Fan Fiction ❯ Professional Hero ❯ The search ( Chapter 40 )

Chapter 40 - The search

Somehow to the surprise of Link's children, Link dodged the assembling soldiers and hid. With great care they snuck passed them to an apparent dead end. Link kneeled before a huge rock and hit it with his fist. Slowly the rock crumbled and revealed a hole in the ground.

"Wow," Dekaru whispered in awe, "how did you do that?"

"It was when I visited Tempora again and met your mother, I realised that my strength was enhanced somehow. Either the Tri-force has given me augmented strength, my power gauntlets had some lingering effect, or something else, I don't know. Either way, I'm stronger than the average man, maybe that's why the Goddesses always picked me to solve their problems."

"Do you think we'll be that strong someday?" Darmani asked.

"I have no idea," Link told his son, "but if you need it, some day, I hope you will. Although I also hope I can spare you of going the same road as I did."

"Somehow," Malon mused, "I doubt that."

"Yeah," Link sighed, "so do I."

They entered the hole and stepped into the Fairy fountain.

The small marble fountain had somehow been able to withstand Zelda's fury and just as Link remembered it. There wasn't however one Great Fairy, there were five.

"Welcome, Hero of Time," the Great Fairies sang, "we've been waiting for you."

"I don't think I can still carry that title," Link said, "besides, I don't want it anymore."

"It is your destiny," the voices sang, "it doesn't matter what you want."

"So I'm here to clean up your shit?"

"No," the voices seemed mocking now, "we don't have shit. We are here to help the Hero of Time, it is our destiny."

"Meaning you don't want this?" Link raised an eyebrow.

"We do not care about "want"," the Fairies replied, "we no longer have that luxuary, if we ever had it."

"Whatever," Link waved the comment away, "can you help us?"

"How so?"

"Give my children your powers," Link demanded, "just as you have given them to me."

Link's children briefly bathed in a bright light and Link nodded.

"We have helped your children," the Fairies sang.

Link couldn't help but wince, but shook off his gloomy thoughts.

"And could you retrieve my armour from Kokiri village?"

"You don't need it."

"I prefer to have it." Link said.

The Fairies seemed to nod and Link bathed in the same light. His black tunic seemed replaced by a pitchblack armour with an owl with spread wings engraved on the front and the back. His face was now hidden behind his helmet, portrayed in a skull with wings on the side. Link looked at his hands, clad in black gauntlets and nodded.

"Perfect! Now we can go."

"This isn't right," the guard said as he grabbed his halberd tighter, "this just isn't right."

"Of course it isn't," his companion said, "those guards at the gate were slaughtered. If you call that right, you're seriously fucked up."

"That's not it," the first guard replied, "where are the guys that did it? We've been combing the gardens and there's no sign of any invaders anywhere. That's what's not right! Did they just kill the guards at the gate and then left?"

"No, I'm right here."

The two guards turned but were slashed in half before they were completely turned.

"Stay close, but don't be seen." Link told his children.

They nodded and hid in the nearby bushes as Link rushed to a nearby group of soldiers.

Bodies were scattered everywhere when the children reached the gate. Link had pinned a sheikah against the wall and held the Kokiri sword against his troath.

"Where are the dungeon cells?" Link's voice seemed like a demon's 'cause of the helmet.

"I will never tell you a thing," the sheikah hissed.

Link lowered the sword and cut the arm of the sheikah. He howled in pain.

"Guess I struck a nerve," Link calmly replied, "again, where are the dungeon cells?"

"I know nothing!"

"Tell me and I'll kill you quickly," Link cut the sheikah again in the leg this time, "say nothing and I'll kill you slowly."

"I told you, I know nothing of a dungeon cell," the sheikah seemed to cry as his mask became wet, "there are no dungeon cells."

"What about Zelda's quarters? Does she have any secret rooms?"

"She has a training room at the bottom of the tower," the sheikah confessed, "but that's just to exercise."

"Oh really? And who's allowed in there?"

"Only she is, and her personal bodyguard, the Hero of Time."

"My dark counterpart," Link hissed and snapped the neck of the Sheikah.

He turned to face his children and thought for a moment.

"Follow me," he told them when he seemed to have reached a conclusion.

At the foot of the main tower, a large staircase welcomed them. Between the stairs leading upwards, two steel doors were to be seen. Link pulled the doors from their hinges and was about to go down the stairs when he suddenly stopped and look upwards.

"You go down there and rescue your mother," he told his children before he looked upwards again, "I'm going to deal with Zelda."

His kids nodded, readied their weapons and ran down the dark stairway. Link unsheathed his sword and mounted the stairs.

Slowly they crept through the dark corridors that were underneath Hyrule Castletower. Mikau, who was upfront suddenly motioned them to stay near the wall in the shadows. Two guards could be seen chatting at a wooden door, lighted by a nearby torch.

"What do we do now?" Darmani whispered, "dad told us not to kill anyone. How do we get past them?"

Mikau looked at the guards and thought, and then turned to his twinbrother with a broad smile.

"Dekaru," they said at the same time.

"Did you hear that?" one of the guards said as he turned his head to the entrance.

"What?" his comrade in arms asked as he readied his halberd.

They were given instructions to be vigilante, and surprisingly, the closer they worked to Zelda, the more vigilante they were, since disobedience seemed to go along with disappearance and screams in the night in the dark cellars of the tower.

"I don't know, like something ticked or some-AAUGH!"

The guard screamed and covered his eye, dropping his weapon doing so.

"What is it?"

"Something shot me in my eye!" the guard yelled, "I don't know what… what the hell is that?"

Dekaru shot forward out of the shadows and knocked the halberd out of the hands of the remaining guard with his deku stick. He brought up the deku stick hard on the man's chin and knocked him out. He turned quickly to the guard he had shot with his slingshot who was searching for his weapon. Just as he was about to grab it, two weights jumped on his back.

"Hit him!" he heard shouting and saw the deku stick nearing at high speed.

Darmani and Mikau stayed on the guard a little while until they were certain he wouldn't get up again.

"We got him." Darmani said as a sign he would stay down.

"What do you mean, "we"?," Dekaru held his stick near his older brother, "I did all the work."

"Don't fret," Darmani pushed the stick aside, "we don't have time for this. Besides, it was me and Mikau that came up with the idea."

"Please boys," Malon sighed and walked towards the door, "we have a job to do, so let's continue, okay? We can start arguments later."

She lifted the handle of the door, and it broke in half. Malon jumped back and drew her sword as she peered into the darkness that laid behind the doorway. Slowly the huge axe that had crushed the door raised and an Iron Knuckle stepped forward.

"Is there something in it?" Malon asked calmly.

"No," Darmani seemed to remember, "I think dad said they were just empty armours, powered by magic."

"Good," she nodded and dashed forward.

She dove underneath the huge blade and drove her sword deep in the creatures knee. Darmani and Mikau jumped up and slashed it's elbows while Dekaru stepped on the huge axe and jumped up to attack the helmet. The monster tried to shield himself of these unexpected attacks but moved to slow. Blow after blow was delivered on the living armour until it fell to pieces on the floor. Inside the armour was what at first glance seemed a skeleton. After a second glance, the children could see what happened to guards who were disobedient.

"He…he's still alive…" Dekaru stammered.

"Fuck." Mikau whispered.

"I don't think dad would approve of your language," Darmani responded without taking his eyes of the thing that was once a man, "but I think that pretty sums up the situation."

"What do we do?" Dekaru asked.

Darmani looked at his younger brother and saw he was close to crying. He had never know his youngest brother to cry.

"I don't know," he said as his gaze was drawn back to the Iron Knuckle armour, "dad told us not to kill anyone, but…"

Malon stepped forward and let her sword come down. The man seemed to whisper "thank you" as he died, his eyes filled with joy.

"This wasn't killing him," she said as she looked at the blood on her sword, "this was setting him free."

"I know," Mikau laid his hand on her shoulder, "I would have done it if you hadn't."

"We all would," Dekaru said, barely loud enough for the others to hear, but they had, and they all knew it was true.

The rest of the dungeon seemed empty, although some rooms weren't. They were just deprived of life.

Dekaru turned around and puked.

"This is monstrous," Mikau shook his head and tried to look away at what was once a complete human being, "how can anyone do this to someone."

"Are you okay?" Darmani asked Dekaru.

"I'm fine," the boy nodded and glanced to his older brother, "I'm just sorry. I try to be strong like you, but…"

"Don't be," Darmani laid his hand on Dekaru's shoulder, "be strong like yourself. Besides, I puked my guts out the first cell we opened."

"Guys, new plan," Malon drew her sword, "forget what dad said. After what we've seen here, kill anything."

"Works for me," Mikau growled.

The two sheikah who were standing guard knew better than to question Zelda, so they guarded the cell without a second thought. They seemed oblivious to the terror that surrounded them, and maybe they simply blocked it out in order to function normally. Maybe it was due to this blocking that they didn't notice anyone coming closer until it was too late. Two arrows protruded their chests as they fell on the floor.

"What do you think is in there?" Darmani motioned towards the door.

"Only one way to find out," Mikau said as he cautiously lifted the handle, and jumped back.

They had already encountered too many Iron Knuckles guarding doors not to be careful.

The door swung open gently and revealed a small corridor with two other doors visible. The four children slowly crept to one side and kicked the door in, their bows ready. The room was empty, safe from heavy iron shackles on the wall and a small cabinet.

"This looks like the Gravediggers," Mikau said as he picked up a mask from the cabinet.

"This must be where Zelda tortured him," Malon frowned and suddenly her eyes grew wide, "the other door!"

The children kicked in the other door and somebody could be seen hanging on the wall in the dim candle light.

"Mom?" Malon asked as she slowly advanced.

The prisoner looked slowly up and jerked her face away.

"Don't look!" she shouted, "don't look at Romani! You're not real! You're hers, aren't you?"

"Mom," Dekaru ran forward past his sister, "it's really us. We're here to rescue you."

"Stay back!" Romani spat and hung her head.

"Never look at Romani again, not anymore."

"We're here to save-" Malon stopped as she saw why her mother didn't want them to see her.

A large vertical slash ran over the black hole where her left eye used to be.

"Dekaru, get one of those masks of the Gravedigger," she said, "Mikau, Darmani, help me get those shackles loose."

After some effort, they were able to unchain Romani who almost crashed on the floor.

"Don't worry, mom," Dekaru told her, "we have a fairy for you that will heal you up."

Romani didn't answer but clenched her fist around a loose chain.

"Uhm, Mikau," Darmani whispered to his brother, "do you think it's possible that she's brainwashed, like the Gravedigger was?"

"I don't want to think about that," his twin replied, his eyes also fixed on the chain.

Romani glanced at them menacingly at their remarks, causing them both to gulp, and shot forward to the door, bringing the chain down on the sheikah that was entering. She grabbed the face of the second sheikah and drove it deep into the wall. Romani fell down again, now her adrenalin rush had ended and was unable to move when the third sheikah came in.

"Nice try, bitch," he laughed, seemingly uncaring about his two dead companions, "too bad there was one more of us."

"And four more of us," Mikau grinned before the children let their arrows go.

"Dekaru, give mom a fairy," Darmani ordered, "Mikau, Malon, you two check the corridor for more sheikah. I'll bring mom along if the fairy doesn't work."

Dekaru released the fairy and slowly Romani opened her eye. She stood up and took the Gravediggers mask from Dekaru. She looked at it for a second and tore it up to make an eyepatch.

"Sheikah," she spat, "Romani hates them. Romani will kill Zelda."

Suddenly she seemed to realize she was free and looked around. Tears welled up in her eye as she finally recognised her children and she fell to her knees to hug them.

"Mikau, Darmani, Malon, little Dekaru, you're safe," she cried, "Romani is so happy. We'll go away and never come back, except Romani to kill Zelda."

"You don't have to," Mikau smiled, "dad's on his way to kill her."

"Grasshopper?" she asked, "he's here? We must help him."

"We will," Darmani assured her, "but, uhm, you're eye…"

"Zelda's work." Romani spat.

"No, I mean… why… why didn't it heal? The fairy should have…"

"Old injury," Romani grinned without humour, "fairies only heal new wounds. But now we go and kill Zelda."

Romani picked up a scimitar from one of the fallen sheikah and stepped outside. Quickly they ran to the exit of the dungeon but stopped at the last door. Their passage way was blocked by several sheikah who didn't seem to let them true.

"You're lucky you got out," their captain said, "but that's far enough. Now come with us peacefully. I know queen Zelda would hate it if something happened to you."

"Romani will fight to the death," she spat as she raised her scimitar.

"That won't be so hard," the sheikah captain laughed, "you're outnumbered twelve to five."

He suddenly felt a gush of wind pass behind him and a bone crushing sound. Before he had a chance to act, the two sheikah on either side of him jerked forward and fell to the floor, a white arrow deep in their skull.

"Even odds, motherfucker, eight against eight."

We're dead, the captain thought, I know it, we've done this thing before. Attack the ones facing away from you, the ones that are facing you will be killed by the other group. Right after the splitsecond in which he thought this, Romani slashed her scimitar and his upper body fell to the floor, shortly followed by the rest.

"Romani remembers Goro," she said after the short, one sided skirmish, looking at the large Goron, resting his hammer on his shoulder, "but Romani doesn't remember the two Zora's."

"Link and Mikau," Mikau-Zora said, "at your service. We thought Link might need some help against the bitch of evil, so here we are."

"That's very kind of you," she bowed her head as sign of gratitude, "but unnecessary. Grasshopper doesn't need help, nor does Romani. But you may escort the children outside."

"But, mom?"

"No arguments, Darmani, you go outside and stay outside. This is between Grasshopper, Romani and Zelda. You stay as far away as possible."

"Fine," the children sighed, "but we just want to help."

"Actually," Romani said as she took the Zora bow off of Link, "there might be something you could do…"

Dekaru stopped on last time to watch his mother run up the stairs and then turned when Mikau-Zora nudged him.

"Come on, little dude, we gotta go and get that stuff."

Quickly they ran to catch up with the others.

"And don't get me wrong," the Zora started, "but you're mom… well, that third person shit, what's that about? And that grasshopper stuff? She's not a nutjob now, is she? No offence!" he added.

"I heard the others say that she used to do that when she was nervous, she referred to herself in the third person, and she used to call my dad Grasshopper. But I don't think it's because she's insane. I think it's because it was the only thing she could do to remain sane."

"Becoming a little crazy to remain sane," Mikau-Zora shook his head, "too bad that Gravedigger motherfucker didn't think of that."

"Guess he had nothing to live for." Dekaru answered.

"Hope your parents have nothing to die for." Mikau-Zora responded.

Dekaru frowned at this, until he realised what it meant.

AN: Well, that brings Romani back. The only question remaining is how Link and Zelda will react to this. You'll know next chapter, the final showdown…