began to fill her stomach. Her hand touched the one that covered his ear. He gasped and looked at her, smiling.

“Oh! I didn’t see you there, Leita,” he exclaimed happily.

“Khaz … you weren’t hearing them again, were you?” she whispered to her brother. He could not trick her with that mask of happiness. His smile faded a little from his face.

“Leita, can we not talk about this … everyone is here,” he whispered back, his smile completely gone.

“Just answer me,” said Leita, not letting him escape the question. Khaz avoided her eyes as his hands twisted in his lap.

“I thought I was hearing something for a moment but now it’s gone,” he answered as he bit his lip.

“Khaz … was it because of Nottuu?” asked Leita, she remembered his face when Nottuu was standing over him with a sword. Just like that night the shape-shifter came.

“You know, I really don’t want to talk about it,” snarled Khaz, the tone in his voice becoming cold. Leita flinched at her brother’s harshness. Khaz nervously ran his hand through his jet-black hair that never laid flat. Leita didn’t have time to respond because Nabooru came through the door beaming at them all.

“So Ren has recovered?” she asked as she smiled broadly at Ren, who was taken back by the smile. She must have forgiven him too. Ren nodded in reply as it was too obvious that he had recovered.

“Nope, he’s still in bed!” exclaimed Khaz sarcastically. Nabooru rolled her eyes at him.

“Good, well now that everything is taken care of I would like to tell you all about the party tonight,” said Nabooru.

“Party?” smirked Blaze. “What for?”

“Well, tomorrow will be our first battle,” replied Nabooru as if it was obvious.

“Wait a second, you never said that we were going into battle anytime soon,” frowned Malon, the idea of battle didn’t seem to agree with her.

“Funny, I could have sworn I had told you,” said Nabooru, raising an eyebrow. “Well, now you know.”

“I want you all to enjoy yourselves. I need you all relaxed for the next mission I have for you,” continued Nabooru, but was interrupted by the loud groan they let out.

“Oh stop complaining,” ordered the Gerudo. “I think you will find this one more exciting.”

“Oh?” said Kira, the sound of it catching her interest. The others looked curious too and waited for Nabooru to tell them more.

“The battle you are going into tomorrow is to free Lon Lon Ranch from the Empire,” said Nabooru, but again was interrupted by Malon.

“What?” she exclaim.

“That’s right Malon, the ranch will be yours again in no time,” Nabooru answered the obvious question. “We are more than enough for the Dark Elves there.”

Malon looked ready to go into battle right that second. Her blues eyes flashed eagerly. They were starving to have her home back.

“But,” added Nabooru. “I have a special job for all of you.”

“Which is?” questioned Zelda.

“I need you to get all of the slaves out of the ranch before we attack it.”

Silence followed was like the chill after a cold breeze. They were all staring disbelievingly at the Gerudo.

“We might as well save the universe while we’re at it!” exclaimed Tila.

“Actually, if you think about it we already are,” pointed out Khaz. “I mean, if we don’t stop Nottuu now there’s no stopping him later.”

“Oh, calm down. Did you really think I would send you in there without a plan?” scowled Nabooru, their reluctance to jump in and help was beginning to bother her.

“What does this plan entail?” asked Kai. Only he, Kira, Rontu, and Link didn’t appear to be outraged by this. It was possibly because Rontu, Kira, and Link had war experience and new exactly what could be done when in war. Kai was a natural leader and was prepared for anything.

“First, I need all of you to split up into four groups,” began Nabooru. “As a matter of fact, I will split you up into the groups I think will be best.”

Nabooru went around the room making the people in the groups stand next to each other so that they would know just who they would be with. Rontu and Leita were group number one. Zelda, Impa, and Tila were group number two. Blaze, Ren, Trisa, and Nabooru herself were in group number three. Link, Khaz, and Malon were group number four. Kira and Kai stared at Nabooru, wondering why she didn’t put them into groups. Nabooru noticed this and of course informed them their task.

“Now, I need you two to lead our troops into battle,” said Nabooru. This only seemed to bother Kira for she said,

“What? But I’ve never lead a regiment into battle before!”

“You have war experience, I’m sure you will do just fine,” stated the confident Gerudo.

“So does Link, he even lead a troop into battle before and Kai doesn’t have war experience either,” added Kira.

“Kira, I do believe that Kai has experience as a leader and you have my complete confidence,” said Nabooru, assuring her that her choice was correct. “Besides, I feel we need Link on the inside of this.”

“Now,” continued Nabooru. “This is what I want to happen.”


“Hey, where are the girls?” asked Khaz as he sat lazily in his squishy arm chair.

“I think they went to get ready for the party,” answered Blaze, who was also relaxing on the red sofa with his body taking up the entire couch by putting his legs up, which put his body into a laid back position.

“But wasn’t that an hour ago?” said Khaz, looking over at Blaze, who was staring up at the ceiling as he slowly closed his eyes.

“You know women, they take forever with these things,” he replied as he began to drift off into sleep until he felt something hard knock on his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Kira’s face staring down at him. She was raising a not-so-amused eyebrow at him.

“Hey, weren’t you getting ready with Tila and the others?”

“No, I don’t feel the need to dress up. I am perfectly comfortable in the clothes I am wearing now,” she said as she walked over to a green chair and sat down.

“What? But you’re a girl, isn’t that what girls do best?” said the confused Blaze, Kira narrowed her eyes at him. Link has seen this happen before. He remembered when Tila asked her the same thing. Kira was never the type to dress up or thing like that. She was never much like any other girls Link had met. Tila had tried thousands of times to get her to dress more attractive, but it never worked.

“Excuse me if I’m different,” Kira replied coldly as she crossed her legs and arms moodily; Kai was sitting in the corner where no one could see the smile on his face. Khaz was about to say something but Rontu cut him off.

“Forget it, she’s not the type and you don’t want to piss her off,” he said from the balcony. At this time Ren woke up from his deep sleep that he had fallen into after the girls had left to get ready. He yawned and stretched his arms as he sat up in his chair and looked around. The guys had made no efforts to change for the party. The only thing they did was leave their weapons in their rooms; except for Rontu because his was bent and he was trying to figure out what he should do with it. He didn’t want to throw it out because he had his katana ever since he learned how to fight. It was useless however, but it might be possible to get it fixed.

“Why don’t I want piss her off?” questioned Khaz, turning his head to look at Rontu, who was studying his ruined blade.

“Kira can get nasty when it comes to these things,” he answered not looking up from his sword.

“Why thank you for sharing that with us Rontu,” snarled Kira.

“See what I mean.”

Ren walked out onto the balcony as everyone fell silent. Rontu looked up for a moment to see who it was, then looked back down at his katana. Ren leaned on the railing and stared into the sun that was nearing the horizon and closer to setting.

“So you’ve decided to be a part of the Rebellion,” said Rontu, who was still fiddling around with his useless weapon. Ren looked over at Rontu and then down at the railing.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going ask you why … a man has his reasons and I understand what you’re going through.”

“You do?” said Ren, staring at Rontu curiously. A smirk slid onto the Dark Elf’s face.

“You’re not the only one who had been hired to kill Link,” he answered as he looked up at the boy.

“I was an assassin myself,” Rontu continued. “But … I’ve change since those days…”

“What made you change?”

“You know, Link is a very interesting person. He seems to bring out the best in most people. There was a time when Link and I were in a tight spot. You’re from Ranelu right? So you would know where Shadow Wood is and the fact that it is over run with trolls,” questioned Rontu. Ren nodded waited for him to continue his story.

“Well, around that time I hated Link. I believed he had ruined my life, because the man I was working for would certainly have me killed for failing to kill him. I didn’t know that my life was already ruined and Link was actually helping me if anything. In Shadow Wood, we got caught by a—a friend of mine. She was quite powerful—” but Ren interrupted him.

“It was a woman?”

“Yes … she had been close to me at one point in time,” answered Rontu, even though it didn’t look like he wanted to remember this woman. Ren understood and ask no more questions about her.

“Me and Link held her back as Kira, Tarrowco, Tila, and Rai escaped. We almost died that day, but we managed to wound her enough to make her flee. I remember how me and Link went stumbling through the woods, leaning on each other for support … we’ve been friends since that day,” finished Rontu as his hand slid along the blade of his sword, feeling the cold metal. Ren understood there was always that one person who could change you forever. May it be a friend or a possible love; you would never be the same again.

The door to the lounge room swung open and it appeared the girls had come back from their “dressing up.” All the men in the room stared, obviously entranced. Malon was wearing a stunning baby-blue dress that had one slit on her left side that ran up to her lower thigh. She had a darker blue shawl around her bare shoulders. Some of her blood-red hair was done up in a bun, but the rest fell onto her shoulders. Khaz’s midnight-blue eyes couldn’t look away from her beautiful body. His face became pink without him knowing it as he continued to gawk in his chair. Malon noticed his gaze and her face became bright red.

Tila, for once, had let her black hair out of its bun. It went all the way down to her waist and fell around her shoulders. She was wearing a tight, black dress that went down to her knees; showing off her long and slender legs. Blaze felt the air rush out of his lungs as his fiery-red eyes traveled up her legs and slowly up to her light-green eyes. Her long black hair was so beautiful; Blaze wondered why she always put it up in a bun.

Leita was standing shyly in the back, not wanting to be noticed. She was wearing a long, silver dress with a slit on each side going up to her thighs; the dress had no sleeves just like the other girls’ dresses. She clutched her silver shawl around her shoulders, attempting to hide her beauty as if she was ashamed of it. Behind her ear was a dark purple rose. Rontu looked up from his sword and at Leita, who was standing behind the others, looking nervous. Rontu quickly looked back down at the bent blade of his katana, ignoring his heart that was pounding in his chest. His golden eyes drifted up every now and then to look at her modest figure.

Trisa was wearing a black skirt and a tight red shirt with a black over coat. Her outfit was very much different from the others; it had a punky, but attractive feeling to it. Ren stared and Trisa met his gaze from across the room. Ren gulped and looked down at his feet as he felt heat radiate from his face.

Zelda was possibly the most stunning of all. She was wearing a tight, lavender dress with sleeves that hugged her slim arms. She was wearing a dark purple gem that was held up by a silver chain on her forehead. Her gorgeous appearance made Link’s heart thunder. He felt nervous even when she was across the room from him.

Tila looked over at Kira, who was sitting comfortably in her chair; in her white blouse and dirty, black pants. Kira raised an eyebrow at Tila’s piercing gaze.

“What?” she said in an annoyed tone.

“Don’t tell me you’re wearing that to the party,” she replied, glaring at Kira’s baggy clothes.

“Yep.”

“No, you aren’t.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Come on girls, we have a one more hour until the party starts. I think we can take care of this in that time,” order Tila, Malon and Trisa s******ed as they grabbed both of Kira’s arms before she could run from her chair. Kira fought hard against her friends as they continued to pull her toward the door.

“Let go of me!” she demanded as she dug her heels into the ground. “I refuse to dress like a prissy *****!”

“So we’re prissy *****es, are we?” snarled Tila, Kira glared but the strength of Tila, Trisa, and Malon over powered her. They dragged the angry Kira out the door; leaving Zelda and Leita with the others. Leita blushed; she had no one to hide behind. Link looked down at the ground, determined to not look up so that Zelda wouldn’t think he was staring. Ren left the balcony to go sit with Blaze and Khaz. Leita spotted Rontu pondering his katana’s condition.

“I can fix it,” said a sweet voice. Rontu looked up even though he already knew who it was. Leita was staring at him, waiting for him to answer even though she knew he wouldn’t. She held her slender hands over his sword and the blade began to bend back into its usual position.

“Thanks,” muttered Rontu as he slipped it back into its sheath. He looked not at her but turned his head to stare at the setting sun. The desert always reminded him of his home, even if he didn’t want to be reminded. Yet he couldn’t help but look at the dry sand. Leita gazed at Rontu; studying him. He let his hawk like eyes trail over and find Leita, who was standing next to him just staring. He quickly turned his eyes back to the desert, every time he looked at her his heart thudded against his ribs. His dream floated into his mind. It had felt so real; her lips … Rontu forced this thought from his mind. He shouldn’t torture himself with something he would never experience.

Leita thought Rontu was acting a little unusual since Zora’s River; as if he was avoiding her. Well, he was avoiding her before but now he was purposely ignoring her. For some reason this started to pick at her very strong nerves. Leita stood next Rontu, waiting for him to stop ignoring her until Leita couldn’t take it.

“Why are you ignoring me?” she demanded as she grabbed his ponytail and pulled it so that it would turn his head to look at her. Rontu was shocked that she would use such a tone with him and even pull on his ponytail. It wasn’t like her to be so demanding. Rontu quickly got over his shock and snarled back,

“What, am I supposed to give you special attention?”

Leita frowned as she bit her lip. She realized how conceited that sounded. She let go of his ponytail and looked down at her feet. Rontu flinched, he hurt her feelings again. He, however, soon forgot this. Rontu couldn’t help but get distracted by the dress she was wearing. It hugged to very curve of her body making him forget that he was supposed to be ignoring her. Leita noticed his golden eyes were stuck on her making her realize that she was still wearing the dress she was in. She blushed and pulled the shawl closer to her body.
Without thinking Rontu’s hand went out and touched her chin, tipped it up so that she was looking at him. Leita looked right into his eyes with her green ones. Rontu leaned in closer to her. It wouldn’t hurt just to feel them once … thought Rontu as his face came closer to her lips. Leita was frozen to that spot, not daring to move, barely even daring to breathe. Is he going to …? Both of their hearts were hammering in their bodies as Rontu came so close Leita could feel his warm breath on her face.

Khaz was thinking fondly of how beautiful Malon looked and sitting comfortably in his chair, when his eyes wondered over to the balcony. Khaz felt a jolt in his stomach as if he just missed a step. Blaze was snapped back to reality when Khaz stood up so suddenly he knocked over his chair. Blaze was about to ask Khaz was his problem was when he saw it too. Rontu was leaning in close to Leita; his lips dangerously nearing hers.
Blaze gulped, he had a feeling Khaz wasn’t going to like this. Link noticed Khaz jumping up from his seat and so did Kai, who was standing next to Link. Luckily, Tila and Kira walked through the door making Rontu whip his hand away from Leita’s chin and stood up straight. Leita awoke from her trance and looked over at Kira. Rontu smirked at the sight before him.

Kira was blushing and looking completely irritated. She was wearing a sapphire-blue skirt that went down just above her knees. Her top was the same shade of blue and had only one sleeve, leaving her other arm bare. Her short, brown hair was properly brushed and straightened. She glared at Rontu, who looked like he was going to burst out laughing at any moment. It didn’t seem that funny to anyone else, but Rontu had to make this difficult for Kira. It was pay back for her big mouth. Kai stared at Kira with a look on his face that she couldn’t read. He didn’t look away, which made Kira’s face turn even redder.

“What’s the matter Kira?” mocked Rontu. “You never seemed to mind when Sheinron would look at you like that.”

“Kiss my ass!” she retorted.

“With pleasure,” he replied, just to bother her even more.

“Shut up Rontu!”

“You wasted no time getting in his pants,” s******ed Rontu, but Kira was not in the mood for it.

“Rontu, if you want to pleasure another woman again you will hold you goddamn tongue!” snarled Kira, making everyone is the room cower besides the one she was trying to intimidate. Rontu smirked evilly at her from across the room. However, he might have wanted to pleasure another woman again, because he said didn’t say anything else.

“By the way,” said Kira as she started to calm down. “I don’t think you should go to the party.”

“Why not?” growled Rontu.

“Because very time we go to things like this you always drink yourself stupid and get into fights! I don’t want you to ruin the party,” snapped Kira. Link was unpleasantly reminded of last year when Rontu had done just that at the party before the war in Ranelu. Link had to pull Rontu off of a High Elf because he was the only he that was strong enough to.

“Um … maybe you shouldn’t go either, Khaz,” suggested Leita.

“What?” exclaimed Khaz, looking outraged.

“You have a little drinking problem too,” she stated, making Khaz turn red.

“Yes, you had to say that in front of everyone,” muttered Khaz.

“Why not?” said Leita, folding her arms. “They are your friends you shouldn’t have to hide everything from them.”

“Shut up, Leita!” hissed Khaz. Leita glared at her brother in reply. Link, unlike the others, took this in a different way than Khaz just being shy about his drinking problem. Link was sure that it was a lot more than that.

“Come on, this is the party before our first battle,” said Blaze as he stood up from the sofa he had been sitting on for hours. “Who knows if we might die tomorrow and they should be able to enjoy today along with everyone else.”

“Fine,” sighed Kira. Leita nodded in agreement.

“But!” began Kira, shaking her finger at the two. “You both have to promise to not get drunk.”

“Sure, whatever,” replied Rontu.

“Of course,” smiled Khaz.


The party was to take place in a huge chamber that was on one of the top levels of the Fortress. The room was to be filled with long tables and many chairs along with plenty of food. There would be music provided by the Gorons and Hylians. When the group got there were already quite a few people in the room. The band that was going to play was setting up their instruments. In only a few minutes the entire room was filled with Hylains, Gorons, and Gerudos. Link had never seen Gerudos and Hylians get along before. After the war seventeen years ago the Gerudos and Hylians stayed far away from each other.

Link supposed it was the seven hard years of working together against the Empire that finally created a friendship between the two races. When the music started they moved some of the tables to make a dance floor and it was soon covered with many dancing people. Tila seemed to like this part of the party best. She quickly got up to join those dancing, but as she got up she grabbed Blaze’s hand pulled him out onto the dance floor with her. Khaz also liked this and went out onto the dance floor with Malon along with Trisa and Ren. Kira, Kai, Rontu, Leita, Zelda, and Link stayed at their table. The song was fast paced and had a strong increasing beat with the drums, specialties of the Gorons. The fiddle and flute were included in the song. Kira got an idea from the beat of the drums, which reminded her of something.

“Hey, Link,” she said. He looked over at her in reply.

“Do you remember that tap dance you did at the party in Ranelu?” she asked, even though she was sure he remembered. Link nodded, thought he was not sure why she was asking him this.

“You should do it again, isn’t this the right beat?” suggested Kira. Link immediately became red and began to mumble about how he thinks it’s not that important.

“What?” said Zelda, who was listening in on their conversation. “You know a tap dance?”

Link, again, nodded his head as his face became redder.

“Come on! Show me,” she insisted. Link didn’t have a choice because Kira pulled him up off his chair and shoved him up onto the table knocking the food that was on it to the ground. Link gave a heavy sigh for he knew he had no choice but to do it. Link began to move his feet to the beat of the drums. The Gorons playing couldn’t help but notice Link standing on top of the table and they went along with it, increasing the speed. Link’s feet followed the speed easily, and then the beat again increased and continued to increase steadily. Soon his feet were moving incredibly fast on the table and just about everyone in the room was looking at Link perform his tap dance.

When the song ended the crowd clapped and whistled, making Link blush. He quickly got down from the table and sat down in his chair, staring at the wooden table as his face burned. He felt a hand touch his shoulder making him look up. Zelda was smiling at him and all memory of doing his tap dance flew right out of his head. Zelda got an idea and stood up from her chair.

“Link, come dance with me,” she said, it was more of a demand than a choice but Link didn’t mind. He got up from his chair and followed Zelda to the dance floor when Khaz and Malon came back from dancing and were heavily flirting with each other. That was when Kira noticed Kai was missing. She looked around and saw a large doorway that led outside where Kai stood in the silver moonlight of the waning moon. Kira got up and went outside to stand next to him.

Kira wasn’t surprised to find him staring at the moon that was in its last quarter. She was reminded of that night he kissed her, but they hadn’t talked about it since then. Kai stared at the moon for a moment before looking down at her. He smiled that half smile she loved as he gazed at her. His hand left his side to graze up the curve of her arm and to her face. Kira touched his hand with hers, pressing it on her cheek. Kai leaned in like he did that one night and his lips again met hers. Maybe she didn’t need for him to saying anything….

While Kira was gone Khaz and Rontu were sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Malon had left to go dance more with the others and dragged Leita off with her. Rontu, getting bored of the party already, grabbed a bottle of wine from the table. Khaz narrowed his hateful eyes at this.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t drink,” he sneered.

“I said I wouldn’t get drunk,” Rontu corrected him.

“Ha! You’re probably a light weight,” mocked Khaz.

“I bet I could drink you under the table,” said Rontu, challenging Khaz, who looked over at the dance floor to make sure Leita wasn’t watching. When it was clear that she was too busy having fun he turned his attention back to Rontu and replied,

“I’ll take that bet.”

Link and Zelda were dancing with the others to a fast pace song, which required group dancing. Soon the song ended and a slow one started up. The group broke apart and danced in pairs leaving Link and Zelda to dance together. They stared anywhere but at each others faces, until Zelda finally got up the nerve.

“Here,” she said, pulling Link’s hands so that they were resting on her hips. Link’s face immediately turned red at this, and then Zelda put her arms around his neck and they began to dance slowly to the music. Link could hear Zelda breathing as he held her closer; his hands sliding up the small of her back as he felt the soft fabric of her dress. He could feel her heart beating faster than the drums had been during his tap dance. His heart raced right along with hers as they danced.

Blaze and Tila ran off to a small balcony on the left side of the huge chamber. Tila was being to over heat so they decided to get some air. Blaze leaned on the railing as she enjoyed the cool night air. He stared at her and tried to forget that she was involved with someone else. Tila looked over that Blaze when she noticed his stare.

“What?” she said smiling at him as she raised her eyebrow.

“Nothing … just thinking,” he replied.

“About?” questioned Tila.

“What would have happened if Kira hadn’t opened the door,” finished Blaze. Tila blushed and leaned on the railing as she stared down at the Fortress below them. She knew what he was talking about. He was talking about the day they met, when they had almost kissed.

“Listen Blaze—” but he cut her off as he moved closer to her, placing a finger to her lips.

“Tila … I want you,” said Blaze as his hands slipped into her long black hair and down the side of her black dress. Tila couldn’t move away from him. Her body wouldn’t allow her to. Blaze leaned down to kiss her soft lips.

“No!” she said, Tila suddenly pushed herself away from him. “Blaze, I can’t.”

Blaze grabbed her arm to stop her from running away.

“Tila, wait!” he begged, and then pulled her into his arms, holding her close to him. “Please don’t go…”

“Blaze … you have to let go.”

“No, please!” cried Blaze as she tried to push him away. His red eyes were surging with longing, but Tila looked away. If she didn't she wouldn’t be able to leave.

“Blaze, you know that I love Rai … I can’t do this,” she whispered. Blaze never would have thought this would have happened to him; him, the son of the King of Evil, falling in love. Blaze finally let go of her and let her walk toward the doorway to the dance floor.

“Tila!” he called to her making her turn back to look at him. “I just want to let you know … you are the only one I will ever love…. I can’t love anyone but you.”

Tila turned away to hide her tears from him. She knew that she couldn’t say it. She wouldn’t do that to him, it would tear him apart he if knew that she loved him too. Tila choked back her tears and walked away before she would start sobbing. She didn’t return to the party. Tila went, instead, back up to the lounge room, but couldn’t make it to her room. She fell to her knees as the tears she had been holding back squeezed out of her tightly shut eyelids.

Blaze stared at her until she left the chamber. This wasn’t fair! He had been known as the unattainable to women and when he had finally fallen in love, it had to be with someone who could never love him back. Blaze let out an angry but painful cry as he fell to his knees. Rai … you are so lucky to have her love….

A crowd surrounded Rontu and Khaz. They watched intently to see who would be the first to give up. Rontu took a shot of whiskey and set the glass down at on the table. It must have been his tenth because his vision was starting to blur. Khaz was sitting just as relaxed as him in his chair as he picked up his shot and drank it. Rontu was just about to drink his next shot when Khaz had to open his foul mouth.

“So … what is my sister to you anyway?”

“Nothing, I don’t know what would give you the idea—” but Rontu didn’t get to finish.

“You’re a ****ing liar!” slurred Khaz, standing up from his chair and slamming his hands down on the table making shot glasses fall to the ground.

“Oh really …” s******ed Rontu, who was trying make the second Khaz in his blurry vision go back into the real one.

“I’m not surprised!” snarled Khaz. “Since you are a ****ing Dark Elf!”

“Being a Dark Elf has nothing to do with my lying abilities,” said Rontu.

“You stay the **** away from my sister!” roared Khaz. Rontu glared, no one told him what to do.

“You better shut the **** up or I’m going to make sure no one will recognize your face,” growled Rontu as he stood up from his chair, knocking it over. Khaz jumped over the table and dived on top of Rontu. The crowd got bigger as Rontu and Khaz tried to hit each other but missed many times because both were too drunk to aim correctly. Rontu managed to shove Khaz off and jump up before he could attack again. Both Khaz and Rontu charged, both trying hit each other but only ran past each other instead. They stopped and tried figure out what happened. When they realized where they were they again tackled each other to the ground. Around this time the others came back to find Khaz and Rontu rolling on the ground punching one another.

“Rontu!” yelled Kira.

“Khaz!” shouted Leita.

Both men stopped moving to look up at the two angry women standing over them. They immediately got up, but staggered a little as they did so.

“Rontu, you promised me you wouldn’t drink!” exclaimed the out raged Kira.

“You should have known I was lying, woman!” Rontu snarled at her.

“Don’t called me, woman!” ordered Kira. Leita was just standing silently in front of Khaz. Her anger was quiet but Link was sure it packed a punch.

“Khaz …” she whispered disapprovingly. He blinked at her as if he was trying his best to understand her words.

“What?” he asked after a few seconds.

“You know exactly what!” she said, glaring at him.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault!” slurred Khaz. “It was the Dark Elf!”

“I have a name!” snarled Rontu.

“A weird one,” retorted Khaz. “What? Was your mother drunk or something when she named you?”

Rontu froze at the mention of his mother. He could hear his father’s words screaming in his ears. Your ****ing ***** of a mother…. Link saw Rontu snap, hatred flared up in his golden eyes. Rontu slammed Khaz to the ground with such a force that Link heard Khaz’s ribs crack. Khaz gasped all the air was knocked out of his lungs and a shooting hot pain surged through his body as his ribs cracked. Rontu’s hands gripped Khaz’s neck, making sure no air could go back into his lungs. Khaz tried to push him away but Rontu’s anger possessed more strength.

“Rontu, no!” exclaimed Link and tried to pull Rontu off of Khaz but he wouldn’t budge. Link usually didn’t like to be ruff with his friends but if he didn’t do something Khaz would die. Link grabbed Rontu by his shoulders and tried to pull him back. Rontu shoved Link with one arm while the other continued to strangle Khaz. Link felt shock jolt into his stomach as he was slammed back so hard that when he hit the wall it was dented in by his body. Rontu …? thought Link. He had never seen Rontu give off such a powerful blow.

Then Link felt something, it was faint at first but soon Link’s eyes were wide with even more shock. Link couldn’t believe it, but there were two huge energies radiating off of Rontu and Khaz; possibly stronger than Nottuu. However, no one else seemed to be able to feel it. They were all just trying to pry Rontu off of Khaz. Link caught Zelda’s eye and she too was shaking at the tremendous powers, Ren stood next to her with wide eyes. Link looked down and saw his Triforce on the back of his hand was glowing brightly. He looked over at Zelda to see if hers was doing the same. Zelda’s gaze was stuck on her hand; her Triforce was glowing just as brightly.

Rontu didn’t care if he killed Khaz. He wanted to kill him, even if he wasn’t sure why. Khaz was gasping for air, but none came to his needful lungs. He glared up at Rontu, who hands never loosened their grip. Rontu saw it again, those empty, blue eyes; as dark and cold as the depths of the ocean. This made him squeeze Khaz’s throated even harder, but then something made Rontu look up. He saw Leita, her beautiful green eyes were filled with tears and her face was horrified. He’s all I have left, whispered a voice in Rontu’s head. He let go of Khaz’s throat and stood up. Khaz lay on the ground coughing and sucking in as much air as he could.

“You ****ing bastard!” cried Khaz as he rubbed his neck. “You almost killed me!”

Everyone in the chamber was staring at them. The only noise that could be heard was Khaz’s gasps for air. Rontu glared at them all, turned his heel and made for the exit; grabbing a bottle of wine from the table as he went. The room was dead quiet, no one moved. Leita swept over and kneeled down next to her brother. She quickly healed both Khaz and Link, and then walked outside to follow Rontu. Khaz stood up and watched his sister go after the Dark Elf that had almost killed him. Whenever I can get away with it … I promise I will kill you Rontu.

Malon rushed over to Khaz and grabbed his arm.

“Come on, I’m going to take you up stairs,” said Malon. Khaz, still too drunk to function, let her pull him back to the lounge room.

Khaz stumbled as he entered the empty room and fell onto the sofa to avoid hitting the end table. Malon rolled her eyes at the silly Hylian, but couldn’t help smiling. Khaz was giggling happily even though he had almost died five minutes ago. Just having Malon around seemed to make him forget.

“Well, how about you sleep it off and I’ll go to bed,” said Malon, walking over to her room.

“W-wait,” slurred Khaz. Malon stopped and sat down on the sofa with him.

“What?” she asked, Khaz smiled mischievously. “What is it?” she repeated.

Khaz leaned in too quickly for Malon to respond and soon his lips met her unsuspecting ones. Khaz pushed Malon down onto the couch as her eyes became wide with surprise. Malon blushed as Khaz kissed her neck and his kisses traveled up to her lips again. His hands slid down the sides of her legs. Without really meaning to Khaz slid in-between her legs as he continued to caress her and press her into the purple sofa. Malon only was snapped back to reality when she felt Khaz’s hand on her breast.

“Khaz!” exclaimed Malon, her face becoming even redder than before.

“What?” he replied playfully, his midnight-blue eyes full of lust.

“What are you doing?” she cried.

“What do you think?” answered the giggling Khaz.

“I … uh … Khaz get off me!” she demanded. Khaz frowned but in a playful manner.

“Oh come on!” he pressed as he kissed her neck.

“Khaz quit it!” she squeaked as she tried to push his hands off her body. When Khaz refused to take his hands off of her, Malon had no choice but to shove the drunk off the couch.

“Ouch!” he yelped when he bumped his head on the coffee table. Malon got up and glared at him; her hair messed up and her shawl was hanging off one shoulder.

“What did I do?” complained Khaz as he rubbed his head. Malon snorted and stomped off to her room, slamming the door.

Rontu was taking a huge gulp from the bottle of wine when Leita had caught up with him. She stopped when she was about five feet away from him. The cool fall air stung her body but she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to her was Rontu. Rontu stopped drinking from the bottle to look at her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be helping out your dear brother?” snarled Rontu.

“I already helped him as much as I could,” she replied. “Rontu … what happened to your mother?”

This didn’t seem to help any because Rontu glared and without warning threw the bottle of wine at her.

“What are you trying to do to me?” he roared. Leita didn’t flinch as the bottle soared a foot to the left and smashed onto one of the walls of the Fortress.

“Why are you asking me this?” he demanded. “What ****ing good will it do you?”

“I’m trying to help—” but Rontu cut her off.

“Trying to help me? Well, I don’t need your ****ing help!” he growled, his voice echoed off the Fortress walls. Leita looked down at her feet as tears began to leak out her eyes.

“Don’t tell me … you’re going to cry aren’t you?” sneered Rontu, but immediately felt sick to his stomach afterward. Leita bowed her head lower making Rontu feel worse.

“****! Leita, I didn’t mean—Leita, I’m …” said Rontu, but somehow couldn’t get the words out. Rontu sighed at his hopeless situation. Tears continued to pour silently down her cheeks. The silver moonlight played on her hair as they stood there in silence.

“Don’t you see?” said Rontu, breaking the silence. “What I’m becoming?”

Leita looked up at Rontu, who was staring solemnly at her.

“I know who I’m becoming … my father, I’m turning into my father,” he whispered. Leita didn’t know what to say to something like that.

“I feel it every day … his words … the things he used to say … hurting everyone around me,” continued Rontu. “He always said, ‘You’ll end up just like me. You’ll fall for some slut and then one day she’ll die leaving you to take care of her little **** of a son … you’ll end up just like me.’”

“That’s why … I can’t …” Rontu tried to say it but failed. “Leita … Khaz is right.”

Leita almost gasped with surprise, she never thought she would hear him say that.

“Stay away from me … I can only end up hurting you,” said Rontu and he again turned his back to her and walked off to somewhere in the Fortress.

Author's Note: Finally, sorry it takes so long to get some action packed battles in my story. Perhaps I focus too much on character development? Anyway, here comes the battle at Lon Lon Ranch. It might be my favorite battle, I'm not sure because I haven't written any of the other battles yet.

Chapter Eleven:
The Wrath of Khaz


Link walked into his room after he had just about enough of the party. Link began to stripped off his blue tunic and the white shirt under it. He threw them into the pile of other tunics on his floor. He stopped for a moment when the mirror on his wall caught his attention. Link stared at his muscular body and then realized he was still wearing his silver gauntlets. He sat down on his bed as he stared at the Triforce on the back of them. Why did it react when Khaz and Rontu were fighting? What were those powers he was feeling and why could only Zelda, Ren, and he feel it? Were those huge energies really Khaz’s and Rontu’s? How was that possible? Link had never seen them give off that kind of power before.

Link’s head swam with a thousand thoughts and soon his head began to hurt. Other thoughts began to fill his head. Tarrowco …Link could still see his face as if it had been yesterday, smiling arrogantly at him. He could still hear his screams echoing in his ears as if he was right there next to him. Link gripped his head to make them stop. He looked again at his gauntlets … courage. What was courage? The ability to stand up to anything, even your greatest fear. He remembered what the Deku Tree told him. Link, I’m sure thy courage will aid thee again has it always has. Let it guide thee to the right choices …. Aid him? His courage? Since when had it helped him make the right choices? It only aided him when he fought off his enemies, it never helped him make the right choices.

‘Maybe that’s why things are the way they are now,’ suggested the voice. ‘Because of your wrong choices.’

It was right, Link should have never pulled the Master Sword out of the Pedestal of Time when Ganon was just right behind him, and he should have never left Hyrule … even if it was to search for Navi.

‘This all happened because of you….’

Link stared over at his reflection and began to loath everything about him. His sapphire eyes, his blonde hair, and his stupid judgment. Link clenched his fists as anger for himself began to smother his thoughts. Before Link could stop himself he punched his reflection, making the mirror shatter. He stumbled back over onto his bed. Why did I do that? wondered Link as he stared at the pieces of glass on the floor.

‘Because you hate him,’ answered the voice.

Who? Link asked himself.

‘Him,’ it replied.

Link wondered what in Hyrule that meant as he flopped down onto his back. Soon, he began to fall into an uneasy sleep.

Link woke up the next morning feeling as if he hadn’t slept at all. He pulled on his red tunic and traded his silver gauntlets for his golden ones. He strapped his Big Goron’s Sword to his back along with the Mirror Shield. He strapped all of his weapons he owned to his belt and beneath his Mirror Shield. He avoided the broken glass on the floor as he stepped out into the lounge room, feeling tried and a lot heavier than before. It appeared Link was the first up this morning because no one else was in the room. Or at least he thought so. Link heard a noise coming from the balcony. Assuming it was Rontu, Link walked to the balcony doorway but stopped when he realized it was not Rontu, but Zelda.

She was still in her dark blue night gown and robes. Her robes were hanging off her shoulders and down onto her forearms. They swirled and twisted in the desert wind as she leaned on the balcony railing. It was then Link realized what the noise he had heard was. It was Zelda sobbing as silently as she could. The weather outside seemed to match that princess’s mood. Gray clouds filled that desert sky, rumbling and rolling; threatening to let down tears of its own. Link could smell the moister in the air and it was mixed with the smell of wet sand.

Even when crying the princess looked as beautiful as ever. The scene tugged at Link’s heart strings as he continued to stare at the forlorn woman before him. Zelda seemed to realize the presence behind her, because she quickly wiped away her tears and turned around.

“Link!” she gasped. Link stepped out onto the balcony, no longer needing to hide.

“W-what are you doing out so early?” questioned Zelda.

Link shuffled his feet and stayed silent. Zelda wasn’t surprised; Link had always been a silent person. They stood there for a few minutes, not really knowing what to say to each other.

“Zelda … why were you crying?” Link asked, finally breaking the silence between them. Like Link had earlier, Zelda stayed silent and stared at her bare feet that were beginning to get cold.

“What was that voice in your head?” she countered.

He understood, she was as willing to tell him why she was crying as willing as he was to tell her about the voice that speaks to him. Again they became silent, staring at their feet.

“Well, I should go get dressed,” said Zelda, and she walked past Link and stepped into the lounge room when Link has a sudden urge to tell her. Tell her everything. About the voice in his head, about how all bad that has happened to Hyrule were all because of his bad judgment, about how he could still remember Tarrowco’s screams every time he looked at his silver gauntlets, and even about how he felt last night when they were dancing.

“Wait!” said Link as he whipped around to call to her, Zelda turned around.

“Yes?”

‘Are you sure you want to tell her all of this? She may only agree that you are, in fact, crazy.’

“… Nevermind,” he replied, and again turned his gaze back to his boots. He heard Zelda’s feet walk across the floor and her bedroom door shut.

In only an hour or so, the lounge room was filled with warriors preparing for battle. All except for Khaz were in the room when his door opened and a very attractive woman walked out. Khaz was standing in the doorway as the woman walked to the lounge room door and went out. All eyes were on Khaz, who was smiling dreamily. Malon looked the most disturbed by this sudden event. Her blue eyes were staring at Khaz for an explanation. He didn’t appear to notice.

“Who was that?” asked Blaze.

Khaz smirked but then actually thought about the question.

“You know … I can’t remember her name,” he answered. Tila and Kira rolled their eyes, Leita sighed for this didn’t appear to surprise her calm face, and Malon was flaming with anger. Her fists were trembling and her eyes narrowed at Khaz. However, Khaz did notice this and said,

“Jeez, what’s the matter with you?”

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” she snarled as she went up and pushed him into his room so they could talk privately.

“Okay, what is this about?” demanded Khaz, who didn’t like being pushed around.

“You jerk!” she yelled, fists clutched in her fiery. Khaz jumped at the volume of her voice.

“What?” exclaimed Khaz.

“Ah! You slept with her didn’t you?” questioned Malon.

“Who?”

“That woman!”

“What? Oh yeah!” said Khaz, finally realizing what she meant. “Well … yeah I did, so what?”

Malon’s eyes began to fill with tears of frustration. Khaz gulped, he didn’t know what he said to make her so mad but he was sure this wasn’t going to be pretty.

“So what?” she shouted. “So what? Khaz! Do you remember anything about last night?”

“Um … well, uh … yeah,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously but finally understanding what she was so angry about.

“Um … well, after you pushed me off the couch I went down stairs to the party and met up with that girl,” explained Khaz. She waited, for what Khaz wasn’t sure.

“Malon … why did you shove me off anyway?” said Khaz, putting his hands on his hips as he looked at her in curiosity.

“Think about it Khaz, I didn’t want to have sex with a drunk!” she snarled, folding her arms across her chest.

“So I’m just a drunk, am I?” snorted Khaz, he was starting to get a little mad himself.

“No, that’s not what I meant!” she retorted.

Meanwhile, outside in the lounge room they were shouting so loudly that they could hear very thing about their conversation.

“Then what do you mean?” he pouted.

“Well … uh …” her heart began to pound. Khaz waited. “Well, I didn’t want my first time to … to,” stuttered Malon as her face became as red as a sun burn.

It hit Khaz like a frying pan on his head.

“O-oh!” he gasped, also turning red.

“Jeez, Malon, I’m so sorry,” apologized Khaz, he was truly sorry about his actions that night before. This still didn’t appear to please her. Malon snorted at his apology and turned to walk out the door, red hair whipping around with her. Khaz’s mouth hung open in outrage, he said sorry, didn’t he?

“Oh, come on!” he snarled at her as she opened the door. She glared at him in reply and stomped out into the lounge room. Khaz run out into the lounge room after her.

“I said I was sorry! What more do you want?” he shouted at her from across the room. She stopped at her door and turned around to glare even more angrily at him as if he would dare even ask her.

“Sometimes, sorry, doesn’t make things better!” she yelled in return. “When you didn’t get any action from me you had to go and get from someone else, didn’t you? If you wanted to be with me so badly you should have just said something!”

“I think kissing you was being pretty straight forward!” he retorted.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I wanted, to lose my virginity to some drunk!” snarled Malon.

Khaz opened his mouth, but then closed it when he found he couldn’t say anything to justify his actions. Malon scowled, she expected just as much. She slammed her door as Khaz roared,

“GODDAMN IT!”

Link sighed heavily; sadly these were the people he was going to have to work with. It was time for Link to take action. He marched over to Malon’s door and knocked. Everyone was staring at him like he was about to go to his death, but Link ignored them.

“What?” growled her voice from behind the door.

“Malon, would you please step out here for a moment?” replied Link.

“No!”

“Malon, that was not an option,” said Link, everyone admired his bravery but were thinking of taking cover for Malon’s wrath was like a tornado. To everyone’s surprise she opened her door, but so violently that it almost came off its hinges.

“What do you want?” demanded Malon.

“Listen, I know you are mad at Khaz, but I need both of your cooperation to pull this off. So, would you both just put a side your anger and work together today?”

Malon for the first time this morning calmed down. She knew Link was right, she was going to have to work with Khaz today whether she wanted to or not. Malon walked over to Khaz’s side of the room and offered her hand. Khaz looked at it and then shook it. They all let out a sigh of relief, but at that moment Rontu came through the lounge door. Kira glared at him, she didn’t look as if she had forgiven him for going back on his promise. Khaz didn’t seem to have forgiven him for almost killing him either for he gave him a scowl even more deadly than Kira’s.

“What?” growled Rontu. He didn’t appear to be in the best of moods.

“Jeez, Rontu, have you been out all night?” asked Blaze. Rontu only snarled in reply just as Tila walked out of her room. Blaze immediately decided to tie his boots at this moment. Kai noticed Blaze was staring at his boots even though they don’t have any shoe laces. Blaze realized Kai was looking at him and avoided his black eyes. He had feeling Kai knew more than he spoke, but there was no way he could know that Blaze had made a fool of himself last night. He was so stupid to tell her when she was already taken. He was such a fool for thinking that telling her would have changed anything. He had been only half right, it did change things. It made him uncomfortable every time Tila would enter the same room. For once Blaze was glad they weren’t in the same group.

Rontu was quick to escape Kira’s nagging and Khaz’s glare by walking out onto the balcony. Leita watched him walk away and remembered his words the night before. “Stay away from me … I can only end up hurting you …” She couldn’t stay away, not when everything in her body told her to get closer. No, his golden eyes were filled with something she couldn’t ignore. She knew they were saying the opposite of his words, but what could she do when he was refusing her? Wait, she would wait for him. Leita’s thoughts were interrupted when the lounge room door was again opened and this time it was Nabooru carrying what looked like a bunch of dirty robes.

“Is everyone ready?” said Nabooru.


A Dark Elf leaned lazily against the huge walls of the ranch they had made a fortress. He stared out into the fields of this land he knew nothing of, except that it was full of worthless elves. The day was a rainy one and had dampened his cloak as he stared up at the cloudy sky. He had been with the Empire for as long as he could remember. For Dark Elves were born and raised for this kind of work. His father had been a solider and his father before him had been. It was not, however, as boring as it sounded. There came a great feeling of power when they would raid the cities of many worlds, and there was one thing that Dark Elves craved the most; power. Not only did this elf get to kill and destroy worlds, but he also got to see something besides the desert sands of the waste land he grew up in. The Dark Elves would no longer be shoved into the lowest corner of existence. They would rise up and be the most dominate race of all the worlds. Everyone would cower in the shadow of their great empire.

He was soon slapped back to reality when he saw a wagon pulling up toward their fortress. In the driver’s seat was a Dark Elf cloaked in black, his white hair was long and tied back into a ponytail, and his golden eyes reminded him of a hawk. In the back of the wagon, there were a complete number of eleven Hylians dressed in gray baggy rags. The man yawned as the boring work he did began to make him drowsy. Wishing he had been picked to be the guard in Kakariko, at least he would have more fun there, he and the other guard with him stepped a side to let the wagon full of slaves pass into the ranch. The Dark Elf tried to look faces of the Hylians but they were hidden beneath the shadow of their rags. There was something a little unsettling about those shadowy faces….

The driver navigated his way through the small settlement of Dark Elves and pulled up to the first out of three slave stations. It was an old and almost haunted looking building. It was amazing how many Hylians they would shove into one small building that was big enough to be a large bedroom. The driver got out and opened the cage door to let four Hylians covered in large gray rags stumble out. As the last and tallest Hylian stepped out the driver stuck his foot out and tripped the poor Hylian. The Dark Elf guards waiting for the new set of Hylians, s******ed as the Hylian gasped and fell to the ground. When the driver pulled the Hylian roughly to his feet, the Hylian spoke to him in a low voice so only the driver could hear him.

“Rontu, I swear when this is over I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Just play along, Blaze,” the driver sneered and shoved the “Hylian’” toward the slave station. The guards shoved the four Hylians into the building and went inside themselves. The driver then got back into the wagon and went to the nearest slave station and when there dropped off only three Hylians. At the third slave station he left again three Hylians, and even though there was only one more left in the wagon he left the ranch. When they were a safe distance from the small fortress the driver jumped down from the wagon and opened the cage in the back to let the last Hylian out. The Hylian said nothing, but held up slender hands that looked as if they belonged to a woman. The Hylian held her hands up to the Dark Elf’s face and soon his face began to change. It grew a scar across his left eye and made his other eye a deep gray. His white hair he took out its tie to let fall to his shoulders. He no longer could be recognized as the elf that had drove into the ranch earlier. The Hylian stepped back into the wagon and the driver again jumped back into the wagon and rode toward the ranch.

Blaze was still grumbling about Rontu tripping him, what would they have done is his hood fell off and they saw he was a Gerudo? The Dark Elf guards sat down in chairs and stared with completely bored expressions on their black faces. Blaze took the time he had to take in his surroundings. It was an extremely small room to be holding a large amount of people, there were about twenty other slaves in the room, and there was a strong stench in the room that was made up of body odor and whatever the Hylian may have collected on their un-bathed bodies. Nabooru stepped close to whisper to him,

“Now remember, we only have an hour until Kira and Kai lead the armies in.”

“I know, you told us a thousand times,” Blaze whispered in an annoyed tone.

“I’m just making sure so that you don’t kill the guards before Rontu gets here,” she replied in a bossy voice. Blaze knew perfectly well that he wasn’t supposed to kill them until Rontu and Leita returned. If he did another Dark Elf could come in at any moment to see the bodies. He saved his breath on this comment however and before he knew it there were four knocks on the station door, which was Rontu’s sign. Ren threw off his rags and smacked two guards at once with his spiked ball. One was hit in the chest and flung into a wall, and then in the same swing took out the other in the same move. The Hylians stared at them in alarm but thank the goddesses none of them screamed. They seemed to realize them killing their guards meant they were there to help them.

“Hey!” exclaimed Blaze as he pulled down his hood to reveal his red hair and tan skin. “You didn’t leave any for me!”

“Well, I’m just so much faster,” s******ed Ren as Rontu walked through the door, but didn’t look anything at all like Rontu. He had a scar across his left eye and his long hair wasn’t in a ponytail. Nabooru and Trisa began to usher the Hylians out the door and into the wagon.

“Rontu!” snarled Blaze, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You ass! You tripped me!”

“Silence,” replied Rontu, but a smirk spread on his face. “The Dark Elves might hear you.”

Blaze scowled at his friend and showed him a certain finger that silently insulted Rontu. He only sneered and walked outside to the wagon. Blaze pulled his hood over his head as Ren pulled his robes back on.

It was a good thing the cage in the back was large, it fitted all twenty Hylians and the group included comfortably. Rontu drove off for the exit of the ranch and they were again back out of the fortress. When they had come to a point where there stood several Hylians by two other wagons. That appeared to be the leader of the group was the man Blaze recognized to be the one who had pointed a spear in his face in Kokiri forest. He had long almost white-blonde hair and stern, green eyes. Rontu stopped the wagon and let Blaze, Ren, Nabooru, and Trisa out of the wagon.

He then handed the wagon over to another Hylian who drove off in the direction of Gerudo’s Fortress. Blaze and the others wanted to wait for Zelda and the rest before going back to the fortress. However, Rontu and Leita had to go back to the ranch to get the other slaves. Leita lifted her hands to Rontu’s face and again changed it. He now looked extremely old and had a beard. Blaze, Ren, and Trisa snorted loudly making Rontu glare at them, but only increased their laughter because his face was even more unusual looking when he scowled. Grumbling, Rontu got into one of the two other wagons with Leita in the back. Blaze stared at them as they drove off for the ranch.

Blaze looked over at the Hylian standing next to him. It was the blonde haired man and Blaze curiously asked,

“Hey, what’s your name?”

“Tanis,” he replied coldly as if Blaze wasn’t even worth his time. Blaze raised an eyebrow at his rudeness, but there was something else about this Hylian he didn’t like. There was a selfish aura that seemed to surround the man. Blaze shook of the creepy feeling he got from him off and turned his attention back to the ranch as the sky rumbled with thunder, hoping everything was going well for the others.

Sheik crept up behind the Dark Elf as Tila and Impa silently cut the throat of the other guards. He gasped when Sheik pulled back his head, exposing his neck and slid his blade across it. The Dark Elf could make no noise and slumped silently to the floor. The slaves gave them startled looks but Sheik held a finger to his lips telling them to be quiet. Tila couldn’t help but s****** at Rontu, who was standing in the doorway waiting for them to finish. His grumpy face was laughable when he had a beard.

Link, Khaz, and Malon were shoved into the slave station by the three guards behind them. Khaz almost tripped on his rags but Link caught his arm before he could lose balance and fall. Link looked up after Khaz was standing firmly on both feet to find their station appeared to be where the children were kept. Link frowned, that would make it a lot harder to kill the guards without the children crying and alarming other Dark Elves outside the building. Unlike the other stations this one has many chairs for the fifteen or so kids in the room.

“Why did they drop them off at this station?” asked one of the guards, who had short hair and blue eyes.

“Maybe they were full at the other stations,” suggested the younger looking Dark Elf, who had dark brown eyes and slightly longer hair.

“Will you two stop jabbering,” snarled the oldest looking elf, who had the longest hair that reached the small of his back and cruel, green eyes. The two scowled at him, but remained silent. Link and Khaz were sitting down on the empty chairs in the room when the green-eyed Dark Elf spotted Malon’s red hair peeking out her hood. Becoming curious of this red-haired Hylian he grabbed her wrist and pulled off her hood to reveal her beautiful blood-red hair and blue eyes.

Malon stared courageously up at the Dark Elf, who smirked down at the pretty Hylian. Khaz bit his lip, he didn’t like the way he was looking at her. Link noticed Khaz’s uneasiness and gave him a warning look that told him to stay seated. They couldn’t kill the guards yet, besides, Link was sure the Dark Elf wouldn’t do anything to Malon with all these children in the same room.

This didn’t seem to enter the Dark Elf's mind, as he stared at Malon with hungry eyes. Without saying a word to her the Dark Elf began to pull her over to the corner of the room. A deep growl rumbled in Khaz’s throat, which Link thought was odd but quickly forgot because the situation and suddenly become grim.

Malon gasped as she struggled to free herself from the Dark Elf’s grip on her wrist. The two other guards saw this happening but only rolled their eyes as if it was normal for their leader to be bothering Hylian woman. The Dark Elf slammed her up against the wall making Malon give out a shriek and struggle harder against his body that pinned her there.

“Shhh,” he said, trying to make her stop squirming. “Come on sweetie, you’ll like it.”

Link felt as if his stomach dropped right out of his body. He wouldn’t … would he? Link cast a fearful look at the children in the room. Most were staring timidly at their feet and others looked tearfully at the Dark Elf pressing Malon up against the wall. There was no doubt in their eyes that they have seen this happen before. One child with short, dirty brown hair and green eyes looked at Link, his face almost screamed for him to make it stop. Khaz was losing his temper and fast. With each whimper Malon let out he began to lose control over his body.

“Link!” he protested.

“Khaz, we can’t or—”

“Are you just going to sit here and watch?” he said almost too loudly, for one of the guards looked over at him when he spoke. Link knew he couldn’t let Malon be raped before his eyes and so they had no choice but to attack.

“Okay, but here’s what we’re—Khaz, no!” he cried as Khaz stood up from his seat and threw off his robes. His midnight-blue eyes were fierce and cold; blazing with anger. He charged the Dark Elf holding Malon against the wall.

He did this in only a matter of seconds. He grabbed the Dark Elf’s shoulder pulling him back and stabbed him in the small of his back with one of his katanas and it wasn’t long for him to insert the other. Khaz forced the katanas so hard into the man’s body that the blades went through his body and poked out his stomach; spraying Malon with his dark red blood.

The Dark Elf screamed with agony as Khaz lifted him up off the ground by his katanas. His screams reached a louder volume as Khaz pulled his katanas apart when still inside the elf’s body. Blood splattered all as the two blades shot out of the Dark Elf’s sides, cutting him in half. Khaz turned on the other two guards as the Dark Elf’s body hit the floor with a loud thud.

The second oldest Dark Elf charged Khaz, but to only regret it dearly five seconds later. Khaz striked the guard in the shoulder pinning him to a wall and with his other sword sliding down the elf’s stomach, cutting it open like a fish to let his pink and bloody insides fall onto the floor. Khaz pulled his katana out of his shoulder letting the Dark Elf fall to his knees writhing and sobbing as he cried out in pain for he was still alive. Khaz gazed down at the elf with empty eyes, no mercy could be found there. Instead of putting the Dark Elf out of his misery he preferred to leave him there, screaming, as he advanced on the last one.

The young Dark Elf backed into a corner, looking at Khaz in pure terror. Khaz smirked at the pathetic guard; he quickly stuck his katanas in the wall, and then punched in the guard in the gut making him fall over. The Dark Elf was lying on the floor as Khaz placed his boot on his head. The elf was sobbing out of fear of his fate. This only appeared to feed a hunger in Khaz’s cruel eyes, a need to hear him scream. He slowly increased the pressure on the Dark Elf’s head and as he did this the elf whimpered and cried with pain, struggling to free himself from Khaz’s boot. Khaz stopped and decided he should be quick about it. He lifted his foot up for only a moment and then smashed it down on the elf’s head.

Khaz rubbed the blood and bits of skull off his boot on the Dark Elf’s lifeless body. He didn’t appear to notice Link gawking at him with a stunned and horrified face until he pulled his katanas out of the wall and turned around. Malon had slid down the wall just staring into nothing, covered in, the recently deceased, Dark Elf’s blood.

The children were too terrified to cry or even move. The browned haired child Link had seen before was looking at Khaz fearfully as a tear slid silently down his cheek. Khaz blinked and his midnight-blue eyes were suddenly filled with the warmth Link knew. He stared around at them all, looking as if he was at a loss for words. The only noise in the room was the Dark Elf that was still alive with his insides on the floor’s moaning.

“****,” said Khaz and crouched down on his feet and stared between his legs at the blood covered floor. Soon the Dark Elf’s cries died down and all was silent. They heard two loud bangs on the door that were definitely not Rontu’s code knocks.

“What in the Dark Realm is going on in there?” yelled a voice. The blood soaked Khaz and Link gasped and seemed to come to their senses.

“Come on, we have to get them out of here!” said Link hurriedly, trying to forget what just happened and stand up from his chair, pulling off his rags.

“Yeah, but that’s the only exit!” said Khaz, pointing at the door the shouts were coming from.

“I guess were going to have to make a run for it,” replied Link, even though he knew that the idea was crazy, but they didn’t have anytime to decide what to do. More Dark Elves would be bursting through the door at any second.

“Link, do you have any idea how completely insane that is!” exclaimed Khaz. Malon was still in a deep shock and was sitting blankly on the floor.

“I don’t know, Khaz! I don’t know what else to do and we don’t have time to come up with another plan!” snapped Link and started to walk to the door.

“Wait!” cried Khaz. “Look, there’s a window in the back!”

Link turned around to examine the window behind him. It looked onto the back of another building, obviously leading to a back alley. Link had no other choice; they would have to go through the window before the Dark Elves came through. Khaz ran over to the door grabbing a chair and placing it under the door knob so that it would give them more time. Link hastily tried to pull Malon up off of the floor.

“Come on, Malon!” cried the exasperated Hylian, but to no affect, she was still in a state of shock. The way things were going seemed to be getting worse by the minute. They were going to have to herd the children out and pull the useless Malon with them.

“Khaz, open the window and start helping the kids out,” ordered Link. Khaz did was Link said and opened the window. Both of them helped the children out into the alley. More loud bangs came from the door.

“That’s it! We’re coming in!” snarled a voice behind the door. Link gulped, he wished more than ever that Leita would have been in their group so that could put a charm on the door. However, with Leita not present Link was going to have improvise. He ran over to the door and held it shut, Link was obvious stronger than whatever number of men outside the door so it didn’t budge. It was only a matter of time until they would chop the door down. Khaz loaded the children out into the alley and when all of them were out he ran over to Malon, picked her up and ran over to the window.

“Link, hurry!” he called, Link let the door fly open ran and jumped out the window after Khaz.

They heard the angry and appalled cries of the Dark Elves when they entered the room, but didn’t look behind themselves to see if they were chasing them. The children bewildered and scared ran with their elders. After five minutes of running the children began to lag behind, and Link could no longer hear the pursuit of guards. He decided it was time to stop and rest, and also figure out what to do next. Khaz leaned Malon up against the wall of a building and began to shake her in attempted to awaken her from her shock.

“Malon! Snap out of it!” cried Khaz, and after a few minutes she blinked and then shook her head. Rain started to soak their clothes and chill their bones as Malon blinked again to come to her senses.

“Wha-what’s going on?” said the dazed Malon.

“So nice of you to join us in reality!” snapped Khaz, Malon appeared to just notice Khaz was right there in front of her gripping her shoulders. She shrieked and shoved him away from her. A wave of sickness washed over Malon and she bent over vomiting onto the ground.

“What in the Dark Realm is wrong with you?” yelled Khaz, stumbling but finding his balance again.

“You’re asking me that? What about you? Why d-did you k-kill them like that?” quivered Malon as she wiped her mouth. Khaz stared at her, and then turned his head to the ground of the dark alley way. Link frowned, he was wondering exactly that but they didn’t have anytime to ask questions.

“W-what? Did you want me to let him do that to you?” said Khaz, his head still bowed. Malon bit her lip and shuffled her feet.

“All right, we don’t have time to discuss this, we have figure out what to do next,” Link reminded them.

“Well, I guess we just have to find our way out of here,” suggested Khaz, bringing his head up to look at Link.

“Yes, but they will be looking for us and it will be a lot harder to get out of here with fifteen kids on our hands,” Link pointed out the children sitting on the floor staring up at their leaders. All of them were a safe distance from the blood-soaked Khaz and they all looked as if they were afraid he would attack again if they stepped closer.

“We’re going to have to try because we only had an hour until Kira and Kai bring in the armies,” Malon added. Link cursed, he forgot about that part.

“Well, we better get going,” said Link, and Malon began to help the children to their feet as they went down the rain soaked alley way to find their way out. Link hoped that they would be able to leave without anymore trouble. He also remembered Rontu would have come and found out what happened. He would, of course, go back and tell the others. Maybe they would come back and find them. Link held on to this small but strong hope that they would get out of this alive.

He and Khaz began to take random turns in the back alley ways that hopefully would lead them out of the ranch. Link couldn’t remember being so stressed since his battle with Majora. Nor could he believe their luck that they would mess up on something so simple.

Rontu pulled up to the last slave station to see it was crawling with Dark Elves. A bunch of guards were standing around outside and inside the building, obviously investigating the situation of the three dead guards inside the station.

“****,” cursed Rontu, and looked behind him at Leita who peered up at him; giving him a horrified look. They both knew the worst had happened.

Blaze stood up from the ground he had been sitting on while waiting for the last group to return when he spotted Rontu, but his wagon was empty except for Leita in the back. The look on Rontu’s face told Blaze something had happened to Link’s group. The others stared confused at the empty wagon. Nabooru, Impa, and Sheik exchanged stressed glances as Rontu pulled up.

“What happened,” demanded Blaze as Rontu jumped out of the wagon and let Leita out of the back.

“Well, when I got to the last station it looked as if they had killed the guards before I could get there,” said Rontu as Leita returned his face to normal.

“What? But they weren’t—” began Trisa, but Rontu cut her off.

“Of course they weren’t supposed to,” snapped Rontu. “Something must have happened that made them have to kill the guards.”

“But by the looks of it they escaped and are still in the ranch,” reported Rontu.

“Well, what are we going to do about it?” asked Tila.

“I say we go back in and look for them,” said Sheik. “They have slaves with them which will make it more difficult to get out so, they’re going to need our help.”

“But Kira and Kai are going to be attacking the ranch in five minutes!” gasped Nabooru.

“The more the reason to go in and find them!” said Blaze. “When they attack the ranch it will be dangerous to both the Hylians and Link, Khaz, and Malon.”

“Let’s make this a quick agreement,” snarled Rontu. “All in favor of going back into the ranch raise your hand.”

They all raised their hands.

“Good, now will you all step into the wagon and we’ll get those idiots out of there,” said Rontu, walking over to the wagon.

*pretends to cry* They're all willing to go back in to save their friends. It's... so... beautiful.

Anyway, great chapter as usual, I liked seeing Rontu get laughed at. After him being feared so much and being such a serious character it was fun to see him as the butt of some comic releif.

It was also sweet to see Khaz own those dark elves. He was a klutz on the way to the zoras and has played the part of the pretty boy too long. After that dream Link had about how Khaz is in pain it's interesting to see some of it com out. Sure it was brutal, but now we've gotten a taste of what is going on inside of him and what happened to his uncle. Though Khaz is still the light hearted boy of the entourage, I think he could easily over take Rontu in the mysterious department. Khaz might even be the most in depth character of all, I'd like to see how he turns out at the end more than anyone else.

Can't wait for the next one

Author's Note: In response to Dark Side: Yes, Khaz is my most developed character, or you could say most complex. You'll see more of his insane behavior as the story continues.

Chapter Twelve:
Heroes

Link stopped dead when he heard it; cries of battle. He could recognize it anywhere and just as before, it was a deafening sound that made your insides freeze. Link cursed under his breath, Kira and Kai must have already brought in the army. To make things worse they had not found the others or the way out. However, he was not one to give up so easily. As long as his heart kept beating in his chest he wasn’t going to stop.

Link caught Khaz’s eye. The elf was completely covered in dark, sticky blood. Link tried hard not to remember the screams of the guards in the station. Why had Khaz done that? He was the person Link least expected to do such a thing. His eyes had been so ruthless, not a drop of mercy had been in them. It was the least he could have done to put the sobbing Dark Elf out his misery. But he hadn’t. He let the man wraith on the ground like an insect he was dissecting. The elf had meant nothing more to Khaz than an insect. Yet, his eyes were filled with something else right now. Worry, kindness, and stress; how could those eyes switch to that after having such cold and empty texture? Those eyes … they continued to haunt Link’s memory.

“What is it, Link?” asked Khaz, making Link realize he was still staring at Khaz.

“Listen …” answered Link. “Kira and Kai have led the army in.”

He couldn’t ask questions now. They have to focus on getting out alive before he can question Khaz’s actions.

Khaz gave Link a desperate glance. He was worried just as much as Link was. Malon stared at the both of them, waiting to be told what to do. The children were waiting too and were staring hopefully at their leaders. Link noticed as the rain started to fall harder and begin to soak his red tunic. The alley way was as cold and wet as they were, and dark with no sign of hope. Link gazed down at the wet stone of the alley.

Maybe if they went out into the open streets they could find their way out. This was extremely dangerous of course, a battle was taking place and one of the children could easily be left behind. Soon the battle would spread to even the dark alleys of the fortress and they would be running that risk either way. Not only would they find there way out of here, they might even find the others if they were looking for them. Staying in the alley way would keep them safe longer, but would take longer to find their way out. Link thought for a moment before making his decision.

“Okay, we’re going into the streets,” announced Link. Khaz gasped in disagreement.

“What? Do you know how dangerous that is gong to be!”

“I know it’s dangerous, but we need to find our way out of here and fast,” said Link. “The battle will come to the alleys soon and will be just as dangerous and possibly more. These alley ways are so narrow it makes it more difficult to fight. We have to take a chance with the open streets.”

“Well—all right, but nothing better happen to these kids,” said Khaz, grabbing Link’s shoulder, almost in a threatening grip.

Link stared straight into Khaz’s midnight eyes. He couldn’t believe this was the man who had killed three guards mercilessly just ten minutes ago. Link mentally shook off this thought and nodded. Malon told the children to stand up and they started to navigate their way to the streets by listening to the thunder of battle becoming louder.


They stopped at the entrance of the ranch; the guards stared at Rontu in confusion. Rontu jumped off the wagon and Blaze kicked open the cage door. The guards gasped in shock and immediately went to push them back in. Tila slid her blades out from her rags and instantly brought them to the ground with a thud. They moved no longer. The rest emptied out of the wagon, stripping off their rags and charged into the ranch. The moment they ran out into the streets they could hear the army right behind them. Rontu whipped around and saw the army was no more than fifty feet away from the entrance.

“Get out of the way!” he called to the group.

They all immediately scattered to the sides of the wet street. The huge army of Hylians and Gerudos stampeded into the streets. The crash and clank of battle rang out into the silence of the moist air. Ren, Blaze, Trisa and Sheik somehow managed to find each other in the battle, for they were on the same side of the street. Rontu, Leita, Tila, Impa, and Nabooru were on the other side. Blaze’s group dodged and fought their way across the street. Trisa was guarded by Ren and so didn’t get to do much of the fighting but they found the others on the other side.

They sank back into the shadows of an alley way so they could talk without being disturbed. “Okay, so what do we do now?” said Trisa looking fearfully over her shoulder at the battle raging behind them.

“We must find Link and the others of course,” answered Nabooru. “My guess is that they are in the alleys. It would be much safer than the streets and they must have heard the attack by now. I say we search the alleys.”

“No,” said Rontu, immediately disagreeing. “Link wouldn’t do that. He knows the best thing to do is to find a way out as quickly as possible and the alleys are just a maze. No, he would go into the open streets where the exit will be as clear as day light. Besides, the battles will spread to the alleys eventually and make them just as dangerous as the streets.”

“Oh,” said Nabooru coldly. “And what makes you think you know more about Link than I do?”

Rontu’s expression hardened into a glare.

“Excuse me, but I have fought beside Link in a war myself and know better than you how his mind works. You, on the other hand, haven’t seen him in seven years and don’t have a clue how much he has matured into the warrior he is now. He is a different man than you knew seven years ago.”

Nabooru flinched at his last words. She glared at the Dark Elf but couldn’t find anything to say. His last words hurt her more than she dared to show. Maybe it was because she knew he was right and that she probably didn’t know Link as well as she used to … and hated the fact a Dark Elf was the one to know him better. Nabooru kept her thoughts to herself and nodded in agreement. She paused for a moment to stare into Rontu’s golden eyes.

“Okay, but we need to stay together or we will only get more lost from each other,” began Nabooru. Rontu was still staring at her. He knew exactly what that look meant. He had seen it too many times to mistake for anything else. But this was no time to think of those he knew that hated him. He had to find Link and the others. He had no time to be concentrating on anything else.

“So, we should stay on the edge of the battle. Fight only when you have to and keep an eye out for Link and the others,” added Impa.

With this said they marched out into the open battle field in the streets of the fortress. Scanning the open area for the red tunic of Link, blood-red hair of Malon, and the jet-black hair of Khaz; their lost friends.

Link poked his head around the corner of the alley. They had finally reached the open streets which were filled with Gerudos, Hylians, and Dark Elves battling each other. It appeared as if the Gerudos and Hylians were winning for the Dark Elf forces were being pushed back into small scattered groups. Khaz and Malon where waiting behind Link to see if he could find a way out of the ranch. Link spotted a Hylian who was being pushed back by five Dark Elves. She had short, brown hair, dark blue eyes, and familiar blue armor.

“Kira!” gasped Link and smashed down one of the elves attacking her. Malon started to go out to help too, but Khaz stuck his arm out to stop her. She gave him a demanding look.

“They can take care of themselves, we need to watch after these kids,” said Khaz. Malon nodded and back away from the street. Link and Kira fighting together dispatched them easily. Before they could say anything to each other Kai came running over. Unlike Kira, he chose not to wear any armor. Kai’s dark eyes found Khaz and Malon in the shadows of the alley on the other side of the street. Link gestured to the alley and they followed.

“What happened?” said Kira, looking behind them at the children awaiting the next decision.

“We had a bit of an accident at the station,” said Link, he couldn’t go into the whole story at the moment. “We need to get these children out here as soon as possible. Can you help us find the quickest way out?”

Kira looked up at Kai, who nodded in reply.

“Okay, the quickest way will be through the open street,” began Kira. “So we need to form a circle around the kids and make sure to kill any who threatens them. Kill them as quickly as possible and then move on. Make sure not to leave any behind.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and like Kira said they form a protective circle around the Hylian children. Malon held her breath as they walked out into the battle in the streets. She could feel the cold gripping her stomach with the iron hand fear. The rain was pouring harder than ever and it was beginning to get harder to see as they continued their march toward the exit. So far everything was going well. The group was able to keep the children out of harm and was coming so close to the exit Link could see it over sea of battle and even through the pouring rain.

There was a sudden out burst of many loud and painful screams when the crowd was parted by a group of Iron Knuckles. Their armor gleamed with rain and the blood of many. In each of their hands were axes, dripping with the red fluid of those recently murdered by their sharp edges.

“****!” swore Link. “They have Iron Knuckles here!”

“They kept them in one of the barns in case anything like this happened!” shouted Malon, through the cries and deafening noises of battle. Lightening split the dark sky and the thunder shook the earth as the five Iron Knuckles began to plunder through the battle field and closer to them.

“Don’t get involved with them!” yelled Link. “Avoid them as much as possible. We need to get out of here fast!”

They all nodded, faces wet with rain and fear. Kira bit down on the shiver of cold as she watched the dark knights kill twenty Gerudos and Hylians in one swing of their powerful axes and moved forward. She had never encountered anything like this in Ranelu. Kai, focused on the children more than the closeness of the Iron Knuckles. Their safety was more important than fear. Malon felt her legs starting to turn to jelly as the fighting around her started to become too much for her to handle. She forced them to move, keep walking. She had to be strong to make it through this. Khaz gulped down the cold fear of those dark knights, who mercilessly killed many people. It didn’t even faze him that he had done the same to the guards back in the station. Link was at the head of the group and killed most of those who got in their way. He kept one eye on the Iron Knuckles, constantly noticing how close they were getting each second.

Link gasped as one spotted them. There was no way out of it; it charged them, Link leapt at the Iron Knuckle. He dropped down on his back and slid between the knights legs with the help of the wet bricks of the street and his mirror shield. He jumped up to his feet and shoved his sword into a gap in its armor.

“Go on without me!” cried Link as he ducked a blow from the Iron Knuckle’s ax.

Kai nodded and moved to the front of the group. He began to lead them toward the exit when he spotted one of the children and fallen down. An Iron Knuckle noticed this too and went to bring down its ax on the poor child. Kai felt his stomach jolt as he sprang after the kid. Kai grabbed the small boy in his arms as he knocked him out of the way. There was a huge crunch of stone breaking. Kai got up to his knees with the child still in his arms, he looked behind them. A hole was crushed into the stone where the knight’s ax had met the brick. It lifted its ax from the ground and aimed again. Kai grabbed a needle from his belt threw it in a crack in its armor. The knight slowed down giving Kai time to run out of the way. It again hit the stone and was getting slower from the poison on his dart. Kai threw another and the knight stumbled and then fell to the ground.

Kira, noticed Kai rushing off to help the child, but they couldn’t stop and wait for him. She led them to the gates of the ranch but when they were exiting an Iron Knuckle heaved its ax at her. She stepped back to miss it and drew her out sword.

“Go on!” cried Kira. Khaz nodded and lead the rest out into the muddy field of Hyrule and to the Hylians waiting to take the children off of their hands. Khaz and Malon stayed behind to wait for the others. Khaz looked over at Malon; her face was pale and wet. Malon felt a hand slip into hers. She looked up at Khaz, who stared back. The rain had washed most of the blood from his body and he was starting to look like his normal self again. She squeezed his cold, wet hand tightly in hers; forgetting their argument and praying silently to the goddesses for the others to make it out.

Kira dodged into a building as the Iron knuckle brought his ax down. It smashed into the ground, missing her by inches. These Iron Knuckles are nasty, thought Kira as it cut through the wall with another strong swipe of its ax. She ran into the building hoping to get some space between them. Kira barely had time to notice she was in a cold and damp basement.

There were many pillars holding up the floor above her. The knight smashed the pillars as it entered the building, making the building quake. Kira quickly hid behind a pillar, hoping it would miss her. The Iron Knuckle stopped in the middle of the room trying to sniff her out. Everything seemed deafly silent, even when a battle waged outside. Kira held her breath, she was sure its hearing was prefect. She made sure to hold completely still so that her armor would not clank and give her location away.

Most would find this hard to manage, but her Wood Elf blood skilled her in the ways of the hunter, even when being hunted herself. The knight struck a pillar so suddenly it made Kira gasp; the creature heard this exhale of air. It charged at the pillar where the noise had come from. She immediately leapt from her hiding place just as its ax made contact with the stone structure.

The knight was surprisingly fast for having so much armor on its body, but Kira was still faster. When it heaved its weapon at her again she rolled out of the way, making it hit another pillar. The building shook again as its support was being taken away from it. The Iron Knuckle struck another pillar, but this time purposely missed her. This came to Kira as odd, but soon what it had meant to do became suddenly clear. The ceiling above Kira began to crumble. She turned her head up at the ceiling, her dark blue eyes became wide as she watched it fall faster than she could respond.


Kai trudged on the spongy ground of Hyrule field and peered through the pouring rain, trying to see where the others had gone. In his arms was the boy he had saved, who was gripping onto Kai with the after fear of what almost happened to him. Kai sloshed through the mud of the watery grounds toward the spot where Khaz and Malon stood. However, Kira was not with them. Kai silently noted this as he approached them.

“Where’s Kira?” said Kai, still cradling the frightened child in his arms.

“She got attacked by an Iron Knuckle and told us to go on without her,” Khaz shouted through the howling winds and loudly pouring rain. Kai stared at Khaz silently for a moment. Kira …

“Take him,” said Kai, handing the small boy to Malon.

“Why? Where are you going?” asked Malon.

“I’m going to find Kira,” he answered, and walked at first and then a sudden surge of urgency found its way into his heart and he began to run.


Link delivered the final blow to the last Iron Knuckle and it fell loudly onto the stone brick of the wet street. He scanned the battle ground for the others but it appeared that they had made it out.

“Link!” cried a voice, making Link turn around. His heart leapt when he saw nine familiar figures running up to him. It was Rontu, Leita, Nabooru, Impa, Sheik, Ren, Tila, Blaze, and Trisa; and they all were soaking wet.

“There you are!” gasped Blaze. “We’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Where are Khaz and Malon?” asked Sheik, noticing their absence.

“They went with Kira and Kai while I dealt with an Iron Knuckle,” answered Link.

“Good, then they made it out,” said Nabooru. Link nodded.

“Let’s get the heck out of here!” growled Rontu, all nodded in agreement.

When they got out into Hyrule field they found Khaz, Malon, and a small child with wet, brown hair and fearful, green eyes. They noticed at once that Kira and Kai were not with them.

“Where are the others?” Link asked immediately, hoping nothing happened to them after he left them.

“Kai had went back to save this kid and Kira got attacked by an Iron Knuckle and told us to go on without her. Kai came out to drop off the kid but then went back for Kira,” explained Khaz.

“They should be back any minute now,” said Malon.

“Well, then we shall wait,” said Sheik.

They all seemed to agree to this and waited for Kai and Kira to return. After several minutes went by the rain began to die down and soon the clouds were disappearing from the blue sky. The sun was shinning brightly as Link began to worry for they had been gone for an extremely long time. Anxiety squeezed his heart as he feared something may have happened to his dear friends.

“Look!” cried Nabooru, pointing at the gates of the ranch.

It looked as if the Rebellion had won the battle for their forces came spilling out of the fortress. They marched right past them and back to Gerudo’s Fortress. Soon the stomping of many feet died down and all that could be heard was the wind blowing through the field. There was still no sign of either Kai or Kira. Link began to fill with panic. What could have happened …?

“Link,” whispered Rontu. “… Let’s go find them.”

Link looked over and into Rontu’s eyes; they held the truth that he didn’t want to see. Link slowly nodded his head; he could feel something squeezing his heart, sucking the air from his lungs.

“Me, Rontu, Khaz, Blaze, and Ren are going back in to find Kira and Kai,” announced Link, turning to look at them all; their faces holding fear and fatigue, looking at Link as if they were looking at their only hope.

‘They look for hope in the wrong places …’ it whispered.

“The rest of you go back to the Fortress and we will be back before night fall,” said Link, managing to suppress the fear in his voice.

They all nodded without argument; slowly they turned their backs to them and walked in the direction of Gerudo’s Fortress. The ones coming with him gathered around, the same hopelessness pouring from their eyes in nonexistent tears. Link tried to ignore the fear slowly increasing its hold on his heart strings. He had to show strength, he was their leader and if he showed any weakness they would lose hope in everything.

‘Maybe there is not even a hope to lose …’ suggested the whisper in his head. ‘Don’t try pretending that they aren’t dead.’

They are alive, Link answered, trying to believe it himself but apart of him knew what the voice said was true.

‘Will you think the same thing when you find their bodies?’

Link chose not to answer this and started to walk across Hyrule field and to the ruins of the ranch. The others followed closely behind, and silence crept after them. Link kept his head up and on the huge walls of the fortress, and away from discouraging thoughts. However, with a voice whispering words of doubt in his ear, with each step he took his heart choked. He knew what Rontu meant to say before, Let’s go find their bodies … that’s what he really meant.


Kira gasped and covered her head as she fell to the ground and the rubble of the ceiling collapsed on top of her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, ready for the weight of the debris to crush her but then she felt something hovering over her; protecting her from the falling stones. Pain suddenly slammed into her leg, something fell on it. Kira choked back a cry of pain and slowly opened her eyes.

“Kai!” she gasped.

Kai was leaning over her body protecting hers with his own. His face was twisting in pain as he strained to keep the stones from crushing them. Sweat was beginning to form on his stressed face, his arms and legs shaking but not giving into the weight.

“Your leg … its hurt,” he whispered.

“Kai, what are you doing?” she cried. “Y-you’re going to get yourself killed!”

“You’re hurt,” he said, ignoring what she said.

“I don’t care!” said Kira. “Why are you doing this?”

He didn’t get to answer because there was a dull pain, throbbing in his side. He grunted as the pain increased and he felt his hot blood begin to soak his clothes. Kai gritted his teeth and continued to hold against the rocks. Kira looked down to see a red liquid dripping from his side and dyeing his blue shirt.

“K-kai …” whimpered Kira, not even trying to resist the tears burning in her eyes. “S-stop … you’re going to get killed.”

“It’s too late to reconsider,” he gasped, his breath being sucked away from his mouth. His breathing became shallow and gasping with each surge of pain. He could feel it trying to steal his strength, but he forced the pain from his mind and focused on Kira’s face. It was staring up at him, cheeks covered in tears and her eyes filled with fear. Such beautiful eyes …. His vision was beginning to blur, even if he could ignore the pain he was still losing too much blood.

He could hear Kira sobbing his name, but it sounded somehow distant. His body began to sink lower and lower, the weight of the rubble was starting to over power him. Soon his face was barely an inch away from Kira’s. He felt her hand touch his face. She was saying something, but he couldn’t hear properly. His head sank down and they were cheek to cheek. He could feel her moist tears; they were still sliding down her soft face.

“Kira …” breathed Kai and darkness consumed him.


Link, Rontu, Blaze, Khaz, and Ren walked into the ruins of the streets they had been fighting in only fifteen minutes ago. They should start looking for Kira and Kai at the last place they had seen them. Khaz told him he had seen Kira running off somewhere near the entrance of the ranch. Link immediately noticed a building with a large whole in the wall. Khaz had informed him that she had been attacked by an Iron Knuckle, which would explain the enormous whole. The only thing was that the building’s second floor had collapsed into the first floor. Nothing was moving among the rocks and debris.

“Come on,” said Rontu. “There’s nothing here.”

For some reason Link didn’t want to. He knew that Rontu was right, there was nothing here, but there was feeling in his gut that made him keep staring into the rubble. Rontu touched his shoulder, giving him a look that told Link he was being stupid. Link nodded and was turning to walk away when he heard something moving. Link spun around and ran right into the building, Rontu and the others followed closely behind. He stopped when he reached a large pile of rocks, where he was sure the noise had come from. He heard it again, it was quiet but it sounded like crying. Link’s heart jumped into his throat and he began to throw rocks off the pile, his golden gauntlets making it an all-too-easy task. The others began to quickly pull away stones and rock until they had uncovered two people. One was moving and one wasn’t. Kai was lying on top of Kira, looking like he had been covering her body and unconscious. Kira was underneath him and was sobbing silently.

“Link!” she gasped when she looked up to see who had found them.

“Link, Kai is hurt.”

She managed to sit up with Kai still in her arms; holding him tightly as if she was afraid that if she let go that she would lose him. Link, gazed at Kai’s body and found a large wound on his side. It was still bleeding profusely; Link felt his breath catch in his throat. He motioned to Rontu and they both grabbed Kai. Link grabbed him under the arm pits and Rontu pulled him up by the legs. Khaz and Blaze helped Kira to her feet and tried to help her walk, but she pushed them away and stumbled after Link and Rontu; not wanting to let Kai out of her sight.

They walked down the streets and as quickly as they could, exited the ranch. Ren held Kai up while Link played Epona’s song to summon his horse. She was galloping toward them in no time and they put both Kai and Kira up on her. Kira held Kai on as Link guided Epona toward Gerudo’s fortress. She held him close to her as his chin sagged to his chest. Kira pressed her face into his back and cried without a sound, but her shoulders shook with each sob.

No one said a word as they walked across the bridge and up to the huge gates of the fortress. They showed their member ship and the gates groaned as they were opened. Link led Epona into the fortress and quickly navigated their way to the sand stone buildings. They had to find Leita immediately; Link cursed himself for not thinking to bring her with them.

‘Another misjudgment,’ commented the voice. Link didn’t have time to argue with it and so focused on finding the others.

“There they are!” cried a voice that sounded like Malon.

Link looked behind him and spotted them by a doorway into a building. They were all still in the clothes they had been fighting in. They appeared too worried to bother with changing into clean ones. Leita must have known she was needed because she came rushing forward. Rontu and Blaze pulled the injured Kai off the horse and laid him on the ground. Leita fell to her knees and placed her hands over his wound. Blue light covered it and soon Kai’s black eyes were fluttering open.

“Kai!” cried Kira as he sat up.

Kai looked over at her and gave her his half smile that hung on the right side of his face. Kira flung her arms around him and squeezed, never wanting to let go. His strong arms, that had held even when tons of rocks had been pushing on them, hugged her back with a gentle pressure. Link smiled at the two, relief sank comfortably in his body as he finally realized how tired he was. He had been too busy worrying about Khaz and him getting the slaves out, and Kira and Kai, to notice how much he had been pushing his body to kill Iron Knuckles and lift rocks.

Khaz let out a cheer and everyone smiled at each other. They made it through their first battle and didn’t even want to fathom their next one. Kira and Kai finally stood up after Kira had finally allowed Leita to heal her leg. Malon suddenly pulled Khaz into hug, as she laughed in relief. Impa and Nabooru stared at the young warriors as they celebrated their first success.

“Look at them,” whispered Nabooru. “They’ve done something amazing and are barely over the age of eighteen.”

“Yet they have much to learn,” said Impa. “They have many more battles ahead of them and some will be more difficult than this one.”

“Ah,” sighed Nabooru. “Let us not think of the future. Let us bask in the present.”

Impa nodded and said no more. Once they had all cheered and hugged, Nabooru motioned for them to follow her. She led them in the doorway they had been standing next to and down a few corridors and to another doorway. There was the sound of many chattering voices behind the door and when they walked through Link nearly fell over at the shouts that erupted in the room. It wasn’t actually a room it was a platform looking over the training grounds where all the slaves had been gathered. Everyone’s gaze went to Nabooru. She smiled slyly and walked to the front of the platform.

“People of Hyrule,” she shouted to the crowd, they all went silent to hear her words.

“I give you your heroes!” and she looked behind her at the group as if she wanted them to walk forward.

They walked shyly up to the front and stood before the people they had rescued from the ranch. Cheers erupted and applause echoed in the canyon. Khaz smiled at them all and stuck his hands in his pants' pockets, Malon blushed and shuffled her feet, Blaze smirked, Tila smiled softly, Trisa waved at the people, Kira stood with her arm around Kai’s waist, Kai with his arm around her, however, both Ren and Rontu stayed back into the shadows not wanting to be seen. Zelda stepped closer to Link, who was staring at them all. He looked shocked and embarrassed but still kept his head high.

“Link,” said Zelda, he glanced over at her. “Look … you’ve become their hero again.”

His sapphires eyes held on hers, and then to the ground. In spite of her words he did not look at all pleased with himself. If anything he looked ashamed, his eyes were unfocused making Zelda think he must be else where into his deep mind. Link had never been the type to boast, but he at least looked a little more proud of himself. Link … what has happened to you …? thought Zelda but choose not to say this out loud, not right now.

Nabooru noticed the Rontu and Ren were reluctant to come forward. She walked in front of them and stared at them, obviously waiting for them to go join the others. Rontu stared at her as if he was waiting for her to tell them why she was there. Ren’s jaw tightened and he stared at his feet as he crossed his arms over his chest. Getting impatient, Nabooru grabbed both Rontu and Ren by their shirts and shoved them up to the front with the rest. Ren stumbled, but then quickly stood up trying to regain his pride; Rontu glared and stared moodily into space ignoring the people below him. Leita looked thoughtfully at Rontu, studying him. She knew he was aware of her stare, but he still pretended like he did not.

Finally, they were allowed to leave the room. Faces flushed and tired, they thumped back up to the lounge room; without speaking to each other, separated to their rooms. Falling onto their beds, drifting off into a peaceful sleep; not thinking of the hard ships ahead, only of their loved ones and how close they had come to losing each other.

Chapter Thirteen:
Questions Unanswered


Rontu ducked Link’s sword and side stepped to the right bringing his own katana down. Link brought up this shield, catching the blade and then rolled behind him. He slashed at Rontu vertically, but stopped before the steel could rip the black material of his trench coat.

“Damn it,” swore Rontu, who turned around to face Link. “I should have known you would do that.”

“You did very well,” said Link, trying to give Rontu positive reinforcement. “You just need to work on your speed.”

Rontu snorted and took off his trench coat before continuing their training. The day was not as nearly as hot as it would have been if it was summer. Link was thankful that fall was here to cool their aching backs. However, they were in the desert and the heat was still unbearable. He had no idea how Rontu could stand wearing his heavy coat all the time, and the fact that the cloth was black would increase the heat of the day. No doubt he was already sweating profusely, but both he and Link were not about to give up on training because it was a hot day.

They weren’t the only ones training today either. Kira and Tila were off sparing with each other, Ren was giving Trisa a training session, Zelda and Impa were practicing with bows, and Blaze and Khaz were dueling. The only one who was not with them was Leita, because she had her teaching duties to live up to. This didn’t seem to bother Rontu at all, for Link had noticed he left what ever room he was in when Leita would enter it. This struck Link has odd, but he supposed there was something going on between the two and it was none of his business.

Link’s sapphire eyes found their way to were Khaz and Blaze were dodging and ducking each other’s attacks. Was it true what Nabooru had said? Did Khaz hear voices just like he did? Well, not just like he did, but screams of the past may haunt him just like this cold voice did. Nabooru had called Link to her living area just a day after the battle at Lon Lon Ranch. Blaze was the one to come and tell him he was needed, and led him to her room but he did not follow Link inside.

“You needed to see me,” said Link. Nabooru looked up from her desk and smiled. It looked as if she was very busy, but she had called him so Link would not bother asking if he should come back another time.

“Yes, come have a seat,” she replied and stood up from her desk to sit down on a purple sofa. Link walked over and sat down in a green armchair across from Nabooru. He stared at Nabooru waiting for her to tell him why he was needed.

“I just needed to speak with you about what happened at the slave station, I need to know what went wrong,” said Nabooru. She had a very business like tone but still looked at Link with comforting eyes.

Link sucked in some air and let it out slowly. He had forgotten about that and was glad he had for it was not a memory he wished to remember, but if it was needed he would speak of it.

“At first everything was running smoothly, but then one of the guards started to try and rape Malon,” began Link. “I hesitated to attack because I feared we might be heard and the whole plan would be ruined, but Khaz … he—he went mad.” Nabooru’s expression suddenly became hard and serious.

“Mad? What did he do?” she asked, her voice as stern as her face.

“He attacked the guard harassing Malon …. He—he ripped him in half with his katanas. But even when he had already killed him he went after the other two guards. He cut one open and left him to die on the floor, and he crushed the other’s head with his foot,” said Link, closing his eyes and he could see those midnight-blue eyes looking down at the Dark Elf with a satisfied smirk on his face…. Nabooru let out a heavy sigh and spoke,

“Link, I will be honest with you. This is not the first time Khaz has done something like this.”

“What?” breathed Link.

“Khaz is not very well … when he was fifteen-years-old he killed his uncle,” said Nabooru, looking down at the ground sadly.

“W-why?” asked Link, leaning forward in his seat.

“I am sorry, but I cannot tell you that,” said Nabooru, looking up to meet Link’s eyes. “It is personal to both Khaz and Leita. I am not permitted to without their approval.”

“What I can tell you is that Khaz has a history of violence and hears voices in his head at times,” began Nabooru, but Link interrupted.

“Voices?”

“Well, screams actually and all I can get out of Khaz is that they are screams of a woman. From what I gather from Leita is that they are screams of their mother, and that is all I can say,” finished Nabooru. “Did Khaz say anything about the screams?”

“No,” answered Link. “He didn’t say anything about it.”

It made more sense now, or at least the only sense he could make out of it. His dream had shown him the truth. Khaz heard screams … She’s screaming … Link heard those words echo across his head, making Link wonder what could have happened to make Khaz hear things like that.

“You may leave,” said Nabooru, awakening Link from his thoughts. Link stood up and walked to the door but stopped when Nabooru said,

“Link?”

He turned around to look at her.

“Could you try and … talk to Khaz about this? I feel it might help him if someone were to confront him about his behaviors.”

Link paused for a moment, but then nodded. He stepped outside her door and began to walk back to the lounge room. His head ached with so many questions, and how in Hyrule he was supposed to talk to Khaz about such painful things?

‘Heh, he’s just as crazy as you,’ sneered the voice. Link gritted his teeth together. ‘Before you know it you will be gutting open people like the slimly fish they are.’

Silence! snarled Link.

‘Oh, does that bother you? Don’t worry, I’m sure you won’t mind when you hear their screams. You’ll like it, trust me,’ whispered the cold voice. ‘Did you not see how much Khaz enjoyed it?’

I said to be silent, growled Link.

‘Fine.’

“Hey, Link?”

Link snapped out of his thoughts and realized he was still in the training grounds. Everyone was looking at him with worried and puzzled faces. Rontu was staring at Link with a raised eyebrow.

“Could you not daydream while we train?” said Rontu. “Am I that easy to beat?”

“Oh … sorry,” said Link, and then held his sword and shield securely in his hands.

“Hey, Rontu,” called Kira, who was sitting on a bench with Tila. “Leita was looking for you.”

“Yeah, what else is new?” snarled Rontu, but caught Link off guard by whipping around and slashing at him with his katana.

“Why are you avoiding her?”

“What? Am I supposed to give her special treatment?” snapped Rontu, as he dodged Link’s shield attack.

“Well, I just thought you guys had some feelings for each other—” Rontu kneed Link in the gut with such a strong force that he went flying to the ground.

“What?” he snarled, turning to look at Kira not even bothering to apologize to Link. “Why on Ranelu would you think that?”

Link sat up from the ground and stared at him, thinking maybe it was too dangerous to train with him while on this subject. He rubbed his rubs, which were sore from Rontu’s attack. It was not only dangerous for Link, but for Blaze too. Khaz suddenly began to speed up with his attacks pushing Blaze back into a wall. Blaze finally knocked Khaz to the ground with his staff.

“Yeah,” grunted Khaz as he stood up from the ground. “Why would you think something like that?”

Rontu and Khaz locked onto each other’s gaze and glared viscously at one another. Neither forgetting what had happened at the party.

“Oh for Din’s sake!” cried Blaze. “Why don’t you screw her already Rontu! We all know that you like each other.”

“What?” yelped both Rontu and Khaz. Rontu was blushing looking completely outraged and Khaz was giving Blaze a deadly look.

“Hello,” said a gentle voice, making them all look up. Leita was only a few feet away from them and no one knew how long she had been standing there. Rontu immediately sheathed his katana and strode across the training grounds toward the exit. He didn’t look back to see her face, or to even remember to grab his trench coat before leaving. He was stomping off, but it wasn’t long until Leita caught up with him.

“Rontu!” called Leita, making Rontu stop but he did not turn around.

“What do you want?” he snarled, staring straight ahead.

“Nothing, it’s just—”

“What?” he growled, his voice echoing off the canyon walls. He turned and glared at her hoping it would make her go away. Leita flinched, but did not leave.

“You forgot your coat,” she whispered, holding out his trench coat. Rontu stared at her for a moment. He thought she was trying to talk to him about the night of the party.

“Oh …” said he, trying hard not to feel bad for yelling at her. He took the coat quickly but hesitated, waiting for her to say something else. Leita said nothing and turned to walk back to the training grounds. “That’s all?”

Leita glanced behind her, but did not turn around. “Yes, did you think there was something else I was forgetting?” she said, her voice soft and calming.

“…”

Leita smiled sweetly over her shoulder making Rontu want her to say something. Want her to be angry with him for avoiding her, something that would make her stay. No … I have to leave … thought Rontu, but her beautiful smile was melting his feet to that spot.

“Well, if there is nothing else then I will be waiting,” said Leita and again walked toward the training grounds.

“Waiting for what?” called Rontu, before he could stop himself.

“For you,” she answered, but continued to the entrance leaving Rontu to stare at her as she walked away.


“Hey, where’s Kai?” said Kira as she stretched her sore muscles. “Usually he trains with us.”

“He’s off talking to that kid,” Khaz answered for her. He and Blaze were still sparing, but this time Khaz wasn’t so much powered by his anger.

“What kid?” asked Malon, deciding she wanted to be included in the conversation.

“You know the one he saved from the Iron Knuckles.”

“Oh, you mean Tatsuya,” said Kira as she stood up from the bench ready for another match with Tila.

“Oh, so that’s his name,” said Khaz, pausing for a moment which gave Blaze the advantage to smack him on the head with his staff.

“Ouch!”


Kai leaned his back against the warm brick of the building connected to the fortress. He sat with his legs crossed on a large, wooden crate with a young boy sitting in front of him smiling. It had been about three weeks or so since Tatsuya had first knocked on the lounge room door. Kai remembered the timid boy stuttering his request to meet with the man who had saved his life. He suspected it was Nabooru who let him in. They had gotten a lot of visitors since they all had stood before the group of Hylians they had saved from Lon Lon Ranch. Soon they had to ask that Nabooru let no one in to see them, but Kai knew she couldn’t deny the boy’s sweet, green eyes.

For some reason unknown to Kai, he liked the boy’s company; even if they just stared silently into the air filled space. Not that they didn’t speak to each other. Tatsuya asked Kai many questions that came with their first meeting after Lon Lon Ranch. The first one was why Kai was so silent. For his answer Kai could only smile, he didn’t think the child could understand at his young age. Tatsuya gave up on the answer to his question and asked him many more about his life and how he came to be with the Rebellion. The one that was the most meaningful was who gave Kai the necklace he hung on his neck. Kai hadn’t noticed the chain had been dangling out of his shirt.

“I don’t know,” Kai had answered. “I’ve had since I can remember.”

“I think I know the symbol,” piped Tatsuya. “My mommy said it was the sign of the Sheikah.”

“The Sheikah?” said Kai; he had heard Impa mention few things of the word.

“You don’t know who the Sheikah are?” gasped Tatsuya. Kai shook his head.

“They’re only an ancient race sworn to protect the Royal Family of Hyrule!” said Tatsuya in one breathe. Kai looked at the pendant in his hand; an eye with a ruby as the tear drop from its eye. Does this have some connection to my parents …?

“Are you a Sheikah? Wait … you didn’t even know what the symbol means so I guess not,” sighed Tatsuya. “Besides, it’s a dying race. They were all killed in the war. I think Lady Impa is the last one.” Kai’s voice seemed to have disappeared. Was he a Sheikah? One of the last? Who was he?

“Mister?”

Kai looked up. Tatsuya was staring at him curiously, wondering why he was so suddenly silenced. He studied Tatsuya, but not thinking about what he was staring at. Who … am I? Kai stopped his puzzled thoughts to notice a pendant that hung around Tatsuya’s neck. It was the rune Thorn, its shape was unmistakable. It was filled with an emerald and was placed on a golden chained that matched its bordering.

“Who gave you that?” asked Kai, feeling it was a good time to change the subject.

“Oh this?” said Tatsuya, placing a small finger on the gem. “It was my daddy’s before the Empire took over. He died when I was three.”

Kai gazed thoughtfully at the small boy. It was terrible to think he had been raised at the ranch since such a small age. The things he has seen would most probably haunt him for the rest of his life. Tatsuya blinked, he didn’t know what made Kai go all silent. He was such a strange man.

“Hey, Kai!” called a voice that couldn’t be none other than Khaz. Kai’s eyes switched onto Khaz in response as he came nearer to them. Tatsuya stared at Khaz for a moment then all the color drained out of his young face. He squeaked and dodged behind Kai.

“Tatsuya?” said Kai. Tatsuya squeezed Kai’s waist in reply.

“Who is that?” asked Khaz, pointing at the small child.

“Don’t let him hurt me, Kai,” whispered Tatsuya’s quivering voice, so that only Kai could hear. Don’t let him hurt …? Khaz would never …

“Well, whatever,” said Khaz, putting his hands cheerfully into his pockets. “Kira was wondering if you would be training with us today.”

“Yes, I will be there in just a few moments,” replied Kai.

“Okay, see ya then,” called Khaz as he retreated back towards the training grounds. Tatsuya peaked out from behind Kai at Khaz, making sure he wasn’t going to come back. His little hands still clutched Kai’s coat in anxiety. Kai turned and gazed down at the cowering child.

“Tatsuya …? Khaz would never hurt you,” said Kai bending down to one knee so that he is level with his face.

“He’s—he’s a bad man!” gasped Tatsuya, shaking his head as he stared at the ground; tears filled his green eyes.

“Kai, what are you thinking about?”

Kai blinked and looked at Tatsuya, who was still sitting in front of him. This was a question he frequently asked Kai since he always seemed to be in deep thought. Kai leaned his head back as the soreness in his neck eased away from staring at his feet for so long. The heat of the day made little beads of sweat slide slowly down his face and dampen his hair.

“Why did you say Khaz is a bad man?” asked Kai, making Tatsuya frown.

“He—he hurts people,” stuttered the boy.

“What people?”

“The Dark Elves at the station …”

Kai can’t fathom why the child would feel sympathy for his offenders; the people who had treated him terribly. Yet, children so innocent and young know nothing of hate or anger. They can’t understand why anyone would wish to kill each other. It makes Kai think that at times they are even wiser than adults.

“Tatsuya, he had to hurt those people so that he could save you,” said Kai, but Tatsuya shook this head as he pouted.

“He didn’t have to hurt them—he didn’t have to make them cry,” sniffed Tatsuya, Kai’s face twist in confusion. Cry? Meaning screams? Children always had away of saying things in pure terms even if the thing they are explaining are far from pure. For it is the only way they know how to say things. What could have Khaz done? He never got a chance to hear what went wrong at the station or to ask why Khaz was covered in blood even though there was no wound on his body. Many sniffs and snivels came from Tatsuya’s bowed head. Kai stretched out his arms and wrapped them around the small boy, pulling him into a tight hug even if it may be a smoldering day.

“If you don’t have a father nor older brother to look after you, then I will take that place until you are old enough to look after yourself,” said Kai, holding the child to his chest. “Is that okay?”

“O-okay,” whispered Tatsuya. Kai smiled at his timid answer. Was it pity that made Kai take the boy as his responsibility? No, it was because that maybe Kai needed someone to call family, for this lonely soul had no one. Someone to call his little brother until the day he could make his own family.

“Thank you,” said Kai.


Leita walked into the training grounds to find everyone but Link sparing or shooting arrows at targets. Usually she would have trained with Khaz, but Blaze had already claimed him as a sparing partner. Link was leaning against the fencing separating them from the shooting targets, while he watched Kira dodge Tila’s blades.

“Move your feet,” said Link, Kira always lacked in the importance of movement. Leita had always been curious what it would be like to spare with Link. She has only seen him fight on their side. What would it be like to see him like an enemy would?

“Excuse me,” said Leita. Link looked up in response and waited to hear what she had to say.

“I was wondering if you would train with me, since we both are short of partners,” suggested Leita. Link nodded and grabbed his sword and shield, which he had leaned against the fence. Link always wondered how Leita would do on offense, because in the small battles that they have been in Khaz had never let Leita go on offense. He understood why, Leita was a gentle woman and could be hurt easily. Defense is the best position for her.

‘You shouldn’t look into appearances so much,’ whispered the voice.

Link and Leita moved out into the open area where they could move around better. He would probably only need Nayru’s Love to help him out with Leita’s magic abilities. It was his best shield and it has never failed him, not even when he was battling Ganon did the spell falter. Leita began to murmur under her breath, summoning her energy for her spells. A normal enemy would not wait to let her gather her powers, so Link dashed forward and brought up his sword. Suddenly the hilt of his blade heated up to blistering temperatures. Link gasped and dropped his sword; he thought his gauntlets would have protected him from that. There was a rush of air and Link was covered in silver light and it felt was if he was in some sort of wind tunnel. His feet began to leave the ground.

‘Heh, heh, I told you not to look into appearances,’ s******ed the voice.

Link snorted and was covered in his own blue light. Nayru’s Love would help him with any impact damage, but it wouldn’t help him avoid the spell. Link had no way of getting his feet back on the ground, and soon Link was sent flying into the air as if he was in a tornado. Link gasped as small cuts started to rip all over his body. What kind of magic is this?

‘It’s the wind, heh, it’s actually strong enough to rip a man in half,’ the voice informed him. ‘But don’t worry; she won’t do that to you.’

I know! Do you think I don’t know my own friends?

‘You never know if someone is a traitor …’

Rips and tears speared all over Link’s legs and arms and across his chest. Link felt the air rise up in him as he started to panic. No, be calm … Link forced everything around him out of his mind and closed his eyes. It was there … the power hidden deep inside. When Link opened his eyes they were glowing bright green, the Triforce on the back of his hand became warm and was glowing too. Link took the energy surging through his veins and pushed it to the outside, forming a bubble of green light instead of blue. Link let out a cry and the light exploded in every direction. The silver light around him disappeared and the wind supporting Link did too. He fell to the ground but landed gracefully on his feet, bending his knees to absorb the impact.

When Link looked up his eyes found Leita fifty yards away. She was standing but her chest was falling up and down rapidly from the energy she put into her spell. Link fell to one knee, gasping for air. He hasn’t done something like that in a while. Leita again bent her head down and was whispering Ancient Hylian under her breath. What? How did she still have the energy to continue when he was barely able to stand? Even with this in mind, Link felt his insides tingle and turn in his stomach. It felt like forever since he has had a good challenge, even when it had only been a few weeks ago that he had battled the spirit demon Nelu. But Leita was far more powerful than the demon had been, causing blood to rush in his veins as excitement claimed his body with a tingling sensation.

Link stood up and let the energy raise up in his body, and again his eyes turned green. He took out his bow and fitted an arrow in it. Ancient Hylian flowed from his lips and the tip of the arrow glowed as red as coals. Link opened his eyes to aim at Leita's feet. She had her hands placed out in front of her and covered in blue flames. Link sucked in his gasp of surprise to make sure he didn’t lose the spell on his arrow. Instead, he brought his arrow up and aimed at her hands. They both fired. When the bright flames left Leita’s hands they immediately turn an icy blue. Link’s arrow hit into the flames and the reaction between the two powers caused it to burst on impact. Both Link and Leita were knocked off their feet as a gust of wind, powered by the explosion, blew over them.

Link pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked at the spot the spells had collided. Half of the ground was burnt and half of the ground was frosted over. Everyone in the training ground was staring wide eyed at the two. Leita got up and brushed herself off. Link stood up and stumbled over to where the fence had been, but was now lying on the ground in pieces because of the blast. Leita walked over with him shaking a bit herself. All, except for Kira, Zelda, Impa, and Khaz, were staring at the two as if they had never seen them before.

“Khaz …” said Link, falling onto the bench more than easing himself onto it. “Why don’t you let Leita fight on offense?”

Khaz’s face folded into a frown and he crossed his arms across his chest, biting his bottom lip. Zelda stood closer so that she could hear the conversation better. I can’t believe it …she’s better than me!

“Because I don’t like to,” Leita answered for him. Link tilted his head at her, not understanding why she wouldn’t like to. She was amazing, probably even better than Zelda and she didn’t use it.

“Why?” said Link, after looking at Leita for a moment. Leita’s eyes fell to the ground as her arms went behind her.

“I don’t like killing.”

Blaze heard this and snorted. Link and Leita turned their heads to see who had made the noise. Blaze looked from Link to Leita and his fiery-red eyes stayed on her. Putting his hands on his hips as he said,

“Don’t like killing? You don’t like killing Dark Elves?”

“Th-that’s right,” stammered Leita. Blaze looked outraged. How could someone, whose life had been so altered by this race, not like to kill them? It made no sense to him and he knew little of how Leita’s mind worked. How could he? She was always so silent and kept to herself, barely speaking to them at times.

“I can’t believe it,” gasped Blaze. “And how do you plan to help the Rebellion in our next battle if you don’t like killing Dark Elves?”

“…”

Her silent mannerism seemed to get on his nerves. He had never met someone so timid and yet wielded amazing powers. The fact that she never seemed to answer a question right away stabbed his tolerance.

“Well?” snarled Blaze, towering over the small Hylian. “Are you going to answer me or not?”

“Blaze!”

He looked up to find Khaz’s midnight eyes narrowed at him. Blaze didn’t know why but he flinched. Those eyes … Blaze blinked and realized he was supposed to respond.

“Yes?”

“I don’t allow anyone to speak to my sister like that,” said Khaz, his voice surprisingly more intimidating than Blaze’s. “Leader of the Rebellion or not.” Blaze’s temper unfurled. How dare he be so disrespectful!

“No, Khaz … he’s right,” said Leita, stopping a possible fight. “I suppose I am no use to the Rebellion other than teaching our youth to use magic …” Blaze’s temper lightened up as she bowed her head in shame.

“That’s not true, your healing powers are of great value,” said Blaze, putting a hand on her shoulder making her look up at him with doubtful expression.

“Come, let’s continue training.”

… Doesn’t like killing Dark Elves, thought Rontu as he leaned in the dark shadows of the training grounds. He had never seen Leita use magic like that before. How can she be so powerful and yet so gentle that she wouldn’t hurt a fly? She wouldn’t even harm a Dark Elf. Waiting for me, she said …waiting for a Dark Elf. Rontu stared at Leita for a moment and then turned to walk out of the training grounds. Leita …don’t wait for me, cause I’m not worth waiting for …. Rontu sighed out loud as he walked out onto the main grounds of Gerudo’s Fortress, heading for a store where he could buy some whisky.

“So Kira, are you and Kai like … a couple?” asked Tila, as the girls relaxed on some benches as the men took turns sparing with each other. Kira smiled and nodded silently. She supposed they could call them a couple, even though it not been orally said until now.

“Oh! That’s great,” exclaimed Tila. “I was wondering when you would get over Sheinron.”

All the women stared at Kira in interest. Kira blushed and frowned at Tila. She hated it when Tila said things like that. She needs to think before speaking …. She always brings up Sheinron and yet Kira was still uncomfortable about the subject. Why would she be uncomfortable about it if she was over him? Maybe …I’m not over him, thought Kira.

“I think I’m going to go find Kai,” proclaimed Kira as she stood up from the bench and walked toward the exit.


“Kai, do you love Kira?” questioned Tatsuya. Kai stared at him for a moment, thinking calmly on how to answer the boy’s question.

“…Yes,” replied Kai.

“Does she know?”

“No.”

“Why not?” asked Tatsuya. Kai let out a sigh. Children never understood these sort of things. Funny how they can say things so easily without feeling abashed.

“Because, I fear she does not feel the same way,” answered Kai. Tatsuya twisted his eyebrows in confusion as he sat cross-legged on a crate.

“But what if she does?”

“…”

“Why don’t you ask her if she does?” continued the little boy. Kai looked up at the child. So innocent and unknowing….

“I think she is still in love with another man,” said Kai. Tatsuya blinked, not understanding why that would make telling her a problem.

“What if she loves you too?”

“…”

“You’re a funny guy, Kai,” laughed Tatsuya. Kai titled his head at the child; the boy knew that Kai was asking why in his own silent language.

“You can fight against the bad guys without being scared, but you’re scared to tell Kira you love her,” said Tatsuya, beaming at Kai with his sweet, little boy smile. Kai blinked, he hadn’t thought about that before. It was amusing, maybe children are smarter than they appear. Their innocence brings them to see things in a simpler way and maybe adults shouldn’t make things more complicated than they are. Kai stared at the boy and smiled his half smile. Kai’s ears picked up someone’s foot steps approaching.

“There you are!” exclaimed Kira. “I was looking for you.”

“Yes, and why for?” said Kai.

“Oh, no reason,” replied Kira. “I just wanted to be near you.”

Kai smiled and grabbed Kira’s hand, leading her away from the Fortress buildings and out into the open grounds. She smiled and followed him, squeezing his hand as they went. Tatsuya knew he was to stay behind, he hoped Kai would tell Kira. Older people can be so silly about love. His mother always told him it was hard for people to admit it to each other. Tatsuya didn’t understand what was so hard but maybe when he gets older he would understand.

“You know, Tatsuya is a very smart boy,” said Kira. “For only being ten-years-old.”

“Yes, he asks many questions which is good for his age,” said Kai. “I would be worried if he didn’t ask questions.”

“Why?” asked Kira.

“Because, it is only natural for children to curious and talkative and if he wasn’t I would wonder what would have made him so silent,” Kai paused for a moment. “Like Leita.”

Kira stopped walking, Kai looked back at her. She stared right into his black eyes. They were so wise and for his age that was amazing. How could he know so much? He knows more about his friends than it appears. He cares too, even if he doesn’t show it. He didn’t mean to but he said that he was worried about Leita. He slipped it into his words slyly but Kira caught it.

“Why? Do you worry why Leita is such a silent person?” asked Kira. Kai stared at her, his face impassive. “You are quiet too, what makes Leita so different from yourself?”

“… Have you ever looked in her eyes and seen sorrow?” said Kai. Kira gasped, she hadn’t thought of that before but she agreed with him. Leita was always sitting around and watching the group, but never spoke much. Sometimes when Leita didn’t know she was looking, Kira saw something in her green eyes that was so sad. It was just like when she would look into Kai’s eyes, but she knew what caused his sorrow; he was lonely. Kai could tell by Kira’s silence that she had seen it too.

“Kai … why do you think she is so sad?” asked Kira, leaning her head on his shoulder as she stared out into the desert.

“… I don’t know,” replied Kai. “I can only wonder.”

Kira thought for a moment and then said something else that came to her mind. “I think … Rontu is scared to love again.”

“Oh?” said Kai, looking down at his loved one. “Again?” Kira nodded.

“Life has not been kind to him. But it is not only that he has been damaged by a previous relationship, but I think he is afraid he would hurt her,” said Kira. She didn’t have to say who “her” was, Kai already knew.

“I understand why he would be afraid of such things,” said Kai. “Leita is one easily wounded.” They stood in silence for a while, having worried thoughts about their friends as they held each other and stared into the desert.

“What of Khaz?” said Kai suddenly. Kira looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

“What about him?”

“Don’t you think that … there is something wrong?” asked Kai. For once his voice was cracked of its stoical tone and his eyes turned with uneasiness.

“No,” said Kira. “Khaz is always in a good mood.” Kai shook his head; Kira was forgetting an important attribute. Kira frowned; she had never seen Kai so worried.

“Not always, do you forget the party so easily?” said Kai. Kira gasped, she had forgotten about that! Khaz and Rontu … why did they hate each other so much? Khaz always said raciest comments about Rontu. Rontu always glared at Khaz, and not in the way he glares at everyone. It was the glare he would always give Sheinron, but worse than that. He must really hate Khaz. Enough to kill him …. But Khaz, she had never spotted him glaring just saying rude things to Rontu; and what about when he found Leita in Rontu’s arms? Hadn’t he over reacted and broke Leita’s wrist? It was so unexpected from him.

“Let’s not think of it,” said Kai, snapping Kira out of her trance. She nodded and leaned her head on Kai’s chest, leaning in for a more intimate embrace. Kai’s arms responded and held her closer. Yet, Kai couldn’t help but worry. At the party he felt unusual energy coming from both Rontu and Khaz. He was sure Link, Zelda, and Ren did too, for the looks on their faces made it obvious. Possibly even Leita might have felt it but she could have been only troubled by Rontu and Khaz’s fight. Maybe he should speak about this with Link … but right now Kai just wanted to forget and think about Kira in his arms. Tatsuya is right, I should tell her ….

“Funny isn’t it?” said Kai.

“What?” said Kira, looking up at him.

“That I can go into battle without fear and yet, I cannot even admit to you my feelings.” Kai hesitated but said, “I love you.” Kira looked surprised but then smiled.

“It is funny,” said Kira. “Because you had nothing to be afraid of. I love you.”

“Kira … I have yet to have a family. You are right about me being lonely and I am to ask if you would help me make a family, so that I will not be so lonely anymore,” said Kai. Kira stared up at his black eyes. And maybe you have finally found somewhere to call home ….

“I will,” said Kira

Chapter Fourteen:
Secrets Not Spoken

Malon set a slow and exhausted pace back to the lounge room. The sun was beginning its departure into the desert sand. The others had already gone but Malon had stayed behind to practice just a bit more. She had just been allowed to wield a sword and she wanted a little more time to get used to the way it felt in her hand. What would her father have thought? Her? Holding a sword? Her heart throbbed for a moment. Don’t think about that…. Though it hurt she thought of it again. It was hard to think of herself as the daughter of the ranch owner. She was no longer a ranch girl, that girl had died when her father had been killed….

“Hey Malon!”

Malon about jumped out of her skin. She looked over to her right where she had heard the voice. Khaz came into view and her heart quivered. He was smiling as willingly as always. How can he smile like that? No, how can he kill like he had….

“Hello,” said Malon, a little delayed in her response. Khaz frowned. No, he noticed.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, tipping his head curiously.

“Nothing.” Said that too quickly….

“I don’t believe you,” he scoffed, smiling sympathetically. Malon just wished she could go up to the lounge room and sleep. Even his smile gave her the chills … Malon shivered. Khaz frowned again but this one was hardened. Had I shown my disgust without realizing?

“Malon … what’s wrong?” he questioned again but this tone was filled with worry and concern. “You’ve been acting weird ever since Lon Lon Ranch.”

“N-nothing—really—I’m fine,” said Malon, putting on her best smile. Gods … I’m terrible at lying.

“…” Khaz’s eyes studied Malon’s face, his eyes changed again. His eyebrows tensed with distress as he finished his search.

“Is it me?”

Malon stared at him, but then broke eye-contact. Yes … it is you.

“Why? What have I done?” asked Khaz, pain tainted his voice. Malon shuffled her feet and her hands twisted behind her back. How can you not know …?

“The guards … at the slave station?” said Khaz, his face twisted with the thoughts turning in his head, not understanding her discomfort. Malon brought her eyes up from the sandy ground to his gaze but back down again to her boots.

“But … I saved you. Why would that trouble you?” asked Khaz. Malon felt her insides turn; she didn’t want to talk about this. She just wanted to go to her bed and sleep….

“Forget it,” said Malon as she turned away to retreat to the lounge room. A strong hand shot out and grabbed her arm. Malon gasped and the image of the Dark Elf crying on the floor flashed through her mind. Khaz’s cold midnight eyes, sneering at him….

“G-get away!” cried Malon, her hand smacked Khaz’s cheek. Khaz stumbled more out of surprise than pain. He looked at Malon, his eyes filled with distress and hurt. Malon was still trembling with trepidation from his touch.

“Malon …Wh—”

“Just don’t, Khaz!” gasped Malon. “D-don’t ask.”

“Why can’t I ask!” exclaimed Khaz. “I think I have the right to know.”

Malon turned her eyes away from his, knowing what he said was true. Why did he have to come? Why did he have to talk to me? Why couldn’t he have just left me alone? Why do I have to face this …? “Malon!” cried Khaz, snapping her out of her silence. “Why did you hit me?”

“Because … because, I was—I was scared,” she whimpered. Khaz stared, his eyes were screaming.

“Scared, of what; of me?”

“Y-yes,” murmured Malon. He turned his blue eyes down in—was it shame? Silence hung in the empty air, needing to be filled with the sound of their voices. Khaz was frozen with affliction that crept up from his chest and chilled his throat, rendering him unable to speak. He gulped down the hurt that ached there.

“…Why?” he breathed, just as inaudibly as she had. Malon wasn’t so much afraid anymore but just didn’t want to speak of the subject. Why spoil the peace they had attained since their argument the morning after the party? But the peace had already decayed away through the stillness of the air.

“Khaz, don’t you even remember their faces?” said Malon. Khaz paused; he didn’t know what she meant. “Don’t you—don’t you even care? Do you even remember their screams, their cries? Don’t you care that you killed them!”

“…” Khaz didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it. He just never thought about the Dark Elves he killed. Even when he thought about it now…. They deserved it …no one … no one does that to Malon and gets away with it, right? … That’s right.

“Heh,” chuckled Khaz. “Heh … heh, heh….”

“Khaz?” said Malon, her voice held a tremor of fear.

“Yes?” said Khaz, he didn’t seem to realize he had laughed. She had had enough of this. They had talked and now she wanted to go back to the lounge room.

“Tell me, why would that make you afraid of me?” he said, his midnight eyes no longer belonging to him. They were deep and cold as they once had been when he attacked the Dark Elves. “Heh, I thought you would adore your hero; funny how just few Dark Elves can change things…. Why do you care? He was trying to rape you, do think I would let him get away with that?”

Malon shuddered as she took a step back from him. She had the compulsion to run. To get away from this person she could no longer recognize. Those eyes …please no, not those eyes….

He smirked, she was afraid. Well, it wasn’t like it was the first. They all feared him after he had killed Khaz’s uncle. The friends he had once had ran from him whenever he approached. It would be the same with her, but why care? He hadn’t cared before and he wouldn’t now….

“What? Are you going to run?” he sneered. “Go ahead; I won’t kill you or anything.”

Even though Malon was fearful she wouldn’t let him deride at her like that; as if she was but a child. No, she a ranch girl no longer. She wouldn’t let herself run. Malon glared at him, his sneer faded and an impassive face took its place.

“No,” said Malon, her face set in stone with grit. “I’m not running.”

“…” Not running, but why? She was frightened by him, wasn’t she? Why wasn’t she running like all the others had? Well … let’s change that. He reached out and grabbed her arms, pulling her close to him. She gasped, her blue eyes wide with alarm and apprehension. His movements had been so swift and impulsive. His midnight eyes penetrated right into hers; making her shake frenziedly with the panic she could not hide. She turned her head to the side to look away from those dark eyes.

“Will you run now?” whispered his voice, right next to her long ears. Malon twisted in his hands that were tightly gripping her arms, but surprisingly his grip was not as agonizing as she thought it might be. This thought somehow relaxed her. Her tense body began to loosen up and she turned her head back to face his. Her blood-red hair fell in her face as she stared back at his icy complexity.

“No … I will not,” she said, making his eyes widen with incredulity and almost soften them too.

“What?” said the man. Why wasn’t she trying to get away? Away from his cold eyes that never failed to terrify anyone. Yet she stared right into them, the fear was still there but there was also something tranquil about her.

“Why would I run from you?” said Malon, his mouth was now open in astonishment. Ha! See! You can’t scare me. I’m a warrior now.

The Hylian closed his mouth and glared at her. How dare she mock me! That’s exactly what she was doing. She was staying just in spite of him and she was enjoying his stunned expression just as much as he took pleasure in the way she trembled with fear. But isn’t that impressive? No matter how much you scared her, she didn’t run …. Yes, you are right about that …I understand what you see in her now. He didn’t stop to think as he leaned forward to catch her lips with his own.

Malon would have gasped if his mouth had not been in the way. He had just been glaring at her and now his lips were firmly on her own. His lips … they’re so warm. Malon closed her eyes as his lips embraced hers. When he pulled away she opened her eyes to see his face hardening with perplexity. His eyes were no doubt, still profound and shadowy but filled with ambiguity in the stead of cold. He let go of her arms and backed away.

“Khaz …?” said Malon, not knowing why he was suddenly receding. It was as if he was disturbed by her now. He took a few more steps, turned his back to her, and ran. He paid no heed to where he was running; he just had to get away from her. So now I’m the one running …. That’s right, and why? Maybe—maybe I was scared? What? Scared? It didn’t make sense and yet was true. He had been that frightened since—Stop! Don’t think about that! …You’re right I shouldn’t think about that …the screams will come back …. Didn’t I tell you not to think about that? So why had he been afraid? He was not supposed to kissing women, that was not what he was there for. Then …what are you here for?…I don’t know.

Khaz sighed deeply as he grasped his settings to recognize where he was. He set his path for the lounge room. I hope Malon will have gone to bed before I get there, he thought as he walked up some steps to enter the Fortress.


Malon walked into the lounge room to find the others relaxing on some sofas and arm chairs. They looked up when she entered and somehow as she stared at them she was not truly seeing them. What had just happened? Khaz, he—why was he behaving so oddly?

“Hey Malon, what’s the matter?”

Malon looked up slowly as if she just comprehended where she was. It had been Kira who spoke to her and she was still waiting for her reply. Kai sat next to her, Ren and Trisa were talking on the other sofa, Blaze was talking with Link about their next battle in some arm chairs, Tila and Leita were giggling together but stopped when Malon had entered, Zelda and Impa were engrossed in what Blaze was saying, and Rontu was on the balcony. Khaz wasn’t there yet.

“Malon?” said Kira, starting to look uneasy now. Malon looked at her but didn’t say anything. Somehow speech seemed unattainable. She was so bewildered that she hadn’t even noticed Tila’s and Leita’s accountable faces. She walked over to her bed room door, went inside and shut the door. Kira stared at her door.

“What’s wrong with her?” said Kira, just as Khaz walked through the door. He scanned the room with vexed eyes but smiled when he found there was nothing to threaten him. See, she’s not here…. Good.

“Hello!” said Khaz, his voice full of merriment. Everyone nodded and greeted Khaz back. He then strode across the room and went into his bed room. Kira eyed him suspiciously until he closed his bed room door; interesting, that they had both been late to the lounge room.

“Is something bothering you?” asked Kai, noticing his love’s fretful face. Kira turned to look at him and then looked down attentively at the table.

“I wonder what was bothering her…” said Kira.

“Yeah,” said Tila abruptly. “Don’t you think it interesting how both of them were late?”

Leita let out a giggle, Trisa and Ren looked up, and Blaze stopped in the middle of his sentence; everyone was looking at Tila, waiting for her to say more. Kira had been thinking the same thing but she had feeling it was a more staid affair than Tila was taking it as.

“Yes, but what are you saying?” said Kira

“I’m saying that they are having a secret relationship!” exclaimed Tila, as if it was a grand covert. Kira snorted. Tila narrowed her light green eyes at the critical noise Kira had made.

“Come on! You were there when they had that argument after the party. They obviously have some feelings for each other,” said Tila.

“I don’t know Tila, Malon looked a little too out of place. I’m with Kira, I think something else is happening,” said Link; he was concerned about Malon too. He probably knew her better than anyone else in the room. He knew there was something wrong.

“Yet,” said Zelda. “It may still include Khaz.”

“And maybe,” said Blaze. “It’s none of our business.”

Everyone stared in silence, thinking that maybe Blaze was right. It was none of their interest if they had an affiliation or anything such as that. Soon the chatter started up again. Blaze went back to talking about their next battle in Kakariko, Tila and Leita began to whisper again, Ren and Trisa were cuddling on a sofa, and Rontu was still gazing out into the desert from the balcony.

I wonder if he was listening? thought Leita was she brought her eyes onto him, not really considering what Tila was saying. Then she noticed something else. Slowly he took a bottle from his pocket, drank from it and promptly put it back into his trench coat pocket. Leita gasped.

“What’s up?” said Tila. “Have you even been listening?”

“Um … sorry, I was just thinking about something else,” said Leita. Tila yawned, forgetting easily Leita’s gasp.

“Gods, I’m tired,” said Tila. “I think I’ll turn in for today.”

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea for everyone else too,” said Blaze, standing up. “Our next battle is in just another day. We need our rest.”

Tila stood up to go to her room and so did the others, but before turning to walk away her gaze met Blaze’s fiery-red eyes. He didn’t look away and neither did she. Why was she looking at him like that? Does she—no, that’s me hoping for something I can never have. Blaze tore his eyes away from hers and turned to go to his room. Why was it the only woman he wanted was the one he couldn’t have? Before he could always get any woman he wanted. They all wanted him back but one-night stands are the only thing he has ever had with those women. So ironic that it would be this way ….

Everyone else also decided to turn in for the night. Zelda stretched as she stood up from the sofa. Link’s sapphire eyes wafted over to her. His gaze ran up her slim figure and then to her attractive face, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she stretched her back. So beautiful …. Zelda opened her eyes to find Link staring pensively at her. Link gasped mutely and turned away as he, too, stood up from his arm chair. Zelda’s face flushed bright pink. He was staring at me. In a way that …. No, he only thought of her as a friend. She shouldn’t compliment herself like that.

Ren yawned and then kissed the top of Trisa’s head. She looked up and smiled as he stood up from the sofa. He winked at her and then walked to his room. Trisa grinned, Life couldn’t be better and yet … I always have a feeling something might happen to steal that happiness away from me …. Trisa shrugged off her perturbed contemplation and went to her room.

When the room was vacant the only ones that lingered was Leita and Rontu. She wasn’t sure if he knew she was still there or if he was just disregarding her. Leita sucked in some air, stood up from her seat, and walked over to the balcony. He didn’t turn around when she approached; he didn’t do anything but stare out into the desert where the tip of the sun was just sinking under the sandy horizon. His glove-covered hands rested on the railing as he sustained to ignore her. Why does he do that …? Stare into the desert as if he is waiting for something ….

“Rontu,” said Leita, her courage finally strengthening her throat. “Why do you stare out there like that?” He said nothing of course; Leita hadn’t been anticipating him to say anything immediately. She waited and a few minutes passed by before he spoke.

“I used to live … in the desert of my home land,” said Rontu. “I stare into it … wondering when death will finally take me.”

Leita gasped, tears filling her green eyes hastily for her delicate soul could not hold in his words.

“And why … do you ask me such questions…? I wonder why I answer them,” he whispered, more to himself than to her. He felt small arms wrap around his torso, making his breath catch in his throat. He could feel the sensation of her body quivering as she wept softly into his back. Cries so easily …. He coveted to turn around and enfold her with his arms has he had done the night the shape-shifter came and in Zora’s Domain. Rontu wrangled with the yearning and put his impulse into a different action. He turned around and grabbed her wrists, holding them so that they could not fix themselves around him again. She gasped, tears still on her face as she gazed up at him.

“Don’t,” he said.

“Why,” she whispered back. Rontu inspected her face as if he could unearth some answer there.

“You say you wait for me…. Don’t,” said Rontu. “What makes you think I am worth waiting for? You are a fool. What makes you think I can love? I have killed many, many that were innocent like you. I am a Dark Elf and can only hurt you. These arms hold no warmth; cold arms are what you wait for! You should listen to your brother…. He speaks the truth.”

“Then … why do your eyes say differently?” said Leita, her hand slithered out of his and went up to stroke his cheek. “Why do you fight against your own race?” Her hand was scarcely an inch away when he seized it, thrusting it away.

“I fight my own race because every time I battle them … I see my father’s face and I enjoy every second of killing him over and over again…. Why must you ask me these questions? Why must you get so close?” said Rontu, still grasping her tiny wrists.

“Why must you push me away?” said Leita. She couldn’t hold back her words, the ones she had concealed deep in her throat.

“Rontu … I am in love with you.”

He gasped and instantly let go of her hands. His golden eyes flashed with some kind of dread as he recoiled away from her, leaning into the railing. Why? Why when he pushed her away? Why when he would say things to make her hate him; things to make her cry? Why when he was so dark and she so light? Why would she ever love me? He tried to make her not love him and yet it had not be successful. What could he do to make her not love him? But … is that what I want? Don’t I …love her back? That—that wasn’t the point! She couldn’t have feelings for him because he was damned to cause her anguish.

“Well …” began Rontu. “Snap out of it!”

Leita gasped again at his curt words, making more tears fall down from her eyes. Gods, why do you make me have to hurt her? It hurts so much … when she cries ….

“Hate me, Leita, because—because I can only cause pain,” he choked. “Nothing more … I cannot love you.”

“No … not when your eyes look at me like that!” said Leita, her face was tarnished with her tears that never seemed to subside. “They tell me to get closer. That’s why I must get closer because I know … you love me back.”

Perhaps it was the whisky that ludicroused him. For, before he could stop himself, he reached out and extracted her closer to him. One arm enveloped around her body and his other hand held her face bringing it closer to his. He brought her face to such proximity that she could smell the tang of liquor on his breath. His hand sponged the tears from her cheek as his golden eyes took in her face, absorbing the way it looked so near to him. She’s almost too light to touch …. He could feel her heart thrashing in her chest. She’s nervous … she wants me to kiss—

He unexpectedly let go of her and took a step back. Leita looked at him, her green eyes pleading him not to stop; not to leave. Rontu walked past her and into the lounge room, denying her. He went to the lounge room door, bracing himself for a night of itinerant when he heard her sobs. His heart whined but he turned to look at her. She was still on the balcony, her arms on the railing as she cried into them. Her shoulders shook like his heart did. He tore open the door and left. He couldn’t stand to hear her cry, knowing that it was he who made her weep so. He withdrew the bottle from his trench coat pocket and took along swallow out of it, allowing the liquid to deaden the soreness in his heart and in his throat as he leaned against the wall of the corridor.


Kira lay on Kai’s bed with the blankets draped over her buttocks, leaving her legs and back naked. Kai leaned against the headboard, white sheets covering his pelvis and exposing his legs and chest. Kira smiled sweetly at her love, her head propped up on the palm of her hand. Kai looked down at her personable attributes; her watery-blue eyes, faultless lips, a gratifying form, and meager thighs. Kai’s torso glistened with sweat and rose up and down rapidly as his body eased itself after a draining affair.

“Had you not been with a woman before?” asked Kira, who had noted his exhilaration during their love making. Kai nodded mutely and Kira giggled jauntily. “Why not, I was sure you would have a fine pick at the camp in Kokiri Forest.”

“It was not the quantity but the quality,” replied Kai, making her chuckles reside.

“Quality?” said Kira solicitously. “Were the women unpleasant?”

“No,” said Kai. “They were all satisfying for the eyes but I was not looking for such leisure.”

Kira gawked at him for a moment; she had never encountered an elf like Kai before. He was assorted from most men, which Kira conceived was something extraordinary. He had not been in pursuit for a partner. Then why is he with me?

“Why not?” she asked again, Kai closed his exhausted eyes as he spoke.

“I had not known of women until I was of the age sixteen. When I came to be among the camp they informed me of the matters that may occur between man and woman. I had been approached by many young maidens but I held no attraction for any of them. The actions between man and woman were menial to me. When I was to be their leader I had more significant things to keep my mind on,” said Kai, opening his black eyes to gaze down at Kira’s thoughtful complexion. But why is he with me now, if he had not wanted a suitor? She nodded in comprehension and then sat up from her lying position to support herself on her knees, wrapping the blankets around her body as she became level with Kai’s dark eyes.

“Then why are you with me now?” said Kira. “Why am I so different from the women who had approached you?”

Kai smiled that charming half-smile that made Kira almost disregard her question. His hand glided across the blankets to her hand and rested there tenderly. His black eyes were gleaming with the accord his face did not illustrate except for the smile that he had placed there.

“Because you are the only woman I have been attracted to,” he answered; his response caused Kira to blink unknowingly and for her face to flush a light pink. “I remember when I first saw you in the forest. I was up on the cliff when I noticed a new presence and I looked down and found a group. I remember thinking how unusual the group was; a Dark Elf, two Wood Elves, a Gerudo, and some Hylians. When my eyes found you I recognized how different you seemed from most of the women. I have not met many women who keep their hair short.”

“Well, it helps me fight without worrying about my hair getting in my face—” began Kira, pouting faintly.

“Yes, I know,” said Kai, putting her at ease. “I found that about you most charming. You are a woman and yet you are most probably a superior fighter than most of the men in the Rebellion.”

“Heh,” snorted Kira. “Tila is just as good as me. I’m nothing special.” Kai shook his head and embraced Kira’s hand softly with his own.

“But you are wrong,” said Kai. “Tila is much like the female warriors in the Rebellion. Though she may fight she still cares deeply of her appearance. You, on the other hand, had refused to dress up for the party. You have a beauty far different, even without amplifying it. You remember what I said the night we first met.”

Kira stared down at their hands that held each other. Her face had resumed a glowing red as she became utterly silenced. Kai withdrew his hand and reached out with both, casing them around Kira and pulling her onto his chest. She fell willingly to his chest, wanting to veil her blushing face. Kai, when you say such things … it steals my voice. He held her there for a time and she said nothing, only ceasing to hear his heart beat stoutly in his body. Thoughts ran through Kira’s head like water in a stream, until she came upon one she wished to orally think.

“You are silly, Kai,” said Kira, giggling vaguely. “You had no reason to fear telling me of your feelings.”

“Had I not?” said Kai, tipping his head down to look at her. “I was unsure of your feelings.”

She beamed impishly at him and then nuzzled him with her head. Her arms spread down to the bed on each side of Kai’s torso and her blankets fell down to her hips as she propped herself up so that she would be gazing directly into his eyes. He must not remember….

“I had already told that I loved you.”

Kai cocked his head up in surprise, his face remained stoical but his eyes deceived him as always.

“I do not recall,” said Kai. Kira’s grin expanded.

“No, I did not think that you would,” she replied. “You remember Lon Lon Ranch? Do you remember when you held those rocks for me?”

Kai stared at her wordlessly, his eyebrows turned down as he twisted his face in concentration; straining to remember what she had said during that time he had stayed conscious. I remember her voice…. It was such a soothing tone and especially during such a toil.

“I remember,” began Kai. “You were saying something but I could not hear properly.”

Kira nodded, “It was then I told you … Kai … I thought you had died.”

Her eyes glimmered with tears, impending to let down the overwhelming emotion tempted by the memory of Kai’s face enclosed in sweat and agony. A tear slipped out from her distressed blue eyes, conceiving a path down her lustrous cheek as she tilted her head down. Kai inclined forward and placed a finger on her face and traced up, swabbing the tear from her skin.

“But I didn’t,” he said, his hand flatting out to hug the side of her face. Kira turned her gaze upward without moving her head to look at him. His face held the impassive quality as always but his black eyes retained affection and anxiety. I don’t want to lose him … not like I lost Tarrowco.

“Promise me,” said Kira. “That you won’t get yourself killed. Don’t do anything courageous if it means risking your life; don’t get into any sort of trouble.”

Kai skimmed her face, his eyes infinite and attentive, contemplating the response that he should make. His stare came to her blue eyes, his consideration inclusive.

“I promise.”

Author's Note: Finally! This is my most recent chapter. I am working on chapter sixteen but have been having trouble with writer's block. It will be finished soon, hopefully. Well, enjoy the chapter everyone!

Chapter Fifteen:
The Tejison

Nottuu sat on the sofa in the princess’s lounge room, twirling a knife on the arm of the couch. The tip of the blade was poised on the fine material and the handle was rotated around by the white hand of its owner. The light from the fire in the fireplace danced and shimmered off the smooth blade. He regularly sat in that room for hours, occasionally not moving for days. Not many could fathom how but Nottuu needn’t meet with mortal requirements of sleep and food. He could go for months without either.

He felt the energy that match Tasuki’s outside in the corridor. He has come. Nottuu gazed up at the door with white eyes, his face was a profound void of nothing but darkness. Yet it was a deathly pale, the color could hold more than the black that was typically the creator of such emptiness.

The door squeaked open and a man entered. He was a young man, perhaps eighteen years of age. He had long, white hair that went down to his waist and frosty-blue eyes that could freeze anyone with its cold stare … well, almost anyone. He wore black leather armor all over his body and black pants and a black shirt, but they could only be seen in places his armor did not cover. He had a long sword on his back with a black hilt and he habitually had a large mace but he only carried the weapon with him when he was conveying Nottuu’s commands.

Tasuki flinched, his frosty eyes veered instantly away from Nottuu’s white ones. This was something that occurred often to people in Nottuu’s company. It was amusing, that an effortless stare could affect a being so. I wonder why….

“You called for me,” said the elf, his arms were tense at his sides and his eyes were full of a particular dismay that Nottuu had also witnessed in countless others whom he had called to him before.

“I did,” said Nottuu, still twirling the dagger on the sofa.

“May I ask what for?” said Tasuki, his eyes staring frontward and not at Nottuu.

“I have a job for you.”

Tasuki took his stare to Nottuu, but only for an instant. None could maintain a gaze on him. Yet …there is one who has. Instead, Tasuki situated his attention to the knife Nottuu held.

“Give me the details and I will do your biding,” replied Tasuki, looking impassively at the blade.

“The target is Ren.”

This had the most fascinating result in the elf. His frosty eyes enlarged and his stare was on Nottuu. His mouth opened in quiet astonishment. No sound came from his throat as he closed his mouth and soon his gaze left Nottuu.

“He is at Gerudo’s Fortress,” continued Nottuu. “I will also need you to kill a few others and bring back Zelda … unharmed.”

Tasuki remained frozen with silence.

“Link is one … I will ask that you bring him back in one piece also.” Nottuu grasped his knife firmly and it sank deeply into the arm of the sofa. “I believe you are familiar with his appearance. The others you may do as you will. One is a Dark Elf with gold eyes that I am sure you will not miss. Another is a Hylian female with silver hair and green eyes….” She ….

“Any others?” asked Tasuki. Nottuu had still been looking at Tasuki; he forgot often where his gaze stood. He took his hand off the hilt of the blade, which was left in the arm of the couch. He stood up for the first time in hours and glided over to the fireplace and stared into its flames. His pasty skin glowed with the orange radiance of the fire. His white eyes gazed vacantly and Tasuki could not even commence to comprehend what his lord was considering.

“Yes,” said Nottuu, making up his mind. “There is one more I will have you bring back to me alive.”

“He is a Hylian and his sibling will be the silver-haired Hylian. He will have short, black hair and blue eyes. You will bring those I ask for directly to me,” finished Nottuu.

Tasuki bowed in respect and he swiftly made for the door as numerous others have done before with the equivalent haste.

“Tasuki,” said Nottuu, making him halt with his hand on the door.

“Yes, my Lord?”

“Do not fail me as your sibling did.”

Nottuu could not perceive his face but his white eyes did distinguish Tasuki’s hand clutching the door knob with a sturdy pressure, his hand quivered with a small tremor.

“I am not as weak as Ren,” whispered the elf, but his voice detained a perilous milieu. “I will kill him and those you have asked me to.”


Ren swept into the lounge room to find it vacant. The sun was just peeking up from the sand of the desert, bringing the sweltering heat with the looming light. The sun poured its vivacity into the room through the balcony as Ren treaded over to the railing and gaped down at the Fortress below him. There he sat for only a matter of minutes until he heard the lounge room door open. He twisted around to perceive who had entered the room. His insides tingled faintly just at the sight of Trisa. The corners of his mouth curved up and his blood-red eyes softened affectionately. She also smiled at him and quickly crossed the space betwixt them to the balcony.

“Good-morning,” her voice sang and tickled pleasantly in his ears.

“Good-morning,” Ren replied. Trisa slid her arms around his torso and leaned into his arms, compressing him snugly. His arms responded to her embrace with tenderness and encirclement. I can’t believe, thought Ren. That I could be this happy. Ren unexpectedly lifted Trisa up, raising her a few inches off the ground, his arms still holding her gently. Trisa gasped but then transcended into a giggles. After a few seconds he put her back down and only in a few more moments many doors opened and the residence trickled out.

Khaz came yawning into the lounge room with Blaze who had also just left his bed room. They both flopped down onto a sofa, blinking the slumber from their eyes. Kai and Kira were the next to make their existence known. They walked over to the couch in front of Khaz and Blaze and sat down, making Khaz acknowledge that they had come out of the same room. He beamed softly but said nothing. Blaze was far too exhausted to detect anything of that sort. Malon peeked out of her room to see where and if Khaz was in the room. Her blue eyes observed him smiling groggily on a purple sofa. She gulped and step out into the room. Khaz glanced up to spot who had entered. To Malon’s amazement he grinned and said,

“Good-morning, Malon.”

I can’t believe it, thought Malon as her forehead tensed with disbelief. How can he act like nothing happened? She mentally shrugged and conceded to behave as if nothing was erroneous.

“Good-morning,” she replied, and sat down on a scarlet armchair. Link stepped in with his standard blood-red tunic, pursued by his Biggoron sword and his mirror shield; they were always his weapons of choice. He had them with him at all times just out of routine and because they were engaged in war with the Empire. Everyone else kept there weapons in the lounge room most of the time, something they incessantly did ever since the shape-shifter had paid them a visit. They of course had a weapon in their rooms just in case, generally a dagger of some sort.

He sat down on a sofa with Khaz as he stretched his back. Tila was the next to arouse from her room. She looked far livelier than everyone else in the room for her light-green eyes sparked with energy. Tila took her place in an emerald-green chair, Blaze’s red eyes coasted away from the seat she took. Zelda stepped out into the lounge room brusquely and Impa was quick to pursue. She always appeared to discern when Zelda left her room even though they certainly did not share one.

Zelda wore pink instead of her usual blue dress. Blue coordinated with her eyes but pink blended nicely with her golden-blonde hair. Gold Triforces dangled from her ears, swinging lightly as she sat down on the couch with Kai and Kira.

They all wore their common outfits: Tila with her red tunic and black skirt, her long, black hair up in a tight bun; Blaze with his baggy, black Gerudo pants, red sleeveless-shirt, and black sleeveless-trench coat with red bordering; Khaz had his blue tunic that was as dark as his eyes complete with his white undershirt that sleeves went down to his elbows, slack, black pants, and leather gauntlets; Leita constantly had her gray dress with a belt around her waist and her knee-high boots; Kai with black pants, a dark-blue shirt, and a black coat akin to Blaze’s; Kira had her basic white blouse and snug black pants; Ren wore the normal blood-red, sleeveless shirt, black pants, and a coat resembling Kai’s and Blaze’s only it was white with red bordering; and Trisa always had her constricted black pants and shirt that were ideal for moving around elegantly in battle.

Everyone greeted each other with a good-morning and was sitting wordlessly together, for siesta still scratched at their eyes. The tranquility of the air was disturbed when the lounge room door flew open with a window-shaking bang. This unexpected din made everyone jump and look to the entrance.

Rontu stood in the doorway. His long, white hair hung loose around his face because it was without its tie that originally seized it into place. His golden eyes stared around the room with gaunt eyelids. Even though he was not walking he swayed on the spot. His arm shot to the door knob to keep from falling and to salvage his equilibrium.

Kira’s dark-blue eyes narrowed at the Dark Elf in the doorway. Why am I not surprised. She cared for her friend genuinely but he had an appalling pattern of conveying his obscurity to taint the wholesome air. This was typically achieved by his drinking, at parties he got into fights and when around his friends his words became an acidic poison. Kira would normally nag him when this happens but what was the point? He would just keep doing the same no matter what Kira said or how much she said it. Therefore, to everyone’s astonishment, she said nothing to Rontu. Her gaze wafted to a wall, which she continued to stare at and professed he had not even entered the room. Her eyes were seething with the disappointment that Rontu never cared to know.

Link lowered his eyes to the end table with a genus of awkwardness that he couldn’t help but feel. There were various times when Link wished Rontu was different, perhaps if he could he would change Rontu’s drinking for anything else. His behavior brought a hue of pink to his cheeks. Why does he have act like this around Zelda and the others?

Tila rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She had learned to discount him when he came to such a stupor.

Everyone but Link, Kira, and Tila were staring at Rontu with shaken expressions. Rontu didn’t seem to notice and even if he had he would have not heeded it. The quiet of the air whistled through their ears while Rontu remained in the doorway. The stillness of the room began to irritate Blaze’s ears and so he said,

“Have you been out all night?”

Rontu turned his fatigued eyes on Blaze. He stared at him for a minute as if he was attempting to process his words. If he had comprehended them his black face didn’t confirm it. It sustained the stoical complexion and he took a shaky step away from the door. He wobbled over to a royal-blue armchair and collapsed into it. He twisted around in his seat so that one arm was supporting his head and the other holding up his legs. His hands went up and positioned themselves over his eyes.

Blaze lifted a fiery-red eyebrow at Rontu that only the others could perceive. Most deemed it best to say nothing to Rontu, for it appears as if he was not in the accurate state to answer them. Yet, all could not find words to speak to each other. Rontu’s entrance had begot an audible hush between the people.

Leita was the single one to never take her gaze off him. Her emerald-green eyes glimmered with dim tears that she dare not let fall, for they would draw her brother’s midnight-blue eyes upon her. Her eyes were watering but were also burning with yearning.

Rontu could feel Leita’s needy stare but did not dare take his hands off his face to look back at her. This was the only way she would disregard him. But there was the vague voice in the back of his drunken head that said, but maybe I … don’t want to forget about her…. He forced the thought from his mind. What had happened to the Dark Elf who didn’t care? What happened to the man who killed for money and slept with dozen of women weekly? Now I am just a drunk with no money and no women. Rontu chortled to himself and then his s****** broke out into mirth.

Everyone stared at him again; all gave Rontu glances of censure and bewilderment. Most of all, Khaz, whose eye convulsed with every gasp of air Rontu let escape his lips. He turned his glower onto Rontu, who knew it was there. Why must he laugh like a moron? Khaz’s teeth gritted together to stop the obscenities that were building up with his anger. He had to barge in and spoil everyone’s morning. Everyone would be happier if he was dead and he would bother my sister no more.

Link looked over at Khaz and watched as his right eye twitched with frustration. Rontu better quite down or we may have another fight on our hands, thought Link. His stare then roaming across the end table to the chair Rontu lay in.

“Rontu?” said Link, and for the first time that morning the Dark Elf responded. He took his hands off his face and his laughter stopped abruptly in his throat. His head slanted up to see who was speaking to him.

“Yes?” said Rontu’s raucous voice, abrasive from a night of no sleep but it was generally coarse anyway.

“…” Link hadn’t been expecting him to truly reply. Rontu raised his eyebrows at him.

“Could you keep it down?” asked Link. Rontu stared at him pensively and then his hawk-like eyes moved to Khaz.

“Why?” said Rontu. “Am I bothering the klutz?” That was the last nerve for Khaz.

“Why can’t you not mess up a perfectly good morning with your damned face!” snapped Khaz, his midnight eyes sizzling with resentment for Rontu’s black face. Rontu sneered.

“The morning wouldn’t be complete without your pretty-boy face glaring at me,” replied Rontu. Khaz looked like he was going to fracture. His “pretty-boy” face turned bright-red and his body vibrated with ferocity

“Khaz!” piped Leita. “Calm down, we don’t need another one of your fights.”

Khaz turned his ruby face to his sister and his vexed eyebrows bowed downward at her. He should have known she would take his side. How could she like him? He was a drunken indignity; a Dark Elf! How could she take his side after what happen to our moth…er—Stop! Stop! Don’t think about that! Stop!

He could hear it. Dim but there and it was growing audible. His face fell out of frustration and into a perturbed and anxious manifestation. His eyebrows rose up in comprehension and his grimace melted into horror. Khaz’s hand shot out for Leita’s, making her jump but then her eyes widened. She knew. He stared at the coffee table as his vision expired to black and then restored again, recapping the pattern. Leita’s eyes were tingling with apprehension. Her hand compressed her brother’s and her eyes shot about the room at the others, who were all looking at them with mystification and anxiety. Khaz tugged his hand out of hers and fastened it over his ear. He could nearly hear it now. The screams were coming back….

“Khaz!” exclaimed Leita, her hands stroked his cheeks; she attempted to rotate his face toward hers. She could see the profound intensity and detachment sinking into those midnight-blue eyes, seizing her brother. No! Not now! Not in front of everyone!


“Khaz, look at me!” cried Leita, but his eyes were welded to the coffee table and his hands were gripping his long, elven ears. Link, who was sitting next to Khaz, stood up in alarm. He knew what was happening, Nabooru had told him about the screams. But what triggered it?

“Leita,” said Link uncertainly. “Is there anything we can do?”

Leita kept her eyes on her brother who was beginning to rock back and forth on his seat. Sweat dripping down his pale face. She shook her head.

Everyone was on the edge of their seat unsure of what could be done to help their friend and not even knowing what had made him so suddenly sick. Kai stiffened in his seat, his face molded into concern and alarm other than his regular stoical mask. Rontu sat up in his chair, his eyebrow rose. Malon gaped at Khaz as moans and soft whines could now be heard from his throat. He sounded like a wounded animal. She got up from her seat and walked over to the ill Hylian. Leita’s green eyes went up to Malon and watched as she kneeled down in front of her brother. Leita withdrew her hands so that Malon could hold his face in her hands. Leita didn’t know how that could help but her instincts controlled her movement.

Malon gazed directly into those cavernous eyes that were wet with tears. He looks like a little boy…. She could only see an infant before her now in those unfathomable, blue eyes. Khaz the man had faded with his sanity. His face was distorting with an unseen ache as he tipped his face downward. Malon cast her arms around his torso, pulling him into a squeeze. Her head slipped up between his arm and neck, resting on his shoulder.

“It’s okay,” she whispered to him. Khaz went rigid for only matter of seconds and then melted into her arms. His hands floated from their posts at his ears and fixed themselves around Malon. He slid to the edge of the sofa so that he could hold her nearer to him. He squeezed her softly as hot tears quivered down his cheeks and settled in her blood-red hair. Khaz … what happened to you? What could have possibly made this Hylian react so dreadfully?

Malon held him until Khaz lastly contracted away. He stared at Malon; the man was restoring to his eyes. His gaze traveled over the people in the room and then plummeted to his feet. His hands skimmed into his spiky, black hair as they all stared at him. How … am I going to explain this…?

Zelda opened her mouth to say something but there was a thundering boom! It came from outside and was accompanied by many shrill screams. Trisa gave a cry when the noise had shattered the air like glass and stepped back into Ren’s arms. The two on the balcony gawked at the ground below with dismayed faces as everyone came running from the lounge room. Khaz managed to stand quickly but his face was still a bit insipid though his mind was not on what had just happened to him but what was occurring outside.

When Link got to the balcony and looked down into the Fortress he gasped. Chucks of the closest building were strewn across the open grounds. Smoke and dust filled the air were the blast had occurred. Everything in the proximity of the smoke was black and burnt as well as the bodies of Gerudos and Hylians that littered the ground. However, Link could distinguish that there was still someone standing. Even so, Link had a feeling that wasn’t a fortunate thing.

When the smoked cleared sufficiently for them to see the being who remained standing. He was an eccentric man, mostly because of his long, white hair that went down to his waist. He had an extensive, thin face that reminded Link of someone, but this wasn’t a consoling thought. He was an incredibly elevated elf, Link presumed seven feet, and his body was sheltered in black leather armor. On his back was a lengthy sword and decent-sized mace. His pastel face looked as if it had never seen the sun before resembling someone else Link knew. His eyes were the things that were most conspicuous about him. They were a frosty-blue and as cold as winter. Those freezing eyes were looking directly up at the balcony but not on Link. Instead, they had fixed themselves on Ren’s blood-red stare.

Link turned and glimpsed at Ren’s face. It was stiff and the arrangement of his eyebrows and the strain on his forehead told Link that he knew the elf below them and that he was not pleased to see him there. His gaze never left the frosty one beneath him.

“That’s Tasuki!” gasped Zelda; this had ruffled the hush between them so much that it made everyone jump, that is, all except for Ren.

“You know him!” exclaimed Blaze, giving Zelda a traumatized eyebrow-raise.

“Of course I do,” said Zelda. “He’s Nottuu’s oldest son.”

“Oh,” said Khaz wistfully, sounding as if nothing could surprise him anymore.

“Hey Ren, that would make him your brother, no?”

Ren didn’t react. His eyes were still attached to the man below them. The elf spoke.

“Ren!” he yelled up at him. “Are you going to stay up there with those rats or are you going to came down and face me like a man!”

Ren placed his hands on the railing and leapt up onto it, his legs between his arms.

“Ren, wait!” called Blaze, Ren turned his head to provide Blaze a bare stare.

“Um … I know he’s your brother but—maybe you should take your weapon with you—just in case.”

Ren restored his gaze back to the elf below and jumped off the balcony. He bounced from building to building until he landed on the charred ground in front of the lofty elf. The man simpered and folded his arms over his chest.

“Don’t tell me what Nottuu says is true!” he mocked, his eyebrow rising up just ever so slightly. “That you have actually joined these rats.”

“They aren’t rats!” snapped Ren, his hands balling into fists. The elf s******ed, his lips curling into a tight leer.

“Right.”

“Tell me what you want Tasuki or leave.” Ren crossed his arms too, his lips remaining a thin line.

“Your life.”

Ren raised his eyebrow at his brother and for the first time in a week arrogance flushed into his face. Ren snorted.

“Wait, wait,” said Ren, placing a hand to his head. “So you’re telling me that you have come to kill me?”

Tasuki’s smirk faded into a treacherous but cool smile. Why is talking up his ego? I thought he would be more shocked.

“That’s right.”

Ren pressed his lips together as if he was attempting to hem in laughter. When he seemed to have consumed it he grinned at his brother as if he were the juvenile.

“Don’t make me laugh Tasuki,” said Ren, tipping his head artlessly. Tasuki’s beam was now a rigid scowl.

“Oh? I’m not just here for you either,” growled Tasuki, peril dancing like bitter flames in his frigid eyes. “I have been assigned to kill some other rats as well!”

“Like I said before,” smiled Ren. “Don’t make me laugh. These rats,” said Ren as he gestured with his head in the direction of the balcony, “have more strength than you will ever know.”

“I’m sick of talk!” snarled Tasuki. He gripped the hilt of his mace with a deadly pressure.

“Let’s go.”

Ren chuckled. “I’m not going to fight you Tasuki, stop playing around.”

It was Tasuki turn to smile. So he thinks I’m playing around…. Tasuki loosened his grasp on his mace as he let his face unwind into a sneer.

“You think I’m playing around?” blinked Tasuki, now fingering the handle on his mace lightly with his other hand placed smoothly on his hip. You are so naïve little brother … you are in for a very curt awakening.

“Ren …” Tasuki tried to oppress a snort as he raised his white eyebrow. “I’m not joking around.”

“I really am here to kill you.”

Ren’s arrogance flickered, his simper diminishing. “But—but you’re my brother.”

“Right,” said Tasuki, nodding as his blue eyes stared straight into Ren’s. “Is that so surprising?”

Ren’s arrogance expired; his blood-red eyes were looking at Tasuki in hurt and uncertainty. His face bent in ghastly comprehension to Tasuki’s glee. Yes … this is what I wanted, thought Tasuki as his lips remained in a twisted leer, his eyes were glistening with aspiration to see more of this terrible ache in his brother’s eyes.

“Why?” Ren exclaimed swiftly. Tasuki’s satisfied expression scattered into loathing.

“Why?” said his brother, narrowing those icy eyes. “I have wanted to kill you for a long time, Ren. I thought you knew that…. Of course you never noticed anything outside your little world of fame.

“I was a little shocked to hear that Nottuu wanted you dead but that’s fine with me. Because I am finally allowed to kill you!” His voice was oozing with relish. He had been waiting for this moment for an extensive time, the day he would confirm the lucid image of his intentions to Ren.

“Tell me why!” demanded Ren. “Don’t you realize that you’re doing? You’re breaking our promise! Or do you even remember it anymore?”

Tasuki’s face pulsated with the arctic rage that was a callous blizzard stirring in his eyes.

“Don’t talk to me about breaking promises!” snapped Tasuki, his hand falling off his hip and tensed at his side. “You broke it along time ago!”

“What? I did not—”

“Shut up!” Tasuki snapped again. “Yes, you did! You liked all the attention daddy was giving you! You were bathing in the glory of being daddy’s favorite boy! Only I saw you for what you were! A murder! A murder of everything we had tried to keep alive! You became no different from Kashino!”

It sounded as if he had wanted to say this for a very long time. Ren was boiling. His body began to tremor with a fresh torrent of anger. Tasuki was throbbing with the freezing fury that had built up for three years. All the months and years of distortion of their icons were bubbling to the exterior like a brimming pot of water left on the stove for too long.

“**** you, Tasuki!” cried Ren, his insides were teeming with rile. “Are you saying you are no different? If it was so wrong of me then why did you try so hard to be the best? You killed just as much as me, Tasuki! Why were you always so jealous?”

“Jealous!” exclaimed Tasuki, his fists quaking at his sides and face fizzling with rage. “I was never jealous!”

“Bull****!” accused Ren, his arms shot down at his side with hushed wrath. “Then why did you kill so much? Like me!”

“It was the only way!” said Tasuki, stamping his foot down like a tantrumming adolescent. “Nottuu would have killed me if I hadn’t been useful to him. You know that!”

“So you killed to save your own skin!” said Ren. “No … you didn’t have to have been a killer like me. If killing was so bad, then why didn’t you let him kill you instead of killing others?”

Tasuki glowered mutely at him with his chilling eyes.

“That truth is,” continued Ren, his tone mitigating his infuriated voice. “That we are both wrong. Why do you think I joined the Rebellion…? I’ve been killing for the wrong reasons.”

Tasuki stared acrimoniously at Ren, not speaking. Ren’s face softened out of antagonism and into warmth.

“You can … come with me. Think about it, you wouldn’t have take orders from Nottuu and we can put a stop to him!” said Ren, stretching out his hand to his brother.

“We can make him pay for what he did … for mother.”

Tasuki’s glanced at Ren’s hand but did not take it. He paused for a second and instead, his hand slithered up to the handle of his mace.

“**** you, Ren.”

Ren gasped as if his words were a sharp blade that struck his cheek. Tasuki … my brother?

“Tasuki—”

“I’ve had enough of talking!” snarled Tasuki. “You’re dead to me and I plan to make it that way for everyone else. And I’m going to kill your friends too. Nottuu has given me a chance and I have waited too long for this. I am not going to pass it up.”

Ren felt his heart being compressed with a frozen grip that was as icy as his brother’s eyes. He felt his eyes burn as he forgot his pride and he cared not if the tears fell. No … how can this be happening? After all these years…. Ren could still taste the morning air when Tasuki used race him back to the castle in Ranelu. He could still recall when those frosty-blue eyes were like the frost on the grass during early spring, encouraging and amiable.

Now they were the shearing winds of winter, tedious and bitter. Now Tasuki stood before him with a mace and eyes that were thirsty for Ren’s blood. He couldn’t budge or react to what his brother intended to do with the weapon. This can’t be happening…. But it was and there was profound infection aching deep in Ren’s stomach as he stared at a man he once had called his sibling, grasping the hilt of a mace with a sturdy hand.

“But don’t worry,” said Tasuki, the blizzard in his blue eyes was picking up with a ferocious wind. “I still care for you enough to kill you first. That way you won’t have to see them die. I think I will kill the Dark Elf next, Dark Elves are always fun to beat into the ground!”

Tasuki s******ed but stopped to examine the manifestation on his brother’s face. Tasuki blinked to make sure he wasn’t imagining the tears on Ren’s cheeks. Tasuki’s simper broadened.

“Oh my!” exclaimed the elf, bent forward to confirm his speculations. “You’re crying, aren’t you?”

Ren felt more tepid tears skim down his cheeks as the sweltering breeze from the desert blew across the Fortress, his white hair dancing in the wind. Tasuki took his hand off his mace as a strand of his long, colorless hair swept over his whitish face. It doesn’t look like the great assassin is going to have much fight in him.

“My, my,” Tasuki carried on, mocking Ren. “Now what happened to the warrior? What happened to daddy’s favorite boy?”

Ren’s voice remained absent from the air as Tasuki began to circle around him like a hawk that had spotted its victim.

“Well, since you have nothing else to say I think it’s time to start,” said Tasuki, stopping abruptly to take his battle stance. Ren stared at his brother, lost for words as a tear dripped down from his chin and fell into the arid sand.

Tasuki dashed forward rapidly and he propelled a fist into Ren’s gut. He went crashing to the ground. Ren stood up again, quivering distinctly. Tasuki attacked again, first hitting him in the stomach so quickly that he could do so various times before Ren would strike the ground, and then swiftly kicking him so that he fell to the ground with such a force that he rolled ten feet away. This time Ren lay there, turning over onto his back while holding his mid-drift as he coughed up hot blood that stained the sand. Tasuki swept over to where he lay, coolly smirking. He lifted his foot and softly positioned it on Ren’s chest. With a crunch, Tasuki pressed down with his foot. Ren let out a scream but choked on the blood that sprang out of his open mouth.

“Reeeeen!” cried Trisa; she leaned into the railing gaping at Ren on the ground below her. Blaze knew what she was thinking and his hands grabbed her arms before she could hop off the balcony.

“Let me go, damn it!” demanded Trisa, tears gleaming in her eyes, trying to pry Blaze’s hands off her arms but they held firmly.

“Stay here, Trisa!” said Blaze, as he repressed the squirming girl. “Ren wouldn’t want you to get hurt over this. So stay here.”

Trisa glared up at the older Gerudo but then glimpsed back at Ren. She knew he was correct. But Blaze gazed down at the scene below them. Why isn’t he fighting back? Blaze knew there wasn’t something true with that elf. Blowing up a horde of people was his primary evidence that this man was not pleasant.

“Come on!” said Zelda, and in a flash she became Sheik. “We have to get down there.”

“Yeah or Ren is gonna die!” exclaimed Khaz, eye wide with trepidation.

“No,” said Sheik, holding up a finger. “Don’t you remember what Ren said?”

Khaz shook his head, spiky hair swaying lightly.

“He is a Retuson! When the Retuson are under extreme emotional and physical stress they transform into the Kituson!” exclaimed Sheik, his eyes flashing passionately.

“You mean the big dragon thingy?” said Khaz.

“Yes,” said Sheik, sounding exasperated. “And when Ren is like that he has no control. He’ll go wild and destroy the Fortress!”

Khaz yelped, “Ah! What are we gonna do!” He grabbed his head in hysterical dread.

“Stop Tasuki before it happens!” replied Sheik, putting his hands on his hips. “Now let’s get down there before we’re too late!”

Sheik darted to the balcony railing and leapt over it, bounding from building to building like Ren had. Link jumped right after him, Rontu tucked his hair back into his hair tie and followed Link. Soon everyone else was vaulting to the ground below. Blaze left Trisa on the balcony for her personal security. She watched with apprehension as the others went.

Crack! Ren heard one of his ribs crack. His rib cage screamed and tingled with anguish but Ren no longer had the vigor to cry out. Just let me die…. Ren opened up the darkness of his eyelids to gaze up at the features of his brother. His eyes were glittering with exhilaration and his lips were curled up in a grin. He really wants to kill me….

Tasuki clutched the hilt of his mace and swung it off his back. He pressed sharply on Ren’s chest as he hoisted the mace high up over his head of lengthy, colorless hair. Sorry Ren … maybe I would have joined you but the Rebellion just doesn’t have a chance against the Empire … and I don’t want to die any time soon. I hate you too much still to take any chances. Every man for himself.

“Good-bye Ren,” whispered Tasuki, his face fell from simper to a stoical plaster. “See you in the Dark Realm.”

Link landed with a placid thud onto the sand. There were a few more thuds as the others joined him. Link’s sapphire eyes came to Tasuki who was about twenty feet away from them. He was elevating his mace over his head, set to belt down Ren. Link was about to shoot into battle but there a massive roar that thundered through the air.

Tasuki stumbled and fell to the ground. The blast had come directly from Ren and it had rattled his brain making him fall down. Tasuki stared at his brother as he saw his body amplifying and skin altering into fair scales. His eyes were glowing red like enormous, blistering coals. His teeth sharpened into a point and wings began to jab out of his back. Tasuki jumped to his feet, backing away from the converting elf. It wasn’t long until Ren had developed into the dimension of a dragon, claws and tail in all.

“No!” cursed Sheik as he stared up at the monster. They could do nothing now; only evacuate the Fortress as quickly as possible so that they can escape from the caustic creature.

Trisa was about eye-level with the half-dragon, tremulous but not leaving the balcony. She remained standing at the railing, quivering hands on it staring up into the blood-red eyes of the monster. It let out an earthshaking growl making Tasuki fall back onto her behind. Trisa felt a sharp icy throb in her stomach, rendering her incapable of moving. Its cursed moans sounded like cries of sorrow.

Its crimson eyes locked on the small Gerudo on the balcony. It gazed there for an elongated time and then to Trisa surprise it let out a groan that was full of a profound yearning. It began to shrink. Fangs fading back into teeth and claws back into fingernails. The protracted tail sank back into his tailbone; his skin was again full of color. The only thing that did not shrink back into Ren’s body was his wings. They did, however, condense into a lesser size but pure-white dragon wings sustained themselves on Ren’s elf body.

Ren was this time conscious, unlike before when he had passed out. Ren stood up straight as he searched the grounds for Tasuki but he was nowhere to be found. So he ran…. Ren’s brow tensed with disgust that was pouring out his red eyes like blood out of a wound..

“Ren!” called a voice. He looked over to his right. Link and the others ran over to the spot Ren stood. They stared at him for a moment. There was not much needed to be said so peace hung in the air a moment and then—

“So this is Tejison!” said Sheik in awe. His eyes run up to Ren’s pearl-white wings.

“The power of a dragon in an elf.”

Khaz s******ed; this made Ren raise an eyebrow at him.

“What’s the matter with you?”

“Well,” said Khaz, trying to hold in a chuckle as the others stifled the laughter on their faces.

“You’re still naked.”

Ren looked down and felt his cheeks tingle with warmth. He was still naked from transforming into Kituson. His wings came down and folded in front of him to cover himself from view as his face burned bright red.

Chapter Sixteen:
What the Heart Tells Thee

Ren stood outside on the balcony, his back facing his friends who sat inside the lounge room. His pale, white hair waved in the warm breeze that swept over the balcony and it tossed his coat to the side. The only thing the wind did not effect were the pearly white wings protruding out of his back. They had no feathers, only hard scales. This was a great reason as to why his group of friends kept glancing over at him. They had tried asking him questions about his new wings but the young Tejison did not reply.

Trisa gazed with anxiety at her love interest. She was not sure if it was correct to say he was her suitor. They had never fully agreed on the matter, but Trisa didn’t care. It was enough to be near him. But right now the boy she cared profoundly for was staring out into a sea of sand. Usually Rontu could be found in that spot doing the same thing, which worried Trisa because she had never really believe Rontu to be well when he did so. How could her love not be well? His brother had just …

The young Gerudo brushed a strand out fiery-red hair out of her eyes and stood up. Everyone looked up at this movement, staring curiously at what the young girl was about to do. Trisa walked over to the balcony, she had seen Leita do this when Rontu stared out into the desert and sometimes it helped Rontu to stop staring for a while. Maybe it will help Ren … She stepped out onto the balcony and felt the wind press hard against her body as she made her way over to Ren. He made no sign that he knew she was there and all she could see was his back and the wings that were attached to it.

“Um … Ren?”

“Yes.”

Trisa stared hard at the back of his head, trying to find the right words to respond to his blunt answer.

“So … are your wings permeant?” This was the best way she knew of how to start a conversation.

“If I wish them to be, I can make them disappear and reappear as I wish,” replied the Tejison. At this his wings suddenly began to shrink in size and slowly began to disintegrate into his back. Leaving holes in his clothing where they used to be.

“Wow!” gasped Trisa. “How did you know you could do that?”

“I don’t know,” said Ren, his back was still facing her. “I just did.”

“…” She wasn’t sure of what to say next, except … for the reason she had come to speak with him. Ren hasn’t even turned around to look at her and that was a bad sign in Trisa’s book. She took a deep breath and said,

“Ren … are you okay?”

“…” He put his hands on the balcony railing, leaning on them.

“Ren …?” repeated Trisa.

“I don’t know, you tell me. Do you think I am okay?” said Ren. All she wanted was to see the look on his face and maybe then she would know what he was feeling. His voice didn’t tell her much of his status, it was false and stoical.

“Why do you think I asked you?” said Trisa. “I don’t know.”

Ren spoke not, all there was to hear was the howls of the wind against the stone buildings of the Fortress. Trisa’s red hair fluttered across her face and her hand went up to gently stoke it back into place as she waited for Ren to reply. She felt as if she could wait there forever, just for him to say something back.

“No … I am not okay,” whispered Ren so that only Trisa could hear, for he knew the others would be listening closely. “Why in the Dark Realm would I be okay?”

Ren’s voice cracked, melting into a swift and powerful anger. Trisa gaped silently at her love. He had answered her and it was the answer she had predicted. She could see his finger nails scratching the hard stone surface of the railing. His back tensed as if holding back a wave of emotion.

“Ren …” she breathed, her hand stretched out to touch his shoulder and it shook lightly as she did so. Her small hand landed softly on his shoulder like a graceful little bird. She had barely felt the fabric of his coat when he shrugged it off.

“Don’t!” he growled. “I don’t want you to see me like this—I don’t want anyone to see me like this.”

Trisa ignored his plea and pushed his shoulder to the side and her other hand ran affectionately on the side of his face, turning it to face her. She felt something warm and wet on his cheek. She was too shocked to gasp at what she saw, but her golden-brown eyes watered with tears as she continued to stare.

Brilliant and shiny tears were sliding and gilding their way down the plains of Ren’s cheeks. His blood-red eyes were filled to the brim and his face was blank and as impassive as his voice had once been, like a mask bleeding water. He whipped his head to the side, turning his head down in shame.

“I told you,” he said. “I told you I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

Trisa’s eyes bent in pity of her admiration's sorrow leaking out of his mask of anger. Her own soft and glittering tears dropped from her eye lashes onto her tan Gerudo skin.

“Brothers,” began the Retuson, raising his head gaze at her. “Are supposed to love each other, no? They’re supposed to protect each other, no? They aren’t supposed to—to kill each other, right?”

More painful drops oozed onto his face. His eyes begged for the answer, for Trisa to tell him the answer.

“No,” said Trisa, shaking her head. “They aren’t supposed to do that.”

“Then why!” Ren’s voice began to raise in volume. “Then tell me why he tried to kill me! He promised he would always protect me, he promised he would always love me!”

Ren’s whole body trembled and his hands clenched so hard he thought his nails would pierce them. His legs felt like jelly but he wouldn’t let them rest. He had to stand strong at least, even if all the pride he had was gone now.

“He promised …” Ren’s voice fell into a dead whisper and his head bowed again but his body remained stiff with his seething anger.

Trisa’s arms answered his questions with a warm embrace for that was all she could do. Those were questions she could never answer, only Tasuki could do that. Her hand ran up to his head and pressed it against her shoulder as her other arm squeezed his torso to her. Ren grabbed her abruptly, hugged her back with a tender pressure as he wept silently into her shoulder. His body shuddered as he sobbed in her arms. Her entire body compassed him like a soft blanket of comfort and all the loving feels she could pour out into it. Ren moaned softly into her shoulder, his sorrow draining out of his eyes and out of his mouth in soft whimpers.

“It was never supposed to be like this,” he choked. “We promised each other we would make it through this. We promised each other that no matter what, we would never let Nottuu change us like he changed everyone else around him. We promised to love and protect each other always…. I always loved him even after all that has happened these years … I never stopped loving him.”

Ren fell quiet in her arms, tepid tears still watered down his face but his body was still and his throat made no more noise. How did she do this to him? No matter what, she could always calm him. Tranquility kissed his heart and his mind was wiped blank. He would have never reached Tejison if it Trisa hadn’t been there. Only she could soothe the wild heart of a Kituson. His love didn’t say anything to what he had confessed and he didn’t need her to say anything.

Everyone’s eyes were on Ren and Trisa, the young Retuson’s shouting had gotten their attention. Khaz found this was the perfect time to slip away unnoticed. He backed away slowly toward the door. His hand clasped the cold metal of the door knob and twisted it soundlessly. He pulled it open just enough for him to squeeze through and he eased the door shut. After escaping without alarming his friends, Khaz strode down the stony corridor of the Fortress.

Malon had been watching Ren and Trisa intently but she noticed some movement out of the corner of her blue eyes. She turned her head just to see the door to the lounge room snap shut. Malon side stepped curiously over to the door, she slipped out into the corridor as silently as the person before her had. Her eyes peered down the hallway to spot someone with spiky, black hair walk around the corner and out of sight. I wonder what he’s up to … thought Malon and she followed the Hylian around the corner.

Khaz walked all the way to the stables without noticing the redheaded Hylian that followed close behind. His deep, blue eyes traced the horses in the pens until they fell upon a jet-black stallion with a milk-white mane. The horse’s stormy gray eyes were already locked on the Hylian. Khaz’s lips slid into a soft and playful smile. His black hair, that defied gravity, swayed lightly as he swept over to the stallion who waited patiently for his master at the end of his pen.

“Hey, Yaru,” sighed Khaz as he slipped a carrot out of his pocket. “Having a good morning?”

The horse chopped loudly on the carrot the Hylian had offered him. He chuckled softly at his hungry companion.

“Well, at least one of us is.”

“I can understand why that is.”

Khaz’s pointy elf ears prickled at the voice that came from behind him, he turned his head to look over his shoulder. Standing at the entrance of the stables was Malon’s womanly figure with crimson hair and sky-blue eyes. Her hands were resting behind her in her back pockets of her ragged pants. She was the very image of a farm girl for she was not wearing her warrior’s outfit today. As Khaz stared at her, he somehow found himself staring at Malon the ranch girl that Link had told him about.

Khaz couldn’t help himself, his eyes looked up her slender legs in her tan and torn working pants and passed her dirty, white tunic with no sleeves. He could help notice how her clothes, despite their ragged appearance, hugged the curves of her body. When his eyes found her face, her eyebrow was raised and her lips were thinning; she obviously had caught him staring.

“Heh, hi, Malon,” chirped Khaz, the snort of amusement noticeable in his voice. Malon narrowed her blue eyes making him smirk. He loved it when she was mad, which was why he was going to annoy her more. “What’s a cute thing like you doing here?”

“Hmp!” snorted Malon at the Hylian’s flirting. “Nothing, just coming to see Epona.” And she turned her head to the side to look at the mare next to her and ignored the man standing in front of her.

I doubt that. She had obviously followed him from the lounge room. Khaz could have sworn he had sneaked out without anyone noticing, but he didn’t mind so much anymore. He adored her company and now he had someone to tease.

Malon kept her attention on the mare with a crimson-brown coat. Her small fingers traced through the horse’s white mane. Khaz was going to say something else to make her flustered but the look in her eyes made him stop. Her gentle lips were painted with a tender smile and her eyes were glazed over with the unmistakable affections toward the mare. I thought I was the only person who looks at a horse like that….

“I take it you like horses,” said Khaz as he stroked his stallion’s neck. Malon glanced over at him for a moment and then turned her eyes back to the mare.

“Of course, I do,” said Malon with a commanding tone in her voice. “My father used to own Lon Lon Ranch before the Empire took over.”

“I know that,” said the Hylain, rolling his eyes.

“Then isn’t the answer to your question obvious.”

“Jeez, calm down. I was only trying to make conversation,” said Khaz, turning his attention back to Yaru the stallion. “Can’t you answer a simple question?”

Malon whipped around and her eyes narrowed and her lips thinned out into a frown. He kept his back turned to her so that she wouldn’t see his smirk. She’s so fun to tease.

“…” Boys are so stupid. Malon continued to glare at his back and then she noticed something. His shoulders quivered and she heard a noise coming from him. Is he laughing? Soon Khaz was shaking frenziedly with laughter snorting out of his mouth. He leaned on the fencing as he s******ed. Malon’s cheeks flushed a bright red as if she had spent all day outside in the sun without a hat. Her small hands curled up into tiny fists as her temper unfurled.

“What’s so funny?” snarled Malon, her face as red as her hair coupled with a glare. Khaz continued to wheeze until he had managed to get a few gasps of air to his lungs.

“Oh nothing,” piped Khaz as he leaned his back against the post of his horse’s pen. “First, you’re mad at me and now you’ve followed me down to the stables. Second of all, you’re just so fun to bother.”

Malon’s scowl faded but her flustered face did not. She tucked her hands deep into her front pockets as she kicked a rock on the ground. Her blue eyes focused on the pointless action. Oh how he loved it when she grew shy. It made her innocent blue eyes glow with such modesty it made Khaz’s heart skip a beat.

“Well … I was—I was just curious of where you were going …” mumbled Malon, allowing her scarlet hair to fall in front of her face like a velvet curtain.

Khaz smiled sweetly at his timid ranch girl, his head bow low to try to connect her eyes with his. He paced over to the shy girl and stopped barely an inch away from her. However, his tender smile was wiped away by her words that echoed across his mind: I was—I was scared. Why was she following him if she was afraid of him?

Malon peeked through the strains of blood-red hair and at the young Hylian before her. Her flushed face returned to normal as she gazed at his face. Perplexity knitted his dark eyebrows and his lips were twisted into a frown. His deep, blue eyes drilled down into her eyes; searching for something.

“Malon …” began Khaz. “I thought—I thought you were scared of me.”

The ranch girl did not take her gaze away from his beautiful, midnight eyes. The shyness she had displayed previously and suddenly vanished at the Hylian’s statement. Perhaps it was the seriousness of the comment that made her disregard it.

“I know …” said Malon. “I guess I’m just not scared anymore.” Khaz’s face remained tense with confusion and he said,

“Why?”

Malon’s stare never faltered, he deserved for her to look him straight in the face. After what she had said to him that one day he deserved her full attention.

“Before,” began Malon. “I had seen some kind of … cruelty and—and something cold in your eyes, when you had killed those Dark Elves.”

Khaz’s face bent in discomfort at the subject of the Dark Elves at Lon Lon Ranch.

“But,” continued the ranch girl. “After this morning … I saw something else. Something I was certainly not expecting.”

Khaz shifted the weight on his feet, turning his head to the right. That was the subject he wished to avoid most, it was the reason he had tried so hard to leave the lounge room so stealthily. He didn’t want to have to answer their questions, he just wanted to forget about it.

“I just think there’s something more to your cruelty than there appears to be and I want to find out what that is,” said Malon, staring determinedly at him. “Even if you won’t tell me now, I’m going to wait until you can.”

Khaz’s head snapped back to face her. His blue eyes with burning with a kind of hope. He inched a little closer to the ranch girl.

“Does this mean you’re not mad at me anymore?” he gasped hopefully, suddenly grasping her hands in his. “Does this mean I have a second chance?”

Malon looked a little flustered by his question and the fact he was holding her hands, for her cheeks lightened with a hue of pink. She should have known he would avoid anymore talk about the events of the morning. Khaz continued to stare longingly at her, which was not a look she had seen on his face before.

“Well—well … yes, it does,” stammered Malon, face still tainted with pink. Khaz’s mouth dropped open in shock and he squeezed her hands tenderly in his.

“But!” she said before he would do anything else. Khaz’s mouth closed and he waited for her to say more. “We’ll start as friends.”

“Oh,” he said, the glitter in his eyes faded and he let go her hands, looking disappointed and embarrassed. His face turned a light pink as he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. Malon hated getting his hopes up and then shooting him down, but it wasn’t like he didn’t have a chance. She loved the way he could smile like a little boy, the way he teased her, she loved the jokes he made, she loved the way he laughed, she loved the way his arms felt around her, and she loved the way his lips felt when he kissed her. Most of all, she simply loved him. Malon let out a gasp of surprise. I—I love Khaz? But—but what about those cold eyes he had, the horridly cruel person he could become? The person who had killed those Dark Elves so mercilessly. Could she really love a person like that?

“What’s the matter?” asked Khaz, who had heard her gasp.

“Nothing …” lied Malon. They both stood there for a few seconds, silence danced in the smelly stable air around them.

“So …” the ranch girl did not know what to say next. “… I better go to the training grounds….”

“Oh, okay …” said Khaz, he was still looking disappointed by what she had said. Malon wished there was something she could do for him…. The ranch girl stood up to her full height and, as swiftly as she could, stood up on her toes and placed her small lips on his. Khaz’s eyes flew wide open at this action of hers. Before he could respond, she tore her lips away from his and walked out of the stables. Khaz stood, with his midnight-blue eyes wide and staring, utterly dazed.

“Khaz?” a gentle voice echoed in the stables. The Hylian shook his head to come back to reality and turned around. Leita stood before him, her emerald-green eyes staring at him from the other side of the stables.

“Yeah?” replied Khaz, turning around and stuck his hands into his pockets. Leita looked around the pens to make sure no one was there. When she found it was safe she swept over to her brother with a serious look on her face.

“I need to talk to you about this morning,” said the mage. Not that again …thought Khaz. His black eyebrows knitted in discomfort and his lips twist back down into a frown for the second time that morning. “Don’t give me that look, I mean … everyone is going to be asking questions about it….” The Hylian’s frown hardened into a small glare.

“Yeah, so what?” he responded darkly. The warning in his voice did not even faze his younger sister, whose face was determined and steady.

“I was thinking that maybe …” began Leita, it was so hard to say especially with that look on her brother’s face. “Maybe you should tell them.”

Her words had effect on his expression instantly. His blue eyes darkened and his glare became a full fledged snarl. He didn’t even answer her. Instead, he turned his head to the side to ignore her. Leita did not appear to like this.

“Khaz!” she exclaimed, her eyes knitted with disgruntlement on her once gentle face. “I think—I think you’ve held this in long enough. I mean, when was the last time you talked about it?”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” he growled, whipping his head back around to glower at her with his dark blue eyes. “And especially not to them! We haven’t known them that long anyway.”

“But look what we’ve been through together and Link suspects something!” retorted the mage. “After what happened at Lon Lon Ranch I wouldn’t blame him.”

“How do you know about that?” snapped Khaz.

“Nabooru told me.”

Khaz’s eyes narrowed darkly. Does she tell her everything? He was willing to bet Yaru that they talked about his “condition” frequently.

“Well, if you’re so close to these people why don’t you go tell Rontu what our bastard uncle did to you!” snarled the Hylian. Leita’s face fell immediately, her green eyes filling with sparkling tears. Khaz’s glower faded abruptly at the look on the mage’s face and hot guilt began to bubble in his stomach. “Leita, I … I didn’t mean that.”

This did nothing to improve her complexion. Warm drops began to fall down on her soft face that, for the first time, remained impassive—expressionless. She turned away from Khaz and began to walk toward the stable exit. Her brother’s face began to turn with guilt, his eyes tense, again, with more discomfort. He swept briskly after her, pulling her into a hug from behind. His arms fastened around her shoulders, making her stop in her stride.

“Leita … I’m sorry,” he whispered as he leaned his forehead against her silver hair. “I really didn’t mean it.”

“Y-yes, y-you d-did,” sniffed his younger sister as he felt warm tears fall onto his arms. Khaz chuckled softly at his sibling’s timid response.

“No, I didn’t. You know I wouldn’t mean to say anything like that,” said Khaz, his arms still wrapped around Leita.

“Well … you haven’t been acting like yourself lately.”

The Hylian’s lips drifted into a light frown but did not reply. The desert winds swirled outside the stables, picking up the light sand and tossing it into the air. Khaz finally spoke after a short time.

“I just can’t,” he whispered so quietly that only Leita would have heard him, even though they were clearly alone. “I just can’t … I don’t want to remember anymore … you saw what happened this morning. I can’t say anything about it anymore than you can. So don’t ask me to … until you can talk about it yourself.”

Leita didn’t say anything and Khaz couldn’t see her face. They just stood there, brother and sister, staring out into the air that was shimmering with gold sand.



Link sat with his arms on the back of the bench, resting his tired muscles after a good day of training. The sun itself was moving toward the sandy horizon to rest for the up coming morning. The exhausted sun, also known as Din’s Eye, created one last orange glow over the arid canyon. The others had already returned to the lounge room for some much needed sleep. Only Zelda and he remained in the training grounds.

Zelda held a long wooden bow in her slender and graceful hands. Her right hand began to slowly pull back on the stiff string and the bow creaked silently in protest. The princess was not looking entirely like a princess today. She wore not a dress nor took her Sheikah form.

This fine evening, she wore tight-fitting pants that were a dark brown with her black leather boots. On her torso was a loose, long-sleeved shirt and a tight, blue tunic with a leather belt to match her shoes. The sleeves of the dark blue tunic stopped at her shoulders and on her hands were brown leather gauntlets. On her belt were double crescent blades. They were much like large knives, just curved to resemble something of the crescent moon with blue, horizontal handles. Her long, golden hair flew in the dry breeze, for nothing was holding it in place.

Zelda let her arrow jump from the bow string and it sank itself deep into her target’s center. Link was staring, mystified. He had never seen Zelda like this before. She did not look anything like the princess of Hyrule. She appeared to be nothing more than a wild warrior, a Hylain who wanted to get her home back; just like the other Hylians in the Rebellion. Normally, the only time he had seen her behave as such a warrior was when she was in her Sheikah form. But now she was neither Sheikah or princess. She was Zelda, the holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Link felt, somehow, closer to her when she was like this. He felt like they were the same, no more or less. They were both Triforce bearers.

There was almost a natural beauty about it. She looked even more charming than when she was in her princess attire. Her hair appeared to glow and her blue eyes sparkled with a sort of joy Link knew too well. He could see the curves of her body more efficiently in her battle wear…

‘Oh … I never knew you liked things like that,’ mocked the voice. ‘The Hero of Time thinking such things about the princess … who would have guessed?’

Link felt his cheeks tingle with warmth, he hoped Zelda wasn’t looking.

I—I … stammered Link with his thoughts. I don’t think of her like that … she’s the princess.

‘She’s still a woman and a very fine looking one at that,’ said the voice. ‘And you’re a man … you know what a man and a woman are capable of….’

“You’re good with a bow,” said Link, trying to ignore the voice in his head. Zelda casted him a swift glance, smiling as she did so. Her hand grasped another arrow from the quiver on her back.

“Not as good as you,” she replied as she fitted it to the bow. “I’ve heard about your bow skills from the Gerudos. They said you got 1,500 points in the archery course.”

“They forgot to mention the hours I spent training myself to hit those targets,” countered the Hero of Time. He stood up from the bench, stretching his arms as he did so. “They make it sound like I got it on the first attempt.”

Zelda let another arrow fly from her bow, it hit the same target next to her previous arrow. “Still,” she said. “How did you get to be so good?”

Link walked over to the targets, picking up his own bow that he had left near it. His hand gripped an arrow from his quiver and fitted it onto the bow.

“Practice,” he answered, his arrow shot forward at Zelda’s target and spilt her first arrow down the middle. The female Hylian stared at it in awe, blue eyes wide and lips parted.

“It takes determination, dedication, and practice,” began the hero. “If you don’t practice you’ll never succeed. If you don’t have the dedication to practice long enough than it is also a lost cause. But it takes determination to have the patience for the dedication to your practices.”

He grabbed another arrow and, again, fitted it to his bow.

“They may have told you what I had accomplished at the end of my training but they forgot the long hours I spent perfecting my skill, it takes practice” said Link as he pulled back on the arrow, narrowing his eyes to take aim. “The longer your practice with a weapon the more you understand how it works. How it functions. Soon it becomes just an extension of yourself, not a separate item. In my case, I have several extensions of myself.”

“Pretty long extension of yourself,” said Zelda with a chuckle of amusement in her tone as she stared at the sword on his back, a dazzling smirk spread on her lips. Link gasped as he let the arrow in his bow spring away. What does she mean by that? wondered Link as his face turned a hue of pink.

‘What do you think she means, heh,’ answered the voice, sounding amused itself.

“Ha!” laughed Zelda, tipping her head up shortly with mirth. “A little embarrassed, are you? Well, I don’t blame you. You missed the target after your pretty speech.”

Link looked up at the target. He had completely missed the whole thing. Instead, the arrow hit the stone wall behind it and was stuck there in the red rock. The Hylian stared at the place his arrow struck. He shook his head as he got a grip of his senses. He grabbed another arrow and took aim again.

Zelda walked behind him and said, “How much practice have you had with distractions?” She came up very close to his back, her chest brushed lightly against the red cloth of his tunic. Her head went up next his right ear and her lips blew softly into it. Link’s hands gave a jerk as a shiver ran down his spine and goosebumps ran all over his body. His attention being veered away from his bow, caused his arrow shoot straight through a wooden crate below his target and stuck in the wall behind it.

Zelda slipped away from him as quickly has she had slid up next to him. Her sweet voice rang in the air with laughter. Link’s cheeks had become bright red and he still had goosebumps up his arms. What’s wrong with me? This is Zelda, Zelda, my friend …why am I feeling like this?

“Jeez, Link, you’re strong,” said the female Hylian as she studied the arrow and the crate. “I doubt any other guy could do that.”

“What?” said Link, blinking and then realizing what she had said. He had become distracted by his confused thoughts. “Oh … right.”

He turned his head to look at the girl on his right side. Zelda smiled at him as she leaned back with he elbows on the fence that separated them from the targets. Her sky-blue eyes were dazzling and her smirk made the hero’s heart skip a beat. What was wrong with him? In the past he had never felt this way around her, and now …

‘And now you have properly gone through puberty?’ suggested the voice. ‘It’s not that hard to figure out, Link. Before you had the mind of a ten-year-old in a seventeen-year-old’s body, not to mention your mind had better things to think about like awakening sages and saving Hyrule.’

I still have better things to think about, thought Link. I have to save Hyrule again, shouldn’t I be thinking about that?

‘Perhaps,’ it replied. ‘I guess this time you have extra time to ponder other things, don’t you? Maybe you should take advantage of this situation?’

Wh-what do you mean? The hero stammered with his mind.

‘Very innocent, aren’t you? Think about it, fairy boy! Here you are, alone with Zelda in the training grounds. Don’t forget the playful flirting that she has already handed out to you. She obviously wants you,’ answered the Voice, in an almost oily tone.

What? No, I don’t think she meant anything like that … She probably only sees me as a friend, thought Link, but brought his attention back to Zelda before she noticed anything.

“Hey, Link?” she said. He bobbed his head to show he was listening. The smirk on her face widened as her finger slid along the blade of her double crescents. “Wanna duel?”

The Hero of Time blinked with perplexity in his sapphire gaze. “D-duel?” he stuttered.

“Yeah, I’ve never dueled you before,” replied the female with an eager look in her breath-taking eyes. She leaned forward off the fence to step closer to him. “Please?”

“Uh … sure,” answered Link, he had never thought of dueling Zelda before. He found it impossible to think of her as a foe of any sort. The idea made him feel uneasy, which would probably make him go easy on her but he wouldn’t tell her that, of course.

Zelda and Link stepped out into the open grounds of the dusty training yard. Zelda flipped her double crescent blades from her belt and twirled them expertly in her hands. Link adjusted the belt of his tunic before grasping the blue hilt of his sword and slipped the shield off his back; both were held tightly in his hands.

Silence was whispered back forth to each other, their eyes locked together. It seemed to echo on forever but soon it was brought to a halt by the blonde-haired woman. Her feet almost seemed to glide across the sandy ground as she swirled her blades around through the air, striking at the hero. Link blocked with his shield and brought his sword into an upper cut. The female warrior dodged backward to avoid the blade. He stepped forward to advance on her with a horizontal slash. Zelda leapt back as she had done before and Link continued to push her back.

After a few more swipes of the Hero of Time’s blade, the Hylian girl ducked the last one. As she bent her right knee, her other leg extended out to strike his foot. He gasped as he right foot was knocked out from under him. As he began to fall backwards, Zelda lashed out at his weapon and shield, knocking both out of his hands. Clank! Clank! They landed five feet away on each side of him, sending little puffs of dust into the air as they met the ground.

Link fell hard onto his back and before he could get up, Zelda leapt on top of him. She had one leg at each side of his torso, her knees touched the ground. She brought her crescent blade to his throat but before she could properly claim her victory, she felt the cold steel of a sharp-pointed object against her right temple. Her blue eyes jerked to her right to see Link’s silver gauntlet hand gripping the blue handle of the metal hookshot.

The woman’s eyes shifted back down at the hero’s face. His golden eyebrows were bent and his lips were thinned in a perfect line. His sapphire eyes were shining with pure determination. Wow … he looks so intense and serious. The holder of wisdom, resumed to study the look on his face. Again the stillness of the air was tickling her long ears. There was something about him … when he had that look on his face. There was a blazing light glowing in his blue eyes and it made her heart thump against her ribs. That face is so … Zelda swore she could hear her heart pounding in her chest. She even wondered if Link could hear it. The thought was so … frightening yet wonderful. She wanted badly for him to know what her heart sounded like when he was so close. She longed for him to know the words her heart said. She could feel that blood fill her cheeks, spelling those words out for him to see.

However, the Hero of Time did not appear to notice. He found himself distracted by something else. Link was staring determinedly into the female’s eyes, until he noticed the state of their position on the ground. Zelda had straddled his pelvis, her legs were placed tightly next to his hips. Suggestive thoughts flew through his head. W-what’s wrong with me? That did nothing to stop his imagination from thinking about what they could do in a position such as this. He felt his heart thunder in his chest as his body began to heat up, his face was burning. Most of the heat seemed to radiate from his groin. The voice was cackling with mirth inside his head. It was laughing so hard it didn’t even have the time to mock him. What in the Dark Realm is going on with me?

Link almost jumped up from the ground, knocking Zelda off of him. She gave a little gasp as she slid backward onto the ground. Most of her shock came from being so delved in his sapphire eyes and then so suddenly jerked out of her daze. She was so flustered by it that her first response was to snap at him. Her eyebrows bent with anger and her lips thinned.

“That wasn’t fair!” yelled the Hylian girl as she pushed herself onto her feet, her face returned to it’s pale complexion. “You weren’t supposed to use your hookshot!”

“Did I ever say I wouldn’t?” replied the Hylian man, his flushed face drained of his hot blood. Zelda’s glare hardened, it was impressive how beautiful she looked when she was mad. Her eyes were sparkling with a wild fire and her face remained a light hue of pink.

“That’s how battle is,” continued Link, unable to take his gaze away from those blue eyes. The fiery-will inside would have captured his eyes forever if he had let them. “A fight won’t always be fair. Your enemy will do anything in their power to live and kill you. There are no rules when it comes to battle. It’s what a warrior can do and what a warrior can’t do.”

Zelda’s face softened into an expression of deep thought. Her eyebrows relaxed and her frown was less pronounced. I never thought of it that way before. He knew so much about battle and the ways of the sword. Did he know how to love too? Zelda didn’t even need to know the answer to that question. Link was the most caring and kind person she had ever known. He fought for his people and he had even fought for the races of different lands. It seemed he would fight and die for anyone, even a complete stranger.

“Link?” said the ponderous girl as she fitted her blades back onto her belt. His sapphire eyes locked onto hers, giving her his full attention. Her gaze was stern and almost demanding, but it didn’t bother him. Zelda still had many attributes of royalty and they were some of his favorite things about her. “Did you ever … wish you could have had a different life? Would you ever want to be anything else besides a warrior?”

Link puts his hands on his waist and bent his head toward the ground. His eyes were narrowed in thought, his face was almost as serious as Zelda’s. Be something else? He had never really thought about it before. Fighting had been his life ever since he was ten. It was hard to think of doing anything else. Perhaps it was because he enjoyed it so much. Not that he liked hurting others, just that he took pleasure in the excitement of battle. His life was always full of many adventures, there was never a dull moment.

He also could help more people this way, especially in these times of war. He was always aiding someone somewhere. It was what he did, it was his duty. He was the Hero of Time, it was his place to save those in need. He would do anything to aid an innocent soul and it seemed … that he was the only one trying to save these people. Ever since his guardian fairy had left him he felt very … alone. Through most of his battles and quests he had done them with someone by his side, but somehow it wasn’t the same. For most of the past seven years he had been utterly abandoned. However, Kira, Rontu, and Tila had followed him back from Ranelu. No had ever done that before.

‘You think they truly care?’ sneered the voice, its doubt obvious in its tone.

Yes … they wouldn’t have followed me here if they didn’t. Now that he thought about it, when he was around his new found friends … he didn’t feel so lonely anymore. Link looked up at Zelda, coming to his conclusion.

“No … I wouldn’t want to be anything else,” said Link, and he turned to collect his weapons that had been knocked from his hands earlier.

Zelda continued to gaze curiously at the hero. There was no one else in this world or others like him. So brave, kind, and loyal …he would always protect me … even from Nottuu. Just the sound of that name in her head sent chills down her spine and all over his skin. She had forgotten about him. Was he still looking for her? She hoped not but deep inside she knew he was. I don’t ever want to go back… She felt her body begin to tremble at the thought of going back. Her eyes burned with hot tears that felt like lead.

The Hero of Time had strapped his shield back onto his back and placed his sword back into its sheath when he looked over at Zelda. The Hylian woman was shaking with her arms folded across her chest. Her head was bowed, her blonde hair fell to the front of her face. Link’s eye bent with perplexity but were soft with concern. He paced slowly over to her. He bowed his head to attempt to see her face.

“Zelda?”

Her hands unfolded from her arms and drifted up to cover her face. Her small shoulders shook and soft whimpers sounded through the warm desert air. Link’s arms went out and wrapped around her, pulling her close to him. His chin rested lightly on the top of her head. His body didn’t even need his brain to tell it to do these things.

Zelda felt his arms encircle her body, gently drawing her nearer to his warm body. His hands grasped her shoulders, rubbing them tenderly. Her hands fell away from her face and onto his chest. She pressed her face against the soft cloth of his tunic, her tears damped the crimson threads. Her fingers gripped it tightly as she sobbed into his chest. She moaned as silently as she could, tears poured down her cheeks like waterfalls.

“I don’t want to go back,” whispered the distressed girl, choking back sobs.

“What?”

“He’s looking for me … I know he is. I’m so scared … I’m so scared he will find me and take me back … I know one day … I will feel his eyes on me,” breathed Zelda, trembling even more violently than before. Link’s eyes bent with comprehension, his lips thinned as he realized what she was talking about. His eyes shut tightly together and he squeezed her with a soft pressure.

“He won’t …” said Link. “I won’t let him take you away. I promise … you’ll never have to go back there again.”

The female warrior stopped shaking in his arms of comfort. She believed his words completely. He would always protect her. I’m safe … I’ve never felt this safe. Her hero would always be there for her. Zelda melted in his hands, wanting to be absorbed by his body.

“Just tell me one thing … do you love her?”

Link continued to hold the frightened princess in his arms, remembering when Ruto had asked him that question. Before he hadn’t know the answer. But now … with the way she made him feel—when she was so close…. His heart was throbbing in a strong and intense rhythm, aching with a wonderful pain. I know the answer ….

I'm so glad to finally have a new chapter again, it was wonderful. Never a dull moment in your stories, and there is always tension on the love scene. Two more of these people have found themselves to be in love with one of the other entourage members, I wonder if these feelings will end up hurting them in the end.

Please keep updating, I love this story more than my own children... ok, so I don't have children, but you get the idea.

Gar... so much emotion... oO its almost hard for me to relate. But yes, great chapter as always. So sorry I missed this before, as I said. I'll be waiting for more.

Excellent.
Probably your best Chapter yet.
Keep up the good work.

Yeah. This story is great! Please keep writing.

It's an awsome story, please make the next chapter soon.

Hey, um... I remember back in the old ZU Shrub had another storie. I think it was about Nottu and how he had a brother . Then they went to the queen of Delusuu and they fought, and Nottu's brother fought against the vampire Lilith. I think you stopped after only 3 chapters, because I read them once and a week later the story wasn't ther anymore :confused:.

aaaaaaaaaw, 'f' words.

I was all excited when I saw this back near the top of the list, I thought there was a new chatper. Shruuuuuuuuuub, where are you, I need another fix of this story... it's been like 2 months (I can't remember).

*prods* hurry up, don't give that "you can't rush art" b/s because you can... it's just not as good lol.

Are one of the sequels to EoD gonna include the return of Sheinron? And who is this Shan person? Is she gonna be one of the sequels too?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Kill Khaz! He deserves to die. I know let Rontu do it so it is slow and painfull. HaHaHaHaHa Other than that it's an amazing story.

Lol, please be patient. I'm going to work on my next chapter right away.

Originally Posted by onilinkc4

Hey, um... I remember back in the old ZU Shrub had another storie. I think it was about Nottu and how he had a brother . Then they went to the queen of Delusuu and they fought, and Nottu's brother fought against the vampire Lilith. I think you stopped after only 3 chapters, because I read them once and a week later the story wasn't ther anymore .

Yeah, I deleted that because it didn't fit with my timeline and I wanted to change the events around.

Are one of the sequels to EoD gonna include the return of Sheinron? And who is this Shan person? Is she gonna be one of the sequels too?

Well, my sequel to this is going to ahve a little bit of Sheinron in it, but I'm glad to say I'm going to write a prequel before that and it has plenty of him in it. Shan might be included, I'm not sure. I made her mostly for the BA but perhaps she will become an interesting addition.

Originally Posted by Dark Sesshomaru

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo! Kill Khaz! He deserves to die. I know let Rontu do it so it is slow and painfull. HaHaHaHaHa Other than that it's an amazing story.

Wow, a lot of people don't like Khaz. Come on, I know he can be a sadistic bastard but he's got his reasons. Just give him time and you'll be feeling sorry for him.

Well, i do feel sorry for him now, because if my parents were killed and I only had one family member left that I loved (talking about Khaz's uncle :mad: ) I would try my best to keep them her safe. But there is a fine line between pertective and a controling ass**** :mad:.