-Link-

Despite Link's brovado, he did not fall all the way down the well. He immediately took hold of its side and descended. Monster or not, he was going after Soli, both for her sake, and his. It was his actions that had set these things in motion and she was in trouble, whether it be from herself or the monster.

The well was deep, deeper than he expected, and deeper than any well he had ever seen. The trees above kept sunlight from easily reaching the well, and the close encasement of the well made it darker still so he found himself entirely encased in darkness. He could see the light above, but not around him. Link did not know how long he descended, only that it lasted forever in his mind. His skin became wet with a dew and his nostrils filled with the familiar scent of rot and death.

Finally his feet found purchase and something crunched under his feet. He expected to have already encountered the monster, but it seemed the well was larger than expected. He reached out and found the well opened into an underground cavern. There was more to these extreme Sheikah than met the eye. He blindly entered the cavern. Each step crunched on something beneath his feet. Nervously, he pulled out his spear and inched his way forward. The confinement of the cave limited his ability to use his spear, but he would make do.

A light appeared behind him and came closer. He stopped and turned in time to see a couple Fae fly to him and around him. He smiled. "Hey, little guys. Thanks! That's a big-ohMYGAWD!" Link jumped back.

Beneath his feet was a combination of skeletons and shell like structures. The shell structures extended from the floor, to the walls, to the ceiling. Looking all around, it was everywhere. It was familiar, like he had seen it before...

"Was this... a Fae Grove?" Link finally asked. He looked to the Fae that flew around him. One flew close and nodded sadly.

Link gulped. He got the important details from Impa, but it seemed there was more to this place than met the eye. Children, orphans raised from a young age to be powerful warriors. Were they all expected to kill their peers like Zant did in a show of strength, or was he one that went out of control? Was Zant created by these extremists on purpose or was he an accidental prodigy? Link still carried the scars from his fight with Zant. Was Soli like Zant? Why did they use a grove? Why were the Fae imprisoned in glass bottles?

Questions one after another raced through Link's mind, but just as he asked them in his heart, he felt there was no answer he could give, and even worse, he didn't want to know. He grew up with a simple existence as a child slave. yet... the country all around, before and during his innocent years, was suffering and perverted and twisted piece after piece... by what? It was almost like the country had a sickness in it. From the things Link had heard from Zelda, Ganondorf, the Fae, and Impa, it sounded like the son of King Shorlin had brought a great sickness into Qin.

"Qin is sick," Link whispered. He looked at the Fae. They were weak and their light was dim. He didn't know if they could be bruised or broken, but they just looked so weak and hurt. His heart broke. "Zelda will make it better. I swear. What was done here will not happen again. Already your Fae are accepted in the capital and old wounds are being mended."

The saying surprised them, and he saw they were skeptical, but there was little he could do about that. From the condition of the area, it seemed they had been imprisoned a long time. They would have to see it to believe it. At least he could give them a hint of hope.

Link heard a weak roar in the distance, and turned to face it. He gripped his spear tightly and whispered, "Let's go. Be careful." Link entered the cavern further, his steps illuminated by his companions. Unbeknownst to him, a Fae grove was not merely a hole in the ground, but a vast underground network of tunnels comparable to an ant colony. The most ancient of groves extend to the center of the world and to caverns large enough to produce their own ecosystems. Thankfully Link did not have to go far. This grove was very young at the time of its subjugation.

A gust of wind blew through the tunnel along with a louder roar. Misty shadows reached out of the darkness through the Fae's light. Link took cloth and wrapped it around his mouth. With each step the shadows grew thicker until he reached a wider cavern and inside was a virtual mass of it in a kind of oval shape.

Like everywhere else, skeletons, cobwebs, and dust took up residence, but this room was different in its purpose. In the midst of it was a number of unlit candles amidst a depression in the ground that was carved into some kind of design. Towards the back was a stone slab. A girl sat on the stone slab. In her hands was a jewel.

"Soli!" Link exclaimed. He stepped forward. The shadow egg reacted first. It moved between them, and like a giant ball of yarn, it slowly unfurled itself to reveal it was a tightly knit ball of hundreds of shadow snakes. Their golden, predatory eyes turned on Link.

"You shouldn't have come," Soli said.

"Yeah, well..." His eyes did not leave the ball of snakes. He adjusted his grip on the Spear of Naryu. "I get told there are a lot of things I shouldn't have done. Why not add one more to the list." Slowly, Link stepped to the side and tried to inch his way around the monster, but it moved with him. It was shielding him back from her. It was... guarding her? "Soli, speak to me. What's happening?"

"Nothing."

"I wake up and find you tried to kill the Chancellor, then fled to a graveyard in the middle of nowhere, and then there is all of this weird-ass candles and altars with skeletons around and caged Fae. And then there's this guy! Don't tell me 'nothin'!"

"Link... Please leave."

"And if I do, what then?" Link demanded. "You going to kill the Chancellor? You going to kill someone else? You going to get killed by this thing?"

"And what of it!" Soli barked. She dropped down from the altar onto her feet and stepped forward. Link gasped at what he saw. The burns were gone. She was a gorgeous girl, but what drew his attention was the black eyes and black veins reaching out from them. "So what if I kill her?! You think her hands are clean?! You think she isn't guilty of some of the worst things imaginable?! Its what she deserves!"

"Why would I make that call!"

"She tried to have you killed too, Link!" Soli yelled. Link paused. Soli grinned, at first, thinking she got through to him, but her grin dropped to a frown when she saw his expression. Link wasn't surprised. He knew. She could hardly believe this! "You knew?"

Link shrugged, "I guessed as much. I don't plan on trusting her, but I am willing to accept that she wants what is best for the kingdom. She is like me, Soli. She does the best she can, and sometimes she makes mistakes like I do. My mouth has gotten me whipped. I have given gifts to friends and brought them to anger and tears. I found a cure for your burn, but look at where we are?"

Soli raged and seethed. "You are nothing like her! She killed my sister!"

Link gulped. The shadow monster pulsed and the snakes thickened with her emotions. He didn't know what this thing was, but if it was anything like what he had seen from Zant, the two were a kind of team. Was the monster tied to Soli's emotions? Was it feeding and growing on her pain?

His heart fell for her. A pain he had tried to forget came to the front. He still had the scars from when Midna's blade shattered and entered his body. What could he do to help? He didn't know. What could he do to get through to her? He didn't know that either. He just needed Soli to not do this... even if it meant taking it for her.

"I'm like her more than you know," Link admitted. "I know who burned you."

That got her attention. She stared at him a long moment, too many emotions for him to read went across her face. "It was a demon."

"That demon is also a person."

Soli struggled to understand and to remember. When the demon had come in the fight with Harken, its passage had killed at least four people in a pillar of fire. Which of them was the demon? "Who?!"

"I'm not telling you. The last thing I'm going to let you do is go on a hunt and kill a friend in a quest of revenge. If you want the name... you are going to have to go through me." Link used his Mark as he finished and saw the monsters coil in on themselves. As if sensing the touch of the Divine on him, the spear's edge burst into white flame.

Soli seethed. Like Link intended, he now had her attention. She had suffered with the demon fire for a long time.

She didn't say a word. The monsters grew thicker and responded to the situation accordingly. They lashed out. Link sidestepped their open jaws and swiped up, beheading one before the rest returned. Soli winced. A couple more snapped at him, but could do nothing. Link saw their heads as spears and moved aside and through them.

"You're going to have to do better than that! Ouhon Mitagi is much faster!" Link taunted. If he was going to have her attention, he was damn well going to have her attention! He wouldn't be able to get through to her if she was holding back on him.

Link shoved the spear into the thick body of the monster, and the whole thing screamed in pain. Soli screamed and fell to her knees. Seeing her in pain, Link stepped back and pulled back his spear. In one final test, he beheaded one snake, and watched as her face displayed a momentary spasm of pain. The monster, though, recovered and grew heads anew.

"Soli..." Link said. "You need to let it go. The beast is feeding on you."

"I accept the burden gladly," Soli hissed through her teeth.

"For what? For revenge? Look at what its doing to you! Its giving you its pain and feeding on it!"

"You think I'm not already in pain! What's more?! It is what is owed me! It doesn't matter what happens to me after!"

The monster exploded and smoke filled the room. Link could not even see the Fae around. He hoped they left, because they would likely be hurt by this. Link heard metal scraping and wood and knew Soli drew her short sword.

"I'm not going to let you do it, Soli," Link said into the darkness. "I'm not going to let you become this. I should have asked you what you wanted before I cured the demon fire, and I should have told you when I found out about more about it. I am sorry. I take responsibility for everything. I don't want to hurt you."

"Then die." Her voice echoed around the room.

He felt a prick in his side, and with a well time used of his Mark, he evaded it so that she only cut his side by the skin. He grabbed her by the arms and neck and grappled with her.

"Die!" She barked.

"What is this some bullshit crap romance tale?! How is letting you kill me going to help! I'm going to fight! Just because I'm not going to hurt you doesn't mean I'm letting you kill me, dumbass! You aren't getting anything for free!"

Link felt her shift her body weight and before he knew it he was being through over her shoulder onto the ground. He refused to let go tho, and nearly twisted her arm out of place. With a firm hold on her blade-hand, he threw his body weight and muscle onto her and grappled her to the ground. She was sly and slippery, but he had been wrestling his entire life, and he was in the throes of what it meant to develop into an adult male. His body had grown stronger, his arms had become longer, his skin had become tougher, and his height had grown. He was always jeered in good nature by his friends, but now that he was throwing every inch of his body into pinning her down did she realize how much he had grown. Solitare struggled, yelled, bit, and tried to stab him with what give she had to move her sword.

Once he had her pinned safely he whispered into her ear. He demanded, "You think you're the only one with a claim against her?! I, too, had a sister!" Solitare went still at his words. Link continued, "She was my best friend! The day I met Impa, she took my sister from me. The next time I saw her, she died in my arms. The second time I saw Impa, she tried to take my dream, my family, away by telling me my mother was fake. Immediately after her clan directs my idol, Ouki, to kill me. I understand your rage, I know your anger."

Link did not let up, but breathed easier as Solitare seemed to deflate. Her energy left her and she became limp. He couldn't see her face so he couldn't say what she was feeling or thinking. He continued, "I didn't join Zelda in retaking her throne because of loyalty or honor or any of that. I joined her because I was angry. I wanted to kill everyone who had killed my sister. For a time I even had Zelda in my sights. All I wanted was revenge. I could have taken it, you know. I could have killed Zelda, but you know what would have happened? To me? To Qin?"

Link sighed. "I still remember it. We were taking the wall down to enter the throne room and we were ambushed. One of the Majora was wounded. He struggled to move... and we were so close. The throne was right there. I wanted him to see what he was fighting for, to know he had won. I picked him up onto my back and carried him. He was so much bigger than me, you know, what with me being a child and him being a full grown adult." Link chuckled a moment. He frowned. "But he died. He died on my back. I was carrying a corpse around. While I was around because I was an angry kid, he never got to see what he was fighting for. He died not knowing if everything he put himself on the line for, was worth it, if it had come true."

Since Solitare insisted on being silent, Link pressed on. "Revenge isn't what its cracked up to be, Soli. Being angry isn't worth dieing for. We can't fight for the dead. No battle, no matter how great, can restore the dead or change anything in other realms to influence them. The best we can do is fight in such a way that what they wished to put their lives on the line for comes true."

"But she deserves it," Solitare at last said. "It was supposed to be me..."

Link got the sense she was no longer in a fighting mood, and moved aside. He kept his spear in his hand incase she changed her mind again.

"What was?" He asked.

"We were raised together, but only one of us could ascend. Only one would be allowed to take on the twilight. A battle would decide it. My sister... was so much better than me. I knew she would win. I didn't want to die, but I vowed to kill as many of the others as I could to give her the best chance. She was the greatest of us after all. When the time came and we were gathered together, my sister knocked me out, and when I came to, I was witnessing a battle between us and the Qin. Impa killed my sister. As the last of us, the monster attached itself to me and Zant captured me. Impa took me. She made me forget my name. She made me forget her... she made me forget how it was supposed to be me that died."

Link smiled, "Soli... It sounds like your sister wanted you to live. Would you really die in her name knowing that?"

Solitare picked herself up, leaned back against the wall, looked up, and let tears fall. Link said nothing. She had a lot to think about. Besides... the mass of twilight snakes two feet away made him jittery. The mist receded to the egg mass and the Fae were able to fly about to illuminate them again. Solitare's eyes watched the Fae. Link smiled. The black veins were slowly receding into her eyes.

"I don't know what to do." Solitare admitted. "I can't return to being Sheikah after attacking the Chancellor. I have no home. I have no one."

Link groaned. "Bullshit!" He jumped up and flicked her in the face. She jumped in surprise. "Idiot! I already told you didn't I? You have a home and family in my unit! You think I been keeping you around all this time just for a sword?! You think the others smile and laugh around you just because they want to? Well... yes, technically... but they want to because you are a part of the unit!"

Solitare stared at him in astonishment. "You... even after I-"

"Despite the fact Impa and I cannot stand each other, I still came all this way with her for you. You think I enjoy being around Impa for a week?! Hell no! The woman is bossy!"

"But I tried to kill you! I let the monster loose on you and tried to stab you!" Solitare argued.

Link raised an eyebrow. "Why are you searching for reasons for me to hate you? I don't hate you. Why should you hate you?"

Again, Solitare could only stare at him in astonishment. She lowered her head and let tears fall. Yet, admist the tears, she couldn't help smiling. She wanted to hug him, but before she got the chance, Link was already up and patted her on the head.

"Now come on, Soli. The least we can do is let Impa know you're alive and not having her on your shit-list."

"It's not Soli. My name isn't Solitare. I was born with the name Kyou Kai."

"Can I call you Soli anyway? I'm kinda attached to it and when I say 'Kyou' I think of Prince Ky-" He stopped mid sentence as the twilight monster got sucked into Kyou Kai's back. It disappeared. The blackness in her eyes vanished and she smiled as if she was her old self. "Okay, that's just creepy as all realms. Is that going to be a thing now?!"

The two left the cavern with the assistance of the Fae. Looking down, Kai unleashed the monster to destroy it and collapse the tunnel.

They ascended the well to find it was a battleground. Dozens of twilight hounds lay dead and Impa sat pensively nearby running a stone over her blade. She looked up as they approached. "Good of you two to finally join me." She looked to Link. "Is she subdued?"

Kai turned her nose up at the woman. "I'm not going to kill you if that is what you mean."

"And the princess?"

"Was never my goal."

"Good to know." Impa shoved her blade back into its hilt. "There is something you two need to see."

Kai and Link shared curious glances, but followed all the same. Impa lead them outside of the forest and pointed out into the valley.

"What the realms?!" Link gasped. Kai paled.

In the distance, the city of Joket was on fire and large armies surrounded it. They could not see the image on the flags, but the colors were reminiscent of Qin.