-Village of Jouto-

Zelda's hand pulsed hysterically. The door of the estate burst open. Her eyes snapped open. Instinctively she reached for her sack beside her where her sword, bow, and quiver were. She settled for the sword on quick notice. Thankfully, there was no one attacking them. In the middle of the one-room estate, was the slave boy holding Midna.

This was worrying for many reasons. She was supposed to be at the palace. She was not supposed to be here. She was not supposed to be in the same place as Zelda and thereby revealing the plan. Lastly, she was not supposed to be bleeding.

Zelda had been hearing rumors that the situation in the capital had reached its conclusion, and now the princess had proof. There was only one reason for Midna to be hurt: Kyou had succeeded in capturing the capital in so far as causing a wounded 'Zelda' to flee.

Impa's plan had reached its second stage.

"What the realms is going on?!" Link demanded furiously. His gaze locked on Zelda, and she felt the pulse in her hand pick up rapidly.

Zelda had the faint impression it was her heartbeat, but her heart did not beat this quickly. She was composed, so why was her hand pulsing with an erratic heartbeat? Question for later.

"I don't owe you an answer," Zelda turned her attention to the mayor. "If she came all this way, she either escaped or was let loose. Prepare to flee either way."

"Let loose?"

"So she could be followed. However she escaped, she will be tracked. I promise Ketsu wouldn't hire amateurs."

The mayor would not leave Midna's side. He tried to stop the bleeding, but Zelda could tell from how pale and weak the girl was that she didn't have long left. Zelda insisted, "Unless you can get a doctor now and replenish the girl's blood supply, you are wasting your time. You must flee."

This logical statement, meant in their best interest, apparently invoked a reaction in Link. He snatched Midna's sword off the dying girl's back and pointed it at Zelda.

"That girl has a name! Midna! Say it!" He snapped.

"Saying her name won't help her or us," Zelda replied politely. "You are running out of time. If you insist on staying, then stay. I am done with this foolishness."

"I'm sorry, Princess," Midna muttered in her half-conscious state.

"Princess?" Link gasped.

Zelda sighed. Of course, her cover had to be blown. Oh well, no matter. The mayor knew, and what was a slave to do with the information? It was too fanciful to be reliable. It was a mistake on Midna's part, but Zelda refused to be angry with a dying woman.

Zelda looked down at her, "You did well, Midna. You gave me the feint I needed. I do question your choice in coming here, but I cannot refuse your choice of where to die. It is the very least you deserve. I wish I could offer you more, but the comfort that it will be worth it is all I can provide."

This did seem to offer Midna some comfort, as she stilled and let out a final breath. Zelda moved around Link, and out the door. It was as Zelda feared, the distant village was red with flame and torches grew closer in the distance.

Link chased after her into the rain. He spun her around, "Tell me what is going on! Or I swear by Nayru! Why did she-" Link coughed on his tears. "Why did she have to die!"

"You want the short of it? She was a decoy to protect me and, if need be, to die for me."

He fell to his knees, seemingly too numb to hold himself up any longer.

Zelda looked to the mayor, "Ketsu's army is nearing. They already burned one village. My guess is it was the one Midna passed through. If this escalates, we may be looking at civil war."

"Wh-what do we do?" The mayor asked.

"Gather everyone in the village, take only what you can carry and flee west. Leave Midna. Let them believe they killed me. Do not tell anyone of me, or her death will be for nothing."

"Yes, your highness! Will you be joining us?"

"No." It was better that they didn't know where she would go, for her sake and theirs.

She darted into the darkness away from the town. The clouds wept and raged for the deaths caused today. Lightning illuminated her path in the trees. She prayed a silent prayer that the rebels would not catch the villagers, and she prayed for Midna's soul. She didn't know where Midna would pass on, but she hoped the girl was taken somewhere happier than here. Anywhere was better than here.

Torches!

Zelda slid behind a tree and stopped to catch her breath. They were soldiers. They were fanning out thin to cover more ground. Distant movement told Zelda there were also men without torches in the middle of the formation. Anyone reacting on instinct would run towards this gap in the torches not realizing it was a trap.

'Clever.' She thought. But how to get by? They were coming closer.

Identifying no other way, Zelda ran parallel to them, but someone still caught sight of her. They yelled that someone had escaped. Horses forced their way through the underbrush.

Zelda dropped and rolled. The horsemen's spear pierced the ground where she was. Zelda rolled to her feet, aimed her bow, and let loose an arrow. Light pierced the horsemen and made several trees in its path explode and collapse. The ground shook.

The soldiers panicked momentarily, allowing her only enough time to launch another into their midst. Three men by her count were taken out this time.

The men rushed her. She dropped her bow and deflected an attack with her sword while simultaneously kicking the man where his future children would feel it. She swiped widely, severing a second man's finger off his hilt, but there were too many. Zelda struggled. She was fit for a girl her age, but it would only do so much for her against adults.

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The men forced her face down until she drowned in mud. They gripped her hands and pinned them behind her, and shoved their boots into her spine; only to stop as another entered the fray. They turned their spears on him.

Link stopped with the spears leveled at his chest. He looked angrily down at her. Judging from the irrational fury bleeding from his eyes, the sole thing keeping him from attacking her were the men who were both her captors and protectors simultaneously by the power of irony.

"The princess is mine," He informed the group. Zelda could only sigh. Her cover was blown. She hadn't planned to kill them all, as her guise as a villager would suffice if they fled. Now it was them or her. She couldn't have word returning to Kyou.

The soldiers looked at each other confused, "Princess?"

Out of their midst, a mercenary stepped down from his horse and grabbed her hair to get a look at her. He laughed, "Look at this, boys! We caught ourselves some royalty!" He brought out a large blade and put it up against Zelda's neck. "Double luck for me. I get to cut this pretty face twice!"

Twice.

"I take it you are the one to kill my body-double," Zelda guessed. Hoping her spontaneous idea would work.

"That's right. A good plan you had, fooled everyone. But it seems the Goddesses are smiling on me this day!" He rubbed the sharp blade light enough to make her neck bleed, without piercing the skin. "Kyou will pay handsomely for your head! I can't even imagine how much he-"

Zelda winced as the pulsing in her hand started to burn. A triangle had flashed when she released her arrows, but now a second triangle was forming next to it, searing itself into her hand like a hot iron. Another small light shifted her attention, and Zelda looked to see Link's hand was lighting up beneath his glove.

What? How? Zelda would have to consider this moment later, as it meant something, but for now, there was something more to pay attention to. Link's eyes were angry, furious and wanted to hurt her, but it was a somewhat passive desire, but as the mercenary taunted her, that anger and fury were no longer passive. He shook in the effort to restrain himself.

As she wanted.

"You?..." Link whispered. "You killed Midna?"

One moment he was standing there, the next moment he was in their midst. The soldiers gasped in surprise and turned. He moved fast for a youngster. He swiped at the mercenary.

The mercenary drew his sword and blocked the teen's furious blows. The soldiers split into securing Zelda against the tree and helping their captain, but the wild strikes and constant movement kept them from being able to actively contribute. They spent more effort trying to stay out of the way in the end than anything.

Link was on the mercenary like a dog on a bone. He was throwing everything at the man, every bit of pain, every bit of anger.

Link, despite being young, caught them off-guard. He had trained in his way all his life to be skilled with a blade, strong, and swift. His fury gave him strength, and his instincts led him on, and his passion made him swift. They could barely keep up with his movements with the naked eye as it was. His only setback was that he had never used anything as heavy as a real sword before, so his strikes and aim were off, and the increasingly muddy ground threw off his balance, but it would be a testament to his raging emotions and skill and strength that he had the trained mercenary on the defensive, struggling to keep up.

It reached a point the boy almost seemed to blur. The mercenary struck back at him, but his aim missed. It was as if he had pierced fog. The boy was there, then simply wasn't. The boy retaliated with another shallow strike into the man's torso.

Growling, the mercenary snared him by the hair and kicked him. The kick propelled Link across the ground into a tree. Link fell numbly. He struggled to get up, but the world was spinning and he looked winded.

"Are... are you the princess?" One of the soldiers asked.

Zelda considered them. They were anxious and starting to panic. The princess could try to lie, as even stating the truth didn't necessarily mean they would believe her, but she felt the real question was about whether they knew they were rebels or were kept ignorant. Did they know who they were here to hunt? Foot soldiers wouldn't be informed of the finer details.

Not that it pardoned them for killing innocents, they had sworn to protect.

"I am," Zelda stated. "I don't know what you were told, but Ketsu sent you all to overthrow me and subvert Qin."

Zelda watched as fear overtook them and they squandered amongst themselves. Some wanted to kill her as a liar, some wanted to kill her because she wasn't lying and would have their heads for their treason, and some wanted to spare her as if to hope on her mercy. She didn't look like a princess, but her power gave her divine proof that they had trouble denying.

They were wavering, "I can see you are not like him. You are ignorant."

"We were told to keep rebels from escaping through here!"

So that's what they were being fed.

"Then it is unfortunate that you yourselves are the rebels here," Zelda wiggled enough to show her hand. She willed her power to manifest itself gently. She had only learned to do so much with it, but the least she could do is make it light up. "This symbol proves me to be chosen by Nayru herself. I am the firstborn of the king of Qin. I am chosen by the courts, by the priests, and by the last will of my father to be the heir apparent. Any that try to subvert me rebel against the king, the kingdom, and her goddess."

The men shook in fear until some passed out. The rest decided to release her. They bowed themselves and pleaded for her mercy.

Zelda rubbed her wrist. This was more like it. "What are your names?" They answered. She put them to memory. "Help me, and I will see to it your families are taken care of."

"And what of us?" One asked.

"You have played an active role in mass murder, treason, and civil war. Ignorance only buys you so much understanding... How much mercy I can give depends on how much you play a role in stopping it from going further. Decide for yourself now. Are you with me, or against me?"

"We are with you!"

Zelda nodded. She rose to her feet. Things had nearly gone for the worst, but she had managed to influence the situation back into her favor. Now there was only one thing she wanted here.

Link. Having recognized the symbol on his hand, she was convinced he was part of her vision.

It was at this time that the mercenary knocked Link down, and rendered him stunned. The mercenary paused to catch his breath, "What is this? You lot a bunch of turncoats now? Looks like I gonna have to kill the lot of ya' after I'm done with this brat."

Link struggled to get up, but it was as though all the energy he possessed had left him. His body just wouldn't cooperate.

Zelda understood his problem. He had been winded, his head spun from being thrown into the tree, but more than all of that, Link was afraid. He had likely never been in a real fight.

"Just think of Midna. This man killed her, and he is going to kill you because you are afraid. If you have to, then don't think at all. Just act."

That seemed to get a rise out of him because Link dashed away from the mercenary's blade and swung back with a blow that forced the large man to take a step back.

"Shut up!" He barked. "Shut up! Shut up! You have no right to say her name! None! She had a good, happy life! It would have been fuller over the years. She would have had ten children, a hundred grandchildren, but you and your Din-damn brother had to start squabbling over a CHAIR!"

In his sorrow and need to focus, Link stabbed himself in the leg. It was a shallow wound, but the tears ended. The resolve and focus sharpened with his pain, "I am not done with you, Princess. But first, I'm going to kill the one who killed her."

The mercenary and Link continued fighting. Link wasn't as ferocious as he had been before, but now his blows seemed to carry a bolder weight behind them. With each block, the mercenary staggered. It became increasingly hard to keep up until finally, Link broke the mercenaries blade with his own in a blow that pierced the man's shoulder.

The mercenary fell defeated. Link kept with him as he crawled, but some honourable part of him stilled his blade. Despite his fury and his words, Link hesitated to slay a defenseless man.

"Please, don't make my children orphans!" The mercenary begged.

This stilled Link. He was an orphan too. Was he willing to make more only for vengeance? Taking a deep breath, and feeling some of his anger dissipate in victory, he lowered his blade. It is possible he found it in himself to forgive.

"Oh thank you! Bless you!" The mercenary struggled to his feet. He reached into his jacket to stifle the bleeding.

Next moment his head rolled across the floor. His body collapsed headlessly.

(Scribens edited 3/28/2020)