Legend Of Zelda Fan Fiction ❯ The Legend of Link: Lucky Number 13 ❯ The Sheikah Pt. 02: Extinction ( Chapter 27 )

(1) Sepaaru-Ganondorf's daughter-is the mother of the boy. There wasn't a spelling error, confusion of characters, or last minute insertion. No matter how it looks, this is intentional.

(2) I will explain this later.

(3) Yes, Link is still married to Nabooru.

(4) Zelda's whereabouts will be explained as well.

(5) No, Link is not married to Sepaaru.

(6) This goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, Nabooru knows the full extent of this situation. In fact, you may be surprised how she plays a part in that.

(7) Lastly, refer to number two.

Without any further interruptions, I present to you, The Legend of Link: Lucky Number 13.

Chapter Twenty-seven

In all of his power, he doesn't know how to respond to the carnage before him. His child lay stretched out on a stump, dead. Even with the ability to change that, Link could only cry. As easy as it was to find out who exactly did this to him, or even find the obvious party, he couldn't bring himself to do it. It hurt too much. It invaded his defenses too deeply to shrug off. This was a situation that left the once hero a broken man. There was nothing left to do. Being a god didn't exempt him from bad luck, and as he sat there on the ground looking at his child's corpse, it couldn't even protect his children. No. He couldn't protect his children. This was his fault that his son had been killed-his stupid decision to strip his children of their gifts before they became erratic and abusive with them had caused this. A faint breeze swept the child's hair drawing Link's attention.

"You don't really want me as a son, do you?" The child's voice seemed to say from a distance. "It's okay, daddy. I know mommy and me aren't your real family. We're just pretend."

"No!" Link shouted, speaking for the first time in nearly two hours. "I want you… but it's just… complicated."

The boy's eyes were long since dead and shut, but tears escaped each of them.

"I know," the voice replied quietly. "Mommy fought off three big ones!" his son's voice shifted to a tone of excitement and wonder. "But they blinded her with this thing that popped. It got real bright, and then she just fell down."

He shook his head furiously, trying to dismiss his son's ghostly voice, but failed.

"They took the necklace you gave her," the third generation Link said, as his tone turned somber. "I tried to stop them! I really did! But then, one of them threw these thingies and stuck me. It hurt, daddy. It hurt bad. Then it didn't… then I felt light, and then I didn't hurt anymore."

Link looked back at Sepaaru's body, noticing that in fact the silver serpent necklace he bought for her 28th birthday was gone. She'd never once taken it off or allowed anyone to touch it, yet these monsters did. That didn't matter though. His failure had taken precedent for the moment, and nothing appeared to shake that.

"So many failures," he whispered, "my son, my people, my wife… my wife!"

"Nabooru isn't here," young Link seemed to whisper, making his father fall back on his haunches. "She went to the council meeting, remember?" He did, barely. "Sorry I'm a bad warrior, daddy."

Link was at the boy's side in an instant, screaming, "No! You didn't do anything to be sorry about! This is my fault! Mine!"

There wasn't an answer. And for the umpteenth time, he had to realize that there wouldn't be one. Link ran his hand cautiously across his son's back, ruffling his vest up some when a new bit of blood caught his attention. In all honesty, he knew what was there. But still, Link lifted the red material and suppressed a scream that would shatter worlds. The Lens of Truth insignia was carved into his child as well. There was a faint rumble deep within the Earth, startling the horses at the opposite end of the meadow in their stables. Link scooped the boy into his arms, visibly losing all the creases of pain in his face. The tears continued to rain down, only there were no sobs or sniffles to accompany them. He stood to his full height then, before whispering, "I'll kill them all." The child and his father vanished leaving two bloodied throwing daggers on the ground and a thunderclap in the sky.

The representatives from the surrounding lands of Hyrule, and those of Sermonia, were in the process of ending the day's hearings when they appeared. The once mundane green tunic-now a deathly black in color-seemed to move around Link's body like a shadowy skin to the stunned spectators. He cared not, though. Walking to the middle of the floor, he dropped heavily to both knees, and laid his son's body out on the giant crest of the royal family. To his far right: Hyrule's dignitaries, most of whom knew him intimately. To his far left: Sermonia's Royal Council and representatives. Neither side said a word; even Nabooru sat in complete dismay about what this obviously was. Link rolled the child slightly, lifting his vest for Zelda's eyes mainly, and showed her the mark.

"I'm going to ask you one time," he began, voice low and trembling. "Did you send the Shiekah to kill my son and my people?" Link's eyes met the queen's, silently promising to kill her and everyone else in that miserable little country if she had. It unnerved her, but she kept it in check.

"What? No!" she answered truthfully, as her ears had a tendency to turn deep red at the tips when she lied, he begrudgingly remembered. Link's eyes, snow white in color now, moved ever so slightly to Zelda's right, and fixed upon Arthur.

"I may not agree with you from time to time, but I wouldn't kill a child. I'm…" the king's sincere words paused briefly, as the large curtains suddenly snapped shut and left the room in an eerie darkness. Even those who knew Link didn't particularly like where this was headed.

"Save your sorrow," Link's voice said from in the dark somewhere, as a torch sparked with a small pop. "Save your sorrow for the Shiekah." A torch sparked with every word, leaving the room in a hollow orange glow. His footsteps seemed to come from every direction, as did his voice. But those with a keen eye saw the truth; the two glowing points of light that seemingly hovered in the center of the room showed Link's real position.

"Enough with the smoke and mirrors," a new voice called, though, more precise and pinpoint in its position. It was situated at the Sermonian table everyone could easily tell. The aged voice began to chant a magical incantation. For his efforts, one curtain parted and let the sunlight in exposing Link's true position-right next to him. The man named Magi seemed none too worried. "You're no better than Ganondorf was at your age. You learn a few spells and suddenly you're a god."

Link walked back around to the front of the table, suddenly intrigued by the old man's musings.

"I remember when he was one of my brightest students," Magi continued. "Pity how his delusions got the better of him. I can sense the same presence within you. And unlike her father before, I will not allow such a fiend to live and destroy what my king has helped build." In this moment of clarity, Link stopped and listened to the whispers of disbelief and shock floating in the room.

"You're sensing the Triforce of Power," Link said plainly, eyes staring calmly into those of the old mage. "And because of that, my son deserved to die?"

"For these last few years, you've exhibited nothing more than an unstable presence. You put on an air of normality, but in the end you're another two-bit sorcerer with a god complex."

"Answer the question!" The overhanging torches on the chandelier all exploded into towering columns of flames briefly, subsiding in tune with Link's rage.

"Your son was an unfortunate casualty," the mage answered, plucking a strawberry from an adjacent bowl and spinning it in a second dish, which was filled with honey. He popped the strawberry into his mouth before saying, "Sometimes innocent people-women, children, the blind-are sacrificed in the quest for justice."

"And yet, I, the unstable presence, am still alive." Link watched him eat his fruit, pondering the best way to make the old man choke. The idea derailed, as he turned in a small circle, feeling a new presence around him. The air had been definitely disturbed by something, more accurately, some persons.

"They'll say otherwise," Magi countered, as 23 Shiekah warriors emerged from the surrounding shadows. "You'll find the magic that I've bestowed them with is a lot stronger than those childish illusions of my former pupil. I'm sorry it had to end this way."

"It's far from ended," Link said, invading the old man's mind for a brief instant. This visibly surprised the mage, but it didn't change what he felt was right.

The Shiekah surrounded Link, but he all but dismissed them with his unfeeling attitude. Instead, his attention was saved for Impa, who boldly approached him. She stood considerably shorter than he did, though, undaunted by that. Link looked down at her, knowing what she'd do and waited.

"I'm sorry to do this to you," the soft-spoken woman stated, quickly thrusting a short sword into his heart.

It didn't hurt or even register beyond the visible appearance of the hilt sticking out of his chest. Even at her age, Impa appeared no older than 30. Apparently, the same held true of her speed, which was still as quick as a whip. She turned away before Link hit the ground, feeling dishonored by her actions and being forced into such a predicament.

It wouldn't be that easy, though.

The blade had only served to agitate Link's situation. He forcibly grabbed her shoulder, nearly crushing it in his grasp to stop her stride. The other Shiekah quickly prepped to attack as their leader briefly cried out in pain, but suddenly froze in mid-motion by Link's will.

"Impa… How? What did I ever do to you to deserve that?" A spot of sunlight seemed to cut through the roof and shine singularly on his son's corpse, as Link looked back at him. "What did he ever do?" The confusion in his voice was only betrayed by the large hand that he snapped around her neck. Link turned her in his grip until she faced him. Face to face, Impa still held her resolve to not betray her Shiekah code or risk her own child's life.

"Oh, my," Magi began, "that's an impressive little trick."

Call it elderly insight, but the other dignitaries at the table weren't finding that much humor in the situation at hand. The 11 men of various ages looked between themselves and Link. This young man may have been eccentric or a little hotheaded at times, but not enough to warrant violence of any form towards he or his people. Sermonia may have once been a warrior's nation, but that time had passed. This was a new day or, at least, it should've been. And now it sat fit to be ruined.

"Impa, what have you done?" Zelda asked her longtime friend and once nursemaid in disbelief, as she began to smell something familiar: charred flesh. The way Ganondorf smelled when he burned before her left that scent imbedded in the queen's mind. More to the point, the two occasions where Link's skin melted in front of her eyes left an indelible familiarity with the smell.

"I followed… my… my orders," the Sage of Shadow gasped raggedly, as Link's hand became hotter around her throat. "But… but I didn't kill the boy!"

"Who gave the orders?" Link asked, unconsciously tightening his grip because of the run around. His emotional state was too high to use his abilities properly, which made physically strangling the wench more suitable. Despite her physical ailments, Impa remained a rock. She could see the dried tears streaking his face, but she couldn't force herself to answer him.

"Think about it, Link," Nabooru said from across the room, voice trembling with rage and a desire for blood. "Just… calm down and think."

"I know, but I want to hear her say it!" he growled back at his wife.

Impa's eyes grew larger in size, as she knew what Link was expressly trying to get her to do. He'd been let in on the bare essentials of what it was to be Shiekah. The first and deepest of those essentials involved a Code of Loyalty. Under torture, death, or imprisonment a Shiekah was never to reveal who their employer was. Only a few outside of Hyrule knew of them and for whom they worked-the Royal Family of Hyrule-but the Shiekah themselves could never give voice to that fact, lest they be exiled without honor or even killed.

"Still not talking? Then let's try another way."

She could feel something entering her mind, brushing her telepathic barriers aside like mere fallen leaves. Impa was truly afraid. A part of her never believed that Link was a god or it never wanted to. She'd convinced herself that he was slowly going mad from his tenure with the Gerudo, and that Magi's orders were honorable. But now, as he looked into parts of her mind that'd been hidden from herself, she knew it was true. Neither the Triforce nor the Gerudo had driven him insane; Link was simply every word of his claim.

"Interesting," Link mused, dropping Impa suddenly. "So, you fear being the last Shiekah. Not the last Shiekah that everyone knows about, but you fear having all of those of Shiekah blood erased. Interesting…"

There was a sudden out of place smile on his lips to match his calculating tone, but the malevolent look in his lifeless eyes remained. In his journey through the nearly 200-year-old woman's mind, Link had found a few things of interest: One being her fears, another being the reason for her betrayal, and third, something that he didn't feel entirely comfortable with releasing. No matter, he would play with her fears until she crumbled.

"Let's play a game, Impa." Link began to pace, as she rubbed at the burns on her neck at his feet. He leaned against one of her statuesque people and reached over his left shoulder with his left hand. "It's called: 'I'm going to kill a Shiekah for Each Time That You Don't Answer Me.'"

That once holy sword, the Master Sword, appeared to be wielded under the title of vengeance.

"Who gave you the orders?"

"Link…" Impa started.

"No. I didn't tell you to kill my son." His voice was light, even as the Master Sword slid into the stomach of the warrior to his right. Darunia leaned back in his chair, Ruto screamed before passing out, and Zelda just looked on in horror. No one bothered to dispute this outright murder, but they all hoped Impa would speak up soon. "22 to go… Who gave you the orders?" asked Link, moving on to the next Shiekah, whose eyes pleaded desperately with Impa.

"How could you?" she asked.

"Wrong." This time Link placed the sword under the man's neck, right between the facial wrap and his white collar. "Thanks for playing our game."

The sword slashed his throat, belching a crimson wave across the chessboard-patterned floor, and adding another body to the ranks of the dead. The carnage wouldn't end soon it appeared. But, more frightening than that, was the fact that Link seemed calm. Even as the man's lungs pumped air through his violated air way, producing a low gurgling sound, Link merely smiled and moved on.

"Who gave you the orders?" he repeated coolly, as though two people hadn't just died by his hand.

"Please…" Impa begged.

"Wrong," Link said, placing his right hand around another Shiekah's neck. "Sure that's the answer, Impa?" The proud warrior didn't respond. This Shiekah, a woman, screamed as her neck snapped. It sounded like a piece of timber being split into firewood. Nonetheless, her body crumpled to the floor, dead. "Who gave you the orders?" Link asked in the same nonchalant voice, sweeping her corpse from his feet to make a path to the next in line.

Impa's stoic façade was shattered, as she noticed her people's eyes were still their own to move. They all begged her to tell him, but she didn't… she couldn't. There were no exceptions to the rules, not even for the leader! No exceptions, Impa repeated hollowly within her mind.

"Fine," Link said with an impassive shrug, massaging the next warrior's right arm as though feeling for ripeness.

This Shiekah, another male, screamed violently as Link tore the arm from its socket. He smiled slowly, removing his will from the screaming man and dropped the poor fool's blood-spurting appendage in front of him before moving on to new prey. Zelda screamed as the blood spewed from the Shiekah's body and splattered her ex-boyfriend. Slowly clawing at the floor sticky with his own blood, Zelda shielded her eyes as the warrior pined, screamed, and twitched to escape death. Alas, his efforts were in vain, because he still dripped his last ounce of lifeblood onto her floor and died clutching his mangled arm.

"Who gave you the orders?" Link asked with a benign patience that seemed to be endless, watching as the blood only rolled off of him and never stuck… it never stuck.

"Damn you! God or no god, damn you!" Impa screamed, watching the last of the young man's life drain out through where his arm once was.

"Impa, please tell him!" Zelda commanded more than asked.

"I can do this all day," Link added as incentive. "Honestly, I can drag this out over the course of days … weeks … months, and if you don't answer me, I may drag it out over the course of the next 10 years!" The shock of his voice made the windows shake, as did the tables, but the results were the same.

Impa couldn't say no, so she just shook her head and stared at the floor.

The next hour would be filled with nothing but the screams of 17 men and women dying in the most horrific of pains. He had bent some of their arms into such positions that the pain, the literal agony, had driven them over the edge of insanity and they'd killed themselves. Some gnawed their tongues off and bled to death, while others endured their torment only to have their spines ripped out. There was an underlined fear towards Link emanating off of everyone. But, unfortunately, Impa's fear of her code seemed to scare her more than the thought of a solitary existence. So, after the melee had ended, only two more Shiekah remained standing, minus Impa.

One of the two stood about eye-level with Link, and it didn't escape the god's eyes or ears that each time he neared the man Impa's heartbeat increased three or four times over. The other would die eventually-probably after he'd finished tormenting her. Nabooru watched her husband in a new light or one that she hadn't seen in a while. He'd grown to be so gentle those past few years, almost as though he could never do these types of things again. But now, she truly realized that this was something that he'd never outlive or outgrow. This was something that would lie dormant inside of him until he was pushed too far. The Queen of the Gerudo was even beginning to wonder if this was becoming less about revenge and more about general bloodlust, as Link seemed to smile a little too much during the proceedings.

"My, my, my-I'm running out of bodies." People openly shuddered at the velvety bass in his laugh, which didn't dissuade or change anything. "So, tell me, who gave you the orders?"

He could see the sheen of sweat on Impa thicken as the blade traced around the man's neck. The pool of blood at his feet made light splats, indicating just how real and how messy this was. Impa herself had to inch closer to young Link's corpse to avoid having any of it touch her, but that wasn't important now. "Time to say…" he paused sensing what was to come.

"Magi… you sick fuck! Magi kidnapped our son and made us do it!" the Shiekah male screamed, as his facial wrap was visibly stained with tears. "Honor be damned, I can't watch this anymore! We just wanted our kid back! How could you think we'd kill yours?"

Link stared calmly into the man's exposed eye. It was red, undoubtedly covered with a thin layer of the material that made the Lens of Truth. However, that eye was filled with genuine emotion: Hate, rage, anger, and fear-it was all there. He then looked down at Impa. She was digesting that his plan wasn't so one-dimensional after all. All of her people had the ability to talk from the outset. They all merely chose to hold their tongues in her and her child's name.

Heh, their deaths were explicitly her fault. The pain hurt thrice now. Magi had her son, her people were dead, and they'd all sacrificed their lives to save the Shiekah who should've laid down her short swords ages ago. Impa's eyes bulged, remembering how she always wondered if she could defeat the Hero of Time. Surveying the carnage, the answer became pristine. She couldn't win; she couldn't even compete. Even if he wasn't a god, her mind couldn't rightly believe that this day would've ended any differently.

"How many floors down does the castle extend?" Link asked unexpectedly, spinning around to face Zelda. His hold on the largest male Shiekah abruptly ended, letting him crumble to his knees and scramble towards Impa.

"F-f-f-four," the queen stuttered.

"I see a fifth." Link turned his head towards Magi, finding the mage slightly flustered.

"No matter," the mage countered. "Only a distinct few know how to reach that level. And…"

Link held up his hand, and literally fell through the floor. In his wake was the short sword that once stuck in his heart.

He reappeared a few seconds later holding a sleeping child in his arms. The parents got to their feet the moment they realized what he'd done, but they hesitated. Link was staring at his son's corpse again. Did this mean their child would join the ranks? Not one soul in the entire room knew. They could only hope this violent streak didn't include children.

"He'll wake up in a few days," Link began, as he approached the parents. "He won't remember anything about his time down there."

He passed his hand over the child's face, clearing it of the dirt accumulated in that cell. Impa nearly snatched the boy out of his arms, but couldn't. Link touched her arm and a wave of cool air brushed over her neck, healing the burns. He was slowly calming down, but the extent of that calm didn't last very long.

"Take him and go," he said, motioning to the doors as the emptiness in his soul returned. The parents gathered the boy and moved swiftly to the giant doors at the rear of the room, as Link found himself staring at the old man at the root of everyone's problems. "Impa, I think it's time that you told Zelda the entire truth."

The Sage of Shadow froze, turning back to face the interior of the room with a look of morbid shock.

"And Impa," Link continued. "If you ever fall into a situation like this again and even think about attacking what's mine before seeking my help or someone else's, I'll lay waste to everything you've ever touched."

He wouldn't let her off the hook completely, but this would have to serve as her penitence. Impa's husband pulled for her to leave, but she just stared at Link's back and then the child that she … held. The Shiekah began to cry, clutching her child to her heart. Link ignored those tears, but waved his hand and caused the large doors to open for the frightened family.

"Tell me the truth about what?" Zelda asked, as Impa made a panic-stricken dash. She could ask later, because Link still didn't look settled down.

"Heh, I should've requested the Sermonian Guard," Magi mumbled.

"Or you should've had the stones to face me yourself," Link bellowed. "Hiding behind women and children-why didn't you use some of your awe-inspiring magic to just kill me and be done with it? Perhaps, it's because you're the insignificant sorcerer…" he paused, as the old man slammed his hands on the table and stood up.

"You stand there … stand there with the audacity to look down on me? One who's spoken to the true deity Link! You blasphemous fool! You may wear the clothes or even alter your appearance to favor him, but you are not him!" Everyone gasped as the old man began to summon energy into a luminous ball in front of him. "And by my hand, I'll make you pay for this sacrilege!" he yelled, drawing a mere arch in Link's eyebrow for the effort.

"Magi, that's enough!" Arthur shouted to be heard above the hum of crackling mystical energies.

"Sire, you will thank me for this later," Magi countered.

Link waved the king off, noticing the large portrait on the mage's robe. It was an abstracted face-odd triangles drawn around the eyes in multiple colors, white hair, and black eyes-that made sense of everything now. He'd never seen this robe before-it resembled a ceremonial robe as opposed to the more casual robes of his peers. Link came out of his introspective thinking the moment the attack was levied at him.

"You said you've spoken to the true Link." He casually popped the huge energy ball with a finger to the shock of the mage. I suppose you'd know him if you saw him, he thought.

With that, his eyes shut for a moment before a new voice entered the throne room.

"And then Majora says: 'That isn't one of mine! I'm polished smooth. That son of a bitch has dry rot!'" The former elder God of War stood stunned having been removed from his gathering and placed into the land of the living again. He saw Link and sighed. "Oh, it's you again. What do I owe this pleasure?" The distaste was obviously mutual between the father and his son.

"My liege," Magi shouted, having recognized the voice from years past. He moved as quickly as his old legs could carry him to the front of the table, genuflecting while caring naught for the blood. The Hylian side of the room raised a collective eyebrow as the Sermonian half-the king included-dropped to their knees for this "true" Link.

"Magi, is that you?" Link Sr. asked, turning around to confirm his suspicions. "Ha! You're still alive?"

"You honor me too much by remembering my name." Kiss-ass was officially added to the pseudonyms for Magi in Link's mind. "I was going to take care of this imposter, but now that you're here, he'll learn the hard way."

Nabooru nearly laughed outright, but kept her noise to a few muffled giggles.

Link Sr. took in the carnage around him with an attitude of nostalgia, breathing in deeply of the cooling blood and terrified eyes of the corpses. He waved his hand after moment, which signaled the old man to rise to his feet, as he knew the old timer's life was going to end before the sun set. It was a pity, too. Human servants that loyal were hard to come by. Then again, you didn't really need human servants when you were dead.

"You haven't been wearing your glasses, Magi," this true Link said once he saw the fallen body of the little boy and the family face. He then snatched the embroidered insignia from the old man's robe, and looked at it. "I suppose I'll have to show you the error of your ways, again."

"Sir?" the old man didn't want to pose it as a question, but that's what it was. "Was he an avatar for you? If so, I swear that I didn't know! I…"

Link Sr. held up his hand indicating silence, and Magi complied, swiftly dipping his eyes on to the floor like an obedient dog. Meanwhile, his sire turned the cloth representation of himself over and began to pluck at the threads holding the strip of black cloth across its backside.

"I'll tell you a little story, Magi," he began, removing the whimsical smile from his face. "It involves a man and a woman who had a child. The man-a well built gentleman, rugged good looks, and enough power to rule worlds-had great plans for this child. This child, a son, began to haunt him in his dreams, though. Night after night, as the man partook in a simple night's sleep, the son laughed at him, mocked him. He didn't understand it, nor did he understand the wealth of power the son had in those dreams. Sure, he wanted to take the credit for such a thing. After all, the kid was coming from the best stock in the land, but that meant acknowledging this… fetus would grow to surpass him.

'How dare him!' the man thought, as his wife summoned him for the child's birth. He makes the journey and finds them together-a beautiful sight, really-but the man only saw destruction, disapproval in the child's face. The man decides to erase this child in place of a new one, a less powerful and threatening one. Ah, but his wife intervenes. She hits him, and hits him hard. True enough it didn't hurt the well-built gentleman, however, she had never raised her hand in violence towards anyone, and for her to choose him made the man think. She runs off and he stands there, stunned. A little while later, after thinking things through a little more, he returns home and finds her sisters waiting for him.

'You monster! You killed her!' the eldest says.

'What? I did no such thing!' he yells, truly unaware of what his outlandish actions have done. They bring her body into view and he feels his heart stop beating. This wasn't happening, he wished to believe. He didn't kill the most important thing in his life-the only thing that made those endless days worth continuing. No. He didn't do it. It was the boy! Before he could seek his vengeance, the sisters had the man imprisoned and cast away, leaving him alone in the dark to come to terms. They also imprisoned the friend that accompanied him in his 'a little while time' for crimes committed. The friend escapes and offers him a chance to do the same, but there's a catch: The man's son had to help him.

Alone he was strong enough to do it, but with help, he could free himself that much faster. However, he isn't given a choice. The son uses a percent of the father's strength to defeat the rampaging friend. In those brief hours, he saw that his son had lived quite an extensive, if not overly repetitive, life. The child didn't strive for the greatness that his lineage dictated or that his own accomplishments had rightfully earned. He just wanted a wife, a couple of kids, and to live his final days in peace. Such things were seen as weakness to his father, though. So, after a few more years of hard work, the father manages to escape his prison and track down his son.

Without his wife to return to and a child that didn't know him, the man only had his power to fall back on. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. He still felt empty and hollow inside. But like the man always said, nothing fills a void like more power. So, he gathered himself for a few days after the big escape, trying to put an uplifting twist to the truth… but he couldn't. Everything he wanted was dead. And everything that he had left was little more than shit with a fancy wrapper. The only thing he had left was his stupid power-and he saw fit to be rid of that at any cost. With the initiative, he finds that son and decides to make him realize his potential. He would be great… he should be great. But the boy, as usual, refused that greatness.

'I don't want to rule,' the child, now a man, said.

The father didn't accept this, but, instead, sought to push the child to his limits. He'd make him see the extent of what and who he was. At the same time, the father's endless days would… well, end."

Link Sr. pulled the last thread free and held up the insignia to let the sunlight pass through the unblocked eye ways-it made the once solid black eyes, white.

"I think you know how the story ends, Magi," he added, watching the mage's eyes widen.

Magi turned slowly to his left. Link's eye illuminated, just like the sun had illuminated those of the cloth image of his father's face. Seeing those eyes-eyes that the mage once deemed over dramatic visualizations of false power-glow that eerie white, he felt the urge to soil himself. They were real… this whole situation was real! He had the son of a god and the grandson of his people's lord killed! This could've been seen as the ultimate bad day. Of course, most bad days consisted of anything other than killing a god's son.

Magi, on the other hand, saw his bad day as the beginning and the ending of his life within Link's eyes. What could he say? There had to be something!

"I … I …" the man stuttered, swallowing noisily as Link's eyes continued to produce a light of their own. That wasn't the right something to say. This wasn't supposed to be, though. The fool in Kokiri's clothing wasn't a god-he couldn't be! The other spectators all gasped, as if they finally believed what Link had told them. "He … He … He's your …" Magi couldn't keep his voice together long enough to ask.

"Son," Link Sr. finished nonchalantly. "Yep, minus the war paint and the smile, I say this is an accurate portrayal." He handed the mage the cloth facial portrait, moving out of the way as his son approached. "If I were you, I'd start begging for the sword-it's quicker." Link Sr. pulled the color of his tunic down exposing the scars of his final encounter with his son, took a seat on the edge of the Hylian table, and gave an innocent smile to Nabooru, who shuddered.

"Nothing about this is going to be quick," Link amended, unconsciously savoring the smell of fear wafting off the old man.

"In that case, I guess I should say, 'welcome aboard.' There's no coming back from this trip, though," Link Sr. added, highly anticipating the proceedings.

"Sir! I … I … I didn't know!" Magi dropped to his knees in front of Link, begging like an animal. The other Sermonian nobles kept their heads bowed. They could only hope that they hadn't angered him with their snotty attitudes. "P-P-P-Please … show an old man … AH!"

Everyone winced, minus Link's father, as Link ground his boot into the old timer's left thumb. He repeated the process four more times until Magi didn't have fingers, but limp husks of flesh with bone powder.

"You didn't know? Tell me, didn't I tell you this circa 13 years ago," he said it, not asked. "You can't believe me, but I drag him back from the dead and it's suddenly a fact!"

Magi screamed as Link crushed his right hand as a whole.

"And now you want mercy because you're old," Link said, as his voice shook with rage. He forced Magi to rise to his feet. "Walk with me," he then added, using his abilities to drag his prey along behind him. "Look at him! Look at him! He wasn't around when Ganondorf lived! He doesn't even know who that is! And you blackmail them into killing him! Now, you want mercy from me?"

Link turned on his heel and plunged his fist into Magi's chest, ripping his beating heart from the freshly shattered ribcage.

"This is where we differ," he whispered, staring calmly at the beating muscle. "Everything I'll do to you, I can take. You can give the orders to remove the blemish of the Gerudo from Hyrule, but you'd sooner eat your own bile than die … pathetic."

"Nice," Link Sr. whispered, visibly enjoying the stunned look on his one-time sage's face. "Personally, I would've come in from the side since it hurts more like that."

Link laughed at the suggestion, which surprised both his father and Nabooru.

"Do you feel that?" he whispered, kneeling down to meet the hunched over mage's ear. "Your blood is just sitting there in your veins. Feel it? It wishes desperately to move to your brain. It's still hot, but it's cooling off … getting colder. It makes you feel heavy, doesn't it? So much blood and it just won't go anywhere. Bet it hurts too, doesn't it? Everything you know says that you should be dead now, but you aren't. Even your body wants to lie down and embrace death, but it can't … because I won't let it!" Link jabbed the old man in his forehead with each word. "This is my mercy."

The old man's eyes nearly came out of their sockets, as the thoughts of what was to come made him cry. His bald head dripped sweat profusely, as his stomach boiled every time Link laughed at him.

"Imagine as painful as this is … imagine that it hurts worse. In fact, it hurts so bad until you can't even think clearly enough to describe it. You just keep trying to pass it along to someone else. That's what I feel every time I look at his body. And you know what? Nothing I do to you will make me feel any better right now. But I'm still going to kill you. And do you want to know why?"

He used his right hand to nod Magi's head.

"I'm going to kill you, Magi, because you don't deserve to live. You sit there in your little robe eating your strawberries while my son decays. Never mind that he saw his mother executed or that you've had a child murdered, none of that is important to you. Ah, but once you find out that he's his grandson, it becomes wrong. I will show you wrong. I will show you pain. And I will show you death. But it still won't make me feel better."

Link stood up and walked methodically towards the Sermonian table. Ignoring the whimpering fools that bowed before him, he dropped Magi's beating heart into the bowl that contained his honey and smirked.

"I think you'll enjoy this," Link Sr. said to Nabooru, having a good idea of what was to come. She rolled her eyes.

"That's the thing about honey," Link began, keeping his voice in that emotionless whisper. Magi struggled to turn back to face his killer, shivering with cold as air invaded the bloodless hole in his chest. "It attracts pests."

Everyone jumped as Link laughed, disappearing from the room with Magi in tow.

"W-W-Where …" Zelda paused to compose herself. "Where do you think he took him?"

"I don't know," Nabooru replied, "but he isn't coming back."