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Original Poster
#1 Old 1st Apr 2012 at 11:45 PM Last edited by minimogut : 5th Jun 2012 at 1:38 AM.
Default Black Rose
If you have been ruthlessly stalking me, then you know that I'm writing an LoZ fanfic on deviantART, called "Black Rose". Well, it just occurred to me now to put it here on MTS, so that people who don't have deviantART accounts can read it, comment on it, etc. So, here it is, starting at the Prologue, or Formali:

BLACK ROSE
A Chaotic Tale

FORMÁLI

Gather ‘round children and you shall hear a story,
A tale of heroes and a tale of glory.
But this is not all that is to be told;
This is a tale also of villains most bold.
Sit quiet now children; do not say a word,
Lest shadows and spirits fly with the wings of a bird.

I waited quietly on the street corner, just waiting. I looked mostly normal. This wasn’t a huge town, and plenty of people stood by me, waiting for the late traffic - an old man and a bicycler - to pass. Unexpectedly, a voice called my name. It was a voice I had heard many times, a voice that had echoed over entire dimensions, just to honor me with its presence. It was a deep voice, which echoed of untold power and the strength to make the mountains tear from their foundations and slope towards the deepest trench of the ocean.
“I cannot speak with you here, those who are deaf will hear you,” said the voice, speaking of my fellow pedestrians. I quickly stepped away from them, fleeing through the shadows until I had reached a safe spot - in the deepest shadows of the alleys, scarred with graffiti and the occasional bullet hole.
“Good boy,” said the voice, obviously pleased. “You follow orders well… that will make you a valuable asset… Boy, I need you to follow me, no matter what. Always obey my orders and never back away from a fight. Those who are strong reside with you, from now, until the day you die. It is time for us to take what we deserve… courage and wisdom… but dear boy, I have been defeated by those who hold courage and wisdom most dear… I give my strength to you… now join me.”
Suddenly, I was enveloped by what can only be described as the absence of light. Through that absence of light slunk a creature that I could only hear at first. However, as it got closer, I could see it as a shadow, darker than the absence of light itself. It was every fear in the world, but at the same time, it was every bitter feeling from hatred to pain. A noiseless scream escaped my being as it merged with me, weighing me down with every horrible thing…
I awoke, standing in an ancient castle. I was the true essence of strength and power, but also of pain, hate and fear. Oddly, that did not disturb me; instead, it excited me beyond all reasons. A vision swam before my eyes. It was of a girl, nearly fifteen. She would join the one who had courage in his heart and the one who held knowledge in the palm of her hand. This young girl had to die before she was made aware of her powers.
As this man grew in power and hatred, the girl tossed and muttered in her sleep, unaware of what was soon to be.

CHAPTER ONE

I lay on my bed, staring at the patterns of light on my ceiling. A glass ornament, in the shape of a rose, hung in front of the window, catching the light in its facets and throwing them about my room haphazardly. I sighed and sat up, my head almost brushing the ceiling - I slept on the top bunk of my bunk bed, it made me feel less… vulnerable. It was the first day of summer vacation, and I was bored out of my mind. My friends had all gone off to visit relatives, or on vacations to sunny tropical islands, while I was stuck here enjoying the watery rays of sun, as recompense for the almost continual rainfall that would be my scenery for the next twenty-nine days.
I slid down the ladder that connected my bed with the ground and stuck a disk into my little CD player. Savior, by Rise Against, started playing loudly. I knew that no one would hear it - my brother was at summer school, my dad was at work and my mom was at the school, watching the summer school kids for a few hours while the teacher ran errands. I sang along to the track, harmonizing when I thought it was needed. After the song ended, I decided to go outside while the rain had stopped. It was actually a beautiful day; the rain had turned the farmland around my house an emerald green. Grabbing my camera as I walked out the door, I resolved to take a few good pictures for June’s blog entry.
My boots squelched loudly in the mud and I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head, to cut the noise. I snapped a few pics from the front yard; as I looked around for another “victim” my eye caught the forest at the back of the property. I hadn’t taken any pictures there before. I climbed over the gate and trekked back to and around the pond. I knelt down and took a few pictures of the old bee boxes that were rotting in the mini-canyon of the forest. An overly large drop of water tapped my hood and I looked up - another picture opportunity. I flopped onto my back and quickly took a picture of the trees. That was definitely going on my blog. A flash of color brought me back to my senses and I jumped to my feet, on the lookout for anything threatening. A dark hole had opened in the side of the canyon, beckoning to me. Oddly enough, even though I hated dark holes and the mere thought of what might be in there, I really wanted to go in. I ran back to the house, almost falling into the pond on my way back. I stomped the mud off my boots and rushed around, grabbing everything I might need and finally, before rushing out the door again, I left a hastily scrawled note for my mom.
I stood before the hole in the canyon, looking inside, gathering my courage. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, before stepping inside. There was a brief flash of light, and sensation of weightlessness, before I collapsed, senseless on the floor.
I opened my eyes weakly; I was still inside the cave, but I felt different. I felt more powerful, less… heavy. I also felt like a steaming pile of crap. I ran through a list of things - where I lived, who I was, what the date was, when I was born, my phone number and even my email address. I didn’t have concussion, so I stood up slowly and walked to the mouth of the cave. I wasn’t in the forest anymore, I wasn’t in the USA, and I wasn’t even on earth. I was looking out over Hyrule.

CHAPTER TWO

I looked around in awe; this wasn’t real, it couldn’t be. I let out a small squeak and sat down at the entrance, hugging my knees. I gasped and glanced down; I was wearing a leather bodysuit, concealed by a long, black coat. I was also thin and athletic, which, for me, isn’t normal. Carrying two glock pistols and two samurai swords was, also, not normal for me. I didn’t even know how to load a gun, let alone actually shoot one correctly. Movement in the fields caught my eye, and I saw a familiar figure heading towards the cave.
“Oh no…” I breathed. Of course he would have to come along and investigate this, just my luck. Now, before I continue, I just have to say that I do not hate Link, or even dislike him. What is the opposite of hate? Yep. I’m a mostly typical fan-girl. My crush on him had lasted longer than any other fictional crush I had ever had.
I scrambled backwards into the cave and hid behind a big rock by the entrance. I had always wondered what would happen if I met him, face-to-face, and I always told myself that I was prepared for anything, but here I was, almost hyperventilating at the thought of meeting my hero. This was going to go stupendously.
I peeked around the rock slowly - he was gone. I slipped cautiously out of my hiding place and peeked out the cave. I wasn’t imagining it - he was actually gone. I walked out slowly, my hand flying instinctively to the hilt of one of the swords on my back. There was a flash of green in my peripheral vision and I jumped to the side. Link had just tried to attack me… cool. I put both of my hands up slowly.
“I’m not here to fight you,” I said quickly.
“What were you doing in there then?”
“It’s a long story,” I said, a tad hysterically. The last thing I wanted to do was have to explain that I came from a magic portal in the cave.
“I have time,” he said, eye’s narrowing. This was like my worst nightmare. But this wasn’t a dream; I had grazed my elbows when I landed.
“Umm…” I said uncertainly, trying to stall for time.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” he said, angrily. Why did the first person I met have to be him? There was only one thing to do - run like a maniac and hope I lived.
CHAPTER THREE

I waited for an opening, trying to stall until I had the chance.
“Answer me,” he said. I jumped, startled out of my thoughts. Then I saw my opening; I ran like a freaking antelope. I heard him yell something, but I was too far away to hear him. I risked a glance and he was catching up to me… fast. Crud. I decided I wouldn’t look back after that.
Because of the fact I wasn’t accustomed to running very long, I was running out of breath. I’m pulling a Gimli saying this, but I am a natural sprinter, but I’m finished over long distances. Slowing down after pulling something like that would be like signing my own death warrant. Of course, running as fast I was, I couldn’t keep it up for very long and I fancied I could feel something breathing down my neck. Once again, crud.
I slowed down slightly, hoping it wasn’t going to hurt me. I was able to keep running, so I counted that as a victory. I was wrong. You see, when I slowed down, Link thought I was planning something, so he slowed down too; he told me this later, when we were - more or less - friends. Anyways, he tackled me. I went down instantly, which might have thrown him off guard. I’m still not sure, he won’t admit it, but then again, neither would I.
I made sure when I fell to flip myself so I landed on my back; of course, by doing that, he kneed me in the stomach a couple times, accidentally… maybe. I almost threw up. Then he literally kneeled down on me to stop me from getting away. He also looked angry. Great.
“What is the matter with you,” he said. A statement, not a question.
“Too much to actually name,” I said, a little bit of insolence in my voice.
“I’m going to say this slowly, because you don’t seem to be very bright,” he said, his face inches from mine. “You will tell me who you are and what you’re doing here… now.”
I felt a dizzying sense of nausea, caused by his nearness and my recent misadventure, not to mention my infatuation with him. I opened my mouth to say something and blacked out.
CHAPTER FOUR

When I woke up, the sun was setting and a campfire was burning close to where I sat. I tried to move my hands close to the fire - they were as cold as if I had been on my laptop all day long - but they were tied together. Crud. I groaned and slumped forward. Not only did I have a splitting headache - probably because I had, in the past few hours, proven reality as I knew it wrong - I also had gotten myself captured in a matter of ten minutes after arriving here in the first place. I was also, at the moment, alone. After wallowing in self-pity for approximately three more seconds, I got an idea that simultaneously made me look on myself as a possible genius and incredibly stupid for not have considering the idea before.
I was completely alone, and I was pretty sure if I scooted a little to the right, I could reach one of my katana with my foot. Link had made sure to disarm me, including the guns. I wasn’t even sure how to explain that when he came back… if he came back.
I fell over with a thump, probably leaving a bruise or a scrape across my face. I inched my way along, looking up every now and then to see how I was progressing, or whether I was going to hit the fire. Finally, the sword was in reached and I gripped it between my boots. After I had pulled myself into a sitting position, I worked the hilt of the sword between my teeth and sawed it back and forth on the cords binding my wrists. After a minute or two of sawing, I was rewarded with the snapping of rope and impending freedom.
The way he had tied me was that I could bend my elbows almost parallel to my body if my wrists were free. I would have an easier time of freeing myself now. Finally, victory and freedom. I quickly grabbed my weapons, and, after a moment’s hesitation, I took the rope that was still intact, too. You never know when you need rope. Besides, it was mine anyways. My backpack full of everything I needed had followed me into Hyrule. The way things looked inside my backpack made me think that Link had tried to figure out more about me by searching my stuff. Glad he didn’t find my secret pocket. It contained more feminine objects that I would prefer to keep hidden.
I slung my backpack over my shoulder and was about to leave when I realized that Link probably had a map. Sure enough, in the pile where he had thrown my weapons - boy was lucky the gun didn’t go off - there was a map. I picked it up and stashed it away quickly, comforting myself by saying ‘He knows more about this place then I do. Besides he owes me for the trouble.’ I felt bad about this whole situation. Why hadn’t he come back by now? He could have been hurt, or he had left me to die. But he had left the map, and it all appeared like he intended to come back.
I felt a horrible feeling in my gut; he might be watching right now. Even though I wasn’t an experienced elder, I did know that you could tell a lot about someone by the way they acted in a tough situation. This might be some perverse test. I muttered under my breath and started to run, readying one of the pistols, just in case. Of course, those wouldn’t help much against the skeletons. Anything else would be quite unhappy if I pulled the trigger.
It was dark out, and I wasn’t sure how long I had been running. I kept hearing noises behind me - a rustle now and then; maybe I would see a quick movement in my peripherals. Once or twice I was sure I felt hot breath on my neck and I would spin around, brandishing the pistol. Nothing was there, not once.
All of a sudden, something large and black launched itself out of the grass. I rolled to the side, and felt claws like fire rake down my side.
I growled, readying my other pistol. The creature charged me again, but I was ready this time. Ten feet away… eight… four; I jumped over it, shooting at any vulnerable looking spot. The creature howled with rage, white oozing from the bullet holes.
“An eye for an eye, what do you say,” I said matter-of-factly, gesturing to the cut. The creature sprang for me at the exact same moment I un-sheathed my swords. One of us wouldn’t be coming out of this alive.
CHAPTER FIVE

I was fighting a losing battle. I’d be just as well off trying to run away from a rabid pack of squirrels while I was covered in peanut butter. Of course, that visual didn’t help me concentrate either. Halfway through kicking the shadow beast’s butt, one of my arms went slack, causing my sword, which was about to be imbedded in a shadow skull, to fly off into the grass somewhere.
“No, what the heck is happening,” I said.
While I was trying to make sense of this, the creature had managed to get behind me, and was now trying to bite and scratch me as many times as it could. You see, I had forgotten rule number one: never get distracted while fighting. Then there was rule number two: don’t let an enemy get the advantage. I started to slash and stab it while I scrambled up a small rise. Rule number three: always try to fight from higher ground.
The moon had climbed high in the sky by the time I finally managed to kill it. I had gained the upper hand, even with my injured arm, and delivered the final blow by cutting it in half. I stood, panting, while the creature dribbled the pus-like goo into the dirt. I sheathed the sword I hadn’t flung into the darkness and went to find the other one. Then I heard it; a sound like footsteps, stealthy footsteps. Footsteps like someone trying to sneak up on me. I sighed - no rest for the weary, I suppose.
“Good work, you fought well. Not very many have survived when they’re attacked… unfortunately.” Oh crud.
Obviously, it was Link who had been standing behind me. He didn’t look like he was ready to attack me, so I counted that as a good thing. I also had managed to impress him… I think. Hard to tell, I’ve only seen him smile once; I count that as a miracle. However, something was confusing me. Shadow beasts like that, I was sure I had never seen one in the Legend of Zelda games; they weren’t like the creatures from Twilight Princess. No, these appeared to be made of pure shadows. Now, I hadn’t played every single game out there, but I was pretty certain those weren’t from here. I guess it all depended on which timeline I was stuck in.
“Yeah… what exactly are those?” I said slowly, examining my arm.
“They don’t have a name. These beasts only started appearing two or three months ago,” he said, looking at me curiously. “Why do you want to know?”
“I prefer knowing as much as I can about my enemies,” I said wryly.
“As do I, this is why I want to know who you are. I also want the map back.”
“You’re kidding,” I scoffed, slightly pleased, slightly disturbed. “You really think I’m an enemy?” He shrugged and I tossed him the map.
“You know I can’t let you go,” he said, tucking the map away.
“You know I’m not going to let you take me as a captive.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. I can’t let you roam free. Not with everything that’s been happening.”
CHAPTER SIX

I woke up slowly. It had all been a dream after all; I was slightly disappointed, but at the same time, I was happy. Then I realized something. All the trees in my forest were gone and I was incredibly sore. Also, my arm was wrapped up in some kind of sling, as was my side, which was burning like fire.
“I see you’re awake,” said… somebody I should have known the name of, who was outside my field of vision. I tried to sit up - I had convinced myself that if I saw their face, I would remember their name - but an arm, coming from my left, stopped me and slowly pushed me back into a reclining position against… something hard… a rock, or a log maybe. Then I realized something, something that scared me beyond all reasoning. I sat upright faster than my companion could stop me. I turned and saw a boy, no, a man, sitting on a stone a few feet away.
I should have known him. He was blonde, blue-eyed and wore all green. He also had a pile of… what were those called? Sharp, made of some kind of shiny material… swords. He was also holding two, black… guns. I don’t think he knew how dangerous they were.
“Who am I?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to get you to say. I’ll give you this: you have guts. You wouldn’t talk even when I had you completely unarmed. Or so I thought. That stunt with the rock was quite amusing,” he said drily. Funny, I didn’t remember any of that.
“Are you sure you’re not confusing me with someone else?” I said, warily. I didn’t want to offend a maniac.
“Pretty sure… unless you have a twin. Please tell me you don’t. I really do not want to hunt down another one of you.”
“…So you don’t know who I am?”
“I thought we’d established that.”
Well, that didn’t help me at all. I tried standing up, but my “friend” stopped me again.
“What? Why do you keep doing that?” I asked impatiently.
“You don’t remember anything at all?” He said, fascinated with my lack of memory.
“Yes,” I said angrily.
“You’re not going to run away?”
“NO,” I said, loudly and slowly.
“I’m not deaf, and I’m not stupid.” Then stop acting like it. I got up, holding my hands up above my head - not the easiest of things - and stretched. He stood up, too, keeping an eye on me. I hadn’t the foggiest idea why, but I didn’t even know who I was.
“Okay, you don’t know who I am, so you probably don’t know where I am from.” He nodded. “All right… then… where am I?”
“You are in Hyrule,” he said simply. Hyrule… it seemed I knew something about that, but where did I know it from. Then it hit me. A video game, that’s what was… wait, video games weren’t real. How could I be inside the… what was the name of the series… Legend of Zelda?
“Do you know how I got here?”
“Beats me. You were hiding inside a cave,” Link said… yes, I remembered the name! Irony: I could remember his name, but I still didn’t know my own.
“I know you,” I said, sitting down slowly - why did even I say that? I was on thin ice already. Saying something like that was like making the first crack yourself.
“What? How?”
CHAPTER SEVEN

There I went, sticking my foot in my mouth. Stupidity, thy name is me. Of course, I didn’t know my own name, so that didn’t stand too well in my own favor.
“Okay, you say you know my name. What is it then?”
“Link. Your name is Link. I can’t tell you any more than that,” I said quickly, looking from him to the ground. A lie, but I didn’t want to get in even deeper doo.
“So you’re some kind of seer. Thank you, but we already have one. Lives in a cave, like you apparently.”
“I’m sorry?” This was getting more and more confusing. Maybe I would wake up, realize this was all just a dream, remember my name and go back to normalcy. Whatever that was.
“Well, you’re obviously not a spy.” Thanks for the vote of confidence. Of course, not even I would have been able to dream of what would happen here.
Both of us sat silent, Link because he had nothing to say to me and me because I was simply too embarrassed to say anything.
Suddenly, I slapped my hand down on the ground. My name… I knew it again. I didn’t even care that Link was looking at me like I had mental issues. I knew everything again. E-mail, phone number, address, home town, zip code, mother’s maiden name, grandmother’s maiden name, etc. I even remembered throwing the rock - one of my finer moments. It took everything I had to keep from doing a victory dance. It was like a puzzle falling into place. I remembered one thing and then everything else fell into place. I also felt less vulnerable, and if I wanted to run now, no one was going to stop me. I would die first.
“Okay, so I realize that you don’t trust me. I also realize that I am not going to follow you, unless I am free to leave your company if I so wish. So my point is: will you make a deal?”
“Well, you apparently remember the previous conversations. I’m going to make one thing clear, girl. You aren’t going to be given any special privileges. You…are…a…prisoner! Prisoners don’t get to negotiate, okay?”
“Then I’m not a prisoner,” I said, disliking the use of the word ‘girl’ in the sentence. I was only a couple of years younger than he was.
“What is wrong with you? No, you don’t listen, that’s your problem. You are a prisoner. Got it?”
“I will only be a prisoner if I give up. I won’t give up, do you hear me?” I had stood up at this point. Link wasn’t scared of me, which is why he didn’t stand up. Unfortunately for him, my history teacher had told me that it’s hard to argue with someone when you were sitting and they were standing. That had boosted my confidence quite a bit.
“Really? Well, I have the weapons. What do you have?”
“Willpower and confidence. What do you have? Arrogance,” I said tauntingly, lip curled. This handy tip I had discovered on my own; the angrier an opponent was, the less ‘scary’ they were. It was working - Link had stood up and was practically towering over me in rage. I’m short, alright? He started to say something, stopped and started to say something again before turning away, clenching his hands into fists. I noticed with satisfaction that he had also clenched his jaw and that he had tightened his hands hard enough that his knuckles were white. Suddenly he turned around and pointed at me.
“You are not leaving this place without an escort, alright? You are not a prisoner, according to your logic. Your weapons, on the other hand, are not going to be returned.” Another advantage was my stubborn nature. If I didn’t want to back down, I wouldn’t. A blessing and a curse. Sometimes, my stubborn attitude made me look like an idiot. Such is life.
He walked a few feet away, rubbing his temples. That was a perversely pleasing sight. What didn’t please me was the fact that he thought I would let him take my weapons without a fight.
“We’ll see about that, won’t we…” I whispered.
Eventually, Link walked back over. Both of us had calmed down a little bit, but the silence was still filled with an unshakeable sense of uneasiness. At around noon, he threw dirt over the remains of a fire and gathered up the weapons. I noticed he still had the guns. I was sure he knew they were weapons, but he didn’t know how dangerous they were. I needed to get those away from him.
After he had gathered up everything, he turned to me, giving me a look that clearly said “Get up or I’ll kill you.” I refused to show fear, and really, I wasn’t scared unless he pointed a gun at me. I stood up and folded my arms, tapping my finger against my forearm. He nodded to my hands and I sighed, holding them out in front of me, the heels of my hands pressed against each other. Giving me a suspicious glare the whole time, he bound them quickly and efficiently. After checking the knot on my ‘handcuffs’, he took a longer rope, tied it around my waist and knotted the other end to his belt.
“Is this really necessary?” I said. The rope he had tied around my waist was longer than the one on my wrists, but only by a couple of inches. He was about half a foot away from me.
“I don’t like it much either, but I don’t trust you.” Jumping to conclusions much? I didn’t mind at all, but it was just a little bit awkward because he hates my guts.
For the most part neither of us spoke, other than me occasionally telling Link to slow down and his replies… some of them were quite memorable. Of course, at about five - judging by the sun - he said quite a bit… well, compared to how much he had spoken previously.
~~~~
“We’ll stop here for the night. Now, I’m going to untie the rope around your waist. If you try to escape, I will kill you.”
“Or you could untie my wrists and we can decide who gets to walk away, Eskimo style. Two knives and rope,” she said. What was an Eskimo?
“Very funny,” I said, untying the rope around her waist. “Go sit down.”
Apparently instead of being on a self-assigned shadow watch, I had been transferred to prisoner watch. I wasn’t going to admit this, but I was actually kind of glad she had survived. The fact that she had lived proved she was a powerful fighter, and brave - or stupid - but she was inexperienced. If she wasn’t a spy or assassin, she would be a helpful asset. If she cooperated. Two knives and a rope. She must have lived in some kind of tribe.
As the sun set, I found myself watching her. Every now and then, she would raise her hands to her face and, unconsciously, rub at a certain spot on her cheek, over and over again. Sometimes she would stare of into the distance and smile randomly. This continued even as the sun dyed the plains a ruddy orange, until finally, she burst out laughing.
“Why?”
“What… oh, it’s you,” she said, the smile fading from her eyes until her face was just a cold, hollow mimic of her laughter. The laughter itself was like mocking jeers, insinuating her stony smile.
“Why were you laughing?”
“I was merely perusing the better times of my life. I’ve heard that people exposed to traumatic situations tend to do that,” she said sourly, her smile still mocking me.
There was a silence for a bit, during which I did my best to not look at her while she did her best to make sure that I saw her eerie smile.
“What did you mean by ‘fighting eskimo style’?” I said after a while.
“Oh you caught that? Fighting Eskimo style is where you take two people that hate each other, tie them together with a rope and give both of them a knife. Whoever survives is the winner. At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“Heard a lot of things, haven’t you?”
“I get around,” she said, smirking coldly. This was not going to be easy.
CHAPTER EIGHT

As much as I hated to admit, it was safer when there were two people. We would take shifts, watching out for danger. Obviously, I didn’t trust her enough to unbind her, or to sleep when she was able to wander, so she spent the night tied to a rock, ten feet away from the weapons. She didn’t appreciate that, and she made sure that every time she woke me up, I would be able to see the hurt on her face. In short, she was being melodramatic.
“Morning sunshine,” I heard her say. Uggh. I didn’t actually sleep at all, I was just resting and her voice was starting to grate on my nerves. She whispered to herself all of the time, loudly enough I could hear her, but quietly enough that I wasn’t ever sure what exactly she was saying. Another sound I kept hearing from her was scratching in the dirt. I even tried asking her what she was doing… once.
“What is that noise?”
“Just me.”
“What are you doing?”
“Drawing… in the dirt.”
“Drawing what?” There wasn’t a response to that; another reason I don’t trust her.
~~~~
He opened his eyes and glared at me. I don’t know why I liked being difficult, it was just so much fun. The reward was having him acknowledge the fact that I was alive, no matter how annoying I was; I smiled sweetly and sat down, cross-legged, facing away from him. I was feeling slightly tired, but not enough to go to sleep. Of course, as soon as I heard telltale clicking noises behind me, I woke right up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I half-yelled as I spun to face Link. He was holding one of the guns, examining the trigger with interest.
“Trying to figure out what exactly this is,” he said, narrowing his eyes at me.
“Do you have a death wish?” I said, trying to get close enough to snatch the gun away.
“Do you?” he said, pointing the gun at me; I felt my heart-beat quicken and I backed up slightly, holding my hands in front of my face. The fact that he knew how to hold the gun correctly made me rethink my strategy; the fact that he would eventually figure out what pulling the trigger meant frightened me considerably. I was trying to think of a way to make him put the gun down when I heard laughing.
“What are you laughing at?”
“You. Your earlier actions specifically said that you were not scared of me. The minute I pick one of these up, you get frightened. Why?” he said matter-of-factly, as if my reaction to having a gun pointed at my face was absurd.
“W-why? Why?!? Do you not realize what that is? One pull of the trigger can cripple or kill someone. One shot! Not to mention that a person untrained in gun warfare is a danger to himself and others,” I yelled, putting the emphasis on “himself”.
“Gun? So that’s what it’s called,” Link said thoughtfully. “One pull of the trigger can kill someone? This is a powerful weapon… or its powerful magic. Why was it entrusted to a girl like you and not an experienced warrior?”
I snorted and then, as the impact of what he had said hit me, I burst out laughing, rolling onto one side. After laughing uproariously for what seemed like ten minutes, I rolled onto my back, gasping for air and occasionally giggling and hiccupping.
“Experienced warrior? Girl like me? Children younger than I am can shoot those things. I’ve seen them with my own eyes. A lot of them are more experienced then I am, but I only know two. I’m more experienced than you are. That, sir, is irony,” I said, bursting into a fit of giggles, folding my arms across my stomach. Link was not amused by that.
“Yes, but why not send one of your warrior children, instead of you.”
“No one exactly had a choice in sending anyone. I came here involuntarily, and I’m sure my parents are flipping out. I left a note, but that would have only been soothing for an hour or two. Maybe only five minutes. I don’t know. My point is, if my people had been truly sending a spy or an assassin, they would have chosen someone more experienced than I. My coming here was an unfortunate accident.
Link was about to reply when suddenly, a screeching noise echoed over the plains. He stood up suddenly, un-sheathing his sword.
“They followed us,” he said, stepping in front of me.
“What?”
“A shadow followed us.”
I muttered a few choice words under my breath.
“What do we do?”
“We aren’t going to do anything. I am going to handle this shadow while you sit right there.” Thanks.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I mean, the one who attacked me almost killed me.”
“Yes, well, you said it yourself - you are not as experienced as the warrior children,” Link said, peering into the darkness.
“But I’m more experienced than you” I said, crossing my arms.
“Only in gun warfare.” Curses.
Suddenly, something large and dark sprang out of the darkness at Link. I stifled a small scream. Link was ready, though. He sidestepped the giant shadow and slashed it as it jumped past. I remained as still as possible; Link had told me to stay still, and I was darn sure not going to provoke anything while I was a sitting duck. That didn’t keep the shadow from seeing me and trying to attack me. I flung my still-bound hands up to protect my face. I felt a sharp tug on my wrists and then my hands were free. I screamed then. In retrospect, that was a bad idea. Link had gone back to fighting the first shadow, but neither one of us had realized there was another one.
A flash of black erupted towards Link from a clump of thick grass.
“Link! Look out!” I yelled, picking up one of the guns and aiming. A flash of light blinded me temporarily and when I regained my sight, I saw I had shot it in the eye. It lay dead, steaming in the night air.
~~~~
Unless this was an elaborate ruse, she wasn’t trying to kill me, and she had no idea why the shadows had appeared. I stood there, stunned until she yelled at me to get moving.
“I just saved your butt. You better not die now,” she said, picking up her two swords and the other gun.
Then disaster struck. The shadow that had been attacking me had snuck behind her without either of us knowing.
“Wait, look behind you!” I yelled… too late. She turned around, but the creature had mutated one of its paws into a giant sword and ran her through. She slumped forward over the sword as the creature let out an enormous roar.
A thousand thoughts ran through my head, some of them angry, some of them confused. I found myself walking forward calmly even though I felt like I was about to explode.
~~~~
I was experiencing an out of body sensation. I looked down and saw my body - no, my corpse - hanging off of the sword-claw, the creature roaring its earth-shaking challenge and Link walking forward slowly to meet that challenge.
“It’s not your time, daughter. Your flesh and bones shall heal,” said a deep voice, echoing from all around me. I felt a soothing sensation where I had been wounded and suddenly, a pinching sensation through my stomach. I opened my eyes and breathed in shakily; the pinching sensation had turned into a slow burn of pain. I looked up into the soulless eyes of the beast.
“Not so fast,” I whispered, feeling a divine strength enter my body.
There was a bright flash of light and I felt the pain melt away. Looking down, I found that the black mist was pouring out of my wounds and that wherever the light touched it, the shadow disappeared. The monster dissolved into the darkness and I fell to the ground.
“I just faced death,” I said quietly as I heard Link approaching.
“What was that?”
“I have my ideas…”
CHAPTER NINE

Link, if not scared, was wary of me. I didn’t blame him. Dying had changed my perspective on a lot of things, and it didn’t exactly bother me that we didn’t talk much, especially because this was due mostly to a new-found mutual respect, but also a lack of things to say and the fact that neither one of us really wanted to say anything.
I had figured out - mostly due to Link talking to himself - that we were coming up alongside the Eastern Wastes. As we got closer, Link told me we would skirt around the northern edge and across an approaching bridge. Eventually, we camped out right by the edge, switching watch every few hours.
The next day, both of us were still alive, so we continued walking to the bridge. Over the way, Link broke the silence for a few minutes.
“Are you a witch?”
“Pardon?”
“Are. You. A. Witch,” Link said slowly, as if talking to a not-so-bright child.
“No.”
That was the longest conversation we had had since my demise. After traveling with a companion who I had previously believed didn’t exist, I ultimately decided that while traveling in a car was more comfortable and less hazardous - marginally - traveling through Hyrule, on foot, was much more interesting. With the Eastern Wastes to my left and the Death Mountains to my right, I was definitely much less bored than I was in the car on the way to school, or my grandma’s house.
Link and I camped out right by the bridge. For the second time on the journey, Link broke the silence.
“Where are you from?”
“Oh… well, it’s hard to explain,” I said awkwardly. “So, you found me at that cave. Well, that cave led all the way from my home - literally - to here. My home… it lies in hilly grassland, on the edge of a forested ridge. My home is one of many scattered on these plains. There’s a small village nestled in the plains somewhere, but I’m not sure exactly where. Umm… on the other edge of the mountains, there is a town that sits right between my mountains and a larger mountain range.”
I racked my brains for more information.
“If you travel north, you’ll find several villages. To the east is a larger town and if you head south, you’ll find two cities, connected by a bridge, on the banks of a huge river. I think that there are a couple of small towns to the west,” I finished lamely.
“What is the name of this territory?” Link asked, intrigued.
“Idaho…”
“Idaho,” Link repeated. “What about your family? Your heritage?”
“I have two parents, a brother, two grandmothers, two uncles and a half aunt, along with several cousins. My family is a mix of Polish, Scottish, French and Native American.”
“And that means… what exactly?”
“It means I’m a crossbreed,” I said frankly.
Link looked at me for a couple of seconds and then started to laugh. I raised an eyebrow and sat there while he finished laughing.
“Are you finished?”
“Until you tell me your real name, that’s what I’m calling you. Consider that an incentive to tell the truth,” he said, still smiling. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that he was smiling at me, and a couple more to realize he was insulting me. Touché, Link. Touché. It would take a lot more than that to break me, though. Link stayed true to his word, however. Every time he addressed me, he began with “crossbreed”. He took every opportunity to call me that, sometimes more than once in a sentence. This was going to be more challenging than I had thought.
~~~~
Annoying her was irrationally amusing. She didn’t scream or yell, she didn’t cry and she didn’t threaten me bodily harm, even though she really wanted to. She gave me a nasty look, clenched her hands and looked anywhere but at me. It was perversely funny to watch her struggle with her pride and her self-control. Of course, I felt guilty afterwards.
We took turns with watch again. She would wake me silently, but I always said “Morning, crossbreed.” More humor and regret. When morning came, and my chances for calling her crossbreed were slimmer, I could practically hear her mental celebration.
We had woken up earlier and set out across the bridge. After following the road for a while, we carved off the beaten track and across the river. For the day, we walked across the small plains between the river and the road into Hyrule Town. I had the strangest feeling that “crossbreed” knew where we were heading. There was a strange sense of resignation and weariness about her.
“Do you… know where we’re headed?” I asked. She sighed and looked up at the sky with an imploring gaze.
“Yes,” she said, not looking at me.
“How do you know that?”
“It’s… complicated. Listen, do you want to know my name?” she asked, obviously trying to change the subject. Of course, I had been trying to get her to tell me that through coercing and taunting. Neither had worked, obviously.
“Yes, but I know you’re trying to distract me,” I said, pulling her to a stop. She looked at me with a strange expression hidden in her face.
“My name is… Elise. Lis for short… or Lissi… heck, I’ll accept Lizzi, too.”
Elise… a foreign name.
“Go ahead and laugh now,” she said with a loathing, but it wasn’t aimed at me.
“Why would I be laughing?”
“It’s a stupid name.”
“It’s a name. No name is stupid.”
“Yeah, except mine,” she said, effectively ending the conversation by walking away.
~~~~
The silence was particularly awkward after that. Okay, yeah. I think my name sounds way too… stuffy. Old-fashioned. Sure, if you like false-grandeur, then it’s a great name. But I don’t like false-grandeur. I like casual, fun and bright colors. My favorite colors are lime green and peacock blue, and I usually wear those together. Exactly.
Link led me through the city gates, ignoring the questioning looks. I suffered far more under the looks - I was an outsider, and everyone knew it. I did my best to keep my weapons concealed under my coat, but every now and then, the flash of a sword hilt or the barrel of a pistol alerted the denizens of Hyrule to state of weaponry. Every time I saw the quick glance of fear, I buttoned the coat down further. Eventually, my coat was about as comfortable and cumbersome as tight dress. By that point, however, it was too late.
After my embarrassment had reached a critical point, we had reached the castle. The guards gave Link a knowing look and he just nodded. Spectacular. Standing at the end of the long hall was a throne, singular. Sitting in the chair was Princess Zelda.
One of the guards stepped forward as Link and I got closer.
“Who is this?”
“Lizzi. She’s not a spy, or an assassin, but I brought her here so the queen can decide what to do with her,” Link said.
“Is she carrying any weapons?”
“Yes.”
The guard looked at me and I sighed. I quickly undid the snaps on my coat and unsheathed my swords, laying them gently on the floor, along with the pistols.
“What are those?” asked the guard, pointing at the pistols.
“Those are .9mm, semi-automatic glock pistols,” I said, proud of my abilities to identify guns, mostly thanks to my brother and dad. Both Link and the guard looked at me rather strangely.
“Fine,” said the guard after a little while. “You can go forward.”
“I didn’t know those had names,” Link whispered to me as we walked forward.
“Oh yes. Desert eagles, Uzis, Glocks, AK47s, Stingers and many others. More than I can name,” I whispered back.
At the foot of the throne, Link knelt down. I followed his example. Zelda sat in the throne, and I was confused as to why she had met us, instead of the King or Queen.
“Another one? I had been sure that the other girl - the seer - was the only visitor,” Zelda said, surprised.
“Apparently not, Your Highness,” Link said, looking back at me.
I was getting more and more confused as the seconds passed. A world that shouldn’t exist, shadow beasts that weren’t even a part of this world and a mysterious seer who lives in a cave.
“What is your name?” I looked up, startled.
“Pardon me?” I said, perplexed.
“What is your name?” Zelda repeated, looking at me, not unkindly.
“My name is Lizzi,” I said, bowing my head respectfully.
“Where did you find her?” Zelda asked, looking disturbed.
“In a cave that appeared in the middle of the night in the Death Mountains. Just like last time.”
Zelda stood up and started pacing. It seemed I had a distressing effect on her psyche.
“Queen Zelda?” said one of the guards uncertainly. Queen? What was going on here?
“You… Lizzi,” Zelda said suddenly. “Do you remember how you got here?”
“I remember walking into the forest and noticing a cave that hadn’t been there before. I stepped inside and woke up at the cave’s exit, which happened to be the cave in the Death Mountains, Your Highness.”
“Like the other one,” she said. “For now, you will stay here. At the castle. Trouble is coming, and I fear you might be a part of it,” said Zelda, sitting down again.
“Queen Zelda?” I whispered uncertainly to Link, before I could stop myself.
“The entire royal family was killed when the shadow creatures first attacked. One managed to sneak past the guards and killed all of them, except Queen Zelda. A few guards and I found it and put it down before it could kill her,” Link explained, giving me an odd look.
The first few days were rough. I didn’t go out into public more than I had to - only once a day, to get fresh air. I was given a room in one of the towers, and spent most of my time there, trying to figure out everything. The backpack I had brought with me was filled with things I hadn’t brought, including a beautiful, leather-bound journal. I spent a lot of time compiling the recent events in it, including drawings of what had happened. I also found my MP3 in there, along with my headphones. Why, I had no idea, but I listened to music whenever I could.
For the most part, I was left alone, other than the occasional visit by Zelda and a guard, or a servant, bringing food. Oh, and Link… once. I wasn’t sure why he had come, and it seemed he wasn’t either. But he came, and talked to me, asking whether or not I felt comfortable with the current arrangements and what my life had been like before.
“Was your family nobility?”
“What? Oh… no… but life was, for the most part, easy.”
“What do you mean?”
“My brother and I didn’t have to do much, and I always felt kind of guilty about it.”
“Did you ever travel far from home?”
“Yes. Sometimes hundreds of miles away,” I had responded, leaving out the less crucial details, like how I had traveled to those places.
Link was interested in where I had gone, what I had seen. I told him about Idaho, the general landscape, and then Hawaii and Alaska, finally ending with Washington, Oregon, California and finally, the crown jewel of my travels, Washington DC. The buildings and monuments and everything.
“And you say that all of these… states are part of one huge country?”
“Yes. There are fifty states.”
“Have you ever traveled outside of this country?”
“Before now? Only once, when I was a baby. I visited a neighboring country, Canada,” I said, trying to pull up memories that were really mine, and not my parents’.
After about a week, I started staying outside for longer. I would spend two or three hours outside, drawing in my journal and collecting notes on everyday life. No one paid any attention to me, except for one odd little girl who was there every day. She would stand behind me and watch me write or draw, never speaking. Except for one day.
“Your handwriting… it has potential, but you hurry through writing. It’s terribly sloppy now.” I looked over my shoulder; the little girl was staring directly at the page - or, to be more precise, at the sentence I just wrote - with a disgusted look on her face.
“Thank you, but that isn’t the first time someone has said that. It’s not going to change anything. I’m writing this journal for my own benefit,” I said, returning to my journal.
“And what’s this benefit?” snorted the little girl. “To prove something? Let me tell you something, sister. You want to prove something, you need other people to read it, and they aren’t going to be able to with that mangled schlock.” I continued to ignore her, drawing the scene instead. I had a few minutes peace, until:
“His nose needs to be bigger.”
“Excuse me?”
“That one man over there, the one you just drew. His nose needs to be bigger… like this,” she said, snatching the pen out of my hand and scribbling.
“Hey! Give that back,” I said, grabbing the pencil and looking at what she had done. Astonishingly, she hadn’t ruined it. I knew people twice as old as she was who weren’t that good, myself included. She had redone his entire face, and it looked real.
All of a sudden, my journal was gone. I heard the flipping of pages and realized the little girl had stolen it and was rifling through the papers.
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t you ever shade any of these pictures?”
“I’m not very good at it, so I leave it un-shaded… at least for the time being,” I said, sheepishly.
“Well, if you don’t shade them, you’ll forget the light of the picture and it will stay like that forever. Here, I’ll help,” she said, taking the pencil and scribbling furiously. After about a minute of her frantic drawing, she handed the book back, looking immensely pleased.
They were shaded, every single last picture. And they were beautiful.
“How did you-…” I began, and then realized the little girl was gone. Smiling, I tucked the book under my arm and strolled to the castle.
CHAPTER TEN

The minute I walked back into the castle, I knew something was wrong. A man dressed all in black was arguing with Link and Zelda. It sounded something like this:
“Prisoners? Nonsense, there are no prisoners kept here. It would be wise of you to leave… now,” said Zelda harshly.
“I’m warning you, it would be best to give up any prisoners you may be harboring. My master is… persuasive,” said the messenger, turning around and striding out of the castle, only pausing to give me a very hostile look. At first, I though Link was going to follow the messenger, when I realized he was looking at me.
“Where have you been?” he said, with all the irritation of my mother.
“Outside,” I answered, perplexed.
“Doing what?”
“Writing and drawing,” I said, leaving out the details of what the subject of said writings and drawings were. I hoped that if he did decide to read my journal entries, he wouldn’t look closely at certain passages and that he would skip over one drawing in particular - a crappy sketch I had done at the very back of the book. I think you can guess the subject.
“Let me see,” he said, none too suspiciously. I shrugged and handed the book over.
“You probably wouldn’t be able to decipher what I wrote.” Link ignored me, flipping through the journal, pausing every now and then to look at a picture or read - if untangling my handwriting could be considered reading - a passage. After a minute of flipping through the pages, he tossed the book back to me - I caught it, sighing inwardly. No sign of anything incriminating.
“So, who was that, cause he looked like he wanted to rip my guts out,” I said. “Through the mouth,” I tacked on as an afterthought.
“That’s a lovely mental image,” said Link, giving me a look that suggested he believed my sanity wasn’t completely intact. If he’d seen who and what I had grown up with…
“That man was a messenger from the ‘rebel king’. He wishes for us to give up any and all female prisoners or his master could make things… unpleasant. It’s almost disgusting trying to imagine why his master wants these prisoners,” Zelda said, stepping down to join us. “Why he dislikes you, however, is something I could not even fathom a guess at. Personal grudge, maybe?”
“I’ve never seen that man before in my life, your highness,” I responded calmly.
“I see. For now, let us put him out of our minds. There are more pressing concerns to be dealt with at the moment,” Zelda said, exiting through one of the many archways. Link stared after her for a second and then started walking towards the castle’s main entrance.
“Wait, where are you going?”
“Somewhere,” Link said, obviously perturbed I had chosen to follow him.
“Somewhere meaning to follow that messenger?”
“Maybe.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said firmly.
“Why?”
“I want to know why he hates me, and I have a bad feeling that he’s somehow connected to the shadow beasts.” No response, but he hadn’t said no. I took that as a good sign and quickly strapped on my sword belt, which resided with one of the guards until I had immediate need of it.
When I had left the palace, it was noon. When I returned, it was nearly six. As far as stealth goes, I was okay before I had trained in Hyrule. Now, I felt more confident, but if someone I had never seen before could recognize me, I needed help. Well, another item I had found in the satchel was a black scarf, made of a silky material. I usually wrapped that around my waist, like a belt. Now would be a good time for a disguise. I secured the scarf around the lower half of my face and buckled the sword belt more tightly, just in case.
Link had stopped right inside the city and was looking around for the messenger. He gave me a questioning look when he noticed the scarf; I shook my head - now was not the time for questions.
~~~~
I scanned the crowds; there was no sign of him. Suddenly, Lis grabbed my arm and pointed. At first, I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to look at, but then I saw the shadow slinking along the edge of the wall.
“Link, I’m going to tail him. Try to head him off,” Lis whispered. Without waiting for a reply, she scaled the wall and crawled through the twilight shadows, right above the messenger. Even in a week, she had changed, and without anyone else’s assistance.
I slipped down one of the alleys; every few feet, I saw Liz slipping through the shadows on the wall, and I was running parallel to the messenger. I saw the end of the alley approaching, along with the town gate so I put on a burst of speed. At reaching the end, I saw the messenger, busy looking out for Lis, running full speed now. He turned to look ahead, saw me and tried to turn around, only to be hedged in by Lis.
“Hey, where’re you going?” asked Lis, blocking his escape.
“None of your business,” spat the man.
“Okay, then. Let’s play a game. You know something about the shadow beasts, true or false?” While Lis spoke with the man, I made sure that we weren’t seen by anyone.
“Humph… false,” said the man sneeringly.
“Wrong answer,” Lis said, pulling out one of the pistols and aiming it right between his eyes.
“Okay, okay! I know… something.”
“You will tell me. True or False,” said Lis, lowering the pistol.
“Not if I get a choice in this.”
“Sorry, but no,” Lis said, poking him in the chest with the pistol.
“Fine, but all I know is this. The man who employed me is the one who controls them. That’s all I know, so please don’t kill me!” the man said, clearly frightened. It amazed me that Lis could inspire fear like that - she was so vicious for a girl her age. Come to think of it, I didn’t even know how old she was, but I was assuming she was around fifteen or sixteen.
“Are you people going to let me go now?
“One more thing,” Lis said, her eyes narrowing as she removed the scarf. “What about me?” The man’s reaction was instantaneous; he drew his hand back and slapped Lis across her face - all personal safety forgotten - hard enough that she was knocked off balance and her face started to bleed. As she fell back, I managed to catch her.
“Are you okay?” I asked, but it turns out, she was fine. As soon as I caught her, she had regained her balance, and punched the man in jaw. He was now cringing on the ground as Lis kicked at him repeatedly, hard enough to draw blood - judging from the bloodshed from his nose. She was yelling something incoherently, but I had a feeling that she was cussing him out… pretty bad.
~~~~
Typically, I wasn’t a very violent person, but nobody slaps me like that and gets away with it. As soon as he had hit me, I saw red. It was like I went into auto pilot - my body took over and I started to hit and kick anywhere I could. All of a sudden, I felt somebody grab my arms and lift me away from the cowering mongrel on the ground, as easily as if I was a kitten.
“Calm down, Lis,” said Link, looking at me with an expression that was hard to decipher as he set me down, away from the messenger. Link turned back towards the man and hauled him to his feet, none to gently.
“Why did you do that?” I spit at him. The man tried to sputter through the blood flowing out of his broken nose.
“You’re lucky she didn’t break your skull... or any other bones. She was kicking pretty hard. Now answer the question,” Link said as I wiped the blood off of my face.
“She practically ruined my life,” spat the messenger.
CHAPTER ELEVEN

“So you do know him?”
“Heck no. I’ve never seen this guy before,” I said, a little bit uneasily. Did I know him? How did he know me? What did I do to ruin his life?
“Well, of course you don’t know me.” said the messenger, glaring at me dolefully. “The man who hired me wants you dead, and I’ve been looking for you for the past month. Every time I come back with another report of ‘No, I still haven’t found or killed the girl,’ he tortures me.”
“Who is your master?”
“I don’t know, all right! I’ve never seen him face to face, and he’s never told me his name,” he said, trying very hard to break my grip; funny thing is, I never knew my grip was this strong before. I looked back at Link and he nodded.
“I’m going to tell you this once, so you better listen up… hard. You go back to your master and you tell him that if he wants me dead, he’d better get out here and kill me himself. And you’d do best to leave that blood on your face, as a warning for him. If you clean it off, I’ll know, I said, pushing him back away from me. So I lied - I wanted to scare the ever-living crap out of him, and his master, if I could manage it.
“Are you okay?” Link asked, watching the man scramble out of sight. I nodded, still wiping blood off of my face. “I would like to ask you something.”
“Yes?” I said, tying the scarf around my face again.
“Have you ever been trained?”
“Like fight training? No,” I said, fixing my eyes on the blood pool at my feet. In retrospect, not a good idea, so I looked back at Link.
“Just thought I would ask. It’s kind of obvious, but what I’m really asking is if you would like to be trained.”
“Yes,” I said, glad that the scarf hid my face. I was grinning like an idiot, but the scarf didn’t keep the smile out of my voice. I knew it would be hard, but that wasn’t going to stop me.
~~~~
“Try again,” I said. She didn’t complain, but got right back to training. Her attitude suggested that she was aiming to please, but she was coming up on a breaking point. Judging from recent events, Lis didn’t seem to be a very… patient individual. She was also easily startled, which - added to the lack of patience - wasn’t a good thing.
“The actual battle tension isn’t there, which is what the education is lacking,” said Lis quietly when she took a break. I blinked, startled by her reasoning, even though I didn’t really agree. It wasn’t that she wasn’t right, though. It was that she wasn’t experienced enough. But the point of training was to get better, not to whack a log with a sword for a couple of hours per day. Then I got an idea. I stood up abruptly, and un-sheathed my sword.
“Holy - what are you doing?” Lis said, grabbing her two swords and blocking me quickly.
“Now you’re learning.”
CHAPTER TWELVE

For the next two days, Link trained me, sometimes by ambushing me, always followed by me shouting some form of profanity at him. I could tell that I was a source of amusement for him, which wasn’t exactly how I wanted him to see me as.
Of course, the ultimate embarrassment for me was when he ambushed me when I was coming out of my room. I screamed like a little girl and then, when I turned around to run, I smacked straight into the wall, giving myself a nosebleed.
“I don’t think I need to explain to you what was wrong with that reaction.”
I tried to spit a biting comment through the blood flow, but the blood plus my arm pressed against my face didn’t help. I’m sure it would have been a quite memorable statement.
“Are you okay?” he asked, tilting his head to the side and reaching a hand out hesitantly.
“Fine,” I managed to splutter.
“The good news is that you’re slowly getting better,” he said. Yes, Link. That was comforting, especially at this point in time. I would have told him so if it weren’t for the fact that my nose didn’t want to stop pouring blood onto my arm. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Absolutely,” I said, delighted that the blood flow was receding and he was worried about me. I decided it would be best to clean off the blood, so I - obviously - walked back into my chamber and used the basin full of water to wash the blood off of my face. Upon further examination, I realized my nose was now slightly crooked. Bracing myself, I pressed on the bridge of my nose, to try and straighten it. With a small pop, the bridge of my nose snapped back into place, which was swiftly followed by a sharp, drawn out pain.
“I’m going to freaking kill you,” I whispered through gritted teeth, trying to not scream swearwords.
Other than the ambushing, training went well. Not to brag, but I learned quickly. My reflexes were okay to begin with - my brother was constantly making me flinch - so that was helpful. Hearing was pretty good, too. A couple years ago, I played Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, so the training - blindfolds and earplugs - helped me discover techniques of heightening my senses.
That’s when I got the idea. I would just have to hope I could plan in secret, keep my eyes open for any sign of an ambush and then victory would be mine. Subtlety was one of my strong suits… or so I hoped. Without cunning, subtlety and a wee bit of stealth, I was doomed to failure. Thinking back on my childhood, I realized that stealth was on my side. I couldn’t help but laugh at the piano incident, only capable through stealth, and I was proud at what I had achieved; my brother and his friend hadn’t even known I was there, hence the perfect scare.
Stealth was also exhibited through many times of jumping off of furniture while my mother was sleeping - I guess living with seven cats has its advantages.
But cunning… I didn’t know how I would pull off without that much-needed trait. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I can lie without breaking a sweat. In fact, I can keep a secret - or a lie - for years. The guilt just eats away at me inside forever, until I finally crack - I had a nasty habit of keeping feelings, usually anger or sadness, bottled away inside. Cunning, I would have to work on. I was fooled by mysteries - even the most insignificant of literary devices - but that made me enjoy them even more. I would have to hope for the best.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN

For the next two days, I walked around with the air of someone who had a dirty secret - technically, I did, but that’s neither here nor there. I was almost certain Link knew I was planning something - so much for subtlety - and he was none too pleased about it. I would sit alone and draw, once again keeping everything bottled up inside, and formulate my plan. Adding a necessary touch here and there, removing some un-needed point, etc. I was always pleased when Link would sit and watch me, trying to puzzle out what I was up to.
I gave away nothing, other than the fact that I was up to something. It worried Link that I was so good at keeping secrets, I could tell. If he thought that this plan was the worst secret I withheld, though, he was dead wrong. At the end of it all, I’m sure he knew - more or less - what I was up to, but he thought it was more deadly than the light of truth would show it to be. All it would show was that I was possibly a better planner and more cunning than anyone had ever imagined. Possibly.
There was something else I was planning for, though. I had a feeling that my journal would be a target. It would be best to rip out any page mentioning you-know-who, even in passing. That and the cruddy drawing. I had a feeling it would be fine anyways - even that snooping little girl hadn’t found it - but better safe than sorry. Working quickly and efficiently - once again using tips I had picked up from books and television - I removed the incriminating journal entries and the drawing.
Now I had a problem. The journal entries I had removed also contained information I wanted to keep. I could either get over it and burn them or I could take an enormous risk and simply hide them. Hide them it is - what’s life without a little risk.
~~~~
I tried everything I could think of. Eavesdropping, looking through her belongings. I even asked her what she was up to - as if that would have really worked. Then I realized something. That little journal; she kept it awfully close. That’s probably where she had her plan written down. I would have to slip it away from her, maybe while she was asleep or something. While I was thinking, I realized I had walked near the target.
Lizzi was sitting where she normally did, drawing while the witch girl - Raya - watched her, occasionally giving advice. After a while, she handed the little book to Raya, who scribbled on the page and then handed it back. I slipped close enough to hear what they were saying.
“So, other than this… meager existence of yours, how are things?”
“Fine,” Lizzi replied, the ghost a smile hinted on her face.
“What about… well, you know?” Raya asked anxiously. Sweet Farore, Raya was in on it.
“It’s going perfectly. I think that he suspects something, but he doesn’t know what,” Lizzi answered, still smiling. She had been watching me.
“Oh, good then! I’ll be happy to help in any way, you know.”
“Thank you for the offer, but I think I have this all under control,” Lizzi said, writing something down, grinning widely and then showing it to Raya, who laughed loudly before walking away.
“Just let me know how it goes, then,” she called over her shoulder.
After a few minutes, Lizzi closed her journal with a snap and stood up, tucking the book away in the folds of her coat. As she walked away - most likely to put her plan into action - the book fell out of her pocket.
No time to waste; I picked up the journal quickly and flipped through the pages. After a half hour of trying desperately to find any evidence of Lizzi’s plan, I finally came to the conclusion that she was careful… too careful. For all I knew, she had dropped the journal on purpose. There was one thing I could do, though; I would try playing her bluff, and hope it worked. I took the small pencil she had tied to the journal and ripped out a piece of paper, writing ‘I know’ on it.
A short walk later, I was standing in front of Lizzi’s chamber. After making sure that Lizzi wouldn’t see me, I slipped the journal underneath her door.
~~~~
As I had expected, Link swooped down on the journal as soon as I dropped it. As planned, he saw nothing incriminating, even though I had put my plans in the journal. I loved making up secret codes; it was fun. I also loved the fact that Link completely over-estimated me. I waited a few minutes before going and recovering the journal. Attached to the journal was a note which read I know.
“I’m sure you do,” I whispered to myself, smiling.
Now was the time to act. “Time to go,” I said, tucking away all of my belongings, and a large bag of rupees that Raya - the little girl in the market place - had lent me. There was no way of telling if Link would follow me, so I was stuck with a thread of doubt.
The dangerous part came next. I had already been outside today, so I couldn’t go out the main door of the castle, at least not without arousing too much suspicion. That had left me with a dilemma, which Raya had solved… unfortunately. She had suggested I exit through the window of my room. I knew how to get out of a two story window without killing myself, but my window opened out onto a freaking tower. One wrong move was instant death, but - as Raya had aptly put it - I wasn’t coming up with a better plan. Damn her logic.
I quickly strapped on the ‘ninja claws’, as my brother called them, and slipped out the window, the claws digging into the stone. One, nerve-wracking descent later, I was safely on the ground, slipping through the shadows. The one time I dared look over my shoulder, I couldn’t see anyone who had noticed me.
As we had planned, Raya met me directly outside of the city.
“Do you think he followed you?” she asked, handing me a scroll.
“No way to tell. I didn’t dare try to look for him, and if he did follow me, he’s very good at sneaking,” I replied, taking the scroll and tucking it away.
Before I continue, I need to explain about the scroll. Raya had approached Zelda earlier that day, and asked her to seal the scroll - make it look official. She had agreed. The scroll itself was basically just a complete outlining of the plan, but looks can be deceiving. The bag of rupees and the scroll were supposed evidence to a crime.
“Okay… so what do we do now?” Raya asked.
“We walk,” I said, moving quickly.

THE CAT HAIR WIZARD
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#2 Old 1st Apr 2012 at 11:48 PM
Okay, so yeah, I will be updating after I update the next chapter on deviantART. I'm also sorry if it's kind of hard to read, or boring at times. When I get into the main line of the plot, things well start to get more interesting.

THE CAT HAIR WIZARD
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#3 Old 8th Apr 2012 at 1:30 AM
*bump* Derpy Chapter Eleven

THE CAT HAIR WIZARD
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#4 Old 13th Apr 2012 at 9:37 PM
<bump> Chapter Twelve

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#5 Old 5th Jun 2012 at 1:39 AM
*more bump* I hated writing Chapter 13. It sucked... really bad.

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