Repaying a debt
Disclaimer: I have not, do not, and after this, I doubt I'll ever be allowed to work for Nintendo. So, therefore, apart from the fan art that I constantly draw of little Sheik and all my other random anime stuff that I need to scan in sometime, nothing belongs to me. (Apart from a few characters you don't recognise).
Right, it seems I've gone Zelda mad again - oh well, hope you enjoy it; it's a little a/u that I thought would be fun. And - shock - I'm keeping it swayed well off Mary-Sue. But, I am planning something big - I just have to figure out what. Oh, and third person because otherwise it just wouldn't work.
~/*\~/*\~/*\~
"Loki, why must you make me so damned annoyed with you?" she scowled petulantly, her arms crossed. "I don't see why I should even BOTHER anymore - what's the point of saving all these places if I can't even save my own home?" She paced up and down, angrily unhitching her bejewelled sword and throwing it down to the platform on which they stood. Loki sighed, flexed his jet-black wings and nudged the discarded sword with his bare toes.
"Every time you ask me, and every time the answer's the same. Why should you bother? Because YOU have a debt to repay!" The area in which they spoke darkened with his anger.
She nodded ashamedly, and reached out for her sword. "I know. I'm just...weary. I'm ready." She stood up, arms still crossed, sword now clinging to her back, lacking both scabbard and tie - it was kept there merely by the two shoulder blades which had once supported wings, but now could only hold her sword in place with the traces of magic left within them.
Loki stood by her, his wings flapping slowly, fanning her hair back from her face. He placed his eyes level against hers, staring meaningfully at her - she nodded her head in understanding. He rose upwards, away from her.
"To repay your debt," he said sternly, before casting a shimmering portal about her. "Goodbye child." Her face was pale against the glow of the portal, and her eyes, which he so rarely saw, looked pained. His own eyes, dark and deep, held a spark of sadness for her. Then again, he heard the screams of David, and his gaze hardened quickly. He would perhaps forgive her in time - but he would in no way forget.
*
She span within the portal, the history of the new world flashing quickly before her. In an instant, she knew their languages, their customs, legends and traditions. She felt the slowing of the portal, and braced herself for the arrival.
It opened in a wooded area, sending her tumbling over a ground strewn with dead leaves and pine needles. The breath shot out of her chest, and she rolled over, coughing, to watch the portal disappear.
"Here I go again," she moaned half-heartedly. Looking down, she saw her reminder upon her upturned left palm. A cluster of scars made the outline of a pentagon, within which was an everlasting welling of blood under the skin in the shape of a five-point star. "How was I so foolish?" she asked herself the question she had been asking herself for an immeasurable while. Groaning slightly from the winded feeling from the crash, she stood up, and dusted the leaves and needles from herself.
Looking around, she took in the world that she was to aid now. She always learned all she needed to know in the portal journey - but it was nice to discover a few things for herself.
Shining lights danced through the air, and she took them for forest spirits - which told her where she was. The Lost Woods, and not far away was the village of the child-race, Kokiri. She thought for a split second, and then walked over to the deep pool of the water in the clearing to her left. It led to Zora's river, where the Zoras themselves lived. She studied the form she had been given for this quest.
As always, her black hair was cut short, and a pair of black tinted glasses hid her violet eyes. Turning her head to the side, she noted the pointed ears, which would label her as a Hylian. The tunic she wore was black, with black trousers instead of the customary tights beneath. The form would do well enough for what she needed to do.
She turned away from the pool, and used her new ears to figure out which tunnel she should take to leave the Woods. She went from one to another, until she found one through which no tinkling, merry voices of forest spirits could be heard. Assuredly, she marched through, whipped her sword from her back and cut down a mad-scrub just as it rose from the ground.
Now, she became set within a simple code of warrior conduct - no thought, just swift, sure movement. She cut down what enemies that dared get in her way, and made her way to the field. The tunnel between village and field was guarded by a giant deku-baba, which had managed to secure a firm root system and grow larger than usual. She tackled it just as she had everything else, having to be careful, as she had no shield.
When the creature had been decapitated, she walked serenely through the tunnel. She placed her surprisingly clean sword across her back, where it clung like a spider to its web.
The field was immense, to say the least. It looked surprisingly calm - all too peaceful for the bustling place her sources had informed her of. Still - no dark creatures had launched themselves upon her, which she saw as a bonus. After all, there had been other worlds where every moment was spent fighting. Like the demon-world of Vyxenia - it still made her shudder when she thought of it.
She angrily shook her head to clear it of the past. It had been memories that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She just wanted to stop remembering why she was indebted - to forget what she did. But, people seldom get what they want. Or, they do get it in quantities unfitting to be easily controlled.
She stopped thinking, blanking out everything but the information on the terrain around her. She headed directly north from the Forest, shivering as night began to fall. She had no cloak - something she had neglected to bring. She cursed loudly and carried on into the darkness, walking briskly in an effort to keep warm.
Seemingly from no-where, the shadowy outline of a large building appeared. "The Ranch," she breathed, and turned slightly westwards towards it. The rasping sound of a fluttering Poe came to her sensitive ears, and she yanked her sword away from her back. Poes were tricky for those without a shield. She faced it, a low growl escaping her lips as she lunged.
Two hits later, the creature disintegrated and she allowed its spirit to go free. Then she carried on to the Ranch, reaching it without further mishap. She rattled the bars of the gate, and a light spilled out from the stable as the door was opened. A small shadow appeared, quickly coming into focus as a woman not much older than her own form.
"Yes?" she asked quietly, trying to see whom it was.
"I'm just a weary traveller. Could I perhaps stay?"
"Oh, goodness, come in!" the redhead heaved the gate open with a strength unsuited to her small frame. "I'm afraid I can only offer you a stable stall."
"That will be sufficient. Thank you very much, miss?" she inquired.
"Malon, and you are?"
"Alexis," she answered quickly, then realised what she said. Silently, she cursed. She did not use her real name if she could help it.
"Well, Alexis, there's some clean straw and blankets you can use," Malon indicated the furthest stall from the door, and Alexis gladly moved to it. She collapsed backwards onto the scratchy, but soft straw, and almost immediately fell asleep.
~*~*~*~
Loki writhed in his sleep, his dark wings surrounding his otherwise pale form, in a pool of black on the coverlet of his bed. He was dreaming again, dreaming of the crime for which Alexis had been paying the last seven years. How could a child have done it? He did not know; he was merely re- living those days over and over as dreams.
~ She was laughing merrily, hugging the leg of dear David, leading him in some new game or other. She stopped suddenly and signalled for him to wait at the top of the steps. Then she called out, "I bought him, Diabola! My end of the bargain has been upheld!" There was a flash of blood red light, within which a blue figure appeared. ~
He shot up in his bed, wings instinctively wrapping around him as he shivered and wept. "You deserve it, stupid child!" he coughed, eyes narrowed at the shape he could make out through a gap in his wing feathers. He shifted them out of the way, and saw the very reminder he had branded upon her. The pentagon with the five-point star. The pentagram that gave David his power, his kindness and had made him a target. Loki let out another howl, and fell back onto the covers to cry himself to sleep as he so often did.
~*~*~*~
Alexis moaned as she sat up. Straw stuck out at odd angles from her hair, and she raked a hand through it to try and get it out. The attempt failed miserably, and she frowned as the dawn sun hit her directly in the eyes. She was not, and never had been, a morning person, and she didn't plan to start being one any time soon. She fell backwards again, and tried to fall asleep again.
A noise of splashing water startled her, and she crawled forwards through the straw to investigate. "Morning to you too," Malon said in a dozy voice, straightening her back and lifting a half-full pail of water with her. The red hair was pulled back into a haphazard braid - she reached a hand up to push a stray strand out of the way, and the weight of the bucket was too much for her right arm.
In a flash, Alexis leapt forwards and caught Malon in one hand and the bucket in the other. "That was close," she said, a slight hint of worry filtering through. Standing Malon back up, she noticed a fierce bruise across the pale skin of the woman, which had not been there before. She set the bucket down, and studied it. "How did you come by this?"
"I - I - fell. It's stupid really, I'm so clumsy and..." she gabbled, and Alexis cut in.
"I'd heard that excuse more than enough. Let me re-phrase the question - who caused this?" Malon's azure eyes were large, and Alexis noticed the telltale shimmer of un-shed tears. It was the same look she had seen so many times in the mirror.
"Girl! Get out here now if you want your precious horses to see tomorrow!" a scream rent the air, and Malon shuddered.
"Oh Goddesses, you have to go!"
"Is he the one who...?" Alexis didn't need an answer - the fear on Malon's face told all. "Right." She unhitched the sword and made for the door. Malon ran around and stood before it, eyes wide and pleading.
"Don't! You can't hurt him. It's not his fault!"
"Oh, his hand just slipped with the force of an elephant and hit you on the arm did it?" Alexis' glasses flashed dangerously, and Malon cowered, but refused to move. "Move, now," her temper was getting short. Malon seemed to shrink even more, but her resolve was just as strong. "Move, damn you!"
"NO!" her voice was high and tinny, eyes desperately wide.
"You stupid little whore, get your ass out here now!" the voice came again.
"I'm coming," Malon called, and then looked at Alexis. She whispered, "Just go. Don't hurt him; just go."
"But-"
"Go!" she hissed. "Wait," she put a hand on Alexis' arm as she made to leave. "Go out the back. And, do you promise not to hurt him?" Alexis gritted her teeth angrily, and nodded. "Alright. Go, now!"
Malon grabbed the pail and scurried out of the door. Alexis remained where she was, staring at the worn wood of the door Malon had gone through. She reached out for the handle, and then pulled back as a burning shock ran through her left palm. "Promises," she grumbled, before making her way out of the Ranch into the field.
*
Out on the field, it was just as quiet as the day before. Alexis walked doggedly towards to the north, where the main town stood. She knew it would be overrun by re-dead; they were kind of like vampires, but easier to kill as far as she knew. They could paralyse you with their stare, so she would have be careful not to get too close to them.
The town was large, and she ran at full speed across the main square. She dodged around the slow moving re-dead, managing to prevent herself from becoming paralysed with a spectacular diving roll into the courtyard of the Temple of Time.
She looked up in awe - it was huge! No other world she knew of had such magnificent buildings. And that included Hymenia, the most advanced world she had been to, where the telephone was ancient history. She wished for a telephone right now, if only she could call for help if she couldn't fight whatever it was held this land. When she had arrived, shivers had run through her dead wing-blades; they had forgotten the taste of magic. They had also forgotten fear.
Fear was not something she cared to feel often, so of course she was worried. Getting up from her tumble along the ground, she walked up the steps into the immense Temple.
~/*\~/*\~/*\~
Right, that's the opening bit. I really should stop writing these fics, but I love them so much. [Looks guilty] this one kind of appeared in the middle of my 'Of Mice and Men' notes. Oops - oh well, I was gonna type them up anyway!
Disclaimer: I have not, do not, and after this, I doubt I'll ever be allowed to work for Nintendo. So, therefore, apart from the fan art that I constantly draw of little Sheik and all my other random anime stuff that I need to scan in sometime, nothing belongs to me. (Apart from a few characters you don't recognise).
Right, it seems I've gone Zelda mad again - oh well, hope you enjoy it; it's a little a/u that I thought would be fun. And - shock - I'm keeping it swayed well off Mary-Sue. But, I am planning something big - I just have to figure out what. Oh, and third person because otherwise it just wouldn't work.
~/*\~/*\~/*\~
"Loki, why must you make me so damned annoyed with you?" she scowled petulantly, her arms crossed. "I don't see why I should even BOTHER anymore - what's the point of saving all these places if I can't even save my own home?" She paced up and down, angrily unhitching her bejewelled sword and throwing it down to the platform on which they stood. Loki sighed, flexed his jet-black wings and nudged the discarded sword with his bare toes.
"Every time you ask me, and every time the answer's the same. Why should you bother? Because YOU have a debt to repay!" The area in which they spoke darkened with his anger.
She nodded ashamedly, and reached out for her sword. "I know. I'm just...weary. I'm ready." She stood up, arms still crossed, sword now clinging to her back, lacking both scabbard and tie - it was kept there merely by the two shoulder blades which had once supported wings, but now could only hold her sword in place with the traces of magic left within them.
Loki stood by her, his wings flapping slowly, fanning her hair back from her face. He placed his eyes level against hers, staring meaningfully at her - she nodded her head in understanding. He rose upwards, away from her.
"To repay your debt," he said sternly, before casting a shimmering portal about her. "Goodbye child." Her face was pale against the glow of the portal, and her eyes, which he so rarely saw, looked pained. His own eyes, dark and deep, held a spark of sadness for her. Then again, he heard the screams of David, and his gaze hardened quickly. He would perhaps forgive her in time - but he would in no way forget.
*
She span within the portal, the history of the new world flashing quickly before her. In an instant, she knew their languages, their customs, legends and traditions. She felt the slowing of the portal, and braced herself for the arrival.
It opened in a wooded area, sending her tumbling over a ground strewn with dead leaves and pine needles. The breath shot out of her chest, and she rolled over, coughing, to watch the portal disappear.
"Here I go again," she moaned half-heartedly. Looking down, she saw her reminder upon her upturned left palm. A cluster of scars made the outline of a pentagon, within which was an everlasting welling of blood under the skin in the shape of a five-point star. "How was I so foolish?" she asked herself the question she had been asking herself for an immeasurable while. Groaning slightly from the winded feeling from the crash, she stood up, and dusted the leaves and needles from herself.
Looking around, she took in the world that she was to aid now. She always learned all she needed to know in the portal journey - but it was nice to discover a few things for herself.
Shining lights danced through the air, and she took them for forest spirits - which told her where she was. The Lost Woods, and not far away was the village of the child-race, Kokiri. She thought for a split second, and then walked over to the deep pool of the water in the clearing to her left. It led to Zora's river, where the Zoras themselves lived. She studied the form she had been given for this quest.
As always, her black hair was cut short, and a pair of black tinted glasses hid her violet eyes. Turning her head to the side, she noted the pointed ears, which would label her as a Hylian. The tunic she wore was black, with black trousers instead of the customary tights beneath. The form would do well enough for what she needed to do.
She turned away from the pool, and used her new ears to figure out which tunnel she should take to leave the Woods. She went from one to another, until she found one through which no tinkling, merry voices of forest spirits could be heard. Assuredly, she marched through, whipped her sword from her back and cut down a mad-scrub just as it rose from the ground.
Now, she became set within a simple code of warrior conduct - no thought, just swift, sure movement. She cut down what enemies that dared get in her way, and made her way to the field. The tunnel between village and field was guarded by a giant deku-baba, which had managed to secure a firm root system and grow larger than usual. She tackled it just as she had everything else, having to be careful, as she had no shield.
When the creature had been decapitated, she walked serenely through the tunnel. She placed her surprisingly clean sword across her back, where it clung like a spider to its web.
The field was immense, to say the least. It looked surprisingly calm - all too peaceful for the bustling place her sources had informed her of. Still - no dark creatures had launched themselves upon her, which she saw as a bonus. After all, there had been other worlds where every moment was spent fighting. Like the demon-world of Vyxenia - it still made her shudder when she thought of it.
She angrily shook her head to clear it of the past. It had been memories that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. She just wanted to stop remembering why she was indebted - to forget what she did. But, people seldom get what they want. Or, they do get it in quantities unfitting to be easily controlled.
She stopped thinking, blanking out everything but the information on the terrain around her. She headed directly north from the Forest, shivering as night began to fall. She had no cloak - something she had neglected to bring. She cursed loudly and carried on into the darkness, walking briskly in an effort to keep warm.
Seemingly from no-where, the shadowy outline of a large building appeared. "The Ranch," she breathed, and turned slightly westwards towards it. The rasping sound of a fluttering Poe came to her sensitive ears, and she yanked her sword away from her back. Poes were tricky for those without a shield. She faced it, a low growl escaping her lips as she lunged.
Two hits later, the creature disintegrated and she allowed its spirit to go free. Then she carried on to the Ranch, reaching it without further mishap. She rattled the bars of the gate, and a light spilled out from the stable as the door was opened. A small shadow appeared, quickly coming into focus as a woman not much older than her own form.
"Yes?" she asked quietly, trying to see whom it was.
"I'm just a weary traveller. Could I perhaps stay?"
"Oh, goodness, come in!" the redhead heaved the gate open with a strength unsuited to her small frame. "I'm afraid I can only offer you a stable stall."
"That will be sufficient. Thank you very much, miss?" she inquired.
"Malon, and you are?"
"Alexis," she answered quickly, then realised what she said. Silently, she cursed. She did not use her real name if she could help it.
"Well, Alexis, there's some clean straw and blankets you can use," Malon indicated the furthest stall from the door, and Alexis gladly moved to it. She collapsed backwards onto the scratchy, but soft straw, and almost immediately fell asleep.
~*~*~*~
Loki writhed in his sleep, his dark wings surrounding his otherwise pale form, in a pool of black on the coverlet of his bed. He was dreaming again, dreaming of the crime for which Alexis had been paying the last seven years. How could a child have done it? He did not know; he was merely re- living those days over and over as dreams.
~ She was laughing merrily, hugging the leg of dear David, leading him in some new game or other. She stopped suddenly and signalled for him to wait at the top of the steps. Then she called out, "I bought him, Diabola! My end of the bargain has been upheld!" There was a flash of blood red light, within which a blue figure appeared. ~
He shot up in his bed, wings instinctively wrapping around him as he shivered and wept. "You deserve it, stupid child!" he coughed, eyes narrowed at the shape he could make out through a gap in his wing feathers. He shifted them out of the way, and saw the very reminder he had branded upon her. The pentagon with the five-point star. The pentagram that gave David his power, his kindness and had made him a target. Loki let out another howl, and fell back onto the covers to cry himself to sleep as he so often did.
~*~*~*~
Alexis moaned as she sat up. Straw stuck out at odd angles from her hair, and she raked a hand through it to try and get it out. The attempt failed miserably, and she frowned as the dawn sun hit her directly in the eyes. She was not, and never had been, a morning person, and she didn't plan to start being one any time soon. She fell backwards again, and tried to fall asleep again.
A noise of splashing water startled her, and she crawled forwards through the straw to investigate. "Morning to you too," Malon said in a dozy voice, straightening her back and lifting a half-full pail of water with her. The red hair was pulled back into a haphazard braid - she reached a hand up to push a stray strand out of the way, and the weight of the bucket was too much for her right arm.
In a flash, Alexis leapt forwards and caught Malon in one hand and the bucket in the other. "That was close," she said, a slight hint of worry filtering through. Standing Malon back up, she noticed a fierce bruise across the pale skin of the woman, which had not been there before. She set the bucket down, and studied it. "How did you come by this?"
"I - I - fell. It's stupid really, I'm so clumsy and..." she gabbled, and Alexis cut in.
"I'd heard that excuse more than enough. Let me re-phrase the question - who caused this?" Malon's azure eyes were large, and Alexis noticed the telltale shimmer of un-shed tears. It was the same look she had seen so many times in the mirror.
"Girl! Get out here now if you want your precious horses to see tomorrow!" a scream rent the air, and Malon shuddered.
"Oh Goddesses, you have to go!"
"Is he the one who...?" Alexis didn't need an answer - the fear on Malon's face told all. "Right." She unhitched the sword and made for the door. Malon ran around and stood before it, eyes wide and pleading.
"Don't! You can't hurt him. It's not his fault!"
"Oh, his hand just slipped with the force of an elephant and hit you on the arm did it?" Alexis' glasses flashed dangerously, and Malon cowered, but refused to move. "Move, now," her temper was getting short. Malon seemed to shrink even more, but her resolve was just as strong. "Move, damn you!"
"NO!" her voice was high and tinny, eyes desperately wide.
"You stupid little whore, get your ass out here now!" the voice came again.
"I'm coming," Malon called, and then looked at Alexis. She whispered, "Just go. Don't hurt him; just go."
"But-"
"Go!" she hissed. "Wait," she put a hand on Alexis' arm as she made to leave. "Go out the back. And, do you promise not to hurt him?" Alexis gritted her teeth angrily, and nodded. "Alright. Go, now!"
Malon grabbed the pail and scurried out of the door. Alexis remained where she was, staring at the worn wood of the door Malon had gone through. She reached out for the handle, and then pulled back as a burning shock ran through her left palm. "Promises," she grumbled, before making her way out of the Ranch into the field.
*
Out on the field, it was just as quiet as the day before. Alexis walked doggedly towards to the north, where the main town stood. She knew it would be overrun by re-dead; they were kind of like vampires, but easier to kill as far as she knew. They could paralyse you with their stare, so she would have be careful not to get too close to them.
The town was large, and she ran at full speed across the main square. She dodged around the slow moving re-dead, managing to prevent herself from becoming paralysed with a spectacular diving roll into the courtyard of the Temple of Time.
She looked up in awe - it was huge! No other world she knew of had such magnificent buildings. And that included Hymenia, the most advanced world she had been to, where the telephone was ancient history. She wished for a telephone right now, if only she could call for help if she couldn't fight whatever it was held this land. When she had arrived, shivers had run through her dead wing-blades; they had forgotten the taste of magic. They had also forgotten fear.
Fear was not something she cared to feel often, so of course she was worried. Getting up from her tumble along the ground, she walked up the steps into the immense Temple.
~/*\~/*\~/*\~
Right, that's the opening bit. I really should stop writing these fics, but I love them so much. [Looks guilty] this one kind of appeared in the middle of my 'Of Mice and Men' notes. Oops - oh well, I was gonna type them up anyway!