Mi Shen wakes to only stare into the face of Mi, his head in her lap. "have I died and gone to heaven... or hell? I’m happy either way...." He smiles.
Mi smiles, blushing down at him. "Neither .. you'll have to wait for that."
"I'm not dead...? what a relief..." he sighs. "can I stay here though? I'm comfy...." He grins.
"Sure" She says softly, looking up now. They weren't in the chamber of sages, but just outside Hyrule castle, in the expansive meadow that lay just outside the city.
"Good... cause I'm afraid that my head would start to spin if I got up.."
Corqren sits next to them. "he's awake now?” (artist comment: "here's your sign")
"Oh poor baby." Mi says, very obviously annoyed as she thinks of everything that has happened to her.
"Yeah." Mi says absently, still sorting out her own feelings and thoughts.
"I... I'm sorry for beating you up Mi... in the water temple and in the spirt temple too..."
Mi looked about to cry at the mention of it. She looked down at him, her head upside down to him. "No Way! If you hadn't you'd have died .. and ... " her voice cracked slightly and she gulped. "I don't know what I would have done-would have done without you ..." she mumbled as she hid her face partially in one hand.
He cracks a smile. "yeah... I havta admit... you got me pretty good in the water temple..."
"Just stop, okay?" She says simply, leaning over, blushing, and kissing him to end the conversation.
His eyes go wide.
Corqren gets up and walks away from the couple.
Ax grumbles looking at Mi Shen. "I don't get my head cradled in the girl I like's lap..." He grumbles.
Ki leans over towards Ax to snicker, "nah, you just wake up with that CERTAIN girl sleeping on you." She dodged his attempt to smack her though.
"Little runt...!"
Ki runs away giggling. Yu is a few yards away, her head held up by her arms, and it was hard to tell from anyone looking if she was meditating, sleeping, or just VERY tired ... Yu wasn't sure either ...
Ax gets up and goes over to her. "You ok?" he wrinkles his nose.
Mai sits down next to Corqren, putting her head on his shoulder, and saying, "I'm glad he found her ..." but really meaning "I'm glad she's back."
"yeah me too..." He rubs his shin. "Geez... why does it always bug me?" he mumbles.
Mai looks towards the gates of Hyrule, and more importantly, towards the darkening cloud against the sky that is Link's Castle.
Yu's eyes open slightly and she looks over at Ax. "Yeah .. just tired I guess." She shakes her head in an attempt to snap out of it. "So much has happened"
Mai says to Corqren, "Maybe it's a sign of evil energies ..."
Corqren mumbles. "I guess..."
"How'd you get that scar?" Mai says, slowly and purposely getting a bit closer to Corqren.
"Ummm... I I dunno really..." he sighs. "I've had it since I was little..."
Yu hears Mai, and looks over at Ax, "Yeah .. you've got a scar too." She thinks back, "And Mi She has one as well." ... "All three are Sages .. all three have scars.”
Makera interrupts Yu's out-loud thoughts, "They seem like they were made by a blade ..."
Ax shrugs and traces a finger over his scar on his left arm.
Mi Shen trembles somewhat.
Yu leans over towards Ax a little, "By the way... you never did tell me .. would you tell me about your parents if I (and she's very obviously mocking Ax now) cradled your head in my lap?" She smiles, looking about to laugh.
Ax grins and starts to lay down.
Mi looks down at Mi Shen, frowning. "Maybe it has to do with being sages. And none of you have parents ..." Mi thinks, then opens her eyes again, a look of shock coming across her face.
Mi Shen has his eyes closed tightly, biting his lower lip.
Yu doesn't know why, but she actually lets him, and can't help laughing out loud. Mai looks back her, and laughs too.
"Red hair.... yellow eyes.." Mi Shen mumbles.
Ki stops very suddenly in the middle of her prancing, falling to her knees from the sudden stop of movement, her eyes glowing brightly orange, and she only says one word, "Ganandorf."
Yu gets up suddenly, making Ax flop down onto hard ground instead of her lap, to go over to Ki. Mi Shen curls and holds his head, seems to want to hide at the mention of Ganondorf.
Mi looks down, thinking, "you say 'mama' and I smack you."
Mi Shen sits up and leans his head against his knees. Mi looks over at him without saying anything, feeling more useless than ever before. Yu touches Ki's shoulders and Ki bats her hand away, and looks up at the group.
"We are ashamed to have such a person come from our ranks." Was all that Ki said. She stared towards the ground.
“That bastard killed our parents in cold blood... and left us for dead..." Ax says bitterly.
Mai looks towards the group, her eyes glowing softly green, and she stares towards Yu, whose eyes are glowing yellow.
Ki looks up towards the group, "Ganondorf is dead. He was killed by those people he seeked to coerce. His own people." And Ki gives a sneer of her own opinion.
All three of the guys are sulking. "why did he do that though? killed our parents?" Corqren asks his voice trembling.
Mi looks towards them, her eyes not changed at all. "Isn't it obvious? You take out the sages and you take down the hero of time."
Yu looks back towards Mi. "Yes ... But he also needed someone to fetch him the stones .. without them the door to the sacred realm could not be opened."
Mai looks up. "So He possessed Link in order to achieve his own goal."
Makera looked back at them from where they stood, but said nothing.
Mi Shen mumbles to himself. " Keep trying to block it out..."
Mi puts her arms around his neck, leaning against him, but not saying anything.
Yu looks towards Mi Shen. "Can't face the future if your looking for the past. You'll end up running into something you could have avoided ..."
Mi Shen sighs. "I know, Yu... it's just hard when you got something across your back to remember it so often..." he paused. "Everytime I move it reminds me how I got it..."
Mi looks down at the ground sadly, still holding Mi Shen.
"Well at least I have people who want to talk about it... Impa never wanted me to mention it...."
Ki stands up now, looking over the distraught group. "Nothing we can do about that now ... even if we went back. That past is etched in stone ... this future's only on the drawing board." She looks towards the castle.
Corqren gets up. "Ki's right. We can't fix what's happened we can only do what has to be done now."
Ki's eyes flash lightly and return to normal. She stares out not knowing what she's doing...
Yu's and Mai's eyes do the same, but without the blank expression.
Mi looks up towards the castle, letting go of Mi Shen. "At least you all have a reason to be here ..."
Ax chuckles. "besides making out with you, Mi Shen?” He gets smacked by Mi Shen.
Mi doesn't respond to Ax's comment, but continues looking at the castle before angrily turning back to Mi Shen. "Oh yeah? How would you know! I haven't done anything you couldn't have done on your own! If anything I've been a hindrance! I hurt you! I was too weak not to!" She swallows a lump in her throat. "I'm not a sage, and I'm not a hero. I'm just .. Mi."
Mi Shen flinches.
"Everything's planned out for you-get your temple secure and help the stupid bimbo of time." And she looks over at Makera from the corners of her eyes. "But me? Nothing. I just stand around, being your cheerleader!" She said the last word bitterly and loudly as she walked a few feet away, knotting her hands into her hair.
Mi Shen takes a few deep breaths trying hard not to smack mi cause he know what she's saying is true. "if that's the way you feel mi.... I don't know WHAT I saw in you..." He walks towards the castle. He whimpers as he does so.
Mi stands very still, feeling her heart race and her breath shallow at Mi Shen's words. She crouches on the ground, folding her arms across her chest and appearing to simply look at the ground. She was torn between so many things. She wasn't sure what to do. The most prominent options seemed only to be "cry" and "deck".
Mai looked over at Mi, and then back to Mi Shen, her eyes widening. Yu and Mai exchanged glances before walking over to Mi. Mi looked up before they reached her, and glared in darkest way they had ever seen her. She batted them aside with her gravity and walked towards the castle, thoughts racing through her head faster then she could read them.
Mai and Yu sat stunned on the ground as she watched her walk away.
"I only have revenge now" Mi says bitterly out loud.
Corqren and Ax get up and go after them.
Yu and Mai get up as well, followed by Ki.
* * *
Makera is the first to walk into Link's Castle. Mi is the last. Between them the sages walk in, looking towards each direction with a strange perverted fascination.
They step within the boundary of the doorway they stop completely. Makera looks back to say something and finds the ghostly still Sages there. She runs up to one and is bounced back by a hard shield of some kind, and looks up as the side fades with the noticeable crystalline to invisible again. Mi looks around with a blank expression, not seeming to care what happened anymore.
"We gotta go, Mi.." Makera grumbles not liking the only company she'll have for the entire castle.
"Don't start treating me like one of your little pet sages." Mi nearly snarls without looking at Makera. She walks past Mi Shen without even looking at him on her way to a random room.
Mi Shen watches Mi with sad eyes, regretting what he said before.
Makera looks back her with confusion, but looks back towards her destination. "Then we'll split up. We'll cover more ground that way." She says before entering the first room she sees.
As Makera enters the room she remembers the ocarina, and plays Saria's song. She hears a freaking-out Mai. "Yo .. calm down Mai it'll be okay. Chill." And she snickers at her own accidental joke.
"Chill? Nice of you to say, hero of time. Now stop WASTING time and get us outta these!" Makera winced at the loudness of Mai’s voice.
* * *
Mi walked into the room, looking over the vast empty expanses, and looked back at the seal to think sadly, "The shadow seal." before pressing on. The room was easy with her wings, and she son reached the end of the multiple rooms of the hallway, and cracked the seal with a single dagger, stepping backwards to admire her handiwork.
A loud shattering sound could be heard coming from where the sages are.
Mi looked back, once again expressionless, losing her eagerness at the thought of facing Mi Shen. She was too ashamed to do so, and as she left the seal room she made sure not to look back as she ran to the next room.
* * *
Mi steps into the room first once, feeling herself come alive at the thought of killed the person who had caused everything. But when she thought about it, if he hadn't have wrecked things she would not have met Mi Shen. Life seemed empty without him. She stepped up into the room, hearing the footsteps of the others following her, and looked back as Makera entered the room at last.
"Finally made it I see.." Link laughs. "And you brought the sages with you too... How convenient.."
Mi looks up towards Link with a hatred showing in her eyes even at such a distance.
Makera walked up to stand near her, looking up at Link not with hatred, but with regret.
"Why Link? Because he was a child? Because he was meant to be the hero of time? WHY?" Makera yelled up at Link.
"Why not? besides I knew the other Gerudos wouldn't like me after killing those innocent people... let's just say he was a little backup plan..." He shrugs, smirking.
"Bastard!" Mi says, interrupting Makera before she could comment again. "You think you can play with people and not pay the price! I don't care what YOU want. You do not have the right to use people like TOYS!" Mi yelled up towards him.
He laughs at her words. "If you have the power... you can do whatever you want!"
"No. Power is not everything." Mi's shoulders go slack. "You have to have a purpose." She said sadly. "Without that purpose that power will become pointless." Makera looked over at Mi, surprised by her words.
Mi clenched her fists.
"You want to see what someone can do with power?" he snaps his fingers and Mi Shen is engulfed in darkness and is brought in front of him. "This is what you can do with power..." he waves his hand over the powerless Mi Shen and wounds open all over his body as he begins to bleed slowly.
Mi screams out and flies up towards Link, being knocked back to the ground by a strange shield around him. She crashes against the shield again, being thrown back against the wall, and sliding down to the floor, looking up helplessly at Mi Shen, tears coming to her eyes. "NOO----!"
Mi Shen clenches his teeth to keep from screaming in pain.
Mi looks up, thoughts racing through her head, "He's gonna die, he's gonna die and I won't have told him, he'll have never heard me say it .. he'll never have know. No. He knew already .. I know he did he had to have know ..."
Mi Shen falls to his side and reaches his hand to mi slowly but doesn't move far before he begins to chants something, a flash of light exits the shield and hovers at the ceiling.
Mi runs over to him, pressing her ands against the shield, trying to reach through it, but only being shocked by it's energy. She looks at him with tears, saying softly, "no .. no Mi Shen ..." And she is finally thrown a few feet back from the shield as shield as she can no longer hold her own, bits of energy still coursing over her every other second or so.
The sages all look on, speechless, Ki is crying softly at the scene around her.
Mi Shen coughs as the bleeding intensifies as link laughs. "Mi.. Mi... I'm sorry... I never meant to hurt you...."
Mi looks down at him, no longer crying, her eyes flashing randomly between black and white at uneven intervals, every now and then flashing back to their normal yellow-brown. She only says, "I knew .. I knew you didn't."
Link smirks. "I grow tired of this little sappy moment..." He clenches his hand as if crushing Mi Shen's heart. Mi Shen gasps and closes his eyes, dead. Mi Shen's blood creeps slowly out of the shield. Mi looks towards Mi Shen expressionlessly, her eyes fadeing to gray now, and no longer flashing. She looks up at Link and walks through the shield as if it were not there. Makera runs to go after her, but as Mai runs after the both of them she is repelled by the shield. Ax and Corqren gasp at Mi Shen's still body. Makera looks forward with a hatred not unlike Mi's earlier expression as blocks begin to fall from the floor. Mi looks on without any indication of life.
Makera draws her sword and shield out wordlessly, shrugging at his question. "Don't ask me ... I guess it is because of my 'heart' " She looks up at Link angrily. "I won't let you use Link! I know he'd rather die than do this!" Tears were welling in her eyes. "You had no right."
Mi looked on. "The goddesses will me to do so." was all Mi had to say. Makera looked over towards her with complete shock at her words.
"You all will never leave here alive. Come fight me! I have more power then you can handle!" He charges a ball of electricity and throws it at Makera.
"It is not my place to fight you. It is the place of the hero of time." Mi said, never unlocking her eyes from his. Makera looks more shocked, as she realizes this is the first time she had ever referred to her as such. As she looked back at Link she was slammed into the wall by the energy attack he had thrown. She got up from the rubble of the wall and coughed from the dust, looking forward with determination as she entered the shield again.
Link is momentarily distracted by Mi's gaze but then focuses his attention back on Makera. "die 'hero of time'!" He builds a black cloud and fires multiple bolts at her.
Makera hold her blade behind her, concentrating the power she was endowed with around the blade, and lets it loose against his attack, firing back the shots towards him just as he had done to her. As she let go of the charged energy it swirled around her like a nova
Link screamed as he was hit and fell to his knees, stunned.
Makera jumped over the gap where the blocks had fallen and sliced into Link, twisting her sword in him as she pushed it farther into his torso. "Power is nothing without control." Makera says strangely without malice. Makera looks down at Link with an expression of exhaustion beyond her years. She looks down at him with pity, and a feeling of betrayal as killing him, even this was only the guise of a childhood friend.
He coughs up blood as he bends over her blade.
She looks down at the blood covering her tunic and hands, and looks back at the Sages as the shield dissolves, and then looks forward again as Link dissolves just as his shield did.
The small ball of light that had been hovering at the ceiling floats down to Mi Shen and heals his wounds, merging with him. Mi Shen gasps and coughs.
Mi's eyes snap back to their normal color as she jumps down to where Mi Shen is. "Mi Shen!" As she lands on the ground, however, her eyes begin to flash again and then the irises and pupils become completely gray. She looks through Mi Shen as she lands, without any of the concern she had just shown.
Corqren and Ax both rush over to him helping him out of his pool of blood.
Mi turns around to face the opposite wall, saying plainly, "Sage of Time." As Zelda appears from a shadowed hallway in they had not noticed before.
Zelda looks at her with recognition, "It's you. But your eyes." Zelda appears almost scared to look at Mi now.
"M...Mi..." Mi Shen mumbles, finally able to talk.
Mi looks over, only moving enough to pivot slightly at the recognition of her name.
"Mi what's.... wrong?" He partially stands up still being held up by Ax and Corqren.
Mi then looks up at the ceiling as a tiny part crumbles and taps her face. Zelda follows her gaze. Zelda cries out then, "He's trying to bury us in his castle with the last of his strength."
"We gotta get outta here!" Corqren starts to go to the door.
Mi looks towards Mi Shen, her expression continuing to be the same. "Nothing's wrong with me. I am carrying out the task of the goddesses ..." And she walks towards the doorway Zelda had come from. "If you do not hurry evil will win. It will have defeated you." And she follows Corqren out the doorway, followed by Mai and Yu, who have confused expressions. Makera runs after dragging Ki. (Ax and Mi Shen are with Corqren)
* * *
Zelda looks back at the castle, now only a pile of rubble. She is breathing heavily as she is the last one out, and probably the slowest runner too. She looks over at Mi suspiciously.
"If you serve the goddesses, why did you not even help your friends!" Zelda asks suddenly.
Mi laughs. "The goddesses are not so pure as you think. They do not always help 'good'. They do not always help 'evil'. The truth is that there IS no good. No evil. All are simply choices b those wh are the goddesses' children."
"This is but another test by their will. They wish to see if the path of man truly leans towards this ‘goodness’."
Corqren and Ax help Mi Shen sit as he pushes them away, obviously in a foul mood.
"In the end, it doesn't matter who is right, only who has the will to make their 'right' 'righteous'."
Mi looks over at Mi Shen, frowning slightly. "Do not hate me because I am using this form you are fond of. Mi was brought here for only a few reasons. The main purpose was to judge the righteous in this conflict-which is not yet finished."
"And the other reasons?" Mi Shen glares.
"She was chosen because she had no other purpose. The goddesses created her world just as they created Hyrule. Just as they created each person." And the faux-Mi smiles slightly at this comment. "Her other purpose ... was to give you purpose." And she walks over towards Mi Shen. "If she had not come, you would not have gone with the hero of time. She was your ... inspiration."
Mai and Yu stare on, mouths open slightly, taking in all the information.
He turns his head. "Of course I wouldn't have come... I had a duty to Dampé..."
"You only said that until SHE came. You can only lie to yourself so long before you admit to yourself that you did not leave for adventure-you left for her." And she turns away from him then to walk into the rubble of the castle. "Just as Mai and Yu had dual purposes .. They were not only brought as Sages. Anyone could have replaced the sages that were lost. They were there to guide the other sages who would otherwise never realize their destiny.
Ax and Corqren look at Yu and Mai; Yu and Mai blush as they look at them.
Mi turned slightly, looking at him from the corner of her eye. "I myself am but a part of Mi that the Goddesses created. DO you think it is comforting to know you were never born, you simply are?"
"Not really..." He mumbles.
Makera follows Mi into the rubble, turning her around forcefully, "Then why did they make Link the hero of time, yet they allowed him to be possessed by Ganon?" Makera asked, confused.
"They purposely allow their creations to choose. If they controlled everything it would not show who was righteous."
The group feels a rumbling coming from the direction of the rubble, and flame begin to form a wall around the perimeter of the rubble. Makera looks back fearfully.
"Oh shit!" Mi Shen gets up but then falls to the ground again.
Zelda looks back from within the flames calmly. "It is not the sages place to fight the evil anyway, only to support the hero of time. And she looks towards Makera confidently.
Makera readies her own sword, looking towards the center of the rubble where the shaking was visible. They watched as Link burst from the rubble.
Zelda holds up her hands as the Ocarina of time appears, and Makera is surprised as the master sword falls into her hands.
"These are holy items which Link could not keep forever." Zelda says simply.
"You will need the master sword to defeat him." Zelda says as she holds the ocarina to her lips. Mi Shen curses as he wishes to fight.
Link transforms and dashes towards Makera as best he could at his present size.
Makera skips to the side, slicing at him as he passes and makes little jumps backwards to guard herself. Makera rolls to the side, waiting for him to pass, then jumps at his tail, grabbing hold and being flung from side to side, then finally flung completely off of him, and into a pile of rubble.
Link growls and walks up to her slashing at her.
Makera holds up her shield, taking the blow but getting knocked through the rubble to roll on the ground a few feet. Mi watches intently, but doesn't move. Zelda looks at her from the corner of her eyes, still playing the ocarina. Link walks through the rubble following her. She rolls between his legs and jumps back towards him, slashing at his tail. He roars and turns. Makera jumps towards him, slicing at him to no avail, and flips back just in time to partially dodge another blow, being knocked back into another pile of rubble, and then rolling on the ground to dodge his charge towards her. She looks towards him and makes a final slash at his tail, then plows the master sword into his body, crying out for Zelda to begin.
Zelda begins the royal lullaby, and Each Sage's eyes glow in order of the rainbow, ending with Mai. As Zelda takes the ocarina from her lips the light of their energy gathers around her in one final attack towards Link.
Mi looks on and smiles, saying to herself simply. "We've proven ourselves again ..."
Light begins to gather around everyone, and their vision begins to disappear, and as the light dies they find themselves within the Chamber of Sages once more, with Makera and Zelda standing in the center of the circle.
"Ugh... that was the most draining thing I've ever done..." Corqren groans.
"At least it's over..." Mi Shen sighs.
Makera rubs her arms nervously, still feeling the blood that was once there.
Zelda looks around the circle. "The past must be righted. You must return to the time from which you were drawn."
Mai looks towards her nervously, "Does this mean we have to go back ... please .. I want to stay here ..." Mai blushes at what she's saying means ...
"Let them stay Princess!" Ax begs and gets down on his knees.
Zelda looks towards her. "You would have to stay anyhow. You are sages, and must upkeep the balance of this realm."
Mi Shen looks at Mi.
Yu blushes brightly at Ax's actions.
"Are they all going to stay Princess?" Mi Shen swallows, thinking to himself. “Oh please, let them all stay...”
Zelda begins to play the song of time, and each sage and Makera are encased in a crystal not un-like those that held them in Link's castle. They also notice a smaller crystal holding an almost spectral child-link within.
Mi looks around nervously as she notices she is not leaving with them.
"Wait!" Mi Shen pounds on the side of the crystal. "Isn't she coming?!"
Mi looks up at Mi Shen, scared but saying nothing.
He pounds again as they leave his sight. "Zelda?!"
Mi looks back to Zelda, worried. "Do I go back as well. I know I'm not a sage, but I really want to-”
Zelda held up a hand to stop her, and said plainly. "It's your decision." Zelda puts the ocarina back to her lips and plays. Mi doesn’t think a moment longer before a crystal begins to form around her.
* * *
Mi Shen is sitting in his usual spot on the fence in the graveyard, shaking his head back and forth, confused about his surroundings and the events. He looks down at his hands, which are suddenly so small, and looks around him. "The graveyard ..." He looks up, and notices it is night. "It's just like when Mi came-" he gulps down a lump in his throat as he feels everything coming back in a wave of depression. He looks over as he hears the sound of a poe appearing from the ground. He taps his staff slowly, not finding the strength of heart to move himself.
He looked over as it cackled and headed towards him, and suddenly he noticed a light growing above him, and he jumped from the fence excitedly. Just as before, a girl fell from the light, and as the light cleared he realized happily who the girl was. "MI!!"
Mi looked up at him, crying, "I'm a kid again!"
He hops down and hugs her. "I am too but you're here! you didn't go back!"
She hugs him back, crying happily, "Of course not! How could I? You're here."
He laughs. "I'm glad you didn't go! I would have killed my self if you'd left! I can't live with out you Mi..." He sobers up as he says the last sentence.
Mi looks back at him, without saying anything, and hugs him tighter. "I know .. really ... by now I know." She says between sniffles.
She pushed away from him to look him in the eyes, "But we're just kids again ..."
"We may be kids but... we'll grow up... I can wait..." He smiles.
She blushes and looks up at him happily.
