-Narrator-

With the disappearance of Link's unit, there was no longer anyone capable of standing against Harken Dragmire. The fight that had been a loss, turned into devastation. The former Royal Guard of Qin was torn asunder until finally they retreated, and as the demon disappeared into the forests to chase after its prize, Harken looked on and watched. He did not know how releasing Ganondorf's demonic form would affect the war, but nor did he care. He found it to be a happy coincidence that the boy was still alive and had grown into a strong man, and more than that, that his power had blossomed and could be utilized in such a manner. Harken hoped the demon would bring a taste of his vengeance to the Qin.

He stood in the shadows, surrounded by tens of thousands of dead, and waited.

Unbeknownst to Link's unit of men, the pillar of fire into the night did more than act as a veil from which the demon rose, it acted as a beacon. To the Zhao who had lost Harken, and were searching for him, they saw the pillar of fire and chased their way towards it. To the Qin who were searching for Harken, that they might kill him, they saw the pillar of fire and moved to surround the location.

The result was that all across the forest, hundreds and perhaps even thousands of skirmishes broke out as Qin and Zhao came across one another. Ouki Mitagi took the largest vanguards personally, and in a sweeping motion, took the location like a scythe. He had hoped to surround Harken, but the Zhao had gotten to him first and fled the place.

But the most devastating thing for the Qin besides the loss of twenty-thousand, was that the Zhao commander predicted how Harken would stir up the Qin and Zhao across the entire forest and set up flags of Qin to deceive them. Qin units who won their skirmishes would see the flags, make their way to the hill to rest, and be promptly ambushed and killed.

Ouki conquered this through simple means. He marched on all Qin flags he had not ordered to be set up and slew the Zhao where he found them. All Qin his army found were gathered together, and like a great scythe he cleared out the forest, killing all Zhao in his way.

However, in the midst of all of this war breaking out across the battlefield, Link's unit was entirely unaware. That is not to say they did not see a part of the conflict all around them. They heard the running of horses, the clashing of metal, the screams of death, and saw movement in the distance all around them. However, they had their own problems to deal with.

Namely a gigantic fire demon with a determination to chase them bordering on the obsessed.

-Link's Unit-

The great beast kept up with them step for step. It was slowed down by the many trees, but that was a faint reprieve as they could not escape it. Its roars filled the night. It's flame hide illuminated the night like hell itself was on their heels. Any sluggers were stomped by its hooves and reduced to dust.

"How long is that thing going to chase us?!" One yelled.

"Don't know! Just keep running!" Kyo Gai ordered.

"Where to!? Where are we running?"

"Don't know that either!" Kyo Gai replied. He looked sideways to where Tou and Hei were running, with Link on Tou's back. Worry was etched into Tou's face. Link was weak and wounded. If they didn't do something soon, he could die. Tou undoubtedly knew that. It didn't take a scholar to know whose blood it was on his back.

On the back of one of their strong men, Solitare roused, groaned, and screamed briefly at the sight of the demon bearing down on them relentless and inevitable as death.

"THE HELL IS THAT THING!?" Solitare yelled. That was the loudest Kyo had ever heard him yell.

"It's a demon." Kyo explained between deep breathes. He was nearly winded and the men were running on not much more than adrenaline anymore.

"We have to do something." Solitare said.

"Yeah, but what? Link is unconscious, possibly dying, and Ganondorf Dragmire was the demon's first victim!"

"No!" Solitare yelled.

Solitare leaped off of the man's back at the demon. The moment Solitare spoke, one of the unit had slowed to the point the demon could reach him. The demon raised his great blade and brought it crashing down.

The demon missed. Solitare peered into its eyes, redirected its attention briefly, and slammed its great blade into the forests near them. The impact shook the earth and the shockwave bent trees. The men were lifted off their feet and blown into the air for a distance. The men roused themselves and gasped. A huge swath of the forest was ash, like the heavens itself had scooped up a part of the forest and uprooted it.

The demon looked at its destruction briefly, confused, before turning its attention on the young boy before it.

"Solitare!" Hei yelled. "Don't do it!"

"Go! Scatter!" Solitare yelled back. "It's a beast. And like a beast it is stupid and easy to control. I will hold it off."

"No! We-"

Kyo grabbed Hei by the collar and threw him towards his brother. Kyo yelled, "Go! We have our orders!"

"But-"

"I don't like it either, but if you want to be stupid enough to die for the sake of sentiment, you will spit on the boy's sacrifice! Accept it and run!"

The men were reluctant, not wanting to leave one of their own, especially one so short and young, against a demon of fire the size of trees, but they did as they were told. The unit scattered in multiple directions.

The demon watched them scatter, and was confused. Which one had its prey? It took a step forward to give chase once more, but the boy leaped onto a tree at its eye-level and directed its attention to him.

"I don't know what you are or where you came from. But you're staying right here." Solitare told it.

The demon huffed. It raised its sword to attack, and Solitare used his tricks to disappear. The demon cleaved down the forest around it, and looked around, confused. Where did the boy go? Growing angry, the demon roared, flared its great wings wide, and with a beat of its wings, leaped into the air, and slammed itself into the ground. A great tidal wave of pure flame spread from its feet into the forest in every direction.

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Solitare's eyes widened and he fled, but a portion of the fire hit him square in the back. He yelled and fell from the branches into the brushes below. The demon did not see it, but did hear. So it loomed closer, looking for him. It stepped closer until it was nearly on top of him entirely. Solitare could not move. His body was numb. He could only look up as the demon stepped to within a few feet of him, but did not look down to see him.

It huffed in annoyance, turned, and marched away in search of prey.

Sometime later, Link's unit would gather together once more. They fled from everything, fire, Zhao, and even other Qin they confused for Zhao, and as they were surrounded, inevitably were reunited. Everywhere they went they had found bodies. The war was in full swing.

They panted and fell to their knees as exhaustion took hold.

"How many did we lose?" One asked.

"Not sure, my squad's accounted for, but..."

"Seems Ryuu Sen lost everyone in his."

"Three of mine were done in too."

"Ryuu Yuu and the other's aren't with you?" Kyo Gai asked.

"We got split up, along with Chu Tetsu, Roen Dono, and Ganon's wolf."

"Shit... Shit!" Hei, hearing the remaining men discuss who was accounted for, fell into despair. He beat his feet on a rock. "The Realm's is this!? Just a little while ago we were sitting around a fire laughing! Why did it turn out like this?! Why did things turn out like this!? Din Damn it!"

"Quit bitching. It's cause we screwed up and couldn't kill da Zhao's boss. Can't be helped."

"We almost had him too." One smiled, a little proudly. He chuckled.

Another laughed, "Thing's would've been pretty crazy if we succeeded. All of a sudden we go from nobodies to heroes of our village to heroes of the state!"

Yet another laughed, "You got that right..."

Hei said, "How can you laugh at a time like this?!"

"Because if we don't... we will break down and cry and fall apart." Tou whispered. He was chuckling himself. "It's okay to laugh, bro. Sometimes there are times you just want to cry so hard... you find yourself laughing. We've had an unbelievable night."

"Yeah, but you know, our captain is unbelievable too. It's because of him we were able to almost do it." Kyo Gai said. "Kid wasn't much when I first saw him. I first looked at him and thought 'Who da realms is this runt?'... but the kid just keeps getting more and more incredible. I don't care he was born a slave. Tou, you better hang on to that kid no matter what. Doesn't matter how many of us die..."

"Damn, right." Another agreed.

Before Hei and Tou's eyes, every single one of the unit agreed with Kyo Gai's words. They were willing to die for Link, for their captain.

It was enough to bring Hei and Tou to tears.

"Why you crying?" Kyo Gai laughed.

"We're from the save village as him! Idiot! No way we can't cry after seeing our Link become such an amazing guy."

Tou said, "What you talking about Hei? This is just the beginning. You really think this unit isn't going places?"

"Damn, right." Kyo Gai said. "Speaking of going places, we should get moving. Link need's care and I don't about you idiots, but none of you look like you know the difference between a heart and liver."

"What's a liver?" Someone asked.

"There you go! See!" Kyo pointed. The men laughed.

It may be a false hope, but there is something to be said about the attempts soldiers make in war to keep morale up. Humor has that way of defying reason, of defying logic, and giving hope. It shakes reality and sees what falls out. So as much as the men were surrounded and filled with death, they found a resilience in the simple ways of life to combat it. They waited a little bit longer to see if any more of their comrades would show up, and then marched out to find home.

But then, as they saw a Qin flag raised on a nearby hill, and hope filled their hearts, they also quickly learned that reality has a way of crashing down on you, both literally and figuratively, as a rain of arrows.

The larger and stronger men shielded the younger and shorter men with their bodies and were riddled with arrows. They were not prepared to meet arrows and did not raise their shields in time. Moments later, a team of Zhao horsemen surrounded them and raised their spears toward them. The one to lead them was Mangoku. Hei did not like the look in his eyes, the man's eyes creeped him out. He looked at them wide-eyed and haunted as a ghost.

"Damnit..." Kyo Gai cursed. He raised his shield and sword and glanced sideways at where Tou and Hei were huddled up in the middle of them. "Tou. Hei. You got him?"

"Yeah." Tou replied solemnly.

"Then you know what you have to do." A moment later, Kyo Gai and the unit charged at the Zhao surrounding them, and Tou and Hei fled into the forest once more.

They made it a fair way before they had to stop and compose themselves. "Damnit." Hei whispered. "The bastard's are pretending to be us now! Where do we go!?"

"Don't know... just keep walking." Tou whispered.

"Tou, you're wounded."

Tou looked at himself. He had an arrow in his side. It didn't go in far. "I think my ribs stopped it."

"That's good." Hei breathed out in relief.

They continued on a bit further, and climbed their way up a hill, before Hei collapsed again. Hei turned to see torches in the distance coming closer.

"Bro, you okay?!" Tou exclaimed.

"I'm okay." Hei replied. He wasn't. He knew he wasn't. He had pulled an arrow out of his side so as to not worry Tou, but the arrowhead had gotten stuck in and was making the wound worse with each step.

Hei tried to stand, but collapsed again. The pain was beyond anything he had ever known. He felt his organs were being cut to shreds.

Yells from down the hill drew their attention.

"Damnit... it can't end like this." Hei breathed. He grabbed a branch and used it as a staff to raise himself up on. "Tou, is Link's heart still beating?"

"Yeah... its weak, but fine."

"So's mine... and so is yours. In that case, Link'd probably call us weak and a couple of shitters or something stupid, right? Heh... guess that damn stubbornness rubs off. Can you still walk?"

"Yeah, but you-"

"Then this is where we part ways." Hei said.

Tou stared, horrified, into his brother's eyes. He had come into this war to protect his brother, and now his brother was basically saying he was going to go and die?! Like Solitare!? Like the guys who didn't return from being scattered!? Like Kyo Gai and the others?!

Tou opened his mouth to argue, but shut it just as quickly. As horrified as he was, he also was shaken by the strength of resolve in Hei's eyes. Hei wasn't crying. Hei wasn't drowning in despair. He was determined. This was not the little brother Tou had followed to war, this was a man willing to do whatever it took.

"Those guys are following our blood trail... I can feel blood flowing from my legs... and I know Link and you are bleeding too." Hei explained. He grabbed his sleeve and ripped it. He handed it to Tou. "I'm going to head off and act as a decoy. You use this to stop the bleeding and continue climbing up... find where the Qin army is. Get Link home."

"But... Bro, if you do that, then..."

"Tou, we left to keep our village safe, right? Well... the way I see it. Link is part of that village." To Tou's further surprise, Hei laughed weakly. "Don't go making that weird face. Not like I plan on dying. Toubi's still waiting for me after all."

Even as Hei said this, he nearly collapsed. He panted painfully, raised himself up again, and put his fist on Tou's chest. Tou wanted to hug his brother, but he had to use both of his hands to keep Link on his back properly, and all of his strength to hold both of them up.

"I'm leaving Link to you, bro."

Hei ran into the forest.

Tou slammed his eyes shut, felt tears pouring from his face, turned, and slowly climbed his way up the hill, cursing fate every step of the way. He stopped after a short distance, gently put Link down, and tied up his own wound as best he could with the cloth Hei gave him, before continuing on.

Tou reached the top of the hill and stopped long enough to turn and look. The torches were moving to the left. Tou didn't know if that was west or what, but it was to his left at the very least. They were not continuing up the hill. Hei had done it.

Tou looked across the forest. The night was still full, so he couldn't make out the trees from the darkness, but at the very least he could see a large army of torches... back where they had met Harken Dragmire and the demon.

"Of course..." Tou sighed.

He took a step to get started on the return journey, and collapsed to his knees. Blood vomited from his mouth, and his side hurt. He put a hand on the wound and felt something break. Blood immediately gushed out of his wound.

The arrows had penetrated bone.

Tou took a moment to breath before raising himself up onto his feet again, adjusted Link, and continued on. "We aren't dying here, Link. No way. A general as fearsome as Ouki couldn't kill us... a demon couldn't kill us... and the Zhao couldn't kill us. I'll be damned if I let this kill us."

Tou descended the hill and marched on. The evening turned quiet and peaceful. He found himself smiling besides himself, suddenly appreciating the simple peace and quiet of a nice walk through the woods. He stumbled a time or two, sure, but he pressed on. This time there was no demon and there was no Zhao to stop him, and Tou emerged into the camp of Ouki Mitagi with the reunited Qin army with Link on his back.

Tou collapsed.