Tears of the Fallen

~ Prologue ~

“No, this cannot be!” I screeched, tears pouring over my cheeks. I fell to my knees and pounded the ground, screaming ‘no.’ Link stepped forward and glared at the faint remains of the flames that had engulfed the only home we had ever known. He just stared angrily at the piles of ashes, cursing under his breath. I growled and snarled, almost unable to control my temper. A few survivors from the fire were scattered on the ground around us, gasping and crying and screaming. “Twenty-three.” I heard Link murmur above me. I stood and looked at him, confused. “What?”
“Twenty-three, including us, survived that fire. Twenty-three out of one hundred and six.” He said again, clearly figuring out the ratios in his mind. The anger and pure loathing I felt was completely overpowered by shock as I looked around. While some sat there, looking dumbfounded, others sat with large, bleeding wounds that seemed impossible to heal.
Then, off to the side, I noticed the large grouping of bodies that were thrown carelessly to the side, the bodies that had been collected by the Elite Force. Several of the children who were old enough to understand honored the dead the way they had known their whole lives.
I shifted uneasily and cringed slightly as the cold metal of the .44 caliber hand-gun touched the bare skin of my thigh. My jack-knife was tucked neatly in a hidden compartment in the sole of my boots. I marked where my weapons were as frequently as where the soldier’s weapons were. If, at some point, I would ever need to fight them, I would be prepared. I sighed and slowly trudged through the rain puddles that quickly refilled with fresh rain from the sky. I made my way over to the half-honored dead and instantly recognized my cousin’s silver bracelet. I couldn’t take anymore.
Bent completely on pure rage, I sprinted towards the nearest guard, leaped onto his back and dug my teeth into the back of his neck. My canines dug deep into the broken skin and found the strong pulse within the jugular.
The warmth of the blood that spilt all over my tasted sweet, as any result of revenge would. I pulled out my knife and shoved it into the open wound. The soldier cried out in pain as his knees buckled beneath him slightly. I slowly twisted the small blade in a circular motion, completely immersed in the hate that wanted him to be tortured.
Soon, I felt a strong tug on my shoulder that pulled my off of him. “Amari, pull yourself together! Revenge is not the way to go!” I heard Link shout; I caught the little trace in his tone that he somewhat approved of this. Still snarling, I broke lose and stomped onto the handle of the knife. The entire knife disappeared into the man’s back, the man whose eyes rolled back into his head as he collapsed to the ground.
Once I had regained my sanity, I suddenly became fearful that I would have to suffer the fate of my beloved parents. The guard pointed at me and pulled his finger sharply across his neck. Link gasped and stepped in front of me, curving his arms backwards around my in a shield-like formation. “Please! She did not mean it! Spare her!” he shouted, sincerely worried. I cowered slightly behind him, a low whimper escaping my lips.
The Elite Sergeant circled around us until he stood behind me. He leaned in close and whispered, “You got lucky, kid. Next time… you WILL lose your head.”
He pulled back and came around front once more. He sneered deviously as he shouted, “Long live KING Ganondorf!” His fellow soldiers soon echoed, “Long live King Ganondorf!”
They mounted themselves upon their horses and rode off, leaving us with the extremely traumatized children.
By that point, I was shaking. Shaking because of fear or hatred… that, I did not know. All that I did know was that if I could not take out my hatred out onto the person for whom it had formed, I would work my way up from there.

~ Chapter One ~

Breathing hard, I sprinted towards the tower of boxes. I turned on my heel and pressed my back up against the wood. I pulled the gun close to my face so that I could see what I was doing. I swiftly pulled out the barrel and began reloading it. Once it was full, I popped the barrel back into its place. I whipped around the corner and released a flurry of bullets at the Elite Guards. Several of them fell to their doom from the rooftops while other collapsed to the ground below. The remaining soldiers dodged and came running at me. Once they were only a few feet away from me, I kicked the piles, causing the boxes to topple over them.
Cursing under my breath, I turned and ran around the corner. I shoved my shoulder up against the metal door of the house on that side. The door swung open easily and I quickly stepped through, pulled the door closed behind me, and leaned up against it, panting. Link notice my entry immediately and stood. Sweat poured down the side of my face as I gasped.
A large, sinister grin came across my face and I laughed. “They’re after me, Link. The Elite Guard. Are you ready to rumble?” He stared at me, completely expressionless. He walked over to the tall closet shoved in the corner of the room. He pulled out a long-range sniper rifle and tossed it to me. I caught it in one hand and grinned. “Ooh. Looks like I get a new toy today.”
Link chuckled and armed himself with two automatic pistols. “Please, Amari. Don’t break this one.” He pleaded. I smirked and laid the middle of the nozzle on my shoulder. “Well… I’m not making any promises.” I mused, laughing.
We stepped out of the room and sidled to the edge of the house.
Link and I have had to live our lives like this ever since we were little. Coincidentally, we both lost our parents at a really young age. We only knew their names. We were raised in the same orphanage, along with Mara and Serenity. Serenity was Link’s little sister and Mara was my cousin. For poor orphans, we thought that we had it good. But, when I was seven, Ganondorf escaped from the Sacred Realm once again and disposed of the Royal Family. Ganon was, from then on, considered our country’s “patriarch.” None of the Family members remained after he took the throne.
Even though he was King, he never had too much use of the castle. As our country’s technology advanced, he ordered that the castle’s main use be a university. So, now we have the University of Hyrule. Six years later, he commanded his troops to burn down the orphanage. There were 106 orphaned children living in there when the troops burned it down. Afterwards, only twenty-three remained.
Link, who was fifteen at the time, and I took the remaining children under our wing and took care of them until they found foster parents. Soon, no one else was left. Mara had died in the fire, along with several others. Serenity was sold into slavery two days before then. Link and I, with no where else to turn to, lived on the streets until five years later, when we came across an abandoned warehouse.
The warehouse was filled with weapons, ammunitions and bullet-proof vests. Well, we both assumed that we were old enough to fight and loaded ourselves with weapons. We stashed the weapons in the basement of the old potion shop in the city of Cardania. When the owner caught us stashing, she simply took us in. When the old hag passed away, we took over the shop. No one ever came there, anyway.
We had just started messing around with the Elite Guard, Ganon’s strongest troops. We would destroy all of their weapon storage rooms, confuse them until they separated, and vandalize their homes. But, we were never caught. No one ever knew that we were the ones causing all of the trouble. We weren’t officially considered refugees until the day that a stranger came to town.
We carefully inched around the corner, just enough to see the plaza. The Guards were running around frantically, looking around for me. I smiled to myself, finding their confusion amusing. I kept low to the ground and scurried over to the wall of a nearby pavilion. I slowly poked the nozzle around the corner. I zoomed in on my target: the Elite Guard farthest from me.
I looked at Link; he nodded, signaling for me to pull the trigger. Once I did, I pulled the gun to my side and hid it from plain sight. The bullet hit dead on and the soldier cried out in pain before he fell to his demise. The soldiers who had previously been scuttling around flocked around this fresh body.
I heard the captain shout, “What happened!?” I hid around the corner again and, while closing my eyes, formed my hand into a fist and pulled it down slowly in a victorious manner. I looked over at Link, who rolled his eyes and leaped up to the roof; I did the same on my side. We both crouched low to the roof and crawled to the edge to watch the mayhem.
I watched, hoping that I would get another chance to take one down. Unfortunately, at the very moment, a tall man came from around the corner, also armed with a gun. I cursed silently, scolding the foolish man in my mind. The captain pointed at the man, who started to run away. Several troops began to run towards him. The captain held back, but still armed himself.
I flexed my muscles, preparing to stand. I heard Link whisper a sharp “no” to me. I looked at him. “Why not!? I came here to fight some guards! Not play camouflage!” I whispered back, sharper the he did.
“I don’t care! You can fight them off while you’re protecting that man.”
“Oh, great! Now it’s a cavalry rescue! What’s next, a group hug!?”
He sighed, shook his head and slid down the roof until he reached the cobblestone plaza. I rolled my eyes and followed behind. Before he could take a step, I caught his ear and whispered, “You owe me for this. Next time, I am NOT going to play the ‘good cop’ card.” I smiled jokingly, loosening up the tight, intense atmosphere. Link smiled back, trying hard not laugh.
All playfulness aside, we held our weapons out in front of ourselves and slowly sidled to the edge of the building where we had last seen the man. I peeked around the corner and saw the man backed up against a wall. I switched places with Link and pulled the rifle’s carrying strap over my head. I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of my flash grenades. Using my teeth pull out the seal, I threw the grenade blindly around the corner. I heard the loud explosion, followed by randomized shouts. “Go!” Link shouted. We both stepped out from behind the building and fired openly into the translucent cloud of flash powder.
A few thuds and screams of agony called out from behind the quickly fading smoke screen, muffled slightly by amount of flash.
Once my rifle was out of bullets, I threw it aside and pulled out my twin pistols, wasting no firing time. I advanced on the remaining soldiers while Link went to help the man.
I fired heartlessly at them, not allowing guilt or anger distract me. By this point, I was able to control my emotions almost as well as Link could.
Link led the limping man back to the old shop while I continued to hold off the soldiers. Before Link had led the man around the corner, I was already behind them. “I guess you could say that I’ve had my fun for the day.” I said casually, keeping my face as expressionless as possible. Link rolled his eyes, but did not stop. Before I could ay a hand on the doorknob, I heard a low click behind me.
I instantly pulled out my recently reloaded pistols and aimed for the figure that emerged from the shadows behind us. The captain held his ground, not lowering his rifle. “Tch. You again? Hadn’t you had enough?” I snarled, narrowing my eyes.
The Elite Guard’s captain recognized me at once. He was unable to keep the shock from showing up on his face. He shook it off and replaced his finger back onto the trigger. I smirked. “So, I’m guessing by that look on your face, you remember me, too? Aw, how sweet. Unfortunately for you…” I inched forward slightly, signaling that I would not be moving anytime soon. “I’m not a helpless child anymore.” I pulled back on the triggers simultaneously. The guard’s shoulder lurched backwards, as if it had been pushed back. Blood seeped through his sleeves and poured onto his shirt. The guard charged forward at me, firing at my chest. I slipped my weapons back into their holster and helped Link get the man inside.
Once they were both in the shop, I told Link to get some medicinal fluids to use when bandaging him up. I never listened for a reply. Instead, I leaped into the air and landed behind the soldier. I pulled out my knife and lunged, the piercing through the skin of his back. As more blood poured from the wound, I removed the blade and easily slipped it back into its secret place. The river of blood that flowed from his shoulder joined in with the one from his back. His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to his knees.
I looked down upon this man and spat, “It would have never worked out between us, love. It wasn’t meant to be.” I stepped over him, deliberately smashing the heel of my boot into his nose.
I calmly entered the old shop and found Link searching frantically around the house while the man sat on the couch, bleeding everywhere. Link didn’t look up when he said, “Amari, where did you put the First Aid kit? I can’t find it anywhere!” He dug around in the drawers of our gun cabinet. I sighed and walked over to the counter that represented our kitchen, grabbing the corner of one of the cabinet doors. He looked up at me just in time to see me open the cabinet. Inside, there was a white, metal container with a large red cross on it. “It’s right here. Where you left it last night. Remember?” I mused, rolling my eyes at how forgetful he would be sometimes. He sighed, but made no further comment. He carried the case, opened it up, and pull out a large wad of rolled up gauze. He was just about to wrap it around the open wound, when he stopped and began to reach back inside the first aid kit. “Forget something… again?” I asked, dangling the bottle of medicinal alcohol before him. He gave out a sharp sigh and snatched it out of my hand.
The man just sat there, staring at us in some foreign form of awe. I shivered, his admiration annoying me. I decided to clear up the awkward atmosphere by saying, “So, what brings you to Cardania?” The man shook his head as if he were awakening from a trance. “Huh? Oh, yes, of course. I suppose I should properly introduce myself. I am Reno Shohamaru. I am a scholar from the University of Hyrule. I am here in this town because I have heard tell that a new Legendary Hero has been born into this city, followed by the next Princess of Destiny. The legends state that the two will be found together.
“I am very hopeful that I will find these two such beings. And, I am eternally grateful that you rescued me-“
“Against my will.” I mumbled, glaring at Link.
“- from those guards. They saw that I was armed and thought that I had taken down one of their own. I very much would like to thank you in a proper manner.” We remained in a dead silence for a few moments. “So, you’re from the University? Are you one of those stupid cronies of Ol’ Ganon’s? If so, get out!” I yelled, putting strong emphasis on the word ‘old.’
Reno simply sighed and shook his head. “I came to this town looking for the Hero and the Princess, true enough, but only for a way out of this treacherous rule.”
“Huh!” I gasped, throwing my hands into the air. “Welcome to our world!” Shaking my head I went to our make-shift kitchen and pulled out a small protein bar. Snacking on that, I sat down on the counter and tucked my knees into my chest. Reno stared at me, a small trace of confusion in his eyes. I raised my protein bar as if to say ‘cheers.’
“This is how we live every day. Fighting bad guys, taking hostages and refugees, hiding away from the war that continues to rage on every single day of our entire lives… this is normal for us!” I laughed hysterically and took another bite out of the bar. I threw it across the room and landed neatly into the trash bin.
“But, your movements are so graceful! So perfect and inhuman! How do you do it?” Reno asked incredulously. I laughed again and said, “Well, years of practice, for one. We need to be so extremely agile in order to get away quickly without being noticed. The rest is just… magic.” I smiled devilishly, causing him to shudder. I laughed again, amused by his frightful appearance.
Link rolled his eyes and turned towards me. “Oh, give it a rest, Amari! This guy has been through enough as it is!” He turned back to Reno and smiled in a friendly way, finally finished treating the wounds. “Don’t mind her. She finds joy in scaring children and ruining other people’s lives.” Reno chuckled quietly, as if he were trying to hide it from me.
“Link, apparently, likes to ruin my fun. That’s why I have a low social life. That, and being on every wanted poster in Hyrule. The only reason why I’m ‘wanted’ is because I’m so hot. Everybody loves me.” I sighed, folding my arms behind my head. Both Link and Reno laughed this time. I laughed as well, just to lighten up the mood. “So, you want out of Ganon’s rule as much we do? The only way that we work our way up to the great, monkey-faced brute is by taking out his resources. So far, our plan has worked and he is pretty ticked off. What have you been doing, looking for your little Hero and Princess?” I mused, finding myself sincerely interested in Reno’s tale. His smile disappeared and he sat up, clearing his throat.
“Well, as you now know, there are other places in Hyrule that are working against Ganondorf. I have heard tell that there are a few members of the Elite Guard that are starting to have their doubts. My team members and I are archeologists. We have been studying Ancient Hyrule for over fifteen years! And, so far, all of the information that we have found speaks of a Hero who is supposedly reborn into another form each time that Ganondorf escapes from the Sacred Realm.
“At one point, we came across the ruins of an old temple in Old CastleTown. We asked around in several cities, such as New CastleTown, Rauru, even in the old village of Kakariko! So far… nothing. So, my team members and I split up. I came to Cardania to see if anyone had known about this old temple, but I had just walked in when the soldier was shot in the head from afar. So, the rest is history and, here we are.
“Seeing as you now know of my motives, I must ask you… have you ever heard of the ‘Temple of Time?’”
My usually emotionless tactics betrayed me at the moment that he said the name of that temple. The Temple of Time… his words bounced around aimlessly in mind, moving so it could avoid being forgotten. Even though the name had a strong effect on me, I removed my shocked look before he noticed.
I shook my head and said, “Doesn’t ring a bell. How about you, Link? Anything?” I turned to him. He stood and shook his head. “Sorry. I’ve got nothing.” Link bent over and grabbed the handle of the first aid kit. He walked over to the cabinet in which it belonged and placed it inside. Right as the cabinet door shut, we heard loud pounding from the door. I tensed my muscles, sensing that this pounding came from someone who was not a friend to us.
I snarled and laid a hand on my pistols, still in their holsters attached to my thighs. “I don’t know who they are, but they must hold some sort of threat to us.” I sneered, baring my teeth in a wolf-like fashion. Reno watched the scene from the couch, now covered in blood from his wounded stomach.
Link also kept a hand on his weapon and opened the door. Standing outside were two solemn-faced Elite Guards. I spread my legs shoulder-length apart, my muscle coiling as I prepared to pounce. “May we come in?” The taller one of the two asked. The taller one had short, black hair that stopped just below her shoulders and black eyes as dark as the night itself, which confused my eyes greatly. She was dressed in the normal Guard attire, armored torso, brown boots, brown arm warmers and a rifle strapped over her back as well as a magazine of rifle ammunition. The other was only a few centimeters shorter with long brown hair that fell straight to her waist. Her bright sky-blue eyes sparkled with an uncontrollable amount of hyperness that longed to break free. She looks so young… how could she be in the army? I asked myself, not changing my position.
“What do you want?” Link asked, not holding back his hostile tone. “Who are you?”
“I am Kagome Shikamaru. I am the last remaining Sheikah from my tribe.” The taller one said. She motioned towards the younger one. “This is Chika Ainomu. Her ancestor was the Sage of Light, Rauru.” Chika nodded and piped in, “We no longer enjoy serving Ganondorf and wish that you would let us join you.”
I stepped forward and stole the door from Link’s grasp. “You should have thought of that before you decided to ruin our lives!” I prepared to slam the door in their faces, but Kagome caught the door and shoved back open. “Please! I implore you! Our lives have been ruined just as much as yours have!”
That was the last straw. I completely lost my cool. I narrowed my eyes and shoved my finger into her stomach. “Ruined!? Do you have any idea of what your army has done to me!? I have lost EVERYTHING because of you! My parents, my whole family, my friends, the only home I’ve ever known! I have to live in a war everyday because of you! I have to dream of better times in my life and wake up thinking about how I can never have that because of you! Over all, you are the reason why my life is such a wreck!!!” I ranted, screaming each word at the top of my lungs. I leaned in until my lips were only a few inches from her ear. “You think your life has been ruined? You need a reality check.” I pulled away and made my way to the stairway that lead to the basement, the place that I went whenever I needed to.
Link sighed and followed behind me. “No, Link! I just need to be alone right now!” I shouted, closing the door behind me. I heard him sigh, followed by several footsteps heading up the stairs.
Once I was sure that no one could hear me, I buried my face in my hands and began to cry. I leaned up against the cold stone walls and slowly slipped until I found myself sitting on the ground, my shoulders shaking as I sobbed.
I never liked talking about my past with anyone, much less crying over it. I rarely even talked to Link about it. I just felt that it should be something to forget. But, every time that someone would say that their life is as terrible as mine or worse than mine, I would just lose it and go on ranting about my troubling life.
I sat there in the dark cellar and continued to cry, ashamed of my tears and embarrassed by my short-fused anger. Then, the door swung open slowly and Link stood in the doorway. Even though his face was facing the shadows, I could tell that he held that look of pity on his face. I pivoted around until my back was facing him. “Please, don’t look at me like that. I hate it when people look at me like that.” I whispered, feeling incapable of speaking loudly.
Link came over to me, closing the door behind him, and looked down at me, trying to keep eye contact. I couldn’t help but look into those beautiful blue eyes of his; they captivated me intensely, never letting me go. I stood, wiping away the remaining tears from my eyes. One last tear slid from my eyes once I was standing straight and, before I could wipe it away, Link cupped his hand around my cheek and used his thumb to rub it into my skin. I stared into his eyes, completely mesmerized by his face.
He leaned a little closer to me, close enough that I could feel every single intake of breath he had. The feeling that I was tied to him for all of time felt as old as time itself. It felt as though I had always felt like we belonged together, but I wasn’t quite sure.
I was reassured of this fact as our lips met. This sweet, warm sensation tingled throughout my body, relaxing the muscles that I hadn’t realized I had tensed. My foot lifted off of the ground slightly and my hand moved up from his chest until the hung uselessly over his shoulders. I twirled my fingers throughout his hair and continuously breathed in his sweet, honey-dew scent.
The moment seemed to last forever, hanging onto time by a single thread that threatened to break and leave us suspended in the air forever.
But, when the time slowed down, it immediately sped up and we were standing before each other, looking the opposite way of each other. I blushed and sighed, living once more in the moment that had passed us by. I saw out of the corner of my eye that Link was looking at me. I turned to him, smiling. He smiled back as if to say, “I am never going to leave you.”
I nodded, still smiling. “Okay. I’ll hold you to that. Thank you.” I replied to his silent statement. We both headed back to the stairs and returned to the room, hand in hand.
Kagome and Chika sat on the couch looking up at us. As soon as we saw Kagome’s eyes flicker towards our linked hands, we pulled apart.
“So… what’s this all about? You say that you want to… ‘join us?’ Why should we trust you?” I said, narrowing my eyes at them. Chika shuddered and looked at Kagome, who stood and strode over to me. I saw Link’s hand ball up into a fist as she came closer to me. “I have seen you fight off the soldiers. When I joined the army, it was seven years ago. I am now 23-years-old. So, having seven years of experience in fighting, I would have thought that I had seen it all. I now question the extent of my own abilities after seeing you fight.
“You are extremely skilled in agility, group combat, one-on-one face-offs, stealth and healing. Normally, I would say, ‘Well, I’ve seen better,’ in those kinds of situations, but… you have opened my eyes. I will probably never have this opportunity again, so I must ask you again… would you mind if we stayed here with you two? We would like to be trained to fight as well as the both of you.”
“That may never be possible, but, we would like to have at least tried to learn from the best.” Chika piped in, a pleading look in her eyes.
I stared at the both of them, trying to hide my shock. "Well, I don't really know. I mean, hiding run-away Elite Guards in our house seems a little risky." I turned to Link, waiting for his answer. "Well, I don't have any problem with it. I think it would be great having more people supporting the cause." he replied, smiling kindly at them. I ignored their giggling and blushing at him and turned to Reno, who was watching us intently. "Well? What about you?" I said, a hint of annoyance in my tone.He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't really think that I have much of a say in this event. It is, indeed, up to you, Amari."I groaned, not up to the fact of my decision being the final decision. I sighed and folded my arms behind my neck, saying, "What the heck? I need somebody new to toss around, anyway. I'm sick of practicing on a sandbag." The girls smiled and high-fived one another.Link gave me a quick thumbs-up in approval and Reno nodded. "But..." I added. The girls stopped and looked at me, confused. I pointed at them and smiled devilishly, making Chika shudder once again. "We have to lay down some ground rules.
"Rule number one: You do what I say or what Link says. You do that, you'll get through fine. Rule number two: whenever I make you train individually or against one another, don't complain or moan and groan or anything like that. Suck it up and fight. Rule number three and the most important rule: give it you all. Push yourself until you can't be pushed any further. If you do that, you can do anything." I paused and sat down on the kitchen counter once again."We'll commence your training tomorrow. For now, go to the back room. You'll find two unused cots. It's all that we have, but, it works well enough. That room will be yours until I say, got it?" The girls nodded and bowed respectfully, making me feel important. "Of course, Sensei Amari. See you in the morning." they said in unison. They stood up straight and raced to the back room.
I hopped down and walked over to Link, who stared at me in a teasing way. "'Sensei Amari'? And you approve of that...?" he asked, just trying to ruin my fun. I laid a hand on his shoulder and said, “Of course I do! It has a nice ring to it.” I laughed, amused by my own joke. Link chuckled as well, but stopped to smile and stare into my eyes. I smiled back, not wanting to leave him. He laid his head on my hand and kissed it gently. I blushed and smiled even wider. “…goodnight, Amari. I love you.” he whispered, pulling away from me as he headed towards his room. I blushed an even brighter red and my stomach fluttered inside of me. I placed a hand on my cheek and giggled, saying, “Yeah. I love you, too, Link,” even though he could not hear me. I looked over my shoulder to see if Reno was still watching.
His head was buried inside of the pillow and he snored louder than a great grizzly bear. I laughed quietly and tip-toed to my room, closing the door behind me. I plopped onto my bed and pulled a pillow under my head. As my eyes began to droop closed, I remembered that one moment down in the cellar…and smiled myself to sleep.

~ Chapter Two ~

Reno sat up on the couch, still hugging the pillow. He wiped the sweat from his brow and walked over to the stairway that he was sure wasn’t there earlier. He dropped the pillow at the foot of the stairs and cautiously began to climb them.
He soon found himself on the slightly peaked rooftop of a rather large house. He checked his watch and realized that he had been climbing those stairs for over thirty minutes.
He sighed and sat down on a ledge, letting his feet dangle over the rushing water beneath him. He looked up at the moon and marveled at its beauty. “This is a really great place, isn’t it?” he heard a voice call out. He jumped and almost fell over the ledge and into the water. “This is a really great place to just gaze up at the moon, think about your day and forget it again. Don’t you think?” I asked, looking over at him.
I was sitting on the opposite ledge from him. He clutched the spot of his chest over his heart and said, “Miss Amari! You almost gave me a heart attack! I could have-“
“I lied to you.” He paused, not quite sure what I meant by that. “What do you mean by that?”
“When you asked me if I knew about that Temple of Time…” I closed my eyes, a hurt expression coming across my face. “I lied to you. I have heard of it before, but only in a dream.
“In the dream, I’m standing in this large room with a huge staircase. The entire room is made out of ivory marble, by my guess. I ran down the stairs and came in this room. It had a sort of pedestal with a sword in it. I tried to touch it, but it burnt me.
“There were six stained-glass windows all around me, each one with a certain person in it. Suddenly, I’m surrounded by this brilliant light and all of the people come out at me from the windows. In front of me, there is a man who calls himself Rauru.
“Naming them all, starting from the little girl next to him is Saria, Darunia, Ruto, Impa and Nabooru. Then, Rauru says, ‘Do not be afraid, Miss Amari. We are not here to hurt you.’
“By this point, I am utterly confused. So, I ask him, ‘How do you know my name?’ ‘It doesn’t matter how I know you’re name. What matters is that you are in grave danger.’ So, when he says that, I immediately start to freak out, as any normal person would. Then, Nabooru says, ‘There is no need to lose your head, Amari. After all, in another life, you were my student. You’ll be fine.’”
I paused to evaluate Reno’s expression. He scratched his chin and watched me intently. “I am curious about this dream. Please, continue.”
I nodded and started up again. “So, then they all explained to me that they were these ‘Ancient Sages’ and that I needed to find them again. So, I asked them where we were. Rauru told me that… they were waiting for me in the Temple of Time, in a place ‘where even time stands still.’ What do you think it means? Should I go?” I asked, worried and excited all at once.
He remained silent for a few moments, then stood. “Pack anything you can. Wake up Link and tell him to do so as well. I’ll leave a note for Kagome and Chika.”
I stared at him, confused. “Why are we packing?”
“Why, my dear, we are going to the Temple of Time. I would love to meet this Rauru of yours.” He replied, heading back down the stairs. I continued to stare after him, but eventually stood and ran back to my room. I pulled my old suitcase out from under my bed and opened it. I pulled open my closet door and threw anything that I thought I might need on this trip into the bag.
“So, answer me this. Where exactly is it that you’re going?” I heard a voice asked for my doorway. I simply continued packing and said, “I’m not going alone, Link. You and Reno are coming, too. Road trip, I guess.” Link sat down on my bed and watched me with curiosity such as one might find with a cat who is watching a mouse scurry around its cage in fear.
“A road trip, huh? Sounds exciting. Where are we going?”
“Link. We are NOT going to Italy. Get over it.”
I saw him slam his hand onto the bed, obviously disappointed. I stood and looked him directly in the eye. I lightly touched his nose and said, “Now, go to your room. Don’t come out until you’re packed. But, leave enough room for weapons.” I picked up my bag and went into the living room. Opening up the gun cabinet, I pulled out three sniper rifles, four pistols, two ammunition magazines and seven twelve-packs of flash and plasma grenades. I closed the lid, zipped up my bag and placed it the door. Strange enough, a bag was already there. I sighed, stood up straight and said, “Link, I said pack everything you needed, not part of it.”
I turned towards the hallway. He was standing there, leaning against the wall. He was dressed casually; he wore his pair of jeans with the ripped knees, a t-shirt with the official Black Mesa seal on it that he got at the last convention. He had two rifles strapped across his back in an ‘x’ formation. I frowned and said, “Shouldn’t you have packed those in your bag?” He shrugged and replied, “I would have, but I would have run out of room for the rest of my guns.”