-Link-

Link meditated in his own way, but rather than sit alone or work, he wandered the streets. He saw life in the capital and let his mind blanking. Being from a merchant plantation, he was amazed by the glamor of everything sold, and how people dressed, but he also recognized that this was partially illusion. The silk looked delicate and noble, but it was grown by worms who ate berries. The people wore makeup, but it was to cover something up. People were dirty and worked, and others were clean and didn't.

What was his role in all this? He always said he was destined for greatness (much to the annoyance of most of his village), but to have it stated by someone who knew things... It made it something a touch more real. As a war orphan, he was left with the message that his parent was a great general. As a boy, soon to be a teen, he trained and was filled with so much energy and resolve he didn't always know what to do with it. (When he wasn't training or working, he was usually doing something stupid, like most boys.)

"Pft... Like I need a talking fly to tell me I have a destiny. I already know that." Link smirked despite the butterflies in his stomach.

As he walked, he bumped into some cloaked men. He made an effort to apologize, but he stopped mid-word when he saw the blood-stained weapons hidden beneath.

"Watch it, brat." A gruff one shoved the boy aside.

"Wait. Look at his sword." Their leader said. He didn't look as ugly and gruff as the others, but had a dangerous beauty to him. The kind of man who could woo women one minute and throw them away the next.

Seeing the shock in Link's eyes, he knew the boy was alerted, and with a blade that fancy, the boy either was a thief, or had connections... Namely in the palace. They couldn't take the chance. He reached out as quick as a snake and put a gentle hand on Link's shoulder. Link tried to pull back, but the man's grip was firm. "Let's go for a walk."

"No, no. I'm good." Link chuckled nervously. His eyes avoided the man's sharp gaze as he looked for an exit, but he was surrounded. "I've already walked. I was actually just thinking of sitting down. Besides, I don't know you."

"Then let's go sit." The man smiled. "I'm Kei Ki. Now you know me."

"Hey, that rhymes!" A man said.

"Shut it."

They took his sword and shoved him between them. In their midst with tight hands on him, Link found himself walking through the capital back alleys, far out of sight of the main streets... and the soldiers that patrolled them. Link gulped. Was his supposed destiny to die in the crevice of society?

He could imagine Midna shaking her head in shame, and the whole world laughing at the son of a general rotting in trash heaps amongst the rats.

Link resisted and tried to get away, but the men held him tight with his arms behind his back. Try as he might, he was a boy. A strong boy for one his age, but still a boy.

To his surprise, they did not kill him. Even the men were surprised by this, whispering among each other why Kei Ki didn't just turn around and behead the boy as he had so many others. They figured there was a purpose behind it, or maybe Kei Ki was trying to find just the right place to do it. Link didn't much like either option.

The alley opened up to reveal they were approaching the temple from the back side. The men climbed atop each other to get over the wall. Link saw his chance and tried to dash away, but Kei Ki was already on him, literally throwing him to the ground and sitting on him. Link bit his ankle and received dizzying punches to the face in turn.

"Someone throw me their cloak! The boy is a fighter." Kei Ki laughed.

Kei Ki rained punches down on Link until the boy stopped resisting. Link wanted to continue, but he felt his brain churning with each blow. He could barely see straight. With his eyes spinning, he felt Kei Ki lift him and wrap him. A moment or two and he was wrapped in a cloak and tied in someone's belt.

"Why is it always sacks!" Link exclaimed.

He was picked up and thrown over some man's shoulder. The group entered the temple from a backdoor. The temple was quiet and seemingly empty as the group walked. It was not a day nor hour of worship, but Link thought he would have seen at least some priest.

They walked up flights of stairs towards a tower in the temple, opened a door that had its lock broken, and they found the priests. Gagged. Link's eyes widened. Two of them were bleeding horribly and the rest were bruised. Link was tossed onto them.

In front of the priests were a group of people wrapped in ribbons of cloth from head to toe. Over their chests were emblems of eyes, but the red eyes were painted over in black. They possessed a number of weapons ranging from short scythes, to short swords, to knives, to bows. The man leading them had a helmet with four masks, one on each side, and two scythes on his back. The man with the four-masked helmet loomed over the priests, and judging from how the priests looked fearfully back...

They were screwed.

"~A boy?~" The four-masked man wondered. He seemed to... sing it. Or he was whimsical in his speech. Link couldn't say, other than the fact he sounded weird.

"Check the emblem on the hilt of his blade. He has a sword from the palace. The last thing we need is them catching wind of us before its time." Kei Ki replied.

"And you didn't think to kill him!" The helmet spun on the man's head to an angry face.

"Bodies tend to get noticed. As an assassin, you yourself know this."

'Assassin?!' Link gulped. What kind of crap was he in!? Who were they assassinating? Wait... If they were wary of a boy from the palace... then... oh no. He needed to tell Zelda! But how? He was tied up, surrounded, and yelling wouldn't get him anywhere. Wait! He had some kind divine power right?! Or at the very least... the mark of power. Maybe he could do something with it!

Having no idea how, Link closed his eyes and focused his thought into his hand. He pictured his thoughts as a bird being sent to Zelda. Or Ganondorf. Or the Fae guy. Or whoever could read his thoughts!

Meanwhile, the assassin loomed over them. His helmet shifted around continuously, not stopping on any one face. "Tell me, High Priest. Who paid you to declare Zelda the heir?" The assassin asked.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about." The High Priest said.

"Wrong!" The man smacked the priest. Blood splattered across the floor. "You cannot tell me you were not paid! The records pan out. You received a very generous donation just before the girl arrived. A few days later, some girl from Zhao shows up in the arms of the traitorous Shadowmaster, you declare her heir, the true king is dethroned, and civil war plagues the land. Who paid you!?"

"We receive donations from the palace, the nobles, and all of Qin regularly! We are paid as well as any major faction in Qin! Running a church across Qin is not cheap!"

"Do you take me for an insane fool!?" The bat-shit crazy man with the spinning helmet yelled.

"Uh..."

"Do you take me for a liar?!" The helmet snapped into place on an angry face. The assassin pulled out a scythe blade, picked up the high priest, and held the blade to his throat. "You are a crooked priest and a liar! Not me! You're the liar! You are involved in a plot against Qin, and have been so from the very beginning! Now who paid you!"

"I-I don't-"

"Ryo!" Another priest yelled fearfully.

Everyone went quiet. The High Priest, the assassin, the other priest's whimpering also stopped. Even Kei Ki stopped whispering and muttering with others in the background to look at the priest who spoke.

The assassin turned his head completely to the one that spoke, almost defying the way his spine sat on his shoulders in doing so, cut the scythe across the High Priest's neck, and whispered, "Ryo paid you all?" Link felt a chill go down his spine.

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The High Priest fell to the ground gagging on his blood, and the other priests yelled fearfully and begged as they backed away. The assassin turned the rest of his body to align with his head and he stepped up to the priest that spoke. The helmet on his head started to spin.

"Ryo paid you." The assassin said.

The priest nodded.

"Impa brought her here in secret."

The priest nodded again.

"And you declared the child as the heir."

Once again, the priest nodded.

"Based. On. What? Did you have a vision? Did the Goddesses come down and tell you? Did Chancellor Ryo pay you?"

The priest looked with terror at the dead High Priest. He whimpered, "O-only he knew. He demanded to be a-alone. Wh-when he came out. He sa-said that girl was," The priest hesitated as the assassin lifted the blood-covered scythe, "king."

The assassin's head snapped into place on sad. "I understand now. We have to kill the princess. We have to kill Shadowmaster Impa. And we have to kill Chancellor Ryo. He has Reida's father, the governor, in his pocket, and Reida has King Kyou's ear. By Kyou! how deeply Ryo's web goes!"

Kei Ki snorted, "Kill the princess and Chancellor Ryo? That will set the country in chaos. Why not just kill the entire Qin hierarchy while we're at it?" He added sarcastically.

"I like where your mind is going! But let's do this one step at a time! We may have to kill King Kyou as well if Lady Reida goes near him again!" The assassin said cheerfully. "But first!"

The assassin kicked the priest in the stomach, grabbed his hair, and shoved his face into the ground. He produced a knife from his vest, placed it under the man's neck, and plunged it in. The priest gurgled on his own blood and fought against him, but the assassin had a firm grip on his hair. The priest gagged and thrashed, but with his life literally spilling out of his throat there was only so much he could do before collapsing face-first into a pool of his own blood.

The assassin stood and wiped the knife on the priest's white clothes. He sheathed it. With a snap of his fingers, the assassin walked out the door followed by his followers.

"What of the others?" Kei Ki asked.

"~Kill them.~" The masked man sang.

Kan Ki sighed and scratched at the mess of hair on his head. "Weirdo. Go on, I will take care of them. You know the plan." He waved off with his hands.

With a nod, every bandit and rebel left the room except for two others who, judging from their familiarity with Kei Ki, were his lieutenants. The lieutenants lunged into the mass of priests, and forced them all to bow with their heads down in a line. Link, still rolled up in a sack of robes, was thrown among them.

'Shitshitshitshitshitshit!' Link hissed in his head. Why wasn't his power working?! Shouldn't he be able to get a message to the others? Or pull out fire like Ganon? Or shoot exploding arrows like Zelda?

Kei Ki pulled out a blade and in one swipe beheaded the first priest.

But what could Link do? So far as he knew, nothing! Nada! Zilch!

Another priest fell without a head.

All Link had done up to this point was be a participant in a battle at the palace... and know people. Midna had done great things in a short time. Zelda had taken a nation and stood and looked kings in the eyes. Ganon was already a lesser king and probably had a number of accomplishments in his name. What was Link to all that?

A third priest lost his head.

Link boasted a lot. He was the son of a great general. Bah, he was a fool! It was a statement he used to explain his dreams of becoming great, but for all of his dreams what did he do? Nothing!

Fueled by anger, Link threw his head forward. Whether by luck or providence, his thick skull collided with one of the lieutenant's crotch standing just in front of him. The man squealed, grabbed himself, and fell to his knees. The other's laughed at the humiliating display, and Kei Ki stopped momentarily to see the grown man cry about how his grandbabies were aborted before they had a chance.

"Wait..." Kei Ki said. "Where's the brat?"

Link was missing and the door was open.

Growling, Kei Ki threw open the door with a crash and bolted out. It didn't take long to find Link, but seeing Link crawling on the ground like a worm on steroids left him momentarily bewildered. He couldn't help cackling in laughter.

"You're fast for a boy tied up in a bag," Kei Ki complimented him.

Kan grabbed Link by the feet and lifted him off the ground upside. Link wriggled and struggled and swung back and forth. With his hands tied within the sack, he could only aim to do damage with his head.

"You have any idea how many times I've been stuffed in a sack!? I'm a sack-master!" Link exclaimed. "Now fight me properly you shitter!"

"Why would I do that?" Kei Ki questioned, still holding Link. Next moment Link's head collided with his kneecap, and he fell to his knees as they buckled. Link, unfortunately, fell on his head. "Oh, you're a feisty one! As you wish!" Kei Ki took his sword, pinned Link to the ground, and cut into him. Link gasped.

The sack unraveled.

Link looked at himself and patted himself down looking for blood. He didn't find any. The man had cut only the ropes holding him together. Kei Ki stood and dropped a second sword by Link.

"You want to die on your feet. So pick it up." Kan declared. "Or I'll cut your head off right here and now. I don't have a problem killing a boy."

Link gulped. He took the sword, a bit bigger than he was used to, and stood to his feet. He barely had time to steady his stance before Kei Ki was swiping at him with a quick thrust. Link narrowly deflected it. He felt the sting of blood on his cheek as it whisked by his head.

The sharp pain sharpened his mind. This was real. This wasn't a joke. This wasn't a spar. This wasn't war where he might have backup. This was survival at its core, with him being completely alone.

Link swiped back at the much taller man. To his fear, the man easily deflected and lunged forward. He shoved his knee in Link's face followed by the hilt of his sword. Link rolled on the ground briefly before rising from his knees. He felt blood trickle down his face. Already there was blood over his eyes, but he kept his sharp vision on the man without flinching.

Kei Ki merely smirked. It angered Link how the man was thoroughly enjoying himself toying with him.

"I like the look in your eye," Kei Ki said. "That's the look of a man who has seen death, and is willing to kill..."

Kei swiped his sword playfully. Link blocked them, but then the man wasn't really trying to kill him at the moment. Every blow made Link take a step back and brace against him.

"I heard it said once," Kei Ki reminisced. "That the worst thing a man can learn is how easy it is to kill. I understand what he means. Knowledge like that takes away innocence. I, though, think of it as freeing. Got a problem? Just kill it. Want money? Kill someone. Face it. Killing is an artform! It has finesse and beauty in its craft!"

Link blocked another heavy blow, but the impact still hit his head. He was thrown side-ways into the railing. The world spun before his eyes. He couldn't make out Kei Ki anymore. Kei Ki punched him in the face. Link's grip on his sword loosened and fell over the railing.

"Beheading people is just another way of killing, but people put fame to it because of its finesse as opposed to plain murder! I murder just as much as anyone else and I'm famous just because I do it differently!"

Kei Ki punched Link in the other side of the face, grabbed his collar, and threw him over the railing. Link though, unable to see properly anymore, reacted to touch and grabbed the man's wrist tightly. He dangled over the open air. Kei Ki, still being entertained, grabbed Link by the hair and lifted him up. Link yelled in pain as his hair was being pulled at the root, but he refused to let go. Kei Ki spun and threw Link into the wall. Link hit his head and most of his spine in the impact against solid stone, and fell to the ground numb. Kei Ki let go.

To Kei Ki's surprise, Link lunged forward and with what remained of his strength, bit down on Kei's leg. Unfortunately for him, Kei wore heavy leather. Kei chuckled and kicked the boy back into the wall. Link collapsed against it, defeated. He no longer had the strength to move. His body was battered and numb, and his head spun and ached from constantly being knocked into stone.

"We're not so different, you and I. We have both killed." Kei Ki mused.

"No," Link muttered. "We are nothing alike. I fought in war. You're just a murderer."

"And you don't think war can be murder? You don't think I can bring my art to war?"

Link didn't respond.

"War and murder are the same. Both are equally ugly and equally beautiful. There is strategy and finesse to war. Why else would there be glory in it?"

"Shut it." Link whispered. "You act like you know so much so why don't you prove it? Oh, wait. You can't! You're a shitter scum-face murderer. Yeah, its ugly. It leaves villages destroyed and people dead but there is NOTHING beautiful or glorious about it..."

Link glared at him through his blurry, blood-stained vision as blood poured over his eyes. He had lost Midna to war, and he had seen the villages burned to the ground in the all-encompassing thing called war. The devastation to the capital that echoed all through Qin was no small thing. Once he had made statements in ignorance that who sat on the throne didn't matter to peasants, but he couldn't have been further from the truth. A strong, stable throne brought security to a nation. So even though Link may seek war, it was not for glory. Not anymore. He felt the call to war because it was the blood that flowed through his veins, and it was what kept the throne stable and safe...

Kei Ki looked back down at Link, an unreadable expression on his face as he searched out Link's eyes.

The man's lieutenants left the side-room, their weapons coated in blood. One of them, a scrawny woman covered in jewelry and tattoos said, "It is done. The priests are dead. Hehehe. Looks like the boy put up a cute little fight."

She stood by Kei Ki and looked down at Link. "Done having fun? Shall I finish him?"

As Kei Ki did not respond immediately, she brought up her sword and swiped at Link's head. He flinched, and blinked to find the sword stopped short of his head. Kei Ki had thrust his arm out to stop her hand.

"Kei Ki?" The woman questioned.

Kei Ki's eyes never left Link's own, his expression unreadable. "Boy. I accept your challenge."

"Huh?" Everyone asked in various levels of surprise.

"You're right. War is ugly. But it is also the greatest painting canvas I could ever ask for! So I will show you beauty of death! I shall bring my art to war!"

Link and the lieutenants looked at him in equal surprise and bewilderment as he made his firm statement. Kei Ki sheathed his sword, turned, and left. "Come. We have a nutcase to deal with."

The lieutenants followed after him. Link stared as they left. He could not believe his senses. He was beaten up, exhausted, and try as he might to come to his senses, the world was spinning before his eyes. Add that to the fact that the bastard who beat him up, and executed the priests, left him alive based on a challenge of some sort to which Link didn't grasp, and he was just all around confused. It felt like a dream, but he knew from how much pain he was in that this was real. Painfully real.

He whispered, "Wha-what just happened? Oh, Din! Is this how everyone feels with me?!"

A second or two passed.

"THE PRINCESS!" His eyes widened. The palace was in danger! Spurred on, he found new energy and used it to get up. It was a poor decision. The world spun harder and he collapsed. This was a million times worse than the time he snuck a bottle of sake. He didn't have the strength to lift himself up. He groaned, "Urgh! One minute. Maybe two."