Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction ❯ Back In Her Hands ❯ The Remainder ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Back In Her Hands
a Legend of Zelda romance fic
Chapter 5: The Remainder
8-23-2004
by Grey

Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series or any of its characters; Nintendo and the series' creator Shigeru Miyamoto do. So don't sue me or anything.

This fic is dedicated to CubedCinder128, for what I hope are obvious reasons.

******

Link's eyes slowly fluttered open as he let out a loud yawn. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so peacefully and comfortably. As his vision slowly came into focus, the most likely reason why could be seen right in front of him.

There was Zelda, laying down next to him, still sleeping soundly. She still had one arm lazily wrapped around Link, holding him close. And Link was still so close that Zelda's long, flowing locks of golden-blond hair were tickling his face, and he could feel gusts of air as she breathed in and out. Link also noticed that she was smiling, and that her eyes were moving rapidly underneath her closed eyelids. Link knew that meant she was dreaming. He briefly wondered if she could be possibly dreaming of... him.

For a while, Link simply laid awake in Zelda's sleeping bag, admiring her impossibly beautiful face and basking in the comfortable warmth of Zelda's body. Too warm, in fact; even with only his undershirt and leggings on, he was beginning to feel sweaty.

At length, though, Link decided it would be best for him to get up. He tried to get out of the sleeping bag, but found himself held securely in place by Zelda's arm. *Heh, guess she really doesn't want me to go, if even in her sleep she's hanging on to me,* Link thought to himself coyly. He carefully reached around to remove her hand, but as he was doing so, Zelda suddenly rolled over, right onto Link.

"What the... WHUMPH!!" Link exclaimed as Zelda rolled over onto him. *GAAHHH! She's even heavier than she looks!!* he though dejectedly as Zelda's oppressive weight pressed down against him painfully. Fortunately, Link was still able to move his arms. Positioning them so that he'd have enough leverage, he pushed upward with all his strength in an attempt to get Zelda off of him. Luckily for him, it worked, and Zelda's body rolled back into its previous position. And she was still sleeping peacefully, unaware that she had just put her boyfriend through a world of hurt.

"Ouch, that hurt," Link said to no one in particular. He stood up and flexed his body, trying to fight off the numbness and pain. He stared down at the sleeping princess again, and thought, *I hope we can find a cure for her soon. I sure don't wanna go through that again!*

"Oh, how I wish I had brought a pictograph. That was priceless," came a voice from behind him. Link instinctively reached for his sword and shield, but then he remembered how Zelda had removed them last night. But despite his grogginess, he recognized soon enough who's voice it was.

"Good morning to you too, Impa," he said brusquely as he turned around to face the snickering Shiekah. Needless to say, he was quite embarassed about Impa having seen him in that situation.

"And I see you've decided to dress lightly too," continued Impa in a teasing, yet slightly disapproving, tone.

Link realized just what she was talking about. "Hey, Zelda took off my tunic, not me!!" he cried defensively.

"SHHH!!!" hissed Impa quickly, putting a finger to her mouth. "You'll wake Zelda up."

"Huh, what's wrong with that?" asked Link. "And why are you here anyway?"

"Something I don't want Zelda to know about," replied Impa in a whisper. "Something terrible has happened, and I have a feeling I'll need your help."

"What is it? And why do you want to keep it from Zelda so badly?" asked Link.

"Because she's got enough problems on her mind right now, and I don't want to add to her worries. Look, I'll fill you in after we've left," said Impa. She then took out a roll of parchment, unrolled it, and set it beside Zelda. "I'll leave this not for her, saying that you were needed elsewhere. It only partly the truth, and I hate deceiving her like this, but given her situation, I think it's for the best."

Link only nodded, not liking the idea of lying to Zelda either. But right now, he was more concerned about whatever had spooked Impa. Something really bad must've happened if she thought she'd need his help so badly.

And so, without any further questions, Link got dressed, geared up and followed Impa out of the Forest Temple, uncertain of what to expect....

******

"And so, that the situation. Something's happened near Kakariko Village, and Impa's asked me to go there for a while and look over the place," explained Saria to her fellow Kokiri. She had gathered them all together to let them know she would be leaving the forest for a while. Even though the power of a Sage let her safely leave the forest, she rarely ventured outward, feeling duty-bound as guardian of the forest and unofficial leader of the Kokiri (a position that had been levied on her because of her status as a Sage) . But on occasions like this, it was something she had to do.

"What exactly happened out there?" asked one of the girl Kokiri.

"Yeah, and why do you have to go? Why couldn't Impa have asked one of the other Sages?" asked one of the boy Kokiri.

"Look, I'm not at liberty to discuss it, OK? And I don't know why Impa has asked me," said Saria, answering their questions. Although Saria had a hunch why Impa asked her; because Impa had had to come here to fetch Link anyway. It was a simple matter of expedience.

*But I'm no warrior,* Saria thought to herself. *Nabooru or Darunia would've been better choices, in case whoever was responsible comes to the village.* But Saria forced down those doubtful thoughts; a fellow Sage had asked her for her help, and she was obligated to give it.

"Listen, I really need to get going. I should be back by sundown," she told her people. "Oh, and just a reminder: NO ONE is to go into the Forest Temple under ANY circumstances. Until I say so, the temple is still off-limits. Got that?" All the Kokiri reluctantly nodded in approval. Satisfied, Saria turned and exited the Kokiri Village, heading for Hyrule Field.

"I'm tellin' ya, somethin' is up," said one of the Kokiri once Saria had left. All the other Kokiri turned to see who had spoken up. It was Mido.

"What are you talking about?" asked of the girl Kokiri.

"That something really stinks," came Mido's angry reply. "Just think about it... it all started yesterday. First, we hear stories about how Princess Zelda is sick and left the castle. Next, Saria tells us the Forest Temple is off-limits. And now, something's happened around Kakariko Village. I'm tellin' you all that somethin' really fishy is goin' on around here!"

"Well, maybe you're right," said the female Kokiri again. "But there's really nothing we can do."

"So we just sit by and do nothing?!" exclaimed Mido.

"We can't go to Kakariko Village. Saria's the only one who can leave this forest safely."

"But we can still check out what's in the Forest Temple. There's something wrong about it, I can tell," replied Mido.

"NO WAY!!!" shot back the Kokiri girl. "Saria must have had a good reason for telling us not to go in there. And besides, if something is wrong, the Sages should be able to fix it, especially now that Link's back...."

"Oh yeah, him," said Mido dejectly.

"You don't still hate him, do you?!" snapped one of the Kokiri boys.

"What?! NO!!" shouted Mido defensively. "I spent over seven years regretting what I did to him!"

"You didn't seem thrilled when he showed up the other day. You couldn't even believe it was actually him."

"Because I still thought he was one of us! How were we supposed to know he was a Hylian all along?! None of you recognized him either!" shouted Mido.

"Look Mido, the rest of us have stuff we need to do," spat the Kokiri girl who had been arguing with him before. "If you want to go to the temple, go right ahead. Just don't expect any of us to come with you."

And with that, the Kokiri went off to attend their daily routines. All except Mido, who just stood there, thinking about what to do next.

******

After leaving the Forest Temple, Limk had followed Impa in silence. First, they had worked their way through the Lost Woods to the shortcut to the Goron City. They quickly left the city after that and headed down the Death Mountain Trail. Once they came to the entrance to Dodongo's Cavern, however, Impa held up her hand, signalling for Link to stop.

"Huh, why are we stopping here?" asked Link, clearly confused.

"Our destination lies through there," replied Impa. "Now listen carefully. As you know, Ganondorf had designs to conquer the whole world, not just Hyrule. To do that, he would have needed ways to move his armies quickly outside of Hyrule. One such means was having mountain pathways dug in these northern mountains as one easy route out of Hyrule. Through these caverns is that path."

"OK, yeah, I can understand that," said Link. "But I still don't see what..."

"Ever since you and Zelda beat Ganondorf, the people of Hyrule have been using those paths as trade routes instead," Impa said, cutting him off. "Since Hyrule is sort of landlocked, we've been taking advantage of them.

"But a trade caravan was supposed to make it back last night, and it didn't show up. Someone went to look for them, and came back saying.... they were all dead."

"All dead?!" repeated Link. "But how?"

"The man came back hysterical, saying they all had been sliced apart," explained Impa. "And I have a bad feeling about this, and since you're back, I thought it would be best to have you check it out. I hate to ask this of you so soon after coming home, but..."

"Don't be," said Link. "If there's trouble, I'm not gonna sit by and do nothing. C'mon, let's go."

And so, the two entered Dodongo's Cavern. Link looked around, wondering just where the tunnels and pathways Ganondorf's minions had dug were located. Impa's voice snapped him out of his thoughts when she asked, "So, I forgot to ask, how is the Princess?"

"Huh, oh, she's as good as can be expected, given the circumstances," Link answered uneasily. "But she's afraid she'll hurt people on accident because of her size and strength."

"I see," said Impa. "Once this mystery is solved, we can focus on her dilemma. OK, we're out of here."

Link, who had simply been following Impa and hadn't really been paying attention, suddenly realized that he could see daylight. "OK, this must be it, since I don't remember this exit being here last time," said Link as his eyes adjusted to the light. "So, this leads to the mountain route Hyrule's been using. How much further until... well..."

"The man said that it was very near the northern exit of Dodongo's Cavern," replied Impa.

Minutes later, Link could see the faint outline of a wagon. "OK, I guess that's it," he said, taking out his Great Fairy Sword and Mirror Shield and running up to the abondoned wagon. Sure enough, all around were dead bodies that had obviously been stabbed and slashed several times. Even the horse had been mutilated. "Ugh," muttered Link as he surveyed the horrific scene. "You were right to call on me for this, Impa. This has trouble written all over it."

"I'll say," said Impa morbidly. "One things for sure: these wounds were not caused by any wild animal or beast. Cuts like this had to have been caused by some sort of blade."

"And I think I know what kind," said Link as he reached down to pick up something. It was a glaive - the same type of weapon used by most of the Gerudo women.

"Oh no. Could the Gerudo have been behind this?!" exclaimed Impa, not wanting to believe it.

"I don't think so. The Gerudo tribe is a bit on the amoral side, sure, but they're not bloodthristy. They're not like Ganondorf was," said Link. "Attacking under the cover of night is their MO, but they wouldn't kill like this."

"How do you know all this?" asked Impa dubiously.

Link just shrugged and said, "Because, officially, I've been accepted as one of them."

"So, are you saying that someone tried to frame the Gerudo to throw us off the track?" asked Impa.

"Probably. The Gerudo would make perfect fall guys, being thieves and all." Link paused to get a better look around the caravan. "Hmm, I wonder..." he muttered to himself as he fished out the Lens of Truth. "I once heard that the Lens of Truth could be used to pick up faint traces of footprints, even after they've been cleared away." Looking through the lens, he indeed did find traces of cleared-away footprints, and they were in the shape of....

"Oh no, this is not good!" cried Link, instantly recognizing the shape of the footprints.

"What is it now?!" shouted a frustrated Impa.

"I think these are Moblin footprints," said Link solemnly.

"You... you mean, bits of Ganondorf's army are still around?!" stammered Impa.

"Uh-huh," muttered Link gravely. "Looks like after months of lying low, they've decided to come out and cause trouble again."

"Oh, what a lovely way to start the morning," said Impa sarcastically.

"Look Impa, I'm going to look into this further. I'll follow the footprints and see if I can find where they're hiding. They lead away from Dodongo's Cavern, so I'd say the rest of Hyrule is OK for now. You head back and...."

"No," said Impa, cutting him off. "I won't allow you to do this alone. We have no idea how much of Ganondorf's forces remain, and even you are not invincible."

"Look Impa, I appreciate your concern," said Link in a frustrated tone, "but I've faced these creatures before and know how to handle them. And I pulled it off on my own...."

"You fought alone because you had to," snapped Impa, cutting him off again. "This time you don't have to, and it would be foolish to not accept a little backup."

Link looked into Impa's eyes, and saw that there's was no way she was going to be dissuaded. "Fine, let's go," said Link. Then he added, "Y'know, now I can see where Zelda got her stubbornness and determination from."

"Zelda," muttered Impa sadly. "Hopefully, we can get back to her before she suspects anything...."

******

Princess Zelda slowly sat up in her sleeping bag, letting out a violent yawn. She felt refreshed and rejuvenated, and it surprised her that she slept so well considering what she was going through. Zelda realized she owed it to Link, and how he had spent the whole night with her. In fact, she had had no more mightmares, only pleasant dreams involving her beloved Link.

*Link...* she thought dreamily as she looked down, expecting to find him still lying there. But he wasn't in her sleeping bag anymore. Zelda looked around the room, but Lnik was nowhere to be seen. "Huh? Link, where are you?"

Then she saw something odd out the corner of her eye, something lying on the sleeping bag where Link should have been. She looked down and saw what looked like a rolled-up piece of parchment. Curious, she picked it up and unraveled it. Zelda saw that it was clearly Impa's handwriting, but it looked very small to her and she had to squint to make it out.


Dear Princess,
A situation has come up in which Link's assistance was necessary. A trade caravan due back in Kakariko Village did not arrive last night, and I thought Link, with his skills, could help speed up the search. Please don't worry, as I'm sure Link will be able to take care of it.

Impa


Zelda just stared at the letter for a minute. *A missing trade caravan?* thought Zelda, her curiosity aroused. *Well, I'm sure Link will be able to get to the bottom of it, but why was it necessary to get him? It doesn't sound that serious. Maybe there's more than Impa is letting on....*

But Zelda quickly dismissed that thought. *No. Impa wouldn't keep things from me like that.*

Tossing the letter aside, Zelda laid back down in her sleeping bag. She hadn't even been awake for five minutes and she was already feeling lonely, longing for Link to return. *I'm sure Impa had a good reason to ask for Link's help,* she thought to herself as she tried to relax. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong....

******

Link and Impa silently walked through the narrow, artifically-dug gorge for almost an hour, but so far, they hadn't found anything. No signs of bloodthristy monsters or anything.

"This is ridiculous," spat Impa. "We should have found something by now."

"I know," answered Link, clearly disappointed. By now, the Lens of Truth wasn't picking up traces of footprints anymore, making his task all the more difficult. "But we've come too far to go back empty-handed...."

Link stopped suddenly. Something didn't feel right. It almost felt as if he and Impa were being watched. After having saved the world twice, Link had come to develop instincts about certain things, and his instincts were almost always on the money.

And this time was no exception.

Link could hear the approaching sound of something running along the mountainous surface, and then making a leap down into the gorge. But Link was ready. Putting away his sword and shield and taking out his bow, he looked upward and shot off a powered-up ice arrow, hitting the approaching creature dead-on and freezing it solid. A second later it crashed onto the ground and shattered to pieces, but Link caught a glimpse of it before it did. He could easily make out its shape: it was a Lizalfos.

Link then heard even more Lizalfoses approaching their position from all sides. "Heads up Impa! We got company!" cried Link as he took out his shield and sword again. A Lizalfos landed a few feet in front of him, and then it lunged with its blade. Link easily backflipped out of harm's way, and then retaliated with a jumping slash, knocking out the Lizalfos with one hit.

He could hear two more approaching from behind, so he held out his sword and let it build up magic power. Once he could sense that they had gotten close enough, he cut loose with his trademark charge spin attack, knocking both of them back a good distance. Before they could recover, Link rushed toward the closer one and, with one broad slash of his Great Fairy Sword, sliced it in half. Link turned around to face the last one, which was eyeing him nervously.

With a mischievious grin on his face, Link reached into his bomb bag with his right hand and pulled out a lit bomb. "Here, hold this," he said mockingly as he tossed the explosive at the Lizalfos, who instinctively caught it. Before it realized its idiotic mistake, the bomb went off, knocking it back into the canyon wall. Link then ran forward and impaled it with his sword, finishing it off for good.

Link looked around to see if there were any more monsters, but all he saw was Impa several feet away, who had just sunk her dagger into a Lizalfos's skull. And near her was the dead body of another Lizalfos, who had been finished off in the same manner. "Finally, some indication we're on the right track!" she cried as the monster slumped lifelessly to the ground.

"I'll say," said Link. "We must be getting close to their hideout if they sent out monsters to ambush us in this gorge."

"And maybe I was wrong, Link. You seem to be able to handle things on your own. Good to see you haven't lost your touch," said Impa with a smile.

"Yeah, well, some things you just never forget how to do, and fighting's one of them," replied Link. "Anyway, let's keep...."

He was cut off by a low rumbling sound. Link and Impa turned back in the direction they had come from to see two Moblins charging toward them, spears at the ready. "Looks like we're not done here," spat Link as he readied him for another battle.

It turned out to be an unnecessary gesture. Link and Impa saw the Moblin on the left get hit in the head by a large rock thrown from behind. They could hear a sickening crack as the rock impacted its head, and the Moblin keeled over, clearly dead. The other Moblin stopped suddenly to look down at its fallen comrade, then looked behind him. A second later, Link and Impa saw the Moblin fall flat on its back, with what looked like a scimitar embedded in its face.

"What the?!" cried both Link and Impa, wondering what the hell had just happened. A few seconds later, they could see two figured approaching them. It was Darunia and Nabooru.

"Huh? What're you two doing here?" asked a confused Link, walking up to the two Sages.

"What, you expected me to miss out on this?!" asked Darunia jovially. "A potential for a grand battle, and you didn't even tell me about it! What kind of a sworn brother are you?!" he added scornfully.

"As for me, I aim to make these slimeballs pay," spoke up Nabooru, reaching down to retrieve her bloodied scimitar from the Moblin's head. "I saw what happened back there. They slaughtered those merchants in cold blood, then tried to pin the blame on my people! I promise you, I won't let them get away with it!"

Link looked over Nabooru and Darunia, and could see they were clearly as devoted to stamping out the remnants of Ganondorf's as he was. "All right then, let's get moving," he told his new companions, and the four continued on their way through the gorge.

******

For over an hour, Zelda had simply laid in her sleeping bag, staring up at the ceiling. She had been trying to relax, but it was no use. Without Link's comforting presence, the gravity of her situation was getting to her. What's more, she couldn't stop thinking about the situation of the missing caravan, no matter how hard she tried. She simply couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong and Impa wasn't telling her.

*Ack, I can't just stay here in bed all day,* Zelda thought to herself. *I should at least get up, look around, do SOMETHING.*

And so, Zelda slowly got up out of her sleeping bag, then took off her nightshirt and got back in her royal dress. Then she headed for the door, which was the room's only exit. Zelda bent down and opened it, then began to squeeze her way through. *This is ridiculous... can't even fit through a door without wedging my way through,* she thought angrily. *I feel like some lumbering orgress.*

Eventually, Zelda made it out to one of the temple's outdoor garden areas. She had to admit that the architecture looked quite beautiful. Saria sure was lucky; most of the other temples looked downright foreboding and gloomy, but her temple was practically a work of art.

Bending down, she looked at her reflection in the water of the small stream flowing through the courtyard. *At least the mask's power didn't charge the way I look,* thought Zelda. *Guess I should be thankful for that. Still, I hope someone finds a way to cure me soon. I can't stand being this big.*

Just then, Zelda heard something burst forth from the ground behind her. She quickly stood up and looked over her shoulder to find that a Big Deku Baba had sprung up directly behind her. To a normal-sized person, it would have looked big, but to Zelda it looked like a normal Deku Baba.

The killer flower arched it head back and prepared to lurch forward and bite Zelda. But Zelda, acting on instinct, spun around, reaching out and grabbing the plant's stem. The strength of her grip caused the stem to snap as if it had been merely a twig, and its head fell to the ground, the life ebbing out of it.

For a moment, Zelda just stared at her handiwork. Big Deku Baba stems could not be considered brittle, yet she had broken one in half with her bare hand. Even a Goron would have a tough time doing that. *By the Goddesses, just how strong am I?!* she thought morosely. She didn't take any pleasure at all in having such strength and power; it only served to depress her even more.

******

Mido had spent almost two hours trying to decide whether or not to investigate the Forest Temple, but in the end, his curiosity got the better of him.

"Something's wrong, I just know it," he muttered to himself as he climbed the rope ladder left by the temple's entrance. But to Mido, this was more than finding out what was going on in the temple: it was also proving to himself he could be as brave as Link.

*It still tears at me how I couldn't do anything to help Saria, how no one could help her until he came along,* he thought to himself as he entered the temple. *I don't hate him or anything, but.... ack, we can't always rely on him when something goes wrong. If something funny is going on here, I need to know.*

But so far, nothing looked amiss. He passed through the front courtyard and the adjoining hallway with no trouble; no monsters, no traps, nothing. And it was the same when Mido stepped into the temple's main chamber. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

"So far, so good," thought Mido aloud. "Guess I'll have to look around to see what's up."

Opening the door at the northeast corner, he walked through the hallway that led to the northeast courtyard. Mido walked around the courtyard and took a good look, searching for anything out of the ordinary. But nothing seemed out of place here either. "Hmmm, nothing down on the first floor seems funny. Maybe it's something on the upper levels," he muttered.

However, Mido decided to check out the northwest courtyard before heading to the upper levels. As he entered the courtyard, all looked well at first. But as he looked around, he finally noticed something that shouldn't have been there: a blonde-haired woman in a pink dress was kneeling by the stream, apparently looking at her reflection in the water.

*Is that... the princess?* She did look an awful lot like how Saria had always described her. *But Saria said she was sick! What's she doing here?*

As Mido inched forward for a closer look, he noticed something didn't look right. Was it him, or did she look a little bigger than a normal Hylian woman was supposed to be? Mido shook his head violently, then rubbed his eyes, but when he looked at her again, it still looked as if she was bigger than a normal Hylian.

Then, all of a sudden, a Deku Baba came out of the ground, right behind Zelda. *No, wait, that's one of the BIG Deku Babas, I'm sure of it!! But, it looks so tiny comapred to her...* It was now clear that Zelda was indeed way bigger than she was supposed to be. *So she didn't get sick, she became a giant, and was hiding out here! But how the hell did she....*

Mido didn't get a chance to finish his thought before Zelda lashed out and snapped the stem of the Deku Baba as if it were a twig. And Mido knew very well about how durable the stems of Big Deku Babas were. *Oh Goddesses... I've gotta get out of here!!* he thought panickly as he slowly backed up.

Mido then heard a twig snap under his foot. Zelda suddenly turned in his direction, spotting him. *Uh-oh,* thought Mido morbidly as he turned and ran. *OK, now that I know what's goin' on here, I think it's time for me to leave!* he thought as he dashed through the hallway and back into the main room. As he ran, he turned to look behind him to make sure she wasn't following him. *Good, she's not following. Then again, she couldn't really fit through the.... OWWWW!!!!*

Since he was looking behind him, he couldn't see where he was going, and ended up slamming into something painfully solid and fell down. Mido opened his eyes and looked up, only to see a VERY tall princess looking down at him.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!" he screamed as he crawled backward, trying to put as much distance between him and the giantess as possible. "Pl-please, d-don't hurt me..." he stuttered, scared out of his mind.

Zelda slowly took a step forward. "Listen, I'm not going to hurt you. Please, don't be afraid," she said softly, trying to calm the frightened Kokiri down.

"W-Wha, w-what are...." stuttered Mido, trying to think coherently. "A-are you the p-p-princess?" Zelda simply nodded. "W-w-what happened to you?!!"

Zelda turned her gaze away for a moment. "Long story," she said quickly. "Let's just say I'm stuck like this, and Saria let me hide here until someone can help me." She then turned to look at Mido again, and saw his facial expression was still one of terror. "Look, there's no reason to be afraid of me. I know I must look really scary, but you have to believe me when I say I don't want to hurt anyone."

Her words seemed to assauge Mido's fears a little, but he still looked like he expected Zelda to attack at any second. "C-Can, can I go?" he asked nervously as he stood up.

"Only if you promise not to tell anyone about me," replied Zelda, squatting down to get a better look at him.

"Don't worry. I don't think anyone would believe me anyway!" cried Mido. HIs words, however, had an unexpected effect; Zelda bent her head down, and started to cry.

"Huh? Did I say something wrong?" asked Mido, perplexed.

Zelda lifted her head to look at him again. "No, it's just that, well, I've been afraid of how other people will think of me. That they'd be afraid of me and think of me as a freak. It was painful when I saw how scared you were. That's why I've been hiding."

This made Mido feel extremely guilty. "Oh, I-I'm sorry. I-It's just that I was, um, surprised, that's all," said Mido reassuringly, trying to sound braver than he actually felt.

"Think nothing of it. Your reaction was understandable," said Zelda quickly. "By the way, I didn't catch your name."

"Huh? Oh, it's Mido."

"Mido, huh? I've heard Saria mention you before. Well, Mido, can I ask you something?"

"W-what is it?" asked Mido, still a little nervous.

"It's been rather lonely here. You can go if you want, but, could you possibly stay a while? I could use the company."

Mido was silent for a moment. Being around Zelda was still making him skittish, but he was beginning to trust her. "Well, I guess," he said despite himself, and saw Zelda smile happily. *No wonder Link went to such lengths to save her,* he couldn't help but think as he looked into her large, blue eyes.

******

Link wasn't quite sure how much time had passed after Darunia and Nabooru had joined him and Impa. Judging from how the sun was almost directly overhead though, he guessed it was around noon.

The path they were walking on had shifted from a narrow gorge to a more wide open area with multiple paths. The four of them had gone down several of these paths searching for any more of Ganondorf's monsters, but so far there was no sign of them.

"Hey Link, I'm glad to hear you saw through their trickery right away," spoke up Nabooru suddenly. "It's good to see how right my fellow Gerudo were in accepting you as one of us."

"Uh, thanks," said Link.

"And you should come visit us in our hideout sometime. We've redesigned our training grounds, with even more challenging obstacles and traps. You'd get quite a workout."

"Don't get your hopes up, Nabooru. He'd probably rather spend time with the princess!" jeered Darunia. "I saw how thrilled she was to see him the day he returned!"

"Really? You and the princess?" asked Nabooru curiously. Link just kept facing forward, hoping that that way they wouldn't notice he was blushing.

"You better believe it. They make such a cute couple too, said Impa.

"OH, and how is the princess?" asked Darunia. "I've heard rumors floating around that she's fallen ill. She seemed fine that night I was at the castle."

"I've heard those rumors too. What's the deal, Link?" asked Nabooru.

Link stopped in his tracks. He looked over to Impa for support, but she only stared silently back at him. Turning to face Nabooru and Darunia, he simply said, "That's, uh, classified information."

"Huh? Come on, brother, we won't tell anyone anything!" protested Darunia. "We're Sages, you can trust us!"

"This is not a matter of trust," said Impa. "This is simply...."

Impa's voice suddenly trailed off, and she looked nervously around her. Link could sense something was wrong too, as the hairs on the back of his neck pricked up.

Then he saw it: speeding towards them was the blurred outline of a Wizzrobe, the breed of spellcaster he had faced several times in Termina. Link sheathed his sword and with his left hand pulled out his hookshot, so that way he could hit the spellcaster from a distance and deflect its magic with his shield if need be.

But the Wizzrobe then did something Link never saw its brethren in Termina do. It leapt up high into the air, and as Link looked up, he was blinded by the sun and lost sight of the Wizzrobe. Then he heard what sounded like a crack of thunder.

White-hot pain seared throughout his body, causing him to drop his hookshot and shield and slump to the ground. Before his vision faded, he could see his three companions fall unconscious as well.

******

"AUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

All of a sudden, Zelda felt her entire body explode with extreme pain. It felt as if she had just been struck by lightning. She fell to the floor, her body unceremoniously sprawled out.

Then came something else: she could faintly see the outlines of three people. Zelda instantly recognized them as Impa, Nabooru and Darunia. And they were all writhing in extreme pain as she was.

"Zelda? ZELDA!!"

Zelda could hear Mido's voice ringing in her ears. Using her arms to push herself up, she looked up to see Mido in front of her, a concerned look on his face. "Zelda, what happened?!" he asked worriedly.

"I-I don't know," she stammered, breathing heavily because of the pain. "I was fine, and then it felt I was being electrocuted, and then...."

Then it hit her: she had just sensed what some of her fellow Sages had just gone through. "Oh no, Darunia, Nabooru and Impa! I sensed their pain through the bond we share as Sages! They're in trouble!!"

"Impa's in trouble?!" asked Mido incredulously, who looks as if something had just dawned on him.

"Huh? Mido, I get the feeling you know something I don't," said Zelda in a strained voice.

"Zelda, I think we have a problem," said Mido seriously. "This morning, Impa asked Saria to look over Kakariko Village. She said something bad had happened, and she wanted Saria to stay there while she checked it out. I think Link went with her too."

"Impa left a note saying a trade caravan went missing, but..."

"From the way Saria was talking to us, I'd say whatever happened was more serious than that," said Mido. "Look, I've had a bad feeling all day. That's why I was so obsessed with coming here, because I thought whatever was wrong was in the temple. But it looks like we've got problems elesewhere."

Zelda considered what Mido was saying. She too had had a bad feeling about something ever since she had read Impa's note. Clearly, whatever happened near Kakariko Village was more serious than Impa cared to admit. And now, THREE Sages were in trouble... and possibly Link as well!

And Zelda had a feeling if something was to be done, it was up to her.

"Mido, head back to your village. I'm going to find out what's going on," she told the Kokiri boy as she stood up. Concentrating, she used the magic of Farore's Wind to teleport herself out of the Forest Temple.

******

Sorry I let this hang for over a month. I've been busy with a new job and I've been having some computer trouble. Hopefully I can get the next chapter done quicker.

So long,
Grey